No Reservation Required

Every morning this week I have announced to Ted that "tonight we're going out to dinner".  I mean, it's just the two of us, although it's pretty much always just the two of us.  And it's hot.  And it's summer.  What better reason to go out than all that?

But then, around midday, something funny happens.  I happen on a recipe that inspires me to make dinner, not reservations.  Go figure.

True to form, that happened again today.  I was all set to pick a restaurant when, as I was mindlessly paging through this month's issue of Food and Wine, I was hit with... inspiration.  There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of recipes that I wanted to make.

Who woulda thunk it?

So, in the midst of all the chaos going on in my house, what with the painters and the dust and the general schmutz, I found solace in my kitchen and produced this absolutely delicious chicken dish.  And while I was at it, I sautéed up some fresh corn to go alongside.  I set a nice table outside, and before I knew it, we had a dinner so much better than any reservation I could have made instead.

Recipe:  Curried Maple-Mustard Chicken Breasts
Food and Wine, August, 2014

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon mild or hot curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Kosher salt
Pepper
Four 12-ounce, bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a 9-by-13-inch ceramic baking dish, combine the butter with the maple syrup, mustard, curry powder and cayenne. Bake for about 5 minutes, until the butter is melted. Whisk in a generous pinch each of salt and pepper and let cool slightly, 5 to 10 minutes.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, add to the baking dish and turn to coat with the sauce. Carefully spoon some 
of the sauce under the chicken skin. Turn the chicken breast side up and bake for about 45 minutes, basting occasionally, until the chicken is glazed and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 165°. Transfer the chicken to a work surface and let rest for 10 minutes

Cut the chicken off the bones and transfer to plates. Whisk the pan sauce and spoon over the chicken. Serve, passing additional sauce at the table.

Hot or Not

I am so tired of being hot.  And by hot I mean, hot as in the temperature, not hot as in "she is so hot".  This is because I am 54 years old, and let's face it, there's only so hot, as in "she's so hot," you can be at 54. And there is an unlimited amount of hot when it comes to hot as in the temperature.

There are those women out there who, even at (the advanced age of) 54, are still hot.  Good for them.  At this point, I'm just happy that nothing is sagging too offensively, and that the radiation tattoos kind of blend in with all the sun damage my skin endured back when I was, in fact, actually hot, as in "she's so hot".  I suppose with the right lighting, I might still pass for somewhat hot, but I'm not sure, and I don't want to ask Ted because he'll just say I am because that's what he's supposed to say.  And he won't look because he "already knows" what I look like.

There are also those women who have hot bodies which , when you see them from behind you think, "wow, that's some body on her".  Then she turns around and she's about 70 years old, with skin that looks like it spent way too much time laying on a chaise lounge in Palm Springs.  She's also wearing skinny jeans which were not designed for a 70 year old body, no matter how hot said body happens to be.

To be fair, I used to think 70 was old.  Now I think 70 is pretty much middle age,  Everything is relative.

But back to the weather.  It's been so damn hot and humid that I am sweating pretty much all the time.  Add to that the fact that we are in the midst of a massive painting/redecoration project in our house, and you can just assume that tempers are hot too.  I think my painters, who I love the day they start whatever project we're embarking on, and hate by about a week in, are taking un permanent residence on my third floor along with all the crap that Ted can't live without.

Anyway, because it's been about a thousand degrees outside, and because it's Wednesday, and that means it's NYT Dining day, we had a cold dinner.  Yup. Cold as in chilly.  No cooking.  No fuss, no muss, no bother.  Well, maybe a little muss and bother because there was chopping and blanching and tossing involved.  But on a scale of one to ten, ten being "she's so hot", this dinner was a ten.  Not a ten because of the hot factor, but instead it was a ten because it was so cool.  And as we all know, cool is often just as good as hot.

Recipe:  Spicy Pearl Couscous Salad
David Tanis, New York Times, July 16, 2014

Ingredients:
For the Dressing:

2 tablespoons lemon juice, more to taste, plus zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 red Fresno chile, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
Pinch of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup olive oil

For the Salad:

1 pound very small new potatoes, halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 sweet bell peppers
1/2 pound Romano beans or green beans, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 pound pearl couscous
1/2 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
Small bunch mint, cilantro or parsley, for garnish

Directions:

In a small bowl, stir together lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, turmeric, cayenne, chile, caraway, cumin and cinnamon. Whisk in olive oil. Set aside.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put halved potatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper and roast cut side down until tender, about 15 minutes.

Roast bell peppers whole under broiler, over a gas burner or over hot coals until skins are blackened and blistered, 3 to 4 minutes. Set aside to cool. Using a paring knife, split peppers lengthwise and scrape away seeds and charred skin (do not rinse). Cut into 1/2-inch strips.

Drop beans into salted boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water.

Meanwhile, boil the couscous in abundant salted water until al dente, about 10 minutes, then drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again. Blot dry.

Put couscous in a shallow salad bowl. Add roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes and beans and season with salt and pepper. Add dressing and toss well to coat. Add potatoes and toss again. Taste and adjust for salt and lemon. Garnish with mint, cilantro or parsley leaves.

YIELD 6 to 8 servings

The Waiting Game

This summer I have wisely enrolled in just one CSA.  After last summer's debacle, I learned my lesson.  No one, and I mean no one, needs four heads of cabbage in one week.  I don't care how much you like cabbage, there's a limit to how much a person's digestive system can handle.

We are currently in the midst of a zucchini and cucumber blitz.  Last week, my CSA generously provided me with five gigantic zucchini and a bunch of adorable cucumbers.  (Really, the cucumbers were the cutest little shape.)  What to do, what to do?

The obvious choice for at least some of the zucchini is zucchini bread.  And grilled zucchini.  But what about pickled zucchini, kind of like pickled cucumbers but with zucchini?

Well, it's all good news because there are a plethora of pickled zucchini recipes out there so it appears that pickled zucchini is a thing.  The other good news is that I had everything needed right there in my refrigerator and in my pantry.  Score one for me.

This recipe was quick and easy, but alas I cannot tell you how delicious my pickled zucchini spears are.  For that, we will have to wait a week or two or three.  But good things come to those who wait.

Recipe:  Zucchini Dill Pickles
Epicurious.com

yield:
Makes 2 quarts

Ingredients:

2 pounds small zucchini (preferably about 4" or 8" long), trimmed
4 tablespoons coarse sea salt or pickling salt, divided
12 fresh dill sprigs
2 teaspoons yellow or brown mustard seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon dill seeds
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
4 garlic cloves, halved
4 red jalapeños or Fresno chiles, split lengthwise
2 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

If using 4" zucchini, halve lengthwise. If using 8" zucchini, halve crosswise, then quarter lengthwise. Place in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons salt and 4 cups ice. Add cold water to cover. Top with a plate to keep submerged. Let sit for 2 hours. Drain; rinse.

Divide dill sprigs and next 6 ingredients between 2 clean, hot 1-quart jars; set aside.

Bring vinegar, sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons salt, and 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Working in batches, add zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, until khaki in color and slightly pliable, about 2 minutes. Using tongs, transfer zucchini to jars.

Divide hot syrup between jars to cover zucchini, leaving 1/2" space on top. Wipe rims, seal, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Allow at least a week to pickle before eating.

Epicurious.com © Condé Nast Digital, Inc. All rights reserved.

I Love Wednesday

Wednesday is my favorite day of the week, and it's not because it's hump day.  I love Wednesdays because that when the NYT Dining section is published.  No matter how uninspired I'm feeling, there's always something there that makes me look forward to cooking dinner.

This week's section did not disappoint, and Ted and I dined on Melissa Clark's Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomatoes Wednesday evening.  Melissa is my go to when I'm looking for something fresh and vibrant to fight off the humidity of summer.

The real bonus here is that I had everything needed to make this delicious sounding pasta recipe right here in the house... or in my backyard.  Yup, we're growing a variety of herbs this summer, and to say that we are being overrun by mint would be an understatement of epic proportions.  There's a limit to how many cocktails with muddled mint Ted can make, so finding a recipe that calls for 3 cups of mint leaves is a real bonanza.  Because our basil is going wild as well, I threw in a handful of torn basil leaves along with the mint.

The weather cooperated and we were able to enjoy our summer pasta al fresco, along with a nice glass of rose.  Just one more reason to love Wednesdays.

Recipe:  Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomatoes
New York Times, July 9, 2014

* Note:  I added a handful of torn basil leaves along with the mint,

Ingredients:

1 pound fusilli pasta
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
6 ounces pancetta, preferably thick cut, diced
6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Fine sea salt and black pepper, as needed
1 quart cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
3 tablespoons butter
Fresh ricotta cheese, for serving (optional)
3 cups whole mint leaves, torn
4 scallions, preferably red scallions for color, thinly sliced
Flaky sea salt, to finish

Directions:

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until 1 minute shy of al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat for 15 seconds, then add the oil and heat until it thins out and easily coats the pan when swirled. Add pancetta and cook until it starts to render its fat, about 2 minutes. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and a large pinch of salt and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook until they burst, turn golden at the edges and shrivel up slightly, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add pasta to pan and toss with tomato-pancetta mixture; if the mixture looks dry add a little pasta cooking water a few tablespoons at a time. Cook over high heat until the pasta finishes cooking in the sauce. Add the butter and toss until it melts and coats everything.

Divide pasta among warmed pasta bowls. Garnish with dollops of ricotta if desired, and top with a generous mound of fresh mint and scallions. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and more pepper before serving.el4 Note: If you would like to leave out the pancetta (making the dish vegetarian), toss 1/3 cup grated pecorino in the pasta along with the butter.

YIELD 4 to 6 servings

A Little Kick

Although I am not a huge Asian food fan, I do love wasabi.  There's something about the sharp, sinus clearing taste that just drives me mad.  In fact, as far as I'm concerned, soy sauce and wasabi are the best things about sushi.

I know, I know.  Soy sauce and wasabi are not generally considered to be the high point of the sushi eating experience.

The other day I was thinking about how I might merge my love of sushi condiments into to a format I'd be more excited about.  What I really meant to say was that I was looking for a way to get the punch of wasabi with something other than raw fish.

A really limited amount of checking with my close friend Google revealed that lots of other people have had the same thought.  I found numerous versions of salmon with wasabi, but this one, with just a few of my own twists, really hit the spot for me.

Give it a try.  There's nothing quite like the wasabi kick!

Recipe:  Wasabi Crusted Salmon with Rice Noodles
Adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons Wasabi powder
4 6 to 8 ounces salmon filet
½ pound rice noodles
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (divided) chopped peanuts
½ teaspoons hot sauce
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
Zest of 1 orange
2 scallions, chopped


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a glass bowl, mix the wasabi powder and a little water until you have made a paste. Add the oil to the Wasabi paste, and brush the mixture on the salmon. If possible, let the salmon rest for a short while to absorb some of the flavors. Place Salmon in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes.

Soak the rice noodles in boiling water for about 10 minutes to soften. In a glass bowl, mix the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, peanuts, sesame oil, and hot sauce. Using a microplane grater, zest 1 orange into the mixture. Drain the noodles, add the soy sauce mixture and mix well. Place the noodles in the middle of the plate and top with the salmon.  Garnish with the scallions and reserved 2 tablespoons of chopped peanuts. Drizzle with a little additional soy sauce, if desired.

Camp Walden Redux

Visiting day, 2007
Kate and Ted on Walden Pond
(This is one my all time favorite camp pictures)

Both of my kids were campers.  And by campers, I don't mean two weeks of sports camp in mid-July.  Nope.  Charlie and Kate both spent their childhood summers at sleep away  camp.  For eight weeks.  For eight years.

Oh, don't look at me as though I sent them off to prison.  They went to camp, for heavens sake, where  you get to do fun stuff all day.  Stuff that you would never get to do at home... at least not everyday for two months.

Charlie went to camp in the high sierra mountains of California.  He started there when we still lived in California and continued through even after we moved to Pittsburgh.  Charlie loved his summers filled with canoeing, hiking, and eating s'mores.  Gold Arrow was Charlie's place for many years.  (More on Charlie's camp adventures in another post, but suffice it to say, I will have to obtain clearance from Charlie before I proceed.)


Kate took a different summer camp route and went to Camp Walden in Denmark, Maine.  You may remember Camp Walden from The Parent Trap, which was based (loosely) on Camp Walden and its founder Mrs. Herz.  (Take note: Camp Walden does not have an isolation cabin...)  Kate loved being at Walden  It was, and still is, her place.  In fact,  it was at Walden that her love affair with Maine began.

Then...

Fast forward to... yesterday.  Four years after her Bunk 12  summer, Kate boarded a United Airlines flight bound for Maine, and her beloved Camp Walden.  It is there that she will spend her summer teaching tennis to a new generation of Waldenites.  She'll also be a cabin counselor.

and Now

As we stood in the airport saying our goodbyes, I couldn't help but think about all those summers back when Kate was a camper.  It really is funny how quickly time flies.  It seems like just yesterday that I sent her off for a summer of hiking, tennis, canoeing, arts and crafts and general memory making.  In fact, she was just a taller version of her former camper self, wearing her overstuffed backpack, clutching her pillow and her tennis racquets.  (Only this time she wasn't clutching as much as schlepping her pillow and racquets, but the backpack was still completely overstuffed.)

While this summer will be a very different experience for Kate, the really wonderful thing about Walden is that the more things change, the more Walden stays the same. From what I have heard, Walden is essentially the same magical place as it was at its founding in 1916.  The girls still wear their orange ties to bunk shows on Friday nights.  They wear uniforms (brown and tan).  They sing songs that only they know.  They yell and scream and sing at the top of their lungs in the dining hall.  The eat congo bars and pizza on Friday nights and schnecken on Sunday mornings.  Every Sunday they have Thanksgiving for lunch.  They sit on EA rock and contemplate whatever strikes them.  They play on the tire swing and they make giant snake lines through the whole camp.  When they sign a letter home they always end with EAO.  (I have absolutely no idea what that means -- I'm not even sure Kate does.)

Just thinking of Walden makes me a little teary.

So, in honor of summer campers everywhere, have a great time.  Try new things.  Sit on the floor in your bunk and play jacks. eat too much candy on visiting day, perfect your s'more, and make your own memories.  I know Kate is.

It's a Bar! No! I't s a Cake!

I'm going to start by saying that I'm not sure how to categorize this apple cinnamon quinoa breakfast bake.  It's kind of a coffee cake, and it's kind of a breakfast bar.  Either way, this recipe is packed full of good for you goodies.

I'm not usually all that progressive when it comes to ingredients that are a little outside of my comfort zone.  Sure, I make quinoa.  And I use soy milk.  But a cake made out of quinoa... and soy milk?  I'm not so sure.

Fortunately for me, Kate is home and she's all about eating healthy.  I think all this healthy eating has come about as a direct result of eating college dormitory food for the past year.  As hard as dining services try, it's just not the kind of food she was accustomed to at home.

So, I've been busy in the kitchen turning out recipes that Kate finds for me on Pinterest.  Kate believes that Pinterest is better than any cookbook.  I have to say, she's not entirely off base.  I've even started a Pinterest page.  Check mine out (You Little Tarte).

But I digress.  Give this breakfast cake/bake/bar a try.  And, if you're like Kate, and don't like raisins in things, do what I did and substitute in the same amount of low sugar Craisins.

Recipe:  Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bake
(Adapted from Katie at the Kitchen Door)

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 apples, peeled, diced
1/4 cup raisins (I used the same amount low sugar Craisins)
2 eggs
2 cups vanilla soy milk (can substitute regular milk)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup almonds, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 7-by-11-inch baking dish (an 8-by-8 works too).
In a small bowl, mix the uncooked quinoa with the spices. Pour into greased dish.
Sprinkle the apple and raisins on top of the quinoa.
In that same small bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the soy milk and maple syrup.
Pour the egg-and-milk mixture over the top of the fruit and quinoa. Lightly stir to partially submerge the fruit. Sprinkle the chopped almonds on top.
Bake for 1 hour or until the casserole is mostly set with only a small amount of liquid left.
Allow to cool, and then cover and refrigerate. In the morning, cut a square, microwave it on a plate, and enjoy alone or with a few dollops of Greek yogurt.