A Couple in the Kitchen

1.07.2013

Featured On: Simple Recipes

Simple Recipes is featuring our Sparkling Lemon and Blueberry Terrine on their blog today. If you have a sweet tooth but are trying to lighten things up after the holidays, give this berrylicious dessert a try!

1.01.2013

Happy New Year! Happy Bloggaversary! We're celebrating with Brie-Stuffed French Toast!

Happy New Year! And it's our 5th Bloggaversary! Yes, we started this blog on New Year's Day 2008. Wow - tempus fugit indeed. We are winding down the season of gluttony and desperately trying to ignore that pinch around our waistlines where our pants are feeling a tad snug (thanks a lot, cookies, candy and deliciously evil homemade Chex mix!). We suppose we can ignore it for another day, since for one last indulgent hurrah before we go back to school and into the real world of 2013, we came up with a doozie of a breakfast - Brie-Stuffed French Toast. We used good Italian bread, a square log of Trader Joe's "slicing brie," and some wonderfully sweet-tart homemade jam from one of Chris's coworkers (thanks, M!). Adding to the luscious flavor was a zippy Roasted Saigon Cinnamon we spotted on the clearance shelf at our market. Cheers to decadence and may you all have a happy and healthy New Year!

Brie-Stuffed French Toast

(makes 4 "sandwiches")

Ingredients:

4 extra-thick slices fresh Italian bread

4 slices brie, rind removed
2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

dash pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup berry jam

Preheat oven to 350. Cut a slit halfway between the slices of Italian bread and place a slice of brie inside it. "Squish" the bread down a little to close it up. Prepare the French toast mixture by whisking together the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Melt the butter on a griddle over medium-high heat. Soak the "sandwiches" in the French toast mixture then place them on the griddle. Cook until golden brown, then flip and brown the other side. Place the griddle with the "sandwiches" on it in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes, to ensure the brie melts. Serve with berry jam.

12.31.2012

Guest Post: Baked Chicken with Apricot Glaze, Sage and Lemon Zest

One thing 2012 seemed to be was the year everyone we knew read the Fifty Shades trilogy. Amy and her BFF Karen read it at the same time and chatted about it on the phone, in texts, and finally, over their 40th birthday girls' weekend in Vermont, even going so far as to add a vanilla ice cream cone charm on their bestie charm bracelet! In honor of 2012, we've asked Karen to do a guest post inspired by the books. Thanks, Karen! And to everyone, Happy New Year and thanks for reading!

Karen writes:

After spending my summer reading the popular Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy I laughed hysterically when I received for Christmas Fifty Shades of Chicken: A Parody in a Cookbook. I have to say it has been the perfect gift for a foodie/Christian Grey groupie! It is told through the eyes of Miss Hen who is being “cooked” by her chef Blades. The recipes, and stories which accompany them, mirror the steamy books from the first meeting (to the first of many other things) all the way to the happy ending presented in dishes such as “Plain Vanilla Chicken” and “Popped-Cherry Pullet” to “Roast Me All Night Long Chicken” and “Chicken with Hearts and Flowers.” No cookbook would be complete without side dishes and this one wouldn’t be complete without “Taters, Baby”!! So, I now find myself on a quest to cook all 50 chicken recipes (and maybe even some sides)!

I have chosen to begin with “Baked chicken with apricot glaze, sage and lemon zest.” As Miss Hen says in describing the dish, “I’m in warm pieces all over the plate. My own juices mingle with the sticky sweet jam he’s spread all over me. My skin feels melting and soft. He ignores the fine silver flatware and picks up a thigh with both hands. Wow.” You can see why I chose to start there!

Here is the recipe (serving for 2) with a few minor changes made by me….

Mix 3 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil with 1 ¼ tsp sea salt and ¾ tsp pepper

Place 4 chicken thighs in a plastic storage bag and pour in the oil mixture

Massage the thighs with the mixture then place sprigs of sage on the chicken

Tighten the bag and place it in the refrigerator “until the chicken is begging you for it, about 6 hours or overnight”

Preheat the oven to 400

In a bowl, grate the zest from one lemon, squeeze the juice and add 1/3 of a cup of apricot spread, 1tsp Worcestershire sauce and 1 large clove of garlic minced

Remove the sage from the chicken and spread the sticky jam all over the chicken

Lay the thighs in a 9x13 baking dish “leaving plenty of breathing room between each succulent morsel”

Bake 45-55 minutes “until the skin is alluringly golden and the juices run clear when pricked”

Enjoy a sweet and juicy dish!

Serve with:

Sage and Marcona Almonds with Rosemary Pesto Pasta

(not in cookbook – just something special for my Bestie!!!)

Pulse in food processor:

10 sage leaves

2 cloves of garlic

½ lemon zest

1tsp lemon juice

1/8 cup Marcona Almonds with Rosemary

2 tblsp Pecan Oil then add Extra Virgin Olive Oil until desired consistency

Toss with pasta

12.30.2012

Wordless Weekender: A Present from Our Nieces

The Most Amazing Italian Stuffed Peppers

(thank you, ladies!)

12.24.2012

Christmas Present(s)

Last week, we offered up some of our favorite holiday cookie and candy recipes from Christmases past. Admittedly, several of these are annual traditions, without which our Christmas Eve table and foodie gift packages to the neighbors would not be complete (especially our Buckeyes, Rosemary-Almond Butter Toffee, and Rum Balls). Of course, we did try a couple of new things we want to share with you. Thus, we give you Christmas Present(s), with photos and links to the recipes we used, along with notes on how we adapted them. Enjoy!

Brownie Thins

We used this recipe from Epicurious, replacing the pistachios with walnuts

(and leaving a few plain for Amy's dad who doesn't like nuts). Crisp thin brownie wafers!

Geoffrey Zakarian's Vanilla Crescents

We are going on a cruise this summer and Geoffrey Zakarian has a restaurant on the cruise. We are so excited because he is one of our favorite Food Network Chefs. So of course we had to make these cookies. We used almond flour instead of hazelnut flour. Delicately crumbly, light and pretty.

Cookie Press Shortbreads

We used this recipe in our new electric cookie press and had fun decorating our little trees, poinsettias and wreaths. Sooo easy!

Chocolate "Amaretti" Cookies

First we thought, why buy Italian cookies when you can make them? Then we realized we had no Amaretto. And no almonds. No big deal - we used 2/3 cup almond flour and Biscotti flavored liqueur instead and they came out fantastic. A great cookie for the adults!

Grapefruit Sparklers

Epicurious was our source for this recipe as well. However, a school fund-raiser left us with 10 lbs. of grapefruit, so we used grapefruit zest and grapefruit juice to give these a zingy twist. Of all the cookies listed here, these were our favorites!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM A COUPLE IN THE KITCHEN!!!

12.18.2012

Soups by Panera Bread

When Daily Buzz Food chose us to be Tastemakers for Panera Bread soups, we were quite excited. While we've been to our local Panera quite often, we haven't been in a long time and we were looking forward to see what new things they had to offer. Although we received a gift card in the mail to put toward our meal and to compensate us for our blog post, we want to note that all the opinions we state here are our own.

We love to make soup and make it often out of fresh, seasonal ingredients. Therefore, when we do try soups from the grocery store, we are usually disappointed. We stopped buying canned soup altogether, because of the high sodium content, lack of flavor, and general mushiness of the contents. That is one thing we have to give Panera. Their soups are definitely fresh, with great care obviously taken to ensure they are made with high quality ingredients. They are flavorful and delicious, hot and tasty. And with a variety of choices that change daily, there is one that will suit everyone's taste and dietary needs. Speaking of which, it's great that they label which ones are low-fat, all-natural, and/or vegetarian, and they post the calories in each portion right on the menu (see below).

It's that extremely busy time of year, so we decided to get our Panera to go. We each chose items from the "You Pick 2" menu - a pretty good deal that offers a cup of soup with either a sandwich or salad as well as a side of fruit, bread or chips. Amy went with the French Onion Soup and Asian Chicken Salad with a side of baguette; Chris had the Low-Fat all-Natural Chicken Noodle Soup and the Chipotle Chicken Panini, also with a side of bread (it's our opinion that one must have bread with soup!).

While the salad (amazing dressing) and panini (great smoky flavor) were delicious, the soups were the star of the show. It's hard to see in the picture below, but the chicken noodle soup was chock-full of fresh carrots, onions and celery that (thankfully) weren't mushy, tender all-white chicken breast, and perfectly cooked egg noodles in a nicely seasoned, not too salty, chicken broth. Our only complaint was that we didn't opt for a bigger portion!

The French onion soup had plenty of soft, sauteed onions, nicely caramelized in butter and seasonings in a dark beef broth that had lots of flavor but wasn't too strong. There were hints of tomato in the layers of flavor and a unique blend of Asiago and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. As a nice touch, the homemade croutons were packaged in a little bag on the side so as not to get too soggy.

It is obvious to us that the soupmakers at Panera know what they are doing. And while our Panera location is pretty close to us, we have noticed that our local grocery store has recently started selling Panera soup in its freshly made foods area. Having been reminded (thanks to Panera and Daily Buzz Food) of how fresh, well-made, and deliciously satisfying they are, we'll be picking them up more often to enjoy on those days when making our own just isn't in the cards. To sum up, Panera soups are highly recommended by A Couple in the Kitchen - they are almost as good as homemade.

12.16.2012

The Posts of Christmases Past

You all know The Ghost of Christmas Past, the famous Dickens character from A Christmas Carol. Along those lines, here we offer you the (slightly less famous) Posts of Christmases Past - A Couple in the Kitchen's round-up of our favorite cookies and candies from past holiday seasons to inspire you while you finish up your baking and gifting. Happy holidays!

Favorite Holiday Cookies: