Cook with Kerry

 

 

Parmesan Pasta with Peas

 

Sean and I were driving home from Albany the other night and we were hungry. Of course, I had to make a pit stop at the one rest area on the Mass Pike that only had McDonalds. So, instead, we got some Chex Mix to tide us over. By the time we got home, there was only time to throw together something quick and this did it. It was super easy to make with basic pantry items — and it was super delicious. Just what we needed after a long drive.

Sidebar: I love frozen peas. As a kid I always hated peas — I grew up with canned peas and I hated the mushy mouthfeel. Imagine my surprise when I tried fresh peas for the first time as an adult. They were so delicious. I find that frozen peas taste closer to fresh peas than canned peas. They are easy to always keep on hand, cheap, and good to toss into everything from rice to soup to pasta. An easy, peasy way of getting some veggies, too.

Parmesan Pasta with Peas
Serves 2

6 oz. pasta of your choice*
1 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. shallots, finely chopped
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Salt and pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a big pinch of salt and the dried pasta. When the pasta is about 1-minute from al dente, toss in the peas. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet. Once the butter is melted and bubbly, add the shallots and cook 2 minutes or until soft. Toss in the cooked pasta and peas. Add parmesan cheese, parsley, and pine nuts. Stir to combine. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

* I used a combination of angel hair and pasta shaped like little snails because that’s what I had. Anything tubular or shell shaped works particularly well with this because it gives the peas a place to settle so you get peas with every bite. However, in a pinch, any pasta will work.

 

Posted by kerry at September 2, 2008 | No Comments

Category: Recipe, Main Dish, Side Dish, Cuisine, Vegetarian, Healthy, Vegetables, Comfort Food, Starch, Pasta, Peas

Asian-y Noodles with Grilled Chicken

 

I thought of this recipe on the way home today. Sean and I didn’t have very much in the fridge, but I knew we had some cabbage and some chicken that we needed to use up. I always have tons of flavorful pantry items (spices, vinegars, sauces, etc.) so it was easy to throw together. It turned out great. The noodles themselves were great served at room temperature — perfect for a warm evening like tonight.

You can serve this as a main dish with chicken (as written here) or shrimp; you might also serve as a delicious vegetarian dish by forgoing the meat all together.

Asian-y Noodles with Grilled Chicken

For Dressing:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp. toasted sesame oil
4 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
Juice of a lime
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. siracha sauce
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

For Salad:
1/2 lb. fettucini
1/2 small head green cabbage, thinly shredded
1/2 small head red cabbage, thinly shredded
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
2 green onions, sliced
2 tbsp. chives, chopped
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 large chicken breast
Toasted almonds

Put ingredients for the dressing into a small bowl; whisk to combine.

Boil the fettucini noodles for about 10 minutes until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water until the noodles are cool to the touch. Drain well. Toss together with the cabbage, onions, chives, and carrots until all ingredients are mixed together well. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper (or, you could also marinate in teriyaki, hoisin, or any other asian-type sauce.) Grill until temperature reaches 165 degrees and slice.

To serve, place some salad in a large bowl. Top with sliced grilled chicken. Garnish with sliced almonds and sesame seeds.

 

Posted by kerry at August 25, 2008 | 4 Comments

Category: Recipe, Main Dish, Appetizer, Side Dish, Cuisine, Meat, Chicken, Asian, Fish, Vegetarian, Healthy, Vegetables, Comfort Food, Carrots, Cabbage

I’m back.

 

Um, hey there. It’s been, oh, almost a year since I’ve posted something new. But, I’m back! This past year has been BUSY. Crazy. Exhausting. Busy.

I’ve taken quite a few classes plus the dreaded internship where I worked 7 days a week for 15 weeks give or take a few days off scattered here or there. The Johnson & Wales internship was intense — 24 hours a weekend. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. many Saturdays to get there on time. And I worked hard! I learned a lot, but it took so much out of me that I’m just starting to feel like me again!

But, I’m ready to start updating this blog again. I’ve got a recipe ready to go, but until I get it written up, I had to share this recipe for BACON ice cream. Yeah, seriously. Bacon. Ice cream. And it’s DELICIOUS. I mean, seriously. Delicious. I made it for a dinner party on Saturday and served it with nectarine upside-down cake. Both recipes from David Lebovitz who’s blog is pretty awesome.

 

Posted by kerry at | No Comments

Category: Recipe

A Taste of the Rockies

 

Here’s where Cook with Kerry becomes Travel and Eat with Kerry. I had October off of school for various traveling reasons. And I took advantage by being at home only 1 out of the 4 weekends in October.

I spent Columbus Day weekend in Boulder, CO. I headed from Boston with my friend Ana and we met our friend Gracie who flew in from Seattle. It was a girls’ weekend and that always means good eats!

Our first stop was the Boulder farmers’ market where we browsed fresh fruits and veggies plus other organic treats. I bought some super fresh dried coconut which I plan on using soon to created a coconut macadamia nut crusted fish. It’s amazing how much better this is than that sweetened store bought stuff I’m used to — the coconut actually tastes like a NUT! The flakes are dried and crispy. And, the best part, I can mail order more when I run out!

While we were walking around the market, I saw someone eating a tamale. I knew I HAD to have one. I love tamales and you don’t see them often enough on the East coast. We found the tamales in an open air “food court” where they had all sorts of delicious dishes. We did get tamales (mine was spicy pork) and they were great. Although, I’m bummed we never got the bowl of asian dumplings from another stall. I said, “If I lived in Boulder, I’d come here every Saturday for lunch!”

For dinner that evening, we headed to the Kitchen. I’d read about this restaurant — it uses fresh, local ingredients wherever possible and I liked that idea. The restaurant was modern, but still warm with an exposed brick wall. The menu was small, but I liked that since I always have issues trying to decide what to get. I thought I wanted a steak (after a whole month learning about beef), but as often happens, the side dishes sold me on my meal. I opted for the pork chop which came with a porcini and potato gratin and freshly made apple sauce.

Before that came, we shared two appetizers: mozzarella, tomoato, and basil plus a cheese plate. The mozzeralla was super fresh — rather than being worked into a ball, it was more an amorphous “blob” drizzled with olive oil. The cheese was delicate and lacked the usual mozzarella stringyness; spread on a piece of grilled bread with some tomato and basil, it was perfect!

The cheese plate had an excellent assortment of cheeses with a sprinkle of nuts and honey. Only the very flavorful bleu cheese was a miss in my mind — I like bleu cheese and this was even strong for me!

Ana chose to get gnocchi with kale and cured pork cheeks (described as sort of like bacon, Ana didn’t hesitate!) I got a few bites of this one and was happy I did. The gnocchi were as light as a cloud and the pork cheeks gave a perfect saltyness to the light cream sauce.

But really, the star was one perfectly grilled pork chop which was a suprise to me since it was the sides that sold me. The porcini and potato gratin was fine. How can you go wrong with porcinis? And the apple sauce was a bit too tart for my taste. It didn’t matter though. I could have scraped those sides into the garbage and still been perfectly happy with the pork chop. It was a thick, bone-in chop with just the right amount of fat, seasoned well, and cooked to a perfect pink. So simple, yet it’s what I remember most!

Oh wait, I can’t forget the dessert. I ordered sticky toffee pudding because the server said it was their “hands down” best dessert. I also remember eating this dessert in a London pub and never tasting any dessert as good since, so I had to give it a whirl. While their sticky toffee pudding didn’t match the London version I had years ago, it was still delicious, sweet, and sticky with a good drizzle of caramel and a dollop of ice cream. Gracie’s butterscotch pot du creme was also a stand-out — thick and rich with butterscotch flavor, if I went back, I’d have a hard time deciding on a dessert!

After ambling out of there we thought we wouldn’t need to eat again for the whole trip, but of course, the next morning, we woke up with hungry tummies. Before we took a short hike around the Flatirons just outside our cottage door, we went for breakfast at the Chautauqua dining hall which I read was an excellent outdoor eating experience since it over looked the mountains. Unfortunately, it was too chilly to eat outside, but the building itself (a historic building from the late 1800s) was quite charming. We had the breakfast buffet which had quite a few options, though most were forgettable. It wasn’t a bad experience, but I don’t know that I’d go back unless I could sit outside, enjoy the view (which would certainly make the food seem more special), and order ala carte.

We spent the rest of the day hiking and then driving through Rocky Mountain National Park (which was AMAZING!) At the end of our day, we just got some cheese, bread, and snacks from whole foods and brought them back to our cottage to drink with the wine that Gracie brought with her from Chateau Ste. Michelle. A perfect ending to a great day.

Our final day in Colorado brought us to the Boulder Tea House. The teahouse was sent piece by piece from Boulder’s sister city in Russia. Its ornate and beautiful tilework and detail is something to see if you’re ever in the area.

The teahouse offers a wide variety of teas, as well as breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an afternoon tea (for which you need reservations.) We went for breakfast where I got hash, eggs, and a biscuit (the biscuit is what sold me.) While the service was on the meh side (slow, and we had to ask for milk for our tea), the food was good. The hash was more like a pulled corned beef brisket which I found different-in-a-good-way with perfectly-soft sauteed onions, peppers, and potatoes. The biscuit was delicate, as a good biscuit should be.

Of course, where else would we go after the teahouse, but the Celestial Seasonings factory tour. Before the tour, we got to spend some time in the tasting room sampling some teas (we LOVED the Candy Cane Lane green tea). Then, it was off to the factory, where we were lucky to be there on a work day (factory tours are always better when there’s stuff going on!) We learned about the process of milling, mixing, and packaging the tea — the highlight was a walk through the mint room which contained all of the mints at the factory and was quite an olafactory experience (cleared our sinuses right up and made our eyes water just a touch.)

Our final stop before the airport (to kill some time) was the Boulder Brewing Company. There was no tour, but a ton of beer brewed on site. We got to settle out on the back patio, eat some decent pub food, and drink fresh beer (Ana and I got the $10 sampler which included 10, 3 oz. beers which I’d suggest.)

I definitely enjoyed Boulder. The nature was absolutely stunning, the weather was fabulous, and the food was memorable. What more can you want from a vacation?

 

Posted by kerry at November 7, 2007 | No Comments

Category: Travels

Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes

 

I love sweet potatoes. They seem to be one of those “wonder” foods. They’re full of vitamins, fiber, and they’re really tasty! Last night I made these with dry rubbed pork chops — a really good fall meal.

Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes

1 large sweet potato, diced
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. chipotle in adobo, chopped fine
1 tbsp. butter
1 oz. apple cider, warmed
salt and pepper, to taste

Steam the sweet potato until it’s fork tender (mashable). Toss into a bowl and add the other ingredients. Mash away. You might want to add more chipotle or adobo sauce if you can handle the heat.

Next time I make these I might also add a pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground ginger. Yum!

 

Posted by kerry at October 4, 2007 | 1 Comment

Category: Recipe, Side Dish, Cuisine, Vegetarian, Healthy, Vegetables, Comfort Food, Starch, Potatoes, Sweet Potato

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

 

It’s fall! Fall means pumpkin flavored things! I thought that a pumpkin milkshake might be good and I was right (this time…believe me, some of my ideas are complete duds.) It really tastes like frozen pumpkin pie!

When you consider your regular run of the mill vanilla milkshake packs well over 400 calories and 16 - 20 grams of fat, this is a practically guilt-free indulgence. One shake is 325 calories and 8 grams of fat. Plus, it is an easy way to get some milk and has 2 grams of fiber from the pumpkin. So, drink up!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

1 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 graham cracker, broken into smallish pieces
a pinch each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger

Add all of the ingredients to a blender. Whiz up until smooth and creamy. Pour into a glass and enjoy! This is a reason to keep straws on hand!

 

Posted by kerry at October 1, 2007 | 1 Comment

Category: Recipe, Dessert, Drink, Healthy, Breakfast, Fruit, Pumpkin

I’ve got the skillz.

 

So, my first class of the year is o-v-e-r! I’ve got mad meat cutting skillz, yo. Ok, so the Skills of Meat Cutting was more about learning about where different cuts of meat come from than cutting actual meat (although we did a little bit of that.) This class has the reputation of being really difficult. The first day of class, I got there early and stood in the hall waiting to get into the classroom when a day student walked in.

She had this class with this instructor before and didn’t pass. And she looked scared! She told me how the chef yelled and how tough he was and how hard the class was. Now, these were all things I’d heard from other students, but of course, it just made me nervous. And it made me really want to get an A!

I did work pretty hard and I got my A (”one of the few A’s,” as the chef told me.) Better yet, when I go to the store now, I actually understand the labels on the meat and know what to buy! It’s pretty cool and really more important than the A anyway.

One of the practical exams entailed looking at pictures (like the one above) and identifying the cut of meat. To study, I made up a whole bunch of flash cards with pictures of meat on them. I looked really funny studying them at the gym! But it worked and I was able to remember all of the meat. The picture here is a full loin of beef, in case you’re interested.

Other cool things about the class: we made sausage (and got to take some home!), we learned how to cut a whole chicken into parts (which I’ve done before but this method was easier), we frenched lamb chops (you know those froofy lamb chops where the bone is all white and clean — it was really, actually a pain in the ass), and broke down a whole loin of pork. However, hanging out in a meat locker for hours is not the most comfortable thing in the world.

Now, I have a month off due to all sorts of travel (I’m only in this state one weekend this month!) Then it’s back to the grindstone to finish up this degree!

 

Posted by kerry at | No Comments

Category: Culinary School

Less cooking, more studying

 

Woof. I’m actually halfway through the meatcutting class already! I guess that’s what only four sessions per class will do. The verdict? I really like it!

I was NERVOUS about this class. The rumor mill was full of stories how this chef was tough as nails. I shook in my boots … for nothing! I love this guy. He’s strict, but not overly so. Since I’m pretty much a play-by-the-rules sort of person, it suits me. BUT, he’s a GREAT lecturer. He makes points dramatically and repeatedly. He leads you down a path where you answer one of his questions wrong to further make his point. He sings. He tells stories. It’s A LOT of information, but he makes sure you listen.

It’s really cool learning about meat. How many times have I wanted to buy beef at the supermarket only to get frustrated because I’m not really sure what to buy and how to cook it? I went to the store the other day and snuck a look at the beef section, and suddenly all of the terms were CRYSTAL clear.

We spend about half the class in the meat room. It’s basically a huge meat locker with butcher block tables. It’s about 40 degrees in there. It’s so cold that when we try to pick up your knives, the handles are so cold they shock our hands. That part, not so fun. But, on the other hand, where else am I going to have the opportunity to butcher a whole pork loin? We each got one whole pork loin and took out the tenderloin and took out the ribs to fabricate one giant pork roast. Pretty cool stuff.

Also, file under, “Once a Nerd, Always a Nerd,” we had four quizzes on Sunday and I got a 100% on EVERY quiz. And I was totally that awful kid who finished every quiz first. Yeah, I’m competitive.

 

Posted by kerry at September 17, 2007 | 1 Comment

Category: Culinary School

Can you parbake a pizza crust?

 

In the process of planning my sister’s bridal shower (the menu included pizza), I asked this question. I found answers in various forms from Google which told me yes, I could parbake a pizza crust. I also asked my mother (who works for a large bread/cafe chain) and she told me that they parbake their bagels.

Of course, I never trust anything until I try it myself. I didn’t try it for the shower (I didn’t want to screw up and have no pizza). But later, I went about making a double batch of Alton Brown’s pizza dough to see if it would work. I made the dough, rolled it out, and baked it for about 8 minutes at 400F. It was cooked, but not yet brown and crusty.

I cooled it in and then packaged it up into freezer bags (the crusts were about 8″) and threw them into the freezer.

Last night, Sean and I completed the test. We heated up some leftover tomato sauce, ladled it on the frozen crust, added cheese, and baked it at 450F until the crust was GBD (golden brown and DEEEELICIOUS.) It worked like a charm.

So yes, you can parbake a pizza crust — and it’s much cheaper and way tastier than the store bought varieties. I recommend doing this next time you have a little time to make a big batch of dough. You can have a homemade pizza in minutes without calling out for (and waiting on) delivery!

 

Posted by kerry at September 11, 2007 | 2 Comments

Category: Cuisine, Healthy, Italian, Misc., Advice

School nightmares

 

You’d think I’d be over those, but less than one week until I start class again and I’m having nightmares. Last night, I dreamt that I showed up to school without the right uniform. This is particularly alarming because my last chef literally made people leave class and gave them 15 minutes to find the “right socks” (white tube socks).

I mean, really, why should I be freaking out? It’s probably because I tend to be super flaky and forget things. And in this case, I could forget something and get stuck getting SENT HOME over a missing apron or something which would just suck because I drive 60 miles to school.

So, tonight, when I got home, I packed a bag with extra stuff: four aprons, a bunch of side towels, extra pants, extra socks, and all of the other things that go with the uniform. I’ll keep this bag in my trunk and I should never lack a thing. Hopefully this will ensure NO nightmares tonight.

But yes, I start school in three days (Saturday classes this year, too.) And I waited until this moment to do what I’ve wanted to do all summer. I’m putting together (typing) all of my notes from all of my classes so far and putting it all in a binder with recipes and projects so that I have my entire culinary education in one place for future reference. It’s going to take some time however, but at least I’m starting.

This year is going to be rough. I’ll have Saturday classes. This trimester, it’s just one, but I think in December I’ll need to take two to catch up. In the spring, I’ll need to do an internship at the Raddison in Providence — I called about this in August and apparently the internship = 2, 12 hour days over the weekend. Wha? Holy eff. Those 11 weeks are going to be really rough. I’m planning on a few days of strategically placed vacation days.

Ok, back to note transcribing.

 

Posted by kerry at September 4, 2007 | 3 Comments

Category: Culinary School