Happy Holidays, peeps!

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Happy Holidays, dear friends

It’s that time of year again and as always, I’m stunned by how quickly this year has gone by.  Derek and I are staying in Indianapolis for Christmas and New Year’s Eve this year for the first time since 2007.  We usually go to New Orleans for two weeks, and I’m sad about missing our traditional festivities with friends and family.  My niece will be home from Paris and I would so love to hear about all of her adventures, food-related and otherwise.  One of my dearest girlfriends was just awarded her MBA, and has been working full-time while taking the requisite courses, so she will be all full of herself, I’m sure.   I hate to miss that!  Derek and I both have new jobs and can’t take the time off, so we’re planning our own lovely Christmas dinner for two.  We’ve been invited to parties Friday and Saturday night, and of course, we’ll bring something.  Derek made chicken and sausage gumbo for Friday night, and I’m making Classic Creole Turtle soup for Saturday night.  As for our Christmas dinner, we’re planning to do a standing rib roast with parsnip puree and creamed spinach.  I requested crème brulee and I’d like to make a brandy milk punch to drink out of lovely festive green martini glasses.  Derek wants garlic mashed potatoes, which I dearly love, but I was thinking about something a little more elegant, like Pommes Anna,  Scalloped potatoes, or Potatoes Lyonnaise.  We’ll see; after all of the parties and holiday fare, we may feel more like having sushi!

I’d love to hear what some of you are planning for Christmas, whether it’s food or a special family tradition. 

Here’s a toast to all of you with my most sincere wishes for a pleasant and peaceful holiday season and a bright and hopeful New Year.  I’m going to try to do better at posting here more regularly in the upcoming year.  Below is the recipe for Turtle Soup, if you'd like to try it.  It sounds weird, I know, but it is truly delicious, and perfect for winter.



Creole Turtle Soup

Roux:
1 Cup Unsalted Butter, peanut oil, or a combination of the two
1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
4 T unsalted butter
1 lb turtle meat cut into 1/2 inch cubes, or any combination of beef, veal, pork and dark meat chicken
1 1/2 C onion, finely diced
1 C celery, finely diced
1/4 C green onion, finely sliced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 fresh bay leaves
1 1/2 C fresh tomato, diced
1 quart beef or brown stock
1 pinch cayenne
1 pinch ground allspice
2 T fresh thyme leaves
1 T fresh marjoram, chopped (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
4 T Lea & Perrins
3 T dry sherry
3 hard-boiled eggs, whites chopped and yolks riced
Lemon slices
5 t Italian parsley, finely chopped
Melt the butter/oil combination in a heavy bottomed saucepan; whisk in the flour, and make a chocolate colored roux. Set aside.
In a large saucepan or dutch oven, melt the 4 T unsalted butter over medium-high heat, add the diced Turtle Meat, or whatever meat you’re using, and saute until nicely browned.
Lower the heat to medium, add both types of onions, the celery, and garlic. Season with salt and black pepper.  Saute until the vegetables are tender.
Add the tomatoes, season with a little salt so they will break down, cook for 10 minutes.
Add the stock, Lea & Perrins, cayenne, allspice, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming off any impurities that may rise to the surface.
Whisk in the roux and simmer until thickened and smooth. Add the thyme, and marjoram, if using, and simmer for 15-20 minutes more.
Add the lemon juice, half of the parsley, and the riced egg yolk, and heat through.
Serve garnished with lemon slices, diced egg whites, and the rest of the parsley. Add the sherry at the table, about 1-2 t per bowl.
Serves 4-6







Nastassja Catski

Be still, my beating heart!

We have a new baby!  It took me a few months to reach the point where I felt ready, but I think we chose the exact right time and place.  I had decided I wanted a gray female, since the Nefarious P.I.G. was a black male, and I didn’t want to be constantly comparing the new kitty to my companion of 18 years.  We went to the Hamilton County Humane Society, which had been highly recommended to me by a dear friend who is a serious animal lover.  We had planned to go the previous weekend, but Derek was intent on cleaning out the garage and the basement, and I certainly didn’t want to disrupt that!  When we walked through the doors, the first thing I saw was a beautiful little gray cat.  As soon as I walked toward her, she started sticking her paw through the cage, and when I got close, she stuck her tongue out at me.  That, as we say, was that.  She is a gorgeous Russian Blue, and if we had been two minutes later, another man there told us he would have adopted her.  Since she is somewhat of a Russian aristocat (!), we decided to give her a Russian name, and since she turned out to be a bit of a nut, her name has evolved into Her Royal Craziness, the Princess Nastassja Catski. 

As it turned out, it was a gorgeous day and we stopped on the way to have lunch in Carmel, at a Cajun place called Mudbugs.  I’m always skeptical of places that call themselves Cajun or claim to have New Orleans food, and I’ve been seriously disappointed 95 % of the time.  This time, however, I was very pleasantly surprised.  We talked to the owner while we were in line, and I mentioned that I would know it was an authentic Cajun restaurant if they put the potato salad in the gumbo, which is a habit I’ve never seen anywhere but New Orleans.  He laughed and said he and his wife are from Abbeville, La, and that they grew up eating potato salad in their gumbo.  I can’t tell you how much that tickled me!  We talked about another local place that claims to serve New Orleans food, but puts cumin in their red beans!  He was as horrified by that as I, and said, “Cumin?!  What is he smoking?”  He said he had tried numerous distributors before he found French bread that he considered worthy, and Derek is a fiend for oysters, so we had to try the highly touted oyster poboy.  I’m happy to say it was a very close approximation to what we expect in New Orleans.  I was in the mood for some chicken and sausage gumbo, and Derek decided to try the red beans and rice as well.  I’m delighted to say that all of the above were excellent, and as close to New Orleans food as any I’ve encountered outside of Louisiana.  Thanks, Roy Leblanc!

Speaking of Cajun/Creole food, Derek is making Crawfish Etouffee tonight, and red beans and rice with tasso and andouille for tomorrow night.  The smells coming out of our kitchen are making me really homesick – and hungry!

 

Perfect Friday Night at home

Grilled oysters and Pinot Grigio

As you may know, Derek and I are huge fans of the Sons of Anarchy series, which we get on DVD after the season is over.  I prefer watching it that way because we can gorge ourselves on it rather than having to wait a week between episodes.  I’ve been working outrageous hours and what gets me through the week is knowing that on Friday night I can stay up until midnight watching Jax Teller!  I can usually keep my eyes open long enough to get in two episodes.

Derek went to our neighborhood Kroger yesterday evening and got some oysters on the half shell and some beautiful swordfish steaks – wild caught – so much better than farm-raised.  I got home from work around 7:30, took a hot bath, had a nice cold glass of Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc (my everyday favorite) and put on my second favorite pair of flannel pajamas.  Derek grilled the oysters with my Drago’s-style recipe ( see the post from 08-29-11 for the recipe) and they were really plump and delicious.  He said they put up a good fight!  I had some black olive tapenade left over from earlier in the week when I used it on grilled pork chops, and we put that on the grilled swordfish, had some grilled ciabatta and some grill-roasted Brussels Sprouts and watched our boys on bikes.  Delightful.

Here’s the recipe for the black olive tapenade; as always the measurements are approximate:

A good handful of various pitted black olives – this time I used some tiny briny Nicoise olives, some oil cured olives and some regular black olives out of a can.  That’s what I had, but you could use any combination of black olives you like, as long as you have some of the more flavorful ones.  Kalamata olives would be a good choice, but I didn’t have any

¼ - ½ C extra virgin olive oil

Zest of one lemon

1 T each, fresh oregano, thyme and parsley, minced

1 anchovy

1 T each fresh lemon juice and red wine vinegar

1 t capers

A pinch of red pepper flakes

Fresh ground black pepper

Grilled Swordfish with Black Olive Tapenade

Throw it all in the food processor until it’s a smooth paste.  It will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge, and I’m beginning to think it’s going to be a great condiment to have around for almost any kind of grilled, pan sautéed, baked or broiled meat, fish or fowl.  It would be good on pasta or bruschetta, too. The lemon zest and parsley give it a nice fresh flavor, so I tend to use a heavy hand with those two.  You can modify the ingredients to taste, and some sun-dried tomatoes would probably be delicious, as well.

God Bless Dan Wheldon

RIP Dan

I’m not a huge race fan, although the idea of auto racing is very exciting to me.  Yesterday was a very sad day for Indy car racing: British IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon, the winner of the 2011 Indianapolis 500, was killed in a 15-car collision.  It was heartbreaking to see the reactions of his fellow racers and his team.  RIP, Dan.  You will be missed.

London Broil with Creamed Spinach

Although we weren’t thinking about Dan Wheldon when we planned it, we had a sort of traditional English supper last night.  Consider it to be in your honor, Dan.  It consisted of London Broil, cooked medium rare (maybe not so typical of the Brits) with creamed spinach, broiled tomatoes and boiled new potatoes with butter, parsley and lemon juice.  It has been said of my creamed spinach that it doesn’t taste even like a vegetable.  I suppose that’s a good thing for those who are not fond of eating herbaceous plants.  I am not one of those, but I do love good creamed spinach.  My recipe was originally from the Silver Palate Cookbook, I think, although I doubt it’s exact.  It’s been years since I laid eyes on the actual cookbook, which is probably in a box somewhere in someone’s garage – maybe ours!  Anyway, here’s the recipe for Creamed Spinach:

1 box frozen chopped spinach

1 small onion, minced

4 strips bacon

1 T unsalted butter

Pinch of fresh-grated nutmeg

1 T all-purpose flour (I use the white whole wheat)

¾ C Half and Half, room temperature or warmed but not boiling

¼ - ½ of a brick of cream cheese or Neufchatel.  I would not recommend fat-free for this.

Salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste

Cook the spinach using just the water that’s frozen in the package.  Don’t overcook it; it should only take a few minutes.  Drain the spinach well and set aside in a strainer.  Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces and fry in a small saucepan.  Remove with a slotted spoon and put on a paper towel to absorb the grease. Set aside.  Remove all but 1 T of bacon grease from the saucepan and add the tablespoon of butter to it.  Heat until sizzling.  Saute the onion in the bacon grease/butter combination until soft and translucent.  Sprinkle with flour and cook for 2 – 3 minutes.  Add the Half and Half and stir or whisk until it’s smooth and creamy and slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.  Add the nutmeg and stir gently.  Squeeze all of the remaining water out of the spinach and add to the flour/Half and Half/onion mixture.  Mix well.  Add the cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese a little piece at a time, until it’s thoroughly blended into the spinach mixture.  Add the bacon pieces and salt and pepper to taste.  This can be made ahead and re-heated in the microwave, or in a covered saucepan with a little Half and Half added.  Sometimes if I’m feeling particularly decadent, I add a little pat of butter to it just before serving.  This is also really good inside of a tomato that’s been stripped of its insides.  The combination of creamy spinach and tangy tomato is very yummy, and makes a colorful and festive side dish.

Saturday night at home: Roast chicken with fall vegetables

Meg thinks this is naughty

Yesterday was a gorgeous October day: clear skies and a cool crisp breeze that carried a hint of smoke and decay.  It was a good day to cook something in the oven and we had a whole chicken that needed attention, so I decided to roast a chicken with some fall vegetables full of beta carotene.  I got a huge sweet potato, a lovely golden acorn squash, some carrots and some gorgeous Brussels sprouts.  The carrots were roasted with the chicken so that they absorbed some of that lovely chicken flavor.  I got a late start, so I poked holes in the sweet potato and microwaved it for 4 minute, then cut it into 16 pieces.  I cut the squash in half lengthwise, scooped out the seeds and stringy parts, then cut it into chunks and microwaved them for 3 minutes.  I tossed the slightly cooked squash and sweet potato with some olive oil, salt and pepper and laid out the pieces in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Those went into the oven for the last half hour of cooking, along with the Brussels sprouts, which I cut in half, tossed with olive oil, garlic, fresh thyme and salt and pepper, then placed face down on a smaller cookie sheet.  Simple, easy and full of autumnal flavors that created an irresistible smell in my kitchen.  We watched a couple of episodes of Sons of Anarchy while we ate our dinner and that was our relaxing Saturday night at home.  After dinner, Derek stripped the meat from the bones of the chicken and threw the carcass in the crock pot with some carrots, onion and celery and this morning we woke up to the aroma of rich chicken stock. I’m sure I’ll think of something to do with it before the week is over.  Buon Apetit!     



Roasted fall vegetables with sage







Hello again and Southwest Chicken Salad

Southwest Chicken Salad with Chipotle Lime Dressing

Hi, fellow food lovers.  I’ve missed you!  My new job has had me working such long hours I haven’t had time to do anything but work, eat, bathe, sleep and the most basic/ essential tasks to keep a household running.  At any rate, we’ve had some good meals lately, some of which, unfortunately,  I forgot to even photograph.  One of those was a big pot of Italian Wedding Soup, which happens to be my very favorite soup in the world.  It’s a bit labor intensive because you have to make over a hundred little tiny meatballs, but the end result is delicious - and well, cute!  I promise I’ll take pictures next time I make it, which will surely be sometime during the long cold winter that’s waiting to pounce on us.  I’ve been chewed out by a friend for neglecting the blog, which actually made me very happy.  I also had a request to post the recipe for the Southwest Chicken Salad I made the other night.  It turned out very well, if I do say so myself.

 In this case, I started with a store-bought rotisserie chicken that was not overcooked for a change!  Typically, I would grill a whole chicken myself using southwest flavors, but I’m beginning to think that’s an unnecessary use of time.  The store-bought one with BBQ flavors was perfectly fine.  I use Romaine lettuce for this, as well as some of our few remaining Juliet tomatoes L, canned black beans, grill roasted fresh corn, orange bell peppers, roasted poblanos from our garden, and red onion.  Derek roasts the poblanos himself over the burner, but you could do it on the grill or even the broiler.  If you’re not familiar with the process of roasting fresh chiles, you just roast them using your preferred method, turning them frequently until they’re spotted with black all over.  Then let them cool and peel the burned skin off of them.  Delicious!  I’m going to post the actual recipe, by request.  I make a chipotle lime cilantro dressing that Derek is really crazy about.  It’s very easy and can also be used as a sandwich spread.  This is a very colorful and pretty salad; I think it’s pretty healthy, too.  Here’s the recipe, as promised:

Southwest Chicken Salad

For the salad:

Leftover roasted or grilled chicken, shredded into bite-sized pieces

1 orange bell pepper, cut into ½ inch strips

1 or 2 roasted chiles, such as Poblano, or Hatch; peeled and cut into ½ inch strips

½ a small red onion, sliced thin

1 small can of black beans, rinsed and drained

3 ears of fresh corn, roasted and cut off the cob

8 Grape tomatoes, cut in half

1 avocado, cut in bite-sized pieces

1 head of Romaine lettuce, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces

Broken tortilla chips to garnish

For the dressing:

1 C mayonnaise; I use Hellman’s Olive Oil, but you could make your own homemade mayonnaise, if you’re so inclined.

Remaining half of the small red onion, minced

2 – 3 toes fresh garlic, minced

Juice from fresh limes to equal about 3 T

1 T lime zest! (it’s easier to juice the lime if you zest! it first)

1 small can chipotle chiles in adobo; use as much as you like, but take it slowly.   These babies are hotter than you might think.  I use about 2 T of the liquid and 1 or 2 of the chiles, depending on how hot I want it.  Start with 1 and go from there.

1 handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until smooth; it usually ends up being the color of Thousand Island dressing.  I sometimes add a little more lime or cilantro, but those quantities are a fairly good start.

Assemble the salad ingredients on top of the lettuce and toss with a small amount of the dressing, adding more a little at a time until it’s coated and the degree of heat you like.  You don’t need too much, so start with a little and add it as you go.  You shouldn’t need any salt or pepper.  Top with some broken corn tortilla chips and a little sprig of fresh cilantro.  ¡Disfrute!

Saturday night Spanish Supper (eaten at 10:00 p.m.!)

Paella

Hi, y’all.  Whew!  I’ve been working really long hours at the new job and last week I was sick with a super vicious cold, so I haven’t been writing much.  Truth be told, I haven’t been cooking much, either.  I was working on doing a series of posts about salads and salad dressings, but I got bored and frustrated with it.  I may get back to it one of these days, but in the meantime, I’m back to writing about life in Naptown, our garden and what’s on the table. The garden is winding down, although we still have the herb garden and some tomatoes and there’s a new batch of mixed greens, as well as the wild arugula and parsley that are popping up all over. It is definitely fall here.  The leaves are well into their transition from cool greens to fiery yellows and reds.  Having grown up in New Orleans, the changing seasons are thrilling to me, even knowing that a long cold winter is ahead. 



 So, what have I been cooking lately?  Derek worked all day yesterday, so I lounged around the house most of the day, took a nap and did a little internet shopping.  I made Brown Rice Paella for dinner – one of my favorite dishes.  I use Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe as a guideline for technique and quantities, since cooking brown rice can be a little tricky if you’re not used to it.  I like to believe that using brown rice makes the dish a little healthier!  I start off with four bone-in chicken thighs that I brown in one frying pan while prepping everything else and browning the chorizo.  You’ll also need chicken broth (low sodium store-bought is fine for this, since the dish has so many flavors), dry white wine, red and green bell peppers, fresh onion and garlic, a small can of diced tomatoes, some saffron (has to be the real thing), bay leaf, fresh parsley, frozen green peas, shrimp, a dozen fresh mussels in their shells, and of course, Spanish dry cured chorizo.  You don’t want to use the Mexican fresh chorizo in this dish if you can possibly avoid it.  Much of the flavor of the dish comes from the dry cured chorizo and the better the quality, the better the paella will turn out.  I use 1/3 cup of wine to de-glaze the pan I use to brown the chicken thighs, and add that to the rest of the mixture; it adds some lovely color and depth of flavor.  I’ll add the complete recipe at the bottom of this post.





Ensalada de Espana with Orange Sherry Vinaigrette

 I like to make my salads a real prelude to the meal, so in this case, I wanted to use ingredients typically found in Spanish cuisine.  I had some lovely Artisan lettuces (I still don’t really know what "artisan" means in regards to lettuce, but whatever).  I added a perfectly ripe avocado, segments of fresh orange, red onion, black and green olives, and then garnished the salad with toasted almond slivers.  I dressed my Ensalada de España with a vinaigrette made of Sherry vinegar, a little fresh-squeezed orange juice, Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil, fresh-ground black pepper and salt/garlic paste.  I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s my favorite way of getting the taste of fresh garlic into your salad dressing without any unpleasant overpowering bites of garlic.  Take a small toe of fresh garlic and mince it.  Add a couple of pinches of sea salt, and with the flat of your knife, mash the two together until they form a smooth paste, which you whisk into the vinegar/citrus before you add the oil. It may seem like a lot of trouble, but it will take less than five minutes and it will improve your salad dressing 300%, I promise!

Here's the recipe, as promised:

Ingredients

• 1pound extra-large shrimp (21/25), peeled and deveined
• Olive oil 
• 8-9medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
• 4 chicken thighs , each thigh trimmed of excess fat
• 1 red bell pepper and 1 green bell pepper , seeded and cut pole to pole into 1/2-inch-wide strips, so that you have about 14 strips; chop the rest and add to the onions
• 6 ounces Spanish chorizo , sliced 1/2 inch thick on the bias; remove the casing so that the sausage won't curl up
• 1 medium onion , chopped fine (about 1 cup)
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes , drained, minced, and drained again
• 2 cups long-grain brown rice
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads , crumbled
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 dozen mussels , scrubbed and debearded
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas, slightly thawed
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 lemon , cut into wedges, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Toss shrimp, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1 teaspoon garlic in medium bowl; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and brown on both sides in a large skillet while working on the peppers.  When the chicken thighs are evenly browned, remove from the pan and set aside on a plate to cool.  When cool, remove the skin and eat it as a tasty treat - it gets soggy and unappealing if left on anyway!
2. While the chicken is browning, heat 2 teaspoons oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until skin begins to blister and turn spotty black, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer peppers to small plate and set aside.
3. Reduce heat to medium and add chorizo to Dutch oven; cook, stirring frequently, until deeply browned and fat begins to render, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer chorizo to bowl with chicken and set aside.
4. Drain the oil in the Dutch oven, leaving about 2 tablespoons; heat over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add onion and chopped peppers and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes; stir in remaining garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes; cook until mixture begins to darken and thicken slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in rice and cook until grains are well coated with tomato mixture, 1 to 2 minutes.  De-glaze the pan from the chicken with white wine, scraping up all the brown tasty bits at the bottom of the pan.  Add to the Dutch oven along with chicken broth, saffron and bay leaf; increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally.
5. Cover pot and transfer to oven; cook until rice absorbs most of liquid, about 20 minutes. Remove pot from oven; add chicken and chorizo, cover pot, and transfer to oven; cook for 25 minutes. Remove pot from oven; scatter shrimp over meat and rice, insert mussels hinged side down into rice (so they stand upright), arrange bell pepper strips in pinwheel pattern, and scatter peas over top. Cover and return to oven; cook until shrimp are opaque and mussels have opened, about 12 minutes.
6. Let paella stand, covered, about 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that have not opened and bay leaf, if it can be easily removed. Sprinkle with parsley and serve, passing lemon wedges separately, if desired.  Serve with a green salad and a nice dry red or white wine.  I like a Spanish Tempranillo with this.

 

Art, Gardens and a Shrimp Boil

Arbor at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

The leaves are starting to change and the air is cool.  It's been the kind of weather that really makes you want to be outside, a welcome change from the hellish heat we've had all summer.  Yesterday was a perfect day for a bike ride to the Penrod Art Festival, held annually on the grounds of the Indianapolis Art Museum.  I love visiting the gardens there because the landscaping is exquisite: it has enough structure to give it a sense of design and purpose, but with a touch of wildness that lights me up and feels like freedom.  Sadly, the food at the festival is nothing to speak of, but it’s unfair to compare any festival food to that at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.  I’ll just leave it at that.

Eggplant Parmesan

After a full day of festivalling and a trip to Trader Joe's to replenish our dwindling suppy of wine, cheese and saffron, I really didn’t feel like cooking last night.  Derek was going to have to work today, so we traded chef duties.  He made some delicious Eggplant Parmesan with gorgeous, shiny purple eggplants from our garden.  We had some leftover homemade tomato sauce that he had made earlier in the week from our beautiful tomatoes.  It made a perfect sauce for the eggplant. 

Boiled Shrimp

Tonight we’re having a traditional Louisiana shrimp boil.  I found a place nearby that sells fresh heads-on shrimp, and as any Louisiana shrimp aficionado will tell you, it’s important to leave the heads on when making boiled or BBQ shrimp.  As I’ve mentioned before, my grandfather Boo owned New Orleans Imports, where Rex Crab Boil and spices were processed and packaged, as well as some of the other well-known brands of spices in New Orleans.  For many years, New Orleans Imports had the only spice mill in town, so he blended the spices for other brands as well.  It’s been many many years since Boo died, but I still use Rex Crab Boil whenever I can find it.  It’s still locally made, and it tends to be less expensive than the other brands, but much much better, of course.  ;-)  I like to use a combination of liquid and powdered crab boil, with a lot of salt, some cayenne pepper and some lemon slices.  I bought some really pretty new potatoes and some baby Yukon golds and I'm cooking them in the crab boil along with some fresh corn.  I’ll slice up some of our heirloom tomatoes and that will be dinner.  Yum!

Geaux Saints, leftovers and Mediterranean chicken

Italian Sausage and peppers

Tonight is the first game of the NFL season, and the Saints are playing.  I honestly don’t even remember who they’re playing; I lost interest in football last season after the Saints and the Colts were out of the playoffs.  Although I’m far away from New Orleans,  I’m showing my support for my peeps by wearing my black and gold fleur de lis rain boots today, along with various gold fleur de lis jewelry items.  Tonight’s game is preceded by President Obama’s speech, so we’re going to be occupied.  I’m making a salad and heating up the leftover sausage and peppers Derek made earlier this week.  I’m betting it will taste even better tonight.

Chicken with Mediterranean flavors

Last night Derek roasted a chicken with vegetables and Mediterranean flavors.  It was beautiful and scrumptious.  We didn’t have any fresh fennel bulb, but we did have eggplant in our garden, so he used eggplant with some fennel seeds.  The eggplant was still firm to the touch and tasted like fennel bulb.  I adore fennel, so that alone made me very happy.  Our garden is winding down and we don’t get much sun back there this time of year, so fall gardens tend to be disappointing.  I’m hoping our tomatoes will keep producing for a while longer; last year we were picking tomatoes the night before Thanksgiving.  Failing that, I guess we’ll have to set aside a day to try canning and drying tomatoes.  I couldn’t bear to see them go to waste. 



 Geaux Saints!!!

A Hint of Autumn: Braised Lamb Shanks with Red Wine and Herbes de Provence

I love the fall, especially here in Indianapolis, where the leaves really do change color and take my breath away with their fiery beauty.  There’s always a tinge of melancholy, though, knowing that a long cold winter is just around the corner.  This weekend we went from nearly 100 degrees on Saturday to the mid-50’s on Sunday night.  Derek and I went to see The Romantics at Rib Fest on Sunday evening and then went to a lovely little Italian restaurant with outdoor seating for dinner: Linguine con le Vongole for me, and Lasagna for Derek, preceded by Calamari that we shared.  It was a lovely evening and seeing The Romantics brought me back to the wilder days of my youth.  We never eat the ribs at Rib Fest anymore, because I’m totally spoiled by the way Derek makes them.  After the concert, we drove up to an area of town called Broad Ripple, which is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Indianapolis; there are lots of restaurants and quaint shops overlooking the canal, and I knew we’d find somewhere we could eat al fresco.  It was delightful, but toward the end of our meal, it was becoming too chilly to stay outside! 

Braised Lamb Shanks with carrots

During the fall, in order to keep the melancholy moments at bay, I try to take advantage of the weather by cooking things that I wouldn’t consider in the hot months of summer.  It’s finally cool enough to turn the oven on, so tonight I’m making braised lamb shanks with red wine and Herbes de Provence.  I use Cook’s Illustrated as a guide for quantities, but it’s a very simple dish.  You just brown the shanks on all sides in a dutch oven or roasting pan, remove them when they’re browned, add onion, carrots and celery and cook until tender.  Then add garlic and Herbes de Provence and cook until fragrant.  Mix in a spoonful of tomato paste and cook for a minute or so.  Add some chicken broth and red wine, scraping up the bits from the bottom and bring to a simmer.  You could use beef broth if you don’t have chicken broth, but it’s heavier and can sometimes be overpowering.  Add the lamb shanks, cover, and cook in a 350 degree oven for about an hour and a half, or less if the shanks are small.  Turn the shanks over and cook for another 30 minutes or so until the shanks are browned on the other side and the meat is falling off of the bone.  There are two really important things to remember when braising meats.  First of all, put just enough liquid for it to come about halfway up the shanks.  You don’t want to boil them!  Two, let the meat rest for 15 minutes or so before serving.  This dish is delicious with boiled or roasted new potatoes, some good chunky bread and a green salad; it’s a very simple hearty dish with loads of flavor.  We even made this once when we were camping! 

Roasted Potatoes

It’s in the oven now, creating mouth-watering aromas through the house, and I imagine, outside, too, since the windows are open.  Tonight I’m serving the lamb with my olive-oil roasted potatoes and salad.  Bon Apetit!

Friends, food, history and cupcakes

Grilled oysters

Last night we had our friends Lezza and Chris over for dinner.  I’m delighted to say that Lezza is now a convert to grilled oysters, so that makes two for me.  I think I should win a prize.  In a way, I already did, because they brought us a cookbook that is a revised edition of what may be one of the first U.S. cook books written in the 20^th century.   The Picayune Creole Cook Book, originally published in 1901, is a “glimpse into old Creole hospitality, customs and traditions,” with some of the original Creole recipes on which the popular and ubiquitous cuisine is based.  It’s full of quaint old-fashioned comments such as “…has been animated by the laudable desire to teach the great mass of the public how to live cheaply and well.”  That sounds like my motto!  I wish people still valued vocabulary.

For dinner we had grilled oysters, green salad with garlicky red wine vinaigrette and Shrimp Etouffee with Wild Pecan Rice.  This particular type of rice, which is partially hulled, is grown in the area around New Iberia, Louisiana, where my maternal grandmother was born and raised.  The rice contains no pecans, but it has a very appealing nutty fragrance that fills the house.  I like to serve it with shrimp or crawfish etouffee, partially for reasons of nostalgia and authenticity, but mostly just because I really love the smell, taste and texture of it. 

One and a Half Cupcakes

Lezza and Chris also brought us some cupcakes from a place down the street: Red Velvet (my absolute favorite of all time) and Maple Bacon (my new favorite).  My niece Remy, who is currently a resident of Paris, France, has been proclaiming the deliciousness of bacon combined with sweet things for ages.  Now I see what she’s been raving about. 

The night before, Derek had made some absolutely sinful chocolate ice cream for dessert; I think it had two pounds of dark chocolate in it!  That left the cupcakes for breakfast today. J

Chicken Vesuvio for my bodyguard

Derek drove me to work yesterday and then took my car to our mechanic to fix a loose belt that had been causing a god-awful screeching noise every time I turned on the engine.  I really really appreciate that because I hate dealing with car stuff, although our mechanic is great and wouldn't even accept any payment for his services.  I took Derek up to my office/cubicle to meet my new co-workers and later somebody asked who that guy was with me.  We have a bunch of fun people at work and we're always in a chat/IM, so someone else said, "Bodyguard," which became the source of jokes for about half an hour yesterday morning.  The man has many nicknames, but that one might stick for a little while. 

Chicken Vesuvio

For dinner last night, I made my bodyguard a bastardized version of Chicken Vesuvio in a skillet using boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which I messed up a little by burning the browned bits at the bottom of the pan.  I cannot cook well when I have to rush, and that's all there is to it!  I brought home some of the fantastically beautiful salad greens they sell at our cafeteria.  I swear, I’ve never seen more perfect greens in my life, and they’re less expensive here than at the grocery store, even if they were as pristine.  I made a salad of lightly cooked broccoli, tomatoes, red onion, red bell pepper, parmesan cheese and pine nuts dressed with my lemon vinaigrette.  If you’re not familiar with Chicken Vesuvio, it’s a very garlicky dish with herbs, wine and potatoes.  Derek makes a fabulous traditional version, but he’s faster in the kitchen than I am, and I figured that with all of the flavorful sauce, we could forego the crispy skin this time.  It turned out pretty well, considering its inauspicious beginnings, and Derek really liked the sauce.  I wish I had thought to bring some for lunch today!

Chicken Marsala with incinerated new potatoes, ha!



Chicken Marsala with grill-roasted potatoes

 Yesterday afternoon  just before I left work, it occurred to me that I had mushrooms in the refrigerator that I needed to use, so I stopped by the grocery store on the way home, picked up some chicken tenders and threw together some Chicken Marsala.  I didn’t get home until after 6:00, so I wanted to put this meal together quickly.  I usually make risotto with anything a la Marsala, but it’s too time-consuming and labor intensive for a week night, and we didn’t have any homemade chicken broth in the freezer, so roasted potatoes would have to do.  I decided to try roasting the potatoes using my new-found grill roasting method, and if I had watched them more closely, they would have been perfect.  Alas, I didn’t and some of them were incinerated.  Nevertheless, enough were salvageable, and with some fresh broccoli, it was a passable Tuesday dinner.

For the Chicken Marsala:  Pat the chicken tenders dry with a paper towel and season them with salt and pepper.  Dredge them in flour, being sure to shake off any excess.  I’m crazy about the white whole wheat flour that’s become popular.  It’s a bit healthier, but it also browns more quickly without losing its thickening power.  Brown them in a pan on medium high heat in a couple of tablespoons of hot vegetable oil.  When they’re browned on both sides, put them in a warm (170 or so) oven while you make the sauce.  Sometimes I use pancetta in this recipe if I have it; yesterday I used some smoked pork jowl that I had left over from a pasta dish.  It adds just a little extra flavor to the dish, but it’s certainly not necessary.  After browning the pork and putting it on paper towels, I sautéed some fresh thinly sliced mushrooms on medium high heat, just until the mushroom liquid had been cooked out.  If you’re not using any pork, just sauté the mushrooms in a little butter.  You want them to be screeching when you put them in the pan so they’ll get a good roasted flavor.  Add a couple of tablespoons of minced shallot and cook until soft and translucent; add one finely minced toe of garlic and cook until just fragrant.  I threw in a half teaspoon of tomato paste at this point, but again, it’s not really necessary.  Add ¾ C of Marsala and be sure to scrape all the yummy bits off of the bottom of the pan.  Turn the heat down to simmer and reduce the sauce until it’s velvety and slightly thickened.  Off heat, add a tablespoon of butter to finish the sauce and garnish with fresh parsley.  It’s a beautiful thing!

Pork is Yummy!

Carnitas

It’s my turn to cook tonight and I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do.  I really hadn’t thought much about it, to tell you the truth.  I’m usually good about planning meals in advance because I’m not particularly good at improvising; that’s Derek’s area of expertise.  I don’t know what happened to me today, but I figured that since I have no ideas, I’d talk about the Carnitas Derek made last night.  Carnitas means “little pieces of meat” in Spanish, and that’s exactly what they are.  Carnitas are typically served with tortillas, sometimes soft and sometimes on a tostada, which is a “toasted” tortilla.  Almost every cuisine has its special pork preparations; the Italians have many, including prosciutto, pancetta, and the lesser known guanciale, which is the salt cured meat used in the traditional version of Pasta Carbonara.  The Spanish have Jamón Serrano and Ibérico, as well as their dry cured version of chorizo.  Cajun cuisine favors andouille and tasso, while the traditional French pretty much eat any part of an animal that doesn’t eat them first!  One of the better known pork preparations in Mexico is chorizo, but tacos al pastor and tacos de carnitas are very popular as well.  When I lived in Cozumel, pork was the best meat you could get on the island, as they brought live pigs over every day on the car ferry, so the pork was as fresh as it gets.  I’ve never found pork in the U.S. that compares with that of Mexican pork, but Derek has found a way to make me believe I’m in Mexico, at least during dinner.  He uses a foolproof recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, which is our bible for all things food.  I can’t begin to describe the perfection of that pork, with its thin crunchy exterior, and moist porky interior, but maybe the pictures will help.  He served the Carnitas  with fresh corn tortillas from our Mexican grocery store down the street, black beans and a beautiful salsa made from our gorgeous Juliets and Poblano peppers, which he roasted and peeled.  I could have eaten those little nuggets of joy 'til my head caved in.  Derek stopped me.

A hunk of grilled bread, a glass of wine and....a dozen grilled oysters!

Grilled Oysters

Last night was a delightful preview of autumn here in Indianapolis, so we ate grilled oysters outside, a la Drago’s Restaurant in Fat City, near where I grew up.  Fat City is a little area of Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, that’s mostly restaurants and bars.  I’m not sure if it’s still called Fat City, or why it ever was so named, but anybody that grew up in New Orleans knows the part of town I’m talking about.  Drago’s is famous for their char-grilled oysters, which have become a menu item de rigueur in The Big Easy.   I experimented with the recipe years ago, and now have my own version of it, which we do occasionally as a treat, since Derek is batpoo crazy about oysters.  I’m so lucky that we can get fresh oysters at our neighborhood Kroger, and that Derek is willing and able to shuck them if I make the sauce. 

A few months ago, we had some friends over for dinner and they brought their 13-year-old daughter with them.  Poor darling; her plans for the night had gone awry and I’m sure she was not thrilled to be spending her precious Saturday evening with her parents and a couple of old geezers she had never met.  The menu had not exactly been designed with a teen in mind and I was a little worried she wouldn’t like anything I had prepared, although her mother assured me that August was not a picky eater.  Grilled oysters were the first course, and to my surprise and delight, August was more than game to try them.  As it turned out, she loved them as much as Derek and I do, which tickled me to death.  It’s a great pleasure and a compliment to introduce a new dish to someone who really enjoys it.  A few days later I was pleasantly surprised to receive a thank-you note in the mail from her mom – when was the last time someone sent you a handwritten thank-you note for dinner? 

This is how you prepare two dozen grilled oysters (my measurements, as always, are approximate):  First you have to find someone who will shuck them  - and good luck with that!  I’ve tried using shucked oysters and putting them in muffin tins on the grill.  That was a drastic error; the muffin tins were too deep and the oysters ended up steamed instead of grilled - not appetizing at all.  I suppose you could save some old oyster shells, clean them really well and re-use them, and I’ve often thought about doing just that, but there’s something very special about just-shucked oysters. I'm a big believer in delaying gratification.

Mince 5 or more large toes of garlic, a handful of fresh Italian parsley and about half a teaspoon of fresh rosemary – the rosemary should be barely detectable and just add a mysterious depth of flavor to the oysters.  Grate about a cup of Parmigiano Reggiano; it’s important to use really good quality cheese in this dish, as there are so few ingredients – please do not use that sawdust in a green can!  Heat the garlic in a combination of ¼ stick (2 Tablespoons) of butter and an equal amount of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, just until it’s fragrant.  I usually do this in a glass measuring cup in the microwave, but you can do it on the stove as well.  If you have any of the mixture left, it’s great on grilled bread, which is what I did last night.  Spoon about a teaspoon of the garlic/butter/olive oil mixture over each shucked oyster, still in its shell.  Sprinkle with a little fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano, a little parsley and just a tiny sprinkle of rosemary.  Place the oysters in their shells on a metal cookie sheet and place on a super hot grill.  Close the grill and cook them for just a few minutes, until the oysters are just ruffled on the edges.  With a green salad, some bread (I prefer warm New Orleans French bread) and a cool crisp white wine, you have a meal made in heaven.