Surely you’ve heard somebody talk about milk braising a pork roast. I know I had, but somehow, even though I’d read and heard it was a really tasty way to prepare pork, I’d never actually done it. Plus, I’d simply pictured a curdled gloppy sauce. Who boils milk with any expectation of something pretty!

What I had were pork chops, not a roast. Time was at a premium that day (when I made this a couple of weeks ago I was deep in a quagmire of gift wrapping and Christmas card mailing), I quickly scanned through some recipes for pork and stopped at milk-braised pork. Hmmm. The original recipe I had would take too long, so I researched online and came across this extra-easy and quicker method (although it does take about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish) that was perfect for my timing.

I didn’t even print out the recipe – it was that kind of simple, although I did double check the cooking time and the last-minute saucing. The recipe came from about.com. the Southern Food section of that site, from Diana Rattray, who has provided most, if not all, of the recipes. And this is simple with a capital S! First you make a flour, salt and pepper mixture (and there is very little flour) and coat the chops. You shake off any excess. Into a hot frying pan they go (with a little oil and butter). Meanwhile, you use whatever amount of flour is left over from the dipping (not much) and use a whisk to combine it with some milk. You want to remove all the lumps. Once the chops are browned for about 3 minutes per side, you pour off most of the drippings, and add the milk/flour mixture, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. It cooks for about 30 minutes or so, stirring every so often. You don’t want the sauce to reduce-down too much and burn.

Not realizing the nuances of the flour, I’d put a bit too much in the bowl, so I had to add additional milk so this mixture was soupy, not thick. If it’s thick it will likely burn and/or boil away. It won’t be pretty! If you have a low-enough burner, it’ll cook very gently. That’s the goal. After 20-30 minutes, you turn the chops over and add more milk. The amount can vary because of the flour amount used. I added just a little bit of my Penzey’s chicken soup base to add more flavor. Again, stir it around, cover and simmer for about another 30 minutes. During this time, check the sauce – if the gravy is too thick, add more milk, but don’t add too much. I added some dried thyme to this, as it’s my go-to herb when I want to add some flavor. Then you take off the cover and allow the pork to continue bubbling away, but the sauce will reduce and get thicker. In that time I quick-like made a salad and some mashed potatoes.

My DH thought he was back home as a kid. Growing up, his mother and dad had a housekeeper named Sarah, a loving Black woman who cooked and cared for the family nearly her whole life. She was from the South, and often cooked kale, turnip greens, black eyed peas and the like. This dish just reminded him of the meals she used to prepare. He wanted to sop up every single bit of the gravy (since I don’t make this kind of a meal very often).

What’s GOOD: how easy this was to make, although it does take more than an hour of just simmering – you want that pork to be fork tender. The sauce was lovely. It’s NOT a fancy sauce – it’s just milk, flour, salt and pepper, so don’t expect some deep character kind of gravy here. Do make some kind of carb (rice would be fine too, or even noodles) to eat with the sauce. I’ve added a note in the recipe about throwing in some mushrooms to this. I didn’t, but if I’d had any, I’d have used them in the sauce. Definitely a keeper of a recipe. Comfort food, for sure.
What’s NOT: probably the lengthy cooking – for pork chops, 1 1/4 hours is a long time to simmer. Hard to do with a table full of hungry children waiting. If you can plan ahead, by all means do it.

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What this soup has is lots of flavor. It has celery root in it, for one, and mushrooms, and Poblano chiles. Those three things are very much umami flavors in my book, although I don’t know that the umami experts would agree with me except for mushrooms. It has a total of 1/4 cup of cream, and you could easily  use half and half or whole milk if you don’t want the extra butterfat.

I’d intended to maybe use some chicken or turkey in it, but it tasted so darned good without it, I decided to leave it as-is. It was a simple-enough soup to make – I cooked the celery root, potato  and garlic together in chicken broth until they were both fork tender. Then I whizzed it up with my immersion blender – a few extra little chunks of potato aren’t a bad thing. If you really want it to be smooth, put it all in the blender and blend and blend.

While all that was cooking I chopped up a ton of mushrooms (I made a double batch) and roasted two poblanos, let them rest covered with foil, then peeled off all the skin and chopped them up in little pieces. I added dried thyme and the heavy cream. I could have sautéed the mushrooms in butter and made it taste richer, but I already knew it was going to be good, so I just sliced the fresh mushrooms and added them to the soup. I have a jar of “mushroom base,” a paste that’s just like the chicken base I buy from Penzey’s, except this one came from Surfas, the pro cooking store we have in our area. The corn adds just a little bit of different texture. And I wasn’t so sure I would like the Manchego, but as the saying goes, it was “brilliant” in this soup. I’d definitely use that again. You know, some cheeses don’t melt well – they turn into a kind of grainy texture. Not so with the Manchego, and it has a rather nutty flavor to begin with. It was perfect with this soup.

The recipe doubled makes a lot. We had it for dinner at least twice (3 of us, my cousin is visiting) and twice for lunch as well. I also added some chopped up bratwurst (it was already cooked, so just chunked it up and heated it through). The recipe below shows it without meat, but with optional items. Bacon was also an optional item. I found this recipe online, but I can’t locate the source I used, but she/he (whomever wrote the post I read) had added celery root, which is what attracted me to it. The original of this recipe is on Rick Bayless’ website.

What’s GOOD: the textures and deep flavors in this soup are great. The celery root is indistinguishable, but I think if it weren’t in this, it wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is. The mushrooms add lots of flavor too. And I’m sure the mushroom (soup) base I added in also provided depth of flavor. You can fix this totally vegetarian easily enough. We had it without meat and also with Bratwurst. It’s a real winner of a soup. We all liked it a LOT.

What’s NOT: for me, it’s only that it’s a more carbohydrate-centric soup that I usually make. But celery root is not as carb-heavy as potatoes. The soup is mostly chicken broth (and mushroom broth) with the potatoes and celery root adding some heft to the brothy part.

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Oh, just gaze at those. Merely looking at the photo makes my mouth water. These scones (or rich biscuits) are just the cat’s meow. The bestest. The most tender scones I’ve ever made, for sure. And they are just a pairing from heaven with some hot soup. Like cream of tomato? I made them to serve with one of my favorite recipes – Italian Sausage and Tomato Soup. 

The recipe came from a recent cooking class with Phillis Carey. And as she explained at the class, it’s very unusual to see eggs IN scones. Used as a glaze on top, yes, but rarely do you see any recipe with eggs in the dough. These scones (biscuits) are going onto my favorites list, if that’s any indication how good they were (are).

These are incredibly easy to make. You combine the dry ingredients and lightly fluff them with a fork so the salt and baking soda don’t clump in one spot. Then you add the cold-cold butter that’s been cut into little cubes. I use a pastry fork, and then sometimes I dig in with my fingers, since that’s fairly easy to do. The trick to this is leaving some of the butter in tiny little shreds. But in this case, the eggs provide additional leavening to the batter too. This one has fresh herbs in it, but you can vary which ones you use – don’t like rosemary? – just use dill or thyme. The cheese also adds a nice taste to them.

The dough makes a big chunk, so you cut it in half and shape each half into a circle, an inch thick. Don’t use any more hand-power than necessary – the less the better. I used a sharp knife to cut the scones into 6 wedges, then I carefully scrunched them back into the circle – barely touching. If you like all the edges to be more crisp, separate the wedges. If you want just 6 biscuits, halve the recipe below. When they’re shaped up and ready, use a pastry brush or silicone brush with some additional heavy cream to glaze the top, then sprinkle more herbs and cheese on top.

The end result is a very, very tender scone – almost like a light cake in texture. For years I’ve been making scones from a recipe I acquired back in the 1980s, and it’s been my go-to recipe – it’s also on my favorites list – Buttermilk Scones – and they’re just very different from these. The others are more like a biscuit, a southern biscuit, I suppose.

These are scrumptious with soup. I served them the other night, as I mentioned above, with another of Phillis’ recipes, the Italian Sausage, Tomato and Orzo Soup. We had 6 of us for dinner, and I had 4 scones left over – a few people took 2nds on both soup and scones. I wrapped each scone in plastic wrap and edged them into a freezer ziploc bag and they’ll be perfect for a later soup dinner.

What’s GOOD: oh gosh. Everything about them is good – texture, taste, tenderness, even the savory aspect  (the cheese and herbs). They’re very light in texture, which I like a lot. You’ll not be sorry if you try them.
What’s NOT: nothing, other than they’re fairly high in calorie. If you serve them with soup, perhaps the meal balances out, right?

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Since I have so many tenderloin recipes on my blog already, I debated about not posting this one. But the sauce won me over. It’s just really good and full of concentrated flavor. If you’re having a bunch of folks over for the holidays, or some special dinner, there’s almost nothing easier than a beef tenderloin.

It’s always the cost of a whole beef tenderloin that stops me from roasting one more often. And when I entertain I often have just 6 people. Not worth doing a whole tenderloin for 6 – unless you really crave roast beef sandwiches – and I mean roast beef of the highest order – the next day! But the left over meat is never as good as it was when it was served first. So do plan this when you have at least 8 people. I really think you could serve 10 people with one, but if you want those nice, thick 1-inch slices, you’ll feed about 8+.

If you’re a Costco shopper, you can buy a whole tenderloin, pre-trimmed of fat, sinew and silverskin, for about $100. I’m quite willing to pay the higher price to have it pre-trimmed, as I really dislike having to do it myself. Costco carries both, so you can choose.

If we’re going to talk about sauce – and yes, we are – this one’s really good, and actually I think it’s a benefit that you have to make it earlier in the day or the day before. There is no way you can make this sauce in the time the roast is in the oven, which means the sauce IS a bit labor intensive. The biggest chore is preparing 1 1/2 cups of chopped shallots. That’s one heck of a lot of shallots. They’re kind of tedious to peel and chop. That alone will take you 20+ minutes, I would guess. The sauce isn’t hard to make, although you do have to reduce down the sauce at two different times in the process. But it all comes together and it can be cooled down and refrigerated overnight. Just at the last you mix in a thickening roux and it’s ready to serve. When Phillis Carey made this, she served it with green beans and mashed potatoes with loads of crimini mushrooms in them. And the gravy kind of went all over everything.

Maybe I’ll have to just plan a dinner party so I can make this and enjoy whatever left overs there might be.

What’s GOOD: well, to me the sauce makes this. There isn’t anything all that unusual about a roasted beef tenderloin – but the sauce here puts it into a regal league. I’d definitely make this again.
What’s NOT: only the time it takes to make the sauce, but it can be made ahead. It’s the sauce that makes it, so don’t even think of not doing that part!
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The below came from the blog, Eat Your Books. Just thought you might enjoy a laugh, or a harumph. Meanwhile, I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holiday, whatever it is you’re celebrating today.

Eatocracy has Eat This List: 2014 food trend predictions. Two of their editors each describe 5 trends, along with some honorable mentions. The article has full explanations behind each selection; briefly, they are:

• Fish collars, heads and trash fish
• Heirloom beans, peanuts and field peas
• Haute Jewish deli
• Reconsidered rice (and no, I don’t know what that means)
• Raw beef
• Eating with your hands
• Housemade hot sauces
• Parfaits
• Breakfast for dinner

Over at The Daily Meal, they asked 25 chefs to  Predict the 2014’s Dining and Culinary Trends. We’ll let you look at the complete list, but here are some of the food items that were mentioned:

• Gourmet tacos
• Pork
• Dishes from Sardinia, Sri Lanka, Laos, and Malaysia (SE Asia is hot)
• Lots of grains and seeds – grits could be big
• Asian mustard greens
• Coconut sugar

And then we have the Wall Street Journal, which focused on just one trend in their article, Historical Recipes Are the Next Big Thing. As they write, “In a culinary landscape filled with Szechuan pastrami and cronuts, it can feel like our chefs are slaves to novelty, forever breaking with traditional foodways in favor of dishes inspired by artistic whims and enabled by modern technology. But look past the clamor of innovation and you’ll find some of the country’s most gifted toques quietly engrossed in old cookbooks, viewing the historical record as a treasure trove of ingenious techniques and preparations.”

However, as they explain later in the article, “The trend doesn’t stem from fetishizing the past so much as from the deeply held conviction that, when it comes to cookery, time-honored methods often trump personal innovation.” And, as  Adam Leonti (chef of  Vetri in Philadelphia)  points out, “Recipes from the past tend to lack the precise details we see in today’s texts…and that provides opportunities for creative thinking and experimentation.”

So if you want to be au courant,  dig out those old cookbooks and see which recipes trigger your curiosity. Sometimes the old is new again.

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Well then. Bisque. Most often associated with lobster, I think. And wherever you see the word bisque, it means the base of the soup is cream. Cream and more cream. This one is no exception. I haven’t tried it with half and half – perhaps it would be good – but nowhere near as delicious as this one, using heavy cream.

I think butternut squash is one of the new darlings of the produce world. That and kale. There are any number of butternut squash recipes here on my blog, and most are for soup. This is a new one, from a cooking class with Phillis Carey. She loves butternut squash, obviously. And if you’re fortunate enough to live near a Costco or a Trader Joe’s, they’ve cut them, peeled, them, removed the seeds and stuff and chopped them up for you. Love that! Of course, you pay for the privilege of buying them semi-prepared, but I’m willing to do that. I’m always a bit hesitant with the big butternut squash in front of me, wielding the big huge knife, contemplating that first cut. I’m fearful, is what it is – because the squash is so darned hard, often the knife can slip. I’m always extra careful about that. Hence, I buy the pre-cut packages!

In this version, onion is sautéed, then the squash is added in with broth. After it’s tender, it’s pureed in a blender (immersion type is the easiest) then a roux is added to thicken it up. Lastly you add the cream, fresh grated nutmeg and dried thyme. It’s really quite easy.

BUT, just know that if you use heavy cream (it calls for 1 1/2 cups to serve 8) you’ll be enjoying a whole lot of butterfat! This soup is very rich (obviously), so I recommend it be a small serving with or before a dinner. For me, it’s too rich to serve as a dinner entrée.

What’s GOOD: you definitely get the best-of essence of butternut squash – the cream just brightens the squash flavor. It’s absolutely delicious. Fabulous. And easy. You can make it ahead too.

What’s NOT: nary a thing except the calories (from the cream).

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After I got this recipe at a Phillis Carey cooking class a month or more ago, I came home and made it the very next night. I keep salmon, vacuum sealed, in my freezer all the time since it will defrost in a matter of an hour or so plunged into a bowl of water, weighted down (so you keep the frozen food under water) with a bowl on top and a big heavy item inside (like a big can of tomatoes, or something weighing about 2-3 lbs.).

First off, make the tartar sauce so it has a bit of time to marry the flavors (from the artichoke hearts [not the marinated kind], red onion, capers, green onions and pickles). Refrigerate it for a few hours if you can spare the time. I think mine only got to sit for about an hour and the last 30 minutes I took it out of the refrigerator to reach closer to room temp. Meanwhile I got out all the ingredients to make the salmon itself.

Pecans are called for in this recipe, but you can use almonds as well, if you prefer them. You season the salmon with a bit of salt and pepper, dredge the pieces in flour, then dip into an egg and milk mixture and then dip them into the pecans and bread crumbs. That you can do an hour or so ahead of time. The salmon is browned in a sauté pan, then popped in the oven for 6-8 minutes (depending on how thick the salmon is). That’s it. Serve with the tartar sauce. If you sauté the salmon in a pan that can also go into the oven, that will help with the cleanup. Dinner was done in a jiffy. During the baking time I quick-like made a vegetable and did a quick salad too.

What’s GOOD: the flavor, first and foremost. But also, this dish is so easy to make. Loved the artichoke hearts in the tartar sauce. That part was just “different.” Would make a very lovely company meal, too.

What’s NOT: really nothing.

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My usual method of keeping cookies is nothing more than piling them into freezer type Ziploc bags, pushing out as much air as possible without damaging the cookies, and stuffing the bag into the freezer. I’m fairly content with pulling a cookie out, now and then, and eating it from a frozen state.

But, not only have I run out of room in my freezer, but when you’re holding cookies for a few days, or you want to ship them, how do you keep them fresh?

Leave it to the experts at America’s Test Kitchen – actually they mentioned it on their blog, about how to keep cookies fresh. They prepared a video about it. And there’s a secret ingredient . . . I’m not going to spoil the show – watch it. It’s very quick – won’t take but a minute

In the event the video doesn’t show up above, here’s the link to the blog post they did:

Now, the trick will be whether I can REMEMBER this little tip. But then, I don’t ship many cookies, but I’m sure many of you do. Hope this helps. I’m done with cookie baking this year. I have just a few more gifts to wrap and I’m done!

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Plain and simple, I just love green beans. In my book, they’re good merely steamed or simmered in water and glossed with a little bit of butter, salt and pepper. Probably my favorite recipe for green beans is the garlic green beans. But most recently I learned how to use an almost dry frying method. They are just so simple too. This recipe today, though, is more complex – not difficult, but will take some time if you have it to spare.

As a matter of fact, you’ll find a whole bunch of green bean recipes here on my blog and there IS one very similar to this version, but it’s not quite the same. This one has Dijon in it, and that addition does give these beans a different flavor profile. As is usually the case – and what you really want to have happen – you can’t exactly taste the Dijon – if you have a good palate, you probably will taste it, but most people might not. It just adds lots of flavor to these beans.

What you will need, though, are a whole bunch of shallots. Do you ever see shallots on sale? No? Me either! But they keep for several weeks – I leave them sitting in a little bowl on my kitchen counter – we buy 3-4 at a time and usually I will use them up before they dry up. But in this recipe, one or two shallots won’t cut it – you need 12 shallots for 2 pounds of green beans. So you might need to plan ahead for this recipe . . .

The other flavor profile here is butter. Lots of it. When we tasted this at the cooking class with Phillis Carey, I didn’t pay attention to how much butter is in it. Maybe the title should be Buttered Green Beans with Dijon and Shallots. Phillis never steers away from using butter – her motto is that you don’t eat that many green beans so you don’t end up eating that much butter. Half of the butter is used to caramelize the shallots, and you’ll not even see that butter because it mostly fries away. The other chunk of butter goes in the beans themselves toward the end. In any case, these are delicious! The beans are simmered in water and drained before they’re completely cooked through (so they can still cook a few more minutes and not be over done). The shallots take awhile – at least 15 minutes probably, to get to that caramelized state of dark brown (but not burned, obviously). Then you pan sauté the beans and butter until the beans are completely cooked and serve and serve with the warm shallots on top.

You can make this dish ahead – completely. That part’s really nice, especially if you’re entertaining. I’d make them an hour or so ahead and set the pan aside. Just reheat before you’re ready to serve and reheat the shallots too.

What’s GOOD: what’s to not like about green beans and butter or green beans and toasty caramelized shallots? Nothing that I can think of. These are delicious – I almost dare you to not eat seconds. Would be good for a company meal. I like the part about being able to make them ahead of time – just reheat the 2 pans before serving.
What’s NOT: nothing, really. Just the time to caramelize the shallots, I suppose – that does take awhile – be careful not to burn them!

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The last time I made Chicken Tikka Masala, I said it was the be-all, end-all recipe (from America’s Test Kitchen) and that I’d probably never try another one. And then I read this recipe using the Sous Vide Supreme PSV-00144 Promo Pack Cooking System. I know that most of you don’t have a sous vide machine, so I’m also including the same recipe done in the slow cooker. And this is surely the time of year when it would be so nice to throw something in the slow cooker, a fix and forget kind of meal.

Do I get cravings? Sure. Like most people, I presume. In #1 position is chocolate. Oh how I wish I didn’t crave it. Not every day, but almost. I do my best to grab about 6 chocolate chips and be satisfied with that. Usually it works. In #2 position is Mexican food. As I’ve explained ages ago here on my blog, growing up in San Diego I went to a favorite restaurant in Old Town (called Aztec Dining Room – long ago closed after the mamasita passed away and the daughter just didn’t want to run the restaurant without her). We, as a family, went there at least once a week. My mother never cooked Mexican food that I can remember – maybe she made cheese enchiladas once in awhile – and she made Tamale Pie. But, I grew up with a craving for Mexican food. In my 20-35 age range I didn’t always live in places where I could go to a Mexican restaurant or buy the ingredients. But once I returned to Southern California, I could happily and easily ease the craving for a good taco or chile relleno (my usual Mexican meal of choice) at our local Mexican places.

Then, probably in 3rd place is Indian food. I don’t cook Indian all that often. Maybe once a month. In between times we go out to a couple of our local restaurants for it.

As a cook who likes to make all kinds of ethnic food, if I have a craving it’s usually not a big deal to just make it myself. And we have several Indian restaurants nearby that do an admirable job; this time, though, I did make it myself. And  yes, I was craving Indian food. I wanted chicken in that wonderful creamy sauce – tikka masala. Really, tikka masala is so easy to do, and as I read the recipe at the Sous Vide Supreme website, it just sounded so good – and easy!

The joy of using the sous vide is that whatever you cook, it cooks long and slow at a temperature way below what you’d get on the stovetop or even in the oven. Chicken breasts cook at precisely 146° F. I’ve made lots of different meats in the sous vide, but I’d never done chicken breasts until now. And oh, was it easy and was it ever tender and juicy. They cooked for precisely 2 hours. I vacuum sealed them with just a bit of butter in the packet, and in they went. The sauce what whizzed up in the blender and consisted of crushed canned tomatoes, half and half, ginger, garlic, honey, paprika, cumin, turmeric, coriander and salt. That’s it. That was placed into a Ziploc (freezer) bag and was also placed in the rack in the machine. It sat there for 2 hours also. When I was ready to serve dinner, I removed the packages, poured the sauce, as is, into a pitcher, removed the chicken breasts to a cutting board and cut nice-sized thick slices and placed them on top of some basmati rice and drizzled the sauce over the top and garnished with cilantro. Was that ever easy! With a green salad, there was dinner.

The only thing in the sauce to give it heat (it did have a little) was the ginger. If you or your family are sensitive to heat, use a bit less, perhaps.

What’s GOOD: how very easy this was to make. Also, love-loved the tender, juicy chicken. Even our 2 teenage grandchildren who were here for dinner commented about how juicy the chicken was. For kids, that was interesting to hear them say – that they’d even notice! You can see from the photo – look at the chicken – it’s almost pink. But it isn’t. It’s just that perfect kind of done. Also loved the flavoring in the sauce. It was so easy to make in the blender and pour right into the bag. I had not a single dirty pan to be washed! Just the salad bowl, plates and silverware. How easy is that?

What’s NOT: well, you do have to plan just a bit ahead, but only 2+ hours (or 4-8 for slow cooker). And, you do have to have a sous vide machine. Or, use the slow cooker – see recipe below. I’ll definitely be making this again.

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