Rocko's Gourmet Bloody Mary Seasoning Blend

Back in January, I got an email from Rocko's Gourmet about trying out their Bloody Mary Seasoning Blend.  Since Rocko's Gourmet is a local company located in Ashland, Massachusetts, and since I also adore Bloody Mary's, I was definitely on board!  This past weekend, I finally got a chance to open up the bottle and I was  seriously impressed.  I've often complained to my friend Meghan about how so many restaurants and food companies advertise something as being spicy but never actually follow through with the heat that I'm looking for.  Well, Rocko's Gourmet definitely didn't disappoint. 

I filled a glass with lots of ice and added one part seasoning blend, one part ice cold water and a splash of vodka.  Rocko's Gourmet recommends using tomato juice but I thought using water was just fine.  I'm glad I diluted the blend with water because it is really spicy.  I could taste generous flavors of horseradish and cayenne pepper which made my cheeks burn up (in a really good way).  And for you gluten-free lovers, this blend is a gluten free product.

I also love how Rocko's Gourmet can be used for cooking and they even share some recipes on their website.  But for me, I'm going to stick to drinking the blend the old-fashioned way as a Bloody Mary on the weekends!

Full disclosure: Rocko's Gourmet Bloody Mary Seasoning Blend was fully complimentary, but as always, my opinion is honest and completely my own.

Maggie and Paul's Wedding Weekend

I am seriously recovering from an AMAZING weekend!  If you may remember, I was asked to be a bridesmaid in my friend Maggie's wedding.  As a bridesmaid, I helped throw her a bridal shower, along with a bachelorette party.  Well, the big day finally arrived and we had a whirlwind weekend starting on Friday evening with the wedding rehearsal at the Hotel Marlowe and rehearsal dinner at Midwest Grill...leading to Saturday morning appoints at Pinckney Nails and Jean-Pierre Salon....to the actual wedding at the Hotel Marlowe on Saturday evening!  I was so happy to celebrate the marriage of two of my friends and the wedding was a ton of fun with lots of dancing. 

Here are just a few photos from Saturday evening:

My friend Angie was in town for the wedding so it was nice to spend some time with her last night and this morning before she had to fly back to Indianapolis.  My friends Kara and Matt were also in town from Oak Bluffs for the wedding so we spent the day with them (including brunch at the Friendly Toast) before they had to head back to the island.

Tomorrow is a jam-packed day and I've got lots of fun food-related events this week so this blog will be a little light on home cooking.

How was everyone's weekend?  What are you most looking forward to this week?

Introducing NabeWise Boston!

Last month, I got an email from my friend Susie about NabeWise Boston.  After a whirlwind month, I finally got a chance to sit down and really check out the website.  After poking around, I discovered that NabeWise helps people who are moving pick the best neighborhood in the city for them.  It also helps visitors figure out what part of the city to stay in or visit.  As a user, you can review and rate neighborhoods in Boston (or in one of the other cities where NabeWise has launched).

For instance, NabeWise allows you to review and rate neighborhoods based on different characteristics, like quality of life (average rent, safety, public transportation, parking), character (clean, trendy), people (singles, families, students) and things to do (dining, nightlife, shopping, activities).  Based on these different attributes, you can narrow down which neighborhood would be a good fit to live or visit and find out some pretty interesting information like the median cost of homes or rental prices in that neighborhood.  I'm not planning on moving anytime soon but I was still interested in checking out the facts about my neighborhood!

The cool thing is that NabeWise highlights the best blogs in each neighborhood to help people get involved and truly understand their new potential residence or vacation spot.  Since I have lived in Beacon Hill for seven years now, I'm excited that NabeWise has listed Fun and Fearless in Beantown as a resource for the Beacon Hill page!  I know, it is a bit of self-promotion but I'm proud to be listed!

I also wanted to mention that NabeWiseBoston has a pretty awesome Twitter page and keeps me informed about different Boston activities, events and news.  So if you're not interested in joining NabeWise, I'd recommend that you follow their Twitter account to find out the latest in your neighborhood.

Tell me, what do you love most about your neighborhood?

Roasted Chicken, Potato, Onion and Mushroom Pizza

After making Gordon Hamersley's roasted chicken, I found that we had a lot of roasted chicken leftover.  I chopped up some chicken and ate some with my leftover sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter and sage, and I also ate some as plain leftovers.  But we still had a ton more roasted chicken to eat and I wanted to make something fun and creative with it.

Awhile back, I made a herbed whole wheat pizza dough.  I used one ball of dough and froze the other.  I thought that this was a good time to put the extra dough to use and I took it out of the fridge on Tuesday night to thaw overnight and during the day on Wednesday.  When I came home from work last night, the dough looked and smelled just as fresh and herby as when I first made it!

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees.  Like last time, I rolled the pizza dough out using a small rolling stick and my hands.  I topped the pizza dough with some pizza sauce and baked the pizza dough for about ten minutes.  I then took the pizza out of the oven and topped it with shredded mozzarella cheese, sliced bella mushrooms and chunks of leftover roasted chicken, potatoes and onions.  The pizza went back in the oven for another ten minutes and then it was done!

The pizza was the perfect solution for a hump-day meal and we enjoyed our pizza with a simple Olivia's Organics Herb Salad on the side.  We still have a decent amount of roasted chicken leftover but this pizza was definitely a great way to use up the leftover roasted chicken, potatoes and onions.  Plus, I'm looking forward to noshing on a slice of pizza and some more salad for lunch today!

What are some of the best leftovers you've eaten lately?

A Feast at Tico, Boston

Last night, I had a really fun dining experience at the newly-opened Tico restaurant in the Back Bay.  Tico is the newest of Michael Schlow's restaurants and it only opened earlier this month.  From what I understand, Tico emphasizes that its menu is American in its direction but has strong influences from Mexico, Central America, Spain and South America.  With this in mind, I've read a few different reviews about Tico and I couldn't wait to check it out myself.

I had some great dining companions that included Justin, Kristen, Megan, Meghan and Tania (who I finally got to meet in person)!  We decided to split a bunch of different small plates and tacos so that we could try a lot of different dishes.  But first, I needed a cocktail and the blood orange margarita (no salt) was perfect since yesterday was National Margarita Day!

A potent but delicious Blood Orange Margarita

And then we were onto the food....

Crispy Fried Manchego Cheese with Spicy Pomegranate Honey Sauce

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Kumquats, Jalapenos and Mint
This was one of my favorites because I adore Brussels sprouts!

Shrimp Toast with Avocado, Jalapenos and Lime
This was a greasy but yummy little bite.

Crispy Fried Chicken Tacos with Fennel Slaw and Spicy Buttermilk Sauce
This was my favorite of the tacos we ordered.

Creamy Gigante Beans with Chorizo and Green Onions
I've never had gigante beans before but they were great!
The chorizo was definitely a strong flavor in this dish.

Crispy Sweetbread with Masa Harissa, Endive, Blood Orange and Hazelnuts
The sweetbreads were cooked PERFECTLY but were sadly under seasoned.




Crispy Fish Tacos with Pickled Onions and Jalapenos

 

Octopus with Yellow Peppers, Citrus and Aleppo Pepper
This dish added a nice bright acidity!

Snap Peas with Orange Zest, Tabasco Butter and "Crunchies"
These had a nice kick to them!

Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Bacon and Avocado

"Creamed" Corn with Bacon, Chiles and Thai Basil
This was, by far, my favorite small plate of the evening.

Despite ordering all of these small plates and sharing them all, we couldn't resist dessert!

A lemon tart with whipped cream and the brightest strawberries.
This was my favorite dessert and I probably ate most of it!

This chocolate pie was way too rich for me but I still had like three bites of it!

Tico's version of a banana split:
Chocolate Gelato, Caramelized Banana, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Sauce

It was a night of a lot of laughter as we shared some great bites.  Best of all, the food, cocktail and gratuity came out to about $40 a person.  It was pretty affordable for all of that food and definitely a great scene for a big group!  I'm glad we checked Tico out and I'd love to come back to sit by the kitchen (especially since we spotted Michael Schlow himself there last night) or at the bar for a few cocktails.

Tico is located at 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116.

Gordon Hamersley's Roasted Chicken

Hamersley's Bistro is one of my favorite restaurants in Boston.  I have written about this restaurant so many times on this blog because I have never had a bad meal or dining experience there.  Plus, this is also the restaurant where Bret first told me he loved me one summer night during a romantic meal on their patio.  So, I'm also pretty biased about how I feel about the restaurant!

If you've been to Hamersley's Bistro, you know that Gordon Hamersley's roast chicken with garlic, lemon and parsley is unbelievable and a dish that you just can't miss.  Awhile back, one of the partners at my firm gave me a copy of this recipe to make Gordon Hamersley's roast chicken and since I had the day off of work, I finally gave it a try yesterday.

The recipe isn't the most clear in its instructions and I followed it as closely as possible.  First, I gathered the ingredients:

Marinade

• 1 bunch of Italian parsley (I used about a half bunch of curly leaf parsley)

• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped (I used five cloves)
• 3 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I used Edmond Fallot Green Peppercorn Dijon Mustard)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
• 6 tablespoons olive oil

For the Chicken

• 2 chickens, 3 pounds each (my chickens were closer to 4 pounds each)
• 2 russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into quarters the long way
• 1 large Spanish onion, skin on the root trimmed, cut into quarters throughout the root
• 3 teaspoons cooking oil (I used vegetable oil)
• 4 ounces rich chicken stock
• 1 heard roasted garlic, cloves separated
• 1 lemon, 1/2 cut into slices and 1/2 juiced (I ended up using one whole lemon for slicing and the juice of the lemon that had been zested for the marinade)
• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste

First, I combined all of the ingredients for the marinade except the lemon zest in the food processor.  I pulsed it until smooth and then folded in the lemon zest.

I then washed and dried the chickens.

I rubbed them all over with the marinade, covered them and let them sit in the fridge for two hours.

After the chicken marinated for two hours, I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees.  I placed a small baking pan in the oven to heat up while the oven was pre-heating.  While the oven warmed up, I seasoned the chickens with salt and pepper and placed them in two roasting pans.  One of the roasting pans was this great Paula Deen roasting pan that I purchased from CSN Stores as the winner of Evan's giveaway.

When the oven reached 350 degrees, I took the baking pan out, sprayed it with cooking spray and added a few drops of the vegetable oil.  I seasoned the pan with salt and pepper, and then added the chopped onion and potatoes to the pan.  I put the baking pan in the middle rack and put the chicken on the top rack for about an hour and twenty minutes.

While the chicken was roasting, I separated and peeled the cloves of a head of garlic.  I tossed the garlic cloves with olive oil and slowly roasted them in the toaster oven.

When the chicken and vegetables were done roasting, I took both out of the oven.  While Bret checked the temperature on the chickens (to make sure they got to 165 degrees), I removed the dry outer leaves of the onion.  I covered the baking pan with the onion and potatoes with aluminum foil and put it on the stove top to keep warm.

Meanwhile, the chicken were placed on a cutting board to cool for about twenty minutes before breaking them down.  Bret graciously helped me with this as this gets me a little squeamish. 

Once the chickens were broken down, they were arranged skin side up in two lightly greased roasting pans.  The lemon slices were added on top of the chicken and a combination of the cooking juices and two ounces of chicken stock were poured on top.

The chickens went into the oven and were broiled for about ten minutes each.  While the chickens were getting crisp, I reduced three ounces of chicken stock, the juice of one whole lemon and the roasted garlic cloves in a small sauce pan.  When the sauce thickened, I added a tablespoon of unsalted butter to the sauce, and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Even though it was just the two of us, I arranged one of the chickens on a platter with the potatoes and onions.  After all of the hard work, I couldn't skimp on presentation!

We served ourselves and also added poured some of the sauce onto the chicken and vegetables.

This was definitely an intensive recipe.  It took about four hours from making the marinade to finally sit down and eat dinner.  But it was worth the time and effort.  It was pretty close to the flavors of Gordon Hamersley's version - from the crispy chicken skin, moist chicken meat, crispy potatoes, roasted garlic and lemon undertones. 

We have a ton of roasted chicken leftover (a whole chicken and a half!).  Tell me, do you have any creative ways to use leftover roasted chicken?

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been working hard at tackling my 30 by 30 List but I strangely haven't completed any of the cooking challenges!  I decided that it was time to remedy this and decided to work on #27 - Make Gnocchi for the First Time.  Since I've never made gnocchi before, I reached out to my friends via Twitter for suggestions on some good gnocchi recipes.  The response was overwhelming and with so many delicious options, I couldn't decide.  I let Bret do the picking (since he would also be eating the gnocchi too) and we decided to go with this Epicurious recipe (from Bon Appetit - December 2005) for Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage.

As far as recipes go, this recipe was incredibly straightforward and I followed the ingredients exactly with just one substitution - dark brown sugar for golden brown sugar.  I also cooked the gnocchi in the sauce a little differently in the end but only because I had a large Dutch oven.  I recommend printing out the recipe if you're planning on making this at home. 

To start, I lined a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  I rinsed, patted dry and pierced two garnet yams (with a combined weight of two pounds) on a plate and allowed them to microwave at ten minutes total (five minutes per side).  I have to admit that I did this pretty anxiously since I rarely cook in the microwave and I had fears of sweet potatoes exploding everywhere.  Luckily, nothing like that happened.  When the sweet potatoes were done cooking, I sliced them open and allowed them to cool.

I scraped the sweet potato flesh into a medium sized bowl and Bret very nicely mashed the sweet potatoes for me.  The recipe called for transferring three cups of the mashed sweet potato to a large bowl.  My two sweet potatoes made almost exactly three cups so I just used it all.  I added twelve ounces of drained ricotta cheese to the sweet potatoes and mixed it together by hand.

I then added one cup of Parmesan cheese, two packed tablespoons of dark brown sugar, two teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg to the sweet potato and ricotta mixture and again mixed by hand.  At a 1/2 cup at a time, I added about two and a half cups of all-purpose flour to the wet gnocchi dough until it became soft.  Towards the end, I really started mixing the dough together by hand.

I divided the dough into six equal pieces and Bret and I got to work on making the gnocchi.  Taking one piece of dough at a time, we rolled the dough on a floured board with our palms until it made a 20-inch long rope (about 1 inch in diameter).  Each rope was cut into twenty pieces.  And each piece was rolled over the tine of a fork to get that gnocchi indentation.  All of the gnocchi pieces were put on the parchment lined baking paper to keep from sticking.

Bret's gnocchi are on the left; my gnocchi are on the right.

I hate to admit this but Bret was way better at making gnocchi than I was.  Mine just weren't uniform in size but to be honest, I didn't really care that much as I kept calling it "rustic".  When the gnocchi was done, I set the tray aside at room temperature and put a large pot of water to boil with two tablespoons of salt.  While I waited for the water to boil, I chopped up six tablespoons of sage for the sauce and set it aside.

I put in twenty pieces of gnocchi at a time into the boiling water and allowed it to cook for about five minutes - until they began to float and were tender. 

I did some "taste testing" - you know, just to make sure they wore cooked through - and the gnocchi were little fluffy pillows of heaven.  And maybe I taste tested several times but you just can't be too sure!

When the gnocchi was done, I transferred it to another clean baking sheet (which I had lightly sprayed with cooking spray to keep from sticking) and allowed them to cool.  I did six batches and by the time the last batch was done, the water was definitely cloudy and I would have had to change the water if I was making any more gnocchi!

I then began my sauce.  I melted two sticks of unsalted butter in my Dutch oven.  Once the butter started to brown, I added the chopped sage.  I then turned off the heat and seasoned the sauce with both salt and pepper.  I then added the gnocchi into the Dutch oven.  Since the Dutch oven was so big, I could fit all of the gnocchi in and then I turned the stove back onto a medium-low to get the gnocchi heated through.  In the end, I had a LOT of brown butter and sage sauce and I could definitely cut back on the butter the next time I make this.

Bret and I ate the gnocchi in small shallow bowls with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. 

The sweet potato gnocchi were so light and fluffy, which contrasted nicely with the deeply flavorful and decadent brown butter sauce.  This recipe made for a LOT of gnocchi, so this also made for some great leftovers throughout the long weekend.

Have you ever made gnocchi or any kind of pasta before?  If so, please share your favorite recipes!