Eat This

Coconut Basmati Rice

2011-01-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

It's been ages since I posted a recipe, I know; but I'm in grad school. My husband and I made this rice last night to accompany a lovely chicken recipe. I'm posting it here because it was so gosh darn easy and a great alternative to plain white rice.

1 cup basmati rice, washed and drained

1 can of Light Coconut Milk (about 12 oz.)

1 tsp. turmeric

1/2 cup small dice onion, leek or shallot

15 whole peppercorns

1 tsp salt

This is really very simple to cook, but I will start here with a quick explanation of rice washing since it's something I never did until I began seriously cooking Asian food. Most rice bought at the store is coated with excess starch. By washing the rice you will eliminate it and the rice you cook will be less sticky. Simply place the 1 cup rice in a large bowl and run it under cold water stirring frequently. I've found that the tap should only be about halfway open so that none of the rice is stirred up by the running water. This prevents it from washing over the top of the bowl and down the drain. Continue rinsing and stirring the rice until the water runs reasonably clear.

In a small pot with a tight-fitting lid, combine the coconut milk, turmeric, and basmati rice. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat as low as possible. Cook for 10 minutes. Add the onion, peppercorns, and salt; and cook for another 10 minutes. You want to watch the rice at this point so that it doesn't burn. I stirred halfway through this second cooking time and found that it didn't need the full 10 minutes - more like 7.

At this time, it's ready to serve alongside whatever main dish you may be having.

Chile Rellenos Redux

2010-08-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

I did not get a good photo of this, frankly, because we ate it too quickly. You are probably thinking of chile rellenos as deep fried chiles oozing with cheese. Well, here is a version that is fresh, flavorfull and un-fried. This is based on the chiles that my dad makes, along with a few twists of my own. These ingredients - chiles and corn, mainly - are in season now, and with the heat, this is a perfect summer patio dish, served with some tacos, enchiladas, or any other Mexican fare you'd like to pair it with. It can even be grilled. The recipe is for 2 people, with 2 chiles each: this is good as a starter or side, and can easily be doubled or tripled for more people, or as the main attraction.

4 anaheim chiles, nice and long, and as straight as you can find
2 ears of corn
1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
3/4 cup shredded jack cheese (I used this amazing chile jack goat cheese produced locally. I have also used chevre and white cheddar with good results)
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

1. First you will need to char the chiles. This can be done on the highest rack under a broiler, or on the grill. Just wash the chiles and place directly on the rack of the oven, or on the grill, and cook until black and the skin begins to pull away from the surface. As one side begins to blacken, do a quarter turn, allow to char, and continue until the entire chile is nice and black. Then, pick them up with some tongs and place in a plastic bag - I usually use an old grocery bag (I know, bad me, having plastic grocery bags about). Tie off the end of the bag and let them steam for about 5-10 minutes. Then, pull them out and peel the skin off under a stream of cool water at the sink. The charred skin should pull right off. Place the chiles on a paper towell to completely cool.

2. To prepare the filling: cut the corn kernels off the cob, and place in a medium bowl. Add the yogurt, cheese, lime juice, and salt and peppr, and taste for seasoning. The mixture should be mostly cheese and corn, held together with the yogurt.

3. Using a paring knife, make a long slit down the center of the front of each of the chiles. Then, over the sink, pull out the seeds and the connecting strings, using some water to flush them out. You may find that your chiles want to fall apart. Just try your best to keep them whole, if they split, this is fine, the filling will hold them together. Again, dry the chiles on some paper towells. Place the chiles in a medium glass baking dish (depending on how many you are making), and pull open the sides, so that they are laying flat. Scoop about 1/4 cup of filling into each, and continue to add filling until they are nice and full, and you can pull the sides of the chile up and over, but not together. The chiles should have a large opening with filling bursting out, and the side flaps sort of gently tucking over.

4. Bake the chiles in a 425 oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted, and the tops begin to brown. Then, place them under the broiler for 1-2 minutes to give the tops a nice rich, brown crust.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Crisp

2010-08-02T14:32:00.001-07:00

So, have you heard that blueberries are a super-food? Hoorah! What a good excuse to make this super-simple and luxurious dessert, using the plentiful (and cheap!) summer blueberries. I saw a 2 lb. container of blueberries for $5, and immediately thought of this crisp. It basically takes the crisp topping I use for apple crisp, and substitutes almonds for the walnuts, giving a more delicate flavor and crisper texture that complements the cooked blueberries. Of course, good vanilla ice cream can top it, and melt all about when it comes out of the oven. As it sits in the fridge, the blueberries start to create their own syrup, so it gets even better. Enjoy!

Topping
6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 salt
5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
3/4 cup slivered, blanched almonds

Filling
2 pounds blueberries
2-3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. For the topping: Place the flour, sugars, spices and salt in a food processor and puse briefly to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 times, about 4 seconds for each pulse. The mixture will first look like dry sand, with large lumps of butter, then like coarse cornmeal. Add the butter, then process again, for four or five 1-second pulses. The topping should look like slightly clumpy wet sand. Be sure not to overmix, or the topping will become too homogenous. Refrigerate the topping for at least 15 minutes, or up to 2 days.

2. Adjust an oven rack for the middle position, and heat to 375.

3. Wash the blueberries and strain until dry (or pat very lightly with a towell), and then mix to taste with sugar. Pour the blueberries into an un-buttered 9 in. pie pan or 8 in. square glass baking dish. Crumble the chilled topping evenly over the top, and bake in the 375 oven for 40 minutes. Eat warm, straight from the oven with ice cream, room temperature, or chilled.

Roasted zucchini heaven (in a salad)

2010-07-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have to level with you - I'm not a vegetarian, not even close. If it has a face, I eat it. If it's cute, furry, tasty - yep, you guessed it - I eat it. So posting to this blog hasn't been the easiest thing for me to do. I think I am going to go a bit easier on myself. If I cook something wonderful, yummy, easy; something I absolutely have to share, I am going to post it. I will leave the vegetable purism to my ever-faithful meat abstentious co-blogger, Mindy. Don't get me wrong, we encounter a lot of vegetables in our house. I believe in eating well and balanced and in supporting local farms. So I will still be able to share items that vegetarians can cook and eat. Like this one - the most fantastic way I've ever encountered to eat zucchini; because if I levelled with you about that - I hate zucchini.

1 lb. zucchini, sliced lengthwise into quarter-inch widths

2 red peppers, halved and seeded

3 1/2 oz. feta

5 Tbs. olive oil

salt

DRESSING - all ingredients for the dressing should be finely chopped, but if that doesn't happen it all works out okay

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbs. chopped mint

honey

lemon juice

1 red onion, medium dice

Toss the zucchini slices in olive oil, salt and pepper. They can be grilled outside on a gas grill or in a cast-iron grill pan on the stove. Cook the zucchini through and set them aside.

Place the red peppers on an aluminum foil lined sheet pan, cut-side down and roast in a hot oven - about 400 F until they are cooked; about 25 minutes. Remove them from the oven and cover them to allow the skins to steam off. You can simply wrap them in the aluminum foil you used to line the sheet pan or transfer them to a bowl and lay a towel on top. They can take ten to fifteen minutes to steam. When ready simply rub the skins off then cut each half pepper into eighths and combine with the zucchini and set aside.

Put the garlic, mint, lemon and honey into a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Still whisking, pour in the oil in a thin stream. The dressing will emulsify and thicken. Season it to taste with salt and pepper then add the red onion. I would recommend going easy on the salt because the zucchini is already seasoned and you will add feta to the salad at the end.

Toss the roasted pepper and zucchini in the dressing and place everything into a shallow baking dish. Cover the top of the salad with crumbled feta and place under a low broiler for five minutes or less. Watch the salad carefully at this point as it doesn't take long to brown. The salad should be sizzling and patches of feta should be lovely and golden.

Enjoy!

Sprouted Garbanzo Burgers

2010-06-28T07:11:00.001-07:00

Here is another recipe from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking, which I am enjoying so much that I am basically cooking my way through it this summer. These burgers are delicious - my husband and I ate them just about every day last week (the recipe makes 12) and never grew tired of them. I sprouted the garbanzos myself, which is an extra step that certainly changes the texture and taste of the beans, but I'm not sure it has enough impact to offset the amount of time and effort sprouting takes. I've heard that you can buy sprouted beans at, say, Whole Foods, or equivalent stores, but I have not found them. If you are feeling ambitious or experimental, as I was, here is a link to some good directions on sprouting. You can also just use cooked or canned garbanzos with excellent results.

2 1/2 cups sprouted garbanzo beans, or canned garbanzos, drained and rinsed
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 onion, chopped
grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 cup micro sprouts, such as alfalfa, broccoli or onion
1 cup toasted whole grain bread crumbs (Ian's, a brand you can find at WF or elsewhere makes a good whole wheat bread crumb, or you can toast and pulse day old bread in the food processor)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

If you are using sprouted garbanzos, steam them until tender, about 10 minutes. If you are using canned beans, jump right in. Combine the garbanzos, eggs, and salt in a food processor and puree until the mixture is the consistency of a very thick, slightly chunky hummus. Pour into a mixing bowl and stir in the cilantro, onion, zest, and sprouts. Add the bread crumbs, stir, and let sit for a couple of minutes so that the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. At this point, you should have a moist mixture that you can easily form into twelve 1 1/2 inch thick patties. Err on the moist side here, because it makes for a nicely textured burger. You can add more bread crumbs to firm it up a bit, or, conversely, add a bit of water or egg to moisten it. After the patties are formed, you can decide to either cook them, or store them, placed on a plate lined with parchment and wrapped with spastic wrap. Then, you can cook just as many as you need, and store the rest this way, or even freeze them for later use.

To cook, heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat, add up to 4 patties, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms begin to brown. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes. Flip the patties, and cook the second side for 7 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties.

Top with whatever fillings you'd like. We enjoyed these open face on a piece of toasted crusty bread with some lemon mayonnaise, avocado, red onion, and sprouts.

Swordfish Sicilian-style

2010-06-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

It has been a little difficult for me to continually find vegetarian recipes to share here. So, pardon me if occasionally, items transgress into the world of meat-eating. Here is a lovely swordfish recipe my husband found in the Chez Panisse Fruit cookbook. We tried it two weeks ago and I was pleasantly surprised. The stuffing is savoury enough that I felt I would enjoy it with some sort of poultry, but the mild flavour and substantial texture of swordfish are a good foil.

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

extra-virgin olive oil

1 small onion

1 pinch of saffron threads

3 anchovies (rinse them if they are packed in oil)

2 oranges

1/4 cup dried currants or raisins

1/4 cup pine nuts

3 Tbs. chopped parsley

1 tsp. chopped oregano

salt and pepper

bay leaves

This stuffing recipe is for 2 pounds of swordfish which is far too much for only two people. I usually figure 6 oz. of meat/person as a serving. So if you are making this for two, halve the stuffing recipe and purchase a 12 oz. swordfish steak. The swordfish should be cut into 1/8 thick slices about 4 x 6 inches for rolling.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Toss the bread crumbs with 2 Tbs. olive oil and spread them out on a baking sheet. Toast them in the oven stirring occasionally until they are golden brown - about 15 minutes. Dice the onion and saute it on medium-low with the saffron and another 2 Tbs. olive oil. Cook until the onion is soft. Chop the rinsed anchovy coarsely. Squeeze 1/4 cup juice from one of the oranges and pour it over the currants or raisin to plump them. Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet on medium or medium-high unitl golden stirring continuously to prevent burning.

In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, onion, anchovies, currants (with their juice), pine nuts, chopped parsely and oregano. Season generously with salt and pepper. Taste. The stuffing should be assertive, but you want to take care not to over-salt as it already contains anchovies.

Lay out the swordfish slices and season both sides with salt and peper. Spoon about 2 Tbs. of stuffing onto each slice and roll it up. Arrange each roll, flap side down, in an oiled baking dish just big enough to hold all of them snugly.

Cut the remaining orange into half-moons or smiles :) and with a bay leaf, wedge it between each roll. Drizzle olive oil over the fish and bake the dish for 15 minutes. The rolls will be opaque and firm to the touch when finished.

We ate this dish with a simple roasted vegetable and a plain risotto. It could also be nice with a salad and a simple pasta.

Chipotle Grilled Tofu and Yucatecan Street Corn

2010-05-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

So, it's Memorial Day Weekend, and everyone is out grilling; and grilling lots of meat. What's a vegetarian to do? Opt for the frozen, bland veggie burgers? Nope. Here are two very tasty hot-weather grilling ideas: a spicy grilled tofu that is great either as kabobs or a burger alternative, and rich grilled corn on the cob. I made the grilled tofu last weekend while out camping, and found that marinating for 24 hours really got the spicy tones heated up (read - scorching). But, I imagine that just an hour is a perfect amount of time to get the heat without the burn. The original recipe calls for achiote powder, rather than chipotle, but I was not able to find the former. If you can, give it a try. Both of these recipes come from Heidi Swanson, whose food blog, 101 cookbooks is amazing and inspiring. Equally beautiful is her book, Super Natural Cooking, which I have been scouring the last few weeks.

Chipotle Grilled Tofu

2 tablespoons achiote or chipotle powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon raw cane sugar (or brown sugar)
3 medium cloves garlic, peeled
2 big pinches of salt
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
12 ounce package of extra firm tofu, cut into 4 slabs

Whisk together achiote powder, cayenne pepper and sugar. Sprinkle the salt over the garlic, smash it with your knife, and mince it into a paste. Add this to the achiote mixture along with the lemon juice. Whisk until combined.

Place the tofu into an 8x8 baking dish and pour the achiote marinade over the tofu - flip it, flop it....make sure you get coverage on all sides, and rub the marinade into the tofu a bit. Place in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Place the tofu on a medium hot grill. Brush the top of each piece of tofu with some of the leftover achiote marinade, grill until the tofu is golden on the bottom with nice grill marks (rotate the tofu 90 degrees halfway through the grilling of each side to get those nice marks). Flip, cook the other side, brush the side facing up with more leftover marinade, and cook until the bottom is golden as well. Remove and serve over a salad, on a bun with all the fixings, or any other way you can think of .

Yucatecan Street Corn

4 ears fresh corn, in husks
3/4 cup crema, for slathering
1/2 cup shredded cotija, for sprinkling
2 limes, halved
2 tablespoons pure chile powder
fine-grain sea salt (optional)

Prepare a medium - hot grill; if the temperature is right, you should be able to hold your hand a few inches above the grate for 4 or 5 seconds. To prepare the corn for gilling, remove any husks other than the inner one or two layers. Peel back the inner husks but keep them attached, and discard the silk. Pull the husks back into place to protect the kernels and grill, covered, rotating a couple of times along the way, for 10 minutes. Peel back the husk on one ear and taste for doneness before pulling the rest off the grill. Slather each with some of the crema, sprinkle with some of the cheese, and drizzle with the juice of half of a lime dipped in chile powder.

Ginger Cheesecake

2010-05-18T04:48:00.000-07:00

While it may not be healthy, cheesecake certainly is vegetarian. I made this recipe just this week for a farewell gathering of graduate students. It is a cinch and so creamy with a lovely robust flavour imparted by the ginger.

1 package Honeymaid graham crackers

2 Tbs. butter

2 pounds cream cheese, softened

zest of 1/2 of a lemon

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup + 2 Tbs. sugar

4 eggs

2 yolks

*75 ml heavy cream

(infused with 3 oz. fresh ginger)

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. All purpose flour

Boiling water

Pour cream into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile roughly chop the unpeeled ginger. When the cream is hot, add the ginger, stir, turn off the heat, and place a lid on the pot. Allow it to steep for 30 minutes. Afterwards, strain the mixture pressing the ginger against the strainer with a wooden spoon to extract all the cream. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 10" springform pan with baking parchment and wrap the outside base with aluminum foil to seal the seam. Place on a sheet pan that has 1/2 to 1 inch sides.

In a food processor pulverize the graham crackers. Empty into a bowl and set aside. Melt the 2 Tbs. butter over low heat and mix into the graham cracker dust. Line the bottom of the springform pan with the graham cracker using a straight-sided glass container to tamp down the crackers, if needed. Toast the base in the oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan and lower the oven temperature to 300 F.

In a stand mixer beat the cream cheese and sugar with a paddle at low speed. You never want to mix too much air into a cheesecake so if you find you are spending too much time readying the remaining ingredients, you may want to turn the mixer off. Otherwise you can proceed with the recipe adding the ingredients in the order listed.

I like to crack my eggs with my vanilla and zest into a small pitcher. Pour this mixture into the cream cheese in three additions allowing the egg to fully incorporate. Stop the mixer to scrape the sides and base of the bowl twice. Add the ginger cream, then the flour. Pour the mix into the springform pan. Place the pan on the oven rack and pour boiling water into the sheet pan until it is about 1/2 to 1 inch deep. Do not allow the water to rise above the aluminum foil seal you created around your pan. Carefully push the oven rack into the oven and set the timer for 40 minutes. The cake should hardly wobble in the middle when you shake it. It may take up to an hour to finish baking.

Tagliatelle with Caramelized Fennel

2010-05-17T17:09:00.001-07:00

Fennel - one of those vegetables that is often looked over at the grocery store or market, but has such a distinctive and sophisticated taste that it can carry a whole dish. This recipe is ridiculously simple, yet feels elegant - the fennel is given a deep, sweet flavor that mingles with the pasta and cheese and is accented with the zip of lemon and the herbal flavor of the fennel greens. My husband and I made this for the first time a couple of weeks ago, using a gift certificate to a local upscale "fine food" market to buy some bright orange dried tagliatelle. Tagliatelle is an Italian egg noodle; there are plenty of good dried versions out there, or, if you are feeling ambitious, you can make your own fresh. You could also substitute fettuccine. The recipe is from Deborah Madison's fantastic book Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmer's Markets, which I acquired in Iowa City, inspired by the amazing summer produce. Enjoy!

2 or 3 large fennel bulbs, including the greens
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 to 1 lb. tagliatelle
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1. Peel or discard, if badly bruised, the tough outer layers of the fennel, then quarter the bulbs, setting aside the greens, and slice thinly. (The core will cook to tenderness.) Heat a large pot of water for the pasta.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the olive oil in a wide skillet. Add the fennel and saute' over high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned in places, 7 to 10 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt. Toss with the lemon juice, then add 1 cup water. Reduce the heat and cook, covered, until the liquid has evaporated. Add another 1/2 cup water and continue cooking in this fashion until the fennel is very soft and deep gold in color, about 25 minutes in all. Season with pepper. Chop a handful of fennel greens - enough to make about 1/3 cup - with the garlic and lemon zest and set aside.

3. Add salt and the pasta to the boiling water and cook until the pasta is al dente. Scoop it out and add it to the pan with the fennel and the chopped greens. Taste for salt and season with pepper. Serve with the cheese, finely grated or thinly sliced over the top.

Roast asparagus with eggs and toast

2010-04-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

It may seem like cheating, a recipe hardly worth posting; but this, ladies and gentlemen is what I had for breakfast. And it was lovely. As I sat and ate I thought, what a great way to use leftover roasted veg, which you're likely to have if you've put in a garden or joined a CSA. And veggies at breakfast has the added bonus of allowing you to sneak something green into your diet before noon. So whether you're using up leftovers or starting the day with something made from scratch, I'll include this as encouragement to make each meal special.

breakfast for one

2 fresh eggs

1 knob of butter (just under a Tbs.)

kosher salt

freshly cracked pepper

1/3 to 1/2 cup leftover roasted veg;

such as asparagus, red peppers, or tomatoes

Since there isn't much to this recipe, I'll take the opportunity to pass on a tidbit of egg cooking knowledge .

Use a heavy-bottomed non-stick skillet and heat it to medium or medium-low. Add butter to the skillet and allow it to melt slowly swirling it around the pan occasionally. If the butter has not begun to foam once it is entirely melted, you may raise the heat; but only a little. Once the butter is visibly foaming, crack your eggs into the pan. This is just the right temperature for cooking eggs. They will coagulate slowly at this heat, so be patient. But they won't stick, and if you like your yolks runny, you have enough leeway to get them out of the pan before things overcook. Use a rubber spatula with the eggs to occasionally loosen them from the pan at their edges.

You have two options: you may flip the eggs when the white appears mostly set but you do run the slight risk of breaking the yolk. Otherwise, you can have your eggs "sunny-side up" by simply breaking through the set white with your spatula and allowing the remaining liquid white to fill the crack and thereby continue to cook. Either way works - and if you're me, you likely take a middle of the road approach and fold the eggs over on themselves not committing to either flipping or not flipping. When they are finished you will want to run the spatula round the edge of the eggs in order to release them. Turn them out onto your toast and top with roasted veg, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!

Roasted Beet salad with Goat Cheese

2010-04-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

I am fully willing to admit that this is hardly even a recipe, but more of an idea. But, it is a good idea. This is one of my favorite things to make for a post-farmer's market lunch or early dinner, sitting on the patio, and as the weather starts to warm and asparagus is showing up in barrels, I have started dreaming of the farmer's market. (If you are in warmer climes, perhaps they have already started in your neck of the woods!) Whatever looks beautiful sitting on the tables at the market will look beautiful together in the salad: beets, with a mixture of golden, red, chiogga (with the lovely deep pink and white concentric circles), green and yellow wax beans, cherry or grape tomatoes, and any other tempting veggies. These all get the heft of a meal with the addition of slices of chevre and caramelized walnuts. I have included instructions for the main idea - beets, chevre, and walnuts - and feel free to improvise with the remaining ingredients. The instructions for the beets comes from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food. For a dressing, my honest favorite is one that Claudine posted a while ago, with champagne vinegar, mustard and maple syrup. A link to it is here.

For the Beets:
Trim the greens from:
1 lb. beets (red, chiogga, golden or white)
Wash thoroughly. Put them in a baking dish with a little water (enough to cover the bottom of the dish to a depth of 1/8 inch) and sprinkle with salt. Cover tightly and bake the beets in 350 degree oven until they can be easily pierced with a sharp knife, 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on their size. Uncover and cool. Cut off the tops and roots and slice off the skins. Cut the peeled beets into small wedges, and sprinkle with:
1 teaspoon vinegar (champagne, if you are using the dressing)
Salt
Let stand for a few minutes to allow the beets to absorb the flavor. Taste and add more salt or vinegar, and then toss with:
1-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Set aside in the fridge until ready to assemble the salad. Can be made 1 day ahead.

For the Veggies:
Slice the ends off of
1 lb green, yellow wax beans, or a mixture thereof
and wash thoroughly. Steam gently in a steamer for just 2 minutes, checking to be sure that the beans remain crisp. Remove from the heat, and place in a bowl with ice and water until ready to add to the salad.

Wash thoroughly and slice in half
1/2 lb cherry or grape tomatoes
Set aside.

For the Chevre:
Try to look for some local goat cheese; here in CO we have an amazing local cheese called Haystack Mountain that has a booth at the farmer's market and also sells at the Whole Foods. Look for a smallish log of chevre, and remove the plastic outer. And - here is the revolutionary idea my husband passed along to me - cut the chevere into small rounds using floss. This works remarkably well, not unlike a wire cutter for clay. Set these aside as well.

For the Walnuts:
In a small saucepan, place
3/4 cup sugar
over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts and liquefies. Add
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped coarsly
Stir the walnuts into the melted sugar with a wooden spoon until covered. Continue to stir with the pan on medium heat as the sugar begins to caramelize and turn a golden brown. When the sugar smokes, pick the pan up off the heat and continue to stir; when the smoke has subsided, return to the heat. Continue in this way, keeping the sugar just below smoking, until the sugar is a deep caramel, and the walnuts are well toasted. This will only take a few minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, and spoon the walnut mixture onto a sheet of wax paper or parchment, spreading the walnuts and separating them with a spoon. Sprinkle with salt, and let cool. Once cool, break apart any large clumps of walnuts.

To assemble:
Place
1 lb. spring greens
in a large bowl; any fun mixture is good. Add the veggies and some of the salad dressing (start with a little and then taste) and toss.

Place a mound of greens and veggies in each bowl. Top with beet slices, chevre, and walnuts. For a dinner, serve with large slices of artisan bread.

Heirloom Seeds

2010-04-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have yet to post anything online about gardening, but now that we live in the Northeast and it has become possible to put in some crops, I am dreaming about home grown produce. So far this year we have decided only to deal with perennial flowers and herbs - it was a cost and time issue. The plan this summer is to build a raised bed on our property and prepare the soil for next year's adventures in edibles. For now, we have our IKEA shelf, grow lamp and two flats of seedlings. We are growing a multi-headed sunflower, some winter thyme, sage and Icelandic poppies with two more crops in the works.

But my real reason for writing this post was not to update you on our own humble agrarian adventures but to pass along the website of an heirloom seed company I came across today. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is based in MO and ships rare seed varieties around the country. If you are unfamiliar with heirloom produce, I can tell you that it is astonishing in its variety and flavour. If you are looking to include more vegetables in your diet, seeking out heirloom varieties will give you so much more in taste and choice than conventionally grown produce. And what better way to source it than to grow it yourself?

Green Bean Salad

2010-04-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

As promised here is the green bean salad we made last week. If you are ambitious enough to cook it along with the curry - it will make a wonderful accompaniment.

And it really isn't that hard.

1 pound green beans

3 Tbs. sesame seeds

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

2 green chilies, serrano or jalapeno, seeded and sliced into rings

1/2 tsp salt

2 to 3 Tbs. of fresh lemon juice, to taste

chopped cilantro (optional)

Cook the beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender - about 5 minutes. Drain them, then run them under cold water to "refresh" and cool them. At this point, trim the ends and cut the beans into 1" lengths. Set them aside in a bowl.

Heat a dry thick-bottomed skillet over high heat and add the sesame seeds. Stir these constantly as they will be prone to burning. Roast the seeds until they are slightly golden. Transfer them to a coffee or spice grinder and pulse them until they are a fine paste.

Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Toss int he chopped chilies and saute for 30 seconds. Pour the hot oil and chilies over the green beans and toss. Add the salt and sesame seeds to the mix and toss again. Lastly, dress with fresh lemon juice. You may add chopped cilantro to the salad before serving. Et voila!

Potato Curry and Green Bean Salad

2010-04-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

I don't usually post a recipe without first testing it, but this week you get to cook alongside me. We are planning to make a lovely Indian potato curry from the gorgeous book by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid entitled Mangoes and Curry Leaves - I am a fan, to say the least. When we make it, we intend to throw the green beans into the curry to cook amongst the potatoes. But here I will post a second recipe for a green bean salad which you could also make. We tried it last week with a grilled chicken, and it was light, cool, and delicate.

2 Tbs. raw vegetable oil or ghee*

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 pound waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes

1 pound green beans, topped, tailed and cut into 1/2" lengths (optional)

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup chopped tomatoes (I use 1/2 a can of diced)

2 green hot chilies - like serrano or jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

you can purchase cumin whole and grind it yourself. We keep an
old coffee grinder around to pulverize spices - Look for cumin in bags in
the international food section of your grocery store. It will be a lot
cheaper.
1 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. salt or to taste

Heat the oil or ghee in a wok or a wide pot over medium heat. Add 1 tsp garlic and cook until you smell it about 30 seconds, then add the onions, potatoes, and green beans (if you are not making green bean salad). Stir-fry for several minutes, until the onions have softened, pressing the potato cubes against the surface of the hot pan. Then add the chopped tomatoes, and the chili. Stir.

Add turmeric, mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, and the remaining garlic and stir. Add the water and salt and bring it to a boil. Cover the pan tightly and cook at a high simmer until the potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes. Halfway through the twenty minutes, check to make sure you have sufficient water and that nothing is sticking to the pan. Add a little more water, if necessary.

Serve with 3 cups basmati or brown rice and green bean salad, if you like.

*If you are keen to make your own ghee, it is possible - and not that hard. Ghee is a common fat in Indian cooking. It is actually just clarified butter with one subtle difference - the milk solids are allowed to brown imparting a nutty flavour.

To make your own ghee you will need a light colored saute pan, butter, strainer, and coffee filter.

When you clarify butter, you will evaporate much of the water in it and decrease its volume. Therefore, double the amount of ghee in the recipe and you have your measurement of butter. To create the preceding recipe, place 4 Tbs. of butter in a light colored skillet and place over low heat. The butter will melt, then sizzle - and once all of the water has evaporated, it will become quiet again. It needs careful watching at this point. Have ready your strainer lined with a coffee filter suspended over a bowl. In the skillet you will see milk solids that have settled on the bottom of the pan. These will begin to color. Allow them to become a nice golden color - like the color of fried chicken. Then take the pan off the heat and pour the butter through the filter. What collects in the bowl below is ghee.

Quick Thai Red Curry

2010-03-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

This recipe is adapted from one of my all-time favourite cookbooks, Hot Sour Salty Sweet, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Part travelogue part recipes it really takes me back to South East Asia. Some of the ingredients can be hard to come by at a local grocery store, but Lee-lee's in Mesa, AZ should be able to provide everything you need. And you can freeze most of the exotics like lime leaves or curry leaves which means you can visit once every few months and stock up for loads of Asian cooking.

5 cups canned coconut milk divided into 1 cup thicker and 4 cups thinner milk (This is about 2 cans)

3 Tbs. Red Curry Paste (this will keep indefinitely in the fridge once opened)

1 pound green beans topped, tailed, and chopped into 2 inch lengths

1 tsp. salt (or more if necessary)

4 wild lime/kaffir lime leaves or the zest of one lime in a pinch

1/2 pound shrimp (optional)

you could replace the shrimp with 3/4 pound Thai eggplant if you want a more vegetable -full curry. Cut the eggplant in half.

2 red chilies (I buy a packet of the small Thai bird chilies and keep them in my freezer as well)

1/2 cup Asian basil (optional but yummy)

1 cup Jasmine rice

for the rice

Start by washing the rice under running water. We place the 1 cup rice in our cooking pot and turn the tap on low then stir the rice with our hands allowing the pot to overflow with water. We then occasionally dump this water out and begin refilling and stirring. Continue this process until the water runs clear. To cook jasmine rice add "enough water to cover the rice by about 1/2 inch, measured by placing the tip of the index finger on the surface of the rice and adding enough so that the water comes to the first joint". Place the rice on high heat and once it comes to a boil cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and turn the heat to low. Set the timer for ten minutes. After ten minutes, leave the lid on the rice, turn off the heat, and allow it to sit this way for five minutes. It is now ready to serve.

for the curry

Heat a wok or a heavy-bottomed large pan over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 cup of the thick coconut milk. When it is melted and bubbling add the curry paste and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of thick milk and cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until the oil begins to separate - this isn't terribly noticeable, but the consistency of the milk will seem to change. Add the green beans and eggplant, if using, stir well to coat in the oil and cook over medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Add the remaining 4 cups of thin coconut milk and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the cover, stir in the salt and lime leaves or zest simmer for another 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. If you are using shrimp, you would add them at this point and stirr occassionally to ensure they are cooking evenly. Just before serving stir in the chili and the basil.

Pasta Primavera

2010-03-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

Admittedly I am not a fan of the primavera you can order in most Italian restaurants - the vegetables are likely steamed and insipid - heavy on the water content and light on flavour. But this variation was cooked up for me during a lovely dinner party in London many years ago by a dear friend from Books for Cooks. It is straightforward enough for a mid week meal and can be made with an endless combination of vegetables. Simply think of color and organize your cooking by parboiling those fibrous roots before roasting them in the oven.

The Goddess of Spring in honour of primavera.

a selection of vegetables for roasting cut 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch

we like asparagus, red onion - cut as if for shish kebabs, fennel, butternut squash, and cherry tomatoes

1/3 cup evoo

freshly cracked pepper

kosher salt

1 pound rigatoni or other shaped pasta

1/3 cup kalamata olives

(optional 1/3 cup diced proscuitto for any non-veggies out there)

2 - 3 Tbs of good evoo that you would use for salad dressing

fresh basil, if possible

good good Parmesan for grating / parmigiano reggiano,

( if you can throw down for it)

*A note about ingredients - while it's always best to buy the highest quality you can afford, I think it is doubly important when cooking vegetarian. You are cutting out some of the foods with the highest fat content - and unfortunately our taste buds are wired for fat. So make sure at least some of the item you are still eating are impeccable.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. If anything needs parboiling start a pot of water, chop, then cook the veg for 5 -10 minutes. From the list above I would recommend treating the squash and the fennel this way. The squash can go into the water first, then five minutes later, add the chopped fennel.

Combine the chopped raw and parboiled veg in a bowl. Add the 1/3 cup evoo for cooking, the kosher salt, and the fresh cracked pepper. Spread mixture on a baking sheet and bake the vegetables until they can be easily pierced with a fork - about 30 minutes. I recommend checking a few types of veggies to be sure that you are ready to eat.

Meanwhile start a large pot of salted water boiling for the pasta. As Marcella Haxan says, water for pasta shoudl be as salty as the Mediterrenean. Chop the proscuitto, if you are using it. Cook the pasta until al dente according to the directions on the box.

The best way to allow pasta and sauce to meet is by removing your pasta from the water while it is still a little more al dente then you prefer - about 1 mintue less than the recommended cooking time. Have your sauce ready in a large pan on low heat. Add the pasta to the pan holding the sauce, a little residual cooking water is okay if it sneaks in, this will help the pasta and sauce to comingle. Toss the pasta in the sauce and continue striring occassionally allowing the pasta to finish cooking.

Add proscuitto, olives, and basil. Toss with remaining 2 tablespoons of really good evoo. Grate with parm - et voila!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Chickpeas

2010-03-24T08:48:00.001-07:00

When I was asked to contribute some vegetarian favorites to this food blog, my mind went first to those recipes I consider "staples", those that I make once a month, or even once a week. This is one of those; it is flavorful, nutritious, and simple, everything that you need on a busy weekday night. The recipe comes from the Deborah Madison cookbook, Vegetarian Suppers, a well-loved book that is now held together by binder clips and dotted with post-its.

For the pasta, Deborah, and I, suggest the brand Bionaturae, from Italy. Their whole wheat chicocciole are the perfect size and shape for a chickpea or two to nestle into the end, and it is the only whole wheat pasta I've found that can be cooked to a good "al dente", rather than getting mushy. As a variation, I've added some dark leafy greens - a big bunch of kale or chard - to the ckickpeas near the end; simply cut the leafy parts away from the stem, then chop coarsley and add to the pan, putting a lid on for a few minutes to let them wilt. Also, the leftovers make an excellent lunch, either warmed, or eaten cool with some lemon juice and extra olive oil sprinkled on top as a salad.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
a few pinches of hot red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 15-ounce can (I like Westbrae Natural)
1 big bunch of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves stripped from the stems
3 plump garlic cloves
small handful of sage leaves
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 lb. whole wheat pasta shells
freshly grated Parmesan for topping

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta

2. Heat the oil in a wide skillet and add the onion and pepper flakes. Cook for a few minutes, then add the chickpeas. While they're warming, chop the parsley, garlic, and sage together, then toss a third of it into the pan. Season well with salt and pepper, and add a little water or chickpea broth to the pan, and cook slowly, adding more liquid as it cooks away.

3. Salt the pasta water and cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. When done, drain and return it to the large pot, and add the chickpeas, the parsley mixture, and extra olive oil to taste. Toss well, and taste for salt and pepper.

4. Serve in large bowls, with grated Parmesan and additional pepper flakes.

hope you enjoy!

Mindy

Butternut squash soup

2010-03-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting for a while on this blog due to a demanding graduate school schedule; but a dear friend of mine is joining the world of vegetarian cooking. I thought this would be a good opportunity to get back to food by posting one favourite all vegetable recipe a week. This recipe comes from Robert McGrath's American Western Cooking. Happy cooking.

not my picture

1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded, butternut squash, cut in halves

1 Tbs. dark chile powder

kosher salt

fresh cracked black pepper

water (to spin the squash in the blender)

2 Tbs. vegetable or canola oil

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

2 Tbs. toasted, seeded, and finely chopped Chile Ancho

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 cup roasted garlic puree

This can be roasted at the same time as the squash. Simply wrap a head of garlic in foil. It is finished when soft and should take approximately 30 minutes.

1 tsp. toasted and ground cumin seed

Heat a clean dry skillet over high heat. Add the cumin seeds and stir them constantly until you can smell them - about 1 minute. Take them out of the pan and set aside.

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Season the squash with the chile powder, salt and pepper. Roast the squash, seed side down on an oiled aluminum covered sheet pan. The squash is done when the thickest part can be easily pierced with a fork - about 35 minutes. Remove the squash and allow it to cool to room temperature. Scoop out the flesh and puree in a blender with just enough water to spin the squash, season to taste with salt and pepper. The soup can be done to this point the day before, if you like. In a soup pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Saute the diced onion and chile ancho until just tender. Add the squash puree, broth, roasted garlic puree, ground cumin and cayenne pepper. Allow the soup to simmer slowly until it has reduced in volume by 1/4. Puree the soup in a traditional blender or with a handheld immersion blender. Finish with 1/2 cup of cream and season it to taste with salt and pepper.

Aromatic lemonade

2009-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's hot out there. I know it is. Here in Boston our third story apartment is sweltering. When the temperature gets this high I love making unusual icy cool things to drink. The following is based on a wonderful recipe for lemonade that I found online. I've made some suggestions for playing around with it. As long as you maintain the basic water to lemon juice to simple syrup and salt ratio you can have fun with it and use your imagination.

not my photo

2 cups lemon juice

1 qt. water

1 cup simple syrup*

1 tsp salt

Create the simple syrup with one cup sugar and one cup water. Combine in a pot and bring to a boil. Allow it to bubble for thirty seconds. Turn off and cool, if you like, with an ice cube.

Combine ingredients and add flavours from the following list.

One orange, quartered

15 whole peppercorns

2 sprigs of rosemary (about 4" long)

3/4 tsp lavender

1 pt. strawberries

30 mint leaves

1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise)

As with many infusions, the flavours improve if you can let them get to know each other overnight. But I know at my house we find that very hard.

Grapefruit and Dark Chocolate truffles

2009-04-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a recipe I will be using in next week's chocolate class. I've been cooking up all sorts of flavour infusions to make luscious truffles. The addition of the flavour is just like making tea - warm and steep. I have Jerry Traunfield of The Herbfarm to thank for introducing me to the method.

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

1 pound dark chocolate (60 to 70%)

1 grapefruit

1/2 cup good quality cocoa

Heat cream in a saucepan on stove. Meanwhile peel the grapefruit with a vegetable peeler. You want the zest or skin only no bitter white pith. When the cream begins to boils add the peel and submerge it. Take the cream off the heat, cover, and allow to steep for 3o minutes. Strain the cream pressing the peels against the strainer to extract any extra flavour. Measure the cream to be sure you still have 1 1/4 cup. Add extra cream if needed. Rewarm the cream on the stove. Place 1 pound of chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli 60% chips) or chopped chocolate bars in a large bowl. When cream boils, pour it over chocolate and allow it to sit for 30 seconds. Stir mixture with a spatula to combine. The next bit I tried out and it worked very well. We will need to cool off our ganache quickly in class in order to form our truffles and this is what I came up with. Pour the ganache into a large ziploc bag. Press out the air. Be sure the bag is completely sealed and lay the mixture on it's side on a metal tray. Even out the chocolate by pressing lightly with your hand. Place in freezer for 2o minutes. Remove ganache - it should be solid but you will still be able to mark it with your fingernail. Use a knife and cut the plastic bag open and fold it back. Using a knife you can now cut your ganache into 36 pieces to portion it - 6 rows and 6 columns will do it. Warm the knife by running it under hot water, but be sure to dry it completely before using it to cut. You can usually make 2 cuts before your knife needs to be warmed again. Allow the ganache squares to warm about 20 minutes then roll them between your palms to form balls. Fill a large bowl with cocoa and drop 5 - 10 truffles in at a time. Roll them around to coat.

Wapples

2009-01-25T06:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, we had wapples this weekend; and you should too. Extra rosemary lurking in the fridge and packages of cooked cinnamoned apples from this falls foray to the orchard led us to try and make a waffle, apple, maple syrupy breakfast concoction. They weren't hard and the rewards were yummy. The waffles were homemade, not out of virtuousness; but rather because we were out of the prepackeaged "just add water" type of mix. The recipe hails from an Amish cookbook I was gifted years ago. My one recommendation would be the addition of some sort of dairy topping on the waffles. I felt the sugary, acidy, apples could benefit from a 1/4 cup of yogurt or sweetened creme fraiche added to them.

Waffles

2 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp baking pwder

5 Tbs. butter (melted)

1/4 tsp. salt

3 eggs (separated)

2 cups milk

Combine the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, and salt - in a bowl. Beat together the egg yolks and milk and slowly add onto the dry ingredients whisking as you do it. Next add on your melted butter. In a stand mixer with the whip attachment beat the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold into the batter. Cook the waffles in a standard waffle iron greased with some sort of cooking spray.

When I made these for Tyler and myself I halved the recipe. We still had enough for four waffles!!!

If you are serious about having all the acoutrements, I would suggest cooking your apples ahead of time as doing all of this work in the morning before eating is a little trying. The apples should be peeled and sliced cooked with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg; and the resulting juices can be thickened with cornstarch.

I did mention rosemary earlier in the post and we did incorporate it. We put 1/2 cup of maple syrup in a small saucepan on the stove and brought it to a simmer on medium heat. To this we added a 3 inch spring of rosemary, then we turned off the heat, covered our syrup and let the rosemary infuse while we prepared our waffle batter.

Here is a recipe for cooking the apples, if you don't have one already:

3 lbs. firm apples

1/2 - 1 cup sugar (by taste)

1 tbs. cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp. cornstarch

Peel and slice the apples. In a large bowl toss the fruit with the sugar and spices. You can taste the apples at this point and adjust your seasoning accordingly. Some other spices to try are clove, ginger, and allspice; but I find the best rule with apples is to keep it simple. Let the true taste of the fruit come forward. In a large pot cook the apples over medium heat stirring frequently until they release their juices then stirring occassionally. Once the apples are soft - twenty minutes or so - you can take them off the heat and strain away and save the juices. The ratio is about 1 tsp. of cornstarch per 1 cup liquid. So adjust the cornstarch quantity accordingly. In a small saucepan, heat the apple liquid on medium. In a separate bowl combine the cornstarch with cold water and mix well. Add this cold liquid immediately to the apple juice and continue to stir until the starch has cooked out. You will notice the mixture becoming clear. Et voila!!!

Wapples!

Filling for Double Chocolate Tart

2009-01-21T05:26:00.000-08:00

Just to make things more confusing I am posting this filling separate from the dough recipe. And to boot, my tasters didn't like the short dough I made and previously posted. "It tasted like cardboard," they complained. And I have to agree. So here is the filling and I am researching some sweet chocolate doughs to go along with it. If you have one, that's what I recommend using. And save the short dough for some sort of pie. The recipe is from Tamasin Day-Lewis' Art of the Tart by way of Simon Hopkinson. The resulting filling is much like a dark chocolate mousse. YUM!

2 eggs
3 yolks
1 1/2 oz. sugar
3 oz. unsalted butter
7 oz. of bittersweet chocolate (this should be really dark and really good. I used 65%, but I think 70 or 75% would be better).

Melt butter in a small saucepan on the stove. Begin to melt chocolate over a double boiler on the stove. When it is almost ready add the melted butter to the double boiler. Whip the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer with a whisk until light and fluffy (at least five minutes). When the butter and chocolate mixture is fully melted it is okay to take it off the heat and allow it to cool slightly. Reducing its temperature will prevent it from knocking too much air from the eggs when it is mixed in. With the mixer on low pour on the chocolate in a steady stream. Take the bowl off the mixer and give a few good folds by hand with a spatula. Pour this mix into the tart shell and bake it for five minutes at 325 F. Cool and serve.

Chocolate Short Dough

2009-01-17T03:46:00.000-08:00

I have a goal of posting one recipe per month. It's not a lot, but I rarely visit this site. So here goes working towards a goal. I am teaching pastry courses right now and I thought I'd upload some of the recipes we are working with in class. The following is a double chocolate tart I am tinkering with at the moment. It is a combination of a few recipes from Tamasin Day-Lewis' Art of the Tart. Yesterday I prepared the chocolate short dough and today I will roll it out and make the filling. Here is the short dough recipe.

4 oz. or 1 cup All purpose flour

2 tsp. good dark cocoa powder

1 heaping tsp icing sugar

2 oz or 4 Tbs. cold butter cut into small cubes

1 egg yolk

1 to 2 Tbs. cold water

Sift the dry ingredients together into the bowl of a food processor. Add the cubes of butter and pulse the machine briefly until the butter becomes incorporated and broken into smaller than pea sized chunks. Add the egg yolk and 1 Tbs. cold water (add ice cubes to the water if necessary). Run the processor briefly. If needed add another Tbs. of water. The dough will darken although it may not seem to come together. Simply open the food processor and press the dough with your hands. If it comes together, it is ready. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. I will post the finishing steps and some photos later!

Soup a L'oignon

2008-12-31T07:51:00.000-08:00

It is cold again up here. I suppose that is when I like to cook most. And when we found Gruyere cheese for sale at Whole Foods we had to make French onion soup. The recipe is from Julia Child and it is very easy aside from the time it takes to actually cook. I encourage you to try it. It was the best French onion soup I've ever had.

1 1/2 pounds yellow onions (or 4 large)

3 tbs. butter

1 tbs. oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

3 tbs. flour

1 qt. stock (beef or chicken)

1 qt. water

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 oz. cognac or brandy

old bread (I recommend a nice crusty sourdough loaf)

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

*please, go out and find Gruyere. It must say "Gruyere" - don't use anything else.

Chop the onions in thin strips. I halve and peel them, then simply slice them so they make little half moons. Melt the butter and oil in a heavy bottomed stock pot, add the onions and cook on low for 15 minutes with the cover on.

Uncover, raise the heat to medium, add salt and sugar, and cook the onions for 30-40 minutes. You will need to stir them every so often. And I encourage you not to have the heat too high. You are slowly developing color at this point not sprinting for the caramelized finish.

While the onions brown heat up your water and stock. You want to add it to the stock pot when it is boiling so as not to arrest the cooking process. If you have any beef stock to hand, I recommend it rather than chicken as it adds more color and flavour to the soup.

When the onions are a nice golden color, and the stock is hot (but not yet added); sprinkle the 3 tbs. flour over the onions and stir frequently for 3 minutes. Now it is time to add the stock - boiling hot mind you to prevent flour clumps from forming. And I recommend initially adding a cupful at a time and stirring it well. Once you think the flour has been incorporated - pour in the remaining stock. Add the white wine and bring the soup to a low simmer and cook partially covered for another 30-40 minutes.

Grate your cheese and cut a 1/4 inch slice of sourdough for each soup bowl. Find oven safe bowls and turn on your broiler. Taste your soup first, and add any extra salt if necessary. Ladle it into the bowls. You can under fill it so that you don't have the hazard of burning yourself with boiling hot soup. I left a good three quarters of an inch. Plonk your bread slice on top and smother the soup with gruyere.

Place the bowls on a tray under the broiler and crack the oven door so that you can watch them. The cheese will first melt, the it will begin to bubble. You may wish to gingerly slide out the tray and check for browning; but it could take a good five or ten minutes. If the soup is browning unevenly, rotate the bowls on the tray.

We served the bowls on plates so that we didn't have to worry about scorching ourselves.

Enjoy!

BTW...

2008-07-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

Check it out. Hint - you're looking for my name.

Rhubarb and Ice cream

2008-07-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

We have rhubarb! Honest to goodness rhubarb, in the grocery store! And it doesn't look like the rhubarb they tried to sell me in Arizona, brown, limp, weeping. It is robust, rosy, and cheap! So I had to bring some home to surprise my husband. He has been whining for dessert after dinner these last few nights and I think he will be excited by cooked rhubarb and ice cream.

1 pound rhubarb

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. lavender

Slice the tops and tails off the rhubarb. Next divide any wide pieces in half down the middle. Chop the rhubarb into 2 inch long lengths. Find a skillet wide enough to accommodate the rhubarb in one layer. When it cooks down it will release a lot of moisture and the large surface area of the skillet will aid in evaporation. Combine your herb, sugar, and veg. Cook on medium heat stirring occasionally until the rhubarb releases moisture and the sugar dissolves. Then turn down heat to medium low and stir every ten minutes or so. Cook until tender 30-40 minutes. Cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Atomic coffee

2008-06-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of a heat wave, and the only way to fight it is with a batch of Merissa Mendoza's Atomic Coffee. I got this recipe from Merissa when I worked with her in the pastry kitchen at the Sheraton. It must sit overnight, but it has the added bonus of not requiring the application of any heat. Keep that house cool!

1 cup coffee grounds

3 cups cold water

3 cups heavy cream or half and half

6 cups milk

1 cup sugar

a generous pinch of cinnamon

a generous pinch of kosher salt

Combine the coffee grounds and cold water in a container and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. Strain the mixture and measure your amount of coffee. The list of the remaining 3 ingredients require the addition of 3 cups of coffee. So if you haven't quite made that much, adjust the recipe accordingly. Combine coffee and milk, cream, sugar, and spice; sit and sip.

The coffee will taste even better again if you let the cinnamon mellow with the other ingredients for a time, but I bet you can't control yourself.

Fool

2008-06-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

We made this dessert for dinner guests this weekend. I was in the mood for ginger, and thought I would make a cake; but lost my motivation. Fool is an English dessert, something I learned to make when working in London. It is layered much like a parfait, but it doesn't require the arduous fiddling with eggs.

16 oz. greek yogurt

1 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peak

6 peaches, pitted and large dice

1/4 cup sugar

a generous grating of fresh ginger

1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger (optional)

There a lots of little tips I can give you with this recipe. The first, don't substitute anything for the greek yogurt. It has a natural tartness to it that is a beautiful foil for the fat and sweetness of this dessert. But if you must, if you cry, "Claudine, I cannot find greek yogurt for sale at my local grocery store", then try plain FULL FAT yogurt.

Secondly, I like to have fresh ginger to hand, but found myself constantly buying it, using a miniscule amount and then laying it in my crisper drawer to be forgotten and to become moldy. Then some clever cookbook recommended I keep it in the freezer and simply grate the frozen chunk into whatever recipe calls for it. Pure genius. The ginger will change in consistancy and become quite sodden with water if it is defrosted, but that should never be neccessary. Remember, freeze and grate.

Enough tips - let me outline the simple recipe for you.

The first step is one we used in England, and I skimped on it quite a bit when making the fool this weekend. I will let you decide whether you want to do it or not. I was taught to turn the yogurt onto a double or triple layer of cheesecloth. Gather the ends of the cloth and secure them. Then hang the whole contraption suspended over a large bowl and leave it to sit in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning you will find a thin yellowish liquid in the bowl, dispose of this. You have effectively leeched some of the liquid out of the yogurt making it thicker and creamier in consistency. If you would like to cheat, I will tell you that this weekend I only drained the yogurt for 2 hours, and had good results.

Combine the chopped peaches, 1/4 cup sugar, and grating of ginger in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir the mixture occassionally to prevent the sugar from catching and burning. You need only cook the peaches for a short time, perhaps ten minutes, only long enough for the fruit to soften and the flavours to combine.

Remove the pan from the heat and cool off the mixture. I placed the whole thing in the freezer and stirred it every ten minutes. You won't want to add it to your cream/yogurt mix until it has cooled. Lukewarm would be permissable.

Lastly whip your cream to soft peak. For those of you who aren't familiar with this term, soft peak refers to the type of mound you should see in the cream when you touch and pull your finger, a fork, a beater away from the surface. It happens shortly after you notice the cream thicken. And it should create a little mountain which falls over on itself at the tip.

Okay, I said this way easy...so here goes.

In a bowl large enough for the cream and yogurt stir your yogurt with a utensil to break it up and soften it. Add your cream and gently combine the mixture. Now you are ready with all your layers. Simply combine them yogurt, fruit, yogurt, fruit in a container for serving - or in individual containers - think glasses....

If you are using the crystallized ginger, it is typically very spicy, so be spare with it.

AND if you are like us and overfeed your guests you will find yourself with leftover fool. No matter. This recipe is fabulous on top of waffles in the morning, especially if you have candied nuts around. Or you can pop it all in the freezer for an impromptu semifreddo, simply be sure to stir the mixture every 1/2 hour to prevent untasty ice crystals from forming.

Blueberry muffins

2008-04-24T04:42:00.001-07:00

It was 80 degrees here in Boston yesterday. I don't really understand what that means yet in a region where humidity is the norm and AC isn't. And well, I had a craving for blueberry muffins. I hadn't yet been out into the afternoon sun and wasn't aware how warm it was. As I trudged to the market for blueberries and eggs I noticed I was doing little more than a shuffle; as if my clothing weren't proof enough – a tank top and skirt – it was hot. This after we had the heat going only three weeks ago. Nevertheless I was determined, and once I returned home the oven was preheated to a searing 350 and the windows were thrown open. Lucky I did because these muffins were awesome.

350 g all-purpose flour (have you bought that scale yet?)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 wt oz. sugar ("wt oz" means use the scale again)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
6 Tbs. melted butter
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line one 12 cup muffin tin with baking cups. Into a large bowl sift together your flour, powder, soda and salt. Whisk your sugar into that until it's well combined. Measure the milk in a largish liquid measure and add to it the vanilla and beaten eggs. Melt your butter. I like to do it in the microwave, but find it's best to use two short cycles of time, say 30 seconds twice, rather than one long time as the butter has a tendency to bubble over and make a mess. Make a well in your dry ingredients and pour in your milk/egg/vanilla mixture. Using a whisk and a light hand begin mixing, making small circles at first to incorporate the flour nearest your well before working your way to the sides of the bowl. Herein lies the key to great muffin making – a light crumb. This is achieved by restraining your mixing. With that said, it is okay to stop with your whisk well before you have incorporated all the dry ingredients. Add your blueberries to the bowl and pour over your butter being sure to distribute it over your entire batter. With rubber spatula* in hand (*notice the tool change), begin lightly folding the batter to incorporate both the blueberries and melted butter and to finally work out the last of the dry balls of flour. Et voila!

Your next challenge is to divide the mix evenly amongst the muffin tins. Much to my chagrin, I find that an ice cream scooper works the best. You know, the kind of scoop with the switch at the handle that sweeps the metal ring across the inside of the spoon and dislodges your ice cream ball. These are sold at kitchen specialty stores in a variety of portion sizes and are most often used in professional American kitchens to portion batters for baking. I used a number 10 sized scoop, but would actually recommend a size smaller for standard muffin tins – try size 8. The muffins should take between 20 and 30 minutes in the oven. Don't forget to turn them halfway through and don't turn off your oven in the middle of baking as I did. Oops!

Holy Bolognese Batman!

2008-04-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

I am inclined to tinker with this recipe, but as of now it has met with Tyler's approval. So perhaps I will leave well enough alone. It takes four hours on the stove - not a pretty thing if the house is hot or you have errands to run. But if like us it is still only 50F outside and you don't mind forgetting you left your gas stove running while at dinner to celebrate your anniversay, it should be a breeze.

2 Tbs. butter

3 Tbs. evoo

2 Tbs. yellow onion small dice

2Tbs. carrot small dice

2 Tbs. celery small dice

3/4 pound ground beef

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup milk

1/8 tsp. nutmeg, freshly ground

2 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

(or canned and crushed like I used)

1 tsp. salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. freshly cracked pepper

In a pot - much like a soup pot, or equally large and wide but with shorter sides - melt the butter and heat the oil at medium high. Dice your onion and add to the cooking fat and cook until translucent. Meanwhile dice your celery and carrots. Add them to the pot once your onion is cooked and give them 2 or 3 minutes to soften. Add the 3/4 pound ground beef to the pot and begin breaking it up. My recipe recommended using a fork which was so "Susy Homemaker" but it did work fairly well. Once the beef begins to color but before it has cooked through add the wine to the pot. Allow the wine to cook off almost entirely, stir occassionally. Next add the milk and the grating of nutmeg. Allow the milk to cook off almost entirely as well also stirring occassionally. To this add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to a whisper so the whole sauce only bubbles intermittently - like you imagine a steaming swamp might do. Let it cook like this uncovered for three hours - feel free to go out to dinner. If you are home stir the sauce a few times while it cooks. Before serving taste for seasoning and add the s & p.

I doubled this recipe and ended up with enough for 8 servings. Half of it went into a container in the freezer for a night I don't feel up to cooking. The other half was heated and served on Campanelle pasta. Any shape that has holes, ripples or crevices would be ideal for this sauce as it can glom onto the meaty yummy bits.

This is where I tell you that the recipe comes from Marcella Hazan. So that you don't think I was clever enough to think it all up. I would like to alter it and reduce the amount of wine added to the recipe and perhaps swap the celery for fennel and the beef for sausage ala a meat sauce I had when we went out for dinner Friday night.

Mustard Maple salad dressing

2008-04-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

We spent a weekend down in Philadelphia not too long ago with my brother Sean and sister in law, Susie. Sean is an avid cook often shaming me in his knowledge of meats and wine (and I went to cooking school). He is as Susie says, "an expert salad dressing maker". Here is something I saw him concoct one evening. It was so good it has been the only thing served in our house since.

1 Tbs. Dijon mustard

1 Tbs. champagne vinegar

1 Tbs. maple syrup (please don't use any imitation products;

this means no bottles shaped like people)

1/4 to 1/3 cup good evoo.

This would be evoo that you intend to eat raw. Ask a seller at a specialty store. It will inevitably be more expensive, but it's worth it. I recommend an oil with a fruity rather than a peppery finish especially if you are new to the world of olive oil.

pinch of fresh cracked pepper

pinch to 1/4 tsp of kosher salt

Combine all the ingredients except the oil in a bowl big enough to accomodate a whisk. Granted this isn't a lot of liquid to work with but still put it in a large-ish bowl. You may have heard that oil and water don't mix but the mustard included in the recipe will act as an emulsifier. Begin whisking the dressing and adding the oil in a slow steady stream. The dressing will be yellow and become opaque. This is good. Once 1/4 cup of oil is added taste the dressing. It should be sharp, but not too sharp, and NOT oily-never oily. If the vinegar is still too strong, continue adding oil, if the dressing sits heavily on your tongue, prepare another batch of the mustard, syrup, and vinegar; and begin again. Adding not oil this time but the old dressing, tasting, and continuing with oil if necessary. Dressing really is very simple, but I find it can require confidence and a good sense of taste. Good luck.

A warning to the adventurous who may consider trying this recipe. The ingredients are expensive. You will only buy them occassionally, but that first purchase could be dear. Try it when you feel like treating yourself.

CHOCOLATE

2008-03-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

When it is cold, as it was over the last few weeks; and you have little else to occupy your thoughts; visions of chocolate have a way of sneaking in and taking hold. Tyler's Birthday came and went last week, and to celebrate I whipped up this easy intense flourless cake. The recipe was passed along to me by a friend who found it at Epicurious.com. It is a cinch to make and produces a cake that more closely resembles the consistency of fudge. Now, that's my kind of cake!

4 oz. good-quality bittersweet chocolate

(this is any chocolate with a cocoa solid over 65%)

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted)

Preheat your oven to 375F. Find an 8 inch baking dish, butter the bottom and sides. Line the bottom with baking parchment, if you don't have any to hand I find you can cover the butter with a fine coating of sugar. It remains dry during the baking process and provides a little realease for the cake, but it doesn't work as well as parchment. Whatever the case, I typically only use the parchment for the bottom circle of the pan and use the butter/sugar trick for the sides.

Break the chocolate into pieces, about bite sized or a little bigger. Put it in a metal bowl and place the bowl on the stove over a pot of barely simmering water. Chocolate melts at around 85F (making big claims here....I'm not sure if my pastry memory serves me that well, but maybe I'll check my facts later). Anyway, it doesn't take much heat to melt chocolate, a good rule of thumb; melted chocolate should never feel much warmer than body temperature when you put your finger in it. And chocolate burns easily. It's not as tricky as I am making it all sound. Merely stir your chocolate occassionally being sure to scrape the edges of the bowl and if you see steam escaping the sides of your bowl/pot contraption, you probably have the heat too high.

On a separate burner in a small pot melt your butter on low heat. Once it is ready, and if your choclate is nearly all melted you can combine the two. If your choclate is not yet liquified continue to keep it over the simmering water. When done, take the pan off the heat and stir in the sugar. You may use a whisk or a rubber spatula, the trick is to use as few strokes as possible. The more air you introduce into chocolate the harder it becomes to handle. Again it's not as delicate as rocket science, it's simply something to be aware of while you work. Crack your eggs into a small bowl and beat them to break up the yolks. Touch your chocolate, if it is merely warm you may add your eggs; if it seems hot, let the mixture cool for a few minutes first.

With the addition of the eggs you are ready to add your cocoa powder. Please - sift your cocoa first. A pastry cook knows that cocoa clumps as it sits around in its container, secretly plotting to foil your favorite confections with dry lumps of bitter chocolate dust. Sifting it before use reduces those lumps and thwarts it's nasty plot. Please, please...sift. If you are fastidious you may even choose to sift it over your cake batter in three additions, gently folding the batter in between to incorporate the powder.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and take a moment to make it reasonably level. Voila! It's time to put your pan into the oven. I typically set the timer for half the recommended length and turn my cake when it buzzes. Keep an eye on this cake near the end of its cooking time. Overcooking it will strip it of much of its unctious moist goodness. It is done when a crust is beginning to form over the batter. Don't despair if you are lax in this respect, I have found the cake rising and cracking in the oven; after nervously puling it out, it cooled to a level appearance, and had retained enough moisture to be devilishly good.

Oh, it should take 25 minutes.

Chicken Parmesan

2008-03-14T06:02:00.000-07:00

Tyler is the chicken parmesan Maestro at our house. This dish was his brainchild and it is by far the best chicken parm I have ever had. I think the secret is in pounding the breasts thin, it provides a better crumb to meat ratio making each bite much more flavorful. You will have to forgive us as there is no hard and fast recipe for this just some suggestions and a little guidance.

2 breasts of chicken, pounded 1/4 thick

3 pieces of FRESH bread

various herbs.

we like rosmary, sage, and thyme,

but made it last night with only rosemary and Italian flat leaf parsley.

Kosher salt (1/2 to 1 tsp)

fresh cracked pepper

2 eggs, beaten to break up the yolks

1/2 pound dried spaghetti

1 Tbs. butter + 1 Tbs. evoo

jar of tomato sauce

shredded mozz. (maybe 1/2 pound)

So here are the few heretical tricks that will improve your chicken parm. Use fresh breadcrumbs. No need to toast. The fresh crumbs coat the chicken better and make the whole dish more moist. Also be sure to coat your chicken in breadcrumbs first then dip it in the egg wash - not the other way around like your mamma did it. This creates a better and more consistent coating of breadcrumbs where most of the flavor in the dish comes from.

Now the step by step.

We cut off the top crust of our bread because it was decorated with oatey bits we didn't want in our meal. The bread then went into the Cuisinart along with the needles of 2 maybe 3 sprigs of rosemary and a handful of Italian parsley. Rosemary is a fairly forward tasting herb so start small and add more if the crumbs need it. To this add the 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp (approx) of fresh cracked black pepper and blast the whole mess in the Cuisinart until the mix is pulverized. Warm your butter and oil in a skillet large enough to accomodate all your chicken, and preheat your oven to 350F. Crack your eggs in a bowl that will accomodate a piece of chicken and transfer your breadcrumbs to a plate. When the butter in the pan is producing small bubbles you are hot enough to begin. Coat both sides of your chicken in the crumbs then dip it in the egg mix and put it in the skillet. Repeat for the second fillet. You will only be cooking the chicken long enough to brown the crumbs and set the egg. Flip the breasts once taking care not to pull away the yummy breadcrumb coating. You may want to cut your fillets in half before coating them to make the whole prospect of flipping easier. We find we can only eat half a breast of chicken anyway. Meanwhile add a little tomato sauce to the bottom of a baking dish, just enough to cover. When the chicken is browned transfer it to the baking dish, cover with more sauce, and a generous portion of cheese. Cooking time in the oven will vary, but we find that 20-25 minutes is usually enough. There is nothing wrong with cutting into a piece of chicken to check it - unless you are trying to impress someone with presentation. And then, you are probably trying too hard. If you are checking, remember to always check the thickest part of the fillet.

The rest of the dish is fairly straightforward for anyone who has ever made spaghetti with red sauce. Boil your water, cook your pasta, drain, and toss with a little oil to prevent it from sticking together while it waits to be served up. It's all in the timing. But starting you water when the chicken goes into the oven should be good timing for everything.

Squash and radicchio risotto

2008-03-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

We're ending the blog hiatus with a cooking entry. It is freezing in Boston, well it could be worse; but I should get some slack for coming here from Phoenix. The weather has made stodgy filling comforting dishes in high demand at our household. We're all trying to put on winter "coats" or rather fill out to keep warm. Living way up here in the wilds of New England where there is snow on the ground and positively nothing growing I am acutely aware of the produce in the grocery store. Where on earth are these tomatoes coming from?...And while truly ameliorating this worry would mean eating only roots and tubers, I am happy enough to stick to foods that tolerate a colder growing season. Seems reasonable, right? So here is to starchy wintery food!

6 cups stock

1 cup cooked squash (I used Butternut)

1 head radicchio, cut into wedges 1 to 2 inches wide

evoo

salt and pepper

balsamic vinegar

3 Tbs. butter

1 onion, diced

1 1/2 cup arborio rice

1 cup parmesan

Before I begin I should give credit to Deborah Madison for this wonderful recipe.

Whenever you have the time and the oven is on perhaps for something else, halve the squash, scoop out the seeds, spread oil on the cut side and place it, cutside down on a baking sheet in the oven. The best temps for roasting are anywhere between 325 and 375, with 350 being ideal. It is finished when it is tender to the touch - about 45 min. Scoop out the cooked flesh and mash it with a fork. You only need 1 cup for this recipe so if you have extra put it in a plastic bag and freeze it for the next batch of wonderful risotto. Before beginning the remaining recipe be sure your stock is steaming but not simmering on a neighboring burner. In a warmed skillet, medium heat, with 1 Tbs. of oil sautee the radicchio until it is wilted and just browning. Take it off the heat and splash it with balsamic vinegar, between 2 and 3 Tbs, if you need a measurement. Chop your onion while you melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onion to the skillet and cook it until it is translucent and wilty. Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat it in the fat.

Here Ms. Madison departs from what I know as conventional risotto making technique. I'm sure both methods would be acceptable. She advises turning the heat on the skillet to high and adding 2 cups of stock. Cook the rice at a boil, stirring occassionally. I turned the heat down at this point and continued at the normal simmer of risotto.

When you are 2/3 the way through your stock it is time to add your mashed squash to the risotto. Simply stir until it is well combined. When the rice has reached the right consistency add your radicchio, turn off the heat, stir in the cheese, and taste then season with pepper and salt (if needed).

You are done, and if you are eating it somewhere cold like I am you will probably enjoy it wrapped in blankets in front of the TV. (Or is that just my terrible habit?)

Nigella's Pea Risotto

2007-12-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

We are forever stealing risotto recipes from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat cookbook, but this one is so good we can't help it. Unfortunately, I bought the book while living in England so none of the metric measurements have been translated into the more familiar American cups and ounces. Normally I would do that for you before posting the recipe online, but today I say "It's time for you to buy a scale!" A simple, cheap, mechanical version will suffice. You should be able to find them at any vast box selling merchandise.

Pea Risotto

serves 2
60 g unsalted butter
2 liters stock (chicken or vegetable)
150 g frozen peas
one small onion, small dice
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
200 g Arborio rice
80 ml dry white wine
2 Tbs. parmesan
nutmeg*

In a small saucepan melt 1/3 of the butter on low heat. To this add the peas and cook for 2 minutes. Meanwhile warm the stock on a neighboring burner and hold it there. Add 2 ladelfuls of stock to the peas, cover, and cook for five more minutes. In a large skillet, melt another 1/3 of the butter. To this add the evoo and onion. When the onion is translucent, add the uncooked arborio rice and stir to cover the grains in fat. They will glisten and become clear at their tips. Add the wine to the pan and allow it to bubble away. When the rice is almost dry (take care that it isn't sticking to the skillet) begin adding the warmed stock a ladleful at a time allowing the rice to absorb the liquid between additions. You will continue in this way until all the stock has been added stirring the risotto from time to time to ensure it cooks evenly.
Now for the peas that have been patiently waiting. Ladle half of the mixture into a blender and pulse until it is pureed. Add this puree and the whole peas with their cooking liquid to the risotto near the end of its cooking time.
When all the stock has been added taste the risotto for doneness. It should have the consistency of al dente pasta. If it is still undercooked, make more stock and continue adding it. If it is finished, go ahead and add the parmesan cheese, the last 1/3 of the butter, and a quick grating of nutmeg. Viola!

*Nutmeg is one of those spices like pepper that loses much of its impact in powdered form. Buy it whole and grate it when needed. Another tip, it can usually be found more cheaply packaged in bags alongside the plethora of Mexican goods sold in most southwest stores. However, it needs to be stored in a glass container at home to protect and preserve it.

Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo

2007-10-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here is something we tried the other night when we were bereft of groceries and willpower, but not inspiration...no! Tyler wanted Fettucini Alfredo with roasted red pepper, and we thought, why not puree the pepper and fold it into the sauce? We were pleasantly surprised.

1 red pepper, roasted, skinned, seeded and pureed

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbs. butter, unsalted

1/2 cup parmesan

1/2 pound fettucini

salt and pepper

variations

add fresh basil

try red chili flakes for a spicy dimension

add shrimp to the pasta

use fusilli instead of fettucini

or maybe cheese ravioli...

Under the broiler in the oven, roast the red pepper turning occassionally until the skin is burnt and blistered. Remove pepper from the oven and either place it in a sealed ziploc bag or simply in a bowl with a kitchen towel over top. This will trap the steam and encourage the skin to separate from the pepper. Leave it to steam for five minutes, then under running water (some would argue that this sacrifices flavour but I say, "boo!") slough off the skin, remove the stem and seeds. Puree the pepper in a Cuisinart with 1/2 Tbs. of butter. Begin boiling water for the pasta in a large pot, when at a boil add a generous amount of salt to the water. (Marcella Hazan says pasta should be cooked in water that tastes like the sea, she's right.) Add the pasta to the sea water. In a large saucepan warm the remaining butter and cream on medium heat. You are looking for the cream to lose a little moisture and thicken slightly. Fold in the red pepper puree, and parmesan cheese. Once your pasta is al dente add it to the saucepan as well and toss it to coat it in the sauce. Voila!

Seafood Linguini with a Curried Cream Sauce

2007-10-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! We found this recipe online at epicurious.com, and it is amazing. It always illicits a second helping. It would be a good dinner to roll out at a party and impress your friends. And it has the added bonus of being easy enough to fix on a work night. The flavours, however, are a little unusual and they may not suit everbody's pallette.

Curried Seafood Linguini
2 Tbs. evoo
1/2 cup shallots, small dice (about 4)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
8 large shrimp, peeled and deveined (20 count)
6 oz crabmeat
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 3/4 cup chicken stock
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbs. curry powder
a pinch of saffron threads
1/2 cup of cream
1 pound linguini or fettucini
salt for the pasta water

Prepare your shrimp and chop your shallots and garlic. Warm your chicken broth and pour 1/2 cup of it into a bowl that contains the 2 tsp cornstarch. Stir well to combine and set aside. Put the pot of water on to boil for the pasta. When it is ready add a generous amount of salt 2 - 3 Tbs. and the pasta. Heat the evoo in a medium to large skillet on medium heat. Begin by sauteeing your shallots and garlic stirring often until they soften. Add the shrimp and cook for a minute. Add the crabmeat and stir to combine then add the white wine. Allow the wine to simmer and boil off until only a few tablespoons of moisture are left in the pan. Add your warm chicken stock and your chicken stock with cornstarch and stir to combine. Bring the sauce to a boil and lower the temperature to a simmer letting the sauce cook for a minute until you notice the cornstarch thickening the sauce. Add the Tbs. of curry powder, the pinch of saffron threads, and the 1/2 cup cream and allow the mixture to warm up. Hopefully, your pasta is ready or almost ready at this point. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and return it to the large pasta pot off the heat. Add the sauce on top and stir to coat the pasta in the tasty goodness. Voila!

German Potato Salad

2007-10-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'd like to think it's the best potato salad in the world, but Tyler disagrees. He hates it prefering a mayonnaise based dressing instead. But this is the kind of salad I remember my mother making - the salty crunch of the bacon, the pucker-inducing bite of the vinegar... all mellowed by the smooth creamy flesh of the potatoes. Let me know what you think

"The best potato salad in the world"...
3 pounds small/creamer potatoes (the itty bitty baby ones that sell for $3 a pound).
3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, rough chopped
2 onions, sliced thinly (if you want, but I can't stomach raw onions)
5 strips bacon
1 Tbs. sugar
1/3 cup evoo
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tbs. water

Do all your chopping while you cook your eggs and your bacon. Wash you potatoes, put them in a generous amount of boiling water, and boil them until they are tender enough to pierce with a fork - about 15 to 20 minutes. Combine your eggs, bacon, celery, and onions (if using). To them add your sugar, salt, pepper, and evoo and stir gently to combine. When the potatoes are ready drain them and transfer them into a bowl large enough to accomodate the entire salad. In a small saucepan combine your vinegar and water and bring to a boil. (I have no idea what this step does except maybe take the bite out of the vinegar or perhaps the heat causes the potatoes to better absorb the acid...) Once the vinegar is warm pour it over the hot potatoes and toss them to coat. Now add your veg/egg/bacon/s&p mixture to the vinegary potatoes. The salad is ready to serve at this point and, I think, at its best with warm fluffy potatoes and contrasting cold crunchy celery, bacon, and eggs. Enjoy!

Tuscan Chickpea Soup

2007-10-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

It really can't get any easier than this. This soup takes about 30 minutes from start to eating. It has relatively few ingredients so the focus is on buying the best you can afford.

Tuscan Chickpea Soup
1/4 oz. pancetta, medium dice
2 Tbs. evoo
1 onion, peeled, medium dice
4 cloves garlic, peeled, rough chopped
2 celery stalks, medium dice
6 sage leaves
1 quart chicken stock
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
1 14oz. can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
really good olive oil (not meant for cooking but for eating raw)

*Notes on substitution: You can substitute bacon, but pancetta is the best option. It is unsmoked, and usually of a higher quality that most supermarket bacon. The pancetta will render lots of gorgeous fat into the soup that gives it a wonderful mouth feel.
Strangely, pancetta and sage seem to be seasonal - at least in Arizona. I made this soup last night and found it impossible to locate either item at the local shops. I did use bacon (shock, horror); and found that rosemary made a good change from the sage. However, because rosemary is stronger in flavour I only used three 3 inch clippings from our plant in the backyard.

On medium heat warm the evoo (extra virgin olive oil) add the pancetta and render the fat before adding the celery, garlic, sage and onion. Allow the veg to sweat and soften for about 15 minutes. They will color a little, but I found this is a lot of food for my stockpot and the crowding lowered the temperature and let the vegetables get steamy. This is okay.
Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and chicken stock to the soup and allow everything to heat through - about 10 minutes. Viola! (I said it was easy.) Season to taste with kosher salt and please, freshy cracked pepper.
Eat the soup with crusty bread and a good drizzle of the olive oil overtop. We also sprinkled our bowls with strips of proscuitto we had languishing in our refrigerator.

Ibarra Chocolate Cookies

2007-08-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

Finally a post to match the title of the blog...a "recovering pastry chef" recipe. This is my own recipe - a double chocolate cookie that we used to make in the bake shop at the Sheraton. It has Ibarra chocolate in it which is actually a Mexican hot drinking chocolate that you can find in most grocery stores. You will just need a good food processor - Cuisanart etc, - to help you pulverize it into dust.

Yield: about 5 dozen

4 1/3 cups All purpose flour

1 cup sifted cocoa powder

2 tsp. Baking powder

2 tsp. Baking soda

2 tsp. salt

2 cups softenend butter

2 cups sugar

2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

3 tbs. vanilla

3 cups semi sweet choc chips

2 cups Ibarra chocolate, pulsed in a processor

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Sift together the dry ingredients - flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda, and salt.

In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer cream the butter and both sugars together at medium speed until combined (about 3 minutes). Crack the eggs into a small pitcher and whisk them quickly to break up the yolks to this add the 3 Tbs. vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the eggs onto the butter waiting for the two substances to combine before continuing to add the eggs. Halfway through the addition of your eggs it is a good idea to thoroughly scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl for even mixing. Next you will add your dry ingredients. If your bowl is smallish (most likely the case if you are using a stand mixer) turn the mixer off and add 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Quickly turn the beater of the mixer on and off three or four times to work in the flour then make your next addition. You simply don't want to throw the mixer on high and get covered in flour. You also don't want to let the mixer run with the flour in the batter and build the gluten - this will toughen your cookies. So mix the flour only enough to thoroughly combine it with the butter. Lastly, fold the the Ibarra dust and then the chocolate chips into the batter by hand. Form the cookies into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place them on the sheetpan evenly spaced and press down on them lightly to flatten them just a little. Bake for about 20 minutes turning your pan halfway through the baking time.

Mushroom Risotto

2007-08-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

I was speaking to Nina last night and she was somehow dubious that dried mushrooms and rice could approximate anything close to Italian food. So I told her I would send her the recipe. Before I post it a few words on risotto. Risotto is actually short grain Italian rice that is cooked by slowly adding liquid rather than the common drown and boil of most rices. There are three kinds of risotto - arborio, carnaroli, and vialone nano. If you are shopping at a regular grocery store you will most likely only encounter arborio rice which is fine. But if you really get into cooking and eating risottos like I have you will want to seek out the other grains at specialty food shops they differ from arborio and each other in firmness and creaminess.

Nigella Lawson's Mushroom Risotto

4 tbs. unsalted butter

2 Tbs. evoo

1/2 an onion, small dice

15 g dried porcini mushrooms (about 3/4 cup)

3/4 cup hot water for soaking mushrooms

1 cup arborio rice

3 cups chicken stock

2 to 3 Tbs. grated parmesan

a handful of Italian parsley rough chopped for garnishing

black pepper

Soak the mushrooms in water for 20 minutes or so. I have never actually sprung for porcinis because they are so expensive (and I am so cheap). I use dried shiitakes that I buy from the Asian grocer for a song. Make your stock and keep it warm on a neighboring burner to this add your leftover mushroom soaking water. Melt 2 Tbs. butter in a large skillet. Add the evoo and the onions and on medium heat saute until translucent. Add the rough chopped mushrooms and the uncooked rice. Stir the rice in the fat until the grains are glistening and become translucent at the tips. To this add a ladel or two of stock and allow the rice to absorb it before adding more. This is how the rice is cooked, slowly, adding moisture a bit at time. The whole process takes about twenty minutes. Be sure to occasionally stir the risotto so that it cooks evenly. When the stock is almost gone taste the risotto for doneness. It should be firm like al dente pasta. You will finish the risotto with the remaining 2 Tbs. of butter and the grated parmesan cheese. Add black pepper as needed for flavour and garnish with fresh Italian parsley.

This portion only serves Tyler and I, but we tend to eat A LOT of risotto and nothing else as a side dish.

Tomato and Cream sauce

2007-07-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

I made this sauce last night to go with homemade spinach and ricotta gnocchi. They were awesome - an attempt to use up wilting spinach as well as containers of ricotta cheese lurking in our fridge from previous endeavours into baked ziti. The recipe is from Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cooking. It was easy, tasty, and the leftovers can be frozen for those nights when cooking dinner is a desperate task.

1/4 pound unsalted butter, that's one stick, typically 4 ounces. (I know, don't tell my husband.)

3 Tbs. finely chopped onion

1 stalk finely chopped celery

2 carrots, finely chopped

1 28oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients except the cream in a large skillet and cook at the slightest simmer for one hour. Remove from the heat and process in a Cuisanart. Be sure to turn off the machine before the sauce looses all of its texture. Return the sauce to the heat on low and add the cream, taste and adjust seasoning.

The gnocchi recipe was also from her book, and if anybody is interested, I will post that as well. Otherwise I would recommend a tubular pasta for this sauce like penne, or perhaps a broad, flat, noodle like fettucini; but I am sure I am breaking some solemn Italian custom of shape and sauce matching...

My Mother's Chicken Cacciatore

2007-06-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

That she found in Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook...

This is not only my favourite Cacciatore recipe, it is my favourite way to eat chicken and spaghetti; even though Tyler makes a killer chicken parmesan. It is my mother's secret weapon in her culinary arsenal; and she would often entertain with it. Inevitably, she would rather proudly confide to her guests that the recipe contained vast quantities of alcohol. But don't worry, it boils off during cooking; and you can omit it; but then...

4 pounds chicken, bone in thighs and breasts

1/4 to 1/2 cup all purpose flour for dredging

1/4 cup evoo

2 tbs. shallots, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup dry white wine, my mother always used Chablis

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper

3/4 cup chicken stock

1/2 of a bay leaf

1/8 tsp. dried thyme OR 3 sprigs fresh

1/8 tsp. dried marjoram

1/2 to 1 cup mushrooms, preferably crimini or baby bellas

1/4 cup Brandy

Begin by dredging the chicken in flour and setting it aside. Pour the olive oil into a skillet large enough to accomodate the chicken - you should also have a lid for this skillet. Heat the oil to medium high and begin by browning the chicken. Remove the chicken and add the mushrooms. Again, the mushrooms should be added on a high heat for a good carmelization, so if you don't hear a good sizzle when they are added, raise your temperature. You may also need to add more oil as the mushrooms love to soak it up. When the mushrooms are carmelized with the heat at medium to medium high add the onions and sweat until translucent. Add the garlic at this point. I usually don't chop garlic because it will burn more easily if it is smaller - and burnt garlic is terribly bitter. I will peel the garlic and then crush it under the side of my knife so it breaks open. Once you smell the garlic, add the tomato paste and let it cook for thirty seconds to a minute. At this point add the wine and scrape up the brown bits clinging to the pan. The wine will evaporate. When there seems to be only one or two tablespoons remaining add the rest of the ingredients, return the chicken to the pan, bring the pan to a slow simmer, cover and cook until the chicken is finished 45 to 60 minutes. I prefer a runny sauce and have, at times, cooked the cacciatore with too much heat thereby thickening the sauce. If this happens you can add water or chicken broth, but taste the sauce for saltiness and adjust. This recipe is best served alongside spaghetti dressed with olive oil.

My brother, Sean, recommended I make wine parings for the recipes I list, but I have to admit that he is much better at something like that than I am. Perhaps he'll contribute and I can post it here. But for now I'll tell you that we had a Toad Hollow, Paso Robles red table wine with our dinner that we enjoyed very much.

Bomb A** Pork Chops

2007-06-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

This recipe came from Jerry Traunfield's Herbfarm Cookbook, a seredipitous purchase in our household that holds the position of The Cookbook. We always turn to him for fantastic recipes. The recipe is easy enough to make after work - seriously. If you are willing to spend a half hour in the kitchen, you can whip these up. And if you are as talented as Tyler you can produce some mashed potatoes with gorgonzola cheese and collard greens boiled then sauteed with garlic and red pepper flakes. He's such a good wife!

Pork Chops with Sage, Onion, and Proscuitto

2 thick-cut loin or rib pork chops (about 1 1/4 inches thick - he suggests 10 to 12 ounces each, but I think ours were smaller)

salt and freshly ground pepper

2 Tbs. evoo

1 large onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh sage

4 ounces thinly sliced proscuitto, cut into 1/4 inch-wide strips

You can substitute bacon for the proscuitto in a pinch.

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 tsp. Dijon

Season both sides of the chops with the salt and pepper. Heat the evoo in a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown pork in pan on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove chops from pan and set aside. Reduce heat on skillet to medium-low and add the onions and sage. Cook uncovered stirring often until the onion is softened and lightly browned. Stir in the proscuitto and cook until it loses it's color. Add the stock and mustard. Return the pork to the pan, reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and gently simmer the chops until they reach 145F to 150F. You can check with a thermometer. We never do. They take about twenty minutes, and seem to stand up to overcooking. Transfer the chops to a warm plate and raise the heat on the skillet. Boil the sauce until it thickens slightly. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper if neccessary. Serve.

*If substituting bacon for the proscuitto add it to the skillet after the chops are removed. Render the fat on a low heat and cook the bacon until it begins to brown. Now add the onions and sage to brown.

Last Night's Dinner

2007-06-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

We had some good luck last night when we made dinner for our friends. Tandoori chicken, curried green beans, and almond raspberry tart. I am including the recipe for the tart here because it was so gosh darn easy. If you find nice raspberries at the store, I highly recommend it. I found it in last month's issue of Sunset magazine.

Raspberry Almond Tart

The crust of this tart tastes more like a frangipane than a sugar dough and you simply press it into the bottom of the tin - no pesky walls to break. Then pop it in the oven for baking without pastry weights or docking!

Crust

3/4 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup All purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 egg + 1 yolk

1 tsp. almond extract

Preheat oven to 350. In a food processor, pulse almonds and sugar until finely ground, being careful to stop before they turn into nut butter. Add flour and salt and pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. With motor running, add egg, egg yolk, and almond extract. Stop as soon as dough comes together. Press dough into the bottom of the tart tin and bake until golden - about 25 minutes. You may need to turn the tart once if your oven heats unevenly. Let tart cool and remove from tin.

Ganache

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp. cream

This most definitely flies in the face of any ganache I have made, but really the quantities are so small that the method works. Heat chocolate in a bowl or double boiler over steaming water. Make sure the water is never too hot, and remember to stir the chocolate less it burn; and never, never, drip any water into your bowl of chocolate. Once your choclolate has melted add your cream. The chocolate will cool and not readily combine with the cream. Simply continue to stir the mixture over the hot water with a spatula until it all comes to a consistent temperature and combines. Pour ganache on top of cooled crust and spread it out to the edges. You can leave a little crust bare around the edge like a pizza for a better appearance.

Cheesy Goodness

4 oz. mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup cream

Beat whipping cream with a whisk in a stand mixer or with any other sufficient kitchen contraption. Once it begins to gain volume but before it has much stiffness add the mascarpone. You will need to turn down the mixer a little until the cheese softens, and it will not combine right away. Give it a moment. As the mixture begins to smooth add the powdered sugar with the beater on low. Once the ganache is set and cooled spread cheese on top of tart.

2 pints raspberries

Decorate tart with lots of raspberries!

Wonton Soup

2007-05-30T15:33:00.001-07:00

I was craving wonton soup last week. But what began as an intended trip to PF Chang's quickly degenerated into ordering delivery pizza. This week now that Tyler is back from vacation, I have cleaned up my act. Starting with the wonton soup I made last night. The recipe is from a supplemental recipe book I received with my Saveur subscription.

Wonton Soup

4 cups chicken broth
1 half inch piece of ginger, sliced
4 scallions rough cut, whites only

Combine in a pot and bring to a simmer on medium high. Reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes. Remove solids when finished and hold broth on a low burner to keep warm.

1 head bok choy, washed and chopped in bite sized pieces

Cook bok choy in a large pot of boiling water until tender 3-5 minutes. I typically trim the stems at the base of the leaf.

1/4 pound shrimp, shelled, deveined and chopped
2 oz. ground pork
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. cornstarch
Wonton wrappers

Combine the sesame oil and soy sauce. Add cornstarch and mix until it dissolves. Fold in the raw meat until evenly combined. To make wontons, work on a clean surface with a small bowl of water nearby. Place a wrapper flour side down on the surface with the point towards you, so it looks like a diamond. Place a small amount of the filling in the middle of the wrapper 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. Wet the top 2 edges of the wrapper then press them together with the bottom 2 edges. The wonton should now be triangle shaped. Wet the left and right hand corners of the triangle and bring them together pinching lightly. They should look like little tortellini. Cook the wonton in boiling water in batches of 4 or 5. When they are done, they will float.

Place wontons in the bottom of the soup bowl, add some bok choy, and ladle the hot broth on top. Use fresh chopped scallions to garnish.

Anniversary Orzo

2007-04-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I went away last weekend to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We ate dinner one night at a fun local, woodsy eatery that had been frozen in time in the 1970's, "Would you like Thousand Island with that?" And the next night we cooked Cornish Game Hens on the grill at the cabin we were renting. Here is the sidedish we made to go with the hen. I have to give a little warning about this recipe. This is something I made up on the spot, five days ago. My memory of quantities could be effected by time.

Anniversary Orzo
2 Tbs. oil
6 oz. mushrooms sliced
1/3 cup diced red onion
3 cloves garlic
2/3 cup orzo
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
3 bay leaves
1 Tbs. dried oregano
1 12oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives

I am particular about mushrooms. I liked them cooked on a high heat so they are deeply carmelized and flavourful. I hate spongy, moist, insipid mushrooms and spend most of my time picking them out of food. So begin this dish by heating the oil to medium high in a dutch oven. Saute the mushrooms first. You want to hear an angry sizzle when you add them to the pot. If you don't, it's not hot enough. Once the mushrooms have a good color on them, reduce the heat to medium, add the onion and sweat until translucent. To this add the garlic and uncooked orzo. Have your chicken broth ready and warming on very low heat on an adjoining burner. You will cook the orzo like a risotto. Once the orzo is covered with oil and you can smell the garlic, begin slowly adding the chicken stock a ladelful at a time waiting for it to absorb between additions. This is where my quantities could be a little rusty. You should test the orzo throughout cooking. Once it is almost done stop adding broth. During the addition of broth add the dried herbs. When the orzo is still a touch firm add the tomatoes and their water. This additional moisture will help to cook the orzo completely - you can always add more broth if I'm lying. Lastly add the olives and serve the dish once they are heated through.

Self-confessed Food Nerd

2007-03-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

I am browsing through a book called Food in History by Reay Tannahill, hence the aforementioned "food nerd". And I couldn't believe this excerpt concerning food additives in the 1800s:

"China tea was green, and fake varieties were often produced from thorn leaves by drying them and then colouring them with verdigris, which was, of course, poisonous...The usual thing was for merchants simply to buy up used tea leaves from hotels, coffee houses and the servants of the rich, stiffen them with a gum solution and re-tint them with black lead. Even after treatment with verdigris or lead, however, tea was still a healthier drink than some of the 'gin' that had been sold a century earlier - compounded, according to one recipe, from ingredients that included sulphuric acid and oil of turpentine.
...crusted old port was new port crusted with supertartrate of potash; ...pickles owed their appetizing green colour to copper; ...many table wines gained their 'nutty' flavour from bitter almonds, which contain prussic acid; ...the rainbow hues of London's boiled sweets were produced by the highly poisonous salts of copper and lead; ...most commercial bread was loaded with alum; and ...the rich orange rind of Gloucester cheese came form ordinary red lead."

Shrimp Fettucini with Pesto and Asparagus

2007-03-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

This was a foray on our own last night with a little help from Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cookbook. I used her recipe for blender pesto and omitted the pine nuts and romano cheese simply because we didn't have either on hand.

Serves 2

Pesto

2 cups basil leaves

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup good evoo

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

3 Tbs. room temperature butter

Combine ingredients in a blender and pulse. The sides may have to be scraped down occassionally. Remove pesto from blender and beat cheese in by hand. Add butter. Place pesto in fridge until ready to use.

Fettucini

1 bunch asparagus

10 pieces 26 count shrimp, deveined, shell on

2 cloves garlic peeled and minced

2 Tbs. butter

1 bag fettucini

2 Tbs. salt

I keep the asparagus in their rubberbanded bundle and chop off the tough ends. Cut the remaining stalks into three even pieces. Put a large pot with enough water to accomodate the asparagus on the stove to boil. When boiling add the asparagus and cook them until they are tender, about 10 minutes depending on the size of your vegetables. I drain the asparagus and save the heated water to cook the fettucini returning it immediately to the stove on high. Once it is at a rolling boil add the 2 Tbs. salt and enough fettucini for two people. In a medium sized skillet melt 1 Tbs. butter over low heat. Once melted increase the heat to medium low. Add the garlic, cook until you can smell it then add the shrimp. They will take about five minutes to cook through. Do not overcook them or they will be tough. Remove the shrimp from the pan and put in the asparagus with the last Tbs. of butter. Allow them to warm on low heat while the pasta finishes cooking. I generally drain the pasta then return it to low heat in the same pot in which it cooked. To this add the shrimp, asparagus, and pesto and toss until completely combined.

Lavender Iced Tea

2007-03-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

Well it had to happen sometime. The temperature has crept up into the nineties this week. And in amongst our whinings about the upcoming summer we decided to make some Iced Tea. It's a summer treat. Something to combat the 100+ degrees when we hole up inside and draw the curtains. We're not there yet, but this will calm our anxiety about the coming inferno.

yield: 3 quarts

Tea

2 qt. water + 1 qt. added at end

10 Lipton or other black tea bags

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 1/2 tsp dried lavender buds - roll them in your palms or fingers to crush them and release their flavour

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Knot tea bags together for easy retrieval and when pot boils, dump them in. Turn off the heat and let steep for half hour or until mixture cools. To make the simple syrup, combine sugar and water in a sauce pot. Stir to wet all the sugar and put on low heat. At this point make sure there are no sugar crystals clinging to the edges of the pot. They will cloud the syrup. Simply wipe them off using a wet pastry brush or your finger. I'm not particular. When sugar appears to have entirely or almost entirely dissolved up the heat to medium or medium high (depending on patience). Let simple syrup come to a rolling boil for ten seconds. Turn off heat. Add lavender buds. Let steep for 10 minutes. Strain out lavender, add to tea, and add remaining quart of water. Voila!

Sea bass and Fennel Tagine

2007-03-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

While Tyler and I are sometimes adventurous enough to "wing it" in the kitchen we often use recipes in cookbooks. This stew comes from Meditteranean by Joanna Farrow and Jacqueline Clarke.

stew

1 1/2 pounds sea bass or other whitefish

8 oz. shrimp

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 bulb fennel

1 onion

2 cups fish broth or weak chicken stock

8 oz. new or waxy potatoes cut into large pieces

chermoula

4 tsp. paprika

4 tsp. ground cumin

3 Tbs. white vinegar

1 Tbs. lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic crushed

2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tbs. chopped fresh Italian parsley

Assemble the chermoula first. Shell, tail, and devein the shrimp. Cut the whitefish into large bitesize pieces. Place the seafood in separate shallow containers and coat each in half of the chermoula mixture. Cover fish and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. In a large dutch oven heat the olive oil on medium. Add the onion sauteing for 2 minutes. To this add the fennel and cook until the vegetables begin to catch the bottom of the pot and brown. Add the stock and scrape up the yummy brown bits on the bottom of the pot. To this add the potatoes, cover and simmer until they are tender - about 15 minutes. Uncover pot, test the potatoes, if they are just about cooked, add the whitefish taking care to also add all the chermoula. Make sure the pot is at a low simmer so the fish doesn't fall apart too much. After about 4 minutes add the shrimp which will take an additional 2 minutes to cook. Serve with a crusty baguette, good quality olive oil (for drizzling) and kosher salt.