Chicken Picatta

I just got off the phone with my mom, who requested I post this chicken picatta recipe. I'm not sure of the exact measurements but try it out!

Chicken breasts - pounded to an even thickness
Olive Oil
1 Egg
flour
salt/pepper
lemon juice
dry white wine
capers

1. Heat a little bit of olive oil (medium heat). Beat the egg in a bowl. Cover a large plate with flour and sprinkle in salt and pepper.
2. Coat the pounded chicken in the egg, dredge in flour mixture, and move to the pan. Cook each breast and transfer to a plate. Cover with foil to keep warm. Add more oil to the pan if the breasts start to burn/char.
3. After the last breast, add about a cup of dry white wine and scrape up the brown bits. As the alcohol is burning off, add in juice from about half a lemon, salt/pepper, and about a tablespoon of juice from the jar of capers. Let it reduce and thicken. It will taste strong. Add a couple of spoons full of capers, pour over chicken and serve.
   

Pork w/ Honey Butter

Really simple and good:

4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp honey
1.5 lb pork tenderloin
salt/pepper
1/4 cup water

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Melt butter over medium heat in an oven-proof pan and combine with honey.
2. Salt/Pepper the tenderloin lightly and add to the pan, searing on each side for a couple of minutes.
3. Move pan to the oven and cook for 12-15 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the oven and take the tenderloin out of the pan. Slice and arrange on plate, cover w/ foil to keep warm.
4. Put the pan back on medium heat and add water to scrape up all bitlets. Reduce until thickened and drizzle over pork.
   

Gougeres

These little puffs of cheese are actually pretty easy to make, and cute and delicious to boot!

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup milk (or water)
1/4 tsp salt
dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated* (keep some to use as topping at the end)
1 cup cheddar, grated*
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp paprika
coarse salt for sprinkling on top
herbs (you can use whichever you like! I used dried thyme because I didn't want to buy fresh thyme at the store (but fresh will taste better!). You can use sage, or parsley, chives, or anything else you like!)

* Traditionally, gougeres are made with gruyere cheese, but really, you can sub in anything that's your favorite! I plan on making these again with chives and goat cheese!

Directions:
1. Melt butter in saucepan with milk, 1/4 tsp salt, and cayenne pepper.
2. Once melted, bring to a boil, and remove from heat.
3. Add flour and quickly stir to mix well. This should form a sticky dough (called coux paste).
4. Put saucepan back on heat, and cook while mixing dough with a wooden spoon for another 1-2 minutes, to remove some residual moisture.
5. Dump dough into a stand mixer (or a food processor if you don't have a mixer) and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

**at this point, I preheat the oven to 375 F.

6. Add 1 egg at a time, beating to fully incorporate it before adding the next one. At first, it will look like the egg won't mix with the dough, but it'll eventually incorporate.
7. Once all the egg is beat in, the dough should be thick and shiny. Throw in the cheese and paprika, mixing until incorporated. Add any herbs you want, and mix them in too.
8. Take a baking sheet and line with either silicone mats, or parchment paper.
9. You can either use a tablespoon to scoop out balls and put them on the sheet, or you can use a pastry bag. I took a Ziploc bag, stuffed all my dough into it, and then snipped off the corner, turning it into my own ghetto bag. Pipe about 1 tbs mounds onto your sheet.
10. Top off with shredded parmesan and a bit of your course salt.
11. Bake for about 30 minutes, until puffed and browned. If your oven does not bake evenly, you can turn your baking sheet around at 15 minutes.
12. Take out, let it sit for a couple minutes, and then enjoy!!

Nom nom nom!!

Chocolate Pudding Pie

I had a huge hankering for chocolate pudding pie ever since I saw this beautiful post by Smitten Kitchen.I basically followed her recipe to a tee, and it was so delicious and wonderful. The most difficult part is pie crust (of which I also used her recipe for all-butter crust...but that's b/c I abhor shortening), but if you're feeling lazy, you could always just sub in a pre-made crust from the store

This pie totally hit the spot!

Easy Pork Medallions with Red Wine Reduction

I made this the other day and it was super good and very easy

Pork Tenderloin, ~1.5 lbs
salt/pepper
Olive Oil
~1 tbsp finely chopped shallot
~1 tsp finely chopped fresh tarragon
1/2-1 cup red wine
1/2-1 tbsp butter

1. Remove "silver skin" from the tenderloin. Slice tenderloin 3/4 inch thick. Pound into approx 1/2 inch, and make sure the thickness is even! Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
   
2. Heat a little bit of oil to lubricate pan. Cook the pork medallions - my guess is 3-5 minutes each side so that they're still tender and juicy. Don't let the sides brown too much. As the pieces finish, remove and place in your serving dish, covered with foil to keep warm.
3. Cook shallots in the same pan for a couple of minutes. Throw in tarragon for another minute. Add wine and cook keep mixing as it steams and reduces. When it's reduced to about 1/2 the original amount, add the butter and mix until melted. Pour sauce over pork and serve!
   

Cheesecake Cookies

Here's an incredibly easy cookie recipe that I've made a few times now (both because of how easy it is, and because everyone I know seems to love them).


CHEESECAKE COOKIES:

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup All Purpose flour

(optional): toppings/flavors. Examples include zest with a squeeze of juice, chocolate chips, craisins, etc.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Line baking sheet with Silpat (or parchment paper)

3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar

4. Add flour and mix until dough forms

5. Add any flavors you want

6. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto Silpat or parchment paper. You can add additional toppings at this point.

7. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until the bottom edge starts to brown.

These are flavored with orange zest/juice and topped with Craisins.