8-23-14 I'll call it August Afternoon Soup, because that's what it tastes like. Could not be simpler.
1/2 onion chopped and sauteed in 1 Tbsp butter, shallot would have been better
1 large, ripe homegrown tomato (homegrown by whoever grows tomatoes for the Cashiers farmer's market.)
2 ears sweet corn, cooked for 3 minutes in microwave, husks not removed till after cooking, cut from ear. Scrape sweet milk from ear with knife.
1 cup good chicken broth. Bring it all to a boil, but only for a couple of minutes
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper or Cavender's Greek seasoning
sprinkle with fresh basil chiffonade.
Snarf.
8-23-14
I've got to work on pictures! Dinner tonight was grilled sirloin with Italian salsa verde, sauteed green beans, a baked potato, and grilled peaches with very very good balsamico. The only thing I could imagine that could have made it better would have been some mascarpone on the peaches, but that would have been over the top. Will post recipe for salsa verde tomorrow.
8-3-14
Lima Beans in Sour Cream with Molasses
My sister and I were talking the other day about the sausages we used to enjoy at our grandmother's lake house in Canandaigua, New York, when we were growing up. They came from a butcher in Rochester and were known as Glotz's Hots, and were white and fat and absolutely delicious. I've tasted them only once again, at a wedding somewhere in southern New Hampshire. I've looked for them ever since. So has she. We have eaten all sorts of white sausages hoping that this would be the one. Not even close.
Suddenly she said, Do you remember the lima beans she used to make? I hadn't thought of them in years, but I could taste them as if they were in a big, wide bowl in front of me. So the search began. And I was rewarded. It seems, as I have mentioned them to my stepson, that his grandmother used to make them too, and he was enthusiastic about trying them in the mountains, so we did. They are not much to look at, but kids and adults will inhale them regardless of their deeply held feelings about lima beans.
Now if only we could find her recipe for chocolate cake, the one with coffee in it. And the Glotz's hots, of course.
7-29-14
1/2 onion chopped and sauteed in 1 Tbsp butter, shallot would have been better
1 large, ripe homegrown tomato (homegrown by whoever grows tomatoes for the Cashiers farmer's market.)
2 ears sweet corn, cooked for 3 minutes in microwave, husks not removed till after cooking, cut from ear. Scrape sweet milk from ear with knife.
1 cup good chicken broth. Bring it all to a boil, but only for a couple of minutes
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper or Cavender's Greek seasoning
sprinkle with fresh basil chiffonade.
Snarf.
8-23-14
I've got to work on pictures! Dinner tonight was grilled sirloin with Italian salsa verde, sauteed green beans, a baked potato, and grilled peaches with very very good balsamico. The only thing I could imagine that could have made it better would have been some mascarpone on the peaches, but that would have been over the top. Will post recipe for salsa verde tomorrow.
8-3-14
Lima Beans in Sour Cream with Molasses
My sister and I were talking the other day about the sausages we used to enjoy at our grandmother's lake house in Canandaigua, New York, when we were growing up. They came from a butcher in Rochester and were known as Glotz's Hots, and were white and fat and absolutely delicious. I've tasted them only once again, at a wedding somewhere in southern New Hampshire. I've looked for them ever since. So has she. We have eaten all sorts of white sausages hoping that this would be the one. Not even close.
Suddenly she said, Do you remember the lima beans she used to make? I hadn't thought of them in years, but I could taste them as if they were in a big, wide bowl in front of me. So the search began. And I was rewarded. It seems, as I have mentioned them to my stepson, that his grandmother used to make them too, and he was enthusiastic about trying them in the mountains, so we did. They are not much to look at, but kids and adults will inhale them regardless of their deeply held feelings about lima beans.
Now if only we could find her recipe for chocolate cake, the one with coffee in it. And the Glotz's hots, of course.
| BAKED LIMA BEANS AND SOUR CREAM adapted from cooks.com | |
1 lb. dried lima beans (yes, the dried ones are better.)
Water 2 tsp. salt 1/4 c. butter 1/2 c. brown sugar 2 tsp. dried mustard
2 Tbsp dijon or brown mustard
3 tbsp. molasses 1 c. sour cream
cavender's greek seasoning or salt and pepper to taste.
Soak lima beans overnight in water; drain. Cover with fresh water and add 1 teaspoon salt and cook until tender 30-40 minutes. Drain again, rinse under hot water. Put beans in a 2 quart casserole. Dab butter over beans. Mix brown sugar, mustard, remaining salt and sprinkle over beans. Stir in molasses; add sour cream in mix gently. Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour. Can be made ahead and refrigerate until baked time.
| |
7-29-14
I'm goofy over farmers' markets, which comes as no secret to most of my friends. The market in Nashville, where our daughter lives, may be the best I've ever seen this side of Italy, but that is hardly a fair comparison. While we were visiting she pulled out this gizmo I've seen in catalogs and wondered about. It's called the Spiralizer and it makes 'spaghetti' out of vegetables. She spiralizeded a humungous zucchini, sautéed it for just a flash in olive oil, and then tossed it with Thai peanut sauce and sprinkled it with chopped cilantro and peanuts, and it was amazing.
We're in the mountains now with our son and daughter-in-law, and she and I are both gluten intolerant. The Spiralizer should arrive, thank you Amazon Prime, this afternoon, and I've got the zucchinis ready to roll. But I'm going to use them for my favorite, Pasta Ponza, with the nearly black cherry tomatoes from the farmers' market. The recipe is from Giada di Laurentiis, and it is one of my staples.
(I'm working on a laptop, and for some reason cannot get images to copy. Will correct this when I can. Ditto for font, spacing, etc. in recipe.) Pasta Ponza from Giada di Laurentiis.
Ingredients
Butter for greasing2 cups (12 ounces) red cherry or grape tomatoes, halved2 cups (12 ounces) yellow cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup capers, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
1/2 cup Italian-style seasoned breadcrumbs (if using gluten free, toast them in the oven and toss with finished 'pasta'
1 pound ziti or other short tube-shaped pasta (or zucchini from spiralizer, sautéed quickly in olive oil)
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 ounces) Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
DirectionsPlace an oven rack in the center of the oven.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish. Set aside.
Place the tomatoes, capers, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in the prepared baking dish. Toss to coat. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the tomato mixture.
Drizzle the top with olive oil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top is golden. Cool for 5 minutes.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.
Place the pasta in a large serving bowl. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the pasta.
Add the cheese and toss well. Thin out the sauce with a little pasta water, if needed.
Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve immediately.
7-15-14
Our dog, Opie, has a very best friend whose name is, of course, Barney. Opie and Barney live and breathe for each other, and their friendship has brought two lovely people into our lives. The two lovely people are planning a trip to Tuscany for the fall, and we are rather (!) passionate about Tuscany, so we invited them for supper to share some of our maps, books, info with them. OK, to relive our past two trips to Tuscany. Where we ate and ate and ate and drank a little bit of wine, too. And then a little bit more. And then...
The thing is that Barney's mom is a vegetarian. Not vegan, thank God, but honestly, it seemed to me that all vegetarians get to eat is a bunch of side dishes. I wanted to fix something that was definitely an entree, so I started playing. And what this turned into was way better than the steak we cooked for Barney's dad. I could live on this and not miss meat one bit.
I'd already decided on polenta, which I cooked with half vegetable stock, half whole milk, and a bunch of roasted garlic. So what I decided to aim for was a sauce that would be kind of a hybrid of ratatouille and puttanesca. What I ended up with was divine. This will be a standard in our kitchen.
1 large sweet onion, chopped
12 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 eggplant, cubed
2 pretty big but not huge zucchini
1 red bell pepper, diced fairly large
1 package frozen artichoke hearts
Toss all vegetables on a sheet pan (covered with foil) with about 1/4 cup fruity olive oil. Roast in 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
Saute another 5 cloves of chopped garlic in 2 Tbsp olive oil and add roasted vegetables. Add one can or box of chopped tomatoes, 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning, 3/4 cup chopped kalamata olives, 1/2 cup capers rinsed of brine, and 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar and simmer until it gets a little thicker and all the flavors marry. Serve over soft polenta. (1 cup polenta cooked in 2 cups vegetable stock, 2 cups whole milk, 10 cloves roasted garlic, top it all with grated parmesan.)
And then, just because it is really, truly summer, this salad.
2 home grown tomatoes, large dice
2 good navel oranges, sectioned
1 fennel bulb sliced quite thin
2 cups seedless watermelon, large dice
1 Tbsp orange juice
2 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
olive oil to taste
salt and pepper.
Oh, yum. What else can I say?
7-11-14 Summer in a Salad Bowl: Smoked chicken, sweet corn, and avocado salad with cilantro dressing
This salad is sort of like a dinner party you invite all your best friends to because you know they are going to just love each other, and they do. It's all my favorite summer ingredients, and makes a great almost-no-cook summer dinner especially if you pick up your chicken breasts from the bbq place.
The cilantro dressing is worth the exorbitant price of the cookbook I adapted it from. You will find yourself licking every little dab from the jar and will also find about a million other uses for it. Like just eating it with a spoon...or a straw...no, that would be gross, but you'll know what I mean.
for 6 people
2 breast halves smoked chicken, shredded
3 handfuls baby lettuce leaves or shredded romaine
2 Haas avocados, chunked
2 ears sweet corn, cooked for 4 minutes in microwave, cut from cob
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, from farmers' market if you can, halved or quartered
1/2 cup English cucumber, in chunks
3 scallions, chopped, white and crispy green parts
1 cup tortilla strips, optional
Chill all ingredients and toss together in a cold salad bowl.
Toss with cilantro dressing.
Cilantro dressing 2 cups cilantro, stems and all
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp champagne vinegar
pinch salt
2 tsp maple syrup (best) or honey
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
zest of one lime
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
Put all ingredients in food processor and whiz until it is creamy.
9-27-13 Chilorio, Mexican Pulled Pork, adapted from Homesick Texan
This was pronounced by very discerning diners to be THE.VERY.BEST.TACOS.THEY.HAVE.EVER.EATEN.ANYWHERE.EVER. You must take that seriously. The original recipe says it feeds a lot of people. It does not. It makes a few people into pigs. Happy pigs.
I admit that the roast I used had tons of fat, so it was probably more like 2.5 lbs by the time I trimmed it. Seriously, you don't want it greasy. It's essentially amazing shredded carnitas, but the the seasoning is everything. We topped it with a concocted Mexican coleslaw. I thought about adding avocado, but it would have been too darn much
Chilorio (adapted from Pati’s Mexican Kitchen, adapted from Homesick Texan)
3 pounds boneless pork butt, cut into 2-inch chunks
2 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups orange juice, divided
1 fresh poblano chile, chopped, seeds removed (you can do what you want, heatwise, we have tender palates around here)
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup cilantro, plus more for serving
Flour or corn tortillas, for serving
Mexican cole slaw
Place the pork butt into a large pot or Dutch oven and toss with 1 teaspoon of the ground cumin and salt. Pour over the pork 1 cup of the orange juice and add enough water for the liquid to just reach the top of the pork (but not cover it), about 1-1/2 cups.
Bring the pot to a boil on high, then turn the heat down to low and simmer uncovered for 1 1/2-2 hours or until the liquid is almost gone and the meat is fork tender.
3 pounds boneless pork butt, cut into 2-inch chunks
2 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups orange juice, divided
1 fresh poblano chile, chopped, seeds removed (you can do what you want, heatwise, we have tender palates around here)
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup cilantro, plus more for serving
Flour or corn tortillas, for serving
Mexican cole slaw
Place the pork butt into a large pot or Dutch oven and toss with 1 teaspoon of the ground cumin and salt. Pour over the pork 1 cup of the orange juice and add enough water for the liquid to just reach the top of the pork (but not cover it), about 1-1/2 cups.
Bring the pot to a boil on high, then turn the heat down to low and simmer uncovered for 1 1/2-2 hours or until the liquid is almost gone and the meat is fork tender.
Add to the blender the pepper, garlic, vinegar, oregano, allspice, cilantro,
and remaining 1 teaspoon ground cumin and 1/4 cup orange juice. Blend on high until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt to taste.
When the pork is done, remove from the pot and when cool enough to handle shred the pork with two forks. Pour the sauce from the blender into the pot you cooked the pork, and with the heat on low, cook the sauce for 5 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the pan drippings into the sauce. Add the shredded pork back to the pot, and toss to coat.
Serve warm with tortillas, salsa, onions, cilantro, and Cotija cheese.
Yield: 4-6 servings
When the pork is done, remove from the pot and when cool enough to handle shred the pork with two forks. Pour the sauce from the blender into the pot you cooked the pork, and with the heat on low, cook the sauce for 5 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the pan drippings into the sauce. Add the shredded pork back to the pot, and toss to coat.
Serve warm with tortillas, salsa, onions, cilantro, and Cotija cheese.
Yield: 4-6 servings
Mexican Cole Slaw
1 16 oz bag of coleslaw mix
¼ cup orange juice
3 Tbsp lime juice
¼ cup canola oil
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
¾ cup chopped cilantro
3-7-13 Gumbo Zeb, adapted from Crescent Dragonwagon, whose name used to be Ellen Zolotow when she was a camper in Vermont, where I was a counselor!
Whenever you make gumbo, you have to start with the roux. Don't cheat. Arm yourself with patience because once you start cooking it you cannot do anything else until it is done. Nothing. Not answer the phone or change the channel on the TV. You want to get it as dark as you can without burning it. Think good chocolate brown.
Also, you have to have your veggies all chopped and ready to go because that is how you will stop the roux from cooking, rescuing it from the very brink of burning. Making gumbo is dangerous business. Be brave.
So first you will chop the veggies. This is the Holy Trinity:
1/2 bunch of celery including the leaves
1 very big onion
1 very big green bell pepper
Now you start the roux. Use the heaviest pot you have and the very best kind of whisk is the one for flat corners. A wooden spoon is good, too, because you need to get the little bits that get stuck in the corners. That's where the burning can begin. You are going to be stirring the whole time until you throw the veggies in.
Mix 1/2 cup each of vegetable oil and flour, stir them up, turn on the heat. It can be hotter at first but then you'll want to turn it down as it gets browner. Plan on about 20 minutes, and whatever else you do keep stirring. It will start to smell nutty and wonderful.
When it is half a shade lighter than you think you want it grab the veggies and throw them in. They will fizzle and pop and get cooked while the roux gets cooled off. Keep stirring. Now you can answer the phone if it rings.
Now you get out the blender and put all this stuff in it:
4 big cloves garlic
4 scallions, white and green parts
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp tomato paste, the kind that comes in a tube
2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 t cayenne
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
8 oz can of tomatoes, whole or chopped
1/2 bunch Italian parsley
Blend all this and put it into the pot.
Add 3 cups veggie or chicken broth
and 1 cup V-8 juice
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
and 3 bunches washed and chopped greens (I used collards, kale, and chard)
Let it all simmer for an hour or so until the flavors are all blended. You may well be wanting to add some water as it evaporates so it is the thickness you want.
This is a great, hearty vegan recipe (obviously not with chicken broth) but if you want meat, saute up some andouille or smoked sausage or tear up a rotisserie chicken or dump in some shrimp. Enjoy!
3-7-13
A Funny re:Fred's Steak
So Kathy and Michael came over for dinner in all the mess. Really, the steak was so good that Kathy asked for the recipe and I emailed it to her and apparently she printed it out. A week or so later Michael was officiating at a wedding and was in the middle of his sermon, when he turned a page and began to read, "1/2 cup brewed coffee, 1 cup red wine..." Surprise!
9-6-12 Fred's Steak
The house is totally trashed because of remodeling, but it just isn't home if we don't have people we love over for dinner every once in a while. Isn't it great to have friends who are willing to come to a disheveled house? I think they were a little appalled, but they brought really good wine and we all laughed a lot. I've learned that if you have a laundry room sink, a microwave, and a grill, you can get along just fine.
I ran across conversation about Fred's steak one day when I was meandering around the internet, and it sounded so intriguing that I decided to try it. That meant that I would buy it and marinate it and JB would cook it on the Big Green Egg. We had a backup plan. A new chicken and waffles place just opened down the street from us.
I bought a 3 lb tri-tip from Johnny G's. We've never cooked tri-tip before, but the staff was all excited about it, so forward we go.
This is the marinade:
1-1/2 Cup Brewed Coffee
1 Cup Red Wine
1/2 Cup Olive oil
1/2 Cup Molasses
1/3 Cup Balsamic vinegar
1/3 Cup Tamari Sauce
1/3 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp Chili Powder
2 Tbsp Onion Powder
2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Marmite (or Vegemite, in a pinch) Where do you think they keep this in Central Market? With the peanut butter of course. ????
Marinate for at least 3-4 days in a tightly sealed ziploc bag.
I had been forewarned. It was black. It was ugly. And I'm told it was slimy. Chicken and waffles were looking more likely. Cook steak to 125. It took about 50 minutes. We let it rest just long enough to roast asparagus on the hot grill, cook the corn on the cob -- 3 minutes per ear in the microwave, husk, silk and all. And to toss together the arugula and white nectarine salad. And at the very last to heat up some whole wheat naan bread on the grill.
The steak was still black and ugly, but crusty rather than slimy. Inside it was pink and juicy and we ate almost the whole thing among 6 of us. We will definitely do it again.
9-1-12 Arugula and white nectarine salad
Wow. You can make some pretty yummy stuff without a kitchen.
7-29-12
Probably won't be many posts here for the next few (?) weeks. Doesn't it look sad?
The movers came yesterday and packed up the whole kitchen for remodel. Technically we still have a stove, oven, dishwasher, etc., but they will be gone before we know it. The dining room has become a storage unit with 'pantry' in two old bookcases. The laundry room has become a bare-bones kitchen with microwave, toaster oven, and sink. But I don't think there is going to be much you could call cooking going on till it's done. I might post an old recipe if I find I have time on my hands. And there's a slight chance that I might send photos of meals from Italy, but that's a couple of months away. 
This chicken spaghetti came with JB's dowry. I'd never had it before, and it is the recipe that our adult children insist on having whenever they come home. It used to be a lot more complicated than it is now. That was before you could buy a rotisserie chicken for less than it would cost you to cook one.
This is real comfort food.
One whole store bought rotisserie chicken, meat shredded in bite size pieces
(freeze those bones and the skin for next time you make chicken stock)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped bell pepper, any color you like
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 clove garlic minced
1 cup cream of tomato soup
1 cup cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
12 oz vermicelli broken into 2" pieces
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup reserved for top of casserole
2 Tbsp mild chili powder
Cook the vermicelli in boiling water (I usually add a couple of tsp of chicken Better than Bouillon)
Saute the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and celery in olive oil until soft but not brown
Add the two soups and broth and chili powder
Add the soup mixture to the vermicelli and add chicken and cheese (hands work best here)
Top with 1/2 cup cheese and bake for 45 minutes at 350.
7-4-12 Bartlett's Grilled Chicken Salad (SBRC)
When the children were growing up and we lived in Shreveport, there was a very popular (and I imagine there still is) Mexican restaurant called the Superior Grill. For years all I ever ate there was their grilled chicken salad, which had both a honey lime vinaigrette and a peanut sauce. It was one of the things I missed when we moved to Austin. I tried grilled chix salads at every Mexican place here and I tried to duplicate it, but no dice. Then we discovered Bartlett's and there it was! Oh, yummmm!
So I got to scrounging on the web and came up with this copycat recipe, which is splendid. I've riffed on it a little bit, but we like our salad every bit as well as either Superior or Bartlett's. The secret is the dressings.
Honey Lime Vinaigrette
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsps dijon mustard
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
2.5 tsps lime juice
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp minced onion
1/4 tsp pepper
Mix ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 1.5 minutes, then whisk together for 1 minute. Place in fridge and let cool for at least 2 hours before serving.
Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespons sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
dash of red pepper
1 clove of garlic
water to thin to desired consistency
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Let chill & thicken in fridge at least 20 to 30 minutes before serving.
Salad
mixed baby greens
grated carrot
chopped fresh cilantro
chopped scallions
sliced broiled or grilled chicken
fried tortilla strips
I assemble the salad ingredients with the exception of the tortilla strips and dress it lightly with the honey-lime vinaigrette. Remember, it is going to have two dressings, so you will want to use less than usual of each. Then add the tortilla strips, serve on plates, and then drizzle with the peanut dressing, in the even that you haven't already eaten the whole jar of it with a spoon. Enjoy!
6-17-12
Summer Gazpacho (adapted from Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook)
3 large homegrown or 7-8 Roma tomatoes
1 cucumber, peeled
1 large red bell pepper
5 scallions, white and green parts
1/3 cup each olive oil and red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 12-oz can low sodium V-8 juice
Cavender's Greek seasoning to taste
Cut the veggies into chunks and put with all other ingredients into food processor or blender. Process until it is the consistency you like. Serve halfway between chilled and room temperature.
Sometimes I like to add cilantro, but not everybody likes it, so check with your audience.
6-16-12
April Bloomfield's Lemon Caper Dressing (from Food52)
Makes about 1 cup
April Bloomfield's Lemon Caper Dressing (from Food52)
2 medium lemons
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (choose one whose flavor you like on its own -- we used Maille)
2 tablespoons drained capers, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon Maldon or another flaky sea salt
1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (choose one whose flavor you like on its own -- we used Maille)
2 tablespoons drained capers, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon Maldon or another flaky sea salt
1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Segment the lemons over a bowl to catch the juices (see note below). Set aside.
- Squeeze the juice from the membranes into a separate bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, and stir well.
- Add the lemon segments and toss gently to
coat them without breaking them up. Use straightaway or chill in the
fridge, covered, for up to an hour.
- Note: To segment the lemons: Use a sharp
knife to cut off just enough of the fruit's top and bottom to expose a
full circle of the flesh on either end. Stand the lemon on one of its
ends, place your knife point at the seam where the fruit meets the pith,
and use a gentle sawing motion to cut away a wide strip of pith and
skin, following the curve of the fruit from top to bottom. Repeat the
process until all you have left is a nice, round, naked fruit. If you've
missed any white pith, trim it off. Make a cut down either side of each
segment, right against the membrane, and gently pry out each segment,
one at a time (see slideshow). Flick out any seeds, and set the segments
aside in a bowl, reserving the juicy membranes.
My confessions: The first time I made this I had one regular lemon and one Meyer lemon. I did all the segmenting, etc, and it was fabulous. The next time I skipped the segmenting and used 4 Tbsp lemon juice, and it was also wonderful.
6-11-12
Dinner tonight
So, we got free passes to an advanced screening of a movie called People Like Us at the Alamo Drafthouse tonight. JB got there first and got in a long line about 1.5 hours before the movie was to start. The air conditioning was not all that good. So we stood and we stood and we stood and finally he admitted that we were saving maybe $15 on tickets and would undoubtedly spend a lot of dollars on bad wine and not great food and we'd be standing there for another hour until they even let us in to get our seats and order the bad wine and not great food.
The charm was wearing off. So we came home and had...leftovers! This is his dinner: Copper River salmon with lemon caper sauce over a bed of shredded Napa cabbage with vinaigrette and hearts of palm. John R's magical black tomatoes, which do not even need salt and pepper. Lady cream peas from Saturday's farmer's market. And gazpacho, which he clearly jumped the gun and ate half of before I could take the picture.
A food stylist I am not. Yet. Does anybody know how to get the picture to rotate? Thank you. I'm working on it. Recipe for lemon caper sauce and gazpacho will be forthcoming.
But, darn, it's pretty.
6-9-12
Pot Roast
Our youth minister and his wife had a baby about ten days ago, and people from the church are taking them dinner every other night for the first six weeks or so. Tomorrow is my turn. I tried to think of something they might like. Not lasagne. When my son's church did this for them it was non-stop lasagne. So I checked with them and gave them several options and they said pot roast would be good. So even though this is not technically pot roast weather, this should give them some stamina. It is easy and good and translates beautifully into sandwiches and in the end you can chop up the dregs of it and add some frozen mixed vegetables and V-8 juice and maybe some beef broth and call it soup.
2.5 lb chuck roast, not too fatty
1 cup flour
3 Tbsp Cavender's seasoning
put in a plastic bag and shake it all up
shake excess flour from roast and discard the flour mixture
2 Tbsp olive oil heated in a dutch oven
let it get hot and then sear the meat on all sides
chop up the top third of a head of celery, not too fine
five good sized carrots
two medium or one large onion
after the meat is seared add these and let them saute in the fat in the pan
add 12 cloves of garlic, peeled, and stir them around
when the veggies have begun to soften, add 2/3 bottle of red wine
put the lid on the pot and put it into a 350 degree oven for at least 2.5 hours, maybe longer, till it is almost falling apart
salt and pepper to taste. yummmmmm.
They are also getting buttered bow tie pasta and green beans and King's Hawaiian rolls and a blueberry crisp. I want them to be very happy. They are so good to our parish family.
6-9-12
Austin Food Blogs
These look like so much fun! Austin is full of creative cooks, and their photos are amazing too. Maybe I'll get good enough with my new camera to take a stab at pictures. I know it would be an improvement.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2010-01-01/933445/
6-1-12
Butter Chicken (from Food52 by Pauljoseph)
If I told you I grew up eating Indian food, it would mean that whenever my grandmother made a leg of lamb, sometime in the next week we'd be having lamb curry over rice with Major Grey's chutney, which was a good thing, with frozen green peas. Would anybody from India have the faintest? I haven't the faintest. It did involve a jar of Spice Islands curry powder and leftover gravy and I did like it pretty much a lot.
And then, one summer when I was doing summer school in New York and ate dinner on my own every night, I learned about real Indian restaurants and came to suspect that Nana's lamb curry was not the real deal. I encountered naan and saag paneer and other delights. But I am married to someone who cannot do chilies, not that he wouldn't like to, so our Indian experiments are limited. Very.
This, however he can do with much happiness.
And what makes me very, very happy is that I can drop into my less than favorite but very convenient grocery store after work and have this on the table in way less than an hour. And when I've served it to company, they don't even begin to suspect how easy it is. And, by the way, I much prefer the Patak brand of Major Grey Chutney, but I've also served homemade peach or green tomato chutney. Yummm. Have I said that before?
Oops. When I served it in an hour, it didn't get a chance to marinate. It was still good. Confession. It was not a clay pot. And, yes, you really do want the cilantro.
Serves 4
- 1-inch piece ginger, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 pound chicken pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 cup tomatoes
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh cream
- Fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves (optional)
2. In a clay pot, heat the butter, fry the sliced tomatoes for few minutes, and then add the marinated chicken and sugar. Cover and cook till tender.
3. Add the cream and serve hot. If you like cilantro, garnish with fresh leaves.
5-19-12
Chicken Spectacular (modified) (SBRC)
This recipe is ancient. It is from a cookbook called Cotton Country, which was put out by a Junior League probably in the 70's. My copy is so filled with spills and stains that if I dropped it in a pot of water, it would make soup.
I cannot begin to think of all the occasions I made it, and that was back before there was such a marvelous invention as Store Bought Rotisserie Chicken. I took it to people who moved into a new house and to funerals and families who had a new baby. I served it at church luncheons and dinner parties, and it was always a hit. The last time I made it was for my youngest son and his wife when their baby boy was born. It is easy and feeds a crowd.
So, here's to the Junior League and their cookbooks. Not the celebrities of Top Chef or Food Network. But some darned good cooks. And this may be old-fashioned, but it is good.
- One SBRC skinned, boned, and shredded
- 1 (6 ounce) package Uncle Ben combination wild and white rice, cooked
- 1 (10 ounce) can cream of celery soup
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1/3 cup Italian parsley, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cups barely steamed broccoli florets (ok, I've cheated and used frozen, don't thaw)
- 1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise (or Duke's, no other) reduced fat OK, no-fat, no-no
- 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, diced
- Cavender's seasoning
- lemon juice
- a touch of Worcestershire sauce
- sliced almonds to go on top
- shred the chicken (sorry, can't make the dots go away.) Save the skin and bones in freezer for stock. I'm religious about this.
- cook the rice according to directions on the box.
- mix it all together, place in pyrex or aluminum pan (if you are giving it to someone), and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
- I'm guessing it will feed eight people easily.
Creamy cilantro sauce/dressing
How did we end up having two dinner parties three days apart? Well, I planned the first one and we had 24 people over Sunday on one of the most gorgeous evenings ever. Our sweet young neighbors had just moved out a couple of days before, and our new neighbors, whom we have not met, were sort of scoping out their new house just on the other side of our fence. Oh, what they must think! Our friends made it sound like a frat party. At least it did break up around 9:00. Well, JB was so proud of the smoked, marinated pork tenderloin and the salmon with cilantro sauce that he called me from work on Monday morning-- when, by the way, I had not even finished washing the dishes from the night before -- and asked if I would mind if he invited the faculty/admin from the seminary to do the same menu on Wednesday. What I'll do for love...So, here we go again. The neighbors will really be shaking in their boots after tonight.
I'm happy to say there was plenty of this sauce left so I don't have to make it this afternoon. And, believe it or not, it is just as beautiful a day as Sunday. 59 degrees when I left the house this morning. Oh and why these parties? There is the little detail that we are about to rip the back off the house and lose our patio and our kitchen, so don't expect an invitation any time soon.
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
4 scallions, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup cilantro
2 jalapenos, seeded (optional)
1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
Put it all in a blender and let it rip. It was delicious on salmon (2 1/2 lb brushed with olive oil and Cavender's seasoning -- can't live without it -- and baked at 350 for 20-25 minutes), and also on a salad of romaine with smoked chicken, roasted sweet corn, tomatoes, avocado, and extra cilantro and scallions...oh and some of those crunchy little tortilla strips.
5-11-12
Chicken enchiladas with salsa verde, adapted from Homesick Texan + recipe (?) for perfect corn on the cob. (SBRC)
Here's another recipe for a store bought rotisserie chicken, though in fact I'm using the second of the Johnny G's chickens JB smoked last week on the Big Green Egg.
My mom was from California and my dad traveled to Los Angeles on business a lot, and whenever he did, he would go to the Farmer's Market just before his flight home and bring us a Mexican feast. This was northern Ohio in the late 50's and 60's, and Mexican food was truly exotic. And I didn't have much of a taste for it, which was just fine with my parents. But it certainly was not anything anybody I knew would have thought of cooking at home.
Things have changed. If you'd told me back then that both my sister and I would end up living in Texas, I'd have thought that as ridiculous as if you'd told me I'd live on the moon. Fact is, though, I don't live in Texas. I live in Austin, and that is different. Not so much with my sister, though.
So I've got leftover corn tortillas and leftover chicken. All I needed was stuff to make the verde sauce, sour cream, avocado, and cheese, and we've got chicken enchiladas. Only guess what. JB had Mexican food for lunch at the staff party. And Mexican food for dinner last night at the diocesan gathering. So these will either be for tomorrow night or go into the freezer. Oh, well.
We had leftover lamb kebobs and steak over wilted arugula with lemon vinaigrette. And corn.
This is how to make perfect corn on the cob. Grab it from the grocery store. Do not shuck. Stick the whole durn thing in the microwave and nuke it for 5 minutes an ear. All that silk and stuff just slips off it, and it is wonderful, and you don't have all that stuff all over the floor. Or your hands.
To make the sauce:
1 1/2 lb tomatillos, husks removed, quartered
1/2 regular onion
3 cloves garlic
1 cup cilantro, stems and leaves
1/2 poblano chile, stem, seeds, and ribs removed (add stronger chiles if you like; no heat here)
3 cups water
1 1/2 t salt
Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool and then blend in blender. If it is still too watery, simmer until it is consistency you like.
For enchiladas
Put about 1 cup sauce in bottom of a big pyrex pan
warm corn tortillas in microwave and keep wrapped in kitchen towel
Put 1/4 cup sauce in each tortilla, load up with shredded chicken, and put in pan, seam side down.
Cover tortillas with the rest of the sauce and lots of cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 350.
Top with sour cream, additional chopped cilantro, and cut up avocado.
p.s. OK, here's what happened. We had the enchiladas a day late. But I stacked them instead of rolling them. 8 X 8 inch pyrex pan. Sauce. Cut one tortilla in quarters and fit into the corners. Cut two tortillas in half and place them along the sides. One round tortilla in the middle. Chicken, sauce, sour cream, tortilla, chicken, sauce, sour cream, tortilla, sauce, lots of cheese. Yum.
5-8-12
Big Daddy's Mustard Barbecue Sauce
I have no idea who Big Daddy is. I wanted to help out the coffee hosts at church, and all I had in the freezer was a bunch of smoked sausage, and it was a day I didn't want to go to the store...seems there are more and more of those days. And sweet red bbq sauce didn't sound all that appetizing, and besides there was a big, giant, honkin' squeeze bottle of yellow mustard taking up shelf space, so I looked on the internet and Big Daddy appeared. This is yummy and different. Confession. The first time I made it I did not have any liquid smoke, and it was fine. And I saw no merit in adding the butter given that once the sausage cooked in it even just long enough to heat up, the grease that rose to the top was -- well, over the top already. So experiment. I'm going to try it on chicken next, if JB will ever let me cook meat again now that he has joined the Cult of the Green Egg. Oh, and I didn't add the cayenne. You have my blessing if you so choose. You don't live with JB.
5-1-12
Cedar Plank Salmon with Maple Glaze (from Epicurious)
I'm told that olfactory memories reach deeper into our psyches than any other, that they evoke the profound reality of the past and transport us in ways that no other recollections are able to do.
I imagine it would have been March or even April when my father would take us kids, bundled up in winter jackets and hats and gloves and nasty knitted scarves and galoshes that were worn out from the beating they took in our lake-effect snow-sodden winter, out to the place where he went hunting so that we could ride around with the Amish caretakers as they collected maple sap and boiled it down into syrup.
They had wooden sledges that were pulled by giant horses whose nostrils snorted steam into the cold air. We rode on the sledges with the Amish kids who were actually working even though they were littler than we were. They had an air of competency about them that I envied. But we played together, too.
The snow was mushy and the mud was beginning to run and our boots would either be rinsed off or thrown away when we got home. We would get hot and sweaty under our jackets but there wasn't anyplace to take them off. Frankly, I don't remember where our dad was once we got onto the sledges.
Each maple tree had a little black rubber (or that's the way I remember it) pipe coming out of the trunk at about waist-high, and a bucket hung on it, and the sap got tossed into a vat that sloshed along as the horse trudged through the woods, not needing the weight of four or five kids in addition to the increasing load of the sap.
We'd get to the sugar house, where the air was almost stinky sweet with the boiling sap and as steamy as a sauna. It was a rare treat if there was fresh snow to scoop up into a bowl and skim off the scum from the top of the vat to instantly harden as it melted the snow. But it was just as good to take just that scum and let it solidify into a taffy just barely cool enough to chew on, and probably dislodge a filling, as we drove back to civilization, smoke in our hair, mud on our boots, and ready to watch TV while our Amish friends went back to their spare and pious lives.
And now, when I shell out a fortune for tiny amounts of maple syrup to make this recipe and the very few others that use it -- people in the south don't have the palate for it that northerners do, nor do they have the memories -- I understand why and how truly valuable and rare it is.
I'm told that this salmon is amazing. (I can't eat fish.) I've seen people licking the platter when they think I'm not looking. There have never been leftovers.
4-23-12
Hatch Green Chile and Corn Quiche (sort of)
I needed to take something for the reception on Sunday when the Bishop was coming for confirmation, but I really didn't want to go to the store and I had found a couple of interesting things (and these were good interesting things, not the scary ones) when I cleaned out one section of the freezer the other day. Hatch green chiles and frozen corn, which I never have. And there was a big chunk of Jarlsberg cheese from last week's coffee hour -- too much to eat but not enough to serve again. So all these things jumped into a big pyrex dish and turned out to be pretty darned tasty. Perfect for finger food.
8 mild Hatch chiles, skinned, seeded and rough chopped (you culd use hot)
4 cups shredded Jarlsberg cheese
8 scallions, chopped, white and most of the green
3 cups corn, roasted in a skillet till they are caramelized
8 large eggs
2 cups half and half
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
1/3 cup cornmeal
I used plenty of Pam in the pan, then mixed it all up, poured it in, and baked at 350 for about 40 minutes.
4-17-12
Minnesota Wild Rice Chicken Soup (SBRC)
When I was just sort of talking out loud about what this blog might be, when it was just beginning to develop a gravitational center about the metaphor of feeding lambs, I blurted out to my friend that I could challenge myself to posting a recipe a week based on a store-bought rotisserie chicken. In my enthusiasm I have lost that focus, and am having too much fun sharing other cool recipes to limit myself to it, but will try to return to it at least once in a while.
I personally think that the person who invented the store-bought (Costco is my personal choice) rotisserie chicken (hereafter SBRC) ought to get a Nobel Prize. I can't cook a chick that cheaply, and it sure does make my life easier. I remember -- and not fondly -- the days of either boiling or baking a chicken and having all that mess just to have cooked chix to put in a recipe. Now all I have to do is pull the meat off the bones, rinse out the plastic container (and when Sophie was alive I would let her lick it clean, playing container hockey across the kitchen floor) and toss it in the recycle bin. And I save the skin and bones and freeze them in a zip loc bag until I have enough to make a pot of homemade chicken stock, which I did on Friday. You can't buy anything that tastes that good. So here goes the recipe that used up the rest of the chicken from the Arthur's Mandarin Chicken Salad.
1 medium onion cut up
3-4 stalks of celery cut however you like it, biggish or littlish, do add the leaves
3-4 carrots ditto, but not the part about leaves
3 Tbsp whatever kind of veg oil you like to use. Olive oil is a tad funky here.
Saute it all up, but I do like to keep the veggies a little on the crisp side
One box original Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice, cooked according to package directions except with just a little less water so it will be a shade underdone
You could use real wild rice if you have it and want to, but I think it might be a little much for some people.
The rest of the SBRC, cut up how you like it. (Is that too cutesy like Rachael's EVOO? Is it irritating? I'm sorry. It is easy.)
At this point put it all together and add two quarts of your own homemade chicken stock or broth from the store.
Let it all cook together for maybe 15 minutes or so on gentle boil. You might want more broth. It is your soup.
Here's what makes it so good in my book:
a good 1/2 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley. Don't let the freshness get cooked out of it.
1/4 cup dry sherry (a little more if you like, but taste first; leave it out if you want, but you will be missing that little je ne sais quoi)
1/2 cup heavy cream or fat free half and half, which is another Nobel contender
salt and especially black pepper to taste
a grind or two of nutmeg if you are a fan of nutmeg and I know not everybody is, but let subtlety be our guide.
You can pretty much count on there being an inordinate number of soup recipes here, because soup is apparently my favorite food. At least my favorite food to cook. And eat.
4-13-12
Ginger Sea Bass over Wilted Greens (Giada di Laurentiis)
There's no story to go with this one. I do tend to watch inordinate amounts of the Food Network and do like most of what Giada makes, so this sounded like a winner. Given that I am deathly allergic to all forms of seafood, I feel spectacularly altruistic when I make this for dinner and then warm up a plate of leftovers for myself. I'm told it is delicious, but have no first hand knowledge except that it smells divine. And also it is nice to have a recipe you can actually fix one serving of. (Yeah, I was an English major, and dangling prepositions don't scare me all that much. I'm much more concerned with the sermon I have to write the themes of which are 1. Peter's first sermon (tirade) in the Temple, the baptism of a five month old little boy, and the kick-off of our capital campaign. Wheee!)
for each serving...
1 1/2 cups (be generous) fresh baby spinach leaves
1 5-oz sea bass filet (usually outrageously expensive. I ask fish man for another firm white fish that will work, halibut is excellent)
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic (I think it helps if I chop them together)
2 Tbsp dry Marsala wine
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Fix a big piece of aluminum foil. Put spinach on foil, fish on spinach, all the rest on the fish. Seal up the package tight and bake in 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, longer if the fish is especially thick.
You can squeeze 1/4 lime over the top and sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil if you want, but it is just fine without. I usually serve it right in the foil in a wide bowl. Brown rice is good with these juices.
4-9-12
Easter dinner: guacamole and chips, grilled marinated leg of lamb, roasted asparagus, duck fat fried potatoes
I guess you could say that technically lamb is not chicken. Arthur is only 16 months old and even he knows the difference between sheep and poultry. But it has to be lamb for Easter. And it was positively yummy. I'm sort of embarrassed by how easy it is.
Buy a boneless leg of lamb at Costco (or wherever.) We went to get rack of lamb, but holy moly, even at Costco it was going to be $10 a person, so we decided to try the leg. It was 5 1/2 pounds, which was way too much for four adults and a toddler, so I cut it pretty much in half and cubed the other half and put it in little zip loc bags with enough for two kebabs apiece and froze it. I will be so glad when we want something a little different for dinner. (Let's do the math...that is 12 servings for $30...I'm counting the leftovers)
I had to do a little creative cutting to get the lamb to lie flat and be relatively uniform in thickness, but it worked. Then I made the marinade:
5 big fat juicy cloves of garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 scant half cup olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp dried Greek oregano
that's it
I whizzed it up in the mini-chop and poured it over the lamb and let it marinate for about three hours. More time would have been better, and I would have let it rest in the fridge.
JB put it on the grill till the temp was 128 degrees for rare. Next time I think I'll ask him to get it a little bit hotter, maybe 135, though it was yummy beyond description. And next time we won't be going for the racks even if they drop the price. So there...
4-7-12
Accidental Chicken
We bought two cut up chix at Johnny G's Meat Market in Manchaca because somebody told me how superb his fresh, local chickens are. (Answer, yes, a far cry from what we get at the supermarket.) And somehow there were more evening events, and so the night M and B and A were coming to dinner there was not much choice as to our protein. I had to cook those chix. And I decided to revert to my old tried and true marinade, which began with a recipe in a cookbook for the Cleveland Symphony that came out prior to the birth of my second son in 1972. By now it is barely recognizable, but is really wonderful, and someday I'll put that one in here.
But it turned out that last week I didn't have the right ingredients. No tarragon. So I used herbes de province. OK, not a tragedy. BUT...after I dumped in the paprika and my hand slipped at that, I saw that it was smoked sweet paprika. A little of that goes a long way. I nearly poured it all out in the sink and started over, but I didn't have any more lemon juice, and I wasn't going to the store at that point. So here it is, and it was so good I'm not sure I'm ever going back to the old tried and true one. Actually, there's some cold in the fridge right now...
2 whole chickens cut up into serving pieces
5 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp herbes de province
3 hefty Tbsp smoked sweet paprika
1/4 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
Whiz up the marinade in the mini-processor and marinate the chicken for a couple of hours, making sure it is all good and gooey. Then ask your sweetie to cook it on the grill until is is 165 degrees inside or bake it in the oven on a jelly roll pan. Yum yum.
4-3-12
Mandarin Chicken Salad (SBRC)
Arthur's was a Chinese restaurant in Aspen when we used to take the boys there every year at Labor Day. That was before they started going to school, which was a very long time ago. Arthur's was in an old Victorian house, which has undoubtedly been turned into the kind of place where movie stars go and pay $125 for a meal not nearly as good as this one. Movie stars hadn't taken Aspen over then, and a family with a bunch of rug rats could go anywhere. The restaurant closed in 1982, so it was a long, long time ago, but this is still one of my favorite recipes, and it doesn't hurt a bit that I have very special memories to go along with it.
1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
Put it all in a blender and let it rip. It was delicious on salmon (2 1/2 lb brushed with olive oil and Cavender's seasoning -- can't live without it -- and baked at 350 for 20-25 minutes), and also on a salad of romaine with smoked chicken, roasted sweet corn, tomatoes, avocado, and extra cilantro and scallions...oh and some of those crunchy little tortilla strips.
5-11-12
Chicken enchiladas with salsa verde, adapted from Homesick Texan + recipe (?) for perfect corn on the cob. (SBRC)
Here's another recipe for a store bought rotisserie chicken, though in fact I'm using the second of the Johnny G's chickens JB smoked last week on the Big Green Egg.
My mom was from California and my dad traveled to Los Angeles on business a lot, and whenever he did, he would go to the Farmer's Market just before his flight home and bring us a Mexican feast. This was northern Ohio in the late 50's and 60's, and Mexican food was truly exotic. And I didn't have much of a taste for it, which was just fine with my parents. But it certainly was not anything anybody I knew would have thought of cooking at home.
Things have changed. If you'd told me back then that both my sister and I would end up living in Texas, I'd have thought that as ridiculous as if you'd told me I'd live on the moon. Fact is, though, I don't live in Texas. I live in Austin, and that is different. Not so much with my sister, though.
So I've got leftover corn tortillas and leftover chicken. All I needed was stuff to make the verde sauce, sour cream, avocado, and cheese, and we've got chicken enchiladas. Only guess what. JB had Mexican food for lunch at the staff party. And Mexican food for dinner last night at the diocesan gathering. So these will either be for tomorrow night or go into the freezer. Oh, well.
We had leftover lamb kebobs and steak over wilted arugula with lemon vinaigrette. And corn.
This is how to make perfect corn on the cob. Grab it from the grocery store. Do not shuck. Stick the whole durn thing in the microwave and nuke it for 5 minutes an ear. All that silk and stuff just slips off it, and it is wonderful, and you don't have all that stuff all over the floor. Or your hands.
To make the sauce:
1 1/2 lb tomatillos, husks removed, quartered
1/2 regular onion
3 cloves garlic
1 cup cilantro, stems and leaves
1/2 poblano chile, stem, seeds, and ribs removed (add stronger chiles if you like; no heat here)
3 cups water
1 1/2 t salt
Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool and then blend in blender. If it is still too watery, simmer until it is consistency you like.
For enchiladas
Put about 1 cup sauce in bottom of a big pyrex pan
warm corn tortillas in microwave and keep wrapped in kitchen towel
Put 1/4 cup sauce in each tortilla, load up with shredded chicken, and put in pan, seam side down.
Cover tortillas with the rest of the sauce and lots of cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 350.
Top with sour cream, additional chopped cilantro, and cut up avocado.
p.s. OK, here's what happened. We had the enchiladas a day late. But I stacked them instead of rolling them. 8 X 8 inch pyrex pan. Sauce. Cut one tortilla in quarters and fit into the corners. Cut two tortillas in half and place them along the sides. One round tortilla in the middle. Chicken, sauce, sour cream, tortilla, chicken, sauce, sour cream, tortilla, sauce, lots of cheese. Yum.
5-8-12
Big Daddy's Mustard Barbecue Sauce
I have no idea who Big Daddy is. I wanted to help out the coffee hosts at church, and all I had in the freezer was a bunch of smoked sausage, and it was a day I didn't want to go to the store...seems there are more and more of those days. And sweet red bbq sauce didn't sound all that appetizing, and besides there was a big, giant, honkin' squeeze bottle of yellow mustard taking up shelf space, so I looked on the internet and Big Daddy appeared. This is yummy and different. Confession. The first time I made it I did not have any liquid smoke, and it was fine. And I saw no merit in adding the butter given that once the sausage cooked in it even just long enough to heat up, the grease that rose to the top was -- well, over the top already. So experiment. I'm going to try it on chicken next, if JB will ever let me cook meat again now that he has joined the Cult of the Green Egg. Oh, and I didn't add the cayenne. You have my blessing if you so choose. You don't live with JB.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: Makes about 2 1/4 cups
Ingredients:
- 1 cup prepared yellow mustard
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon liquid smoke (hickory flavoring)
5-1-12
Cedar Plank Salmon with Maple Glaze (from Epicurious)
I'm told that olfactory memories reach deeper into our psyches than any other, that they evoke the profound reality of the past and transport us in ways that no other recollections are able to do.
I imagine it would have been March or even April when my father would take us kids, bundled up in winter jackets and hats and gloves and nasty knitted scarves and galoshes that were worn out from the beating they took in our lake-effect snow-sodden winter, out to the place where he went hunting so that we could ride around with the Amish caretakers as they collected maple sap and boiled it down into syrup.
They had wooden sledges that were pulled by giant horses whose nostrils snorted steam into the cold air. We rode on the sledges with the Amish kids who were actually working even though they were littler than we were. They had an air of competency about them that I envied. But we played together, too.
The snow was mushy and the mud was beginning to run and our boots would either be rinsed off or thrown away when we got home. We would get hot and sweaty under our jackets but there wasn't anyplace to take them off. Frankly, I don't remember where our dad was once we got onto the sledges.
Each maple tree had a little black rubber (or that's the way I remember it) pipe coming out of the trunk at about waist-high, and a bucket hung on it, and the sap got tossed into a vat that sloshed along as the horse trudged through the woods, not needing the weight of four or five kids in addition to the increasing load of the sap.
We'd get to the sugar house, where the air was almost stinky sweet with the boiling sap and as steamy as a sauna. It was a rare treat if there was fresh snow to scoop up into a bowl and skim off the scum from the top of the vat to instantly harden as it melted the snow. But it was just as good to take just that scum and let it solidify into a taffy just barely cool enough to chew on, and probably dislodge a filling, as we drove back to civilization, smoke in our hair, mud on our boots, and ready to watch TV while our Amish friends went back to their spare and pious lives.
And now, when I shell out a fortune for tiny amounts of maple syrup to make this recipe and the very few others that use it -- people in the south don't have the palate for it that northerners do, nor do they have the memories -- I understand why and how truly valuable and rare it is.
I'm told that this salmon is amazing. (I can't eat fish.) I've seen people licking the platter when they think I'm not looking. There have never been leftovers.
- 1 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons finely grated peeled fresh gingerroot
- 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- an untreated cedar plank (about 17 by 10 1/2 inches) if desired
- a 2 1/2-pound center-cut salmon fillet with skin
- greens from 1 bunch scallions
4-23-12
Hatch Green Chile and Corn Quiche (sort of)
I needed to take something for the reception on Sunday when the Bishop was coming for confirmation, but I really didn't want to go to the store and I had found a couple of interesting things (and these were good interesting things, not the scary ones) when I cleaned out one section of the freezer the other day. Hatch green chiles and frozen corn, which I never have. And there was a big chunk of Jarlsberg cheese from last week's coffee hour -- too much to eat but not enough to serve again. So all these things jumped into a big pyrex dish and turned out to be pretty darned tasty. Perfect for finger food.
8 mild Hatch chiles, skinned, seeded and rough chopped (you culd use hot)
4 cups shredded Jarlsberg cheese
8 scallions, chopped, white and most of the green
3 cups corn, roasted in a skillet till they are caramelized
8 large eggs
2 cups half and half
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
1/3 cup cornmeal
I used plenty of Pam in the pan, then mixed it all up, poured it in, and baked at 350 for about 40 minutes.
4-17-12
Minnesota Wild Rice Chicken Soup (SBRC)
When I was just sort of talking out loud about what this blog might be, when it was just beginning to develop a gravitational center about the metaphor of feeding lambs, I blurted out to my friend that I could challenge myself to posting a recipe a week based on a store-bought rotisserie chicken. In my enthusiasm I have lost that focus, and am having too much fun sharing other cool recipes to limit myself to it, but will try to return to it at least once in a while.
I personally think that the person who invented the store-bought (Costco is my personal choice) rotisserie chicken (hereafter SBRC) ought to get a Nobel Prize. I can't cook a chick that cheaply, and it sure does make my life easier. I remember -- and not fondly -- the days of either boiling or baking a chicken and having all that mess just to have cooked chix to put in a recipe. Now all I have to do is pull the meat off the bones, rinse out the plastic container (and when Sophie was alive I would let her lick it clean, playing container hockey across the kitchen floor) and toss it in the recycle bin. And I save the skin and bones and freeze them in a zip loc bag until I have enough to make a pot of homemade chicken stock, which I did on Friday. You can't buy anything that tastes that good. So here goes the recipe that used up the rest of the chicken from the Arthur's Mandarin Chicken Salad.
1 medium onion cut up
3-4 stalks of celery cut however you like it, biggish or littlish, do add the leaves
3-4 carrots ditto, but not the part about leaves
3 Tbsp whatever kind of veg oil you like to use. Olive oil is a tad funky here.
Saute it all up, but I do like to keep the veggies a little on the crisp side
One box original Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice, cooked according to package directions except with just a little less water so it will be a shade underdone
You could use real wild rice if you have it and want to, but I think it might be a little much for some people.
The rest of the SBRC, cut up how you like it. (Is that too cutesy like Rachael's EVOO? Is it irritating? I'm sorry. It is easy.)
At this point put it all together and add two quarts of your own homemade chicken stock or broth from the store.
Let it all cook together for maybe 15 minutes or so on gentle boil. You might want more broth. It is your soup.
Here's what makes it so good in my book:
a good 1/2 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley. Don't let the freshness get cooked out of it.
1/4 cup dry sherry (a little more if you like, but taste first; leave it out if you want, but you will be missing that little je ne sais quoi)
1/2 cup heavy cream or fat free half and half, which is another Nobel contender
salt and especially black pepper to taste
a grind or two of nutmeg if you are a fan of nutmeg and I know not everybody is, but let subtlety be our guide.
You can pretty much count on there being an inordinate number of soup recipes here, because soup is apparently my favorite food. At least my favorite food to cook. And eat.
4-13-12
Ginger Sea Bass over Wilted Greens (Giada di Laurentiis)
There's no story to go with this one. I do tend to watch inordinate amounts of the Food Network and do like most of what Giada makes, so this sounded like a winner. Given that I am deathly allergic to all forms of seafood, I feel spectacularly altruistic when I make this for dinner and then warm up a plate of leftovers for myself. I'm told it is delicious, but have no first hand knowledge except that it smells divine. And also it is nice to have a recipe you can actually fix one serving of. (Yeah, I was an English major, and dangling prepositions don't scare me all that much. I'm much more concerned with the sermon I have to write the themes of which are 1. Peter's first sermon (tirade) in the Temple, the baptism of a five month old little boy, and the kick-off of our capital campaign. Wheee!)
for each serving...
1 1/2 cups (be generous) fresh baby spinach leaves
1 5-oz sea bass filet (usually outrageously expensive. I ask fish man for another firm white fish that will work, halibut is excellent)
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic (I think it helps if I chop them together)
2 Tbsp dry Marsala wine
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Fix a big piece of aluminum foil. Put spinach on foil, fish on spinach, all the rest on the fish. Seal up the package tight and bake in 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, longer if the fish is especially thick.
You can squeeze 1/4 lime over the top and sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil if you want, but it is just fine without. I usually serve it right in the foil in a wide bowl. Brown rice is good with these juices.
4-9-12
Easter dinner: guacamole and chips, grilled marinated leg of lamb, roasted asparagus, duck fat fried potatoes
I guess you could say that technically lamb is not chicken. Arthur is only 16 months old and even he knows the difference between sheep and poultry. But it has to be lamb for Easter. And it was positively yummy. I'm sort of embarrassed by how easy it is.
Buy a boneless leg of lamb at Costco (or wherever.) We went to get rack of lamb, but holy moly, even at Costco it was going to be $10 a person, so we decided to try the leg. It was 5 1/2 pounds, which was way too much for four adults and a toddler, so I cut it pretty much in half and cubed the other half and put it in little zip loc bags with enough for two kebabs apiece and froze it. I will be so glad when we want something a little different for dinner. (Let's do the math...that is 12 servings for $30...I'm counting the leftovers)
I had to do a little creative cutting to get the lamb to lie flat and be relatively uniform in thickness, but it worked. Then I made the marinade:
5 big fat juicy cloves of garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 scant half cup olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp dried Greek oregano
that's it
I whizzed it up in the mini-chop and poured it over the lamb and let it marinate for about three hours. More time would have been better, and I would have let it rest in the fridge.
JB put it on the grill till the temp was 128 degrees for rare. Next time I think I'll ask him to get it a little bit hotter, maybe 135, though it was yummy beyond description. And next time we won't be going for the racks even if they drop the price. So there...
4-7-12
Accidental Chicken
We bought two cut up chix at Johnny G's Meat Market in Manchaca because somebody told me how superb his fresh, local chickens are. (Answer, yes, a far cry from what we get at the supermarket.) And somehow there were more evening events, and so the night M and B and A were coming to dinner there was not much choice as to our protein. I had to cook those chix. And I decided to revert to my old tried and true marinade, which began with a recipe in a cookbook for the Cleveland Symphony that came out prior to the birth of my second son in 1972. By now it is barely recognizable, but is really wonderful, and someday I'll put that one in here.
But it turned out that last week I didn't have the right ingredients. No tarragon. So I used herbes de province. OK, not a tragedy. BUT...after I dumped in the paprika and my hand slipped at that, I saw that it was smoked sweet paprika. A little of that goes a long way. I nearly poured it all out in the sink and started over, but I didn't have any more lemon juice, and I wasn't going to the store at that point. So here it is, and it was so good I'm not sure I'm ever going back to the old tried and true one. Actually, there's some cold in the fridge right now...
2 whole chickens cut up into serving pieces
5 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp herbes de province
3 hefty Tbsp smoked sweet paprika
1/4 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
Whiz up the marinade in the mini-processor and marinate the chicken for a couple of hours, making sure it is all good and gooey. Then ask your sweetie to cook it on the grill until is is 165 degrees inside or bake it in the oven on a jelly roll pan. Yum yum.
4-3-12
Mandarin Chicken Salad (SBRC)
Arthur's was a Chinese restaurant in Aspen when we used to take the boys there every year at Labor Day. That was before they started going to school, which was a very long time ago. Arthur's was in an old Victorian house, which has undoubtedly been turned into the kind of place where movie stars go and pay $125 for a meal not nearly as good as this one. Movie stars hadn't taken Aspen over then, and a family with a bunch of rug rats could go anywhere. The restaurant closed in 1982, so it was a long, long time ago, but this is still one of my favorite recipes, and it doesn't hurt a bit that I have very special memories to go along with it.
1 whole cooked chicken breast, shredded
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup celery, sliced thin on the diagonal
4 scallions sliced, white and green parts
4 scallions sliced, white and green parts
Dressing (I usually quadruple it and use it for noodles and other yummy things)
2Tbsp creamy peanut butter
2Tbsp water
2Tbsp light soy sauce
1T plus 1 1/2 t white vinegar
1Tbsp oriental sesame oil
1Tbsp white wine
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp chopped ginger
1 clove garlic, chopped
Mix in mini-chop or blender.
Mix in mini-chop or blender.
1 1/2 Tbsp chopped pickled ginger
2c iceberg lettuce or napa cabbage
1 1/4. T black sesame seeds or sliced almonds or whatever
Fried wonton strips
Toss it all together right before you serve it so it stays crisp and crunchy.
I just love recipes! And Johnny G's meat market too. Best of all I love this blog. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Graggie Girl. I'm glad you are liking it. I'm having fun.
DeleteMargaret-Your blog is amazing. I am going to try to throw together the awesome "southwestern salad you made for Cymtia's with corn, avocado and more. I'm just making it up. Did it include black beans, red and green peppers, cilantro, vinegarette? Any combination of these items is delicious. However, yours was more than that!
ReplyDelete