Passing the Bar Dinner

Keith passed the bar, so I made him a meal fit for a...public defender?

Farfalle with Braised Leeks, Prosciutto and Porcini Pangrattato

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-at-home/cheats-pappardelle-with-slow-braised-leeks-and-crispy-porcini-pangrattato-recipe/index.html

This is a modified version of a Jamie Oliver recipe, which can be found by clicking the photo. I substituted farfalle for paparadelle because it was the closest thing I had in the house at the time. I’ve also made this with fettucine, which works well in a pinch. The leeks and braising liquid makes a light sauce that delicately coats the pasta. Two neat things about this recipe:

1. He suggests covering the leeks with a layer of prosciutto to lock in the moisture during braising and the added flavor is absolutely amazing. 

2. Because this is a white wine sauce, it works well with the porcini pangrattato, which gives it a nice kick at the end. If memory serves, pangrattato is sort of like peasant cheese, because it’s inexpensive. This one is made by pulising stale bread with dried porcini mushrooms and rosemary. Then it’s toasted, giving the pasta a wonderful crunch. If you have the patience required to clean leeks (yes, big pain in the ass because they need to really be soaked to remove all the dirt and grit), then I highly recommend this dish. I made it for my boyfriend and father one night and it knocked their socks off.

Your Love Is Better Than Cupcakes

Thirteen hand-mixed shades of buttercream=my love for you.

New Cookbook Love

Well, crush, I guess, considering I've only ordered it and haven't even leafed through it yet. But it's getting great reviews and I watched a video of Aida explaining her thought process behind each chapter of the book. It's laid out in a very clever way and seems to be geared towards instruction, not just the "California eclectic" recipes she's known for. The video can be found on amazon. If you click on picture 4 it will automatically come up. Watch it! I promise you'll be sold!

The Shelf Life of Food InfoGraphic

The Shelf Life of Food

Passing the Bar Dinner

After three long years of days and nights when we didn't even see eachother--Keith either studying, practicing for mock trial, or fighting the good fight as SBA president--law school was over last spring. Hooah! Although, I shouldn't speak so soon, since I just found out he's returning as a coach for this year's mock trial competition, using up his Sundays for the next two months, (and of course, let's not forget the still looming Saturday nights of waiting tables). Still, school is over. And then he studied arduously for "the hardest test you ever take in your life" as he puts it. After three months of fretting over the results, they finally came in last Friday, and hallelujah, he passed. On to bigger and better things, like paying off student loans, credit card bills, and all the other lovely things that come with being a student for seven plus years. It finally feels like it's time to celelbrate. Plus, I'll be done student teaching in December, and then once I write my thesis in the spring, I'll be done with school forever. Then again, I'm hearing from just about everyone, that it makes sense to get a 6th year, but I've got some time before I'll even start to consider that.

So, onto the dinner. My brother is also visiting from Colorado (a rare treat), and I made a killer pasta dish. No recipe. It was just a flying by the seat of my pants sorta night. I started with al dente penne and fork tender Brussels sprouts. Then I made a white wine sauce with sauteed shallots and garlic, deglazed with white wine. Then I hit it with some heavy cream to thicken it up, and dropped in some crumbled gorgonzola. I finished it off with some black pepper, and roughly chopped flat leaf parsley. Et voila! Meal fit for a newly sworn in attorney. So proud, and that's an understatement.

Autumn's Creepin' In

Fall Favorites

Kitchen Repairs and Stir-Fried Rice

I'm currently acting as watchdog, making sure my cats don't knock a sink off the kitchen table that has been precariously propped up on foam gardening mats, while my dad runs to the store to grab some more plumber's putty. Woo, that was a mouthful, and dangerously bordering on a run-on. After 30 some-odd years, he is putting in new fixtures, fixing a leak, and re-puttying the sink. Is re-puttying a word? If not, I just invented it. "Circle C"! Sorry, I can't help but add that in at the end. My boyfriend just took the bar exam, so peppering in some intellectual property lingo can't be helped.
Back to the guarding of the sink-I'm stationed in place and can't leave my post, but that can't prevent me from having a great lunch, right? I must mention that this is a leftover rice dish from the other night, so all I had to due was add a little homemade peanut sauce and sprinkle a few soybeans over the top before heating it in the microwave. Still, it's a nice blog-worthy meal, and since I didn't post the original version, I figured I'd make the most of my time (at my post) taking pictures of my iPhone and blogging.

The rice dish itself couldn't be more simple. It's just some jasmine rice, steamed veggies, garlic, ginger, soy, and rice wine vinegar. However, I have this secret ingredient that really elevates the dish. It's thai coconut curry broth made by College Inn. They have a whole line of culinary broths, and while I usually refrain from using anything but low-sodium chicken, this was hard to pass up. The broth is light and clear, yet very fragrant, with sweet lemongrass and mellow coconut. I'll admit, I use it to spice up boring rice dishes when I'm short on time, and I've even added small amounts to thai curry when I make it.

Cooking Channel to the rescue again

Dal Soup
Recipe Courtesy Bal Arneson



INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
2 tablespoons garam masala, recipe follows
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup brown lentils
5 cups water
Pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
Few fresh cilantro sprigs, for garnish


for garam masala

1/2 cup coriander seeds
1/2 cup cumin seeds
1/4 cup dried curry leaves*
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons brown mustard seeds
5 whole cloves
2 black cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
2 dried red chiles
*Can be found at specialty Asian and Indian markets.


DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to get hot. Add the garlic, garam masala, cumin seeds, and turmeric and cook for 20 seconds. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. Add the lentils and water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and cook until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve in a bowl and garnish with fresh cilantro sprigs.
To make garam masala:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, black peppercorns, mustard seeds, cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, and chiles on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 15 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to an electric spice grinder, or use a mortar and pestle and grind by hand. Grind to a fine powder. Store the garam masala in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups

Everything but the...is awesome!

I definitely want to make this asian inspired barbeque chicken while the weather is still warm enough for grilling. It looks flippin' awesome! I co-opted this recipe from The Kitchen SInk and the picture below (courtesy of The Kitchen Sink blog) makes this dish look all-the-more moutherwatering.

The Cooking Channel Rocks!

I am in love with the new Cooking Channel. It's a throwback to old-school food network, mixed with a little Canadian love, minus all the hyped mainstreamed programming that's on food network now. I loveNigella Express , Unique Eats and Food Jammers. I think they're my favorite new shows.



So, I was infatuated with the hip, young programming and then tonight I saw the dreaded Rachel Ray advertising her short lived show, Tasty Travels. Why did they have to go and mess with a good thing. Still, I'm totally behind this new network and have already prepared one successful dish I saw on a West Indian cooking show: curried mac n' cheese asparagus, carmelized wala wala onions (my addition) and panko breadcrumbs. I'll be sure to add a picture post-haste.

Lazing Around

It's the second night in a row that I've crashed on the couch right after dinner, and due to iphone malfunctions (mostly my fault) I didn't wake up as Keith called me on his way home from work. Sadly, we missed the opportunity to go out for drinks, but I'm hopeful for tomorrow night. It's a three-day weekend with Memorial Day on Monday (I always feel sinful for not being patriotic), so tomorrow we can go for drinks. It's been so long and a proper celebration for finishing school is in order.
On my to do list, is read more books. I've been consumed with text books, so I haven't read for pleasure in a long time, and with all the books that are on loan from friends, I still feel like I haven't had time to choose anything I've picked myself. Maybe it's better this way. I'm not sure I possess the creative decision making skills necessary for choosing a book right now. A lot goes in to selecting the right book to read--especially the right summer book. It's got to have a certain tone and setting. Movies are like that too. One of my new summer favorites is Little Children. Here's somehin gso romanticly nostalgic

Garden Time!

I love this perrenial mix because it is infused with color and there's so much texture and varying degrees of height. I recently picked up some shade-loving perrenials (sadly my garden is part sun to mostly shade). I decided to be a little adventurous and chose some unknowns. Jacob's ladder in "Stairway to Heaven" (yes, like the song) and I'm thinking of using it as a border along the terracing beams that Keith just "installed". I'm hoping they'll be happy there. I also bought a pink geranium and some other small blue perrenials to put around it. I wish I had written down their names! Finally, I chose New Guinea impatiens in "cherry cream" for a container planting.

Grilling in Snow Shoes

My dad makes claims of being a grill afficionado, and while I do give him props I think he's just a guy who likes to relax outside, occasionally flipping a steak or a burger. Don't get me wrong-he's a great cook (when he's not being lazy) and he was probably the person who's taught me most in the kitchen. Despite the fact that it's December and here in New England it's 30 degrees and snowing outside he wanted to grill this week. I met him halfway and decided to grill some food (indoors) in our cast iron grill pan the other night. I started out with plain grilled chicken breast and made a sun-dried tomato cream sauce to drizzle over the top, which came out so good I swear I could have just eaten the sauce and been happy. But as someone who has to cook a full rounded meal each night, I also grilled some polenta and vegetables, both of which came out great.


For the Sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes (drained if packed in oil)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped parsley

1.Saute the garlic in oil and deglaze pan with wine.
2.When alcohol has burned off, add tomatoes along with salt and pepper. Heat through.
3.Add cream and bring to a simmer. Add parsley, leaving about 1 Tbsp for garnish.
4.Put sauce in a blender and pulsate to incorporate the ingredients to your desired texture. (I pureed mine until there were only little flecks of red from the tomatoes.)
5.Serve over chicken, pasta, or be inventive and try something different!


For the polenta I took the lazy route and started with the store bought, tube (the package looks a little like a roll of sausage meat). I sliced it into 1/4 inch slices, lightly brushed it with olive oil and grilled away. Polenta takes on a nutty flavor when it's grilled and the crunchy outside crust creates a nice texture.



So, if you're feeling boredom that comes with eating the same hearty, warming, winter-friendly food every night, pull out your grill pan, throw on some summer tunes and have yourself an "indoor" grilling party.

Sagitarius is in the Hizz-ouse!

Finally, December is here. Lots of stuff this year. Christmas, Hannukah, out-of-town family, my birthday. It's a big one. A nice round 10 number. I'll leave it at that. Best of all, we're getting another kitten. Astrid so needs a friend to keep her company and romp with during the day. Hopefully it will help with her skiddishness a bit. Right now, we're checking out animal shelters and have found a few kittens. I'm smitten with the tiger striped tabbies with white bellies right now. I think that would look cute with Astrid's moo-cow coloring. Now we just need to decide on a name. Mabel, Stella, Hazel, Mildred, Gertrude, Miri...the list could go on and on and on.

Danks-giving

I stole that from my brother. I'm not a person who uses the word "dank" to describe a seriously good thing, but in this case, I will use it. Because that's what our Thanksgiving dinner was- DANK. Ha!

I got this recipe for roasted butternut squash and shallots from Real Simple. While I do love sweet potatoes, I hate the traditional American version with baked marshmallows on top, so I tend to strike that item from the menu altogether. Mostly because I know that if I do serve it, Keith, with his affinity for sweets, will beg for the over-processed, sickeningly sweet marshmallows on top. Have I ever mentioned his favorite candies are Peeps and candycorn? He's gone so far as to order boxes of candy corn on the internet when it's not "in season". That said, he does appreciate "foodie" food, having worked in restaurants all his life, and this dish was a fine alternative to the sweet potatoes. It was sweet and salty and had a very earthy taste from the squash and the roasting process. And I love shallots. I think this recipe called for 10 or so shallots. Mmmm.


This is a cranberry chutney I saw on Martha Stewart on demand. It raised many eyebrows as I cooked that morning, mainly because the house stunk of onion and fruit and strange spices, but the result was so satisfying. I would make this dish a hundred times more, Thanksgiving or not. It would go great with an Indian spiced pork loin or chicken.



The turkey breast was simple-just rubbed with fresh sage, rosemary, thyme and my dad made a stellar gravy to go with it.


And last, but not least, broccoli gratin. My favorite. I got the recipe here. I love broccoli and cheese is definitely in my top five. Gruyere is so good, I just couldn't resist, even though it's not a traditional holiday side dish.

Pushing the Holidays

I'm starting to look online for Christmas and other holiday goodies (although I rarely see many Chanukah themed cards out there) and I'm not entirely sure where to start. My etsy searches have led me in circles, so I've resorted to checking blogs I read to see what was posted and linked to last year. Ah. I do love Christmas time-my birthday is 5 days before, so that time of year has all the excitement rolled into one, plus being a Christmas baby, I think I have an extremely fond attachment to the holiday.

I've been getting Black Apple postcards for the past few years, but I haven't seen anything holidayish in the shop lately. I know--it's not even Halloween yet! Stop me! I can't help it, though. There are already Christmas displays in department stores around here! Capitalism is sick. Thank goodness I don't have cause to shop in department stores all that much.

Having both of Keith's siblings getting married this year is really causing a strain on our finances (especially since we're both in both weddings!), so I'm looking for cheap options. Any suggestions?

Family

My brother is home for a short visit (a stop along the way on his trip from Cape Cod to Colorado). He's moving to Vail this fall to become a full time ski bum. Well, I believe there will be more to it, but that's the main impetus for the move.
Keith and I are considering getting a friend for Astrid to play with. We find that she's sometimes lonely when we get home from work and school at the end of the day. Lots of ankle biting, hard play, etc.

Showering with the Family

Not literally, of course! By that I mean, throwing a bridal shower for Keith's sister.

Despite the frenetic energy that comes with being a bridesmaid for the first time, and having to take man this position from home base while the bride lives in Tenessee, my other "future sister-in-law" and I decided to throw a last minute shower. We were joined by the groom's mother, who thankfully catered the event, as she and her husband own a gourmet food and deli in town. But as always, I had to go above and beyond and make everything I was bringing from scratch. This included a few gallons of butternut squash bisque and over 250 cookies to give as favors at the end of the party. Meredith, said "future sister-in-law", and I went way overboard as we tried to tackle three different cookie recipes (all of which were virgins in my kitchen). Oh, and did I mention they were Martha recipes? We all know what that entails. Oh yeah-and one of the cookies even called for food color stamping? Yup. We stamped over 100 sugar cookies with monogrammed letters for the bride and groom.

Meredith and I had some "Lucy and Ethel" moments, the first being when we tried filling the portable soup carrier with water (measuring to see how many gallons it took) without first checking to see if the spout was closed. It wasn't. And it's hard to believe, but even after our jeans and shoes were soaked and we were standing out in the dark for 10 minutes trying to empty the container and start again, we actually repeated our mistake.

Fortunately, I had baked the sugar cookies and even iced them earlier in the day, but the stamping project proved to be way more difficult than we expected. Then again, with a Martha project, shouldn't I have learned that lesson a while ago? She makes everything look so damn easy. Needless to say, the icing hadn't completely dried, so when we started stamping the letters, the letters were making impressions into the icing (cracking it as we went) instead of sitting nicely on top. We managed to get a few good ones in before stopping to let the icing dry.


Our next cookie, which eventually became my favorite, was a maple leaf cookie that received a wash of locally harvested maple syrup and a splash of dusting sugar.

The final cookie was a soft pumpkin spice cookie with a maple glaze. Also, delicious, even though we didn't have time to ice the cookies that morning of the shower.

Chimmicuri