“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”

― Emily Brontë

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”

― Emily Brontë

One Kings Lane

I recently found out about something FABULOUS from my lovely friend Aliesha's blog, and I just had to share it with you too!

Prepare to have your socks knocked off, because One Kings Lane is just that amazing.

Ever read design magazines and daydream about all the beautiful things they're showcasing, but just shake your head and keep flipping because you'll never be able to afford any of it? (I'm talking directly to myself here.) Enter, One Kings Lane.

This website has sales every day that typically last about 72 hours or until the items sell out. These sales are nothing but designer names at serious, serious markdowns (up to 70%) so that the rest of us get to enjoy great design in our homes as well. You get to save on everything from bedding, to furniture, lighting, even bath and food products that would make awesome presents.

You do have to become a member before you can purchase anything, but all that really entails is just getting e-mails from them to let you know what's on sale - no fees, just giving them your e-mail address.

Did I mention that you get a $15 credit just for signing up?

Drop everything you're doing, and go check out One Kings Lane. Here are a few samples of today's sale, just to whet your appetite.

Graphic Image - Leather Accessories

Jiti Design - Decorative Pillows

Robert Allen - Fabrics by the Yard

Trip Haenisch - Furniture, Accessories, & Vintage Finds

Salmon Wellington

This Thursday's recipe comes from one of my most favorite cookbooks, the Bon Appetit Fast, Easy, Fresh cookbook by Barbara Fairchild.

Having never tried a professionally-made Salmon Wellington before, I'm going to try to leave this unbiased and encourage you to try this recipe too and see how yours turns out. Except I'm not very good about being unbiased.


Because mine...sadly, not very tasty.


The recipe was great - easy to execute, there was just something about the flavors that didn't float our boats. And I should also have a disclaimer that I tend to have bad experiences with salmon. Tarragon also vaguely reminds me of licorice, which would be strike two, since we don't like licorice. I don't think that it had anything to do with the quality of the recipe, and I still am in LOVE with this cookbook.


So! That being said, I actually would genuinely like you to make this recipe and let me know if you like it - or even let me know if you've ever had Salmon Wellington before.


Here's how everything worked out.


Ingredients:
1 17.3-ounce package frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed
4 6-ounce salmon fillets (each about 3/4" thick)
6 tbsp minced shallots, divided
4 tbsp plus 2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 egg, beaten to blend (for glaze)


1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter, diced


Directions:
Prep your vegetables!

Scallions are pretty aren't they?

I'm a cheater and I used my chopper
instead of mincing.

Chopped and ready to go!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out each pastry sheet on lightly floured surface to 12-inch square. Cut each in half, forming four 12x6 rectangles.

These each unfold to be a 12"x12" square.

Place 1 salmon fillet in center of each rectangle, about 3 inches in from and parallel to 1 short edge.

I had purchased frozen salmon, which explains why mine
isn't that pretty.

Sprinkle each fillet with salt, pepper, 1 tbsp shallots, and 1 tbsp tarragon.

A picture of the chef, courtesy of the husband.
Glamorous, eh? We have to have evidence
that I was actually doing this, I suppose.

Brush edges of rectangles with some of egg glaze.

Brushie Brushie.

Fold long sides of pastry over fillets. Fold short edge of pastry over fillets and roll up pastry, enclosing fillets. Seal edges of pastry. Place pastries, seam side down, on baking sheet. Brush with egg glaze.

This part was actually a lot easier than I thought
it would be.

This was my interpretation of what they were supposed to look like.
Anyone know?

Bake pastries until crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.

More evidence that I put nonstick foil under
EVERYTHING. Because I hate to scrub pans.

Meanwhile, boil wine, vinegar, and remaining 2 tbsp shallots in heavy small saucepan until mixture is reduced to 6 tbsp, about 8 minutes.

Pre-boiling.

Post-boiling, and reduced.

Remove pan from heat. Add butter 1 piece at a time, whisking until melted before adding next piece. Whisk in remaining 2 tsp tarragon. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Did you catch on that this sauce is almost PURE BUTTER?? Woah.
So much for my pledge for healthy recipes.

Cut pastries into thirds. Place pastries on plates; spoon sauce alongside.

Final product!

Tricks of the Trade:

• You might want to consider making your own puff pastry, as this was almost $5 for the box. Definitely not cost-effective, but does make it a lot easier and looks impressive.
• Frozen Puff pastry has to thaw for 45 minutes. Factor this into your cooking time.
• My frozen salmon had skin on it, and being too lazy to research (bad planning on my part), I took forever and tried to peel the skin off RAW SALMON. Yeah, um, don't do this. Ever.
• I tend to put way more "flavorings" into recipes than they call for - garlic, onions, etc. In hindsight, I would have only put on the 1 tbsp shallots and 1 tbsp tarragon like the recipe called for. I'm thinking this may have been why the flavor was overwhelming to us.
• The sauce comes out VERY vinegar-y tasting. Personally, I'd put more wine and less wine vinegar, but who knows. Maybe this is how it's supposed to taste?
• I wound up moving the pot back onto the warm burner but not turning the heat back on to help my butter melt faster.
• You can see in the picture that my salmon looked grainy when it was cut. If I was a master chef, I probably would have known how to roll it up the salmon so that when I cut it, it would be with the grain or some such thing. It was still well-cooked though, not dry like it looks.

So, final verdict? This is a VERY flavorful dish with quite a vinegary bite to it, and you need to make sure you're a fan of tarragon, shallots, and vinegar before you make it. I could barely taste the salmon at all - it was hidden behind all the other flavors. It looked very impressive, and I'm already brainstorming ways that I could modify this recipe to use that DELICIOUS puff pastry again. (Let's just say that I wound up eating most of the pastry off the dish and scraping off the shallots.) I probably won't be making it again, but I still think it's worth exploring, and is very easy for your first time doing something with puff pastry.

And don't forget to comment and let me know about your experiences with Salmon Wellington! :)

Roasty Roasty.

Anybody else trying to cut their grocery bill? Meat is one of those love/hate relationships that I have. So juicy, so good, but...really expensive. Solution? SALES! Particularly, sales of whole roaster chickens.


And check out this bargain that I snatched at our Safeway store this week.

Let's note this please. That is an EIGHT POUND CHICKEN. FOR SEVENTY-NINE CENTS A POUND. Do you know how many meals this is? For $6.37!

Sorry, I just get really excited about good grocery deals.

So, a quick roasting lesson for anyone who may be a little bit phobic of whole chickens, since they can be a little intimidating. 

First, remove the giblets. Let's be honest, nobody likes to think of these things, and even though I'm not scared of raw meat, giblets always freak me out a little bit. Which is why I'm glad they come in little packages like this. 

Yes. Unless you're brave and use these in other recipes, throw them away. Quickly.

I always rinse my chickens off with running water, even though there's some controversy about this now because of the chicken cooties being able to splash around your sink. However, I always thoroughly disinfect my kitchen after cooking raw meats so....I prefer a rinsed and patted dry chicken to roast.

I also always line my pans with nonstick foil. Makes the clean-up a LOT easier.

So, the roasting. Place your chicken in your roasting pan, like so. And season it, with whatever suits your fancy. Salt and pepper work out just fine. I usually alternate between Goya Adobo seasoning or Montreal Chicken seasoning. This time I tried poultry seasoning, just for kicks.

Sometimes I follow the instructions on the package, other times I just stick the chicken in the oven at 375 degrees for about an hour. This particular instance (since I'm not usually roasting eight pound monster chickens), the package said to cook at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours or until the LOVELY little "indicator" popped up. Which I'm a big fan of. I also added half a cup of water to the pan to help keep this ginormous chicken moist during its stay in the oven.

Roasty roasty until the temperature reads about 180 degrees in the thickest part of the chicken thigh.

Oh man, is your mouth watering yet?

Let the roast stand for 15 minutes after removing from the oven, and then slice up for meal number one!

Possible leftovers: Chicken Gorditas, Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Salad, Chicken Soup, and the list goes on!

Moral of the story: Follow the sales at your grocery store, and get a roaster chicken while it's on sale. Just as delicious as a rotisserie chicken, and significantly less expensive. Yum. :)

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Come on, you knew it was coming. Carve pumpkins, must roast pumpkin seeds.

My mom-in-law and I (well, 95% my mom-in-law and 5% me because she's good like that), tackled these recipes from Relish Magazine (for the recipes, click here), and they turned out splendidly. 

My photos of this process are limited, since separating pumpkin seeds from pumpkin goo is ridiculously messy, and because pumpkin seeds look pretttty much the same before and after roasting, except dry and not slimy.

Here are two photos of pumpkin-goo-separating from a previous year, just to get the point across.

Once you have completed the pain-staking process of separating out the mass of seeds from the pumpkin goo, rinse them off in a colander until the remainder of the goo is gone. (If you can complete this step without several seeds going shooting across the kitchen...I want to shake your hand.)

Spread out the cleaned seeds on a large baking pan. Dry your pumpkin seeds in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes. Then, toss with your seasonings of choice and roast at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until fragrant and crisp.

These are the two recipes we made (again, from Relish Magazine), which were yummy.

Sweet & Salty (my personal favorite)

2 cups dried pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp melted butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Spicy Herbed

2 cups dried pumpkin seeds

1 tbsp chipotle chili powder

1/2 tbsp onion powder

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp coarse salt

Both these recipes are great, but somehow, I still wish I had done just some plain salted pumpkin seeds, with maybe a little bit of garlic powder. Because garlic powder makes everything better. And keeps the vampires away.

What kind of seasonings do you put on your pumpkin seeds?

Pre-baked, while mixing in the brown sugar mixture for the "Sweet & Salty" version.

Pumpkin-Carving

Some weekends are too beautiful for words. This was one of those, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Hope you enjoyed your weekend too!

Harvest Cream Soup

It's Thursday! The recipe for this week comes from the Quick Vegetarian Main Dishes cookbook by the Pampered Chef (imagine that?). You can get it here. I can go ahead and tell you, they certainly do mean quick, as least as far has the hands-on part goes.


Ingredients: 
1 lb butternut squash
2 leeks (white and light green portions only)
1 lb baby carrots (or about 3 cups)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
salt and coarsely ground black pepper (optional)
2 cans (14.5oz each) vegetable broth (or about 4 cups), divided
1 can (12oz) evaporated milk
1 1-in piece unpeeled fresh gingerroot
reduced-fat sour cream (optional)


Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut squash into 1-in pieces. Cut leeks in half lengthwise (wash AFTER this step - it allows you to get a lot more of the grit and sand out), then into 2-in pieces. Combine squash, leeks, carrots, oil and garlic in a large mixing bowl; toss to coat. Season with salt and black pepper, if desired.


2. Arrange vegetables in a single layer on a large bar pan. Bake 40 - 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender and deep golden brown. Remove pan from oven to a cooling rack.


3. Combine half of the vegetables with half of the broth in blender container. Cover; blend until smooth. Pour vegetable puree into a 4qt Casserole dish (or really, just a large pot on the stove). Repeat with remaining vegetable mixture and broth. Add evaporated milk to Casserole (or pot); mix well. Cook over medium heat 5-6 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally.


4. Grate gingerroot using a microplane grater. Gather gingerroot in palm of hand and squeeze over a prep bowl to yield 2 tsp; discard flesh. Stir juice into soup just before serving. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Ladle soup into bowls, swirl in sour cream, if desired.


Okay, now PICTURES! :) 

I love the color of Butternut Squash. So gorgeous!

Since I wasn't sure what the initial weight was, I
just chopped until I hit one pound.
It wound up being about half the squash.

Leeks! Definitely wash them AFTER cutting them
in half lengthwise like this. You can see all the
layers that grit can hide in.

Ready for the baking. Vegetables never looked so pretty.

Pureeing in the blender took no time whatsoever. It does
resemble baby food...just a little. But still delicious.

Final product!

Tricks of the Trade:

• Surprisingly tasty. Scott had a hard time getting over how it looked, so if you have kids (or a picky husband), it might be a little difficult getting them to eat this. I recommend serving it with a huge piece of bread (and maybe a side of MEAT, even though this is vegetarian.)
• Make sure you roast the vegetables long enough. Cutting short the roasting time means you'll have a grainy soup.
• Be sure to season it to taste AFTER you have reached the final step. It's difficult to measure how much salt and pepper you'll need until once it's all mixed together. And broth always adds salt.
• Will definitely serve a crowd. Recipe says 6 servings. If you have brave eaters, this definitely is an easy "fake-gourmet" dish.
• I apparently cannot "swirl in sour cream". So good luck with that. And send me pictures when you're able to make these lovely designs in the top of the soup.

See the swirl?!

I hope you enjoy this sneaky and tasty way to get your vegetables in! And as always, let me know how yours turns out!  :)