Test 3 - Penne with Asparagus and Blue Cheese Sauce

http://www.framedcooks.com/2014/07/blue-cheese-pesto-pasta.html
http://www.food.com/recipe/penne-with-blue-cheese-pesto-walnuts-and-asparagus-125997#activity-feed

1 - Quick, simple and delicious.
2 - Ditto. The changes I made originally still hold.
3 - This continues to be very good. I've made it with Cambonzola so far, no stronger blues, yet, but the only change that's required at this point with what I've done with it to this point is a baseline amount of salt to make the flavours pop. However, for some reason I would like to try adding Parmesan to add the saltiness before just adding salt. Will the Parmesan flavour interfere with the current profile, add to it, or be so subtle that only the saltiness require to make the other flavours pop be sufficient?

Serves 2 hungry people, easily multiplied

8oz penne
½ cup pesto
4oz blue cheese (crumbled)
1/4 cup Parmesan (to start)
1/4lb asparagus spear, cut 1 ½"
Pepper to garnish
Pine nuts, walnuts or breadcrumbs for garnish (toasted)

1. Cook the penne, until al dente, 6-7 minutes.
2. In a large serving bowl mash together the pesto and the cheese.
3. During the last 2-3 minutes of the penne cooking time, add asparagus to pot and cook until bright green and crisp-tender. 
4. While boiling, scoop out a ½ cup of pasta water.
5. Drain penne and asparagus in colander. Add to the bowl with the pesto and stir to coat them well. Drizzle in enough pasta water to make a light sauce.
6. Serve garnished with nuts or breadcumbs.

Test 3 - Brie and Sausage Bruschetta

http://thetuscangun.com/recipe/26-bruschetta-with-sausage-brie-cheese-and-fresh-herbs/

1 - Beyond all expectations, this was very good.
2 - I got a "this feels like the food of my people. I can imagine them eating this 300 years ago." I call that success.
3 - 2018-04-01 This time, fed to a larger group, I got "this is what bruschetta should taste like." I like it when people tell me that my food tastes the way it's supposed to. It means that I've achieved the flavour that their imagination dreams of. :)

6 slices of bread (enough to cover the bottom of a cookie sheet)
1 Tbsp olive oil,
1lb Italian sausages (mild or hot) casings removed
½ lb Brie cheese, rind removed and fine cubed (as possible)
1 onion, chopped finely
1 handful Tbsp of rosemary, chopped finely
1 handful Tbsp of sage, chopped finely
½ cup of white wine
More olive oil (a nice extra-virgin oil would be good, here) for serving
Freshly ground black pepper

1. In a cast-iron pan sauté the meat and the onion in the oil until the meat starts to colour. 
2. Add the wine, rosemary, and sage and cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated, then set aside. 
3. Toast the bread to golden. Toast the bread, preferably over a grill or a barecue. A toaster is fine, but if you want, put the oven rack at the mid point. Place the bread on the cookie sheet, then in the oven. Now, turn on the oven at 450F and keep an eye one the bread. It should just toast, and in my oven it toasts by the time it reaches temperature. I then take out the bread and turn on the broiler. 
4. Slice and pinch the brie to evenly cover the bread. 
5. Sprinkle the sausage mixture over the cheese. Arrange the slices of bread to cover the bottom of the baking dish (what kind?). Evenly distribute the Brie cheese on the bread and top it with a tablespoon of the sausage mixture.
6. Put under the broiler. When the cheese has melted, and the sausage starts looking crisp, it's done. Take the tray out of the oven.
7. Drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and freshly ground black pepper before serving.

Test 2 - Chicken in Caraway Sauce

Another recipe to convert from skinless, boneless chicken breasts to whole chicken cut into pieces. And the sauce is awesome!

1 - I think it worked well. Both of us were a bit wan tonight, so I'm looking forward to trying it again.
2 - Graduated to Test 1.
3 - Did it again to great success, but played a bit with the relationship between browning the chicken and making the sauce.

1/4 cup butter or vegetable oil
1 whole chicken cut into pieces
salt and pepper to season
3/4 cup beef broth

1. Melt the butter in a sauté pan. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and brown well on all sides, 5 minutes, working in batches if necessary. 
2. Add the broth, turn the chicken pieces, and cook gently for 15 minutes.
3. Turn the chicken again, cover, and continue cooking until the chicken is tender, 15 minutes more, or until white meat reaches 165-170F and dark meat 180F. 
4. Remove the chicken to a serving dish and allow to rest while making the sauce. Pour the remaining broth and measure out 1/2 cup (if the liquid reduced too much, add a bit of broth. If there is too much broth, boil it down before continuing with the sauce).

For the sauce
1 Tbsp oil
1 onion or 2 medium shallots, minced
OPTIONAL: 1 Belgian endive or 5 large Romaine lettuce leaves, cut cross-wise, in thin strips
2 Tbsps. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 cup heavy cream or crème fraîche
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Over medium heat, cook the onion or shallots (and leaves if using) in the oil until softened, 2-3 minutes. Add the caraway seeds and continue cooking until the onion or shallots are lightly browned, an extra 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the cider vinegar and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon (remember, browned bits = flavor!).
3. Add the stock and cream; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and reduced to a generous 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Stir in the Dijon mustard; season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Return the chicken to the pan, coat with the sauce, and allow to reheat if the chicken has been resting for more than 10 minutes.
5. Serve and enjoy!

Blue cheese scalloped potatoes - PUBLISHED

1 - the flavours are lovely! But it was swimming in fat, so that I had to serve in bowls. I've reduced the butter and altered the recipe a little to reflect this to see if it makes much of a difference. I suspect the Cambozola cheese is just a fatty cheese (the potatoes I used were old, so should have been plenty floury to absorb the fat).
2 - Nope, I can't reduce the amount of butter without reducing the amount of flour. I must have first published this a while ago, because of course you need 1:1 for a proper roux. I think the big success is switching the cheese, 'cause the mild blue of Cambozola makes for a lovely, smooth, slightly sweet dish.
3 - I've made this for non-blue cheese likers and lovers and both like the dish.

4  potatoes (1.5 lbs), sliced thinly
3 garlic cloves, minced
3  Tbsps. 1 tsp butter
3  Tbsps. flour
1 1⁄2  cups milk
1  tsp. salt
1 Tbsp fresh thyme, minced fine
1 1⁄2  cups Cambozola cheddar cheese, sharp, grated (100gr?)

1. Place oven rack in the middle position. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and sauté the garlic until starting to colour.
3. With a whisk blend in the flour and cook until it turns pale golden.
4. Add all the milk stirring constantly with the whisk to break up clods of flour, and season with salt, pepper and thyme.
5. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally with the whisk, until the sauce thickens.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.
7. Place a quarter of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased one quart casserole dish or if you have an attractive oven-ready fry pan, it'll create a lovely rustic display and you only have to dirty one pan to make the dish! Alternate in quarters the cheese sauce and potatoes until you end with the last of the cheese sauce on top.
8. Bake uncovered for about 1 hour or until the potatoes are soft.

Soda Bread - PUBLISHED

http://www.food.com/recipe/irish-rosies-irish-soda-bread-20616?ftab=reviews#activity-feed

1 - This is delicious, but I switched the order of a few ingredients. Also, when I first made it, it wasn't quite baked in the middle so could use a bit more time in the oven... but how much?
2 - Holy smokes I made thus for a St. Patrick's dinner and got loads of compliments for the next couple of days!

3 - I've made this a couple times more, with cheese, without, but always with carraway. I'm changing things to make that more clear - caraway always, cheese when you want it.

3 1⁄2 cups flour
1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄2 tsp baking soda
2 tsps. baking powder
2 tsps. salt

2 Tbsps. caraway seeds
2 cups sour cream or yogurt 3.5%
2 eggs

Optional : 
1cup (2.5oz) sharp cheddar
3⁄4 cup raisins

1. Preheated the oven to 350ºF.
2. Combine dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
3. In a small bowl beat eggs and stir in sour cream.
4. Add the egg mixture optional ingredients, if using, to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon.
5. Batter will be very thick and sticky.
6. Place batter in a greased 9 inch spring form pan.
7. If you find the dough too sticky, you can dust the top with enough flour so that you can pat the batter like a bread dough evenly in the pan without it sticking to your hands.
8. With a knife make a shallow crisscross on the top.
9. Bake for 50 minutes.