sunday is for football

I grew up in a family that, no matter what, always had Sunday dinner together. It was one day a week that we weren't running off to this game or that practice. If my dad had it his way, we'd have dinner at 4pm on Sundays. While my mom says she "tries" to have dinner on the table this early, I think we all try to delay this - it never happens, sorry dad.

Since we moved to Chicago, I've had to do my own version of Sunday dinner. And while I miss having dinner with my sisters and parents each Sunday, I keep the tradition going and honor them in our absence. My boyfriend loves turkey loaf, LOVES it. It's his favorite thing his mom makes. While I'm not a loaf kind of a girl, I can stand eating turkey loaf every now and then. Especially since it's one of his favorites.

This Sunday dinner is a mix of my families tradition with his favorite comfort food from home. I have to say, as a non-loaf lover, this one is pretty darn good. Matt happens to be a big football fan and sport fan in general. Sadly, I'm more of a fare-weather sport fan. I get excited when my teams are in the playoffs or if there's a lot of hype over a game. Since the Seahawks are in the playoffs and Matt loves football, I decided to make football shaped turkey loaves. GO HAWKS!

Turkey Loaf

ingredients:
1 package ground turkey breast (1.25 lbs)
1 yellow or sweet onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 eggs
½ c. chopped fresh baby spinach
½ c. can diced tomatoes (drained)
3-4 squirts worcestershire
2 t. italian seasoning
1 t. dried basil
1 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. ground mustard powder
2 T. grated parmesan cheese
⅓ c. bread crumbs
salt + pepper to taste
Ketchup (for the top)

yield 4-5 servings

Preheat oven to 350º

Dice onion and place in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Cook until just opaque. Add in the 2 chopped cloves of garlic and continue sautéing for 1 minute. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, place turkey, eggs, spinach, tomatoes and mix with hands (or spoon). Once incorporated, add onion mixture, worcestershire, herbs + seasonings, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. mix until it comes together. Add more breadcrumbs if it seems too loose. The mixture should still be "wet". You don't want to add too many bread crumbs so it's a sticky paste, you want it to come together just enough that it will hold a shape.

Cover a baking sheet in aluminum foil. Place mixture onto covered baking sheet and form into a loaf shape. In this case I made 4 mini-loaves in the shapes of footballs. Top loaves with ketchup. I put mine in the design of football laces but you can just blob it on top and evenly spread it. Bake for about 30-45 minutes depending on loaf sizes and your oven. When the juices run clear and the loaf has a slight spring when you press it, you know it's done.

I served mine with a salad and smashed red skin potatoes. Serve it with your favorite side dishes!

improv style:
Use ground turkey instead of turkey breast for a more flavorful loaf. Not a fan of spinach or tomatoes? Substitute it for basil leaves or carrots. You can leave them out if you're not a big veggie eater. Don't have ground mustard? You can substitute it for 1 T. of your favorite stone ground or dijon mustard. Turkey loaf is like a hodgepodge of flavors so add your favorites, experiment, go crazy!

italian at heart

I swear, I was born Italian. My mom may be a red-headed firecracker but I have to have Italian blood in me. They tell me I'm Austrian and French but I'm not buying it. I LIVE for pasta, pizza and risotto. In college, I decided to study abroad based on food, not classes. Naturally, I chose Rome.

I decided my 3+ months in Rome would involve what I called an EATaly tour. We had Fridays off from class and every weekend I would take a trip to a different part of the country to, yep, you guessed it, try the food! I went to Genoa for pesto, Turino for chocolate, Bologna for Tortellini, Sicily for cannoli, Napoli for pizza, Tuscany for meat and paste e fagioli, and Siena for ricciarelli (the most amazing cookie). I discovered so many amazing dishes in addition to the Italian classics just mentioned. A lot of my posts will probably be some form of Italian or Italian inspired dish and this one is no exception.

My first weekend trip was to Florence with one of my best friends from high school. She had some friends from college studying there and we decided to take a cooking class from the University they were at. We made so many amazing things, one of which was risotto. I of course lost the recipes in my travels but I did learn the tricks to making a perfect risotto. We made two kinds that night, pumpkin and sausage + saffron. This is my version of the sausage + saffron with a few tweaks of course.

There's something so medicinal about making risotto. Many would say it's too tedious, who want's to stand over the stove for 45 minutes stirring away? I DO! For me, its like meditation. A slow, calming wave comes over my body as I stir, over and over. The steam rising, acting as my aromatherapy. It's pure bliss. It's a 45 minute break from reality and the stress of my day slowly melts away as the flavors melt into the rice. I hope you enjoy, this is one of my fav's!

Sausage, Saffron + Pea Risotto

ingredients:

1 clove garlic

1 shallot

1 c. arborio risotto

1 34 oz box of good quality chicken stock (I like Kitchen Basics)

2 mild italian sausage links

¼ c. white wine (I like Kendall Jackson Chardonnay)

1 healthy pinch of saffron

2 T olive oil

2 T butter

½ c. parmesan cheese

½ c. frozen peas

4 servings (I find it feeds 2-3 good eaters perfectly)

In a medium sauce pan, place all the chicken stock and set burner to medium low. Dice shallot and place in a deep medium sized skillet or sauce pan and saute with olive oil for 2 minutes. Remove casing from the sausage links and add to pan. Peel garlic and give it a whack and place smashed clove (do not chop) in pan with sausage and shallots. Once sausage is browned, add arborio rice and brown for 1-2 minutes. This gives the rice a great flavor and is an important step in the risotto making process!

Next add wine and saffron to the pan, give it a good stir. Then slowly, 1-2 ladles full at a time, add the warmed chicken stock to the rice mixture, just enough to cover the top of the rice. This is the part I love aka the laborious part of making risotto but I promise it's worth it! Constantly stir the rice and continue to add chicken stock as its absorbed by the rice. You'll start to notice that the rice expands. You want to cook arborio al dente so be sure not to add too much liquid. You can always add more, but you can't take liquid out. Not sure if your rice is done? Take a spoon and try a few grains. You want it to be firm but chewy, not hard and not mushy. When the rice is done, stir in peas, butter, and ¼ c. parmesan cheese. Place in bowls and top with remaining cheese. Buon appetito!

improv style:

Don't have shallots? Use an onion instead. Not a fan of peas? Leave them out! Not a big sausage fan? Try crisping up some prosciutto in the oven and crumbling it on top instead. The one thing I will say is DO NOT use spicy Italian sausage. I did this once and the spice overpowers the delicate flavors of the saffron. Otherwise, go nuts!

new year, newly inspired

Sometimes the best things come when you least expect it. In this case, I stumbled upon it a little skeptical.

Shortly after moving to Chicago I had dinner at a little place called Elate - a posh yet unpretentious restaurant. I walked in with no expectations and I left in a state of bliss! Not only is the menu inventive but it changes frequently, BONUS! Since we live close, I look forward to frequenting the ever changing menu. My entrée was a combination of flavors I never would have put together. A lamb ragoût tagliatelle with dried cherries, curried cauliflower and preserved lemon. I'm not the biggest cauliflower fan but everything sounded so unique, I had to try it. I can honestly say, I'm a changed woman! Bite after bite the flavors burst in my mouth. With each twirl of my fork a new flavor was revealed; pure bliss! The part of the dish that surprised me most was the curried cauliflower. It took a veggie I would never choose to eat and turned it into something tasty. I decided to make my own version and serve it as a side dish, enjoy!

Roasted Curry Cauliflower

ingredients:

1/4 t corriander

1 ½ t curry powder

1 T red wine vinegar

4 T olive oil

1 head cauliflower

Preheat oven to 400º. Mix corriander, curry powder, vinegar, and oil in a bowl. Cut cauliflower into chunks and toss in the oil + spice mixture to coat. Place on baking sheet for 25-35 minutes until browned.

improv style:

Try adding other veggies to the mix. This would be delicious with roasted potatoes or carrots. You could also put the curried cauliflower into a couscous with dried cherries.

fake out

One of my best girlfriends from college recently found out she has Celiac disease (gluten intolerance). Before moving to Chicago, I tried to teach her a few recipes that were quick, easy, and gluten free. Quite a challenge for a carb-a-holic like myself! That being said, I love a good challenge!

Before Cate found out she needed a GF lifestyle we would get together once or twice a month and I would teach her a new recipe. I always enjoyed going over to her place, splitting a bottle of vino and sharing my knowledge of food while getting filled in on all the latest gossip and reality tv shows. It was a night of guilty pleasures for us both!

At first, the thought of planning a gluten free meal seemed impossible. Its sort of like when someone tells you that you can't have a cupcake. Suddenly all you can think about is eating a cupcake! After a little more thinking, I remembered a dish my dad ate in his Jenny Craig days, spaghetti squash. Very skeptical that a veggie could fake me out, fill me up and make me think I was eating pasta, I decided why not?! I went to the store, picked up a spaghetti squash, a gluten free bottle of vodka sauce and some spinach to saute for a side dish. Yep, an entrée of veggies with a side of veggie... oh how I was praying that this would be a satisfying meal! Lets be honest, I can eat my fair share of pasta, heck, I can eat my fair share of any food. Spaghetti squash didn't seem too promising on my end. To my surprise, it was very satisfying and quite delicious! Not to mention this entire meal could be made in under 20 minutes. Such a quick weeknight meal for a working woman! It was perfect. Give spaghetti squash a try, you might just be pleasantly surprised!

I usually make a version of it once a month or so... Here's my recent spaghetti squash recipe, this one's for you Cate!

Baked Pesto Spaghetti Squash

ingredients:

for the pesto:

1 package fresh basil leaves (about 2 cups loosely packed)

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/4 c. toasted pine nuts

1/4 - 1/3 c olive oil

salt + pepper to taste

1/4 c fresh grated parmesan cheese

for the dish:

1 medium sized spaghetti squash

1/2 c. grape tomatoes

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375º. Cut spaghetti squash in half and scrape out the seeds. Place skin side up in a baking dish with about 2" of water. Roast it in the oven for 30-45 min until tender. Pull squash out of the dish and set aside to cool.

In a food processor, Place the basil, garlic, toasted pine nuts and salt & pepper, blend until ingredients are well chopped. Slowly pour the olive oil into the food processor as its blending. Add enough oil for it to make a loose paste. Finally stir in the 1/4 c. parmesan cheese. Home made pesto in 5 minutes! It's so much better than the stuff you buy!

Next, cut grape tomatoes in half and set aside. Grease a casserole dish with olive oil or butter. Grab one half of the spaghetti squash and with a fork, scrape the sides until strings come up from the flesh. Do this to the other half and place your spaghetti in a mixing bowl.

add the pesto and stir. Mix in the grape tomatoes and then transfer to your casserole dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4c parmesan cheese and bake in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes until cheese is bubbly and brown!

improv style:

don't have time to make the pesto, get a good quality store bought brand. not a huge tomato fan? try adding peas and pine nuts instead. this recipe is really easy and forgiving so put your favorite pasta sauces and ingredients in like you would with spaghetti and you've got a quick and healthy dinner!

Enjoy!

that's what it's all about!

I've gotten a few questions about why IMPROV kitchen? What does it mean? Well, it simply comes down to this...

My friends ask me all the time, what's your "signature" dish. This always stumps me. I don't know, I just cook with what I have in the kitchen. Sometimes it's good, sometimes its great, sometimes its just OK. Heck, I've even had complete failures! Don't ever make a beer cheddar soup with a super hoppy IPA, that was REAL bad! That being said, I kind of just throw things together with the flavors I know. I think that goes back to the whole "growing up in the kitchen" thing. After being around food a lot, you sort of learn the basics and from there you can make educated guesses as to what works and doesn't. What you like and what you don't...

Back to answering the question of why IMPROV kitchen. Simply put, its the style in which I cook. The whole food blogging thing is a good challenge for me to actually measure out my ingredients and share my recipes. I'm usually the "little bit of this... little bit of that, glug of this, taste and add more ___" kind of a person.

I recently joined a farm share produce delivery. Once every 2 weeks I get a basket of fresh fruits and veggies. Some of the stuff I've worked with before and others I've never even tasted. I thought this would be a great way to challenge myself in the kitchen and to learn new flavors. If you have an ingredient suggestion, shoot me an email at theimprovkitchen@gmail.com or tweet @improvkitchen.

I look forward to sharing more improv dishes with you! Happy weekend everyone!

OBSESSIONS

We all have them.

Currently I'm obsessed with anything Leopard print. I just found some fabulous leopard print cupcake papers at Sur La Table, oh do I have plans for you! But back to the task at hand...

A staple food obsession of mine is pumpkin. It all started my senior year of college. I'm not sure what brought it on but oh man am I happy it did. I'll never forget the day I fell in love with pumpkin. It was the middle of fall and I went to Noahs for my usual egg bagel toasted with schmear for breakfast. To my surprise, they were out. How could they be out of such a staple bagel flavor at the early hour of 12?! Oh, that's not what you consider an early hour? FINE! With my heart set on a bagel for breakfast I got the pumpkin bagel with pumpkin schmear. If I can't have my staple, I'm gonna go wild! Boy was I glad I did, HEAVEN! Coming home I decided I needed more pumpkin. I had a pumpkin scone for lunch but I still couldn't satisfy my need for pumpkin. I decided to make pumpkin pancakes for dinner and pumpkin cookies for dessert. I was obsessed.

I know to most people "pumpkin season" is over. For me, it never is! I made this Pumpkin Curry soup for my boyfriend about a month ago. It pairs perfectly with my Coconut Chicken Fingers. The first time I made the soup I did it with a fresh sugar pumpkin. The second time I used canned pumpkin, both turned out great! I give you Pumpkin Curry Soup and Coconut Chicken Fingers:

Pumpkin Curry Soup

ingredients:

1 small onion

2 tbsp curry powder

1 large clove of garlic

1 can pumpkin puree (or a small fresh pumpkin that's been roasted)

1 1/2 c. chicken stock

1 c. coconut milk (I used light, for a richer soup use regular)

1 tsp fresh ginger

1 pinch salt to taste

1/2 c. heavy cream (optional)

In a medium sized sauce pan saute your onion until transparent. Add curry powder and smashed clove of garlic (keep it whole) and let cook for 1 minute. Add roasted pumpkin or can of pumpkin, coconut milk, chicken stock and fresh ginger. Simmer soup for at least 20 minutes to let the flavors build. Transfer soup mixture to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Place soup back in saucepan and add salt to taste. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Turn heat down and finish with a 1/2 c. heavy cream just before serving.

I've made it with and without the cream. Both are very tasty. Who am I kidding, everything is better with cream. If you're not trying to be good, go for it!

Garnish with dollop of sour cream or greek yogurt and some pomegranate or pumpkin seeds. I used greek yogurt and pomegranate seeds. The pomegranate ads a burst of freshness, I highly recommend!

improv style:

Don't have fresh ginger? Use a 1/2 tsp of powdered ginger instead. Like it a little spicy? add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper. Like your soup chunky? Don't puree it. Vegetarian? Use veggie broth instead of chicken broth.

Coconut Chicken Fingers

ingredients:

for the marinade:

6-8 chicken breast tenders

1/2 c. coconut milk (again, I used light)

1/2 c. greek yogurt

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp chile powder

1 pinch cayenne

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1/4 tsp salt

for the breading:

1 1/2 c. panko bread crumbs

3/4 c. shredded coconut (make sure it isn't sweetened)

salt and pepper to taste

dipping sauce:

1/2 c. greek yogurt

2 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat your oven to 375º. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and coat the chicken. Let marinade for at least 20 minutes. You can let it marinade over night if its easier. The yogurt makes the chicken really tender. This is some of the juiciest chicken I've ever had!

On a breading plate (just what I call the plate I put the crumbs on) mix all the dry ingredients together. Take the marinaded chicken and scrape off any excess yogurt. You don't need the chicken to be dry, a little yogurt is good to make the coating stick to the chicken strips, you just don't want it dripping with yogurt. Dredge the chicken into the panko/coconut mixture and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil before baking. Bake about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and golden brown. Half way through baking, flip the chicken so it browns on both sides.

Mix together the dipping sauce and serve! Matt (my boyfriend) likes to dip the chicken in the soup. You can serve it with your favorite dipping sauces or try the one I suggested!

improv style:

Love extra crunchy and golden chicken fingers? ME TOO! Fry the chicken strips instead of baking. If I wasn't trying to be "good" I would too! Don't like spicy? Leave the cayenne out. Try a sweet and sour or hoisin dipping sauce with it instead of the yogurt dip.

hungry? ME TOO!

I Love food, no seriously, I LOVE it.

To honor all that is consumed, I've decided to catalog my culinary adventures. I grew up in a household that honored a home cooked meal. However, it wasn't until I studied abroad in Italy that I learned my true passion for eating and cooking. I quickly realized how lucky I was growing up with a mom who loved to cook. I grew up in the kitchen, it comes as second nature to me. And that didn't happen by chance, it happened because of my mom. Most kids grow up watching Saturday morning cartoons, I grew up watching cooking shows. Before Food Network and Cooking channel all we had were Saturday mornings with Julia Childs, Jacques Pepin, and Caprial... My mom and I would write as fast as our little hands could to get the recipes. Did you get that last ingredient? How long does it bake for? It's crazy to think how much has changed since then - AND thank goodness for that!

I recently moved from my hometown Seattle to Chicago. After many long conversations with my mamma discussing recipes and the things I recently made, I decided to start a blog. To share with her, and to share with you, my love. Because in my family, the way we show our love is with food.

Let the culinary adventure begin!