Scandinavian Christmas

Blue and I had a lovely Scandinavian Christmas with friends in South Deerfield. Sarah and Scott's home was beautifully decorated and we created a divine Scandinavian feast. On the menu: appetizer of blini with salmon, sour cream and dill, Swedish mussel soup, a lovely baked chicken and leek dish, roasted potatoes and green beans and a ubiquitous Swedish cucumber salad.

I have included Sarah's Chicken, Leek and Potato recipe and more recipes will be added soon.

These boys are relishing the mussel soup.


















Mussel Soup with Avocado, Tomato and Dill
(Inspired by a dish at the Copenhagen microbrewery, Norrebro Bryghus)

1 1/2 pounds leeks (3 medium; white and pale green parts only), quartered lengthwise, then sliced crosswise
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 (3-inch) sprigs fresh thyme
1 (12-ounce) bottle lager
1 1/2 cups water
3 pounds mussels (preferably cultivated), scrubbed well and beards removed if attached
1 cup half-and-half
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground white pepper
1 (8-ounce) firm-ripe avocado
18 very small grape or pear tomatoes (1/4 pound), halved
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh dill

preparation

Wash leeks in a bowl of cold water, agitating them, then lift out leeks and pat dry.

Cook leeks in butter in a wide 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add thyme and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beer and water, then increase heat to moderately high and bring to a boil. Add mussels and return liquid to a boil, partially covered. Cook, completely covered, stirring occasionally, just until mussels open wide, checking frequently after 4 minutes and transferring to a large bowl. (Discard any mussels that remain unopened after 8 minutes.)

Working over a bowl, remove mussels from shells and put in bowl (discard shells along with any clinging leeks). Pour any cooking liquid accumulated in bowl back into pot.

Pour cooking liquid through a sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth or dampened paper towels into a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in half-and-half, salt, and white pepper, then heat over moderately low heat until hot (do not let boil). Stir in mussels and heat until just warmed through.

Meanwhile, halve avocado, then peel 1 half (wrap remaining half tightly in plastic wrap and reserve for another use). Cut into 1/2-inch cubes, then toss gently with tomatoes and dill in a bowl.

Divide soup among 6 shallow bowls and spoon some avocado mixture into each. Serve immediately.

Cooks' note:
Soup, without half-and-half, can be made 1 day ahead and cooled completely, uncovered, then chilled (with shelled mussels in soup), covered. Remove mussels and reheat soup over moderately low heat before adding half-and-half and then proceeding with recipe.



















Lemongrass and Lime Cucumber Salad

In Sweden, when you ask for a side of salad with your meal, the dish brought to you would most likely be a cucumber salad, with a few wedges of tomato on the side. This recipe spices up the original with the addition of lemongrass and hot chile peppers.

1 European seedless cucumber, sliced very thin
1/2 cup red onion, peeled and sliced very thin
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, sliced very thin
1 stalk lemongrass, light green center only, sliced very thin
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp finely chopped red chile peppers

Place cucumber, onion, cilantro, and lime in a medium-sized bowl. Combine lemongrass in a medium-heavy saucepan with vinegar, sugar, and salt. Cook over low heat for 3 minutes. Be sure not to bring to a boil. Let cool, stir in red hot peppers, and pour over cucumbers. Marinate for a minimum of 1 hour before serving. Serve cold or at room temperature.


Dill Chicken with Leeks and Potatoes

Dill is such an easy herb to use. You can not use too much of it – it will never be overpowering. Here, the chicken is scented wonderfully with dill and lemon.

One 4-pound free-range chicken
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1dl) chopped dill, plus 1 large bunch fresh dill
1 lemon, quartered
5 to 6 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, thoroughly washed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1½ pounds (3/4kg) russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch slices
8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 cups (7dl) chicken stock
Fresh dill for garnish
Lemon wedges and grated lemon zest for garnish


This is how you do it
Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Rub the chicken with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the butter and chopped dill. Rub the chicken with about 2 tablespoons of the dill butter. Carefully lift up the skin from the chicken breasts at the cavity, using your fingers or a blunt knife to loosen the skin; be careful not to tear it. Insert about 1 tablespoon of the dill butter under the skin of the breast and make sure that the skin covers the meat when you are done. Refrigerate the remaining butter. Fill the cavity of the chicken with the lemon quarters and the bunch of dill.

Place the chicken breast side up on a V-shaped rack in a roasting pan. Place the roasting pan on the middle oven rack and roast the chicken for 25 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the oven and rub with about 1 tablespoon of the dill butter, holding the butter in your fingers. When most of the butter has melted and you are at risk of burning your fingers, place the remaining lump on the breast of the chicken.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Fill the pan with the leeks, potatoes, and garlic and add the chicken stock. Turn the chicken breast side down and place it in the roasting pan. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Return the roasting pan to the oven and roast for 50 to 60 more minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Test for doneness by piercing it with a sharp knife at the thickest part of the thigh; the juices should run clear. (If there is any trace of pink in the juices, return the chicken to the oven.) Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let it rest, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

Check the potatoes for doneness. If they are still firm, increase the oven temperature to 400°F and continue baking until the potatoes are nice and tender. Squeeze the garlic out of their skins. Leave the roasting pan in the oven with the heat turned off.
Transfer the potatoes, leeks, and garlic to a serving platter. Carve the chicken at the table (discard the lemon and dill inside the cavity).

Garnish with dill and lemon wedges and sprinkle lemon zest on top.


Sarah's Yummy Pear Clafouti

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons pear brandy (recommended: Poire William)
2 to 3 firm but ripe Bartlett pears
Confectioners' sugar
Creme fraiche
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter a 10 by 3 by 1 1⁄2-inch round baking dish and sprinkle the bottom and sides with 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar.

Beat the eggs and the 1⁄3 cup of granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. On low speed, mix in the flour, cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, and pear brandy. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel, quarter, core, and slice the pears. Arrange the slices in a single layer, slightly fanned out, in the baking dish. Pour the batter over the pears and bake until the top is golden brown and the custard is firm, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with confectioners' sugar, and creme fraiche.

Roving Lemon Cookbook Challenge: Corn, Edamame and Red Pepper Salad

We had our lovely friends, Dale, Hannah and baby Parker over for the first serving of roving lemon cooking. To meet the challenge, I prepared Corn, Edamame and Red Pepper salad along with Lemongrass Cashew Chicken from a Vietnamese cookbook. The meal was a hit, so I also served the same meal at my work for the Holiday Cheer Potluck.

Corn, Edamame and Red Peper Salad

One 16 oz. bag frozen shelled edamame
4 cups frozen corn kernels
1 small red onion, peeled and cut into medium dice
1 large red ell pepper, cut into medium dice
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 scant teaspoon mild, toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
7 or 8 dashes of Tabasco
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Cook the edamame and frozen corn separately, drain veggies and rinse under cold water. Combine edamame, corn, red onion and bell pepper. Set aside while making the dressing. Combine yogurt, sesame oil, soy sauce and tabasco. Whisk until smooth. Pour the dressing over the salad and stir together. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Sprinkle the salad with the toasted sesame seeds. Can be served cold or at room temperature. May be prepared one day in advance.


Fresh Chicken with Lemon Grass and Cashew Nuts

-Vegetable oil
-2 small dried chilies
-1 clove garlic, chopped
-1 lb lean chicken sliced (I use thighs for more flavor)
-1/2 tsp sugar
-1 tbsp oyster sauce
-1 tbsp Nuoc Mam sauce
-3 tbsp chicken stock
-1 cup roasted, unsalted cashew nuts (calls for 1/2 cup, but I like this recipe with more cashew nuts)
-1 tbsp finely chopped lemon grass
-4 shallots, cut into quarters

1-With a drop or two of oil, stir fry the chilies until cooked evenly; set aside
2-Stir fry the garlic with a few more drops of oil until golden. Add the chicken slices, sugar, oyster and Nuoc Mam sauces and stir fry until the chicken is golden in color. Lower the heat and add the stock. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.
3-When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, add the cashew nuts, lemon grass, shallots, and chilies, and stir several times, being careful not to break the chilies. Remove from the heat and serve.


Look at little Parker enjoying her Corn, Edamame and Red Pepper salad!

Stephen Takes Roving Lemon's Challenge - Chipotle Porkchops & Ecudorian Potato & Cheese Patties

OK, so I dove in to Roving Lemon's Cookbook Challenge today and decided to further randomize my cooking experience by asking Lele (my better half) to select a recipe from my assigned cookbook (The All New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook) for dinner tonight. He selected the Chipotle Marinated Pork Chops with Chimichurri Sauce (p. 346). I picked the Ecudorian Potato & Cheese Patties (page 528) to go with it. Lele refuses to eat anything with a beak so he reminded me that I would need to substitute the chicken broth for something else. I obediently used vegetable broth. I'm going to share the recipe below so you can try it at home. We both really enjoyed the meal and are happy we have some leftovers. I think that we were expecting the pork to have more of a chipotle taste but it really is overpowered by the chimichurri sauce. The recipe calls for raw shredded carrots and onions, but I ended up cooking them in olive oil for a few minutes before adding them to the chipotle sauce. I think I would stick to that method if I made this again. The other thing that is important to stress is the oil really needs to be very hot for the Ecudorian Potato and Cheese Patties to get a crispy exterior. I really enjoyed the chimichurri sauce over the pork. It's very flavorful and jazzes up what would be just a boring pork chop. I think that next time I would probably use more than just one chipotle pepper and might let the pork chops marinate a bit longer than the 2 hours. All and all, I'm happy I have this cookbook. Not all of the recipes are as light as you might think, but they are certainly healthier than some other choices and are never boring. So, thank you Roving Lemon, you've helped me discover a new favorite! I will be picking some more recipes from this cookbook during the rest of the month and will share them here.

Chipotle-Marinated Pork Chops with Chimichurri Sauce
(from The All New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook)

• 3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken (or vegetable) broth
• 1 drained canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce
• 4 (6 ounce) center-cut pork chops
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken (or vegetable) broth
• 2 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot (I cooked the carrot with the onions in olive oil)
• 1/2 cup minced fresh onion
• Cooking spray

1. Place 3/4 cup chicken broth and chipotle chile in a blender; process until smooth. Combine chile mixture and pork chops in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours. Remove chops from bag; discard marinade.
2. Prepare grill.
3. Place parsley and next 7 ingredients in a blender, process until smooth. Pour into a bowl; stir in carrot and onion.
4. Place chops on grill rack coated with cooking spray; cook 5 minutes on each side or until done. Serve with chimichurri sauce. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and 1/4 cup sauce).

Calories: 311
Fiber: 1.6 g
Fat: 19.2 g

Ecuadorean Potato-and-Cheese Patties
(from The All New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook)

• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 medium peeled baking potatoes, quartered (about 1 1/4 pounds)
• 6 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) of Monterey Jack cheese, queso fresco
• 2 tablespoons of minced green onions
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup diced tomato
• 1/2 cup julienne-cut red onion

1. Place 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and potato in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and mash with a potato masher until smooth. Cool.
2. Add cheese, green onions, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to potato mixture, stirring well. Divide potato mixture into 6 balls (each about 1/2 cup per ball). Flatten balls into 1/2-inch thick patties (about 3 inches in diameter) Place on baking sheet; cover and refrigerate 20 minutes or until firm.
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place potato-and-cheese patties in pan; cook 5 minutes or until bottoms are browned. Turn patties, cook 3 minutes. Remove patties from pan. top patties evenly with tomato and red onion. Yield: 6 servings (serving size 1 patty)

Calories: 157
Fat: 4.6 g
Fiber: 2.1 g

Roving Lemon's Cookbook Challenge!

Our dear friend and cooking compatriot Roving Lemon has issued a Cookbook Challenge in her wonderful blog Roving Lemon's Big Adventure. I can feel it in me waters...this is destined to be a great annual tradition! Are you up for it folks? Christine and I sure are. Check out her blog to read more about it. In a nutshell, this is how it works.

• Count up all of your cookbooks, recipe clippings and collections and assign them a number. If you have a stack of clippings and print outs you probably want to count them as one.

• Randomly pick a number, ask someone to pick a number, or cut up some paper, number it and draw it from a basket.

• Match the number you drew to your cookbook and you're ready to take the cookbook challenge. Here's mine (All New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook - mmmmm, is someone trying to tell me something?)
  

• Roving Lemon says commit to cooking at least one new recipe from that resource in the next month. Five, if you want to really challenge yourself. Christine and I have decided to do three. Our final recipe will be shared with a group of friends when we are together in December to celebrate the holidays.

• Christine cheated. She has 70 cookbooks to choose from, so had Blue pick three numbers and selected one of the three cookbooks. The book she will be cooking from is The New England Table, by Lora Brady. She will commit to making three recipes this month. The book is sectioned by New England state. Perhaps she should draw a number and pick a state :)!

• Lastly, and most importantly, tell about what you discovered—send us an email, post about it yourself, or comment here. Did you discover a new favorite? Or is this cookbook just a pretty face with nothing in it you can see yourself cooking?

• We plan on sharing our recipes here and also commenting on Roving Lemon's Blog too. Happy cooking!
  

We put our lovely spaghetti squash from the food bank farm to use with this recipe from www.fabulousfoods.com
This is an old standby-Yumm! We particularly enjoyed the delicious and delectable company of our friends Tim and Eric.



Spaghetti Squash With Vegetables and Mozzarella

Servings: 6
Author Notes: This recipe makes a veggie rich, cheesy casserole, almost like a lasagna. Spaghetti Squash substitutes for the role traditionally taken by pasta in such dishes for a delicious, lower calorie, low carb alternative.
Ingredients: 1 spaghetti squash, cooked by your favorite method and separated into strands (click here for instructions)
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions: Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix the cheeses together, set aside.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and add the onion, pepper and garlic. Sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, basil, and crushed red pepper (if using). Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes. Mix squash well with the cooked vegetables and put half in the bottom of a large (13 x 9 inch) baking dish. Top with half the cheese mixture, followed by the other half of the squash mixture, then the rest of the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and slightly browned. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving

Obama Family Linguine with Shrimp

Blue and I celebrated Obama's victory with our NH canvassing friends. We enjoyed a delicious meal and fine company. This recipe is easy and tasty. Enjoy!

OBAMA FAMILY LINGUINE AND SHRIMP RECIPE

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs fresh shrimp (shell on)
Several garlic cloves
Sun-dried tomatoes (sliced in olive oil)
Chicken broth
1 box linguini
Fresh basil (julienned)
1 tbsp olive oil
Cooking Instructions

Clean, de-vein shrimp. Remove shells and let soak in hot chicken broth.

Thinly slice garlic. (The more garlic, the better the flavor of the dish).

Cook pasta and set aside. (Important not to over cook pasta)

In large sauté pan, heat olive oil on high heat and sauté garlic cloves until they begin to brown slightly.

Add fresh shrimp and cook until just beginning to turn pick. Add salt and pepper to flavor shrimp.

Add sun-dried tomatoes and continue to cook for another minute.

Add pasta. Mix pasta into the garlic, shrimp and sun-dried tomato mixture until pasta coated entirely with mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slowly add a bit of the shrimp shell and chicken broth liquid to remove reserves from bottom of pan.

Remove pan from heat and let sit for a few moments.

Add basil over top of dish before serving.

Recipe Notes

Maple-Hazelnut Oatmeal

As a continuation to my previous post about my romance with my slow cooker I have a recipe for a wonderful Maple-Hazelnut Oatmeal. The weather is starting to get chilly and this is a wonderful thing to wake up to on a cold morning. It's even possible on a work day when you have to rush out the door. The recipe calls for steel-cut oats, which is sometimes referred to as Irish Oatmeal. These are a bit chewier than the more common rolled oats, take longer to cook, and are a nutritional powerhouse! Give this a try, you won't be disappointed!

• 1 1/2 cups of fat-free milk
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 2 Gala apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 3 cups)
• 1 cup uncooked steel-cut oats
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter, softened
• 1/3 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons of chopped hazelnuts, toasted

1. Bring milk and water to a boil in a sacuepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.
2. Place hot milk mixture, apple, and next 5 ingredients into a 3-quart electric slow cooker coated with cooking spray, stir well.
3. Cover and cook on LOW 7 hours or until oats are tender.
4. Ladle oatmeal into individual bowls; top with maple syrup and hazelnuts.
   

Yield: 4 Servings (serving size is 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal, 1 tablespoon of syrup, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of hazelnuts). Calories - 341, Fat 9.2g, Fiber 5.5 g - This is very filling and 1/2 serving was enough for me for a hearty breakfast!

My Romance with My Slow Cooker

There is something about the advent of fall that quickens the beat of my heart. The colors, the chill in the air, donning a sweater and the first fire in the fireplace. All of this goes hand in hand with stews and roasts. I recently bought a slow cooker and have had so much fun trying some new recipes. The slow cooker is truly a miracle appliance. My experience with it until now has been the joy of just chopping up a bunch of things, mixing it up, and enjoying a fabulous meal a few hours later. To me, the slowness of the cooking is a benefit. By the time the food is ready, I've almost forgotten the labor, the kitchen has been cleaned, and it feels like someone else has made me dinner. Over the next couple of days I'm going to post some of the new recipes that I've tried in my slow cooker. I'll start tonight with a wonderful pork roast, perfect for a chilly fall night. Once again, the picture doesn't do it any justice. My photographer wasn't available at the time.

Christine - I know the air is a bit nippier up there than it is here. What are you doing with your slow cooker these days?

Pork with Dried Fruit and Squash
(from Cooking Light Slow Cooker - 2006)

• 1 (3-pound) boneless pork loin roast, trimmed
• 1/3 cup, packed brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of grated fresh ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/2 cup bite-sized pitted dried plums
• 1 (1 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• Rosemary sprigs (for garnish)
  

1. Cut pork roast in half, crosswise. (If necessary, my slow cooker is oval and the roast fit perfectly).
   
2. Combine brown sugar and next 4 ingredients in a bowl and rub pork evenly with sugar mixture.
3. Place pork in 4 1/2 quart slow cooker and arrange dried fruit and squash around pork.
4. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour.
5. Reduce heat and cook on LOW 6-7 hours until pork fruit and squash are tender.
6. Cut pork into thin slices and serve with butternut squash and fruit mixture.
7. Garnish with rosemary sprigs, if desired.

OBAMA Food

Can you tell your political leanings by the food you eat? According to an article in the New York Times you can. See the article What's for Dinner? This Pollster wants to know.

I also found out a little bit about the tastes of Obama. Breakfast usually consists of eggs, potatoes and toast. He has a favorite chili recipe he makes that you can find on-line. I'll be trying his favorite soup from Topolobampo in Chicago-Sopa Azteca-if I can find the ingredients. His favorite veggies are spinach and broccoli. Alas, he is not a fan of asparagus.

I'm sure once he is elected president, we will learn more about his food tastes.

Fried Mozzarella with Blue's Tomato Wine Sauce

This original recipe was quick and easy as we already had Blue's tomato wine sauce in stock.

-Two Mozzarella Balls (fresh and preferably very high quality from your local Italian market)
-Bunch of Basil
-Tomato Wine Sauce
-1 cup Panko Crumbs
-2 Eggs
-1/2 cup flour
-1/8 cup good quality olive oil


Slice Mozzarella Balls and dip first into eggs, dredge in flour and generously coat with panko crumbs. Set aside. Heat up oil at medium high in a skillet. Fry mozzarella in oil, 1 minute to each side, fry longer if needed until crisp, but before mozzarella seeps out into oil.

Generously cover mozzarella balls with tomato wine sauce, slivered basil and basil leaves to garnish.

Tomato Wine Sauce Recipe

2 tsp. olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onions
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp ground fennel (key ingredient!)
1 tsp dried oregano or 2 tbsp fresh finely chopped
1 tsp dried basil or 2 tbsp fresh finely chopped
1/3 cup red wine
3 cups fresh tomatoes (boiled with skins and core removed)
salt and ground pepper to taste

In a saucepan, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic, sprinkle with the salt, cover, and simmer on very low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the onions are beginning to soften. Add the fennel oregano, basil and cook for another minute. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil. Whirl the tomatoes in a blender until just pureed and add to the pan. Cover the sauce and simmer gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can buy a box of late summer tomatoes, make a bunch of batches and freeze the sauce to last over six months.

Irish Coast

It was o so lovely to have our first meal at the new irish coast furniture dining table. I hope yours is delivered soon, Stephen.

Flowers at the Food Bank Farm

Somewhat food related as we were at The Food Bank Farm and took these shots today

Mama's Tomatillo Salsa Verde

The Food Bank farm was overflowing with tomatillos last weekend.
Yes, I went a little overboard with the tomatillo picking

I was very excited to make and freeze tomatillo salsa verde
I admired the beauty...

And set about preparing the salsa:

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

1 pound tomatillos (about 15), husked, rinsed and roughly chopped (really, if you have a decent food processor you can cut into quarters)
1 jalapeno (slice)
3/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. You could fully puree, but I "almost" puree the salsa

If you are packing the freezer, maybe you do this four or five more times.

I'll be doing some recipe adjustments in the near future as I didn't manage to fully take advantage of the mounds of tomatillos. Perhaps I'll try basil instead of cilantro and add cipollini onion. Not mexican...but, really, one does need to find some more than one use for this husky guys.

No Knead Bread - Fresh Out of My EZ Bake Oven

Ah memories! I remember being a kid and secretly coveting all my girl friends in school who had EZ Bake Ovens. As much as I wanted one I would never have dreamed of asking for one. The last time I did such a thing I paid dearly for it. When I asked my mother to teach me to knit I found myself the very next morning on the ice of our local hockey rink at 5:00 a.m. a newly signed up and reluctant member of the Dorchester Youth Hockey League. Many of you that know me would doubt it but I was decent on right wing defense -- for all of maybe one season or less.

Anyway, my dreams of baking were dashed for many years and it's only now that I've taken some steps towards baking bread. The results I get have always been lackluster at best until my good friend Donna (my blog partner Christine's lady) forwarded a recipe for no knead bread to me last week. The no knead recipe is a formula and process created by Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan St Bakery in NYC. And from what I can tell, everyone in the blogosphere has heard of this recipe and his bread, except me. Anyway, I'm now on my third round of making this bread and the results are just amazing. Primarily because they are so consistent and in my opinion it's so fool-proof you don't need to be a master baker to turn out a loaf that will have your friends oohing and aahing.

In this case, the EZ Bake Oven is a cast-iron pan and the loaf is baked inside the pan covered for 30 minutes. This does something magical to the bread. If you've never thought you could make bread I encourage you to give it a try. The only difficult part of the process is the handling of the dough as it is very watery (about 42% water I'm told). The recipe says to form it into a ball, which I don't seem to be able to do but still have gotten great results. I have read that any combination of flours will work (whole wheat, white, etc) but haven't tested that out. I will with my next loaf and let you know how it comes out. Here's the recipe....truly revolutionary!

Formula and process created by Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan St Bakery.

Formula 3 cups (430g) flour 1½ cups (345g or 12oz) water ¼ teaspoon (1g) yeast 1¼ teaspoon (8g) salt olive oil (for coating) extra flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal (for dusting)

Equipment Two medium mixing bowls 6 to 8 quart pot with lid (Pyrex glass, Le Creuset cast iron, or ceramic) Wooden Spoon or spatula (optional) Plastic wrap Two or three cotton dish towels (not terrycloth)

Process Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and incorporate by hand or with a wooden spoon or spatula for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Lightly coat the inside of a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest 18 hours at room temperature (approx. 65-72°F). Remove the dough from the bowl and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest 15 minutes in the bowl or on the work surface. next, shape the dough into ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal; place the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1-2 hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size. Preheat oven to 450-500°F. Place the pot in the oven at least 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough has more than doubled in volume, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes Then remove the lid and bake 15-30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Pasta with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes, and Gorgonzola Sauce

Over the last couple of months I've been trying to eat healthier but have refused to give up my love of cooking, eating and great food. The added focus and exercise has paid off in my waistline and I feel like I've never eaten better. I discovered this dish in Cooking Light (September 2008) and have made it twice. It's delicious and goes so well with some fresh baked bread. I wouldn't eat it every night, but it's a healthy splurge meal for once in a while. It's also very easy and quick to make. The original recipe called for ziti. Any tube shaped pasta would work well. I didn't have any penne, rigatoni, or ziti so I used riccetti (which my better half tells me means "little curls" in Italian).


Ziti with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes, and Gorgonzola Sauce
(From Cooking Light, September 2008)
2 Servings (serving size is 1 1/4 cups)

4 ounces uncooked ziti
1/2 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
6 tablespoons of half-and-half
3 tablespoons of gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1 cup fresh spinach

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.

Heat extra-virgin olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add cherry tomatoes, salt, crushed red pepper, and minced garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Stir in half-and-half and Gorgonzola cheese; cook 2 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in spinach and pasta; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts, tossing occasionally.

If you're following Weight Watchers one serving of this is 7 points. Calories are 335; fat is 10.4 grams; Protein is 12.3g; carb 49.9 g; fiber 3.6 g

Bring the broth to a boil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Pour the orzo and the broth into a large bowl. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until the mushrooms are beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 7 minutes. Add the Marsala. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and cook until the Marsala has reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the mushroom mixture to the orzo in the large bowl. Add the evaporated skim milk, fontina, mozzarella, peas, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and dried thyme. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the pasta. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

Blueberry Land

Here is a pic of Blue in front of Blueberry Land. This is the place to be for all things blueberry. Blueberry Land is in Washington County, Maine, where 90% of the world's wild blueberries are harvested.

I picked up some lovely blueberry sauce to send to my dear friend Lele who is a huge aficionado of the maine blueberry.

Meat Raffle

I couldn't resist stopping to get my pic next to this meat raffle sign at a church in Maine. Everyone loves a meat raffle! At least everyone in Maine, Minnesota and the UK. I recently heard of meat raffles in a Chris Bohjalian novel. Highly recommended author! So, you buy your tickets at the meat raffle to win a variety of cuts of meat (including pork chop on a stick in the Bohjalian novel). Money usually goes to a local charity

One of these days, I'm going to make my way to a meat raffle...

From My Heart Barramundi

We had this lovely Barramundi dish last week. I was going to use a recipe, but decided to make "From my Heart" Barramundi, and go with my gut. I sauteed the Barramundi in VT cultured butter, with white wine. I heated a sauce of local ricotta and milk to go over the fish. I also sauteed some local cippolinni onions with food bank farm chimichurri sauce-this also went on top of the fish. The snow peas were a lovely accompaniment to the fish.

Barramundi is a south east Asian sea bass that is grown sustainably at an indoor farm in Turners Falls, MA. Known for its sweet buttery taste and delicate texture, it is the "next big fish" in the eyes of chefs and food editors alike. It was even recently written about in O Magazine!

Enjoy!

Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture

This lucky girl purchased this wonderful old sign at a tag sale: originally hung at The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. It is now hanging in my kitchen. The organization was founded in 1792 with the purpose of "inviting others thereto on the subject of agriculture". The first year they gave prizes for providing agriculture knowledge, one of the prizes was for the most satisfactory account of the natural history of the canker worm. The organization is still in existence and provides grants for promoting agriculture in Massachusetts.

Strawberry Pasta

Yeah, Strawberries! Made with delicious food bank farm strawberries. Sounds bizarre, but really just wonderful!

Review from Bluesky who partook of the pasta: Delicous, delicious...OMG...Watch you don't stain your shirt..

Ingredients

1 pint fresh strawberry
1/2 lb spaghetti (I used Bucati-Spaghetti tubes)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
mint sprig (to garnish)

Directions

1Purée strawberries in blender.

2Drain to remove seeds. (not really necessary)

3Cook spaghetti according to package.

4Drain and toss with cheese.

5Heat butter and cream in a small saucepan.

6Pour strawberry sauce then cream over pasta

7Serve with additional cheese and garnish with mint, if desired.

Giada's Baked Orzo with Fontina & Peas **Lite**

I love Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis. Her recipes are so delicious and to me combine tradition with a new twist. I watched one of her latest episodes of Everyday Italian last week and saw her make a Baked Orzo with Fontina and Peas. Yesterday, I visited the Green Market in Piedmont Park and I discovered Pappardelle's Pasta. They've been around since 1984 selling artisanal pasta to restaurants. They only sell their pasta in select places around the country (mostly farmer's markets). They had a whole wheat orzo so I bought some of that and decided I would give a whirl with Giada's recipe. As I've mentioned before, I'm trying to watch what I eat so I needed to lighten up her recipe a bit. The results were amazing, perhaps I say that because I haven't tried the original recipe. But, if I keep telling myself that, I'll resist the urge to make it with heavy cream and butter. I used a mixture of mushrooms; morels, porcini, brazilian caps, ivory portabellas, shitake, and oyster. Any mushroom will do but this mix added a nice complexity to the dish. Here's my lightened up version. If you want to go all the way, click on the link above to see her original recipe. If you are counting points on Weight Watchers 1/8 of the pan is 9 points.

Baked Orzo with Fontina and Peas **Lite**
(Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian, Episode EI1112)
8 Servings

4 cups vegetable broth
1 pound orzo pasta
1 tablespoon of olive oil and some non-stick cooking spray
1 onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup evaporated skim milk
4 ounces shredded fontina cheese(about 1 cup)
4 ounces diced fresh mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with canola or olive oil cooking spray.

Bring the broth to a boil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Pour the orzo and the broth into a large bowl. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until the mushrooms are beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 7 minutes. Add the Marsala. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and cook until the Marsala has reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the mushroom mixture to the orzo in the large bowl. Add the evaporated skim milk, fontina, mozzarella, peas, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and dried thyme. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the pasta. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

String Bean Heaven

I've always loved fresh string beans and tonight we grilled some steaks and had some delicious String Beans in Honey-Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette. The recipe comes from Peter Berley's The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. Berley was the former executive chef at the Angelica Kitchen in NYC, one of my favorite restaurants. His cookbook is amazing and really shows how much fun you can have in the kitchen without meat. This dish is a standout amongst the things I've made from his book. Give it a try!

String Beans in Honey-Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette
(from Peter Berley's The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen)
Yield: 4-6 Servings

For the String Beans:

• 3 1/2 teaspoons of coarse sea salt
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced (I used a shallot)
• 1 1/2 pounds of string beans, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar (I substituted rice vinegar)
  
• Pinch freshly milled black pepper

For the vinaigrette:

• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon-style mustard
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• 1 teaspoon of mild honey
• 1/2 teaspoon of coarse sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

1. Spread a clean kitchen towel on a baking sheet and set aside.
2. In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add 3 tablespoons of salt.
3. Place the sliced onion in a bowl and cover with 2 cups of the boiling water. Cover the bowl with a plate and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Drop the beans into the remaining boiling water and cook, uncovered, for 4 to 6 minutes, until crisp-tender. Drain the beans and spread them on the cloth-lined pan.
5. Drain the onions and toss them with the vinegar, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Set aside.
6. To make the vinaigrette, combine the lemon juice, mustard, garlic, honey, salt, and cayenne in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth. Slowly whisk in the oil until creamy.
7. Drain the onions once again and squeeze dry. Add the onions and the string beans to the vinaigrette and toss well.
8. Let marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Cooking my fav ethnic food

This week I prepared Vietnamese Style Rice with With Vegetables and Shrimp. The key ingredient is nuoc cham sauce, a staple of Vietnamese culture (sorta like ketchup in the US). The vietnamese table always has a bowl of the nuoc cham dipping sauce. The recipe for the nuoc cham comes from a fab London cookbook (love the London cookbooks!)-Lemongrass and Lime, New Vietnamese Cooking from Bam-Bou. Lets consider the nuoc cham the apex of this recipe:

Nuoc Cham

5 garlic cloves
2 large red chilies
2 fl oz fish sauce
3 1/2 fl oz water
2 fl oz rice vinegar
2 oz sugar
2 fl oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

1-Peel and finely chop the garlic. Slice the chilies in half, deseed (impt) and finely chop
2-In a heavy based saucepan, warm (do not boil) the fish sauce, water, vinegar, sugar, garlic and chilies. When the sauce becomes moderately hot, remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool
3-When the sauce is cooled (about 45 minutes), stir in lemon juice

Most of the rest of the recipe is a matter of lots of prepping and assembling:

1-Cook rice (I recommend a rice cooker-dependable rice every time and you can keep it gently warming)
2-Prepare your selected ingredients. In our case we chopped slivers of cucumbers, torn lettuce and chopped garlic onions.
3-"Semi-crush" 1/4 cup of peanuts
4-Steam 1/3 lb of shrimp

Time the cooking of the shrimp for when everything else is prepped and ready to be assembled. Layer a bowl with lettuce and top with 1 cup of rice. Top the rice with shrimp, peanuts, cucumbers and garlic onions. Then top with fried onion and top with 3-6 tbsp of nuoc cham sauce. Use Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (the other Vietnamese ketchup) to spice up if you like.

The beauty of this recipe is that it doesn't need to be followed exactly. You don't have to have garlic onions. You may choose to use scallions. For veggies, you could add carrots or bean sprouts. You could use another meat, such as thinly sliced beef, pork or chicken. You can add cilantro, regular basil or Thai basil. You may also substitute rice vermicelli for plain rice.

Tip: Buy your ingredients at the asian store, you can expect to spend about 50% less on ingredients as compared to your local supermarket. Fried red onion and thai basil are available at your Asian grocery.

Porkja-vu: Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin & Roasted Pork & Black Bean Chili

OK, I know, I've been a little obsessed with pork lately. But, it's so easy to make (especially the boneless tenderloin) and it's quick (only about 45 minutes at a high temperature roast). I made a Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin this week and had a lot leftover. Instead of eating the pork the same way for the whole week I found a great recipe for Roasted Pork and Black Bean Chili from Rachael Ray's Just in Time. The concept was hers, she has a recipe for a Roasted Pork Loin with gravy and roasted potatoes and veggies in her book. She then gives recipes for the leftovers for the 2nd night and third night. I didn't make the roast pork from her book, but rather did a balsamic glaze from a Google search. I came up with the following recipe, courtesy of Carla's Kitchen and adapted from a FoodTV recipe. It was fantastic. I ended up marinating it for 48 hours because I didn't have time to cook it when I thought I would. I threw in some fingerling potatoes for the last 20 or 25 minutes of roasting. I also cooked it at 500 degrees for about 45 minutes or to 140 on a meat thermometer. Here's the way I made it:

Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

(adapted from foodtv.com and Carla's Kitchen)

3-4 lb whole pork loin

For marinade:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce (I used low sodium soy)

3 sprigs of rosemary

5 garlic cloves, halved

• Whisk together balsamic, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, rosemary sprigs, and garlic.
• Put pork loin in a gallon sized freezer bag and pour marinade into the bag.
• Seal the bag with as little air as possible.
• Marinate for 2 hours (or 2 days in my case - LOL).
• Remove roast from marinade, do not discard the marinade.
• Roast in a 500 degree oven for 45 minutes, or until roast reaches 140 degrees.
• Pour marinade into a small saucepan.
• Bring the marinade to a boil (in order to kill bacteria).
• Reduce the heat to simmer and cook over low heat until thick, about 15 minutes. Reserve.
• In the last 10 or 15 minutes of roasting, brush reduced marinade onto pork loin.
• When you remove it from the oven, brush on one last coat of the glaze.

Here's what we did with the leftovers. I have to say this was AMAZING -- I've loved every recipe that I've made from this book. It was amazingly flavorful. I was a bit worried about the way that I cooked the pork blending with the flavors below but it was incredible. I'll definitely be making this again! The picture is lousy and doesn't do it justice, it looks like a bowl of tortilla chips!



Roasted Pork & Black Bean Chili
(from Rachael Ray's Just in Time)

2 TBSP of EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil), twice around the pan
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
Salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1/2 bottle of beer, about 1 cup
3 cups of leftover gravy (see below for instructions to make the gravy)
2 (15-ounce) cans of black beans, drained
5-6 cups of cooked pork chopped into bite-size pieces
Zest and juice of 1 lime
2 cups crushed yellow or white corn tortilla chips
Sour cream, for garnish (optional)

For the gravy, place 3 TBSP of butter into a medium-sized saucepot over medium-high heat and melt it. Once it is melted add 2 garlic cloves grating them into the pot, and cook for 1 minute. Add 3 TBSP of flour and whisk together cooking for 1 minute. Whisk in a quart (4 cups) of chicken or vegetable stock, bring up to a bubble, and cook until thickened, 7-8 minutes. Reserve covered until ready to add to the chili.

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat with the EVOO. Add the onions, garlic, and bell pepper and season with salt and pepper, the chili powder, cumin, and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until the veggies start to get tender, then add the beer and cook for a minute more. Stir in the leftover gravy and the black beans and bring it up to a simmer. Add the cooked pork and cook to heat it through, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the lime zest and juice and stir to combine. Discard the bay leaf. Serve up the chili and top with some of the crushed tortillas and a dollop of sour cream.

Food Bank Farm Opening Day!

Today was the grand opening of the Food Bank Farm CSA in Hadley. As a member, I begin craving the "real" lettuce by Christmas. The weather has been cooperating so fully with the growing season, so the share was quite abundant. My haul included tot soi, mezzuna, baby arugala, bok choy, the most amazing head of lettuce, garlic onions, radish and turnip. Tonight we had a caesar salad prepared with the lettuce along with the El Jardin Rosemary and Olive Bread from Holyoke.

You can also purchase local and regional food products in the share room. Today I got a lovely almond peach yogurt from Vermont, organic eggs from New Hampshire and Maine Sea Salt.

I can't wait for the U-pick season to start, from strawberries to sugar snap peas, then green beans and flowers on to the tomato season.

Not only is the Food Bank Farm a bountiful CSA, but 50% of what they grow goes to benefit the recipients at The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. You can't beat that!

Asparagus Lemon Pasta And Radish and Pine Nut Salad

Yes, I'm still on the asparagus kick. While my lady was on line buying ingredients, two locals passed on their email to her asking for the recipe.
I made this dish on Saturday and the book club folks thoroughly enjoyed both the Asparagus and Lemon Pasta from Gourmet and the Radish and Pine Nut Salad. They also enjoyed the book: You Must Remember This by Joyce Carol Oates.

Asparagus Lemon Pasta

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally in 1/2 inch pieces (preferably thin asparagus
1 lb. angel hair pasta
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp freshly grated lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup finely chopped freshly chopped parsley
Accompaniment: freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Steam asparagus until crisp tender (approximately 3 minutes). Transfer asparagus to a colander and rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Drain asparagus well.

In a deep 6 quart kettle bring 5 quarts salted water to boil for pasta

In a deep 12-inch skillet heat butter and cream over moderately low heat until butter is melted and stir in zest, lemon juice and salt. Remove skillet from heat and keep sauce warm, covered

Add pasta to boiling water and boil, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Ladle 1/2 cup past water into the sauce and drain the pasta in a colander.

Immediately add pasta and asparagus to sauce and cook over moderate heat, tossing, 1 minute, or until heated through. Add parsley and salt and pepper to taste and toss well.

Sprinkle pasta with a little Parmesan and serve more Parmesan on the side.

Radish and Pine Nut Salad

5 tsp red-wine vinegar
6 tlb olive oil
8 cups lettuce (this called for red leaf-I used water cress and red leaf)
1 cup julienne strips of radish
1/3 cup pine nuts lightly toasted

-In large bowl whisk vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, add oil whisking, whisk until emulsified
-add shredded lettuce, radish, pine nuts and toss well
-line each plate with whole lettuce leaves and divide up salad

I Need a New Butcher!

Last night's dinner was a success! But my pork loin roast was impossible to cut due to that pesky bone along the base of it (see my previous entry for the saga). I was unable to cut through the bone to cut the whole chop off so I had to carve the meat off the rack and leave the bones intact. Rats! Anyway, other than that small catastrophe, the pork tasted great.

Roasted Rack of Pork Loin

• Rack of pork loin
• Chopped fresh rosemary
• Fresh Sage
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic

1. Place a rack on the second level from the bottom of oven and preheat to 500 degrees
2. Place the pork in a roasting pan, curved bones facing down.
3. Cover the roast in chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper. Make small incisions all over the pork and slip in slivers of garlic. Do the same with sage leaves.
4. Put the pork in the oven to roast for approximately 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees. When done let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

I'll be posting a couple more recipes from what I made last night. More to come later....

Swine Myology

So, we're having a friend over for dinner tonight and I decided to do a bone-in pork loin roast. They look so great in pictures. The guy at the meat counter had no clue what I was talking about when I said I wanted to do a bone-in pork loin roast. (The language barrier didn't help and my ESL teaching skills didn't seem to work in this interaction). I ended up pointing to the bone in pork loin chops and told him I wanted 8 of those in one big piece. He pulled this giant side of pork out of a box and cut it up for me. When I asked him to clean the bones of the cartilage he had no idea what I was talking about. Anyway, I brought this huge side of pork home with me and trimmed the cartilage (and what looked like meat) from in between each bone. There was a flat bone that ran along the bottom of the roast that I hammered off, yes hammered, I don't have a hack saw. There is still a bone that runs along the base that I couldn't do anything with that I'm hoping is going to break when I go to slice the chops to serve them. Sounds like deja vu with my previous Guess Who's Coming to Dinner entry. But, we'll see what happens. Here's a picture of what the roast looks like now. I'll do a recap of the meal later. I'm doing a mish-mash of recipes on the pork loin but planning on doing a high temperature roast with it.

Oh by the way, while I was panicking about how to clean this pork I was Googling different phrases, you know, things like "Oh my God, help me clean a rack of pork" and "howtocleanarackofpork.com" etc. I stumbled upon this website dedicated to Bovine Myology with a butcher chopping up cows, you can even rewind and fast forward and pause. Can't you hear the cows on BovineCNN with a panicked report that there are "how to slaughter videos" being posted on the internet? It's just mooooooo-rtifying!. Pretty cool and creepy all at the same time. Check it out....

My Pizza Journey - Could Semolina be the Answer?!

I've been making homemade pizza for about 2 years now and it's been an odyssey to make the perfect pizza. My quest has been to have the pizza of the perfect thickness (perfect for me being not too thin but not too thick) and the right level of crispness, evenly cooked. I've taken my tips from lots of different sources. I started out cooking my pizzas with a dough recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook They taught me if I didn't have a stone to cook the pizza on an inverted cookie sheet or pizza pan that has been preheated in a 500 degree oven would help with crispness. This was definitely an improvement over just cooking the pizza in a cold pan and placing it in a pre-heated oven. I ended up going out and buying a pizza stone at Williams-Sonoma. This brought me a bit closer to my holy grail. When the stone is pre-heated at 500 degrees the pizza ends up being crisper than with the inverted cookie sheet trick. I guess in some ways after the pizza stone purchase I hit a wall. The consistency of my pizza is kind of unpredictable. Sometimes I'm happy with them, sometimes not. I still make my own dough but more often than not I use purchased dough from Trader Joe's. I do like to make my own dough when I have time and it's not that difficult. It also freezes well.

This past week I made pizza twice. The first time I used store-bought dough and made a pizza with speck ham. Speck has also been a quest for me. I've had speck in Italy and never been able to find it in the US. I've checked for it in more upscale butcher shops and delis and never had any luck. A couple of weeks ago I was in Costco and found speck in their deli case. The speck is very similar to prosciutto but has a stronger smoky flavor. It tastes great over pizza. I didn't really do anything special with this pizza, I used bagged mozzarella and jarred sauce and it was great. The pizza itself was crisp but not as evenly crisp as I had hoped for. I made some adjustments to the temperature in my oven after I made this pizza and had some better luck with the pizza I made tonight.

Tonight's pizza recipe came from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook. Yes, alas, I am watching my weight. This is a great cookbook for lighter versions of favorite recipes though and they have a good chapter on pizzas. And thanks to this cookbook I think I'm one step closer to my perfect pizza. They suggested replacing 1 1/2 cups of flour in the standard dough recipe below with semolina for a crispier pizza. I tried it and it came out great. They suggest rolling the dough out to a 12-inch round, which I did, but the pizza was a little too thick for my taste. The next time I make it I think I would roll it out into a larger pie or use less dough. They also called for 2 cups of tomato sauce, but I used only about 1 cup. I tend to not like pizza that is too saucy. The recipe is light on the cheese (only 3/4 cup of mozzarella) but is jazzed up a bit with some Parmigiano-Reggiano. (Cristian and Hannah brought us a beautiful 2lb block of it last week so we are set for a while! Thanks Cristian and Hannah!).

Basic Pizza Dough

(from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook)
Makes 2-12 inch pizza crusts

• 1 1/2 cups warm (105-115 degree) water
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 package of active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups of semolina flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. In a 2-cup measuring jug, combine the water and sugar. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the oil.

2. In a food processor, combine the flour and salt. With the machine running, scrape the yeast mixture through the feed tube; pulse until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute. If necessary turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth and elastic.

3. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray; put the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl lightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.

4. Punch down the dough, then cut in half. Refrigerate or freeze in floured zip-close freezer bag at this point or use as directed in the recipe.

I topped this pizza with 1 cup of marinara sauce (Trader Joe's from a can) and 3/4 cup of part-skim mozzarella and 2 tablespoons of Parmegiano-Reggiano. This went into a 500 degree oven on a pre-heated pizza stone (for 1 hour -- am I crazy?). For those of you counting points cut the pizza into six slices and 1 slice is 3 points. The hardest part is not eating the whole pizza -- but just think you'll have leftovers!

"Kafka-esque" Roast Pork Loin with Roasted Apple Compote

Barbara Kafka is an award-winning cookbook writer who has written amazing books. Some of her best are a book about cooking gourmet foods with a microwave (Microwave Gourmet), a fabulous cookbook about roasting (Roasting-A Simple Art), and a great book about cooking vegetables (Vegetable Love). I was first turned on to Barbara when I ate a roasted chicken made from one of her recipes that tasted like I never imagined chicken could taste. My mom, who is an excellent cook, has never quite got the hang of cooking chicken. Maybe it was the fear of E.Coli, but when Mom would cook chicken she would throw it in a pan and put it in a 350 degree oven until it was dry as a bone. Her roast beefs and steaks and turkeys are perfect, but chicken is not her thing. (Don't anyone tell her - thank God she doesn't use the internet)!

Kafka is an advocate for high temperature roasting (500 degrees) which leaves the meat amazingly tender and juicy. I made her Roast Pork Loin with Roasted Apple Compote last weekend (from Roasting-A Simple Art) and it was good. I say good because I've been dealing with getting used to a new oven in the house I just moved into. I noticed that things seemed to be taking longer to cook than I am accustomed to so I purchased an in-oven thermometer. It confirmed that my oven was running cooler than the setting. I figured out how to adjust it the day I roasted the pork loin. I think I adjusted the temperature too high though because the pork was cooked a little more than I was expecting. Nonetheless it was delicious, and the roasted apple compote on the side is amazing. This is a really easy meal to make with a big-flavor pay-off in my opinion. I served it with a simple salad and some boiled fingerling potatoes. I did mix the optional cream and mustard into the roasted apples and it was amazing! Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Roast Pork Loin with Roasted Apple Compote
serves 6

• 2 1/4-pound boned and rolled pork loin (7 inches long)
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 4 large (2 pounds) Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of canola oil or other neutral oil
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, optional
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

Place rack on second level from bottom of oven. Heat oven to 500 degrees F.

Place loin in a 14x12x2-inch roasting pan. Rub salt all over loin. Smear mustard over top of loin. Roast for 20 minutes. Move the loin around with a wooden spatula so it won't stick. Roast 15 minutes more. Add the apples coated with lemon juice and oil, and collected juices. Spread out around the loin. Roast 10 minutes. Turn apples gently as they are soft. Roast 10 minutes more. In total the loin should roast for 50 minutes or until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees F. The meat might still be slightly pink, but this is fine. Don't overcook the roast, or it will be dry and unappealing. The apples will be dark brown and will have absorbed all the good juices.

Remove loin to a platter. Snip off strings. If using cream and mustard, combine and stir carefully into apples. Let meat rest 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. Carefully remove apples with a metal spatula and place around roast. Deglaze the pan just to clean it as all the good bits are in the apples.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner!

Lele's boss Cristian & his wife Hannah came to dinner last night. I sat down in the morning on the sofa and piled my cookbooks around me trying to decide what to make. Lele suggested that I make the baked pasta that I made a few days ago and posted here. It seemed too ordinary so I was looking for something in my books. I turned the TV on and my DVR had a recent episode from Tyler Florence's show Tyler's Ultimate on Food Network. Tyler was making a Summer Minestrone and a Potato Gnocchi with Peas, Prosciutto and Ricotta. It sounded perfect and Tyler made it look oh so simple. I had made Gnocchi once before a few years ago and vaguely remembered it coming out like balls of flour. But I also remembered my fondest memory of gnocchi; the first time I ate it actually, at my friend Rita's house in Queens, New York my freshman year in college. Her beautiful Italian nonna served us gnocchi and it was heaven. Tyler's recipe promised light as a feather gnocchi! My Italian guests would love it. Fantastico! I made my shopping list and hit the stores.

I'm not sure what possessed me yesterday but I really took my time - I stopped by the homeless pet adoption at Petco and looked longingly at the homeless puppies - a call home to Lele who was cleaning the house snapped me back to reality -- "but they're so cute," I said --"get the hell out of there now Stephen, get into the car now and drive. You better not come home here with a puppy or you're going to have to return it!" he said. A couple of hours later I made it home with all the makings of a feast, minus the cute retriever mix in the cage that wanted to come home with me. After getting home I decided to go out again and buy some wine, that killed another hour or so and I finally made it home at about 5:00 p.m. The guests were due at 8:30 p.m. Plenty of time!

Well....the summer minestrone came together fairly quickly, other than the fact that I sliced the side of my fingernail off cutting vegetables. I whipped up the basil/mint pesto for the garnish. The potatoes were baking (yes baking, not boiling) in the oven. By the time they were cool enough to be peeled the panic set in. It was 7:30, the guests were due at 8:30 and I hadn't even started the dough for the gnocchi. Oh my God! Before I knew it there was flour everywhere, all over our new wood flours and me. Lele was yelling in the background but I had to tune him out if I was going to make this gnocchi. I vaguely heard him say something to the effect of we're never having guests over again. This feeling of dread hearkened me back to my theater days when opening night would come upon you and you weren't close to being ready.

I had horrible visions in my head of not being able to make the main course and calling for a pizza. The recipe was on my laptop and I was frantically running back and forth from the island in the middle of the kitchen to the counter where my laptop was. The screen saver kept turning on and I had to tap the keys or swipe the mouse pad to see the recipe. The keys and mouse pad now had a gummy, sticky potato and flour coating on them. I screamed to Lele who had retreated upstairs and asked him to call Cristian and Hannah and tell them to come at 9:00 p.m. There was no way I would be ready. Thankfully, they hadn't left. I calmed slightly. By this time I was rolling out the gnocchi and cutting them into "little pillows" as Tyler called them. I don't think I did a very good job ridging them with the tines of a fork so that they would hold the sauce but I did my best. After they were cut and ridged I layed them out on baking sheets and put them in the fridge. There wasn't much left for me to do until the guests arrived. It was now close to 9. Lele came into the kitchen to tell me there were fresh towels and clothes in the bedroom upstairs.

"I'm not taking a shower," I said.

"You're not?" he said incredulously?

"No, I'm fine."

"No you're not, Stephen," he said. "Take a shower."

I figured at this point I better take his advice, a glance in the mirror proved the fact I looked like hell. A closer look revealed a starchy film on my face and in my hair from the fight with the dough. I felt like I had been through a storm. The shower did me good. Hannah and Cristian had arrived by the time I came downstairs. We had wine, olives, cheese and crackers in the living room. The wine did me better than the shower. I slipped away to plate up the soup. When it was plated and garnished I called everyone to the table. They loved the soup! I was relieved. If the gnocchi didn't work out and I had to call for a pizza at least I had one success.

Timing was perfect. Lele brought them for a quick tour of the house while I boiled up the gnocchi. This was the moment of truth - Tyler's recipe said...if the gnocchi break apart in the water you didn't use enough flour, if they don't float after 2 minutes and are heavy, you used too much. What good would the knowledge do me at this point? I prayed for a good outcome. Miraculously, they floated after about 2 minutes. I was thrilled. I finished making the sauce stirred the gnocchi into it and topped it off with some Parmeggiano-Reggiano. The next step was to dollop the lemon ricotta on the plates and top it off with the gnocchi. I had everything plated and on the table when they came back from the tour. The final moment of truth was the tasting and they loved it! I was very happy with the results. Thanks Tyler!

Summer Minestrone

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence, 2008
Show: Tyler's Ultimate
Episode: Ultimate Gnocchi

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 sprigs fresh marjoram
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 celery ribs, peeled and chopped
• 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups young green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups shelled English peas (or substitute frozen)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 quarts low-sodium chicken stock, enough to cover
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Basil and Mint Pesto, recipe follows
• 1 bunch watercress or parsley

In a large, heavy pot add a 3-count of extra-virgin olive oil. Add garlic, onion, bay leaf, marjoram and basil. Saute gently until fragrant. Add the vegetables and cook a little of the moisture out, about 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Dump in the chicken stock and heavy cream bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 so the flavours can come together - do not let it boil hard. Remove half of the vegetables from the pot and puree and add back to the pot to thicken. Simmer for 5 to 7 minutes until the vegetables are just tender. Serve each bowl with a spoonful of basil and mint pesto on top, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and some freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with watercress or parsley.

Basil and Mint Pesto:

• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until just combined and the pesto still has a lot of texture.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes

Potato Gnocchi with Peas, Prosciutto and Ricotta
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence, 2008
Show: Tyler's Ultimate
Episode: Ultimate Gnocchi

Potato Gnocchi:

• 2 pounds (about 4) russet potatoes, or similar starchy/white variety
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 egg white
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
• 1/4 pound prosciutto
• 1 large shallot, finely diced
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Grated Parmesan
• 2 cups Lemon Ricotta, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Scrub potatoes, pierce the skin with a fork, drizzle with olive oil and salt and place on a sheet pan. Place the sheet pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until they are easily pierced with a pairing knife. Allow the potatoes to cool slightly then peel the potatoes while they are still hot and press them through a potato ricer. Put the potatoes in a large bowl with salt, nutmeg, baking powder, grated cheese and egg white. Add the flour a little at a time and mix with your hands until the mixture forms a rough dough. Do not over-work the dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough for 1 or 2 minutes until smooth, adding a little bit more flour, if necessary, to keep it from sticking.

Break off a piece of the dough and roll it back and forth into a rope, about the thickness of your index finger. Cut the rope into 1-inch pieces. Gently roll each piece down the prongs of a fork while pressing a small dimple with your finger in the back. The gnocchi should be slightly curved and marked with ridges. This will allow the pillows to hold sauce when served. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.

Boil the gnocchi in batches in plenty of salted water. The gnocchi are done about 2 minutes after they float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon. Reserve about 1/2 cup cooking water. If not cooking immediately, place the gnocchi in a single layer on a baking pan dusted with flour.

Note: If the gnocchi start to feather and fall apart in boiling water, you need more flour. If the gnocchi don't float after 2 minutes and are hard, you used too much flour.

Blanch peas in hot water and set aside.

Place 4 strips of prosciutto on a sheet pan and place in a preheated 350 degree F oven. Cook until the bacon is crispy, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add chopped shallots to a pan over medium high heat with 2 counts of olive oil pan of and gently saute until fragrant and translucent. Dump in the peas and toss gently to coat. Season with a little salt and pepper. Add boiled gnocchi to the pan and gently toss. Add a ladle of gnocchi water to the pan, add 1 tablespoon of butter, sprinkle with Parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with crispy prosciutto and a scoop of fresh lemon ricotta. (Optional: finish with a drizzle of white truffle oil)

Lemon Ricotta:

• 2 cups good quality ricotta cheese
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• Salt

Place the ricotta cheese in a mixing bowl and add the lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and serve with the gnocchi.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings