Chicken with Cannellini Beans and Tomatoes

What's that?  Two blog posts in one week? Thank Adrienne, who after hoarding piles of Realsimple magazines, dug through her collection and found two recipes that were both....well, real simple and real good.

This week of cooking has made me realize 2 things:

1. Adding fresh herbs is a must for just about any dish made at home. The flavors we got out of basic pork and chicken with nothing but salt, pepper and a few herbs was incredible
2. I need to grow my own herbs.  HEB has everything you need, but at 3 bucks a pop for a bundle of herbs, I'm paying more for that than the meal itself.  My hope was to wait for a new house, but this may be a porch project in the near future.

Ingredients

• 2 15.5-ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 sprigs fresh oregano, plus leaves for garnish
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 3 pounds total)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425° F. In a 9-by-13-inch (or some other large) baking dish, toss the beans and tomatoes with the thyme and oregano sprigs, garlic, red pepper, 1 tablespoon of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
2. Pat the chicken dry and place on top of the bean mixture, skin-side up. Rub with the remaining tablespoon of oil; season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
3. Roast until the chicken is golden and cooked through, 35 to 45 minutes. Sprinkle with the oregano leaves.

 Recipe can also be found here

Final product (again, no prep shots):

Roasted Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes and Kale

We finally sold the condo and moved into an apartment out close to Oak Hill while we wait on our dream house to hit the market. I was a little concerned that moving away from a downtown setting where everything you need is a walk or quick drive away would have spoiled us for suburban living.  Turns out, there's just as much, if not more, readily available in our new hood and we've taken full advantage.  Plus, less homeless people dying in our bushes or Rockabilly musicians dying around the corner.  So we have that going for us, which is nice.  New posts coming on Jack Allen's Kitchen and Cyprus Grill and maybe a few others we discover here soon.  However, now that we're settling in, its time to return to the kitchen and try and get those eating expenses down a scosh (Adrienne, sp?)

I made a much needed grocery run yesterday after work.  We tolerated the Oltorf HEB at our old place b/c, frankly, it was right across the street.  We knew it wasn't great, but it was convenient and made for good people watching at any hour of the night.  I tried out our new HEB...the mecca of HEB's on Escarpment.  Holy hell.  This is what a grocery store should be.  Wide aisles, carts with working wheels, extensive selection, great produce,wine tastings...are you f'n kidding me???  Ghetto HEB's, we're done.  I'm home now.

On the menu last night was a meal with actual sides...something I tend to forget to do when I find a main course I really want to try out.  This was ridiculously simple, and relatively quick on turnaround time.  I substituted sweet potatoes for the butternut squash.  Nothing elaborate or worth taking pictures of until the final product, but here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds)—peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1⁄2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 bone-in pork chops (each 1 inch thick; about 2 pounds total)
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 large bunch kale, thick ribs removed and leaves roughly chopped (about 14 cups)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400° F. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the squash with the sage, 1 tablespoon of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 30 to 35 minutes.
2. When the squash has cooked for 20 minutes, heat 1 teaspoon of the remaining oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season the pork with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook until browned, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
3. Transfer the pork to the baking sheet with the squash and roast until the pork is cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes more.
4. Meanwhile, return the skillet to medium heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the kale, ¼ cup water, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, tossing the kale and scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the skillet, until the kale is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Serve with the pork and squash.

A microcosm of my evening. Dinner, cocktail, bumbo, play mat

Pork chop was cooked perfectly, sweet potatoes jived well with the sage, kale was delicious.

Stared while I devoured my meal.  Jealous a little bit perhaps?

Asian Orzo Salad - A return to blogging

So, it's been 9 months since my last post and coincidentally, the reason for my hiatus was largely a result of another life event taking place over 9 months.  Charlotte was born in February and the months leading up to her birth and especially after her birth have been a blur.  There was minimal cooking going on.  Nothing that stands out too much.  However, I knew if I didn't get something up soon, I'd likely lose all 6 followers so I'm diving back in.

A new baby is a miraculous thing.  She'll make you smile, she'll make you love, she'll make you eat just about anything you can get your hands on in the brief 5 minutes you have to eat a meal.  Burgers, pizza, endless lists of takeout food were consumed over the last 5 months.  While Adrienne has a nice breast feeding diet going on (and looks AMAZING), yours truly has ballooned in size.  The task at hand is to cut back on the junk, produce something healthy and produce it quickly....en masse.  The other trick is making something dairy free that'll keep mom and baby happy.

Enter, asian orzo salad.  If you time it right, you're looking at about 30 minutes including prep and cook time.  Simple ingredients, enough to last 3-4 days and nutritious.

    1 (9-ounce) package frozen sugar snap peas

    1 (16-ounce) package orzo, cooked and drained

    1 cup water chestnuts, drained and chopped

    3 cups diced cooked chicken

    3 green onions, chopped

    1 medium red bell pepper, diced

    1/2 cup vegetable oil

    3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

    2 tablespoons soy sauce

    2 teaspoons hoisin sauce

    1 (2-ounce) package slivered almonds, toasted (1/2 cup)

Cook up your rice while you bake your chicken, mix in the veggies, add the almonds and top it off with the sauce.  I cut back on the vegetable oil to about 1/3 cup and upped the hoison to 3 teaspoons.  Serve it right away or put it in the fridge to chill.  Low-fat, easy prep, easy meal.  Just in time to take over baby bouncing duty.

No shots during production, but here's the final product.

Risotto al Funghi - Adventures in Stirring

I've likely mentioned it before, but my favorite show on the tube is Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations.  Great writer (just finished his latest book, Medium Raw) and great TV personality.  His latest episode documented his first trip to Rome, shot in black and white.  The final scene was he and a friend on a beach in the Mediterranean cooking up a feast for family and friends.  Among many amazing looking dishes, was a simple risotto, cooked in a big pot over a grill.

I've always wanted to try making my own, but have heard countless horror stories of how long it takes, how patient you must be, etc.  These are things I'm not necessarily good at.  I like to cook, but if you look at most of my posts, its simple and its usually pretty quick.  Time be damned, I found a recipe that looked great and decided to give it a go.  End result: 5 noms out of 5.

Recipe can be found here

The major players:

 Get yourself a saute going:

In a new pan, sear the Arborio rice:

Begin adding the warm broth, 1 cup at a time:

Stir till the rice soaks it up:

Repeat 7 more times and trust me when I say, with time and stirring, that rice will soak it all up no matter how disheartened and skeptical you may be.  Finished product looks a little something like:

Closeup:

Now mix in your mushroom/truffle magic:

Add some Parmesan and a splash of additional truffle oil (mmmmm, fungus):

Plate and destroy.  You too can cook risotto.

Few notes:
1. This yielded a ton and we'll be consuming leftovers tonight with enough left for at least 2 more servings.
2. The recipe called for dried Porcini mushrooms.  At 49.99 a freaking pound, I didn't bother to do the math to figure out an ounce...I skipped and compensated with more portabella.
3. Truffle oil, also not cheap but I plan to make good use of it going forward.  Great flavors.












 

Your Mom's Burger Bar

Not much to write as I'm climbing my way slowly out of a burger coma.  Met a few friends for lunch today at a new burger joint called Your Mom's over on East Cesar Chavez.  If you haven't been following the 104.9 burger bracket, they selected 64 of Austin's best burgers and put them into a NCAA tourney type faceoff.  Your Mom's had been getting a lot of love, so we gave it a go.

Food A+
I went with my favorite genre of burger and got the Buffalo Bill:
1/2 Lb. burger tossed in Buffalo's Don't Fly Sauce, stuffed with blue cheese, jalapenos, wrapped in bacon with a touch of ranch and a sauteed green chili on a toasted wheat bun.

To quote Ken Griffey Jr's one show stint on The Simpsons "Its like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited".   Unreal.  Cooked to perfection, perfect amount of add-ons, so so good.  The fries weren't bad and had a unique seasoning to them, but they could have been crispier.

Service C-
Its a small place and its not really clear when you walk in if there's a line or just people standing around, let alone where you're supposed to order.  Once you do, you wait for your burger to be brought out.  You wait....and you wait, and you wait.  Casino El Camino looks like Junior at the Union Wendy's in comparison.  By the time mine came out, I'd blown through my lunch break and had to take it to go.

If you have some time to waste, definitely go check it out but if you're looking for something quick on your lunch break, don't bother.

jittery hands + iphone = craptastic photos

Max's Wine Dive

Since the Greece trip, its been slow goings in the Huebner food world.  Some homemade pizzas will be appearing soon on the blog.  In the meantime, Adrienne and I decided to head out and treat ourselves.  I suggested a long overdue return to Max's Wine Dive downtown (mostly b/c I drive by it everyday on the way home and I was dying to get back). 

We'd been once for a birthday celebration and ended up buying (and drinking) a case of wine with a group of friends last time and figured we'd give it a romantic go just the two of us this time.  No cases were ordered, but the wine and the food were outstanding.  One of the local news crews was there doing closeups with plated dishes under some nice lighting with their cameras.  Sadly, iPhone was my only option.  Here's to the idea that iPhone 4 is necessary for pixel improvement for unplanned blog photos! Ok, maybe not.  Onto the amateur food porn:

Adrienne had Max's wrap:  Grilled spinach wrap stuffed with roasted seasonal vegetables and provolone cheese with a house salad with a '06 Domaine Carneros Brut (Napa).

As for me, I couldn't pass up the special of the day: Wagyu beef with grilled mushrooms, black truffles and spring salad with a Martin Fierro Cabernet.  The meat, my God, the meat.

This is one of my favorite places to go as the food is always amazing and the wine selection is hard to beat.  Houstonians and San Antonians, don't be jealous....they've got locations there too.

Sammich shop - Food Heads

Met Adrienne for lunch today at a sandwich place on 34th just off the drag called Food Heads.  She got the rec from a coworker who has a finger on the pulse of the Austin food scene.  Despite being 10 blocks down the road from me, I'd never heard of it but the menu looked solid.

Parking was a little suspect as any pseudo West Campus location suffers from, but the sandwiches....oh the sandwiches.

Adrienne got the Grilled Portabellas & Bleu Cheese ($6.75)
Served on toasted sourdough with fresh spinach, tomato and blackberry balsamic vinaigrette.  My inner carnivore prevented me from ordering this, so I was glad she did.  The combination of portabella, bleu cheese and vinaigrette was outstanding.  Crisp sourdough worked well.

I had the Spicy Apple Pork Tenderloin Sandwich  ($8.25)
Marinated and grilled pork tenderloin on toasted baguette with smoked gouda, spinach, spicy apple relish & honey dijon. With all those ingredients, surprisingly it was the honey dijon that really made the sandwich.  The spicy apple relish wasn't all that flavorful and the flavor of the pork was just kind of meh.  But the dijon along with the bread really saved it.

I overheard a customer talking to one of the waitresses about where they got their bread.  Everything they have is local (nice touch) and we may have to pay a visit to Panaderia Chuy soon.  This is about the 3rd recommendation I've gotten for this place and I love me some bread.

Final verdict, great sandwiches and great location but a little on the pricey side.  There are a few other items on their menu I'd like to try so I'll be back but it probably won't make the regular sammich rotation.  Jimmy John's has nothing to fear.