Lighter Chicken and Dumplings (p13 Cook's Illustrated September/October 2009)
This took a long time to make...but since I made it on Monday and I took the day off, I suppose it wasn't that big of a deal. This certainly wouldn't be the type of thing that you'd want to make on a weekday. Beyond that, I guess the best thing I could say about this was Shannon said, "This kind of tastes like what my grandmother used to make.". So that speaks pretty highly when you can bring back some taste memories. This was the first time this week I used my Chantal pot. Love that pot
Cheese Omelet (p24 Fine Cooking August/September 2009)
2/2 successes! For filling I use some leftover Parmesan cheese and some torn up turkey lunch meat. So now with the success under my belt, I feel like I can move on.
Thai Pork Lettuce Wraps (p15 Cook's Illustrated September/October 2009)
So for this, I kind of figured out that the app, Grocery IQ I use on my iPod Touch was crashing on exit (occasionally) and not recording some of the items in my grocery list for the week. Specifically everything for this recipe. I ended up making another trip to Dahl's to finish my grocery shopping, but unlike before, I clearly remembered adding these items to the list...before, I just thought I might have been forgetful. Now don't get me wrong, I still like the app, it's just that it was kind of frustrating.
This actually ended up tasting pretty good. With the food processored pork tenderloin and mix of various things made for a nice dish. Filling, simple, though it still took a bit to make
Summer Corn Soup with Crisp Prosciutto and Basil (p40 Fine Cooking August/September 2009)
Another reason to take an extra trip (and in talking to Sean of O'Sullivan's salsa this weekend, maybe this is on purpose) but Hy-Vee fails to carry the Prosciutto, made in Iowa, and probably some of the best stuff in the world. Why oh why would I want something less? I gotta say, that being broiled just for a bit, really brings out some more flavors in it.
Anyways, this night of cooking proved how much I can still be a total dumb ass in the kitchen. First thing I did, was when I was peeling the potatoes, I slightly sliced my left index finger. No big deal, nicks and wounds happen from time to time when you are using sharp knives or etc, so I just shrugged, washed it off and put a bandage on it and went on. The nick, less than a day later, is hardly noticeable.
Next up, while getting ready to blend the soup up, I decided to goof off a little with the base of the blender (not the blades or the container with the blades, I'm not that stupid). I know that the food processor has protections against turning it on w/o the thing being sealed up, and wondered if this was the same. It wasn't. So what popped in my head, and I admit, as soon as I told Shannon about it, I knew how stupid this actually sounded, is that I needed to slow the gear down, so I choose to do that with my right index finger. It was going so fast that it tore off a chunk of skin and left a bit of a bruise on my finger. This actually bled more then cutting my left index finger...
So here I am, two index fingers down, but determined to finish dinner. So I put the soup in the blender (to create a nice base and add a bit more corn later), and for 2/3 batches it goes pretty well. With blending hot soup, which I have done before, you always have to be careful, since, it's hot, and the blender could totally open up and and explode. When starting to blend, it seems that hot air expands and all ways presses up on the lid of the blender, so you hold it down, and haven't filled it up too much, then you are generally good. 2/3 of the batches when fine. A little push up on the lid, settles down, and it became this creamy liquid. No problem. Last one, was a bit more then the other two, though with less onions and potato chunks. This one...yeah it didn't totally blow out the top, but it did release the seal and splattered my food processor and some other things.
While warming up the rest of the corn, in the now creamy soup, I took some of the La Mie multi-grain bread put some cheddar on it and made some grilled cheese sandwiches.
The soup was pretty good, though probably not worth the injury. But really the grilled cheese sandwiches were the true highlight of the whole thing. I imagine if I put a much sharper cheddar on that bread, it'd be about the best thing ever...