Happy V-Day

Whether you celebrate Van Halen-tine's Day or Gal-entines Day, the 14th of February is either a dreaded or anticipated day. And there's no better choice for emotional eating than chocolate! Whether you're lonely, loved, empowered, romantic, bitter, cornball, Marxist, or materialist you probably should be stuffing your face with some pink M&Ms (or locally made truffles) right about now. At our casa, we have much love for Thomas Keller (or TK as he is affectionately known both here and everywhere). My parents gifted me with Ad Hoc at Home, a cookbook that is both the most useful cookbook I've ever owned and the most ridiculously cumbersome and unwieldy 10 pound book that takes up all my countertop or coffee table space. So as we work our way through TK's exhaustive tome on all things family friendly, the Boy focused in on the roast chicken and while all I could envision were the lush, lush, lush brownies. We took both TK challenges on in one night -- and to great success (though with a downright nocturnal dining time).

Here is the brownie recipe which is really quite easy and delightful, though way too cakey to fall under the traditional definition of a brownie. (I think increasing brown sugar would make it chewier, probably knock down the flour amount too). Best served with ice cream, because it is hella rich. A great lesson in changing up your usual style with TK's advice on combining melted and room temperature butter instead of using softened. And I can't overemphasize how happy the purchase of dutch press cocoa has made me. Worth seeking out, chocoholics! Gonna try out Alton Brown's chocolate syrup recipe using it as soon as we re-up on the granulated sugar. Till then -- brownie sundaes with cherries on top for me and the Boy until we die! Happy V-Day!

Feliz Cumpleano, John!

I have been obsessed with the idea of chocolate stout cake for weeks. I can't seem to shake it out of my head -- not too chocolatey, and perfectly moist. And since today is John's birthday, I can't think of anyone who would appreciate beer in birthday cake form more.

This is a luscious photo from Annie's Eats recipe for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. They've been on my to-do list for awhile. (And they still are, John, so don't expect to see them at your party tonight).

Chocolate stout cake with Bailey's ganache filling and frosting (probably should sneak some Jameson's in there to be perfectly legit). Talk about the right way to amp up the celebration factor!

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

It is most definitely soup season. And though I haven't started making daily visits to Panera yet, I have started to make a superlong list of soup recipes to try. Ginger carrot, cashew chili, African peanut stew, sausage bean chowder, broccoli cheddar ale, etc., etc.

Also on my to-do list (because I love, love, love to-do lists) was to make my own pumpkin puree. Why should Libbys, Libbys, Libbys think they know everything around this time of year? You roast a pumpkin, like any kind of squash, and then you puree the insides. Done and done. Look for sugar pumpkins (smaller than a jack-o-lantern, but bigger than those little tabletop centerpieces). It should be easy to figure out the right size because it's all that will fit on most pans. When in doubt, ask for ones used for baking pies. Halve the pumpkin with a great big knife. Don't worry about the stem, it can stay. Clean out the gunk and the seeds (don't forget you can roast the seeds later). Place the two halves cut-side down on the pan. Roast on high heat (400 or more) for 20 minutes or so. Just keep an eye on it and you can see when the outside starts to look leathery and brown like a basktball. You'll also start to smell a lovely pumpkin fragrance. Fall is up in your kitchen!

So once the pumpkin's cool (or not if you're like me and enjoy charred fingertips) you can just peel off the skin, with the stem, and pop all the good parts in your food processor. Blend until baby food. Now you've got pumpkin puree to do whatever you please.

As for me, I used this recipe as the basis to make pumpkin black bean soup. Yes, I know it's Rachel Ray but so many other recipes had sherry and cream and ham hocks and a bunch of other stuff I wasn't into. My approach was sweat some onions and garlic, add Rohrbach's Oktoberfest beer, dump in some black beans (and black bean puree) and the pumpkin puree, then thin it down with chicken stock. Spice it up with cumin, cinnamon, Adobo, etc.

We did a lot of finagling with our soup to try to keep in thinner and we used green bell peppers with the onions to start, and then added serranos instead of chipotles later. Why? Because that's what the pepper lady at the Farmers Market had that we liked. We also added in some hickory smoked bacon because we were using it that night for another dish. And what could possibly be wrong with adding a little bacon? Am I right? I thought so.

Plantains

Plantains are a new favorite at our house. You can buy 6 for $1 at the Farmers Market. The trick is to make sure the skins turn totally black -- that's when they're ripe. If you try to use them too early, thinking they're like a banana, boy do you have a chore on your hands. Those skins do NOT come off easily and the fruit itself can be rock hard. This has tripped me up several times, and I still probably don't wait long enough for them to get fully ripe (and sweet). Thus, the not-quite-ripe ones I use tend to taste more like a potato than a banana. Just a hint of sweetness.

Previously I've tried to use plantains to make mofongo -- or some approximation thereof. It's close to the mashed potato/plantain combo they serve at John's Tex Mex.

This past weekend I used plantains to make a pastelon. That's basically a lasagna with fried plantains instead of lasagna noodles. The Noshery's website is very helpful in making this, though I just sort of dumped fried plantain strips, seasoned with cumin, then Sazon seasoned ground beef, then whatever cheese we had on top of each other. And even that turned out awesome.

The next day I used the rest of our plantains in a curry. Phenomenal as well. You can not go wrong with the plantain, I'm tellin' ya.

Fall Dinner

Sorry for the week-long blogvacay, but I had the swine flu, believe or not (the Boy chooses not to). Anyway, before I languished away on milkshakes and daytime television last week, I was feeling very flush with fall spirit. With all the crispness in the air, we hit the farmer's market and got to work in the kitchen. I made French Onion Soup, and the Boy grilled some pork tenderloin. For dessert, tarte aux pommes (apple tart).

The French Onion Soup was from our old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Pure nostalgia. Start with 3 large sweet onions, finely chopped. Then add 1/2 stick of butter. Let the onions sweat it out about 20 to 25 minutes, until transluscent. Add in around 4 cans of beef stock. And a few squirts of Worchestershire sauce. Around 1/4 tsp. Salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer, around 30 minutes or more.

Cut slices of a baguette, toast with shredded Gruyere (or Swiss) cheese atop. Then place "croutons" on the soup once poured into bowls or crocks. Add more cheese and broil the whole thing for a few minutes until cheese is melted and browned.

Once the soup and pork were ready, we headed out to the front porch. A little pinot noir, some sliced local Macoun apple, some Vermont sharp white cheddar, some baguette slices from Little Bakery, and the sliced pork. Quite a crudite platter. Then the soup, with toasted baguette slices acting as croutons for the Gruyere cheese. Very fall and very yum.

So yum, in fact, we didn't even make it to the apple tart. But now that I'm back to solid foods, I discovered the tart, when toasted a bit, drizzled with local raw honey and sprinkled with ground cinnamon, is a fantastic breakfast too.

Tarte Aux Pommes

2 large baking apples (like Macoun) cored, then very, very thinly sliced

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry (they usually come 2 to a box)

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 cup of brown sugar

Defrost the puff pastry and prepare according to the box directions (I know, I know, you can make your own pastry too). For mine, you just unrolled the pastry, let it defrost, pierced it all over with a fork, and let it sit in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.

Then you can cut the dough into a circle the size of your pie plate if you'd like. I just left mine as a sheet on a cookie sheet since it seemed like it wanted to tear and I wanted to make a big tart anyway (overzealous apple slicing). I placed the apple sliced decoratively on the pastry, then topped with little shavings of the cold butter and sprinkled the brown sugar. You can add your own spices too. Then cooked at 375 for 15 minutes or until the edges of pastry begin to brown. Very very simple and it retains the apple flavor unlike sugary, syrupy apple pies.

Cioppino

Just had the best summer weekend in Newport, Rhode Island and Westport, Mass. Reunited with our foodie pals Jay and Kate and took in a little folk music, a little sunshine, and a little 'Gansett beer (which it turns out is made right here in Rochester!). Of course there was much in the way of goodies to eat. At the Newport Folk Festival we brought The Boy's infamous curry chicken salad and the no-bake cookies, of course. Jay and Kate braised some short ribs and whipped up a quick salsa to make tacos with. Delish!

We returned to the Massachusetts shoreline in that perfect sun-baked, salty, tired, relaxed state of mind. And what was waiting for us but some local seafood!

So we got crackin' on a cioppino.

First we sauteed some celery and onions and a monster clove of organic garlic that was out of this world.

Add in some local chardonnay (pretty much the whole bottle actually). Then our good friend the Lobster, who died for a noble cause (and in the ideal way: sauna + white wine and garlic = how I hope to go).

After 8 or 9 minutes of steaming, she came out and the tomato paste and chopped tomatoes went in. The shrimp took a dip, then also came out. Next were the littleneck clams and the haddock, which had been sauteed with that same garlic beforehand. Shrimp and lobster bites came back to the party. Total perfection!

So I got to see my first lobster murder, we saw the roe, and I ate the "brains." A bit brutal but so very New England!

Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

I wanted to make some easy munchies to picnic with when we go to the Newport Folk Festival Saturday. The Boy is making his infamous Curry Chicken Salad, and we got some chips and trail mix to go with. Since I hadn't really dwelled on what to make until kinda late last night, and the summer temperatures made the prospect of baking cookies for 20 minutes in the oven a little less enticing than being mauled by tigers, I fell back on an old classic: the no bake cookie.

These were a staple at tailgates growing up. In fact, I've always just called them Flo's cookies, after our tailgate friend, and surrogate grandmother, who made them. Their ease is part of their brilliance, and a major contributing factor to my satisfaction. Anything that didn't need a massive shopping expedition to Wegmans, turning on the oven, or dirtying more than 4 dishes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies (I can't seem to find the same recipe I used just last night so this is an approximation from Exra Pound Cake, hands down my favorite blog name)
In a medium-to-large saucepan:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter

Melt into boil on high heat. Watch, stirring continually, until the boil has lasted only 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Then remove from heat (boiling longer will make them dry and crumbly).

Add in 3 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (which is pretty much the whole thing)
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Mix together, then plop tablespoon sized drop cookies on wax paper and let set until hardened. This may be difficult on a hot humid day, so place in the refrigerator if necessary.

Kevin's Vanilla Cupcakes

My favorite trainer ever, Kevin, who runs San Diego FitCamp, passed along this recipe for healthy, organic cupcakes that he swears are popular with his kids. I thought I would share it with you guys, though I haven't tried it yet (hence no pretty picture of this healthiness smothered in cream cheese frosting). But, I trust the man who made me do 150 lunges in a day.

Organic Pumpkin / Flaxseed Cupcakes

1 box of Dr. Oetker Organic Yellow Cake Mix (I just checked online & Wegmans has it)
1 cup of organic pumpkin puree
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 large organic eggs
1 large organic egg white
6 ounces of organic Greek or Whole-milk yogurt (I'm addicted to Stonyfield's Oikos unflavored greek yogurt)
3 scoops of Organic Cold-Milled Flaxseed
2 scoops of vanilla protein powder (Whey powder is better than soy protein powder)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place paper baking cups in cupcake pan. Using an electric mixer, combine all ingredients and blend for 1-2 minutes. Pour the batter into the baking cups and bake until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean, about 17-20 minutes.

170 calories, 8g protein, 30g carbs, 3g fiber & 5g fat

Dal (Lentil) Curry

Sometimes tasty is not synonymous with aesthetically pleasing. Take dal for example. Dal is a lentil curry with the kind of murky brown coloration that is keeping it out of the food porn sites. But even though dal is no looker, she sure is easy.


I've had dried lentils for months and months now, but never get around to using them, because like all dried beans, the process takes too long. But Sundays are the perfect days to use dried beans because you have the time to do a little slow cooking. This dal curry is the kind of exercise in patience that would normally kill me. Several college roommates can attest that I wouldn't make 1 minute rice because it took too long. Well, dal requires boiling the lentils for 25 minutes, then cooking it even longer with the curry spices and veggies. All while cooking regular jasmine rice (sooo much longer than a minute). If you don't like waiting for water to boil, this is not your meal.

However, that's really the only hard part. Boil water with the jasmine rice inside, then turn down to low heat after a soft boil begins. Watch it because jasmine rice is delicate and can get overcooked (mine was just barely overdone, but it went there in a hurry). In another pot, boil the dried lentils. While waiting, avoid watched-pot syndrome by chopping up assorted veggies to add in to the curry. I sauteed 1/2 a large onion and 3 cloves of garlic, but didn't add anything else (tomatoes, spinach, carrots, and mushrooms would all party well). Once the lentils have visibly reconstituted and are larger and softer, drain off any water if necessary, add your veggies and curry spices (I used coriader, ginger paste, turmeric, chili powder, cumin, red curry paste, and garam masala). I also added some beef stock to add some more flavor while it simmered. Let it simmer to absorb the various spices, the longer the better. Serve the dal over the rice.

It's Pronounced "K-sah-dill-ahs"

Living alone and in Southern California, I learned very quickly that whole wheat tortilla shells are a necessary fixture in dinner-for-one "assemblage meals." I call them that because I rarely went to much trouble to cook anything, beyond the occasional George Foreman foray. So mostly I combined raw (or pre-cooked...shamefully) ingredients into something that closely resembled edible food. Quesadillas and their tortilla-based bretheren were a mainstay. Now that I live with the Boy and far away from the Mexican border, my assemblages have kind of faded to memory (much like laying out at the beach and wearing eyeliner).

But last night, like a soap opera character that died in a mysterious car crash but whose body was never recovered, quesadillas made a bold and startling reappearance. Startling because (a) I was expecting crab cakes and (b) because they were accompanied by Senor Pony Keg, who was certainly an unexpected visitor to our home on a Thursday evening (unlike the Brady-man who is a welcome and somewhat regular mid-week meal-time visitor). And bold because they were stuffed with chicken, mushrooms, bell pepper, cheese and tons of Adobo seasoning, then topped with a salsa fresca prepared by yo (because me is still me in Spanish).

The salsa fresca was really more of a pico de gallo, if you want to be technical about it. I get a perverse joy out of chopping things (maybe it's rhythmic noise, maybe it's the rote movement, maybe it's the danger of severing a finger), so I was happy to be on salsa duty. I chopped three tomatoes on the vine (which weren't quite ripe enough...see what happens when you leave boys in charge?) a small yellow onion, two jalapenos (remembering this time to remove almost all the seeds, no need for brave stoicism), and a handful of fresh cilantro. A little lime juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne and we're cooking with Crisco (as they say in the parlance of our parents' times).

Quesadillas don't take a graduate degree to make, but it helps. Basically you should make them with 2 quesadillas atop one another, rather than attempting the fold over. Fold overs don't work when you have as much stuff to stuff in as we did. And we learned butter works better to coat the pan than olive oil. Use a smaller omelette pan and make sure the tortilla on the bottom lies flat. Layer ingredients, then cheese, then top with the other tortilla, all on low heat. Use whatever spatula (or fancy pancake-flipping) technique you have to turn the puppy over and cook the other side. When done, slide gently out of the pan and cut into quarters. El Perfecto!

Crazy or Crazy-Awesome

This blog has the most amazing assortment of savory cupcakes I've ever seen. Whether with barbeque, pickles, salsa, or guacamole, they all look delicious (and they're vegan). This lady seriously has her game on.

I would give my left pinkie toe for one of these Thai spice potato chip cupcakes. Yum! If any of the Spicy Thai chips we're bringing to Bonnaroo make it back next week, I will definitely give these a shot.

Carrot Oatmeal Muffins

Finally figured out how to do breakfast at Bonnaroo over the weekend... healthy and not-too-sweet carrot oatmeal muffins.

Carrot Oatmeal Muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ginger (I used ginger paste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla (plus nutmeg and cinnamon)
1 cup carrots, grated (densely packed)

Super easy -- stir all the dry stuff together in a big bowl (ingredients 1 through 5). In a separate, smaller bowl, mix the remaining wet ingredients (6 through 10). Add the wet ones into the dry ones with a spoon or spatula. Fold in the carrots and the spices. Spoon into a coated muffin tin (or the silicone ones, or into muffin cups), 2/3rds fll. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

I'm frankly amazed that these turned out pretty perfectly (unlike all my recent baking attempts). I like that they are a little dense and not sweet at all. You could throw in some ground flaxseed or walnuts or raisins too if you wanted. I only have a mini-muffin tin for some reason, so these guys look like little balls, but they taste fine. They'll be perfect as a filling and healthy start to what will otherwise be a totally unhealthy four days at the 'Roo.

BBQ Chicken

The Boy combined my two favorite loves the other night: barbeque and chocolate. Here's how: grilled chicken legs basted with orange marmalade barbeque sauce, and baked red beans with bacon (and cocoa powder).

Here are the recipes:
Orange Marmalade Barbeque Sauce
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoon Tamari soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste


Normally I cook barbeque sauce, but I think he just mixed these ingredients together and basted the chicken legs, grilling on indirect heat. Grill slow on low because chicken on the bone dries out quickly. Takes nearly an hour, but it's so juicy!

Red Beans
Sautee 1 chopped onion and 3 chopped cloves of garlic.
Add two strips of bacon, chopped
2 tablespoons of Sofrito (Mexican tomato paste)
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 can Goya Red Beans (which are light red kidney beans I think)
2 heaping teaspoons of cocoa powder

Let cook on medium high heat for 15-20 minutes to allow ingredients to really incorporate together. I would probably also cook the bacon first, then drain, then do the onions and

garlic. That would make the bacon crispier and the beans a little less fattening.

The 100th Post

In honor of this being my 100th post, I am celebrating two of my all-time favorites and staples for survival: PB&J.

Actually, these recipes are for maple almond butter and rhubarb chutney/jam. But the idea is the same.

Almond Butter: Any kind of nut just needs to be thrown in the food processor alone and it will eventually make a nut butter. No added oils or stabilizers or flavorings or even sugar needed. I did add in some maple syrup to mine because I'm always trying to find a way to use the stuff. Once you add the stickiness though, you gotta work the butter a bit to make sure it doesn't just form a big ball (ha, "work the butter" sounds like a Ms. Jay quote). Use a rubber or silicone spatula, because less butter will stick to it.

Mine stayed a bit mealy because the screeching noise of nuts in a food processor got to The Boy. But it's all good in the hood because I like crunchy over creamy anyway.
Also, I'm realizing this was kind of a silly exercise since we have two kinds of organic PB and sunbutter at the house already (thanks for the "emptying the fridge" moveout donation, Jay and Kate!)

Rhubarb Jam: We realized earlier this week that we have a rhubarb plant growing in the yard (and yet my herbs and tomatoes are depressingly absent). Since they look just like the ones for sale in the produce section, I decided it must be okay to try to cook with them. Luckily I did remember something about rhubarb being toxic, so thank goodness for the internet on that one. The green leaves are toxic, but the red stalks are a-ok. (Well, at least I've survived thus far).

Best I can figure, this turned into a jam (but it could be a chutney or some kind of preserves, there seems to be quite a debate/mass confusion going on). It pretty much mirrors my cranberry sauce recipe for Thanksgiving.

Chop the rhubarb into 1 inch pieces, put into boiling water with sugar (I would use as little water as it takes to get the rhubarb covered because rhubarb has a lot of water in it and takes forever to boil down). I used 1/2 c. of sugar, because rhubarb is actually a vegetable and not all that sweet. You could put strawberries or orange juice in instead and lower the sugar, which is cool and okay. As it boils down (over the course of an hour or so), add in spices at your leisure. I was thinking more chutney at the time, so I put in red and yellow curry (just a teensy bit), garam masala, nutmeg, and mad amounts of cinnamon. Later I added a chai tea bag because it just seemed like a good call. I didn't leave it in for very long because the paper tab caught on fire resting on the side of the pot. Every good dish loves some drama. I added a little capful of vanilla extract as well.

Most important: you gotta stir rather diligently the whole time because the sugar can settle and burn on the bottom (I witnessed this last weekend trying to candy orange slices-- and that sugar burn is still not scraping off the bottom). When you've got the consistency of a jam, scoop it into a glass jar and let it cool before covering with the canning jar top.

Now I'll just have to figure out how to master some homemade bread to have the greatest, most DNA-filled sandwich ever.

Dinner on the Grill

In the past few weeks (now that it's officially Spring) we have attempted to use the grill to make every last dinner. I'm close to being on cholesterol overload, but we managed to rally again last night after Jay and Kate came bearing gifts of marinated steaks! We're doing this in the name of warm weather!

I also played my now-nightly game of going to Wegmans to figure out what else to make, usually following the Boy's vision, gleaned from watching 8 straight hours of Food Network. This time he came up with jicama slaw and curry potatoes cooking in foil packets on the grill.

For the slaw, I peeled and julienned (well, I cut them much chunkier, but that's because I'm lazy and take little pride in my work) one jicama. Jicama is a "Mexican potato" that tastes like a cross between raw potato and red cabbage, but with the texture of an apple. I added in about a cup and a half of grated red cabbage (which I bought prepackaged-- see above), one diced Granny Smith apple, one diced jalapeno (you'll probably want to take some or all of the seeds out), and some chopped fresh cilantro. Dress with mustard, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil. I threw in some cumin and nutmeg for good measure. The slaw was super hot when you hit on the jalapeno seeds, but otherwise just very fresh. I still kind of want to try it with a more tropical fruit, or some orange zest or honey. I like a hot afterburn, but with a sweet finish.

The curry potatoes were your standard potatoes and onions grilled in a foil packet, but kicked up about seventeen notches. The Boy mixed the dry curry spices (turmeric, coriander, red pepper, and curry), then added in olive oil and coated quartered red potatoes and sliced onions. This was all dumped into a very sizable foil packet, and put on the grill on medium heat. I had my doubts about the cooking time since this shoebox-sized packet was full of potatoes, which take forever. But I should have had faith in the culinary genius of the Boy, because the cooked quicker than I thought and came out wonderfully soft, with perfectly charred onion bits, and intense curry flavor.

As for the steak, I have no idea what it was marinated in, but Jay used my Gordon Ramsey test for doneness, and they tasted fantastic, even if he had to rescue one from death-by-grease-fire. We finished all this deliciousness off with basil lime iced tea and brownies with ice cream. Here's Jay with his O-face of Approval.

Homemade Sriracha

If ever there was a condiment that deserved to be homemade, it's Sriracha. (Mustard would come a distant second, so as to make honey mustard. Mayo? Ick, never! Ketchup? Boring!)

This is the reason I blog, people. Cult Sriracha.

Lasagna

Whenever we have a lazy weekend day, the Boy always wants to make something that has to cook all day. This is usually some kind of old-fashioned comfort food like roast chicken or ribs. This Saturday was just such a day, and the request from on high was for lasagna.

Even though I am in full summertime grill mode, lasagna is probably my favorite nostagic meal, so I relented. Plus the Boy was in paper-writing hell, so I needed something to entertain myself -- like battling the crowd at Wegmans in the rain!

I went with the recipe from our 60s era Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (which will one day be used to concoct some really crazy old school dishes like congealed salads).

Recipe

1 lb of ground beef (or sausage if you'd like)

1 medium onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tomatoes on the vine, chopped (I added these in just because)

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of tomato paste (the little can -- 6 oz)

2 c. mozzarella

1 small container of ricotta (I used skim)

1/2 c. parmesan

2 eggs

basil

parsley

1 box lasagna noodles (I found whole wheat but it was hard)

Cook the noodles per the box's directions. Brown the beef with the onions and garlic, then drain. Add in next four ingredients -- all things tomato. Cover and let simmer on medium heat for as long as possible. This makes a really nice Bolognese, but the longer the better. Mix the ricotta with the egg, parmesan, basil, and parsley. Layer noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, meat sauce. Repeate 3 times or until you're out of something. Top with more mozzarella. Bake at 375 for 30 to 45 minutes, until cheese is browned.

As a kid, I loved nothing more than attempting to be mature by making myself Stouffer's lasagna, with a wine glass full of Diet Coke, and watching Days of Our Lives while home alone in the summer. So sitting down in front of the TV with this, my first homemade lasagna, and a glass of Diet Coke, was about as nostalgic as it gets. And it didn't even take the whole day (though attempting to make parmesan breadsticks from scratch pretty much did).

Indian Curry Love Feast

The Boy made some tremendously good shrimp curry Sunday night to be used for our kooky pizza night. Since there was some hesitation about using a rather thin curry sauce as the base of a pizza, we had plenty leftover. So last night, he used that as the jumping off point for a totally spectacular Indian dinner. The curry was served over Texmati brown rice, then paired with Progresso lentil soup with more spices thrown in, and a saag type of dish (spinach, garlic, spices, olive oil, and a hint of cream of mushroom soup-- don't ask). When you look at this picture, doesn't it just look like dinner at a nice Indian restaurant? But it ain't from India House, folks. It's from our house.

Curries are my culinary secret weapon. They are super-easy once you have the spices (which incidentally, can be purchased along with other cool Indiania at the India House grocery store). There appears to be no real need to measure out anything. (But if you have to have recipes, go here. Epicurious also has a fancy version of what he did). I'd say it's fool proof, but then I'll concoct something horrific the next time I make it.

I start by frying the chicken in a large saucepan, then removing it and cooking onions and garlic and ginger paste in the same olive oil. Then you want to add in the classic Indian spices: turmeric, coriander, cumin, and cayenne. You can also add in curry powder itself (which is only a blend). Garam Masala is an Indian spice blend that goes well in pretty much everything. It's great in curries, but I recommend adding it in towards the end. Add liquid in quickly to keep from burning the spices. I usually throw in canned tomatoes, but the Boy did not do that here. Add in chicken (or shrimp) and assorted veggies. Then you let it really start to simmer, adding in a can of coconut milk to get the color and mellow out all the spices. (You can substitute unflavored yogurt, which I like to do to save cals, but be forewarned that it will likely have a yogurt-y aftertaste). Insert Garam Masala here.

For the purposes of full disclosure: the Boy used cream of coconut because we had it, so he only used a little bit, because that stuff is rich. He also added in peanut sauce, again because we had it, which worked in the same way to mellow out the heat and also added a nice nutty flavor. Let this serve as your license to do pretty much whatever you want to it. Cover and let simmer, tasting often, and tweaking as necessary.

Calzones

Made calzones last night and was really blown out of the water with how great they turned out (if I don't say so myself).

I followed the NY Times' empanada dough recipe, mostly because I didn't want to waste time with waiting for yeast to rise. It creates a doughy/flaky, more biscuit-y taste than a pizza dough. Probably a preference choice, but since the Boy doesn't like doughy pizza dough, I thought this would bring the crispness he prefers. Or at least that was the ex post facto logic that made my laziness turn out for everyone's benefit.

Another way my laziness worked to my benefit: I had made pesto in the food processor the night before and had yet to clean it out. But hello, basil mixed in the crust! Yeah, the crust gets mixed in a food processor, which I highly prefer to my somewhat finicky (or abused) mixer. So that added a lot of flavor right into the crust.

For the filling, I just went with basic marinara, carmelized onions, and this really cool herb and garlic sausage I bought at Wegmans the night before. Folded over the crust, slapped on an egg wash, and baked it on high heat (450ish) until it looked done (technical as usual). Benissimo, bebe! No seriously, it was perfecto-- especially since I had no idea how to really make calzones and sort of made it up as I went along. I can see this in so many configurations (like more empanadas, obvis). But you could also do a tart, or a flatbread pizza... Just glorious!

National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day

I'm not sure I mean this, but Happy Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day!

Apparently the American Farm Bureau Federation has given every day of the year some esoteric food product holiday. My general stance on this is whythehecknot. I embrace any and all reasons to celebrate; even if what we're celebrating in pork products wrapped in dough. Well, I can't really say I'm embracing this holiday. I most certainly will not be eating a PinaB today (or even this century). As a kid, I went along with hot dogs and cheese wrapped in crescent rolls, but I've always been pretty squeamish about hot dogs (and any other meat that either comes in a casing or is boiled). ::Shudder::

But whatever floats your boat or finds your lost remote. They're easy, they feel like summer time, and if they get their own day of the year, then surely someone's a fan.

Maybe we should just plow ahead to tomorrow: National Zucchini Bread Day!