Grocery Bag Series

I'm a big fan of Martha Stewart and have been wanting to challenge myself to complete one month's Grocery Bag section of Everyday Food Magazine. The idea of having a set list of groceries and meals plotted out for every night of the week is a perfect idea. For those of you who aren't family with Grocery Bag, every issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine contains a section called Grocery Bag, designed to show you 5 weeknight dinners with one simple grocery list needed. The list is even printed on a tare-off sheet so you can bring the list to the store.

For months now, I've been checking out the recipes in this section and never find more than one or two recipes that I'd actually enjoy eating...until now! The April issue had 5 great recipes that I challenged myself to make.

Here is a breakdown of April's dishes:

Monday: Roasted Chicken with Cauliflower and Chickpeas
Tuesday: Lamb, Potato, and Leek Stew
Wednesday: Buttery Shrimp and Radish Pasta
Thursday: Steak with Swiss Chard and Garlic Bread
Friday: Spring Vegetable Pizzas

Everything sounds great, right? I was really excited about this list. I've never had lamb, potato and leek stew, nor have I ever had swiss chard so I couldn't wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work!

The next few posts will be each of the nights recipes. But I have to admit, I actually tweaked the list a bit and skipped out on making Wednesday's meal. My boyfriend really wasn't interested in trying shrimp and radish pasta and since I do cook for the both of us, I agreed to pass on this dish. But don't you worry, I tweaked the pizza recipe a bit and whipped up my own version later in the week.

I hope you enjoy checking out these recipes as much as I did cooking them... and shopping for all the ingredients for that matter. I went to the grocery store with a friend, who had no idea what I was getting myself into! :)

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Buttercream!

What says Happy St. Patrick's Day more than alcohol infused cupcakes?!? I can't think of anything! I came across the below recipe for Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Buttercream while browsing through Cupcakes Take the Cake blogspot. This recipe was originally posted on TheCulinaryChornicles.com then in a weird twist, my favorite blogger Annie's Eats then AGAIN in an email from my friend.

It was fate! All signs were pointing toward me making these cupcakes and who am I to deny fate? (Or baking with alcohol!) ;)

The stout made the cake extra moist and the Bailey's Irish Cream in the frosting packed the perfect punch! (Maybe because I added a little extra than advised ;) Regardless, these were definitely a hit!


Cupcake Recipe:

1 cup stout beer
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Irish Buttercream Recipe:

4 to 5 cups confections sugar
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temp
4 to 5 tbsp Irish Cream Liqueur

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake cups with paper liners.

2) Put the butter with the stout beer in a sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Cool slightly.

3) In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In a mixer bowl, beat the eggs and the sour cream together. Add the beer, butter, cocoa mixture and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat briefly just to combine. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined, making sure to incorporate little pockets of flour on the bottom so that the batter is of equal consistency everywhere.

4) Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 if you want domed. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely to room temperature.

5) For the frosting, in a large mixer bowl, whip the butter for several minutes until very light and fluffy. Slowly add about half of the powdered sugar a few spoonfuls at a time until incorporated. Slowly drizzle the Irish Cream and whip until combined. Add the rest of the powdered sugar until your desired consistency has been achieved.

Semi-Failed Carbonara

Two months ago some friends and I had dinner at a new casual dinning restaurant in Union Square called Vapiano. I was in awe as soon as I stepped through the door. The venue is a seat yourself establishment with stations for ordering your meal. They have separate sections of the kitchen for salad, sandwiches, pizza and pasta. It is almost fast-food, but much more fresh!

With so many noodle and sauce options, I had trouble selecting a dish but went with Campanelle Carbonara. Believe it or not, I never had carbonara before this night which is seriously weird since I love making sauce out of butter, heavy cream and cheese. Needless to say, this meal was AMAZING!! And I was thrilled to watch the chef make my sauce from scratch. How fun!

So...the point of this post is to touch on my replication of the sauce which was not so successful. When I started making the dish, it took me far too long to chop the bacon and shallots, which left me focused on that, while ignoring my noodles. I ended up having to toss a batch of noodles because they were pure mush! THEN when I got things in order, I sort of burnt the butter, bacon and shallots. Oops! I can't win em all. This definitely didn't taste like Vapiano's, but was still tasty! Plus, I'm sure if you follow the directions better than I, it will turn out perfect! ;)


Recipe:
6 bacon slices, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 shallots, diced
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
12 oz of your favorite noodle (I went with elbow)

Directions:
1) Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute shallots until softened. Stir in bacon, and cook until bacon is evenly browned. Stir in garlic when bacon is about half done. Remove from heat.
2) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain pasta, then return it to the pot.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, cream, and shredded Parmesan. Pour the bacon mixture over the pasta, then stir in the cream mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Recipe adapted from All Recipes

Ravioli with Artichoke Sauce

I love the taste of artichoke hearts and don't work with them very often. The March Italian issue of Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Agnolotti with Artichoke Sauce. Obviously, I had to give it a try!

I couldn't find Agnolotti at my local grocery store so I substituted with regular cheese raviolo. I have to say, this recipe is insanely easy to make is packed full of great flavor. I absolutely love that both peas and artichokes are part of the dish. What a perfect way to get your veggies for the day! This is definitely worth trying!


Recipe:
9 oz package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and coarsely chopped
1 cup half-and-half
1 clove garlic, smashed
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
salt
1 cup frozen peas (do not thaw)
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 lb refrigerated cheese agnolotti (in my case, cheese ravioli)
1/4 cup finely grated parmesam cheese
1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves

Directions:
1) Combine the artichokes, half-and-half, garlic, red pepper flakes and 1/4 tsp salt in a large skillet and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and cook until the artichokes are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the peas and continue to cook, covered, until tender, about 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and juice. Discard the garlic clove.
2) Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the agnolotti and cook as the label directs. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain pasta and transfer to the skillet with the sauce.
3) Add the parmesan to the skillet and gently stir until the pasta is coated. Thing the sauce with some reserved cooking water. Stir in the basil.

AND BAM! Dinner in 25 minutes!

Italian Steakhouse Night

Food Network Magazine for March is titled the Italian issue. When I saw this, I almost screamed! I absolutely love pasta and just recently made homemade pasta for the first time and loved it. Naturally, I have been dying to try other sauces and now have the resources!

Since I just did one red sauce, I decided to go with another for comparison and went with their Chunky Tomato Sauce. I served the pasta in small ramekins along side fillet Mignon.


Recipe:
1 oz diced salami (I left this out)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 28oz can plum tomatoes
6 basil leaves
pinch of sugar, salt and pepper
12 oz cooked rotini

Direction:
1) Cook salami and garlic in a skillet with olive oil over medium heat, 1 minute.
2) Drain plum tomatoes (reserve the juice); crush into the skillet and cook 5 minutes.
3) Add the tomato juice, basil and salt, pepper and sugar; cook 5 minutes. Stir in 3/4 cup of water and simmer until thick.
4) Toss pasta and top with grated parmesan and basil.

Over the next week or so I'll be trying out a few of the different sauce recipes. I hope they inspire you to try something new. ;)

Triple Chocolate Vanilla Buttercream Heaven!

Dunkin Hines recently came out with a new cake called Decadent Triple Chocolate and I was lucky enough to find out for FREE! :) My love for baking is apparent to all those who are close to me so it was no surprise when I found two boxes of the mix sitting on my desk one afternoon. I was so hooked on the thought of triple chocolate cupcakes that I went straight home and whipped up some cakes with Butter Lane Bakery's Vanilla Frosting.


They were DELISH!!!

I would love to give you the recipe for the vanilla buttercream, but since it belongs to Butter Lane I don't think I can. But I will tell you, it was by far the BEST frosting I have made yet!

Dinner in a Flash!

After a long weekend of running around, the last thing I wanted to do on Sunday was cook. My boyfriend was heading to the gym so I asked him to pick me up a pizza...real healthy, I know! After waiting an hour and no boyfriend in sight, I decided I had to make something to eat or I'd wither away!

I didn't have much to work with. Onions, scallions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, frozen veggies and pasta. Yikes! Plenty of vegetables but no prepared pasta sauce in sight. I jumped on-line and listed all the ingredients I had and BAM! The perfect recipe popped up: Bow Ties with Sun-Dried Tomato and Scallion Cream. 15 minutes later... I had a great meal, packed with flavor. :)


Recipe:
5 scallions, white and light-green parts only
6 tbsp chopped reconstituted sun-dried tomato halves, about 12 halves
1 cup light cream or half and half (I used heavy cream ;) it was all I had)
1 lb bow tie pasta noodles
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:
1) In a blender or food processor puree the scallions with sun-dried tomatoes and 1/2 cup of cream.
2) Cook noodles as directed on package. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Drain and toss with puree, the remaining 1/2 cup of cream, 1/3 cup of reserved pasta water, salt and pepper. If the sauce seems to thick, add in more reserved pasta water until you are satisfied with the consistency.

This was one of the quickest meals I've prepared in a long time and was PACKED full of flavor. I absolutely loved that I was able to prepare a great tomato cream sauce with practically no effort at all. You have to try this!

Recipe courtesy of Delish.com