Restaurant-Style Vegetables

Recipe: Restaurant-Style Vegetables
Page: 246
Date Cooked: July 29, 2012

This recipe is literally a combination of ten different vegetables. Each blanched separately and then combined. I do want to make a quick note: I couldn't find yellow wax beans and substituted green beans in its place.

Ingredients: Radishes, green beans, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, small Yukon gold potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, unsalted butter, salt, pepper, cherry tomatoes, basil (not shown), and rosemary (not shown)

I began by prepping the vegetables. I trimmed the radishes and quartered them. I topped and tailed the green beans. I stemmed, seeded, and cut the peppers into bite-sized squares. I quartered and cut the zucchini and yellow squash.

Prepping all the vegetables

I brought a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. I added the potatoes and cooked for about 15 minutes. I then added the radishes to the pot and cooked until both the potatoes and radishes were tender. I then drained the pot.

Cooking the potatoes and radishes

I brought another saucepan of salted water to a boil and blanched the green beans, cauliflower, and broccoli.

(1) Blanching green beans (2) Blanching broccoli and cauliflower

I melted butter in a pan, added the peppers and squash, added salt and pepper, and cooked for a few minutes.

Cooking squash and peppers

I added in all the blanched vegetables and cooked for a few minutes longer. Finally, I added in the tomatoes and chopped rosemary and basil. The veggies were ready to serve.

Restaurant-Style Vegetables

I love the picture of the all vegetables and it did look quite beautiful on the plate. However, I found this recipe to be a bit dull. It felt like a filler recipe. There just wasn't much to it. And unfortunately, that's all I have to say.

Enjoy!

Apricot-Mango Crisp

Recipe: Apricot-Mango Crisp
Page: 260
Date Cooked: July 7, 2012

Mangoes are one of my favorite fruits. So seeing this recipe in the cookbook had me pretty pumped. There is no doubt that I enjoy desserts. But I really tend to gravitate towards fruit-based desserts. Perhaps, I can trick myself into thinking it's healthy or something. Not sure if this recipe falls into the healthy category, but I will pretend it does!

Ingredients: Walnuts, almonds, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, grated nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, mangoes, apricots, butter, and vanilla ice cream (not shown)

I finely chopped the nuts and placed them into a bowl. I added the flour, sugar, salt, and spices and mixed it together.

Left: Chopped nuts
Right: Flour-nut mixture

I then peeled, pitted and cubed the mangoes and the apricots. The fruit was combined in a bowl, mixed together with a tablespoon of the flour mixture, and I let it sit for a few minutes.

(1) Cubed mango (2) Cubed apricots (3) Fruit in some of the flour mixture

I cut the cold butter into cubes. I used my fingers to work the butter into the flour mixture until it formed pea size amounts.

Butter cubes in flour mixture

I transferred the fruit to a buttered baking dish and then covered the fruit with the butter-flour mixture.

Left: Layer of fruit
Right: Butter-flour mixture on top of fruit layer

I baked the crisp until the apricots were tender and the top was browned. I served it hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Apricot-Mango Crisp

The best way to describe the Apricot-Mango crisp is "homey." The flavors were warm and familiar and the fruit combination was just right. JW mentions that this dessert can be made with almost any fruit combination (except for citrus) and I can see exactly why. It was incredibly simple and speaks to the seasonality of the fruit with just the right amount of additional sweetness from the "crisp" component. I will be keeping this quick dessert recipe handy.

Enjoy!

Vidalia Onion and Sweet Corn Soup

Recipe: Vidalia Onion and Sweet Corn Soup
Page: 59
Date Cooked: July 5, 2012

It seems that the last few JW recipes I have gravitated towards involve onions and corn. This recipe is no exception. But hey, it's summertime and both items are in season - so why not?

Ingredients: Vidalia onions, unsalted butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, white corn, chicken broth, parsley, tarragon, heavy cream, and serrano chile

I sliced the onions. I also heated the butter and olive oil in a pan. I added the onions to the pan, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked until the onions became soft.

(1) Sliced onions (2) Olive oil and butter in pan (3) Onions in pan with salt and pepper

While the onions cooked, I sliced the kernels off the corn. I added the corn to the soft onions and allowed it all to cook through. I then added chicken broth to the onion-corn mixture, brought it all to a boil, and then let it simmer for about half an hour.

Left: Onion and corn mixture
Right: After adding broth

Finally, I stirred in the parsley tarragon, heavy cream, minced serrano chile, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Added heavy cream, herbs, and salt and pepper to soup

The soup was then ready for consumption.

Vidalia Onion and Sweet Corn Soup

The simplicity of this cannot be stressed enough. There wasn't much to it, but the flavor was bold and light all at the same time. The sweetness of the onion and corn definitely came through. But the addition of the herbs and serrano chile balanced it all out. Both the heavy cream and the serrano chile were listed as optional ingredients. In my opinion the heavy cream truly is optional. I tasted the soup prior to adding the heavy cream and it was quite delicious. However, I think the serrano chile was a bit necessary. Without it, there would be no spice. Overall, it was simple and really good.