Wishing you a spooky, treat-filled Halloween! Boo!
My baby got sauce
Your baby ain’t sweet like mine
She got sauce
Your baby ain’t sweet like mine
She got sauce...
Sorry, couldn’t resist a little G Love and Special Sauce reference here.
James is currently
experience one heck of a bout of separation anxiety. Poor little guy; Chris and
I need to carry him constantly or he screams. He screams and wails and flails his
arms and doesn’t breathe for 5 seconds. It’s a pretty rough scene, but soon he
won’t want us to hold him at all, so I try to empathize while I do everything
with one hand, like cooking and buttoning a shirt and putting on make-up — you
get the picture; so dinner prep needs to be minimal and all done with babe on
hip. Hence, stir-fries.
I have been working on and
perfecting my go-to stir-fry sauce. We try to have some stir-fried greens
(mustard, Chinese broccoli, kale, arugula, spinach) and a lean protein with
brown rice (or my favorite pure-white, no-whole-grain-here jasmine rice) once a
week. This is in no way authentic, but it is complex, crowd-pleasing and pantry-friendly.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons tamari or
low-sodium soy sauce1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon raw sugar or brown sugar
½ a lime, juiced
½ tablespoon roasted red chile paste
2 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane
1 thumb-sized knob of ginger, grated on microplane
½ teaspoon cornstarch (optional)
Directions
Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, whisk to break down sugar and chile paste.
Pour onto stir-fry ingredients once they are browned and fully cooked. Cook for 1 minute, until slightly thickened and glossy. Serve hot.
Happy eating, -s.
For some reason, fall, more than any other season, really gets me excited to cook. Maybe it's because summer is all about fast cooking; eating things in their raw state or quickly cooking them to just enhance their freshness. Fall means roasting, stewing, braising and slowing down. Slowing down ... that sounds nice!
My return will be a slow one. I don't have my cooking act totally back together, but I was so inspired by the market and what I accomplished in the kitchen this weekend that I had to share.
Apples -- 6 pounds of glorious orbs: Macoun, Macintosh, Jonagold, Jonathan, Cortland and Spartan.
Apple cider
Arugula
Bell peppers
Carrot
Cilantro
English hothouse cucumber
Italian frying peppers
Mustard greens: purple and green mixed varieties
Sweet corn
Tomatoes: paste, grape and sungold
Parsley
Winter squash: butternut and acorn
What we're eating this week: 30 September 2012
Sunday: Turkey-ricotta meatballs with arugula pesto, homemade applesauce and roasted butternut squash
Monday: Greek-style chicken cutlets with feta, tomatoes and mint; served with whole-grain flatbread and hummus
Tuesday: Burgers on the grill; served carrot and cucumber sticks
Wednesday: Salmon with Indian Spices; served with basmati-rice pilaf
Thursday: Italian wedding soup with mustard greens and leftover turkey meatballs
Friday: Slow-roasted market-tomato and goat cheese pizza; pizza margarita for the kiddos
No. 1: The Dark and Stormy
My dear friend Jen served these at her fabulous wedding many years ago in Maryland. She married a sailor, so the drink was mandatory. Let's just say everyone was dancing by the end of the wedding. Here's a link to Francis Lam's review of some ginger beers/ales. It's funny and informative. I really want to try Blenheim's ginger ale since I like mine really spicy and made in the U.S.
Makes one perfect cocktail.
Ingredients:
2-3 oz. Gosling's Black Rum
3-4 oz. Ginger Beer or Spicy Ginger Ale (I like Goose Island's spicy ginger ale)
wedge of lime
ice
Directions:
In double old-fashioned glass filled ice, mix rum and ginger beer/ale. Squeeze lime. Enjoy.
No. 2: The Margarita
As I am a big Frontera Grill/Tompolobompo fan, my go-to margarita is from Rick Bayless. No blending, no fuss. Just lime, tequila, Cointreau, sugar, salt and ice.
Makes 4 generous drinks
Ingredients:1 cup tequila, preferably a young silver or reposado 100% agave tequila
1/2 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur
1/3 cup fresh lime juice, plus a little extra for moistening the rim of the glasses
A little sugar if necessary
About 1/3 cup coarse (Kosher) salt for crusting the rim of the glasses
About 3 cups medium ice cubes
Directions:
In a small pitcher, combine the tequila, orange liqueur and lime. Taste and decide if you think the mixture needs to be a little sweeter or a little tangier (keep in mind that it will taste a little tangier once it’s been shaken). Add a bit more lime or a touch of sugar, if necessary.
Spread out the salt onto a small plate. Moisten the rim of four 6-ounce martini glasses with a little lime juice (if you have a cut lime, even an already-squeezed one, moisten the rims by running it around them). One by one, turn the glasses over and dip them lightly in the salt, creating a thin, even crust all around the rim.
Pour half of the margarita mixture into a cocktail shaker, add half of the ice cubes. Shake vigorously for about 15 seconds (this is important to achieve the perfect strength–some of the ice needs to melt into the margarita–and the right degree of frostiness). Strain into the prepared glasses, then repeat with the remaining margarita mixture. Relax and enjoy.
No. 3: the Vodka Tonic
I love me some vodka. This was my drink of choice when I met my husband. I like mine with a squeeze of lemon instead of the classic lime, but choose the citrus you like best. Meyer lemons, when in season, elevate this drink to sublime.
Makes one perfect cocktail.
Ingredients:
2 oz. Vodka, the best you can afford
4 oz. tonic water
wedge of lemon or lime
ice
Directions:
In an old-fashioned glass filled ice, mix vodka and tonic. Squeeze citrus. Enjoy.
No. 4: the Mojito
I honestly grow mint for mojitos. What's more refreshing than lime, mint and rum? My husband makes the best ones. I'm sure I've missed some secret step, but here's what I have observed him do when making one.
Makes one perfect cocktail.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup or 4 oz. white rum, the best you can afford
half of a lime, cut into four pieces
12-15 mint leaves2 tablespoons simple syrup
4 oz. club soda
ice
Directions:
In a double old-fashioned glass, place mint, limes and simple syrup. Muddle with a muddler or a wooden spoon handle, or a wooden lemon reamer, until the mint and limes start breaking up a bit. Add ice, rum and top with club soda. Stir well. Drink slowly - this is a labor of love.
Happy drinking, -s.
So, it was only natural that I try to re-create a version of their pizza Margarita at home -- minus the stunning wood-burning oven. Okay, I admit the crust is so not the same, but the essence is true and Pickle loves it just as much.
It's simple as can be to make, especially if you have the dough for the crust already made. Peter Reinhart's recipe is impeccable -- a must try. I typically free-form this on an aluminum baking sheet.
This is a great, after-work pizza, since there is little to prep. Walk in the door and, before you even take your coat off, preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. Pour a glass of wine, put on some music and start making the pizza! I serve this with an apple-celery salad with raisins and toasted almonds. More on that another time.
Pizza Margarita
serves 4 adults or 1 hungry bambino
Ingredients
1 large ball of pizza dough
2 cups shredded, whole-milk mozzarella
28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes, drained
1 small clove of garlic, sliced
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 fresh basil leaves,torn into large pieces.
Directions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Place a rack on the lowest level of the oven.
On a floured surface, roll or press out dough to the desired size -- about 14-inches round or a 11 x 14 inch rectangle. Place on your baking sheet.
In the bowl of a food processor or blender, add the tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil. Process until the sauce it smooth and voluminous. Take for seasoning and adjust as needed. This sauce is enough for two pizzas, so stash one part in the freezer for next time.
When the oven is good and hot, sprinkle with cheese, uniformly covering the surface. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is browned and bubbly.
Take the pizza out of the oven and spread the sauce all over the cheese, covering completely. Place back in the oven for 2-3 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple of minutes before cutting into pieces. Scatter with basil leaves. Serve while piping hot.
Happy eating, -s
I've been MIA for quite some time, sorry about that! On August 25, 2011, our Hungry Bambino got a brother, James Willem. Now we have due bambini and things are doubly crazy as they used to be.
I'm just getting back in the swing of things and heading back to work full time. Future posts will mostly be focused on what dinners can be made in the 15-minute window I now have between work and dinner. This will probably entail a lot of pre-planning, shopping on the weekends, and the cooking one protein for multiple dinners. If you have any dinner challenges of your own that you would like me to tackle, let me know. It may inspire something great on the dinner plate!
My mom asked me to bring a little nibble for our pre-thanksgiving dinner noshing and I wanted to do something that wasn't too heavy and was a bit more kid-friendly as we are slowly becoming outnumbered by the little ones at the holidays. I ended up bringing two things: rosemary and cayenne caramalized nuts and coconut-oil-popped popcorn. Both were a big hit, as I manned the Whirly Pop for 4 batches of popcorn and both jars of nuts were decimated by Friday evening.
The nuts were my take on a favorite: the Union Square Cafe's bar nuts. I love them so, but I always find them a little greasy and the best parts -- the sugar, salt, rosemary and cayenne -- always end up on the bottom of the bowl. In my recipe, I nixed the butter and pan-toasted the nuts before adding the sugar to start the caramel bath that slowly enveloped the cashews, almonds and pecans. Once the sugar was in liquid form, I added the minced fresh rosemary, salt and cayenne. Once they were thoroughly coated and the sugar was a nice dark amber, the nuts were layed out to cool on Silpats. When they were cool enough to handle, I broke them apart and placed in jars -- a perfect food gift for holidays.
Rosemary-Scented Bar Nuts
serves many at cocktail time
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of each: roasted, unsalted cashews, raw pecan halves and blanched, slivered almonds
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leave, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Equipment: a heavy-duty 12-inch skillet, silpats or parchment paper, heat-resistent rubber spatula.
Directions:
Over medium heat, add nuts to 12-inch skillet and toast until frangrant. Add sugar and let sit, untouched for 2 minutes. Start stirring the nuts with the melting sugar until all the sugar has turned to a liquid. Add the rosemary, salt and cayenne and stir to coat and distribute evenly over the nuts. Cook the mixture until the sugar is a dark amber -- be careful not to burn the sugar or the nuts.
What we're eating this week:
Sunday: pizza margarita with apple, celery, raisin and toasted almond salad
Monday: pork bulgogi with snow peas from marthastewart.com
Tuesday: ham and salami heros with quick pickled onion vinaigrette and carrot sticks
Wednesday: turkey meatloaf with buttermilk mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach
Thursday: red beans and rice
Friday: ???
Saturday: Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and Holley's cranberry relish
Happy eating, -s.
I will never complain about the heat while living in Wisconsin. Our summers are so short in comparison to our winters, that I will take the heat, the humidity, the severe weather and the bugs. But, I must say, this week is going to be hot; damn hot. Every day, all-day, 90+ degrees hot. The perfect remedy is my refreshing watermelon-lime slushy.
My younger brother and his wife were in town last week and Chris did the grocery shopping, as he was barbequing a 9-lb pork shoulder for the occassion. Back from Costco (where we typically don't get food items besides cooking olive oil and nuts), came a 3-pound container of sour cream (holy s%#$) and a huge-ass watermelon.
I'm still working my way through the sour cream (I tackled a sour-cream coffee cake for Sunday morning breakfast; I may be churning some sour cream ice cream to top a raspberry crisp ... or maybe some corn muffins with green onions and sour cream to accompany barbequed chicken ... any other ideas are welcomed!).
With the huge-ass watermelon, besides slices accompanying every meal, I've been whipping up watermelon slushies, which are in no way related to the artifically flavored/dyed 7-11 slushy. These are the essense of watermelon, with a kick of lime zest and juice. The perfect remedy to a hot day. Adults can add a jigger or two of rum or vodka, if they must.
Watermelon-Lime Slushies
serves 4 thirsty bambinos or adults
Ingredients
2-3 large wedges of watermelon, rinds removed
1/2 cup cold water or limeade, if you have it.
juice and zest of two limes
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups ice
Directions
In a blender, add the water and watermelon wedges. Blend until foamy, pink and smooth. Add lime juice, zest and sugar and blend until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more watermelon, lime juice/zest. I wouldn't add anymore sugar, but that's just me.
Add the ice and blitz until smooth and slushy.
Drink quickly with requisite straws.
At the Market
sugar snap peas
green beans
Dreamfarm goat cheese
baby zucchini
rainbow swiss chard
golden beets with greens
Italian paste tomatoes
carrots
red onions
Menu: week of 16 July 2011
Saturday: Key West shrimp salad sandwiches with green beans vinaigrette
Sunday: crunchy tacos with refried beans, sauteed beet greens and fresh goat cheese
Monday: sauteed baby zucchini and Italian sausage with oriecchiette and opal basil
Tuesday: pork and green bean stir-fry with cashews and steamed jasmine rice
Wednesday: chicken cutlets Milanese with oven-roasted paste tomatoes
Thursday: ricotta frittata with swiss chard and red onions
Friday: carryout
Happy eating, -s.
