Iron Chef Dinner: Battle Beer

Me -vs- my inability to do anything in moderation

I am limiting myself to iron chef dinners one day a week now.  This is to limit the grocery bills, and so that I actually accomplish other things with my time besides cooking. Not that we mind eating it all. :)

This desire to be more moderate includes trying to use what ingredients we have instead of purchasing tons of new items every week.  So for battle beer I tried to use only what was in the house.  Our land lord left us with two bottles of Winter Bourbon Ale in the fridge when we moved in and I recently bought some Honey Brown for nostalgia's sake (and then continued to drink nothing but wine as usual). I couldn't really make an iron chef beer dinner with out including Guinness though, so I caved on that one and ran out and picked some up. Choosing my dishes was not easy as beer lends itself to many delicious things, so instead of making less dishes I just made smaller servings.  Still, too much food. So much that we actually skipped the entree. So much for moderation.

Appetizer #1 was baked brie filled with a mushroom mixture that had been sauteed in the Winter Ale.  Dan tasted it and said "It smells like Thanksgiving." and even though it was nothing like Thanksgiving, there was something about the mushroom and herbs and puff pastry that really did smell like it.

Appetizer #2 was Fish and Chips, battered in a Honey Brown beer batter.
The fish was tillapia in a seasoned batter, and the "chips" were various veggies like carrots, parsnips, beets, peppers, and onions. I tried really hard to make this a small dish, but that beer batter just puffs up.

Our Entree was Guinness Shepard's pie.  We are going to eat it for dinner tomorrow. It smelled good.

And finally, the piece de resistance:  Guinness Chocolate cake frosted with Bailey's buttercream.

Which I have decided to call Irish Car Bomb Cake.  Dan decided to make himself an Irish Car Bomb with the leftovers.

Iron Chef Dinner: Battles Venison Steaks and Pecans

Me -vs- Unpacking the Kitchen

Well we made it to Michigan, and I unpacked the kitchen.  You all know what that means!
After 2 weeks of eating pantry and freezer items and take out and restaurant food, it was time for Iron Chef!

The last freezer item from the old place was two venison steaks from a deer that was lovingly shot by our friend Mash. The first item in our new freezer was a package of frozen corn left by the girl who lived here before us.  The dish was inspired by Allison.  I cut the steaks into medallions and coated them with flour. Then I seared them in a pan to medium rare. I set the steaks aside and sauteed onions and mushrooms and added some chicken stock and cream to make a sauce.  I served the steaks and mushroom sauce over mashed potatoes with corn on the side and a squeeze of lemon.   Instant mashed potatoes, but shhh. dont tell.  
I managed to snap a photo with my phone before Dan devoured everything.



For battle pecan, I may have gone overboard, but it was good. :)

I made a pecan caramel corn that was just the right balance of savory and sweet.  I normally hate caramel corn because its just sugary and gets stuck in your teeth, but the salt on this was just right. I also got Dan some whole pecans in the shell to snack on before dinner. There is something nice about freshly cracking, peeling, butchering, or picking your own food. I think working for it makes it taste better.

Dinner was Pecan crusted chicken Kiev, with broccoli pecan casserole and a green salad with a cranberry pecan vinaigrette.  Chicken Kiev, while delicious, is one of those things that should only be made rarely.  The amount of work it takes is RIDICULOUS.  One of the recipes I saw called for making like 8 servings, and it makes sense now.  They freeze really well uncooked, and you only mess up the kitchen once.   The broccoli casserole was tasty and easy, it had a cheesy creamy sauce with horseradish in it.   The pecan vinaigrette was really great, and Ill be making that again. I blended some dried cranberries and pecans together to make a pasty mealy consistency, just before it would have turned into nut butter.  Then I added red wine vinegar and olive oil and some honey and herbs.

Dessert was individual Chocolate Pecan Pies (recipe stolen from Paula Dean) and we never even got to them last night because we were so full.

No photos of this dinner either, I can't seem to find the camera in all this mess. :o\

I'm off to empty another box!

Iron Chef Dinner: Battle Wine

Me -vs- the week from hell.

Let's see, this week involved new neighbors who leave their junk on the stairs and block my parking space making me late for work, a coworker having a heart attack at school, a ticket for going straight at the intersection of Randolph and Oak Park Avenue (which  I totally know better) amongst other lesser annoyances and drama.  I would like to think that my ever wise and loving husband knew that I needed a battle that would be relatively quick and easy and boozy to boot!

This is one of the first battles that I actually made in under an hour.  I opted for steaks smothered in baby portabellos and a Pino Noir reduction, with a side of almond green beans.   Yes, I used yellow tail and barefoot wines.  I figure, its a step up from cooking wine and not breaking the bank.

Then, for desert I made two kinds of wine poached fruit. Pears were poached in pino noir, and peaches in a pino grigio and then served with a reduction of their poaching liquid and some sweet marscapone cheese.  

It's always amazing to me how wine and cheese can just make everything in life a bit better. 

Iron Chef Dinner Party!

Battle Goat Cheese and Kale

Shawna and Jerry were invited over for dinner, and as the guests of honor, they got to choose the secret ingredients.  Jerry was of course difficult and his chosen ingredient of kale required a special trip to a special grocery story. Billy's Fruit Market was happy to provide me with the kale I needed, and so the battle was on!


We were so happy to socialize and eat and drink, that no photos were taken.  That is just fine.   For appetizers I made my traditional goat cheese in tomato sauce, tapas style served with french bread.   Then the meal was a goat cheese and mushroom meatloaf roulade, goat cheese mashed potatoes,  a kale, squash and goat cheese casserole with a panko bread crumb crust, and then a simple but delicious sauteed kale and garlic.  The meatloaf was my favorite part, and I will be making that again.  Surprisingly, the experimental casserole was enjoyed even by Dan, who doesn't like squash. That just goes to prove, if you put enough butter and garlic in anything it will taste good.

Iron Chef Dinner: Battle Curry

Me -VS- the spice cabinet

We are back from vacation, and tired of fried food.  There is a joke about Canada, they say that Canada could have had French cuisine, American politics, and British culture and instead they ended up with British cuisine, French politics, and American culture.  So true, so true.   The fish and chips were excellent but I can only eat so many meals accompanied by french fries before my stomach begs for mercy.

In preparation for tonights dinner, we got to go to Penzey Spices which is always a treat. I picked up a hot curry spice and a bottle of garam masala seasonings.  I also picked up a recipe for a coconut pie so I could use up all the coconut left over from battle mango.

First I slowly caramelized some finely chopped onions with a single whole star anise.  This made the house smell AWESOME.

Then I had to make a curry paste out of all my seasonings.  This was made of garlic and ginger paste, curry and chili powders and enough water to make it come together.  In with the onions it goes... 

Then comes the magic.  Somehow, pureed carrots, pureed onions, yogurt, sour cream, and some chicken broth produced this...

Just add chicken and let cook.  

I tossed in some green peppers, left over frozen baby corns, and cashews after it had cooked for a while and this was the final product. 

Oh, and for all of you who want me to come over and cook in your kitchens... this is what Dan gets to deal with when the meal is over.  Be forewarned. I didn't even bother to photograph the floor because that is just too embarrassing. 

He also gets to eat this.   Served with Trader Joe's garlic Naan and some rice.