Semi Homemade Stuff

Yup, I feel a little like Semi Homemade Sandra Dee. This meal was assembled from
pre-made Southwestern Eggrolls from Entree Vous that I just fried up and Rice-A-Roni's Mexican rice. I added some homemade guacamole and some homemade cantaloupe tomato salsa. I guess the key with premade foods is to add your own very fresh touches, good veggies or fruit, etc. After frying the egrolls I sprinkled some shredded cheddar on top, stuck them under a hot broiled for about 30 seconds, and topped them with some sour cream. And, hell, everything is good with an extra-limey gin and tonic.

My salsa was as follows:

3 roma tomatoes, seeds and pulp removed, diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, seeds removed, minced
1/4 of a cantaloupe, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
splash of champagne vinegar

Mix together. Let sit for an hour or so if you can before serving.

Chicken Salad

For Sunday brunch, in addition to the cheese souffle, I also made a chicken salad from the leftovers of a chicken I had roasted a couple nights earlier. You could do the same very easily with a rotisserie chicken from the market.

Three cups chopped cooked chicken (with or without the skin, depending on how much you care about being alive for much longer)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped chives
1 cup seedless grapes, halved or quartered depending on size (I used red for the color)
3/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped or broken into small pieces
freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon
salt

Combine all ingredients through the black pepper in a medium bowl. Taste. I had cooked a maple black pepper glazed roasted chicken, so the outside was a little sweet. Therefore, I added the juice of about a half a lemon to counter the maple's sweetness, add a little acidity. You could also use fresh tarragon for the same thing. So, taste yours, see if you need to add lemon. Same thing with the salt - mine was a little salty on the skin so I didn't need to add any to the salad. Enjoy with bread, mixed salad greens, whatever floats your boat.

My First Souffle

(Brace yourself - Modesty is being thrown out the window) Well, I am very proud of myself! It is pretty rare that I really like something I have made, or think I couldn't have done it better, but this was it (and it will probably never happen again)!

This weekend I made my very first souffle. You hear all sorts of warnings about how hard these are, that they might fall, blah blah blah. It was simple! I used a recipe from Epicurious for a Gruyere and Parmesan souffle. The only change I made was that in place of whole milk, which I forgot to buy, I used 1/2 skim milk and 1/2 half & half.

It did take slightly longer than the recipe said, about another 5 minutes, but then it was perfect! I served it with a green salad and some chicken salad for a light Sunday brunch.

Now I can try all sorts of variations - goat cheese, chives, etc. Please let me know if you have any good souffle recipes to pass along.

Broiled Trout with Bacon, Onions and Raisins

So, frustratingly, Gourmet hasn't posted the recipe I recently tried - the Broiled Trout with Onions Raisins and Bacon from the March issue. It was pretty good, but, hmm, I probably won't cook again. It was exciting - I cooked my first head-on fish. Not sure why that's exciting but it was, and it wasn't bad, just not great. I think more of the sauce would have been good, and I might play around with it. I served it with some arugula with a lemon-y vinaigrette, and my sweet made some sweet cornbread, which nicely offset the vinegar and the tartness of the sauce on the fish.

Have you made this recipe? Tell me what you think.

BROILED TROUT WITH BACON, ONIONS AND RAISINS
Serves 4

The sweet and savory flavors coaxed from the bacon, onion, raisins and vinegar in this dish complement the delicate trout without overpowering it.

4 thick bacon slices (7 oz) cut crosswise into 1/8-inch-wide strips
2 cups coarsely chopped red onion
1/2 cup golden raisins (3 oz)
1/2 cup red-wine vinegar
2 tspn sugar
1/2 tspn salt
4 (10- to 12-oz) whole rainbow trout, cleaned and boned, leaving heads and tails intact, (butterflied), or 8 fillets
2 tspn olive oil plus additional if necessary
1/4 tspn black pepper

Special Equipment 2 (15- by 10-inch shallow baking pans)

Cook bacon in 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, then pour off all but 1/4 cup fat (add additional olive oil if bacon doesn't render enough fat). Add onion to skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and beginning to brown on edges, about 6 minutes. Stir in bacon, raisins, vinegar, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt and boil until liquid is reduced about 1/3 cup, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and keep warm, covered.

Preheat broiler and oil baking pans.

Arrange 2 trout, opened and skin side down, in each pan. Brush flesh of fish with 2 teaspoons oil (total) and sprinkle with pepper and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Broil 1 pan of fish about 4 inches from heat until just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes, then loosely cover with foil to keep warm and broil second pan of fish in same manner. Spoon bacon mixture down center of each fish and drizzle with remaining juices from skillet.