eat with a spoon

barley and celery

2011-12-14T07:39:00.000-05:00

this is my anti-holiday food post.

as 2011 narrows toward the winter solstice, my revolt against holiday hype and excesses is best expressed in this wholesome, comforting recipe: barley and celery cooked in vegetable stock . . .
eaten without fanfare.

simply.

from a bowl.

with a spoon.

ingredients (serves 6 to 8)

• 1 and 1/2 cups of pearled barley

• about 1 and 1/2 tbls. olive oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 6 to 8 tender inner stalks of celery, finely chopped

• 8 cups of vegetable stock

• cleaned celery leaves, chopped

• salt and pepper
• white balsamic vinegar and olive oil to drizzle

directions

1. put the barley into a large skillet and toast it on med.-low until browned. put the toasted barely into a bowl and set aside.
2. pour the olive oil into the skillet, add the onion and the celery and cook until softened. cover the pan with a lid and set the flame to low, allowing the vegetables to soften but not brown.
3. heat the stock until it boils.
4. add the barley to the onions and celery and pour in some of the stock until it fills the skillet about 3/4s of the way. simmer until most of the stock is absorbed.
5. keep adding stock and simmering as in step 4 until all of it is incorporated.
6. once the barley is softened, season it with salt and pepper.
7. serve the barley with some of the celery leaves mixed in, top with a little white balsamic vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil.

Cauliflower Soup with Chive Oil and Crostini

2011-11-08T10:40:00.001-05:00

i spent some time over the weekend testing recipes for thanksgiving. this one not only made it to the menu, it rocketed to the top and will open for dinner. a lush, velvety purée of robust, roasted cauliflower garnished with chive oil and a crunch of crostini will start our meal with an elegant prelude.

blanched chives blended with olive oil paint this soup with a bright green zip

Cauliflower Soup with Chive Oil and Crostini:
Recipe adapted from "Bon Appetit" October 2011 Issue

CHIVE OIL (use unused portion for salad dressing or as a dip for bread)

• 2 oz. fresh chives

• 3/4 cup of olive oil

1. bring a pot of salted water to boil.
2. add the chives and when the water starts to boil again count to 10.
3. remove the chives with tongs to a colander. (save the blanching water for use in stock or as a poaching liquid)
4. squeeze the water from the chives and roughly chop them.
5. put the chives and the olive oil into a blender and process until smooth.
6. strain the oil through a fine sieve. (save the solids to use in salad dressing or to garnish fish or chicken)
7. refrigerate the oil and bring it to room temp. before serving.

SOUP (serves 6 as a starter - make ahead and reheat to serve)

• 1 large head of cauliflower

• olive oil to drizzle

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1/4-1/2 cup milk
• day old bread for crostini
• salt

1. cut the stem off the bottom of the cauliflower.
2. set it into a baking pan and rub with olive oil.
3. pour 1/2 cup water into the bottom of the pan.
4. tent the cauliflower with foil and roast for an hour or so at 375 degrees until a knife inserted into the core meets no resistance. (check the pan every now and then and add more water if needed)
5. coat the bottom of a large sauce pan with olive oil and heat on med-low.
6. add the onion and cook until translucent.
7. add the roasted cauliflower and 4 cups of water. turn up the heat to med. and simmer until the water is heated and the cauliflower is very soft.
8. purée it with a stick blender or in batches in the food processor.
9. cut day-old bread into planks and rub them with olive oil. heat them in the oven at 400 until crispy.
10. put the soup back on the flame. whisk in the milk, season with salt, and heat through.
11. ladle into bowls and drizzle with the chive oil. serve with the warm crostini.

mushrooms, onions, and fresh thyme pizza

2011-10-15T12:39:00.002-04:00

jim lahey's recipe for pizza funghi was inspired by a risotto stewed with the same ingredients– a mario batali creation.

just three toppings and a generous pour of olive oil make this thin-crust pizza a focus of dense mushroom flavor. on the periphery is the compliment of sweet onions, and a hint of thyme.

i praise its simplicity. it deserves slow chewing in order to contemplate the woody, wholesome funghi made buttery with olive oil, lively with onions, and green with thyme. my jim asked for a few shakes of parmesan to top his slice . . . i like it just as it is, right from the oven served with a crisp toss of salad and a glass of white wine.

jim lahey's recipe for pizza funghi
pizza dough ingredients (makes two 13"x18" crusts)

• 3 3/4 cups bread flour

• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 teaspoon sugar

• 1 1/3 cups water at room temperature

• olive oil

how to prepare the dough

1. in a mixing bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients. add the water and mix with a wooden spoon until well blended.

2. cover the bowl w/plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled, about 2 hours or so.

3. dust the counter with a little flour and divide the dough in half. cover one piece of dough with the plastic wrap and let it rest about 20-30 min. freeze or refrigerate the other piece of dough for later, or use it to make a different kind of pizza.

4. rub olive oil on a 13"x18" baking sheets. rub your hands with olive oil and spread the dough (floured side up) onto the baking sheet. press and push until the dough is spread out to the edges of the pan. it will be quite thin. close any holes by pinching the dough together with your fingers.

TOPPING:

• 1 1/4 lb. cremini mushrooms, wiped clean with a cloth and thinly sliced

• 1 1/3 cups diced yellow onion

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, minced

• 1 tsp. salt

• 2 1/2 tbls. extra virgin olive oil

directions

1. preheat the oven to 500 degrees, and put a rack in the center.
2. toss the mushrooms, onions, and thyme together in a mixing bowl.
3. spread the toppings evenly over the prepared dough all the way out to the edges.
4. sprinkle the pizza with sea salt and drizzle it with olive oil.
5. bake for 20-25 min. until the crust edges are crisp and browned, and pulling up from the pan.

vegetarian french onion soup

2011-09-20T17:11:00.001-04:00

a bowl of french onion soup
defined a new food absolute for me.

in possession of my first passport and barely of driving age, i remember not caring that i had just scorched my tongue with a simple, slow brew of onions in butter, broth, and wine. i could taste every ingredient, yet their combination was made congruent through the preparation process, relating to my senses in an altogether notable way. topped with baguette slices and gruyére cheese, after that first taste of french onion soup: food added up to an art form. by the time i uncovered the bottom of the bowl, my interest in cooking had also raised exponentially. this, i had to learn to make.

every time i eat a facile french onion soup, i am reminded of why i prefer to eat with a spoon.

in julia child's words, "the french are seldom interested in unusual combinations or surpise presentations . . . the frenchman takes his greatest pleasure from a well-known dish impeccably cooked . . . each of the several steps in the process, though simple to accomplish, plays a critical role."

this recipe is from "mastering the art of french cooking," by julia child

- adapted for vegetarians

ingredients (serves 6-8)
• 1 and 1/2 lbs. yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 3 tbls. unsalted butter
• 1 tbl. oil (i use high heat safflower oil)
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 2 quarts of boiling veg. stock
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 tbls. cognac
• thinly sliced stale baguette, toasted (4-5 spices per bowl)
• 2 cups of grated gryuére cheese

directions

1. melt the butter with the oil in a 4 quart sauce pot on low. add the sliced onions, cover the pot, and cook slowly for 15 min. until the onions turn translucent and soften.
2. uncover the pot, raise the heat to med., and add the salt and sugar. cook for 30-40 min. stirring frequently, until the onions have turned an even, deep, golden brown.
3. off the heat, stir in the boiling stock and the white wine. return the pot to the heat, and simmer partially covered for 30 to 40 min. more.
4. preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
5. turn off the soup to stir in the cognac. adjust the seasoning.
6. ladle the soup into oven-proof bowls. stir in a little of the grated gruyére, float the toasted baguette slices on top, and layer on more cheese.
7. set the bowls on a large cookie sheet and put them into the preheated oven for about 20 min. until the soup is bubbling and the top is lightly browned.

white asparagus with red bell pepper coulis

2011-09-13T16:19:00.001-04:00

serve something a little different that's still appetizing, not odd.

i am not a fan of aspic or mushroom foam. sure, unusual ingredients are intriguing. but even so, give them to me in a dish that's recognizable as food, artfully arranged or simply ladled into a bowl.

white asparagus is grown covered over in mounds of dirt and harvested before any chlorophyll forms in the plants. void of green color, it has a milder, less-green taste than the more common variety. remove the bitter peeling of the colorless stem to reveal an iridescent, pearly, delicate stalk . . . and present a dish that might be unexpected, but isn't peculiar tasting.

ingredients

• white asparagus (6 or 7 stalks per serving)

• vegetable stock

• 1 bay leaf per serving

• roughly chopped pistachios

• leeks- 1 per serving, sliced thin
• olive oil

• sea salt

• red bell pepper coulis (click here for the recipe)

directions

1. wash the asparagus and snap of the bottom of the stems. lay them on the cutting board and peel the stalks with a vegetable peeler.

2. put the asparagus into a skillet. add enough veg. stock to almost cover. sprinkle with a little salt, and add the bay leaves.

3. simmer for about 8 min. just until tender, but not too soft.

4. drain the cooked asparagus (save the liquid for soup) and retain the bay leaves for serving.

5. wipe out the skillet and coat the bottom with several tbls. olive oil. heat on med-low until shimmering. add the sliced leeks, season with salt, and cook until soft.

6. put the cooked leeks into a small bowl and wipe out the skillet.

7. using the same skillet, make the red bell pepper coulis.

9. spoon some coulis onto a plate and lay 6 or 7 stalks of cooked asparagus on top. add some of the cooked leeks and chopped pistachios.

10. drizzle the plate with olive oil. garnish with the cooked bay leaves.

mango, orange and rum punch

2011-08-12T07:59:00.005-04:00

bewitching

jim and i fell under the spell of fruit and rum drinks on a vacation in puerto rico where we rented a little beach place with a galley kitchen and a blender. the hex started to take hold on our first trip to the small-town grocery store in aguadilla, luring us down an aisle stocked entirely with rum. at the end were big refrigerated cases of ice that sparked ideas for chilly concoctions to whip up with fruit.

in the evenings, after the sun and surf, we played cards in the shade of our porch, and we watched the far off ships that cruised to and from san juan. as we sipped our fiendish, frosty potations, the breezes blew through and sent the smoke from the grill down the beach to a chihuahua named, carolyn. after a little while, she would scamper up the steps for table scraps and belly rubs, casting her own canine spell over our hearts.

we brought back the incantation for our rum elixirs, and now we blend them at home when the heat index rises. this particular recipe is wickedly good so be careful . . . it's been known to make the drinker tongue-tied.

ingredients (makes a syrup for 6-8 drinks)

• 1 ripe mango

• 2 oranges

• 2 lemons
• pineapple rum

• dark rum

• lemon perrier

• drambuie

directions

1. halve the mango lengthwise by cutting it away from the seed. scoop the flesh away from the skin and put it into the blender.

2. halve the oranges and lemons and squeeze the juice into the blender.

3. to make the syrup, blend the mangos, orange and lemon juices to a thick purée.

4. pour three ounces of the syrup into a a shaker. add 1 oz. of dark rum, 1 oz. of pineapple rum, 1/2 oz. of drambuie, and 1/2 cup of crushed ice. shake until the ice is almost melted.

5. pour the drink into a glass of crushed ice, and top with lemon perrier. stir . . . sip, slowly.

spaghetti tossed with ground almonds, anchovies, and capers

2011-07-23T09:12:00.001-04:00

tired of the same few pasta sauces: red/pesto/alfredo?

i know i am. so, when asked to make pasta for a cookout recently, i went looking for a how-to-wow novel combo of ingredients. i found the idea for this tasty toss in the may '11 issue of food and wine magazine. a recipe for bottarga and spaghetti with almond bread crumbs and capers kindled my taste buds . . . but opting to cut some of the starchy calories and fat, i eliminated bread crumbs (two starches in 1 dish is too many!) and butter. i swapped just-cut basil for parsley, switched out hard-to-find bottarga with anchovies/mashed them with capers, and sautéed the mixed paste in olive oil.

the result? a pairing with the everloving italian noodle as good as pesto and as easy as a few ingredients pulled down from the pantry shelf. i served it with a spoon to twirl the spaghetti so none of us would miss a morsel.

if you have a jar of capers, a can of anchovies
and some raw almonds, that's all you need for a
change-of-pace pasta toss.

want to learn to make pasta at home? click here

ingredients (serves 8)

• 1 lb. of cooked spaghetti
• 1/2 cup capers
• 5 anchovy fillets
• 1 cup sliced, raw almonds
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced basil
• about 1 tsp. paprika

directions

1. soak the capers in cold water for 1 hour.
2. soak the anchovy fillets in a little milk for 1/2 hour.
3. lightly toast the almonds in a dry skillet on a med. heat. careful not to burn them. allow them to cool.
4. finely grind the cooled, toasted almonds in a food processor.
5. drain and roughly chop the capers and anchovies. then mash them into a paste with a mortar and pestle.
6. put 1/2 cup of the olive oil into a med. skillet with the caper/anchovy paste, and the paprika. set the flame to med. and cook until sizzling– 5 min. or so. turn off the flame and allow the pan to cool to room temperature.
7. put the cooked spaghetti in a large bowl. drizzle on 1/4 cup of olive oil, and toss the pasta with the finely ground almonds. toss again with the cooked capers and anchovies. and, finally the minced basil.
8. taste for saltiness/add a little if needed.

pass the wine, some thugs just broke in . . .

2011-07-04T10:08:00.001-04:00

if you write a blog about cooking and food,
then what do you do when you suddenly find
yourself without an appetite?

when something serious happens my appetite vanishes, all desire to eat stolen right out of my mouth. that's what happened this past week when some ballsy-bad-guys kicked in our doors just 15 min. after i left for work. luckily i had lucy and prudence with me. luckily the hoodlums fled when our alarm system sounded . . . but not before temporarily robbing me of my pleasure to eat.

i still find it hard to use the doors that they "entered" through . . . my sense of security splintered after seeing deadbolts and strike plates torn from our fractured door frames. one of those doors leads into the pantry that i usually go to care-freely for the spices, grains, beans, oils and vinegars i need to cook my dishes. it's where my side-by-side lives and sometimes erroneously ejects a piece of ice out the dispenser, leaving a little puddle of cold water on the tile floor. jim's beer fridge is in there too, with a photo of us on our honeymoon sitting on top.

after the officers searched our house with their guns drawn, jim asked them to leave open the closets so when i got home i could see that no one was inside. i checked every single one. twice. but it didn't make me want to eat. and neither did the vase of daisies i cut that morning that were meant to welcome us to the dinner table. there was no dinner. instead there was wine and bourbon. and one more wine for me. still there was no sleeping that night.

my trepidation was irrational . . . i knew they weren't coming back. and i know my appetite will. and so too my cheery steps from the kitchen to the pantry and back again. my nerves have begun to calm. just today i reached for my big skillet, my whisk, my fav. chef's knife. my chopping brought the chihuahuas dancing in for a nibble of carrot. our nightly dinners will resume routinely this week. and my next blog post will be about a happy meal with spoonfuls of my familiar, voracious appetite.

chicken stuffed with pistachios and rice, served with a shiitake mushroom reduction

2011-06-19T10:08:00.001-04:00

you have your favorite recipes and cookbooks, and so do i.

the ones we use to make the dishes that taste so good, and make the people we are feeding so happy.

the ones that prompt a request for seconds.

the ones that don't leave any leftovers.

it's also rewarding to concoct an mmm-dish by imagining the combination of tastes and textures in ingredients already on hand. that's the way this one came about: i elaborated on mundane chicken and rice by adding whimsical green, ground pistachios and lush, umami shiitake mushrooms. it's relatively easy and quick if you have leftover rice. just allow time to marinate the chicken and reconstitute dried shiitakes. jim liked this recipe so much, he asked for more, and then he asked me to add it to our favorites list.

ingredients (serves 6)

• 4 large boneless chicken breast halves
• 16-20 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup and 1/2 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 cup of white wine
• 3-4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 5-6 tbls. olive oil
• 3-4 cups of cooked brown rice (i used brown basmati)
• 1 cup of ground pistachios
• kosher salt and cracked pepper

directions

1. mix the wine, garlic and olive oil in a med. glass bowl. add the chicken breasts and coat them well. cover the bowl and marinate the chicken for an hour or so in the refrigerator.
2. reconstitute the mushrooms in 1 and 1/2 cups of veg. stock for 1/2 hour.
3 grind the pistachios in the food processor or finely chop them with a knife. toss the pistachios with the cooked rice and taste for seasoning with salt and pepper.
4. preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
5. remove the chicken breasts to the cutting board. set the marinade aside. make a lengthwise cut down the thickest side of each chicken breast, keep the opposite side attached. fill them with the pistachio/rice mixture. secure the open sides with toothpicks, and cut off the part sticking up. sprinkle them w/salt & cracked pepper.
6. heat a little olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet to shimmering. brown the chicken for a few min. on each side & then pour the leftover marinade into the skillet (add some broth or water so there is about 1/2 inch of liquid in the pan. put the pan into the oven. reduce the heat to 425 degrees (make sure the liquid is always bubbling a little) and cook about 10-15 min until it is no longer pink.
7. set the chicken on a plate to rest. put the skillet back onto the stove and set the burner to med. high. pour all of the veg. broth with the shiitakes into the pan. use a whisk to stir and simmer to reduce down a little, about 5 to 10 min. remove the shiitakes to the cutting board using tongs. strain the reduction through a sieve.
8. remove the toothpicks and cut the chicken across the grain. slice some of the mushrooms and leave some whole. plate the chicken with the prettiest cuts upward. top with the mushrooms and a spoonful of the reduction.

caesar salad pizza

2011-06-08T15:32:00.026-04:00

as far as salads go,
caesar seems like it should be a pizza.

those colossal croutons that go ricocheting off the plate if you try to cut one down to bite-size, are better made as a pizza base for tossed greens.

and i think parmesan is classic for salad and pizza.

no need to add salt:
anchovies are salt enough for a caesar salad dressing.

to easily prepare romaine lettuce:

cut off the root-end of the head of romaine.

stack three leaves and make a long cut down the center.

stack the halved leaves and cut across them.

repeat until all of the leaves are cut. then clean in a salad spinner.

ingredients (serves 4)

• pizza dough for two 10" pies (click here for one of my fav. recipes from mario batali)

• olive oil for drizzling

• 4-6 heaping handfuls of grated parmesan cheese

• 3 small heads of romaine lettuce, cut into ribbons and cleaned

(see above for easy cutting)

• 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped

• 2 shallots, roughly chopped

• 2 eggs

• 4 large cloves of roasted garlic (click to learn how to roast garlic)

• 2 tbls. lemon juice

• 1 small tin of anchovies, drained and roughly chopped

• cracked pepper

directions

1. make the pizza dough well in advance so it has time to rise.

2. coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and heat on med. until shimmering.

3. add the chopped bell pepper and shallots to the skillet and cover with a lid. reduce to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are soft.

4. purée the peppers and onion in the blender.

5. set a small pot of water on the stove to boil and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

6. roll or toss the pizzas to about 10" in diameter. set one of them on a pizza peel sprinkled with corn meal.

7. pierce the wide end of the eggs with a needle (tapping it with the handle of a spatula makes a clean hole).

8. put the eggs on a large slotted spoon and lower them into the boiling water. boil for 90 seconds.

9. remove the eggs to a bowl and allow them to cool a bit.

10. when the oven is to temp. drizzle the pizza dough with olive oil and spread 1/2 of the cheese on top. slide it into the oven and bake about 10 min. until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the crust is golden brown.

11. while the pizzas are baking, smash the roasted garlic in the bottom of a med. glass mixing bowl. break the eggs and add to the bowl with the garlic. be sure to spoon out any egg whites left in the shells.

12. slowly whisk in the lemon juice, and then the olive oil. then add a few tbls. of the bell pepper purée and the chopped anchovies.

13. put the lettuce into a large bowl and pour on some of the dressing. toss to coat and add more until it is well coated but not dripping.

14. pull the pizzas from the oven and set them on the cutting board for a few minuetes to cool. top with the tossed salad and a generous amount of cracked pepper. cut each pizza into four slices. serve with a bowl of the red bell pepper sauce for dipping.

bourbon and honey grilled pork skewers

2011-05-23T16:28:00.007-04:00

jim, "pork".

me, "ok, you wore me down".

for decades i've been cooking up a big fret over jim's cholesterol, his ldl and hdl. his triglycerides, his weight, and his body fat percentage. and i've done a pretty good job at keeping him in the healthy range with what i serve and don't serve him to eat. so i now admit to allowing a little pork onto his plate where there once was none . . . or none that i knew of anyway.

for his part, jim doesn't ask for meat and pork too often, the years of healthy-eating "suggestions" having left their impression. over the weekend when he did make a request for pork chops, i wanted his dinner to be memorable since swine rarely makes to our table. i chose to marinate and then pair skewered chops with some of jim's favorite aromas and flavors: the husky-whisper of evaporated alcohol from bourbon with a creamy-sweet blend of olive oil and honey / the soft smoke of roasted garlic, and a hint of thyme . . . he's still smiling, and i'm not all that worried about this one, uncommon indulgence.

ingredients (serves 6)

• 2/3 cup of olive oil
• 1/3 cup of bourbon
• 3-4 tbl. honey
• 14 to 16 garlic cloves, peeled with the little stems cut off

• 2 tsp. or so of ground thyme, plus fresh thyme sprigs

• 1 doz. bay leaves

• 18 oz. of pork chops, cut into 2" triangles

• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

directions

1. in a med. mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil bourbon and honey until the honey is disolved.
2. add the garlic cloves, ground thyme, and bay leaves. mix well.
3. add the pork and sprinkle with salt and pepper. toss to coat well with the marinade.
4. cover and refrigerate for 8-10 hours.
5. light a fire in the grill.
6. skewer the pork with a garlic clove and bay leaf between each piece.
7. pour the left over marinade into a sauce pan with some of the garlic cloves, and a few fresh thyme sprigs.
8. while the pork is grilling, reduce the marinade on a simmer until it is thickened. strain the sauce through a sieve, and drizzle it over the skewers to serve.
----------------

suggestions

eliminate the pork and make just the reduction to serve as a dipping sauce or drizzle for
• rustic bread smeared with the cooked garlic cloves and goat cheese
• grilled vegetables
• jumbo shrimp

red lentil dal

2011-05-16T17:10:00.005-04:00

-------
un-clutter. simplify. exhale.
relax with a bowl of nourishing lentil dal.
-------

i am going through a stage.

it's a purge-my-cupboards-counters-closets-stage.
it started the day i opened a cabinet and found two pairs of shoes in the original boxes that i had never worn, and couldn't remember buying.
i gasped.
how wasteful.
how indulgent.
especially since my usual clodhoppers are either flip-flops, kitchen clogs, or running shoes.
-------
later i was dusting some tchotchkes that were void of any meaning.
just some gewgaws . . . and i thought, "what's the point of a memory-free doodad? it's rather like junk."
-------
that very day, i started carting off boxes and loads of stuff
to donate. give-away. toss.
big sigh of relief.
-------
for dinner that night i made a comforting lentil dal that i have made so many times the rose elliot cookbook flops open to the right page. lentil dal is satisfying but not fussy. lots of times i serve it as a sauce, but on my cathartic night of un-hoarding, i served a bowl with brown basmati rice and roasted cauliflower. for added ease, jim and i each ate with a spoon.

red lentils aren't so much red as they are orange. they fade to a deep yellow after stewing into a gilded dal with the texture of raw silk.

this recipe is from my favorite vegetarian cookbook:

the complete vegetarian cuisine by rose elliot.

ingredients

• 1 cup red lentils, soaked for 1 hour
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 large galic clove, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 whole green chili
• 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 2 tsps. each of ground cumin and coriander
• kosher salt
• 1/4 coconut milk / or substitute greek yogurt
• 1 tbl. lemon juice

directions

1. pour the soaking water off of the lentils, and cover them with cold water about 1/2 inch above them. add the onion, garlic, bay leaf, whole chili, ginger and turmeric.
2. cook gently for about 1/2 hour or so, until the lentils are soft. add water if needed to prevent the lentils from sticking. the final mixture should be somewhat smooth, like a purée, but not runny.
3. stir in the cumin, coriander and salt to taste. half-cover the pot and allow it to stand for 30 min. to allow the flavors to blend.
4. discard the bay leaf and chili. add the coconut cream or yogurt.
5. reheat gently before serving.

country bread

2011-05-03T17:24:00.003-04:00

crackling country sister loaves

when these two batards crackled out of my oven they reminded me of my sister, marilyn, and me standing side-by-side in her kitchen over a pillowy-soft ooze of dough. i've been teaching her to make bread over the last 6 or 7 months.
. . . after 2 visits
• photos
• blog posts
• emails
• and back&forth sister chats
• the result is the hand-over of my techniques to her, and a happy-homemade-bread-eating-khadr family.

kona sits in the kitchen with me every morning when i get up at my sister's to make the coffee and the bread. i think the khadrs should name the guest room the "patricia marie room" so that no one else gets too comfy in there.

on a recent visit to the bay, marilyn gave me the inspirational bread book from the legendary tartine bakery in san francisco, where chad robertson sells out of his bread everyday within one hour of opening. with chad's encouraging words, i adapted his basic country bread by mixing in my own experiences and techniques.

the crafting of my sister loaves
(i always make two to share with friends and family)
is the latest in my ongoing need to make bread.

this patty-cake starter is almost 2 years old.
it smells like an over-ripe pear. it's milky, sweet and airy.
i use it to make a leaven for my sister loaves based on the basic country bread recipe from tartine bakery.

kentucky derby bourbon punch

2011-04-18T19:11:00.005-04:00

touchdown in springtime-kentucky and you are served a meter of pure poetic lore.

it's blossoms of dogwood and red bud trees.

it's mares and their colts behind wooden fences.

and horse races where ladies wear hats.

a bluegrass spring guarantees a genteel invitation to a garden party on a veranda where guests eat benedictine sandwiches, and drink kentucky's champagne from bourbon country.

last sunday, jim and i helped with just such a party . . . a shower for dear friends. the invitation said it would be from two o'clock until four . . . it lasted until five . . . that happens a lot in ky in the spring.

my part was to fill the punch bowl. so i consulted my resident mix-master-husband who sent me to the pages of our mr. boston official bartender's and party guide for ideas. i fanned through the first section of recipes which is all about bourbon, and a call-to-post-jingle went off in my head: afternoon garden party, kentucky in springtime, bourbon it should be.

again i sought advise from jim who is a devotee of bourbon (he can likely name a brand and its proof in a blind taste test). as creative director for the same mr. boston guide i held in my hands, the project came to jim from chris morris who is now the master distiller and resident historian for brown-forman. chris taught jim about bourbon's mix of grain mash, about charred oak barrels, clocking in the warehouse, and about the angels' share that evaporates during the aging process. i have listened to the two of them talk for hours about bourbon, scotch, and the different kinds of whiskey . . . with and without an "e".

this recipe is based on the mr. boston guide's "kentucky punch". we cut way back on the sweet ingredients and poured in club soda with a few jiggers of maraschino cherry juice instead. we call it kentucky derby bourbon punch and you can sip one in the morning before going to the track / or drink it in the afternoon to apply balm to the burn of a ticket that didn't cash / or make a toast in the evening to the setting sun from a terrace of mossy bricks.

ingredients (32 servings . . . might want to make a double batch on a hot afternoon)

• one 12oz. can of frozen orange juice concentrate , thawed and undiluted
• one 12oz. can of frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed and undiluted
• one liter of bourbon
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup of lemon juice
• 1/4 cup of maraschino cherry juice
• 2 liters of club soda
• lemon slices and maraschino cherries, halved

directions

1. in a large pitcher, mix the orange juice and lemonade concentrates with the bourbon, lemon juice, and the cherry juice . . . this is your base.
2. if mixing in individual glasses:
fill a high ball glass with cubed ice, fill 3/4 of the way with the base. top it off with club soda. add a cocktail straw and stir. garnish with a lemon wedge and a maraschino cherry half.
3. if mixing in a punch bowl:

pour the entire contents of the base into a punch bowl, add 1 and 1/2 liters of the club soda and the lemon slices and marashino cherry halves. taste and add club soda if needed . . . or bourbon.

indian savory tarts: cauliflower and spinach / lamb and celeriac

2011-04-04T14:54:00.007-04:00

the inspiration for these indian style tarts came from an acute hankering for samosas. i adapted this less-heavy, no-fry version with paule caillat's no-chill-no-fuss french pastry recipe . . . seriously, it's easy as pie.

in the vegetarian indian tart i combined roasted cauliflower with fresh spinach and sautéd leeks. i served it with silky, coconut lentil dahl (recipe) and an uptown dollop of chutney on top (recipe).

the meat-lovers indian tart is fused with cardamom and saffron. i served it with an orange bell pepper coulis (recipe), and topped it same as above, with a baroque spoonful of chutney.

i almost always make 2 versions of an entree for a dinner party:
1 veggie-lovers / 1 carnivore or fish-lovers. i put the same love and attention toward each one so that way everyone's tastes are satisfied.

filling ingredients (each tart serves 4 as an entrée / 8 as a first course)

–make the filling ingredients several days ahead and refrigerate / bring up to room-temp. before filling the pre-baked tart shells

• 1/2 head of cauliflower, florets sliced to 1/4" thick
• 3-4 handfuls of baby spinach, finely chopped
• 6 med. leeks, thinly sliced (white part only)
• 1/2 celeriac bulb, thinly cut 1/2 rectangles
• 1/2 lb. ground lamb
• 6 large cloves of garlic, minced
• safflower oil to drizzle
• peanut oil to sauté
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. coriander
• 1 and 1/2 cumin
• 1/2 tsp. garam masala (optional)
• 3 tbls. grated ginger
• 8 cardamom pods
• pinch of saffron soaked in 1 tbls. hot water for 15 min.
directions

1. heat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. spread the sliced cauliflower onto a large rimmed baking sheet. drizzle with safflower oil, and turn them with your hands to coat them. sprinkle with salt and pepper. roast for about 20 min. or so until the edges begin to blacken.

3. sprinkle the roasted cauliflower with 1 tbls. grated ginger, 1/2 tsp. each of cumin and coriander, and the garam masala if you are adding it. allow it to cool completely.

4. wash and spin dry the spinach. finely chop and store in a zip-lock bag.

5. coat a large skillet with peanut oil and heat over a med-low flame. add 1/2 of the sliced leeks, 1/2 of the minced garlic. season with salt and pepper, and sauté until soft, careful not to brown. cool this mixture and store in its own container (this leek/garlic mixture is for the veg. tart)

6. in the same skillet, add the celeriac and enough cold water to almost cover. heat until it starts to bubble. cover and reduce to a simmer. cook until the celeriac is el dente.

7. drain and cool the celeriac in a colander.

8. wipe out the same skillet, and heat a little more peanut oil on med. add the ground lamb, the other 1/2 of the sliced leeks and minced garlic, 1 tsp. each of cumin and coriander, 2 tbls. grated ginger, cardamom pods, the saffron and soaking liquid, and salt and pepper.

9. cook the lamb mixture, stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink. after the meat has cooled, remove the cardamom pods.

10. allow all of the ingredients to cool completely, and store them in individual containers in the refrigerator.

day of serving:

1. bring the pre-cooked filling ingredients above up to room temperature.

2. make 2 pre-baked french pastry tart shells - paule caillat's french pastry recipe on david lebovitz's blog

3. in a large mixing bowl, whisk together:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of 2% milk
• 1 cup of plain greek yogurt
• 3-4 handfuls of finely crumbled feta cheese
• 4 eggs
• kosher salt and cracked pepper

- for the vegetarian cauliflower and spinach indian tart:

4. line one pre-baked pastry tart shell with slices of the roasted cauliflower.
5. layer over the cauliflower with the raw chopped spinach and cooked leeks and garlic.
6. pour 1/2 of the milk, yogurt, cheese and egg mixture into the veg. tart until it almost comes to the top.

- for the lamb and celeriac indian tart:

7. line the bottom of the 2nd pre-baked tart shell with the cooked lamb mixture.

8. make a layer of the cooked celeriac and ginger over the lamb.

9. pour the other 1/2 of the milk mixture into the lamb tart.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10. dust the tops of both tarts with paprika.

11. bake the tarts for 20-30 min. at 410 degrees until browned and bubbling.

12. remove from the oven. allow the tarts to set for 10-15 min. or so before removing from the tart pans to serve.

shallots in red wine sauce

2011-03-29T16:07:00.005-04:00

glam rock a weeknight dinner
with rubies from the onion family

what to do with chicken? it's the ho-hum question i asked myself the 1st night of the work week. so i mined my own bins, shelves, and refrigerator and dug up these polished, paper-skinned onions . . . thinking: "oh, these show promise." then i bulldozed through a WS cookbook to root out a recipe for glistening whole shallot bulbs in a dripping red wine sauce.

in this recipe i saw a prized chicken adornment that would jack-up monday's dinner to saturday night status. it did.
it deserved the china.
the linen napkins.
the dave-brubeck-tickled-ivories.
the stimulating conversation.
we should have worn fancy clothes, fancy jewelry . . . maybe a hat. jim did pull out my chair, and made a toast, "here's to saturday night dining on monday night".

separate the shallot cloves into largest, large, medium, and small . . . you'll want to add them to the pot in that order so they cook evenly in the reduction.

this recipe is from the williams-sonoma vegetable cookbook, but i substituted some of the butter with olive oil and added a bay leaf. serve it with grilled steak, salmon, or chicken.
ingredients (4 servings)

• olive oil

• 2 tbls. butter

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 lb. shallots, bottoms cut off, and peeled

• 2 cups dry red wine

• 1 cup vegetable stock

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

• 1/2 tsp. sugar

• 1 tsp. tarragon or thyme

• salt & pepper

directions

1. coat the bottom of a med. sauce pan with olive oil, and the butter. heat on med-low until it foams. add the bay leaf.

2. add the largest shallots first and stir to coat. cook for a few minutes until the outer layer starts to soften. add the next largest shallots and repeat, and so on and so on.

3. once all of the shallots have been added, sprinkle them with tarragon or thyme, salt and pepper. cook for another 5 min. or so until the smallest shallots are starting to soften.

4. add the wine, the stock, the vinegar, the sugar, and raise the heat to bring the pot to a boil.

5. reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered until the shallots are almost translucent, 10-15 min. stir occasionally . . . the liquid should be thick and syrupy, but not too dark or dry.

6. taste and adjust the seasoning before serving.

steelhead trout with a mango, white wine sauce

2011-03-17T16:33:00.016-04:00

fish is good fuel for a few fast miles on foot

recently, i elongated my running route by 3, 4, and sometimes 5 extra miles. i also added a few goat-grade inclines to challenge myself farther. no reason really . . . i'm not training for anything, i just feel good. and running is a reason to get outside regardless of the weather. gear makes that possible. besides, not even a deluge can damper my i'm-going-running-made-up mind.

i need extra energy to be able to endure the extended distances. so i put fish on our menu several times a week for its lean, light protein. this recipe was spawned from one ripe mango i plucked from the fruit section of the market to pair with steelhead trout. the compact, sunny, mango flesh purées into an incandescent sauce, glazing the fillets in an exotic taste of the tropics. mango tastes of mellowed sugar with a slight acidity . . . it's light enough to flatter the fish without masking it. serve it with a spoonful of whole grains, some leafy greens, and you're off and running.

mangos have a large, soft seed in the center, so use a paring knife to cut the flesh away from it.

purée the mango in a blender and then use it along with lemon juice to marinate steelhead trout fillets

ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 steelhead trout fillets, 6 oz. each
• 1 mango, peeled and roughly chopped
• juice of 2 lemons
• handful of minced chives
• a few shots of white wine
• kosher salt
• pinch of paprika
• 1-2 tbls. high-heat safflower oil

directions

1. put the chopped mango into a blender and process until smooth.
2. pour a little of the puréed mango onto a clean plate.
3. rinse the fish and pat dry. set the fillets on the plate, over the mango purée, and give each one a squeeze of lemon juice.
4. pour the rest of the puréed mango over the fish and dust them with kosher salt and paprika.
5. preheat the oven to 400 degrees while the fish marinates . . . for about 20 min.
6. rub a little safflower oil onto the surface of an oven safe skillet or pan. shake off most of the marinade from the fish and save it. set the fillets in the oiled skillet. bake the trout for about 12 min. until it just turns opaque.
7. while the fish is cooking, pour the reserved mango marinade from the plate into a sauce pan, add the minced chives, and whisk in the white wine.
8. bring the sauce to a simmer on med.-high, and let it cook until it thickens. stir occasionally.
9. plate the fish, spoon on a little of the sauce, and top with a few blades of chives.

plantain chips with fast and easy guacamole

2011-03-08T12:00:00.010-05:00

at mojitos restaurant, just up the street from where we live, they serve a famed appetizer of plantain chips with guacamole. it's that kind of starter that makes the whole table happy . . . people dipping in and testifying their satisfaction with guttural sounds instead of words. last time we shared a plate with friends at the peppy cantina, i felt the rise of a challenge to make them in my own kitchen.
these chips nosh up no hint of sweetness like with bananas because green plantains are more dense and starchy. surprisingly easy to make with a mandoline slicer, plantain chips are light and crisp but strong enough to use as a spoon for the cool, buttery guacamole. you can make them ahead and then re-toast them in the oven to present your own perky-party at home.

use a mandoline slicer to cut thin plantain strips that fry into light chips for dipping.

plantain chips (serves 6 as an appetizer)

• 4 green plantains
• high heat safflower oil
• sea salt

directions

1. set several sheets of paper towels onto the counter.
2. cut the ends off of the plantains and score the skins several times down the vertical sides. peel the skins off.
3. set the mandoline slicer to the thinnest setting or 1/32 of an inch. slice the plantains the long way using the safety guide.
4. heat about 1 inch or so of safflower oil in the bottom of a large heavy pot to just under 400 degrees (i used a 5-quart cast iron dutch oven).

5. put 5 or 6 slices of plantains into the hot oil and let them sizzle until they turn rigid– about 10 to 15 seconds. using tongs turn them and be careful not to let turn dark brown, but a few of the ends may turn a hint of brown.

6. remove the fried plantain chips to the paper towels, and repeat until all of them are cooked.

7. sprinkle the plantain chips with a little sea salt.

8. before serving, put the plantain chips in oven proof bake ware and heat them in the oven at 375 degrees, turning them a few times so that all of the chips are heated through.

9. serve with guacamole, hummus or chutney and goat cheese.

fast and easy guacamole

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, roughly chopped
• 2 radishes, minced
• lemon juice
• pinch of coriander
• pinch or two of smoked chipotle chili powder
• salt

directions

put all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and smash/stir together with a potato masher or a large fork.

hummus

2011-02-24T14:29:00.013-05:00

in the early part of the 2000s my sister, marilyn and i often thought our phone calls were being tapped. click-click. pulse. beep. "what was that?" one of us would say, "i hope the sneaky-wire-tapping-agency-gmen find our conversation about pasta and pesto intriguing. you see, the meat of all of our lengthy phone conversations usually stirs its way around to cooking and food.

our eavesdropping suspicions were tipped by the scrutiny squared at her husband, karim, when he was traveling for his job. sometimes he was detained for questioning, inspected and reinspected. other times he was just given the "eye". he was being surveyed because of his name, because he was born in egypt, and because he grew up in kuwait. we didn't like the thought of our benign sister-chats being listened to, and we were incensed that our husband / brother-in-law was being profiled. hell hath no fury like a defensive marguet sister.

karim is most certainly like a brother to me now. he is an ibm=international businessman. smart, funny, musically inclined. he's a dutiful husband/father/brother/uncle. and the man is a devotee of good food, wine . . . and chocolate. he and marilyn were introduced at college, and we all took a trip together the summer jim and i met–laughing, drinking and eating our way through the french quarter. this resulted in a call to jim's boss to ask for another couple of days off. i saw my first stripper that trip . . . probably my last one come to think of it. and the four of us formed a bond that was captured in a black and white photo at our cajun dinner table. jim and i enlarged it and hand tinted it as a gift to them. every time i visit now, i make sure to look back in time at that shot.

In the 80's when karim became part of the family, i had never heard of some of his favorite middle-eastern foods: koftas, baba ghanoush, and hummus. but he and marilyn taught me to make those dishes, and a few others from his childhood visits with relatives to greece and belgium. hummus became my favorite of the ones they taught me. it always makes me think about a young karim eating it sea side, in a place so far away . . . and yet he ended up as my brother, dividing the globe and our cultures in half.

i modified a traditional hummus recipe, substituting some of the olive oil with greek yogurt so i can eat it by the spoonful without thinking about my fat intake. i use a mixture of chick peas, black eyed peas, and pintos with sautéed garlic in place of raw because jim prefers it cooked. enjoy it with pita bread, raw vegetables, or as the spread for a sandwich.

ingredients
• mix cooked or canned chick peas, black eyed peas, and pintos and measure out 2 cups
• 1/8 tsp. paprika
• olive oil
• 3-4 gloves of crushed garlic
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/3 cup greek yogurt
• water to thin
• salt and pepper
directions
1. lightly coat the bottom of a sauté pan with olive oil and heat on med-low until shimmering.
2. add the smashed garlic to the pan and cook it until it starts to soften, but doesn't brown.
3. add the beans and the paprika to the pan and cook so that the beans can start to absorb the flavors of the garlic and paprika- about 7-10 min.
4. process the cooked garlic and beans mixture in the bowl of the food processor along with the tahini, yogurt, and salt and pepper to make a smooth paste.
5. add a little water if it needs to be thinned for use as a dip or to spread on bread.
6. put the hummus into a bowl and drizzle a little olive oil over it to serve.

spanakopita / greek spinach pastry

2011-02-10T17:33:00.004-05:00

making dishes with sheets of phyllo is like origami, but with food.

roll it - fold it - line muffin pans with it.

and then bake it into a burnished, crispy, wispy, weightless shell for a sweet or savory filling.

i won't lie to you, working with phyllo pastry is a little maddening . . . the sheets are so thin they're practically transparent. and, they get brittle and crack at the slightest exposure to air. but if you coat them with olive oil or butter it makes them pliable, and keeps them from drying out– and then it's easy to shape them into a roll, a triangle, or layer them like lasagna.

every year when it's spinach season i make spanikopita, or greek spinach pastry. sometimes i stuff and fold the phyllo into small triangles to serve during the appetizer course, or to add geometric angles to a carrot salad. but, as a side dish for dinner, i admire the pretty way the sliced rolled version reveals the forest green filling that's a little acute because it's mixed with lemon juice and feta cheese. a red bell pepper coulis is a not-too-overpowering sauce to pair with it. or serve spanakopita with tomatoes when they're in season. and if there's any left over, next morning serve it with a eggs and bloody marys . . . bon όρεξη!

ingredients (serves 8 as a side dish)

• 2 lbs. of cleaned fresh spinach, stems discarded, and leaves chopped

• 1 med. yellow onion, finely chopped

• a few handfuls of fresh dill, minced (substitute with parsley)

• juice of 1/2 small lemon

• 1 egg, beaten

• 8 oz. crumbled feta cheese

• kosher salt and cracked pepper

• olive oil

• 12 sheets of phyllo dough (thaw 1 unwrapped frozen package by setting it in the refrigerator overnight– a box of phyllo dough usually contains 2 wrapped, sealed packages)

directions

1. lightly coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil, and heat on med-low until shimmering.

2. saute the chopped onion in the skillet until it is soft and slightly browned.

3. add the spinach and toss until it wilts.

4. put the onions and spinach into a large mixing bowl, and add the dill, lemon juice, egg, cheese, salt and pepper. mix well and divide the mixture in half.

5. heat the oven to 400 degrees and coat the bottom and sides of a med. baking pan with olive oil.

6. lay a long piece of plastic wrap on the counter. open and unroll the thawed phyllo dough package and set the pastry sheets on top of the plastic wrap. cover the phyllo sheets with another long piece of plastic wrap to keep them from drying out during assembly.

7. coat a cutting board or counter space with a little olive oil.

8. remove 2 sheets of the phyllo from under the plastic wrap, and lay them onto the oiled board– the long edge at the bottom, nearest to you. brush the top of the 2 sheets with a thin coat of olive oil, paying special attention to coat the edges.

9. lay another few sheets on top of the coated ones, and brush on more olive oil. repeat until the stack is 6 sheets thick.

10. mound 1/2 of the spinach mixture along the long edge of the oiled phyllo sheets, and roll the edge up over the spinach. brush with olive oil if needed to keep the phyllo moist and pliable. roll again and seal the seam with your oiled hands. cut the roll in half and put the rolls, seam side down, into the oiled baking pan.

11. repeat from step 7. with the other 6 phyllo sheets and the spinach mixture.

12. bake at 400 and check after 30 min. continue baking until the rolls are golden brown–up to 45 min. allow to rest for a few min. and then remove the rolls to a cutting board with a spatula. slice each roll with a serrated knife into 6 equal pieces.

13. use a spoon to spread some (red bell pepper coulis) onto a plate. set the spanakopita, spinach side up, on top of the coulis and garnish with a few chopped olives and a little cracked pepper.

polenta appetizers

2011-01-28T16:04:00.006-05:00

“nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time” –georgia o'keefe

two rose beds edge the street in front of one of the houses on my running route. a women lives there alone. her name is evelyn. when i pass by, if she's out there in her gardening gloves, i stop for a little chat with evelyn about how to tend to roses. it always results in me learning something about gardening . . . and life.

i try to study evelyn when we're talking because she is happy with where she has come to be. her hair is white. she accepts that her husband of 60 some years is gone now, "i miss him, but what more could we ask for after 62 years together." one of her top front teeth sticks out a little making her smile slightly crooked . . . evelyn smiles a lot. she wears just a little lipstick. her beauty has been softened by time– it's velvety now, like the petals of her roses.

when i run by the blooming rose beds, empty of evelyn, i pause anyway, bend down, and consume their perfume. evelyn and her blossoms remind me to take time.
to consider a flower.
a leaf.
a friend.
when i do i am usually stunned.
moved.
amused.
made happy . . . well worth the few minutes it takes.

these pick-up polenta appetizers look like little food-flowers. my guests smile with the anticipation of eating the pretty, palatable bites. and while they do take time to make, the cheer they spread through a party gives me the same happy feeling as when i spend a small part of my day with evelyn in her rose garden.

ingredients

• 1 box of polenta, cooked according to the directions on the box

• 1 small head of cauliflower, the florets sliced 1/8" thick

• 1 thin zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1/2 bell pepper thinly sliced
• 1/2 a yellow apple cut into wedges, and then sliced
• walnut halves
• black olives, sliced
• grated parmesan cheese
• aged goat cheese, cut into 3/4" triangles
• handful of micro greens
• olive oil to drizzle
• honey to drizzle
• cracked pepper

directions

1. once the polenta is cooked, spread it on a large cookie sheet to 1/4" thickness. let it cool to room temperature.
2. . heat a large skillet or griddle with a little olive oil until it shimmers. gently brown the polenta on both sides and remove to a plate to cool.
3. in the same skillet, gently cook the cauliflower, zucchini, and pepper slices just until they start to brown and soften.
–you can refrigerate all of the ingredients at this point to assemble later.
4. cut the polenta into 1 and 1/4" squares, and divide the squares into four equal numbers (save leftover polenta to serve with fish, chicken, or meat)
5. put the cooked ingredients into a bake ware dish and warm them in the oven.
6. cut the apple slices while the polenta, cauliflower, zuchini, and pepper slices are warming.

to assemble

the polenta squares are the base for:
• zuchinni, goat cheese, cracked pepper and a few drops of olive oil.
• parmesan, apple, walnut and a drizzle of honey.
• goat cheese, bell pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
• parmesan, cauliflower, black olive and a drizzle of olive oil.
–top some of the appetizers with micro greens and serve.

apricot and pear chutney

2011-01-18T14:12:00.014-05:00

a spoonful of this apricot and pear chutney is dense with a sweet-sour-fiery-peppy-verve that adds some bling to all kinds of dishes.

i have a big savor flav luv for this chutney and all of its rococo-rich, sticky-style. it gives an impetuous flair to so many dishes–because chutney isn't just for indian food:

• serve a bowl with a cheese tray and bread

• eat it with eggs and toast

• plop a dollop on a bed of brown basmati rice and lentils

• paint a swatch of it on a plate and top with fish, chicken, or tofu

• spread it on tacos filled with corn, beans, fresh greens and cheese

• top off a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a spoonful

this recipe makes a big batch, so put some in a jar or two and spread around the
EAT FLAV LUV

ingredients (makes about 3 to 3 and 1/2 cups)

• 1/2 lb. dried apricots, chopped

• 3 ripe pears, peeled, cored, chopped

• 3 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 small red chili, minced

• 1 to 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger

• 2 cups of distilled white vinegar

• 1 and 1/4 cups brown sugar

• 1 tsp. garam masala (substitute coriander or cumin)

• 1 tsp. salt

directions

1. put all of the ingredients into a med. sauce pan and bring to a boil.
2. reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for an hour or so until all of the liquid has evaporated. the chutney will be thick and sticky. keeps well in the refrigerator.

buckwheat crepes

2011-01-08T12:41:00.005-05:00

two tickets to paradise.
lunch and an afternoon in an art museum with jim is my idea of a day in paradise.

on my shangri-la days we usually buy our museum tickets before a scavenger-hunt-search for lunch: reading menus, finding this-place-looks-good/this-one-doesn't clues. or there may be a restaurant at the museum, with picture windows that frame the city . . . the landscape an exhibit in itself. we usually order two dishes to share. many times though, we just share one–jim's standard line to the server is, "you don't need to bring an extra plate, we have a license to eat off the same one".

then we spend the afternoon sharing the art the way we shared our lunch. our cloud nine moments are those spent standing alone together to consider a calder, a serra, a miro.

we once ate savory filled buckwheat crepes at a family run restaurant just before a tête-à-tête with rodin's sculptures at his museum in paris. we found our table a few blocks from "the thinker" on a street with lots of business people, usually a good sign for a good lunch spot. we decided on the crêpes because that was what was coming out of the kitchen on tray after tray. served hot off the griddle and filled to our liking, the nutty, robust wheat flavor moved that lunch up to our top 10 list.

this recipe from david lebovitz is the one i follow because he explains how to make them without a special pan. i fry them ahead and refrigerate a big stack before filling and reheating them to serve.

ingredients (makes 12-16 crêpes)

let the batter chill overnight, and let it come to room temperature before frying them. keep stirring the batter as you go since the flour tends to sink to the bottom.

• 2 cups (500 ml) whole milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 tablespoons (80 gr) butter, salted or unsalted, melted
• 1/2 cup (70 gr) buckwheat
• 3/4 cup (105 gr) all-purpose flour
• 3 large eggs

directions

1. in a blender, or with a whisk, mix together all the ingredients until smooth. cover and chill overnight in the refrigerator.

2. remove the batter from the refrigerator about an hour before frying. stir it briskly; it should be the consistency of heavy cream. (if not, add a tablespoon of milk.)

3. heat a 10 to 12 inch skillet on med. high. drop a tiny piece of butter in the hot pan and wipe it around with a paper towel. for a well seasoned skillet you will not need to repeat this step.

4. lift the pan and pour about 1/2 cup of the batter in the middle of the hot skillet, swirling the pan to distribute the batter quickly and evenly. the pan shouldn’t be too hot or too cold: the batter should start cooking within a few seconds, giving you just enough time to swirl it. It may take a couple of crêpes for you to get your rhythm.

5. after about a minute, run a non-stick spatula around the underside of the rim of the crêpe, then flip the crepe over with your fingers.

6. let the crêpe cook on the flip side for about 30 seconds, until the batter is cooked through. then slide it out onto a dinner plate. repeat, cooking the crepes with the remaining batter, stirring the batter every so often as you go.

7. spread cooked leeks, olives, sautéed swiss chard, cheese, eggs, artichokes, ham, or whatever you like on one half of the crêpe and fold it in half. heat it on a griddle or in the oven on a baking sheet until the cheese is melting and gooey. serve with fresh greens and a drizzle champagne vinegar and olive oil.

rice blends

2010-12-27T13:37:00.006-05:00

one of my twitter friends recently posted that her two year old was eating goldfish crackers with a spoon . . . i think you know where i'm going with this, right? that makes perfect sense to me. i eat lunch just about everyday with a spoon, and my bowl always includes food most people would eat with a fork.

brown basmati rice, wehani rice, and black rice

rice, the whole grain kind, is a standard in my bowl. i make it on the weekend and store it in the refrigerator for workday lunches. it's hearty, filling, good for you, and i like the taste a blend of rice spoons up: nutty, sweet, rustic, and with brown basmati rice i get the distinct smell of burlap.

there are oodles of rice blends at the grocery, but i have so many types in my pantry that i usually just combine whatever i have on hand. a fool-proof way to make it is in the oven in a casserole dish. and, by adding a little olive oil before cooking, the dish practically wipes clean. serve it with chopped olives, radishes and some feta or ricotta cheese. or use it as the main starch with any kind of protein. i like to eat a bowl for breakfast with walnuts and a glass of tomato juice. and, at our house it's customary to eat rice with a spoon.

ingredients

• 3/4 cup brown basmati

• 3/4 cup red rice
• 3/4 cup black rice
• olive oil
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled
• salt and pepper

directions

1. preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. rinse the rice well and put it into a casserole dish with a tight fitting lid.

3. add enough water to cover the rice about 1/2" above the grains.
4. pour in a few tablespoons of olive oil, and stir in the garlic and some salt and pepper
5. bake at 400 degrees until the water is absorbed and the rice is al dente . . . about 40-50 min.
6. put the dish on top of the stove and take the lid off. allow most of the steam to escape. toss with a fork, and serve /or allow all of the steam to escape and cool the casserole to room temperature. replace the lid and store in the refrigerator.

baguettes

2010-12-14T07:44:00.004-05:00

12-12-10 was a big day for me.
it was the day i mastered the baguette.

i have spent years trying. i've rolled hundreds of failures. i burned out the heating element in our oven. there were many times when i thought about bagging it. after all, i have big successes with the batard and the boule.

making a baguette is at once simple–flour, yeast, water, salt. and yet baffling–the dough is sticky and wet, more like a thick batter, so it's confounding to roll. and the shape is long and skinny . . . seemingly impossible to get into a blazing-steaming-hot oven.
the real deal is only 5-6 centimeters in diameter (a little less than 2.5") and weighs only 250 grams (just under 9 oz.). the crumb is light, airy and full of holes. the crust is crackling-crisp and sends little shards flying when you cut into it with a bread knife. to make baguettes i use a metric scale and a tape measure, a stone, tea towels, a mini-peel, wooden tongs . . . and patience.

i was alone in our kitchen when i got those first two good baguettes into the oven. i saw them spring through the dirty glass window of the oven door, and like so many baking mornings before, my husband and dogs were asleep. it was dark outside and the snow falling looked blue. my kitchen was orderly just like it ordinarily is. after the loaves cooled i cut into one and tasted a center slice to confirm i had done it. there was a quiet gratification in that solitary moment . . . an unexpected flash in a routine day that was significant, if just to me. i've made fresh loaves both mornings since then, and each time i've been happy to pull that same satisfaction from the oven. and i am looking forward to stretches of days out in front of me when i will again find happiness in the craft of something as basic as making bread.

mashed celeriac

2010-11-29T06:44:00.003-05:00

gnarly.

hairy.

knobby and knotted.

downright mythological looking.

celeriac is the troll of root vegetables . . .

but, once you hack off that course exterior you'll find a soft, creamy-colored flesh that has the not-nearly-so-domineering taste of celery, and the not-so-starchy taste of a potato. it's not from the same plant that grows the crispy, green stalks i like to dip into peanut butter, but a different plant altogether. every time i peel one i think, "who ever thought to eat this hideous thing?" but, i'm so glad someone did.

celeriac masquerades as the starch for dinner without being a starch at all. a half-cup of celeriac has only about 30 calories, no fat, and a soft-rooty-veggie taste. ok, that's a dream-food for me. i serve it as a low-cal-alt to potatoes. then i go ahead and indulge in just a little butter, melted into a tiny pond on top of a mashed-heap that i cooked with garlic. i always make enough for leftovers so the next day i can eat it for lunch . . . with a spoon.

ingredients (serves 6)

• 2 celeriac roots
• 2-3 large garlic cloves
• virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 to 1 cup of warm milk.
• butter
• fresh parsley, minced

directions

1. use a chef's knife to cut off the knobby roots and the outer skin of each celeriac root. then cut them into about 1/2" pieces, and just cover with water in a large pot.
2. smash the garlic cloves and peel them. cut off the little root ends and add them to the pot.
3. cover the pot and bring to a boil. reduce to a simmer and cook until soft, about 15-17 min.
4. drain off all the water in a colander, and shake out some of the steam.
5. put the cooked celeriac into the well of a food processor and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
6. heat about 3/4 cup or a little more of milk until warm, and pour about 1/2 cup over the celeriac. process in pulses and add more milk as needed for a creamy consistency.
7. serve with a little butter and a sprinkle of minced parsley.

pickled peppers and radishes

2010-11-15T17:03:00.005-05:00

let me tell you right off that this recipe does not require sterilizing jars, so you have no worries here about potentially giving your friends and family botulism if you mess it up some how. in fact, these pickled peppers and radishes are so easy i make a batch about every two weeks or even more often because they never last long in our house.

i always have a jazzy-gingery-jar of peppery-pizzaz in the fridge to syncopate my dishes. they add an unanticipated sparkle and dimension to just about anything.

use pickled peppers to accent a bowl of beans, a piece of fish, grilled chicken, or meat. add the tart-peppery radishes to a salad or appetizer. one of our favorite ways to eat this pickled-peck is on a crispy pizza topped with fresh spinach and the piquant jalapenos . . . pair that with a craft beer and you have a party even if you didn't plan on it.

i thinly slice all kinds of peppers and chilies with radishes and ginger, and then layer them in a big, clean jar before i pour in a mixture of vinegar and sugar . . . nothing could be easier.

ingredients

• several bell peppers, any color, thinly sliced

• 4-5 jalapenos, thinly sliced

• an inch or two of ginger, thinly sliced

• 1 bunch of radishes, thinly sliced

• 1 & 1/2 cups of distilled cider vinegar

• 1 & 1/2 cups of water

• 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar (i prefer less sweet)

directions

1. put the vinegar, water and sugar in a large glass mixing bowl. whisk together until the sugar is completely dissolved.

2. layer the sliced peppers, radishes and ginger in a clean jar and pour in the vinegar mixture.

3. cover with the lid and put into the refrigerator for 24 hours. they'll keep for about two weeks.

peas, figs and marinated goat cheese salad

2010-11-02T14:43:00.003-04:00

my friend evie and i always talk food and books . . . and wine. actually, i mostly listen when she talks wine. evie is the taste and vision for gemelli wines and spirits and she is also the proprietor of a playful and distinguished palate. when she likes a morsel i make, it gets written down. but when she loves it, it gets blogged about.

so i present: the evie salad

a few weekends ago evie invited jim and me to dinner, and since my latest craze is the pursuit of an exalted salad, i offered to attempt one for her. this then, is the story of the evie salad: i was at the market and saw that peas are in season . . . oh how i adore the peerless petite vegetable. and, ambrosial figs are in too. to put them together with soft greens, toasted pine nuts, thinly sliced purple onions, and marinated goat cheese might make for an evie approved salad. i texted evie with my idea. YES was texted back. and the final approval came the next day after dinner with her, "i'm in salad love" on my text screen.

sweet and green, in season at the same time . . . peas and figs make a bright-candy-savory-salad

evie's wine pairing suggestions: (she always offers two choices and leaves the final decision to me) so, i pick the domaine de menard over naia verdejo. both wines are soft, friendly whites, but the domaine de menard is a blend of colombard, and ugni blac and i like the idea of something a little more special to pay homage to the evie salad.

ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 log of goat cheese, cut into 1/4" slices

• extra virgin olive oil

• several pinches of dill

• a handful of italian parsley leaves

• 2 cups of shelled peas

• 9 ripe figs

• 1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced

• pine nuts
• fresh salad greens

• white pear balsamic vinegar

• cracked pepper

directions

1. put the goat cheese slices in a shallow covered dish. drizzle the cheese with olive oil, dill, and cracked pepper. press an italian parsley leaf into the top of each cheese slice. cover and refrigerate for several hours.

2. blanch the peas in boiling water to soften them. drain and allow to cool completely.

3. toast the pine nuts on a dry skillet until golden.
4. cut the tops off of the figs and skewer them. drizzle a cast iron griddle with olive oil, and heat it to med-hi. grill the figs in the oil by rotating the skewer to lightly cook them all the way around. allow the figs to cool and half then lengthwise.
5. lay the greens on a plate and top with the peas, figs, onion slices, and toasted pine nuts. crack some salt and pepper over the plate.
6. drizzle the pear balsamic vinegar and some olive oil over the salad. top with a few slices of the marinated goat cheese.

spaghetti sauce with italian sausage

2010-10-21T13:15:00.009-04:00

aunt marylee, this post is for you . . .

if i authored my own history in recipes, this one would surely warrant an entire chapter. the first time i ate it was in san rafel at the table of my aunt marylee, who isn't really my aunt at all. she married my dad's college roommate, so she actually belongs to me vicariously. aunt marylee became one of my early-on-style-mavens because even at a young age i admired and appreciated how she maintains her household, and her kitchen . . . her domain shines with california-elegance but isn't pretentious or uncomfortable, and every visitor feels the welcome of a home that is lovingly cared for.

my mother brought home this recipe after that first time my family was lured in by it's fragrance, as the sauce simmered away on aunt marylee's stove. i started making it 30 something years ago at mother's stove, in her big sauce pot, with her wooden spoon. it makes a meal that defines my approach to cooking and dining: artistic and still approachable, memorable with a little mystery, satisfying but not indulgent, and a reminder that the best meals are eaten at home. it brings a fragrant history of it's own to the table, and stirs up the question, "what is the secret" . . .

the secret is allspice.

as aunt marylee tells it, "my grandmother, nana, was born in tuscany. she came to the u.s. when she was in her twenties and met my grandfather in san francisco, he was also from tuscany. they settled and raised my mother and her three sisters who grew up asking my nana for the recipe for her spaghetti sauce. she would only offer, i use a little bit of this and a little bit of that. nana would not reveal her secret even to her own daughters. none of the sisters could make the sauce taste like nana's. finally one day, one of the girls was in the kitchen when nana was cooking the sauce. aha! nana added a good shot of allspice."

this sauce conveys a smoky incense and fermented flavors that leave a lasting impression on the scenes. it is one of those dishes to display on the mantle, not tuck away into a scrap book. serve it to your family and friends to heap on your love for them, and make sure to set each place with a spoon . . . everyone will want to ladle it up.

note: i add a little red wine and use fresh italian parsley instead of dried, but otherwise, it is passed on to you as it was to me . . . we are the lucky recipients of it's secret charms.
ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups ground beef
• 1/2 to 3/4 lb. italian sausage
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3-4 large garlic cloves, minced
• one 15oz. can chopped tomatoes
• two 15oz. cans tom. sauce

• about 1/3 cup dry red wine
• 1-2 tbsp. oregano
• a few handfuls of italian parsley, minced

• a few tbsp. sugar
• 1 heaping tbsp. allspice
• kosher salt

directions

1. brown the onion, garlic, beef and sausage. drain any excess liquid and fat.

2. add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on extra low three hours.

braised shiitake mushrooms

2010-10-11T15:00:00.005-04:00

so far, 120 pages into gael greene's insatiable memoir, and already she's been fed by pierre franey and craig claiborne at mr. claiborne's weekend house, eaten and drank her way through the menu at world famous maison troisgros, and dished up a few star romps with elvis and clint eastwood to name just a pot-au-feu. the iconic new york magazine food critic and her spicy-nothing-left-to-imagine tales of table and trysts leave me wanting more with every page turn. ms greene, who can ignite or skewer the success of a restaurant, also co-founded citymeals-on-wheels with james beard, a program that feeds millions of home-bound, elderly new yorkers every year.

in her account, ms. greene's indulgences in food and sex are stewed together like tandem appetites that must feast from a gourmet menu . . . i quote her, as she quoted william blake: "you never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough". at one point yesterday, i did finally push back from the table, her delicious excess having fed my head more high calorie descriptions than i could possibly digest. i simply could not keep up with her. so i approached the kitchen last night with a healthy-less-is-more dinner plan meant to counter-balance ms. greene's baroque bill of fare that was eating at my brain cells.

turning once again to soei yoneda for inspiration in her book, zen vegetarian cooking, i began with the woody flavor of braised shiitake mushrooms cooked simply with just three other ingredients. i paired them with steelhead trout, a white wine reduction, and pickled peppers. these mushrooms would also serve with a crisp white wine as a stunning starter. the taste is the salty-earthy richness of a food-beggars banquet.

be sure to save the liquid from the pot after reconstituting the dried shiitake mushrooms . . . use it to make soup or add to a reduction sauce.

one tablespoon of soy sauce and one tablespoon of sake make the perfect flavor balance for reconstituted shiitakes.

ingredients

• 1 tsp. vegetable oil

• 12 medium sized dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted and the stems cut off

• 1 tbl. saké

• 1 tbl. soy sauce

directions

1. to reconstitute the mushrooms, simmer in about 3/4 " of water set to boil. simmer for about five min.

2. heat the oil in a skillet over med. flame. add the mushrooms and saute on each side for a total of three min.

3. add the saké and soy sauce and cook another 15 seconds on each side.

miso soup

2010-09-30T15:35:00.003-04:00

zen vegetarian cooking, by soei yoneda, contemplates a cuisine that is so absolute i find it to be abstract. shōjin cooking was developed in zen buddhist temples with a discipline of simplicity and directness for the daily preparation of food. the intention is to balance the colors and tastes of vegetables and sea plants with the three virtues: lightness and softness, cleanliness and freshness, and precision and care. this practice creates a plate or bowl that is the essence of zen.

the steps in soei yoneda's recipe require the cook to take care and time in the three reductions necessary to make the dashi broth-base for miso soup. the directions read like prose and when i follow them i find myself attentive to the intensity of the simmer, or the lack of it, the amount of space i allow for the steam to escape, on achieving the correct volume. this cuisine is a yoga-change-of-pace from the sautéing-tossing-flipping-way i most often cook. and when i serve miso my mantra is, "if you please, eat with a spoon".

there is a respectful awareness of the ingredients in shōjin cooking.

kombu is a flavorful kelp that is simmered in water to make a dashi broth. then, tofu, green onions, and white miso are added to make a traditional miso soup.

ingredients (serves four)

• 5 cups of water

• 3 four-inch squares of kombu, wiped with a damp cloth

• 1/2 of a brick of soft tofu, cut into 1/4" cubes

• 1 bunch of green onions, sliced

• 6 and 1/2 tbl. white miso

directions for the dashi

place water in large saucepan and add kombu. cover and bring to a boil over high heat. reduce heat to medium-low, place lid ajar, and simmer until water reduces 25 percent– until volume is about 3 1/3 cups. add 1 2/3 cups cold water (enough to bring volume back to original 5 cups).

simmer for another 20 minutes with lid agar and again add enough cold water to bring liquid back to original volume.

simmer for another 10 minutes with lid ajar. the stock will be a clear greenish amber. remove kombu. the volume of stock will be 4 1/6 cups– 4 or 5 servings. keeps 3-4 days refrigerated.

to make the miso

add the tofu cubes and green onion to the dashi and simmer, covered for 5 minutes. dissolve miso paste into a small amount of hot dashi, then pour this dissolved miso into the simmering dashi and remove from heat as soon as it starts to simmer again. do not let the miso soup boil, or it will lose its aroma and flavor.

croutons

2010-09-23T13:30:00.005-04:00

it isn't hard to add dimension to a dish without making it overly fussy or excessively complicated. old bread cut it into cubes, then swirled and crisped in olive oil with garlic, gives soup or salad a tasty-crusty-crouton-crunch. i also toss the little toasties with roasted squash, cherry tomatoes, herbs and anchovies to make a balsamic panzanella . . . serve that with a nice wine and you have a hearty meal with depth and satisfaction that you don't need a centrifuge or liquid nitrogen to make.

make croutons with little end-crusts or a baguette that didn't get eaten when it was fresh. sometimes i swap out the whole grain cubes for rice or pasta as the main starch for dinner.

ingredients

• 1 baguette: a day or several days old- cut into small cubes

• olive oil

• 2 minced cloves of garlic

• dried herbs: dill or rosemary or oregano or thyme or a crush of several together

• sea salt

directions

1. coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and heat it on med.-low until shimmering.

2. add the bread cubes, the minced garlic and herbs and sprinkle with salt.

3. stir to coat with the oil and add a little drizzle more if needed to get some on each little cube.

4. stir again and occasionally to brown the bread but make sure not to burn it. on my low flame it takes about 15-20 min. to get each cube crisp and brown.

5. let them cool completely and store in an airtight container.

best homemade pasta ever, made with semolina and durum flour

2010-09-16T15:54:00.009-04:00

i was standing in the flour aisle of my neighborhood market, doll's, reading labels like i always do. the shelves are probably about six or seven high with the packages arranged in a buy-this-brand-of-flour-exhibit . . . i imagine the sales rep for each one shoulders for their flour to be at eye level: shelves 5 and 6.

          i put some bread flour into my cart, and some whole wheat, cornmeal, and semolina. and then i saw a package of hodgson mill pasta flour which i have never seen before. i read the label's flowery-pitch about the mix of semolina and fancy durum wheat flour acclaiming, "the best pasta flour you have ever used." durum wheat flour does have the highest protein content for a strong, elastic, gluten, dough–good for making long, stretches of pasta. but i usually just blend some semolina (the gritty bits of durum wheat left after the finer flour has passed through a sieve) with all-purpose flour to roll a dough that boils and strains a moist, light, slightly-eggie tasting noodle.
          i tried to resist the sales copy with a smug question to myself, "how much better can it be than what i already make?" into my cart went the hodgson mill pasta flour, along with some eggs laid by happy hens, free-roaming right near home. when i got to my kitchen, i immediately mixed the pasta flour with a few eggs and boiled a pot of water. "what's for dinner?" from jim when he came in the door, and i handed him a fork twisted with spaghetti to taste . . . eye-roll, guttural-groans, and even a little snort. "what is so different?"
          it's all in the pasta flour: golden color, mild-nutty flavor, and firm-elastic-shape-holding-body.

i use hodgson mill pasta flour to make happy-husband, taste buds with better pasta than i've ever rolled out before.

ingredients (8 entrée portions)

• 4 eggs

• several cups of semolina pasta flour (click here to buy)

• sea salt

directions

1. make a large mound the flour on the counter with a well in the center large enough to hold four eggs.
2. break the eggs into the well. beat the eggs with a fork until well blended. you can shore up the flour dam with the opposite hand while you beat the eggs.
3. start to push the flour off the top of the dam into the eggs, beating all the time with your fork. continue to add flour until it starts to form a dough, and then start adding the flour with your hands.
4. push any unused flour to one side and start kneading the dough. add just enough flour to form a stiff dough that is no longer sticking.
5. wrap the dough in plastic and let it sit on the counter at least an hour.

6. cut the dough into fourths. process 1/4 at a time, and wrap the other pieces back up to keep from drying out.
7. dust the 1/4 piece with flour and flatten a little with your hands. then put it through the #1 setting of the pasta machine roller. dust it again with flour and fold in half, run it through the roller a few times to form a long, even sheet.

8. dust the sheet with flour, set the pasta roller to #2 and run the sheet through the roller. increase the setting to #3, and on up to #4 for the correct thickness to make ravioli. i take it up to about #6 for linguine or spaghetti. cut the sheets to measure about 12" to 14" long.
9. process the remaining 1/4 pieces of dough the same way, and dust the sheets with flour to stack them and keep them from sticking.

10. cut the pasta sheets by hand into whatever shape you need. or, cut it with the linguine or spaghetti cutter on the pasta machine.

11. once it's cut, make mounds of it on a plate, and dust it with a little flour to keep it from sticking together.

12. put a large pot of water on the flame and once it boils drop in about 1 tsp. of kosher salt. drop in the cut pasta and stir to keep from sticking.

13. once the pot comes back up to a full boil count 10-12 seconds and remove it with a large wire bamboo strainer. give it a few shakes to remove as much of the water as possible, and then lay it out on a large platter.

14. drizzle the pasta with olive oil, and let it cool a little. then, toss it with your fingers to distribute the olive oil and keep it from sticking together. salt it before serving.

vegetarian clam sauce

2010-09-09T16:49:00.006-04:00

early in my years as a vegetarian, i came up with this recipe to mimic my real clam sauce recipe. i'm sure it must have been out of desperation for a bona-fide-herbivorian-entrée.

in the late 70's, ordering a vegetarian main course at most midwestern restaurants, meant eating a baked potato with cheese for dinner. just asking "was the pea soup made with ham?" or, "can i please have a plate of vegetables without meat?" produced raised eyebrows and questioning glances. in fact, choosing to eat a plant based diet became a keen motivating factor in my ambition to cook gourmet dishes at home.

in this faux-sauce, the dense tops of crimini mushrooms chop into little clam-looking-shapes, and soak up the flavor of the sea from dried, toasted seaweed. i use nori, the same kind of sea vegetable that wraps a california roll, to simmer a seafood flavor into my pretend clams. the result spoons a kinda-fishy-tasting-almost-fooled-you sauce over a heap of pasta that will even satisfy meat-eating guests.

toasted nori flakes blend in with the minced parsley once they're both cooked down in this sauce.

ingredients (serves four)

• olive oil

• 6 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

• 1/2 cup of minced parsley

• 1 and 1/2 tbl. dried oregano

• about 3/4 lb. of crimini mushroom tops, chopped

• 24 oz. of plain tomato sauce

• about 16-20 oz. of water

• 2 sheets of nori, torn into little shreds

• pinch red pepper flakes

• sea salt

• parmesan cheese

directions

1. heavily coat the bottom of a med. saucepan with olive oil, and heat it on med-low until shimmering.

2. add the garlic, bell pepper, parsley and oregano. stir well and simmer until the garlic and pepper just start to soften, and the fragrance of the herbs is released. don't let it brown.

3. add the chopped mushroom tops and stir to coat.

4. add the tomato sauce, and stir in the water a few ounces at a time. it should be relatively thin but not runny.

5. stir in the nori flakes, the red pepper flakes and about 1 tsp. of salt.

6. bring the pot to a boil and reduce to a simmer. allow it to cook for about 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened considerably and the flavors have had time to blend.

7. taste for salt. adjust accordingly.

8. serve over a heap of pasta with a generous shake-shake-shake of parmesan cheese.

cantaloupe, cucumber and jicama salad

2010-09-02T16:29:00.002-04:00

my craze with food began around 1970 with the first of 40 years of trips to visit friends and family in and around san francisco. it coincided with alice waters' mothering of the organic food movement and her development of california cuisine. i was just across the bay from berkely's gourmet ghetto when vegetarian cooking was presented to me as a type of cuisine, not just an anti-meat choice. it was where i first ate an artichoke, fermented tofu, sea vegetables, and jicama. i was charmed with foods that i found strange, amusing, and incomparable to what i had ever eaten in the midwest.

i remember being handed a large turnip-looking root with the skin of ginger when i asked if i could help in my sister-in-law's family kitchen near woodside. my instructions were to peel it, and cut the potatoey-flesh into strips. "what is this thing?" after which i was told, "a crunchy root from mexico for the salad".
it was love at first bite when i chewed into my first taste of jicama: snappy, crisp, clean and apple-sweet. like many other taste memories i brought back home, the new ingredient added to my developing intrigue with cooking, and what is possible with the combination of bright flavors.

this salad began with a jicama root in my market basket. i added a perfectly ripe cantaloupe, and a purple onion . . .

to that i added radish bean sprouts, pea shoots, yellow bell pepper, cucumber . . .

and, a lush, tart disk of chévre cheese.

ingredients (serves 4)
• 1 ripe cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced
• 1 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 med. jicama root, peeled, and cut into strips
• 1 purple onion, thinly sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• a few handfuls of pea sprouts
• 1 bunch of radish bean sprouts
• the juice of 1 small lemon
• about 1/4 cup of white balsamic vinegar
• about 1/2 cup of olive oil
• sea salt
• pinch of cayenne
• 4 wedges of chévre cheese
• fresh pepper, finely cracked

directions

1. layer the prepared cantaloupe, cucumber, jicama, onion, bell pepper and greens on a plate.
2. whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and cayenne.
3. add a wedge of chévre to the plate and drizzle the dressing over the salad and cheese. finish with a fresh twist of cracked pepper.

summer vegetables and potato salad with anchovy dressing

2010-08-25T13:17:00.008-04:00

for me, when it comes down to it, salad will be the deciding course for whether a restaurant experience is good . . . or distasteful. if it's not flawless-fresh with vivid, engaging bites of textures, then whatever follows will most certainly be a disappointment. i aim for the same salad standards at home too. so that requires three or four market trips a week to toss-up the season's just-picked produce.

when i found this recipe from jonathan benno (food & wine august 2005) i could tell it would eclipse my salad expectations. and, i wasn't let down. i've been making it every summer since and consider it one of my repertoire's show-stoppers . . . it always gets a wow review from my guests. multiple colors of grape tomatoes and fingerling potatoes makes it even prettier. and garnished with a few sprigs of fresh herbs, this salad puts a palette of color on the table.

click here to read the food and wine august 2005 article where i found this recipe.

ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 ounces yellow wax beans

• 4 ounces thin green beans

• 6 garlic cloves

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 thyme sprig

• 1 rosemary sprig

• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

• 12 small fingerling potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled

• 2 oil-packed anchovy fillets

• 1/4 cup milk

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• Salt and freshly ground pepper

• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

• 1/2 teaspoon chopped marjoram

• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved

directions

1. in a saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the yellow beans until just tender, 3 minutes. using a slotted spoon, transfer the beans to a baking sheet and let cool. add the green beans to the boiling water and cook until just tender, 2 minutes. using the slotted spoon, add the green beans to the baking sheet. let cool, then pat dry.

2. add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary and peppercorns to the boiling water. add the potatoes and simmer over moderately high heat until tender, about 20 minutes. drain the potatoes, reserving the garlic cloves. discard the seasonings.

3. meanwhile, in a small bowl, soak the anchovies in the milk for 10 minutes. drain the anchovies, then coarsely chop them and transfer to a blender. add the olive oil and the reserved garlic and puree. with the machine on, slowly add the vinegar. scrape the dressing into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley and marjoram.

4. slice the boiled potatoes 1/4 inch thick and put them in a large bowl. add half of the anchovy dressing and toss gently. add the yellow and green beans, the cherry tomatoes and the remaining dressing, toss gently and serve.

roasted cauliflower

2010-08-16T14:33:00.004-04:00

the advancing morning light flickers in later and later each day indicating that we have passed the half-way mark between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. the garden is making a turn toward fall, and our hummingbirds have started their annual feeding frenzy to fortify for the migration south . . . we duck and sway out of their way now when we cross our decks.

this sunflower in my garden is a late summer bloomer that has ushered in an early sign of fall.

just this last weekend my hostess-thoughts projected out to plans for fall dinner parties and even beyond, to the holidays. i started a few menus: italian, indian, and vegetarian. cauliflower is listed on two of them, and this recipe for roasting it will be the feature served to some herbivorous friends. the flavor is deep and intense, and it will pair well with red lentil/roasted garlic hummus and hunks of whole wheat bread. i also anticipate the snap-crackle-pop of a fire while we eat dinner, and the likely conversation about the record hot summer of 2010.

roasting cauliflower tames the bossy cabbage flavor, and caramelizes it with a crispy-nutty-sweetness.

ingredients

• 1 large head of cauliflower

• about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of safflower oil for drizzling

• salt and pepper

• a fresh lemon juice

directions

1. preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. break or cut the cauliflower into individual florets.

3. put the cauliflower onto a large rimmed baking sheet. then drizzle it with the safflower oil. sprinkle on some salt and pepper.

4. roast about 30 minutes until the florets are tender and golden brown.

5. serve with a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice.

each day that the sun retreats away from the summer solstice, my kitchen shadow moves farther and farther across the wall.

orange juice and soy salmon glaze

2010-08-05T15:02:00.004-04:00

we adopted another chihuahua recently and named her dear prudence. our other adopted chi is named lucy . . . in the sky with diamonds. we call them the m&m sistas. one girl shrinks back, the other one sparkles. one girl trots, the other one prances. while it's fun and joyful to add a new member to our family, it's sobering to consider their lives before coming to live with us.

prudence was neglected. now she is cherished.

lucy has hopefully forgotten about being given up. my intention is to help prudence forget about her previous life all-together. boiled chicken helps . . . she cautiously began taking little bits from my hand, but for days she cowered behind our sofa when i so much as glanced at her.
now the sistas flutter in together when i'm in the kitchen cooking. lucy dances around my feet. prudence waits and grunts. they know i will cut them chi-sized bites of raw carrot. and, i like to surprise them with peeled apple . . . that makes them so happy. for dinner last night i made salmon with an orange and soy sauce glaze to serve with haricots verts. on the cue of my chef knife chopping, the twinkle-toes-twosome hovered under my cutting board for nibbles of the french beans. i held still so i could listen to their mini-crunching sounds.

in this recipe i used orange juice instead of lemon or lime for a swap of tart for sweet, and yet didn't lose the zip of citrus. once it was cooked, the salmon reflected back a sugary-shimmer, and i reduced the excess marinade with wine to drench the fillets for serving. it was rich and smooth tasting with a hint of heat–zesty, bright, sweet, and salty, pairing well with the un-fishy-fish. jim and i ate in the dining room like every other night, but when we finished we each had a girl to hold.

ingredients (enough for 2 large salmon fillets)

• the juice of 2 large oranges

• 1-2 tbl. soy sauce

• 1-2 tbl. brown sugar

• 1 large clove of garlic, minced

• 1-2 tbl. grated ginger

• a pinch of cayenne

• cracked pepper

• about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of white wine

directions

1. preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. mix all of the ingredients except the wine and pepper in a large mixing bowl.

3. add the salmon fillets and turn to coat well. allow them to marinate for 30-45 min.

4. pour off the marinade into a small sauce pan and add the white wine. reduce by about 1/2 over a low simmer.

5. coat the bottom of a large stainless skillet with safflower oil. lay in the the salmon fillets, skin side down, and crack some pepper over them. cook them in the preheated oven for about 12 min. until the flesh turns opaque.

6. plate the salmon with some quinoa or rice and strain the reduction over the top.

the dynamic duo: lucy and prudence

why i bake bread

2010-07-29T16:53:00.010-04:00

when i was young i thought life would be like jogging . . . pleasantly paced, taking in the scenery, setting down the years like footsteps one by one with a pleasant little bounce. oh sure, i remember daddy telling me, "nothing in life is easy". but i didn't think that what he really meant is nearly everything is more like a trek up a 10,000 footer. which is what i eventually discovered.

so that's one of the reasons why i bake.
baking makes for a smooth stride on a sometimes-chaotic-sometimes-slippery course that's peppered with a few unexpected potholes.

through the process of mixing, kneading, folding, stretching a bread dough, i can usually turn out the tension and anxiety that comes along with one of life's titanic-sized puzzles . . . along with soft-on-the-inside, crunchy-on-the-outside loaves of homemade comfort. and the fermenting, rising and proofing dispenses calm rests between starts.

give me a problem to solve, an issue to settle, or a design project to concept, and i will stir together some yeast and flour and bake a solution, resolution or an angle to take. and then we can break some bread.

click here to learn how to bake your way through a tough day.

basic barbeque sauce

2010-07-18T10:03:00.007-04:00

when i served this bbq sauce with chicken recently, jim gave me the thumbs up with his, "it's turbo-charged" reference. turbo = fast = good.

we use a lot of car and driving references at our house. my husband's motto after all is "all things audi". he once showed me an article in a car magazine about a man who cooked on his car engine and thought i might like to try it.

besides a plate of food, an easy way to get jim's attention is to talk manifolds, tire pressure, or track events . . . i've been the interested wife on a tour of the audi plant in ingolstadt, and ooohhheed over the original r8 at the forum museum. i know what cornering is, how to take the fastest line on a track, and i've gripped the passenger seat of our rental car going over 175 kph on the autobahn.
so i will refer to this bbq sauce as either accelerated: if you're lead-footed with the chipotle chili powder and cayenne / or down-shifted: if your spice-like is cruising speed and you back off the cayenne. this is my go-to-basic bbq sauce because i always have most of the ingredients. if i don't have a red pepper to roast, i use a couple of jalapenos, a banana pepper or some other kind. and, try using chipotle chili powder to add elements of earth and smoke . . . it's a tasty break from regular chili powder, and i wouldn't steer you wrong.

ingredients

• 1/4 cup of safflower oil
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 and 1/2 cups of tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup apple cidar vinegar
• 1 large roasted red pepper, chopped
• 1 tbl. chipotle chili powder
• a dash or 2 of cayenne
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• a little salt and pepper
• about 1/3 cup of red wine

directions

1. sauté the garlic in the oil until fragrant and golden. let it cool slightly.
2. pour the garlic, oil and the rest of the ingredients (except the wine) into the blender. process until smooth.
3. marinate chicken or tofu in the sauce for about 45 min. / shrimp for about 20 min.
4. pour off the excess sauce into a saucepan and add the wine. bring it to the edge of a boil and then lower to a simmer while the protein is grilling.
5. plate the chicken, tofu, or shrimp and serve it with the reduced sauce.

sauté a few garlic cloves in some safflower oil and then purée all of the ingredients in the blender.

smoked chipotle chili powder makes this basic bbq sauce vroom-vroom!

onion dip

2010-07-09T12:36:00.005-04:00

the garden springs a delicious surprise on me every year with diminutive sprouts of dill fanning out fronds of lime green here and there . . . the seeds getting to where they got either from a blast of fall wind, or a bird winging off to sit on a branch to eat.

thread-thin dill leaves jab a dish with an unmistakable grassiness. i use it in this recipe to punctuate the sour-creamy overtones, and the caramel undertones of three types of onions. to get a dinner party going with a bright start: serve this onion dip as an appetizer with dipping vegetables . . . and don't be surprised if a guest takes a spoonful to the table to eat with dinner.

ingredients

• 1/2 a large vidalia onion, chopped

• 2 large leeks, finely chopped

• 1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced

• a little olive oil

• 1 and 1/4 cup of sour cream

• 1 and 1/4 cup of greek yogurt

• 2 teaspoons of minced dill (or more to your liking)

• salt and pepper

directions

1. coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and heat it over a med. flame.
2. when the oil begins to shimmer, add all of the onions and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.
3. reduce the heat to low and cook the onions slowly until they start to brown, stir often.
4. put the sour cream and yogurt in a mixing bowl and add the cooked onions. sprinkle the bowl with dill and mix well with a spatula . . . dip in with your spoon when no one's looking.

these umbrellas of dill seeds will season my dishes next summer.

watermelon gazpacho

2010-06-30T13:21:00.004-04:00

blended, puréed, put through a sieve . . . i savor smoothie-soups. i will even set down my spoon and drink a velvety soup right from the bowl, elbows up, if i'm eating alone. and less spoons in the dishwasher silverware basket is a purée-plus.

i've been making this gazpacho for oodles of summers and can't remember where i got the recipe. it's one that i rated recipe-card-worthy. long-gone is the original. i'm sure i must have torn it out of a magazine because the aromatics are cooked and it's puréed. i much prefer it to a traditional gazpacho of raw peppers, garlic and onions– too pungent. and swapping out watermelon for cucumber also sweetens the pot. try serving watermelon gazpacho as an appetizer in shot glasses . . . so you don't have to wash any spoons.

ingredients (makes four large servings)

• 1 small seedless watermelon, roughly chopped

• 6 roma tomatoes

• olive oil

• 1/2 cup minced shallots, minced

• 2 jalapenos, minced

• 1 orange bell pepper, minced
• a few squirts of champagne vinegar

• a handful or so of minced cilantro

• salt and pepper

directions

1. boil some water in a med. saucepan and drop in the tomatoes. once the skins are loosened, turn off the heat and let them cool.

2. remove the tomato skins and discard them. put the tomatoes and chopped watermelon into a soup pot.

3. coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and set it on a med-low flame. once the oil is shimmering, add the shallot, jalapeno, and bell pepper. sauté slowly, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden.

4. add the cooked aromatics, the champagne vinegar, and salt and pepper to the pot.

5. process the ingredients with a stick blender, or in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth. stir in the minced cilantro.

6. refrigerate the soup in the pot for several hours or over night to let the flavors combine and age.
7. garnish with cilantro and serve.

ground beef kabobs

2010-06-23T17:23:00.009-04:00

it's somewhat of a challenge to make a dish that i'm not actually going to taste. in the case of these ground beef kabobs, my official taste-tester's description and a knife in the chest incited me to recreate them with flavors i could only imagine.

last time we ate at local restaurant, shiraz, jim gave the grunt-with-eyes-closed-approval for these kabobs and i actually felt a pang of jealousy. he may as well have stabbed me. after a deep breath, i choked out, "i bet i can make those if we can figure out what's in them". so we proceeded to list the ingredients while he continued to wound me with mmmms, uuuumms, and eye wrinkles . . . i think he enjoyed it just a little too much.

since i don't eat meat, i always rely on jim's approval for the beef dishes i serve, and this time i felt the added heat of a contest. i just had to win him over from the competition. so i couldn't wait to get to the market, to chop, to mix, to sear. i added a reduction to my recipe to give it a moist finish, and served it with a side of feta cheese and cucumbers.

ta-da: i set the plate in front of jim, we toasted, "bon appétit", and i felt the thrill of suspense while he took the first bite. then, relief. he said they were even better than the ones from shiraz . . . that's my jim: as good a taste-tester as he is a husband.

ingredients (makes 5 large kabobs)

• 1 lb. of ground chuck

• 1/4 onion, minced

• 2-3 tbl. minced yellow, red, or orange bell pepper

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1-2 tbl. parsley, finely chopped

• 2 saffron threads soaked in a few tsp. water for several hours, (optional)

• 1/4 cup safflower oil

• 2-3 tbl. lemon juice

• 1-2 tbl. crushed oregano

• a dash or two of cayenne (substitute chili powder for a milder spice)

• salt and pepper

• 1/3 cup broth or white wine

directions

1. set a cast iron griddle in the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat it to broil.

2. in a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients together well.

3. form 1/5 of the mixture around each skewer.

4. open the oven door and carefully set the skewers onto the preheated griddle.

5. close the oven door and seer for about 1 and 1/2 minutes. turn the skewers and seer the other side for 1 and 1/2 minutes.

5. reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and cook a minute or two more until the centers are just turning brown. set the cooked skewers on a platter.

6. to make the reduction sauce: set the griddle on the stove top and pour on the broth or wine. simmer over a med-low heat until it thickens just a bit.

for the cucumber and feta salad, mix together:

• 1 med. cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, and chopped

• about 3/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese

• sesame seeds

• fresh minced dill

ancho, garlic shrimp marinade and sauce

2010-06-16T15:41:00.005-04:00

'o sole mio
the flip-flop-hot-dog days in june and july that spin us around the solstice make up my favorite part of the year. when the sun hovers at 23º 26′ 17″ north, these happiest of days stretch out long and lazy like a hammock strung between two trees. jim and i linger under the ceiling fans that circle bogus-breezes through our rooms, we eat smoky-sticky barbecued dishes hot off the grill, and float off for a nap under the leafy canopy of shade that loafs across our pool.

che bella cosa e' na jurnata 'e sole–
what a beautiful thing is a sunny day.

smoky ancho, garlic shrimp pairs well with pineapple salsa– click here for that recipe

dried chilies can be hot or mild, fruity, spicy, and smoky.

to reconstitute: cover them in water in a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil. allow them to cool in their own liquid. remove the stems and seeds–chop or mince.

ingredients

• 25-30 medium sized shrimp
• about 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 2 ancho chilies, reconstituted and minced
• 3-4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 5-7 slices of roasted tomatoes, finely chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice
• several heaping tbl. minced cilantro
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup of olive oil
• kosher salt and cracked pepper
• 1/3 cup of white wine or vegetable broth

directions

1. light a fire in the grill
2. mix all of the ingredient together in a medium bowl.
3. toss the shrimp to coat it well, and allow it to marinate about 20 minutes.
4. skewer the shrimp and set aside.
5. put the remaining marinade into a saucepan on a medium flame.
6. add the wine or broth and stir with a whisk to reduce and thicken.
7. grill the shrimp until it is opaque.
8. process the sauce in a blender and spoon some on a plate.
9. to serve, set the shrimp on the sauce and garnish with fresh herbs.

in the evenings of the longest days of the year, jim and i sit on the deck and watch the chaotic flap of bats overhead as the sun goes down, to almost come right back up it seems. we use the grill to fire up our barbecued dishes, and keep the heat out of the kitchen.

pineapple salsa

2010-06-09T12:41:00.012-04:00

i have been known to eat pineapple salsa and avocados with a spoon.

over the next few months the tomato will get a lot of air-play. it is after all the rosy-cheeked vegetable/fruit that is the summer season's star. we adore it when it enters our kitchens like an idol on the red carpet, to autograph our dishes with a flashy talent . . . sometimes dramatic, at other times animated. the tomato is famous at the table.

equally revered in my kitchen is the pineapple: king of the fruit kingdom. his royal highness travels well from the tropics to crown a plate with juicy-sugary-majesty. and i am enamored with this pineapple salsa because it understudies brilliantly for tomato salsa, well deserved of an ovation. i have even served the two salsas side by side to dazzle with their contrasts and similarities.

the first time i had a version of this salsa was at roy yamaguchi's restaurant on the island of oahu. it was served with grilled swordfish but the pineapple salsa stole the spotlight, eclipsing the plate with bright, spicy, citrus overtones. i later had a similar dish at a mexican restaurant in nyc that included the distinct flavor of cumin. both times i wanted more to eat with a spoon.

ingredients

• about 1/2 of a fresh pineapple chopped into small pieces

• minced red onion

• minced orange bell pepper

• 1 large jalapeno, minced

• juice of one lime

• minced cilantro

• cumin and salt
• accompany with chunks of avocado

mix, cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours to let the flavors mature. serve as an appetizer with chips, as a relish for vegetarian tacos, or for chicken, fish, or meat. it also pairs perfectly with anything barbecued.

asparagus, carrot and mushroom salad

2010-06-03T08:30:00.007-04:00

our bodies should come with repair manuals . . . we all have a few achy-breaky little bothers that require maintenance, fine-tuning, and maybe the need for a jump-start now and then. one person's foot pain, is another person's allergy to nuts, is another person's need for nine hours of sleep instead of just eight.
if i was reading ahead i'd see a new chapter in my manual, "how to stay fit after 50". it would include, i'm sorry to say, a few pages on eating less pasta, bread, and potatoes which is more than just a little aggravation for me, it's a down right pain. i am a glutton for starch, salt and fat. my taste buds consider a bowl of pasta with butter and cheese the food of the gods, but my waist line can no longer be maintained on that kind of menu. luckily, i'm not a big sweets-eater or there'd also be pages and pages about the trouble with eating cookies, cake, and ice cream.

in an effort to follow ms. marguet's body manual, i created this cooked salad of asparagus, carrots, mushrooms and leeks. i'm finding that leafy salads aren't substantial enough to satisfy my hunger, and lettuce is becoming a little boring. i served this salad with a skinny slice of brie and one slice of whole wheat baguette . . . years ago i would have eaten the whole thing.

ingredients

• one bunch of asparagus, woody stems snapped off

• several carrots, cut into 2-3" sections

• small crimini mushrooms

• two leeks, sliced lengthwise and then cross wise

• balsamic vinegar

• olive oil

directions

1. steam the asparagus and carrots just until they start to soften. drain and let cool.

2. sauté the leeks in a tablespoon of olive oil until they start to brown, then add the mushrooms and stir until they release their juices. sprinkle with salt and pepper

3. allow the leeks and mushrooms to cool and whisk together a few tablespoons of the vinegar and about 1/4 cup of olive oil.

4. layer the asparagus and carrots on a plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and i intended to add fresh dill but forgot . . . i think it would be a good addition.

5. add the leeks and mushrooms to the plate and drizzle it with the vinaigrette.

party pizzas

2010-05-28T11:23:00.012-04:00

after 50 years on the planet i finally met up with the meaning of life. it's simple really. nothing at all earth shattering, and it's there everyday in the smallest acts of kindness between friends. okay, so what is my purpose for being here?

it's meeting a stranger who will become my friend.

relating to them over time.

laughing with them.

agonizing over their sorrow as if it is my own.

eating together.

putting them first to make them feel good.

being true to them.

sending notes with words that can only be written for them.

accepting their help.

texting to let them know i am thinking about them.

them texting me and signing off: xoxo

just thinking about them and smiling.

i found my answer to the philosophical question of life standing on our deck with 40 or so friends we invited in for pizza and live music to celebrate my birthday. one of them, benjie, is the band leader and just for my party, he selected songs about food and wine and called the group beignet and the jets. after we ate, the music and friendship filled up the night sky and i felt the sweet-hot center of life that rained down on us as we grooved together. jim and a few friends sang, and i even sang one song . . . with no stage fright . . . and then the cops came and made us shut off the amps. now that's a celebration.

what do you feed a crowd of people who define the meaning of life to you? i made patty cake pizzas weeks ahead and then froze them to serve at my birthday party.

this is the menu of food i served and the party songs about food.

patty-cake pizza dough recipe

• 1 cup of ripe natural bread starter

• 1 cup of water

• a few tablespoons of olive oil

• ground dried oregano

• several dashed of kosher salt

• 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour

• enough king arthur all-purpose flour to form a smooth, slightly tacky dough

directions

1. knead the dough on a floured counter for about 7-8 min. until it is soft and airy.

2. rub olive oil in a large glass bowl and put the dough into it, drizzle the top with more oil, and cover it with plastic wrap. refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

3. allow the dough to come up to room temperature and then cut it into 10 small pieces.
4. press the dough pieces to about 7 x 8" rectangles that fit into gallon sized freezer bags.
5. pre-bake them on a pizza stone at 400 degrees just until they set but are still pliable.
6. layer on cooked aromatics, vegetables, meats, and cheeses. finish them off with a dusting of grated parmesan cheese and cracked pepper.

7. stack 4 or 5 with waxed paper between them and freeze them.

8. let them come up to room temperature and then bake them at 400 degrees until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted and sizzling. serve topped with micro greens and tomato and olive salad skewers.

before freezing them, i spread pesto on some of the pre-baked crusts, fresh crimini mushrooms, and gorgonzola cheese . . . on others i drizzled olive oil, roasted russet potatoes, steamed green beans, provolone and parmesan cheeses.

i used a spoon and ate up every morsel of the night my friends gave me the meaning of life.

strozzapreti

2010-05-23T11:01:00.010-04:00

strangle some dough to make a hearty pasta that will support a chunky vegetable sauce or one made with sausage.

i read a recent review of the "encyclopedia of pasta" in the new york times that got me interested in making strozzapreti, a short-tubular pasta that's hearty enough to support a meat or pork based sauce. by coincidence, last sunday when i asked jim what he wanted for dinner he gave me a plead for pasta with sausage . . . really, sometimes it just seems like my reason for being here is to answer his prayers for dinner.

strozzapreti translates from italian to mean "priest choker" . . . leave it to the italians to drum-up-the-drama even when it comes to naming their food. one legend behind the name is that gluttonous priests with voracious appetites for the heavenly dish, ate too quickly and choked on it. another is that the housewives who "choked" the pasta strips to make the strozzapreti, were miserable with the difficulties of life and became angry enough to strangle a priest. i must confess, i too have thought about strangling a priest or two on those hungry sunday mornings of my youth when a sermon went on and on, and kept us from getting to the breakfast table.

to make strozzapreti, roll the pasta dough into a paper-thin sheet and then score it with a knife into 1" wide strips that are about 3-4" long.

wrap the strips around a skewer and get out your frustrations by choking them to make irregular shaped tubes.

serve strozzapreti with a chunky vegetable sauce, or one made with meat or sausages. jim said the dish i served him with sausage, peppers and olives was simply sinful.

pan sauces

2010-05-15T12:00:00.006-04:00

use the fond (those little seared bits at the bottom of the pan) and some white wine to make a silky-rich reduction sauce.

i have a steely-love for my pots and pans. i can never really settle in for the evening until i have hand washed them and hung them up to dry. it's not like i have beaucoups, or as we said on the farm, "boo-coo", or that any, except for my 12" all-clad skillet, cost more than a few nickels. but these six or seven nuggets of copper, stainless and cast iron tell the story of my 25-year-history with jim as well as any of our photos do, and the memorable album of meals from these pans are a treasure.

when the kitchen windows are open, sometimes a breeze clangs my pots and pans together like wind chimes, and the sound makes me smile.

these pots and pans taught me to sauté, sear, braise, and blacken. they taught me how not to burn garlic, or butter, or a bechamel sauce . . .

. . . and with them i learned to finish my dishes with the shiny-polish of a pan sauce that has the added benefit of practically cleaning the cooking surface with just a wipe of the dish cloth.

a deglazed pan pratically cleans itself.

basic pan sauce ingredients

• 3-4 tablespoons of minced shallots or 1-2 tablespoons of minced garlic

• 1/2 cup of dry wine (red or white depending on the fond source)

• 1/2 cup of broth (beef, chicken, fish, or vegetable)

• fresh herbs

• several tablespoons of butter

directions

1. set the seared meat, chicken, fish, or tofu off on a plate to rest.

2. you may need to add a little olive oil before adding the aromatics to cook them until soft- don't let the fond scorch.

3. add the wine and broth to deglaze the pan.

4. add the fresh herbs and simmer until the liquid is reduced and slightly thickened.

5. whisk in the butter and taste for salt.

6. plate the protein with a starch and some vegetables and drizzle it with the pan sauce.

tomato salad skewers

2010-05-11T11:06:00.007-04:00

serve marinated grape tomatoes and olives as the salad for a dinner party that's all pick-up food.

if you've read my posts for pizza then you already know that i don't make it with tomato sauce. i might put roasted tomatoes on my pies, or tomato pesto, or just serve tomatoes on the side. but, i think tomato sauce ruins the crispiness of the crust, and i prefer it less like bread and more like a cracker. i came up with these skewers to serve as the salad-go-with for a dinner party that was all pick-up food, and the feature was pizza . . . some with roasted potatoes and green beans, some with caramelized onions, gorgonzola and chicken, and a few other types all topped with baby arugula, but sans tomato.
the bright surprise with these skewers is the zingy-whiff of vinaigrette when you pick one up. then the soft coat of olive oil on your tongue before the crunch into tomato flesh and the mild-salty-tang of the olives. and the herbs resonate around the flavors and vapors to amplify their earthiness. i think these skewers would also go well with brie and bread as an appetizer.

ask to taste different varieties of small olives at the olive counter because mild-to-medium-not-too-salty ones make a good balance to the sweet tomatoes in this salad. to make the vinaigrette i don't use measuring spoons but add squirts, dashes, and pinches of herbs a little at a time until the taste is right. so these measurements are approximate, adjust according to how you like it.

ingredients

• grape tomatoes

• small, mild green and black olives
• 1-2 tablespoons of dry white wine
• 1-2 tablespoons of white balsamic pear vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• ground rosemary and thyme

directions

1. skewer a grape tomato between a green olive and a black olive.
2. put the wine, vinegar, and herbs in a small mixing bowl and gradually whisk in enough olive oil until the mixture is emulsified.
3. stand the skewers up in a large glass or lean them against the edge of a shallow bowl to keep the pick-up ends dry.
4. pour the vinaigrette over the tomatoes and olives and let them stand about an hour.
5. to serve, lay the skewers on a plate and re-pour the vinaigrette over them. garnish with fresh herbs.