Quiches (I promise not to make any jokes about "real men" and quiche)

I have a new favorite dish to make:  quiche.  Let me extol the virtues of the sublime quiche.  They're easy to make, they're versatile, they make great dishes for entertaining or for just the family, you can add all kinds of good-for-you veggies, they're a great pot-luck meal, they can be used for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and best of all, they're really tasty! 

In the past couple of weeks, I've made two recipes that I've found particularly easy.  Both are variations on recipes found originally on Allrecipes.com, but the two quiche recipes below reflect my own changes.  In addition, I use a ridiculously easy pie crust recipe that works perfectly with both sweet and savory dishes alike; it too comes from allrecipes.com.   

No-Roll Pie Crust II
Courtesy of allrecipes.com, submitted by Laura_1221
(makes one 9-inch pie crust)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons of milk

-- In a 9-inch pie plate sift flour, sugar and salt.  Make a well in the center and pour in oil and milk.
-- Mix with a fork and then press into the bottom and sides of a pie plate.  
-- Can be used as is for recipes that call for an unbaked crust.  
-- For recipes that call for a baked crust, preheat oven to 450F, bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  

Potato, Ham, and Onion Quiche
(serves 8)

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust
2 cups of shredded hash browned potatoes (thaw if using frozen)
1/3 cup butter, melted
salt to taste
1 cup diced cooked ham
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
 
-- Preheat oven to 425F
-- Press hash browns into the bottom and sides of the pie crust. 
-- Drizzle with butter and sprinkle with salt
-- Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until potatoes begin to brown
-- In a small bowl, combine ham, onion, and shredded cheese.   In a separate bowl, whisk togethereggs, milk, salt, and pepper.  
-- When crust is ready, spread ham mixture evenly on the bottom, then cover with the egg mixture.
-- Reduce oven temperature to 350F, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until filling is puffed and golden brown.  

Spinach Quiche
(serves 8)

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust
1 (10-ounce) package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 bunch of green onions, finely chopped (white parts only)
4 eggs, beaten
1 (16 ounce) package of cottage cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

 
-- Preheat oven to 325F
-- Place spinach in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until soft.  Drain off any remaining liquid.
-- Stir in green onions, eggs, cottage cheese, and cheddar cheese. 
-- Pour mixture into crust.  
-- Bake in oven for 45-50 minutes, or until eggs are set

 

Grandma's Pizzelle

I am completely indulging myself with this post.  I truly don't believe there are too many folks out there looking for pizzelle recipes.  First of all, you probably need to be Italian.  You also need to have had a grandmother or great aunt or someone who made them for you, as they're pretty old school.  Then, you need to actually like the taste of anise; in my experience, not many people do.  And finally -- and this is the biggie -- you actually have to have access to a pizzelle maker.  It's essentially like a waffle iron, only it makes thin cookies into their distinctive floral/star shape on one side, and grid pattern on the other side.

  

I actually meet all four of those requirements, including owning a pizzelle maker.   My grandmother used to make pizzelle all the time.   She always had a stack of them in her house, and we were constantly going home with a package of them wrapped up in foil.  For holidays she would even make the chocolate variety.  

So, there is nothing inherently Christmas-y about them, but for me, I can't imagine a Christmas without them.  This is my first Christmas without my grandmother.  She died this summer at 91 years old -- and she was making pizzelle almost until the end.  It's a tradition I want to pass along to my girls.  As they grow up, they won't really remember their Bisnonna, but I can continue her tradition through the pizzelle.   Her recipe follows. 

Big Vick's Pizzelle

(makes about 3 dozen cookies)

6 eggs

2 sticks of softened butter

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 teaspoons of anise oil

3 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of sugar

4 teaspoons of baking powder

3 tablespoons anise seed

-- Heat up the pizzelle iron

-- Cream eggs, butter, vanilla, and aniseed together

-- Add dry ingredients and blend until smooth.  Batter should be thick

-- Spray canola oil or some other non-stick spray onto both the top and bottom parts of the pizzelle iron.  You may need to repeat this a few times as you work through the batter

-- Drop about a tablespoon of the batter into the center of the iron, depending on how thick you want the cookies to be.  Shut iron and keep pressed for about 30-45 seconds.   The tighter you keep it, the thinner the cookies will be. 

-- Use a spatula to remove the cookies from the iron

-- Let cool, and then pack airtight

Once you make these a few times you'll learn that the first few cookies are your "mulligan" cookies.    It will take you a few cookies to figure out how much batter to use, how thick/thin you want them to be, how long to keep the iron shut, how often you will need to re-spray the iron, etc.  But once you get the hang of it, they're fun to make.   The cookies are a yummy alternative to biscotti with coffee in the morning.   And the anise has a nice digestive flavor for after dinners. 

If you're at all interested in buying your own pizzelle maker, you should check out Fante's.  It is located in the Italian market area of South Philadelphia, but has an online storefront as well.   This is where my own grandmother bought some of her own equipment.   

Enjoy your pizzelle, and Buon Natale!

Figgy Pork

My parents visited the wine country in Sonoma earlier this fall and brought me back a jar of dried fig compote from the girl & the fig.  I looove figs.  I've been saving this jar until I could find something really special for which to use it.  I didn't want to just spread it on bread like it was some pedestrian jelly.  I wanted to use it on something more exciting.  But after looking at it sitting in my pantry for two  months, I finally decided to just use it.  Since pork lends itself so well to sweet sauces, I decided to use the compote with pork chops.  I looked at a few different recipes for inspiration, and came up with the following.    I suspect you could tweak it a bunch of different ways and still come up with something equally tasty.  The key here was the fig compote.   It was definitely a keeper recipe.   And, the ingredient amounts listed below are mostly approximations -- I did this one mostly by sight rather than by measuring utensils.   

Pork Chops with Fig Compote

(makes 4 servings)

4 bone-in pork chops

2 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt 

fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup diced onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup red wine

1 cup chicken broth

pinch of dried thyme

1 jar (about 1 cup) dried fig compote 

 

-- Season pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper

-- Heat large heavy skillet over medium high heat.  Add olive oil and swirl to coat pan. 

-- Sear pork chops on each side until just golden brown, turning only once. 

-- Remove to a platter and keep warm

-- Reduce heat, add onions and saute for about 2 minutes

-- Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute

-- Pour the red wine into the pan to deglaze and scrape up browned bits

-- Cook one minute, then add chicken broth, thyme, and fig compote

-- Cook over medium heat until sauce thickens

-- Return chops to the pan to warm and cover in sauce

-- Serve chops with sauce spooned over top

My Achilles heel is pork.  For some reason I have a lot of trouble not over-cooking it.  Chops, especially the thinner cuts, just cook so much faster than I anticipate.  So if you have this tendency at all, I would recommend that when you remove your seared chops from the pan, leave them a little undercooked.  They'll cook more once you return them to the pan.  

Lastly, this is a fast recipe, perfect for weeknights.  I served it with some roasted blue and red potatoes and some zucchini rounds sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with fleur de sel.   

Note:  Since posting this, I've created a new variation on this recipe to make an orange-y pork.  Instead of deglazing with white wine, I use orange juice.  And I replace the fig compote for about a cup of orange marmalade.  All of the rest stays exactly the same.  I love the combination of citrus with pork, so for me, this is an even tastier recipe.  

Florentine Cookies for Christmas

Here we are again:  Christmas cookie season!  I've already made a batch of sugar cookies which my four-year-old liberally sprinkled with red and green sugar.  Today we made milk chocolate florentines. There isn't anything inherently Christmas-y about them.  I just love them and since I generally only bake cookies once a year, they've become Christmas cookies for me.  

I've actually posted this recipe once before.  However since then, I've amended it slightly. So, I am actually re-posting it now.  Hopefully, I'll be trying another cookie recipe this week.  If it's at all successful, I'll share that one too!

Milk Chocolate Florentine Cookies
(makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies)

2/3 cup butter

2 cups quick oats
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon. vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 oz (3/4 cup) milk chocolate morsels

-- Preheat oven to 375F.  Line baking sheets with foil, parchment or silpat.

-- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and remove from heat when melted.

-- Stir in oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt.  Mix well.

-- Drop by level teaspoons, about 3 inches apart, onto prepared baking sheets. 

-- Spread thinly with rubber spatula. 

-- Bake 6-8 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.

-- Cool completely on baking sheets.

-- Remove cookies (if using foil, peel cookies from foil) and place on wire racks.

-- Microwave morsels in medium, microwave-safe bowl on medium-high (70%) power for 1 minute.  Stir.
-- Microwave at additional 10-20 second intervals, stirring until smooth. 

-- Spread thin layer of melted chocolate onto flat side of half the cookies.  Top with remaining cookies. 

I love these cookies because you can let them sit in a cookie tin or on a covered plate on your counter, and the cookie remains soft and kind of chewy.  Or you can chill them in the refrigerator and the chocolate firms a little and gives the cookie a somewhat different texture.   Either way, they are always the first cookies to go in my house.  

Thanksgiving Recipes

We had a small Thanksgiving this year -- just the four of us plus my in-laws.  So, I felt that it was a good year to try new recipes.  Why not?  If they failed, it was only a small crowd.  Fortunately, they all turned out great!  Some recipes I followed to a tee, and others I changed a little.  Unfortunately, I was so busy that day that I neglected to take pictures of anything but the cranberry sauce (which I actually made the Tuesday before Thanksgiving).   So, here are the recipes for the cranberry sauce, the turkey, and the pies.  We also had a salad, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing (which my mother-in-law makes), and of course, chestnuts.  

Turkey with Herbes de Provence and Citrus

Courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis, Food Network

(makes 8-10 servings)

1 (14-15lb) turkey, neck and giblets reserved

1 orange, cut into wedges

1 lemon, cut into wedges

6 fresh rosemary sprigs

6 fresh oregano sprigs

7 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons herbes de Provence

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

6 cups canned low-salt chicken broth

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

To prepare turkey:

-- Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 400F

-- Rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels. 

-- Place the turkey on a rack set inside a large roasting pan. 

-- Place the orange and lemon wedges, onion, and 2 sprigs of each fresh herb in the main turkey cavity. Tie the legs together to hold the shape of the turkey. 

-- Stir 2 tablespoons of butter, the herbes de Provence, oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of each the salt and pepper in a small saucepan over medium heat just until the butter melts. 

-- Rub the butter mixture all over the turkey and between the turkey breast meat and skin. 

-- Place the turkey neck and giblets in roasting pan. (Recipe can be prepared up to this point 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before roasting.)

-- Cover the tukey breast with foil and roast for 20 minutes. 

-- Pour 3 cups of broth into the pan and stir to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of pan.  

-- Add the remaining sprigs of fresh herbs to the pan.  Roast turkey for 40 minutes.  
-- Reduce the oven temperature to 350F.  Remove foil from turkey, and pour 1 more cup of broth into the pan.  
-- Continue roasting the turkey until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165F to 175F or until the juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a skewer, basting occasionally with pan juices, about 1 

hour and 30 minutes longer.  
-- Transfer the turkey to a platter and tent with foil.  
-- Let stand 30 minutes while preparing gravy.  

To make the gravy:

-- Strain the turkey pan juices from the roasting pan through a sieve and into a 4-cup glass measuring cup; discard the solids. 

--Spoon off the fat from atop the pan juices. Add enough chicken broth, about 1 to 2 cups, to the pan juices to measure 4 cups total.

-- Melt the remaining butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. 

-- Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the broth. 

-- Simmer until the gravy thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes. 

-- Season with salt and pepper. Serve the turkey with the gravy.  

You can adjust this recipe for a smaller or larger bird.  Ours was about 11 1/2 pounds, so I didn't need quite the entire lemon and orange to stuff it.   

Blue Cranberry Sauce

Courtesy of allrecipes.com, submitted by: connie

(makes 9 servings)

1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries

1 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1 pint fresh blueberries

-- Wash and pick over cranberries. Place in a medium saucepan with water, and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, stir and simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries burst

-- Slightly mash the cranberries with the back of a wooden spoon to ensure all skins are broken. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Mix well.

-- Remove from heat and mix in the blueberries (don't be afraid to break a few, but don't over mash either). The sauce will thicken as it cools.

-- Transfer to a bowl, cool slightly and place plastic wrap directly on top of sauce to cover. 

-- Refrigerate until chilled.

As I mentioned, I made this two days earlier and it held up just fine.  In fact, I suspect that the flavors melded together better over the course of those couple of days.  This dish is really verstile:  it can be eaten chilled or at room temperature or warmed.   Everyone really liked it -- even those folks who generally skip the cranberry sauce (like me).  

Pumpkin Pie

(makes 8 servings)

1 fresh pumpkin 

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

2 eggs

1 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 can (12 fluid ounce) evaporated milk 

-- Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. 

-- Place cut side down on a cookie sheet lined with lightly oiled aluminum foil.  

-- Bake at 325F for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork. 

-- Cool until just warm. 

-- Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the peel. 

-- Either mash, or puree in small batches in a blender. 

-- Increase oven temperature to 450F.

-- In a large bowl, slightly beat eggs. 

-- Add brown sugar, flour, salt, 2 cups of the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and evaporated milk. Stir well after each addition. 

-- Pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Be sure to place a strip of aluminum foil around the edge of the crust to prevent overbrowning. 

-- Bake 10 minutes at 450F, then reduce the oven temperature to 350F.

-- Bake an additional 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove the strip of foil about 20 minutes before the pie is done so that the edge of the crust will be a light golden brown. 

-- Cool pie, and refrigerate overnight for best flavor.

My husband who is a huge pumpkin pie fan told me this was the best one he had ever tasted.  Now that's a compliment!  When indicated, most pumpkin pie recipes state that a sugar pumpkin should be used.  It's a sweet pumpkin that can easily be found and is traditionally used for pies.  However, I happened to have a Long Island cheese pumpkin on hand from my CSA delivery.  I had to do a little research, but it turns out that these pumpkins are great for pies.  They're naturally very sweet.  I wasn't disappointed.  And lastly, you can use either a homemade pie crust or a store-bought frozen crust.  I wouldn't get the unrefrigerated kind that are sitting on the aisle with the cake mixes.  

Sweet Potato Pie

(makes 8 servings)

1 (1 pound) sweet potato
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon dark rum
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

-- Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
-- Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. 
-- Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, flour, and rum. 
-- Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
-- Bake at 350F for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. 
-- Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.
-- Cool pie, and refrigerate overnight for best flavor.

I've never made sweet potato pie before -- I've never even eaten it.  But I've always wanted to try it.  So this year, I knew that I wanted to have both mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes in our Thanksgiving meal, but I couldn't really justify two kinds of potatoes for just seven of us at dinner.  I decided to incorporate the sweet potatoes as dessert instead.  So, I found a few different sweet potato pie recipes and created my own.  It turned out really yummy.  It's sweet, so it's not for folks who like subtle flavors; you can probably cut the sugar to 3/4 cup in total, especially if you're adding the alcohol.  I used dark rum, but you can also use bourbon instead.

Those are my Thanksgiving recipes.  While I probably won't use the turkey and cranberry recipe again until next year, I am definitely going to make the pies again.  I actually have enough pumpkin puree left over in the freezer for another pie.  I am hosting Christmas Eve at my house, so maybe it will make an appearance then!

 

Pork Burritos (and hidden chard)

I've been busy this fall -- cooking a lot, but too busy to write about it.  One thing I've been doing a lot of lately is trying to make a meal out of the items I already have in the house, rather than running to the grocery store to buy more ingredients.   Not only is it better for our wallets (in this ridiculous economic environment), but it's kind of fun to MacGyver a meal together.  

All day today I've been trying to figure out what to make.  I had an entire package of diced pancetta left over from a recipe last week.  I also had some red chard from my CSA delivery.  I knew that I couldn't get my family to eat chard on its own (it's green, and therefore suspect), so I knew it had to be hidden in something else.  Pancetta and greens are a great side dish, but not something from which you can make an entire meal.  Then it hit me:  burritos!  What better way to hide things from your kids than to wrap them in a tortilla and cover them with cheese and sour cream!  So, I decided to make pork burritos -- all I needed to buy was the ground pork. 

Actually, I should note here that I don't really buy ground pork.  My father-in-law was a butcher who ran several Petrini's markets (if you are from Northern California, you probably know Petrini's -- my mother-in-law is a Petrini).  He told me that he is generally suspect of pre-packaged ground meat in the supermarket; he claims that grinding up pork is a way for markets to easily get rid of pork that is either low quality or nearing the end of its shelf life.  So instead, my mother-in-law recommended that I buy boneless ribs and grind them myself in the food processor.  This actually works great and is really easy!  

All I had to do was saute the pancetta, chard, and pork together, put them in a soft, warm tortilla, add some cheese, sour cream, and roll the entire thing up.  Yum!   Obviously this is a versatile recipe and you can make plenty of substitutions.  You can use almost any hearty green like regular chard or mustard greens.  And instead of pancetta, you can use Canadian bacon or just regular bacon, if you like.  But don't be tempted to skip the bacon just because the recipe already calls for pork.  The pancetta not only provides some flavorful fat in which to saute the greens, but it also adds some nice texture to the pork.  And really, doesn't everything taste better with bacon?

Pork Burritos

6-8 servings

1 1/2 pounds boneless pork ribs

4 oz diced pancetta

1/2 cup of chopped red chard, ribs removed (or similar hearty green)

2 tablespoons of green salsa, plus more to taste

tortillas

shredded Jack cheese

sour cream

-- Heat broiler

-- Chop pork into 1-2 inch cubes.  Grind in food processor

-- Remove pork from food processor and add chard.  Chop until diced

-- Heat a saute pan over medium high heat, and add pancetta.  Cook until it starts to crisp, about 5 minutes

-- Add chard to pan and mix in with pancetta.  Cook until the two are well incorporated, about 2 minutes

-- Add pork to mixture, and cook until meat is cooked through

-- Add green salsa to mixture

-- Place tortilla for each person on top rack of oven.  Let sit under broiler until soft, about 10 seconds.  Don't let them sit too long, or the tortilla will get crispy and become unwrappable.

-- Put tortilla on plate, 1-2 tablespoons of pork mixture (depending on the size of your tortilla), add cheese, sour cream, and more salsa, if desired.

-- Fold and roll tortilla

Note that you probably won't need to add any salt to this recipe.  The pancetta is generally pretty salty.  Taste the meat after you add the green salsa to the pan.  Add salt to taste, if necessary. 

Chicken Enchiladas and Homemade Tomatillo Sauce

In my CSA delivery this week were a bunch of tomatillos.   Now, having grown up in NJ I didn't have a lot of exposures to tomatillos.  In fact, I don't think I ever saw one until I moved to California.  Since I've lived here, I've come to love them and the salsa verde for which they are generally the main ingredient.  So when I got this bunch of beautiful tomatillos, I decided to make some tomatillo sauce and use it for chicken enchiladas.  Since I was rushing to get out the door this evening for a meeting, I didn't get a chance to take a picture before we dug in.   But here is a lovely picture of a couple of tomatillos for your viewing pleasure!  

Tomatillo Sauce

6 tomatillos, husked and cleaned

3 chopped scallions, whites only

1 can of diced chiles or 2-3 fresh green chiles

1 clove garlic

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

Juice of 1/2 lime

Salt

Chicken Enchiladas

makes about 6 enchiladas

2-3 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced

2 cups of shredded Jack cheese

6 tortillas (I use flour, but you can use corn too)

-- Preheat oven to 350°

-- Quarter tomatillos and place in medium saucepan with scallions, chiles and garlic

-- Let tomatillos boil, then simmer until tomatillos are soft, about 20 minutes

-- Meanwhile, heat 1 tbs of canola oil in saute pan over high heat.  Add onion when oil is almost smoking

-- Cook onions until soft

-- Add chicken and cook until just past pink

-- Remove tomatillos from heat, put in blender or food processor with cilantro and lime.  Blend and add salt to taste

-- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a saute pan large enough to allow a tortilla to lay flat.  When oil is hot, add one tortilla to pan just long enough to soften (make sure to flip it to get both sides exposed to pan).  Remove tortilla, set aside in plate, and continue with remaining tortillas.   You may need to add more oil.

-- Spread a thin layer of tomatillo sauce over the bottom of a baking dish

-- Ladle 1-2 tablespoons of chicken into tortilla (depending on the size of your tortilla), add cheese, and fold and roll into enchilada.   Place seam-side down in baking dish

-- Continue with remaining tortillas until dish is filled with a single layer of enchiladas

-- Cover tops of enchiladas with tomatillo sauce, sprinkle with remaining cheese (about 1 cup)

-- Bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is just starting to brown

-- Serve immediately and enjoy!  

I've also learned that tomatillos are pretty easily frozen.  All you have to do is remove the husks, clean and dry them, and then pop them into a freezer bag.   When you're ready to use them, just remove as many as you like, and thaw.  

Bananas for Banana Bread

We always have bananas in the house.  With two little kids, bananas are a staple item.  Normally we finish them all before they get overripe.  But on occasion that doesn't happen; and when it does those bananas find new life as the main ingredient in banana bread.  And, if I don't have enough bananas, I can make up for it by adding apple sauce.  

I know that almost everyone has a recipe that they use for banana bread.  I am no exception.  I've cobbled this one together from a few different sources.   There is nothing new or outrageous about it.  It's just a solid, easy, go-to recipe that results in a yummy banana bread!  

Banana Bread

approx 12 servings

2 cups whole wheat flour (you can use all-purpose flour instead, if desired)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup light brown sugar, plus 1/8 cup

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 mashed, overripe bananas (about 2 1/4 cups)

-- Preheat oven to 350°

-- Lightly grease 9x5 inch loaf pan

-- In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, and nutmeg

-- In a separate bowl, cream together butter and 3/4 cup of brown sugar

-- Stir in bananas, eggs and vanilla until blended well

-- Add banana mixture to flour mixture and blend until incorporated

-- Pour batter into greased pan and smooth out top

-- In a small bowl or cup, combine remaining teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/8 cup of brown sugar; sprinkle over top of batter (this will form a crust when cooked)

-- Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.  

-- Let cool for about 15 minutes, then turn loaf out onto a wire rack

-- Serve warm or cold

Egg-cellent!

I don't know where it came from, but over the last month I've been craving egg salad. Well, truth be told, I am actually craving the triumvirate of mayo-based salads: egg salad, tuna salad, and chicken salad. I ate these things as a kid, but I really haven't had any of these in years and years and years, and certainly have never made any of them. So I figured it was some kind of cosmic sign when I picked up the 2008 version of Cook's Illustrated American Classics issue which included, you guessed it, recipes for egg salad, tuna salad, and chicken salad. Egg salad it was!

The beauty of these kinds of salads is that you can really get as creative as you want to be. I stuck with the classic mayo as a binder, but you really could substitute a variety of other ingredients such as sour cream, yogurt, or even cottage cheese. I deviated from tradition by skipping the celery (anything crunchy is suspect with my four-year-old), using baby leeks instead of red onion, and adding capers. The result? Yum! Even better is that it takes no time to make. I did the entire thing in 20 minutes (that includes hardboiling the eggs). If the kids like it, I am going to add this to my repertoire of foods for them. Of course if they don't like it, there will be more for me! I win either way.


Courtney's Egg Salad
makes about 2 cups

6 hard boiled eggs, cooled, peeled and diced
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of diced baby leeks (you could use scallions instead)
2 1/2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
2 tablespoons of capers, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

-- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl
-- Serve on bread or alone

Now to tackle tuna salad...

Product Love: Meyer Lemon-Infused Olive Oil

I am a sucker for "specialty" items. Sigona's, our farmers' market here in Redwood City has recently installed an olive oil bar where you can sample all kinds of specialty olive oils. On a whim (and without trying it), I decided to buy a bottle of their EVOO (apologies to Rachael Ray) with meyer lemon infused. Oh my! It makes everything taste yummier. I looove anything lemony, so okay, the deck was stacked in my favor. But really, it adds just a slightly different dimension to everything.

Last week as a side dish with dinner, I had some orzo that I wanted to use up. So, I just mixed it with some pitted kalamata olives, some pitted green olives (I forget which variety -- it was something I picked up a the olive bar), some halved grape tomatoes, and drizzled it all with the meyer lemon olive oil.* What a fabulous little dish -- the little lemon kick turned it from just tasty to something that I want to remember to make again. Tonight, I used it with the arugula pesto I made.

The only problem is that it comes in a little bottle. I am going to have to stock up if I want to continue using it all the time.

*Note: I have made this dish again since I posted this, and I've added a finely diced large shallot to the ingredients. The shallot makes the flavor just a little more savory.

Clean Out the Fridge, Add Eggs, and Call it Frittata

Yesterday morning I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Wednesdays are busy with S's late afternoon swim class, so I knew it had to be quick and easy to make. I was too lazy this week to plan ahead, so when I came across a recipe for a frittata I knew I had my solution.

In addition to its speedy prep, the beauty of the frittata is that you can toss in just about anything in your refrigerator that you need to get rid of. So I went to the fridge and pulled out Italian sausage, blue potatoes, a leek, 1/2 a yellow onion, and some cheddar cheese. Oh, and of course eggs. 10 of them.

It came out really tasty. And pretty too. With the yellow from the eggs, the blue potatoes, the light green leeks, and the red from the sausage, it was definitely colorful. And my husband, to whom I've been married 8 years, and for whom I've made countless meals informed me last night that he loooves frittata. How is it that I am just learning this now? In fact, he claimed that his middle name is "frittata" (I thought it was James).

Anyway, you can make your own frittata with just about anything sitting in your fridge. Here's the recipe for mine.

Multi-colored Frittata
serves 4

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
2 hot Italian sausage links, casings removed and sliced into disks
1 leek, chopped (white and light green parts)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 blue potatoes, skin removed, diced
Pepper and Kosher salt to taste
10 eggs, beaten
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

-- Preheat oven to 400
-- In a large ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat
-- Saute leeks and onions until soft, about five minutes
-- Add potatoes, sausage, salt and pepper. Cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes
-- Add eggs to skillet, and mix around to distribute evenly
-- Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of eggs
-- Bake in oven until eggs are puffed, edges start to brown, and eggs come clean on knife, about 15 minutes
-- Cut into wedges and serve

Sauteed Carrots with Mint and Shallots

Like most local newspapers, each week ours (The San Jose Mercury News) publishes a food and wine section. If I am not too bleary-eyed that morning to read the paper (it takes me a while for all my juices to get flowing in the morning), I like to scan the recipes. They generally include ideas for in-season produce or menus for approaching holidays. This week The Merc highlighted the Passover meal, and some of the dietary requirements and procedural rules of the seder. One of the recipes caught my eye: sauteed carrots with mint and shallots. Carrots are among the few vegetables that everyone in my family will eat willingly without me having to beg, wheedle or bribe. And, I've been looking for ways to cook them that don't involve brown sugar, syrup, or molasses. So, I tried it last night. The family's universal response: yum!


I followed the recipe as published by The Merc almost to a tee. The one addition I made was to toss a little fleur de sel on the carrots at the very end. I love the way this salt brightens up the flavors of vegetables and added a nice counterpoint to the sweet of the mint and the carrots.

Sauteed Carrots with Mint and Shallots
courtesy of The San Jose Mercury News, April 16, 2008
from Ronnie Fein's Hip Kosher, Da Capo Lifelong Books
serves 4

8 medium carrots, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices on the diagonal
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large shallots, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh mint
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

-- In medium saucepan, bring several inches of lightly salted water to simmer
-- Add the carrots, return to simmer and cook until carrots are tender but firm, about 5 minutes
-- Drain carrots under cold water and set aside
-- Place olive oil in large skillet over medium heat
-- Add shallots and saute 1 to 2 minutes, or until slightly softened
-- Add garlic and saute briefly
-- Add carrots, mint, salt and pepper. Saute about 2 minutes, or until carrots are hot and slightly crispy on surface.

A Perfect Dish for Delivery: Turkey and White Bean Chili

A common thing in mom communities is to bring dinner for families with new babies. So, when someone has a new baby, one friend makes a list of dates and circulates it among all the other friends. Each person signs up for a date and delivers dinner for the family. It's a really helpful thing for the new mom -- when my youngest was born, I had so many meals from my friends and the other moms at my daughter's preschool that didn't have to cook for more than a month! And if you're the one delivering the meal, you want it to be tasty, you want to appeal to all the members of the family (which generally includes toddlers or preschoolers who can be notoriously picky), and let's face it: you want it to be easy. Well, I've found one such recipe: Turkey and White Bean Chili.

I've made this a few times for other moms, and will probably be making it again this week for a meal that I am delivering on Friday. One of the great things about this recipe is that it's really quick and easy to make. It also lends itself to doubling quite well. What I have been doing is making a double batch the night before I need to deliver it. I use one half of it for my family on the night that I make it. Then, I use the other half for delivery the next day. And since chili actually tastes better the longer it sits, delivering it the next day means that my friend's family gets an even tastier version. I save it in the refrigerator in the Dutch oven in which I cooked it (with the lid on) so that the next day I can just pop it on the stove and warm it up before I deliver it. That way, I can bring it to my friend nice and warm and ready to eat.

I can't remember where I found the original recipe. But over time I've made a bunch of my own alterations to it, so by now it has really become my own. I don't have any pictures right now, but perhaps when I make it tomorrow night, I'll take some and add them to this post.*

Courtney's Turkey and White Bean Chili
makes 5-6 servings
1 red onion chopped
1/3 cup chopped pasilla pepper
1 clove minced garlic
1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 14oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 14oz can chicken broth
1 tablespoon of cilantro paste or 1/2 cup chopped, fresh cilantro

-- Heat large saucepan over medium heat
-- Add the first 4 ingredients (through turkey) and cook for about 6 minutes or until the turkey is done, stirring frequently to crumble
-- Stir in chili powder and the next 8 ingredients (through broth)
-- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer at least 10 minutes
-- Stir in cilantro

And a few notes...
-- I generally serve this with shredded jack cheese, sour cream, nacho chips, and lime wedges. Not only do these things add to the flavor, but it also makes it more fun and enticing for little kids.

-- I tend to use pasilla peppers because they're not too hot. But, you can substitute any green pepper. In fact, if you are cooking for anyone who doesn't love spicy food, you can use just a small portion of the pepper in the chili, and keep the remainder aside for folks to add on their own. This is how I do it when I am delivering it.

-- I also use cilantro paste instead of fresh cilantro only because I don't use fresh cilantro often enough to warrant buying an entire bunch. Inevitably, I use what I need for a recipe, and then end up wasting the rest of it. So, I always keep a tube of cilantro paste in the refrigerator so that I have some on hand when I need it. But you can use the fresh stuff, if you like.

This dish is perfect on its own as a meal, but you can also add a salad to make sure you get your green veggies. Enjoy!

*I made it tonight and remembered to take a picture as it simmered on the stove. (4/3/08)

Short Ribs with Tagliatelle

I was wandering through Target the other day when Giada de Laurentiis' latest cookbook, Everyday Pasta caught my eye. Since I am always looking for new ways to make pasta -- a staple in our home -- I picked it up. In it, I came across a recipe for short ribs with tagliatelle that I had found on the Food Network website a couple of months ago. I made it then for a big family dinner that included my in-laws, who are not only Italian immigrants, but formerly butchers. So, if a meat and pasta dish passes their muster, I feel pretty good about it. And, it did. They really liked it then, so I decided to make it again the other night for just the four of us. The recipe actually calls for a topping of bittersweet chocolate shavings, but I skipped it just to avoid having my three year old ask me for more. The dish takes a while: more than three hours to prepare. But, most of it is allowing the short ribs to braise. So once you prepare the ribs, the only thing left to do is make the pasta.

The recipe calls for pancetta which is an Italian form of bacon. It doesn't come in strips like American bacon, but in rounds like some Canadian bacons. I've actually also seen it come pre-cut. If you can't find pancetta in your market, you can substitute Canadian bacon.

I would also suggest having your butcher cut the short ribs in half for you. It'll make it easier for you to fit them into your pot or Dutch oven and be able to manipulate them so that you can be sure to brown all six sides. That's right six -- don't forget the ends.

When you dice up the veggies and the tomato paste in the food processor, it should come out looking like a chunky salsa.

After three hours, the braised ribs will be really tender and will pretty much fall off the bone when you take them out of the sauce.

Tagliatelle isn't always available, but really any wide pasta will do. I wanted to use fresh pasta and the closest I could find to tagliatelle was fettuccine. But you can use a dry pasta, too.


Short Ribs with Tagliatelle
Courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis, Everyday Pasta
(makes 4-6 servings)

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 ounces chopped pancetta (about 1/2 cup)
2 1/2 pounds short ribs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic
1 (14-ounce) can tomatoes (whole or diced)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 cups beef broth
3/4 cup red wine
1 pound fresh or dried tagliatelle
4 to 6 teaspoons shaved bittersweet chocolate

-- Place the olive oil in a large heavy soup pot over medium heat.
-- Cook the pancetta until golden and crisp, about 4 minutes.
-- Meanwhile, season the short ribs with salt and pepper, and dredge in the flour.
-- Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside.
-- Add the short ribs to the pan and brown on all sides, about 7 minutes total.

-- Meanwhile, combine the onion, carrot, parsley and garlic in a food processor and blend until finely minced.
-- Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and pulse.

-- Once the short ribs are browned, carefully add the mixture from the food processor to the pot.
-- Return the pancetta to the pot and stir.
-- Add the rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, beef broth, and wine.
-- Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour and 15 minutes. -- Remove the lid and simmer for another hour and a half, stirring occasionally.
-- Remove the meat and bones from the pot. Discard the bones.
-- Shred the meat and return it to the pot.
-- Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper, or to taste.

-- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
-- Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes for dried pasta and 2 to 3 minutes for fresh.
-- Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
-- Add the pasta to the pot and stir to combine.
-- Add the reserved pasta liquid 1/4 cup at a time, if needed, to moisten the pasta.
-- Transfer to serving bowls, top each bowl with 1 teaspoon of chocolate shavings. Serve immediately.

Easy Pizza

Okay, I guess I am going to have to change the intro to my blog. It turns out that I've actually acquired a pizza stone. It was an item up for auction at the annual fundraiser at my daughter's preschool and I was feeling warm and fuzzy after a cocktail or two, so I bid on a lot of things that I might not have otherwise... But, I digress.

So anyway, this pizza stone has been sitting here for months waiting for me to get the courage time to make my own dough. Well, as I was strolling through Trader Joe's last week, a bag of refrigerated pizza dough caught my eye. I had never seen it there before, but I figured I would give it a try.

I took it home, let it rest for 20 minutes, then rolled it out and topped it with kalamata olives (a favorite with my kids) and freshly grated mozzarella. I made my own pizza sauce with a mixture of fresh and canned stewed tomatoes. I put the stone in the oven, and 10 minutes later we had a yummy pizza with a perfect crust -- my husband didn't even know that I hadn't made the dough myself.

Green Pasta and Sauce with Vodka

The other day at the market, I was looking for something a little different, and decided to buy spinach egg tagliatelle. I figured that green pasta would be intriguing enough to keep my girls interested. Then, I just needed to find a sauce that would work with it. When I came across a tomato vodka sauce, I knew it would be a good fit.

I found the original recipe on the Food Network (courtesy of Emeril Lagasse), and then made my own small alterations. Here is the recipe as I cooked it.

Vodka and Sausage Sauce
(makes enough for roughly 4 servings of pasta)

2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 links of mild Italian sausage, removed from the casing and crumbled
1/2 cup chopped yellow onions
1/2 teaspoon salt
Small pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 clove minced garlic
2 cups crushed tomatoes
5 ounces vodka (about 10 tablespoons)
4 ounces heavy cream (about 8 tablespoons)
I teaspoon of basil paste
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for garnish (optional)

-- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
-- Add the sausage and cook, stirring, until browned and all pink has disappeared, 3 to 4 minutes.
-- Add the onions, salt, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until the onions are soft and golden, about 5 minutes.
-- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
-- Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring, until thick, about 2 minutes.
-- Add the vodka and cook until the sauce reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes.
-- Stir in the cream and cook until the sauce thickens, about 2 minutes.
-- Stir in the basil and remove from the heat.
-- Toss the sauce with the pasta to coat evenly and transfer to a pasta bowl for serving.
-- Top with cheese to taste.

I have a few additional thoughts on this recipe. First, because it's a cream-based sauce, it think the fact that I used egg-based noodles rather than the standard boxed egg-less pasta was important. The pasta was lighter which made it a better companion to a rich sauce. Second, while the sausage added a nice flavor, I think my veggie and Kosher friends could just as easily eliminate the meat from the recipe. Lastly, I used basil paste since I've found it's a good way to always have basil on hand. But, if you have fresh basil handy, you should substitute that instead. Emeril's original recipe called for 1 to 2 tablespoons of chiffonade basil, but I would use a little more since my recipe increased most of the ingredients.

It was a super easy and quickly made sauce that I'll definitely make again. The whole family really enjoyed it. And the best part of the recipe? As long as the vodka was open, I made myself a little cocktail as I cooked! Now that's yummy.

Risotto Rules

Once again, I've lagged on keeping up with my blog. It's not because I haven't found any good recipes, but simply because I haven't found much time to sit down and blog about them. But, this week I made a risotto and received rave reviews from the entire family -- even my hard-to-please three-year old. Newly inspired, here I am blogging about it.

I can't believe it, but it seems that I haven't yet blogged about risotto. Risotto is one of my favorite dishes to make (and eat). It's versatile, easy, relatively quick (can be completed in less than an hour), and can be used as a one-dish meal. I love finding new recipes and experimenting with various ingredients.

Recently I came across a Giada De Laurentiis recipe for Dirty Risotto and modified it in these ways:
-- I didn't have any pancetta in the house, but had some bacon that I needed to use. So, I substituted about three strips of bacon for the pancetta.
-- Her recipe calls for one link of spicy Italian sausage. I chose to use the sweet Italian sausage instead since my girls and husband can't handle the hot sausage. Personally, I would love it to be spicy, spicy, spicy, but I had to keep it low-key for them. I also added a second link since I wanted it to be meatier.
-- Giada includes red bell pepper in the recipe, but I omitted it.
-- Instead of button mushrooms, I used the cremini mushrooms that I already had in the house
-- I had a Maui onion, so I used that. It's a sweet onion, and it worked really nicely with the bacon and the sausage.
-- Mario Batali adds butter to his risotto once it's done. I've taken to doing that as well. It just adds a little more creaminess.
-- I also always add more wine than risotto recipes call for. I probably used about double (1 1/2 cups).
-- I omitted the parsley as my daughter regards anything green in her food with suspicion.

You can check out the original recipe as Giada wrote it on the The Food Network website. Here is my version.

Courtney's Dirty Risotto
(makes 4-6 servings)
5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter
3 strips bacon, chopped
2 links sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
1 Maui onion (or other sweet onion), finely chopped
4 ounces cremini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups Arborio or medium-grain white rice
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, and more to taste

-- In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Cover the broth and keep warm over low heat.
-- In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the bacon and sausage and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
-- Add the onion and mushrooms and saute until tender, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, about 8 minutes.
-- Season with salt
-- Add the rice, and stir to coat, allowing it to "toast" slightly -- about 1 minute
-- Add the wine, and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 1 minute.
-- Add a ladle of broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes
-- Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth one ladle at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 25 minutes total.
-- Remove from heat, and mix in remaining butter. Stir in Parmesan.
-- Serve immediately with additional Parmesan to taste.

Try it out. Once you get the hang of risotto, I promise you'll be experimenting with all different variations of it.

Deception Rules!

As mom to a three year old, I am very practiced in the art of deception -- especially when it comes to hiding veggies in her favorite foods (see my previous post about the ham and bean soup). But, I am always looking for additional recipes to add to my repertoire. So, imagine my glee when I learned about Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook entitled, Deceptively Delicious, Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food. It's an entire cookbook devoted to hiding pureed fruits and veggies in kids' standard foods: cauliflower in mac-n-cheese, spinach in mini-pizzas, carrots and spinach in brownies! I've already tried a couple of the recipes to great success with rave reviews from both adults and kids. I highly recommend it to other moms who are sick of cajoling, bribing, and trying to reason with their little ones each night.

Soup Surprise

As a mom to a three year old who won't touch a green vegetable without some elaborate bribery involved, I am always looking for ways to sneak additional nutrients into the dishes I know she'll eat. Given that today was an unseasonably cool and overcast day in the Bay Area, I decided to make soup. I let my daughter choose from a couple of recipes, and she chose the Southern Ham and Bean soup. Great choice, as she loves both beans and "hammie". It also posed the perfect opportunity for me to covertly add some pureed kale to the recipe. Oh what a tangled web we weave...

Anyway, I used the recipe from America's Test Kitchen Fast & Fresh Recipe Card Collection. The recipe calls for 2 cups of green beans to be added to the soup at the end, but I just substituted about 1/4 cup of kale juice instead. Kale juice? Yes. Okay, the full story is that I make my own baby food by steaming veggies, pureeing them, putting the puree in ice cube trays, and then defrosting a couple of cubes at a time as needed. Well, when you puree kale, you end up with a lot of little green specks in green kale juice. I strained out the kale bits and was left with the liquid -- the bits were used for baby food, and the juice went into the soup. Kale can have a tendency to smell a little like freshly mown grass, and I was a little afraid that this would have a undesirable effect on the flavor of the soup. But fortunately, the other flavors from the ham, the beans, and the brown sugar were so rich, that you couldn't even taste the kale. I think you could probably use other greens too, if you wanted. I might try Swiss chard next time.

Here is the recipe as published in America's Test Kitchen
Southern Ham and Bean Soup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped fine
2 celery ribs, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ham steak, chopped fine
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 (16-ounce) cans white beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups frozen chopped green beans
Makes 4-6 servings

-- Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat
-- Cook onion, celery, garlic, ham, sugar, thyme, and half of white beans, covered until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes
-- Using potato masher, mash beans and vegetables to rough paste
-- Stir in remaining white beans and broth
-- Simmer, covered, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes
-- Add green beans and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes

I also got a nice sourdough baguette and threw a couple of chunks into my bowl to make it just a little bit heartier. Yum! It was a great soup and even my daughter loved it, kale and all. Score one for Mommy!

And I'm Back!

Okay, it's only taken eight months, but I am finally back. My new baby is now six months old, and I am just getting back into the kitchen again. Of course, I've been cooking in those six months, but she and I are finally on a schedule that will allow me a little more time for playing in the kitchen. And, as she gets older and can amuse herself or play with her big sister, it should get even better.

Anyway, the new dynamic in our household means that I am looking for recipes that take as little time to cook as possible. I've become a more devoted devotee of Rachael Ray, I've been using recipes from Real Simple magazine, and looking for dishes that I can prep during the kids' nap times and cook quickly once they're awake.

For example, this week I cooked an oven-poached halibut Provençal. I found the recipe in Cooking Light magazine, and it was super. Even my picky three year old liked it -- now that's an endorsement!

Oven-Poached Halibut Provençale
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chopped fennel bulb
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt, divided
4 cups diced tomato
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
6 (6-ounce) halibut fillets
1 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped pitted kalamata olives
1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs (optional)
Makes 6 servings

-- Preheat oven to 450°
-- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat
-- Add garlic and sauté 30 seconds
-- Add fennel, onion, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; sauté 8 minutes or until lightly browned
-- Stir in diced tomato and cook 2 minutes
-- Remove from heat and stir in fresh basil and fresh parsley.

-- Spoon half of tomato mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish
-- Place fillets over tomato mixture
-- Pour wine into the dish and sprinkle fillets with 1/4 teaspoon salt
-- Spoon remaining tomato mixture over fillets
-- Bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

-- Start the broiler
-- Combine the breadcrumbs, olives, herbes de Provence, 1 teaspoon oil, pepper, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl.
--Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over fillets
-- Broil 5 minutes or until lightly browned
-- Serve immediately. Garnish with parsley sprigs, if desired

I followed the recipe pretty much as Cooking Light published it. Next time, I might substitute matzo meal for breadcrumbs -- I find it to be a really good substitute if I don't have any breadcrumbs in the house. I normally have one or the other, and use them pretty much interchangeably. I also eliminated the parsley garnish as there was no way I could have gotten my daughter to eat it if she had seen it. I served it with red potatoes with butter and with asparagus drizzed with olive oil and salt. The whole meal was quick, yummy, and easy -- my kind of cooking these days!