Hide the cheese

Potato and Dill Frittata

Summertime and the living is ... outside.

Our kids have been big into swim team this summer and so we have had lots of meals at the pool. I am always looking for something to take on the road and this frittata -- that I made for a tasting card for Black Ankle's last wine shipment -- fits the bill. The lighter, fresher flavors go along with the hotter summer weather. Frittatas are among those foods that are perfect for using up leftovers, though, so don't sweat it if you don't have all the ingredients. Just substitute whatever you have on hand.

If you are lucky enough to get your hands on a bottle, the frittata is delicious with either Black Ankle's Albarino or Passeggiata.

A toast: to summer!

2009: Smoky Deviled Eggs
2010: Red Wine Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Crostini
2011: Pea and Potato Gratins
2012: The Whole Beet Sauté

Potato and Dill Frittata

 

Serves 6
20 minutes preparation time
35-40 minutes cooking time

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
9 eggs
1/2 cup dill, finely chopped
1/2 cup chives, finely chopped
3 ounces herbed cheese such as Boursin (approximately half a Boursin package)
salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put the cubed potatoes in a small saucepan and cover them with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork but still hold their shape, 6-8 minutes, depending on the size of the potato cubes. Drain into a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

In a large bowl, scramble the eggs and add the chives and dill. Add the potatoes, salt (at least a teaspoon) and pepper. Crumble in the Boursin and whisk again.

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a 9-inch frying pan with a heatproof handle. When the oil begins to simmer, carefully swirl it around the pan to completely coat the bottom and sides. Whisk the egg mixture once or twice to unsettle the herbs and cheese and then immediately pour the mixture into the hot pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low.

Cook until the edges of the frittata are set, about 10 minutes. Keeping the pan level, transfer it to the oven. Cook until the frittata is cooked through and lightly browned on top, about 15 minutes.

Remove and keep a pot holder or oven mitt over the handle. Slide a rubber spatula under the frittata and slip it out of the pan onto a serving plate. Serve immediately or at room temperature. The frittata will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator.

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Delicata Squash and Stilton Pizza

While we're on the subject of foods that my children won't eat, here's another one that I have been loving.

On Friday night pizza night, my dilemma is that if I make the pizza to please everyone, we will end up with tomato and mozzarella pizza. Always. And Only.

There's a reason that that classic combination has endured, and I am a fan. But it's the lowest common denominator of pizzas, really. The pizza that appeals to everyone. No matter how good it is, something about its universal appeal tempts me to get in there and mix it up.

I usually just see what is languishing in the vegetable bin or the cheese drawer, or what leftovers are hiding in the back of the refrigerator. Pizza is a great way to use up the odds and ends. Sometimes the combinations work and sometimes they don't, but it is always fun to play.

One night I had a bit of delicata squash left over and I decided to try slicing it thinly to see whether it would cook sufficiently in the 10 minutes or so that it takes to cook the pizza. Delicata squash is great to cook with because it doesn't have to be peeled; the rind is tender enough to eat. I had a bit of Stilton on hand and some sage wintering over in the yard. Thrown together, they were quite tasty: the sweetness of the squash was a great foil for the earthy sage and tangy Stilton.

Because squash and Stilton will send Chloe and -- depending on the day, Oscar -- in the opposite direction there was plenty left for those of us that wanted more adventure on the plate.

2009: Sage Risotto with Wild Mushrooms
2010: Cauliflower Soup with Stilton
2011: Caramelized Onion Dip
2012: Curried Apple Slaw

Delicata Squash and Stilton Pizza

We prefer a light touch on the toppings and the measurements for the toppings on this pizza reflect that. If you prefer a cheesier pizza, add some mozzarella, too.

1 batch pizza dough (this is our favorite)
one medium delicata squash, scrubbed
olive oil for drizzling
4-5 ounces Stilton, crumbled
4-5 ounces mozzarella (optional)
handful of sage leaves, torn
pinch of sea salt

Make the dough ahead and when you are ready to cook the pizza, place a pizza stone or baking tiles in the oven and heat the oven to as high as your oven will go (usually about 450 to 500 degrees).

Lay a piece of parchment paper on a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet. Roll out the dough and transfer it onto the parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil over the dough and spread it evenly with a rubber spatula.

Cut the delicata squash in half and set half aside for another use. Scoop the seeds out of the middle of the squash with a spoon. Slice the delicata thinly into rings. Arrange the rings on top of the dough and sprinkle with salt. Flip the rings over. This is my cheaters way of coating both sides of the rings with a bit of olive oil.

Sprinkle on the Stilton and the sage leaves and the mozzarella, if you are using it. Transfer the pizza on the parchment paper onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust is lightly brown and the cheese has melted, 8-12 minutes.

 Print Recipe

Shiitake Mushroom Soup with Parsley Pesto

Our children have staged a soup mutiny.

Gabe and I have been coasting along, doing our usual winter thing of working through the rotation of our favorite soups. We recently have made caldo verde, minestrone, creamy tomato soup, and of course, that timeless classic, potato-leek soup. And more.

But when I said this weekend that I planned to make a butternut squash soup this week, there was a revolt. A revolt of the tween variety, with eye rolling, deep sighs, and dramatic pleas."Please, please, PLEASE, not another soup!" Accompanied by head flopping onto the table forehead first.

Apparently they are tired of soup.

In that case, we may as well make something that they won't eat anyway. Mushrooms were the obvious choice.

I came across a recipe for a creamy mushroom soup in the New York Times and it fit the bill for a parents-only soup. I tweaked it a bit, of course, skipping the step of making separate stock and adding a parsley pesto on top. The soup ended up being just what I wanted for the latest wine club recipe card for Black Ankle's just-released 2010 Leaf Stone Syrah, a big bold wine that complemented the meatiness of the mushrooms.

They can have their plain pasta and baby carrots. We're slurping soup and sipping wine.

2009: Roasted Shallot and Buttercup Squash Soup
2010: Creamy Lettuce Soup
2011: Lemongrass Noodle Soup with Chile-Garlic Paste
2012: Lemony White Bean Soup

Shiitake Mushroom Soup with Parsley Pesto

To accompany Black Ankle's 2010 Leaf Stone Syrah

This mushroom soup is hearty and richly flavored, although it uses milk rather than cream. The parsley pesto is optional, but it adds a pop of freshness to the earthy mushrooms. For a more elegant soup, you can strain the soup through a sieve or run it through a food mill. You will lose some volume, but served in a dainty tea cup it would make the perfect first course for a dinner party. If you have extra parsley pesto, it would is excellent tossed onto a salad or boiled potatoes, tucked into an omelette, or spread on a sandwich.

Adapted liberally from Jeremy Bearman's recipe in The New York Times
Serves 6 as a first course
20 minutes preparation time
40 minutes cooking time

For the soup:
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds shiitake and crimini mushrooms, brushed and sliced
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 large leek, white and light green parts, cleaned and chopped
8 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
salt and pepper
10 cups vegetable stock
2 cups whole milk

For the parsley pesto:
2 cups fresh parsley leaves and stems, rinsed and dried
1/2 cup olive oil
pinch of salt

To make the soup, heat the olive oil over high heat. Add the mushrooms and let them sit for a minute or two before stirring them. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until they are lightly browned and significantly reduced in size, about 15 minutes. If the pan starts to get too brown as the mushrooms are cooking, add a splash of water and scrape it with a wooden spoon to loosen the caramelized coating.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the celery, onion, leeks, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and sage. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper. Cook until the celery, onion, and leeks have softened, about 10 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and bring the soup to a simmer. Simmer until all the vegetables are meltingly soft, 20 to 30 minutes.

While the soup simmers, make the parsley pesto. Add the parsley, olive oil, and a pinch of salt to a blender and blend until the parsley has all been incorporated into the oil.

Purée the soup with an immersion blender until all of the vegetables are uniformly tiny. (If you would like a more refined soup, strain the soup by placing a mesh sieve over a heat-proof bowl. working in batches, ladle the soup into the sieve and use a spoon to stir and mash the mushroom mixture to release the liquid. Remove the solids and save them to make stock if you like. Repeat until all of the soup has been strained).

Add the milk to the soup and stir. Just before serving, heat the soup over low heat. Try not to boil the soup or the milk will scald. Ladle the soup into individual bowls and top with several small dollops of the parsley pesto.

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Cauliflower and Gorgonzola Tart

Those of you have been reading this blog for a while know that my sister, Sarah, and her husband, Ed, own Black Ankle Vineyards, the best vineyard in Maryland. And I'm not just saying that because Sarah's my sister. Their goal was to show that excellent wine can be made in Maryland and, against the odds, they have done exactly that.

It has been amazing to watch over the past 10 years as they built their business from an idea to a successful, thriving enterprise. It has been a phenomenal amount of work, with long days and nights and zillions of decisions -- big and little -- along the way.

I like to joke that it is best to be the sister of someone who owns a vineyard. I get to enjoy the results without the stress and exhaustion that yielded those results.

When Melissa, Black Ankle's fantastic manager, asked me if I would be willing to put together a recipe to send out with the quarterly wine club shipment, I loved the idea. For the first shimpment, we wanted a dish that would complement the 2011 Bedlam. After tasting the wine on its own (tough work!) around the dinner table one night, we hit on the idea of a dish that would include a blue cheese as well as a hearty vegetable such as broccoli, cauliflower, or green beans.

The cauliflower won out and after a couple of tries, I settled on the creamy mildness of Gorgonzola to go along with it. The tart is substantial enough to be served as a main course with a big green salad and a slab of good bread. It would make an excellent main course for any vegetarians at your Thanksgiving table. Cut into smaller slices, it also could be served as an appetizer or a side dish.

Either way, serve it with a chilled bottle of the Bedlam 2011 and a toast to someone you love. Cheers!

2009: Vegetable Shepherd's Pie
2010: Pumpkin Soup with a(n optional) Kick
2011: Garlicky Cuban Yuca

Cauliflower and Gorgonzola Tart

Serves 8 as a main course
Approximately 1 hour preparation time, plus time for the dough to chill
Approximately 1 hour cooking time

This tart is substantial enough to be served as a main course with a big green salad and a slab of good bread. It would make an excellent main course for any vegetarians at your Thanksgiving table. Cut into smaller slices, it also could be served as an appetizer or a side dish.

For the dough:
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into about 10 pieces
1/2 cup white wine*
1 egg, lightly scrambled

For the filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 small cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
a splash or two of white wine
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped sage leaves
4 tablespoons chives, snipped with scissors or chopped
salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3 ounces Gorgonzola, crumbled

Make the crust: Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour with your fingers until the butter bits range in size from grains of sand to small pebbles. Add the white wine and egg and mix with a wooden spoon or your hands until the egg and wine are fully incorporated into the flour. The dough will be sticky.

Form the dough into a ball and flatten it slightly into a disk Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour (or as long as a couple of days).

Make the filling: Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is translucent and has softened, 6-7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and scrape the onion into a large bowl. Set aside. Wipe the pan out with a paper towel.

Return the pan to the stovetop, turn the heat to medium-high, add the canola oil, and swirl it around the pan so that it coats the sides. After about 30 seconds, add the cauliflower and arrange it with a wooden spoon so that it covers the bottom of the pan in a single layer. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. Stir, and continue to cook the cauliflower, stirring it only every few minutes so that it browns.

Cook until the cauliflower begins to soften, but is still quite firm, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add a splash or two of white wine. Stir with a wooden spoon, scraping up any of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour into the bowl with the onions. Let cool for a few minutes.

Add all of the remaining ingredients to the cauliflower except the egg and Gorgonzola. Stir well to incorporate. Add most of the egg, but reserve a few tablespoons to use later to brush the dough. Mix the egg in quickly so that it fully incorporates but doesn't scramble.

Assemble the tart: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and unwrap it. Generously flour the counter and the top of the dough and roll the dough into a large circle, at least 15 inches across, adding more flour if needed to keep the dough from sticking. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet. It's okay if it hangs over the sides at this point because it will be folded onto the sheet after the filling is added.

Spoon the cauliflower mixture onto the dough, leaving a 2- to 3-inch border around the edge. Spread the filling out evenly. Sprinkle the Gorgonzola over the filling. Starting on one side, fold the dough from the edge of the circle up over the filling. Continue around the entire circle, pleating the dough as you go and leaving a wide opening in the center.

Brush the top of the dough with the remaining egg. If you have any left over, drizzle it over the top of the cauliflower in the middle of the tart. Bake until the tart's crust is golden brown, 50 minutes to an hour.

Remove the tart from the oven and let it rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

* If you have a decent bottle open from last night, use it. Otherwise, open the Bedlam, use what you need for the recipe, and pour yourself a glass to sip while you cook. But save some for dinner!

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Eggplant and Smoked Mozzarella Risotto

Ice cubes at the North Pole.

Wolly mittens on a summer day.

Dental floss for a baby.

Eggplant can be a tough sell, too, especially for kids. Especially for Chloe.

We've been trying to convince Chloe for years that she likes eggplant. We had a bit of success masking it and even more success frying it. Granted, shoe leather would also be tasty fried, but I was hoping that after eating eggplant fried, she'd have enough of a positive association that she would be willing to try other eggplant dishes.

But apparently her memory of her eggplant tolerance is short.

She ate Bhagan Bharta a few weeks ago and liked it. But when we sat down to this risotto dish last night, one of our favorites, she announced "I don't like eggplant."

After we told her how good it was, oohing and aahing about the creamy smoked mozzarella, she eventually agreed to let us put a bit on her plate so long as it was just the rice without any of the eggplant. She nibbled at that and was willing to have a bit more.

The second round, her serving had eggplant in it but she pushed it to the side of her plate. At least she let it sit on her plate. Is that progress?

So she ate just a bit of rice and devoured the Swiss chard instead.

Ironic isn't it, that she will eat Swiss chard?

At least she did until one of her pieces of Swiss chard touched the eggplant piled on the edge of her plate. She refused to eat that bit of chard, quickly sneaking it onto my plate.

And so it goes, one small step at a time, in the eggplant battles.

As for the rest of us, there is not a scrap of this risotto left in the refrigerator today. Some of us had more than one serving, and what was left after dinner was carried off in lunch boxes today.

2009: Acorn Squash Stuffed with Curried Lentils
2010: Grilled Eggplant Baba Ganoush
2011: Soft Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, Herbs, and Sour Cream

Eggplant and Smoked Mozzarella Risotto

 

I have given up on the salting eggplant thing. If there is a difference in the taste, it is so minor that I don't think it's worth it. Also, after we had this the other night, Oscar commented that he thought the eggplant should be cut smaller "so that it melts into the risotto." I had left the pieced big so that Chloe could pick them out more easily, but I agree that the ideal size would have been a smaller dice for the eggplant, about 1/2-inch pieces.

Serves 6-8 as a main course
15 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

7 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 medium eggplants, peeled and diced
1 large tomato, diced
2 sprigs fresh oregano, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 pound smoked mozzarella, diced

Heat the stock in a sauce pan over medium heat.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook it until it is a deep golden color. Remove it from the pan and discard (or if you love garlic like we do, spread it on a piece of bread for a little snack while you're cooking).

Turn the heat up to medium high and add the eggplant and a few shakes of salt. Cook for a few minutes until the eggplant begins to soften. Add the tomato and oregano and stir.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the rice and the white wine. Cook, stirring, until the wine is absorbed into the rice. Add a couple of ladels of stock and stir a few times, until the rice is absorbed into the rice.

Each time the stock is absorbed into the rice add more, and stir periodically. You don't need to stir continuously, just enough to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When most of the stock is gone, taste the rice for doneness. Is should be tender without any crunch but not mushy.

When the rice is done, stir in the smoked mozzarella and stir to incorporate it fully. Serve immediately.

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Time Travel (Bhagan Bharta)

I have been time traveling.

I pulled my scrapbook of recipies off the shelf the other day, the one that I filled over the years with recipes from friends, newspapers, magazines. I don't clip recipes any more, now that I can find almost anything on line in seconds. But I have quite a collection from back in the day.

Flipping through those pages took me on a journey. I saw recipes that we used to make regularly that we haven't made in ages -- our favorite cheesecake recipe! -- and many that we have never made. Even seeing those unmade recipes there, with their tantalizing possibilities, was a treat.

My favorite part of flipping through those pages, though, was finding recipes from friends.

Seeing those recipes, written in our friends' own hands pulled me back. Back to Anita's dinner party where I tasted that apple crisp and knew I had to have the recipe. Back to the cheesy potato casserole that Michelle's sister brought to a pot luck. Back to the Spring Mill Cafe outside of Philadelphia, the French restaurant where I worked during college, and the recipe for creamy salad dressing that makes enough to feed an army.

Back to our wedding shower, to the anticipation of collecting the recipe cards friends had brought to share.

Back to that time before we had children when friends were our family, that circle that held us, supported us, entertained us, consoled us.

Back to that time when the lives we live today -- children, house, job -- would have seemed foreign and were only imaginable in a hazy, dreamy vision.

Flipping the pages in that recipe book pulled me gently back there, with visions of more recent events flashing thorough my mind as I traveled there. Children's milestones, vacations, dinners, gatherings, funerals, weddings, all passed me by as if glimpsed out the window of a moving train.

Those images flashed by and overwhelmed me as I thought of all that we have shared and built and lost.

It was 15 years ago that we got married.

I pulled out a recipe that I had not made in years, our friend Neha's mother's Bhagan Bharta recipe. I made it and it was excellent. I served it for dnner, wondering whether the children would eat it.

They devoured it, this family of ours, circling around, carrying me back, closing the loop.

2009: Zuccanoes
2010: Smoky Eggplant Lasagne
2011: Freshened Up Eggplant Parmesan

Malti Misra's Bhagan Bharta*

Bhagan Bharta is an excellent way to use some of those beautiful eggplants and end-of-season tomatoes that are at the farmers' markets now.

Although I have used Mrs. Misra's recipe, I have adapted it liberally and any inauthenticity is my own. The original recipe calls for cooking the eggplants in the microwave. I used the grill because I like that grilled flavor, but if you want a quicker recipe, use the microwave technique (described below). This version is gingery and fresh with just a hint of smokiness from the grilled eggplant and minimal heat.

Serves 6-8
15 minutes preparation time
1 hour cooking time

2 large eggplants (or 3 medium-sized ones)
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 medium onions, chopped
2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, peeled and chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
1/2 serrano chile, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 handful cilantro, chopped

Rice, naan, or pita, for serving

Preheat the grill to high.

Cut a cross into the end of each eggplant and half of the garlic into each. Grill the eggplants until they are well-charred on the outside, turning them once or twice. Depending on how black you want them, this could take from half an hour to an hour. Remove from the grill and let cool.

Alternatively, if you want a quicker way to cook the eggplants, stuff them with the garlic and microwave them on high for about 15 minutes, until they are very soft.

When the eggplants are cool enough to handle, slit them length-wise and open them up. Scoop out the flesh and chop it coarsely. If you come across any of the garlic cloves that you stuffed into the eggplants, chop them, too. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, ginger, and chile and cook until the onions have softened, about 8 minutes. Add the eggplant and about a cup of water, along with the ground coriander and salt. Cook until the water has reduced and the mixture has thickened, about 10 minutes.

Add the tomato and cilantro and cook until everything has heated through, about 2 minutes.

Serve hot with rice, naan, or pita.

*There are many variations of the spelling of the name of this recipe, including Baingan or Baigan and Bhurtha and Bhurta.

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Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

I have been doing a lot of whining for the past week or so.

Why does school have to start before Labor Day?

Couldn't we just have one more week of summer?

And why do they have to start school on a Monday? A five-day week that first week back is exhausting.

If we had a three-day week this week, we could build up more gently until everyone is back in the groove of going to bed early, getting up early, making lunches, doing homework...

I'm this way every August as I bemoan the eagerness with which I waited for the more carefree days of summer only to have them fly by at warp speed.

I have talked to friends who have a much better attitude. They're looking forward to the rhythm and routine of fall again, getting onto a more regular schedule with the kids. It sounds good. And yet I'm having a hard time getting it into my head that lunches need to be made every night, homework needs to be done, backpacks need to be packed every day.

The children feel it, too. By the end of the week, we were tired out, exhausted with all that staying on schedule, not to mention all that behaving during the school day.

Fortunately, we still have our Friday night movie and pizza nights. We still cling to these nights, and this past week it was especially welcome, a chance to chill out on the couch after a mentally and physically exhausting week. It was a chance to come together, relax, and remember that, even with all of the changes that the week brought, some things do not change.

Hmmm, maybe there's something to that routine and rhythm thing after all.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

If you're looking for a super dense, earthy whole wheat dough, this isn't it. The bread flour and whole wheat pastry flour make this dough light and barely identifiable as whole wheat dough, but a bit more healthy and filling nonetheless. It's a bit chewier than our standard semolina pizza dough, more of a classic American crust. It works as well for pizzas cooked on the grill as those baked in the oven.

Makes enough for 3 medium pizzas
20 minutes preparation time, plus about 2 hours for the dough to rise
approximately 10 minutes per pizza baking time

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons salt

Measure the yeast into a bowl and add the warm water. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes, then stir the yeast to make sure that it has all dissolved into the water. Add the olive oil and stir.

Measure the flour into the bowl and sprinkle the salt over the top. With a wooden spoon, mix the flour until it is very stiff. Abandon the spoon and use your hands to work the flour and water into a cohesive dough. Turn the dough onto the counter and knead it for a few minutes until it is smooth and consistent in texture. If you weren't able to get all the flour into the dough before, you can work it in as you knead.

Form the dough into a ball and put it back in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it is about double in size, approximately 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees or as hot as it will go (but not broil). If you are using a pizza stone, slide it into the oven and let it heat for about 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into thirds and roll each third out. Add the toppings of your choice and bake for 8-10 minutes per pizza. Get it while it's hot!

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Egg-Topped Pizza

Our Friday pizza-and-a-movie nights are still going strong after nearly three years. We do skip them occasionally, but when we do, the weekend feels a bit off.

A friend teased me recently that I wouldn't meet her for a drink until quite late on a Friday night because I had to stay home to eat pizza and watch a movie with my kids first. My reaction was, "You know you're a good friend or I wouldn't have come at all!" After a long week, I often have trouble making it to the final credits.

And I'm not the only one. I have been surprised to see how many times the kids have passed up other invitations in order to stay home and eat pizza with their parents.

Ok, ok, for the kids, it may be more about getting to watch TV, which they don't otherwise get to do much.

Whatever. I'll take it.

As the kids are getting closer to teenagerdom (and it's definintely starting to feel like a -dom), I realize that we have to shift the fun activities that we do together as a family. We need to grow with our kids if we want them to continue to enjoy spending time with us. So it's less Top Chef and more Disney tween shows. Sigh.

No matter. The evenings are still a way to hang on to some of the family time that is so dear to me.

The type of pizza we make varies, but this has become my favorite pizza lately. I remember seeing eggs on pizzas in Italy, but I don't see them much here. My favorite way to cook it is so that the yolk stays a bit runny. It takes a bit of watching to accomplish that, but even even if the egg goes too far and becomes hard cooked, it is delicious.

I usually add smoked mozzarella to get a bacon-and-egg-flavor thing going, but if you eat bacon, you could also toss a bit on for a true breakfast pizza.

2009: Spaghetti and V-Balls
2010:  Homemade Butter
2011: Simple Crusty Peasant Wheat Bread

Egg-Topped Pizza

The recipe is for a single thin-crust pizza, but it takes 2 or 3 of these to serve our family of 5.

Makes 1 pizza (serves 2)
20 minutes preparation time, plus a few hours for the dough to rise

1 batch semolina pizza crust
1 cup tomato sauce*
3 ounces smoked mozzarella, sliced
3 eggs

Prepare the pizza crust and set it aside to rise.

About 40 minutes before you plan to serve the pizza, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, put it in the oven and let it heat in the oven for at least 30 minutes while you roll out the dough, prepare the sauce, and prepare the toppings.

Roll out the dough thinly. Remove the pizza stone from the oven and sprinkle it with cornmeal or semolina flour. Transfer the dough to the stone. Working quickly so that the stone doesn't get too cool, spread the sauce evenly across the dough. With the back of the spoon, carve out three indentations for the eggs by pushing the sauce to create a low ridge around the edges. Sprinkle the cheese on top but don't put any in the indented spots.

Put the pizza back into the oven for about 5 minutes. Remove the pizza and stone and crack an egg into each of the indentations that you created. If any egg leaks out, dam the leak with a piece of mozzarella or a spoon of sauce. Holding the stone very flat so that the egg doesn't slosh out, return the stone to the oven.

Cook until the white is firm but the yolk is still runny, about 5 more minutes. Serve -- and consume -- immediately! 

* To make a basic pizza sauce, saute a couple of roughly sliced garlic cloves in olive oil for about 30 seconds, add a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, a tablespoon of tomato paste, and a few chopped leaves of fresh oregano, and let the pot simmer until sauce thickens, about half an hour.

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Broccoli-Gorgonzola Pie

Now that the kitchen is fully in action, it's been party, party, party over here. We are incredibly happy to be using the space and cooking again, and we have been bursting with excitement to cook and cook and cook. Of course we had the birthday parties and an Oscar party, and, most recently, we had a party to thank all of the kind and generous souls who fed us during the construction.

Those nights that friends invited us into their homes or dropped food off for us sustained us throughout the project. Escaping our dust-filled house into the calm and comfort of another home fed more than just our bellies. And eating a meal that we knew had been kindly made and delivered to us was so very nourishing.

When we were brainstorming about what to make for the thank-you party, the children each enthusiastically volunteered to make something, getting right into the spirit of choosing foods they thought their friends would enjoy. Chloe suggested suppli, one of our favorite party treats. Oscar volunteered to make our standard macaroni and cheese, a particular favorite and specialty of his. And Olivia decided to make lemon meringue pie, one of her favorites to make and eat.

For our part, Gabe and I wanted the dishes that we made to be celebratory, beyond our usual day-to-day repertoire. This broccoli-Gorgonzola pie was the star of the show. We had made it once before and found it very tasty, although the second time out, we tweaked the texture a bit.

The recipe is adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's cookbook, Plenty, which has been one of my favorites lately (True Confession: I gave Gabe this cookbook for Christmas; he has been sharing very nicely). The recipes are all vegetarian (although he is not himself a vegetarian), and he has an incredibly imaginative approach that elevates vegetarian cooking. It has inspired me to take things up a notch, too, and has been an excellent source of ideas for party meals.

This pie beautifully pairs the fresh, healthiness of the broccoli with the richness of the Gorgonzola and pastry. As Ottolenghi points out in the cookbook, it is not a light dish, but it is an excellent special occasion meal. It will undoubtedly go into our rotation of party foods. More party food recipes are coming. Apparently, I cook faster that I write.

Cheers!

2009: Potato-Leek Soup
2010: Pressure Cooker Saffron and Artichoke Risotto
2011: Coco-Choco Pudding

Broccoli-Gorgonzola Pie

Adapted from Plenty
Serves 8-10
30-45 minutes preparation time
60 minutes baking time

Blanching the broccoli for just a couple of minutes before assembling the pie gets the final result to the perfect consistency  -- thoroughly cooked, but still bright green and not the least bit mushy.

1 pound broccoli, washed and cut into bite-sized florets
1 pound puff pastry
2 tablespoons butter
3 leeks
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup chopped chives
1/3 cup chopped fresh tarragon or 1 tablespoon dried
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of black pepper
6 ounces Gorgonzola
1 egg, lightly beaten

If the puff pastry is frozen, follow the instructions on the package for thawing it. I generally move it from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before I plan to use it.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the broccoli florets and blanch them for about 2 minutes. At this point, the broccoli should be vibrant green and just beginning to tenderize. Drain it in a colander and set it aside to cool.

Roll out the puff pastry until it is about one and a half times its original size. Place a tart pan with a removable bottom on top of the dough and cut around it so that you end up with a circle that is large enough to cover the bottom and the sides of the pan (it will be an inch or two larger than the diameter of the pan). Transfer the dough to the tart pan and push it into the corners. Trim off any dough that is higher than the sides of the pan.

Roll the remaining dough back into a ball and then roll it out again. Cut out a piece for the top of the pie that is just a bit -- a half inch should do -- larger than the tart pan.  Put both the top and bottom pieces into the freezer for at least 10 minutes.

After the dough has chilled, remove just the bottom piece. Line the dough with parchment paper or tin foil and fill the shell with dried beans. Bake the pastry until it begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and take out the beans and foil or parchment paper. Return the tart shell to the oven and cook it until the pastry turns a golden brown, about 10 minutes more. Remove it from the oven. If it has puffed up, poke the top layer of the bubbles with a sharp knife to deflate them. Set the shell aside until the filling is ready.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter and add the leeks. Cook them until they are wilted and soft, about 10 minutes. Add the cream, chives, tarragon, mustard, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup of water. Stir to combine, and then remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.

To assemble the pie, first pour the filling into the bottom pastry crust. Next, arrange the broccoli florets, pushing them gently into the filling. Crumble the Gorgonzola in large chunks evenly over the top of the broccoli. Brush the sides of the bottom crust with the egg.

Remove the top pastry crust from the freezer and place it on top of the pie. If it has been in the freezer much longer than 10 minutes, give it a few minutes to soften up. Trim off all but about an inch of any crust that hangs over the side of the pan. Tuck the sides of the top crust along the out side of the pan, pushing down on the edges to join the top crust to the bottom one. Brush the top crust with the egg.

Bake until the pie is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to rest for about 5 minutes before cutting into it to serve.

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Freshened Up Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant parmesan has had me in a quandary. The best eggplants are available at farmers' markets at this time of year, so this should be the best time of year to make it. But it has never seemed like a summer dish to me. The breaded, fried eggplant, loads of sauce and cheesy goodness have their place, but it seems a wintry place to me, best eaten when the weather is cold outside and a good dish of comfort is in order.

We needed a summer version of eggplant parmesan, and this is my crack at it. Instead of breading and frying the eggplant, we sliced it thinly and roasted it. Our sauce was Cherry Tomato Almost Sauce, barely saucy at all, and we used a bit of ricotta as well as the traditional mozzarella to give the whole thing a fresher flavor.






It scratched my eggplant parmesan itch. The children loved it, too, except for Chloe, who separated all her eggplant -- and perhaps anything that had touched the eggplant -- over to the side of her plate.

Now I just have to figure out how to preserve this season's excellent eggplants to make a wintry version a few months from now.

Second Helping: Smoky Eggplant Parmesan
Thirds: Homemade Ricotta

Freshened Up Eggplant Parmesan

Serves 6 to 8
45 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

4 small globe eggplants
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt to taste
1 quart cherry tomatoes
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella
15 basil leaves
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 pound fresh ricotta
1 cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Trim the ends of the eggplant. Slice a small bit of the skin off one of the sides of the eggplant. Rest the eggplant on that side and thinly slice the eggplant vertically (discard the first piece, which will be mostly skin). Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking sheet and lightly brush them with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Roast the eggplant in the oven until it is lightly brown, about 10 minutes. After removing the eggplant from the oven, lower the temperature to 350 degrees.

While the eggplant is cooking, make the sauce. The recipe for the Almost Sauce is here.

Spread a ladleful of the tomatoes in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch casserole pan. Add a layer of eggplant and then add some of the tomato sauce, half of the mozzarella and half of the basil. Drizzle with some of the egg. Add another layer of eggplant, then tomato sauce, then the ricotta, then the remaining basil. Again, drizzle with the egg. Continue layering until you have used all of the ingredients. The last layers should be tomato sauce, the remaining mozzarella, and the parmesan, in that order.

Bake until the tomato sauce is bubbling and the cheese on top has melted, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving.

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Saffron-Laced Ratatouille

This is the time of year when I go crazy at the farmers' market. I'm like a kid at the proverbial candy store, filling my bags with as much gorgeous produce as I can. I should go with one hand tied behind my back so that I am limited to what I can carry (Gabe, don't get any ideas). Instead, I prefer if someone else comes to keep me company and to help carry. After all, the leaves will be falling off the trees before we know it, so we have to make the most of it.

Ratatouille is the perfect dish to make using all of that produce. It uses eggplant, tomato, zucchini, and peppers, and the flavors are excellent together. The saffron adds warmth to the dish, while the basil and parsley, added at the end, keep the flavors fresh. It can be eaten either warm or cold, depending on your mood and the thermometer outside.

I got the idea to throw in a pinch of saffron after reading Lunch in Paris, which was a fun summer read. Instead of Eat, Pray, Love in three countries, it's Eat, Love in Paris.

I made this while we were on vacation along with some quinoa with the thought that I would just keep it on hand in the refrigerator to have for lunch. It didn't last more than a couple of days, though. I don't think the children even tried it. I'll have to make another batch while the veggies are at the height of their season. The only question is whether I'll share.

Second helping: Red Wine Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Crostini
Thirds: Pasta with Ricotta and Summer Herbs

Saffron-Laced Ratatouille

This recipe is infinitely variable. Use whatever vegetables you have in the quantities you like, and it will be delicious. I like the technique of cooking the vegetables separately to bring out their individual flavors, but if you're in a hurry, you can cook them together.

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if needed
2 medium onions
4 garlic cloves
salt
2 medium eggplants, skin still on, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 medium zucchini, diced
4 fresh medium-sized tomatoes, diced
pinch of saffron
1/3 cup torn basil
1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
cooked quinoa or couscous for serving (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a large pan (I used my Creuset stock pot). Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes and then add the garlic and cook for about 2 more minutes. Remove from the pan. If the pan is dry, add another splash of olive oil. Add the eggplant and a pinch of salt and cook until the eggplant has softened, about 8 minutes. Remove from the pan. Again, if the pan is dry, add more olive oil. Add the zucchini and a pinch of salt and cook until it is tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the onions, garlic, and eggplant back to the pan, along with the tomatoes and the saffron. Cook until the vegetables are meltingly soft, about an hour. Just before serving, add the basil and parsley and stir.

Serve hot or cold, over couscous or quinoa, if you like.

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Sushi Rice Salad

This time of year when we often take our meals with us -- to the pool, the park, or even to the back porch -- I'm a big fan of those all-in-one-bowl meals. Sushi is perfect for the summer weather, too, because it is light and refreshing when it is too hot to have a heavy meal.



This salad fits the bill. It is cool, crunchy and refreshing. I made it recently and was shocked to realize that I hadn't posted it here yet. It is definitely worth sharing and has become a family favorite.

The original recipe, from Moosewood Restaurant Lowfat Favorites calls for brown rice, but we often make it with white rice. Sushi rice is available at our Whole Foods, but if you can't find it, another short grain -- even arborio -- would do. The wasabi can be adjusted to make it as hot as you like. I like the salad cold, though, and try to make it in advance so that it has plenty of time to cool off in the refrigerator before we want to serve it.

Second Helping: Brown Buttered Zucchini with Spaghetti
Thirds: Purple Cauliflower Soup

Sushi Rice Salad

Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Lowfat Favorites
Serves 8
20 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time, plus time for chilling

The amount of wasabi in this recipe adds just a touch of flavor without too much heat. It's perfect for children, but if you like a stronger punch, add more. Either way, make some extra to serve on the side with the salad.

2 cups sushi (short grain) rice
3 1/2 cups water
2/3 cup rice vinegar
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
4 small carrots, peeled and diced
2 red (or yellow or orange) bell peppers, seeded and diced
3 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and diced
3 teaspoons wasabi powder, plus more for serving
1 sheet nori seaweed
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds, toasted
2 ripe avocadoes, peeled and sliced lentghwise

Rinse the rice,  and add it and the water to a medium-sized stockpot,. Bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat to simmer, cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes. 

While the rice is cooking, prepare the sauce. Add the vinegar, sugar, salt, and ginger to a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside.

When the rice is done, toss the sauce with the rice. Add the 3 teaspoons of water to the wasabipowder and mix. Stir the wasabi into the rice. Put in the refrigerator to cool.

Fill a medium half full of water and bring it to a boil. Add the carrots and cook for a minute, then add the bell peppers and cook for about another two minutes. The vegetables should have softened, but retain a bit of texture (they shouldn't be mushy). Drain and set the veggies aside to cool.

Toast the sesames by putting them in a saute pan over a medium flame until they are fragrant, about 5 minutes. Pour them out of the pan onto a plate to cool. Toast the sheets of nori in the same saute pan until they darken, about 1 or 2 minutes. When they are cool enough handle, crumble them into small pieces.

When the carrots and peppers have cooled, stir them into the rice. Add the cucumbers. Just before serving, stir in the sesames and nori. Peel and slice the avocadoes and serve them with the salad.

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Fresh Pea and Potato Gratins

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I'm not sure about that. I think presence can make the heart pretty darn fond, too. Sitting here next to one of my children, typing away, I have a heart that feels full to bursting.

And yet absence does have its pull. Olivia just finished her last year of elementary school. (I can't even believe that I am writing that!) The end of the fifth grade, six years since she bravely entered that school as a kindergartener. Amazing.



As a celebration, her class took a trip to Canada and, intrepid man that he is, Gabe went along as a chaperone. Love means riding on a bus for 14 hours with 46 11-year olds. And then doing it all again three days later for the return trip.

Chloe and Oscar and I enjoyed our time together. As much as I enjoy our family time, I also enjoy the time that I have with only one or two of the others. It shifts the dynamic, and we get to see different sides of each other.


But we were all looking forward to watching Olivia and Gabe step off that bus. And, of course, I wanted to have a special dinner for them that night. I had gotten fresh peas and new potatoes at the farmers' market on the weekend, and these little gratins seemed just the thing.

I enjoyed cooking that afternoon to the happy sounds of a house full of people again. Unfortunately, Olivia was so tired from the trip that she fell asleep just before dinner, and she missed the welcome home feast. The rest of us enjoyed them and she had hers for lunch the next day. Next time, though, maybe when Oscar returns from his trip (gulp!), I'll have lunch ready instead.

Second Helping: Grilled Zucchini Summer Sandwiches
Thirds: Smoky Deviled Eggs

Fresh Pea and Potato Gratins

Serves 6
30 minutes preparation time
50 minutes cooking time

1 1/2 pounds potatoes
1 pint fresh peas, shelled (about 2/3 cup out of the pods)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated pecorino Romano
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup torn basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Generously butter 6 1-cup ramekins.

Put the potatoes in a medium-sized stockpot and cover them generously with water. Bring them to a boil and cook them until they are tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Depending on the size of the potatoes, this could take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. When they are done, skim them out and transfer them to a colander to cool.

While the potatoes are cooking, bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add a dash of salt and the peas and cook until they are tender but still bright green, about 10 minutes. Drain them immdeiately.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and put them in a large bowl. Mash them. Add the peas, parmesan, pecorino, eggs, basil, salt, and pepper, and mix with a wooden spoon. Spoon the mixture into the ramekins.

Bake the gratins until they are golden brown on top, 30 to 40 minutes. Let them sit for a minute or two after you remove them from the oven. They are so pretty to serve in the ramekins, but if you serve them that way, do so with a warning that the ramekins will be hot. Alternatively, hold the ramekins carefully with an oven mit and slide a knife around the perimeter of each ramekin to loosen the gratin. Slide the gratin out onto a plate and serve immediately.

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Ramp Pesto

Ramps are only available for a short time each spring, making them one of those foods that marks the season. They have a mild onion-y flavor, which is fresh and bright, capturing perfectly the taste of spring.

I got the idea to make a pesto out of ramps from this recipe on Food 52, but of course I had to change it up a bit. I added some of the whites of the ramps, which pack a punch. Tasting a sliver raw reminded me of tasting a raw garlic clove. Because traditional basil pesto usually includes garlic, I thought that adding some of them would have the same effect as adding a pungent flavor to the pesto.

I also used pecans instead of walnuts or pine nuts because I made the mistake of looking away while I was holding down the handle on the bulk bin at Whole Foods. $24 later, I began thinking of ways to consume lots of pecans. The combination of the green freshness of the ramps and the sweet nuttiness of the pecans was very tasty. 

This pesto would be excellent on pizza or a sandwich, but being the pasta lovers that we are, we had it with pasta. It can be made in the time it takes the pasta to cook. For us, it was the perfect quick meal before heading out to baseball practice. Spring indeed.

Second Helping: Pea Shoot Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce
Thirds: Pressure Cooker Saffron and Artichoke Risotto

Ramp Pesto

 

Makes approximately 3/4 cup, enough for 1 pound of pasta
20 minutes preparation time 

 2 cups coarsley chopped and loosley packed ramp leaves (about 1 bunch)
2 teaspoons ramp whites, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup pecans
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup grated parmesan

Put all of the ingredients except the olive oil and parmesan in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until the mixture is well-incorporated, but still a bit chunky.  With the food processor running, pour in the olive oil until it is completely incorporated. Add the parmesan and pulse once or twice. Serve with the carb of your choice.

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Green Lasagna

Before we left for our spring break, the farmers' market was loaded with greens, but not much else. We decided to make this lasagna with it, which is loosely based on a lasagna that my sister and brother-in-law have made many times for us. I love the flavors because the greens and the basil give it a freshness that suits the season, even if it is a cheesy, comforting lasagna. It has become one of our family favorites.

Although we made the dish in spring, it really is perfect for fall and winter too, when those greens are abundant at the markets. I'm not going to say too much more. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I'm looking forward to heading back to the farmers' market this weekend to see what's available now. Ramps? Asparagus? I can't wait.

Second Helping: Velvety Ramp and Watercress Soup with Crispy Shallots
Thirds: Kale Chips

Green Lasagna

1 pound lasagne noodles*
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
12 cups fresh spinach leaves, carefully washed
16 ounces ricotta
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
4 1/2 cups whole milk
9 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
olive oil for the pan
1 large bunch of basil
1 half pound mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt the water, and cook the lasagne noodles for a minute less than the time called for on the package. When they are done, drain them in a colander and rinse them with cold water. Stir them gently with a wooden spoon as you rinse to keep them from sticking together.

Put the spinach in a large stock pot and add enough water to nearly cover it. Bring the pot to a boil. Cook until the spinach wilts but is still a bright green. Drain the spinach in a colander, mashing it with a wooden spoon against the side of the colander to remove any remaining water. Let it sit for a few minutes to cool and dry out while you make the bechamel sauce.

In a small stockpot, heat the milk over low heat. It should be warm but not boiling. (You could even heat it in the microwave in a glass measuring cup if you don't want to get another pot dirty.) In a larger sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter begins to foam, add the flour, reduce the heat to medium-low, and stir until the flour is fully incorporated. Add the milk and stir vigorously until the mixture is smooth. Add a few pinches of salt and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture has thickened and you feel a lot of resistance against the spoon as you stir. Stir in the nutmeg. Remove the pan from the heat, cover it, and set it aside.

In a large bowl, mix the cooled spinach with the ricotta and parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spread a bit of oil over the bottom of a 9-by-13 inch lasagne pan and place a layer of noodles over the bottom. Add enough of the spinach mixture to cover the noodles thinly. Add a layer of basil leaves. Don't be tempted to skimp on the basil; it is the secret ingredient that sets this lasagne apart. Repeat with another layer of noodles-spinach-basil.

Ladle enough of the bechamel sauce over the second layer to cover it. Keep adding more layers of noodles-spinach-basil until you run out of spinach mixture. Pour the remaining bechamel over the top of the lasagne, letting it drip down the sides if you have enough. Add mozzarella to the top.

Bake until the lasagne is lightly browned on top and bubbling, about 45 minutes. Let it rest for about 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

 * Am I the only one that always has way too many lasagne noodles left over? You will not need the full pound, but I make them all anyway because I'm never sure how many I will need. If you  are feeling crafty, you can always cut the extras into strips, toss them with some olive oil and butter, and serve them to any pickier eaters who won't eat the lasagne because it has green stuff in it.

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Leek and Goat Cheese Frittata

 
I am feeling completely stuck in winter. The calendar says it is spring. Some days it even looks like spring, at least from the inside looking out. But other days, the forecasters are talking of more snow (!) and, once outside, I feel the chill of winter hanging on.

In my head, I'm ready to move on from the heartier dishes of winter, all those soups and stews, but on a cold night, they still provide comfort. This weather has me in food limbo!

We all need something that can bridge the seasons, and this frittata does the trick. Leeks are able to travel between the seasons nicely, offering a heartiness to the soups of winter, but also adding freshness to spring dishes. This frittata features those leeks front and center, throwing in some tangy goat cheese along with the eggs. Eggs, symbols of new life, always make me think of spring. And chickens begin to produce more bountifully now that the days are getting longer. 

We most often have this frittata for dinner, but it would also be excellent for brunch or lunch. And it's good hot or at room temperature. As the days warm up, I might even take it on a picnic.

A girl can dream, can't she?

Second Helping: Cacio e Pepe
Thirds: Creamy Turnip Slaw

Leek and Goat Cheese Frittata 

Serves 5
15 minutes preparation time
40 minutes cooking time

2 large leeks (about 3 cups sliced)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
8 eggs
1 cup parmesan
5 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the dark green tops off the leeks and discard them (or save them for stock), keeping only the white and light green parts. Slice the leeks lengthwise and then across into half moon slices. Rinse the slices in a colander, shaking the leeks with your hands to ensure that any soil rinses away.

Heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat in a large, ovenproof sauté pan. Add the leeks and sauté them for a few minutes until they soften. Stir the leeks and cover the pan, cooking until the leeks are quite soft, another 7 or so minutes.

While the leeks are cooking, scramble the eggs in a medium-sized bowl. Add the parmesan, goat cheese, salt, and pepper. When the leeks are done, transfer them to a small bowl. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat and swirl it around the pan so that it covers the sides as well as the bottom of the pan.

Add the leeks to the egg bowl and whisk them together immedediately. Add the egg mixture to the pan and lower the heat to medium. Cook on the stove top until the edges of the frittata have set. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook it until the center of the frittata is firm and it is golden brown.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven. Remember that the handle is hot! Run a rubber spatula around the sides of the pan. Place the pan next to the serving dish and carefully lift the frittata and slide it onto the plate. Serve hot or at room temperature.

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Moroccan-Style Vegetable Couscous

 
Isn't it a great feeling to find money in the pocket of a jacket that you haven't worn in a while? For a blogger, finding an already-written post that has not yet been published is the equivalent. I was sure that I had already published this recipe because I remember testing it, photographing it, and writing it up. I wanted to make it again, but I couldn't find it in the archives. I was so frustrated, but then I checked on the hard drive of my computer and there it was! Yipee!

You may remember that last year, Gabe and I traveled with our kids on our first trans-Atlantic trip to Paris. Gabe ordered couscous for lunch one day and, much to my surprise, all of the kids loved it. I had tried to get the kids to eat couscous at home -- "it's like rice!" -- but they hadn't gone for it. So when they ate it in France, I wanted to come home and recreate the dish before they forgot that they liked it.

So here's my stab at it.  It's a Moroccan-style dish but, in Morocco, they would use a spice mixture called ras-el-hanout. Here, I make my own with spices that are easily available. The spices are intensly flavorful, which is excellent when spooned over the mild couscous.

 
 
Now I have to go off on a tangent and tell you a story about Morocco. It has nothing to do with this recipe, but it is the only recollection I have.

When I was a child, my family was living in Portugal and, on my seventh birthday, we took a boat trip to Morocco. I turned 7 on that boat trip and at dinner, my family sang "Happy Birthday" to me in the communal dining room. My favorite part of the trip was when my younger sister approached all of the passengers who weren't singing and shamed them into joining in.

When we arrived, we got off the boat at the port and made our way to our hotel. My least favorite part of the trip was when one of the merchants at the port market offered to trade me for a toy camel. I remember that my 7-year-old self was particularly indignant that they weren't even offering a real camel in trade. My parents thought it was funny, but I was afraid they would accept the offer. 

So here it is: Moroccan vegetable couscous, by way of Paris. Hold the camel, toy or otherwise.

Second Helping: Crepes (love the flip!)
Thirds?: Cuban Black Beans (these are still among our favorites)

 

Moroccan-Style Vegetable Couscous

Serves 6
25 minutes preparation time
25 minutes cooking time

For the spice mixture, use 6 teaspoons ras-el-hanout or make your own blend:
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

To finish the dish:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes with their juice, torn or chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
1 15-ounce can chick peas
1 cup couscous

If you are making your own spice mixture, mix the spices in a small bowl with a whisk. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the spices. Toast them just until they are fragrant, probably less than a minute. Pour the spices back into the bowl and set them aside.

Add the oil to the skillet turn the heat up to medium high. Add the onion and sauté until it softens, about 7 minutes. 

Add the garlic, carrots, and potato and sauté for a couple more minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes with their juices and the spice mixture. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the potatoes and carrots soften, about 20 minutes. Add the zucchini and chick peas and heat until the zucchini has cooked and the beans have heated through, about 5 minutes.

When the vegetables have finished cooking, taste them and add more salt and pepper if you like. Heap the couscous in the middle of a large shallow bowl. Spoon the vegetable mixture over the top. The dish can be eaten either warm or at room temperature.

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Lemony Jerusalem Artichoke Stew with Biscuit Top

It's hard to imagine amid the snow and high winds of last week, but we used to have a vegetable garden. Remember that? Tomatoes, potatoes, little helpers, and a chicken chaser? Among those summer and fall vegetables we also planted Jerusalem artichokes. I've heard them described as the lazy gardener's dream. Well.

But they did grow beautifully and they are said to be best after they have been through a frost. It is very exciting to have something to harvest in the middle of winter, so this has been a delight. If you have not grown your own, you can find them at the grocery store this time of year. They look a lot like ginger roots, but are generally larger and knobbier. Although they are called artichokes, they are actually related to sunflowers.

I had never eaten Jerusalem artichokes until we harvested this batch. The flavor is starchy, like a potato, with just a touch of sweetness, which must be how they got artichoke in the name.

We had eaten some of them just roasted in the oven which were delicious, although it was key to cut them all the same size to enable them to cook at the same rate. I was hankering for a warm dish for winter, though, so I dreamed up this stew. The lemon peel and marjoram add brightness to the winter vegetables.

I put the biscuit on top of the stew as an inducement. I thought that anything topped with something from the bread family would get my kiddies to try it. It succeeded as far as the trying went. Finishing it was another story. Chloe didn't like the stew at all; Oscar ate most of it, but said that he would have preferred the biscuit alone. Fortunately, I had made a double batch of the biscuit so I could indulge him and still have some left for breakfast. Olivia ate hers, although I did not sense wild enthusiasm. No matter. They won't go for everything. Sometimes we parents need dinner to nurture us, too, and a biscuit with a veggie or fruit on the side isn't the worst meal in the world for the younger set.

The seed catalogs have started to arrive too, so we will soon decide what to plant at our garden this year. As for those artichokes? I understand that once planted, they are impossible to get rid of. In other words, more Jerusalem artichoke recipes may be coming your way.

Second Helping: Wasabi and Garlic Mashed Potatoes (mild enough for the kids, but delicious)
Thirds?: Rosalyn's Trinidadian Chick Pea and Potato Curry (I'm fairly certain that my children would sell me out for a dinner of this curry, especially if it were served with roti)

Lemony Jerusalem Artichoke Stew with Biscuit Top

Jerusalem artichokes can be a nuisance to peel, so don't go crazy trying to do it. I peeled where I could and left the rest of the peels on, and the skin was not at all an impediment.

Serves 8
30 minutes preparation time
45 minutes cooking time

For the stew:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 leek, white and light green part, sliced lengthwise, rinsed, and sliced across into half moons
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 medium carrots, scrubbed and sliced across on a diagonal
1 turnip, peeled and cut into cubes
2 cups peeled and seeded butternut squash (about 1 small one)
4 cups (roughly) peeled and chopped Jerusalem artichokes
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh marjoram
2 strips lemon zest
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
5 cups vegetable stock

For the biscuit top:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold butter, cut into a few pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk

Heat the olive oil in a heavy, oven-proof stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, leek, and garlic, and sauté until they begin to soften, about 7 minutes. Add the remaining vegetables, the marjoram and the salt and stir together. Pour on the broth, add the lemon zest, and raise the heat to medium high. Bring the stew to a boil. When it begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer on the stove top until the vegetables are just tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

While the stew is cooking, prepare the biscuit dough. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and thyme in a large bowl.  Mix in the butter with your hands, squeezing it between your fingers until it is the texture of coarse cornmeal.  The more hands that help, the quicker this will go.  Slowly stir in the buttermilk a bit at a time, using just enough to get the mixture to hold together.  You may need a splash more or less than the measured amount. 

Knead the dough for about a minute.  Pat it out on the counter until it is about 3/4 of an inch thick. Carefully lift the dough and drape it over the top of the stew pot. Move it to the oven and bake until the dough is golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Serve immediately. 

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Radicchio Risotto

I feel like we've had a bit of a respite these past few weeks. We are back at school and work after the holidays, but the children's after school activities haven't picked up yet, and we actually seem to have some evening and weekend time free.

I suppose free is a relative term, because there always is something to do. I often feel like the logistical part of being a mother is about moving stuff: putting shoes in the bucket near the door, hanging up coats and backpacks, clearing off the dining room table, making a space to work in the kitchen, moving the children's belongings from downstairs to upstairs, moving things from the children's rooms downstairs. My mother said that during these years when stuff seemed to dominate, she used to fantasize about tipping the entire house on its end and letting all the clutter slide out the door and out of her life.

But despite those ongoing and seemingly unattainable fantasies of a tidy house, I have managed to put my blinders on many times over the last couple of weeks and play games with the children, or just sit and chill. I'm not very good at sitting still, but when I do it (and I don't fall asleep), I wonder why I don't do it more often.


Of course I also have made some time to cook. Risotto has a reputation for being time consuming, but contrary to most instructions, I don't stir constantly. Instead, after each addition of stock, I stir a bit, then let the risotto cook for a couple of minutes, then stir again. This allows me to have a bit of time while the risotto is cooking to continue to prepare the dish, to prepare a side dish, or to take my turn at Othello. If that still seems like too much time, there is always the pressure cooker.

The radicchio in this recipe adds a bitter balance to the sweetness of the rice. It is added at the end of the cooking process so that if you are serving eaters that don't like the radicchio, you can set some plain risotto aside for them.

Now I have to enjoy this last week before practices and rehearsals begin again. Deep breath, ignore the chaos, and know that someday in the future, when this house is too quiet, I will have time to keep it neat as a pin.

Radicchio Risotto

The proportions for this recipe assume that you will add radicchio to the entire amount of rice. If you decide to keep some of the risotto plain for any fussier eaters, you may want to reduce the amount of radicchio.

Serves 6
15 minutes preparation
30 minutes cooking time

 5-6 cups vegetable stock (or water with 2 bouillon cubes)
1 medium-sized head radicchio
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup freshly grated parmesan, plus more for the table
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the stock in a small saucepan. If you like, peel off a few whole leaves of the radicchio for serving. Slice the rest into thin slivers.

In a large pan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Add the onion and sauté until it is translucent and soft, about 7 minutes. Add the rice and stir for a minute or so until it is coated evenly. Pour in the wine and stir until it has been absorbed into the rice. Continue cooking by adding one or two ladlefuls of stock at a time, stirring occasionally. Keep adding the broth until the rice is tender, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. The best way to know when the rice is done is to keep tasting it. It is done when the rice no longer has a crunch in the middle, but when it still retains some texture.

When the risotto is done, stir in the radicchio. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately and pass additional grated parmesan at the table.

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Warm Garlicky Lentil and Potato Salad

Several cultures have a tradition of eating legumes on or around New Years' Day. In the South, it's tradition to eat black-eyed peas for good luck. In Italy and Brazil, lentils are thought to bring luck. One theory is that the round legumes are symbolic of money and eating them will bring you good financial fortune for the new year. In these economic times, it may be worth a try.

But kicking off the new year with legumes is also a way to break with the indulgences of the last couple of months. After all those sumptious meals and decadent desserts, I always find myself wanting to scale back a bit in January. Many of us will make resolutions to eat healthier, exercise more, maybe even lose a few pounds. We may want to tighten the belt financially even as we are loosening the belt to account for our holiday splurges.

Lentils offer it all. They are healthy and inexpensive. Maybe they do bring luck after all since they offer health at a discount. Much cheaper than a gym membership.

When a friend told me that she had made a warm lentil and potato salad recipe that she found in the Washington Post's archives, it sounded like it would be perfect for the new year. This recipe laces the warm lentils and potatoes with a vinaigrette made with roasted garlic. The result is a simple, delicious salad with an earthy sweetness from the garlic that is hard to beat. The chopped parsley adds a counterpoint of freshness that makes this dish seem more of a treat than a resolution.

The children in this house love lentils, and we make our lentil-feta salad all year, but we love it best as a picnic food in the summer. I think this recipe will stand in nicely in the colder months. If it brings us luck of any sort throughout the year so much the better.

Second Helping: Cuban Harina with Broccoli Rabe and Crispy Fried Eggs
Thirds?: Black Bean and Monterey Jack Casserole

 

Warm, Garlicky Lentil and Potato Salad

Adapted from The Washington Post

Serves 6
15 minutes preparation time
20 minutes cooking time

1 head of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil, plus a drizzle more
2 1/2 cups small French lentils
2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste, divided
4 medium potatoes, peeled, and cubed (about 4 cups)
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, or more to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel the outer layers off of a head of garlic, but leave the skin on the individual cloves of garlic and leave them attached in the head. Cut off the top of garlic head so that you can see the tops of the individual cloves. Place the head of garlic on a piece of foil and drizzle it with olive oil. Wrap the foil around it and bake it until it is tender and fragrant and the cloves are soft and brown, about 30 minutes.

While the garlic is roasting, in a small saucepan, cover the lentils water and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. When the pot begins to boil, lower the heat, add half a teaspoon of salt, and let the lentils simmer until they are tender, about 15 minutes.

In a separate saucepan, cover the potatoes with water and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. When the pot begins to boil, lower the heat, add half a teaspoon of salt, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

When the garlic is finished, remove it from the oven and let it cool enough so that you can handle it. Peel back the foil and remove the individual garlic cloves from the skin with a knife or fork. Mince them finely.

Wisk the garlic, red wine vinegar, thyme, remaining teaspoon of salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in the remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil, wisking continuously, so that the dressing emulsifies.

When the lentils and potatoes have finished cooking, drain them and pour them into a large serving bowl. Add the dressing and toss everything together gently. Add the parsley and mix again. Serve warm.

Jobs for Children: Children can drizzle the olive oil over the garlic, wisk the ingredients for the dressing and scrub the potatoes. Older children can peel the potatoes, too, and chop them or the parsley.

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Fresh Broccoli Lemon Pasta

After that recipe for pecan bars (and after polishing off the last of our stash), I am definitely in the mood for something healthier. And what is healthier than broccoli? Amazingly, our children will all eat broccoli. Actually, it's more accurate to say that none of them will reject pasta just because it has broccoli in it, although I often find that they have eaten the pasta and left a heap of broccoli behind.

Broccoli, trimmed and ready to go.

There are beautiful heads of broccoli at the farmers' markets now, so this is the time to make the most of it. We have been making a broccoli pasta with sour cream for years and love it, but the night I first made this we didn't have any sour cream and I will go to great lengths to avoid going to the grocery store. Instead, I made this version of a broccoli pasta with the ingredients that I had on hand. (Incidentally, I thought I had posted that broccoli sour cream pasta recipe a long time ago, but I can't find it in the archives. Does anyone remember reading it? Have I lost my mind?)

The broccoli in this recipe is so good that I had to stop myself from eating it right out of the pan. The garlic and parsley get chopped together into a persillade which is just a fancy French word for . . . well, at its simplest, it just means garlic and parsley chopped together. The lemon zest adds a bit of brightness that nicely complements the heartiness of the broccoli.

The lemon-parsley combination. Can you smell it?

If that's not enough to convince you, then you should also know that it only takes about 30 minutes to make. Chop the broccoli first, then you can prep the rest of the dish while the pasta water boils and the broccoli sautés. Also, with the broccoli and pasta in one dish, you don't even need a vegetable or salad on the side.

I polled the family after we had this pasta to see how they liked it compared to the original broccoli-sour cream pasta. We had a split decision, which admittedly is not easy to do in a family of 5. Everyone said that they liked both, but two preferred this new version, two preferred the family classic, and one liked them both so didn't choose a favorite.

Second Helping: Roasted Beet, Cucumber, and Feta Salad

Just add pasta.

Fresh Broccoli Lemon Pasta

 

Serves 6
10 minutes preparation time
about 25 minutes cooking time

2 small heads broccoli (about 6-8 cups of florets)
2 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1 pound short pasta such as penne or farfalle
1 cup parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon lemon zest
freshly grated parmesan for serving

Set a large pot of water to boil.

Cut the broccoli into small bite-sized pieces. I use the stems, too. If they are very thick, peel off the outer layer; if they are small, don't bother. Slice the stems across into thin rounds (about 1/4 inch thick).

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli, salt, and red pepper flakes and sauté, stirring occasionally so that the broccoli browns but does not burn. Cook until the florets are tender to the bite, which, depending on the size of the pieces, will take about 20 minutes.

While the broccoli is cooking, chop the parsley and garlic cloves together and zest the lemon. When the broccoli is tender, remove the pan from the heat, add the parsley, garlic, and lemon, and toss it together. Set the pan aside.

When the water has come to a boil, add a generous amount of salt and the pasta. Cook the pasta until it is al dente; for me this is usually 1 minute less than the time called for on the box. Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. (I remind myself to do this by setting a measuring cup in the colander while the pasta is cooking. When I pour the pasta out to drain it, I pour a bit in the measuring cup first.) Drain the pasta and return it to the pan.

Immediately add the broccoli. If you like, add a bit of the pasta water to give the mixture a bit of a sauce. Serve hot and add parmesan at the table.

Jobs for children: Children can zest the lemon, wash the broccoli and parsley, and peel the garlic. Older children can chop the broccoli, garlic and parsley, too.

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Dinner in a Pumpkin, Take 2

A few years ago, the Washington Post ran a recipe for dinner in a pumpkin. A fabulous idea, I thought, for a Halloween dinner, or for any fall evening. I modified that recipe once and loved it, but when I tried to recreate it to share here last year, it was a bust.

Of course I had to try again. This time, though, I started with Gourmet Today's pumpkin fondue recipe. It was fabulous. Essentially the recipe is a strata built inside a pumkin, with layers of bread and cheese. I upped the nutmeg and added some sage, too, because I love those flavors with pumpkin. When you serve, scoop out some pumpkin flesh from the inside of the pumpkin with each spoonful of the cheesy bread. The combination is divine.

Layering in the bread and cheese.

I think we'll have it on Halloween. I'll prep everything in advance and pop it in the oven in the late afternoon so that we can have a hot meal in our bellies before we head out for trick-or-treating. OK, just writing this recipe is making me hungry. You really have to make this recipe. It's delicious and fun, and when you're cooking for family, what more could you ask for?

Second Helping: Acorn Squash Stuffed with Curried Lentils





Lots of cheesy goodness.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Don't worry too much about getting the amounts of the ingredients exactly right in this recipe because the amount you need will depend on the size of the pumpkin and the ratio of flesh to skin. But the ratio won't matter as long as you have enough of the cream mixture to cover all of the bread.

11-01-10 Update: I made this this weekend with a bigger pumpkin, and it made me realize how variable the results of this recipe will be. The pumpkin I used was a different variety and about 15 pounds. I found that nearly tripling gave me the right amount of filling, but the pumpkin didn't need to cook nearly as long as I thought it would and the filling was more liquid that it was with the smaller pumpkin. It was still delicious, but next time I make it with a large pumpkin I will try cooking it with the top off, and I will check it more frequently to make sure that the pumpkin itself does not get too soft.

Approximately 15 slices of baguette (about half of a large loaf)
1 pumpkin, approximately 6 inches in diameter (about 6 poounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to sprinkle inside the pumpkin
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere (about 4 ounces)
2 cup grated Emmental (about 3 ounces)
1 teaspoon minced fresh sage leaves
olive oil for brushing

Put a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Brush the bottom of a small casserole dish with oil.

Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven until they are firm, about 5 minutes.

Cut the top off the pumpkin and set it aside. Clean the seeds and stringy fibers out of the pumpkin and off of the top. Reserve the seeds for roasting, if you like.

In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together the cream, vegetable stock, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and pepper. Mix the cheeses and sage together in a separate measuring cup or a small bowl.

Sprinkle a bit of salt inside the pumpkin. Breaking the bread into small pieces if necessary, cover the bottom of the inside of the pumpkin with a layer of bread. Cover completely with a layer of cheese. Pour enough of the cream mixture over the bread and cheese to completely saturate the bread. Continue to layer the ingredients in that same order until you have used all -- or most -- of the bread and cheese. When you pour the last bit of cream mixture on, make sure that it comes high enough to soak through all of the bread, but don't let it run over the side. I(f you have any extra bread and cheese, make up a few cheese toasts. Because you can never have enough bread and cheese. . . right?)

Put the top on the pumpkin and rub the outside with a bit of olive oil. Bake until the pumpkin is tender when pierced with a knife, 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Jobs for children: I find that cutting the pumpkin is heavy knife work not suited for children. But they can brush oil into the pan and onto the outside of the pumpkin, scoop out seeds, grate cheese and nutmeg, grind pepper, and layer the bread and cheese inside the pumpkin.

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Smoky Eggplant Lasagna

So that's it then. Summer is officially over. Sigh. I can't say that I'm ready to leave it behind, the long days, lazy evenings at the pool, unstructured hours of who-knows-what. We did our best to wring the last bits out of summer this past weekend, with some time at the pool, a party at a friend's house to celebrate the bounty of our local farms, and a bike ride along the C & O Canal towpath.

But the weather has turned cooler and it is beginning to feel like fall, with all that the season promises. We made this lasagna the night before the first day back at school to help us bridge the seasons. It is lighter than eggplant parmesan, with a fresh flavor, and it doesn't require all that dipping and frying that goes along with the preparation of eggplant parmesan.

It all started at a farmers' market, as it often does. We spied a variety of adorable eggplants and the children wanted to buy a few of each of them. What? Eggplant? Are you kidding? You won't eat them! That was what I thought, but I fought off the impulse to pass them up and scooped them up instead. If I buy them, maybe they'll eat them. And, besides, did I mention that they were very cute?


Olivia wanted to make eggplant parmesan with them, but they really weren't the right size or shape. They were small enough that I thought they would be tender and I could skip the peeling and salting. The smoky flavor came from the smoked mozzarella which complements the eggplant.

When we sat down to eat the lasagna, Chloe didn't recognize the eggplant and she was quite suspicious. I'm not one to hide the true ingredients from children because I'd rather my kids learned to love all that great produce than to find out that I'd tricked them into eating something they say they hate. But I also don't always announce the ingredients that I think may be an obstacle.

Instead, we play, Guess the Secret Ingredient. Everyone has to have a few bites and then try to guess what is in the dish. My hope is that by the time someone guesses "eggplant," the children will have tried the dish and decided whether or not it was good without the specter of eating a food they don't think they like. It doesn't always work, but in this case, it did. Although neither Chloe or Oscar ate all of the eggplant bits, they did eat around them instead of refusing to eat dinner at all. I'll take my small victories however I can get them.

Maybe it won't be so hard to leave summer behind after all.

Second Helping: Moro Bean, Tomato, and Basil Salad

Eggplant Lasagna

I used a mix of varieties of small, tender eggplants and left the skins on. If you use larger ones, peel them first. I don't find salting necessary in this dish because they eggplants are mixed in with so many flavors that they are not bitter at all.

I always seem to have leftover lasagna noodles after assembling a lasagna. I'm not sure why a standard box has more noodles than one really needs to make a standard lasagna. It's just like hotdogs. Why do they sell them in packages of 10 when the buns come in packets of 12 (or is it 8 and 10?). Anyway, if you have leftovers, slice them into strips and toss them with a bit of olive oil and salt. The Italians refer to these odd shapes as "malfatti," meaning poorly made. They taste like any other pasta, though, and could make the start of a nice little lunch.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups diced eggplant
6 cups chopped San Marzano tomatoes (fresh if you can get them or canned if you can't)
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound lasagna noodles
1 15-ounce container ricotta
1 pound smoked mozzarella, thinly sliced
about 30 fresh basil leaves

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add the onions, carrots, and garlic and eggplant and cook until they soften, 10-15 minutes. If you are adding fresh tomatoes, add them with their juice. If you use canned tomatoes, drain most of the water, but add enough to make the vegetables slightly saucy. Cook with the tomatoes until the sauce has thickened and the flavors have blended, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the lasagna noodles and boil them according to the package directions. Drain the noodles and run cold water over them stirring them gently with a wooden spoon or your hands to keep them from sticking.

Spread a thin layer of the sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish. Arrange a single layer of noodles on top of the sauce. Spread a large spoonful of ricotta across each noodle. Top with a few basil leaves. Add a layer of sauce. Repeat with another layer just like that, noodles, ricotta, basil,  sauce.  You should have enough ricotta for a second layer. For the next layer, use noodles, smoked mozzarella, basil, and sauce. Keep adding layers until you run out of sauce or space in the dish, whichever happens first. For me, this was a total of four layers of noodles. The last layer should have sauce topped by mozzarella.

Bake the lasagna until the cheese is melted, about 30 minutes. If you would like the cheese on the top to brown a bit, remove the lasagna and heat the oven to broil. Put the lasagna back in for a couple of minutes, until the cheese begins to turn a golden brown. Watch very carefully because it will brown quickly and the last thing you need is to burn the lasagna. Remove from the oven immediately. Let it rest for a couple of minutes before you slice and serve.

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Brown Buttered Zucchini with Spaghetti

We have been so lucky over the last couple of weeks because friends have kindly offered us their CSA shares while they are on vacation (thanks Beth and Leticia!). Such bounty! The shares have included broccoli, onions, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, green beans, and zucchini. And not those gigantic zucchini, either, but nice small tender ones.

It is wonderful to have such an abundance of riches. Of course I still like my weekly jaunts to the farmers' market, although lately I have mostly been buying fruit, and we have hauled in some goodies from our farm garden, too. We've been eating like crazy to keep up with it all. Anything for the cause.

It does create a challenge, though, to keep presenting the great produce in a way that keeps the kiddies interested. I'm suspecting that one of these days there will be a big groan when they see that dish of pasta with tomatoes, garlic, and basil, which has become one of our quick weeknight meals. 

To jazz up the zucchini, I toasted some bread crumbs in butter, and added zucchini that was cut into thin julienne slices and cooked in brown butter. The result was a crunchy, nutty-flavored pasta dish that everyone loved. Well they all ate it anyway. Chloe, who usually is a fan of zucchini, bread, butter, and pasta in other combinations, separated out the zucchini from her pasta. I still can't predict what she will and won't eat. But at least it used up a bunch of zucchini and the rest of us thought it was delicious.

Second helping: Smoky Deviled Eggs

Brown Buttered Zucchini with Spaghetti

This dish is best the day it is made because the bread crumbs will be crunchy and play nicely off the softness of the zucchini. Leftovers will lose a bit of the crunch.

Serves 6
15 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

5 tablespoons butter, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh coarse bread crumbs, preferably homemade*
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium zucchini, julienned
1 pound spaghetti

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add the bread crumbs and toss them until they are completely coated in the butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they have deepened in color and are crisp, about 10 minutes. Pour them into a large bowl and add the garlic, parmesan, parsley, and salt.

Wipe out the pan you used for the bread crumbs (no sense getting another pan dirty).  Return the pan to medium heat and add the remaining butter. Let it cook for about about 2 minutes, just until it begins to brown. Add the zucchini and saute until the zucchini is tender and the butter is browned and smells nutty, about 5 minutes.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Salt the water generously, add the pasta and cook until al dente. When the pasta has cooked, drain it and toss it immediately with the bread crumbs and zucchini.Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.

* To make bread crumbs, whirl a few pieces of crusty bread in a food processor until they are finely chopped. I like them to be a bit coarse or a variety of sizes because I think they make the texture more interesting, but you can whirl them longer if you'd like to make them finer.

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Grilled Zucchini Summer Sandwich

We seem to have spent the first part of the summer everywhere but home, eating dinner out of the house and expanding our repertoire of dishes that travel well. But now that school is out and we have settled into summer, we find ourselves home more often. The combination of being home more and not wanting to cook in the 100-degree heat has us turning more and more to the grill. I know that grilling requires standing over a hot grill which is its own challenge on a scorching day, but at least it is quick, and the heat stays outside.

This recipe is my way of using up one of those giant zucchini that I inevitably take possession of once or twice during the summer. Do you have the same experience? Maybe a family member or neighbor gives you one, or you find one hiding under a large leaf on that zucchini plant that you somehow missed when you last harvested. For me, it's having that vegetable garden an hour away that did it. So last week we were the proud owners of a Great Zucchini. It reminded me of the vegetables in Wallace and Grommit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit, or that Gilligan's Island episode where they plant the radioactive seeds from NASA and grow gigantic vegetables.

I find that these huge zucchini are often not that tasty to eat on their own. The peel and the seeds can be tough so I usually just use the flesh to make zucchini bread. But this year I wanted to try something different. I noticed that sliced across, the zucchini are the perfect size for a sandwich roll. The grilling softens the slices and adds excellent flavor. Topped with a bit of basil -- purple in this case -- a slice of mozzarella, and loaded into a toasty bun they made a delicious summer sandwich.

The kids all tucked into these, and Olivia and Oscar polished theirs off. Chloe ate about half of hers before declaring that she didn't like it, but I thought that was not bad for my most finicky eater.

And I still have half a zucchini left to make more or to make zucchini bread. Or, given its size, I may have enough for both.

Grilled Zucchini Summer Sandwich

The kids ate these as sandwiches with the whole bun, but Gabe and I ended up eating them as open-faced sandwiches, and we each ate two.  With some veggies or a salad on the side, it's enough for a meal.

I think basil and zucchini are an excellent summer combination, but the zucchini has a neutral enough flavor that you could vary the combination in a number of ways. A chipotle mayonnaise would be an excellent addition, as would a dash of hot sauce like sriracha.

Serves 6
10 minutes preparation time
20 minutes cooking time

approximately 1/2 of a giant zucchini, peeled, and sliced into rounds
1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
approximately 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
10-15 basil leaves
8 ounces mozzarella or other melting cheese such as fontina or cheddar
6 sandwich buns
toppings of your choice, such as lettuce, tomato, or sliced onion

Heat the grill. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil and garlic, and add a couple of dashes of salt and a grind or two of pepper. Brush the zucchini slices on both sides with olive oil. Grill them until they are browned on the bottom, then turn them to cook on the other side. When you turn them to cook on the second side, add a basil leaf or two and a slice of mozzarella. Grill until they pierce easily with a fork and the cheese has melted.

Brush the buns with the remaining olive oil and toast them quickly on the grill. Load the zucchini patties into the bun, top with whatever you like, and eat them while they're hot.

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Fresh Pea and Fava Bean Risotto

There is something about peas and fava beans in their shells that lures me in when I see them at the market. I know they will be work to shell and cook, but just knowing that those pods are filled with little surprises charms me. So into the bag they go.

This year, I decided to combine the peas and fava beans into a risotto. I wanted something that would feature their flavor but I couldn't imagine how many I would have to buy (and shell!) in order to make enough for a side dish for five of us. Since their flavor is delicate, I wanted a simple background flavor that wouldn't overshadow them. Risotto is great for that.

And the shelling really wasn't bad. The peas are a snap (sorry for the bad pun). It's really just a two step to open the pods and clear out the peas. The fava beans are a bit more work. The pods are a bit tougher to open, and they also have an inner casing that needs to be removed. If you have a partner though, it doesn't take long to prepare them. Gabe and I made this risotto for dinner this past Saturday night. Sitting in the kitchen together, with some music on, chatting, and anticipating seeing our friends, it was actually quite a wonderful experience. Just don't try it when you're in a hurry.

Second Helping: Pea Shoot Pasta with Lemon Cream

Fresh Pea and Fava Bean Risotto

Serves 6
30 minutes preparation
30 minutes cooking time

1 quart fresh peas
1 quart fava beans
5-6 cups vegetable stock
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
½ cup freshly grated parmesan, plus more for the table
salt and pepper to taste

Fill a medium-sized pot about half full of water and bring it to a boil. 

Remove the peas from their pods. What works best for me is to pull the pod apart at the center with two hands until it separated. I then flick the peas out with my thumb. Set them aside.

Remove the fava beans the same way. The fava bean pods are a bit tougher so it may take a bit more strength to open them with your hands. Alternatively, you could use a small knife to cut off the tops and then split them down the middle with your hands.

Salt the boiling water and add the shelled fava beans. Boil them for one minute and then drain them. Immediately rinse them with cold water. When they have cooled, pull off the outer jackets and set the beans aside with the peas.

Heat the stock in a small saucepan.

In a large pan, melt three tablespoons of the butter. Add the onion and sauté until it is translucent and soft, about 7 minutes. Add the rice and stir for a minute or so until it is coated evenly. Add the wine and mix until it has been absorbed into the rice. Continue cooking the risotto by adding one or two ladlefuls of stock at a time, stirring occasionally. After about 15 minutes, add the peas and fava beans and stir them into the rice.

Continue to add stock to the rice until it is tender. The best way to know when the rice is done is to keep tasting it. It is done when the rice no longer has a crunch in the middle, but when it still retains some texture.The peas and fava beans will be done when they are tender to the bite but are still a bright green color.

When the risotto is done, add the remaining tablespoon of butter, the herbs, and the parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pass additional grated parmesan at the table.

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Simple Fried Rice

I love to spend time puttering in the kitchen. When I feel a bit out of sorts or crabby, an hour or two in the kitchen will usually make everything right. I just slip on my cooking shoes, put some music on the CD player, and cook something, anything really. And my mood improves considerably. Unless my creation is a disaster. But that's a whole other story.

I realize that not everyone uses cooking as therapy. Many of you  -- some might even say more normal people -- might find that going for a walk, taking a nap, or vegging in front of the TV is what it takes to recharge. I get that. And this recipe is for you. 

The reality is that I can't always spend as much time in the kitchen as I would like. These days have felt especially rushed. Summer swimming has begun, and softball and baseball are continuing. The children are still in school, and there are lots of end of year activities associated with that, plays, concerts, recitals. We have been on the run. 

Quick meals have become the norm, and this fried rice fits the bill. It is quick, delicious, and infinitely variable. It's also a great way to use up leftovers because you can throw in any odds and ends.  The key ingredients that add flavor are the peanut and sesame oils, soy sauce, ginger, and scallions. Beyond that, mix it up. Cooked veggies, tofu, nuts would all be great. It is also an excellent vehicle for a dash of Sriracha Sauce.

Writing up this recipe has convinced me. I know what I'm making for dinner tonight.

With summer right around the corner, I'm expecting more peace in our near future. You'll find me sitting on the porch or by the pool sipping some refreshing drink, preferably with one of those cute umbrellas in it. Or maybe in the pool.

Who am I kidding? I'll probably be in the kitchen.

Simple Fried Rice

The rice is best if it has been pre-cooked and refrigerated before use because it will dry out a bit and separate nicely for the stir frying process.

Serves 4-6
15 minutes preparation time
15 minutes cooking time

1 tablespoon peanut oil plus a splash more, if needed
2 1-inch pieces of ginger, peeled
1 or 2 carrots sliced into matchsticks
4 eggs, scrambled
6 cups cooked brown or white long grain rice
3/4 cup chopped scallions (about 1 1/2)
2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more for the table
1 teaspoon sesame oil
additional pre-cooked vegetables or tofu

Heat a large, deep frying pan or wok over high heat. Add the peanut oil and swirl it around the pan.  Cook the ginger just until it begins to turn golden, about 1 minute. Remove the ginger from the pan and discard. 

Add the carrots and cook until they are tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and set them aside. Swirl the remaining oil around the pan. If you don't have enough to coat the sides add another splash. When the oil is hot again, swirl the pan to coat the sides. Add the eggs and immediately swirl them around the pan until they cook completely. With a wooden spoon, the egg up into small pieces.

Add the rice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and any other pre-cooked ingredients that you are using and cook until everything is heated through, 3-4 minutes. Serve, passing extra soy sauce at the table for anyone who wants it.

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Asparagus and Goat Cheese Frittata

 
Our children are loving the Diary of A Wimpy Kid books these days, and, truth be told, I find them hilarious myself.  They are part comic, part novel and they are written from the perspective of Greg as he begins his life in middle school.  I'm not sure I can quite convey what I find so funny about them.  I think it's Greg's voice.  He thinks he has it all figured out, but his overconfidence gets him into trouble time after time.

Anyway, if you have read them, you know about the cheese touch.  If you haven't read them, the cheese touch is a piece of American cheese that somehow gets left on the playground to mold and turn bizarre colors.  Any child who touches it is immediately ostracized by the rest of the middle school until he passes the touch on. 

When I put something on the table that my children don't like, it's a lot like the cheese touch.  One of Oscar's least favorite foods is asparagus.  When I put it on the table, he gags and makes awful faces.  If I put some on his plate, he moves all the remaining food away from it so that it doesn't get contaminated. 

The rest of us love it, though.  For me, asparagus is one of those foods that I can't pass at the farmers' market and not buy.  Their flavor is fresh and green, the quintessential taste of spring.

When I made this frittata for dinner recently, Oscar pulled his usual tricks, isolating it on the plate.  Eventually, though I convinced him to eat some of the egg that was in the frittata even though it had touched a piece of asparagus.  A small victory, certainly, but I'll take it.

Second helping: Asparagus with Shallot-Champagne Vinaigrette

 

Asparagus and Goat Cheese Frittata

8 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch asparagus (about 10 large)
1 large scallion (about 1/2 cup), chopped
1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together the eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper.  Slice the asparagus diagonally into one-inch segments, reserving a 2-inch tip of about 10 of the asparagus. 

Heat a 10-inch oven-proof skillet over medium heat for a minute or two until it is good and hot.  Add the oil and swirl it around the pan to make sure that it coats the sides.  Add the asparagus segments (holding out the tips) and spring onions and saute until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.  Add the egg mixture and cook until the edges set, about 5 minutes.  The center will still be runny. 

Arrange the remaining asparagus tips around the frittata and crumble the goat cheese on top.  Move the pan to the oven and cook until the frittata has firmly set and is golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Let the for a couple of minutes out of the oven.  Then, with an oven mitt over the end of the handle (I can't tell you how many times I have forgotten this and burned myself), run a rubber spatula around the edge of the frittata.  Lift the pan over a serving plate and use the spatula to slide the frittata onto the plate.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  

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Happy Dance Greens & Basil Risotto

 
Maybe you saw it, but I had a recipe featured in the Washington Post Food section yesterday.  Okay, okay, so it didn't have my name on it, but it was my recipe.  Here's the back story.

A couple of years ago, my sister, Sarah O'Herron (who, as I have written before, owns Black Ankle Vineyards with her husband, Ed Boyce) asked me to develop a recipe for a booklet that they were putting together for the Frederick Wine Trail.  She wanted something that would complement their white wines.  Develop a recipe?!?!  Of course!  Even in those days before hidethecheese, that was right up my alley. 

I developed a recipe for risotto with fresh greens to suit the season and to complement Black Ankle's Gruner Veltliner, one of my favorites.  I sent it to Sarah who forwarded it on, and I thought that was the end of it.  But sometime later, when Lucie Snodgrass put together her book, Dishing Up Maryland, she asked Sarah if she could use the recipe.  Sarah asked me and off it went.  Sarah tried to get my name included in the book, but there was some legal mumbo jumbo about a waiver and what not (and this coming from me, a lawyer!).  The long and the short of it is that my name did not make it into the book or the Post's article. 

But you, readers of this blog, you know the identity of the "sister of winemaker Sarah O'Herron."  And the cookbook, with recipes and stories gathered from Maryland's farms, looks to be a treat.  I'm eager to get my hands on a copy.

So here's the recipe for Risotto with Fresh Greens and Basil.  We just made the recipe the other night using spinach, but with one twist.  We used ramps in place of the onion.  If you can get these mild onions at your farmers' market, they are a treat and add some fresh spring pop to the dish.

 
To make this substitution, use about 6 ramps.  Separate the green ends from the bulbs and chop both.  Add the chopped bulb at the beginning instead of the onion and the tops at the end with the greens and basil. 

 

P.S.  Did I mention that I have a recipe in the Washington Post Food section?  Eeeeeek!  I may just have to open a bottle of Gruner Veltliner to celebrate.

Second Helping:  Egg Salad with Tarragon and Shallots

Pressure Cooker Saffron and Artichoke Risotto

I bought a pressure cooker years ago for Gabe because I had heard it was great for making beans, and we loved to make Cuban black beans.  But I was afraid to use it.  I don't know whether I had a repressed bad pressure cooking experience in my youth or if it is just my active imagination, but I always picture the pot exploding all over the kitchen, and splattering hot food all over my innocent children.

But when my friend Andrea told me about her technique for making risotto in a pressure cooker in 7 minutes I knew I had to dust that cooker off and put it to work.  Andrea is a fantastic and creative cook, and I completely trust her judgment and recommendations about anything to do with food.  Now I have conquered my fear of the pressure cooker.  Sure it whistles and hisses, but the lid stays firmly locked on until I am ready to remove it, and I no longer worry about it combusting.

Making risotto in a pressure cooker is not only fast, it is easy.  There is no standing over a hot stove stirring slowly.  Instead, almost everything goes in the pot up front and, after a few minutes of checking e-mail or typing on the blog, the risotto is ready. 

I am looking forward to making this risotto with fresh artichokes and peas when they come in at the farmers' market, but for now, the frozen versions are mighty tasty.  But I still keep the children out of the kitchen once that cooker starts sounding like a steam engine.

Second Helping:  Homemade Ketchup

 

Pressure Cooker Saffron and Artichoke Risotto

Serves 6
20 minutes preparation time
20 minutes cooking time

3 tablespoons Spanish olive oil
2 small onions, diced (about 2 cups)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups arborio rice
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 cups frozen artichoke hearts
1 cup dry white wine
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in the pressure cooker and add the onion and garlic.  Cook until the onion is soft, about 7 minutes. 

Add the rice and stir to coat it with the oil.  Add the saffron, lemon zest, artichoke hearts, and mix again.  Add the white wine, vegetable stock, salt, and pepper and stir again.  Cover the pressure cooker with its lid and lock it on.  Bring the pressure up.  Follow the directions of your pressure cooker, but in mine, this is when the cooker will begin to make a hissing noise.  

Cook the risotto for about 6 minutes.  Each pressure cooker will cook a bit differently, but it shouldn't take less than 6 minutes.  You can always cook it a few minutes longer with the top off.  It's much harder to come back from an overcooked gloppy mess.

Release the steam and stand back.  When the pressure has been released, remove the top.  Add the peas and stir.  If the risotto still contains a bit more liquid than you would like, let it sit for a minute or two.  Stir in the butter and parsley.  Taste and add more salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.

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Crêpes

 
Before Ophélie, the French teacher we hosted, came to visit, we were a bit apprehensive about feeding her.  When we had told her that we were vegetarians, her response was that she didn't like many vegetables. Uh-oh. 

I was determined to find a middle ground, though.  So on the first day of her stay with us, I quizzed her about what she liked.  We found a few common vegetables; lettuce and tomatoes were ok, green beans were tolerable.  But we found lots of overlap in the carbohydrate family.  Pasta, rice, and, of course, bread were on the list.  That gave us a good start.  And Ophélie told us that she likes to make (and eat) crêpes. 

 
Crêpes have the advantage of being one of those foods that can be paired with anything, which is great when you are eating with people with a range of tastes.  Each person can add his or her preferred filling.  We made a big pile of crêpes and put them on the table with shredded Gruyère, goat cheese, sautéed mushrooms, and sautéed spinach. And for dessert, we had them with sugar, sugar and lemon, jam, and Nutella.

 
Ophélie taught us her method of making crêpes, and we all helped.  Olivia and Oscar even took a turn at the stove and Olivia masterd the in-air flip.  The crêpes could be an appetizer, dinner or dessert.  This recipe makes enough to generously serve six for dinner and dessert.  I am looking forward to many more years of making and eating crêpes.  And when we make them, we will think of Ophélie.

 
Second Helping (from the archives): Sage Risotto with Wild Mushrooms

Crêpes

Makes 35-40 crêpes (count on 3 to 5 per person, for dinner and dessert)
15 minutes preparation time
30-60 minutes cooking time

For this number of crêpes, you will need about 4 cups of fillings, such as shredded cheese, goat cheese, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed spinach.  For dessert, consider using sugar alone, freshly squeezed lemon juice with sugar, jam, or Nutella.

4 1/2 cups flour
1 quart milk
10 eggs
canola oil for frying the crêpes

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, milk, and eggs.  Whisk vigorously until most of the lumps are out of the flour and the batter is fairly smooth.  Be patient and recruit helpers, as this will take a bit of time and energy.  Alternatively, you oculd use a blender or food processor, but you'll get much less exercise.

Heat a medium-sized frying pan over medium high heat.  If you have two frying pans, you may want to use both to decrease the cooking time.  And the best scenario is to find someone to work that second pan so you have a cooking partner.

Add about 2 teaspoons of canola oil to the frying pan and swirl it to coat the pan completely.  Add about a quarter of a cup of batter to the pan and immediately swirl it around the pan so that it leaves an even thin layer in the pan.  Cook until the crêpe lifts easily from the pan when you put the edge of a spatula underneath it.  Flip the crêpe and cook it on the other side until it is lightly browned, one to two minutes. 

Generally, the first crêpe will not come out well, but you may still find someone willing to eat it for you.

Repeat this process until you have cooked all of the crêpes.  You should not need to add more oil to the pan.  After you pour in the batter and swirl, it will initially seem that the crêpe will stick and will not come loose from the pan.  But after it cooks for a minute or two, you should be able to get a spatula underneath it and flip it.  For a thrill, loosen the crêpe with a spatula and try flipping it in the air.  The key is to have no fear.  You just have to go for it.

Keep the crêpes warm in the oven as you cook them.  When you are ready to serve, put them on the table alongside the fillings and let everyone build their own.

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Orange-Soy Tofu

I know that for meat eaters, tofu can be a tough sell.  I can commiserate.  The first time I tried it was from the salad bar in college.  I put it on my salad because I thought it was feta.  Boy, was I disappointed!  It was a tasteless, cold, mushy surprise.  It was a looooong time before I had the courage to try it again.

After that story, will I ever convince any of you out there who are skeptical about tofu to try this recipe?  I hope so, because this dish has a lot of flavor.  Tofu is extremely mild and will taste like whatever you cook it with.  I have shared other tofu recipes on this site, namely Vegetarian Sloppy Joes and Spaghetti with V-Balls.  This recipe gives tofu a different twist.  It is marinated overnight with soy sauce that is flavored with garlic, ginger, and orange.  The tofu soaks up all of that fantastic flavor.

Although it takes a bit of planning to make this dish so that you have enough time to marinate the tofu, it only takes 35 or 40 minutes to cook.  If you marinate it the night before, you can just pop it in the oven when you return from work the next night and it will bake in the time it takes to cook the rice.

Orange-Soy Tofu

Serves 4 as a main course
25-35 minutes preparation time, plus several hours for marinating
30-45 minutes baking time

1 cup soy sauce
juice and zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 whole garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 pound extra firm tofu
cooked brown or white rice for serving

Mix all of the ingredients except the sesame seeds and tofu in a small sauce pan.  Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it cook for 20 to 30 minutes to thicken.  Remove from the heat and let cool.  Add the sesame seeds.

Drain the tofu and cut it into slices.  Arrange the tofu slices in the bottom of a shallow baking dish.  Pour the sauce over the tofu and let it marinate for at least 3 hours or as long as 24.  The longer the tofu marinates, the more intense the flavor will be.  Turn the tofu during the marinating process to ensure that both sides absorb the marinade. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drain the marinade off of the tofu into a separate storage container.  I have had good luck keeping this marinade in the refrigerator for several weeks.  Bake the tofu until it is lightly browned and heated through, 30 to 45 minutes.  Serve with rice.

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Smokin' Chili

 
Oscar is eagerly awaiting the Superbowl.  Oh, sure, we may watch some of the game on TV, and some of us will enjoy the commercials as much as the game.  Chances are I'll be doing something else at the same time if we do watch it.  You know, something exciting like folding laundry or writing up a recipe. 

But the real excitement will come in the week leading up to the big game.  What Oscar is really looking forward to is the Superbowl display at Whole Foods.  As best Oscar could remember, the set up is a miniature football field with corks for players and beer bottles for referees. The whole display is walled in by large quantities of tortilla chips and soda.  I wish I could remember it better myself, but I'm sure that I tried to move on as soon as I saw those large quantities of chips.

 
If we do watch the game, we'll take a traditional culinary route and whip up a pot of chili.  Maybe we'll have some chips and tomatillo salsa, too.  But this chili recipe will definitely be on the table.  The smoked paprika and chipotle in adobo sauce give the chili a fantastic smoky flavor and the cilantro adds a touch of freshness.  The chipotle also gives the chili a moderate amount of heat.  You can add more if you want more kick, or leave it out altogether if you are making this for children who  can't tolerate the spicyness.  For a crowd, I make a double batch, one with the chipotle and one without.  Leftovers freeze well. 

With or without the game, this chili is warming on a cold January night.  We may even recreate our own Superbowl display at home.  Maybe we'll use blocks instead of the chips and soda, but I think we'll keep the beer bottle referee.

Smokin' Chili

Serves 8
20 minutes preparation time, plus time for soaking the beans
1 hour and 30 minutes cooking time

1 pound dried kidney beans, or a combination of kidney, navy, and pinto beans, soaked overnight
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon smoked paprika or pimenton
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium yellow or red pepper, diced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), with their juice, chopped
1 tablespoon chipotle in adobo sauce, finely minced (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
toppings such as grated cheese, minced onion, or sour cream for servings

Whisk together the cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, and cloves.  Heat them in a large stockpot over medium heat until they are fragrant, just a minute or two.  Remove them from the pot. 

Add the olive oil to the pan and warm it.  Add the onion, pepper, and garlic and cook until they soften, 7 or 8 minutes.  Add the beans, tomatoes with their liquid, the spice mixture, and salt and pepper.  Add the chipotle if you are using it, but if you would like to separate the chili into two batches, one mild and one spicy, divide it into two pots at this point.  Then add the chipotle to one pot (you may want to use half the amount). 

If the tomato liquid is not sufficient to cover the beans, add a bit of water until the beans are just submerged. 

Cook the chili uncovered until the beans have softened, about an hour and a half.  Check the liquid and add more water if it is necessary to keep the beans covered.  When the beans are soft, add the cilantro and serve with the toppings of your choice.

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Torta Rustica a la Biba

For my first few years as a vegetarian, I was very happy eating all the side dishes at the big holidays.  A girl can do pretty well with mashed potatoes, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, and green beans.  And of course, dessert is always vegetarian. 

But one year, Gabe and I were watching a cooking show with Biba Caggiano, one of our favorite chefs who I have written about before here and here, and we watched her make a beautiful vegetable tart.  Gabe scribbled furiously to try to get the basics down.  I'm not sure that we got it all right, but the version we came up with is delicious.  We made it for Christmas that year, and it has been our main course every year since.  Even some of the meat eaters have confessed that they love it more than the turkey.

 
The tart is layers of roasted red peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and Fontina cheese.  The dough has a bit of wine in it, and the entire combination is fantastic.

One word about the process.  I have always laboriously brushed or wiped my mushrooms so that they don't absorb any water.  But, lately, I've been reading that if you rinse them quickly they don't take in much water at all.  Apparently food scientist Harold McGhee tested how much water is absorbed into mushrooms when you wash them, and it was only a tiny bit.  If it's good enough for McGhee and the man who knows How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman, I thought it was worth giving it a shot.  I did dry them with a paper towel quickly after washing them, though.  Old habits are hard to break.

 
I'm looking forward to tucking into a piece of this on Christmas.  I still haven't decided what else to make.  So, tell me, what dishes are part of your family's holiday traditions?

Torta Rustica a la Biba

I have made this tart in advance and frozen it.  It is not quite as good as it is fresh, but it's still mighty tasty.

for the dough:
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 10 or so pieces
1/2 cup white wine
1 egg, lightly beaten

for the filling:
4 medium red peppers or 1 16-ounce jar of roasted red peppers
2 pounds fresh spinach, washed thoroughly and large stems removed
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup parmesan
2 talespoons unsalted butter
1 pound crimini mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 pound Fontina cheese, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste

First, make the dough.  Whisk together the flour and salt.  Work the butter in with your fingers until it ranges in size between large grains of sand and small pebbles.  Add the white wine and egg and mix until it forms a dough.  If you need more liquid, add a splash more wine to get it to hold together.  Roll the dough into a ball and cut it into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other.  Flatten the balls into discs and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

While the dough is chilling, make the filling.  I have found that using pre-roasted peppers saves a lot of time and the dish still tastes fabulous.  If you want to roast the peppers yourself, put them on a baking sheet and roast them in the broiler until they are blackened.  Let them cool to room temperature and slip off the skins.  Cut them open and remove the seeds.  Whether you roast your own peppers or buy them pre-roasted, cut them into long, thin strips.  Set aside.

Make sure to wash the spinach thoroughly so you don't get any bits of grit in the torta.  While the spinach is still wet, put it in a large pot and cover it.  Over medium heat, cook it until it wilts completely, about 7 minutes.  Remove it from the pot and drain it in a colander.  When the spinach is cool enough to touch, squeeze out as much water as you can and roughly chop it.  Put it in a medium-sized bowl and mix in the cream and parmesan.  Add salt pepper and taste.  Add more if necessary.  Set aside.

Heat the butter in a saute pan over medium heat and add the garlic.  Cook it for a minute or so, just until it turns golden.  Add the mushrooms and cook them until the water is gone and they are lightly browned, 7 to 10 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

When the dough has chilled, roll out the larger piece on a piece of plastic wrap.  Drape the dough over a rolling pin and slide it into a 9-inch pie plate.  Layer the filling on top of the dough in the following order:  first the mushrooms, then the spinach mixture, then the red peppers and, finally, the grated Fontina.  Roll out the smaller piece of dough and cover the pie with it.  Trim the edges, leaving enough dough so that the top piece can fold under the bottom one.  Crimp the edges of the crust and cut a few small slits in the top. Brush the top crust with the egg.  If you would like to make a decorative topping, re-roll the scraps and use a cookie cutter to cut out the shape of your choice.  Add it to the top of the torta and brush it with egg.

Bake the torta until it is beautifully browned, 45 to 55 minutes.  Let it sit for a couple of minutes before serving.

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Semolina Pizza Crust

 
Friday night has become homemade pizza night at our house.  Maybe it has something to do with the weather turning colder, but on Fridays after a long week, we all burrow in, crank up the oven, and eat to our hearts' content.  It has become a very relaxing, enjoyable family night. 

For me, the key to a good pizza is a good crust.  I prefer a thin, crisp crust, more like an authentic pie from Naples than what you get from your typical American pizza parlor.  It's tough to recreate that without a wood-fired, 700-degree oven, but this dough makes me very happy.  The recipe is adapted from Biba Caggiano's Trattoria Cooking, which I have written about before here.  I love it because the recipes are simple but delicious.  The cookbook has become one that I trust completely and turn to again and again.

By now, we just quote the cookbook as if Caggiano were a family member, "Biba says. . . "  Well, Biba says that semolina flour can be used in place of some or all of the all-purpose flour.  I find that using half semolina flour gives the dough a fantastic texture and flavor.  Of course, if you don't have or can't find semolina flour, you can use all all-purpose flour instead.

 
If you like a thin crisp crust, too, there are a couple of things that you can try.  First, roll the dough as thin as possible.  The thinner the dough, the crisper the crust will be.  I try to roll it as big as my pizza stone, which is round and about 16 inches in diameter.  I also find that using a pizza stone or tiles helps crisp up the crust because it allows the cooking surface to hold the heat.  Preheat the pizza stone in the oven for about half an hour before you are ready to use it.  That way when you put the dough on it, it begins cooking from the bottom up immediately.  I know that some cooks advocate cooking the crust before adding the toppings, but with this recipe I haven't found that to make a difference, so I don't bother.

 
When we roll out the dough, we don't worry about getting it round.  We just let the shape form as we roll it.  This makes for some fun, irregular shapes.  We even had a heart the other night.

 
Lately we have been eating our pizza while we watch TV together.  We aren't much of a TV-watching household, but Gabe and I have gotten the kids hooked on Top Chef.  So we go from very little TV to foul-mouthed, competitive cooking.  I have a feeling that somewhere down the road the children will question my parenting judgment, but for now, we're having a blast.  We have recorded the last episode (no spoilers please!) and we'll watch it tonight as we munch our pizza.  And next week when Top Chef is over, I'm thinking family game night will be an excellent replacement.

To those of you celebrating Hanukkah, have a wonderful holiday!

Semolina Pizza Crust

Adapted from Biba Caggiano's Trattoria Cooking

Since the crust is so thin, it usually takes between two and three of these pizzas to fill all five of us up, although lately I have taken to making four of them so that we have lots leftover for weekend lunches.  The dough does not suffer with extra rising time.  It can be made the night before you want to cook it, for example.  You can pop it into the refrigerator in the morning after it has had a chance to rise or just leave it on the counter until the following evening when you are ready to cook it.

Makes 1 medium, thin crust pizza
15 minutes preparation time, plus 3 or more hours for the dough to rise
10-12 minutes cooking time, plus 30 minutes for preheating the oven and pizza stone

2 1/4 teaspoons (or 1 packet) active dry yeast
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup semolina flour or an additional 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons salt

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Mix everything briefly with a wooden spoon until the wet ingredients are incorporated into the flour.  Then mix the dough by hand until everything is blended.  Turn the dough out onto a counter and knead it for 5 to 6 minutes.  The dough should be smooth and stretchy.  If it is sticky, add a bit more flour and knead it again for a minute or two.

Form the dough into a ball and put it in a large bowl.  Sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Set the dough aside to rise for three or more hours.  After three hours, the dough should have doubled and you should see small bubbles throughout.

About a half hour before you are ready to cook the pizza, put a pizza stone or baking tiles in the oven and preheat it to 500 degrees.  Let the stone heat for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the dough from the bowl and flatten it onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll it out with a rolling pin into whatever shape it takes.  Remove the pizza stone from the oven, sprinkle it with a bit of semolina flour or coarse cornmeal and transfer the dough onto the stone.  Add your favorite toppings.  Bake until the crust and cheese are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes.

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Vegetable Shepherd's Pie

 
It was a sad day the day I learned that Gourmet was shuttering its doors.  I loved getting my copy each month, and I would lie in bed, reading stories of adventures half a world away and folding the corners of the pages with recipes I wanted to try.  And drinking in the pictures.  Ah, those pictures.  They conveyed delicious food, but also the beauty of raw ingredients and the occasions for serving them. 

It seems short-sighted to assume that a magazine that endured World War II, several recessions, and the increased popularity of pre-packaged foods couldn't endure this recession.  But what do a million readers know that a few high priced consultants don't?  So that's the end of that.

 
Gourmet's last issue was the November one.  It had been written prior to the decision to close the magazine, so there is no farewell from Ruth Reichl or even a hint that it was the end.  Perhaps it is fitting, though, that the last issue was the Thanksgiving issue, full of recipes for that most traditional and universal of our country's holidays. 

When I started to think about what I would make for our vegetarian Thanksgiving entree, Gourmet's Shepherd's Pie recipe was the obvious choice.  We made it for a dinner party to test it out, and it was the perfect hearty, delicious meal to serve in the fall.  It is made with the season's root vegetables, including onions, parsnips, carrots, celery root, and potatoes.  The base for the stew is a rich red wine broth, and the topping is rich, creamy, and lightly browned.   

Maybe someone will bring Gourmet back, with or without the name.  Until then, I still have my back issues and my Gourmet Cookbook.  With a single exception, everything I have made out of this book has been great.  (I still can't figure out why their yellow cake recipe is such a dud, but that is a story for another day).  One of these days I will splurge for the new Gourmet Today cookbook, too, but for now, I will eat my way through my stash of recipes, savoring every bite.

 
Vegetable Shepherd's Pie

The stew and the potatoes can both be made in advance.  Before transferring the stew to the casserole dish, bring it to a simmer until it is heated through.  Heat the mashed potatoes over low heat on the stovetop, stirring frequently so they do not scorch, or in the microwave until they are warm.

You can substitute canned beans for the dried beans, although they will not hold their shape as well as the dried ones. 

Serves 8
30 minutes hours preparation time
1 hour 45 minutes cooking time, plus 1 1/2 to 2 hours if using dried beans

for the stew:
1 generous cup dried flageolet beans or pre-soaked cannellini beans or 2 15-ounce cans cannellini 
beans
1 sprig parsley
1 sprig rosemary
10 ounces pearl onions (about 20)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium leeks, cut lengthwise, sliced, and rinsed
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pound crimini mushrooms, wiped or brushed and sliced
4 medium carrots, cubed (about 4 cups)
3 medium parsnips, cubed (about 3 cups)
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons thyme leaves
1 750-ml full bodied red wine, such as a Cotes du Rhone
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons flour
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

for the potato topping:
5 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 6 cups)
2 celery root heads, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste

If you are using flageolet beans, put them in a small stockpot with sprigs of parsley and rosemary and cover them generously with water.  Bring the beans to a boil, add a few shakes of salt, reduce the heat, and simmer until the beans are tender.  I used my Rancho Gordo flageolet beans, which cook more quickly than supermarket dried beans, and they cooked in 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  If you are using dried cannellini beans, soak them overnight first and they too should cook in 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

Bring a small pot of water to a boil.  Add the pearl onions and let them cook for about 2 minutes.  Drain and run cold water over them until they're cool.  Peel them.  Gourmet's recipe calls for leaving them whole, but ours were larger than bite-sized.  Next time I will cut them into halves or quarters, leaving the root end intact if possible.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the leeks and a pinch of salt.  Stir to coat them with the oil, cover the pot, and let them cook until they are tender, about 6 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  Stir in the mushrooms and a couple more pinches of salt and let them cook just until they start to release some liquid, about 6 minutes.  Add the carrots, parsnips, rosemary, and thyme.  Cover the pot and cook the vegetables until they begin to soften, stirring occasionally, 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove the vegetables from the pot and set them aside.

Pour the bottle of wine into the same pot, bring it to a simmer and let it cook until it has reduced to about 1 cup, approximately 20 minutes.  In a small bowl, mix together the butter and flour to form a paste (or, as Gourmet calls it, a beurre manie).  Add the vegetable broth to the wine, warm it, and add the beurre manie.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.  Add the beans, pearl onions, and vegetable mixture.  If you are using canned beans, drain and rinse them, and add them at this point.  Cover the pot and let the mixture simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the chopped parsley and stir.

Meanwhile, prepare the potato filling.  Put the potatoes and celery root chunks in a pot with enough water to cover generously.  Add a couple of pinches of salt to the water and bring it to a boil.  Simmer until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. 

While the potatoes are cooking, melt the butter in a small stock pot.  Add the milk and cream and heat the mixture, but remove it from the heat before it simmers. 

When the potatoes and celery root are finished, drain the water and mash them.  Add the cream mixture and mash again. 

Just before you are ready to serve the casserole, preheat the oven to broil.  Pour the stew into the bottom of a large casserole pan.  Layer the mashed potatoes on top.  Broil until the top of the potato layer is golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Serve immediately.

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Lemonade Stand Risotto

Olivia is the queen of the lemonade stand.  Unfortunately for her enterprise, our street doesn't get much traffic.  But after calling around to friends and cousins, she almost always finds a cohort.  Oscar and Chloe sometimes go along to help, but Olivia is definitely the catalyst and the manager.  They sit together out in the sun, eagerly mixing up lemonade, selling, and counting the take. 

I'd love to be able to tell you that we freshly squeeze the lemons for these lemonade stands, but we don't.  For one thing, we would have to spend a fortune on the lemons in order to make enough lemonade for the neighborhood.  The last time the children had a stand, my nephew, Sean, went door to door gathering customers, and we needed a lot of lemonade.  This is a highly subsidized activity, and so far, the children have kept all of the profits (although that may change -- there are some good things for them to learn there), so there is no offset to our costs.  Besides, our only squeezer is a manual one, and if we were squeezing by hand, we would all be suffering from repetitive stress injuries by now. 

 
Instead, we buy concentrate and save the lemons for risotto, among other things.  I had never had lemon risotto until a trip to Sicily.  Gabe and I went there with Sarah and Ed and I remember having this dish under the stars at a restaurant with a beautiful patio.  We had lots of wine that night, including a dessert wine called Zibibbo.  I love the sound of that name so much that I tried to talk Gabe into naming one of our children after it.  Just think of what a cute nickname Zibi would be.  Cooler heads prevailed, fortunately.

This dish, even without Sicily or the wine, is delicious. 

Lemonade Stand Risotto

We eat this risotto as a main course, often paired with greens.  It would also make an excellent accompaniment to fish or poultry, for those of you who eat such things. 

Serves 6 as a main course
10 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

6-7 cups vegetable broth or water with 2 bouillon cubes
4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
zest and juice of 2 lemons, divided
2 cups arborio rice
1 cup freshly grated parmesan, divided
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the broth or water with the bouillon in a small stock pot.

In a large pan, heat the butter over medium heat until it melts.  Add the onion, stir, and cook until the onion is soft, 6 to 7 minutes.  Add the lemon zest and rice and stir to coat the rice evenly with butter.  Add about 1 cup of the stock and stir.  Cook until the broth has been absorbed by the rice, stirring occasionally.  Continue adding broth about a cup at a time, stirring and letting the broth cook into the rice before adding more. 

The risotto is done when it is tender to the bite and a bit chewy but still retains its shape.  This usually takes between 15 and 20 minutes.  Add the lemon juice and half of the parmesan and stir.  Taste the risotto and add salt if desired.  Serve immediately and pass the remaining parmesan at the table.

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Caramelized Onion Carbonara

 
I thought it was time to post one of those super easy, delicious dinner ideas that we return to again and again.  This recipe only calls for egg, onion, and pasta.  The cream is an excellent touch, but you really can go without it.  Even when we have been away for the weekend and have not had time to shop, as we have for several of these fall weekends, we usually have what we need to throw this together.



It's also very quick.  Start the onions first, and you can do everything else while they cook; just check back in on them every few minutes and give them a stir.

And the taste?  Fantastic!  Although carbonara is usually made with pancetta or bacon -- one of those ingredients that even the most hard core vegetarians may dream about -- the caramelized onions add such a rich flavor that the dish is delicious without it.

 

Caramelized Onion Carbonara

Serves 5
5 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 eggs
1 tablespoon heavy cream
a couple of pinches freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for the pasta water
a few grinds of black pepper
1 pound long pasta, such as spaghetti or linguine
parmesan for serving

Heat the butter and olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add the onion and cook until the onion browns and caramelizes, about 30 minutes.  Stir frequently, and, from time to time, add a splash of water to loosen the juices from the pan.

Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. 

In a large, shallow bowl, whisk the eggs, heavy cream, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and pepper together.  When the water boils, generously salt the water and add the pasta.  For al dente pasta, cook for 1 minute less than the time called for on the box.  Before draining the pasta, remove 1 or 2 cups of the boiling water with a measuring cup. 

Drain the pasta and add it immediately to the bowl with the egg mixture.  Stir the pasta quickly for a minute or two, until the egg coats the pasta evenly and cooks from the heat of the pasta.  If the pasta seems dry, add some of the boiling water.  Add the onion and mix again.  Serve immediately, and pass the parmesan at the table. 

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Acorn Squash Stuffed with Curried Lentils

I bought acorn squash at the farmers' market a couple of weeks ago (one of the perks of squash is that they last!).  Their round, pleated shape is just adorable and their presence at the market screams, "autumn is here!"  I think they are tasty as a side dish with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper, but when we served them to the children that way recently, they were not convinced. 

So, naturally, curry came to mind. 

Our kids love curry, a fact that was recently brought home when Rosalyn invited us over for a Trinidadian feast.  Rosalyn was our children's babysitter for many years, and we are still close.  One of her many fine qualities is that she is a fabulous cook.  She introduced our children to curry at a young age, which I think is incredible.  I didn't know what curry was when I was a child, and I certainly wouldn't have known what roti was.  What a different world they live in.

At Rosalyn's house, we stuffed ourselves with long beans, pumpkin, dumplings, spinach fritters, fried eggplant and, of course, roti.  But our children's favorite is still her chickpea and potato curry.  This recipe is no match for Rosalyn's cooking, but it made a tasty autumn treat.  And at Olivia's request, we had our first turn-out-all-the-lights-in-the-house-and-eat-by-candlelight dinner.  Delicious.

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Curried Lentils

Serves 6 as a main course
25 minutes preparation time
45 minutes cooking time

3 acorn squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons curry
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
3 carrots, scrubbed and sliced
1 red pepper, cored and diced
1 teaspoon salt
a few fresh grinds of pepper
1 1/2 cups small French lentils

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Cut the squash in half from top to bottom (through the stem) and remove the seeds.  Lay the squash face down on a large rimmed baking sheet.  Put them in the oven and pour a bit of water onto the baking sheet.  The water should just coat most of the sheet.  Depending on the size of the baking sheet, this could be from 1 to 2 cups of water.  Bake the squash until they are tender but still hold their shape, about 20 minutes.  Remove them from the oven and let them cool a bit.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. 

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan.  Add the shallots and garlic and cook until they begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.  Mix curry with 2 tablespoons of water and add it to the pan.  Add the thyme and stir.  Add the carrots and red pepper and stir until they are coated with the curry.  Add the salt and pepper, the lentils and about 3 cups of water and stir.  Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on the lentils as they simmer and, if needed, add a bit more water to make sure there is enough to maintain the simmer.

When the squash have cooled enough to handle, scoop the flesh out of the shells, leaving just enough to allow the shells to hold their shape.  Coarsley chop the flesh and stir it in with the lentils.  Fill the squash shells with the lentil mixture.  Depending on the size of your squash, there may be more filling than you need (save it for quesadillas or to eat with rice).  Return the stuffed squash to the oven and heat until they are warmed through.  If the lentils are fairly hot when you stuff the shells this will only take about 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

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Zuccanoes

I first came across this idea for stuffed zucchini in the original Moosewood Cookbook.  The original cookbook no longer seems available on Amazon (they now offer a New Moosewood Cookbook, which is an updated version of the original), although I'm sure you could track down a copy on the web.  Not all of the recipes in the book have stood the test of time, but it has many great ones.  And it was one of the first cookbooks to demonstrate that vegetarian cooking wasn't just about seeds and sprouts;  it also could be delicious. 

Harvest Vegetable Tart with Parmesan Crust

This time of year I go a bit crazy at the farmers' market.  There is such an abundance of vegetables that I love that I buy more than even this family of hearty appetites can reasonably consume in a week.  I bounce from vendor to vendor, loading up my bags with goodies that catch my eye or strike the fancy of one of my wee ones.  We do our best to polish them off, but by the end of the week, I often have vegetables left over that I haven't yet used.  And I always want to finish them up so that I can go back to the market and shop some more.  (For those of you in the Silver Spring/Takoma Park area, check out the Wednesday Crossroads market.  It's small but has a good offering of the season's vegetables, and I found it much less expensive than many other markets in the area).

This recipe is perfect for using up those late summer vegetables.  I love it with eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes because they all share that delicious summer flavor that goes so well with basil.  You can create endless variations of this recipe, though, according to the tastes of your family or whatever is in your CSA share.

For most of the recipes I post, I try to keep the recipes simple.  But sometimes a more complicated, celebratory recipe is what I want to make.  And eat, of course.  This tart is not a simple weeknight meal.  It takes a couple of hours from beginning to end, but the result is worth it.  It is a special meal to serve as a Sunday supper, share with friends, or celebrate the bounty of the harvest.

This weekend, go out, shop, bring home your own haul, and make this tart! 

Harvest Vegetable Tart with Parmesan Crust

30 minutes preparation time
1 hour 30 minutes cooking time

This recipe calls for the vegetables to be grilled, but if you don't have a grill, you could roast the vegetables instead.  The crust and grilled vegetables can both be prepared ahead and stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

for the dough:
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup parmesan
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into about 10 pieces
1/2 cup white wine
1 egg

for the filling:
1 large zucchini, sliced into rounds
3-4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large eggplant, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
2 red, yellow, or orange peppers
15 basil leaves
1 fist-sized mozzarella ball, cut into slices
1 medium tomato, sliced thinly
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten

First make the dough:  Combine the flour, salt and parmesan in a large bowl.  Add the butter pieces.  Rub the butter between your fingers and incorporate it into the flour mixture until it varies in size from grains of sand to small pebbles.  Add the wine and egg, and mix with a fork or your hands until the dough comes together.  Shape the dough into a ball, flatten it into a disk, and wrap it in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate the dough until it is firm, at least 1 hour and up to a few days.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables:  First turn the grill on high and let it heat for about 10 minutes.  Toss the zucchini slices in a bowl with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil, and a sprinkle each of salt and pepper.  In another bowl, mix 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil with a few shakes of salt and pepper.  Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with the olive oil mixture.

When the grill is hot, place the peppers whole on the back of the grill.  Turn them a few times and cook them until their skin is black and blistered all over, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Arrange the zucchini and eggplant slices evenly over the heat. I set a perforated grill tray (similar to this one) on top of our grill surface to keep the zucchini and smaller eggplant slices from falling through.  Cook the vegetables until they are browned and tender, about 2-3 minutes on each side for the zucchini and 3-5 minutes on each side for the eggplant. 

When the peppers are done, set them aside to cool, and when they are cool enough to handle, peel off their skins.  Slice them open, remove the seeds and cut them lengthwise into strips.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly flour a large baking sheet and roll out the dough on it into a large circle, 12 or more inches.  Leaving a 2- to 3-inch border around the edge, layer the vegetables in this order:  eggplant, zucchini, peppers.  Add the whole basil leaves and then cover with slices of mozzarella.  Layer the tomato slices on top of the mozzarella and sprinkle them with the parmiggiano. 

Fold up the edges of the tart so that they partially cover the tart filling.  Brush the top of the dough with egg.  Bake until the crust is nicely browned, approximately 50 minutes.

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Basil Pesto

If you've been reading this site for a bit now, you know that our yard has very little sun and we have had no success growing vegetables at home.  That is what led me to embark on our far away gardening project.  One year, though, our children's babysitter, Rosalyn, gave me a few basil plants.  Given our track record, I was pessimistic, but I planted them in different sites, hoping one of them would grow.  By late August, they were enormous.   It turned out that the best spot is right along the road in front of our house, a spot now shared by a basketball pole.  We ate basil with tomatoes that summer, and we also made a lot of pesto. 

So much pesto that I froze a few batches.  It was wonderful to take some of that pesto out of the freezer in the dead of winter and have a meal that tasted of summer.  Now one of our end-of-summer traditions is to make several batches of pesto for the freezer.  We use them for pasta, of course, but it also delicious on pizza, sandwiches, or stirred into soup.  Of course, if you don't have basil in your garden, you can pick some up at the farmers' market or the grocery store.

 

This recipe makes a traditional Genovese basil pesto.  It is adapted from the recipe of one of our favorite cookbooks, Biba Caggiano's Trattoria Cooking.  Every recipe we have made from this book has been excellent, and I think this pesto has the perfect balance of garlic and basil.  Most recently, we tossed the pesto with whole wheat fettucine and slow-roasted tomatoes made with Smitten Kitchen's recipe, which added little bursts of sweetness.  Delicious!

Basil Pesto

Adapted from Biba Caggiano's Trattoria Cooking

If you are making pesto to freeze, don't add the parmigiano at this point; add it after the frozen pesto has thawed.  I freeze this pesto in individual batches in quart-size freezer bags.  To thaw it, set the bag in a bowl of hot water.  As the water cools, replace the hot water a few times.  It should take no more than 15 minutes to defrost. 

Makes approximately 3/4 cup, enough for 1 pound of pasta
20 minutes preparation time 

3 cups basil leaves
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup grated parmigiano (omit if freezing)

Put all of the ingredients except the parmigiano in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until the mixture is well-incorporated, but still a bit chunky.  Pour into a bowl and stir in the parmigiano.  Taste, and add more salt if you like (the pesto should be fairly salty, especially if you are tossing it with pasta). 

Lentil and Feta Salad

Sometimes a combination of simple tastes adds up to more than you would expect.  This salad is one of those dishes.  It has very few ingredients, but somehow the flavors work extremely well together.  The chewy earthiness of the lentils makes a delicious background for the salty feta, and the Italian parsley adds a touch of brightness.  Because there are so few ingredients, it is key to use the highest quality ingredients you can find.  It is best with the small, black French lentils, a French feta if you can find it, and very fresh parsley.

This salad transports well and is delicious at room temperature.  It is perfect for a pot luck or dinner by the pool.  It would also make an excellent addition to any Fourth of July picnic.

I got the idea for this salad from the Bread Line, a restaurant in downtown D.C. that was right around the corner from my old office.  They have fantastic sandwiches and baked goods, but it is this lentil salad that brought me back day after day.  They serve it over a bed of undressed greens with a crusty roll, and that is still my favorite way to eat it.  One day I asked one of the guys who was scooping the salad what was in it, and he leaned over and whispered, "the secret is the cider vinegar in the dressing."  He may be right because this version comes very close to the original. 

Although I am determined not to become a short order cook at home and steadfastly refuse to make each child their own dish, it is very easy to leave the feta out of this salad for Chloe.  She loves the lentils, but not if she can detect a speck of feta among them.  Olivia, on the other hand, loves the feta, as do Gabe and I.  Oscar used to be firmly in Chloe's camp, but the last couple of times we made the salad, he enjoyed the feta version.  Who knows, maybe one day Chloe will come around, too, and we'll all share the same bowl.

Feta and Lentil Salad 

If you would like to prepare this salad in advance, cook the lentils ahead and toss them with the dressing.  They will keep well for several days in the refrigerator.  Just before you are ready to serve the salad, chop the parsley and add it with the feta.

Serves 4 to 6
25 minutes preparation time, plus 30 or so minutes cooling time

2 cups small French lentils
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
1/2 shallot, minced (about 3 tablespoons)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup (or more) fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 pound feta
salad greens for serving (optional)

In a medium saucepan, generously cover the lentils with water.  Bring them to a boil, add about a teaspoon of the salt, and let them simmer until they are tender to the bite but still hold their shape, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the dressing.  Whisk together the shallots, remaining salt, pepper, and cider vinegar.  Whisking continuously, slowly add the olive oil.  Adding the oil slowly will ensure that it emulsifies, that is, fully integrates into the vinegar.

When the lentils are cooked, drain the water and pour the lentils into a large bowl.  Immediately add the dressing (you may not need all of it), and stir.  Put the lentils aside to cool for at least half an hour.  If you are making the lentils ahead, cover them at this point and store them in the refrigerator for up to a few days.  When the lentils are cool, crumble the feta into the salad, leaving it in fairly large chunks.  Add the parsely and mix.  Serve over salad greens, if you like.

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Linguine with Garlic Scape and Pea Pesto

I love to discover something new at the farmers' market.  So when we saw these garlic scapes at Calvert's Gift, I was very excited.  Garlic scapes are the flower stem of the garlic root bulb.  Their flavor is milder and more subtle than bulb garlic.  Calvert's Gift calls the scapes garlic pigtails, which is indeed what they look like. 

The first week we bought them, we tried grilling them.  The flavor was good, but they ended up a bit tough.  I bought more the next week because I love garlic and the thought of making something delicious with this mild garlic was just too tempting.  I was still thinking it over when we made our way to Twin Springs' stand, and was intrigued when I saw that that they recommended making them into a pesto.  Hmmmmm. . .

Although I'm sure that Gabe and I could happily polish off a pesto in which the main ingredient is garlic, I thought the flavor would be too strong for the children.  So I threw in some green peas (I used frozen, but once fresh peas appear at the market, I will definitely try them) and a handful of basil.  The result was very tasty.  The pesto was creamy, with the green, fresh flavor of the peas, and a nice balance between the zest of the garlic and the sweetness of the basil.  It was a big hit with the little ones.

The scapes will only be around for another week or two, but if you see them, stock up.  They will last a few weeks in the refrigerator.  I think I'll cook up a big batch of pesto this week and freeze it for those nights when we need a quick meal.

Linguine with Garlic Scape and Pea Pesto

Serves 6
25 minutes preparation and cooking time

1 pound linguine
1 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1 bunch garlic scapes, chopped (about 2/3 cup)
1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
parmiggiano reggiano for serving

Set a large pot of water to boil.  When it begins to boil, generously salt the water and add the pasta.  For al dente pasta, let it cook for 1 minute less than the time called for on the package. 

If you are using frozen peas, thaw them (they do not need to cook thoroughly) by boiling them or putting them in a microwave for one or two minutes.  Put all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor and blend.  With the engine running, slowly add the olive oil, and let the processor run until the mixture is that of a thick puree.

Scoop a couple of tablespoons of the pesto into a large bowl.  When the pasta is ready, toss it into the bowl and add the rest of the pesto. Serve with grated parmesan.

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Yellow Indian Woman Beans with Lemon and Dill

It's been a while since I posted a recipe using the beans from my Rancho Gordo shopping spree.  This recipe is perfect for spring, with the flavors of lemon and dill that reflect the lightness and freshness of the season.  The beans themselves are mild and creamy, and maintain a  firm texture in the lemony broth.  The dried beans are a beautiful dark yellow, and when cooked, they mellow to various shades of rich brown.  And don't they have a fabulous name?  Cannellini beans would make an excellent alternative.

The first time I made these beans, I added more lemon than this recipe now calls for.  The children found it a bit too strong, so when I made it again, I toned it down a touch.  I recommend serving the beans with an extra wedge of lemon and sprinkle of dill, at least for the adults.

We served these beans on a piece of toasted crusty sourdough bread for that classic combination of beans and toast.  The bread absorbs the broth from the beans and at the end, you have a few delicious bites of bread that have the intense flavor of the dish. 

With warm weather finally here, we ate these beans outside on the porch that has waited far too long for us to return.  We're back!

Yellow Indian Woman Beans with Lemon and Dill

Serves 6
10 minutes preparation time, plus time for soaking the beans
40 minutes cooking time

1 pound dried Yellow Indian Woman Beans or cannellini beans
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion
zest of 1 lemon, plus wedges for serving
1/2 cup (or more) chopped dill, divided
2 teaspoons salt (or more to taste)
2 small tomatoes, diced

Soak the beans overnight or quick soak them.  Although the Yellow Indian Woman Beans are dried, they are fresher than those on the grocery store shelf and so will take less time to cook, so if you have not soaked them, you can just bring them to a boil and let them simmer about an hour before you begin the recipe.  This would also work for cannellini beans, but they will take more time, I'd say about an extra hour. 

Heat the butter and olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add the onion and saute until the onion is soft, 7 to 8 minutes.  Add the beans with their water, the lemon zest, half of the dill, and the salt.  Let the bean mixture simmer until the beans are quite soft, approximately 30 minutes.  Mash some of the beans against the side of the pot.  Just before serving, add the rest of the dill and the tomatoes and stir just until the tomatoes are warm.  Taste the beans and adjust the flavors to your liking, adding more dill, salt, or a few squirts of lemon juice.  Serve over toast with a lemon wedge and a sprinkle of chopped dill for those who want a little extra.

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Roasted Asparagus and New Potatoes with Tarragon

For some reason, tarragon is an excellent complement to many spring dishes.  Of course, I love it in egg salad, but it is also perfect with those tender spring vegetables like asparagus and peas.  For this dish, I paired it with asparagus and new potatoes that I oven roasted.  With a bit of crunch from the onions, the combination was wonderfully fresh and delicious. 

We ate this dish at room temperature as a main course, but it would also make an excellent side dish and it could be served warm or chilled.  Because it is so portable, it makes a great picnic or pool side dish.  That seems to be what I am craving more and more on these (finally!) warm spring evenings.

I have to admit that Oscar and Chloe had a bit of Jack Sprat and his wife going on: Oscar picked out the asparagus and ate the potatoes;  Chloe picked out the potatoes and ate the asparagus.  But they both enjoyed the tarragon flavor, and Gabe, Olivia, and I loved the entire combination. 

Roasted Asparagus and New Potatoes with Tarragon

The proportions in this salad are not set in stone, so you needn't follow measurements exactly.  You really can't go wrong.

Serves 5
10 minutes preparation time
25 minutes cooking time

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
salt and pepper to taste
approximately 25 small new potatoes, scrubbed
2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
1/2 vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup white vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Snap the ends off the asparagus and reserve them for another purpose.  Toss the asparagus with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a few grinds of pepper, and a sprinkle of salt.  Roast the asparagus until they are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.  In a separate pan (or in the same pan if you have time and want to save dirtying another pan), toss the potatoes with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast them, too, until they are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. 

While the vegetables are cooking, slice the onion and mince the tarragon.  When the potatoes are done,  let them cool enough to handle.  Cut them in half or in smaller pieces if they are large and toss them in a large bowl with the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and the white vinegar.  Add the asparagus and tarragon.  Taste, and adjust seasonings as necessary.

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Minted Bulgur with Tomato and Roasted Chick Peas

I have been wanting to include more grains in our meals so when I heard a discussion about bulgur on NPR's Splendid Table, I was intrigued.  Janet Fletcher, who writes for the San Francisco Chronicle, traveled to Turkey and delved into the history of bulgur.  Her article, Ancient Grain for Modern Times, is full of interesting facts (the average person in Turkey eats a half pound of bulgur each week!) and includes several recipes. 

I found her technique for cooking bulgur particularly interesting.  Normally, I would just add hot water, stir, and let it sit.  But she toasts the bulgur first, adds the hot water, then covers it with a pot lid wrapped in a towel.  The towel absorbs the steam so that the bulgur does not come out gummy.  I tried this approach and liked the results.

Bulgur is, of course, best known as the base of tabouli, a salad made with parsley, tomato and cucumber, but I wanted to try something a bit different.  This combination of cumin, tomato, and mint is refreshing.  When roasted, the chick peas develop a toothy texture.  Their skins become crisp, and the insides develop a chewiness that I really like.  Roasted this way, they are even good on their own as a snack.

If you want to prepare the dish in advance, make the bulgur and the chick peas and store them separately.  Since the tomato would lose its flavor in the refrigerator and the mint bruises, chop and mix them in just before serving.  If you skip roasting the chick peas, you can chop the tomato and mint while the bulgur soaks and have dinner ready in minutes.

This dish can be served either hot, cold, or at room temperature.  I made it for a Memorial Day picnic, and it was very popular at the buffet table.  It will definitely be a regular poolside meal for us this summer.

Oscar in particular has been loving his bulgur.  When we had it for dinner the other night he said, "Mommy, do you know how much bulgur I'm going to make when I grow up?  I'm going to quintuple the recipe!"  And then he polished off four bowls of it.

Minted Bulgur with Tomatoes and Roasted Chick Peas

Serves 6
45 minutes preparation and cooking time, plus cooling time if desired

2 15-counce cans chick peas, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cumin, divided
salt to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a splash for the chick peas
2 cups bulgur
1 cup coarsley chopped mint
4 tomatoes, chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  In a casserole dish,  toss the chick peas with 1 teaspoon of cumin, a few shakes of salt, and a splash of olive oil.  Bake the chick peas for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are crisp on the outside, but still tender on the inside. 

Heat 2 cups of water in a kettle or saucepan.  In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and add the tablespoon of cumin. Stir for a few seconds until the cumin is fragrant.  Add the bulgur and a teaspoon or so of salt, and stir it for a few seconds until it is uniformly coated with the cumin and olive oil.  Remove the pan from the heat, add the hot water, stir, and cover with a pot lid wrapped in a kitchen towel.  After 10 minutes, remove the lid, fluff the bulgur with a fork, and set it aside.

Meanwhile, chop the tomato and mint.  Just before you are ready to serve, mix the tomato and mint with the bulgur.  Mix in about half of the chick peas and sprinkle the rest over the top.

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Pea Shoot Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce

For some reason this winter seems to have dragged on longer than usual.  Perhaps it is the unusual number of rainy days, or the dearth of warm sunny ones, but I feel like winter has been hard to shake.  I know that in a few weeks it will be blazing hot and the humidity will have me wilting, but right now I am really craving some warm spring days.

At least spring has come to the farmer's market.  Among our favorite treats in early spring are pea shoots.  These are actually the vines of young peas.  They are delicate, with the sweet, green flavor of young peas, but crunchier.  And they have these fabulous little curly tendrils that are almost too cute to eat.  We picked these up from Calvert's Gift Farm, one of our favorite stands at the Takoma Park farmer's market, but I'm sure you can find them at many markets this time of year. 

My sister and brother-in-law have been making pasta with lemon and cream to go with the pea shoots, and I love that combination of flavors. 

In my attempts, though, I have not been satisfied with the texture.  At first, I was cooking the pea shoots, but, even if I cooked them only briefly, they would end up in a tangled clump that was hard to distribute over the pasta.  They are so delicate that they are delicious raw, so this time I left them raw, topped the pasta with them, and we mixed them in bite by bite as we ate. 

I thought the children might balk at the pile of greens on top of their pasta, but they all loved them.  Chloe even picked out the pea shoots and left the pasta!

Pea Shoot Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce

Serves 5
10 minutes preparation time
20 minutes cooking time

1 pound spaghetti or linguine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons unbleached wheat flour
1 cup pasta water
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup cream
1 teaspoon salt
a few grinds fresh pepper
approximately 8 cups pea shoots, chopped coarsely

Put a large pot of water to boil.  When the water boils, add a generous amount of salt and then add the pasta.  Cook for 1 minute less than the time given on the box.

Meanwhile, make the lemon-cream sauce.  Melt the butter in a large skillet and when it begins to foam, whisk in the flour.  Whisk until the flour is completely incorporated.  Scoop a cup of water out of the pasta pot and add it and the lemon juice to the flour mixture.  Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the lemon zest, cream, salt, and pepper.

When the pasta has finished cooking, drain it in a collander and then briefly toss it in the cream sauce.  Scoop some pasta onto each plate and mound the pea shoots on top.  Serve immediately.

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Everyday Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese seems to be one of those dishes that almost everyone will eat.  In our house, we would all eat it most nights if we could.  But it can be very rich and time consuming to make so it's usually not ideal as a regular meal.  Of course we use those box mixes from time to time because they are a snap to make, and our children love them.  But I prefer baked macaroni and cheese to the stovetop variety.  And really, I love my cheese way too much to be satisfied eating it in powder form. 

I wanted to create a macaroni and cheese that is easy enough to make as a weeknight meal and not too rich, but still delicious.  Moosewood's Lowfat Favorites cookbook has a recipe that is quite good and uses cottage cheese to replace some of the cheddar.  We have tinkered with that recipe over time, and developed a version that we love.  It is a basic cheddar macaroni and cheese with a full, cheesy flavor, and a bit more depth from the shallots and nutmeg. 

This recipe does not involve making a bechamel sauce or cooking the macaroni in advance so it is quick to prepare.  You can tinker with the amount of cheese depending on whether your primary concern is the flavor or healthfulness of the dish.  To me, six ounces struck the perfect balance.

The recipe makes just enough for the five of us, but we probably eat more than most families. Usually we make a double batch to be sure that we have some left over for lunch.  The macaroni and cheese freezes well.  We often make it before a long trip and freeze it, then let it thaw in the car. When we arrive at the end of the road we just pop it in the oven while we unload and unpack.

Now, when the children request macaroni and cheese for one of our weekly meals, we do not hesitate to add it to the list.

Everyday Macaroni and Cheese
Adapted from Moosewood's Lowfat Favorites

Serves 5
15 minutes preparation time
45 minutes baking time

3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan
3 tablespoons bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 pound cottage cheese
1 medium shallot, minced (1-2 tablespoons)
6 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 pound macaroni

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the parmesan and bread crumbs and set aside.  Pour the milk and cottage cheese into a large bowl and blend them with a hand blender.   Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl with the milk mixture and mix it well to be sure that the macaroni is well integrated.  Pour the mixture into a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking pan and sprinkle the parmesan-bread crumb mixture over the top.  Cook for approximately 45 minutes, until the top is nicely browned.

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Taco Frittata

I cannot say enough good things about frittatas.  If you're not familiar with them, they are an Italian egg dish that is essentially a crustless quiche.  One of the best things about them is that they are infinitely adaptable and can be a base for any great combination of flavors.  My favorites include caramelized onion and goat cheese, and swiss chard and gruyere.  But getting my children to eat frittatas has been a bit of a challenge.

They do love their tacos, though, so a frittata with taco fillings and flavors seemed worth a try.  They loved it!  And what's not to love?  The frittata contains black beans, cheddar cheese, and corn chips, all foods that they adore.  I think it was key that Chloe, the most picky eater of the bunch, helped crush the corn chips and add them to the egg.  Just knowing that the dinner contained chips was enough to get her to try it. 

Another plus with frittatas is that they are easy to prepare and relatively quick to cook.  All of the labor is spent in the preparation of the fillings and if you have some helpers that can go even more quickly.  Then the frittata just sits and cooks; you only need to intervene once to move it from stovetop to oven. 

This frittata is substantial enough to have as a main course.  We ate it with bread and a salad it was a satisfying meal for all of us.  It can be eaten either hot or at room temperature, which makes it an ideal dish for a picnic or a potluck dinner. 

Taco Frittata

Serves 5
10 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

10 eggs
3 scallions, chopped
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, or a mix of monterey jack and cheddar
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup crushed tortilla chips
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tomato, sliced into rounds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, scramble the eggs and add all of the remaining ingredients except the olive oil and tomatoes.  In a large oven-proof frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat until it is quite hot and swirl it around to coat the pan.  Add the egg mixture all at once.  Let the egg cook on the stovetop for about 10 minutes, until the egg starts to set around the edge of the pan.  Gently add the tomato slices to the top of the frittata.

Carefully transfer the pan to the oven and bake it until the frittata is firm, about 20 minutes.  Remove the pan and carefully slide the frittata onto a plate for serving.  Be very careful with the handle of the pan which will remain quite hot for some time.  The frittata can be served hot or at room temperature.  

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