The Gourmet Chronicles

Hey, It's Thanksgiving!!! Let Us Eat, Drink & Be Thankful For...

2011-11-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

.What We've Got...
Even if what we've got doesn't seem like alot...
We're alive, Alive, ALIVE!!!!
And, babies, that's a good start to any day!

As a young girl growing up in the wilderness that was East Harlem in New York City, I always enjoyed the holidays.

There were certain days of the year that by virtue of their inherent meaning and collective cultural significance, by their joyful reminders that we are all one in the spirit in our desires for this life, this liberty, this pursuit of happiness, this ability to share with others the bounty of our table, gave us the ability to willingly release all or any of the angst of our yearly hardships and focus, instead, on the good & the beautiful in our world over the evil & the ugly.

Their wonderful Americana transcended the longitude and latitude of a particular place and time uniting most of us under one flag at an enormous virtual table; no matter that our feet touched hard concrete pavement or soft dewy sun-kissed grass, or whether we sat down to a tidy, orderly Norman Rockwell rendition of the typical American feast or stood up to a wildly messy but love-fueled buffet filled with the jewels of ancestral pasts that mixed & matched traditional foods from wherever our first generation of family hailed, be it Palermo or Shanghai.

Thanksgiving is one such holiday with its central theme of gratitude for being alive and surviving another year &, of course, it's wonderful gift of culinary delights.

That tiny kitchen in my grandparent's housing projects apartment (where the small government issued refrigerator stood adjacent to the front door because it was far too large to stand at its rightful place in cooking heaven) was wafting out clouds of such sheer tantalizing scents for three days before the blessed event, it took all my strength not to swoon from the pleasure & anticipation of a yummy holiday feast. Picture if you will, Bob Cratchett's children in full frenzy over that roast goose & plum pudding In Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" and you have a fair idea of how we felt.

My grandmother, a woman of quiet but steely reserve, was in sole charge of the spectacle; shooing away anyone who dared enter her domain to stick a finger in pumpkin pie batter.

The only assistance she accepted was the grating of the crateloads of green bananas for the making of the pasteles, a holiday treat that was laborious to make despite the simplicity of its presentation which at first glance might seem an odd choice to the uninitiated with it's meaty savory filling hidden buried treasure like in a green banana bed of earthy goodness that was then lovingly tied up in a banana leaf & set to boil in cauldrons of water by the dozens.

Nope, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore... with the arroz con gandules, garlicky roasted pernil, garbanzos simmering in a pumpkin sauce studded with crispy bits of pork rind & redolent with the alchemy of the sofrito or the recaito that is the mainstay of all national Puerto Rican dishes (la comida criolla, as we of Borinquen descent called it).

Sofrito is a bunch of herbs and aromatics: garlic, cilantro, sweet Scotch bonnet peppers, onions, tocino (pig fat) with either achiote (aniseed) infused oil or tomato pastes and, I suspect, lots of love. It is either chopped to a paste consistency by hand as my grandmother painstakingly did or blended in a food processor as we do now. I still will often chop it by hand, I love feeling those aromatics succumb to me under my knife's sure blade. So sexy...

There are some things Dorothy & Toto would recognize if their Kansas tornado blew them into 421 East 102nd Street like Tom Turkey, all trussed & stuffed with a traditional "American" bread dressing, the mounds of fluffy buttery mashed potatoes, roasted candied yams in a casserole crowned with pineapple rings & of course the ubiquitous "what would Thanksgiving be without it" cans of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, the only processed item on the menu but a necessary element to every Thanksgiving day feast that we all seemed to love mainly because of those wonderful rings you could slice them into... such F-U-N food for a kiddie!

Dorothy would be able to readily identify the pumpkin & the coconut custard pies as well as the bowls of nuts still comfortably nestled in the safety of their shells until we cracked them open with the always in need of repair nutcracker. Although she may stare in wonder at the guava paste, the turrone (a hard almond & meringue candy) & the sugar cane that I loved sucking the sweet sap out of & then chewing on mercilessly grinding every bit of juice out of the fibrous stalks.

Still, she & Toto would have partied hearty with us.

With my grandfather holding court crooning tango after tango while strumming his guitar in one corner, while my beautiful Aunt Meyda was cranking up the old tunes like the "Watusi" that we would all dance wildly to & of course, the television blaring Dorothy's story, "The Wizard of Oz" or other seasonal wonders like "It's Thanksgiving Charlie Brown", the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, or maybe a Bing Crosby or Bob Hope special with even more laughter trilling in the background...

She would have noted the wildly disparate elements in the room , all relics from my grandfather's merchant marine days: the Bali heads (carved exotic wood busts of Balinese nationals), the wild painting over the plastic-covered sofa depicting a tropical bacchanal with conga players, woman dancing frenetically & men clapping to their pulsating rhythms, the giant Happy Buddha whose belly we all rubbed for good luck, the enormous stone elephant with real ivory tusks, the modest china closet filled with two entire sets of beautiful table settings that Don Pedro (my abuelito) was so proud of, that Carrera marble topped coffee table whose hard edges gave me a scar I bear to this day when as a silly child I decided I could fly from the sofa cushions and land cat-like on its marble surface (I didn't, I landed scud-like at one of it's sharp edges & bled all over the snowy white stone . One anguished grandmother, a trip to the emergency & two stitches later I was good as new and pretending to be a pirate instead...).

Yep, Dorothy & Toto would have noted the shabbiness of the walls that were only painted once every five years, the low square footage of a 3 bedroom, one bath apartment that housed three generations of family members (8 of us cohabited the place at any one time) that the windows appeared not to close fully, that my mother appeared to be in some drug-induced coma or bitter rage off on her own, never participating in our reindeer games; but she would have also seen all the plants that grew so lush & happily on those window sills, she would have heard the laughter, the singing, joined us in our revels and our dances.

Enjoyed the general silliness, the banter about politics, movies, books, art, music. The fights that would break out as everyone AGREED to DISAGREE with each other because they were all such looneys and enjoyed a good heated debate!!!

Dorothy would have seen an abundance of love.... & felt the gratitude we all did to be there together sharing... EVERYTHING, all of it.

The good, the bad, the sad, the joyful, the exaltations and the terrible sufferings but still... alive, Alive, ALIVE!!!!

And she would realize that every family from far & near share this commonality, this humanity,

the beauty in the distress and the dysfunction that while sometimes trying also binds them to each other in an eternal alliance that nothing not even death can ever set asunder...

That's what the holidays are all about!!!

I hope you enjoy yours...

Travel safely my friends.

I will post links my old Thanksgiving Menu & recipes on my personal blog. I intended on doing that this morning but this little write came out instead. My family are no longer living entities in the corporeal sense, but I felt them here today as I wrote this in the cool & darkness of the early morning . They were such hams; particularly Don Pedro & Aunt Meyda....

Such glorious characters... always mugging for the camera...hahaha!

Looks like some things never change because they surely took over this blog today!

The dawn has just now broken over the San Francisco Bay & with it a realization that those taken from us really truly never are, so long as we have our memories to preserve them as well as our little traditions like Thanksgiving Day that seems to stir their spirits and revive them even if only for a few hours during a dark November morning...

Okay... now I'm tearing up... hahaha.

My family is just too much, I know they are enjoying themselves watching me & my silliness here today. They loved to laugh, too, as I do!

Ah... but it's a beautiful thing, my friends.

Share with me some of your holiday family memories & special treats.

What made your Thanksgivings happy occasions when you were growing up?

What are you doing on the great day this year?

Here's a quick Timeline for Thanksgiving Day Preparations I prepared for my recipes:

Monday:
• Make Cranberry Sauce
• Wash & iron napkins
• Get Turkey wings & giblets from butcher

Tuesday:
Buy ingredients for the gravy
• Make Pie crusts
• Make Gravy
• Buy and arrange flowers
• Buy Turkey, challah bread, sourdoughbread 1lb
• smoked salmon, asparagus & other makings
• Have silver platter polished

Wednesday:

• Buy Shrimp,crudite, pesto nuts etc.
• Make croutons
• Make Pumpkin pie
• Season Turkey

Thursday:

• Assemble yam gratin. Bake
• Assemble stuffing mixtures
• Blanch Green beans, put in fridge
• Remove Turkey from refrigerator in the a.m.
• Go for walk
• Roast Turkey 2-1/2 hours before dinner
• Bake stuffings 1 hour before dinner
• Make Mashed potatoes 30 min before dinner
• Make gravy from drippings
• Finish green beans or spinach while Turkey rests
•Eat, Drink and be Merry!!

Click HERE to read my personal blog.!

I love this Van Gogh:

Yes, Virginia, You Can Have A Carb-Free Lasagne: It's Eggplant Lasagne

2011-10-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

So... you have decided for any one of innumerable reasons, you want to try a low-carb, low-glycemic diet. Something that eschews the daily consumption of tortilla chips & foot-long subs.

You have one of the following:

Adult Onset Diabetes

An allergy to gluten

Your 20 year high school reunion and you want to show those guys who used to snap their towels at you in the locker room during gym how well geeks hold up over their beefier muscle headed counterparts.

You are one of those naturally skinny bitches, but you have finally come to the epiphany that Pop Tarts & Diet Coke does not extend nor enhance your health over the long-term despite their nuclear holocaust surviving shelf life due to their remarkable preservative-laden ingredients.

None of the above

(Look, don't judge me, okay, smartasses? I'm trying to write an introduction to be whimsical and amusing, though I am failing mightily. I mean, just posting straight recipes is so Martha Stewart and I may be a bored privileged hausfrau with no life to speak of, but I have my artistic integrity. Just ask my Yoga instructor, she says I flow like the Ganges. WOOF! )

Now, you figure you can easily sacrifice the rice, the bread, the chips and - if push came to shove - all those raw carrots and beets you were always meaning to eat for their Vitamin A content.

HOWEVER....

There is one food, you simply cannot do without...

I mean, hell, Columbus practically drowned the Spanish Armada bringing it back from China to Europe. HOW could any civilized person expect you to give up that staple food of Italian cuisine; that delicious belly-warming, tongue tantalizing thing of sensual pleasure that even the Taccuino Sanitatis of 15th century fame devoted a chapter to?

What am I talking about?

What else?

PASTA!!!!

(Whatddya think put the smile on the Mona Lisa?)

Well, sadly, you must give it up,
BUT here's one way to eat a classic pasta dish without using the pasta!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he is keeping the lasagne flying sans noodles but with oodles of luscious silken eggplant, hot & mild chicken Italian sausage & tons of CHEESE!!!

Eggplant Lasagne: Even better than the real thing

Yes, Yes, YES!!!

Eggplant slices definitely satisfy both the palate and the dietary considerations in this dish.
So... let's dig in, shall we?

Firstly, it is lasagne with an "e"; like Liza with a "z", but even more delicious.
You can, however, spell it anyway you like, so long as it tastes good.
It's really just an assembly line dish.
Very simple to make and requires no real cooking skills.
Once you've cooked the eggplant, the sausages, the tomato sauce, shredded the mozzarella, and prepared the ricotta, you just slap it together in a nice baking dish.

Wikipedia spells it wrong, but says this about the dish:
"... The word lasagna comes from the Greek λάσανα (lasana) or λάσανον (lasanon) meaning "trivet or stand for a pot", "chamber pot".^[6]^[7]^[8] The Romans borrowed the word as "lasanum", meaning "cooking pot" in Latin.^[9] The Italians used the word to refer to the dish in which lasagna is made. Later the name of the food took on the name of the serving dish."

So there's your history lesson for the day!

Eggplants are great this time of year.
I am using "Globe" eggplants which are large and round and I slice them lengthwise into 1/3" to 1/2" thick slices, so that after I saute them, they approximate the size of a cooked lasagne noodle. When in doubt, err on the side of slicing them more thickly. Do NOT cut it into rounds.

You can use Japanese eggplant, too, obviously, but they are more expensive and quite small which means you would spend a fortune buying a bushel of them. Not that eggplants are sold in bushels, but you get my point.

Copious amounts of olive oil will be used in this recipe. Eggplants are thirsty, greedy little bastards that soak up oil like Charlie Sheen soaks up tiger blood so prepare to use almost a whole pint of olive oil. Be sure to use an olive oil that tastes good, but don't use your best Arbequina cold-pressed, hand harvested by Tibetan monks while pissed on by the Dalai Lama EVOO (extra virgin olive oil for you noobs). On the other hand, don't go using Crisco either... The eggplants will taste exactly like whatever oil you use.

The size of the baking pan you use is important, as well. It must be at least 2" deep or else you will not be able to layer the casserole properly. You can use a regular lasagne baking dish. I used two Le Creuset baking dishes that were 12" x 9.5" x 2" with a 3-quart capacity because there are only two of us here and I wanted to store one pan uncooked in the freezer for another time. This is the kind of dish that keeps well and can be prepared a week ahead of time.

I used both Sweet and Hot Italian sausages made from chicken instead of pork, but you can use pork Italian sausage if you like or omit sausages altogether and replace them with sauteed spinach, portabello mushrooms or anything you like... That's the beauty of cooking, you adjust the recipe to suit your needs. If you do use the sausages, be sure to slice them lengthwise as well after cooking them and before assembling the lasagne. It's a bit unusual but it gives the dish a lovely rustic feel. If you prefer, however, you may simply cook the Italian sausages into crumbles by releasing them from their casing and sauteing them as though they were ground beef.

To those who are vegan or lactose intolerant, firstly... I offer my condolences and secondly, I say that tofu and soy cheese products serve admirably as a substitute here. I ate many a tofu lasagne as a young dancer. My choreographer insisted using it when she made us her meals, it has a slightly chalky texture, but those of you who can't eat from things that moo are probably accustomed to it.

Be sure to preheat your oven while you are making the sauce and sauteing the eggplant.

Eggplant Lasagne

Note: No wheat products were harmed during the making of this dish.
(I bet PETA can't make that claim! Those grain and veggie-killers!!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Make sure to place the oven rack in the middle of the oven before heating it.
This dish will serve 8-12 hungry conquistadors.
I know for a fact Christopher Columbus loved this dish!

Ingredients

For The Eggplant:

4 large eggplants, sliced length-wise to 1/3"-1/2" thickness, placed on paper towels. (Be sure to season the eggplant slices to taste with salt and pepper and set them on paper towels to drain some of their moisture while you prepare the tomato sauce. The eggplant will taste sweeter that way.)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, enough for sauteing the eggplant, about 1 pint

For The Pomodoro Sauce:

4 Mild Italian Chicken Sausages
4 Hot Italian Chicken Sausage
1 Large Sweet Onion, sliced thinly
4 large cloves of garlic, smashed & very finely minced
3 750g containers of chopped "Italian" or Roma tomatoes, I use Pomi brand which has virtually no added sodium, but you may substitute any low sodium brand.
2 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil for sauteing the onions
1/3 cup of red or white wine (It really doesn't matter which you use, we just need it to deglaze the pan, but do use wine that you would drink. Do NOT use cooking wine. That stuff is horrid & suitable only as a disinfectant)
Fresh Basil Leaves, about a handful, julienned (Do NOT use dried basil, it tastes like rancid seaweed)
Fresh Oregano, four sprigs, leaves stripped & chopped fine (1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano may be substituted, it imparts a different flavor than fresh, but it is still quite pleasant)
Fresh Parsley, a very generous handful, both leaves & stems chopped fine
Salt & Freshly Cracked Pepper, to taste

For The Lasagne Filling:

2 lbs. of Mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano, grated (plus more for the topping)
1/2 teaspoon Fresh Grated Nutmeg, or 1/4 teaspoon powdered
3 Large Eggs, lightly beaten
3 lbs Ricotta

Instructions

For the Pomodoro sauce:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit (Or 190 degrees Celsius)
Heat a large Dutch Oven over medium-high heat, when hot add a splash of olive oil and then add the Italian Sausages making sure not to overcrowd the pan.
Saute the sausages about 4 minutes on each side until golden brown. When sausages are browned, remove them & place them on a cutting board to rest. If there is excessive fat in the pan, using tongs, place a paper towel in the pan to soak up excess and discard soiled paper towel. Be sure to leave some fat in the pan.
Lower heat to Medium. Add one TBSP of olive oil to pan & when shimmering, but not smoking, add the sliced onions, a pinch of salt, a few grinds of black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened (about 8-10 minutes)
When onions have softened, add garlic and cook a minute longer. Then add wine, deglazing the pan by scraping up all the pan fond (the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When wine is reduced by half, add the chopped tomatoes & then the sausages back to the pan with any accumulated juices.
Add all of the oregano to the pan, half of the basil and half of parsley. Stirring well... Reserving the rest of the herbs to add later, just before assembly of the lasagne. Now TASTE your sauce and adjust for seasonings. Does it need more pepper? More garlic? More herbs? Remember, a good cook tastes everything throughout the duration of the cooking process. Be careful about adding more salt. Salt can always be added, but never subtracted. So don't go crazy. Once you've adjusted your seasoning, set the heat to low, let the sauce simmer & prepare your eggplant.

For the Eggplant:

Place a large saute pan over medium. When pan is hot, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Then add the eggplant slices a few at a time, cooking them in batches about 2 minutes each side, until they soften & become golden brown, adding olive oil to the pan as necessary.
Be sure to have plenty of paper towels on the counter next to the saute pan, so that you set the cooked eggplant slices down on them to drain excess oil . When all the eggplant are cooked, prepare your cheeses for the filling.

For the Cheese Filling:

Place ricotta, parmigiano & eggs in a large mixing bowl and combine well.
Add grated nutmeg, stirring in well, then season with salt & pepper to taste. (Once again, err on the side of caution when salting. Parmigiano adds quite a bit of sodium on its own. Taste, taste, taste...adding only miniscule amounts of seasoning at a time)
Grate the mozzarella and place it in a bowl
Now check your tomato sauce, turn it off the heat, remove the sausages, placing them on a cutting board and slice them lengthwise into thirds (yes, cut them into 3 slices), add the remaining reserved herbs to the dish, adjust the seasoning and prepare to assemble the dish.

Assembling the Lasagne:

Place your lasagne pan (or pans) on a larger foil-lined cookie sheet (for easy clean-up later. I guarantee that the sauce will bubble over and spill on the floor of your oven, if you don't. It's Murphy's Law... he's a cunning, nasty bastard. Don't tempt him)
The assembly is simple. Start with a layer of sauce, then layer the eggplant allowing them to overlap slightly, then layer the ricotta mixture evenly over the eggplant, then layer the sausage, then sprinkle it all with mozzarella and repeat the process until the pan is full... The last layer of eggplant should receive a liberal dose of sauce, mozzarella and a final dusting of parmigiano.
Place the lasagne in the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes until it all looks and smells done to your liking. When ready, remove it from the oven & let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving... Voila
Mangia!

In Memory of Ruth: A New Year's Feast That Will Make Her Smile From Her Table in Heaven

2009-12-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

It was a bittersweet end to 2007.

Bitter because my husband's mother quietly passed away that New Year's Eve after a long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis that left her breathless but never helpless.

Vincent Van Gogh's "Irises", One of Ruth's Favorite Paintings

Sweet because she was a strong proud woman who had always lived life on her own terms and when a recent hospital stay made it quite clear she was going to have to completely surrender her hard-fought autonomy in order to continue on, it seems like she may have finally decided she'd rather check out of this world than check into a nursing home. Her moxie knew no bounds and she would have been miserable in that environment.

84 years of living life her way was too strongly ingrained in her DNA to let her choose any option that would not allow her complete control over every aspect of her life ; or so it seems to me. She had managed to live as she wanted to until almost the very end in the comfort of her own home surrounded by her favorite things, with private nurses round the clock, eating all her favorite foods (most of which had been prohibited by her doctors but her poor nurses wouldn't dare disobey her commands) and enjoying the company of her 64 year old "baby" brother who worked in the area and spent the weeknights with her.

Unfortunately, my husband and I were on the other side of the country at the time of her passing. We were in Mayacama with friends; 1-1/4 hours away from our San Francisco home. She was in the place she lived a lifetime.

Our last conversation with her was the day after Christmas when among other things, she asked her son how my traditionally German dinner of which she was inordinately fond (roast pork, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut) turned out. She lamented the fact that her own Christmas dinner had been conceived by hospital nutritionists and executed by hospital cooks. It was definitely not up to her standards. She was a woman who relished every meal and maybe the prospect of a New Year's Eve of healthy but flavorless meals was more than she could bear. I wouldn't be surprised. If you were old, sick and in tremendous pain with only a bowl of Jello to look forward to after a long day of suffering, you might say "no mas" & give up, too.
She truly enjoyed fine cooking and dining. We never did get to call her to wish her a happy new year. She died too early on New Year's Eve morning. I only wish I had cooked her last meal for her.

Here is what I would have served her with recipes included in Ruth's honor because she was fond of food writing and was the person who gave me my first subscription of Food and Wine, my copy of the London Philharmonic's Bach Brandenburgh Concertos, my first coffee grinder with the whole Kona coffee beans, my first steamed asparagus bundle wrapped with a chive ribbon and managed to show me the advantage of mustard and horseradish on a beautiful strip of beef:

Chilled Prawn Cocktail with Sriratcha Sauce & Meyer Lemon oil

Standing Beef Rib Roast with Horseradish Crust and ver jus
Baked Russet Potato with Creme Fraiche and White Truffle Butter
& Sauteed Haricot Verts with Shitake, Shallot, Pancetta and Veal Demiglace

Truffle Tremor Cheese

This meal is an All-American Classic with an elegant twist just like the woman who inspired it!
Here's to you, Ruth.... with love,

The Recipes will follow soon. It's been an exhausting few days. I cooked it all today but now need to sit & ponder what exactly I did, always a challenge after a three bottle evening especially since I enjoy improvising what I make without a set formula. This was an intimate dinner for two that could easily feed four just add 2 more potatoes in the oven. Voila!

Cheers & Happy New Year!

The Recipes:

Chilled Prawn Cocktail with Sriratcha Sauce and Meyer Lemon Oil

Note: This couldn't be simpler. It's a small twist on the classic that I came up with because I found I had no ketchup yesterday. I did have sriratcha sauce (even Safeway sells it now) & a great olive oil from San Rafael infused with meyer lemons called O Olive oil that uses California Mission olives & so a new recipe was born. We had just driven back from Mayacama & I was exhausted so I took a shortcut and purchased amazingly pristine steamed & chilled prawns from Whole Foods from their seafood section, not the prepackaged ones in the refrigerated cooked food section, but prawns that had been freshly steamed & offered alongside the raw shrimp. These were enormous about 12 to the lb. I usually poach my shrimp with their shells on in a court bouillon but hey I was tired and one less pot to clean made these pretty cooked shrimp that much more appealing.

Ingredients:
12 large prawns (about 1 lb.) that have been cooked, peeled and chilled
1 Tablespoon of sritacha sauce (Vietnamese hot sauce) plus more for plating
1 Tablespoon meyer lemon infused olive oil (or a fruity olive oil & the juice of half a meyer lemon) plus more for plating
1 Tablespoon of cream-style horseradish
1/2 cup of low-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of creme fraiche (or sour cream)
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
a pinch of freshly cracked black or white pepper
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon of thai fish sauce
1 Meyer lemon, cut into quarters ( reserve 2 quarters for garnish)
a few sprigs of chervil (optional for garnish)
4 marinated spicy cherry peppers stuffed with feta (optional for garnish)
Instructions:
Carefully pat shrimp with a wet paper towel to remove any debris, then pat dry with a dry towel and reserve.

In a small mixing bowl, combine mustard, sriratcha horseradish and pepper. Add mayonnaise, whisking well to combine. Add creme fraiche, combining it thoroughly with the mayonnaise. Add soy sauce & fish sauce, whisk well. Whisk in the olive oil. Taste for seasoning. Is it too fatty or bland. Add more sriratcha, pepper or mustard. Check consistency. Is it too thick? Add a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Is it too thin or too spicy? Add more mayo and olive oil. You're in control.

Divide the shrimp between two (or four) plates. Fan them out allowing them to slightly overlap. Add a dollop of the cocktail sauce. Place the pepper over the shrimp. Drizzle a little olive oil from the bottle over the shrimp. Then place little drops of the oil around the dollop of cocktail sauce. Using the sriratcha squeeze bottle, place small drops of sriratcha on top of the drops of oil. Garnish with a sprig of chervil & a wedge of lemon. Done.

Serves two hungry people or four average revelers.

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Standing Beef Rib Roast with Horseradish Crust

Note: This is an entree that always pleases carnivores. It's impressive to see and smells divine as it cooks but couldn't be easier to make.
Make sure you get your oven hot (500 degrees to start) ahead of time so the crust will crisp up. I use panko but you can use any dry unseasoned coarse breadcrumbs or make your own. I like mixing the panko with a little freshly ground sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, dried herbes d'provence & thyme. You can use your own favorite spice mixture. After I pat the panko on the roast to create the crust I spray the crumbs with high heat baking spray to ensure that the crusts gets crisp & not soggy.
I also make a simple garlic aioli from garlic cloves & extra virgin olive oil that I mix with the cream-styled horseradish & dijon; then I rub the paste all over the roast & let it stand at room temperature for 1-1/2 hours or so depending on the size of the roast but you can skip the garlic if you don't like it on your beef.
As for the spuds, pierce the center of two large russets with a knife once not all the way through, pop the potatoes in the oven directly on the rack 1 hour and 10 minutes before serving. Fill with creme fraiche, truffle butter & season it to taste with salt & pepper

A 2-1/2 lb. roast (about 1 rib) will easily serve four people but you'll have to fight for that rib bone & will have an awkward time dividing it evenly which is why I'll say this recipe serves 2. Of course, I think the bone should go to the chef as a reward for all the hard work but I'm a little biased on this point. A 5lb. roast (2 ribs) may be a better choice for four people & you can always make delicious prime rib sandwiches or tacos with the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:
2-1/2 lb. beef rib roast (about 1 rib)
1/2 cup panko crumbs (available in the Japanese section of your supermarket)
1 Tablespoon of herbes d'provence
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
1 teaspoon of paprika
3 Tablespoons of cream-style horseradish
2 Tablespoons of dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
freshly ground salt & pepper, to taste
a splash of wine
a splash of beef stock or veal demiglace
1 tablespoon of unsalted european style butter (it has a higher fat content)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and place oven rack in lower third of oven. Make sure you have an oven thermometer in place to better gauge the actual oven temperature.

Remove roast from refrigerator (an hour before cooking). Set it in its roasting pan on a trivet, bone side down.

Prepare seasoning for the roast:
Make garlic aioli & horseradish paste by placing crushed garlic in a mortar & adding a pinch of salt while pulverizing garlic with a pestle. Continue adding tiny grinds of salt and small amounts of olive oil until an emulsion of garlic forms and all the oil is used. Add the horseradish and the mustard to garlic paste until well combined then season with fresh cracked pepper. Taste to adjust any imbalances in the mixture. Set aside.

Combine panko, paprika, salt, pepper, & all the herbs in a small bowl. Mixing well to season the crumbs. Set aside.

Thickly smear the just prepared garlicky horseradish mixture all over the roast. Gently place the now seasoned panko on the top of the roast (where the fat is) using a fork to sprinkle it on and your fingers to pat the crumbs into place making sure to use the horseradish paste to help the panko adhere to the meat.

Spray the roast with baking spray (or high heat vegetable spray) from at least 6 inches away.

Let the seasoned roast stand at room temperature for at least an additional 30 minutes before placing it in the hot oven. If you have a small apartment & an inadequate fan in your range hood, like I do now, open all the windows & doors and turn the hood fan on high before placing roast in the oven. Cooking this cut of meat will set off the smoke alarm if you don't ventilate the area well.

Once in the oven let the roast cook for a minimum of 15 minutes at 500 degrees until the bread crumbs become toasty then lower heat to 375 and cook for an additional 30 minutes or until its internal temperature reaches 130 degrees for medium rare (check with a meat thermometer after 30 minutes by inserting it into the center of the thickest part of the roast away from the bone). When roast is 130 degrees remove from oven and allow it to rest in a warm spot (remember, it's internal temperature will continue to rise as it rests) before carving while you make the green beans and the jus.

Place the roasting pan over two burners on high heat and add a splash of whatever wine you happen to be sipping at the time along with a splash of beef stock or veal demiglace to deglaze the pan. Be sure to scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan & reduce the liquids until the jus achieves a viscous syrupy consistency then remove from heat and add the butter, swirling it into the sauce until fully incorporated & the sauce is thick and glossy. Taste for seasoning & adjust accordingly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sauteed Haricot Verts with Shitake, Pancetta, Shallots and Veal Demiglace

Note: The title of the recipe says it all. The shitake & the veal demi made it into the french green beans because I was too lazy to prepare the shitake sauce for the prime rib that I intended to make and opted for the jus instead. Waste not, want not so a new variation of haricot verts was born. Haricot verts are young green beans that are very tender & require no more than a 2 minute blanch before the saute. Be sure to prepare an ice bath of 90 percent ice & 10 percent water in a large stainless steel mixing bowl to stop the cooking process and keep a vibrant green color. This is nothing new but please take the trouble to do it. Once the green beans are cool, remove them from the ice bath so they don't get waterlogged and pat them dry with a clean dry towel or paper towels. The last thing you want is a face full of splattered hot oil because your green beans are wet & soggy.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb. of haricot verts, stem end trimmed
1 ounce of pancetta, cut into small dice or lardons (your choice)
1/3 lb. of small shitake mushrooms, stems removed & sliced
1 large shallot, sliced thinly
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus more as needed
2 Tablespoons of veal demiglace
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon white truffle butter (optional)

Directions:

Set a medium-sized saucepan with salted water over high heat to boil. When the water reaches a roiling boil, add green beans & cook no longer than 2 minutes.

Drain green beans and immediately plunge into ice bath. cooling and drying according to note.

Place a 12 inch cast iron enamel coated saute pan (you know how I feel about Le Creuset, by now) over medium high heat, add pancetta and fry until fat is rended and pancetta is crisp.

Reduce the pan to medium and add olive oil, when heated (about 45 seconds) add the shitakes, stir for 1 minute, check for dryness adding more olive oil as needed then add shallots saute until shallots are translucent and shitakes have softened. Add cooled green beans & saute until veggies are well combined and beans are warmed then add veal demiglace allowing it to melt in while stirring until incorporated & it coats the vegetables. Remove from heat, stir in optional truffle butter and serve immediately.

Serves 4.

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Truffle Tremor Cheese

I did not make this cheese. It's a cheese from the woman who brought you Humboldt Fog and needs nothing more than a crusty warm baguette brushed with a little cold pressed olive oil, a few caramelized apple slices, raw honeycomb or ripe and peeled persimmon slices to end a holiday meal. Make sure to remove it from the refrigerator an hour before serving so it oozes onto whatever you choose to serve it with and eat it rind and all. You don't want to deprive yourself of any little bit of it.

Everyday Should Be Thanksgiving Part 2

2009-11-23T02:04:00.000-08:00

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day
set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets.
I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?
~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on Thanksgiving," 26 November 1981

HERE'S PART 2 OF THE ONE BLOG THAT WOULD BECOME TWO BLOGS COURTESY OF TOM
who wouldn't let me post this all as one blog

Sauteed Green Beans with Parmiggiano-Reggiano, Meyer Lemon Oil & Tarragon

Another easy one to make. No recipe required. I'll just write it plainly.

Ingredients:
Green beans
Shallots, thinly sliced (or garlic, but remember that garlic burns easily, so add the thinly sliced garlic in at the last possible minute during the saute.)
Meyer lemon (or any lemon)
Extra virgin olive oil
Parmigiano-reggiano or Pecorino Romano

Get a pound or two of green beans, snap off the stem ends, add to a large pot of boiling salted water to blanch for 3 minutes.

Drain green beans well, towel off & stick in the freezer for 5 minutes (or you can prepare an ice bath, but frankly, these need to be prepared at the last minute & you will run out of counterspace, believe me)

Heat some EVOO in the same pan you used to boil the green beans, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.

Add two thinly sliced shallots.
Saute until softened.

Add a pinch of salt after they shallots caramelize or else they will never turn golden brown. Salt draws the moisture out of the onions & will keep the pan too wet to allow the maillard process (sorry, that's food geek for browning reaction to heating, I know, I know.. but goddammit I taught myself this so... I'm gonna teach you, too).

Remove green beans from the freezer & add to pan in a single layer.
Do not touch them for 90 seconds, allowing them to get a bit of color on one side.

Then stir them until fully coated in oil & shallots.
Douse with a squeeze from half a Meyer's lemon (any lemon will do as long as it is fresh) & a bit of the lemon zest.

Season with freshly cracked pepper, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano if you like a sharper flavor. Serve.

Triple-Cranberry Sauce Bon Appétit | November 1993

"The Indians and English use them much," wrote one visitor to New England in 1663, "boyling them with Sugar for Sauce to eat with their Meat, and it is a delicate Sauce." Although there is little evidence that cranberry sauce was served at the first Thanksgiving, it is assumed that Indians brought it to the feast. This tangy version gets its intense flavor and color from a mixture of fresh and dried cranberries, along with frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate.

Yield: Makes about 2 1/2 cup

Ingredients

1 cup frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate, thawed

1/3 cup sugar

1 12-ounce package fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed, drained

1/2 cup dried cranberries (about 2 ounces)

3 tablespoons orange marmalade

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

2 teaspoons minced orange peel

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Preparation

Combine cranberry juice concentrate and sugar in heavy medium saucepan.

Bring to boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Add fresh and dried cranberries and cook until dried berries begin to soften and fresh berries begin to pop, stirring often, about 7 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in orange marmalade, orange juice, orange peel and allspice. Cool completely. Cover; chill until cold, about 2 hours. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

The Ultimate Pumpkin Pie

Bon Appétit | November 1993

Pumpkin pie was introduced to the holiday table at the Pilgrim's second Thanksgiving in 1623. Decorate this American classic with some whipped cream, or serve the cream alongside. Add a little dusting of cinnamon or fresh grated nutmeg for extra oomph

Yield: Serves 8
ingredients
Crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons whipping cream

Filling
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon packed golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon (generous) salt
1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream
3 large eggs, beaten to blend

1/4 cup apricot preserves
preparation
For crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend first 3 ingredients in processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cream and process until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball, flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 15 minutes.

Roll out dough on floured surface to 14-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 1 inch. Fold overhang under. Make cut in crust edge at 1/2 inch intervals. Bend alternate edge pieces inward. Freeze 15 minutes.

Line crust with foil, pressing firmly. Bake until sides are set, about 10 minutes. Remove foil. Bake crust until pale brown, about 10 minutes more. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

Spread preserves over crust; pour in filling. Bake until filling puffs at edges and center is almost set, about 55 minutes. Cool on rack. Cover; chill until cold. (Can be made 1 day ahead.)

For filling:

Using whisk, mix first 6 ingredients in bowl until no lumps remain. Blend in pumpkin, whipping cream, sour cream and eggs.

Spread preserves over crust; pour in filling. Bake until filling puffs at edges and center is almost set, about 55 minutes. Cool on rack. Cover; chill until cold. (Can be made 1 day ahead.)

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!

xoxoxoxoxo

I have spent the past 12 hours in a food writing marathon...

Now I

R
E
M
E
M
B
E
R

WHY I GAVE UP ON FOOD WRITING

I must be

C
R
A
Z
Y

But here are two blogs because MY SWEET LOVERBOY TOM

(Oh Tom, when you will you fly to me, my sweet hunk of maleness, you know I await you with open arms... **sigh**)

and his beer pong playing BOZOS...

will NOT ALLOW me to post it as one!
Damn them!!!

So do me a favor, please give the damn things a look, will ya?

I am asking for pity comments & kudos, yes... pathetic wretch & shameless hussy that I am.

So give it to me baby!!!

I'll be your best friend....
Hell, I'll include a sexy video for every click, no purchase required...
Satisfaction GUARANTEED!!!
Hahaha!!!

Remember the golden bloggy rule:

To LURK is CREEPY.... To COMMENT.... DIVINE!!!

Be DIVINE, my darlings....
It feels too good not to!!!

Never a LURKER or a borrower be...

Because I'll do anything to get people to learn how to cook good food:

Here's a sexy poem about dessert, you lurkers!!

hahaha

Creme Brulee, Chocolate Souffle & Other Pleasures

Click Here For Part 1 the blog that features the Turkey, the stuffing, the starters & all the other sides.
They are YUMMY YUMMY and worth a glance but I disabled comments & kudos there.
Happy Reading...

Here's the text to the poem for those of you who would like to read along...

Glisten Glow
Feel me flow
Magma
in your veins

Slip-n-Slide
While I guide
cerise rivers
run insane

On sinuous sails
those heavenly gales
blowing
cerulean serenity
our way.

But Hey...
I'm Chimarea, man
Take me by the hand
Let me scorch you
with my lust

Then douse those flames
with your sweet rain
so unctuous
caramel forms

Ribbons of pleasure
Come on, Nebuchadnezzar
play those dulcimer tunes
of love.

Grind me, bind me
Get inside me
Peel off
that visceral veil

Crack that shell
release your spell
Spoon
into perfumed clouds.

Strip me, whip me
Don't resist me
Until
the stiff peaks form

Then dip into me
All hot & gooey
Let's bathe in
bowls of cream

Til morning smiles
upon our child
Melt with me
Unmold

Those fresh baked dreams
in chocolate streams
immersed
in transplendent
tales told.

Everyday Should Be Thanksgiving Part 1

2009-11-22T09:09:00.001-08:00

He who thanks but with the lips Thanks but in part; The full, the true Thanksgiving Comes from the heart.
~J.A. Shedd

Brace yourselves, my pals, this is a loooong blog!!!

Last year at this time was a bittersweet one for me.

We sold our home.

While we were, of course, fortunate to sell it at a time when others could not sell theirs it did not make the leaving any easier. I was however bound and determined to make our last Thanksgiving in the house a memorable one, but wanted to keep the dinner a very intimate one.

So we invited our best "couple" over.

I say best couple because we happen to value both people as friends which is a rarity. You know how it is. Often you have a friend, like we do, and he changes life partners, like he did, and while you can tolerate them for your friend's sake, you don't really connect to them in a truly friendly way. But such was not the case with this couple, they are both truly our friends equally.

Here is something I wrote about that last Thanksgiving the day after along with the recipes I used. Although I did not take pics ... so Google pics, here I come...

Here are a couple of shots of the old homestead before the sale: front hall & living room.
What the hell, may as well share them with ya!

Well, Thanksgiving has come & gone and as the Thanksgiving card that I gave my hubby exhaustively exclaims: "Days of chopping and shredding and baking and roasting, stuffing & serving, all for a half-hour turkey binge and a week's worth of dried out leftovers!"
Yep, that just about sums it up. Add flower arranging, dusting, table-setting, and apartment-hunting then you'll have an idea of the Thanksgiving 2007 experience for moi at the old household.

It's mostly a labor of love, anyway & a gift that I give to myself maybe even more than a gift to my guests. All except for the house-hunting part which I faced & face with dread & sadness. Dread because I know there is precious little in the way of housing in the rental market that I deem livable, spoiled brat that I've been so fortunate to become, & I dread how sad the lack of real prospects makes me.

Sad, too, to leave the beautiful home that we built with great care & love over several years. A love that resonates through every room, in every window, door, hinge & fixture; lovingly selected or designed with our collaboration and carefully constructed by warm-hearted artisans who poured their souls into their work giving this house a heartbeat, a real & palpable warmth felt by every sentient being who crossed over her magnificent threshold.

Like Pygmalion with Galatea, the feeling and reverence that went into making this house miraculously brought her to life. She was our creation, our child, an extension of union. Everyday we marveled at her beauty, her elegance, her grace. Everyday we discovered another angle to her lines, another aspect of her personality to delight us.

She is charming & big-hearted, trying always to accommodate her guests and make them feel welcome and comfortable; despite her seemingly formal facade, she is the opposite of cool & forbidding with her radiant light smiling upon you & her large rooms like arms wide open held out for a warm embrace. We loved her for her accessibility; all the more because, like all nobles with her beauty, structure and breeding, she could have been haughty & autocratic and, sadly, most people would have accepted her rebuffs as the natural course of things even as they were stung by them; but our girl was an egalitarian & knew to be grateful for her many gifts and not feel superior to those who were not as blessed.

Somehow, we sold her; because a house like this deserves a large family to shelter and succor; children running around inside her playing & dreaming, laughing & crying. We wouldn't provide that. We could use the money she brought us instead & finance the rest of our barren lives. (Excuse the melodrama but it is cathartic for me to write these words even if my depiction of our situation is skewed by my ridiculously emotional over-reaction to it.)

I think she is sad, too. I hear her groanings very late in the night but she'll soon get over her loss when the new owners arrive. I hope that we can do the same.

The fact remains that everyday we have an opportunity to enjoy our lives should we elect to do so. Life in of itself is a great blessing. What does not kill us makes us stronger & we should be grateful for that strength, however difficult it is to forge the iron that helps us survive. So, I offer up a Thanksgiving Menu even though it's official day of celebration was 6 days ago. Planning and preparing this meal for my husband & friends really helped me through this difficult time. With the mantra "Everyday should be Thanksgiving!" reverberating through this beautiful house, here is the Thanksgiving menu I served on 11/22/07 (recipes to follow when I have the strength to write them P.S. I never did manage to write them... until today...):

Everyday Should Be Thanksgiving Day Menu

Hors d'oeuvres

Smoked Salmon Bundles w/ Roasted Asparagus
Crudite with Mascarpone Pesto
California Nut Mix with Wasabi Peas

The Main Event

Creamy Cauliflower Apple Soup with Dungeness Crab Crouton
Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast with Citrus Butter and Turkey Jus
Chanterelle Mushroom "Gravy" w/ Shallots & Vermouth

The Sides

Truffled Smashed Potatoes
Shitake & Sausage-Apple Stuffing
Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding with Roasted Chestnuts
Vanilla-scented Roasted Yams Gratin with Cinnamon
Sauteed Blue Lake Green Beans with Parmagiano-Reggiano, Meyer Lemon Oil & Tarragon
Triple Cranberry Sauce

Dessert

The Ultimate Pumpkin Pie

with Cinnamon-dusted Vanilla Ice Cream

Note:

The Triple Cranberry Sauce and "The Ultimate Pumpkin Pie" that I usually make for dessert comes from the November 1993 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

It was my first year in San Francisco which I moved to from Manhattan to live with my then boyfriend now husband. It was, also, my first attempt at making & shopping for a Thanksgiving Day meal. I had never really been that interested in cooking although I have always been interested in eating but the meal was a resounding success & started my long journey into the land of the culinary arts.

I still keep that copy of Bon Appetit. It is food-stained and dog-eared but it remains in my reference library; thumbing through its pages has become a fond part of my Thanksgiving Day tradition even though I have long since committed the recipes I use to memory and always improvise my own variations on them anyway.

Epicurious.com keeps a database filled with recipes from current & back-issues of Bon Appetit & Gourmet. It really is an online treasure trove for cooks; not because the recipes are so delicious or innovative but because it is a kind of archaeological record of our food & cultural trends. Fascinating stuff for geeks like me! Here is a link to it:
Epicurious.com

The theme is Cal/Italian this year.

I try to stay within a specific culinary cultural style when I make these large dinners.

Makes the whole meal more cohesive and flowing...

The entire menu should serve 4-6 people.

Asparagus and Smoked Salmon Bundles

This is super easy & courtesy of Giada Di Laurentis.
If you don't like smoked salmon, use prosciutto, or thinly sliced ham

1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed (about 20 spears)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Pinch kosher salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
4 to 6 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon (1 slice per asparagus spear)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Lay the asparagus on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with rosemary, salt, and pepper. Roast until cooked and starting to brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to another baking sheet to cool.

Once the asparagus have cooled, wrap each spear in a slice of smoked salmon. Arrange on a serving platter and serve at room temperature.

Crudite with Mascarpone Pesto

Another supereasy dish to assemble quickly while your guests pile in...

The fish sauce gives the dish a little anchovy umami essence without the messiness of mashing

them. I try to save steps whenever possible when cooking in volume.

Just be sure to buy the best pesto you can.

It's very easy to make yourself, too, if you like

You can substitute equal parts sour cream & cream cheese for the mascarpone, if you can't find it at your grocers'.

Ingredients

2 zucchini sliced in half lengthwise and cut into 4 inch batons (sticks)

6 ribs celery cut in half lengthwise and into 4 inch batons

2 cucumber cut in half lengthwise and cut into 4 inch batons

20 baby carrot

1 red pepper cut into2 inch thick strips

1 yellow pepper cut into 2 inch thick strips

1 head broccoli cut into small florets

1 pint cherry tomatoes

10 crimini mushrooms sliced into quarters

4 radishes cut into small batons

1 package mascarpone, room temperature

2 baguettes, brushed with olive oil, sliced into rounds & toasted in the oven until warm & crisp

1/2 cup of fresh store-bought pesto

1/2 teaspoon Thai Fish sauce (optional)

Directions

In a stainless steel bowl, mix pesto & mascarpone.

Add fish sauce, mix well.

Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Add to serving bowl.

Arrange raw veggies on a platter. Mangia.

California Nut Mix with Wasabi Peas

Like the others, not exactly a recipe.

But you have lots of cooking ahead so make these hors d'oeuvres mindless & easy.

Ingredients

Buy 1 lb. of your favorite dried fruit & nut mix.

Add 1 lb. of wasabi peas.

Add 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Place ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Mix thoroughly.

Throw it in a pretty bowl.
Voila.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Dungeness Crab Crouton

Another very simple but elegant dish that reflects the season. The creaminess comes from a small dollop of mascarpone at the end. There is no cream in this soup. You don't need it. The cauliflower when boiled & pureed has the creamiest texture all on its own. It really has a velvety mouthfeel. To make this more economical & vegan friendly omit the crab crouton & substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock. It will still be yummy, I promise!

For the Crab Salad

Note: Keeping this recipe very casually written. That's how easy it is.

Ingredients

Buy 3/4 - 1 pound of the freshest meat you can find, make sure it includes lots of claw meat.

Take 1/3 cup of lowfat Best Foods mayo

add chopped fresh tarragon, chopped fresh chives; all to taste

the juice & zest from half a Meyers lemon

1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce

1 Tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

1 sweet baguette, sliced on the bias, brushed with extra virgin olive oil & toasted in a 350 degree oven until golden brown. (about 5-7 minutes)

Directions:

Mix the dressing well.

Fold the crabmeat in being careful not to break it up too much.

Slice up a baguette, spoon the crab mayonnaise on top. Garnish with sprig of tarragon or chives or both. Place on top of soup. Serve, Eat. Voila!!!

For the soup

3-4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

2 leeks, white part only, washed well and chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small potato, peeled and chopped

2 large sweet (Vidalia or Maui) onions, cut in half & sliced thinly

1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1 head of cauliflower, chopped roughly

1 apple, cored , peeled & chopped roughly

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup apple juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese

2 tablespoons chopped chives, for garnish

add fresh lemon to taste as a garnish, too much lemon will make soup astringent

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce

Heat a large saute pan. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil & 1 tablespoon of butter to the saute pan.

When butter melts & browns lightly, add the slices onions, stirring to coat with the fat. When onions soften, add the sugar, stir to combine well & lower the heat to low setting.

Allow the onions to cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring once every 5 minutes or so until golden brown. Add the soy sauce & stir it in. Then turn off pan & set aside.

Heat olive oil in a heavy, large pot over medium heat. Add the leeks, apples, fennel and the garlic and stir. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the cauliflower, stock, salt, and pepper and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

Using a handheld immersion blender, or in a blender in batches*, puree the soup.

Add the 2 tablespoons mascarpone and blend again to combine. In a small bowl, stir the remaining 1/3 cup mascarpone to soften.

Add to the mixture & blend, once again until well incorporated.

Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Dollop the top of each of the soups with a dungeness crab crouton & sprinkle with chives.

* When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast with Citrus Butter and Turkey Jus

I elected to use a turkey breast because there were only four of us. When choosing a size appropriate for guests, allow about 1 pound of raw turkey per person.

Sounds like a lot, I know, but you want to have leftovers, don't you? That's the best part. Frankly, hot turkey leaves me cold. I love the sandwiches later on Kaiser rolls or Dutch Crunch bread with stuffing, avocado, & cranberry sauce... Yummy, Yummy!!!

BTW, you can substitute any kind of mushroom you like for the gravy. Chanterelles are crazy expensive. I chose them because this meal is small in scale which meant I could spend more per person, but good old button mushrooms or criminis will work just fine. Hell, you don't even need any mushrooms.

The consistency of my gravy is much thinner than most. I prefer the good wholesome turkey flavor of the jus & stock not the taste of a floury pasty goopy gravy... yuk! I achieve the thickening with a minimum of starch & a maximum of reduction.

I boil the hell out of the stock to reduce it to an almost gelatinous consistency which means you must minimize the use of any salt products until the gravy is made, then add the seasoning or else it will taste way salty.

For the turkey

1 whole bone-in turkey breast, 6 1/2 to 7 pounds

1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons good olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 cup dry white wine

1 onion, skin removed & cut in half

1 leek, cleaned & sliced length-wise

1 carrot, cut into quarters

1 lemon, cut in quarters, juiced with juice reserved

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the turkey breast, skin side up, on a rack ( I use a trivet) in a roasting pan.

Nestle the onion, leek, carrot & juiced lemon & place it inside the breast cavity. Be sure that you have cut the pieces in large enough sections so that they don't fall through your rack or trivet.

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, mustard, herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice to make a paste.

Loosen the skin from the meat gently with your fingers and smear half of the paste directly on the meat.

Spread the remaining paste evenly on the skin.
Pour the wine into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Heat up Citrus butter in small sauce pan until melted & keep warm.

Roast turkey for 20 minutes at 450, then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Baste with Citrus butter.

Roast the turkey for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, until the skin is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer registers 165 degrees F when inserted into the thickest and meatiest areas of the breast. (I test in several places.)

If the skin is over-browning, cover the breast loosely with aluminum foil. Occasionally basting with citrus butter.

When the turkey is done, cover with foil and allow it to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes while you make the gravy. Slice and serve with the jus & gravy spooned over the turkey.

For the Citrus Butter:

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon grated lime rind

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 shallot, finely minced

Directions:

Stir rinds into boiling water; pour through a wire-mesh strainer. Drain on paper towels.

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer or by hand until creamy; gradually add juices, & shallot beating until blended. Stir in rinds. Chill. Can be made 3 days ahead or more if you freeze it.

For the Chanterelle Mushroom Gravy:

About the stock: make your own if you have the time, I'll leave a link; if not buy it frozen; you can substitute canned chicken stock, but make sure it has no or low-sodium both Pacific & Wolfgang Puck make good chickeny ones. This gravy will be dark , almost mahogany in color, if you take the time to roast your turkey giblets & wings first, really worth it. It's only once a year & a lot cheaper than buying canned, plus you can make extra & freeze until Christmas to use it then!

Cornstarch & arrowroot are almost flavorless & tend to dissolve more quickly than flour which is why I am using it here, but heat destroys it's coagulating properties so you must wait to add it until the last minute or so to the gravy. Do not boil the gravy after you add them. Then serve immediately.

2 big handfuls (handfuls is an industry term ;P) of chanterelles or your mushrooms of choice, cleaned & sliced

2 large shallots, sliced thinly

6 sage leaves, in chiffonade (sliced very, very thinly length-wise)

half a handful of parsley, minced

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups of fresh turkey stock

pan drippings from turkey

scant tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup of dry vermouth or any acidy, non-oaked wine such as sauvignon blanc

sea salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste

1 Tbs. cornstarch or arrowroot

Directions:

Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbs. butter & olive oil, when butter is foamy & melted, add a tiny pinch of sea salt to the pan followed by the shallots. Saute until they just change color.

Add the mushrooms, add the additional tablespoon of butter, if the mushrooms appear to absorb the fat in the pan. Saute until mushrooms are softened, lower heat to medium-low.

Add the parsley and sage. Stir in & when the mushrooms appear to be slightly glazed, season lightly with salt & pepper.

Turn off the heat & set aside in a warm place.

Place roasting pan over medium heat on the range burners. When hot, deglaze pan with the wine or vermouth, being sure to scrape off all the pan fond (the stuck on brown bits) & incorporate into the wine.

Add the stock to the pan & reduce by half; about 10 minutes. Reserve 1/4 cup of stock & mix that into a slurry with the cornstarch. Set aside.

When stock, is reduced add the mushroom mixture, season with soy sauce; stirring well to incorporate it. Taste for seasoning & then add salt & pepper to taste.

When everything is to your liking, turn the heat down to very low & add cornstarch mixture, stirring really rapidly to avoid making lumps.

Heat for another minute or two over low heat until the cornstarch flavor is gone.

Place in gravyboat. Serve immediately.

Here's a link for Turkey stock:
Epicurious

Truffled Smashed Potatoes

What can I say about smashed potatoes? Don't cut them too small, in fact if you use Yukon Golds, Baby Reds or Yellow Finns leave them whole, leave the skins on, boil them with salt until soft but not mushy, remove excess water by tossing them over heat in a dry, hot pan and heat up the cream & butter before adding them to the potatoes.

Put them through a ricer or food mill if you like a smoother, lighter texture or smash them like I do with an old fashioned masher if you like them with a heartier, more rustic style.

Just add lots of white truffle butter or truffle oil to it at the end to give them a luxe flavor. Add a few chives & Yaay!!!

If you can score fresh white truffles and shave them on top, all the better but good luck; they are as rare and as expensive as an F50 Ferrari.

Shitake and Sausage-Apple Stuffing

Be sure to cut all the aromatics the same size small dice. Makes a big difference in texture.

16 ounces Challah bread or any brioche (use white bread if you can't find an egg bread), cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 12 cups)

1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

6 cups onions, about 2 large, finely chopped & 4 cloves of garlic, smashed & minced

1 pound tart green apples, peeled, cored, diced small

2 handfuls of shitake mushrooms (you can use oyster, button, whatever you like)

1 large carrot, peeled & cut into small dice

2 celery ribs with leaves, diced small

4 teaspoons poultry seasoning

1 cup dried cranberries (about 4 ounces, optional)

4 sprigs of finely chopped fresh rosemary

8 sprigs of finely chooped fresh sage

2/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

3 eggs, beaten to blend

1 and 1/2 cups to 2 cups (about) fresh turkey stock or canned low-salt chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide bread cubes between 2 large baking sheets. Bake until slightly dry, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Sauté sausages in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, crumbling coarsely with back of spoon, about 10 minutes.

Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Pour off any drippings from skillet.

Melt butter in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots, apples, celery, mushrooms and poultry seasoning to skillet; sauté until onions soften, about 8 minutes. Mix in dried cranberries and rosemary & sage.

Add mixture to sausage, then mix in bread and parsley. Season stuffing to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Mix eggs into stuffing just before baking.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 15x10x2-inch baking dish.

Mix 1 1/3 cups broth into stuffing. Transfer to prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil and bake until heated through, about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding with Roasted Chestnuts
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

I just add roasted chestnuts to the hunky Tyler Florence's recipe for added depth of flavor, it's great for vegetarians, though not vegans.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup heavy cream

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 loaf crusty Italian bread, cubed

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for buttering baking dish

2 shallots, sliced

4 pounds mixed wild mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 package of roasted chestnuts, chopped roughly ( jarred is fine)

3 tablespoons chopped chives

3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus more to top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

On a sheet pan put cubed bread. Toast it in the oven until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

In a large saute pan melt the butter and saute the shallots until just wilted. Add the mushrooms and saute until browned, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve.

In a large bowl make custard, whisk together the cream with the eggs and season with the salt and pepper.

Add toasted bread cubes along with the chives, thyme and rosemary to the egg mixture.

Stir in the sauteed mushrooms and mix in the grated Parmesan.

Transfer the mixture to a 9 by 13-inch baking dish, top with more grated Parmesan, to taste.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the custard is set.

Vanilla -scented Roasted Yam Gratin with Cinnamon

This is pretty damn easy & super tasty. An Alsatian Riesling or Gewurtztraminer is the best bet for this entire meal. Just thought I'd mention it now before I forget. A ripe California Pinot Noir from Sonoma might work, too. I love the Central Valley Coast ones like Ambullneo, too.

Ingredients

4 large garnet yams or Jewell sweet potatoes, roasted in a 450 degree oven for 1 hour, peeled , cooled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1 vanilla bean, split in half with seeds scraped & reserved or 1 teapsoon of good quality vanilla extract

ground cinnamon to taste

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for topping gratin

sea salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place yam slices in a gratin dish large enough to hold them all in a single layer, but do make sure they are overlapping slightly. Squash them together a bit, if necessary.

In a medium sauce pan, heat the remaining ingredients over low heat; allowing them to steep for 15 minutes.

Pour cream mixture over yams.

Dot with additional butter.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until top is caramelized & golden brown.

This is a repost from last year.
I am making this menu again.
It is classic.
I will post Part 2 tomorrow...

Fresh From The Market, Lazy Gourmet-Style: Wild Alaskan Halibut "En Papillote" with Truffled Tarragon Butter, Roasted Asparagus, Yam "Gratin"

2009-11-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

“The quality of life is determined by its activities.” ~ Aristotle

Far too often I hear friends say they never have the time or energy to cook for themselves or their families which I think is a terrible shame.

Eating is something we do everyday.
The fact is we must eat to survive.

The London Times once did a few quick calculations and reported that the average person spends 6 years and ten months eating in his or her 70 year life time.

That's approximately 3 681 641.36 minutes (YEP, over 3 MILLION minutes) or 1/10 of the average lifespan spent in this activity, why fill it up with foods generated by ConAgra and increase their already huge coffers?

At the risk of sounding like a Stepford Wife (remember them? *shudders*), cooking can be F-U-N!!! You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to luxuriate in a good meal shared, even if only once a millennium.

And yes, I know... I know.... in this go, Go, GO day & age, spending such time together seems to have become so rare that it is a luxury. However, nothing is more convivial than sitting around the dinner table, eating a delicious meal and enjoying each other's company.

Folks, it doesn't get any easier than this for a light, simple, elegant meal. Seriously, in the time it takes to order in a meal, you could have something fresh & delicious that will impress anyone for a special occasion or just a nice treat for yourself. You deserve a break today & it sure as shit should NOT be from McDonalds!

For those of you less inclined to using those little heat-emitting appliances known as ovens, this meal (sans aluminum foil, unless you are looking to rival the Large Hadron Collider in generating a possible worldwide cataclysmic event horizon, ending all life on earth as we know it) could also be easily adapted for the microwave by wrapping the ingredients in paper towels, Glad plastic sandwich bags or microwave safe plastic wrap.

I am going to make it even easier by providing nothing more than a basic outline in pics.
You get to color between the lines or outside the lines of this "recipe" yourself.

In 60 minutes with only about 20 minutes of active cooking time, you will have a meal that is delicious, nutritious and looks pretty on your plate! Now THAT is what I mean by quality of life & I bet good old Aristotle would agree.

Cooking "en papillote" is a method in which you seal the food in a pouch and bake. The food essentially steams in the oven in its own juices, though you can add ingredients to flavor the food as I will here with just a few splashes of flavored liquids, herbs and aromatics. The keys to the technique are: 1) use fresh ingredients; and 2) preparation or mise en place which is very simple.

Instead of parchment paper which is the traditional method, I will use aluminum foil to wrap the fish, not as pretty, but very easy to do.

Wild Alaskan Halibut "En Papillote" with Truffled Tarragon Butter, Roasted Asparagus, Yam "Gratin"

Note:
I have given directions for microwaving everything, but really nothing brings out the sweet caramelized goodness of veggies like roasting them in the oven & it really takes very little effort, plus you can cook everything into a regular oven at the same time. Not so when microwaving.

Here are the ingredients, you can determine the quantity of each depending on how many people you wish two serve. I am assuming two people in this "recipe".

Vegetable broth, a couple of splashes
Dry white wine (or beer), a couple of splashes from your own glass
Fresh Tarragon, chopped
Halibut fillets (any firm-fleshed white fish will do. Salmon & chicken also works nicely here. Times need to be adjusted for thickness of fillets. Generally if you can smell it, it's done, but allow about 15 minutes for a 1-1/2 inch tick fish fillet & 20 minutes for a chicken breast.)
Truffle salt (plain sea salt is fine) and freshly cracked pepper, to taste.
One large shallot, finely diced ( finely diced red onion & a minced garlic clove can be substituted for the shallot)
One fresh lemon, a couple of squeezes per fillet for seasoning the fish.
One bunch of fresh asparagus, tough ends snapped off (you can substitute any veggie you like obviously. Though for roasting nothing beats asparagus, seasoned with a bit of truffle salt, black pepper & olive oil)
Extra virgin olive oil, enough to drizzle over the fillets & asparagus
Butter, half a stick; unsalted
1/4 cup of half & half or heavy cream with a 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract added and well combined
Sweet potato, cooked (one per person), roasted for an hour in a hot oven or microwaved and sliced into coins
Parmigiano reggiano, for grating over asparagus & yams.
Aluminum foil, if using oven; Plastic wrap or baggies, if using the microwave
Preheated oven, 450 degrees
Hungry people you love

Directions:

Assemble all of your ingredients, like so:

Preheat your oven at 450 degrees
Roast or microwave your sweet potatoes or yams (or other tuberous veggie) until done. (Can be roasted well ahead of time up until the day before).
Slice into 1/2 inch thick rounds and arrange them in either a roasting pan or heavy skillet.
Season with truffle salt & pepper, pour half & half/vanilla mixture over it & a couple of tablespoons of butter, cut into small dice & dabbed evenly over the potatoes.
Then set aside, while you prepare the fish & roast the asparagus.

Like so:

Place the fillets in a little pouch of their own, using either aluminum foil for baking or plastic wrap (or baggies) if you plan to microwave your fish or poultry.
Season the protein with truffle salt & freshly ground pepper to taste.
Add the aromatics: shallots, splashes of lemon juice, wine, fresh tarragon, a drizzle of olive & a 1/2 TBSP of butter per packet

Like so:

Then wrap the little bundle up & pop into the middle rack of your preheated oven for about 15 minutes for a 1-1/2 inch thick fillet (Or about 3 minutes if microwaving.
Remember to seal the baggie but leave a little room for air to escape; venting the baggie by poking a little slit through the top & placing the fish packet on a microwave-safe dish.
Here's a great article on microwaving fish: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_nSPEISS_v198/ai_20036729/)

Then prepare the asparagus by lining a shallow baking sheet with aluminum foil & seasoning with salt, pepper, fresh juice quickly squeezed from a lemon & tossing it all with extra virgin olive oil using your hands which are the best tool for tossing veggies and salads ever invented!
Add the asparagus & the yams to the top rack of the oven. Roasting the asparagus for about 7 minutes & the yams for about 15 minutes. (Or microwave them instead on a microwave-safe dish for 2 minutes after the fish is done).
The asparagus will be done before the fish. Remove them when you can smell them then grate a little parmigiano reggiano over them, dusting them lightly.

When the fish is done, remove it from the oven, set the oven on broil, dust the yams with a little bit of the parmigiano reggiano and cook the yams under the broiler for a minute until they are nicely browned.

Arrange on a plate & eat it!

Here's where to find the Truffle Salt I use:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku9809500/?pkey=cpantry&ckey=pantry&bnrid=3210701&cm_ven=NBSearch&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=FoodPantryHerbsSpices&cm_ite=truffle+salt&OVMTC=Exact&site=&creative=2642928865&OVKEY=truffle%20salt

Yes, it is expensive, but a little goes a long way and it will last you for a year. It's unbelievable in mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, macaroni & cheese or just a little cappellini, parmigiano reggiano (parmesan cheese) & olive oil. Pure decadence was never so affordable.

A Soul Soothing Soup

2009-11-01T06:30:00.000-08:00

When the world seems headed to hell in a hand-basket and life feels like some hopeless, crazy exercise in futility, we all need to turn to someone or something that we can depend on to make us feel safe & secure ( a laughable though laudable desire, life being the crapshoot that it is).

For some, it is religion or belief in a god who ultimately rewards the good & punishes the evil that gives them solace.

For others, it is the news networks & broadcasts whose "round the clock", "up to the minute" presence at the latest tragedy assures them that life in our society presses onward & forward despite the horrific & catastrophic nature of the networks' latest exploitation, I mean, what has befallen. Yes, somehow, with Oprah, Katie Couric & Matt Lauer there endlessly probing every victim's & perpetrator's family & friends; and, repeatedly plying every crackpot psychiatrist, theorist, "expert panelist", lawyer, & politician they can use to fill the airwaves with inane & often unanswerable questions for days on end, some people feel comforted.

Many others, seek the warmth and wordless reassurance of their nearest's arms whether that person be a spouse, parent or sibling. There is always something about the seeming sanctity and inviolability of one's home and family that offers asylum from an increasingly chaotic world.

I tend to fall more inline with the latter group's thinking. Hearth and home are the ultimate sanctuary for me during restless times, especially the hearth, or the modern day hearth--- the kitchen.

There is something about the preparation of a labor- intensive but simple meal that is therapeutic and relaxing. It could just be a purely visceral reflexive response to the familiar scents and repetitive nature of cooking: the sense-memories of happier times stirred up: memories of christmas in grandma's house, the chicken soup mom gave you to make you feel better, the fragrance worn by your first love.

It is said by those who make a study of neurotransmissions that the sense of smell activates more areas in the brain than any other of our senses. The memory centers of the cerebral cortex are instantaneously activated when we smell, well before other centers of the brain.

Some experts theorize that this occurs as an evolutionary autonomic defense mechanism, most likely to prevent us from ingesting poisonous substances by stirring our memories of other "bad" smells that we have experienced allowing us to compare and associate them as things to be avoided.

Whatever the reason the brain is the ultimate database & smell is the most efficient way to trigger it.

So on this & every other bad news day, let's turn the olfactory systems on, get our juices flowing, fill our homes with delicious aromas & remember happier days with a little dose of comfort from the people who live life so well: the Italians.

Italy has none of the arrogance & all of the zest of France. It is a cuisine that could make you devoutly religious because it is so pure and so divine that it could only have come from a higher being. Italian cuisine is the ultimate comfort food.

Each region (& there are many) with its own specialty of culinary artistry. I submit my own humble offering inspired by zuppa di minestre ; something warm & familiar to soothe the soul.

It never lets me down.

Note:

The pancetta can easily be replaced with bacon, italian sausage, prosciutto, ham or eliminated altogether if you're vegetarian-inclined. Same goes for the swiss chard: you can substitute any hearty green leafy vegetable. If you decide to use spinach or other tender green use it toward the end or it may disintegrate into the soup which, or course, wouldn't hurt the soup anyway. Also, use any small-shaped pasta if you don't have orecchiette ( my husband likes penne) or break larger pasta into pieces. I think by now I have made it clear: this recipe is like all recipes that don't involve pastry making (which is like chemistry, an exact science): it is just a guideline. You can freely substitute anything you don't like; consider it a clean-out the fridge soup!!! While it may subtly change the texture or flavor of my soup, it will be the perfect soup for you!!! Isn't that a comforting thought?

Minestrone w/ Pancetta and Orecchiette

1 slice of 1" thick pancetta ( about 4 ounces), cut into large dice
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 leeks, well rinsed & chopped, white part only
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed & minced
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 red potatoes, cut into small dice
1 bunch of swiss chard, discard tough ends & roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 28 oz. can of crushed italian- style tomatoes (preferably from San Marzano in Italy)
8 cups of low-sodium chicken stock
1 ounce of dried porcini mushrooms (optional)
1 bay leaf
1 can fagioli bianchi di spagna (butter beans) or cannellini beans, drained
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon herbes de provence
handful of fresh italian parsley, chopped
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
handful of fresh basil, in chiffonade
the rind of 1 wedge of parmagiano-reggiano
4 oz. dry orecchiette, uncooked
1/4 cup grated parmagiano-reggiano

Directions:

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat. Place dried porcinis in a small bowl, cover with the hot water & place kitchen towel over bowl to assist steeping. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Meantime, heat a large stockpot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. When hot, add pancetta & saute until brown (about 3 minutes) & the fat is rendered from the meat.

Next add half the olive oil to the pan, give a quick stir then add the next five vegetables ( leeks, onions, carrots, celery, & garlic) to the pan to form your "sofrito". Add a pinch of salt & a couple of grinds of black pepper & "sweat" the sofrito mixture stirring occasionally until vegetables are almost translucent (about 5 minutes).

When ready, stir oregano, herbes de provence, red pepper flakes & bay leaf into mixture & saute until the dried herbs release their volatile oils and are fragrant. Then add tomato paste, stirring well to incorporate it into the mixture. Add potatoes. Let mixture cook together for 2 minutes more.

While sauce cooks, carefully remove porcinis from bowl, giving them a quick brush with wet towel to remove any dirt. Chop porcinis & add to sauce, stirring briefly. Reserve steeping liquid.

Add wine to pot. Stir well, scraping any brown bits that may have stuck to bottom of pot (deglaze the pan). When wine has boiled down, add swiss chard & stir well. Then add beans, gently folding them in.

Next, completely cover small strainer with a paper towel; take reserved porcini liquid and pour liquid through strainer directly into soup. Stir mixture.

Add tomatoes & half the parsley. Stirring in & tasting. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Add chicken stock & parmagiano rind. Stir, bring to a simmer, lower heat to lowest setting & let cook 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add pasta, stir it in, & let cook over low heat 30 minutes more; stirring occasionally.

Heat soup bowls in microwave or oven. Add remaining parsley & basil to the pot.

Serve soup topping each bowl with drizzle of olive oil & tablespoon of grated parmagiano.
A simple green salad & side of warm grilled italian bread brushed with olive oil rounds out the meal nicely.
This is a dish that improves with age. So store leftovers in the refrigerator & enjoy another time. Buon Appetito!!

It's Easter!! Yaay! Let Us Eat, Drink, & Be Merry!! A Rack of Lamb, Some Smashed Potatoes & a Hank of Green Beans

2009-04-12T02:20:00.000-07:00

Well, even Marc Chagall commemorated Easter. So why shouldn't I?
Sure, I'm an atheistic ex-Catholic who left the church of Rome 32 years ago (& all other belief systems that involve omniscient, omnipotent invisible Cranks who get their rocks off by seeing how much havoc Their little jokes wreak).

But, I'm not going to let a little thing like THAT get in the way of a good meal.
Besides, I love all the rituals of the Church. Truly I do.
They coincide with the celebrations of the season's harvests many times.
Not by accident either. Good old Emperor Constantine was a wily old sonofabitch & knew that people would be willingly conquered so long as you didn't take away their good times and yummy meals & let them get jiggy with their badass selves every few months.

So even as he sought to consolidate his power & convert his entire empire to Catholicism, he figured he would absorb the culture of the pagans around him & morph into the Catholic religion which you have to admit has some F-U-N holidays!

Hence the Ecumenical Council called by the good Emperor to make Catholicism a bit more "user-friendly" for the besieged masses. Of course, the whole nailing a guy to the cross thing IS a bit morbid, but, hey... it's called role-modeling & leading by example. I mean, if the son of God is wiling to take one for the team, they figure that at some level you will, too. Catholicism definitely lays a heavy guilt trip on you.

Constantine, though, was a fair guy & probably owed some Jewish mafioso types beaucoup bucks, so he also decided that Easter should never be celebrated before Passover. In exchange for those props to Judaism, he also banned Jews from having Christian slaves. It was hell being a Christian back then, until the big C made it chic & all the cool kids like him were converting, too.

Some might say, "Give me liberty or give me Death!" like good old Patrick Henry, but these were earlier times & well... some cultures care more about what's for dinner. Pretty practical, they were, too. I mean Dead Men not only don't wear plaid, but they also don't get to eat white chocolate chai truffle, either or whatever the ancient yummy equivalent was back in the day... So, I would choose life, too.

Which brings me to Easter dinner...

I have zero time to write out my usual recipes.
The hubby who was away all week has demanded my attention this weekend & well, I hear & I obey (for the moment.. hahah)
I'm just going to post some pics with captions on it that I put in my albums here on MySpace called "Food Porn & Other Pleasures"

This really is easy to make & I may later refine the recipe but for now here goes:

Pesto-crusted Rack of Lamb with Truffled Smashed Potatoes, Green Bean & Wild Mushroom Saute

I don't have pictures of my mise en place because I didn't decide to "blog" about this meal until after I had placed the lamb in the oven. It suddenly dawned on me that it would be fun to share this simple, but elegant recipe with you guys. I mean ideally I would serve an asparagus sformato with this meal to start, but we really don't need the extra calories. I must share that recipe one day, too... It's a lovely ode to Spring.

The hubby was NOT uniformly pleased about that because he knew that once I started photographing the step by step process (especially while being ever so slightly imbibalicious), dinner wold take far longer to make than usual.. haha.

Poor man use to suffer terrible hunger pangs when I did my food blog full time. Now that I'm mostly Spazzing it these days, he will actually cook dinner some nights. He used to cook all our meals when we lived in NY. I got out of work so late back then (10:30pm most nights) that he would have dinner ready when I got home.

Rosemary Pesto for the lamb rack:

This pesto has rosemary which I stripped the leaves from & chopped before adding to the food processor, a couple of TBS toasted sesame seeds, a handful of parsley, a touch of honey, a smidge of fresh meyer lemon juice & pecorino. I add the olive oil in last while the food processor is whirring away. I add in a steady stream until I like the consistency of the pesto which I pictured here.

You can be more traditional, obviously, & just do pinenuts, basil & parmiggiano reggiano, & the streaming olive oil, but I decided to an homage to the Byzantine Empire with my pesto.

Ingredients for the smashed truffled potatoes:

I like to boil the potatoes with the skin on & just cut them in half; unless they are very small new potatoes then I keep them whole.

Once the lamb is done & resting & I have finished the veggie saute: it's time to make the smashed potatoes. I put butter & half & half in a sauce pan to heat them well until the butter is melted.

I add the potatoes which I have strained by kept warm by keeping them covered with foil in a colander on the cooktop over a pot of hot water.

I let them soak for a minute in the heat of the butter & cream mixture which I also added truffled salt to, btw...

I smashed them with an old fashioned wire potato masher. I wanted a coarser chunkier texture. You can obviously use a food mill or potato ricer if you do not like the skin & want a more refined texture. I finish off the potatoes with more butter, truffle oil, fresh ground pepper & truffle salt that I stir in with a wooden spatula.

Now, folks, the rest of these instructions will simply not fit on one blog. MySpazz limits the amount of pics & text I can fit in here. I do not want to do two posts, so I will instead leave a link to my album where I have left instructions in the captions for you. They are on pages two & three of the album entitled "Food Porn & other Pleasures" .

Here's the link:

C.C.'s Food Porn & other pleasures... Photo Album - MySpace Photos

I will end this blog with a little Ode to Spring that I wrote today whilst sitting on the recumbent bike for 75 minutes. Exercise always gets my creative juices flowing:

Metamorphosis

Winged love

Flitting prettily from flower to flower

in the soft fragrant air

Stop for a moment...

let us compare.

We are not so different

You & I

Both freed from Winter's guise...

Though I am but a human thing

And You

Are Nature's Spring surprise.

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!!!

Linguine alla "Puttanesca" with Zucchini, Shrimp and Lamb-Feta Sausage

2009-03-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

I was going to save this for Sunday, but I may not be able to post my Top Bloggers blog until then, so I'm posting this today. I actually wrote this on Monday night before all my internet access problems began. Thank you, Comcast, you bastards!

Since it was already loaded up with the pictures etc. all I have to do is post, unlike the Bloggers blog which I need to add everyone's pics to... what a pain!! I've got the SIM card on my laptop working now (Thank you, AT&T) which means I may be able to comment tonight, but I WILL be IMBIBALICIOUS so reader beware!

Anyway enjoy!

It's a good simple recipe.

It was a spectacular early Spring sunset last night with a fiery sky blazing in the west, the scent of blossoming acacias in the air and a strong breeze blowing like a bugle; all the harbingers of Spring in the San Francisco bay area.

Although, there was still enough of a chill in the air to make me think of cast iron pots bubbling with something warm and savory.

But, I've been on a pasta kick lately and had Campofilone's yummy red chili linguine waiting to be liberated from its package in the pantry. I wanted something that would go well with the pasta & still satisfy that urge for a little cast iron cookery.

The hubby envisioned a puttanesca-like sauce with olives, capers, garlic and some shrimp for added protein.

I saw a lamb & feta sausage at Whole Foods and some pretty little zucchini and decided they would provide an earthiness to the sauce & a contrast to the fiery chilis in the pasta with the briny shrimp. A sort of new twist on surf and turf!

Green basil was nowhere to be found but I spied a frilly opal basil much more pungent than the usual sweet basilica but still a match for the intensely flavored sauce. Some leftover '01 Castel Giacondo Brunello di Montalcino from last night would be a good way to deglaze the pot & we were off!!!

The sunset last night provided quite a show while I was cooking dinner. It took all my discipline to prevent myself from grabbing my glass of '02 Leroy Mersault & sitting in front of the window with the hubby to watch nature bask in all it's glory. Because as some you pals know, I am not imbibing during the week anymore, dammit!!

Instead I assembled all my ingredients for a group photo:

and dinner was as good as cooked (although with too many ingredients & steps to be considered "Lazy Gourmet"-style which it isn't)...

Red Chili Linguine alla "Puttanesca" with Zucchini, Shrimp and Lamb-Feta Sausage

Note: This recipe is puttanesca-ish. I'll call it a puttanesca because it makes it sound so naughty. I guess I should call it "amatranesca" but I don't want to start inventing Italian words that don't make sense.

I do add the dried chilis, tomatoes, olives, capers and anchovies (actually Thai fish sauce which is made from pressed anchovies) of the puttanesca but I don't mince the olives, I slice them and I keep the capers whole.

I also add a bit of diced zucchini, raw shrimp & lamb sausage this time which could make it seem more amatriciana-like if I added guanciale as the protein instead of all the other stuff and, of course, from a purist's standpoint, the olives & capers would be atypical in amatriciana sauce; so it's not quite that either.

Oh well! Whatever the original dish this bastardization comes from, it's yummy, easy to make, cooks quickly & is very satisfying. Go very light on the salt when seasoning along the way and taste, taste, taste because most of these ingredients including the shrimp are full of sodium.
The flavors get layered in, be patient, you'll be glad you were. It was almost worth missing that amazing sunset for!!! I promise to write all down tomorrow but now it's beddy-bye time.

Ingredients:

1 lb. of raw 20 count raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined (Whole Food sells E Z peel ones with shells on & the vein already removed)
2 large cooked lamb-feta sausage (these had fennel in them, yummy; any sweet Italian pork sausage, guanciale or pancetta can be substituted), cooled & cut into small dice
1 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes, cut into small dice with liquid
2 large garlic cloves, smashed & minced finely
2 young zucchini, peeled and cut into small dice
1 tablespoon of capers, drained (if you use capers stored in salt, be sure to rinse off the salt first)
12 pitted black olives, each sliced into 4 pieces(I used nicoise, you can use any you like)
handful of parsley, chopped finely
3 sprigs of oregano, leaves only, chopped finely
6 basil leaves, cut into a fine chiffonade
a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
the juice of half a Meyer lemon
extra-virgin olive oil for sauteing & drizzling
1/2 cup of dry red wine
1/4 cup of dry white wine (optional)
1/2 cup of vegetable stock (optional)
1/8 teaspoon of Thai fish sauce
2 tablespoons on half & half (optional)
1 8.8 oz package of Campofilone Red Chili Dried Egg Linguine
freshly ground sea salt & black pepper to taste
a block of parmigiano-reggiano, for grating (optional)
lemon wedges (optional)

Directions:

1) Start with a large heavy bottomed pot, over medium heat. I'm using a 7 quart Le Creuset cast iron Bouillabaisse pot. So pretty!

2) Drizzle enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan & add sausages. Cook the sausages with the pot lid on to prevent spatter & steam them slightly as they saute, turning them every few minutes until all the fat is released & the sausages are just evenly cooked. 10 minutes or so. (Not pictured the grease would have splattered all over the camera lens)

3) Meantime, peel your shrimp, give them a quick cold water rinse and dry them on paper towels and season them with freshly ground black pepper.

4) If you haven't fully prepared your mise en place, better finish it now while the sausages are cooking. Chop and set every thing in its place so it is ready and within reach when you are. While it is always best to prepare your ingredients before you begin to cook, an uncomplicated meal like this doesn't always mandate it. Unless you are not familiar with the dish, in which case, you must prepare everything to be sure you have what you need.

5) Next, when the sausages are cooked remove them from the pot and place them on a chopping block to cool. Lower heat under pot to medium- medium low.

6) While sausages are cooling, wad up a long piece of paper towel and using a pair of long metal tongs to hold it, soak up most of the excess fat released by the sausages in the pot leaving about a teaspoon's worth of the lamb fat in the pot and dispose of the paper towel.

7) Add enough e.v.o.o. to coat the bottom of the pot and to that add a pinch of red pepper flakes, a quick grind of sea salt & black pepper and then the zucchini, giving it a quick stir to coat it evenly with the oil and begin to dislodge some of the fond (browned bits left in the bottom of the pan by the sausage), followed by the capers & then the olives.

8) After giving it all a bit of a stir, add 1/3 the parsley, 1/3 the oregano & 1/3 of the basil & stir it in until aromatic.

9) Meantime, your sausage should have cooled enough to allow you to chop into small dice roughly the equivalent of the size of the zucchini. (Normally, I would have cooked the sausage out of its casing in step 2, eliminating the need for cooling & dicing but these lamb sausages have chunks of feta in them which would have burned in the bottom of the pot had I not cooked them whole.) Add them to the pot with the zucchini mixture. Give them a stir & let them mingle with the veggies for a minute or two.

10) Time to deglaze the pan. Turn the heat up to medium-high & add your red wine. Let it sizzle a moment then stir well and scrape up the pot frond, releasing all the brown bits. Allow the wine to reduce by 3/4 (about 3- 5 minutes).

When the wine is almost evaporated then add the tomatoes to the mixture stirring well to combine & add another 1/3 of the parsley, 1/3 of the oregano & 1/3 of the basil. Taste the sauce. Adjust the seasoning but keep in mind that we haven't added the fish sauce yet which is very salty. Reduce the heat to medium & cover the pot.
Let the sauce cook for 5-7 minutes.

11) While the sauce is cooking, fill a pasta pot 3/4 of the way with water and place over medium-high heat to boil.

While that is getting ready to boil, remove the lid from the sauce & set aside. Stir, taste it, if the sauce looks dry add a 1/4 cup of white wine and stir it in. Let it cook down a minute or two.

Then add a 1/4 cup of vegetable stock, stir that in. Taste it, if the sauce is too acidic add the half & half & stir. Let it cook a minute or so. If it still seems to "winey" or acidic add a little more half & half and/or drizzle in a little olive oil. Stir well.

12) When the sauce seems balanced, add the fish sauce; an 1/8 of a teaspoon goes a long way, so be careful not to add too much. Adjust the seasoning to your taste (pepper, salt) & lower the heat to a bare simmer.

13) Get ready to poach the shrimp over very low heat, add them one at a time in a single layer across the bottom of the pan. Top with the remaining 1/3 of parsley, oregano & basil & the juice of half a Meyer lemon.

Cover pot tightly with the lid & gently poach shrimp for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, stir the shrimp into the sauce & wait for the pasta.

14) While shrimp poach, prepare the pot for your pasta by adding a teaspoon or so of sea salt to the boiling water. Remember, this Campofilone thin egg pasta cooks in 2-3 minutes. My directions & timing for the sauce are presuming that you use this pasta.If you are using a different type of pasta cook it according to the package instructions.

If it is a pasta that requires a longer cooking time, be sure you adjust the cooking time of the shrimp to accommodate the pasta. Overcooked shrimp are not good tasting. Make the necessary adjustments ahead of time.

15) When the water starts to resume boiling, add the linguine & cook stirring often at first to prevent the pasta from sticking. Cook no longer than three minutes (or according to package directions) or until it is al dente (fully cooked but still slightly resistant to the tooth when you bite into it). You will continue to cook the pasta for a minute or so in the sauce itself; so don't overcook it now.

16) When the pasta is cooked, remove the pot from the heat & place it near the sauce pot.

Using metal tongs or a pasta fork, carefully lift the pasta from the water, one tongful at a time, allowing the excess water to drain before placing the linguine in the sauce pot.

When you have placed all the pasta in the sauce, grate to taste some fresh parmigiano-reggiano directly on the pasta to season it. Then gently fold it into the sauce until it is well combined & coated in the sauce.

Serve in warm bowls with slices of lemon, a drizzle of the best quality olive oil & a little dusting of Parmigiano. Enjoy!!!

This recipe serves four.

This recipe was also posted on my MySpace blog, so the following pertains to that site, but I will leave it in anyway...
It's fun! :)

CC is my nom de plume there. It stands for Closed Captioned For the Thinking Impaired which is what I call my blog there.

Not exactly a pasta primavera, but still the lamb sausage, the shrimp, the zucchini... haha.... let's say they are best in the Springtime even if we lie... ;P

What's your fave pasta dishes?

Feel free to post a recipe, if you like.

Will you be IMBIBALICIOUS tonight, like I plan to be?

Do you hate Comcast & Motorola, too?

Here were a few of my statuses yesterday that cracked some of my pals up:

C.C.says... Well, boys & girls after 5 GODDAMN internet cafes, one SIM card, a shitload of aggravation & several espressos... CC has replied to EVERY COMMENT!! Yay

Mood: TOMICIDAL at 2:14 PM Mar 26

C.C.says Oh my Spesus!! She finally found a place with halfway decent wireless, but now the MySmegma has begun!! Why is MySpazz double & triple posting EVERYTHING?

Mood: TOMICIDAL at 11:17 AM Mar 26

Then there was this bulletin update:

Okay, this took me 5 internet cafes, one SIM card, several espressos & a shitload of MySmegma because TheSpasms were at all-time high, but I am NEVER deterred, dammit!!

Comcast, Tom & Motorola be fucked.... I will REPLY!!!

So come & get your love!
I'll hand here at the Espresso Roma Cafe for a bit more then I am dragging my ass to the gym for an EXPLOSIVE workout!! Because I NEED RELEASE!!!!!!!

AAAAaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAAaaaAAAAaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAA

C.C. in response to a bulletin comment from a pal:

Mar 26, 2009 2:45 PM

No, it's my modem for my iMac. It's 3 years old. My laptop is fine, but the access at the cafes were so painfully slow, I used my iPhone.... UGH!!! Then I bought a SIM Card but HELLO, you need internet access to install it!! FUCK! So I'm at another cafe & getting ready to download the software for the damn "Air Card" I am ready to BITE somebody HARD!!! ;p

You are now fully updated on my state of mind ...hahah...

AREN'T YOU THRILLED???
HAVE A GREAT NIGHT!!

OH YES & DON'T LURK, DAMMIT!!

I KNOW WHEN YOU ARE LURKING & I KNOW WHEN YOU ARE DIVINE!!!

HAHAHA

XOXOXOXOXOXO

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Food & Sex: The Best Way to a Man's Heart?... An Artfully Sensual Valentine's Day Dinner

2009-02-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

Ah, Valentine's Day. A romantic day filled with hearts, flowers and......... food.

Sex may enter into it; but, somehow, food plays an instrumental role before the conquest.

We've all been told that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. (Of course, women possess those organs, too, and many of us are equally interested in having them courted by our wooers. Who do you think most of the recipients of those chocolate-filled heart-shaped boxes are anyway, hmmmm?)

Unfortunately, what no one tells you is that a romantic dinner laden with the fatty fare of most Valentine menus not only wreaks havoc on the waistline; but, also, has marooned many a bloated traveler on the sea of love; leaving them stranded on the Isle of Misfit Celibates instead of basking in the glow of Fantasy Island.

You're more likely to bust a gut than bust a move after eating all that lobster and chocolate mousse. So in the interest of raising metabolisms and libidos everywhere, I offer a menu to help keep the sin in the saint of St. Valentine's Day (so that the only resemblance you have to the day's martyr is in name only); but, don't think that I would ever consider sacrificing the sensuous textures and fabulous flavors of the Valentine's Day classics.

Au contraire, mon cher. I only seek to enhance the food's aphrodisiac qualities by lightening it; thereby, allowing for the enjoyment of later, more intimate pleasures.

Which begs the question.... What makes a certain kind of food sexy or, better yet, which foods make you feel sexy?

For many people, eating sensuously is all about texture:

.... such as silken, unctuous foods that glide over your tongue while coating it with their essence as you devour them. These foods not only feel and taste wonderful but they also make you look good in the process. Think of how sexy licking an ice cream cone looks vs. chomping down on a burger. Both can be messy but the former is enticing to watch, while the latter is just disgusting giving you all the glamour of a jungle beast tucking into an antelope instead of an angel of Eros enjoying her daily dose of ambrosia;

..... or, how about juicy, self-contained foods that use your fingers, preferably while making contact with your lips, and, capable of being eaten in one or two bites. Think of soft, pouty lips wrapping themselves around: a fresh strawberry, a red cherry, the ripest fig, or piece of ahi nigiri. The light tooth-grazing consumption of the tender leaves of steamed artichokes also falls into this category of food come-ons.

Of course, many cultures tend to reckon shape with sexual aphrodisiacs. Take the obvious likeness of avocados, apples, bananas, eggs, asparagus spears, ginseng, zucchini, oysters, mangoes or even the more far-flung rhinoceros horn to their sexually reproductive anatomical counterparts and you can come up with an interesting, if somewhat unappetizing menu.

Some foods, over time, have been endowed with magical, potent sexual powers for their ability to excite rather than their physical characteristics. My four favorites: chocolate, champagne, caviar and chilis fall into this category.

Dark chocolate with its LDL lowering stearic acid, mood-elevating theobromine, "love chemical" inducing phenylethylamine, pleasure enhancing serotonin and energy boosting caffeine was considered not only an aphrodisiac but also quite the health elixir by the Aztecs and the Mayans and was revered as a food of the gods; 2000 years before more recently undergoing its latest health food status. It sure tastes good! Ask Montezuma; he drank 50 gold goblets full of it a day & look at how potent he was!

The hot spice of chili peppers with its tear inducing capsciacin mimics the feelings of arousal by elevating the blood pressure & body temperature leaving you flushed, moist & panting.

Champagne has always been the wine of love & celebration with bubbles that tickle your tongue as well as your fancy. The alcohol in it is a powerful relaxant, allowing you to shed your inhibitions (if not your clothing).

The goddess of love, Aphrodite, (Venus to her later Roman worshippers) was born from the sea, so all of the sea's creatures were said to be endowed with her aphrodisiac powers. It doesn't hurt that most seafood contain prodigious quantities of the mineral zinc which is known to be an effective nutrient for the erotically-challenged. Caviar is sturgeon roe. The many eggs of caviar also represent fertility; procreation and the propagation of the species, of course, has always been the most powerful catalyst for the sex act. Just ask Darwin. Money is a pretty good conductor of sexual electricity, too, and caviar costs lots of it which only adds to its romantic allure!

Of course, too much of anything, champagne and caviar included, can douse the most ardent fire, so I advocate a little discretion in all things edible. While moderation may not seem to fan the flames of molten passion, it's always good to be a little hungry for something more, especially on Valentine's Day.

Just ask yourself, how would Aphrodite satisfy those hunger pangs?

My suggested Valentine's Dinner Menu, as all good romantic menus should, will definitely include the four C's: chocolate, champagne, caviar & chili peppers; though, not necessarily in that order. I will also add a few other yummies from my heart-thumping bag of tricks. The champagne should be a brut rose' for it's magnificent color and depth of flavor.

I couldn't make up my mind about what to concoct for this special day; so why not double your pleasure, double your fun: offer two options and have your intended choose one?

Most of the dishes can be made in advance, except for the fish which needs to be cooked a la minute, then you can have the pleasure of sharing; nothing is sexier than guiding the hand that feeds you in a dark, candlelit room.
However, for those less inclined to divvy up their din din, I will include in each recipe enough portions for at least two & let you could decide whether tonight's culinary muse will be Asian or Italian when you choose which dish per course.

What the menu lacks in innovation it makes up for in raw sex appeal. Whether you finish the meal by feeding each other sumptuous spoonfuls of parfait or tasty morsels of chocolate dipped strawberries is up to you; but, I guarantee that will not be the conclusion of the evenings activities.

Bon Appetit & Happy Valentine's Day!!!

A Lighter Valentine's Day Menu with Lots of Sex Appeal

Salmon Poke with Ossetra Caviar

Carpaccio of Ahi with Shaved Hearts of Palm, Asparagus Tips & Truffle Oil

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Duo of Cannelloni
Dungeness Crab & Goat Cheese, Roasted Sweet Potato & Mascarpone

or

Macadamia-Crusted Thai Red Snapper with Passionfruit-Infused Bercy, Curried Bhutanese Red Rice Risotto

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Raspberry & Dark Chocolate Parfait with Greek Yogurt, Agave Nectar & Toasted Walnuts

Chocolate-covered Strawberries

Salmon Poke with Ossetra Caviar

Note: Traditionally, Poke is made with limu kohu, a red seaweed harvested near the Hawaiian isles, and crushed roasted kukui nuts. Both ingredients can be found at San Mateo's Takahashi Market.com online shop.
However, if, like me, you are more interested in the spirit of the dish rather than a strict interpretation, you can substitute furikake or nori strips for the limu kohu; white & black sesame seeds for the kukui nuts; and, add a pinch of Hawaiian red sea salt for color. I also stray from tradition by dicing the fish a bit finer, adding cilantro and a little fresh lime juice & /or blood orange juice to the mixture at the very end just before molding & plating. I like the kick that citrus adds to the dish but I try not to add it too early because the acids "cook" the fish and mar the beautiful color turning the bright flesh opaque.

Needless to say the salmon needs to be very fresh and preferably wild (which are frozen this time of year) or from a sustainably raised farm like U.K. Greenpeace-endorsed Loch Duart's Scottish Salmon from CleanFish. Ahi is traditionally used and the natural substitute if you don't like raw salmon.
The caviar is for extra luxe appeal & sevruga has nice firm eggs that cost less than its cousins, ossetra & the ever disappearing beluga. American Caviar from sustainably-raised California white sturgeon (Tsar Nicoulai), Missouri & Mississippi Rivers hackleback sturgeon (Petrovich Caviar), Montana golden white fish and paddlefish (Seattle's Caviar) is now much more widely available and less costly than international brands such as Petrossian. Click on the name of the various purveyors for more info.
If you can't find a ripe avocado (it's been a tough year for them), substitute the layer of avocado for a little chive oil on the bottom of the dish. Just take a bunch of chives (scallions will work, too), rough chop, add to a blender with a cup of the highest quality cold pressed olive oil, blend & strain through a strainer lined in cheesecloth or a chinoise, if you happen to have one lying around your kitchen.

This recipe serves 2 lovebirds as a first course.

Ingredients

4 oz. very fresh sashimi-grade salmon fillet, skin & bloodline removed, finely cubed
1 Tablespoon of reduced sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil plus more as needed, to taste
1 teaspoon of furikake, seaweed gomasio, shichimi (or plain nori cut into small thin strips)
1/2 teaspoon black sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon toasted white sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon of cilantro, minced
1 Tablespoon sweet onion such as Maui or Vidalia, finely minced
2 scallions, tougher dark green stalks removed, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon of finely minced fresh ginger root, skin removed
1 Tablespoon of Lowfat Mayonnaise (Best Foods or Hellmans brand)
1 teaspoon of Vietnamese Sriracha sauce (Huy Fong Foods Inc. brand found at Safeway or at www.huyfong.com)
the juice from 1/2 a blood orange (or lime)
1 pinch of Hawaiian Red Sea Salt, optional
1 small ripe Hass avocado
1 oz. of caviar
4 blue potato chips from Terra Chips (optional)

Directions

Whisk together the mayo, citrus juice, soy sauce & sriracha sauce in a small bowl, combine well and set aside.
Place the salmon in a medium-sized bowl and toss with sesame oil until well-coated. Add the cilantro, sesame seeds, onion, scallions, furikake and ginger to the salmon. Mix well.
(The salmon poke can be stored in the refrigerator at this time for 12 hours; store it separately from the dressing. Just be sure to remove both from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving)
Slowly add the sriracha dressing to the salmon poke, gently folding it in to thoroughly combine without breaking up the salmon cubes. Add as little or as much of the dressing as you like, making adjustments to suit your taste. Then sprinkle a tiny pinch of the sea salt over the poke and gently combine. Taste for seasoning.
Cut the avocado into half, removing the pit carefully, using the edge of a sharp paring knife between the skin and the flesh, gently trace the circumference of each cut half of the avocado with the knife to loosen the flesh. Unmold each half, cut side down, onto a clean cutting board and slice avocado thinly to form a fan. Place each avocado half onto its serving dish, cut side up, and delicately fan out the slices onto the plate; or, instead, form a thin ring of avocado slices with a hollow center.
Place a ring mold over the center of the avocado slices and, using a spoon, fill it with the salmon poke, tamping it down to mold the shape, dip your paring knife in hot water, run it carefully around the inside of the ring to loosen the ring, then slowly unmold the poke. Repeat with the other dish. (If you don't have a ring mold, just fill a ramekin with the poke, pack it tightly, tamp it down, run the knife around it & gently unmold it as you turn the ramekin upside down over the center of the dish.)
Garnish both plates with a 1/2 oz. of caviar over the center of each poke and 2 blue potato chips from Terra Chips.

Ahi Carpaccio with Shaved Hearts of Palm, Asparagus & Truffle Oil

Note: You can quickly sear the sides of the ahi with a peppery crust as photographed then flatten it; looks pretty, but, it doesn't add much to the dish; so, the recipe will skip that step. The fresh hearts of palm I originally intended to use are nearly impossible to find easily. There is a family-owned company in Costa Rica, the #1 source of domesticated palms bred for food production, named DeKing of Hearts (click here to go to their website) but a highly perishable 1 lb. bag (perishes within 2 weeks from the day it was harvested)is $25 per lb plus overnight shipping. So in the interest of using money more judiciously, I am using canned hearts of palm that are rinsed & dried and incorporating the more traditional arugula into the salad for more bitter contrast & flavor. Still looking for frozen hearts of palm so if you know of any email me. Canned hearts of palm are too watery to shave, so I just tried to slice them as thinly as possible using a very sharp knife. A thin shaving of pecorino romano into shards will curb my mad Sweeney Todd-like urge for the moment.

This recipe serves 2 inamorati as a starter.

Ingredients

2 (3-ounce) pieces of sashimi-grade ahi
1 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil
4 hearts of palm (from a can), drained, rinsed, patted dry and thinly sliced
2 cups of baby arugula, rinsed and dried
12 thin spears of asparagus, tips only, blanched for 30 seconds and chilled
the zest of 1 meyer's lemon
the juice of 1 meyer's lemon
6 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons of chives, finely minced
1 sprig of fresh thyme, stripped of leaves and chopped
2 generous shavings of pecorino romano or parmiggiano-reggiano (1 per plate)
2 generous drizzles of truffle oil (as a garnish for each plate)
pinch of truffle salt and a pinch of fleur de sel
freshly milled black pepper to taste

Directions

Stretch four large sheets of plastic wrap on your countertop, smear each piece with a teaspoon of olive oil.
Place a piece of cold ahi in the center of the first two pieces of the plastic wrap & then cover each fillet, (olive oil-smeared side down) with a remaining plastic sheet.
Gently pound with a mallet, working from the center out until the ahi is paper thin.
Store wrapped tuna on a plate in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the hearts of palm, arugula, tomatoes, thyme & asparagus. Then add the Meyer lemon juice & remaining tablespoon of olive oil, black pepper & sea salt to taste, toss gently but be sure to coat the vegetables thoroughly.
Remove the ahi from the fridge and prepare to plate it on dishes large enough to accommodate them. (The average dinner-sized plate should do).
Plate the ahi by first carefully removing the top sheet of plastic; next, place the ahi side on the center of the dish; then, gently remove the last piece of plastic, carefully molding together any pieces of ahi that have torn apart.
Sprinkle each ahi carpaccio with a pinch of lemon zest, truffle salt, pepper & 1/2 Tablespoon of the chopped chives then drizzle with truffle oil.
Top the center of each plate with a small mound of the greens.
Sprinkle the remaining chives around the perimeter of each plate, followed by an additional drizzle of truffle oil over the chives. Using a microplane, shave the pecorino over the greens and serve.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Thai Red Snapper with Passionfruit-infused Sauce Bercy, Curried Bhutanese Red Rice Risotto

Note: This recipe was heavily inspired by a dish I ate at Canyon Ranch during my there last year. The Canyon Ranch version is made with mahimahi instead of thai red snapper which is similar in look & texture and offers a caramelized pineapple sauce that is a little sweet for my taste but still quite good. They served it with coconut black rice on the side. Pacific halibut would be a fabulous substitute & my preferred fish for this dish but unfortunately the season runs from March to November or December, making it impossible to find for Valentine's Day. Atlantic halibut, which is available now, is not a great substitute for this particular dish.

I opted to celebrate Valentine's Day by using Bhutanese Red Rice to make a creamy coconutty risotto finished with Thai red curry sauce. Both rices can be found at Whole Foods, the Lotus Foods brand is the best and the Lotus Foods website has some really great recipes, too.
Bercy sauce is a variation of a fish veloute' with shallots, wine & stock; however, instead of the classic veloute' which is a heavy white sauce with a roux base, we reduce a combination of equal parts fish stock (or clam juice if you don't have time to make the stock) & vegetable stock then add a slurry of cornstarch dissolved into a little cold stock to thicken it. The result will be a lighter, more richly colored sauce. It is important that you remove the stock from the heat before adding the cornstarch slurry. When the cornstarch is heated for too long, it loses its ability to bind the sauce. Just keep on the stove without heat while you prepare the bercy.
In honor of Valentine's Day, I will be making a variation of the classic bercy by adding (what else?) passion fruit to it. If you can't find fresh passion fruit or its pulp, you can add a 1/3 cup of passion fruit nectar (the Looza brand is sold at most SF bay area grocery stores) or substitute 1/2 of a Hawaiian papaya (seeds removed) for the passion fruit.

I recommend preparing the sauce first, then prepping the fish but not cooking it, before making the risotto. When the risotto is more than half way done ( 20 minutes into cooking it), start the fish saute, browning it for 2-3 minutes on each side, then pop it in the oven in a baking dish for 8-10 minutes while you finish the risotto. When both risotto and fish are done, remove them from the heat but keep them in a warm place, gently reheat the Bercy sauce, (remember you don't want to overheat the cornstarch) & plate it up. If the sauce seems too thin, you can always add a little butter to the sauce then froth it up with the an immersion blender before plating.

A few pea shoots or microgreens complete the dish but you can add stir-fried bok choy if you're craving some veggies.

This recipe serves two.

Ingredients:

For the fish

2 (6 ounce) Thai red snapper fillets, of even thickness
2 Tablespoons of mirin (optional)
1/2 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
2 egg whites, from large eggs, slightly beaten
canola oil or grapeseed oil, (you want a flavorless oil with high flashpoint for the saute)
sea salt & white pepper to taste

For the fish veloute'

1 cup of fish stock (bottled clam juice or prepared dashi can be substituted)
1 cup of vegetable stock (Wolfgang Puck makes a great one sold in supermarkets)
sea salt and white pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
3 Tablespoons cold vegetable stock or white wine

For the passion-fruit bercy

2 large shallots, minced
1 Tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup of white wine, preferably one that is not over-oaked like a sauvignon blanc
1 cup of stock (fish, vegetable or chicken)
2 whole passion-fruits, strained of seeds ( 1/3 cup of passion-fruit nectar or 1/2 Hawaiian papaya can be substituted)
1 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger
1 Tahitian vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
1 teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce
pinch of ground szechuan white peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon of sriratcha sauce
1 Tablespoon of unsalted butter
2 sprigs of chervil, stripped of leaves & chopped

For the Bhutanese Red Rice Risotto

1/2 cup of uncooked Bhutanese Red Rice (Lotus Foods is a good brand)
2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of unsalted butter
pinch of sea salt
2-1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock, kept just below a simmer on stove top
1/2 cup of white wine
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste (Thai Kitchen brand is widely distributed & pretty good)
1/3 cup of unsweetened coconut milk (Thai Kitchen brand has a good one)
1/4 cup of cooked unshelled edamame, pre-cooked (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of Thai fish sauce (nam pla or in Vietnamese nuoc cham)
5 basil leaves, finely julienned
2 sprigs of cilantro, finely chopped
2 scallions, finely chopped

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees

For the fish

Place the fish on a clean cutting board and season both sides to taste with sea salt, white pepper & mirin. Pat dry with paper towel.
Using a pastry brush, brush fish on both sides with beaten egg whites.
Sprinkle each side with chopped macadamia nuts. Pressing the nuts firmly into the flesh to secure them. (At this point, you can just put the crusted fish on a baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes, skipping the steps 4-6. I just like to brown them a little in a saute pan before I bake them)
Heat a 10" (cast iron is the best) pan with non-stick coating over medium heat, when pan is heated, add enough oil to cover its surface & distribute a pinch of salt evenly over the oil. Do not allow the oil to smoke.
Carefully add the fillets one at a time to the center of the pan, keeping space between them. Cook for 2-3 minutes on the first side; checking heat & the fish after 2 minutes to be sure that the nuts are not burning. When the first side is light brown, then gently turn over & cook the other side for an additional 2 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
Remove fish from pan, briefly blotting excess oil with a paper towel, then place in a baking dish in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the center of the fish is slightly resistant to touch. If you can smell the fish it is done. Do not overcook it.
Remove from oven and keep in a warm place until sauce is heated & ready to be plated. Serve on warm plates.

For the fish veloute'

Place both stocks in a heavy sauce pan and reduce over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes until stock is reduced in half. Then remove it from the heat.
While stock is reducing, place cornstarch in a small bowl & slowly whisk in cold stock or wine a little at a time until cornstarch is completely dissolved and the resulting slurry is homogenous looking. Set aside until stock reduces.
When stock is reduced, remove from heat & rapidly whisk the stock continuously to cool it slightly while slowly adding the cornstarch slurry. When sauce is thickened, season to taste with pinch of sea salt, & white pepper then set aside pan in a warm place (but not over heat) while you prepare the bercy.

For the passion-fruit bercy sauce

Heat a heavy sauce pan over medium heat, add the olive oil, heat it for a few moments then add the shallots & a tiny pinch of salt to sweat them without browning them.
When shallots are soft, add the ginger, stirring until aromatic then add the passion-fruit.
When the passion fruit cooks down, add the wine, reducing it for a few minutes then add the stock, allowing that to cook down until halved. (about 10 minutes)
When liquid is reduced, scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean using the tip of a small paring knife and add them as well as the vanilla pod halves to the stock along with the soy & the sriratcha sauce, stirring well to evenly distribute them.
Reduce heat to lowest setting & allow it to simmer for a 5-10 minutes until sauce looks glossy & well-integrated then remove from heat & add the prepared veloute' sauce, stirring well to fully incorporate both sauces.
Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Remove the vanilla bean halves. Swirl in the butter until emulsified.
When the sauce looks completely incorporated, return it to the heat on lowest possible setting, until sauce is warmed through, then serve immediately. (If sauce has thinned out by the time you are ready to serve it, just blend it by either using an immersion blender in the sauce pan to froth it up or by carefully pouring it into a blender & whirring it for a minute.)

For the risotto

Make sure to have the stock in a separate pot at a bare simmer (just below a simmer) on the stove. (Keep in mind that risotto gets its creamy texture from the release of the rice's starch which means you've got to continuously stir it for the first 15-18 minutes, after that it's just a matter of keeping it from drying out by continuing to slowly add warm stock until the rice grains are fully cooked.)

Heat a large shallow pan (a paella or La Creuset braising pan work well) over medium heat, add the olive oil & when warm but not smoking, add the onions with a pinch of salt. Sweat the onions stirring often. Do not allow them to brown.
When onions are soft, add garlic & red curry paste, stir until aromatic and slightly darkened in color. Do not allow to burn.
Add butter, when butter melts add rice, toasting it in the paste for a minute or two.
Add the wine, stirring continuously until fully absorbed into the rice. When wine is fully absorbed, lower heat to medium-low to low (keep it at a bare simmer) and add coconut milk, stirring continuously, until fully absorbed.
Slowly begin to add the stock one ladleful at a time (about 1/2 cup), stirring often and making sure the rice has absorbed it before adding more stock. By the fourth absorbed ladleful, you should see a visible difference in the size of the grains and begin testing for doneness. Risotto is done when the rice grains are tender but still retain a slight "bite" and the overall texture is creamy.
When risotto is almost done, add fish sauce and edamame (or cooked sweet peas), gently stirring in & cooking until beans are warmed through.
Add basil, scallions & cilantro. Test for seasoning, if it needs any, add sea salt (Red Himalayan Salt would be pretty & yummy) & freshly ground pepper to taste.
Serve by packing risotto in a large ramekin until ramekin is fully packed & placing the center of the warmed serving plate on top of the ramekin, then inverting both dishes & carefully unmolding the rice from its ramekin. Place the snapper fillet on the side of the rice and drizzle the Bercy sauce over half the fish and the circumference of the plate. Garnish the rice with pea shoots, micro greens or a sprig of cilantro. Serve.

Duo of Baked Cannelloni:
Dungeness Crab & Goat Cheese
Roasted Sweet Potato & Mascarpone
Wilted Spinach

Note: When I was at Canyon Ranch last year, I ordered a crab quesadilla with a crisp but tender shell and a delicious creamy filling that imparted a slight but pleasant tang to the dish without overwhelming the crab. I thought they had used a special Oaxacan cheese but when I asked my server she said it was just fresh goat cheese. The combination was a good one & I thought it could make a very elegant dish for a romantic dinner if I used cannelloni as the delivery system for the crab & goat cheese.
Of course the object of this Valentine's dinner is to keep everything light & sexy, so I thought I could lighten the dish by making two separate fillings, offering one cannelloni of each and a Duo of Cannelloni was born. I wanted the second filling to be light and complement rather than compete with the crab & goat cheese so I knew it would have to a vegetable filling; but, I wanted a luxurious mouth-feel that was satisfying & a little sweet. My first thought was butternut squash or pumpkin but they have been done so often this way and too laborious to tackle with everything else & then it hit me: roasted sweet potatoes. Great texture, sweet & healthy taste with a touch of mascarpone, a hint of vanilla and herbs. Eureka! While I'll admit my inspiration may not be quite on par with Archimedes' discovery of the displacement of water (which was his legendary Eureka moment), I'm still pleased with the results.

I've lightened the bechamel sauce by using lowfat milk. You can substitute skim milk if you like but don't substitute the butter with anything else. It's not a lot of butter per person & it's absolutely necessary for sauce. Do use freshly grated nutmeg, it is an essential component and very easy to find these seeds in the seasonings section of mainstream supermarkets.

If you can't find dried cannelloni shells, use manicotti shells instead. Just but the highest quality pasta you can find because the flavor of the pasta is very important with these delicate fillings. If the pasta is too thick or poorly made it will show much more with these fillings than if you were using a meat ragu.You can also buy or make your own fresh crepes if you like. You just need to fill them then roll them tightly with the seam facing the bottom of the baking dish.

If you're not a crab eater, just omit the crab & substitute it with additional cheese or add wild mushrooms (chanterelles or hen of the wood mushrooms are nice & meaty) that you have sweated with olive oil & shallots. It'll still be yummy if not as aphrodisiatic (if that's a word).
Serve this dish with a side of wilted spinach (baby spinach sauteed in olive oil, minced garlic & a touch of stock & freshly ground black pepper.)

You will have leftover stuffing which you can use to stuff additional cannelloni shells, layer over no boil lasagne noodles which have a much finer texture & some egg added to them allowing them to cook thoroughly without as much liquid (Nature's Pasta, available at Real Foods is the best so far): just double the bechamel sauce recipe & use it as a sauce to layer into the lasagne, or turn it into ravioli or tortellini by using ready made thin wonton wrappers. Then cook & freeze for another time.

This recipe will serve four, unless you're starving. To make it for two, I would have had to split an egg in half. Perhaps that will be my future contribution to science... I'll get cracking!!! (pardon the pun)

Ingredients

For the cannelloni

8 cannelloni shells, cooked in a large pot of salted boiling water for about 7 minutes if dried or about 3 minutes if fresh; always be sure to check the manufacturers instructions (8 fresh small crepes could be substituted, obviously no boiling required) Remember, these shells should be cooked until just barely al dente. Overcooked pasta will not work in this recipe. It's going to cook further in the oven.
1 gratin dish or small to medium-sized baking dish, greased with olive oil & a paper towel (the dish should be just large enough to accommodate a single layer of cannelloni)
1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
2 pastry bags (or 2 ziploc plastic bags, with a small edge of one bottom cut out & the tops folded back) or 2 teaspoons

For the crab filling

1 cup of fresh Dungeness crabmeat (about 1/2 lb.), picked through to remove any shell
1 clove of garlic, grated
3 scallions, light green part only, minced
5 oz log of fresh goat cheese, softened to room temperature (Laura Chenel chevre is good)
1 cup of part skim ricotta, softened to room temperature (don't use more than 1 cup of this or you will lose the goat cheese flavor)
1 large egg, lightly beaten in a small bowl
1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
1 cup of tightly packed baby spinach leaves, rough chopped
2 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

For the sweet potato filling

3 large or 4 small sweet potatoes (jewel yams)
1 cup of mascarpone cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of high quality vanilla extract
1 large shallot, finely chopped & sweated in butter
pinch of sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon of herbs de provence
2 Tablespoons of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
4 amaretti cookies, crushed (optional, it will make the filling much sweetier which you may or may not like so feel free to leave out, if you're in doubt)
2 egg whites

For the Bechamel sauce

1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2-1/4 cups lowfat milk
1/8 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
sea salt & white pepper to taste (go easy on the salt, we're going to use a lot of salty parmesan to cover the cannelloni after we pour the salt, so beware)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Clean and dry the sweet potatoes thoroughly then prick the tops of each one with a fork. Place the sweet potatoes directly on the center rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour until completely soft & oozing. Then remove & allow to cool until they are cool enough to handle. While potatoes bake, make the Bechamel sauce.

For the Bechamel sauce

Using a heavy bottomed sauce, melt butter over medium heat.
When butter is melted, add flour; whisking it in. Continue to whisk until butter & flour have completely combined & the resulting paste loses it raw look (about 2-3 minutes) Do not burn the roux but do cook it until nutty aroma is released & roux is light gold in color.
When roux is ready, reduce heat to low and slowly begin to trickle in the milk, whisking it continuously while pouring it slowly in a steady stream to avoid making lumps of flour.
When all the milk is poured, whisk often until sauce thickens and ribbons form (about 10-12 minutes).
When sauce reaches the desired texture, remove from heat & season with nutmeg, pepper & salt. Set aside in a warm spot until ready to assemble dish. Prepare the crab filling.

For the crab filling

In a large stainless steel mixing bowl, combine the grated garlic, minced scallions, goat cheese, ricotta and parmesan. Mixing thoroughly.
Add the spinach leaves and the white pepper. Combine well.
Add the lightly beaten egg, thoroughly incorporate into the cheese mixture
Gently fold in the crabmeat, using a rubber spatula to thoroughly incorporate being careful not to over mix the filling and break up the crabmeat. Fill one pastry bag (or ziploc bag) with crabmeat mixture. You may need to use a teaspoon if your crab pieces are large. Set aside & prepare sweet potato filling.

For the sweet potato filling

On a cutting board, while potatoes are still warm, cut each potato in half, lengthwise.
Over a large bowl, remove the flesh of the cooled sweet potatoes by peeling the skin off or scooping it out with a spoon into the bowl & mashing them thoroughly with a masher or large fork. (You can also put them through a ricer for a finer texture)
In a small bowl, combine mascarpone, cooked shallots, vanilla extract, nutmeg, herbs, pepper & parmesan. Mix well.
Add the mascarpone mixture to the large bowl of sweet potatoes. Incorporating everything thoroughly.
Beat the egg whites until foamy & light with soft body (but not into stiff peaks)
Gently fold into the sweet potato mixture using a spatula to fully incorporate the eggs without taking all the air out of them
Fill one pastry bag (or ziploc bag) with sweet potato mixture.
Prepare cannelloni.

For the cannelloni
Reduce preheated oven to 350 degrees.

Fill half the cooked cannelloni shells with the crab mixture, using the pastry bag to pipe them in. Do not over fill. Set on clean cutting board.
Fill the other half of cooked cannelloni shells with the sweet potato mixture. Set on clean cutting board.
Place baking dish, bechamel sauce, filled shells & grated parmesan on the work surface. Start by pouring a ladle or two of bechamel to completely cover the bottom of the pre-greased baking dish.
Now assemble the dish by placing the filled shells in a single layer side by side on the baking dish, alternating one crab cannelloni with one sweet potato cannelloni. You may need to pack them tightly together.
Pour the remaining bechamel over the top and sides of the pasta.
Sprinkle the parmesan evenly over the entire dish & bake in the center rack of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until sauce is bubbling & parmesan is golden brown. If the gratin is not golden enough, briefly broil the dish at least 6 inches from the heat source until desired color is reached. Remove from heat and allow to cool at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.
On pre-warmed plates, serve two cannelloni per person, one of each type of filling, with wilted spinach (see note if you don't know how to wilt spinach). Mangia!!!

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Note: This is a classic Valentine Day dessert that is both decadent & healthy. You can find them ready made for Valentine's Day at Godiva or other chocolatiers but they are fun and easy to make. Stemberries (or strawberries with the stems still attached) are available in supermarkets right now & are the best strawberries to use as the stems provide a natural handle for dipping. They are exorbitantly priced but worth the splurge for a special occasion. The darker the chocolate (60 % cocoa or above) the better for both melting and health purposes. You can use semisweet chocolate chips or really splurge and buy a hunk of Valrhona or Callebaut chocolate... so worth it & it's sold in bulk at Whole Foods!!!! The dipped berries can be stored for a couple of days in the fridge.

To temper or not to temper, that is the question. It's a way of heat treating then cooling it to change the crystalline structure of the chocolate. Tempering it makes the chocolate pretty, hard & glossy as it dries. Most commercial chocolate is already tempered . If you don't temper it, the chocolate may appear streaked or cloudy when it cools after dipping the strawberries into it. Strawberries introduce moisture into the chocolate which will cause the sugar & cacao in the chocolate to absorb it & seize up, forming little cloudy clumps. The texture will not be as satiny as the chocolate melts on the tongue. Some recipes suggest adding butter or heavy cream to the chocolate while slowly melting to avoid the need to temper but you still don't get that great snap when you bite into it. Jacque Torres aka "Mr. Chocolate" suggests the microwave method for people melting less than 1 lb. of chocolate which is what I will post here. Another site called cooking for engineers.com delivers a great chocolate tutorial and tempering, click here to go to the website.

You will have leftover strawberries, just store them on the parchment paper in a plastic container in the fridge. They'll keep for a day but not more than two days.

Ingredients:

8 oz. of dark chocolate (over 60% cocoa), chopped into small pieces
12 large strawberries with stems attached, washed & completely dried with a towel
1 small microwaveable bowl
1 baking sheet fitted with wax paper

Directions

Place chocolate pieces in the microwaveable bowl, & microwave in short bursts for 30 seconds at a time, stir between each microwave session to evenly distribute the heat. Be patient & stick to the 30 second intervals.
It's important to stop heating it just before the chocolate starts to melt. When the chocolate is just beginning to warm & melt lightly but the pieces still retain their shape, it's time to stop heating it. The chocolate pieces should be slightly shiny & mushy as you stir it.
Keep stirring and allow the residual heat to melt the rest of the chocolate. You'll lose the temper if you overheat it.
Place the melted chocolate, wax paper covered baking sheet & completely dry strawberries on a work surface, creating an assembly line of strawberries, melted chocolate & pan.
Picking the strawberry up by its stem, gently but quickly dip it until it's covered 3/4 of the way up with chocolate, swirling the strawberry as you remove it from the chocolate to cover all the pores; then invert the strawberry, pointing the end up to the sealing to "seal" the chocolate.
Place the strawberry on the sheet & repeat with the remaining berries.
Allow the berries to cool at room temperature until chocolate is hard and glossy. Then serve.

Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Parfait with Greek Yogurt, Agave Nectar, and Toasted Walnuts

Note: This recipe is all assembly & no cooking. It's as delicious as it is simple and healthy. Just use a large clear glass with an elevated bowl, like a martini, wine or margarita glass. If you're unconcerned about fat or calories, you can make a sabayon, click here for a simple recipe or just use softened vanilla gelato.

Serves 2.

Ingredients

1 pint of fresh raspberries, rinsed & dried
8 oz. of lowfat Greek-style yogurt (Fage brand, pronounced fa-yeh, is by far the best)
1 oz high quality dark chocolate, shaved into large shards with a microplane
6 teaspoons of toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
dark agave nectar in its squeeze bottle
2 sprigs of mint (optional)

Directions

Assemble all the ingredients, teaspoon, a tablespoon & the two parfait glasses.
Start with a layer of two tablespoons of yogurt at the base of each glass.
Follow with a layer of raspberries to cover yogurt.
Follow the layer of raspberries with a squiggle (highly technical term) of agave nectar over the berries.
Follow the agave nectar with a layer of chocolate shards
Follow the chocolate with a layer of a teaspoon of chopped walnuts
Repeat the layers until you have three layers of all the ingredients and top each glass with a sprig of mint. Voila.

2009-01-31T04:33:00.000-08:00

Now, as a rule, I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl or football for that matter; but, I am loving the story of the Arizona Cardinals, led by staggeringly hot & talented quarterback, Kurt Warner, and so hoping that this man with his titanium arm will help his team win this game of games. The guy has rocketed back into history like one of those long spiraling bombs he throws out on the field of battle.

In three postseason games, this Super-Hottie completed 61-of-92 passes for 770 yards and eight touchdowns -- that, mine friends, is better than efficient. That to quote Paris Hilton (the woman who finally seems to have ridden off into the sunset so I feel comfortable now saying her name without being disgusted with myself for invoking, thereby perpetuating, her faux celebrity status) is H-A-W-T!!!

Add wide receivers, Anquan Boldin & Larry Fitzgerald then stir Coach Ken Whisenhunt
into the mix and you have a Cardinals team that many argue will kick mighty Steelers butt. Oops there go all my East Coast subscribers deleting their subscriptions... Heady stuff; so...... since yummy foods and cute quarterbacks are involved, you can count me in.

I mean CHECK this guy out, y'all:

In action:

In repose:

GAWHGEOUS!!!

(SIGH)

I do love an alpha male.. Sorry. Cliche but true...

Considering the fact that Super Bowl Sunday is practically an American national day of worship (with support from various political groups for actually making it a National Holiday), it's history is quite short.

Although football had been part of the U.S. national consciousness since 1920, the first Super Bowl wasn't played until January 15th, 1967 as part of the terms of a merger agreement between the then NFL & its younger adversary, the AFL, whose formation in 1960 began an intense competitive war for the acquisition of both football players and their fans. Both leagues decided they could better line their pockets if they combined forces; and, a made for television blockbuster was born. No show of any kind ever rates higher on the Nielsen Charts than the beloved NFL Championship game between the AFC and the NFC, attracting football fans and their friends and families alike.

The Super Bowl is such a major contributor to the national zeitgeist, that economic predictions, known as the Super Bowl Indicator, exist. The indicator is based on which conference wins the Super Bowl championship: suggesting that if the AFC wins, the economy will be sluggish; on the other hand, according to the Super Bowl Indicator, if the NFC (or an original NFL team which includes the Colts, Browns or Steelers) wins, the market will be bullish. These economic clairvoyants were obviously Giants fans. There are even correlations between the margin of NFC victory and U.S. economic growth. Put that in your office pool and bet on it!

Of course, one of the real products of the Super Bowl is the emergence of a category of food, truly an entire food group of its own not yet recognized by the USDA & its ever-changing food pyramid: Super Bowl Party Food. Traditionally, this is hearty, salty, gooey, fatty fare with a bit of crunch to it that can be eaten in front of the 21st century digital hearth - the almighty flat screen t.v. complete with Dolby digital 5 channel surround sound and a resolution so high you can see the beads of sweat forming on the ref's forehead when you threaten to bash his brains in for that ridiculous call.

No wonder a recent study out of Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich calls watching the Super Bowl game a health hazard.

In that three hour span, the average American guzzles down 6 beers, a bag of tortilla chips, a flotilla of guacamole, a flock of spicy buffalo wings with a tub of blue cheese dip and a meatball hero. The more health conscious fan, might just have a handful of honey-roasted peanuts before his two light beers, plateful of chicken nachos and slice of pepperoni pizza. Then he'll up the heart attack ante with his tirade on the sad state of officiating, the conspirators against his team and a few choice words for his beleaguered buddies who may not share his views on the calls made by the refs. He's lucky to make it to the half-time show without a coronary incident.

When did our national day of cheering become an excuse for cramming crap down our throats while we increased our national risk for stroke? Anybody know????

This much we know: game day foods cannot interfere with the watching of the game. So finger foods that can be placed on the coffee table within easy reach & consumed while keeping the eyes glued to the tube without a glance downward are a must. Careful consideration is given to the opening of that jar of sour cream and onion dip and bag of Kettle chips. Those Philly cheesesteaks are not just snacks, they are football watching enhancers. Imagine tackling a messy salad of field greens with a fork while Randy Moss vaccuums the pigskin in his suction cup-like hands on the 10 yard line. Impossible!

The day itself is a day of celebration for football fans because a new king will be crowned and a food festival that commemorates this televised coronation is, therefore, a necessity.

Understood.

Most people associate celebratory foods with foods that are only eaten on special occasions; more often than not, special occasions foods are extremely indulgent, i.e. fatty and/or expensive; so it follows that we try to limit them to a few occasions a year.

The problem inherent with these foods is also their allure. It's the old story of forbidden fruit. What we shouldn't have, we desire. Let's face it, to most of us, fat tastes good! We only have them on the rare occasion anyway, so who cares if we tend to overindulge in them when we do finally eat them, right? Right!

Wrong answer, folks! Too many of us eat poorly on a daily basis to begin with and take those few celebratory days as a cue to gorge ourselves like those foie gras making ducks do come din din time. Why isn't PETA outraged about this forced feeding when it happens to humans? Maybe because no one outside of Jeffrey Dahmer or Hannibal Lecter has ever acquired a taste for the seared foie gras of Patriot fan.

With the intent of showing that it is possible to do so, I will humbly try to turn the typical Super Bowl Party menu from an accident waiting to happen into a consummation devoutly to be wished (for heart healthy football fans, anyway).

At first, I thought I would approach it by making lighter versions of the fave snack foods of the big day's heroes; it turns out that Iowa's own son, Tom Brady, likes pizza and Ohio native, Ben Roethlisberger (quarterback of the Steelers) loves a bowl of chili. Classic SuperBowl Sunday party favorites. These boys know their stuff.

I, then, thought that we could use fun, classic foods from the cities that are represented by both teams.

For Pittsburgh, I'm gonna amalgamate some East Coast foods in there along with the classic food from the state:

Well, you gotta go with the Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches. How could you not? Duh? Here's a version that is a little lighter for the vegetarians out there: Click here for Portobello Cheesesteak Sandwiches from Cooking. com.
Here is the real "accept no goddamn substitutes" deal. Now there is heated debate which could take up an entire post on what constitutes "The Best Philly Cheesesteak". Such as the actual cheese itself: Provolone (my fave) or American cheese (too bland). Sauteed onions & mushrooms (YES!!) or plain (Boring!!!). I like Bobby Flay's version but instead of making a bechamel-based cheese sauce like he does, I would just take a couple of slices of provolone & pace them on the meat over the roll, stick it under the broiler for a 45 seconds & then top with the onions & mushrooms.
New York-style pizza, using whole wheat lavash as a crust, tomato confit, meaty shitake mushrooms & fresh mozzarella as toppings if you want to be all veggie about it or top it with an addition of sauteed crumbled up sausages to butch it up. Click here for my own recipe for a special smoked salmon pizza that is more like a brunch for those of you who don't really care about the game itself.
Egg creams, a NY original, which is just lowfat milk, chocolate syrup & seltzer in just the right proportions to create a fizzy, foamy, creamy drink. Click here for the recipe to this New York Classic
Italian sausage sandwiches, using good quality chicken, turkey or seafood sausage and plenty of sauteed onions and red bell peppers & a little splash of marinara sauce on toasted whole wheat hotdog buns if you need to be healthy (they do taste great) or do it the classic way with pork and hoagie rolls.
Hoagies, using store-bought foccacia (Acme Bread makes a great one they call Herb Slab) seared meaty rare ahi tuna steaks with lowfat garlic aioli (made quickly by using, smashed minced garlic or garlic puree, lowfat mayo & a drop of olive oil), kalamata & sundried tomato tapenade (using oil-cured tomatoes, pitted olives, thyme leaves, freshly ground black pepper, shallots & whirring into a paste in the food processor) with spinach leaves or arugula.
Hot Buffalo wings, use chicken breast tenders (tenderloin) instead of wings, place them on skewers; and, marinate then broil them in the traditional spicy Buffalo wing sauce. You can buy the sauce from Anchor Bar Restaurant, the originator of Buffalo, New York's famed wings, available online now, or, make your own favorite version of it (mine includes sriratcha, soy sauce, peanut oil & balsamic vinegar). You can serve them with the traditional blue cheese dressing (just use a mix of non-fat sour cream, lowfat mayo & regular blue cheese or better yet, skip the dressing and use more hot sauce) & , of course, celery sticks
Meatball parmigiana sandwiches, using 1-1/2 lbs. ground chicken breast, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of part skim ricotta cheese, fennel seed, fresh ground pepper, pinch of sea salt, tsp. of garlic powder, pinch of dry oregano, breadcrumbs & parmesan then gently combining & forming into golf ball sized rounds for the meatballs. Oven-braise them in a roasting pan with marinara sauce & a little chicken broth in a slow oven for 2 hours. Serve them in 3 ounces of lightly oven-toasted Italian bread with a ladleful of sauce & an ounce of fresh mozzarella; then broil the sandwich until the cheese melts on top.

We can pay tribute to Phoenix & add some healthy Southwestern flair to the Super Bowl fare with:

seafood enchiladas
chipotle-glazed shrimp served as tacos with some warm corn tortillas
fiesta salad with tons of lettuce, jicama, pickled jalapeno chiles, black beans, a little feta or cotija cheese
The ubiquitous pork tacos with salsa & guacamole with baked corn tortillas as chips Click here for my own version of this fan favorite. I've made it hundreds of times. Very easy to make...
Of course, you gotta have black bean chili . This version has ground turkey to be healthy, but you can substitute ground beef or my favorite mexican chorizo for the turkey.

It's a big country with live in with a lot of good healthy food choices, if we look closely.

Here are a few snacks to have handy that can be Super Bowl-iffic :

Edamame, fresh or frozen, served them in their pods with lots of big bowls around for the empty shells
Popcorn, microwave or kettle-made, look for organic brands like Newman's Own and make sure to get the lowest fat, lowest sodium version then doctor them up with truffle salt or freshly grated parmesan cheese
Shrimp cocktail, forget what you hear about the cholesterol, shrimp have the good kind and at 5-10 calories per large shrimp are satisfying & low cal. Serve up huge platters & offer a variety of sauces including the classic cocktail on the coffee table for dipping (no double dipping, better yet encourage everyone to put their shrimps and sauces on plates).
Whole wheat baked pretzels, baked sesame bread sticks or whole wheat pitas, sprayed with olive oil & baked then cut into wedges, and served with prepared hummus, babaghanouge or the following dips from Martha Stewart's Living using lowfat substitutes for the milk and cheese:

Hot Spinach Dip

Baked Artichoke Dip

There you are, have a happy and healthy Super Bowl Sunday!

Go Cardinals!!!

I'm just rooting for the economy really. So go NFC, go. Financial market's lore has it that when the NFC wins, the stock market will have a banner year. You'd be surprised about the superstitions these guys have... Amazing!

So rooting for the hunky Warner & his posse has nothing whatsoever to do with my being a football fan. I just want the market to soar so my hubby can keep me in the manner to which I have become accustomed, with porcinis & truffles for all!!! :)

What are your favorite Super Bowl foods and recipes?

Who are you rooting for?

Curious minds NEED to know....

Remember folks... comments & kudos let's me know you enjoy what I do here.

We don't get paid here, we only get the love from you.

Show a little love, huh?

Pretty please... I'll be your bestest friend. :)

xoxox

The Weather Outside is Frightful...We've Really No Place to Go... Let it Braise, Let it Braise, Let it Braise

2008-12-15T03:18:00.000-08:00

To quote Yukon Cornelius, a character in the Christmas classic, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, "It's not fit for man nor beast out..."

A huge winter storm has hit the bay area.

The rain is pummeling the streets and lashing at the windows; rendering it nearly impossible to contemplate doing anything more adventurous than staying at home with an old movie & cup of hot cocoa. Except, I can't watch television any more without falling asleep exactly 53 seconds after my head hits the hubby's lap which is my preferred mode for viewing the boob tube i.e. lying on the sofa. I also have a comfy old red cashmere throw he (being the good fatherly hubby he is) makes sure is wrapped around my body so I snuggled up nice & comfy.

Although outdoor excursions are rendered impossible by it, this weather does lend itself to other activities of a stay-close-to-home nature---- braises. Nothing says comfort more than a bowl of something rich & steamy when the weather is raw.

Braising it yourself helps fill the home with wonderful scents and gives you something to do that exerts little effort for lots of reward. It's a great way to clean out the pantry and the fridge, too; something that my small rental definitely requires on a periodic basis. You'd be surprised the crap that accumulates & quickly, too. Hell, I think I still have that can of Easy Cheez I bought to make my ridiculous commercial.

This recipe only needs one pot, which makes clean-up a cinch. The pot, however, should be a good heavy braiser or dutch oven. Le Creuset is the best, accept no substitutes (unless you have no choice, of course. I mean, people who own All-Clad need to eat, too.).

A quick note, the ling cod just happened to be the freshest fish in the market today. Use any firm fleshed white fish like mahimahi, red snapper or halibut; even salmon would work just as well. This is a really fast braise to make unlike most but it is just as hearty & satisfying. I'll be including other types of braising in another post because tis the season to be braising, tra la la la la, la la la la.

Ling Cod with Shitake Mushroom and Fennel Broth

Ingredients:

1 lb. of 1-1/2 " thick ling cod, halibut, salmon or mahimahi fillets (about 2 large fillets, cut in half), seasoned with a small amount of salt & pepper on both sides
1/3 lb. large shrimp, deveined (optional)
2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.
1 small fennel bulb, sliced
1 large shallot, sliced
3 slices of fresh ginger root, finely minced
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/4 lb. fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch of broccolini or bok choy
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup high quality, low sodium chicken or vegetable broth (Wolfgang Puck's brand is great)
2 Tablespoons of reduced sodium soy sauce
sea salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste
1 small bunch scallions, chopped
half a handful of fresh cilantro leaves, minced
1 lime, cut into quarters

Directions:

Heat a large braiser or dutch oven over medium heat.
Add 1 Tbs. olive oil & a tiny pinch of salt. Add the fennel, cook until softened slightly.
Add shallots & ginger. Saute for two minutes; then add shitakes and the remainder of the olive oil along with another pinch of salt & some fresh black pepper.
After shitakes have softened, add the garlic, making sure the incorporate it into the stir fry.
When garlic is softened, deglaze the pan with the wine; stirring well to get up all the vegetable bits at the bottom of the pan.
Add the broccolini, stirring in well to coat with the aromatics. Then add 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce, stirring until evenly absorbed.
Add the stock, stirring it in. Lower heat to a bare simmer. Then carefully place each fillet over the vegetables just above the level of the broth.
Drizzle the remaining soy sauce evenly over the fillets. Sprinkle half the cilantro & half of the lime juice over the fish.
Cover tightly with lid and allow the fillets to poach for 7 minutes. Turn fillets over once halfway through. Check for doneness, fillets are done when center is opaque & edges are slightly flaking. Do not over cook. Remove from heat.
Place the fillets in warm bowls. Ladle the broth & veggies over the fish and sprinkle with the remaining lime & cilantro over each dish. You can also serve it over jasmine rice or buckwheat soba noodles by placing them in the bottom of the bowl then adding the fish & broth.

Serves 2 hungry people as a soup or 4 people if you serve it with rice or noodles.

Everyday Should Be Thanksgiving Pt. 1

2008-11-25T16:26:00.000-08:00

He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.
~J.A. Shedd

Brace yourselves, my pals, this is a loooong blog!!!

Last year at this time was a bittersweet one for me.

We sold our home.

So we invited our best "couple" over.

Everyday Should Be Thanksgiving Day Menu

Hors d'oeuvres

Smoked Salmon Bundles w/ Roasted Asparagus
Crudite with Mascarpone Pesto
California Nut Mix with Wasabi Peas
Camarones al Ajillo

The Main Event

The Ultimate Pumpkin Pie

with Cinnamon-dusted Vanilla Ice Cream

Note:

The Triple Cranberry Sauce and "The Ultimate Pumpkin Pie" that I usually make for dessert comes from the November 1993 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

The theme is Cal/Italian this year.

I try to stay within a specific culinary cultural style when I make these large dinners.

Makes the whole meal more cohesive and flowing...

The entire menu should serve 4-6 people.

Asparagus and Smoked Salmon Bundles

Crudite with Mascarpone Pesto

Another supereasy dish to assemble quickly while your guests pile in...

The fish sauce gives the dish a little anchovy umami essence without the messiness of mashing

them. I try to save steps whenever possible when cooking in volume.

Just be sure to buy the best pesto you can.

It's very easy to make yourself, too, if you like

You can substitute equal parts sour cream & cream cheese for the mascarpone, if you can't find it at your grocers'.

Ingredients

2 zucchini sliced in half lengthwise and cut into 4 inch batons (sticks)
6 ribs celery cut in half lengthwise and into 4 inch batons
2 cucumber cut in half lengthwise and cut into 4 inch batons
20 baby carrot
1 red pepper cut into2 inch thick strips
1 yellow pepper cut into 2 inch thick strips
1 head broccoli cut into small florets
1 pint cherry tomatoes
10 crimini mushrooms sliced into quarters
4 radishes cut into small batons
1 package mascarpone, room temperature
2 baguettes, brushed with olive oil, sliced into rounds & toasted in the oven until warm & crisp
1/2 cup of fresh store-bought pesto
1/2 teaspoon Thai Fish sauce (optional)

Directions

In a stainless steel bowl, mix pesto & mascarpone.

Add fish sauce, mix well.

Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Add to serving bowl.

Arrange raw veggies on a platter. Mangia.

California Nut Mix with Wasabi Peas

Like the others, not exactly a recipe.

But you have lots of cooking ahead so make these hors d'oeuvres mindless & easy.

Ingredients

Buy 1 lb. of your favorite dried fruit & nut mix.
Add 1 lb. of wasabi peas.
Add 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Place ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Mix thoroughly.

Throw it in a pretty bowl. Voila.

Camarones al Ajillo {Cuban Garlic Shrimp}

This comes courtesy of MySpaces's own residential Cuban cook, commenter extraordinaire & blogger, Tengo Wood. Visit his blog HERE for additional Cuban classics. It is truly a classic dish that is good served at room temperature or hot, your choice. You can make it the night before or early on the big day. It's grlic, chiles & olive oil still meld well with the Cal/Italian theme of this Thankgiving meal.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pure Spanish olive oil or more to taste
4 to 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2-1/2 to 3 pounds prawns or extra-large shrimp, shells and heads left on
juice of 2 limes
salt to taste
pinch of dried oregano
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
dash of Tabasco sauce, optional *Trust me, it's not optional. Add two dashes, as a matter of fact*

Directions:

In a large skillet over low heat, heat the oil until it is fragrant, then cook the garlic, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Raise the heat to medium, add the shrimp, and cook, stirring, until they turn pink, 5 minutes. (If you prefer extra oil, add it along with shrimp.) Add the lime juice, salt, oregano, and parsley, and stir well. Correct seasonings and add Tabasco.
Transfer to a heated serving platter and serve immediately, accompanied by crunchy bread to soak up the garlic-flavored oil.

Note: Keeping this recipe very casually written. That's how easy it is.

Ingredients

Buy 3/4 - 1 pound of the freshest meat you can find, make sure it includes lots of claw meat.
Take 1/3 cup of lowfat Best Foods mayo
add chopped fresh tarragon, chopped fresh chives; all to taste
the juice & zest from half a Meyers lemon
1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 Tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
1 sweet baguette, sliced on the bias, brushed with extra virgin olive oil & toasted in a 350 degree oven until golden brown. (about 5-7 minutes)

Directions:

Mix the dressing well.
Fold the crabmeat in being careful not to break it up too much.
Slice up a baguette, spoon the crab mayonnaise on top. Garnish with sprig of tarragon or chives or both. Place on top of soup. Serve, Eat. Voila!!!

For the soup

3-4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 leeks, white part only, washed well and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small potato, peeled and chopped
2 large sweet (Vidalia or Maui) onions, cut in half & sliced thinly
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 head of cauliflower, chopped roughly
1 apple, cored , peeled & chopped roughly
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup apple juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons chopped chives, for garnish
add fresh lemon to taste as a garnish, too much lemon will make soup astringent
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce

Heat a large saute pan. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil & 1 tablespoon of butter to the saute pan. When butter melts & browns lightly, add the slices onions, stirring to coat with the fat. When onions soften, add the sugar, stir to combine well & lower the heat to low setting. Allow the onions to cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring once every 5 minutes or so until golden brown. Add the soy sauce & stir it in. Then turn off pan & set aside.
Heat olive oil in a heavy, large pot over medium heat. Add the leeks, apples, fennel and the garlic and stir. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the cauliflower, stock, salt, and pepper and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
Using a handheld immersion blender, or in a blender in batches*, puree the soup. Add the 2 tablespoons mascarpone and blend again to combine. In a small bowl, stir the remaining 1/3 cup mascarpone to soften. Add to the mixture & blend, once again until well incorporated.
Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Dollop the top of each of the soups with a dungeness crab crouton & sprinkle with chives.
* When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.

To Be Continued...

Everyday Should Be Thanksgiving Pt. 2

2008-11-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast with Citrus Butter and Turkey Jus

I chose to use a turkey breast because there were only four of us. When choosing a size appropriate for guests, allow about 1 pound of raw turkey per person. Sounds like a lot, I know, but you want to have leftovers, don't you? That's the best part. Frankly, hot turkey leaves me cold. I love the sandwiches later on Kaiser rolls or Dutch Crunch bread with stuffing, avocado, & cranberry sauce... Yummy, Yummy!!!

BTW, you can substitute any kind of mushroom you like for the gravy. Chanterelles are crazy expensive. I chose them because this meal is small in scale which meant I could spend more per person, but good old button mushrooms or criminis will work just fine. Hell, you don't even need any mushrooms.

The consistency of my gravy is much thinner than most. I prefer the good wholesome turkey flavor of the jus & stock not the taste of a floury pasty goopy gravy... yuk! I achieve the thickening with a minimum of starch & a maximum of reduction. I boil the hell out of the stock to reduce it to an almost gelatinous consistency which means you must minimize the use of any salt products until the gravy is made, then add the seasoning or else it will taste way salty.

For the turkey

1 whole bone-in turkey breast, 6 1/2 to 7 pounds
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup dry white wine
1 onion, skin removed & cut in half
1 leek, cleaned & sliced length-wise
1 carrot, cut into quarters
1 lemon, cut in quarters, juiced with juice reserved

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the turkey breast, skin side up, on a rack ( I use a trivet) in a roasting pan. Nestle the onion, leek, carrot & juiced lemon & place it inside the breast cavity. Be sure that you have cut the pieces in large enough sections so that they don't fall through your rack or trivet.
In a small bowl, combine the garlic, mustard, herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice to make a paste. Loosen the skin from the meat gently with your fingers and smear half of the paste directly on the meat. Spread the remaining paste evenly on the skin. Pour the wine into the bottom of the roasting pan.
Heat up Citrus butter in small sauce pan until melted & keep warm.
Roast turkey for 20 minutes at 450, then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
Baste with Citrus butter.
Roast the turkey for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, until the skin is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer registers 165 degrees F when inserted into the thickest and meatiest areas of the breast. (I test in several places.) If the skin is over-browning, cover the breast loosely with aluminum foil. Occasionally basting with citrus butter.
When the turkey is done, cover with foil and allow it to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes while you make the gravy. Slice and serve with the jus & gravy spooned over the turkey.

For the Citrus Butter:

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon grated lime rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 shallot, finely minced

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Directions:

Stir rinds into boiling water; pour through a wire-mesh strainer. Drain on paper towels.
Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer or by hand until creamy; gradually add juices, & shallot beating until blended. Stir in rinds. Chill. Can be made 3 days ahead or more if you freeze it.

For the Chanterelle Mushroom Gravy:

About the stock: make your own if you have the time, I'll leave a link; if not buy it frozen; you can substitute canned chicken stock, but make sure it has no or low-sodium both Pacific & Wolfgang Puck make good chickeny ones. This gravy will be dark , almost mahogany in color, if you take the time to roast your turkey giblets & wings first, really worth it. It's only once a year & a lot cheaper than buying canned, plus you can make extra & freeze until Christmas to use it then!
Cornstarch & arrowroot are almost flavorless & tend to dissolve more quickly than flour which is why I am using it here, but heat destroys it's coagulating properties so you must wait to add it until the last minute or so to the gravy. Do not boil the gravy after you add them. Then serve immediately.

2 big handfuls (handfuls is an industry term ;P) of chanterelles or your mushrooms of choice, cleaned & sliced
2 large shallots, sliced thinly
6 sage leaves, in chiffonade (sliced very, very thinly length-wise)
half a handful of parsley, minced
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups of fresh turkey stock
pan drippings from turkey
scant tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup of dry vermouth or any acidy, non-oaked wine such as sauvignon blanc
sea salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste
1 Tbs. cornstarch or arrowroot

Directions:

Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbs. butter & olive oil, when butter is foamy & melted, add a tiny pinch of sea salt to the pan followed by the shallots. Saute until they just change color.
Add the mushrooms, add the additional tablespoon of butter, if the mushrooms appear to absorb the fat in the pan. Saute until mushrooms are softened, lower heat to medium-low.
Add the parsley and sage. Stir in & when the mushrooms appear to be slightly glazed, season lightly with salt & pepper. Turn off the heat & set aside in a warm place.
Place roasting pan over medium heat on the range burners. When hot, deglaze pan with the wine or vermouth, being sure to scrape off all the pan fond (the stuck on brown bits) & incorporate into the wine.
Add the stock to the pan & reduce by half; about 10 minutes. Reserve 1/4 cup of stock & mix that into a slurry with the cornstarch. Set aside.
When stock, is reduced add the mushroom mixture, season with soy sauce; stirring well to incorporate it. Taste for seasoning & then add salt & pepper to taste.
When everything is to your liking, turn the heat down to very low & add cornstarch mixture, stirring really rapidly to avoid making lumps.
Heat for another minute or two over low heat until the cornstarch flavor is gone.
Place in gravyboat. Serve immediately.

Here's a link for Turkey stock:

Truffled Smashed Potatoes

What can I say about smashed potatoes? Don't cut them too small, in fact if you use Yukon Golds, Baby Reds or Yellow Finns leave them whole, leave the skins on, boil them with salt until soft but not mushy, remove excess water by tossing them over heat in a dry, hot pan and heat up the cream & butter before adding them to the potatoes.

Put them through a ricer or food mill if you like a smoother, lighter texture or smash them like I do with an old fashioned masher if you like them with a heartier, more rustic style.

Just add lots of white truffle butter or truffle oil to it at the end to give them a luxe flavor. Add a few chives & Yaay!!!

If you can score fresh white truffles and shave them on top, all the better but good luck; they are as rare and as expensive as an F50 Ferrari.

Shitake and Sausage-Apple Stuffing

Be sure to cut all the aromatics the same size small dice. Makes a big difference in texture.

16 ounces Challah bread or any brioche (use white bread if you can't find an egg bread), cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 12 cups)
1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
6 cups onions, about 2 large, finely chopped
1 pound tart green apples, peeled, cored, diced small
2 handfuls of shitake mushrooms (you can use oyster, button, whatever you like)
1 large carrot, peeled & cut into small dice
2 celery ribs with leaves, diced small
4 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 cup dried cranberries (about 4 ounces, optional)
4 sprigs of finely chopped fresh rosemary
8 sprigs of finely chooped fresh sage
2/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 eggs, beaten to blend
1 and 1/2 cups to 2 cups (about) fresh turkey stock or canned low-salt chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide bread cubes between 2 large baking sheets. Bake until slightly dry, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.
Sauté sausages in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, crumbling coarsely with back of spoon, about 10 minutes.
Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Pour off any drippings from skillet.
Melt butter in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots, apples, celery, mushrooms and poultry seasoning to skillet; sauté until onions soften, about 8 minutes. Mix in dried cranberries and rosemary & sage. Add mixture to sausage, then mix in bread and parsley. Season stuffing to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Mix eggs into stuffing just before baking.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 15x10x2-inch baking dish. Mix 1 1/3 cups broth into stuffing. Transfer to prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil and bake until heated through, about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding with Roasted Chestnuts
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

I just add roasted chestnuts to the hunky Tyler Florence's recipe for added depth of flavor, it's great for vegetarians, though not vegans.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 loaf crusty Italian bread, cubed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for buttering baking dish
2 shallots, sliced
4 pounds mixed wild mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 package of roasted chestnuts, chopped roughly ( jarred is fine)
3 tablespoons chopped chives
3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus more to top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
On a sheet pan put cubed bread. Toast it in the oven until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
In a large saute pan melt the butter and saute the shallots until just wilted. Add the mushrooms and saute until browned, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve.
In a large bowl make custard, whisk together the cream with the eggs and season with the salt and pepper.
Add toasted bread cubes along with the chives, thyme and rosemary to the egg mixture.
Stir in the sauteed mushrooms and mix in the grated Parmesan.
Transfer the mixture to a 9 by 13-inch baking dish, top with more grated Parmesan, to taste.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the custard is set.

4 large garnet yams or Jewell sweet potatoes, roasted in a 450 degree oven for 1 hour, peeled , cooled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split in half with seeds scraped & reserved or 1 teapsoon of good quality vanilla extract
ground cinnamon to taste
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for topping gratin
sea salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place yam slices in a gratin dish large enough to hold them all in a single layer, but do make sure they are overlapping slightly. Squash them together a bit, if necessary.
In a medium sauce pan, heat the remaining ingredients over low heat; allowing them to steep for 15 minutes.
Pour cream mixture over yams.
Dot with additional butter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until top is caramelized & golden brown.

To be continued

Everyday Should Be Thanksgiving! PT. 3

2008-11-25T15:45:00.000-08:00

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day
set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets.
I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?
~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on Thanksgiving," 26 November 1981

HERE'S PART 2 OF THE ONE BLOG THAT WOULD BECOME TWO BLOGS

Sauteed Green Beans with Parmiggiano-Reggiano, Meyer Lemon Oil & Tarragon

Another easy one to make. No recipe required. I'll just write it plainly.

Get a pound or two of green beans, snap off the stem ends, add to a large boiling salted water to blanch for 3 minutes.
Drain green beans well, towel off & stick in the freezer for 5 minutes (or you can prepare an ice bath, but frankly, these need to be prepared at the last minute & you will run out of counterspace, believe me)
Heat some EVOO in the same pan you used to boil the green beans, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add a two sliced shallots. Saute until softened. Add a pinch of salt.
Remove green beans from the freezer & add to pan in a single layer. Do not touch them for 90 seconds, allowing them to get a bit of color on one side.
Then stir them until fully coated in oil & shallots. Douse with a squeeze from half a Meyer's lemon (any lemon will do as long as it is fresh) & a bit of the lemon zest.
Season with freshly cracked pepper, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano if you like a sharper flavor. Serve.

Triple-Cranberry Sauce Bon Appétit | November 1993

Yield: Makes about 2 1/2 cup

Ingredients

1 cup frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate, thawed
1/3 cup sugar
1 12-ounce package fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed, drained
1/2 cup dried cranberries (about 2 ounces)
3 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons minced orange peel
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Preparation

Combine cranberry juice concentrate and sugar in heavy medium saucepan.
Bring to boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
Add fresh and dried cranberries and cook until dried berries begin to soften and fresh berries begin to pop, stirring often, about 7 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in orange marmalade, orange juice, orange peel and allspice. Cool completely. Cover; chill until cold, about 2 hours. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!

Turkey? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Turkey! Thanksgiving Dinner for A Vegan’s Delight!!!

2008-11-16T07:59:00.001-08:00

Ah November... with it's golden daylight hours, short though they are and that Harvest Moon. I saw it last evening when I treated myself to a sidewalk cafe dinner at Luella's a wonderful little neighborhood joint.

That moon hung heavily in the night sky, opalescent like a large glimmering stone pendant round the neck of a beautiful inky-skinned Nubian woman.

I sat under the canopy of a tree, the night lit only by one lone candle on an outdoor table at the sidewalk cafe neath the starry sky. The air was balmy & redolent with Asian spices & the faint scent of motor oil from the passing cars. A trolley had just clanged past me ringing it's bells and carrying it's burden of clueless tourists aimlessly snapping their cameras at random sights and meaningless landmarks.

Yet the night was so glorious & felt so fortunate enough to be alone with my thoughts I became filled with a yeasty benevolence toward all of mankind even godforsaken tourists.

I raise my flute of sparkling rose to them as they passed clicking away.

I then realized that Thanksgiving was just around the corner & began to think it was time for me to post that Vegan blog I had promised Mia ages ago.

Thanksgiving Dinner is a good place to start.

It's a tough time to be a turkey, though:

Unless, of course, you're a turkey with Vegan friends. Then you have no worries!
Veganism is a diet and lifestyle that eschews the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.

Vegans do not eat any animal products.

None.

Not butter, not cheese, hell... not much chocolate.
Life without ice cream???
Si it makes you think that may not be the happiest people on the planet.

Not so!
My pal, Mia, is the nicest sweetest most upbeat person I know.
Guess what?

She's a vegan.
When I promised myself I would make a Thanksgiving Menu for Vegans I must say I was worried... but I love a challenge! And, believe me, a Thanksgiving meal without butter, or cheese or cream... nevermind the main attraction: The Turkey.

Well... I was astounded at all the options to the gourmet homecook once you got out of the old mindset of needing dairy & meat to make food palatable.

I turned to Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian & yes, even, Latino food for delicious dairy & meat-free options, I really had to edit myself (impossible for me ) to keep this blog from turning into a Vegan cookbook.

I am offering only a few items that I think will make an elegant & festive Thanskgiving. For those of you who are not vegan but have vegan friends or children over for the holiday, any of these dishes will work beautifully for them. I would offer the butternut casserole & the wild rice-stuffed acorn squash as mains dishes for them and try prepaing either the salad, the green beans or the brussel sprouts for everyone, so that your vegan guest can enjoy a side, too.

Thanksgiving is about being grateful for the lives we have & the bounty that our country does offer us. There are many in the world who are not gifted with our freedoms or our good fortune to live in a land where you can actually contemplate & plan what you're going to make for dinner.

Let's not forget that!
I will be blogging next Sunday on more traditional Thanksgiving fare.
That'll give you a few days to shop for the ingredients & prep for the F-U-N!!!

So my suggested menu for A Vegan Thanksgiving Extravaganza is as follows:

Creamy Chestnut Soup with Porcini Mushrooms

Sweet Potato, Pomegranate, and Walnut Salad

Harvest Stuffed Acorn Squash

Butternut Squash and Macaroni Casserole

Green Beans with Shallots and Almonds

Roasted Brussel Sprouts Ssam Bar-style

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Buen Provecho!!!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts Ssam Bar-style

Deep fried brussel sprouts are a popular dish at Ssam Bar in Manhattan. They will be roasted in a hot oven instead of fried. Too messy. It will still give them that nutty sweetness & caramelized exterior.

It's a great dish with Asian flair & I would pair it along with the rest of this Thanksgiving extravaganza with any Alsatian Riesling or Gewurtraminer you like as long as it isn't a VT (Vendage Tardive).

Those are really costly & dessert-like. Such unctuous honeyed viscous nectar is best appreciated on its own.

Ingredients

For the sprouts

2 lbs. brussel sprouts, trimmed & halved lengthwise
3 Tablespoons canola oil (Do not use olive oil. It has too low a flash point and will turn acrid & bitter in high heat)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter or butter substitute

For the dressing

1/4 cup Asian fish sauce (preferably Tiparos brand)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped mint
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro stems
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (1 1/2-inch) fresh red Thai chile, thinly sliced crosswise, including seeds

For puffed rice

1/2 cup crisp rice cereal such as Rice Krispies
1/4 teaspoon canola oil
1/4 teaspoon shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven-spice blend)

Garnish: cilantro sprigs; torn mint leaves; chopped scallions

Roast brussels sprouts: Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in upper third.
Toss Brussels sprouts with oil, then arrange, cut sides down, in a 17- by 12-inch shallow baking pan. Roast, without turning, until outer leaves are tender and very dark brown, 40 to 45 minutes. Add butter and toss to coat.
Make dressing: Stir together all dressing ingredients until sugar has dissolved.
Make puffed rice while sprouts roast: Cook cereal, oil, and shichimi togarashi in a small skillet over medium heat, shaking skillet and stirring, until rice is coated and begins to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally.
Finish dish: Put Brussels sprouts in a serving bowl, then toss with just enough dressing to coat. Sprinkle with puffed rice and serve remaining dressing on the side.
Cooks' notes:
·Puffed rice can be made 3 days ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature. ·Dressing, without mint and cilantro, can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature and add herbs before using. ·Brussels sprouts can be roasted 4 hours ahead. Chill, uncovered, until cool, then cover. Reheat, uncovered, in a 350°F oven until hot, 10 to 15 minutes.

Creamy Chestnut Soup with Porcini Mushrooms

Creamy without the cream, this beautiful luxurious dish is what the holiday feast is all about. Garnish it with one roasted chestnut, a few slices of the mushroom & a drizzle of your best olive oil & no one can say vegans don't really enjoy food.

Ingredients

1/3 cup dried porcinis (you can sub shitakes, if you like)
2 cups hot water
1 medium carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 small parsnip, diced
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1 bouquet garni (1 sprig each bay leaf, thyme & parsley tied together in a bundle with cheesecloth or else just bind them together)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups of vegetable stock (look for a high quality one like Wolfgang Puck's)
1-1/4 lb. of coarsely chopped peeled roasted fresh chestnuts or 12 ounces jarred or vacuumed packed
2 tablespoons dry sherry
a few caramelized onions or shallots (optional)

Directions

Combine porcinis and 2 cups of water in a medium bowl. Let stand until porcinis soften about 15 minutes.
In a medium sauce pan, heat olive oil and add carrots, celery, parsnips and shallots. Saute until tender & then add the bouquet garni and stock.
Using slotted spoon, transfer porcinis into sauce pan. Add the porcini liquid to the pan, too, but be careful to strain it well, avoiding getting any of the sediment from the mushrooms into the pan.
Add chestnuts & season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth then return it to the sauce pan. If you have an immersion blender like I do you can blend the soup right in the sauce pan instead of transferring it to a blender. They are really handy tools and cost relatively little. Just be sure to get the cordless variety. Much more convenient to work with.
Bring the soup back to a simmer after thoroughly blending then adjust seasonings to taste.
Garnish with a drizzle of oil , a chestnut or some leftover porcinis & the caramelized onions.

Can be prepared a day in advance. Just don't garnish it until you are ready to serve.

Harvest Stuffed Acorn Squash
Serves 6
Consider this side dish the picture of autumn's bounty. Cranberries, apples, walnuts and sage flavor a
delicious stuffing you eat while scooping out spoonfuls of sweet, tender acorn squash.

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or sunflower oil
2 cups cooked rice, barley or quinoa
2/3 cup dried cranberries, soaked in hot water and drained
2/3 cup chopped sweet potato or carrot, steamed until just tender
1/2 cup grated peeled apple
1/2 cup walnut pieces
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon dried sage
Sea salt, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste
3 acorn squash
1 cup vegetable stock
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions

In a small pan, sauté onion and garlic in oil over medium heat until sof
t but not browned. Place in a large
bowl and add rice, cranberries, sweet potato, apple, walnuts, parsley, and sage. Season with salt and pepper
and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Slice acorn squashes in half, and scrape out seeds and strings. Place face down in
large casserole or roasting pan and fill with 1/2 inch of vegetable stock, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.Remove, reserve any remaining stock, and place face side up in pan. Fill each cavity with about 1/2 to 2/3
cup stuffing. Drizzle with olive oil and any remaining stock, and cover tightly with foil. Bake until
squashes are cooked and slightly soft to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes
of baking.

Green Beans with Shallots and Almonds

Serves 6 to 8
Serve these green beans on a large platter with lemon wedges on the side for squeezing over the top. They make a great side dish for all holiday meals

Ingredients

Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound fresh or frozen green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped shallots
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped oregano
2/3 cup blanched almond slivers, toasted

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans and cook until just tender, 5 to 7 minutes.Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a small pot over medium heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until
softened and light golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add shallots to hot, drained green beans. Add parsley,oregano, salt and pepper and toss gently. Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with almonds and serve.

Butternut Squash and Macaroni Casserole

Yummy, warm, slightly sweet with the redolent aroma of coconut milk & the slight crunch

of the toasty nuts. It makes a good harvest celebratory main course for those who will be skipping Tom the Turkey.

Serves 8
Coconut milk is the unexpected, rich and delicious ingredient in this creamy casserole main dish.
Substitute pecans for the walnuts, if desired.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (15-ounce) can coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped sage
¾ pound dried elbow macaroni
½ cup chopped toasted walnuts
½ cup bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9- x 13-inch casserole dish; set aside.
Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 7
minutes. Add squash, coconut milk, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium low
and simmer until squash is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in sage and simmer 1 minute more. (This part can be made ahead, up to 1 day in advance.)
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until tender but still firm,about 8 minutes. Rinse in cold water, drain well and transfer to a large bowl. Transfer squash mixture to
bowl with macaroni. Add walnuts, salt and pepper and toss to combine. Transfer to prepared dish and top
with bread crumbs. Bake until just golden brown and hot throughout, about 30 minutes.

Sweet Potato, Pomegranate, and Walnut Salad

A good starter, very elegant & colorful using the season's fruits and veggies & making your holiday table beautiful. If you don't feel like roasting the sweet potatoes , skip it and add avocado & orange supremes (slices of orange without the pith) instead,. It will keep the silky mouthfeel of the roasted sweet potatoes but be far less trouble.

Ingredients

4 1/2 to 5 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled, seeded sweet potatoes (about 4 large ones)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper
Coarse kosher salt
4 tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons walnut oil or other nut oil
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
8 cups lightly packed arugula, spinach, or green-leaf lettuce
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss potato, olive oil, brown sugar, and crushed red pepper on large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Roast 15 minutes. Using spatula, turn squash over. Roast until edges are browned and squash is tender, about 15 minutes longer. Sprinkle with coarse salt. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
2. Once sweet potatoes are finished baking, place walnuts on a lined cookie sheet and bake for about 5 minutes. Using a spatula, periodically stir the walnuts, so they do not burn. Remove when fragrant.
3. Whisk orange juice, walnut oil, and lemon juice in large shallow bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Add lettuce, walnuts, and pomegranate seeds; toss to coat. Season to taste with coarse salt and pepper. Spoon warm or room temperature sweet potatoes over salad. Toss lightly .

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

This pumpkin pie is from Karina Allrich, an excellent vegan food blogger.
I have not made it but her taste & skills are known to be impeccable.
The pic is hers, too.

I have two more secret ingredients that make this pie work. No wait. Three. Good tasting hemp milk is a must. The reason is the thickness and richness (and the good-for-you fat- EFA's, in fact). If you can't find hemp milk, coconut milk would be the next best option. Thin non-dairy milks like rice milk aren't gonna cut it.

Next up is tapioca starch. I prefer it to cornstarch for thickening gluten-free pie filling. There's not much in here, but it works hard to keep your custard together. Which brings me to the final magic ingredient.

Xanthan gum. I know xanthan gum sounds like a weird and scary ingredient but in this recipe it's worth it's weight in gold because it lends a silky smoothness to the custard. And it helps to bind it (akin to what egg whites do).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch glass pie plate.

I made the pie in a food processor. It helps to thoroughly process the ingredients. If you don't have a food processor, a macho stand mixer will work.

In a food processor bowl add:

1 14 or 15-oz can pumpkin
1 1/2 cups plain hemp milk
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer
3/4 cup organic brown sugar
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 tablespoons tapioca starch/flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon or pie spice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Cover and process until smooth and creamy. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl, if necessary to incorporate all of the dry ingredients.

Pour into the prepared pie plate and smooth evenly. Bake in the center of a preheated oven for about an hour until done. The pie should be firm- but still give a little when lightly touched. The center should not be wet. It will fall a bit as it cools.

Cool the pie on a wire rack completely. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Makes 8 slices.

It's the Fourth of July............. Let's Get Ready To G-RRRumble!!!

2008-07-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, folks!

The time to dust the cobwebs off that grill, if you haven't already started your official grilling season, what are you waiting for? If not now then when?

Yep, it is summertime & the living is easy.

I don't know about the jumping fish or how high the cotton is.

I mean I live in San Francisco, not in Scarlett O'Hara's beloved Tara.

Hell, I doubt if the most devoted Atlantan could tell you anything about cotton these days other than what the bid is on the commodities market, and, even then, only if they were financially inclined.

Nope, the traditional lazy, hazy days of summer don't really apply here in Bagdhad by the Bay. It feels more like November than July, but I'll be darned if we are not just as patriotic as you guys that are sweltering in the heat of the dog days of summer.

Why July 4th is incredibly meaningful to us! Sure we grumble about the frozen tundra the city is in July & August. But, hey, we get out our down jackets, our gloves & scarves and excitedly gather around the beautiful Golden Gate to watch the fireworks reflect magnificent colors off the water.

You may wonder why choose not to look up in the air when we view these pyrotechnic marvels.

Well, that's simple. It's a three letter word that really makes you want to use as many four letter words as possible when it is in our midst. Carl Sandburgh who was probably drunk off hid gourd when he composed this little ditty, says of it:

"The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on."

Doesn't that sound lovely?

Yeah right, until your fingers are blue from it while standing in 55 degree weather motionless while the city spends a gazillion dollars of tax payer money so you can ooohh & ahhhh at the colorful reflections in the bay's dark waters.

To make it clear to the meanest intelligence: it is too damn foggy to ever see the fireworks in San Francisco!!!

But somehow, every year throngs of thousands clog the street arteries of the Northern waterfront of the city, expectantly & exuberantly hoping for a miracle. Yes, they fervently hope that whatever deity they pray to will see fit to allow the foggy equivalent of parting of the Red Sea, just long enough for them to see flashes of light exploding in starriest climes. Never has 25 lousy minutes meant so much to so many.

Lucky for us we don't have to join the huddled masses yearning to be free from fog to have a spectacular view of the display (if the weather ever permits it), we can watch from the comfort of our cosy little apartment.

I do feel, however, a pang of pity for those who drive all the way over here from some godforsaken place just to spend their holiday with us. Thinking that somehow this is the place to be for the spectacle.

Silly rabbits, Trix are for kids!

Here's what the fireworks look like on a really good clear July 4th:

Now I know most of you are looking at the pretty bridge right now.

Fuggetaboutit!

I'm not talking about pretty lights on the bridge.

It's the Fourth of July, people, I want to see a dazzling light extravaganza.

I can see the lights on the Bay Bridge every night.

No!!!! I'm talking about the puffs of smoke on the left side of the picture.

That, my friends, is the 4th of July fireworks display in a good year!

So consider yourselves forewarned.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, plan a trip into San Francisco for the fourth of July unless you are a blind Eskimo because then, at least, the 50 degree weather in July won't chill the marrow of your bones & the fact that it's too foggy to see won't bother you either. I mean you'll be able to hear it, so if you're blind this is the perfect place to experience the fireworks because you know you won't be missing anything!

Well one way you can still celebrate the same way as the rest of the country is by grilling.

This July 4th weekend, I thought would be great to grill burgers but give them a slightly healthier twist.

So the hubby & I will be making:

Chicken Jalapeno Cheddar Burgers with Chipotle Mayo

Ingredients

For the burgers:

1 lb. of ground chicken breast
4 oz. of extra sharp white cheddar or Manchego Cheese, shredded or thinly sliced
2 roasted jalapeno chilis, seeds & membrane removed and cut into small dice (blackened on the stove top or grill until blistered then cooled)
2 whole scallions, lighter green parts only, finely minced
salt & pepper to taste
2 pickled jalapenos, sliced thinly (for garnish)
4 slices of Brandywine or your favorite thick juicy tomato
1/2 avocado, thinly sliced into eighths
4 hamburger buns (I like to use brioche-like buns)

For the chipotle aioli:

1 canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped into a paste
4 tablespoons of Best Foods Low fat Mayo (aka Hellman's on the East Coast)
1 teaspoon of lime juice
1/2 garlic clove smashed & minced into a paste.
1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients for the Chipotle Mayo in a bowl until well combined. Taste for seasonings & acidity. Adjust seasonings.
Then place in a serving bowl & set aside.
In a large stainless steel mixing bowl, add the ground chicken, scallions, roasted jalapenos, salt & fresh ground pepper & combine thoroughly but do not overmix.
Divide the chicken evenly into four and, using your hands, shape them into round 1/2" thick patties. Remember the patties will swell in thickness & shrink in diameter as you cook them, so shape them accordingly.
Set them aside until you are ready to cook them. Then prepare the shrimp & then the lamb burgers, if serving them as well.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap & water.
Turn on your grill & preheat it for at least 20 minutes. Do the same with your broiler.
When you are ready to cook the chicken burgers, place them over medium heat, & cook them on one side for 5 minutes without touching them. Then give them a 1/4 turn on your grill or griddle, leaving them to cook on the same side for an additional 3-4 minutes.
Then flip the burgers over to the other side, cooking for an additional 3-4 minutes. After which, you will give them another 1/4 turn for the last 3-4 minutes. This will provide with pretty grill, crosshatched grill marks.
The chicken needs to be cooked all the way through until well-done & there is no sign of pink. When it doubt, take a peek by cutting through the center of one.
Remove from the heat, on a foil lined baking sheet, place your four buns, cut side up & top each half with cheddar. Broiling for 45 seconds or until the cheese is melted to your liking. Place a bottom half of the bun on a plate.
Place a chicken burger on the bottom half of each bun. Garnish the burger with the tomato, pickled jalapeno & avocado slices. You may want to mash the avocado slightly with a fork if you couldn't cut it into thin fans.
Serve with the Chipotle Aioli on the side.

This recipe serves 4 independent-minded patriotic revelers.

You can serve with a simple mixed green salad or potato salad.

Keep it simple!

A icy cold Corona goes well with this but so does a maragarita.

We'll be drinking a 2001 Leroy Auxey-Duresses, but it's your party & you can drink what you want to... drink what you want to.... drink what you want to...

Shrimp Scallion & Ginger Burgers with Sriracha Aioli

Lamb Black Olive & Feta Burgers with Tszatiki Sauce.

All served on brioche buns & pitas with slices of Brandywine Heirloom tomatoes & slices of avocado.

Sounds weird & complicated, right?

Anything but!

BTW, all of the recipes are mine, but none of the photos are mine.

I'll replace the food shots when I cook the burgers this weekend.

Thanks to Google images for providing a little color to the blog.

A food blog without the pics is like fireworks in the fog..... POINTLESS!

Happy Independence Day!

Long Live the Stars & Stripes!!!

Memorial Day Weekend Extravaganza For Everyone (A Redux)

2008-05-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe not EVERYONE!

I am reposting last year's Labor Day Menu because it is a classic & really great for everyone on your guest list from vegetarians to the most rabid carnivore. Not fab for vegans, I'm afraid, although you can always throw a couple of portabello mushrooms that have been marinated in a little Italian-style dressing on the grill & serve them up on great brioche with avocado & tomato for them.

Here's a link for the grilled portabello burger to a great food blog for vegetarians from which the picture of this yummy portabello burger comes: Just the Food.com

Obviously, Labor Day and Memorial Day are three months apart and the produce for early September differs from the produce in late May, but surprisingly there are some decent Brandywine & Early Girls showing up in the Farmer's Market even this early. I was avoiding them like the plague until I could resist no more. They are not as sweet as they will be in 6 weeks but they are great for making the caponata recipe I include and will definitely work as oven-roasted tomatoes for the pizza.

To make your Memorial Day more reflective of the season:

Skip the cherry tomato/ boccaccino salad. Instead, you can add seasonal veggies like fava beans & English peas to any green salad or by themselves with a little olive oil, lemon juice, fresh cracked pepper, truffle salt & shaved pecorino romano or just parmiggiano-reggiano if you don't like the piquant flavor of the sheep's milk.

Make the ribs but replace the corn (which is definitely not edible yet) with thick fresh grilled asparagus spears.

The Warm Blackberry-Apricot Crumble with Mascarpone Ice Cream will work beautifully in May. Apricots are really yummy now. You can, as always, replace the blackberries & apricots with peaches & strawberries, if you rather.

It's your party and you can eat want you want to... eat what you want to... eat what you want to...

Here's the link for my fabulous Labor Day Feast that will make your Memorial Day Barbecue a memorable one:

The Fruits of Labor: A Labor day Feast for Late Summer Harvest

Here's to all the men and women who have bravely served this country: