Lemon Basil Tagliatelle

I just read a great opinion piece in the NY Times about Blue Apron - the company that sends you your pre-measured meal in a box. It seems they just had their initial IPO and it was a bit underwhelming.

I have to admit that I just don't get the concept. As the author stated:

My deepest problem with meal kits, however, is that I worry they’re not teaching people how to cook, but are instead teaching them how to prepare meal kits. The recipe cards that came with some meal kit boxes sounded like word problems, full of measurements, times and temperatures, and if there’s anything I hate it’s this insistence on turning cooking into math.

I totally get this. I have written many, many recipes in my life - and the one thing that always stands out is you can't just follow a recipe - you need to be involved in the process. You need to look and feel, smell and taste. The most difficult thing in the world for me is to tell someone how I made something. I don't know... I just did it! Recipes are guidelines - not chiseled in stone absolutes.

But the neophyte cook wants chiseled in stone absolutes.

In this regard, something like Blue Apron can give someone the confidence to try something new, but cooking is about just going in and doing it.

I had a conversation with a woman at work today about cooking and planning meals for the week. She has a friend who every Sunday plans the weeks meals, buys the groceries, etc... both of us said that there's no way on Sunday that we know what we want to eat on Thursday... It seems totally alien, to me. She also said she just has stuff in the house and puts things together, but she wasn't a good cook. I told her that if she can walk into the kitchen and put dinner together without a plan from what she had on-hand, she was a fantastic cook!

We talked about reading recipes and changing things around - never really following them - using what was in the house or things we just liked better. It's all perspective, I guess. That's exactly how I cook - and it's how Victor's pasta came out, today.

The plan was that since I had to work until 5pm, he would feed Nonna early and we would have a leisurely dinner, whenever. He had picked up some shrimp the other day with the thought of doing a fresh pasta and shrimp dish. I had no knowledge of the dinner plans - if someone is cooking, I'm eating. I am not fussy and I do not make demands. I sit down, eat, and love every minute of it.

He started off with his egg pasta recipe for the tagliatelle, but when it came time for the sauce, he took a totally different route.

Fresh Egg Pasta

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp salt

Spoon 2 3/4 cups of the flour into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Beat the eggs, olive oil and salt together in a small bowl until blended. With the motor running, pour the egg mixture into the processor. Process until it forms a rough and slightly sticky dough. If the mixture is too dry, drizzle in a very small amount of warm water and continue processing. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl onto a lightly floured counter.

Knead the dough with the heels of your hands until it is smooth, silky and elastic – 5 to 10 minutes of constant kneading.

Flour the work surface and your hands lightly any time the dough begins to stick while you’re kneading.

Roll the dough into a smooth ball and place in a small bowl. Cover and let the dough rest at least an hour before rolling and shaping.

We have a pasta roller - hand-crank, you can buy them for about $70 - or you can roll the pasta out by hand and cut it into strips.

The sauce was spectacular with the fresh pasta. Light and summery - with the basil and lemon making me smile with every bite. We don't have a mortar and pestle - got rid of it years ago - so he didn't turn the basil into paste, made it with two egg yolks, not one, and didn't measure anything else.

It was flipping delicious.

Lemon Basil Pasta

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan
  • zest of 1 lemon, plus juice
  • 1 small bunch fresh basil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together the egg yolk, olive oil, Parmesan, and lemon zest.

Finely chop basil and add to the egg mixture.

Cook the pasta until al dente, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Place pasta in a large bowl and stir in the basil-egg mixture. Toss well to combine, then add a bit of pasta cooking water until the pasta is coated in a creamy sauce.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, and top with additional grated cheese.

If you're really unsure about cooking, by all means get a Blue Apron meal and have some fun. But realize that you can do it on your own, too.

Just don't think that every meal you make has to be five-star restaurant quality. hat's not what cooking is all about.

Trust me on this.

I cook.

 


Torta di Patate

When I described what I was thinking of making for dinner, tonight, Victor's first comment was You're going to be a force to be reckoned with when you're retired. I think he was making reference to the messes I was going to create, not my culinary abilities, but I'll take it. Some of my kitchen messes truly are legendary  - although his have been getting better since he retired. While it really would be difficult to use every pan in the kitchen - as we have so many - we're both pretty good at using more than two for a meal.

Tonight's meal was brought to us by an email from La Cucina Italiana. The dish was ropes of mashed potatoes coiled in a pan and topped with fresh sardines. And it used more than two pots.

From La Cucina Italiana Magazine

 

I get regular emails from la Cucina - all in Italian - and have gotten reasonably good at figuring out the gist of what they're trying to say. Google translate is hysterical at translating recipes, but, I kinda get what they're trying to say - being able to cook does help.

I loved the idea of this, but fresh sardines are not all that plentiful out here in 'burbia. Besides, it is Sunday and I didn't feel like leaving the house. I had taken some veal Italian sausage out of the freezer last night, so I thought I could expound on this idea and make a filled torta and use roasted peppers for the topping. The look is really cool and it is all about the visual... And I wanted it to be something Nonna would eat.

The sardine torta is what got the creative juices flowing. As you can see, the dish I came up with is pretty much nothing like the original. It was made in a shallow pan. I made mine in an 8"x3" springform - the one that arrived last week after I made the Tourte Milanese in an 8" cake pan. Do you notice the Italian theme to most of my cooking, nowadays?!?

For my version, I roasted 2 green peppers on the grill and then peeled and seeded them. Next was boiling potatoes. I used a combination of yukon gold and white Jersey sweet potatoes.

Next, I sauteed the sausage with diced onions and a bit of garlic and then set it side to cool. I had an 8oz ball of fresh mozzarella, so I cubed it and mixed it in with the sausage and onions when it was cooled down.

I mashed the potatoes while they were hot and mixed in some shredded Italian cheeses. When they were cool, I added one whole egg and 2 egg yolks, along with some salt and pepper.

I buttered the pan and covered it liberally with bread crumbs.

One the bottom went a layer of potatoes - maybe 1/3" thick. I rolled a rope of potatoes on the counter - lightly floured to keep from sticking - and placed the first rope in the pan along the bottom edge.

I then added the sausage and cheese mixture, mounding it in the center.

I did two more potato ropes, laying strips of roasted green pepper on top. I added a big swirl of potatoes in the middle and then a final rope along the edge because I had the potatoes to do it with. Into a 350°F oven for an hour.

 

It worked. It really worked. I was most impressed with the fact that it actually held together. Nonna thought it was different - but she cleaned her plate.

The fun thing about dishes like this is you really can do anything with them. You could make it a completely vegetarian filling - broccoli rabe would probably rock - as well as any number of summer squashes... Mix roasted butternut squash with the potatoes...

The possibilities really are limited only by your imagination.

Buon appetito!

 

 

 


Mini Cheese Cakes

We were watching Jacques Pepin the other night and he made a mini-cheese cake / souffle that really looked interesting. Jacques is another of my most favorite chefs. No pretense, no huge ego - just really good, sound cooking and technique. I really like how he credits all of the various jobs he has had over the years for making him a skilled cook, today. Things he learned at his parent's restaurant when he was a kid, things he learned working for Howard Johnson's, things he learned in school. Taking things from one place and being able to adapt them elsewhere is important. One of the things I liked most about opening hotels all over the USofA was learning new ways to do things and tweaking them for the next property. Lots of different experiences, seeing different ways of doing things, and just being open to new ideas makes us all better people.

I also like how he doesn't get flustered when things don't go right. The episode with the mini cheese cakes, his daughter was supposed to butter the souffle cups and then coat them with bread crumbs. The reason for the crumbs is to easily get them out of the cups when cooked. She did butter them but as he was filling them, he realized they hadn't been crumbed. He just said that if they don't come out, they can serve them in the cups. No big deal.

And that's an important thing to remember about most things in life - it's no big deal.

Like the recipe calling for 6 oz souffle cups but we only have 10 oz souffle cups. And I only wanted to make two because Nonna sure wasn't going to eat one. I cut the recipe in half, used 10 oz cups, and they came out stellar! Oh - and the recipe calls for whipped cream cheese and I only had half a brick. No big deal.

 

This took about three minutes to make and a mere 20 minutes in the oven. Ridiculously easy - and ridiculously good.

Light and delicate, rich, rich flavor, totally satisfying. I used an aged roquefort for the dish and it really shone. I would imagine just about any good cheese would work - maybe even my favorite traditional French brie - but the roquefort was so good, I may not mess with success.

Jacques served them on a bed of arugula as a salad. I just did them as a simple side dish and the recipe was easy to cut it in half for the two of us. I'm sure it would be easy enough to double for a crowd, as well.

I also mixed the cheese into the batter, because I think that's how he did it on the TV show. You can't screw it up, so do it as you see fit. It's no big deal.

Mini Savory Cheese Cakes

Jacques Pepin

  • 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 cup (one 8-ounce container) whipped cream cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
  • 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese, like Stilton or Roquefort

Preheat the oven to 350. Generously coat four small (3/4-cup) soufflé molds with the butter. Divide the bread crumbs among the molds and coat the bottoms and sides heavily with the crumbs, pressing them onto the buttered dish so they stick.

Put the cream cheese in a medium bowl and add the eggs, sour cream, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the parsley. Mix well with a whisk and divide among the soufflé molds. Sprinkle the crumbled blue cheese on top of the cream cheese mixture in the molds. Top with the remaining 1 tablespoon parsley.

Arrange the molds on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. The cheesecakes will still be slightly wet and soft in the center. Let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding.

Delish.

 

 


Summer Salads

The first day of Summer deserves a salad for dinner. It's a celebratory meal for a celebratory day. It's the longest day of the year - but 30 years ago, it was the end of labor and what my sister-in-law, Debbie, probably thought of as the longest night of her life - the birth of my nephew, Bill.

30 years old. It seems hard to believe that 30 years ago we were all at the hospital waiting for him. That's "all" as in my entire family. It's what we do - arrive en masse to the hospital for babies, operations - anything requiring major stitches or an overnight stay. Bill is the 9th of the eventual 13 grandkids - but Number Nine might as well been Number One. We're there to welcome them into the fold, offer moral support to the father...

As uncle, aunt, or cousin, we don't have any responsibility, so it's really all about being loud and obnoxious - and having fun. Cocktails have also been included from time to time. And we all smoked. The hospital waiting room was a billowing cloud of Marlboro's. Can you imagine smoking in a hospital, today? Hell - can you imagine smoking, today?!?

Great fun, indeed.

Here's the little tyke not long after his arrival...

And then him and his fabulous wife, Christine, on their wedding day four years ago. It's hard to believe it's been four years!

Time really does fly when you're having fun. And we're all having fun.

Just like we had a fun dinner - beer can chicken o the grill, beef tenderloin chunks I marinated and then grilled, along the lines of my Spicy Garlic Flank Steak... The bean salad from the other night... hard cooked egg, kalamata olives, and a simple vinaigrette whipped up by Victor. It was perfect.

And speaking of perfect... Here's all 13 of them...

Jacob
Jennifer
Erin
Julia
Michael
Sean
Nicole
Jessica
Bill
Justin
Katie
Megan
Emily

 

13 of them and they're all good kids. Between them, they're raising 16 kids - chaos and pandemonium reigns supreme! Well... organised chaos and pandemonium.

There are a lot of benefits to coming from a large family - and there's 13 reasons right off the bat. I wouldn't have it any other way.


Bean and Wheat Berry Salad

It's just a couple of days before the official start of summer, but the weather is already screaming mid-August. It's 85°F with humidity you can cut with a knife. We're under a severe thunderstorm watch and a flash flood watch until midnight.

Oh, joy.

The rain and the thunder, I don't mind. It's the damned heat. It saps what little energy I have left in my advancing age and places me indoors in the air conditioning. Even Blanche is feeling it. She'll lay outside in her favorite dirt hole in the shade for a bit and then it's indoors and laying in front of the air conditioning vent on the cold tile kitchen floor. Nonna, in the meantime, is sitting in her room with the air vents closed under an electric throw turned to high.

Hot weather may sap my energy but it sure doesn't sap my appetite. I'm the original feed a cold, feed a fever person who gets sick and gains weight. There are not a lot of things that affect my appetite, although extreme heat or cold may affect what it is I want - like ice cream, whether it's blazing hot or blizzarding.

Today, the weather dictated salad - and beans and wheat berries came to mind.

Wheat berries are one of those really overlooked delicacies. I love the flavor and the chew of them after cooking - served hot as a side or cold in a salad. They add great texture to dishes - plus protein and fiber.

And I love beans, as well - more protein and fiber. Mix 'em all together and it's a nutrient-dense dish.

Today's salad is typical of my throw-together dishes. It's made from the stuff that was in the house at the time I made it. I didn't go out and buy anything specific for it and the next time I make it, items will probably change to reflect that day's offerings.

Bean and Wheat Berry Salad

  • 1 cup wheat berries, cooked and cooled
  • 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 1 small can sliced black olives
  • 1 small jar roasted red peppers, chopped
  • assorted fresh herbs (today, I used basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, ad mint)
  • S&P, to taste

Mix everything together and serve in a nice bowl.

If you're lucky enough to have one handmade by Kel Darling, by all means use it!! Handmade bowls, plates and pottery with a story, and just fun, unique pieces make food taste better.

Seriously.

Most of what I cook is basic stuff that anyone can do. It only looks great because it's on fun plates and platters. We eat with our eyes and something colorful in a fun serving bowl is just going to taste better than the same item in a disposable aluminum pan.

As I learned from my very first job at the donut shop years (and years) ago, it's all about presentation.

 


Polenta con Ragù di Carni Bianche

That sounds so much more impressive than polenta with a white meat sauce, doesn't it?!? But that's exactly what the fancy named dish is - a really good meat sauce made with milk and chicken stock - and a mere 2 tablespoons of tomato paste - in place of copious amounts of tomatoes. Northern Italian...

I headed down to the local library today to get a new book on tape. Well... An audio book. On CD. You know what I mean. Old habits die hard around here.

But after getting my book - Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith - I perused the stacks and found a Lidia cook book we don't have - Lidia Cooks From The Heart Of Italy.

I've been back to the library a lot more, recently. Have you noticed that Kindle books - electronic, digital, nothing-but-electronic transferring - are becoming more expensive than print books? It truly is the scam what am. I really like my Kindle, but I'm also a cheap SOB when it comes to stuff like this. I can wait the two days for the print copy - or just head to the Library a few blocks away.

I guess he has to pay for that Whole Foods acquisition, somehow...

But back to Lidia...

I started glancing through the book, looking for things I could make with ingredients already in the house. No way do I walk into a grocery store on a weekend. I.Just.Won't.Do.It.

Fortunately, our usually well-stocked larder was well-stocked enough for the white meat sauce. I had the beef/pork/veal mix in the freezer from my last trek to Reading Terminal Market and carrots, onion, and celery are always in the house. Always.

Her recipe calls for three pounds of meat - I had 1 1/2 pounds and it made a lot of sauce, so plan accordingly.

Ragù di Carni Bianche

Adapted From Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy
by Lidia Bastianich.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 pound ground pork
  • 1/2 pound ground veal
  • 1 medium onion, cut in chunks
  • 1 medium carrot, cut in chunks
  • 1 medium stalk celery, cut in chunks
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp. butter
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup white wine
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 4 cups very hot chicken broth
  • 2 fresh bay leaves

Directions:

  1. Lightly mix ground meats together.
  2. Mince the onions, carrots and celery chunks in a food processor to an even textured paste. Saute the paste in a large saucepan with the butter and 2 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat. Cook and stir the pestata until it has dried out and is beginning to stick, about 5 mins.
  3. Quickly crumble all the meat into the pan, stir with the pestata, sprinkle over it 1 more teaspoon of salt and cook, tossing and stirring occasionally, until the meat starts to release its juices. Turn up the heat a bit, and continue cooking and stirring the meat as the juices evaporate, about 10 minutes, taking care that the meat doesn't brown and crisp.
  4. When the juices have disappeared, pour in the white wine, bring it to a bubbling simmer, and cook until evaporated, 2 or 3 minutes. When the wine has cooked away, add the tomato paste and cook a minute or so. Next, pour in the milk and cook, stirring until it has cooked down.
  5. Ladle 1 cup of hot stock into the pan, just enough to cover the meat. Stir in the bay leaves and bring the liquid to an active simmer. Cover the pan, adjust the heat so the liquid is steadily bubbling (not rapidly boiling), and cook for 15-20 minutes, letting the broth gradually reduce. Stir in about 2 more cups hot stock, just to cover the meat again, then give another 20-minute period of covered cooking and reducing. Stir in a final cup of stock, and cook, covered until the ragu is thick and concentrated, 20 minutes or so. (The sauce should have cooked for at least an hour and incorporated 4 cups of stock in total.)
  6. Taste the ragu and adjust the seasoning.

Nonna had hers over pasta because she doesn't like polenta - but she really missed out. The polenta was perfect with it. It was meaty, creamy, filling - very filling. Neither of us finished our bowls.

There is plenty of sauce leftover for another meal. I'll have to think of something fun to pair this with.

 

 


Spaghetti

We don't seem to eat a lot of spaghetti, anymore. We both love it but Nonna no longer cares for long noodles. Our pasta dishes have become more rigatoni and penne - and less linguine and vermicelli.

But, every now and again, the stars align and spaghetti ends up in the pot. Today was one of those alignments.

I had to work a bit late, so Nonna was fed early. That meant we could have anything we wanted - at whatever time we wanted!

Spaghetti with Anchovies, Porcini Mushrooms, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes!

A really simple throw-together of garlic, olive oil, anchovies, reconstituted porcini mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes in oil, freshly-grated parmesan, and fresh basil.

The kind of meal that can make a grown man weep - it was so good. I ate that whole plate - and then sopped up the oil in the bottom of the plate with french bread.

The plate - the pasta bowl - is another thing that doesn't come out often enough. It's a part of our dinnerware we had made in Florence. That really does sound pretentious, doesn't it?!? But... pretentious or no, even with shipping, it was less expensive than china we have seen registered for a few weddings... and we got to meet the people who actually made it! I can't even begin to describe how cool it was to sit down and talk about the sizes, the shapes, and the patterns for each of the pieces.

It sits on the sideboard and we see it every day - we just don't use it, enough.

The Franciscan Desert Rose has pretty much taken over as our everyday china - with the Cost Plus china coming in second, the Sur la Table plates coming in third, and the various other sets following. We have a plate fetish - seriously. Not long ago - after getting the Desert Rose - I bought a set of Anchor Hocking Royal Ruby Red glass dinnerware. It was exactly the stuff my grandmother had - as was the Desert Rose.

We have a complete set of Mikasa Fruit Panorama. And I do mean complete. Cups, bowls, plates, footed bowls, trays, platters...

And Aunt Dolores' china...

And my grandmother's china...

And Victor's Mom's china...

 

And our everyday stuff...

And the square glass stuff...

And the pressed glass Christmas service for 36...

And don't even get me started on platters and serving pieces... there are so many handmade bowls and platters we could open an art gallery. And every bit of it has a story - the platter we bought in Rome, the cake plate we bought in Caltagirone - and broke in our luggage and Victor put back together. The huge bowl and platter we bought in Little Italy in New York and carried back on the train.

One of these days we're going to have to seriously sit down and figure this stuff out. There is glassware and stemware that we'll never use. Plates downstairs in the basement that just collect dust. But where to even begin at this point? So much fun. So many meals. So many memories.

And so much dust.


Tourte Milanese

We were watching an old episode of Baking with Julia the other night and chef Michel Richard came on to make puff pastry. And one of the things he made with that puff pastry was a Tourte Milanese.

I have made more than my share of puff pastry in the past and when I found some decent stuff at the grocers, I pretty much put away my recipe and said hell with it. I don't take a lot of shortcuts, but spending the day in the kitchen rolling, folding, chilling, rolling, folding, chilling, just isn't as much fun as it used to be. I may make an exception the next time I make this - and there definitely will be a next time - but there is some really good store-bought out there made with decent ingredients if you take the time to look.

I have had the Baking with Julia cookbook for 20 years and have made many things from it - but I had never really noticed the Torte Milanese until I saw the TV episode. I can't believe I have been missing out on this for 20 years! I am in the process of re-reading the entire cookbook, right now. Who knows what other treasures have been collecting dust. Such first world problems...

The recipe calls for an 8" springform pan. I have a 10 1/2" and a 6"  but no 8" (actually, I'll have one on Saturday - I just ordered one on Amazon) so I used an 8" x 3" cake pan. It worked and I was able to get it out of the pan while it was warm, but I could use an 8" pan, anyway... what the hell.

The recipe takes a while to put together, but it's all easy stuff. It also needs some serious cooling time, if you want it to hold together, so making it early in the day for the evening would probably work better than my making it in the afternoon for dinner - in the wrong pan.

Tourte Milanese

Michel Richard Cooking With Julia

  • 1 pound puff pastry, chilled

For the Eggs

  • 10 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 teaspoons snipped fresh tarragon
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preparing the Pastry:

Generously butter an 8 1/2 inch springform pan. The butter will help the pastry stick to the sides of the pan. Cut off one quarter of the pastry, cover, and set aside. Roll out remaining puff pastry on a lightly floured board to a ¼ inch thick round. Carefully fit the pastry into the pan, pressing to get a smooth fit. Don't worry about perfection, but do leave a 1 inch overhang.

Roll out the smaller piece of pastry until it is ¼ inch thick. Cut out an 8-inch circle of dough for the top of the tourte and lift it onto a plate. Cover both the crust and the lid with plastic wrap and keep them refrigerated while you prepare the filling.

Making the Eggs:

The eggs are used to seal the tourte. Whisk eggs, herbs, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Melt the butter in a large skillet over low heat and pour in the eggs. Gently but constantly stir the eggs around in the pan. You want to cook them slowly and loosely since they will be cooked further in the tourte. Slide the eggs onto a plate, without mounding them, and cover immediately with plastic wrap. The eggs need to be cooled before assembling the tourte.

The Filling:

  • 6 large red bell peppers
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1½ pounds spinach, trimmed and washed
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
  • 8 ounces Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
  • 8 ounces smoked ham, thinly sliced
  • 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water and a pinch of salt

Roast the peppers:

Place whole and untrimmed, directly over the flame of a gas burner. As soon as one portion of the skin is charred, turn the pepper. When black and blistered all over, drop into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let steam for about 20 minutes. Use your fingers to rub off skin.

Cut each pepper once from top to bottom, cut away the stem, then open the peppers and lay them flat. Trim away the inside veins and discard the seeds; season peppers with salt and pepper and set aside, covered, until needed.

Cook the Spinach in a large quantity of boiling salted water for 1 minute to blanch it. Drain spinach in a colander, rinse with cold water, and squeeze to extract all of the excess moisture.

Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet. Add garlic and blanched spinach and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and add the heavy cream if using. Bring quickly to a boil and stir so it mixes with the spinach. Remove the spinach from the skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Assemble the Torte:

Remove the pastry-lined springform pan from the refrigerator and layer the filling ingredients in the following order: half the eggs, half the spinach, half the ham, half the cheese, all the roasted peppers, and then continue in reverse with the remaining half of the cheese, remaining half of ham, remaining half of spinach, and the remaining half of eggs.

Fold the excess crust in over the filling, and brush the rim of crust you've created with the egg wash. Center the rolled-out top crust over the torte and gently push the edge of the top crust down into the pan, pressing and sealing the top and bottom crusts along the sides.

Brush the top with the egg wash and cut a vent in the center of the crust. Use the point of the knife to etch a design in the top crust, taking care to cut only halfway into the dough.

Chill the fully loaded tourte for 30 minutes to 1 hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 350°F and place rack in lower third of oven.

Bake the Tourte:

Place the tourte on a jelly-roll pan, give it another coat of egg wash, and bake it for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until puffed and deeply golden. Remove from the oven and let rest on a rack until it is just warm or reaches room temperature. Run a blunt knife around the edges of the pan and release the sides.

Okay... It sounds like a lot of work and... well... it is. Kinda. It can all be done in stages and put together when you want to bake it. It can also be done a day or two in advance and served slightly chilled or at room temperature.

We let it cool for about 45 minutes and the cheese was still warm and runny - and that's how I would recommend serving it, but your results may vary.

There's really no wrong way to do it - except not doing it at all.

The beauty of this is that every bite was different. Some would be more egg, another more pepper. Or a combination of crust and spinach. Or spinach and cheese and a bit of ham.

It really was excellent.

Thank you, Julia for making me pay attention to this book!

And, for grins and giggles... here's the PBS episode!

 

 


Cherry Bourbon BBQ Sauce

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by Cooking Light Magazine. I had dropped my subscription to the magazine several years ago because they had - in my not so humble opinion - become more of a woman's magazine with a few recipes. Their recipes had become too focused on fat and not focused on overall food and nutrition - or cooking and flavor. There were too many microwave and prepared food dishes. I definitely wasn't their demographic any longer.

And then, one day, it all changed.

Back were recipes that were worth cooking along with less makeup tips. I started up another subscription and I'm rather glad I did. I'm finding fun recipes in each issue with more relevant cooking ideas. The latest issue is a case in point - it had cherries.

I'm a cherry fan from way back. I even have a cherry pitter. Back when we lived in San Leandro, I entered the Cherry Pie Contest at their Cherry Festival and won 2nd Place in the non-traditional cherry pie category! It's the only pie contest I have ever entered and have to admit that the pie was pretty damned good. I think one of these days I'm going to have to make another one...

In the meantime, Cherry Bourbon BBQ Sauce. The magazine did it on chicken legs. I did it on beef brochettes. I think you could do it on anything and it would be excellent!

Cherry Bourbon BBQ Sauce

adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

  • 1 1/2 cups cherry juice
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup bourbon
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Place cherry juice in saucepan. Bring to boil and reduce to 1 cup.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Reduce heat and cook until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Cool.

It really came out good. My one thought was that I didn't taste any bourbon. Victor thought it could have been a bit hotter. But both of us thought it was really good, regardless.

It made a pint of sauce and I only used a bit for the beef, so into the 'fridge it has gone for another meal, another day...

It's worth the few minutes it takes to put it together!

 

 


Tapenade-Stuffed Chicken

I have been watching Jacques Pepin on TV since his very first show. I love his food, his style, and his approach to cooking. Unlike so many Celebrity Chefs, Jacques Pepin actually understands food and our relationships with it. He's not a show-off trying to let everyone know how great he is. He's a teacher who imparts his years of knowledge with ease and humor. He is truly a role model. I have most of his cook books - actual hard cover, not digital - and can easily get lost in any one of them.

His latest TV series is on PBS - right after Jeopardy - and it's where you will find us most nights of the week. It's wild times at our house, for sure.

A few days ago, he cooked up chicken breasts stuffed with a homemade olive tapenade that just seemed out of this world. I made it, tonight. It is.

Ever have one of those dishes that just works on every level? This is one of them. The homemade tapenade is extraordinary. In fact, I shall never buy tapenade, again. This one was so easy to make and so flavorful, there's just no comparison - and it only took seconds in the food processor to put together!

While you're here... take a look at the plate made by my friend, Kel...

I had a couple of bone-in chicken breasts, so I actually boned them, myself, instead of using the boneless store-boughts I usually have on hand. It's nice to actually do things like that once in a while so I don't completely forget how to cook.

From the boning to the stuffing was just a couple of minutes. And then it was into a skillet - covered - for a quick cook. It was pretty much a 30 minute start-to-finish meal.

The recipe is online in many different places, so I don't feel bad reposting it, here.

Chicken with Tapenade and Mushroom Sauce

Jacques Pepin

Tapenade:

  • 3/4 cup chopped pitted mixed olives
  • 8 oil-packed anchovy fillets
  • 2 dried apricots, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons small capers, rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Chicken:

  • Four 6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • Kosher salt
  • Pepper

Sauce:

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 cups cremini mushrooms, chopped
  • 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • Chopped parsley and chives, for garnish

Putting it together:

  1. In a food processor, pulse the olives with the anchovies, apricots, garlic, capers and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until the tapenade is a coarse puree.
  2. Make a horizontal incision in each piece of chicken to form a pocket. Spoon the tapenade into each pocket and press gently to close. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.
  3. In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the chicken breasts, cover and cook over moderate heat, flipping once, until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover with aluminum foil.
  4. In the same skillet, add the mushrooms and onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook, scraping up the brown bits in the pan, until the liquid is slightly reduced, about 2 minutes more. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer until warmed through, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the chicken breasts to 4 plates and spoon the sauce over the top. Garnish with parsley and chives and serve.

Anchovies and apricots in tapenade. Who woulda thunk? But, dayum, it works! And the sauce is simplicity unto itself.

This one shall happen, again - and the tapenade shall happen often!

 

 


Sunday Scones

Sunday scones are becoming a bit of a tradition around here... They're quick and easy to make - and really taste great.

I have a couple of go-to recipes - one using heavy cream and one using buttermilk. I almost always have one or the other in the 'fridge. This week it's the buttermilk since I soaked the chicken in it for the fried chicken, tonight.

There are a bazillion different ways of making scones. I like putting a dollop of jam on the wide edge before baking them. Sometimes it runs off a bit, but... such is life. That's why I line my pans with parchment paper. These are also throw-togethers. I'm not trying to impress someone with my fabulous baking skills or sell them for $20 a piece. They're just something to have on a Sunday morning with a fresh cup of coffee.

Today, I topped half of them with raspberry jam and the others with gooseberry jam.

My first introduction to a gooseberry was back in the early '60s. My mom had a pen-pal (remember those?!?) in England, named Ruth Brown. I think she lived in Birmingham. Anyway... they sent each other gift packs one year and the two things I remember from the box are gooseberry jam and Brighton Rock candy. The candy was way-cool for this 12-year old. It had the words "Brighton Rock" embedded all the way through the stick - something I had never seen before. It was a marvel.

The gooseberry jam is a little less memorable - I barely got a taste of it. My mom saved it for her own toast in the morning - it was much too good to waste on mere children. Yes. I was raised by a woman who thought children had their place in a family - and it wasn't always first. The emotional scars run deep.

But back to scones...

These really are simple to put together and in a mere 30 minutes from start-to-finish, you can be eating scones fresh from the oven!

Buttermilk Scones

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 stick cold butter
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • jam of choice

Preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C.

Mix dry ingredients together. Quickly cut in butter using a pastry knife or your fingers. You can also use a food processor.

Mix buttermilk with the egg and vanilla. Lightly mix into flour mixture.

Form into a circle about 1 inch / 25 mm.

Cut into 8 pieces, make an indentation on wide end and add about a tablespoon of your favorite jam.

Bake about 22-25 minutes, or until browned.

Let cool slightly and enjoy!

Make some memories...

 

 


San Francisco Sourdough

It's 84° outside - that's 29°C for the rest of the world - perfect weather for baking bread.

I really do like baking bread on hot days - proofing the dough outside in Mother Nature's All-Natural Proofing Box makes for some great bread. And today's loaf is some great bread.

Sometimes the stars all align and the bread gods smile down and everything just falls into place. This was one of those times.

As a kid growing up, I never paid attention to bread. It was just always good. The crusty end of any loaf was then - and is now - my favorite slice.

Back in the day, the two main bread makers in San Francisco were Parisian and Larraburu. My father drove a Larraburu Bread truck before joining the SFFD - hence my personal favorite as a child. Both were started during the Gold Rush and both had starters over 100 years old - and both tasted different from one another. I don't remember Boudin Bakery at all - and it's the only one left - and it's not nearly as good as a loaf of Larraburu!

This recipe is one from my Mom and it's an interesting mix - after the first rise, you mix in up to another cup of flour, shape the loaf, and proof, again. The dough did come out with that perfect bread dough consistency - soft, supple, and firm. It just felt right from the beginning!

I've made Mom's other sourdough bread a lot over the years - this was my first on this one. It shan't be my last! I'm not sure where this recipe originated but it makes a damned good loaf of bread.

I made one large flat round - a shape I don't see much of anymore but was really popular in my youth. Crusty, crunchy, and chewy crust with a really nice crumb. I could easily see it as two long loaves, as well, but I use an old pizza stone for baking and, for me, it's just easier to do a round.

This is going to make some really good toast tomorrow morning - and will go great with the cold fried chicken for dinner tomorrow night.

It's nice to have options...