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JUST FINISHED: What a book: Wench: A Novel (Dolen Perkins-Valdez, hardback). From the title you might think this is a book about the s-x word. It’s not. By a long shot. But the story, set in about 1852, is about a black slave woman, and her somewhat misguided “love” for her master. About the children she bore him, under the eagle eye of the master’s wife. But it’s all tied together with a yearly journey made to a place called Tawawa House, a rural inn of sorts in southern Ohio (a free State), that for some years allowed white slave owners to stay at the resort in rustic cottages with their black slaves, as couples. This place existed, according to the author’s afterword, and finally closed because some of the regulars (white couples who stayed in the main house) didn’t fancy this concubine business going on out in the woods. It’s about Lizzie’s relationships with the other slave women, about their desire to run to safety through the local underground, about them secretly meeting some free blacks, finding out more about abolition, and about the hardships all these black mistresses endured, and how little their lives were valued. A real stunning book. (I was sent this book as a perk from Harper Collins – because I had mentioned The Help. No strings attached – I could choose to mention this book, or not, here on my blog. I’m glad to because it’s a very good read.)

RECENTLY FINISHED: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel (Jamie Ford, on my Kindle). A poignant story about a Chinese-American, growing up in Seattle at the beginning of World War II. Henry falls in love with a young Japanese girl before her family is interned in a relocation camp. It a very secretive relationship because his parents would highly disapprove. The story goes back to the 40’s and forward to the 1980’s when Henry is in his 50’s and his wife (not the Japanese woman) has just died of cancer. The story pulls you in from the first page, especially when some artifacts are found in the basement of an old hotel which contain personal belongings from several Japanese families who were suddenly taken away back in 1942. You can see where it’s going, can’t you? I heard criticism of this book that it was just a little bit contrived. Halfway through I’m enjoying it very much.

FINISHED: The Help (Kathryn Stockett on my Kindle, an excellent read); The Moonflower Vine: A Novel by Jetta Carleton (Kindle edition, eh); Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards (Kindle edition, good book); Bound: A Novel by Sally Gunning (Kindle edition, very good read)

IN THE POWDER ROOM: Our guest half-bath has a little table with a pile of books that I change every now and then. They’re books that might pique someone’s interest even if for a very short read. The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy; Sara Midda’s South of France: A Sketchbook; Spain…A Culinary Road Trip (Mario Batali & Gweneth Paltrow); Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See; (edited by Bill Shapiro); Monet’s Table: The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet (by Joyes); The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems (Billy Collins).

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Tasting Spoons

My blog's namesake - small engraved sterling silver tea spoons that I use to taste as I'm cooking.

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There’s nothing quite like a big mound of mashed potatoes with a little pool of melted butter in the middle. I only melted that little bit for the purpose of the photo – normally I don’t add more butter – there was butter in the potatoes already, although not much. But doesn’t that make you want to dip your spoon there and take a big mound – and snag a little bit of butter? Good stuff, this.

Fresh spinach hadn’t quite gotten used up, so I hunted for a recipe that included it. Sure enough, found one in one of my holiday cookbooks, Welcome Home for the Holidays (Gooseberry Patch) . The one that generally doesn’t get looked at except . . .during, . . . well, the holidays. But I figured there might be a plentitude of mashed potato recipes. Sure enough, there were. The book gave me an idea, but really I did my own thing here, adding buttermilk (instead of canned evaporated milk, yuk), and my own concoction of herbs (fresh rosemary, chives and Italian parsley from our garden) and a few ounces of Boursin cheese. Lots of salt and pepper, plus a couple of tablespoons of butter. Then I added in the baby spinach that I’d chopped up. It didn’t require cooking, just residing in that hot mass was enough to cook baby spinach. If you use regular spinach you might have to cook it a bit. Or, easier yet, use a box of frozen chopped spinach. And I used Yukon Gold potatoes – my go-to favorite because they’re already almost buttery-tasting.

This would be a great way to serve potatoes, which everybody likes, but make it more healthy with the addition of spinach. You could easily add even more spinach – I used half a pound. It would serve as a really nice bed for chicken, or steak, or a pork chop. Or even fish too. So, it’s very versatile. Nothing fancy. Just plain cookin’ and delicious.

Green Potatoes

Recipe By: Inspired by a recipe called Swedish Green Potatoes in a
cookbook – “Welcome Home for the Holidays”
Serving Size: 4

NOTES: These do stiffen up a bit if refrigerated. Just add a bit more buttermilk or milk and reheat in the microwave. And if using regular spinach, it will need to be cooked rather than just added into the hot potatoes.

1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes — peeled
1/4 cup buttermilk — or milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces boursin cheese — cut into 1″ cubes
3 cups fresh spinach — baby type, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary — chopped fine
1 tablespoon fresh chives — chopped fine
3 tablespoons Italian parsley — chopped fine
Salt and pepper to taste
Reserve a few of the herbs to sprinkle on top

1. Cut each potato into about 2-inch pieces and place in large pot with water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until potatoes are tender, but not falling apart.
2. Drain and allow to sit on the stovetop (no flame) for about 3-5 minutes so they dry off.
3. Pour them into a bowl suitable for an electric mixer and whip the potatoes until they’re light and fluffy, adding the buttermilk about halfway through.
4. Add the Boursin cheese, spinach, rosemary, chives, parsley and salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning. If they’re too stiff add a bit more milk or buttermilk.
Per Serving: 318 Calories; 18g Fat (50.7% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 33g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 49mg Cholesterol; 235mg Sodium.
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A year ago: Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies with Rum
Two years ago: Beef Tenderloin in Puff Pastry

Posted in Veggies/sides, on March 13th, 2010.

ebay.jpg

You see, my DH, Dave, has this book that lives in “his” bathroom. We have two bathrooms on our main living level. The half bath is where lots of people visit . . . but the full bath is really for guests who stay in the bedroom close by. Dave considers that bathroom “his.” And in that bathroom lives this book, Uncle John’s Unsinkable Bathroom Reader (Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader).  It resides on the floor just next to the  . . . ahem . . . throne. It contains a jillion snippets of stories, articles, jokes, and general miscellaneous information, suitable for a short read. My cousin Gary gave a similar book to Dave one Christmas, and it finally was so tattered and used it needed to be replaced, so last year I bought him a newer one. Thus.

So my DH brought the book out to me, as I was sitting at my kitchen computer (which I’ll just mention here, is brand new about 3 months ago and it’s already crashed and died this week, so I’m currently typing on my mini-laptop that I usually take on trips). Anyway, I was writing up a post, and he said “do you want to know how eBay got started? It’s not what you think.” I said “sure.” It was interesting. Enough so that I thought I’d share it with you.

The general myth about eBay is that Pierre Omidyar (the genius who did start e-Bay) was talking with his then fiancée (now his wife) Pamela, who was a collector and trader of PEZ candy dispensers and she said something like “wouldn’t it be great if there was a place online where people could trade?”

The real story is somewhat different. Pierre Omidyar is French-Persian, and moved to the U.S. from Paris when he was six years old. His father was attending a medical residency at Johns Hopkins University. Young Omidyar, became positively enchanted with computers and programming. Having graduated from Tufts University in Boston with a degree in computer science, he moved to Santa Clara, California. He did work as a programmer for awhile, then he and some friends started Ink Development Corp, and pen-based computer company. But he veered the company off to an area he thought would be a hot item – internet shopping. And he came up with the name eShop. It was successful (mildly so, enough that Microsoft eventually bought it). Omidyar then decided he wanted to look into starting an internet auction site. He thought that bidding on an object would create more interest, some excitement too. You can look at a more graphic history of Omidyar (and eBay) on eBay’s website.

Over Labor Day weekend in 1995, he stayed home, holed up, and wrote the computer code for an auction-based website. On September 3rd, 1995 he launched it – as ugly, clunky and awkward as it was – merely adding it to an existing website he had already for his internet consulting business. The address of that site was the company’s name, Echo Bay Technology Group. Omidyar tried to register his new “business” as EchoBay, but it was already taken by a Canadian gold mining company, so he shortened it and eBay was born.

At this point eBay was just a hobby for Omidyar. He was still working full time at his day job – until his internet provider forced him to change from a private account to a commercial one because of the volume of traffic. His fees went from $30/month to $250/month. So, he decided to start charging users a small fee – thinking that he’d hear a backlash about it. Not so – checks began arriving. So many checks he had to hire an employee to handle all the payments. By March of 1996 Auction-Web’s monthly revenue was up to $1,000. April it was $2500. May $5000. June it leaped to $10,000. That’s when he quit his day job.

Next he hired a computer geek, Jeff Skoll, who happened to have a master’s degree in Business Administration from Stanford. What he did first was make this auction web thing a stand-alone site. Up until then it still shared a website for his consulting business, and a site about the Ebola virus (yes, really). Early on, Omidyar had done just a little bit of “advertising,” if you could call it that, by mentioning his auction website on some bulletin boards. So he added a bulletin board at eBay too. Some people began asking questions on the bulletin boards – about how to use eBay, mostly answered by other, more experienced users. Thus giving eBay it’s own (free) tech support. One of the early bulletin board gurus was a man who called himself “Uncle Griff.” A curious questioner once asked him what he looked like. He responded, “I’m wearing a lovely flower print dress and I just got done milking the cows,” which put Griff (Jim Griffiths by name) into eBay lore as their “cross-dressing bachelor dairy farmer who likes to answer questions.” Uncle Griff was so respected on the bulletin boards that finally Skoll hired him as their first tech support employee.

The company was so successful it went public in 1998 – eBay was worth $2 billion that day. By 1999 it was worth over $8 billion. And somewhere in there Meg Whitman (currently hoping to run for Governor in our state) held the CEO reins for some years. What made eBay a bit more unique is that they kept updating the model – adding the feedback feature (rating the sellers) in 1998; then adding PayPal in 2002.

Omidyar and his wife Pamela are worth more than $7 billion (maybe not so much now since this book was published – I haven’t gone to look up the stock’s worth) and they devote most of their time to Omidyar Network, a philanthropic organization that helps poor people around the world get into business. They’ve pledged to give away all but 1% of their fortune over the next 18 years. Omidyar says: “My mother taught me to treat other people the way I want to be treated and to have respect for other people. Those are just good basic values to have in a crowded world.”

Amen. This certain was a departure from my usual food stories, but I hope you enjoyed reading about this as much as I did . . . Carolyn T

Posted in Essays, on March 12th, 2010.

spinach rice

Greek cooking isn’t a cuisine I turn to very often. Not that I don’t enjoy it – I do – but I just don’t think of Greek food first. Other types of culinary culture pop up in my mind first (like Italian or French). But we were making a Greek rotisseried leg of lam for a dinner party we had the other night. I needed a side dish to go with it and the grilled vegetable salad, the Syrian pita bread salad, and the Lemon Upside Down cake I’d planned.

I don’t even own a Greek cookbook, but found this recipe in my ancient Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery. It’s a set of 12 cookbooks (you can buy them used – wow, they’re worth $86!). The set was a gift from my then father-in-law in 1966. They offer a treasure-trove of information. I turn to it every now and again and always learn something.  Although they aren’t in-depth about any one thing, there are stories and cultural tales throughout, in addition to thousands of recipes and factual and historical information. Not only can you look up specific ingredients or cooking methods (like horseradish, turnips, frog’s legs, fricassee, [how] to fold or flapjacks) but you can research cuisines (like Chinese, Turkish, German). So, I turned to the G volume for Greek, and spotted this recipe. I did change it just a bit – I didn’t sauté the rice (like for a pilaf) because I just didn’t take the time. I also added chicken broth instead of plain water. But otherwise, the recipe is the same.

And it was perfect for this meal. I made the rice in my Zojirushi Rice Cooker, which made it ever-so easy and it sat there awhile on low until the dinner was done and I was ready to serve. The rice: VERY good, considering that it’s a very simple side dish of rice, onion and spinach. The spinach is added in at the last – I used baby spinach so it took only a minute or two to cook through.

Greek Spinach and Rice

Recipe By: Adapted from Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cooking
Serving Size: 4

NOTES: If you want to make this a bit more tasty, add about a tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice to the water.

1 cup white rice
1 medium onion — diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chicken broth — or water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 pound fresh spinach — baby spinach please

1. Saute onion in olive oil, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add rice, boiling water and salt, stir, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
2. Add baby spinach (or use regular spinach that’s been chopped into small bite-sized pieces) and stir in. Cover and continue simmering for another 5 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
Per Serving: 283 Calories; 8g Fat (25.7% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 44g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1274mg Sodium.
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A year ago: An essay about food trends for 2009
Two years ago: Spinach and Berries Salad (that’s the salad that’s up there at top – my Tasting Spoons photo)

Posted in Veggies/sides, easy, on March 11th, 2010.

greek leg of lamb

Awhile back I made this recipe, but decided to alter it just a bit from the last version. I wanted a pronounced lemon flavor, and wanted the lamb to be utterly tender, so I marinated the meat for 24 hours, turning the bag a couple of times during that period. I used a larger leg of lamb (Australian boneless, from Costco), so have changed the recipe to accommodate that. If you have a smaller roast, just reduce the marinade quantities some. The recipe is very forgiving. The lemon juice, however, helps to tenderize the meat, so it needs contact with the protein for a longer period. Steven Raichlen’s recipe is a good one, and I merely enhanced it, I believe. It comes from his book, The Barbecue! Bible, a book I turn to over and over again for grilling ideas.

The result? The meat was utterly tender and very tasty with the oregano rub and the hint of lemon. The lemon did not overpower it at all. I used our Meyer lemons, since we have so many of them right now. You have lemons? Use this recipe for a lovely meal. If you don’t have a rotisserie, just grill the roast over heat until it’s brown, then away from the heat (indirect cooking method) until it’s cooked through to your liking. Rare? Take it out at 140. Medium? Remove at 160. Our roast was not an even thickness, so we removed it at 160 and the center was still nicely red/medium rare. Delicious. The leftovers will go into my favorite Shepherd’s Pie with Chipotle Sweet Potatoes. A real treat and one Dave and I always enjoy.

Rotisseried Leg of Lamb with Lemons and Butter

Recipe By: Adapted from Steven Raichlen’s, The Barbecue Bible
Serving Size: 10

NOTES: If the leg of lamb has one very large lump of meat once you open it up, it’s wise to make a deep cut in the meat to create another surface or two. Don’t cut all the way through, just enough to add another valley for adding spices and lemons.

6 pounds boneless leg of lamb — butterflied
MARINADE:
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 whole lemons — one halved, the other sliced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter — room temp
1/2 cup olive oil
BASTING MIXTURE:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 cloves garlic — minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano — crushed
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. MARINADE: Combine the salt, white pepper and oregano in a small bowl. Open out the butterflied leg of lamb on a cutting board so the inside is UP and sprinkle the meat with one third of the spice mixture. Squeeze the juice from halved lemon and spread all over the meat. Place in a Ziploc plastic bag with the olive oil and sliced lemon, seal well and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours, turning it 3-4 times. Allow it to sit out at room temp for an hour before proceeding.
2. Drain off and discard the marinade, including the lemon slices. Blot the roast with paper towels. Rub the surface of the lamb with the 4 tablespoons of butter (if it’s at room temp it really does spread easily). Fold the lamb back into its original cylindrical shape and tie it at 1-inch intervals with butcher’s string.
2. Set up the grill for rotisserie cooking and preheat to high.
3. When ready to cook, skewer the lamb roast lengthwise on the spit. Add another generous sprinkling of the spice mixture. Attach the spit to the rotisserie mechanism, cover and let the meat start rotating. Reduce heat to medium (about 350°).
4. BASTING MIXTURE: combine the oil, lemon juice, wine, garlic, oregano and pepper in a medium-sized nonreactive (plastic is good) bowl and whisk to mix.
5. After the meat has been rotating for 15 minutes, restir the basting mixture and brush it all over the lamb, using a long-handled basting brush. Cook the lamb until crusty and brown on the outside and done to taste, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. An instant read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the roast will register 145° for rare, or 160° for medium or 170° for well done.
6. Uncover the grill every 15 minutes to brush more basting mixture on the meat throughout its cooking time. Add more of the seasoning mixture from time to time. (If using a charcoal grill, add 10-12 fresh coals per side after one hour.)
7. Transfer the roast, on the spit, to a cutting board. Extract the spit and let the roast rest for 10 minutes tented lightly with foil. Remove string and slice.
Per Serving: 561 Calories; 35g Fat (57.6% calories from fat); 56g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 189mg Cholesterol; 743mg Sodium.
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A year ago: Pork Ragu on Pasta
Two years ago: Triple Chocolate Torte with Raspberry Sauce

Posted in Grilling, Lamb, on March 10th, 2010.

lemon upside down cake slice

If you enjoy a tart, citrusy dessert, this one is a must fix. If you like pucker-power, but with a sweet and sour finish, you need to make this cake! I’ve made a lemon upside down cake before (with almonds), but it was a PUDDING cake, not an upside down cake. So it’s similar. But different. This one is definitely in the style of the old-fashioned pineapple upside down cakes my mother used to make, with the canned pineapple rings and a maraschino cherry in the center of each ring. Remember those? Some of you may be too young to remember them – a favorite dessert from the 1950’s.

lemon upside down cake full What I have right now is lots of Meyer lemons, with probably another 30 hanging on the tree yet. So last Sunday I decided to feature lemon in every possible way. It was in all but one thing I made. Really. In the lamb marinade, in the dressing on the grilled vegetable salad, in the dressing on the Syrian pita bread salad and in this dessert. We were celebrating our friend Bud’s birthday, and he’s a particular fan of lemon anything.

Recipe warning:

This cake is VERY tart – read notes carefully for adjustments if you use regular, rather than Meyer lemons.

First you make a lemony brown sugar layer in a large nonstick frying pan (a 10-inch preferably). You add the thinly sliced lemons (devoid of seeds, of course), butter and brown sugar. That gets boiled briefly, and you carefully place the lemon slices in a decorative manner. Then you make the batter. It contains lemon zest in it, but no lemon juice. You whip up the egg whites to lighten the batter – but it’s a bit difficult since you’re only using 2 egg whites – hardly enough. But it helps. Pour (if you can) or place small globs of the cake batter on top of the lemons, and I eventually used a dampened finger to spread the batter as best I could. There isn’t enough batter to completely cover the pan. If you look at the photo above you can see some little holes all over the cake – that’s where the juicy lemon layer oozed up through the cake. Or where I couldn’t quite spread the cake batter! So then it’s baked. Simply baked. When done, you let it rest 10 minutes, then carefully turn the pan over and let it sit. It took a couple of minutes before the cake slid out onto the serving plate.

lemon upside down cake cut Ideally, serve this warm. It wasn’t warm by the time I served it (I suppose I could have re-warmed it briefly, but I didn’t). And I added a big dollop of sweetened whipped cream. I happen to think that you NEED highly sweetened whipped cream for this because the cake is SO tart. But use your own judgment. If you use regular lemons, I think you might need even more sugar in the cake. Or more brown sugar in the glaze. Or sprinkle the finished cake with a little bit of granulated sugar – or some of that pretty larger-grained sugar I’ve seen in some places. Just be aware, this cake, although sweet, is also VERY tart. Everybody liked it, though. A LOT. I’d definitely make this again. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers, actually! With more sweetened whipped cream.

Lemon Upside-Down Cake

Recipe By: Adapted from Luscious Lemon Desserts,
by Lori Longbotham (read on AZ Cookbook blog)
Serving Size: 10

NOTES: This recipe abounds around the internet, so I don’t know who originated it. There are very minor differences in nearly every recipe I read. If you use regular lemons (rather than the Meyers, which are sweeter) you may want to use more brown sugar in the lemon layer (I suggest 2 more tablespoons). If you taste it just when you’re serving it – have a bowl of sugar nearby – and it’s too tart, just sprinkle the top of the cake with some granulated sugar. Powdered sugar would dissolve, so don’t use that. It’s important to slice the lemons VERY thinly. Do not use any slices that aren’t fully round as they’ll disintegrate when cooking them.

LEMON LAYER:
3 medium lemons — Meyers (see notes if using other lemons)
1/4 cup unsalted butter — (1 1/2 sticks) at room temperature
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
CAKE:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons lemon zest — finely grated
2 large eggs — separated
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Trim the ends from the lemons and cut the fruit into slices 1/8 inch thick with a very sharp knife or a mandoline. Discard any seeds.
3. Melt 1/4 cup of the butter with the brown sugar in an ovenproof, non-stick 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the lemon slices, increase the heat to high, and boil, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and arrange the slices in an orderly pattern in the bottom of the skillet.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
5. Beat 1/2 cup of butter with an electric mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the granulated sugar and zest and beat, scraping down the side of the bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat just until blended. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture alternatively with the milk, scraping down the side of the bowl after each addition and beating just until blended
6. Beat the egg whites with clean beaters on medium speed in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Add one quarter of the whites to the batter and fold in using a whisk or a rubber spatula. Continue to gently fold in the remaining whites, one quarter at a time, being careful no to overmix. The cake batter is a bit stiff, so be gentle as you add in the whipped whites.
7. Pour the batter over the lemon slices and gently smooth the top with a rubber spatula. If you have trouble “pouring,” spoon globs of the batter all over the lemon part and gently use your dampened finger to spread the batter to cover. The cake batter may not completely cover the lemon layer. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
7. Loosen the edges of the cake with a rubber spatula all around, invert it onto a heat-proof serving platter, and leave the pan over the cake for 5 minutes. Remove the pan and serve the cake warm, cut into wedges, with more-than-usually sweetened whipped cream.
Per Serving: 316 Calories; 15g Fat (42.7% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 43g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 81mg Cholesterol; 176mg Sodium.

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A year ago: “Great Coffee Cake” by Marion Cunningham
Two years ago: Lemon Sponge Pudding

Posted in Desserts, on March 9th, 2010.

grilled veggie salad

You want a tasty grilled vegetable salad? Oh gosh, is this one ever good. My friend Linda T. came to visit last week and she told me all about this recipe, telling me I just HAD to make it. It fit in perfectly with a rotisserie Greek lamb dinner I made last night. I doubled this recipe, and have just a little bit leftover after serving 7 people. Everybody liked it. I loved it. The recipe came from Ellie Krieger at the Food Network. I followed it to the letter.

Simply put, it’s nothing but grilled vegetables (bell peppers, onions, zucchini and eggplant) with a red wine vinegar, oregano and olive oil dressing drizzled over it, with some freshly cut tomatoes and crumbled Feta cheese. And some mint. The BEST part is you can make it up a few hours ahead (Dave was busy on the barbecue for quite awhile, he was quick to tell me) and let it sit at room temp until you’re ready to dress it and get it ready for serving. I poured it into the new bowl (pictured above) that Linda gave me for Christmas (thank you, Linda). Goes perfectly with my dishes. I didn’t have one of those curly edged bowls. Now I do. And I’ve got this great recipe which would be good any time of year.

Am sure you can change the ingredients a bit – use more or less of anything. But this combo of peppers, zucchini, eggplant and onion was perfect. A winner of a recipe.

Grilled Vegetable Salad with Feta and Mint

Recipe By: Ellie Krieger, Food Network
Serving Size: 4

1 whole red bell pepper — cored and cut into 4 pieces
1 pound eggplant — cut across into 1/4-inch rounds
1 medium onion — cut into 1/4-inch slices
8 ounces zucchini — cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
Olive oil cooking spray
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup tomatoes — grape type, halved
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on a tray or work surface. Lightly spray both sides with olive oil cooking spray.
2. Preheat a grill or grill pan over a medium-high heat.
3. Grill the vegetables in batches until both sides are nicely charred and the vegetables are just tender, about 10 minutes for the pepper, about 8 minutes for the eggplant and onion, and about 6 minutes for the zucchini. When the vegetables are cool enough to handle, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and transfer to a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar and oregano. Pour over the vegetables and toss. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Gently stir in the tomatoes and mint. Divide the salad between 4 plates and sprinkle with the feta.
Per Serving: 262 Calories; 21g Fat (69.9% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 17mg Cholesterol; 221mg Sodium.
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A year ago: White Chocolate Bread Pudding
Two years ago: Seared Steak Salad

Posted in Salads, Veggies/sides, on March 8th, 2010.

ribollita soup 2 Multi-vegetable soup, Italian style, with some rough torn bread croutons on top. Missing from the photo: the tendrils of fresh basil and cilantro that were supposed to be sprinkled all over the top.

Ribollita. Sounds like it ought to be a girl’s name. The Italian word actually means “reboiled.” So if you lived in Italy you certainly wouldn’t want to be named Ribollita! Historically it’s a Tuscan soup – a method of re-serving minestrone soup – the next day – and making it different with the bread, beans and greens. Ribollita always contains cannellini beans and some greens like kale or Swiss chard. I’ve had this at restaurants now and then, but wanted to make my own. My friend Linda stopped by for dinner after having a crown put in, and she wanted something she didn’t have to chew. This fit that need very well. And it’s very healthy (only 14 grams of fat for a 1 1/2 cup serving). Mostly it’s vegetables, although I added in some ham cubes because I had them. You could also make this without the meat.

ribollita in pot The preparation – you could probably make this soup in less than 30 minutes if you had all the vegetables ready to go. There is a bit of chopping and mincing involved (onions, carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, kale, Swiss chard, mushrooms, zucchini). I used my handy-dandy Alligator Dicer which made fairly quick work of the chopping. I also rely on my favorite broth made with Penzey’s soup bases. It’s just SO easy and no storing of those big cardboard boxes of stock on your pantry shelves.

The result? It’s worth the work. I read a variety of recipes for this soup and discovered that you can just about do your own thing. So I did. I added oregano – next time I’d add some rosemary, or maybe some Herbs de Provence. I added the ham and kale. I’d read a recipe in an old Sunset Magazine for this soup and it showed the rough torn bread cubes floating on top of the soup, so I decided to do it that way too. This may not wow your audience, but it was certainly delicious and healthy. The bread cubes are essential, so don’t eliminate that part – they provide aesthetics and some crunchy texture. I had ample to send a small care package home with Linda and enough for two portions to go into my freezer’s “soup library.”

Ribollita (Italian Vegetable and Bread Soup)

Recipe By: My own concoction
Serving Size: 8

NOTES: buy a ciabatta loaf and roughly tear off pieces of it (large bite size) and toast in a 350 oven for about 5 minutes (use broiler if you can watch it carefully). If you want a more flavorful soup, add some rosemary, a Bay leaf, and some thyme. You can also use Parmesan cheese rinds in a soup like this (you do save them, right?). They merely flavor the soup – don’t eat them. You can also add more beans to this, and/or some rice. In the authentic version you slice off a piece of bread and put it in the bottom of the bowl and pour the soup on top. This version uses less bread and you just toast the cubes and plop them on top. The croutons don’t get totally soaked in the soup. The quantities of the vegetables are approximate – add more or less of things if it suits you or you don’t have sufficient amounts.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 medium white onions — chopped
4 cloves garlic — minced
2 whole leeks — cleaned and chopped
3 stalks celery — chopped
3 whole carrots — peeled, chopped
2 cups ham cubes — (or use 2-3 slices of minced bacon)
32 ounces canned tomatoes — (including juice)
8 cups chicken broth — (or Penzey’s chicken soup base + water)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
3 medium zucchini — chopped
4 ounces mushrooms — sliced
4 cups Swiss chard — chopped
4 cups kale — chopped
3 cups Savoy cabbage — chopped
15 ounces canned cannelini beans — drained, rinsed Salt and pepper to taste
TOPPINGS:
2 cups croutons
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese — shaved in shards
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil — to drizzle on top
1/4 cup fresh basil — sliced
1/4 cup cilantro — chopped

1. In a large, heavy pot heat the olive oil. Saute the onion for about 5 minutes until it’s wilted but not browned. Add garlic and leeks and continue cooking until leeks have begun to soften. Add celery and carrots. Add ham, tomatoes, chicken broth and oregano and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes until carrots are cooked. Add zucchini and mushrooms and continue simmering for about 5 minutes. Then add canned beans, Swiss chard, kale and cabbage. Cook for 2-4 minutes until the greens are just tender. Taste for seasoning.
2. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 and toast the roughly torn bread cubes – using the broiler if necessary to brown them.
3. Have all the topping ingredients ready. Scoop about 1 1/2 cups of the soup into a wide soup bowl. Top with the Parmesan, basil, cilantro and the toasty-hot bread cubes and serve.
Per Serving: 347 Calories; 14g Fat (35.0% calories from fat); 20g Protein; 38g Carbohydrate; 9g Dietary Fiber; 21mg Cholesterol; 1678mg Sodium.
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A year ago: Guacamole
Two years ago: Orange Jalapeno Vinaigrette

Posted in Soups, on March 4th, 2010.

wine cellar racksThere’s another photo of our wine cellar – different angle. With a few empty wooden wine boxes on the lower shelves (they did contain wine, but we just keep them there for the looks). And if you have sharp eyes you’ll see on the left side a couple of little boxes of ScharffenBerger chocolate. I really need to bring those upstairs because they’ve likely oxidized down there in the wine cellar.

Back in my early wine-drinking heyday of the 1980’s I did drink Chardonnay. But I never really liked it – it’s too acidic for me. With the exception of one label – Kistler. That’s it. The only one, and a bottle of Kistler Chard today will set you back about $50. I think we have one bottle in our wine cellar, and it’s about 15 years old. We should be drinking it. Soon.

I also like Sauvignon Blanc, particularly Cloudy Bay (from New Zealand). And Fume Blanc from Ferrari-Carano. My DH keeps reminding me that I have a stash of Cloudy Bay (a very fresh, clean white wine from New Zealand) in the wine cellar that I need to drink.

Once in awhile we will enjoy a Riesling, as long as it’s not too sweet or acidic. Grey Riesling can be very dry, actually, so you can run the gamut of sweet to tart and low to high acid in that wine type. You can also have a sweeter Riesling that has a lot of acid. The kind that almost gives me sores on the inside of my mouth like I’ve overdosed on fresh pineapple (that happened to me once when we were in Hawaii – I had no idea that eating too much pineapple could cause mouth sores, did you? I mean, I didn’t eat THAT much!). Anyway, I seem to have a narrow spectrum of wines that appeal to me. My hubby calls me a cheap date these days. Most often when we go out I don’t even order wine.

But then there’s champagne. But I’m going to write up a separate essay about champagne, or sparkling wine .  . .

So now, down to the subject at hand. What do I use when I’m cooking:

WHITE WINE: If we happen to have some open, I’ll use that. But usually we don’t, because neither of us drink much white wine. So I go to other options. If I don’t have Vermouth available, then I’ll go hunting in the wine cellar for something – generally we have some generic kinds of white – maybe a bottle of Chardonnay (usually because somebody gave it to us since we don’t buy it). That works. Fume Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc are both almost herbal wines – they’re made from grapes – that’s not what I mean – but when you stick your nose into the glass you’ll almost smell an herb garden. I won’t use Riesling in cooking – generally it’s too sweet, and since most Rieslings are on the acidic side (even though sweet) you can’t add lemon juice with that to make it so. Just don’t use Riesling in cooking. But here’s what I DO use:

DRY VERMOUTH: First of all, I keep a bottle of Vermouth quite close to my stove. It’s nothing very expensive – somewhere I was told that Trader Joe’s vermouth is actually quite good. The best thing about Vermouth is that even though you open the bottle, it doesn’t deteriorate – it stays the same forever. With a normal bottle of wine you’d have to drink it or use it within a fairly reasonable time. Most likely Vermouth has been stabilized with some neutral spirits so it doesn’t spoil. That’s why it has a long shelf life, even when it’s been opened.

SUBSTITUTIONS: If I had neither a generic white wine or vermouth, I’d use some chicken broth. Maybe with a little added fresh squeezed lemon juice. Or if the dish could handle it, I’d use half apple juice, half water with a little lemon juice. I store a container of frozen apple juice concentrate in the freezer just for things like that. I also keep small cans of pineapple juice in the pantry to use in marinades and things like that. The other option is VERJUS – (means green juice) an unfermented grape juice from under ripe grapes. A perfect solution, I think, although it’s a bit hard to find and not inexpensive. It contains NO alcohol. And it’s on the tart side (some cooks use it in lieu of vinegar), so be careful. Use less than the quantity called for in your recipe and taste it before adding more.

There are resources abounding around the internet on this subject:

Gourmet Sleuth

About.com: Home Cooking – this site has an amazing list of substitutions for oodles of alcoholic beverages, including liqueurs.

Posted in Essays, wine, on March 3rd, 2010.

chix sausage mush pot pie The recipe came from a December, 2008 issue of Bon Appetit, in an article about the foods from the Fairmont le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec. I’m sure that’s why I stopped to read this recipe, because it came from that hotel – le Chateau Frontenac.

I remember, oh so well, the first time I saw lechateaufrontenac that beautiful hotel, standing right above the river, the St. Lawrence. I was about 15 and my parents and I were on a long weekend trip from where we lived for a couple of years in Newport, Rhode Island. We didn’t stay in the hotel in Quebec– oh my goodness, no – way beyond our budget, but we were properly impressed with the place. (Back then it wasn’t owned by the Fairmont.) I never forgot seeing the hotel. I wrote a story for my English class some time after that, with a little history of Quebec and the hotel. That I remember too, plus the slight markdown I got on my report because I failed to put the le in front of the Frontenac. I remember that, and other humiliating things like losing a spelling bee in 7th grade because I didn’t know how to spell chrysanthemum. You can bet your bottom dollar I never forgot how to spell it after that! 

chix saus mush pie baked closeup Sorry, I got sidetracked there. Anyway, this very French-style meat pie just sounded interesting, with an Italian twist perhaps, using Italian sausage instead of deer meat or elk or whatever would be appropriate for a wintertime meat pie. But mostly it’s chicken thigh meat, mushrooms, shallots, and garlic in a nicely thickened flavorsome brown gravy with some Madeira wine in it. I do think the Madeira makes this dish – it adds a background character to the sauce that you just can’t quite identify. Browning the mushrooms and shallots also provides a real flavor depth too. Not just cooking them, but browning them.

chix saus mush pie in pan This made a very impressive company dinner – it’s way too much work to make for a weeknight family meal. It will serve more people than the original recipe suggested ( I think 8, rather than 6) too. It was delicious. Next time I think I’d just use puff pastry on top – a whole lot easier. I didn’t care for the pastry crust – maybe it was too thick for my taste. Am not sure, but it wasn’t as light and flaky as I would have hoped. But even with that, the entire dish was special. Deeply flavorful – kind of like a chicken & sausage stew – really that’s all it is – but with a pastry top crust. And definitely don’t eliminate the Madeira – it’s essential!

Chicken, Sausage, And Mushroom Pot Pie

Recipe By: Adapted slightly from Adam Leith Gollner,
Bon Appetit, 12/08
Serving Size: 8

NOTES: Whatever you do, don’t eliminate the Madeira as it provides a wonderful deep flavor. And do cook the shallots and mushrooms until they brown – that browning part will add lots of additional flavor. If I made this again I’d use a sheet of puff pastry for the top, rather than the pastry crust called for here. Much easier and probably more tasty. I made it in a slightly larger, oval shaped casserole dish, and no question, it will feed more than 6 (what the original recipe indicated).

CRUST: (or better yet, use a sheet of puff pastry)
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter — chilled, (1 1/4 sticks) cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 tablespoons ice water — (or more)
FILLING:
4 tablespoons butter — (1/2 stick) room temperature, divided
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces mushrooms — crimini, sliced
1 cup shallots — about 5, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 1/4 pounds Italian sausage — (about 6), casings removed
2 pounds chicken thighs, no skin, R-T-C — trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup Madeira
2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 cup fresh Italian parsley — chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs — peeled, thickly sliced
1 large egg yolk — beaten to blend with 1 tablespoon water (for glaze)

 CRUST:
1. Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until coarse meal forms. Add 4 tablespoons water. Using on/off turns, blend until moist clumps form, adding more water by 1/2 tablespoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Allow to rest at room temp for at least an hour before trying to roll it out. And thinner is better than thicker.
FILLING:
2. Mix 2 tablespoons butter and flour in bowl to smooth paste; set aside. Melt 2 tablespoons butter with oil in large deep skillet. Add mushrooms, shallots, and thyme. Sauté until mushrooms brown, about 8 minutes. Remove to a bowl.
3. Add sausage to pan; sauté until no longer pink, breaking up with spoon, about 7 minutes. Add that to the mushroom mixture and set aside. Add chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until chicken is no longer pink on outside, about 5 minutes. Pour mushrooms and sausage back into the pan and add Madeira; boil 2 minutes. Add broth; bring to boil. Mix in butter-flour paste; simmer until sauce thickens, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Mix in parsley. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. The sauce may seem thin at this point – it thickens as it bakes.
4. Transfer mixture to 10-cup round baking dish that will accommodate the filling and the pastry crust. If it’s too low the filling will bubble over the edges as it bakes; top with egg slices.
5. Preheat oven to 400°F. Roll out dough on floured surface to 13- to 14-inch round. Place atop filling. Trim overhang to 1 inch. Fold overhang under; crimp edge. Brush crust with glaze; cut several slits in crust.
6. Bake pie until crust is golden, about 45 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes and serve. Serving Ideas: You could also make these in individual ramekins or onion soup bowls and top with rounds of puff pastry. Adjust baking time (less).
Per Serving: 720 Calories; 53g Fat (66.1% calories from fat); 28g Protein; 32g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 241mg Cholesterol; 848mg Sodium.
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A year ago: Roasted Stone Fruit Olive Oil Madeleines
Two years ago: Marinated, Grilled Provolone

Posted in Chicken, Pork, on March 1st, 2010.

cranberry pudding cake

Do you, by chance, have a package of fresh cranberries gathering moisture in your refrigerator – - – like I did? Leftover from the holidays? I’d stuck the package down in the bottom of the produce drawer and forgot all about it. I could have frozen them, but I thought I’d make this instead. A few berries needed to be tossed, but mostly the cranberries were still in good shape, considering that they’d been in my refrigerator for about 2.5 months! I’m embarrassed to tell you that I still have a package of cranberries left over from Christmas 2008 in my freezer. Shhhh.

And what an easy recipe this is. About 8-10 years ago I found this in the cookbook owned by a friend, Janet, called The Cranberry Cookbook by Beatrice Ross Buszek (it’s out of print). I also found it on the internet, though, so it doesn’t appear to be anybody’s “original.” I do like pudding cakes – my favorite being lemon. I have Marcel Proustian memories when I think about Rita’s lemon sponge pudding cake – they’re friends who live in England. But this one is cranberry, and what a festive dish this is. And easy to make besides.

Sauce Tip:

If you don’t have enough sauce part (the cranberries on the bottom), make more sauce to begin with. In my case I didn’t think the pudding had enough saucy part, I made another batch of the sauce alone and poured some of it (warmed) over the cake, then the ice cream went on top.

First you cook up the cranberries in water (about 5 minutes), then you add sugar mixed with cornstarch, plus a little jot of freshly ground nutmeg, and cook it about a minute until it’s just nicely thickened. That gets poured into the bottom of a 8×8 glass baking dish. The cakey topping is flour, sugar, baking powder (no salt, interestingly enough), butter, milk, raisins (I used currants), dates (I didn’t have any so eliminated that part) and walnuts. Once that’s mixed up you kind of spoon small blobs of it on top of the cranberry part and into the oven it goes for about 55 minutes.

cran pudd cake collage

Above left, the cranberries on the bottom with the blobs of batter on the top, ready for the oven; right, just out of the oven, nicely golden brown.

Served with a bit of vanilla ice cream on top, this makes a very nice dessert. Homey. Comfort food. Probably more ideal for December, but it tasted pretty darned good in February. Don’t use any dish larger than an 8×8 pan as you’ll end up with more cake than pudding, and it’s the tart-sweet pudding part that makes this. I liked the chopped walnuts in it too – gave it good texture. It keeps for several days, although the topping won’t be as crispy as just baked. Ideally serve it warm.

Cranberry Pudding Cake

Recipe By: From The Cranberry Connection, by Beatrice Ross Buszek
Serving Size: 9

Depending on the baking dish you choose, you may not have enough sauce – if you have more cranberries, make more of the sauce and either put more in the baking dish, or pour some of the warmed sauce over the cake when served.

CRANBERRIES:
1 1/2 cups cranberries
1 1/3 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
CAKE:
1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dates — chopped (optional)
1/2 cup walnuts — chopped
2 tablespoons sugar — (to sprinkle on top)
2 cups vanilla ice cream — optional

1. Heat oven to 325.
2. Cook cranberries with water over high heat about 5 minutes.
3. Mix 1 cup sugar and cornstarch and stir into boiling mixture. Boil rapidly one minute. Remove from heat and stir in butter and nutmeg. Pour into an 8×8 inch baking dish.
4. Sift flour, baking powder and 1/2 cup sugar into a bowl. Add shortening and cut in finely. Add milk and mix well. Stir in dates, raisins and nuts. Drop by large spoonsful on top of cranberry mixture. Sprinkle with the extra sugar. Bake about 55 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Serve warm with ice cream.
Per Serving: 409 Calories; 14g Fat (30.3% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 69g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 32mg Cholesterol; 207mg Sodium.
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A year ago: Pear Cranberry (Vanilla) Crumble
Two years ago: Almond-Crusted Orange Roughy

Posted in Desserts, on February 27th, 2010.