Roasted Veg Foccach

Back in the kitchen again, with the hanging garden out back!
Roasted off some eggplant, tomato and red, yellow and orange peppers - made the "5 min" dough (my fav bread recipe....1 1/2 T yeast,1 1/2 T kosher salt,3 c warm water,5 -6 c flour) made 3 baguettes for picnic sandwiches and for dinner tonight rolled some out into a disk on cornmeal, spread the topped with a blend of homegrown basil,some fresh garlic, salt and olive oil....finished with some parmy and fresh oregano (the herb garden is going nuts!).

kitchen complete!

pretty much...haha. Always a few details leftover.
The peppers are growing like crazy on the porch outside, all is beautiful.
First meal in new kitchen was arugula pesto pasta, and the juiciest strawberries, (scored the china bowl at a garage sale!) and a very dirty gin martini. Heaven on toast.

Oven Roasted Rataouille

If you don't feel like sauteing all those veggies - toss em on a sheet pan with garlic and olive oil,kosher salt and fresh grnd pepper and roast til caramelized/colored, around 45 mins at 400ish. The flavors are really really nice. Toss it with pasta, then, or just eat it, or make a pressed sandwich (stick rat in some french bread with some pesto slapped on and weight it down with a brick overnight) and take it to a picnic.
(Here I used 2 tomatoes (plunge into boiling water for 1 minute, peel off skin, chop into chunks before roasting), 1 zucchini, 1 eggplant, chopped, 1 sweet onion, chopped, 1 green pepper, chopped,(for traditional ratatouille) but any combo of veg you like I'm sure would be delicious. Oh and fresh basil! Rip some bits and toss them along with everything.

Ruth's garden picked sweetest Strawberry Gelato

Rose and Raspberry Truffles

not much cooking going down here

The kitchen redo is looking beautiful. Chalkboard wall, done!

Recipe for chalk paint: 3 T paint to 1 T acrylic glaze to 1 t powdered grout.

Christened w buddha today. We need some kitchen buddha-luck. Or little kitchen buddha helper people. Little Buddhas to carry all the floor tile upstairs (3 flights) would be dandy.

First plantings!

The herb garden is planted....in one beautiful box w/Fennel, Purple Sage, Rosemary, Mint, Chives, Parsley and Oregano.

Very beautiful salad

Raw kale salads, who knew? all of the sudden they were everywhere and now I can't eat enough of them. Thanks to my friend Nicholas who turned me on to the brilliant combo of avocado with - yields the perfect mix of soft and creamy and crunchy.
Yesterday that's all I had in the house, and it's one delicious salad.
My favorite so far, though, is to add garbanzo beans and feta, with the kale avocado combo.
But whatever you have in your fridge will be good!
They key is to toss the kale with your vinaigrette and let it sit about 10 minutes - while the coating softens the leaves a bit.

Vinaigrette:
juice of 1/2 lemon (or lemon and lime is nice)
2-3 T white balsamic vinegar
3-4 T olive oil
Kosher salt/ fresh ground pepper (to taste)
whisk til opaque, toss liberally w/your kale salad.

Let sit about 10 minutes b4 consuming. Grind a grind of fresh pepper on top! Et Viola!!

It's a super food. I feel like Popeye when I eat this.

Scaccia Ragusana!

Was invited to Paella party and made this as a "tapa"
fed about 20+ when cooled and cut into squares with serrated knife

Adapted from recipe in the March 2007 Saveur, it is a recipe from Sicily
I added cheese to the amount - and also used a combo of Fontina, Sharp provolone and Parmesean, (they used Pecorino Romano)
They used 12 oz, pretty sure I added a bit more.....
Also I added a bit of sugar to the sauce, just a a tsp., and some red pepper flakes and some oregano.
This is incredibly delicious, and so beautiful......the dough, sans yeast, behaves almost like a homemade filo.

Steps - First, prepare dough, let is sit at room temp for about 30 minutes.
In meantime, prepare the sauce, then grate all cheeses. Then, roll, and fill your tart.
To see recipe more clearly, click on picture to enlarge, for rolling/folding steps. Before baking, I flattened whole thing out a bit. Be sure to bake on parchment paper on top of sheet pan. 500 degree (preheated) oven for 10 minutes, then turn down to 400 for about an hour.

I'm fairly sure one could stick most anything in here, add some cheese,and it'd be quite delicious!

*re the drawing, the dough is rolled out to a rectangle, and the dough itself is 1/16th of an inch think (or, very thin!)
Also, be sure to cover dough with plastic wrap or a towel while it rests, and lightly coat outside with olive oil, so it doesn't dry out...

Soup and Bread @ the Hideout, Mar 2, 2011

A really fun experience, once again, serving soup at the Hideout. After the first soup and bread date was snowed out, I was left with 70+ cheddar brioche rolls I had made, to go with the tomato cream soup. Since this was a few weeks later, and I had frozen them, I cut them into bits, tossed with more herbs and butter and olive oil and cheese and made croutons.
Kitty was serving soup as well, and her fabulous roasted red pepper goat cheese creation was a big hit.

Treasures Little Vietnam, Pei Mei

Can't wait to dive into this beautiful book I got in Chinatown, Pei Mei's Chinese Cooking....
and, to help, what a treasure I found yesterday in Little Vietnam around Argyle street! A round cutting board, with a groovy metal attachment for hanging, for 10 bux! And this sucker is thick. It's as if they sliced the tree right in the middle. I've never quite seen one like it, and certainly not this thick for so cheap. You may need one, too!

Heart Shaped Tart

This might be the best apple tart I ever made...the key seemed to be 3 layers and love. Twas the night b4 valentine's day and I met my old great friend Kathy at the Green Mill to hear the Slam. I laughed harder than I had in a very long time...when I got home decided to fulfill T's request of apple pie for V day, so at 11pm,and on a high from love poetry, I began.
First, Alice Water's crust recipe...so simple, and yet the flakiest crust ever. Worked beautifully in the open crostata format, as I wanted the heart shape. 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, tsp kosher salt, 1/2 cup ice water as needed. Add water til it just comes together. (by hand or food processor)

After making and retarding crust in fridge, roll out to a circle and cut out a heart shape. Spread the heart w/apricot preserves. Spread with a layer of applesauce (peel and cube 1 granny smith apple, boil in a sugar syrup (about 1/2 c water and 1/4 c sugar) a bit of cinnamon, until all is soft and puree in food processor, chill til cool). You can make this and the streusel whilst crust is mellowing in the refridge. (for streusel I just crumble together about a cup of sugar or brown sugar, t of cinnamon, t of salt, 1 stick butter and about 1/2 c of flour. Mix by hand till crumbly or in food processor, set aside.)
So, after the preserves, spread tart heart with applesauce, then line the heart rim with the streusel. Then, for second layer, take one more granny smith, peel and cube it into tiny cubes, and saute in butter (about 1 T) and some sprinkled sugar and cinnamon, til soft. Scatter that over sauce. So now the texture is this crispy crust, unctuous sauce, and a bit of apple pieces for texture. For the final layer, peel a granny smith and slice sideways into 1/8 thick slices, and fan overlapping in a heart shape or spiral. To finish it off, sprinkle entire thing around the edges with more streusel, and fold up the heart around the filling. Then chill the entire tart in the freezer for at least an hour. (or, as I did, overnight).
Preheat oven to 375, and bake about 30 mins, or until nicely browned. When cool, brush with melted preserves to make it shiny and sexy. present to lover and say here is your valentine tart my love. Then go see The King of the Moon and his Minions and get lost in the romance...

Pictures of Fish

Cowboys, Indian, Prarie Wagon, Elvis

Tommy's arrangement on kitchen windowsill kills me

Rose syrup, truffles in a blizzard

i lovethe bottle most of all....so beautiful...used to make rose and raspberry truffle cream....
Valentine's truffle production

Jazz and Cookie Bars and Cold whistling winds.....

New bar cookie I was experimenting with came out really beautifully with a lovely flavor...and easy, just dump all ingredients into food processor, and pat into a pan about 1/2 inch thick, and bake @ 350 for about 20 minutes, (or until browned and a skewer comes out clean). Cool and cut into squares, or other fun shapes. I spread mine (while warm out of the oven) with a homemade caramel, which could be omitted and you'd still have a great cookie. Or melt some kraft caramels on top, right when pan comes out of the oven, and spread. Decorate w/ melted chocolate to be fancy.
Oatmeal Walnut Caramel bars:
1 c sugar
1 c packed brown sugar
1 c butter
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
1 3/4 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 c oats
1 c walnuts
in food processor, cream butter and sugars. add all dry ingredients but flour/soda and pulse. add eggs and pulse. Finish with flour/soda. spread into greased, parchment lined sheet pan. If any batter is left over, freeze it and scoop it out for cookies another cold, blustery day. Bake @ 350 til skewer comes out cleanly. Spread with caramel topping if desired. Cool and cut.

Chalk wall, January 2011; beautiful papaya

xmas 2010

crispy skin roasted chix on a bed of mushroom sage stuffing, orange sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, ceasar salad , dan's bourbon cured salmon and sparling wine

Chanukah partee 2010 @ our little home

The latkes - especially scrumptious this year, so want to record the recipe for next.
Used about 12 mini yukon gold potatoes and 6 reg sized russets. 1 1/2 pretty large sweet onions.
Grated everything in food processor, but then added back 1/2 the mixture to puree. Never did that before, coulda been the key! then in big bowl mix the grated and puree mix and drained til all liquid was out. added 5 eggs, about 3/4 c flour, 1 T baking powder, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. cooked them in a mix of olive and canola oils. PRET-ty good. pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Walter for dinner, Fish Stew

This is going to be my go to dinner party recipe - fab presentation, delish! and filling with crusty loaves and a citrus vinaigrette salad w segments of orange and grapefuit, red leaf lettuce, spinach and red onion ....

Method-
Saute green pepper, garlic and onion in olive oil til translucent and soft, about 20 mins
add wine, stock, chop tomato and add
add dried herbs, simmer for about 1/2 hour. Set aside (can be done night before, flavors meld even better!)
Adjust seasoning to taste.
Soak mussels for 20 minutes. scrub, debeard, then steam in pan til just open. set aside open mussels in another dish.

Just before service heat soup to boiling. Add shrimp (shells on), scallops and mussels and turn off heat. Cover and let stand for one minute. Ladle equal seafood into each bowl, fill with some veggies then some broth, sprinkle w parsley. Serve right away w/warm crusty loaves for dipping.