French Cut Lamb Chops and Roasted Potatoes

It's finally cool around these parts. The low is getting into the 50s this week and last night we even had to use the heater for the first time this year. Poor little Baz woke up in the middle of the night because he was cold so we had to turn it on. I am actually really enjoying it and it helps make it seem more like Christmas. I am really excited this year. My whole side of the family is coming to Florida this year. It's the first time we've all spent the holidays together in a long time. I can't wait.

We'll be eating a lot of pork this week since our Cuban tradition is to make a whole leg of pork that we eat for Christmas dinner and then in Cuban sandwiches for the rest of the week. My dad is really the best at making them, knowing just the right amount of pork, ham, cheese, pickles and condiments to include before he grills them into the delicious pressed sandwiches I've been eating as long as I can remember.

So, until then, no pork. Instead I got a great deal on some french cut lamb chops this week. Turns out two of the three packages I bought were mislabeled so I paid a price that was for ground chuck instead of the beautiful lamb chops I got. Not bad.

I am marinating them right now in some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, white wine (cuz it was open - I would have used red if I had it) pressed garlic, salt, pepper and some fresh rosemary. I'll cook them in my cast iron grill when it gets nice and hot so that the outside of the chops browns nicely.

I'm going to serve them with some steamed broccoli and roasted red potatoes. I am already cooking the potatoes because they need to cook for about an hour. I just cut them up in quarters and poured some olive oil over them. Then I sprinkled some salt and freshly ground pepper over them as well as some more pressed garlic and some of the rosemary that I bought for the lamb chops. Could be too much rosemary, but I didn't really use much for the potatoes.

I'll let you know how it all works out, but I am definitely excited.

UPDATE: Turned out terrifically. I cooked the lamb chops for about 4 minutes on each side. A couple of the thicker ones could have used another minute per side, but for the most part they were pink and delicious! And the rosemary on both the potatoes and chops turned out just fine.

Buy Buy Baby Comes to Miami

I was excited to get a flier in the mail announcing that Buy Buy Baby opened a store in Miami! This is a great baby supply store that I knew from New York. It has everything -- from high end to trinkets.

As I struggle to figure out what new car seat I'll have to get for Baz, it is a comfort to know that Buy Buy Baby is there so I can check them out. No offense to Babies R Us, but they just....I don't know....suck!

It's a little inconveniently located for Miami Beach folks. I suppose I should have planned a little better than attempting the Dolphin and Palmetto Expressways after 3pm, but I needed to get out of the house and I figured I'd check it out. Unfornately, it took me well over an hour to get home. Baz was none to pleased, despite the awesome tub toys we came home with.

Still, I think it is worth the trip -- just maybe next time, not at rush hour. So, check it out.

Buy Buy Baby
Miami, FL
8241 West Flagler St
Suite 100
Miami, FL 33144
Phone: (305) 266-5324

Chicken Marsala

I was looking to make some sort of chicken dish yesterday and came up with Chicken Marsala. It was actually very easy to make and I think it might become one of our new staples. And it looked pretty impressive when I served it over mashed potatoes with a side of steamed broccoli.

This is how you make it:

Chicken Marsala
4 pieces of chicken cutlet
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 or 3 cups sliced mushrooms (can be any kind, really)
2 shallots, diced
3/4 cups Marsala wine
1 cup chicken broth

Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Combine the flour with the salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture to fully coat the pieces.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to it. Place the chicken pieces in the oil and brown on both sides (about 3 minutes per side.) Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Put another tablespoon of butter and olive oil in the skillet. Add the mushrooms and shallots and cook until they are brown. Try not to mix them too much so that brown bits start to stick to the bottom of the pan (without burning, of course.)

Once the mushrooms are brown, add the Marsala wine. Use the spoon to scrape all of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by about half. Then add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add the browned chicken to the sauce. Cook until the chicken is cooked through (about 5 or 6 more minutes.) Serve immediately.

Buon appetito!

Cajun Red Snapper

Today I went to West Palm Beach to meet up with my mother for some Christmas shopping and so that she could spend some time with Baz. It was a really lovely afternoon and it was great to see her. We even got his picture taken with Santa. But, then on my way home, I thought about how I needed to make dinner and I really just didn't feel much like making anything. How pathetic is that? All I did was do some shopping with my mom and that makes me not want to make dinner.

But, I pulled it together. I had to stop at Costco yet again to pick up some more formula for Baz -- oh, and this is after it started pouring rain and I got rear ended by some horrible Miami driver. Baz was really shaken up about it, but no damage to baby or the car. Anyway, once I finally arrived in Hades -- I mean, rush hour Costco -- I took at a look at what fish they had. I usually just go for the salmon, but today I saw that they had some reasonable portions of red snapper. Perfect!

So, I just sprinkled some cajun spices on the fish and sauteed the pieces in some butter and olive oil for about 4 minutes on each side. Then I heated up some of the left over potatoes gratin from the other night and microwaved/steamed some green beans, and it wasn't a half bad dinner.

I'll try and find out what exactly my cajun spice is made off. It's from a recipe my dad gave me years ago. We made a huge jar-full a while back and break it out every once in a while. It's fabulous.

Oh and thanks to Mima (that's my mom's nickname as grandma) for the awesome new truck she gave Baz. He loves it.

Lime Vinaigrette

Last night, I was craving Penne alla Vodka so I kept it simple and served that along with a green salad. That's just a salad with all green and some white ingredients -- romaine lettuce, onion, avocado, cucumber, and hearts of palm. I made a lime vinaigrette because I used up all the balsamic vinegar on my meal the night before. It was actually delicious though. I think I'll make it more often.

This is how I made it:

Lime Vinaigrette
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice from a half of a lime
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dry basil
salt and pepper to taste

Put all of the ingredients in a small plastic container with a lid. Shake vigorously until all of the ingredients emulsify.

Pork Chops Milanese and Potatoes Au Gratin

Damien was supposed to be away last night reporting a story, but he ended up coming home instead of spending the night. So, I sort of had to scramble for dinner because I had planned on having left over Shrimp Creole.

So Baz and I took a walk to Publix to see if we could get inspired. There really wasn't much jumping out at me, but I remembered seeing a recipe for Potatoes Gratin in the Balthazar Cookbook and that sounded really good. What could be the main dish? Not wanting to spend a fortune, I decided on pork chops.

Then I was strolling past the produce section and I saw a bag of key limes sitting there. I thought, "Wow, maybe I should try and make key lime pie!"

This is very ambitious considering how tired I was feeling. But, I feel like I haven't really been cooking anything too interesting lately. With work, it's hard to make it a priority. So, I pushed through and it actually worked out well. Now, the potatoes take a bit of time so keep that in mind and start those early. Here's what I did:

Potatoes Gratin (inspired by the Balthazar Cookbook with some major changes)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
4 cloves or garlic - crushed with a knife
10 - 12 sage leaves, whole (Balthazar uses thyme)
4 stems parsley, whole (Balthazar uses rosemary)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
3 -4 medium Idaho potatoes
salt and white pepper
1 tablespoon butter

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream milk, garlic, sage, parsley, salt and pepper over medium heat. When it begins to simmer, lower the heat and continue simmering for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, peel and slice the potatoes into 1/8 thick slices. Use the butter to coat the bottom of a shallow cooking dish or ovenproof skillet.

After 30 minutes, strain the cream, removing the herbs and garlic. Layer the bottom of the buttered cooking dish with the most abnormally sized pieces of potato (so the top layer that you will see will look more uniform.) Overlap the potatoes by nearly half. Sprinkle so salt and pepper on the potato layer. Then pour 1/2 cup of the garlic infused cream over the potatoes. Arrange a second layer of potatoes and repeat the process. Continue repeating until all the potatoes have been used.

I also sprinkled a bit of cheddar cheese on the top layer, which Balthazar does not do. I liked it, but I think that just the cream would be delicious as well. I just like cheese.

Cover the dish or skillet with aluminum foil and place in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to cook for 15 minutes until the top is golden. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Worth the time and effort.

Then I made the pork chops:

Pork Chops Milanese (also inspired by the Balthazar Cookbook with some major changes)
4 - 1/4 inch slices or red onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper
1 cup, romaine lettuce, finely chopped
1 medium vine ripe tomato, finely diced
2 pork chops
salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup bread crumbs (Balthazar suggested panko, but I used Italian because it is what I had)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
Balsamic vinaigrette
2 lemon wedges

Brush the onion slices with a little bit of olive oil. Use the broiler or a grill (if you are lucky enough to have one) to char the onion slices a bit. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Create a little chopped salad using the romaine and tomatoes. When the onion has cooled enough, dice and add as well. Set the salad aside.

Pat dry the pork chops and use a mallet (or in my case, a potato masher) to pound the chops down until they are about a 1/2 inch thick, making sure not to miss the section nearest to the bone. Sprinkle both sides with a little bit of salt and pepper.

Prepare three bowls in an assembly line -- one with the flour, one with the egg whisked with the milk, and the other with the bread crumbs. Dredge the pork chops in the flour first, then coat in the egg mixture and then coat with bread crumbs.

Heat up a large skillet over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of butter and melt until just starts to brown. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and heat. Place both pork chops in the butter/oil and cook on each side for 4 minutes. The bread crumbs should be nice and golden brown.

Remove from the pan and arrange on the plate.

Add balsamic vinaigrette to the salad and mix well. Put a dollop of salad on top of each pork chop. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Then there's dessert. It is best to make key lime pie much earlier in the day so it has plenty of time to cool. But, since I thought of it too late in the game, we settled for a slightly still warm pie after dinner.

Key Lime Pie (adapted from the Miami Spice cookbook)

Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs (I used half a box of graham crackers in my food processor)
1/2 cup butter

Preheat the oven to 350.

Get your crumbs to a fine consistency in a food processor. Melt the butter and add to the crumbs. Mix well until it is like a paste. Press the mixture into a pie pan. Put in the oven for 8 minutes. Remove from the pie pan from the oven, but leave the oven on.

Filling
1/2 cup key lime juice
2 teaspoons key lime zest
1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks

The toughest part is juicing the small little key limes and grating the zest so leave yourself plenty of time to do this. (It took me about 15 or 20 minutes.) You don't want to skimp.

Combine the condensed milk and the egg yolks in a bowl. Use an electric hand mixer at high speed to mix until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the key lime juice. Then add in the zest.

Pour the mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust. Then put the pie in the oven and cook for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Then place the pie in the refrigerator and cool for as long as you can resist.

So there you have it. We really enjoyed it, I hope you all do too.

Let The Holiday Season Begin

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we have officially started the holiday season. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday -- with it being the kick off and all -- and it's a good thing too since I was able to enjoy two turkey dinners.

Our first was with my parents here at my Miami Beach apartment. My mother brought all of the side dishes and I was charged with making the turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. It was a little stressful since I don't really make a whole turkey very often, never mind stuffing that is not from a box or cranberries that are not in a can. But, I did it -- and it turned out quite well. Luckily I have a whole bunch frozen so Damien and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving several more times before the end of the year.

Then we went up to Woo-stah, Massachusetts to see Damien's family. It was actually really special since all of the Cave's were in one house -- a rare occasion. So for three days we all hung out and enjoyed a second Thanksgiving dinner.

Then I went to Boston to see my brother, Raul and his family, Meera and Elan. Elan was scheduled to have his second surgery on his cleft lip and palate so it was great that we got to see him before the big day. Now the surgery has passed and they are all doing well. Elan is a little trooper and so are his parents. It can't be easy to watch their little guy go through something like this, but they are holding up well and setting a brave example for Elan.

So now we're home and I have never been so tired! Okay, that's not really true, but I am really tired. All of that traveling took a lot out of me. But, I did cook tonight so I wanted to make sure I shared that. I made shrimp creole and I have one major adjustment to make to the recipe I posted last time I made it. So check it out.

You need Parsley. I used half of a bunch that I bought fresh at Publix - completely stemmed. But, I suppose you could use dried parsley. Maybe a tablespoon or so. When I tasted my batch tonight it confirmed that it was exactly what the original was missing.

So, Parsley. Make sure you add it. And Happy Holidays!

Oh, and I'm sorry I've been so bad about keeping up the blog. I am done with my 36 Hours in South Beach video and no more traveling for a few weeks, so I should be much better.