Barefoot smackdown

Back in the day I would do all of the cooking while Christian did more cleaning and it felt like a good balance. One of my biggest struggles emotionally was when I was too sick to cook. I would come home from work and crash on the couch for the rest of the night while Christian would cook, clean and take care of Ritz. I felt awful.

Now that I have my new heart it is time to reclaim the kitchen, and more importantly feel like I can contribute again.

I've started my cookbook challenge and decided to take on Make It Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Why? Because the recipes are fairly simple and the whole book is based on preparing a recipe ahead of time. So for most recipes this means there is first the prep and later you cook/finish the dish. This is especially nice because I can take a break and don't have to do the whole thing at once.

I'll link the recipes but if I can't find them online I'll spell them out. Again, all are from Make It Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and some recipes are slightly adapted.

I'm listing these in order of success. Here goes!

Zucchini Basil Soup (5 stars)

1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves)
3 pounds zucchini diced (I measured 2 1/2 cups diced = 1 pound)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup greek yogurt, plus more for serving

I'm summarizing her instructions...
Heat olive oil in large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 8-10 minutes until translucent. Add zucchini, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and saute for 5-10 minutes until zucchini is tender.

Add wine, chicken stock, and basil and bring to a boil. Then lower heat and let simmer for 30 minutes. Pass soup through food mill fitted with coarsest blade. Return to pot and bring to simmer. Off heat and whisk in grated parmesan and yogurt.

Recipe Review: Despite the unappetizing appearance this was really good! I didn't think a zucchini soup was going to have much flavor but the basil, parm and yogurt does something magical.

Comments: Seriously, Ina, who owns a food mill? I used my blender and tried to keep some texture. I also messed up (it's a long story) and didn't add the basil until after I blended the soup, so I pureed that separately and that is why my soup is so green.

Suggestions/Tips: I thought it had a little too much salt. The dollop of yogurt and parmesan on top when serving is critical.

Blueberry Bran Muffins (4.5 stars)

Recipe Review: Can you really get that jazzed about a bran muffin? I didn't think so but these were pretty tasty! If you like sweet muffins they may not be your bag but the honey and blueberry balance out the bran so they don't taste like cardboard.

Comments: I didn't have baking soda so I tripled the amount of baking powder as a substitute. It seemed to work fine.

Suggestions/Tips: Make sure you have baking powder before you start the recipe : )

Herb Roasted Fish (4 stars but could be 4.5…)

Recipe Review: This was so quick and easy to put together and really flavorful. It was light and made you feel good about eating healthy too. Plus, who doesn't love opening up a little gift on their plate?

Comments:  I used cod.

Suggestions/Tips: Watch the time. The fish was a little thin and it slightly overcooked. Depending on how thick your fish is you may want to pull it a little under 15 minutes. The good news is that it is basically sitting in a juice pack so it can't get too dry.

Parmesan Chive Smashed Potatoes (3.5 stars)

1 pound small Yukon Gold and/or red potatoes
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
Sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Boil the potatoes until tender. Drain and place on a sheet pan. With a potato masher (I used a meat pounder) press each potato until about 1/2 inch thick. Toss potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes and turn once until skins are brown. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and roast for another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle potatoes with chives and sea salt. Serve hot.

Recipe Review: I had really high expectations for this one. It was good but didn't blow me away.

Comments: I need to give this another chance because I didn't buy small potatoes and had to cut my biggies in thirds. I think the skin on the small potatoes make a difference and I needed to add more salt.

Suggestions/Tips: Read directions more carefully and buy baby potatoes!

Roasted Baby Bok Choy (3-4 stars) 

12 baby bok choy cut in half
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Drizzle bok choy with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes until core is tender.

Recipe Review: Pretty classic recipe but the bok choy is a nice change up.

Comments: Let the leaves get crispy. The texture is similar to kale chips. Yum!

Suggestions/Tips: I might add red pepper flakes or lemon next time.

Decadent (Gluten Free!) Chocolate Cake (0 stars)

Recipe Review: I'm not a baker. This was a complete disaster and I dumped the entire thing. My dad thought it was a brownie. Once he tried it he wondered if it was residue from us cleaning an appliance or something! I'm not kidding.

Comments: So the big issue here was that my grocery boy bought unsweetened chocolate when the recipe calls for bittersweet. Since I'm not a baker I thought (after some Googling) that I could add sugar when I melted the chocolate and it would be sweet enough. Wrong.

Then I realized I needed to beat egg whites with my mixer. Well, the mixer weighs a ton and I'm not suppose to lift things, so I grab an extension cord and beat the eggs straight from the pull out drawer. In my mode of panic trying to "fold" the egg whites into my gritty, bland chocolate I look down and see that at least Ritz is enjoyed this.

Suggestions/Tips: Buy the correct chocolate. Although foodschmooze.org featured this recipes and it only got 2 1/2 stars...