Chicken with Ricotta and Roasted Asparagus

Ok, so we're sorry about not posting in a month, midterms have kept us from writing (though not from cooking!) But before schoolwork consumed us, though (and before Kelly gave up meat for Jesus) we made an excellent ricotta-herb stuffed chicken and roasted asparagus that we will write about here!

Though it's so easy, I find cooking meat a pain because it involves some forethought (buying it in advance to make it on a set date), which rarely ends up panning for me, and I am left with a chicken breast that I ultimately forget about, then have to throw out in a week or so. This time, though, the stars aligned and the two chicken breasts I bought (with skin and bones) were utilized only a day after purchase.

Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Chicken
as adopted from The Way We Cook by Julie and Sheryl Riven

Ingredients:
1 cup ricotta (we used part-skim to keep the fat down)
1/2 cup parmesan (we used sprinkle cheese we had in the fridge)
4 tbsp. dried herbs (we only have oregano, thyme, and basil, but you can use whatever tastes good together)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 chicken breasts with skin

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Combine ricotta, Parmesan, herbs, salt and pepper in bowl. Mix well.

3. Separate the skin from the chicken but without ripping it off. Just slide your hand under the skin and it separates really easily. It's not as gross as it seems.

4. Stuff the cheese mixture under the skin, evening it out when possible.

5. Put the chicken breasts in a large baking dish, skin side up, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. If you like a crispy chicken, you can rub the outside down with a little olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, then serve.

Roasted Asparagus
I love asparagus because it's the easiest thing in the world to make, and you essentially cannot mess it up. This being said, I have no standards when it comes to asparagus: I like it cooked perfectly or with the tips burnt so they're crispy. Whatever way you like them, you should check them to make sure they're still bright green (that means they're still firm).

Ingredients:
Asparagus
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1. Snap ends off of asparagus, they should break naturally right at the bottoms.

2. Lay asparagus on a baking tray, you can line the tray with tin foil so cleanup is easier.

3. Sprinkle with olive oil so asparagus are covered, though try not to drench them.
4. Bake in oven for around 10-15 minutes, turn them in the pan after 5 minutes so they don't burn on one side.
5. Serve!

We also made some couscous, just by cooking it in the pan with a little garlic and sauteed onions, but the meal would have been complete without it.

Enjoy!

Honey Soy Glazed Salmon and Popovers

I've been craving salmon since Valentine's Day, when I decided against a soy-glazed fillet and opted instead for an aged goat cheese and pear tartine. Needless to say, I regretted it when my food came, and with it the overpowering scent of old socks mingled lightly with farts. But that could have just been my date...

Anyway, salmon it was, which also happens to be the only kind of fish I can cook (canned tuna does not, I think, count). Luckily for me, salmon is easy to prepare, and quick in the oven. It's arguably easier to cook than a cheeseburger, and is pretty inexpensive. At the grocery store, we bought 1.71 lbs. of whatever salmon they had, for $13. It's about 8 oz. (1/2 lb.) per person, but since there were just two of us, it is enough for about two days worth of dinner.

We found a good recipe for Oven-Roasted Salmon in Starting Out (a cookbook my mom got me before I went to college that has some great recipes and easy-to-follow instructions), with honey-soy glaze. While looking through some books, I found a recipe for bleu-cheese popovers that sounded excellent, but the smell of old feet still fresh in my mind, I found a plain popover recipe online instead. Then, we decided on a simple salad for a green vegetable.

The recipe for popovers we found on King Arthur Flour website, and has only 5 ingredients, and takes about 40 minutes, only about 5 of which are hands-on. I had thought one needs a special pan for popovers, but it turns out you can just use a regular muffin tin. The one we used has 12 large cups, and is nonstick, thanks to our early days in the apartment, making cupcakes regularly (another post entirely). Anyway, the popover recipe is on that website, and they explain it much better than I could. Because they took so long, we decided to make them first, which was fine, because the oven was preheated by the time we had to put the salmon in.


Oven Roasted Salmon (w/ Honey-Soy Glaze)
Ingredients:
Salmon (use as much or as little as you want)
Glaze-
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Line a baking sheet with foil, making sure to make edges in the foil, so the glaze doesn't pour into the dish, making cleaning difficult
3. Rinse and paper towel dry salmon, then put it on the baking sheet.
4. Mix together ingredients for the glaze, and spoon it onto the salmon. You can rub it in, but you don't need to.
5. Bake for about 10 minutes, though keep an eye on it. After 10 minutes, take it out, and stick a fork in the fattest part. If there is a deep pink that's not uniform with the cooked fish on top, put it in for a few minutes. If its only a little deep pink, you can take it out. Remember that salmon keeps cooking for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven, so make sure it's a little less done than you'd want, when you take it out.
Then serve!

For the salad, we just bought a head of lettuce (for $3, which will last at least 3 meals for 2 people). I really like garlic in my dressing, and a lot of balsamic vinegar.

Balsamic Vinaigrette of Sorts
Ingredients:
1 clove garlic, minced, chopped, pressed, whatever
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbp honey
2 tbp lemon juice (reconstituted or fresh)
dash soy sauce
2 tbp Dijon Mustard

Mix that together with a fork. The proportions are all whatever I felt like making, but you can mess around with it if you like it sweeter or with more lemon. Watch out with the soy sauce, I added too much and it got too salty, so I added some honey to even it out.

Anyway, that was our dinner.

White Chocolate Cran-Raspberry Rose Cheesecake

College usually doesn't involve decadent and pretentious desserts, but sometimes you just can't avoid the craving. When trips to places like Co Co. Sala can not be made on the regular....because of its devastating effects on a pint sized wallet and stomach....you have to turn to the Internet and your own kitchen.

When I stumbled upon Lunacafe's white chocolate raspberry rose petal cheesecake, I knew that my disgustingly grandiose desires would be satisfied for Valentine's Day. So I adapted the recipe to fit my budget and ended up more than impressed with my amateur baking skillz.

Ingredients:

Cookie Crust:
1/2 cup Nabisco's famous chocolate wafers
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

The Cake:
2 packages cream cheese
6 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
6 ounces white chocolate
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1/2 cup raspberry jam
1 tablespoon cranberry juice
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon rose water (I purchased mine at whole foods and although it somewhat pricey --3 dollars-- it was more than worth it. It literally made the cake and I plan on using it in more desserts)

Garnish:
1/2 ounce white chocolate (optional)


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Place about 5 or 6 cookies (to be honest, I forget exactly how many I used to get half a cup so use as many as you feel necessary) into a plastic baggie, then take a rolling pin (or a large pint glass like I did) and roll over cookies. This will crush them into tiny crumbs. You want them as small as possible. Pour the crumbs into a bowl and add the melted butter. Mix well and spread along to bottom of 9 inch spring form pan.
3. Crush up white chocolate and put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir. If not fully melted put it back into the microwave for 10 second intervals until chocolate is creamy. DO NOT OVERHEAT or you will ruin the chocolate, so keep checking on it. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl add cream cheese and sugar and blend with a mixer until smooth.
5. Blend eggs and melted white chocolate into the cream cheese and sugar mixture.
6. Pour batter into the cookie-prepared spring form pan and put in the oven for about 17 minutes. Then, take out of the oven and let rest for about 5 minutes. The cake should not appear set.
7. While the cheesecake batter is in the oven in a small bowl whisk the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla together and let sit until sugar is completely dissolved.
8. After you have let the cheesecake batter rest for 5 minutes, slowly pour the sour cream mixture over top. Return to the oven for about 10 minutes, then remove from over and cool completely.
9. Place cheesecake in the fridge for at least 6 hours. I left it overnight.
10. To prepare the cran-raspberry topping, put the jam in a saucepan and bring to a slight simmer, whisk in water, cranberry juice, and rose water. If you want, you can pour the mixture through a small strainer to remove the seeds. I did not have a strainer and I thought the seeds added a nice texture. Let the mixture cool slightly, then pour over chilled cheesecake. Return to the fridge for about an hour to let topping set.
11. Finally, remove the cake from the spring form pan and grate the leftover white chocolate over top. Serve chillllled and enjoy!



Yours Truly,
Kelly

Nerd Alert

We absolutely love food blogs. We love them. We love reading about what people are eating, and how they made it. We gossip about the food bloggers. Our problem was, a lot of the food they make is too difficult for a TINY kitchen (you walk in, turn around, and you're out again), and lack of supplies. We do have a few essentials (garlic press, muffin tin, salad spinner, and new spring form pan), but for the most part, we just want simple recipes that an idiot can make. Actually, 4 idiots.

We try to make things as vegetarian as possible, not just because we're trying to emulate our vegan neighbor, but because we have no idea how to cook meats. Also, we're broke.

So, this is our blog about cooking in a SMALL apartment kitchen on the budget of a college student with no income except for the love of our parents. We also have a lot of time on our hands, and spend it cooking and teaching our kitten to jump onto the top of the fridge from the ground.

Enjoy.

Haley, Kelly, Stephanie, and Joani (The Vegan Voice)