Suburban Eden

I planted my first vegetable garden this summer. It is very likely that it's an overly ambitious first garden. I'm not good at reining myself in when it comes to new hobbies. I have four different types of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, pole beans, English peas, yellow squash, carrots, pumpkins, and lettuce and a full complement of herbs in containers (except the cilantro, which arrived later than the rest).

Perhaps I should be selling farm shares? Probably not. I will, however, be canning, pickling, and freezing my vegetable bounty for most of July and August.

Of course this is all assuming that there's no tomato blight, drought, pestilence, my own debilitating laziness, bunnies... The litany of potentially destructive forces to be driven down upon my defenseless chicken-wired garden by vengeful gods is long and frightening. (Inflated sense of self, much?)

My neighbors must think I've finally gone 'round the bend. Sometimes I just stand there, looking down on my tiny plants with a maternal expression. Oh, look, Squash has a new set of leaves. Mama's so proud!

The best part right now is the early harvest. My herbs are going crazy and the lettuce is beautiful!

So green!

Mustard-Pistachio Crusted Mahi-Mahi

Dinner on Sunday was so good, I just had to share.

To begin with, I borrowed this grilled brussells sprouts recipe from Lex at It's another blag on the intertruck. Yum, and fat free. Ironically, I'm trying to add a little olive oil into my days, since healthy fats are, you know, actually good for you. So, I added 2 teaspoons of olive oil in with the spices, after the microwave "blanching."

The protein on the menu tonight was mahi-mahi filets, which I usually just slap on a hot grill pan with some salt, pepper, and a finish drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice, but I was bored. I turned to you, internets, and, as per usual, you gave me what I needed. I took a perfectly good recipe, tore it apart, and put it back together the way I wanted it. I give you:

Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Mustard-Pistachio Crust

Preheat the grill to medium low. You don't want to scorch this.
I use an oiled veggie/fish pan on the grill for this, but you should proceed as you normally would.
First, prep the sprouts up through skewering them.
Now, gather:

@ 1 pound Mahi-Mahi filets
salt & black pepper to taste
1/4 c. yellow mustard
1/4 c. bread crumbs (panko are the bestest, but whatever you like/have in the pantry)
3 t. Salted, dry roasted pistachio meats, chopped
assortment of fresh or dry herbs, to taste.*

• Season the fish with the salt and pepper.
• Spread the mustard out on a plate.
• Chuck the crumbs, nuts, and herbs in a mini chopper, or a molcajete, or a mezzaluna, or whatever you like to use to make tiny bits, then spread them on a second plate.
• Smear the fish in the mustard, then roll in the crumb mixture to create a crust. Set the fish down on the grill pan, add the skewers of sprouts.
• Grill on medium low for 5 minutes per side. The fish should be opaque throughout, but not dry.
• We enjoyed ours with some jasmine rice. Delish!

*I used fresh sage, parsley, and chives from my kitchen garden--yum!

Macaroni & Cheese alla Us

Like most things, we tweak our mac around here. I've always made macaroni and cheese like my Mom did, and I'm devoted to that recipe. It will always be my favorite, but we all know that a degree of compromise is at the heart of every great marriage, so I've made some changes to accommodate my husband's preferences.

I've never actually had his mother's macaroni and cheese, but he describes it as being distinctly tomatoey, which is something heretofore unheard of. Tomatoes! In macaroni and cheese?

What?

I balked at first. I didn't want to mess with my childhood, y'know? In the end, I agreed to attempt a tomatoey version. Not too tomatoey. It was a great leap of faith for me to believe him; such a thing is delicious, he says. Hrm.

Well here it is, what I believe to be the perfect balance of traditional mac meets tomatoes, without corrupting the essential recipe. As an added bonus, Mark likes it!

Macaroni & Cheese Alla Us

1 pound elbow macaroni

1 medium yellow onion, diced, but not too diced
1/2 stick unsalted butter
4 T. flour
1 t. ground dry mustard
2 c. milk (pick your percentage poison, I prefer 1%)
1 pound Land O Lakes White American cheese, purchased from the deli counter, in a block, and cubed (swear to god, it matters!)
kosher salt and white pepper to taste
1 14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes, drained

Okay, here's where it get's cheffy and stuff. Not really.

Put up a big pot of water. Bring it to a boil. Salt it generously. Add the pasta. When it comes back to a boil, knock the heat down a little, and set a timer for 6 minutes. When the time's up,drain the elbows, and rinse them so they don't get gluey while you're making the sauce.

Now, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Meanwhile, in a large, oven safe Dutch oven, saute the onions in butter over medium to medium high heat until they're soft and translucent. You don't want to brown either the onions or the butter. Add the flour and the dru mustard to the pan, and stir continually, until you have a pale golden roux (flour + butter paste). Add the milk all in a go, and scrape the bottom of the pan, then keep stirring as the mixture comes to a boil. It'll thicken like crazy, so you might want to lower the heat. Add the cheese and stir until it's all smooth and creamy. Season with salt and white pepper.

Pour in the pasta, stirring to coat the elbows well in the cheese sauce.

Add the drained stewed tomatoes, and gently fold them into the mac 'n cheese. You don't want them completely blended. You want pockets of tomatoes, and not too many pink streaks.

Cover the pan, and pop it in the oven for 2o minutes. Take the cover off, and bake for 5 more.

Enjoy the comfort with extra pepper, or some chipotle Tabasco if you're into that.

Five Things In A Salad

When I was a kid, my Mom's best friend, Kath, lived in the greater Syracuse, NY area. We made several summer pilgrimages to their house, which involved being absorbed into the large clan that lived nearby. There was plenty to see and do; the great-grandparents' house on Casenovia Lake, the grandparents' house on the golf course, the neighborhood where Kath lived . I was older than the other kids, but not a grown-up, which made these visits fun, but somewhat frustrating.

I think Kath and my Mom must have sensed this, because as I approached what we now call the 'tween years, they included me in things that the littler boys weren't a part of.

I can't tell you exactly how old I was, or what year it was, only it was before she got divorced and we stopped seeing much of them (Something I wouldn't really understand until I found myself in and out of friendships that fall apart because things in your life change.), but one summer Kath imparted to me one of the most lasting and practical pieces of wisdom in my life.

"It isn't a salad unless it has five things in it."

To this day, when I make a salad, and god help me I eat one almost every day for lunch, I think of Kath and count my "things." Today's salad, for example: greens, carrots, celery, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, sunflower seeds and balsamic vinaigrette. Eight things! Definitely a salad!

I hope when my son and the friends he'll have are grown, some friend of his will have learned some useful thing from me, some thing I don't necessarily even remember saying. That seems like a good way to be remembered.

Can anyone think of a clever name for Oatmeal Milk Chocolate Cherry Hazelnut Blondies?

I started with Martha Stewart. A very good place to start. (Oh, dear lord. I've invoked Julie Andrews and Martha Stewart in the first two sentences.) The recipe of origin was Chewy Oatmeal Blondies. Good sounding jumping off point, no?

I jumped off last week, and whipped up a bag of Everyday Baking Mix (why not? It's like having Bisquick in the house. No harm. No foul.). Felix and I made up the Blondies, and we all enjoyed them. Toothsome, not too sweet, a little nutty from the oats - and simply begging for a MoMP tweak!

Yesterday, when the urge to bake came over me, I asked myself, "What have I in the pantry?"
Turns out, I had a few of my favorite things, as it were. Dried cherries, toasted chopped hazelnuts, and milk chocolate chips.

Hullo, yum!

I proceeded exactly as the blondies recipe directs. In addition, I chopped the dried cherries and the hazelnuts quite finely. Felix, being two, doesn't like Unidentified Bits in his food. Chocolate chips, on the other hand, are an accepted food group.

I measured 1/2 cup each of the three mix-ins. I folded them in by hand at the end of the mixing. The batter is quite stiff, and needed more nudging into place than the original. I baked them in the same pan, for the same length of time as the original. A Pyrex 8" square pan for 33 minutes, in my case.

They are delish!

And I think you could successfully swap out the type of nuts, chips, or fruit and come up with your own variation. Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious! (Sorry, Dame Julie is in my head today.)

Crock Pot Pasta Sauce

Everyone and their Uncle Larry (I don't actually have an Uncle Larry, but you know what I mean) has a recipe for pasta sauce, right? In these economically downturned times, isn't it necessary? The upcharge on the jarred stuff is outrageous! Now, I shop at BJ's for most of the ingredients, so I'm saving a little extra buying bulk, but I think you'll see my point. Never mind the satisfaction you get from being able to control the flavor and quality of the ingredients. Just think, no preservatives, no added sugars!

Amateur cost analysis:
1 24 oz. jar of pasta sauce with meat: $2.69 for basic Ragu/Newman's Own to $7.69 jar for the pricey stuff, like Rao's, or $0.11 - $0.32 per oz.

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes:$1.20
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes $0.85
1 6 oz. can tomato paste: $0.50
1 4 oz. can mushroom stems and pieces. $0.85
1 bayleaf: $0.05
@ 1T. each of dried parsley, oregano, and basil: $0.30
kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste: $0.02
1 T. olive oil: $0.10
1 medium onion:$0.33
2-4 cloves garlic:$0.05
Optional Ingredients:
1 pound 90% lean ground beef, from BJ's, bought in bulk and stored in 1 pound packets: $2.49
@ 1/2 c. red wine (I go for whatever might be open, or a drinkable, cheap bottle like Charles Shaw Cab) $0.50

Total: $7.24 ($4.25 without the meat and booze) for @66 oz., divided into 2 24 oz. containers and frozen for future use, with @18 oz. to use for tonight. That's $0.06 - $0.11 per oz.

So, it's the same cost as the cheap stuff, and infinitely tastier.

Here's my recipe, such as it is. Enjoy, and save some $, while you're at it.

You will need: a slow cooker/crock pot*, a wooden spoon, a small silicone/rubber spatula, a skillet, a cutting board, and a knife.

Get the crock pot all plugged in, and empty all the canned goods (scrape all the tomatoey goodness out with the spatula), along with about a half cup of water, or more to make a thinner sauce. Add the spices into the crock pot, season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Put on the lid, turn it on (High or Low, depending on time), and leave it.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in the skillet over medium high heat, dice up the onion and garlic, and toss the ground beef into the hot pan, cooking it and breaking it up as you go. When the meat has almost no pink left, add the onions and garlic, and cook until most of the juices are gone from the pan. Pour in the wine, give it a stir, scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, and cook off the booze for a few minutes.

Add this pan of deliciousness to the brewing crock pot, stir it all up, put the lid back on, and walk away until you've cooked up your pasta. I'd advise an 1-4 hours on high, or 4 to 8 or 10 hours on low (You might need a smidge more water for longer times, but not necessarily. My crock pot doesn't lose a lot of moisture.).

*If you don't have a crock pot, you can do it in a dutch oven, or large sauce/soup pan, just keep the heat below medium low, and proceed as above, watching for moisture loss and burning as it simmers. Cooking time is only one to three hours on a stovetop.

Merry Christmas, with Brunch, links, and a Recipe!

*12/26/09: This post was supposed to go live on Christmas Eve, but I'm apparently technologically challenged, and effed it up. Sorry...

It's a Smitten Christmas brunch I'm planning this year. My parents are coming over, opening gifts with Felix, and brunching. We'll be roasting a beef loin the size of a Yule log to feed everyone when my in laws join us for dinner. Yahoo!

We're having this strata, these scones, this fruit salad, my Mom's sour cream coffee cake (see below), bacon, mimosas, and bloody marys. I heard a rumor about chocolate dipped strawberries, too. Mmmmm....

Merry Christmas too All, and here's the coffee cake recipe, as a little holiday gift:

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
adapted from the Worcester Art Museum Cookbook

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, room temp.
1/4 t. kosher salt
2 large eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 c. sour cream
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda

for the topping:
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional**)

Grease a tube (or bundt, or angel food) pan. Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together dry ingredients into a medium bowl. Cream sugars and butter together in a large mixing bowl. Add salt, eggs, and vanilla and beat until smooth, scraping as you go. Add sour cream and dry ingredients; beat until very smooth.

Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl.

Pour half the batter into the pan. Sprinkle with half the topping, doing your best to keep it centered in the pan, so as to form a channel of filling in the final cake. Spoon the remaining batter over top, and finish with the rest of the topping, which doesn't need to be quite as tidy.

Bake 45-50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

**(Mark prefers pecans, but walnuts would also be acceptable. Me, I leave 'em out.)

Gluten & Refined Sugar Free, Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

I know, right? I'm a devotee of eggs and butter, and good, old fashioned all purpose flour. But I have a family with some allergy issues, so I'm testing this recipe to see how it flies. I came across it here, but it originates from there.

I stocked up at Whole Foods Market to get all the stuff required - and what a list! - and now here I sit, waiting patiently for the oven timer to tell me they're done. Here's what I've learned so far:

• Coconut "oil" actually looks and behaves more like shortening, straight out of the jar (but oh, it smells like a good vacation!). The hot coffee added last basically melts the lump of coconut oil so it can be mixed into the batter.
• Vegan kids don't lick this batter bowl. Eeew. This batter was bitter!
  

I have high hopes, though. Ovens have their own magic, and I firmly believe in the alchemy that happens in my 350 degree Fahrenheit Maytag. Especially when the wafting aromas include coconut and chocolate. Yum!

::thumb twiddling and elevator music::

And out they come from the oven, springy and risen, and smelling lovely. I hate that I really ought to wait to taste them until they're cool. Bah. Humbug.

::typing and blogging and editing photographs::

I waited the whole initial 20 minutes. You're s'posed to wait to they're cool, but I'm not frosting this batch right now, as my WFM was right out of coconut flour the other day. Then curiosity killed the cupcake, and I ate it.

It was good. Not what my mouth was expecting, but by the end of the cupcake, we'd discovered each other, and an appreciation was growing. I think I'll save these for vegan occasions, but it's nice to have some workable options in my repertoire.

Making Cookies!

So, I did some updating. I'm hoping the fresh look on the blog will inspire some fresh posts, like the one below.

My baby is old enough to help with the baking (so long as precision and tidiness aren't my goals...)! Here he is, wielding a spatula like a pro:

Canning is the New Knitting...

... apparently. Always one to be just behind the trend, I learned to knit in the fall of 2005. Now I find myself canning. My Mom learned from a friend of hers, years ago, and on and off over the years has produced much yumminess. I've wanted to get into it for years, but was (yes, I admit it) intimidated by the equipment. That always strikes me as funny, since I have little fear of complicated devices used for creating 2 foot tall tilted cakes... Ah, well.

She and I made blueberry jam a few weeks ago, and I was hooked!

Not one to rest on my early laurels (I prefer to rest on later laurels, or my ass, whichever), I struck out solo and jammed a gallon of frozen strawberries from earlier this summer. Canned! What next? Pickles, of course! It's string bean season here in the Northeast, so I procured 3 pounds of string beans from the farm stand, and lo! pickled green beans. Canned! While poring over my Mom's old copy of Putting Food By , I found a recipe for Lemon Honey Jelly, and threw that together the same afternoon. Canned! (and some for the fridge that didn't fit in the jars I had. It's so frickin' good!) Eagerly, I await peaches and apples, as visions of brandied peaches and apple butter dance in my head.

I think I would have made an excellent housewife in a previous era.

I think that a lot.

I can't sew, though.

Hrm.

Will trade pickles, preserves and scarves for garments and linens?

Mulligatawny

In our "blue" room (the long neglected third bedroom and staging/storing area and makeshift office) there are two big stacks of back issues of Cooking Light magazine. I used to like it for the recipes, and then it got stale and preachy and I canceled my subscription (about five years ago), but I've been slowly going through the issues and taking out pages with recipes I want to try on them. This one intrigued me, though I couldn't find masoor daal (which is, frankly, odd, since CL was deep into legumes in the early aughts) in it anywhere, and those pretty red lentils are part of what makes Indian take-out mulligatawny so yum! They cook up all soft and yellowy, and... I digress.

Anyway, I tweaked the recipe a little based on what I had in the house, and we liked it! So much that there are no pictures. It's all gone...

It's not like the stuff on the Indian take-out menu, and it's got heat. I also made it on Sunday, and we ate it last night, so there was time to marry the flavors and develop the heat. It's not sear-your-mouth hot, but it's got a nice, slow building, back of the mouth burn.

Spicy Mulligatawny
adapted from Cooking Light, January '02
original recipe can be found here, which is also where the pic is yanked from

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil, a little for the chicken, a little more for the veg
  
• 3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup chopped peeled Braeburn apple
• 1 meduim onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
  
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ras el hanout*
  
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock**
  
• 1/3 cup Major Grey's chutney
  
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
  

Heat about a teaspoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken, brown on all sides. Remove from pan, add a little more oil.

Add apple, onion, carrot, celery and pepper; sauté 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour, then add the spices and salt; cook another minute or so. Stir in broth, chutney, and tomato paste; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; simmer 8 minutes. Return chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes or until mixture is thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cilantro, if desired.

I made the soup sans cilantro garnish, then refrigerated it for three days. I warmed it up in the micro last night and chopped the fresh cilantro for serving.

*A Moroccan spice blend I used because I was out of prepared curry powder, and didn't feel like getting out the mortar and pestle and grinding up more.
**I think this makes the texture better than what you get with the canned stuff. Collagen is your friend.

Football and Cupcakes

It isn't the first Sunday in February without guacamole.

Here are the cupcakes I made for the Superbowl, but perfect for Valentine's Day, if you're in to that:

Cupcake Batter, adapted from Woman's Day

3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/3 unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. unsalted butter
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream

Place 16 foil cupcake liners on a tray, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners. Spray liners with cooking spray.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Blend the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl, set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale. Blend in the eggs one at a time. Add the sour cream and vanilla, then flour and mix for a minute on medium speed.
Place two generous tablespoons of batter in each liner, and bake for 18 minutes. Cupcakes are done when the tops are dry, and spring back when touched.
Top with a dollop of frosting and garnish with a chocolate covered cherry.

Cherry Whipped Cream Frosting
8 oz. sour cream
1 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp. maraschino cherry juice
8 oz. whipping cream

Whip the sour cream, confectioner's sugar and cherry juice in a food processor. With the machine running, add the cream. It won't need long (a minute or so) to firm up, and running the machine too long will result in butter, so watch it carefully.

Chocolate Covered Cherries

16 maraschino cherries, drained and patted dry
1/2 c. chopped semisweet chocolate
2 Tbsp. shortening

In a microwavable bowl (I used a Pyrex measuring cup), melt chocolate and shortening for 45 seconds. Stir, and repeat. Let the residual heat finish melting any solid chocolate, then stir to smooth it out. Dip the cherries in the chocolate (I did three coats for extra coverage, since the chocolate didn't readily stick), and put them on a wax paper lined tray to set up. They can be refrigerated in a covered container for 24 hours.

Also, a bonus of Felix, hosting the chips and salsa portion of Game Day.

Thanksgiving Baking Edition

First up today is Sandwich Bread. What? Umm, isn't this, like, the national holiday of pie? You're thinking I should be making apple or sweet potato something, right? Well, nope. I'm still a kid as far as Thanksgiving goes, and I go to my Mom's house or my in-laws, so I don't have to cook or bake so much.

I come home with leftover turkey, though. See where I'm headed?

MultiGrain Sandwich Bread
adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

1 1/4 c. dry whole grain hot cereal mix*, divided
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. white flour
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. yeast
1 c. whole milk, cool, not cold
1/4 c. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. room temp. butter

Before we get going, you should know that this is not a high rising bread. It's dense, chewy, sturdy bread. The whole wheat flour and oats don't stretch like all white flour will. So, don't be disappointed if it is a small little loaf.

Pulse 1/2 c. grains, all the flours, salt and yeast in a food processor fitted with a dough blade for 5 seconds to blend. Add milk, syrup, and butter and process for 30 seconds. Dough should be moist but not sticky and cool to the touch. Roll it out onto a floured surface, and hand knead the remaining grains/oats into the dough. Oil a bowl, and set the dough inside to rise for about 2 hours. (I like to extend the rising time to 4 hours, punch it down halfway through and let it rise again, but that's not necessary.) Turn it out onto a floured surface, punch it down, and let it rest, loosely covered, 15 more minutes, before patting it into a rectangle and rolling it up like a fat jelly roll. Place it into a greased loaf pan, and gently pat it down into the pan. Cover loosely and let rise until the dough almost comes up to the top of the loaf. Preheat oven to 350F and place an empty cookie sheet in the oven one rack below the one you'll bake the bread on. Put a kettle of water to boil. As you're placing the bread in the oven, pour hot water into the baking tray. Bake for 45 minutes or until the bread has an internal temp. of @2ooF and sounds hollow when thumped. Despite the temptation, let it cool completely before slicing.

*I like a mix, but old fashioned rolled oats on their own are fine

Next: Pumpkin Sandwich Cake, which I did exactly from the recipe, and it came out flawlessly. The only small change I made was to bake all the batter in one 8x3"pan and slice it in half horizontally. It took 30 minutes instead of the recommended 16-18. I'll bring this to my parents' house, and probably snag some of the left overs to bring home with us after my in-laws. Pumpkin cake and cream cheese and chocolate for breakfast. Mmmmm.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Enjoy whatever you're doing, whereever you're going, and whomever you're with!

Blogging About Soup Is Like Dancing About Architecture

Imaginary Aunt Kate asks for my thoughts on soup. She apparently prefers Baked Potato soup without bacon, and dislikes Broccoli and Cheese soup.

Soup is a funny thing. It's one of the simplest foods to make. Put water and meat or vegetables or beans or noodles in a vessel and heat. What's hard about soup is making it really good.

The best soup I've ever tasted wasn't even one I'd ordered. Mark ordered it on our honeymoon. It was onion soup gratinee, and you could feel and taste the house made beef stock. It was luscious, and I don't especially like onion soup. We used to have a silly fantasy that someday, we could convince someone to smuggle a thermos home in their luggage, but the TSA does not love us. Bah! No liquids! And what lunatic would pack soup in their checked bags? Oh well...

So, there you go, start with a crafted stock.

There was once a Spanish garlic soup that I loved. I think I had it at Tapeo on Newbury Street, that had the silkiest texture and most delicate flavor.... If you're serious about texture in pureed soups, I think nothing beats hand sieving through a china cap, but let's be real people, a throrough immersion blending does the trick if your puree-ables are properly cooked.

I'm not a fan of baked potato soup, but I do like potato leek, if it's got the right texture. As to broccoli and cheese, I think a really fresh cream of broccoli soup, think rich chicken stock thickened with a light roux, heavy cream, and steamed broccoli florets, with a hit of red pepper flakes and romano cheese - not from a shelf stable can, people, from a grated hunk of Roman cheese - could be delightful.

But that's just me.

I make a crawfish "bisque" that Mark is partial to, but it's a process to get there, again, because of the stock. When we can get them, we buy shell-on cajun style frozen crawfish (There's one brand we like best, but the name escapes me. They come in a blue plastic box.), and snack on them. We save the shells, and I simmer them for half an hour with some garlic, onion, carrot, and celery, then strain off the broth. I use that as the base for the soup, with an organic mushroom soup base from Whole Foods - that actually tastes mushroomy - and frozen crawfish tailmeat. I finish it with herbs and a splash of sherry. Mmmm...

And then, there's 0 Point Soup.

Ginger Scones: A Recipe

When your son is up at 6:30, you have plenty of time to think about breakfast pastry. Last weekend, I made two cakes (well, cake like items), and there was much frosting. I had a bowl of egg yolks waiting to be used. I had milk and fresh ginger. I had butter. I will have scones!

These are more eggy than traditional scones, lightly sweet, with a hint of ginger. I had mine with cinnamon plum tea and a dollop of maple syrup sweetened buffalo milk yogurt. Sadly, I ate them before I remembered to take more pictures.

So, here they are, my weekend after making a ton of Italian Mousseline Buttercream Fresh Ginger Scones.

Fresh Ginger Scones
adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
2 TB. sugar, divided
1-2 TB. grated fresh ginger, or more to taste
5 TB cold butter, cut in pieces
4 large egg yolks, plus one for egg wash
3/4 c. whole milk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, grease and flour a 9" round cake pan.

Blend dry ingredients in a large mixing bow. Reserve 1 TB sugar. Add ginger to dry ingredients and blend. Drop in butter pieces, and blend into the flour mixture. Lightly whip the egg yolks into the milk, then in as few strokes as possible, stir the wet ingredients into the dry. When everything is moist, stir the dough ten times. I use a dough whisk, which keeps the amount of stress on the dough pretty low while looking pretty cool. Turn the dough out into the cake pan, and, with floured hands, pat it flat. Score the scones into 8 wedges, then blend the reserved yolk with a little water and brush lightly over the top of the scones. Sprinkle them with the reserved sugar, and bake.

Bittman recommends 7-9 minutes. In my old oven, it took 15 to get them golden brown with a little crust on the edges. I suggest starting at 7 and adding 2 minute intervals until they're perfect.

Ten Memorable Meals

Veronique suggested some best of/top ten type posts. I immediately thought of meals, because I'm a foodie and a chef and food is my heroin. Just ask my hips. Plus, food is much more fun than blogging about learning and parenting and important stuff.

Some of these are restaurant meals, some are casual meals with friends and family, all make my heart all squishy with good memories. I present them to you sort of in an order, but nothing hard and fast.

• L'Espalier, Boston, MA, April 2003: before Chef McClelland departed the original location, this was my dream restaurant. White glove service, exquisite cuisine, intimate setting, and Mark took me for my birthday. Perfect!

• Harris' Steakhouse, San Francisco, CA, June 2005: on our honeymoon, we found this place by opening a guidebook and putting a finger down. Best steak and atmosphere of the trip!

• Dinner party with N & Friends, Medford, MA, October 2001: a carpet picnic extraordinaire with many of my best friends all together in my house, and good food made by a great cook (thanks, N!), enjoyed by all.

• Thanksgiving at Uncle Andy and Aunt Steph's house, November 1997 (I think it was '97...): my mother's younger sister came east with her family for the first time in almost 20 years. I got to meet her, and my five cousins for the first time. It was the first time the whole family was together for a holiday meal, and the first time I realized the size and fullness of my family. They are infinitely precious to me.

• The campfire on Pine Hill when I may or may not have tried to light the entire campsite on fire, Harvard, MA, Summer 1995 or 96: This one was great. I was a counselor, working with a small group of older girls, and somehow the pre-lit coals for the dutch ovens ended up rolling down a hillside covered in dry pine needles. Still, all and all, I remember we ate pretty well. Plus, there's the magic of summer camp...

• That post musical meal at Denny's, Worcester, MA, 1993 or '94: The one where Alta first ordered Moons Over My Hammy. Good times.
  

• Valentine's Day, Medford, MA, February 2003: I made Mark a four course dinner starting with home made fettucine and salmon roe, and ending with a chocolate raspberry torte. Tres romantic.

• That great little restaurant, Rome, Italy, March, 1994: We ate at this little local place, and there was wine and so. much. food. We spoiled ourselves, and it was great!

• Dinner in Manhattan with L&T, NYC, February, 2005: Osso buco. Oh. My. Heart. My heart was safe, though, because my husband made us walk a hundred blocks south through he Upper East Side before dinner.

• The I.N.I., Lakeville, MA, Summer, 1998: Spaghetti and terrible sangria with Al, Ali, and Guy. I'm sure the food was awful, but the company was positively intoxicating. Looking back, I was so carefree and lighthearted. We all were. While I wouldn't trade what I have now, I miss that freedom.

I'm sure there are more in the corners of my mind, but for now, there you have it.

Blueberry Muffins

Back Roads & Farm Stands

Having sort of had it with the wait lists and totally inconvenient pick up schedules of local CSAs (one of which, for all my whining, I'd love to join), I decided to just hunt down a good, local farm stand, and go to it whenever possible. I found Hanson's Farm just up the road a piece from me, in a part of town that could be in Vermont, New Hampshire, or the Berkshires, for all the winding roads, horse farms, and antique colonial farm houses.

Felix & I shopped. I would have cheerfully brought home some of everything they had, but that would have been irresponsible, since there are only two of us eating fully solid meals these days. But I did get beets, patty pan squash, green beans, and corn. And that was on top of the two pounds of blueberries I picked this morning at Patt's Blueberries with Veronique and family. Of course, as they picked something like eight and a half pounds, that's not so impressive, is it?
This blueberry is my favorite. Just for reference, that's a US Quarter underneath it. It was tasty, too. I know. Cause I ate it.

Oreos & Trains

Fourth of July is often a forgotten holiday around our house. Mark's work doesn't always allow him to fully take the day off, and while we're buying diapers remodeling (never mind with the cost of traveling anywhere this year), splashy vacations are right out. So, we usually keep it pretty low key, and this year we thought about extending our low key to others we knew. Alas, everyone we know is more exciting that we are, so when we were invited to head down to Rhode Island for swimming, we said yes. And then it was cloudy. And not really pool swimming warm.

So, in the end, we had a little kebab barbeque with Mark's mother, brother and sister-in-law, and his friend Pete. It was nice, and low key.

For me, the highlight of the day was the successful batch of Oreos I made.
For Felix, the highlights were getting a hold on Daddy's empty Highlife:
And the new train toy that Memere brought for him:

Traditional Fourth of July Dinner... on the Second?

La Famille MoMP is headed south (to Rhode Island, but doesn't "south" sound more romantic?)for the fourth, and will not be visiting with Gramma and Grampa (who usually provide my fresh English peas fix for the year) for the traditional New England Independence Day Meal, so I needed to take care of business myself. With that in mind this past weekend, I bought fresh, local peas, strawberries, salmon, cream... it was a pricey blissful shopping trip.

When Felix & I got home from R's Brit Milah, I hit the kitchen to shell the peas. This was a job my mother and I often did together (or at least that's how I remember it; she might say differently), and now, doing it in my own kitchen, with Felix watching from his Saucer, it gave me a feeling of continuity that I wasn't even looking for when I planned this dinner. Food sneaks up on me like that. I get the same feeling from making my mother's spaghetti sauce and her mac 'n cheese. She never really taught me a recipe in one setting, she more showed me her techniques (or made me do it myself. who knew? chores really do make you learn stuff!). And even with my fancy culinary certificate, I still rely on a lot of her recipes to actually feed my family these days.

The peas looked gorgeous. I was almost tempted to leave them raw. The truth is, I love them raw. They're crunchy and bright tasting. Even my finicky five year old niece loves raw peas. When Mom takes her to the farm stand near their house, she always buys extra peas and lets Rylee carry the bag with her in the car, so she can snack on the peas. How could you not love these gorgeous babies? But for my purposes tonight they were best served cooked al dente in salted water. No butter, no fresh mint, no nonsense. Just perfect little legumes. But I digress. A. Lot.

After the peas were shucked, it was time to whip up shortcakes. Bisquick made short ooh hoo I said short! work of the pastry. That, and my dough whisk from the lovely folks at King Arthur Flour. It's perfect for blanding short doughs and batters without overworking them. I highly recommend one. I also have this superstition that doughs taste better in my great grandmother's bowl. So, there's that as well.

While the cakes were in the oven, I rubbed the fish to give it a head start. I seasoned the board with salt, fresh ground black pepper and chopped dried rosemary, lightly oiled the salmon with olive oil, then rolled the fish in the rub, patting it into a crust. For the record, this, too, is a divergence from the meal of my youth. Mom used to smear the fish with mayonnaise and rosemary when I was much younger. That practice stopped years ago, but I do remember the days! Given my dad's heart, I don't think we'll ever see those days again. Which is probably for the best.

I set that aside, and sliced some fresh strawberries, tossing them with a tablespoon of sugar to macerate. They looked awful pretty in their bowl. I maybe snacked on a few. In hindsight, I should have done this step first, and given them a little smashy smash with the spoon to get them all syrupy, but hindsight is always 20/20 and all that. They were still pretty damn tasty. Especially with shortcakes drool and whipped cream drool.

Next, potatoes in a salty pot of water, because growing up, salt potatoes were always part of the feast. This, so far as I know, is owing to the fact that my mom's best friend from college, with whose family we were all very close in my youth, was from the Syracuse region of Upstate, and my mom developed a taste for them. I didn't find proper salt potatoes, but these were good enough. I think it's the butter that makes them yummy, after all.

The fish came off the grill with gorgeous crispy skin, and was cooked perfectly(of course, my first love is raw sashimi grade salmon on a cold plate, but that's a different meal), a rare treat, since grilled fish has never been my strong suit. Look at that crusty crust. Mmmmm

While all this was going on, the shortcakes came out of the oven, looking lovely, save for the crispy bottoms. Perfect for Mark, who likes crusty brown bits on things, but I prefer a more tender shortcake experience. With candles, and wine, and maybe a snuggle.

We plated up dinner, and the rest was history. Pretty much literally. There was gluttony here. In fact, we usually save a seat for Gluttony here our family table. The he gets to sleep it off on our couch while we watch a movie. We have lovely manners, don't we?

Dessert was the perfect end to such indulgence. Don't you think?