Jicama and Cucumber Chile Spears

If you're looking for a summer appetizer that is refreshing, dead simple and will fit into anybody's diet, here it is. The only problem you might potentially have is locating jicama, but that will only be if you're like at a campground or something, at the mercy of one of those campground stores. Well, the other problem might be that you've never HAD jicama and you're a naturally suspicious person, but if you haven't and you are, don't be afraid! Jicama is cool and crunchy and little bit sweet. It's DELICIOUS and you'll love it. It's even white, so there's no off-putting vegetabley color to deal with, like green or orange! Go on, give it a try.

Jicama and Cucumber Chili Spears take a mere 10 minutes--just toss your vegetable spears in a bowl with fresh lime juice, chili powder, a pinch of cayenne and salt. Done! It takes even LESS time if you can get somebody else to cut up the spears and mix them for you, like one of those college or high school students hanging around the house doing hardly anything productive. Just make sure they take off the peel on the jicama.

Helpful hint! I'm willing to bet, unless you live in Texas, that your chili powder is WAY PAST its freshness window. Do yourself a flavor favor--toss it and replace with a fresh bottle. Come on, don't be cheap--would you eat stale crackers just because you want to get your money's worth? Well, maybe you would and in that case just hang on to your stale chili powder too--everybody else, get a new bottle and ENJOY.

9 Winter Recipes

The quandary of cook-through food blogging: what is more important, cooking the recipes, or blogging about them? When I have to choose one or the other due to time constraints, cooking always wins. Not the best scenario for you, dear reader, but luckily I don't have any scruples about combining many dishes into one post.

So here for your reading pleasure is a catch-up post on what's been happening in the Palladino kitchen over the last few months.

Herbed Lima Bean Hummus

When I was a kid, if you asked me if I hated any foods I would have promptly said "hot dogs and lima beans". But now I see that it's all in the preparation (although I'm sorry to say the only thing you can do to improve hot dogs is drown out their taste with the spiciest chili imaginable).

After you've cooked limas with an onion and some garlic, you whiz them up in a food processor with herbs, spices, lemon juice and olive oil. If you're squeamish about spending the bucks for all those fresh herbs in the market (because this calls for fresh cilantro, parsley, dill AND mint) wait for summer when they're abundant and free if you know the right gardeners.

This recipe is a win. I could eat it every day.

Ham and Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Collard Greens

Of the many bean-based soups in the book, this one has got to be the fastest. A few cans of black-eyed peas, a slab of ham, diced, a little chicken broth and some collards and hey presto--you've got soup. Very satisfying and if you sweat your onions instead of sauteing them you've got a good spring dieting soup too. Please note that's not my photo--thanks to iamglutenfree.blogspot.com for the swipe (at least I think that's what the script says).

Chicory Salad with Orange and Red Onion

I'm always a little nervous about using bitter greens in salad but I guess they have their place in the universe. One place they occupy nicely is as a counterpoint to a rich entree, like the Shrimp in Coconut Milk, seen here all snuggled up on the same plate.

This salad was pretty good though it called for vast and amazing amounts of chicory to be trimmed away (the dark green outer leaves--good for soups, says the book). If your chicory is like my chicory you can't wash it enough--it must be grown primarily in sand so take heed and wash wash wash. The best way to do it I think is to put the leaves in a big pot or bowl of cold water and let the sand sink to the bottom.

Would I make this salad again? Maybe!

Red Lentil and Tofu Dal

Again, not my photo, and not fully accurate--imagine cubes of creamy white tofu mixed in. Thanks to Recipes for a Postmodern Planet for the swipe.

This recipe was beyond fantastic because of the spices. If you like Indian food in general, you'll swoon over this. It calls for Garam Masala which you can make but also now (thanks to McCormick's ever-adventuresome spice offerings) buy pre-mixed in the supermarket. Vegetarians, this one's for you.

Cauliflower with Ginger and Mustard Seeds

Cauliflower is not the first vegetable I turn to in the produce section when I'm grabbing stuff for dinner. It's not even the second one, and actually not the third one. In fact it might be somewhere down the list with broccoli rabe. Why? It's a perfectly innocuous vegetable but it seems sort of boring and also it's white which makes it seem somehow less healthy than green and orange things which of course is nonsense.

If you too feel uninspired by cauliflower look no further than this dish to create a little excitement with flavors that really pop and an ingredient that actually literally pops--mustard seeds, when heated in a skillet, will pop right out of the pan. So be careful. And enjoy this one--it's a nice way to mix up your weekday veggie repertoire.

Swiss Chard and Chickpeas

Trying to eat less meat? This is a quick week-day supper that will give you veggies, protein and fiber all in one fell swoop and it's also super fast and great for lunch the next day. Sometimes that's all you really need so if this is one of those times, go for it.

Sweet Potato Pie with Bourbon Cream

Aw, just when you thought I was getting all healthy on you with all these veggies and beans--no way, brothers and sisters. My dedication to butterfat remains as constant as ever. I am also pretty close to finishing the Pie chapter so I took the opportunity at our last book group (Serena by Ron Rash in case you're wondering) to make this pie.

What's different about this pie? Frankly I was amazed at how many of my fellow book groupies had never had sweet potato pie so that's different--might be a new experience for your diners. Two, the sweets potatoes are roasted, not boiled. Pretty subtle. Other than that it's just a good old sweet potato pie made with bourbon, and topped with heavy cream flavored with more bourbon. Can you really go wrong here? I think not.

Lemon Pound Cake

With this cake done, I can now count the remaining cake recipes on one hand. Five left, people!!

I made this for my writer's group and it was pretty easy to put together (if you don't mind zesting a gazillion lemons)--my only problem with it was that it just wouldn't finish baking in the middle. See that crack up there? I baked this pound cake for well over an hour and that one spot just wouldn't bake. Weird and vexing but it was still delicious (if slightly, er, moist in that center part). The book suggests serving with strawberries and I did.

Hmm, maybe I'll make that Passover Sponge Cake for my writer's group tonight.....

Coeurs a la Creme with Blackberries

This is one of the recipes I thought I would never get around to making. For one thing it calls for a special mold and for another it seems fantastically complicated. But, somewhere around Valentine's Day I found myself having a dinner party and since we inherited some heart-shaped molds from our neighbor Marjorie

it seemed like the obvious dessert choice.

Make no mistake--this dessert is kind of a pain. Anything that asks you to force a solid through a fine sieve is going to be irritating. Ditto for lining the little molds--individually--with damp cheesecloth. But what a pay-off! A sweet little dessert that will melt the hearts of your friends and loved ones, and the portion size is just right for a tasty but not too filling treat. Anybody local who wants to try this I'm happy to lend you these molds.

So that's the wrap-up, folks! Thanks for being patient, and I'll see you back here soon.

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Gluten-Free recipes in this post: Herbed Lima Bean Hummus, Ham and Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Collard Greens, Chicory Salad with Orange and Red Onion, Red Lentil and Tofu Dal, Swiss Chard and Chickpeas, Cauliflower with Ginger and Mustard Seeds, Coeurs a la Creme with Blackberries

Low-Carb recipes in this post: Chicory Salad with Orange and Red Onion, Red Lentil and Tofu Dal, Cauliflower with Ginger and Mustard Seeds, Swiss Chard and Chickpeas

Low-Fat recipes in this post: Swiss Chard and Chickpeas, Red Lentil and Tofu Dal, Cauliflower with Ginger and Mustard Seeds

Paleolithic recipes in this post: Cauliflower with Ginger and Mustard Seeds

Recipe WINs in this post: Herbed Lima Bean Hummus, Red Lentil and Tofu Dal

3 Easy Apps

When I found out that one of my co-workers would be performing during Rockport's First Night, I invited him and his partner to our house beforehand for some roasty-toasty cocktails (mmm, mulled red wine and Irish coffee) and some nibbles before we all set off on an evening of sea chanties, calypso-funk and Beatlemania. Of course I turned to our beloved Gourmet Cookbook for the nibbles (and yes, those cocktails came from Gourmet Today--more on those soon).

I was looking for easy, and I was looking for not going to the store. I won on both counts.

1. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I happened to have a few small bags of raw pepitas in the freezer, and this recipe is so simple I'm amazed I haven't tried it yet. You put the pepitas in a dry, medium hot pan, stir them for 5-7 minutes until they're brown and lovely, drizzle a little XVO on them and sprinkle with a little fine sea salt.

That's it! So delicious.

2. Olive and Eggplant Spread and 3. Pita Toasts

We happened to have an eggplant kicking around, and my husband is a fiend for cured olives--so the ingredients for Olive and Eggplant Spread were right at hand. Sort of a cross between baba and tapenade, my friend commented, and yes, he's right!

Also hanging out in the freezer--tiny little whole wheat pitas, which I thought would make dandy pita toasts for the spread. Again, this is so easy--split the pitas, brush with XVO and sprinkle with coarse salt, then cut into wedges and toast. I had them in the oven at the same time the eggplant was roasting.

Then, on to First Night! Here's some of the great music I heard:

Sparkle Motion Swing Trio – 20s, 30s & 40s Music

Coro Stella Maris – Medieval, Renaissance and Early Baroque Choir

Wildest Dreams - Afro Pop - Reggae - Calypso - Funky Soul

Alek Razdan and Willie "Loco" Alexander- Jazz & Punk

BeatleTracks - Beatle Tribute Band

Jah Spirit – Reggae Band

Sweet Loretta's Snake Oil Jug Band – Blues, Country, Ragtime, Folk, Magic & Humor

What a great way to ring in the new year! Thanks, Rockport!

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Gluten-Free recipes in this post: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Olive and Eggplant Spread

Low-Carb recipes in this post: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Olive and Eggplant Spread

Paleolithic recipe in this post: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Green Chili Cheesecake with Papaya Salsa

When my family started Christmas planning a few weeks back (which really means "deciding about food") my mother suggested "heavy hors d'oeuvres" instead of Christmas dinner. That's the best part anyway, she said--why not just make the whole food event about the best part? Now there's the food philosophy of a true hedonist, and if you've ever wondered where my deep appreciation of both butter and chocolate comes from, look no further than Mom.

Mom is also all about "many hands make light work", and this is why pretty much every family event is potluck. My husband's Long Island family thinks this is a crazy New England tradition (ok--maybe the potluck wedding reception was a little much) but it does spread out both the work and the expense.

So--Heavy Hors D'Oeuvres Potluck! Sign me up!

Don and I picked two--the recently mentioned Clams Perce, and Green Chili Cheesecake with Papaya Salsa. Don was supposed to make the cheesecake, but with his Algebra II final looming, I stepped in and did the deed.

This is a standard cheesecake--just savory. The crust is made of crushed blue corn tortilla chips + a little butter, and the cake part is cream cheese, a bit of sour cream, eggs, and cheddar + monteray jack cheese. Roasted/peeled poblano chilies and minced dill + cilantro are folded in to the dairy base and then it's baked in a medium low oven for an hour, about.

The salsa that goes with is a fruit salsa. It's supposed to be papaya, but my husband came home with persimmons instead. No problem--they're both sweet and sort of spicy. Who can keep these fruits straight when you're wrestling with algebra?

That looks like it takes up a lot of brain space.

How was the cheesecake? "It tastes like Fire and Ice!" my sister exclaimed. Should you be wondering, this is an appetizer we were practically suckled on, down in the Deep South and back in the seventies. And do you think I can find it on the Google? I cannot. Looks like fire and ice can be applied to everything from melon soup to opera cake, but as I recall OUR Fire and Ice involved cream cheese and chilies of some kind. Help me out, Amanda! 2nd-hand algebra is taking up my brain space!

I would say this is a great choice for a party app--it can be made ahead (big bonus points for that) and feeds a lot of people. It's also unusual enough to get you some oohs and ahhs and who doesn't love that?

My one and only complaint about the dish was the crust. After about, oh, two seconds those corn chips, which absorbed moisture, were staler than stale. I'd sub in some crushed ritz crackers or something. Please note that the recipe on Epicurious calls for blue corn flour. Not sure who made the substitution, but maybe that would work better too!

Hey, and the observant amongst you might note I'm posting this the day before Christmas! That's because my mom doesn't really care what day it is--as long as the whole family can be together. Our Christmas was last Saturday. Tomorrow--another Christmas, with my husband's family--a food experience beyond your wildest imaginings. I'm going to try to get a Bearnaise sauce in there--stay tuned for that post. :-) Merry Christmas!

(Don, here's your tree!!!)

Clams Perce

Making any kind of dish with fresh clams or oysters is a mixed blessing. You can't beat the taste, and canned clams just aren't the same, I'm sorry. Even the pre-shucked bivalves you can get at the fish counter usually have preservatives added. Nope, for the best you really need fresh.

BUT. Shucking clams and oysters is more easily said than done, and although I've had practice with both over the years, the idea of it still intimidates me. For one thing, it's incredibly messy, and for another, if you don't have the proper equipment it's dangerous, with a trip to the emergency room looming should your knife slip the wrong way. To make it more confusing, you don't shuck clams and oysters the same way--you pop an oyster at the hinge, and you do the opposite with clams, running your knife between the shells everywhere BUT the hinge, to loosen the muscle.

So it was with great interest and appreciation that I read the instructions for Clams Perce (pronounced "Percy")--you steam those bad boys until they open--no knives involved anywhere. I had even more appreciation for this recipe, the creation of Manhattan bar owner Perce Goodale, once I read it fully--clearly created by and intended for a busy commercial kitchen with no time to waste. So should you have no time to waste yourself this holiday season, but are looking for an app that will wow your guests, try this one on for size.

Once you get your clams out and have rinsed off the shells, lay them on a baking sheet. The recipe asks you to stablize them with kosher salt--I didn't bother with that. Put a clam in each shell, then sprinkle on top: dry stuffing mix, parmasan cheese, a strip of raw bacon, and a drop of Worcesterhire sauce. Broil for 2-3 minutes.

That's it! They're great little bites. Yum!

Cheddar Pecan Crackers

Really, these were more like Cheddar Pecan Cookies. Why? Because as per usual when I'm throwing a dinner party I'm in a screaming hurry, working at top speed, and when I spotted the directions to flatten each ball into a 1 1/2 inch disc I said Feh and threw them in the oven instead.

Oh but let's back up...why the dinner party and wherefore?

So you'll remember I'm in this fish co-op, right? Like a farm share thingy but with fish? I was in it over the summer (you may recall me complaining about icky fish guts) and decided that all that fish every week was too much so I split my half share with my friend Elizabeth for the fall. But still, every two weeks, we get A LOT OF FREAKIN FISH...so, survey says, time for a dinner party!

This past week it was a gigantic pollack. You don't find out what the fish is until about two hours before you go pick it up, but I've pretty much decided that the best way to handle most forms of fish is to dredge them in a batter of cormmeal + potato starch, hot hungarian paprika + salt, mixed with either beer or lime seltzer water and then deep fry it. So by the way when I say I'm working at top speed it means besides all these recipe type things I am chopping up a gigantic whole fish. Well, not chopping it up. That sounds so inelegant. I mean I am (as they say in the business) breaking it down. And I have a fish rack (complete with head) cuddled up next to the ice cream in the freezer, even now.

OK, cheddar pecan crackers. People who eat at my house on a regular basis (you know who you are) know that I rarely bother with apps, and very often not dessert either. It's like--booze, and then dinner. With more booze.

BUT. In my quest to get people to help me eat this fish I happened to be communicating with somebody from work who helps me out A LOT and I said, hey, why don't you come help us eat this fish and bring your girlfriend too?

And then I thought, shit. There was much to-do when I first came on to my job about me being a chef, and these folks are going to be expecting something more than fried fish and coleslaw. I mean, I guess I have a reputation to maintain!

So I made a little game plan, which was roasted pepitas (which I had in the freezer), cheddar pecan crackers, a veg dish which Elizabeth was going to bring, creamy coleslaw, fried fish, cherry tomatoes and lemon semolina cake with raspberries. That's do-able, right? In 2.5 hrs?

Anyway, this is where you came in. Me in a screaming hurry, throwing un-flattened cheddar pecan crackers into the oven.

So let's talk about the actual recipe here. Epicurious has it, and you can see that it's got a nice short ingredient list with nothing too weird. You beat the butter and cheddar together until they're smooth (hooray, btw, for cabot x-sharp shredded cheddar)--this placed considereable strain on my mixer and I had to fiddle around a lot with speed and so forth. Finally I threw the egg yolk in there to loosen it up and that helped. I blanched a little bit at the 1/2 tsp. of cayenne but what the hey--throw that in with salt, flour and chopped pecans and mix it all up. If I were doing this again I would definitely use my Kitchen Aid with the paddle attachment.

Then they say "roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls" Hahahahahaha--how about a little mini-scoop with a release bar instead? Sounds about right for the chef on the autobahn of food prep. In a calmer moment I might chill the dough and try the rolling/flattening thing--the warm dough is super-sticky.

And, these were really really good, even in their cookie-not-cracker state! Taste--awesome--sharp and spicy, and full of pecan. Classic taste combo--perfect for a party. Keep it in mind for the holidays, folks! And stay tuned for Creamy Coleslaw and Lemon Semolina Cake with Raspberries.

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Fran, I have not forgotten you! Busy composing a dirty limerick about cooking and blogging. Keep your eyes on the mailbox!

Jessica, send me your mailing address!!!

Slow-Roasted Tomato Bruschetta, Classic Martinis and Something Cool about the New Cookbook!

What is cooler than Classic Martinis, I hear you ask?

It's this--here I was, sitting out on the deck, drinking black coffee and eating fried rice (thank you Ruth for that great suggestion, and don't be sad peeplz--it's not mysterious, it's just leftover rice w/ an egg, scallions, and dark sesame oil and it's great for breakfast) flipping through the new cookbook...actually really READING it instead of flipping through it, when this caught my eye:

Do you see that? A free subscription to Gourmet! I love free things! That's how I got into karate--two free months and now look at me--a brown belt, almost as dangerous to others as I am to myself. I have to admit I've never subscribed to Gourmet (I was always more of a cookbook gal) but how can I pass this up? I can't. And frankly I'm curious to see how it's changed under Ruth's editorship.

Cool stuff!

OK, on to the featured recipes...

My friend Elizabeth (she of the kittens and the Bombay gin) got even more ambitious with her backyard garden this year and added twice as many raised beds, and as a result has been awash with vegetables...some of which she has sold at the farmer's market, but many of which have found their happy way to my kitchen. And when we were invited to a Labor Day potluck, I thought--here's the perfect opportunity to help Elizabeth move some of those tomatoes out of there--every time I walk in to her house (hello kittens!!!) she has bushels and pint boxes and pie plates of plum and cherry and heirloom tomatoes hanging about--by making Slow-Roasted Tomato Bruschetta.

Lots o tomatoes!

Cut them up and distribute them on two baking sheets and drizzle with 5 tbsp olive oil + 5 minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper:

Roast in a 200 oven for 6 hours. Yup, six hours! When they're done, they'll look like this:

See that bread? When I took the picture I was toasting slices of it in the oven, which is how I served it at the party.

And people FLIPPED over this dish. So simple! I must have told ten people how it's made (including my mother, who called this morning to write down the instructions). And by the way, this is from The Gourmet Cookbook, not Gourmet Today, should you be looking for this one (it's not on Epicurious either).

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Next--Classic Martinis!

I told you last post that we couldn't decide between Gin Rickeys and Classic Martinis, and tonight we went with the martinis. In the intro to the chapter, Ruth writes that the food editors spent a ridiculous amount of time counting how many times they stirred drinks, testing different types of ice cubes, etc--only to discover that the devil really IS in the details or rather that very small differences make the difference between a good cocktail and a great one.

So I paid close attention to things like how much ice, noted that the martini was stirred, not shaken (sorry James Bond) and put the glasses in the freezer ahead of time to get them nice and chilled.

And, it was good! But I'm thinking that those bartenders at bars must keep some gin in the fridge or something--I would have liked it colder and ended up putting in some of the ice from the shaker. And I put a little olive juice in mine too, which makes it a "dirty" martini (not too long ago I had a Hot and Dirty Martini at Alchemy, which was a damn good martini!!)

I noted that the bruschetta was from The Gourmet Cookbook--the martini is obviously from Gourmet Today, the new book. I'm going to have to think of a way to state that elegantly in the future without going to the bother of typing out the titles over and over. Hmmm. Thinking....

My Week of Hors D'Oeurves, or Melissa Makes Up For Lost Time

Regular readers of this blog know that there are some chapters I cook out of with regularity (like Cakes, Cookies Bars and Confections; Vegetables) and some that I don't (like Frozen Desserts and Sauces; Pasta Noodles and Dumplings). Hors D'oeurves and First Courses definitely falls into the latter category.

Why? They are fiddly, people! Don't ask me why I can spend a million years on a cookie but stuffing a cherry tomato makes me crazy--it just does. Also, I think that in the arc of my work day, the afternoon (when I bake) is relatively leisurely compared to the crash and rush of pre-dinner, and the LAST thing I want to do when I'm trying to get food out for a crowd is fuss over a decorated carrot stick.

I'm just kidding about the decorated carrot stick. Not that I'd want to fuss over one. There are no recipes for decorated carrot sticks in this book.

But here it is, the holiday season, and I was presented with not one, but TWO opportunities to spend some time making hors d'oeurves. Bring me your carrot sticks, your cherry tomatoes, your walnuts yearning to breath free! Or at least, to be candied and eaten!

The first was our employee Christmas party. This party has evolved over the years from a very small, brief gift exchange to a full-fledged party, albeit without the booze. It was my privilege to plan and cook for this group of hard-working, amiable folks and it came at the perfect time--before the descent of the family, my last remaining days of peace before the holiday craziness. This was my menu:

Mulled Cider
French Hot Chocolate
Candied Walnuts
Deviled Eggs
Baked Cheddar Olives
Spicy Lemon-Marinated Shrimp
Exotic Mushroom Pate
French Pea Soup

There are certain among you who will be scratching their head that there is no dessert listed here. Well, I did plan to make Grapefruit and Coconut Angel Pie, because I love that pie and have been looking for an excuse to make it again. But I just ran out of time, and besides--two of the employees planned to bring some sort of dessert so I left the sweets to them.

I made the Candied Walnuts last year but see that I didn't blog about them (tsk, tsk!). They were a HUGE hit so I reprised them. One of the things that I love about this cookbook is that even before I've gotten anywhere near finishing with it, some of the recipes have become old standbys for me.

So, the Candied Walnuts--they're a pain, but worth it. Boil them first, for five minutes, then set them out on paper towels to dry for an hour or so. Then toss them with powdered sugar, and drop them in hot oil until they're brown and crispy. Set them on a baking sheet to cool, sprinkle them with cayenne salt, and then put them on paper bags to soak up some of the grease.



The Deviled Eggs were pretty straightforward, and I've made them before (and blogged about them, see link in my list above). What is it about deviled eggs? Everybody loves them. And you can't really screw around with the filling too much or people get upset. And for pete's sake--don't forget the paprika!!



Baked Cheddar Olives...mmmmmmmmm. I had made these before out of The Joy of Cooking and I knew they were winners. This is pretty much the same recipe--it apparently was a 50's stand-by so I guess it's canon now. The idea is a cheese pastry wrapped around small olives, and baked in a 400 oven. What cracks me up is the instructions, which goes something like: toss flour with shredded cheese and softened butter, and rub with your fingers until a dough forms. Obviously this was in the days before food processors. I followed the directions just for the heck of it, but next time I'll use the machinery--it's quicker. The home health aid who helped me roll these was so excited by the concept that she vowed to be exactly on time so she could get her hands on the finished product. Kevin, I'm stealing your photo--thanks.



I was a little worried about the Spicy Lemon-Marinated Shrimp because it involves red chili peppers. Also, it has the word "spicy" in the title. When you're working with old folks, you pretty much want to avoid "spicy". But since this crowd was mostly middle-aged I figured I'd risk it, and so proceeded.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make it in advance, and the day of your party you just drain the marinade and serve in a pretty bowl. I love recipes like this. And the recipe isn't hard either--boil the shrimp in pickling spices, then put them in a lemon-based marinade for a long soak--in my case three days. And I worried for nothing about the chili--it wasn't prominent. If you're expected to bring something to a dinner party this week, try this recipe out--it's low stress/high-satisfaction-yield.



Exotic Mushroom Pate was definitely the time-suck in the food preparation department, but I wanted to make something sort of showy and vegetarian-friendly. Basically the idea is this--you use the mushrooms in three ways: as a pureed base; as a chunky filling, and then sauteed with almonds on top. You do this all with two kinds of mushrooms, shitake and oyster. Almonds are prominent in the recipe, so don't serve this to your allergic friends.

I screwed this recipe up by over-cooking it (you use a water-bath) by about half an hour. I was so mad at myself, since I had labored over it in a major way, but knew that it would only be a texture issue, and in fact the texture was just fine--not as moist and pudding-y perhaps as it might have been, but seriously tasty.

I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a photo of this because it's very showy--but I still have some in the fridge and it's going to make an appearance at lunch today so I'll have my camera ready.

The French Pea Soup I've made before (see above link) but I will say that if you're tripling the recipe give yourself some extra time. Oh, and take the time to make the croutons. They're worth it.

Merry Christmas, fellow employees! Let's do it again next year.

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More? There could possibly be more?

Oh yes. I told you I had TWO events that called for hors d'oeurves, and the second one was my family Christmas gathering this past Saturday. My family decided that instead of eating hors d'oeurves all day and following it up with a big dinner, that we should just, well, eat hors d'oeurves all day.

Melissa is on board with that.

I decided to bring BL Tomatoes and Parmesan Walnut Salad in Endive Leaves.

OK. Remember how I was complaining above about fiddly, annoying recipes that have you stuffing cherry tomatoes? This is what I was talking about, but here's the thing.

These cherry tomatoes are effing awesome.

It's SUCH A PAIN to scoop out the innards with a teensy tinesy melon baller, and to ever-so-delicately put in the bacon/mayo/scallion/iceburg filling with the tip of a knife.

But it's SO worth it.

It's like, you know how some irritating food people talk about "complete proteins"? Something like, you should only eat bread with corn or beans with nuts--it has something to do with the order in which you digest things to get the maximum benefit from them (so where do I fit in the chocolate chip cookies? but I digress)

Anyway, eating these little stuffed tomatoes somehow feels complete. You seriously don't need anything else with them. And I'm so mad that I left the leftovers at my parent's house because I wanted to eat more of them. Make these when you have an army of slaves in your kitchen to do the fiddly work.



OK, the Parmesan Walnut Salad in Endive Leaves. I discovered, much to my irritation just about a second ago that I've actually already made these but didn't mark it in the book (I put a dot next to the recipe title) AND I've blogged about it. Here.

So it WAS a year and a half ago, and I didn't really write about it because our computer apparently had been on the fritz, but still. I wondered why it seemed so familiar!

Toasted walnuts and parmesan is a great combination, and endive is an elegant, cool and crunchy vehicle to get these goodies into your mouth. I have to confess that I waited too long at my parents to make these and everybody was full on everything else, so these never got trotted out. And I forgot them too. Oh well, hopefully they're being enjoyed in some form or another, but SINCE I've already made them I can tell you that they're great. Use the good parm--it's worth it.




By the way, none of the above photos are mine. I am an unrepentant photo thief. Please don't sue me, I don't have any money.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

Proscuitto and Parmesan-Stuffed Mushrooms

Oh, people.

These mushrooms are so good.

One of the things I try to do a little bit when the family is in the house is to switch up hors d'oeuvres. It's easy enough (and very quick) to serve cheese, fruit and crackers every night and practically criminal NOT to, since the Fruitful Basket carries such divine cheese. Also, truthfully, I focus far more on the main event, which is dessert, of course.

No, I'm kidding. But dessert is tied for first place with priorities, and hors d'oeuvres are usually an afterthought for me. This should be pretty clear by how many recipes I haven't cooked out of this chapter!

Well, I'm trying to mend my ways, and this was a good place to start. The recipe isn't online, but it's easy enough to grasp--saute the mushroom stems with onion and garlic, then toss with chopped proscuitto, parmesan, parsley and some olive oil. Stuff and bake.

One of my main objections to stuffed mushrooms--too bland--is resolved brilliantly by the proscuitto.

My other one--mushrooms so big you can't eat them gracefully as finger food--I resolved myself by buying normal sized mushrooms instead of large ones as the recipe directs.

Call me a rebel. I don't care. These mushrooms are fantastic. I could make a meal of them. You won't have any leftovers, I promise.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Curry Sauce

When my mom asked me to bring an appetizer or dessert to their neighborhood potluck last Friday night, my strategy for choosing a recipe was to skim the hors d'oeuvres chapter and look for one that had a relatively short "active time".

By the way, Gourmet people, have I told you how much I LOVE that feature of the cookbook? Whoever insisted on that format is a genius and should get a raise.

It makes life so much easier to have a ballpark figure for how long it's going to take to cook whatever delectable recipe you've embarked on. I'll never forget the day I was making injera out of Sundays at Moosewood for a dinner party that night, and got to the part of the recipe that says, "let the batter rest for 24 hours." Kind of throws a monkey wrench in, doesn't it?

If you don't have The Gourmet Cookbook (and why don't you? What's wrong with you?) each recipe is formatted something like this:

Chicken Satay with
Peanut Curry Sauce
Makes about 10 hors d'oeuvres
active time: 25 minutes / start to finish: 1 1/2 hours

SO much easier than skimming the recipe, looking for the time indicators and then guessing how long the prep work will take. So thank you, thank you, thank you genius Gourmet people. You make my life easier.

If you don't know what satay is, you've most likely encountered this or something like it at a wedding or other catered party--thin strips of chicken on a bamboo skewer, with a spicy peanut dipping sauce. Satay is essentially an Indonesian dish and of course we westerners have taken a broad category of food and encapsulated it into what we think is the definitive version. And naturally, it's the most tame. Don't believe me? Consider this, from Wikipedia:

Sate Burung Ayam-ayaman (Bird Satay)

The satay made from gizzard, liver, and intestines of “Burung Ayam-ayaman” (a migrating sea bird). After being seasoned with mild spices and stuck on a skewer, this bird’s internal organs aren’t grilled, but are deep fried in cooking oil instead.

Or this:

Sate Torpedo (Testicles Satay)
Satay made from goat testicles (Sweetmeat) marinated in soy sauce and grilled. It is eaten with peanut sauce, pickles, and hot white rice.

I can guarantee you won't see that at your next wedding.

Here's a photo of my nice, tame Chicken Satay:



The people loved it. I did too.

Guacamole and Benne Seed Pita Toasts

Can you believe I've never made guacamole?

It's true. I just never have. The issue is the avocados--I never think to buy them in the quantities I need to get them all ripe at once, and the thought of actually planning that far in advance--to think, oh, I need to make guacamole for the weekend, so I'll BUY the avocados on Monday so they'll be ripe enough to use...I'm not that organized, folks.

But at work yesterday there were three big fat perfectly ripe (almost over-ripe) avocados and we had a small dinner party on the calendar. The guacamole planets aligned.

This is the simplest of recipes--it's really a base recipe, since the book lists several variations afterward. It's so simple, it's not even on epicurious. Basically, it's avocados, salt, lime juice, chopped white onion, and serrano chilies.

The only place where I deviated a tiny little bit was with the serranos. When you're making food for a table full of senior citizens in New England, it's best to err on the side of caution when it comes to the hot stuff. I added a quarter of a banana pepper (the mildest of the hots).

For my maiden guacamole voyage, it was a great success. I was a little worried about browning, but the lime juice kept it nice and bright.

To go with the guac, I made Benne Seed Pita Toasts. If you're wondering what the heck benne seeds are, they are nothing more than sesame seeds--"benne" is what the Bantu folk of West Africa call them, and it's the name they still use in Charleston, South Carolina, where benne seed wafers and candy are a local specialty.

These pita toasts were buttery and crisp. I got smart and put them in a zip-lock the second they cooled so they wouldn't soak up the humidity in the air. About a third of the sesame seeds fell off, but that's ok--there were plenty left. They were a perfect accompaniment to the guacamole, and together they were a fantastic summer hors d'oeuvres.

Fricos and Sole Goujonettes with Paprika Salt

"Huh?" I hear you say..."What the heck is a goujonette?"

This, my dear friends, is a fine example of how menu writers get you to pay more money when you go out to eat. I bet you wouldn't consider $28 excessive for "sole goujonettes", but would you pay that amount for "fish sticks"? Because that's basically what these are.

The Gourmet Cookbook explains to us that goujon is French for "gudgeon", which is a slender little fish found in Europe somewhere. This word has been appropriated to describe any strip of fish that is deep-fried. It would be as if we called fish sticks "anchovyettes", or "sardinettes".

OK, now granted sole IS an expensive fish. So if you were eating fried sole strips you could expect to pay more than if you were eating something slightly less expensive, like pollack (which is the fish you're eating at McDonald's and in the cafeteria.)

All this aside, Sole Goujonettes with Paprika Salt is fine way to fry fish--it's not too far actually from the Italian Fried Salt Cod posted below except that you use seltzer to mix up the batter. The one thing I don't understand is why on earth anybody would put salt on the side for "dipping". There is salt in the batter already, and you are directed to salt the fried fish once they come out of the oil--why would you want more if it's properly seasoned? This is where you want contrasting flavor-- malt vinegar, lemons or tarter sauce, or even ketchup if you must.

The recipe on Epicurious mentions only paprika for the salt--sweet paprika I mean, but the book suggests smoked paprika, and I did use that. I wasn't sure about it--it seemed an overwhelming flavor but when it was all said and done I actually didn't detect the smokiness in the fish. So don't go out of your way to get smoked paprika for this dish, is my point.

Here's another nice picture by Romulo Yanes:



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Fricos are one of those ridiculously easy recipes that make you look good. It's just grated parm, flour and pepper, baked on a sil-pat for ten minutes. If you don't have a sil-pat pan liner, ask Santa for a couple--they can be found at places like Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are amazingly handy when it comes to stuff like this--actually, there are some recipes that can be baked successfully ONLY on sil-pats.

Here's a picture:



I had a moment of confusion when I was baking these, because I remembered making them at Yanks and draping them over a rolling pin to get a nice shape. These did not drape--they were very stiff. I also remembered the sous at the Emerson just sprinkling grated parm in a non-stick frying pan to make these...yes, there are two ways to make them. If you want stiff crackers, go with the cheese + flour recipe. If you want to make a curvy shape or a cone, or a cup to put some kind of filling in, just sprinkle grated parm in a pan and let it melt and turn golden.

Here's a picture of that:



This is a great technique that should be part of any foodie's repertoire. Try one of these on top of a caesar salad and you'll get oohs and aahs. I promise.

Pita Toasts, Cheese Straws and Thanksgiving!

Reader, in a perfect world there would be a little kitchen elf who would magically make hors d'oeurves appear while I'm putting the finishing touches on dinner. My mind just doesn't naturally wander in that direction when I'm thinking about food--you're much more likely to find me musing about the perfect dessert, or about the balance of flavors, textures and colors on the dinner plate.

And appetizers can, if done with too much flourish, actually dull the appetites of diners, and nothing makes a chef crankier than someone who picks at their dinner because they've eaten too much clam dip. I am guilty of this--a) I love clam dip and b) when I'm starving I eat what's in front of me until I'm full, regardless of course. I guess what I'm saying is that if I were my own guest, I would find myself very irritating! Good thing quantum physics doesn't allow that yet.

Anyway, all this is to explain why I haven't delved into the "Hors D'Oeurves and First Courses" chapter of this book too much, although at work it's de rigueur, especially when family comes. Usually it's a nice cheese with some crackers and grapes, but eventually I'll work my way through this chapter and somebody, somewhere, will get to try things like Fresh Corn Madeleines with Sour Cream and Caviar.

But not today.

Today I'm going to tell you about Pita Toasts and Cheese Straws.

Actually, I served the Pita Toasts as an accompaniment to lentil soup for my writing group, and I would make these again, any day. Here's why: easy, fast, and adjustable. (Oh, and delicious.)

To make the process more efficient, do this--instead of cutting the pitas in half, then into wedges, then brushing with oil--cut them in half, brush the rounds with oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, stack the rounds, and cut the stack into wedges.

My only mistake with this recipe was mixing white pitas with thinner, whole wheat ones--the thinner ones browned much more quickly and were on the edge of too done.

Dieters--you can make this a friendly snack by using those great high fiber pitas and spraying them lightly with cooking spray (preferably something without silicone).

You can also jazz these up by mixing a spice like cumin or chili powder into your oil.

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I wasn't as happy with the Cheese Straws, and part of this was my literal brain. Don't you think something called a "straw" should be long and thin? And that's what the headnotes say too--thin and elegant, and that's how you feel when you're nibbling them. I followed the directions precisely (except what kind of cheese I used--I subbed dill havarti for cheddar) and my straws were kind of stumpy. They were more like sticks. But I guess Cheese Sticks doesn't sound quite as appealing, does it?



These aren't mine, but this is what they looked like. And I wasn't crazy about them, truthfully. Maybe it's because they're made with puff pastry, and I find puff pastry to be kind of bland and greasy. But my folks liked them, so maybe I'm just being cranky and persnickety.

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Hey readers! What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Talk about a holiday where the focus is on the food! So tell me, where are you going, who's doing the cooking, and are you bringing anything? An old family recipe, or are you experimenting on your unsuspecting co-diners? (I am.) This is a fun time of year, so share the foodie bliss with us!

Rosemary Walnuts and Chocolate Souffle

Here's what I loved about Rosemary Walnuts: the combination of rosemary and walnut. Here's what I didn't love: that they were tossed in butter and baked.

Don't get me wrong; I love butter. But when it's coating something, and that something has cooled down to room temperature, that lovely glossy coat cools and congeals. You know what I'm talking about.

So if you're going to try this recipe (and why not, to expand your repertoire of hors d'oeurves?) toss the walnuts in olive oil.

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I wish, I wish, I wish I could tell you that this Chocolate Souffle tastes as good as it looks. Of course, sometimes chocolate in any form is better than no chocolate whatsoever. If you're in that kind of mood, bake away.

The headnotes in The Gourmet Cookbook (but not on Epicurious, though it is of course the same recipe) say that the quality of chocolate makes all the difference here. They suggest Valrhona. I used Nestle Chocolatier 65%, since The Fruitful Basket is closed on Sunday and that's where I get my Valrhona, and sometimes I'm just too stubborn to actually believe what people tell me and have to see for myself.

This recipe IS significantly lower in fat than some other souffle recipes out there--no butter appears in this dessert (I've seen some souffle recipes that call for two sticks) and half the egg yolks are discarded. So dieters, take note!

The overall effect the next day, when it's compressed, is kind of like a lite brownie.

Technical criticism. The recipe asks you to lighten the chocolate by folding some whipped egg whites in, and then folding the lightened chocolate into the remaining egg whites. This is impossible--the chocolate is still far too heavy to fold. You will just have to fold in the egg whites bit by bit--otherwise you'll get clumps of chocolate in your egg whites that will never break up.

The next time I get my hands on some Valrhona I might try this again, because I to dismiss recipes like this, especially in a cookbook that has been so amazingly reliable. So stay tuned.

Cheese Fondue and Fresh Orange Slices with Candied Zest and Pistachios

Now, when was the last time you had Cheese Fondue?

For me, it was one of those palate-defining moments. I was 13, and on a youth group skiing trip to Switzerland. We were in a lodge with long wooden tables and benches, and starving from a long day of trying to ski on the springtime ice fields of the Alps. The cheese fondue--gooey dripping cheese, chunky crusty bread-- seemed like a miracle, and even more amazing was that we were all given a small glass of white wine "so the cheese wouldn't make a big lump" in our stomachs. I haven't had it since (cheese fondue that is, not wine), but I have never forgotten it.

So last Christmas, when grandson J. roamed around the house, poking into cupboards, looking forlornly for a fondue pot, it started me off on a mission. OK, so it took 10 months to come to fruition, but at least I'm persistent in my goals. Really what I was looking for was the proper alignment of events, weather, people and equipment. You need colder weather for cheese fondue. Nobody wants to eat gooey hot cheese and bread when it's 90 degrees outside. You need enough people to make it merry but not too many. Last night I had seven adults and one four year old, perfect because there are eight fondue forks. You need to be able to sit them at a round table (there is only one, and it's in the kitchen), so it needs to be somewhat informal, and it needs to have been a day when it's all right to have a "light" meal for dinner. Yesterday there was a big birthday celebration for Dr. S. (89 years!) at the Essex Club and the lunch there was rather heavy.

Perfect.

Perfect, that is, until math came into the equation. Can I just have a little rant here about our measuring and weighing system? Why on earth do our cookbooks call for ounces when markets weigh things out in tenths of a pound? So say for example you need 8 oz. each of Gruyere and Emmenthaler. At the market they are in little bricks of 0.4 lbs. each. So you buy two of each. Now say you are cooking and you decided to not double the recipe, but one and a half it. So you need 12 oz. of each. So 0.4 of a pound is 6 oz., right? Because if you split 8 oz. by five units, 4 oz. would be .25 lb. and 6 oz. would be roughly 0.4 lbs, or a little less. So theoretically two 0.4 lb. blocks of should give you exactly what you're looking for.

Oh, and if you're one and a halfing 1 1/2 cups of wine, you add an additional 3/4 cup. Right?

Can I just tell you right now that I had to drop accounting in college because I was getting a D and I didn't want to screw up my GPA? I should have stuck with it.

Anyway, the result of all of this mental strain is that I was terribly anxious while I was watching that cheese melt in what seemed like a LOT of wine. It seemed like too much liquid to the cheese, and I didn't remember it having that consistency (from all those decades ago). I added the cornstarch/kirsch slurry with high hopes, only to have it clump on the bottom of the pot, and so I had to take a whisk and beat the bejeezus out of it. Then I started to doubt my math and rummaged around in the cheese drawer for more cheese to add. I ripped up four slices of deli swiss and was ready to start grating some cheddar in there when it finally simmered itself into a consistency that I was happy enough with.

Friends, this dinner was a success. There was much laughing and general merriment at the table, and I think my favorite moment was when I heard Dr. S. say, "I feel absolutely, perfectly contented right now."

Now, after the fact I have looked on Epicurious to give you the link (and a nice photo) and I see some suggestions that I wish I had seen ahead of time. One is to toss the cheese with the cornstarch, another is to increase the amount of cornstarch. A third is to provide other dipping options: apples and pears, boiled potatoes, etc.

Food for thought for next time, because there will definitely be a next time!



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Here's a mental exercise for you, as if you needed another one. Say you're serving cheese fondue for dinner on a night that has followed at least three nights of heavy eating (including desserts)? You need a dessert. There's nothing leftover to appropriate, except a little angelfood cake with ganache frosting. There's no ice cream worth mentioning. You don't want to go shopping, and you don't want to make anything heavy to follow all that cheese. Hmmm.....

Fruit of some kind seemed like an obvious choice to me, but not just any old fruit. The Gourmet Cookbook to the rescue once again--this book seems to have a solution for just about any cooking quandry I have. I had all the ingredients for Fresh Orange Slices with Candied Zest and Pistachios
and embarked upon it with much faith and enthusiasm. Really, it is quite amazing how much faith I have in these recipes because I make them for the first time on the job almost every day. That's some testimony right there.

And I wasn't disappointed, at least not with the recipe. The only thing that stressed me out about this dish was the oranges--I wasn't using navels as the recipe asks, I was using Florida oranges, which are great for juice but have seeds and are kind of membrane-y. So getting the seeds out was a little time consuming and also scraping the pith off the rind. Helpful hint: it's easier to get off AFTER you boil the rinds for 10 minutes--scrapes right off with a spoon. Then cut the rind into matchsticks. I also had the foresight to try a little sample plate and realized that the membrane holding it all together was a little tough and would make for difficulties if the slices were left in perfect circles so I cut them all in half (this was after they were all plated, mind you).

And then my final worry (do you think I worry too much?) was that the Grand Marnier in this dish would just be too much booze after the wine and the kirsch of the fondue.

I can't tell you how this dish was received, because by the time it was being eaten I was at home watching the Red Sox kick some Colorado butt. OK, slow butt-kicking, but who cares? Go Sox!!