Nana turns 90

Only a few days after Christmas, my grandmother celebrated her 90th birthday.  It was lovely having her for the holidays and for her special day.  You would never ever guess she is 90; she spent the visit watching and playing with the little one and hopefully, eating well.

My mother was kind enough to cook the main course, steak, since I have such limited experience with it.  I'm pretty sure we had mashed potatoes (there you go, it's been less than a month and already I have no memory) with it.  And I provided the brussels sprouts.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS
altered only slightly from the amazing Balaboosta cookbook - I can't wait to use more recipes from it!

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb Brussels sprouts
1/4 C honey
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 gala apple, peeled cored and grated
2 T olive oil
sprinkle of kosher salt

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 425.  The original recipe calls for 400 but my oven needed to be hotter.
Cut the bottoms off the brussels sprouts and then peel off the outer leaves.  This takes a reasonable amount of time and also reduces the amount of brussels sprouts you have by a lot.  I gave them a good rinse too.  Then I patted them dry, laid them on a sheet pan and tossed with the garlic, honey, olive oil and then sprinkled them with salt.  I added the apple last because you really don't want the fruit on the pan, if you do it that way, it will just burn on the pan.  If it's on the sprouts, it drips down its juices which is much better.

Pop the tray in the oven and roast until tender.  The outside will get a nice crisp on it, but they shouldn't be super crunchy throughout.  I tossed them a few times to get more of a crisp on the outside and to make sure the apple-y parts were okay.  The recipe called for a shorter cooking time than I used. Mine needed at least 40-45 minutes to be finished, so watch yours and taste test frequently.

Cafe Constant

One of my favorite restaurants in Paris is Cafe Constant, a tiny place mere steps from the Eiffel Tower (take a moment to get over just how snooty I sound name dropping my favorite Parisian restaurant).  We've been there twice now and it was wonderful both times.  Our first trip there, I noticed that not only did the chef have a cookbook, but it was in English called Everyday French Cooking.  I mean this is nothing short of miraculous in Paris.  But in a moment of frugality, I decided I didn't need it.  Which of course meant that I promptly spent several years wishing that I had bought it.  Finally Santa took mercy on me and delivered it.

It is (unsurprisingly) full of French recipes, many quite traditional, and many involving fois gras or duck liver.  This weekend I whipped up a Cauliflower and Broccoli Gratin.  Not quite as intended in the book, I made quite a few adjustments due to my usual issue: sheer laziness.  But the result was delicious nonetheless.  (You should probably also know that the original recipe called for a pound (a POUND!) each of broccoli and cauliflower, as well as slices of baked ham, so it would be a whole dinner, for certain, or one of the most elaborate, substantial sides known to man).

Verdict:  I need to use this cookbook more.  Why don't I use this cookbook more?

BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER GRATIN

INGREDIENTS:
2 C broccoli
2 C cauliflower
2 T butter
2 T plus 2 t flour
1 1/3 C milk
2 egg yolks
2/3 C cheese (the recipe called for gruyere, I used 1/3 C cheddar, 1/3 C parm) PLUS extra for sprinkling
about 1/4 C bread crumbs
salt and pepper
sprinkle of nutmeg

DIRECTIONS:
Set a large pot of water to boil (add a sprinkle of salt).  Cut your broccoli and cauliflower into florets. When the water boils, drop the broccoli and cauliflower in and blanche for 1 minute (blanche just means let it cook in the boiling water).  Then quickly remove it.  You might even want to shock it by quickly putting it in ice water.  Set it aside.  It might be easiest to just put them in the baking dish you've already prepared by greasing with butter.

Preheat your oven to 400 F.  In another pot (or you know, the same one if you washed it first), melt the butter.  Add the flour and stir (or whisk) until the flour is all sludgy and golden (you know, make a roux).  Very slowly add the milk, whisking constantly.  If you add the milk quickly, you will have lots of lumps, so go very slowly.

Remove the pan from the heat and add your egg yolks one at a time, again, whisking constantly (this time to avoid making scrambled eggs.)  Add the cheese and keep stirring!  Add salt and pepper to taste. You really do have to taste because how much salt you need really depends on how salty your cheese was.  Add the sprinkle of nutmeg and you're set!

Pour your sauce evenly all over the broccoli and cauliflower.  Then top that with your breadcrumbs mixed with the extra sprinkling cheese.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until thoroughly warm, golden and bubbly.  I made mine in the toaster oven.

Last Potato Standing

Evidently, potatoes are the hot food of natural disaster.  This is something I honestly did not know.  I'm pretty new to the stockpiling frenzy, having lived in a city for 8 years that generally did not play the "buy out the grocery store" game.  I don't know if it's the proximity to food (walking distance rather than driving), or what, but I never saw the shelves cleared.  The closest I ever got was during a massive blizzard I was picking up a few things while two guys in chef's whites cleared the potato bin.  Their restaurant had a delivery cancelled and they were buying on a major scale.

I suppose that should have been foreshadowing for the great potato shortage of '12 but I really just didn't expect it.  I was pretty blown away to find that our biggest grocery store was out of baking potatoes, boiling potatoes, sweet potatoes, fingerling potatoes... pretty much everything.  All that remained were a few very sad looking shrink wrapped bakers advertising that they wanted to be microwaved and two full bins of red creamers.

What do people have against red creamers?  Why were they the wallflowers of the potato party?  I have no idea.  What I do know is how to make them delicious.

Ina Garten's Parmesan Smashed Potatoes.  Ridiculously easy and tasty (also, sub greek yogurt or regular yogurt for the sour cream if you have none on hand). You will not be sorry, even if you did end up with pickings from the bottom of the potato bin.

Also, I may have been a bit traumatized and overpurchased the next time I saw potatoes (um, the following morning at a small family owned store).  I now have baking potatoes, boiling potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Any theories on why potatoes were such a big seller?  I'd like to think everyone's planning on doing them camping style in their fireplaces when the power goes out, but I somehow doubt that's the case.

Pickle Grand Champion

I made that title up.  I have no idea what it would take to become an actual pickle grand champion, or if one can even BE a pickle grand champion.  But in my little contest of three pickles, this was the clear winner.  I would eat them in a boat and I would eat them with a goat.  (Deepest apologies to Dr. Seuss) Seriously.  I love these pickles.  They are tart and sweet and flavorful and easy to make.  I'm going to make another batch today.  The first ones went entirely too quickly.  Also, don't skimp on the onions and don't be afraid to eat them.  They are crunchy and delicious, not merely an agent for flavoring the pickles.

BEST PICKLES
I made this using stellacarolyn's recipe from My Family Table and Serious Eats's recipe for Bread and Butter pickles.
The recipe below DOES NOT MAKE ENOUGH PICKLES.  You might as well double it.  Otherwise you'll be lamenting lost pickles.

INGREDIENTS:
8.5 oz kirby cucumbers.
1/2 small vidalia onion
1 T sea salt
1 t mustard seed
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1/4 t celery seed
3/4 C white vinegar
1/2 C sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Slice your cucumbers in 3/8" slices (again, not a precise measure, totally guesstimated.) Slice your onion.  Put them in a small bowl and toss with the 1 T sea salt.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Remove, rinse and pat dry.  Heat up the vinegar and add the sugar.  Stir to dissolve.  Add the mustard seed, red pepper flakes and celery seed.  Bring it all up to a boil, then turn off burner.  Fill a (clean, empty, dry) jar (I used a spaghetti sauce jar) with the cucumber and onion slices.  Pour over the pickling brine, leave it to cool on the counter a bit and then pop it in the fridge.  Pickle Perfection.

First Runner Up: Dill Pickles

These dill spears were sort of obscenely easy and incredibly tasty.  I gave one to my father to try yesterday and immediately asked for a pastrami sandwich.  Sadly, I had none.  Just the pickles.  Want to make them?

DILL PICKLES
from food in jars

INGREDIENTS:
2 kirby pickles
1/2 C apple cider vinegar
1/2 C filtered water
2 smashed garlic cloves
1 t dill seed
2 t sea salt
1 scallion

DIRECTIONS:
Slice your pickles into spears.  In a small pan bring your vinegar and water and sea salt to a boil.  You'll need a single jar - again I used an empty, clean spaghetti sauce jar.  Put the garlic and dill seed into a jar, then carefully arrange your cucumber spears, taking care not to squish any.  When the liquid had boiled, pour it over the cucumbers.  Wait for it to cool and pop it in the fridge.  Wait at least a day and then locate your nearest pastrami sandwich (I'd settle for a Reuben) and enjoy!

Second Runner Up

Every contest has a loser and despite the pretty colors, this was not the star of the pickle party.  They were supposed to "asian" and honestly just tasted very vinegary.  I mean, of course pickles taste vinegary but these just didn't have any real dimension beyond that.  It's kind of my fault because I knew the recipe lacked a little something and I went ahead with it anyway, mostly because I was too lazy to get to the story to find anything that might improve it, like ginger.  I may try this recipe from Hogwash next time and see if it's any better.

Just in case you are dying to make mediocre pickles:

"ASIAN" PICKLES
inspired by a recipe posted on wyldethyme

INGREDIENTS:
8.5 oz kirby pickles (for me this was a pickle and a half)
2 carrots
3/4 C filtered water
3/4 C rice wine vinegar
1 t sea salt
2 scallions
1 clove of crushed garlic
1 t red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS:
Cut off the ends of the pickles and discard.  Slice the remaining pickles into 3/8" slices.  That sounds really precise and I totally went and looked for a ruler so that I could be sure, but I could not find one.  So you'll have to deal with my highly technical estimates.  Anyway.  Slice the scallion, I used the white and light green parts.  Put the scallion, crushed garlic and red pepper flakes in a jar (I used a clean, empty, washed tomato sauce jar).  Stuff in the pickles and carrots.  I mean stuff figuratively, you really don't want to cram them in.  Gently layer.  In a pan, bring your water, vinegar and sea salt to a boil.  Pour this into the jar.  Let it cool for a while on the counter, pop in the fridge, wait a day.  Now you have pickles.

Grill Mooch

I have never owned a grill.  My parents have always had one, first a avocado green charcoal beast, most likely squatting over our gravel driveway, later a shiny gas number, lovingly ensconced on a new back porch.  The house where I lived  senior year in college had one.  I can't even remember what it looked like, I only remember the luxury of padding out onto the back porch and being handed a burger.  There is nothing more magical in college than food that appears before you, already cooked, particularly if it didn't come from a dining hall.  After college, my best friend set up house in Brookline, where her grandparents had lived.  In the same backyard she grew up playing in, she'd throw the perfect summer party:  tons of friends, floating around the pool and dragging yourself up to the deck for dinner off the grill.  I tended to ignore the ubiquitous burgers and dogs for her steak tips.  To this day, they are on my short list of ultimate summer grill foods and I beg for them each time I visit.  The fact of the matter is, I am a grill mooch.  I have not owned one, I cannot operate one, but sweet merciful heavens do I love what can come off one.  This Fourth of July, my father-in-law manned the grill.  I did  the prep, but in the end, there was more than a little mooching.  I'm also afraid that at least one recipe was largely improvisational.  Sorry!

GARLIC BREAD:

Take a loaf of day old bread, drizzle olive oil over it.  Peel a garlic clove and rub it against the surface of the bread.  Grill until it looks delicious (just like above.)  Unsurprisingly, the garlic bread portion of this post is NOT gluten-free.  The rest of the stuff is.

SHRIMP:

Have you made Mark Bittman's Spicy Shrimp? You really should.  They are dead easy, really delicious and can be made inside if you don't have a grill.  I made them in the oven just a few weeks ago, but they were even better on the grill. Oh, and did  I mention fast?  They're fast.  Just 2-3 minutes a side.  

AVOCADO, TOMATO AND CORN SALAD:

This was seriously delicious.  But I didn't measure anything.  I feel terrible. I promise to try it again with actual proportions because it was wonderful.  If you want to attempt it yourself, here's what I did...

INGREDIENTS(ISH):

2 ears of corn

2 very small avocados

2 tomatoes

freshly squeezed lemon juice

red wine vinegar

olive oil

less than a teaspoon of cumin

salt  and pepper

butter

DIRECTIONS(ISH):

Sprinkle the ears of corn with salt and pepper.  Rub them with a bit of butter.  Wrap them in foil and grill (I think he did them for 20 minutes, but don't hold me to that).  Remove and scrape the kernels off the corn into a large bowl.  They will be hot as all get out, so you can let them cool a bit, or handle them using an oven mitt, whatever works for you.  Also, if you don't have a grill, you could cook the corn however you usually do it (I usually bring a huge pot of water to a boil and toss them in for 5 minutes).  Chop the tomato and avocado into nice little bite sized bits.  Toss the tomato, avocado and corn together.  In a separate bowl, mix together the lemon juice (I know I didn't use more than half a lemon), the red wine vinegar (no idea how much) and some olive oil.  Add the cumin and some salt and pepper, then mix again.  Pour this all over the salad.  Taste and add more salt, lemon or cumin to taste. I added more salt (I didn't have access to Kosher, only table salt and had no idea how much I needed).  While the lemon may save the avocado from browning for a little while, I probably wouldn't really make this ahead, because I can't promise it would keep the avocado pretty for long.  Don't worry about leftovers, there were none.

Radish in Review

 With only one day left before I go back to the farmer's market, I better return to my radish evangelizing, if only to psych myself up for my inevitable radish impulse buys!  In fact, I'm not going to even separate my radish recipes, I'm going to go ahead and give you two, right now.  (This is in no small part due to the fact that the second recipe isn't really a recipe. You'll see).  I really will try to be better about posting here this summer, but for now, go forth and eat radishes!

RADISH SALAD
INGREDIENTS:
1 black radish
1 red or purple radish
greens - I used romaine, but mixed would be nice
2 T freshly squeezed orange juice
1 T champagne vinegar
1 t honey
2 T extra virgin olive oil
Locatelli cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Peel and slice your black radish.  Fill a bowl with ice water and put the slices in for a few minutes, then remove and pat dry.  The soak takes out a lot of the bitter and spiciness, so you can adjust based on how you like your radishes. Slice the red or purple radish.  Chop your greens into manageable sized pieces (only necessary if you're using a lettuce  I suppose).  Put the radishes and greens into a salad bowl. In a small bowl, mix your orange juice, vinegar, honey and olive oil, combine it well with a whisk.  Pour the dressing over the greens and toss well to dress.  Plate your salads then use a peeler or grater to sprinkle with cheese.  Delicious!

RADISH + BREAD = HAPPY
YOU NEED:  Radishes, really good butter, really good french bread, kosher salt
HOW TO:  Slice the bread in half, toast if desired.  Spread with cold good butter (wait a bit for the bread to cool if you've toasted it).  Sprinkle with salt.  Lay down slices of radish.  Munch.

Pretty Perky

In case you're stumbling in late from the New Year and have missed my month of woe-is-me wallowing, let's just say I needed a little pick me up. Having stopped at a local farm and departed with a softball sized beet, I was hopeful that a little bright color and salty sweet goodness would do the trick.  It's pretty messy to make, you may want to strip to your skivvies and then cover anything else you care about (floor, counters, pets, children) with a drop cloth, but when it's done you may just want a larger fork to get it to your mouth faster.  If it's enough to make me smile, it just might get you through the winter doldrums too.

SWEET POTATO AND BEET HASH
recipe from Melissa d'Arabian.  
Enough hash as a side for 2 with a smidge left over. If you wanted it to be the main event (maybe with some poached eggs) you could easily just increase the amounts.

INGREDIENTS:
1 softball sized beet (or 2 little beets)
1 large sweet potato (or 2 little sweet potatoes)
4-6 slices of bacon ( I had to make do with 3, of turkey bacon no less.  It was tragic.)
1/2 a large onion or a whole small onion, diced.
olive oil
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 400 F.  Cover a large baking sheet with tinfoil.  Remove any clothing items of value and cover what remains with an apron you're okay with ruining.  Consider putting on disposable gloves.  Attack the beet.  Peet it, cut off the stalk and end bits and then dice into 1/4 inch pieces.  Put on one side of the baking sheet.  Wash up and clean up all beet mess now, before it stains.  Peel the sweet potato and dice it to the same size as the beets, put the pieces on the other side of the baking sheet. I intermingled mine.  But you know the beets sort of bleed a bit, and they cook at slightly different rates (the potato is faster), so you might want a way to get the potatoes out earlier than the beets, which you could do if you haven't tossed them together.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Gently toss each respective vegetable with only it's own kind.  Bake for 45 minutes. I started checking mine around 30 minutes, and I think I could have pulled the potatoes then, but for all the mixing.  With only about 15 minutes left on the timer, start your bacon.  In a large skillet, add 1/4 or 1/2 inch squares of bacon.  Cook on medium until crispy.  Using the rendered fat (pour off a bit if there's too much), add the diced onion.  Cook until sweet and translucent. It's okay if it's a bit crispy.  When the beet and sweet potato are soft, add them to the pan and toss everything together.  The beet will bleed a bit on everything, but that's okay.  Serve as a side or just get a fork and stand over the pan.

Christmas Past

Every other year, my grandparents would come for Christmas. I went to school exactly one block away from my house. From school, you'd cross the street, walk to the end of the block and turn the corner. As I approached that corner I would be so excited hoping for a glimpse of their car parked in front of our house. Nana and I had a special Christmas ritual when she came; we'd make the bows for all the gifts. Since she and Grampy drove down from Cape Cod, they'd have wrapped the presents, but bows would have been smooshed on the journey. Nana and I would sit down with long strings of ribbon and she'd show me just how to make the first loop over my thumb, then each loop to the side growing in size until the bow was finished. We'd staple the middle and tape our handiwork to each gift. It was something special we always did, just the two of us. I didn't often cook with Nana. The treats at her house were usually made and waiting when I arrived, but I do remember making applesauce with her. Once you're old enough to be trusted around a stove, it's the perfect thing for a child to make, since other than the chopping and peeling, all the stirring, tasting and sweetening and spicing can be done by even the smallest of cooks. NANA'S APPLESAUCE

INGREDIENTS:
2 apples (although make as much as you want!!)
1 t lemon juice
1 T water
1 tsp sugar (although this you should change depending on how sweet your apples are and how you like your applesauce).
1/2 t cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
Peel, core and chop your apples (this is the job an adult needs to do). Put them in a saucepan on the stove. Add the lemon juice and water and let the apples cook down until they are soft and mushy. Add the sugar and cinnamon, I wrote you how I like it, but this is a perfect experiment for beginning chefs to try adding a bit more of each until it's how they enjoy it. You can serve it homestyle or make it smoother by putting it through a food mill or mashing it with a potato masher.

Cheddar Biscuits

When I grow up, I want to be Ina Garten. I want a gorgeous house, a loving husband, amazing gardens, friends visiting all the time. I want to be both a talented chef and smart enough to work in the White House on nuclear energy policy (no really, she did). The problem is, I'm kind of already grown up and my chances aren't looking too good. Right now, just about the only list item I've accomplished is a loving husband (which is pretty important as far as list items go, but not really much headway on the whole list). Oh well. At least I can make her food, this time, cheddar biscuits that are just delicious.

INA'S CHEDDAR BISCUITS
from Ina Garten - Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

INGREDIENTS:
2 C flour - plus more for rolling out - I'd make sure you've got at least another 1/2 C to a C in the house because these are some sticky biscuits.
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 sticks (12 T) of salted butter. If you use unsalted, it says 1 1/2 t salt, but I think that's WAY too salty, so be careful.
1/2 C buttermilk shaken (I didn't have buttermilk, so I used 1/2 C milk + 1 1/2 t vinegar - let it stand for 10 minutes - magic buttermilk substitute)
1 egg
1 C grated cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 425F.
Put the 2 C of flour and the baking powder (and salt if you insist) in your stand mixer. Quickly mix to combine. I usually chop the butter up a bit and then toss it in and blend until you have a nice sandy texture. In a small bowl (or heck a large glass measuring cup if you're lazy) combine the buttermilk and the egg and whisk it a bit with a fork to combine it well. Then pour that into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Finally, toss the cheddar with a bit of flour, add that to the other ingredients and give it a final mix. Prepare a highly floured surface for your kneading and rolling. Pour the dough onto the surface and give it a quick knead (Ina says about 6 times, I say, get it to come together and not stick to everything under the sun). The roll out the dough. Ina says to cut it into biscuits using a knife (check out her recipe for details) but I used a glass (I don't own a biscuit cutter) to make round biscuits. I put them on a Silpat mat. I did combine and reroll the scraps to get more biscuits and got quite a few more than she did. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are browned and cooked!

Frenzy for Frying

I have only once been to a State Fair, but oh, what a State Fair it was. Minnesota takes that sort of thing very seriously. And as tourists, my friend Lizzie and I took fair food quite seriously. We started the day out with cookies, moved on to fried cheese curds, added in a little corn on the cob and giant turkey leg and I believe finished the whole thing up with dessert on a stick. The Minnesota State Fair is very into food on a stick. Evidently, in many parts of the good old US of A it is State Fair season. I wouldn't know about that. There's probably a state fair (note the intentional lower case letters) in my state, but I know it's not serious. Nothing like a real State Fair. But even here, in State Fair season, talk turns to frying. Because nothing says fair food like some fried whatever-the-hell-it-is, fried Kool-Aid, fried Twinkies, fried beer, fried pizza, fried butter and fried hoagies (people stop the madness!) I am not ashamed to admit, I was whipped into a frenzy for frying. I had an uncontrollable urge to fry. And what food in my fridge was the lucky winner? Who exactly was going for a bath in that deep golden oily goodness? Leftover polenta, baby. Crispy on the outside, creamy goodness on the inside.


FRIED POLENTA BALLS

INGREDIENTS:
leftover polenta (don't worry I'll tell you how to make polenta)
flour
corn or vegetable oil

POLENTA INGREDIENTS:
2 C milk
1 C chicken stock
1/2 C water
1 C ground yellow corn meal - I use Quaker
2 T butter
1/2 C cheddar cheese (Shut up, the southerner in me can't help equating polenta with grits, and I can't help a little cheese in them. You're lucky it's not Velveeta.)
salt and pepper to taste

POLENTA DIRECTIONS:
In a medium pot, combine your liquids. Bring them to a boil, then remove from heat and begin to sprinkle in the cornmeal. Really sprinkle, don't just dump it, because if you dump it you'll have a congealed mass of ook. Instead, sprinkle, sprinkle, while whisking. Return it to low heat and watch it and stir it until it gets nice and thick. But not too thick. At the last minute, stir in the butter and cheese. I like to serve it under shrimp, or with a fried egg and greens, there's a lot you can do with it. But when you're done, stick the leftovers in the fridge for polenta balls!

DIRECTIONS FOR POLENTA BALLS!
In a medium pot (or whatever you use for frying), pour some oil. You need it to be deeper than the balls, but you know, don't fill the pot or anything. Heat up your oil to about 375 F. I'm totally guessing at that. My thermometer and I had a falling out. Or a jumping out, it wouldn't stay in the pan, so I just guessed at when to add the balls. While the oil is heating, take your leftover polenta. Working quickly, roll it into little balls and coat with flour. I tried to make mine meatball sized, like a small meatball, but as you can see, I was pretty irregular about it. Drop the floured balls into the hot oil and cook for a few minutes on each side. Really watch it, because you want them nice and golden. Remove (gently, they'll fall apart otherwise) and place on a plate covered with paper towels. I strongly recommend using a slotted spoon for this, because with a regular spoon you might end up dripping oil on your burner which results in fire. Ask me how I know. Keep warm in the oven until you're ready to serve. I put mine in a salad, but really, you can have your balls any way you like.

A Sweet Start

It's taken me a week to write this post, mainly because I'm feeling pretty down on this whole New Year's thing. Last year I was whining about New Year's Eve, but this year I'm extending the complaints to the whole concept of New Years. A new year is a pretty arbitrary designation, you know? It's only a new year by the Gregorian calendar, so why do people give it so much weight? The problems that weighed upon me in December are still right here in the New Year. There is no promise of better things.

So where does all this bitterness leave me? Going through the motions. And that I did. Despite desperately wanting to skip on the fancy dinner for New Year's Eve, I managed to make some duck, a pretty little salad and some sweet potatoes.

It's a good thing there were sweet potatoes. I certainly need something to help swallow this start that is so tinged with bitter.

MASHED SWEET POTATOES
adapted from Emeril

INGREDIENTS:
2 sweet potatoes
2 T butter
2 T greek yogurt
salt and pepper to taste

(See how the ratio is 1 T of butter and 1 T greek yogurt per potato? Go with it. Make as many as you like!)

DIRECTIONS:
Wash the sweet potatoes (you're taking off the skins later, so you probably don't need to be that thorough). Poke the skins with a fork a few times. Preheat your oven to 450 F. But you're not going to use the oven just yet. Instead, stick the sweet potatoes in the microwave and microwave for 1 minute. Then turn them over. Microwave for 2 minutes, then turn them over again. Then microwave them for 2.5 minutes. Now they're ready for the real oven. Bake for 25 minutes at 450 or until the insides are tender and fluffy. Cut open the potatoes, careful, they're hot! Scrape the insides into a big bowl (I used the bowl of my stand mixer). Add the greek yogurt and butter, season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Serve. Allow them to take the bitter edge off whatever you're up against.

All right, already!!

Last night at 10:54pm my mother received an e-mail from a friend asking for this recipe. It's my fault really. Last weekend Ryan and I went to my parents' house and had dinner with them and their friends. The pot roast was heaven, but the big winner of the night was this roast vegetable dish. I waited a whole two days before I made it again for us. And I had promised to blog it, but then the time just got away from me. So in order to stave off any other Christmas crises, here's the recipe.

ROAST CARROTS, TURNIPS AND FENNEL
from my mom
Serves 4 as a side dish
Cooking time: 1 hr

INGREDIENTS:
1/8 C olive oil
1 t salt
pepper
5 carrots
3 tennis ball sized turnips
1 smallish bulb fennel

DIRECTIONS:

Get out a small roasting pan, and preheat your oven to 425F. Peel the carrots and cut off the tips (top and bottom). Cut the bottom half off your carrots and cut that in halves lengthwise. Then cut the tops in half lengthwise and then again lengthwise. Next cut the fennel. Take off the furry fronds and the end of the bottom. Then chop into half inch strips. Put the carrots and the fennel in the roasting pan together. Finally, peel your turnips and cut off any icky ends. Chop them in half and then in pieces that are of uniform size, and about the same size as your carrot sticks. Add the 1/8 C of olive oil and salt and pepper. Toss well until everything is coated. Put the pan in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Then toss gently to give everything a chance to be in the best roasting spots. Cook for another 30 minutes, but check every 10 minutes or so to make sure things aren't burning. The fennel especially can burn if it you cut it too small. The carrots cooked the most slowly for me. If they're really not cooking at an even pace, you can always pull out the fennel pieces and put them back in for the last few to heat up again. You shouldn't need to do this, just giving advice should things go very wrong. If you cut things in pieces of the same size to start you really should be okay. At the end, taste for salt and pepper, add more as needed. Serve and wait a few days. See if you get demanding late night e-mails looking for the recipe. Breathe easily and send them a link here, I'm already on it.

Bedeviled Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think I have already confessed to you that Ryan and I watch an inordinate number of cooking shows? Particularly cooking contest shows like Dinner Impossible, The Next Iron Chef, Chopped and The Next Food Network Star? Anyway, we started watching Ten Dollar Dinners after Melissa D'Arabian won The Next Food Network star a few years ago. I watch it because her recipes tend to turn out really well. Ryan watches it so he can heckle. He takes exception to what they claim costs under $10. Recently she roasted a chicken with potatoes, a side of swiss chard and made a dessert with Nutella and called it under ten bucks. Around here the going rate for a jar of Nutella is about $6.00 (yes, I know there's some serious price gouging in these parts). Even if you're not using the whole thing, you still have to shell out the six bucks to get it. Also, she always talks about proteins going on sale. Maybe it's this whole East-Coast-big-city thing I've got working, but I've yet to see sale chicken or steak. The one thing I do have though, is the dollar vegetable bags at the produce stand in Reading Terminal Market. This week Ryan scored a cauliflower for $1.50. I know, not a dollar, but it was a huge whomping cauliflower. With the cauliflower and the pasta being the main ingredients in this dish, I'm pretty sure we've got a real candidate for Ten Dollar Dinners here.

BEDEVILED CAULIFLOWER MAC & CHEESE
I'm calling this bedeviled because the spicing is pretty much the same as if you wanted to devil something else, like chicken or eggs.

INGREDIENTS:
4 C chopped cauliflower
1/2 lb medium shell pasta
3 T butter
1 3/4 C shredded cheddar cheese (use bright orange if you'd like your bedeviling to turn out holiday colored)
1 T flour
1/2 C milk
1 T dijon
1 t paprika
pinch cayenne pepper
topping: 1/3 C breadcrumbs + 1-2 T melted butter

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 325F. Chop your cauliflower into shell sized florets. I use a steamer basket in a pot, and started from ice cold - it took about 15 minutes until tender. If you add the cauliflower when the water is boiling it shouldn't take nearly as long. Or maybe I just had a rough day. I'd check it starting at about 5 minutes.

Boil water for the pasta and cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. In the pasta pot (I used a huge one), melt the 3 T of butter. Add the flour and stir well. Cook for 2-3 minutes over low heat until the flour is golden. Slowly add the milk, stirring or whisking well to incorporate the flour. Continue to stir and add the dijon, paprika and cayenne. Then slowly add the cheese until the cheese is all melted in the sauce. Add the cooked shells to the sauce and toss gently. Finally add the steamed cauliflower and again toss gently until everything is coated in cheesy goodness. Pour into a greased casserole dish (I used a 1.5 quart dish). On the stove top melt the 1-2 tablespoons of butter for the topping. Add the breadcrumbs. Toss a few times until the breadcrumbs are golden and fluffy. Top the cauliflower and shells with the breadcrumbs and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Not as Nice as My Mother's Pommes Anna

When I was little, my mother would only make Pommes Anna for special occasions. It's this heavenly melt-in-your mouth conglomeration of potatoes and butter with a crispy crust. Amazing. But you had to wait for it. Maybe it would appear along side the roast beef at Christmas. Or perhaps if a special guest were in town. Because Pommes Anna was a lot of work. At least when I was little it was. Because back then, we had no fancy slicers. The potatoes had to be sliced by hand. And for a Pommes Anna, they have to be uniform thickness. Basically, a huge pain in the you-know-what. And then, they take a long time to cook. The potatoes must be allowed to reach that beautiful, melty state.

So, I don't have a lot of time. I have almost no special occasions. What I do have is a desperate need to eat Pommes Anna. And so I learned to adapt. I use my mandoline slicer to make quick work of the potatoes. I use my baby 6" cast iron to make a Pommes Anna that is just right for two people (yes it could go for four in a pinch, but people will want seconds). I start it on the stove to hasten cook time. And while the result is not as perfect as my mother's, it's still plenty delicious, and more weekday friendly.

POMMES ANNA
for two to four people
Do not attempt without a cast iron pan!!

INGREDIENTS:
2 large Idaho potatoes
salt and pepper to taste
butter - you call the exact amount, but we're talking tablespoons here, this is not a diet dish

DIRECTIONS:
Use a fancy slicing device to get nice thin, uniform rounds of potato. In your baby cast iron, throw down a healthy (at least a tablespoon) pat of butter. Turn the heat up to medium and make sure the butter melts and coats the bottom of the pan. Preheat your oven to 400 F.

Begin to assemble your Pommes Anna. This dish gets flipped when done, so the first slices in the pan should be pretty. Save your weird off-sized ones to hide in the middle layer. Overlap beautiful uniform round pieces, like so:
Then add another layer of potatoes, this time covering the empty places. After every 2 layers, add a pinch of salt and a sprinkle of pepper. After about every 3 layers, add another pat of butter, breaking it up with your fingers into little dabs, like so:I'm a little random in my administration of the salt, pepper and butter. Just as long as you use enough. It can get rather peppery though so don't use a lot, it shouldn't be overwhelming, despite what my picture shows. When you've layered off all the potatoes and butter, cover the pan with foil and pop it in the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a knife goes in with no resistance. Carefully slide a knife around the edge then flip onto a plate. This is where it matters if you have a good cast iron pan or not. Mine usually pops out. It has a gorgeous presentation provided that you watch it and don't leave it in one place on a gas burner for too long while doing other things. If you do that you get a burnt spot like me. Also, feel free to throw a bit of cheese between the layers, like parm or gruyere. But it really doesn't need anything. Just potatoes, butter, salt and some high heat.

You Must Do This To Your Potatoes

I'll admit it straight up, I'm a sucker for duck fat. Oh I realize that a few of you are probably thinking "weirdo," but I'm okay with that, because I'm going to assume it's because you haven't had enough duck fat. When I saw this recipe, I knew it was for me (and not just because I felt an immediate kinship with anyone who has 4 tubs of duck fat in his freezer). How could anyone resist taking a nearly perfect food - roast potatoes, and coating it in something heavenly?

These are crispy and rich on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Just so good.

DUCK FAT POTATOES
stolen from Wrightfood - I would just post a link, but I personally needed a few extra tips, so I'm going to rewrite the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
potatoes - I used 4 smallish red potatoes
duck fat* - I used 3-5 T
salt (as it pleases you)

*Where I am supposed to get this duck fat you ask? From a duck! You could probably buy it at some specialty store but I'm too cheap for that.

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 450 F. Place a large cast iron pan in the oven to heat up as well.
Peel the potatoes and cut into 1"or 1.5" chunks. The original recipe didn't specify, and I started with much bigger pieces and then they needed longer to boil, it was annoying. Place chunks in cold water and bring to a boil, boil for 5 minutes. My larger pieces were totally hard at this point, so I let them go another 2 minutes. You do not want them very soft. Just soft enough that a fork goes in without undue force. Drain. Return them to pan and gently toss around a few times. Take the hot pan out of the oven. Use a pot holder. Place about 2-3 tablespoons of duck fat into the pan. Allow it to melt, then add the potatoes. Gently toss the potatoes until completely coated in fat. Return the pan to the oven and roast potatoes for 20 minutes. Remove and recoat with fat (the original left adding more fat as optional, I needed to add about 2 more tablespoons). Return the pan to the oven and roast potatoes for 20 more minutes. Remove and sprinkle with salt. Mmmm.

Empanaditas

Do you have any friends that give you a culinary inferiority complex? Because as much as I consider myself a competent cook, I totally do. My internet friend Robin is incredible. Everything she makes for dinner sounds straight off a restaurant menu. I'm serious.

Gorgonzola-stuffed chicken breasts with fig-balsamic reduction and roasted asparagus,

Blue cheese-apple puff pastry tartlets, chicken roasted with olives and lemon, and quinoa with swiss chard and currants,

Pork roast with garlic, port, brown sugar, chile paste and five-spice powder,

Lamb chops with orange, rosemary and pistachio gremolata, honey-glazed root veggies (carrots, parsnips, turnips), and farro with fresh peas and radishes. Candied ginger shortbread for dessert.

Intimidating and insanely mouth-watering right? The trick with friends like this is not to give up, or become discouraged because you will never cook as well as they do. Oh no. The trick to to get them to give you their recipes. I've been hoping she'll start a food blog, because then I could read about all her delicious meals in more detail, but no such luck. Although, today I can share one of her recipes with you! These empanaditas are incredibly addictive, and it's a pretty flexible recipe. I changed the filling based on what I had readily available, and you can too. Of course, you can also assume Robin's way is the way and I'm sure you can't go wrong.

EMPANADITAS FILLED WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND GOAT CHEESE
Courtesy of Robin, who actually is a professional at this kind of thing. She has one cookbook out already and promises another one soon. But I'm not giving up hope on the food blog idea. Come on Robin! Do it!

first is my adaptation of the filling, followed by Robin's original

INGREDIENTS:
First you need a crust. Robin allows a store bought crust (you need the kind with both a top and bottom for enough dough). I make my own from my standard recipe, but empanaditas are a lot of work, so you may want to cheat.

My filling
1.5 pounds diced butternut squash (I dice it small, smaller than an inch)
olive oil
salt
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
2 T Mrs. Renfro's Green Salsa

Robin's Filling
1.5 pounds diced butternut squash
Olive oil spray
Salt
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
5 or 6 roasted, peeled, seeded pasilla chiles (I used canned this time), diced
3 (?) T hot salsa

If you'd like them to brown up nicely, like many pie adjacent items, they could do with an egg wash. - Clearly, I did not do this, my poor empanaditas in the photo suffered from lack of egg wash, and being cooked in a toaster oven, because as I may have mentioned before, IT'S HOT HERE and there was no way I was turning on the real oven.

Dipping Sauce (I made this up. Ryan likes to dip.)
1 C sour cream
2 T lime juice
2 t cumin
(mix well)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400. Spread squash on a baking pan, spray with olive oil spray, sprinkle with salt, roast for about 30 minutes until soft. Check it, and allow extra time. If you cut the squash bigger it will take longer to cook. Cool. Mix squash, chiles (if you're using Robin's filling), goat cheese and salsa together in a large bowl until well blended.

Roll out the pie crust until it's a bit thinner than for a regular pie. Then cut out 3" circles. Robin has a pastry cutter, but you know I just use a drinking glass turned upside down. You can roll up the excess dough, and roll it out to cut even more circles. Then roll out each circle a little bit more, and place a heaping tablespoon of filling on the top half. Fold over to form a little half moon shape and then use the tines of a fork to make the edges look nice (a step I neglected in the insane heat - don't skip it, it's pretty). If you're going to make them right away, you can baste the tops with a little egg thinned with a bit of water, then pop them in a 400 oven on a baking sheet for 20-25 minutes, until crisp and golden. You could also freeze them (before you do the egg wash). They cook up beautifully. This recipe will make about 40.

Serve with dipping sauce.

Chris Schlesinger's Killer Coleslaw

Summer may have officially started a few days ago, but to me, it's not summer until I'm on Cape Cod. Growing up, my family would pack up the car and head up to my grandparents' house. It was a long drive up the Jersey Turnpike, across the GW Bridge, sitting in the sweltering heat on the highway crawling through New Haven traffic and finally, seeing the Big Blue Bug in Providence, RI which meant the trip was almost over. When we got there it would mean a house stocked with lemon bars, or raspberry squares, warm hugs from my nana and silly songs from my grampy. It meant real, homecooked from scratch baked beans, ice cream for dessert and trips out to whatever our current favorite fried fish restaurant happened to be. Being in New England was (and is) just about the only place to get perfectly fried fish, topped with onion rings. But oh lordy, the coleslaw. It would sit there in it's little plastic cup, sad, sorry limp pieces of cabbage just swimming in gloppy white mayonnaise. Ugh. I would not touch it. I would try it, but it was always an unwelcome accompaniment. Until Chris Schlesinger changed my life. His coleslaw is tangy and creamy and crisp. It's perfect for any summer meal, whether you're on vacation or just stuck at home, reminiscing about your favorite place - where ever it may be.

CHRIS SCHLESINGER'S COLESLAW
although I strongly suspect my mother's responsible for the coleslaw mix

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 package coleslaw mix, but you have to add at least 2 more carrots, shredded on a box grater because the stuff is way short on carrots.
1/2 C Hellman's mayonnaise
a tad less than 3 T white vinegar
2T sugar
1 t celery seed
salt and freshly cracked pepper

gluten-free note: Hellman's mayonnaise is gluten-free, and distilled white vinegar is as well. As always, check your labels.

DIRECTIONS:
In a small bowl, blend mayo, vinegar, sugar, celery seed, salt and pepper. Mix well.
In a large bowl, combine coleslaw mix and grated carrots. Pour dressing over the mixture and blend well.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Mom's (and Grandmama's) Potato Salad

You will not likely be seeing many recipes from my Grandmama on this blog. She was beautiful, vivacious, and talkative, but cooking was not her thing. It didn't have to be. She was the youngest of thirteen children. Not all of them needed to learn to cook. She didn't particularly take to people asking about her cooking either. If anyone dared ask her What's for dinner?, she would reply Shit on a Shingle, which is not quite as rude as it sounds, since it's an old army term for chipped beef on toast. (Incidentally, if you ask my mother about SOS, she will tell you how to make it and even about the glass jar the beef comes in that you can repurpose as a juice glass, so consider yourself warned). At any rate, Grandmama's potato salad was a good deal better than shit on a shingle, possibly because this recipe was one also favored by her sisters (including ones that could and did cook well).

MARSHALL POTATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS:
4 medium boiling potatoes (I like the red ones or baby new potatoes)
white vinegar
4T mayo
1T Dijon mustard
6 chopped baby sweet gherkins
1t onion salt
1t garlic salt
2 hard boiled eggs
lots of pepper (see picture) and some salt to taste

gluten-free note: Check labels, but you should be able to get gf mustard and mayo.

DIRECTIONS:
Cut potatoes into large chunks or leave the babies whole. Bring water to a boil and cook about 12-15 minutes. This is not really science. It depends on whether the water was really at a boil and how large your chunks are. Use that army fork and test them after 12 minutes. If you cook them too much, they fall apart and then you have potato mush instead of potato salad.

Drain and let cool in colander for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with plain old white vinegar. I think this is to keep the potatoes white while they cool, but it could also be to add some tang to all that creamy mayo.
When cool, cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
It is important to wait until the potatoes are cool before assembling the salad or you are back to mush.
Place in a large bowl.
Cut hard boiled eggs into slightly larger cubes. Set aside.
Mix the mayo, mustard, gherkins and flavorings in a small bowl. Mix gently into the potatoes. When almost incorporated. Add the eggs. This is a very delicate operation because if you are too forceful or energetic with the tossing in of mayo, you will get- mush. again. Add salt and plenty of pepper to taste.