Birthday Recap

Joey made me a beautiful and delicious chocolate cake.

This is the second pie we made. The first one was just like it, except we used tomatillo salsa. It was this, which I made before. This time I made my own pizza dough. I have made dough before, but I'm no expert as you can see by the shape of the pies. It tasted good though, and I think they look kind of charming.

This was the last pie that we ate. It was probably a bad idea, since we still had cake, but hey you only turn 30 once, right?

This is the last pie we made. It was half tomatillo salsa and half homemade red sauce, goat cheese and pepper jack with shallots. We haven't tried this one yet.

This is what I look like when I blow out candles. Stunning! I know.

Why Not Soup?

Sourced from: thekitchen.com

Joey and I had his dad's white bean soup this sunday. It was an easy meal to make and it was delicious! At The Kitchen they have some nice and simple soup ideas. Why don't you try one of these out this week?

Joseph Mauro's Bowl of Fire Hummus

Today Joey is sharing his hummus recipe. It's name is a reference and homage to all of Andrew Bird's excellent Bowl of Fire albums. It's a great name, but don't be worried, the hummus doesn't pack a lethal dose of heat. Rather, it has a wonderful rounded out flavor. The heat, and garlic combine nicely, but what I like the most about it is the texture, which unlike store brands, has chunks of chickpeas waiting to be scooped up with all the other yummy goodness.

What you need:

1 can of chickpeas, drained

sea salt, to taste

a rounded tablespoon of crushed red peppers

3 cloves of garlic

generous tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, don't skimp

rounded tablespoon of tahini

rounded tablespoon of Goya adobo

rounded tablespoon of cayenne pepper

rounded tablespoon of cumin

rounded tablespoon of chili powder

Note: You will do this in three rounds.

Round 1

Put 1/3 olive oil in food processor with salt and all of the garlic and pulse. Then add in 1/3 tahini paste, pulse again. Add a 1/3 of all the spices, pulse again. Lastly, add 1/3 of the chickpeas and pulse again.

Round 2

Repeat round 1 and omit salt.

Round 3

Repeat round 1 and omit salt.

Michael Symon Inspired Last Night's Dinner

Picture source: Cooking Channel

Sometimes you follow a recipe and sometimes, you don't. I watch a lot of cooking shows because I love food and I love to learn. I often do go to the show's website to grab the recipe, but sometimes just a vague idea sticks around and inspires me. A few weeks ago I watched the chicken episode of How to Cook Like an Iron Chef. When it came time to make dinner last night I plucked this idea from the air: Chicken legs, fingerling potatoes, leeks, braise and I think it was inspired by this.

This is how I brought everything together. First I put salted water to boil, actually Joey did that for me. Then I cut the two leeks and four small potatoes. The leeks were cut lengthwise and then in half to create a nice surface area for searing and I left them about the length of the potatoes. The potatoes I only cut lenthwise and then par-boiled them. I warmed some garlic slices in olive oil before starting the searing, I removed them when they were starting to get golden and put them in a bowl.

Joey cleaned the chicken and I dried and seasoned it with salt and pepper and a very fine coating of flour. The chicken was seared first, then the leeks, then the potatoes. Lastly, I placed everything in a large deep pan, including the golden slices of garlic and added chicken stock, covering it only half way. I seasoned everything with a pinch of oregano and salt and pepper. I let it simmer away until everything was super flavorful and tender. It was a rich and hearty meal and even though it tasted like a million bucks, it only cost about ten. Now that's what I call a bright idea!