Weekend #2

Last weekend and this week in general were EXTREMELY busy, so that is why I am updating this soo late. Let's get right into it!

Meal #3:
Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009
Menu: Breakfast : "Steamed Artichokes with Poached Eggs and Hollandaise" p. 82-83
So, this one was vaguely daunting! I have heard so many horror stories about making your first Hollandaise sauce and was afraid that mine would wind up exploding in my face! So, to try and get over my fear, I made the sauce first. This proved much easier than expected except for one thing: Martha calls for 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter. As I am whisking the butter into the rest of the mixture, it starts to thicken nicely, looking just like the picture in the book. But after a while, it started to get really thick... uh- oh.... here comes the explosion! Or, so I thought. So as to stop this thickening, I stopped adding butter half-way through and re-heated it a little so as to get that smooth, silky consistency. But, even after heating, it still was the consistency, if not a little thicker than, mayonnaise..... A few tablespoons of water later, I arrived at a perfect, if not slightly diluted, rendition of Hollandaise.
The artichokes proved uncannily simple. Trim, steam, take out purple centers, eat. That easy. The poached eggs also proved to be easier than I thought. I was soo afraid that the yoke would break when I put the egg into the water, but all was safe!!
My mom and me then feasted on the fruits of my labors, which turned out to be quite tasty. Overall, I would say this was a success!

Meal #4:
Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009
Meal: Dinner: "Chicken Piccata"p. 248-249 with"mushroom risotto"p.416-418
As you can see, I wound up pretty much cooking all day Sunday!
Oh, and I had made this chicken recipe before, so I had a slight advantage* cough-cough*when I made it this time! All I can say is that it is delicious and the capers are heavenly! You know, for a person who despises relish, and the only pickled thing she'll eat is pickles, I have a real affinity for the salty, tangy pop that capers add to a meal. I just can't get enough of them! The making of the chicken was pretty straightforward, no real goof-ups or laughable tales to tell...sorry! The risotto proved to be a lot simpler than I thought too. I just remember on the Next Food Network Star ( yes, I have no life : P ) one of the contestants made risotto and Marcus Samuelsson said it was " a disrespect to Italy."Whew! Pretty harsh. After hearing that, I figured risotto was probably pretty hard to make. Boy was I wrong! This was such an easy and filling recipe that I feel like that contestant had no excuse for bad risotto! The mushrooms added such an earthy and warm flavor that really worked well with the creamy risotto. YUM!

So overall, the family approved, I approved, and if Martha tasted what I cooked, I think she would approve.

I can't wait to start cooking again this weekend and I promise I will update right after I finish the meals! Promise!