What's been cooking?

So it's not like I've been totally lazy these past two months between posts. I had to eat after all. I've just been relying on some old favorites. My comfort foods, if you will. Anyway, here's a little recap of some of the things going down in my kitchen.

Bobby Flay's Chicken Cacciatore: This is fabulous. I love the layers of flavors from the spicy jalapeno to the tangy balsamic. Bobby thought of everything. I still can't believe he lost the throwdown! I bypass the whole chicken and just do mine with chicken thighs.

Emeril's Smoked Salmon Quiche with Potato Crust: A different twist on a classic quiche. Potato crust = Yum. As if potatoes weren't awesome enough, try kicking them up with some Essence of Emeril and Parmesan. Heaven.

My Pasta with Goat Cheese, Chicken and Sun Dried Tomatoes: An easy weeknight meal with lots of bold flavors.

Duff Goldman's Curried Pasta Salad: I whipped this up to go with some jerk burgers at a friend's Memorial Day BBQ. I liked it so much I've already done a sequel to go with the NFNS party leftovers. I probably used twice the curry powder the recipe calls for and spiced mine up with cayenne pepper. Throw in some dried cherries for a sweet balance the spiciness. And impress your friends ... my cubicle food buddy at work thought I julienned the broccoli for the slaw! Thanks Publix!

Emeril's Quiche Lorraine: Who doesn't love cheese and bacon? Simple, easy, freezable. Although, I freeze anything. Perfect to whip out as a snack for a spontaneous Friday evening wine tasting!

Giada's Shrimp and Lemon Linguine: A note to the home cook - don't salt the water too much when using fresh pasta, as I did when I made this recipe. I guess it stands to reason it absorbs more of it than the store bought, dried kind. I've also decided I'm not a huge fan of lemon. Besides those two things, my dinner guest was a big fan of this one.

And we did have a little baby shower action in the midst of all this, during which my friend E and I converted my pad into Kitchen Stadium to whip up six dishes in about three hours. (You have ... 20 minutes). OK, we did get a late start because we had to hit up our fav wine shop for double points Saturday. But we did it! E made a roasted red pepper dip, tuna tartare and bruschetta. My contributions were:

Leek and Mushroom Quiche: The beauty of the quiche ... I used the same quiche lorraine recipe from above and swapped in a pack of portobellos and a leek. Eyeball it.

Rachael Ray's Italian Sausage Sage Meatballs with Apricot Balsamic Glaze: Always a big hit at parties. *Note: This recipe doesn't appear to be on any authorized web sites. It's that good. I'm not about to infringe copyright on Rach's $18 million a year empire. It's in her Get Togethers cookbook.

Rachael Ray's Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites: Why I keep making stuff with lemon is beyond me. But everybody else liked it. I served with some teryiaki.

So that's a lazy two months of cooking for me! Not surprising : )

Easter Eats

If there's one thing I love more than a good dinner party, it would be dining as the guest of an equally as (or more) skilled culinary mastermind.

For Easter this year, I got to be an esteemed guest in my SoBe partner in crime's beautiful new home and enjoy a wonderful spread of traditional lamb and mint jelly, with all sorts of fixings.

Of course I'm not one to show up as a guest empty handed. For the cocktail hour (or hours as is the case with my friends) I whipped up these Rachael Ray Sage Sausage Bites with Balsamic Apricot Dip. These little Italian sausage meatballs are always a big hit with a sauce that offers the right mix of sweet and savory.

For dessert, I whipped up one of my all time favorite desserts - one I also consider an Easter staple. Carrot cake. I could not resist trying the Cake Boss Buddy Valastro's recipe, and turned to Ina Garten for the cream cheese frosting. The cake was perfectly moist and flavorful, and the cream cheese frosting rich, but not too sugary.

My efforts, however, were quite humbled by the spectacular spread. I'd never had lamb with mint jelly before, and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor combination (courtesy of Tyler Florence's take on years of tradition). It was lucky too that I saved room after the cocktail hour, since I could not get enough of another one of my friend's veggie pizza, a cream cheese, ranch dressing spread covering croissants and topped with carrots and broccoli. This recipe looks pretty similar to the one she told me.

Of course one of my favorite stars of the show were the lamb cupcakes another friend showed up with. The loving detail with which she placed little white chocolate chips to look like fur, and marshmallows for ears was just priceless!

Rainy Day Tailgating

I had the perfect plan for my re-emergence onto the cooking scene: Polo tailgating.

Forget the big hats and sleek dresses a la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. My polo experiences are pretty much defined by snacks, wine and friends enjoyed under the Florida sunshine.

This year's excursion promised to be the best yet. One of my friends has a grill attached to the back of his truck. Another a little tent. And of course one can not forget my contribution: the picnic table and cooler in the back of my CRV.

The menu planning began at least a week in advance, and with plans to grill who else would I look to than Bobby Flay, my favorite grill master. I found an interesting recipe for a Grilled Jerk Chicken with Mango and Cilantro Salsa. To top that off, I thought I'd whip up a munchie I saw Giada make on her show a few weeks ago, Tilapia Fish Tacos with Arugula.

Both came out pretty well. For the chicken, I used drum sticks and wings. Bobby Flay recommends marinating the meat for 24 to 48 hours, depending on how strong you want the flavor. I went some where in between, and I have to say I felt like it could have been stronger. The flavor was good, but I would have liked a little more spice. I did cheat and use jalapeno peppers instead of the one called for in the recipe.

For Giada's, I was too lazy and busy to go to the Asian market for the wontons and decided to put my own little twist on the bite size fish tacos. I rolled corn tortillas into little cones, pressed the edges tight to hold the shape, placed them in a cupckae tin and popped them in the oven until crisp.

But just as we pulled everything together, Mother Nature threatened our party with afternoon thunder storms.

Good thing we gals don't let anyone rain on our parade. We moved our party indoors : )

Brie-licious

So the dish that really stole the show at Cathy's party was a Brie en Croute her sister made. Her sister divulged that it was actually a Paula Deen recipe. I tracked it down on Food Network.

The appetizer basically involves topping a wheel of brie cheese with fruit preserves and walnuts, wrapping it in pastry puff and baking it so the cheesy gets all melty and delicious. I'm not kidding you. This is amazing.

See for yourself.

To serve it, you just put the whole loaf out and slice it like bread.

Off the beaten blog path

Did some more off the global adventure path cooking today, this time for my friend Cathy's surprise birthday party.

The idea was to bring some sort of munchie, and I figured finger foods are always appropriate for parties. I decided to go with a mushroom and leek quiche recipe I came up with a few years ago. To make this dish even more party-licious, I make the quiche in little muffin tins so they are individual and handheld and no one has to worry about forks and knives or anything.

Although, I feel like my meager contribution paled in comparison to the rest of the food at the party. Cathy's sister put out quite the spread. It turns out not only is she a big foodie, but her significant other is a chef. I call that cheating,

Either way ...

Ingredients:

4 tbsps. butter
1 package baby portabella mushrooms, chopped
1 large leek, chopped (both white and green part; you will probably only use half)
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups half and half
2 cups grated gruyere cheese
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1 package pre-made pie crust

What to do:

Start by melting the butter in a frying pan. Add the leek and mushrooms and cook until tender.

In a mixing bowl, mix the eggs, half and half and cheese. Beat with a handheld blender until smooth. Then add the veggie mixture, some salt and pepper and about 1 tsp. of nutmeg and whisk until combined.

Using a glass, cut the pie crust into circles that will fit into the muffin tins. When the muffin tins are all crusted, pour the quiche mixture into them.

Cook for about 40 minutes and 350 degrees. You want the top of the quiche to be a golden brown color.