Betty Focker Speaks Up

Well, ladies, since there was a lot of “two birds with one stone” action going on in March, I am going to add some “taking a few liberties” to the mix.

Betty Focker’s take on Sue Cheff’s March Challenge:
Even though Sue said the SoBe Fest recipes were online, I couldn’t find them. After I used 15 minutes of Avery’s precious nap time searching for them I got frustrated, and logically went to a plan B. Since a complimentary subscription to Food and Wine magazine was given to us all with purchase of our festival tickets, I decided trying a few recipes out of the April issue was as close as I was going to get, in the interest of nap time and all.

First up, I selected this Sweet & Sour Green Bean recipe. Truthfully, I have gotten a little bored with my variations on the 3 green vegetables that Mr. Focker will agree to eat (canned green beans, roasted broccoli, roasted asparagus), and this recipe was just the perfect deviation from the norm to please my palate. I give this recipe two thumbs up. It was easy, delicious, and it has shallots in it, which are quite possibly my new favorite ingredient. YUM. I will make this again.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/sweet-and-sour-green-beans

Second up, I made these Jalapeño Roasted Potatoes. The potatoes were really tasty and crisp, but the jalapeños burned. I would probably make these potatoes again, but would keep the jalapeños separate and add them to the potatoes 15-20 minutes into cooking time. One thumb up as the recipe is written, 2 thumbs up if my proposed modification works.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/jalapeno-roasted-potatoes

To accompany these yummy sides takes me to: Betty Focker’s take on Giada’s March Challenge. I had big plans for my crock-pot adaptation: meatloaf in the crock-pot. What can I say? I constantly live on the edge.

I mixed up my normal meatloaf recipe as follows, sans the traditional ketchup-y topping: 1.5 lbs ground beef, 1 cup crushed saltine crackers, 1 diced onion, 1 egg and 1 cup of milk. I used whole milk, because that's what baby Focker drinks.

Then, I made a “sling” out of a couple sheets of aluminum foil, and sculpted my meatloaf. Because my crock pot is round, my loaf came out kind of egg shaped. That's cool, we'll say it's a theme for Easter. Should you have an oval crock pot, then you are one lucky girl. If you have a very large oval crock pot, I bet you could fit an aluminum loaf pan down that in that naughty beast and skip the foil entirely. Lucky!

Once my loaf was all snug in my crock, I planned to cook it 4-5 hours on low, or to 165 degrees. But when I checked it after only 4 hours, it was at 190 degrees, so I turned off the heat then.

I used my handy sling to remove the loaf from the confines of the crock-pot, and then slathered the top with some sun-dried tomato spread. This makes your meatloaf all gourmet and stuff.

The verdict:
While the meatloaf was really moist, I missed the crust that “ovening” the loaf yields. But Mr. Focker really liked it, and baby Focker ate some on two different nights for dinner, so I do have to give this method 1.5 thumbs up. There’s also the consideration that this recipe makes week-night meatloaf a possibility, it you are so inclined.

2 birds, 1 stone - Katie's final two challenges

Giada....great minds cook alike. I, too, combined two challenges and tackled Hotty Bobby's steak recipe with Olive's grill requirement. Additionally, I was left a little disappointed. Here's what I did:

Mix together roughly....

1 tablespoon chipotle puree

1/2 cup honey

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 tsp kosher salt

Liberally salt and pepper two steaks.
I threw in the oven a few potatoes too.
Cook the steaks, then cover with the glaze. The result, below:

If I was doing over, I would totally marinate the steak in half the glaze for a while, then use the other half to use at the end. The steak tasted plain, with a glaze on top.

But, nothing wrong with a decent steak on a Monday night.

3 Birds, 1 Stone: Giada's March Challenge Update

Okay, so I kind of cheated with my March challenges. I had planned to combine Olive's grilling challenge with Betty Focker's challenge of dusting off one of my kitchen gadgets that hadn't been used in a while, when Sue Scheff threw down a South Beach recipe challenge. All of a sudden it came to me, I was going to complete all three challenges at once by making Bobby Flay's indoor steaks. A) We saw this demo at South Beach B) I got to grill something albeit indoors and C) I got to use our grill pan which rarely ever sees the light of day. I didn't mean to cheat, it just kind of fell into place for me this way.

I have to say, although my husband tried to make me feel better by saying he liked them, the steaks didn't come out near as well as Betty Focker's boyfriend Bobby's appeared to in South Beach. I may try them again sometime on the real grill, but even following his instructions they got too well done for our taste. But the purpose of these challenges is to break out of the norm and try something new, so that I did! To accompany the steaks I made lobster tails and boiled down the water, lemons, herbs and spices into a nice stock afterward that I plan to use when I throw down next month's challenge. Just wait!

Olive's March Challenge Results

OK, I am not a master chef so everyone needs to be patient with me.


The Crock Pot and Gadget Challenge Results

I made some of the most yummiest caramel and used my apple cutter to serve apples with the dip.
The recipe I used was from the Crock pot Lady's blog (she is my hero).

The simple recipe is:

One crock pot
One can of sweetened condensed milk
Water

-Take the label off the can of milk.
-Put can in crock pot (I usually put a plate on the bottom of the crock pot then put the can on the plate to avoid rust rings).
-Fill the crock pot with enough water to cover the can.
-Cook on high for 8 hours.

-LET CAN COOL before touching it.

-Open can and scoop out the yummy beautiful creamy caramel.

I made the dip for my Baby Girl's 4th birthday party. The caramel is very thick so I mixed it with whip cream to make it more dippable for little ones. Since the hubby and I went to the Georgia mountains for Valentine's Day and picked up a huge bag of Pink Lady Apples, I used them to serve with the carmel. I used an old apple cutter (read: gadget) that I never use to make equal portioned apple slices. Then I slices up some strawberries and added them as well. Of course Baby Girl had to test it out before the party. The enormous plate of fruit was completely empty at the end of the party. I think every one else really liked it too.

The Grilling Challenge Results

I decided that I would attempt to grill some steak. I told the hubby to pick up a cheaper cut of steak, in case (read: when) I ruin it with my mad cooking skillz. I went on-line and found an easy recipe which also make a sauce (I LOVE sauces).

Grill Steak Recipe:

2 lbs steak

4 tbls lightly cracker black peppercorn

2 tbls kosher salt

3 tbls EVOO

1/4 cup minced red onion

1 tbls minced garlic

1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbls brown sugar

-Lightly tenderize the meat with a mallet (or a grilling spatula) or get your sous chef to do it.

-Sprinkle the steak with the pepper and salt and press into the steak with your hand. (the recipe says to put the steak in the fridge for 4-8 hours to marinate..with salt and pepper...it made no sense to me so I did not do it).

-In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, add the EVOO and onions and lightly saute until the onions are caramelized

-Add the garlic and cook until garlic begins to turn brown.

-Deglaze with wine and vinegar.

-Add sugar and let simmer and reduce for 30 min until mixture reduces to 3/4 cup (or just after 30 min because I am not going to actually measure the mixture)

-Strain the mixture and return the sauce to the heat for 5 more minutes or until a thick syrup is created. (My sauce did not get very thick and I also ate the steak with the strained onions because I love caramelized onions with red meat).

-Preheat the grill on high heat.

-Place steak on hot grill and cook for 5 min on each side.

-Remove steaks and let rest for 3-4 min.

Now the recipe does not state to TURN DOWN THE GRILL...so note to self: TURN DOWN THE GRILL.

So after 5 min when I went to flip the steak, I realized that the steak was fully cooked and about to burn.

I had also made my favorite asparagus dish as well just to round out the meal. While I was setting the table and the kids were getting out of the tub, my 6 yr old yelled "MOMMY, DINNER SMELLS SO DELICIOUS!"

The steak and sauce was actually really good and the caramelized onions were super.

Katie's March Challenge #1 Result - Roasted Chicken

Okay, I pulled out the big ole' roasting pan that I've only used once before at some holiday. I decided to do a twist of Glamour Magazine's "Engagement Chicken".

1 whole roasting chicken

2 lemons

lemon juice

salt & pepper

garlic powder

potatoes

carrots

onions

I poured about 1/2 cup of lemon juice over the chicken, the stuff two whole lemons inside the chicken cavity. I applied a heavy dose of salt and pepper and garlic powder over the chicken. I put the chicken breast side down on the roasting rack. I then cut up large chunks of potatoes, onions and carrots and spread over the bottom of the pan. I put the chicken into a preheated oven at 450 degrees, then turned it down to 350 degrees. After about 15 minutes, I took the chicken out and flipped him over, breast side up. I then cooked for another hour or so. My chicken was STILL not done, so you definitly have to go by the temperature of the chicken, not the timer.

When it was done, it looked like this. I served with the veggies on the bottom. It was delish. We used the leftover chicken the following night on top of a salad. Delish.

Katie's March Challenge #2 Result - Crock Pot "Oven Steak"

Growing up, my mom used to make her own recipe called "Oven Steak". She made it in the oven, and it has such a delicious sauce/gravy that's perfect over mashed potatoes or rice. It's a wonderful recipe for a cold day. I decided to adapt it for the crock pot. It turned out pretty good! The only change I'd make is that in the original recipe, my mom added 1/2 cup of water to the mix. In the crock pot, you can definitely leave that out, as the gravy ended up being much more "soupy" than I was used to.

Here are the very simple ingredients:

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

- 2 lbs of round steak

- garlic powder

- 1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup mix (they only had the Golden Onion flavor at Publix this week)

- can of Cream of Chicken soup

- salt & pepper

Pour the oil in the bottom of the crock pot. Cut the oven steak into 3-4 inch pieces, trimmed of fat. Add the steak to the crock pot. Sprinkle with the garlic powder and salt and pepper. In a bowl, mix together the Cream of Chicken soup and the Lipton Onion Soup powder. Pour over the steak. Cook in crock pot however long you want. I cooked it on low for 8 hours.

It turns out like this:

Serve with your favorite starch, but it's super delish over mashed potatoes. Then throw on some simple veggies, and you're done!
Enjoy!

March Challenge #4

Two weeks have passed since we attended the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. So, my challenge for the month is to recreate a dish or drink that was demonstrated for us at the festival. Check out the Food Network website for recipes. And, remember to take and post pictures!

March Challenge #3: Giada BeKiddingme

Well ladies, yet again there is snow in my backyard. Apparently spring is nowhere in sight! So to help warm me up after the latest wintry mix, please take one of your family's favorite recipes and adapt it for my crockpot. Because there is nothing like coming home at the end of a long cold day to the aroma of a yummy dinner that is cooked and ready to eat! And definitely post recipes and pictures when complete.

Giada

Challenge # 2 for March

The challenge this month from Olive is to grill the main dish for dinner. I have always tried to avoid the grill and make it the hubby's job. But after watching Bobby Flay, I am willing to attempt it. Hopefully the weather will get warmer this month and we all will be able to enjoy the beautiful weather while grillin' our meat.

Welcome to March Challenges!

Welcome to the Cook Club Blog. Inspired by the fabulous events of the 2010 South Beach Wine and Food Festival, our group of foodies decided to take our own culinary skills to the next level with a friendly challenge amongst ourselves. So, each month, we plan to challenge each other to a culinary feat that must be completed in one month's time.

To spice things up a bit, we've all conjured up some fun culinary personas. That leads me to Betty Focker's March Challenge!

The Challenge:
You know you have them: gadgets all smart and shiny from your favorite culinary proprietor, the item that you had to have but only seemed like a good idea. Or specialty pans or serve ware collecting dust in your cabinets. In the month of March, break out that gadget and find a recipe to create a culinary masterpiece using it! Don't forget to include a photo and a recipe in your post, ladies!