We eat them with nothing but a drizzle of olive oil, but I bet a tzatziki sauce, hummus, pesto, chimichurri, or even a horseradish sauce would be really good with any of this.  

 Grilled Vegetables

Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side

1 bunch asparagus

12 grape or cherry tomatoes, skewered 

10 mini sweet peppers, skewered

1-2 onions, halved or quartered but rooted in tact

4-8 mushrooms, skewered

Place all your vegetables on a sheet pan, and drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat.  Grill over direct flame, turning occasionally, until vegetables are charred on all sides and as tender as you want them.  

*note:  Drew does not like cooking with skewers, because he thinks they're too much trouble.  He is grill master of this home, so almost no skewers it is.  You can choose to use skewers for any or all of the vegetables.  As you can see, we did keep the tomatoes skewered.  

The reason I titled this a big weekend project is that the labor and time will take a full, long day or it may take a decent portion of two days.  There are a lot of steps, and it's hard work rolling out the dough.  There is a lot of rest time and a lot of rise time that goes into the dough.  Just keep in mind your kitchen cred.

If you are comfortable enough to work with yeasts doughs, then this one is very soft for a bread, and richer than most of the breads I've made.  The process is still very similar.  The one caveat is that the dough must be kept cold.  Don't venture to make this when it's 78 degrees in your house.

I used the recipe from America's Test Kitchen, which I found through a web search.  I trust them and their extensive recipe development process, and heck, even if their recipe development process just involved a slot machine with the normal symbols replaced by ingredient names and measurements, I'd still be happy because the recipes of theirs I have tried are good.

Croissants

From America's Test Kitchen

3 tablespoons unsalted butter plus 24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted European-style-butter, very cold
1-3/4 cups whole milk
4teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
4-1/4 cups (21-1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1-3/4 ounces) sugar
Salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon cold water

Directions

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and immediately stir in milk (temperature should be lower than 90 degrees). Whisk in yeast; transfer milk mixture to bowl of stand mixer. Add flour, sugar, and 2 teaspoons salt. Using dough hook, knead on low speed until cohesive dough forms, 2 to 3 minutes. Increase speed to medium-low and knead for 1 minute. Remove bowl from mixer and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at room temperature 30 minutes.

Transfer dough to parchment paper–lined rimmed baking sheet and shape into 10 by 7-inch rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap tightly with plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Butter Block
While dough chills, fold 24-inch length of parchment in half to create 12-inch rectangle. Fold over 3 open sides of rectangle to form 8-inch square with enclosed sides. Crease folds firmly. Place 24 tablespoons cold butter directly on counter and beat with rolling pin for about 60 seconds until butter is just pliable but not warm, then fold butter in on itself using bench scraper. Beat into rough 6-inch square. Unfold parchment envelope. Using bench scraper, transfer butter to center of parchment, refolding at creases to enclose.

Turn packet over so that flaps are underneath and gently roll until butter fills parchment square, taking care to achieve even thickness. Refrigerate at least 45 minutes.

Laminate
Transfer dough to freezer. After 30 minutes, transfer to lightly floured counter and roll into 17 by 8-inch rectangle with long side parallel to edge of counter. Unwrap butter and place in center of dough. Fold sides of dough over butter so they meet in center. Press seam together with fingertips. With rolling pin, press firmly on each open end of packet. Roll out lengthwise into 24 by 8-inch rectangle. Starting at bottom of dough, fold into thirds like business letter into 8-inch square. Turn dough 90 degrees counterclockwise. Roll out lengthwise again into 24 by 8-inch rectangle and fold into thirds. Place dough on sheet, wrap tightly with plastic, and return to freezer for 30 minutes.

Transfer dough to lightly floured counter so that top flap opens on right. Roll out dough lengthwise into 24 by 8-inch rectangle and fold into thirds. Place dough on sheet, wrap tightly with plastic, and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

Shaping Croissants
Transfer dough to freezer. After 30 minutes, transfer to lightly floured counter and roll into 18 by 16-inch rectangle with long side of rectangle parallel to edge of counter. Fold upper half of dough over lower half. Using ruler, mark dough at 3-inch intervals along bottom edge with bench scraper (you should have 5 marks). Move ruler to top edge of dough, measure in 1 ½ inches from left, then use this mark to measure out 3-inch intervals (you should have 6 marks). Starting at lower left corner, use sharp pizza wheel or knife to cut dough from mark to mark. You will have 12 triangles and 5 diamonds; discard scraps. Unfold diamonds and cut into 10 triangles (making 22 equal-size triangles in total).

Position 1 triangle on counter. (Keep remaining triangles covered with plastic.) Cut 1/2-inch slit in center of short side of triangle. Grasp triangle by 2 corners on either side of slit and stretch gently, then stretch bottom point. Place triangle on counter so point is facing you. Fold down both sides of slit. Roll top of triangle partway toward point. Gently grasp point with 1 hand and stretch again. Resume rolling, tucking point underneath. Curve ends gently toward each other to create crescent. Repeat with remaining triangles.
Place 12 croissants on 2 parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets at least 2 ½ inches apart. Lightly wrap with plastic. Let stand at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 2 ½ to 3 hours. (Shaped croissants can be refrigerated for up to 18 hours. Remove from refrigerator to rise and add at least 30 minutes to rising time.)

After croissants have been rising for 2 hours, adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 425 degrees. In small bowl, whisk together egg, water, and pinch salt. Brush croissants with egg wash. Place croissants in oven and reduce temperature to 400 degrees. Bake for 12 minutes, then switch and rotate baking sheets. Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes longer. Transfer to wire rack and cool about 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

To Make Ahead
After shaping, place 10 croissants 1 inch apart on parchment-lined sheet. Wrap with plastic and freeze until solid, about 2 hours. Transfer to zipper-lock bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Bake frozen croissants as directed from step 8, increasing rising time by to 2 hours.

Notes

• You need to make sure that you do this on a cooler day, or that the A/C in your house is on.  If you don't you'll have a melty mess
• If your house is on the warmer side (upwards of 73ish), you may want to allow the dough to hang out in the fridge or freezer between laminations or shaping.  I actually let my dough chill in the freezer between the first rollout after pinching the dough and the second after the first folding....confused enough, yet?
• If when rolling out the dough during the lamination phase the dough starts to retract, give it a time out for about 15 minutes in the freezer.
• When I first tried the end result croissant, they were a little greasy when hot, but when they cooled, they were great.  The crust softens as they cool.

Fortunately, there are some things in this world that don't take a lot of advance planning and preparation, just a decently stocked pantry (and fridge/freezer).  Usually a pasta dish can be thrown together with little or no thought, and can use many combinations of meat, vegetables, sauces, and cheese.

 This particular chicken dish came from Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals show from the mid-2000's.  It's quick, easy, simple, and delicious.  You don't even really need a recipe.  I started making it before I was very good at cooking, and it was good even then.  This has always been a hit of a meal.  Drew and I still make it with some regularity, and he even cooks it at the fire station with an enthusiastic reception.

This chicken is good served with a side of pasta, mashed potatoes, polenta, vegetables, or a salad.  This time I blanched some green beans and then quick-sauteed them with tomatoes in a garlic-oil mixture.  SO GOOD.  Taste and see!



Parmesan Crusted Chicken
adapted from Rachael Ray, original recipe here.

Serves 4

1 tsp olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bag (1.5-2 cups) shredded parmesan cheese (not the powdery stuff in a can, but the shreds in a bag)
Fresh ground black pepper

Heat a 10-12" nonstick skillet over medium-high and add your oil.

Pour the parmesan cheese into a pie dish or large plate and sprinkle with pepper.  One chicken breast at a time, press each side of the chicken breast into the cheese, forming a thin layer of cheese all over.  Whatever cheese is left, you can press it into the chicken by hand.

Place the chicken into the prepared skillet and let it sit there until the cheese isn't sticking at all to the bottom of the pan, about 5-7 minutes.  That's how you know it's ready to flip.  Flip the chicken and allow it to cook on the other side, about 5-7 minutes.

Remove from the pan and allow the chicken to rest.  Serve however- as a part of a pasta dish, with vegetables, with salad.

Notes

• Really, this is so super easy, I don't have much to share.  My one big tip is one I remember from Rachael Ray- when you put the chicken in the skillet, don't move it around or try to flip it until it easily slides around on the pan's surface.  
• When coating the chicken with the parmesan cheese, you're not using a binder, so it does take some work to get it to stick.  You won't have a uniform coating, and that's OK.  It does all work out in the pan.  

These, by the way, are so simple, but are elegant in an understated way.  Their individual serving size makes them fun.  They can be dressed down by putting them in regular custard cups or even 8 oz Mason jars, or dressed up by putting them in nicer dishes or even pretty stemmed glasses.  We made these for our Valentine's date night.  I'd definitely make them for a dinner party.