Soup de Jour

Our little club continues to get more popular and attracted not only a new judge, but a new competitor, too! The AACC group would like to take this opportunity to welcome Sarah and Ryan Grogger to the group. I, for one, think these two are a fantastic addition to the group and I hope they come back next month.

This month's challenge was a homemade soup and not just the soup, but if the recipe called for stock or broth, you had to make that from scratch, too! We trust everyone followed the rules because each chef was able to recall how they made their stock and what ingredients were included so I suppose there is not reason to question anything.

There was a wide variety again with this challenge. Only Nick and AJ made similar soups - both made a broccoli and cheddar soup although each tasted very different from the other. Julie made a tomato based zucchini soup, Sarah made her famous chicken tortilla soup, Tim brought his French onion soup, Jenna created a crab tomato bisque and I, being the ultra-creative one and being conscious of the fall season, made a pumpkin soup.

Jaime was kind enough to act as our "Chairman" for the event and she did a superb job, but we look forward to her competing again next month. She was kind enough to dish up all the soups and warn us of how HOT they all were.

All of the soups were delicious. Well, at least, I thought all of the soups were better than average and all deserved at least one vote. Although the rest of my AACC colleagues apparently did not share the same sentiment towards my soup. I was the only one that did not receive a single vote. Jerks.

Anyway, as mentioned before although Nick and AJ made the same soup each has a very distinct flavor. AJ used pancetta which brought out a nice salty flavor to balance the bitterness of the broccoli. Although, if you are not a super fan of salt, which sometimes I am not, it could have been a bit too salty for someone. Nick said he used plain bacon in his soup, but all of us agreed it tasted as though it had a splash of clam juice hidden in there somewhere. For whatever reason his pork definitely tasted like fish....strange, I know.

Sarah's chicken tortilla had a nice little spice kick to it. Nothing over powering, but on the back end of the bite you had a hint of heat. Her chicken was very tender and the shredded tortillas in it created a bean flavor which balanced the slight heat. It was very good. I was very impressed in our newest chef's ability. She did tell me earlier in the week she was going to win so I figured she would have a strong showing.

Julie's zucchini soup was good. Reminded me of Italian minestrone minus the noodles. The only problem, well I should say, the only criticism I had about the soup is the chunks of zucchini were massive. You could have easily used a knife and fork to cut it up, but it had great flavor.

Jenna's crab tomato bisque was very nicely executed. As usual, Jenna brings a lot of technical skills to the table. She is much fancier than the rest of us. She even garnished the soup with an asparagus puree which brought coolness to the soup that was nice.

Speaking of fancy, AJ and I had recently lunched at T. Cook's at Royal Palms and both had the lobster tomato bisque and for that reason, neither of us voted for Jenna. While Jenna's had great flavor, we could not help but compare it to the mouth watering, large chunks of lobster goodness that we both very quickly sucked down.

My pumpkin soup was very rustic and straight-forward. I did nothing more than roast the pumpkins scoop out the flesh (minus the seeds) and dump into a pot with the stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Then I dumped the liquid into my food processor and added heavy whipping cream, salt, nutmeg and pure maple syrup. Very simple and very good (again, I sure thought so).

Tim made his mother's famous (so we were told) French onion soup complete with the bread and cheese broiled crouton on top. This was the soup I voted for...it was good. For me, the gooey cheese on top made all the difference. The onions were perfectly tender and the bread perfectly crunchy. He did go a little heavy on the Worcestershire but I could overlook it due to everything else.

After all the tasting and discussing the voting commenced. And the winner was (again).....JENNA M. Yes, Jenna took the trophy home for a second time. She won by one vote. It was a valiant effort and she deserved it (I guess).

After we gave her a round of applause and I handed the trophy over, we moved onto the pallet challenge. AJ provided the ingredients for the contest. The ingredients he used sound elementary, but everyone had a difficult time getting them right. I must admit, I was surprised a few did not nail every single one, but in the end, Jenna won that, too.

So now that I have relived the loss for the second time, I am annoyed and am signing off. Goodbye.

And, oh yeah...
…..congrats again Jenna.

I would like some Salmon with my Dill

After a trip to Costco, we came home with a beautiful piece of fresh salmon. I had been craving fish lately. Needed a break from chicken and ground turkey....badly.

To be totally honest the fish dish was driven more by the fact we bought a bottle of my favorite Pinot Gris from Oregon. King Estate is one of my favorite bottles -- thanks again to Susie Paul for introducing me to it. So with white wine goes fish!


We whipped up some wild rice and grilled asparagus to go with the main dish. Just before plating, AJ got this great idea to make a dill dipping sauce for the salmon.

He used sour cream, fresh dill, a squirt of lemon with a little zest and minced cucumber and presto...we had a nice dipping sauce not only for the fish, but the asparagus was fun to eat with it, too.

It was a delicious little Sunday evening dinner.

Pumpkin + Chocolate = Yummy

I recently received my November issue of Sunset magazine and tucked in the back was an article about the magic chocolate and pumpkin make together. Each recipe sounded delicious, but I honed in on the cupcakes and served them as dessert for our AACC Soup Challenge.

These did not disappoint....absolutely mouth-watering and so simple to make. I will warn you, the cupcake is sort of dense and the icing is somewhat rich, but just a lovely way to end your evening.

I skipped the whipped cream and chocolate pastilles, but I really do not feel it affected the taste of the cupcake in anyway. If you are interested....click here for the recipe http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-pumpkin-cupcakes-50400000117178/

Enjoy! Because I know for certain you will!

Meatloaf Master (That's Me......Jenna B)

And so the fateful day finally arrived on Thursday, October 13. Jenna and Geoff were kind enough to host and host did they ever (I think the above photo gives you an idea)!

This round we had 7 entries.....yeah, our little club is getting popular. The great thing about having that many entries is the variety it brings.

Before I even had time to start researching the ultimate meatloaf, my mother called me with a recipe she had come across in the newspaper. She read it to me and I decided I had to make it. The surprise "element" sold me. More on that to come shortly....

AJ and I both prepared our dishes the night before and cooked them just before heading to the Burke residence. AJ used a traditional loaf pan and I used a 9X9 square pan.

As you can imagine, upon arrival to our hosts' home, we are all begging for a few minutes of oven time to reheat our delicious dishes.

Most of the other contestants also used a loaf pan except for Nick, who managed to cook his loaf using wax paper, foil and a cookie sheet. It sort of lacked any kind of form definition, but he made up for it in his plating for sure. Each contestant had a few minutes in the kitchen to cut up and plate their meatloaf to attempt to keep each entry as secretive as possible. Thankfully, in addition to the 7 competitors we had 5 new tasters which really helped to balance the voting.

We sampled each entry one and a time and chatted about what we were tasting and what we liked. Nick and Jaime went 1 and 2 and both packed super flavor and drew on Mexican influence. Jaime's looked traditional, but had some serious kick and included Mexican Mozzarella and a salsa-like sauce.

Nick's tasted like a enchilada casserole. As mentioned before his plating was very creative (see below). He used a hard shelled tostada as the based, layered with refried beans, his slice of meatloaf and then topped with a fantastic homemade guac sauce. As much as I loved the creativity, it was spicy! I am also a wimp though when it comes to heat....not temperature....after all I do live in Arizona....but spice.

I must admit at this point I was beginning to freak out a little. My meatloaf was next and I was afraid compared to the flavor and spice of the previous two -- mine would taste bland and boring. However, I also had the surprise ingredient in mine which you could only see once plated.....mashed potatoes with ricotta. Upon one bite Geoff's brother-in-law said it reminded him of his grandmother's meatloaf and my confidence was immediately restored. Nothing beats comfort food that reminds you of your youth. I also have to pat myself on the back for using lighter/healthier meats....ground turkey and hot Italian chicken sausage. The sausage gave it a nice kick and the Romano/ricotta/mozzarella helped to keep it moist (I hate that word).

Up next was AJ's meatloaf and it was also extremely flavorful and very "meaty." He used a combination of ground chuck and ground pork, but had also included about a quarter of a pound of sauteed panchetta. Very traditional and very good. I would also like to point out he did not follow a recipe.

Jenna's had a nice sweetness to it because of the veggies she included in the meat. I would probably have to say hers was a hybrid of sorts....if you were not keen on "meatloaf" this would easily surprise you because of the amount of mushrooms, onions, green pepper and spinach in this dish. The meat primarily created some texture to the dish and did not take over in flavor. Her loaf looked more like a log roll (I should have taken a better picture of hers....forgive me). I did, however, take a picture of the beautiful green beans she prepared as a complimentary side for dinner.....

Julie's meatloaf followed and it legitimately tasted like an Italian meatball. Had I been blindfolded....I would have guessed a meatball. Very good and the tomato based sauce was delicious. AJ says it was the "best meatloaf she has ever made." Since she has been cooking for him for 28 years now....I think that says a lot.

And last, but not least, Tim's meatloaf. I feel like the only thing I need to say is that it was wrapped in bacon. I would have put money on AJ voting for this one based on that alone since I truly believe he loves bacon more than me....you know....his wife. But whatever. Tim's was delicious....a little burned on the bottom but good. This seems to be a trend with Tim. If he reads this (which I know he does not).....sorry!

That was a lot of meatloaf..............

It was now voting time and if you could nor tell my the title of this entry......I WON! I did not even vote for myself and I WON! So it was time for the Other Jenna to hand it over......and she did with dignity and honor. I quickly snatched and it and grabbed my phone to call my mom.

After a small celebration on my part.....

We moved onto the blind folded pallet test....Julie was kind enough to supply the group with the ingredients and once again it was not an easy test! She started us with a perogi (which was tough and only AJ got this one) next came shrimp cocktail sauce followed a beef tamale and finishing with a piece of Giradelli's dark chocolate infused with orange. I guessed Rochelle but it did not matter because I only got 3 out of the 4.

AJ won. I feel as though I need to point this out and give him a lot of credit because he has officially been our runner up to ALL 3 challenges now and he is starting to doubt himself especially because he is married to a WINNER! :)

Honestly though the real winners were Homer and Trixie who had to endure all the smells coming from the kitchen all night.....poor doggies!

Thankfully, the 3rd white dog (Payson) was not there otherwise, I would have really felt bad!

 

After a heated debated about the next focus of the AACC challenge, we finally decided on a homemade soup. And when I say homemade, you have to make your own stock if it calls for it! That is intense! Game on. It was a great evening of conversation, eating and winning (well for me). We grabbed a few more of the yummy mini cupcakes and headed home! Thanks again for hosting Jenna and Geoff. 

HAPPY (early) HALLOWEEN!

And for those of you who requested the Mash-in-the-Middle Meatloaf here it is:

1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped finely

3 cloves garlic, chopped finely

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 pound s ground turkey, beef or chicken

(I used 1/2 ground turkey and 1/2 hot Italian chicken sausage - make sure to squeeze out of casing)

1 cup breadcrumbs (Italian-seasoned are best)

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 eggs

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 Romano cheese, grated

3 medium potatoes, peeled, cooked, and mashed

1/2 pounds ricotta cheese (15-ounce container)

1 cup mozzarella or provolone cheese, shredded

• Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until soft and translucent
• Place uncooked ground meat in bowl. Add breadcrumbs, parsley, salt, pepper, eggs, chicken broth and Romano cheese. Mix thoroughly. Add onions and garlic once cooled
• in another bowl, combined mashed potatoes and ricotta
• Grease 8-inch by 10-inch oblong or 9-inch by 9-inc square casserole. Spoon half the meat mixture over the bottom of the dish. Spread mashed potatoes mixture over this, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges so the potatoes can spread. Sprinkle mozzarella, provolone or cheese of choice over potato mixture. Cover with remaining meat mixture and press down edges so that potato mixture doesn't seep out during baking. Top with a sprinkling of shredded cheese if desired.
• Bake at 350 degrees for on hour or until golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving to allow mashed potatoes to firm up.

Recipe by Jan D'Atri from the AZ Republic

And the WINNER is....Jenna

No, not me. The "other Jenna."      

This is probably why I have been delinquent in updating the blog. I will admit it. We are only two contests in and I am already sick and tired of defeat. But I will put on my big girl pants and celebrate Jenna's win for a truly beautiful and delicious apple pie.

This round of the AACC challenge was definitely better structured because we had more judges (thank you Julie, Jaime and Nick) which helped a lot. AJ, Jenna and Tim all created a variation of apple pie and I, being the odd man out, made a peach crumble pie. So obviously the odds were already a little against me. Tim led me to believe he was going to make a lemon meringue pie, but changed his mind at the last minute. Instead he showed up with this......

He probably should have stuck with the lemon meringue. This was supposed to be an apple pie with a
walnut crumble on top, but Tim burned the pie and then did not let it rest so it really crumbled (and not in the good way). As I am writing this, I am thankful Tim rarely uses the Internet and probably does not bother to read this blog. :)

I took a little more time with my placement of peaches this time to try and even out the ratio of peach to crumble topping.

AJ chose to make a carmel apple pie with not only a crumble, but a lattice, too! He definitely won for the pie that was most technically advanced. It was delicious. Both Julie and I voted for his creation (everyone else voted for Jenna's -- I had to vote for my husband's this time to avoid another guilt trip). I particularly enjoyed the cinnamon graham cracker topping AJ topped the pie with. And his homemade whipped cream was to die for. We all voted he would win that contest should there every be one! Here is his pie prior to baking....

     

And here is the pie post baking....

Jenna also made a very traditional apple pie with a lattice crust, as well. She used two variations of apples which incorporated both a sweet and tart taste (I believe she used Granny Smith and Red Delicious). Her crust was light and flaky....as Martha Stewart would say "Its a good thing."

Her lattice was so perfect and tight that it actually
resembles a crumble...it looked like a piece of art.

She rightfully deserved the trophy for the best pie. The contest was so inspiring that our guest judges all decided they want in on the next challenge. After going around the table for every one's suggestion for the next one....we decide on meatloaf. This makes me a little nervous because AJ makes a mean meatloaf, but I am not scared. I think I have found the winning recipe for this one.

We have also incorporated a blind taste test into our AACC meetings....much like the do in Hell's Kitchen each contestant is blind folded and fed four different foods/ingredients and we have to write down what we think it was we ate. It can be raw or cooked. Jenna M. chose the ingredients for this first time and she picked very challenging stuff. Two of the four I had never even tasted before so, of course, I found this to be unfair. Just kidding.....it was tough. Only Geoff and AJ got 3 out of the 4 correct. They were 1) Bamboo Shoot 2) Mashed Peas (it was really baby food and this is the only one I got right!) 3) Tofu and 4) SPAM!

AJ got Spam right and my respect for him lessened just a little. GROSS! Thankfully, my mother never tried to feed me that crap growing up. Thank you Mom!

This was a great addition and Julie volunteered to provide the ingredients for the next meeting....this will be interesting -- I already know it. This is the part I might be scared about.

After all the excitement Tim passed the trophy onto his sister.

But first, I had to take his photo with the hardware to prove he won the first time (we did not have the trophy in time for his win).

And finally an AACC group photo, but we will have to take a new one when we gather again for the meatloaf challenge, but 3 more smiles will join the ever growing and popular club. What can I say? We are trendsetters!

And CONGRATS again Jenna for your Advanced Apple Pie Awesomeness!



AACC Field Trip

Tim scored some tickets to a Diamondbacks game and was kind enough to treat the "Club" to an evening at the diamond. However, because we are a cooking club, we had to do something on the trip related to cooking so we went to sushi prior to the game.

This is Tim's new find and he patrons the establishment, at least, twice a week. It is obvious he is there a lot because the hostess definitely loves her some Tim. It is called Makado and it is located in Chandler. We were there early so it was pretty quite, but sitting at the sushi bar with us was Nick Eason, who plays defensive end for the Cardinals. I really had no idea who the hell he was until I asked his name. I mean, it was obvious he was a football player because he was huge. He was more then huge.....a giant, really. So I had to take a picture with him (totally embarrassing AJ, but whatevs).

Anyway, the sushi was delicious and the happy hour prices are a steal. AJ and I filled up pretty quickly and towards the end of our sushi extravaganza Tim ordered 4 pieces of Uni. Uni, for those of you who do not know is basically sea urchin. He tells me I am going to try it and I tell him there is no way. As much as I love sushi, I also know that I still have a texture issue with some seafood and I have to imagine this will fall into that category.

He won't leave me alone. AJ tries it. Swallows a quarter of the piece and quickly sucks down the remainder of his beer. So I try and just as I figured, it totally grosses me out and I spit it out into a napkin (while gagging at the same time). You can laugh, I won't be offended. Uni is nasty and I cannot believe people eat this crap! Sick. Even as I sit here and write about it, I want to throw up. UGH!

Thankfully, I had enough beer to wash the taste out of my mouth and we decide to get the hell out of there before Tim get order anything else!

We had a great time at the game -- the seats were awesome and allowed us a very different perspective of the field, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We could not stay for the whole game because AJ had a fantasy draft to get home to, but they won the game. I credit their win to our attendance, of course. It was a great evening minus the Uni. Thank Timothy!

TV inspires dinner

Once again, while watching TV we were inspired to try our hand at a new dish. Of course, when I say "we" I mean AJ.

We recently switched from COX Communications back to DirectTV, mainly for football, but we have acquired many other fabulous new channels. One such channel is the Cooking Network. Like we really need to add more shows to our obsessive culinary line-up, but what the hell? The cool thing about this network is it airs past shows and episodes from Food Network. One such show featured Giada enjoying traveling through, what else? FOOD!

She was exploring Jackson Hole, WY and entered into a little saloon-looking dump (from the outside). However, this was far from a hole in the wall. This was a fancy, but rustic Italian eatery and she ordered a dish called Braciole. Much like my last name, the pronunciation of the word is nothing like how it is spelled. Nonetheless, this dish looked amazing. I actually think AJ might have stopped breathing for a short period of time. As soon as the show was over, he was in on the computer searching for a recipe. He quickly found a Giada recipe....hard to fathom, right? Sure.

This dish is typically prepared using flank steak, but AJ substitute that for a pork tenderloin because that is what we had in the freezer. Hey....you got to make it work sometimes.

He sliced the tenderloin in half without cutting all the way through. Stuffed it with mushrooms, Italian bread crumbs, garlic, fresh parm, and a little salt & pepper. It resembled a dry rub when he applied it. Then using butcher's twine secured the tenderloin into a log.

Next he put together the mixture of a dry white wine, EVOO and marinara sauce. He added the Braciole to the mixture and browned it for about 8 minutes and then stuck it in the oven. While the Braciole was in the oven we ate our salads with my favorite homemade dressing (from previous blog eatery). For the sides, we did the snap pea and fennel salad again because it is totally awesome and we served some warmed rosemary bread. We did not want to serve too much food because on the menu for dessert was my trial attempt at the peach pie.

I highly recommend this dish. It was so flavorful and the meat was super tender. There is no reason to set a knife out when setting the table for this one. It was even better warmed up the next day because the meat has absorbed even more of the sauce.

If you are interested in this recipe, click here. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/braciole-recipe/index.html. You will not be disappointed, I promise.

We finished the evening with a warm slice of the peach pie and because I am so damn impressed with myself, I am going to post another picture of it for you.

My First Time...

Baking a homemade pie! Wow....you people are dirty! I cannot believe you would think I would write about that in my cooking blog!

I decided if I really want to win the upcoming homemade fruit pie challenge, I needed to do a trial run. I have been doing my homework for the past few weeks and decided on a very basic Martha Stewart pie crust. I also decided to follow one of Martha's recipes for the filling of the pie. What can I say? I do love me some Martha (plus, AJ always calls me Martha Jr.).

The pie crust created the perfect opportunity for me to try out the new food processor that my mom gave AJ for Christmas. We had been so busy with everything wedding related earlier in the year, we had yet to pull it out of the box. I have quickly fallen in love with it though. I will have to name it (my Kitchen-Aid is named McMixer in honor of Grey's).

After pulsing the ingredients together for the crust, I shaped it into a disc, covered it in saran wrap and put it in the fridge for about 3 hours. The recipe calls for the dough to chill for, at least, an hour. You could even make this the night before if you were running short on time.

The filling was an easy decision because I love peaches. Costco has a smoking deal on peaches right now and it provides enough for two pies worth. The filling is super easy -- 8 cups of peaches, some light brown sugar and a little flour and set aside to allow peaches to sort of suck the dry ingredients up.

The crumble consisted of rolled oats, flour, light brown sugar and butter. This would be fun to make with kids because it requires you to mix with your hands in order to create a good consistency.

I decided to use the thumb squeeze technique for the actual border of the pie crust. I like the rustic look of this over other methods. Once in the pie dish, dump the peaches in and then even disperse the crumble.

The pie was in the oven for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. And definitely attracted attention.

I served the pie after enjoying a beautiful meal AJ created ( I will blog about that next) for his mom (Julie), her boyfriend (Ken) and his son, Jack. For the first time ever making a pie, I was pleased with the results. As was Jack, he had two pieces.

I think I have a pretty strong chance of taking down the competition with this one. Cross your fingers for me. I want that damn trophy and prove AJ and Tim wrong. They told me the only time I was going to be in possession of the award was when I opened the box it was shipped in! Jerks.

What do you think of my pie?