madcity girl

This spring vegetable salad is one of three dishes we brought to the most recent Iron Chef Honey Dinner. I love this salad—the colors and textures make for an impressive presentation. We found three varieties of beets at the farmers’ market, which, when roasted and sliced into thin circles, created a beautiful, multi-colored foundation for the shaved carrots and asparagus to lay upon. If you’re looking for that “wow” factor without too much fuss, this is a great salad option.

Spring Vegetable Salad with Truffle Whipped Honey (from Chef Joe Hafner, Gracie’s, Providence, Rhode Island; 8 servings)

3 lbs. fresh beets, trimmed, rinsed and dried
2 cups sherry vinegar, enough to partially cover beets, plus 2 Tbsp
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
2/3 lb. white jumbo asparagus, cleaned and trimmed
2/3 lb. green jumbo asparagus, cleaned and trimmed
2/3 lb. large carrots, cleaned and trimmed
10 oz. honey
2 Tablespoons white truffle oil
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Small herbs, for garnish, chopped
2 pints (4 cups) whole-milk ricotta

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a roasting pan, cover beets two thirds with a mixture of 2 parts water, 1 part sherry vinegar and butter. (If using multiple colored beets, roast lighter beets in separate pans so colors don’t bleed.) Salt the mixture liberally. Cover with foil and roast until beets can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and cool in the liquid, in the refrigerator. When cooled, peel and slice the beets thin. Reserve. Using a vegetable peeler or mandoline, shave the asparagus and carrots as thinly as possible (to the consistency of linguine) and transfer to ice water. Reserve in water for up to 24 hours. Using a hand-held immersion blender, process the honey in a tight container for 2 to 3 minutes. Move the hand blender in an up and down motion until the honey lightens in color; continue for 1 minute. Add the truffle oil and continue the up and down motion until fully incorporated and light in color. Reserve (can be re-whipped if necessary). Per order on a chilled plate, arrange beet slices in a circle. Drain the carrot and asparagus mixture and add to a bowl with olive oil, fresh herbs, and 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Arrange a handful of shaved vegetables in the center of the plate and garnish with additional herbs if desired. Drizzle with the truffle whipped honey. Spoon 4 teaspoons of whole milk ricotta around salad and serve.

From left to right, top to bottom: Gentle Breeze Honey (Fancy White Clover and Wildflower); Honey Sticks, Bit-O-Honey candy; sampling honey from Jill and Ryan’s trip to France; Old Sugar Factory Honey Liqueur; Spring Vegetable Salad with Truffle Whipped Honey; Crostini with Prosciutto, Goat Cheese, Honey and Fig Jam; Pistachio-Honey Cake with Berries and Cream; Honey Cake; Blackberry Honey Popsicles; Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes; Turkey Chili with Honey.

There were many forms of chili peppers represented at Sunday’s Iron Chef dinner—Aleppo, Anaheim, Ancho, Cayenne, Chipotle, Guajillo, Jalapeno, Poblano, and Serrano. Not to mention Paprika and Chili Powder.

This month was my turn to host. I was a little hesitant about the group taking on two Iron Chef dinners in one week, but everyone brought their “A” game and we enjoyed a fantastic meal. Lauren later remarked the dinner ranked among her top five favorite Iron Chef dinners. Our feast included the following dishes:

-Kale chips sprinkled with chili powder
-Sautéed Jalapeño and Aged Jack Grilled Cheese
-Chicken Chili Verde
-Chili Pepper Ribs
-Chili-Marinated Pork Sandwiches on Cemita Rolls
-Chocolate Chili Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
-Chocolate Chili Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
-Mexican Chocolate Cake

Everything went together nicely, and somehow we all survived without major heartburn. Larry and I contributed the grilled cheese sandwiches, the chili verde, and the chocolate chili cupcakes. The grilled cheese was tasty, especially on Madison Sourdough bread. I also liked the interesting flavors in the chili verde—a nice pepper/cinnamon combination. I was disappointed with the chocolate chili cupcakes—especially the frosting. Something wasn’t quite right. My favorite dish of the night was the Chili-Marinated Pork Sandwiches that Jill and Ryan brought. They were incredibly good. I also enjoyed Julie’s vegan Mexican Chocolate cake—very moist and delicious.

Up next month: Iron Chef Honey.

Ryan and Jill hosted February’s Iron Chef Dinner on Wednesday evening. As a nod to the Month of Love, we chose the theme Aphrodisiac. Everyone was tasked with bringing a dish with ingredients that are known to supposedly increase sexual desire. I admit it was slightly awkward to reveal this month’s dinner theme to co-workers and family.

I learned a lot about aphrodisiacs during our recipe search. Aphrodisiacs are everywhere: almonds, arugula, asparagus, bananas, basil, chocolate, carrots, figs, garlic, ginger, honey, oysters, and wine…just to name a few. We covered more than a dozen in our meal. Heck, Julie and Matt covered six just between two dishes. When she arrived, Julie proudly revealed a post-it note listing all.

Our dishes for the evening included Strawberry Avocado Salad, Warm Brie with Ginger-Citrus Glaze, Glazed Figs with Almonds and Thyme, Avocado Garlic Spread, Goat Cheese, Fig & Walnut Stuffed Grape Leaves, Strawberry-Avocado Salsa with Cinnamon Tortilla Chips, Dried Fig-Smoked Almond Bark, and Pomegranate Panna Cotta.

Larry and I contributed the Warm Brie With Ginger-Citrus Glaze and  Pomegranate Panna Cotta. We served the brie with sea salt flat breads, savory rosemary crostini, grapes and sliced apples. It was an easy dish to whip up and made a great appetizer. Sadly, the Pomegranate Panna Cotta was a bit of a disaster. Somewhere between removing the panna cotta from the ramekins to walking the platter out to my car, they all fell apart (before and after pics below). But you know what? Sometimes it just doesn’t turn out, and that’s okay. Luckily, my friends still humored me with a taste.

We decided on chili peppers as the ingredient for March’s dinner. And it’s a quick turnover. Sunday, actually. Which means for the first time, we’ll be hosting two Iron Chef dinners in one week. Back to the recipe search!

Brodie and Lauren hosted the December Iron Chef dinner a week before Christmas. The theme was “Crock Pot,” meaning everyone had to bring a dish prepared using a Crock Pot. Usually each couple brings anywhere from one to three dishes to our monthly events, but this time we had just four dishes total, due in large part to equipment limitations—because who owns more than one Crock Pot? The whole Crock Pot concept was a bit tricky, Jill pointed out. It was as if you really only had one attempt to get it right. If the dish didn’t turn out, you’d have lost anywhere between two and 24 hours. Game over.

I wasn’t sure what to expect for the meal, but gambled that at least one person would bring something entree-ish. And I remembered Julie previously talking about a fabulous Crock Pot dessert recipe. I figured a side dish would be a safe bet and hopefully compliment the other dishes. After a quick online search, I found a recipe for Parmesan Risotto, which was featured on an episode of the Today Show and is included in Slow Cooker Revolution, a compilation of Crock Pot recipes from Chris Kimball and chefs at America’s Test Kitchen. It sounded tasty and relatively quick and easy to prepare—which was the primary criterion this month, especially with the dinner being a week before Christmas and all.

Lauren and Brodie set up a long table in their living room, on which we set up our line of Crock Pot creations. Contributions included Italian beef sandwiches (Brodie apparently roasted the beef in a Crock Pot for more than 24 hours), two chocolate desserts, and the risotto. I can’t say it was one of our best efforts in Iron Chef history, but it was a nice array of warm comfort foods. Following is the recipe for Parmesan Risotto, which I couldn’t get enough of—fantastic flavor and texture.

Parmesan Risotto (recipe from Chris Kimball; serves 6-8)

Vegetable oil spray
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (2 ounces)
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Risotto usually demands the cook’s attention from start to finish which is why this hands-off slow-cooker version is so appealing. Finished with butter, nutty Parmesan, a dash of lemon juice, and fresh chives, this risotto is so creamy that no one would suspect you didn’t spend time at the stovetop laboriously stirring it.

Coat slow cooker with vegetable oil spray. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in 12_inch skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in rice and cook, stirring often, until ends of rice kernels are transparent, about 3 minutes. Stir in wine and cook until fully absorbed, about 1 minute; transfer to slow cooker.

Bring broth and water to boil in saucepan. Stir 3 cups hot broth mixture into slow cooker. Cover and cook until rice is tender, about 2 hours on high.

Return reserved broth mixture to boil. Slowly stream 2 cups more hot broth mixture into slow cooker, stirring gently, until liquid is absorbed and risotto is creamy, about 1 minute.

Gently stir in Parmesan, chives, remaining 2 tablespoons butter, and lemon juice. (Adjust risotto consistency with additional hot broth mixture as needed.) Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve. (This dish does not hold well on warm setting.)

Last Friday night marked our latest Iron Chef Dinner. The theme ingredient was Macadamia Nuts, inspired by our recent trip to Hawaii—the land of Macadamia Nuts. Julie and Matt hosted. I loved how Julie decorated the dinner table with a beautiful centerpiece adorned with a bowl of macadamia nuts surrounded by various fall pumpkins and gourds.

Larry and I contributed three dishes to the mix—Pumpkin and Macadamia Soup, Spiced Prawns with Macadamia Couscous, and Macadamia Nut White Chip Pumpkin Cookies. My favorite was probably the cookies. The prawns over couscous were also quite tasty—but in hindsight, probably not the best dish for a potluck, considering the time from frying pan to mouth is so critical for ultimate enjoyment. And while I enjoyed the flavor of the pumpkin soup, the consistency seemed all wrong.

We were really all quite amazed by the diversity of dishes contributed to this month’s dinner—French Toast Stuffed with Macadamia Nut Butter, Grilled Asparagus and Macadamia Salad, Pesto Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Macadamia Nuts, Coconut Macadamia Muffins, Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Blondies, and perhaps the evening’s favorite, Jill’s Cranberry Macadamia Nut Stuffing, to which everyone kept exclaiming, Jill, does this have drugs in it? Which, if you don’t already have a stuffing recipe picked out for your Thanksgiving dinner, is sure to elicit similar enthusiasm from your discerning guests. All in all, it was a beautiful and delicious spread—certainly one of our very best efforts in Iron Chef history.

After stuffing our bellies with all things Macadamia Nut, we capped off the evening in Julie and Matt’s driveway with a hammer and a bowl of macadamia nuts. We cracked the shells open and enjoyed the not-so-fresh nuts Julie and Matt had brought back from their honeymoon in Hawaii several years ago.

This month’s Iron Chef Mango was a great success. I think my friends were a little apprehensive when I first suggested the ingredient mango. But as they and I quickly discovered, there is a world of options when it comes to mangoes. And the ingredient was timely, too, as apparently its season lasts through Labor Day (our dinner was the day before). So it was sort of like a last hooray for mango. Another thing I learned during our dinner is that none of us knew how to properly cut a mango prior to preparing our mango dishes. So once again, Iron Chef pushed us out of our culinary comfort zones and taught us new skills. I’m proud to say I can now cut a mango. Hooray!

We had quite the smorgasbord of dishes—appetizers, entrees, desserts, and drinks. Larry and I hosted the dinner and contributed three dishes—Mango Salsa, Curried Chicken and Mango Sandwiches, and Tropical Sundaes. They were all good, but my favorite dishes were brought by Jill and Julie. Jill brought a great appetizer, aptly called the “Fruity and Spicy Appetizer.” It was a wonderful combination of curried tortilla chips topped with mango salsa and a dollop of sour cream. They were heavenly. Also delicious was Julie’s mango bread. I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. I hope to whip up a few loaves soon—It’s the perfect accompaniment for morning coffee.

Mango Nut Bread

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups diced mango
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Make a well and add remaining ingredients. Mix until well blended. Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan and let stand 20 minutes. Bake at 350° for about 1 hour, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.