Recipe Roulette - Bibimbap

Nichole picked this recipe and I was definitely overwhelmed when I read the ingredients. It was a little more high-maintenance than I prefer in the kitchen. I didn't care for the results but Joe loved it. (If you haven't noticed, he basically loves everything.) Also, I don't do fried eggs so I made a fried egg for Joe and scrambled one for me. I also don't do radishes but decided to comply for this recipe and ate it anyway.

1/4 cup of Korean soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup minced scallions
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp ground toasted sesame seeds
Dark sesame oil, as needed
Black pepper, as needed
1 lb beef skirt steak, cut into strips
1/4 cup peanut or canola oil, as needed
2 cups steamed medium-grain rice
2 cups iceberg lettuce chiffonade
1 cup julienned or grated red radish
1 cup julienned or grated daikon
1 cup julienned or grated carrot
1 cup julienned or grated seedless cucumber
4 shiso leaves cut into fine shreds (you can substitute basil and mint if you can't find shiso leaves)
4 large eggs
2 tbsps Korean red pepper paste (gochujang), or as needed

Combine the soy sauce and sugar in a bowl. Add the scallions, ginger, garlic and sesame seeds. Add the sesame oil and pepper to taste. Add the skirt steak and toss until evenly coated. Cover, refrigerate and let steak marinate for at least 1 and up to 8 hours.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok over high heat until it is nearly smoking. Add the beef strips to the hot oil and stir-fry until the beef is cooked, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and keep warm.

Divide the rice evenly among 4 bowls. Top the rice with the lettuce. Toss together the red radish, daikon, carrot, cucumber and shiso leaves. Divide the vegetables evenly among the bowls. Top the vegetables with the skirt steak and season each with a few drops of sesame oil.

Wipe out the wok and return it to the burner. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok and heat it over medium heat until the oil ripples. Add the eggs to the hot oil one at a time and fry, basting the tops with a little oil, until the whites are set and the yolk is hot, 2 to 3 minutes. Top each serving with a fried egg and serve at once, accompanied by the Korean red pepper paste.

Recipe Roulette - Chicken, Goat Cheese and Rice Casserole with Pecans and Cherries

This week served up another recipe by Paula Deen. I thought it was great. I could have probably done without the cherries but they turned out to be Joe's favorite part of the dish. Also, I only used one cup of goat cheese which seemed like enough. It's a great twist on your everyday chicken and rice casserole.

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 chopped yellow onion
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
3/4 cup dried cherries
2 cups (1/2 pound) crumbled goat cheese
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chopped pecans
finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup (1/4 pound) grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and saute until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the thyme and cook for 1 minute more. Pour in the broth and season with the salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil.

2. In a 13 x 9 inch flameproof baking dish, combine the chicken, rice and cherries. Pour the boiling broth mixture over it and cover tightly with foil. Bake until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Remove the casserole from the oven, remove the foil, and turn the setting to broil. Stir in the goat cheese, cream, pecans and orange zest. Smooth the surface of the casserole and sprinke it with Parmesan cheese. Return the casserole to the oven and broil until the cheese is melted and golden, about 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Recipe Roulette - Pumpkin Baked Ziti

This week's random recipe comes from Kate. She volunteered to supply our random recipe to which Nichole responded that her only rule was that whatever the random recipe was, Kate would have to make it, too. I think this was Nichole's way of making sure the recipe wasn't gross. I will admit, I was super skeptical when I saw the recipe. Mostly because one of the main ingredients is sausage. And, as anyone who reads this blog regularly should know, Amy doesn't go near sausage. But I decided to use ground beef instead of sausage and plunge forward. Besides, Paula Deen has never let me down before.

The results? I liked it. The pumpkin was very subtle (my husband called it "quiet") and was a nice change from red sauce, which I don't really care for. It may not go on my list of favorites but I really don't have any complaints and it was very easy to make.

• Pumpkin Baked Ziti

Recipe Roulette - Cuban Braised Beef and Peppers

This week I picked a recipe from Real Simple. I love meat in the crockpot but have never had a meal before where I've put the meat on rice and topped it with avocados (which I don't usually eat - I'm branching out) and cilantro. This was a nice twist on something "normal." Joe told me several times that this was one of his favorite meals that I've made.

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
2 red bell peppers, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 onion, cut into 8 wedges
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 1/2 pounds flank steak, cut crosswise into thirds
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 avocado, sliced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

In a 5-6 quart slow cooker, combine the tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, oregano, cumin, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Nestle the steak among the vegetables. Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.

Twenty-five minutes before serving, cook the rice according to package directions.

Using two forks, shred the beef and mix it into the cooking liquid. Serve with the rice and top with the avocado and cilantro.

Read about Nichole's results.

Recipe Roulette: Lamb Beef Kheema with Peas

Since Nichole and I are both watching our waistlines these days, our random recipe this week was one that wouldn't be tempting us to make bad choices. We made this lamb kheema with peas. Only I didn't use lamb; I used beef. I thought about using lamb but at the end of the day, and probably to my husband's dismay, I choose to use what I knew I would like. I served it with basmati rice and it was extremly tasty and very easy to make. I will definitely make this recipe again.

Recipe Roulette: Four-Cheese and Pesto Italian Baked Spaghetti

I chose this week's recipe and bought all the ingredients before I officially decided to go on a diet. Needless to say, this Paula Deen dish is very high-calorie (who wouldn't love something with four different types of cheese in it?) so I walked four miles on the day that I made it and used it as my splurge for the week. I was not disappointed with the results either. Very tasty. I did substitute linguine noodles for the spaghetti noodles since I have somewhat of an aversion to spaghetti noodles (yes, I realize how weird that sounds).

1 lb uncooked spaghetti
1 lb ricotta cheese
Two 6-7 ounce containers prepared pesto
2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup crumbled goat cheese

1. Preheat the over to 400 degrees. Grease a flameproof 13x9 inch baking dish. Cook the spaghetti for 2 minutes less than the package directions specify. Drain the spaghetti well and transfer it to a bowl. Stir in the ricotta, pesto, 1 cup of the mozzarella, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan and the goat cheese. Toss the mixture well and transfer it to the baking dish.

2. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and 1/2 cup Parmesan over the pasta. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Turn the oven setting to broil and broil for one minute or until golden. Serve hot.

Recipe Roulette: Chocolate Croissants

This week, Nichole chose these chocolate croissants - YUM. It is a super easy recipe that you could practially throw together at a moment's notice. (Needed: frozen puff pastry dough, dark chocolate and an egg.) I decided to make them thinking we could eat on them for a few days, which we did, but they are definitely better the first day. Definitely.

I did opt to not use salt on my croissants and instead sprinkled each with some sugar after I brushed them with the egg. For my chocolate, I chose Green & Blacks dark chocolate which is 70% cocoa and I highly recommend it.

These croissants will be going back in the recipe box for another time! (Hopefully in the near future.)

Recipe Roulette: Chicken Biriyani

This week we chose a random recipe from Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything. The winner was chicken biriyani, also known as the most expensive recipe I have ever made. Of course I had to buy whole cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks and - the winner - saffron. Ahh. (Unlike Nichole, I was able to find a thimble's worth for $5.69) But now my spice rack is sufficiently stocked. And don't let the spices scare you, this was an extremely easy dish to make and it gave me the chance to experiment with some new flavors.

My only regret? My dish wasn't quite as flavorful as I'd expected. I mean, what does a pinch of saffron really mean? Next time, I will use more and step it up a bit. And, yes, there will be a next time. Not only do I now have all the ingredients, my husband applauded this tasty meal. My only other complaint was that it was impossible to pick out the cloves and whole cardamom and I did not find either to be a tasty surprise while eating.

Did I mention it was healthy, too? I substituted brown basmati rice in place of regular basmati and we are also trying, whenever possible, to use all organic meats (and dairy) these days so I felt even more special about the chicken in the dish, too.

Now that I have spices on the brain, let me know what your favorite spice is to use in a recipe. Mine is cumin.

Go here to read about Nichole's adventure.

Recipe Roulette: Creamed Chicken with Gnocchi Dumplings

This week's Recipe Roulette meal comes from Rachael Ray. I picked it because Joe and I have both been sick and eating lots of chicken noodle soup. I thought this might be a good spin on the ultimate get-well-soon meal. While it was good, it was not quite as good as I'd expected; I think my sauce turned out a bit too thick.

One 1-pound package of potato gnocchi
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup chicken broth
2 scallions, chopped

1. Cook the gnocchi according to package directions; drain.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper.

3. In a small saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook until toasted, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the half-and-half and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until thickened. Whisk into the chicken mixture, then stir in the gnocchi. Bring to a simmer, then season with salt and pepper and top with the scallions.

Nichole enjoyed the recipe very much. Read her review here.

Recipe Roulette: Apple Dijon Chicken

Nichole picked this week's recipe. I'll admit that I was not necessarily looking forward to this one; it didn't sound that good to me. But the good news? It was awesome! And Joe must have complimented it 20 times. He said it reminded him of a German meal. Since I only made two chicken breasts, I used half the onion and only one apple but still made the regular amount of sauce.

4 boneless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 Golden Delicious apples, cored and sliced into rings
1 small onion, sliced
3/4 cup of chicken broth
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1/3 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon of cornstarch

1. Place chicken-breast halves between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. With meat mallet or rolling pin, pound breasts to an even 1/2-inch thickness; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper.

2. In nonstick 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add breasts and cook 6 to 7 minutes or until browned on both sides and chicken loses its pink color throughout, turning over once. Transfer breasts to platter; cover with foil to keep warm.

3. While chicken is cooking, in glass pie plate, combine apples and onions. Cover with waxed paper and microwave on High 3 to 4 minutes or until tender, stirring once.

4. To skillet, add apple mixture; cook 2 minutes or until browned. Add chicken broth, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Cook 2 minutes to reduce broth mixture slightly. In bowl, half-and-half with cornstarch; stir into apple mixture with any juices from chicken on platter. Cook 1 minute to thicken sauce slightly.

See Nichole's results here.

Best. Cookie. Ever.

It was my turn to pick a recipe for this week's Recipe Roulette when I realized that there would be no opportunity for a real meal. My husband had class two nights during the week, the other two nights he had work events/meetings and I would be out of town the entire weekend. There's no point in cooking if nobody is there to eat. But dessert is a different story. I found a recipe for Monster Cookies and decided they looked too good to not try. Turns out I was right. I also decided to use Halloween M & Ms to make them more monster-like and decided to forgo the raisins. This is one recipe that will be made again!

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (12 ounce) jar creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup multi-colored chocolate candies
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisins, optional
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

2. In a very large bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, baking soda and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in resealable plastic bags.

See how much Nichole likes Monster Cookies.

Recipe Roulette: Aunt Peggy's Old-Fashioned Meatloaf

I'm a big Paula Deen fan (who doesn't love recipes that contain lots of butter and cream?) so I was ecstatic to get one of her cookbooks for my birthday. In favor of my new cookbook, Nichole and I decided to use the random number generator this week to select our recipe from the book. The choice, meatloaf, was a pretty basic recipe and was a huge success. It was served with mashed potatoes for the perfect meal!

Aunt Peggy's Old-Fashioned Meatloaf contains:

1 pound ground beef
One 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/2 cup chopped Vidalia onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, tomato paste, onion, green pepper, oats, egg, salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Slather the glaze on top of the meatloaf and bake for 1 hour or until the meatloaf is firm and cooked all the way through. Serve hot.

For Nichole's results, go here.

Recipe Roulette: Gingered Pork Burgers

This week's recipe roulette served up gingered pork burgers. (Nichole's pick.) I only bought a pound of pork and this recipe still made 5 burgers. And I omitted the sauce (a mayonnaise and soy mixture) because I try to avoid mayonnaise whenever possible.

My husband LOVED this meal. He easily devoured two burgers immediately and raved about how great it was. I was less enthused. I am a purist and have rather simple tastes when it comes to my burgers. I prefer your traditional, all-American beef cheeseburger. Nothing more. Nothing less. And I am not a huge fan of the flavor combination with the ginger, pork, sesame oil, cilantro, etc. But it wasn't entirely up to me. The meal was a success - Joe loved it. The burgers cooked easily and there were no kitchen disasters. Yay for RR success!

Another reason the burgers may have gone over especially well is because we do not eat burgers at our house. I have a raw meat phobia which means I avoid touching it as much as possible. So making burgers is out of the question. We have had burgers maybe once or twice and I am not above buying the pre-made burgers at the grocery store. No sir. Thanks Nichole for making me stick my hands in a bowl of raw meat and make some burgers. Yuck.

Go here to see how Nichole's gingered pork burgers fared.

Recipe Roulette: Caramel Apples

As soon as I saw this week's recipe, I knew it had the potential for disaster...and inducing diabetes. This recipe also had the potential to be great.

I think this is the first time I have ever used a candy thermometer which is one of the reasons why I thought it could be disasterous. Turns out, the caramel was great!! I only wish it were on top of ice cream instead of apples because I just couldn't seem to get the caramel to stay on the apples after I'd dipped them. Most of it just slid right off. I thought maybe I didn't let the caramel set up quite long enough because the last two apples I made ended up being my best two apples...but even they were far from normal.

My recommendation, when you want a caramel apple go buy one. Yes, they can be expensive but so is buying the ingredients to make your own when they don't quite turn out right. Read Nichole's take on this week's recipe roulette here.

Recipe Roulette: Potato Crusted Fish

mango salsa

It's week two of Recipe Roulette and I'm not sure I'm feeling much better about the outcome. I picked this potato-crusted fish with mango salsa. (1) Like I mentioned last week, I love fish. I also like to sneak it in to our menu on a fairly regular basis. (2) I think I've only "dredged" something once. I never batter and fry stuff so I thought this would be another semi-new thing for me. (3) I was intrigued by the fact that instead of using bread crumbs to coat the fish, you use instant mashed potatoes! (4) I've never bought a mango. So there you have it - potato-crusted fish with mango salsa.

I didn't think the type of fish was all that important where the recipe was concerned so I used Orange Roughy. Also, I may have miscalculated my red pepper flakes - very spicy. I was proud of my "batter-job" but noticed that a lot of the breading started to fall off once it was in the pan so my pride quickly vanished. And as for the potato crust (I used cheesy instant potatoes) you couldn't really tell it was a potato crust...at least I couldn't tell.

The salsa - which was good - made way too much. I also couldn't find a "small" red onion so I used a large one instead. Not sure what I will do with a bowl full of leftover mango salsa but it looks pretty!

After the spicy fish, we decided to cool our tongues with a trip out for ice cream. Ice cream + spicy fish = no good. My husband quickly headed upstairs to look for the Maalox.

Read Nichole's take on this week's recipe roulette here.

One recipe. Two eager cooks. Two different outcomes. Each week follow Amy and Nichole into the unknown as they test a new recipe and wade through the results. This isn't your mother's cooking!

Recipe Challenge

At some point during Nichole's visit, probably while discussing Julie & Julia, we decided that since we both love cooking and blogging, we should start cooking together as a way for us - many miles apart - to share something each week that we can both discuss. We both love trying new recipes so each week we will take turns picking a new recipe that we'll both incorporate into our menu for the week and then post our results on Monday. It should be fun for us to compare notes.

I'm not sure if we've figured all the rules out just yet. For instance, I really haven't figured out what I'd do if Nichole told me our next meal included chorizo. (Most of you know - EVERYONE should know - I'm just not down with sausage.) I'm hoping we will be kind to one another. Joe says the real test during this experiment will be if we have to break the "emergency glass" for frozen pizza.

Let's face it. I only try new recipes that appeal to me and have a tendency to gravitate towards things that are very similar or that I'm comfortable with trying. This will definitely force me to try some new things. In fact, our very first meal had me shopping in a fish market for the first time ever. It was a little pricey but I liked stopping in for fresh lump crab meat. For the first recipe, we used the random number generator to assign us with a recipe from this book.

The first recipe was Crab Tortilla (Egg Pie) and Shredded Plantain Hash Browns. (Basically that's a crab omelet with shredded plantain patties.) If you have the book, it's number 141. If you've tried this before, please let me know.

My husband is not a big fan of seafood. I am a HUGE fan of seafood and specifically crab - I love it - but I never would have opted to make this meal on my own. Then Joe told me, while cooking dinner, that the taste of crab meat makes him want to puke. Why thank you very much. It was a little late for that comment. He did eat every bite of his portion (1/4 of the pie) and told me that if he liked crab this dish might be his "deal." He actually complimented it. I consider it a success.

As for the plantains, I thought they were a no-go. I love plantains but these seemed flavorless. I shredded them in the food processor and think I did everything right. But they were just kind of gross. The leftovers went straight in the garbage. Also, this was the first time I had ever grated a whole onion. The grated onion looked like baby food and went into the plantains. I can't say I'd recommend grating an onion in the future.

The recipe said to put the celery, onions and bell peppers (for the crab tortilla) in the food processor and process into a fine chop. All I processed was a fine mess. The celery just turned into green water and it was inedible. So I had to start completely over and hand chop the celery, onions and pepper. I found that someone else had made this recipe online and said the exact same thing.

This was basically like a thick frittata. Not terribly pretty once I had flipped it but totally edible.

I will say that this "30 minute meal" took wayyyy longer than 30 minutes. It may have been 30 minutes without all the kitchen prep but I thought there was actually quite a bit of prep and quite a bit of multi-tasking while things were cooking. The multi-tasking has a tendency to get me down sometimes. I think the meal was partly a success but I am a little worried that this project will ruin my batting average in the kitchen. In the past year there have only been two inedible meals...more might be on their way. Go here to read about Nichole's results.