MORE TIME AT THE TABLE

Women Game-Changers #37-Severine von Tscharner Fleming- Moroccan Carrot Salad

2012-03-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

‘Farming is an attractive path for people who are getting out of school and feeling like there’s kind of a toxic consumerism and not feeling too excited about working for the Man, especially seeing as he’s been spoiling our politicsand a lot of our ecology,’’ she said. (Severine von Tscharner Fleming via NYT)

#36 on Gourmet's list of 50 Women Game-Changers in Food is Severine von Tscharner Fleming-- farmer, activist, and filmmaker...

based in the Hudson Valley, NY. Over the past two years she has produced+ directed a documentary film about the young farmers who are reclaiming, restoring, retrofitting and respecting this country of ours. That film, titled "The Greenhorns" grew into a small nonprofit organization that currently produces events, media and new media for and about the young farming community. Greenhorns mission is to "recruit, promote and support" the growing tribe of new agrarians. To that end, Greenhorns runs a weekly radio show on Heritage Radio Network, a popular blog, a wiki-based resource guide for beginning farmers, a GIS-based mapping project, and dozens of mixers+ educational events for young farmers all around the country. Greenhorns actively works to provide venues for networking, collaboration and communication within their large, and growing! network. Severine attended Pomona College and University of California at Berkeley where she graduated with a B.S. in Conservation/AgroEcology. She co- founded the Pomona Organic Farm and founded UC Berkeley's Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology and is a proud co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition. (courtesy The Greenhorns)

I was interested in this carrot salad because it sounded:

attractive
inexpensive
delicious
simple
healthy
bright
like it might hold a few days in the frig
unlike my mother's carrot salad!

And it was all of those things. Even though I had misplaced my Cuisinart grating disc in the move to St. Paul (I know; I'll get another one) and had to grate the carrots by hand, it was a simple chore and done easily. Carrots grated by hand contain a lot less liquid than carrots grated by Cuisinart anyway, so it was probably the method of choice. While spring definitely hasn't sprung around here, I kept thinking what a quick and delicious side this would be for grilled food come better weather. Since nearly everyone likes carrots, including children, it's probably a good idea for a BBQ or potluck dish. The recipe indicates a one-hour marinating time. I tasted it right after it was made and after the hour at room temp. The flavors definitely were damped by the hour wait (cumin particularly); you might want to add a little extra of the spices if you're going to wait or eat this over a couple of days. Did I mention this little ditty was scrumptious? I just couldn't believe that was all there was to it. But that was it. Just lovely fresh food.

Wednesday's yard photograph--Not thinking garden quite yet.

Moroccan Carrot Salad
From Winter Harvest Cookbook, a vegan and gluten-free recipe. Serves 6.

1 pound carrots (about 6 medium), scrubbed
2 shallots, chopped fine
2-3 T. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Pepper
Dash cayenne
3 T lemon juice
1/2 c finely minced parsley

Grate or julienne carrots. Add shallots and toss. Combine sugar, salt, and cumin and toss with carrots. Season with pepper and cayenne. Add lemon juice and toss again. Marinate for 1 hour. Sprinkle with parsley and serve at room temperature.

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Want more info or to get involved in this movement? Click here.
Want to request a screening of the movie? Click here.
Read the blog. Click here.

If you like this, you might also like my curried cauliflower

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Want to read other bloggers who are following the 50 Women Game-Changers in Food story? There's a lot of good food out there; read on!

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden, Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me, Sue - The View from Great Island Barbara - Movable Feasts , Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades

Sing a new song,
Alyce

50 Women Game-Changers - #36 Edna Lewis- Biscuits

2012-02-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

"I married her for her beaten biscuits."

Edna Lewis' Best Biscuits

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons single-acting baking powder or double-acting baking powder (see Note)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold lard or vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450°. In a bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingers, work in the lard just until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the buttermilk just until moistened.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times. Roll out or pat the dough 1/2 inch thick. Using a 2-inch round cutter, stamp out biscuits as close together as possible. Transfer the biscuits to a baking sheet. Pat the dough scraps together, reroll and cut out the remaining biscuits; do not overwork the dough.
Pierce the top of each biscuit 3 times with a fork and brush with the butter. Bake the biscuits for 12 to 14 minutes, or until risen and golden. Serve at once.

Make AheadThe unbaked biscuits can be frozen in a single layer, then kept frozen in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Thaw before baking.NotesTo make your own single-acting baking powder, combine 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar with 1 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of baking soda. The mix will keep in a tightly sealed jar for up to 1 month.
(Courtesy Food and Wine.)

if you want love, learn how to make biscuits

Back in college, Dave and I had a professor of music named Ann Collins. Now Ann was a fine pianist, a good teacher, and she wrote interesting books (I still have two of them) about teaching preschoolers to play the piano. While I never agreed with teaching preschoolers to play the piano (I liked them playing in the sandbox myself), I did admire Ann. Ann wasn't my teacher particularly, but she was Dave's. And somehow, as life went in those days, we ended up for dinner at Ann's house one night. If memory serves, she was celebrating a new grand piano. While I remember little else, I do remember Ann's biscuits. Not only that, I remember her husband making big over them. In fact, Ann's husband (Gary?) said, "I married her because she could make beaten biscuits in her sleep." To a newly married 20-year old this sounded callous and weird. I don't know what I wanted to be married for, but it wasn't my biscuits.

Of course, later on, I learned to make biscuits. And I made them a lot. When you have four kids to feed, biscuits really stretch a meal. I don't think I could have made them in my sleep, but it was damned sure close to that. It takes making them often. It takes a light touch so that the fat isn't over-worked in the dough. It takes knowing your oven so that you either always make them in a glass pie plate, as did I, or on a cookie sheet as did one friend. It takes understanding if you need big, thick or little, crispy biscuits. Were they for ham or were they for gravy? For butter and jam or for strawberries and cream? For sour cream and honey, if you were my Dad.

I'm guessing Edna Lewis, creator the above recipe, could have made biscuits in her sleep. And while she surely earned the title of chef, she might have been quite happy with the fame that came from her biscuits, as was Ann. There's just something about biscuits that makes people happy.

edna lewis, the first lady of southern cooking died in 2006 at the age of 89 at the end of a long, industrious culinary career. She was special by any standards, but as the granddaughter of a former slave raised on the family farm in Virginia, the roadblocks to writing cookbooks were a few more then than they would be now. Combining a southern upbringing with a New York City restaurant career, she didn't have time to write anything at all until she had to sit still after breaking her leg. If she couldn't cook, she would then write a cookbook and write she did. Three other books followed, along with other restaurants, awards, and a strong dedication to keeping the south's cooking tradition alive and well. (Scroll down for a video interview with Miss Lewis.)

From the NYT obituary by Eric Asimov and Kim Severson:

Ms. (Judith) Jones, who edited three books by Miss Lewis, recalled her yesterday as a lover of Jack Daniel's, Bessie Smith and understated conversation. "She had a tremendous sense of dignity in the face of often difficult treatment," Ms. Jones said. Her husband had died as she completed "The Taste of Country Cooking," she said.
After that cookbook raised her profile, Miss Lewis returned to restaurants, most notably to Gage & Tollner in Brooklyn. In the mid-90s she retired from the restaurant and with some friends, she founded the Society for the Revival and Preservation of Southern Food, dedicated in part to seeing that people did not forget how to cook with lard.

Butter? Honey? Jam? Sausage gravy? Ham?

And, Edna, I'm sorry; I can't make biscuits with lard or shortening; butter's my thing. I do try to have a light hand though.

Read Edna Lewis' obituary in the New York Times here. Video: Scroll down.
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Click and read the other bloggers who are part of the 50 Women Game-Changers Group:

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden, Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me, Sue - The View from Great Island Barbara - Movable Feasts , Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades
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Jambalaya-- A Repeat Post or There's No Crying in Lent

2012-02-21T09:09:00.002-07:00

Originally posted February, 2010

In my world, and for some of you, this is the day when traditionally we clean out the beautiful, fattening rich things like butter and dairy. Adding flour (and whatever else), we come up with stacks of pancakes and, oh, ok, bacon or sausage...Drooling maple syrup (only the real kind) and maybe a few bananas or even leftover frozen and grated cranberries with toasted pecans and a tish orange peel, my personal favorite. ( pancake photo: Salahan.com; jambalaya photo: Alyce Morgan)

2-21-12: The church I work at has a Pancake Supper tonight: 6pm @ Prospect Park United Methodist in Minneapolis; come to Fat Tuesday!

Christians are getting ready to begin Lent...and, it's not a time to sit around and think about how bad we are. That's old school. Now, it's an opportunity to review who we are and why....how we stand right now...and even to think about wiping our own personal slate clean so that we can be drawn new. To maybe see a few goals for our spiritual existence or personal life. It's a fine time to commit to prayer, to renewed study and to see what comes of it. We are assured that, as we model ourselves on our God and savior, we too can begin again, live again, fall into depths doubting and shouting... and rise once more. Ever hopeful, ever-changing. 40 days of saying to oneself sometime during each day's prayer-life, "I want to change this one thing; I'm committed to it." In other words, Lent is a positive, proactive experience. Make me new. Help me take the time to think about what I am, who I am and what I would like to change, who I would like to be... There's no crying in Lent (or baseball.)

But, instead of the ubiquitous pancakes, why not whip up a Mardi Gras special before Lent starts tomorrow? Even if you don't know Lent from "Rent," it's a great time for this dish. With a little New Orleans background of my own, I was born with what they call the trinity (onions, green peppers and celery) in my mouth. I'm talking Jambalaya, an easy one. The orignial recipe here is from honored Cajun food writer Maude Ancelet, but comes to us through Andrew Scrivani's sweet blog makingsundaysauce.com. Mark Bittman (NYT) mentioned it a little over a week ago and I've made and tweaked it, clarifying a few things and changing it up a teense.

In the food world, my recipe will be called "a riff on it." I will also say I'm in the process of tweaking it even more. I'd like to try it as an oven dish because to find a dutch oven or covered skillet large enough for all of these ingredients (and for them not to be stacked 6 inches high in the pan) is difficult. I covered my 14" frittata pan with an assortment of cookie sheet, foil, etc. to getter done. A bit cumbersome. Never-the-less. You may have different pans! Your dutch oven may be larger or, in any case, you can brown the chicken in batches if you need to. Just make it; it's delish. Phew. Great for ... Shrove Tuesday. Here's my version: (Oh, and it's time to rent "Chocolat.")

Jambalaya
serves 4-6 easily

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1# sweet Italian sausage, cut into 2" pieces
2T olive oil
2 large onions, chopped coarsely
2 stalks celery, ditto
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t dry oregano
1 bay leaf
5 cups water
1 # rice
1/2 t kosher salt-or to taste
1/4 t fresh ground black pepper-or to taste
1/4 t crushed red pepper, optional
1/4 c each sliced green onions (use tops) and chopped parsley*

In dutch oven, or large skillet (will need a lid), brown chicken and sausage in oil over medium heat, turning to cook evenly on all sides. Remove meats to paper-towel lined platter when nicely browned, but not done. Add the onions, pepper, celery, garlic, oregano and bay leaf to pan. Saute well for 10 minutes or so until softened. Add water, rice, salt and pepper. Return the meats to the pot Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Simmer until rice is tender and all liquid is absorbed. Keep covered and let steep a little while, serving "piping hot." In a small bowl, mix the green onions and parsley and let folks help themselves to these for a garnish.
*option: top with some shrimp grilled with a little bit of Old Bay seasoning

WINE: California zinfandel. You also might like a Beaujolais, often known as a "fun" wine.
DESSERT: Something "sinful" like a hot fudge sundae or 2 pieces of apple pie and ice cream.

Happy Mardi Gras, Happy Shrove Tuesday.....
May your Lent be all you need it to be..............

Sing a new song (definitely for the next 40 days),
Alyce

And, of course... NEWS FROM THE TWO-DOG KITCHEN....

50 Women Game-Changers in Food - #35 - Delia Smith

2012-02-17T03:06:00.002-07:00

Would you cook with this woman? Meet Delia Smith.

In North America, we might argue over who taught us to cook. While Julia really was on tv, I'm sure I learned to cook from a. my mother, b. James Beard, and c. SILVER PALATE. (We all teach ourselves right in our kitchen, don't we?) But in the UK, there's no question about who taught you to cook; Delia Smith, #35 in Gourmet's 50 Women Game-Changers in Food, did. (photo courtesy BBC)

Way back in the '70s (was it that far away?), you only had to tune in to the telly to learn how to make pastry (or lots else) with Delia in London or Edinburgh. For grins, scroll down to the bottom of the post and click on the video and see what the buzz was about. Could you bake a blind tart shell after watching that television program? I admit I missed Julia a bit as I watched!

After a couple of false starts as a hairstylist and travel agent, and without much education, Delia began reading cookbooks in the reading room at the British Museum. Not long after, she was cooking and writing for the Daily Mirror starting in 1969, where she met her husband, Michael Wynn Jones.

Many television episodes, newspaper articles, books (21 million sold), a website, and even a soccer club later, Delia continues to deliver basic, commonsense, always-trusted cooking advice, recipes, and technique. She's so successful at delivering the goods that, within the world marketplace, there's now something called "The Delia Effect." Which means it'll sell like the proverbial hotcakes, as her stamp on anything makes product fly off the shelves in the UK. Reportedly, egg sales in England rose by 10% after her book How to Cook was published.

Delia's Complete How to Cook can be ordered through amazon.com, as can other volumes, though some appear to be more available overseas than here in the States. Time for a few days in London, I'd say.

Reading through recipes and trying to decide which to try for this blog, I found no shortage of tasty and wonderful-sounding things to cook. Oven-Baked Smoked Pancetta and Leek Risotto caught my eye, as did Grilled Venison Steaks with Red Onion, Grape, and Raisin Confit, a selection from Delia's website under the banner, "What Should You be Cooking This Month?" There's also a tab for ingredients and the available recipes to use them. Special diets, Under 30 minutes, Freezing, and Cooking for One are just a few of the sections you might want to peruse on the site. I especially enjoyed "Recipe of the Day" and "Competitions." At the very bottom are links to lists of recipes like, "French," "Pasta," and so on. While it might not be true, the website has every indication of containing a good portion of her thirty-plus years' recipes and information, which makes it a treasure trove, to say nothing of a great value.

You could make "Italian Baked Fish" (and who doesn't want more baked fish recipes) as did I, and give Delia a whirl:

First: Make a little marinara with mushrooms.

italian baked fish serves 4 (recipe courtesy deliaonline.com)

4 thick pieces of cod or other white fish (MN cooks: try our Lake Superior white fish here.)
2T olive oil (no need for extra virgin oil)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 fat clove garlic, crushed
1# ripe tomatoes or 400g tin of Italian tomatoes
4 oz (110 g) sliced mushrooms
1 T chopped fresh basil
1 T capers, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon
12 black olives (I opted for kalamata.)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

method

Start by making a good, thick tomato sauce: heat the olive oil in a saucepan and fry the onion for about 5 minutes. Now add the garlic and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, then bring to a simmering point and cook gently, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Next add the sliced mushrooms, making sure they are well stirred in. Simmer for a further few minutes until it looks like a thick sauce. Lastly, stir in the fresh basil and chopped capers.

Next, season the fish with lemon, salt, and pepper

Now place the fish in a shallow baking dish or tin, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle a little lemon juice on each piece. Next spoon an equal quantity of the sauce on to each piece of fish and arrange a few olives on top. Cover the dish with foil and bake on a high shelf (in upper 1/3 of oven) for about 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Serve with new potatoes or brown rice and a tossed green salad.

Last, top with marinara, and bake.

I sometimes cook fish right down in a chunky tomato-onion-garlic-etc bath either on top of the stove or in the oven; you might try that idea if it appeals to you. Here's my fast snapper in tomato sauce. Get your vegetables, honey.

Next week, join us when we'll feature #36, Edna Lewis. "The granddaughter of an emancipated slave, Lewis, another Judith Jones protégée, brought sophisticated Southern dishes into the spotlight."
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If you'd like to cook a few other gorgeous Delia Smith (or other) meals, click on the blogs of the food bloggers featuring Gourmet Live's 50 Women Game-Changers in Food this (or another) week:

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden, Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me, Sue - The View from Great Island Barbara - Movable Feasts , Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades
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What's on Alyce's blog about cooking for one, Dinner Place?

Pork Tenderloin Salad with Berries and Oranges and a Sherry Vinaigrette

Thanks for stopping by.

just for fun, here's the early video of Delia teaching pastry-making in the late '70s. courtesy BBC Bake a new tart, Alyce

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No Reservations (Valentine's Day at Home)

2012-02-13T05:28:00.002-07:00

Alyce's Tuna with Marinara and Spinach with Onions*

To get you in the mood, kick off with Van Morrison's "Moondance."
Or, if you'd rather, "Someone Like You."
          Note: If you right click on the song title, you can open youtube in another window and keep the music playing.......................................

If you'd rather just order pizza (I know you!) and watch a movie, stop here and look at the best movies of 2011 and call for delivery. Wow, that was a short blog! But...if you're in the mood for food at home, read on.

Since everyone and their mother is now a food or wine writer, it's a bit crazy to see just how many articles there are about cooking for Valentine's Day or drinking for Valentine's Day. "I Wine You to Wine Me," is out from Wine Spectator. Phew. The desserts, the bubblies... It's all somewhat odd, eh? Because the word has always been that one goes OUT for Valentine's Day--something I've seldom done. Why? Too crowded, too expensive, and rushed food. Enough reasons? I will admit, however, that if you have children of any age in the house, going out looks better and better. Who wants to be searing a great piece of salmon while your loved one lights the candles only to be confronted with a dirty diaper, a bloody nose, a soccer practice, or a boyfriend crisis?

The only kids now at home sleep under the table!

Because I'm a faithful person and because my (adult) children know I love them madly, I'll admit I've been thrilled to cook at home on Valentine's Day in the years since they left. THANK YOU, GOD! And, truthfully, we were broke for a lot of years before that, so I cooked for a bunch of those, too. Not only that, I have always made Dave one of his favorite desserts for his Valentine's Day present. (What do you get a guy for Valentine's Day??) For us, it's a bit simple. While embarrassing to admit, I cook better food than most restaurants serve (as do many people) and I can afford the wine in my cellar (or on my counter) because I bought it myself and it's paid for. So, the food and wine are both better... I've saved a heap of money (even the loveliest filet at the butcher is $15 per in St. Paul), I can hear everything Dave says, and dinner can--and occasionally does--take all evening. No one is standing at the entrance to the room eyeing our plates to see when we'll be done. No server is bringing dessert before I've finished my dinner. If there's any clanking in the kitchen, Dave and I are doing it. And, in St. Paul, no doors are opening letting in the Arctic Circle.

I often plan a meal complete with music (you can get "Sarah Vaughn for Lovers," "Ella Fitzgerald for Lovers" or just put on Van Morrison's "Moondance" and be done) and it may start in one room--maybe the kitchen-- with a tiny appetizer and a sparkler, later moving into dining room for soup, main course, and salad--and end in the living room with cheese and dessert. A spot of port. While that's possible in a restaurant, it's not probable. You don't have to do all those things, of course; but they're fun!

So if you can pawn off the kids elsewhere or pay them to stay upstairs... or if you have no kids... dream up something scrumptious and cook at home. Leave the dishes rinsed in the sink for the next morning.

First, you'll have to decide about the gift dessert--- I don't know what I'm making Dave this year, but here are some of my favorites on More Time:

Hazelnut-Chocolate Cake

Apple pie...a great gift for Valentine's Day

Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies (good anytime)

Lemon Scented Pear-Almond Crostata - Yes!

There are directions for making this crostata with apples, too, if you like.

One of my all-time favorite desserts is Brandied Fig Vanilla Pudding from Epicurious. Almost done before you begin, this silky pudding is simple, subtle, supple, and topped with a bit of fig preserves mixed with a spoonful of brandy. Sometimes I offer a tish of hot fudge and berries in placeof the figs, depending on the season. Made on the stove in a few minutes, it can be done ahead or at the last minute. It's great warm if you're running late! One note: Brandied Fig Vanilla Pudding is gorgeous in nice, heavy crystal on-the-rocks tumblers; you can see the pudding and the shining golden fig layer at top through the sparkling glass.

Thing is, I think you can often cook as well as the folks in the restaurants, too. You can cook to your own tastes and take your time. You can make the dessert today and just serve a salad and steak tomorrow. I mean, most of us work on Valentine's Day, right?

Needn't be a complex salad to be good. In fact, the opposite is true.

Just for fun, I've looked around at a few available menus to see what exactly IS a romantic menu? I'm not sure I know; so here are a couple I've seen around the net lately:

This one, off the Epicurious site, is called:

ROMANTIC DINNER

Peach Royale
Smoked Salmon with Crispy Shallots and Dilled Cream
Seared Duck Breast with Cherries and Port Sauce
Penne with Hazelnut Gremolata and Roasted Broccolini
Sliced Strawberries with Grand Marnier Zabaglione

OR...you might like...

CLAUDIA FLEMING AND GARY HAYDEN'S VALENTINE'S MENU FOR TWO:

Flatbread with Fingerling Potatoes, Shitake Mushrooms, and Truffle Oil
Spice-Coated Rack of Lamb for Two with Arugula, Avocado, and Blood Orange Salad
Almond Cakes with Chocolate Passion-Fruit Sauce

Other options are:

**MORE EPICURIOUS VALENTINE MENUS:

**FOOD NETWORK -- A COMPUTER FULL OF RECIPES

**NEW YORK TIMES -- A LAMB CHILI OR A LOBSTER STEW (ALSO TRUFFLES)

THOUGH NATURALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITES IS..

Yum.

LAMB CHOPS AND ROASTED VEGETABLES FOR TWO right here from More Time. (pictured at top)

If you do make the lamb chops, you are wide open for both wine and dessert. While a typical pairing for lamb is Cabernet Sauvignon, I like Syrah or Pinot Noir (California and Oregon, respectively, though I love CRISTOM Syrah, which is Oregon) with this meal to meet up and ring with with the sweet tones in the root vegetables. In the post, there's a simple bread pudding, but you might remember I just blogged another bread pudding that's to die for. Don't want to make dessert? Pick up two kinds of gelato or sorbet (I like Pistachio gelato with Raspberry sorbet) and some tiny Scots shortbread cookies or feast on a bit of the chocolate you bought. Don't skimp on the coffee; make sure it's lovely. It's Valentine's Day and it's all in the details (and the laughter.)

OR

TUNA MARINARA WITH SAUTEED SPINACH AND ONIONS...(top photo)

While I'm just realizing this, one of my favorite meals to serve Dave or company, isn't on the blog; the marinara, however, is on my other blog, Dinner Place, as is tuna with spinach and onions.
I think you can figure out how to put it all together from the photo; don't forget Parmesan at the table.

Whatever you do, enjoy.

two-dog kitchen and around the 'hood

Last Friday Night's Table

The other lovers.

On my kitchen window

Tucker--thinks he's hiding.

Sing a new song on Valentine's Day....
Alyce

Women Game-Changers in Food - #34 Ella Brennan - Creole Bread Pudding

2012-02-10T05:57:00.001-07:00

Conventional wisdom says, "If there's bread pudding on the menu, order it." Now that I've made Brennan's Creole Bread Pudding, I know why. I won't say who it is, but someone in my house is saying, "Please let me stay out of the frig as long as that bread pudding is in there."

Creole Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

For number 34 on Gourmet Live's List of Women Game-Changers in Food, there's the infamous and famous Ella Brennan, New Orleans restauranteur extraordinaire. Hailed as the most influential person in the American restaurant business ever,

Ella Brennan, at center, seated with family. (courtesy Commander's Palace)
... Brennan has made her mark with a series of fresh and innovative concepts: She pioneered the notion of nouvelle Creole cuisine. She elevated the profile of Louisiana cooking throughout the world. She forged a level of service that was the match of any anywhere. And she used her kitchen at Commander's Palace as a kind of de facto New Orleans culinary academy, turning out dozens of the city's finest chefs and thereby enlivening the local food scene beyond measure. (courtesy Elizabeth Mullener, Times-Picayune.)

Part of a large restaurant family, Ella Brennan began as a teen in the business with her brother Owen at Brennan's, home of the famous "breakfast at Brennan's." She went on to travel the world to learn about great food and better service, returning home to put the knowledge to work building one successful restaurant after another. Not only that, she brought the tourists home with her, putting New Orleans on the map as a center for food and some say the most beautiful restaurant experience available in the United States. After the family bought The Commander's Palace in 1969, Brennan proceeded to hire and train chefs who went on to be famous in their own right, among them Paul Prodhomme and Emeril Lagasse. Business woman and lover of perfect meals, she was an expert in the world of food though she never cooked at all. "I never took to the kitchen," she says. My thought is she never needed to "take to the kitchen," with the kind of talent she hired.

Order a copy of The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook here.

Famed food (editor, writer and) restaurant critic Ruth Reichl commented that her first visit to Commander’s Palace combined “upscale fun” with “the most extraordinary service [she]’d ever had in an American restaurant,” service which she credited to Brennan’s exacting standards. (courtesy Encyclopedia of Louisiana)

Read all about The Commander's Palace or make a reservation. 25 cent Martinis if you go!

More info: read a short biography of Ella Brennan here

Want to try one of the most famous recipes? Since Ella herself didn't cook much I thought I'd make one of the cornerstones of the Brennan empire-- bread pudding Here it is: (Note: Have salad for supper; this is Decadent with a Capital D and worth every calorie.)

Invite friends. What fun! This makes a huge pan of bread pudding.

Creole Bread Pudding

“Much as we all love Commander’s Bread Pudding Soufflé, sometimesplain
Creole Bread Pudding is the most soul-satisfying taste of all. But do it right.
One day, while my mother [Ella Brennan] and I were nibbling on some bread
pudding, I watched her eyebrow go up as she discovered a morsel of dry bread.
I hadn’t soaked thoroughly, a cardinal sin. When pastry chef Tom Robey
walked by, Mom pointed to the dry morsel. She didn’t have to say a word.
Tom shook his head and went off to explain to a protégé how we don’t
rush things at Commander’s. Originally created as a way to utilize day-
old bread, this dessert, along with pecan pie and crème caramel, is a must
for any New Orleans restaurant.”

Cook's Note: Make Whiskey Sauce (recipe below) while pudding bakes; it must cool. Fyi: The Bread Pudding Soufflé is served in ramekins with meringue and hard sauce.

1 tablespoon butter
12 medium eggs, beaten
3 cups heavy cream (I used half and half since my arteries were yelling, HELLO?)
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract (use
a high-quality extract, not an imitation)
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
*4 ounces day-old French bread, sliced 1 inch thick (I used a lot more bread; see note.)
1 cup raisins

--Preheat oven to 250 degreesF.
--Butter a large (11 x 8 1/2 x 3 inches) casserole dish and set aside. (Once inthe oven, the casserole will sit inside a large pan. A roasting pan would begood.) Mix the eggs, cream and vanilla in a large bowl, and combine the sugar,cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl. This helps to evenly dis- tribute thespices. Add the sugar mixture to the egg mixture, and combine thoroughly.
--Place the raisins in the bottom of the buttered casserole, and add the breadslices in a single layer. Gently pour the custard over the bread, makingcertain that all the bread thoroughly soaks up the custard. [We let ours stand for a while before baking.] (Turn the bread over in the custard to make sure each piece is well-coated.)
--Cover the casserole with foil, place in a large dish (the roasting pan, if that’s what you decided to use) partly filled with hot water, and bake for 2 1/2 hours. Remove the foil, and increase the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Bake for 1 hour more, or until the pudding is golden brown and slightly firm. Use a spoon to make sure the custardis fully cooked; it should be moist but no longer runny. If you’re unsure whether it’s done, remove it from the oven and let it cool while it remains sitting in the water bath; the carryover effect will keep it cooking.
--Serve slightly warm with whiskey sauce, recipe below (made ahead.)

Whiskey Sauce

1 cup(s) heavy cream
1/2 tablespoon(s) cornstarch
1 tablespoon(s) water
3 tablespoon(s) sugar
1/4 cup(s) bourbon

· For the whiskey sauce: Place the creamin a small saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Whisk cornstarch andwater together, and add to cream while whisking. Bring to a boil. Whisk and letsimmer for a few seconds, taking care not to burn the mixture on the bottom.Remove from heat.

Stir in the sugar and bourbon. Taste to makesure the sauce has a thick consistency, a sufficiently sweet taste, and a goodbourbon flavor. Cool to room temperature.

*4oz of French bread is a bit less than 1/4 of the baguette I got from Whole Foods, which seemed like way too little bread to me; it didn't cover half of the bottom of the casserole. Typo in the recipe? Wrong kind of bread?? I increased the amount to approximately 12 ounces; my baguette was 15 oz. total. I don't make bread pudding from a recipe usually; I just combine milk, eggs, and nutmeg and sweeten it to taste--which isn't nearly as much sugar as this recipe calls for. I did leave the amount of sugar the same in order to try and get a true test of the recipe. It was the right thing to do!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other bloggers writing about Ella Brennan this week are:

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden, Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living
Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me, Sue - The View from Great Island Barbara - Movable Feasts , Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades

Scroll on over!
~~~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this, you might like:

amaretto bread pudding (with peaches)

Sing a new song and make some bread pudding--Two-Dog Kitchen returns next post,
Alyce

Meatball Subs

2012-02-07T16:27:00.001-07:00

My very last post told the story of two great ladies of food, Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, of Canal House fame. While I often blog original recipes, it's been fun so far being part of the food blogger group that's cooking a 50 Women Game-Changers recipe each week. So I kind of hate to throw in something pedestrian like a meat ball sub. Except for one thing: these are great meatball subs.

If you make the Meatballs with Mint and Parsley, you'll have 24 meatballs. (You could buy good-quality frozen or deli meatballs, too.) Unless it's you and a party, thatsalotsameatballs. We loved them with the garlicky, red hot broccolini, but I then froze the rest. Only to pull them out, throw them in marinara, and broil them on top of sauced hard rolls with provolone for Super Bowl. Try it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

meatball subs serves 4

12 or more cooked meatballs, 2 oz ea
2qt pot of marinara (recipe below)
2 long, hard rolls (each person gets half)
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 pieces provolone

marinara sauce

2T olive oil or butter

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup onion, minced

1 stalk celery, minced

1T carrot, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

28 oz can chopped Italian tomatoes (I like Cento)

1/2 t each dried basil and oregano

2T fresh parsley, minced

1" piece Parmesan or a small Parmesan rind

Pinch each of kosher salt and sugar

Pinch of ground cayenne

In a two quart sauce pan, heat the oil or butter with the black pepper over medium heat and add the onion, celery, and carrot. Saute, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic during last minute or so. Stir in tomatoes, basil, oregano, parsley and Parmesan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Taste and season with salt, sugar, and cayenne.

Add 12 fully-cooked meatballs and heat through 10 minutes or so, stirring gently.

making the subs-------------

Turn oven on to broil. Slit open four hard rolls and place on rimmed baking sheet. Slide baking sheet under broiler about 4" from heat, and broil until lightly toasted. Remove baking sheet from oven and spoon a bit of the marinara on both sides of each roll. Add meatballs to the right side of each roll, sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper, and top with cheese. Slide baking sheet back under broiler for about 2 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and golden. Let cool a minute and cut subs in 1/2. Serve with salad.

sub salad
8 cups mixed greens
8 very thin slices red onion
1/2 clove garlic, smashed and minced very finely
1/2 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 large yellow or orange pepper, cut into strips
8 baby carrots, sliced thinly
1/2 cup pitted, chopped kalamata olives
2T finely minced genoa salami or sopressata (dry Italian sausage), optional
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/2 fresh lemon
1-2T good quality red-wine vinegar
2-4T extra virgin olive oil
4T freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a large, deep bowl, mix greens, vegetables, olives, and hard salami, if using. Squeeze half lemon over the greens and dust with a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss well. Shake 1T of the red wine vinegar over all and toss. Drizzle with 2T of the olive oil and toss well. Taste and adjust seasoning. (More salt? Add a bit and try again. Too oily? Add a bit more vinegar and taste. Etc.) Top with the Parmesan cheese and toss again before serving.

wine
I liked a zippy (the opposite of jammy) California Zinfandel with the subs. A baseline Chianti would also drink well. If company's coming, maybe a reserve Chianti, which for just a few dollars more is quite a bit smoother and rounder-no rough edges. I have to say, though, some rough edges on a wine you're drinking with sub sandwiches would be just fine.

Click here to check out Food and Wines list of bottles you can trust for under $20.

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood returns:

Whatchudoin'?

Speechless.

Are you going to eat that?

Over at the Dinner Place blog, we're making a big old pot of Pinto Beans:

Good in chili, but naked is better.

St. Paul: Not really wintery. Knock on wood. No snow. Knock on wood.
Cooked lentil soup for a couple of friends today and drove it over to eat lunch with them. Threw in some thin, Triscuit triangles (such good crackers) and a little goat cheese with cranberries and orange. A tiny heart of dark chocolate and a pot of coffee for dessert. Eat with people; it'll do you good.

Sing a new song,
Alyce

Women Game-Changers in Food- #33-Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer-Meatballs with Mint and Parsley

2012-02-03T04:53:00.000-07:00

What if you wanted beautifully written recipes, tastefully conceived, and perfectly photographed--all from home cooks--for home cooks?	What if you wanted those cooks to have worked professionally (catering, restaurants, magazines) and to have traveled the world so they could bring the best dishes back to you?

Order book here

Enter Canal House Cooking, La Dolce Vita, #7 in a series of self-published volumes from a multi-talented duo who have worked at food, cooking, and food writing/photography most of their lives. After leaving behind the corporate publishing/food world in order to spend more time at or near their homes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Melissa Hamilton (above, right) and Christopher Hirsheimer (above, left; she's a she) began cooking together daily in a warehouse and keeping a record of it. Out of that commitment comes this lovely, popular series of books that is their gift to those of us in the home-cooking "business." An article from WSJ tells the story more thoroughly here.

To really get to know these women a little more, watch an enchanting tiny video about them and their food in Italy (basis for the most recent book)....Here.

And, when you're done reading and watching, it's time to cook with Melissa, Christopher, and me....
So that you can spend more time at the table (who are you inviting?), we're making:

meatballs with mint and parsley makes 24

(Often served with broccoli rabe sautéed with garlic and red pepper flakes)

1 pound ground pork

1 pound ground veal

¼ pound prosciutto, finely chopped

1 cupfresh whole milk ricotta (in the book or David Lebovitz' version)

1 cup grated pecorino*

2 eggs

¼ cup packed finelychopped fresh mint leaves

¼ cup packed finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

½ whole nutmeg,grated

Pepper

¼ cup extra-virginolive oil

½ cup white wine

¾ cup heavy cream,

optional salt

1. Mix together the pork, veal, prosciutto, ricotta, pecorino,eggs, mint, parsley, nutmeg, and pepper in a large mixing bowl.

2. Use a large soup spoon and scoop up about 2 ounces of themeat into your hand and roll into a ball.

3. Make all the meatballs the same sizeso they will cook evenly. As you make them, arrange them in a single layer on abaking sheet. You can do this a few hours ahead, cover with plastic, andrefrigerate until you are ready to cook them.

4. Heat 2 tablespoons ofthe oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the meatballs inbatches, about 15 minutes per batch, using two forks to delicately turn themover so that they brown on all sides. Add more oil if needed. Transfer cookedmeatballs to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.

5, Increase the heat tohigh and deglaze the skillet with the wine, stirring with a wooden spoon toloosen any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Add the cream, ifusing, and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens.

*Pecorino Romano is, most likely, the pecorino (hard, often gratable sheep's cheese) available in most American grocery stores. Milder and less expensive than Parmesan, it's a happy addition to pasta or salads.

Cook's Note: I made one meatball first and cooked it to test the seasoning; I had gone easy on the black pepper and had not added any salt at all. My thought was to maintain the freshness/lightness of the meatball so that the herbs weren't overwhelmed. On tasting, I did add a bit more pepper and about 1/2 tsp kosher salt. The rest of the batch was perfect. You could do anything you typically do with meatballs with these, but I do think they're special and complete all on their own. I served them with broccolini sautéed in olive oil with crushed red peppers and slices of garlic thrown in the last 2-3 minutes. We started with a little very simple green salad.

Here's a bit of the easy journey in photographs:

More info if you're interested...............

Just for fun, here's a sample from the Canal House #7 book and their "on location work:"

We rented a farmhouse in Tuscany --- a remote, rustic old stucco and stone house at the end of a gravel road, deep in the folds of vine-covered hills. It had a stone terrace with a long table for dinners outside, a grape arbor, and apple and fig trees loaded with fruit in the garden. There was no phone, TV or Internet service, just a record player and shelves and shelves of books. It had a spare, simple kitchen with a classic waist-high fireplace with a grill. It was all we had hoped for. It was our Casa Canale for a month.

Back in the states, Melissa and Christopher are eating lunch together every day as they take a break from cooking, working, and writing. Read their blog that chronicles those noon-time meals.

Listen to their interview on edible radio.

Want to cook more food from Canal House? You can do it if you....
Check out our team of great bloggers writing about 50 Women Game-Changers in Food

Sue - The View from Great Island
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Heather - girlichef
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Barbara - Movable Feasts
Jeanette - Healthy Living
Linda - Ciao Chow Linda
Linda A - There and Back Again
Martha - Lines from Linderhof
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits,
Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Lovely Things
Nancy - Picadillo
Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others

~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this, you might like my Bacon-Caprese Salad with Fresh Cheese.

Make your own cheese!

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood return soon...Woof from Gab and Tuck.

Sing new song; dream a new dream,

Alyce

Food photos: copyright Alyce Morgan, 2012. Recipe, book and author photos courtesy Canal House.

Alyce's Lamb Shanks on Mashed Ginger Rutabaga and Next Day Lamb Stew

2012-01-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

I like a pasta bowl for lamb shanks and sides...sit them up in the rutabagas to show them off.

If you're a bit unsure about lamb shanks... what they are or how to cook them, here's the deal: they're pretty much like cooking a tiny pot roast on a big old bone. Whatever treatment you've given beef chuck roast is probably going to work with lamb shanks--which are from way up on the lamb's leg. Since the meat is tough, it needs to be braised (cooked in liquid) and the braising liquid of choice is often wine, though it needn't be. A stiff stout would work, as would broth, tomatoes, cider and water...whatever floats your shanks. Add root vegetables and/or onions, celery, garlic, and you've an entire meal. Even just onions and wine with a bit of dried rosemary will give you something well worth eating. Most recipes call for two lamb shanks per person; there isn't a lot of meat on one. I find that given the vegetables and sauce inevitably cooked with them that one is plenty.

I start lamb shanks on top of the stove and finish them in the oven, cutting off about a 1/2 hour cooking time compared to all oven braising. They can also be done totally on top of the stove, paring down the cooking time even more to about an hour total. Because I wanted a simple rutabaga mash as a base, I cooked the rutabaga separately stove top just like you would mashed potatoes, except I added fresh ginger and garlic to the cooking water. You could certainly cook the rutabaga in the pot with the meat for ease of preparation; add them for the oven time only. Or, if you wanted, you could mix up a bit of couscous (in place of the rutabaga) while the lamb rests or even make a salad in place of green beans. I added potatoes mostly because I wanted them for the next day stew. It won't take much (and actually there are vegetables in the sauce) to finish this meal. Then, there's

way fast shanks in the microwave

If you're interested in under an hour (really), folks have also been microwaving lamb shanks with great success since 1989 thanks to THE NEW BASICS COOKBOOK (Workman, 1989) written by Silver Palate gurus Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. These shanks are done in 30 minutes. Just for fun, here's the info for microwaving the shanks: (And by the way, I microwave my chuck roasts for chimichangas.)

In a 2 qt microwave-safe casserole, cook 2T olive oil at full power for 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup chopped red bell pepper, 3/4 c chopped onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 sprigs rosemary (1/2 t dried), 1/2 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper, 3/4 cup dry red wine, and 1T tomato paste. Cook, uncovered, 5 min. Remove 1/2 of the vegetable mixture and set it aside. Lightly oil 3 small lamb shanks with a bit more olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Arrange shanks in a triangle over the vegetables remaining in the casserole. Cover, and cook for 20 min. Turn the shanks and cook another 10 min. Spoon the reserved vegetables over the shanks, cover, and cook 2 minutes. Remove the casserole from the microwave, and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving. Serves 2-3.

Still a great all-purpose cookbook. ( above recipe courtesy THE NEW BASICS)

If you'd like to try them my way, do what Dave and I did: put on some great music, pour yourself a glass of wine, and throw this in the oven to braise while you put your feet up and talk through the day. While you can sure eat lamb shanks alone, they're worth sharing. And, wonder of wonders, if you didn't eat the third lamb shank, you can make a beautiful stew next day...recipe down below.

wine

While the French like Bordeaux with lamb, I am partial to a softer, rounder wine here like Burgundy (Oregon Pinot Noir to be exact; good French Burgundy is out of my price range generally speaking) or a (red) French Côtes du Rhône, which is a Grenache blend. These wines, for my palate, compliment the softer, sweeter notes in the root vegetables. So, yes, you'll need two bottles of wine for this meal. One for you and one for the pot. (Not a bad deal.) Ask your wine shop about an inexpensive--under $15-- Côtes du Rhône; there are lots of tasty values. The Oregon Pinot will be pricier for the most part (though there are some $20-$30 bottles), but really worth it for a splurge or birthday. These wines will be $40-$50 and up and are often cellared for several years before drinking. So if you head toward the Pinot for you to drink, pick up something less expensive for the pot. Which ones: I love most Oregon Pinots, but have soft spots for Prive, Ken Wright and Sineann,

Try this:

alyce's lamb shanks with mashed ginger rutabaga, new potatoes, and lemon-crumbed green beans serves 2-3

Raw lamb shank

Let them brown well on each side

3-4 lamb shanks
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 t each kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (plus extra for vegetables)
4T olive oil, divided
3 cups chopped onions
2 stalks celery, with leaves, chopped
4 large carrots, trimmed
3 cloves garlic, whole
1 750 ml bottle red wine; I like Cotes du Rhone
2 cups chicken stock
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1t Herbes de Provence
1 large sprig fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Pinch crushed red pepper
1 large rutabaga, trimmed and peeled
6-8 small red potatoes (No recipe given for steaming potatoes or beans.)
2-3 cups fresh green beans
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1t butter
1/2 t grated lemon rind
2t chopped fresh parsley

Mix flour with salt and pepper in a shallow, large bowl. Place one shank at a time in the bowl and, using your hands, cover with the flour-salt-pepper mixture. Repeat with remaining shanks.
Meantime, heat over medium heat 2T of the olive oil in a heavy, oven-safe pot (you'll need a lid or heavy-duty aluminum foil; this must be covered). Place the shanks in the pot and let brown well--10 minutes. Turn over and brown the other side. Remove shanks from pan and set aside.
Add remaining 2T olive oil, heat and add vegetables (onions, celery, carrots, garlic), sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper, and saute briefly--5 minutes or so. Add herbs-- bay, rosemary, thyme, the tiny bit of crushed red pepper, and Herbes de Provence. Pour in wine and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

4. Return lamb shanks to the pan. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook on stovetop 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Place covered pot in oven and bake another hour or so until meat is quite tender...maybe even coming off the bone if you like it like that. (Meantime, make the rutabaga mash (see below for recipe) new potatoes and green beans--no recipe provided for these. I do like a bit of bread crumbs with lemon and pepper on my beans. What I do is throw a piece of great white baguette in the food processor and then toast those crumbs in a bit of butter and grated lemon peel. When the beans are steamed and salted, and peppered, I top them with the lemon-crumb mixture)

Making a sauce and serving up:

1. Remove the cooked shanks to a warm dish and cover. Place back in oven to keep warm while you make the sauce and mash the rutabagas.


Cover and return to oven to keep warm while you make the sauce.

2. In the pan you should have a 1/2 pot of lovely gravy with soft carrots, onions, and so on. If you can do it, spoon off a bit of the fat and remove the small sticks leftover from the rosemary and thyme. Taste and see if it needs seasoning. If you have an immersion blender, haul out the power tools and blend this sauce a bit---as smooth as you'd like. If no immersion blender, you can carefully transfer some of the sauce and veggies to a food processor or simply mash away with a potato masher. Taste again and adjust seasoning if needed.
3. In a large shallow bowl, place half of the rutabaga mash and carefully sit a lamb shank, bone up, in the mash, so that it stands at attention. Spoon a generous serving of sauce on meat and mash. Repeat with the remaining serving(s).
4. Add steamed potatoes and green beans, if serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.
5. Serve hot. Let leftovers cool completely, cover well, and refrigerate 1-2 days until you make stew.

mashed ginger rutabaga 2 servings

Bring a 2-3 qt saucepan 1/2 full of water to a boil. Add a 1" piece of fresh ginger and 1 peeled garlic clove, as well as a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Meantime, trim and peel one large rutabaga, which looks like a large turnip...with gnarly roots. Just for fun, know that Brits call these babies swedes and Scots call them neeps just as they do turnips. Cut the rutabaga into 1/2 inch pieces and add to the boiling water. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes, and drain. Remove garlic and ginger; discard. Mash rutabaga well with a tablespoon of butter using a potato masher or a mixer. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper; taste and adjust seasoning. (Remember these vegetables will have a hearty sauce on them.)

Cut up the cooked new potatoes for the stew; they go in toward the end or they'll disintegrate.

leftover lamb stew serves 4

2T olive oil
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and sliced into 1/4-1/2" moons
1/2 large turnip, peeled and diced
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
6 large mushrooms, quartered
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup water
Leftover lamb braising sauce
Leftover new potatoes, cut up
Leftover lamb, cut off the bone and chopped finely
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Drop or two of hot sauce if needed
salt and pepper to taste

To an 8 qt stock pot, add olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add fennel, turnip, carrots and mushrooms. Cook for 5-7 minutes until just softening and beginning to brown a bit.
Pour in broth, water, and braising sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add potatoes, and lamb.
Let cook until vegetables are quite tender...20-30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt, pepper, or hot sauce as needed.
Serve hot garnished with parsley and with some baguette for dunking.

two dog kitchen and what else I've been cooking:

Pan-Roasted Brussel Sprouts and New Potatoes with Parmesan and Onions

I blogged this on my other blog, Dinner Place, The Solo Cook

When do we get to walk? This computer stuff is getting old, Mom.

Testing a new bread machine.

Leftover grilled chicken with pomegranate seeds, berries and cabbage-spinach salad with sherry vinaigrette

Our Gab

Zabaglione...will make again and blog...


Chickadees, in bitter cold, grab seeds and break them with their beaks while standing on metal feeders. Brr. You think you have food problems. Sing a new song, and cook lamb! Alyce

50 Women Game-Changers Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, #32 - Sullivan's Island Shrimp Bog

2012-01-27T05:47:00.003-07:00

Big bunch of bacon. (This is good. I'm married to someone who eats anything with bacon.) Next: tons of onions. Rice. Lots of shrimp, ahhh. All cooked together in one lovely mess called a bog. For those of us with no real connection to the south-eastern coastal states, a bog brings to mind cranberries in Maine or Wisconsin, even. Or being stuck at work, as in: "I'm all bogged down writing that article." But this bog, this "Sullivan's Island Shrimp Bog," is just what it sounds like: mounds of steamed shrimp mixed up on top of a velvety oh-so-thick tomatoed, oniony, spicy rice--perfect for brunch or a lunch bunch. If the words "comfort food" weren't so over-used and so inappropriate (comfort food being food you had a gazillion times as a kid...), I'd call this comfort food extraordinaire. Comfort food x100.

Just for fun, here's the wikipedia definition of a bog: A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens.

Food for thought, I'd say. Read on:

From Gourmet Live's 50 Women Food-Changers, #32 Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian (of the Edible Communities magazines fame) comes this jambalaya or sopa seca-like dish that will be one of your go-tos for days like Super Bowl or Book Club Supper. Or make it just for you; halved it was a beautiful supper for two with lovely lunch leftovers.

Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian published the book Edible, A Celebration of Local Foods in 2010 after a long and successful career designing, writing, and publishing locavore food magazines.... (as well as lots of other impressive things) Local peeps are familiar with the free edible TWIN CITIES.

In Tracey's own words....

Then, in 2002, we decided to launch our first magazine, Edible Ojai, which was very well received. From 2002 to 2004, we worked on a plan to expand and have multiple magazines, calling it Edible Communities. In the early stages of that plan, we thought we would do the additional magazines ourselves, perhaps up and down the California coast. Then, in January of 2004, Saveur magazine included Edible Ojai in their "Top 100" for the year and within a week of that issue hitting newsstands, we had calls from over 400 people asking us for an Edible magazine in their community. That is when we decided it would be better to change the model so that each magazine could be locally owned and operated by people in the communities we published in.
Edible Communities officially started in May 2004, with the launch of Edible Cape Cod. (courtesy dailygreen.com -- Read more) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hence the eventual cookbook and hence our sweet bog recipe. Buy the stuff; make it soon!

by the way: sullivan's island is near charleston, south carolina

sullivan's island shrimp bog : 6 servings

Cooks's Note: I halved this and made it in a 3.5 qt cast iron, lidded pot: we couldn't stop eating it. There was plenty for two of us and probably enough left for tomorrow's lunch if Dave doesn't get up in the middle of the night and eat it. fyi I exactly halved the spices (as well as all else) and we found them perfect--a bit spicy without being too hot. This is perky, bright and addictive. Drink beer with this unless you have a great off-dry riesling.

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
1/2 pound sliced bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if needed
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more if needed
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne, plus more if needed
2 1/4 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 pounds medium shrimp (40 count), shelled and deveined I used cooked shrimp in shells
1/4 cup very finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges

procedures

In a fine-mesh strainer, rinse the rice well under cold running water. Drain well; set aside.

2.In alarge heavy Dutch oven or stockpot, cook the bacon over medium heat untilgolden, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a papertowel-lined dish; set aside. Pour off and discard all but 3 tablespoons of thebacon fat remaining in the pot. Add the onions to the pot and cook over mediumheat, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Add the drained rice, salt, nutmeg,black pepper, and cayenne and stir for 1 minute.

3. Stir in the broth, tomatoes withliquid, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, cover the pot,reduce the heat, and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Stir in the cooked bacon andthe shrimp and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp iscooked through, adding more broth if the rice seems to be drying out, about 10minutes. Stir the bog with a fork. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.Sprinkle with parsley, garnish with lemon wedges, and serve immediately.

Check out how the other bloggers are honoring the 50 Women Game-Changers:
*******************

Sue - The View from Great Island
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Heather - girlichef
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Barbara - Movable Feasts
Jeanette - Healthy Living
Linda - Ciao Chow Linda
Linda A - There and Back Again
Martha - Lines from Linderhof
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits,
Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Lovely Things
Nancy - Picadillo
Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
***************************

If you liked this recipe, you might like:

Jambalaya

Risotto

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood return next post,friends. But while the pups are off, listen to a great young singer I'm listening to tonight... Jeremy Anderson. His new album is out (click on his name) and he does all the tracks himself. Sometimes 12!! He's got some music on itunes, too.

Sing a new song, make this shrimp and listen to Jeremy,
Alyce

Chinese "BBQ" Pork, Five Heap Noodles, and Wine-Explosion Soup for Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T13:37:00.001-07:00

Set your table before you begin cooking.

While I missed blogging Barbara Tropp a couple of weeks ago for "50 Women Game-Changers in Food" from Gourmet Live, it didn't stop me from making some of her incredible food in honor of a good friend's birthday and Chinese New Year.

I started out by spending a bit of cozy time with one of Barbara's books, The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, just to see what I thought I'd like to make. The choices were myriad and luscious... but I couldn't make all of them. I did, however, want to keep reading forever; she wrote beautifully. I decided on three separate dishes: one a soup for a starter and the other two as a main course that could be eaten together, but that would also provide some great leftovers. HA! There were hardly any leftovers. Do make extra pork; it's a perfect cold snack.

Here's the menu:

Soup: Wine-Explosion Vegetable Chowder (page 452)--a filling soup silky strands of egg whites
Meat: Northern-Style Chinese Roast Pork (page 205)--requires a day's marinating, but worth it.
Noodles: Five Heap Noodles (p 361)--I changed this up, but used the basic idea.

If you're not familiar with Barbara Tropp, take a little detour and read this. Sadly, the world lost a top-flight Chinese scholar and chef way too early in life. Those who cook her recipes continue to share and pass on a bit of the knowledge of a cuisine to which she was forever lovingly enthusiastic and dedicated. The patience of tone and inventive spirit in Barbara Tropp's writing are unmatched and well worth the purchase of her books, the other of which is China Moon Cookbook.

Not having the time to blog the entire meal, I chose to write about the velvety and intriguing soup. It's the easiest to make and perhaps the most versatile. I do encourage you to look up the pork and noodle recipes; the pork was so very fun and was unlike any I'd ever cooked. Cook's Note: In the pork recipe link, the oven temperatures are Celsius. Here are some photos of the cooking pork and my noodle toppings:


Recipe called for hanging the pork from "S" hooks; I chose to use a rack over a rimmed baking sheet with water. Sliced thinly, it can be served hot, at room temperature, or cold.

The noodles (first photo) had a light sauce stirred in a couple of hours before the meal, and then were served with variety of toppings at the table (see below), as well as extra sauce--a kind of DIY-Asian-Noodle Salad. Barbara's Five Heap Noodles are served at the center of a large platter/bowl, with the heaps dotting the edges of the serving platter.

Cilantro, cucumber, radishes, grated and sliced carrots, steamed chopped green beans and asparagus--I chose my own vegetables.

Wine-Explosion Vegetable Chowder--rewritten a bit for my use

3/4 -1# fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped, retaining liquid
7 large white mushrooms, cleaned well and sliced very thinly (keep stems)
2 ounces (1/2 cup) fresh green beans (or sugar snaps) sliced thinly on the diagonal into 1 1/4"
lengths
2 T peanut oil
2T sherry
5 1/2 cups chicken stock*
15 oz can creamed corn
4T cornstarch dissolved in 6T cold chicken stock
1 large egg white (I misread this and used a whole egg; it was delicious)
sugar and salt (yes, you might need them both)
2 oz good, sweet and smokey ham, coarsely minced


I had all of the soup ingredients prepped and in the frig that morning.

*Including Chinese chicken stock I made in an hour from rotisserie chicken, ginger, onions, and pepper.

Making the soup: Read everything well before starting!!

About 15 minutes before serving, assemble all of the ingredients within easy reach of the stovetop, and put individual soup bowls in a low oven to warm.

This is good practice for all Asian cooking. Have everything cut, ready to go, and plates/bowls warmed or set on table.

Heat a heavy non-aluminum stockpot over medium-high heat until hot enough to evaporate a bead of water on contact. Add the oil, swirl to glaze the bottom of the pot, then heat until a bead of wine added to the the pot "explodes" in a sizzle. Add the wine, allow only 1 second for it to explode in a fragrant hiss, then immediately add stock to capture the wine essence. Bring to a boil, add tomatoes, mushrooms, and corn. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until mixture returns to a boil. Do not increase the heat or stop stirring; it can burn. Reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer and add vegetables (beans.) Simmer about 2-3 minutes for snow peasor 4 minutes for beans, stirring constantly until the vegetable is cooked but quite crisp. It will cook more while you serve.

Taste the soup and add salt or sugar. (Store-bought tomatoes may need a bit of sugar or soup will be flat..."do not hesitate" to add it.) Reduce the heat to low. Stir the cornstarch mixture to recombine, then add it to the pot in a steady stream, stirring slowly for about 2 minutes until soup turns glossy and thick. (This will be very obvious.) Turn off heat.

Using a fork or chop sticks, beat the egg white with quick, light strokes just to break the gel. It will froth a bit, but do not beat to a foam. Holding it about 6 inches above the surface of the soup, add the egg white in a very thin, steady stream. Stir gently once midway, and again when finished to bring the lacy threads to the surface.

Serve immediately, garnishing each bowl with a sprinkling of ham. Or cover and serve the soup 1-4 hours later, when vegetables are no longer crisp, but the soup is deeper in flavor.

Leftovers keep well for a 4-5 days, refrigerated, or may be frozen. Reheat in a heavy pot over medium heat, stirring frequently.

Cook's Note: With just a few variations (vegetable stock, no ham or egg), this makes a lovely and satisfying vegan soup. As the noodles are totally vegan, if you put the two together, you'll have a great vegetable meal. I am unable to find a link for Barbara's noodles, but will continue to try to find one. I made Whole Foods 365 whole wheat linguine (instead of using Asian noodles) and made Barbara's Five Heap sauce-with a bit of a twist- out of: 1T crushed sesame seeds,1T sesame oil, 2T peanut oil heated with chopped green onions, crushed red peppers and ginger, 2T water, 2T soy sauce, 2T rice vinegar, 1/4 t chili oil. After adding the vegetables, I added toasted sesame seeds as garnish. We liked the extra sauce at the table.

Loving kitchen helpers..

Two Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood

Been a wee bit chilly around here....I've been making lots of soup and long-simmering dishes. You'll hear about some of them soon.

Snuggle time in St. Paul

Upcoming... Alyce's Lamb Shanks on Mashed Rutabaga

Also upcoming this Friday: Sullivan's Island Shrimp Bog

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this, you might like:

Basil Chicken Fried Rice

or
Ham Fried Rice

or
Tofu Stir Fry

Sing a new song,
Alyce

Ricotta, Chive, and Prosciutto Omelette-Donna Hay-50 Women Game-Changers in Food-#31

2012-01-19T12:30:00.004-07:00

Lydia Walshin (The Perfect Pantry) often has great recipe links on fb. One day, she linked to a recipe for Stir-Fried Rice with Mushrooms from Jeanette's Healthy Living. Jeanette's recipe came from the famous Chinese cook and cookbook author, Barbara Tropp, of whom I'm very fond. The post title indicated the recipe was part of the 50 Women Game-Changers in Food blogging effort. Each week, bloggers from all over the country feature the recipes of one of the 50 Women Game-Changers from the Gourmet Live List published last May. I had to get in on this thing and here I am the very next week, blogging down-under Donna Hay's recipe for Ricotta, Chive, and Prosciutto Omelettes. Thanks, fellow food bloggers, for the warm welcome. I'm thrilled to be participating!

Donna Hay is Australia's premier food editor and cookbook writer who began at the young age of 19 as a writer and food stylist. By 25, she was the food editor for marie claire. Since then, she's published 18 award-winning cookbooks and now is the editor of the bi-monthly donna hay magazine with a circulation of nearly 400,000. Donna also has a popular weekly food column in the Sunday editions of News Limited newspapers around Australia and The New Zealand Herald, reaching over seven million people each week. She is a regular contributor to UK’s leading lifestyle magazine, Living etc. Click here for a list of Donna's recipes and menus and here for the magazine's ipad app.

Before I began this blogging adventure, I had downloaded the magazine app for my ipad, which I keep in the kitchen unless I'm traveling. The easy-to-use format of this beautiful app sold me as much as did the pictures that told such clear stories. While looking at food photos, the reader can click and choose between reading the recipe (including photo, ingredients list, and story/directions) and cook mode, which with just a push of the finger takes you from the first bit of instructions to the last, page by page. Right now, from what I can see, there are just a couple of issues available free. Keep an eye out for more.


My ipad with the donna hay mag at center. Screensaver: Colorado kitchen!

While not a great photo, you get the idea of how fun this is to use.

Let's cook...

In the pan with the egg ring. Watch carefully to avoid burning.

This very quick, light meal consists of a souffle omelet (one in which the eggs are separated and the whites are whipped to peaks before the yolks are gently folded back in) with a tiny taste of salad --the spinach--and a bit of salty Italian ham for garnish and kick. Two eggs truly make two servings here. If you're on South Beach, this will cook with just a bit of adjustment.

ricotta, chive, and prosciutto omelettes by donna hay

2 eggs, separated at room temperature
1 tablespoon pouring (single) cream
70g ricotta, crumbled (about 1/4 cup part-skim-at room temperature)
1 tablespoon chopped chives
sea salt and cracked black pepper
20g butter (about 1T--you could need a bit more)
¼ cup (60g) sour cream (I used Greek yogurt)
50g baby spinach leaves (about 2 oz or about 2 cups)
100g prosciutto (3.5 oz or about 1/4#)

  Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the egg yolks, cream, ricotta, chives, salt and pepper. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter and place lightly greased egg rings in the pan. Pour ¼ egg mixture into each ring and cook for 3 minutes each side or until puffed and golden. Repeat with remaining egg mixture. (You'll need to remove the egg ring-and leave it off- and very gently turn over each omelette so that it doesn't spread too much and lose its shape.)
  To serve, place omelettes on a plate and top with the sour cream, spinach and prosciutto. Serves 2.

Cook's notes in red: Have all ingredients at the ready and prepare/cook quickly as the omelettes can deflate a bit as they wait for you to cook the second batch. I managed fine using a small nonstick omelet pan, working in batches, as my large skillets are not nonstick.   Egg rings can be replaced with clean large, tuna cans with both ends removed.

After removing egg ring and turning, the tiny omelette looks a bit like a pancake in the pan.

About Grams to Ounces:

Here is a good grams to ounces (metric) conversion site.
I also used my pen and paper, as well as the Salton electronic scale to check my math.
If you do decide to get the Donna Hay app for ipad, there is a good conversion page there.

Just add Chardonnay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next up: #32 Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian

The gorgeous, intelligent locavores of the magazine world, Ryder and Topalian’s Edible series now numbers 60 editions, from Allegheny to WOW (southeast Michigan). And, despite the handicap of being free print mags, they actually make money! (courtesy Gourmet Live)

Check out how the other bloggers are honoring the 50 Women Game-Changers:

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others

If you liked this recipe, you might like:

Herb-Spinach Egg White Omelet on the Dinner Place blog

How to make an omelet

Sing a new song, cook a new recipe....

Alyce

All photos by Alyce Morgan, copyright 2012-unless otherwise noted or obvious.
Donna Hay photo courtesy donna hay magazine.

Shrimp Cobb or Starting Over in the St. Paul Kitchen

2012-01-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

After a busy season of church, family, and travel, I'm back. I missed blogging, but simply couldn't find a good way to do it with pictures from my ipad, which is what I take away from home. First blog must be about how we came home...

After a long drive, and a couple of weeks away from my still Christmas kitchen (I do admit it: I was cheating with my other kitchen the whole time), we were hungry. Friends offered one meal and we ate out another, but we needed to get back into the swing of cooking and eating at home. Not wanting to do a serious grocery shop right away, I ran through the corner store for just a few things:

avocado
fresh greens
blueberries
cherry tomatoes
4 red bell peppers
chicken breasts (several--on the bone, with skin)
whole wheat bread
plain Greek yogurt
milk

When I arrived home, I was able to put together the Shrimp Cobb (recipe below) that night and had plenty more for a couple of breakfasts, a pot of chicken chili, and leftover chicken for snacks and sandwiches. (Thanks to a well-stocked pantry and freezer that included shrimp and bacon.)

Let's talk chicken chili another time. Love this stuff. You can do beans or no beans.

Meantime, both Dave and I were hungry. Here's how I made our Shrimp Cobb:

Shrimp Cobb serves 2

Ingredients:

1/2# cooked, deveined,and peeled shrimp
2 boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
4oz blue cheese (I like Roquefort for this, but you might like Maytag or another American blue), divided in half for South Beach, use 2oz low-fat cheddar or mozzerella
12 ea grape tomatoes and pitted kalamata olives
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced for South Beach, use 2/3 of an avocado
2 pieces of bacon, fried to a crisp and chopped
3 cups mixed greens (I like kale and spinach)
Juice of half a lemon
1-2T extra virgin olive oil for South Beach, skip dressing; avocado replaces oil allowance
Kosher Salt and pepper

Directions: Set out two, large shallow bowls (I like pasta bowls for this.) and line each bowl with greens. Add shrimp at center of each bowl. Next, paying attention to color, contrast and texture, add the other ingredients (eggs through bacon) in clusters around the shrimp for each serving. Squeeze lemon juice over the salads and dust with a bit of salt and pepper. Drizzle each with olive oil. Serve immediately. (I like the lightness of the instant lemon vinaigrette here--so that you can taste all of the ingredients individually. Some people might want a heavier or more traditional Cobb dressing, which is French; others might like old-fashioned Thousand-Island or Blue Cheese dressing.)


Fresh...and filling

For links to other things I've written about lately, check out the links in my twitter feed...at right, up top.

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood
a few pics from the break--not in any particular order

We know we're not supposed to be here and what are you doing about it? You're cooking.

Grandson under the table after dinner. We all wanted to join him.

Love these two.

See the Dinner Place blog for this recipe.

New cookie...still needs a name. 3 kinds of chocolate and peppermint....

Christmas morning cinnamon rolls after church.

Christmas morning service at church...we gathered around these beautiful candles.

Christmas day before dinner.

Working on a pepper cornbread--Buttermilk or no?

Sunrise at our Colorado house.

Sun worshipers

New Year's Hoppin' John

Good visit in Denver.

Out to dinner with our big kid.

Sing a new song and all positive possibilities for healing to those in need...particularly my dear Elizabeth,
Alyce

Afternoon Open House

2011-12-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hot Spiced Cider with or without Rum (Pum Pum Pum)

An afternoon open house is the perfect party ... No main course. Everyone's gone by dinner time... And folks show up because other commitments are for evening. Few dishes to wash. Food that's easy to prepare ahead. Your goal: everything out and ready for guests to help themselves. Your reward: To be able to enter your own party!


Ginger cookies, Chocolate Snowballs, Date bars--Made ahead and frozen

A couple of perfect festive drinks (Sparkler and Hot Cider), as well as a pot of strong coffee and some thick cream (for those who must dunk cookies or are heading to a serious evening party), make set-up much easier than a cocktail or dinner party. People come dressed comfortably. Yes.

A festive few dishes and a candle or two. Not much more needed.

Your best cookies, a couple of great nibbles...Always vegetables...A bit of cheese-

Lots of vegetables--some fresh, some grilled. Herb Garlic Cheese Dip with Pine Nuts

Something they'll remember later...like my taste-like-jelly-filled-donut shortbread sandwiches:

Raspberry Shortbread Sandwiches

Crowded is ok. They'll come and go.

All set up ahead leaves time for visiting and listening to the great Christmas playlist you put together for the party. Everything from Revels to Tony Bennett to Harry Connick, Jr. to Cambridge Singers.

Something filling for those who skipped lunch. Here, a great tapenade. Don't skimp on the olives; buy the best you can find. Grill your sliced baguette on the stove if it's too cold outside.

Spicy Tapenade with Crostini

Spanish Cava is a lovely, inexpensive sparkler. Whatever's leftover can be used for New Year's or for
mimosas for brunch. There's usually a discount if you buy a case. Think ahead.

Cava and Cranberries. Back-up bottles all chilled in the frig.

Leave flutes set up with cranberries and folks will pour the sparkler over them.

David Lebovitz famous Pretzel and Nut Mix. No Chex Mix needed.

Something crunchy is a must. Nuts, pretzels, chips...for the salty people.

My take on Eli Zabar's shortbread recipe..Bittersweet chocolate and sea salt.. I like Valrhona chocolate for dipping, but could only find Callebaut locally this year. Makes excellent hot chocolate, too, by the way if you've any leftover from dipping. Valrhona is French chocolate; Callebaut is made in many places, but is basically Belgian-French in origin.

Menu:

*Hot Cider with or without Rum (I leave the rum plainly marked in a pitcher on counter.)
*Pot of strong coffee and Hot Water for tea. The best cream you can find. Lemon, sugar.
*Cava (or your favorite bubbly)--Add a couple of fresh cranberries to the $1. glasses
*Cookies--4 of your favorites. Homemade or beg from friends-even buy at great bakery.
*Garlicky Rosemary Cheese Dip with Pine Nuts and Lots of Veggies (Recipe below)
*Spicy Tapenade and Crostini (Grilled Bread) - Recipe Below
*Cranberry Almond Bars with Tangerine --You must have chocolate. Make it yourself.
*Alyce's Go Nuts! Salty, hot, and sweet pecans. Great protein.
*David Lebovitz Pretzel and Nut Mix--gotta have something that crunches.

Other Recipes

Herb Garlic Cheese Dip with Pine Nuts
12 oz goat's cheese (chevre), softened
32 oz (4 c) ricotta cheese
Zest of one lemon
Hot sauce- a few drops
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
2T fresh dill, minced (Can choose just one herb if you like.)
2T fresh basil chiffonade
2T fresh chives, minced
1T fresh thyme, chopped (plus a few sprigs for garnish)
1T fresh Rosemary, finely minced
1/2 t coarsely ground black pepper (or more to taste)
Pinch of kosher salt
Garnishes:
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1/4 cup sweet red pepper, diced
Rosemary sprigs

Place all ingredients except garnishes in the food processor and pulse until well-blended. Taste and readjust seasoning. If making the day before, the garlic will settle down a lot overnight in the frig. Store in a tightly-covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Spoon into serving bowl and garnish with pine nuts, peppers, and sprigs of rosemary Serve with fresh vegetables or crackers. If too thick, add a few drops of milk and stir well before serving.

Spicy Tapenade (Basic recipe courtesy Tyler Florence)

2 cups pitted mixed olives

3 anchovy fillets

2 small garlic cloves
Generous pinch of crushed red pepper

Big handful of flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Tiny pinch ea kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Process all ingredients in food processor using steel blade. Taste and adjust seasonings. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to a week. Serve with crostini (Many people make this in the oven, but I am fond of grilling the bread on a large, stovetop grill if the weather is inclement. Grilled crostini is luscious with salt and pepper, but none is needed here when serving with tapenade.)

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood

This week, we're buying a few small gifts, making a vat of barbequed brisket, going to a choir party, taking some friends out to dinner and to a Rose Ensemble concert, baking a manger scene (yes!) and stollen, watching every Christmas movie we can, and picking up my sister at the airport. Emily and I are getting our hair done together tomorrow, so we'll be all cleaned up for the whole deal. Work is slowing down, though I still have a couple of pieces to rehearse and direct. Probably need to get that Rutter out and practice! Dave's week will be intense and then crawl, alternately....as co-workers world-wide try to get ready for Dell's week-long break, but still make time for Christmas parties.

We'll be at church on Christmas Eve, of course...it's my favorite service. If there's time, we'll stop by a couple of open houses, but we'll come home to cookies and eggnog in the wee early hours of Christmas morning and fall into bed to listen for the sleigh bells.

Christmas Day is a different story:

For years, I never even made Christmas dinner and I'm an avid cook. By the time Christmas Eve services were done, I was done, too. No one's happier to see Christmas day arrive than a church musician. A great meat tray and the perfect basket of croissants sounded good to me. Maybe a big bowl of shrimp and sauce and fresh veggies. But one year Dave began cooking on Christmas Day and that continues. I do a mean pan of cinnamon rolls and stollen and and an egg casserole for brunch after presents and he's in the kitchen the rest of the day often cooking up something out of Tyler Florence's books. It's a hoot for him to get me out of that kitchen and to just putter on his own. No timetable. I stay in my jammies and watch movies.


Last year's Christmas Day rolled flank steak with roasted tomatoes.


Christmas Day. Toys, movies, the pups.

Gabby and Tuck have been good all year, but they're still worried there'll be nothing in their stockings.

Maybe there are others with the same fears....

courtesy Share Our Strength

Want to feed some kids before the end of 2011?

No Kid Hungry this Holiday Season

With your help this holiday season, we can connect hungry children with nutritious meals all year long! Every $1 you donate to Share Our Strength helps connect a child with up to 10 meals. Through December 31, our No Kid Hungry Partners are matching the first $500,000 donated during the holiday season. Click here to donate.

John O'Donohue is fond of talking about "entering your own life," but I love the idea of entering your own Christmas. It's time.

Merry Days to you! Do the fun things.
Alyce

Fave Cookies-A Repeat Post

2011-12-12T12:30:00.001-07:00

Raspberry Shortbread Sandwiches and Valrhona Chocolate Shortbreads

Last Year on Christmas Eve, I posted the recipes for these cookies. As they are among my favorites, I thought them worth posting again! Happy Cookying, my friends.

Merry Christmas, Friends, Family and other Loved Ones

A promise is a promise and here are two more of the cookies from the tray:

These cookies are at the right of the tray and are both shortbread cookies made from the same recipe, but finished differently. The recipe is Eli Zabar's (NYC) and I took it straight from Ina Garten. Just the end results are totally different. And while these are not terribly innovative, they are terribly delicious. Addictive, in fact. Go ahead; you still have time to bake. No? How about for New Year's? Truthfully, the 12 days of Christmas haven't even begun yet. Get out those trays and crank up that oven. Take a batch to a neighbor you wish you knew better or run up to the local church for services tonight and give a batch to one of the musicians. Like me. I'm working tonight.
Shortbread Cookies from Eli Zabar via Ina Garten and Alyce Morgan

3/4# soft unsalted butter
1 c white sugar
1 t vanilla extract
3 1/2 c unbleached flour
1/4 t salt (no salt if you used salted butter)

For sandwich cookies: 3/4 c seedless raspberry jam and 1T Cointreau
For chocolate dips: 3-6 oz Valrhona Chocolate melted*; 1T coarse sea salt

Instructions:

Mix together together the butter and the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until just combined. Add vanilla. Sift the flour and salt and add it to the butter an d sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and shape into a flat disc. Refrigerate, tightly wrapped, for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Roll dough out 1/4" thick on a floured surface and cut with 1 1/2- 2" fluted cookie/biscuit cutter. Bake on an ungreased sheet for about 10 minutes--until edges show the faintest signs of gold. Let cool to room temperature.

For Raspberry Shortbread Sandwiches:

Mix jam with Cointreau and heat briefly; stir well. Turn cookies flat side up and, holding one, place about 1/2 t jam mixture on it. Place another cookie, flat side down into the jam mixture and press together lightly. Place cookies on racks as you finish them. When all are done, dust with confectioner's sugar shaken from the shaker or through a small strainer/sieve.

For Valrhona Chocolate Shortbreads:

Chop or grate chocolate into a small sauce pan. Place sauce pan over another with an inch or so of simmering water. Let chocolate melt slowly. When melted, take each cookie and dip halfway. Place each dipped cookie onto a wax paper lined tray to dry. Place a piece or two of sea salt, if desired, on the chocolate side before the chocolate dries.

*Depending on how much of the dough you commit to the chocolate variation.

Store these cookies in tight containers after they are very dry. Place wax paper between layers.

Homemade Tomato Soup and Fried Cheese on a Snowy Night or How's the Second Week of Advent Goin' for Ya?

2011-12-04T16:03:00.001-07:00

The story goes that tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.... Actually, I don't know that story. If you do, tell me. I just can't remember when I didn't eat that comforting, homey classic Saturday noon meal. My kids grew up eating it, but mama's got a brand new bag.

This time around, I made the tomato soup myself. No sugar, sweetheart. Just a drop of honey to counteract the acid in the tomatoes. And...no grilled cheese sandwich. Not for me. Dave had one. Instead, I fried my cheese and gently topped my soup with it.

It was creamy, crunchy and fulfilled all those grilled cheesey longings while I skipped the bread on a cold, cold night with the snow flying across the piano window:

Here's how:

Homemade Tomato Soup with Fried Cheese

In a food processor (or by hand, chopping) fitted with the steel blade, place:

1 small onion
2 stalks celery
1-2 peeled carrots
1/2 cup parsley
2 garlic cloves
1/4 of a lemon, including the peel

Process pulsing until the vegetables are evenly and quite finely minced.

In a 4-6 qt stock pan, heat over medium heat

1 T olive oil

When quite warm, spoon in the minced vegetables and let cook 5 minutes until softening.
Add:

1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes (I like Cento tomatoes.)
1/2 cup white wine or water
1tsp honey
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground white pepper
1/4 tsp of chili-garlic sauce or a few drops of Tabasco

Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. Let cook slowly about 20 minutes, stirring regularly. If desired, puree using an immersion blender or by carefully returning (1/2 at a time) mixture to food processor. Taste and season again, if needed. Lower heat to very low and make the fried cheese:

Fried Cheese

You'll need 1 large, thin slice of cheese for each serving. I used low-sodium Swiss Cheese, but Cheddar would also work well. Don't use too soft of a cheese.

Directions: In a small skillet, heat 1T olive oil over medium heat. Place the cheese slice in the pan, and watching closely, let melt well. Meantime, ladle the soup into the bowl. Scrape out the melted cheese into a bowl full of soup and put the skillet back on the heat briefly. Using a good spatula, scrape the now crispy leavings of the cheese into the bowl. Eat while hot.

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood

It's the second Sunday of Advent. In my world, we're moving daily through the journey toward the stable. Trying to figure out how to be ready for God to be born in our hearts. Taking a good look at what we've stored in there over the last year as it's been that long since we took inventory and marked down the things that didn't sell. Looking in dark corners. Blowing away the dust and sweeping away the cobwebs that can't be there if we are to prepare him room. While it can seem odd, we are continually waiting for Jesus to come again.

So today, we sang and talked, and lit candles. Took communion together and sang, "Wait for the Lord, whose day is near." Jody played the accordian and the sounds of the guitars, banjo, organ, piano, and steel guitar raised the roof to praise God and to make alive our wonders and wanders.

At home, we've got the tree, but it's not up. Had a great day Saturday at Bachman's looking at the decorations and buying a new tree, but it'll sit out in the garage a while. The Christmas dishes are out. The table has the Christmas candles to grace it, and the many boxes of butter for the cookies are ready in the freezer. Down in the basement, there are stacks of flour, sugar, and chocolate. Almonds, raisins, and pecans. Invitations went out today to draw friends in for a bit of cheer on a Saturday afternoon not too far away. We're finishing chores like the painted trim in the kitchen and getting curtains up... "What? Are you waiting for Christmas?" takes on new meaning.

The choir is working hard to be ready to sing our cantata next week. Joseph and Patricia Martin's "Canticle of Joy" is our offering and our study...our way and our journey this year. All over the world, I'm comforted to think choirs are doing that same thing. Moving in on the music, getting it in their hearts, and making it one of their priorities. Makes you learn the story with your whole body when you sing it.

Here are a few at our rehearsal with Cabrini for Thanksgiving service.

At Bachman's looking for a tree....

Did you ever see a blue or purple poinsettia?

Elephant topiary next to the poinsettia tree.

Which one?

Beautiful, but out of our price range.

Finally getting our curtains up once we got home.

The Tuckster's been eating snow.


Curtains!

And so things are getting ready for Christmas... slowly, but surely. And at your house? Here's a bit of Advent reading I thought I'd share:

ADVENT
Richard Rohr

When we demand satisfaction of one another, when we demand any completion to history on our terms, when we demand that our anxiety or any dissatisfaction be taken away, saying, as it were, “Why weren’t you this for me? Why didn’t life do that for me?”, we are refusing to say, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We are refusing to hold out for the full picture that is always given in time by God.

When we set out to seek our private happiness, we often create an idol that is sure to topple. Any attempts to protect any full and private happiness in the midst of so much public suffering have to be based on illusion about the nature of the world in which we live. We can only do that if we block ourselves from a certain degree of reality and refuse solidarity with “the other side” of everything, even the other side of ourselves.

Adapted from Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr, pp. 5, 7

Sing a new carol,
Alyce

Turkey Pot Pie or Last Ditch and Best Effort for Thanksgiving Leftovers

2011-11-27T13:54:00.001-07:00

Turkey Pot Pie

You might have lived when pot pies were a regular feature of your mom's menus. Maybe you had them instead of TV Dinners. I have a sketchy memory of frozen pies from the grocery @10 for $1. This undoubtedly dates me in an unkind way. I did not have a mother who refused to cook; she cooked a lot. That didn't mean we never had a frozen pot pie. I remember liking them, though I maybe haven't tasted one in fifty years.

If you go out to eat at any number of restaurants these days, you'll find homemade pot pies are on lots of menus and people order them over and over. Definitely comfort food. Certainly fattening. But oh so filling and often luscious. They're full of all kinds of things--poultry, vegetables, roast beef, sea food, etc.

Before Thanksgiving, I set out to make the best turkey pot pie (using leftovers) I could. No more expensive restaurant versions and certainly no more frozen pies. I invited a group of people for a turkey and roasted root vegetable dinner and then had my way with what was left. I discovered it was a. simple and b. better than the 10 for $1 ones from Garofalo's on Crawford Avenue. I served it up with a side of lemoned broccolini and a scoop of my red hot cranberry sauce, as well as a handsome glass of Oregon Chardonnay or maybe a French Côtes du Rhône--a lovely, medium-bodied and inexpensive wine that flatters oven-roasted vegetables, as well as pork or poultry. (And lots else)
Dave and I both liked the pie better than the meal from which it came. Go figure.

Feel free to take this filling and top it with biscuits--even Bisquick biscuits-- in a 2 qt greased rectangular glass casserole dish. (I made chicken pot pie often for my kids growing up...usually with biscuit topping.) Or buy the Pillsbury pie dough from the refrigerator section. But do make it. You'll be glad you did. I promise. *If you'd like to make my crust, use the recipe I made for Kathy's Apple Pie; that's a good all-purpose crust.
Here's how:

Alyce's Turkey Pot Pie

There are three parts to this recipe: 1. Crust 2. Filling 3. Sauce

2 9" pie crusts* (Plus 1T melted butter -or 1 egg white beaten with a bit of water- brushed on top crust before baking.) Made or bought.

Filling:

1T butter
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 stalks celery with leaves, diced
4 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
1t each fresh thyme and tarragon (or 1/2 t each dried)
1/2 t chopped fresh sage (or 1/4 t dried, powdered sage)
2 c chopped roasted root vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, potatoes, winter squash, etc)
2 c chopped cooked turkey, white or dark meat

Sauce: (Basically a velouté with added cream or milk)

2T butter
1/4 t each ground sea salt and ground white pepper
2T flour
1 c chicken stock
1 cup milk, cream or half and half

1. If you have made or bought pie crusts, put one in the pie pan (trim and pinch) and place the other between two sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate the pan and the wrapped dough while you make the filling and the sauce.
2. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat and add onion, celery, and mushrooms. Cook until vegetables are softened, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic during last minute of cooking and stir in herbs.
3. Take out pie pan with bottom crust and spoon onion mixture evenly over the bottom of the dough. Top with chopped vegetables and turkey.

Spoon onion mixture into pie pan.

Top with roasted vegetables and turkey. Pour on sauce.

Add the top crust and brush with butter or egg whites. Make slits for steam.

4. Make sauce (see below) and pour over the turkey and vegetable mixture. The turkey and vegetables should be just about covered. If not, drizzle in just a little more chicken stock, milk, or cream.
5. Take the top crust out of the refrigerator and place on top of the filled pie. Trim edges and pinch together edges of the two crusts.
6. Brush entire top crust with butter or an eggwhite beaten with a bit of water. Make several slits in the top crust (for steam to escape) and bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake until browned and bubbly, about 30 minutes.
7. Place pie on rack and cool 15 minutes or so. Slice and serve hot with broccolini (squeeze lemon on top) and cranberry sauce.

Making the sauce: In a 2qt saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add salt, pepper, and flour. Stir for 2-3 minutes for flour to cook a little bit and slowly whisk in chicken stock and milk or cream. Simmer, stirring often, until just barely thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings. A quick sprinkle of nutmeg is a possible addition, as is a drop or two of hot sauce.

Two-Dog Kitchen or Around the 'Hood
A few really random pics from our Thanksgiving Trip to Illinois

Turkey Soup... of course...Yesterday!

Read my recipe for the above soup on examiner.com

Visiting with sister and niece on way home.

Grandpa and Grandma's Dining Room

Turkey ready for its sauna. 4 cups turkey stock with lots of veggies at bottom of roaster makes for great gravy.

Dave's Tomatoes with Smoked Oysters, Capers, and Horseradish

Making Turkey stock. Yes, use the giblets and the neck., though our turkey had NO NECK!

Cranberry Bread

Pumpkin Bread with Candied Ginger and Pecan Topping

Cauliflower Gratinee from SILVER PALATE


Making a wine cork wreath in the garage.

Needs a bow.

Grandpa--a last mow of the yard.

Me--making homemade rolls.

Leftover pumpkin pie filling--in the microwave for a quick dessert.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Sing a new song on the First Day of Advent, friends....

Prepare Him Room!

Alyce

Kathy's Apple Pie

2011-11-15T13:24:00.001-07:00

Kathy's pie

My hairdresser works about a half-a-block from my house. Her name is Kathy. I chose her because... she works about a half-a-block from my house. When we moved here, I cried at leaving Jen, my hairdresser of 13 years in Colorado. So I didn't even look for anyone special; I just chose the closest "girl" and tried her. I mean, you've seen my hair. What could go wrong? And, if it did, how much time would it take to grow a bit? Luckily, everything has worked out fine. My hair's just right.
When Kathy did it the first time, I sent Jen a pic on my cell phone. "She's got the color spot-on, but it's a wee bit short," said Jen.

My hair's been the same for...let's say for a while. (With Britta last March.)

Outside Kathy's shop is a sign that says, "Curl Up and Dye." Underneath: "For Hair."

Kathy and I hit it off right away. We're both "of an age," though she still has a couple of kids running around sometimes at home. She also has lots of dogs--more than I do. There's tons of great stuff about her, but I like her because you can just talk about anything when you're in her chair: houses, food, kids, husbands, church, jobs, horses, dogs, clothes, shopping, shoes, ETC. She's given me the info on great places to find and do all kinds of things, but mostly helped solidify my forever dedication to the lovely institution of the St. Paul Farmer's Market where her family has a bagel breakfast sandwich and coffee stall. (Dave and I frequent that hot spot.) Sometimes we talk about whether or not it's worth it for them to start baking their own bagels. Having watched Dave make bagels (I don't make them!), I lean toward buying them from the great bagel maker down the street--just like they have been. Why mess with a good thing if you're still making a tidy profit?

One time, in a whimsical voice, Kathy said, "Ah, gee. In fall, I really miss apple pie. My Mom always made great apple pie." She was sad. I don't think Kathy bakes apple pies, but I think she was missing her mom as much as anything. So I figured next time I went to get my hair cut, I'd bring her a pie. I make a lot of pies, though I rarely eat them. In fact, pie makes people so happy that I don't know why I don't eat them. (Naturally, I eat the great coconut cream pie in the cafe on the square in Santa Fe... or my own cherry pie from our Colorado cherries. I'm more of a chocolate woman overall.)

Late this morning, I started Kathy's pie. I had no idea how her mother made pie, but my pie wouldn't be like Kathy's mom's no matter what, so I just baked the pie. Pretty much like I always do, but with a little bit of a twist all around. Lots of butter, great Honeycrisp apples, Penzey's cinnamon right on top of the unbaked bottom crust. Cream brushed top crust. A recipe I'll share. You might like it for Thanksgiving. If you make it now and don't bake it, you can wrap it tightly in foil, freeze it, and bake it frozen (on a foiled sheet pan) early Thanksgiving morning. It'll take longer to get done, but done ahead is done ahead.

Kathy's Apple Pie makes 1 9" pie; serves 6-8

2 9-10" pie crusts (recipe below)

5-7 medium Honeycrisp apples, cored, peeled, and sliced thinly+
2t fresh lemon juice
3/4 t Chinese cinnamon, divided (some for crust and some for the apples)
1/4 t grated fresh nutmeg
1/8 t salt

3T flour
2/3 - 3/4 c granulated white sugar plus 2 tsp for bottom crust and top crust (use 2/3 for sweeter
apples and 3/4 for tarter ones like Honeycrisp or Granny Smith)
2T cold butter, diced
1t heavy cream, half and half or milk

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place one pie crust in the 9" glass pie pan, trim, and crimp (pinch) edges.
3. Use about 1 tsp of the sugar and mix with 1/8 tsp cinnamon. Dust the entire bottom crust with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
4. In a large bowl, mix apples and lemon juice. Add flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, the rest of the cinnamon, the nutmeg and the salt. Toss gently, but well. Carefully pour or spoon apple mixture into the crust.
5. Drop the diced butter evenly over the apple mixture.
6. Place top crust over the pie and trim so that there's about an inch overhanging the pie.
7. Pinch together the crust and either press edge of crust into the pie plate with the tines of a fork or crimp.
8. Using pastry brush, brush top crust with cream or milk and dust evenly with the last teaspoon of sugar.
9. Make several small slits (evenly spread) through top crust for venting the filling as it cooks. You can make a design; I made a "K" for Kathy and a few "arrows."
10. Bake 15-20 minutes on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, and lower oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake another hour or so until pie is golden brown and juices are bubbling out of the slits. * Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

+Honeycrisp apples, developed at "The U" here in Minnesota, hold their shape well. Because of that, I slice them thinly. They won't get terribly soft and break down. If you're using a softer apple, cut them in larger slices. Also, some folks like the skin left on their apples for pie. Do as you like.

*If it's getting too brown, carefully lay a piece of aluminum foil loosely on top of the pie.

Prep note: I usually prep the apple mixture and put that aside. Then I tackle making the crust. I roll out the bottom crust and place it in the pie pan. In goes the apple mixture and I set the whole thing aside while I take the second crust out of the frig and roll it. I next roll the second crust loosely around the rolling pin (or you can carefully fold it in half and then in half again) and gently lay it on top of the buttered apples. Trim, crimp, and it's ready for the oven.

Here's the pie before baking.

I had enough for a coffee cup pie for Dave.

Alyce's Double Pie Crust Recipe:

2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup salted butter, cut into 1" pieces
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup iced water (Use a 1 cup measuring cup and pour in 1/2 water; add ice and use quickly.)

*In food processor, place flour, butter and salt. (This may also be done with a pastry cutter or two knives.) Pulsing, cut butter into the flour until there are 1/2" sizes pieces (and some smaller and some larger) of buttered crumbs.
*With machine running, pour in water slowly. When the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the machine, stop the machine, and turn dough out onto a well-floured board or counter.
*Gently and quickly pat dough into a ball and divide ball evenly in half.
*Wrap one half and refrigerate it. Take the other half and press it into a flat disc. Dust the dough with flour, and, with a floured rolling pin, roll from the center out to the edges moving clockwise around the dough until the dough is about 10" in diameter. Move the dough every few rolls of the pin so it doesn't stick. You may need to keep putting a bit of flour sprinkled underneath.
*Remove dough from frig and repeat for top crust.


All baked up with somewhere to go.

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the Hood.....

Next Monday, November 21, I direct a pick-up choir at St. Frances Cabrini Church, 1500 Franklin Ave., Minneapolis, MN, for an Ecumenical Thanksgiving. Want to sing? Show up at 6pm for rehearsal of easy anthem,"Simple Gifts" for worship service that begins at 7pm. Hope to hear you!

This is up on the blog next--a braised leg of lamb with vegetables. Perfect alternative Thankgiving.

The start of a neighborhood birthday/wine-tasting dinner....I did the lamb above. It was potluck.

Friend Mac at the table Friday night.

Long night, eh, buddy?

We have a monthly concert series at Prospect Park--Here's SHOUT! from Lake Harriet U Methodist

Today's cardinal + flowering geraniums still living in neighbor's window boxes!

Floor's done and I've been painting. The color, appropriate to the season, is "Pumpkin Pie."

Gorgeous trees still golden 'til just a few days ago.

Last roses of summer....

We haven't had any really cold weather yet and that's unusual. Several days ago, I finally cut the last of the roses and brought them in for a vase. I rarely cut my flowers, thinking they look best where God placed them. But when it's going to be 22 degrees F, I cut them all!

Still blooming the second week of November

A foil packet salmon done in 20 minutes I wrote for Examiner.com.

Dave said, "This is the best salmon I've ever tasted." I couldn't believe how tender it was.

Sing a new song,
Alyce

Take your Toys to Dunn Brothers and Shop OXFAM

2011-11-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Take your toys to Alyce's favorite coffee store: Dunn Brothers.

Beginning November 1st and ending December 15th Dunn Bros Coffee shops nation-wide will be drop-off destinations for new and unwrapped toys for the Toys for Tots program.Help us reach our goal of collecting 16,000 toys this Holiday Season!

Bring new, unwrapped toys or books to your neighborhood Dunn Brothers and leave them in the Toys for Tots drop-off box.

Toys for Tots Mission

The mission of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.

Note: Some toy drive end dates will vary based on shop location

Go Dunn Brothers!

OR....WANT TO SHOP THE EASY WAY? TRY OXFAM:

Choose from over 70 unique gifts that help fight hunger, poverty and social injustice.

Think seeds, manure, art supplies for kids, books, a healthy herd, a school meal program for one kid...and so on.

Oxfam America Unwrapped is part of Oxfam America, a non-profit organization committed to creating lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. We rely on like-minded people like you to help us give poor people the support they need to change their lives. By purchasing our charitable gifts, you are making a difference. Give gifts that do good...and...

Do it all with joy and sing a new song,

Alyce

Timpano II and Other Journeys There and Back Home

2011-11-01T15:24:00.004-06:00

I have some really good friends in Colorado. That puts it lightly. We never need a reason to get together, but...

Last year, we had a party we called "The Big Night" after the movie "The Big Night" starring Stanley Tucci, Tony Shaloub, Isabella Rosselini, Marc Anthony, Minnie Driver, et al. In this cult film-lover's movie, two Italian brothers try to save their New World restaurant (and their lives) by throwing a huge party to which Louis Prima is supposedly invited. I won't spoil the story, but while Prima is the no-show star, a dish called "Timpano" (Italian for timpani) does make an appearance and steals the dinner scene. (See my post on our first Big Night, October 29, 2010.)

The Timpano (Italian for timpani) is a monumentally-large dish that feeds 20+. Baked in a washtub, it features a sort of pizza crust filled with a multitude of layers that can include pasta, sauce, meatballs, Italian Sausage, Proscuitto, salami, Pecorino Romano, boiled eggs, beaten raw eggs, and so on. Allowed to cool for nearly an hour after a long bake, the drum is then turned over and carved carefully, served with a great salad and lots of Chianti.

Doing this thing ourselves--having a party and making the timpano "just like in the movie"-- was next-door neighbor Sara's idea, I think, but it took a long time to make it happen. For a while, we searched stores and Good Wills for a big, huge washtub pan...I promised to order one and didn't. We found dates and canceled them. Went on vacations and forgot about the whole deal. In fact, there were a lot of places our own first Big Night almost didn't happen. Except Sara kept envisioning it and never let us give up the dream. She gave up on me briefly, however, and ordered the pan herself. She planned the night in 2010, and while I did finally search out the recipe, Sara was the mastermind behind the entire enterprise. (Here's the website with the newest crust.) In the end, we made it together, we did, Mary Pat, Sara and I. Invited the 'hood and various friends and ate most of the night, watching the movie for the rest. We then talked about it the rest of the year. And...

The night was so wonderful that we made a pact to do it again and set the date for October 29, 2011. Despite moving to St. Paul, we made it back to Colorado Springs just in time for what turned out to be an even better and improved (delicious, in fact) timpano. Here's a photo album from

THE BIG NIGHT 2011

First things first. Wash the wine glasses, said Chef Sara.


Megan: Timpano Dog Extraordinaire

Chopping, chopping--Mary Pat

This new dough chilled for only an hour before rolling out.

Sara's Sauce--Yum.

Dough-We took turns rolling this mother.

In pan with only a few places to patch.

First: Sauced Pasta topped with salami and eggs.

Thatsa meatball! (And pepperoni)

Layer, layer, sauce. More sauce is MP's idea this year and it's tastier.

Get it all in there. Waste not.

A bit of crust piecing that worked. Years of pie baking paying off.

In the oven. Time for a glass of wine.

TA-DA!

Just out of the oven and resting for 30 minutes.

Turned over, pan removed and another 20 minutes rest.

A slice for you.

Inside the Timpano

Another slice for your friend

Waiting for its closeup

Sharing it all:

How shall we carve this?

We follow Dave's plan and it's a good thing. As Alyce has always known.

Slideshow of last year's Big Night

Ipad has more pics

Let's get started.

Two-Dog Kitchen (Three this week) or Around the 'Hood

More on the week's travels:

Back in Princeton and loving it. Got a great version of Ps 147 for worship.

Dave and Emi up ahead

Looking back at the well-worn steps on the way towards chapel.

Talking with her hands--our Emi

On to Colorado.... Gotta Love It

Grandpa and Rhyan out for pizza again in Colorado!

Back home: work on our kitchen while we're away.


Back in St. Paul puppy sitting.

Newman..It's a 3-Dog Kitchen, but in a borrowed house!


Writing recipes on ipad now. A new world.

Read the DinnerPlace post on Chicken-Pumpkin Chili? Yummy and easy for fall.

Listening to Cantus, "There is a Meeting Here Tonight" Want to feel good? Watch and listen.

Reading THE PASTOR by Eugene Peterson. A great read. Also listening to the choir's cantata on nearly a loop. Come hear our performance of "Canticle of Joy" by Joseph and Patricia Martin, on Sunday, December 11 at 9:30 am during worship. Love to have you.

Do it all with joy and sing a new song,
Alyce