A Year In The Kitchen

June 12: Black Bean Soup with Chipotle Chiles

2008-06-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

I am having a hectic and very odd week, which I will maybe not go into a lot of detail about here, because you're probably here about the food. So, I will keep it brief, but still attempt to be interesting.

In Michigan, there is a wonderful Mexican restaurant in a small town called Otsego that serves the best black bean soup on this earth. Seriously.

I have never been able to recreate it, but this may not be a bad approximation. In addition, chipotles are smoky, which eliminates the need for bacon. Make no mistake, I am not saying that bacon is a bad thing, but, you know, some people don't dig on the pig. There's a ham steak in here too, which you can totally do without. Just leave it out.

Black Bean Soup with Chipotle Chiles

Beans

1 pound dried black beans (2 cups), rinsed and picked over
4 ounces ham steak , trimmed of rind
2 bay leaves
5 cups water
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt

Soup

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped fine (about 3 cups)
1 large carrot, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)
3 ribs celery, chopped fine (about 1 cup)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
5 - 6 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 1/2 tablespoon)
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo
2 teaspoons adobo sauce
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons lime juice , from 1 to 2 limes

Garnishes

lime wedges
minced fresh cilantro leaves
red onion , finely diced
avocado , diced medium
sour cream

1. FOR THE BEANS: Place beans, ham, bay, water, and baking soda in large saucepan with tight-fitting lid. Bring to boil over medium-high heat; using large spoon, skim scum as it rises to surface. Stir in salt, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer briskly until beans are tender, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours (if necessary, add another 1 cup water and continue to simmer until beans are tender); do not drain beans. Discard bay. Remove ham steak (ham steak darkens to color of beans), cut into 1/4-inch cubes, and set aside.

2. FOR THE SOUP: Heat oil in 8-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking; add onions, carrot, celery, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft and lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and add garlic and cumin; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in beans, bean cooking liquid, chipotle chiles, adobo sauce, and chicken broth. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, to blend flavors, about 30 minutes.

3. TO FINISH THE SOUP: Ladle 1 1?2 cups beans and 2 cups liquid into food processor or blender, process until smooth, and return to pot. Stir together cornstarch and water in small bowl until combined, then gradually stir about half of cornstarch mixture into soup; bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, to fully thicken. If soup is still thinner than desired once boiling, stir remaining cornstarch mixture to recombine and gradually stir mixture into soup; return to boil to fully thicken. Off heat, stir in lime juice and reserved ham; ladle soup into bowls and serve immediately, passing garnishes separately.

June 11: Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Tart

2008-06-11T17:56:00.001-07:00

Bon Appetit, I love you. Not only do you appear magically in my mailbox every month for free, you never let me down. I always find some must-try thing in there that sends me off to the grocery store for extravagant and expensive ingredients. This month is no different.

If it's dessert for me, it's gotta be chocolate. Otherwise, it's not worth the calories. Chocolate and raspberries are probably one of my favorite combinations of flavors. Those first summer raspberries, sweet and tart and floral, in combination with the heady richness of good chocolate, are a match made in heaven. Those first summer raspberries, warm from the sun, are unbeatable in my book.

What are your favorite, slightly unlikely food combinations? I used to think chile peppers and chocolate were not something I'd ever think of eating together, but then about fifteen years ago I tried a traditional Mexican mole, and it changed my mind in one bite. I love strawberries with balsalmic vinegar, which I never would have though of as even remotely appealing, but boy, was I off.

Make this dessert for company, or a special occasion. Maybe a special occasion like, I don't know, a Tuesday.

Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Tart

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons Kahlúa, other coffee flavored liqueur, or strong coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups fresh raspberries (three 6-ounce containers)
3 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam

Using on/off turns, mix flour, butter, and sugar in processor until coarse meal forms.

Mix egg yolks, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon water in small bowl. Add to processor; mix until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic. Chill 30 minutes.

DO AHEAD: Dough can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 9-inch diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Roll out dough on lightly floured work surface to 12-inch round. Fit dough into pan; trim overhang. Freeze 20 minutes.

Bake crust until golden, 25 minutes; cool.

Meanwhile, bring cream just to boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; stir until smooth. Stir in liqueur and vanilla. Cool ganache 15 minutes.

Transfer cooled crust to platter. Spoon chocolate ganache into crust and smooth top. Arrange raspberries atop chocolate. Stir raspberry jam and 1 1/2 teaspoons water in small saucepan over medium heat until smooth. Brush warm glaze over berries. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.

June 10: Chicken Breasts with Orzo, Carrots, Dill and Avgolemono Sauce

2008-06-10T17:19:00.001-07:00

Sorry, no witty banter tonight. Chicken with a sauce--a light, lemony, Greek-style sauce. Yum. Food and Wine magazine. Must go, so tired.

Chicken Breasts with Orzo, Carrots, Dill and Avgolemono Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/3 pounds in all)
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 1/2 cups orzo
4 carrots, quartered and cut into 2-inch lengths
2 eggs
2 tablespoons lemon juice

RECIPE METHOD

In a large stainless-steel frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over moderate heat. Season the chicken breasts with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and add to the pan. Cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken; add the broth, dill, and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat, and simmer, partially covered, until the chicken is just done, about 4 minutes. Remove the chicken and cover lightly with aluminum foil to keep warm. Set aside the pan with the broth.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the orzo for 6 minutes. Add the carrots and continue cooking until the orzo and carrots are just done, about 6 minutes longer. Drain and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

In a medium glass or stainless-steel bowl, beat the eggs, lemon juice, and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper until frothy. Bring the chicken broth back to a simmer and add to the eggs in a thin stream, whisking. Pour the mixture back into the pan and whisk over the lowest possible heat until the sauce begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Do not let the sauce come to a simmer, or it may curdle. Put the orzo and carrots on plates and top with the chicken and sauce.

June 9: Duck and Pear Salad with Mango Chutney Dressing

2008-06-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

Holy Cheebs, it is hot. It is really nasty awful hot, sticky, gross, and awful. I can't think of enough bad things to say about the weather. I do not care for hot weather.

I want to eat duck maybe twice a decade, and when I do, it's usually in this salad, or some variation of it. I love smoked duck breast; you have to get it from a specialty market. I don't have a good source for smoked duck breast in the D.C. area. If you can't find smoked duck breast, get regular duck breasts. Use a very sharp knive to cut through the skin on the diagonal, making a diamond pattern. Don't cut the meat. Grill or pan-saute over high heat until the duck is medium-rare, or rare, or however you like it. If you like it well done, you should go eat chicken, because that is a terrible thing to do to a duck breast. Give it a short rest, five or ten minutes or so. Slice the duck breast 1/4-inch thick on the bias across the grain.

This is a gorgeous main dish summer salad, perfect for the awful weather we're having. I would sprinkle a few toasted, chopped pecans over, and maybe a crumble of good stinky bleu cheese--I love bleu cheese and pears. I would arrange all of this over a big pile of mesclun greens. Yum. It is adapted, of course, from The Silver Palate Cookbook.

Duck and Pear Salad with Mango Chutney Dressing

4 boneless duck breasts, boned or prepared as described above, cooled
3 cups cooked rice, cooled
1 cup chopped celery
4 scallions, well rinsed and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch pieces
Grated zest of one orange
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 ripe but firm pears
1 cup lemon juice
Mango Chutney dressing (see below)

Remove the skin and slice duck breasts across the grain into 1/4 inch strips.

Toss the duck and cooked rice together ina mixing bowl. Add the celery, scallions, and orange zest and season with salt and pepper. Toss again and arange the salad on a large serving platter.

If the skin of the pears seems too thick or spotty, peel the pears. Otherwise, quarter, core, and thinly slice them, and toss them with the lemon juice.

Drain the pear slices and arange them across the duck salad. Serve immediately with the mango chutney dressing, offering the peppermill to your guests.

For the dressing:
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup blueberry or red wine vinegar
1/3 cup mango chutney
1 tablespoon soy sauce
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup peanut oil
1 cup corn oil

Combine all ingredients but the oils in a food processor bowl. Process for 1 minute. With the motor running, drizzle in the oils in a slow steady stream. When all of the oil has been incorporated, shut off the motor, scrape down the sides of the bowl, taste, and correct the seasoning.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

June 8: Gazpacho

2008-06-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

By the by, the cheese spread was delicious, as usual. I did something a little different: cheddar, cream cheese, and white wine, with a few crushed fennel seeds mixed in. Food processor for a long, long, long time. It ends up light and yet incredibly rich and delicious. I served it on French bread toasts, and not only did we enjoy it, our teacher-friend who came over to watch the baseball game today thought it was pure heaven.

Dear God is it hot out. 105 today, with brutal humidity. I am already dreading going to work tomorrow, as it will involve being outside my own living room. It's perfect weather for a cold soup.

Here are my soup rules, as adapted from The Silver Palate.

1. Use great homemade stock, if at all possible. Make big batches of it so that you can freeze it and keep it on hand.

2. Remove from the heat and let cool before pureeing.

3. Add herbs just before pureeing.

4. Cook onions and leeks for a long time, slowly, in butter.

5. Think really hard about what flavors and textures balance and match. Sweet and spicy are a good match. So are sweet and sour.

Gazpacho is one of my favorite summer lunches, especially with a slice of garlic bread and a salad. It's simple and refreshing and tastes like summer. Do yourself a favor--make it with the freshest ingredients you can find, the best of the summer farmers' market. I like mine a little spicy, with a shake or two of tabasco sauce. Think bloody mary without the vodka, in a bowl.

Gazpacho

6 large ripe tomatoes
2 red bell peppers
2 medium yellow onions
2 large shallots
2 large cucumbers
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups canned tomato juice
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Core and coarsely chop the tomatoes; save the juices. Stem, seed, and coarsely chop the peppers. Peel and coarsely chop the onions and shallots. Peel, seed and coarsely chop the cucumbers.

In a bowl whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, reserved tomato juices, canned tomato juice, and eggs.

In a blender or a food processor, puree the vegetables in small batches, adding the tomato juice mixture as needed to keep the blades from clogging. Do not puree completely; the gazpacho should retain some of its crunch.

Stir in the dill, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours. To serve, stir, taste, and correct seasoning. Ladle into chilled soup bowls.

June 7: Cheddar-Beer Spread

2008-06-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

I love Friday nights. I am a little more willing to put some time and effort into what I eat on Friday nights, since I don't have to get up in, like, four hours. That means a sort of "happy hour" around here, with some sort of adult beverage and a snackie of some kind.

This is it for tonight: Samuel Adams and cheddar-beer spread on bagel chips. You can buy all kinds of cheese spread in the grocery store, but you can also make your own, it's easy and it's delicious. Here's the thing: simmer the beer. It gets rid of the raw alcohol taste and mellows it, making it a really nice soft counterpoint to good sharp cheddar cheese. It's an extra step, but it's worth doing. All of these flavors come together and complement each other, making something so much bigger than the sum of its parts.

Spread it on crusty toasted bread, or crackers, or--oh, here's something: stuffed into celery. Nomnomnomnomnom.

Cheddar-Beer Spread

1 pound sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
2 shallots, very finely minced
1 cup domestic beer (a not-too-hoppy, light beer is good, like a pale ale)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the beer to a simmer until reduced to about 2/3 cup. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Combine cheeses, butter, garlic, shallots, salt, pepper, and cayenne in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the mixture is smooth and homogenous, at least 1 minute. With the processor running, pour in the beer, and continue to process until the beer is completely incorporated.

Chill for at least an hour. Serve with toasts or crackers.

Ed.: Due to the monster storms that blew through the area on Wednesday, our internet service has been up and down. This should have gone up yesterday, but we were in an outage. Forgive me.

June 5: Creamy Buttermilk Coleslaw

2008-06-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

I love coleslaw, really good homemade coleslaw. I love it in a big bowl next to a burger, I love it on a barbecue sandwich, I love it on a turkey sandwich with swiss cheese and russian dressing, I love it on a hot dog with chili and onions. When I was 16, I went to Russia for two weeks and I swore I'd never eat cabbage again, but as it turns out, it was a promise I couldn't keep.

Coleslaw: it's easy to do, but the flip side of that is that it's easy to do badly. Yucky store-bought dressing, under-chopped, leathery cabbage, watery, weepy salad.

So, here are the rules of engagement: homemade dressing. Finely chopped cabbage, salted. They're small things, but coleslaw, by nature, is simple. If it's simple, it has to be pretty much awesome.

I like America's Test Kitchen's recipe, so here it is. It suggests patting the coleslaw dry with paper towels; I think that's a bad idea. I use a salad spinner.
Creamy Buttermilk Dressing

If you are planning to serve the coleslaw immediately, rinse the salted cabbage in a large bowl of ice water, drain it in a colander, pick out any ice cubes, then pat the cabbage dry before dressing.

1 pound cabbage (about 1/2 medium head), red or green, shredded fine (6 cups)
table salt
1 medium carrot , shredded on box grater
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 small shallot , minced (about 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Toss shredded cabbage and 1 teaspoon salt in colander or large mesh strainer set over medium bowl. Let stand until cabbage wilts, at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours. Rinse cabbage under cold running water. Press, but do not squeeze, to drain; pat dry with paper towels. Place wilted cabbage and carrot in large bowl.

2. Stir buttermilk, mayonnaise, sour cream, shallot, parsley, vinegar, sugar, mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper together in small bowl. Pour dressing over cabbage and toss to combine; refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. (Coleslaw can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

June 4: Pan Roasted Chicken with Peach and Bourbon Glaze

2008-06-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

Right now, you would not believe the smells that are coming from my kitchen. You really wouldn't. I am roasting that 40-cloves-of-garlic chicken I talked about a few days ago right now, so that we'll have a big delicious roasty garlicky chicken for chicken salad, or for chicken sandwiches, or for chicken eaten straight out of the refrigerator standing over the kitchen sink at 3 a.m. when I can't sleep. Whatever. It's not even for dinner tonight, and it smells so good I can barely stand it. I even threw down some of that rosemary from the plant I bought at Eastern Market this weekend.

Instead of telling you how delicious this chicken is going to be, how it smells like total heaven, I am going to show you this picture from Anthony Bourdain's new book. I love Anthony Bourdain.

Hi Tony. That's a nice bone. And by bone, I mean...bone.

Well, that's enough. Back to talking about food. And by food, I mean Tony's bone. Stop it, Molly! Jeez, this is supposed to be, you know, not full of my usual obscenity and inappropriateness. Family-friendly and all.

Chicken. Yes. Chicken. Here is some more roast chicken. I am still thinking about Anthony Bourdain, only to be distracted by the smell of roasted chicken, but here's some more roasted chicken. It includes the technique of flambe, which involves fire and alcohol. It's not as difficult as it sounds, and I think Anthony Bourdain would approve. Wouldn't you, Tony? You fine thing.

Pan Roasted Chicken with Peach and Bourbon Glaze

For Chicken:
4 four-ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons canola oil
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup finely diced onions

For Sauce:
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/4 cup fat-free chicken broth
1/2 cup all-fruit peach preserves
4 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar

FOR CHICKEN: Season breasts with salt and pepper; then pan roast in a heavy, covered skillet with the oil, using spray as needed. After 3-4 minutes, turn chicken and cook for 2 minutes. Add onion and cook for 2 more minutes. Set chicken aside, covered.

FOR SAUCE: Flambé bourbon in skillet. Deglaze with stock, and add remaining ingredients. Simmer to sauce-like consistency. Correct seasoning and add any accumulated chicken juices. Pour over chicken.

One last Anthony Bourdain related thing: I have categorized this entry under Food Porn. I am hilarious.

June 3: Fresh Pasta with Favas, Tomatoes and Sausage

2008-06-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

My job is beginning to be hard work. I am exhausted. And tomorrow I have to go bowling. Seriously, that's my assignment tomorrow. I even have a bowling shirt.

I don't have it in me to be clever. We had pizza tonight, not delivery but from the deli case, fresh, with some extra veggies and cheese thrown on. I worked my ass off today and I've come home tired.

Here's some pasta. I love pasta, but I'm too tired to cook it tonight; I'll just write about it instead.

Fresh Pasta with Favas, Tomatoes and Sausage

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/2 pound Italian sausages, casings removed
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 3/4 cups chopped plum tomatoes
1 cup shelled fresh fava beans (from about 1 pound), blanched 3 minutes then peeled, or double-peeled frozen, thawed
3/4 pound fresh pasta sheets, cut as desired, or dried egg fettuccine
2 tablespoons finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese plus additional for passing

Preparation

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add next 3 ingredients. Sauté until onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. Add sausages; break up with fork. Sauté until brown, about 3 minutes. Add wine; simmer 1 minute, scraping up browned bits. Add tomatoes and fava beans. Sauté until tomatoes soften, about 5 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to same pot.

Add sauce to pasta. Toss over medium heat until sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid as needed if dry, about 2 minutes. Mix in 2 tablespoons cheese. Transfer pasta to bowl.

Serve, passing additional cheese.

From Bon Appetit: "More info: In this dish, Alex uses maltagliati (badly cut) pasta. To make it, cut fresh pasta sheets into trapezoids. Don't worry about making each piece exactly the same size or shape. The pasta should have an irregular look."

June 2: Scattered California Roll With Lobster

2008-06-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

I have a fancy-shmancy new job and I couldn't be more excited about it. It is incredibly challenging and very hard and difficult work, but I need the challenge, I want to grow professionally, and it's a really wonderful place to work--smart people doing good work to advance science and engineering. I am an editor working on scientific papers and helping to put together huge, 800-page programs for meetings. So far, I have mostly sat through incredibly complicated and opaque meetings in which a lot of acronyms have been mentioned but not explained. Also, I've filled out a lot of paperwork, and had a grilled-chicken taco salad in a restaurant across the street from my office with my team of co-workers.

My brain is horribly full, and I am exhausted by all of this. I can't stop yawning.

I posted a recipe yesterday, one for waffles, but mysteriously it showed up on March 8th, back when I wrote a draft. Check under the heading "bread" or "breakfast" over there on the right, and you'll see it. Really. I didn't miss a day.

I love that this is like deconstructed sushi. I realize that part of sushi's beauty is the construction, but I am a big believer of form following function when it comes to food, and the function of this salad is to taste good, not look pretty. Also, this is easier than assembling sushi.

Thanks to Food and Wine magazine for this recipe.

Scattered California Roll with Lobster

1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups Japanese or sushi rice (10 ounces)
2 cups water
One 1 1/2-pound lobster
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped pickled ginger
2 teaspoons powdered wasabi mixed with 2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
4 radishes, cut into 1-inch julienne
2 scallions, cut into 1-inch julienne
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, cut into 1-inch julienne
1 ripe Hass avocado, cut into 1-inch julienne
One 8-by-7 1/2-inch sheet of nori (Japanese seaweed), finely shredded

In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the vinegar with the sugar, stirring until dissolved. In a medium saucepan, combine the rice with the water and bring to a boil. Stir, then cover and cook over low heat until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Spread the rice on a large platter and toss with the sweetened vinegar. Refrigerate briefly until cool.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the lobster and cook for 8 minutes. Remove the meat from the tail and claws. Discard the intestine in the tail. Coarsely chop the meat and let cool.
Toast the sesame seeds in a small dry skillet over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar with the oil, ginger, wasabi paste and soy sauce. Season with the sea salt. Add the rice, radishes, scallions, cucumber and lobster meat and toss gently to combine; let stand for 15 minutes to blend the flavors. Fold in the avocado, sesame seeds and nori just before serving.

May 31: Chicken With Forty Cloves of Garlic

2008-05-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

This morning, Dan and I bought some herb seedlings at Eastern Market on Capitol Hill and have planted them and have them growing on top of a bookcase in our dining room. Our dining room is very bright and sunny, as opposed to our old apartment. It's a perfect place for herbs to grow.

It is silly to be excited about $20 worth of herb seedlings, but I can't tell you how happy all of this makes me. Fresh herbs are one of my favorite things: plucked right off the stem and tossed into a simple green salad, chopped and tossed with hot pasta and butter and parmesan cheese, stirred into a sauce just as it comes off the heat. I can't think of a single application for fresh herbs that I don't think is sheer genius.

We are keeping it simple, just because we're limited on space: chives, thyme, rosemary, and basil. We're also going to put a couple of tomato plants on the deck, and I am pushing for some arugula and a hot pepper plant, because yum, hot peppers.

I have a new job and am going back to work on Monday. I'm quite thrilled about this and I really can't wait, but I have a significantly longer commute than I used to (although the new location is in Dupont Circle and I am really just incredibly excited about the good restaurants and). I have been cooking a lot in preparation for this longer commute: pork barbecue in the slow cooker (not bad, had to use the fattiest pork loin I could find because my supermarket didn't have shoulder, so it's not quite as juicy as I like, but still incredibly tender and delicious), ground turkey taco filling (this is so good, almost better than ground beef), and my mother was here and I took her to the Penzeys Spice outlet in Vienna, Virginia last week, and gave into temptation and bought bratwurst seasoning, mixed it into a mixture of ground beef and ground pork, and made the best burgers I have ever had in my life--they really taste like brats! It's like magic. I highly recommend this stuff. Tomorrow I'm planning on making a mushroom-spinach-chicken stromboli with roasted garlic, and making two so that there'll be an easy dinner one night next week.

I'm also planning on making this dish from Everyday Food's May issue, and making chicken salad or chicken enchilada filling with the leftovers. This is classic French bistro food, simple, clean, intuitive eating, mostly hands-off. I do plan on brining the chicken before roasting it; I really think that brining is to chicken what vanilla is to cookies. Is that analogy too cerebrally foodie? I hope not. Anyway, it also calls for a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Which I have now! Whoo-hoo!

40 cloves of garlic sounds ridiculous, I know. Do it, you won't regret it. The heat mellows the garlic to this sweet, toasty gorgeousness. Take half the garlic and mash them into some potatoes with lots of butter and whole milk, and save the other half in an air-tight container in the refrigerator, toss it with sauteed shrimp and pasta or into risotto or mash it and spread it on pizza under the sauce and toppings and cheese. You're welcome.

Chicken With Forty Cloves of Garlic

40 cloves of peeled garlic from 3 or 4 heads
1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), rinsed, patted dry, giblets removed
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 sprigs fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 475.

Place chicken in a large oven-proof skillet or roasting pan. Rub all over with 1 tablespoon butter; season with salt and pepper. Add thyme, garlic, and remaining butter to skillet.

Roast, basting occasionally with juices and stirring garlic, until instant-read thermometer inserted into meaty part of thigh (avoiding bone) reads 165, 45-60 minutes. Remove from oven, rest for 10 minutes. Carve and serve with pan juices.

May 30: Key Lime Pie

2008-05-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Several years and several boyfriends ago, I dated a guy who liked dessert and had friends who liked dessert. I didn't care for dessert, but when he turned 30, it seemed important that his friends like me and so I made several desserts for his birthday party.

He was not very grateful, as it turned out, mostly because he didn't see any point in celebrating his birthday, but also because he just wasn't a particularly grateful person.

His friends, however, remained my friends through our breakup, and I give the credit to that for this pie. Not this exact pie, but a delicious and easy key lime pie. I'm not surprised, to be honest; I can't imagine anyone wanting to risk missing out on this pie by breaking up with me.

However, I am a little weird about food. It's been well-established.

The pie I originally made was Nora Ephron's key lime pie from her novel Heartburn. In the novel, she's invited to dinner, along with her philandering husband, at some friends' house. She has learned earlier in the day that her philandering husband has continued to philander, despite the fact that she has just given birth to their premature son, that she has publicly humiliated her husband's mistress, and that she actually left him in the beginning of the book when she first finds out that he is a philanderer. She makes the pie and they take it to dinner at their friends' house, and during dinner she has a revelation: sometimes love just dies. It's of course more complicated than that, but the upshot is, you can go through your life and love someone and then one day love just dies.

So she takes the pie and smashes it in her husband's face at the dinner table at her friends' house, and then she takes their children and leaves him, for good. I love this ending, because shortly after I made this key lime pie for my ungrateful lump of a boyfriend, love died and I left him too.

In retrospect, I wish I'd thrown this pie at him, for things he'd done and not done and one thoroughly crappy lie that he had told me and himself that had the potential to ruin my life if I'd held onto our floundering relationship just a little longer. If I had it to do over again, I would totally smash this pie in his face just to have the literary ending, and he would have deserved it. However, I lack both the guts and the timing.

Instead, I'll just give you the recipe. Eat it, or else very immaturely smash it in the face of someone who is making you unhappy. Your call.

Key Lime Pie

For the Crust:
1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon melted margarine
1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup granulated sugar

For the Filling:
Two 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
5 large egg yolks
Grated zest of 1 lime
1 cup fresh lime juice

FOR THE CRUST:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the inside of a 9-inch-diameter deep-dish pie dish with 1 teaspoon of the melted margarine.

In a mixing bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar, and 1/3 cup of melted margarine. When the ingredients are fully combined, use the mixture to line the bottom and sides of the pie dish. Place the pie dish into the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.

FOR THE FILLING:While the crust is baking, in a mixing bowl, make the filling by whisking together all the ingredients.

When the crust is baked, remove it from the oven and pour in the filling. Return the filled pie crust to the oven and bake for 10 minutes more. Let cool to room temperature.

May 29: Raspberry-Cream Cheese Muffins

2008-05-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Blahhh, that's enough of that. My mother was here for a week and now she's gone. I am a little surprised at how uncomfortable I am with people in my personal space, and I live in a 700-square-foot condo. All of my space is personal.

I like a good muffin from time to time--chocolate chip, blueberry, cherry pecan, lemon poppyseed. Have you seen those new "muffin top" pans? They just make the muffin "tops" which are of course arguably the best part of the muffin anyway.

This thing sounds irresistable. I get about eleven email newsletters about food and cooking and that sort of thing, and this came in one of those. It sounds like dessert, not anything I'd eat for breakfast, but muffins are really too sticky-sweet for breakfast for me anyway. This thing sounds like cheesecake made portable. I'm all over it.

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 of an 8-ounce container cream cheese with strawberries
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
Powdered sugar (optional)

Lightly grease eighteen 2 1/2-inch muffin cups or line with paper baking cups; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in cream cheese till the mixture resembles crumbs about the size of a pea. In a small mixing bowl combine eggs, milk, melted butter or margarine, and vanilla. Add all at once to flour mixture. Stir just till moistened. (The batter will be lumpy.)
Fold in fresh or frozen raspberries. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. Bake in a preheated 400° oven about 20 minutes, or till golden brown. Remove from pans; cool slightly on racks. If desired, sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar.

2008-05-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

I keep seeing this recipe, and I am dying to try it, because I love the name and because it sounds wonderful. I think just about every country in the world has some version of this recipe. My mother in law makes cabbage stuffed with ground beef or venison, rice, and tomatoes, then braised in a ginger-garlic-tomato sauce. It's classic Polish food.

This is an Asian variation on that theme. I have seen Rachel Ray make it, I have seen recipes on just about every food website I've ever seen for it, and they were talking about it on The Splendid Table on National Public Radio this weekend. I'm sure there are simpler versions of this, and I'm not sure what you would use for substitutions for some of the more unusual ingredients, but I have great faith in my readers.

My mother is still here, by the way, which is why I am so brief.

Lion's Head

1 large head (about 1-1/2 pounds) napa cabbage
4 ounces bean-thread (cellophane) noodles
1 pound lean ground pork
1/4 cup (about 4 ounces) drained and finely minced canned water chestnuts
1 tablespoon minced green onions, white part only
1 tablespoon peeled, minced fresh ginger
3 teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons premium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup water

1. Trim off the root end of the cabbage head and reserve. Quarter the leaves lengthwise and then cut them again crosswise into thirds. Set aside.
2. To prepare the noodles, pour hot water over the bean-thread noodles in a bowl, and let them soak until they are soft, about 15 minutes. Keep the noodles in the water until ready to use, as they tend to dry out quickly.
3. To form the meatballs, combine the pork, water chestnuts, green onions, ginger, 2 teaspoons of the salt, 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce, wine, and white pepper in a bowl. Using your hands, gently mix all of the ingredients together until well combined. Don't overmix or the pork will become gummy. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet. Using a 1/2-cup measure, loosely form the pork into 4-ounce balls and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Set aside.
4. Line a plate with paper towels and have it ready near the cooktop. Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat until a bead of water dances on the surface and then evaporates. Cover the bottom of the skillet with a thin film of the oil and swirl to coat. Arrange the meatballs in a single layer in the bottom of the pan, but do not overcrowd them (depending on the size of your pan, you might need to cook the meatballs in several batches). Decrease the heat to medium and cook the meatballs, turning with tongs to cook evenly, until all sides are well browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to the prepared plate. Repeat this process for as many batches as needed.
5. Put the reserved root ends of the cabbage in the bottom of a large saucepan. Gently place the meatballs on top and pour over the chicken broth and the 1/2 cup of water. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, decrease the heat to medium-low, and simmer the mixture, uncovered, until it has cooked down a bit, about 5 minutes. Add the cut-up cabbage leaves and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and continue to simmer until the meatballs are cooked thorough and the cabbage is tender, about 10 minutes more.
6. Drain the noodles, add to the saucepan with the remaining 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and stir to combine well. Remove the pan from the heat.
7. To serve, arrange the meatballs on top of the cabbage and noodles on a platter. Serve immediately.

May 27: Sauteed Chicken Breasts

2008-05-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is The Simplest Recipe On Earth. Seriously. But it's delicious, and chicken breasts are surprisingly easy to screw up. They're lean and they can be flavorless and they overcook in a flash. But the upside is that they're widely available, almost everyone likes them, and you can do almost anything with them.

If by some chance you're just learning to cook, this is a good place to start. It's from a cookbook called Now You're Cooking by Elaine Corn. It's a great cookbook for recent college grads or anyone who's just learning to cook and who wants to cook well with good ingredients.

Sauteed Chicken Breasts

4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on or off
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley ( leaves, not stems!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter

1. Wash the chicken breasts. Pat them dry with a paper towel and put them on a plate.
2. Sprinkle the breasts with salt and pepper and have the plate convenient to the stove.
3. Chop the parsley and leave it on the cutting board.
4. Get out a large, good-looking serving platter. This is your last chance to wipe up any mess before you cook and eat.

1. Put the olive oil and butter in a skillet. Turn the heat to high.
2. When the butter foams, put the chicken in the pan with your hands, skin side down.
3. Let the pan heat up again until the chicken crackles. Now, reduce the heat to medium (or medium-high), so the chicken continues to crackle but doesn't burn or stick.
4. During the sautéeing, shake the pan now and then to make sure the chicken is loose, but don't move the pieces or pick them up any more than necessary.
5. After 5 or 6 minutes, when the underside is golden brown, flip the breasts over, using tongs. Keep sautéing over even heat for 5 to 6 minutes more. Pay attention!

1. Take the chicken from the pan with tongs ( or a spatula) and put it on the good-looking platter.
2. Garnish with lots of parsley and serve with the pan juices poured on top.

2008-05-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I left you guys hanging yesterday. We were in Ocean City, Maryland, eating crabs and playing skee-ball, and we didn't get home until after midnight. Even today I am tired and bloated from all the fun I had and the salt I consumed yesterday.

One of the simplest appetizers of all time is just a block of goat cheese or cream cheese with some kind of chutney or jam poured over it, served with a basket of crackers. Any kind of jam is good, especially raspberry, but my favorite is a savory onion chutney flavored with chiles and garlic. It's the kind of thing you find in a specialty food store, and even then it's not easy to find, so I was thrilled to find this recipe for an onion jam.

This is easy and flexible and meant to be played with. Use great ingredients, taste it as you go to measure the need for seasoning, and give it lots of time to turn sweet. Besides the appetizer I mentioned above, try it with grilled tuna, or with sauteed greens like kale or escarole.

Slow and Easy Savory Onion Jam

2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 to 6 medium red onions, thinly sliced
10 large shallots, thinly sliced
8 to 10 big cloves garlic (not Elephant type), thinly sliced
salt and generous freshly ground black pepper
shredded zest of 2 large oranges (optional)
1/4 cup currants or raisins (optional)
1 small fresh tomato, peeled, or a canned tomato
1/4 to 1/2 cup wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Heat oil in a 12-inch saute pan over medium high. Add onions, shallots, garlic, salt and pepper, tossing to combine. Once they begin sizzling, turn heat to medium low, cover pan and cook 30 minutes, adding zest and raisins half way through cooking. Once onions become soft and clear, uncover, raising heat to medium high.

Brown the onions. Stir often, scraping up the brown glaze on the bottom of the pan. You may need a little water as they approach being done. Once deep gold, stir in tomato and 1/4 cup vinegar, cooking it down to nothing.

Taste for a soft sweet-tart balance. If necessary, cook in a little sugar, or more vinegar. Tomato should meld into the onions, while the vinegar cooks down to an appealing backdrop, not a sharp accent. Cool quickly and pack in jars. Keep cold, but serve close to room temperature.

May 24: Fresh Pasta with Roasted Walnut Sauce

2008-05-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

Remember those roasted onions from a couple days ago? Yeah, I've been looking closer at the website where I found that, The Splendid Table from American Public Media. What a treasure trove of creative, innovative, intuitive and delicious sounding food.

I am being brief these days. My mother is here, and she doesn't really know I do this, so...if you see her, don't mention my blog, please. It's the only way I can talk about her behind her back, airing our dirty laundry to the entire internet-connected world.

I am only posting a recipe for the sauce--not posting a recipe for fresh pasta. People who make it already have a good recipe, people who don't but want to can google it and choose from the 1.9 million results that will come back. People who don't really care to make their own pasta can buy that refrigerated pasta from the deli case. Fresh pasta is delicious but it is a pain in the ass. Sometimes I don't mind a pain in the ass. Did I mention that my mother is visiting?

I'm posting this verbatim again, just because it's beautifully written.

Fresh Pasta With Roasted Walnut Sauce

Cook a pound of fresh tagliatelle, fettucine, or other "ribbon" pasta in abundant, sea-salted boiling water to the al dente stage, drain, and toss with 1½ cups of the following sauce. If fresh pasta is not available, substitute dried artisinal pasta.

The Sauce (Makes about 2 cups)
8 ounces shelled walnuts, lightly roasted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Several gratings of nutmeg
Sea salt and just-cracked pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup late-harvest white wine such as Vin Santo or Moscato

In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse the walnuts until they are the texture of very coarse meal (do not grind them too finely - more texture is better than less).

Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and pulse two or three more times to combine; with the machine running, pour a mixture of the olive oil, cream, and wine through the feed tube and process only until the paste is emulsified. Taste and correct the sauce for salt and spices.

May 23: Savory Bread Pudding With Parmesan and Mushrooms

2008-05-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

Remember Tiffani, that awful egomaniac from the first season of "Top Chef?" One of my favorite moments in TV history was watching Dave tell her to shut up, the "I'm not your bitch, bitch" line. I've never in my life seen anyone who needed to be told that so desperately.

As much as I disliked Tiffani, I loved her food. She made a Krispy-Kream bread pudding during one challenge that just looked fabulous.

I love the textures and flavors of bread pudding, the custardy sweetness. Even more, though, I love a savory bread pudding. It's so unexpected, like Thanksgiving stuffing, but stepped up. It could be a rich, filling side dish, it could be a vegetarian main dish. I can't wait to try this.

Savory Bread Pudding With Parmesan and Mushrooms

1 (1-pound) loaf crusty country-style white bread
1/4 cup olive oil
4 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 large garlic clove, minced
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1 pound assorted fresh mushrooms (such as crimini, button, portobello, and stemmed shiitake), thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced celery
1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
8 large eggs
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Cut bottom crust and short ends off bread and discard. Cut remaining bread with crust into 1-inch cubes (about 10 cups loosely packed). Place cubes in very large bowl. Add oil, thyme, and garlic; toss to coat. Spread cubes out on large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until golden and slightly crunchy, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Return toasted bread cubes to same very large bowl.

Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion, celery, and bell pepper. sauté until soft and juices have evaporated, about 15 minutes. Add sautéed vegetables and parsley to bread cubes.Whisk heavy cream, eggs, salt, and ground pepper in large bowl. Mix custard into bread and vegetables. Transfer stuffing to prepared dish. Sprinkle cheese over.

Cover and refrigerate.Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake stuffing uncovered until set and top is golden, about 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes.

May 22: Roasted Onions

2008-05-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

I am lacking any kind of culinary inspiration tonight. I overcooked the spaghetti tonight, something I never do. My mother arrives tomorrow. Clearly I am a little distracted.

This is a recipe from The Splendid Table, which is a genius show on NPR hosted by Lynn Rosetto Casper, who I love but whose last name I may have misspelled because I am too lazy to go find her cookbook and look at it. Her show, but Jamie Oliver's recipe. I think Jamie Oliver is a little spazzy, but still sort of adorable in a pallid British way.

Jamie recommends serving this dish with cod or roasted chicken. He also describes this as "The dog's kahunas." Given the size and shape of onions, I will work very hard to keep that phrase out of my head. I have gone ahead and put his recipe verbatim here, just because I love how he talks.

Roasted Onions

4 tennis-ball-sized white onions, peeled
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4 twigs of fresh rosemary, lower leaves picked and chopped
8 tablespoons heavy cream
A couple handfuls of grated Parmesan cheese
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 slices of pancetta or bacon

Boil the onions in plenty of water for 15 minutes until slightly tender. Remove from the pan and allow to cool. Then, with a sharp knife, remove the top inch of each onion, finely chop and place to one side. If need be, slightly trim the stalk end of the onions so that they will sit flat on a roasting tray. Cut about a heaping tablespoon out from the inside of each onion, keeping the outside intact. Finely chop and add to the rest of the chopped onion.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat a frying pan and add a little olive oil, your garlic, the chopped onions, and just a little chopped rosemary. Fry for a couple of minutes until softened, then turn the heat down, add the cream and remove from the heat. Stir in the Parmesan and season.

I like to wrap a nice slice of pancetta around the middle of each onion and just spike it in place with a sharpened twig of rosemary or wooden toothpick. The rosemary and pancetta will make the onion taste lovely as it cooks. Place the onions on a roasting tray and spoon some of the chopped onion mixture inside each one. Bake in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes until soft and tender, depending on the size of the onions. It's cool to experiment with different cheeses, so give it a bash.

May 21: Chicken Cacciatore

2008-05-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

Boy oh boy, have I seen chicken cacciatore go wrong. And by wrong, I mean, convoluted and overcooked. Chicken cacciatore is something that I think of as being intuitive, flavors that go together effortlessly: chicken, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, olives, white wine. It's rustic slow cooking at its best.

I don't make chicken cacciatore often, because it requires a long list of ingredients and the peppers are hard on my husband's digestion. But when I do, it's a production, and I freeze it and eat it for weeks.

I am a chicken racist--strictly a white-meat girl. It presents some challenges. Chicken breasts are lean and turn to sawdust in a heartbeat. They don't have much flavor on their own--it's the lean thing again. And in a braised dish, like cacciatore, chicken skin can do this awful, flabby, sloppy thing that just is not appealing on any level.

When I make cacciatore, I don't cook from a recipe. Like I said, this is something I think of as being intuitive. Nothing here is too terribly confusing or exacting. If you like mushrooms a lot, add more. If olives aren't your thing...well, I think you're kinda wrong, but go ahead and leave 'em out.

Seek out great canned tomatoes though. I've said it before, let me just do it again: Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Diced. It's a no-miss, and Muir Glen doesn't pay me to say that.

Serve this with a long strand pasta, like spaghetti or linguine, or better yet, with garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmmm, potatoes.

Chicken Cacciatore

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil (no need to use extra virgin here, it's expensive and you won't taste it anyway)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 medium white onion, diced small
3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 cup good dry white wine
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 14.5 ounce cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes
pinch of crushed red pepper
1/2 pound white mushrooms, wiped clean, cut in half, and sliced
2 red peppers, seeded and diced
1 cup pitted black olives, quartered lengthwise
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

Heat a medium high-sided skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Season chicken breasts liberally with salt and pepper. Brown chicken in skillet until well seared, 5-6 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

Using the same skillet, add the additional tablespoon of oil. Over medium high heat, saute onions and garlic until transparent. Do not brown. Add mushrooms, peppers, and red pepper, and saute until mushrooms are darkening and peppers are softening, 4-5 minutes.

Using tongs, remove the chicken skin and discard. Return chicken to the pan, and add wine to the pan. Using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, scrape browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When the wine has mostly cooked off, add the broth, tomatoes, and olives. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, and partially cover. Simmer 30-35 minutes, until sauce is reduced and thickened and chicken is cooked through and tender.

Stir in oregano and parsley. Serve.

May 20: Deep Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake

2008-05-20T14:35:00.001-07:00

I love the idea of dessert so much more than I love the actual dessert course. Isn't that sad? But, like I've mentioned before, I've lost my sweet tooth, and usually I'm happy if I can get a main dish and a couple of sides on the table.

But this blog is not so much about what I actually want to cook--it's more about what's fun to think about eating. Dessert falls into that category for me, that deep dark fantasy that I don't want to commit to, really, but that is pure heaven to think about. Somewhere between reality and fantasy is where this blog usually lands, I think--for example, I would never blog about what I am actually having for dinner tonight, which is turkey sloppy joes and salad. Sure, it's the reality of what a foodie is having for dinner on a Tuesday, but exciting reading it isn't. That's why I go out looking for recipes like Deep Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake.

I don't bake a lot, but I love to make pound cake. It's forgiving and delicious and easy to manage, goes with a multitude of accessories, and doesn't need to be frosted or decorated. A slice of poundcake, a scoop of really great ice cream, a handful of raspberries--that's my idea of dessert.

This recipe, incidentally, is from Cooking.com. Besides having the greatest selection of cooking gadgets, pans, pots, and small appliances for sale, they have a really wonderful collection of recipes. Yesterday's recipe, the honey-bourbon barbecue chicken, is from cooking.com too. A lot of my recipes, ones that don't come from my own library, are from America's Test Kitchen. One I've meant to use more is Martha Stewart Living. I occasionally use a recipe from Food Network as well. There are a few other food blogs I read, most notably The Yummy Mummy Cooks Gourmet, Homesick Texan, Pioneer Woman Cooks!, and Sunday Nite Dinner, and I occasionally borrow a recipe from one of those (and anyone who hasn't tasted Pioneer Woman's Mystery Rolls is missing out.) Anybody have any recommendations of other great food websites?

Anyway. Pound cake. Here we go.

Deep Chocolate Sour Cream Poundcake

For Cake:
2 1/4 cups self-rising cake flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate cut into 1/4 inch pieces

For Glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

FOR CAKE: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a 10-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment or wax paper; butter the paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa and baking soda.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with 1 1/2 cups of the sugar at medium speed until blended. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. On low speed, alternately beat in the sour cream and the dry ingredients in 3 batches. Add the chocolate pieces and beat just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. Let the cake cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then unmold and let cool right side up.

FOR GLAZE: In a small saucepan, combine the 1 cup of sugar with the water and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Brush a thin layer of the glaze over the cake and let set. Brush the cake with the glaze 2 more times, allowing it to dry between glazings.

Cut the cake into 3/4-inch-thick slices and serve with whipped cream.

May 19: Honey Bourbon Barbecue Chicken

2008-05-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

There are a few things I don't keep in my kitchen. Unless I need it for a specific recipe, honey is one of them. I just don't get a lot of use out of it, it ends up becoming fossillized and weird, and I throw away that cute little bear. Molasses is another.

These are two things that show up in recipes a lot. Like, a lot. And they're both in this recipe. I actually have honey in my kitchen right now. I also have bourbon. Of course I have bourbon. My mother is coming to visit on Friday. I may not have enough bourbon. There may not be enough bourbon on earth.

For this, I'll go buy the molasses though. This looks delicious. I am a sucker for barbecued chicken. Barbecued chicken, sweet corn, potato salad, strawberries and pound cake. I think it would be a suitable last meal, were I on death row.

Oh, this recipe says that the bourbon is optional. Okay, listen: the bourbon is never optional. Make it with the bourbon. It's called Honey Bourbon Barbecue Chicken, after all.

Honey Bourbon Barbecue Chicken

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups ketchup
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
6 natural chicken breast halves, bone in, skin on
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1/2 tablespoon black pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the next 7 ingredients. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook slowly for 20 minutes; until the sauce thickens. Stir in bourbon.

Prepare a medium-hot fire in the grill.

Mix salt and pepper together. Sprinkle over chicken breasts and under the skin. Grill chicken about 10 minutes per side or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Reserve 1 cup of barbecue sauce. Brush chicken lightly with remaining sauce and cook for 2 minutes longer.
Place chicken on a platter and cover loosely with foil until ready to serve

May 18: Corn and Green Chile Tamale Casserole

2008-05-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

My best friend, who is going on nine months pregnant, is nesting. When I was nine months pregnant, three years ago right now, all of our discretionary income was going one of two places: into baby stuff, and to the grocery store. It was shortly before Memorial Day and all of the grocery stores had Memorial Day picnic food on sale, including what I thought was the greatest sale of all time: buy two packs of Ball Park hot dogs, get three free. I think that at one point there may have been twenty packs of hot dogs in my freezer.

Kimberly is doing what I would have been doing, were I not too busy buying every package of hot dogs in Southern Maryland: she's making casseroles and freezing them. I didn't bother--my mother was coming for three weeks, my mother-in-law was coming for another ten days beyond that. I figured I'd need something to give them to do, and cooking kept them from driving me totally, hormonally insane. Also, my mother seemed eager to indulge every whim that I had.

Kimberly claims that I am a fussy eater. I think that's the pot calling the kettle black. I can't remember if she eats all of this stuff or not, but this looks delicious, and like it would freeze well. I think it'd be great with baked chicken, or pork chops, or even just some pasta tossed with garlic and butter. If you look around a little, you should be able to find frozen tamales in the freezer section of a well-stocked grocery store with a Latino clientele. If you can't, the reviews on this say that you can substitute empanadas or even taquitos.

Corn and Green Chile Tamale Casserole

6 4-ounce frozen chicken or beef tamales
1 10-ounce package frozen white or yellow corn (unthawed)
1 4-ounce can diced mild green chilies
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup whipping cream
1 7-ounce can salsa verde
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
Avocado wedges
Additional salsa verde (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place frozen tamales in microwave and cook on high until thawed, about 5 minutes. Remove husks. Cut tamales in half lengthwise. Place in single layer in 10-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Sprinkle with frozen corn, chilies, green onions and 1/2 cup cilantro. Whisk cream, salsa verde, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper in medium bowl to blend. Drizzle over casserole. Sprinkle grated cheese over top.

Bake casserole until heated through and bubbling, about 35 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cilantro. Serve with avocado and more salsa, if desired.

May 17: Turkey Cutlets with Peas & Spring Onions

2008-05-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Dan and Max and I went down to the Charlotte Hall flea market in St. Mary's County this morning. Most of what was for sale in the farmer's market section of the market was not homegrown or particularly appealing, but St. Mary's County has a lot of Amish residents, and they had some spring produce for sale. I bought two huge bunches of spring onions from an Amish family. Spring produce is one of my favorite things ever, artichokes and peas and those soft, sweet lettuces like butter lettuce and Bibb lettuce.

I don't think I've done even a single turkey recipe on this blog, which is sad because we eat a fair amount of it, between turkey sandwiches and ground turkey and turkey sausage. This caught my eye, and not just because the same Amish family who was selling produce was also selling turkeys in cages, and they scared the crap out of my kid. It incorporates some of my favorite things, and I did happen to pick up some peas as well.

Turkey Cutlets with Peas & Spring Onions

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 pound 1/4-inch-thick turkey breast cutlets or steaks
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 bunch spring onions or scallions, sliced, whites and greens separated
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup peas, fresh or frozen, thawed
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1. Whisk flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge each turkey cutlet (or steak) in the flour mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and cook until lightly golden, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; cover with foil to keep warm.

2. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onion (or scallion) whites and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms are browned and the whites are slightly softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth, wine and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is slightly reduced, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in peas and onion (or scallion) greens and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 1 minute. Stir in lemon zest. Nestle the turkey into the vegetables along with any accumulated juices from the plate. Cook, turning the cutlets once, until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes.

2008-05-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

There's a recipe that made me fall in love with almost every piece of cookware that I own. Belgian beef stew with onions and beer in my Dutch oven. In my big, heavy-bottomed traditional skillet, it's blueberry-glazed chicken breasts. And in my slow cooker, it's caramelized onions.

No, really. The slow cooker is a phenomenal piece of kitchen machinery, and I'm not just talking about for pot roast or spaghetti sauce. You slow cooker does more than you think it does, and caramelized onions is just one of the things it does. And it does them really well, and much more simply than caramelizing onions on the stove top, where they need stirring and babysitting.

Using your slow cooker virtually eliminates the chance of burning the onions. The other bonus is that you end up with this amazing onion-flavored butter at the end of cooking. You can use it in pastas, risottos, to saute vegetables. The onions themselves--well, you can use them practically anywhere: pizza, fish, meat. They're part vegetable, part condiment, and totally sweet and delicious and unforgettable.

Slow-Cooker Caramelized Onions

3 pounds Vidalia or other sweet onions (4 to 5 onions, 3 to 4 inches in diameter), peeled and cut into 1/8-inch-thick to 1/4-inch-thick slices
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter

Preparation

Place the onions and butter in the insert of the slow cooker, cover, and cook on LOW for 12 to 14 hours, until the onions are deep brown and very soft. It's almost impossible to overcook these; make sure to let the onions cook until they are mahogany colored.

Notes: While this recipe calls for Vidalia onions, you can use other sweet onions such as Maui, Walla Walla, or Texas 1015s. If you have a large slow cooker, you can double the onions. It is not necessary to increase the amount of butter.

Don't blanch at the amount of butter called for here. When you drain and chill the onions, the onion-flavored butter will congeal on the surface of the cooking liquid. Skim it and use it.

May 15: Cheddar Cheese Sauce

2008-05-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

My mother was late a lot when I was a kid. I got so that I could count on her being 15 minutes to an hour late, and I would plan accordingly. I grew up with a lot of resentment toward her, not being able to count on her being where she was supposed to be when she was supposed to be there.

Now that I'm an adult, I know it was mostly not her fault. It was the fault of her having a demanding job and being the sole breadwinner, and also a teensy bit flaky sometimes. But one of the things it did for me is gave me a bias toward a sure thing, things that I could depend on to do exactly what they were supposed to do. There is something intensely comforting about the fact that when you cook flour and fat together and add stock, it will get thick, every single time. It's reliable, dependable, and best of all, it's gravy. And I love gravy.

I don't make sauces a lot, and when I do, usually they are simple pan sauces to go with a chicken breast or a pan-seared steak. But America's Test Kitchen has a recipe for a cheddar cheese sauce that is so simple, so straightforwardly cheesy, so delicious and perfectly balanced and just-right-all-over, that I can't get enough of it. It's delicious over steamed vegetables, and if you drag out your deep-fryer only once a year to make real homemade french fries, you may as well make this cheese sauce to go along with them. You can mix it with a little cooked pasta for easy real mac-and-cheese. It's even great on a hot dog.

But my favorite thing? It's a sauce. I am comforted by sauces, because it is a safe bet how they will behave. I am very seldom left waiting by a sauce that doesn't show up when it's supposed to.

I may need a little therapy.

Okay, so let me say this: use good cheddar cheese, and grate it yourself. Pre-grated cheese is coated with some kind of chemical that keeps it from clumping. Yuck.

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

1 3/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt

Bring 1 1/2 cups of milk to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup of milk together, then stir into the simmering milk. Continue to cook, whisking often, until the sauce has thickened, about 2 minutes.

Off the heat, stir in the cheese and cayenne until the cheese is melted and smooth. Season with salt to taste.

May 14: Sweet, Tart and Spicy Shrimp and Cucumber Salad

2008-05-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

I am drinking a really delicious California zinfandel tonight, and neglecting to eat. It's been a bit of a stressful day, and I'll tell you about it some other time, but suffice it to say that alcohol and an empty stomach are a surprisingly good combination, if one that's making me maudlin at the moment.

My mystery subscription to Bon Apetit arrived again today. There is something great about getting a cooking magazine in the mail, there really is, especially for someone like me, who reads about food for fun. Bon Apetit is a terrific magazine too, full of great, smart, creative, clever, delicous-looking food that is accessable and yet elegant.

This is from Bon Apetit. I hate most restaurant Chinese food but I love great Asian flavors, like the ones described here. I like that the ingredients are exotic without being precious or obscure. I like these seasonal ingredients.

I like wine. I think I shall have another glass of wine or two.

Sweet, Tart, and Spicy Shrimp and Cucumber Salad

Dressing

1/4 cup lime juice
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1 teaspoon hot chili paste
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger

Salad

2 pounds cucumbers
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 cups lightly salted roasted peanuts
1 pound cooked deveined peeled medium shrimp
4 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage
1 large red bell pepper, cut into matchstick-size strips
3 green onions, cut into matchstick-size strips
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 torn fresh Thai basil or regular basil leaves
2 teaspoons black sesame seeds, toasted

Whisk all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl; let dressing stand while preparing salad.

Peel half of cucumbers; cut in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds with small spoon. Cut into 1/4 inch cubes and place in large strainer over set over bowl.

Cut off ends from remaining cucumbers and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds. Cut halves crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices and add to strainer. Sprinkle with salt, let drain 30 minutes.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add peanuts, saute until golden. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towel.

Combine shrimp, cabbage, bell pepper, green onion, cilantro, and basil in large bowl.

Pat cucumber pieces dry and add to salad. Toss with dressing, sprinkle with peanuts and sesame seeds.

May 13: Wild Rice Salad

2008-05-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

One of the first things that I was ever allowed to make on my own was pasta salad. My mother figured that, at age 12, I could handle slicing up vegetables and boiling water. I made crazy, schizophrenic pasta salads with everything in the refrigerator: vegetables, cheese, tuna, olives, bottled salad dressing. It could not possibly have tasted good.

But I still love good pasta salad. Orzo with red peppers, red onions, feta, and Greek olives, with oregano and red wine vinaigrette is one of my favorite things. Rotini with basil, salami, and fresh mozzerella, with olive oil and balsalmic vinegar--also delicious. So is penne with diced chicken, sharp cheddar, shredded carrots, sliced radishes, and ranch dressing. I also like just plain old macaroni salad, with mayonnaise, celery, onion, and dill relish.

I have started liking rice salad a lot too. The texture is a little different, the flavors play out a little differently than pasta salad, but I am liking it as well as I like pasta salad.

Here is the rice salad I'm making this week. I am getting a little carried-away in the kitchen these days, and I need to start maybe freezing some things because I was offered a really juicy, yummy dream job of a job today and I am going back to work early next month. But I love this rice salad with grilled chicken and corn on the cob, or pork tenderloin and sauteed apples, or grilled shrimp and a crunchy romaine salad. It's also delicious eaten two days later, standing in front of the refrigerator at 2 in the morning.

Wild Rice Salad

1 6-ounce package Uncle Ben's Wild and Long Grain Rice, Original Flavor
10 ounces chopped, toasted hazelnuts
1 cup sweetend dried cranberries
1/2 of 1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 cups bottled balsalmic vinaigrette dressing, or homemade (I usually make my own, 3 parts good olive oil to 1 part good balsalmic vinegar, a pinch of salt and pepper, and a very small pinch of sugar if it tastes too tart--but Newman's Own balsalmic vinaigrette is widely available, and delicious)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook rice according to package directions, omitting seasoning packet and shortening cooking time by 1-2 minutes. Rinse rice in a strainer in cold running water and drain completely. Toss rice with dressing and other ingredients. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Chill and serve.

May 12: BLT Salad

2008-05-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

If I had any sense at all, it might embarass me how much I like bacon. Bacon should be a guilty pleasure, eaten in secret, and not talked about.

But I am not someone who feels guilty about pleasure. I never have been. Guilt is not in my nature. If I'm likely to feel bad about it later, I probably won't do it. And I seldom eat anything I feel bad about later. I am an unabashed carnivore. I have gained weight over the years, mostly due to my intensely lazy nature and my feeling that, because everything else in my life is going so well, I just don't feel that need for the element of control that comes from depriving myself of things just to deprive myself. I still practice moderation almost all the time, because if I didn't, I would practice bingeing instead.

You would never have known it based on the weather today, when it barely got out of the 40's here, but it is almost summer. I hate being too hot, and much warmer than about 78 degrees is too hot for me. You wouldn't think summer would be my favorite thing, but I like baseball and after three seasons of heavy, long-simmered rich stews and braises, I love summer food.

Is there anything as great as a BLT? Well, yeah, lots of things, but I'm talking about a real, mid-summer's night dream of a sandwich, with great bread and thick-sliced bacon and serious juicy summer tomatoes. By the time you're down to the end of the sandwich, the juice has soaked into the bread, making a sort of bread-slush with tomatoes and mayonnaise (I seem to be talking a lot about mayonnaise today), with the pieces sliding apart and everything falling apart in your hands...wait. Hold on, that part's not so great.

Yeah, the one drawback to a BLT, the mess that you're left with. Some people (like my mother) are okay with it. Me, not so much. I like my food like I like my husband: orderly, put-together, consistent, and...wait, that's not my husband. Who is that guy?

Anyway, the BLT. There's an answer. It's a good answer and as much as celebrity chefs sort of turn me off (*cough* Rachael Ray *cough*) Alton Brown came up with this one. It's a panzanilla, a bread salad that he gave some clever name that doesn't bear repeating. I love bread salad of all varieties, including a panzanilla with oil-cured olives and spinach and feta which I will try to remember to tell you about some other day.

We were at the farmer's market at Eastern Market in D.C. this weekend, and the tomatoes are starting to taste good again--not those awful pink things with the texture and consistency of a baseball. They're not the big juicy beefsteaks that you'll find in August, the ones that are almost erotic in their ripeness, the ones that are still warm from growing on the vine in the sun when you slice into them, but they'll do. Make this salad now, and then come back to it in July or August and make it again.

If you're like me and cook by the seat of your pants, or you just forgot to set the bread out, you can dry the bread in a very low (like 150 degrees low) for 20 or 30 minutes. I have half a loaf of homemade rustic bread that I would probably use for this--just something serious and sturdy that you can cut into 1-inch cubes. Don't go and try to use Wonderbread for this, or you get what you deserve. I assure you that it's as much about the bread as it is about anything else, and you know me--for me it's always about the bacon.

And the mint? In the dressing? Ummm, no thanks. Add it if you like, but mint and bacon sounds like Doritos and ice cream to me.

BLT Salad

4 cups French bread cut into 1-inch cubes and dried overnight
6 slices bacon, cooked, chopped, drippings reserved
2 cups halved grape tomatoes
2 tablespoons oil, for searing
2 cups halved yellow pear tomatoes or roughly chopped heirloom tomatoes
2 cups chopped romaine lettuce

Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chiffonade mint
1 tablespoon chiffonade basil

Toss bread cubes in the bacon drippings. Sear the halved grape tomatoes in 2 tablespoons of oil, cut side down, until caramelized about 5 minutes, set aside. Combine red wine vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl, slowly whisk in olive oil in a thin stream until emulsified. Combine all tomatoes, bread, bacon, and lettuce and dress with vinaigrette, toss well, garnish with mint and basil and serve.

May 11: Compound Butters of All Persuasion

2008-05-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

I have been just a little boring lately, I know. I am finding being unemployed just a tiny bit more taxing than I anticipated. I know, poor me, right? But there's all these great meals to cook, though, and suddenly I have time to do it. I've been baking bread. I've been doing all of the running-around that had to be worked around somehow when I had a job; including quitting the bank that I have loathed for the past almost-three years and finding a new one, getting all of our accounts switched around. The upshot of all of this activity is that I am thoroughly exhausted by 9 PM. And no, I'm not pregnant, so as it turns out, all I am is a very old lady.

I will say this though: today, for Mother's Day, we went to Eamon's in Old Town Alexandria. And I ate two battered, deep-fried sausages for lunch. And they were just as good as you would think that two battered, deep-fried sausages would be. Better, even. And I don't even care how fattening they were. They were fricking amazing.

I meant to write more about compound butters yesterday, but Blogger ate my post. I hope it was delicious.

A compound butter is not complicated, but it's a thing of beauty. Fat, which is mostly what butter is, is a great vehicle for flavor. Fat picks up flavors easily and transfers them to other things. Also, fat tastes good. Compound butter is butter mixed with other things.

Compound butters are great on almost anything. Vegetables, steaks, fish, pasta, even popcorn. That one from yesterday, that cinnamon-honey butter? On a waffle? Oh mama. A lot of high-end groceries like Fresh Fields and Whole Foods are selling their own compound butters now, and they're excellent, but you don't have to be limited by what they have available.

All you need for a compound butter is softened, room-temperature butter (I like salted butter for compound butter, just because the salt makes the other flavors pop a little) and some other ingredients of your choice. Here are a few compound butters and some suggestions for what to do with them.
Here are a few of my favorites, and my favorite ways to eat them.

Compound Butter

1 stick salted butter (or 1 stick unsalted, and 1/8 teaspoon table salt), softened to room temperature
Other ingredients of your choice (see below)

Beat the butter with a fork until it's light and fluffy, then work in the other ingredients until incorporated. Store the butter in a small, tightly covered container in the refrigerator, or roll it tightly into a log in plastic wrap, store it in the fridge, and cut off rounds as needed.

Sour Cream & Chive Compound Butter
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped or snipped fresh chives
Great on baked potatoes

Cheddar-Bacon-Scallion Compound Butter
1/8 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons crumbled, crisp-fried bacon
2 tablespoons finely chopped scallions (white and light-green parts only)
Potatoes of any kind--especially in twice-baked potatoes

Basil-Red Pepper Compound Butter
1/8 cup chopped roasted jarred red peppers
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
Tossed with cheese tortellini

Garlic-Herb Compound Butter
2 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press
2 tablespoons fresh finely chopped herbs of your choice--try parsley, thyme, and sweet basil
Spread on toasted country bread for easy garlic bread

Chipotle Compound Butter
1 chipotle pepper in adobo
1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from chipotle can)
Spread on outside of chicken quesadillas before grilling

Cilantro-Lime Compound Butter
4 tablespoons lime juice
4 tablespoons finely-chopped cilantro
Melt over grilled fish--mahi-mahi, grouper, and red snapper would all be good

Lemon-Pepper Compound Butter
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
Tossed with angel-hair pasta and sauteed shrimp

Gorgonzola-Worcestershire Compound Butter
1/8 cup crumbled gorgonzola or other strong bleu cheese
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
Melt over grilled steak

Sun-dried Tomato-Parmesan Compound Butter
3 tablespoons oil-packed, finely minced tomatoes
4 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
Spread on white bread for grilled cheese sandwiches
Or, tossed with roasted broccoli

May 10: Cinnamon Honey Compound Butter

2008-05-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

When did I become such a little old lady? One glass of wine with dinner and I'm falling asleep on the couch. What if I have to give up drinking? Oh my God!

Compound butter: if you haven't tried them yet, you're missing out. I baked bread today, something I love to do but don't do often enough. The exactitude required by baking does not suit my free spirit in the kitchen. Measuring stuff is sort of stifling to me. But I love fresh homemade bread, particularly with compound butter. All it is, is butter with stuff mixed in. Seriously--butter and stuff.

Compound butter is good for all kinds of things: popcorn, fish, pasta. I love bleu cheese butter on a freshly grilled steak; I love chicken breasts with chipotle butter; I love spaghetti with garlic-basil butter.

For the homemade bread, I made my favorite sweet compound butter. Let me just say that I think this would be amazing on pancakes, or waffles, or toast. There was a restaurant in Kalamazoo that we used to go to that served warm rolls with this butter, and it is so good, it is all I can do to not slather my three-year-old in this stuff. Believe me, based on his behaviour today, it would be an improvement.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

1 stick salted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Whip butter with a fork until fluffy. Mix in honey and cinnamon.

Keep cool. Will keep, tightly covered in refrigerator, for up to 2 weeks.

May 9: Bacon, Scallion and Caramelized Onion Dip

2008-05-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday is Mother's Day. My mother will be here for a short visit on the 23rd, and I anticipate eating well while she is here. My mother loves great, extravagant food, has a huge sweet tooth, and will eat anything. She is a lot of fun to cook for, because everything is the best thing she's ever had.

One of my favorite things that my mother makes is tuna noodle casserole, with canned cream of mushroom soup and frozen peas and buttered breadcrumbs on top. I am not going to bother with the recipe for that. It's ubiquitous and everybody's had it and either loved it or hated it, so I won't bother. Take my word, though, that my mother makes delicious tuna noodle casserole.

Instead, here is something that my mother would love. I inherited my love of dip from her. I would serve this with a variety of crackers, or maybe just eat it with a spoon alone in my living room.

Bacon, Scallion, and Caramelized Onion Dip

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 pound onions, root end cut off, halved pole to pole, peeled, and sliced 1/4 inch thick across the grain
1/2 tablespoon water
Ground black pepper
3 slices bacon (about 3 ounces), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 scallions, minced
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
3/4 cup sour cream

1. Heat butter and oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat; when foam subsides, stir in salt and sugar. Add onions and stir to coat; cook, stirring occasionally, until onions begin to soften and release some moisture, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are deeply browned and slightly sticky, about 40 minutes longer. (If onions are sizzling or scorching, reduce heat. If onions are not browning after 15 to 20 minutes, raise heat.) Off heat, stir in water; season to taste with pepper. (Can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 7 days.)

2. Fry 3 slices (about 3 ounces) bacon, in small skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 5 minutes; remove with slotted spoon to paper towel–lined plate and set aside.

3. Combine caramelized onions, cider vinegar, scallions, sour cream, and bacon in medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve. (Can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 3 days.)

May 8: Fennel Mashed Potatoes

2008-05-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Fennel is good for you. It keeps you from having bad breath and it aids digestion. And it tastes delicious. It tastes a little like licorice, but not in a yucky way. I like it raw, I like it braised, I like it steamed.

I think I'd like it this way too: mashed into mashed potatoes. Because I am totally that person who likes mashed potatoes pretty much any old way you can think to make them. Plain, with milk and butter, through the ricer? Check. Mashed with about fifteen cloves of garlic? Check. With smoked cheddar and chipotle pepper stirred in? Oh my yes.

Found this one on Epicurious. I do love that site.

Fennel Mashed Potatoes

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, quartered, cored, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 cup (or more) half and half
Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add sliced fennel bulb and crushed fennel seeds and stir to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until fennel is tender but not brown, stirring often, about 20 minutes. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Place potatoes in large saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain. Return potatoes to pan; cook over medium heat until no liquid remains. Mash potatoes.

Add 1 cup half and half to fennel mixture and bring to simmer. Working in 2 batches, add fennel mixture to potatoes; stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm over medium heat, adding more half and half as needed if dry.)

May 7: French Onion Soup

2008-05-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

Man oh man, what a dilemma. French onion soup can be rich, sumptuous, the best possible kind of comfort food. Or it can be salty, one-note, tired, and covered in congealed, poor-quality cheese. When you order it in a restaurant, you never know what you're going to get.

What's the answer? Make it at home. It's not difficult, and it's made mostly of things you have around the house (and I promise I'll get around to that Advanced Pantry still). It's a great Sunday afternoon lunch for a rainy day, maybe with a little salad and a tall glass of milk.

You need the right bowls for this--heavy crockery that can take the heat of the broiler. There are special French onion crocks with handles that make handling a scorching-hot bowl a little easier. Either way, as my son says, be safe, be careful. French onion soup can make for some impressive burns.

This is awesome: I'm watching the Nationals game while I write this: Paul LoDuca got hit in the already-injured hand with a pitch and is clearly in quite a bit of pain. A knucklehead fan from the other team (The Houston Assholes, I mean the Astros) gave him some crap as he went back to the dugout, and security came and escorted this fine gentleman and his knuckle-dragging ape of a buddy from the ballpark. This has nothing to do with soup. This has to do with me and how much I love baseball.

French Onion Soup

2 lb medium onions, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced lengthwise
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 Turkish bay leaves or 1 California
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dry white wine
4 cups reduced-sodium beef broth (32 fl oz)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 (1/2-inch-thick) diagonal slices of baguette
1 (1/2-lb) piece Gruyère, Comte, or Emmental
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Cook onions, thyme, bay leaves, and salt in butter in a 4- to 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, uncovered, stirring frequently, until onions are very soft and deep golden brown, about 45 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in wine and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in broth, water, and pepper and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.

While soup simmers, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Arrange bread in 1 layer on a large baking sheet and toast, turning over once, until completely dry, about 15 minutes.

Remove croûtes from oven and preheat broiler. Put crocks in a shallow baking pan.

Discard bay leaves and thyme from soup and divide soup among crocks, then float a croûte in each. Slice enough Gruyère (about 6 ounces total) with cheese plane or very sharp knife to cover tops of crocks, allowing ends of cheese to hang over rims of crocks, then sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Broil 4 to 5 inches from heat until cheese is melted and bubbly, 1 to 2 minutes.

May 6: Lemon Buttermilk Cake with Strawberries

2008-05-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

I've lost my sweet tooth, mostly. It's the curse of being a diabetic--I mean, it's the curse if you don't think of retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, kidney failure, circulatory failure, or increased risk of stroke to be a curse, per se. But I rarely have dessert, and I love ice cream, so if I'm eating something sweet, it's probably a menage a trois with me, Ben and Jerry.

I do like an occasional fruit dessert, though. I like all kinds of fruit crisps and lemon squares, if they're good ones. This cake looks tasty, though; it's from an old Bon Apetit from my mother's collection that I absconded with. I can't remember what recipe in here I was originally interested in, but this sounds yummy, and seasonal. If you're a mother, you should find someone who wants to make this for you.

Lemon Buttermilk Cake with Strawberries

CAKE
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
3 extra-large eggs
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 16-ounce package frozen sliced sweetened strawberries, thawed

FROSTING
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
5 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
2 1-pint baskets strawberries, hulled

Preparation
FOR CAKE: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter and flour three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Beat sugar, butter and lemon peel in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon juice. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pans to racks and cool 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic and store at room temperature.)

Boil sliced sweetened strawberries with juices in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat until mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup and begins to thicken, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

FOR FROSTING: Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in lemonade concentrate and lemon peel.
Divide strawberry mixture between 2 cake layers and spread over tops, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges. Let stand until slightly set, about 5 minutes. Place 1 strawberry-topped layer on platter. Drop 3/4 cup frosting atop cake by spoonfuls; gently spread over top. Top with remaining strawberry-topped layer. Drop 3/4 cup frosting by spoonfuls atop cake; gently spread over top. Top with remaining cake layer. Using spatula, spread remaining frosting in decorative swirls over sides and top of cake. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and chill. Let cake stand at room temperature 1 hour before continuing.)

Decoratively arrange strawberries, pointed side up, atop cake. Cut into wedges and serve.

May 5: Pork Chops with Grainy Mustard and Raisin Suace

2008-05-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

Well, this is an interesting little something...Fine Cooking's e-newsletter has an article in it about creating your own quick recipes using quick cooking "centers" (like meat, fish, pasta, or a grain), high-heat cooking methods, flavorful add-ons, and pantry staples. Here is their list of pantry staples. They've got some interesting add-ons (like two mustards) and also their pantry lacks a few things that I really can't do without (like melting cheese.)

In the pantry: anchovies
artichoke hearts (canned or frozen)
beans (canned)
bouillon cubes
broth or stock
chipotles (canned in adobo sauce)
couscous
dried chiles
dried fruits
dried mushrooms
garlic
hoisin sauce
oils: olive, canola, vegetable, peanut, toasted sesame
olives
onions
pasta
potatoes
rice
roasted red peppers
salsa
shallots
soy sauce
spices and dried herbs
sun-dried tomatoes
tomatoes (canned: whole, diced, crushed, sauce, paste)
tuna
vinegars: balsamic, sherry, rice, white and red-wine
wasabi
water chestnuts

In the fridge or freezer:
bacon or pancetta
capers
feta cheese
fresh herbs
ginger
horseradish
lemons
limes
mayonnaise
mustards: Dijon and grainy
Parmigiano-reggiano
pesto
preserves
sour cream
tortillas
vegetables

I had intended to do a Cinco De Mayo recipe today--we had chicken fajitas for dinner tonight, one of my favorite meals ever. But then I found this recipe for pork chops with grainy mustard and raisins, which is a really great pantry staple recipe, and sounds wonderful.

Pork Chops with Grainy Mustard and Raisins

1 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup golden raisins
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 thick cut boneless center-cut pork chops
1 tbsp paprika
Salt and pepper
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
3 tbsp grainy Dijon mustard
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped

Preheat oven to 375.

In a small sauce pot over high heat, combine the chicken stock, wine, and raisins. Bring it to a simmer, then turn off the heat and let it sit.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season the cops with paprika, salt and pepper. Place chops in the skillet and sear on both sides, about 2 minutes. Transfer the chops to a rimmed cookie sheet and place in the oven to finish, 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let chops rest, tented loosely with foil.

While the chops are in the oven, return their skillet to medium-high heat. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil, onions, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring frequently for about 3 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock, wine, and raisins. Add the mustard and cream. Bring the misture to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, 4-5 minutes. Finish the sauce with the parsley. Serve the sauce over the rested pork chops.

May 4: Classic Creamy Chicken Salad

2008-05-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Holy Cheebs. I thought I had my yarn habit well in hand, and then today I fell totally off the wagon. It's not my fault though. It's the first weekend in May, which my Stitch & Bitch Nation page-a-day calendar just told me that the first weekend in May is the Maryland State Sheep and Wool festival. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but fiber artists are really a home-schooling, socially-awkward bunch of Mom-Jeans wearers. Sorry, maybe I shouldn't say that, but I thought knitting was becoming hipster, and it isn't by the looks of that crowd. There were nearly 300 vendors; the vendors sold a wider variety of yarns than even the most diverse local yarn shop that I've ever seen in my life, and I've never seen most of them before, and I couldn't afford almost any of them, but I did pick up some gorgeous natural cotton that is going to make a dreamy baby blanket, and my big splurge was a rayon-silk blend chenille that is so incredibly soft and drapey and gorgeous I couldn't resist even the $35 price tag. I've never spent anything even close to that for a skein of yarn before, but if you could see this thing, you'd understand it. The artist had washed it and it lofts up like a dream when you wash it, and I can't wait to cast this bad boy on.

So, of course, I'm pushing the Advanced Pantry back yet another day. And it is late and I am so freaking tired from running around out in the dirt and the hot that I can barely keep my eyes open.

It's spring, and I'm craving chicken salad sandwiches, inexplicably.

Classic Creamy Chicken Salad

2 whole bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (large, at least 1 1/2 pounds each)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Table salt

For Salad
2 medium ribs celery, cut into small dice
2 medium scallions , white and green parts, minced
3/4 - 1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons lemon juice from 1 small lemon
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Table salt and ground black pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Set breasts on small, foil-lined jelly roll pan. Brush with oil and sprinkle generously with salt. Roast until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 160 degrees, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool to room temperature, remove skin and bones, and shread meat into bite-sized pieces (about 5 cups). (Can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for 2 days.)

2. Mix all salad ingredients (including chicken) together in large bowl, including salt and pepper to taste. Serve. (Can be covered and refrigerated overnight.)

May 3: White Bean Puree

2008-05-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

The Kitchen will return after these messages: my best friend, The Cutest Little Pregnant Woman On Earth, is pregnant and expecting a baby next month. Next month, holy crap, people! This is the woman who was never interested or amenable to having children, and it took this girl about six seconds to get pregnant once she decided to go for it, dammit! I have a lot of knitting to do for her little person, I have been woefully neglectful. I have finished a gorgeous little lacy blanket and am working on booties and a hat in the same soy yarn to go with it; I also have a very simple little striped acrylic blanket in vanilla, chocolate, and swirl which is halfway done, more or less.

The good news is that I have lots of free time.

I will hit you with the Advanced Pantry tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. I've finished one bootie tonight and tomrrow I'm planning on going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, and I am going to cry a little when I think about all of the gorgeous, exotic, locally-grown fibers I'm going to put my hands on tomorrow, and not be able to afford. In fact, I anticipate shedding so many tears that I may be a little dehydrated and unable to knit tomorrow, so I need to get on with this second little bootie (OMG, yo, so stinking cute, and incredibly easy) while I still have my head about me. So, instead, here's an Intermediate Pantry recipe--with the exception of hot sauce (which I don't keep in my pantry because I make my own). Spread on toasted baguettes, this is a wonderful, elegant, simple appetizer, it comes together in about a second, seriously. It's a nice change from hummus, which I love.

White Bean Puree
4 cloves garlic
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups canned white beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Hot pepper sauce

In a saucepan, sweat the garlic in chicken stock. Add the beans and cook until heated through.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender and puree with the remaining ingredients, except hot pepper sauce. Adjust seasoning, and add hot sauce, to taste. Keep warm until ready to serve.

May 2: The Intermediate Pantry; Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms

2008-05-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

I agree with Merseydoats that the basic pantry needs several different vinegars. I left those off of yesterday's list, so I'm tacking them on to The Intermediate Pantry, but I do think they're important staples. I also forgot colanders--infinitely important for everything from draining pasta to washing fruit. I have three--a fairly fine wire mesh colander, a large plastic one, and another metal one that serves as a basket in my stockpot. These are basics--find a shape and a configuration that works for you and how you cook.

This is the pantry for people who've expanded beyond the basics--people who entertain casually, people who want to eat well every day, people who are up for a challenge in the kitchen. This pantry supports more complicated techniques, more in-depth recipes, more homemade and less prepared foods, and it still respects the two-career household, the idea that a working mom may not take the time on a Tuesday night to make her own mayonnaise.

The recipe is one of my favorites--it is plenty fattening, terrifically decadent, and yet still easy enough to make on that Tuesday night. With some roasted broccoli, a side of tomato-sauced spaghetti, and a big green salad, it's a hugely satisfying meal with lots of protein and lots of fiber, both of which will keep you feeling full for a long time. For Kimberly's baby shower, I made sausage-stuffed mushrooms, just regular white mushrooms, and they were a hit. This is a meal-sized variation on the theme, with some spinach thrown in to draw attention away from all the cheese and pork.

The Pantry
Everything from The Basic Pantry, plus...

Dark brown sugar

Cake flour

Bread flour

Fleur de sel

Quick-cooking grits

Baking chocolate in Bittersweet and Unsweetened

No-bake lasagna noodles

Orzo

Brown rice

Red potatoes

Avocados

Red onions

Shallots

Tortilla chips

Walnut or grapeseed oil

White wine vinegar

Red wine vinegar

Balsalmic vinegar

Bananas

Dried spices: Chipotle and Ancho chile powder, Chinese Five Spice powder, Pink peppercorns

The Canned Goods

Everything listed in The Basic Canned Goods, Plus...

High-quality tuna packed in olive oil
Refried beans (vegetarian tend to be healthiest, but the Old El Paso brand makes one with chorizo which is just so good.)
Pinto Beans
Black beans
White beans
Garbanzo beans

The Refrigerator

Everything listed in The Basic Refrigerator, Plus...

Brick-style cream cheese
Sour cream
Swiss cheese
Part-skim mozzerella
A wedge of real, aged parmesan cheese
Full-fat or reduced fat plain yogurt
Lowfat buttermilk
Mayonnaise
Ground turkey
Large (usually 20-28 per pound) shell-on shrimp
Bone-in pork loin chops
Sweet and/or hot Italian sausages
Seasonal vegetables (peas or asparagus in spring, sweet corn and great tomatoes in summer, although the tomatoes don't belong in the fridge, it's bad for their flavor, butternut squash in the fall, beets in the winter)
Corn tortillas
Spring mix
Spinach
Portabello or cremini mushrooms
Breakfast sausage

The Freezer

Vanilla ice cream
Frozen waffles (I know, I know, but seriously, they are so easy, and yummy)
Frozen vegetables: peas, corn, green beans--whatever you like
Frozen poundcake (for an impromptu dessert)

The Gadgets and Tools

All of the Basic Gadgets and Tools, Plus...

Microplane grater
Meat mallet or pounder
High-quality, sharp 5-6 inch utility knife
High-quality, sharp, thin, flexible fillet knife
Knife sharpener
Slotted spoon
Sloped-sided, long-handled saucepan or saucier (If you're dying to buy me a present, this would be lovely.)
6-8 quart Dutch oven (This one is excellent.)
12-inch heavy-bottomed traditional (not non-stick) skillet (This one is surprisingly affordable and extremely durable, although the base could be a little wider.)
Loaf pan, either metal or glass (I like Pyrex, but some people like metal. The silicone ones are popular too.)
Large roasting pan with a V-rack (I have this one, it's almost too huge, but I know it'll be more useful to me as I go along.)
Food processor (At least 8 cups, 11 would be better, with a minimum of a chopping blade, a shredder disk and a chopping disk. I recommend this one).

The Intermediate Pantry Recipe: Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms

4 large portabello mushrooms, wiped clean, dark gills scraped out with a spoon

1/2 lb. hot or sweet Italian sausages, removed from casings

1/4 lb. fresh spinach

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press

8 ounces (one package) brick style cream cheese, at room temperature

4 ounces part-skim mozzerella, shredded

2 ounces parmesan, grated

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450. Place mushroom caps upside down on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast at 450 degrees until slightly softened and giving off some of their liquid, 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, pour off liquid, and let cool.

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown sausage, breaking up with a spoon or a spatula. Stir in garlic and saute until fragrent, 30 seconds or so. Drain off most of the rendered fat, remove sausage from skillet and set aside. Add 1/4 cup water to skillet, raise heat to medium high, and add spinach. Steam spinach until wilted and tender, 3-4 minutes. In a colander set over the sink, drain the spinach, pressing down on the spinach to get out as much moisture as possible.

Move the spinach to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Process in 1-second pulses, 5-6 of them, until spinach is well-chopped but not pureed.

In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, sausage, spinach, bread crumbs, half of the mozzerella and about 3/4 of the parmesan. Stir in the Italian seasoning and taste for salt and pepper.

Divide stuffing among mushroom caps. Top each with the leftover cheese. Bake at 450 degrees until bubbly and browning. Serve.

May 1: The Basic Pantry, Easy Beef Stroganoff

2008-05-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

Kimberly and Michael asked me, while I was in Kentucky recently, about a pantry primer. I love this kind of post: a list of what should be in everyone's pantry, whether you can barely boil water or whether you entertain regularly and cook like a domestic goddess (I loathe that term, by the by, much as I loathe the term by the by.)

These are the kind of things that make a wide variety of basic recipes. If your talents or interests are limited, if you're on a tight budget, if you're just learning the ropes, or if you live in a tiny little condo at the top of two flights of stairs and you hate carrying up groceries like I do, these are the things you can't live without.

This list may seem absolutely outrageous to you; it's not short. But imagine if you were starting from scratch, with an empty kitchen. This is what you'd need to get by.

So let us start here, with the basics, and a basic recipe made from the basics. It is not traditional beef stroganoff, which is made with expensive beef tenderloin and sour cream--this is a little lighter, still filling, and a quick weeknight dinner, made from things that are probably already in your kitchen.

If they're not, they should be. Go on, make a grocery list. Do it now.

The Pantry

Granulated sugar
Light brown sugar
All-purpose flour
Instant-acting yeast
Kosher salt
Table salt
Cornmeal
Cocoa powder
Baking soda
Baking powder
A long strand pasta, like spaghetti, capellini, or linguine
A short, stubby curved pasta, like shells, rotini, or penne rigate
Wide or extra-wide egg noodles (sometimes labled "dumpling style" or "homestyle")
Long grain white rice
All-purpose, Russet, or Yukon Gold potatoes
White or yellow onions
Garlic
High-quality, fruity, fresh extra-virgin olive oil (find a brand you like and get it from a reputable source with a stock that turns over quickly; I like 365 brand from Whole Foods. Also, buy it in small quantities--it may cost a little more over time, but it won't go bad before you can use it)
Corn, vegetable, or canola oil, or some other non-animal-based, "healthy," neutral-tasting fat for cooking and baking
High-quality white sandwich bread (Pepperidge Farms Hearty White is excellent; even if you don't think you'll eat sandwiches, this makes the best fresh breadcrumbs around)
Apples
Oranges
Dried spices: oregano, Italian seasoning, thyme, rubbed sage, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, whole peppercorns

The Canned Goods

Good quality canned diced tomatoes (I like Muir Glen Organics, but they are pricey. A good, lower-priced stand-in is Redpack.)
Good quality canned crushed tomatoes
Good quality canned tomato sauce
Good quality canned tomato paste
Chunk light tuna in water
Cream of mushroom soup
Cream of chicken soup
Reduced sodium chicken broth (I buy broth in aseptic cardboard cartons--it just tastes better to me--but canned is fine too.)
Reduced sodium beef broth

The Refrigerator

Unsalted butter
Skim or reduced-fat milk
Half-and-half
Brick medium-sharp cheddar cheese
Lean ground beef
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Carrots
Celery
Iceberg or Romaine lettuce
Flour tortillas (come on, you didn't seriously think I would leave tortillas off this list, did you? Are you new here?)
White mushrooms (may also be called button mushrooms)
Eggs
Bacon

The Gadgets and Tools

Garlic press
High-quality, sharp 3-4-inch paring knife
High-quality, sharp 9-10 inch santoku or chef's knife
Vegetable peeler
Rolling pin
Box grater
Plastic or silicone spoon
Silicone-tipped tongs
Plastic or silicone pancake turner
Plastic or silicone spatula or "spoonula" or scraper
Heavy-bottomed 3-4 quart saucepan with a lid
Heavy-bottomed 8-10 quart stock pot with a lid
12-inch nonstick skillet
9x13 inch casserole or baking dish (I use my late grandmother's old Pyrex)
Rimmed cookie sheets (I recommend at least two)
Oven-safe wire rack
Pepper grinder

Easy Beef Stroganoff

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 yellow onion, diced small

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1/2 pound white mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and quartered

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 lb. lean ground beef

2/3 cup half-and-half

1 cup low sodium beef broth

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 pound wide or extra-wide egg noodles, cooked according to package directions and kept hot

Over medium heat, preheat 12-inch nonstick skillet and oil until shimmering. Add onions and garlic to pan and cook, stirring, until softening and translucent but not browned. Add mushrooms to pan and stir until mushrooms are softening.

Add ground beef to pan and cook over medium, breaking up with a spoon or spatula, until browned. Add thyme and flour to pan and cook 2 minutes, stirring to combine.

Add broth and half-and-half, stir and raise heat to medium high and bring to a simmer. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened to saucy, gravy-like consistency. Taste, season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately over egg noodles.

April 30: Corn & Squash Soup

2008-04-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

I am watching Top Chef only reluctantly this season. For one thing, I think Tom Collicchio's restaurants are woefully overpriced and totally fussy, and what the hell is up with his soul patch, and also, why is he such a grumpy old poop? For another thing, I got tired of the egos the last two seasons, and it made me a little less willing to stick my toes back in the water. That Marcel twerp, particularly, deserved one serious foot in his ass. Yuck. I'm watching the reruns, but I rarely stay up late enough to watch the new episode, because I just think they suck.

Non sequiter: I like soup. I love seasonal food. I can't wait to cook this, but since becoming unemployed, my food budget is limited and I just found this recipe and I can't work improvisation into my budget, so it'll have to wait, but as you know, food is like porn for me: beautiful pictures and descriptions of things that I will probably never do.

Corn and Squash Soup

6 cups water
3 basil sprigs
1 garlic head, halved horizontally
2 tbsp butter
1 cup diced onion
2 cups diced yellow squash
3 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper as needed

Combine the water, basil, and garlic in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 30 minutes, skimming the surface as necessary. Strain the broth and reserve.

Heat the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about five minutes. Add the squash and cook, stirring frequently, for another 5 minutes. Add the corn and reserved broth and bring the soup to a simmer. Season to taste.

Puree the soup and strain it through a fine sieve. Return the soup to the pot and bring to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the soup in heated soup bowls.

April 29: Corn Saute with Canadian Bacon, Potatoes, and Peppers

2008-04-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

My father-in-law has Menier's disease. It's an inner ear problem which gives him both a constant ringing in his ears and a constant, low-grade case of vertigo. If you've never had vertigo, imagine that the floor that you were standing on was constantly tilting at anywhere from a 15-degree angle to about a 70-degree angle, randomly. There is no cure for it, nor is there a consistantly successful treatment.

One thing that does seem to help is a low-sodium diet. My father-in-law is an absolute peach of a guy; I'm crazy about him. He is a soft-spoken, true old-fashioned gentleman with an incredible work ethic, is pathologically cooperative, and infinitely patient with his youngest grandson. He also loves my cooking, and nothing endears someone to me like loving my cooking does.

My mother-in-law has gotten pretty decent at making low-sodium substitutes for her husband. She makes a salt-free bratwurst and a salt-free breakfast sausage. Both are outstanding. But one thing that Leo always asks for when he's here or when we're in Michigan is homemade pizza. I love making pizza, way more than I love ordering it, but it's a struggle to accommodate everyone. I am not a fan of ham, and it's too high in sodium for Leo, as are olives, which I love. Kitty, my mother-in-law, can't eat pepperoni or peppers of any kind, and a lot of dried herbs and spices that generally go into pizza sauce bother her stomach as well. Dan loves peppers, but they don't love him. Max likes pizza with cheese and maybe sausage. Everything else is "too bad," according to him.

One thing we all can get together on, though, is Canadian bacon. If you've never had it--I'm just not sure whether it's popular anywhere other than in Michigan, which is practically attached to Canada--it's a lightly smoked and pressed pork loin. It is a little like ham, only without being so salty, and I am a big fan. Most of the time you see it in Eggs Benedict--an English muffin, a grilled slice of Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and Hollandaise sauce--but it is an outstanding pizza topping as well.

Unless you're serving brunch, or pizza, though, that Canadian bacon is not exactly highly popular. I do like it on a grilled cheese sandwich, but it's not that versatile.

Here's something you can do with that half a package of Canadian bacon that's left over after the Eggs Benedict or the homemade pizza. It's on the back cover of an old Fine Cooking magazine, and summer is coming and these are the vegetables that we're going to start seeing in the farmer's markets. I can't wait. When it comes to that leftover Hollandaise sauce, though, you're on your own.

Corn Saute with Canadian Bacon, Potatoes, and Peppers

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup small-diced Canadian bacon (3 oz.)
1 cup small-diced red onion
1 cup small-diced red potato
1/2 cup small-diced green bell pepper
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 slightly heaping cups fresh corn kernels
2 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp thinly sliced fresh chives
1/2 tsp green Tabasco, more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
One-half lemon

Melt 1 tbsp. of the butter and 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a 10-inch straight sided saute pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the Canadian bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is brown around the edges, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.

Add the remaining butter and oil to the pan. Add the onion, potato, bell pepper, and 1/2 tsp. of salt. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and cook, stirring frequently, until the oinons and peppers are well softened and the potatoes are barely tender and starting to brown, 5-7 minutes.

Uncover, increase heat to medium, and add the corn, garlic and remaining salt. Saute, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, until the corn is tender but still slightly toothy to the bite, 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the parsley, chives, Tabasco, a few generous grinds of pepper, and a small squeese of lemon. Stir, let sit 2 minutes, and stir again. Fold in the Canadian bacon, season to taste with more salt, pepper, or lemon juice. Serve warm.

April 28: Breakfast Burrito

2008-04-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

I like a good sandwich, I really do. It's a whole self-contained and portable meal, all in itself. When it's done well, it's a balance of flavors that all works together, the way a good balanced meal does.

I like a breakfast-for-dinner thing now and then, and a sandwich is just the thing. That sounds awfully British, doesn't it? I'm watching The Painted Veil as I'm writing this, and Edward Norton is adorable, as usual; he plays a stuffy British dcotor and I am finding him irresistable, as usual. I love brainy, awkward guys. Liev Shreiver is awfully cute in this as well.

Anyway: breakfast for dinner. I am a big fan of the breakfast sandwich, and by turn, the breakfast burrito. A tortilla stands in beautifully for a couple slices of bread in the case of a breakfast burrito, and as for the insides, anything goes.

Here's my favorite breakfast burrito. Out of respect for our arteries, I usually make it with turkey sausage, but nothing's off limits. Sometimes, I leave out the salsa and I make a little sausage gravy to dip the burrito in. I'm kooky that way.

Breakfast Burrito

4 large (12-inch) flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups roasted tomato salsa
2/3 pound spicy pork or turkey sausage, crumbled and browned
2 cups home fries

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. While the butter melts, beat together the eggs and sour cream, then pour into skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring with a rubber or silicone spatula, until scrambled medium-hard. Mix in cooked crumbled sausage, salsa, and home fries. Keep warm.

Wrap tortillas in plastic wrap and microwave until hot and pliable. Sprinkle each tortilla with 1/4 of the cheese, then microwave a few seconds more, until cheese melts slightly.

Divide the egg mixture evenly among the tortillas. Fold in each side, then roll up from the bottom. Serve.

April 27: Chicken in a Horseradish Pan Sauce over Orange and Herb Couscous

2008-04-27T17:45:00.000-07:00

Dan, Max, a teacher-friend of ours, and I went to the Nationals-Cubs game today, and Jon Rauch signed Max's hat! I am such a star-struck moron when it comes to Nationals players, and he is one of our favorites. And he is really really tall. Really really. I like tall boys.

Well, we'll see tomorrow how my whole unemployment hairshirt is going to play out. I'm thinking I'll either be bitter and depressed and thoroughly hideous to live with, or else I'll say screw it all and play Suzy Homemaker, do laundry, and generally make myself useful. We'll see.

However, whatever else I do, I plan to continue to cook for my family. That's always my plan; I am not myself when I am relying on someone or something else to take care of these men that I love so much.

Look, Rachel Ray is the antichrist, okay? She strikes me as completely stale and phony, and I think she does some awful things to food, really unspeakable. But occasionally she does produce some actual food, something that isn't gimmicky or boring or just reeking of her. She makes homemade food accessable to people who, I suspect, really wouldn't think much about food otherwise. I'll give her that, because I really and truly think that food should be accessable; everyone eats and should eat well and intelligently and sensibly. There's that. Then there's the side of me that tells anyone who will listen that Rachel Ray is the antichrist, who thinks that what Rachel Ray does is really playing to the lowest common denominator. Okay, that's enough, Molly. God.

That said, this is a Rachel Ray recipe, and it seems smart and well-made and not total nonsense, and possibly quite tasty. I may make this tomorrow, as I need to make some chicken breasts for Dan's lunch as it is. Suzy Homemaker.

Chicken in a Horseradish Pan Sauce with Orange-Herb Couscous

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1/4 cups chicken stock or broth
1 1/2 cups plain couscous
Zest of 1 navel orange
3 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup half-and-half

Preheat a large nonstick skillet with 2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the hot skillet and cook for 5-6 minutes per side.

While the chicken is cooking, in a sauce pot combine 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock and the remaining olive oil. Cover the pot and raise the heat; bring the stock to a boil. Remove the pot from the heat, add the couscous, orange zest, and parsley, then stir. Cover and let the couscous stand for 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Return the skillet to the heat and add the onions, horseradish, and thyme. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes. Add the mustard, about 3/4 cup of the remaining chicken stock, and the half-and-half. Bring to a simmer, and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet to heat, about 1 minute.

Fluff the couscous with a fork. Divide the couscous among 4 dinner plates, then top each portion with a chicken breast and some of the horseradish pan sauce.

April 26: Chile Verde

2008-04-26T19:48:00.001-07:00

I am...not sure how I should feel about being unemployed. For one thing, it's not as though we need the money; we don't exactly live high on the hog, our car's paid off and Dan's student loans are not unreasonable. My job has not exactly been my favorite place in the world lately, and the daily dread of what fresh hell awaited me every morning isn't something I'll miss. On the other hand, I was looking forward to getting pregnant again (hell, I've been looking forward to it for a year now) and I liked all the not worrying about money. But to all my real-life friends who've been so sweet and supportive and wonderful, my work people who were shocked and sympathetic on my behalf, and of course my husband and my son, thanks so very much for being everything that you are.

As usual, when I'm feeling a little bruised, I'm craving spicy. This is a widespread, modernized version of a rustic classic Southwestern stew. The easy thing to do here is to use canned chilles, available in the ethnic food aisle of almost any grocery store in the country, but for a real treat, find fresh Anaheim peppers and roast and peel them yourself. This goes great with a sprinkle of cilantro, a few diced tomatoes, and maybe a drizzle of sour cream over the top.

Chili Verde

3 pounds boneless pork, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced small
6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 jalapenos, stemmed and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon oregano (fresh) or 1 teaspoon dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cans peeled whole green chiles, drained
2 cups reduced sodium chicken stock

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, chile peppers, oregano, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Cook until the onion is softening, about 5 minutes. Remove the mixture to a large stew pot.

In the same frying pan, add as much pork as will fit in one layer. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat until browned. Remove to the stew pot and repeat with pork until all of it is cooked.

While the pork is browning, cut the canned chiles into 1/4 inch dice. Add the chiles to the pot, along with the stock, and 3 cups water. Bring to a biol. Reduce the heat to the barest simmer, and partially cover the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 1/2 hours, or until the pork shreds easily when pressed with a wooden spoon. Serve with garnishes and flour or corn tortillas

April 25: Government Cheese Omelet

2008-04-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to company restructuring, I am now on what I like to think of as a prolonged vacation. It's not like it caught me totally unexpected; things have been moving in this direction for quite awhile now and I've got some other options in the works. All the same, I am collecting unemployment at the moment.

As goes my check, as goes our food budget. Here is a breakfast-for-dinner recipe that takes advantage of leftover pasta and whatever other odds and ends you might happen to have in the fridge: grilled chicken, leftover sauce, steamed vegetables, or cheese. Whatever you like. I like a nice simple cheese omelet. With a side of bacon. A large side.

My mother-in-law gave me The Magic Bullet for Christmas a few years ago. It is wonderful at some things, terrible at others: salsa, for example, is not great. On the other hand, it makes really fairly spectacular omelets. You can really just beat eggs with a whisk, or a fork even, but I make them in the Bullet, and they are light as air, incredibly fluffy, and tender.

Government Cheese Omelet

4 large eggs
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon butter
4 oz. shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzerella, provolone, or fontina, all delicious)
salt and pepper

Whisk together eggs and sour cream until uniformly blended. Mix in salt and pepper to taste.

Melt the butter in a 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat, swirling to coat it. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and, using a rubber or silicone spatula, stir the eggs around the pan constantly until they begin to firm up. Let the eggs sit undisturbed until the bottom of the omelet is set, 3-4 minutes.

Sprinkle shredded cheese over half the eggs. Using a spatula, fold the eggs over the cheese. Continue to cook until the omelet is as done as you like it. Serve immediately. Serves 2.

Now Accepting Reservations

2008-04-25T04:29:00.000-07:00

Has anybody heard of this place Talula's Table? It's a gourmet single-table restaurant and probably the toughest reservation to get in America (watch out, French Laundry.) They accept one reservation per day, one year prior to the day. (For example, if you are planning on dining there tonight, you'll have needed to call on April 25, 2007.)

This isn't the kind of place that's in my budget for anything other than a substantially special occasion, at $90 per person, without wine, tax or gratuity included. But scamper on over to their website, and read their sample menu, and like me, you'll be saving your pennies, gunning for a promotion at work, and setting your alarm clock for the 7 A.M. call to their reservation line, as well as planning a roadtrip to Pennsylvania.

April 24: Hot Dogs From Scratch

2008-04-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

There are some things that I don't have a lot of faith that I can do better than in their most organic form. Eggrolls, for example: I seriously doubt that I can do anything more interesting with an eggroll than the Chinese restaurant around the corner. Mostly because I have no desire to deep-fry anything in my tiny little condo kitchen, but also, any Chinese restaurant eggroll is pretty much the gold standard of the thing; I have no reason to try to do it better.

It's sort of like quoting someone else: chances are somebody's already said it, and done it better than you can.

I love hot dogs, they're my guilty pleasure. Also, I have a not-quite-three-year-old; we consume a fair number of hot dogs in my house. A hot dog is a great blank canvas, you can put a lot of stuff on a hot dog. I like mine with mustard, onions, and cheese; I also really like a great authentic Chicago dog.

Just when I think I've taken the hot dog as far as it'll go, something else pops up for me. Today, it came in the form of Kim from The Yummy Mummy Cooks Gourmet and her homemade hot dog challenge. Homemade hot dogs? Well, why not. I make my own sausage, and a hot dog is really just that.

This weekend, we have tickets for the Nationals-Cubs game, but I am going to fit this recipe in regardless. There's lots of chilling and poaching time, not as much hands-on time as I would have guessed. Also, there's less gross random parts in this hot dog as I would suspect you find in a Ball Park frank. Anthony Bourdain aside, I'm not so much into eating all the parts of the animal, although my Dutch heritage sort of precludes me from ever being totally comfortable throwing edible bits away.

Make yourself some homemade hot dogs this weekend, and let me know how it goes. I will keep you updated.

Thanks to Kim Foster, the Yummy Mummy.

Hot Dogs From Scratch
From The Art of The Pig, who got it from a course on Sausage Making at CIA.

Ingredients
10 oz lean ground beef
1/2 lb smoked fatty bacon, minced
1 Tbs salt
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 pinch garlic powder (be generous, use more)
6 oz crushed ice
1 oz nonfat dry milk

Method
Place the bowl to the food processor in the freezer, place blade in ice bath.
Combine ground beef with seasonings, place in freezer along with bacon until semi-frozen
In the food processor place the meat and the ice; process to a smooth texture until the temperature reaches 40 F.
Add the bacon and process until well blended and temperature reaches 50 F
Add dry milk and process to mix in.
Pipe onto plastic wrap, roll, tie every 6 inches. Refrigerate overnight.
The next day poach in water at 170 F until internal temperature of 155 F; shock in ice water.
Unwrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

April 23: California-Style Fish Tacos

2008-04-23T17:24:00.001-07:00

Things My Son Mostly Refused To Eat Or Drink Tonight

1. A peanut butter sandwich
2. A banana
3. A hot dog
4. Whole wheat pasta
5. A sloppy joe (he refused to believe that it was food; he thought it was a TV show. He threw the TV remote at me after I refused to let him watch sloppy joe.)
6. A slice of leftover mushroom pizza
7. Milk
8. Fruit Punch
9. A chocolate chip cookie (Seriously! A chocolate chip cookie! He said that he couldn't eat it because "it has brown in it." What?)
10. Green beans (this did not surprise me; he always refuses green beans, but I still offer them)

What he asked me for for dinner:

1. "Fackers." If anybody knows what a "facker" is, besides what my kid was acting like tonight, please tell me. He also refuses to go to sleep. Oh, this kid. There are nights when I consider medicating him, and settle for medicating myself. With wine.

I haven't wrapped a tortilla around anything in awhile, which is unusual for me. When I went to San Diego for the first time, my freshman year of high school, before my mother and stepfather were married and while he was finishing out his last year as a high school, we ate a lot of what I think of as "San Diego Mexican" food: queso fundido with fried and crumbled chorizo, chips with lots of cilantro-laden salsa, huevos rancheros with truly great ranchero sauce, everything served with freshly-made tortillas.

San Diego is famous for fish tacos as well, not a delicacy I have much of an appreciation for. I do, however, acknowledge their popularity, both in California and out of it. I also acknowledge the zen beauty of simple, fresh, beautiful food, and the joy in preparing and serving it.

My husband, a solidly midwestern boy, loves fish tacos, and despite the fact that they make my house smell like fish, I love making them. Fish chunks are generally cheaper than filets or steaks, as they're generally the trimmed parts, but if you can't find them, you can cut them from bigger pieces. Pick a good, oily, strong-tasting fish, like swordfish, shark, salmon, or tuna.

California-Style Fish Chunks in a Dipped Tortilla

2 1/4 pounds fish in 1-inch chunks
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed and minced
1/2 a medium Napa cabbage, thinly shredded
Olive oil
18 corn or 12 flour tortillas
Tomato salsa of your choice
Thinly sliced red onion
Farmers cheese or queso asidero, crumbled

In a large bowl, mix together the lemon juice, soy sauce, and chili peppers. Add the fish chunks and turn to coal all over. Set aside to marinade for 20 minutes to an hour.

Coat the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil. Set over high heat until the oil begins to smoke. Add as many fish chunks as will fit in one uncrowded layer. Fry for 3 minutes, then turn andfry until flaky but still moist in the centers, 3 to 5 minutes more. Remove to a platter and keep warm. Continue cooking until all of the fish is cooked.

Add more oil to the pan. Add the cabbage and stir-fry until the cabbage is barely wilted, about 2 minutes.

Just before serving, dip the tortills in 1/2 cup of the salsa. Heat in a frying pan or the oven.

To assemble, spread about 1/3 cup of the fish chunks in the middle of a tortilla. Top with some cabbage, salsa, and cheese. Fold and serve.

April 22: Artichoke Crostini

2008-04-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Let me just say this for the ten-thousandth time, approximately: take advantage of spring vegetables. It's like somebody offering you a free, very tasty and fresh, new car. Why wouldn't you eat your new car? It's the best thing around.

This simile got terribly confused somehow. Forgive me, I'm sleepy. That's why yesterday's entry had so many errors in it: I kept falling asleep while I typed.

This would be a really nice appetizer, a start for a spring meal like roasted lemon chicken and orzo.

Artichoke Crostini

4 artichokes , steamed and cooled, outer leaves removed and choke removed from heart
1 - 2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
Table salt and ground black pepper
8 slices Italian bread or French bread, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 large clove garlic, peeled

1. Mash the artichoke hearts and stems with a fork. Stir in lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. (Can be covered and kept at room temperature up to 3 hours.)

2. Grill or broil bread on both sides. Rub one side with a peeled garlic clove. Spread the artichoke mixture on the toast. Serve immediately.

April 21: Rosemary-Proscuitto Corn Cakes

2008-04-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Dear God, It's Me, Molly.

Lord, I have a confession to make to You. It's really bad. I mean, really bad.

I hate Rachel Ray.

What's that, God? You hate her too? Really?

I understand. Have a nice day, God. Amen.

It's her total failure to almost ever do anything interesting with food. It's her catering (so to speak) to the lowest common denominator. I mean, everybody's got to eat, but her uninspired cooking, her kindergarten-style dialogue, and her stupid little Rachel-Ray-isms just make her into one of the worst things that I can imagine happening to TV.

But maybe not the worst thing to happen to food, however. I mean, remember who I am--the girl who likes to work late? The girl who really wants dinner on the table in a hurry? Yeah, that's me. Rachel is stale and phony and every time she says "delish" or "E.V.O.O." or "stoup," it makes me want to turn off the television and throw away the remote, but here's the thing: her food is on the table in a hurry.

So I own ol' girl's "365: No Repeats" cookbook, and I've actually made a few things that could have been worse. The Park City chicken, for example--a cashew chicken dish made with chipotle peppers and maple syrup--is delicious. So is the artichoke and walnut pesto pasta.

I get it, okay? Not everything has to be made from fresh organic locally-grown groceries. Sometimes just getting dinner on the table is enough. I think that Rachel sets the bar too low sometimes; I just can't help it. But she does some interesting things with food in this book. I don't care for chicken sausage, as this recipe suggests, but they're served them over rosemary-proscuitto corn cakes, which sound heavenly to me. I thing these sound wonderful with a brined, grilled pork chop, or a sauteed chicken breast, and a big green salad. I think they sound nice as an appetizer even.

So Rachel Ray: I don't hate you, sweetheart. I just think you're happier than any human has a right to be. I think you could stand to tone down all the...you. And you don't have to pretend to almost drop everything you're carrying every time. It's a TV show, Rach. Drop it and they'll just reshoot it. Stop trying to be interesting, you're not.

But these corn cakes sound pretty dandy.

Rosemary-Prosciutto Corn Cakes

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 8 1/2 oz. box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg
3 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped
4 slices prosciutto, diced
Black pepper

Mix muffin mix with melted butter. egg, milk, rosemary, proscuitto, and a few grinds of black pepper.

Rub a non-stick griddle with a little butter or spray with non-stick spray. Form 4 to 6 small cakes, and cook until golden on each side, turning as needed. Keep warm, repeat with the rest of the mixture. Serve.

April 20: Chinese Glazed Spareribs

2008-04-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

It is perfectly lovely to be back in the ample and disorganized bosom of my family after an equally-lovely weekend with The Cutest Little Pregnant Woman On Earth and her hilariously doting husband. I am endlessly amused by his obsessive need to register for every single baby first aid and safety thing on this earth, like every first-time father I've ever met. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we did the same thing, never used anything in those kits even once, and have now lost pretty much every single object in all of them, except the rubber bulb nose-sucker, which Max uses in the bathtub.

We ate some delicious food at the baby shower as well, including four kinds of cheese that The Cutest Little Pregnant Woman On Earth claims that none of her relatives have heard of, let alone tasted. She claimed that pre-cubed cheddar-jack cheese would have been more than sufficient; I claimed that I had a reputation to uphold and bought a bunch of stuff that I didn't think of as particularly exotic, like smoked gouda and roasted garlic cheddar. That cheddar, by the way, was so stinking delicious, I almost wish that T.C.L.P.W.O.E. had been serious about putting cheese in my suitcase. Not only did I broaden a bunch of Kentuckians' food horizons, I had mine broadened by T.C.L.P.W.O.E.'s mother-in-law, who makes this perfectly insane dessert called pave, pronounced pahv-AY, which is apparently graham crackers dipped in milk, some other stuff, and the key to everything: two cans of sweetened condensed milk, boiled for two hours--what I mean is, you boil the actual cans, with the milk still in them, and they turn into this incredibly rich, delicious caramel that would have been a fairly amazing ice cream topping, or drizzled over a poached pear or a baked apple...oh baby.

And now I am home, with my boys, who I've missed so much this weekend. Boy did it feel great to have Max jump into my arms in the airport, especially after sitting next to a girl who I am not certain wasn't completely strung out on drugs, whose panic attack started before we even pulled away from the gate and never really stopped until I flagged down a flight attendant, brought the puking, sobbing, hyperventilating girl to her attention, and offered to trade seats with, well, pretty much anybody on earth at that point, but her boyfriend specifically, who was a couple rows behind us, wearing a t-shirt that said "bang this" on the front of it, fast asleep, and totally unaware until that point that his poopsie was moments away from totally dissolving into acute hysteria. I'm sure that flying Southwest is fine for normal people, but as I am a certified freak-magnet, I don't think it was the best choice for me.

I am not a huge fan of Chinese food, especially restaurant Chinese food, as you probably have heard me say before. I love some of the better flavors in Asian food, though: Thai basil, lemongrass, ginger, soy, five spice, Szechuan peppercorns, Thai bird chiles.

One of the things that I think could be so good is those spareribs from Chinese restaurants. Talk about great potential--sticky, chewy, flavorful, sweet, spicy, moist, and tender. Really, though, way too often, they're just insipid.

Almost everything is better at home than it is in a restaurant. You've got control over what goes in; which changes the tenor of a dish from being, you know, whatever shows up at your table to something that's really yours.

I am really kind of looking forward to trying this, although, yet again, it's from Cook's Country. If I'm going to keep complaining about Cook's Country, I'm really going to have to stop liking their food so much.

Glazed Chinese Spareribs

2 racks pork ribs (2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds each), preferably St. Louis cut or baby back ribs
1 cup hoisin sauce
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 (6-inch) piece ginger , peeled and sliced into rounds
6 garlic cloves, smashed
strips of orange peel from 1 orange
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
30 sprigs fresh cilantro leaves, stems chopped coarse (reserve leaves for glaze)
8 scallions , white parts cut into 1-inch pieces (reserve green parts for garnish)

Glaze
1 (10-ounce) jar hot red pepper jelly
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Minced scallion greens greens

1. For the ribs: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. With tip of paring knife, loosen membrane on underside of each rack of ribs. Grab membrane with paper towel and pull it off slowly in single piece. Combine remaining ingredients in large roasting pan. Add spareribs to pan, turning to coat both sides, and arrange meaty side down. Cover pan tightly with foil and cook until just tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Transfer ribs to large plate.

2. For the glaze: Strain 3 cups cooking liquid from roasting pan into large nonstick skillet (do not wash roasting pan) and discard solids and remaining liquid. Using wide spoon, skim fat from liquid. Stir in jelly and vinegar. Bring to simmer over medium-high heat and cook until syrupy and reduced to 2 cups, 15 to 20 minutes. Off heat, stir in cilantro and cayenne.

3. Heat broiler (do not raise oven rack). Pour enough water into roasting pan to cover bottom and fit pan with flat roasting rack. Reserve 1/2 cup glaze for serving. Arrange ribs on rack meaty side down and brush with glaze. Place roasting pan back on middle rack in oven and broil until beginning to brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Flip ribs over, brush with more glaze, then broil, brushing ribs with glaze every 2 to 4 minutes, until ribs are deep mahogany color, 9 to 12 minutes (watch broiler carefully). Transfer ribs to cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 10 minutes. Slice between bones, transfer ribs to platter, and brush with reserved glaze. Sprinkle with scallions.
Serve.

Make Ahead: The ribs and glaze can be prepared through step 2 up to 2 days in advance. Wrap the ribs tightly in foil and refrigerate. Transfer glaze to microwave-safe bowl, cover, and refrigerate. Before serving, allow ribs to stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Heat glaze in microwave on high power until warm, about 1 minute. Proceed with step 3 as directed.

April 18: Braised Artichokes

2008-04-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no witty banter. I've gotta get on a plane in, like, six hours. Braised artichokes, yum. I'd probably leave the mint out though.

Braised Artichokes

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 globe artichokes, trimmed and halved lengthwise
1 1/4 cups dry white wine
3 whole sprigs fresh mint or thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation
1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add the garlic and sauté, stirring, for about 30 seconds.

3. Add the artichokes and toss until they're coated with oil.

4. Add the wine, mint or thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.

5. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

6. Discard the thyme (if using).

7. Transfer the artichokes to a plate, drizzle them with pan juices, and serve.

April 17: Kentucky Hot Brown

2008-04-18T20:38:00.001-07:00

Here I am in Kentucky, where I went to college, with my best friend, who is the cutest little pregnant person I've ever seen in my life. She barely even looks pregnant, and after spending the day with her, I am totally jealous that she's gained a total of about six pounds in seven months, because I just watched her wolf down a bowl of Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie ice cream with blackberries, as well as a bowl of lasagna at dinner and an order of onion rings at lunch.

I seriously love food here. We had Zaxby's for lunch, which, if you've never had it, has the best chicken fingers on earth. Kimberly and I have been looking forward to eating a whole bunch of fattening crap while I'm here, and today at Sam's Club we bought a chunk of smoked gouda that Kimberly argued with me bitterly about. She claims it's too much; I am not convinced that it is even enough. That is clearly the difference between her and me.

Kentucky has this sandwich. It's sort of a sandwich, I guess, it's more like a slice of bread with some stuff on it and what Kimberly and her husband describe as a "cheese gravy." That's pretty accurate. It's a local specialty, and I found the following recipe on the website for Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell. Kimberly agreed that this recipe was the accurate one, but insisted that I say bad things about Mitch McConnell. I seriously just had this conversation with her:

Molly: I don't know anything about him.

Kimberly: Well, everybody knows, Molly.

Molly: I don't.

Kimberly: Well, he's just...he's one of the leading...He's bad!

Mitch McConnell, you may be just bad, but your recipe looks delicious. You forgot the tomato slice on top, though; Kimberly claims that it's essential.

KENTUCKY HOT BROWN
1/2 Stick Butter
6 Tablespoon Flour
3 Cups Warm Milk
6 Tablespoon Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Beaten Egg
1 oz Cream, Whipped, Optional
Salt and White Pepper, to taste
Slices of Roast Turkey
8 - 12 Slices Trimmed Toast
Extra Parmesan Cheese, for topping
8 - 12 Strips Fried Bacon

Melt the butter and add enough flour to make a reasonable thick roux, enough to absorb all of the butter. Add milk and Parmesan. Add egg to thicken sauce, but do not boil. Remove from heat. Fold in whipped cream. Add salt and pepper. For each Hot Brown. Place two slices toast on a metal or flame-proof dish. Cover the toast with a liberal amount of turkey. Pour a generous amount of sauce over the turkey and toast. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan. Place entire dish under a broiler until the sauce is speckled brown and bubbly. Remove from broiler, cross two pieces of bacon on top and serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.

2008-04-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, I can't talk right now. I am holed up in a truly spectacular hotel room next to the airport in Baltimore; I have to catch an early flight in the morning and this was a great deal more convenient than any of my other options. I am also a little giddy about the deal I got: a 4 star hotel for $68, thank you so very much Hotwire. It's the kind of hotel room you see in ads: the giant squishy bed, the $8 M&M's in the minibar, even the big soft bathrobe.

Here's the recipe tonight: spicy mussels and chorizo. I love chorizo, it is really a unique and unmistakable taste and adds a note to a dish that there isn't really a substitute for, and I am warming up to mussels in a big hurry. This actually looks delicious; I would do as Martha Stewart does and serve it with garlic bread and rice pudding for dessert, with maybe a green salad to start.

Pardon me, I'm off to recline on my Heavenly Bed like a starlet.

Spicy Mussels With Chorizo

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
2 cups dry white wine
3 cups canned crushed tomatoes with juice
4 ounces dried, hot chorizo, cut on the diagonal into 1/4-inch slices
1 teaspoon coarse salt teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions
Heat oil in a large, heavy stockpot over medium heat. Add shallot; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and red-pepper flakes; cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add wine; bring to a boil. Add tomatoes and chorizo. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add mussels. Cover, and continue to cook, shaking pot occasionally. Discard any mussels that fail to open. Serve with garlic bread.

April 16: Pasta Salad with Spinach, Olives, and Mozzerella

2008-04-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

I love some of the crazy shapes of pasta out there. I really am a big believer in the idea that there's a right shape for the sauce, and whoever is in charge out there really has done a pretty good job of making it intuitive for us. Shrimp goes great with shell-shaped pasta. Oil-based sauces are good with linguine and spaghetti. Penne rigate has ridges that does a good job of holding onto slippery sauces with a lot of fat, like cream or cheese sauces.

I am crazy about orzo, which is a small pasta shaped like rice. One of my favorite easy side dishes is a spinach-artichoke orzo, a true one-pot dish that you can make as healthy or decadent as you like. I also like orzo with broccoli and pine nuts--same idea as the other thing.

Pasta salad with a vinegar-based dressing goes great with a curly pasta, where the dressing can collect in the nooks. I like orecchiette a lot, those little flat disks with a little dent in them, especially. The trick to great pasta salad, in my opinion, is to cook the pasta, drain it, and rinse it in cool water until it's warm, not cold, then immediately toss it with the dressing, add the rest of the ingredients, and then chill until cold, an hour at least--it serves almost like a marinade for the pasta.

My favorite pasta salad is cheese tortolini or ravioletti, hard salami, roasted red peppers, red onions, and smoked mozzerella, diced small, tossed with fresh oregano, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I also like whole wheat rotini, diced grilled chicken, and halved cherry tomatoes tossed with a dressing made of two parts pesto with one part mayonnaise with toasted pine nuts tossed in just before serving.

Pasta salad is easy, fast, a crowd-pleaser, and summery. This one looks particularly yummy to me. I love the combination of pasta and spinach. When I get back from Kentucky, I'm thinking I may make a big pile of this to carry in my lunch next week. I hate carrying my lunch, but I am being backed into a bit of a corner. More about this corner later.

1 pound orecchiette or conchiglie pasta
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, drained, small dice
3 ounces spinach (about 4 cups), thoroughly washed and dried
1 1/2 cups pitted and halved kalamata olives
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil

Bring a medium pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook pasta according to the package instructions, or until al dente. Drain, then rinse under cold water until cool.
Transfer pasta to a large bowl and add mozzarella, spinach, olives, and Parmesan. Toss to combine.

In a separate, nonreactive bowl, combine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Whisking constantly, slowly add oil by pouring in a thin stream down the side of the bowl. Whisk until completely incorporated. Pour vinaigrette over salad, and toss until pasta is coated. Taste, adjust seasoning as desired, and serve.

April 15: Tax Day Sandwich

2008-04-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

It is Tax Day. I usually love Tax Day, but this year, we are rich (comparitively so) and we have to pay in. We currently have no money to pay in with (how ironic) and so I've filed an extension. The emotional trauma of suddenly being $1500 poorer (oh dear Lord) has made me unable to cook an actual meal, so I have instituted a family tradition: a tax day sandwich.

I like sandwiches. This one is a rather unfriendly one; it has a lot of nitrites and sodium. And pork. But I'm not losing any sleep over the pork. This sandwich is going to ease my pain a little tonight. And believe me, I am $1500 poorer tonight. I have a lot of pain. I'm going to eat this with chips and some really excellent guacamole, and maybe have a drink. Or two. Or seven.

Tax Day Sandwich

4 large slices crusty peasant bread
12 slices smoked deli ham
12 slices smoked turkey
8 slices thick-cut peppered bacon, fried until crispy but not dry
4 slices swiss cheese
4 slices cheddar cheese
8 thin slices tomato
8 thin slices red onion
1/4 cup honey mustard

Preheat broiler, setting rack in closest position to broiler element.

Toast the bread lightly.

Lay each slice of bread on a rimmed baking sheet. Layer each with the following:

3 slices ham
3 slices turkey
1/4 of the honey mustard
2 slices bacon
2 slices tomato
1 slice Swiss

Broil 2 minutes, or until cheese is beginning to melt.

Layer each with the following:

2 slices red onion
1 slice cheddar

Broil an additional 3-4 minutes, until cheese is melty and lightly browned.

Use a spatula to transfer each sandwich to a plate. Drizzle with additional honey mustard, if desired. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

April 14: Flourless Chocolate Apple Torte

2008-04-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning, I am getting on a plane and flying to Nashville for my best friend's baby shower. I am thrilled to be getting two and a half days to myself with Kimberly and Michael, and a teensy bit apprehensive to be leaving my son for the longest I've ever been away from him. Can you believe he's almost three and I've never spent a night away from him? I anticipate calling my husband roughly 43 times in the space of 54 hours.

I am knitting madly away on a baby blanket for Kimberly and Michael's little Sproutlet, and for that reason, I am going to keep it short for the next few days. On Friday, in celebration of my destination, I'm planning on posting a recipe for an authentic Kentucky Hot Brown, possibly the best sandwich on earth next to this insane concoction served in a neighborhood bar in my home town, an open-faced hangover cure of rye bread, roasted turkey, smoked ham, melted cheddar cheese, and bleu cheese dressing. Nomnomnomnomnomnom.

It's Passover, and I am not Jewish, but you never know when you might run into someone who keeps kosher. I don't understand a lot about Jewish dietary law, except that it's considered very strict. Here's a dessert for Passover; it looks delicious, even for someone as religiously ambivalent as I am.

Flourless Chocolate Apple Torte

1/2 cup matzo meal
1/3 cup walnuts
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup grated peeled apple
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
8 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine matzo meal and walnuts in a food processor; process until nuts are finely chopped. Spread on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool.

Whisk eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until blended. Stir in the matzo mixture, apple, cocoa and chocolate.

Beat egg whites and salt in large, clean bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed until frothy. Increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar 1 Tbsp. at a time, beating until glossy and stiff peaks form.

Stir one-quarter of the beaten whites into the batter. Gently fold in remaining whites with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into an ungreased 9-inch springform pan, spreading evenly.

Tap pan lightly on counter to release air bubbles.

Bake torte until top springs back when touched lightly and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. With a knife, loosen edges of torte. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. (Torte will sink in center).

Remove pan sides and place torte on a serving platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.

April 13: Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

2008-04-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

The one thing I like even more than a really tender, mild filet for a special occasion is a pork tenderloin. Love it. Roasted, grilled, butterflied and stuffed, glazed. Whatever. Delicious.

Pork tenderloin has become terribly lean over the last however many years; pigs have been bred, ironically enough, to be not fat. The result is increasingly healthy pork; it's also increasingly tasteless and tough.

The answer is more pork. Of course.

My husband Dan has an unbelievable and totally illogical love of tiny food. Those little tiny cocktail weiners? Oh yeah. Mini-burgers? Little corndogs? Bring it. Myself: I love food wrapped in food.

So this really lights me up. Does anybody remember that episode of the Simpsons, when Moe goes on a date with one of Marge's sisters, and he tells the waiter "I want your best food stuffed with your second-best food." The waiter looks down his nose and says, "Very good, Sir. Lobster stuffed with tacos." Yeah, I'm Moe in this scenario.

Pork tenderloin comes with what's called a silverskin: it's this yucky membrane that you could hold a shotgun to and would never get tender. It's firmly attached to the tenderloin like...I don't know, like something that's attached really tightly to a tenderloin, but it's on there like white on rice. Hey, that's where I left that simile. I'm really quite a gifted writer, from what I understand, but this paragraph, so far, is just kind of awful for anything but humorous purposes. Maybe if I weren't writing in what appears to be approaching iambic pentameter.

Anyway, the easiest way to get rid of the tenderloin is to take a very sharp knife, insert it under the membrane, and gently saw back and forth, holding the knife very slightly angled upwards, with one hand (typically your right hand) while holding the hunk of meat still with your left hand. It takes a little practice, but don't leave the silverskin on.

This is really yummy, I made it a couple of years ago to celebrate when I got the job that I currently have now. Make it, and find some of the tiniest little potatoes you can find, cut them in half, boil them for 10 minutes, toss them in a very hot skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil and one of butter, toss them around until they're brown and the skins are crackly and toasty, crush a clove of garlic and throw that in too and toss it around with the potatoes until it smells yummy. Salt and pepper them, then throw them on a plate with the tenderloin. Make a salad with some peppery greens like arugula and a balsalmic vinaigrette with some chopped shallots and a little pinch of sugar. Open a bottle of California pinot noir, or other dry, fruity thing that tastes delicious, turn on some Van Morrison or the soundtrack to "ThirtySomething" (yes, I know, okay? Could I possibly be a bigger yuppie? No? Alrighty then.) and celebrate something. Celebrate it being Tuesday. Whatever.

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

12–14 slices bacon (1 slice for each pork medallion)
2 pork tenderloins (1 to 1 1/4 pounds each), trimmed of fat and silver skin, cut crosswise into 1 1/2-inch thick pieces
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Place bacon slices, slightly overlapping, in microwave-safe pie plate and cover with plastic wrap. Cook in microwave on high power until slices shrink and release about 1/2 cup fat but are neither browned nor crisp, 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towels until cool, 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Wrap each piece of pork with 1 slice bacon and secure with 2 toothpicks where ends of bacon strip overlap, inserting toothpicks on angle and gently pushing them through to other side.

3. Season pork with pepper. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add pork cut side down and cook, without moving pieces, until well-browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn pork and brown on second side, 3 to 5 minutes more. Reduce heat to medium. Using tongs, stand each piece on its side and cook, turning pieces as necessary, until sides are well browned and internal temperature registers 145 to 150 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 8 to 14 minutes. Transfer pork to platter and tent lightly with foil; let rest 5 minutes, then serve.

April 12: Chicken Tikka Masala

2008-04-12T18:06:00.000-07:00

I've never had an opportunity to try a lot of Indian food, but I really like what I've had, so I'm looking forward to this. I found it on AOL Food, and just as you would imagine from its origin, there are no particularly exotic or difficult to find ingredients.

There's something to be said for that. Most people that I know don't have time to seek out six exotic ingredients from three different sources, plus prep and cook, all for a Tuesday night dinner. As I've said, my goal is for a weeknight dinner is for dinner to be made, consumed, and cleaned up from in an hour and a half. I don't always make it, but it's made me a better, more efficient cook and a whole lot more thoughtful about what ends up in my kitchen repertoire.

This has a whole lot of ingredients, but almost all of them are things I keep on hand, with the exception of garam masala, an Indian spice blend that you can find in most well-stocked supermarkets, and most certainly in Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and places like that.

It also calls for a serrano pepper. Serranos are small, usually green, bullet-shaped hot peppers. Their seeds are smaller and hotter than jalapenos, a quicker, hotter burn than a jalapeno, and with more unapologetic heat than a grassy-tasting jalapeno. I like them a lot in a hot salsa, because, you know, I like to cry when I eat, and also, because they are more consistent in their hotness than a jalapeno. Some jalapenos really just have all the firepower of a green bell pepper, which I find disappointing.

Serve this over hot steamed white rice.

Chicken Tikka Masala

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne
1 Teaspoon Table Salt
2 LBS Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 CUP Plain whole-milk yogurt
2 Tablespoon Vegetable oil
2 Medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger

3 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1 Medium onion diced fine (about 1 1/4 cups)
2 Medium garlic cloves minced or pressed
2 Teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 Serrano chile, ribs and seeds removed, flesh minced
1 Tablespoon Tomato paste
1 Tablespoon Garam masala
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2/3 Cup Heavy cream
1/4 Cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1. For the Chicken -- Combine cumin coriander cayenne and salt in small bowl. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with spice mixture - pressing gently so mixture adheres. Place chicken on plate cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. In large bowl mix together yogurt, oil, garlic, and ginger set aside.

2. For the Sauce -- Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook stirring frequently until light golden, 8-10 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, chile, tomato paste and garam masala; cook stirring frequently about 3 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, and salt; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in cream and return to simmer. Remove pan from heat and cover to keep warm.

3. While sauce simmers -- adjust oven rack to the upper-middle position. Using tongs, dip chicken into yogurt mixture (chicken should be coated with thick layer of yogurt) and arrange on foil-lined rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan. Broil chicken until thickest parts are fully cooked on digital thermometer and exterior is lightly charred in spots, 10 to 18 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.

4. Let chicken rest 5 minutes then cut into 1-inch chunks and stir into warm sauce. Stir in cilantro adjusting seasoning with salt and serve.

April 11: Salted Caramel Coulis

2008-04-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

A lot of the current hot food trends are a little beyond me. Sous-vide? Okay, if you insist, but it seems fussy to me. Squid ink emulsion? No thanks. "Beak-to-tail" eating? You know, I'm a quarter Dutch, I'm not a big believer in throwing things away, but I'm no Anthony Bourdain.

One that I get, though, is salted caramel. All of the nuances of caramel, the toasty notes, the floral undertones, are all cued up by the delicate brine of French sea salt. Salt has this effect on food of rounding out the flavors, accentuating things you wouldn't taste without the salt. If you don't believe me, eat your French fries without salt.

Caramel is about texture, but salted caramel is about nuance. This sauce would be pure joy over pecan praline ice cream, or a slice of apple pie, or, as Bon Appetit suggests, a toasty dessert waffle.

Be a good foodie and seek out real fleur de sel or French sea salt for this. There are some mail order sources; I would start with cooking.com (althought I haven't looked there for it).

Salted Caramel Coulis

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel

Combine sugar and 1/4 cup water in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil without stirring until syrup is dark amber, occasionally brushing down sides with wet pastry brush and swirling pan, about 10 minutes. Add heavy cream (mixture will bubble vigorously). Stir over low heat until any caramel bits dissolve. Remove from heat. Stir in unsalted butter and fleur de sel. Transfer caramel to small pitcher or bowl. Cool.

April 10: Shrimp and Coconut Rolls

2008-04-10T18:16:00.000-07:00

When Dan and I were planning our wedding, Dan's adorably sweet and lovely mother generously took charge of our rehearsal dinner. I adore her, but possibly one of the most frightening moments of my life up until the point where, you know, someone started shooting at us the other night, was when my mother-in-law to be was discussing possible venues for the dinner, and she said "It's too bad Molly doesn't like Chinese food; we could have the rehearsal at a Chinese buffet." And then my head spun around on my neck. And I died. The end.

I'm not sure if she was just poking at me a little or what, but it's true: there are few things in life that appeal less to me than Chinese buffet. Acres of largely unidentifiable food is a problem. So is the vast array of artificial colors and flavors. So is the fact that it sits. around. forever. I just can't do it, even for my adorable mother-in-law.

But I love Asian flavors, real Asian flavors, good clean flavors like five-spice powder and cilantro and lemongrass and bird chiles and soy sauce and lime juice and nam pla. Bon Appetit appeared in my mailbox tonight, mysteriously, a subscription I didn't know I had, and right there on page 109 is one of the most inviting pieces of food porn I've ever seen: shrimp and coconut rolls, delicate little packages of goodness wrapped in glassy rice paper spring roll wrappers.

According to Bon Appetit, the more exotic ingredients can be found in Asian markets. You could probably mail-order some of them as well.

If only my mother-in-law's favorite Hunan Home Buffet served these, I'd be, like, so on board.

Shrimp and Coconut Rolls

10 ounces peeled cooked shrimp, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
2 1/2 cups thinly sliced iceburg lettuce
1 1/4 cups finely grated peeled fresh coconut
1/2 unpeeled English hothouse cucumber, seeded cut into 1/4 inch cubes (1 cup)
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
6 teaspoons fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam), divided
4 1/2 teaspoons sugar, divided
3 teaspoons minced seeded red or green serrano chiles, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint leaves
15 8- to 9-inch diameter rice paper rounds (spring roll wrappers)

Combine shrimp, lettuce, coconut, cucumber, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 4 teaspoons fish sauce, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons chiles, green onion, and mint in a large bowl.

Moisten kitchen towel. Squeeze out excess moisture and lay towel flat on work surface. Fill large bowl with warm water. Submerge 1 wrapper in water until beginning to soften, about 20 seconds. Place on damp towel. Place 1/4 cup shrimp mixture in 3-inch-long strip down center of wrapper. Fold in sides of wrapper over filling, then roll up tightly, enclosing filling. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

Mix 1/2 cup lime juice, 2 teaspoons fish sauce, 4 teaspoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon chiles in small bowl. Serve rolls with dipping sauce.

April 9: Crispy Chicken Cutlets

2008-04-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

We went out tonight with friends who have no kids. Luckily, they are both teachers, so our moderately-ill-behaved toddler is less than totally shocking to them. But sheesh, am I tired or what. I gotta go get myself a life. I shouldn't be dozing off on the couch at 9:45. I am, after all, very cool and ultra-hip.

This is something I rarely make, but I love it. I think it's delicious on a plate, surrounded by a little simple tomato sauce, topped with a slice or two of fresh mozzerella and run under the broiler, with a side of spinach orzo and a hunk of great fresh sourdough bread. There is something delicious and satisfying and not-at-all fussy about a crispy-breaded chicken breast, fried really well, and served simply. This would also make a delicious sandwich, or sliced over a salad of romaine and chopped veggies, or drizzled with a little buffalo wing sauce, with bleu cheese scattered over top and, yet again, run under broiler.

Have you noticed, I'm a sucker for food with cheese melted over it? I might eat our cat if she was covered in melted cheddar. However, if that doesn't particularly appeal, this would also be great with some roasted red potatoes tossed with rosemary and salt and pepper and a little olive oil, then roasted in a hot oven until tender, a simple green salad with a few toasted pecans and a shallot vinaigrette, and a lemon wedge to squeeze over the cutlet.

Crispy Chicken Cutlets

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, split horizontally and lightly pounded
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 /2 cup neutral-tasting vegetable oil
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet.

Combine egg and hot sauce. Combine flour, cayenne, salt and pepper to taste in a shallow plate.

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat in a large non-stick skillet. When the oil is hot, toast the panko breadcrumbs in oil, tossing together, stirring often, until breadcrumbs are golden brown. Remove from heat, drain bread crumbs on paper-towel lined plate, and let cool. Wipe out pan.

Combine toasted panko, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste, and place in a shallow bowl or plate. Dip each chicken cutlet one at a time in flour, shaking gently to knock off excess, then in egg, then in crumbs, patting on crumbs to help them adhere. Let rest in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.

Heat half of the remaining oil in the skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Place four chicken breasts gently in the oil and fry 3-4 minutes. Carefully turn each one; cook another 2-3 minutes. Move to wire rack in oven. Pour out oil, repeat with remaining oil and cutlets.

Serve immediately.

April 8: The Homesick Texan's Nachos

2008-04-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

I am feeling quite a bit better than I was last night, but still rather anxious. I did have a teensy panic attack on the way home at the intersection of East-West Highway and Belcrest Road, where we were sitting when we heard the gunshots, and I am sure that by tomorrow I will have gathered up the courage to ride the Metro to work. Or maybe Thursday. Whatever.

Stressful. Yeah, I'm stress-eating, I'll admit it. Tonight, it's barely even a recipe: it's the Homesick Texan's nachos. She is totally right about nachos, by the way: a nacho is an individually-dressed, thick, freshly-fried chip, with melted cheddar cheese and a slice of jalapeno pepper. The end. Meat, beans, olives, lettuce--everything else is gilding a lily. I happen to like my nachos with guacamole. I like my lily very slightly gilded, as it turns out.

If you never make your own chips again in your life, it is worth doing for this recipe. A great tortilla chip is thick and unctuous, a tiny bit chewy, toasty, with big crunch. It will never be equalled by anything that comes out of a big plastic bag with a name that ends in -itos. The notes at the end are The Homesick Texan's.

At any rate, Tex-Mex nachos are just the thing for the night after a Wild West shootout at the O.K. Corral.

Homesick Texan's Nachos

6 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups of grated Longhorn cheddar cheese
24 pickled jalapeno slices
1/2 cup of refried beans (optional)
Peanut oil
Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut the tortillas into quarters.
3. Pour enough oil in an iron skillet to come up 1/2 inch up the sides and heat to 375 degrees.
4. In batches, fry the quartered tortillas for 1 to 2 minutes on each side (until golden brown) and then remove. Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle lightly with salt.
5. Once chips have been made, spread each with 1 teaspoon of refried beans (if you so desire), 1 tablespoon of cheddar cheese and 1 pickled jalapeno.
6. Bake in oven for five minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with guacamole, sour cream and/or salsa. Makes 24 nachos.

Notes: You can also top these anything else you can imagine. But use restraint and taste—nachos should be elegant and refined, not an exercise in excess. Also, if you don't feel like making your own chips (though you should as they taste better) tortilla chips from a bag work, too.

April 7: Spaghetti With Garlic, Olive Oil, And Spicy Bread Crumbs

2008-04-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

It's been...an extraordinary evening. Several hours ago, as Dan, Max and I were leaving my office for the evening, someone nearby began firing a gun. I have no idea where they were or who they were shooting at, but easily the most frighting fifteen seconds of my life to date was the fifteen seconds between when I heard those shots and when the red light that we were sitting at turned green and my husband grimly peeled out, through the intersection, and away, past six cop cars racing past us in the other direction with the sirens screaming and lights flashing. We never looked back, but I still feel a little shaky, and very much on edge.

So, I'm thinking dinner tonight will be some sort of anti-anxiety medication, and a very large glass of wine.

Or. Or, I might make myself a bowl of slurpy, spicy pasta, full of appealling textures and flavors. This is just really my favorite thing to eat when I am so anxious that the only other thing that sounds remotely appealling is me chewing my arm off mid-bicep, just to have something else to think about.

Forgive me. It's been a rough night. This recipe should probably serve four; I may eat about half of it myself for dinner and then get out of bed at 2:30 this morning and come downstairs and eat the rest of it in the light of the open refrigerator door. This hardly seems like the time to think about my diet.

Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Spicy Bread Crumbs

2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt
1 pound spaghetti
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a large pot. Meanwhile, process bread crumbs in food processor until coarsely ground. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add bread crumbs and cook, stirring occasionally, until light golden, about 3 minutes. Add half of garlic and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl and season with salt.

Wipe out skillet and add remaining 4 tablespoons oil, remaining garlic, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Cook over medium-low heat until garlic is just golden., 1 to 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

Add 1 tablespoon salt and spaghetti to boiling water. Cook until al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water, drain pasta, and return to pot along with reserved water. Stir in oil mixture, Parmesan cheese, and parsley. Season with salt and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Serve.

April 6: Pecan-Crusted Chicken

2008-04-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

Why is so much food good in theory and not so much in practice? Things like alfredo sauce, fried chicken, tomato salads, marinara sauce, and lemon pound cake always sound great on a page, but when put into practice, they're lifeless at best, insipid at worst, and in between, just not great.

The great thing about America's Test Kitchen: they do the work of taking a recipe that frequently fails every test for yum and remodels it into something sensible, workable, and worth making.

I love a crispy chicken breast cutlet, sliced over a salad or just next to a wild rice pilaf or a pasta salad. Even better is a pecan crusted chicken breast cutlet; but they're tricky. Pecans have a lot of oil in them, they are fairly delicate, and it's almost impossible to keep them stuck to the chicken breast.

So thanks to you, America's Test Kitchen, yet again. Your tricks of the trade make my life easier, and this recipe--which I made tonight--is fabulous. Let me just say this, and I really, really mean it: be careful. The mixture sticks pretty well, but it's not stuck on there, you know, with a nail gun or anything. Those tongs you use to move the chicken breasts around are hell on a pecan crust, so exercise caution. I really mean it.

The other thing--you really will have to cut your own cutlets. Chicken breasts are too thick to cook all the way through before the crust burns; store-bought, pre-packaged cutlets are thin, inconsistent, and will dry out before the crust crisps up. It's not hard: chicken breast on counter, hand flat on top of chicken breast, sharp knife parallel to counter, blah blah fishpaste.

Pecan-Crusted Chicken Cutlets

2 large eggs
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 garlic cloves, crushed through a garlic press
2 teaspoons dried tarragon
salt and pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved horizontally
2 cups pecans
2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn in half
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup vegetable oil

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with wire rack. Whisk eggs, mustard, garlic, tarragon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in large bowl. Add chicken, coat well, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate while preparing nut mixture.

Pulse pecans in food processor until finely chopped, with some small (pebble-sized pieces). Transfer to pie plate or shallow rimmed dish. Pulse bread in food processor until finely ground. Add bread crumbs to nuts and stir in cornstarch, brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cinnamon.

Working one at a time, remove cutlets from egg mixture, letting excess drip back into bowl. Thoroughly coat chicken with nut mixture, pressing on coating to help it adhere, and transfer to a large plate.

Heat 1/2 cup oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place 4 cutlets in skillet and cook until golden brown on both sides, 3-4 minutes per side (lower heat if crust is browning too quickly.) Transfer chicken to rack on baking sheet and keep warm in oven. Discard oil and solids from skillet and repeat with remaining oil and cutlets. Season cutlets with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

April 5: Three Salad Dressings From Scratch

2008-04-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

At the age of 32, I have finally reached a level of maturity where I am willing to eat salad not just for the dressing but for the vegetables. There is a real joy in a big, simple bowl of chopped romaine, sliced mushrooms, radishes, onion, cucumber, chopped tomatoes, and shredded carrots, tossed together with some really great salad dressing.

Great salad dressing makes me want to lick the bowl after the salad is gone. Salad is the frame and the canvas, but salad dressing is the paint for me. It ties the whole thing together.

When it comes to salad dressing, the only thing I really can't stand is Thousand Island dressing. No, seriously: put it on a burger or a corned beef sandwich with swiss cheese and sauerkraut, but not a salad. I just can't do it.

So really it's anything but Thousand Island, but I have definite favorites. I particularly love that 800-calorie trainwreck of an iceburg lettuce wedge smothered in bleu cheese dresssing, diced tomato, crumbled bacon, and bleu cheese. Nomnomnomnomnom. By nutritional standards, it's barely a salad at all, more like a guilty pleasure.

Nora Ephron, in her semi-autobiographical novel Heartburn, describes a vinaigrette dressing that has been the backbone of my salad-dressing-making for years. I've made it with nothing but the three ingredients described in the recipe, and it's like a haiku drizzled over greens; I've added shallots and roasted garlic and black pepper and all manner of other things to it. It's practically impossible to ruin; it's never failed to make me want to guzzle it straight from the bowl of the blender.

At the other end of the spectrum from Nora Ephron's vinaigrette is a creamy garlic dressing that I am just addicted to. It's great on very strong, assertive greens, like escarole and frisee, because I love a good, big garlic flavor, especially if dinner is something garlicky. In for a penny, in for a pound, I always say.

Bleu Cheese Dressing

This dressing needs good, sturdy lettuce or it'll get soggy. This is America's Test Kitchen's recipe, sort of, but I like the bleu cheese a little fancier and a little chunkier than they suggest. Go buy yourself a wedge of really great, decadent, stinky cheese for this dressing, like an imported gorgonzola or bleu d'auvergne. Go on, you're worth it.

2 1/2 ounces bleu cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons buttermilk
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Table salt and ground black pepper

Mix cheese and buttermilk in a small bowl until combined. Stir in remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Can be covered and refrigerated up to 14 days.

Nora Ephron's Vinaigrette

"This makes a very strong vinaigrette that's perfect for salad greens like arugula and watercress and endive," writes Ephron in "Heartburn" (Alfred A. Knopf, 1983).

2 tablespoons Grey Poupon mustard
2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons olive oil

Mix the mustard with the vinegar, whisking with a fork. Then, whisking constantly, slowly add the olive oil, until the vinaigrette is thick and creamy. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Creamy Garlic Dressing

This is sort of my own invention. It's strong, but it's rich and assertive and it's my favorite on bitter field greens.

2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
6 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed through a garlic press or minced to a paste
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender bowl and blend on high speed until well blended. Taste and correct seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

April 4: Chicken Divan

2008-04-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

Today is my mother's 68th birthday. Happy birthday, Mary. You don't read this and with any luck you'll never know that such a thing as a blog exists, let alone that I write one, but happy birthday nonetheless.

I have an enormous soft spot for retro food, old-fashioned comfort food that my grandmother made when my mother was young. Lots of it needs to be remodeled, desperately--way too much of it is heavy, canned, full of salt and high-fructose corn syrup, fattening, and no longer that interesting.

I have to admit that despite my disinterest in most of what they do, Cook's Country has a recipe in it for Chicken Divan. Their description of the original dish sounds fussy to a really unnecessary degree: "The original recipe from New York's famed (and now defunct) Divan Parisien restaurant dates back almost 100 years and required a whole poached chicken, boiled broccoli, and a sauce made with bechamel sauce, hollandaise sauce, Parmesan cheese and whipped cream." Yikes.

Yeah, no wonder there's usually so much canned soup involved in most renditions of Chicken Divan. I am just not into either option. But Cook's Country just really looks like they have a great take on this sucker--it looks opulent and delicious and fabulous. I am planning on trying this over the weekend.

Modern Chicken Divan

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds broccoli, stalks discarded, florets cut into bite-sized pieces
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 medium shallots, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dry sherry
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add broccoli and cook until spotty brown, about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup broth, cover, and steam until just tender, about 1 1/2 minutes. Remove lid and cook until liquid has evaporated, about 1 minute. Transfer broccoli to plate lined with paper towels; rinse and wipe out skillet.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Meanwhile, season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour to coat. Cook chicken until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate.

Off heat add shallots to skillet and cook until just beginning to color, about 1 minute. Add remaining 2 cups broth and cream and scrape fond from bottom of pan. Return chicken to skillet and simmer over medium heat until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to clean plate and continue to simmer sauce until reduced to 1 cup, about ten minutes. Add sherry and Worcestershire and simmer until reduced again to one cup, about 3 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup parmesan. Whisk yolks and lemon juice ina small bowl, then whisk in about 1/4 cup sauce. Off heat, whisk egg yolk mixture into sauce in skillet, then whisk into butter.

Cut chicken into 1/2 inch thick slices and arrange on broiler-safe plate. Scatter broccoli over chicken, and pour sauce over broccoli. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese and broil until golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Serve.

April 3: Portuguese-Style Grilled Fish

2008-04-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

So, it's more from The Well-Filled Tortilla tonight. You don't even have to bother with a tortilla: if fish is your thing, this will be good just sitting on a plate, with maybe rice pilaf , maybe some tender-crisp sauteed bell pepper strips, maybe, if you're me, with a big glass of some yummy chardonnay or pinot grigio, the same that's right down there in the recipe.

As it's been established, fish is not my thing, per se. But I like to cook it, and my husband likes to eat it. This is something I think he'd like--lightly marinated, gently spicy.

The cookbook recommends a topping of a roasted red pepper, chili, and pine nut sauce. I don't have the wherewithall to write that sucker up right now. If you're interested, leave me a comment, and I'll send you that too; I've made it and it's delicious.

Portuguese-Style Grilled Fish

2/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 tablespoon sweet paprika
Small punch of cayenne
Small pinch of ground cloves
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves or 2 teaspoons dried
2 1/4 pounds sea bass fillets, cut 1/2-3/4 inch thick
24 scallions, trimmed

Prepare a fire for grilling allowing charcoal to burn until they are mostly covered with white ash, about 40 minutes.

15-20 minutes before the fire is ready, mix together the orange juice, wine, paprika, cayenne, cloves, and thyme in a nonreactive dish. Place the fish in the mixture and turn to coat all sides. Set aside to marinade.

When the coals are ready, arrange the fish fillets on the grill rack directly above the coals. Grill for 4 minutes. Turn and grill another 4 minutes. Remove the fish and set aside to rest a few minutes.

While the fish rests, grill the scallions. Place them on the rack directly above the coals and cook for 2 minutes. Turn and cook until lightly charred, 1-2 minutes.

Pile scallions on a serving platter, and place fish on top of scallions. Serve immediately.

April 2: Stewed Chicken with Anchos and Almonds

2008-04-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

One of my very favorite cookbooks in my arsenal is one called The Well-Filled Tortilla. I love food in the form of a taco (let's be perfectly honest: I would probably love food in the form of a lug wrench. I just love food) and this wonderful little gem of a cookbook takes every imaginable flavor and applies it to a taco. There are Asian flavors, Middle-Eastern Flavors, French Bistro flavors, traditional Mexican flavors, and even all-American flavors, all wrapped in tortillas in different forms. I just think that almost any food on earth tastes even better wrapped in a tortilla.

This is one of the things I'd never have thought of wrapping in a tortilla. The authors of the book explain that "During stewing, chicken sops up flavors and aromas like a beauty queen soaks up flattery. At the same time, the meat cooks to such a moist tenderness it practically shreds itself."

I am not generally a fan of dark meat, although our favorite barbecue joint in our neighborhood has a barbecued half-chicken that is cravably good. But whole chickens are cheap and easy to find and make this recipe a real bargain, as well as being true comfort food. Chicken becomes even more mellow while resting in its own sauce, incidentally: the leftovers for this are even better than the original dish.

Stewed Chicken With Almonds and Anchos

4-5 pounds chicken pieces, a combination of breasts, thighs, and legs, or 1 1/2 chickens, quartered

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Small pinch of ground cinnamon

4 whole cloves

2 dried ancho chilies, stemmed and seeded

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cans (14 oz. each) crushed tomatoes in puree

3 1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon oil

1/2 cup almond slivers

18 corn or 12 flour tortillas, warmed or crisped just before serving

Toppings: 2 cups heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

2 cups cilantro leaves

In a large nonreactive pot, combine the chicken, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, chiles, salt, tomatoes, and 3 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer until the meat pulls away from the bones, 35-45 minutes. Remove the chicken and chiles and set aside. Continue to simmer the sauce for 15 minutes while the chicken cools.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the almonds, and stir until browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.

When cool enough to handle, shred the chicken; discard the skin and bones. Scrape the pulp off the chile skins. Return the chicken and chile pulp to the pot.

To assemble, spread about 1/3 cup of the chicken and sauce in the center of a tortilla. Top with the whipped cream, toasted almonds, and cilantro. Fold and serve.

April 1: Chicken Chile Rellenos

2008-04-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

I am struggling with...well, with everything, I guess. My job is really pretty awful lately. Our house search has stalled out. We have a couple of small vacations planned, but they are all a million miles away (with the exception of my best friend's baby shower later this month, which I am REALLY looking forward to.) I live with a not-quite-three-year-old tyrant who is challenging my notions of life with a three-year-old (I suspected it would be awful; I underestimated dangerously.) My husband is preparing to start graduate school and is facing some fairly substantial challenges at work this year. I am partially in a rut and partially bending under the weight of my daily life, and that, on top of not being pregnant, still...I'm having a tough time.

So, there's that; plus, I'm on a diet. That always sets me up for an excellent frame of mind. When my soul is feeling beaten up like it has been, I usually like to soothe it with food that gets my endorphines firing--chips and salsa and guacamole, chile rellenos, steak fajitas, spicy glazed pork tenderloin. Mostly, though, I've been able to resist this time around, since these aren't exactly the greatest thing for being on a diet.

In 1999, I had just broken up with a guy who I had been ass-over-teakettle for. I had a job I hated and housemates that annoyed me beyond all compare. I was living without internet access and I was drinking entirely too much too often in an effort to make me mind the rest of this a little less. One of the things I did about it was to invent this recipe in an effort to ease the pain.

I like to cut my own chicken cutlets rather than depend on what's in the grocery store. Take a boneless, skinless chicken breast half and place it on a cutting board. Put your hand on top of it to hold it in place. Take a sharp knife, hold it parallel to the counter, and slice through the chicken breast, more or less evenly. Then take each breast half, wrap it loosely in sturdy plastic wrap, and pound it to a more or less even thickness with a meat pounder, heavy can, or rolling pin.

Also, thin-sliced bacon works better in this recipe--it crisps up nicely and the chicken doesn't dry out while the bacon cooks. I would serve this sort of overly-decadent dish with garlicky white rice and some fresh fruit like mango or pineapple.

Chicken, bacon, cheese, peppers: all good for what ails me. Especially when what ails me is a monstrous case of the early-spring blahs.

Chicken Chile Rellenos

3 chicken breast halves, sliced horizontally into halves and lightly pounded
salt and pepper
4 oz. brick style cream cheese, softened
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 can chopped green chiles, or 3 roasted, peeled, and chopped poblano peppers
12 oz. shredded cheese: cheddar, pepper-jack, Monterey jack, brick, or queso quesadilla are all good choices, divided
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
6 slices bacon

Preheat oven to 375.

Lightly salt and pepper chicken breast halves on both sides. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, onion, chiles, 10 oz. shredded cheese, and bread crumbs, and salt and pepper to taste.

Put 1/6 of the cheese mixture on each of the chicken breasts across the widest part of the breast. Starting from the rounded "top" of the breast, roll up the chicken breast tightly around the cheese mixture.

Use a toothpick to anchor one end of a slice of bacon near the bottom of the chicken "roll." Wrap the bacon around the roll and anchor at the other end with another toothpick. Arrange the bacon-wrapped chicken breasts on a wire rack over a sheet pan.

Bake until bacon is browned and crispy and chicken is cooked through, 25-35 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes, serve.

March 31: My Gran's Birthday

2008-03-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today would have been my grandmother's 97th birthday.

My parents got divorced when I was five years old. My mother had a time-consuming and demanding career that she loved and was great at, and when she wasn't with me, I was with my grandparents.

Here is a post that I wrote about my grandmother last fall on my other blog. It is one of my favorite posts that I've written. I am not putting up a recipe tonight. Instead, call your grandmother, tell her that you love her, and if she'll eat it, consider cooking her a plate of bacon.

Happy birthday, Gran. We love you, and we miss you.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Sweet and Salty

Several days ago, I ran out of coarse kosher salt. It's one of those
kitchen staples that I usually have lots of, but like lots ot things, it just
sort of got away from me this summer. Dan picked it up last night at the grocery
store before he picked me up from at the Metro. Have I mentioned how much I love
the Metro? I do. Public transit is so different here than it is in a lot of
cities whose transit systems have deservedly awful reputations. It's clean,
convenient, runs on time, and doesn't tolerate a lot of the nonsense that takes
place in New York. It saves me a grand total of about forty minutes a day of
driving, and I can knit on the commute.

Wow. That paragraph was so utterly stream-of-consciousness, my middle name
should be "non sequiter."

Salt. I was talking about salt. So Dan picked up a box of kosher salt at
the grocery store.
My whole life, my grandmother kept a crock of kosher salt on her kitchen counter next to her stove. Let me just say that this was a woman who loved salt. When she was dying of metastatic cervical cancer at 94, having radiation and chemotherapy, my mother could always convince her to eat -- as long as the meal consisted of Ensure and bacon. One of her favorite things was radishes, sliced in half and dipped in -- yes, you guessed it -- that exact same crock of kosher salt. It is a wonder that high blood pressure didn't get her, frankly.

The crock is a small brown ceramic one, round and maybe five inches high. It came from the grocery store, filled with Win Schuler bar cheez -- I'm not sure if we have that here, but if you're from Michigan, or maybe northern Ohio, you're probably familiar with Win Schuler. Great stuff. A normal person would have thrown it away when it was empty. Not Gran, though.My mother, the youngest of four children, was born in 1940. My grandparents married in 1930 and raised their children during the Depression and the second World War. My grandmother once said that she had a fight with her husband about how much sugar he put in his coffee. "Sugar was rationed," she explained. "He would finish his coffee and there'd still be sugar in the bottom of the cup. It made me so mad!"

She had an entire basement filled with food, mostly canned vegetables, mostly having expired somewhere around 1989. Her freezers--that's plural--were filled to bursting with things so frostbitten that they were unidentifiable, even when they were thawed. My cousins and I referred to her basement as The Food Museum. She saved margerine containers, plastic bags, Cool Whip tubs, and--well, basically everything that ever came in the door. My mother once threw away a pile of church lady meeting minutes from 1951. My grandmother barely spoke to her for a week.

When she was speaking, she had a way with words, my Gran. Once, when we were driving somewhere, out of nowhere, she said, "When I was your age, I was married and had three kids."

I had just broken up with my boyfriend of three years. "I know, Gran," I said.

"I'm sure you'd meet someone right away if you weren't so heavy," she told me in a very encouraging tone of voice.

And then I killed her.

Just kidding. But still, this was not exactly music to my ears. I was as thin as I'd been since high school, and substantially less satisfied with my life at that point that I had been in a long time. She sure cut to the chase, my Gran.

I went on my first date with Dan the night before Gran's birthday. That night, I went to her apartment there in her retirement community, planning to take her out for dinner. Instead, she'd cooked--chicken and homemade noodles, my favorite. I offered to take her to Steak 'n' Shake for a malt after dinner, her favorite treat.
"Sure," she said. "Let's go to the cemetary first."

"I...okay," I said.So for her birthday, I drove her to the cemetary where three of her four children, husband, and two grandchildren are buried, then to Steak 'n' Shake for chocolate malts.

After we watched "Friends" on television--her favorite TV show--I wished her happy birthday, kissed her good night, and left. On the way out, I called Dan on my cell phone."How's your Grandma?" he asked.

"That was the weirdest birthday party I've ever been to," I told him.

Gran was very sick when Dan and I got married, but we got married in her church, which made her very happy. Several days later, she told my mother she didn't think she could live by herself anymore, even in her assisted living community, and should probably move in with them.

We got married in July. I got pregnant in October. Coming back from the doctor's appointment where the doctor confirmed that I was pregnant, my mother called. It was getting close to the end. Gran didn't get out of bed anymore. She wouldn't eat--not even bacon.I didn't tell her I was pregnant. I really didn't want her emotions about her mother dying to be wrapped up in her emotions about me being pregnant. Besides, it was early. It made sense to wait. I'm not always sure I did the right thing, but based on what my mother said, Gran wouldn't have realized that I was pregnant at all.

My Gran died the first week in November of 2004. She was survived by her daughter, six grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, and Max, four weeks gestation. Her will stated that my mother should receive one quarter of her estate, and the rest should be split among her grandchildren.

This inheratance was sizable, and it allowed me to pay off our car and stay home for a year with Max. That is a really big deal.

My gran had a lot of junk--sixty years worth of margerine tubs, for example. She also had things that reminded me and all of my cousins of our childhood, spent on the southeast corner of Wall Lake in Delton, Michigan, learning to waterski and fish for three-inch long bluegill (my theory is that we caught the same ten fish all summer long every year) and torment each other all summer. I even lived there for a year when I was 22, rent free. Gran was the best roommate I ever had: she didn't use my tampons, borrow my clothes or CD's, or lose my phone messages--probably because she was too hard-of-hearing to hear the phone ringing most of the time.

During a storm that summer, the enormous oak tree on the hill in front of the house fell. It knocked down the railing on the deck and flattened a pink plastic flamingo my Uncle Lonnie had once given my mother as a joke, as well as a couple of very old, extremely uncomfortable metal lawn chairs, and just barely missing the northeast corner of the house. Gran said that when she married my grandfather in 1930 and laid eyes on that tree for the first time, she'd said, "That tree won't make it through the winter." The tree made it through the next sixty-nine winters.

My mother made sure that we would all get the things that were most precious to us, that reminded us of Gran and our childhood. Two of my cousins bought the property that her home stood on--one cousin lives next door, in the house that my aunt and uncle built, next door to my grandparents, a crazy upside down house with a huge kitchen on the second floor and a walkout basement of a first floor.

Every time I fill the salt crock on my kitchen counter, I think of my Gran. It's her salt crock, I asked my mother for it, and it wouldn't have been worth a dime to most people. I think she was surprised that I wanted it. But I think of her every time I look at it, and hope that someday, an old cheese crock from the grocery store will be as precious to someone who catalogues my idiosyncrasies for the benefit of the internet, just to show how much they loved me.

March 30: Home Fries

2008-03-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone is interested, it's March 30th. The only significance to this date is that, five years ago, my husband and I started a conversation in the parking lot after work, decided we were enjoying the conversation so much that we wanted to continue it, went back to his apartment, and talked until 2:30 in the morning, at which point he made a somewhat clumsy overture which I pretended not to find hilariously funny and kissed me for the first time, my last first kiss (I hope.)

I just asked Dan what the first meal I ever cooked for him was. What he said to me was, "If I had known there were going to be pop quizzes later, I would have written some of this crap down." For the record, it was a roasted chicken in his Ron Popeil Showtime Rotisserie oven. I had never met anyone who had one of those; I'd been dying to try it out. It really was as simple as they make it look in the infomercial. That chicken was delicious, and I think it clinched it for Dan, that I really was the ideal woman.

I have cooked very few meals that my husband hasn't loved. To be fair, I'm married to a man who loves food, almost all of it, but before me, he always dated (and married) women who couldn't cook and didn't care about food. In contrast, he and I plan days around certain meals, take road trips in order to eat at specific restaurants, and have a monthly food budget nearly equal to our monthly rent.

My husband makes perfect Kraft Macaroni and Cheese; he always lets the butter and milk and cheese bubble in the pot for a few minutes before stirring the pasta back in. He loves meatball hoagies. Green bell peppers give him indigestion. He likes his hot dogs simmered in water and then pan-fried for a few minutes in butter with a little sprinkling of pepper, with mustard and onions and cole slaw. He eats salad with whole-wheat pasta and sliced chicken breast and vinaigrette dressing every day for lunch. And he once played the unspeakably dirty joke of telling me he was eating a peanut butter sandwich, and then when I took a bite, it turned out that he was actually eating a peanut butter and mustard sandwich. I still have not totally forgiven him.

One of the things that I really appreciate about Dan is that on weekend mornings, he gets up with Max and makes a very elaborate breakfast. One of the best things he makes is home fries.

Here is Dan's recipe for home fries. You can make as few or as many of these as you want, just by varying the amount of the ingredients and the cooking time. This is enough for about 4 people, if you're making them as part of a full breakfast. Dan made them this morning for me along with scrambled eggs and bacon.

Thanks, babe. Here's to five more years, and another fifty after that.

Home Fries

2 russet, all-purpose, or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice
1 small white onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons black pepper

Put potatoes in a microwave-safe bowl and toss with garlic powder. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and poke a couple of small holes in the plastic wrap. Microwave, on high, for 8 minutes.

Heat oil and butter in a large (12-inch) non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When butter stops foaming, cook potatoes in skillet over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until golden-brown and crispy, 10-15 minutes. Mix in diced onion, continue to cook another 6-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

March 29: Italian Roast Beef

2008-03-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

I've said before that I'm not that impressed by Cook's Country, the aw-shucks home-cookin' country-bumpkin cousin of Cook's Illustrated. I'm still not. My mother gave me a subscription a couple years ago, and the only recipe I made was the one for firecracker chicken. That, I have to admit, was delicious and simple to make, and would have changed my mind about the cookbook if it weren't for all the reader-generated content, the folksy stories submitted about newlyweds making cookies with old motor oil and seeking updated versions of their great-grandmother's kutchen.

So when this recipe popped into my inb0x this weekend, I was skeptical, but Italian roast beef happens to be something I really love, when it's done right. Spicy marinated roast beef, sliced thin and piled on crusty bread, a little herby vinegar and oil dressing, thinly sliced provolone. Skeptical, but I've never had really good Italian beef outside of Chicago. I am looking forward to trying this recipe, as soon as I get a chance to get to Eastern Market or somewhere similar, where I can find a really good top sirloin roast, as suggested. It's meaty and tender and lean.

Italian Roast Beef

4 teaspoons garlic powder
4 teaspoons dried basil
4 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon pepper
1 4-pound top sirloin roast , fat trimmed to 1/4 inch thick
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion , chopped fine
3 garlic cloves , minced
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups low sodium beef broth
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons salt

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine garlic powder, basil, oregano, and pepper in small bowl.

2. Pat roast dry with paper towels. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown roast all over, about 10 minutes, then transfer to V-rack set inside roasting pan.

3. Add onion to fat in skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, flour, and 1 teaspoon spice mixture until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in broths and water, using wooden spoon to scrape up browned bits. Bring to boil, then pour into roasting pan.

4. Stir remaining oil, pepper flakes, and salt into remaining spice mixture. Rub mixture all over meat and roast until meat registers 125 degrees (for medium-rare), 75 to 90 minutes. Transfer roast to cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 20 minutes.

5. Pour jus through fine-mesh strainer and keep warm. Slice roast crosswise against grain into ¼-inch-thick slices. Serve with jus.

March 28: Blueberry Buckle

2008-03-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

My son was born on June 21, 2005. On June 18th, 2005, my parents arrived in Washington D.C. They hadn't seen me since Christmas. I am very tall--5'11"--and a little wide, and when I was nine months pregnant, I looked maybe six months pregnant, with a baby spread out all over the front of me. The last time they saw me was on my birthday, when I was 3 months pregnant, and didn't look pregnant at all.

It must have been fairly shocking for them to see me looking like a landmass, hot, sweaty even in the air conditioning, unbearably bloated, having contractions--but not knowing that the almost constant discomfort that I was having were contractions--and grouchy beyond all compare. My mother responded to all of this by treating me like a spoiled beauty pagent queen and indulging my every whim. She even went with me to a local barbecue joint, where a skeevy creep leaned up against me from shoulders to ankles, stuck his face in my ear, and said in this yucky, breathy whisper, "So what's good here?"

My mother looked horrified, and I was absolutely enraged beyond compare. "I'm ordering pulled pork with a large side of personal space," is what I told him, loudly. "Don't touch me again or I'll defend myself." I meant it too. I was 9 months pregnant and Skeev was lucky I wasn't carrying a weapon of some kind. He was stunned that I would stand up for myself, clearly, and very defensive about it, claiming to have meant no harm by it. I didn't give one tiny rat's ass, though; don't be creepy and rub up against me when it's 96 degrees outside and I'm as pregnant as I can possibly be or I'll stab you in the skull with a screwdriver. How's that for the moral of a story?

After I made a huge scene in a crowded take-out restaurant, my mother was even more inclined to indulge me. She did so by baking me a blueberry buckle, a tender yellow cake full of fresh blueberries and topped with a crumbly, buttery brown sugar topping. It's sort of half dessert, half coffee cake, rich and not-painfully-sweet but gorgeously indulgent feeling. She found it in Cook's Illustrated, and I've baked it for every friend whose had a baby since then. It's one of my favorite things.

Don't use frozen blueberries. They're too mushy and gloppy, and they'll leave you with a homogenous, creepy blue-green cake. Hold out until mid-June, at least, and make it then, when blueberries are sweet and fresh, and preferrably local. Yum.

Streusel
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch table salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cut into 8 pieces, softened but still cool

Cake
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened but still cool
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 cups fresh blueberries(about 20 ounces), picked over

1. For the streusel: In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt on low speed until well combined and no large brown sugar lumps remain, about 45 seconds. Add butter and mix on low until mixture resembles wet sand and no large butter pieces remain, about 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer streusel to small bowl and set aside.

2. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch round cake pan with 2-inch sides with nonstick cooking spray, line bottom with parchment or waxed paper round, and spray round; dust pan with flour and knock out excess.

3. Whisk flour and baking powder in small bowl to combine; set aside. In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, cream butter, sugar, salt, and lemon zest at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes; using rubber spatula, scrape down bowl. Beat in vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer running at medium speed, add eggs one at a time; beat until partially incorporated, then scrape down bowl and continue to beat until fully incorporated (mixture will appear broken). With mixer running on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat until flour is almost fully incorporated, about 20 seconds. Disengage bowl from mixer; stir batter with rubber spatula, scraping bottom and sides of bowl, until no flour pockets remain and batter is homogenous; batter will be very heavy and thick. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries until evenly distributed.

4. Transfer batter to prepared pan; with rubber spatula, using a pushing motion, spread batter evenly to pan edges and smooth surface. Squeeze handful of streusel in hand to form large cohesive clump; break up clump with fingers and sprinkle streusel evenly over batter. Repeat with remaining streusel. Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes (cake will fall slightly as it cools).

5. Run paring knife around sides of cake to loosen. Place upside-down plate (do not use plate or platter on which you plan to serve the cake) on top of cake pan; invert cake to remove from pan, lift off cake pan, then peel off and discard parchment. Re-invert cake onto serving platter. Cool until just warm or to room temperature, at least 1 hour. Cut into wedges and serve.

March 27: Sauteed Chicken Breasts With Creamy Chive Sauce

2008-03-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

When I was little, my grandmother had a million wild chive plants growing in her yard. I can still remember the smell of the backyard, the herbal, oniony sweetness that hung over the backyard from April until August. My grandmother would send me outside to get her a handful of chives to chop into salads, to stir into sour cream for a baked potato. I could smell the chives on my hands for hours afterwards.

Chives are coming into season right now, along with asparagus, artichokes, green garlic, peas, and other spring vegetables. Spring vegetables are great: they're light, they're fresh, they're springtime on a plate.

I've said before that I love chicken breasts for their blank-slate quality. If I were going to make it into a musical metaphor, chicken breasts are the cello behind the piccolo of a spring veggie. That's why I love the look of this recipe: the richness of a delicate, creamy sauce against the sweet herbal note of chives. I think that I would serve this with a spinach and garlic orzo with a little lemon and a little parmesan, and a crispy green salad, and a loaf of crispy bread to sop up the sauce.

Sauteed Chicken Breasts With Creamy Chive Sauce

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), trimmed of fat
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup chopped chives (about 1 bunch)

Place chicken between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until flattened to an even thickness, about 1/2 inch. Season both sides of the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place 1/4 cup flour in a shallow glass baking dish and dredge the chicken in it. Discard the excess flour.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, cover and keep warm.
Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring constantly and scraping up any browned bits, until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour; stir to coat. Add wine, broth and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil, stirring often.

Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until heated through and no longer pink in the center, about 6 minutes. Stir in sour cream and mustard until smooth; turn the chicken to coat with the sauce. Stir in chives and serve immediately.

March 26: Spinach & Parmesan Stuffed Mushrooms

2008-03-26T17:07:00.000-07:00

I love stuffed mushrooms. They are gorgeous and delicious as an appetizer, not to mention popular. Buy some portabellos, stuff and bake them, and you've got a healthy and irresistable dinner. Why do I not do that more often? I am making a mental note to myself as I write this.

There are dozens of delicious stuffings for mushrooms. I always start with fresh breadcrumbs and an aromatic like onion or garlic. Then there are a million different ways to go. I like crabmeat--the cheap stuff, not the jumbo lump; I've even used canned--cream cheese, scallions, and parmesan. I like diced proscuitto, goat cheese, and basil. I like spicy Italian sausage, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and mozzerella. I like spinach and feta and fresh oregano. I like bleu cheese and sour cream. Pretty much anything goes well in a mushroom. It's the great thing about a mushroom.

This is Fine Cooking's stuffed mushroom recipe. Spinach and parmesan are a natural pair. Don't skip the step of roasting the mushroom caps; if you do, the filling will be drippy and watery and not at all the toasty, savory treat that this can be.

Spinach & Parmesan Stuffed Mushrooms

1 pound medium white mushrooms, wiped clean
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 slices firm white bread
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup dry sherry
6 ounces fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 lemon

Set an oven rack 6 inches from the top element and heat the broiler to high. Completely remove the mushroom stems; thinly slice the stems. Set the mushroom caps stem side up on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper. Broil until the mushrooms are brown and completely tender, 6 to 7 minutes.

Pulse the bread in a food processor until it forms crumbs. In a large, heavy saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and cook, stirring constantly, until the breadcrumbs crisp and brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and wipe pan clean. Return the pan to high heat, add the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoon oil and the scallions, and saute until browned and softened, about 2 minutes. Add the mushroom stems and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the stems soften and brown, about 3 minutes. Add the sherry and and cook until almost evaporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Add the spinach and stir until it wilts, about 1 minute. Add the cream and 1/3 cup of the parmesan, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the cream reduces slightly, about 2 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper. Let cool.

Discard any liquid that may have accumulated in the mushroom caps. Mound the spinach mixture into the caps, top with the breadcrumbs, pressing them lightly into the filling. Top with the remaining tablespoon of parmesan.

Heat the broiler to high. Broil the caps until the breadcrumbs brown a little more and the mushrooms heat through, 1 to 3 minutes. Squeeze the lemon over the caps. Serve immediately.

March 25: Pan-Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan and Toasted Garlic

2008-03-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

It is not exactly an exaggeration for me to say that garlic is one of my favorite things in the world. Nothing says comfort food to be like a big bowl of linguine tossed with a mixture of olive oil, crushed red pepper flakes, about eleven cloves of minced sauteed garlic, and topped with a handful of toasted panko bread crumbs tossed with Italian seasoning. Then I smell like garlic for two days and my husband wants to know if I'm trying to ward off a Romanian vampire, or just him. What I'm not telling him is, the pasta's totally worth it.

What I don't love: asparagus. It's just one of those acquired tastes that I never managed to acquire. Maybe it was that my mother liked asparagus boiled to a grey slimy mass. Or, maybe it's just that asparagus tastes like old gym socks to me.

However, I acknowledge its popularity. I appreciate that I'm in the minority when it comes to this spring vegetable. I'll even stink up my house making it for my husband who loves it. But from now on, I'm making it this way, to distract me from the fact that it's, you know, asparagus. I will probably even take a bite of it. Unfortunately the new prescription drug is continuing to make everything with more than two ingredients in it taste like a cocktail of gefilte fish and butterscotch pudding, so I won't like it or anything. But hey, I'm a sport.

Use big fat asparagus, or it'll overcook. If all you can get are the sweet little petite things, then reduce the cooking time by 3 or 4 minutes.

Pan-Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan and Toasted Garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 pounds thick asparagus spears, ends trimmed
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat the olive oil and sliced garlic in 12-inch skillet over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is crisp and golden but not dark brown, about 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic to paper towel-lined plate.

2. Add the butter to the oil in the skillet. When butter has melted, add half of asparagus to skillet with tips pointed in one direction; add remaining spears with tips pointed in one direction. Using tongs, distribute spears in even layer (spears will not quite fit into single layer); cover and cook until asparagus is bright green and still crisp,about 5 minutes.

3. Uncover and increase heat to high; season asparagus with salt and pepper. Cook until spears are tender and well browned along one side, 5 to 7 minutes, using tongs to occasionally move spears from center of pan to edge of pan to ensure all are browned. Transfer asparagus to serving dish, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and toasted garlic, adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

March 24: Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts, & Warm Bacon Dressing

2008-03-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

I talked to my mother on the phone last night, and she said that southwestern Michigan got ten inches of snow over the weekend. Here the trees are budding, it hits 50 by mid-morning most days, and winter is giving up the fight, and in Michigan, it's sledding weather.

I miss winter, if you want to know the truth. I'm a cold-weather girl, I like the sound of snow under my boots, I like scarves and mittens and how quiet everything is with a few inches of snow on the ground. It drives me crazy that there's never enough snow here to make it worth even dragging out my down jacket.

This is a fantastic winter salad. Even in the dead of winter, when there's not a decent tomato to be found, grape or cherry tomatoes are entirely edible. The basil, you may have to search for a little, if there's not a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods near you, but it's doable. Really, nothing else in here is a particularly exotic ingredient--most decently stocked grocery stores have herbes de Provence now.

Take the time to make the candied walnuts. In fact, make extra. They're delicious tossed with cooked carrots with some crumbled bacon, as a topping for ice cream or fruit crisps, or just eaten out of hand.

Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts, & Warm Bacon Dressing

1/2 pound baby spinach leaves, washed and dried
1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
6 slices bacon
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons dried herbes de Provence
1.2 teaspoon dehydrated minced or granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Candied Walnuts (recipe follows)

In a large salad bowl, toss the spinach and basil together.

Cut each slice of bacon into thirds. Cook in a skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, drain on paper towels.. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat. Crumble the bacon into pieces

In a medium bowl, whisk the vinegar with the mustard. Slowly whisk in 1/3 cup of of the olive oil, then whisk in the 1 tablespoon bacon fat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside in a warm place.

Position an oven rack as close as possible to the broiler element. Put a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet on the rack and heat the broiler to high. Toss the tomatoes with the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil, the herbes de Provence, and kosher salt. Pour the tomatoes onto the hot pan and broil, stirring occasionally, until the skins are cracked and blistered, and the flesh is warmed through, 4-5 minutes. Transfer the tomatoes with a slotted spoon to the bowl with the salad dressing. Stir to coat and mix the seasonings into the dressing.

Just before serving, transfer the tomatoes from the dressing to another bowl with a slotted spoon. Whisk the dressing to recombine. Add half the bacon to the greens. Drizzle with dressing and toss lightly to coat. Don't overdress.

Garnish with the tomatoes, the remaining bacon, and some of the candied walnuts (you'll have leftovers.) Serve immediately.

Candied Walnuts

1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch cayenne
1 large egg white, at room temperature
1 tablespoon water
1/2 pound walnut halves

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together sugars, salt, cinnamon and cayenne. In a large bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy; whisk in the water until combined. Add the walnuts and stir to coat. Sprinkle on the sugar mixture and stir to evenly distribute.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat. Spread the nuts in a single layer on the sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, stir, and continue baking until the smell toasted and the sugar coating has caramelized, about another 15 minutes.

Let nuts cool on the pan, separating them as they cool. When completely cool, transfer to an airtight container. They'll keep for two weeks.

March 23: Cheese Enchiladas With Rajas

2008-03-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

The brisket was delicious and tender and flavorful, the potatoes were...oh, just so good. I steamed some broccoli to go with, and I put half of that aside to saute with garlic and olive oil and crushed red pepper flakes and toasted pine nuts and some hot pasta tomorrow. It's one of my favorite things to do with leftover broccoli.

At the risk of maybe telling you too much, I have to admit that I am on a new medication in my apparently neverending quest to have a second baby and it is wreaking total havoc on both my digestive system and the number and type of calories and insulin both that I need to consume to keep my blood sugar in line. For dinner tonight, I am going to have a tall cup of chicken broth with a few egg noodles in it in an effort to calm my churning and miserable stomach, but what I'm craving is a red-chili-sauced cheese and onion enchilada with a few strips of roasted poblano peppers, a puddle of beans, and a big pile of chopped romaine lettuce with thinly sliced radishes and a crumble of queso fresco.

So that's the recipe you'll get tonight. I make fabulous cheese enchiladas, if I may say so, and they're really one of my favorite meals. This is a great thing to serve to some non-meat-eating friends with lots of chips and a spicy-smoky salsa to start, cold beer or fresh limeade to drink, and some fruity sorbet and a couple of ginger cookies for dessert. I am hoping that these lousy side effects will get up off my ass sometime soon so I can go back to eating like a person who likes food again.

Cheese Enchiladas With Rajas

8 corn tortillas
2 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned or homemade
8 ounce brick-style cream cheese, softened
8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 medium white onion, half chopped fine and half very thinly sliced
salt and pepper
2 poblano peppers

Garnishes: your choice of thinly sliced radishes, hot sauce, additional shredded cheese, sliced hot peppers, pickled or fresh, sliced black olives, additional slivered onions, diced avacado, diced tomato, chopped cilantro, sour cream.

Under a pre-heated broiler, roast poblano peppers until all sides are blistered and blackened. Put peppers in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for at least ten minutes.

Preheat oven to 400. Mix together diced onion, cream cheese, cheddar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Peel roasted peppers (the skins should slide right off), seed, and slice into thin strips.

Wrap tortillas in plastic wrap and microwave on high for 1 minute. Spread about 2/3 cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom of an oven safe rectangular baking dish. Dip tortillas, one at a time, in enchilada sauce, spread 1/8 of the cheese-onion filling down the middle of the tortilla, top with 2-3 peppers, and roll. Place seam-down in the baking dish.

Bake 8-10 minutes, until heated through. Serve with garnishes of choice.

March 22: Scalloped Potatoes with Chipotle and Smoked Cheddar

2008-03-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's Easter. I have a six-pound beef brisket in the slow-cooker right now, with a whole bunch of pureed onion and garlic and Worcestershire and beef broth. This brisket really spoke to me in Costco today. It's going to be spicy and southern-style, not good-Jewish-Mama style. I'm kind of psyched about it.

To go with it, I'm going to make these scalloped potatoes from my bridal shower. Traditional, but with a twist. I can't wait.

Scalloped Potatoes with Chipotle and Smoked Cheddar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced (about 1 cup)
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
1 large chipotle in adobo, minced (about 1½ tablespoons)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 1//2 pounds (about 5 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream2 bay leaves
4 ounces smoked cheddar cheese, shredded (1 cup)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until foaming subsides. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chipotle, thyme, salt, and pepper; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add potatoes, chicken broth, cream, and bay leaves and bring to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until potatoes are almost tender (paring knife can be slipped into and out of potato slice with some resistance), about 10 minutes. Discard bay leaves.

3. Transfer mixture to 8-inch-square baking dish (or other 1½-quart gratin dish); sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bake until cream is bubbling around edges and top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

March 21: Sausage Corn Bread Muffins

2008-03-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

I have a breakfast problem.

Junk food has lost most of its appeal to me, really; I'd rather go home and make myself a turkey sandwich with dill havarti cheese with dijon mustard and arugula and a paper-thin slice of red onion than go through the drive through at McDonald's for a quarter-pounder with cheese. Now that I watch what I eat a little more closely, I really want what I eat to taste good.

That's not the problem. The problem is breakfast. My fast food moratorium does not extend to breakfast, especially not the sausage breakfast burrito from McDonald's, or, God help me, the sausage croissant'wich from Burger King.

That's part of the problem, but the underlying problem is, I don't like most breakfast food: I don't like syrup, I don't like cereal except for Cheerios (don't ask), and I only like fruit in small amounts. I like bacon just fine, of course, because who the hell doesn't like bacon, it's bacon, but a plate of bacon is apparently not an appropriate breakfast. Especially not for a diabetic, whose arteries are prone to clogging and other bad things, things I have tried very hard not to pay a whole lot of attention to until now. Sheesh.

Well then. My breakfast problem is that I have strict requirements for breakfast: it ought to be portable, reasonably healthy, and contain some sort of pork product, because, you know, I'm kind of a stubborn asshole as it turns out.

I like the looks of this bad boy, I have to say. It's from Everyday Food, which I bought yesterday in the grocery store line because I am a sucker for an impulse buy, especially an impulse buy involving a food or cooking magazine of some kind. I have no interest in imitation sausage veggie patties, so I am telling you right now that I have replaced that with real honest to God sausage. Okay, so come on, it's half a pound of sausage in a dozen muffins. That works out to less than an ounce of sausage each, and this probably won't kill me, as long as I don't do what I am concerned that I might do and sit down and eat all twelve of them at once.

Oh, and I'd just like to add the following: I found two typos in this recipe as printed. I have omitted them, because I find typos in a presumably-professionally edited document nearly as offensive as I find imitation sausage, but should anybody be looking to hire a copy editor in the D.C. area, my current job is kicking me to the pavement and laughing while I cry lately, and I might be willing to entertain some offers.

Sausage Corn Bread Muffins

8 oz. hot breakfast sausage
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
3/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Line 12 muffin pan cups with muffin liners.

In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, cook sausage, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until browned. Let cool.

Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, set aside. Whisk together buttermilk, egg, and butter in a medium bowl. Mix buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in sausage, corn, and cheese.

Divide the batter into the muffin pan cups. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Can be refrigerated up to 3 days, or frozen.

March 20: Whole Wheat Linguine With Caponata

2008-03-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

The diet continues. Sometimes, like tonight, we can't stand our own cooking anymore, and we go out for a tiny little dried-out grilled chicken breast and a baked potato, no butter, no sour cream. Food has become less than the feast for the senses that it was four weeks ago.

But, it's worth it. I'm still not losing much, but Dan is losing like crazy. I couldn't be more proud of him, although the drastic reduction in calories has made him incrediby grumpy. I told him he's bringing new meaning to the phrase "lean and mean."

Some days are better than others when it comes to what we eat. Like I said, it's not the feast for the senses that used to be, but the Type-A control freak in me likes the little rush I get from eating 350 calories for dinner, and then stopping. Oooh, that sounds disturbingly like an eating disorder, doesn't it? Yeah, I wouldn't worry just yet.

One of the first cookbooks my mother ever gave me is a pasta cookbook. I don't make pasta very often, but I like this one because it gives recipes for lots of different kinds of pasta, and sauces to go with them. I have made the black pepper linguine with red clam sauce dozens of times.

This pasta sauce is paired with whole wheat spaghetti, which I don't like well enough to make for myself. I like it well enough to eat it because it's healthy and for me, because I really love pasta, whole wheat pasta is better than, like, no pasta at all, but that's about it. Nevertheless, this sounds good, and healthy, and like I wouldn't totally hate it. Nothing's perfect, but my mind is open. Mostly.

Whole Wheat Linguine with Caponata

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 celerey rib, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed through a press
1 pound fresh plum tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup halved and pitted Greek or Sicilian olives
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 bay leaf, broken in half
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed hot pepper flakes
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons drained small capers
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound whole wheat linguine or spaghetti, cooked according to box directions

In a large nonreactive skillet, heat the oil. Add the eggplant, onion, celery, and bell pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, olives, vinegar, sugar, bay leaf, thyme, and hot pepper flakes. Cover and simmer, stirring often, until the vegetables are very soft, about 20 minutes.

Stir in the basil, parsley, and capers. Simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until roughly half the liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Toss hot cooked pasta with sauce. Serve immediately.

March 19: Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

2008-03-19T17:33:00.000-07:00

So here we are, still on a diet. My husband's down about two pants sizes, and mine are beginning to get a little looser. Maybe. Men.

I'm finding that the thing that I'm craving, much more than fat or sugar, is spicy. Something about spicy food gets my engine going and makes me feel more satisfied with less. I'm sure there's some kind of neuro-biological reason for that, but at this point, I'd rather have one of my low-fat, practically-no-cheese-involved chicken enchiladas than a bowl of ice cream. Go figure.

Speaking of enchiladas, I make my own enchilada sauce because the stuff that comes out of a can tastes terrible and what I make tastes great. It's the America's Test Kitchen recipe, and if you're interested, leave me a comment or email me and I'll send it to you. Other than that, this soup is made of things I keep around the house regularly, but I am inclined to raise the stakes, by using fresh ingredients when I can. I'm also inclined to add tortilla flavor and thicken the soup by adding a quarter of a cup of masa to this, an hour or so before it's done.

This was a totally generic recipe when I found it; I've turned it into something a little more interesting since then. It's also easy: throw everything in the crock pot and just walk away, Renee. You need some leftover chicken on hand, which is something I almost always do have.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1 can Muir Glen Organics fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 10 ounce can enchilada sauce, or 1 1/2 cups homemade enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped medium-fine
1 4 ounce can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans low sodium chicken broth
1/4 masa (corn flour)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil

Cooking Instructions
Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Mix masa into chicken broth. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

March 18: Swiss Steak, Southwest Style

2008-03-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

Something of an oxymoron, right? Okay.

We just finished dinner, and mmmmmmmmmmm-hmmmmmmm. All I can do is sit here and make happy food noises.

This was a total experiment, based on what looked good last night and was on sale in the grocery store. When I was pregnant, I had wretched morning sickness for about four months. One of the few meals I could stomach was swiss steak, also one of the few meals that my mother makes really, really well. At the time, my mother was 13 hours away and could not be at my house to make swiss steak every night, so I made it myself. Not every night, but once a week, at least. That, chili dogs, tuna-noodle casserole, white bread, and navel oranges were the only things that would reliably not make me yack.

The result of this was that I gained 100 pounds. The end. No, I'm kidding, I only gained about 28 pounds, and I give the credit to the fact that I lost about 15 in the first trimester. The real result is that I burned out a little on swiss steak and haven't really been interested until I found two packages of the most gorgeous-looking cube steaks in the grocery store last night on sale.

Swiss steak, in case you were wondering, is not from any neutral European country. It is a cheap piece of beef, usually bottom round, that has been swissed, or poked repeatedly with sharp objects, until some of the meat fibers are cut, tenderizing it by--well, basically by pre-chewing it for you.

I know, okay? I prefer to chew my own food, generally speaking. But we're talking about a seriously cheap-ass piece of meat that's magically transformed into a lean, beefy, fork-tender piece of deliciousness that does not occur in nature otherwise.

So here I am with these cube steaks, and some pantry staples. Dan and I both had the thought in our head that we wanted something a little spicy; and these gorgeous steaks were staring at me from the second shelf of the fridge.

So I modified my mother's swiss steak recipe slightly. Here's what I did:

Swiss Steak, Southwest Style

4 6-ounce swissed bottom round steaks
Flour
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 shallots, minced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1 14.5 ounce can Muir Glen Organics fire-roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 to 2 whole pickled jalapenos from a can, finely diced

Combine flour and salt, pepper, and cayenne, all to taste, in a shallow dish or plate (taste the flour, it should be fairly well-seasoned.) Dredge the steaks in the flour

Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the shallots, garlic, and onion to the pan. Cook, stirring constantly, until they are fragrant and softening slightly, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the steaks in and brown, turning as needed to keep them from burning. Remove steaks from the pan.

Add tomatoes to pan. Use broth to rinse out the can, then pour the broth into the pan as well and bring to a simmer. Nestle the steaks back into the tomato-broth mixture and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes, turning steaks occasionally.

Stir the jalapenos into the sauce and continue to simmer another 20 minutes. While your steaks simmer, make some mashed potatoes. They don't have to be fancy, just regular old mashed potatoes are fine. Even the kind from the box will do; it's not really about the potatoes.

When the sauce is as thick as you want it to be and the potatoes are ready, make a big pile of mashed potatoes on a big platter. Pile the steaks over them. Spoon or pour the spicy tomatoey goodness over the whole thing.

Curse yourself for making something this yummy when you're on a diet. Only eat one helping.

March 17: The Pioneer Woman Cooks! Spicy Shrimp

2008-03-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

Have you all discovered the food-geek wonder that is The Pioneer Woman Cooks! yet? Get thee over there, right now, and then use your back button to return to me. She won a Bloggie at SXSW for her food blogging, and man is it well-deserved. I...I am so very embarassed to admit this to you all, but I think I may have actually licked my computer monitor while reading her entry on pasta primavera. Yes Indeedy.

In short, The Pioneer Woman is a totally hilarious housewife on a cattle ranch somewhere in the middle of the country. She used to be an urban hipster in L.A.; now she drives forty minutes round trip to buy her very basic grocery staples, so she is a little defensive of her use of parmesan cheese from that green can. You know--that green can. She has two blogs: The Pioneer Woman Cooks and Confessions of A Pioneer Woman. That one features a lot of pictures of rather fit young men in tight jeans. Thanks for that, by the way.

Anyway, about her food blog: she takes pictures, something I am mostly too lazy or harried to do (also, I can't find the USB cable for my camera), and the pictures are some of what's so appealing about her cooking. Also, it's unpretentious, real-world easy, and uses a lot of butter. By which I mean, a lot. I can't believe she doesn't weigh 345 pounds. I would.

She doesn't really measure things so much, so it's hard to use her recipes as, you know, recipes, rather than just something to think dirty thoughts about, but her spicy shrimp look so good that I am sort of a little bit in love right now. One great thing about living on the Eastern seaboard is the seafood. We still get the shrimp frozen, but they're usually in better shrimp than the ones that have been sleeping with the fishes, so to speak, for months and months. And I don't think I need to explain what a decent crabcake can mean for a woman who's lived to be 27 years old and never tasted Maryland blue crab.

So, I will now attempt to translate Ree at The Pioneer Woman Cooks! from shameless hard-core food porn to a recipe with measurements and everything. It will be my usual wild-ass-guess estimation method that I use every time I attempt to post a recipe that isn't really my recipe but just an idea out of my head. By all means, assume that I'm playing it fast and loose with the numbers and hope for the best. If I'm off by a mile on anything, I encourage you to let me know.

Spicy Shrimp

2 lbs. large shell-on shrimp
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Tabasco to taste
1/3-1/2 cup Worcestershire
Generous amounts of Salt and coarsely ground black pepper
8 tablespoons (1 stick) Butter, cut into 16 pieces
3-4 Lemons
1 large loaf crusty French bread

Thoroughly rinse shrimp under cold running water. Spread shrimp in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet.

Drizzle oil, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and Tabasco (you are seasoning these shrimp through the shells, so be aggressive.) Generously salt. Very generously pepper.

Drop pats of butter over the shrimp. Then pepper them again. Generously.

Slide the shrimp under the broiler for 10 minutes or so, until they are cooked all the way through. Don't overcook.

Warm the loaf of bread in the oven. Use it to sop up the sauce from the shrimp.

March 16: Herb-Crusted Pork Roast

2008-03-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

I am not a huge fan of ham. For one thing, as a child, Easter always seemed to be the time of year that I would find myself with a stomach virus, so hard-boiled eggs and ham always make me think of terrible Easter nights spent hugging the toilet. Then, when I was pregnant and had round-the-clock morning sickness for four months, only to be replaced swiftly by a debilitating case of gastroenteritis which landed me in the hospital for several days and had me not feeling 100 percent for several weeks afterwards. In this lasting period of varying degrees of queasiness, I found that ham, to me, looked like what I described to my husband as people meat--cooked and sliced human being of some sort. I can manage a ham sandwich, sort of, as long as there's some pickles and cheese and mustard, something to make me not think too hard about what I'm actually eating.

So, of course, as far as holidays go, Easter's not my favorite. Ham is the traditional Easter dinner around my house, and my grandmother was a big believer in a glazed ham with pineapple rounds, cloves, and marashino cherries. Thinking about what to make for my own family, I think I'd like to give them something a little fresher, less sugary, with fewer artificial colors involved.

I love a center-cut pork loin roast how easy it is to make--it's compact, uniformly-sized, and easy to slice. It's also a little bland. Usually I make some kind of a pan sauce or stuffing, but this year, I'm going to do an herb crust, courtesy of America's Test Kitchen.

Herb-Crusted Pork Loin

1 boneless center-cut pork loin roast (2 1/2-3 lbs.)
Salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 slice high-quality white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
1 ounce parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup)
1 shallot, minced
4 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
Pepper
1/2 cup packed fresh parsley or basil
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1 garlic clove, minced

With a sharp knife, score the fat cap on the pork, making a 1/4 inch crosshatch pattern, then cut a pocket in the side of the roast, stopping 1/2 inch short of each end. Pull open the roast to cut the pocket deeper. Dissolve 1/2 cup salt and the sugar in 2 quarts water in a large container, submerge roast, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour. Rinse the roast with cold water and dry with paper towels.

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325. Pulse the bread in a food processor until goarsely ground, about sixteen 1-second pulses. Transfer crumbs to a medium bowl (do not wash the food processor) and add 2 tablespoons of parmesan, the shallot, 1 tablespoon of oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Using a fork, toss the mixture until the crumbs are evenly coated with oil.

Add the parsley, thyme, rosemary, garlic, remaining parmesan, 3 tablespoons oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper to the now-empty food processor and process until smooth, about 12 1-second pulses. Transfer the herb paste to a small bowl.

Spread 1/4 cup inside the herb paste inside the pocket in the roast and tie at 3 intervals along the length of the roast with kitchen twine. Season the roast with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the roast fat-side down and brown on all sides, 8-10 minutes, lowering the heat if the fat starts to smoke. Transfer the roast to a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Using scissors, snip and remove the twine from the roast, discard twine. Spread the remaining herb paste over the roast; top with the bread crumb mixture. Transfer the baking sheet with the roast to the oven and cook until the thickest part of the roast registers 145 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 50-75 minutes. Remove the roast from the oven and let rest 10 minutes.

Transfer to a carving board, taking care not to squeeze the juices out of the pocket in the roast. Cut into 1/2 inch slices and serve immediately.

March 15: Balsamic Sauteed Mushrooms

2008-03-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

Balsamic vinegar is one of those kitchen staples that I am never, ever without, like kosher salt and dijon mustard and great olive oil. It's the starting point of about a dozen different things for me, including a dressing that's great for strong salad greens like arugula and escarole, a marinade for roasted vegetables, and a glaze for fresh strawberries that is absolute heaven on poundcake or vanilla ice cream.

Spend the money for good balsamic vinegar at a specialty food store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Look for an aged basalmic, one whose ingredient list doesn't include caramel color. It'll cost you, for sure, but the difference between great aged balsamic vinegar and grocery store cut-rate is like night and day. In this recipe, where the flavor takes center stage, it will make a particular difference.

Serve these mushrooms next to a steak or a seared fish fillet.

Balsamic Sauteed Mushrooms

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. dark brown sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1 lb. cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
kosher salt
1 to 2 tsp. minced garlic
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, and 1 tbsp. water in a small dish.

In a 10-inch straight sided saute pan, heat 1 tbsp. of the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, add the mushrooms and 3/4 tsp. salt and stir right away with a wooden spoon until the mushrooms have absorbed all the fat.

Let the mushrooms cook undisturbed for 2 minutes and then stir once. The pan will look dry but keep the heat at medium high and continue to cook, stirring infrequently, until the mushrooms are shrunken, glistening, and some sides have developed a deep brown color, 6-7 minutes.

Turn the heat to low, add the garlic and the remaining 1 tbsp butter and cook, stirring, until the butter is melted and the garlic is fragrant, 15-20 seconds. Carefully add the balsamic mixture. Cook, stirring, until the liquid reduces to a glazey consistency that coats the mushrooms, 15-20 seconds. Season with a few grinds of pepper. Immediately transfer the mushrooms to a serving dish, scraping the pan with a rubber spatula to get all of the garlicky sauce. Let sit for a few minutes. Serve warm.

March 14: Chicken with Marsala, Mushrooms & Gorgonzola

2008-03-14T17:52:00.001-07:00

I just don't have the energy for a long drawn-out explanation of a recipe. I've just had an iron-plated bitch of a week at work, which is the only kind of week that you have when you work for a housing counseling and homeownership non-profit and there's a foreclosure crisis taking place. I am so glad it's Friday that I really might eat this recipe, a whole plate of it with garlic mashed potatoes and a whole head of steamed, buttered broccoli. My husband's lost 18 pounds in three weeks. I have lost two. We've been eating virtually the same thing every day. Men.

Chicken with Marsala, Mushrooms & Gorgonzola

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 3)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
6 oz. cremini or white mushrooms, sliced 1/8 inch thick (about 2-1/4 cups)
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry Marsala
1/3 cup heavy cream
1-1/2 oz. crumbled Gorgonzola (1/3 cup)
1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Trim the chicken, removing the tenders, and slice on an angle into 3/4-inch-thick pieces; season generously with salt and pepper.

In a 10-inch straight-sided sauté pan, heat 2 Tbs. of the oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add half of the chicken and cook, flipping once, until lightly browned and just barely cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate; repeat with the remaining chicken. Cover with foil to keep warm.

Return the pan to medium-high heat and add the remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt, and sauté, stirring with a wooden spoon, until softened and well browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 20 to 30 seconds.

Pour in the Marsala and scrape the pan with the spoon to loosen any browned bits; simmer until the Marsala is reduced slightly, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cream and simmer until thickened slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Add two-thirds of the Gorgonzola and stir until melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Taste the sauce; add salt and pepper as needed. Add the chicken along with any accumulated juices and turn to coat with the sauce. Serve immediatly, sprinkled with the remaining cheese and the parsley.

March 13: Tapenade

2008-03-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

I got my start as a food blogger writing about dip.

I wrote about how much I love dip, how, for me, things like raw veggies and chips and French bread are like little delivery trucks, bringing total goodness from a bowl in front of my face straight to my mouth: Hello, lover.

One time, a few years ago, I went to an art tour with my mother in a series of venues downtown. Some of them had great wine and snacks, some of them had Two Buck Chuck and cubes of grocery-store cheese, and one place had vegan health food snacks. Never one to pass up even questionable vegan dip, I dipped a carrot stick in the bowl of the curious greyish substance, and ate it. Filled with an immediate and pervasive sense of deep regret, I sought out some kind of awful deathberry-wheatgrass juice blend to try to wash down the mystery dip. It was the only time I can remember dip being a totally unredeemably bad, nothing good about it. I can't even fathom what on earth was in it.

On the other end of the spectrum is the year that my stepfather was in Guam with the Red Cross at Thanksgiving--he is a retired high school administrator who got tired of playing golf so he went to work doing disaster relief--and my grandmother and uncle were in North Carolina, and it was just going to be my mother and I, so we went to a friend of hers' house. The snacks before dinner that day were great, one of the reasons that I vastly prefer Thanksgiving Snacks to Thanksgiving Dinner. One of the snacks was tapenade.

Tapenade is a dark, lusty sauce that tastes like Greece, Southern France, and Italy, all mixed up together. When I tell you that it's pretty much the greatest thing ever, I'm not overselling the thing. Cut the top quarter off a pint of cherry tomatoes, hollow them out with a teaspoon, and stuff them with tapenade. Mix it into the stuffing for hard-boiled eggs. Thin it out and use it for a dip for crudites, toss it with cold pasta. Spread it on bruschetta, top it with goat cheese, and broil it briefly. Put it on grilled cheese sandwiches. Tapenade is great stuff.

The ingredient list is long and full of things that I don't generally keep on hand, like anchovies and capers and fresh thyme. Tapenade isn't something I make often, but occasionally, I'll go ahead and do it, just because it's so good. Don't worry about the anchovies--they don't make the thing taste fishy, they just round out the flavors into something bigger than the sum of its parts.

Okay, the "black" olives: listen, don't go buy a can of black olives in the olive aisle at the grocery store. Go to your Fresh Fields or your Whole Foods or whatever grocery store you like. Buy great, great-tasting olives off the olive bar, those little black wrinkly ones or kalamatas or--whatever you like, basically, as long as they taste good and they don't taste like the can that they come in.

Tapenade

1/2 pound black olives, pitted, drained of their liquid
4 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest
8 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
4 tablespoons olive oil

Place all the ingredients except the olive oil in the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse to blend. Add the oil and pulse a few more times to form a cohesive but still coarse paste.

March 12: Orange Flan

2008-03-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted any kind of a dessert. I love dessert, but I don't eat it very often. Besides being diabetic, I'm just not a "sweets" kind of person. I would rather skip dessert and have an extra serving of sweet corn, or some chips and salsa, or a really luscious appetizer.

But oh boy, flan. I am crazy about flan. It's a not-overly-sweet custard, rich and creamy, topped with a fabulous caramel sauce, made from scratch. It's simple, and at the same time, totally luxurious.

The best flan I've ever tasted--no kidding--cost $.95 in a Mexican restaurant at the back of a Mexican grocery store in Western Michigan. The restaurant had about nine tables and while the servers in the restaurant mostly spoke a little English, you would do well to speak a little Spanish there. We are usually in Michigan around Christmastime, which also coincides with my birthday. More often than not, that's the restaurant that I choose for my birthday dinner, and that's the dessert I choose too. Nobody seems to do it better than them, and it's always better than birthday cake.

Serendipitously, my email today held a recipe for this orange flan. I am really looking forward to making this. Maybe to follow a simple dinner of fried potato tacos and Rick Bayless' drunken pinto beans and a simple salad of romaine, red onion, radish, and tomato wedges.

It'll have to wait until this weekend though. I'm really having a swell week at work.

Here's one note though: the water bath keeps the custard from curdling, over-cooking, or cracking in the harsh heat of the oven. The easiest way to set it up is to put the roasting pan on the oven rack with the towel folded in the bottom, then set the filled cups on the towel, and then pour in the water. Not so much carrying and sloshing.

Orange Flan

Cooking Spray
2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3/4 cup Egg Beaters
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray six 6-oz custard cups with cooking spray.

2. Place 1/3 cup of the sugar in heavy 1-quart saucepan. Heat over medium heat without stirring until sugar is melted and golden brown, swirling pan occasionally to heat evenly. Pour and divide syrup evenly among prepared custard cups. Tilt custard cups to coat bottoms evenly. Let stand 5 minutes.

3. Combine the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, milk, Egg Beaters, vanilla, and orange peel in medium bowl; mix until blended. Pour evenly into custard cups. Line a roasting pan with a folded towel to prevent the cups from sliding, place custard cups in the pan, and using a kettle with very hot water, carefully pour water into the roasting pan to come about 1 inch up the side of the custard cups.

4. Bake 25 minutes, or until knife inserted in center of custard comes out clean. Immediately remove from water. Unmold and serve warm, or refrigerate 4 hours and unmold at serving time.

March 11: Cocktail Meatballs For A Crowd

2008-03-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

I'm throwing a baby shower! Well, sort of. It's my best friend's baby who I'm showering, and I'm throwing it in conjunction with her mother, if my best friend doesn't beat her to death with a heavy object soon. The shower is next month, in Kentucky, and Kimberly has given an executive order for no fuss.

Of course, the first thing I thought about was what to eat at a baby shower. I've never thrown one before. So...what do I serve? Baby carrots? Baby corn? Baby...Baby's breath? No, no, that's not food. Kimberly doesn't eat a lot of meat (although the baby loves him some chili dogs), and there's the no-fuss order.

Here's my experience with parties: nobody will like everything, and bad food is never, you know, good, so I consider my audience. There are some things that almost everybody likes; serve enough of them, do it well, and people will talk about how great the food was. It's the law of large numbers.

Here's my rule when it comes to party food, and it exists because I am the laziest housekeeper on earth, I really am: I like party food that gets eaten completely without leaving some part of itself behind. For example: shrimp. I like shrimp. Everybody likes shrimp, just about, but shrimp have shells and tails to be left behind. Invariably, they slide off of little paper plates or get knocked off an end table, and just like that, you have shrimp shells in your carpet for, like, a week. Really want to serve shrimp at your party? Make a shrimp dip and serve it with slices of baguette. No shells left behind. Chicken wings: incredibly popular, a huge crowd-pleaser. They also leave a mess. Instead, make a buffalo chicken dip: chunks of white-meat chicken in a creamy dip base mixed with wing sauce, with lots of bleu cheese stirred in, served bubbling hot. I've had it on tortilla chips. Sounds a little weird? Go with me on this; I know I've almost never met a dip I didn't like, but this one is something special

Another thing almost everyone likes: meatballs. The great thing about cocktail meatballs is that you can totally buy good-quality frozen ones, because it's all about the sauce. Thaw the meatballs overnight in the fridge, pop them into a hot oven for a few minutes on rimmed baking sheets to heat up, and then toss them with some kind of yummy sauce in your crockpot. They'll stay hot forever and the only thing they leave behind is maybe a toothpick or something. I've also seen the same meatballs simmered in sauce with kielbasa: also delicious.

As for the sauce, you can keep it simple with barbecue sauce--whatever kind you like; I like KC Masterpiece. You can make a sauce with tomato paste, red wine vinegar, mustard, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce, but it seems fussy to me. My favorites are Sweedish meatball sauce, a sort of sour-cream-dill-beef broth concoction which is delicious but occasionally curdles if it stands too long, and this ridiculous thing that I love, despite the fact that it's so low-brow. Here it is, barely a recipe at all. Sandra Lee would be so proud of me. I'm a little embarassed by this thing, but go with me. You'll love me for it.

Cocktail Meatballs for a Crowd

2 1-lb bags of good quality frozen meatballs, thawed overnight in the refrigerator
1 bottle Heinz chili sauce
1 12 oz. jar good-quality apricot preserves
1 8 oz. jar good-quality grape jelly

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet and warm in the oven until heated through, 15-20 minutes.

While meatballs heat, put preserves, jelly, and chili sauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally, until jelly melts.

Place meatballs in a crockpot set on low, gently pour sauce over. Keep warm; serve.

March 10: Homemade Mayonnaise

2008-03-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

There are some pieces of knowledge that are, for foodies, absolutely necessary to have, not because we use them all the time, but because when we do use them, they are so much better than whatever alternative is available that it is, quite simply, totally worth it.

The thing is, those pieces of knowledge aren't exactly static. What's necessary for me isn't necessary for, say, my best friend or my mother. I doubt that my mother has any desire to make her own fresh pasta for fettucine with garlic-cream sauce, and yet, I think that making the best fresh pasta I possibly can make is an invaluable skill. My best friend is a vegetarian, when she's not pregnant with a small person who, apparently, loves meat. I doubt that the ability to roast a chicken with moist, juicy meat and perfectly crisp and crackling skin is going to come in that handy for her, and I really do.

Homemade mayonnaise is well within the reach of anyone with a food processor, and I think that the ability to make it is a really important ability, at least for me. Why? Because it transforms and improves whatever it touches. Chicken salad is fine with Hellman's; chicken salad with homemade basil mayonnaise, chopped celery and red onion, and pine nuts on ciabatta bread is a work of art. Steamed fresh artichokes in spring are delicious, of course, but with homemade anchovy mayonnaise, they are pure luxury.

What dishes are your necessities? I have several, like I've mentioned: fresh pasta, perfectly roasted chicken, a light, fluffy, crispy waffle with cinnamon-honey butter, a brutally-rich and custardy cheesecake. And homemade mayonnaise, of course, which can be made in ten thousand different flavors for an equal number of applications. Try it, really. It's not hard, and it's worth it and it's science and art at the same time, which is something I like quite a bit about food. Here is the basic one; variations are limited only by your imaginations. And that sentence, the first one in this paragraph? Your necessities? I really want to know.

Homemade Mayonnaise

2 Egg yolks
1 Whole egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups corn or vegetable oil, or best-quality olive oil

Combine the egg yolks, whole egg, mustard, salt, freshly ground pepper, and half of the lemon juice in a food processor. Process for 1 minute.

With the motor running, drizzle in the oil in a slow, steady stream. When you have added all the oil, shut the motor off and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Taste the mayonnaise. Correct the seasoning. If you are using vegetable oil, you will probably need the additional lemon juice. Scrape the mayonnaise into a storage container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use. The mayonnaise will keep safely, if refrigerated for 5 days. Stir before using.

March 9: Glazed Blueberry Chicken

2008-03-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

What a craptastically cold, wintery, yucky weekend. Kimberly won't shush her sassy mouth about how great a snow day is; it's March and I am frankly over it. It was cold and windy and grey all weekend and we had a lot to do, so instead of curling up on the couch with hot chocolate, we spent the morning trekking back and forth through a wailing, freezing, miserable wind across the parking lot between a Pep Boy's store and Borders Bookstore while waiting for new tires to be put on our car.

I am an Upper-Midwest girl, born and raised an hour from the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. That particular area of the state of Michigan is mostly farmland; most of the farmland is blueberries. My husband's parents moved to that particular area maybe 10 years ago; their home is surrounded on three sides by blueberry farms and on the last side by a small inland lake. It's typical of that area of the state. The best thing about their house is that through most of the second two-thirds of the summer, the unmistakable smell of blueberries is in the air round the clock.

Oh, man. I could really stand a big taste of summer right now, and this dish is just the thing that would do it for me. It comes from The Silver Palate Cookbook, which is, as I've said before, sort of my food bible. As I've mentioned, Julee Rosso, one of the authors, is from (and still lives) in the same area of Michigan that I've just described. I'm guessing that right about now, Ms. Rosso is sniffing the cold, damp, March Michigan air, thick with the smell of snow, and missing the smell of blueberries ripening under a July sun.

Serves 2-4.

Glazed Blueberry Chicken

1/2 cup blueberry vinegar
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 chicken, quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup blueberry chutney or preserves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley, for garnish

Combine the blueberry vinegar and thyme in a large bowl. Add the chicken, turn to coat with the marinade, and marinate for 2 hours, turning occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Arrange the chicken pieces, skin side up, in a baking pan, reserving the marinade. Season the chicken lightly with salt and pepper and coat it lightly with the blueberry chutney or preserves.

Bake the chicken on the center rack of the oven until it is cooked through, about 1 hour, basting occasionally with the marinade. Do not baste in the last 15 minutes of baking.

Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Serve immediately or at room temperature, sprinkled with parsley.

March 8: Huevos Rancheros with Spicy Ham

2008-03-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a recipe. It's for huevos rancheros. I would tell you more about it, except that I am exhausted and need to crash for the night. I had this dish last year in San Diego, and like almost everything else I ate there, it was delicious. If I weren't on a ridiculous diet, one where I've cut my calories down to almost half of what I was on before I was on a ridiculous diet, I'd go to my kitchen right now and cook this dish, because I am so hungry I could cry. Ironic, isn't it?

Huevos Rancheros with Spicy Ham

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
10 ounces smoked ham, cut into 2-by-1/4-inch strips
4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
2 Scotch bonnet chiles or jalapeños—halved, seeded and thinly sliced crosswise
1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Eight 6-inch corn tortillas
8 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 475°. In a large skillet, heat 1/2 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Add the smoked ham and cook over moderately high heat until browned on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the ham to a plate. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil to the skillet along with the garlic, onions, Scotch bonnet chiles and green bell pepper. Cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 12 minutes. Stir in the paprika and cook over moderately high heat for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook until they release their juices, about 2 minutes. Stir in the ham and season the sofrito with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, wrap the tortillas in aluminum foil and warm them in the oven. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat 1/2 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Crack 4 of the eggs into the skillet, season with salt and pepper and fry sunny-side up over moderate heat, until the egg whites are set and the egg yolks are still slightly runny, about 3 minutes. Transfer the eggs, yolk side up, to a plate and keep them warm by tenting them with aluminum foil. Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the skillet and fry the remaining eggs.

Set 2 tortillas on each plate. Top with the fried eggs, spoon the sofrito on the side and serve.

June 1: Extra-Light, Extra-Crisp Waffles

2008-03-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

Waffles are one of my favorite things for breakfast. Crispier than pancakes, lighter than toast, a waffle is a great vehicle for cinnamon-honey butter and a spoonful of sauteed, diced apples. Yum.

A great waffle is a thing of beauty, but it's also pretty rare. America's Test Kitchen has an unorthodox approach to waffles: a basic batter with egg whites whipped and folded in, vegetable oil standing in for butter, swapping cornstarch for some of the flour, and the unorthodox addition of Rice Krispies, which seem to disappear into the batter, magically leaving behind their crispy texture.

I love a mystery ingredient. It does something for the recipe without changing the character of the dish. It's one of the many ways in which food becomes more than the sum of its parts. This is crazy, but honest to God, it works like a charm. I would happily eat these waffles for any meal of the day, including with fried chicken, which is apparently quite a big thing--I'd never heard of it before, but it sounds good to me.

Extra-Light, Extra-Crisp Waffles

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup Rice Crispies

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat a waffle iron to medium. Stir the flour, Rice Krispies, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the egg yolks, milk, vanilla, and oil together in a medium bowl.

With an electric mixer or ballon whisk, beat the egg whites in a bowl to soft peaks. Pour the milk mixture overthe dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Whisk in the beaten whites until just combined. Do not overmix; a few streaks of whites should be visible.

Pour 2/3 cup of the batter into the center of the waffle iron and use the back of a dinner spoon to spread thebatter toward the outer edges. Close the lid and cook until deep golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately. Repeat with additional batter.

March 7: California Barbecued Tri-Tip

2008-03-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

The tri-tip roast is sort of part steak, part roast, and it's not always easy to find, but it's worth it. It's a big, sort of U-shaped piece of meat from the sirloin, near the bottom of it. It's actually kind of delicious--lean, a little chewy, with great big flavor, and it's a relative bargain when it comes to beef.

Californians know the value of a tri-tip roast: it's a Santa Maria Valley specialty, barbecued tri-tip, sliced thin and served with barbecue beans and buttered French bread. I don't get out to California a great deal, and so I've only tasted tri-tip barbecue once, but yowza. Talk about big, well-rounded, balanced, classic flavors.

Cook's Illustrated has their Best Of America's Test Kitchen issue out right now, and there's a recipe for California Barbecued Tri-Tip. This particular cut of meat is worth seeking out for this great regional specialty, but if you can't find it, they suggest bottom round steak. Put on your coat and fire up your grill; you can stand in the cold for a few minutes for this bad boy.

This calls for the fairly common practice of using water-soaked wood chips on a charcoal fire for smoky flavor. In this case, the chips go on after the meat sears over the hot side of the fire, to keep it from tasting like an ashtray.

California-Style Barbecued Tri-Tip

1 2-pound tri-tip roast
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups wood chips, preferably oak
1 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Using a fork, prick the raost about 20 times on each side. Combine the garlic, oil, and salt and rub over the roast. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Soak the wood chips in cold water to cover for 15 minutes, drain. Open the bottom grill vents. Light a large chimney filled with charcoal bricquets and allow it to burn until the charcoal is covered in a layer of fine ash. Spread the coals over over half the grill bottom, leaving the other half with no coals. Set the cooking grate in place, cover, open the lid vents and heat 5 minutes, until hot.

Using paper towels, wipe the garlic off the roast. Grill directly over the coals until browned, about 5 minutes per side. Carefully remove the roast and grate from the grill. Scatter the soaked wood chips over the coals. Replace the grate and place the roast on the cooler side of the grill. Cover, positioning the lid vents directly over the meat, and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the roast registers about 130 degrees for medium-rare, about 20 minutes. Transfer the meat to a cutting board, tent loosely with foil, and rest for 20 minutes. Slice thinly across the grain. Serve.

March 6: All Things Pizza

2008-03-06T09:30:00.000-08:00

I don't think I know anybody who won't eat pizza. My best friend in high school, who had strange eating habits anyway, ate pizza more creatively than anybody I have ever seen. She would only eat thin crust pepperoni pizza with extra sauce, first of all. She would blot each piece, individually, with enormous amounts of paper towels, so that not a single visable speck of oil remained. Then she would peel off each piece of pepperoni and pile them on the side of her plate. Then she would eat the cheese with her hands, using torn-off pieces of it to scrape up the sauce. Then she would use her fingers to scrape off and eat the sauce. Then she would tear off bites of now totally denuded crust, dip them in more sauce, and eat them. Then she would eat the pepperoni. Watching all this was frustrating beyond all belief to me, for some reason.

When I was 16, I went to Finland, Russia and Estonia for two weeks. In St. Petersburg, a great-looking Russian photographer directed us to a tiny restaurant around the corner from our hotel. After living for a week on brown bread, farmer's cheese, some kind of cream-of-wheat-like porridge, and massive quantities of cabbage--I was too afraid to eat the mystery meat that all the restaurants served--my roommate and I were beside ourself to find a pizzaria, where they served us thin-crust cheese pizza with olives. It's a pizza I've never forgotten, because I ate it in Russia.

Pizza is great, and it's getting even greater for me as I become more proficient at making it at home and more creative when it comes to toppings. The Terrible Diet 2008 continues at Chez Kitchen, however, and pizza is hard to fit in there. To be honest, I feel like a hooker who's taken a pledge of chastity.

Unless. Unless I get really crazy with the toppings. Pizza, if you ask me, isn't meant to be wildly decadent; once upon a time it was good food eaten by poor people who had to stretch their food budget a long way. Italian piadina, for example, was a way to use up odds and ends of bread dough, greens, and meat that were getting close to spoiling.

I've heard of flatbread baked on hot stones, then topped with olive oil, parmesan cheese, arugula, and lightly dressed with vinegar. Sounds wonderful. Every veggie pizza on earth, as long as you don't go too crazy with cheese (a major challenge for me) is relatively healthy.

So, below is my favorite recipe for pizza crust, and below that is a list of my favorite pizza toppings that will probably not cause a stroke. When you bake pizza at home, you know exactly what's in it--you can eliminate what you don't want, leave in what you want more of, and stop paying your bad neighborhood chain whose name rhymes with Pizza Slut to provide you with bad food that is edible but not really enjoyable. This crust is easy, versatile, and great with just about every topping there is. It can be left thickish, rolled out thin, or wrapped around a topping or two for calzone. I've included the notes that America's Test Kitchen made about baking this, and a revision they made on their own recipe.

Please let me know in the comments what you like on your pizza. If you're nice to me, I might invite you over and cook something for you.

Pizza Dough

This dough can be used for any size pizza with thick or thin crust; simply adjust the cooking time to fit the pizza. Make sure you heat the oven to 500 degrees for thirty minutes before you start cooking. Your tiles or stone need at least that long to heat up; if they’re not properly heated, your pizza crust will be thin, blond, and limp. Once the dough for the crust has been topped, use a quick jerking action to slide it off the peel and onto the hot tiles or stone; make sure that the pizza lands far enough back so that its front edge does not hang off. For a cornmeal-flavored dough, substitute three-quarters cup of cornmeal for three-quarters cup of the bread flour. Editor's Note: This recipe was updated in 1997, when we found that adding more water resulted in a tastier pizza. This recipe contains a total of 1 3/4 cups water, while the original that appeared in the magazine in 1995 contains 1 1/2 cups.

INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cups water, divided, 1/2 cup warm, remaining at tap temperature
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (1 envelope)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing dough
4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
vegetable oil (or cooking spray) for oiling bowl

1. Measure 1/4 cup of warm water into 2-cup measuring cup. Sprinkle in yeast; let stand until yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup warm water plus remaining 1 1/4 cups tap water and olive oil. Meanwhile, pulse flour and salt in workbowl of large food processor fitted with steel blade to combine. Add liquid ingredients (holding back a tablespoon or so) to flour and pulse together. If dough does not readily form into ball, stop machine, add remaining liquid, and continue to pulse until ball forms. Process until dough is smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds longer.

2. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead by hand with a few strokes to form smooth, round ball. Put dough into medium-large, oiled bowl, and cover with damp cloth. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

3. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface and use chef’s knife or dough scraper to halve, quarter, or cut dough into eighths, depending on number and size of pizzas desired. Form each piece into ball and cover with damp cloth. Working with one piece of dough at a time, shape as desired. Brush dough very lightly with olive oil before topping and cooking.

4. Use the following guide to determine cooking time for pizza crust with topping but without cheese. All pizzas need to be cooked an additional two or three minutes after adding cheese, or until cheese is completely melted.

THIN CRUST
14-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 2) - 7 to 8 minutes
12-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 4) - 5 minutes
8-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 8)- 3 minutes.

MEDIUM-THICK CRUST
12-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 2) - 9 to 10 minutes
8-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 4) - 5 minutes
6-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 8) - 4 minutes

My favorite combinations of toppings and sauces

Spicy garlic oil: Gently warm 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil over medium low heat. Stir in 10-12 cloves pressed garlic, 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, 1 teaspoon coarse salt. Simmer over low heat (should not sizzle or brown) for 4-5 minutes. Brush thickly on pizza dough, sprinkle with romano cheese. Refrigerate leftover oil (it's also delicious over pasta or brushed on chicken or pork in the last minute or so of grilling.)

White pizza: Mix 1/2 cup ricotta cheese with a handful of chopped fresh herbs (I like basil, rosemary, and thyme) and 2 cloves of pressed garlic and spread over pizza dough. Sprinkle with mozzerella, provolone, and fontina and bake.

Tomato sauce, Italian sausage & bell peppers, provolone cheese, a pinch of red pepper flakes.

Tomato sauce, proscuitto & capers, Italian fontina.

Olive oil, diced fresh tomatoes, pressed garlic, and small cubes of fresh mozzerella. Sprinkle with fresh basil, torn into small pieces, after baking.

Whole roasted garlic cloves smashed with olive oil and spread over pizza, cubes of sauteed eggplant, zucchini, and sliced mushrooms, fresh mozzerella.

Pesto sauce, quartered artichoke hearts, diced yellow tomatoes, parmesan cheese.

Thinly sliced, very ripe tomatoes, slivered red onions, very thinly sliced cold smoked salmon and capers (the dough can stand to be cooked for a few minutes before you put the toppings down on this pizza.)

Tomato sauce, crisp-fried bacon, onions, black olives, and mushrooms with mozzerella. Put the mozzerella over everything last so that the bacon doesn't burn in the heat of the oven.

Olive oil, spicy hard salami or sopresetta, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzerella.

Tomato sauce, leftover thinly-sliced grilled chicken breast, diced ripe tomatoes, smoked provolone or mozzerella.

Fresh spinach, sliced mushrooms, and slivered garlic sauteed in olive oil, crumbled feta cheese.

Thinly sliced ripe pears and crumbled bleu cheese. Throw a handful of toasted, chopped walnuts over the top before serving.

Olive oil, slivered red onion, fresh thyme, coarse sea salt, a light sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

My parents' favorite: tomato sauce, sliced pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, and sliced green pimento-stuffed olives. Extra shredded mozzerella cheese. Nothing spicy, please; they are old and delicate.

March 5: Agnolotti with Sausage

2008-03-05T10:49:00.001-08:00

I love Italian sausage in almost any application you can find for it. If you'll go back, you'll see my very first recipe of the new year (right after Hoppin' John for New Year's Eve) was a dish with sausage and peppers over penne, one of my very favorite things.

I like sausage on pizza. I like it on pasta. I like it in sandwiches, in calzone, on the grill. I am willing to consider it in almost any context, with the exception of dessert. Last year, we discovered a roadside stand in Maryland's Amish country that sells freshly-made sweet and hot sausages, both in bulk and hand-stuffed in links. It is so much better than anything you'd find in a store. This same place, I should add, is across the road from Charlotte Hall Market, where you can buy a knockoff Gucci purse and a LED lighted belt buckle that you can (but probably shouldn't) program to say different things, like "My Boo" and "Baby Mama." That's on one side of the market; on the other, the Amish sell live animals, homegrown vegetables, and fresh dairy products. Yes, it is a really weird place, but it's the only place you can get an elephant ear in Maryland in January.

I haven't spent a lot of time at Martha Stewart's website, but now that my best friend is contemplating her baby shower, I am all about the Martha. She has an extensive collection of recipes, and this is one of hers. I'm all for new variations on my theme of sausage, and this sounded good to me. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm on a diet, so this dish with sausage, peas, pasta, cream, and oil probably won't happen any time soon, but if I were making it, I would substitute half of the sweet sausages for hot for a good balance, but follow your own preferences.

This serves six.

Agnolotti With Sausage

1/2 cup (about 1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 pound sweet Italian sausage,, casings removed
Coarse salt, (to taste)
Freshly ground black pepper, (to taste)
1 (10 ounces) frozen petite peas, not defrosted
2 pounds agnolotti, fresh fettuccine, or 1 1/2 pounds dry pasta such as shells, orecchiette, or rotini

In a medium heavy-bottomed skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onions. Cook until onions are soft and have lost their moisture. It may be necessary to adjust the heat so that onions do not brown. Reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to cook so that onions brown slowly, stirring frequently, until dark brown but not burned, about 45 minutes total cooking time. It may be necessary to adjust the heat to prevent them from burning.

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Crumble sausage into skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat until lightly browned. Do not to let the meat dry out. Add cream, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Transfer to a large heat-proof bowl. Break sausage into marble-size pieces, if necessary. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add peas and onions to sausage in bowl. Add agnolotti to boiling water. Place bowl over pot of boiling water to warm through. Cook until al dente, following label directions. Strain pasta, and add to bowl with sausage mixture along with a few tablespoons boiling water. The sauce should not be wet or runny. The agnolotti should be well coated and shiny from the sauce. Transfer to serving dishes, and season with pepper. Serve immediately.