R.I.P. - my french hat

This is my family on our awesome tour of France. See me? I have on a super-cute hat I bought at a hat store in Angouleme...a place called Chapellerie Bruays. I kept the receipt because it says "A bientot" at the bottom. I wore my hat on Tuesday, a black day full of annoyances because Grace turned on the dome light in the car and killed the battery. I didn't find out until I went to pick up Merritt from school and the car wouldn't start. Merritt is a worry-wart. If I am late to pick him up he starts to imagine me in various life-or-death scenarios...it isn't good. I stuffed the kids into the double stroller and ran to school with my cute hat on my head. As soon as I arrived at my destination and stopped running my head start to feel really, really hot. I pulled my hat off and placed it on top of the stroller canopy, just for a minute. That was the last time I saw it. My cute French hat fell off the stroller and I didn't realize it until we were close to home. I tried to backtrack for a bit, but the kids were so cold, tired, hungry and onry that I gave up after two blocks and took them home instead. I asked a jogger to keep an eye out for my hat and put it off to the side if she saw it, but when I went back later the hat was nowhere to be seen. I think someone found it and helped themselves. My hat is gone and I am sad.

Test Kitchen Tuesday - Crazy Sounding Dinner Edition

I know that it is Wednesday, but I missed my Tuesday food post because Tuesday was PSYCHO!! And I know that I need to get on to blogging on my France trip, so that will be next. PROMISE! On to the food...

I LOVE the Rookie Cookie, I think she is super talented and funny. I have made many, many tasty dishes from her website - most of which are her own creation. When I saw the post for Pasta with Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onions & Pancetta, I knew I had to give it a try. The process kinda freaked me out (you cook the onions for 2 1/2 hours - but that can be done earlier in the day so do not despair) but the dinner was worth it. YUMMY!

Pasta with Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onions & Pancetta

1 Tbsp olive oil
3 red onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 lb pasta of your choice
4 cups chopped butternut squash
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed from stems and minced, about 1/3 cup
4 oz pancetta (about 10 thin slices), chopped
1/4 cup butter
2 cups heavy cream
Grated Parmesan cheese for serving, if desired

In a small skillet, combine the olive oil, red onions and salt. Set over low heat and cover, stirring occasionally for 2 1/2 hours. Once the onions are cooked down and browned, remove from pan and onto a plate and set aside.

In a small skillet over medium high heat, add the pancetta. Saute until browned and then pour onto a paper towel to drain. Set aside.

In a large pot of salted water over high heat, boil the pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add 2 Tbsp olive oil. Once the oil runs quickly in the pan, add the butternut squash and rosemary. Cook until softened, about 15 minutes. Gently stir in caramelized onions. Add butter and stir until melted. Pour in heavy cream and simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cooked pasta and pancetta. Serve with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Yield 6 servings.

Okay - here are my notes from my cooking experience.
1. I had Chad pick up some pancetta at Granatos and it didn't come in slices - it came as a 4oz chunk of rolled Italian meat. I chopped it up into small pieces and it worked great, so don't get worried if your pancetta doesn't come thinly sliced. If you can't get pancetta at your local store, buy bacon.
2. I followed the Rookie's advice to a T and used a small frying pan for my onions, but I was too literal - I picked the smallest skillet I had. Definitely use a larger pan to caramelize your onions in. Mine were just steaming in their little pan and didn't caramelize until I took the lid off and cranked up the heat.
3. Choppping everything before you start is always helpful!
4. I had never used a butternut squash before and wasn't sure what I was doing, but I decided to peel the skin off using a vegetable peeler. I kept at it until I was to the orange flesh, then chopped it into two parts, found that there were seeds (looked like the insides of a pumpkin) in the bowl of the squash, had Heather scrape that out, and chopped it all up. Not hard!
5. Finally, my sauce thickened up faster than I expected, so I took it off the heat halfway through it's simmering time.

ENJOY!

Is there tryptophan in that pb&j??

Grant falls asleep over his lunch most days. I find it hilarious. Here is the proof...in full color photos!

Test Kitchen Tuesday - Fancy Pants Popcorn Edition

This popcorn recipe is a Michael Chiarello and it is very tasty. I made more popcorn than he did, but kept the ingredient ratio the same and it was still good. More chocolate and orange zest would not go wrong though. It was our after-carving-pumpkins treat and was hailed by all.

Chocolate-Orange Brown Butter Popcorn

3 cups popped popcorn
2 T. unsalted butter
2 T. grey salt (Mr. Chiarello is obsessed with grey salt...I used kosher)
1 orange
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate

Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat on the stove top. Tilt the pan away from you, then add the butter. As you tilt the pan back, the butter will begin to brown. Add salt into the butter, then pour it over the popcorn. Mix well. With a zester, zest the skin of 1 orange and the chocolate over the popcorn and mix.

Halloween Hoopla!

I missed Halloween this year because I was on an airplane headed to France. Yes, I said FRANCE! It was so much fun and I have a ton of pictures, but that will have to come later since I'm hip deep in catch-up work. We carved pumpkins on Thursday, and I was able to take the kids to the office trick-or-treat at Chad's work on Friday before heading for the airport. I was very grateful for the chance to do some little Halloween-y things with my sweet ones before vanishing from their lives for eight days. We snapped some pics of all the fun, so without further ado...

Halloween 2009!

The carving party!

Merritt held his nose while taking out the seeds. He thought it was a stinky job. All the kids did a good job cleaning out their pumpkins

The finished product. I thought they looked great!

Grant was a sad pumpkin for Halloween this year. Merritt was super excited to be Megatron. Grace wanted to be a princess and only Sleeping Beauty would do!

Princess Grace!

Grant the soggy pumpkin!

Oh no! It's Merritt MEGATRON!!

Oh, and I found this in the Halloween candy pile when I got home. I thought is was hilarious!! I wonder if this really converts anyone or if it just gives small children nightmares.

Test Kitchen Tuesday - Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner Edition

I was folding clothes one day and turned on the tv for some noise, which was weird since I hardly watch tv anymore. Anyhoo, I ended up watching Rachel Ray make a chicken dinner with roasted garlic gravy that looked outrageously good, so I went right down to the computer to print off a copy of the recipe. Find the original here. What I am going to post is the recipe with a few changes.

My first change was to omit all the fresh herbs...not because I don't like them, but because they weren't available at my regular grocery store (except for the parsley) and what was there was limp and sad looking! I didn't want to make a special trip to another store or pay $15 for 5 herbs. That is fine for Rachel, she's a go-zillionaire after all, but not for me. I also didn't want to buy the boiling onions since a small bag of them was $5.99. Whatever! I already had frozen pearl onions at home so I used them instead and they were marvelous! Finally, I gave up buttering my bird at 3 tablespoons because I was totally grossed out. You know me and my great love of unmelted butter! I thought I was going to toss my cookies over the smell (ack!) so I cut my misery short. The finished product was very tasty. I was a bit skeptical about the gravy, but it also was very good. I think, however, that with a buttery chicken and veggies roasted in pan drippings - a gravy made with a cup a cream was a bit over the top. If you didn't make it, you'd still have a great dinner.

Baked Chicken with Herb Skin and Roasted Garlic Cream Gravy

Ingredients

2 large heads garlic

Extra virgin olive oil

2 T. dried rosemary

1 roasting chicken

dried thyme

kosher salt and pepper

6 tablespoons butter, divided

1/2 pound baby potatoes

handful or two of frozen pearl onions

1 cup baby carrots

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup cream

4 cups baby spinach, packed, coarsely chopped

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 400˚F.

Cut the heads of garlic to expose all of the cloves. Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over the exposed garlic, then press into the rosemary to coat. Wrap the garlic in foil and roast in the oven until tender, 45 minutes.

Rub 4 tablespoons of softened butter all over the bird skin, then season liberally with salt, pepper, and dried thyme. Arrange the potatoes, onions and carrots in a roasting pan. Settle the bird over top of the potatoes and vegetables. Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

When the garlic is done, let cool until it's cool enough to handle. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of the skins and mash into a paste.

In a saucepot, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat, then stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, then whisk in the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and whisk in the mashed garlic. Let thicken for 5 minutes, then add the cream and reduce the heat to low.

Remove the chicken from oven and carve. Fold the spinach into the vegetables to wilt. Serve the vegetables and chicken with gravy on top.

My other pictures didn't turn out, but you get the idea. I really liked the addition of the spinach too, but I've been groovin' on spinach lately.

Also, my sister Jaime and I have been working on crafty Halloween projects together like we used to when we lived 30 minutes from each other many moons ago. Sure she's across an ocean now, but that doesn't mean we still can't do fun things together! I finished embroidering my first project, now I just need some decorative buttons and a frame! Isn't it cute?

Got the e-pattern from twin stitchers.

I Stand All Amazed