About jacky grace

I grew up in an Italian house with big meals, big flavors and big voices. My husband comes from an even bigger Greek and Armenian house with even bigger food and voices. Here in our tiny city kitchen, we adapt our family recipes for our small space without sacrificing any of the flavors, traditions or love.

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Posted on February 12, 2014 by jacky grace

I bet that title caught your attention.

Brown butter,

Peanut butter

Oatmeal

Sign me up!

And make it a double.

I found this recipe over at the Bakeaholic Mama’s Site. Hers included caramel, which the fiance is not a fan of. So, I tweaked slightly, removing the caramel, and came up with what is now his favorite cookie.

Remember, if there’s some ingredient you don’t like or can’t find, don’t be afraid to play. You might come up with a new favorite too!

For this recipe you will need:

1 stick of butter, melted until golden brown and nutty smelling
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (I didn’t have vanilla so subbed with bourbon. Best idea ever)
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
creamy peanut butter – I will never tell you how much or how little peanut butter to use. dollop away

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease a cookie sheet.

In a bowl, mix together the sugars, egg and vanilla (or bourbon. I’m telling you, it added a nice little something to the cookies)

When combined, pour in the melted butter

Add in the oats, flour, salt and baking powder.

When the dough comes together, refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the fridge and roll the cookies into one inch balls, and press lightly to flatten.

They are perfectly wonderful just as they are, all buttery and oaty.

But we’re going to up the game and add a dollop of peanut butter to the top of each cookie

And then bake them for about 14 minutes. I got 16 cookies out of this recipe.

The peanut butter will melt over the top and form a nice little shell on the cookie.

They’re nutty and warm and gooey and buttery, and vaguely reminiscent of a childhood favorite – Nutter Butters!

Anything that takes you back to childhood is a good thing in my book.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Posted on February 10, 2014 by jacky grace

We’ve been on a soup kick lately.

It’s funny, when all he could eat was soup, we both grew tired of it, but with a wide array of dinner options, we now turn to it.

Go figure.

But it does make sense. It’s warm. It’s comforting. It’s easy. And there are just so many choices!

Tonight’s?

Chicken Tortilla Soup.

This recipe came from America’s Test Kitchen, but admittedly underwent a few tweaks.

You need

1 small white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pablano pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
salt
pepper
4 cups chicken broth
Avocado for serving

Start by drizzling olive oil in your soup pot and tossing in the onion, garlic and pablano. Cook over medium until the onions are soft.

Add the chicken broth.

And the chicken breasts, letting them simmer in the broth for about twenty minutes, partially covered.

The chicken will turn whitish when it is done.

Remove the chicken from the broth when it is fully cooked and shred it. Add the diced tomatoes and the beans to the pot.

And then add the shredded chicken back in.

Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for about ten minutes

Serve in bowls topped with avocado slices and strips of tortillas or crumbled tortilla chips.

Portabella Eggplant Stacks

Posted on February 5, 2014 by jacky grace

This is a super easy, super light, super healthy dinner that was almost no effort at all.

I love eggplant parm., but boy can it be a process. If you don’t believe me, check it out here. Don’t get me wrong, on a lazy Sunday I have no problem hanging in the kitchen and frying up slices of eggplant.

But on a weeknight I just can’t see coming home from work and spending the time at the stove. Everything has its time and its place and the same is true for food.

So when I saw Giada making eggplant and portabella sandwiches on Food Network, I knew I had found the week night eggplant fix.

I eliminated the sandwich portion and instead made bigger stacks to make this a hearty and filling, yet healthy meal.

There is no frying. And the eggplant and portabella leaves you feeling full and satisfied, even without any meat.

For this recipe you will need

1 eggplant sliced into 1/2 inch thick discs
2 portabella mushrooms, stems removed
Italian-seasoned panko bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
flour (for dredging)
mozzarella cheese
marinara sauce

Preheat the oven to 425.

Lay out your veggies.

And set up a dredging station. Flour, Egg, Breadcrumbs. Place a lightly oiled cookie sheet at the end of the assembly line.

Take a piece of eggplant and start by dunking it in the flour

then into the egg

then into the panko bread crumbs

Continue until all of the eggplant slices and the portabellas are coated and lined up on the cookie sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Plate up the stacks and top them with some mozzarella cheese and some marinara sauce.

Portuguese Baked Eggs

Posted on January 30, 2014 by jacky grace

I’m not usually one to complain, but I’m tired, I’m stressed and I’m over this whole wedding planning thing.

One word.

Elope.

And I don’t know if I ever told you this, but I work with lawyers. And man can they be cranky!

So comfort food is in order. More specifically, super simple, no fuss comfort food is in order.

We were watching The Best Thing I Ever Made and Anne Burrell was on talking about her best brunch dish, Portuguese baked eggs. Peppers. Onions. Garlic. A spicy tomato sauce. Ricotta Cheese. Runny yolks.

Oh man was I all over this.

This recipe is one part Anne Burrell’s, One part Bon Appetit’s and one part mine.

You will need:

2 bell peppers chopped
1/2 a white onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 fresh chopped tomato (you don’t need to but the contrast is nice)
4 eggs
ricotta cheese
sharp cheddar cheese
olive oil
salt
red pepper flake

Preheat oven to 400. Drizzle olive oil in an oven proof skillet. If you don’t have one, then use a skillet and have a 9×13 baking dish ready to transfer everything into.

Add the peppers, onion and garlic and cook until the peppers are soft.

Add the tomatoes and cook for about ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper flakes.

If your skillet is not oven proof, transfer this mix to the baking dish now. Otherwise proceed in the skillet.

Make four divots in the peppers and fill each divot with a scoop of ricotta cheese. You can add as many as your pan will hold. Figure 2 eggs per person when you serve.

Carefully crack an egg in a small bowl. And then carefully tip the egg into one of the ricotta divots.

Continue until there is an egg in each. And then top each egg with some sharp cheddar cheese.

Bake for 15-18 minutes until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.

Grab some bread and get ready to mop up all that yolky-tomatoey goodness.

A Long Time ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away…

Posted on January 24, 2014 by jacky grace

(Or last night in the comfort of kitchen on this cold night.)

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire

(It is a period of great coldness. Bitter winds, blowing with much force, have invaded from the northern territories)

Ok. Ok. Writing opening credits is clearly not my thing.

But Star Wars definitely is.

And Star Wars cookies most definitely definitely is.

That’s right. Star Wars cookies.

My future brother in law’s girlfriend gave them to us as a gift for Christmas.

Jeff. Take note. She bought a Star Wars related gift. She is a keeper! (She’s a keeper for plenty of reasons, but I digress)

I’ve been dying to try them. But what with Chris getting his wisdom teeth out and it being so cold I have found it difficult to get out from under a blanket, I haven’t had the time.

Until now.

I followed the recipe that came with the cookies. But use your favorite sugar cookie recipe.

The one I had:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of salt.

I was really excited and forgot to take pictures of making the dough, but it’s very basic.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Then add sugar and mix until well incorporated. Add the vanilla and the egg and mix again. Add half the flour and the salt and mix until flour is absorbed. Add the other half of flour and stir until combined.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Divide into two balls. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Now.

Flour your surface and roll out the dough.

Choose your vehicle. I mean there really isn’t a choice. I mean you’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.

Place the cookie cut outs on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

They will be lightly browned and delicious. And yes, you will now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!

What’s that? You can’t believe how awesome these cookies look?

Well. I find your lack of faith disturbing.

There you have it. Star Wars cookies. And as many quotes as I could pack in!

Limoncello Ice Box Cake

Posted on January 23, 2014 by jacky grace

So I found a recipe for lemon maple icebox cake in the latest Good Housekeeping, and I was intrigued. Greek Yogurt. Graham Crackers. Dessert without baking?

Wanting to make something sweet on a weeknight and wanting to keep things healthy (an upcoming wedding will have you fixating on your size in ways you never imagined) I thought I’d give this one a try.

So their recipe uses maple syrup and some lemon zest. I’m not big on maple.

And I didn’t have any lemons.

But I did have Greek yogurt and graham crackers.

Oh. And a bottle of limoncello.

Which got the wheels turning.

And resulted in limoncello icebox cake made with Greek yogurt.

For this recipe, well non recipe really, you will need:

graham crackers, use any flavor but I just used original for this
16 oz container of Greek yogurt
limoncello (or lemon juice or cocoa powder or whatever you want to stir into the yogurt to flavor it)

So you have a few options for assembling this. You can lay the graham crackers out in sheets in a loaf pan and make a layer cake type thing. Or you can make individual trifles in glass pudding cups.

Good Housekeeping did the fancy loaf pan option. So I figured I’d give it a go. Next time I’d definitely opt for the pudding cups. Much easier. Much less pressure. Everything looks good in a pudding cup!

So. The loaf pan. Line it with plastic wrap, leaving yourself enough excess to wrap over the top of the cake.

In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt and the limoncello. I used about a 1/4 cup, but use your taste buds as a guide.

Layer the bottom of the loaf pan with graham crackers

Then add a layer of yogurt

And another layer of graham crackers, repeating until you have your desired number of layers. Or until the pan is full. Whichever comes first.

Fold over the plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about 4 hours so it can firm up.

Unwrap and carefully slice to reveal the layers of yogurt and graham.

The possibilities are endless for this. Next up we want to try some cocoa powder in the Greek yogurt and adding some marshmallow spread for a s’mores cake.

Potato and Leek Bisque

Posted on January 20, 2014 by jacky grace

So we’re getting ready for the polar vortex take two or the arctic blast or Mr. Freeze or Jack Frost or whatever it is that the weathermen are saying.

Which means I’m in soup mode.

I love soup. I could eat soup every night. I can even eat it when it’s hot out. But I especially love it on those chilly nights, ladled out in a coffee mug so you can curl your hand around the warmth as you eat and the liquid warms you from the inside.

This is one of those warming recipes.

It’s super simple too. Added Bonus

You will need

3 leeks
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 cup milk (I used 2% but use whatever you have)
olive oil
Salt
pepper
water

Start by cleaning your leeks really well. We fill a big bowl with water, split the leeks in half, cut them into chunks and then plop the chunks into the water. The sand and sediment will fall to the bottom while your clean leeks float to the top.

Drizzle olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot and add the leeks. Cook over medium until the leeks are soft. About 10-15 minutes.

When the leeks are soft, add the milk and the potatoes to the pot, then add enough water to cover the potatoes and the leeks. The milk gives the soup a nice richness and creamyness, but thinning it out with the water keeps it from becoming too heavy.

Let this cook over medium, stirring, and checking that the milk does not boil. You want to keep it at a simmer until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife.

Once the potatoes are tender, remove the mixture from the heat, season with salt and pepper and blend.

Spoon into bowls. To cut the richness, top with some sharp cheddar.

Steak Salad

Posted on January 14, 2014 by jacky grace

This isn’t so much cooking as it is layering.

Which is not to be underestimated.

There is an art to the layering of a dish.

You want to make sure that you make all of the bites interesting, both in texture and temperature.

A good salad gives you warm, savory, chewy bites, mixed with cool and refreshing, crunchy bites.

There is no wrong combination, there are only slightly boring ones.

This one is far from boring.

I started with a bed of mixed greens and baby spinach.

Then added marinated artichoke hearts and a mix of good olives.

Next add a crumbling of feta for a salty tangy bite.

Lay slices of steak over top to turn this into a hearty meal.

Top with your favorite dressing. I used my go to vinaigrette, but a creamy caesar, a garlicky yogurt or even just some good balsamic would be great.

Crab Pesto Pizza

Posted on January 8, 2014 by jacky grace

Dreaming of beaches over here still even though the temperatures are below zero.

So I’m still combating the cold by cooking some of our warm weather favorites.

One of our favorite places in the world is the town where my parents have their shore house. It’s where I spent my summers. It’s where I feel most relaxed. It’s where I threw my first kegger, had my first crush and my first hangover.

It’s also where my fiance proposed to me.

Fenwick Island. I just think of it and am happy.

The DelMarVa peninsula is known for a few things, fresh crabs being one of the top.

There’s an Italian restaurant in the area that takes advantage of the fresh, local seafood, and merges it with Italian classics.

Their best dish? Pesto crab pizza.

It’s amazing.

And while it sounds complicated, it really couldn’t be easier.

To bring the Delaware shore to your home, you will need

Frozen pizza dough, thawed
pesto (store bought or homemade – my recipe here)
mozzarella
1/2 a pound fresh jumbo lump crab meat

See my previous post about Jersey Tomato Pizza for tips on stretching out the dough.

Once the dough is stretched, it’s just a matter of layering pesto, crab and some mozzarella on the dough and baking at 425 for about 10 minutes.

I got so excited about making this that I forgot to take pictures along the way.

That’s how good this is.

We actually ate all but two pieces before we remembered we needed shots for the blog.

Oops.

Not that I’m counting, but 163 days ’til summer and ’til we’re eating this pizza at the beach!

Lemony Shrimp and Cannelini Beans with Couscous

Posted on January 7, 2014 by jacky grace

It’s Tasty Tuesday over at the Craft Dictator, so if you’re stumped what to make for dinner, I suggest you head on over there for some tasty inspiration.

So over in the city, we’re in the polar vortex. Sounds all si-fiey, but I promise you this is real.

It is absolutely frigid out in New York, and, actually, across the country.

When it’s this cold, you probably want to go the warming comfort food route – lasagna, chili, and chicken cacciatore come to mind.

But sometimes I just want to take my mind off the cold and make a bright summery dish to ease away those winter blues.

Nothing like some shrimp and a bright citrusy burst of lemon to bring you thoughts of beaches and crashing waves as you cozy up at home while the wind blows outside the windows.

So tonight, I am defying the polar vortex and making a lemony shrimp and cannelini bean dish.

I’m serving over couscous, but this can easily be tossed over pasta. Use what you have on hand and what you like.

For this dish you will need

One pound of shrimp peeled and de-veined
one can of cannelini beans rinsed and drained
1 bag of baby spinach
2 scallions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
juice from one lemon
olive oil
butter
black pepper
couscous

Start by heating butter, olive oil and garlic in a large skillet. Also, prepare your couscous or pasta according to directions.

When the garlic starts to brown, toss in the spinach and stir.

When the spinach wilts, add the scallions and let them warm through.

The add the shrimp and season with black pepper.

When the shrimp are cooked through on both sides, add the cannelini beans and the lemon juice.

Stir and cook for an additional three minutes or so. You don’t want to overcook the shrimp but you want the beans to warm up.

Serve up in bowls over couscous or pasta.

Can you hear the waves lapping the sand?

Itty Bitty City Kitchen

tiny kitchen, BIG CULINARY ASPIRATIONS

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