Last night was one of those perfect evenings that came together without any planning or advance notice. We had talked about the details of this night in the past, but conflicts kept getting in the way. So when my girlfriend texted me Friday night to see if we were available on Saturday night, I said yes, and hoped it would come together. And yep, it did - we were able to launch "our suburban version" of Chopped.
My friend Paul and I both love to cook, while his wife Lisa and my husband are not big fans of the culinary stuff. Add in our other friends Chris and Jay who are awesome to be around, and we were ready to do what we had talked about a month ago. Chris and Lisa gave Paul and I 4 "secret basket ingredients" at 4:45 PM. We had 15 minutes to figure out our menu and an hour to shop, with a $50 budget. Since the event would be at our house, I also let Paul know what we had on hand so that those ingredients would not be purchased with our small budget which had to feed 6 adults and 4 kids.
When I was given goat cheese, pecans, cilantro and spinach, my wheels started to turn - in a MILLION different directions. I learned quickly that I am not a "off the top of my head" kind of gal. Finally, I started to figure out some options (no internet access allowed) and off to the store, my daughter and I went. We were only 50 cents over budget, which I was UBER proud of...until of course I found out that somehow Paul was $12 UNDER budget. Show off :)
We all met up at our house at 6 PM and started the appetizer round at 7 or so. I finally landed on something not as creative as I really wanted, but something that would use all 4 ingredients in a half hour time frame. I made a spinach salad with chopped red and orange peppers, strawberry slices, goat cheese crumbles, and some candied pecans. I had never candied pecans and had no idea of what I was doing, but I basically melted some brown sugar, butter and a tad of water. From there, I coated the pecans and baked them. They could have used a bit of extra sweetness, maybe cinnamon should be included next time, but at least they worked.
I also made a homemade dressing with goat cheese, olive oil, cilantro, key lime jelly, and some of the "sauce" from the candied pecans. It was fabulous - as Jay said "I don't love many salad dressings, but I could drink this!" Hindsight 20/20, I wish the dressing would have been thicker as this picture would have looked much better!
Paul's appetizer was incredible. He sliced a baguette (I also had bread but had not a chance of getting it in the oven within the time), and though I don't know exactly what he did, I know it was a topping with mushrooms, pureed cilantro, chopped pecans, garlic, goat cheese, etc. It was so flipping YUMMY and he did an amazing job of "repurposing" the ingredients, which is what "Chopped" is all about. I hate that we didn't get a picture of it! but it was CHAOS!
We took some time to enjoy the appetizer round, Lisa was a huge help and did the dishes, and from there, we were ready for the entree round. This one was MUCH easier for me as I could work from a recipe I already make. I was going to stuff chicken breasts with a mixture of goat cheese, cilantro, spinach, and sundried tomatoes. I would also make a topping of chopped pecans, bread crumbs and melted butter, coat the top of the chicken breasts and bake. Let's just say that my time management skills SUCK as to bake the chicken alone took 25 minutes. So add in my prep time and let's just say - I did NOT finish this round anywhere close to the 30 minutes we had allotted.
In addition, I decided to do some quinoa, using my leftover chopped peppers, leftover salad dressing, some chicken broth, and some different herbs. Added in a bit of my "crema" and it ended up super tasty and healthy to boot. Wish I had done a prettier presentation! I actually did add on 2 cherry tomato slices with a sprig of cilantro for the future plates.
Paul did a very creative version of reconstructing Chicken Florentine. He took small pieces of chicken and sauteed them, while making a pot of fettucine and a delicious alfredo sauce. It was tasty and oh so flavorful.
For dessert, Paul made an AMAZING lemon goat cheese cheesecake which he "whipped up" before our friendly competition ever began. Let's just say that I'm happy that a few of those slices remain in OUR fridge.
We are talking about doing this on a more regular basis, like once a month. I honestly (and this will sound SO NERDY) felt like I grew in our culinary experience. It actually inspired tonight's dinner (will do that post tomorrow). I have a lot to learn and want to learn it. These are people that we love spending time with, so I hope that we can do it more often. For the next time, I suggested that our sophomores are our sous chefs - so that I can offload some of the prep work that weighed me down! It was such a fun evening, complete with time hanging out on the deck as well as doing some dancing in the great room! Here's to good friends. And NEITHER of us was chopped!
The evening was AWESOME and I had so much fun putting together a creative and healthy meal. Now it's time to play around with the blog and add some pictures.
My favorite part of cooking is the prep work - chopping the veggies (though I HATE chopping onions so you will see a pre-packaged tub of chopped onions and celery), planning out times so that the food is all ready when my guests come and of course tasting along the way is a must :)
I started out my prep with marinating the chicken; I really wish I had written down everything I used. I do know that I pureed some mango, added in a bit of olive oil, basil, garlic, chili sauce, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I don't *think* I used anything else, but can't guarantee it. The taste of this marinade was light, with a tiny touch of heat from the chili sauce, but not enough to consider it spicy, more like tangy.
As the chicken was marinating, I did a lot of the prep work. I went ahead and completed the tomatoes dish; slicing up fresh tomatoes, topping with a piece of mozzarella cheese and some chopped basil and drizzling with balsamic vinaigrette. Those went into the fridge on the serving platter I would be using; one item completely accomplished.
Next, I prepped the other 2 appetizers, which both just needed 10 minutes or so in the oven. I mixed some herbed goat cheese with pureed mangos and stuffed my figs. I actually did a search to find out the best way to stuff a fig. I tried both of the methods I found - one is making a slit and putting the stuffing in there. The other is making more of an X and pulling the outsides apart and stuffing it. I liked the presentation of the second one better. All I did was stuff the figs with the mixture and put them on a plate in the fridge until time to cook.
For the mushrooms, I wanted something other than a cheese mixture since the other 2 appetizers had cheese. I looked all over the internet, and finally found one that called for pesto, but I didn't have any on hand. But I started thinking - what about hummus? We always have a lot of hummus on hand, so I combined some original, some garlic flavored and some that was flavored with roasted red pepper. I also stirred in chopped red and orange peppers and some basil. I stuffed the mushrooms with that, then topped with a light sprinkle of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.
Next was making the salad, a light and fresh tasting mixture of greens, chopped mangos, chopped basil, crumbled feta cheese and cherry tomatoes. Into the fridge it went in the bowl I would be using so it would keep cool. My plan was to serve with an Asian Sesame Light dressing. I also cut the peaches in half, and got my ingredients ready for the quinoa. I sliced up the zucchini and topped with spray butter and parmesan cheese and had that ready to go. At this point, it was just a "hurry up and wait" thing b/c the rest was the actual cooking.
With my friends coming over at 7, I started the actual cooking at 6:30. At 6:15, I took the chicken out of the fridge and kept at room temperature for 1/2 hour, a tip I learned directly from Melissa D'Arabian in a live chat I was on the other day. She actually answered my question about tips for grilling chicken and taught me about the room temp tip, and also to put thinner pieces towards the front of the grill as the back gets hotter. Lastly, she advised to use a meat thermometer and take the chicken off at 5 degrees less than desired as it would cook those extra degrees while resting.
I started the quinoa at 6:30, figuring i could keep in the oven at 175. What I love about quinoa is that it takes on whatever flavors you give it. I started by sauteeing some chopped celery and onions in olive oil. Once those were soft, I added in a cup and a half of chicken broth and brought that to a boil. Then I added the quinoa and let it simmer for 12 minutes. I also added in some chopped basil for flavor, along with some lemon zest. I put it into the oven to warm, and 5 minutes before serving, I added in some raw red and orange pepper and some shoepeg corn as I wanted those to still be crunchy.
At 6:45, I fired up the grill and cooked the chicken and the peaches. I have found that using a lower heat helps to keep the chicken more tender, and does not char the outside. I used the top rack for the peaches and used some spray butter before grilling for flavor. When finished, I knew I could just put them into the oven to warm.
I put the figs and mushrooms into the oven at this same time so that they would be ready, as well as the zucchini. At 7 sharp, I was ready for company :)
I loved the flavor of the figs; a light drizzle of honey on the plate added a touch of sweetness to the savory taste of the goat cheese. The mushrooms were everything I wanted them to be and then some. The hummus is a perfect stuffing and I loved that the peppers stayed crunchy even after cooking. There is NOTHING better than the taste of fresh tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and basil; so fresh and flavorful.
I was uber pleased that the chicken was cooked perfectly; tender and juicy and delicious! The quinoa benefitted from the crunch of the veggies I added, and the mixture of ingredients in the salad was divine. Parmesan zucchini was simple but delicious.
After dinner, I served up the grilled peaches that had been warming, putting each half on a piece of pound cake and used a dollop of whipped topping, as well as a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.
I now have a new found respect for food bloggers. It's hard to remember to take the pictures along the way, and I'm still learning the easiest way to upload. I was FINALLY able to activate "instant upload" on my phone, so from now on, any photos I take will automatically be available for upload. YAY - it took forever, but I'm so glad I figured it out :)
Mari
