Simple, Bright, Fresh, Hot Summer's Day Dinner

Friends, family, readers. I know, it's been a minute. But I've been busy cooking a TINY HUMAN (coming soon!) so it is what it is, y'all.

Things have been busy in preparation: we acquired a chest freezer, for one thing, so there's been a lot of freezer loading happening in hopes of not subsisting on takeout in the beginning. TBD how well it will all work out - but rest assured I'll [try to] keep you posted. It's gardening season, too, and things are hopping out on Deck MiniFarm. I was hoping everything would be pretty well established before the Munchkin makes his or her appearance, but things are kind of neck and neck at this point. More on that in another post. 

For today's deliciousness: a legit warm-weather recipe! At no point do you turn on the oven or the stovetop! (Well, assuming you have some grilling access. If not the stovetop might be needed. Sorry.)

I made gazpacho last night - first time making it, first time making a non-beverage in the Vitamix, and...first time using those tomatoes I canned last summer. (Did I tell you about those? It was kind of a debacle involving a severely overheated kitchen and possibly some loss of product due to paranoia about things not being fully blanched before going in a jar. This summer's excess is getting frozen.) 

Anyway -- it was delicious! Also since nobody got sick from the tomatoes, which were not re-heated in the making of gazpacho, I guess the canning worked too. I paired it with marinated grilled skirt steak skewers (recipe below), and all was well. This particular gazpacho is of the smoother variety, not so chunky -- possibly due to my particular tomatoes + equipment. But I imagine it could easily be adjusted for chunkiness. 

** No photos because....we ate it all too fast. **

The whole thing was super easy -- chop things up and stick them in the fridge for a bit, and quickly blend and grill. The sitting-in-in-the-fridge means that this is probably not everyone's weeknight dinner unless you work from home or get home at a reasonable hour, but it's a fresh and bright weekend meal for a hot summer day. The gazpacho really benefits from a good hour in the fridge, and the skewers marinate for at LEAST 30 minutes. So I guess you could make the marinade and chop the veggies the night before. 

For the apparatus: Having a Vitamix made this incredibly easy. You could also, I imagine, use a food processor (a large one), or another brand of powerful/quality blender, or possibly even a stick blender with the right container, although that might be tricky. Either way, experiment! 

Fresh Tomato Gazpacho (in a Vitamix or similar contraption)

Via Dadcooksdinner.com

Ingredients

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 large bell peppers, cored and seeded
• 1 small cucumber
• 1/2 medium red onion
• 2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored [*Note from your blogger: I used about 4 pint jars of tomatoes, semi-drained as they had quite a lot of liquid in them. An alternate is a 28oz can of diced tomatoes, the higher quality the better, but generall skip the bland supermarket "fresh" tomatoes - they will be seriously lacking in flavor.*]
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar [*Red wine vinegar is what I had - worked fine.*]
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon pimenton de la vera (Spanish smoked paprika), or sweet paprika [I had Hungarian sweet or spicy, no smoked, so went with sweet]
• minced red onion for garnish [I forgot this...it still worked. Could also use fresh minced radish for the crunch & bite.]

Directions

1. Mince the garlic, prep the vegetables

Put the lid on the blender and remove the center plug from the lid. Turn on the blender, drop in the garlic, and let it run until completely minced. While the garlic is mincing, chop the rest of the vegetables into roughly 2 inch pieces.

2. Blend the soup

Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender. Turn the blender on low, and gradually bring it up to medium speed. Blend on medium speed until the ingredients turn into a soup, about 30 seconds at most in the Vitamix - it will liquify quickly and you don't want it TOO thin. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, or sherry vinegar if needed. Pour into bowls, garnish with minced red onion, and serve. 

Important note: If you have time, let the soup rest in the refrigerator for an hour or two before serving. This is vastly improved when quite chilled.

Leftovers will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. Alternately, due to the lack of bread or dairy that are sometimes found in gazpacho, this should freeze fine -- just give it a good stir, possibly whisk, when defrosted. 

Play with this recipe a bit! I think it would be tasty with maybe some corn kernels thrown in at the end, or garnished with a protein like some shrimp. There's a lot of room for creativity. 

Grilled Skirt Steak Skewers

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1-inch piece of ginger, sliced [*I didn't have fresh, or even dried, so used powdered. It was fine - if you love ginger, though, making sure to have fresh is probably wise.*]
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds skirt steak, trimmed of membranes and silver skin [*Note: you can adjust this -- I used about 3/4 lb since it was just for two of us. I didn't adjust the marinade proportions accordingly, but you certainly can.*]
• Olive oil for grill grates
• 25-30 bamboo or wooden skewers for grilling [*I have metal ones that I use and they're fine - just don't try to marinate on them!*]

Directions

1. Place bamboo or wooden skewers in a dish, cover with water to soak.

2. Place all marinade ingredients in a small bowl, stir to combine. Set aside.

3. Lay the skirt steak horizontally out on a cutting board. Notice the grain of the steak that goes up and down. Cut the steak into segments (along the grain of the meat), about 6 to 8-inches long. Then, with each segment, turn the segment so the grain of the meat runs in a line from left to right, and cut thin strips (1/4 to 1/3-inch thick, 1 1/2-inch wide, 6 to 8-inches long), angling the knife, cutting across the grain. [*I can't say I really followed this religiously - I just cut at an angle once. It was fine. You can be as careful as you see fit.*]

4. Place the steak slices in a non-reactive bowl or dish. Toss with the marinade to coat. Chill and marinate for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours.

5. Preheat your grill, whether charcoal or gas, for high-direct heat. While the grill is preheating, thread the marinated skirt steak strips onto your pre-soaked skewers.

6. When ready to grill, brush the grill grates with olive oil (it helps to fold a paper towel, soak the towel in olive oil, and use long handled tongs to hold the soaked paper towel and spread oil on the grates). Working in batches if necessary, lay the skirt steak skewers on the hot grill grates, perpendicular to the grates. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until cooked through. Remove from grill and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Sunday Suppers: The 45-Minute Edition

(Caveat, because I hate all those 30-minute recipes that have tons of prep time - this could have some prep time. A little planning can offset that, though. Read on...)

So it was 4:45 on Sunday. Rainy, gloomy, dark. A miserable January day, except warmish, which had the odd effect of being more irritating because, well, JANUARY. I didn't want to go out to the store but hadn't planned a thing for dinner. Most nights, I'm good with cobbling something together and seeing what happens, but Sundays...well, it's Sunday Dinner. It ought to be a higher bar, in my opinion. But I wasn't open to going outside, so that left...the freezer. A dark and mysterious place, with many well-intentioned but since-forgotten packets.

And what to my wondering eyes...oh right sorry. January. Habits and all that.

So I poked around and found some forgotten chicken things and some cubed squash from a few CSA pickups ago. I don't know about you all but in the fall we went CRAZY with the squash, roasting it six ways to Tuesday. So that's good and all...but I'm kind of over it. I was feeling like soup, but a low-complication soup. Google to the rescue! I merged a couple recipes, and got this. This soup was flavorful and creamy, but with limited actual creamy ingredients and a relatively short cooking time. The biggest complication, frankly, was waiting for everything to defrost. I made kale chips to pass the time. And full disclosure about the squash: I used both butternut and Hubbard squash, because that's what I had. Delicata might work too, although I think acorn would be too savory. Butternut just sounds better in the title than "Any Squash You Have Soup," don't you think?

The chicken is one of my go-to's - easy, comforting, and aromatic, if maybe not 100% healthy as it basically cooks in its own fat. But whatever. I stuck that in the oven, and made the soup while the chicken cooked. Add a quick salad, and you're done. If you think of this the night before and pull everything out of the freezer, you dodge the only complication. (Yes, this assumes you have squash in the freezer. If you don't and this sounds good to you, keep an eye out for it - you can chop and freeze it raw very easily.) The particular seasoning combination in the soup is just right for January - the allspice and clove have a lingering holiday-ish aroma, but the cumin takes that and gives it an almost Middle Eastern spin to get you out of the rut.

45 Minute Sunday Supper: Baked Chicken Things & Butternut Squash Soup

Chicken:

Bone-in Chicken Thighs (2 per person, roughly)

Seasoning of your choosing

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking dish (like a Pyrex or that depth, not a baking sheet) with foil. Place your desired number of chicken breasts in there - I've done as few as two and up to 6, but it's really more about how many you want and will fit in your dish without crowding them. Generously sprinkle your preferred seasonings on them - I prefer Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt, as it seems to hit all the right poultry notes and is good and salty. I confess to not really knowing what's in it, though. I would think if you wanted something fresher you could use any good poultry friendly herbs, and some salt and pepper. Anyway: coat it, and stick the dish in the oven, uncovered, for 45 minutes (or a few minutes more if you like the skin particularly crispy).

While the chicken cooks...

Butternut Squash Soup

1/4 cup chopped onion [*prep shortcut: shake in some dehydrated minced onion. Works fine with all the liquid.]
~2 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 cups peeled and cubed butternut (or other winter) squash
2-3 cups chicken stock
Generous dash of allspice
Generous dash of ground cloves
Generous dash of cumin
Generous pinch of dried thyme
Something cream-based (in my case, it was about 3 tablespoons of leftover whipped cream cheese and a dash of milk. Got some heavy cream left from a holiday recipe? Dump it in. I'd probably draw the line at eggnog, though...I imagine, since this is more of a texturizer than a flavor add, you could make this healthy fairly easily - maybe some greek yogurt (plain), or even a chunk of ripe avocado. Play with it!)

In a large saucepan or stockpot, melt the butter. If using fresh onions, saute until tender. If using dehydrated: add about half a cup of the stock and the dehydrated onions, and let cook for a few minutes. Add squash, the rest of the stock, and all seasonings. Bring to boil, then lower heat to a brisk simmer and cook 15-20 minutes, or until squash is tender.

Add whatever creamy ingredient you've chosen and give it a little stir. Puree the whole thing with a stick blender, leave on a gentle simmer for a few minutes to get back up to hot, and do NOT boil. 

Your chicken and your soup will probably be done at about the same time - but you have flexibility here. The soup can hang out on a low simmer for a few minutes if you need it to, and the chicken can stay on keep warm or even come out and rest while the soup finishes or while you throw together your salad.

Caterpillars in the Sink

I remember one of the first business lunches I had after moving to Seattle years ago. I was enjoying a really lovely salad, and then I looked down and saw...a leaf was moving. A tiny green caterpillar emerged a moment later, and we blinked at each other. (I know, they can't blink, don't be so literal) The server happened to be standing there and noticed this as well, and his response: "well, you know we take our organics very seriously!" And that, dear readers, is how you know you're in the PacNW.

I thought of this tonight as I was cleaning up a bunch of kale to make kale chips. I got a bag full a few weeks ago at our CSA here in Pennsylvania (they have a root cellar and greenhouse so we are lucky enough to access fresh produce throughout the winter), and had been meaning to get to it. The new year, with all those take-on-the-world resolutions, motivated me to do so as part of the cleaning out of the fridge, the inventory of the freezer...you get the idea. Next week: it all goes off the rails. Anyway...

 I chopped and tossed each leaf into a big bowl of water to jump start the rinsing, and as I pulled it all back out to spin dry I spotted a few wee caterpillars, sadly (?) dead and drowned at the bottom of the bowl. (*This also explains the larger caterpillar EPH spotted working its way across the kitchen floor last week...although it poses the new question of how exactly the little guy got out of the fridge. EPH was impressed with the effort.) So yes indeed, organic kale here. Anyhoo, the chips. I attempted them once years ago only to be rewarded with a smoky mess of a kitchen, so have stayed away since, intimidated. But now thanks to the CSA there's much kale in the fridge, and I am determined to waste none of this bounty. EPH's sister was kind enough to share her much-tested recipe, and I am happy to report I have conquered the kale!

It's pretty simple, and the result is thin, crispy, salty, and addictive. All you need is kale, olive oil, and salt. Preheat the oven to 325-350, depending on if your oven tends to run hot or cool. Take your bundle of kale and give it a good rinse (watch out for caterpillars). Slice out the spines, then rip/cut into roughly 2" pieces. Dry, dry, and dry again - wet leaves will not a good chip make. I dried and then threw it in the salad spinner for good measure. Toss it in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil - really work the oil around so it distributes, but don't use a ton. Sprinkle salt and pepper,or whatever spices you want, really, and lay them out on a baking sheet in a single layer. I put parchment under them for good measure, but I'm not sure that's mandatory. Pop the sheets into the oven for about 8 minutes (or closer to 10 if you're using curly kale, apparently). Keep an eye on it, because it will cross from a yummy hint of smokiness to a charred disaster in a quick second. Pull it out, leave it to cool for a few minutes, and then serve! (Or if you are making it for later...put it aside promptly. If you test a piece you'll eat them all.) Be prepared to go through many rounds of baking due to the single layer rule, but otherwise it's super easy. Enjoy!

 

Teasers and returns

So, it's been a minute. Sometimes the bloggage (it's a word) just isn't there. Plus, you know, I got MARRIED (read in Oprah voice, please) and that kind of took of every single waking moment of my life.

It's three months later, and EPB...EPF...I guess he's EPH now, huh? That sounds like an illegal substance...might need a new name for him. Anyway, he and I are picking up and hauling across the country. We've got a week and a half to pack everything from our home, make all the related plans, and get out. (How it came to this is another story and not for this blog) We then will have two weeks to kill before leaving Seattle, so will be somewhat nomadic but within the Puget Sound region. Then week three is the grand cross country road trip! With cat! Oh my.

The only tie-in to this blog is that I'm going to do my best to figure out how to eat on the move in a way that doesn't involve 3 restaurants a day. I think we'll at least have a fridge each place we stay for the first two weeks, so we'll see what happens. Let the adventures begin...

Thanksgiving Sides: 101. Also, don't trust a celebrity chef.

And then it was the day after the first feast of Thanksgiving 2013. And I rested. EPF is running around being all kinds of productive - apparently the collection of people inspired him to think about what he'd like to be improved around the house. Me? I'm sitting still. 

Round One of Thanksgiving 2013 went quite well last night - good times with some friends and some family (and a special shout of appreciation to James for providing the photography for this entry!). I had some recipe successes, and some recipe failures, and some random snafus along the way. As promised, here's the story, with all recipes listed in a clump at the bottom (with links to original posts where applicable). 

The turkey, of course, was great. It was surprisingly huge (19lbs!) but that's okay - EPF is a big fan of smoked turkey. (Bonus preview: I'm working on some guest blogger events, and he'll be one of them - he makes mean mashed potatoes, without overcomplicating them - and he also can smoke a turkey like a boss.)

My Super Stuffing returned, and this year I actually stuck to the recipe - well, sort of. In the past I've used pre-dried/cubed bread, croutons really - but they're marketed as stuffing starter so OBVIOUSLY it's different. Anyway, this year I got actual sourdough - and you know, the slight extra tang really made a difference, so I vote for that always. Also, the recipe calls for onion, and I did that the first time but per a tiny note I seem to have used shallots last year. I like them better. So that's what I did this year, and I don't know that it makes a massive difference but I still like them better. I had batted around tweaking the recipe - adding some nuts, or some loose sausage, or something - but in the end couldn't bring myself to mess with perfection. When you've nailed something and it's a crucial part of a holiday, it's a pretty bad idea to mess with it - and I did enough of that, as you will read. 

I needed something green on the table, and green bean casserole has been vetoed in this house so I opted for fresh green beans. Those of you that are 55-year olds like me all have the November Good Housekeeping laying around the house somewhere, and in there you saw a story on Ina Garten, and her recipe for Green Bean Gremolata. You maybe thought to yourself "huh, that sounds good - fresh and bright and interesting but uncomplicated. I'll try it." Well, don't. Or if you do at least change a couple things. If I had THOUGHT about it, I would have realized that huge amounts of parsley are gross and so is raw garlic. But I didn't. I'll say this: fresh green beans are still good, and the rest of the topping is good. Just skip the nasty bits.

Also, funny story: these green beans were supposed to be steamed in the steamer pot, but we had an unfortunate incident wherein the steamer pot nearly went up in flames and as of this typing remains on the balcony, de-stinking. So, the beans were microwaved, and they were still nice and crisp and hot. Improv and recovery will get you through the holidays. And the recipe actually called for blanching, which is boiling and then ice-bathing, but that is just too many bowls and complications so that wasn't going to happen anyway. Come on, Ina. 

We skipped yams this year and did roasted acorn squash, which - the way I prepare it - tastes pretty much the same but looks prettier.

 Unless you are a six year old boy, that is. Then, well, it looks like squash and that's yucky. But if you're a one and a half year old boy, then it's so delicious the only reasonable thing to do - after pulling out as much as you can with your little fingers - is pick up the rind and mash it right into your face. So I guess the moral of the story there is know your audience. 

I've got a pretty easy and tasty homemade cranberry sauce - I made it last year and it was good, but a little too tart, so I overruled the recipe's recommendation for entire chunks of rind. Much better result this year. I needed a little less than half an orange's worth of zest for my pumpkin pie (next up) so used the rest of the orange here.

Remember that Good Housekeeping I mentioned? Well, Ina also has a pumpkin pie recipe. I fussed and fiddled with that too -- and the truth is, it's more a pumpkin custard pie. But if you normally find pumpkin pie a little too dense (and, uh, you aren't too worried about your cholesterol), then this might be the pie for you. I also attempted to decorate with leftover crust bits. This is trickier than one might think, as I couldn't put it on till a good ways through the baking due to the pie being liquidy. This led to not-fully cooked crust atop the pie, and it had already been in the oven too long so more baking was out. My next thought was EPF's culinary torch, purchased specifically for creme brulee. That, however, is somewhere in a box in the garage, and may not be seen for quite some time. So I ended up toasting the dough to completion with a barbecue lighter. Let me be clear: I do not recommend this as a strategy. It's just one of those things that sometimes has to happen at the holidays. You know? Oh! And Ina neglects to inform you that you're going to need pie weights, which I don't have, and I didn't have dried beans laying around, so scavenged various things together - rice, lentils, some barley - and put them on parchment. It worked, but caused some anxiety. 

And finally, the Toll House cookies. These were a success with both of the aforementioned boys, so I imagine will be with your home as well. I changed nothing about the recipe since my last posting. They remain delicious. Thanks, Grandmom. 

And that, my friends, is the story of Thanksgiving round 1. While I had a great time hosting, cooking, etc, I look forward to round 2 - when I will come bearing stuffing, and that is all. 

(Recipes after the jump)

Project Update: Week Three

In case my flurry of posts over the last 24 hours didn't give it away, the project had some snafus towards the end of last week, and I got a little discombobulated. It was mostly a success, although Thursday's leftover night moved to Friday due to pre-Trick-or-treating snacks getting out of hand and precluding dinner. Then the eggplant parmesan got bumped further to Sunday, because Dungeness crabs have started coming in fresh for the season so that happened Saturday night (yum). But in the end it worked out.

This week is off to a bumpy start as well. Monday night crept up at found me standing in the kitchen at quarter past five, trying to figure out what protein I could scramble together to create a meal -- and the end result with leftover eggplant parm, whole wheat pasta (sausage for EPF), and a tomato/avocado salad. All delicious but I felt like I had kind of copped out, between the leftovers and the lack of planning. Here's the rest of the week, I hope:

• Tuesday: pan seared sole and zucchini (the sole is very fast-cooking, as is the zucchini, so works for a late night dinner as Tuesdays are.)
• Wednesday: lamb loin and sauteed rainbow chard (The lamb was buried in the freezer and needed cooking. We didn't have a lot of luck last time we tried a loin, as opposed to chops, but maybe this time will be better. The rainbow chard is this week's challenge vegetable! It's kind of a stretch for me as I have a really hard time with greens - I have burned kale chips, and never successfully simmered down spinach in a pan. But I have high hopes nonetheless!)
• Thursday: pork tenderloin & acorn squash. (This was the semi-challenge vegetable last week - I just halved it, dumped in some butter, brown sugar and sea salt, and roasted it, a la this recipe, only with a little less brown sugar. It was delicious, so much so that EPF asked for it again, and it's still in the farmers markets. I haven't made a tenderloin in a while but I used to make a mean one, so we'll see if I still can.)
• Friday: we have houseguests, so will likely have dinner out. 

Three nights, one tricky meat and one challenge vegetable. Here we go!

Adulthood is tricky and other obvious things

The sky is blue! 

This may seem like a given to you...but it's not so normal this time of year out here. So, I celebrate. This day last year, Hurricane Sandy whacked into the Northeast, leaving many friends and loved ones in a bad spot. Here in Seattle we got a bit of a gift out of it - my aunt and uncle ended up extending their visit with us as they couldn't get a flight home. Not so fun for them but we loved having them, and that's what I'll choose to focus on - I've spent enough time on various blogs climbing upon my government-response-after-disasters soapbox. And this is a happy place! With food! 

In honor of the region of my roots, this week's menu...well, it has nothing to do with Sandy. Unless you consider some seafood. It does, however, include a recipe from my friend Johnny from New Jersey, so we'll count that. Unfortunately I do not have a new produce adventure to report on: a late night Saturday led to missing the Farmer's Market Sunday, so no new acquisitions. I still have last week's emergency acorn squash, though, so am carrying that through with a promise to do better next week. I'm sticking with the goal of menu planning, though, so here's this week's menu. 

• Monday: pan-seared local salmon & acorn squash. We stocked up on sockeye when it was coming in fresh over the summer, so this is a "reach into the freezer for a fast entree", and the aforementioned semi-new produce. 
• Tuesday: Johnny's slow cooker split pea soup & homemade corn bread. Johnny is a guy with a busy and stressful job, and the recipe he shared seems easy and well-suited for that kind of life. EPF teaches Tuesday nights and I'll be out voluworking (why didn't spellcheck catch what seems like a clearly made up word combining volunteering and working?) all afternoon, so this seems like something that will be just right for a late dinner. The cornbread is something I haven't made in a long time - and never the recipe I'm eyeing - but seemed like it would go well with this. 
• Wednesday: Individual Pot Roasts. Another new recipe, this is a dutch oven thing - love me some one-pot cooking. 
• Thursday: Leftover night! Assuming the weather cooperates we'll be trick or treating with our friends and their sweet little boy, so leftovers will be quick and easy - and we're going to run out of plastic containers if we don't clean out the fridge soon anyway.
• Friday: Baked Eggplant Parmesan. I'm trying a new recipe that calls this "healthy" and "easy". We'll see if it is either. 

And that's the plan! Last week, while a success in terms of planning, was also kind of a tip toe into this plan, with only two nights of real cooking - only one of which was "new". This week is a little more ambitious, although not hugely. Hopefully these will all turns out to be as not-enormously-complicated as I hope. 

Results to follow, friends...

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, 
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth 
seeking the successive autumns."

-George Eliot

Planning is for Adults

Tonight begins Project: Meg Cooks Like a Grown-up. The menu: slow cooker carnitas & delicata squash. The inadvertant theme: "quick" is in the...mind of the time-challenged. While both of these things involved minimal effort - and one was in a Crock-Pot, the modern originator of "the machine cooks it for you" - they both involved forethought and quite a lot of time. The Crock-Pot obviously does, although the assembly is about 10-15 minutes, tops. But if you're like me and can barely get out the door in time what with the clothing putting on and the coffee making and the whatnot, well, then, make it on a weekend. Being of the non-working variety, this was a Monday attempt for me. The delicata is also not very labor intensive, but does take about 30 minutes and needs tending, so can't really be put in and then left alone for 30 minutes. But once it's in, you can do the prep for the carnitas toppings and shred the meat, so it works out.

First up, carnitas. I might be the only person out there who hasn't made carnitas yet, so this seemed like a good thing to get in the repertoire. I mostly followed one recipe...but tweaked it based on another and then added a random fridge leftover. So, the end result is below (which shortcuts noted where possible), and aside from a deliciously fragrant house it was also super tasty. Not overwhelming but just snappy enough to perk up the evening. We did feel it needed a little kick, so the hot sauce was employed - but that can be optional. We added chopped avocado, a little sour cream and some flour tortillas, and it was creamy and tangy deliciousness. (The avocado was of course hard as a rock...October in the PacNW isn't exactly their time. It spent the afternoon snuggling with an apple in the Paper Bag Hotel, and the results were workable.) The original recipe suggested toppings of diced green chiles and carmelized onions. Neither of us is really into fiery hot food, so I scratched the chiles, and I wasn't feeling onions today but may try them out another time. 

Getting back in the groove

It's time to wake this thing back up. It's time for cold (permanently foggy) days and fireplaces. It's time to refocus from the depressing cesspool of our country's "government" to food, family, friends, festivities. It's Time To Cook.

It was a summer of minimal cooking - life was busy, EPF and I moved, and, well, it was summer, when a lack of both a/c and a grill means lots of salads and sushi. What with my patio garden doing really truly terribly, my domestic inspiration level was low, low, looooow. But now that we're sharing a home and eating together, there is some actual planning that needs to happen for us to eat like normal people (read: not takeout every night, which we could easily slip into with the wealth of options in this neighborhood). So: while I'm without garden for now (of the outdoor plants, only the rosemary and now-struggling sage made the move - the others went to the Garden Intake Shelter, aka my next door neighbors' patio), I do need menu planning motivation and this blog is going to be it! Because I said so! And so it is! (Do I sound fired up yet? I'm still working on the coffee.)

This week I'm also embarking on a new low-grade project: each week I'm attempting a new, ideally seasonal, produce that I haven't messed with previously (or at least don't do on a regular basis). I feel like incorporating fresh produce outside of the summer is challenging, but I know it can be done, so will now shame myself into doing so. This week, squash. I acquired delicata and acorn at the farmer's market yesterday, and am starting with delicata since I've never made it. (Acorn I have made, so it's in case of crisis - this is the first week, after all)

The week's plan:

• Monday: Slow cooker carnitas & roasted delicata squash. This is a double experiment as I've never made carnitas either, but nothing in the slow cooker is that complex - so how hard can it be? I'm combining a couple recipes - we'll see how it goes.
• Tuesday: Roast chicken thighs with carrot-fennel soup (yay for carrot and fennel season!)
• Wednesday: (nothing: we have dinner plans, so a nicely timed break)
• Thursday: Roast chicken a la EPF. Somehow I have reached the distinguished age of...uh...over 28 without mastering the art of roast chicken (intact, that is - I can handle pieces - see Tuesday). I can make one, but it won't be amazing. EPF, on the other hand, creates a masterpiece, so he is in charge of this one. If the acorn squash is still around, it may go with this. TBD.
• Friday: Leftover red sauce & pasta. It's Friday, people. C'mon. 

Lots of white meat, but then again we've been eating a lot of lamb and bacon lately so it's probably a good thing to err away from the highest possible cholesterol levels for a bit, no?

"Ask not what you can do for your country. 
Ask what's for lunch."
-Orson Wells

Gumbo makes it better

Happy Mardi Gras! For those of you who don't know, I used to live in New Orleans, and miss it early and often. Living elsewhere is a bummer, especially during Mardi Gras and JazzFest, mostly because there's no question that you are missing out on amazingness, but particularly because it's not even like the festivity isn't as good - there's just nothing doin'. As they say, "Everywhere else, it's just Tuesday." And that is by far the worst part - fighting the overwhelming urge to run around shaking people and saying "don't you know what today is? It's MARDI GRAS." Of course, as my friend Erin noted on her blog, this often leads to the annoying process of explaining that TV/tourist Mardi Gras and actual Mardi Gras have next to nothing in common. 

Anyway...I digress. This year, there was a little extra New Orleans attention in the form of the Super Bowl, so I seized the moment and EPB and I, having zero interest in either team playing, had a little NOLA-themed Super Bowl gathering. The main purpose was to have a lot of food. Obviously. I gave some thought to making a king cake, but people who haven't been previously exposed to king cake and/or Mardi Gras sometimes don't respond as well as one would hope, as I learned during an unfortunate encounter with a colleague in 2011. So: no king cake. Instead, I decided to swap out the traditional chili for gumbo. I couldn't find a recipe I liked, so I combined a couple and tweaked it into my own. It's not totally by-the-rules traditional, so I expect some actual New Orleanians will be distressed, but it's also not an all-day project and it disappeared pretty quickly, so I think I was not the only one pleased with the end result. It's adjustable, as all good recipes should be. Unfortunately no photos accompany this, but I'll add some next time. Notes: I did a fish-free version of this, for two reasons - we already had quite a bit of seafood on the menu, and with a lot of little kids coming I didn't know if there were allergies, etc. I think a shrimp version would be tastier and plan to do that next time. Also, this is one of those recipes where you really ought to do the chopping, measuring, etc before you do anything - your own little meez, as Anthony Bourdain calls it. There's no time to chop them without burning the roux or otherwise causing chaos unless you happen to have your very own prep chef doing it for you, and then what are you doing reading blog recipes anyway? 

Superdome Gumbo

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 4 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
• 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
• 32-40 ounces of liquid: chicken stock, canned clam juice, etc, depending on which main ingredients you're using. I think 40 is too thin and 32 is just barely enough - if you plan on simmering it for a long time, 40 is probably the way to go.
• 1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, drained, chopped
• 1 pound smoked andouille, halved lengthwise, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/2 pound okra, trimmed, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices (frozen works too if you can't find fresh)

• Roughly 2 lbs of shrimp uncooked, peeled and cleaned shrimp; or cooked meats like chicken if going seafood-free. [*note from your blogger: In this case for convenience I got a rotisserie chicken and picked the meat.*]
• Long-grain rice 

Heat the oil in a heavy large Dutch oven over high heat until almost smoking. Add flour and stir until dark red-brown, about 8 minutes. [*note from your blogger: a little research suggested that you can do it that way or you can do medium-to-medium-high heat and cook it more slowly - which is what I did, and it was fine and less odorific in the kitchen. I read a direction from a highly recognized New Orleans chef, one who has a Louisiana country inspiration in much of his food, saying that he was raised with the lesson that a good roux should take as long as drinking two bottles of beer. I think that's a touch too long, but then my roux was a caramel color and I was okay with that, so if you want dark dark, maybe tipsy is the way to go. Of CRUCIAL importance, though: you must keep stirring. A whisk is best, and if you're fancy you can use a whisk designed specifically for roux. I can see it being helpful. Keep stirring, and do not look away - it is very easy to burn and ruin it. Put on some music, like the livestream of WWOZ, and settle in with your whisk.*] 

Immediately add celery, onions and bell peppers. Cook 5 minutes, stirring and scraping bottom of pan often (switch to a wooden spoon for this part - much easier). Mix in bay leaves, salt, oregano and cayenne. Add your liquids, canned tomatoes and sausage. 

• Option A, with shrimp & fresh okra: Boil 15 minutes. [This is a good time to get going on the rice, by the way - it'll be done around the same time.] Add okra, reduce heat and simmer until okra is tender, about 15 minutes. Add shrimp to gumbo and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. 
• Option B, with precooked chicken and frozen okra: Bring the liquids to a boil, and add the chicken. Being pre-cooked it can be a little dry, so this both softened it back up and added some extra flavor to the gumbo. After roughly 15 minutes, add the okra while it's still boiling, since it's frozen. Then reduce it to a simmer, and simmer it, honestly, for as long as you want until it's the consistency you want. Should be at least 15 minutes, but if it looks too thin you can keep it going. 

That's it! Takes a while with all the stirring and simmering, but it's not super complicated. Various recipes also suggest that you can make this the day before and bring it back up to a simmer before serving. If you do this with the shrimp version, don't add the shrimp until the day of so they don't overcook. 

To serve, put a mound of rice in each bowl and ladle the gumbo over it. Set out your Tabasco, your Crystal, your Tony's - and enjoy!

“What is New Orleans? New Orleans is Creole gumbo, filé gumbo, cowan gumbo, chicken gumbo, smoked sausage gumbo, hot sausage gumbo, onion gumbo.”

– Kermit Ruffins, New Orleans vocalist and trumpeter

Ready for stuffing again? Yes, you are.

It's been a while since Thanksgiving, and I bet you're wondering "I saw part 1, where the heck is part 2?" Where, indeed. I got a little distracted. The upside: it's been long enough now that you (theoretically) aren't sick of Thanksgiving food anymore...and maybe are even thinking about, say, stuffing for your Christmas dinner. Right? Well, if not - you should, if only to make this delicious concoction. The truth is it wasn't perfect, but even the less than perfect was delicious. Bonus: it's the best kind of holiday food. The leftovers get better with age!




As previously mentioned here, I got a little teeny bit carried away with the Thanksgiving menu planning. Like a new mother who disdains jarred baby food for homemade organic puree, I was all about farm-to-table, scratch-made. For the most part, mysteriously, it worked out. This stuffing was a prime example - while it was a bit more complicated and time-consuming than I expected, it was so good that the effort was quickly forgotten - especially since I would have needed to do something with these ingredients anyway, since Full Circle had delivered many of them (including the delicious and crucial creminis) in my weekly box.

Sourdough Bread Stuffing
Source: Food Network, Good Deal With Dave Lieberman
Prep Time: 10 min // Inactive Prep Time: 15 min // Cook Time: 1 hr 15 min
6-8 servings

Ingredients

1-pound loaf sourdough bread
8 tablespoons butter
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/2-inch thick in both directions [note from your blogger: do not skimp on the type or amount of mushroom. The rich flavor of the creminis makes this stuffing.]
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 to 4 stalks celery with leaves, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
About 10 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stems
10 to 12 fresh sage leaves, chopped
3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish and set aside.

Cut or tear the bread into 1-inch cubes and spread it evenly on 2 baking sheets. Toast the bread in the oven until completely dry and beginning to crisp and brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

[Note from your blogger: As is clearly a trend, I skipped this step and bought cubed bread, dried out, from a bakery at my farmer's market. It was delicious and I'll do it again, but if you do that make sure you add a little extra broth - maybe another half cup - to balance the moisture level. This is also something that ceases to be an issue in the leftovers, as the moisture redistributes itself nicely.]

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and a few pinches of salt and saute, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add celery, onion, 2 tablespoons butter, and thyme. Once the butter has melted, cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes. Add sage and remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Add chicken broth to skillet and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl. Pour the chicken broth mixture over the bread cubes and toss to combine until the bread cubes absorb the liquid. Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish, and sprinkle with parsley. Bake in the center of the oven until heated through and the top is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Remove the stuffing from the oven and allow to cool about 15 minutes before serving.



Now speaking of over planning, I'm in the middle of baking approximately 425 cookies right now...but before that, there was a carrot soup.

The pork, it is roasted. And then some.

So, it's November. Clearly, this is not gardening season...at least not in Seattle, so we're skipping that part of my re-learning curve for a few months. It IS Dungeness crab season...at least, it should be...and it's comfort food season. What sounds more comfort food-y than a roasted pork loin? Nothing! Well, plenty of things...but last week pork loin was it. It was on sale in massive cuts at my grocery...minimum: 8 pounds of pork! I live alone. 8 pounds was clearly excessive, so I now have 3 2-lb cuts in the freezer. What happened to the other one? Well, that's a matter of opinion, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The first challenge was finding a roast pork recipe that involved neither fruit (apples/raisins/etc) nor onions. I'm not opposed to fruit, and certainly have no shortage of fruit at the moment, but...fruit with pork always seems to make me just want more roasted fruit and less pork. Also I really hate cooking with onions. Truth be told I'm not super fond of eating them, either.

A little digging around produced this deliciously garlicky sounding recipe (copied in full below). I had all the required ingredients in-house, which is no small thing for me, and this even gave me an excuse to use something I had grown on the back patio (rosemary). I got home from work and got to it, stabbing the pork and lining the pan and crushing some recently dried rosemary. I popped it on the rack, set the timer, and put the whole thing in the oven. For the following two hours my apartment smelled AMAZING, if a little garlicky. It came out, and I sat down to a very attractive dinner.



I took the first bite...and knew immediately something had gone awry. The flavors were perfect - rosemary and garlic but neither in an overpowering way - but the meat was surprisingly overdone. Why? Well, if you already looked at the recipe and read my post carefully, you probably thought "wait, why is she putting this thing on a rack?" Indeed, why? There was no mention of a rack in the recipe. #fail. 

So, fellow chefs: remember, just because you're roasting something doesn't mean there's a rack involved. Now, to be fair: my ever-patient boyfriend (henceforth referred to as "EPB") tried to assure me that it was delicious, not at all overcooked. So either he was being kind or I like my pork juicier than it's supposed to be...who knows? Either way: I'll try this one again.

Roasted Pork Loin (source: AllRecipes, Kathleen Burton)

Serves 8 (although those seems like pretty small servings to me); Prep time 20 minutes, Cook time ~2 hours

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
2 pounds boneless pork loin roast
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Crush garlic with rosemary, salt and pepper, making a paste. Pierce meat with a sharp knife in several places and press the garlic paste into the openings. Rub the meat with the remaining garlic mixture and olive oil. 

Place pork loin into oven, turning and basting with pan liquids. Cook until the pork is no longer pink in the center, about 2 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Remove roast to a platter. Heat the wine in the pan and stir to loosen browned bits of food on the bottom. Serve with pan juices.