Feeding Groom

Fine, and You?

2011-03-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Truffle Cake from Dessert Designs

It's been awhile.

Seriously.

A long while.

No, I didn't quit eating.

I didn't quit trying new recipes.

It started out as taking a break.

And turned into something much more than that.

It went from being a busy fall into Thanksgiving.

And then it went to hell.

A yearly mammogram gone horribly wrong.

Ten days later a stereotactic biopsy.

A diagnosis the day before Christmas Eve.

Two weeks later a lumpectomy.

Followed a month later by thirty three days of radiation.

That ended today.

I was lucky.

No lymph nodes involved.

No chemo necessary and voluntary radiation to be sure the cancer cells were gone.

And no follow up pill.

As one doctor at Vanderbilt said, "if you had to pick a breast cancer to have, this would be it."

Thanks.

I'll remember that.

Food wise, there were a lot of Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese suppers, my personal go-to for stress eating.

And there were lots of wonderful meals, shared with Groom by a warm fire and surrounded by four leggedy loved ones.

There were lots of Sundays with precious child Kate, watching Glee and Modern Family.

Many close friends who kept food, wine, laughter and books flowing around us as Groom and I found our way together through a difficult time.

And knitting...lots of knitting.

And Nanny..my mother, always there, reminding me of who I am and how to keep going.

And get cooking.

And start Feeding Groom.

Again.

Harissa

2010-08-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

It’s 109 degrees in the shade and being a born and bred Southern girl, I don’t do heat.

I do air conditioning very well.

So why in the world during the hottest summer I can remember do I want to make Harissa?

You know Harissa, the North African condiment which sometimes can be so hot, you turn a totally unappetizing shade of red at the dinner table.

Bobby Flay made me want to make Harissa, that’s why.

And I’m so glad he did.

You have options on how hot you want it. You also have options whether you wish to make a paste or more of a thick sauce. I opted for the sauce.

And as a topping for grilled wild sockeye salmon or roasted chicken with chickpeas or grilled flank steak with a splat of Harissa and Tzatziki rolled in pita bread…mmm mmm mmm.

I roasted tomatoes and garlic and red bell peppers to perfection, toasted crushed red pepper flakes, caraway seeds and cumin seeds and coriander seed and threw it all in the blender. Aged sherry vinegar and dash of honey..

Just the right blend of spice and heat to make whatever you’re eating just that much better.

Without sacrificing your good looks at the dinner table.

Harissa
Adapted from Bobby Flay’s Grill It by Bobby Flay

3 fat cloves garlic
1-½ tsp crushed hot red pepper flakes
2 large red bell peppers, cut in half, remove seeds
2 small tomatoes
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple of dashes aged sherry vinegar
1 tsp honey
A quick swirl of extra virgin olive oil

Roast the pepper, tomatoes, and garlic at 400 degrees until done. I did this in a toaster oven and it worked beautifully. Plan on about 20 minutes until garlic is soft.

Toast the cumin seeds, caraway seeds, coriander seeds and crushed pepper flakes in a small dry skillet until the spices are fragrant, about five minutes over medium high heat.

Put the roasted veggies in a blender and chop. Add spices and keep the blender going. Add the sherry vinegar and the honey and a quick swirl of extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Makes about a cup and a half.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

A Divine Tomato Tart

2010-07-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

We grew tomatoes at the Red Brick Ranchero for years. The best was Rose de Berne, a wondrous heirloom.

Then our dirt decided to turn on us and we couldn’t grow a cucumber.

Seriously.

So we took that as a sign from above and decided to leave the tomato growing to the people that know how to do it.

Recently, our favorite “veggies in the summer” guy, Kenny, has had these outrageous Amish grown Better Boy tomatoes.

At least I think they’re Better Boys.

I was swooning and making happy noises while he was telling me what kind they were.

In other words, not listening.

Whatever they are, they shine in this Divine Tomato Tart. It owes a lot to Chuck Hughes ( who is absolutely outrageous and why didn't I know about him before now), nothing at all to Paula Deen, other than butter is used in the process, and a whole lot to the pig, who makes it’s presence known in the form of crisped prosciutto sprinkled on the top with fresh basil right before serving.

A phyllo crust brushed with Dijon and topped with Manchego cheese, a dusting of fresh thyme on thickly sliced tomatoes and some grape tomatoes (because someone who shall remain nameless ate a tomato designated for the tart without permission) round out the ingredients.

This tart is as easy as pie (couldn't resist!) and works wonderfully with a bit of fresh arugula…I’m seriously into arugula this summer…a piece of grilled chicken on the side, or even out of hand a la Nigella late in the evening.

Feeding Groom’s Divine Tomato Tart
Adapted from Chuck’s Day Off

1 package phyllo, thawed
1 stick butter, melted
2 large Better Boy tomatoes, sliced about ½ inch thick
1 cup grated Manchego cheese
Dijon mustard
Three to four sprigs fresh thyme
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 pieces prosciutto, diced and sautéed til crisp
A few fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spray a bit of Pam in a 12 inch quiche dish. Start layering phyllo dough, overlapping the sheets, around the dish. Brush with melted butter. Continue to layer and brush with butter til you have used all the sheets. Be sure to let phyllo overlap the top and brush that with butter as well. Then brush what will be the bottom of the tart with a tablespoon or two of Dijon mustard.

Sprinkle the grated cheese over the tart and then add the tomatoes. If you have glaring holes that need tomatoes, add halved grape tomatoes to fill in the gaps.
Sprinkle the tomatoes with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and the fresh thyme leaves that you have stripped from the stems.

Pop it in the oven and let bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with the prosciutto and the fresh basil. Look at the picture, can you tell which side I used to take it out of the oven?

Serves 4 generously as main course.
Serves 5 as side dish.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Sunday Shrimp

2010-07-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

Just because you don’t blog all the time doesn’t mean you don’t think about it.

You think about it constantly and wonder what the hell happened to your muse.

Did he run off to live with some other person who thinks they have lots to say about food?

Or is he just being fickle and testing you to see if you are as serious about food as you say you are.

Whatever it is, there has been a lack o’ muse around the Red Brick Ranchero for a couple of months, but I think it’s safe to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel..

Check out this faboo shrimp dish that is fast, easy and full of flavor.

Garlic flavor. Sundried tomato flavor. Italian parsley flavor.

Brine the shrimp. Throw it in a searingly hot cast iron pan with a dab of extra virgin olive oil and you’ve got something special.

Toss with spicy arugula and you’ve got a supper that will, in the Feeding Groom world, make you want to call someone and tell them how good it is, but we all know what your mama told you about talking with your mouth full.

Sunday Shrimp
Adapted from The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper

1 pound 21-25 shrimp, peeled, tail on
1 large lemon, cut into 8 wedges
4 fat cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
¼ cup pine nuts
3 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
6 julienned sundried tomatoes preserved in oil, give a quick rinse
A good pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Put the shrimp in a large bowl and cover with 4 cups cold water and add 2 tbsp coarse salt.
Put in fridge and let it sit for 20 minutes.
Then rinse well, pat dry and put in a large bowl with the sundried tomatoes, chopped Italian parsley and a good swirl extra virgin olive oil
.
Heat a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil in a large cast iron skillet.
Add the chopped garlic to the pan and let cook about five minutes, until the garlic gets golden and remove from the pan. Add the pine nuts to the pan and let saute til golden about five minutes. Remove from the pan.

In a large bowl , toss the shrimp with the chopped parsley, a bit more extra virgin olive oil , the sundried tomatoes. Raise the heat under the pan to medium high. When the olive oil looks wavy add the shrimp to the hot pan with the toasted garlic and pine nuts and cook til the shrimp turn pink. It won’t take long!
Add the lemon wedges and toss well.

Serves 3 generously.
This is wonderful with fresh arugula dressed with a zesty lemon vinaigrette.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Fennel and Celery Slaw with Orange, Cumin and Chilies

2010-04-27T17:53:00.001-07:00

Fennel slaw.

Intriguing and not at all what you would think it would be.
Especially when you only have one fennel bulb.

And you realize fennel’s best friend is celery.
And there’s a plethora of the celery in the fridge.

A little bit of orange zest, crushed fennel seeds, ground cumin, hot red pepper flakes and minced garlic.

Let this baby sit a bit and it gets a mind of its own.

Spicy, peppery, fragrant and so damn good with a piece of grilled chicken marinated in fresh lime juice.

Dare I say it?

Big Fat Yum!!!

Fennel and Celery Slaw with Orange, Cumin and Chilies
Adapted from Molly O’Neill’s A Well Seasoned Appetite

1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and julienned
1 large cup thinly sliced celery
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp fennel seeds, crushed
Good pinch crushed hot red pepper flakes
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 small clove garlic, smashed and minced
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp fresh orange juice
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine fennel and celery in big bowl. Combine fennel seeds, cumin and crushed red pepper flakes in small bowl and add to fennel and celery and toss. Whisk together the orange zest, garlic, fresh lemon and orange juices. Add a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil and season to taste with the coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add to the fennel and celery and toss til well coated. Let sit for an hour at room temperature.
The original recipe calls for chopping ¼ cup of fresh fennel fronds and adding to the salad prior to serving.
I forgot. I’m sure it would be divine. Also you can do this recipe with 3 medium fennel bulbs and leave out the celery. Up to you!

Serves 3.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Feeding Groom's Grilled Lobster Provencal

2010-04-24T06:06:00.000-07:00

One of the truly great party weekends in Nashville is just around the corner.

The Iroquois Steeplechase.

Visualize yourself on a beautiful sunny day, dressed up in the cutest dress, a faboo hat and totally inappropriate shoes hiking several miles to your box where you’ll spend a delightful afternoon watching horses fling themselves around a track and people slowly turn the color of lobsters.

Which brings me to my subject.

Lunch.

You’ve delegated beverage, nibble and dessert duty to fellow box members. It’s up to you to bring it on and blow them away with the main course.
.
Enter a cold grilled lobster with a knock out baby new potato and haricot verts salad .A divine Dijon vinaigrette, a few toasted pine nuts, Kalamata olives just add to the total outrageousness of this meal. if you don’t want to deal with the shell, make the salad, put it on some mixed baby romaine and top with the chopped grilled lobster and fresh basil. Add a few lemon wedges for a quick squeeze on top and you’ve got one hell of a lunch.

Party on!

Feeding Groom’s Grilled Lobster Provencal

Dressing:

3 tbs Champagne vinegar
1 tsp minced shallot
2 tsp Dijon mustard
½ cup roasted garlic olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix the champagne vinegar, shallot and mustard in small bowl. Slowly drizzle the oil into the bowl as you whisk until the dressing emulsifies. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

The Lobster Tails:

Preheat your grill to high if gas, or get the charcoal going.

2 large lobster tails
Roasted garlic olive oil for brushing

Salad:

1 pound baby new potatoes, cooked until just tender, cut in half
½ pound haricots verts, also known as French green beans, blanched
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
¼ cup fresh basil, cut into chiffonade
¼ cup Kalamata olives, pitted
6 perfectly ripe small tomatoes, quartered ( grape tomatoes work well)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a dab of olive oil. Add lobster tails and cook for six minutes at the boil. Drain and when cool enough to handle, take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut right down the middle of the flesh side of the lobster. Don’t cut all the way through. Clean the hard shell off the flesh side and with the scissors, cut to expose the flesh so it will grill evenly.

When your fire is ready, brush the lobster tails with the roasted garlic olive oil and cook 3 minutes a side.
Remove the flesh from the lobster tail and chop in bite sized pieces. Toss with a bit of roasted garlic oil and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Combine salad ingredients, toss with dressing to taste.

Fill the lobster tail with the chopped lobster. Arrange salad next to the lobster and sprinkle with the fresh basil.

Serves 2.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Mediterranean Scallops

2010-03-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

Talk about a dish that will brighten up your dinner plate.

This is it.

Adapted from the always amazing Molly O’Neill’s A Well Seasoned Appetite, this dish has all the ingredients to transport you on a mental vacation to the Mediterranean .

Saffron, orange, basil, rosemary.

Throw in a few choice scallops, Nicoise olives and the freshest tomatoes you can find.

Pasta, if you like.

It’s travel in a bite.

Mediterranean Scallops
Adapted from Molly O’Neill’s A Well Seasoned Appetite

A couple of swirls extra virgin olive oil
2 large shallots, minced
1 spoonful garlic confit ( or a couple of fat garlic cloves, chopped)
1 cup dry white wine
1 large pinch saffron
6 -8 of the ripest Campari tomatoes, quartered
½ cup oil cured olives, pitted
½ fresh orange, zested
2 medium springs fresh rosemary, chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 large basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade
A good splash aged sherry vinegar
1 pound fresh scallops
Enough cooked pasta (linguine or fettuccine) for 2 (optional)

Put a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet and heat til the oil is wavy. Add the minced shallots and garlic and maintain a medium low heat. Cook until the shallots are tender. Add the wine , saffron and raise the heat to medium high and saute stirring, until the mixture is reduced to about ¼ cup.
Add half the tomatoes, olives, orange zest, rosemary and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Reduce the heat back to medium low and cook, stirring frequently until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.

Combine remaining tomatoes, fresh basil, sherry vinegar and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper in a glass bowl and set aside to marinate while you finish the dish.

Add the scallops to the skillet with the sauce and cook, about 5-7 minutes, until the scallops are cooked through.

This is faboo with or without the addition of the pasta.

Top the dish with the marinated tomato salad and serve.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Butternut Squash with Fresh Ginger, Two Peppers and Fresh Basil

2010-03-07T16:21:00.001-08:00

Side dishes.

Sometimes they can be such a bother.

And boring.

Don’t want to steam asparagus AGAIN?

Tired of the same old potato routine ?

Do you like garlic and shallots and red bell peppers ?

Don’t mind a bit of jalapeno?

Is fresh ginger a favorite?

Ready for the bright taste of fresh basil and a blast of lime?

Hmmmm?

Got it.

Butternut Squash with Ginger, Two Peppers and Fresh Basil
Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper

1 large butternut squash, cut in half. Peel one half and refrigerate the other.
Coarse salt
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
A large knob of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced and then the slices cut into matchsticks
1 large spoonful garlic confit, smashed (or just a few fat garlic cloves, sliced)
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
½ large red bell pepper, sliced thin
½ large jalapeno, seeded and sliced thin
2 scallions, sliced on diagonal
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lime
About ½ cup chopped fresh basil

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cut the peeled squash half in half again and slice ¼ inch pieces.
Add to the boiling water and cook at the boil for 10 minutes.
Drain.

In a large skillet over medium high heat add a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil. When oil is wavy , add the ginger, garlic, peppers, scallions, shallots and season with the coarse salt and grind some black pepper in. Cook for a few minutes, stirring. Cover skillet and turn heat down to medium and cook for between 5-8 minutes.

Add the fresh basil and cook for just a bit. Remove from heat, season and squeeze the lime juice over and serve.

Serves 2 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Pollo al Mattone

2010-02-23T17:09:00.000-08:00

Hello dahlinks!

Yes, it’s me. Back from the winter doldrums and lack of inspiration in the kitchen to wow you with a bit of music and food.

I know, you’re looking at this lovely foil covered brick and thinking, ho hum, cheap but effective kitchen tool.

Well, yes it is. And it’s nothing new. People have been cooking under bricks for years.

But…if you’re like me, you’ve had some success with bricks and chickens.

Maybe not together as much now that I think about it.

Chicken did not cook evenly.

You dropped said brick and chick on floor and had to renovate the kitchen.

The there is the backbone removal aka butterfly-ing said bird. It works for a chicken, sure. A turkey…not one that weighs over 18 pounds. We won‘t go into Thanksgiving 2009 again.

How’s about a Cornish Game Hen?

Hell, yes.

Bring on the little birdies.

I have mastered the removal of said backbone and can cook two, count ‘em, two game hens at the same time in the same pan under one brick and one skillet.

Pollo al Mattone for two, thank you very much.

I owe it all to Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, truly one of the funnier, more laid back and inspiring cooking shows I have seen.

Anne Burrell makes this dish look easy and when you do it, it is. And using the GH (aka Game Hen) in this dish is her idea.

Brilliant!

If you haven’t had one in a long time, Cornish game hen is delish. It’s made for the people that love chicken thighs, and in case you haven’t noticed I am the self proclaimed Queen of the Chick Thigh.

So get out your sharp knife.
Flatten the little suckers.
Tie their little legs together.
Give them a massage in the pimenton and toasted cumin paste, let them sit and think at least a couple of hours and break out the brick.

Crank up The Commodores as you take your pans and brick out of the oven and make the quick sauce to top this perfect every time dinner.

And you dance a bit.

Because you can.

Pollo Al Mattone aka Brick House Game Hens
Adapted from a recipe courtesy of Anne Burrell

4 fat cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 springs fresh rosemary, leaves chopped or 1 tbsp dried rosemary leaves, crushed
1 tsp smoked pimenton
1 -½ tsp toasted ground cumin
2 Cornish game hens, butterflied, backbone and wing tips removed, legs tied with kitchen string, remembering to remove it prior to picture taking
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup dry white wine
¾ cup roasted chicken stock
1 tbsp butter

Wrap a brick in aluminum foil.

Combine garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, lemon zest and lemon juice, rosemary, pimenton and cumin. Add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil until mixture becomes a paste. Place the game hens in large bowl, add the spice mixture to the bowl and massage the hens with the spice mixture. Let marinate for 12 to 24 hours in the fridge OR at room temperature for 2 hours.

If you do refrigerate the hens, take them out about 45 minutes ahead of time to let come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 400*.

Coat a large saute pan with olive oil and turn heat on high. Season the game hens with salt and pepper. When the oil gets that wavy look, lay the marinated game hens in the pan skin side down. Oil the bottom of another large saute pan, lay it on top of the game hens and place the brick in the second saute pan. Cook the game hens until skin starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Put the pans (as Anne says “the whole shootin’ match) in the preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the pans from the oven and remove the brick and the top pan. At this point the skin should be lovely and dark brown. Check the game hens for doneness. It should be cooked through.

Put pan over medium high heat and add the white wine. Cook over high heat until the wine has reduced by more than half. Add the chicken stock, season with salt and reduce by half. Add butter if you like. Spoon juices over the game hens and serve.

Serves 2.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Claudia's Baked Ziti

2010-01-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

Describing food can be so challenging at times.

Yeah, yeah talk about depth of flavor, ease of preparation.
How the meatiness of something tickles the fancy of something else in the dish and it all comes together in one big explosion…your taste buds are flipping out…

Whatever.

Well, as far as this Baked Ziti goes, it has all of the above but why bother when one word describes it.

Outstanding.

This recipe is from a dear friend who is new to the blogging world and has taken on Beard on Bread by James Beard and is baking her way through it.

Check her out here.

And check out those fabulous bowls the bread is rising in.

Her husband is a potter extraordinaire.

Check him out here.

And then start your ziti.

Claudia’s Baked Ziti
With a bit of adaptation by me

1 lb. ziti (cook as directed on package, drain)
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage , removed from casing
1 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese, grated
1 lb. ricotta cheese
1 C parmesan reggiano, cheese
2 eggs
6 fat garlic cloves, chopped
I large yellow onion, chopped
½ large fennel bulb, chopped
A couple of dashes crushed red pepper flakes
Fresh Italian parsley, chopped for garnish
28 oz. plum tomatoes
½ cup red wine

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine eggs, ricotta and parmesan.

In a large skillet, heat a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil til wavy. Add the Italian sausage and cook until brown. Remove from pan and set aside on paper towel to drain. Add onion, crushed red pepper flakes and fennel to the pan and cook til golden. Add the garlic and cook about five minutes. Add red wine and let cook down to half and then add tomatoes. Cook for about 30 minutes until reduced, thick and yummy. Add the cooked Italian sausage and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Layer into lasagna pan starting with sausage and tomato sauce, then cooked ziti, parmesan mix and mozzarella. Repeat using up all ingredients and ending with sauce and top that with mozzarella.

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Bake covered for 1 hour, uncover last 10 minutes to brown top a little. Sprinkle chopped Italian parsley on top for garnish and enjoy.

Serves 6 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Shrimp and White Bean Stew with Braised Broccoli Rabe

2010-01-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

Cold weather?
Check.
Roaring fire?
Check.
Candles lit?
Spicy shrimp and white bean stew simmering on the stove?
Broccoli rabe braised?
Check.
Check.
Check.
Wine glasses refilled?
Big fat check!
Eat!

Shrimp and White Bean Stew with Braised Broccoli Rabe
Adapted from Joyce Goldstein's Kitchen Conversations

1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
8 fat cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
2 small bay leaves
Two good shakes crushed red pepper flakes
8 whole canned San Marzano tomatoes, chopped coarsely
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 - ½ cups seafood stock if you have it, if not roasted chicken stock works just fine
½ cup dry white wine
18 large shrimp, peeled, tail on
¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Heat large skillet over medium high heat. Add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When oil is wavy, add the onion and saute for 10 minutes until golden, monitoring the heat so the onion doesn’t brown too much. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and bay leaves. Stir and let cook five minutes. Add the drained white beans and tomatoes. Reduce heat to simmer and cook about 20 minutes. Add the wine and stock and bring up to a good simmer. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the shrimp and cook, covered, until shrimp are done, about six minutes.

Stir in fresh Italian parsley before serving. Use fresh cilantro if not serving the Broccoli Rabe.

Braised Broccoli Rabe

1 good sized bunch broccoli rabe, washed and chopped
4 fat cloves garlic, smashed
2 large anchovy fillets
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add broccoli rabe and cook for 10 minutes. Drain well and squeeze water out .
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. While that’s heating, chop the garlic and the anchovies together. Add to pan when oil is wavy and a shake or two of crushed hot red pepper flakes. Cook a couple of minutes and add the broccoli rabe. Saute five more minutes and serve.

Can put in middle of bowl of Shrimp and White bean Stew and ladle stew over top.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Rigatoni with Lamb Sauce, Fresh Tomatoes and Mint

2010-01-09T07:06:00.000-08:00

Fresh tomatoes and mint.

In the dead of winter.

Well, why the hell not?

If you’re hungry and you happen to have all the ingredients to a divine dinner, are you going to punish yourself because it might not be the “correct” time to eat something. The Food Police need to lighten up a bit.

The wonderful Campari tomatoes on the vine work great for this. And fresh mint is not hard to come by.

Combine with a simple saute of ground lamb, onions, fat garlic cloves and spicy fresh ginger and you’ve got a quick meal that will knock your socks off.

And offer hopes of warm weather during an Arctic freeze.

Rigatoni with Lamb Sauce, Fresh Tomatoes and Mint
Adapted from Patricia Wells’ The Provence Cookbook

2 onions, peeled and diced
1 large spoonful garlic confit or 6 fat garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
A good inch of fresh ginger, peeled and cut in small pieces
A couple of good shakes crushed red pepper flakes
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 pound ground lamb
A good hand of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
A good pinch dried mint
1-1-2 cups dry white wine
6 Campari tomatoes, cut in quarters
A good handful fresh mint, chopped
Cook enough rigatoni for three people
Pecorino Romano cheese , grated, to pass

Place a large skillet over medium high heat and add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is shimmery, add onions, garlic and season with coarse salt. Stir, cover and cook over low heat until soft, about three minutes.

Throw the carrots, celery, ginger and hot pepper flakes in the food processor. Pulse a couple of times and put in pan with the onions and garlic mix. Cook until soft. Add the lamb and cook until it’s no longer pink. Add parsley, dried mint and white wine and bring to a boil. The reduce the heat and let it rock til the wine has evaporated. Patricia says that should take about five minutes.

Put the Campari tomatoes, fresh mint and a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

At this point, when the pasta is done, drain and add immediately to the skillet. Toss together and then cover and let it sit for a couple of minutes and then taste for seasoning.

Serve with the Campari tomato and mint salad on top and a good grating of the Pecorino Romano cheese.

Pure bliss.

Click here for a printable recipe!

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Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Cauliflower Puttanesca

2009-12-12T08:37:00.000-08:00

Jamie Oliver is my new best friend.

Of course he doesn’t know it.

But he has gotten me out of the cooking doldrums.

Check out his website. Just reading his recipes makes me smile.

Not to mention eating his food.

The concept is brilliant.

Make a puttanesca sauce, bury the whole cauliflower in it and drizzle with olive oil.

“Bake” it on top of the stove.

People, this is face down in your plate good.

And easy.

“Smashing’ as he would say.

Cauliflower Puttanesca aka "Killer Cauliflower"
Adapted from Jamie Oliver

1 medium sweet red onion, peeled, cut in half and sliced thinly
1 medium sweet yellow onion, peeled, cut in half and sliced thinly
1 large spoonful garlic confit, smashed
1 large cauliflower, trimmed, cut off the stalk and chop it (leave the cauliflower whole)
½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
A handful of fresh Italian parsley…chop the leaves and finely chop the stalks
½ cup red wine
1 large can San Marzano tomatoes
A good splash balsamic vinegar

You’re going to need a pan that can hold a large head of cauliflower in the middle and the puttanesca sauce around it.

Jamie says’ If you’ve got the size of your pan right, half of the cauliflower will be in the sauce, half above it.” So take that into consideration when you pick out the Dutch oven you use.

Heat the pan over medium high heat.

Add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is wavy, add the chopped onions, garlic confit, the chopped cauliflower stalk and let cook about 10 minutes until soft. Add Kalamatas, anchovies and tomatoes with their juice. Add the red wine and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Stir and bring this mix to a boil.

Put the whole cauliflower in the pan.

Add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil over the top of the cauliflower. Cover and cook for about 45-50 minutes on medium low heat until done.

This is a very cool way to serve cauliflower as a main dish…with a bit of Parmesan -Reggiana and chopped fresh Italian parsley on top. As a side dish it totally rocks with grilled chicken and a crispy Romaine salad topped with a champagne vinaigrette.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Curried Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

2009-12-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

There’s a theory that if you talk about an upsetting experience you have, it helps to get your feelings out in the open and you can move on past the unpleasantness.

Welcome to my Thanksgiving.

Things for the celebratory evening at the Red Brick Ranchero were in place.

Food cooked beautifully, witness the pictures.

HOWSOMUCHEVER….when said food was served, it was not as it had presented itself.

The cranberries did not accept the gelatin that would make them stand up and be accounted for.

They refused same and, well, there you go.

Cranberry Soup.

If only they had let me know ahead of time.

I would have gotten out the bowls.

I found these the day after. Sort of forgot about them in the hystericalness that ensued.

The first turkey.

Looks are deceiving.

The second turkey.

I can’t talk about it.

I guess all I say is that it kind of seemed sacrilegious to stuff two turkeys in a huge pot and BOIL them to get them done.

Thank God my mother had brought a ham.

The turkeys came to a very creative end; involving wild and brown rice, garam masala and cumin, golden raisins and cilantro.

Warming, soothing, comforting.

There…I feel much better.

I can think about Christmas Eve dinner now.

　
Curried Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

4 cups cooked turkey breast and thigh meat, chopped coarsely
3 cups cook wild and brown rice mix (I used RiceSelect Royal Blend..it’s divine.)
Couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil
2 large leeks, trimmed, rinsed and coarsely chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
6 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
8 fat cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
Freshly ground black pepper and coarse salt to taste
6 cups chicken or turkey stock, heated
2 tbsp hot curry powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne

Heat a large pot over medium high heat and add a couple swirls of extra virgin olive oil. When oil is wavy, add the leeks, green bell pepper and celery, stir to combine, reduce heat to medium and cover to sweat the veggies for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the garlic and seasonings and cook for five minutes. Add the turkey and cook five minutes. Add the hot chicken/turkey stock and stir.
Let this cook for about 25 minutes. Add the cooked rice mixture and let heat for about ten minutes.

Serve with chopped fresh cilantro, golden raisins, and sour cream or plain Greek yogurt.
Serves 4 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom
　

Feeding Groom Daube a` la Vin Rouge

2009-11-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

Never met a beef stew I didn’t like.

Seriously.

But the French version, called daube takes beef stew to a whole new level.

Beef marinates in red wine, red onions, carrots, bay leaves, grated fresh nutmeg and orange zest, rosemary and garlic.

Marinate it overnight or 45 minutes.

Up to you.

After that, plan for a couple of hours on top of the stove.

Serve over noodles, smashed potatoes and turnips or by itself with crusty French bread and butter.
Use your imagination.

A stew becomes a daube becomes dinner.

What’s not to like?

By the way, this is a celebratory post.

Feeding Groom is two years old this month!

Thanks to Last Night's Dinner for the inspiration and to Groom for the kick in the pants to get this going.

And to those of you that stop by and see what’s happening at the Red Brick Ranchero, cheers!

Feeding Groom’s Daube a` la vin Rouge

1.5 boneless beef short ribs, cut into bite sized pieces
½ sweet red onion, cut into slivers
½ sweet yellow onion, cut into slivers
2 large carrots, peeled, sliced on the diagonal
6 fat cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 bay leaves
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock or chicken in a pinch
½ orange, zested
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh Italian parsley, about a handful, chopped for garnish

Put the beef, onions, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, red wine, orange zest and rosemary in large bowl.

Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Let marinate overnight or at least 45 minutes.

Heat a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil in a large dutch oven. When the oil is wavy, add the beef, don’t crowd the pan and let it brown on both sides. Remove the cooked beef and continue til finished. Drain the veggies from the red wine (reserving that and add the veggies to the hot dutch oven. Cook until golden, about 10 minutes, stirring.

Add the reserved wine and a cup of beef or chicken stock. Let cook 1-½ to 2 hours, til the beef is tender. Remove the veggies and beef, and raise the heat to reduce the sauce down a bit to your taste.

Serve over what you like…pasta, smashed potatoes and turnips or alone with crusty French bread. Garnish with freshly chopped Italian parsley.

Enjoy.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Pan Sauteed Pork Chops with Roasted Butternut Squash and Crisped Pancetta

2009-11-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

The pig and the butternut squash.

A match made in heaven, that’s what it is.

Butternut squash roasting with garlic, rosemary, coriander in the oven.

Pancetta crisping , pork chops sautéing.

So easy to do.

A great weeknight supper.

A grand candlelight dinner at home for two.

Pan Sauteed Pork Chops with Roasted Butternut Squash and Crisped Pancetta
With kudos to Jamie Oliver and Blue Kitchen

Preheat oven to 400.

Spray baking sheet with Pam.

1 large butternut squash, sliced in half lengthwise, peeled, seeds removed, sliced in half, then lengthwise again to make half moons
1 large tbsp coriander seed, crushed in mortar and pestle
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 long red dried chiles
8 garlic cloves, smushed
Several sprigs rosemary, stripped
Extra virgin olive oil

Spread butternut squash over baking pan sprinkle with the crushed coriander. Add the rosemary sprigs, add the peppers, add the garlic drizzle with olive oil season well bake 30 minutes.

3 ounces pancetta, chopped
2 large boneless pork chops
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh Italian parsley, chopped

In a large cast iron skillet, heat a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil. When oil is wavy add the chopped pancetta and cook about five minutes or so over medium high heat until crispy. Turn heat down a bit, so the oil doesn’t smoke and add the pork chops. Cover and let cook 5 minutes. Don’t disturb them.
Turn them over and cover and cook 5 more minutes. They’ll get a nice crust on them this way.
Remove from heat, let sit for a couple of minutes.

Plate the squash first, add the porkers on top of the squash and sprinkle with the cooked pancetta and chopped Italian parsley.

Serves 2 very happy peoples with leftovers for the lunch.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Pan Sauteed Halibut with Red Bell Pepper, Capers and Toasted Cumin

2009-11-01T05:31:00.000-08:00

Halloween night.

Cold and clear.

Perfect for “ghoulies and ghosties and long leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night.”

World Series on the tube. The rain stops in Philly.

Star Wars creatures at the front door.

Once the trick or treaters are done., filets of halibut waiting on the stove are quickly cooked in a bit of olive oil and butter, a tasty topping of sautéed red bell peppers, garlic confit, capers and toasted cumin at the ready.

A dish to please any ghoul or baseball fan alike.

Pan Sauteed Halibut with Red Bell Pepper, Capers and Toasted Cumin
Adapted from Bistro Cooking by Patricia Well

2 5 ounce halibut filets, seasoned with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 red bell peppers, sliced into strips
2 tbsp capers
2 tsp whole cumin seeds, toasted
1 tbsp garlic confit, chopped
1 tbsp butter
Extra virgin olive oil

In a medium skillet over medium high heat add a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil. When oil is wavy looking, add the red bell peppers and stir, lowering heat so they can cook and soften for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic confit, capers and toasted cumin seeds. Stir to combine and cook five minutes. Keep over low heat.

In a medium cast iron or non stick skillet, over medium high heat, add a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil. When olive oil is wavy add the butter. Butter will foam and as soon as foam subsides add the halibut. Let cook about 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish and turn. Cook 3-4 minutes on the other side. Monitor the heat so the butter does not get too brown.
Put the fish on the dinner plates. Swirl the red bell pepper mix into the pan you have just cooked the fish in and pour over the fish.

Serves 2.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

The Ultimate Chicken Spaghetti

2009-10-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

Chicken, tomatoes, spaghetti, black olives and cheddar cheese.

Baked in the oven.

School Food circa 1965.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this stuff.

But I’m not 9 years old and my taste for chicken spaghetti has grown up.

Roasted fennel, red peppers, onions, garlic tossed with chopped roast chicken and tomatoes.

Kalamata olives, whole wheat spaghetti and fresh baby spinach.

Manchego cheese.

Now that’s Chicken Spaghetti.

The Ultimate Chicken Spaghetti

1 large fennel bulb, sliced thin
1 large sweet red onion, sliced thin
1 large sweet yellow onion, sliced thin
10 fat garlic cloves, smashed
2 large red bell peppers, sliced thin
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fennel seeds
2 good shakes crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup Kalamata olives pitted and sliced in half, optional
1 28 ounce can diced san Marzano tomatoes, drained
2 cups roasted chicken, chopped
3 cups baby spinach
1 cup grated Manchego cheese
whole wheat spaghetti to serve 3

Put the water on to cook the spaghetti.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the pan in the oven as it preheats.

Toss fennel, onions, garlic, peppers with the olive oil and add the red pepper flakes and fennel seed. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Pull out the oven rack the sheet pan is on very carefully to the point where you can add the fennel mix. Stir onto pan…be very careful. Roast for 15 minutes. Add the chicken, tomatoes, olives and stir well. Roast until fennel is tender. Cook the pasta.

Take chicken mixture out of oven and put in large bowl, toss with the spinach. Drain the pasta, add to the bowl and add the cheese, tossing to incorporate. Season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serves three generously.

**Thanks to The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper for the fennel garlic onion roast inspiration.

Click here for a printable recipe!
One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Ground Lamb Burgers with a Sweet Leek, Fennel and Sundried Tomato Confit

2009-10-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

The blogger stands, yet again, in front of the refrigerator.

Ingredients present themselves.

Ground lamb.

Pancetta.

Fennel.

Prosciutto.

Leeks.

A light bulb goes off over said blogger’s head.

A bit of chopping, a bit of sautéing, a glass of wine, Joni Mitchell sings softly in the background.

A pretty damn good meal for a weeknight appears on the plate.

The blogger smiles.

Ground Lamb Burgers with a Sweet Leek, Fennel and Sundried Tomato Confit

1 lb ground lamb
2 ounce pancetta, chopped
2 ounces prosciutto, chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Combine lamb, prosciutto and pancetta in bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add red pepper flakes and lemon juice and mix well. Form into nice sized patties and let sit thirty minutes.

1 small leek, rinsed well and chopped
3 fat garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
1 small fennel bulb, sliced
1/3 cup chopped sundried tomatoes in oil
¼ cup roasted chicken stock

In a large skillet over medium heat, add a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil and when the oil shimmers, add the leeks and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the fennel and garlic and cook another 10 minutes, adjusting the heat so they do not burn. Raise the heat and add the chicken stock and after it cooks down add the sundried tomatoes. Keep warm over low heat.

In heavy skillet over medium to medium high heat add a swirl of extra virgin olive oil. When it shimmers, add the lamb burgers and cook about 8 minutes, or until browned. Flip the burgers and cook until done to your taste, about 8 minutes for medium, 10 for well done.

Plate the burgers, top with the confit and enjoy.

Makes 3 good sized portions.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Chicken Liver Pate

2009-09-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

Round the Red Brick Ranchero, we like to celebrate “the Golden Hour.”

It’s the time right before sundown when Groom and I sit down with a glass of wine or a cocktail and reconnect.

Friday nights, the “Golden Hour” becomes “Order and Structure” as we visit with my mother and let the week fade away into the weekend.

Sometimes we have an hors d’oeuvre.

Sometimes not.

This week, Chicken Liver Pate.

Smooth, buttery, hints of nutmeg and Marsala.

Quickly made and travels well.

Make French bread toasts to accompany

One bite and I’m back at the Elegant Red Brick Ranch Home of my parents, cocktail party in full swing, Ella Fitzgerald singing the Cole Porter Songbook on the stereo, lots of chatter and clinking of glasses, Pops making his infamous vodka martinis and my mother’s wonderful food passed on trays to appreciative guests.

I hate to admit it, but I’ve eaten pounds of this in my lifetime.

And as long as chickens are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, I’ll continue.

Chicken Liver Pate

½ pound chicken livers, rinsed and patted dry
1 stick unsalted butter
1 large shallot, chopped
2 good splashes Marsala
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Heat a medium skillet over medium high head and add butter. When foamy, add the shallots and the chicken livers. Cook until done, probably takes five to seven minutes. Add the Marsala, cook for a couple of minutes, remove from heat and season with coarse salt, freshly ground black pepper.

Put in food processor and pulse until almost smooth. Add the nutmeg and pulse until smooth. Adjust seasoning.

Makes about a pint of pate. Lasts a week in airtight container if you’re not a chicken liver pate freak.

French Bread Toasts

1 loaf French bread, thinly sliced
Extra virgin olive oil or roasted garlic oil or melted butter or nothing
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400.

Arrange slices on cookie sheet. Brush with oil or butter or leave plain.
Grind pepper over the slices.

Put in oven for about 10 minutes until done.

Remove from oven and let cool on rack. Makes about 20 -30 slices. (Depends on the size of the loaf, you want these thin).

Keep in airtight container. Do not store in plastic bags.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Sweet and Dark Chocolate Sorbet with Crystallized Ginger

2009-09-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

****** UPDATED**********************September 7, 2009

I have been thinking about this Dark Chocolate Sorbet all weekend. It was calling to me from the past!

Seriously, how can one resist when something so delicious, so easy and so divine calls.

You don't.

You do the 2009 version....with a few added ingredients that make this even more memorable.

Sweet and Dark Chocolate Sorbet with Crystallized Ginger
Adapted from Cuisinart Recipe Booklet: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Sherbets and More!

4 cups water
1-2/3 cup vanilla sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground chipotle pepper
1-1/2 cups unsweetened Ghirardelli cocoa powder
1 whole tablet Ibarra sweet Mexican chocolate, ground to a powder
1/2 cup crystallized ginger
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Combine water and sugars in 3-¾ non reactive (stainless, ceramic or glass) saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the cocoa, the ground Ibarra chocolate and ground chipotle pepper and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and transfer to medium bowl. Stir in vanilla and chill in refrigerator 2 hours.

Stir chilled mixture. Add to freezer bowl of ice cream maker and follow the instructions. With the Cuisinart model, let mix til thickened, about 30 minutes.Add the crystallized ginger and let it mix in thoroughly.

The sorbet has a soft creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer sorbet to airtight container and place in freezer for 2 hours or more. Best done day ahead.

Makes 14 ½ cup servings.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Pan Crisped Devilled Eggs on Baby Romaine

2009-09-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

I love eggs.

Hardboiled eggs, fried eggs, omelets, scrambled eggs.

Ya’ll can keep all those half cooked runny egg things on top of pizza and pasta.

I had braces in the sixth grade.

I’m not going there again.

Now, devilled eggs?

I’d eat devilled eggs any time of the day.

They’ve been known to cure hangovers, hangnails and a broken heart.

Groom makes killer devilled eggs….green olives are the master touch. You know the kind of devilled eggs that when you’re eating them you don’t count the halves because you would probably take to your bed if you knew what a glutton you are.

This recipe adapted from The Splendid Table is a great twist on devilled eggs.

They’re elegant devilled eggs, sautéed in a bit of olive oil and pancetta drippings…and served on top of crispy baby romaine.

It’s a very grown up way to eat devilled eggs.

Which, if I haven’t mentioned lately, I love.

Pan Crisped Devilled Eggs with Pancetta on Baby Romaine
Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Cook Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift

EGGS:
8 large eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp minced onion
2-½ tightly packed tablespoons fresh Italian parsley leaves, chopped
1-½-2 tbsp half and half
2 tsp Hellmann’s mayonnaise
1-½ tsp Champagne vinegar
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
2 good slices pancetta, diced
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

DRESSING:
Leftover egg stuffing
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 generous tsp Dijon mustard
2-½ tbsp half and half
2-½ tsp Champagne vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

SALAD:
4 generous handfuls baby romaine

Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks. Put in medium bowl and set the whites aside.
Add the mustard, garlic, onion, Italian parsley, milk, mayonnaise and vinegar to yolks. Mash into thick paste and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pack mixture back into the egg whites so filling is even with surface of the egg not mounded. You are going to have extra…this becomes the dressing.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced pancetta and cook until crisp. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels.

Add the eggs face down and cook until golden brown, takes about 5 minutes or so. Sprinkle the back sides of the eggs with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper as they cook.

While the eggs are sautéing, combine in a large bowl the leftover egg stuffing with all the dressing ingredients. Add the salad greens to the bowl and toss.

Serve the greens and place the eggs on top and sprinkle with the crispy pancetta.

Serves 4 ecstatic devilled egg lovers.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Fattoush

2009-08-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

Fattoush!

Bless you.

Bulgur?

Whatevah!

Move over tabbouleh…

No grain soaking here.

Just toasted pita bread (homemade if you are of a mind).

The ripest Bradley tomatoes you can find.

Crunchy cucumbers, peeled or unpeeled, it’s your choice.

Sweet red onion, fresh mint and Italian parsley.

A citrusy dressing to taste.

It’s one of those face down in your plate lunches.

Or you can make it even more divine with a few additions….like ricotta salata cheese….or grilled scallops for a smashing dinner….or Kalamata olives…or grilled shrimp…leftover roast chicken….or cottage cheese..or garbanzos…toasted pine nuts…

Or just by itself.

Fattoush
Adapted from Joyce Goldstein’s Mediterranean Fresh

2 to 3 pita bread rounds
2-3 large Bradley tomatoes, cut in bite sized pieces
2 small cucumbers, peeled or unpeeled, cut in bite sized pieces
½ small red onion, diced and soaked in a bit of ice water and a pinch of sugar
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large tsp ground sumac (this is the ultimate secret weapon in Fattoush. It adds a bright note to the dressing…it’s available from Penzey’s
A good handful fresh Italian parsley, chopped
½ cup chopped fresh mint
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large lemon,, juiced

Preheat the oven to 350. Pop the pita bread in and bake until they are crunchy, fifteen minutes or so.
Let cool and break into pieces.

Whisk olive oil, lemon juice and ground sumac together and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Combine veggies in a large bowl and toss to combine. Add the pita bread and toss with the dressing and serve immediately.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Spiced Peach and Nectarine Jam with Candied Ginger

2009-08-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Vanilla sugar, the ripest peaches and nectarines.

Cloves, allspice and cinnamon sticks.

Lemon juice.

Candied ginger.

Pure gold in a jar for cold, gray and snowy day to come.

Spiced Peach and Nectarine Jam with Candied Ginger
Adapted from Ball Blue Book of Preserving

1 quart peeled, pitted and chopped peaches and nectarines (about 8)
7 cups vanilla sugar
1 lemon, juiced
1 large cinnamon stick
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp whole allspice
1 pouch liquid pectin
½ cup candied ginger

Put fruit, sugar and lemon juice with spices in a large, deep saucepan over bringing slowly to a boil until sugar melts. Add liquid pectin and boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Skim off any foam. Add the ginger.
Ladle into hot pint jars and put tops and rims on the jars. Process in hot boiling water for 15 minutes.
Remove from water bath and let cool. When tops pop, tighten lids and store.

This batch made 5 pints.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Feeding Groom Pimiento Cheese

2009-08-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

Pimiento Cheese.

Two little words that can cause casual discussions about food to get all high-pitched and in your face and my momma’s better than your momma’s recipe type of thing.

Yea, well, my pimiento cheese kicks your momma’s pimento cheese where the sun don’t…

Wait a minute.

I’m just writing my blog here, I’m not actually arguing with anyone about this.

Yet.

Feeding Groom Pimiento Cheese

½ pound each Monterey jack and extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1-½ cups Hellmann’s mayonnaise…no light, non fat hoody hoo here. The real thing.

A bit of grated onion, not much

A good pinch cayenne and a dash of Tabasco

A good squeeze fresh lemon juice

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt is a fave in the South, but not to worry if you don’t have it.

½ cup diced roasted red peppers, the ones in a jar, people. They do best for this, not ones you have just roasted and diced.. You need the jarred ones.

Mix the mayo, cayenne, Tabasco, salt and pepper to taste, lemon juice and diced peppers together.
Add to the cheese in a large bowl. Mix with your hands. If you want more creamy pimiento cheese, add a bit more Hellmann’s.

Makes a bit over a pound of pc.

Serve on your finger, apples, make a sandwich, a spoon, a celery stick, on top of a hamburger, in a patty melt, on a piece of French bread at 2 in the morning..

The possibilities are endless.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Pita Bread 101

2009-07-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

Every home should have a pizza stone.

I don’t make pizza that often and I use this thing all the time.

Not for the obvious reasons, either.

For this one.

It makes great bread. You see, my first foray into successful bread making happened because of a pizza stone.

And since then I’ve become a bread making nut.

My latest success?

Pita.

I know you’re thinking, why would I want to make this when I can pop down to the nearest Whole Paycheck and buy a bag and have it ready when I want.

Because it tastes great, it can be made in five minutes, it goes with lots of things, and it’s a member of each of the Official Feeding Groom Food Groups:

A: EASY
B. FUN
C: FABOO
D. IMPRESSIVE

So….why not? The brilliant Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois from the fantastic Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day have mastered the art of fast, tasty bread and this pita bread is TO DIE FOR.

Go on, get a pizza stone, watch this video, buy this book and make some bread….

Pita Bread
Adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois

Make this basic dough a day ahead.

3 cups lukewarm water
1-½ tbsp granulated yeast (1-½ packets …but get the yeast for bread machines and you can measure it out yourself…much easier)
1-½ tbsp coarse salt
6-½ cups unsifted, unbleached, all purpose white flour

Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5 quart bowl. Don‘t worry about it not dissolving. Mix in the flour, all at once, and mix with your hands until combined. Don’t knead the bread dough, it’s not necessary.

Cover with a lid that fits well to the container you are using. I use a plastic cake carrier and leave one side open when I put the top on. If you seal this tightly, you will have a minor explosion in your kitchen which will knock a fresh tomato on the floor and take 2 years off your life…simultaneously, so be careful.
Let this sit on the counter in the kitchen for at least two hours and then refrigerate it overnight. It’s much easier to deal with cold dough instead of wet. Believe me.
You will have four pounds of bread dough that will last, in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for 14 days.

Now, when you are ready to make the pita bread, twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with the pizza stone in the oven. I put my stone on the top shelf, which I usually keep one notch up from the middle of the oven. Just before baking, dust the surface of the dough (still in the container you keep in the refrigerator) with a bit of flour and cut off a 1-pound piece. If you are making individual pitas, separate the round into four equal pieces. Dust the pieces with more flour and quickly shape them into balls, pulling it into shape by stretching the surface of dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go . Place dough on flour dusted cutting board.

Roll the dough balls out into a round with a uniform thickness of about 1/8 inch. Keep it nicely dusted with flour as you go. You can flip the dough over and roll it on the other side if you like. Place the rounds on a flour dusted pizza peel and slide them on to the pizza stone. Bake 5 to 7 minutes until lightly browned.

Take them out of the oven and place on clean dishtowel on a baking rack. Place another towel across the top. This keeps the breads from drying out.
Once they are cool, store in plastic bags. (You can make great quick pizzas with this pita bread, by the way.)

Makes 4 individual pitas.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Nectarines with Fresh Thyme and Cream Sherry

2009-07-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

I am not sure that many people start out writing about salad and end up writing about dessert, but that’s exactly what has happened to me.

I was so inspired by Marie's Nectarine and Fresh Basil Salad last week, I decided to do a version of same and take to a dinner party which I knew was leaning towards the fried chicken, devilled egg arena. And there is nothing wrong with that arena at all…I just didn’t want to do the normal potato salad or coleslaw and these eaters were sophisticated enough to get what I was doing with the Nectarine Salad.

I decided to use fresh thyme instead of basil . I didn’t have decent sherry vinegar so I substituted Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry. A little extra virgin olive oil, a little vanilla sugar, a squeeze of fresh lime, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste…this was spectacular.

Of course I didn’t take a picture.

C'est la vie.

It was a hit. The Harvey’s brought out the sweetness of the nectarines, the lime balanced that out.

It was just superb.
.
I woke up the next morning thinking about the leftovers.

I couldn’t wait to have them for breakfast. But then I started thinking about ice cream.

At six in the morning.

Nectarine ice cream.

With thyme in it.

And a bit more Harvey’s.

It really doesn‘t matter what time you make ice cream, does it?

The left over nectarine salad was smushed with vanilla sugar and another splash of Harvey’s and a splash of vanilla extract, thrown into the ice cream maker.

I took a picture this time.

Nectarines with Fresh Thyme and Cream Sherry

This is your eyeball recipe.

As many nectarines for as many people as you are serving, sliced
A good splash of Harvey’s Bristol Cream
A good pinch of vanilla sugar
A good swirl of extra virgin olive oil
A big pinch of fresh thyme leaves, crushed
A good squeeze of fresh lime juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine and serve as a salad course or as an accompaniment to grilled pork chops.

Click here for a printable recipe!

Nectarine Ice Cream with Fresh Thyme and Cream Sherry

2 cups vanilla soy milk, or half and half, or 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup half and half
¼ cup vanilla sugar
a squeeze of fresh lime juice
4 nectarines, sliced
4 sprigs fresh thyme
Good splash Harvey’s Bristol cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Smush the nectarines with the sugar, add the thyme, sherry, lime juice, vanilla extract. Stir in the vanilla soy milk and pour mixture into electric ice cream maker. Freeze according to directions on your machine.
When done, remove to a plastic container with airtight lid and freeze.

If you have made the above salad, mash the leftovers with the ¼ cup vanilla sugar and thyme and add the sherry. Continue with the above directions.

Serves 4.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Groom's Gazpacho

2009-07-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Now, as you know, Groom’s idea of a good meal in the summer is a cold soup.

And he pretty much has it down, when it comes to whipping one up.

His Gazpacho is as easy as it is delicious.

There are no measurements, it’s an eyeball thing.

The sign of a born cook.

Make this sometime. It’s great to have in the fridge for a snack, for lunch with a knocked out chicken salad sandwich or get a cup or two of the Gazpacho and whirl it in a blender with a roasted tomatillo, a little fresh cumin, a handful of fresh cilantro and a dash of Tabasco for a quick fresh salsa for a divine snack with chips.

Groom’s Gazpacho

Ripe tomatoes, chopped
Cucumbers, peeled and chopped
Celery hearts, peeled and chopped
Carrots, peeled and diced
Jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (you decide how hot you want this….)
Red bell pepper, seeded and diced
Yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
A couple of limes or lemons, squeezed over the veggies
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large can tomato or V-8 juice
Large dash of balsamic vinegar
Large dash of Worcestershire sauce
Large dash of Tabasco
Handful of fresh basil and fresh Italian parsley, chopped

So, get a big bowl out and chop as much of each veggie as you would like to use and put into bowl. Once you’re done, add the tomato juice or v-8 to cover, season and stick in the fridge to chill. If you like it chunky, don’t use as much juice.
Additions are always welcome. We've done marinated artichoke hearts, marinated mushrooms, a bit of feta on top,a bit of Greek yogurt. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy!

Serves as many as you decide.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Santa Fe Summer Pot

2009-07-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

It’s hot. Seriously hot.

It may be too hot to cook, but it’s never too hot to eat.

Yet again, I find myself standing in front of the fridge, thinking to myself….what the hell am I going to come up with tonight. All day long, saving the world, one loan at a time, and coming home and knowing I’ve got killer ingredients in house, but no idea what to do with them.

The last thing I want to do is heat up the kitchen. There are dogs and cats on every A/C vent they can find, while I’m enjoying the cool air from the freezer as I root around to see what might be good.

Then, the big light bulb goes off.

I remember a recipe I read by The Splendid Table chicks called Santa Fe Summer Pot.

I don’t have to turn on the oven, or thaw something out.

Brilliant.

Santa Fe Summer Pot
Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper

The Summer Pot’s Sauce:

¼ cup fresh lime juice
3 green onions, trimmed and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
½ jalapeno, seeded and minced
1- ½ tsp ground coriander
1-½ tsp ground cumin
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine these ingredients in a small bowl and let sit for ten minutes.

2 large tomatoes, chopped
About a 1/3 cup fresh cilantro

Put the tomatoes and cilantro in food processor and do a couple of pulses. Add onion mixture and pulse it five times. Set aside.

½ cucumber, peeled, sliced lengthwise in half and then in half moons
½ large ripe avocado, diced
1/2 pound left over roasted chicken, diced (can use cooked shrimp)
1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed
Tortilla chips
Goat cheese to taste
Extra fresh cilantro as a garnish
1 lime, quartered

Divide the cukes, avocado, chicken and beans between three large bowls. Put as much Summer Pot’s Sauce as you like on top, crush tortilla chips and sprinkle on top and garnish with a sprinkle of goat cheese, cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

Serves three generously.
And there’s plenty of Summer Pot’s Sauce left over to use as a dip with tortilla chips the next day.

Cilck here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Grilled Boneless Leg of Lamb Mediterranean

2009-06-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

Boneless leg of lamb is a particular fave around the Red Brick Ranchero. Especially in the summer when we grill practically every meal. And there are always leftovers, for sandwiches, salads and even standing in front of the refrigerator door snackin’.

Cold grilled leg of lamb dipped in a bit of Dijon mustard has been known to bring a smile to even the grumpiest person in the room.

Seriously.

There are plenty of ways to season lamb before you grill.

The typical garlic stuffed, chopped rosemary and olive oil rubbed is one.

Freshly squeezed lemon, olive oil and crushed red pepper is another favorite, especially with chops.

But this marinade..

this is something else.

Totally different.

Greek leaning towards Turkish and Persian.

Mediterranean, if you will.

It’s a perfectly wonderful..cumin, ground sumac, ground coriander, tomato, extra virgin olive oil and garlic confit conglomeration .

Grill some red and yellow bell peppers, red onions….whip up a quick yogurt, cuke, lemony drizzle…slap some pita bread on the grill to toast…and you’ve got “a slam dunk how did you do this I must have the recipe” dinner on the deck.

Grilled Boneless Leg of Lamb Mediterranean

Marinade:

½ large sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 large spoonful garlic confit (or maybe 10 garlic cloves, chopped)
1 small can San Marzano tomatoes, drained (you’ll have maybe five)
½ cup fresh Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large tsp ground sumac (this is optional but so so good. Adds a bright citrusy flavor available from Penzey’s)
1-½ tbsp ground coriander
1-½ tbsp toasted cumin (just heat a small skillet, add the cumin..you’ll smell it getting toasty and take off the heat)
1 tbsp sweet Spanish paprika
1 tsp dried thyme

Put the onion, garlic, and tomatoes in blender or food processor and pulse it til smooth. Add the herbs spices and a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil to make a paste.
Set aside.

Lamb

1 boneless leg of lamb, about 2-2-½ pounds

Spread lamb out and trim off excess fat. Pour marinade over, rub it in a bit so the lamb feels the love and cover with plastic wrap. You can let it sit out at room temp for several hours, or marinate in the fridge overnight. The longer it sits in this, the better, but be sure to bring lamb to room temp before you grill it.

Heat the grill to medium hot, and grill lamb between 12 to 15 minutes per side, depending on the thickness. We like ours medium rare, so we do about 12.

When done, take off grill and let sit five minutes, slice and serve.

Serves four generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Radishes, Mint and Ricotta Salata

2009-06-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

Somebody shoot me.

Why didn’t I think of this salad?

I could have, given enough time, red wine and an inspirational view.

Maybe.

But it doesn’t matter.

Melissa Clark beat me to it and got it published in the NY Times.

And I am so glad she did.

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Radishes, Mint and Ricotta Salata
Adapted from a recipe in the NY Times June 2009 by Melissa Clark

1/2 cup sliced radishes
4 ounces sugar snap peas, sliced (1-¼ cups)
4 ounces ricotta salata, crumbled (1 cup)
1/3 bunch mint leaves, torn, (1/3 cup)
1 large clove garlic, minced
Coarse salt , a good pinch
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

In large bowl, toss together radishes, peas, ricotta and mint.
In mortar and pestle or with a knife, make a paste of the garlic and the pinch of salt. Place in small bowl and add lemon juice and balsamic vinegar and stir well to combine. Drizzle in the olive oil, stirring constantly and season to taste.
Pour over salad and toss to combine.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Grilled Flank Steak with Thai Cucumber, Tomato and Mint Salad

2009-06-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Cook or no cook, there are items that you should have in house that signify it’s summer.

Homegrown tomatoes are coming into season now…thank God.

Tomato sandwiches are now allowed in the house.

Fresh mint abounds in the garden for iced tea.

Cucumbers are prevalent south of here and will soon be in abundance for cool cuke and cream cheese on dark rye for lunch with a bit of fresh dill.

Limes…for summertime cocktails and a squeeze over grilled shrimp tossed with cilantro and garlic for a quick meal…

And flank steak. Fast grilling, slicing and begging for a cool salad over top to make a quick weeknight or even company meal.

Beg no more…

Grilled Flank Steak with Thai Cucumber, Tomato and Mint Salad
Adapted from Molly O’Neill’s A Well-Seasoned Appetite
1 cup lime juice
½ cup Thai fish sauce or nam pla
A good pinch of vanilla sugar
½ jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 medium homegrown tomato, diced
½ large English cucumber, peeled, diced
1 cup fresh mint leaves
Small to medium flank steak, about 1-½ pounds, drizzled with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and seasoned with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and jalapeno pepper in glass or ceramic bowl. Add the tomatoes and the cucumber and refrigerate.

Grill the flank steak about five a side and let stand for five minutes. Add mint leaves to salad and toss. Slice steak thinly and top with the salad.

Serves 3 generously.

Salad lasts several days in fridge.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Honey and Cinnamon Baked Granola with Dates, Golden Raisins and Nuts

2009-06-17T05:19:00.001-07:00

I love granola. Seriously.
I love it.
But I have had a love hate relationship with it. Maybe that’s too strong of a description of our affair.
I love to eat it, I totally hate to make it.
No, that’s not right. I don’t totally hate to make it.
I forget to make it and I totally hate that I do that because it means that I have to eat the store bought highly sugared not so very good for you granola that doesn’t taste a bit like what I can make at home.

I’ve talked about Richard Sax and Marie Simmons’s cookbook, Lighter Quicker Better in several posts. It is one of the better healthy eating cookbooks around. Having only done “dinner items” from the book, and searching for a granola recipe, I came across theirs.

I haven’t looked back.

You can add or subtract ingredients. Dates sometimes, almonds others, walnuts always. Golden raisins sometimes, dried apricots or blueberries, or all of the above. And it’s baked in honey and cinnamon with a touch of oil.

So you get good granola, that’s good for you.

I love that!

Honey and Cinnamon Baked Granola with Dates, Golden Raisins and Nuts
Adapted from Lighter Quicker Better by Richard Sax and Marie Simmons

2 cups old fashioned or quick cooking oats, not instant
1-½ cups chopped nuts…walnuts, pecans or almonds
¾ cup raisins, golden or dark, dates or any dried fruit you like
2 tbsp canola oil
½ cup wild honey
1 tbsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 350.

Spread the oatmeal, nuts, and raisins in 13 x 9 pan.

In small saucepan, combine oil, honey and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Pour over the oatmeal mix in pan and stir to combine.

Bake 25-30 minutes stirring often til mixture is golden.

Makes about three cups. Store in plastic bag or airtight jar.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Roasted Pepper Bisque with Zucchini-Shrimp Salsa

2009-06-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

85 degrees, humidity ooching on up into a typical Middle Tennessee almost summer day.

Just perfect for soup.

Sweet roasted red and green bell peppers with onion and garlic swirled into a bisque and topped with zucchini shrimp basil salsa from Molly O’Neill’s A Well Seasoned Appetite.

A cold soup, you say?
Oh, heavens no.

Remember I am a quadruple Gemini, which means that at least one of me wants to buck the trend and have a hot soup.

I compromise…it turned out more like a room temp. But this could be hot. It could be cold.

Whichever way you want to do it, you’ll love it.

Roasted Red Pepper Bisque with Zucchini-Shrimp Salsa
Adapted from Molly O’Neill’s A Well Seasoned Appetite

Bisque:

One good swirl extra virgin olive oil
3 red bell peppers, roasted and cut into large pieces
3 green bell peppers, roasted and cut into large pieces
4 medium sweet yellow onions, chopped
2 cups roasted chicken stock
1 good spoonful garlic confit
6 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
1 lime, squeezed
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat large Dutch oven over medium heat and add the swirl of extra virgin olive oil. Add the peppers, onion and ½ cup roasted chicken stock. Simmer, stirring occasionally , for 20 minutes. Stir in garlic confit, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Put mix into food processor and hit pulse several times to make it smooth. Add remaining roasted chicken stock, yogurt, lime juice, salt and pepper to taste and pulse til smooth. Transfer to saucepan, or if serving cold, put in container in fridge to chill.

Salsa:

2 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise , then into half moons
12 large shrimp, sautéed, chopped and seasoned with lime juice
3 medium green onions, chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
Lime juice to taste
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place zucchini on baking sheet and roast until tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool. Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine.

Heat soup, if you like, until just hot. Ladle into bowl and top with the salsa.

If you are serving this cold, swirl a bit of Greek yogurt through the soup and top with salsa.
Serve with lime wedges.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Plumped Ginger-Caramel Shrimp

2009-06-02T17:33:00.001-07:00

Look at those shrimp.

Don’t they look like they’re having a great time….doing the backstroke for 20 minutes or so in a sweet and spicy chile powder brine waiting on you to chop fresh garlic and ginger and throw that in a very hot pan with a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive, freshly ground black pepper and a bit of salt.
This goes so fast, you know…the garlic goes a lovely warm gold, vanilla sugar is sprinkled on top, the shrimp do a swan dive into the hot pan and you cook them until they get that pinky soft color that makes you say…oh. My. god…now this is going to be a good supper!

You can also add a bit of blanched asparagus or sugar snaps in you’re of a mind to have a bit of veg with your dinner.

Plumped Ginger Caramel Shrimp
Adapted from The Splendid Table ‘s How to Eat Supper

Brine:
½ cup kosher salt (not iodized)
1/3 cup vanilla sugar
1/3 cup medium hot chile powder
2 cups warm water
1-½ pounds large frozen shrimp

Saute:

6 large garlic cloves,
1 4 inch piece fresh peeled ginger
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
Coarse salt

In a medium glass bowl, blend salt, sugar, chile powder in warm water and add the shrimp. Let stand 20 minutes.
Drain the shrimp, peel off shells if you need to…pat the shrimp dry.
Chop garlic and ginger together. Heat oil in large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic and ginger , pepper to taste and a good pinch of coarse salt. Cook for a minutes, stirring with wooden spatula, blend in the sugar and keep stirring until garlic is pale gold. Immediately add the shrimp and stir until the shrimp are pink and barely firm.
You can toss in a bit of blanched asparagus or sugar snap peas if you like.
You can serve over rice or eat straight out of the pan.
This is wondrous.

Serves 3 generously. The Splendid Table says 4...but they don’t live at our house!!!

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

.

Mrs.Whitson's Banana Bread

2009-05-24T07:23:00.001-07:00

Now I know each and every one of you has a recipe for banana bread.

But this banana bread is different.

It means something to me.

I think of all the times I’ve made this recipe, when I’ve been in college in Virginia, at a friend’s house in Florida, one late night in Cincinnati during a snowstorm…impressing easily impressed people, comforting others, but always bringing familiar feelings of security and happiness and providing just the right touch of sweet at the perfect moment.

It comes from the Nashville Seasons Cookbook, a must have for every cook’s collection. More cake-like than bread, but divine with peanut butter, or toasted and drizzled with a bit of pure maple syrup or just on its own.

Easy, tasty, feel good banana bread.

These days and times, we could all use some.

Mrs. Whitson’s Banana Bread
Adapted from Nashville Seasons Cookbook

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup vanilla sugar
1 egg, beaten
3 almost ready to throw away bananas…fess up you’ve got these around. I’ve even used frozen ones, thawed
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp vanilla soy milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup chopped nuts (I’ve used those great sweet and salty pecans that you get for Christmas presents. I had wonderful results with those.)

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter a loaf pan well.
Cream butter with sugar and add the egg.
Mash the bananas.
Add the baking soda and vanilla extract to the vanilla soy milk and stir into the bananas.
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder and add slowly to the banana mixture.
Add the nuts.
Pour into buttered loaf pan and bake for40 minutes or til a tester comes out clean.
Cook for 10 on rack before slicing it.

Makes one glorious loaf.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Flank Steak with Mushroom, Red Pepper and Baby Bok Choy

2009-05-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

This recipe is the bomb.

It’s a very motivational meal.

It gets you to eat baby bok choy, something I’m sure a lot of you have stared at in the grocery store, sidling a bit to the side when someone very hip comes up and throws two of them in their cart and moves on. And you think to yourself, why don’t I go on and try it..what could it hurt?

It gets you to use Fish Sauce which someone very dear to me said the odor reminded him of the wrestling mat at his old high school when it’s 98 degrees in the shade and everyone showed up to watch him get his butt kicked, and his face spent most of the time on said mat.

It gets you to marinate something quickly as opposed to overnight.

It gets you to slice and grate and stir and fry and have a glass of wine and discover that it wasn’t such a bad day after all.

You see?

Fast, easy, motivational, mood changing and delicious.

What more could you ask of a recipe?

Flank Steak with Mushroom, Red Pepper and Baby Bok Choy
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine December 2008

3 tbsp Fresh ginger, grated
1 spoonful garlic confit or 3 fat garlic cloves, smushed and chopped
3 tbsp soy sauce
1-1/2 tsp fish sauce (Nam Pla)
4 tsp cornstarch, divided
A good shake crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 pound flank steak
1 pkg baby bella mushrooms, washed and thinly sliced
½ cup thinly sliced sweet yellow onion
½ cup thinly sliced green onion
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper strips
4 cups thinly sliced baby bok choy
1 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade

Mix together the ginger, garlic, fish sauce, soy, 2 tsp cornstarch, sesame oil and crushed red bell pepper and pour over flank steak. Put in zip lock bag, seal and squish around to combine. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or more.

Heat large skillet and put a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil in over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms onion and bell pepper to the pan. Cook three to five minutes until crisp tender and then remove from pan and put in bowl and immediate add bok choy to pan and saute three minutes til slightly wilted and add that to the mushroom mix and keep warm.

Now you can grill the steak until done and slice it OR you can slice the marinated flank steak and quickly cook in hot skillet in batches…this takes maybe five minutes, depending on how hot you have the pan. Put steak in bowl with veg…put pan back on medium high heat and add broth and the remaining two teaspoons cornstarch and boil, scraping the pan to get all the browned bits then add the steak and veggie mix back to the pan and toss to combine.

Season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Grilled Halibut in a Yucatecan Marinade

2009-05-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Rain, again.
Movie.
Joyce Goldstein.
Inspiration.
Marinade.
Lime, orange, coriander, allspice, cayenne, chile powder, roasted garlic oil, zests.
Halibut.
Shrimp.
Grill.
Black beans, sweet yellow onions, splash orange zest, cilantro, rice.
Salsa with avocado chunks stirred in.
Dinner.
Good.

Grilled Fish in a Yucatecan Marinade
Adapted from Joyce Goldstein’s Back to Square One

One ½ pound halibut fillet
10 large shrimp, tail on

Marinade:
¼ cup roasted garlic oil
½ cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup fresh lime juice
Zest from ½ lime
About 2 tsp orange zest
1-½ tbsp smushed then chopped fresh garlic
1 tsp finely minced jalapeno pepper
¼ cup chile powder
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground allspice
Cayenne pepper to taste
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Fresh cilantro to taste
1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed or home cooked beans
A splash of sherry
½ large sweet yellow onion, sliced in half, then sliced again
1 cup of your favorite salsa with 1 avocado, diced stirred in
Cooked rice for three
Lime wedges if you remember to do them

Make the marinade and pour over the halibut and shrimp in flat pyrex pan and refrig for 2 hours. The marinade may make more than you need and it stays nicely in the fridge for several days.

When ready to grill the fish, put a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil in medium skillet over medium high heat and, add the onions and reduce heat and let cook until golden brown. Add the black beans, raise the heat and add a splash of sherry, reduce heat a bit and let cook. Add fresh cilantro to taste.

Grill shrimp and halibut til perfect, three minutes a side.

To plate, rice, a bit of halibut, a bit of shrimp, black beans and salsa.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Groom’s Knock Your Socks Off Ground Pork, Linguica, Bell Pepper, Onion Enchiladas Topped with Grilled Salsa, Cheddar Cheese and Cilantro

2009-05-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

A dot and a line.

Chuck Jones...brilliance in cartoons.

Doesn’t this describe cooking and its creativity?

The straight line is following a recipe word for word.

You’re playing it straight.

In cooking.

So , take a recipe and make it your own.

That’s how you cook. That’s how you live.

Straight lines are great. But versatility and expression of how you want something to taste or be is better.

Go on.

Try it.

Seek the dot.

Groom’s Knock Your Socks Off Ground Pork, Linguica, Bell Peppers Onions Enchiladas Topped with Grilled Salsa, Cheddar Cheese and Cilantro

…HELLO DOT!!!

Here’s how the Dot happens…..

So the other night…Monday….wanted something easy…Groom likes to grill sausages and onions and peppers, maybe we had about a cup of this left in the fridge.

Last week I made a roasted salsa…tomatillos, poblanos, red bells, sweet red onions, green onions, garlic….in the oven til roasted nice and squishy and then throw into the blender with fresh cilantro and Italian parsley…because it’s lying around….maybe a cup and a half of it….

So those two things are in the fridge.

Come home…act pitiful…don’t want to cook…sweet Groom says, not to worry….and what does he do….

He seeks the dot.

Iron skillet gets heated up with a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil. Sweet yellow onions are chopped and sautéed til golden…..he takes them out for a bit, adds maybe a pound ground pork, drains the fat out.……adds the onions back …adds a can of black beans, drained and rinsed well because he hates that goopy stuff that‘s in the cans…tbsp ancho chile pepper freshly ground black pepper and coarse salt to taste…….add ¼ cup water…cook down. Take out of skillet and sets aside. Preheat oven to 350.
.
Adds the grilled salsa to hot iron skillet, over medium low heat…with a bit of olive oil…. then dip flour tortillas in hot salsa, fill with the ground pork. Roll and put back in iron skillet….fill enough to go into the skillet shred cheddar cheese on top, smush salsa on top, if you have extra… cook 30 minutes…top with sour cream and fresh cilantro…sit around and talk about how amazing this is..

Serves 5 generously,…really generously….

Click here for printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Frank's Chicken Pot Pies

2009-05-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

There are lots of chicken pot pie recipes.

None like Frank’s.

It's easy.

Chock full of fresh carrots....

sauteed onions, peppers, celery....

and shredded chicken.

A killer homemade white sauce

seasoned with celery seed, crushed red pepper, bouquet garni.

And your choice of pastry to top them.

And so good.

Every single time.

He makes them in quantity.

And freezes them.

Someone moves to a new house and you want to take them dinner.

Done.

Need comfort food fix.

Done.

Surprise guests drop in.

Done.

Couldn't be easier.

Thanks Frank!

Frank’s Chicken Pot Pies

8 whole chicken breasts, boiled in homemade chicken stock, shredded
8 stalks celery, sliced in half, then chopped in bite size pieces
3 lb bag carrots, peeled, sliced in half, sliced into bite size pieces
3 large sweet onions, chopped into bite size pieces
6 mixed green, yellow and red bell peppers, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 stick plus ¼ stick unsalted butter
1 and ½ cups all purpose flour
2 quarts roasted chicken stock
1 to 2 tbsp Bouquet garni
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 to 2 tbsp dried parsley
1 to 2 tbsp Celery seed
Crushed red bell pepper flakes to taste
4 pkg prepared pie crust (2 boxes unrolled pie crust) or if you’re industrious, make your own or use phyllo or puff pastry dough. It’s your call.
4 square aluminum baking pans

Boil carrots, drain and rinse with cold water.
Cook celery, onion, bell pepper in butter til soft, not brown.
Two large bowls…divide the carrots, peppers, onions among them.
Divide chicken between bowls.
Melt butter add flour, make paste, add 2 quarts chicken stock, seasonings and stir til thick .
Divide between two bowls, season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir. Put in baking pans, top with pastry. You can get creative on the how you do the top with the pastry. Or just roll it out, cover and poke with fork …. Wrap with clear plastic wrap then aluminum foil.
Freeze.

To cook: Don’t thaw.
Preheat oven 375 degrees. Remove foil and saran wrap and place on cookie sheet. Cook for an hour and 15 minutes, cover with foil if browning too quick.

Makes 4.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Mesa Grill Barbecue Sauce and a Southern Salad Nicoise

2009-04-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

I used to walk in the mornings.
Three and a half miles a day.
Crack of dawn.
It was great. Loved doing it. Quiet, neighborhood sleeping, great start to the day, right.

I’m now walking in the afternoons when I get home from work.
Still three and a half miles.
It’s not quiet.
The neighborhood is not sleeping.
It’s cooking.

Outside.

It’s sort of inspirational if you think about it.
Take the other evening.
Now that I think about it, I am not sure I walked on one of the streets because someone was grilling chicken and basting it with something sweet. I think I was floating past that house….

It’s hard to walk and drool, but I’ve just about mastered it.

Then…I noticed a family with small children having dinner at their picnic table. Bowls all over the table, family laughing and eating, dog begging. Straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Potato salad, fried chicken…

That did it

Instead of listening to Free Food for Millionaires, which is a great book but has nothing to do with food, I started thinking about our dinner.

Started thinking about barbecuing chicken.
Thinking about potato salad.
Thought about salad Nicoise.
Tuna, Nicoise olives, hard boiled eggs, green beans, tomatoes, , potatoes, right?
Smelled that grilled chicken again.
Thought about the components of a great Southern meal.
Grilled chicken, deviled eggs, tomato basil salad, classic potato salad.
Put the two thoughts together and came up with this.

Barbecued Chicken with Mesa Grill Barbecue Sauce: a sauce everyone should keep in the fridge during the hot months.
Groom’s Devilish Eggs with Green Olives …do the basic deviled eggs…a little Hellmann’s mayo, chopped green olives, paprika
Classic Potato Salad …soak the red onions before using to get the strength out….use a bit of sissy mustard in the dressing to make it even classic -er
Fresh Herb Salad Mix…it’s good for you….
Tomato, Artichoke, Sugar Snap and fresh Basil…blanch the sugar snaps and drop in ice water to preserve the color. Use marinated artichoke hearts…provides the dressing, right? A bit of freshly ground black pepper and fresh basil.

See?

A Southern Nicoise Salad.
For lack of a better name.

I wonder what the neighbors will be cooking this afternoon?

Mesa Grill Barbecue Sauce
Adapted From Bobby Flay

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
½ red onion, diced
1 large spoonful garlic confit
8 canned San Marzano tomatoes
¼ cup ketchup
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire
¼ cup water
3 tbsp dark molasses
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp wild honey
1 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp ancho chile powder
1 tbsp smoked sweet paprika

Heat the olive oil til almost smoking in large pan over medium heat and sweat the onion and garlic confit until softened, about five minutes. Throw tomatoes into food processor and pulse two times, add to pan. Cook 15 minutes at a simmer. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 20 minutes. Put into food processor and pulse several times.
Let cool to room temperature.
Makes about 2-2.5 cups

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Sauteed Shrimp with Feta, Orange and Kalamata Salad

2009-04-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

There are people in your life that you believe will always be there.

You can’t imagine that they would be gone.

It’s just not possible.

They are comfort, love, fun, giving, knowing and there for you no matter what.

I had…have someone in my life that has been there since I was born. She is the mother of my dearest best friend. She has been there for me for almost 54 years and now she is not where I can call her or touch her.

But she’s still with me.

She put up with everything my mother put up with. She loved me no matter what. No matter that she had five children, lots of dogs, a busy husband and me under her feet as often as I could be.

She put up with me calling every Christmas morning at God knows what hour to say Merry Christmas to Nana. I would spend the night at her house most every weekend at least one night…Nana would be at mine the next. My dad would drop me off at the top of their driveway, saying’ don’t come home til you graduate from college“…and her dad would say, as he opened the door into a bustling busy noisy place,…“we don’t want any“…but he’d let me in anyway.

Her parents would go out and leave us to tend to the flock…three boys and a girl…Lord knows what they were doing…we’d be in the kitchen testing out a recipe…Lemon Icebox Pie , Nashville One Pan Fudge Cake…or upstairs jumping up and down on their bed, smoking Marlboro cigarettes the maid had left in a secret hidey hole that we would find…listening to her dad’s Tom Lehrer albums or memorizing Fannie Flagg’s Rally Round the Flagg, or reading John Updike’s Couples and hiding the book under a chair in the den when they came home early one night.

It was my second home.

When I got in to the catering business, she was there. Always getting something from me to serve..so she wouldn’t have to think about food. A child gets married, can you cater it. I’m having some people in for dinner, what kind of casserole do you have? We’re going out to dinner but need an hors d’oeuvre with drinks before hand.

Always, always giving me the freedom to cook and learn..on her. Whenever I needed support., she was there.

It’s been a long week since she left us.

The world is the same but not.
Food is the same but not.

I came home late and had to throw something together to feed Groom and our souls.
Something that would show us comfort, love, fun, giving, knowing, familiarity and taste good at the same time.

She would have loved this.

Sauteed Shrimp Salad with Feta, Orange and Kalamata Salad

10 large shrimp, peeled tail on
A couple of swirls extra virgin olive oil
Crushed red pepper flakes

Heat small sauté pan over medium heat and add oilive oil. When wavy add the shrimp and a sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes.

Cook til pink and remove from heat. Sprinkle with coarsely ground black pepper

A handful of Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 small handful of fresh Italian parsley chopped (add a little chopped frsh mint if you like)
A couple of Cara Cara oranges peeled and sectioned and cut in half
2 ounces feta cheese slightly cubed
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into bite sized pieces

A good splash of seasoned rice wine vinegar,
1 small touch of Dijon mustard (1 tsp of creamy Dijon)
couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the dressing in ingredients in bottom of salad bowl and add remaining ingredients. Toss well, put in butter lettuce lined bowl and serve.

Serves 2 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Orecchiette with Two Peas, Asparagus and Prosciutto

2009-04-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to spring.

More daylight to play, leading to simpler foods with faster prep.

Like this.

Fresh green peas, asparagus, crispy sugar snap peas.

Salty prosciutto and sweet garlic, sliced sweet red onions and baby shallots.

Baby romaine lettuce.

On pasta? Yea baby. It works.

Orecchiette with Two Peas, Asparagus and Prosciutto
Liberally Adapted from Bon Appetit April 2009

2 tbsp butter
A couple of swirls roasted garlic oil (or extra virgin olive oil if you don’t make garlic confit and have some roasted garlic oil lying around)
½ large sweet red onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp minced baby shallot
¼-½ cup dry white wine
½ cup homemade roasted chicken stock
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut crosswise into bite sized pieces
1-½ cups fresh shelled peas or frozen, thawed
½-¾ pound sugar snap peas
Enough orecchiette for three people
2 handfuls baby romaine lettuce
Manchego cheese, as much as you like
A handful fresh Italian parsley, chopped
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut crosswise into thin strips

Melt butter with a couple of swirls roasted garlic oil in heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onions and shallots and sprinkle with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Saute until tender, about five minutes. Add wine. Increase heat to medium high and simmer until liquid is reduced to glaze about three minutes. Add broth and bring to simmer, set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to boil, add a bit of coarse salt. Add asparagus, cook til done. Plunge asparagus into bowl of ice and water to stop the cooking and preserve the green color. Repeat with peas and sugar snaps, plunging them into the same water with the asparagus. Drain and set aside.

Return water in the big pot to a boil. Cook pasta til tender, drain, reserving about a ½ cup pasta water.

Reheat the onion mixture, add the lettuce and stir til just wilted and add the drained asparagus, peas and sugar snap peas.

Add the pasta and parsley to the skillet, toss together add reserved pasta water. Season with salt and water and cover for just a few minutes to allow pasta to absorb sauce.

Remove top, grate as much Manchego as you feel like eating, sprinkle with the prosciutto and toss again.

Drizzle with a bit more roasted garlic oil and serve.

Serves three generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2009-04-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

It’s true confession time.

You remember True Confessions, the magazine everyone read but no one talked about because it was so juicy. Kind of like Mad Men in print, if you get my drift. I’d go to Don’s Cee Bee Store, properly disguised in big dark glasses and a trench coat, and lurk around the magazine stand til everyone that could possibly recognize me would be otherwise engaged . Of course the fact that there is an extremely strong gene pool floating around in my family that automatically makes us look exactly like one parent or the other was the last thing on my mind when I was 13. I would grab the magazine, peanut M&Ms and a can of Vienna sausage (my cover being that I was shopping for my mother) and head towards the check out lane.

From behind someone would trill…. “Oh Mary Coleman how are you darlin? Saw your mama and daddy last night …had the best time. Please tell them hello. Isn’t it a bit warm for a trench coat..it’s 98 degrees in the shade.”

Curses, foiled again.

So, there, now that the nut job that I was at 13 has been revealed, I must confess another secret.

I am a cake batter fanatic. I really don’t care much for the cake after it’s baked, but give me a bowl of batter and I’m a happy camper.

Maybe a few cakes haven’t turned out as well as they could have due to my sneaky batter snacking habit. I like to say I don’t bake and I truly don’t very often, but when I do, my habit takes over.

That’s not so easy with these divine cupcakes adapted from Pinch My Salt‘s Red Velvet Cake aka Waldorf Astoria Cake. A wondrous chocolate batter whose color can only be described as, well, RED.

Tell tale signs show up every where. Vent hood, refrigerator door, the cat’s tail. I’m still trying to figure that one out, but it might have been when I turned on the Kitchen Aid and didn’t realize it was on high speed, but I haven’t completely accepted that concept.

If you have an all white kitchen, you may want to save this for right before you remodel. I’m just saying.

Most importantly, if you are a card carrying member of the SBS Society*, keep an eye on your face.

You may be having a manicure one day and all of a sudden you hear..” Oh Mary Coleman, how in the world are you? Listen, I want to make your chicken salad and I can’t remember …honey what’s that on your chin, I don’t mean to pry, but it looks like, well I don’t know exactly what it looks like, but it certainly red.”

Red Velvet Cupcakes
adapted from Pinch of Salt

2-½ cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz red food coloring (2 bottles)
1 stick butter, room temp
2 eggs room temp
1-½ cups vanilla sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 . Prep spray muffin tin with Pam and then put muffin cups in. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt in medium bowl. In small bowl mix red food coloring and cocoa to make a paste. Without lumps and set aside.
In large bowl with hand mixer or stand mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and add the cocoa paste and vanilla. Then add about a third of the flour mix, then a third of the buttermilk and continue til mixed together. It has now become a lovely shade of FIRE ENGINE RED. Mix the vinegar and baking soda, it will fizz up and pour into batter. Stir til blended and pour the batter into the muffin cups, about 2/3rds full.

Bake for 20 -25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes then put on rack and let completely cool before you frost them.

Makes 16 cup cakes or one two layer cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting
16 ounces cream cheese at room temp
1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-½ cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt

Blend together cream cheese and butter with electric mixer until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Add the confectioner’s sugar with mixer on low speed and beat til fluffy.
Frost immediately.

*Sneaky Batter Snacking Society

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Provencal Oven Onion Saute

2009-03-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

These days, inspiration in the kitchen has been hard to come by. A long winter probably hasn’t helped, but the promise of spring has me reaching for different cookbooks to read, different flavors to explore and getting myself excited about the food to come.

One of the most inspiring cookbooks whose inspiration is hidden in the simple, straightforward directions and hints, uses normal ingredients and allows you to end up with the most fabulous dinners is The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper.

This Provencal Oven Onion Saute is perfect for an easy, easy dinner that can impress friends as a pasta sauce, or as a bed for a beautiful piece of grilled steelhead trout, or as a topping for a quick homemade pizza, or whirled together with a bit more olive oil as a spread for crusty bread, or a stuffing for baked tomatoes….

See what I mean?

Inspirational!

Provencal Oven Onion Saute
Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift

5 oil packed anchovies
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
5 good swirls extra virgin olive oil
6 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
½ tsp fennel seeds, bruised
½ large orange
2/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
4 canned San Marzano tomatoes, coarsely chopped
3 medium onions, all red or a mix of red and sweet yellow, sliced ¼ inch thick
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 450. Cover a large pan with aluminum foil. Slid into the oven to preheat.

In large bowl, mash the anchovies into the balsamic vinegar olive oil and garlic. Shred the zest of the orange into the bowl. Add fennel seeds, olives, tomatoes, onion, salt and pepper and toss with your hands to mix. It’s easier that way.
Spread mixture over the pan and roast, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Squeeze the lemon over to taste. Let your inspiration guide you!

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Hollandaise

2009-03-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

Hollandaise.

A word that can put fear into even the most seasoned cook’s heart.

But fear not.

Hollandaise can be made the old fashioned way, in a double boiler on top of the stove, it can be done in the food processor and it can be done in the blender.

Put down that package of Hollandaise mix.

You can do it .

Courage.

You just need this technique.

It works every time.

Remember one thing. Clarify the butter. It makes for a smoother sauce and less chance of the Hollandaise separating.

Hollandaise

Melt one stick unsalted butter over very low heat. The milk solids will rise to the top and skim those off with a spoon. Take 3 egg yolks at room temperature, put into blender with a ½ tsp salt and a good pinch of cayenne, and squeeze 1 large lemon (about 2-1/2 tbsp ) in as well. Turn the blender on and add the melted clarified butter slowly and let rock for a few moments until smooth. Add ¾ cup boiling water slowly to the blender while it’s running and blend again til smooth.

Pour Hollandaise into a heavy ceramic saucepan and put over low heat. Stir til the Hollandaise thickens, may take about ten minutes. (if you don’t have the ceramic saucepan, put in double boiler over medium heat and stir til thick.) You can make this ahead and keep in the refrigerator. I am not speaking from experience here, but it can be done. If the sauce curdles while it is heating over low, add an ice cube and remove from heat. Beat til sauce goes back together. It has gotten too hot and the butter has melted.

Adjust seasoning, lick the spoon and serve with a perfectly steamed artichoke for a decadent dinner.

Makes 1 pint.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Green Chilaquiles with Shrimp

2009-03-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sometimes dinner comes from within, a desire for a flavor.

A tomatillo or five sitting on the counter. You touch the husk and think about what you’ve read. And how to deal with them by removing the husk and rinsing the sticky green fruit.

Roasting those tomatillos, til they blacken, pureeing them in blender with half a chopped sweet red onion, a spoonful of garlic confit, one small fresh jalapeno, a small handful of fresh cilantro and a bit of coarse salt and pepper til blended ..then putting it in a hot skillet and cooking it in a bit of roasted garlic oil til it thickens a bit and covering it with homemade roasted chicken stock and cooking it down for twenty minutes til it coats the back of the spoon.

It’s a smooth motion. Seems to come from somewhere inside of you.

In the meantime, you’ve cut up some corn tortillas and stuck them in a 325 degree oven for twenty minutes to get crunchy. Of course you have swiftly sautéed a few big ole shrimp with a bit of coarse salt and pepper in a swirl of extra virgin olive oil ….worlds collide and everything is ready…you stir the crunchy corn tortillas into the tomatillo sauce…and the shrimp is thrown in with style grated Manchego cheese is sprinkled on top and chopped cilantro on the top of that and you say, “ thank you Martha Rose for the inspiration from Mexican Light Cooking” and you bring the skillet to the table with big napkins and forks and candles and have a sip of a great Shiraz from a dear friend and Teddy Pendergrass sings…Wake Up Everybody.

It’s a good night.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Chana Punjabi with Roast Chicken

2009-03-07T09:40:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, I entertain the idea of joining the world of vegetarianism.

I entertained it wholeheartedly years ago only to fall off head first into a lamb chop and pretty much haven’t entertained it at all since then.

I do try to incorporate several meatless meals a week into our food routine, but Groom is not much on them. He tolerates the Hay Stacks and the various pasta sauces. The question always asked after I announce our dinner plans usually is “Could we have some chorizo with that?”, “ Didn’t I see a bit of prosciutto in the fridge?”, “ We have some roast chicken left over …that would be a delectable option.” He has his moments.

I understand his thinking. And I usually pretend that I didn’t hear him (he’s a very patient man with me).

But, last night I did listen.
Because I had to.

I had come across a column by Elaine Louie (she of the divine ONE POT Columns) in the N Y Times called The Temporary Vegetarian which featured a recipe called Chana Punjabi. A chick pea sauce cooked til thick and creamy and served over rice with fresh cilantro, tomatoes and ginger. It looked divine, sounded perfect and was vegetarian and would be easy to do in a pinch.

Absolutely perfect.

Except I only had one can of chick peas and as I was pondering the lack thereof, there was Groom.

“We have roast chicken. It would be great in this.”

He was right.

Chana Punjabi with Chicken
Adapted from Elaine Louie’s adaptation of Heather Carlucci - Rodriguez’s recipe

Extra virgin olive oil
½ large onion, chopped
Small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Turmeric
2 tsp Garam masala
1 spoonful garlic confit, smushed
6 San Marzano tomatoes, chopped
½ small lemon
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained
2 cups chopped roasted chicken
1 cup chicken broth
Small handful fresh cilantro, chopped
Cooked rice

Heat a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat and add a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil. Add the chopped onion, jalapeno pepper and fresh ginger. Cook til onion is soft and golden, add the smushed garlic confit and tomatoes. Add about a ¼ cup chicken broth, stir to blend and then put in food processor and hit it with a couple of pulses. Add back to the pan on the stove and add all the spices, season with a bit of coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Squeeze half a small lemon into pot.

Add chick peas, and chicken broth to cover bring boil. Add roast chicken and lower heat . Let simmer along while the rice cooks, adding more chicken broth if you need it.

Add chopped fresh cilantro right before serving.

Serves 3 generously.

This was fabulous on rice, but the ultimate side dish is smushed potatoes. I‘m sure there is a support group for people like me who like smushed potatoes with everything. If not, I’ll be happy to start one.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Anchor Bar Buffalo Chicken Drummettes

2009-03-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

What better way to celebrate the possibility of snow last weekend than with two people who grew up in knee deep snow. Both from upstate New York, adventurous cooking buddies who know how to eat.. witness other feastings with them. This time the decision was made to do casual food ahead of time. Sit around and munch and laugh and will it to snow in a place that when it does time stops and grocers celebrate.

Well, we willed it to snow, but apparently our aim was off. We got a dusting and one county to the south of us got 9 inches.

I guess we need to do a bit of adjusting on our mental "wishforsnownometers."

The food was divine: Buffalo chicken wings perfectly cooked.. the recipe from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo…crispy hot spicy and divinely cooled off with celery sticks and creamy blue cheese dressing.

And….the best ribs ever…which seem to taste better in the dead of winter than in the summer..spicy, sweet, sticky … a chunky potato salad and wine, red and white and flowing in all directions.

Snow?

Who needs it!

Anchor Bar Buffalo Chicken Drummettes
from Charley's recipe box
36 chicken drummettes
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp coarse salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1-½ tbsp white vinegar
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/ tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp coarse salt
6 tbsp Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce
6 tbsp unsalted butter
Celery sticks
Blue Cheese Dressing (we used Marzetti’s Gorgonzola because we love it)

Preheat oven to 425.

Toss the drummettes in a large bowl with the oil and a tsp of salt. Put the drummettes into a large plastic bag and add the flour. Shake well, and remove the drummettes from the bag. Shake off excess flour and place on foil lined baking sheet making sure you don’t crowd them. Bake for 20 minutes, turn and bake for 20 more minutes until the drummettes are golden brown and cooked through.

Mix sauce ingredients and heat over low til simmers, and remove from heat.

Transfer drummettes to large bowl and pour sauce over, coating well and serve.
Can be reheated for 15 minutes in 350 oven before serving.

Serves 6.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Queen Creole Sauce

2009-02-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

I think Paul Prudhomme rocks.

He does.

Think about it.

However many years ago he wrote Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen and changed the way people thought about food.

Louisiana food.

He made it accessible, he made it easy and you know the dairy farmers had to be happy about the amount of butter he called for in every recipe.

Wallpaperers were happy too. I had to rewallpaper my kitchen after blackening redfish one night.

Surely other people had the same experience I did.

Red beans and rice became a staple all over the country.

Jambalaya too.

But for me, the best thing Paul Prudhomme did was introduce me to Creole Sauce.

It’s happy with chicken, shrimp, sausage, pork, fish…it’s universal. It takes the great triumvirate of green bell peppers, onions and celery to a whole new art form. And when you throw in bay leaves, white pepper, sweet hot smoked paprika (my touch), cayenne, basil, oregano, thyme (another triumvirate unto itself) you can turn a plain old dinner into something to behold.

That’s why I call her the Queen.

Make some soon.

Keep it in the freezer for a night when you don’t want to cook but want to impress.

For example a little chorizo, a little shrimp, a little rice and the Queen Creole Sauce. you’ll knock ‘em dead.

God save the Queen.

Queen Creole Sauce
Adapted from Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen

A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil ( you can use 4 tbsp butter like Paul, but if not….)
3/ 4 cup chopped sweet yellow onion
3/ 4 cup chopped celery
3/ 4 cup chopped green bell peppers
1 large spoonful garlic confit, chopped
1 cup chopped San Marzano tomatoes
1 cup juice from the can of tomatoes (make sure the juice is thick or use a decent jarred tomato sauce)
1 1-/2 cup chicken stock
Freshly ground black pepper and coarse salt to taste
1/ 4 tsp ground white pepper
2 bay leaves
½ heaping tsp dried sweet basil
½ heaping tsp smoked sweet paprika
½ heaping tsp dried Turkish oregano
½ heaping tsp dried French thyme
A big pinch of sugar
A good swirl of Tabasco

Put a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat and throw in the onion, green bell pepper and celery and cook til onion is translucent. Add all the seasonings, stir and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the garlic confit, tomatoes and cook for five minutes and then add the tomato sauce, sugar, chicken stock and Tabasco. Let cook for about 25 minutes. Adjust seasoning. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

Makes about 3 cups.
Freezes like a dream!

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Braised Pork Loin in Tomatillo-Chipotle Sauce

2009-02-23T18:48:00.000-08:00

Before....

After...

One thing leads to another.

Always.

This beautiful braised pork loin in a tomatillo chipotle sauce led to a black bean and pork stew over twice cooked new potatoes topped with a cool salad of mixed greens, campari tomatoes finished with fresh avocado, a squeeze of lime, a splat of sour cream and fresh cilantro.

Two entirely different approaches to one main dish.

Too good.

Braised Pork Loin in Tomatillo Chipotle Sauce
Adapted from Rick Bayless Mexico One Plate at a Time

2 pounds pork loin roast
10 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
5 plum tomatoes, rinsed
1 chipotle en adobo sauce
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Big spoonful garlic confit
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1 large sweet yellow onion, sliced thin
5 medium Yukon gold potatoes, washed and halved

Do a good swirl extra virgin olive oil in a Dutch oven large enough to hold the pork roast. Heat medium high. Add the pork roast…brown about five minutes on both sides. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from the Dutch oven and set aside.
Add the sliced onion to the Dutch oven and cook til caramelized, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic confit and smush into the onions.

Preheat broiler and roast tomatoes and tomatillos til blackened in oven, whirl in a blender and add with 1-1.2 cups chicken broth to caramelized onion and garlic. Add the fresh cilantro. Lower oven to 325 degrees put the pork in onion tomatillo sauce, cover it and put in the oven for 30 minutes.

Boil the Yukon gold potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes. When the pork has cooked for 30 minutes add the potatoes to the pork. Let cook 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for five minutes before slicing. Sprinkle with a bit of fresh cilantro before serving.

Serves 4 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

Black Bean and Braised Pork Stew on Twice Cooked Potatoes

I had leftover sauce, potatoes and pork.
Slice the leftover pork. Put in a sauce pan.
Add one can black beans, drained and set over medium heat.

Slice the leftover cooked potatoes.
Heat a medium skillet add a bit of olive oil and put sliced potatoes in the skillet.
Cook, pressing down til hot and then turning several times til golden brown.

Add 1/3 cup chopped cilantro to stew.

Serve potato with stew over. Top with fresh mixed greens, sliced avocado, quartered tomatoes, a splat of sour cream and a squeeze of fresh lime and cilantro.

Serves 3 generously.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Cheese Souffle

2009-02-16T05:38:00.001-08:00

Sometimes a Sunday will just wear you out. Could be the anticipation of a Monday, a national holiday, that is not observed at your office, and you have a mental pity party for yourself all day. Or it could be that there is no beach in your back yard, which increases the effect of the mental pity party.

So, what do you do?

Eat cheese. The ultimate comfort food for me in this state. Any kind of cheese. Cream cheese, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, Monterey jack cheese, string cheese, Saga Blue cheese, parmesan cheese, sliced American cheese.
No cheese is safe.

These cheesy moods usually lead to a major caloric indulgence. It could be macaroni and cheese, an over the top cheese and cracker indulgence, cheese dip with the dreaded Velveeta (usually reserved for desperation induced pity parties) or cheese soufflé.

Cheese soufflé is the perfect antidote for a mental pity party. You have to pay attention to what you’re doing.

You can’t jump up and down and stamp your feet because then you won’t have a cheese soufflé.

It’s easy to make, goes great with a baby romaine, avocado and sliced Ruby Red Grapefruit salad with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette and you don’t use every bowl, pot or pan in the kitchen which would send someone else into a pity party.

It does help to keep the appropriate soufflé dish close by, instead of using it for, say, a dog water bowl.

Hence the fact that the above picture looks like the soufflé didn’t rise, which it did, beautifully, into fluffy, cheesy lightness. You just can’t tell because the non dog water bowl soufflé dish is too big.

A couple of bites into these mind altering dish and the Sunday pity party is a thing of the past. You’re rejuvenated, ready to take on the world Monday morning, while no one else is working.

But you’re okay with that.

Manchego Cheese Souffle
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 by Julia Child and Simone Beck

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Grate about 3 tbs parmesan cheese. Butter a 6 cup soufflé dish well and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Heat 1 cup milk to boiling.

Melt 3 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add 3 tbsp flour and stir with a wooden spoon about a minute over the heat til thick. Remove from heat, add boiling milk all at once and whisk til smooth. Return to heat and stir about 2 minutes. Add a good pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a touch of coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. .

Separate 5 eggs. Beat 5 egg whites with a pinch of salt into stiff peaks using hand mixer. Use 4 yolks, adding one at a time to hot sauce and whisk til each yolk is incorporated. Then add about a quarter of the beaten egg whites into sauce and fold in well. Add 3/4 cup grated Manchego cheese. Then add the remaining whites, folding in carefully so the mixture remains light and fluffy.

Put soufflé into prepared soufflé mold and put in the oven. Immediately reduce the heat to 375 and cook for 35 minutes.

Do not open the oven door for at least 20 minutes. Do not put on dance music or allow a
Great Pyrenees to run through your kitchen during this time.

Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Korean Short Ribs

2009-02-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

Short ribs. Again.

It’s gotten to be a compelsion, which is a compulsion with a mind of its own.

Compelsions make plans for you, you don’t make plans for compelsions.

You make a list and head to the grocery. Once in the electronic doors, the compelsion takes over..

It’s like I have blinders on. My eyes glaze over. What list?

I walk straight past the produce, the fish, the bakery and head straight to the meat counter.

Next thing I know, I’m in the check out line with a bag of dark chocolate M&Ms and 5 pounds of short ribs.

Groom is dispatched with haste back to the store to get what was on my list in the first place. He doesn’t have compelsions. Unless it’s about a song. And you can’t eat that.

This recipe is from the massive yellow Gourmet Cookbook. It requires little or no talent in the kitchen at all ( a first for something from Gourmet) ,a grill and a bit of prior planning. And for your minimal effort, you get a rich, sticky, caramelized short ribs that need little more than a bit of rice, maybe a salad and those dark choco M&Ms.

And, maybe, a compelsion.

I’m starting a support group.

Korean Short Ribs
Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

4-1/2 pounds boneless beef short ribs
3-5 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
Couple of dashes Worcestershire
Couple of dashes fish sauce
4 swirls toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 spoonful garlic confit
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Sprinkle the short ribs with the sugar on both sides, cover with plastic and let sit in fridge four hours. (they can sit up to eight hours in fridge with just the sugar on them).

Put everything but scallions in blender and whirl together. Add the scallions and pour over the short ribs and let marinate minimum 2 hours.

Grill 15 minutes total. let sit for five.

Serves 4 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

Claudia's Osso Buco

2009-02-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of Osso Buco.

HUGE FAN.

I have made variations of this for years. However, in my entire history of
osso-buco-ing, there is one version that stands out.

In its own field.

And it’s this one from cookeatFret.

You know Claudia, if you don’t, you need to.

This chick can cook.

Especially rustic Italian. Her specialty.

Simple.

Easy.

Legendary.

Follow this recipe to the letter. I did not change one thing. I even served the green beans with it.

You make this, people will talk about it for years.

I know, I made this last year.

They’re still talking.

Claudia's Osso Buco from cookeatFret

veal shank sliced in 2 - 3 inch pieces
2 - 3 T olive oil
flour for dredging
salt and pepper
3 ounces pancetta - finely chopped
6 or 7 anchovies - finely chopped
white wine - 1 cup
veal or chicken stock - about 2 cups

lightly flour the shank pieces and lightly salt and pepper
brown the shanks well on both sides in the olive oil
remove to a plate and set aside
add the pancetta to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes on low to medium heat
add the anchovies for about another 3 minutes and then the garlic for another 2
deglaze the pan with the white wine and reduce it down almost all the way
add back the veal and cover the meat halfway with the stock
cover the pan and simmer for 90 minutes
remove the shanks carefully - i didn’t tie mine and they held together just fine
strain the liquid that’s left in the pan (i saved the pancetta pieces for a pizza later in the week)
and then return strained liquid - i had about 2/3 cup - to the pan and add about 2 or 3 T butter to make a sauce.

Serves 2 happy humans!

Click here for a printable recipe!

Tomatillo Guacamole

2009-01-26T19:23:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you but usually I’ll buy tomatillos in their papery husks and put them in a bowl with lemons and limes and wonder why, four months later when I decide I want to use them, there’s nothing there but hard little round sticky things.

So after years of mistreating the tomatillo, I decided to treat it right. Taking note from Martha Rose Shulman’s fabulous Mexican Light cookbook, I tried her Tomatillo Guacamole.

I will be nice to tomatillos from now on. This is a wonderful take on guacamole. The sharp taste of the tomatillos, a bit of garlic, fresh cilantro, jalapeno slices and a big squeeze of lemon juice provides a wonderful spread for homemade corn tortilla chips, a great dip for fresh veggies and a wondrous blop of goodness on top of a special quesadilla. Like the one I cooked for dinner tonight, for example. Sauteed shrimp with a bit of olive oil and hot Spanish paprika on top of refried black beans flavored with ground cumin and ground chipotle pepper topped with caramelized onions, flipped back and forth on a hot griddle, served with a bit of sour cream.

Hey, it’s Monday. You need to start the week off with a bang, right?

Tomatillo Guacamole
Adapted from Martha Rose Shulman’s Mexican Light

4 large fresh tomatillos, roasted in the oven until they blacken, cooled and peeled
1 large spoonful garlic confit
Fresh cilantro to taste
4-5 sliced pickled jalapeno slices
A good squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large ripe avocado, peeled and diced

Put the roasted tomatillos, garlic confit, cilantro, and jalapeno slices in blender and combine til smooth.
Add to diced guacamole in bowl and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then squeeze the lemon (half a large lemon) over. Stir gently.

Makes about 1-/1-2 cups.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Garlic Confit

2009-01-21T16:51:00.000-08:00

Ok it’s true. I’m a nut for garlic confit.
I use it constantly.

I can’t help it.

It’s my most favorite discovery in years…well, other than Groom, but that’s a different story. Yes, I did blog about it last year, but the requests from readers and friends led me to make it the subject of its own post. It is most definitely post-worthy.

It’s quick, easy to make and the benefits are huge.

You get wonderful garlic oil that can go in salad dressings, or drizzled over home fries, brushed on grilled lamb chops…or even swirled through a bit of cream cheese (it was late and we were hungry!).

Not to mention soft sweet garlic cloves that mush beautifully in tomato sauce, or thrown artfully on a pizza, or stuffed in tomatoes topped with grated Manchego cheese and bread crumbs for a quick broiling to accompany roast chicken. I’ve swirled it into macaroni and cheese that is made by someone other than myself and has been known to be a lifesaver.

I could go on forever, but you need to get out and get a bag o’ garlic and start your own love affair with confit.

You’ll thank me for this over and over.

Garlic Confit
Inspired by A Chicken in Each Granny Cart (thank you again, Ann)

You’ll need 20 heads of garlic, separated into cloves, paper husks rubbed off with your fingers, last husk left on.
Put into 2 quart saucepan. Cover with extra virgin olive oil.
Set over medium low heat and bring to a good simmer. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Oil will be cooled and you can test a clove to be sure it’s soft. If not, you can put back on the stove, bring up to the simmer and repeat the process. Drain the garlic, reserving the oil. Take the cloves and squeeze them into a quart jar. When you’re through with this, pour the reserved garlic oil over the cloves in the jar, put the top on it and store in the refrigerator.

I usually call for “a good spoonful of garlic confit” in the recipes on Feeding Groom. At our house, it’s a soup spoon. You’ll get to where you know how much to use. You’ll be making this as much as I do before you know it!

One Year ago on Feeding Groom

Cannelini and Broccoli Rabe Soup

2009-01-14T05:18:00.000-08:00

Broccoli rabe and I have become very close.

It’s my new favorite bitter green.

Raw it’s got a whang to it that I thought only belonged in old tennis shoes.
Cooked in boiling water and cooled in ice water, it mellows into a spicy vegetable that adds its own special touch to soup and pasta. As a sautéed side dish flavored with crushed red peppers and garlic, it pairs well with grilled meats and poultry.

Here, it’s the star in a mellow white bean soup perfect for a cold winter’s night in front of the fire.

Cannelini and Broccoli Rabe Soup
Adapted from a recipe for Kale and White Bean Stew Bon Appetit Magazine February 2009

1 large bunch broccoli rabe, washed, stems trimmed and chopped
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped shallots
1 cup chopped fennel
1 cup chopped carrots
1 large spoonful garlic confit, smashed
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large cans cannelini beans, rinsed
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1-½ tsp dried thyme
Splash of sherry vinegar
¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Bring large pot of water to boil, salt it generously and add broccoli rabe. Cook for five minutes. Remove from boiling water to bowl with ice water to stop the cooking. Drain the rabe and squeeze the water from the cooked vegetable. Set aside.

Heat large Dutch oven over medium high heat and add a couple of swirls extra virgin olive oil. When oil gets wavy, add the shallots, fennel, carrots and garlic confit and cook for about 1 minutes, stirring often, til golden. Season well with the coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the white wine and bring to slow boil and cook for five minutes. Add the cannelini, thyme, bay leaves and chicken stock and cook for about 35 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, blend soup for a few minutes with the blender to mash up the beans to desired thickness. Add the broccoli rabe and cook for five minutes. Add the splash of sherry vinegar and the parsley right before serving. Season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 4 generously.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Short Ribs Braciole

2009-01-07T18:12:00.000-08:00

Fine and you?

It’s been a nice holiday break around the Red Brick Ranchero. Wild “goings-on”, as they say.

Standing rib roast, flourless dark chocolate truffle cake and one of the better Christmas Eves ending with my great great great somebody’s eggnog that makes your eyes water to grilled lobster tails and old and new friends gathering on New Year’s Eve. Never a dull moment!

This past weekend, Groom requested short ribs. And being the loving person that I am, I said,
“well, if we must.”

I know, I know. But I love short ribs.

This recipe is from Andrew Carmellini’s new cookbook, Urban Italian. And it’s a good one.

I’d seen Braciole in several cookbooks, usually a flattened piece of beef rolled with cheese, prosciutto and hard boiled eggs, browned and braised in a simple tomato sauce.

This recipe takes the simplicity of the tomato sauce, the salty flavor of pancetta and spicy crushed red pepper to make a memorable meal from short ribs.

No eggs., no rolling up anything. Just easy.

Fine with me!

Short Ribs Braciole
Liberally Adapted from Urban Italian by Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman

¼ pound pancetta, diced
2-3 lbs boneless beef short ribs, trimmed of fat as much as you care to do
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 large spoonful garlic confit, smashed
Crushed red pepper flakes
4 cups whole canned San Marzano tomatoes
½ cup red wine

¼ cup pine nuts, chopped
A couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil
½ bagel, not toasted and whirled in food processor til bread crumb texture
1 tbsp Turkish oregano
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley
2-3 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Over medium high heat, cook pancetta in large Dutch oven til the fat renders, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking. Season short ribs with salt and pepper to taste and add to pan. Brown on all sides and remove from pan. Add onion and cook til softens, about five minutes. Add garlic confit and a couple of good shakes of crushed red pepper flakes.

Add the ribs back to the pan and squeeze the tomatoes into the pan along with their juice. Bring to a low boil, cover and put in the oven to cook for 2-1/2 hours or until you can stick a fork in the ribs and they fall apart. Take out of the oven and add the red wine to bring the sauce together. Let sit over very low heat.

Toast the pine nuts over low heat about five minutes and then add a bit of extra virgin olive oil and then add the bagel crumbs. Add oregano and fresh parsley, stir well, remove from heat and grate in the cheese.
Plate the short ribs, (we served it with a couple of new potatoes), top with pine nut mixture and serve.

Serves 3-4 generously.
(I did this in the slow cooker, setting it on high for 3 hours. Worked beautifully!)

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Pan Sauteed Pork Chops with Braised Fennel and Gorgonzola

2008-12-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Simplicity is the order of the day around here. This time of year and the year that we are having dictates some sort of simplicity would be welcome anywhere.

And that is the beauty of this dish.

This easy method of cooking pork chops on top of the stove presented last year by Terry B of Blue Kitchen makes a flavorful chop.

The addition of braised fennel and salty sweet Gorgonzola run under the broiler at the last minute takes the chop to an elegant finish.

Easy.

Flavorful.

Delish.

Simple.

Braised Fennel with Gorgonzola
Adapted from Kitchen Conversations by Joyce Goldstein

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 small heads fennel, sliced thinly
1 tbsp garlic confit, smashed
A good splash dry white wine
½ cup homemade chicken stock
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ounce Gorgonzola, crumbled

Heat a medium saute pan and add the swirls of extra virgin olive oil. And butter. Add the fennel and garlic confit. Cook over medium heat until golden, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and let reduce down, about five minutes. Add the chicken stock and cover the pan. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove top and let simmer until chops are done.

Pan Sautéed Pork Chops
Adapted from Blue Kitchen
1 tsp fennel seed, crushed
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 to 4 bone-in pork chops, about 8 ounces each
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tbsp butter

Heat a large cast iron (or ovenproof) skillet to medium. Add olive oil. Terry says the oil will start to shimmer (and it does!), stir in fennel seed and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pat chops dry and season on both sides with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high and add the pork chops , directly on top of herb/garlic mixture. Cover pan and cook chops undisturbed for 5 minutes. Turn chops, cover pan, reduce heat to medium and cook until just cooked through, about 5 minutes for chops 3/4-inch thick.

When chops are done, put braised fennel on top and sprinkle Gorgonzola over the top. Run under the broiler until Gorgonzola melts, no more than five minutes tops.

Enjoy!!

Serves 2-4 depending on how many chops you cook!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Lamb Curry

2008-12-13T07:17:00.001-08:00

I could tell you that I took a grand picture of this divine lamb curry elegantly served on fine china, possibly the best pic I've done yet, but it didn’t turn out and you would believe me.

But I didn’t.

I took pictures all the way up to when I added the stock and whisked in the Greek yogurt.

And it curdled.

Time stopped. Hysteria ensued.

Cats hid under the piano.

But wait, what would any self respecting food blogger do?

Adapt.

Talk about the incredible flavors this lamb curry has.

Cardamon, cinnamon, bay leaf, garam masala, ginger and garlic… spicy cloves, onion, tomato, smoky hot cayenne.

Talk the ease of prep. Slam bam thank you ma’am. Easy peasy. Cooks like a dream.

And vow to make again til the yogurt whisking becomes second nature.

Lamb Curry
Adapted from Sue L.’s 2002 version in Recipezaar

2 lbs boneless lamb, cut into nice chunks
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 large cinnamon stick
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
4 whole cloves
1 tbsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp chopped fresh garlic
1 large spoonful garlic confit or 4 big fat cloves garlic, smashed
1 smallish green chile, seeded and chopped (I used jalapeno)
Splash of water
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp garam masala
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup chopped fresh tomato
½ cup Greek yogurt
3 cups chicken stock (if you have lamb stock or beef stock you could use it or just water)
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chutney

In a good sized Dutch oven, heat the swirls of extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat and add the bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves and peppercorns. When the bay leaves start to cook and release their aromas, reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and cook for about 15 minutes until the onions are golden. In a blender, put ginger, garlic, green chile, and a splash of water. Grind to make a paste.

Raise heat to medium high, add the lamb and the ginger paste and combine well. Season the lamb with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook for about 20 minutes. If the lamb starts to stick, add a bit of liquid to the pan. In my case it was a bit of Shiraz for lack of anything else nearby.

Add turmeric, garam masala, cayenne, tomatoes and coriander and another splash of nearby liquid (aka Shiraz) to keep from sticking and cook for five minutes. Remove lamb from pan and add the stock, raising the heat to high and reduce sauce down about half. Whisk the yogurt into the sauce, add lamb back into the pan and heat over low til flavors blend and you’ve quit freaking out over the yogurt curdling.

Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro.

Serve with jasmine rice, some wondrous homemade mango chutney and candlelight.

Serves 4.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

FG's Chicken Fajita Pasta

2008-12-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

Comfort food.

Sometimes you need it because you’ve had a bad day at work.

Sometimes you need it because trying to create something exotic and grand to eat seems positively akin to having a bad day at work.

Then again, sometimes you need it because, well, it’s familiar, tasty, easy, and comforting.

Comforting because you’ll probably have the ingredients in your pantry and freezer.

A little Mexican, a little Italian, a lot of good.

Comfort food.

FG’s Chicken Fajita Pasta

1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp medium chile powder
1 tbsp Spanish hot paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1-½ tsp garlic powder
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into long strips
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into long strips
1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into long strips
1 medium Spanish onion, cut in half and then cut into strips
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
5 boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips
1 14 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
Penne for three people, ready to cook
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
An avocado, peeled and cut up (if you like)
A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
Your favorite salsa
Greek yogurt or sour cream

Combine seasonings in small bowl. Rub into the chicken thigh pieces and let sit while you cook the veggies. Swirl extra virgin olive oil in cast iron pan and when oil is wavy add the onion and peppers and cook until soft. Remove from pan and add a bit more olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and cook on one side til golden and turn and cook on the other side.

Start the pasta water and when boiling add the penne and cook 10 minutes.

When the chicken is done, add the peppers and onions back to the cast iron pan and the black beans. Let simmer until pasta is done.

Drain the pasta, reserving ½ cup of the cooking water. Add pasta to the chicken and veggie mix along with the reserved pasta water. Stir well and cover for five minutes over low heat to allow pasta to absorb the flavors.

Serve with shredded sharp cheddar cheese, avocado, cilantro, chopped tomatoes, your favorite salsa and a blop of Greek yogurt or sour cream.

Serves 3 generously.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Chili Rubbed Short Ribs with Kale

2008-12-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

The last weekend of November, cold and damp.

Warm, toasty fire.

Spicy smells in the kitchen for hours.

A good book.

An easy meal with inspiration from Bobby Flay.

Not a turkey in sight.

We’re thankful.

Chile Rubbed Short Ribs with Kale
Adapted from Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook

1 Tbsp medium hot chile powder
1 Tbsp ancho chili powder
1 Tbsp chipotle chili powder
Two good pinches coarse salt
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp smoked sweet paprika
2 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
½ large red onion, coarsely chopped
½ large Vidalia onion, coarsely chopped
3 pounds bone in short ribs
3 large carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup red wine
4 cups chicken stock
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 large spoonful garlic confit
1 bunch kale, chopped

Preheat oven to 325.

Mix together the chile powders, salt, cinnamon, paprika and pepper in bowl. Rub the spice mix into one side of the ribs. Heat a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil in Dutch oven until wavy. When wavy, add the short ribs to the pan and cook until a crust forms on all sides. Remove from pan.

Add the onions, garlic confit, carrots, and celery. Cook until golden and add the wine. Bring to a boil and reduce down til wine is almost gone and then add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add the ribs to pan and cover.

Put in oven and cook until meat is tender and falls off the bone. 2-2-½ hours.

Remove short ribs from pan and defat the sauce. Place over medium high heat and add kale. Cook for 15 minutes. Lower heat to medium and add short ribs back to pan, heat for about 10 minutes and serve. Wonderful with smashed potatoes.

Serves 4 generously.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Spinach Lasagna

2008-11-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of dishes I used to make often.

Years ago.

Spinach Lasagna and Beef Stroganoff.

Both fabulous, but haven’t really come to mind to make in a long time.

You know how you find other things to cook and old standbys sometimes get lost in the shuffle.

Groom heard about my lasagna. Off and on, since we met, he has asked me to make it for him.

Sometimes not so subtle in his requests.

“ When are you going to make your lasagna?”
“I’m having knee surgery and I’ll recover faster if you make your lasagna, don’t you think?”
“We have some spinach, are you going to make lasagna? “
“Of course, if you’re not in the mood to make lasagna, I could eat Beef Stroganoff instead.”

I gave in.
I made it for him.

Now, I hear “When are you going to make it again. That was too good.”
“I’m feeling like having lasagna, what do you think?”

I froze enough to keep him at bay for a few meals.

He mentioned Beef Stroganoff today.

Help.

Spinach Lasagna
Most Liberally adapted from The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas

Make sauce:

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
½ large Vidalia onion coarsely chopped
1 large spoonful garlic confit
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil
Handful of fresh basil
1 tbsp dried Turkish oregano
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-½ cups San Marzano tomatoes and their juice , pureed in the food processor
1 glass red wine

Cover dried mushrooms with 1 cup boiling water and let sit for 20 minutes.
Strain through paper towel or cheesecloth, reserve broth and chop the mushrooms. In skillet heat the olive oil and when wavy add the onion. Cook, stirring until transparent and add the garlic confit.
Chop the basil and throw it in the pan with the oregano
Add the mushrooms, their broth, the tomatoes, to the pan and red wine (Beaujolais is the wine of choice for us) and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.

Make filling:

1 medium Vidalia onion, chopped
1 small spoonful garlic confit
1-½ lbs fresh baby spinach, chopped
3 large eggs
1 lb whole milk ricotta
grate about a tsp of fresh nutmeg
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ lb grated Parmesan Reggiana,
½ lb shredded whole milk mozzarella
1 pound lasagna noodles, uncooked

Put a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil into a medium saute pan over medium high heat. When the oil is wavy, add the Vidalia onion and cook for about 8 minutes until soft and add the garlic confit. Lower the heat and cook for five minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
Chop the spinach. Whisk together the eggs and add the cheeses, nutmeg and coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the spinach and set aside.

Take a bit of olive oil and grease a large oblong pan or two small ones.
Put 3 dry lasagna noodles in pan. Then the spinach mix and then top with some tomato sauce. And repeat the layers until you have used all, ending with the tomato sauce.

Cut a piece of aluminum foil to cover the lasagna. Put olive oil on the side of the foil that will be closest to the lasagna. Bake for 45 minutes covered. Remove foil and bake for 20 more minutes or til lasagna is bubbling and hot through.

Big fat yum.

This is best the second day. It also freezes beautifully. To freeze, cut cooled lasagna into serving sizes. Wrap in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. Store in plastic freezer bags. When you’re ready for some faboo lasagna, take out of freezer and remove foil and plastic wrap. Preheat oven to 400 and cook for 45 minutes or til hot through.

Serves 6

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

FG's Well Worth the Wait Chicken with Peppers and Turkey Sausage

2008-11-19T18:52:00.000-08:00

The phoenix has risen from the ashes.

Well, not literally, but here we go.

Last night, I decided to cut up a whole chicken.

I saw this video...

and said to myself, “Self, you can do this if Groom sharpens that knife for you.”

He did, and I did.

Then I went to work on this recipe from Patricia Wells’ The Provence Cookbook, one of my faves.

Everything in this recipe is great.

Except one little bitty thing.

The directions.

I followed them.

Ended up with not what I was supposed to end up with. If that’s a sentence.

But that’s okay, where’s there’s a will there’s a way.

It might be a twenty four hour way, but it’s there.

And it worked. And was fabulous.

FG’s Well Worth the Wait Chicken with Peppers and Turkey Sausage
Adapted from Patricia Wells’ Fricassee of Chicken with Chorizo and Peppers

1 3-4 pound chicken, cut into 6-8 serving pieces (by you, if you wish)
Coarse seal salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp butter
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 large red onion, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 large Vidalia onion, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 large spoonful garlic confit
2 cups chicken stock
4 canned plum tomatoes, chopped
A couple of good squirts sun dried tomato paste ( I use the Amore brand in the tube. Great stuff!)
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 green bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 large links turkey Italian sausage with fennel

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat and add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When it’s wavy, add the butter. Season the chicken with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. As soon as the butter foams, add the chicken and brown until golden on all sides. You may have to do this in batches.

Remove the chicken to a platter.

Add the 2 large links of sausage and cook on all sides until brown. Remove from pan. Add the onions to the fat and let cook, covered until soft and golden. This should take about five minutes. Then add the garlic confit and cook about five more minutes. Return the chicken and sausage and any juices that have accumulated to the pan. Add stock, tomatoes and paste. Cover and cook over low heat, turning the chicken to coat with the sauce. Let this cook for about 25 minutes *. Add the peppers and cover and cook for 20 more minutes. Season and serve with rice or pasta.

Serves 4.

This was where the recipe detoured for me. After 25 minutes, there was a whole lot of stock left over. Liquidy. So, if this happens to you, remove the chicken and cook the sauce down uncovered over medium high heat. Or, you can do like I did. Take it off the heat, let cool and refrigerate until the next evening, defat the dish, reheat and serve over the rice. It was truly wonderful.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes and Olives

2008-11-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

There’s something to be said about lamb shanks.

Talk about your cheap but effective meal.

They are highly impressive at table.

They make the house smell like you are flat in the middle of Tuscany, or Morocco or France, depending on how you are preparing them.

This is one of Bittman’s best.

Your guests will think you’ve outdone yourself.

Which, of course, you have!

Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes and Olives
Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
4 lamb shanks, about a pound each
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups sliced red onion
A large spoonful garlic confit
A couple of sprigs fresh thyme
1/3 cup chicken stock
1 15 ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1-½ cups assorted olives, pitted
Chopped fresh Italian parsley

Heat a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil in large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add lamb and brown on all sides, season as you cook. Remove lamb and add the onions. Cook over medium heat until soft and goldenish, about 10 minutes. Add garlic confit and thyme and cook one minute then add the chicken stock and the tomatoes and stir. Add the browned lamb shanks and turn them once or twice, season to taste, cover and turn heat to low.

Cook for 30 minutes, turn the shanks and add the olives. Cook for an hour until shanks are very tender. Meat falling off bone is good sign!

Garnish with the Italian parsley and serve.

Serves 4.

Can be adapted to slow cooker with great ease! Fabulous with smashed potatoes.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Roasted Chicken with Orecchiette in a Greek Tomato Sauce

2008-11-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

As the sun fades in the west, the roast chicken of the past two posts comes to a good end.

It’s stocked the freezer with, wait for it, stock.

And having been picked clean by a professional chicken picker, aka Groom, it has yielded yet another memorable meal.

Thanks to The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, the left over chicken found itself in one hell of a tomato sauce seasoned with cinnamon, crushed Aleppo pepper flakes and Turkish oregano. Topped with a bit of creamy goat cheese, the only thing missing from this meal was the belly dancer.

No, wait. I was here.

You gotta do something to keep the spice in life.

Roasted Chicken with Orecchiette in a Greek Tomato Sauce
Liberally Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
½ large Vidalia onion, coarsely chopped
Small handful Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp sun dried tomato paste
1 tsp dark wildflower honey
½ glass red wine
Big spoonful garlic confit
28 ounce can San Marzano plum tomatoes
1-½ cup diced roasted chicken
Orecchiette or a “hollow” pasta to catch the sauce
1 ounce creamy goat cheese

Heat olive oil til wavy in 12 inch skillet over medium high heat. When wavy add parsley, onion and a generous pinch of coarse salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Cook until onions are soft and golden and add sun dried tomato paste, garlic confit and dark wildflower honey and combine well. Let cook for about five minutes and then add red wine and the San Marzano tomatoes and their juice. Season well to taste, and let cook for about 10 minutes until thick. Add diced roasted chicken. Let simmer for 10 minutes .

Cook orecchiette , drain and add to the tomato sauce. Sprinkle 1/2 ounce of creamy goat cheese to pasta, stir and add a remaining.

Serves 3 generously.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Roasted Chicken Stock

2008-11-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

I used to make chicken stock the easy way. A tablespoon of chicken base and water added to a recipe.
Too much salt that way.
Not very creative or healthy, really.

Then I decided to make it on top of the stove, bubbling away for a couple of hours, strain the stock and freeze.
Took up a whole day once I finished.
Not an efficient use of my time, really.

Now? The Beast takes over.
My slow cooker. A venerated family favorite.
Ok, I’ve only had it for a year. But it’s venerated all the same.

Last night, around nine, the stock ingredients went into the Beast.
I set the timer,
Slept through the bubbling, cooking part.

Got up this morning, defatted the stock, froze it in 1 cup batches.

Took me 30 minutes.

The Beast, in its place of honor, smiled as only a stainless steel, venerated family retainer can.
And it spoke to me.

I think it said, “ What took you so long, dear?”

And with that, a great big thank you goes out to Feeding Groom fans. This is FG’s one year anniversary posting (I'm a day late..oh well) and without your support and comments and major help, this blog would not be around.

Raise a glass to yourself and FG and here’s to many more posts to come!

Roasted Chicken Stock

2 well picked over roasted chickens
The tops of two large leeks you saved after using the white parts
A carrot, broken up
4 large cloves garlic, smashed
A couple of bay leaves
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 bunch of parsley (you know the type, you’ve almost used it all up and it’s mostly stems)
Cold water to cover

Adjust ingredients to the size of your slow cooker. You can always cut up the chicken to fit.
Set slow cooker on LOW for 13 hours. When done, strain into large bowl, mashing down on the cooked ingredients to get all the flavors.
Strain the fat out of the stock to your desired fat quota.

If you don’t have one of these gadgets, get one. They come in several sizes…mine is 20 years old but any will do a great job for you!

Makes 3 quarts.

Et voila, you have perfect chicken stock ready for your next adventure in the kitchen.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Henry Fielding's Roast Chicken

2008-11-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

Every person should have a meal like this.

There’s not a food group left untouched after this is over.

Granted, Tom Jones and Mrs. Waters are characters from The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling by Henry Fielding.

It does make you wonder about Fielding.

Logically, he must have enjoyed his food.

And his dinner companions..

Seems to me Fielding put his life experience whole heartedly into his work.

And then the movies came along and put it on the screen.

I don’t know about you, but I have never quite looked at roast chicken in the same way since.

Henry Fielding's Roast Chicken
Adapted from Jacques Pepin’s Table

1 3-4 pound chicken
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425.

Sprinkle the chicken inside and out with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil.

Heat a couple of good swirls of olive oil in large cast iron or oven proof skillet until hot and the olive oil looks wavy. Place chicken on one side in the skillet and brown over medium to high heat for 3 minutes or so. Turn it over and brown on the other side for 3 minutes.

Put the skillet in the oven. Roast chicken uncovered for 20 minutes. Turn on other side and roast for another 20 minutes. Then turn chicken on its back and baste with juices from cooking and roast it breast side up for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and place it breast side down on a platter. Pour drippings from skillet into a bowl and set aside to allow fat to rise to the top. Do not rinse the skillet. IF you are making the fabulous pasta side dish, read and follow those directions.

If no pasta for you, just the chicken, deglaze the skillet by adding a couple of tablespoons dry white wine, or red wine or water, whatever you have handy, and stir to melt the juices over high heat. Add to drippings in bowl and skim off and discard as much fat as you can. Serve with the chicken.

Serves 4 generously.

Pasta with Manchego
Adapted from Jacques Pepin's Table

10 ounces medium sized pasta (I used penne but shells are best)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 cup freshly grated Manchego cheese

Cook pasta and drain, reserving ½ cup pasta cooking water. Put the skillet the chicken was cooked in over medium high heat. Add the pasta water and bring to a boil, stirring to get the juices in the skillet and put this liquid in a bowl large enough to hold the pasta. Skim off about 3 tbsp fat that has risen to the top of the bowl with the original drippings. Add the fat to the bowl with the deglazing liquid. Add remaining ingredients and toss well.

Serves 4 generously.

Election Day

2008-11-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

If you haven't, go vote.

Exercise your right to state your opinion about the way things are done.

Join the march.

And hit the enjoy button for a little GroomMusic on the subject. Click the play button on the top left of the page.

We can change things.

Starting today.

ENJOY

Ground Pork with Fresh Fennel, Broccoli Rabe and Two Tomatoes: A Sauce for Pasta

2008-10-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

Wow.

What a meal.

Frost in the forecast.

A warm fire.

A bunch of broccoli rabe.

A desire for a different pasta sauce.

And a package of ground pork that wanted a home.

It got a great one.

Ground Pork with Fresh Fennel, Broccoli Rabe and Two Tomatoes: A Sauce for Pasta
Inspired by Last Night's Dinner

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 pound ground pork
¼ cup dry vermouth
¼ cup chicken stock
½ large Vidalia onion, chopped
1 large fresh fennel, chopped
1 large spoonful garlic confit
1-½ tsp crushed red peppers
1 tbsp fennel seed
1-½ tsp dried French thyme
1-½ tsp dried Turkish oregano
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-15 ounce can San Marzano tomatoes and their juice
¼ cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped
1 bunch broccoli rabe, trim the stems, wash and chop
Medium pasta shells, cooked (enough for four)

Heat a cast iron pan over medium high heat and add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is wavy, add the ground pork and season well with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. When pork has cooked through, remove from pan and add a bit more olive oil.

Add fennel and Vidalia onions and let cook for about 10 minutes til soft. Add crushed red peppers, thyme, oregano and season with freshly ground black pepper. Add the garlic confit and let cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add the vermouth to the pan and stir well. Add the pork back to the pan and any drippings and stir well. Add canned tomatoes, the sundrieds and chicken stock. Let cook for about 30 minutes.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the broccoli rabe and bring back to a boil and let cook about three minutes. Remove the rabe from the water, add it to the pork mixture and let simmer while you cook the pasta. When pasta is done, drain it and add to the sauce. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 4 generously.

Pilaf with Shrimp, Pancetta and Swiss Chard

2008-10-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

I never think about Arborio rice.

I think about things like shrimp, the election, an occasional bone in pork chop and whether or not the Fed is going to cut interest rates.

So why did I start thinking about Arborio rice?

I don’t have a clue.
But I did have it in the pantry.

And after a long day in the financial world, I wanted comfort food.
And a golden hour with Groom.

I got both!

Pilaf with Shrimp, Pancetta and Swiss Chard

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 ounce pancetta, chopped
1 lb 21-25 shrimp, tail on
1-½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium red onion, sliced thin
1 tsp dried Turkish oregano
1 tsp dried French thyme
1 large spoonful garlic confit
A nice bunch of Swiss chard, washed
1-¾ cup Arborio rice
2-¾ cup chicken stock

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
Add a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil.
When the oil looks wavy add chopped pancetta and cook til brown, doesn’t take a lot of time. Remove the pancetta and turn the heat down. Put the pancetta on a paper towel to drain.

Raise the heat add a bit more olive oil and when wavy add shrimp, crushed red pepper flakes and several grinds black pepper.

When the shrimp turns pink…this will happen very quickly, remove it from the pan.

Add a bit more olive oil and when wavy add the red onion, Turkish oregano and dried French thyme and stir, letting the onions caramelize and then add a soup spoonful of garlic confit. Mash it up and let the onion/garlic continue to caramelize.

Chop up the stems and the leaves of the Swiss chard and add to the caramelized onions and cook, stirring for about five minutes. When wilted add Arborio rice, and chicken stock and bring to a boil. When boiling , reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 25 minutes. Uncover, stir and add the shrimp/pancetta mix.
Fall out of your chair and enjoy!!!

Serves 4 generously.

A Mustard Chicken Saute

2008-10-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

Food discoveries sometimes come from necessity.

What if you thought that you had plenty of one thing to use for dinner and then the hour for preparation is upon you and, kerblam…what you thought you had isn’t what you have at all and what you thought you were having for dinner takes a new direction.

Take this chicken dinner, for instance.

You think you have bone in chicken thighs.
You don’t.

You think you have mushrooms.
You don’t.

You think you’re making a hunter’s style chicken dish.
Apparently not.

You’re making this.

A Mustard Chicken Saute

4 large boneless chicken thighs, cut in large pieces
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-½ tsp dried summer savory
½ large Vidalia onion, sliced very thin
A big spoonful of garlic confit
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup water
A nice tablespoonful Dijon mustard
A handful of chopped fresh parsley

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and put a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil in. when it looks wavy add the onions and cook, stirring til they are golden brown.

Remove them from the pan and swirl a bit more olive oil in. Then add the chicken, season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook fast. Do a good sprinkle of summer savory and add the onions back and the spoonful of garlic confit. Stir really well, add the water and the dry white wine and bring to a boil. Sprinkle a little all purpose flour over and stir well.

As the sauce thickens, add a nice spoonful of Dijon mustard (not too much) and let sauce cook til flavors blend. Fling a bit of chopped fresh Italian parsley over the top and serve big spoonfuls.

This will serve 2 generously.

Sauteed Shrimp in a Citrusy Fennelly Tomato Sauce

2008-10-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

So, this is what I did for dinner.

Nothing fancy. Just a fast shrimp saute thrown (literally ) into a fennelly, citrusy tomato sauce slung over angel hair.

Using up the stuff in the fridge so I can go get some more stuff and forget that I have it.

Then remembering and deciding to forge ahead, because extra virgin olive oil, garlic confit, San Marzano tomatoes will bring out the best in some rather past its prime fennel and a slightly sad looking Valencia orange.

It’s Monday night.

Sautéed Shrimp in a Citrusy Fennelly Tomato Sauce

1 fennel bulb, coarsely chopped
½ large Vidalia onion, coarsely chopped
1 heaping tbsp garlic confit
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
About a tbsp of fennel seeds
1 Valencia orange, zested, then cut in half
A splash of Pernod
1 28 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes and their juices
16 large shrimp, peeled, tail left on
A couple of good swirls more of extra virgin olive oil
Fresh Italian parsley, a handful, chopped

Put a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Do a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When it looks wavy add the fennel and onion and let it cook until soft, about five minutes. Add garlic confit and fennel seeds. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Cook, stirring until garlic is blended in. Add tomatoes and their juice and raise the heat a bit to get a good bubbling going. Add the splash of Pernod, add the orange zest and squeeze one half of the orange over top and stir. Reduce heat to a good simmer and let cook for about twenty minutes.

Take a medium skillet and place over medium high heat and do a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. Throw in the shrimp, season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and squeeze the other half of the orange over the shrimp. These should cook really fast and turn pink. Remove from heat.

When you are ready to eat, add the shrimp to the tomato sauce and let bubble for about three minutes. Toss with chopped fresh Italian parsley and serve with angel hair pasta.

Serves three generously.

Ripe Mango Chutney

2008-10-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make.

I love Major Grey’s chutney.
I have for years.

It’s gooey and sticky and sweet and I always have a jar of it in the fridge. Usually the top is stuck on the jar and I have to run very hot water on it to get it open.

I was toddling about the Saveur website when I came upon this recipe for Ripe Mango Chutney.
I thought that I had died gone to heaven because now I could make the chutney I adore whenever I want.

Except for one thing. It’s not Major Grey‘s. It’s nothing like it. And I am afraid that the Major Grey’s Chutney makers of the world will discover a downturn in their financial situation because I prefer this.

Spicy and sweet and hot and fresh and fast to make and improves with age.
Compliments all food groups and combinations.

Sorry, Major. You‘ve ruled my palate long enough..

It’s time for a change.

Ripe Mango Chutney
Adapted from Saveur Magazine who adapted it from The Great Mango Book by Allen Susser

4 large ripe mangoes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 medium Vidalia onions, peeled and diced
3 tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
2 long red thin chiles
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp toasted cumin seeds, ground
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup fresh lime juice
½ cup golden raisins

Peel mangoes, remove flesh slicing along flatter sides of mango, on both sides and then around the edges with a sharp knife. Cut into large dice and set aside.

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook about five minutes, til they begin to get soft, and add the ginger, garlic, chiles and red bell peppers; stir well. Stir in the mustard seeds, cumin and salt and cook for about five minutes. Add sugar and cook stirring until dissolved, add vinegar, lime juice and raisins and mangoes. Simmer til chutney has consistency of a marmalade, takes about 50 minutes.

You can sterilize jars, put the chutney in and store in the refrigerator or take it a step further and process the chutney in the sterilized jars in a hot water bath to seal (method is here)and then you can store in your pantry.

Makes 5 cups of chutney.

Try it with these recipes:

Goan Shrimp Curry

Country Captain

The Frazzly Nub Rice Bowl

Chili Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Orange Vinaigrette

2008-09-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

I don’t cook pork tenderloin very often.
I love a bone in pork chop.
Something to hold onto.
Know what I mean?
Pork tenderloin always seemed to me to be a bit…I don’t know…light.
Boring, maybe?
It just wasn’t my “go to” pork for dinner thing.

However, I’ll go to it for this fabulous meal any time.
Bobby Flay’s way too cool rub . …lime juice and ancho chili powder and spicy hot Spanish paprika…makes you think it would be too spicy, right?

Wrong…it’s perfect.

And then the spicy orange vinaigrette to drizzle over the top when you serve it. Orange juice reduced to a sweet syrup and blended with sherry vinegar and more ancho.

And leftovers make a killer chef’s salad for lunch.

Nothing boring about that!!

Chili Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Orange Vinaigrette
Adapted from Bobby Flay's From My Kitchen to Your Table

¼ cup ancho chili powder
¼ cup hot Spanish paprika
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup fresh lime juice
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Mix in blender and pour over two pork tenderloins. Let sit for at least an hour. Remove from marinade and season to taste with salt and pepper. Grill until medium rare to medium, 10-12 minutes turning and basting with marinade. *

2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp ancho chile powder
¼ cup aged sherry vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Heat the orange juice over medium high stirring often. It will thicken and reduce down to about a ¼ cup.
Put ancho chili powder, sherry vinegar and salt and pepper in blender and slowly add the olive oil and let blend.

Serve over the sliced pork tenderloin. Lots of fresh cilantro for garnish.
Serves 3 generously

* I have preheated the oven to 450, heated a cast iron skillet and filmed it with olive oil and seared the tenderloins on all sides. Then popped in the oven and let cook until done, takes about 20 minutes. Works great when you forget to buy gas for the grill!

Crispy Tortilla Eggs with Avocado and Lime

2008-09-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

Well, to look at this picture, you’d think this meal was a hot mess.

By looks alone, it may appear that way. But taste wise…this simply rocks.

This is an adaptation of a recipe from The Splendid Table‘s: How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift.

Crisped corn tortillas, eggs, Vidalia onion, then let your imagination go…this version has avocado, tomatoes, green tomatillo salsa, a bit of Manchego…and then a spritz of fresh lime juice.

Great ingredients that come together fast to make one of the best and easiest busy night suppers you’re gonna eat. You can virtually clean out your fridge and be lazy at the same time.

Multi tasking at it’s best.

Brilliant concept.

Brilliant book.

Crispy Tortilla Eggs with Avocado and Lime
Adapted from The Splendid Table‘s: How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
4 stale corn tortillas, cut into long narrow strips
½ medium Vidalia onion, chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup green tomatillo salsa
A couple of mini Bradley tomatoes, quartered
1/3 cup grated Manchego cheese
1 large ripe avocado, sliced
1 lime, halved
¼ cup sour cream, Greek yogurt or crème fraiche
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish (I didn’t have any but it would be fab on this)

Swirl the olive oil in large nonstick saute pan and heat over medium high heat til oil looks wavy. Add tortilla strips and try until they begin to crisp, about a minute. Don’t move around too much , let crisp on one side and then turn them.

Add the onion and continue frying until the tortilla strips are crispy and nicely browned. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove from heat and if there is any extra fat, pour off and reserve 1 tbsp in pan .

Return pan to burner, reducing the heat to medium. Move the majority of the strips to the edge of the pan, leaving about three inches clear in the center. Pour the eggs in the center and partially over the strips. Allow the eggs to set, and then gently pull them apart, letting the uncooked egg reach the surface of the pan. Once the eggs are firmly set, turn them in large pieces to finish cooking.

Serve with the salsa, cheese, slices of avocado, a squeeze of fresh lime and the sour cream.

Serves 4.
Halves well.
Tastes divine.

Fresh Fig and Strawberry Jam

2008-09-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

I’ve been on a picklin‘, jammin’ kick over the past month. The veggies and fruits of late summer have been totally inspirational.

The fresh figs of late have been exceptional.

As well as the brown sugar strawberries.

So I decided to try my hand at an adaptation of a recipe for Fresh Fig and Strawberry Jam from a great cookbook called The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard.

This is the perfect for people who don’t want or need mass quantities of pickles or jelly in their house, but enjoy the process and the outcome.

Fresh figs, fresh strawberries, vanilla sugar, a bit of Harvey’s Bristol Cream and fresh orange zest.

Makes you want to bake bread at the same time.

Fresh Fig and Strawberry Jam
Adapted from The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard

1 pound fresh green figs, stemmed and cut into small pieces
2 cups quartered strawberries
2 cups vanilla sugar
3 tbsp Harvey’s Bristol Cream
Grated zest of one Valencia orange

Place figs, strawberries, vanilla sugar and Harvey’s in medium stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Cover and let stand for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium and boil rapidly, uncovered until mixture will form a gel about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat.

Ladle into hot jars (with two piece tops) and process for 10 minutes. (see below for instructions)

Makes 4 cups.. (4 half pint jars)

Use the freezer test to see if it’s gelling. Put a couple of small plates in freezer. After 15 minutes, put a spoonful of the jam on plate and return to freezer for two minutes. (take jam off the heat while you wait so it doesn’t overcook.) Then take the plate out and rotate it. The jam should move slowly as you rotate it. If it throws itself off the plate onto the floor, keep cooking and try again in five minutes with the other plate. You’ll get a feel for this.

To prepare the jars, fill a large stockpot with enough water to cover the jars and place the jars in the water. Start heating over medium. About 10 minutes before you’re ready to fill the jars, put the tops in.

Fill the jars, leave about a half inch from the top for airspace, wipe the rim and side so the jars will seal well. Put the filled jars back in the hot water.

Place the pot over high heat, cover and bring to a rocking full boil. Once it boils, set timer for 10 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, turn off heat, take off top and leave jars in water for five minutes. Then lift out and place on heat safe surface. I put mine on a kitchen towel on a cake rack out of the way. Don’t touch or dry jars for 12-24 hours. Be sure all are sealed. (You’ll hear them pop and when you punch the tops they don’t make a sound.)

If they don’t seal for any reason, refrigerate them.

Panna Cotta with Lemon Thyme Peaches

2008-09-03T16:47:00.000-07:00

Every now and then a recipe jumps out of the pages of a magazine and demands to be made.
That was exactly what this Panna Cotta with Lemon Thyme Peaches did to me in late June when Gourmet’s July issue arrived.

I dreamed about this recipe.

Cream, honey, Greek yogurt with sugared peaches and lemon thyme.
Bliss. Swoon.

I thought about it for weeks. I kept talking about making it.
The opportunity never presented itself.
Until one of Groom’s dear friends came for a visit and dinner was planned.
Around dessert.

I know, I know there have been Panna Cottas all over the place this summer. We had a dreamy version in Apalachicola last spring at Avenue Sea.
This one, though.
It’s something special.
And with the last of this summer’s peaches, it’s perfection.
I should have made it sooner.

Panna Cotta with Lemon Thyme Peaches
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine July 2008

1-1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin from packet
2 tbsp water
1-1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup Greek yogurt
¼ cup wild honey
1/8 tsp almond extract

1-1/2 tsp chopped fresh lemon thyme
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
3 peaches, washed and sliced thin

Put water in medium saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand a minute to soften.
Add the heavy cream and salt and heat, stirring, until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat.

Whisk together yogurt, honey and almond extract. Then whisk in the gelatin mix. Put in four small bowls, glasses…your choice and refrigerate. (Recipe says 8 hours, mine were ready in 4.)

About 20 minutes before serving, take the panna cotta out of the fridge. combine peaches, lemon thyme and sugar and let sit until ready to serve. Spoon over top of panna cotta and get ready to swoon.

Makes 4.

Frank's Pickled Okra

2008-08-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Recipe from Cotton Country, a Junior League Cookbook

The Okra

The Long Red Chiles

The Boiling Jars

Garlic and Dill Seed

The Process Begins..

And Continues..

There's One in Every Crowd!

Ten Minutes in a Hot Bath

We're Done!

Wait for three weeks before eating. Make as many as you can. These go fast.
Happy Labor Day!

The Best Ribs Ever

2008-08-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted on something that was good for you.

Today, in honor of Labor Day, which is rapidly approaching, I am going to provide you with a rub for baby back ribs.

Which probably would not wind up in the Good For You column of foods. Or the Best Looking Food in the world column.

Best Tasting Food in the World column, absolutely.
These ribs are one of those things that you make and those that get to eat them remember them for years.

They ask you to make it.

And if you don’t make it often enough, they figure out how to make it themselves and have you over to dinner to remind you about how good they are.

These ribs are messy, taste fabulous, do not involve a grill and, after years of experience, provide the same reaction across the board from every single person after the first couple of bites.

How did you do this? This is amazing.

Well, now you know.

Enjoy.

The Best Ribs Ever

The Rub:

2-½ tbsp sugar
3 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp ground cumin
1-½ tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp medium hot chili powder
1 tbsp Lawry’s seasoned salt

2 full racks baby back ribs

The Baste:

1-¾ cup cider vinegar
2 tbsp Tabasco
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp Lawry’s seasoned salt
1-½ tbsp ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 300. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Spray with Pam. Rub both sides of the ribs with The Rub.
Heat The Baste ingredients on top of the stove and stir til sugar dissolves. Put ribs in oven and cook for 2-½ hours or til ribs reach temp of 140 degrees. Baste about every 20 minutes.

Totally enjoy!!

Serves 5.