Sicilian Eggplant Caponata

4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Stalk or so of celery, chopped (optional)
Handful kalamata olives, chopped
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp capers
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 or 2 tbsp tomato paste
1 or 2 eggplant, peeled, cubed, dried
Salt, pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes, fresh basil and/or oregano to taste (optional)
Toasted pine nuts (optional)

Dry eggplant thoroughly by salting cubes, tossing, and letting drain in a colander for 30 minutes. Squeeze and press excess moisture out with paper towel.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the dried eggplant cubes.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in another, non-reactive pan. Caramelize onions with celery for about 10 minutes over medium-high heat; add garlic in the last 1-2 minutes of caramelization. Add olives, capers, sugar and stir for another minute or so. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and vinegar; stir over heat until thickened. Add fried eggplant, combine well. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and fresh herbs. Top with toasted pine nuts.

Personal Note: Made this because Robert spied some eggplant at the grocery store and oohed and aahed; it was an impulse purchase (plus, it replaced the okra I wanted to make but isn't in season now for the fancy vegetable of the week). I have never made caponata before, but this looks and smells pretty good. I doubt it will be as delicious as the roasted eggplant and orzo dish I made last month, though...

This is an amalgam of the bevy of recipes I found scouring the internet, which explains why much of it is worded clumsily and has rough estimates for measures. It's interesting how wild the variations on this are...sometime I might try it with some anchovy, green pepper, or who knows what else. There's even a version with octopus!

I want to send it to my mom because she loves eggplant but dad hates it, so she never gets to eat it. People online claim caponata is a dish even people who dislike eggplant like. Here's hoping!

I don't really know how to eat this...it's sort of relish-y, but also like bruschetti topping. And it seems like it'd be tasty topping and stuffing a baked pasta dish, or maybe even on top of penne. Hmm...

Oven-Roasted Fruit

From Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten
Episode: The Mediterranean Feast

Ingredients:
6 peaches, pitted and cut into quarters or eighths
6 plums or Italian prune plums, pitted and quartered or halved
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons orange juice

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the peaches and plums snugly in a single layer, cut side up, in 2 glass or porcelain oven-proof baking dishes. Sprinkle with the sugar, and then top with the raspberries. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender.

Heat the broiler and place the fruit about 5 inches below the heat and broil for 5 to 8 minutes, until the berries release some of their juices.

Remove from the broiler and sprinkle with orange juice. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

Personal Note: Good with pound, lemon, or sponge cake, or creme fraiche, homemade whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream. Tastes a bit like compote--lush, varied mouth feel and both tart and sweet. Good with a dessert Riesling, Sauternes, or Vin Santo. Maybe even a French fruit aperitif like Mirabelle, hm...

Tzatziki and Pita

From Ina Garten

Ingredients:
4 cups plain yogurt, whole milk or low-fat
2 hothouse cucumbers, unpeeled and seeded
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Place the yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined sieve and set it over a bowl. Grate the cucumber and toss it with 2 tablespoons salt; place it in another sieve and set it over another bowl. Place both bowls in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours so the yogurt and cucumber can drain.

Transfer the thickened yogurt to a large bowl. Squeeze as much liquid from the cucumbers as you can, and add the cucumbers to the yogurt. Mix in the sour cream, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, dill, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. You can serve it immediately, but I prefer to allow the tzatziki to sit in the refrigerator for a few hours for the flavors to blend.

Personal Note: Made this for the Sunday afternoon board game party at Mosh and Jolly's. I cheated because I was super short on time though--I just used high quality true Greek yogurt and hoped it'd be dense/thick and flavorful enough without so much time straining. It probably is worth the extra time, and one day I'll try to do it properly all the way through and compare results. But people enjoyed it, even the food snobs at the gathering. So! ...Ina never steers me wrong.

Rosemary Cashews

From Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Food You Can Really Make at Home by Ina Garten

Serves 8.

Here is a savory cocktail nibble that would satisfy a French host's needs. These cashews were inspired by the bar nuts served at Union Square Cafe in New York City, which is one of my favorite restaurants in the world. The cashews are best served warm, but you can prepare the rosemary mixture in advance.

Ingredients:
1 pound roasted unsalted cashews
2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Spread the cashews out on a sheet pan. Toast in the oven until warm, about 5 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, combine the rosemary, cayenne, sugar, salt, and butter. Thoroughly toss the warm cashews with the spiced butter and serve warm.

Personal Note: This was a hit at Mosh and Jolly's impromptu weekend Olympics/twister (ha) potluck--a super easy, super fragrant hit! I really like rosemary, and I love cayenne, so... In my (admittedly unorthodox) opinion, one could easily cut back on the salt in the recipe and it might even taste better.

Orzo With Roasted Vegetables

From Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten

Serves 6.

Ingredients:
1 2 small eggplant, peeled and 3/4 inch diced
1 red bell pepper, 1 inch diced
1 yellow bell pepper, 1 inch diced
1 red onion, peeled and 1 inch diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 lb orzo pasta or rice-shaped pasta

For the dressing
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

To assemble
4 scallions, minced (white and green parts)
1/4 cup pignolis (pine nuts), toasted
3/4 lb good feta, 1/2 inch diced (not crumbled)
15 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade or julienne cut

Directions:
*To toast pignolis, put in a small saute pan dry for 4 minutes or until golden brown, tossing frequently to prevent burning.
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Toss the eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, and pepper on a large sheet pan.
3. Roast for 40 minutes, until browned, turning once with a spatula.
4. Meanwhile, cook the orzo in boiling salted water for 7 to 9 minutes, until tender.
5. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.
6. Add the roasted vegetables to the pasta, scraping all the liquid and seasonings from the roasting pan into the pasta bowl.
7. For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper and pour on the pasta and vegetables.
8. Let cool to room temperature, then add the scallions, pignolis, feta, and basil.
9. Check the seasonings, and serve at room temperature.

Personal Note: Wow, does this not have everything delicious imaginable in it?! This is in the "so freaking good" category for me. I mean, feta! Toasted pignolis! Fresh basil and lots of it! Scallions! Roasted, sweet seasonal veggies! Mmmm. And it's very, very easy. According to Ina, all of the vegetables are in season at the same time, and this can easily be made in advance (you can do everything ahead up to step 8 and then add the scallions, pignolis, feta, and fresh basil before serving). It probably goes without saying, but this dish is really pretty, smells awesome, and is good for entertaining because it's served room temperature. It's important to add the dressing while the pasta and vegetables are hot so they absorb the flavors.

EDIT: Aw, this dish received a shout out from my cutie. Sweet.

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

From How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

This is the first recipe anyone hesitant about baking should try: it's fabulously easy and fills the kitchen with that aromatic fug which is the natural atmospheric setting for the domestic goddess.

There are countless recipes for banana bread: this one is adapted from one of my favourite books, the one I read lying on the sofa to recover from yet another long, modern, stressed-out day, Jim Fobel's Old-Fashioned Baking Book: Recipes from an American Childhood. If you're thinking about giving this cake to children, don't worry, the alcohol doesn't pervade: you just end up with stickily, aromatically swollen fruit.

Makes 8-10 slices.

3/4 cup golden raisins (sultanas)
6 tablespoons or 3 ounces bourbon or dark rum
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup superfine sugar
2 large eggs
4 small, very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

9 x 5 inch loaf tin, buttered and floured or with a paper insert

Put the golden raisins and rum or bourbon in a smallish saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, cover and leave for an hour if you can, or until the raisins have absorbed most of the liquid, then drain.

Preheat the oven to 325ºF and get started on the rest. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the walnuts, drained raisins and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.

Scrape into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1 to 1 and a quarter hours. When it's ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish. Leave in the tin on a rack to cool, and eat thickly or thinly sliced, as you prefer.

Personal Note: My favorite banana bread recipe. Makes the house smell better than sex and comes out gorgeous.

Lime Basil Sorbet

Basil and Lime Sorbet

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup (approximately 6 limes) fresh lime juice
18 to 20 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
Sprig of fresh basil for each serving as a garnish

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water. Stir until mixture comes to a boil; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat.

In a food processor or blender, puree lime juice, sugar syrup, and chopped basil leaves.

Pour into container, cover, and place mixture in the freezer. When it is semi-solid, mash it up with a fork and refreeze again. When frozen, place in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Cover and refreeze until serving time. When ready to serve, use a melon baller and place 3 scoops in a stemmed glass. Garnish with a sprig of fresh basil and serve.

Can be prepared 3 days in advance. Cover and keep frozen.

Personal Note: Made this for the Mexican potluck and it was a hit. Soooo easy.

Caramelized Shallots

Caramelized Shallots

Courtesy Ina Garten from Barefoot in Paris

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
2 pounds fresh shallots, peeled, with roots intact
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a 12-inch ovenproof saute pan, add the shallots and sugar, and toss to coat. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the shallots start to brown. Add the vinegar, salt, and pepper and toss well.

Place the saute pan in the oven and roast for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the shallots, until they are tender. Season, to taste, sprinkle with parsley, and serve hot.

Personal Note: Um. Fucking delicious. That's all!

Caramelized Upside-Down Pear Tart

Caramelized Upside-Down Pear Tart

From Gourmet (November 1997)

Makes 1 tart.

2 pounds firm-ripe Bosc pears (3 to 5)
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pastry Dough

Accompaniment: sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Preparation:
Peel, halve, and core pears.

In a 9- to 10-inch ovenproof non-stick skillet or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet heat butter over moderate heat until foam subsides and stir in sugar (sugar will not be dissolved). Arrange pears, cut sides up, in skillet, with side parts at rim of skillet. Sprinkle pears with cinnamon and cook without stirring until sugar mixture forms a deep golden caramel. (This can take as little as 10 minutes or as much as 25, depending on skillet and stove.) Cool pears completely in skillet.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out dough into an 11-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) and arrange over caramelized pears. Tuck edge around pears. Bake tart in middle of oven until pastry is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

Have ready a rimmed serving plate slightly larger than skillet. As soon as tart has finished baking, invert plate over skillet and, wearing oven mitts and keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together, invert tart onto plate. (This is a bit scary, but it works!)

Serve tart at room temperature or chilled with whipped cream or ice cream.

Personal Note: This is my go-to easy as anything but pretty and therefore impressive-for-a-dinner-party dessert. It's ridiculously easy, and if done right (pears soft and caramelized enough), absolutely quintessentially fall-style divine. Oh, and: don't use a cast iron; we use a large non-stick oven-safe saute pan. The cast iron is too heavy and potentially sticky (and too steadily hot really; it's more likely to burn the fruit) for the flipping step.

Cowboy Mashed Potatoes

Cowboy Mashed Potatoes

Submitted by Bruticus on Allrecipes.com
"Quick, easy and delicious mashed potatoes with corn and carrots."

Original recipe yield: 10 servings
Prep time: 20 Min
Cook time: 20 Min
Ready in: 40 Min

Ingredients:
1 pound red potatoes
1 pound Yukon Gold (yellow) potatoes
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, sliced
12 ounces baby carrots
4 cloves garlic
1 (10 ounce) package frozen white corn, thawed
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Place red potatoes, yellow potatoes, jalapeno pepper, carrots, and garlic cloves in a large pot. Cover with water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Drain water from pot.
2. Stir in corn and butter. Mash the mixture with a potato masher until butter is melted and potatoes have reached desired consistency. Mix in cheese, salt, and pepper. Serve hot.

Personal Note: My default mashed potato guidelines come from Mark Bittman in How To Cook Everything, and when I read this online recently I balked at how little time it required--mashed potatoes, from my experience, are ridiculously easy, but they take a long time (all that peeling, boiling, plus the gradual incorporation of the 3 forms or whatever of creamy fat, etc). It also made me a little uneasy, as adding shredded cheddar cheese just seemed so...trashy to me. And where's the liquid component? Boiled garlic?? etc. Ha. Well, it's certainly not the fluffy pure potoato side dish to go with elegant French entrees or to impress guests. But all of the reviewers went on and on at how they were skeptical too, and yet the results were tasty. I think this recipe was featured at one point, even. So about a week ago I tried it as a spur of the moment thing to go with the steak (or was it the grilled chicken? I forget) I was making for Robert and I for dinner. I didn't even have any red potatoes, so I just used my Yukon Golds, aaand I didn't have carrots, so I ditched that part too. Actually, I'm not familiar with adding crap to mashed potatoes; my mom was a purist, so we never even had so much as bacon or chives in ours growing up. Well. These potatoes are definitely different from normal mashed potatoes, but they are indeed delicious and satisfying, albeit in a totally distinct way. Give 'em a try if you're short on time and ingredients. Personally, I always preferred somewhat clumpy, authentically mashed (as opposed to whipped/electric mixer mashed) potatoes anyway. They're pretty good, really.

Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie

From: U.S.A. Cookbook by Sheila Lukins (Workman Publishing, 1997), pp. 517-518

A visit to the Florida Keys is synonymous with eating Key lime pie. It's so smooth and refreshing, and while everyone seems to have their own delicious version, sweetened condensed milk is a universal ingredient. Key limes are grown in southern Florida and have a very thin, greenish-yellow peel; the juice is tangier and more intense than a regular lime. If you cannot find fresh Key limes, the juice is available, sold in bottles, in specialty food stores and fine supermarkets. Regular lime juice just doesn't give the same pucker, and is not a good substitute. Be sure to chill the pie thoroughly before serving so that the fill sets up nicely.

Serves 6 to 8.

Crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about eleven 5 x 2 1/2-inch crackers)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling
4 large egg yolks
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Key lime juice [I tend to put more like 3/4 cup because I like it tart, but watch it; don't want to go overboard)

Topping
1 cup heavy (or whipping) cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Thin lime slices, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Prepare the crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a small bowl and mix well. Press the mixture evenly over the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake in the center of the oven for 8 minutes, then cool completely on a rack.
3. Prepare the filling: Beat the egg yolks in a medium-size bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light. Add the sweetened condensed milk and the Key lime juice and beat until well blended. Pour the filling into the prepared crust and bake the pie in the center of the oven until the filling is set but still creamy, about 15 minutes. Cool the pie completely on a rack and then chill thoroughly in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
4. Prepare the topping: Before serving, whip the cream with the confectioners' sugar until it holds firm peaks. Use a rubber spatula to swirl it over the surface of the pie, or use a pastry bag to pipe it decoratively. Decorate the cream with the lime slices and return the pie to the refrigerator until serving time.

Personal Note: This recipe never steers me wrong, though it's ambiguous in many places. Since it is, I'll add some notes I've accumulated from making this multiple times. For one thing, I think this recipe downplays just how many machines are at work. The hands down best and (as counter-intuitive as it seems due to the hassle and mess of the parts) easiest way to crumble the graham crackers is with a standard food processor. Really mix the crust ingredients together thoroughly so the butter and sugar permeate the cracker crumbs evenly. You'll also need an electric mixer, which is mentioned in the recipe; I don't bother with the Kitchenaid and just use one of those cheapo hand-held batter beaters to beat the yolks (when they say "light," they likely mean both in color and texture--I always wait until the yolks turn pale and are almost airy, and it seems to work well) and blend the filling ingredients. For best results, you'll also need a hand-held immersion blender, like the standard Braun model, to whip the cream topping at the end. The hands down easiest mistake to make with this pie, and one severe enough to really ruin the visual and textural effect, is not letting it cool completely, both during the crust baking step and the filling step. Let it get REALLY cool on a rack (and in the case of the topping, wait indeed until the filling's been refrigerated for 4 hours), because if you don't, when you pour the filling or whipped topping on the hot baked surface, the filling or whipped topping will bubble, become watery, and run. And especially with the whipped topping, after this happens it will not right itself with chilling in the fridge, and you will have a permanently liquid, if edible, mess. The other trick to making sure the whipped topping really seems like whipped topping--not creamy water but thick and airy like Cool Whip only better--is to thoroughly use the immersion blender and be patient. Whip the hell out of it until it's thick and the immersion blender blades slow. If you can't handle the idea of messing around (fuss wise or calorie wise) with real whipped cream topping, Cool Whip is of course an option. But the real topping is out of this world, and licking the spatula is a bit of heaven.

Remember to be sanitary about raw egg--don't use the same spatula you used to scrape the raw filling from the mixing bowl to the pie crust to later scrape whipped cream, just basic reminder stuff like that.

When the pie's chilling in the fridge for the 4+ hours, I don't cover it with anything (plastic wrap or whatnot). But then, I chill it in the beverage fridge usually, so there's no risk of nasty or clashing food smells/flavors infiltrating the pie.

Key limes generally are way too expensive to waste making juice from; we buy a bottle of the juice from Wegman's in the baking aisle. A single bottle, about 2 bucks, has enough juice for about 3 or 4 pies.

As a random side note, damn do I love sweetened condensed milk. I always lick the can. It's one of my "weird/icky but oh so tasty" guilty pleasures, along with frozen bananas, unsalted pretzels, plain matzo, bisquick mix straight up, tuna fish sandwiches with potato chips crunched into them, special k flakes mixed into yoplait or crowley yogurt, coconut milk, dry breadsticks, cheap/minute rice with shredded cheese melted over it, banana slices with rice pudding, etc etc. Yes, I am kind of gross. :b I should get one of those t shirts that says "I heart CARBS" on it, har.

Scallion Lo Mein

Scallion Lo Mein

From Bon Appetit (June 1992) courtesy of Fred Mueller.

Yield: 4 Servings

7 ounces Chinese egg noodles
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 garlic clove, minced
16 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces

Cook the noodles in a pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to the bite. Drain well. Rinse under cold water, and transfer to a bowl. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil and toss. (Can be made up to two hours ahead. Cover, let stand at room temperature.)

Heat vegetable oil in a wok or heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the ginger and garlic; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add the onions; stir-fry two minutes. Add the noodles. Stir-fry to heat through and serve.

Personal Note: This is super good and we used to make it a lot but we tweaked it. It's been a long time since we did though, so I'm fuzzy on the details...it turned into something similar to that masterwork dish in Big Night with the crispy noodle top. I think somehow we put the noodles in a big, hot, oiled cast iron pan after doing the recipe as listed and somehow toasted it so there was this layer of crispy hot browned noodle. Then we'd cut into it like slices of cake or pie or paella; it would be crispy and coherently edged (a clean slice) on the top and bottom, with a softer, moister scraggly loose noodle-and-scallion innard tumbling out between the two crisp outer layers. It was really good; once one of us remembered it after all of these years we were all hopping on it. It's a very vivid memory of a very distinct dinnertime dish.

Latkes or Jewish Potato Pancakes

Latkes

Recipe courtesy of Marc Silverstein for Food Network Kitchens (December 1999).

2 pounds russet potatoes, grated fine
1 medium to large onion, grated fine
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup matzo meal
Salt and pepper, to taste
Vegetable oil, for frying
Sour cream and apple sauce, as accompaniments

Personal Note: The ingredients list is from Silverstein, but the rest of the recipe was for some reason never retrieved (read: printed fully out) and the online version is long gone. So the method below might be his, but might not be; it works well for us. The part salvaged from the incomplete recipe that is vital is the drying part. A relatively dry potato-onion "batter" makes all the difference (we've made latkes for years but they only really became joygasmic at our house once we found Silverstein's version).

Peel the potatoes and rough chop (into thirds or so) so they're in chunks large enough to feed through the food processor. Do the same for the onion. Grate both into the food processor using the rough-grate blade disc (not the fine one) and feeding the chunks into the processor (empty the processor bowl as needed and continue until everything is grated into rough short strings, kind of like homemade pasta). Using a kitchen towel, dry the grated potatoes and onions thoroughly (this is important). Put them in a large bowl (we use the largest widest mouthed one we have; a silver salad tossing bowl). Add the beaten eggs and matzo meal and mix with your hands until it's the correct consistency. Add the salt and pepper and mix a bit more. We then heat up just enough vegetable oil in the large fryer-sized cast iron skillet. Using a spatula and a spoon, we place a lump of the potato mixture onto the spatula, flatten it with the spoon, and slide it into the oil (we do 3 pancakes at a time). When the edges begin to get crispy and golden brown, check to flip sides. As each pancake finishes cooking (we like them golden brown, not too dark but crispy through the whole exterior) place them on a rack above an old cookie sheet. If you wish to keep them warm as you fry, place this rack/sheet in a semi-warm oven (we had ours at about 145 F) and keep taking it out and in as more pancakes finish and become ready to place on the rack.

I cooked all of dinner tonight kind of on a casual whim and I was surprised at how easy and good it turned out. I made some ad-libbed apple sauce with leftover empire apples (some of our older apples were too soft to be enticing as eating apples but fine for other purposes), freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon, a little bit of brown sugar (I don't normally add this but tonight the apples seemed a bit too tart even for my taste) and a bit of lemon juice (spruces up apples always) and water. Just stuck it all in a deep saucepan and cooked it down at medium heat. Turned out well. As it was cooking I prepared the latke mixture (something I've done before). I'd say tonight I used 2 1/2 pounds of russets, 2 1/2 large onions (they were huge onions, and one was one of those that you find after peeling has a small side onion attached to it)--I always make ours a little more onion-y than called for--and the rest of the ingredients. I wasn't sure at first that there was enough binding agent, but the latkes came out just fine. And the applesauce was still tart and warm when we began eating. Yum.

Apple Crostata (Baked Apple Volcano)

Apple Crostata

Show: Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten
Episode: Cucina Simpatica
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

Inspired by George Germon and Johanne Killeen.

For the pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated or superfine sugar
1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 lb. (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tablespoon ice water

For the filling:
1 1/2 pounds McIntosh, Macoun, or Empire apples (3 large)
1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated or superfine sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough becomes a solid mass. Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and form into a disk. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Flour a rolling pin and roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to a baking sheet.

For the filling, peel, core, and cut the apples into 8ths. Cut each wedge into 3 chunks. Toss the chunks with the orange zest. Cover the tart dough with the apple chunks leaving a 1 1/2-inch border.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts holding together. Sprinkle evenly on the apples. Gently fold the border over the apples to enclose the dough, pleating it to make a circle.

Bake the crostata for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the apples are tender. Allow to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Personal Note: This is yummy; it's pretty much a more novel (and hence strangely impressive) and rustic version of apple pie, and it looks so cool. I don't know where Ina learned how to do baked crusts, but every recipe she writes with one always has an amazing crust that comes out perfectly no matter what (and this is saying a lot, coming from me who usually sucks at delicate baking components such as crusts from scratch). If you're interested in what it looks like in its pre-baked form, here's a picture from here. That was last Christmas I think... As you can see, it's basically like a tidy crispy little spiced apple volcano. Hee.

Pasta with Butter, Sage, and Parmesan

Pasta with Butter, Sage, and Parmesan

If you eliminate the sage, kids will love this dish. (There are homes in Italy where pasta with butter and Parmesan is the equivalent of pabulum.) But most grown-ups prefer the sharper edge that sage provides. Like many others, this sauce can be prepared in the time it takes water to boil.

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
20 or 30 fresh sage leaves or about 1 tablespoon dried whole sage leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pound cut pasta, such as ziti or penne, or long pasta, such as linguine or spaghetti
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the sage,salt, and pepper. Cook until the butter turns light brown, about 10 minutes.

3. Salt the boiling water and cook the pasta until it is tender but firm. Spoon 2 or 3 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water into a warm serving bowl. Drain the pasta and toss in the serving bowl with the butter, more pepper, and half the Parmesan. Pass the remaining Parmesan at the table.

Personal Note: If you make this with the dried sage, either cut back on the amount or use more butter and let it cook slowly for a bit longer...it will be bitter otherwise. You can use less bitter herbs anyway, if you have fresh ones on hand to get rid of--I've used rosemary, thyme, and basil and they all worked fine for me. It's important to lightly brown the butter--it'll give the non-sauce some dimension, a sort of nutty almost "sausage-y" flavor and aroma. Robert walked in when I made it thinking I was cooking up breakfast sausage! Some days I just want a bowl of buttery pasta with no complicated other flavors. It's like comfort food.

Welsh Rarebit

Welsh Rarebit

Seen on Food Network Television
Show: Tamales World Tour
Episode: #WT1A28: Working Man's Supper

Yield: 6 servings

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
2/3 cup ale
10 ounces extrasharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoon English mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 to 3 drops Tabasco pepper sauce
12 English muffin halves, toasted
6 slices bacon, cooked to crispy
Chopped parsley, for garnish

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, add the flour and whisk to make a roux. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in the ale and boil the mixture for 3 minutes while whisking. Reduce heat to low, add the cheddar cheese, mustard, Worcestershire, and Tabasco pepper sauce, and cook, stirring, until hot but not boiling.

Spoon the cheddar mixture over the toasted muffins, garnish with parsley, and serve with crispy bacon.

Personal Note: This I can take or leave, personally, but for some reason it's quite popular among friends (Justin loved it and asked for it whenever he visited, and Michelle's vegetarian friends had seconds and thirds when they came over for dinner once). We don't do the formal thing with the individual plating with English muffins and garnish. We also never do the bacon thing, mostly out of laziness. Believe me, it's still plenty rich (too rich for me!). Instead we toast up--either in the oven or in the toaster, depending--leftover homemade bread, leftover crusty bakery bread, Texas toast, or whatever other bread's available/desirable. We put the cheesy beer sauce in individual ramekins or bowls and heap a large plate with the toast and let people take the toasted bread as they like for dipping. It's a lot like fondue only richer and smoother in taste (to me, that reads as "fatty and bland tasting" :).

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake

Serves 6.

Fruit:
2 pounds strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar (depends how sweet you want your strawberry syrup)

Biscuits:
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon table salt
2/3 cup cold buttermilk
1 large egg
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Whipped Cream:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the fruit:
Gently toss the strawberries with the 3-4 tablespoons sugar in a large bowl to macerate. Let stand at least 30 minutes.

For the biscuits:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 475F. While fruit is macerating, whisk flour, baking powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together buttermilk and egg in a medium bowl; add melted butter and stir until butter forms small clumps.

Add buttermilk mixtture to dry ingredients and stir with wooden spoon until dough comes together and no dry flour remains. Continue stirring vigorously for 30 seconds. Using greased 1/3 cup dry measure, scoop up mound of dough and drop onto parchment-lined baking sheet (if dough sticks to cup, use small spoon to pull it free). Repeat with remaining dough, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart, to create 6 biscuits. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over top of biscuits. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire tack and let cool at least 15 minutes before assembling.

For the whipped cream:
Using hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla on low speed until bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave trail, about 30 seconds longer. Increase speed to high; continue beating until nearly doubled in volume and whipped cream forms soft peaks, 30 to 45 seconds longer.

To assemble:
Split each biscuit in half and place bottoms on individual serving plates. Spoon portion of crushed fruit mixture over each bottom, followed by any exuded juices. Top fruit with 2 tablespoons whipped cream, cap with biscuit top, and dollop each shortcake with some remaining whipped cream. Serve immediately.

Personal Note: Ganked from the summer issue of Cook's Illustrated, but altered. They were trying to make store bought crap peaches palatable and soft for peach shortcake by adding a step with peach schnapps boiled to soften the fruit up. I tried it as the peach shortcake but it was still crap; Robert bought seriously the worst, hardest, most flavorless peaches imaginable as a fluke (he said so himself; he tried to eat one over a week after we bought them when they should have been very ripe and they were so hard and tasteless he threw his out!). But in the process I discovered with wonder that this biscuit recipe rules; it's so much fun to make and foolproof (which CANNOT be said for pretty much any biscuit recipe I've ever tried...I have horrible luck making biscuits). When you do the step with the buttermilk, egg, and butter, it really does clump like magic, forming what almost looks and feels like homemade butter or curds or something. It's neat! And it painlessly forms a magic dough ball clean and neat and just sticky enough, not messy at all. I love it.

The whipped cream method is one I've never done before either, and I love it. It's less clean up for me than using the immersion blender, and though the results are solider and less pure tasting than the homemade whipped cream my parents make and hence I was making on my own, it holds up really well and is still miles better than anything from a tub. And it's so, so easy and foolproof, like most Test Kitchen methods, ha.

Yummy!

Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies

Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies

From Saveur (Issue #81, Jan./Feb. 2005).

Makes about 4 dozen.

At brunch at the Liberty Bar in San Antonio, a plate of these spicy-sweet cookies is set down on the table at the beginning of the meal--gratis.

1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup quality dutch-process unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2-3/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
12 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. Whisk flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl and set aside. Put sugar, vanilla, and egg into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Add butter and continue to beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes more. Using your fingers, work flour mixture into butter mixture until dough is just combined.

2. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9" log. Wrap each log in parchment paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform cylinder. Freeze dough logs for at least 8 hours and as long as overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough and slice each log into rounds about 1/3" thick. Place rounds 1/2" apart on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake cookies until slightly puffed and tiny cracks appear on surface, about 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to let cool.

(Sweet) Cornbread

(Sweet) Cornbread

From Southern Living: 1987 Annual Recipes, compendium cookbook of the magazine (1987, Oxmoor House). Recipe from the September issue, submitted by Beverly Verdery, Waco, Texas.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cornmeal
5 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cornmeal, and sugar in a large bowl. Combine eggs, milk, and 1/3 cup oil in a small bowl; add to cornmeal mixture. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon batter into a 10-inch cast-iron skillet coated with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and preheated. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Yield: 8 servings.

Personal Note: My dad likes his with a single jalapeno from our garden minced. It's okay, but to me, cornbread should be slightly sweet and taste more of corn than anything else; as a compromise, I make a full batch with the regular recipe as well as two tiny cast-iron skillets' worth with half of everything called for in the recipe, the single homegrown jalapeno, and 15 minutes of oven time. The cast-iron and the preheating are the essential pieces to this recipe. Also important if you really want the best result (though this is still tasty without it) is whole-grain cornmeal. I cringe to say this but you can usually get a bag of this stuff at "Nature's Market" type sections of your grocery store or at natural foods shops.

I originally posted this to prove to J that cornbread can be fantastically delicious; he claims most southern-style cornbread is dense, burnt, generally disgusting, flavorless, greasy, and dry. Ugh. I believe him, but he ought to try this sometime to be soothed, ha. Using the proper old-fashioned cast-iron skillet (something that will likely outlive you, that you can pass down through generations!) and the preheating step, you should find this cornbread slightly sweet, fluffy, and wonderful. It's as good as cake really but heartier and less refined-product tasting. Yum. Especially good with fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits. My mother's big addition to the sugar component may seem over the top, but I promise her alteration yields cornbread that's still just barely sweet enough, really.

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown (2003 Television Food Network)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 9 fluid ounces

1 egg yolk*
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 pinches sugar
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 cup oil, safflower or corn

In a glass bowl, whisk together egg yolk and dry ingredients. Combine lemon juice and vinegar in a separate bowl then thoroughly whisk half into the yolk mixture. Start whisking briskly, then start adding the oil a few drops at a time until the liquid seems to thicken and lighten a bit (which means you've got an emulsion on your hands). Once you reach that point you can relax your arm a little (but just a little) and increase the oil flow to a constant (albeit thin) stream. Once half the oil is in add the rest of the lemon juice mixture.

Continue whisking until all of the oil is incorporated. Leave at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours then refrigerate for up to 1 week.

Raw egg warning: The American Egg Board states: "There have been warnings against consuming raw or lightly cooked eggs on the grounds that the egg may be contaminated with Salmonella, a bacteria responsible for a type of food poisoning...Healthy people need to remember that there is a very small risk and treat eggs and other raw animal foods accordingly. Use only properly refrigerated, clean, sound-shelled, fresh, grade AA or A eggs. Avoid mixing yolks and whites with the shell."

Personal Note: Once you have real homemade mayonnaise you will never go back. Once you get the hang of it, it's incredibly easy, and it makes a HUGE difference. I refused to use the stuff on anything when I still thought store bought was all there was; I found it really gross. But seriously. This mayonnaise makes anything a zillion times better. And you don't use much because it's already got a lot of flavor; a little goes a long way.