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January 17th, 2012
Happy 2nd birthday littleclove!
It’s been two years this month since my very first post on littleclove and that means it’s time to celebrate!
No I didn’t have a glass of fancy liqueur to celebrate with (I thought about it, though). I bought it to add to the butter cream frosting of this very special cake that I made.  My friend told me that I was crazy for buying it just for butter cream frosting because this stuff isn’t cheap. But, if I’m going to commit to doing something, I’m going to do it the right way. And maybe that is a little bit crazy considering I only used a tablespooon of it and I probably won’t be drinking it otherwise.
But the way I see it, someone may stop by wanting a Cointreau on the rocks, you never know.
Anyway, I was trying to think of something extra special to make in honor of our 2 years together, and I thought…….cake!
Yes I did make this cake myself! I can’t believe it either.
I’m not a big dessert fan (you’ve probably figured that out from the lack of noticeable sweets around here), I’m more of a salt-lover. Give me buttered popcorn over a cupcake any day. But cake is celebratory, and I guess I had a craving.
And cake usually isn’t my first choice when it comes to desserts either, but I do like it on special occasions….like weddings. Why does wedding cake always taste so good?
I usually turn to candy for my sugar fix and I blame that on my dad.
Frank was the one with the sweet tooth in our family, and his first love was candy. He always had a stash of candy next to “his spot” on the couch, where he would stay up late every night watching the movie of the week.
I just realized that the last sentence does not make sense. I’ll explain. He would tape the movie of the week every Sunday on his VCR and have a bunch recorded. He was very organized, and would write in black Sharpie on the long white strip on the side of the cassette, “Stepford Wives”, “A Woman Scorned” & “Skull Island”. They were always high-drama, prime candy-eating movies. He always had a new movie ready to watch.
Every night he would say goodnight to us, take a shower, get in his brown monogrammed bathrobe, sit in his spot on the couch, grab his candy stash and roll tape (literally).
He’d dive into his stash of spearmint leaves, spicy gumdrops, circus peanuts, mary janes, bulls-eyes, orange gumdrop slices and snaps. He usually had most of these on hand at all times.
God, I love bulls-eyes, don’t you? Close your eyes right now and imagine that chewy sweet caramel with the sweet vanilla center melting away on your tongue. I think I’m going to have to buy some.
I remember back in the early 80’s when my mom bought my Dad his very first VCR for Christmas. When he opened that box, he was so excited. We couldn’t believe we could actually watch our favorite shows and movies anytime we wanted to. WOW!
My dad let me stay up late the first night he taped his very first movie to watch it with him. I’ll never forget that because it was so exciting. The movie was called, “The Demon Seed” and it was about an evil little girl who terrorized her little sister and she was just evil evil evil.
There I sat in my pj’s, right next to Frank (who smelled Irish Spring-fresh, right out of the shower), eating gumdrop after gumdrop and loving every minute of it.
This is definitely where my love of candy began. But, I digress. We’re taking about cake.
Anyway, as I was trying to come up with something special to make, I decided to dig out my recipe book for some inspiration. Who am I kidding, it isn’t really a book. I could never be that organized. I have about 1000 recipes that I have ripped out of magazines, newspapers, William Sonoma catalogues, printed from food blogs, scribbled down on napkins, & stickie notes. They are all stuffed into an old photo book binder, loose. Most of them I have never made, but I can’t part with them because, you know….someday I will make all of them.
The amount of joyful hope I carry around with me continues to amaze me.
I was talking about looking for a good cake recipe at work the other day and my producer friend Brian told me about this fabulous orange sponge cake he makes. It’s a Julia Child recipe and he said it was the best cake he has ever made. Wow, I found my cake. I had to make it! I asked him to email me the recipe.
Of course it was all fresh ingredients; oranges, flour, sugar and eggs. C’mon. It’s Julia.
I noticed that for some reason his recipe didn’t include the filling and the icing. Brian said it was in “his book” and he’d bring it in for me. Well, I wanted to make this cake on Saturday, and wouldn’t be seeing him until Tuesday (tomorrow). I was thinking about what he said and wondered if the recipe would be in one my favorite Julia cookbooks.
It was! Right there on page 671. Gâteau À L’Orange (ga-toe ah lor-ahnge) is what Julia calls this cake, and I will too because everything sounds better in French.
There was Brian’s recipe, a recipe for orange butter cream filling and orange butter cream icing.
Wow, I was actually going to make butter cream filling and icing from scratch. This was all new to me and exciting. I really love a challenge.
The cake part was simple. There is this fun step of separating the egg yolks from the whites and beating each separately. The recipe also called for cake flour. I found it at Dominick’s but had no clue what it was, compared to the all-purpose flour that I have. I’ve since learned that it’s low protein, very fine and should always be sifted.
So I picked up one of these…
…because I’ve never had a need for one before and realized I’ve never owned a sifter.
The yolks and flour get creamy, the whites and sugar get fluffy. You gently fold the whites into the yolk batter and I’m guessing this is where the light-ness or spongy-ness comes from.
Doesn’t that look perfect?!
Look what happened after cooling for 5 minutes:
This cake just pulled away from the sides and popped right out when I turned it over.
Next I made the filling. You throw butter, sugar, orange liqueur and grated orange rind, into a sauce pan and whisk. Julia says you heat it until it’s like honey and it’s too hot to touch. You want it hot enough to thicken, but not too hot or the eggs will scramble.
Yikes!
OK, this filling business was a bit more challenging than that easy-peasy cake.
After about 10 minutes of whisking and it doing nothing, I wondered if my flame was too low. I turned it up a bit and whisked even faster. Still, nothing. I knew it was just not hot enough, but I was really afraid the eggs were going to scramble.
More whisking…(definitely a bicep workout) and then finally it began to thicken. It took about 20-30 minutes until finally it looked sort of like honey, but not quite. I didn’t want to take the risk of the eggs scrambling, so I touched it and OUCH! Julia was right. Too hot to touch now. Does telling us that it’s done when it’s too hot to touch imply we all have to get burned? God, I love her.
I quickly took it off the flame and put the sauce pan immediately into cold water (as instructed) and kept whisking. (I filled my kitchen sink with ice water).
Almost immediately, once the pan was in the cold water, it thickened.
And it looked exactly like the filling in wedding cakes! I tasted it and it was delicious. It had that almost milky smell, it was sweet and buttery and creamy. Wow, I knew this was going to be good.
The cake was cool at this point, so I cut it in ½ and spread the filling on.
Next was the icing. You reserve some of the filling for the icing and beat in a stick of butter. I never actually realized how much butter is in butter cream frosting. Lots, no wonder I love it.
My little one wanted to frost (“the fun part”, she says).
She really frosts with confidence!
Well Brian, if you’re reading, I’m stealing your line because this cake was the best cake I’ve ever made!
Granted, I don’t bake much but it was AMAZING. It was incredibly fresh, the way a homemade cake should be.
I added grated orange rind which gives it a zingy freshness.
Now I know that orange sponge cake sounds anything but fancy, but don’t let the name fool you. Remember, we made a Gateau a L’Orange and there is nothing ordinary about it. There are layers and depth. There is sweetness and tang. There is love and lightness and spongy-ness!
Our orange sponge cake was birthday special.
Gateau a L’Orange
Inspired by Julia Child, via Brian Piotrowicz
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
Grated rind of 1 orange
1/3 cup strained orange juice
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup cake flour (scooped and leveled, turned into a sifter)
4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9″ round cake pan and measure out all ingredients.
Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks and continue beating until the mixture thickens to form a ribbon when the beaters are lifted. Add the grated orange peel, orange juice and salt. Beat for a minute or two until the mixture is light and foamy. Then beat in the flour.
Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed. Sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter; delicately fold in the rest. Immediately turn into prepared cake pan and run the batter up to the rim all around. Bake in middle position of preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed and browned, and shows a faint line of shrinkage from the edge of the pan. Let cool for 6-8 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and reverse cake on a rack. If not to be iced, immediately reverse again, puffed side up. Allow to cool for an hour or two.
Serves 8 people.
If you’re filling the cake, Slice the cake in half horizontally.
Crème d’ Orange (Orange Butter Cream Filling)
6 tbsp unsalter butter
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
The grated rind of (1) orange
1/4 cup strained orange juice (fresh squeezed)
1 tbsp orange liqueur
Fill up your sink or a large pan with ice water.
Place all ingredients in a saucepan on low heat and beat with a whisk until mixture thickens like honey. When it is cooking properly, the bubbles that first appeared on its surface as it is heated will begin to subside, and if you look closely you will see a little whiff of steam rise; it will be too hot for your finger. you must heat it enough to thicken, but overheating will (of course) scramble the egg yolks.
When thick like honey, set saucepan in cold water (I used the sink) and keep beating for 3 to 4 minutes. Filling should thicken up like custard.
Creme au Beurre à l’Orange (Orange Butter-Cream Icing)
Use 1 cup of the above orange butter cream filling to fill the cake. Use the remaining 2 cups of filling for the icing.
2 cups orange-butter filling (the preceding recipe)
1 stick of softened unsalted butter
Use 1 cup of the filling to spread inside your cake as described in the preceding recipe. Re-form the split cake. Place the rest of the filling in a mixing bowl and gradually beat in the softened butter. The mixture should thicken into a smooth cream. Cooll until firm but still of spreading consistancy.
Note: Be sure cake is thoroughly cold before you begin.
Icing the cake: brush crumbs off the cake. Hold the cake in the palm of your hand, or place on a serving platter. Spread on the icing with a spatula or butter knife, starting at the top of the cake, and finishing with the sides. Garnich with pieces of shaved orange peel.
Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve.
December 3rd, 2011
I know what you’re thinking. Who wants to talk about stuffing after Thanksgiving?
I’m over a week late, but I guess after almost 2 years, I’m still trying to get the hang of this.
Thanksgiving 2011 has passed and you’ve probably had your fill of stuffing. I know I have. We’ve eaten it every day for the last week, but I have to say that we’ve been pretty creative with the leftovers. Turkey and stuffing for dinner, turkey and stuffing sandwiches for lunch, stuffing and egg omelettes for breakfast (who knew that would be so good!) micro-waved stuffing in a coffee cup as a midnight snack, frozen stuffing on a stick (not really).
Anyway, I’m stuffed with stuffing.
But, this recipe is special to me because my mom has made it exactly the same way since the day I was born and I couldn’t write about it (and take photos) until after the fact.
So hopefully you’ll try it for your next turkey-making holiday.
I’ve recently learned that it’s only called “stuffing” if you actually stuff the bird with it. If you don’t, you should refer to it as dressing. OK, then stuffing it is.
Actually, I was going to make dressing this year. I had been reading up on all things Thanksgiving, since I was hosting and came across more than one article on how stuffing the bird can possibly make you sick if not done properly.
Apparently it has something to do with the inside of the bird being undercooked when the rest of it reaches done time, thus contaminating the stuffing.
My gut told me to go ahead and stuff the turkey like my mom has always done. Another part of me told me that I don’t have much experience with turkey-stuffing and I wanted no part in making my friends and family sick. I decided to play it safe and stuff a casserole dish instead.
Well, upon hearing my plan a few days prior, my friend Casandra (who was spending Thanksgiving with us) asked; “You’re seriously not stuffing the turkey?!” And then, “That’s what Thanksgiving is all about!” She added, “My parents have stuffed turkeys for 40 years and I’ve never gotten sick once!” And a defeated, “It tastes so much better that way”.
The girl wanted that turkey stuffed. “OK, I’ll do it”, I said. “Eat at your own risk”.
She was right. To me, Thanksgiving is mostly about being thankful for what we have, but it’s also about tradition. My mom always stuffed the turkey with this special stuffing every year and I would wait for it all year long.
It’s delicious.
It’s made with pork sausage (that’s why the leftovers are so versatile!), and lots of sage and butter. I would help her make the stuffing the night before and then in the morning I would watch as she stuffed the turkey, tie its legs up and cover it with butter. It’s a tradition that I wanted to share with my daughter, now that she’s 11 and cooks with me when I can talk her into it.
First I should tell you that I have this way of sort of looking at life with rose-colored glasses on. The way I imagine things happening in my head is never quite the way they actually turn out. My friend Holly makes fun of me to this day because when we were young I always talked about us getting these great jobs, having an amazing apartment in the city, and throwing fabulous dinner parties for all of our really cool friends.
See what I mean? Kinda happened, not exactly. I guess I’m an optimist or maybe just plain old hopeful. Not sure, but I’ve always been this way and it’s probably not such a bad thing.
So, on Thanksgiving morning, I put on my rose-colored glasses and imagined my daughter and I in the kitchen cooking a traditional feast. We’d be laughing and maybe singing a little bit…I’d tell her stories and teach her things and pass on traditions that my mom passed on to me. She would be right there with me every step of the way, having fun and soaking it all in.
And actually, it was going great at first. We talked and laughed and she helped out in a very big way without getting bored! She zested and juiced 8 tangerines and made the cranberry sauce, peeled and chopped up a bunch of potatoes, washed the grapes and chopped up fresh herbs.
And then it was time to make the stuffing.
My mom always took the giblets out of the turkey, ground them up and added them to the sausage for the stuffing.
Well, Hadley has a bit of a problem with meat. She can’t eat anything off the bone because she has a hard time with anything looking like it came from an animal. Wings, bones or skin, she can’t even look at. She likes things cooked in a patty and placed on a bun, disguised in a meat sauce or shaped into a hot dog.
I don’t force her. If she can’t do it, that’s fine with me. I’ll feed her meat-in-disguise all year long.
I knew that she would never touch the stuffing if I added the giblets, so I had removed them the night before when I washed the turkey.
She happily chopped the celery and onions and was actually pretty fine with the raw pork sausage, since it came out of a plastic wrapper and went right into a sauté pan and browned. We mixed in the bread cubes, added the sage and it smelled delicious.
It was time to stuff the turkey. I took the 20 lb. bird out of the fridge and plopped it on a cutting board.
“Is that blood?!?!?!?!?”, she asked horrified.
“Yep”, I said calmly and started to stuff the turkey.
“Is he laying on his back?!??!”, again horrified.
I nodded and kept stuffing.
“Oh my God Mom, are you actually putting your hand up his butt?!?! Ewwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!”
And then she ran out of the kitchen yelling, “I am SO NOT EATING TURKEY ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!”
Sigh.
I sat there elbow-deep inside the turkey and wondered why is it that I never thought about these things while watching my mom do this.
Not exactly the way I envisioned the day going, but I took a deep breath and thought about what I was reminded of this week; To be thankful for the miracle of my child. I will get to that in a minute. I yelled to her that we had plenty of stuffing, and I would make a pan of it just for her that wouldn’t come anywhere near the turkey’s butt.
She yelled back that she wasn’t coming anywhere near the kitchen again because she couldn’t look at the poor little stuffed turkey! But she did say she would try eating it once it was on her plate with gravy and mashed potatoes.
Thank you, God.
Speaking of God, something interesting happened to me at work last week. I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m an editor and I’m lucky enough to spend my days watching and learning about all parts of life. Last week my assistant and I spent many hours with a televangelist from Texas.
He’s popular, handsome and charismatic, as you would imagine. He has a massive church with millions of viewers around the world and a beautiful wife who praises the Lord right along with him. They live in a huge, beautiful house and sign autographs after every service.
I judged him from the minute I saw him. I really hate to admit that, but it’s true. Isn’t it really about the money? What are the skeletons in his closet?
I watched him smile and shake hands with his patrons. He smiled some more on stage and sang with the choir. He closed his eyes and lifted up his hands to the Lord in praise and really looked like he was feeling the moment.
I still had my doubts and rolled my eyes at him.
And then I was asked to watch his entire half hour sermon to get to know who he was and find some good moments to add to the piece I was cutting. So there I sat, watching him preach, alone in the darkness of my edit suite.
“Have you lost your passion for life?“ He asked me, from his sports-arena-come-house-of-the-Lord stage.
Have I? I asked myself.
“Do you live with passion, or do you just exist?”
Hmmm. I don’t know. Do I?
“Are you thankful for all of the miracles around you? Maybe it’s your child, your loving spouse, your job, your house? Did you perhaps forget that those were all miracles that were given to you?”
Yes of course I’m thankful, but thanks for reminding me that I feel that way, pastor.
“Are you thankful that you woke up today, that you get to see the sun shine, that you can breathe in your beautiful child, eat a meal with the family you love, sing and laugh and live? Can you imagine if this was all taken away from you and then somehow given back? How would you now feel about what you have?”
Whoa.
And then, “You yourself are a miracle. Don’t just exist, live! Be passionate about life. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk sit down. If you can’t sit down, lay down. If you can’t move your legs, swing your arms, move your fingers, bat your eyes. Live!”
Now I’m choked up.
“If you can take your next breath, every one of us, even if you are 90 years old, we are meant to do something with our lives. If you can take your next breath, you are still meant to do something with this gift of life!”
Tears.
I was right there with the 16,000 others in his church with him. A lot of really great things have happened in my life, none one of which I could have ever planned. Some things were given to me before I even had a chance to put my rose-colored glasses on, and that is pretty crazy considering I have them on most of the time.
I’m sorry I judged you, pastor. I’m pretty sure I know now why you do this every day.
I am thankful for my child who won’t eat meat. I am thankful for my family and friends, my health, my job, my great neighbors and my house with creaky floors and a leaky basement. I am thankful that I have traditions and stories that I want to pass on to my child. And I’m really thankful for that half hour I spent with the pastor in my edit suite. What he said really sunk in. I’ve been given the miracle of being alive. It’s a gift that I’m able to experience all of these wonderful things.
I want to live with passion and soak in every moment. And as long as I can take another breath, I’m going use it.
I hope you will, too.
Mom’s Thanksgiving Stuffing
Makes enough for 8 as a side dish, with leftovers.
(2) bags onion and sage stuffing (bread cubes) they usually come one standard size
(2) pork sausage rolls, thawed if frozen (2 lbs. total)
(5) stalks of celery, cut up in chunks
(3) medium onions, cut up in chunks
(1) stick of unsalted butter, cut up in chunks
(3) 14 ounce cans of chicken broth
dried sage, lots
salt and pepper
Put celery and onions in a Cuisinart or blender to mince. Add this to the sausage in a large bowl and mix. Put mixture in a frying pan and cook over medium heat.
Add salt and pepper and cover top of mixture with a layer of dried sage.
Add butter to meat while cooking.
When meat is just cooked through, taste and add more sage if needed. (I added another layer). Add this to bread cubes in large bowl.
Heat up chicken broth. Add to stuffing to moisten as needed (bread cubes should soften). You can stuff the turkey immediately, or you can put the stuffing in the fridge overnight.
**DO NOT STUFF THE TURKEY AND PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE OVERNIGHT**
Stuff the turkey right before putting it in the oven, but not in front of your kids.
October 16th, 2011
What is curry exactly?
I’ve had curry powder in my spice drawer for years (not the same bottle, just to be clear). I think I’ve always assumed that curry was its own spice. Possibly a curry pod or a curry seed growing somewhere out there on a curry tree in Curryville.
I’m really not afraid to show my ignorance around here, am I?
Here is what I’ve since learned from our good friends at Wikipedia: Curry powder, and the English use of the word curry are Western inventions and do not reflect any specific Indian food.
Really?
And: Curry is a generic description to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines. The chief spices found in most South Asian curry powders are turmeric, coriander, and cumin.
I’m sure somewhere in the back of my brain I knew that curry was a spice combo. But turmeric, coriander and cumin? That, I did not know. I always have these spices in my posession, and never knew I was capable of making a curry something-or-other, like these which I make fairly often, if I happened to run out of curry powder.
I have this great Indian cookbook that was published in the late 70′s that I picked up at a garage sale for 60 cents last summer. I checked to see if they had anything to say about curry and oh yes they did. Apparantly, curry powder is virtually unknown in India but it can be used as a “short cut” to cooking Indian dishes.
A short-cut that we created to make things easier on ourselves? I’m good with that.
My experience with curry is somewhat limited. When I think of curry, I first think of one of my very favorite Thai dishes which is Green Curry Chicken. It is absolutely delicious in all of its coconut milk-y goodness. And then there is my other favorite, Jamaican Curried Goat, which I was introduced to by my friends Casandra and Ian. We pick it up every so often from this great little Jamaican place in my neighborhood, along with jerk chicken, peas and rice, meat pies and ginger beer. The curried goat is by far my favorite. Those meaty goat bones are slow-cooked in a delicious spicy curry sauce that oddly enough is exactly the same color as my yellow highlighter at work.
According to Ian, who is Jamaican, it’s appropriate to pick the bones up with your fingers to slurp the meat and sauce off of them, so of course I get right in there and slurp away and then wind up with glow-in-the-dark fingers for the rest of the night.
So worth it!
It took a true Jamaican to convince me to try goat, and THANK YOU IAN! I’m so glad you did.
Last week at work, my friend Megan told me about this great vegetable curry that she makes. It’s a Cook’s Illustrated recipe and she said that when she first tried it, she couldn’t believe how good it came out. I’ve said this before, but Cook’s Illustrated always delivers. It’s a test kitchen, so they figure it out and get it right. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the time, money or energy to experiment with things over and over until I get it just right. They do.
So even though fall is here and I was already craving something warm and comforting, I think what really intrigued me about this curry dish was when Megan mentioned that cauliflower was a main ingredient.
Cauliflower stumps me.
I never know what to do with this stuff. Let’s see, there are 2 things I can think to do with it. The first one is the way my mom makes it which is to dunk it into an egg and Romano cheese batter, and then fry it in olive oil. This is delicious and as I type this I’m really craving it! I’ll make it someday soon and tell you more about it.
The second way, almost equally as yummy, is to cut it up and sauté it with lots of garlic, olive oil and Romano cheese. What can I say, that’s how we cook in our family; garlic, olive oil and cheese.
Anyway, I was excited about something new to do with cauliflower. This is also made with red potatoes and a serrano pepper for some heat, which was the perfect amount. Just enough to notice it, and not too much.
It also has chick peas, green peas and coconut milk in it, so you can imagine how good it is! Megan gave me the Cook’s recipe and I made it last Saturday night for Hadley, Katherine and myself. I improvised a bit, as usual because I like to taste as I go.
We had been at a soccer tournament all day and we were pretty tired when we got home (up at 5am to drive out to the land of cornfields and cows) and all I wanted to do was stay in and cook that night.
So while the girls were outside in the yard (one doing gymnastics, the other doing soccer ball tricks) I turned on my music, poured myself a glass of wine and started cooking. Ah….this really is one of my very favorite things to do in life.
I have to say, though, making this that night was a risky move. Considering it was Saturday night and I was dining with two almost 11-year olds, they are expecting pizza or pasta, not vegetable curry. I was too tired to care, so I just went with it.
I decided to get all the vegetables and spices ready first, so I washed, chopped, grated, grinded, minced, diced and sliced. Once I did this, the rest was a breeze.
First you sauté the minced onions and potatoes for a bit, then add the spices and tomato paste, and then throw in the cauliflower.
The two main spices are curry powder (well now we know that means 3 spices right there) and garam masala which sounds exotic, but can be found in the spice aisle of any supermarket. Garam masala is another one of those spice combos that is actually a mixture of black pepper, cinnamon, coriander and cardamom (news to me!). I’ve had some in my spice drawer for a while and never used it, so this was exciting.
Do you toast your spices before using them? I don’t, but I’ve learned that it really brings out the flavor so I will try to remember that. You throw the curry and garam masala in a dry sauté pan and heat them up until they are fragrant. This also makes your whole house smell like fall!
The rest is easy. You add the other ingredients and simmer away until everything is tender and delicious.
We spooned it over rice and then added some plain Greek yogurt on top which made it creamy and delicious! I threw some fresh mint on top of mine and it was perfect with the spices and the yogurt.
The curry was full of flavor from the coconut milk, the toasted spices and the green chili. And with cauliflower, potatoes and peas, who needs meat? It was hard for me to stop eating! You know when you spoon some more onto your plate…then a little more…then just a 1/2 a scoop more. Yeah, that was me.
And what do you know, Hadley and Katherine really liked it too. They didn’t complain when they sat down to dinner and they ate it right up. I think they liked the whole yogurt-thing on top, which was fun and yummy. They both had seconds and that is always a good sign so hey, I was happy. :-)
I have one more thing to say to my brother who adamantly told me last night that he “doesn’t like curry”, and I could absolutely not convince him to give it another chance:
Try this! Trust me! You will love it!
Yes I am having the last word on this, which is almost as satisfying as the vegetable curry. 
Vegetable Curry with Cauliflower, Potatoes and Peas
Inspired by Cook’s Illustrated
Servings: 4-6
2 tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 onions, minced (about 2 cups)
12 oz. red potatoes (about 2 medium), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 serrano chile, ribs, seeds, and flesh minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 medium head cauliflower, trimmed, cored, and cut into 1-inch florets (about 4 cups)
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, pulsed in a food processor until nearly smooth with 1/4-inch pieces visible
1 1/4 cups water
1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Salt
1 1/2 cups frozen peas (8 oz.)
1/4 cup coconut milk
Condiments: Plain whole-milk yogurt, chopped fresh mint if you like it.
Toast the curry powder and garam masala in a small skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the spices darken slightly and become fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove the spices from the heat and set aside.
Heat 3 Tbsp. of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onions and potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized and the potatoes are golden brown on the edges, about 10 minutes. (Reduce the heat to medium if the onions darken too quickly.)
Reduce the heat to medium. Clear the center of the pan and add the remaining 1 Tbsp. oil and the garlic, ginger, chile and tomato paste; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the toasted spices and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute longer. Add the cauliflower and cook, stirring constantly, until the spices coat the florets, about 2 minutes longer.
Add the tomatoes, water, chickpeas, and 1 tsp. salt; increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula or wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits. Cover and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the peas and the cocunut milk; continue to cook until heated through, about 2 minutes longer. Adjust the seasoning with salt and serve immediately. Pass the yogurt and fresh mint.
I threw a bit more curry powder in mine, just a few shakes.
October 3rd, 2011
Two words: blog guilt.
That’s what I’m experiencing today. I’m trying to remind myself that guilt is a useless emotion. Let it go! But then it creeps back up a little bit.
You may have noticed that I haven’t updated this blog in over a month, as was recently pointed out to me by my friend (and co-worker), Jason. He stormed into my edit suite on Friday and told me he was angry with the fire of a thousand suns about it.
I spun my chair around, looked at him puzzlingly and I thought to myself…….Hmmmm, that’s odd. And then I thought…..Hmmmm, that’s just not right. And then…..Hmmm, has it really been a whole month?
Time flies, doesn’t it?
It’s October already. I’ve been working 10 hour days, helping with massive amounts of 5th grade homework every night (which has made me question if in fact I am smarter than a 5th grader) and then there is flag football on Saturdays and soccer games on Sundays (we are in 1st place I might add 5-0, with one tie, but who’s counting?)
And then all those other life things that get in the way of blogging like laundry and oil changes, light bulbs burning out, dishes piling up, bills and RSVP’s, taking out the trash, watching The Real Housewives, running out of conditioner and OJ and Tide, and OH NO the dog is lost! and Mom where are my good jeans?!!?
Deep breath, this is your blog, not your therapist.
That being said, I wouldn’t change a thing about my life. I am very happy. Yes, being a single working mom is tough, but being a parent is my greatest joy and my biggest challenge.
I love you, babe!
So my point is that life is busy, but I’ve missed you, too. I really want to be cooking more and writing more and YES even adding video Jason! (another fire he lit under my sauté pan). This is fun for me and I have to remember to carve out time for the fun stuff, too.
Anyway, about this salad.
I recently became a big fan of chopped salads. I love how all the flavors blend together in every single bite. You get a little bit of this, a little taste of that, and everything just comes together the way the salad was intended to be experienced.
I also love how easy they are to eat since everything is nicely chopped up into bite size chunks. Let’s face it, we’ve all had those awkward moments with typical salads. You know, when you’re so hungry you dive right in forgetting to use your knife and you mistakenly stab a slightly-larger-than-your-mouth piece of lettuce with your fork and then proceed to somehow maneuver it into your mouth much to your embarrassment. Oh, and once you start to attempt this move, there is no going back. Everyone has noticed. So you go on to shove the entire thing in and now you have a mouthful of lettuce and dressing dripping down your chin, too. Nice.
So I’ve had chopped salads on my mind ever since I had this really amazing chopped salad at my friend Roger’s restaurant Socca this summer. It was chopped Romaine with lots of Pecorino cheese (we all know how much I love that stuff) grated right into the salad with olive oil and lemon. I split it with my friend Holly and then after the first bite wished I hadn’t because I wanted it all to myself!
Another night this summer, I found myself at Maggiano’s deliriously devouring their famous chopped salad with blue cheese, bacon and avocado. I was hovering somewhere between 6th and 7th heaven, oblivious to everyone around me, including my poor date who was actually very nice, but was going on and on about himself things I really really wanted to care about, but honestly just did not. I politely listened and smiled and nodded and lost myself in that salad.
Thank you, little chopped salad. You were there for me that night, and I’m pretty sure that was when we fell in love.
So some restaurants get it right when it comes to chopped salads. Making good chopped salads yourself at home is not as easy as it may seem. I said good, not mediocre, which I have made for myself a million times.
I’m happy to say that I’ve finally learned why they are merely mediocre and the culprit is water.
When you chop stuff up, water comes out. And if you don’t get rid of all that water first, your salad will be swimming which is not a good thing. Everything gets soggy and watered down and tasteless.
Here’s what you do:
Cucumbers are mostly water if you think about it. You don’t really need all those seeds in your salad, so just cut the cuke in 1/2 lengthwise and scrape all those watery seeds right into the trash (or save them for a quick face mask if you can’t bear to waste them like me).
Tomatoes: Big beefsteak tomatoes are really watery too when you cut them up into chunks, so avoid those when you’re making a chopped salad. I used grape tomatoes because they are sweet and dense and not-so-watery. Also, I still had some hanging around on the vines in my garden so they were handy.
What you want to do is chop up the cucumber and tomatoes, put them in a strainer over a bowl and sprinkle them with a teaspoon of salt.
We all learned about how salt draws the water out last summer when I made this. Look what comes out after 15 minutes:
That, my friends, is what your salad would have been floating in if you didn’t stop by today.
So, this started out as a pretty typical Mediterranean salad. I chopped up cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, red onion, romaine and parsley. And then I added something that made this salad extra special. Do you want to guess what it was? I bet you’re thinking feta cheese.
Yes, you’re right. I did add feta, but not just any old feta. I used Bulgarian feta. Have you ever had it?
I hadn’t, but earlier this summer, a friend of mine (who is Bulgarian) brought some over one night and put together this yummy appetizer with fresh figs, honey and mint.
Let’s just say……WOW!
What I’m wondering is how I ever got by without Bulgarian feta before?
It’s rich and creamy, yet crumbly and so much more flavorful than the typical feta that I’m used to. (Shh!! Don’t tell anyone I said that!). All this time, it’s been the Bulgarians who have really known how to make the perfect sheep’s milk “white cheese” as it’s known.
One thing that is very important you do is buy a block of this cheese fresh and crumble it yourself. There is a big difference between fresh cheese and pre-packaged cheese. I have only seen this cheese in it’s fresh form, but you never know. I just want you to be safe.
Another thing that is important: After whisking the vinaigrette together, toss in the vegetables and let them marinate for at least 15 minutes so the flavors blend. Then throw in the Romaine and the cheese and the fresh dill, if you’re using it.
Our friends Beth and Katherine came over for dinner on Saturday night so I made this salad which was perfect with the grilled chicken & lamb kebobs, rice, hummus and pita that I also served. OH OK, so I picked up that other stuff at Pita Inn (yum!) because who has time for grilling lamb in the yard? See above.
Plus I had this fabulous salad to make.
I had been wanting to come up with different ways to use this cheese because it’s so delicious, although I hear that Bulgarians eat hunks of it as is for breakfast, even. OK, I’ll admit it. I may have found myself slicing off a hunk or two a few times this week before my morning coffee. I mean, c’mon it was just staring at me from the fridge….practically begging me to take a bite.
Anyway, run out and get some of this cheese so you can make this salad. It’s so worth searching for. I don’t think you can find Bulgarian feta just anywhere. But ask around. Lucky for me there is this little Village Market near my house that sells it. You may need to go to a specialty store, a cheese monger who carries Bulgarian feta…..or maybe even to Bulgaria.
Mediterranean Chopped Salad
Inspired by Cook’s Illustrated
Serves 6 as a side dish
1 medium cucumber , peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 pint grape tomatoes , quartered (about 1 1/2 cups)
Table salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 medium garlic clove , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
1 (14-ounce) can chickpeas , drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
1/2 small minced red onion (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
1 romaine heart , cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
4 ounces fresh Bulgarian feta cheese , crumbled (about 1 cup)
fresh dill, as much as you like
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine cucumber, tomatoes, and 1 teaspoon salt in colander set over a bowl and let stand 15 minutes.
Whisk oil, vinegar, and garlic together in large bowl. Add drained cucumber and tomatoes, chickpeas, olives, onion, and parsley; toss and let stand at room temperature to blend flavors, 15 minutes.
Add romaine and feta; toss to combine. Top with fresh dill. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
August 12th, 2011
 Every summer in Lincoln Park, Green City Market holds their fabulous Chef’s BBQ which features over 100 amazing Chicago chefs and their restaurants. Can you imagine?! I was there for the first time this year and absolutely loved it, so I thought the foodie in you should probably have a look.
 
 Each chef/restaurant offers dishes that feature items from Green City Market. You probably already know how much I love this farmer’s market. I try to get to it on Saturday mornings whenever I can. It’s so much fun. The Chef’s BBQ is all about eating local, supporting the market, their farmers and producers. All good things. That being said, it’s also a blast! It’s $100 per person and I know that sounds like a lot to spend in one night, for me it is anyway, but I ate fabulous dishes from some of the best chefs in Chicago (and possibly on the planet) and it’s a fundraiser for the market so that helped me to justify the cost. So worth it!
Stephanie Izard of Girl and the Goat was there serving up goat tostadas (sadly, they ran out before we could try them), Carrie Nahabedian of Naha made an amazing wood-grilled chicken souvlaki, Mindy Segal of Hot Chocolate was dishing out crazy good icecream and Paul Kahan from Publican (also Blackbird, avec and Big Star) made fresh tortillas for his beef and blood sausage tacos:
I mean, seriously. Look at that thing.
Sola gave us Kaluha pork, banana bread and crispy shallots. WOW!
 With all of the excitement going on, I managed to forget to take pictures of most of the food I was eating. But I did get a shot of the adorable Ina Pinkney of Ina’s: And also this guy whose booth consistantly had a line in front of it a mile long, which we happily waited in.
Yes that is Rick Bayless and yes he smiled at me (blush!) and yes his grilled squash with poblano cream, spicy serrano salsa and cilantro tacos were to die for.
 Our taco was the very last taco of the night, and that seemed to make it even more special than it already was. So sad for the people in line behind us who watched us devour it and then lick the plate clean.
Oh my goodness. These hickory smoked baby back ribs with white corn bread and coleslaw from Lockwood were fall-off-the-bone crazy good!
 
 
676 Restaurant and Bar offered this lamb bacon, prairie honey and pea shoots spoon-y thing…..which was fun and tasty!
 I’m guessing she’s the goddess.
Well, she’s a goodess to me anyway because she gave me some of these really yummy homemade pickles, and she let me take a picture of her chest! 
Hopefully some of you Chicagoans were there that night to experience this. I actually ran into some of my foodie friends!
 Hi Brett and Jen!
And we also ran into my friends from Edible Chicago, a magazine that is the voice of the farm to table movement. Again, forgot to get a photo, but so nice to see you both!
Awww, I feel bad for the poor little guy up there too…….but boy was he tasty.
I went to this spectacular event with my friend Holly, whose brother Roger is the chef/owner of Socca Chicago and had a booth there.
When we arrived, Rog was wrist deep in swine.
He was offering a dish of smoked red whattle pig with pickled vegetables on grilled bread which was hands down, one of the best dishes of the night. SO YUMMY. And I’m not just saying that becasue he’s practically family.
 Hi Hol! Isn’t she cute? And so fashionable.
 It was wicked hot on this late July evening, but not to worry (we didn’t!) because we had so many fun cocktails like these to choose from to make us forget we were melting.
The portions were really generous, so the sad part was that it was virtually impossible to sample everything. But let’s be clear, I tried. 
Thank you, chefs. YOU ROCKED IT.
I really hope I’ve inspired you enough to get a ticket and go to this event next year if you’re in Chicago in July. Such a perfect summer night. It was definitely a highlight of my summer, second only to seeing this beauty on my way out:
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