Angela's 2nd Annual Spring Feast

You know how my past few posts have been focusing on Spring? Well, it's officially here. On Saturday David and I attended - for the second year in a row - a brunch/luncheon/feast at my friend Angela's house celebrating the first official day of Spring. The day was gorgeous, the food was delicious, and the doggies (Boston Terriers named Jasper and Kona) were especially cute!


Jasper


Kona

Angela made a scrumptious baked cauliflower gratin, her husband grilled some particularly flavorful and juicy tri-tip, and another friend brought yummy bruschetta.





My contributions included 1) lox-style smoked salmon with a soft cow's milk cheese called Le Roule on baguette slices, topped with green onions and parsley, 2) melt-in-your-mouth asparagus with goat cheese on baguette slices, topped with fried capers, 3) new potato salad with fresh peas, asparagus, and radishes, and 4) lemon pudding with lemon curd for dessert! I already included a link to the pudding recipe in a previous post, but I guess I'll just have to include it again because it is JUST SO GOOD. Beth helped me make a triple batch the night before the feast; tripling it meant longer 'whisking' time, but it was well worth it.



New Potato Salad with Fresh Peas, Asparagus and Radishes
Inspired by recipe from Epicurious.com

Vinaigrette:

1/8 cup Champagne vinegar
1/8 rice vinegar
1/2 small shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp honey
1 TB Dijon mustard
2/3 cup olive oil
1 TB fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper



Salad:

1 lb fingerling and/or baby red potatoes
3/4 lb English peas shelled and/or Sugar Snap peas, ends trimmed
1 - 2 bunches of asparagus, fat ends snapped off, chopped into 2 inch pieces
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
3-4 bulbs spring onions, chopped
3 TB chopped parsley
1 small jar capers, drained
plenty of parmigiano-reggiano, shaved or grated
salt and pepper

Cook potatoes in salted boiling water for 10-20 minutes depending on size. They should be just tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork. Set aside.



Cook peas for 2-3 minutes, or until just tender, in same boiling water. Remove from water, immediately put them in bowl of ice water. Drain and set aside.

Cook asparagus in same water, 3-4 minutes, until just tender. Remove and immediately put in bowl of ice water. Drain and set aside.



Fry capers in 1 TB oil over medium heat.

Toss potatoes with other veggies and the vinaigrette. If eating this dish right away, you can add the other ingredients to the potatoes while they're still warm, but if saving for a brunch, I would suggest cooling the potatoes completely before adding the other ingredients, otherwise the green veggies will continue to cook a little and everything will get a bit soggy!

Season to taste. Top with parmigiano-reggiano.

1/4 cup Champagne vinegar

1 small shallot, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tuna-Asparagus-and-New-Potato-Salad-with-Chive-Vinaigrette-and-Fried-Capers-352094#ixzz0jDNwCs6r

Lemon Pudding with Lemon Curd
From Epicurious.com

For Lemon Pudding

1 TB cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup half-and-half
2 TB fresh lemon juice
1 TB unsalted butter

For Lemon Curd

1/2 tsp finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
3 jumbo egg yolks
2 TB unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Make lemon pudding:

Whisk together cornstarch, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan, then whisk in half-and-half until smooth. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking constantly, then boil, whisking constantly, 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in lemon juice and butter, then transfer pudding to a metal bowl. Set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stir frequently until cold, about 10 minutes. Transfer pudding, covered, to refrigerator (reserve ice water).

Make lemon curd:

Whisk together zest, lemon juice, sugar, and yolks in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 4 minutes.

Force lemon curd through a fine-mesh sieve into another metal bowl, scraping bottom of sieve, then transfer to ice bath and stir frequently until cold. Cover surface of curd with wax paper and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serve pudding with a dollop of lemon curd on top (notice how it resembles an egg!). Soooo springy!


Jasper and Angela

Green garlic, asparagus, & a brand new pan!

Green garlic sauteing in my new pan...


I finally did it! I bought a new pan! And not just any pan, but an All-Clad nonstick French skillet! Which just happens to be the PERFECT pan for French-style omelets. So I attempted them again this weekend and they worked PERFECTLY.

Last week I attempted to make fried eggs with my one remaining frying pan (the one that used to be nonstick about a thousand years ago and is now all scratched up and ugly), and it was a total failure. You must understand, fried eggs are something I do well. My mom taught how to make them when I was super young, and while it did take a few dozen tries for me to master them, they've basically become second nature. So to FAIL....well that was just totally depressing. But my pan simply wouldn't cooperate - no matter how much butter I used! It just so happened that I had some birthday/Christmas money I hadn't used up yet, and I finally realized how I should spend it. PANS! Expensive ones that I would otherwise feel a little guilty buying. I still have some money leftover and already have my eye on a larger, no-non-stick classic saute pan...but that will have to wait. In the meantime, I can now make perfect french-style omelets. I made this version with cilantro, sauteed green garlic and a tiny bit of Vermont cheddar. We ate them on our porch in the sun with our favorite toast and half of the sweetest grapefruit ever for dessert.


French-style omelet recipe can be found here.

On another note, if you haven't noticed, IT'S SPRING! It's not official until Saturday, of course, but finding green garlic in my Farm Fresh To You box is proof enough for me. Green garlic is just that: garlic that has been plucked out of the ground while it's still 'green,' and before it's had time to bulb out. It's milder than mature garlic, with flavor somewhere between a leek and a green onion. In the past week I've used it in curry, pasta, and anywhere else that I would have used real garlic or green onions.




I recommend trying it, but green garlic is nowhere near the most exciting part of Spring. Because Spring means, among other things, ASPARAGUS. Last week my veggie box included a beautiful bundle of asparagus. I boiled the spears for 3 minutes until just tender, tossed them with some pasta and other veggies, and topped with a poached egg and fresh parmesan. (A dish worthy of a photo, for sure, but composed too erratically to merit a recipe post) I'll save my full asparagus post for another day...but just so you know, asparagus is really awesome and fascinating and I can't wait to tell you more about it!



pasta with asparagus, red cabbage and a poached egg

I'm totally ready for spring. I went to Stinson Beach this weekend (to help with Beth & Tom's engagement photo shoot!) and the weather was gorgeous...it's amazing how exhilarating it is to have warm evenings (where the sun takes it's sweet time setting) again after a long winter season. I also bought some young herb, green onion & pea plants for my garden. My parsley and sage from last season are still - amazingly - going strong and I can't wait to plant tomatoes!!! There is simply nothing more satisfying than knowing where your food comes from, and eating seasonally lets me build up excitement/cravings for food that's technically not available year round. Get ready for lots of spring recipes...because they're a-coming!




**Happy Eating**

Comfort Food Recipes x 2

February is barely over, but for the past few weeks I've been in a cozy sort of mood. Even on those few clear, warmish days I've been inclined towards roasting and braising and comfort. Perhaps it's because - despite the unseasonably mellow California climate - deep down I know that it's still winter, and that in most places the ground is still covered in snow. In California we may not get snow (unless you're in the mountains), but seasons DO still apply when it comes to green and growing things. Our growing period may be longer, and it is possible to grow tomatoes in a hothouse or ship them in from Chile. But give me gorgeously fresh and local kale, chard, potatoes, leeks, brussels sprouts, and carrots over a mealy tomato or out-of-season strawberry ANY day. That's why my Farm Fresh To You shipment is so exciting; because everything in it is from Capay Organic's farm, grown within 90 miles of my own front door. They didn't use up a ton of resources to get them to me, and I know they're absolutely fresh.

This week's post includes two comfort meals: Shepherd's Pie and Pot Roast. Shepherd's Pie (good Shepherd's Pie) is my boyfriend's favorite meal and Pot Roast is my childhood favorite. I grew up eating - and adoring - my grandma's "Stringy Roast Beef" (aka pot roast) with carrots, potatoes and gravy. Done properly, the meat is succulent, tender, and absolutely falling apart. With my refrigerator stuffed full of vegetables, I needed to update both of these recipes to include more green things. So I did!


Fiona loves rainy Saturdays...& Shepherd's Pie!

Comfort Food #1: Shepherd's Pie with Leeks, Brussels Sprouts, and Carrots

Shepherd's Pie is a simple concept: a layer of mashed potatoes over a layer of lamb over a layer of veggies. Cottage Pie is the same idea, only using beef. In both cases you can use ground meat or tender shoulder meat, braised until falling apart. I haven't tried the latter kind yet because ground lamb is really yummy and less expensive (and quicker!). Good quality ground beef will work fine if you can't find lamb. Having followed recipes the past 2 times I made Shepherd's Pie, this time I decided to venture out on my own. I'm very glad I did. Most recipes call for peas and corn (neither of which are in season when you're most likely to crave Shepherd's Pie) for the veggie portion, and frankly, frozen veggies just don't cut it when there are better SEASONAL options out there. I was amazed that I couldn't find shepherd's pie recipes using leeks, brussels sprouts or winter greens, as these veggies are so at home with butter and potatoes and braised meat. I decided to trust my instincts, and I'm happy to post my own recipe for Shepherd's Pie with leeks, brussels sprouts and carrots! An optional addition or substitution for the veggies are braised winter greens; I tried this with half of my pie, and really really liked it. It's also good as a side dish for both recipes featured in this post.



Veggies:

1 lb brussels sprouts, quartered (keep any loose outer leaves)
2 large/3 medium leeks, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds and halved
5-6 largish carrots, peeled and cut on a bias (diagonally) into 1 inch pieces and halved
2 TB butter
2 TB olive oil
1/2 cup chicken stock/broth
1/4 cup white wine (can substitute water)

Heat oil over medium heat for 1 min; add butter. Once melted, add leeks. Cook for 5 min, or until slightly softened, stirring occasionally.
Add brussels sprouts and carrots, (add more butter or oil if not enough to coat veggies). Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.
Add wine and chicken stock. Cook until most of liquid evaporated and veggies softened but still firm-ish (you don't want them mushy!), about 5-10 min, possibly longer. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.




Meat:

1-2 lbs ground lamb
1 medium white or yellow onion, finely diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 TB olive oil
1/4 cup chicken stock/broth
splash of red wine
chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat 1 min.
Add meat; cook, stirring, until mostly browned, 5-6 min.
Clear spot in middle of pan, add onion (and more oil, if bottom of pan is dry); cook 2 min.
Season with salt and pepper. Add broth/wine, cook until thickened and onions transparent, about 5 min more. Add parsley, season to taste. Set aside.

Potatoes:

1-2 lbs potatoes (russets or yukon gold), peeled and halved
3-4 TB butter
1/4 cup chicken broth/stock (or cream/milk)

Boil potatoes in salted water until they fall apart easily when pierced with fork. (10-30 min, depending on size of potatoes)
Mash potatoes with electric mixer (or pass through potato ricer) in bowl with butter, broth (or cream), and salt and pepper. Taste, adjust seasonings/liquid as desired. Potatoes should be plenty fluffy, but not soggy. Set aside.




Assembly:

1 egg white
freshly grated parmesan
fresh chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 350.

Place veggies in bottom of deep baking dish, keeping most of juices. Layer meat on top, keeping most of juices. Smear potatoes on very top, covering meat entirely. Sizes of layers should be very close, although potato layer can be a little thicker. Brush top of potatoes lightly with egg white (helps the top of the potatoes get slightly crisp). Sprinkle with parmesan, parsley and pepper. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until bubbling and slightly golden/brown on top.


(sorry, no "after" photos...we ate it too quickly!)


Braised Winter Greens:

I used multiple kinds of kale and chard. You can also include collard greens, but you may need to cook them a little longer. You can add these to the bottom layer of the Shepherd's Pie, or serve as a side dish!


Before


After
2-3 bunches mixed winter greens (center ribs removed & torn into pieces)
1 small onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 TB olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice

Heat oil in large pan over medium heat. When shimmering, add onion and cook until softened, about 5 min. Add garlic, cook until fragrant, 1 min.
Add half of greens, cook until wilted, 1 min. Add rest of greens, broth, and salt. Cover and reduce to low, until greens are tender, up to 20 min.
Take lid off, turn heat to high, cook, stirring frequently, until most of liquid evaporated, 5-10 min. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and squeeze of lemon.

If you prefer your greens more toothsome - and less cooked - an alternative to this is to roll up greens into cigar shape, slice thinly, and then quickly saute with oil, garlic and lemon over med-high heat for 5-10 min, until bright green and slightly softened. With collard greens, you actually don't need to increase the time for this method.

...................................................................................................

Comfort Food # 2: Stringy Roast Beef with Leeks, Potatoes, & Carrots

Growing up this was my absolute favorite thing to eat; adding more veggies and braising to the mix makes it even yummier! Thank you Grandma!!!



Roast:

1 4-lb boneless chuck roast
several slices of slab bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 onion, quartered
3 cloves of garlic, whole
1 cup red wine
several cups of chicken broth
2-3 bay leaves

Vegetables:

1 lb potatoes, scrubbed and quartered into 1 - 2 inch pieces (you can use any type, but the larger the potato the more times you'll have to cut it!)
6-8 large carrots
2-3 med leeks, white and light green parts sliced into 1 inch pieces
1 small onion, sliced into large pieces
several cloves of garlic
other assorted wintery veggies (I threw in some button mushrooms, left whole or cut in half, depending on size)

Gravy

3 TB juices from roast
2 TB flour
1/2 - 1 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 325 F. (it is okay to cook it slightly faster at 350, but the slower the better!)

Season roast with salt a few hours before cooking and chill; remove from refrigerator 1 hour before cooking (roast should be room temp so it will cook evenly!)

Fry bacon over medium heat until just cooked, about 10 min. Remove bacon, drain off most of the fat. Place roast in pan and brown on all 4 sides, about 2-3 min per side. Set roast aside.

Add wine to pan, turn up heat, scrape off brown bits from bottom of pan. Cook for 2 min. Add juices from pan to a roasting pan; add broth, 1 roughly chopped onion, several whole cloves of garlic, 2-3 bay leaves, cooked bacon, and more wine if you want! Liquid should only be about an inch or so high. Cover and cook in oven for about 2 hours.

Remove roast from pan; carefully remove vegetables, bacon, and most of liquid (but leave a little behind). Reserve the liquid from the pan for gravy and other uses (you can use it to make gravy for leftovers or strain it, freeze it and use it to flavor broths and sauces!)



Toss carrots/potatoes/leeks/onion/garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place roast back in pan and surround with vegetables. If veggies start to overflow (more than 2 inches high) you can cook the rest in a separate pan. Cover and return to oven for 45 min to 1 hr. Check every 20 min or so to make sure veggies don't get too soft. You can also leave pan uncovered for this last part to let everything brown a little, if you prefer. Meat should give way easily when touched with a fork. Veggies should be soft but not mushy.



Heat a few TB of pan juices over medium-high heat. Add 1 - 2 TB of flour, whisking constantly. Whisk in some chicken broth in a steady stream until it reaches a consistency you like. Cook for 2 min, whisking constantly. If you prefer no flour, you can just add broth and some red wine for a quick pan sauce.

Serve with braised winter greens from recipe above!





Happy Eating!

Quick Pickles and Slow Poached Eggs: Soup, Momofuku-style

Soup is my favorite culinary medium. It's flexible, adaptable, comforting, and usually low maintenance. It's also a great way to clear some space in your refrigerator or use up the several pounds of potatoes that have inexplicably invaded your kitchen. But when you're feeling more adventurous, soup is also a great way to get creative. Hence this past week's culinary adventure: bacon miso soup over soba noodles with roasted chicken, shiitake mushrooms, greens, a slow poached egg and quick-pickled cucumbers and radishes.



I adore soups that require assembly just before eating. I have this thing about eating things out of a bowl; I went through a phase in college where I would grab random things from all over the dining hall and heap them into a bowl rather than onto a plate. I love soups that have lots of toppings, like Mexican tortilla soups with avocado and lime and big chunks of chicken, or Thai-style soups with onion, cilantro and chilies. While all-in-one-pot soups can be wonderfully easy and delicious, there's something super satisfying to me about keeping components separate and then combining them at the end in one ultra-happy bowl of goodness.

This soup was inspired - in no small way - by a cookbook I am currently reading called Momofuku (which means "lucky peach" in Japanese), which chronicles the rise and recipes of NYC's wonder-boy David Chang and his 4 (soon to be 5) restaurants under the Momofuku umbrella. The cookbook is very entertaining and definitely up my alley in the way it presents recipes; they start with the bases for dishes (broth, noodles, meat, sauce) and then show you how you can combine those things over and over again in new ways. David Chang also uses seasonal ingredients in many of his dishes, and likes to break tradition by combining flavors and ingredients historically from different cuisines and/or regions. The most famous dish from his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar, is Momofuku Ramen, and it was the main inspiration for this post's soup. I made a similar version of it recently with my culinary-mentor, Robert, but my version is different in a few crucial ways and I am very, very happy with how it turned out.

Another wonderful thing about soup is that there are always leftovers. And when you make a soup like this, which requires some assembly, it is really easy to change things up and try different toppings the second or third night you eat it. Although I was very happy the first night we ate this soup, it seemed there was a little something missing... Heat - as in spicy heat - would have been one way to fix it, but chili peppers aren't in season and I didn't have any spicy condiments on hand. Instead, I fried up some of the same wonderful local slab bacon I had used to make the broth and served it on the soup as a topping. I also crisped up the leftover chicken by throwing it in a hot pan with some of the bacon grease for a minute or two. The result was a smokier, richer flavor that really brought everything together.

Here's how the soup differed from night to night:

Night #1: Bacon Miso Broth over soba noodles with a roasted chicken, a slow poached egg, shiitake mushrooms, quick cucumber and radish pickles, chopped endive and bok choy tossed in octo vin, green onions, and crunchy rice topping.

Night #2: Same except no poached egg, added bacon, no endive and cooked the bok choy in the broth while it heated.

Night #3: Same as night #2 except no quick pickles, substituted kale for bok choy, and more bacon.
And each night it just got better and better!

I've broken down the recipe into separate components to make it easier to follow:



Slow Poached Eggs:
I love poached eggs, but I have not mastered the art of making them. The first time I tried I achieved a pot full of swirling hot egg white surrounding a yolk. This trick, while more time-consuming, makes the process more fool-proof and also achieves a remarkably soft, luscious poached egg. The idea is simple: heat a large pot of water slowly, until it is between 140 and 145 degrees F, and keep it there by adjusting the heat (you will need some sort of thermometer for this; digital is best, but I used an old-fashioned baker's thermometer). Use something - a colander insert, tin foil pouch, anything - to suspend the eggs in the water so that they aren't touching the bottom. Then simply place the eggs - still in their shells! - into the water and poach for 45 min, keeping the water temp constant. You may need to turn the heat completely off, or even add a couple of ice cubes if necessary. The end result is a lovely poached egg that you can crack right into your bowl at the table. They can also sit for a while and then be reheated slightly in a bowl of warm water.




Quick Pickled Cucumbers and Radishes:
These are my new favorite thing. Slice some cucumbers or radishes or both, toss them in a bowl with a 3:1 ratio of sugar to salt, and let stand for 10 minutes, and "voila!" You now have scrumptious, bright, tangy pickled veggies that are great eaten by themselves but also add a sweet and salty punch as a topping to other dishes (like this soup). Kirby cucumbers are best because they're firmer, but I think other cukes will work just fine. I used one medium Kirby cucumber and a handful of small radishes and added about a TB of sugar and a tsp of salt. Stir together and let stand 10 minutes. I also added a splash of rice vinegar at the end, just for fun (and flavor). These are incredibly yummy, and they were still incredibly yummy the following night.


Octo Vin:
This sauce is adapted from the Momofuku cookbook; it is good on pretty much anything! I didn't have chilis or any kind of chili/spicy product, but you can definitely add some to give this a 'kick'.

2 TB finely chopped garlic
2 TB chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 TB grapeseed or olive oil
1/4 tsp Asian sesame oil
1 1/2 TB sugar
black pepper

Mix ingredients together; toss a few TB's with some bitter greens and serve over soup or on the side...or simply spoon some onto the soup itself!



Bacon Miso Broth:
In Momofuku cookbook, the base for their ramen broth is a "Bacon Dashi," dashi being a traditional Japanese soup base normally made with katsuo-bushi (dried fish flakes), and the bacon being Chang's ingenious way of mimicking the smokiness of katsuo-bushi. I didn't have the time or resources to follow Chang's entire recipe for Ramen Broth, but I did borrow the bacon idea. I made my usual homemade chicken broth, but with Asian ingredients like ginger and green onions, and, of course, bacon. The bacon really went a long way, in a good way. But I had also bought some fresh red miso, so I went out on a limb and made bacon miso broth. The sweetness of the miso balanced the smokiness of the bacon.

3-4 quarts homemade or store-bought chicken broth
1 quart water
1 bunch green onions
2 TB ginger, roughly chopped
1/4 lb slab bacon
1/4 cup dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms
about 1 cup fresh miso, red or white (I used red)

Bring all ingredients to boil, reduce heat, simmer for 45 minutes, skimming fat/foam off the top every now and then. Remove bacon and large vegetables, strain broth through cheese cloth/fine mesh strainer. Place clarified broth back in pot, reheat; once hot, add miso, little by little, to taste. At this point you can add any mushrooms or greens that you want to be slightly cooked, for 10-20 minutes.



Momofuku-style Bowl of Goodness Miso Soup:

bacon broth (recipe above)
1 box soba or other Asian noodles, fresh or dried
1 chicken, whole or broken down
2 cups shiitake mushrooms
2 cups baby bok choy, Belgian endive, or other bitter green, chopped
smoked slab bacon
quick pickled cucumbers and radishes (recipe below)
octo vin sauce(recipe below)
2 slow poached eggs (1 per bowl)
green onion, white and green parts thinly sliced
puffed crunchy rice topping (for fun)

Start the water for slow-poached eggs. You will need a large pot, and you need to heat the water slowly. Once the water reaches 140 degrees F, follow the instructions above and poach for 45 minutes.

Brush chicken with sesame oil or olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast at 450 degrees (30-40 minutes for a broken down chicken, longer for a whole one). Carve into nice large chunks, with skin still on (skin should be crisp from high heat).

Make the octo vin sauce (recipe above). Refrigerate until needed.

You can either chop the mushrooms and greens and cook/heat in the finished broth for about 20 minutes or leave the greens raw and toss with octo vin sauce.

Fry the bacon in a skillet or in the oven until crisp, place in paper towel to drain grease, slice into 2 inch pieces.

Cook the soba or other noodles as directed on the package (if poached eggs are finished, bring the eggs' water to a boil and use to cook the noodles) It's fine if they sit and get cool because you will be pouring piping hot broth over them!

Slice the cucumber into 1/4 inch rounds, thinly slice the radishes, and toss with 1 TB sugar and 1 tsp salt. Let sit 10 minutes, then adjust seasoning as desired. Add a splash of rice vinegar if you like.

When everything is ready and broth is hot, arrange noodles, chicken and bacon in bowl, top with broth, crack in egg, top with any veggies, green onions, crunchy rice topping, etc., and drizzle with octo vin sauce. Then enjoy!


Happy Eating!

Pizza update and the best movie EVER...

It's bittersweet to remember the days when sleepovers with my best friend were a regular thing. Fact: our relationship is better than ever and we have the added advantage of seeing each other daily at our shared office. Fact: the reason(s) for fewer sleepovers are good reasons (like significant others, a cat named Fiona, a dog named Potato, and all the responsibilities that come with growing up). Fact: neither previous 'fact' can totally overcome my sense of loss (particularly since yet-to-be-determined factors on the road ahead -jobs and moves and babies - will make girls' nights with Beth fewer and further between.)

But that's life, and that's okay, and Friday night was good, clean fun.

To begin: the pizzas. Now, I have to admit up-front that the dough was not homemade. Friday night is not an ideal time to try your hand at pizza dough, in my opinion. But it was at least purchased in dough form, which is still world's away from most oven-ready pizza crusts. Not that there's anything wrong with ready-made crusts; they certainly help you avoid situations like finding yourself flinging a sticky, baguette-shaped, hole-filled rope of dough through the air...Admittedly the first crust didn't go quite as hoped, but thanks to Beth's ingenious "place on pan and squish into a circle" approach, we managed. The second crust worked like a charm.

The main focus of this meal was to use up an absurd amount of produce as quickly and creatively as possible. In order to have a no-male-zone without kicking our respective significant others out of our respective houses, our girls' night took place at my mom's house...just like old times! My mom's refrigerator was stuffed-to-bursting full of produce from Farm Fresh To You (a birthday gift I thought would be appropriate for a work-a-holic mother who can't always make time for the market). She had just rec her first box, filled with locally grown kale, potatoes, lettuce, leeks, carrots, a butternut squash, and - surprisingly - kiwi! Beth brought onion, green onion, cilantro, pine nuts and a yummy spicy peanut sauce. I brought the dough, the cheese, some frisee, and finally, the Lions' Mane mushrooms!



We chose two themes, and divided the ingredients accordingly: Pizza #1 was a fungi pizza with hearty, earthy fixings and goat cheese. Pizza #2 was a Thai-ish style pie with bright zippy veggies and a peanut sauce that packed a punch! Both turned out gorgeous, and both were nummy. As was the on-screen eye-candy. Cary Grant... Mmmmm. Jimmy Stewart...Siiiiigh. Katherine Hepburn in a flawless white gown-of-a-swimsuit-cover-up. Double-siiiiiiigh. If you haven't seen The Philadelphia Story, you need to. Not only does it have fabulous, funny and heartfelt performances and a great story/script, it also has the best and most endearing 'drunk' performance in the history of movie-dom, performed by Mr. Jimmy Stewart (and which earned him an Oscar, I might add!)



As Beth said - matter-of-factly after it was over - "That was the best movie. Ever."




Pizza #1: Funghi

1 ball of pizza dough
1-2 cups Lion's Mane or other assorted mild-flavor mushrooms
1/2 cups thinly sliced white or yellow onion
2 TB pine nuts
2-3 pieces thinly sliced prosciutto, pulled apart into bite-sized shreds
1 - 1.5 cups grated fontina or mozzarella cheese
2 -3 TB goat cheese
1/2 cup frisee greens, pulled into bite sized leaves and tossed w/ a little olive oil and salt
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven as directed per the dough (ours was 450 degrees).

On floured work surface, stretch, roll and toss dough until a fairly uniform roundish shape is formed, about 18 in across.

Place on oiled baking sheet. Brush dough lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle grated cheese over surface. Then sprinkle on the onions, prosciutto, goat cheese, pine nuts and frisee, in that order. Season with salt and pepper, bake for about 15 minutes (or as directed by package).





Pizza #2: Thai Peanut

1 ball of pizza dough
1/4 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/4 cup chopped green onion, white and green parts
2-3 TB Peanut sauce (spicy is good!)
1 - 1.5 cups grated fontina or mozzarella cheese
2-3 TB chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 avocado, thinly sliced
cilantro for garnish

Follow directions for Pizza #1. Once dough is ready on the pan, smear with peanut sauce. Sprinkle layer of cheese, then carrots, green onions and 1/2 of the cilantro. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and cilantro, season with salt and pepper, and bake as directed.

Garnish with cilantro and avocado, as desired.

Happy Eating!

Mid-Week Update: Overstocked!

Somehow this week I ended up with a ton of food in my kitchen, and no specific plans for any of it. Red potatoes, cauliflower, cod, spinach, fennel, tons of citrus, radishes, mushrooms, pancetta...I was suffering from a case of too many ingredients, which apparently I had bought on a whim. But I didn't panic; I took this as an opportunity to go shopping in my own refrigerator, and most of it worked out pretty well.

Non-fail dish #1: a mock-curry of diced red potatoes, yellow cauliflower, onion, ginger and yellow curry powder tossed with spinach and served over farro. It turned out to be a gorgeously yellow, texturally satisfying vegetarian dish with just enough smoky/spicy/sweetness for a curry. The next day I sent my boyfriend to work with the leftovers rolled up in a tortilla with a little cheese, and apparently it was yummmm.




Non-fail dish #2: spinach tossed with warm pancetta and mushrooms and a little mustard vinaigrette. Went nicely with the roasted fennel I made on the side. The only thing not so great was the cod I served it all with. While the huge filet of True Cod I bought from my sustainable fishmonger/butcher was gorgeous, the marinade recipe I found online was not. The citrus blend was too much, and the fennel seeds were WAY too much. Made for a pretty picture, especially before cooking...but not a pretty flavor in our mouths. Should have stuck to a simple olive oil and lemon approach. But anyway, lesson learned!




Way prettier before cooking...




Spinach, Pancetta and Warm Mushroom Salad (no photo)

Fry some diced pancetta in a frying pan over medium heat until slightly browned, about 7-10 min. Remove from pan, drain on paper towels.
Pour of half of the pan drippings, place pan back on heat and add a little olive oil or butter. Brown sliced mushrooms (I had Trumpet Royals) on medium heat, about 10-15 min. (As Julia Child would say, "Don't crowd the mushrooms!")
Toss pancetta and mushrooms w/ fresh spinach (in separate bowl; spinach gets too soggy if you do it in the pan) and a little balsamic vinaigrette. (2 TB balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 TB whole grain mustard, salt and pepper...and I like to throw in a squirt of lemon)



Potato and Cauliflower Curry (sort of) with Spinach

1 lb baby red potatoes, boiled/microwaved until just tender, then quartered
1 large head "Cheddar" or other variety cauliflower, chopped into small florets
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
Yellow curry powder
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 TB butter, 2 TB olive oil
Fresh baby spinach

Fry the cauliflower in 1/2 the oil and butter, until just tender but still snappy. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat rest of oil in medium saucepan, add butter when hot. Add onions and ginger, saute until onions are transparent, about 5 minutes. Add cauliflower, potatoes, and yellow curry powder. Toss everything together so that coated evenly with butter/curry powder. Add chicken broth, more curry powder if necessary, and salt and pepper. Cook until flavors blend and most of liquid evaporated, leaving vegetables sticky but not too soft, about 10-15 min. Cauliflower should still have snap.
Remove from heat, toss with spinach.

Serve over rice (or farro, like I did!) and garnish as desired.


Sneak Peak:



HOW CUTE ARE THESE LIONS MANE MUSHROOMS??? I can't wait to use them in something...I'll probably throw them on a pizza Friday. It's a girl's night and we're going to watch The Philadelphia Story and drink wine and giggle. Is there anything better than Katherine Hepburn and fungi pizza and red wine and a girl's night with your best friend? Unless it's all those things plus Cary Grant? And not to mention, Jimmy Stewart?

French Style...Omelets???

Today truly seemed like the first day of spring (CA spring, that is). Gorgeous sunshine, trees beginning to bud, and the sudden realization that after being closed up all winter my house is utterly filthy. So what better way to celebrate "spring" then by a wild scrubbing/sweeping/mopping frenzy? And what better to follow up a scrubbing/sweeping/mopping frenzy then an omelet brunch? Today I decided to try and learn omelets the "Julia Child" way. Growing up I learned to make them the slower, let-the-eggs-coagulate-over-moderate-heat, douse with cheese/tomatoes/avocado/mushrooms, etc, then flip one half over the other - way. And I learned to take them off soon enough so that they don't dry out and become leathery like the ones so many restaurants serve. And this, in my opinion, is still a great way to make them. And I am definitely NOT a fan of souffle-style omelets. BUT a few weeks ago I had my first properly executed simple French-style omelet (at one of our favorite brunch spots, Bette's Diner in Berkeley; I highly recommend their sour cream pancakes, their chicken sweet potato sausage - if they have it - and their bloody marys!), a simple herb and cheese one, and it was SOOO GOOOD. It didn't hurt that it was 2:00 and I had been climbing all morning and hadn't eaten a thing all day...but still. They are like soft scrambled eggs in a tight little package.



So I read the omelet section of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and then found this amazing video of Julia Child cooking omelets on "The French Chef." She's adorable. And she makes it look very very easy. And I thought it would be. And honestly, if I had had a truly non-stick pan, and not my overly-worn-out, scratched-up, probably-not-safe-to-be-used-anymore poor excuse for a pan (and yes, it's currently my ONLY frying pan...) then I might have been able to do it. I need a new one, but hey, good pan's are expensive. I'm going to have to practice the jerky motion that rolls the omelet over (my technique had too much 'flip' to it), and next time I think I need to turn up the heat even higher; but really, the sticking was the main problem.

That being said, although my result wasn't as pretty as Julia's, it was soft, perfectly done, and delicious. It just didn't stick together like it was supposed to; it was like a cross between an omelet and soft-scrambled eggs. I threw some fresh parsley in with the eggs - and not just any parsley, but parsley I started growing last spring, trimmed back last fall, and which continued to produce small parsley leaves throughout the winter and is NOW all of a sudden going strong again. Amazing. Apparently parsley can survive on cold, hard neglect.



I also added a sprinkling of sharp cheddar cheese (none of that yellow/orange stuff, thank you), some chopped chives, and served it with a clementine tangerine, some sliced avocado (amazingly there are still some CA avocados at my market; most come from far away this time of year) and yummy toasted Crankin loaf - toasted - from Feel Good Bakery.

Although it didn't quite go as planned the first time, I'm definitely going to hone this technique. It makes omelets SO quick and easy. But I will not be posting the video David took of me making omelets today. I'll leave it to your imagination. (hint: that point in Julia's video where the eggs magically held together as she swirled and then jerked the pan? Yeah, that didn't happen. I had to push it all together with a spatula. Huh.)



French Style Herb and Cheese Omelet
(Adapted from Mastering The Art of French Cooking)

2-3 eggs
1 TB of fresh chopped herbs (I used parsley)
1-2 TB of lightly grated sharp cheddar or other cheese
1 TB of butter
salt & pepper
chopped chives for garnish



Beat together eggs, herbs, salt and pepper until whites and yolks just mixed.
Have cheese, chives, and any other garnishes ready.

Heat pan on high heat; add 1 TB of butter - it should bubble immediately - and wait until foam has just subsided. Then add eggs. Let sit for 2-3 seconds; eggs should be bubbling and forming one mass.

Throw on your cheese - if you choose - and then quickly swirl eggs together once or twice; then jerk the pan, hard, towards you, several times, forcing the omelet to turn over on itself. Turn pan upside down onto plate, leaving omelet bottom-up on the plate. Garnish and serve.

(I suggest watching the video I linked above...it's very helpful!)


~Happy Eating~