Cream of Spinach Soup

I’m always amazed at how terrific a vegetable soup can be. There are a lot of ways you can really fancy up a cream of vegetable soup but I like mine relatively unadorned so the flavor of the vegetable is the star. Cream of spinach soup is also visually rewarding with its gorgeous green color. A bowl this with a hunk of crusty bread and an apple or pear for dessert may be just a simple meal, but it certainly is a satisfying one.
Cream of Spinach Soup (6 servings)

• 1 onion, chopped
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 large potato, peeled and diced
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 20 oz. spinach, rinsed and tough stems removed
• 1 cup light cream

1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Add the onions and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the nutmeg and potatoes and sauté 3 minutes.
2. Add the chicken stock. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 20-25 minutes. Add the spinach, cover, and cook another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Purée the soup. Add the cream and gently heat on low.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

A recipe for Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing has been sitting in my “inspiration” folder for quite awhile now. The rainy and chilly weekend called out for a warm salad and the idea of roasted sweet potatoes and a bacon dressing sounded cozy and delicious so I tried it out. There are a lot of flavors in this recipe but they harmonize really well.

The original recipe just serves the roasted vegetables over a bed of baby spinach. I decided to mix it all together so that the spinach wilts and everything is incorporated together and I really like it that way. I even ate leftovers warm; I just popped it into the microwave for 20 or 30 seconds, just enough to take the chill off but not enough to heat it completely. I used cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar but I’m not sure it really makes that much of a difference. This is my ever-so-slightly changed version.


Roasted Sweet Potato Salad (4 to 6 servings)

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 2 large onions
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 2 tsbp. olive oil
• ½ tsp. plus extra to tasted freshly ground black pepper
• 4 oz. bacon
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp. orange juice (about ½ an orange)
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 6 oz. baby spinach

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Peel and cut onions in eight pieces. Toss the sweet potatoes and onions with olive oil, garlic, and ½ tsp. pepper. Arrange sweet potatoes and onions on a lightly oiled, aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, for 40-45 minutes until the vegetables are tender and lightly brown.
3. Cook bacon slices in a large skillet until crisp. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tbsp. drippings in the skillet. Add the vinegar, orange juice, honey, and pepper to the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring until thoroughly heated. Crumble the bacon and stir it into the dressing.
4. Put the spinach in a large bowl. Add the roasted sweet potatoes and onions. Pour the bacon dressing over the top and stir gently to combine until the spinach wilts.

Honey-Mustard Chicken Salad

I love chicken salad; it’s so versatile. So easy to make and there almost endless variations. This time I made a honey-mustard chicken salad with almonds and tomatoes. Often, honey-mustard recipes go too heavy on both the honey and mustard for an overpowering combination of too sharp and too sweet. Here the honey and mustard are subtle; you can taste them but you can also taste the chicken itself. The toasted almonds add a nice crunch that complements the other flavors.


Honey-Mustard Chicken Salad (6 servings)

• 2 oz. sliced almonds
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp. whole grain mustard
• 2 tsp. honey
• 2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Put the almond slices in a small skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Remove from the heat and cool.
2. Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustards, honey, and pepper.
3. Put the chicken, tomatoes, and almonds in a large bowl. Add the mayonnaise mixture and mix gently to combine.
4. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.

Roasted Red Cabbage

A recipe for barley and beef soup from Cooking Light magazine caught my fancy this weekend. But I’ve been craving vegetables and wanted to add a side dish. Usually when this happens I gravitate toward green veggies but the red cabbage looked amazing at the store. It’s deep purple color looked luscious. I wanted to try something different, so I roasted the red cabbage, which worked really well. The outer leaves get crispy, the cabbage is cooked but still has a nice crunch, and the flavor is wonderful. The nutty sweetness of the cabbage complemented the beefiness of the soup and my craving was satisfied.


Roasted Red Cabbage (4 servings)

• 1 head red cabbage
• Olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Cut the cabbage into 1-inch slices then cut each slice in half, leaving the core intact. Place the cabbage on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, tossing gently to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Roast 10-12 minutes. Turn the cabbage and roast another 10-12 minutes.

Pumpkin Quiche with Pancetta, Parmesan, and Thyme

Pumpkin again! This time I thought I would make a quiche with pumpkin, pancetta, Parmesan cheese, and fresh thyme. Not only did it work really well – the pumpkin helps give it a velvety custard consistency – the flavors were intense. This is a fairly strong dish; one small slice with a light salad on the side makes for a very satisfying meal.

The pumpkin works well with the strong flavors but I would like to make this again to try a more subtle version for comparison. My thought is to mellow the sharpness by replacing the Parmesan cheese with sweeter, creamier goat cheese and to perhaps eliminate the thyme altogether.

Pumpkin Quiche (makes one 9” quiche)

• Pie crust
• 1 tsp. olive oil plus extra to grease pan
• 4 oz. pancetta, chopped
• 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
• 1 15-oz. can pumpkin
• 1 ½ cups light cream
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme
  Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Brush a quiche or pie pan with olive oil. Roll the pie crust until it is 12” across. Put the pastry it in a the pan. Press some foil into the middle so it won’t puff. Bake for 10 minutes. Discard the foil.
2. Heat the olive oil. Add the pancetta and sauté until crisp, 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
3. Turn the oven down to 375°. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, pumpkin, and cream together. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, pancetta, thyme, and black pepper. Ladle the egg mixture into the pastry. Bake until nicely browned, about 30 minutes.
   

Feijoada (Brazilian Black Bean Stew)

Feijoada (Brazilian black bean stew) is one of my favorite dishes of all time. I hadn’t made it in a very long time and since Sunday promised to be a lazy, rainy day, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a long-simmering stew.

This is a simple, peasant-y dish that contains only a few simple ingredients but is absolutely delicious. And it’s one of those dishes that gets even better the next day. I usually use kielbasa for the sausage but this time I decided to try linguiça and that worked really well, too.

Don’t be tempted to use canned beans as a shortcut. I’m not against canned beans – in fact I use them quite often – but they simply do not work for this dish (I’ve tried). It really is worth the time to soak the dried beans overnight and then simmer the stew all afternoon.

Feijoada (8 servings)

• 1 lb. dried black beans
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• ¾ lb. boneless pork loin ribs, cut into ¾-inch cubes
• ¾ lb. linguiça or kielbasa, sliced
• 5 cups water
• salt to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups white or Basmati rice, cooked

1. Put the beans in a large bowl and pick through them, removing any bad ones. Place enough cold water in the bowl to cover the beans by an inch and soak overnight.
2. Drain the beans and rinse them thoroughly.
3. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 3-5 minutes. Add the pork and sausage and cook, stirring, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the beans, water, salt, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 4 hours. If the stew is too watery, puree 2-3 cups of the beans, then stir back into the stew.
5. Serve with the rice.

Pumpkin Ice Cream

The first time I had pumpkin ice cream was a revelation. It’s warm and cold at the same time – so delicious. My version is not very sweet, which is just how I like it. All the sugar comes from the condensed milk; it’s the pumpkin and spices that deliver the flavor. If you like your ice cream sweeter, you can add sugar or brown sugar, but I don’t think it needs it.


Pumpkin Ice Cream

• 1 15-oz. can pumpkin purée
• 1 14-oz. can low-fat sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup light cream
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ginger
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• ¼ tsp. allspice
• 1/8 tsp. cloves

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour into ice-cream maker and let mix according to directions.

Shells with Pumpkin-Sage Cream Sauce

Autumn is definitely here. The leaves are turning and even the warmer days don’t feel like summer anymore. I was craving shells with pumpkin-sage cream sauce, one of the many ways I love to enjoy the very versatile and easy-to-use ingredient: canned pumpkin. I was surprised, however, when my grocery store did not have any canned pumpkin in stock. Where it usually is, there was a gaping hole with only two sad little cans of pumpkin pie filling which is not what I wanted. There seems to be a run on canned pumpkin right now; I wasn’t able to find any until I hit the fourth store. I bought four cans, just in case…

I love this recipe. It’s easy. It’s homey and comforting like macaroni and cheese. But the pumpkin, sage, and Parmesan flavors also make it rather elegant. And, of course, it’s very healthy.

Shells with Pumpkin-Sage Cream Sauce (6 servings)

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 10-12 sage leaves, chopped
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 2 cups skim milk
• 1 can pumpkin purée
• pinch of nutmeg
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb. large shells, cooked and drained

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the sage and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the flour. Let cook for a minute then add the milk, stirring. Heat gently until thickened. Add the pumpkin and stir to combine. Add the nutmeg, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese and heat.
2. Toss the sauce with the pasta and serve with extra Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Cinnamon Beef Noodles

I have a terrific cookbook called “Asian Noodles” by Nina Simonds that has a lot of great recipes accompanied by tantalizing photographs. There is a recipe in the Noodle Soups chapter for Cinnamon Beef Noodles which is delicious. It might sound a little odd to use cinnamon and aniseed in a beef dish but it creates a warm, intense flavor that beautifully complements the green-ness of the spinach. I found however, that the soup didn’t work very well for leftovers because the noodles would disintegrate after the first day. I thought I’d try recreating the recipe as a noodle dish rather than a soup. My version has exactly the same flavors, just a slightly different format. And the leftovers are fantastic!

Cinnamon Beef Noodles (6 servings)

• 1 tbsp. canola oil
• 6 scallions, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. minced or grated fresh ginger
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. aniseed
• 1 tbsp. corn starch
• 1 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. fish sauce
• ½ cup beef broth
• 1 ½ - 2 lbs. beef chuck boneless short rib, cut into strips
• 6 oz. baby spinach
• 1 lb. udon or similar noodles (you could also substitute fettucini), cooked

1. Heat oil in a large wok or skillet. Add the scallions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, and aniseed and stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the beef and sauté until cooked through.
2. Add the cornstarch and mix. Add the beef stock, soy sauce, and fish sauce and cook until thickened, about 1 minute.
3. Add the spinach and mix until it wilts. Add the noodles and stir to combine.

Doro Wat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

I was recently given a big container of berbere, an Ethiopian spice mixture. It smelled heavenly and I wanted to use it so I decided to make doro wat. I scoured the Internet for recipes and found quite a few variations and I then came up with my own version. This aromatic and spicy dish is simple to make – provided you have the berbere – and the flavors are fantastic. You can make your own berbere or you can buy it from a specialty store; either way, there is plenty of information – recipes and sources – online.

Doro Wat (6 servings)

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp. berbere
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 cup chicken stock
• juice of 1 lime

1. Heat oil in a large pan and brown the chicken.
2. Remove the chicken and add the butter, onion, garlic, ginger, and cook until golden, about 3 minutes. Add the berbere and sauté until it brown, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken stock, and lime juice and simmer 3-4 minutes.
3. Return chicken to the pan, cover, and simmer slowly for 30 minutes, turning chicken from time to time.
4. Serve with basmati rice or couscous.

Boston Baked Bean Soup

And just like that, the summer is over. Saturday was so rainy and chilly that I wanted something warming and comfortable. This soup is my reinvention of the classic New England dish Boston baked beans. Using canned beans – rinsed and drained to remove excess sodium – means the soup doesn’t need hours to cook like the original baked dish does. If you have the time, by all means use dried beans (soak them overnight then simmer the soup for a couple of hours) but the canned are certainly good enough for a great chilly New England autumn meal.

Boston Baked Bean Soup (6 servings)

• 4 strips bacon, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tsp. brown sugar
• ½ tsp. dry mustard
• ¼ tsp. paprika
• ¼ cup molasses
• 3 15-oz. cans of navy beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 cups chicken stock

1. Sauté the bacon in a soup pot for 4-5 minutes. Add the onion and sauté until softened cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the sugar, mustard, paprika, and molasses and cook for 1 minute more.
2. Mash the beans from one can with a fork or potato masher. Add all the beans and the stock to the soup pot. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 45-60 minutes.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Spinach Polenta

A recent issue of Cooking Light had a recipe for chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese, caramelized spring onions, and thyme which sounded appealing. They recommended serving it with polenta and broccolini. Now, polenta is not my favorite side dish; I find it somewhat bland. But I wondered if I could jazz it up by combining a green vegetable – in this case spinach – with the polenta along with a couple of other flavorful ingredients, including garlic and Parmesan cheese. Success! The result is almost like a creamed spinach but with that wonderful polenta texture, which I love. The chicken was good, the spinach polenta turned out to be my favorite part of the dish.
Spinach Polenta (serves 6)

• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• ½ cup instant polenta
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 10-oz. box frozen spinach, heated

1. Add the garlic to the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Slowly add the polenta, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and continue stirring for 5 minutes or until desired consistency.
2. Remove from heat. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and spinach.

Pasta Puttanesca

Pasta Puttanesca – which has a colorful and somewhat debated history – is a terrific dish that is incredibly flavorful but is also fast and easy. It’s a little bit spicy, a little bit salty, and very, very satisfying. Pasta Puttanesca (serves 6)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 3-4 anchovy fillets
• crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• ¼ cup capers, drained
• ¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
• 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 10-12 fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1 lb. bucatini (you can use spaghetti, linguini, or capellini), cooked and drained, reserving ¼ cup of the pasta water
• Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oil in a large pan. Add the anchovy fillets and cook, stirring, until they break apart.
2. Add the crushed red pepper flakes (exact amount depends on how spicy you want it) and the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the capers and olives and cook for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
5. Add the basil and the reserved pasta water. Stiff and toss sauce with the pasta. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Crab Corn Chowder

I was able to spend an glorious afternoon in my kitchen cooking for the first time in a very long time. Since we didn’t get nice, hot summer weather until very late in the season this year, I wanted to celebrate by making a summery dish. And, naturally, I thought of corn. I have a recipe for crab corn chowder which is good but definitely has room for improvements, so I decided to take it on. One of the improvements that I made was to simmer the milk with the de-kerneled cobs; this imbues the milk with a warm corn flavor that adds depth the soup. This recipe makes a huge batch of thick, creamy soup.

I also made homemade ricotta oregano knot rolls from Bread Machine: How to Prepare and Bake the Perfect Loaf to accompany the soup. These were so terrific (and I had extra ricotta left over) that the next day I made more, this time using 1 tbsp. of caraway seeds instead of the dried oregano. Delicious!

Crab Corn Chowder (serves 6 to 8)

• 4 ears corn
• 4 cups skim milk
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 2 all-purpose potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp. Old Bay seasoning
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 2 cups fish stock or broth
• 16 oz. crab meat

1. Cut the kernels from the corn and reserve the cobs. Put the cobs and the milk into a large pot and bring to almost a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Discard the cobs.
2. Heat the oil in a soup pot over moderate heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and corn and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Cook, stirring, about 2 minutes.
4. Sprinkle in the flour. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Stir in the broth and milk and combine. Bring soup up to a bubble and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Add crab meat and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Rhubarb Ice Cream

When people think of rhubarb, they tend to think of its extreme tartness. Which is why they either eat it with lots of sugar or make a baked dish with other, sweeter fruit such as strawberries. But when you cook rhubarb down with a little water and sugar, it develops an extremely delicate flavor that is absolutely delicious. Adding a little cream rounds out that flavor. It’s a natural for ice cream. Chopping up a stalk of raw rhubarb into tiny little pieces and mixing it in adds a refreshing tartness that’s not overpowering (this step is, however, optional). The rhubarb season is short and my favorite way to savor it is with rhubarb ice cream.

Rhubarb Ice Cream

• 4 large stalks rhubarb
• 1 cup water
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2/3 cup light cream

1. Slice 3 stalks of rhubarb and place in a medium saucepan with the water and ¼ cup of the sugar. Cook, covered, over low heat for 20 minutes or until very tender.
2. Drain liquid fro the rhubarb and set aside.
3. In a blender, blend rhubarb to a smooth pureé.
4. In a small saucepan, combine the reserved liquid with ½ cup sugar and cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved.
5. When the rhubarb syrup is cool, mix in the rhubarb pureé add the cream, and mix to combine. Chop the remaining rhubarb stalk into very small pieces and add to the mixture.
6. Pour into the ice-cream maker and let mix according to directions.

The Perfect Salad - With Pomegranate Vinaigrette

It’s interesting to watch people construct salads at a salad bar; everyone creates something different. For me, if salad is just a small after-dinner course (I much prefer it after, not before, my meal), then a little lettuce and dressing – maybe some tomato and/or cucumber – is plenty. But sometimes I like to turn a salad into an entire meal. In that case, my perfect salad consists of mixed greens, red bell pepper, olives, tuna, feta cheese, and croutons (ideally homemade). Often all it needs is a little oil (olive) and vinegar (balsamic). But sometimes I like to make a vinaigrette to add to the complexity of the flavors. One of my favorites is pomegranate vinaigrette. The pomegranate juice and honey add the right tart sweetness that complements the saltiness of the olives and feta.

Pomegranate Vinaigrette (about 1 cup)

• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp. honey
• ¼ cup pomegranate juice
• 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• ¾ cup olive oil

1. Combine the garlic, salt, pepper, and honey in a bowl. Mix in the pomegranate juice and vinegar. Whisk the oil in a slow stream to form an emulsion.

Chilled Cucumber Soup

Sometimes it’s hard to eat healthy when you travel. I got home after a two week vacation absolutely craving green vegetables. And, since I got an immersion blender for my birthday (thanks, Mom & Dad!), I definitely wanted to try it out. So I made chilled cucumber soup – which is as refreshing and delicious as it is easy to make – and lots of salad.

Chilled Cucumber Soup (serves 6)

• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 lbs. cucumber, peeled and seeds scraped out
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup light cream
• 3 tbsp. fresh dill

1. Put the onion, cucumber, and chicken stock in a soup pot. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes.
2. Purée the vegetables and stock. Add the cream and the dill and gently heat on low. Chill.

Potato Snacks that I Miss

Who doesn’t love potato chips? My current favorites are reduced fat Cape Cod potato chips. But there are some tasty potato snacks that just aren’t available in this country and I do miss them.

When you go to the potato chip aisle in an American grocery store, a common flavor you’ll see across most brands is barbecue. In Europe, a common flavor is paprika. Even the Pringles in Europe are available in paprika! I tend not to eat a lot of flavored potato chips but I do love the paprika ones. I sometimes sprinkle a little paprika over potatoes drizzled with olive oil and roast them in the oven. That’s delicious but it doesn’t quite capture the flavor of the paprika potato chips.

Another European favorite of mine is Cipsters (pronounced “chipsters”). I remember having them when I was very young (in England, perhaps?). I never forgot the taste of them and I never saw them anywhere. Until a trip to Italy about five years ago. I bought them wondering if they would live up to my memory. And amazingly enough, they did (probably because they are loaded with fat and sodium).

I do miss these tasty potato snacks, but it’s probably not such a bad thing that I don’t have them available to me all the time.

Sausage and Sage Lasagna

I was looking for a way to create a new lasagna that focuses on sausage and sage, two flavors that I love together. I needed something to keep the filling from getting too dry but I didn’t want to make it too saucy either. I decided to add two chopped fresh tomatoes and that worked perfectly. I also didn’t want to use a traditional béchamel sauce; a milk-based sauce just didn’t appeal to me here. So I made a velouté, which is just like a béchamel except it uses stock (in this case, chicken stock) instead of milk. I was very happy with the results and this new lasagna has been added to my growing lasagna repertoire.

Sausage and Sage Lasagna (one 9” x 13” lasagna)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 10-12 sage leaves, chopped
• 1 ½ lbs. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1 ¼ cups chicken stock
• ¾ lb. mozzarella cheese
• Lasagna noodles

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add half the sage and the sausage and sauté until the sausage begins to brown. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is cooked and the tomatoes have release their juices.
2. To make the sauce, melt 3 tbsp. of butter in a small saucepan. Add the rest of the sage and stir until it flavors the butter, about 1 minute. Add the flour and whisk together. Cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock and whisk to ensure no lumps form. Heat the sauce, whisking occasionally, until it thickens.
3. Spread 1/3 of the sausage mixture into a 9” x 13” baking dish. Cover with uncooked lasagna. Pour 1/3 of the sauce on the noodles. Place 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese on the lasagna.
4. Repeat the process two more times.
5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake, uncovered, for another 10-15 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Shiitake-Pancetta-Spinach Quiche

My mother makes a fabulous shiitake mushroom quiche. Although mine are never as good as hers, I did make a variation adding pancetta and spinach to the shiitake mushrooms. I got lazy and used a store-bought pie crust but there is so much flavor in the filling that it doesn’t really matter. It looks like a heavy dish with so much cream but it’s very filling and a small slice is very satisfying.


Shiitake-Pancetta-Spinach Quiche (makes one 9” quiche)

• Pie crust
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 4 oz. pancetta, chopped
• 4 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 9 oz. baby spinach
• 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
• 1 ½ cups light cream
• 1 cup grated Gruyère cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Roll the pie crust until it is 12” across. Put the pastry it in a quiche or pie pan. Press some foil into the middle so it won’t puff. Bake for 10 minutes.
2. Heat the olive oil. Add the pancetta and sauté until it begins to crisp, 2-3 minutes. Add the shiitake mushrooms and sauté until golden, about 4-5 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, stirring often, until wilted. Remove from heat.
3. Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and cream together. Stir in the cheese. Scatter the mushrooms, pancetta, and spinach over the bottom of the pastry. Ladle the egg mixture on top. Bake until nicely browned, about 30 minutes.
   

Sausage and Kale Risotto

Even though the amazing asparagus changed my direction the other week, I still wanted to make the risotto that I had originally planned. This is a hearty and satisfying risotto. I happened to have some kielbasa in the freezer from another dish so I used that but you could use linguiça (which I love) or chouriço (if you want a spicy kick). You could substitute spinach, but I think the kale stands up very well to the strong flavor of the sausage.

Sausage and Kale Risotto (serves 6)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 lb. sausage (kielbasa, linguiça, chouriço), cut into ¼-inch pieces
• 1 ½ cups Arborio rice
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 ½ lb. kale, stems removed, roughly chopped, and steamed

1. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until just starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the sausage and sauté another 3-5 minutes. Add the rice and toast, stirring constantly, until the rice is coated and has become translucent, about 2 minutes.
2. Add ½ cup of stock and cook, stirring constantly, until it is almost completely absorbed. Continue to add stock ½ cup at a time, stirring, waiting until it is absorbed before adding the next batch.
3. After all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked (it should still have a slight “bite”), stir in the kale.

Why Have Cheese When You Can Have Melted Cheese?

I love my little George Forman grill. I like making burgers and grilled chops on it. I also like to grill vegetables. But I use it mostly to make panini. Since I’ve been home a lot lately during the day, I’ve been having a panino every day for lunch. (In Italian, panini is plural and the singular is panino.) The combinations are endless – ham with gouda and baby spinach (photo), roast beef with Swiss cheese and arugula, salami with provolone, and tomato with dill havarti, just to name a few – and they are all tasty. Sure, they’d all be great as plain sandwiches. But when you smoosh them in the grill and the roll gets toasty and the cheese melts… Is it lunch time yet?

Linguini with Dill Cream Sauce

Sometimes you just want to throw together a quick dinner. This is one of those dishes. Even though it’s called “dill cream sauce” there’s no cream in it. I use skim milk so it’s very light so it’s nice as the weather gets warmer. I used frozen veggies but you could certainly use fresh; I would just steam them first.

Linguini with Dill Cream Sauce (serves 6)

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1 ¼ cup milk
• 3 tbsp. fresh chopped dill (don’t use dried, it won’t work here)
• 8 oz. frozen peas and carrots, thawed
• 1 lb. linguini, cooked and drained

1. Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the flour and whisk together. Cook for 1 minute.
2. Add the milk and stir to combine. Add the dill. Heat the sauce, stirring occasionally, until it thickens. Stir in the vegetables.
3. Toss the sauce with the cooked pasta.

My New Favorite Drink

A couple of weeks ago I felt like having a drink. I looked at my liquor shelf and, for some reason, the Campari bottle caught my eye. I have no idea why I have Campari; I have no memory of buying it and I really have no idea why the bottle was only three-quarters full. I had an orange so I thought I’d squeeze it and have fresh orange juice with the Campari. I took a sip and it was good, but it was a little too sweet from the OJ and a little too bitter from the Campari. I added some seltzer and took another sip. Now that’s fantastic. It’s a little sweet, a little bitter, and very refreshing. And since only one part of six is Campari, it’s not terribly alcoholic (which I like).

A week or so later I was watching Barefoot Contessa and the episode included a Campari Orange Spritzer. I was so surprised; her recipe was almost exactly the same as the one I had come up with!

Campari Orange and Soda (1 12-oz. drink)

• ¼ cup Campari
• ½ cup orange juice
• ¾ cup seltzer

1. Place the Campari, orange juice, and seltzer in a large glass with ice and stir.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Yes, it’s another vegetable soup. This time the star is broccoli and it doesn’t need much else to make a tasty and satisfying meal.

Cream of Broccoli Soup (6 servings)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 lbs. broccoli, florets separated and stem cut into ¼-inch pieces
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup light cream
• ½ tsp. nutmeg

1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Add the broccoli and sauté about 5 minutes.
2. Add the chicken stock. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is tender, about 20-25 minutes.
3. Purée the broccoli and stock in a blender then return to the soup pot. Add the cream and the nutmeg and gently heat on low.

Asparagus Pancetta Risotto

I had planned to make a completely different risotto but the asparagus looked so great at the grocery store that I had to get it. So I needed a new game plan. I debated whether to get pancetta or prosciutto to go with it but decided on pancetta because the flavor is a little more subtle and I wanted the asparagus to be the star of the dish.

Asparagus Pancetta Risotto (6 servings)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• ¼ lb. pancetta, chopped
• 1 ½ cups Arborio rice
• 6 cups chicken stock
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 lb. asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces and steamed

1. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until crisp. Add the rice and toast, stirring constantly, until the rice is coated and has become translucent, about 2 minutes.
2. Add ½ cup of stock and cook, stirring constantly, until it is almost completely absorbed. Continue to add stock ½ cup at a time, stirring, waiting until it is absorbed before adding the next batch.
3. After all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked (it should still have a slight “bite”), stir in the Parmesan cheese and the asparagus.

Curried Potato and Spinach Soup

Another simple but extremely satisfying soup. Potato soup is so versatile; there are so many ways you can dress it up without getting too fancy. Just one or two additional ingredients is all you need. In this case, I don’t use too much curry powder; the curry flavor is subtle and enhances the potato and spinach without overpowering them. I had first made this soup several years ago and it was good (it made it into my recipe files) but not outstanding. I made some tweaks to the recipe this time around and I think it’s just right now. Exotic but comforting at the same time.

Curried Potato and Spinach Soup (6 servings)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 8 oz. fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup light cream

1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Add the onions and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and curry powder and sauté another minute.
2. Add the potatoes and the chicken stock. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 20-25 minutes.
3. Add the spinach and stir it into the soup until it wilts. Add the cream and gently heat on low.

Cheesecake Update

I have not been idle on the cheesecake front. I have some small (4”) springform pans that make mini-cheesecakes about a quarter the size of a regular 9” or 10” cheesecake. And I realized that my basic cheesecake recipe is easily divisible by four. So I can bake cheesecakes to my heart’s content without drowning in extra slices (or gaining a significant amount of weight). Each mini-cheesecake gets cut into four slices. One is for the cook. The other three get rearranged into cheesecake samplers that I can give to friends.

Since the Big Island cheesecake, I’ve made strawberry swirl, brown sugar and molasses (I’m very happy with that one), bitter orange, honey, ginger, and spicy chocolate cheesecakes. Yes, spicy chocolate. When I dream up a recipe I usually have a pretty good sense for how it will taste. This one was exactly what I imagined only much, much better. The cheesecake is rich, dense, and chocolatey which ends in a spicy little kick that sneaks up on you thanks to cayenne pepper in the batter. You could certainly omit the cayenne for a plain chocolate cheesecake, but I think the spicy finish tempers the richness of the chocolate very nicely. You don’t need to eat a lot of this dessert; one small slice is extremely satisfying.

Spicy Chocolate Cheesecake (one 9” or 10” cheesecake)

Crust

• 5 oz. chocolate wafers
• 3 tbsp. butter, melted

Filling

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 8-oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. coffee liqueur
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 cup light cream, at room temperature

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°. Grease the sides of a springform pan.
2. In a food processor, process the chocolate wafers to fine, even crumbs. Add the butter in a slow, steady stream while pulsing. Pulse until the mixture is evenly moistened and resembles wet sand, about ten 1-second pulses. Press into the springform pan. Line crust with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, remove foil, and cool.
3. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the cocoa powder, coffee liqueur, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper and beat until smooth. At low speed, beat in eggs, one at a time. Add the flour and beat just until incorporated. Add cream and beat just until incorporated.
4. Cover bottom of the springform pan with aluminum foil and place in a water bath in a roasting pan (water should come about 1 inch up the side of the springform pan). Bake for 1 hour. Turn oven off and let stand for 1 hour.
5. Cool completely. Carefully remove the springform pan. Chill for at least 4 hours.

Pumpkin Part 2

My pumpkin-crusted chicken inspired me to try two quick ideas for pumpkin: a dip and a vinaigrette.

The pumpkin-cannellini bean dip is very easy to make. Throw everything into the food processor and let it rip. It was delicious; I made some whole-wheat pita chips and enjoyed this as a snack for several days.

The vinaigrette tastes like a vinaigrette but has a thicker consistency. It was great on salad greens; the pumpkin and balsamic vinegar are a really nice combination. I thought it would be a great dressing for a non-mayonnaise-based potato salad so I boiled up a couple of potatoes and tossed it in a little of the vinaigrette. Delicious!


Pumpkin-Cannellini Bean Dip (about 2 cups)

• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 1 cup canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 tsp. herbes de Provence
• salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ cup olive oil

1. Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food process and process roughly.
2. While running the food processor, stream in the olive oil and mix well.

Pumpkin Vinaigrette (about 1 cup)

• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried sage
• 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• ¼ cup pumpkin purée
• ¾ cup olive oil

1. Combine the garlic, salt, pepper, and sage in a bowl. Mix in the vinegar and the pumpkin. Whisk the oil in a slow stream to form an emulsion.

Lemon Roasted Asparagus

Spring is slowly coming to New England. We are starting to get occasional sunny days that don’t require you to bundle up before going out. And spring means asparagus. Roasting is one of my favorite ways to prepare vegetables. I thought I’d up the sunshiny quotient on roasted asparagus by adding a little lemon zest to them to roast in the citrus flavor. Easy and delicious!

Lemon Roasted Asparagus (6 servings)

• 2 lbs. asparagus, ends trimmed off
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• zest of 1 lemon
• Kosher salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Put asparagus on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle oil and lemon zest over the asparagus and toss to coat. Season with the salt.
3. Roast 10 minutes. Turn asparagus and roast another 10 minutes.

Liberate the Pumpkin from Pie Purgatory

Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin pie. But pumpkin is a fantastic ingredient that is sorely underused, especially considering that canned pumpkin is so easy to use and so good for you. It’s a shame that it’s located in baking aisle and not with the other canned vegetables where it belongs.

I’ve made a lot of savory dishes using this wonder-ingredient (soup, pasta, and risotto, to name just a few). I’ve had the idea of using pumpkin as some sort of coating on chicken breasts for awhile but I had no idea if it would work. I finally got around to trying it and it was even better than I expected! By flouring the chicken breast first, I could pile on the pumpkin and it would stick. A layer of breadcrumbs on top keeps the pumpkin in place. The resulting cutlets taste delicious; the pumpkin flavor is fairly subtle and works very well with the Parmesan cheese and sage in the crispy bread crumb coating. The orange hue looks luscious and healthy (which it is because the pumpkin brings lots of vitamin A to the plate).

This little success has started the ideas for pumpkin recipes flowing. I may even have enough for a small cookbook devoted to this great ingredient. And, yes, I will include a couple of dessert recipes.

Pumpkin-Crusted Chicken (6 servings)

• 1 lb. thinly sliced chicken cutlets or butterflied chicken breasts
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 can pumpkin purée
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp. dried sage
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

1. Put the flour in a shallow dish. Put the pumpkin purée in another shallow dish. In a third shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and sage.
2. Working with one piece of chicken at a time, dredge it in the flour. Then cover it with pumpkin purée. Use your fingers to spread a thick coating across the chicken. Dredge the chicken in the bread crumb and Parmesan cheese mixture.
3. When all the chicken has been coated, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the chicken and cook on medium-high heat for about 4 minutes on each side until the coating is crisp and golden and the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken and place on paper towels to drain excess oil.

Nigella-Tarragon Rice Pilaf

After writing about nigella recently, I’ve been thinking about other non-bread uses for the spice. The most obvious idea was to make a rice pilaf. Then as I was making the chicken salad with spinach and tarragon mayonnaise, I had some tarragon left over that I didn’t want to waste. As I was chopping the tarragon for the salad, the aroma reminded me of the nigella. And I wondered if I could use the tarragon in the nigella rice pilaf. I don’t know what made me put the two together but it was an intriguing idea that was worth a try.

It turns out to be an interesting combination. I used basmati rice, which stands up to the bold flavors of the nigella and tarragon, but the overall effect is not overpowering. As is, this pilaf makes a very unique side dish. But I think there is huge potential to add other ingredients (meat? vegetables? other flavorings?) to create a fully rounded main dish.

Nigella-Tarragon Rice Pilaf (6 servings)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 ½ tsp. nigella seeds, crushed lightly with your fingers
• 1 ½ cups basmati rice
• 3 cups water
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon

1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the nigella and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the rice and toast, stirring constantly, until the rice is coated and has become translucent, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the water and turn heat up to medium high until liquid begins to boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.Stir in the tarragon.

Crab and Artichoke Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those great dishes that can be deconstructed and then reinvented in completely new ways. I’ve experimented and created a lot of unusual lasagnas, such as chicken paprika lasagna and balsamic chicken lasagna to name a few. My latest attempt was inspired by hot crab and artichoke dip. I wanted to keep the flavors simple so you could actually taste the crab and artichoke. I opted for ricotta cheese to bind the filling together. I omitted the sour cream that is often used in the hot dip because I didn’t want it’s tangy flavor to overwhelm the crab. I used a little light cream to loosen the filling and scallions to give a light onion flavor again without overpowering the star ingredients. This lasagna is surprisingly light but filling. It’s very elegant and is great for a dinner party. Just assemble it a day or two in advance then pop it in the oven; you can focus on your guests rather than fuss over the stove.

A note about lasagna noodles. For those of you who dread the cooking and draining (and sticking together)… you don’t have to do that anymore! There are no-boil lasagna noodles available and they are great. But here’s the big secret: you don’t have to boil the regular lasagna noodles either! I haven’t boiled lasagna noodles for more than 15 years. In addition to being much easier to use, there is an additional benefit. Because the uncooked noodles absorb liquid from the filling and sauce rather than plain water, they also absorb lots of flavor. (You know how lasagna always tastes better the second day? This technique gives you that second-day flavor right from the oven.) I do often use the no-boil noodles, however, because I prefer their shape. But it really doesn’t matter; it’s your choice entirely.

Crab and Artichoke Lasagna (one 9” x 13” lasagna)

• 1 lb. crab meat
• 2 15-oz. cans artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 15-oz. container ricotta cheese
• ¼ cup light cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• ¾ lb. mozzarella cheese
• Lasagna noodles

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. In a large bowl, combine the crab, artichokes, scallions, Parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, cream, and salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine.
3. Make a béchamel by melting the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and whisk together. Cook for 1 minute. Add the milk and whisk to ensure no lumps form. Heat the milk, whisking occasionally, until it thickens.
4. Spread 1/3 of the crab and artichoke mixture into a 9” x 13” baking dish. Cover with uncooked lasagna. Pour 1/3 of the béchamel on the noodles. Place 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese on the lasagna. Repeat the process two more times.
5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake, uncovered, for another 10-15 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Not Your Average Chicken Salad

I love quick “salads” like chicken salad, tuna salad, ham salad etc. that can be a side dish or turned into a sandwich. This chicken salad uses a tarragon mayonnaise that my father recreated from a tarragon mayonnaise he had years ago at Houston’s. I also added spinach because I love spinach and also because I love to as many delicious nutrients to food as possible. You could certainly mix just the chicken, spinach, and plain mayonnaise together and this would be a good sandwich. But the tarragon mayonnaise – which gets better and better as it sits in the refrigerator – makes it really special. I particularly like this chicken salad on a homemade croissant roll but it would be equally good on store-bought croissant, baguette, or ciabatta.


There are lots of ways to cook (or purchase) chicken for chicken salad. My favorite method is uses boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I put them in a glass baking dish with some chicken broth. I cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 400° oven until they are cooked. This poaching method keeps them from drying out and using chicken broth rather than water keeps the flavor.

Chicken Salad with Spinach and Tarragon Mayonnaise (6 servings)

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh or 2 tsp. dried tarragon
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 tsp. anchovy paste
• 1 to 1¼ lbs. chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 10-oz. box frozen spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, tarragon, garlic, and anchovy paste.
2. In a large bowl, add the chicken, spinach, and tarragon mayonnaise. Stir to combine. Let sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Brown Rice Pilaf with Celery Seed and Garlic

Every once in a great while I just want to throw together a quick dinner with ingredients I have on hand without getting too fancy. And sometimes that leads to surprising results. Recently I had such an evening. I had an orange roughy fillet in the freezer. That's easy, just season it with a little Old Bay (which I love) and steam it. The Old Bay led me to thoughts of celery seed and that started me off. I threw together a brown rice pilaf that I seasoned with garlic and celery seed. It was fantastic; good enough, in fact, to add to my personal recipe collection. The nuttiness of the brown rice works really well with the stronger flavors of the garlic and celery seed. It's a great, simple side dish to add bold flavor to a lightly seasoned steamed fish.

Brown Rice Pilaf with Celery Seed and Garlic (6 servings)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. celery seed
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 ½ cups brown rice
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup water

1. Heat the olive oil in a pot. Add the celery seed and garlic and toast about 1 minute.
2. Add the rice and toast, stirring, 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and water and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer until rice is cooked.

Brik à l'oeuf

When we lived in Tunisia, I discovered a fantastic dish called brik à l'oeuf. It consists of a thin dough, called “malsouka” filled with meat (usually ground lamb or tuna) and an egg (“l'oeuf”). The whole thing is fried in oil until the brik is crisp and the egg is cooked just to sunny-side-up consistency. It takes practice to eat a brik à l'oeuf with dignity because as soon as you bite into it, the egg runs everywhere.

There are a variety of fillings for brik à l'oeuf but I'm partial to ground lamb seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley. Brik à l'oeuf is rather involved to make, they don't make good leftovers, and since you can really only fry up one or two at a time (unless you have a serious production line going in your kitchen) you can't have a group of people sitting down at the same time to eat brik à l'oeuf. Nevertheless, they are so tasty that it is worth the effort every once in awhile.

This is an authentic Tunisian recipe that came from a little recipe booklet my mother got in Tunis.

Brik à l'oeuf (6 servings)

• ½ lb. ground lamb
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp. finely minced parsley
• 7 sheet of malsouka (eggroll or phyllo dough can be used)
• 1 tbsp. (or ½ oz.) butter
• 6 eggs
• salt & pepper to taste
• olive oil for frying
• 2 lemons

1. Sauté the onion and the lamb and season with salt and pepper.
2. When all of the water has evaporated from the pan, add the parsley and butter and simmer over low heat.
3. Take a sheet of pastry (fold in the sides to from a square if necessary) and reinforce the middle with a piece taken from the extra (7th) sheet.
4. Put 2 rounded tbsp. of filling and a whole raw egg in the middle, fold one corner over on top of the other corner to form a triangle and then slide the brik into a frying pan with enough hot oil to deep-fat fry.
5. Spoon the hot oil over the top of the brik to make it swell.
6. Serve with quartered lemons to be squeezed over the brik as they are eaten.

Good Old-Fashioned Popcorn

One of my favorite snacks in the evening – especially when sitting down to watch TV – is popcorn. I remember when microwave popcorn first came out. We all loved it. It was easy, it was fun. At some point, however, I missed the taste of old-fashioned popcorn and the microwave variety started to taste very chemical to me. So I went back to the old way: popping it in oil. I know that’s not the healthiest alternative (Kevin likes to use a hot air popper but the result is just to bland for me) but you really only use a tiny bit of oil. Of course, I don’t stop there. I like to add a little flavoring to my popcorn. Usually I’ll just sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese for a salty, tangy flavor. Sometimes, if I’m feeling really decadent, I’ll go with the classic butter and salt. And every once in awhile, I’ll sprinkle my popcorn with Old Bay seasoning; I just love the celery seed flavor and it gives a little bit of a kick to the snack.

Apples, Apples

I’ve been roasting vegetables for years. The technique is so easy and it concentrates the flavors of the vegetable and makes for really wonderful side dishes. It recently occurred to me that I could use the same technique on granny smith apples. First I debated whether to use olive oil or a more neutral-tasting canola oil. I decided to try the olive oil. I could always rule it out if it didn’t work. But I found I really liked the fruitiness of the olive oil with the tart sweetness of the roasted apple. I often roast a single apple for myself as a simple dessert. Roasted apples are also a very nice addition to salad with apple cider vinaigrette.

Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette and Roasted Granny Smith Apples

Roasted Granny Smith Apples

• Granny Smith apples (one apple for every two people)
• Olive oil to drizzle

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Core and cut apples into wedges. Place apples wedges on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and toss to coat. Arrange the wedges skin side down and roast for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool.

Apple Cider Vinaigrette (makes 1 ¼ cups)

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ½ tsp. fresh or ½ tsp. dried thyme
• 3 tbsp. apple cider
• 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• ¾ cup olive oil

1. Combine the garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme in a bowl. Mix in the cider and vinegar. Whisk the olive oil in a slow stream to form an emulsion.

Toss salad greens with the vinaigrette. Arrange salad on plates and top with the roasted apples.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

I made cream of cauliflower soup last night with no intention of writing about it. I didn’t think I had anything to say that would be different from what I said about carrot soup. I cooked the soup and ladled it into a bowl and it was so gorgeous that it stopped me in my tracks. Then I ran upstairs to grab my camera. Unfortunately, the photo doesn’t come close to doing it justice. It did, however, taste as good as it looked.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup (six servings)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• 1 ½ tsp. paprika
• 3 lbs. cauliflower, cut into florets
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup cream

1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the nutmeg, paprika, and cauliflower and sauté 3-5 minutes.
2. Add the chicken stock. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Purée the cauliflower and stock in a blender then return to the soup pot. Add the cream and gently heat on low.

Nigella

When we lived in Tunis, we would occasionally eat at the restaurant at the Hilton hotel where they served rolls that we loved. They had black seeds in them that were delicious. We asked what the seed were and were told they were “sinouj.” We learned that the seeds were, in fact, nigella (sinouj is the Arabic name). It is sometimes called black cumin, but that name also refers to another, unrelated, spice.

Nigella is not easy to find. My mother had bought some from a gourmet food store and would make an Armenian-style round bread with the seeds. One day I was in a mini mart in Andover that had half an aisle devoted to imported Indian food. I saw a big bag labeled “kalonji” that looked exactly like nigella. Since it was very inexpensive, I took a chance and bought it. It turns out that kalonji is the Hindi name for nigella, which is used in Indian cooking.

I love nigella, but I realize that I’ve never used it in anything but bread (photo of homemade breadsticks with nigella below). I’m going to have to change that and I welcome any non-bread recipes featuring nigella. Hopefully I’ll have at least one successful dish to share in a future entry.

Japanese Medlars

Writing about the fruits of Thailand reminded me of another fruit from my childhood overseas that I’ve never seen since. My family lived in Tunis when I was in 3rd through 5th grades. We lived in a beautiful house in Carthage that had lemon trees and another fruit tree that bore a fruit I had never heard of before. We discovered they we called medlars (nèfles in French). We would pick the fruit right off the trees and eat it. It is slightly tart but when it’s really ripe it’s sweet and delicious.

I Googled “medlar” and came across this Wikipedia page. But this was definitely not the fruit I remember. All the pages I found about “medlars” did not show the medlars that I remembered. So I did a search on the French word “nèfle” and that set me on the right track. I found information about the Japanese medlar (also called loquat). Yes! This is exactly the fruit we had.

According to the Epicurious food dictionary, “loquats bruise easily so they're not good travelers. For that reason, fresh loquats are usually found only in the regions in which they're grown.” I guess that means I won’t be seeing any Japanese medlars in my New England supermarket.

Fruits that I Miss (and One that I Don’t)

My family lived in Bangkok when I was young (6th and 7th grades) and, as you can imagine, the food was fabulous. What I miss the most about the food in Thailand is the fruit. Amazing, weird, delicious fruits that you just don’t find here. In the past decade or so, American supermarkets have really evolved and I can now get the most amazing imported items. And even there many “exotic” fruits and vegetables are now available in my neighborhood store, these, for the most part, remain out of reach.

Every once in a great while, I do see a couple of sad, dried out lychees for sale in the grocery store. I am never tempted. If you’ve enjoyed the flavor and texture of fresh, crisp apples, would you buy a brown, bruised one even if that was the only one available? The flavor of a fresh lychee is sweet and slightly fragrant. I remember eating a dessert in Thailand consisting of lychee halves served in a simple syrup that was simply delicious.

I’m going to sidetrack for a moment and talk about a fruit that, quite frankly, I’m happy is not stocked at my local Stop & Shop: durian. It’s beloved in Southeast Asia but I have never tried it and there’s a very good reason for that: it stinks. Durian is renown for its pungent odor which, to me, smells like rotting organic matter. I simply cannot get it past my nose. We once took a trip to the Malaysian highlands. We were in a taxi driving up a twisty mountain road and we were behind a truck full of durians. Since we couldn’t pass, we were stuck. I have a slight phobia about driving on twisty mountain roads to begin with; adding the smell of durian made for an excruciating trek.

You can sometimes get pomelo here on rare occasions and it is just as I remember it. It’s similar to a grapefruit but the skin is much thicker and you eat in sections like an orange. The flavor is a little sweet and a little tart, but not quite as sour as grapefruit. It’s wonderful on a hot Southeast Asian day. But then, that’s true about all these fruits.

The mangosteen is an odd little fruit. It has a thick, purple rind and is capped with a green stem and leaves that remind me of artichoke leaves. At the bottom of the fruit, there’s a little piece at the bottom (I don’t know what it’s called) that looks like a flower. The fruit inside looks rather like a clove of garlic and the white flesh (which houses big, brown seeds) have a sweet, mild flavor.

My absolute all-time favorite Thai fruit is rambutan. The size of an egg, it has a red skin and is covered with long, soft, green spines. It’s a very funny looking fruit. Oh but the taste. The translucent white flesh is juicy and sweet and sublime. If I could pick just one of these fruits to have available to me in the U.S., this would be it.

Bison Burger Pizza

Pizza is one of those great foods that had endless varieties. Kevin helped me construct a bison burger pizza that has become one of our favorite staples. I call it a buger pizza because it’s like a burger deconstructed then reorganized into a pizza format.

It starts with poppy seeds in the crust. If that sounds odd to you, think about eating a burger on a poppy seed bun. Spread traditional pizza sauce (tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, basil, oregano) over the poppy seed crust. Cook the bison with chopped onion in a little olive oil and sprinkle on the pizza. (You could, of course, use regular ground beef, but I love ground bison and have used it exclusively instead of ground beef for a couple of years. It’s very lean, but it also has a great flavor.) Then top the pizza off with diced fresh tomato, shredded cheddar and mozzarella, and another sprinkling of poppy seeds. You won’t miss the French fries.

Tastes of Hawaii, part 2

Our second week in Hawaii was spent on the Big Island. A big Mahalo! to my cousin Brian and his wife Amy. They live in Kona and manage a couple of coffee plantations. They showed us some of their properties and we had a fantastic dinner at a local brew pub. And they gave me a pound of their 100% Kona coffee to bring home with me. Now THAT’S a fantastic cup of coffee! And the good news is, you can buy it directly from their Web site at http://www.lehuulafarms.com/.

Since I am a little cheesecake-obsessed right now, I created one inspired by the flavors of the Big Island: Kona coffee and macadamia nuts.


Big Island Cheesecake
(Kona coffee cheesecake with macadamia nut crust)

Crust

• 5 oz. unsalted macadamia nuts
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 3 tbsp. butter, melted

Filling

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 8-oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature (you can use half regular and half fat-free if you wish)
• 1 cup brewed 100% Kona coffee, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 cup light cream, at room temperature

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°. Grease the sides of a 9” or 10” springform pan.
2. In a food processor, process the macadamia nuts and sugar to fine, even crumbs. Add the butter in a slow, steady stream while pulsing. Pulse until the mixture is evenly moistened and resembles wet sand, about ten 1-second pulses. Press into the springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
3. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the coffee and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. At low speed, beat in eggs, one at a time. Add the flour and beat just until incorporated. Add cream and beat just until incorporated. Transfer filling to the cooled crust.
4. Cover the bottom of the springform pan with 3 or 4 layers of aluminum foil and place in a water bath in a roasting pan (water should come about 1 inch up the side of the springform pan). Bake for 1 hour. Turn oven off and let stand for 1 hour. Cool completely. Carefully remove the springform pan. Chill for at least 4 hours.

Tastes of Hawaii, part 1

A recent trip to Hawaii enabled us to get our fill of a tasty dish you can’t get anywhere else: Kalua pig! While we didn’t go to a luau this trip (which is where you get the real Kalua pig that’s been cooked all day in an imu), we did eat lots of Kalua pork: Kalua pork sandwiches, Kalua pork nachos, and Kalua pork pizza. In fact, we Kalua pigged out. (Yes, you knew that was coming. Sorry, but it just couldn’t be helped.)

So I came home thinking about Kalua pork, which is really the Hawaiian version of pulled pork. I did find a Kalua pig recipe in my The Frugal Gourmet on our Immigrant Ancestors cookbook. But there is a pulled pork recipe that I’ve been making for years which is absolutely delicious and very easy to make. It’s a Mexican-style pulled pork called carnitas from The American Table by Ronald Johnson. I’ve used it to make sandwiches, quesadillas, and even eaten it just as is (it’s that good). A particular favorite is pulled pork sandwiches with Worcestershire mayonnaise from a Cooking Light recipe. It isn’t particularly Hawaiian, but it is delicious.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Worcestershire Mayonnaise

Pulled Pork (the carnitas recipe from “The American Table” by Ronald Johnson)

• 1 pork shoulder (4 to 5 pounds)
• Salt
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. coriander seeds
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, flattened with a knife
• 2 carrots, scraped and chopped

1. Place the pork in a large kettle with water to cover. Add salt to taste, and the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer 2 ½ hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°. Take the pork out of the kettle and place in a shallow baking pan. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the meat is browned all over.
3. Remove the meat from the oven, discard as much fat as possible, and shred the meat with a knife and fork.

Worcestershire Mayonnaise (from Cooking Light)

• 2 tbsp. fat-free mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. whole-grain mustard
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 garlic clove, minced

1. Combine ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine.

Spread the Worcestershire mayonnaise on slices of crusty bread and top with the pulled pork. Add arugula leaves for a little extra peppery flavor and green veggie goodness.

A Cheesecake Obsession

Lately I’ve been a little obsessed with cheesecake. Which is odd because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. It started with the cookbook that I am writing. I needed a dessert chapter and decided that cheesecake would work particularly well for the theme of the cookbook. I needed ten cheesecake variations for the book. But as I perfected the basic recipe and mastered the techniques for getting a creamy, uncracked cheesecake, I found myself inspired at every corner and thinking about cheesecake all the time. My list of cheesecake variations is up to almost 40 now (and I’m highly confident in the vast majority of them, there are only a couple that I’m not sure about and just need to try them to see if they work).

I’d love to write a cheesecake cookbook with a gorgeous photo of each one. All I’d need is a food stylist/photographer and some time to test them all. Anyone interested in funding this little venture? Not sure we could make a lot of money but you’d definitely get all the cheesecake you care to eat! A quick search of Amazon returned more than 3,000 cheesecake cookbook titles, so maybe the world doesn’t really need another one. Then again, we don’t eat cheesecake because we need to.

I’ll include a new cheesecake recipe inspired by a recent vacation in an upcoming entry, so stay tuned…

A Little Citrus in the Winter

In the winter I often find myself craving a crisp, fresh salad. I think that’s because in winter we tend to eat heartier meals to keep us warm: thick soups, stews, root vegetables. Delicious and warming but they leave me wanting to lighten it up a the end of the meal (which is when I always eat my salad).

I have a citrus vinaigrette recipe that I typically serve in the hot months for its light and fresh flavor. But it occurred to me that if I can layer in some of the citrus flavor into croutons, it might bring just enough weight to the salad to satisfy my craving for lightness after a heavy winter meal without feeling too out of balance.

Citrus Vinaigrette (makes about 1 cup)

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• Juice and zest from 1 lemon
• Juice and zest from ½ orange
• ¾ cup olive oil

1. Combine the garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Mix in the juices and zest. Whisk the olive oil in a slow stream to form an emulsion.

The vinaigrette can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. If it congeals, just take it out of the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before using.

Lemon Pepper Croutons

• 1 loaf wheat ciabbata or other crusty bread, cut into ½-inch chunks
• Olive oil
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Freshly grated black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Place the bread on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with lemon zest and pepper. Mix to combine. Bake for about 15 minutes until toasted. Set aside and cool.

The croutons can be stored for several days in an airtight container. If they get soft, just pop them in a 350° oven on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes.