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.