Eat Like a Leach

Parsnip Soup (for a Soup Swap!)

2011-01-24T10:36:00.003-06:00

Sunday was so much fun!! I was inspired by my sister's story on NPR and decided to host a soup swap here where nearly 100 quarts of soup were on hand to be shared and traded. In a nutshell, a soup swap is when everyone makes a big pot of soup, freezes it into one quart portions, then meets up to tell stories and take turns selecting different soups to bring home. Knowing our freezers would soon be filled with yummy homemade soups, we also pulled some canned good out of our pantries and collectively filled three boxes which are being donated to a local food pantry.

I spent some time thinking about what I would bring to the party, and ultimately decided to make parsnip soup because it is a favorite of mine and the kids, and I like telling the story of the first time I tried it.

The story: Five years ago Jim and I escaped (without toddler Spencer) to Vegas for a few days in December. We were having dinner at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in the Venetian, and shortly after we were seated, the table next to us received their food which included a bowl of delicious-looking soup. My mind was decided in that instant I wanted a bowl of soup too. I scanned the menu for their different soups, and noticed there was exactly one listed: parsnip soup. Parsnip soup? I had never had parsnip soup before. Actually, I had never even eaten parsnips before. I went back and forth in my head for a bit - really wanting a bowl of soup, and being wholly unsure of parnsips. Ultimately, I decided that this was a great restaurant and I trusted that they would be serving me a great bowl of (parsnip!) soup.

Guess what - the soup totally rocked! After returning home, I wanted to make it myself and couldn't find the recipe online. Luckily, the nice folks at wolfgangpuck.com replied to my email and sent it to me.

So, my hope is that making this soup for the swap and sharing this story might help someone else discover the awesomeness of parsnip soup!

Parnsip Soup
from Wolfgang Puck's Postrio Restaurant

INGREDIENTS:
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and rough diced (or one large onion)
2 stalks celery, cut to 1” lengths
6 cups parsnips, peeled and cut to 1” cubes (will be rough)
1 ea potato, peeled and cut into four quarters
1 ½ ea granny smith apples, peeled and diced to 1” (rough)
8-12 cups chicken stock
1 ½ cups heavy cream
12 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together tightly with string
2 tsp lemon juice
salt
white pepper

DIRECTIONS:
- In a medium sized soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, season well with salt, and sweat on medium heat until translucent (about 5 minutes). Do not brown the onion. Add the celery and cook for 3 more minutes.

- In a separate pot, bring the chicken stock to a boil and reduce heat to just a high simmer.

- Add the parsnips to the onions and stir well. Continue to cook for two minutes. Add enough hot chicken stock to cover the vegetables. Add the potato, apples, and thyme.

- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low boil, and cook uncovered until vegetables are very soft, about 50 minutes. You may need to add stock during the cooking time, but do so just that the vegetables are covered. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

- Add the cream and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the thyme. Puree the soup in batches in a blender. ALWAYS BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN PUREEING HOT LIQUIDS. Use the lid on the blender. When pureeing, fill the blender cup only 2/3 full, as the soup will be thick and you will need room to add more stock. If the soup is very thick in the blender, turn it off, add a little hot stock, cover and puree.

- Position a strainer over a clean soup pot and pour directly from the blender into the strainer. Push the soup through the strainer with a ladle.

- Place soup back over very low heat on the stove. Adjust consistency of the soup with chicken stock. Add the lemon juice and season finally to taste with salt and pepper. The soup is ready to serve, or can be chilled in an icebath and kept for up to 3 days.

- Serve soup in warm bowls. Drizzle lightly with lemon thyme oil, and sprinkle with thyme leaves.

Lemon-Thyme Oil
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
zest of half a lemon
12 sprigs fresh thyme
- Combine ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat to just hot to the touch (DO NOT BOIL), remove from heat and allow to steep for 1 hour. Strain and reserve oil. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Butter Tarts

2010-12-19T23:10:00.001-06:00

Last night was a bit unbelievable. But, the story starts at the beginning of the week. Knowing we had this party to attend on Saturday evening, I started thinking of what food I might make to bring. I was watching a(nother) recorded episode of "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" which showed chefs making their very favorite item for the holidays. One chef was making butter tarts, which I had never heard of before, but how could something called a butter tart be anything but great, right? I watched him make dough with lots of butter, and a filling of brown sugar, raisins and more butter. Sold!

Immediately I thought "I need to make these!" and then quickly remembered the upcoming party. Perfect! Because any recipe that uses nearly a pound of butter should definitely be shared with friends, and preferably brought to someone else's house to avoid eating all the leftovers!

We arrived at the party on Saturday evening with an over-sized platter of warm tarts. As I found a place to set the tray down, I explained that these were call butter tarts and that I learned about them from watching a tv show earlier in the week.

Now, here's where things took a turn for the unbelievable. The guys at the party knew what they were! See, the party was full of hockey friends, many of whom are Canadian. And, apparently butter tarts are traditional Canadian treat!! Crazy. What are the odds of randomly picking a brand new recipe to try out for a party, and it turns out to be a favorite of the host and their guests?

Butter Tarts
Inspired by Beau MacMillan's Carmelized Butter Tarts

Dough
Chez Pim's perfect pie dough
Since I can't do a better job of blogging the 'how to' than Pim already has, use her site for a perfect pie crust tutorial to see how simple ingredients with a straightforward technique can yield an unbelievable crust.

Filling
1/3 Cup butter
1 Cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 egg
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla

Divide dough into 18 pieces and press into tart pans. Put pans with dough in the fridge until ready to fill.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cover raisins with hot water and let stand. Melt the butter, brown sugar and milk in saucepan and stir until the sugar starts to dissolve. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool. Add vanilla, whisk in the egg and (drained) raisins.

Divide the filling among the tarts and bake until bubbly, about 25 minutes.

*Some notes- I used muffin pans, doubled the filling recipe above, and divided the dough into 24 pieces. I also par-baked the crust, which I would not do again, as some of the filling seeped out and practically cemented itself to the bake sheet. With that thought, I checked other recipes and discovered that some cream the butter & brown sugar instead of melting it on the stovetop, so that might help keep things in place next time. And there *will* be a next time.

Green Tomato Pickles

2010-12-09T22:38:00.002-06:00

I haven't eaten a pickled green tomato in at least 20 years. Growing up, I separated the delicatessens into two categories - ones that offered killer kosher pickles while you waited for your food, and ones that offered killer kosher pickles AND tomato pickles. Sadly, down here in TX, the only time I've seen a green tomato in a restaurant was a fried offering on a menu. (A confession: I thought Fried Green Tomatoes was something created for the movie.)

Last month our CSA delivered green tomatoes and I gave our share to a friend who was excited to fry them up. The following week more tomatoes came, and another friend wanted to make fried green tomatoes. (Another confession: I have actually tried fried green tomatoes and they are pretty tasty!) The CSA kept sending more green tomatoes each week, and I suddenly remembered I could make pickles out of them! That week I called dibs.

I went to my recipe I use for pickling daikon (one of Charlotte's absolute favorite things - "more pickled radish please!") which uses apple cider vinegar and a mix of pickling spices. But, after running out of vinegar and breaking a jar while processing the first batch, I went to the store to load up on plain old white vinegar and dill seed so I could follow Marisa's pickled tomato advice. Ironically, she published a post about breaking jars about 5 minutes after I had blown the bottom out of mine. Side note: I've never bought dill seed before but I *must* find something else to make with them - they smell fantastic! Side note #2: I don't actually know Marisa, but my sister does so I'm taking that license to use her first name in my post.

And, I can't believe I haven't eaten a green tomato pickle in 20 years. Yes, that is present tense. Because they guys were just jarred yesterday, so I've got to wait at least a week before breaking the seal. Just to tease me, the recorded show I chose to watch off the DVR this evening was an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate. And as I watched Michael Psilakis talk about his favorite garlicky sandwich from Katz's Deli, I paused the screen as he was about to take a bite and sure enough there were pickles AND pickled tomatoes sitting on his plate.

Green Tomato Pickles

Adapted from Food in Jars

Ingredients:

3 lbs green tomatoes

2 C white vinegar

2 C water

2 Tablespoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon dill seed

10 whole garlic cloves

Equipment:

5 pint mason jars

canning supplies

1. Make brine of vinegar, water & salt. Heat to simmer and salt dissolves.

2. Wash green tomatoes and cut in wedges.

3. Sterilize jars and in each hot jar use clean hands to carefully place tomato wedges, two garlic cloves and 1/2 teaspoon dill seed. (Marisa added whole peppercorns and bay leaves - I intentionally omitted the bay, but complete forgot about peppercorn.)

4. Simmer lids, pour hot brine on top of tomatoes, apply warmed lids and screw on bands.

5. Process jars in boiling water for 10 minutes.

6. Remove and place on a dish towel or cooling rack. Let cool completely and ensure jars have sealed before storing in the pantry. If one doesn't seal, put it in the fridge instead.

7. Wait at least a week, or up to a year.

Strozzapreti (Ricotta dumplings)

2010-08-26T15:23:00.000-05:00

My sister and I live nearly 2000 miles apart. We usually only see each other once or twice a year, and in the weeks leading up to these visits there is a flurry of email to discuss food. We like to eat out for a couple of meals, and I introduce her to something new (or new to me) in Houston's awesome restaurant scene. And we make sure to visit a local favorite. But, most of the email discussion centers around what we will cook together in the kitchen. We scour our lists of receipes we want to try that are labor-intensive (note to self to update this with a link when I finally get around to blogging more cooking from our visit) or ones that are simply more fun with another pair of hands in the kitchen. Or, something eye-catching that we decide to try together.

The inspiration for this was something I saw while watching Iron Chef America. Though their uber-creative offerings are usually not for the home cook, I was captivated by a ricotta dumpling that was presented as part of one of the courses. A ravioli filling without dough - how perfect! But first, we had to find a recipe and turned to the web. We discovered that not only have plenty of other people made ricotta dumplings out there, but it even has a name - strozzapreti - which litterally means 'priest choker.' Thank goodness for a wikipedia entry and all of the bizarre content it contains. Some recipes referred to these as gnudi. Many contained chopped cooked spinach, but I was set on re-creating some fluffy, white clouds.

We made the ricotta (check out pics from this ziti casserole with fresh ricotta!) and an amazing tomato-onion-butter sauce to nestle them in (do click this link, you won't be sorry!) Who know blending those three simple ingredients could be so awesome? The sauce recipe calls for removing the onion at the end of the cooking process and after putting them aside on a plate, they wound up getting eaten with our fingers before ever reaching the table. I honestly can't remember the exact recipe we used (this is when being a lazy blogger comes back to bite me) so feel free to change things up.

Strozzapreti
Adapted from Food52

2 cups fresh ricotta (or fresh ricotta made from 1 gallon of milk)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
2 eggs
5 tablespoons flour sifted
nutmeg
salt
black pepper

If using purchased ricotta, drain for 1/2 hour so it looses the excess water.

Lightly beat the 2 eggs. In a bowl add the ricotta, eggs, sifted flour, 2 tablespoons of parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg freshly grated and use a fork to fold the ingredients gently. Taste for seasoning.

Line a tray with parchment paper.

Lightly dust your hands with flour and make little balls 1 inch diameter, using a teaspoon to help measuring the strozzapreti. Put the strozzapreti on the parchment paper as you go along leaving some space in between each. At this point you can refrigerate them until it's time to cook them (or even freeze them.)

In a large pot, bring water with a little salt to a boil and as soon as it reaches boiling point drop a few dumplings at a time. As soon as they float up remove them with a strainer and put in the serving plate where you have put half the hot melted butter. Finish cooking all the dumplings, serve with Hazan's tomato sauce and emaining parmesan cheese.

Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes

2010-06-24T10:49:00.002-05:00

This is, hands-down, the perfect quick summer meal. Spencer's been asking for pesto pasta for several days, and was all smiles last night upon discovering it had made on our dinner menu. I made an impulse purchase at the store and picked up a pint of the most beautiful assortment of adorable organic heirloom tomatoes. Do other people make impulse buys like this??

I do not have a green thumb. This is the second year in a row I purchased a few basic vegetables and herbs for our garden, and have very little to show for it. Last year we watched peppers form and grow, and then get eaten by birds and critters. We're watching a repeat performance this year as tomatoes change from green to orange to red, and then discover a big hole eaten into the backside. Very, very discouraging. But, luckily, there is one exception.

Basil. Ah basil. It seems that each year the basil plant is something that can't help but thrive. And, it (almost) makes up for the lack of productivity of the other plants. Because nothing more delicious, and easy, than freshly-made pesto. I am told that it freezes excellently, but I can't seem to keep from eating it all up during the summertime.

A couple tips about making pesto that I have learned from mistakes. Make sure you have LOTS of basil. Pesto is about basil flavor. I have screwed up in the past by adding too many nuts. It should be mostly basil, a bunch of cheese, a sprinkling of nuts, garlic to taste, and oil to your desired consistency. And, to prevent it from oxidizing and discoloring in the fridge if you're not using it all right away, float a small quantity of olive oil over the top.

Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes

1/2 lb pasta
1 pint small tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/2 - 3/4 Cup, or more, pesto
- fresh basil
- grated parmesan cheese
- pine nuts
- fresh garlic
- olive oil
- salt & pepper

Put a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil for pasta, and cook according to directions. Reserve 1/2 Cup pasta water.
Fill food processor with washed & dried basil leaves. Add a generous amount of cheese, some pine nuts, a few fresh garlic cloves, salt & pepper and some olive oil. Pulse a few times, then add additional olive oil as needed for desired consistency. If not using right away, leave it a bit on the thick side. Scoop pesto into a dish, smooth out the surface, and pour some olive oil evenly over the top.
Toss hot pasta with pesto to coat, thinning with reserved pasta water if desired. Gently mix in tomatoes. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold.

Granola

2010-06-21T13:21:00.001-05:00

Happy Summer Solstice! While the (ridiculously) warm weather has been upon us for a while now, summer is officially here! In the cooler months I like to make sure the kids have a hot breakfast before heading off to school, but that doesn't sound as appealing when the temps are over 80°F before 8:00 am. Like today. Seriously. Fortunately, the kids are in agreement with me that cool yogurt is the perfect way to start these steamy days, and home-made granola is the perfect mix in. And, if you haven't used up all your home-made jam on some pannukakku, definitely add some of that in too.

My hero Alton Brown shared his favorite recipe for granola, which quickly became our favorite recipe around here. Prepackaged granola is pricey, but organic rolled oats from the bulk bin are decidedly inexpensive. And, the part of me which needs to be in control (um, which admittedly is all of me) likes knowing (controlling) exactly what goes into the food which goes into our bodies.

I recently watched an episode of Diners, Drive Ins & Dives that featured granola pancakes, with the granola mixed into the batter! Looked delish. Anyone have a good recipe to convert this tasty home-made granola into a pancake??

Granola

Adapated from Alton Brown

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats
2 cups sliced or slivered almonds
3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250° F.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans, lined with silpat. Cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or longer, rotating pans and stirring every 20 minutes to achieve an even color.
Remove from oven, allow to cool thoroughly and transfer to an airtight container for storage.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2010-06-17T12:11:00.000-05:00

First, an admission that I don't like zucchini. I'm friendly with most vegetables out there, but not the summer squashes. I recall the first time I had zucchini bread as a child. I wasn't told what it was beforehand, and found it to be delicious! I especially enjoyed the long strings of what I thought were pieces of shredded coconut scattered throughout. Upon finishing, I was told what was really in it, but honestly I didn't believe that to be the truth. I did not like zucchini, but I definitely enjoyed that dessert.

Now that our family has joined a CSA, we get local veggies delivered each week. And with the summer season upon us, that means the omnipresent zucchini have arrived. I politely decline my portion of the share for this vegetable week after week. But last time I decided to take a single (albeit giant) zucchini from among the plethora of cucurbits in our haul.

I thought I'd make zucchini bread, and quickly found what is by far & away the most highly rated recipe for zucchini bread on foodnetwork.com. But it has three cups of sugar (ack!) and two cups of zucchini. My single zucchini would yield far more than that, and I did not want any leftover. I mentioned this situation to my sister who wisely suggested "you should totally make the chocolate zucchini cake from The Baker's Cafe Cookbook." Most folks have had zucchini bread at some point, but how about a chocolate zucchini cake? Here's the kicker - it has less sugar (two cups) and more zucchini (three cups.) I'm guessing because of the chocolate it doesn't need to be so sweet? I dunno, I'm just making things up here. But what I do know is that it is awesome. And so are the rest of the recipes in this cookbook. I routinely make The Baker's Cafe's Oatmeal Cake for dessert when bringing a meal for friends who just had a baby. That recipe alone (conveniently located on the opposing page to the Chocolate Zucchini Cake) is totally worth the price of buying this cookbook.

So, when you see your local farmers markets teeming with fresh zucchini this summer, remember this cake. And that it freezes well too.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
As printed in The Baker's Cafe Cookbook

4 eggs
2 Cups sugar
1 1/4 Cups (canola) oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 1/2 Cups flour
1/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa (good quality, such as Droste)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 Cups grated fresh zucchini (let drain for an hour, I have increased this quantity up to four cups, or whatever one shredded zucchini yields.)
1 Cup of chopped walnuts (or more if you like nuts)

Use mixer to combine eggs, sugar and oil. Blend in vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend. Fold in zucchini. Do not over mix. Stir in nuts.

Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean (this was 60 minutes for me.)

Cool in pan for 20 minutes, then invert on a plate.

Frost cooled cake with Cream Cheese Frosting: (This makes a lot, I reduce the amounts by 1/4)

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup + 2 Tablespoons confectioner's sugar, sifted

Use mixer to blend cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and sugar and beat until very smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake. Optional: garnish with additional chopped walnuts.

Key Lime Pie

2010-06-14T11:40:00.003-05:00

Did everyone else out there know that key lime pie contains shockingly few ingredients? And, that a 6 year-old can do practically all of the work for you? And, you can teach him a cool chemistry lesson along the way? What dessert could be more perfect?

I attempted this dessert for the first time when a neighbor dropped off half a bag of key limes as they were headed out of town for an extended trip. (Are key limes used for anything besides making pie?) She kindly lent us her lime squeezer as well, so we were all set. I turned to the web to research the 'best key lime pie recipe' and discovered something shocking - they are all almost identical. Which, when you consider the chemistry involved, isn't that shocking. Though, I confess the first all-nighter I ever pulled in college was trying to make sense of results from a chemistry lab experiment, so admittedly it's not my strong suit.

Back to how simple this is. First, give your 6 year-old a bag of key limes and have him zest the skins (with repeated instructions to 'stop when you see white.') He'll skin a knuckle and ask for a band aid. After he skins a second knuckle you'll probably have enough zest and can let him stop.

Then, after halving the limes, let him use the squeezer to get a measured amount of juice. Yes, there will be a lot on the table and down his arms. Luckily, one bag of key limes contains more than twice as many are needed.

Let him slowly stir as the filling ingredients are combined, and explain how the acid from the limes is reacting with the sugars in the condensed milk, and he'll be able to feel it thickening up. Tell him about your chemistry all-nighter in college. At age 6, the thought of staying up all night sounds unbelievably cool, and not the least bit painful.

While it sets up, give him a bag of graham crackers and a meat tenderizer. So far, I've still always had to transfer it back to the food processor to get fine enough crumbs for the crust, but the kid definitely gives it a good head start.

I don't bother with a topping, though either meringue (you'll have egg whites left over) or fresh whipped cream are encouraged. And, if you want to get fancy, you can sugar some thin slices of key lime for garnish.

Key Lime Pie
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, and numerous other sources

Filling:
Several teaspoons of key lime zest
1/2 Cup freshly squeezed juice from key limes
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 or 4 egg yolks (we get farm eggs, so sizes are inconsistent, and so were the recipes found on the web anyhow)

Crust:
1 Cup graham cracker crumbs
4 Tablespoons melted butter, cooled a bit
3 Tablespoons sugar

Directions:

Zest the key limes, then halve and squeeze enough to yield 1/2 Cup of juice.
Whisk the zest with egg yolks for a couple of minutes until light. Add the sweetened condensed milk, and then the key lime juice. Mix until combined, you'll feel it thickening immediately, then set aside for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, pound graham crackers, or skip this and put them in the food processor. Any box of graham crackers will have a recipe on the back to tell you how many of their whole crackers should be used to make a graham cracker crust. Feel free to follow their guidelines instead of these proportions. Some recipes call for maple syrup, but I like the crunch of sugar for this. Add the sugar, drizzle in the melted butter and pulse to combine.
Press the crumbs onto the bottoms and up the sides of a 9" pie plate, and put the empty crust in a 325 oven for ~15 minutes, which should be exactly how much time you have left to wait on the filling.
Remove crust from the oven (let cool a bit if you have time remaining) then pour in filling and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
Let cool on a wire rack and then refrigerate for several hours, or overnight. It's fine to keep it covered or uncovered.

Summer Couscous Salad

2010-06-10T13:58:00.000-05:00

In Houston, it's already been in excess of 90°F on a daily basis for a while now. Summer is here. Which means time for lots of visits with friends and relaxing by the pool. And eating. As someone who has trouble planning a weekly meals, or even a daily menu, I recognize that this approach of 'winging it' definitely doesn't cut it for entertaining larger numbers of people. Sure, the kids and I do just fine for a weeknight dinner pulled together from random assortment of staples from the fridge and pantry. So, summertime means I am forced to do some meal planning.

This couscous salad is one of my favorites. It's great as a light lunch for a small group, either by itself or on top of some salad greens. It a great salad to add to a buffet of summer salads. And, if bbq meats are on the menu, as is often the case during summertime, feel free to omit the chicken from this one. It's served cold, but still tastes fine at room temp. We're ready for the heat!

Summer Couscous Salad
Adapted from Sandra Lee, via Stephanie Kreml

1 1/4 Cup whole wheat couscous (bulk section of grocery store)
2 1/2 Cups chicken broth and/or water
1 12 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts, drain and reserve 1/4 Cup of liquid
1 1/2 Cup red cherry tomatoes
1 orange bell pepper
3 scallions, thinly sliced on a diagonal
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 large English cucumber, diced
2 cooked chicken breasts, diced (leftover rotisserie works great)
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 Cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Put broth and/or water on stove to boil. While waiting, begin to cut up vegetables and chicken and place in a large bowl. Add couscous to boiling liquid, remove from heat and cover for five minutes. Finish preparing remaining veggies. After 5 minutes, uncover couscous and fluff with a fork. Transfer the couscous to the large bowl with the veggies and chicken and toss gently.

Create dressing by whicking together reserved liquid from marinated artichoke, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour over the couscous mixture and toss gently to distribute dressing.

Pannukakku (Finnish oven-baked pancake)

2010-06-07T15:35:00.003-05:00

Though not even halfway through, 2010 can already be defined by a few significant events in my life. Most impactful is the fact that Jim accepted a job out of state, but that will happily soon transition to a job back here and we are anxiously awaiting his move home. Towards the end of last year our family began enjoying a tradition of eating foods from different countries Jim visited for work, but 2010 is the year we discovered pannukakku from our Finnish friends right here in Houston.

The inspiration for making this the first time (yes, we've had it twice now, and I have no good excuse for not blogging about it earlier) was strawberry season. After spending the morning together with my friend Rebecca picking strawberries with our kids, we returned here to make jam. Luckily, Charlotte (mostly) waited until after we paid to dive in to what we picked.

Part way through the jamming processes, Rebecca thought out loud "Do you know what is a great way to eat fresh jam? Spoon some on to pannukakku!" Since my kids love all breakfast carbs, and pannukakku was described as an 'oven-baked pancake' there was no way this wouldn't be a hit. She called her husband for a reminder of the recipe, then a little math ensued (did we have enough deciliters of milk, or did we need to buy more?) and finally we were rewarded with the golden goodness.

A couple pics of the finished product from strawberry and blackberry jam sessions - yum!!

Yes, the kids help picking and mashing. Ironically, I had to go out to ebay to buy a vintage Foley food mill, exactly the same one my mom had growing up that I remember her using to make applesauce. I'm sure the one I purchased is older than I am - if you're curious about that number, just ask Charlotte how old she is, and she'll be sure to add how old her mommy is too.

OK, so fast-forwarding to this past weekend. Rebecca returned with her daughter, and again we took the kids outside of the Houston city limits to pick blackberries. And we made more jam. Lots more jam. About twice as much as we had made a couple months earlier. Mmmm - blackberry jam! We had been originally planning to eat the fresh blackberries with sweet cream, but instead decided to make more pannukakku that could be covered with blackberry jam AND sweet cream. A-ma-zing!

Last time we also ate the pannukakku with savory topping of lox and dill, but warm pannukakku with warm, not-quite-fully-set jam is one of Spencer's all time favorites.

Pannukakku
Adapted by Rebecca Rautio, from the classic Finnish cookbook Kotiruoka (Home Cooking) via her Finnish mother-in-law.

3 eggs
3 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
toppings of choice (jam, cheese, smoked fish)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a jelly-roll pan (or similar pan with a thick rim) with overhanging parchment paper, if you have, and grease the parchment paper. Otherwise grease the pan liberally.

Beat the eggs for several minutes, until thick and light. Mix together the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, and then mix into the pannukakku. Let the batter rest 10 minutes, then pour into the prepared sheet pan. Bake 30 minutes, until fluffy and lightly golden in some spots. Cut into squares while still warm, and serve.

Asparagus, Peas & Penne

2010-04-07T11:58:00.000-05:00

Springtime! Asparagus season! The conclusion of Passover! All of these thoughts were swimming around my head yesterday as I tried to figure out a menu for dinner. "A big pasta feast" is what Spencer had announced, and we all agreed. I had purchased a few of pounds of asparagus a day earlier with no special plan in mind. Am I the only one out there who buys excessive amounts of produce on impulse?

And no-so-coincidentally, I received an email with link to a Martha Stewart photo slideshow with dozens of asparagus recipes. No disrespect to Julia Child, but forget about the Julie & Julia blog, I could spend the next months and a half making each of these recipes. Camembert & asparagus bread pudding, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, asparagus soup... (note to self: don't forget to make asparagus soup this month!) And then I spied a recipe for asparagus, peas and radishes with fresh tarragon I had made from an issue of Every Day Food a few years back. If you have never tried this combination of flavors, it's unbelievable. (Yes, I know, you don't see any fresh tarragon in the photo above. Oops.)

But, pasta was clearly to be the plan for the night. Inspired by the asparagus and pea combination, as well as another asparagus and pasta recipe in the slideshow, a very simple idea formed for dinner. Yum, yum, yum.

And, a little-known fact. When we were (older) kids, our family drove 70 miles one way to visit a pick-your-own asparagus farm. Seriously.

Asparagus, Peas & Penne
Inspired by a few Martha Stewart asparagus recipes

8-10 oz penne, or another short pasta
2 lbs fresh asparagus
1/2 lb frozen green peas
1/4 C chopped fresh tarragon
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
1/4 C shredded or shaved parmesan cheese

Bring large pot of salted water to boil and add penne. Set timer 3 minutes shorter than recommended cook time on box. Meanwhile, wash asparagus, trim off ends and cut into 1 1/2" lengths. When timer sounds, add asparagus to boiling pot of pasta and boil for two additional minutes. Add the frozen peas, return to boil, and allow to finish cooking for one more minute.

Reserve 1/2 C of pasta water before draining everything together. Don't worry about getting all of the water out while draining. Transfer to a bowl and toss with tarragon, olive oil and salt & pepper. Add some reserved pasta water, or not. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Artichoke Bottom Antipasti

2010-04-06T10:43:00.001-05:00

I don't really know what to call this. It's not my creation. I have to give props to Dee. I can cook, but I need a plan. A while back Dee hosted a weeknight dinner in her home (only hours after new kitchen appliances were installed - brave!) for a dozen hockey wives and we were treated to quite a feast. Everything was awesome. I left there learning that white bean bruschetta is amazing, and it has since been added to my party appetizer rotation. I also learned that preparing a simple 'salad' served in artichoke bottoms makes it worthy of a food blog entry.

Though the ladies' night was last year, I have to confess that I hadn't gotten around to making these until recently because I was a bit taken aback by the price of the bottoms at my favorite grocery store. But, Spencer's Sunday school took a field trip to a grocery store I usually avoid, for excessively high prices, where I discovered a reasonably-priced (Safeway) store brand of marinated artichoke bottoms. I grabbed two jars - labeled artichoke crowns - and was already anticipating the treat to accompany our meal that evening.

Since so many months had passed, I pulled the 'salad' components from memory. It can definitely be tinkered with depending on personal preference. The trick for presentation and mouth appeal is to cut everything in a very fine dice, about 1/8" cubes. This isn't really finger food (though our 2 1/2 year old has other opinions as she cups it with both hands) so I'd recommend serving as antipasti for a sit down meal, not for stand up appetizer.

Artichoke Bottom Antipasti
Inspired by Dee Paradine

1 12 oz jar marinated artichoke bottoms (approx. 8)
1/4 C finely diced celery hearts
1/4 C finely diced English (seedless) cucumber
1/4 C finely diced roasted red pepper
1/4 C finely diced tomato
A few tablespoons Italian salad dressing, or oil & vinegar
Salt & pepper

Dice all veggies and toss together in a bowl with salad dressing, or oil and vinegar, and season with salt and pepper to taste. If you are making this in advance, put salad in a small container in the fridge until ready. To serve, arrange artichoke bottoms on a serving plate and fill with salad.

Scallops and Pasta

2010-03-25T15:21:00.002-05:00

I have a new infatuation. I've known about The Pioneer Woman for quite a while. Heck, I even have a printed copy of her Penne a la Betsy included in my Tastebook. And her cooking site held the answer when I needed to figure out what on earth to make with the load of turnips that showed up from the CSA last year (answer = turnip gratin!) But, I had never actually read anything on her blog that was not related to cooking. Until this week.

First a word of caution, don't start reading this unless you have an hour or two of uninterrupted time carved out. Because you won't want to stop. It's the real life story in blog form (to be published in a book next year, and already optioned for a movie!) of how she met her husband. I think this reading is probably for the ladies, but guys could definitely take some pointers on how to make your woman feel... special.

All of this has nothing to do with Scallops and Pasta. Except for the fact that I stumbled across this recipe when I was browsing around her site. And when I saw this I immediately craved it, even though I don't have a cast iron pan to make that beautiful sear. Then I went to my favorite grocery store they had giant sea scallops on sale. Score.

My kids and I love seafood. With a husband out of town (still) we are enjoying it more often than not these days. And yes, I cook like this for myself and two small kids on a Wednesday. We're worth it.

Scallops and Pasta
only slightly tweaked from Scallops 'n Pasta

1/3 lb pasta
1 lb (about 10-12) whole giant or jumbo sea scallops
1 Tablespoon oilve oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1 small onion, finely diced
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup white wine or stock (chicken or seafood)
a few tablespoons of parsley, chopped
freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper

1. Cook the pasta in salted water per the instructions on the box. Drain and set aside.

2. Dice onion and tomato. Chop parsely. Use paper towels to pat the scallops until they are very dry. (See picture above to find the one scallop which was not thoroughly dried.)Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

3. Heat a large frying pan or saute pan over high heat. When hot, swirl in the olive oil. Add the scallops to the pan, not touching so that they can sear properly. Cook for 2 minutes without touching then flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes until cooked through. Remove to a plate.

4. Turn the heat to low. Add the butter and the onion. Saute for 3-4 minutes then add the tomatoes.

5. Turn the heat to high and add in the white wine. Use spatula to scrape up bits in the bottom of the pan while it is bubbling. Add cooked pasta, throw in the parsley and stir well to let the sauce coat the pasta. Top with the seared scallops.

Black Bean Soup

2010-03-09T09:48:00.000-06:00

OK, I've confessed before that sometimes menu planning is driven by what is on sale at the grocery store, and when I see the price drop on red bell peppers I am reminded how much the kids and I enjoy black bean soup. It's the red bell pepper which seems to be the trigger, because the rest of the ingredients are almost always on hand. Another part of the delight is that it is a meal which encourages condiments - always a hit with little kids.

This is not a dish I had ever ordered at a restaurant before, nor had I ever even eaten it before trying it at mom's house a couple years back. Who knew that black bean soup was so delicious? OK, so maybe others out there already knew this, but it was news to me. Topped with shredded cheese, diced avocado, a squeeze of fresh lime juice and soy-flaxseed tortilla chips (another item I would have never tried on my own ) and it's true comfort food that is healthy and easy. So easy I had made the whole pot before realizing I hadn't taken any pictures. Oops.

Black Bean Soup
Closely followed from "Black Bean Stoup"

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 ribs celery with greens, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 bay leaf
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 (15-ounce) cans black beans
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
Salt and pepper
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable to make vegetarian)

Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil to the hot pot, then onion, celery, and garlic. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, then add red peppers and continue to cook. Drain and rinse 2 cans of beans, transfer to a flat-bottomed dish and mash with a potato masher (or fork.) Add mashed beans, plus one can of whole beans (with liquid) to the pot. Season with cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, then stock to achieve desired consistency (maybe be more or less than 2 cups.) Add bay leaf and bring soup to a bubble. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes over low heat. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Serve into bowls and add favorite toppings - fresh lime juice, diced avocado or guac, shredded cheese, torilla chips, sour cream...

Greek Orzo with Meatballs

2010-03-04T13:14:00.000-06:00

I've been cooking, and our family has been eating. And (most of the time) I remember to take pictures, but there seems to be a disconnect between that step and writing the blog. So, as I sit down at lunchtime, I thought I'd peek through the photo lying in wait, and start trying to catch up. Do I start with the oldest? The most recent? After browsing the albums, I knew I had to start with this one - yummy comfort food!

My sister shared the inspirational link for this dish. As soon as I saw it, I knew I'd be making it. Soon. I was planning to make Swedish meatballs during (Jim's) week in Sweden, but somehow I ended up making this Greek dish instead! So, the meatballs themselves I used in this dish were not the recipe from the link above. Nor were they a real Swedish meatball either. In fact, I'm not sure they were the right ones to accompany these flavors, so I would do something else next time. But, in the spirit of forging and succeeding in blogging during lunchtime, I don't want to delay sharing the secret to this deliciousness.

The way the orzo bakes in the broth (instead of cooking, then draining) is so wonderfully creamy, especially when combined with the cheese on top. This is definitely comfort food in my book. And, love the excuse to use my (no longer quite so) new pot!

Greek Orzo and Meatballs
Only slightly modified from Ivy's Feast

2 Tablespoons (Greek) olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 1/2 cups whole wheat orzo
4 cups (1 box) chicken broth
4 ounces creamy feta cheese, crumbled (for topping pasta last ten minutes of baking)
1 pound of ground meat made into meatball (use Ivy's or your favorite recipe)

Preheat oven to 350°. Heat the olive oil in enameled pot over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, and bell peppers and saute until onion is tender, 8 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano and dill, saute 20 seconds. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 1 minute. Take pan off of the heat and add the orzo and chicken broth. Stir to combine, cover, then transfer to oven and bake for 30 minutes.

While orzo is baking, make meatballs. Sautee on stove top until brown on all sides and cooked through.

After 30 minutes, remove pot from the oven and stir pasta gently. Add meatballs, pushing them into the pasta slightly. Then sprinkle with feta cheese and return to oven, continue to bake another 10 minutes until the sauce is bubbling. Let stand for 10 more minutes before serving, the pasta will absorb moisture as it cools

Simply Spiced Fried Chick Peas

2010-02-23T11:35:00.000-06:00

First a confession. I ate a whole batch of these in one sitting! They are wholly addictive! I'm not sure if the nutritional benefit of chick peas is completely offset by the fact that they are deep fried, but I'm going to cling to thinking that this is a healthy snack. I like to keep chickpeas around the house to make hummus - being allergic to sesame means I can't buy it already prepared at the store. But, I enjoy that so much I end up eating way too many pita chips. Sigh.

When I stumbled upon the inspiration for this snack, I was excited to have another use for the pimenton my sister had given to me as a gift a few years earlier. The first place I tried substituting it was in a Chicken Paprikas dish, and it was not a good idea. Waaay too overpowering when it was the primary spice. But, for this salty bar snack, the pimenton is perfect.

Simply Spiced Fried Chick Peas

Inspired by Smoky Fried Chick Peas

One 15 oz can chick peas, or equivalent amount of dried beans

1 Cup canola oil

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 - 2 teaspoons pimenton

1. Thoroughly rinse, drain and dry chick peas by setting over colander with paper towel for several hours, or overnight. If you are in a hurry, as I often am when the urge strikes to make this snack, spread chick peas in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in 250 oven for about 20 minutes.

2. Heat oil in small, deep sauce pot over medium high heat. Add a single chick pea to the oil as it heats up. When the chick pea begins to sizzle, you'll know the oil is at the right temperature.

3. Add half of the chick peas to the oil and fry for ~10 minutes. Keep a close eye to avoid burning. Remove (with a high temp safe utensil!) and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining chick peas.

4. Toss hot, drained chick peas with salt, pepper and pimenton. Share with friends if you can keep from eating them all yourself!

Chocolate Mousse

2010-02-18T11:45:00.002-06:00

Valentine's Day! Since the kids came along, my sweetie and I haven't been able to continue our tradition of dining out on Valentine's Day. So, in recent years we started having our indulgent meals at home with the family. And, of course, they must be finished with a decadent dessert. This year, that requirement was met by chocolate mousse.

I know there are those out there who will balk at making this recipe because it has raw eggs. Or, simply because the level of effort can be kind of a pain. But, it doesn't actually take that long - I think my husband occupied the kids for less than 1/2 hour which let me put the whole thing together, start to finish. And, I promise, this is well, well worth the results.

A few key pointers for those who are sold that the reward is worth the effort. First - you can make this with Baker's chocolate, but this is certainly one of those times when you can go ahead and splurge. Second - don't omit the coffee. We are not a coffee-drinking house, but a good lesson learned over the years is that almost all chocolate desserts are kicked up a notch with a small amount of coffee. For this, and other dessert applications, I keep a small box of instant coffee singles on hand.

The best part about making chocolate mousse this year? The oversight that Valentine's Day fell the day before my sweetie left town for work travel, and that I ended up with six portions left in the fridge the next morning. Clearly, one should not give that much chocolate, sugar & coffee to little kids when single-parenting, so I confess I over-indulged a bit. (And made one neighbor very happy.)

Chocolate Mousse
As adapted by David Lebovitz from Julia Child's recipe

6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup dark-brewed coffee
4 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup, plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum
1 tablespoon water
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Heat a saucepan one-third full with hot water, and in a bowl set on top, melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee, stirring over the barely simmering water, until smooth. Remove from heat.

2. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.

3. In a bowl large enough to nest securely on the saucepan of simmering water, whisk the yolks of the eggs with the 2/3 cup of sugar, rum, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is thick, like runny mayonnaise. (You can also use a handheld electric mixer.)

4. Remove from heat and place the bowl of whipped egg yolks within the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick, as shown in the photo above. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks.

5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff, then the vanilla.

6. Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don't overdo it or the mousse will lose volume.

7. Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or divide into serving dishes, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm. (May be kept in fridge up to 4 days, though it likely won't be around that long!)

Jansson's Temptation (or Jansson's Frestelse or Jansson's Kiusaus)

2010-02-02T22:26:00.000-06:00

I try to keep looking at the silver lining associated with my husband's ridiculous amount of work travel. Besides the obvious benefit of beaucoup frequent flyer miles, his exposure to new countries and cultures has translated in delicious learning experiences here at home. This week is his first time in Scandinavia, and my friends who are from/live there insisted that Jansson's Temptation is a must for us to vicariously experience a proper meal from this part of the world.

For those unfamiliar with this Jansson's Temptation (as I was a few short days ago) it's a potato and onion casserole-like dish which contains Swedish anchovies, aka sprats. It's a bonus that our new dish to try contains seafood - no doubt a pleaser for my kids. Unfortunately, yes, as I sit here typing after assembling and putting this in the oven, my fingers decidedly smell like pickled sprats. Hopefully seventeen more washings will erase that aroma. (Note: it only took four.)

Procuring Swedish anchovies, I'm told, is key. Substituting regular anchovies is not acceptable, namely because it's not even the same fish. After reading this adventure of trying to locate them in NYC, I was a bit concerned if I would be able to find them in Houston. Luckily, we have Ikea, so in 65 minutes I was back home with the goods. And, some crisp bread to eat with it, as advised by said friends. (And some ligonberry preserves, what I'm planning to do with them is still TBD.)

There seemed to be several variations of this recipe around the web. But the one I made was (more or less) followed exactly from Rebecca, who claims authenticity through her Finnish husband. My kids thought it was a hit. Spencer declared Jansson's Temptation to be "AWE-SOME!" and Charlotte was fascinated with the crisp bread.

Jansson's Temptation
from Kaarle & Rebecca Rautio

2 large baking potatoes (peeled and cut into matchsticks)
1 large onion (diced small or sliced thin)
1 1/2 - 2 Cups cream
1 tin Swedish anchovies (diced, reserve liquid)
1 tomato (sliced)
salt & white pepper
butter
breadcrumbs

Chop the potatoes into matchsticks and dice the onion. Put all of this into a bowl and combine well.

Pour half of the potato/onion mix into a well-buttered casserole dish. Layer with diced anchovies. Season with white pepper and a bit of salt, if you like. Dot with butter (cut into small pieces). Pour remainder of potatoes on top. Again, add a little white pepper and salt, if you like.

Pour anchovy "juice" over casserole and then pour cream over. Liquids should be about half the depth of the dish. Place slices of tomato on top of casserole, dot with butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Cover with foil and bake for about an hour. Uncover and bake just a bit more to let top become brown.

In traditional style, you must serve this with some dark rye bread, butter, sliced cheese (for the bread), and a nice green salad! Hyvaa Ruokahalua! (Enjoy your meal!)

Pear Bread

2010-01-26T12:12:00.000-06:00

Pear bread? You know, it's like banana bread, only with pears. Last month we ended up with a bunch of pears out of season, and I feared the bruising would take their toll before they would properly ripen. And, as luck would have it*, the very next day one the food blogs I stalk** posted this recipe for pear bread.

* Note #1: Since November '08 (that's a story for another time,) I'm a believer that the universe will deliver what you ask for, but you have to ask. So, maybe this timing was not so much 'luck' as a reponse to my request "I need to find something to do with these pears before the bruising forces me to throw them away uneaten."

** Note #2: My sister, who has friends that blog for cash, says that this particular food blogger gets about two million hits a month, and thus, I can hardly be considered a stalker, merely one of many, many readers/fans.

Back to cooking. I will say, except for the prep work on the pears, namely peeling & coring, this recipe was a snap. Using the food processor constitutes fun in my world, not a chore.

For some reason, I always like to make these types of fruit & vegetable breads (banana bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread) in a bundt pan instead of a loaf pan. Maybe because I think it is prettier that way. Maybe because it tricks the kids into thinking they are getting cake. Though, it's not hard to convince anyone to eat this bread. There is nothing in it not to like. Unless, of course, you don't like walnut and then you can simply omit them.

I think this bread would be excellent as part of a brunch spread. Or, a slice served warm with a cup of tea after dinner. Or, it would be perfect for, as my kids like to say, "breakfast dessert."

Pear Bread
More or less followed exactly from Smitten Kitchen's Pear Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
4 firm, ripe pears, depending on size (2 - 2 1/2C grated)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour a bundt pans.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl, and whisk to mix everything well. If you’re using nuts, scoop out about 1/4 cup of the flour mixture and combine it in a small bowl with the chopped walnuts, tossing to coat the nuts with the flour.

Peel and core pears, then grate them and briefly set aside. If your pears are nice & firm, you can use a shredding disc on your food processor. In a medium bowl, combine the oil, eggs, sugar, grated pear, nuts and vanilla, and stir to mix everything well. Scrape the pear mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until the flour disappears and the batter is evenly moistened.

Quickly scrape the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350°F for 70 - 75 minutes, or until the bread is handsomely browned and firm on top and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Then turn it out onto a plate or a wire rack to cool completely.

Baby Artichokes and Farfalle

2010-01-21T18:12:00.001-06:00

I must say, humbly, I think this dish might be one of the best things I've ever created. Seriously. I was inspired at the grocery store seeing these adorable baby artichokes and knew I just had to buy them. Aren't these the cutest baby vegetables you've ever seen?

But, then, what to make with them? A simple preparation was called for, something that wouldn't overshadow the flavor. I have to confess, I LOVE artichokes. I eat them simply steamed on a regular basis, with melted lemon-butter to dip in. Mmmm. And the kids have learned to love them too. And while I've been happy to share a whole artichoke, I think their enjoyment is about to push us to the point of needing to buy a second one for the kids to share so I can get my own back! Truthfully, except for recently discovering how amazing they taste in soup, the only think I've ever done is to steam them whole. But, presented with these adorable babies, which don't even require removing the choke, I needed to come up with a new plan.

Cooking in basics like olive oil, shallots and white wine. Matching with similarly sized pasta, and finishing with parsley and fresh tomatoes. It was amazing to discover how mind-blowingly good this tasted! The only major bummer is that after falling in love with this, it was many months before I saw them reappear in the store.

Baby Artichokes and Farfalle

1 - 1 1/2 lbs baby artichokes
1 lemon
1 large shallot or 1 small onion
olive oil
1/2 Cup white wine
1/4 lb sliced or roughly chopped tomatoes (I like campari)
1/4 C chopped parsley
8 oz (1/2 box) farfalle pasta (or substitute another short pasta)

1. Put large pot of salted water on to boil for pasta and cook according to directions.

2. Squeeze juice from lemon into a large bowl of water. Prepare baby artichokes by trimming outer leaves, base and cutting into quarters (or sixths or eighths, depending on size.) It is not necessary to clear out the choke. Drop trimmed artichokes into lemon water.

2. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Sautee shallots and (drained) artichokes until tender 5-7 minutes. Add white white and simmer to allow it reduce.

3. Drain cooked pasta, top with sauteed shallots and artichokes. Add chopped tomatoes, parsley, salt & pepper and mix together.

Beef Bourguignon

2009-12-29T15:54:00.000-06:00

I got a new pot! After recently cooking Poule au Pot in a poor substitute for a something that works in stove-to-oven recipes, I have been keeping an eye out for an enameled cast iron pot at TJ Maxx, and pleased to see some options from Le Creuset, Chantal, Cuisinart and others. Then came the question on size. I really didn't want to own/store two of these, especially since I've survived this long without even one, so it made sense to get a big pot that would hold a whole chicken or cook a large pot of stew. I did my research on whether it is worth it to spring the hundreds of dollars for Le Creuset (it's not) and then pulled the trigger on a beautiful green 7 1/2 qt. Chantal from their Talavera collection.

So, the night I brought this home I decided to try it out right away with a beef bourguignon. Yes, I read Julie & Julia (and no, I'm not planning to read Julie Powell's new book) and was excited to try this classic recipe for the first time.

I was surprised to discover that it isn't truly a one pot meal, as the mushrooms and onions are cooked separately and then added in at the end. Or, in the case of our family, the onions are added in and the mushrooms are served to those who like them. And, I confess I was planning to take a shortcut and purchase frozen pearl onions, but when I couldn't find any at the grocery store, I ended up buying fresh ones instead. I'm not sure how the others would have compared, but these fresh ones tasted fantastic!

And, one more snag to best laid plans... our oven died! Instead of preheating, the oven just spun the fan for a little bit and then displayed an error code. Argh! But, I felt confident in the quality of this new pot purchase and was pleased to be able to finish cooking this for the remaining few hours on the stove without any issues. Results? I thought it was fantastic. Though, the kids weren't enamored. Perhaps, Jim suggested, the full bottle of wine was a bit much for their tastes. Ah well.

Beef Bourguignon
Inspired by Julia Child

1/4 pound bacon

1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil
3 1/2 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 (750mL) bottle full-bodied, young red wine , such as a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
3-4 parsley stems
4" section of celery stalk
1 pound small white (boiler) onions
1 pound whole or halved fresh mushrooms

Directions:
Cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long) and simmer for 5 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In large Dutch oven, sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Remove and put aside with the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced carrots and sliced onion. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Allow flour to cook through.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon. Make a bouquet garni by nesting thyme sprigs, parsley stems and bay leaf in celery stalk and tie with kitchen twine. Add to the pot, and bring everything to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Fill a medium pot with water an bring to boil. Saute mushrooms in wide skillet with butter and allow each side to cook undistrubed for several minutes to brown nicely. Set them aside until needed. Add the boiler onions to the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove from water and remove outer skins. After mushrooms have sauteed, place peeled boiler onions in the skillet with butter and sautee on all sides to carmelize.

When the meat is tender, remove the bouquet garni from the pot. Add sauteed mushrooms and pearl onions and stir gently to combine. Serve over egg noddles or potato.

Latke

2009-12-19T21:36:00.002-06:00

Happy Hanukkah!! Last night I celebrated Hanukkah early in the evening by lighting candles with the kiddos and opening presents. After they went to bed, neighborhood friends from book group came over for discussion... and food! Since I was hosting the book group discussion this month during Hanukkah, I definitely wanted to share some traditional holiday goodies. It was so wonderful having friends who were eager to participate as well. Though, what's not to like about jelly donuts and thawed ruggelach baked last week!

Of course, a Hanukkah celebration would not be complete without latkes - potato pancakes. Like many Jewish recipes, there is no 'standard' (as my friend who tackled making a delicious sweet kugel discovered!) and when working with produce as the main ingredient the quantities and ratios aren't exactly set in stone.

Last year my latkes we pulsed so fine in the food processor and, although tasty, were a bit to creamy inside without much potato texture. This year, I made sure not to repeat that and only used the shredding blade on the food processor. As a result, this batch were awfully similar to hash browns, but still extremely tasty!

A new tip from my sister this year was to add the cut ends of the onion into the oil as it is heating up. The bonus is two-fold as you get onion flavor permeating the oil that the latkes will fry in, and the sizzle will let you know when it has reached the correct temperature to start cooking the latke so they will start frying immediately upon being placed in the oil. Brilliant.

I did my frying two days before book group to give the house time to air out from the smell. But, one big bummer was that our (new) oven died and last night I was forced to reheat them in the microwave instead, which unfortunately didn't allow them to be crispy. But, they still tasted awesome, and I think it was the only food item on our buffet table feast that disappeared completely. On the positive side, the dead oven is forcing me to sit around and wait for a service call at this moment in time, so I'm able to catch up on blogging.

Latkes
The recipe below is a suggestion of amounts & ratios and can absolutely be modified

2 pounds of potatoes
2 eggs
1 onion
2 Tablespoons matzoh meal, or flour
salt & pepper
lots of oil

Peel potatoes and shred using a food processor. Switch to cutting blade and pulse a few times to break up the larger shreds. Transfer potatoes to a strainer inside of a bowl to allow excess liquid to drain.

Fill frypan or griddle with 1/2" of oil. Cut ends off onion and place in the oil as it heats up. Continue peeling onion and add chunks to the food processor. Pulse until finely chopped and added to draining potatoes. Mix together to help prevent browning and transfer drainer mixture to a bowl. Add beaten eggs, salt, pepper and matzoh meal and mix everything together.

Drop raw potato onion mixture into hot oil - size of latke depending on preference. Allow first side to brown for about five minutes, then flip and continue frying on the other side for 3-4 minutes. Remove and drain on wire racks. Serve immediately, or can be cooled and then frozen at this point. Re-crisp by placing in the oven on a wire rack over a baking sheet for a few minutes on each side.

Ruggelach

2009-12-10T23:28:00.002-06:00

Earlier this week, all of the neighbors (wives) on our street got together for a Christmas cookie exchange. Last year, our first December in this house, I brought one of my favorites - you know those nut ball cookies made solely out of ground pecans, powdered sugar and butter that just melt away in your mouth. But, so did my neighbor a few doors down. Oops. This year I wanted to make sure I wasn't stepping on any toes again. So I turned to a few of my favorite sources for inspiration on what they thought were some of the ultimate cookies to make for a party. After leafing through all of the recipes in the various December issue magazines at the house, I hadn't found anything that jumped out at me. Then, the answer came to me so obviously I could have smacked my own forehead (maybe I did?) I should make a Jewish cookie to bring to the exchange. Perfect.

Of course, there wasn't much competition for what it would be - ruggelach. Ruggelach (pronounced RUH-guh-lah) or 'ruggies' for short in our house growing up, have always been one of my favorites. They are a bit labor intensive, but always present for special occasions. When Spencer was born, there was a blizzard in NY and it was three more days before my mom caught a flight down to meet her first grandchild. When she arrived, her suitcase was filled with FIVE large plastic containers of sweets, two of which were all ruggleach. (OK, so the goodies were mainly for the bris - not because a first-time mom needs 10 dozen cookies in the freezer.)

Strangely, I'm pretty sure that I had never made them on my own before this week. I was pleased to see that a single recipe makes 64 cookies, which meant I could bring three dozen for the cookie exchange and still have plenty left over to stash in the freezer. Score.

I confess, I'm really not much of a baker. I'm too inexact in the kitchen - did you see my rolled 'circle' of dough above? But this actually isn't too complicated. The only requirement is starting this a day in advance so the dough can chill in the fridge overnight. Even with a simple recipe, I still managed to goof up a few times, but hey, they're cookies, so even the ones that aren't perfect still taste yummy.

Now that I've made these exactly once by myself, I feel that I am in a position of authority to impart tips to keep in mind when making these in the future.
1. MUST USE A SILPAT BAKING SHEET. I put this in all caps because it's really not optional. Without them, this is a miserable experience.
2. Place cookies on baking sheet with point tucked underneath to prevent it from opening up in the oven.
3. Transfer cookies from baking sheet while they are still warm. The ensures the leaked filling will remain on the baking sheet, instead of hardening as unattractive 'wings' on the edges of the cookies.
4. Put some in the freezer, otherwise they will all disappear very quickly.

Ruggelach
Recipe from Sylvia Fayne (need to ask mom who this is, her name is written in the recipe book mom made for me after graduating college)

Dough:
3 Cups flour
1/2 lb butter
8 oz container sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:
Apricot Jam or Preserves
Shredded coconut
Chopped walnuts

Cinnamon-sugar

Use a food processor to cut cold flour into butter until pea-size crumbles form. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined. Ball and refrigerate overnight. Cut dough in fourths, and roll each ball into a 12" circle. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar, roll one more time, then flip over. Cut dough into 16 section. Mix filling together in a bowl and place 1-2 teaspoons of filling 1/2" from the wide edge of each section of dough. Starting at the wide end, roll one section the dough towards the middle. Repeat for all section, and remaining balls of dough. Place rolled cookies on a baking sheet lined with Silpat and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350ºF or until slightly browned.

Chicken Soup

2009-12-07T10:05:00.003-06:00

Ah, Jewish penicillin, as they say. Nothing tastes better than home-made chicken soup when one is feeling under the weather. This crazy TX weather (snow on Friday!) has snuck up on us, and now my husband is sick, too. Plus, it seems I can't get enough soup these days since the weather turned cooler - as I look back and realize that I've made one, after another, after another.

Making chicken soup isn't very difficult at all, but it does take time, and a few tips make the difference. These I've learned from various sources over the years. Of course, starting with the boiler plate from my mom and grandma, and going from there.

Tip #1 - you must use chicken with bones. Any chef will tell you that bones have flavor, but equally important in the case of making soup, is that cooking the bones & cartilage releases the natural gelatin. Note: This also means that the soup will 'set' after it cools down in the frdige. You can either start with a whole chicken, and/or use parts that have a higher bone-meat ratio like legs and wings. Bonus - these parts are usually less costly than boneless breasts. I made this soup yesterday with a few pounds of organic drumsticks and only paid $6.

Tip #2 - throw everything in and worry about making it pretty later on. I picked up a tip a few years ago to use onions with the skin (I searched the web just now to try and give proper credit, but have no idea where this came from originally,) which helps impart a beautiful golden color. At the very end, use a strainer or chinois, with cheesecloth if you want a totally clear broth, but this is unnecessary in my opinion. I'm too frugal for this next tip, but I've seen recipes that discard everything used to make the broth after it is strained and add in new veggies, if desired. I was going to take a picture of the straining process, but the collection of bones and mushed veggies was wholly unappetizing.

Tip #3 - while the soup needs to cook on the stove for hours, the chicken meat will definitely be over-cooked if it remains in the pot that long. But, the bones need to remain in for hours in order to give up their goodness to create a flavorful broth. Solution - after an hour or so, remove the meat from the bones, set aside, and return the bones to the pot.

Tip #4 - if you are making chicken noodle soup, boil the noodles in a separate pot and add the cooked noodles in at the end. Putting uncooked noodles in the soup pot uses up good broth.

Chicken Soup

Inspired by mom and grandma

2-3 pounds of chicken, with lots of bones

2-3 large carrots, sliced in 1" rounds

2-3 stalks celery, cut in 3" sections

1 onion, cut in half

1-2 parsnips, cut in 3" sections

1 bunch dill

1 bunch parsley

salt (be generous) & pepper

water

Throw everything in the pot and add enough water to cover. Place a lid on the pot and simmer; try to avoid a rapid boil, as this will encourage scum to form on the surface. After an hour take the chicken pieces out, remove the meat and set aside, and return bones to the pot. Taste broth and add more salt and/or pepper if needed. Continue to simmer, covered, for another 2-3 hours.

When soup is done, remove carrots and set aside with chicken meat. You can also retrieve celery and parsnip, if desired. Pour all contents of the pot through a strainer or chinois (with cheesecloth, if desired.) Return broth to the pot, add in chicken meat and carrots. Serve with egg noodles (boiled in a separate pot) or matzoh balls.

Artichoke & Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

2009-12-03T10:00:00.002-06:00

I really like soup. And it's actually cold here (30s!) which is all the inspiration needed to start making soup this week. A few days ago I made some beef vegetable barley soup. Yesterday I made a pot of this soup, and as I type, I'm having leftovers for breakfast. Soup for breakfast is the perfect way to start a chilly day! (Well, maybe not the beef vegetable barley first thing in the morning.)

I've made this soup several times before using only regular (globe) artichokes. But, I noticed that my favorite grocery store sells Jerusalem artichokes too, and I was so excited to make it with both! Actually, I had never purchased (or even eaten) Jerusalem artichokes, so I was anxious to see how it would be different that what I had made in the past.

Plus, it's always fun to use an immersion blender. Though, some words of advice when making this at home. Artichokes are very fibrous. Even after then are trimmed and sautéed and simmered. You will likely need to pause and clean the blades a few times when blending the soup.

And, even after it looks nice & smooth, it needs to be run through some kind of strainer or chinois to remove the rest of the fibers because having any of those remain in your finished soup is not good. Trust me. It's not a fun process, but the results are well worth it. Note: Do not use the inside of a salad spinner as shown above. This was not nearly fine enough and too many shreds of fibrous material made their way into the finished soup.

Artichoke & Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
Adapted from Gourmet

1 lb Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes)
2 globe artichokes (or use 3-4 if not using Jerusalem artichokes)
1 lemon
1 onion
olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 Cup white wine
2 1/2 Cups chicken broth

1. Prepare vegetables:

Jerusalem artichokes by peeling and cutting into large (1/2") dice/slices
Prepare globe artichokes by snapping back outer leaves until they break. Cut off the rest of the leaves, within 1" of the base. Peel the stem and trim off the end. Quarter the artichoke and remove the fuzzy choke with a grapefruit spoon. Split the section again to make eighths. Drop the cleaned & trimmed pieces into a large bowl of water with juice from one lemon squeezed in to prevent browning.
Dice one onion

2. Melt butter and olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot. Drain globe artichokes, and add them along with onion and Jerusalem artichokes to the pan. Sautee for 8-10 minutes until onions are translucent and veggies are crisp-tender. Add white wine and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add chicken broth, bring to boil then cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Turn off heat and allow soup to cool in the pot for 15 minutes or so. Use an immersion blender to puree the mix. Clean the blade frequently as it may become clogged with fibers. The soup can also be pureed in batches in a blender or food processor. Strain the pureed soup through a strainer or chinois. This will be a real workout on the arms pressing it through. Make sure to scrape down the goodness will adhere to the back of the strainer.

4. You can make this a cream soup by finishing with up to 1/2 Cup of heavy cream, but it's not required. And I'm not really sure it needs any garnish either, but am open to suggestions!

Seafood Paella

2009-11-25T22:32:00.001-06:00

I just unloaded pictures off of the camera which was long overdue (600 photos - ack) and found a whole bunch of food pics that haven't yet been transformed into a blog entry. Though, I must skip ahead to last night's meal. Actually, this post was the motivation for (finally) unloading the camera.

Often times my inspiration for making a particular meal comes from watching Food Network, or cooking shows on PBS, or seeing glossy pics in a food magazine. But in this case it was very basic: it's the holiday season and lobsters are on sale. I was getting really excited to make this dish as I brought home four fresh lobster tails for $5, and tried not to think about how their freshness meant they had been separated from the rest of a live lobster body.

I didn't use any measuring devices when making this dish - just relied on 'standard' paella recipes for proportion (1:2 rice:liquid and as much seafood as you like!) even though I was using different kinds of rice with different cooking times. The finished product was much more brothy than I had anticipated, but that just meant there was more yummy flavor to sop up with bread along the way. (Note- next day all the 'extra' broth had been absorbed into the leftovers.) For vegetarians, definitely check out the most amazing tomato paella. This approach was loosely followed here, but it was entirely prepared on the stovetop.

Now, I know my little girl likes rice, and loves (loves!) seafood, but I was still a bit surprised to see how much she enjoyed this dish! "Pie-ey-yuh! Pie-ey-yuh!" I couldn't put it on her plate fast enough. To slow her down, I stopped doing the prep work on the seafood for her (I was hungry too and hadn't been able to take a bite yet!) ~~Man, I wish I had my camera at the table last night to take a picture of her trying to get the good stuff out of the clams!~~ I made sure to bring the camera in the kitchen when we had leftovers tonight!

Seafood Paella

1/2 pound fresh tomatoes (Campari are my favorite)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 Cups rice - I used a mix of risotto rice & short grain brown rice, but short grain white is traditional
pinch of saffron threads
1/2 Cup white wine
2 - 2 1/2 Cups chicken broth
3/4 Cup piquillo peppers (or roasted red peppers or pimento)
3/4 Cup green olives
1 1/2 Cups artichoke hearts (not marinated)
1 pound lobster tails (about 4) split in half lengthwise
1 dozen mussels, cleaned
1 1/2 dozen clams, cleaned
1 Cup frozen peas (no, it's not in any of my photos because I didn't have any, but this paella would have looked even more fabulous with some bright green dots throughout. Or parsley, also something not on hand last night.)

1. Cut tomatoes into wedges, sprinkle with kosher salt and set aside. Slice peppers into strip, quarter artichoke hearts,roughly chop olives and set those aside, together.

2. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add diced onion and minced garlic and sautee for 5 minutes. Add in rice and crushed saffron and stir to ensure rice is coated with oil.

3. Add white wine, wait until it is absorbed, then add 1 C chicken broth and cover. After liquid is absorbed, about 7-10 minutes, add another 1 C broth and cover again. After 7-10 minutes, when most of the liquid has been absorbed, add in remaining broth, tomatoes WITH any accumulated liquid on the plate, olives, peppers, artichokes and peas, then stir gently to combine. Arrange lobster tails in the pot with cut-side down and distribute clams and mussels. Replace cover and heat until seafood and rice have cooked through, another 5-7 mintues.

Roasted Kohlrabi with Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts

2009-11-23T20:33:00.001-06:00

Does this even count as a 'dish' worthy of a blog entry? It's just roasted vegetables. Though, I confess, roasted veggies was something I only discovered within the last decade or so. I thought all vegetables like this could only be prepared by steaming. Which IS the only way I ever ate them growing up. Fast-forward to adult life and somewhere I stumbled upon roasting them instead. Ah ha! Asparagus tastes even more awesome. Cauliflower transforms from good to fantastic. Brussel sprouts - wow!

But, it was still German week when I was trying to figure out a vegetable side dish so I added kohlrabi into the equation for this meal. I'd never eaten kohlrabi (aka German turnip) before, but with our membership in a CSA this year I had plenty of chances to experiment with turnips. My sister laughed and educated me that "what to do with all those turnips?" was the proverbial question asked by all CSA members at some point.

This preparation is extremely straightforward. The only words of advice I can add when making this are "do not absent-mindedly leave the house with vegetables in the oven that have already been roasting for 1 1/4 hours." If you make this same error, you too will end up with an extremely 'carmelized' side dish. The bread crumb topping was partially inspired by this recipe, and partially to cover up the extremely dark color.

Roasted Kohlrabi with Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts

Inspired by Nicolé, Adapted from Food Network

3 medium kohlrabi
1 lb brussel sprouts
1 small head cauliflower
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 slice whole wheat bread

Heat oven to 400. Peel kohlrabi and dice into 3/4" pieces. Trim brussel sprouts by cutting off root end and removing outer layer of leaves. Cut in half, or quarter if extremely large. Trim cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Toss veggies with olive oil, salt & pepper and distribute in a single layer on a sheet pan. Bake for 1 1/4 hours.

While veggies are baking, put bread into food process to make crumbs. Spread on a baking sheet and toast in oven for 3-4 minutes until gold brown.

Frikadellen (German Meat Balls)

2009-11-19T14:02:00.001-06:00

OK, I confess I didn't stumble across this on my own. With Jim still in Germany, I turned to help from German friends for suggestions on traditional dinners. All of the ideas had the same theme - cooked meats & potatoes. One interesting option jumped out at me was "frikadellen" though I had absolutely no idea what "frikadellen" are until I looked it up for myself. It seemed to be somewhere between a meatball, hamburger and a meatloaf. And, they are small, and small food is just cute. Especially when you are serving small children, which was my audience for the entire week.

My favorite trick that I've recently embraced for making any type of meatball/meatloaf/etc. is to be sure it includes a panade, which is a fancy word describing a mixture of bread and milk. From the science editor at America's Test Kitchen we learn that:

"Starches from the bread absorb liquid from the milk to form a gel that coats and lubricates the protein molecules in the meat, much in the same way as fat, keeping them moist and preventing them from linking together to form a tough matrix. Mixing the beef and panade in a food processor helps to ensure that the starch is well dispersed so that all the meat reaps its benefits."

This step ensure that the meat does not become tough when it is fully cooked through - important as no one likes rare meatball, especially ones that include pork. Unsafe, to say the least.

Frikadellen (or Frikadeller or Frickadelle)
Inspired by Nicolé and adapted from Live Like a German

1 pound of mixed ground meat (3/4 beef, 1/4 pork)
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
pepper and salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 egg
1 slice of bread
1-2 Tablespoons milk

Use a food processor to finely mince onion and garlic. Set aside. Add torn up bread to food processor and pulse a few times to make crumbs. Add milk and pulse a few more times to form the panade. Add meat, paprika, egg, salt & pepper and pulse a few times to incorporate. Do not over process. If necessary, remove from processor and finish mixing by hand.

Form into large golfball-size balls and flatten. Place on heated griddle. Cook for a few minutes on each side until cooked through. Serve with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy.

Wiener Schnitzel

2009-11-16T11:20:00.002-06:00

Though our "German week" is officially done now that Jim has returned home (yay!) I'm finally getting some time back to write about what we ate while he was in country. One food that we both ate last week was wiener schnitzel. Just saying these two words is fun. The kids were rolling with laughter when I told them what we would be eating for dinner that night. Plus, we had two additional kids joining us that night as well. The gang repeated the words over and over, with escalated giggling each time.

Yes, if you show up for dinner during a theme week, you get the theme food. In my world, this IS kid food. It was served with spaetzle made the day before, and green beans just to add some color to the meal. Guess what? Not only did all four kids love saying the words, they all cleaned their plates and asked for more. Seriously.

While I've never served wiener schnitzel before, I've made Italian style piccata dishes plenty of times. So this really wasn't very different. In poking around for recipes to try and ensure authenticity, I stumbled upon one, authored by a German, which instructed to let the meat sit in some fresh lemon juice before proceeding with applying the coating. This was sooo excellent! Due in no small part to the fresh lemons that Katie gave to us from the lemon tree in her yard. I am definitely applying this technique for all future piccata recipes. Yum!

Wiener Schnitzel
Adapted from Hans Rockenwagner

3/4 pound veal cutlets, pounded thin
juice from 1 lemon
salt & pepper
1 Cup all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten with 1 1/2 Tablespoons water
1 pkg seasoned croutons, food processed into fine crumbs
3 Tablespoons butter
1 lemon, cut in wedges (optional)

Places pounded veal cutlets in lemon juice and set aside, at room temperature, for 30 minutes. Prepare stations for coating: flour, eggs wash, bread crumbs, and clean plates at the end of the line. One cutlet at a time, season with salt & pepper then dredge in flour and shake off excess. Place floured cutlet in egg wash, turning over carefully with a fork. After allowing excess egg to drain off, dredge in bread crumbs to cover both sides. Transfer to a clean plate and repeat process with remaining cutlets. Allow them to rest (on separate plates, do not stack) for additional 20 minutes to help the coating adhere to the meat.

Heat butter on medium heat in a large, flat skillet or griddle. When foaming has stopped, place cutlets in pan and cook for 4-6 minutes until golden brown. Flip to the other side, using spatula or something else that will not tear the coating, and cook for additional 4-6 minutes. Serve warm, with additional lemon wedges if desired.

Spaetzle

2009-11-13T15:58:00.001-06:00

Work travel is a fact of life in our house. The other day I (used bad judgement and) added up all the time my husband has been away from home in 2009 and discovered it was 15%. To try and maintain positive attitude through these times when the kids and I are home, we use his travel destinations as inspiration to connect virtually through our meals.

This week he is in Berlin (present for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down, no less!) so we are looking to German cuisine for menu planning. I always thought making spaetzle sounded like fun. Really. I was presented with a perfect birthday gift of a Mark Bittman cookbook focusing on international cuisine which, of course, included a recipe for spaetzle.

Though, as I don't have a colander, or a hotel pan, I decided that a potato rice would be the ideal tool. It worked 'okay,' I think. Though, having a larger space between the holes might have helped. But, in fairness, I would definitely use it again. I modified the consistency of the batter by adding more milk part way through, but I can't decide if it made it better or not. Some of the batter reconnected with its extruded neighbors on the way into the water which made for some larger pieces, and some stayed small. At the end of the day, I think the variety was a good things and definitely gave this dish a home-made feel.

I don't think this is traditional, but during the quick sautee process following the boiling I included some diced onion and tossed everything together in the pan with butter. My husband enjoys his pierogis like this, and it seemed to be a good idea to apply this technique to the spaetzle as well. The kids confirmed that it was indeed yummy.

Spaetzle
Adapted from The Best Recipes in the World

2 eggs
1/2 Cup milk
1 1/4 Cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
salt & pepper

2 Tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced

Mix eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt & pepper together in a bowl to create batter of pancake consisency. Put a large pot of salted water on the stove over high heat to boil. Ladel batter a colandar (or ricer) and press batter through holes into the boiling water. Cook for a few minutes until they float, then cook a few minutes longer. Transfer with a slotted spoon to ice water, then drain.

Melt butter in a wide-bottom skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sautee for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high and add cooked spaetzle. Cook until heated through and spaetzle have turned golden.

Vegetable Beef Barley Soup

2009-11-09T16:14:00.001-06:00

I confess, when writing the title above, I had to spend some time thinking about in what order I should put the words. More often than not, I would make a soup that has a combination of two of the three: Beef Vegetable Soup, Vegetable/Mushroom Barley Soup, Beef Barley Soup, etc. This week, I didn't want to have to choose so I put everything in the pot together. Good move - it totally rocked!

The inspiration for making this soup came from a posting to our neighborhood message board that read "We purchased the side of a cow just under a year ago and have several parts that we will not use. This cow was grass fed with no hormones or antibiotics." Below, where there was a list of parts available for the taking, a few items above "9 packages of beef fat" was written "soup bones." Sign me up! Coincidentally, the vegetable co-op resumed delivery for the fall that same week so there were fresh veggies, green beans and corn, to add in the pot as well.

My mom tells the story about taking me to the pediatrician when I was a toddler, and being quizzed about what she fed me. She said he raised an eyebrow when she told him that she often gave me soup for dinner. A can of Campbell's wouldn't qualify, but a bowl of this soup definitely counts as a complete meal. Fresh veggies, barley, grass-fed beef (ok, not the leanest cut out there) but this is a very satisfying meal. Usually we would first eat a bowl of soup with just the veggies, and have the meat afterwards with horseradish. Mmmm.

Plus, making this soup and using the fresh corn gave me a opportunity to use the bundt pan for a different reason. I'm pretty sure that genius Alton Brown is probably the one who gets props to introducing me to this idea. It works really, really well. Even better if you can keep one hand on the cob, one on the knife and let someone else take the photo for you. Getting out the bundt pan made me want to have something sweet while the savory soup was simmering on the stove. Note to self: make more desserts for the blog!

Vegetable Beef Barley Soup
Inspired from my childhood

A few beef bones for soup (2-3 pounds)
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled & diced
2 ears of corn, kernels removed
1/2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed & cut into 3/4" length
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
1 32oz container beef broth (4C)
4 Cup water
3/4 Cup pearled barley, rinsed

Heat soup pot over medium-high heat, brown beef bones for about 5 minutes on each side then remove from pot. Add onions, celery and carrots and sautee for about 5 minutes. Add corn, green beans and tomatoes. Add all of the liquid - broth and water, the barley and stir to combine. Return beef to the pot, along with any juices that may have accumulated on the plate. Cover the pot, reduce heat to maintain gentle simmer, and cook for three hours.

Chili Con Carne

2009-11-04T09:42:00.000-06:00

I have to confess, I think I'm a bit of a chili snob. I know that sounds dopey, as chili is pretty far from ever being considered snobby food. But, what I mean is, I only like MY chili. Sure, others are fine, but it seems that I always end up comparing them to the recipe I make at home. On the rare occasions I find myself eating another chili, my mind starts thinking "it should have more tomato," or "this spice combination isn't quite right," or "that flavor should not be in chili." Though, last year a friend's mom made a white chili with turkey and lime juice that was fantastic. I need to dig out that recipe and make it at home.

Since the cold weather, er, cool weather, season is so short here in Texas, I find myself making chili as soon as long sleeves might be appropriate. Which is still far warmer than I would have ever worn them up north. Nonetheless, we finally crossed that threshold here at the end of October. Yes, I know it is a week later that this recipe is finally being blogged.

A couple of thoughts about this chili recipe. Looking at the ingredients, there is a lot from the pantry. Some may eschew this, but I promise this combination works. And it works really, really well. It does not look like chili when everything first gets added to the pot, but time and temperature work their magic and everything blends together for the final product. Along those lines, I think canned tomatoes are superior than fresh for this dish because I love the tomato-y flavor, and more importantly, being able to bite into a piece of tomato. When you cook with fresh tomatoes, they completely break down and disappear. But canned tomatoes are packed with calcium chloride which preserves the cell walls so they retain structure during cooking. I think I have to give props to an episode of Good Eats for that nugget of trivia which stuck in my brain.

Final thought - growing up we only ate this as beef chili, but these days I make it with ground turkey about 80% of the time. After watching Food, Inc. I decided to try to avoid buying meats that were raised/processed at traditional compact animal farming operations. Our awesome grocery store carries organic ground beef but I hadn't seen any organic ground turkey before. After a quick question to the guy behind the meat counter, I was redirected to the meat freezer case where they stock organic ground turkey. Score.

Chili Con Carne
Adapted from my mom's recipe, origin unknown

1 Tablespoon oil (canola)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, mashed or pressed
1 lb lean ground beef (round) or ground turkey
2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes (I know the picture of ingredients only shows 1 can)
1 10.5 oz can tomato soup
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon chili powder (if your haven't used yours in a long time, buy a fresh jar)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can light red kidney beans (I know the pic shows a mix of beans, but after using this discovery a few times, I think I'm reverting back to standard recipe with kidney beans.)

Heat oil in a wide skillet (at least 12") over medium-high heat and add meat, green pepper, onion and garlic. When meat has browned, add all remaining ingredients, except kidney beans, and stir to combine. Cover and simmer over low heat for one hour, stirring occassionally. Add kidney beans, with liquid, and heat thoroughly. Sometimes I add in the beans at the same time as everything else which is perfectly fine too. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Mushroom Ragout

2009-11-02T13:45:00.000-06:00

Sadly, my husband and I don't agree on a lot of our food choices. I understand that not everyone loves seafood. But I struggle to understand his dislike of most cheeses and cheesey dishes. For me, cheesey pasta dishes rank high on my list of favorite comfort foods. Just thinking about a big casserole dish of lasagna or moussaka makes me happy. (Note to self - make moussaka soon & blog about it here!) Mushrooms is also pretty high on the list of foods we disagree about. My friend Allison loves mushrooms, and her husband Dave told the story how he used to dislike them, but somehow 'came around' and now enjoys them as much as she does. I've stopped holding my breath that will happen in our house, but I don't stop cooking them for the rest of the family.

This 'ragout' is really just a creamy sautee of herbed mushrooms that can be put on top of any meat. Or, in the case of my mushroom-crazy kids, just eaten as a side. Sometimes I enjoy experimenting with different wild mushrooms for the flavor & texture combinations. Though, my sister's boyfriend's friend attended the CIA and shared 'all mushrooms can taste great' if you follow a simple rule to let them sit in the sautee pan, uncrowded and undisturbed, until they are nicely browned. Then flip and wait some more. It had been a few years since I switched from buying 'plain' white mushrooms to other varieties at the store. Thanks to this tip, I now also enjoy tasty mushroom dishes with inexpensive white mushrooms as well.

Really, this can be used for just about anything. Mushroom ragout is fantastic served on top of beef (filet) or a chicken breast. You could also add in some parmesean cheese and toss with farfalle or another short pasta. Can you imagine how happy that dinner would make my husband - mushrooms AND cheese. Probably (definitely) won't be serving that in our house anytime soon, so you should enjoy it at yours!

Mushroom Ragout
Adapted from Mushroom Ragout

1/2 lb white mushrooms, sliced
2 large shallots, minced
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (or leaves from 2-3 fresh thyme sprigs)
salt & pepper
1/3 C white wine
2-3T heavy cream

Melt butter in large, flat-bottom sautee pan over high heat. Add mushrooms in a single layer and let cook, undisturbed, for five minutes. Turn mushrooms over, add shallots, thyme and salt & pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add wine and mix to combine, scraping up browned bits from the pan. Add cream, bring to boil, stir and serve.

Butternut Squash Soup

2009-10-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

Last week we had a brief tease of fall weather. I miss not having that season here in Houston. During these momentary cool temperatures I was inspired to make a 'classic autumn' recipe. Ironically, butternut squash soup was not something we ever ate growing up in NY, but it seemed like the right place to turn, and I bought a beautiful 2 1/2 pound squash on impulse at the grocery store.

After flipping around for recipe inspiration, I concluded that there aren't really radical differences. So, I closed the computer and made up my own by drawing on whatever information had remained in my brain. The ones that recommended roasting squash first definitely sounded tastier, so I started with that. And peeling a whole squash was something I'd never done so I thought it was be good to mark that off my culinary checklist. I would have simply roasted the halves, which some recipes recommended, and I'm sure would be just fine.

The amount of other veggies are simply based on what was on hand. I mean, seriously, does anyone ever measure out "1/2 Cup diced onion?" I never do. Just cut it up and throw it all in. Unless, it seems to be in gross excess, then I'll still chop up the whole onion and put half in the fridge for something else. Though, I must confess, this approach of 'use what you have' ended up bitting me in the rear. I had half of a (4 C) container of chicken broth in the fridge which I discovered was not enough for a proper vegetable:liquid ratio to yield what one would call a 'soup.' It was more like a vegetable puree. It still tasted amazing, even if it the consistency reminded me of something I spooned into Charlotte's mouth as a baby.

Butternut Squash Soup
Adapted from an assortment of recipes

1 butternut squash (2 lbs)
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 rib of celery, diced
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage (or 1 Tablespoon fresh sage)
4 C chicken broth
salt & pepper
olive oil

1. Heat oven to 400. Peel squash and cut into 1" cubes. Toss with olive oil and roast for 30-40 minutes, until carmelized.

2. Sautee onion, carrot and celery in a pot on the stove over medium heat until softened, 8-10 minutes. Add roasted squash, sage, salt & pepper and stir. Add 3 C chicken broth and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Use immersion blender to puree until smooth. Adding additional 1C chicken broth as needed to yield desired consistency.

Arroz con Pollo

2009-10-22T17:37:00.001-05:00

Seriously, who doesn't appreciate one-pot meals? Even in my attempts to feed the kids dinners that aren't typically labeled as 'kid food' I'm genuinely not looking to make my life harder. Though, I'm quite sure that my husband believes otherwise. Anytime I come across a dish with protein, vegetables & carbs all together I think "Whoo hoo!" Even though it's a rice dish, it is sticky enough for young Charlotte to practice using silverware without too much frustration. But, the best part about making a one-pot meal, even better than the reduction in dishes to be done that night, is the fact that this makes lots of leftover, which means far fewer dishes for at least two to three more nights!

When America's Test Kitchen said this dish gets thumbs up, I was on board. Despite their claim of always having the most perfect recipe (technique is always impeccable, if not a huge pain,) the base recipe for this dish is very much boiler plate, and I felt compelled to poke around and see what others had included in their versions. I came across one which advised me to use beer and capers - two more thumbs up. Further inspiration came from my favorite grocery store, which is amazingly only 1.0 miles from our house. A fact which makes me smile every time I think about it. When I saw piquillo peppers (a store brand, no less! I could hardly believe it either!) I knew they would find their way into my version too. I've never bought them before - heck I don't think I've ever eaten them before - but I was excited after seeing them make many appearances on Iron Chef America.

I must say, humbly, the house smelled amazing while this was cooking. And the taste? Well, let's just say that Charlotte used this inspiration to string together four words as she declared "yummy chickens! more please!" Cuteness!

Arroz con Pollo

Adapted from Arroz con Pollo and Arroz con Pollo

Pollo (chicken)
4 cloves garlic, pressed or mashed
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt & pepper
4-5 chicken thighs (with bone & skin)
3-4 chicken breasts (with bone & skin)

Arroz (Rice)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 teaspoon pimenton (or regular paprika)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 bay leaf
1 pound chopped tomatoes
1 12 oz bottle beer
1 1/2 C chicken broth
2 C long grain white rice
1/2 C manzanilla (green olives) with pimento, halved
1/4 C capers
1/2 C piquillo peppers, roughly chopped

1. Combine ingredients for marinade, then add chicken pieces to coat. I'd prefer to use all thighs, but some folks in this house prefer white meat, so I use both for this recipe. Set aside (in the fridge) for half an hour or so.

2. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onions and green pepper and cook until softened. Move veggies to the side, increase heat to medium-high and add chicken in a single layer on the bottom. Let cook, undisturbed for 3-4 minutes, then flip and leave for another 3-4 minutes. (I needed to do this in two batches because my pot is not wide enough.) Remove all chicken from pot.

3. Add pimenton, oregano, cumin and rice to the pot. Stir to combine so spices coat rice and vegetables. Add tomatoes, manzanillas, capers, piquillo peppers, beer and chicken broth. Return chicken to the pot and try to ensure it is covered by liquid. Add bay leaf, cover pot and reduce heat to medium-low.

4. After 20 minutes or so, remove chicken from the pot, (and the bay leaf if you can find it, if not don't forget to pull it out later.) If rice is too dry or sticky, add additional 1/4 C broth. Replace lid. Remove the skin from chicken, and remove chicken from bone by using two spoons to pull it apart into large, bite-sized pieces.

5. Return chicken to the pot and gently mix everything together. If rice is tender, turn off heat and let sit for five minutes before serving.

Chocolate Cinnamon Babka

2009-10-20T18:47:00.002-05:00

For dessert on Charlotte's second birthday, Spencer decided that she would be most happy with some chocolate cinnamon babka to conclude her birthday dinner. While Charlotte isn't choosy about her carbs (and even less choosy about dessert carbs) I have to say that Spencer hit the nail on the head.

Babka is a dessert of Russian-Jewish origin made with a yeast dough that is rolled/layered with chocolate or cinnamon. Though, for this version, the chocolate and cinnamon are included together. Why be forced to choose between these two? Earlier this year, my sister and I were in NY for my grandmother's funeral (a wonderful lady of Russian-Jewish origin) and tried to decide whether we preferred the chocolate babka or the cinnamon babka that friends had brought from Susan Lawrence. I don't remember if we came to a conclusion, but I do recall how amazing they tasted.

Around this same time, I signed up to do some beta-testing, er, beta-baking, recipes for Peter Reinhart's new bread book. (My name is in the credits - buy a copy!) After completing my first 'assignment,' we were allowed to pick subsequent doughs from a list, and I was so excited to see babka! I confess, I was a bit daunted by the amount of time it took. I've made his recipe twice, and it is a two day process in our house. Or, I suppose it could be done in a single day if you don't have children, or if you strategically plan your time out of the house around the multiple rise times.

I had to keep Charlotte contained in her high chair to watch the assembly process. She was becoming a bit frantic seeing the quantity of chocolate in front of her, yet out of reach. While it was funny/sad to watch her squirm and beg "choc-o-late! cin'min! choc-o-late! cin'min!" it was wonderful to see the pure delight on her face at the end of the evening. Spencer is already starting to put some thought into what dessert he would most like for his sixth birthday later this year.

Chocolate Cinnamon Babka
Adapted from Peter Reinhart, though I'm also curious to try Martha Stewart's Babka one of these days, but am more than a bit scared by the pound of butter and more than two pounds of chocolate!

Dough
2 Tablespoons instant yeast
3/4 C milk, lukewarm
1 stick butter, room temp
6 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 egg yolks
3 1/4 C all-purpose flour
less than 1 teaspoon salt

Filling
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 stick butter, cold

Streusal Topping (optional)
1/2 all purpose flour
1/2 C brown sugar
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Sprinkle the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Stir to dissolve the yeast and set aside for about five minutes.

2. Cream the soft butter with the sugar using the paddle attachment on medium speed, until smooth. While the mixture is creaming, add the vanilla to the egg yolks and whisk lightly to break up the yolks. Slowly add the egg yolk/vanilla mixture to the sugar mixture in four installments. When all the eggs are incorporated increase the mixer to medium high speed and continue mixing for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is fluffy. Turn off the mixer, exchange paddle for dough hook and add the flour, salt, and lukewarm milk and yeast. Reduce the speed to low and mix for approximately 2 to 3 minutes to make a soft, supple, tacky dough.

3. Dust the work surface with flour and transfer the dough. Knead the dough by hand for an additional two minutes, adding more flour, if needed, to make the dough pliable. The dough should be a beautiful golden color and feel soft and supple, “like a baby’s bottom.” Form it into a ball and place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover the top of the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let the dough ferment at room temperature for about 2 1/2 hours. It will rise somewhat, but will not double in size.

4. While the dough is rising, prepare the chocolate cinnamon filling by grinding the frozen chocolate in a food processor until the chocolate is nearly powdered and add in the cinnamon. Cut the cold butter into 8 to 10 pieces, add it to the food processor, and pulse until the butter is evenly cut and dispersed into the chocolate mixture to make a streusel-like chocolate crumble. Set the filling aside at room temperature for later use.

5. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the risen dough into a 16” square, anywhere between 1/4” and 1/8” thick. Use a metal pastry blade or a plastic bowl scraper to lift and continually dust under the dough to prevent sticking. Sprinkle the chocolate/cinnamon/butter mixture over the entire surface, breaking up any clumps so that it covers the surface of the dough evenly (leave a 1/4" border around the full perimeter without chocolate). Roll up the dough like a jelly roll log and roll the log back and forth to extend its length a few more inches.

6. For coffee cake-style, grease a bundt with spray oil, wrap the log around the tube and press the dough into the pan to connect the ends of the log. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for two to three hours, until the loaf fills the pan or is about 1 1/2 times larger than when first formed. You can either refrigerate it overnight at this point or proceed to baking. If holding it overnight, remove the dough from the refrigerator approximately two hours before baking to take off the chill.

7. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Poke a few holes in the top of the loaf with a toothpick to eliminate possible air pockets between the layers of chocolate and dough. Brush the top of the loaf with egg wash and top the loaf with streusel. Bake for 20 minutes and then rotate the pan and continue baking until the top is a rich dark brown. The loaf will begin to brown quickly because of the sugar, but it won’t burn, so bake until it is golden on both the top and bottom, about 50 to 60 minutes total time. The center of the loaf should register approximately 190ºF and the sides of the loaf should be a rich golden brown, not white. The loaf will sound hollow when thumped. The sides may feel soft because of the air pockets caused by the spirals. The bread will soften as it cools. Allow the bread to cool at least 90 minutes before serving—best served at room temperature after the chocolate has had time to set.

Ziti Casserole with Fresh Ricotta Cheese

2009-10-19T13:55:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, our baby girl turned two! My goodness! Happy Birthday Charlotte! Not unlike her big brother, this girl loves to eat. It's amazing how their likes and dislikes emerge so early - some of her favorites include fish (especially salmon,) pickles (actually, she'll eat anything pickled, not just cukes,) cheeses, tomatoes and pasta. For our family dinner celebration at home, I sat down to think about what would make our little girl happiest for her special day. Cheese, tomatoes, pasta... endless possibilites to combine these three items into something delicious. During our trip to NY last month, mom made a ziti casserole for the kids while Jim and I enjoyed a peaceful escape to the Adirondaks. She was awed, and a bit scared, by the quantity of food the two kids put away.

I also thought this would be the perfect excuse to make some fresh ricotta. While I've made mozzarella with friends on several occassions, this would be my first time to make ricotta. In my opinion, making it yourself is a bonus because organic ricotta costs $8 (!) at the store and to make it from a 1/2 gallon of organic milk costs $3. I ought to look next time I'm shopping, but I think that even regular (non-organic) ricotta cheese costs about $4. The process to make cheese is quick and straightforward - heat up milk with citric acid, wait a few minutes, separate curds from whey, and hang to drain for half an hour. Easy.

Even without making your own cheese, this recipe is easy and delicious. It was the first time I made it in our home, but will definitely be adding it in to the rotation, even when it is not for a birthday dinner. If you are interested in making cheese at home, definitely visit the cheese queen where you can order supplies.

Ziti casserole
Adapted from an old newspaper clipping which mom scanned & emailed

1 lb ziti (seems that most pasta comes in 14.5oz boxes these days, that's fine. I used penne rigate as Barrilla doesn't make a whole grain version of ziti.)
1 lb ricotta cheese (again, hidden inflation means this is probably 15oz. Or make your own ricotta using 1/2 gallon of milk.)
2 eggs
1/2 C parmesan cheese
3-4 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
1/4 C parsley
1 qt jar pasta sauce

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cook pasta according to directions and drain. Mix ricotta, eggs, parmesan, parsley and tomato sauce. Add cooked pasta and combine. Transfer mixture to a greased (cooking spray) casserole dish and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Spiced Apples & Raisins

2009-10-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

The first time I decided to make barbecued pork ribs I wasn't sure what to serve on the side. And after some poking around on the web, I decided that the traditional complement of apples would be the perfect side for our family. Though, I underestimated how much of a hit it would be - as we finished the entire recipe at one sitting.

Stepping back and thinking about this dish objectively, it's really a dessert just masquerading as a side dish! Like apple pie without the crust. Fruit, sugar, juice... what's not to like? Use the varieties of apples best suited for pies and baking, as you definitely want these to hold their integrity and not turn into mush during the saute process. Whenever I make this now, I try to remember to buy a ridiculous amount of apples, because this goes so fast. For those who live near orchards now, or places where fresh apples are showing up at the farmers' markets, I'm quite envious.

Spiced Apples and Raisins

Adapted from Spiced Apples and Raisins

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut in thick wedges or chunks
1/3 cup raisins
1 cup white grape juice
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch dry mustard

Melt the butter in a clean skillet over medium-low heat. Add the apples and coat in the butter; cook and stir for 8 minutes to give them some color. Toss in the raisins and add the juice, stirring to scrape up the brown bits. Stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and dry mustard; simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples break down and soften.

Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce

2009-10-16T14:54:00.007-05:00

I like Martha Stewart. I really do. I was a fan before she built her massive empire and her face appeared on every media venue. Though, about a decade ago, I decided that her "Living" magazine wasn't really for me, because many of the recipes required two days! Little did I know at the time that was EXACTLY what I should have been doing, because working on a meal for that length of time with two small kids is a bit ridiculous. When "Every Day Food" appeared on the scene a couple of years ago, I knew this was for me. Plus, its own show on PBS - fantastic!

We never ate ribs growing up, so I was a bit at a loss as to how to prepare them. When in doubt, Martha has the answers. Not only did her guidance produce perfectly cooked ribs, the homemade BBQ is amazing. Seriously. I served a platter of these ribs to guests this summer and they kept coming back for more helpings.

Homemade BBQ sauce is awesome. You get to decide what goes in and (more importantly) what doesn't. This recipe makes four cups, which is more than enough and means you'll be able to store additional sauce in the fridge for next time.

Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce

Adapted from Every Day Food

2 slabs of baby back or pork spare ribs
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons mustard powder
3 tablespoons light-brown sugar
2 cups ketchup
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Season ribs all over with salt and pepper. Stack slabs on a large piece of heavy-duty foil; seal tightly, and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Cook until meat is fork-tender, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Make barbecue sauce by heating oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in remaining ingredients - mustard powder, sugar, ketchup, Worcestershire, vinegar, molasses, and black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.

Open foil carefully and brush cooked ribs with barbecue sauce. Set oven to broil and return for 3-5 minutes so the sauce get thickened and sticky. (Or, finish ribs on the grill instead.) Remove ribs from foil, and slice using a sharp chef's knife. Serve with more sauce.

Moules Frites

2009-10-13T08:58:00.001-05:00

I'd actually never heard of this combination until this past year (again, thank you to Throwdown with Bobby Flay.) And, mussels were one type of shellfish that I really hadn't eaten very often - when given a choice, I'd choose clams. When Jim was traveling last month, Spencer's top request during our seafood extravaganza week was clams - my version of a linguini vongole. But, they had no clams at the grocery store on Monday. Or Tuesday. Or any day that week! So, that Friday even we subsitituted and made mussels perpared in a similar style. Now time for the truth: while I fully planned to serve Moules Frites when Jim was between Brussels and Geneva, Spencer kindly asked if we could have the clams that he missed out on last month. So I obliged. But, in the spirit of the continuing Euro tour, below in the info on our mussels.

As for the frites, or fries, I don't own a deep fryer and nor do I want to own one. I do know the secret to really awesome fries is frying them twice - once at a lower heat to cook the potatoes through, and a second time at a higher temp to crisp up the outside. For me, oven roasting in the way to go for making fries at home.

Back to the mussels, the real star of the show! I think they tend to release easier from the shell than clams do, making this even more kid-friendly. A term I use for how little interaction is required on the part of an adult during mealtime. During cooking, the mussels give off their juices which combines with the wine and makes a heavenly liquid that pools in the bottom of your bowl. Wise Spencer knows this is the most amazing part of the dish. Be sure to serve with a crusty European bread to soak it up - usually I buy ciabatta, but this week I discovered a freshly-baked French batard just asking to be taken home and served with this meal.

Side note: I am continually amazed & impressed at what can be found at our local grocery store.
Side note #2: If you are anti-cooking with alcohol for your children, substitute either some seafood stock (from the soup aisle) or bottled clam juice (near canned tuna.) And when I get around to posting penne a la vodka, with a full cup of vodka, we'll talk about other substitutions.

Moules Frites
no specific source

1 lb fresh mussels, scrubbed & cleaned
2 large shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2/3 C white wine
2T olive oil
2T parsley

Heat oil over medium heat and sweat shallots and garlic. Add wine and reduce for a few minutes. Then, crank up heat, add all mussels at once (try to get them in an even layer) and cover the pan. After 7-8 minutes, all mussels should be opened. If not, wait another minute or two, and any that still have not opened should be discarded. Remove from heat, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately with french fried potatoes (frites) or crusty European-style bread.

Belgian Waffles

2009-10-09T12:40:00.003-05:00

The quest for the perfect waffle began about five years ago when Jim gave me a Belgian waffle iron for my birthday. Mom had a waffle iron when we were growing up, and I loved eating waffles on the weekends. Truthfully, who out there without a gluten intolerance doesn't? The first batch I made in the new gadget was this sweet potato waffle recipe I had recently watched on tv. While it was extremely tasty (grated orange rind is amazing in there!) a 'standard' waffle recipe still needed to be found. I eschew most mixes and prepackaged food around here, especially for something like waffles. Store-bought mixes contain basic ingredients (though sometime you can get a little something extra, like salmonella) so making from scratch barely adds any additional time.

Even though a waffle only contains simple ingredients - flour, sugar, salt, eggs, etc., the various recipes out there are not created equal. So began the quest. We had a morning of cake-y waffles. A few weeks later we had dough-y waffles. Then followed waffles that tasted like pancakes. Truthfully, I was starting to think I didn't want this new kitchen toy after all. It made terrible waffles! But then, at last, I found it! The perfect waffle recipe. It was light, buttery, with a slight crispy texture on the outside. I knew this was the right recipe before I even made the batter, as the editor talked about discovering Belgian waffles at the 1964 World's Fair in NY. My mom worked at the World's Fair that summer as a teenager, and said that was where she too first tried them. So, I felt confident that the recipe I grew up loving would be contained within. It did not disappoint! And since then, this is the only waffle recipe we have used.

As Jim's Euro week continued into Brussels, it seemed most fitting that we have Belgian waffles for dinner. Complete with strawberries and whipped crean, of course! Charlotte was a bit skeptical after being sprayed by the whipped cream (white dots on arm) but she got over herself in a hurry!

Belgian Waffles

Perfect batter recipe from Belgian Buttermilk Waffles

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

2 large eggs

Vegetable oil for waffle iron

Put oven rack in middle position and put a large metal cooling rack directly on it. Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs in another bowl, then whisk into flour mixture until just combined.

Brush hot waffle iron lightly with vegetable oil and pour a slightly rounded 1/2 cup* of batter into each waffle mold. Cook waffles according to manufacturer's instructions until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer as cooked to rack in oven to keep warm, keeping waffles in 1 layer to stay crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.

*Note: all waffle irons are not the same. This recipe was listed as yielding 8 waffles, but on a good day I get 6. Use measured scoops to experiment and see how much batter to put in your waffle iron.

Mushroom Crepes

2009-10-07T15:12:00.007-05:00

Crepes! Of course we must have crepes while Jim is in Paris! Though, it dawned on me last night that our attempt to have dinners which match Jim’s trip to Europe is actually off by a day. We had our first meal, Croque Monsieur, when he was actually still on the plane en route across the Atlantic. And last night as the kids and I sat down to eat our crepes, Jim had actually departed Paris at the end of his workday and was already in bed for the night in another country. Ah well.

I made the batter for the crepes and the mushroom filling after dinner on Monday, and have to be honest when I say how little effort the prep work required. When Tuesday rolled around to actually cook the crepes, I was fully prepared to ditch the first several as I learned how to get the right technique, but after this first one which didn’t have enough batter to coat the pan, the rest of them came out perfect. PERFECT. I’m still a bit awed. Some lessons I learned along the way: 1) my 1oz scoop was the perfect size for measuring the right amount of batter into the pan. 2) If I watched closely, I could see exactly when it was time to turn the crepe because it is so thin, the shiny batter became matte when it was ready.

Now comes the funny part. Spencer climbed into his seat while I buckled Charlotte in the high chair. On the table was a lovely pile of crepes alongside a fragrant filling of shiitake mushrooms. I looked at the two plates, and realized that I was not actually sure the proper way to combine them! I could only remember eating a crepe one time before - at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas after taking break from playing craps, which was actually taking a break from playing hockey, and that crepe was a monstrous size, filled with gooey chocolate, folded in quarters on the plate and topped with whipped cream and more chocolate. But, thinking more about it, I don’t believe I’d ever order savory crepes in my life. Now that I have lived more than half of my years in Texas (gasp) I did what came naturally – placed the filling down the middle of a crepe, rolled it up, and handed one to each kid to eat with their hands like a taco. Spencer took a bite and commented “Oh mom! Did you realize it was going to taste this good?”

For dessert, simple chocolate crepes were made by zapping mini chocolate chips on a crepe in the microwave for a few seconds before spreading with a butter knife and rolling up. Shortly, I realized that the spreading step is not necessary as rolling them mashes the warm chips just fine. I had planned to convert the remaining batter specifically for dessert purposes by adding a little sugar and vanilla, but I mistakenly mentioned that it would be for chocolate crepes, and once I said the word “chocolate” I needed to deliver the goods to the table asap!

So, it turns out that crepes are easy to make. Who knew??

Mushroom Crepes
Crepe batter recipe followed exactly, and filling inspired from Mushroom Crepe Cakes

2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
Butter, or spray, for coating the pan

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients (excepting the butter for coating the pan) and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.

Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling.

Mushroom filling:
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 lb shiitake mushroom, cleaned & chopped
1 large onion, diced
1/3 C milk
3-4 oz shredded Gruyere
salt and pepper

In a large saute pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and sweat the onion. Add the mushrooms and additional 1 tablespoon of butter. Season with salt and pepper and cook until mushrooms are soft. Add the milk and reduce by half. Add the cheese and melt. The consistency we're looking for is similar to that of a potpie.

Note: The crepe batter recipe will yield about 20 crepes, and the amount of mushroom filling will fill about 10. Increase filling if desired, or use remaining crepes for a dessert application.

French Green Bean Salad

2009-10-06T22:11:00.008-05:00

Seriously, this title would mean absolutely nothing to me if I stumbled across it in a recipe list. Laughably, I found a recipe with a (very) similar title on a site which shall remain nameless that had two ingredients: green beans and salt. And the directions said to briefly simmer the green beans in salted boiling water. That's it. Hmmm.

My inspiration for making this dish came from some truly awesome-looking green beans at the market. Awesome enough to entice me put back the asparagus from my basket (that was on sale!) and the fact that Jim is still in Paris. After making Poule au Pot and Potatoes Lyonnaise on Sunday, I wanted to add something new to the table when serving leftovers for dinner on Monday.

I kept this somewhat simple so the green beans were the star, and included a few of my favorite ingredients commonly found in a green bean salad. For me, this meant shallots soaked in red wine vinegar for an hour or so beforehand to help mellow the bite (a technique I learned from my sister,) chopped walnuts (didn't get around to toasting them, which would have been preferable,) and some amazing artisanal hand-made herb chevre I found at the grocery story, called "Femme Fatale" from Austin-based Cheesy Girl. Who would have guessed that the shallots turned out to be the start ingredient? I must say, even though yelling at the table is generally not a good thing, it made me smile inside to hear not quite two-year old Charlotte demanding more "Shallots! Shallots!"

French Green Bean Salad
Adapted from a lot of similar recipes

1 pound green beans, or haricot verts if you want to play up the French theme
2 large shallots, sliced extremely thin
2 oz of your favorite chevre, crumbled
1/4 C roughly chopped walnuts, toasted
red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt & pepper

Mix thinly sliced shallots with enough vinegar to cover, 2-3 tablespoons, and set aside. Wash green bean and trim ends. Steam (or boil) until crisp-tender, then plunge into ice water bath to stop cooking and set the bright color. Dry beans (salad spinner or towel) and toss with shallots, vinegar & oil (to taste) and plenty of salt & pepper. Top with toasted nuts and crumbled chevre.

Potatoes Lyonnaise

2009-10-06T13:23:00.011-05:00

I love making tasty food from staples I find in the pantry! When trying to figure out a side to have with our Poule au Pot, I decided upon trying Potatoes Lyonnaise for the first time. Yum! And I had everything on hand to make it (except for parsley, which I ought to remember to keep in the fridge as a staple, because I find that when I buy a bunch I always use it for much more than I think I will.) Not wanting to put a(nother) pot in the oven that is not listed as oven-safe, I changed the approach slightly for this recipe. First sauteeing onions on the stove, then the potatoes, and transferring to a different dish for time in the over. There isn't much that smells better than onions cooking down and getting all carmelized. Spencer appeared in the kitchen a few times just to tell me "mom, it smells DELICIOUS in here!"

Related, does anyone have experience with the new 'green' non-stick cookware that has emerged in the last year or so??

I bounced around between two recipes to arrive at my own combination, driven by quantities of ingredients on hand (a little less than 1/2 a 5 lb. bag of potatoes, and two large onions in the pantry) and trying to not use an entire stick of butter in a single side dish. The end result could have been more heavily salted, which also makes me lean towards trying a version of this with bacon next time! One recipe called for thick (1/2") sliced potatoes and the other for shredded. I met in the middle with thin (4mm) slices but whichever approach you choose, I highly recommend using a food processor. I've had my Cuisinart for 15 years and love it.

Potatoes Lyonnaise
Adapted from Classic Lyonnaise Potatoes Recipe and Pan-Fried Potato Cake with Onions and Bacon

2 pounds baking potatoes, like russets, peeled and sliced
2 onions, julienne
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the potatoes in a pot of salted water. Bring the potatoes up to a boil and blanch for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, drain, and cool. Skip this step if you are using shredded potatoes.

In a large ovenproof saute pan, heat 2T butter. When the butter is hot, add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute the onions until caramelized, about 10 minutes. Move the onions into a bowl.

Place the pan back on the stove and melt 2T butter. When the butter has melted, cover the bottom of the pan with 1/3 of the potatoes. Season with plenty of salt and pepper. Cover the first layer of potatoes with 1/2 of the onions. Cover the onions with 1/3 of the potatoes. Season with more salt and pepper. Repeat the layering with final 1/2 of the onions and 1/3 of potatoes. Sautee 10 - 12 minutes until to bottoms are golden brown. If you are feeling adventurous, slide the potatoes and onions onto a platter, then place the inverted skillet (or oven-safe dish) on top and flip so the crispy side is on top. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown.

Using a spatula, gently lift the potatoes out of the pan and place on a platter. Garnish with parsley.

Poule au Pot

2009-10-05T12:33:00.009-05:00

Spencer thinks this is funny to say out loud. I'm sure I'm not saying it quite so accurately myself, as I never formally studied French (though I was in the French Club in high school - trips to see French films in NYC and eating chocolate croissants!) Translated, it is referred to as French Chicken in a Pot. Jim is still in Paris, complaining about the number of steps in the Eiffel Tower (really, you're complaining sweetie? while I'm home with a barfing toddler?) so we are continuing our culinary tour of Europe each night.

I'm a huge fan of America's Test Kitchen. A few years ago, my sister and I surprised each other with a gift subscription to Cook's Illustrated for Hannukah. I love their attention to detail, and how they make so many iterations of each recipe to get it absolutely perfect. Though, I let my subscription lapse after that year because, as much as I enjoyed reading it each month, I never found myself actually cooking anything from the issues and the black & white sketches just didn't inspire me. Not long after, I discovered that America's Test Kitchen airs on PBS on weekend mornings. Seeing these exact same recipes in color on the big tv screen has got me hooked. I've tried so many and they are always, of course, perfect!

Recently aired was an episode entitled "French Classics, Reimagined" and I saved it on the DVR because I knew I'd be making their French Chicken in a Pot. And, I happened to have a whole chicken in my freezer from a local poultry farm I purchased at a meat co-op. I've prepared plenty of whole roasted chickens before, but this technique was new to me. So new, in fact, I didn't actually have a "pot" to cook it in and ended up using a lidded deep sautee pan. Nonetheless, this chicken tasted AMAZING. So moist, so delicious - two little kids and I put away half of a 3 1/2 lb bird, and both kids were begging for more of the jus. Seriously. It's that good. Whole chickens are inexpensive, even tasty organic ones.

Poule au Pot

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen French Chicken in a Pot

1 whole roasting chicken, best available you can find. Giblets removed and discarded, wings tucked under back
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion , chopped medium (about 1/2 cup)
1 small stalk celery , chopped medium (about 1/4 cup)
5 medium garlic cloves , peeled and trimmed
1 bay leaf
1 medium sprig fresh rosemary (optional)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon juice from 1 lemon

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until just smoking. Add chicken breast-side down; scatter onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and rosemary (if using) around chicken. Cook until breast is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Using a wooden spoon inserted into cavity of bird, flip chicken breast-side up and cook until chicken and vegetables are well browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove Dutch oven from heat; place large sheet of foil over pot and cover tightly with lid. Transfer pot to oven and cook until instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees when inserted in thickest part of breast and 175 degrees in thickest part of thigh, about an hour for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 lb bird, closer to 2 hours for a 5 to 6 lb bird.

2. Transfer chicken to carving board, tent with foil, and rest 20 minutes. Meanwhile, strain chicken juices from pot through fine-mesh strainer into fat separator, pressing on solids to extract liquid; discard solids or save to return to the strained liquid (you should have about 3/4 cup juices). Allow liquid to settle 5 minutes, then pour into saucepan and set over low heat. Carve chicken, adding any accumulated juices to saucepan. Stir lemon juice into jus to taste (about 3/4t for every 3/4C.) Serve chicken, passing jus at table.

Croque Monsieur & Croque Provencal

2009-10-02T10:18:00.016-05:00

Jim is affectionately referring to this week as his European Death March. After two days in Paris, he'll end up traveling every night and working in four cities in four days. Ugh. Last time he was out of town for a week, the kids and I had a "Seafood Extravaganza" as that does not rank high on Jim's list of food prefences. I thought about doing S.E. Part II, as we didn't get around to linguini vongole or cioppino last month. But instead, decided that this time the kids and I would follow his travels through Western Europe via the culinary spectrum.

Paris, a city I've never visited as a tourist (and have avoided international routing through CDG) is almost too easy a location to begin with. So many choices for great French food. How to pick? Two main factors drove Saturday night's selection: 1) Charlotte attended a birthday party that wouldn't get us home until 4:00 and 2) leftover baby swiss cheese and applewood smoked ham from making chicken cordon bleu earlier this week. I have no idea why chicken cordon bleu has become my 'go to' meal for friends with new babies. I think the cheesiness and the wine, & just being happy to eat a meal that one wouldn't have time to prepare with a new infant around.

A quick dinner, that uses ham and cheese... Croque Monsiuer! Which is really just a hot ham and cheese sandwich. Doesn't get much easier than that. And, Croque Provencal has some sliced tomatoes, which, surprisingly takes the flavor combination to an entirely different level. The kids and I all vastly preferred this version.

Everyone has their own way of making grilled cheese. Here are three things I rely on to make mine awesome.

Butter the bread, rather than putting butter in the pan itself.
Use a big pan to make all of the sandwiches at once. I LOVE my big Calphalon griddle Jim bought for me about five years ago. I really have no idea how I made it so long without it.
Dome it, baby.

What? Dome what?? A while back I saw an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay and the 'masters' making Philly cheese steaks said the only way to do it right was to put one of those ubiquitous metal bowls from commercial kitchens on top of the sandwich after the cheese was added. This guaranteed awesome melting every time. In our house, I improvise with something to serve as a lid, but the result is the same. Cheesey! (Ironically, these pictures show no oozing cheese because it took far too long to round up the kids for dinner before they were cut & ready for pictures!)

Croque Monsieur (& Croque Provencal)
Too basic to site a source

6 slices whole wheat bread
6 slices baby swiss cheese
6 slices your favorite ham
sliced Campari tomatoes
spreadable butter

Spread butter on three slices of bread and place on the griddle. Layer on a slice of cheese, two slices of ham, then tomato (if making Croque Provencal, which we highly recommend) and another slice of cheese. Put medium heat under the griddle and prepare the tops by buttering the remaining three pieces of bread and capping off the sandwiches. When bottoms are grilled golden brown, turn them over. Put a dome on top (skillet lids, metal bowl, whatever works to keep the heat in) until sandwich bottoms are golden brown and cheese is melted.