Lazy Wednesday

By in quick

It took us so long to find a parking spot this evening that I couldn’t even get fried eggs and toast fingers on the table in time. I should probably blame the spinach too though, and not just the lack of available parking spaces in my neighborhood.

Back when my csa box was overflowing with more leafy greens than I could consume, I blanched and froze a few batches of spinach. Unfortunately, I froze them in a big blob instead of a nice, flat patty. That big blob took ages to defrost in the pan tonight. Regardless, it was pretty yummy.

• Easy Creamed Spinach •
Sautee an onion in butter, add frozen spinach (a 10 oz package, or equivalent), continue cooking over medium heat, when it is (finally) defrosted and hot, add salt, pepper and a few dollops of creme fraiche. Serve.

Macaroni & cheese for babies

By in family, traditions 3 Comments

I love to make macaroni & cheese for people who’ve just had babies. Today, we welcomed a nephew—hooray! finally!—and that’s just what I did. My very favorite macaroni & cheese recipe is this one from Martha Stewart. It takes a while to make but isn’t hard, and I think you’ll find it’s worth the effort.

When making it for someone who’s just had a baby, I assemble the whole thing in a dish (but don’t bake it), and then refrigerate or freeze. All a new parent has to do is bring it to room temperature on the counter and then bake for 30 minutes. The recipe yields enough to have some for yourself the night you prepare it, if you want (I always do).

 

Tortilla Soup

By in Vegetarian 1 Comment

We’ve been waiting for something really exciting to happen today, and it’s taking longer than we thought. I’m excited and anxious and tense. Tortilla soup came to mind as the perfect comfort food. Plus, it’s something I love and haven’t had for a really long time. I had a recipe once, I couldn’t find it today but my memory served me well.

• Tortilla Soup •
1 medium yellow onion
2 medium-large tomatoes
2 tomatillos
1 poblano pepper
olive oil
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
salt and pepper
1 cup cubed, salty, cheese (I used Halloumi cheese, cut into 1/2″ cubes)
1 avocado, cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 cup cilantro leaves
6 corn tortillas (old or stale is fine)
vegetable oil
lime slices for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash tomatoes, tomatillos and poblano pepper. Cut an “x” into the top of each tomato and tomatillo. Peel the dry outer layer of skin off the onion, trim ends and cut in half. Put tomatoes, tomatillos, pepper and onion in a glass baking dish, drizzle with a little olive oil and salt and roast until very soft, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and set aside until cool to the touch.

Peel and seed the poblano pepper. Place the pepper, tomatoes, tomatillos, onion and any juices from the baking dish to a medium sized heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the broth to the soup pot, and puree using a hand blender until smooth, removing any big pieces of skin or onion that come to the top or get tangled in your blender. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, cube the avocado (toss with some lime juice so it does’t brown), cube the cheese and wash the cilantro leaves and set aside. Turn your oven on to 400 degrees, place the 6 corn tortillas on a large baking sheet in the oven and cook until they are slightly dry and crisp, flipping so both sides get dry (if you’re using stale tortillas you can skip this step). Cut tortillas into 3/4″ strips, toss in a bowl with vegetable (or other mild) oil to coat and a little salt. Turn the oven to broil, put the tortilla strips back on the baking tray in one layer (you don’t have to be meticulous about laying them out) and broil, watching carefully and turning with tongs until browned and crisp.

Ladle soup into bowls and add a handful of avocado, a handful of cheese, a handful of cilantro and a pile of tortilla strips. Serve immediately with lime wedges to garnish. I think this soup qualifies as a meal, but add a salad and weekday chicken if you want to make it more substantial.

Not too shabby

By in cape meals, dishes by shane

Shane started making sauce for rigatoni with meatballs early this afternoon. “What are you doing?” we all asked him. “I’m making a meal, you know, so we have something to eat before we leave this evening. You weren’t planning to stop for dinner, were you?” No, we weren’t. Shane makes a good tomato sauce, maybe he can be persuaded to post a recipe one day. The meatballs were frozen, from Costco.

My mom and I scoured the fridges and came up with some of the Drews‘ home-grown arugula, a few raspberries, and an oddly shaped apple. I made a version of Rita’s Dressing with about a teaspoon of dijon mustard and a drizzle of honey added to it. The dressing was a lovely compliment to the apples and spicy arugula.

We put it all together for an early dinner, at the picnic table, by the water. Not too shabby, if you ask me.

Until tomorrow (which we expect will be a very special day).

Chinese crab, pina coladas & an impromptu baby shower

By in cape meals, drinks 2 Comments

Wayne cooked last night, it’s been a while and we were all very excited to have him back in the kitchen. Wayne is a Chinese food aficionado, not only does he have a deep appreciation of Chinese food but he also cooks it incredibly well too. He’s even informally interned in some Boston area Chinese restaurant kitchens. If you’d listened to the sounds coming from our house while we were eating spicy crab with ground pork last night, you might have blushed. Need I say more?

Photos left to right: 1. Shane’s pina coladas, from scratch, a wonderfully summery treat to offset the fall in the air  2. Pre-dinner snacks  3. The table  4. A kiddie cocktail  5. Bok Choi by Rita  6. Steak by André  7. Wayne’s spicy crab with ground pork  8.The dinner table  9. An impromptu baby shower for Jenya & André !

We almost didn’t make it

By in cape meals

We had our hearts set on getting to the Cape in time for dinner tonight. We all took a half day and were happily on the road by 3:00. Unfortunately, Connecticut did not cooperate. We sat in traffic as the 7:30 dinner hour passed, then 8:00, and 9:00… At 9:15 we pulled in to the Cape and lo and behold, they were still eating dinner!

There were three types of roast chicken, chicken piccata, chicken with yogurt sauce, and chicken with chilpotle butter and honey. The sides were brown rice, watermelon and feta salad and arugula and watermelon radish salad with veggies grown by the Drews.

What did I make?

By in quick

I can’t believe I even got dinner on the table last night. Between the acupuncture and the complex migraine relief cocktail haze, I barely remembered what I’d made by the time I sat down to eat. This morning, relieved of pain and clear-headed, I’m feeling rather impressed with myself.

The bread, butter, cheese and cherry tomatoes were a good call, no prep required. I made Chicken with Wine, Lemon & Butter again, and again it was a hit.

• Green Beans with Yogurt Dressing •
Wash and trim the beans and boil them briefly in salted water. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Make a dressing of plain yogurt, grainy mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and toss the beans in it. Done!

Ravioli with squash

By in uncategorized 1 Comment

We’re kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel in the veggie department, except for all the squash. In an effort to be done with my squash before I get even more of it in my csa box this week, I made a tomato, squash, sage and cream sauce for ravioli. I thought it was good, but I’m not sure my family was all that keen on it. They said they liked it, but didn’t eat much. This is probably because I was quite miffed at them for being unappreciative at dinner last night, and now they’re living in fear.

If you want to try the squash sauce yourself, here’s the recipe:

• Squash, Tomato & Cream Sauce (for Cheese Ravioli) • 
Roast an acorn or similar squash as in last night’s recipe. Puree it with a few globs of tomato paste and a generous splash of cream until smooth. Add some chopped, fresh sage that has been sauteed in butter and serve over cheese ravioli with grated pecorino or parmesan cheese.

There were a few green beans in the fridge as well as some celery, I didn’t make anything particularly inspiring with them. For the carnivores, I made weekday chicken, just one breast. I like the idea of meat as a side dish. Of course I do.

Burgers, Tomatoes & Squash

By in dishes by shane 1 Comment

The squash is coming. My csa box had three winter squash this week, it seems early, but I know this means the season of heavy boxes has officially started. I roasted the squash and served it with a poblano pepper salsa and goat cheese on the side. The tomatoes were in a simple vinaigrette with fresh oregano. For Shane & Rose I made butter burgers.

• Roasted Acorn Squash with Poblano Salsa •
For the Squash:
1 acorn squash, halved, seeded and cut into 1″ strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

For the Salsa:
3 poblano peppers, roasted, seeded and peeled
Juice from 1 lime
A large handful of cilantro leaves
Salt to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees and put the poblano peppers in to roast until skin is browned and peppers are soft. Once roasted, remove peppers from oven to cool and turn heat down to 350. Meanwhile, wash, halve and seed the acorn squash. Cut squash into 1″ strips and toss with the olive oil, salt and pepper until well coated. Lay squash slices flat on a baking tray and bake for about 45 minutes until slightly browned and soft, flipping half way through. Peel and seed the poblano peppers and put them into a Cuisinart or bowl (if you’re using a hand blender), add the lime juice, cilantro and salt and blend until smooth. Top warm slices of roasted squash with salsa and serve.

• Shane’s Buttery Burgers •
1lb ground beef
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and form into patties, about 3/4″ to 1″ thick. Heat an un-greased oven-proof skillet over high heat, add some salt. Cook burgers for 1 minute per side until browned. Remove pan to oven and bake for 5 minutes for medium-rare. Add cheese at the last minute if desired. Serve on buns. Some folks like a pickle slice too.

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