Orange, With a Peel Restaurant (an update at the end!)

It was always my intention to post some of the restaurants Brad and I have gone to throughout the city but I have yet to actually do that. But hey, it's never too late to start right?
Yesterday Brad and I decided we would check out Orange, With a Peel- Contemporary Brunch after leaving Lincoln Park R.E.I.'s garage sale. It was in fact, quite contemporary. Definitely part of the Hipster/Artsy scene. We entered and found that there would be about a 30 min wait before we would able to be seated however we could head over to their Butterfly Bar a couple doors down to wait if we didn't want to stand around. We decided to forgo that option and just waiting in the small lobby which was nice because we got to see their super cool orange juice press. I should have taken a picture, or better yet a video. Maybe next time.
Anyway, our wait ended up being maybe only 15 minutes or so. We were then seated in the restaurant which was minimally (but tastefully) decorated and full of natural sunlight from the full length windows. Our waitress explained their Pancake Flights, Frushi, and Fresh Squeezed Juice bar then allowed us to pour over the menu to decide on what we might try that day.

For drinks Brad ordered Orange Roasted Coffee (it had a hint of orange flavor, nothing overpowering and a nice change of pace, and it was "Bottomless"!) and I had Freshly Squeezed Orange Carrot Lime juice from their Juice Bar. I have to admit though that the carrot juice kind of covered up a good portion of that yummy fresh squeezed orange juice taste but hey, at least now I won't be going blind ;o). We both also received Cucumber Water.

Brad decided on the Omelet 11.5- "Stuffed with chopped bacon, sweet leeks, and creamy brie cheese, topped with avocado mousse".
It came with 2 slices of (Multigrain) Toast and a serving of their House Potatoes. Their house potatoes had a nice Rosemary flavor to them though they may have used a bit more salt. Brad was a little disappointed with the avocado mousse, only because he wished that there was more. Other than that, he was quite pleased with his selection.

Though I am not a French Toast fan, the French Toast Kabobs really caught my eye. "Coconut Infused French Toast skeward with fresh strawberries and pineapples, topped with honey and served with Coconut-Mango Salad" and an extra side of "well done" bacon to share with Brad.
As I said previously, I don't really enjoy French Toast but I just could not pass this up. I mean coconut, strawberries, pineapple, and mango? Even if it was soggy, the fruit alone may be worth it. Let me say that I was pleasantly surprised to find that the French Toast was not soggy at all! It had a nice crunchy exterior while still being soft inside. The egg flavor was not overpowering and it was just a home run all around. Best. French. Toast. Ever!
Brad and I hadn't been on a date in a long time so we splurged a bit with this outing. Our total was $31.61 plus tax. To be fair though, it was good service and we did walk out of there extremely full. Final thoughts? Brad thought it was a unique experience, good food, and it is a nice place to go 1-3 times. I thought it was great and would love to go back when my brother and his girlfriend come into town. I'm already dreaming of how to recreate their french toast at home.

Orange, Take 2
This time with my brother and his girlfriend in tow for their "Welcome to Chicago" breakfast. On the meal ticket this time...

Fruishi!

Coconut infused rice rolls with delicious sweet fruity mango, strawberry, and kiwi pieces and flavors...another one added to the list of "must try to recreate at home". difficult to pick up in one piece but oh so delicious.

 

 Brad's Chai Infused French Toast:

Baked, Chai infused French Toast, stuffed with Ricotta cheese, served over a chai latte reduction and topped with honey and caramelized apples.

Angela's Orange Rosemary French Toast:

French Toast infused with Orange Juice then baked until warm and crisp. 

Topped with a sweet Rosemary cream reduction and sliced almonds. 

Garnished with rosemary, oranges, and powdered sugar.

Tony's Jelly Doughnut Pancakes:

Buttermilk pancakes stuffed with homemade jelly and topped with preserve citrus butter.

A Cake for Baby McKenzie (and other shower guests)!

Yesterday one of my friends had a baby shower and guess who got to make the cake....me! So I have to admit that I was quite nervous about it despite being honored (that I was asked) and delighted. Heather had asked if I would make something to go along with the airplane theme she was planning. I decided on a simply design as I wasn't quite ready to tackle cake carving yet and I am so glad that I did.

I got to make little candy airplanes

That were put on the cake like so

And added some clouds

And finished off with my attempt at a pearl border. Actually, this was my first attempt at a lot of things...candy making, pearl piping, tiers, frosting on a turntable (which I obviously still need to work on...along with that whole squared off/leveling the top frosting trick.) I think one of my main problems with the frosting is that I was afraid that I would run out before I was finished.

The top tier is my Great Grandma's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese filling, and the bottom is the Hershey's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream filling. The Buttercream on the outside is the same recipe I made the Chocolate Cream filling from, just the original version. Transporting was a breeze, until I went to shut the car door once we got to the shower and the cake slid, hence the off centered placement on the tray. In all it was a great experience and has got me itching for more. I'll post the recipe for my Great Grandma's Carrot Cake later on.

Homemade Chocolate Cake

Yesterday was one of my co-workers last day at HCA. About a year ago, she received her Master's Degree in Social Work and is now off to bigger and better things. Okay, well maybe not "better" per se but I am little biased to our 10 kiddos up in the Residence. Anyway, we normally have good bye parties for both staff and kids when it is time for them to transition out of HCA complete with presents and a cake. I had been looking for an excuse to try out a recipe before next week's baby shower for a friend so I jumped at the opportunity and volunteered to make it myself.

Lucky for me, Jana was a fan of Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Frosting, which is just what I needed. I scoured the internet and my cookbooks to find a recipe. I finally settled on a recipe from Hershey's after reading all of the good reviews as well as noticing that some people use it for their tier cakes (which is my task for next week). Next it was to find a recipe for Chocolate Frosting. I ended up with using my America's Test Kitchen recipe for Quick and Rich Vanilla Frosting but used their suggested adaptations to make it into a Chocolate Frosting. While I followed the recipe step by step for the cake, I had to kind of improvise for the frosting which I can explain a little later.The resulting cake was delicious and very rich. Definitely a good match with a glass of milk.
I didn't get a really good picture of the cake once it was cut because I was at work. But you will notice that there is a white, oreo-like filling. Well, though others claimed it was good, I wasn't a huge fan. I could taste a hint of cream cheese and when you aren't a fan of cream cheese in the first place, I didn't absolutely love it. So with that said, I'm not going to post that recipe until I can perfect it a bit more.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

recipe by Hershey's

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 10 to 12 servings.


CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

************************************************************************************
Alright, so about the frosting. I don't have an actual "recipe" for you of what I did because of a couple reasons. When you use their Dark Chocolate variation to their frosting, they have you substitute chocolate for cream, reduce the amount of sugar, etc. However, if you were making a three layer cake (as I was doing), they had you increase the cream, butter, and sugar. I tried my best to convert the variation with the increase but then at the end was just throwing this and that in (such as extra cocoa powder, powder sugar, and a touch of cream) to make it the taste and consistency I was looking for. The good thing about America's Test Kitchen is that even though they know that they have found the "best" recipe, they realize that their readers will put their own twist on it. So the easiest thing for me to do, is just give you the Vanilla Frosting recipe, the Dark Chocolate Variation, and well as their note about increasing the amount of frosting for 3 layer cakes and then let you do the rest ;o)

Quick and Rich Vanilla Frosting
by America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Makes: 3 cups
Start to Finish: 10 minutes

This makes enough frosting for a two layer 8 or 9 inch cake or a 9x13 inch sheet cake. For a three layer cake, increase the heavy cream to 3 Tablespoons, the butter to 3 sticks, and the confectioners' sugar to 3 cups. Be sure to use unsalted butter here or your frosting will taste salty.

• 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch salt
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Stir the cream, vanilla, and salt together in a small bowl until the salt dissolves. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium high speed until smooth, 30 to 60 seconds. Reduce the speed to medium low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar, and beat until smooth, 2 to 5 minutes. Beat in the cream mixture. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, 4 to 8 minutes.

To Make Ahead: The frosting can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Before using, let stand at room temperature to soften, then whisk briefly to re-fluff.
Dark Chocolate Variation: Substitute 8 ounces melted semisweet or bittersweet chocolate for the heavy cream and reduce the confectioners' sugar to 2 cups. Beat 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder into the butter and sugar mixture.

Black Bean and Chorizo soup

Back in October, I came across a recipe for Black Bean and Chorizo Soup over at For the Love of Cooking. I bookmarked it and have looked at it a couple of times since then but today I thought it would be the perfect day to make it. Brad and I had already planned on sledding around dinner time and I thought that a nice soup would be just the right touch to warm us up.

So what was the consensus? It was pretty good. Brad really liked it, he enjoyed the flavor of the chorizo with the heartiness of the beans. I liked it as well...I almost wish the chorizo was in larger chunks but that just isn't the nature of chorizo..or at least Mexican chorizo. Either way, it was good, and a nice change of pace as far as soups go.

Anyway, below I have reposted the recipe. Pam over at For the Love of Cooking had commented on the spiciness of the soup however Brad and I didn't really feel like this was an issue for us. At the same time though, we are also used to eating chorizo. The only thing I changed was omitting the olive oil. Chorizo is very greasy by itself so I didn't think it would need to extra oils. Other than that, I followed the recipe as is and was pleased.

Black Bean and Chorizo Soup
from For the Love of Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 tsp olive oil (again, I omitted this due to the fattiness of the chorizo)
  
• 6 oz chorizo pork
• 1 small sweet yellow onion, chopped
• 4-5 baby bell peppers, chopped (or 1 bell pepper)
  
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 tsp dried red hot pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dried cumin
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to tasted
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 3 15 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• Cotija cheese- for garnish
• Fresh cilantro, chopped- for garnish
  
• Sour cream, optional

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Remove the chorizo from the casing and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the onion and bell pepper then continue to cook for 5-7 minutes; season with cumin, red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper, to taste.
3. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 60 seconds.
4. Add broth and two cans of black beans then simmer, partially covered for 30 minutes. Mix some of the soup with an immersion blender.
5. Add the last can of beans and stir. Taste, re-season with spices if needed.
6. Top the soup with cotija cheese and fresh cilantro and/or sour cream. Enjoy.

Garlicky Shrimp (or Chicken) Pasta

You know when you go out to an Italian restaurant..and there is that one pasta dish with either chicken or shrimp with a white garlic butter sauce? If I don't get a pasta with marinara sauce, I will normally go for some sort of white garlic sauce and I am always very happy with my choice. However, with all of the successful "garlic chicken pastas" that I have had, I never really thought of making it at home past the restaurant doors.

In thinking about what to make for dinner tonight, I turned to a new cookbook that I recieved for Christmas called The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2010 (I know 2010 just started so I'm not quite sure why it's labeled that way). I knew I wanted to try something a little different and while flipping through the pages, I came across a recipe for Garlicky Shrimp Pasta. However, since we didn't have shrimp in the house (not a problem for me as I'm not a fan, but unfortunate for Brad), I decided to try it out with chicken and oh my goodness, I am so glad that I did!

I feel like this dish turned out exactly the way it would if it was ordered in a restaurant. Which really shouldn't surprise me. I mean, it's America's Test Kitchen right? ;o) Anyway, besides substituting the shrimp with chicken, I made a couple of other changes only because of lack of ingredients..mainly chicken broth for the white wine and clam juice and dried parsley instead of the fresh. But again, very good! Brad's only "complaints" (if you would even call it that) would be that it wasn't a very thick sauce..and because I used a lot of chicken broth, rather than the white wine and clam juice, he felt it could have been more flavorful. Even so, the next time I will tweak what I can but it is definitely worthy for a return appearance or even a special occasion dish. Happy Day!


Garlicky Shrimp (Or Chicken!) Pasta
Best of America's Test Kitchen 2010

Marinate the shrimp while you prepare the remaining ingredients

• 5 garlic cloves, minced (about 5 teaspoons)
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 pound large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined, each shrimp cut into 3 pieces)
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• salt
• 1 pound short tubular pasta such as mezze rigatoni, fusilli, or campanelle
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry vermouth or white wine
• 3/4 cup clam juice (or you can use chicken broth as I did if using chicken instead of shrimp)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice plus 1 lemon, cut into wedges for serving
• Pepper

1. Toss 2 teaspoons of the minced garlic, shrimp, 1 Tablespoon of the oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Let the shrimp marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.
2. Heat the smashed garlic cloves and remaining 2 Tablespoons oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is light golden brown, 4 to 7 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and use a slotted spoon to remove the garlic from the skillet; discard the garlic. Set the skillet aside.
   
3. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Add 1 Tablespoon salt and the pasta. cook, stirring often, until just al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and transfer the pasta back to the Dutch oven.
   
4. Meanwhile, return the skillet with the oil to medium heat; add the shrimp with the marinade to the skillet in a single layer. Cook the shrimp, undisturbed, until the oil starts to bubble gently, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the shrimp and continue to cook until almost cooked through, about 1 minute longer. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a medium bowl.
   
5. Add the remaining 3 teaspoons minced garlic and the red pepper flakes to the skillet and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute; stir in the vermouth and cook for 1 minute. Add the clam juice (or broth) and parsley; cook until the mixture starts to thicken, 1 to 2 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the butter and lemon juice. Add the shrimp and sauce to the pasta, adjusting the consistency with up to 1/4 cup reserved pasta cooking water. Season with pepper to taste. Serve, passing the lemon wedges separately.