No Soup for You! Week Serves Up: Lentil Soup

No Soup for You! week continues with a favorite from my childhood.  I know I received a few requests on Facebook for Cream of Mushroom, but I have actually never made it before (let alone have it available for this week).  However, I have taken note and will make sure to make it sometime soon and blog about it.  I, too, love cream of mushroom soup.  I remember seeing a recipe for it somewhere around here, so it's on my list!  The topic for today, though, is that most humblest of legumes:  the lentil.

Growing up, my mom had a winter routine of making large pots of soup and freezing it for those nights when she was too tired to cook.  One of the staple soups was lentil.  I loved lentil soup as a kid.  I remember other kids my age not caring for it because for some reason I found many kids didn't like beans/legumes.  Weird, I know.  Anyway, my mom always made the best lentil soup.  It was savory and full of chunky vegetables, lots of garlic and the lentils themselves were always cooked to perfection.  I have taken on this same tradition of making large pots of soup in the winter and keeping them for later dinners or even lunches.  Lentil soup has always made me feel warm and comforted.  It's the kind of soup which results in the "warm soup belly" afterward.  It's probably comforting only because I associate it with being a kid in the winter.  It would be cold and dark and stormy outside and my mom would put in front of me a big steamy bowl of lentil soup, topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, served with a huge piece of sourdough bread (or garlic bread, depending on the night).  I'd dig in and in no time, my bowl would be empty and I would immediately be warmed from head to foot.

This is a perfect freezing soup, but I point out that when reheating the soup, add a little water.  Unless you want your soup really thick, the lentils soak up all the moisture, even as it's sitting in the fridge or freezer.  Also, the recipe below makes A TON of soup.  If you don't have the room for all the leftovers, or that many mouths to feed, I (and my mom) recommend cutting the recipe in half.  You'll get plenty of soup for dinner that night or week and still have enough to freeze for later!

Lastly, don't feel beholden to the recipe below.  You can pretty much add anything you want to your soup and as long as it has lentils in it, it's still considered lentil soup.  My sister makes a great lentil soup by simply using up all the veggies she has in her fridge.  She also adds sausage to her soup, which I usually don't.  Her lentil soup is still delicious; just as delicious as our mom's, and as mine.  In other words, feel free to make it your own.

Don't miss the exciting conclusion No Soup for You! Week...Butternut Squash Soup--surprisingly elegant and perfect for entertaining!

No Soup for You! Week and the "Ultimate" Cream of Tomato Soup

Happy 40th Post, everyone!  I actually did not commemorate my 1-year anniversary in April, so I thought I would celebrate a different milestone.  I noticed when I logged in that I had written 39 posts, so this one is my 40th.  It's been wonderful writing about the food I've cooked and the experiences I have had in the kitchen over the past year.  Let's hope this year averages closer to a post a week!

Now, to the topic at hand:  soup.  My No Soup for You! week continues with one of my absolute favorite soups.  Growing up, I loved Campbell's Tomato soup more than anything in the world.  I'd make an entire can and armed with saltine crackers and lots of black pepper, I would eat the whole thing myself.  Marshall's not such a huge fan.  He's said, on more than one occasion, that Campbell's Tomato Soup tastes like the sauces used for Chef Boyardee.  While I've never actually had Chef Boyardee, I can't exactly tell him that it doesn't, but this sounds like an insult so I take offense.  So, when I saw the special "Soups & Stews" issue of Cook's Illustrated earlier last year and it contained a recipe for cream of tomato soup--excuse me, ULTIMATE cream of tomato soup--I knew I had to make it and show Marshall that tomato soup can be creamy and delicious.

I was not led astray, nor would I expect any less from my new favorite cooking magazine.  While there were far too many steps in this recipe than I care for, the result was far better than I could have imagined.  It was meaty, sweet, and silky smooth.  The flavor was the most savory I have ever tasted coming from tomatoes, but it still retained that lovely sweetness that comes from tomatoes, as well.  I think a lot of that sweetness comes from the use of whole canned tomatoes, plus tomato paste.  Of course, there is sugar in the recipe, but it is a means to caramelize the tomatoes as they roast in the oven.  I will say this, though, that step is a pain in the ass.  I ended up with what I feel was far too few tomatoes, by the time I was done seeding them and laying them out on a cooking sheet.  I also didn't seem to get the kind of caramelization that I was originally expecting, so I have a feeling I might've overcooked them.  However, this did not detract from the end result.  This soup was definitely the highly sophisticated city relative of its Campbell's canned country bumpkin, but both are equally warming of the soul.  They say chicken soup is the food of the soul, but my soul'll take tomato soup any day.

Bonus time!
So, what does everyone think of when they think tomato soup?  Grilled cheese, right?  Right.  Well, with a sophisticated cream of tomato soup like this, we needed a sophisticated sandwich.  American singles and white bread were not going to cut it with this bowl.  I turned to this one sandwich that Marshall and I absolutely adore.  It's sweet and salty, buttery and just incredibly delicious:  Ham, Manchego, and Fig Tartines.  Leave it to my Gourmet magazine (RIP) to have a last page of the September 2008 to hide these gems of sandwiches.  The French tartine is an open-faced sandwich, but the recipes on this page are far from the original.  This particular sandwich that we enjoyed with our tomato soup leans more toward the Iberian Peninsula, with the ham and manchego cheese.  The fig, too, is very Spanish, and I could definitely see something like this on a tapas menu somewhere in Spain.  I don't know if I could fully explain the richness that is this sandwich.  The baguette, toasted, mingles with the fig (mixed with butter, of course) and infuses the sharp cheese and finally there's this salty jolt from the ham (in this case prosciutto; serrano would be your true Spanish alternative).  The sweet and salty was a great companion to the rich and savory tomato soup.

If you're feeling homesick, but want still want to wear your tiara (or monocle), this is your meal.

No Soup for You! Week continues...Up next time is my personal all-time favorite soup for eating and freezing:  Lentil (Italian-style)!

No Soup for You! Week Continues: Golden Winter Soup

No Soup for You! week continues with this lovely gem I unearthed in an old issue of Cooking Light.  Normally I don't buy Cooking Light, not that it's bad or anything (this was my mom's go-to cooking magazine growing up) I just usually gravitate toward other cooking magazines.  Anyway!  I bought this issue a few years ago because it contained a handful of soup recipes.  Being the dead of winter, soup is a welcome bowl of sunshine.  The recipe that I kept this issue around was that delicious black bean soup that Marshall absolutely loves, but while organizing my cooking magazines during Winter Break this school year, I found this other recipe that sounded fantastic for a winter evening:  Golden Winter Soup.

I mean, the name says it all.  It's this bowl of beautiful sunshine yellow, but hearty and silky without being super creamy.  It's surprisingly fresh-tasting, considering the rather mundane ingredients.  I don't normally cook with leeks, only because I honestly don't come across a lot of recipes which use it and I don't believe my mom used them much growing up, but this certainly adds a brightness which cuts through the potatoes and butternut squash.  Topped with a little chives, it was seriously summer in a bowl (and this sunshine was edible, rather than the potpourri sunshine...any Friends fans out there?).  Being this came from Cooking Light, the cream is kept to a minimum, with all the silky creamy texture coming from puréed potatoes and squash.  Marshall and I paired this soup with a lovely German wheat beer (I cannot remember which one) which was perfect.  Oh yeah - I almost forgot.  The little side that the cooks at Cooking Light paired with this soup were little Gruyère toasts.  Now, I love cheese and bread, but this was almost like having a little grilled cheese with your soup.  It was great for dipping or scraping up the soup at the bottom of the bowl!

I ended up freezing the rest of the soup, since it makes so much, and it was great even after it was frozen.  I defrosted it one week for my lunch and it was just as delicious as I remembered.  So this is definitely one of those soups where you can make a huge pot of it, have some for dinner that night, and freeze the rest for an easy dinner in the future when you simply do not feel like cooking.  It's okay--I've been there plenty of times myself.  Having stuff like this in the freezer has been a lifesaver for us!

No Soup for You! week continues... Don't miss out on tomorrow's true classic:  Homemade Tomato Soup (and the most delicious sandwiches EVER)! 

No Soup for You! Week Presents: Tuscan Kale and White Bean Soup

My very best photog friend, Nicole, suggested I pick a theme for a week.  Since I watch more TV (or used to, at least) than I would rather like to admit, she thought I could base my themes on TV shows.  So, for this week, I present:  No Soup for You!  For the following week, I will be writing one post per day, focused on a soup recipe.  While my soup is rather tasty, I would not prevent you from tasting it because you didn't order it correctly.  I also am choosing not to hide away the recipes in an old wardrobe.  Do I have any Seinfeld fans out there?  Maybe?  Okay, moving on...

My first stop on this delicious endeavor is a soup I actually found at Whole Foods.  From time to time, I suggest having dinner out at Whole Foods.  They've got so many options that it's like looking into a vast fridge and finding something that will satisfy any craving.  One day, Marshall and I went for lunch and I walked away with a small salad from the salad bar and a cup of soup.  They had a Vegetarian Tuscan Kale and White Bean soup available, which sounded perfect for what I was in the mood for that day.  When I took my first bite, I was underwhelmed.  There was all these veggies in this soup and no flavor whatsoever.  It desperately needed salt, and I'm not a huge salt person.  But I've learned that everything needs at least a little salt.  I sat at that table and thought "I can totally do this better."

And I did.  I actually found their original recipe on their website.  It shocked me that it suggested using lots of canned veggies, rather than fresh.  I understand if they're creating a recipe meant to finish cooking in a short time, but there's really no excuse for using canned carrots...  So, I gave the recipe an overhaul.  I made it distinctly UN-vegetarian (although it can easily be made vegetarian again) by adding some really yummy Italian sausage, using fresh carrots, adding celery, but kept the canned tomatoes (they're honestly the best option for soups and stews).  I, of course, I kept the white beans and kale in place, or else it couldn't still be called "Tuscan Kale and White Bean Soup".  I also added a few flourishes:  grated parmesan cheese, a dollop of fresh (well, homemade/frozen) pesto, and homemade croutons.  The end result was an absolutely delicious and fresh vegetable soup for those cold winter days.  I would necessary freeze this particular soup, but honestly - this soup will go fast.

Stay tuned, tomorrow, for another beautiful soup:  Golden Winter Soup.

Farmer's Market Finds: Rabbit Sausage and Sautéed Russian Kale

Living in California, I am never hard-up for fresh fruits and vegetables.  I sometimes forget that the majority of the country doesn't have this kind of access to the bounty that we have here.  Now, California does sometimes have to rely on other countries during the winter, we still have plenty of fresh vegetables to choose from during the winter and early spring.  Like many little towns and neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area, Campbell has its own weekly Farmer's Market.  This market is always packed, rain or shine, and the vendors are always there.  The majority of farms who have booths are from the Salinas or San Jouquin Valleys.  There are also local artists, a local honey and beeswax seller, and plenty of great hot food booths (including my absolute favorite:  Oaxacan Kitchen).  I'm sad to say that I don't make it out to the Farmer's Market as I honestly should (it's only about a mile and a half from our home).  I did make a point to go this weekend, while Marshall was out.  I honestly think I have more fun at these things than he does, but I made good on my own promise and went Sunday morning.  I made the initial pass through the entire market and nothing really caught my eye.  It was getting into the early afternoon and I was hungry, so I got in line for the Oaxacan Kitchen and looked to my left.  It was the usual charcuterie booth (Fabrique Délices, out of Hayward) and I glanced at their menu.  Then, I spotted it:  Rabbit and Prune Sausage.  My mouth watered.  I had to have some.  After I placed my order for lunch and then made a beeline to buy the sausage.  I finally had a meal in mind:  Rabbit and Prune Sausage with Sautéed Bitter Greens.  My mom used to make a variation of this with red chard and chicken-apple sausage and it was a delicious, healthy, and quick weekday meal.  Before I left the market, I stopped at one of the first booths I walked past earlier and they had bunches of bitter greens.  I picked up 2 bunches of Russian Kale and 1 bunch of Mustard Greens (for later in the week).  I walked away from the market feeling fully satisfied and eager to eat!

I couldn't have made a better decision for dinner tonight.  I was a little worried about the sausage, since I didn't plan on grilling it, but pan-frying instead.  Luckily, the package had some easy cooking instructions:  cook in a pan over medium heat for 15-20 minutes.  Easy enough!  I already knew how to make the greens:  sauté with olive oil and lots of chopped garlic, until wilted and tender.  Since I didn't want to burn either dish, I had some chicken broth (only 1/4-1/2 Cup) on hand to provide a little steam to finish off the cooking.  I had never had Russian Kale before, but the lady selling it said it was great.  After I had the lid on the pan for a bit and uncovered the greens, I got a huge whiff of the forest:  earthy, dewy, and slightly sweet.  I love that smell.  I tasted the greens for doneness and they were perfect:  tender, not mushy, and just slightly sweet.  This is by far the most UN-bitter of bitter greens I have had.  The sausage was cooked perfectly.  The texture of the sausage was a little more chunky than your average mass-produced sausage; definitely more country-style sausage.  You could easily pick out the tender pieces of rabbit and there was just enough chopped prune to add a hint of dark sweetness.  Overall a fantastic dinner:  light, fresh, and fast!

Valentine's in North Africa: Sautéed Quail with Paprika Sauce and Moroccan-Spiced Vegetables

Yes, I do realize that we're in mid-April and I'm now JUST getting to the Valentine's Dinner I made for Marshall and I in mid-February.  I actually have recipes from meals and dishes I made toward the end of December of last year sitting in my "Food Blog" photo folder on my hard-drive.  We'll see just how quickly I'm able to catch up.  However, lately I've just been randomly selecting meals from my photos and going from there.  I've actually wanted to post the meal I made for Valentine's Day for a while now, but honestly at this point that's not saying a whole lot...

Anyway!

I've come to realize that the medium I have become most comfortable with for expressing my love (not to mention happiness, frustration, and all the other emotions of the spectrum) is food.  I love the food, of course, but being able to make a delicious meal and cook it for the people I love is something that's become quite apparent recently.  For Valentine's Day this year, I decided to do something a little special for Marshall (and me, of course).  Getting some slight inspiration from the episode of Friends where it shows what might've happened if Monica remained fat (and Ross never got divorced, Rachel married Barry, and so on), I decided to make an entire meal Marshall and I could eat with our hands.  If you know Friends as well as I do, you'll know the reference.  If not, no worries; just be content that I am a bigger nerd than you are.  I also wanted to cook something that I had never made before.  After some thinking and some searching through Epicurious.com, I came up with the following menu:

• Sautéed Quail with Paprika Sauce
• Moroccan-Spiced Vegetables
• Moroccan Couscous, and
• [Homemade] Cardamom Ice Cream

The ice cream, of course, was to be eaten with spoons, otherwise that would've been a much bigger mess than I wanted to clean up.  I found the quail and vegetables as a recipe duo and only later found the Moroccan couscous recipe on Food Network's website (thank you, Ina Garten!). 

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Monday and I didn't want to have to fight with the hordes of couples going out to dinner that night, I offered to make dinner the night before.  We would eat in, have a good home-cooked meal, and just stay relaxed.  On that Saturday, I went ahead and made the base for the Cardamom Ice Cream.  Sitting in the fridge overnight allowed the flavors to meld and really infuse the cream.  For some reason, I believe Marshall was out during the day on Sunday, so I had time to focus on preparing the meal.  The quail was the only worrisome part of the meal, as I had never cooked with it or even bought it from the store.  I found some at my favorite bankrupt Italian market, Cosentino's, and they turned out to be just fine.  They had already been cleaned and had their backs removed, which made my job a WHOLE lot easier.

The meal, and the night as a whole, was perfect.  I enjoyed eating with my hands, even though I don't think Marshall was as keen on the experience as I was.  The couscous was a delicious last-minute choice to round out the meal.  I loved the bright and smoky paprika sauce, which blended well with the vegetables and the couscous.  The quail was delicious, too, and not as gamy as I thought it might be.  I believe we almost forgot about the ice cream.  It was beautifully creamy, silky, and spicy, without being super sweet.  Definitely a perfect ending to our meal.

This is definitely a meal for a special occasion.  I could totally see turning this into a themed event:  a big group of friends over, lots of brightly-colored throw pillows and rugs on the floor, dimmed lighting, and everyone seated on the floor around a low table enjoying some delicious food and wine... 

Cooking for a Cause: Appetizers for Japan Earthquake Relief

This past weekend (hey look - it's a blog that's ON-TIME!), my bestest high school friend, Nicole, hosted a fundraiser for Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief.  Originally, it was going to be a birthday party and Humane Society fundraiser to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of adopting their adorable pup, Barney.  With the recent devastation in Japan, she changed gears and made it a full-on fundraiser for Japan.  She emailed me asking if I was interested in donating my cooking and make some light appetizers for the event.  I was only too happy to donate my time and cook for this great cause.  As soon as last Monday rolled around, I turned into total caterer-mode.  A few years ago, my mom was seriously considering starting her own catering company.  Unfortunately things fell through, but I learned quite a bit watching her cater birthday parties, Easter and Christmas feasts, and so many other events we had at our house.  So, I essentially turned into her:  I grabbed my pen and notepad and wrote down what I was going to make:

• Caprese Salad Bites
• Pizza Canapés
• Torta
• Artichoke and Feta Wontons
• Beef and Green Onion Skewers
• Grilled Caesar Salad

The only thing new on this menu was the Caprese Salad Bites, but I had watched my mom make them and, really, how hard is it to make an appetizer bite with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil?  The rest on the list I had made over and over for past parties or at least one other time (in the case of the Beef and Green Onion Skewers), so I was comfortable with making those and I knew how much time I needed and how many I needed to make.  Nicole gave me an estimate of 30 people.  I made sure that I either made double-batches or scaled down the original recipe to make it stretch.  I was also worried about covering my vegetarian bases, but turns out that most vegetarians could eat the majority of what I was making (I sometimes confused vegan with vegetarian).  Anyway, after making the menu, I made the schedule.  I plotted out the rest of the week:  when I needed to go shopping, when I could premake certain items, etc.  I scheduled everything to the point of cooking Sunday afternoon.  Everything was planned just so (well, that is until I realized I didn't schedule time to shower on Sunday - oops!  Don't worry, I showered.).  Next was the master grocery list.  I jotted down exactly what I needed and how much I needed.  I informed Marshall of the schedule, since he is the master of the Artichoke and Feta Wontons, and he was aware of when he was needed.

During all of this planning and plotting, I had two papers to write for school.  Those, of course, take precedence so I made sure to keep an eye on both time I needed for food and time I needed to write my papers.  I finished my first paper Wednesday night and my second paper Saturday evening.  I was non-stop this past week and it's what I absolutely love.

Sunday couldn't have gone any better.  Marshall and I arrived in a flurry of Whole Foods bags, platters, bowls, and prepped dishes.  With my schedule burned into my brain, I had Nicole's husband fire up the grill and I put Marshall to work frying up the wontons.  The first appetizers out where the Caprese Salad Bites.  These are also the only appetizers that day which actually got its picture taken.  I just completely forgot to snap pictures of the final product.  I threw the Beef and Onion Skewers on the grill and they were hot and ready for people to eat.  The Torta followed and were towered just so on their deep blue platter.  Next up were Marshall's wontons and those were the fastest to fly off the plate.  I got to play waitress and walked around with the wontons, so people hanging out outside got to have a taste.  By the time I made the rounds, the platter was empty.  Marshall filled up the last platter and those just went as fast as the first (it's probably because this batch had bacon!).  Last up were the melty and cheesy Pizza Canapés.

So, because I failed to provide pictures (I have prep pictures, which will be after the cut with the recipe), I asked Nicole to send out a request for testimonials.  Here is what some people said about the appetizers:

Chandani, of the Caprese Salad Bites, wrote:
This dainty, yet fresh and rich appetizer will definitely have guests coming back for more!  I couldn't resist going back for seconds, thirds, fourths, and maybe more...oops!  These salad bites have so many distinct flavors that you can taste each specific ingredient (basil, mozerella, tomato and balsamic vinegar with garlic, I believe) and will not walk away without a moan or two of "YUM".

Charly, Nicole's sister, loved the Caprese Salad Bites, too:
...these little bites were as appetizing to the eyes as they were to the palate. Neatly skewered on toothpicks, it resembled in appearance a healthy hamburger of sorts; everything was fresh and bright. Basil and fresh mozzarella are always delicious, but what really blew me away were the tomatoes used: Sweet Treats, a little fruit that packs the flavor of its larger heirloom cousin, the beefsteak. Hell yeah. Pretty sure I could have eaten it all if I allowed myself to do it.

Nicole, of the Beef and Green Onion Skewers, said:
The beef was cooked juuuuusstt right. So tender and moist, and was uber delicious paired with the onion. A great bbq treat :)


For the Pizza Canapés, Chandani thought:
These little pizzas are a perfect bite-size snack.  They are not only delicious and vegetarian, but leave you feeling like you are eating something good and healthy, most probably because the crust is made up of toasted rye-bread.

Everytime we've made the Artichoke and Feta Wontons, they go fast.  As Jesse (Nicole's husband) said:
The wontons were awesome, especially the ones with bacon!  I'm glad I got to grab those in the first wave because they did not last long.  Crispy goodness.

Even the vegetarians liked the wontons (the batch without bacon, of course!).  Chandani said:
A true vegetarian appetizer option, these were a delight to have seeing that vegetarians like myself rarely have an opportunity to enjoy a meat-free wonton!  It was a wonderful treat and I definitely would have had more than one if I had found some!  They must have gone quickly!

I'm telling you - these wontons are a hit!  Charly said:
...despite the fact that they had just come off the stove, I bit into it eagerly. Mmm. The wrapper had the perfect amount of chew to it, and the filling was savory without being too salty (a problem I usually have with pickled artichokes). There was also a batch with bacon (how can you go wrong?). I really didn't care if I burned the corners of my mouth a tiny bit; totally worth it.

Nicole said, of the Grilled Caesar Salad:
Definitely the hit of the party, mostly because it was the most interesting on top of the fact that it was delicious. The grilled lettuce just tasted like summer. Enough said :)

There's nothing better than hearing the nice things people have said about the food I made.  My only goal for cooking is to make other people happy.  This is why I do it and why I keep doing it.  Cooking for the people I love is just so rewarding.  Now, cooking for the people I love and for a cause that I love, too?  I'm happy to announce that Nicole was able to raise over $600 at the party and through Adobe, who matched our donation, we were able to donate $1200 to the Red Cross in Japan.  Yatta!

Reader's Request: Whole-Wheat Flatbreads with Lamb and Yogurt

I'm very fortunate to work for a company that allows me to work from home.  Ever since we all got laptops, my manager has been very understanding of when I want/need to work from home.  She knows that my commute is one of the longer ones from our department and agrees that working one day a week is helpful on my budget (and well-being).  Anyway, over the last year, I've been working from home one day a week and it's been wonderful.  I can do laundry, run errands, and watch TV, while still getting a full day's work done.  I also get the opportunity to see people during the week who I would not normally get to see outside of the weekend.  My bestest friend from high school and photographer extraordinaire, Nicole, stopped by last week.  She had a few things for me and I for her and we also got to sit and chat for a bit.  The conversation eventually turned to talking about food, which is quite common for me, and while sitting in the kitchen we both started to flip through my cookbooks and magazines on the shelf.  We mainly talked about what appetizers I've been asked to make for her upcoming Japan Tsunami/Earthquake Relief party, but she pulled a few other things off the shelf, too, just to have a peek at what recipes I had lying around.

She picked up my little Martha Stewart digest magazine (the same magazine I got this lovely gem) and started flipping through it.  I mentioned how much I loved that little magazine and that I wish Martha would start producing them again.  They're so infrequent, I don't even think she does them anymore.  Anyway, Nicole found the recipe for Whole Wheat Flatbreads with Lamb and Yogurt, immediately turned to me and said "You're cooking this and writing about it in your blog, so I can get the recipe!"  Well, Nicole, your wish is my command!

I remember making this recipe for the first time a long time ago.  I think it was our first year living in our current apartment, so about 2.5 years ago.  This was the first time I attempted a bread of any kind, let alone a whole wheat flatbread, and I think my first foray into something resembling Southeast Mediterranean or even Middle-Eastern.  I just remember making them and being totally pleased.  The warm nutty whole wheat bread, the spicy lamb, the sweet onions, the creamy and tangy yogurt, and the cool mint just plays such a melody in the mouth.  There are so many flavors it's crazy, but they all work together to create a fantastic meal on the plate.  The one thing I was a little disappointed with this time around, was my flatbreads weren't as crispy as they were the first time.  I have a feeling my dough was a little too wet and perhaps too thick and weren't cooking long enough in the pan.  They shouldn't be like crackers, but they should at least be more crisp than chewy.  Overall, though, I was again pleased with this dish.  It's hearty and filling and thoroughly delicious.

Nicole, I hope you and Jesse like this one as much as Marshall and I do!

The Cure for the Boring Turkey-burger: Danish Chicken Burgers

I knew there was always something I didn't like about cooking with ground turkey.  Turkey has a very unique flavor, compared to other poultry.  It certainly cannot be a substitute for chicken and I definitely cannot substitute anything that was originally made with beef with turkey (like meatloaf, although I do have a post about a turkey meatloaf waiting in the wings).  I just cannot get past the flavor of turkey.  It overpowers everything and definitely is something that must stand alone.  Well, unless you roast it whole, drizzle with giblet gravy, serve it with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, then, well, it works (umm, I love Thanksgiving dinner; it's the one time of year that I greatly invite the turkey to my table).  Otherwise, I just don't have an affinity for that particular bird.

I do, however, love chicken.  Yes, I know chicken can be bland and it's become sort of the blank canvas of the table.  You can cook it any which way and serve it with any other food.  On the other hand, I think it may be the most universally cooked protein.  Seriously, find me a culture or country or nation that does not cook chicken!  A few years ago, I think everyone in my family started experimenting with Rachel Ray recipes.  She was big on the Food Network and she really catered to the novice cook.  My husband's first cookbook was Rachel Ray's very first 30 Minute Meals cookbook.  When he lived on his own, he learned to cook on his own, and this cookbook really helped.  Each recipe was easy and the ingredients were readily available at any grocery store.  Plus, each recipe made huge portions, which made cooking for the week a snap.  My mom even picked up a few of her recipes, including this chicken burger recipe.  Before my mom made these, I had never had a chicken burger.  I didn't even know you could buy ground chicken (like ground beef or turkey).  My mom made these one night, while I was still living at home, and they were delicious!  Or, the words of the recipe's creator, YUM-O!

Unlike other burgers that I had eaten or made, they were pan-fried.  This created a delicious caramelized crust on the outside of the burger, plus it helped keep the cheese from oozing out of the burger too much.  Oh?  Did I not mention that the cheese is IN the burger?  Oh yeah, one of my favorite things about this burger is that it's a cheese burger with the cheese built-in.  Okay, I'm starting to sound like Rachel Ray, here, but it can't be helped.  These also can be served with just about anything.  This particular night we had chicken burgers with baked sweet potato fries (not shown due to poor presentation).  I also do not eat these like normal burgers on a bun, but rather with a knife and fork with a little whole grain dijon mustard, like my friend, Maille, here.  The bright vinegary bite of the mustard compliments the savory chicken and melted dill Havarti cheese.

The recipe I provide below is a modified version of the original recipe.  The thing is, her portions for her burgers are ridiculous.  I simply cannot eat a half-pound burger, no matter how delicious.  It's just too much.  Her original recipe calls for 2 pounds of ground chicken for only 4 burgers.  Yeah, I altered that.  However, even though I alter the amount of meat, the rest of the recipe is the same.  The seasonings all work with less meat.  You could easily cut the amount of cheese, considering with less meat there isn't as much space for the little cheesy morsels, but who would consciously use LESS cheese?

Picking Favorites: Grilled Caesar Salad

While some of these recipes are like my children, I am not ashamed to tell you my favorites.  This Caesar salad, which I am about to explain to you, is my absolute favorite salad to make at home.  Even with the ability that I have, I cannot fully explain the deliciousness that is this particular Caesar salad.  I also cannot pick out one thing that puts this salad above the rest.  From the charred and slightly wilted Romaine leaves, to the freshly grilled croutons, to the beautifully acidic and garlicky homemade Caesar dressing, all of them play a part in making this salad absolutely mouthwatering.  In fact, to be brutally honest, my mouth is watering right now just thinking about this salad.  It's that good, people!  Another way to show this is my favorite salad is the fact that I have made this salad over and over and over again over the past 4 years since I bought this issue of Gourmet (RIP)-- oh yeah, this is also the issue which moved me to get a subscription of Gourmet-- so that should say something.  You can easily make this into a meal by adding grilled chicken, which is what I did on this particular occasion, but it is an awesome side dish to pretty much anything.  It's great with grilled meats, since the reason behind the creation recipe was to utilize the residual heat of the grill after grilling steaks or chicken.  Honestly, I think we've actually just eaten this salad as it is as our dinner a few times.

I think I've said all I can about this salad.  I mean, at the base of it this is JUST a salad, albeit a super delicious fantastic salad.  One note of caution, which I want to tell everyone, this Caesar dressing is a true Caesar dressing, meaning it requires raw egg.  I've read other raw-egg recipes where you can boil the egg for only a minute, therefore cooking it just enough to hedge your bets against salmonella.  Gourmet suggests buying pasteurized eggs in the shell (as opposed to the scrambled eggs in the carton), which are available in the grocery store.  I was squeamish at first about using raw egg, but I've gotten used to it.  I will say, though, that if you do decide to use raw egg, which is chemically "cooked" by the lemon juice, the dressing is only good for that day.  Marshall and I tried using some and saving it for the next night, but it just wasn't quite right.  It was also super "eggy", which really turned me off.  But, I completely understand the desire to stay away from using raw eggs; it is a definite risk.  ...a delicious risk...  OK, I'll stop trying to persuade you to use raw eggs if you don't want to.  Oh yeah, if the raw egg wasn't enough already, the dressing also contains anchovies.  If you're allergic to fish, keep this in mind.  You can easily omit this ingredient if necessary.

The Meaty Manly Salad: Grilled Sausages with Figs and Mixed Greens

I say this as a woman and without fear of judgment...very rarely will I feel satisfied after eating a salad for a meal.  I usually require something else either on the side WITH my salad or in my salad (i.e. meat or legumes) to really feel full and satiated.  I know this is weird coming from a girl, because it seems all of us are quite OK with eating just a salad.  At least, that's what our movies tell us we order when we're on a date and looking to "keep our girlish figures".  Yes, I see the necessity of eating more vegetables and keeping our portions in check, but that doesn't automatically mean "must eat salad consisting of just lettuce for lunch and dinner".  Blech!  I don't know about you, but I like to eat.  When I'm on a date, or when I would go on dates, I never felt obligated to keep what I ordered in check.  This doesn't mean that I always ordered the surf n' turf on dates, but I would eat like I would normally eat:  burgers, pasta, chicken, steak, whatever I felt like.  If I am to show who I really am when I meet someone, I will eat normally.  I like food; I will show it!  Having said all of that, this is one of those rarest of rare times when I felt satisfied after eating what was essentially a salad.

During the grilling season, which in California is pretty much any time during the year as long as the grill area is covered, I love grilled Italian sausages.  One of my favorite Italian deli selections is a sausage and pepper sandwich, especially if the sausages are grilled.  There's something about the pork, fennel seed, and all the Italian seasonings licked with gas or grill flame that really makes me happy.  This particular salad marries a number of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors together and creates just a great meaty dinner salad.  The slices of warm and salty sausage mingle with the sweet figs, coupled with the crunch of the greens and the creaminess of the goat cheese just right.  Throughout each bite you get the cooling mint and the bite of the dressing, mixed in with all these other flavors.  You'd think this would be overwhelming, but it isn't.  It actually feels right and is perfect for a quick light meal and is great during the summer when you can grill freely and get some wonderfully fresh greens and herbs.

Cooking with Martha: Seared Fish with Crispy Potatoes and Green Sauce

I do believe I was tardy to the Martha Stewart party when she first arrived on the scene.  To be honest, though, once I became aware of her and her craftiness I never did seek her out.  I thought she had great ideas, but I was never, and still not, in a position to really follow her closely.  I'm not entirely crafty and I found her cooking style to be rather...pompous.  This is, of course, not to say that she has no talent; she's full of it.  I received one of her larger recipe books, Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, and I've made a couple of her recipes.  Funny thing is, I'm not a huge baker.  I love to bake, don't get me wrong, but it seriously stresses me out.  Cooking is comfortable; baking is a challenge.  It's so precise and there are usually so many steps, I lose patience easily.  Anyway, about a year ago, one of my coworkers picked up an issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine from the store.  It's like a digest and I actually don't see them on a regular basis at my grocery store.  My coworker bought it before realizing she doesn't cook nearly as much as I do, so she passed it along to me.  This little issue, entitled "Back to Basics," is riddled with really yummy recipes.  I've made a few of them and they've all turned out to be great successes.  My favorite is this one.

Originally, I first followed this recipe closely and seared my fish.  This time around, it was during the summer months, and I wanted to grill everything and anything I could get my hands on.  So, I grilled the salmon for this, instead of cooking it indoors.  It was equally as delicious, especially since the majority of the flavor comes from the incredibly simple and refreshing "Green Sauce."  The sides for this dish have also been a hit.  The Crispy Potatoes are wonderful.  In fact, I provided this recipe to my mom and she easily made it her own and baked each potato with a bit of blue cheese and bacon, making them incredibly decadent.  I also like the roasted tomatoes, which are a nice compliment to the fish and potatoes.  It has something fresh and sweet to the rather heavy plate.  I recently shared the recipe for the fish and Green Sauce with a classmate to share with me and a couple of other girls we grouped with for a few projects last semester.  It was delicious and everyone loved it.  This is definitely a dish you can eat on a weekday by yourself or with your spouse or dress it up on the weekends with guests.

Experiments in Asian Cuisine: Singapore Noodles with Shrimp

Both Marshall and I adore Asian cuisine.  We have become lovers of Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai food; always looking for that amazing hole-in-the-wall local place where the food is delicious and authentic.  I know I'm always on the look-out for amazing ramen (if you've got suggestions, let me know!).  The problem is, while I can easily cool in the Western-European style, I am a complete klutz when it comes to Asian-style cooking.  I honestly would LOVE to find an Asian cooking class and take it at some point in my life.  I know that a white girl like me could never really master the true art of Asian-style cooking, but I would really like to get close.  There's a philosophy and a method to Asian cooking that I just can't seem to grasp.  I loved having an Italian grandma, but if only I could've had a Chinese grandma, too!  There's this balance of fast cooking and big flavors (without being TOO big) which I fumble all the time.  Hell, I can barely steam rice!  One of our wedding registry gifts was a wok.  My sister gave it to me for my birthday before the wedding and, while I was looking forward to receiving this gift like nobody's business, I was also highly intimidated.  My sister also got me this beautiful Asian cookbook from William and Sonoma with amazing recipes from all over the Asian continent and sub-continent.  So far, Marshall and I have experimented with the noodle recipes, which have so far yielded acceptable-to-good results.  This particular recipe, though, came from the all-wonderful-and-amazing America's Test Kitchen: Cooking for Two 2010 from last year.

I know Marshall is always up for cooking Asian-style foods, even if he isn't always up for going out for Asian-style food (still haven't figure out how that works...), so I decided to give this recipe for Singapore Noodles with Shrimp a shot.  Since we live in such a culturally diverse area, we have access to many Asian markets and we can usually find the new or sometimes "odd" ingredients listed in some recipes.  Luckily, all the ingredients listed for this recipe can easily be found at your local Safeway in the "Asian aisle".  You could also find them at other more special stores like Whole Foods.  All in all, this turned out to be a successful dish and I didn't fumble it too much while cooking.  Since stir-frying is a very fast-paced method of cooking, it's is invaluable to have all your ingredients prepped (chopped, sliced, measured, etc.) before heating up the wok or pan.  This prep stage can be time-consuming, but it is definitely worth it.  This is one of the many reasons why I absolutely love my set of mise en place bowls from William and Sonoma.  They are a godsend when it comes to cooking this way!

No grill? No worry!: Steak Tacos with Sweet and Spicy Pickled Onions

A good portion of our last summer was spent discovering and perfecting the Mexican street taco.  We made batch after batch of carnitas and carne asada with various toppings, kept simple to be authentic, and hit our stride after a while.  Marshall's birthday last year even had a taco theme.  We had a huge BBQ at my parent's house and backyard with close to 30 people and Marshall and I cooked up chicken, carnitas, carne asada, and marinated portobello mushrooms.  I threw together homemade guacamole, pico de gallo, and salsa verde, as well as the below-mentioned pickled onions.  Lime wedges and warm Trader Joe's homemade corn tortillas were provided and we flew through all our food.  Everyone enjoyed our tacos and Marshall was delightfully pleased with his grilling and cooking skills.  Since I'm usually the one to cook for our parties, it was great to hand over the responsibilities to Marshall for his birthday. 

After my previous post (in addition to the above paragraph) talking about how great it is to grill, it seems rather scandalous that I would follow up with a recipe for steak tacos without using a grill.  But I am.  The thing is, these steak tacos are awesome.  They're not carne asada (only modeled after), but they do taste authentic and entirely delicious.  They're also very easy to make AND, like I said earlier, they don't need a grill.  You actually don't miss the lovely grill flavor, since the steak is so incredibly tasty and succulent.  This was also a wonderful way to make really great steak tacos when it's too cold to grill or when you don't have a grill at all.  You don't need an indoor grill (like a George Foreman), either, which is great.  These are perfect apartment tacos-you can ferret away for an evening to the dusty streets of Mexico City and sink your teeth into these incredibly tender and tasty tacos!

Oh, and did I mention the recipe is built for 2 people?  That's right.  I found this awesome recipe in America's Test Kitchen's Cooking for Two 2010 collection.  You can, of course, increase this recipe as needed, but it's great for being on your own or sharing with the one you love, like, or just live with.  :)

Best Salad Ever: Bacon, Lettuce, and Cherry Tomato Salad with Aioli Dressing

Everyone knows that bacon makes everything better; I think it's common knowledge by now.  What I think is the epitome of food perfection is making a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich at the height of tomato season.  Soft sourdough surrounding crisp clean leaves of lettuce, sweet juice tomato, with crunchy and salty bits of bacon, all blanketed with creaming mayonnaise.  I don't know what else is better than that.  Oh wait, I do - this salad I found in last July's Bon Appetit!

You can almost forgive the absence of sourdough bread in this salad, although you can do what we did and toast some yummy ciabatta bread brushed with olive oil and scraped with garlic.  This salad is light and refreshing.  The presence of the crispy bacon standing out prominently from the crisp Romaine lettuce and sweet, juicy cherry tomatoes.  What is great is that the aioli dressing on this salad is not over-powering and it doesn't drench the salad at all.  There is just enough dressing to add enough flavor and creaminess to make you reminisce about the equally delicious sandwich variation. 

While you can certainly make this salad all-year-round, you'll miss out on how sweet and tangy cherry tomatoes can be in their height of their respective season.  Living in California, though, we are spoiled and can find rather tasty cherry tomatoes (and other small tomato varieties) even in the dead of winter.

This is a hefty enough salad to stand as a main dish, although can easily  be a side dish.  However, I wouldn't want this as a side dish as I would find myself eating more of this salad than anything else on my plate!

Running out of Gas: Latin-Spiced Flank Steak and Fresh Corn Salad

When Marshall and I moved in together almost 5 years ago, one of the appliances we knew we had to buy was a grill.  Unfortunately, due to city ordinances and apartment leasing policy, we reluctantly had to go with a propane grill.  We found a really nice Weber Q and have been grilling on a regular basis throughout each summer ever since.  I've even gotten the hang of grilling and I love being able to make an entire meal on the grill (stay tuned for my all-grill-meal fajitas, coming soon!).  Unfortunately, there are some draw-backs to using a propane grill.  I do not relate to my good friend, Hank Hill - I happen to like the charcoal flavor left on burgers, steak and chicken.  I can certainly still taste the meat, but the charcoal adds this extra boost of flavor.  Yes, with propane grills you do indeed taste the meat and not the heat; I definitely can't argue with that.  One night, though, we ran into the other problem with propane grills:  running out of gas.  With charcoal, you can run to the nearest 7-11 and get a small bag of briquettes, but with propane?  If it's after 6pm, you're totally out of luck.  Marshall and I found ourselves in that same situation the night we were making Latin-Spiced Flank Steak.

We didn't want to completely give up on having flank steak for dinner.  So, we turned to other cooking methods.  While it might not be a direct substitute, we pulled out our George Foreman and fired up the lean, mean, fat-burning, grilling machine.  The George Foreman definitely has its strengths.  It's convenient and fast, but it works best when cooking evenly-sized portions of food.  A flank steak is never completely even and that unfortunately led to some uneven cooking of our deliciously-seasoned steak.  Also, after not having used our Foreman Grill in ages, we completely blanked on the cooking time and over cooked our steak.  The end product wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't what we both hoped it would've been.  I'm definitely looking forward to when we start firing up the grill again and trying this recipe.  I know it will be delicious!

Not all was lost that night, though.  The suggested side dish for the flank steak was a Fresh Corn Salad with Black Beans and Tomatoes.  I love a good black bean and corn salsa and this sounded delicious and a perfect accompaniment to our steak.  It did not let us down and it was very good.  We had fresh sweet corn, tender beans and summer-fresh tomatoes and it all led to a wonderful salad.  I think the part I liked best about this salad was its dressing.  I would put this salad dressing (and I did end up putting this dressing) on everything.  It's got a nice acidity and just enough spice to liven up your everyday green salad.

Monochromatic Deliciousness: Orecchiette with Cauliflower, Anchovies, and Fried Croutons

I was never a big fan of cauliflower.  It was always displayed sadly next to the rest of the cut-up vegetables with ranch dressing at potlucks.  No one ever touched it either, which didn't endear me to the little white florets.  Plus, when I did try it, it had no flavor whatsoever.  I stayed far away from cauliflower until a few years ago.  My mom and I decided to share a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) box one summer.  I enjoyed the fresh vegetables and fruits, but was at a loss when I kept getting head after head of cauliflower.  I would stare at them wondering just what to do.  Luckily, this particular CSA group (Two Small Farms) included a weekly newsletter with their boxes, including a musing on the vegetables and fruit in season and recipes using that week's veggies.  Luckily for me, one week found a recipe for cauliflower.  It was very simple:  oven-roasted cauliflower florets and garlic, sprinkled with fresh lemon juice.  I made it with a slight hint of apprehension, but was greeted with the best tasting vegetable I had ever had.  The florets were browned slightly and had a very slight sweetness.  It was so good that I changed my mind about cauliflower from then on.  I was happy to use it in soups and stews and roasted sides.  However, I still will not tough the stale little white florets on store-bought veggie trays.

This brings me to a great recipe I found in Bon Appetit early last year which coupled my new favorite, cauliflower, and a very old favorite, pasta and croutons.  Originally, I was apprehensive, only because of the lack of color.  White on white on white?  It seemed rather monochromatic and I really like to vary the color of food on my plate.  But this was pasta with roasted cauliflower and zucchini:  how bad could it be?  Well, it turned out to be as far from bad as possible.  Marshall and I were surprised at how the cauliflower and zucchini mingled with the salty anchovy and tender pasta.  Plus, every so often, the texture is broken up by the crunchy friend croutons.  It's a very comforting dish; it warms the soul.  In fact, if I might be honest, I made this dish again tonight.  I will definitely keep making this dish whenever I want a thoroughly tasty pasta dish!

A Meat-and-Potatoes Kind of Night: Chicken Vesuvio

Another intriguing recipe I found in Cooks' Illustrated "Cooking for Two" collection from 2010 was a dish called "Chicken Vesuvio".  The picture, on which I sometimes rely heavily, showed what looked like seared chicken breasts, peas and roasted potatoes.  Now, you may look at some of the other recipes I have written about and think "why would she pick this one?"  I think it boiled down to simple curiosity.  I've never been much of a "meat and potatoes" kind of person.  While I do love roasted chicken and potatoes, I certainly do not turn it to it often.  I do find that kind of meal composition to be really heavy and sometimes too much for when Marshall and I usually sit down to dinner:  around 7:30 or 8pm, sometimes even close to 9.  I cannot imagine eating a large helping of chicken and potatoes with a mere 2 hours before going to bed.  Anyway, I was curious about this dish, especially since it had an Italian-sounding name.  Turns out this dish originated in Chicago and was simply bone-in chicken with roasted potatoes, covered in a garlicky sauce with peas.  It sounds more English than Italian, if you ask me.

While it might sound like I'm completely bashing this meal, I really was surprised at how it tasted in the end.  Yes, this was a very hearty meal and something I would only think to cook on weekends or in the dead of winter.  You're left feeling very full afterward.  However, the meal itself was very tasty.  I ended up not really pairing this with anything, since I thought the peas in the dish were enough to cover the "vegetable" portion of our dinner.  I really enjoyed the thick gravy on the chicken and potatoes.  The peas did not lend much of their flavor to the dish; I'm thinking that originally it was just to keep the dish from looking too bland.  The flavor, though, wasn't bland at all.  This dish definitely reminded me of meals I had while visiting the mid-west, which definitely brings light to where it originated.  I can easily see this dish being plated up at family dinners in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.  Marshall and I both enjoyed this dish, but agreed it was very filling and something that would be revisited sparingly in the future.

Mixing the New with the Familiar: Steak Pizzaiola and "Dirty" Broccoli

In the late Summer, I picked up a copy of America Test Kitchen and Cooks' Illustrated's "Cooking for Two" anthology for 2010.  Marshall and I get by with following recipes originally written for larger servings and deal with leftovers.  Unfortunately, most of the pasta recipes say they serve 4, when they actually could easily serve 8, and we're left with overflow amounts of leftovers, more than what our nightly dinners or daily lunches could tackle.  This collection of recipes seemed right up our alley.  I already loved working with Cooks' Illustrated's recipes and having them already scaled down for us is great.  All of the recipes looked like they could easily be used for us, even with enough leftovers to cover an extra night.  There were also many recipes that we walked away with and that I will write about in this blog.

The first is a dish I had never heard of:  Steak Pizzaiola.  This rather comfort-like dish, according to the article, evolved from a throw-together dish created by Italian pizza-makers to make their lunch:  taking a cheap piece of steak and simmering it in leftover pizza sauce.  Customers took notice and wanted to eat it, as well, so cooks upgraded the cut of steak and used marinara sauce with roasted peppers and mushrooms.  What the editors and cooks at Cooks' Illustrated set out to do was to create a sauce with the impression that it had been simmered for a day, but could be prepared after a long day at work.  I managed to easily make this after coming home from dinner and both Marshall and I were surprised at how tasty this dish was.  The steak was cooked perfectly and the sauce on top was delicious.  It reminded me a little of my mom's pasta sauce, which is almost like a chunky stew rather than a thin sauce.  The entire meal was warming and perfect for a cool summer evening.  I would imagine this would be even better for a winter meal with the thick sauce and the seared steak.  It can also be easily "jazzed" up for having company over!

Sometimes I have a problem coming up with side dishes.  I have an even harder time coming up with side dishes which aren't starches.  With steak, I automatically think potatoes, but with both Marshall and I keeping our starches to a minimum, both of us are sometimes at a loss for a satisfying vegetable side.  Salads are good, but sometimes a main dish calls for a warm or cooked vegetable side, with which I really don't have much familiarity.  Last year, I picked up a special edition of Fine Cooking called "Eat Smart with Ellie Krieger".  Marshall and I were introduced to Ellie Krieger on Food Network and we both really enjoyed her show which focused on healthy and balanced eating.  Her recipes were approachable, easy and really healthy, but were actually delicious.  She also recognizes that certain ingredients cannot be substituted, like cheese, but teaches how best to use them in moderation while keeping the essential flavor.

One dish that has become a household favorite is "Dirty" Broccoli.  I have said before that I absolutely love broccoli.  I can easily eat broccoli all day every day, but Marshall, which he enjoys broccoli, simply cannot hang with that.  This dish, though, is fantastic.  Long spears of broccoli, quickly steamed in the microwave (which I've learned recently actually helps retain the most nutrients compared to other cooking methods) and sprinkled with homemade seasoned breadcrumbs.  The breadcrumbs are so tasty, we could easily eat just that and be completely satisfied!  With the broccoli, there is just enough flavor to enhance the broccoli without completely drowning out the flavor.  This was a fantastic side dish to the Steak Pizzaiola!

Comfort Meal "Cole-Style": Pesto with Green Beans and Grilled Lamb Chops

Growing up, my mom had a lot of "go to" comfort meals:  Chicken with Mushrooms and Olives, Veal or Chicken Picatta, Chicken Cacciatore with "mushy" Polenta, Spaghetti and Meatballs and Italian Sausage, Tuna Noodle Casserole...  I could go on.  I loved them all and when I make them at home with Marshall, I'm transported to my mom's kitchen, sitting at the heavy kitchen table feeling warm and happy.  One of my absolute favorites was homemade Pesto with Pasta and Grilled or Broiled Lamb Chops.  This was a popular dish during the spring, when lamb is freshest, using pesto my mom made and froze the previous fall.  While we didn't eat this all the time (lamb can be expensive), it was wholeheartedly welcomed.  When I got older, my mom started adding green beans to the pesto.  This is something my mom's grandma used to do when preparing pesto for the family.  The sweet crisp green beans, boiled for just a couple of minutes with the pasta, blends beautifully with the garlicky pesto and the creamy Romano cheese.  Of course, during the summer, when the pesto is made from freshly picked basil this is a fantastic meal to eat outside.  When I think of summer, I get aromas of the charcoal BBQ, lamb and basil.  

When I moved into my first apartment my sophomore year of college, I inherited my grandmother's electric skillet.  It's this huge round fry pan that plugs into the wall.  The reservoir just under the cook surface is filled with something and an electric coil.  The great thing about this electric skillet is that the heat is always constant and even.  My grandma used this for making Chicken with Mushrooms and Olives, and...pan-fried lamb chops.  Whenever I would visit my mom during breaks or weekends, I sometimes would be sent back to school with frozen plastic containers of homemade pesto.  I remember specifically one night feeling extravagant and bought myself a few lamb chops from the Italian market in downtown and cooked myself pesto with pan-fried lamb chops.  I sat in front of the TV and devoured everything I made, sucking loudly on the lamb chop bones, which thoroughly bothered my vegetarian roommate, and slurping up my pasta.  I was at home again.

My sister even used to make this same dish when she and her, then, boyfriend (now husbands) were living together in college.

Luckily, I introduced lamb early to Marshall and he loved it.  I can always make lamb without much issue in our house and pairing with pesto has become a favorite in our home, too.  I took advantage of some pesto I had whipped up with some extra basil I had from another meal.  I bought green beans and lamb chops.   The green beans get trimmed and thrown in the pasta pot when there are only a few minutes left cooking time.  The lamb chops are prepared just as simply; seasoned with just some salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil and thrown on a hot grill, cooked medium-rare.  This is a meal known for not having any leftovers.  The pesto is devoured and the lamb chops are stripped clean to the bone.

This is true comfort food.  This is a meal which reminds me who I am and where I come from; it's family.

Bubba Blue Be Proud: Southern Shrimp Burgers

I'm not sure if I said it any time before this, but I'll say it again and again and again:  I love shrimp.  I will eat it cooked in any fashion, too:  boiled, broiled, grilled, sautéed, baked, stuffed - as long as it's is cooked, I'll eat it (not sure if raw shrimp, even for sushi, is OK).  One of  my favorite cooking magazines, Cooks Illustrated, came out with a Summer Grilling issue last year and I've found more than a handful of successful and delicious recipes in it, some of which made it onto my blog already.  One of those recipes was for Southern Shrimp Burgers.  Funny enough, I had never eaten a shrimp burger.  I've had tuna burgers, salmon burgers and crab cakes (which are kind of like burgers, right?), but never a burger made of shrimp.  The headline in the magazine stated "In most versions of this coastal classic, the shrimp flavor is all but buried beneath excessive amounts of binding and spices.  We wanted shrimp burgers that tasted like shrimp."  They certainly succeeded.

Making the shrimp burgers was similar to making any other kind of burger, although there is a little bit of binding, since shrimp tends to be wetter than most other proteins.  What's great is that the only binding is a slice of sandwich bread (I think we used sourdough, since that's what our home considers "sandwich bread").  The rest of the mixture includes fresh herbs, mild spices, mayo and shrimp:  the perfect combination of flavors to enhance and showcase the sweetness of the shrimp meat.  They held surprisingly well on the grill, which is where we cooked them.  You can easily cook these in a pan on the stove, if you're interested in having a summery light meal in the dead of winter.  The burgers were tender and juicy, sweet and delicious.  I would definitely make these again.

I served the shrimp burgers without buns.  I would think buns, or any kind of bread-like product, would totally ruin the freshness of the burger and weight the meal down.  They were perfect fork-and-knife burgers, although you didn't need a knife at all to cut through the burger.  I made a home-made tartar sauce for dipping.  A simple mixture of mayo, capers, and fresh chopped dill.  You can certainly buy tartar sauce from the store, but when it's this easy to make, why would you?  The picture in the magazine showed the burger alongside some fresh greens.  I remember making a Tuna Steak au Poivre a long time ago that had a bitter greens salad on the side, which was great.  I figured that kind of super light salad would be perfect and it was.

I hope you give these burgers a shot.  I highly recommend using fresh, unfrozen, shrimp if at all possible.  They really aren't expensive, comparatively speaking, and you get a MUCH better flavor.  Also, again if possible, buy as local as possible.  Unfortunately, for Californians, local shrimp comes from the Gulf of Mexico, which is definitely more local than Thailand or Vietnam.  Like with all fish, wild-caught is infinitely better, both in taste and nutritional value, than farmed (shrimp aren't supposed to eat corn).  I know that when I first started preparing raw fresh shrimp myself, the deveining was the most worrisome.  It is so easy, I can't even tell you:  take scissors (kitchen shears and desk scissors work equally well) and snip the shell along the back of the shrimp (not the side with the legs) stopping right before the tail (if you want a handle) or all the way through the tail (if you just want the meat).  The snipping allows you to peel the shell easily from the shrimp meat and will cut just enough of the flesh to expose the vein.  Under running cold water, clean out the groove you made with the scissors and you're done!  Your shrimp are now ready to cook and enjoy!

Just Warming Up: Cuban Black Bean Soup

And...I'm back, readers!  I'm hoping to do better by you and stick with my cooking blog writing.  It's been quite a while since I've last provided you all with a cooking experience and a recipe, but believe me - I've got plenty coming.  I've got a stack of papers and magazines sitting on the floor next to my desk, just waiting to be introduced!  But back to the topic of this evening...

Winter calls for soup.  A coworker commented on my leftover lentil soup in the kitchen today about how it's all we seem to eat in the winter is soup.  It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone to learn that our bodies crave warm carbs during the winter months.  With the lack of sunlight giving us the endorphins and Vitamin D we need to keep our spirits up and our bodies warm, we turn to food to fill the void.  Potatoes, pasta, beans, creamy dishes which we would never touch when it's hot outside call us forth to their steaming bowls.  We go to bed at night with a comforting feeling in our warm-soup-bellies. 

To be fair, I made this Cuban Black Bean Soup when it was closing on Fall, but it would definitely feel right at home in the months between December and March.  The first time I made this soup was actually a few years ago.  I have made other black bean soups after that, but there's something about this particular recipe which is just terrific.  I think it's the simplicity of the soup itself.  All the fixings you add to it, are added on top of a bowl of stewed black beans - there's nothing else.  For recipes like this one, you'll definitely need the day.  It's perfect for a weekend evening, particularly Sunday, when you can drag out the copious leftovers.  I think Marshall and I even used the soup base leftovers for an attempt at enfrijoladas (tortillas smothered in a pureé of black or pinto beans) one morning a while back and it worked perfectly.  The various toppings make this a great dish when serving kids.  They can have fun plopping chunks of ham, shreds of cheese, and dollops of sour cream into their bowls to make their soup their own.


This soup warms the soul with a little kick of spice.  It also has an underlying sweetness which keeps you coming back for more.  I know that when I make this soup, I cannot have just one bowl - I must have seconds!