The Long Overdue Foodie Girls' Weekend

I mean seriously long overdue. With moving, adjusting to a new job and life's every day challenges it's been a while since I've been able to get out and explore some fun foodie destinations, so when the chance to head to Missouri to visit my friend Mary, I knew I'd have to do it. You might remember Mary. She has shared recipes with us before and has an amazing selection of recipes from her "labouratory" in The House on Vine. The House on Vine is located in a quaint small town about 20 miles from Hannibal, Missouri, and is a mecca for friends who are looking for a fabulous dinner or a spacious and welcoming porch to relax and enjoy a cocktail to wind down. Mary's front porch is the perfect all American spot- wide overhang, big white pillars, loads of shade and comfy furniture, accented with pots of beautiful flowers and colorful candles to light the night. Wispy outdoor curtains flutter in the breeze. It's so perfect.

So anyway, we made plans to spend a weekend doing fun foodie things. I arrived in town on a gorgeous summer afternoon and was treated to a tour of the town. The weekend was wide open- do we cook? Do we eat out? Mary has planned ahead and has everything on hand to make a light dinner of grilled bruschetta caprese or a pear and brie pizza, but after visiting a while we decide to head to the local Mexican spot for dinner and a margarita. Dos Primos in Monroe City was a great dinner spot. Like my favorite Mexican place out by the lake Dos Primos is a family owned and operated restaurant with delicious food and fantastic margaritas.

We were both ready for a cocktail when we got there and who passes up a margarita in an authentic Mexican place? Not us!! Mary decided to go with a house special- a salad topped with grilled steak and I had the Pollo Vallarta- a thin-pounded chicken breast, seasoned and pan seared, topped with grilled shrimp, queso blanco and vegetables. It was so ridiculously good. We left full and happy and headed back to the porch for a glass of wine before hitting the bed. Tomorrow we planned on getting up bright and early and heading to Quincy, Illinois, and Hannibal for more fun and some foodie adventures.

Mary has fresh quail eggs! We simply MUST play
in the kitchen with these guys!!!

Saturday was a bright, sunny and warm day- perfect for some touristy stuff. Mary made us a light breakfast of avocado toast with tomato and a couple slices of bacon- it hit the spot and staved off the hunger until lunch time. As we headed out I got to see a little more of Monroe City including a produce resale shop, where the local Amish bring their produce to sell. I got a nice bag of fresh green beans and a bunch of onions to bring home with me, and then we were off on the road.

I got the tour of Quincy and we stopped at a couple shops, then headed to the riverfront for lunch. The Mississippi River makes quite an impression if you've never seen it. Riverboats, barges and small boats were all out and about that day. Like a tourist, I took several pictures. Right on the riverfront is a cute little restaurant and bar called Chicks on the River.

It reminded me of the Court Avenue District here in Des Moines- exposed brick inside, lots of patio seating and an open kitchen. The restaurant features "lips" which turn out not to be lips at all but a chicken breast filet which is battered and fried and served with all sorts of delicious things. We both chose the Spud with Lips, a great big baked potato with cheese, onion, bacon, ranch, sour cream and chicken tossed in your choice of sauce. I chose the barbeque (because I have been craving barbequed chicken for weeks) and Mary chose Buffalo. Oh man.... talk about delicious! The batter  is light and crispy and the chicken stays so juicy. The barbeque sauce was sticky, spicy and sweet.

As a side we split the Mushroom Fries- a huge portabella mushroom cap sliced, battered, fried and served with dipping sauce. I had never tasted anything like this and would gladly drive back to Illinois just to have one!

After lunch we headed back across the river to Missouri and were on our way to Hannibal. We saw a few touristy sights, and went downtown to stop in the Mississippi Marketplace- which is exactly the kind of store I love. The shelves were lined with gourmet spices, mixes, teas, coffees, candies, and kitchen gadgets and dishes. Kitchen towels were displayed everywhere, and incredibly enough I resisted buying any, nor did I buy anything from the large display of Rada knives, though I was very tempted. We browsed, sampled, browsed some more and made our selections.

The next stop was Java Jive. This cool little coffee haven boasts a large menu of sandwiches and baked goods, loads of tempting coffee drinks and teas, Italian sodas, soups and more. The room is filled with comfy couches and chairs and beckons for you to sit and relax a while. We sure did. Mary ordered an iced chai tea and I had the ginger peach iced tea which was fabulous!

We toodled around town after, passed the Fiesta Del Sol Craft Beer Fest downtown and headed to our dinner destination, LaBinnah Bistro. Set in an old Victorian home that some claim to be haunted, LaBinnah is an enchanting restaurant with cuisine from all over the world. Soft lighting warms the room, draped ceilings give a romantic feel, and a gorgeous fireplace as the focal point in the dining room makes this restaurant truly special. We started out with a glass of wine- Chardonnay for Mary and Pinot Grigio for me.

The menu is surprisingly large and varies from American style dinners such as grilled steaks- HUGE steaks, as we saw on our dining neighbors' table, to Turkish and African specialties. Mary's choice was The Chicago, an unbelievably juicy and tender roasted chicken breast with an apricot ginger medley, lightly steamed asparagus and new potatoes. It was so succulent and tender- I have never in my life seen or tasted chicken so tender.

I chose the South Pacific, a large portion of great big shrimp with lime, herbs and coconut, grilled not fried like so many other coconut shrimp, served with the same vegetables. The shrimp were huge, perfectly cooked and expertly seasoned. The potatoes were draped in an aioli that was just like velvet and so flavorful. This was truly a very memorable dinner.

The dessert menu was massive. I've seen many many many dessert menus and at the most, they may feature five or six items. This dessert menu had no fewer than twenty offerings. Cakes, tortes, truffles, cheesecakes, and housemade baklava. I bet you can guess what we chose. I've never had baklava before, if you can imagine that, so we split dessert and it was heavenly. Loaded with walnuts between layers of tender filo, sticky syrup and just a little fluff of whipped cream on the side. So so so delicious.

We capped our Saturday night with another evening on that gorgeous porch, with the cool summer breeze blowing, and a chocolate martini for a nightcap.

Sadly......weekends don't last very long, and neither did this one. It was time to head back to Iowa way too soon, but you can bet Mary and I are already planning our next Girls Weekend adventures.

No Recipe Cooking - Pepper Steak

A few nights ago I was struggling to come up with an idea for dinner. My checkbook laughed at me when I considered take out and the fridge was looking a little pathetic. As I stood there with the door wide open, basically refrigerating the rest of the kitchen, I thought surely I can come up with something, right? I had a few different salad veggies, although no lettuce or spinach, a small piece of sirloin steak, some seasonings and sauces, and a pantry full of staples. Now I could have just cooked the steak, thrown a potato in the micro and called it a day, but I was hoping for something a little better, and a way to stretch that piece of steak into a meal for two.

Standing in the kitchen, feeling completely uninspired, my mind wandered off into memories, laughing to myself at some of the dishes my mom used to make. We have talked about Erika before. Don't get me wrong, my mom made some really incredible dinners. She made that chicken paprika, as she called it, that is one of the best things I have ever eaten. Her lentil soup and potato pancakes were always a family favorite, and still are when my family begs me to make it. Pot roast was perfection in our house growing up. Mom's gravy was awesome, and the roasted potatoes would get beefy and browned in a way I have been able to replicate in my own kitchen. She surely had her secrets.

And then........she had some things that were total bombs. Dad prided himself on his yearly garden and would pick whatever fresh vegetable of the day for Mom to make for dinner. Mom cooked vegetables to death. Fresh green beans no longer resembled fresh green beans, they were more like canned beans. Same with broccoli. Gone was the bright green and slight crunch and in it's place, a bowl of dull, brown, limp looking florets that even cheese sauce couldn't salvage. It was during these memories that I finally got an idea- with 4 or 5 bell peppers in the drawer, why not make pepper steak! I always have Asian style spices and sauces around, and a big container of rice to cook- yes, pepper steak it is. What does this have to do with my mom? Guys.......her pepper steak, though delicious, was one of those dishes that would end up being stripped of all texture and color and end up looking like something I cannot even describe.

Moms favorite cut of meat was round steak. The big whole slab of round steak with the little round bone in the middle. She would pull out the built in sliding cutting board and slap that big slab on there and cut it into strips. Mom had a special pan just for making her pepper steak, a big black enameled metal roaster and she would heat that thing until it was screeching hot and then add some oil and brown that steak. If you have ever coked anything with round steak you know this is not a tender cut of meat. So mom browned it, then added a bunch of water and beef bouillon cubes (she looooved those bouillon cubes) and some soy sauce. That's it. Simple. Then she would slice up a couple onions and several green bell peppers and add them to the pot. Cover goes on, and that pot would simmer for along long long time. Long enough to make that steak tender as can be, but also cooked those peppers and onions until they were very very very soft and faded. Like me, Mom always made rice to go with it, and it was one of our favorite dinners, in spite of the soft peppers. 

Years later my mom would discover the wonders of an electric wok and her pepper steak cooking would be revolutionized. No more cooking in the roaster, she would, as she would say in her terrible English, "steer fry" the steak and vegetables before popping on the lid and going through the same long simmer in that bright red electric appliance. Good times folks, good times. I'd give anything to have that pepper steak just one more time.

Fast forward to today, and me standing in the kitchen. I grab my little sirloin and season liberally with steak seasoning- I keep it in a small crock right on the stove top because I use it for literally everything. Slice it up and throw it in a bowl. Add a few cloves chopped garlic, several good splashes of soy sauce, a couple tablespoons of oyster sauce, and a dash of red pepper flakes for just a hint of heat.

Next I cut a great big sweet Vidalia onion into thin wedges and tossed that in the bowl as well, One red bell pepper, one green bell pepper and half of an orange bell pepper that was leftover from a salad went next, sliced into strips. Instead of a roasting pan or fancy electric wok, I grabbed my handy IKEA Skanka pan, basically a handled wok, and preheated over high heat. Once the pan was very hot I swirled a couple tablespoons of oil in the pan and added the steak strips and vegetables. Cook over very high heat, tossing and stirring until the meat is cooked an the veggies are still crisp tender. Don't cover, don't simmer and don't cook the vegetables to death.

Serve over hot cooked rice with additional soy sauce for a quick No Recipe Needed dinner.

Clean Out The Fridge Dinner

Let's face it, we all have those nights. It's been a busy day running errands, driving around, laundry, cleaning, working in the yard. Now the dinner hour is looming ahead and you find yourself hungry so you head into the kitchen hoping for inspiration. Opening the fridge reveals the weirdest combination of things ever. A couple butterflied boneless pork loin chops. Half a package of baby spinach leftover from making salads. A small handful of garlic cloves and a small onion that needs to be used up. The cupboard is nearly as uninspired. Some spices, half a can of bread crumbs, a little parmesan cheese.

While that may not sound as inspiring as just calling for takeout, you actually have the makings for a pretty delicious and fairly quick to fix dinner. Want to know more? Keep reading to the easiest no-recipe meal ever.

The butterflied pork chops are just begging to be stuffed with something delicious. I grabbed a small handful of garlic cloves- I used 5, but use garlic to taste. Chop it up real small. You can use already minced garlic from a jar if you have it, or even garlic powder. Chop up about 1/4 cup onion too. Mince it up nice and small. Melt a little butter in a skillet and add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Cook slowly for 5 or so minutes until softened.

While that's going grab that half a package of baby spinach and chop it up coarsely. A couple good sized handfuls is all you need. Throw that in the skillet too and saute for a few minutes until wilted. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Add a small handful of breadcrumbs and a small handful of parmesan cheese and mix it up.

Line a baking sheet with foil and butter it liberally. Place the chops on the foil. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the spinach stuffing between the chops, fold over and secure with pics. Brush the top of the chops with a little more butter and sprinkle with additional bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until done. So delicious and so easy and hey- no recipe needed!!

Guest Chef- Katie and the Soroka Family Pierogies

Since I have never made, or even eaten, a pierogi in my life, when my friend Katie asked if I'd like to come over and learn how, I jumped at the idea! You know me- if it's food I'm all for it, and learning something new is always a great opportunity. Since she and I started having our weekend cooking days we had only made treats- with the holidays and baking and candy-making, it just seemed normal. Now that all the celebrating and festivities are behind us we decided we should focus less on sweets and more on other foods and meals, traditional family recipes and maybe even some healthy recipes.

The Soroka family has a long history of making pierogies. Katie's great grandmother used to make this dish for special occasions, and it was passed down to Katie's grandmother and grandfather, and then her uncle, who then taught Katie how to make them. This family tradition graces the Soroka table at Christmas and New Years.

Pierogies are widely thought of as the national dish of Poland. While lots of other European countries have their own versions of the dish, Poland and the Ukraine are considered to be the places of origin of these tasty dumplings. There is no standard filling either. Whatever the cook likes and has on hand goes inside- often with mashed potato. Meats and vegetables, sometimes cheese, go inside and they are often topped with sour cream, applesauce or fried onion. Seriously, at this point, what is NOT to love about these dumplings? Katie got the idea to try a dessert version too, and we decided to go with tart cherries as the filling. A little research tells me we didn't invent this idea, but it was pretty darn good.

When Katie and I were working out the details of our cooking, i.e. what can I bring, what do you need, she asked if I would grab some butter. "Sure," I said without hesitation. "How much do you need?' I asked, and her answer almost knocked me off my chair! "4 or 5 pounds," she said. Yes my friends, you read that right. Pounds. Not cups. Pounds. Now before anyone has a heart attack and starts to lecture us on the heart attack you think we will surely have after dinner let me just say- while this IS a rich and buttery and in no way a low fat dish, you don't actually consume all that butter. In fact, Katie and I were kicking around ideas for using the butter once the pierogies were gone. Lobster tail, of course, was the first suggestion. Crab legs, scampi, heck even just spoon it into a jar and use it for cooking and baking. In reality you could use a lot less butter, but today we are making it the Soroka family way.

As I said, I have never made, nor eaten pierogies, but I have seen them around. Little small ravioli-type dumplings like half-moons that I see in the frozen food section. People boil or microwave them, then saute in a little butter to brown them and eat as a side dish. This is not the authentic Polish way at all! These pierogies are the meal and are served as the main dish, not reheated and served alongside something else like an afterthought. They certainly aren't little half-moons either. These are some serious dumplings with loads of filling. Watching Katie fill the first one clued me in- I was in for a real treat. Like so many traditional family recipes, a lot of the process is eyeballing ingredients and mixing things "til it looks right." Katie measured things as I was writing notes so it would be easy to share the recipe with all of you.

To make the Soroka family piergoies, you will need:

5 lbs potatoes

1 quart sauerkraut

3-4 lbs butter

flour- approx. 10 cups plus more for rolling, divided

eggs- plan on a dozen

milk- plan on at least 1 cup, divided

Start the butter by placing 3 lbs of butter in a large roasting pan. Place in a 250 degree oven to melt. You will be adding the boiled pierogi to the butter bath after they are boiled.

I wasn't kidding! That is 3 pounds of butter in the pan.

Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes. Boil in salted water until tender.

Drain and mash with a bit of butter. Drain the kraut completely and mix into the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Potato kraut filling, top, and potato beef filling, bottom.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Pop the lid on and hold at a very low boil.

For the dough, start with 3 cups of flour, 3 eggs and 1/4 cup milk in the bowl of a stand mixer (you CAN make the pasta dough by hand but using a stand mixer is much much easier), attach the dough hook and begin mixing the dough on low speed, gradually bumping up the speed as the dough comes together and you hear the machine struggle a bit. Keep the milk handy in case you need to dribble a little bit more in there. The goal is a somewhat stiff, smooth and non-sticky dough.

Pull the dough off in ping pong ball sized pieces and roll out on a floured surface. You want the dough to be thin but not quite as thin as, say, a wonton wrapper. Scoop about 2-4 tablespoons filling onto the dough in a loaf shape.

Pull the dough up and over to cover the filling. Trim the edge of the dough to about 1/4 inch beyond the filling and pinch and turn over to seal. 

Continue with remaining dough and filling. You will need to make a second batch of dough. You can cook the pierogies as you make them (3 or 4 at a time) or make them all, cover with a towel, and cook them when they are all assembled. It also helps to have a helper- someone to roll dough while you fill. I was the designated roller while Katie filled and crimped the pierogies and got them going in the boiling water.

These are no teeny tiny dumplings- these are HUGE!

*Note- Katie does not moisten the dough edges to seal, but if you like you can, use water, milk or an egg wash.

Add the pierogies to the boiling water a few at a time. Boil them gently until they rise to the top of the pot. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in the melted butter. Hold in the butter int he 250 degree oven until all the pierogies are cooked.

Now one of Katie's son is not a fan of kraut, so she also made a beef and potato filling for him, using browned ground beef that was drained and mixed with the mashed potato, and of course, Katie's brilliant suggestion, the cherry-filled dessert pierogies. I just have to say, what a stroke of brilliance. We DID use one cheat product- canned cherry pie filling- but everything else was totally homemade and dreamed up in the kitchen as we went along.

Katie made another batch of dough, using 2 cups of flour and 2 eggs and the milk. I rolled out smaller circles of dough for the dessert version, which she filled with the cherries, folded over, crimped the edges and into the boiling water they went.

For the butter sauce, Katie ladled some of the melted butter from the big roasting pan of pierogies into a 9x13 baking pan. Into the butter went a couple teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/4 cup of honey, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. 

After rising to the top of the water, remove them with a slotted spoon into the cinnamony butter mixture and pop in the oven for a good 15-20 minutes to get all the flavors married. 

The dessert pierogies were served with small scoops of creamy vanilla ice cream. 

Around the edge of the dish the butter mixture chilled and clung to the ice cream like that Magic Shell. It just tasted incredible. The dessert version was declared a HUGE success. We oohed and ahhed and already are dreaming up new fruit versions for next time. Can't wait !!!

A Fresh Take on Mashed Potatoes

I've never really been one of those health food nuts. Never overly concerned about low fat, low carb, low salt, etc etc. It's honestly purely by coincidence, and the fact that since moving back to the city I am finding an abundance of beautiful foods, especially produce, that's just jumping into my shopping basket and making it's way into my kitchen. I might as well embrace the trend for fresh, healthy food.

Another awesome thing I have found since moving back are all the organic and healthy grocery stores- places like Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Des Moines' own Gateway Market, both of which offer a huge variety of locally grown produce, local meats, organic and gourmet food items and incredible specialty baked goods. I just cannot resist these little shops of heaven.

All this access to fresh produce mean I get to try new dishes with old favorites too. This cauliflower mash reminded me of twice baked potatoes. The creamy mashed cauliflower with just a touch of potato had such a silky texture and amazing flavor. The sliced scallions added a fresh pop of green and a mild onion note without being too overpowering, and I used a good healthy dash of Quick's Hot Spice to give it a nice warmth. Go check out Quick's Hot Spice- Paul's spicy blend comes in a variety of heat levels and flavors- you will love it.

Now you could really embrace the twice baked potato and add cheese, sour cream, bacon to this dish, but I chose not to. I wanted to keep it fresh and healthy without adding a ton of fatty stuff.

Creamy Cauliflower Mash

one head fresh cauli

2 medium russet potatoes

chicken broth to cover or water

3 scallions, green parts included minced

salt and pepper

3 tb butter, divided

1/4 cup milk

Quicks Hot Spice to taste

paprika

Break the cauli into pieces and place in a medium saucepan. Peel the potatoes, or scrub thoroughly and leave the peel on if you like skin-on potatoes. Cut into chunks and add to the saucepan. Cover with broth or water, bring to boil. Reduce heat slightly and cook until the stems and potato are very tender. Drain thoroughly and return to saucepan.

Add scallions, salt, pepper to taste, 2 tb butter, milk and mash. Taste for seasoning and add Quick's Hot Spice to taste. Spoon mixture into an ovenproof dish.

Dot with the remaining butter and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 degrees until hot, bubbly and browned on top. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

This creamy side dish was the perfect accompaniment to baked ham and a fresh kale salad. So many veggies on one plate!