Weekend in Review 9-28-08

It is usually Friday and Sunday when it is my turn to cook in the Bucataru household. So I thought of posting a weekly review of what I whipped together in the weekend

Mushroom Stuffed Galantined Chicken

Jacques Pepin shows a way of completely boning a chicken in his The Complete Pepin: Techniques and Recipes DVDs so I decided to give it a try and make Mushroom Stuffed Galantined Chicken.

It an easy process even if it looks intimidating at first. I had to truss the chicken in the and so the stuffing remains in. Barbecued at 325 for about 1-1/2 hours. Stuffing was a simple sauteed mushroom/tomato sauce mix. Unfortunately had no time for pictures as family was too hungry to wait for my camera setup. Maybe next time.

Croissants

This is probably my 7th batch this year. Julia Child’s 1963 TV “The French Chef 2” video series makes it a success for each one to try it out.
Julia Child is my hero! The main reason I love those series is because she has an extraordinary character as well as life story. Compared with the polished, edited and mistake-free cooking shows of some of the pros in today’s television, Julia’s nonchalance about her goofs is very encouraging to a cooking novice me to try out her recipes (and she has a ton!).

Guacamole

I always feel so refreshed making Guacamole! Maybe because of the colors, or just the mix has a certain vibe that goes with it. I will miss it during winter time. Nothing like a Guacamole made of fresh picked legumes. At least the tomatoes, pepper and onions.
This one I made for our block party again. It was gone pretty fast.

– 3 ripe avocados (make sure they are soft)
– 1/2 cup chopped red onions
– 1/2 cup tomatoes (peeled, seeded and chopped)
– 1/4 cup chopped Serrano chiles
– 1/3 scallions (chopped)
– 1/3 extra virgin olive oil
– one lemon’s juice
– 1/2 chopped cilantro
– 2 red garlic cloves chopped and pureed
– salt and pepper to taste

Cut avocados in half, remove pit and scoop the inside into mixing bowl. Mash it with fork, add the onions, scallions, Serrano peppers, cilantro, oil, lemon juice, pureed garlic, salt & pepper. Mix well. Hold on to the tomatoes untill you are ready to serve otherwise mix might become watery.

Apple Picking

Of course we went to an orchard for some apple picking. Kids loved it! I found I think the best Macs I ever had (I am not a big apple eater)! It wasn’t your big orchard with endless apple tree rows but a small and cute one. The owner, an older gentleman, was hilarious. he made sure that we should pick either apples or raspberries. Hum. What if I want both?

It was a fun weekend after all.