Beet and Orange Salad

I've been obsessed with oranges lately.  They're always on sale this time of year and so yummy!  One of our favorite salads that I just threw together is so simple, easy and delicious.  Just mix the following together:

Salad greens (I usually use spring mix or baby arugula)
Sliced beets (I boil and slice, but you can roast or buy it pre-cooked at Trader Joe's)
Coarsely chopped pecans (You can use walnuts or pine nuts too)
Dried cranberries (or golden raisins)
Goat cheese, sprinkled on top
Freshly ground pepper
Balsamic Vinaigrette (We love Trader Joe's brand)
Peeled and sliced oranges, arranged on top

So pretty and so yummy.  Enjoy!

Quick, Easy, Delicious Scones!

It's MLK Day and Inauguration Day and for some reason, I felt like making scones this morning... and I'm sure glad I did!  I just googled "easy scone recipe" and this link popped up... this is definitely going into the normal rotation.

I've altered the recipe a little bit since I wanted to use multigrain flour and I didn't have any heavy cream in the fridge, but it turned out so delicious topped with strawberry preserves.

INGREDIENTS
1 ¾ cups flour (I used Trader Joe's multigrain baking mix)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 orange- zested
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 stick cold butter, cut into small squares
a pinch of salt

Heat the oven to 400F.

In a mixer, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and orange peel.

Add the cold butter and mix until you get a crumb mixture. Pieces of butter will be corn size and not blended in. This is good.

Add the cream and milk and mix only until it begins to form a dough.

Gather the dough and transfer to a flat surface, bringing together to a solid mass.

Flour lightly and roll to 0.5 inch thickness. Cut into circles using a 2.5 inch round cutter (you can also use a glass) and transfer to a pan. Brush with the remaining milk/cream mixture and dust with some coarse sugar.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.

Bucatini all’Amatriciana

Here's a delicious, easy mid-week meal courtesy of Food & Wine!  Pair with a salad and have it for leftovers the next day.  It's really yummy!

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/4 pound pancetta, cut into 1/2-by- 1/4-inch strips (we used the pre-cut package at Trader Joe's)
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons dry white wine
One 14.5-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices, crushed
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
10 ounces bucatini
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

In a large, deep skillet, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook over moderately low heat until very soft, 7 minutes. Add the pancetta and cook until translucent, 3 minutes.

Add the vinegar, wine, tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of water and simmer until thick, 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In a pot of salted boiling water, cook the bucatini until al dente; reserve 2 tablespoons of the cooking water. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce along with the reserved cooking water and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in 3 tablespoons of cheese. Serve right away, passing more cheese at the table.

Buttery Vanilla Shortbread + Downton Abbey

Last night was the first episode of the much anticipated Season 3 of Downton Abbey!  Love this show!  So, of course, I had to host a watch party for my favorite anglophile friends!

I decided on a simple spread of champagne, tea and desserts to go along with the 2 hours of British drama!  It was fabulous.  And I learned that baking shortbread is SUPER easy!  It was a last minute decision to make homemade shortbread (because they type I bought at Whole Foods wasn't up to snuff).  Fortunately, I found a recipe on Food & Wine and it didn't call for many ingredients so I had everything I needed at home!

Try this simple shortbread recipe and enjoy the show!

INGREDIENTS
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and vanilla and pulse until evenly moistened. Turn the crumbs out onto a large piece of parchment paper and press into a disk.

Cover with another sheet of parchment paper and roll out the dough to a rough 8-by-11-inch rectangle. Discard the top sheet of parchment. Trim the edges to form a 7-by-10-inch rectangle. Slide the dough along with the parchment onto a large baking sheet. Using a straight edge and a sharp knife, score the dough into 24 bars. Poke the dough all over with a fork and freeze until firm, about 10 minutes.

Bake the dough until golden, about 25 minutes. While the shortbread is still warm, cut it into bars. Let cool before serving.

MAKE AHEAD The shortbread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

P.S. I also made a Sticky Orange Marmalade Cake that was supposed to pair well with tea.  It definitely paired well with tea because it was on the dry side.  It was good and goes very well with tea or coffee, but it wasn't to my taste.  But here's the link just in case it sounds like something you'd like!

Salted Dark Chocolate Espresso Cookies

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I think this has been my new year's resolution every year... but once again, it's to update this blog more often!  Honestly, 2012 just flew by and I can't believe it's already 2013 today!  Hope everyone had a great holiday and we'll have select photos from the Farrell's California Christmas posted soon.

This is probably not a surprise but Michael and I rang in the new year with food!  I spent this cold and overcast new year's day being lazy and catching up on our pile of magazines from last month.  Fortunately a recipe for baked beans caught my eye in this month's Food & Wine.  And since no one questions a pregnant lady's cravings, Michael made us an amazing hamburger with baked beans and salad for the first day of the new year!

Impressive, right?!?!  And yes, it was as delicious as it looks!  Mmmmm...

Of course, this meant that I had to make an equally impressive new year's day dessert!  I meant to try these salted dark chocolate espresso cookies for the cookie swap last month, but ran out of time.  Fortunately, that meant that I had all the ingredients already!  Plus, it was the first time that I got to use coconut oil, which is supposed to be healthier than butter... perfect for starting out the new year on a healthy note!

Healthy coconut oil.  Healthy dark chocolate.  Everything's healthy in moderation, right?  Right.

INGREDIENTS
6 oz good quality unsweetened chocolate
4 oz Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
¼ cup coconut oil (I used Trader Joe's organic brand)
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
¼ tspn baking powder
¼ tspn salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1⅓ cups sugar
1½ tspn instant espresso powder (I used Folger's instant coffee)
1 tspn vanilla extract
smoked sea salt flakes (I used kosher salt)

1. Finely chop 6 oz unsweetened chocolate and set in a double boiler over simmering water with the coconut oil. Stirring constantly, melt. Once melted, remove from heat, set aside, and let cool to room temperature.

2. In a bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, combine the eggs, sugar, espresso powder, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium high for about 5-7 minutes, until pale and fluffy and the batter drops off the beaters in a thick ribbon. Fold in the flour mixture, followed by the cooled melted chocolate mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover and chill until firm, about 1 hour. (Or chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes.)

4. Preheat oven to 350° F. On lined or greased cookie sheets, drop 1 to 1½-inch balls of dough, leaving about 2 inches between each ball. Sprinkle the dough balls with salt flakes.

5. Bake the sheets one at a time for 10 to 14 minutes, rotating once half-way through baking. The centers should still be soft when you remove the pans from the oven. Let the cookies cool at least 5 minutes before enjoying hot, or store in air tight containers for about two days. Serve with a shot of milk.

TIP: Let batter sit out a little while after chilling - it makes it easier to roll into balls.  (Warning: Hands will get very chocolaty when rolling batter into balls.  It's messy!)