Category: Barefoot Contessa

Recipe #29 Roasted Broccoli with Panko Gremolata

Published on by RJ1 Comment

This recipe can be found in Cook Like a Pro, page 164.

Last Friday I made dinner for the family. The main course consisted of Lemon Chicken Breasts. The vegetable was a beautiful and simple broccoli dish that I think will be a common recipe in my household from now on.

Roasted Broccoli with Panko Gremolata adds a bit of flair to what may otherwise be a boring broccoli dish. The toasted panko crumbs with the lemon and garlic flavor really shines and adds a much needed taste-boost to the broccoli.

Often times, Ina comments on how after she discovered roasting vegetables and the flavor it brings out, she fell in love with preparing them that way. I have to say that I agree. There have been a few recipes on this blog that have the vegetables roasted and I am always impressed with the results.

I will admit that I should have let the gremolata mixture “toast” for a few more minutes prior to serving, but the chicken was already done baking, and people were hungry. Myself included! You live and learn, right?

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this photo included both recipes. I wasn’t able to get a separate picture. I was too busy serving…and eating!

Recipe #28 Lemon Chicken Breasts

Published on by RJ2 Comments

This recipe can be found in Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That? on page 120.

Last Friday, I took over the dinner duty, as usual. This week I made a lovely chicken dish and a side of vegetables to go along with it.

The main course was Lemon Chicken Breasts. While the recipe calls for boneless chicken breasts with the skin on, I wasn’t able to find that. So I just used the more-common boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The breasts did not develop a beautiful golden-brown color on top like the recipe photograph shows, but they were still tasty nonetheless.

The recipe is heavy on the lemon. Lemon juice and zest is used in the sauce that the breasts bake in, but I don’t feel the use of lemon was overpowering. It adds a wonderful, fresh, citrusy flavor the dish. This was perfect for a cold winter’s night since I often find myself longing for the warmer days of summer.

This dish is easy enough to make for a weeknight since it can be completed in around 40 minutes from start to finish. Although, I do feel that letting the chicken rest after taking it out of the oven is essential to prevent the meat from being too dry. But that aside, this is a fast and easy weeknight dinner, which is unusual for Ina. Long time readers of this blog will recall that I have found some of her recipes time-consuming.

The vegetable dish I served with this will be reviewed tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

You can see from the photo above that the vegetable dish was a broccoli one. I wasn’t able to take a separate photograph.

Recipe #27 Orange-Braised Carrots and Parsnips

Published on by RJ1 Comment

This recipe can be found in Foolproof, page 170.

The other recipe I made on Tuesday was a dish that went along with our dinner for that evening. While the dinner we had was not an Ina recipe (it was just chicken sausage), I decided to at least make the vegetables tasty.

Continue reading “Recipe #27 Orange-Braised Carrots and Parsnips” →

Recipe #26 Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Published on by RJ2 Comments

This recipe can be found in Foolproof, page 233.

Today, I am off from work so I decided to make a couple recipes. One of them is this amazingly yummy dessert. The other is a vegetable dish that will serve as a side for tonight’s dinner.

These Chocolate Chunk Blondies are basically a chocolate chip cookie in bar form. However, they are super dense and chocolately, so they hit that spot a little differently than a cookie would.

Ina recommends baking them in 8.5 inch by 12 inch by 2 inch pan, but I don’t have one of those, so I used one slightly smaller. However, I probably should have used the 13 by 9 inch pan we have. Regardless, they came out great!

I like that this recipe calls for chocolate chunks over chocolate chips since chunks tend to have more of chocolate flavor. I’m not really sure why. Maybe it’s because they are larger? The more surface area? Who knows!

These will make an excellent dessert tonight! I can’t wait to try one.

The cookies before being baked.

Recipe #25 Ultimate Ginger Cookie

Published on by RJ1 Comment

This recipe appears in Barefoot Contessa At Home, page 192.

Last week was a busy cooking week for me. I made a total of three different recipes! Earlier this week I posted about the first two which you can read about here and here.

But, I still haven’t written about the dessert that I made last week — until now. For dessert last week I made the Ultimate Ginger Cookie. This was definitely a new type of dessert for me since I am usually not a fan of gingerbread. But, I have to admit, these cookies were tasty!

Continue reading “Recipe #25 Ultimate Ginger Cookie” →

Recipe #24 Confetti Corn

Published on by RJ2 Comments

This recipe appears in Back to Basics, page 160.

As the side dish for the Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas I made for dinner last Friday, I decided to keep with the Mexican theme and a make corn side. This looks like a simple corn dish, but since it’s from Ina Garten, we know that the dish takes a humble corn side dish and cranks up the flavor volume.

There isn’t much to say about this flavorful and easy side dish. It combines uncooked corn (I used canned corn since it’s winter), a red onion, a pepper, and some spices to add color and flavor to what would be an otherwise bland dish. This is totally one that should be in your back pocket for large crowds since it has the potential too feed around a dozen people.

I did modify the recipe and used a red pepper instead of an orange one and I changed up the spices. As long as the spices you choose work well together, you shouldn’t have an issue with this dish being tasty.

(The photo of this dish is in the header image above!)

Recipe #23 Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Published on by RJ2 Comments

This recipe appears in Modern Comfort Food, page 114.

The first recipe back from my short Ina Garten hiatus was a total hit! Which, to be honest, surprised me since my parents do not typically have the taste buds for Mexican food. However, I think it went over so well because these enchiladas are loaded with cheesy goodness and I left out practically all of the heat.

Making these enchiladas was a challenge! Well, parts of it was challenging anyway. For the most part the recipe was straight forward and enjoyable. The problems arose when it became time to actually stuff the enchiladas and roll them. That part was tricky and turned messy — both my kitchen counter and the attractiveness of the dish. The good news is since they bake in the oven and are covered in sauce and cheese, no really noticed how sloppy they looked.

Seeing that this recipe appears in Ina’s latest book, Modern Comfort Food, it lives up to being a classic comfort food recipe. It is also one that I plan to make again in the future, but with some modifications. Instead of chicken I may use tofu or a meat replacement. I may even use vegetables entirely instead. Anything with cheddar and goat cheese has to be good, right?

Even the photo above couldn’t save the dish from looking messy. Well, it probably could have, but these enchiladas were so yummy that I almost forgot to snap a photo for the blog!

Recipe #22 Challah French Toast

Published on by RJLeave a comment

This recipe can be found in Family Style, page 187.

This one of the first recipes I made from the Breakfast category that I actually I ate for breakfast! I had made Chocolate Banana Crumb Cake recipe last month which came from the Breakfast section.

This recipe has so much potential, but sadly I did not execute it well. First, I used bread that was too soft and got soggy really quickly. This led to not having crispy edges on the French toast during the cooking process. However, the flavor is present and tastes amazing! I was just missing that slight crispness around the edges.

This is a recipe I’d make again with sturdier bread. It is a quick meal and I can see it impressing someone if it’s executed properly.

The taste of the orange and vanilla was really prominent which was a nice change for me. Granted, I’m accustomed to frozen French Toast, so anything would be better than the box.

I will be taking the next couple of weeks off from cooking. Yes, even with Christmas on the way. But, I will just be too busy. Plus my brother is coming home and I haven’t seen him in a while.

I do plan to make some posts over the next two weeks. First, I will be reviewing another one of Ina’s cookbooks sometime next week. I’ll also make a post about the dessert recipe I try from the new cookbook I bought over the weekend.

Now, it’s time for me to get ready for the snow!

Until next time….

Recipe #21 – Triple Chocolate Loaf Cakes

Published on by RJLeave a comment

This recipe is from Cook Like a Pro, pg. 224.

Last weekend I made another dessert recipe, the Triple Chocolate Loaf Cakes. While the recipe was very simple, this was not exactly something to write home about. It was basically a very chocolate-y cake in a loaf form. What I did like though, is that it yields 2 loaf cakes. But in reality, I feel like I could have combined the two pans into one and gotten a taller cake.

It was tasty and simple and can definitely be used if you don’t need a full cake for something, but again, I wasn’t overly impressed with it.

The recipe calls for chocolate chips to be coated in flour before adding them to the recipe. I remember Ina saying something in one of the episodes of Barefoot Contessa that this helps the chips not sink to the bottom of the pan. Well, I did coat them in flour — generously — and they still sunk. Oh well!

Recipe #20 Eggplant Gratin

Published on by RJLeave a comment

This recipe can be found in Barefoot in Paris, page 54

This weekend, I decided to cook from one of the two remaining cookbooks that I had not yet cooked from: Barefoot in Paris and Cook Like a Pro. The first recipe I made this weekend was for dinner on Friday night and it was Eggplant Gratin, coming from Ina’s French cookbook.

This recipe is nothing more than a French take on the Italian Eggplant Parmesan. However, it was so much tastier! Who would have thought half and half would make such a difference! This recipe was pretty easy to make since I already had the eggplant fried. It was also a win for me since I only had to buy the half and half for this recipe. Everything else, including the ricotta and parmesan cheese was already in my fridge!

The thinning of the cheese mixture with half and half adds an unexpected richness that would probably be overwhelming if the recipe called for cream. It was a big hit with my family too! I think this will become the recipe I make in the future when I feel like making an eggplant parmesan.

Additionally, I also baked this weekend. It came from Cook Like a Pro and the recipe and review of that will be dropping later this week!