A big ball of meh.

Had the parentals over for dinner this weekend, something it seems I don't do often enough. I was working with a few restrictions (no bell peppers, no citrus, no pork since they had it the night before).
I had been on a mad hunt for verjus (or verjuice, but verjus sounds much more sophisticated, non? Plus it's how I heard about it first, so that's the term that sticks in my memory.) since I thought I could take advantage of it's acid type flavors to use in place of citrus juice versus vinegar which is TOO acidic and vinegary for many recipes in my opinion. I finally found some at Andronico's (thanks Chowhounds) but then didn't even end up making chicken paillard, which is what I had planned.
Because I was now stuck rummaging through cupboards and cookbooks for some other interesting variation of "chicken breast," I had to make do. I found a raspberry chicken breast recipe similar to this one, and altered it based on what I had.

The recipe actually called for raspberry vinegar (I had fig), Worcestershire sauce (I had!), red wine (I had, but thought port would go better with the fig), and garlic (I only had powder - who doesn't have garlic?!?!). I marinated it for an hour or so in that mixture which didn't seem to be long enough. Grilled it up (and yes, the marinade does burn) and it turned out okay. I wasn't wild about it, but everyone else said it was good and they ate it, so you know. It's not poison at least. Maybe next time reserving some of the marinade and cooking it down to use as a drizzle on top would make me happier.

The next semi-fail came in the way of Ina's string beans with shallots. The recipe calls for three shallots which seems like a lot to me. I knew I had one shallot at home so I picked up one more. Only to find out once I arrived home, that not only was the garlic gone, but so was my other shallot. Having roommates is such a surprising and action packed way of life sometimes! So now, with only a third of the required shallot, I made do. Guess what, the recipe could've used more shallot. Again, it was still a hit and everyone ate it all, but I was unimpressed. I mean, nothing is Aylene's green beans aside from Aylene's green beans, but I did at least want to TRY to branch out.

Finally - a recipe I have had bookmarked for YEARS. And it's not like I forgot about it. It's in my bookmarks, so every time I start to type "foodnetwork" it pops up as an option. Yippee, I was finally making it!!!! And hey, guess what, I totally didn't like it. It was more cheese than cauliflower and I didn't think the flavor was good at all. Again, everyone else liked it - was I having an off tastebud night or am I just too critical? Don't answer that please. At least now I can let go of the dream. Dad doesn't like cauliflower much, but even he liked this (not too surprising since seriously, there were more bites that were just cheese and no veggie at all). I did tweak it a bit though. . . . me and my fat free half and half. . . .

Cauliflower Goat Cheese Gratin
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 cups (1 pint) of ff 1/2 and 1/2
1/2 pound Monterey Jack, coarsely grated (I used Clover Organic)
2 c grated Parmesan (I got mine from the cheese section at Andronico's)
8 oz goat cheese, broken into small pieces
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix the cauliflower, heavy cream, and the 3 cheeses in a large bowl and then transfer to a medium casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft and the sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

We wrapped up with the God awful black bean brownies which were politely tasted, not really enjoyed, and abandoned altogether once I shared how they were made. I'm not sure that my folks will ever come back after this, no matter how much fun they had playing Wii.

Pork Satay

This one goes out to all my homies that think satay can be way too sweet sometimes. Also to Duane, who I think would come over to my house for dinner every day if I promised to make this for him (despite being reluctant at first). It's another South Beach Phase 1 recipe. Proof yet again that this diet does not SUCK, you naysayers!

Pork Satay
1/4 trans-fat-free peanut butter
1/4 c water
1 tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 lbs pork cutlets (about 3/4" thick), cut lengthwise into 1/2" strips
4 metal skewers (if you don't have metal you can use wood, just be sure to soak them really well in water so they don't burn in the broiler)

Heat oven to broil.
Whisk together peanut butter, water, vinegar, soy, garlic and red pepper flakes in a mixing bowl. Place pork in a separate mixing bowl and add 1/4 cup of the dipping sauce, toss to coat. (I may have added more than that to coat all my pork - use your judgment). Reserve the remaining sauce for dipping or to spread onto the satay once it's cooked.
Thread pork onto skewers and broil 4 minutes per side. Coat with reserved sauce or put sauce in dipping cups and serve alongside pork.

A garnish of cilantro or sesame seeds would be good if you're cooking this for guests or you like cilantro. Mmmm.

To go alongside, I planned to make Sesame Green Beans, but realized too late that I didn't have any more sesame oil. What else was there to do but douse my cooked beans in Sriracha, soy sauce and garlic powder? They were good and went really well with the skewers.

Greenbeans a la Aylene

My stepmother is the Pied Piper of greenbeans. They line up outside our kitchen, cutting in line, hopping around eagerly hoping, praying, begging that she will dain them worthy of preparation. The best ones actually appear to be lining up outside her mother's house in the backyard (thanks Kay!), but I know they're hoping to make the trip to Aylene's kitchen too.
Seriously, I can eat an entire batch of these and I have yet to master making them exactly right.

She preps the beans, as you do (washing, cutting off ends, cutting into two inch pieces, etc.).
Then boils them until JUST tender and rinses.
A knob of butter into a pan until it starts to brown. In go the beans to be tossed in the butter and now doused in garlic powder (not garlic salt). And she must mean DOUSED. Toss and stir, stir and toss.
Take off the heat and add in lemon juice to taste - I'd say about a third of a cup for a big batch of beans.

I try it with olive oil too, but I think it really needs the butter. Maybe I'll do half and half to cut back on the butter a little. Or maybe I'll just do it like she does and stop wailing about how mine never turn out as good.