Very Fresh Tomato Sauce

This is only for fresh summer tomatoes. Do not attempt this with canned tomatoes or you will be missing the point. This is Marcella Hazan's recipe.

While the pasta is cooking dice two nice big juicy tomatoes and put them in a heat proof bowl. Add one crushed garlic clove and S&P. If you want to throw in a chiffonade of fresh basil please do.

Heat a generous amount of good olive oil, at least 1/2 a cup but more if you like, to smoking. Pour hot olive oil over tomatoes. Everything will sizzle and the tomatoes will release their juices and the whole thing will marry into a fresh ambrosia. Drain pasta and toss with tomatoes. The garlic is a vibrant kick that does not go well with parmesan. This takes 12 minutes and is something you might want to eat every other day for as long as tomatoes are around.

Tomato Pie

Still lots of tomatoes around. This pie is scarfed down by all who taste it, even children.

Layers of sliced tomatoes go into a pie crust, the deeper the better, homemade or not. Season each layer with S&P. Spread on top a mixture of mayonaise (Hellman's) grated cheddar and parmesan, more S&P. Bread crumbs on top. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour till brown and bubbly. Let it cool a bit or a lot before serving. Yum.

Tomatoes Kept Us Alive

and corn, grean beans, summer squash, new potatoes, fiddlehead ferns...

I thought I could commute to LI every week for my Sous Chef gig, look for a city job, shepherd my kids through the dissolution of my marriage and post on this blog everyday, but it proved to be too much and the blog had to take a back seat for the summer. Summer has passed and I'm done with the commute and ready to hit the ground running. I'm looking back on the summer's travails and happy to know that at the very least we did eat dinner every night, even if I couldn't write about it. I brought a car load of produce back to Brooklyn every Sunday night and we lived on that all week until I had to go back on Thursdays.

We ate tomato salad with avocado, tomatoes with mozzarella, lots of succotash with diced tomato added in to eat with grilled chicken, fried eggs, grilled striped bass, grilled sausages etc. We ate tomatoes with the tops cut off, seeds and flesh scooped out and replaced with a mix of bread crumbs, garlic and herbs, drizzled with olive oil and baked. Those are really good with fried eggs too or cold for lunch the next day. So many things are good cold for lunch the next day. A quick saute of fresh August tomatoes and olive oil is such a good pasta sauce. Anyway, tomatoes cheered me up everyday and kept us fed.

Grilled Shrimp and Rice Noodle Salad

It would be nice to marinate the shrimp a little before grilling but it's not essential. Lime juice and olive oil and herbs?
The rice noodle salad will be thin rice noodles with julienne of carrots, red pepper, scallions, radish. Dressed with a dressing made of fish sauce, soy, lime juice, olive oil and a hint of sesame oil, S&P.
Served at room temperature.

Steak and Salad

Very simple but very good. Salt the steak early in the day and stash it in the fridge.
Let it come to room temperature.
Grill it the way you like it (medium rare, right?)
Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Slice it and serve warm slices on top of lightly dressed salad. A robust salad like escarole and watercress you know?

Scallops and Leeks Vinaigrette

The scallops should be seared quickly and attentively in hot butter. Nothing more than S&P and a squeeze of lemon.

The leeks should be braised in water and butter and salt, or blanched until tender. Oh and cut in half lengthwise an washed well first. Cool them completely. Drizzle a good vinaigrette on them once on the plate, preferably one made with a good white vinegar or a sherry vinegar better yet. Do you want to push a hard boiled egg through a sieve and top the leeks with a garnish of that as well? Do you think it will be too much with the scallops? I don't think so.

Serve the scallops right along side the leeks. Maybe with some good bread.

Pasta w Spring Vegetables

While the pasta is cooking, preferably spaghetti, saute in butter and olive oil some spring vegetables. Peas, fiddlehead ferns, fava beans, small green beans, a chiffonade of baby spinach or chard, very thinly sliced tiny new onions. Add a splash of chicken stock (no harm in using a bouillion cube. Andre Soltner does it at home.) or water and lemon zest.

Toss it all together. I like to garnish each bowl with a dollop of ricotta too.

Hamburgers

Straight up, on the grill, with American cheese etc.
Might make potato salad and a green salad.

Wasabi Tuna

Do a dry rub of equal parts sugar, salt and wasabi on a tuna steak. Preferably a few hours before you light the grill.
Grill the tuna quickly, 2 minutes each side. Slice thinly and devour. Really good on a bed of lightly dressed mizuna or some such yummy green.

Sushi rice, cooled and rolled into balls, would be a very cute accompaniment too. And fun if you like eating with your hands.

Minestrone, Cool

I just made a big pot of minestrone, which we're going to eat tonight, cool not cold, with a dollop of pesto in everyone's bowl and crusty bread and a piece of Fontina.

Gucamole

I just want a big bowl of guacamole.
To eat with chips, wrapped in warm tortillas or dolloped on cold slices of radish and cucumber.
How about along side everything else- beef, chicken, fish.
Next to ceviche.
In the middle of a bowl of gaspacho.
On a hamburger.

This is the way I do it. Everyone has their own.

Avocados, minced red onion, minced cilantro, minced jalapeno, lime juice. S&P.
I dice the avocados because I like a chunky guacamole, not a smooth blended one.
It's going to be in the 90s in NYC today. This may be all we eat. With cold beer of course.

Cold Somen Noodles w Chicken

Somen noodles cook in 3 minutes. If you're eating them cold rinse them in cold water and then toss them lightly with some vegetable oil. I serve them with a dipping sauce of soy, mirin and rice vinegar. And cold poached chicken on the side and a steamed vegetable. Baby bok choy is really great but anything will do, even broccoli. And of course lots of chopped scallions on everything.

Mexican Salad

Holly made this salad last night and it was so delicious I've got to have it again tonight. Might add some of that poached cold chicken. The salad was chopped romaine, red pepper, red onion, corn, black beans, tomato, cucumber and crumbled queso. The dressing was garlic, coriander, minced jalapeno, lime juice and olive oil. Big bowl full was dinner all by itself.

The Perfect Poached Chicken

If you poach your chicken this way it will come out perfectly every time. I promise. (My mother taught me this so you know it's true.) Once it's done you have a chicken you can eat hot or cold and a nice pot of broth.

Put your rinsed chicken in a deep pot and cover the chicken with cold water. You can flavor the water any way you like: ginger and scallions, wine and garlic, lemon and thyme, you get the idea. I always salt the water too.

Bring the water to a boil. Turn off the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Go away. In an hour you will have a perfectly poached chicken. If you leave it longer it will be perfect too. It will not over cook. I have done this in the morning and come back in the evening and had cool chicken for dinner. No problem. Don't forget to keep the broth.

TV Dinners

This is a new low.
I am limping across the finish line this week.
TV dinners for the kids and a glass of wine for me.
Actually, my kids have never had a TV dinner and they're thrilled. It's a dream come true for them.
And at this moment it's a dream come true for me too.
There's always tomorrow.

Hot Dogs and Mac n Cheese

What more can you say about this dinner? Kinda great if it's homemade mac n Cheese with hot dogs cut up into it. Kinda not so great when it's out of the box. But that's the way we're rolling today.

Shake n Bake

My favorite food as a kid, next to TV dinners. This is what happens when your Mom is a gourmet I suppose. I loved a night with a babysitter because I could have one of these two options, but Shake n Bake was the best. Sometimes I make my own homemade versions with homemade bread crumbs and fresh herbs and dipping the chicken in melted butter, but it's just not the same. That out of the box, always tastes exactly the same as it did last month and 25 years ago taste is missing from the fancy version.

You know it's good hot or cold. With potato salad, tomato salad, green beans and cornbread, beer or wine. If you have kids in public school then you are not cooking much this week because you are your kids' personal servant/valet for the last stretch. Today is wear your ears on your knees day, or go to school naked day, or wear your Mom's shoes to PE day, I can't keep it straight. Good luck.

Lentil Salad

Cook up some lentils and toss them in a good red wine vinaigrette while they're still warm. (Drain them really well. It's a drag when they dilute the vinaigrette.) Toss in some diced beets and crumbled goat cheese. I've got the beet greens so I'm going to saute them and grill a few chicken breasts too but actually you don't really need the chicken.

As you know, you cannot salt the cooking water for beans until they're tender or else they will never get tender. This is not true of lentils. Salt away right at the beginninng. I don't know why this is. Do you?

Grilled Shrimp Marcella's Way

This is the way Marcella Hazan grills shrimp. There is absolutely no reason to ever do it any other way.
Mix together in a bowl 1 minced garlic clove, chopped parsley, S&P, bread crumbs, lemon juice and olive oil.
Use your judgement on quantities. You want this to be a loose sauce that just lightly coats the shrimp, not a heavy breading.
Toss the shrimp in the bread crumb mixture.
Skewer the shrimp and grill quickly, 1 minute on each side or so. Or don't skewer them if they're jumbo shrimp.
Perfectly delicious.
And also just as good under the broiler.

I usually have an arugula salad with this. Grilled or roasted potatoes are really good too, or rice tossed with butter and herbs.
Cheers!

Fried Eggs and Roasted Asparagus

Roast some asparagus in the oven with olive oil and S&P. Plate them and top each plate with a fried egg, preferably sunny side up. Shave parmesan over each plate, maybe a little extra drizzle of olive oil too. Super easy and super good. And asparagus is so skinny right now you don't hardly need to peel it.

Lamb Burgers

Mix some feta and chopped shallots and chopped spinach into the ground lamb. Grill up the burgers. Good on pita or any rolls with hummous. I like a cucumber yogurt salad with these, spiked with lots of mint.

Risotto w Spring Vegetables

In this case spring peas and asparagus. Yes I did go to the farm stand. Everything is in abundance now and not a million dollars a bunch, unless you only eat organic. I almost never eat organic vegetables cause they're TOO EXPENSIVE and if I did I'd be eating a vegetable twice a week instead of twice a day, which is my preference. I cannot live in fear of non-organic produce or produce grown outside of my state or country and I do not appreciate having those foods demonized by the food police. I say anyone who is eating lots of fresh, home cooked food and mostly laying off the Twinkies is doing ok. But local and seasonal is reasonably priced and delicious and that's what I bought this weekend in between shifts at the stove at work.

I'd go chicken stock, white wine, lots of butter and parmesan with this. Throw the peas and asparagus in midway and they'll be perfectly cooked by the time the rice is done. If you have a pressure cooker you should probably add the veggies after you open the lid and yes you'll be done in 6 minutes while some people are stirring and stirring but that can be fun with a glass of wine and someone to chat with.

I also nabbed really nice baby arugula and beautiful strawberries, so a salad to go with and berries and cream for dessert.

Tabbouleh

Remember tabbouleh? Maybe you've been eating it regularly for years but after seeing it sit forlornly on the kitchen counter at hundreds of college parties I just crossed it off my list. Now a hundred years have gone by and I want a big fresh bowl of it loaded with excessive amounts of parsley and plenty of good olive oil and fresh lemon. I think I saw a picture of a beautiful bowl of it in a glossy magazine that was profiling Morrocco or Tunisia or some such gorgeous place. They say it's good for you and for sure it goes with anything you were thinking of serving, protein wise.

Have a good weekend!

Salmon Hash

I've got a beautiful salmon fillet in the fridge and I'm thinking I'll slow roast it and use some for salmon hash and some for a salmon salad to eat another day. I make salmon hash with big chinks of salmon, diced potatoes, onion, lots of parsley and minced jalapeno. Kind of a riff on the snapper hash at Rosa Mexicana. It should have diced red pepper too or green pepper if you like that but I simply cannot abide green peppers so I only use red. Scallions would be good too.

And sauteed spinach or a spinach salad with a sweetish vinaigrette. I splurged on a fancy bottle of French apple cider vinegar and it has been going fast. I'm not supposed to say this, but I like

it much better than balsamic vinegar.

The salmon salad will be chunks of salmon tossed with red onion, capers, parsley, lemon juice and lemon zest, olive oil, s&p. It's the way my friend Lucy makes it and I could live on it.

Spare Ribs and Cole Slaw

I was up early today so I rubbed a rack of spare ribs that my mother gave me with a quick dry rub of s&p, smoked paprika, cumin and a little sugar and stuck them in a 300 degree oven for an hour and a half. Now they're cooling and tonight we'll eat them with cole slaw and potato salad. Took time but no effort and the house smells GOOD!

Summer Hours

I am just back from four days of cooking at my Mom's restaurant. I thought I could post every day before reporting for work but the days go by in a blur. As I will be cooking there every weekend I have decided to adopt summer hours. From now until Labor Day weekend I will post Monday through Friday. Cheers and thank you!

Linguine with Scallops

Sear some scallops while the pasta cooks then deglaze the pan with white wine, maybe some garlic too. Toss together, in the pan, the pasta, scallops, parsley, toasted bread crumbs. Finish with an extra drizzle of olive oil.

Greek Salad

A big greek salad with all the usual stuff in it and some chicken for extra protein. Red wine vinaigrette. This is the one time I ever use dried oregano. Those little grape tomatoes are good now and big tomatoes aren't yet.

Spaghetti Marinara

We're coming home today. We've eaten well in LA but no one has had a bowl of pasta, decent or otherwise, all week. And anyway my family is always a little scared to order pasta because they're picky about it, like it the way we make it best you know. Withdrawal has set in.

Spaghetti with a light marinara sauce, a quick saute of olive oil, garlic and tomatoes. To celebrate coming home from a great vacation we might serve each bowl with a dollop of ricotta cheese. This should not take more than 20 minutes.

Grilled Fish

My my my, 95 degrees in NY today! No putting of grilling anymore.

How about a grilled piece of halibut, maybe with an herby lemony sauce to serve with it?

And a tomato avocado salad.

And warm tortillas.

Oh my God that sounds suspiciously like a fish taco...

Disneyland Food

Mostly what you can eat at Disneyland is crap chicken nuggets and burgers and such. At Disney World there's a wider selection of crap. You can survive on yogurt, fruit and frozen lemonade but you'll pass out on that diet before you make it to Space Mountain. There are , however, two foods at Disneyland that are devilishly good and can't be found anywhere else on the planet as far as I know. I know this doesn't really help with tonight's dinner but I had to tell you.

The first is smoked turkey legs. These are gigantic, salty and greasy. They come wrapped in paper and you see people walking around like minions of the magical kingdom gnawing on them or sitting on benches munching away in the hot sun. It's an alarming sight and one you will swear you will not be caught at. But they look mouth wateringly good and you'll be starving after three rides. They're amazing. Superbly delicious. Warm, tender and falling off the bone, the meat tastes quite a lot like ham. After you eat one you can handle a day at Disney with aplomb. Once home you will find yourself thinking whistfully about them.

The second is dessert. Dole pineapple float. I'm not that big on pineapple or dessert in general. Not particularly an ice cream nut. But this is a dream dessert, the one I want on my death bed. Whoever invented it is a genius. It is soft serve pineapple ice cream served in a big cup of pineapple juice. Just think about that. It's got the appeal of a tart sweet creamy creamsicle but way better cause it's pineapple. If you find yourself at the happiest place on earth please don't leave without having one. If anyone knows where you can get one besides Disneyland please let me know.

LA BBQ

Still haven't had a fish taco but last night we went to a BBQ at my friend Ann's beautiful house. She prepared a delicious spread for us and we ate and drank and watched the children climb trees. Dinner was grilled chicken, quinoa salad full of diced vegetables, cole slaw, grilled vegetables that were grilled, not burned and the most delicious green beans ever. They made me depressed that I don't live in California.

Today is Disneyland. I wonder if I'll find dinner inspiration there...

Fish Tacos

Waking up in LA, land of my childhood, on a beautiful sunny day. Can I tell you what we've eaten so far? A really good Japanese meal in the JetBlue terminal at JFK. A really good cheeseburger and fries in our room at the W at 2:00 am NY time. Later today it will be lunch by the pool. But I'm thinking fish tacos. When in LA I try to eat as many fish tacos as possible. Don't ask me why they're so hard to find in NYC.

If I were home I'd make fish tacos tonight. Warm corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, crema, hot sauce, and chunky white fried fish. Oh, and avocado. Mango tossed with lime and chili powder and sugar on the side.

Steamed Chicken Casserole

So, it's not so easy to work "outside of the home" and blog everyday. I did manage to make dinner every night, just barely. My apologies for skipping a couple of days. This was dinner last night, because no one else had quite the enthusiasm for sandwich week that I did. Something about but we have sandwiches for lunch everyday was being muttered in the kitchen. Fair enough. This Chinese casserole is really yummy and easy, but you need a proper steamer. Serve it with rice and a green veg and you're good to go.

Toss together in a bowl: slivered boneless, skinless chicken, diced tofu, slivered black mushrooms or shitake or whatever kind you like, chopped scallions, grated ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, s&p, a little oyster sauce if you have it and a about 1/2 cup chicken stock with 2 T cornstarch dissolved in it. Transfer all to a bowl that will fit in your steamer and steam for about 20-25 minutes till chicken is cooked through.

We are going to California today and I will not be cooking. But I will think of things to make for dinner and post them every day for you. I'll ask around too. Maybe people in California have a whole different batch of things they make for dinner every day that will inspire us. In a perfect world each state would have it's 10 dinner standards, different from every other state's, and we would swap and never get bored. Maybe someday...

Roast Beef Sandwiches

with cheddar cheese and branston pickle on dark or whole grain bread. A cherry tomato salad on the side.

Prosciutto and Sweet Butter on Baguettes

Prosciutto and butter are made for each other. I like this sandwich with nothing else to muck it up but I guess lettuce and tomato would be nice.

Also really nice with this sandwich is a bowl of split pea soup. A homey soup that is pretty quick to make. It would be nice if it would stop raining! But until then, hot soup and a sandwich.

Tuna Melts

I love sandwiches and it occurred to me that they shouldn't be relegated to lunch only status, especially when you are having a crazy week. It's Monday morning and I already know that it's going to be a crazy week. Good but crazy. I am thinking of making this an official sandwich week.

Sandwich #1 - tuna melts. With American cheese on rye bread. And served with those kind of fries you can make in the oven that aren't half bad, Ore Ida I think. We are still the on vanilla egg cream wagon. Thank God because that will be a really good combination.

Out To Dinner

Going out to dinner tonight after cooking at Scrimshaw last night. I think it will be Chinese food. In Chinatown, the real deal. Probably New York Noodle Town for noodles and roast chicken and their crazy pork and oyster casserole and garlic chives, maybe salt & pepper squid. I can't live in a city without a Chinatown.

Chicken On The Grill

This is the way my friend Martha taught me to grill a whole chicken. Martha is one of the best cooks around and everything she's ever made for me has been delicious. In the grilling months we switch from roast chicken to this chicken. It's really good and makes life easy.

Right now this morning or at some point today try to find 5 minutes to dress up your chicken with s&p, cumin, paprika, a little chili powder or whatever you like. Just s&p is fine. Stick it in the fridge but take it out an hour before you're ready to cook it. There's no law saying that you have to do this but room temperature meat cooks faster and more evenly, as I'm sure you know. It's one of those little things that make a huge difference, like letting meat rest before you carve it.

When you light your grill, and I am referring to a charcoal grill, bank the fire to one side. If you have a gas grill my heart goes out to you because you can't actually cook on a gas grill and I urge you to reconsider your decision to go gas. I know you're saving TONS of time by not having to wait for the coals to get hot, like a full 12 minutes, but that is time that could be spent sipping a gin & tonic and doing a crossword puzzle so really what are you saving?

When the fire is hot simply put the chicken on the grill off the coals. Cover the grill and go away for an hour. Be sure to leave the cover vents open. If you are pressed for time you can spatchcock the bird and it will probably cook in half an hour. (It's really fun to say "We're having spatchcocked chicken for dinner.") If you go away for more than an hour that's fine. A

perfectly cooked, moist juicy, yummy chicken will be waiting for you when you return. It will have a pleasant smokiness to it. Obviously, it's good hot, cold or at room temperature. And anything you like will go with it.

Fish Sticks

This has been such a long week hasn't it?

In honor of that fact I'm serving fish sticks, tartar sauce, peas and carrots. Milk for kids, beer for grown ups. You could go all frozen and prepared for this meal or you could lovingly bread and fry some haddock and make a homemade tartar sauce and shell the first spring peas. Suit yourself and feel good which ever way you go. You will have made dinner either way.

We have a new favorite dessert around here which I highly recommend. Vanilla egg creams!

Breakfast for Dinner

For absolutely no good reason other than it's nice to say yes to your kids once in awhile, we are going to have pancakes and bacon for dinner. The pancakes will have chocolate chips in them and there will be a lot of bacon to mop up the extra maple syrup with. If I serve it all with a glass of milk I think I will have maintained an acceptable nutritional level, but really who cares. You can't worry about that stuff every day.

I will casually serve a bowl of fruit too. But no pressure.

Homemade Pizza

Just because it's fun and it's a rainy day here in NYC we're making our own pizzas tonight. No, I did not make a batch of dough. I bought some at Trader Joe's. Also Pomi, not the chunky one this time. Cheese, pepperoni, etc. I am happy cause I get to have artichoke hearts and spinach on mine and my kids are happy cause they don't have to have artichoke hearts and spinach on theirs.

If you're feeling fancy or just have a little extra time on your hands, a pizza with thinly sliced potatoes and parmesan and olive oil is fantastic. Sweet potatoes too, with truffle oil...

Tacos

I am starting a new job today. This will be interesting. Still have to, want to make dinner and not get too lazy about it. Or I'll get very lazy about it and that will be ok too. At any rate, tacos tonight! Tacos make everyone happy around here. And I mean tacos from the Old El Paso box, not homemade fish tacos or carne asado tacos. Those are for another day.

Lasagne Casserole

Every time I get excited about spring and fresh young seasonal vegetables it gets really cold again. This weekend was a chilly fall weekend in NY as far as I'm concerned. I don't think I can bring myself to turn the heat on on May 10, but I can make a casserole.

This one tastes like lasagne, without all the construction. It does require a good meat sauce. I leave it to you whether you want to tenderly watch over a real Bolognese sauce for a few hours (we probably should have done that this weekend) or put together a quicker version. Totally respectable to do a quick version, and either way, throw half in the freezer for next time. Recipes abound on Epicurious. If I could recommend a store bought sauce I would but I've never run into one that's any good. Make a bechamel sauce. Super easy to do, but if it seems too much use ricotta, whole milk please. You will need grated parmesan and a box of macheroni such as penne or rigatoni.

Assuming your meat sauce and bechamel are warm, toss the cooked pasta liberally with both. If you're using ricotta try to have it at room temp. Transfer to a buttered lasagne pan or gratin dish. Sprinkle top with lots of parmesan. Of course, you can make this way in advance or just before dinner. When ready to serve, bake in a 350 degree oven till brown and bubbly, about 25 minutes. It will warm us up while we wait for the sun.

Happy Mother's Day

I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day, whether you're a mother or not. For this holiday all I ask is that someone else take over dinner. Cook it, order it or take me out for it. I'm easy. I just don't want to be in charge of it tonight. I have complete faith in my family's ability to handle it.

Have a wonderful day. I'm getting back into bed - here comes breakfast.

Warm Spinach Feta Salad

A dear friend made this for me years ago and I haven't gotten sick of it yet. It's good on it's own with crusty bread or as a first course or as an accompaniment to meat or fish.

Wash a bunch of spinach per person but don't dry it. Quickly wilt it in a pan without adding any liquid or fat. Transfer spinach to a shallow serving bowl with any liquid the spinach has given off. Crumble a generous amount of feta cheese over spinach while it's still hot. Dress with lemon juice, olive oil and chopped scallions. Toss and serve. Probably won't need salt.

Meatballs Parmigiana

The leftover meatballs are calling my name. If I layer them in a shallow baking dish and cover them with grated fresh mozzarella and heat them in the oven then we can all eat them the way we like. For me that'll be with crusty bread and a salad. My kids will want pasta and that's fine too.

Soy Sauce Chicken

Soy sauce chicken is a cut up chicken that gets thrown into a ziploc bag in the morning with 1/2 a cup of soy sauce, minced garlic, a sliced onion, grated ginger, scallions, a little sugar if you like. Give it a good shake and refridgerate until you're ready to cook it later that day, or the next day if you don't get around to it. Turn the bag over once in awhile if you're around. You can bake the chicken or braise it on the stove or grill it.

Serve with rice and a green vegetable.

Sausage and Potaotes

Fried or boiled cubed potatoes.

Sausage cooked as you like it. Italian sausage, kielbasa, linguica, whatever.

Toss together in a big bowl with handfuls of parsley, mustard, cider vinegar, olive oil, s&p.

Serve with a salad.

I guess this qualifies as the first potato salad of the season. It's good hot or room temperature or cold.

Pizza Night

We need a pizza night around here. How about you?

BTW the meatballs were fabulous. Light, moist and juicy and flavorful. No egg whatsoever. Maybe the eggs have been a mistake all these years. The ricotta did the trick. I also added quite a lot of minced parsley, which was the perfect touch.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Not exactly light spring fare, I know, but a staple in my house. My kids reminded me that we haven't had meatballs in weeks. I always make a big batch so we have leftovers. My usual version involves a mix of beef, veal and pork with egg, tons of garlic, bread crumbs as well as stale bread torn into small pieces and soaked in milk, parmesan cheese. This is the way my father-in-law makes his and they are pretty hard to beat.

In honor of spring and of friends with egg allergies I'm going to try a version with just veal for a lighter meatball and use ricotta cheese in place of egg. I'll let you know. You probably have your own great meatball recipes, too. Also, I long ago gave up browning them on the stove before putting them in the tomato sauce. Too messy. I bake them in a 350 degree oven on a baking sheet for 20 minutes instead and the results are just as good.

The Last Lentil Soup

Had enough of soup yet? Not me. When the seasons change I get a little nostalgic for the foods of the exiting season even though I'm excited about the new one. Silly, I know. So let's have one more lentil soup before we start grilling and tossing salads.

I think you know by now that my lentil soup will have lots of garlic and olive oil and always bacon or ham. And shallots and carrots. It's very nice to add a cup of red wine to the veg after you've sauteed them but before you add stock and lentils. It's also very nice, but by no means necessary, to take a third of the soup and puree it in a blender and then add it back to the pot. Or, if you have an immersion blender (great kitchen toy), blend the soup right in the pot a little bit so you get a part creamy, part chunky soup.

Had enough of bread, cheese, fruit? Never!

Cock-A-Leekie Soup

This Scottish soup combines leeks, chicken, stock, prunes (yes, prunes) and brown rice or barley. Start with 3 leeks sliced into rings. Please take the time to sweat them gently in oil or butter. Then add the rest. You don't need to brown the chicken and best to use chicken on the bone, preferably thighs, and either serve them as is or remove skin and bones when done and shred into the pot. But you can certainly use boneless chicken breasts if you prefer. It's true that you will have to skim the pot occasionally if you use meat on the bone but the difference in flavor is like the difference between chaulk and cheese. 8-10 whole prunes will do the trick. Don't skip this ingredient. They add a subtle sweetness and color the broth beautifully and they're nutritious. 2 tablespoons of rice or barley is plenty. Salt & pepper.

I think this might just be enough for dinner with bread and butter.

Escarole and White Bean Soup

I am going with the soup week theme. I am not sick of bread and cheese and fruit as an accompaniment but if you are you could make sandwiches or a salad. Empanadas would be nice, homemade or store bought. Hmmm maybe for tomorrow I will seek out empanadas...

Escarole and bean soup is quick and easy, not a soup that needs lots of simmering. Just enough to make the escarole tender, maybe half an hour. I use a lot of garlic and olive oil and finely diced up ham if I have it on hand. Canned beans are fine and a little pasta at the end, like ditalini or pastina, or leftover rice.

Blender Soup

Spring in NYC continues to be relentlessly chilly and rainy. All I really want is soup. I might have soup week. In cooking school the classes were often structured around an ingredient, as in the egg class. You can imagine the menu for that. Omelettes; poached, scrambled, fried eggs; hollandaise sauce and on and on. I always thought it was fun and a silly way to eat once in awhile. Not that there's anything silly about soup.

My mother used to make this soup when I was little. It is so comforting and yummy and filling and healthy too. Just make a vegetable soup with any vegetables you like. I wouldn't put in broccoli cause it takes over but other than that anything goes. I always sweat the vegetables gently in olive oil before adding stock or water. This makes a much better soup than just dumping the veg into liquid and simmering away. Once all is tender liquify the soup in the blender. Finish it in the pot with milk or cream. Tell me what you think.

This is another good excuse to eat bread and cheese and fruit, maybe a little sliced ham.

Grilled Fontina and Ham Sandwiches

First, let me apologize for abandoning you all weekend. I went out on Saturday night and had oysters and, well, assorted cocktails. So Sunday was a take out night.

But Monday is here and I want to set the bar a tiny bit higher. Just a tiny bit. And I have nothing against American cheese slices, nothing at all. I'm just sick of them. So I'm going a little fancy with grilled fontina and ham sandwiches. And tomato for those that like it.

Tomato soup too and sliced apples. Very good for a Monday.

Slow Roasted Salmon

I even salted the salmon steaks this morning, just a little. Like anything cooked on the bone, salmon steaks seem moister and more flavorful than salmon filet, though the difference is more subtle than what you find with animal protein on the bone. And they're cheaper. I'm hung up on slow roasting the salmon at 225 degrees for about 40 minutes. It comes out of the oven unbelievably moist and buttery. Maybe I'll mix up a little soy sauce, ginger and brown sugar and brush it on the salmon.

The first potato salad of the season. This one will be warm and dressed with a vinaigrette, red onion, tons of parsley. And tomorrow it will be cold and good with anything all weekend.

Quiche Lorraine

I completely forgot about quiche - haven't made one in years. Suddenly I have an insatiable craving for it and I love when that happens cause it makes it so easy to make dinner. I confess I have a phobia about pie crust and only make it when I have absolutely nothing else to do and can give it my undivided attention. But that's what frozen pie crust is for in my opinion. A quiche Lorraine, as I'm sure you all know, is made with Comte or Gruyere or some other Swissy cheese, and bacon, but you can use ham. I'm using ham cause I've got some really good salty country ham in the fridge.

And yes, a big green salad. Even my kids eat salad now, though it took years to indoctrinate them. Maybe the salad bar at school helped. (Yes, Alice Waters, we have a salad bar, too. Thankfully not organic. But that's another story.)

Burgers

I highly recommend salting the beef (or turkey) in the morning, about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound.
Grilling is good but so is searing in a very hot cast iron pan on the stove.
The rest is up to you. Fancy rolls, tomatoes and lettuce, pickled onions or just ketchup. Some people make their own potato chips or fries (or ketchup for that matter) but I am not one of them. Potato chips are my favorite food and Lay's does a good enough job for me. On the other hand, pickling cippollini onions in balsamic vinegar is as easy as breathing and they're good with everything.

Quinoa Bowl

Not only can I not think of anything to make for dinner tonight, I can't even think of what I want to eat. Very unusual for me. The quinoa bowl is quick and well, virtuous, so it's a good default dinner. When I make quinoa I always toss in olive oil and parmesan cheese when it's done. Serve it in big individual bowls with cooked vegetables on top. For some reason sauteed potatoes go really well and I usually make a sauteed green and some carrots too.

I think you pretty much have to have dessert after this. Brownies and ice cream? With caramel sauce...

Asian Chicken Soup w Rice Noodles

Because it's actually pretty chilly here in NYC and it's Monday. You can tart up the broth by simmering ginger and scallions in chicken broth for a few minutes. The rice noodles cook in 2 minutes in the broth and then add spinach or watercress or bok choy and LEFTOVER CHICKEN!!! A drizzle of sesame oil before serving and more chopped scallions...

Risotto Milanese

A nice change from pasta. There's a good Gourmet recipe for this risotto on Epicurious.
It's so perfect and simple, this dish, with just a salad. You can serve it as an accompaniment to
a protein but I'm skipping that tonight and serving it on it's own. You know you can make it to the half way point and leave it to cool on the stove and then finish it when you're ready to eat, right? If you have a pressure cooker you can make the whole thing in 6 minutes. Yep, it's true.

Roast Chicken

Just a good roast chicken, nothing fancy about it.

With a warm lentil salad dressed with a shallot vinaigrette and sauteed spinach and crusty french bread.

Poached Salmon

with the leftover chimichurri sauce. Maybe quinoa cooked in chicken stock and fluffed up with olive oil when it's done. You could toss in some peas from the freezer or some other diced up leftover veggie.

A cherry tomato salad, with or without avocado or red onion.


PS - I am salting a chicken, liberally, with kosher salt, to roast tomorrow.

Grilled Lamb Chops and Potatoes

I guess it's time to light the grill. Shoulder lamb chops are great on the grill and cheap too.
I like to serve them with chimichurri sauce, that heady concoction of parsley, shallots, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. You can make it with mint instead of parsley if you love the mint lamb thing. And sliced potatoes tossed in olive oil and s&p grill up beautifully and pretty quickly. Slice them about a 1/4 inch thick.

Of course a green veg, any green veg, will be nice. Green beans should ne really good right now. But salad is always your best friend.

Leftovers

The perfect follow up to bad chinese food night, don't you think?
Not so impressive, I know, but I just counted 12 1/2 tupperware containers in my fridge, no kidding.
Of course, that isn't counting oldish pieces of cheese.
I might splurge and buy a fresh bag of apples!
Anyway, I'm laying it all out and everyone can eat what they like.
Tomorrow, I'll start all over again...

Bad Chinese Food

Do you ever find yourself craving Chinese food with absolutely no hope of getting to Chinatown anytime soon? I need a fix and I'm going to break down and get take out from the place up the street. I know I'll regret it, but it will tide me over. Sort of.

Scottish Mince and Orkney Clapshot

Scottish Mince is one of my favorite ground beef dishes, one that my Scottish Dad grew up on and made for us when he was in a nostalgic mood. In my house it's become a regular and everyone seems to like it. And Orkney Clapshot, besides having the best name ever, is the Scottish combination of potatoes and rutabagas cooked in milk then mashed with a fork, a LIBERAL amount of butter, S&P added.

Just brown a minced onion in a bit of oil then add and brown the beef. Add about 1 1/2 cups water and 1/4 cup mushroom ketchup. Mushroom ketchup is a savory British brew that's special to this dish but not the easiest to find unless there's an ex-pat Brit deli in your town. Don't worry, substitute beef broth for the water and ketchup if you can't find it. Add a tablespoon of tomato paste and a small handful of steel cut oatmeal. The oatmeal makes it so don't be tempted to skip it. And I'm sorry, but rolled oats won't do. Let the whole thing simmer gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it gets too dry add a bit more water.

Proceed with Orkney Clapshot as you would for mashed potatoes, obviously while you're cooking the mince. If you don't like rutabagas plain old mashed potatoes will go very well.

As will sauteed spinach.

Sunday April 11, 2010

It's Sunday again and everyone is clamoring for Spaghetti Carbonara. Sorry for the repeat, but the people have spoken. If you don't own any of Marcella Hazan's cookbooks try epicurious.com. I'm sure there a a few good Carbonara recipes on the site. And yes, we will have an arugula salad and a bottle of cold white wine and maybe the last of the Easter candy for dessert.

Saturday April 10, 2010

Fish In A Spring Vegetable Soup

Cheese and Bread

Berries and Cream


It's a beautiful spring day, sunshiny and crisp. It's the kind of day when you're supposed to go to the Farmer's market at the crack of dawn and buy armloads of just picked, local spring veggies and then run home and cook them up because you've been waiting all year for this moment! This dish is for anyone who has the time or the inclination - sometimes I really do and sometimes I just want to sit in the sun and be lazy.

This dish is very elegant, very healthy, very spa. You can make a farmer's market version or a pantry version, as you wish. They'll both taste good. You want things like fava beans, cranberry beans, asparagus, the tiniest new potatoes, fiddlehead ferns, baby artichokes. The veggies get cooked gently in a fish or chicken broth until just tender and the result should be brothy, not dense. I would choose haddock or cod or striped bass, in serving size pieces, and cook it simply, poached or baked. Ladle the soup into shallow bowls and serve the cooked fish on top, kind of barely swimming in it, not completely submerged. A drizzle of that lemon oil you made last week as a garnish would be nice. And chervil is so nice too.

Friday April 9, 2010

Fried Rice
Sauteed Baby Bok Choy

I've got leftover rice, chicken, ham and broccoli and I'll add fresh ginger and scallions. It's nice to make a plain omelette and cut it into ribbons as a garnish. All the bok choy needs is garlic and s&p. This is why I always make a double batch of rice.

Thursday April 8, 2010

Spaghetti with Diced Ham, Tomato and Garlic

Escarole Salad with Red Onion and Shaved Parmesan


I am guessing that a lot of people have a whole lot of leftover ham from Easter in the fridge this week. Which is awesome. Besides ham sandwiches, ham omelettes, ham and eggs, potato gratin with diced ham, lentil soup with ham, ham eaten cold out of the fridge with a chocolate egg chaser, this pasta sauce is good and easy. It's an ersatz Amatriciana, I guess, with ham replacing pancetta. Saute lots of garlic in olive oil then add a couple of cups of diced ham and some dried hot red pepper. Add chopped tomatoes, a whole can or a box of Pomi. Simmer briefly while the spaghetti is cooking then toss the pasta in the sauce.

The salad is a robust match for a robust sauce.

Wednesday April 7, 2010

Take Out Please!!!

I'll decide tonight, but it will probably be meatball heroes and salad.
Or sushi.
Cheers.

Tuesday April 6, 2010

I think I have to have noodles tonight but I'm a little sick of pasta.
It's been awhile since we've had bean thread noodles, also known as glass noodles.
They're kind of chewy and slurpy at the same time and just need a soak in warm water, no cooking.
We love them in Ants On A Tree, a delicious mix of the noodles with seasoned ground pork .
There is a good and simple recipe for this dish on Epicurious.com and you don't need exotic ingredients.
If you happen to live near an Asian market get some garlic chives and stir fry them quickly with garlic and a little drizzle of oyster sauce, or leave out the oyster sauce if you don't have it on it hand. They are crunchy, sweet, a little oniony.


Ants On A Tree

Stir Fried Garlic Chives

Homemade Fortune Cookies (just kidding).

Monday April 5, 2010

Lamb Curry
made with Taste of Thai Red Curry Sauce, leftover lamb and a few scrounged vegetables.

Basmati Rice

Cucumber Yogurt Mint Salad

Sunday April 4, 2010

Happy Easter

If the Bunny comes to your house then you probably have a traditional Easter dinner that you serve every year. Probably ham or lamb. I love this about holidays. No question of what to make for dinner because everyone in my house wants the ritual meal they've been looking forward to all year.

Roast Leg of Lamb
Basted with honey and lavender

Steamed New Potatoes

Asparagus with Lemon Vinaigrette

A cheese course with a fresh young sheep's milk cheese or maybe some Humbolt Fog.

Lulu Peyraud's Walnut Gateau*

Chocolate eggs, jelly beans, malted milk balls, Peeps, chocolate bunnies...



*recipe in "Lulu's Provencal Table" by Richard Olney. One of the top 5 best cookbooks ever written.

Saturday April 3, 2010

Leftovers!!!

That leftover beef stew from the other night is going to get reheated in a shallow gratin dish dish under a blanket of mashed sweet potatoes.

And since the oven is on I'll roast some cauliflower and shallots too and drizzle a little balsamic vinegar on them when they come out of the heat.

Friday April 2, 2010

Not only is it Friday but it's Good Friday, so fish tonight. I'm going to make a batch of lemon confit, another staple at Scrimshaw. All you do is slice lemons and poach them very gently in enough olive oil to cover the slices. A shallow pan works well here. Once the slices are tender, 10 mins or so, turn off the heat and let them cool. Store in a jar in the fridge. The oil is delicious all sorts of ways, drizzled on fish and chicken and on those white beans from the other day or in a vinaigrette. Chop up a few slices and add them to Tuna White Bean Salad. Tonight I will flavor baked halibut with the confit and call it a good day.

Halibut with Lemon Confit

In a baking dish season halibut steaks well with s&p and drizzle with lemon oil. Place a lemon slice on each steak and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 mins or until done.

Serve with mashed or boiled or baked potatoes, generously buttered.
And a green veg.

Happy Good Friday.

Thursday April 1, 2010

I feel like channeling MFK Fisher today.

An omelette and a glass of wine.
A delicate salad of mache.
Crusty bread and maybe a piece of cheese, unless you're having a cheese omelette.
A bowl of strawberries. They're not local but I can't eat strawberries only in June.

Wednesday March 31, 2010

Geraldo Mendoza is the cook at Scrimshaw who is in charge of all the appetizers and first courses. He does a great job and is also highly valued for his staff meals. Last week he made a crazy delicious hearty quesadilla that went way beyond the melted cheese version my kids like. He served it with a Napa cabbage slaw, dressed with lime vinaigrette. So good.

Geraldo's Quesadilla

Saute small amount of ground beef, maybe a 1/4 lb, with onions. Add diced chorizo, a few handfuls of baby spinach, sliced hot peppers like jalapenos if you like the heat. In another pan quickly simmer pink beans or black beans in olive oil and garlic and gently mash them with the back of a spoon. Sandwich all this plus crumbled queso blanco between two tortillas. You can toast the quesadilla on a griddle or in a pan or in the oven. Cut in quarters and serve. This is a knife and fork quesadilla.

Napa Cabbage Slaw

Tossed in lime vinaigrette.

I am a good home cook. But my mother is a genius chef with her very own restaurant, Scrimshaw, and when she calls I don my sous chef's hat and get on the Jitney to Greenport, NY. I am lucky to be able to work in her professional kitchen sometimes. (All the time would kill me.) I firmly believe that home cooking is for home and restaurant food belongs in a restaurant. But I always bring so much back from Scrimshaw that I can translate to my own kitchen, my kitchen with a staff of one and only four burners. This week we served a lot of cassoulet at the restaurant. The beans in a cassoulet owe a huge debt to their oven romance with confit, duck fat and sausage. But they can be delicious when prepared on their own with some of the other components of a cassoulet. Their savory richness is so good with lamb chops or roast chicken or a duck breast.

Shoulder Lamb Chops

Seared and finished in the Oven, or grilled.

Sublime White Beans

If you have duck or goose fat lying around (David, I'm thinking of you) this would be a good time to use it, but olive oil is great too. Saute a lot of garlic in a lot of olive oil or other fat then add a couple of cans of white beans, sprigs of rosemary, tomato paste and water or stock. Oh, and a little white wine. Simmer briefly, maybe 15 mins, and serve. Any pan juices from the chops should be added at the end too.

A nice green veg like steamed green beans would be nice.

Monday March 29, 2010

Beef Stew

I have to come clean here and tell you that I have a pressure cooker. I swear by it and I personally think everyone should have one. It is the only reason that I can blithely say "beef stew" on a Monday morning. You can make any version you like in an hour and it will taste like it sat on the back of the stove all day. And you will have leftovers.

A Big Salad

Sorry, I just love salad and never seem to get bored with it and it cleanses the palate, as my mother used to say.

Red wine of course.

Sunday March 28, 2010

Spaghetti Carbonara

This is the hands down favorite pasta dish in my house and we often have it on Sunday nights. It's the pasta that manages to be comforting and sophisticated at once. I feel cared for when I eat it, but in an I'm dining al fresco in Rome kind of way. Which is a really good way to feel sometimes.

I always follow Marcella Hazan's recipe. It's what I was raised on, but many good recipes can be found on Epicurious.

A Big Crispy Arugula Salad

Dressed with vinegar, not lemon.

Fresh Fruit

Saturday March 27, 2010

Sloppy Joes

Is it wrong to serve Sloppy Joes the night after you've done nothing more than open a couple of cans and made toast? No it's not. Sloppy Joes are delicious and your kids, if you have them, can make them. That leaves plenty of time for a Wii tournament.

I'll make a salad because I feel guilty if I don't serve a veg.

Ice Cream Sundaes.

Someone served me an ice cream sundae recently which had been garnished with chocolate malted milk powder. It too it to another level. Just thought I'd mention it.

Friday March 26, 2010

It's Friday. I've had it.

Sardines on Hot Buttered Toast and Tomato Soup

The sardines should be King Oscar Brisling Sardines in olive oil.

The soup should be Campbell's but if you want to show off and make homemade, go ahead.

I am craving the Campbell's taste from childhood.

The beer should be cold.

Sleep tight.

Thursday March 25, 2010

Pork Chops

How about breaded and lightly fried pork chops. Season the chops and the bread crumbs and of course dip the chops in beaten egg before breading.

And sauteed apples.

And a green veg like sauteed chard or spinach.

Wednesday March 24, 2010

Pasta and Sausage

So happy to have that big tupperware of sausage and peppers. If you cut up the sausages and simmer everything briefly with Pomi, the chunky one, not the soupy one, and maybe more garlic, you end up with a whole different thing. I'd use short pasta but spaghetti would be good too.

A Big Huge Salad

Again. Escarole, red onion, shaved parmesan? Red wine vinegar, not balsamic, but that's just me.

Sorry I keep ditching dessert. I always have chocolate in the house. That counts, right?

Tuesday March 23, 2010

Shrimp and Chickpea Stew

It's nice to crisp up the chickpeas a little in hot oil before you add the shrimp. Cumin, s&p, orange zest and a little tomato paste are all I'm seasoning with tonight. Thin it with a little water or broth, just enough to make it saucy. It will be fragrant and comforting but not heavy. This is so good with basmati rice.

Spinach Salad

If you have a pear lying around you might want to slice it very thinly and toss it with the spinach. If the pear is a little under ripe even better. Nice with a vinaigrette made from fancy apple cider vinegar, or even balsamic.

Monday March 22, 2010

Korean Style Vegetable Pancake

I use Mark Bittman's recipe for these which you can find on the NYT website. His have chives, carrots and some zucchini in them. And optional shrimp. They are easy and DELICIOUS, just like all of his recipes are. But obviously you can put whatever veggies you have around in them and leftover chicken from the other night. Frozen corn is nice. His dipping sauce is essential.

I like to serve a sliced mango that's been tossed in lime juice with these. Dip the mango slices in a mixture of even parts chili powder, sugar and salt and sip a cold beer as you flip the pancakes.

Sunday March 21, 2010

Sunday Dinner

Sausage and Peppers

And onions, garlic, plenty of olive oil, s&p. All tossed together in a roasting pan and baked for about an hour at 350 degrees. Give everything a toss once or twice if you are walking past your oven. Make a really big batch so you have leftovers to make into a pasta sauce, or to eat cold out of the fridge before you toddle off to bed after a night of imbibing. Or with scrambled eggs for breakfast or supper.

This just needs a good loaf of bread and a salad. But buttered pasta would be really good maybe with roasted cauliflower. (Or zucchini!)

Lots of red wine.

I'm not that big on dessert but brownies seem especially good after this dinner.

Saturday March 20, 2010

Roast Chicken

Slathered with butter, herbs under the skin, a lemon in the cavity and then roasted the way

you like. I start at 450 degrees then lower to 350 degrees after about 20 minutes and I flip the chicken half way through. I flip it back for the last few minutes to crisp up the skin. PLEASE let

the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes but preferably more before you carve. It will stay hot for

an hour.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Whole Shallots

Tossed in olive oil and s&p and strewn around the chicken half way through.

Sauteed Broccolli Rape

Friday March 19, 2010

Friday Is For Fish

It is and it's a good thing.

I have a friend who breaks down the week by foods, as in Monday is pasta, Tuesday is chicken etc. I can't seem to do it but you might like to try it. Then half the work is done for you which is the point of this blog really. But the only one that's stuck for me if fish on Friday.

Salmon fillet is something I never get sick of. And it has supernatural healing powers. Slow roasted in a 225 degree oven for half an hour, simply or fancily seasoned, it comes out of the oven perfect every time. S & P and lemon juice is good on it or a mix of honey, mustard (NOT Honey Mustard) and parsley, or you could go the cumin, garlic, paprika route. Orange juice, olive oil, thyme. Whatever you are craving...

I am on an orzo binge and when I cook it in chicken stock and then toss in olive oil, chopped fresh herbs and sometimes parmesan it goes with everything.

Sauteed matchstick zucchini. I love zucchini and I don't care that I may be the only one.

We will probably have chocolate malteds for dessert.

And I am going to salt a whole chicken tonight, liberally with kosher salt and stick it in the fridge for either Saturday or Sunday.

Thursday March 18, 2010

Pasta Again

I think I'll toss some cavatelli with room temperature ricotta, softened butter, parmesan and a lot of salt and pepper.

AND chopped frozen spinach.

And a big salad.

Clementines. I found a bag of them from California that are fantastic the way clementines were when they first came around. Remember? Now it's always a crap shoot with clementines.

Wednesday March 17, 2010

Saint Patrick's Day

OK. Bring it on.

Corned Beef and Cabbage and Boiled Parsleyed Potatoes

Horsradish, run out and get some horseradish. And mustard.

And beer, not green.

And a hearty shot of Jamieson's before bed to insure a good night's sleep.

Siochan Leat

Tuesday March 16, 2010

It so often happens that it becomes 6:oo and dinner is just a faint memory from yesterday. But it's tonight and everyone's hungry. Someone changed the clocks on me and I didn't know until this morning that the kids had a half day. Precisely why I never complain about leftovers anymore.

Fakey Scotch Broth seemed right on another cold rainy night. I had some leftover lamb, some pedestrian veg (onions, carrots, celery, zucchini, like that) some leftover rice. Bouillion cube. All together a really good soup. If you had leftover chicken you could have authentic chicken and rice soup, but I didn't.

There was a still friendly piece of Dutch Parrano in the fridge and a couple of Braeburn apples.

There is always a bottle of red wine around.

It was good and filling and a cheat, which made it better.

Monday March 15, 2010

A cold rainy NYC Monday.

This dinner might cheer us up:

Chicken Adobe

made w chicken thighs, cider vingar, soy sauce, shallots sliced really thin,

minced garlic, slivers of ginger, scallions.

If you marinate all this in the morning you"ll be glad you did but if you

don't it'll still be great.

Rice

short grained cooked in chicken stock and a splash of olive oil and sauteed minced onion or forget the onion if it's

too much, it's Monday after all.

Napa Cabbage Salad

toss it with lime juice, canola oil, fish sauce, a dash of sugar, s & p.

And maybe slivered red onion and grated carrots.

Sliced Oranges

Cold Beer