Entrée Vous

Yes, we opened November 16th to the public after many delays which I am sure you do not want to hear about. We were the 42nd Entree Vous to open. I don't have pictures of the kitchen (had a break-in during the night several weeks ago and they took my petty cash and my digital camera). Business is slower than we'd like but growing. The challenging part is getting people in for the first time. Unless you come in, you don't get it. It IS a meal assembly kitchen AND fresh Take&Bake (a gourmet dinners to go kind of thing). Once guests realize that they can get really good food for incredibly cheap prices to eat at home, they are hooked because the food wonderful. This is a picture of one of the items on the menu, the Mesa Verde Flank Steak. It is delicious,beautiful and at less than $5 per serving you can't beat it.



We love the guests, we just need more of them.

Sorry I haven't written (or read). I am working a lot of hours to get this off the ground and have no spare time. Only a small window today because I have the flu and doctor's orders to stay away from food and the public.

Hopefully, when business picks up enough for me to hire more people, I'll be back in the blogs. In the meantime, if you know anyone in the Chapel Hill, Durham, Pittsboro area of beautiful NC, send them over to try us. If they say they got sent by a fellow blogger, I'll give them 10% off. I am having fun; this is really a happy job and I know they will love it!

I hope this finds you healthy and happy. I would love to get a quick note about how ya'll are doing until I have time to read more.

Take care until next time!

Miss you all!

Pookah

ps What's in the kitchen, you ask? Chicken Noodle Soup. Didn't you read the part where I have the flu??

Entrée Vous Update and Fresh Summer Salads

I've been very busy, not only gardening, working on what I need for Entrée Vous, but I had a luncheon early in the week for 7 and a luncheon for 85 yesterday. What makes it nice this time of the year is the availability of the garden.

The smaller luncheon we had roasted vegetables on fresh ciabatta bread from a local bakery, roasted tomato basil soup, Caprese Salad and cantaloupe, grapes and cucumbers from the garden.

The earlier luncheon was the owners of all of the Entrée Vous in progress in central NC (Morrisville, North Raleigh (2), Durham near Chapel Hill (ME!!), High Point and Greensboro. If you live in the area, watch for their opening in the next month or so.) The bigger luncheon yesterday was our local Orchid Societies Growers Day. I told people about all of the Entrée Vous' moving into the Triangle, so it was some great early advertising. As far as the status of my kitchen, we start construction this week!

The menu yesterday was below:

Curried Chicken Salad with Pecans and Grapes



Tuna Salad with Black Olive Tapenade

Yukon Gold Potato Salad with Prosciutto & Truffle Oil


Pasta Salad with Olives, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Herbs
Broccoli Salad with Dried Berries and Peanuts
Pink Eyed Purple Hull (like black eyed peas) Salad with Peppers and Onions

Caprese Salad
cantaloupe
Grapes
Bread
Brownies
Tea (sweet and unsweetened)



What came from the garden: the grapes in the chicken salad, the cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs in the Pasta Salad, the pink eyed purple hulls, peppers and herbs in that salad, the tomatoes, cantaloupe and grapes. And anyone coming to my Entrée Vous will have the opportunity to get in season fruits and vegetables from my garden!

The Entrée Vous in Durham is 7 weeks from opening!

Everyone loved lunch! How could they not with so many fresh vegetables! The first thing to go was the Chicken Salad but the thing everyone really notices are the grapes: Grapes with Flavor, imagine that!



And a chance to pitch Entrée Vous to 85 people! It was worth the work!

I'll try to post a few of the recipes in a day or so, in the meantime, check the website. Let me know what you think or want to see (or taste!)

Cheers! Hope to see you in the kitchen soon!

Chinese Chicken Salad

Oriental or Chinese Chicken Salad is a dish I really like. I have tried many recipes at home and many prepared salads in restaurants. I am one of those cooks that really likes to experiment and I finally have a recipe that I like a lot. I was testing recipes for a summer luncheon I was preparing for 75 people and I wanted it to be all salads. I went to the oriental market and asked what type of chow mein noodles they had. I had seen the fake ones in sealed containers in the regular super market and they just didn't seem appealing. He want to the freezer and got out a bag of noodles that looked to be like angel hair pasta crumbles, maybe a little bigger. I was surprised and ask him how to prepare them and he said you fry them. So I did. And combined with the crunchy cabbage and lettuce salad it's a combination I am pleased with. I hope you'll try it. I think you can substitute angel hair pasta for the chow mein noodles and it would work just fine, if you crumble them up so they are in small pieces. Sometimes you can buy them like that. I have found that it really adds to the crunch of any Chinese Chicken Salad but I particularly like it with this version. He did another version on his cooking show with a lot more fat in it. I think this one's just fine without it or better with my addition.

Mainly from Bobby Flay's Grilling for Life but I can never leave well enough alone.



Red Chili Peanut Dressing

3 T soy sauce
3 T rice vinegar
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 T smooth peanut butter
1 T light brown sugar
1 T fresh ginger, grated
1 T chipotle puree
2 t sesame oil
1/4 t black pepper, ground

Chicken Salad

1/2 head cabbage
1/2 head romaine lettuce
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 cup snow peas, trimmed
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 8 ounces each
1 T canola oil
1 t kosher salt
1/2 tea freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c roasted peanuts, chopped
grilled lime wedges, for garnish.

2 cups chow mein noodles or shredded angel hair pasta.
3 T oil

Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

Finely shred the cabbage and lettuce with a knife. Put in large bowl. Shred the carrots in the large wholes of a bix grater. Add to cabbage mixture. Add the snow peas, cilantro and green onions. Set aside.

Heat your grill to high. Season both sides of chicken breasts with oil, salt and pepper. Grill 4 minutes on each side until slightly charred and just cooked through. Remove from grill to a cutting board. Let rest 5 minutes before shredding.

Fry noodles in oil until crisp and starting to turn color but do not brown. Drain well.

Mix dressing in with cabbage mixture. Move to a large platter. Top with shredded chicken, chopped peanuts and noodles. Garnish with lime wedges.

For more recipes, checkout my website, or, if you don't feel like cooking, hire us to cook for you or visit the closest Entree Vous to you!

Cheers,
pookah

Entrée Vous Update!

I signed a lease! It was signed in late May and I have been busy working with the restaurant equipment provider and the architect and how am starting to negotiate with the contractor. We are going to be located at 8200 Renaissance Parkway Suite #1003 in Durham. If you live in the area, it is next to The Streets of Southpoint beside the Super Target. A great location and I am very excited!

I have started a newsletter to update everyone on what's happening. I am going to try it monthly, although if things start happening fast, I may do some updates every few weeks until we open. That, my friends, is being optimistic. I may already have your email, but if you want to opt into my newsletter, please send me an email at pbloodworth at entreevous dot com and I'll add you to the list. Would love for you to join the party.

Hope to see you there.

In the meantime, go to the website for recipes. If you currently are a guest at one of the Entrée Vous that are open, you can get great side recipes at my site.

Relishing what the future has to bring!

Cheers,

Peggy

Breakfast and/or Brunch

Katie from Thyme for Cooking, the Blog, my compadre in many ways on gardening, eating, cooking and philosophy, has tagged me for the Brunch Meme. It it a first. No one has ever tagged me ever other than the real touch tag as kids. (do kids still play tag?) Thanks Katie! I will be interested in your feedback.

I DID grow up and still live in the south and brunch wasn't a big thing. Maybe, maybe not, you'll be surprised at what we serve, or like, for breakfast.

First, if I'm the cook for a crowd, it is usually made to order, short order cook style. I love to have bacon, sausage (we get great local sausage from southern pig farmers) and ham (country, of course) with toasted breads (local seeded multi grain), grits, the huz's favorite (we do a combo of local white and yellow), hash browns (my favorite). Muscadine jelly or raspberry or fig (yes homemade) is added for those with a sweet tooth (not me). And in-season fruit! If it's a big enough crowd, we'll make blueberry pancakes or pecan waffles.

A perfect breakfast for me (or brunch) is Smithfield country ham (better than any ham you can get, anywhere, ever!!!!), very thinly sliced and quickly sauté, a fresh egg from a neighbor, over well, on a sandwich with hash browns (the shredded kind), fresh sliced tomatoes, a slice of fresh picked fruit (whatever: strawberries, blueberries, figs, cantelopes), a cup of strong black coffee, dark roast. The huz would be quite different.

When entertaining friends, we like to make eggs Benedict, but we have friends that don't like 'Canadian' bacon so we substitute crab. An English muffin, crab cake, poached egg with freshly made hollandaise and a mimosa. Lately, we've been having sour cherry juice and champagne. It's yummy.

However, the truth be known, lately, we've been trying to loose some weight and unless we have guests, mostly we've been rotating breakfast; one day, hard boiled egg with fat free cottage cheese and yogurt and the next, an egg white omelet stuffed with Gwatney low fat sausage, sautéd with bell pepper, onion, garlic and low fat provolone cheese and topped with homemade salsa. Another occasional treat is our version of shit-on-a-shingle. Other breakfasts that I grew up on is fried salt fish but I haven't had it in years.

One more thing on breakfast. We found a wonderful diner in Burlington, called Larry's Highway 70 East diner. It is immaculate with a typical stainless steel and red interior and much Coke memorabilia. It is now being run by the second generation. They cure their own hams and grow make their own sausage. They serve home grown tomatoes with their breakfasts, in season, and make their own preserves, like pear and apple. Unbelievable in this day and age.

So who can I tag?

Jmom from In Our kitchen to get a Filipino/American/Southern twist to it. She just did an egg post but maybe has a different view of brunch.
Katie from Kaybrays Cooking my Entree Vous Friend and fellow foodie.

BTW: I love breakfast! I forgot about sweet potato biscuits. You can find the recipe on the website.

With Relish!

Shrimp 2 Ways

Before I left for Entrée Vous training, I stopped by the market to stock up for the hus and shrimp was on sale for $3.99/lb. It was easy peel and looked good so I picked up 2 pounds and put them in the freezer until I returned. I thawed them out on Saturday and the hus peeled them. Sunday night marinaded 1 lb. in a teriyaki marinade and stir fried them with fresh aspargus from the garden and yellow bell pepper. It was great!
Last night we cooked the other pound. It was a recipe from Rick Bayless' book, Mexico, One Plate at a Time. I have to tell you, the kitchen still smells good. Here is the recipe:

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
salt
juice of 1 lime
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, seeded and cut into strips
1 lb shrimp, peeled
2 T cilantro

Mince the garlic in a food processor. Heat garlic, olive oil and a pinch of salt in a saucepan, just until it starts to bubble, like sparkling water bubbles. Keep on the lowest temperature and just barely simmer for 30 minutes, or until the garlic is lightly browned the color of light brown sugar. The slower the simmer, the sweeter the garlic. On my lowest temperature, it took less than 30 minutes. Add lime juice and continue simmering for 5 minutes. Add pepper. In a separate pan, put in several tablespoons of the garlic oil. Heat and add shrimp, stirring until just pink, about 3-4 minutes. Off heat, sprinkle with cilantro and a T of the garlic, pepper mixture. Garnish with lime wedges and serve. The leftover oil can be used on everything!!

Check out my recipes on the website. Also check out the website of my new friend Katie, who likes to cook as much as I do. A food snob too, she's part of my new Entrée Vous family and I met her before I met her blog! Enjoy!

Re: my Entrée Vous: I hope, by next week to have signed a lease and can tell you where I am going to be!

Duck!

I'm not big on cooking duck, in fact, I haven't cooked it in a very long time. I have had some incredibly good duck on more than one occasion cooked by our neighbor, Marne, a fabulous cook as well as at restaurants around the world. Why don't I cook it, you ask? Well, first, it is not readily available; you have to know when and where to find it. Second, it's not so much that I am intimidated by it, but I really am less familiar with it, than say chicken, which I can cut up into pieces with one eye closed. Third, when you have a diet plan that requires you to reduce the fat in your for life, duck is listed as one of the big no-no's.



So recently when scanning cook books, I came across several duck recipes in Bobby Flay's Grilling For Life. It said duck breast shouldn't be reserved for restaurant fare; that it was quick, easy and when skinned, was very low in fat. So a few days later when shopping through Whole Foods, I saw individually packaged, fresh duck breasts for sale at reasonable prices, I went for it. We made Balsamic Thyme Glazed Duck Breasts and served them with brown basmati rice with some of the balsamic glaze drizzled over it, broccoli and a garden salad; yes, with fresh lettuce that survived the cold and is alive and well in our garden only because we planted it in the fall. Amazing that we are now reaping the benefits. To round it all out, we had a touch of mango salsa. All-in-all, a great dinner. Imagine that? Duck and low fat too!

For recipes, you'll have to go to the website. I am going to Kentucky for my Entree Vous Training next week and probably can not post anything at all. If I can, I'll post a few pictures. By the time I get back, I should be able to tell you where my first kitchen is going to be. Please check it out.

Love ya! Cheers,

Pookah

Parsley and Pasta

Do you ever get in the mood for a food and you can't seem to get enough of it? It's been that way lately for me and pasta. No, this is not South Beach friendly. We did try it after it first came out. The first thing everyone needs to know is that every diet doesn't work for everyone. We were on it, very strictly, for 2 months. My husband, who has heart disease, had his cholesterol go UP 100 points in 2 months as a result
of the diet. It freaked his cardiologist out and he (we) can't follow it anymore. He (we) do try to limit the starches most of the time. But not this week.

First we had Broccoli Rabe with store bought pasta, noted in our previous blog. Then we tried Roasted Eggplant Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce ala Tra Vigne.



Totally yummy. Roasting the eggplant, tomatoes and onions that went inside the ravioli then roasting the tomato sauce that sauced it make the flavors very intense. Being as eggplant is already the hus's favorite vegetable, this will become a staple, I am sure. Whole Foods had Sicilian Eggplant. They were huge, and even though I really object to the big seedy eggplants, I decided to try it. Hus thought it looked like a football. It really was very good and not very seedy considering the size.

We followed that with Spaghettini Squared, from the same cook book. It is spaghetti and zucchini spaghetti. You need a Benriner Spiral cutter. I don't have one but borrowed one from our wonderful neighbor, Marne, who is a very accomplished cook herself. (Hopefully, she's going to be part of my Entrée Vous venture.) The recipe was simple and it is below. I made the pasta and the dish turned out as a simple but delicious and beautiful way to eat pasta. If you don't have a spiral turner, you can julienne the zucchini with a Mandolin or cut it very very small with a knife.



Here's the recipe the way I cooked it. It is based on the recipe from Tra Vigne, by Michael Chiarella

Make a pound of spaghetti noodles (using 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, 2 T olive oil and enough water to hold it together.)

2 large zucchini
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
7 cloves garlic, minced
1 tea red pepper flakes
4 T basil, chiffonaded
3 T flat leaf parsley, minced
1/2 cup plus 2 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat water for pasta. Make pasta.

Cut zucchini into spirals and set aside.

Heat 1/4 c oil in large skillet over medium high heat until hot. Add garlic and saute until lightly starting to change color. Turn off heat and add pepper flakes. Quickly add basil and parsley. Remove from heat.

Put fresh pasta in boiling water and bring to a boil. Remove, drain (reserving 1/2 c pasta water) and pour into warm serving bowl. Add zucchini, remaining 1/4 cup oil, the garlic mixture and 1/2 cup cheese. Toss well, adding pasta water, if necessary to make a smooth sauce. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper, if needed. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

For more recipes, check out the website!

Eat, drink and be merry! And as far as dieting goes, I am a firm believer that you have to burn more calories than you take in. For the most part and for most people, it is that simple. Eat less, everything in moderation and exercise more.

Cheers.

Crabby

No, I am not crabby. For the most part, I rarely am crabby; however, I do love crab and I DO mean Blue crabs. I HAVE tried the others, and I still think the Blue Crabs are the best. Way better than any lobster I have ever eaten. I'll take crab any day of the week.

I love food. As I started typing to discuss our latest dinner, I started to write I love crab. Then I thought that I love Broccoli rabe and pasta and garlic. I love food, almost all of it. I love to cook. I love to entertain. I love to find new recipes. I love to try new food. I love to feed other people. I love to grow
my own food and buy local. How lucky am I?

Which leads me to crab. Growing up in Virginia with wonderful parents that have the most perfect garden in the world, was and is a blessing. We have been part of the slow food movement before there was a slow food movement. Although we lived in central Virginia, my father had the number one slip at the Lynhaven marina at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay until the day he retired. I was on a fishing boat before I could walk. Although he doesn't fish much anymore, he is still an avid hunter, and we get loads of venison, which we love. And the garden is beyond belief, after putting manure on it for close to 60 years. It sits on a bluff in perfect soil which dries so you can walk through it an hour after a driving rain. Yes, we have a garden, in clay soil and it will never be as weed free and rich as my parents.

What does this have to do with where I started? Well, it has to do with crab. I remember the first time I ever ate crab, after crabbing in the Rappanhanock River with chicken necks. I was appalled at the sound of them clawing for their life after being dropped in the steamer. But after the first taste, I have spent many years on tables outside, covered with newspaper picking out crabs, dipping them in butter. I could and would do it for hours, ending with a huge pile of crab mung in the middle of the table. Oh, are the wonderful; and now EXTREMELY pricey. I didn't even have any last year, maybe the first year ever. There is nothing like it. #1 jimmies! Yum. Needless to say, I was a crab snob and would have never, never bought pasteurized crab. Then I went to assist a chef at a party that was making crab cakes for 300 (or was it 500). We made a lot of crab cakes using the canned, pasteurized crab from Costco. I couldn't believe it. It had big pieces of crab and in at least 20 pounds of crab, I didn't see one piece of shell and everyone raved over the crab cakes. I was hooked; and trust me, it beats shelling all that crab, although I will never pass up the opportunity. If you've never had it, go to a crab house sometime and try it. Get someone to show you the technique and be prepared for a feast as well as little cuts all over your hands.



Back to crab. We made crab cakes with Costco crab and they were yummy. We had it with broccoli rabe and pasta. The crab cake recipe is on the website.




Broccoli Rabe and Pasta

4 slices pancetta, minced

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch broccoli rabe, coarsely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 T fresh thyme, minced

1 14 oz can low fat low sodium chicken stock

3/4 lb pasta (I like the shape and size of Campanelle to go with the broccoli)

Parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

Sauté pancetta in olive oil until very crisp. Remove. Add garlic to pan and sauté for about 1 minute. Add thyme. Stir. Add chicken stock and cook until it cooks down, about 5 minutes. Add broccoli rabe and cook until done, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Serve with pasta topped with pancetta and shaved parmesan. Serves 4 healthy servings.

Enjoy and until next time, Cheers!

Be sure to check out Entree Vous if there's one in your neighborhood!

Corn Puddin'

We been warming up a bit with temperatures in the 60s. It feels like the warm streak it is and we have been cooking accordingly. Last night we had Asian inspired hoisin pork chops with sautéed red cabbage and vegetable dumplings with a Chinese style mustard sauce and a soy/sesame dip.



The previous night we had jerk chicken thighs with homegrown butter beans from the freezer and corn pudding. It's pronounced puddin' in the south.



(The food is on a glass plate on a cutting board, in case you're wonderin')

In fact, that reminds me of a funny story. As a up-and-comer in the corporate world (a number of years ago, before I up, came, went and landed here), I was ask to fill in for a few missing senior executives for an executive presentation skills course. I was the junior person there. The instructor started the course giving a topic and asked each person to stand in the center of the room, unaided by a podium, charts or anything in their hands and discuss topic for 5 minutes with no preparation. At the end of the session each person was evaluated. I was told that I had a very low voice for a female, which carried very well and I had a lot of energy; therefor I should consider becoming a professional speaker. However, there was one thing I needed to work on first. I pronounce(ed) all verbs ending in "ing" without the "g": e.g. walkin', talkin', cookin'. I worked it for a long time, unsuccessfully and decided, after many years through the executive ranks, that I would rather be cookin' than public speakin'. Soon, if you live around the Triangle in NC, we could be helping you and your family eat well through my new venture, with Entrée Vous. Go to the website and check it out and better yet, go try it, if there's one near you. Come back here for updates on where what's happening with the development of my kitchen.

The recipe for southern cornbread is on the website. The recipe for corn puddin' is below:

Spoon Bread

1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 T melted butter
1/2 cup self rising yellow corn meal
1/2 tea sugar
1 tea baking powder

Preheat oven to 350.

Put corn in the blender. Add buttermilk and blend enough break corn apart. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Add more milk, if needed to make the consistency not too thick. Pour into buttered non-stick loaf pan or individual soufflé dishes. Bake for 25 minutes (loaf) or 15 minutes (soufflé) until just set in the middle. Serve hot with butter.

Anchiote or Annatto

For once I am going to post to weekend herb blogging early in the week so I don't have to think about it until Sunday night or Monday, because we could be traveling the rest of the week and I might not have time to get around to it.

This week I tried something for the first time: Anchiote or Annatto.

The inspiration came from The Mustards Cookbook, by Cindy Pawlcyn. We just tried the recipe for Achiote Chicken with Black Beans, Mango Salsa and Lime Crème fraiche.



It tastes as beautiful as it looks. One of the really good things about it is that you can do most of the work in advance. The night before, I pressure cooked the black beans and made the mango salsa. The next morning finished cooking the black beans while I was making breakfast, which only took an additional 15 minutes and while they were cooking put the chicken into marinade. So when dinner time came all I had to do was grill the chicken, heat the beans and mix together the lime crème fraiche which took all of 15 minutes or less.

Two comments:

1.) A pressure cooker is a life saver for cooking beans. I use mine every week for one thing or another. I consider it a "must have" kitchen item. I use them for canning to, but those pressure cookers are a lot bigger. Don't be afraid of them. They are safe and a real time saver.

2.) Where to find Achiote: Although we have one of the largest Latino markets in the country, a huge Compare Foods, it is on the far side of Durham, more than 30 minutes away and a place I have to go out of the way to get to. I was willing to do it, but went to the Food Lion in Hillsborough, the small town we live in and amazingly, they had two brands of Achioti. They didn't have the paste that was called for in the recipe, but it was simple to mix a little water in it and make my own paste. It really died the meat red. Had I known, we could have had it as a Valentine dish. It s definitely something I will use again.

3.) What the &#$&#*%)# is Achiote you ask? Don't worry, I wondered too!

Quoted from The Food Lovers Companion:
Achiote [ah-chee-OH-tay] The slightly musky-flavored seed of the annatto tree is available whole or ground in East Indian, Spanish and Latin markets. Buy whole seeds when they're a rusty red color. Brown seeds are old and flavorless. Achiote seed is also called annatto which, in its paste and powdered form, is used in the United States to color butter, margarine, cheese and smoked fish.

Who'd have thought? Live and learn.

Give it a try! I think you just might like it!

This is being submitted for this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Anna at Anna's Cool Finds. Be sure to go there Sunday night or Monday morning for the round-up and read what people like us are cooking around the globe!

Recipes: This entire recipe is too long for me to type in, so instead, I'll tell you what I did.

As stated above, I pressure cooked a lb of beans in about 4 cups water, at pressure for 20 minutes and let it come down to temperature without fast chilling. Without draining, I chilled them overnight. Make your favorite mango salsa. Refrigerate. Make sure it has roasted bell pepper, cilantro and lime. Cook onions, bell peppers, garlic and one Serrano chili until soft. Add black beans with the juice and zest of an orange and lime. Mix in cilantro, salt and pepper taste. For the chicken, I used a combination of skinned chicken breasts and thighs, bone in. I mixed about an ounce of achiote powder with water to make a paste and added it to the chicken in a zip-lock bag and massaged it in well. You could do it an hour before or 24 hours. I put them into marinade in the morning for cooking in the evening and boy, were they red. I grilled them on a preheated, oil grill pan for 2 minutes, turned 1/4 turn and grilled 2 minutes more; flipped and grilled 3 minutes on the other side, then put in a preheated 350 oven for about 5 minutes. As for the lime creme fraiche, add lime juice and zest to creme fraiche or sour cream or look on my website for a wonderful side of lime dressing. Voila!

Leeks

This Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted this week by The Chocolate Lady: In Mol Araan. Be sure to check out her round-up late Sunday or early Monday where you will here about food from around the globe!

Leeks, according to The Food Lover's Companion, are native to the Mediterranean countries, and have been prized by gourmets for thousands of years (wow). Nero believed leeks would improve his singing voice and is said to have eaten prodigious amounts quantities to that end. (nothing, I'm afraid, could improve this singing voice). In the sixth century AD (wow, again), the Welsh made leeks their national symbol because they were convinced that the leeks they wore on their helmets to distinguish them from their enemies strengthened them and helped them win wars.




I just like them, like I like onions and garlic to which they are kin. I just mentioned that I have been braising leeks of late. Last night we had yet another new dish, this one from Joanne Weir's From Tapas to Meze. It is Savory Chicken Leek and Feta Pie with Mountain Herbs. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? With a salad it sounds like a perfect dinner. I can tell you that it smells and tastes divine with parsley, dill and mint mixed with chicken, sautéed leeks, green onions, feta and Parmesan cheese. You could make it with phyllo as well.



The only other thing you really need to know about them is they always need to be cleaned. Lots of people like to cut them up and soak them in water to remove the grit between the leaves. I like to cut them length-wise and hold them under running water separating the outer leaves where most of the dirt hides.

Leek and Potato Soup is a well known favorite, vichyssoise, served cold but I like it hot; a good thing for a cold winter night.

Go to our website for Swank Recipes and until next time, Cheers! Stay warm.

Garlic in Everything

Having received a local magazine that had recipes from local restaurants, I saw a recipe for garlic soup from Restaurant Starlu in Durham. I have eaten there and the food is quite good and the recipe was really different than the one I have made before and that is on the website. I (kind of) tried this new recipe and liked it very much too. If you haven't had garlic soup before, it is really very subtle and delicious; very much like French onion soup.



I used a lot more garlic than the original recipe called for and made several other revisions as well. I used a mess of garlic, already peeled, about a pound. I them in an oven proof container and added between 1/4 and 1/2 cup olive oil. I covered the container and baked them for about an hour at 325. Then I drained off the oil, reserving it to use to sauté croûtons to serve with the soup. Add about 4 cups chicken stock and simmer about 30 minutes until the garlic is really starting to fall apart. Puree with an immersion blender and season with salt and pepper. Top with halved grape tomatoes, sliced avocado, the croûtons and squeeze in a dash of lime. You're in for a treat.



We've been on a roll, actually. I haven't eaten rabbit in years, mainly because it isn't widely available but I saw a recipe in Michael Chiarello’s The Tra Vigne Cookbook for Braised Rabbit with Winter Root Vegetables (and garlic) and gave it a try with risotto and braised leeks. Yummy. Have you had braised leeks? They are very easy and a delicious side. The recipe is already on the website.




Then last night we tried the recipe for the salmon roulade from Mustards Grill Cookbook by Cindy Pawlcyn. Beautiful and really not difficult, just a bit time consuming. It is stuffed with parsley and (you guessed it) garlic. We served it with the Kalamata Olive, Orange and Celery Relish, roasted potatoes and green beans.

Eating well in Carolina!

Note: No Entree Vous update yet. I'm still working on finding the right place!

Cheers!

Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Olives

We've been on the road most of the week, but unlike most people who travel and eat out, I usually cook where ever I go. This week, I made meat balls for both spagetti and meatballs and Italian wedding soup. The recipe for the wedding soup is on the website at Swank Recipes.



For Weekend Herb Blogging this week hosted this week by the creator, Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen, my ingredient is preserved lemons. I also have a recipe for that on the website. They are beautiful and easy to make and an indespensible addition to many Moroccan recipes. They have a silken texture and an indespensible flavor. If you haven't made them or used them before, you actually eat the skin and not the pulp.

My recipe this week is:

Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Olives

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 onion
chopped 6 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tea cinnamon
salt and pepper
16 olives
1 1/2 whole preserved lemon, peeled and sliced

Cover the chicken with water and add onion, garlic, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Pressure cook for 30 minutes. (alternatively you can simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours). Cool and remove top of pressure cooker and continue cooking to reduce the liquid by about 1/3. Add olives and cook 15 minutes. Add lemon and serve with Cous Cous.

Serves 4-6.

Entrée Vous Update. I have been shopping for real estate and have narrowed it down and hope to make a decision this week. As soon as I know where it will be, you'll be the first to know.

Cheers,

Pookah

Entrée Vous

I can finally tell everyone my news!

I have acquired a franchise in the meal preparation business. It is called Entrée Vous. It is a wonderful operation started in Lexington, KY by a great chef and caterer, Harriet Dupree, a Cordon Blue trained chef with years of food experience.

Ever since I left the telecom world and started a small catering business, I have been looking at doing something different. More regular, definitely with people and food, but with the ups and downs of a catering business (meaning long hours and lots of temporary staffing, etc.) where I could continue to use my love of cooking and entertaining coupled with my marketing and sales experience. This new business exactly what I was looking for and is very exciting. I have been researching it for about nine months. What I initially was most worried about was the quality of the
food, but I can assure you that the food is fantastic! Unbelievable! Better than anything in the market. I guarantee that if you try this, you will love it, that is, if you aprreciate really good food. No one in the market has anything f this caliber; extremely high quality delicious food, expertly sauced and you get to smell it cooking in your own home! I will finally have my own commercial kitchen and be able to help our guests put wonderful food on their tables for their families at a reasonable price. You can't beat it for value, quality and time savings! For our existing clients, you have no need to worry, we will still do a few catering events on a selective basis.



Please check it out the website at Entrée Vous link. Look at the menus. They are terrific. If you go to "news" you'll see where I am announced (Peggy Bloodworth for those of you who know me by Pookah, what my friends call me). I am searching for real estate, and will let you know once we know where we'll be located; so if you live near-by, keep your eyes and ears open for our opening. If there is a Entree Vous near you, try it! It is Gourmet take-out like you never dreamed of. The flavors of the entrées are unparalleled with an ever changing repertoire of menus and recipes so your dinner at home is as good as eating at a high quality restaurant without the time, expense, or tipping!

I can't wait to open and for you to try it, but in the meantime, I have to go thought the process of a build-out! I'll keep the blog and my regular homepage going too, but Entrée Vous, here I come!


In the meatime, check out our recipes at Swank Recipes and if you need a catered event, give us a call!

Cheers,

P