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Squash, White Bean, and Kale Soup

2011-02-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

Back when I was a little baby nurse, I followed a more senior nurse for 16 weeks while I learned the job. We ate together every day, and one day she asked what I was eating, I suppose because it looked even stranger than my usual fare. When I told her that it was a squash and kale soup, the look of horror on her face was absolutely priceless. But I had confidence in my lunch, so I convinced her to try some, and it turned out that my vegetable-hating preceptor loved this soup. She loved it so much that I made her a batch as my 'Thank you for precepting me' present, and she still remembers it (better than I did, in fact) almost 4 years later.

I love this soup because it's delicious, of course, but also because it's filling and chock full of fiber and vitamins. This is the kind of food that makes you feel healthy and invigorated, rather than bloated and sloppy, and I find that it helps me make it to 7 a.m. when I eat it for my 2 a.m. lunch. Also, this soup keeps well and is better the day after it's made, which means that you can make this soup on your day off, then enjoy it for the rest of the week.

Squash Stew with White Beans and Kale

(From Whole Foods)

4 oz bacon, cut into small dice
1 medium onion, diced
Parsley, fresh thyme and two bay leaves, bundled together with string
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup apple cider
4 cups vegetable stock (I actually use chicken stock)
4 cups kale (or other green) rinsed, center rib removed, and sliced
2 cups (cooked) white beans, drained (I used a 14ounce can, but if you're feeling ambitious, cook your own dried or fresh beans)
salt and pepper
1 lb peeled seeded Hubbard, butternut or dumpling squash, cut into half-inch dice

In a heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat, render the fat from the bacon. Cook until the bacon is browned, and remove it with a slotted spoon; reserve.

Cook onions with the herb bundle in the bacon fat until onions soften. Add the garlic and cook until translucent. Put cider and stock into pot and bring to a boil. Add kale, beans, and salt and pepper to taste. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes.

Add squash cubes to liquid and cook until squash is tender, about ten more minutes. Discard herb bundle. Ladle stew into bowls and garnish with reserved bacon.

Roasted Potatoes for Special Occasions

2011-02-18T04:06:00.000-08:00

We used to have an all-time favorite roasted potato recipe. It reigned supreme for nearly a decade, and almost never failed to impress. Poor recipe. It's still going to be our go-to roasted potato recipe for weeknights, but duck fat and cornmeal joined together to stage a coup that dethroned the rosemary potatoes as a special occasion dish.

The victorious recipe is courtesy of Nigella Lawson, and I swear to you that it just might change your life; it could make a potato lover out of a spud spurner. Why? Because usually you have to take your pick when it comes to a cooked potato's virtues, but in this case you get them all, including a fluffy, almost creamy interior, and a crispy, golden outside.

The outer part of the potato is so crispy because the potatoes have been tossed with some cornmeal. It might sound strange, but thanks to the cornmeal, these potatoes become almost battered, and because they're cooked in plentiful amounts of duck fat, they're almost like French fries, too. The duck fat also lends the potatoes a certain richness, which really shines when paired with some diced onions or scallions. So that's why I say that these potatoes are like every yummy kind of potato all rolled in to one- they're like a baked potato combined with a roasted potato, mixed with a battered, fried, potato, with some hash browns thrown in.

Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes

(From Nigella Lawson)

We threw a handful of diced onions in to the pan during the last 15 or 20 minutes of cooking, which was delicious. We did that, though, because we didn't have any scallions at the time. So if you have scallions or chives, I would highly recommend tossing them with the cooked potatoes. Of course, you could use onions and scallions.

6 lbs medium potatoes (I like red-skinned ones)

2 tablespoons semolina

2 cups goose fat (I used duck fat)

Optional: A handful of diced onions and/or sliced scallions or chives

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Peel the potatoes (if they have thick skins; if you use thin-skinned potatoes, I would leave the peel on), and cut each one into three by cutting off each end at a slant so that you are left with a wedge or triangle in the middle.

Put the potatoes into salted cold water in a large pot, and bring to a boil, letting them cook for 4 minutes. Drain the potatoes into a colander and then tip back into the empty pot, sprinkling over the semolina. Shake the potatoes around to coat them well and, with the lid clamped on, give the pan a good rotation and the potatoes a proper bashing so that their edges disintegrate or fuzz and blur a little: this facilitates the crunch effect later.

Meanwhile, empty the duck fat into a large roasting pan and heat in the oven until seriously hot. Then tip the semolina–coated potatoes carefully into the hot fat and roast in the oven for an hour or until they are darkly golden and crispy, turning them over halfway through cooking. If the oven's hot enough they probably won't need more than about 25 minutes a side; and it's better to let them sit in the oven (you can always pour off most of the fat and leave them in the pan) till the very last minute.

Lemon Meringue Pie

2011-02-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

Isn't it great how nature provides plentiful amounts of lemons just when most of us are in need of some bright, colorful tartness in our lives? I, personally, love lemony things in the chilly days of late winter and early spring, and one of my all-time favorite lemon applications is lemon meringue pie. I find that February's grey skies aren't so bad when some of this pie is in my world.

As I'm sure you gathered from the above paragraph, I love love love lemon meringue pie. I actually love any pie (except pecan), but this one is definitely in the top 3. It has the tasty, flaky crust, accompanied by a silken layer of tart lemonyness, all crowned with a fluffy, foamy meringue. I love to put a piece in my mouth and savor the way the little meringue bubbles pop all over my tongue, while the lemon curd and pie pastry make all of my other tastebuds explode. It's like you not only have the fireworks, you have the world-class symphony orchestra playing John Philip Sousa in the background.

I think that this is a great recipe for lemon meringue pie, and honestly, I've never felt the need to try another. Cook's Illustrated recipes tend to have science on their side, which is particularly helpful when you're dealing with potentially flavorless crust, melting lemon curd, and deflating meringue.

This recipe uses some special ingredients to keep the lemon in its place, and to prevent the meringue from melting in to a pool of separated egg whites. As long as you don't cut in to the pie before it's cooled (like I did, because I'm impatient), you'll have a perfect lemon meringue pie on your hands.

Lemon Meringue Pie

(Adapted a Teeny Bit from Cook's Illustrated)

Crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

Filling

1 1/2 cups cold water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon (packed) grated lemon zest (from about 3 large lemons)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 large lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Meringue

1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Process the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Scatter the shortening over the top and continue to process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 5 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over top and, using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 5 pulses. Transfer to a large bowl.

Sprinkle 4 tablespoons ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together using a stiff rubber spatula, until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does. Try your best not to over-handle the dough. Form the dough into a 4-inch disk , wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it into a 12-inch circle and fitting it into a pie plate. Trim, fold, and crimp the edges and freeze the unbaked pie crust until firm, about 30 minutes. Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the chilled crust with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights (beans or rice work).

Bake until the pie dough looks dry and is light in color, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the pie weights and foil and continue to bake until the crust is a deep golden brown, about 12 minutes longer. Set the pie on a wire rack to cool.

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.

For the filling: Combine the water, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a large nonreactive saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer while whisking constantly. When the mixture starts to turn translucent, whisk in the egg yolks, 2 at a time. Whisk in the zest, then the lemon juice, and finally the butter.

Return the mixture to a full simmer, then remove the pan from the heat. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap flush to the surface of the filling to keep it hot while making the meringue.

For the meringue: Bring the water and cornstarch to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisking frequently. When the mixture turns translucent and begins to bubble, remove it from the heat.

Whip the egg whites and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until frothy. Mix the sugar and cream of tartar together, then add it to the egg whites, 1 tablespoon at a time. Increase the speed to medium and whip the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Add the cooked cornstarch mixture to the whipped egg whites, 1 tablespoon at a time, and contunue to whip the egg whites until they are glossy and form stiff peaks. Remove the plastic wrap from the lemon filling and return to very low heat to rewarm, for about a minute.

Pour the hot filling into the baked, cooled pie crust. Dollop and spread the meringue over the top of the pie, making sure to adhere the meringue to the crust. Using the back of a spoon, make attractive peaks in the meringue.

Bake until the meringue is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.

Cold Sesame Soba Noodles

2011-02-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

Most of the time I think it's great when Daring Cooks has us make things that I'm not normally inclined to make. And then there are the times when I think, 'I knew there was a reason I never ever wanted to make that.'

Like tempura, for example. Every time I see the Iron Chefs make it on TV, I think, 'Wow, that's one thing I don't ever ever want to cook at home.' Plus, I've never met a tempura I've liked. They consistently ruin any sushi dish they come in contact with, and outside of a sushi roll, I've still never liked the particular greasiness of tempura-fried anything.

I do of course realize that I've probably never had really good tempura, so I haven't written it off completely, but I knew that the tempura to change my mind was not going to come out of my kitchen. And sure enough, mine was greasy, mealy, and gross. So there will not be a recipe for tempura in this post. There will, however be a recipe for soba noodles, which was the second part of this challenge.

The challenge recipe suggested that we make plain soba noodles, top them with some garnishes, and serve them with a dipping sauce on the side. Now, I realize that this is a very traditional way to serve soba noodles, but the idea of trying to dip long, stringy noodles into a very thin, watery, and mostly soy-based sauce sounded unappealing, partially because I didn't feel like ruining a shirt.

However, the challenge said that we could use a different soba noodle recipe as long as we attempted to stay true to the spirit of Japanese cooking and keep it clean, fresh, and simple. I liked the looks of this Nigella Lawson recipe, and thought that it fit the criteria.

Sure enough, it's very addictive, insanely simple to make, and it keeps extremely well. I'll likely make it again so that when I'm at work and I have to shove some food in my mouth at 3 a.m., I can just pull these noodles out of the fridge; no re-heating required.

You could keep these noodles simple, or you could garnish them with any number of things, including strips of egg, tofu, or thinly sliced red peppers, carrots, cucumbers, or cabbage. Simple or embellished, they're a delicious meal.

Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds

(Slightly Adapted from a Recipe by Nigella Lawson)

45g sesame seeds (the original recipe calls for 75 grams, but I found that even 45 grams meant a lot of sesame)
Salt
250g soba noodles
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 spring onions

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat until they look golden brown, and tip them into a bowl. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add some salt. Put in the soba noodles and cook them for about 6 minutes (or according to packet instructions) until they are tender but not mushy. Have a bowl of iced water waiting to plunge them into after draining.

In the bowl you are going to serve them in, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, honey and oil. Then finely slice the spring onions and put them into the bowl with the cooled, drained noodles and mix together thoroughly before adding the sesame seeds and tossing again.

Taste for seasoning and add more soy sauce, honey, or sesame oil as needed. I found that I needed more of everything, but it's up to you. Leave the sesame seed noodles for about half an hour to let the flavours develop, although this is not absolutely necessary or sometimes even possible.

Winter Salads

2011-02-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

At this time of year, in order to keep myself sane, I need to work to find things that I like about winter. Some of those things are fires on cold nights, citrus, skiing, and winter salads. In fact, I might like winter salads better than summer salads, and it's really a relief that something is better in the winter than in the summer. I would say that the lack of bugs is another thing that's better in the winter, but there are currently stinkbugs in my house, so that one no longer applies.

Call me crazy, but winter salads tend to have a crunch, a bitterness, and a heartiness that's missing in the more delicate (dare I say wimpier) summer salads. I find them more interesting than salads made from wilty little green leaves because they have so much more character and personality. They're not always easy to get along with, but it's worth making the effort.

After the holidays I really need to take a break from cookies and creamy things, and these flavor-packed salads get me wanting to eat salads, as opposed to eating them because I think I should because I'm a fatty. I recommend that you give these salads a try--their peppery bite just might add some needed brightness to your gray days. They work for me.

Radicchio Salad with Green Olives

(By Molly Watson of The Dinner Files)

Serves 2-4

1 head radicchio
18 green olives
1 teeny glove garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice or sherry vinegar
A pinch of sugar
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan for garnish (optional)

Trim radicchio and cut or tear into bite-size pieces, and place in a large bowl. Mince the olives and garlic into a paste and mix with the lemon juice or vinegar, and the sugar, salt, and pepper. (I actually do all of this in a little food processor, and I don't add pepper because radicchio leaves are so peppery.)

Toss the radicchio with the dressing, and divide amongst the serving bowls. Top with Parmesan if you like. (I actually find that it's not necessary.)

Endive Salad with Walnuts

(By Molly Watson, of The Dinner Files)

Makes 4-6 Servings

4 heads Belgian endive
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons walnut oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice, cider vinegar, or white vinegar
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Toast the walnuts in a toaster oven or a 350 degree oven. Trim the ends of the endives, and chop or slice them into bite-sized pieces.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice or vinegar, and the mustards. Add salt and pepper to taste (I actually find that pepper is not necessary.) Add the endives and toss until thoroughly coated. Divide the salad into serving bowls and top with the toasted walnuts.

Spinach Feta Fritters

2011-02-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

As you may know, I have a well-documented fritter problem. If it's a vegetable and I like it, I'll probably try to turn it in to a fritter. Therefore, one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations--spinach, feta, pine nuts, and tomato--was just begging to be turned into patty form. Here's the result; I hope you like it.

Spinach Feta Fritters

2 bunches fresh spinach (a little less than 2 lbs)
2 eggs
rounded 1/4 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup tomato sauce
Juice of 1/4 lemon
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
2-3 tablespoons canola oil

Set a very large pot of water on the stove to boil. In the meantime, fill a large bowl with water. Cut the stems off the spinach bunches, and place the leaves in the bowl of water. Swish them around until all the dirt is removed, and place the leaves in a colander.

While you'res still waiting for the water to boil, toast the pine nuts in a toaster oven or a 350 degree oven. When the water boils, add the spinach and cook until tender but still bright green, about 2 minutes. Remove the spinach to the colander. There's really no need for an ice bath.

When the spinach has cooled, squeeze the water out of it. Don't drive yourself crazy, though--it doesn't have to be completely dry. Chop the spinach as fine as you can, again without driving yourself crazy.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, feta, tomato sauce, lemon juice, pine nuts, flour, salt, pepper, and spinach, and mix well. In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil until shimmering. Add enough spinach mixture to the pan to make a patty that's about 3 inches in diameter.

Cook until the top starts to look a little firm, and the bottom edges look a little dried out. Flip--the top should be nicely browned. Cook the other side until golden brown, just a little longer (the second side will cook faster than the first).

Taste this fritter and adjust for seasoning--add more salt, pepper, and lemon juice as necessary. Also, if the batter is too thin, add a little bit of flour. Once the seasoning is correct, cook the rest of the batter in the same manner, adding more oil to the pan as necessary.

Crescent Cheese Cookies

2011-01-26T16:17:00.000-08:00

Although I bought The Gourmet Cookie Book exclusively for the bourbon balls, I ended up bookmarking pretty much the whole book. It looked a little silly bristling with a million little post-its, not to mention the fact that it's not very helpful to bookmark every page. So I separated the bookmarks into vertically-facing ones that signified 'must make,' and horizontally-facing ones that meant, 'must make really soon.'

These little beauties were on a 'must make really soon' page, and I suggest that you make them really soon as well. They're really more like little tiny pastries because of their flaky, flaky dough, but that's not in any way a bad thing. In fact, it's pretty amazing that a dough that literally comes together in about 2 minutes can be so flaky and light--it's the kind of thing one would think must be labored over for hours.

The dough contains no sugar, but the jam and powdered sugar make the cookie sweet enough. In fact, it becomes a perfectly balanced kind of sweetness that would appeal to adults and children alike. They actually kind of remind me of some of the cookies my Italian grandmother used to make.

I used black cherry jam, which I thought worked perfectly. And don't be scared off by the mention of farmer's cheese--it's a cheese that is similar to cottage cheese, and because I didn't feel like going to the store, I used plain old cottage cheese and thought that it worked perfectly well.

My best piece of advice, though, is to carefully check for doneness before pulling these little guys out of the oven. My oven temperature might have been a bit too high, or the suggested temperature might be too hot, or maybe I was just deceived by the effect the milk has on the browning of the cookies, because the outsides were beautifully golden while the insides were still half raw. Even undercooked, these cookies were amazingly flaky, so properly cooked, they must be simply dreamy.

I apologize for just showing you pictures of the cookies broken in half, rather than the whole cookie. I didn't like the way I styled the shoot when I photographed the whole cookies, and they didn't look all that awesome, anyway. My crescent-rolling skills aren't quite up to par, and a lot of my cookies looked like something the cookie fairy would have pooped out.

Crescent Cheese Cookies

From The Gourmet Cookie Book

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

About 6 ounces farmer cheese, or low-fat cottage cheese
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
About 10 ounces of your favorite jam or jelly
Milk for brushing the cookies
Powdered sugar for dusting (About 1/4 cup)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Force enough cheese through a sieve into a dish to measure 1 cup. In a bowl, cream the butter until it's smooth. Stir in the cheese, the sour cream, and the vanilla, and mix until well combined.

In another bowl, sift together the flour and the salt. Gradually blend the flour mixture into the cheese mixture. Wrap the dough in parchment paper and chill for at least 3 hours.

Roll one fourth of the dough out very thinly (about 1/8 inch) on a lightly floured surface and chill the remaining dough until it is to be used. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares and put about 1/2 teaspoon jam or preserves in the center of each. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Fold the squares tightly into triangles and roll them into crescents, starting at the wide end. Arrange the crescents on a baking sheet, brushing them lightly with milk, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are golden. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and dust them with sifted confectioners' sugar. (I actually just dumped some sugar into a sifter and used the sifter to dust the cookies.)

These cookies don't keep very well, and are best on the day they're made.

Pita Bread

2011-01-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

When I was making a recipe based on the New York Times' Greek Nachos, I decided that I was going to be all super-motivated and make my own pita bread. Now, when I'm looking for a recipe, I might look on Epicurious or another recipe website, or I might look in my cookbooks, or I might look to another blogger for inspiration. In a case like this, when I don't want to wade through a million recipes and attempt to figure out which one is going to work, I turn to another blogger.

I suspected that Deb from Smitten Kitchen could provide me with a reliable pita recipe, and I was right. Her website is really worth checking out, so I won't reprint the recipe, I'll just direct you here so you can check it out for yourself. And I just want to mention that my pitas really were beautifully puffed when I first made them, before I smashed them all by piling them together. Really. They were.

Parsley Walnut Pesto

2011-01-26T12:36:00.000-08:00

Is there anything better than the smell of fresh basil in the summertime? My porch becomes a little piece of heaven when it overflows with flowers and smells of basil. Unfortunately, there comes a time when my lush, leafy basil stalks turn to brown woody ones that smell of decaying basil, so into the dumpster they go. The circle of life.

But then there comes a time when I want some pasta but I'm sick of tomato sauce and can't afford the calories packed into a cream sauce. I could of course go to the grocery store and pay an obscene amount of money for enough fresh basil to make some pesto, but looking back upon the abundance of the summer makes such a prospect just too painful.

So how about some parsley walnut pesto? It's just as delicious as basil pesto, but won't make you yearn for a summer season that's months away. And because parsley is cheaper than basil and walnuts are cheaper than pine nuts, it's economical, too!

Parsley Walnut Pesto

2 cups loosely-packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
3/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place parsley, walnuts, cheese, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until well combined.

With the food processor running, add the olive oil in a slow stream. You may need as little as half a cup, so go slowly, and stop when the pesto reaches a consistency that works for you. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt, pepper, and lemon juice as needed.

This pesto doesn't discolor as easily as basil pesto does, but it's still best to use it within a couple days. Of course, you can always divide it into small portions, place those portions in little plastic bags, and freeze it all for a few months. As needed, remove a bag of pesto from the freezer; it will defrost very quickly.

Pita Pockets

2011-01-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

For dinner the other night, I decided that I wanted to make the New York Times' recipe for Greek Nachos, because it sounded like the kind of dinner that could be relatively light yet satisfying, and I love the kind of meals that you can assemble and then pick at gradually.

But then I decided that I didn't want to use lamb, I wanted to use turkey; I loved the cumin in the meat part of the recipe, but thought that some more spices were called for. And I didn't want to make the sauce with that much oil and feta, so I cut back on those two ingredients. And I definitely didn't want my sauce to contain any fresh mint because the very idea made me want to vomit, so I used the fresh oregano growing on my windowsill.

Finally, after having made my own pita bread, I had run out of motivation and no longer felt like cutting the pita pieces into wedges, toasting them, and making a nacho-like sort of thing. So I cut the pitas in half and stuffed all the ingredients inside. The end result was still a dinner I could assemble and pick at, but it no longer resembled my originally intended meal. Nonetheless, it was delicious, and I highly recommend that you try making your own pita pocket dinner. It's relatively healthy, and endlessly adaptable. If anyone out there has a way that they particularly like to make pita pockets, let me know about it in the comments.

Pita Pockets

(Inspired by the New York Times)

Serves 4

Feta Yogurt Sauce
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, finely chopped, divided
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 pound ground turkey (preferably dark meat or a combination of dark and light meat)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt
1/4 cup water or beer
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon (You'll already have this if you're making the feta yogurt sauce. One lemon is sufficient for the whole recipe.)
4 pieces pita bread, homemade if you like
2 or 3 medium ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
1 medium cucumber, roughly peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
1/2 cup Calamata olives, pitted and halved (optional)

Make feta yogurt sauce.

Put two tablespoons of canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook all but 1/4 cup of the onions until soft (set that 1/4 cup aside-you'll use it later.) Add the cumin seeds and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add turkey, ground cumin, and cayenne, and sprinkle with salt. While the meat cooks, use a spatula or other kitchen utensil to break it up into fine chunks; cook until meat is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes.

If the meat is exceedingly dry when you add it to the pan, add 1/4 cup water or beer. The turkey will later release juices as it cooks--continue to cook meat until almost all liquid has evaporated. Add red pepper flakes if you like spicy food. Add a few grinds of fresh black pepper, and the juice of a 1/4 of a lemon. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, or lemon juice as needed.

Break each pita in half and using your finger, separate the two sides of each half so that you're left with pockets. Stuff each pocket with the turkey meat, yogurt sauce, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and olives. Eat.

Feta Yogurt Sauce

2011-01-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

This sauce was originally made for a pita pocket dinner, but I found it to be so delicious that I began using it as a dip for bread, a dip for vegetables, a salad dressing, and the cream base for creamed spinach.

Creamy and tangy, this sauce can be used to accompany anything from vegetables to fish, and you could probably even use it as a pizza topping. It's bright with herbs and lemon, and the richness imparted by the feta and olive oil make this a perfectly balanced condiment. If anyone out there tries this, let me know how you used it, and how you liked it.

Feta Yogurt Sauce

(Adapted from the New York Times)

3 ounces feta cheese
1/2 cup plain yogurt, preferably whole-milk
1/8 cup very good olive oil
Teaspoon loosely packed oregano leaves
1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper

In a blender or food processor, combine feta, yogurt, 1/8 cup olive oil, oregano, and the juice of a quarter of a lemon. Blend or process until smooth. You can also mash mixture by hand, with a fork. If you do it that way, chop up the oregano leaves before adding. I actually used a measuring cup and a hand-held stick blender, which worked beautifully. Add a lot of freshly ground black pepper. Taste for seasoning and add more lemon juice or pepper if needed. You probably won't need salt since the feta is salty.

Black Bean Tacos with Radish Slaw

2011-01-09T05:45:00.000-08:00

Here's an example of how throwing together a few simple, inexpensive ingredients can make a meal that's more than the sum of its parts. These tacos don't require much effort at all, and in the end you have a meal that's light yet satisfying, healthy and indulgent. (The taco shells aren't the healthiest thing in the world--that's the indulgent part, but everything else is relatively low in fat and high in fiber--the healthy part.)

Depending on how much hot sauce you use, these tacos can be spicy and fiery, or they can be cool, crisp, and refreshing. In my opinion, a lot of hot sauce and a good bit of the radish slaw makes for the best of both worlds.

Black Bean and Radish Slaw Tacos

(Adapted from Epicurious)

5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 bunch radishes
2 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6 taco shells
1/3 cup cheddar or 'Mexican' cheese blend, or cojita
Bottled chipotle hot sauce or other hot sauce

In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons oil until shimmering. Add beans, coriander, cumin, and cayenne and heat through while mixing all of the ingredients together and partially mashing the beans. Add salt and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Taste for seasoning and add more spices and/or lime juice as needed.

Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in medium bowl. Using a mandolin, make matchsticks out of the radishes, and add them to the bowl along with the green onions and cilantro. Add a pinch of salt and toss to coat. Taste for seasoning.

In a toaster oven, toast the taco shells until they're warm and slightly crispy. Fill tacos with beans, cheese, and slaw. Pass hot sauce alongside.

I got a new camera for Christmas/my birthday! I took these pictures when I was just starting to mess around with it:

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

2010-12-16T03:34:00.000-08:00

Those are some manly-looking cupcakes, aren't they? Plus, they're far more interesting than the usual chocolate cake with chocolate or vanilla icing--the icing is a salted caramel buttercream. I made these for my brother's birthday, and although he hasn't had much of a sweet tooth since the age of 7, he ate two of them and took a few more home. That's high praise.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

(From Cupcakeblog.com)

2 sticks butter
8 ounces or 1 package of Philly cream cheese
5 to 6 cups powdered sugar
1 cup salted caramel (Below)

Bring butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours.

Sift 3 cups of powdered sugar into the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat to combine. Add 1 cup of the salted caramel and beat to combine.

Sift 2-3 cups of powder sugar, in 1 cup increments and beating between each, until you arrive at the thickness and sweetness you desire.

Salted Caramel

(From Smitten Kitchen)

1 cup sugar
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) salted butter, the better you can get, the better it will taste
1/2 cup plus two tablespoons heavy cream, at room temperature
If you only have unsalted butter, a pinch of salt.

Melt the sugar over medium to moderately high heat in a larger pot than you think you’ll need–at least three quarts (I used six), whisking or stirring the sugar as it melts to ensure it heats evenly. Cook the liquefied sugar to a nice, dark copper color. Add the butter all at once and stir it in. Before turning off the stove pour in the heavy cream (and salt if you're adding it) and turn off the heat (the sauce will foam up quite a bit when you add it; this is why you want the larger pot.), whisking it until you get a smooth sauce.

Use it right away or pour it into a jar and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks. When you take it out, the caramel will likely have thickened a bit but a few seconds in the microwave brings it right back to pouring consistency. We microwaved it covered, in 10 second increments.

Molasses Crinkles

2010-12-15T22:34:00.000-08:00

If you have time to make only one batch of cookies this year, I would highly recommend that it be these molasses crinkles. Forget chocolate chip and sugar cookies, these cookies are the essence of Christmas. Like eggnog and bourbon balls, these cookies will wrap you in a holiday glow, and the warm spiciness of the cinnamon, cloves, ginger and allspice will make your house feel like the best place on Earth. Add a roaring fire and a fragrant, glowing Christmas tree, and you've got holiday magic.

These chewy, sophisticated cookies are so awesome that the first year Nick brought them to work, people came within a hair of getting in a fistfight over them. The next year, they didn't come to blows, but they resorted to stealing the unattended cookies and hiding them in their desks. That's why I always make at least a double batch these days--I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt.

My coworkers are not quite so dramatic, but when I mention that I've brought in a batch, their eyes light up and they ask, Those cookies from last year? Those are awesome! A lot of us can barely remember yesterday, so for these cookies to be remembered a year later is really saying something.

If that's not enough to convince you to make these, how about the fact that they're fun and easy to make? And, after you've made these once, you'll have the ingredients on hand for future batches. I'm sure you can see why they're a holiday staple in our house.

Molasses Crinkles

(From Epicurious)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses (not robust or blackstrap)
About 1/3 cup sanding or granulated sugar* (I used Sugar in the Raw) for tops of cookies

Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and salt in a bowl until combined.

Beat together shortening, butter, and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer (preferably fitted with paddle attachment) or 6 minutes with a handheld. Add egg and molasses, beating until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in flour mixture until combined.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll 1 heaping teaspoon of dough into a 1-inch ball with wet hands, then dip 1 end of ball in sanding sugar. Make more cookies in same manner, arranging them, sugared side up, 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake cookies for 8 minutes, then cool on sheets 1 minute. The original recipe calls for the cookies to be baked for 10 to 12 minutes, but I found, as did a lot of the reviewers on Epicurious, that 10 minutes is too long. You want to take the cookies out when they still look almost raw--they should just be developing cracks on the surface, and they should not have taken on any color. The edges will have started to set, but the middles will still be puffy and almost wobbly. You have to trust me on this one--if you overcook these cookies, they're still tasty, but they end up being more like gingerbread and that certain something is gone. Don't worry if the cookies don't look as dark as they do in the pictures--they get darker and more crinkly as they cool.

Transfer to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies with remaining dough on cooled baking sheets.

Eggs Benedict

2010-12-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

When we were planning a trip to California earlier this year, my Dad suggested that we go to a particular restaurant and get eggs Benedict. "I don't like eggs Benedict," I replied. So when my crappy omelette arrived, I tried my brother's eggs Benedict, and of course, I loved it. Isn't it funny how parents are usually right?

So I've decided that I like eggs Benedict, and on the morning this challenge was announced, I had actually been lying in bed craving them.'But I would never want to make them,' I thought. So I was utterly unsurprised when I got out of bed, opened the webpage announcing the challenge, and saw that it was eggs Benedict.

Because my Dad (obviously) likes eggs Benedict, I got over my multiple misgivings and made this dish for him, at which point I decided that I'll likely never make it again. I've made a lot of complicated things in my time, and I've got to say that this eggs Benedict was one of the most difficult things I've made in a while. Its multiple components had me frazzled, as they all require good technique and good timing.

That's exactly why I do the Daring Cooks, though--to force me to make things that intimidate me. And two of the most intimidating aspects of this challenge are skills that every cook should be at least a little bit familiar with--poaching eggs and making a Mother sauce (in this case, Hollandaise). And who knows, maybe I'll make this again some day and find that it's a lot easier the second time around, as is often the case in cooking.

If you would like to make this classic brunch item at home, I can suggest two things that can make eggs Benedict more approachable: The eggs can be poached up to a day ahead of time and kept in a cold water bath. When you're ready to use them, throw them into some gently simmering water until they're just warmed through. Also, the Hollandaise can be made a little bit ahead of time and kept warm. I filled a travel mug with boiling water, let it sit for a few minutes, dumped out the water, and poured in the Hollandaise. It stayed warm that way for half an hour, and it probably would have been okay for an hour.

The Daring Cooks had some other helpful tips:

Make sure to use the freshest eggs possible. Farm-fresh eggs will make for the best poached eggs. If you use old eggs, you'll have a harder time with the whites spreading out all over the place when you place the egg in the water.
Adding a bit of vinegar or acidic agent to your water will help stabilize the eggs and cook the whites faster, and keeping you water just below the boiling point (about 190 degrees) will help keep the fragile eggs from all the boiling bubble action rupturing the eggs. Also make sure you salt the poaching water well.
The other main key to success is to crack your eggs into a small bowl first, taking care not to break the yolk. Then it becomes easy to gently slide the entire egg into the water for the poaching process. Some people also suggest swirling the poaching liquid into a vortex before sliding the egg in, in order to help keep the egg whites together. I've found it works fine whether or not you do this step.
A poached egg is done when the whites are fully cooked and the yolk has just started to solidify but is still tunny when you cut it open--about 3 minutes. It's okay to go a little longer depending on your desired firmness.

Eggs Benedict

Serves 4

8 eggs (size is your choice)
4 English muffins
8 slices of Canadian bacon (Or plain bacon if you prefer. I actually used pancetta, which I thought worked perfectly.)
Chives, for garnish (Optional)
Splash of vinegar (for poaching)

For the Hollandaise (makes 1.5 cups):

3 large egg yolks

1 tsp. water

¼ tsp. sugar

12 Tbl. (6 oz.) unsalted butter, chilled and cut in small pieces

½ tsp.kosher salt

2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

Fill a saucepan with about an inch of water and bring to a simmer. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and set aside. In a metal mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks and 1 tsp. water in a mixing bowl large enough to sit on the saucepan without touching the water (or in top portion of a double boiler). Whisk for 1–2 minutes, until egg yolks lighten. Add the sugar and whisk 30 seconds more.

Place bowl on saucepan over simmering water and whisk steadily 3–5 minutes until the yolks thicken to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat (but let the water continue to simmer) and whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time. Move the bowl to the pan again as needed to melt the butter, making sure to whisk constantly.

Once all the butter is incorporated, remove from heat and whisk in the salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper (if using). Taste and add more salt, lemon juice, or cayenne as needed. Keep the Hollandaise warm while you poach your eggs in a thermos, carafe, or bowl that you’ve preheated with warm water.

Add enough water to your pan so that you have 2–3 inches of water and bring back to a simmer. Add salt and a splash of vinegar (any kind will do). Crack eggs directly into the very gently simmering water (or crack first into a bowl and gently drop into the water), making sure there's space between them. Cook for 3 minutes for a viscous but still runny yolk.

While waiting for the eggs, quickly fry the bacon and toast your English muffins. Top each half of English muffin with a piece of bacon. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon, draining well, and place on top of the bacon. Top with Hollandaise and chopped chives, and enjoy!

Bourbon Cranberry Sauce

2010-12-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

For years and years, I searched for the perfect cranberry sauce. I tried adding allspice, cloves, Zinfandel, and orange zest. I tried simmering, boiling, and marinating the cranberries. And then a couple years ago, I stumbled upon the ultimate cranberry sauce, courtesy of Epicurious.

The secret is bourbon, but don't let that scare you off. I make things like bourbon balls for the holidays because I have some bourbon lovers in the family, but I personally can't really handle the spirit. In cranberry sauce, though, it's magical--it adds just enough punch to play off the tartness of the cranberries, and it brings out all of the fruit's complexity. Somehow, it also adds a hint of an orange flavor, and it tones down the mouth-puckering sweetness of the sauce.

And the best part may be the fact that you don't have to watch a pot on the stove--you just throw 3 ingredients together in a baking dish and throw the whole thing in the oven for an hour; it's almost ridiculously simple and easy. And! for some reason, the baking dish even comes clean really easily. So if you want a complex, interesting cranberry sauce instead of the usual cloying culprits, you need to try this sauce for your next holiday get together.

Bourbon Cranberry Sauce

(Slightly adapted from Epicurious)

1 pound (about 4 cups) cranberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup bourbon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine first 3 ingredients in 9x13-inch baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake until cranberries are tender and sugar is dissolved, stirring once, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and stir in bourbon. Refrigerate cranberry sauce until well chilled. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead.) Transfer to bowl and serve.

Aged Eggnog

2010-12-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

I love eggnog. It's one of those love/hate kind of things, and I'm firmly in the love camp; it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and while this might sound cheesy, it gets me in the holiday spirit.

I used to make the Cook's Illustrated recipe, which is delicious, but it's pretty time-consuming because you basically pasteurize the eggs and dairy by heating it all over a very low flame until it reaches a certain temperature. It takes forever, and if you rush it at all, or forget to stir for even a few minutes, you can end up with a curdly mess.

I did that one year, and it made me sad. So when I read about the concept of aged eggnog on Chow.com, I was super excited; not only because it sounds virtually fool-proof, but because I'm lazy.

You see, for this aged eggnog, you mix a few things together and throw them into jars, which then go in the fridge for up to a year. That's it! And just like what happens with the bourbon balls, the aging process tames the harsh bite of the alcohol and makes the eggnog deliciously smooth and mellow.

I'm going to write a disclaimer here, as you'll see on every website that has this recipe: You're taking raw eggs, cream, and milk, and letting it sit for at least a month and up to a year, which would probably cause the FDA to collectively have a heart attack.

The theory behind this technique, though, is that the large amount of alcohol in the mix prevents any nastiness from forming. Plus, in order for anything like salmonella to fester in there, it would have had to be present in the eggs or milk in the first place, which is unlikely. But if rawness scares you, you should try a pasteurized eggnog recipe. Me, I like to live on the edge.

Aged Eggnog

(From Chow.com)

12 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 quart (4 cups) whole milk
1 liter (about 4 cups) bourbon, such as Jim Beam
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 to 1 cup good Cognac or other brandy
Pinch kosher salt
1 whole nutmeg

To serve (optional):

10 egg whites
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Separate egg yolks and whites. Combine yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl and whisk until well blended and creamy. Add heavy cream, milk, bourbon, rum, Cognac, and salt, and mix to combine.

Bottle it right away and refrigerate it until it’s ready. You can use an old liquor bottle, washed out jars from pasta sauce (like I did), or any other largeish glass vessel.

Allow the eggnog to age for at least 3 weeks and up to a year. (You'll note an improvement after only a week, and it keeps getting better from there.)

To serve, pour over ice and grate some fresh nutmeg over the top. If you only have the pre-ground stuff, skip it, and get some whole nutmeg the next time you go to the store. Or, if you want to serve the eggnog in the traditional way, pour it into a punch bowl. In separate bowls, whip 10 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups heavy cream to soft peaks and fold them into the eggnog. Serve in punch cups, garnished with freshly grated nutmeg.

Chocolate Bourbon Balls

2010-12-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

If you have bourbon lovers in your familly, you must make this recipe. And you should do it soon, because these no-bake cookies need to age in order to achieve their full, well-rounded potential.

Because these bourbon balls are constructed from pre-made cookies and no perishable ingredients, they can be stored in a cool, dry place for several months. As they age, the sharp edges of the bourbon are smoothed away, and the texture of the bourbon balls improves and becomes smoothly dense. The molasses, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves combine to make that sort of warming winter flavor that makes you feel like you're curled up in front of a roaring fire. These are not treats for kids, though--they still pack a punch.

There are, of course, many recipes for bourbon balls out there. However, every other recipe that I was able to find either called for butter (which would make them less shelf-stable); powdery, metallicy cocoa; or vanilla wafers. Vanilla!? Who wants vanilla bourbon balls? Chocolate and bourbon were made for each other; add some molasses and pecans, and you've got a party.

So really--enlist some help (this is the kind of recipe that's fun to make with another person), roll up your sleeves (it's messy), and get these little nuggets aging in order to have them ready for Christmas.

Bourbon Balls

(From The Gourmet Cookie Book)

1/2 cup chopped raisins
1/4 cup bourbon
2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, plus about another 3/4 cup for rolling the balls
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

In a small bowl, let the raisins macerate in the bourbon for 15 minutes. In a large bowl, combine well all ingredients except the 3/4 cup chopped pecans for rolling. Form the mixture into 1-inch balls, and roll the balls in the finely chopped pecans. Store the bourbon balls in an airtight container in a cool dark place for at least 1 week before serving.

Mocha Chocolate Cookies

2010-12-08T15:43:00.000-08:00

I bought the Gourmet cookie book soley for the bourbon balls recipe, but I ended up bookmarking almost every page in the book. The first recipe I tried ended up being a massive failure, and it was all scraped into the trash. It made me very sad, so I was determined to immediately make another recipe.

Because I had all of the ingredients on hand, I decided to make these mocha chocolate cookies, and while they were technically a success, these cookies did not appeal to everyone. All of the people at my work loved them, but it was 2 a.m. and everything tastes pretty good at 2 a.m. Some of the people at Nick's work, however, found them to be too rich.

And they are rich. They're intense. Basically, if you took fudgy, fudgy brownies and turned them into cookies, you would get these guys; they even have the crinkly tops that make me so happy. So if you're a chocolate lover or know someone who is, I would recommend whipping up a batch of these cookies in time for the holidays.

Mocha Chocolate Cookies

(From The Gourmet Cookie Book)

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla

In a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the unsweetened chocolate, 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips, and the butter, stirring until the mixture is smooth, and remove the bowl from the heat.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, the baking powder, and the salt. In a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is thick and pale, and beat in the espresso powder and the vanilla.

Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, fold in the flour mixture, and stir in the remaining chocolate chips. Let the batter stand for 15 minutes. I found that chilled batter worked better, so you might want to let it rest in the fridge.

Drop the batter by heaping teaspoons onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake the cookies in the middle of a preheated 350 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are puffed and shiny and cracked on top. Err on the side of undercooking these cookies--they are meant to be soft and rich. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets, transfer them to racks, and let them cool completely.

Malfatti: Ricotta and Swiss Chard Dumplings

2010-12-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

Do you ever read a cookbook, food blog, or food magazine, and a recipe just reaches out, smacks you, and screams, "You must make me!"? That's what happened to me with this recipe. I don't know why, but when I saw it in this month's Saveur, I instantly decided that I had to try it. And because these little dumplings are basically like ricotta gnocchi, I was finally motivated to make homemade ricotta the way I'd been planning to do for approximately 5 months.

You can make a whole meal out of these little dumplings, or you can serve them as a side. As an added benefit, they freeze well, and you don't even have to defrost them--just throw them in a pot of boiling water the same way you would with the unfrozen dumplings.

The original recipe called for sage leaves to be gently cooked in some butter along with the boiled dumplings. I tried this and wasn't crazy about it, but I left the sage leaves in the pictures because they looked pretty. You can certainly try adding some sage leaves to the butter as the dumplings cook; if you try it, let me know how you like it. I was kind of thinking that rosemary might work well, and I was also thinking that olive oil rather than butter might be nice. But whether you use herbs or not, you should definitely add pine nuts; they weren't in the original recipe, but in my opinion, they made the dish. And one last change--I used less butter than the original recipe called for because the original recipe called for a total of 16 tablespoons, which I just couldn't do.

Malfatti:

Ricotta and Swiss Chard Dumplings

(Adapted from Sauveur)

1 pound ricotta
1 tsp Kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 bunches Swiss chard (about 2 pounds), tough inner stems removed
1 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted (or two more bunches Swiss chard--that's what the original recipe called for)
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 flour, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 egg yolks
1 egg
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
A handful of pine nuts
Optional: 24 sage leaves

Make your own ricotta and drain it well, or put store-bought ricotta in a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a bowl and let drain overnight in the refrigerator. Measure 1 1/4 cups drained ricotta and reserve any extra for another use.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add chard; cook until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Drain chard and let cool. Squeeze chard with your hands to expel liquid. Place chard and spinach in a tea towel and squeeze to remove as much water as possible.

Transfer the chard and spinach to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer chard to a large bowl along with the ricotta, 1 teaspoon salt, melted butter, flour, nutmeg, egg yolks, and egg. Season with pepper and mix until smooth.

Test one dumpling--in a large pot of salted water, cook the dumpling until it floats to the surface. If it falls apart during this process, add more flour. Also taste the dumpling for seasoning, and adjust as needed. Using 2 spoons, shape 1 teaspoon at a time into an oval (like making a quenelle). Place the dumplings on a lightly floured baking sheet.

If you're not cooking the dumplings immediately, freeze them at this point. Later, when you would like to cook them, just throw them in a pot of boiling water--there's no need to defrost them first.

In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the pine nuts (add the sage leaves at this point if you would like to use them) and dumplings and cook, tossing frequently, until the pine nuts and dumplings are nicely browned. Serve.

Ricotta

2010-12-08T15:30:00.000-08:00

For a while now, I had been meaning to make my own ricotta because I keep reading about how easy it is, and how superior home made ricotta is compared to the store-bought stuff.

Now, technically, this is not true ricotta, as ricotta is actually made from the whey that's left over at the end of the cheese making process. Really, this is more like a paneer or queso fresco, but it tastes and looks like a ricotta, and can therefore be used in any recipe that call for this cheese, whether the application is sweet or savory.

I read a lot of recipes for home made ricotta, and found that vinegar, lemon juice, and animal rennet, when combined with whole milk and heat, can all create the desired curds. Some people claim that lemon juice, while effective, can lend the ricotta an acidic taste. Surprisingly, vinegar is less noticeable than lemon, and unsurprisingly, rennet makes for the best results.

Because rennet is not easy to find, I went with the vinegar option, and because I'm lazy, I microwaved the milk rather than stirring it forever in a pot on the stove. I mean, heating milk on the stove is tedious, there is almost always a hard to clean up boil-over, and the milk usually scorches on the bottom of the pot, which is also difficult to clean up. A microwave, however, leaves you with a nice, easily cleaned glass bowl.

You can make a lower-fat ricotta by using a reduced fat milk, but it's generally not recommended, as the resulting product will be rather anemic in taste and texture. And, of, course, you want to find the best possible milk.

I used my ricotta in some ricotta and Swiss chard dumplings, but you could also make lasagne, a ravioli filling, cheesecake, or anything your heart desires.

Ricotta

9 cups whole milk
9 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt (use more if you want a salty product, and less if you want to use this in a sweet recipe)

Place a colander over a bowl, and line it with 4 layers of cheesecloth or two layers of food-safe paper towels.

Place the milk, vinegar, and salt in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until the curds have separated from the rest of the milk. I started with 5 minutes and continued to heat the milk in 1 minute increments until the milk separated; timing will differ based on the microwave.

The recipes I consulted suggested heating the milk anywhere between 165 and 200 degrees, so start taking the milk's temperature when it begins to separate, and continue to take it periodically until the milk is fully separated, and use the temperatures listed above as a rough guideline.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the curds to the lined colander, and allow them to drain until the desired consistency is reached, anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours.

Shrimp, Spinach and Black Bean Quesidillas

2010-11-30T04:41:00.000-08:00

Here's a relatively healthy meal that still feels a little bit indulgent. It's great for those nights when you don't want anything too complicated, but don't want to do a college throwback and just each nachos or a frozen pizza. Plus, it's fun to cook (not to mention eat). The amount of cheese listed below is approximate because while it would be delicious with more cheese, we were going for moderation. Add more if you're feeling frisky.

Shrimp and Spinach Quesidillas

(Inspired by Serious Eats)

Serves 2-4

1/2 pound shrimp
2 teaspoons Old Bay
Juice of 1/4 of a lime
2 smallish tomatoes, finely diced
2 jalapeños, roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, preferably freshly toasted and ground
Scant 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, preferably freshly toasted and ground
Salt and pepper
2 boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
8 flour tortillas, about 6 inches in diameter
About 2 tablespoons butter
About 1 cup cheese, such as Monterey Jack, a 'Mexican' blend, or cojita
Sour cream, to serve
Hot sauce, to serve

Place the shrimp in a steamer basket over boiling water, and sprinkle with the Old Bay. Steam until just cooked through, stirring once, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once the shrimp are cool enough to handle, peel them, cut them each into 2 or 3 pieces, and place in a medium bowl.

Add the lime juice, tomatoes, 1 of the jalapeños, cilantro, and the cumin and coriander to the bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Taste the mixture and add the other jalapeño if desired. Allow this to sit for 30 minutes.

Melt 1 teaspoon butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add a tortilla and coat with the butter. Cook, flipping occasionally, until each side is slightly crispy with golden brown spots. Set aside. Add more butter to the skillet if necessary, and repeat with the other tortilla.

When the second tortilla is ready, top it with a couple tablespoons of the cheese of your choice. Follow this with a 1/4 of the spinach, and about a 1/4 of the beans (I say about because you may not want to use all of the beans). Sprinkle with salt. Top with a quarter of the shrimp, and a couple more tablespoons cheese. Top with the previously prepared tortilla.

Cook the quesidilla, flipping once, until the cheese is melted and the ingredients are heated through. Remove to a cutting board, and when cool enough, cut into quarters. Repeat with the remaining 6 tortillas to make 3 more quesidillas. You may find that it is advantageous to use two skillets at the same time, in order to speed up the process.

Serve with hot sauce and sour cream.

Sauerkraut

2010-11-30T04:21:00.000-08:00

It's too late to make this sauerkraut for Thanksgiving, but sauerkraut with Thanksgiving dinner is apparently just a Baltimore thing, anyway. If you don't live in Baltimore and have never had sauerkraut as a part of your holiday spread, I would highly recommend that you try it next year--the tartness of the sauerkraut is a pleasing companion to the tart cranberry sauce. I love to take a bite of the stuffing, a bite of the tart sauerkraut, a bite of the turkey, followed by a bite of the tart cranberry sauce--it makes for such a nicely rounded dinner, and helps prevent tastebud fatigue.

While store-bought sauerkraut is vinegary and intense, home-made sauerkraut takes the same fermented, almost pickled cabbage taste, and treats it in a much more delicate, subtle manner, and the sauerkraut becomes almost effervescent. It's like moonshine made in the wilds of the Appalachians versus Baker's or Bookers whiskey. Or like grappa versus Grey Goose. Or like a pie bought at Walmart compared to a homemade pie made with fruits from your own tree...you get my point.

Not only is homemade sauerkraut delicious, it couldn't be simpler--you basically cut up a head of cabbage, toss it with some salt, smoosh it down every once in a while, and set it aside and mostly leave it alone. The most you'll have to do is occasionally scrape some of the scummy stuff off the top of the brine. It doesn't hurt anything, but it can apparently affect the taste of the sauerkraut. That, and you might want to move your setup outside if your house starts to smell like cabbage, especially if your house, like mine, frequently smells of cabbage anyway because your downstairs neighbors like to make their own kimchi.

Sauerkraut

5 pounds cabbage
3 tablespoons kosher salt

Note: All of the recipes that I consulted directed that the cabbage be put in a crock (a vessel with a round opening and high, straight sides). I don't have a crock, nor do I know anyone who has such a thing, so I used a bowl. My plate fit snugly over the cabbage, so I figured it would work just fine. Perhaps there's a reason to use a crock, maybe it has something to do with evaporation, but I think you'll be okay if you decide to also go with a glass or ceramic bowl. You can even use a food-grade plastic bucket; just don't use metal, as it's reactive.

Remove any outer damaged or wilted leaves, but do not wash the cabbage--its natural bacteria is what's going to do the fermenting. Cut the head of cabbage into quarters and remove the hearts if you would like to, and thinly slice (or shred in a food processor)-you want the slices to be about the thickness of a nickel, ideally. Place the cabbage in the bowl or crock as you go, and sprinkle each layer with some of the salt. When all of the cabbage is in your bowl or crock, mix it up with your hands, then press down as hard as you can on it--you really want that cabbage smashed in there.

Cover the cabbage with a plate that fits snugly inside of your bowl or crock. Weight it with something heavy and clean, like a boiled rock, a big can of tomatoes, or a pitcher full of water. Cover it all with a dishtowel to prevent bugs and dust from getting in there. Let it sit for an hour and wilt. At the end of the hour, remove your weight and smash the cabbage down some more with your hands.

(This is what my setup looked like.)

Periodically, whenever you think of it, mash the cabbage down some more with your (clean) hands. By the next day, the cabbage should have exuded enough liquid that the cabbage is submerged. If not, dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a cup of water and pour it over the cabbage. Continue to do this until all of the cabbage is covered, and there's a bit of extra water over the top of the cabbage.

As the cabbage goes through its fermentation cycle, some water may evaporate, so you might have to periodically add more water. Also, check it every day or two, and remove the scum that has formed on the top. You won't be able to remove all of it, and that's okay--don't drive yourself crazy. The scum/mold is not harmful, and the cabbage is in an anaerobic environment, so nothing bad should be forming in the brine.

The cabbage will ferment more quickly if it's kept inside, but it can also be kept outside if the temperatures are above freezing. Some people claim that a slower fermentation makes for a tastier sauerkraut. In either case, your sauerkraut will be ready in about 3-6 weeks. Taste it occasionally to see how it's progressing, and when it's reached a stage of tanginess that you like, scoop it out into glass jars (with the brine), and store in the fridge.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-11-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

It's almost time for the holidays, and for me, the holidays mean cookies. In fact, one year I made so many cookies that I lived on a Starbucks and cookie diet. I actually lost weight that year, but I think it's because I was working in a very busy restaurant; when I tried the same experiment as a nurse, it had the effect one would anticipate.

While a cookie diet is not advisable unless you're burning about 3,000 calories per day, making cookies with wheat flour might make one feel a little less guilty about eating a few here and there. There's still a lot of butter and sugar in these bad boys, so they're by no means healthy, and that's not the point, really. The point of using wheat flour is that it lends the cookies a nice toasty depth of flavor, and it tames the sometimes cloying sweetness of the timeless treat. Once cooked, the wheat in the dough is not really noticeable, but it makes these cookies just a tiny bit more interesting than your standard chocolate chip (not that there's anything wrong with the standard chocolate chip).

Here's the difference between these cookies and your 'normal' chocolate chip cookies: when I bring a tray of normal cookies in to work, they get eaten through the course of the night, and people tell me that they're good. When a tray of these cookies are placed on the counter and I disappear into triage for a while, I return to the floor to be greeted by cries of "Leah! Yay!", and an empty plate. I would say that's a wholehearted endorsement, wouldn't you?

I made these cookies because Molly from Orangette highly recommended them, and even said that she might like them better than the famous New York Times recipe, which is quite a recommendation. Like the New York Times recipe, I find that chilling the dough in the fridge overnight makes for a more complex flavor, but it's certainly not necessary. In her post, Molly discusses whether it's best to use whole wheat flour, or white whole wheat flour. I decided to go with a combination of the two, and I thought it worked nicely. Feel free to play with the ratios, though. Just be sure to use bittersweet chocolate as opposed to milk chocolate, as the wheat would overwhelm the generally underwhelming milk chocolate.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce, and Molly from Orangette)

3 cups whole wheat flour (see note above)
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes (see note above)
1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (If you have no parchment, you can butter the sheets.)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.

Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix just until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Add the chocolate, and mix on low speed until evenly combined. (If you have no stand mixer, you can do all of this with handheld electric beaters and/or a large, sturdy spoon.)

Using an ice cream scoop (not a huge one, though), scoop mounds of dough onto the baking sheets, leaving enough space for the cookies to expand a bit.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. I found that the cookies are perfectly cooked when the middle parts are still very soft and fluffy and look almost raw, and the edges are getting a little bit firm, a little bit golden, and a little bit drier than the rest of the cookie. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

Spinach Souffle

2010-11-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

Now this is why I do the whole Daring Cooks thing...because when I opened the file for this November's challenge, my first thought was Oh, s***. Perhaps that's not everyone's idea of a fun time, but I like a challenge.

Souffles, how you torture me. I figure that a souffle is something that every semi-serious cook should have under their belt, but my one previous attempt scared me off. It was Julia Child's chocolate souffle, and while the taste was delicious, the texture was like a sponge that had been left in the sink for too long. Nick still makes fun of me for it, in fact, and this was about two years ago.

But because I think that it's a semi-necessary part of one's repertoire, I've always had it in the back of my mind that it must be attempted again, whether I repeat the same recipe or try another.

Fear of repeated failure had me convinced that a savory souffle might be a good place to start, partially because savory souffles are not expected to rise dramatically (my first one, of course, did not rise very much). I had spied this recipe a long time ago on Epicurious, and when I was craving some creamed spinach to go with a ribeye, this sounded like a perfect substitution.

So the verdict? Rather successful. It may not have been the lightest, airiest souffle to have ever graced a plate, but it was satisfactory. Enough so that I am no longer quite as afraid of souffles. Perhaps I'll even try a sweet version.

Spinach Soufflé

(Adapted from Epicurious)

5 tablespoon butter, plus extra for prepping the dish
About 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh Parmesan
1 cup shopped shallots (about 6 ounces)
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 large eggs, separated
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, squeezed dry
2 cups (packed) grated smoked Gouda cheese (about 7 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a standard soufflé dish, and sprinkle finely grated Parmesan all over the sides of the dish.

In a large saucepan, cook shallots in the butter over medium heat, until tender, about 7 minutes. Add flour; stir 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk and cook, stirring almost constantly, until mixture is thick and smooth. This may take almost 15 minutes, as it must be done slowly so that the sauce does not burn or curdle. Remove sauce from heat.

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the egg yolks, spinach, 1 1/3 cups cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. When the sauce is cool enough that it's no longer steaming, stir about 3/4 cup into the spinach mixture. Gradually stir in the rest, being careful not to curdle the egg yolks.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into spinach mixture in 2 additions. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle remaining 2/3 cup cheese over. Bake until puffed and set, about 45 minutes

Pasta with Oxtail Ragu

2010-11-09T03:21:00.000-08:00

When I came home from the store the other day and announced excitedly that they now carry oxtails, Nick looked at me like I was crazy. And maybe I am, but this cheap, tough cut is much loved by Italian cooks and professional chefs alike. Mario Batali claims that it's the most flavorful part of the cow, so I just had to give it a try.

Because oxtails are tough, bony little critters, they require a braise. In this case, the braise was turned into a ragu, which is a thick, hearty pasta sauce. The stuff they sell in jars is not really ragu--it's tomato sauce. A ragu is a thick, chunky sauce that usually includes a mirepoix and and good bit of wine, but generally no ground beef. Also, it's generally cooked long enough to be considered a braise.

At this time of year, I just love to braise anything and everything, so you'll be seeing a lot of it around here. Braising makes the house smell wonderful for hours on end, and sitting by the fire on a cold night and enjoying those smells is just lovely.

I also love that you can make a braised meal and have the kitchen sparkling clean by the time the meal is ready. This makes braised dishes ideal for company, especially because the meal can even be prepared the day before, and if anything, it actually gets better.

I served this ragu with some homemade tagliatelli, but it would also be delicious incorporated into a simple lasagne. This amount of ragu is enough to lightly sauce four servings, or heavily sauce 2 servings of pasta, possibly with some left over. In the instructions below, I've written for enough pasta to serve 2 people with good appetites. If you would like 4-6 servings of pasta, use 400 grams of flour and 4 eggs.

Pasta with Oxtail Ragu

2 1/2 pounds oxtail, cut into 2-4 inch pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 small parsnip, peeled and chopped
1/2 small fennel bulb, chopped
1 can (15 ounces) plum tomatoes
2 cups dry red wine
3 small rosemary sprigs
3 sprigs oregano
3 cloves garlic
1 cup chicken stock or water
200 grams all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of a combination of chopped fresh rosemary and oregano
Pinch red pepper flakes
Balsamic vinegar*

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Trim the oxtail of excess fat, and remove silverskin, if possible. Season with salt and pepper, and dredge in flour, shaking off the excess.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven. When the oil shimmers, add the oxtail and brown on all sides. You will most likely have to do this in batches; add more oil to the pot as necessary. Transfer the oxtails to a plate.

Add the onion, parsnip, and fennel to the pan and saute over medium heat until soft and browned, about 7 minutes. Add the wine and increase the heat to high. Boil until reduced by about a fourth, about 5 minutes. As the wine reduces, scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pot.

While the tomatoes are still in the can, cut them into pieces with a pair of kitchen scissors. In a piece of cheesecloth, tie up the rosemary, oregano and garlic. Add this herb sachet and the tomatoes to the pot. Put the pieces of oxtail back in the pot.

If necessary, add enough water to come most of the way up the pieces of meat. Bring to a boil, cover, and place in the center of the oven. Cook until the oxtail is very tender and beginning to fall off the bones, about 3-4 hours. Check the meat halfway through the cooking time. If the liquid is no longer coming at least half way up the side of the oxtail pieces, add the chicken stock or water.

While the ragu is braising, make the pasta:

Mound the flour in the center of a large wooden board, and sprinkle it with the salt. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Using a fork or your fingers, beat the eggs together, then, continuing to use a swirling motion, begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim of the well.

As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up to retain the well shape. This takes some practice, and if the eggs break through the wall of the well, all is not lost--just try to combine the eggs and flour as well as you can.

Lightly flour the board and continue kneading for 10 minutes, dusting the board with additional flour as necessary. The dough should be elastic, very smooth, and a little sticky. And seriously, this really takes 10 whole minutes--do not try to slack on this part, just find a Zen place and knead away. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

To roll out the pasta, divide it into 3 pieces (if you're using 200 grams of flour). Make the first piece into a flattish shape and cover the rest. With your plain roller set to the largest setting (lower number), pass the dough through once. Fold like a book (one flat piece in the back, and two pieces folded over on the sides so that they almost meet in the middle) and pass through again. Fold like a book and repeat 2 more times. After the last time, send the pasta through as is.

Then, put the roller on the next smallest setting and pass the dough through. Continue to do this on smaller and smaller settings until the pasta is the right thickness (I like a 6 or 7 on Kitchenaid stand mixers). Lay the dough out on a flat surface and cover with a towel so that it does not dry out, and repeat with the remaining lumps of dough.

When all of the pasta is laid out flat, switch to the fettuccine-cutting roller, and pass the pieces of dough through, one at a time. Sprinkle the dough with a little bit of flour so that the noodles don't stick together; cover with a towel so they do not dry out.

When the meat is ready, remove the pot from the oven. Transfer the oxtail to a plate, and discard the herb sachet. Skim the fat off the surface. If the remaining liquid is not very thick, (ragus are very thick sauces), place the pot over a burner and boil until reduced to the proper consistency.

If you would like a fancier presentation, either use a stick blender to puree the sauce, or strain out the vegetables and puree them in a food processor; return to the pot. If you would like a more 'rustic' presentation, just leave the vegetables as they are.

When the sauce is the proper consistency and the meat is cool enough to handle, pick the meat off the bones and return to the pot. Let the meat warm through before serving. Add the red pepper flakes. Taste for seasoning, and add salt, pepper, and more red pepper flakes as needed. This dish is very good with a great deal of pepper.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 2-3 minutes. Drain the pasta and divide amongst the serving vessels of your choice. Spoon the ragu over the top of the pasta and serve.

*The balsamic vinegar does not have a quantity listed, as I added a few drops only to my own portion. I thought that the dish needed some acidity, and I thought that balsamic would be just perfect, but too much vinegar could have ruined the dish for Nick. For the whole pot, you'll likely want to use about a 1/2 teaspoon. Start with that and taste for flavor; add more if you like.

Note: As I mentioned above, this dish can be better on the day after it's made. Making it the day before is also advantageous because you can skim the fat off the surface of the sauce, and when you pull apart the pieces of meat, you'll be better able to remove the extra fat.

Pizza With Caramelized Onions, Broccoli Rabe, and Goat Cheese

2010-11-09T02:53:00.000-08:00

This pizza was inspired by a recipe over on Smitten Kitchen, and it's remained a perennial favorite in our house, particularly in the winter. It's the kind of pizza that makes a well-rounded meal, and the hearty greens are enough to convince you that you can eat pizza and be nutritionally virtuous at the same time.

The bitterness of the broccoli rabe, the sweet caramelized onions, and the tangy goat cheese become more than the sum of their parts, and when some chewy pizza dough and some garlic oil are thrown into the mix, this pizza makes a just about perfect meal.

I know that some people are turned off by the bitterness of hearty winter greens, but I assure you when the broccoli rabe is joined by its culinary companions, the bitterness becomes an asset and gives the whole pizza a delicious balance. Plus, whereas some hearty greens benefit from a long cooking time, the broccoli rabe cooks in just a few minutes. Also a nice benefit is the fact that this pizza requires no fresh herbs. So if your herb garden has died, or you don't feel like buying expensive fresh herbs, you're in luck.

Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Broccoli Rabe, and Goat Cheese

1/2 recipe pizza dough
2 medium onions
4 teaspoons canola oil
1 tablespoon butter
Kosher salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch broccoli rabe (also called rapini)
Pinch red pepper flakes
A couple pinches sugar, or a squeeze of agave nectar
3-4 ounces goat cheese
Very good extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Optional:

1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese
Lemon, cut into wedges

While the pizza dough is rising, slice the onions. In a skillet, heat 2 teaspoons canola oil over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook until very soft and caramelized, about 30 minutes. If the onions start to dry out, add a tablespoon of butter. Salt to taste while cooking.

While the onions cook, combine the minced garlic and the good olive oil in a little bowl. Set aside. Cut off the bottom inch or two of the bunch of broccoli rabe, so that the dried-out, tough parts of the stem are removed. Chop the rest of the bunch into small, bite-sized pieces. Wash thoroughly.

In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons canola oil over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli rabe (it's okay if there is still some water clinging to the leaves). Add salt to taste, and a pinch of red pepper flakes, and saute until tender, about 7 minutes. Taste the greens. If they are very bitter, add the couple pinches of sugar or the squeeze of agave nectar. Remove from heat.

When the dough has been rising for about 45 minutes, preheat the oven (with a pizza stone in place) to 500 degrees.

When the dough has almost doubled in size (about and hour and a half), stretch it out into a 12-inch circle. It helps to take your fingertips and make divets all over the surface of the dough, then spread with the palms of your hands, pushing outward. Repeat until the dough is the desired size.

Spread the garlic oil over the surface of the pizza, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Using a peel or an inverted pizza sheet, slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Cook until the dough is getting firmer and is taking on a teeny-tiny bit of a golden color, about 5 minutes.

Remove the pizza from the oven, and close the oven door. Spread the onions over the surface of the pizza. Spread the broccoli rabe over the onions, and cover the whole thing with the goat cheese. Return to the oven and cook until the crust is golden brown and the goat cheese is melted a bit.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a bit of salt, the Monterey Jack if you're using it, and the very good olive oil. Sometimes this pizza benefits from a sprinkle of lemon juice, and sometimes it doesn't need it, so perhaps serve some lemon slices on the side. Cut into wedges and serve.

Pumpkin Bread

2010-11-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice little seasonal treat that you can whip up in almost no time at all. Is that why quick breads are called 'quick breads,' do you think?

Pumpkin Bread

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup mildly flavored walnut oil
1/3 cup unsweetened apple butter or apple sauce
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Scant 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
About 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter (or use non-stick cooking spray) and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and ginger into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Sprinkle the walnuts in a line down the length of the loaves. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the top. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.

Bistro Fries

2010-10-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

There are some entrées, like ribs, that just beg for some fries as an accompaniment. For me, though, fried fries are an indulgence only to be enjoyed while in a restaurant. This is partially because I can't bring myself to fry anything in the house, and partially because I just feel too guilty about consuming such an unhealthy treat while at home.

That's where these oven fries come in--they're delicious, and they satisfy the need for a finger-friendly side. The garlic and parsley elevate this side dish from the realm of the normal boring oven-fry; consequently, these fries become part of the regular rotation around our house.

Bistro Fries

(Slightly adapted from Epicurious)

4 medium russet potatoes (about 1 3/4 pounds), unpeeled
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
Coarse salt
Optional: Cider vinegar for serving

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 425°F. Cut potatoes lengthwise into 1/3-inch-thick slices, then cut lengthwise into 1/3-inch-wide strips. Soak the potatoes in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes.

Drain and pat dry with paper towels. Combine potatoes and oil in large bowl; toss to coat well. Spread potatoes on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. If there are too many potatoes to fit without crowding, use two sheets. Bake until potatoes are deep golden brown, turning and rearranging potatoes occasionally, about 50 minutes.

Transfer potatoes to bowl. Toss with parsley, garlic and coarse salt.

Apple Crumb Bars

2010-10-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

This summer, I stumbled upon a recipe for blueberry crumb bars. Little did I know, they would become a problem. A problem as in, I felt the need to make a double batch the second time I made them, because I knew that I was probably going to eat all of one batch by myself.

The blueberry bars were so good that they became known by the code name 'crack.' As in, "Hey, I'm making some crack. I'll bring some over." And then blueberry season was a thing of the past, and I had frozen no berries; blueberry bars would have to wait until next June.

However, inspiration struck during a standard 5 a.m. bout of insomnia--how about some apple crumb bars?

The resulting bars are delicious and seasonally satisfying, but as a friend said, they're 'crack-like,' as in not-quite-crack. I think they're worth making, though, and it may even be a good thing that they're just super-delicious, as opposed to insanely delicious.

Apple Crumb Bars

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup sliced or chopped almonds
3 Granny Smith apples
1 Fuji apple
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Pinch ground ginger
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons apple butter (made with no added sugar)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with foil, and spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.

Add flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to the bowl of a food processor and process until combined, about 3 seconds. Add the butter and pulse (about 5 times) until pea-size lumps are all that remain of the butter. Transfer to a large bowl and add the oats, stir to combine.

Transfer 2 cups of this mixture to another bowl, and stir in the almonds. Set aside.

Press the almond-less crumb mixture evenly onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust until golden and just firm to touch, about 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.

While the crust cooks and cools, peel and core the apples. Cut them into thin slices, about 1/8 inch thick. Place the slices in a large bowl and toss them with the lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ginger.

When the crust has cooled a bit, spread the apple butter over the top; it will be a rather thin coating. Fan the apple slices out in an overlapping pattern along one long side of the pan. Lay out another line of slices next to the first one, and continue to do this until the pan is full. You're basically laying out the slices the way you would lay out potato slices for a potato gratin, but working in the other direction. It may seem a bit fussy to do it this way, but if the apples are just dumped into the pan, they will not cook properly.

Spread the almond crumb topping over the apples. Cover with foil and cook 55 minutes in the center of the oven. Remove the foil and cook 10 more minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the apples are very tender and just starting to bubble.

Allow to cool, and cut into bar shapes to serve. This dessert is generally better the day after it's made, and keeps well for about 3 days.

Pasta with Sausage and a Creamy Butternut Squash and Sage Sauce

2010-10-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

For a while now, I had been wanting to make a fall-ish pasta dish, and this is what I came up with. Because the sauce is a bechamel with some squash puree mixed in, the squash flavor is on the light side, but the sauce is also lighter on fat and calories than it would be if it was made of squash and heavy cream. I'm not claiming that this dish is low-fat, though--there's a good bit of butter, and of course there's the fat from the sausage. But fat is flavor, right? Plus, you get all of the nutrients from the squash, like fiber and beta carotene, so this might be a good way to get some veggies into vegetable-phobic kids.

Sage can overpower a dish, and it can therefore be a little bit intimidating to cook with. But in this case, with the sage added at the beginning of the cooking process, it's present without fighting too much with the other ingredients.

Fried sage leaves would make a lovely garnish, and they're apparently delicious, so I've included Thomas Keller's instructions for making them. You may notice, though, that I have fresh sage leaves as a garnish on my poorly-plated dish. That's because I was too lazy to use a thermometer for frying, and for some reason, I expected the oil to bubble.

When it started to smoke profusely and smell like burning plastic, I figured something wasn't quite right, so I turned off the heat. As for why I then threw in some sage leaves anyway, I have no good explanation. But it was pretty amusing how they instantly went 'Poof!' (they really did make that sound) and turned black. I made this a couple days ago now, and the kitchen still smells bad. Otherwise, the dish was a success.

Pasta with Sausage and a Creamy Butternut Squash and Sage Sauce

Serves 4-6

2 medium-sized butternut squash
Canola oil
Kosher salt
1 recipe fresh pasta dough (below), or 1 pound dried fettuccine
5tablespoons butter
1 cup finely diced shallots
8 sage leaves, finely diced
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons Sherry or Marsala
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One link hot Italian sausage per person
Optional: Fried sage leaves (below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the butternut squash in half and remove the seeds. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and smear a little bit of oil over the halves, which should be cut-side up. Sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt. Roast in the center of the oven until the squash is very tender and a little bit browned, about an hour.

While the squash roasts, prepare the pasta dough as instructed below. When the squash is ready, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool.

In the meantime, cook the shallots and sage in 3 tablespoons butter until the shallots are tender, about 7 minutes. Add the flour and cook 3 minutes. Add the nutmeg and pour in the milk and chicken stock. Over medium heat, continue to stir until the sauce is thickened and coats the back of a spoon. This takes a while, as you must be patient in order to not curdle or burn the sauce. Taste for seasoning along the way-this sauce requires a good bit of salt.

When the sauce is thickened, stir in the Sherry. Scoop the flesh out of the squash skins, and puree in a blender of food processor until very smooth. Stir the puree into the milk sauce (bechamel). Add freshly ground black pepper, taste for seasoning, and add more salt and pepper as necessary.

In a large skillet, melt a tablespoon butter over medium-high heat and add the sausage. Sear for a minute, and place a lid over the skillet. Turn the heat down to medium. Occasionally shift the sausages in the pan. After about about 4 minutes, flip the sausage, put the lid back on the pan and cook for about 4 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 3 minutes. Add another tablespoon butter, and continue to cook until the sausage is cooked through. They could be done at this point, or they could need a few more minutes.

While the sausage cooks, roll out the pasta and set a large pot of salted water on to boil. To roll out the pasta, divide it into 4 pieces. Make each piece into a flattish shape. Take one to start with, and cover the other so that they don't dry out.

With your plain roller set to the largest setting (lowest number), pass the dough through once. Fold like a book (one flat piece in the back, and two pieces folded over on the sides so that they almost meet in the middle) and pass through again. Fold like a book and repeat 2 more times. After the last time, send the pasta through as is. Send it through as a flat piece 2 more times.

Then, put the roller on the next smallest setting and pass the dough through. Continue to do this on smaller and smaller settings until the pasta is the right thickness (about a 6 on Kitchenaid stand mixers, depending on how flat you'd like the pasta). Lay the dough out on a flat surface and cover with a towel so that it does not dry out, and repeat with the remaining lumps of dough.

When all of the pasta is laid out flat, switch to the fettuccine-cutting roller, and pass the pieces of dough through, one at a time. If your pieces are very long, cut them into more manageable lengths. Again, spread out the dough and cover with a towel so that it does not dry out.

al dente (it will continue to cook in the hot sauce). Drain, reserving about a cup of the cooking water.

Add the sauce to the skillet (you may not need all of it) and, if necessary, reheat until hot, stirring to incorporate the fat that was left in the skillet. Add the pasta and toss to coat with the sauce. If the sauce is very thick and you would like to thin it out, add some of the reserved cooking water.

Divide the pasta among the plates. If you like, slice the sausage into pieces that are a little more than 1/4-inch thick, ans divide the slices among the plates. Or, place a whole sausage on each plate. Garnish with the fried sage leaves, if using.

Fresh Pasta

400 grams all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 large eggs

Mound the flour onto a large cutting board or other work surface, and make a well in the middle. Sprinkle the salt over the flour, then add the eggs to the well.

Using your fingers or a fork, break the egg yolks, mix the eggs together a bit, and keep swirling while you gradually incorporate the flour into the eggs. Use your other hand to keep the outer wall intact as you swirl on the inside. This takes some practice, so don't worry if your well breaks--just mix it all together.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Seriously--10 minutes. Use primarily the palms of your hands, and occasionally fold the dough in half and continue kneading. When the dough is very soft and silky, almost cloud-like, wrap it in plastic and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Proceed with rolling as instructed above.

Fried Sage Leaves

Canola oil, for deep-frying
About 16 smallish sage leaves

In a small pot, heat oil for deep frying to 275 degrees. Fry the small sage leaves briefly, just until they are crisp (their color should not change), and dry on paper towels.

Paella

2010-10-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Paella is one of those dishes, like barbecue, that can spark endless heated debate. Everyone makes it differently, and everyone has found that one particular paella that is the apotheosis of paella. After that pinnacle is reached, no other paella will ever compare.

For example, some people swear that paella that isn't made in Valencia can never be true paella, due to the quality of the water in Valencia. And some people say that paella can not have both seafood and chicken in the same dish. (I happen to like it that way, though.) And then there are the paellas that are made with vermicelli (pasta), or beans, or the original, which is made with rabbits and snails, with no seafood in sight.

My Dad had a perfect paella in New York about 30 years ago, and nothing since has ever come close. For a few years now I've tried recreating that dish, and the response is always the same: "It's good, but it's not it."

This year, it was time to step it up a notch. In the past, I had attempted to make this dish by throwing some stuff into a casserole dish and throwing the whole thing in the oven for a while, but I realized that this inauthentic approach was just not going to cut it. It would never be that paella.

Therefore, it was time to ponder the variables that are generally considered part of an authentic paella. Most importantly, it's made in a paella pan. This is a large, shallow, circular pan that is ideally made of carbon steel. To be super-authentic, this pan is set over a wood fire, but I wasn't feeling that ambitious--obtaining the pan was just about the height of my aspirations. Part of the reason the pan is so important is because it enables the formation of a brown crust on the bottom of the dish. The brown crust is called soccarat, and some people claim that it's the key to a great paella, and in Spain, people apparently fight over the crusty bits.

(The Paella Pan)

Also of importance is the rice--short-grain rice is a necessity, and if you want to be really accurate, Bomba and Calasparra are preferred. However, these rice varieties can be difficult to find, so Arborio or Carnaroli are acceptable in a pinch.

Paprika is a part of all paellas, and smoked Spanish paprika is the ideal choice. This particular type of paprika can also be difficult to find, but it's worth ordering online because it's far more complex than regular paprika, and the smokiness will lend the finished dish that little 'something.' However, if you would like to use normal paprika, just make sure it's the 'sweet' variety, as opposed to the 'hot' variety.

Roasted red peppers are frequently a part of paella, and piquillo peppers are supposedly the best available. They're roasted over wood fires and retain their texture a bit better than normal roasted red peppers. Or so I hear. I had ordered some for this version of paella, but they didn't arrive in time, so experimenting with them will happen on another occasion.

So when it came time to attempt a more authentic version of paella, most of the key components were in place, and overall it was a success. We got a little bit of brown crust, and one tiny bit where the crust was a bit too brown. The paella was flavorful and delicious, and it was fun to eat, partially because the way it's brought to the table in a really big pan is in itself so entertaining.

If you decide to make the recipe as it's printed below, I apologize for the rather vague timing instructions. Ours took a while for the rice to cook (about 50 minutes), but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I was afraid of burning the bottom, so I kept the heat a bit lower than the original recipe instructs. However, I left the directions as far as heat and timing pretty close to the original, as I feel it's probably correct; I just tweaked a few things (like the use of tinfoil), which I discuss in the recipe below. Your cooking times may also vary based on the size of your stove, so basically, just be careful as you cook--watch, listen, and smell, and you'll end up with a delicious dinner. Or, like I say each time we're about to embark on a new culinary adventure--you can always order some pizza.

Paella

(Inspired by This Recipe)

1 5 lb bag mussels
3 large, ripe tomatoes
10 blanched almonds, ideally Marcona
3 cloves garlic
Packed 1/4 cup Italian parsley
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 package dried chorizo, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 pound shrimp, peeled
2 teaspoons sweet pimentón de la Vera (Spanish smoked paprika)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1½ pounds chicken thighs, preferably boneless and skinless
¼ teaspoon saffron threads
4½ cups chicken stock
½ cup dry sherry
2 cups Calrose rice
2 red peppers, roasted, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch strips, then cut in half lengthwise
About 1 bottle beer (lager works well)
1 cup frozen peas

Place the mussels in a bowl of very cold water and place the bowl in the fridge. Every 30-40 minutes or so, change the water (for a total of at least 2 water changes). Slice tomatoes in half, and grate each on a box grater over a bowl. Discard skins; set pulp aside. In a food processor or mortar, puree parsley, garlic and almonds with a tablespoon or two of water until smooth.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan over high heat. Add chorizo pieces to pan and cook until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Season shrimp with salt and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Sear the shrimp in the hot pan until golden brown and almost cooked through.

With a slotted spoon, remove shrimp. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper, add to same pan, and brown on one side until deep golden. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Set 18-inch paella pan over two burners at high heat on the stove top, and heat 1/3 cup olive oil. Add tomato pulp and cook until darkened, about 5 minutes. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika and 1/4 teaspoon saffron, and cook for about 1 minute. Add chicken pieces and sherry and cook until sherry is evaporated (you'll have liquid in the pan, but no longer be able to smell the sherry). Add chicken stock; bring to a boil.

Stir garlic, almond and parsley puree into the pan. Sprinkle rice across the pan and stir until the grains are submerged, then don't stir again. Add red peppers. Cook on high heat for 10 minutes, rotating the pan on the two burners to distribute heat. Using a small spoon, test rice and stock and add salt as needed.

Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Test rice again. If the rice is drying out but still needs some more cooking time in order for it to tenderize, add some beer (or water or chicken stock) to the dry spots. The amount of beer needed will vary greatly depending on your rice, heat, etc., but we used about a bottle of beer.

If the rice is still hard, turn the heat down to low and continue to cook the rice until all parts of the dish are tender. You might need to intermittently cover the pan with a big sheet of tin foil. I wish that I could give you more specific directions, but I think that this is one of those dishes that you have to watch and play with, at least until you're practiced with it. We found that our total cooking time for the rice was about 50 minutes, about 10 of which were covered.

When all of the rice is tender but a little bit of extra liquid remains in the pan, scatter the mussels over the top, scatter the shrimp and peas around. Cover with tin foil and cook for about 5-7 more minutes, until the mussels are open.

In this last little part, listen for a crackling sound to ensure the bottom is toasting but not burning. It might be necessary to increase the heat to medium-high, but again, listen and pay attention to the dish. Remove from heat, leave the foil cover in place, and let sit for 5 minutes.

Use a metal spoon to scrape toasted rice from bottom of pan and serve.

Roasted Squash

2010-10-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

Do you ever go to the grocery store and come home with something, only to later wonder what on Earth you were thinking? I did that the other day--I came home with 2 acorn squash, with no plan in mind, and no way to use them up in the near future.

And then it got to the point where they were staring at me, begging to be used, and threatening to go bad; I had a heavy work week coming up, and knew that the squash had to be cooked on this one particular night if they were ever going to get cooked. However, I had spent a long time on a lasagna, and was therefore not feeling up to an elaborate preparation, so I just cut up the squash, simply seasoned them, and roasted them alongside the lasagna.

I didn't even peel the squash, as I didn't feel that my fingers or my knives could handle it on that particular day. You'll see in the pictures that the acorn squash are cut into crescents with the skin intact. I later simply scooped them out of their skins and ate them with a little bit of agave syrup.

Although I ate the squash straight out of their skins, I also could have removed the skins, made a puree, and eaten the squash that way. I also could have used the puree to stuff some ravioli, or I could have turned the puree into some gnocchi, or I could have mixed the squash puree with some cream and a little bit of sage, and tossed it with some homemade pasta.

Of course, you can mix up the seasonings, or add some lemon juice or nuts to the roasting pan...If you give me some time, I can probably think of a million other ways to use some pureed squash, but I'll spare you the boredom of my 4 a.m. musings.

If you're feeling up to it, you can certainly peel the squash, and I admit that it would be easier to eat that way. You can also use a butternut squash, which is much easier to peel, although that doesn't necessarily mean that it's easy to peel.

You can serve your roasted squash in any of the aforementioned ways, or you can dice it before roasting, and serve it with this cilantro pepita pesto. It sounds like a strange pairing, but trust me--it's delicious. If you come up with any other interesting uses for roasted squash, feel free to share them in the comments.

Roasted Squash

2 acorn squash, or one largeish butternut squash
3 pinches cayenne pepper (about 1/8 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
Optional: 1 tablespoon agave nectar or maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
If you're feeling up to it, peel the acorn squash. If not, cut it in half and cut the halves (after seeding the squash) into crescents. Here's a third option: cut the squash in half, remove the seeds, and place the squash, cut sides up, on a roasting pan. Sprinkle with the seasonings, but consider using less, as you'll have less squash surface area.

If you have a butternut squash, you should peel it. A standard vegetable peeler actually works well for this, although it probably shortens the life of the peeler. Remove the seeds from the butternut squash after cutting it in half.

If you've peeled your squash, cut it into 1/2 inch squares. Line a heavy baking sheet with foil, and place the squash on it. Drizzle with the oil, sprinkle with the cayenne, cumin, and salt, and mix well with your hands. Spread the squash out into a single layer and cook for about 35-55 minutes (cooking time will vary based on the size of your pieces and the water content of your particular squash), until the squash is very tender, slightly shriveled, and browned.

Eat plain, with the cilantro pepita pesto, or in any of the other aforementioned ways.

Gravlax

2010-10-14T02:11:00.000-07:00

Fall means salmon, and in my mind, salmon means Gravlax.

Gravlax is another one of those appetizers or hors d'oeuvres that require almost no effort, but will get you a lot of accolades. This is particularly convenient when you have a big party to prep for because you'll look like a super-star, but not be all stressed out. Or maybe you will be stressed out, but not because of your stellar hors d'oeuvres.

To make gravlax, you basically take a hunk of salmon, cover it with some spices, and throw it in the fridge for a few days. When it emerges, you have a silken, flavorful delicacy.

Gravlax is a lot like cold-smoked salmon, and it plays well with the same ingredients. 'Everything' bagels with some cream cheese would make a lovely brunch spread, but my favorite way to enjoy this fishy goodness is with some pumpernickel toasts, minced red onions, capers, and a mustard cream sauce.

If you make this, do not be tempted to skip the sauce--it takes only a few minutes to throw together, and, as my family says, it 'makes' the dish. This salmon makes an appearance at almost all of our cold-weather family occasions, and it's become a favorite. Perhaps it can become a favorite in your family, as well. If you make it, let me know what you think.

Gravlax

(Adapted from Saveur)

1 tbsp. white peppercorns
1/2 tbsp. fennel seeds
1/2 tbsp. caraway seeds
1⁄3 cup kosher salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1-lb. center-cut, skin-on salmon filet
2 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. heavy cream

To serve:

1 loaf thinly sliced pumpernickel bread, pieces cut into diamonds
1 small red onion, finely diced
4 tablespoons capers, rinsed

In a spice grinder or small food processor, pulse peppercorns, fennel seeds, and caraway seeds until coarsely ground; combine with salt and sugar. Stretch plastic wrap over a plate; sprinkle with half the salt mixture. Place salmon fillet on top, flesh side up. Cover with remaining salt mixture.

Fold plastic wrap ends around salmon; wrap tightly with 2 more layers of plastic wrap. Refrigerate the fish on a plate for 48–72 hours, turning the package every 12 hours and using your fingers to redistribute the herb-and-spice-infused brine that accumulates as the salt pulls moisture from the salmon. The gravlax should be firm to the touch at the thickest part when fully cured.

Unwrap salmon, discarding the spices. Rinse the filet under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.

For the sauce, whisk together dijon mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, and sugar in a medium bowl. While whisking, slowly drizzle in olive oil until smooth. Mix in the cream and taste for seasoning.

Place gravlax skin side down on a board. With a long, narrow-bladed knife (use a granton slicer if you have one; the divots along the blade make for smoother, more uniform slices), slice gravlax against grain, on the diagonal, into thin pieces. Serve with mustard sauce, minced red onion, capers, and pumpernickel toasts. Refrigerate any remaining gravlax, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 2 weeks.

Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2010-10-14T01:59:00.000-07:00

This recipe has lately been a favorite of mine. Really, though, it's one of those recipes that's so simple that it probably shouldn't even be called a 'recipe.' It's particularly nice for those nights when you don't really feel like cooking dinner, but would feel like too much of a slacker were you to just throw something in the microwave.

And don't worry too much about the fact that it's no longer technically tomato season--cherry tomatoes are frequently quite satisfactory even in the off-months. The tomatoes, once they've been gently roasted, become concentrated in flavor, and the slight charring adds both flavor and sweetness. The garlic cloves and chile de arbol lend the dish a nice piquancy, and the fresh herbs add some brightness. With some good olive oil and maybe a bit of dried spices, the result is pasta heaven.

You'll notice that I called for a handful of fresh herbs, but did not specify any particular type of herb. I usually use basil, thyme, and oregano, and I've also found that parsley and a bit of rosemary work nicely. You could also try marjoram, sorrel, and savory. That's one of the things that I like so much about this recipe--you can use any herbs that you happen to have lying around, and the result will be delicious.

If you feel like being extra spiffy, you can grate some bottarga over the top before serving. Bottarga is the cured roe sack of a tuna or mullet, and it's highly prized in Italy. I recently aquired some because the fact that I had never tried it was driving me crazy. As to whether it was worth the price, the jury is still out--it tasted and smelled a bit like Nick's fish tank, but not in a bad way. I think that it will grow on me, and in any case, I was not going to be able to let the idea go until I tried it. If you feel like trying bottarga, or if you already have some, this is exactly the kind of dish with which it's usually eaten.

Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Serves 2

1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
7 garlic cloves, separated but unpeeled
1 chile de arbol, broken in half
A handful of fresh herbs
8 ounces pasta, the shape of your choice
Optional: Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes
Optional: Bottarga

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice each tomato in half and place them on a sheet pan that's been lined with foil or parchment. Toss with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Scatter the garlic cloves and chile de arbol in amongst the tomatoes.

Scatter the herbs over the tomatoes and roast in the center of the oven, until the tomatoes are shriveled and are brown at the edges, about 40 minutes. (Depending on the tomatoes, though, this can take 35-55 minutes.) The tomatoes will look something like this when they initially go into the oven.

When the tomatoes look like they're getting soft, put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Cook your pasta according to package directions. Drain and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and a heavy sprinkling of Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes, if you're using them.

Divide the pasta between two plates. Remove the garlic cloves and herbs from the tomatoes, and cover each bowl of pasta with half of the tomatoes. If desired, grate bottarga over each plate.

Chicken Liver Pate with a Fig and Red Wine Compote

2010-10-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that a lot of people in my family are big fans of chicken livers; when I brought a Daring Cook's pate recipe to a party, people claimed to love it even though it looked and tasted a bit like dog food. So when another family party came around, I decided that I wanted to attempt a chicken liver pate reprisal.

Some internet searching turned up an Epicurious recipe, which, once modified, produced almost exactly what I was looking for. This pate is smooth and sophisticated, not to mention delicious. Plus, it's super-easy to make, but if you don't tell people about that little fact, they'll probably think that you spent a few hours on it. You can even make it way ahead of time, freeze it, and then defrost it for impromptu dinner parties.

Chicken Liver Pate with a Fig and Red Wine Compote

(Adapted from Epicurious)

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 pound chicken livers, trimmed
1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons Cognac
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
2 small pinches allspice
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup dry red wine
3/4 cup dried black Mission figs, cut in half
1 large sprig fresh rosemary
Optional: 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
1 French-bread baguette, sliced, toasted if you like

Spray a 3-cup soufflé dish, a terrine, or 4 6-ounce ramekins (my preference) with vegetable oil spray. Line the dish or dishes with plastic wrap; spray plastic. Combine chicken livers, broth and onion in medium saucepan. Bring to boil, cover and simmer until livers are cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

While the chicken livers simmer, bring wine, figs, rosemary, and 3 grinds of fresh black pepper to simmer in small saucepan. Simmer until figs soften, about 15 minutes. Remove the figs with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reduce the wine until it's a thick syrup, about 5 minutes (you'll probably have a tablespoon or two). Remove and discard the rosemary.

In a blender or in the bowl of a small food processor, puree the figs into a paste. Spoon the syrup into the bottom of the prepared dish or dishes, and spoon the figs over top.

Drain cooking liquid; transfer chicken livers and onion to food processor. Add butter, Cognac, salt, thyme, allspice, and 4 grinds of black pepper to processor. Puree until smooth. Spoon on top of the fig puree, and fold the plastic wrap down over the surface, or cover with more plastic wrap if there is not enough to fold over. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Unmold pâté onto platter. If you're using the nuts, press them onto sides of pâté. Serve with toasts or bread.

Ham and Spinach Lasagne

2010-10-12T03:46:00.000-07:00

We couldn't decide what to get for dinner the other day, and we ended up buying some dry-cured ham. In the store, it looked like a teeny little ham, but it turned out to be two pounds. Now, two pounds is a lot when you're talking about a wet-cured ham (the only kind we had ever previously eaten), but it's a whole lot when you're talking about a rich, salty, dry-cured country ham.

On the ham's first night, we made a delicious Potato Gratin to go with it, but still had a lot left over. The leftovers made some delicious sandwiches, but I feared that the rest would go to waste. Some brain storming, though, led to the idea of a lasagne.

Now, lasagne is not one of my favorite foods. Yes, it's pasta and I love pasta, but I just don't love lasagne because it's generally heavy in a bad way (not a potato gratin way), the noodles are thick and goopy, and it's just not too interesting.

But I thought that very thin homemade egg noodles might nicely replace the thick, slimy noodles that are generally the undoing of a potentially good pasta dish. Not only would they be delicate and tasty, there would be no need to cook them in a pot of water. There would be no handling of molten hot ribbons of slipperiness, there would be no breakage of noodles, and there would be no messing around with the reportedly sub-par 'no-cook' lasagne sheets.

The other part of the heavyness problem, I thought, was the ricotta. I think that it's a stealth player, in that it seems innocuous enough and light enough, but secretly, it's adding more slimy, gunky heaviness to the dish. Homemade ricotta might be an improvement, but I just didn't have time for that. Therefore, there was to be no ricotta in this lasagne.

The third part of my lasagne plan involved doing away with the ubiquitous tomato sauce. There's nothing wrong with a tomato sauce, and I love tomato sauce, but I just didn't think that it would play nicely with the ham.

Therefore, this white lasagne recipe from Epicurious sounded perfect--no ricotta, no tomato, just a nice bechamel, and I basically made the printed recipe and added the ham and spinach. Like some of the reviewers of the original recipe mention, it is important to taste everything along the way--your bechamel should taste great before it's added to the dish. And don't do what I did and forget to add the flour to the butter before adding the liquids. That's what a bechamel is, and I managed to mess that part up.

Lastly, a lot of lasagne recipes call for eggs, and I've come to the conclusion that the eggs play the same role of saboteur as the ricotta. In fact, I felt like the eggs ruined my laborsome work of art. They turned a silky, beautiful bechamel into a curdly mess, and their flavor almost overwhelmed the more delicate flavor of the white sauce. Therefore, there are no eggs in the recipe printed below.

So mess-ups and all, this is now my answer to lasagne--thin, homemade noodles, a tasty bechamel, and some simple additions. The leftovers are delicious, and if you're expecting company, the lasagne can be assembled ahead of time and kept refrigerated until you're ready to start cooking; just add a few minutes to the cooking time.

Ham and Spinach Lasagne

(Partially adapted from Epicurious)

A one-pound bag of frozen spinach
One recipe homemade pasta
1 cup finely diced cooked ham, or about 6 ounces prosciutto, diced
3/4 cup minced shallots
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (freshly!) grated nutmeg
3 3/4 cups whole milk
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup dry Marsala or Sherry
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup grated Parmesan-Reggiano
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon very good extra-virgin olive oil

Place the frozen spinach in a colander in the sink, and allow it to defrost. If it's taking forever to defrost, run some water over it and stir it all around occasionally.

Make the homemade pasta up to the point where it is wrapped in plastic wrap and allowed to rest. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Cook shallots in butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4 minutes. Add flour and cook over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, 3 minutes. Add nutmeg, then slowly whisk in milk and stock.

Bring to a boil, whisking, then simmer, stirring occasionally, just until sauce lightly coats back of spoon, about 1 minute. Do this very slowly, as impatience can lead to a curdled and/or burnt sauce. Remove from heat and cool to warm, stirring occasionally. Stir in Marsala or Sherry, sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 cup cheese. Be sure to taste the sauce at this point, and add more salt and pepper to taste.

While the sauce cools, squeeze as much water as possible out of the spinach. Place it in a large bowl and drizzle with the tablespoon olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste and toss until combined.

Divide the dough into about 6 pieces, and re-wrap the 5 that you will not be using immediately. With your plain roller set to the largest setting (lower number), pass the dough through once. Fold like a book (one flat piece in the back, and two pieces folded over on the sides so that they almost meet in the middle) and pass through again. Fold like a book and repeat 2 more times.

At this point, you want the pasta sheet to be almost as wide as the rollers, so that as the pasta is stretched further, it becomes as wide as the rollers. After the last time, send the pasta through as is. Then, put the roller on the next smallest setting and pass the dough through. Continue to do this on smaller and smaller settings until the pasta is the desired thickness. For this recipe, I used the smallest setting. You can also use the second-smallest setting if you want the noodles to be a little bit noticeable, as opposed to totally melted into the other parts of the lasagne. You'll have a very long sheet that you will cut to the length of your baking dish.

Spread about 1 1/4 cups sauce over bottom of an 11- by 8-inch baking dish. Sprinkle about a quarter of the spinach and a quarter of the ham over the sauce-it will be a rather sparse covering. Cut your pasta sheet to the appropriate length, and cover the sauce with as many sheets as necessary (you'll probably need 2).

Repeat layering 3 more times, then top with remaining sauce and remaining 1/2 cup cheese. (You might not need all of the pasta dough. If not, it can be rolled out, cut into noodles, and dried.) Bake, uncovered, until browned, 45 to 55 minutes.

Cooks' note: Sauce can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered (once cool).

Potato Gratin

2010-10-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that a potato gratin and a cured ham make a lovely pairing? I highly recommend that you try it, perhaps for Christmas or another special occasion, or maybe for no occasion at all.

I generally save this dish for special occasions because au gratin potatoes are just too good, not to mention the fact that they're not particularly healthy. I love love love this side dish, and I completely lack self-control when in its presence. Seriously, I can eat 2 pounds of it, easy.

There are times, though, when you just need to break out the special occasion dishes on a normal day, and we happened upon one of those occasions recently when we came home with a little dry-cured ham.
After some Epicurious-searching, I found what seemed to be the perfect potato gratin recipe for this particular night. It's rich and creamy, but because it contains mostly milk and only a little bit of cream, it's not too heavy or fatty. (We'll save the hard-core gratins for the holidays.) The flavors in this version are simple, but you still get that perfect creamy, nutmeg-y, toasty, potato-ey flavor.

So now that the weather is getting a little bit cooler, and some warming foods are in order, I highly suggest that you try these potatoes, whether it's a special day or just any old day.

Potato Gratin

(From Epicurious)

3 pounds russet (Idaho) potatoes of uniform size
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 medium garlic clove, crushed through a press
1 1/2 to 2 cups half-and-half or milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
4 tablespoons crème fraîche (optional)
1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Peel and wash the potatoes and slice them into rounds 1/8 inch thick, using a mandoline, the slicing disk of a food processor, or a sharp knife.

Generously butter a 9 by 12-inch heavy shallow baking dish, preferably earthenware or cast-enamel, or an oval gratin dish of comparable size. (You can also use a 12-inch cast-iron skillet.) Rub the dish with half of the crushed garlic.

In a large saucepan, bring the half-and-half to a simmer with the remaining garlic and season generously with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Arrange the potatoes in one overlapping layer on the bottom of the dish. Season the layer generously with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Arrange two more layers on top, seasoning each layer liberally. Press the layers down to compact them. Pour in enough half-and-half to come up just a little below the top layer of potatoes. Set the baking dish on a larger baking sheet, cover with foil, and bake until the potatoes feel tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 hour.

Raise the oven temperature to 425°F, remove the foil, and bake until the top begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Pour just enough cream to cover the top, dab it with crème fraîche, if using, and sprinkle evenly with the Parmesan. Bake until the top is brown and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let the potatoes stand for 10 minutes to absorb the cream. Cut into squares and serve.

Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken

2010-10-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

There was a time when I didn't like roasted chicken. I'm not really sure why, but perhaps I had eaten only bland and unexceptional specimens up to that point. Or maybe what changed my mind was the common food writer's musings about roasted chicken as one of the litmus tests, like omelettes, that indicate a chef's skill.

Roasting a chicken, like making an omelette, is one of those things that anyone can do, technically, but it apparently takes some skill to do well--thus, the litmus test theory. Here's one of the many articles that ponder this eternal question in a much more eloquent fashion than my skills will allow.

Plus, a lot of chefs and food writers claim that a well-roasted chicken is the perfect meal, one that they'll take any day over fancier fare. I don't know about that, but I do know that a roasted chicken sometimes hits the spot, it makes for nice leftovers, and it's nice to have the carcasses for making stock.

When I decided that it was time to set out on the quest for the holy grail of the perfectly roasted chicken, I figured that Thomas Keller was a good place to start. In fact, he amusingly talks about learning to roast a chicken in the French Laundry Cookbook (it involves knife throwing).

This recipe, which has become my go-to recipe, came from Epicurious courtesy of Thomas Keller. Key points to note are the importance of trussing the chicken (the pictures show an improperly trussed chicken, so don't go by that), the importance of getting it really, really dry, and cooking it on high heat.

Some recipes will tell you to stuff the bird with all kinds of stuff, rub all kinds of tediously chopped-up herbs under its skin, or to start at one temperature in one position, and later change to another temperature while flipping that really hot hunk of protein into another position. Ignore all that--simple is oftentimes best, as demonstrated by the Master Thomas Keller.

Thomas Keller's Favorite Simple Roast Chicken
One 2- to 3-pound farm-raised chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional:
2 teaspoons minced thyme
Unsalted butter
Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.

Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. Trussing is not difficult, and if you roast chicken often, it's a good technique to feel comfortable with. When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay close to the body; the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird.

(Here, here, and here are some web pages that explain how to do this. Pay no attention to my pictured trussing, as it is incorrect--it just works for me.)

Now, salt the chicken—I like to rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin. Season to taste with pepper.

Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. I leave it alone—I don't baste it, I don't add butter; you can if you wish, but I feel this creates steam, which I don't want. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.

Note: Make sure that your ventilation system is working well, as this cooking method can create a good deal of smoke. If you have an old potato laying around, you can slice it and put it in the bottom of the pan. This will result in lessening the amount of smoke, and you'll get some delicious but fatty roasted potatoes.

Remove the twine. Separate the middle wing joint and eat that immediately. Remove the legs and thighs. I like to take off the backbone and eat one of the oysters, the two succulent morsels of meat embedded here, and give the other to the person I'm cooking with. But I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip—until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook's rewards.

Cut the breast down the middle and serve it on the bone, with one wing joint still attached to each. The preparation is not meant to be superelegant. Slather the meat with fresh butter. Serve with mustard on the side and, if you wish, a simple green salad. You'll start using a knife and fork, but finish with your fingers, because it's so good.

Thyme-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

2010-09-24T03:05:00.000-07:00

I'm never happy about the end of summer, but this year I'm rather looking forward to stews and braises, squash and sweet potatoes. Growing up, I was not a fan of the sweeter tuber, but it's grown on me. Not only is a sweet potato tasty, I learned, but a sweet potato will keep you fuller longer than its white counterpart will, and it has a lower glycemic index.

Health benefits aside, I can see why some people remain less than fond of sweet potatoes, and my theory is that the potato's very sweetness is the problem- a lot of adults just don't want such a sweet side with their entrees.

This preparation, however, nicely dispatches with that complaint. The potato, of course, remains a bit sweet, but the garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes carry it from the realm of the saccharine to the savory, and it's a very satisfying transformation. Plus, the potatoes get a bit crispy on the outside, while the inside becomes meltingly tender and soft. Just be careful, because the soft, almost creamy centers can also be molten.

So if any of you people out there have friends or family members who claim to not like sweet potatoes, then I encourage you to try this side dish. You just might change their minds.

Thyme-Roasted Sweet Potatoes(From Epicurious)

4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch-thick rounds
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup fresh thyme leaves, plus 6 thyme sprigs for garnish
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 450°F. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and toss. Arrange potato slices in single layer on parchment-lined heavyweight rimmed baking sheet or in 13x9-inch baking dish. Place on top rack of oven and roast until tender and slightly browned, about 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with thyme sprigs.

Broccoli Almondine

2010-09-24T02:56:00.000-07:00

I usually like to go to the store, see what kind of produce looks good, and go from there. Some days, though, everything looks wilty, or there's really just nothing to choose from. But usually, there's broccoli. It's like that old dress that's kind of boring, but it's comfortable, and sometimes you just can't come up with anything else to wear.

This old stand-by veggie can be simply steamed and tossed with some salt and pepper, which is what I do when I'm feeling like a fatty, but that sometimes feels like vegetables as punishment. But add some shallots, a little bit of butter, and some sliced almonds, and you have broccoli magic.

Broccoli Almondine

(Serves 2 if you like a lot of veggies)

1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup sliced shallots
2 crowns of broccoli, about 5 inches each in diameter
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Optional: about a teaspoon lemon juice

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add the shallots. Cook the shallots until they are very tender, but not quite caramelized (about 20 minutes).

In the meantime, cut the broccoli into little florets and wash well. If your broccoli crowns came with the stems attached, peel them, then chop them up into similar-sized pieces--they're delicious. Steam the broccoli until it is tender, but still green (not brownish), about 7 minutes.

When the shallots are ready, add the almonds to the skillet and cook until they get just a little bit of color, about 2 minutes. If everything is looking really dry at this point, add more butter. Add the broccoli to the pan, add salt and pepper to taste, and toss to combine. Add the lemon juice if you like.

Note: The broccoli can be steamed a few hours ahead of time, and the shallots can be softened a few hours ahead of time. When you're ready to serve the dish, rewarm the shallots on medium-low heat, increase the heat to medium-high and add the almonds, then add the broccoli and warm through.

Zucchini Pasta

2010-09-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

This recipe, learned from some Italian exchange students, is one of the first things I ever learned to cook. It's still one of my favorite recipes, although it's so simple that it should hardly be called a recipe. I've added some Italian seasoning and some red pepper flakes, but the original was even more simple, so feel free to leave out the seasonings, if you like.

If you have one of those gardens that's currently overflowing with zucchini, this is a great way to get rid of some of it. Even my brother likes this pasta, although he claims to not like pasta. How can someone with Italian blood in them not like pasta, I ask?

Zucchini Pasta

This recipe is for one person, but obviously you can double, triple, quadruple it...just don't overcrowd overcrowd the sauté pan--divide up the zucchini if it's too crowded in one pan.

2 medium zucchini
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
4 ounces pasta, the shape of your choice
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
'Italian' seasoning, or a little bit of dried basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano
A dash of red pepper flakes

In a large sauté pan, heat a tablespoon olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic cloves and cook, stirring frequently, until the cloves become golden. At this point, you can remove the garlic with a slotted spoon (possibly advisable if you're cooking for other people), or you can leave them in the pan for a more intense garlic flavor.

While the garlic is cooking, slice the zucchini in half lengthwise, and then cut the long pieces crosswise in 1/4 inch pieces, so that you're left with 1/4 inch wide half-moon shapes. When the garlic is golden, add the zucchini to the pan, and increase the heat to medium.

Sauté the zucchini, stirring often, until all pieces are tender and golden brown, about 20 minutes. You may occasionally need to turn the heat up to medium high if the zucchini is cooking very slowly, or if it's just softening without browning. It should make a constant, very low sizzling sound. While the zucchini is cooking, salt to taste. When it is finished, add pepper to taste, and toss.

While the zucchini is cooking, put a large pot with heavily salted water on to boil. When it's boiling, add your pasta. You'll want to try to time this so that the pasta is ready at the same time as the zucchini. Timing will differ, though, based on your pasta shape of choice.

When the pasta is al dente, drain in a colander, and dump into your pasta bowl. Drizzle a tablespoon olive oil over the top, sprinkle about a 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning over the pasta, add a dash of red pepper flakes, and toss. Top with the zucchini and serve.

Daring Cook's Preserving Challenge--Damson Plum Jam and Roasted Apple Butter

2010-09-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

This month's Daring Cooks challenge was one part Fail, one part awesome success, and one part something in between.

Here's the blog-checking line:
The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Sooo...Canning. I very vaguely remember canning some strawberry jam when I was bored out of my mind in upstate New York, but that definitely does not mean that canning is anywhere near my comfort zone, although I am good with aseptic technique. So it was kind of nice to have a Daring Cook's challenge that pushed my boundaries and made me try something newish. Will I do it again? I don't think so. I'm pretty okay with some nice, store-bought jam.

My attempt at making jam involved some Damson plums that caught our eye at the farmer's market. They look like big, beautiful blueberries, and I suppose that if I got nothing else out of this little experiment, I got some nice Damson plum pictures.

I don't know if you've ever had Damson plums, but it's also not an experience that I'm likely to repeat. There seem to be a lot of people out there who like them, but to me they were reminiscent of the inedible crab apples that grew in the yard of my childhood home. So obviously, I didn't want to eat them plain, but I didn't want to waste them, either.

The answer was jam, but it was not a simple solution. I won't bore you with the details, but I was initially not too keen on pitting a whole bunch of fruit that were the size of grapes. Nor was I going to peel them, as some plum jam recipes suggest. So there was a food mill involved, and an immersion blender, and lots of frustration.

To top it off, though, I had what I thought might be an edible product, and then I dumped waaaay too much pectin, as well as another powdery substance, into the pot. It turns out that I had bought some sort of super-pectin, so although most recipes instruct you to use a whole package of pectin, I apparently needed only a quarter of this package.

Plus, the box contained a packet of calcium, which I think was supposed to go into the canning water for some reason. I don't think that some calcium is going to hurt anyone, but the overdose of pectin lent the jam an unappealing texture, and on top of the fear of killing a loved one with some botulism, I was now worried about killing them with some calcium.

However, the second part of the challenge involved making some apple butter, which sounded like a great idea. Some of it will go into our Brown Sugar and Bourbon ribs, which will hopefully be posted here at some point, and some of it will be spread on toast.

I didn't want some plain old store-bought bread as a vehicle for this apple butter, so I decided to make the bread recommended by Molly in this beautifully written Orangette post. That's the in-between part of this challenge--I wasn't crazy about it, but it was certainly edible. Plus, the house smelled great while it was baking. At this point, if the apple butter hadn't been such a shining example of awesomeness, I might have just given up and cried.

Most apple butter recipes suggest that you simmer the apple pieces and add a whole lot of sugar to them, much like jam. The Daring Cook's recipe was a low-sugar recipe, as opposed to the normal 1 to 2 cups of sugar called for in other recipes, but I just didn't feel like adding Splenda to my butter. That's why a roasted apple butter recipe from Food and Wine sounded absolutely perfect--it was just apples and apple cider. I added some spices and some lemon juice, but it's still pretty much pure apples.

Perhaps the roasting brought out the natural sweetness of the apples, whereas simmering them might not have done the trick, thus the sugar in the other recipes. This apple butter is sweet, but not cloyingly so, and the apples themselves, as well as the lemon juice, give the butter a nice brightness, which is wrapped in the glowing warmth of the cinnamon and cloves. It's sort of like one of those perfect fall days where the sky is a deep cerulean blue and the air is crisp, and it's just cold enough that it's a pleasure to slip on a sweater or a jacket.

So I would highly recommend that you try this apple butter. It takes almost no active time (although scrubbing the roasting dish kind of sucks), and if you use some high-quality apple cider, you'll have a delicious apple butter. If you're more ambitious than me, you can even can it and enjoy it all year.

One more thing--here's an M.F.K. Fisher essay on canning that I liked. If this link directs you to page 5, go back to page 1.

Roasted Apple Butter

(Inspired by Food and Wine)

3 pounds of your favorite apples, or a combination of apples, peeled, quartered and cored
2 cups high-quality apple cider
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Tiny pinch of cloves
The juice of 1/4 of a lemon, plus more to taste

Preheat the oven to 450°. Arrange the apples in a large roasting pan. Pour the apple juice over the apples and bake for 30 minutes, or until tender and browned. Lower the oven to 350°.

Using a fork or potato masher, thoroughly mash the apples in the roasting pan. Bake the apple puree, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, or until very thick and deeply browned. To test whether your apple butter is done, place a spoonful on a work surface. If liquid escapes and forms a ring around the mound of apple butter, it needs more cooking. The finished product will remain in a mounded spoonful, without slumping, and no liquid will be released.

Scrape into a bowl and let cool. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Prawns or Shrimp with Tomato Confit, Garlic, and Chile

2010-09-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

Run, don't walk, to the nearest farm stand or farmer's market, and get some of the last of those yellow tomatoes. You'll want to make this recipe, because believe me, it's worth it. This recipe was a revelation, in that I had never before made a serious attempt to confit something. The idea of cooking anything in large amounts of oil was scary to me, but I shouldn't have been scared. In this case, at least, you don't really end up eating all that much oil, and even if you do, it's a good fat, right?

The tomato confit, with its infusion of herbs and aromatics, tastes like summer, but not in the typical tomato-and-basil way that you're almost sick of by the end of the summer. The confit seems creamy, there's no cream;.it also tastes a bit buttery, but there is no butter in this dish. It's just magic. And then the shrimp...Oh, the delectable, garlicy shrimp.

This recipe takes a bit of time prep-wise just because of the amount of chopping, but overall, it's not especially difficult or time-consuming. But you can tell your friends that it took a really long time to make, and they'll believe you; it's one of those recipes.

With big hunks of crusty bread (I was too lazy to make it, but Jim Lahey's bread would be perfect) , this made one of the best meals I've had in a while, and if you're looking for something a little heartier, Suzanne Goin says that these shrimp are also delicious with pasta or steamed rice.

Oh, and about the 'shrimp': California Spot Prawns are apparently awesome, and this recipe was designed with them in mind. But if you're not lucky enough to live on the west coast, plain old shrimp will work just fine.

Prawns or Shrimp with Tomato Confit, Garlic, and Chile

(From Sunday Suppers at Lucques)

Serves 6

24 large spot prawns (about 4 1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cup sliced shallots
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
1 tablespoon thinly sliced chile de arbol
1/2 cup sliced garlic
1 1/2 pints cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Yellow tomato confit (recipe below)
1/4 cup sliced flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped oregano
2 tablespoons sliced green basil
2 tablespoons sliced opal basil
1 lemon, for juicing

Use kitchen scissors to cut the shells of the spot prawns down their backs, from the base of their heads to the tip of their tails. (Suzanne Goin directs you to not remove the shells. I think, though, that if you really want to, you can go ahead. The sauce might just be a bit less flavorful.) If the prawns are wet, dry them with paper towels.

Heat 2 heavy-bottomed sauté pans over high heat for a couple minutes. Swirl 2 tablespoons olive oil into each pan, and carefully place the prawns in the pans, on their sides. (You might need to cook the prawns in batches to avoid overcooking them.)

Season each batch of prawns with 1/2 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, until the shells get some color, and the flesh begins to turn opaque on the first side.

Turn the prawns over, drizzle another 2 tablespoons oil into each pan, and season the second side of each batch with 1/2 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Cook another 3 minutes or so, until the prawns are just cooked.

Remove the prawns to a platter, and turn the heat under both pans down to medium-low. Divide the shallots, thyme, and sliced chiles between the two pans. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Cook 2 minutes, until the shallots are translucent, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to release all the flavorful shrimp bits. Divide the garlic between the pans, and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often, until the shallots and garlic are soft and just starting to color.

Turn the heat back up to high, and add half the cherry tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and lots of freshly ground black pepper to each pan. Taste for seasoning and cook for a few minutes, stirring often.

Spoon the hot yellow tomato confit onto a large warm platter, or spoon a portion into each person's plate or bowl.

When the cherry tomatoes are tender and breaking down, add half the prawns, sliced parsley, oregano, and the two basils to each pan, and roll the prawns in the cherry tomatoes to coat well.

Arrange the prawns on the platter, or divide them amongst the individual bowls or plates, and squeeze a generous amount of lemon juice over them. Spoon the remaining cherry tomato sauce over the top. Serve with lots of crusty bread for sopping up the sauces and juices. The prawns would also be great with steamed rice or over pasta.

Yellow Tomato Confit

1/2 cup sliced red onion
2 dried chiles de arbol, broken in half with your hands (then wash your hands!)
1 tablespoon sliced garlic
2 sprigs basil
2 sprigs oregano
1 1/2 pounds yellow tomatoes
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Scatter the red onion, chiles, garlic, and basil and oregano sprigs in a baking dish. The baking dish should be small enough to fit the tomatoes snugly, as Suzanne says that if there is too much room in the pan, the sauce will be thin and lose some of its intensity. I found that a bread-baking pan (made of Pyrex) was perfect.

Core the yellow tomatoes and place them, stem side down, on top of the onions. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons salt, and pour the olive oil and 1 cup water over the tomatoes. Cook the onions in the oven about 50 minutes, until they soften and blister.

Remove the pan from the oven, and cool 10 minutes. Strain the tomatoes and onions over a bowl, saving the juice. Discard the herbs and half the chiles.

Transfer half the tomato mixture to a blender with 1/2 cup of the liquid. (You'll need to do this in batches.) Process at the lowest speed until the tomatoes are purees. Pour in more liquid, a little at a time, until the tomato confit is the consistency of heavy cream. Turn the speed up, and blend about a minute, until completely smooth. Transfer to a container, and repeat with the second half of the tomatoes. (You may not need all of the liquid.) Alternatively, you can do this all in one batch with a stick/immersion blender.

Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Taste for seasoning.

Corn Pudding

2010-09-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice little recipe for the last of the season's corn. It's simple, delicious, and budget-friendly, and it's wonderful when paired with grilled meats and any kind of seafood, especially shrimp.

Because the pudding is not perfectly smooth, it's a lot like grits, but grits made from fresh corn rather than dried and ground. If you're not a fan of spice, you can leave out the poblanos, or if you would like to eat this as more of a dessert course, you can add sugar and cinnamon.

Corn Pudding

(Slightly Adapted from Mexico the Beautiful)

2 poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced
8 cups fresh corn kernels, cut off the cobs (from about 8-10 ears of corn)
4 ounces melted butter
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Place the corn kernels in the bowl of a food processor. Add the melted butter, water, salt, and baking soda, and puree until almost smooth.

Transfer to a 9x9 inch baking dish, prepped with butter or non-stick cooking spray, and mix in the poblano peppers. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool for a few minutes, and serve.

Homemade Pasta with Bacon and Corn Pesto

2010-09-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Comfort foods are generally the provenance of the winter months, and rightly so--the pervasive chill is more likely to produce a need for solace in the form of warming soups and thick, satisfying braises. Rich foods like macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes are sometimes too heavy and filling for the sweatier days of summer, and their succor is less likely to be needed in the face of bright sunshine and long days.

Of course, summer has its comfort foods--fried chicken, potato salads, and berry pies, to name a few. Those are all delicious, of course, but I'd like to offer you another summer comfort dish. This meal is filling and hearty, but the fresh pasta prevents it from going over the comforting edge and into the realm of gut-busting. Plus, the chewy bite of the fresh egg pasta is quite delightful with the creamy sauce and crispy bacon. But if you're not feeling motivated enough to make your own pasta, that's perfectly all right--this dish will be delicious anyway.

If you happen to have some fresh corn on one of those random, coolish summer days, which are becoming more frequent as the season draws to a close, then this dish is for you.

Homemade Pasta with Bacon and Corn Pesto
4 slices thick bacon, cut into lardons
4 cups fresh corn kernels from about 6 ears
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 recipe for homemade fettucini, recipe below (or dried fettuccine)
1/4 cup slivered basil leaves
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons chopped chives

Set a large pot with heavily salted water on to boil.

In a large skillet, cook the bacon pieces over medium-low heat until chewy and beginning to crisp and the fat has rendered into the pan, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Add the corn and to the skillet and toss to coat in the fat. Add a couple pinches of salt and pepper and cook until the corn is just tender, about 5 minutes. Reserve a cup of corn, then scrape the rest into a food processor. Add the pine nuts and Parmesan and pulse to combine. Add the olive oil with the machine running and blend until smooth.

When the water is at a roiling boil, add the pasta to the water cook the pasta until al dente. Fresh pasta cooks very quickly, so this will likely take 2-4 minutes. It is particularly important to not overcook the pasta here, as the cooking continues a bit when the pasta is added to the sauce.

In the skillet, combine the corn pesto, reserved corn, most of the basil, and 3/4 of the bacon. Add salt to taste and add a lot of pepper (this dish is reminiscent of a carbonara, so you need a lot of pepper). Over mediumish heat, toss to combine, and add the white wine.

When the pasta is ready, drain it, but reserve at least a cup of the cooking water. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and toss. If it does not form a smooth, cohesive sauce, add the reserved cooking water until it does. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide the pasta among bowls and top with remaining basil, bacon, and chopped chives.

Homemade Egg Pasta

(From Molto Italiano)

Makes about 1 1/4 pounds, which I've found to be good for 4-6 people, depending on the recipe

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
1 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs

Mound the flour in the center of a large wooden board, and sprinkle it with the salt. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Using a fork or your fingers, beat the eggs together, then begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim of the well.

As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up to retain the well shape. This takes some practice, and if the eggs break through the wall of the well, all is not lost--just try to combine the eggs and flour as well as you can.

When half of the flour is incorporated, the dough will begin to come together. Start kneading the dough, using primarily the palms of your hands. Once the dough is a cohesive mass, set the dough aside and scrape up and discard any dried bits of dough.

Lightly flour the board and continue kneading for 10 minutes, dusting the board with additional flour as necessary. The dough should be elastic, very smooth, and a little sticky. And seriously, this really takes 10 whole minutes--do not try to slack on this part, just find a Zen place and knead away. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

To roll out the pasta, divide it into 6 pieces (if you're making the whole pasta recipe, rolling all of it, and drying the other half). Make each piece into a flattish shape.

With your plain roller set to the largest setting (lower number), pass the dough through once. Fold like a book (one flat piece in the back, and two pieces folded over on the sides so that they almost meet in the middle) and pass through again. Fold like a book and repeat 2 more times. After the last time, send the pasta through as is.

Then, put the roller on the next smallest setting and pass the dough through. Continue to do this on smaller and smaller settings until the pasta is the right thickness (a 5 on Kitchenaid stand mixers). Lay the dough out on a flat surface and cover with a towel so that it does not dry out, and repeat with the remaining lumps of dough.

When all of the pasta is laid out flat, switch to the fettuccine-cutting roller, and pass the pieces of dough through, one at a time. Again, spread out the dough and cover with a towel so that it does not dry out. Proceed with whatever recipe you're using this in.