Friday, May 27, 2011

Chicken Breasts with Cremini Mushrooms & Tomato



Serves 2 people (or one person, a dog and a kitten)
                       
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.       

1 supreme (a complete boneless skinless chicken breast)
1/4 pound sliced cremini mushrooms
4 whole garlic cloves
3 fresh heirloom tomatoes cut into quarters
1 Tbsp. unsalted French butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
kosher or sea salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste

Place supreme into a small ceramic casserole and toss in the quartered fresh tomatoes.  Add salt and pepper to the uncooked chicken and tomatoes.  Salt will draw the liquid out of the mushrooms while cooking and can cause them to steam rather than to sautee so I add the salt to the uncooked chicken instead.  Sautee the sliced mushrooms and whole garlic cloves in the butter and olive oil for a few minutes, until the garlic and mushrooms just start to soften.  Remove from heat.

Pour the sauteed mushrooms and garlic over the chicken and tomatoes and bake for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees.  Split portions between two plates and finish with a sprinkling of fleur de sel.     

If you do not like garlic, you can sautee sliced shallots with the mushrooms instead.  The shallots are also delicious and even more French, especially if you add cream, stock and a little port or madeira, which incidentally becomes <<Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons>>.  Oh-la-la!

Introducing . . . Henry!





The newest addition to our family is a tiny Bengal kitten whom we have named Henry Louis.  Henry is 3 months old and a whopping 2 pounds!  He and Enzo have become fast friends.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Beyond the Pale of Knit & Purl








Knit 1, purl 1.  Knit 2, purl 2.  Purl 2, knit 1, purl 2 . . . .  after a while you just want to bust a move and break out of the monotony of knit and purl.  I ventured beyond the pale to try two new stitches and love both of them: lattice stitch and honeycomb stitch.  The two projects above were trial runs made with Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in Poppy.  The top one is a scarf in honeycomb stitch that I made for my friend Teresa in Los Angeles.  The bottom one is a baby blanket for my friends Rodney and Carolyn in Atlanta who just had baby twins, Vera and Beck.  I think that both projects will become a staple at the little bee marketplace and will be available this fall. 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

baby kitty blanket for henry






Henry is coming home on Saturday!  We are very excited.  Enzo is beside himself knowing he will finally have a companion. Thinking that Henry will probably feel a little lost without his mama and siblings for the first few days, I knitted a baby-kitty-sized blanket for him to snuggle up in.  Okay, yes, I know, it will more likely become a scratching pad or be dragged through the house like a dead animal, but that's okay. . . whatever Henry wants . . . .