Wanna Come to Dinner...

New Schedule

2006-07-23T13:31:00.000-05:00

So I started a new job last Monday.
Due to a long commute, I am now out of the house for 11 1/2 hours a day.
Tim does not want me to give up the blog, but I cannot see my making time to get on-line to upload photos and posts very often.

So, we will keep making new things, though dinner time is now about 8pm, and I may even keep taking photos of things, but I fear keeping up with my own blog will go by the wayside to having time with the dog and Tim.

Thanks to Ivonne for encouraging me to try blogging, and thanks to all my church friends who have been my readership.... things may still appear now and then, but certainly not several times a week anymore.

Here are some things that were never written about:
Sole in Parchment:

Turkey Scallopini:

My Cookbook Awards, blog:

Cherry Coffee Cake

2006-07-15T14:08:00.000-05:00

I had not read Ivonne's blog in a few days but I came home on Wednesday to Tim holding out a print-out of a recipe from her blog for cherry coffee cake.

"I wanna make this... we have everything we need," he said excitedly

And in fact, we did, so perhaps you do as well...
you will end your baking with a cake topped with a super-rich-buttery-and dense crumb topping with cherries and pecans mixed in to-boot.

Should I be ashamed to say the entire thing was consumed by the two of us in 3 days?

recipe

The Traditional and Not-so-Traditional

2006-07-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

We spent the 4th of July at my parent's house in NJ. We made some of the traditional picnic-type fare, and also had some not-so-traditional things during our stay. Instead of spanning that week's worth of food across several posts, here is one-big Independence-week post:

The Traditional items included deviled eggs (my favorite form of the egg), created in the traditional manner with mayo, yellow mustard, some grated onion, and the necessary sprinkling of paprika.

I made a peach and cherry pie, which while perhaps not traditional, utilized the best fruits of the season, and I cut out some festive stars for the top crust!

On the non-traditional side of our week's food, my mom made a Turkey Muffaletta (for lack of a better description). She hollowed out a huge pumpernickel loaf of bread, smeared it with both mayo and dijon mustard, then stuffed it with turkey, spinach, onion and monterrey jack cheese. This stuffed loaf was wrapped in foil and baked till all those flavors mesh and the cheese had melted to hold it together. It was a great presentation, though not so pretty to eat.

Never did take a picture of our Pasta-Pesto-and Peas (another favorite of Ina's) which we made for a dinner we shared with my God-parents. My folks and my God-parents had just spent 20 days on a European river cruise together, and one of our reasons for going home was to hear stories and see pictures of their month-long adventures.

Kingsley traveled with us, and was a super boy in the car. He likes my folk's house cause it is quiet and he has wall-to-wall carpeting which provides traction for racing around! Like any good greyhound, the 2-minute bursts of energy are followed by a multi-hour nap (must get those 18 hours in each day)

She bought a Tart Pan

2006-07-13T12:40:00.000-05:00

After recently making several recipes in a springform pan that called for a tart pan, I finally bought a tart pan. I bought a 9" one and four mini-ones (4"). I used them for the first time after buying a big bag of cherries at the market, and calling a friend to come to dinner with her greyhound, Carla. (the photo is Carla and Kingsley each on a bed in our dining room)

I kinda made this recipe up as I went along, but the tart dough recipe came from Martha's Baking Handbook (a recent purchase after paging through it in every bookstore I went in since February)

Tart dough:
6Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
2 tsp heavy cream

Beat the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the egg yolks one-at-a-time. Add half of the flour and mix until just combined. Add the remaining flour, salt and the cream and mix till just combined. Dump onto a piece of plastic wrap and press into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours, or freeze for future use.

From here on out I made up what I did as I went along. I read several of Martha's tart recipes and Ina's, and proceeded from there. I rolled out the dough and pressed it in to each of the 4 small tart pans. I pricked the bottom with a fork and froze them for 15 minutes. I preheated my oven to 350. I covered each tart shell with foil and weighed them down with beans and blind baked the crusts for 10 minutes. While they baked Tim pitted cherries for me, and I mixed them with about 1 Tbsp flour and a couple tsp of sugar and some sliced almonds. To slightly cooled tart shells, I added my cherries and almonds, and baked them for another 15 minutes. After the tart cooled I removed them from the pans, and I glazed them with some melted apricot jelly, thinned with a bit of water. I just painted that mixture over all the surfaces with my pastry brush to try to make a shiny end-product.

They were pretty good. I certainly have tons of things to try, but I did like the more shortbread-like tart dough, versus a light and flakey pie dough. I will be excited to try some savory tarts for appetizers or first courses in my new mini-tart pans too!

Chocolate Cake with Mint Buttercream and Chocolate Frosting

2006-07-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

We've been visiting my parents for the past week, so while food has been prepared, and even some photos taken... they are still tucked away in the camera, and no posts have been written. In the meantime, here is a rich dessert to tide you over:

This ended up being a super combo, so for those who like chocolate and mint, consider just a layer of mint, instead of a potentially overwhelming amount if you would have frosted the whole thing.

The cake and chocolate frosting are from this post and the mint buttercream is from Chockylit.

Lemon Risotto with Tequilla Lime Shrimp

2006-07-04T15:20:00.000-05:00

I have never made risotto before, but it has always been on the list of things to try at some point. For some reason that urge hit me over the first weekend of summer heat. Note to self... save risotto for cool crisp evenings when you will be thrilled to have to stand over a hot stove for 30 minutes!

But this recipe for lemon-parsely risotto was such a summery sounding dish, so it was made on a summery evening.

From Real Simple, May 2006

3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup grated Parmesean
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup flat leaf parsely, chopped

Melt 2 Tbsp of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oinon and cook for 3 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Reduce heat, add the wine and cook, stirring frequently until the liquid is absorbed. Add the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and wiating until it is absorbed before adding more. This should take about 30 minutes total. The rice should be tender but still slightly firm. Remove from heat. Add the lemon jucie, salt, pepper, Parm and the remaining butter and stir until the butter melts. Spoon into individual bowls and top with the lemon zest and parsely.

I found the lemon zest and parsely to be key ingredients, and actually enjoy the left-overs more, as they had more zest than the original servings I doled-out.

Even though mine absorbed the stock in the 30 minutes, I felt that the rice needed more cooking time. It was a very dense dish (that is a lot of cheese) but I really liked it and will make it again. I am excited to try other risottos, as the flavor pairings are virtually endless, and what main course would not go with a think and creamy rice?

But this does requires all of your attention, so you will need a sous-chef to prepare the rest of your meal. Fortunatelty, I had Tim to peal, marinate, skewer and grill some shrimp to serve with our summery risotto.

Choir Appreciation Dinner

2006-06-30T14:18:00.000-05:00

I am ashamed that it has taken me several weeks to write about a food event that I look forward to all year long... our Choir Appreciation Dinner.

As an incentive for members of the choir to be faithful, our choirmaster Dan prepares a 5 course, wine-with-every-course, meal for all who have attended 80% or more of the rehearsals and services throughout the year.

I have been fortunate to make the cut off each of the three years I have sung with this choir. Tim assures me that working in the kitchen (what some of the less than 80%-ers do as "penance") is just as fun... but I will continue to strive to reserve my seat at the banquet table.

This year's menu was a trip around the country, with several things coming from Dan's home state of Indiana. After our appetizer of pistachios and Left-Hand Sawtooth Ale from Colorado , we moved on to what will now be the famous fried biscuits from the Nashville House, in Nashville, IN. Umm, these are not biscuits, but much more like donut holes. They are crispy on the outside, soft and flaky on the inside (this sort of thing happens when you put the dough into an inordinate amount of Crisco!), and were served with the best apple butter I have ever had (and I am not a fan of apple butter). We had these not only as a first course, but served throughout dinner, which is a dangerous way to be served "bread".

The wines this year were perhaps my favorite in memory from meals past... the red from Spain particularly, (Codice Tempranillo 2003 – Rioja, Spain) and I was excited to see a bottle tucked into our stash of kitchen supplies to be brought home with us.

Other courses included a salad of romaine with raspberries, pecans, and brie, (mmm, brie) with a honey mustard vinaigrette, a fun curried shrimp couscous with peas (served with Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc 2005 – Stellenbosch, South Africa), and the main course was coque-a-Dan, chicken marinated with both red wine and Jack Daniels served over brown rice and a healthy side of asparagus.

Dessert was a peach kuchen accompanied by vanilla ice cream, a recipe that Dan was given by a host mom when his college orchestra toured through Lancaster County, PA a "few" years ago.

18 of us made the 80% cut-off this year (out of a choir approaching 50 members) as well as the 10-or-so folks helping out in the kitchen... so Dan certainly breaks the bank each year to feed us. But I think he has figured out what strong motivation food can be.

Thanks!

Guacamole

2006-06-29T08:47:00.000-05:00

This is a recipe that Tim found on the Wild Oats web site, and it has quickly become our favorite version:

3 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
Juice of 1 lime
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp minced garlic
4 dashed Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp sugar
salt to taste

Mash (I use a pastry blender) the avocados in a bowl, until slightly lumpy. Add the lime juice, tomato, cilantro, onions and garlic. Add the Tabasco, cumin and sugar and salt. Mix well and sample to add whatever you need (we often like more lime juice). Cover and let stand at room temp or in the fridge for an hour to let the flavors blend.
Enjoy!

Here is our kitchen set-up while we were making this dip... as I say in our "about us" description, we set up on each side of the island with our own cutting boards and chop away.

Peach Crisp

2006-06-27T14:34:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't like a good baked-fruit dessert? Well, my poor husband cannot eat berries, so when all those beautiful strawberries, blueberries and raspberries make their way to the farmer's market, I can only daydream about creating a raspberry pie or strawberry tart.

But, we both love peaches, especially in pie or crisp form. I had bought some peaches to eat this week for lunch, but then Whole Foods had Georgia peaches when we went to buy meats this Sunday afternoon. Not only were they Georgia peaches, they were soft and ripe... perfect to use that day. So a handful were purchased to be peeled and sliced into a crisp.

Place 4 cups of peeled and sliced peaches into a lightly greased 8" pan.

Top with a mixture of 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup quick oats, 3/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg (more if you like nutmeg--I am a nutmeg minimalist) and 1/3 cup butter cut into the dry mixture.

Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes until the topping is browned and the fruit is bubbling!

Great for dessert...and breakfast the next morning!

Kingsley's "Gotcha" Day

2006-06-26T10:25:00.000-05:00

When Tim and I started this blog he said, "does it have to be only about food, or can I post about music or Kingsley if I want?" and I thought, "of course... we can do whatever in the world we want to do!"

On the greyhound forum we read, they refer to the anniversary of your adopting your dog as their "gotcha" day.

We adopted Kingsley a year ago this past weekend. He was a broken-leg-dog, the injury which ended his racing career, and it has been amazing to watch his healing over the past year. When we first got him he would only walk on that leg, but now he uses it for everything from running to climbing stairs, and the muscles have come back to his right thigh.

He's still a shy boy, but is so much braver these days.

After having him in our life, we will always have a greyhound (or two, some day).

I had a painting done of Kingsley and this is him checking it out:

We love our dog!

Job Offer

2006-06-22T20:27:00.000-05:00

Today I officially accepted a job offer at Gene Logic in Cambridge, MA.

Tim's long-time friend Paul and his now fiancé Colleen had brought two bottles of Champagne with them on New Year's Eve, and this one had never been opened... until tonight.

Along with our celebratory Champagne, Tim bought some cooked lobster tails from the Ipswich Shellfish Company and we had homemade lobster rolls. Butter-grilled rolls, with a mix of lobster meat, a little mayo, lemon juice and parsley.

Let the celebrations begin!

Pint-Glass Bread

2006-06-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

One of the editions of Saveur that we took from our stay at the Wayside Inn on the Cape had a cute story about a young man who went off to the University in Dublin, Ireland, and complained to his folks that the bread at school was bad and that he "would starve."
Dad suggested he bake his own bread and said, "I knew that every Irish student had a pint glass, which he's brought home from the pub, so I invented a recipe for the simplest bread in the world, one whose ingredients he could measure out with a pint glass. And I told him he could mix it in the wash basin if he didn't have a bowl. He didn't starve after all."

Pint-Glass Bread

1 pint glass (2 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
1 pint glass (2 ½ cups) whole wheat flour
Enough baking soda to coat the bottom of the glass (3/4 tsp)
Enough salt to coat the bottom of the glass (3/4 tsp)
Enough butter to coat the bottom of the glass (1 Tbsp)
¾ pint glass (1 ¾ cups) buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375.
Sprinkle 1tsp all-purpose flour on a baking sheet and set aside.
Combine flours, soda and salt in a large bowl and mix well with your hands to combine.
Add butter, breaking it up into small pieces with your fingers, and mix it into the flour mixture. Make a well in the flour-butter mixture and add the buttermilk. Slowly incorporate with your hands until a ball forms, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a neat ball (without kneading)
Transfer dough to the baking sheet and press gently to form a 7 1/2" wide round. Slash a cross 1/2" deep across the entire top of the loaf with a knife and dust top of loaf with 2 tsp flour.
Bake until bread is light golden and a tap on the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow, about 70 minutes. Wrap bread in a kitchen towel and prop against a window-sill and allow to cool for about 2 hours. Slice and serve at room temperature or toasted, with a slathering of Irish butter, if you like.

The dough did not come together like I thought it would... it was quite sticky, yet adding additional flour just caused it to separate which made it difficult to form into one cohesive ball without some kneading (which he warned me not to do). It baked in less than 70 minutes. It produced a dense, but not too-dense bread, which was great toasted with a little butter or peanut butter. While definitely different than a yeast bread, I would consider making this again (and see if I can get it to come together better)

Orange Marmalade and Garlic Fish

2006-06-19T07:49:00.000-05:00

This is one of the few actual original recipes you will see from me. I always say that I am not a chef, cause I don't create my own recipes... I just try a lot of other's, so that I have a good stash of worthwhile recipes.

I am a big fan of orange marmalade. I'm not sure when I developed a taste for it...I assume through my mother who has always been a big fan of toast and good fruit preserves.

I'm also not sure when I was first prompted to put orange marmalade on fish and bake it... but I know I did it even back in my single-days in Savannah. I dollop a generous amount of marmalade onto the top of any white fish (haddock, cod, scrod), and then sprinkle chopped garlic on top of that. Bake at 350-375. It yields a sweet and spicy combo when it's done.

Double-Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

2006-06-14T15:08:00.000-05:00

When Tim and I spent a weekend at the Wayside Inn in Chatham, MA we took some complimentary issues of Food & Wine and Saveur from their library. This recipe came from the February 2006 issue of Food & Wine, and we made it as a decadant dessert to serve after our light and summery meal of pasta with smashed peas.

This is the recipe as I made it, which is an alteration of the original recipe:

First you make a chocolate cookie crust:

4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
8 oz chocolate wafer cookies (from a 9 oz package - enjoy the other ounce as a snack), finely ground (2 cups)

Preheat the oven to 375. In a medium glass bowl combine the chocolate and butter and microwave at high in 20-second intervals until the chocolate is melted. Stir well, then stir in cookie crumbs. Press mixture over the bottom and 1 1/2 inches up the sides of a 9" springform pan. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, or until set... the crust will continue to firm as it cools.

Meanwhile, make the peanut butter filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup well-chilled heavy cream
salt

Beat the cream cheese with the peanut butter, sugar and vanilla until blended.

In another bowl whip the chilled cream until firm.

Fold one-third of the cream into the peanut butter mixture to loosen it, then fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Spoon the filling into the crust, smoothing the surface. Sprinkle lightly with salt and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.

Make the chocolate topping:
4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a medium glass bowl, combine the chocolate with the heavy cream and microwave in 20-second intervals until the chocolate is melted and the cream is hot. Stir the chocolate mixture until blended, them let cool to barely warm, stirring occasionally.
Spread the chocolate topping over the peanut butter filling and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with shopped peanuts. Carefully run a shrp knife around the edge of the pie crust to loosen it, them remove the springform ring. Serve pie chilled, or slightly cooler than room temperature.
When making slices, run your knife under hot water between each cut.

In the original recipe they want you to use chunky peanut butter for the filling, and then you add another 3/4 cup of chopped peanuts to that mixture. I did not think I wanted a chunky texture to my pie filling, so I used creamy peanut butter and did not add any extra peanuts to the filling. I did like the chopped peanuts on top of the pie though, so wonder if I would like them in the filling... might have to try that next time.
The pie's consistency was much softer and creamier than I expected... it does not get hard in the fridge, so we did like it colder than room temperature. We and our guests kindly tested both temperatures for you, our blog reader's interest!

Pasta with Smashed Peas

2006-06-12T14:31:00.000-05:00

The April 2006 edition of Real Simple had a recipe for pasta with smashed peas and ricotta cheese. It looked pretty... yellowy noodles with white ricotta and bright green peas and chives... and it sounded like a nice summer meal. Well, last week we had one day reach 87 degrees. Tim brought up the fans from the basement, and Kingsley had one aimed at him all day. Within 2 days the rains came back and the high for Saturday was 57 degrees!

Unfortunately during the meantime between summer arriving, and winter returing, we made dinner plans with friends who are getting married at the end of the month. Thought how nice it would be to have a light, summery meal with a fruity riesling.

Well, we put on our layers of clothing and had our summery meal, despite the cold rain outside. I thought this was a very yummy, light meal, and it will definitely be made again as the summer acutually progresses.

Since this is a recipe of few ingredients, I made homemade pasta to serve with it, as there is something extra-special about homemade pasta.

Pasta with Smashed Peas, Real Simple April 2006

1 lb pappardelle, tagliatelle, fettuccine or linguine
1 16 oz package of frozen peas, thawed
3/4 cup ricotta
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp chopped chives
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, pulse the peas in a food processor or blender until chopped but not pureed. Add 1/2 cup of the ricotta, season with salt and pepper, and pulse to combine. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/3 cup of the pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot. Add the pea puree and reserved pasta water and toss. Divide the pasta among 4 individual bowls. Top with the remaining ricotta, a sprinkle of chives (which I found to be a crucial flavor addition), and a drizzle of olive oil.

Homemade pasta

2006-06-10T13:05:00.000-05:00

"Why in the world does she have a photo of an aerobic step in her kitchen at the top of this post?!?"
"Ah, the better to knead your pasta dough!"

I am not a tall woman... I think they say my 5 foot 3 inches is kinda average, but I know I shop in the petite department as much as possible, and have to use a step stool to reach things in the cabinets above the stove, which Tim can just reach right in and retrieve.

I had the brainstorm after making pasta one time that it would be so much easier on my shoulders if I had a lower table at which to knead... or if I could be taller... and my conveniently adjustable aerobic step called my name from upstairs.

Since adopting Kingsley a year ago, I no longer work out, but take him for walks, so the step has been underutilized as of late... so how convenient to be able to use it as a safe way to make myself about 5" taller and lead to much easier kneading of rubbery pasta dough.

I suppose I should leave you with a recipe if you'd want to make your own pasta, but I fear that I have never made it the same way twice! I have a Marcella Hazen book, and her measurements are in grams, so that has never been what I turn to except for the pictures and recipes for sauces, as we do not own a kitchen scale (yet). The back of the semolina flour bag I have has its own recipe, which I think yields a too-dry dough, but at least it is in "cups". I also vary the types of flour I use. All semolina is too dry and rough, all white flour is ok, but 2 cups white and 1/2 cup semolina is kinda my regular for egg pasta. To the flour add 3 eggs and warm water if needed. I mix my pasta in a food processor to bring it together, then knead it for a full 10 minutes.
I've also made whole wheat pasta, which requires extra moisture but made what I thought was a pretty tan dough.

Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least an hour before rolling it out and cutting it.

Oh, and while they say you can roll and cut by hand... I cannot imagine doing so... use a pasta maker... or just go buy some fresh pasta from the supermarket!

Arugula Salad with Grilled Red Onion

2006-06-08T07:50:00.000-05:00

Over Memorial Day weekend Tim and I made a stand-by recipe for blackened salmon sandwiches. While it did not dawn on me to blog about them (which I will have to do, as that is a super sandwich) I am going to tell you about the salad we made with the leftover arugula.

Now that we've had arugula in the house for the past few days, I think it may need to become a household salad staple. It has such a great peppery flavor that adds so much dimension to an otherwise plain ol' salad.

We knew we did not want the leftover arugula to go to waste, so Tim perused at least three cookbooks and left them open for me to review to three arugula-based salads. We chose one from Frank Stitt's Southern Table which was for arugula (and other lettuces) with grilled red onion, parmesan, and a shallot vinaigrette. Since we had all that was required in-house, and it sounded like a yummy combo, that was the salad-experiment of choice.

To arugula and other greens (we used bibb lettuce), you add a grilled red onion slice and drizzle with a simple vinaigrette of balsamic and red wine vinegars with olive oil and a minced shallot, add a shaving of parmesan over the top and there you are. It was tart dressing and peppery salad and sweet onion... a good combo all around.

This went well one night with left-over steak and a second with left over spinach and ricotta tart along with a nice Shiraz.

From Frank Stitt's Southern Table: Arugula Salad with Red Onion and Parmigiano-Reggiano

serves 4

1 shallot, minced
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, sliced into rings about 1/2" thick
2 large bunches arugula, trimmed, washed, and dried
1/2 cup each of watercress, Bibb lettuce, and frisee, trimmed, washed, and dried (optional) (we just used Bibb)
4 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano, shaved into shards with a vegetable peeler

To make vinaigrette, in a small bowl, combine the shallot with vinegars, a pinch of salt, and pepper to taste, and let macerate for 15 minutes. Slowly whisk in the olive oil, taste and adjust seasoning.
Heat a medium skillet over high heat until hot. Add the onion and cook, turning once, until charred and just tender, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate to cool.
Combine the arugula, mixed lettuces, and charred onion in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Toss with the vinaigrette and divide among four salad plates. Scatter some of the Parmigiano over each serving.

Chinese Chicken Salad

2006-06-06T14:03:00.000-05:00

Ina Garten is our favorite chef. I like to point out that I was a fan of hers before she became a FoodTV star. She was the chef-in-residence at Martha Stewart Living for a year--I believe 1999. While I found each of Martha's recipes to involve one item that I could not obtain, all of Ina's recipes used "normal" ingredients--and every recipe I tried turned into a success. I subsequently have purchased all of her cookbooks, and it is she who I turn to when a guest is coming, or I want to try something new that I know will end up working. She has never let me down.
It was Tim who first flipped to, and wanted to try, her Chinese chicken salad. The first batch that was ever made at our house, for a time when my parents were visiting, was made completely by Tim. We have never made her full recipe (as she claims it serves 12--- probably more), but have found we like to halve all the ingredients except the asparagus, since you can never have too much asparagus!

We put this together one evening before having a house guest for the weekend. Tim roasted the chicken in the morning before he went off to teach lessons, then that evening he shredded the chicken and sliced the peppers while I boiled the asparagus and made the dressing. We added the scallions and sesame seeds when we served it, as nobody likes wilted scallions!
recipe: link

Sorry there is no photo of the end product... we were too occupied eating it to remember to snap its photo!

This is great on its own, served over lettuce, or even in a sandwich.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

2006-06-05T08:47:00.000-05:00

Here is a recipe that I have used for more than a year now...
Up until that point, while I always enjoyed a lemon poppeyseed muffin, I had never made them myself. I did a google search and found a recipe from the 1802 Bed and Breakfast in Maine which included lemon juice and lemon zest, so I figured it should have a great lemony flavor.

This recipe creates a muffin with a distinct lemon flavor, and they last well stored in an air-tight container, so a batch of 12 can last as long as you can refrain yourself from eating them all at once with a pot of tea.

recipe: link

The recipe calls for half & half, and while I used that the first time I made the recipe, I have since just used milk. And the 15 minutes in which they think they should bake, has never been enough time for mine... so you'll want to watch them.

Wine Recommendation

2006-06-02T08:18:00.000-05:00

Tim and I have been learning more about wines over the past year or so. The music director of the Bay Colony Brass, a brass choir in which Tim plays (shameless plug -- come to our free concert Sat. 6/10 -- see the website for details), was shocked to learn that we were so "in" to food, yet ignorant about wines. Fortunately for us, that has led to Jerry bringing us bottles to try as well as making recommendations for us.

Due to the excellent service and weekly wine tastings at our local wine shop, we have become much more adventurous and willing to try new things. Living in the northeast with its 8-month winters has allowed us the time to try many bold reds which warm the body while the wind is howling. In February, Tim and I spent a weekend at the Wayside Inn on Cape Cod. The wine special the evening we ate in their restaurant was a 2004 Shiraz from The Wishing Tree, a winery in Australia. We each enjoyed a huge glass by the fire in their dining room.

A few weeks ago while at Beverly Wine and Beer, we saw they had the Wishing Tree Shiraz so we bought two bottles. We opened one this weekend to serve with the spinach ricotta tart and steak. It was so good and smooth and easy to drink, despite our starting to enter spring/summer. We think this is a Shiraz which can be enjoyed year-round, not just on cold winter nights.

I am so glad we have a second bottle to enjoy... maybe even tonight when we have steak and tart left-overs!

Spinach and Ricotta Tart

2006-06-01T09:06:00.000-05:00

Over the Memorial Day weekend, our friend Anna from Minnesota came for a visit -- she's another friend from Spoke Folk, a music and bicycling ministry. Before coming, she had "demanded" to be guinea-pigged while she was here, and we chose to test a spinach and ricotta tart from a recent issue of Cottage Living magazine.

This was my first time using puff pastry, and I was not as pleased with its "puffiness" as I had expected. I know that too much handling can have this effect, but I'm quite sure this wasn't the problem -- perhaps I was overly gentle with it. But, the sides did not puff up as much as was necessary, some of the tart filling leaked out while it was baking, and the bottom crust was not cripsy. Maybe this is "the nature of the beast" since I did put very moist filling on top of it, but I also wonder if it would stay crisper if the oven were hotter than the recommended 350 degrees (which, to me, seemed too low to make pastry puff appropriately.)

The end product was fine...we all thought it needed some more "oomph" and felt that some sauteed onions would be a welcomed addition, as would some additional pepper and/or another herb. I also would consider making this in pie-dough-type pastry instead of the puff pastry, and seeing if that gave me a more desired crust on the bottom of the tart.

We had the leftovers for dinner last night (with a soon-to-be-blogged-about arugula salad), and it was much better -- perhaps because it aged gracefully, but more likely because we reheated it on a pizza stone, which we probably should have used the first time.

recipe: link

Stuffed Pork Loin

2006-05-30T14:56:00.000-05:00

Tim recently played with the Dudley House Orchestra at Harvard. His folks come over for the weekend to attend the concert, so we decided to make a pork dish, as that is Tim's dad's favorite.
A dear friend from Spoke Folk had given us Frank Stitt's Southern Table cookbook two Christmases ago when he stayed with us.
While we had read much of the cookbook, until now we had only made one beverage from the book. We happened to have a pork loin in the freezer, so this recipe was just calling to us.

Frank tells us to cut a slice through the center of the pork loin and then use a sharpening steel, or a wooden spoon handle to stretch out the opening. We found that the sliced hole did not really want to stretch out, and we had more luck just cutting a larger slit through the center in several directions.

We had way-too much stuffing, so next time we will try to make a larger opening within the pork. But we just baked the extra stuffing along with the pork this time.
This was a pretty dish to serve.

We had wanted to sauté some broccoli rabe, but none of the 3 or 4 stores Tim went to had any... so broccoli became the veggie-of-the-day. Add a few oven roasted potatoes, and this was our supper.

We will definitely make this again... it took a bit of prep (the pork as well as the stuffing) but then you just stick it in the oven and let it be... and you can go sit with your guests for a while.

We halved the recipe, as we had a 2lb pork loin, here are the original amounts:
½ pound slab bacon, chopped (we could not find slab, so used some thick-cut)
1 large onion, 1" diced
2 cups day-old French bread, 1" cubes
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 to 4 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Pepper to taste
4 to 6 pound boneless pork loin

Place bacon and onions in roasting pan and roast at 450 about 15-20 minutes until bacon just turning brown. Stir once or twice during roasting time.
Place bread, garlic and rosemary in a bowl, pour onion and bacon over and allow to cool.
To prepare the pork loin, insert a long knife through pork lengthwise, and turn knife in a circle to create a slit through its center. By whatever means necessary, expand that hole as much as possible without tearing through the pork. Stitt suggests a sharpening steel, or a wooden spoon handle, I used the steel some, and continued to make more slices to expand the cavity.
Fill the cavity with the stuffing mixture. (He says to re-tie the pork loin, but I did not and had no problems with it holding its shape.)
Place the stuffed pork in the roasting pan, roast at 450 about 25 minutes.
Lower the heat to 325 and cook 20 to 30 minutes longer until a thermometer reads 145 degrees. Let it rest about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Lemon-Oregano Chicken

2006-05-26T11:13:00.000-05:00

As you will soon notice, we do a fair amount of Food Network watching. In fact, a Food Network camera crew was at our rehearsal dinner (Food Finds). Some we watch strictly for entertainment (Emeril) some for a laugh (Rachael Ray) some for the science geek inside me (Alton Brown) some to watch the hosts flirt with each other (Tyler and Jaq) and some to remind us of when we lived in Savannah (Paula Deen).

We admire Sara Moulton, but I am not sure we ever jumped onto the internet to download one of her recipes. Tim presented me with this one the other night and it served us well for a mid-week meal. Tim prepped the marinade and chicken before he left to give lessons and then I sliced the potatoes when I got home.

I like the idea behind this meal... marinate your meat, then add other things and let it all bake together. This was just a combo of chicken and potatoes, but I think you could add onions, a red pepper and chopped asparagus and really have a one-pot-meal.

The flavor was "nice". Lemon and oregano was a nice combo, but it was nothing more than "nice". Tim thought the potatoes were too lemony, and I just thought it would be better with more stuff mixed in with it.

So while there was nothing "wrong" with it, this recipe has already been tossed into the recycle bin, so I am not even including the recipe.

This blog was supposed to be about our triumphs and failures... so this is one of the latter.

Tim just brought home a cookbook by Sara Moulton from the library for us to look through... see if we can find something else of hers to try.

Better 1 or 2?

2006-05-23T10:10:00.000-05:00

After our visit to the Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, I came home inspired to make cupcakes and test some chocolate frostings.

A month ago I had tested 2 cupcake recipes from Cupake Bakeshop, and found I preferred the recipe from Hershey's that I had used previously... so I will stick with that for both cupcakes and cakes in the future.

The two chocolate frosting recipes I tried this weekend had each at one point been deemed the frosting recipe in our house, so I thought I had best make them side-by-side for a definitive test.

Although Tim feared that we would each like a different frosting better, we did come to a consensus as to which will be the chocolate frosting recipe in our house (at least for now). Both are really good... so we won't tell you which one we chose. Try them for yourself and select the chocolate flavor you desire for your baked goods. (And, if you really want to know which we chose, just ask.)

Cupcake Bakeshop Fudge Frosting recipe: link
Hershey's cake and frosting recipes: link

Happy testing!

Savannah

2006-05-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

Tim and I just spent 5 days in Savannah, Georgia. I had lived there for 3 years (Tim and I about 1.5 years as a married couple) so it feels kinda like going home when we are able to go back.
We saw old friends and ate at old favorites, and we also tried new places that were not there when we were.

Two new (and very different) bakeries have opened since we left in 2001. At the first, we had lunch with our friends who run the music ministry at Christ Church. This was B. Matthews, right on Bay Street in downtown Savannah. Tim and I split a fried green tomato sandwich which was super. I have no photos, as I have not yet built up the nerve to take photos inside restaurants! We selected our desserts from their cases of baked goods -- I had a chocolate walnut bar which looked better than it tasted, and Tim had a big, gooey, honey-pecan sticky bun.

We tried a second bakery for our last lunch before departing. I had heard of the Back in the Day Bakery from its blog. This place is charming and bright and happy, and it was topped off by our getting to chat with Cheryl (an owner and blog author) for a while to discuss this world of food blogs. We arrived just at 11, when they start serving lunch, and were pleased to see a steady stream of folks come through as time went on. Tim and I split a huge (could not have eaten the whole thing alone) Jambon, Beurre, et Fromage... ham, gruyere, and butter on a baguette. Mmmm. We so wanted to take a loaf of one of their breads home, but we knew we did not have enough room left in our bag to carry it. There was a beautiful selection of cupcakes to choose from (look at their web site) and we shared an "old fashioned" cupcake (vanilla with a bright pink frosting) and a "chocolate heaven" which was as good its name suggests. I am not a frosting fan... and this was excellent chocolate frosting... made me want to get home to try the 2 fudge frosting recipes that I have wanted to test in my continual search for the best frosting. We left with a bag containing a molasess cookie and a chocolate chip cookie for our plane trip. (Ok, so the molasess cookie did not make it to the plane, but we were delayed for several hours...plus, we all know that there are no calories on vacation...)

We have decided we can declare the Savannah Tea Room as our favorite restaurant in Savannah. The first time we went there (1999) Tim leaned across the table and whispered, "Is it bad that I really like it here?" While some might think it is a "girly" place to relax over a pot of tea and scones, they have always impressed us with their soups and simple yet somehow complex sandwiches. They make the best egg salad, perhaps just due to the addition of chives. I've had a sweet and juicy heirloom tomato sandwich in the past too. This time I had a grilled shrimp salad with mushrooms, pears and feta (note to self; pears and feta are a great combo). Tim had pepper encrusted tuna over greens with roasted peppers. Their soup-of-the-day was a cream of broccoli, which was not really creamy, but very good. For the first time ever I drank 2 pots of tea! Their house special was called Emporer's Bride and was described as a black tea with pineapple, orange peel, thistle, and qunice. It arrived first by its fragrance, and the flavor matched its aroma. I brought loose tea home for some friends and myself to enjoy.

We are fortunate to have friends who have housed us the last 2 times we have been down, allowing us a true "home" base.

We were taken for a boat ride one afternoon and floated by Paula Deen's new home. Alas, she and her boys did not come out on her porch to wave hello... There was a line of people wrapped around the corner each time we passed her restaurant. While I do not believe the locals go to eat there, she has certainly expanded Savannah's tourism, as the local tour company even offers a Paula tour now!

After 4+ years we still very much miss Savannah. We'd love to offer our recomendations if y'all are ever heading down there.

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

2006-05-17T08:38:00.000-05:00

Tim and I have been in Savannah for the past 5 days, so while I get a Savannah post written here is a "southern inspired" breakfast:

I have recently been making whole-wheat biscuits on Saturday mornings as a quick, warm breakfast. We had some buttermilk in the house, so in a quest to come up with ways to use it, I decided to make a southern-inspired breakfast of sausage gravy served over biscuits (in this case, all white flour).

The biscuits turned out as they were supposed to, light and fluffy (not be confused with eggs made by Veggie Tales), and the gravy was yummy too; however, the photos of said gravy came out looking rather unappealing, so you can be tempted by the biscuit, and try your own gravy made with a basic white sauce.

The biscuits, from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook
(Whenever possible, please buy books from your local independent book seller or used book store. I will only link to Amazon when I cannot find a suitable link to show you a particular book)

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)
2 cups flour (for the above I used all white, but 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white makes a great biscuit)
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk (you can use regular milk; you may also need a bit more)

Preheat oven to 450F
Cut butter into flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder until it is fine crumbs (you could also do this in a food processor, and pulse until coarse crumbs)
Stir in milk until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, dough will be soft and sticky
Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead lightly to bring it all together.
Roll into a 1/2"-thick disk and cut into 2-3" rounds.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Will yield about 1 dozen.

Cinco de Mayo

2006-05-08T19:17:00.000-05:00

As Tim put it to our friends who came up for a little Cinco-de-Mayo fiesta, "we're offering the rhyming food combo of margaritas and fajitas.”
The reason Mexicans celebrate Cinco de Mayo is that in 1862, 4,000 Mexican soldiers, armed with machetes and a stampeding herd of cattle, surprisingly destroyed the French army of 8,000 who were trying to take over Mexico for Napoleon III.
I am not of Mexican descent, but I do have a fondness for Mexican food, so in recent years we have used the 5th of May as a good excuse to make margaritas and eat chips and salsa.

I believe I had my first-ever margarita on our honeymoon, which happened to be not on Cozumel, but on Cape Cod. Harwich has an authentic, and terrific, Mexican restaurant called Ay! Caramba which we hit every time we to go to the Cape. Tim and I make pretty good and powerful margaritas at home following the recipe from Ina Garten in her second book. I have found the key is a little extra lime juice than what is called for.

Salud!

"Real Margaritas" from The Barefoot Contessa Parties

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2Tbps freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup Triple Sec
1 cup White Tequila (cheap tequila makes the best margaritas according to Ina)
3 cups ice

salt for rim if desired

Add lime juice, lemon juice, Triple Sec and ice in a blender and puree. Add tequila and process a few seconds more. Serves 6

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2006-05-03T13:37:00.000-05:00

I really like to bake. Almost any time, whether it is after a long day at work, or a quiet Saturday afternoon...if there are butter, sugar and eggs in the house, I am ready to bake.

This past weekend I had a great excuse to bake something simple yet satisfying. I was able to see a college friend, whom I had not seen since he graduated 13 years ago, star in musical. Doubly fun was seeing several other alums and having it be a surprise to Steve that we were all coming to see his performance.
I wanted to take something to give him after the show, and was not sure if flowers were what one gives to a male performer. But what one cannot say with flowers, one can definitely say with cookies!

So a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies was made. This is one of my stand-bys, as far as cookie recipes go. It's based on the recipe you can find on the lid of Quaker Oats, but instead of 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 cup of raisins, I halve the cinnamon and add chocolate chips. And this batch even got 2 types of chips... some standard Tollhouse semi-sweet, plus some Ghirardelli 60% cocoa bittersweet chips. Tim and I are both big dark chocolate fans... and these dark chips have become a new favorite not only in baking (they make great fudge frosting) but also right out of the bag!

As with most cookies, I bake them till medium rare, so that they stay moist and gooey. These normally stay soft when stored in an air-tight container.

The recipe: From the lid of Quaker Oats

1 cup butter (I use Cabot unsalted)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon (in original recipe, I use ~1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned--I use quick)
1 cup raisins (in original recipe-- I use chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350F
Beat butter and sugars until creamy (you can't do this step too long)
Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla

Combine flour, soda, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl

Add the combined dry ingredients
Stir in oats and chips (or raisins)

Drop by tablespoon on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
Makes 4 dozen

Can also spread into an ungreased 9x13 pan and bake for 30-35 minutes to make bar cookies.

Carmelized Onion and Mustard Tart

2006-05-03T13:35:00.000-05:00

So Tim was in a favorite independent bookstore when on the sale table he saw The Accidental Vegetarian for like $8. It's a fun story-of-a-cookbook about a gentleman in England who bought a vegan restaurant knowing nothing about running a restaurant, or vegetarian cooking! Well, his recipe for a mustard-onion tart jumped right out at us, and it is the first thing we have tried from this book.

After making the rich pastry dough, you slice 4 large onions... these were some powerful onions that had Tim avoiding the kitchen as their fumes were causing tears a room away.

It is always amazing to me how much onions reduce... especially after 40 minutes of cooking:

Some cream, eggs and the whole grain mustard are added to the onions and put into the blind-baked crust (which, but the way, was supposed to be in a tart pan... I don't have a tart pan, so I used my springform pan... gonna go buy a tart pan)

This all bakes and comes out slightly browned and looking kinda rustic.

It is thick, not custardy (which is a good thing in my book), and sweet due to the slow-cooked onions as well as the mustard and pastry. We served this with steak and our favorite syrah, and had its leftovers with a salad and surprisingly good grape tomatoes. We think this will be a good summer dinner with fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes.

The recipe: From The Accidental Vegetarian, by Simon Rimmer

Pastry:

1 3/4 cups flour
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
pinch of salt
3 1/2 tbsp(I needed more) milk
1 egg yolk

1. Put flour, butter and salt in a food processor and pulse until crumbly.
2. Add the milk and egg yolk and pulse until a dough forms
3. Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and kneed slightly and form into a flat disk. Wrap in saran wrap and chill at least 1 hour (great to make ahead of time so it's ready whenever you are)

Carmelized Onion and Mustard Tart:

4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 large spanish onions, sliced
1 clove of garlic (he says crushed, I minced)
2 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp whoel grain mustard
2/3 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400F
1. Roll out the pastry to fit an 8-10" tart pan (as I said above, I used a springform pan... a pie pan should work as well). Press into pan and chill for 20 minutes.
2. Bake the pastry for 25-30 minutes until crisp and dry. (he does not say to weight it down, but this needs to be done or else it puffs up)
3. While the pastry bakes, melt butter and oil in a pan over low heat and add the onions, garlic and salt and pepper. Cook slowly until the onions are golden but not burned... about 40 minutes.
4. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, mustard and cream together. Mix into the carmelized onions.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 350F. Add onion mixture to pastry shell, and baked for 20 minutes until set firm and golden.