Menu Planning for the New Year

The holidays seriously derailed my normal menu planning habit, resulting in last-minute decisions and a lot of after-work stops at the grocery store when I forgot to ask D* to pick something up. A hectic way of life, and unsatisfying for me as a cook. Today I sat down with some books and did a plan for the week after New Years, and it felt really, really good.

In the spirit of my fresh resolution to make more use of my cookbooks (I make and break this one every year), the book for this week is Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, which I picked up at Innisfree Bookshop over the summer. Those recipes are starred.

• Saturday: Italian Wedding Soup*; Country Hearth Bread
  
• Sunday: Bistro Chicken; Pan-Roasted Root Vegetables*
• Monday: Stir-Fried Orange-Ginger Tofu
• Tuesday: Three-Bean Tacos
• Wednesday: Pork au Poivre; Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli*
• Thursday: Salmon with Curried Chutney
• Friday: Lasagna Rolls

I am not someone who can designate Tuesday as "pasta night" and observe it unfailingly, but I try to aim for a balance of different types of meal, including some vegetarian, some easy ones for nights that follow busy days, some that use up odds and ends from the pantry. 

JJ's Baptismal Lunch

It was an enormously busy weekend--a D&D game on Saturday, and one of the group had a recent birthday so I made Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Cloud Cake. It was absolutely fantastic and I wish I'd taken a picture. The only problem was the presentation, in that the whipped cream tends to slide around a bit when you cut into the cake. Minor problem, though, since it tasted great. While we played, I put together Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies. (Take a pound of butter....)

My in-laws were here to watch the kids during the game. For dinner we gave them Bistro Chicken with rice pilaf and steamed green beans, and then we finished off the cake.

On Sunday morning I made some French-style potato salad, chopped up veggies for nibbling with hummus, plated the brownies, and put the ham in the oven. JJ was fussy at first during church, and complained quite loudly about the water, but soon after that he fell asleep. Here's the little guy in his gown.


We caravaned the family back to our apartment, and it was short work to put all the food out. D's mom and dad brought some bread and iced tea to round out the menu, and his aunt and uncle had thoughtfully brought some prosecco and glasses, and we toasted our little guy and then fell to demolishing the food.

That didn't take long, and there isn't much left over, which is pretty much the best compliment one can have for this sort of event. Everyone stayed for a while, catching up, taking pictures, playing with the kids (L was a little hyper but generally pretty good, and JJ behaved fabulously--must have been the nap).

Midafternoon JJ finally went to sleep again. I took L outside and blew bubbles for her, and we went down by the pond's shore to see the turtles, and the heron that was fishing off the old pilings. I will miss that pond, but I am really starting to look forward to moving.

Here's a pic of the two kids from earlier this week, just for the heck of it!

Springfield Chili

I notice that my post count has dropped every month since I started this blog. Well, it's September now--time to get back into the kitchen! though not today, as it's supposed to be in the high 80s.

So you probably won't want to make this chili tonight. I made it on Saturday, my night to cook for what will probably be the year's final excursion to NH for me. I picked it in a state of aggravation and nigh-desperation, not really looking forward to going up there at all. I was sick of driving and being away from home, worried about how the new puppy some of the relatives have would handle the kids, grouchily certain that none of us would get any sleep, and generally in one of those vile moods where giving yourself free rein to wallow in it provides a sort of weird, petty satisfaction.

Fortunately, once we were actually there, this mood didn't last. It was in fact a lovely weekend, with clear (albeit somewhat windy) weather. The puppy behaved himself well, and so did the kids (and the grown-ups, for that matter). A lot of work got done (not by me, which made me feel a little bit guilty, but I did have the baby to keep an eye on). A lot of ice cream got eaten--L had her first-ever cone at the GPC store, and quite surprised me by insisting on getting one, since she's always had it in a dish.

And the chili, which I had worried about, turned out to be great. I might even make this my new standard recipe. I made the following adjustments:

• I had a green pepper left over from something else, so that went in
• Although I doubled the recipe, I only used 1 can of beer, since 2 would have meant a great deal of liquid to get rid of. PBR, of all things, that we had in the refrigerator.
• I used a lot more Worcestershire sauce than they called for. On the order of a quarter cup, which may have been a tad too much, but a couple of teaspoons seemed ridiculously low.
  

The results? Spicy-good, there were no leftovers, and nine people got fed for something like $5 a person (that includes the salad my mother-in-law made, too).

The rest of this week is likely to be a wash, cooking-wise--I have not had time to shop or plan since we got back on Monday, and we've been throwing together pantry-based meals for the most part. On Friday, though, I should be able to get to the farmer's market in the morning. We're having pizza for dinner and watching a movie (we finally joined Netflix, will see if we can actually find the time to watch anything). This weekend we're looking at cool, rainy days, always nice to spend in the kitchen. Bring on fall!

Getting Back to Cooking

It's been a while. The height of summer is not really recipe-friendly. But yesterday I managed to sit down and put together an actual list of menus for the week, things that involve more than "saute veggies, boil pasta, put veggies on pasta."

Although not necessarily a lot more. Last night, in order to use up some farmer's market eggplant, I made Eggplant Marinara Pasta Casserole. It took a bit of time to put together, and the baby was teething and fussy, and L was tired and cranky, and I poured myself a glass of wine with a lot more feeling than I usually do. But the recipe is a good one. Salting and prebaking the eggplant gives them a bit more of a concentrated texture, without the mushiness that can be a turnoff for those who, like me, have not quite made up their minds whether or not they like the stuff. I found myself thinking that some sausage would go very well, but the dish is hearty and can stand on its own quite easily.

Note that the recipe is written for 8 servings--I halved it, and it worked perfectly well that way.

So get yourself an eggplant and get to it!

Perfect All-American Chocolate Butter Cake

I've been meaning to post this for weeks now--it's the recipe I used to make L's birthday cake, and it was not only the best chocolate layer cake I've ever made, but quite possibly the best I've ever eaten. Thank you, Rose Levy Berenbaum, whose book truly deserves the title The Cake Bible.

1/2 c + 3 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa (I use Droste, and for things like this, it is worth the expense!)
1 c boiling water
3 large eggs, room temp
2 1/4 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 c + 2 Tbsp sifted cake flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter, softened.

1. Preheat oven to 35oF. Prepare 2 9-inch cake pans: greased, bottoms lined with parchment or wax paper, then greased again and floured.
   
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cool to room temp.
3. In another bowl, lightly combine the eggs, 1/4 of the cooled cocoa mixture, and vanilla.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend.
   
5. Add the butter and the remaining cocoa mixture. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened.
6. Increase to medium speed (high if hand mixer) and beat for 1 1/2 minutes. Scape down the sides.
   
7. Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape down the sides.
8. Scrape batter into prepared pans and smooth. Bake 25-35 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Should start to shrink from the sides only after removing from the oven.
9. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides and invert onto greased metal racks. To prevent splitting, reinvert and cool completely.

I used Martha Stewart's chocolate frosting, and the result was fabulous.



UPDATE: Added the sugar!

A Menu of Summer Delights

Since I was working from home and for once had some energy left at the end of the day, I went nuts in the kitchen. First thing, I made some sandwich bread from my old standby recipe; I've really missed having fresh bread around as a regular thing, since our lives have been a little too nuts lately (not to mention how hot it's been).

That taken care of, I pulled out all of the great things I got at the market that morning and went to work. I made my first-ever pesto; that only took a few minutes. I sliced a bunch of vegetables and set them marinating, and sliced corn off the cob for Tuesday night's planned dinner, Open-Faced Jerk Vegetable Sandwiches and Summer Corn Soup.

Tuesday taken care of, I turned back to Monday night. Everything came together quickly and, amazingly enough, more or less at the same time. We had Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, corn on the cob with the husks still wet from the previous night's rain, and Pork Medallions with Lemons and Capers, which wasn't lemony enough for me--the pepper tended to drown the other flavors--but quite good.

I felt absolutely wonderful.

Three-Pepper Quesadillas

The usual jam-packed weekend. We spent Saturday morning doing house drive-bys in the Tewksbury area, and found some reason to be encouraged, though most of the ones we saw were in pretty bad shape on the outside or in awkward locations. We got lunch at a pizza joint in Billerica called Sal's (passable slices, but the TV was tuned to a Pauly Shore movie), drove by a couple more houses, and then made our way home.

In the afternoon we took turns running errands. We had decided to finally see Surf's Up, a movie L loves to watch Youtube clips of, so I had to make something that could be eaten in front of the TV. Normally I do pizza, but we had pizza for lunch, so I decided to stick with the flatbread theme and make quesadillas. I looked at what was in the pan and decided that it needed more heft -- as written it would probably make a fine addition to a menu, but as the only course, I chucked in some black beans (added bonus, L eats those). The movie turned out to be very entertaining, though L cried a bit at unexpected points, which I chalked up to over-excitement.

Sunday I spent the morning cleaning the kitchen and L's room, including packing away a bunch of her old clothes for eventual transport to the thrift store. It needs to be done, obviously, but it always makes me feel wistful.

In the evening we drove through one of the apparently never-ended rainstorms the summer is giving us, to Allora Ristorante in Marlboro, for dinner with my supper club buddies. In sum: excellent food, service could use some work. The bruschetta was like nothing I had ever seen, hefty triangles of toasted bread smothered in chunks of fresh tomato and balsamic vinegar, scattered with cheese. Fabulous, and much too much for one person. Then the organic greens salad with pears and walnuts, which was quite good, and the pesto chicken, which I somehow managed to eat all of, somewhat to my own surprise. One of my fellows got the osso buco and practically licked his plate clean.

It was not a cheap evening in terms of money or calories, but I'd definitely give the place another try and see if our waiter was just having an off night, or what. JJ behaved marvelously, L less so, but they had us in a private room so it didn't matter too much that she was running around (and under the table) for most of the evening.

Chickpea, Chard, and Tomato Stew

Another great way to get your greens, and assorted other veggies. This one cooks up quickly, and is actually a sort of takeoff on chili, both in flavor and thanks to the use of ground chicken (the recipe name makes it sound vegetarian; it is not, though it could certainly be adapted). It could have used more spice, in my opinion, but CL is famously cautious about its seasoning.

Chickpea, Chard, and Tomato Stew

This weekend with any luck we'll be going house hunting, and out for dinner with the supper club crew at Allora, so I might not have a lot of time to cook. I am trying to enjoy summer, which places its own restrictions on cooking, and not look ahead to fall just yet. It's a good time.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

A rare and wonderful day spent with friends. They recently bought a house in a neighboring state, so getting together will involve more planning the future, but yesterday it was a simple drive and a great afternoon of catching up and playing with the kids (they hadn't seen JJ since his birth).

I put together a lunch menu that I thought would be okay with the expected heat: tortilla di patatas (from All Around the World, a fabulous book to read as well as to cook from, by one of the Silver Palate girls); spinach and strawberry salad; some toasted Italian bread with purchased bruschetta topping, and Lisa Yockelson's blueberry coffee cake once we had recovered from all of that. I have acquired something of a crush on Ms. Yockelson, based purely on the pictures of her kitchen in Baking by Flavor. Maybe a little bit on the fact that her recipes are bliss on a fork and entirely dependable.

Cinnamon and Sugar Topping
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cake Batter
1 c sour cream
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c plus 2 Tbsp unsifted all-purpose flour
1/4 c unsifted cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 c fresh blueberries
1/4 lb (8 Tbsp, one stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 c superfine sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F. Film the inside of a 9x9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the topping ingredients; set aside.

Combine the sour cream and baking soda. The mixture will swell and puff a bit as it stands.

Sift the flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. In a small bowl, thoroughly toss the blueberries with 1 1/2 tsp of the sifted mixture.

Cream the butter on moderate speed in a stand mixer for 2 minutes. Add the superfine sugar and beat for 1-2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract.

On low speed, add half the dry ingredients, the sour cream blend, and the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to keep the batter even-textured. The batter will be moderately thick. Fold in the bliueberries.

Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the surface.

Bake the cake for 35 minutes or until set and a wooden pick inserted into the center withdraws clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for at least 20 minutes before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature. Keeps 2-3 days.

This Week's Recipe Roundup

It's been one heck of a week--between JJ's teething and the cold he came down with last night (possibly the same low-grade virus that's been dogging my heels all week), no one is getting much sleep. So this blog has been neglected a bit, and rather than post individually for everything I've been cooking, I'm going to slap them all into this one.

Orange-Glazed Tofu Triangles with Sesame Rice--Although I had to make a few shortcuts, this one pretty much rocked, and would probably be better if made correctly, with a grill and everything instead of being tossed under the broiler for a few minutes. It's also an attractive dish to plate, if that counts for you, particularly if you keep the elements distinct.

Orecchiette with Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella, and Basil--This is probably the "foodiest" dish I will make this whole month. Small-batch imported pasta, organic tomatoes, mozzarella made that very morning and purchased at a farmer's market, as was the basil. A perfect meal for summer.

Turkey Burgers with Special Sauce--I'm sure a better name could be found for the sauce, but that's a hazard of reader-supplied recipes, I suppose. I admit I was highly skeptical about this one, especially the orange juice, but it works!

Also this week, from Moosewood Daily Specials, we had the Artichoke Heart Soup (okay, but a little odd) and the Greek Salad (lacking something, probably because I don't like olives and left those out--maybe it just needed more feta, or melding time).

We've eaten a lot of grape tomatoes this week. Since the farmers markets appear to be in full swing now, it's time to loosen up my menu planning and take more advantage of what can be found there.

Aside from the virus and the teething, the kids are doing great. JJ is rolling all over the place. L watched Fantasia the other day and during the "Pastorale" sequence said, "Look, pony-birds!" and just melted her mommy.

Penne, Crispy Tofu, and Green Bean Salad

An unlikely-sounding combination, perhaps, but in my recent trawl for hot-weather main dishes this one seemed like a good bet. Since I was making it after work, we had it warm (the weather has gotten far more decent since last week, so this was not a problem) and agreed that it was a pretty good effort. I find myself entirely unable to brown tofu without it sticking to everything in sight, however.

JJ is still not sleeping well, but I think his tooth is breaking through; perhaps after that finally happens he (and we) will get a bit of relief. We're thinking about heading up to Marlboro to scope out neighborhoods this weekend, and I might finally break down and get a new toaster, since ours has just ruined another bagel.

Foodie Dreams

I know how annoying it is when random people tell you their dreams, but this one is food-related! I dreamt that I was visiting a farm stand, which appeared to be simply bursting with glowingly fresh, healthy produce. However, whenever I examined an area of the store more closely, it turned out that everything had been deep-fried, with some sort of tempura-like coating, and that the actual fresh food there was was minimal.

In the end, I resorted to buying some eggs, although they were strangely shaped and I wasn't sure if they were the right size.

On Beyond Bisquick

On Saturday night I blithely promised L pancakes for breakfast. On Sunday morning, I was surprised to find not only that she remembered that I had said this, but that I had no Bisquick.

Yes, I use Bisquick. It's what my mother used when she made us pancakes (every single day for a while there in childhood, which astonishes me now), and it's easy and reliable. It's also been a sort of talisman against accusations of foodie-ness... but one which I have now lost, because I've found out how ridiculously easy it is to make really good pancakes from scratch.

King Arthur Flour's Simple, Perfect Pancakes

2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
2 t pure vanilla
3 T butter, melted or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups (6.25 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 t salt
2 t baking powder
2 T sugar or 1/4 cup malted milk-powder

Beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla until light and foamy, about 3 minute at high speed of a stand or hand mixer. Stir in the butter.

Whisk the dry ingredients together to evenly distribute the salt, baking powder and sweetener. Gently and quickly mix into the egg and milk mixture. Let the batter relax while griddle is heating (or overnight in refrigerator). The batter will thicken slightly while resting.

Grease and preheat the griddle. The griddle is ready if a drop of water will skitter across the surface, evaporating immediately; if you have an electric griddle, set the temperature between 325 and 350 F. Drop ¼ cupfuls of batter onto the lightly greased griddle. Cook on one side until bubbles begin to form and break, then turn the pancakes and cook the other side until brown. Turn over only once. Serve immediately.

Dinner for a Frazzled Weekend

The frazzling began late Saturday night, when out of nowhere JJ started throwing up. Now, this child spits up right and left, but had never out and out vomited before, so we checked all of our books, and when he did it a few more times called his doctor. After which, of course, he settled down and didn't do it again, sparing us a trip to the emergency room at midnight. But the damage to his hapless parents was done. D got next to no sleep all night, leaving him borderline ill himself the next day, when we were expecting his sister and her husband to be staying the night with us on Sunday.

We managed to get the place cleaned up, and I finished up the grocery shopping. On the way home, the ginger ale's cardboard case gave way, scattering cans hither and yon through the the parking lot. I gathered up those that hadn't sprung a leak and soldiered on. When we got home, I found that the bottle of spray cleaner hadn't been tightly closed, so most of one bag smelled rather strongly of citrus and half of its contents had to be thrown out.

In the afternoon, wonder of wonders, both kids took a nap, so I took myself to my freshly cleaned kitchen and started to mess it up again, making sandwich bread and a cake to go along with the taco dinner I had planned. The latter I have made before, and we love the recipe in the summer, though the tacos tend to be a little bit unwieldy, with bits of veggies and pork juices falling everywhere. The previously untried lemon cake was okay, but I've definitely had better. I may give up on Cooking Light for dessert recipes; they have some standouts, but the whole impulse to be low-fat about things has led to some less than outstanding results. Though it may not seem like it to read this blog, I don't make desserts all that often, and if I'm going to the effort I want something that tastes really, really good. Like Lisa Yockelson's blueberry tea cake, reported on here by a fellow blogger (and commented on by Ms. Yockelson herself!).

By the time we finished dinner, I could feel the scratchiness starting in my throat. JJ got us up no less than three times in the night, and every time he did, my throat felt worse. So here it is, Monday morning, I am coming down with a cold, I have a ton of work to do this week, and I left my headphones at home.

The week should get better from here.

Warm-Weather Pastas

The heat wave broke last night around 11:30, with thunder, lightning, and rain that sounded like surf was hitting the house, which trembled slightly with each gust of wind. For the past couple of nights I've been making things that didn't take a lot of cooking. Not coincidentally, they're also packed with veggies.

Mediterranean Orzo Salad with Feta Vinaigrette is an old standby, something I've been making every summer for years now. You can be as fancy or restrained as you want with add-ins; we had some good asparagus, so I sauteed that and added it into the mix.

Warm Bow-Tie Pasta Salad was a new one, and I think I'd make it again. The mushrooms give it some oomph.

I threw together some Couscous Salad with Chickpeas and Tomatoes to have for lunches this week--another standby, and one I've posted about here before.

Summer is here!

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

With temperatures in the 90s, look for warm-weather recipes here! A morning trip to the grocery store was my one venture outside yesterday. I had this recipe in mind as something I might want to make again while we're at the lake this summer. It cooks quickly and can be made ahead if that's a consideration.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Northerner that I am, I have no idea how well this compares to other recipes for pulled meats, but I like it. Sweet sauce, rich meat, soft white rolls... it's easy to eat too much of. When corn is in season, obviously go for that, but when it's not I tend to serve this alongside a cucumber salad with rice wine vinegar for a cool contrast.

Pasta Primavera

There are as many recipes for pasta primavera as there are cooks. It is one of the handful of dishes I often make without a recipe any more, since it is ultimately flexible, but if you'd like one, here's a good starting point. I had to use broccoli, since the asparagus at the store was appalling.

L did not eat anything in this dish, but she did fork up a piece of pasta and look critically at it, and she picked up a pea. We're all about the tiny steps with her and food.

Also, D sent me a couple of links about the locavore movement: An Experiment in Brooklyn-Style Subsistence Farming, in which a clueless n00b tries to feed himself for a month on what he can grow in his own backyard and learns many things the hard way, and There Will Be Chicken Blood, which is about, well, slaughtering chickens.

Vegetarian pizza sounds good right about now.

Stir-Fried Beef with Ginger-Carrot Sauce

You can't go too far wrong with a simple stir-fry, and other than the bizarre call for white pepper (as if), this one is pretty darn simple. I am deeply attached to recipes that go from start to the table in under a half hour, in case you hadn't noticed.

It was a good day overall. L went to orientation for preschool (apparently they're going to have homework? for pity's sake...). JJ is definitely into his cereal; he seemed to like it even better with a thicker texture, so I guess we're ready to rock and roll with this solids business. I got some much-needed work done and then went to yoga class. Today is looking pretty gray. Must fix bugs now....

Broiled Salmon Fillet with Curried Chutney

Chutney is a strange word to say aloud, isn't it? Chut. Ney.

I had a thoroughly delightful birthday, with cake from my co-workers, gifts from my family, and a dinner that managed to be slightly special and good-tasting with making me crazy on a weeknight. We got wild Alaskan salmon, put it under the broiler for a few minutes while the sauce cooked down, and there it was. I actually closed my eyes to concentrate on the sparkling collision of sweet and spicy over the depth of the salmon itself. After supper we had the usual Youtube viewing (she's still stuck on penguins, but we've moved to Surf's Up instead of Happy Feet), played with LEGO for a while, and I had a nice chat with my mom.

Plus, I gave JJ extra cereal last night and he's still asleep!

Spicy Soba Noodles with Chicken in Peanut Sauce

An oldie I pulled out, thinking that the warm weather forecast for this week would make it welcome. And it was! It's probably been years since I made this -- a distinct problem with trying new recipes a lot of the time. This is everything one could want in a hot-weather dish: fast, easy, and full of spicy flavor. I can't be bothered with poaching chicken and usually saute it in some peanut oil. Adding more vegetables never hurts this dish, either.

If you watch sodium, check your soba noodles before buying, some brands have an insane amount of salt, while others have none at all.