Gordon Ramsay's Menu -- Light and Healthy - Pan-Fried Hake with Tomato Relish -- Blueberries with Honey, Almonds and Yogurt

This menu was entitled "Light and Healthy" by Ramsay . And you know, it was. It was a very nice summer dish. I had a few glitches, however.

Does anyone know where to buy Hake? This was another dish where I needed to make a substitution. According to internet research, two suitable substitutions for hake are Boston Ling and Cod. I didn't have time to travel all around the city of Cleveland looking for reputable fish mongers, though I believe there are a few. Not to mention, I do have a budget. One that has been seriously put under stress by three vet visits in three months (one of them to an emergency room) for my cat, a fallen tree, my new gym membership, and the upcoming school-year tuition for the boys. [** sigh **]

So, I opted for the cod. Big mistake.

Can you see in the photograph of the book the beautiful fillet of fish? -- Keep that image in your mind when you get to the bottom of this post.

Cod, salt and pepper, olive oil, scallions, cilantro, thyme, white wine vinegar, and grape tomatoes (his recipe called for cherry tomatoes, but believe it or not -- the sucky Giant Eagle didn't have any and my tomato plant just isn't bearing fruit yet) .

This was actually very nice cod.

The tomatoes were tossed with the scallions, cilantro and thyme.

Then sauteed in a bit of olive oil and finished off with a splash of white wine vinegar

The fish. Hrumph. Place the oil in the pan and put the fish on top. Then heat the pan slowly. Gradually increase the heat. Well, I forgot to compare my fish to his. His was a nice thick slice. Mine were little skinny things. I didn't adjust my cook time. I was distracted by the boys playing in the backyard.

My fish overcooked and stuck to the pan.

I was very disappointed in my presentation to say the least.

Spoon the tomato relish on the plate and top with the fish. Or rather, scatter the fish all over the plate and serve.

My fish looked crappy, but it didn't affect the flavor one bit. It was light and refreshing. I didn't think I'd like the tomatoes (I'm not a big fan of cooked tomatoes), but it really went well together. I wish I had made more. Even my almost 4-year old twins liked it. They finished all of their fish and about half of the tomato relish. They just didn't like the skins on the tomatoes.

And then there was dessert.

Blueberries, honey, plain yogurt, toasted almonds.

Carefully toasted almonds. (I have a bad track record when it comes to toasting nuts. I always end up burning them - but not this time.)

Actually, there wasn't much to take pictures of. Mix the honey and yogurt together. Fold in blueberries and chill while you eat dinner. Put in serving bowls and top with the toasted almonds.

I should have had more blueberries in there, but while I was at work that day, my in-laws watched the kids and opened up my blueberry clamshell and let the boys snack, not knowing that those blueberries were for dinner. Oh, well. The dessert was really nice. The honey mixed into the plain yogurt was the perfect touch.

This dessert seemed like it could be the base of something more, though. The crunchy almonds were good, but a brown sugar and oat crumble would have been really good. Even a sprinkling of granola. Ramsay suggests this dessert could be a very good breakfast, as well. He's right. This dessert certainly caused our dinner to end on a high note.

From beginning to end? 35 minutes. Now, that's what I'm talking about.

"Pan-Fried Hake with Tomato Relish, and Blueberries with Honey, Almonds and Yogurt ... Done."

Gordon Ramsay's Fusilli Salad with Merguez & Olives

Another recipe from the section entitled "Working Lunches." Frankly, I wasn't impressed.

Fusilli noodles, sundried tomatoes, olives (I used canned black olives -- my favorite because of their non-saltiness, and because of their ease of use -- Ramsay did not specify what kind of olives he recommended for this dish), olive oil, parsley, chives, basil, and sausage. Ramsay says to use Merguez sausages. Sorry, but Giant Eagle just doesn't carry anything like that. I did some internet research and found that Merguez sausages are "full bodied" and that chorizo would make a good substitution. Eh. I guess I should have looked harder for the Merguez; maybe I should have spent a Saturday down at the West Side Market and talked to people who know their sausages.

I noticed as I was browning the sausage that my chorizo didn't hold its shape like the picture of the Merguez, which resembled a smoked sausage, rather than a fresh meat sausage. Nonetheless, it did smell wonderful as it sizzled.

Add the chopped sundried tomatoes and sliced olives, saute.

Toss with the cooked fusilli, olive oil and fresh chopped herbs.

It looks great. It had great potential. Way too friggin' spicy. I've had chorizo from this provider before and it was wonderful. Spiced without being blazing hot. This was all heat. I could barely eat the dish. And everything the sausage touched became tainted by the spice. Even the noodles were nearly inedible. I made peanut butter and jelly for the boys to eat. I was only able to eat about half a serving - with a full glass of ice water, before I called it quits.

The dish, though, did meet the time requirements. From the beginning of the prep until it hit the table, it took 40 minutes. Not exactly a "quick" dish, but it was easy.

This dish reminded, me, except for the sausage part of it, of a dish that I make on a pretty regular basis.

hot cooked fettuccini, or pasta of choice

sundried tomatoes, soaked in hot water and chopped

large can of sliced black olives

crumbled feta cheese

garlic

olive oil

red pepper flakes

fresh chopped herbs (basil, chives, oregano, etc.)

Heat olive oil in pan. Saute garlic and red pepper flakes. Combine all ingredients in bowl and add hot oil. Mix and serve. It is wonderful hot or cold. It can be dressed up. When in a pinch, I sometimes just use a bottle of greek salad dressing for the sauce. Leftover chicken pieces can be tossed in, too. It's one of those recipes that let's you play. It can be different every time you make it.

So, Ramsay's recipe? Frankly, I think my version is better and more satisfying. If it wasn't for the spicy oil from the chorizo, I don't think the recipe would have had much flavor at all.

"Fusilli Salad with Merguez & Olives ... Done."

Gordon Ramsay's Pastrami & Cream Cheese Bagel

Time to start with something really easy. How about a recipe for a sandwich?

Honestly, whenever I see recipes for sandwiches, I kind of cringe. Does it really take a chef who holds title to 16 Michelin Stars to tell me how to put a couple pieces of meat between two slices of slathered bread? Frankly, I think recipes like this are quite below Ramsay's standards, as well as below mine. (Not to sound too snooty.)

So, enough talking this recipe up, which Ramsay placed in the category "Working Lunches" ...

Poppyseed bagels, pastrami, cream cheese, whole grain mustard and some arugula. The recipe actually also called for some pickle slices, but I opted to leave those off.

The recipe instructs to mix the cream cheese and mustard together in a separate bowl. I, however, just slathered the cheese on the freshly toasted bagels, then spread the mustard on top of the cheese. I wouldn't have minded mixing it up and actually dirtying another bowl, but my three year olds were going to eat this too, and I didn't want it to be too mustardy for them.

Place the pastrami (about three slices each sandwich) on top along with the arugula. Smoosh together.

Good, yes. Ramsay quality. No.

Fast Food? Yes. 15 Minutes start to finish for four sandwiches. Frankly, I would have been ashamed of myself if it took me longer than that to smack it all together.

So, in the words of the man himself: "Pastrami & Cream Cheese Bagel ... Done."

Bugger ...

Our ten year old Bradford Pear Tree. It fell victim to the thunderstorm that rolled through town last Thursday night. We never heard it fall. I cried when I saw it. At least it didn't do any damage to the house. It fell on a fence, but that seems to have withstood the weight of the tree. The tree company will be at the house early this week to remove the tree and grind out the stump, and then I'll be able to see if the fence really did survive or not. God, if not, we're screwed. I miss the tree already. It provided our only shade in the front yard. It was a favorite perch for a singing cardinal. It was located right outside the master bedroom window and provided privacy.

Anyone know of a fast growing shade tree that won't be too big to plant near a house?

Time for Preparation

Love him or hate him, Gordon Ramsay is an awesome chef. Most of the time. I adore his television shows, Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares and the F Word. The latter most of all. I love that he is so passionate about cooking and about eating. He seems genuinely interested in getting people back into the kitchen and out of the fast food drive-thrus. Though I have read that he absolutely loves fast food burgers. I guess, like all things, everything in moderation. Something he would do well to remember when he starts swearing on camera, not to mention the fact that his ego could use a bit of a down-sizing, too.


So, why am I putting Ramsay to the test? I'm sure there are plenty of critics who have tested his recipes to see if they stand up to the "fast food" test. In fact, many state that the recipes in this book are no time savers at all. I want to test him. He's a professional chef. I'm a wife, mother and office worker. I'm at the office on average 50 hours a week. Can I make his meals after a long day at work and have everyone sit down to a well-balanced meal long before it's time to go to bed?

This is the inside flap of the book jacket. "None take longer than half an hour ... the menus take 30 - 45 minutes from start to finish...." Hmmm, we'll see.

But first, in order create these recipes, I'm going to have to stock up my pantry. I'll buy the fresh ingredients, obviously, as needed. But for the staples, I'm making a list and checking it twice.

page one.

page two.

page three.

page four also includes the ingredients lists for items such as stocks (which, god forbid we actually used store-bought). There are more "make-ahead" items such as sweet and hot chile dipping sauce, pesto, homemade mayonnaise, and vinaigrette. We'll see if I have the inclination to get this involved. Obviously the preparation time for these items are not included in the 30 to 40 minute time span for the "fast food" recipes. So in other words, I would have to set aside probably one if not both days of a weekend to try to stock up on, well, my stocks.

By the way, the lists above do not, except in a few rare instances, duplicate ingredients. For example, I only have honey on there once, even though its in numerous recipes. Those lists were also written on regular 8½ x 11" notebook pages.

So far, do you realize how much time I've placed into just preparing for this project? Any time I will have saved by making his recipes will have already been negated just by this preparation time.

Don't get me started about the time I'm spending trying to track down the fresh ingredient lists. Where the hell am I going to find fresh quail eggs and blood sausage on the far west-side of Cleveland? Not to mention fresh Lychees and kaffir lime leaves. Mushy peas, anyone? Americans don't even know what those are. Obviously some real time and effort is going to go into this. I've found cans of mushy peas on the internet for about $2.99 each -- not bad, but then add on the $10.00 shipping charges. A $12 can of peas from England. There's also the issue of finding other items that just aren't available. He loves to cook with certain fruits and vegetables, that try as I might, I just can't find in Ohio. In London, no problem. But, when was the last time you heard of a Braeburn apple, or Commerce pears or Tender-Stem Broccoli? I'm sure his professional connections make things like that a snap for him. There are things, too, like tahini (sesame seed paste). I only need a tablespoon or two, but I can't find it in the stores in less than a 16 oz. jar (about $10.00). I'm thinking about just grinding up some seeds myself with some oil and calling it tahini. Frustrating to say the least.

A lot of substitutes will be made, I can guarantee that.

Stay tuned.

The Official Relaunch of Who Has Time To Cook?

Welcome to my relaunch of Who Has Time to Cook? I miss writing about food. I miss cooking and taking photoes of my meals. I miss thinking about how I'm going to describe my kitchen adventures.

So, allow me to reintroduce myself:

My name is Jean. I married Carlo nearly five years ago, though we've been together for over 22 years. I'm the mother of nearly 4 year old identical twin boys, A & J.


I'm a legal secretary / executive assistance / accounts receiveable manager.

My time is cramped, by my own doing. It shouldn't be hard to manage my time with what I have to do, but somehow, I just don't seem to have enough time in the day to make everyone happy.

(nice and blurry, just like me in the morning)

My average work day is thus: I wake between 6:30 and 7 a.

On the road by a little after 7 a.m;














(passing a farm field just around the corner from my home. This field is home to a flock of about 9 to 12 deer. I've also seen numerous field cats, oppossums, bunnies, and just two weeks ago I saw a fox. This field lies in a small depression and has set the scene for many gorgeous foggy scenes (complete with the deer) and frosty mornings. )
















Here I lament the ever increasing price of gas.















I run through the drive through for breakfast about once a week.















Drive past the airport (if you notice, the time on the board is "7:20"so I left my house at 7:05. 15 minutes and I'm not even on the highway yet.















Entering the rat race.













































Pass some pretty cool landmarks (St. Michaels on Scranton)





















See some pretty cool landscapes.




















Arrive at my office building.




















(Isn't this brass post office box just great?)




















8 o'clock. Already.
(1/2 an hour before I have to clock in, but I use that time to catch up on headline reading and eating breakfast).















My chaos.

Work from 8:30 to 5:30 (with a 1 hour lunch at my desk)















Finally time to go home.

















Leave work and drive home. Pass my some interesting sites. (a man killed his wife with an axe in the back of this house during the late 1800s, just because she nagged him.)



































At least the traffic isn't as bad going home.















The airport.

I get home at about 6:10. Carlo usually has dinner ready when I arrive. We eat, finishing at about 7 (or 8, if we opt to play outside before dinner). Then we play, watch t.v., go to the playground, or have bath night. Then it's nightime routine with the boys (they love watching Kipper and Pajanamals in our bed), then they go to bed about 9 p.m. (that is if we're lucky, lately it's been closer to 10:00 or even 10:30) By then I'm exhausted, and still have to clean up after dinner, take a shower, or finally get to catch up on all the shows I've dvr'd. Then I'm in bed at about 10:30 - just to start all over again the next morning. Lately, we've added working out to our routine. I love Wii Fit and EA Active. But the only time we have to work out is after the boys go to bed. So we start about 10:30, so I'm not in bed until about 11:30.

I've also just joined a gym. God help me. I'll try to make it there at least twice a week on Saturday and Sunday morning, and try, maybe a Wednesday evening on the way home from work.

On weekends, it's a bit more hectic. Carlo works Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 7 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. the next morning. Which means when I get home from work in Friday (a little earlier than the rest of the week), he's getting ready to go to work. I do dinner for me and the kids (sometimes I opt for a night out to Target or Walmart with a fast food dinner), occupy the boys for the rest of the night and then struggle to get them to bed before 9:30. Saturday and Sundays, I watch the boys all morning, trying to keep them semi-quiet while their Daddy sleeps upstairs until about 1 or 2 p.m. Then he joins us for a few hours before he has to start getting ready for work again. Sometimes that's when we go out as a family to the store, or play in the backyard, whatever. I need to get dinner ready on those days as well. It's just difficult keeping my eye on the boys and cook/grill, and whatever else. On Monday mornings, I also get to work later because I need to get the boys ready for school / summer camp so that as soon as Carlo gets home from work at 8:30, he can get them to wherever they need to be.

On top of all that, I'm constantly creating projects for myself. Like this blog and genealogy, creating scrapbooks, needlepoint, gardening, reading, and writing. Not to mention my addiction to computer games.

So, when do I have time to create a menu, shop, prep, cook and clean up?

The answer is I don't. If you noticed in my run-down of the week, I don't have time in there for laundry, cleaning, shopping, etc. I am incredibly fortunate to have a husband who does the majority of it. Yes, my husband actually does laundry. He even knows how to use the built-in fabric softener dispenser. He folds, too. He mops the floor, cleans up the dog poo, cleans the cat's litter box - and he also -- prepare yourself -- cleans the toilets. He grocery shops, too. He uses coupons. How the hell did I get so lucky? How did he end up with someone like me? Actually, I don't mind grocery shopping. I take the boys shopping sometimes on Friday nights or Saturday mornings to buy our fresh items. Carlo is real big on buying convenience foods (because, well, that's what he had a coupon for -- when was the last time you saw a coupon for watermelon or a bunch of carrots, or a pound of halibut filets -- which were on sale last week!)

So all that said, explained, and out of the way -- here we go. The official relaunch of Who Has Time to Cook.

So many of those cookbooks out there claim to be for those people who are too busy to cook. Well, I'm going to put them to a working mom's test.

My first test? Gordon Ramsay and his cookbook Fast Food.

Does Ramsay tell the truth when he says anyone has time to cook, or is that just more foul-mouthed bullshit coming from him?

Stay tuned.

Operation New Project is under construction.

I talked to my family last night about my idea. They (being my husband and my 3½ year old twin boys) are all for it. Of course when I asked if they were willing to be my guinea pigs, the boys thought they were going to get guinea pigs for pets. Oops.

So, I've started by making my lists -- and checking them twice -- to determining what I need and how much. I'd like to try to cook in season, but, hey, if I don't, I'm not going to fret - and I hope no one else will either. I'm also trying to determine my cooking schedule, posting schedule, and execution of said project.

Right now, though, the biggest obstacle I have is trying to figure out what some of these ingredients are, just where in the hell I'm going to find them, and just how much is this going to cost me.

So, stay tuned. This project should be getting under way shortly. I promise.

Holy crap. November? Is that right? The last time I posted was six months ago? Shit.

Well, I'm here to say that I'm working out an idea. I just know I have a food writer inside of me, dying to come out and make herself known. Every time I cook, I still find myself looking for my camera. But then I stop myself, asking "why" I don't have an audience. Well, I hope to change that.

I've been trying to discover my niche. I think I've found it. I just have to determine exactly the right execution of my project. I think it will work nicely. I know, I'm vague. I just need to work out a few of the logistics, and timing (not to mention the money for it all).

Hey, just look at the title of my blog, that should give you hint as to the project (not to mention why it's taken me so long getting this going).

By the way, what do you all think about that trailer for the Julie and Julia movie coming out? I can't wait to see it. I've been reading the original blog online, and I highly recommend it.

Baked Pumpkin Slices and Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This weekend was made for cooking comfort foods. I took the twins (3 year olds) to the park where we ate an impromtu breakfast of McD's pancakes in the chilly morning air. Pancakes make the perfect finger foods for food on the go. We walked a bit and kicked up the fallen leaves, watched the brown, gold and red leaves float down the river, and then went to the nature center where the boys were actually pretty well-behaved. They stayed together for the most part, which is good because the center is pretty large with lots of areas they could explore - unfortunately out of my sight. But they were good. The center provided free samples of hot spiced cider and nilla and ginger cookies. We went grocery shopping after that, tasted the free samples, and all in all, I have to say the day was pretty enjoyable.

When we got home, I decided it was time to cut up one of our pumpkins and bake it using a recipe from How to Cook Everything.

Don't those seeds just call out to be roasted? Yeah, they did. But I ditched them. I made roasted seeds, though just on Halloween, and I ended up eating most of them by myself; the boys only had a very small handful, and my husband isn't too crazy about them. But seeing this picture again, just makes wish I would have made them and enjoyed.

Anyway, the baked pumpkin -- Sliced to about 1 inch think and brushed with a mixture of ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil and cinnamon.

Bake for 30 minutes, turn, and brush with sauce again, and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes.

It was tasty, but I was hoping the sauce would have formed more of a glaze. The flavors were subtle and warm. I thought, though, if I were to make this again, I would increase the amount of brown sugar and maybe add just a pinch of clove to the mixture. Maybe even put them under the broiler at the end to try to crisp up the edges.

I served the baked pumpkin as a side dish to Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts.

Chicken breast halves, salt, pepper, blue cheese crumbles, toasted pecans, scallions, 4 slices of bacon (remember - the recipe calls for only 4 slices, one for each chicken breast half), olive oil, butter, flour, chicken stock, cream and grainy dijon mustard.

I did my best to pound the chicken breasts flat, really, I tried, but have you tried to do that with the flat side of a meat tenderizer. Doesn't really work, does it? I toasted my chopped pecans - TWICE. I got so carried away trying to pound my chicken (sounds obscene, doesn't it?), that I forgot to stir my first batch of pecans. Luckily I had more in the pantry. Came close to burning those, too, just because the pan was still so hot from the first batch. But, I caught them in the nick of time.

So, I mixed the scallions, the darkly toasted pecans and a full cup of blue cheese. This mixture alone would have made a great cracker topper or even something to put on crostini. Yum. I divided it up onto each of my semi-flattened chicken breasts and then tried to roll it all up. Ha! Now, remember, the recipe called for one slice of bacon to help secure each of the chicken breasts. What did I end up doing? Oh, about 3 or 4 slices of bacon for each chicken breast. Yep, I used an entire package of bacon trying to tie them up. Don't get me wrong. I do not consider this a set-back.

I would rank bacon in my top 3 favorite foods of all time. Right up there with crab legs and medium-rare steak. Still, though, I felt a bit the failure for not getting my chicken into a roll-able mode. I was already stomping my foot because of the wasted pecans and then when my chicken kept falling apart, I actually wondered why I try to cook things like this. Cooking is supposed to be enjoyable. An outlet. An escape. Instead I was creating more stress in my life. Well, these thoughts left my head when all was done and served and tasted.

So, after the chicken got all bundled up in its bacon slices, they got fried (causing me to swear again, as the bacon slices started to stick to the pan and began to unravel). After some careful maneuvering with a variety of utensils, I got them beautifully browned, and then into the oven for another 30 minutes. Now, the cooking time was greatly increased from what the recipe dictated, but of course, my chicken was probably 3 times as thick as it was supposed to be.

Meanwhile, I made the mustard gravy. On paper it doesn't sound too great, but it was surprisingly perfect for the chicken. Melted butter mixed with flour (cooked quickly, not quite a roux), add chicken broth, and heavy cream. Add grainy mustard. After seasoning with salt and pepper, it needed more mustard but something else was missing. I had just taken the chicken out of the oven, and saw exactly what the gravy needed. The pan drippings. They were so rich and deep brown, and wonderfully bacon flavored. I strained off as much of the clear fat as I could and added almost 1/4 cup of the brown drippings into the gravy. Oh My God!


The pictures don't do it justice. The blue cheese, even though there was about 1/4 cup in each roll, didn't over-power. It was subtle, but accented the scallions and pecans. The mustard sauce, I don't know how to explain how it drew it all together. Within two bites, Carlo was saying this recipe is a definite keeper and was already asking that I make it again. The fact that my chicken was a little too think didn't hurt the flavors at all. In fact, I think it helped it stay moist and there was enough chicken with every bite that the filling didn't overtake the taste buds. I wasn't disappointed at all. Even my 3 year olds liked it - of course, they love bacon, too, so that helped.

When I make it again, I might even consider just creating pocket in the chicken breast and stuffing that, and seal it with the bacon. I might also reserve some blue cheese crumbles to sprinkle over the top, just as a reminder of what is in the filling, since the flavor was a little subtle after it had melted.

Well, so here it is, my first real entry in far too long. How'd I do?