Is this ever delicious! So worth making. Long simmered pork shoulder chunks in a brothy sauce, ladled over a fresh batch of oven-baked polenta, and topped off with gremolata (the green stuff in the center).

So there’s a cute story about this – – we had this on New Years’ Eve, for dinner. My son-in-law, John, (Sara’s husband) was in l-o-v-e with it. He had seconds. Then he ate what was left on their son’s plate. He said: “Oh, where has this been for the last 56 years?” Obviously, he’s 56 now. Does that give you a clue as to how good this is?

A couple of weeks ago my friend Cherrie and my daughter Sara and I met in La Jolla (a seaside village north of San Diego) to attend a cooking class. I don’t believe I’ve been to a cooking class since we attended this same kind of class last December. Phillis Carey and Diane Phillips (both long-time cooking instructors and cookbook authors) taught the class, aimed at Christmas feasts. Diane is either Italian herself, or her husband is (they own a home in Spoleto, Italy and divide their time between San Diego and Tuscany). Phillis doesn’t teach cooking classes anymore (she’s retired except for taking some group cruise ship tours in various parts of the world with cooking and food as the emphasis). I miss Phillis’s classes.

But anyway, Phillis and Diane teach the equivalent of a full cooking class each at this particular event – a full course meal, demonstration and then everyone gets to sample the food. Diane did 6 dishes, Phillis did 5, I believe. There were several stars in the mix, and this was one of them. Sara and I decided we’d like to prepare this over New Years’ weekend sometime. We’re going to be in the desert with family visiting that weekend and it’ll make a great company meal. The flavor was just over the top delicious. A pork shoulder is used, cut up into small chunks (see photo below) and it’s served over a very easy baked polenta. Diane explained that some while back she just didn’t want to buy veal shanks anymore (they’re so very expensive, and it’s so inhumane to slaughter a very young steer), so she tried pork shoulder. Here’s the photo of it simmering.

Here on my blog I already have a recipe for osso bucco using pork shanks. But this one is very different using the pork shoulder. What’s there not to like about all the flavor from the fat in that pork shoulder? You do get to skim some of that fat off during the cooking process. The pork is browned then all the aromatics are added (onion, carrot, celery, sage, wine, broth, tomatoes). The meat is simmered for about 2 hours, or until the pork is super-tender. Diane recommends making it the day before, refrigerating it (that’s when you can remove the fat that rises to the top), then it’s merely a matter of reheating it. Serve with Gremolata – to me it “makes” the dish. It’s a mixture of freshly chopped Italian parsley, orange and lemon zest and fresh garlic (finely minced). See photo below.

The polenta was super-easy – you combine water, polenta style cornmeal, salt and pepper in a baking dish. You leave it uncovered, transfer to a 375°F oven and bake for an hour. Then you stir in Parm and butter. You want to serve the meal immediately when the polenta comes out of the oven while it’s creamy and hot, though you can add more hot broth or water to it to loosen it if it has to sit a few minutes.

What’s GOOD: everything about this was yummy. So tender, the meat, delicious juices running all over the plate, and the creamy polenta that is a match made in heaven. Serve it with gremolata (garlic, lemon zest, orange zest and Italian parsley). So pretty and it truly adds a lot of extra flavor.

What’s NOT: only that you need to start this several hours ahead (or ideally the day before).

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These just sounded so different – had to try them.

A recent issue of Food & Wine intrigued me because it contained different Christmas cookies than I’d ever made or even considered. Amongst them was this. I like a Moscow Mule once in awhile. I like gingersnaps. I love cranberries. Hence, it sounded like a winner.

This cookie requires a couple more steps than many – first you either have to buy or make a ginger syrup. But, fully disclosure here, those of us who gathered to bake cookies yesterday, could barely taste the massive amount of ginger contained in these cookies. Dianne actually made the dough that morning and it needed to chill for 4 hours (better overnight is my motto here). She and I worked on these cookies. Because the batter appeared to be really loose, first we baked one tray of them and figured out they were too loose – they almost spread into a cake. The cookie is very soft when first baked. Another item of disclosure here too, they need to cool awhile on the cookie sheets before trying to remove them. So we added about 2 tablespoons of extra flour, which was just about right. A note is in the recipe below about this.

So what makes it a Moscow Mule cookie, you ask? A full CUP of vodka (wow). Although not all of it ends up in the cookies – you soak the cranberries in it and reserve what’s left of the vodka for another use (maybe nice in a mixed drink of some kind where cranberry juice is called for?). You can substitute 7-UP in it if preferred. It also contained a HALF CUP of the ginger syrup, a bunch of lime zest and two tablespoons of fresh grated ginger (plus there was a ton of fresh ginger in the ginger syrup too). Be sure to make a thorough shopping list before attempting these!

Having a cookie scoop really helped with these. Dianne scooped and plopped the dough into my hand and I swirled them around in the powdered sugar before placing on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. These darned cookies DO stick, so even if you have those kind-of corrugated sheet pans, use parchment anyway. When the cookies bake they become speckled with the sugar – crackled is the word used in cookie baking, I believe. Love the look of them. Do, as I mentioned above, allow them to cool on the pans. The recipe says 2 minutes. I recommend more than that.

What’s GOOD: well, they’re very festive looking. And they taste good. Maybe not the highest on my list of cookies I’d make again – but they’re different (I like that). I’m not a fan of sugar cookies at all, so yes, I liked that they’re a very unusual cookie. The dried cranberries in them are nice to encounter, AND you can definitely taste the booze.

What’s NOT: well, that you have to make a ginger syrup (or buy one). Ideally start that the day before. And you need to chill the cookie dough at least 4 hours or overnight. Again, this dough is very soft. What surprised the four of us who met to do Christmas cookie baking, is that the ginger was almost so subtle we couldn’t taste it. Very odd, considering how much ginger is in them.

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There were a couple of posts I’d forgotten about writing up. This one for sure. Herbdacious is an herb paste you prepare in bulk (well, it makes a cup or so) and  you use it judiciously in other things. The meatloaf? With Kalamata olives? How’s that for different?

You have to hand it to chefs these days – well, maybe for a long time. It’s their job to make ordinary things better; or to create some new method of cooking, or combine unusual ingredients to make an all-new flavor of something. The latter is the case here – who would have thought of using Kalamata olives in a meatloaf? Never in a million years would I have created that! I was skeptical. Yet, this meatloaf is delicious. It’s definitely savory – you know what I mean in that some meatloaves have a sweet topping, like ketchup. My old family favorite is one of those with a sweet and sour tomato-based topping. This one – although it does have a bit of honey in it, it’s still a very savory meatloaf.

Over the  years I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Kalamata olives. Early on, I was in love with them, put them in everything. But they’re fairly bitter, and as my taste buds have changed with age (is that a thing?). I do use them occasionally, but not often. My first instinct was to use a different olive, but then I’d be changing the recipe from what Vivian Howard intended, so I did use the Kalamata. Thank goodness they sell them pitted these days. And indeed, I liked them in the meatloaf.

But first, we have to talk about Herbdacious. This is another one of Vivian Howard’s flavor heroes. So what is it, you ask? It’s a thick olive oil, garlic and herb/cheese/lemon juice paste. It stores well in the frig (with a little olive oil film on top to keep it fresh) or you can freeze it. The meatloaf recipe calls for 2/3 cup of Herbdacious. The Herbdacious recipe below makes 2 cups (mostly it’s made in a blender), so you’ll have plenty leftover to use in something else (soup?, a vinaigrette? stew? see below). For ideas, Vivian suggests:

. . . mix with mayo for/on a BLT, slather on corn on the cob, drizzle over bean soup, on grilled or sauteed veggies, over a baked potato, add to guacamole or avocado toast, dot on a tomato or watermelon salad with creamy cheese, slather on bread with cheese for garlic bread, as a green base for pizza, to dress pasta or grain salads, in deviled eggs or egg salad, toss with stale bread to make croutons.

The meatloaf is mixed up like any other meatloaf although it have one unusual ingredients: Greek yogurt. This recipe makes one huge meatloaf. If I made it again, I think I would shape it into two loaves, but if you’re feeding a crowd, then go for the full 2 1/2 pound loaf. Instead of bread crumbs, Vivian calls for crushed saltine crackers. With the herbdacious in it, the mixture is a pretty unusual color – kind of green/brown.  See the photo below, kinda greenish. But the finished product doesn’t look unusual at all.

In her cookbook she included recipes to use herbdacious: a clam dish, as a marinade for leg of lamb, part of Italian meat sauce (gravy), a chicken salad, a new version of Chex Mix (Chex and Cheez-Its, nuts, saltines, bagel chips), a Caesar salad vinaigrette, a zucchini sauce for fettucine, in a citrus salad, and lastly, in mashed potatoes. I haven’t made any of those yet. I should!

If you’re willing to try a very different kind of meatloaf, I recommend this one.

What’s GOOD: the meatloaf is wonderfully moist and flavorful from the Kalamata olives and the sun-dried tomato topping. I’m not a huge fan of sun-dried tomatoes, but this topping was good; I ate it. The meatloaf would make great sandwiches afterwards, and certainly is something I’d be willing to make for guests (since it’s so unusual).

What’s NOT: this has a couple of unusual ingredients, and it makes a huge meatloaf. Am sure it could be scaled down to a 1 1/2-pound variety, however.

MEATLOAF: printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook file (click link to open recipe)

HERBDACIOUS: printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook file (click link to open recipe)

. . .

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Every Christmas season I make this bread. I’ve posted it more than once. I just took two loaves out of the oven and wondered if some of you hadn’t ever read my original post for this quick Bishop’s Bread? I posted it in December, 2007, the first December I’d been writing this blog. It’s such a  favorite. And as I was looking it up today I realized that I have more comments about this bread than I have about any other recipe on this blog. One thing you need to know is this is NOT fruitcake. It has none of the citron stuff in it. It may look like fruitcake, but it’s not . . . Several people wrote me saying how thrilled they were to find the recipe as they’d lost it somehow. There are some other varieties of the bread. My original recipe (above) contains chocolate chips (Ghiradelli dark), Maraschino cherries (halved) and lots of walnuts. Some versions contain chopped dates. I don’t love dates in a bread so have never included it. Some people use dried cherries (or cranberries); others prefer the glazed cherries that are ubiquitous in Christmas baking. Some include walnuts and pecans.

One year I made Golden Bishop’s Bread. That was 2011. It’s more of a rich cake/bread (butter, spices, brandy), and it’s good too.

When I was in junior high school, the school cafeteria made white cake cupcakes nearly every day and they made a Maraschino cherry frosting with some chopped cherries in it and some of the juice in the frosting, so it made the frosting extra pink. I think (actually I’m sure) that’s when I fell in love with Maraschino cherries. I don’t eat them at any other time of the year. Start your holiday baking, my friends!

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You know how it is when you read a recipe saying it’s “the BEST” around? There are too many of them, so how do you decide?

Fall has “arriven” here in SoCal. So happy to have cooler days. Lighting my fireplace in the evenings, even wearing a sweater part of the time. I was craving chili, and couldn’t decide whether I should just defrost a package of some I made last spring, or to try something new. When I looked through the America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for chili, claiming it’s the “best,” I thought why not try it. But then, I didn’t have all the ingredients (chuck roast for one). I didn’t have fresh jalapeno peppers, either. Nor did I have beer on hand (I don’t drink it). I had a handyman working here in my house so decided I’d make do with what I did have (ground beef and ground pork) and canned chiles, and I used beef broth instead of beer. So the bottom line to this recipe is that I changed it a lot, but I also liked it a lot.

Ancho chiles are my new favorite thing in chili – they add so much complex flavor. The chiles I had weren’t hard-crisp-dried, but still somewhat soft, so it took a bit of doing to get them chopped up. The food processor didn’t do a very good job of it, so I plopped them out on my cutting board and used a big chef’s knife to chop them up into much smaller pieces. Back into the food processor, and whizzed them for a long time – eventually I got tiny pieces and a lot of coarse chile dust. Perfect.

First I sauteed some chopped onion, then added celery (not in the original recipe) just because it adds some more flavor and fiber, then garlic. I removed all that to a bowl while I browned the ground beef (as it happened I’d purchased some wagyu ground beef at Costco) and ground pork. Then I added the ancho chiles, some chili powder, cornmeal (gives it a little texture and thickening), dried oregano, ground cumin AND some cocoa powder. Say what? Maybe this is a take on Mexican mole, which uses chocolate. It’s not like you can taste the chocolate (there were only two teaspoons). Also an unusual item, molasses. Canned black beans (and you can add more – I used just one can) and canned tomatoes were added too, then canned green chiles and beef broth. Here’s where  you could add the lager if you had it (instead of broth).

The onions went back in and I set it to simmer for about an hour. Done. It needed salt and toppings to finish. Usually I prefer to let chili sit overnight in the frig (helps it develop better flavor, as in a lot of dishes like soups and stews), but I had some for my lunch yesterday, with shredded cheese (Mexican cheese blend) and some cilantro. You could add lots of other toppings: freshly grated raw onion, green onions, crushed Fritos, tortilla chips, fresh chopped tomatoes and even some minced Jalapeno peppers. So even though it hadn’t melded overnight, I thought the flavor was wonderful!

What’s GOOD: you can make this in an hour or so. It probably could be made in the Instant Pot in a lot less time too, though you’d need to scale down the recipe as I think it would make it too full. I liked it a LOT. Very nice, deep, complex flavors. Notice how dark the color is – a lot from the ancho chiles, but also the cocoa. This recipe is a keeper. Certainly I didn’t stick to the America’s Test Kitchen recipe very well, but I liked my riff.

What’s NOT: only that it does take at least 90 minutes to make, maybe a bit longer. It makes a big batch, and even more if you added another can of beans. I try to limit carbs, so used just one can. Great for freezing.

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Have you ever had banana cookies? I don’t think I had. They’re good.

This evening I’m leading a committee meeting and wanted to serve something, a little something, while we work. I told the hostess I’d bring cookies. But maybe not chocolate (my usual go-to anything) since it might keep some people awake. This cookie was just the thing – a cross between banana bread and a cookie. Having made them and now eaten several of them, they really are just banana bread made into a cookie.

The original recipe called for quite a bit more sugar, but commenters said to reduce the sugar by about half. I didn’t quite do that, but close. And if I make them again, I’d likely reduce the 2/3 cup to a little over 1/2 cup. The mixture of spices in this (cinnamon, mace [or nutmeg] and ground cloves) is just right. Not too much, not too little. Several commenters said they removed most of the spices because they knew their children wouldn’t like the taste (really?), but I think the spices are great.

Do note the brief time the mashed bananas need to just sit with the baking soda. That’s not an instruction you see very often. It helps the rising factor. The batter may appear curdled, but as with banana bread, it doesn’t make a jot of difference once baked. I have good baking sheets (my new favorite is the Williams-Sonoma gold ones) that don’t require parchment. These cookies didn’t stick at all. You can put more than the usual amount of cookies on the sheet as they don’t spread. Where they plop, they stay. I used a cookie scoop so they were all a uniform amount.

What’s GOOD: love the banana flavor and texture. Just like banana bread, but in cookie form. Definitely I’d make these again if I had over-ripe bananas in my kitchen.

What’s NOT; nothing really. These are good. Not crisp – they’re soft and tender. Just like banana bread.

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Tummy-warming soup with a Mexican bent – made with poblano chiles, canned green chiles and a bunch of vegetables. Plus chicken, of course.

First, a little update about me. My jury duty is finally over with – it lasted four weeks. Thank goodness I’m done with it. I wasn’t ever called to be a deliberating juror (I was an alternate), but when the jurors did meet they convicted the defendant on all five counts, including an enhancement charge that she had intended to cause bodily harm. I wrote a letter to the prosecutor (thanking her), one to the police detective who was assigned to the case (thanking him for his 14 months of working on the case), another to the police chief (telling him how much I admired the detective for his work, but also for his compassion to the victim), and lastly I mailed a Halloween card to the victim herself telling her how brave she was to testify (age 11). The defendant will be put away for a long time.

Now let’s talk about soup. When the weather begins to turn cooler I’m all in for making soups. This one started out as a slow cooker soup, but since I no longer have a large slow cooker (only the instant pot one – and it would have been too small for this batch) I changed the recipe all around, added more vegetables into it and made it on the stovetop. If you have leftover chicken (or in my case it was some rotisserie chicken) this is a perfect soup to use it up.

This is a quick and easy soup if you have all the ingredients. The original recipe called for rice (you can add it if you’d like), but I added some sweet potato and a bit of butternut squash. Actually, for the record, I bought a box of fresh, chopped up veggies at Trader Joe’s, a kind of fall medley, so I’m estimating how much sweet potato and squash it added. Soups like this aren’t exact – add more of anything that suits you and your family.

There are bunches of recipes on the ‘net lately, all made in a crockpot, using a brick of cream cheese. That adds a lot of luscious creaminess to the soup as it melts slowly. I almost always have an 8-ounce brick of cream cheese in my refrigerator. You don’t have to decorate the servings with grated cheese or cilantro, but those two things add a nice touch to the soup. Finishes it off.

What’s GOOD: loved this soup. It makes a big batch, so I have ample to freeze in Ziploc quart bags. Loved the creaminess of it, and the various vegetables added, the sweet potato and butternut squash. The various chiles add a lovely umami flavor to the soup, I think. Altogether delicious.

What’s NOT: nothing really. I suppose you could adapt this to an instant pot (make half the recipe) and then add the cream cheese at the end and let it simmer (not pressure cook) to blend slowly into the soup itself. Made on the stovetop, with all the chopping, etc. it probably takes an hour to make the soup.

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We used to think that coconut milk was bad for us – because of the saturated fat it contained. But now the experts think that type of saturated fat isn’t the same as from animal fat. Good thing, since this soup is so delicious and contains not one, but two cans of coconut milk.

So, first, just to catch you up. I’ve been on jury duty for about 3 weeks (as I write this). And the trial isn’t over yet. Maybe I’ll talk about it eventually. It’s absolutely gruesome. It’s not a murder trial but about child abuse. Erroneously, I thought that once you got to be my age, you didn’t have to serve on jury duty anymore. Not so in my county. There were 60 of us assigned to a courtroom and over the course of 1 1/2 days they finally got a jury selected, me included as Alternate #3. Lots of potential jurors didn’t want to be a juror for this trial. The judge warned us it was going to assault our senses when we’d see photos. Some people likely lied about their inability to view child abuse. Some jurors were released; others weren’t. When I was called to the jury box (I was potential juror #55) and questioned, I knew all the arguments the judge had heard. I’d resigned myself that this must be what God had in mind, that I needed to serve. So when the judge asked me if I could be fair and impartial, I said yes. Did I want to be there? Absolutely not. But I wouldn’t lie. That’s not in my nature anyway.

Consequently, my life has kind of been on hold. And let me tell you, coming home in the evenings I was just a “basket case” of sadness (for the children involved), anger (at the defendant and that the abuse had gone on for so long, undetected). I have cried in the courtroom several times; so did some of the other jurors. The judge had forewarned us that he expected some of us to shed tears. At home, I found myself unable to concentrate. Unable to do normal tasks. Most evenings I watch mindless TV just to reset my brain. Each weekend I went through the motions of doing tasks I knew I needed to do (grocery shopping and errands), but my heart wasn’t in it. By Sundays I’ve been mostly back to normal. And then it starts all over on Monday mornings.

Cooking has not played center stage for me in these past weeks, except for making a couple of soups that I could take to court (and reheat in the microwave in the large jury pool room on the lunch hour). One was fabulous (this one) the other one not so much (won’t be posting it).

The Soup: the original recipe came from the internet, but I altered it some, making it my own. It had rice; I eliminated the rice – but you can add it if you’d like to. Surely you know me by now, I like to eliminate carbs when possible. This has sweet potato in it, but that veg is a resistant starch that gets mostly eliminated through your gut and intestines and not absorbed as a carbohydrate. I added zucchini (just because I love zucchini) and I added bok choy too. It called for spinach, but I added a lot more.

The meatballs were very easy to make – with ground chicken, shallots, fresh ginger, a bit of soy sauce. They were lightly browned on a couple of sides in EVOO, then removed. Then you begin assembling the soup part – more shallot, some onion, garlic, curry paste, curry powder, chicken broth, bok choy, zucchini and the sweet potatoes. Once the veggies are tender add in the coconut milk and spinach. The meatballs are added back in and simmered for a few minutes. Done.

What’s GOOD: loved the umami flavors in this – probably the coconut milk, the ginger, garlic, even the sweet potato! SO flavorful. I’m so glad I have many more portions of this soup to enjoy in the next week or so. Whether it’s taking it to the jury room, or having here at home once this trial is over. Altogether wonderful soup. If you’re pressed for time, don’t make the meatballs, just add all the flavors into the soup and you’ll be happy with the results.

What’s NOT: maybe the sticky meatball-making, but that’s about it. It’s a very simple soup to make.

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Another favorite of my friend Linda. This is an adult fruit salad.

Do you still have some good, summer fruit available? Maybe some strawberries, although they’re on the back end of summer fruits. Bananas, green grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon. Blueberries add a nice color to the salad. I might add some peaches or nectarines, if they were available. Even kiwi? Linda added some mandarin oranges to her salad.

Likely you have a bottle of Grand Marnier in the back of your liquor cabinet too? And you need fresh lemon juice also – and mint.

If you buy a watermelon, consider cutting it in half and making a bowl from the rind, you know, the kind where you cut the zigzag edge?

When you make this, combine the sugar, lemon juice and Grand Marnier in a big bowl or a big plastic bag, then add the fruit. Stir it around GENTLY so all of the fruit has had a kiss by that Grand Marnier. Refrigerate it for a few hours to marinate the fruits. Serve with sprigs of mint. Lovely.

What’s GOOD: the subtle Grand Marnier flavor, for sure, and just the joy of a lovely fresh fruit salad.

What’s NOT: not a thing.

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A post from Karen: While a Honey Chipotle Chicken I can’t take credit for (thank you “Marinated” for making my life easy! –[a farmer’s market near where Karen lives]) was roasting in the oven I considered what sides I was going to serve with it. I wanted a salad or slaw to complement it and was reminded of El Torito Restaurant’s dressing with cilantro and pepitas. Alas, I was out of pepitas, but I did have pistachios on hand. Why not?! I continued rummaging through pantry and refrigerator for what would complete my dressing. I often pickle or freeze what I can’t use right away, and in this case I had some onion and red jalapeno pickles on hand. I also had some Yuzu hot sauce which would add a nice citrus component.

What’s good: – this came together very easily. I think the pickled elements of the onion and jalepeno really lended a wonderful layer of flavor to the dressing and negated the need for added salt or pepper. It was also a great use of the vinegar my onions were pickling in. The pistachio added a nice little crunch. I didn’t toast them, and would be curious to hear if you try it that way. The feta was a nice add as well, simply sprinkled on the top instead of incorporated in. I haven’t tried cotija cheese, but seems like it would work well, so let me know if you try that too!

What wasn’t – well, if you are trying to watch your calories, you may not like that I used heavy cream and mayonnaise. I did use light mayo for the second batch and that worked fine.
Bottom line – Hubby declared it the “best ever” slaw he’s ever tasted. It’s gotten rave reviews from everyone who has tried it so far and I find myself craving it now! Hope you enjoy it too!

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