Dinner Snapshot - Tofu and Bok Choy

This is one of our absolute favorite vegetarian meals. The main stir-fry only takes about 10 minutes. It's pictured below with my favorite kitchen accessory ever...Lily Bird.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound firm tofu, drained
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 head of bok choy (about 3/4 pound), leaves and stalks sliced crosswise 1 inch thick
9 ounces bean sprouts

1 teaspoon crushed or grated vegetable bouillon cube
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Wrap the tofu in paper towels and drain in a strainer set over a bowl for 30 minutes. Slice.

2. In a skillet, toast the sesame seeds over moderate heat until fragrant, 1 minute. Let cool, then grind to a coarse powder.
3. In a large skillet, heat the sesame oil. Add the tofu and stir-fry over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer the tofu to a plate.
4. In the same skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Add the bok choy and stir-fry over moderately high heat until tender, 5 minutes.

5. Add the bean sprouts and stir-fry until heated through.

6. Stir in the tofu and season with the bouillon cube, salt and pepper.

7. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with the sesame seeds.

Dessert Snapshot - Flip-Over Apple Cake

This is another wonderful recipe from Dishing Up Vermont. Recently, I have been reading a lot about the history of the apple. With apples on my mind, and a desire to make something warm, I embarked on an apple cake. I modified the recipe by using some brown sugar in place of white sugar. I wish that I would have substituted more but am recording the recipe as I made it. This cake is so terribly simple that, while it baked, I whipped up some ginger spiced pecans and molasses whipped cream to finish the cake with. David thought it was so good, he was unapologetic about seconds.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the baking pan

4 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1 cup white sugar

1 tbs brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Generously grease the bottom and sides of a cake pan.

2. Melt the butter over a medium flame. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

3. Toss the apples with the cinnamon and brown sugar.

4. Place the apples in overlapping, concentric circles on the bottom of the cake pan. Make a second layer as necessary.

4. Sift the white sugar and the flour into a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the egg and melted butter just until combined. Fold in the walnuts and continue to mix until smooth.

5. Pour batter evenly over apples.

6. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

7. Let cool in the pan, on a wire rack, for 15 minutes.

8. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a serving plate.

7. Serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or other toppings as you desire.

Dinner Snapshot - Lasagna

We’ve spent the past year or so watching the Sopranos from beginning to end. We’ve made it all the way to season six without succumbing to our Italian food fantasies. Come Sunday, all I was able to think about was an episode from an earlier season in which Tony is looking around for lasagna with that “sweet sausage I love so much”. With that, I searched for a lasagna recipe and then headed out to buy all the ingredients.

This was no ordinary lasagna, made apparent by the constant trail of drool Monkey left on my foot. He watched every move I made, had interest in everything being chopped and layered, sautéed and spread. Mind you, Monkey is not an ordinary dog interested in ordinary things like Human Food. He once spent 13 hours sucking on a single French fry during a car trip. At the end of the trip, we found that he eventually discarded the fry and never even touched the slices of salami and the pecan sandie that my father had tried to tempt Monkey with unbeknownst to us. My dad thinks that Monkey doesn’t show interest in Human Food because of how we raised him. That has something to do with it, but what kind of dog won’t even eat a slice of salami?

So, anyway, here was my dog that has Human Food anorexia leaving a long, pleading trail of drool in hopes that I would give in and just feed the entire pan to him. I should have known from his reaction that we were in for a good meal. Just how good? Do you remember Garfield’s obsession with lasagna and how he would hoover the entire plate? Yeah, that was me.

Ingredients:

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
¾ lb extra lean ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, pressed
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
12 ounces tomato paste
16 ounces tomato sauce
½ cup water
2 tbs sugar
¼ cup dried basil leaves
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tbs kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
4 tbs Italian (flat-leaf) pasley, chopped
1 box lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
¾ lb mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In a 5 quart pot, cook sausage, beef, onion, and garlic over a medium flame until browned.
2. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water.
3. Add sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and ½ of the parsley. Simmer, covered, for 1.5 hours stirring occasionally.
4. Cook lasagna noodles according to directions. Drain and cool with a cold water rinse.
5. Combine ricotta cheese, egg, remaining parsley, and ½ teaspoon salt in a bowl. Set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 375 F.
7. Spread 2 cups sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Place a layer of noodles over the top. Spread with one half of the ricotta mixture. Top with 1/3 of the mozzarella slices. Spread 1 ½ cups of sauce over the mozzarella and sprinkle with ¼ of the parmesan cheese. Repeat until you are out of noodles, ending with a topping of meat sauce and parmesan.

8. Cover with greased aluminum foil and cook for 25 minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional 25 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Dinner Snapshot - Root Vegetable Chowder with Smoked Cheddar

Mike and Kristin sent us a new cookbook book filled with recipes from their home state of Vermont. It’s filled with tasty items but as soon as I saw this recipe, I knew that it would be the first one made. I reserved it for a very cold day and was presented with the opportunity to make it yesterday. While the wind howled, the temperatures hovered around 10, and snow piled up, we filled our bellies with a hearty, in-season soup to get us through the cold winter night.

Ingredients:

½ lb bacon strips
12 thyme stems
6 rosemary stems
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
3 parsnips, peeled and diced
2 small turnips, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
½ lb fingerling potatoes, sliced
1 ¼ cup flour
3 quarts vegetable stock, heated
8 ounces smoked cheddar, shredded
1 cup cream
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large pot over a medium-high flame, cook the bacon until crisp.
2. Tie fresh herbs together with kitchen twine (or placed dried ones in a piece of cheesecloth, wrapped up and tied with twine).
3. Reduce the flame under the bacon to medium and add the butter, onions, parsnips, turnips, carrots, potatoes, and herbs. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add the flour and cook for another 5 minutes over a medium-low flame.
5. Slowly stir in the vegetable stock and bring the chowder to a simmer over a medium flame. Whisk frequently. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
6. Remove herbs and discard.
7. Slowly stir in the cheese and whisk in the cream. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Dinner Snapshot - New Year's Day Black-Eyed Pea Soup

New Year's Day always calls for black-eyed peas. It's our way to wish for good luck throughout the upcoming year and also happens to be a good excuse to use vegetables that are looking a bit sad. This time, however, all the vegetables in our refrigerator looked like they had gone through a terrible vegetable massacre. This is, no doubt, due to us succumbing to a week and a half of eating pretty much nothing but junk food. Anyway, onto the recipe.

Ingredients:

Black Eyed Peas -roughly a 1/2 lb

3 carrots, thinly sliced into rounds

3 red potatoes, cut into small cubes

1 leek, white and light green parts, thinly sliced into rounds

1 large onion, medium chop

2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock

6 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons sea salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

1. Throw everything into a crock pot and stir. Make sure that the peas are covered with stock.

2. Cook on high for 6 hours or until peas are soft but mixture isn't mushy.

3. Serve. It's that easy.

David says that the ingredients for this recipe should say nothing more than "pure yumminess". I thought that was a bit hard to interpret.

Dinner Snapshot - Mushroom and Potato Gratin

This is a killer Williams-Sonoma recipe that I altered for Christmas dinner. The flavors meld as it sits in the refrigerator, making for wonderful leftovers. We fought over every last bite. Please excuse the green dish...It was holiday ware!

Ingredients
1 Tbs. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 fresh thyme sprigs, plus 1 1/2 tsp. minced
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 lb. Gold potatoes
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. mixed wild and cultivated mushrooms, woody stems removed, caps thinly sliced
12 Tbs. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions
1. Preheat an oven to 375°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish.
2. In a saucepan, combine the cream, garlic, thyme sprigs, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. 3. Bring to a low boil over medium heat, then remove from the heat and set aside.
4. Peel the potatoes and, using the slicer attachment of a Kitchen Aid (or a very sharp knife), cut them into slices about 1/8 inch thick.
5. In a fry pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil and melt the 1 Tbs. butter.
6. Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt, and sauté until all of the liquid released by the mushrooms has evaporated, 7 to 9 minutes.
7. Add the minced thyme with a pinch of pepper and cook for 1 minute.
8. Arrange one-third of the potato slices, slightly overlapping, on the bottom of the prepared dish. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and 1 Tbs. of the cheese. Spread half of the mushrooms over the potatoes and sprinkle with 1 Tbs. of the cheese.
9. Repeat these layers, using half of the remaining potatoes and all of the remaining mushrooms, and sprinkling with salt, pepper and 1 Tbs. cheese between the layers of vegetables.
10. Top with the remaining potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
11. Using a large, flat spatula, gently press on the vegetables to compact them.
12. Pour the cream mixture through a strainer into the dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
13. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a sharp knife, about 45 minutes.
14. Remove the foil and bake until the mixture is golden brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes more. Let the gratin rest for about 10 minutes and serve immediately.

Dinner Snapshot - Jambalaya

We made jambalaya last Sunday and ended up eating it three nights in a row. The flavors just got better and better as the days went by. The first night, this dish was good. The second night, this dish was incredible. By the third night, the flavor was mind-blowing and it made us want to cry into our bowls when we ate the last bite.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
12 ounces andouille sausage or kielbasa, quartered lengthwise and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 1/4 cups jasmine rice (9 ounces)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1 1/2 cups water
1 thyme sprig
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound lump crabmeat

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 scallions, finely chopped
Tabasco

Instructions:

1. In a medium, enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the olive oil.

2. Add the andouille and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic to the casserole. Cover and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes.

4. Add the Old Bay, rice and andouille and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is opaque, about 2 minutes.

5. Add the stock, water and thyme, season lightly with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

6. Cover and cook over very low heat until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

7. Fluff with a fork and stir in the crab, shrimp and scallions.

8. Cover and let stand for 3 to 4 minutes, just until the crab is hot and the shrimp are opaque; discard the thyme sprig. Serve in bowls doused with plenty of Tabasco.

Making Christmas, Making Christmas

For presents this year we decided to make a fancy variety of nuts, like those you find at Western Nut Company. We went down to Sunflower Markets to pick up some raw, unsalted whole nuts and set forth turning them into presents.

First, we soaked a gazillion pounds of almonds in a mixture of kosher salt and water. Ten hours later, we removed the almonds from the water and laid them out to dry.

While they were drying, we worked on other varieties.

Curried cashews.

Chipotle-Spiced Pecans.

A day after we dried the almonds, we loaded our smoker full of hickory wood and set forth slow smoking the almonds. For five hours they smoked. Every fifteen minutes that passed would require one of us to go outside and stir the nuts. After the five hours were up, we personally inspected each and every nut, weeding out any that had been too close to the flame. This step made me realize that there are actually people in the world that do this sort of thing as a job. It was back-breaking, mind-numbing work. Hats off to them as I could never be a professional nut sorter.

Once done, we packed the nuts into assorted sizes of takeout containers, labeled them, and smacked a holiday sticker on the top.

All done.

The Art of Eating

As I travel the world and eat meals in the homes of locals, I notice the stark contrast between the ritual of eating in the United States versus everywhere else.

In New Zealand, it is a focus on fresh and local cuisine served simply usually using ingredients from right outside.

In Thailand, it is a focus on family and community. In the cities, everyone ventures to vendors to share meals family style. In homes, food is the same way. Piles of it shared for long periods of time between multiple family members.

All countries seem to use a combination of those two. Remote islands, Latin American countries...except for the United States.

If I was to host my Guatemalan friends in my home, how could I show them my country through its food? We're so much of a melting pot...are there any central traditions? Members of our society don't usually buy food street side, it takes thousands of miles to reach us, is usually prepared by someone else and eaten standing up, driving, etc.

Being a cook, it drives me crazy that I can't define my culture outside of fast food. The passing of a recent holiday answered my question. I would make a full Thanksgiving meal for visiting foreign friends. I can't think of anything else that our country, as a whole, sit down to regularly.

A Season of Thanks

With the turn of a calendar page, an end is near. Three hundred and sixty five has been reduced to 31, leaving me to marvel at how quickly the year has gone by. It seems only days ago that I was starting the November countdown yet November has come and gone, gracing us with friends and family as it passed.

This Thanksgiving marked a first...two families under one roof. David's mom (Lucille) and one sister (Nyron) made their first trip up for the holidays to join the two of us and my parents. For several days, we gathered around the kitchen table sharing old memories and making new ones. There was none of that tension so common around the holiday table but there was plenty of laughter and love. It was a table of excess: bacon-wrapped dates, goat cheese stuffed dates, filled philo, wrapped olives, tapenade, mashed potatoes, 24 pounds of turkey, fresh cranberry sauce, canned cranberry sauce, spiced yams, brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts, stuffing, green beans, rolls, pumpkin pie, chocolate pecan torte, and plenty of wine.

While we dined like kings, we took delight in life's greatest pleasure...a home filled with good food and loving family.

Dinner Snapshot - Panko Trout with Rainbow Chard

While the photo isn't very attractive, the food itself was fantastic. My father, the wandering fly fisherman, brought back a brown trout that would have made salmon cry. It was very long, very large, and very pink inside. The fillet in the photo is just one half of one side! Both of us agreed that it put most wild salmon to shame.

While I could have just cooked it up in a pan with a little bit of lemon, I was dying to use panko breadcrumbs on it. David's declared rainbow chard to be his new favorite vegetable...I'm pretty sure that he just likes it for the colors. Anyway, be prepared for more dishes that include rainbow chard.

Panko Crusted Trout

trout fillets - as much as two people can eat
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp rosemary, ground
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/4 grated parmesan
1 tbs butter, melted
juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a small bowl, combine the panko crumbs, oregano, rosemary, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.
3. Place fish in a baking pan and top with crumb mixture.
4. Sprinkle butter and lemon juice over the top.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until flaky.

Sauteed Rainbow Chard

1 bunch rainbow chard
5 heads garlic, thinly sliced
shaved rind of 1/2 a lemon
1 tbs olive oil

1. In a large pan, heat olive oil over a medium flame.
2. Remove thick bottoms from chard. Cut leaves and remaining ribs into 2 inch pieces.
3. Saute garlic for one minute.
4. Add chard to pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Top with lemon rind and serve.

Circus Animals Found Dead

This is so sad:

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/smallbusiness/0811/gallery.victims_of_the_crash.smb/2.html

There are only two cookies that I really, really love from the junk food store: Mother's Circus Animals and Mother's oatmeal cookies sans frosting. Boo on rising butter costs. Boo on using food for fuel instead of feed!

Baking Snapshot - Bread Plait

I came about this recipe by wanting hot bread. I pulled out a cookbook, looked at the basic ingredients to bread and then decided to wing it. I made two batches. While one was baking, I dropped the finished one off at my parent's house. These are so good, I've decided to make several to serve at Thanksgiving.

I use my Cuisinart food processor to make dough. If you do not have something similar, be sure to check out the alternative "by hand" directions underneath the main recipe.

Bread Plait

Dough:

4 tbs butter, melted

1 package active dry yeast

1/2 tbs honey

1 cup milk

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

Glaze:

1 egg yolk

1 tbs milk

1 tsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Melt butter at a low heat so that it doesn't get too hot.

3. Pour butter in small bowl. Add milk, 1/2 tsp honey, and yeast packet. Whisk briefly.

3. Let yeast mixture stand 15 minutes.

4. Combine flour and salt in bowl of food processor.

5. With machine running, add yeast mixture through feed tube. Only pour as quickly as the machine can incorporate the liquid into the flour.

6. Process until a ball of dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

7. Process an additional 60 seconds to knead the dough.

8. Form dough into a ball and set aside to rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.

9. On a greased baking sheet, punch down dough.

10. Divide the dough into three equal parts.

11. Form long ropes with each dough part. Push the tops together and secure by sticking to the underside of the cookie sheet.

12. Braid the bread ropes.

13. Press the ends together gently and tuck each end under the loaf.

14. Cover loaf lightly with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30 minutes.

15. Whisk glaze ingredients together. Brush glaze over dough.

16. Bake 30-40 minutes or until deep golden brown.

By Hand:

1. Prepare dough as directed through steps 4 but put flour/salt into a bowl instead.

2. Form a well in the center of the flour.

3. Pour yeast mixture into flour well.

4. With a wooden spoon, stir from the inside out, gently incorporating more flour into the yeast mixture until all flour is mixed in.

5. Turn bread out onto floured surface and knead for 2 minutes or until smooth.

6. Place dough aside to rise and complete bread as directed in steps 8-16.

Dinner Snapshot - Brussel Sprouts - From Beginning to End

A season of attending to several brussel sprout plants came to a conclusion when the last snow hit. Six plants had become one, most fell prey to raccoons. We were left with a giant stalk, toppling over from the weight of its sprouts. David had to use a saw to cut the stalk, measuring three inches in diameter. We had 1.9 pounds of sprouts total; the plant's largest sprout weighed in at over one ounce while the smallest could barely be registered by the palm of your hand.

David compared their taste to that of homegrown tomatoes...a tenderness and sweetness that you just can't get from grocery store equivalents.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

1-2 lbs brussel sprouts, cut in half lengthwise

2 tbs olive oil

6 ounces bacon, sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces

2 tbs thyme, fresh or dried

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon. Cook four minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add brussel sprouts and thyme. Stir well to coat sprouts.

4. Cook six to eight minutes.

5. Transfer sprouts to warmed casserole dish. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Serve.

Lunch Snapshot - Miso Soup with Shrimp

This meal came from standing in front of the cupboards one day, trying to create lunch out of cupboards that weren't cooperating. I saw some wilted spinach, instant miso, and a pack of soba noodles. 15 minutes later, I had lunch.

Miso Soup with Shrimp

9 peeled shrimp, defrosted (can be done quickly by running under cold water)
1 handful spinach
1 tbs soy sauce
2 cups water
handful of soba or udon noddles
pinch of grated ginger (it's always good to have grated ginger on hand)
pinch of sugar
package of instant miso (I use the kind that has the actual miso paste packet)

1. Boil noodles as directed.
2. While noodles are boiling, put spinach in soup bowl. Set aside.
3. In a saucepan combine water, soy sauce, sugar, and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil.
4. Stir in the miso paste.
5. Add the shrimp to the miso mixture. Boil until cooked, about 2 minutes.
6. Toss in miso dry seasoning packet (to avoid the sodium, toss in some crumbled up dry seaweed and some green onion slices instead) and cook 1 additional minute.
7. Pour soup over spinach and serve.