Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Mexican meals are so easy.  The ingredients are predictable; taco seasonings, cheese, sour cream, avocado, black beans, tortillas and tomatoes.  We have had a few warm days and a refreshing Mexican salad sounded like a great idea.  I found an excellent recipe in a Cooking Light cookbook.  It has a creamy dressing made with chipotle chile, lime juice, cilantro, seasonings and light sour cream that mellows the heat from the chiles.

The salad ingredients are simple.  You could use a rotisserie chicken if time is short.  But I had two boneless chicken breasts that I dusted with taco seasonings and sauteed until cooked through.  Also in the mix to dress the lettuce are red onions, cherry tomatoes, avocado, black beans and corn.  I served a few corn chips on the side to be crumbled over the salad.

We are making progress on the cottage.  It makes me nervous when my surroundings are in chaos.  I like to be in control and am easily overwhelmed by the need to do everything at once when things are in disarray.  But I saw the light of day (literally) earlier this week and spent a sunny day with my blogging buddy Penny of the Comforts of Home.  We antiqued. . . . . . .

It is always fun to visit The Screen Door in Asheville.  Love this vignette.  I am thinking of using chalk paint to transform one of my dressers like the one shown here.

This is one of my favorite booths.  Lots of French linens, topiaries and antique posters.  After antiquing we dined . . . .

It is a rite of passage for us to have lunch at our favorite French Bistro “Fig”.  We always try to eat on the patio.  The green grass is such a welcoming sight after a grey winter.  As is that lovely glass of Riesling.

What a luncheon feast.  The other Penny (TOP) had PEI mussels with steak frites.  I had chicken schnitzel with white beans and greens in a flavorful red sauce.  We caught up with everything that has happened since we last saw each other last season.  It was a fun day under the warming sun.

Hopefully we will all be experiencing warmer weather soon.  This salad is a good way to sit back and enjoy it.

CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TACO SALAD (Cooking Light; the Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook )

Dressing:
2/3 cup light sour cream
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 2 breast halves)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup diced peeled avocado
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, cooked and cooled

To prepare dressing, combine first 7 ingredients, stirring well.

To prepare salad, combine lettuce and remaining 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat.  4 servings.

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Leave it to my husband to come up with one of the most delicious fried green tomatoes that I have ever eaten.  I love it when he cooks.  He just dives in, totally unintimidated by any complicated procedure.  There isn’t really anything complicated about this dish.  But it does require several steps to arrive at the finished product.  Some of the steps can be done ahead of time.  I am planning on making the Sweet Tomato Jam that goes on top as a condiment that I keep in the fridge at all times.  It will have many uses.

But enough from me.  Here is what David has to say.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES WITH BACON, PIMENTO CHEESE, AND SWEET TOMATO JAM

The basic idea for this delicious combination came from an episode of Unique Eats on the Cooking Channel in which they visited Yardbird Southern Table and Bar in Miami.  They did not include the recipe on the website, but I watched them closely as they made this dish on the show.  They fried the green tomatoes, topped them with their own house-made pimento cheese, a slice of pork belly bacon, and some sweet tomato jam.  I had never heard of sweet tomato jam, so I Googled it and found quite a few different recipes.  After reading several of them, I wound up combining two recipes to take advantage of the best aspects of both.  We didn’t have any pork belly bacon, so I substituted regular thick-sliced, apple smoked bacon, and used store-bought sharp cheddar pimento cheese spread.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

This is a basic recipe for making pretty good fried green tomatoes.  Two slices per person is plenty once you add all the other goodies.  One green tomato will produce at least four 3/8 inch slices, so slice up as many as you need.  The amounts below are enough for two medium size tomatoes.

2 green tomatoes, cut into 3/8 inch slices
Salt to taste, Pepper to taste
1/3 cup flour, or more as needed
1/2 cup Seasoned Panko Bread Crumbs, or more as needed
1 egg, or more as needed
A splash of milk for the egg wash
Enough cooking oil to fill your pan about 1/2 inch deep

Heat the oil in a large deep skillet until the surface is shimmery.  In the meantime, lightly salt and pepper both sides of the green tomato slices.  Make an egg wash with one or more eggs and a little milk in a bowl large enough to accommodate the biggest tomato slice.  Mix the flour with a little salt and pepper in another bowl, and pour the panko crumbs in a third bowl.  Flour both sides of the tomato slices, then coat thoroughly with the egg wash and dip in the panko crumbs.  Place the crumby tomato slices on a plate until the oil is hot, then place several slices in the pan without crowding too much and fry until golden brown on one side, then flip and fry until golden brown on the other side.  Remove the slices to a paper towel covered baking tray and place in a warming oven while you continue with more batches if necessary.

In the meantime you should have fried some thick-sliced bacon until crispy.  You will need one slice of bacon for each tomato slice.  You can keep the bacon in the warming oven until ready to assemble.  When all of the tomato slices are fried and you are ready to serve, spread each slice with a dollop of pimento cheese, top with two half-slices of bacon, and top that with a dollop of sweet tomato jam.  (Recipe below)

SWEET TOMATO JAM

You can use any kind of tomatoes that suit your fancy.  I used a mix of Mountain Reds, Romas, and Cherry Tomatoes.  About 3 pounds total made about 2 cups of finished jam.

3 lbs of most any kind of tomato
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular paprika, if you don’t have smoked
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or a little more if you like it spicy

Peel the tomatoes by placing in boiling water for about 1 1/2 minutes and then move to an ice water bath in a large bowl.  After they cool, you can easily remove the skin by hand.  Cut the tomatoes into a medium course chop and place in a large pot.  Add the sugar, salt, pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes.  Stir it all together and let it sit for half an hour to generate some liquid before heating.  Bring the mixture to a boil uncovered while stirring occasionally, reduce the heat to a heavy simmer and continue to cook uncovered, and stir once in a while to make sure it isn’t sticking and burning on the bottom.  Some recipes say it only takes 35 minutes of cooking to reach jam consistency, but it took me about an hour.  I think I started out at too slow a simmer and the liquid wasn’t boiling off quickly enough.  After about 45 minutes the mix was still pretty soupy, so I turned the heat up a little and it finished in another 15 minutes.  Next time I will start with higher heat and stir more often so it doesn’t burn.  The result is a delicious sweet yet savory jam that is not only super well-suited to the fried green tomatoes, but will also be delicious on crostini.

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This is my farewell post from Florida.  We are heading back to North Carolina on Friday.  It is a time for cleaning out the refrigerator and pantry.  It is also time for simple easy meals.  This recipe came from a new book by Ellie Krieger called Weeknight Wonders.  I love Ellie’s recipes because they are healthy and fairly uncomplicated.

I loved the crispy corn tacos, bean mixture and seasoned ground turkey.  I had to skip the corn called for because the freezer yielded only a sorry package of peas.  This has been a great meal to have on hand.  It has made one dinner and several lunches.

When we were in Sante Fe, New Mexico several years ago, we walked into an antique store and saw a whole set of Mexican pottery dinnerware.  I fell in love with it.  The platter pictured here is part of the set.  It was made in Patzcuaros, Mexico.  It is glazed so that it is food safe.  Now that we are selling the house I will have to part with the whole set.  Let me know if anyone is interested.  It will more than likely be a part of an Estate sale that we will have next year.

I am looking forward to seeing you some time next week with news and recipes from Lake Lure.  Spring in the mountains is one of my favorite times of the year.

TACO PIZZAS (Weeknight Wonders by Ellie Krieger)

8 small corn tortillas (6 inches in diameter)
2 tablespoons canola oil
4 scallions
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 pound lean ground turkey
1 ear fresh corn or 2/3 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup canned low-sodium pinto beans
1/4 cup chicken broth or water
3 ounces pepper jack cheese (3/4 cup grated)
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Brush the tortillas on both sides lightly with 1 tablespoon total of the oil.  Place them on 2 baking sheets and bake until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes.  Remove from the oven, leaving the tortillas on the trays.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Thinly slice the scallions, keeping the dark greens separate, and mince the garlic.  Add the scallion whites and light green parts to the skillet and cook until translucent, 2 minutes.  Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and cayenne and cook for 1 minute more.

Place half of the scallion-spice mixture in the bowl of a small food processor and set aside.  Add the turkey to the remaining scallion-spice mixture in the skillet and cook, breaking the meat up with a wooden spoon, until it is cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, if using an ear of corn, cut the kernels off. Add the corn kernels and tomato sauce to the skillet, with the browned turkey and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed, 2 to 3 minutes.

Drain and rinse the pinto beans and add them, along with the broth, to the food processor.  Pulse until smooth, scraping the sides once or twice if necessary.  Grate the cheese.

Spread 2 tablespoons of the bean mixture on each tortilla and top with about 1/4 cup of the turkey mixture.  Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of cheese on top and bake until the bean puree is warmed through and the cheese is melted, 3 to 4 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with the scallion greens.  Cut each pizza into quarters with a sharp knife or pizza cutter and serve each with a dollop of the sour cream.

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This casserole would have been the perfect side dish for St. Patrick’s Day.  Colcannon is an Irish dish which usually contains potatoes and cabbage or kale.  Making it with sweet potatoes and adding a kick of cayenne pepper and bacon elevates it from drab to very interesting indeed.  The original recipe called for pancetta, but I think the bacon does just as well. We had already had our corned beef and cabbage with boiled potatoes and carrots when I found this recipe on the FOOD52 website.  Since corned beef was still on sale, I bought another one and made it along side this and a scrumptious sauerkraut salad.  It was a new take on the St. Paddy’s Day menu.

I am loving my new Staub cookware that I won from FOOD52.  The quality and sturdiness are unsurpassed.  But then I am also sold on the less expensive Lodge cast iron cookware.  My Le Creuset enameled cookware is also put to good use in my kitchen, but the enamel does stain after time no matter how well I clean it.  I would be interested in your thoughts on this matter.  What about copper?

I hate it when I get in the picture.  I loved this shot of my sweet potatoes until I saw my orange glad self in the reflection in the spoon.  Oh well.  The potatoes are still very photogenic and I highly recommend this dish.  Next time I will add even more cayenne pepper.  More bacon too.  Hope you like it as much as I did.  We are packing.  One more week until we return to North Carolina.

SWEET POTATO COLCANNON WITH BACON  (Adapted from FOOD52)

• 1/3pound kale, rinsed well and stripped of coarse stems
• 1 1/2pounds sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch cubes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 slices of bacon, diced and fried until crisp
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/8teaspoon cayenne powder, plus more as desired
• 1/2cup half-and-half

1. Place kale in salted boiling water for 8 minutes, until tender and bright green. Reserving the boiling water, remove with a slotted spoon, drain well and squeeze out excess water, then chop fine.
2. Boil the sweet potato in the water used for the kale for 15 minutes, covered, or until tender. Drain and pass through a potato ricer or food mill, into a large, heat-proof pot. (Note: If you have neither a ricer nor mill, push potato through a sieve or otherwise be sure to mash thoroughly until smooth.)
3. Add the chopped kale to the sweet potato. Season with salt and pepper to taste, keeping in mind that the inclusion of cayenne and bacon later in the recipe will boost the levels of both salt and spice; be judicious.
4. In a medium skillet over moderate heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove using a slotted spoon and let drain on a paper towel.
5. In the same pan you used to cook the bacon, melt the butter. Add onion and cayenne and sauté over medium heat, until onion is translucent and has lost its crunch. Set aside.
6. In a small saucepan, heat half-and-half, then beat it into the sweet potato-kale mixture (I just used a fork, which worked best). Add the bacon. Add the onion and the fat from the pan. Combine all ingredients well, and serve warm.
7. This dish may be prepared in advance. In fact, it tastes even better the next day. Also, try pressing the colcannon into a pie plate and chilling overnight: The next day, cut into wedges and fry up in additional butter or oil to accompany a breakfast of scrambled eggs.

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I haven’t been posting as often these days.  We have been busy getting the Florida house in order so that we can sell it.  We have come to the conclusion that owning two houses is not in our best interest.  But before I get to all of that, I wanted to share this recipe with you for Chicken Marsala.  Several people have mentioned this dish recently; Monique in particular.  Monique tried David Lebovitz’s recipe for the dish.  About a month ago, I tried a rendition from allrecipes.com.  But after Monique’s rave about David’s recipe, I decided to give it a look.  This time I ended up combining the two recipes for my own version of the dish.

From the allrecipe recipe I added the chopped tomatoes.  They add color to the dish.  From David’s recipe I added more Marsala.  You can never have too much Marsala.  I think I ended up with a winner.

Here is our house as it used to look.  We called it “Big Pink”.  Pink houses are not uncommon in Florida.  Plus the color seemed to work with the roof tiles.  We decided that it might sell better if it were more neutral; to be quite frank, I hate neutral.

Here is the new paint color.  The beige has a bit of pink in it but is subdued.  We also added some landscaping to the front of the house.

We painted the front double doors black because I like black.  The painter and hubby did not like that idea, but I prevailed.  We replaced the garage light fixtures with larger black lanterns.

Here is a close up of the front door.  The only problem with having glass doors is that our dog Daisy is usually sitting right in front of the doors barking at anyone who walks by.  But it does give the entrance area lots of light.

Another area we worked on, besides the kitchen, was the Master bathroom.  The vanity in this room is low.  Lots of bathroom vanities were low when our house was built in the early 90’s.  Instead of replacing the vanity, we installed two tall vessel sinks with tall swivel faucets.  We also replaced the countertop with granite.  The other update was getting rid of the horrible wall to wall flat mirror and replacing it with two black framed mirrors.  There was a medicine cabinet to the left of the mirror on the adjoining wall.  That is also gone.  This has turned out to be a very user friendly bathroom.  I am happy with it.  Did I mention that the bathroom used to be painted red?  That was David’s great idea.  Somehow, I could hear prospective buyers saying “WHOA!” if we kept it that way.  Neutral seems to work here.

Here is my combined recipe for chicken marsala.  I assembled this plate after we had enjoyed the chicken last night so it is not as full as it would be if you served it to company. In other words, these are leftovers.  We are getting packed up to return to Lake Lure, so posts may be sporadic in the next few weeks.

CHICKEN MARSALA

2 pounds chicken cutlets, pounded thin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
8 ounces button mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2/3 cup Marsala wine
1 small tomato, diced
1 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Chopped parsley

Season chicken cutlets with salt and pepper.  Pour flour into a shallow dish.  Press chicken cutlets into flour to coat each side, shaking to remove any excess flour.  Set aside.

Melt 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in large skillet.  When hot, add sliced mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook stirring occasionally until browned, about 6 to 8 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Remove the mushrooms to a plate and wipe out pan.  Add 1 more tablespoon oil and butter to pan.  Add half of the chicken cutlets and saute until they are browned on each side.  Remove to a plate.  Add another 1 tablespoon of oil and butter to pan and repeat with remaining chicken pieces.  While chicken is browning mix together the chicken broth and cornstarch.  Stir until cornstarch is dissolved.  Add the Marsala wine.

When second batch of chicken is done, remove it from the pan.  Add to wine mixture to the pan and scrape up the browned bits.  Stir until it starts to thicken slightly.  Return the mushrooms and chicken to the pan.  Add the diced tomato and cook for about 6 minutes.  Add remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, the balsamic vinegar and the chopped parsley.  Stir to combine.  Serve with noodles, mashed potatoes or rice.

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