littleclove.com

spicy tofu with coconut rice

Judi — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:50:13 +0000

I’m reaching my hand out to you. Did you grab it?

Let’s hold hands and tread lightly together into the scary world of tofu.

I know some of you might be thinking….tofu, yuck.

And I get it. I was there. But, it would be a shame if the tofu in this dish scared you off, because it’s really really delicious.

What is tofu exactly? Here is what I found out about this tasty little treat;

Tofu is a food made by coagulating soymilk and then pressing the curds into soft white blocks. (OK, stick with me…..deep breath). It is a component in many East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines. Tofu has a subtle flavor and can be used in savory and sweet dishes. It is often seasoned or marinated to suit the dish. Tofu originated in ancient China and was introduced to Korea and then to Japan and also spread into other parts of East Asia as well. It is an important source of protein in the vegetarian diet of East Asian Buddhism. Tofu has a low calorie count, high in protein, and little fat.

Well, thumbs up to that!

My good friend Casandra was the one who first introduced me to tofu a few years ago. We were ordering Thai food for lunch one day and I probably ordered my usual Thai basil chicken and she ordered spicy fried tofu.

I was thinking to myself…ew….tofu, really? You have so many yummy meat choices and you want to eat a meat substitute? Not me.

I can eat a bag of edamame myself in about 5 minutes (when it’s sufficiently salted) because I love it, so I don’t know why I was so hesitant about tofu.

I think I was judging it because I was thinking it was merely a meat substitute, and not even considering that it may actually taste good. Casandra asked me to “just try it” so I did, reluctantly.

The first bite was…….well, weird, texture-wise. That was only because I had never had it before…but then, WOW! It was good! So flavorful. This particular tofu (like the tofu in this dish) was cut into squares. It was fried crispy on the outside and it was soft in the middle. It was fresh and had sort of an earthy-beany flavor…and I liked it! Especially in the spicy sauce it was cooked in.

I was very surprised. In an instant, my whole attitude about tofu changed. Maybe people eat this stuff because they actually like it.

Did I just hear a collective “Duh” from those of you who do eat it? I think I did. Why was I judging this poor healthy, good-for-me tofu when I had never even tried it? Maybe it was the funny name.

Speaking of its name, just in case you’re interested, the English word “tofu” comes from the Japanese tofu, which itself derives from the Chinese dòufu or bean + curdled. The American-English term “bean curd(s)” for tofu has been used since at least 1840. This does not apply to the United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand; only the United States.

Anyway, I think mostly it was because I had it in my head that it was a meat “substitute” and I didn’t like that idea for some reason. I don’t eat much meat on a daily basis, but I’m not a vegetarian. So me making tofu really is about taste and choosing a healthy option. I also love it because it’s filling (like meat would be if it were in this dish), but it’s also light and fluffy and goes so well with the rice.

Oh my God, the rice!

I got so wrapped up in pushing the tofu on you that I almost forgot all about the rice. This rice is out of this world good. I mean seriously, it’s crazy good. If I didn’t win you over with the tofu, at least please try this rice. Go ahead and make it with your chicken-of-the-week, if you must. I won’t judge.

The rice is cooked in coconut milk (WOW!) and then you add the toasty spices and fresh lime zest. I added lots more lime zest to my bowl because I just love that zing it gives it.

Heaven.

And I went all out and used regular coconut milk, not the light version. I have to go all out the first time I try new things, then maybe cut back on the fat. But this was so good, I don’t think I’ll be cutting back next time either.

The combination of the spicy tofu, crispy and light, with the coconut lime-y rice is killer. My friend Megan at work told me how good this is so I had to try it. Thanks, Megan!

I really love this dish and I know you will too if you’d just give it half a chance. Thank you, and I’m done being pushy…….for now.

SPICY STIR-FRIED TOFU with COCONUT RICE
Inspired by Deborah Madison, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone via Megan Vendehey

For the Rice
Makes about 4 cups cooked rice

1 3/4 cups basmati rice
4 teaspoon peanut oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
salt to taste
1 (15-ounce) can coconut milk
½ teaspoon lime zest

For the Tofu
1 package extra firm tofu
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (more if you want it on the hot side)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 scallions, including half of the greens, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Gently wash the rice in a bowl, soak for 30 minutes, then drain. Warm the oil in a 3-quart saucepan with the onion, ginger, garlic, and turmeric. Cook over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, then add the rice and 1.5 tsp. salt. Stir to coat the grains, then add the coconut milk, 2 cups water, and the lime zest.

Bring to a boil, turn the heat to low, cover and cook until the rice is done (about 15 minutes), stirring twice during cooking. Turn off the heat and set it aside while you prepare the tofu. It will look a little wet at first, but the liquid will be absorbed by the time you’re ready.

Drain the tofu, then cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Combine the spices, salt, and the sugar in a bowl, add the tofu, and toss gently with a rubber spatula. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet, add the tofu, and stir-fry until crispy and golden, about 5-7 minutes.

*Make sure you let them crisp up on one side before tossing them over*

Add the scallions and cook just until they’re wilted, then add the lime juice. Serve the tofu on the rice, garnish with the cilantro.

I added a bunch more lime zest to mine because it was SO GOOD with the coconut.

Also, this doesn’t come out very spicy (hot-spicy) so if you’re into that sort of thing like I am, I would add some more cayenne. I did.

bacon deviled eggs

Judi — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:06:48 +0000

I had you at bacon.

So, what’s up with calling them deviled?

If we’re going to bring the devil into this, shouldn’t they be called the devil’s eggs? As in sinfully delicious?

Or maybe devil is a verb in this case. Did I somehow devil them, making them deviled?

Can I devil anything?

If so, I can think of a few things that I’d like to devil. Such as my yippy yappy Maltese pup who barks all day long at the same squirrels running around the backyard, driving me nuts. Yes, he could use some deviling.

I’d also like to devil the person who cuts into the express lane in front of me at the last minute after the rest of us have been waiting our turn for over an hour. Oh, do I want to devil him.

And in a heartbeat I’d devil the person who decided that instead of a real person answering my call, a computer will pick up whenever I call AT&T (insert any company) and make me go through an entire menu of number punching while foolishly answering questions aloud when all I want to do is speak to a REAL PERSON! Yes, that one should be deviled immediately.

But I did a little investigating and apparently the word deviled does not refer to anything violent (dang it).

It refers to spiciness.

OK, I get it. Like Shrimp Diablo (diablo meaning devil in Spanish), which is a spicy dish.

So devil = spicy.

Is that because he lives in a hot place? The deviled eggs I grew up eating at parties and picnics were never spicy. Unless we’re talking about that light dusting of paprika on top. If that is the heat of the devil himself then he’s pretty lame. Not exactly the fire and brimstone I was imagining.

I guess I should not be calling these eggs deviled because they are not the least bit spicy. Actually, next time I think I might add a little bit of the devil to them because he seems to always be good for me, in a spicy sort of way.

So I saw these eggs in a recent issue of Bon Appétit and they looked so good that I had to make them.

When was the last time you had a deviled egg?

I never think to make them because in my brain they are a 70’s appetizer, right along with pigs-in-a-blanket, rumaki and French onion dip with Lay’s potato chips. And I don’t mean this as a negative thing. They’re all equally delicious. I mean, c’mon. If I put a bowl of French onion dip (with real sour cream) and a big bag of Lay’s potato chips in front of you, would you be able to stop? I wouldn’t. And that’s why I don’t come anywhere near that stuff.

God do I miss not having a care in the world while downing 72,000 calories of chips and dip while watching Blue Lagoon when I was 11. Sigh.

But appetizers have come a long way in the last 30+ years and there are so many recipes that I want to try, that I never think to go back to the past for some plain old deviled eggs. Until now. And that’s really unfortunate because they are really really good.

What I love about deviled eggs is that they are so simple to make, they look pretty and they really are delicious!

We put the yolk mix into a freezer bag, cut off one corner of it and made some fancy designs by squeezing it into the cute little white cups. Hadley loved this part and wanted to fill them all herself. I love when helping in the kitchen doubles as art.

If you want to actually add some devil to these (I will next time) I’d add a few shakes of cayenne pepper to the yolks when you whip them up.

Hadley and I made them a few weeks ago for a dinner party we were having. Our good friend Casandra and her baby Boopsy (that’s what we call her) came over and we made this for dinner. Casandra brought over her pasta guitar (so cool!) and we made homemade pasta! Boopsey rolled the dough! Isn’t she gorgeous?

But, we forgot all about an appetizer. I always have bacon and eggs in the house, so we whipped them up in about a 1/2 hour. We could hardly wait to devour them. The creaminess of the yolks mixed with the smoky bacon and a bite of scallion…mmmmm…..every bite was devilishly delicoius.

And here is the secret to these eggs being so good; you whip some bacon fat right into the yolks. WOW! Sneaky, right? This gives every bite that smoky bacon flavor. I love the combination of bacon and eggs.

Just wanted to put a little bit of the devil back on your radar.

Bacon Devlied Eggs
Inspired by Bon Appétit, February 2012

Makes 24

12 large eggs
3 slices of bacon
2 tbsp melted butter
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 heaping tbsp chopped scallions + garnish
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Place eggs in a large saucepan; add water to cover by 1”. Bring to a boil, cover, and remove from heat. Let sit for 10 minutes. Drain. Transfer eggs to bowl of ice water and let cool completely, about 10 minutes. Peel. Halve lengthwise and remove yolks. Coarsely chop bacon and cook in a medium skillet over medium heat until browned and crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels. Strain drippings and reserve. Add melted butter if needed to measure 2 tbsp. Finely mash reserved yolks, bacon fat, mayonnaise, mustard and scallions in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large resealable freezer bag, then cut ½” off 1 corner. Pipe into whites; garnish with thinly sliced scallions and reserved bacon. Take a big bite!

gateau a l’orange (orange sponge cake)

Judi — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:06:49 +0000

Happy 2^nd 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.

thanksgiving stuffing

Judi — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 07:48:30 +0000

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.

vegetable curry with cauliflower, potatoes and peas

Judi — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 18:49:19 +0000

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.

mediterranean chopped salad

Judi — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:12:44 +0000

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 5^th grade homework every night (which has made me question if in fact I am smarter than a 5^th grader) and then there is flag football on Saturdays and soccer games on Sundays (we are in 1^st 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 6^th and 7^th 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.

Green City Market Chef’s BBQ!

Judi — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:59:22 +0000

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:

truffle tagliatelle

Judi — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 22:42:36 +0000

Lucky me.

I have been getting lots of presents this summer!

I don’t want to sound flaky, but I truly believe that what you put out into the universe comes back to you. Goodness, positive energy, negative energy….it’s just the way it works, in my opinion.

I love this saying:

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENERGY YOU BRING INTO THIS SPACE.

I would like to hang that sign on my front door, back door, office door, car door…… tape it to my back maybe, because I like to remind myself (and others) that the energy that we’re putting out into the world is directly affecting other people who are taking it in.

For example, when my ten year old doesn’t seem to hear me when I ask her for the 4th time to get off the computer and come to dinner, it’s beyond frustrating for me. My heart starts to beat a bit faster and my blood starts to boil. Instead of rushing over to the computer and screaming, “NO MORE COMPUTER UNTIL YOU’RE 90!”, pulling the plug out of the wall and dragging her to the table by her ear (what I would really like to do), I take a deep breath and think about how my reaction will affect her reaction.

I remind myself that she’s a tween, this is what they do. Everything revolves around her and her world, I’m just Mom living in it. It’s normal.

It’s not easy and I probably only get it right 65% of the time, but hey, I try. And I must being doing something right, because lately I have been getting lots of goodness (in the form of goodies) back.

I did a small favor for a friend, and a few days later he sent me 2 gift cards to really great restaurants in the city! One was for Longman and Eagle, a really cool place in Logan Square that he loves. My mom was in town so I took her to lunch and it was fabulous. The other was to The Purple Pig, which I’ve been to and LOVE LOVE LOVE. I am going to take someone special there very soon. Thank you, Kelley.

I did another small favor for my neighbor’s sister and I found the most beautiful bouquet of flowers on my doorstep a few days later. Do you know how nice it is to come home to a surprise bunch of flowers on your doorstep? Really nice. That never happens to me. Thank you, Mo.

A few days later, I met my friend for coffee, and she handed me a big bag full of goodies; 2 cookbooks, a painting that she made, a candle and some appetizer knives. She does this a lot, it’s just how she is. She spreads the love. Thank you, Holly.

Another friend came back from a trip to Jamaica with 2 bags of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee for me. This coffee is my all-time absolute favorite, and it was so touching that she thought of me. Thank you, Casandra.

Do you see what I mean with all of the gifts? I was beginning to wonder what I did to deserve all of this.

Another friend surprised me with a really great bright orange Reisenthel bag from South Carolina with my name embroidered on it! So sweet and thoughtful. I can’t wait to take it to the farmer’s market on Saturday. Thank you, Beth.

And then came a very big surprise that felt like Christmas morning. I know, crazy right?

Fed Ex rang my door and handed me a big box that said perishables inside. I am all about perishables, so this was very exciting news. Are you ready for this? Hiding inside were 4 fresh summer truffles.

Truffles!

Aren’t they gorgeous?

My cousin Mark, who is a big foodie like me, and his partner CJ sent me 4 fresh summer truffles all the way from Italy. Oh my God, I could barely stand it. They were big and black and bumpy and beautiful. I don’t think I’ve actually ever had a fresh truffle sitting in the palm of my hand before!

In case you don’t know, a truffle is a pretty rare, edible mushroom that is found in Europe with the aid of female pigs (and now dogs, too), which are able to detect the strong smell of truffles underneath the ground. They are considered a delicacy in many parts of the world.

I definitely consider this subterranean fungus a delicacy!

Along with the truffles, they also sent me some fresh vanilla beans, which smelled delicious. Mark said that these are two of his favorite flavors and he wanted to see what I could come up with, knowing how much I love to cook. How sweet is that?

For the truffles, my first thought was pasta. I started researching things to do with truffles, and I learned that it’s best to eat them uncooked, and shaved into things like pasta, sauces and rice dishes. It turns out, they are amazing shaved into anything!

I shaved them into my eggs in the morning, slipped some shavings into my sandwiches, shaved them over grilled vegetables. And then I shaved them into some butter and discovered the joy of truffle butter.

God, I just love those two words together, don’t you? Truffle + Butter.

Could anything be better?

I made some right away and thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I shaved a whole fresh truffle into a stick of softened unsalted butter.

Then I added some sea salt to taste. About 1/2 a teaspoon.

I mixed it all up and put it in the fridge for a while to set.

Isn’t that cute?

Mom was in town, so we bought a crusty baguette and slathered piece after piece with truffle butter, mmm-ing and ahhh-ing the whole time. We couldn’t stop ourselves. Every one of you needs to experience truffle butter and crusty bread at least once in your lifetime.

That better not be my truffle butter you are training the pooch with, Mom!

Yes, truffles are expensive. You see them at the grocery store perched on ice in their own special see-through box, 1 for $8 or something like that. But I’m telling you…buy one and make some of this butter. Splurge. You’re worth it!

I was putting this stuff on everything. I spread it on sandwiches, melted it over steak one night, and then I thought about that pasta.

I wanted to do something extra special with the remaining truffles, so for Father’s Day, I invited my brother and his family over for dinner and decided to make a truffle tagliatelle. It’s similar to the pastas I’ve been making and sharing with you lately, but I added some truffle butter which takes it to a heavenly place and also shaved some very thin slices of truffle over the top using a potato peeler. You can see that one below stuck to the side of the sauté pan.

TO DIE FOR.

I also made this stuffed pork tenderloin, but it wasn’t really blog-worthy, so I’ll skip telling you about it. I didn’t love the stuffing, but the pork was tasty.

Anyway, these truffles were such a great surprise, so exciting to cook with and beyond delicious.

Thank you, Mark and CJ.

As much as I loved each and every one of my presents, it’s not really about the stuff. It’s about the thought behind the presents. The good, positive and loving energy that all of my friends and family sent my way. It means the world to me.

Like this little gift that I found from Hadley on our kitchen board yesterday:

Like I said, I must be doing something right. This is what I want to be getting back, so I’m going to try putting the good stuff out there every chance I get.

Truffle Tagliatelle (To Die For)
Serves 4

1-pound tagliatelle pasta
2 tbsp, plus 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (the good stuff)
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, more for serving
salt and fresh ground black pepper
a handful of fresh parsley, chopped
2 – 3 tblsp truffle butter (recipe above)
fresh black truffle, sliced very thin, as much as you can afford (I used 1/2 of one)

Put a big pot of water on high heat. Add a palm-full of Kosher salt and cook until just before it’s al dente. You should see a bit of white when you test-bite a piece. Drain, reserving at least a cup of the pasta water.

Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in 12” sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-4 minutes until translucent.

Stir in about a 1/2 a cup of the reserved pasta water. Grab your tongs and add the pasta and cook, stirring, until pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat; add the 1/2 cup of olive oil, the truffle butter and the pecorino romano cheese. Toss until cheese melts. Add more pasta water if it seems to need it. More truffle butter for taste.

Add salt, pepper and more cheese to taste.

Transfer to individual bowls with tongs, make a little bird’s nest and twirl. Add the thinly sliced fresh truffles, the chopped parsley and serve with more cheese on the side.

cacio e pepe

Judi — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:32:34 +0000

Burning my pine nuts really makes me angry!

And this time, I didn’t just burn them once, I did it twice. I really have to take a deep breath and slow down. I am always doing 52 things once, and this time as I was toasting my pine nuts, I was also: writing up a grocery list, talking on the phone to Comcast and picking up smelly soccer cleats, water bottles & Cheez-Its ground into the rug. As I whizzed by the toaster oven, I spotted them; black.

“SH@#!!!!!!!”, I yelled at my Comcast representative. She didn’t appreciate that, but did go on to lower my monthly payment, keeping me on the same plan.

On my second attempt, I decided to set the microwave timer for 15 minutes. This worked brilliantly, until I felt that they needed just a few more minutes (you know where this is going). I ran outside to quickly grab the mail (bad idea) and that’s when I got side-tracked with the shocking news that Justin & Ashley are now a couple, Courtney and Jen aren’t speaking, and Leo has finally won Blake’s heart. I’m just going to go ahead and admit the fact that US Weekly magazine is one of my guilty pleasures. There, I said it. Anyway, when I remembered the pine nuts, I ran back inside and my heart sank. Black, again.

I almost cried.

And why this made me want to cry is because they are so dang expensive!

Apparently, shelling the nuts from the pine cone is very labor intensive which makes for a low supply. And then thanks to the Food Network with their fancy pesto dishes (and blogs like littleclove) the demand for pine nuts has grown, causing the high prices.

Sigh.

So, keep in mind that those expensive little guys go from golden brown to burned in literally seconds. And if you toast yours in a toaster oven like I do (on broil) trust me, don’t take your eyes off that oven door for a second. When toasted just right, they are SO SO SO good. One of my very favorite things on the planet. Salty, nutty, & toasty goodness. Next time I might try toasting them in a frying pan over a slow-toasting flame. I think I did that once and it worked just fine.

I am so off on a tangent today because I am still not over those pine nuts. Deep breath, let it go.

This post isn’t even about the salad that I threw those pine nuts into. But, that salad was delicious and I want tell you about it a bit later. This post is about a beautiful pasta dish called Cacio e Pepe, literally “cheese and pepper”.

I wanted to make a 2nd pasta dish using the pasta-making techniques I told you about here.

I had invited my very good friend Georgia over for dinner on Memorial Day (no bbq-ing at my house, since I haven’t purchased my new gas grill yet) and she loves pasta so I thought it would be a good time to try it.

In all the excitement over planning our dinner, I bought those pretty white pasta bowls from Crate and Barrel that I told you about and they really do make a pasta dish look fantastic. See above.

Actually, the photo does not serve the dish justice. I should have ground some extra black pepper on top of this dish and that would have really made it look special, but when you have a whole dinner in the works and you try to squeeze in photos for your blog, you tend to forget the details.

This recipe is from Bon Appétit, the May pasta issue, and they actually call it, “The sauce of the moment.”

OK, then.

I had been wanting to make Cacio e Pepe for a while now, and there it was.

If you like black pepper, you’ve gotta try this one. And if you’re going to try it, please go back and read this post for all of those great pasta making techniques. I don’t want you to miss anything.

We all know by now now how much I love my beloved Pecorino Romano, which is part of this recipe. Yay!

This recipe also calls for Grana Padano cheese or Parmesan, so I assumed that they were cousins. I’m not really a Parmesan person, but I do like it sometimes, like sliced right off the hunk with a cracker or piece of bread. I had never had Grana Padano before, but I had noticed fresh hunks of it at The Fresh Market where I usually shop.

I bought some, tasted it and it tastes a lot like Parmesan, but milder without the bite. Also, not as salty as Pecorino Romano. I liked it. And then I learned this from my trusty friends at Wikipedia:

“Though similar to Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese, the younger Grana Padano cheeses are less crumbly, milder and less complex in flavor than their more famous longer-aged relative. Grana Padano is widely considered inferior in quality than Parmigiano-Reggiano. Nevertheless many Italians prefer Grana Padano over Parmigiano-Reggiano mainly for the lower price.”

Yep. I’m stickin’ with the Italians.

I’m all about saving money right now. It’s summer, I’m off work for a few months….and (ahem)…I’m not sure if I have a job to go back to in the fall, but that’s another story. Truthfully, that is probably the very reason that I seem to have been emotionally consuming ~~all weekend~~ a bit lately. (Dan, if you’re reading, thanks for letting me know that I am not alone in this). Too much wine, lots of rich foods, and er……..um……..snacking.

I’m generally not much of a snacker, but last Sunday night when I finally sat down to read my US weekly, I discovered the beauty of BBQ corn nuts. Have you had these things? I ate an entire bag before I even got to “Feud Of the Week!”, and washed them down with ~~½ a bottle~~ a glass of chilled pinot grigio and decided to call it dinner.

Oh c’mon, you know you’ve done that.

Also, Hadley was with her Dad all weekend for Memorial day, quite possibly another reason I needed to feel the wine & corn nut-love.

So for our Memorial day dinner, to go with our pasta I decided to make pan-seared chicken thighs, roasted peppers and a salad. I have to tell you about all of it, because the combination was really good.

The chicken was easy and delicious. Pan seared in some vegetable oil until golden brown, about 12 minutes, and then finished in a 475º oven. Crispy on the outside, juicy in the middle.

The peppers were also from the May issue of Bon Appétit and were perfect with the pasta and the chicken.

You stem, core and ¼ four bell peppers (yellow, red and orange). Toss them with 1 clove of thinly sliced garlic, 8 thyme sprigs, and 1 tblsp of extra virgin olive oil. Season them with kosher salt and black pepper. Throw them on a baking sheet, skin side down, and roast at 425° until softened (about 30 mins). Then, top them with ¼ cup of Parmesan and broil until the cheese is melted and the peppers are slightly charred. Squeeze the juice of ½ a lemon over them and serve.

Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the finished peppers for you. They looked so much more delicious than the above raw peppers. Oh well.

Still, SO YUMMY.

And because this little beauty:

(the hunk of Grana Padano), cost me this:

I used it for the peppers instead of buying another expensive hunk of Paremesan. It was great (being a cousin and all).

Before I get to the pasta, I also want to tell you about our salad, because this one I came up with myself and I really loved it.

I have some issues with my homemade dressing coming out well. My Mom can whip up the best salad dressing every single time. I do it maybe 1 in 10. It’s just so hard for me to get the balance right when I wing it. What I’m learning is that simple is best when it comes to seasoning. I bought some baby bib lettuce and some arugula (I love that stuff). I assembled a plate of mostly baby bib with a handful or two or arugula thrown in. I added sliced cherry tomatoes, those salty cured & wrinkly black olives with pits, some sliced cucumber, the toasty and tasty expensive little devils known as pine nuts. I added a few grates of kosher salt and black pepper and a pinch of sugar. Then I drizzed my really good extra virgin olive oil over this and tossed it with my hands until it looked glossy. Then I added a splash of white balsamic and tossed again.

I got out my potato peeler and peeled some long slices of Grana Padano (gotta do something with it!) over the top……and, WOW. This flavor combination was really delicious. I surprised myself! Sometimes it just works. Please try it!

Back to the pasta.

I used Perciatelli pasta, because it worked so well in my last pasta recipe, but I think this would work better with spaghetti, or any thinner noodle. It was still really good, but it felt to me like it should be a bit lighter, so next time I will use a thinner noodle.

The recipe called for Grana Padano cheese that I told you about, Pecorino Romano cheese, freshly cracked black pepper and butter.

Creamy, cheesy, buttery & spicy…..sort of like an adult mac ‘n cheese.

Enough said.

The juicy chicken, the roasted peppers, the salad with the peppery arugula and olive oil and the cheesy peppery pasta. So delicious together.

I hope this inspires you.

Georgia loved it! She actually said that it was really nice to have someone cook a dinner like this for her, which made me feel really good.

I was feelin’ the love, all the way around.

Cacio e Pepe
Inspired by Bon Appétit
Serves 2

6 oz. pasta (spaghetti or another thinner noodle)
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed, divided
1 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
¾ cup finely grated Grana Padano
1/3 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano
Kosher salt

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with a palm-full of salt; add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking water.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tbsp. butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add pepper and cook, swirling pan, until toasted, about 1 minute.

Add ½ cup reserved pasta water to skillet and bring to a simmer. Add pasta and remaining butter. Reduce heat to low and add Grana Padano, stirring and tossing with tongs until melted. Remove pan from heat; add Pecorino, stirring and tossing until cheese melts, sauce coats the pasta, and pasta is al dente. Add more pasta water if sauce seems dry. (I needed to do this!). Taste and add more cheese if you think it needs it. Maybe some more water. I would even throw a splash of olive oil in if you think it needs it. Just a thought.

Transfer pasta to bowls. Make a birdsnest using tongs. Add a few extra grates of black pepper.

Serve with extra grated Pecorino, a good wine and love.

*NOTE* added 6/7/11 -Tonight I talked to my friend Jimmy Bannos Jr., chef/partner of The Purple Pig, Chicago, about how he makes his Cacio e Pepe. He told me that he uses Parmesan, not Grana Padano. He said to use that instead. His other advice for this dish was to taste as you go. Add a little bit more cheese, a little more pasta water, some more pepper, until it’s just right. Lots of black pepper, he says. I’m going to take his advice and try that next time! :-) Thanks, Jimmy.

pasta 101

Judi — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:44:55 +0000

I’m back.

It’s been a whole month since my last post (as was pointed out by my biggest littleclove fan, the lovely Katherine, in the comments section of buttery banana bread). Thanks for lighting a fire under my sauté pan, K.

I may have mentioned this before, but my real job is in television and we are wrapping up a season right now and that takes a lot of energy and time. Sadly, I haven’t cooked much in that last few weeks, and the last thing I felt like doing after a long day of looking at my computer screen was look at my computer screen.

Sorry.

But the good news is that I have the entire month of June and July off, and I’m ready to plant my vegetable garden, hit the farmers markets, fire up the new gas grill that I’m going to purchase, dust off my saved recipes and start cooking!

I can hardly wait for summer to get here. It’s still cold and rainy in Chicago this week and I’m really really really over it. Really.

That being said, now I can get on to more good news.

From the folks at Bon Appétit, I have learned some pasta making magic. I know what you’re thinking. Magic? Don’t we get pasta already? By now we all know how to make a really good Sunday gravy, and then there is this and that and this and that, as well. All delicious.

We kind of know what we’re doing around here when it comes to pasta……or so we thought.

Cooking for me is a learning process, and I have recently learned the fundamentals of turning a good pasta dish into a great pasta dish. Some of this I knew, some I didn’t…and some of it made me say, “Wow. I get it now.” I love those moments.

When I picked up my May issue of Bon Appétit, The Italy Issue, I was enlightened. I usually don’t write directly from a magazine, but I want you to fully understand the magic that’s here, so I’m going to give you the gist of what I learned from them, and your life will be forever changed.

Pasta 101.

(1) Forget the pot and use a sauté pan.

You build the foundation of your sauce in a sauté pan. At its most basic, a pasta sauce requires just a handful of ingredients and 20 minutes of cooking time. Basically you heat olive oil, sauté some garlic and a vegetable or two and then add some pasta water. (You still cook your pasta in a pot of boiling water first).

I never fully understood why you are told to add pasta water in some recipes. I understood the reason to add the pasta water was because it was handy and right there in front of you. But there is a better reason. The starchy water and oil simmer together forming the foundation of a sauce.

Adding the cooked pasta to the sauce in your sauté pan ensures that each strand will be coated with sauce. It makes the dish come together, and it’s not just a plate of noodles with some sauce thrown on top. That makes so much sense, doesn’t it?

(2) Use salt in your cooking water.

I knew this and have suggested that you to do this before, but we weren’t using nearly enough. I used to throw in a dash or two. Nope. Throw in a whole handful! And make it Kosher salt.

The noodles absorb water as they cook, so you’re actually flavoring the otherwise pretty bland starch-y noodles. And don’t forget that you’ll be throwing this now salty water back into your sauté pan for your sauce which means extra flavor. Salty pasta water is the secret ingredient in most sauces.

Just scoop out some of the water with a coffee cup or measuring cup and add some to the sauté pan. Then, simmer everything until the water and oil emulsify and begin to form a creamy sauce. It gives your sauce body and flavor.

(3) Use Tongs.

While the pasta is cooking, grab a pair of tongs and use them to transfer the noodles straight from the pot to the pan, toss the noodles into the sauce, and then use them to plate your noodles for serving.

I have always put my bare noodles into a serving bowl, and took whatever sauce I’ve made and mixed it with the noodles right in the serving bowl. Oh, no, no, no. Using tongs, you add the noodles to your simmering sauce and let it cook some more. Plus, using tongs is fun!

You can also strain the pasta first, if you prefer, in a pasta strainer (or SKOL-A-MAC-A-DOON, as we call it) and then use the tongs to transfer the pasta from the strainer to the sauté pan. But don’t forget to save some of that pasta water before you strain it.

(4) Bring it all together in your pan.

Undercook the pasta by about two minutes (you should see just a bit of white when you bite into each piece) and finish cooking it in your sauce. To coat the pasta with sauce (I love this part) try some fancy restaurant fry-pan flips and then use tongs as if you’re tossing a salad until the pasta is completely coated. If the sauce seems sticky, add a bit more pasta water and toss some more. Too brothy? Let it cook some more. Just remember: the pasta will continue to absorb the liquid and the sauce with thicken off the heat.

Oh my gosh, I’m having so much fun, aren’t you? On to #5. And get this:

(5) Everything is better with butter.

Oh, yeah. This seems to be a recurring theme around here lately, and it’s true. It’s the other secret to rich, silky sauces and apparently all the restaurants use it. You sneak a few tablespoons right in the end before serving and it just takes the dish to a heavenly level.

(6) Cheese is not just a garnish.

We add it to the sauce, too. I think we’ve learned that plenty around here, but it’s worth repeating because it’s another key step. Also keep in mind: Skip the pre-grated cheese and grate it fresh yourself. Grate it finely so it melts easily into the sauce (my cheese up there isn’t grated as finely as it could have been), and think beyond Parmesan (which we do around here) and use a stronger cheese like my beloved Pecorino Romano!

(7) Use a broad bowl with high sides for serving.

I don’t have a photo of the wide looking bowl for you because I haven’t had a chance to get over to Crate and Barrel for a few of their beautiful white pasta bowls that were featured in the magazine (as I’ve said, I’ve been a little busy). I will be purchasing a few of those very soon and they will make a beautiful appearance here shortly.

This type of bowl keeps the food warm. And if you’re into a nice visual presentation, use white ones because it makes the colors in the sauce pop. Use your tongs to plate the pasta and try to make it look like a little bird’s nest (if you’re using a long noodle like perciatelli or spaghetti). Twirl the pasta, lift it out of the pan, lower it into the bowl and then re-twirl. Gorgeous!

(8) Toss in some fresh herbs to finish.

If a recipe calls for fresh herbs, toss some more in at the very end. The combination of cooked and uncooked herbs add depth. (And it makes it look very pretty!)

Use these tomatoes for this recipe if you can find them:

I used Perciatelli, which is a thicker Bucatini, and fun to slurp up:

One more thing: Don’t wear white when you make this. You will never make it through the meal without a spot or two on your shirt. My Grandma Dolly always said you can never eat pasta without getting a few spots on yourself. She was right.

The very first pasta dish I tried using these methods was Pasta Al Pomodoro (Tomato Pasta) which was one of the dishes featured in the magazine. I made it for our friends Beth and Katherine and it was simply delicious. There were collective “mmm’s” for about 5 minutes before anyone came up for air. It’s always fun to experiment on friends, even better when dinner comes out this great. It’s restaurant quality, not even kidding.

Pure pasta magic.

Pasta Al Pomodoro
Inspired by Bon Appéit magazine, May 2011, The Italy Issue

Serves 4

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
(1) 28 oz. can peeled tomatoes, pureed in a food processor (or mini-cuisinart)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
12 oz. (3/4 of a pound) of Perciatelli or Bucatini pasta
3 large fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt
¼ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Heat olive oil in 12” sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the minced onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 12 minutes. (Don’t worry if the onion seems watery at first, it will thicken up).

Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-4 minutes. Add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes; cook for 1 minutes more. Increase heat to medium, and add the peeled tomatoes (pureed in a food processor), and season lightly with kosher salt; cook stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly and the flavors meld, about 20 minutes.

Remove pan from heat, stir the basil leaves and set aside. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Season with salt (a handful). Add the perciatelli or spaghetti and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender.

Drain pasta, reserving ½ cup of the pasta water. Heat skillet over high heat. Stir in reserved pasta water to loosen sauce; bring to a boil. Grab your tongs and add the pasta and cook, stirring, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat; add the butter and the pecorino romano cheese. Toss until cheese melts. Transfer to individual bowls with tongs, make your little bird’s nest and twirl and then serve with more cheese on the side.

*NOTE*-I minced the onions in my mini-cuisinart, which was very handy, and minced the garlic with a garlic press.*