November has been a very quiet blogging month. I don’t think I can truly say that I live in Chicago. Maybe instead I will tell everyone that I lived at Rush University Medical Center, specifically at either cubby numbers 9 or 11 in the library of the MedCenter during my 12 months here in Chicago.
After weeks of exam after exam, Thanksgiving break is around the corner and thankfully for the BTN students, a mini break from exams too! With an easy, *almost* study free weekend, I broke out the cookie sheets and gave my Kitchen Aid mixer a bit of exercise.
Of course, John Y. is also visiting me during his driving from CA to CT (I seem to be the landing pad for many of these West Coast to East Coast road trippers!). He is an avid cookie eater and ice cream fan, so I concocted pretty much a No-Fail cookie recipe. I know it’s a pretty bold statement to make: No-Fail, but these are pretty yum.
My sister and I seem to always make it a point to go to Diddy Riese, an amazing ice cream cookie shop in Westwood when I am in town. One of those times, earlier this year included John . I was astounded that we had never thought to go there sooner together (see photo caption). No Diddy' Riese's in Chi, so I made my own amazing Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches!
It’s a basic chocolate chocolate chip cookie, but instead of using the regular semi sweet chocolate chips, I used white chocolate chips. Also, I opted not to add chopped nuts this time, but the recipe can easily accommodate the addition of some nuts. My roommate, Dave, isn’t the hugest fan of nuts, so in an attempt to have him eat some cookies, I left them out.
The resulting cookie is soft and chewy, which makes it a perfect candidate for making ice cream sandwiches. I haven’t quite made the dive for the ice cream Kitchen Aid attachment yet, so just popped in some Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I know some of you readers out there are haters of the Ben & Jerry’s (and of course for legitimate reasoning) but lets just say, the B&J’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough blows the Häagen-Dazs’ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough out of the water. :] Usage of the cookie dough ice cream, as John stated “Isn’t that like eating chicken and eggs at the same time?” All I could reply back was “Like a Southwestern Omelet!”
Also, the cookie is perfect to be consumed as is, sans ice cream. Rich, chewy and soft, it is a great solution to any girl in need of a chocolate fix!
Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies
ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, softened (8 tblspn)
.5 c white sugar
.5 c brown sugar, packed
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbl spn milk
.25 c cocoa powder
1 c flour
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp baking powder
instructions
1. preheat oven to 350F
2. cream together butter and sugars
3. in a small bowl, beat eggs, vanilla extract and milk
4. add to creamed butter/sugar mixture and mix well, add cocoa powder
5. in another bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking soda
6. add to moist ingredients in 3 portions, mixing well between each dry addition
7. aliquot out onto an ungreased cookie sheet: 1 tablespoon sized dollops (it should be a relatively stiff and fluffy cookie dough)
8. bake 10-12 minutes until firm
9. let cookies cool to room temperature
10. make sandwich of cookie, ice cream, cookie
11. consume with utter happiness!
yields 18 cookies or 9 ice cream sandwiches!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thyme & Sage Brined Chicken
It's been nuts at school with some kind of exam going on every week. Last week was terrible, having two huge midterms (I will miss you S.P Kwan), I had nothing but time for books and eating at the hospital's Au Bon Pain and Trader Joe's rice and bean burritos. I can easily say that I hope I don't have to do a marathon of eating ABP for a while... and by a while, I bet it will happen in about 3 or 4 weeks when we begin to prepare for finals. TJ's rice and bean burritos, I am still a fan... I do have to try and get there sometime soon and restock my supply though.
So in the craziness of midterms, I haven't been able to properly feed myself. Sunday, Jen F. took me on an excursion to "The Burbs". We went to Skokie and to the most amazing asian grocery store ever! It was huge! Aisle of rice noodles, an entire corner devoted to all sorts of kim chee, and rice cookers! Asian pears are in season, so I stock piled.
I bought a plethora of produce, chicken, and other asian yummies that I wouldn't have been able to get elsewhere (I sense me trying to create Bun Bo in the near future....) So thank you Jen F. for a fun Sunday and the most ultimate grocery experience! I feel whole again, with a fully stocked fridge and a fruit box full of bananas, asian pears, apples and a pineapple.
Since I am at RUMC at least 10 hours a day (sadly, I am not exaggerating), it's hard to come up with something that is quick and easy. So when I get back home at 8 or 9 or 10 at night, I really want to be able to put something together and have something halfway decent. This AM I got up early enough to package away all the chicken I bought and thought to myself, "Well, if I can brine turkey, why not chicken?" and that is how it led to this great creation that I let brine all day long while I was at RUMC, came home, tossed some veggies into a pan and let bake! Most of these roasted chicken recipes call for some kind of starch element, such as potatoes. I had yucca root on hand, and used at as my starch instead of the usual Yukon gold. I also tossed in an apple. The apple added the slightest bit of sweetness and lots of moisture. Has anyone noticed a trend? I like to add apples to savory things.
Brining the chicken yields an amazingly moist and tender chicken packed with flavor and a near "melt in your mouth" delightfulness. Your brining ratio is up to you, depending on how salty you want your end result to be.
I've also like to make a note that I've gotten MUCH better at proportions. This recipe is made for about 2 servings (Lisa sized of course!) so I had some for dinner, and will be toting the rest tomorrow with me for lunch. Yum!
Thyme and Sage Brined Chicken
ingredients
for the brine:
2 tblspn salt
1.5 c water
2 tsp chopped thyme
5 sage leaves coarsely chopped
.25 c chopped red onion
1 chicken quarter, cut into drumstick and two parts
For the roasted veggies:
.5 c yucca, 1 inch cubes
1 apple, 1 inch cubes
.5 yellow bell pepper, cubed
.33 red onion, cubed
1 tomato, wedged and cut in half
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil
instructions
1. In a 1 quart zip lock bag, mix all brine ingredients together and shake well, making sure the salt is dissolved.
2. If you have a particularly muscular chicken leg, I highly suggest cutting down the drumstick and slightly pulling the meat away from the bone, sort of like if you were to butterfly a chicken breast.
3. Add the chicken to the zip lock bag.
4. Let brine all day in the fridge (I assume you can let it brine for 1 hr minimally, but I wouldn't know.. my chicken sat in brine from 815AM until 730PM)
(time elapses to dinner time)
5. Preheat oven to 450F
6. Toss all veggies and garlic in olive oil and S&P.
7. Place in a small pan
8. Remove chicken from zip lock bag, rinse in the sink
9. place skin side down onto your veggies
10. Cover in foil and bake for about 20 minutes
11. Flip over chicken, so it is skin side up. Cover again in foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
12. Remove foil, turn on the broiler to high to golden up the skin.
13. Consume!!!
yields 2 Lisa sized portions OR if you are some hungry dude, I am sure you could eat the whole thing. After all, it's only a quarter of a chicken.
So in the craziness of midterms, I haven't been able to properly feed myself. Sunday, Jen F. took me on an excursion to "The Burbs". We went to Skokie and to the most amazing asian grocery store ever! It was huge! Aisle of rice noodles, an entire corner devoted to all sorts of kim chee, and rice cookers! Asian pears are in season, so I stock piled.
I bought a plethora of produce, chicken, and other asian yummies that I wouldn't have been able to get elsewhere (I sense me trying to create Bun Bo in the near future....) So thank you Jen F. for a fun Sunday and the most ultimate grocery experience! I feel whole again, with a fully stocked fridge and a fruit box full of bananas, asian pears, apples and a pineapple.
Since I am at RUMC at least 10 hours a day (sadly, I am not exaggerating), it's hard to come up with something that is quick and easy. So when I get back home at 8 or 9 or 10 at night, I really want to be able to put something together and have something halfway decent. This AM I got up early enough to package away all the chicken I bought and thought to myself, "Well, if I can brine turkey, why not chicken?" and that is how it led to this great creation that I let brine all day long while I was at RUMC, came home, tossed some veggies into a pan and let bake! Most of these roasted chicken recipes call for some kind of starch element, such as potatoes. I had yucca root on hand, and used at as my starch instead of the usual Yukon gold. I also tossed in an apple. The apple added the slightest bit of sweetness and lots of moisture. Has anyone noticed a trend? I like to add apples to savory things.
Brining the chicken yields an amazingly moist and tender chicken packed with flavor and a near "melt in your mouth" delightfulness. Your brining ratio is up to you, depending on how salty you want your end result to be.
I've also like to make a note that I've gotten MUCH better at proportions. This recipe is made for about 2 servings (Lisa sized of course!) so I had some for dinner, and will be toting the rest tomorrow with me for lunch. Yum!
Thyme and Sage Brined Chicken
ingredients
for the brine:
2 tblspn salt
1.5 c water
2 tsp chopped thyme
5 sage leaves coarsely chopped
.25 c chopped red onion
1 chicken quarter, cut into drumstick and two parts
For the roasted veggies:
.5 c yucca, 1 inch cubes
1 apple, 1 inch cubes
.5 yellow bell pepper, cubed
.33 red onion, cubed
1 tomato, wedged and cut in half
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil
instructions
1. In a 1 quart zip lock bag, mix all brine ingredients together and shake well, making sure the salt is dissolved.
2. If you have a particularly muscular chicken leg, I highly suggest cutting down the drumstick and slightly pulling the meat away from the bone, sort of like if you were to butterfly a chicken breast.
3. Add the chicken to the zip lock bag.
4. Let brine all day in the fridge (I assume you can let it brine for 1 hr minimally, but I wouldn't know.. my chicken sat in brine from 815AM until 730PM)
(time elapses to dinner time)
5. Preheat oven to 450F
6. Toss all veggies and garlic in olive oil and S&P.
7. Place in a small pan
8. Remove chicken from zip lock bag, rinse in the sink
9. place skin side down onto your veggies
10. Cover in foil and bake for about 20 minutes
11. Flip over chicken, so it is skin side up. Cover again in foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
12. Remove foil, turn on the broiler to high to golden up the skin.
13. Consume!!!
yields 2 Lisa sized portions OR if you are some hungry dude, I am sure you could eat the whole thing. After all, it's only a quarter of a chicken.
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