The Christmas Breakfast Saga Continues: Pecan Waffles with Tart Cherry Syrup and Lacquered Bacon

Just as we get a new Star Wars movie during every Christmas season, I get a new iteration of my attempts at making a breakfast that everyone likes. This is one of the few days of the year that Imaginary Mom and I are on the same page – I’m good with waking up early, making ambitious food, and setting the table in some holiday-specific manner, AS LONG AS IT’S APPRECIATED.

I recently realized that the real obstacle to Christmas Breakfast Happiness is my kids, not my husband. Here is the updated list of Things Someone in the House Doesn’t Want in Their Breakfast:

Gluten

Dairy

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Eggplant

Peppers of any kind

Eggs

Sweet potatoes

Mushrooms

Any leafy green

Seafood

Anything spicy

Anything new

Know what this leaves us with? Waffles!

Last year’s gingerbread waffles were a qualified success (note to self: turn waffle iron down), so I decided to try another round of waffley goodness even though I’m not a huge fan of the running back and forth to the waffle iron that’s required. I probably could have kept them warm in the oven, but the oven was being used for bacon and I didn’t feel like warming up both ovens even though it ultimately would have been less work overall. Alternately I could have plugged in all three waffle irons and gotten the whole batch done in under 8 minutes, which I just now thought of and am definitely going to remember for next year, especially since we recently decided that whoever cooks doesn’t have to wash the pots and pans.

This year’s menu came from A Real American Breakfast by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, and it’s the book I most want to cook from these days (In an alternate universe I run a bed & breakfast and have cooked this book cover to cover at least twice). It was an impulse buy at the local used bookstore; since I culled the cookbook collection (I got rid of at least 7 books!) AND got a new bookshelf so all my cookbooks are in one place for the first time ever, my collection has mysteriously increased. I’m not sure how that happened. But I figure if I’m going to collect something, at least I know that the cookbooks and the vintage barware are going to get used.

Pecan Waffles

¾ cup toasted pecan pieces, chopped to a uniformly fine texture in the food processor
1 cup all-purpose GF flour blend (or real flour, if gluten isn’t an issue)
¾ cup fine-ground cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
1 ½ cups milk (I used almond milk)
6 tablespoons melted butter (I used vegan spread)(this is the only substitution that really made me sad, use real butter if you can)

Mix the pecans and all the other dry ingredients together (ideally in the bowl of your food processor, where the pecans already are).

Mix the egg yolks and milk together in a large bowl, then stir in the dry ingredients. Stir in the butter.

Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the batter. Cook as usual in your waffle maker (if you don’t have a waffle maker, (1) go buy one and (2) omit the butter and make these as pancakes).

I served them with maple syrup and also a tart cherry syrup I made with leftovers from a canning project earlier this week. Put whatever amount of tart cherry juice you have on hand (I’m guessing I had about 3 cups), in a saucepan, add half that amount of sugar, a little lemon juice, and a big splash of the Beaujolais Nouveau you’re drinking (OK, that part is optional). Bring it to a boil over high heat, tasting to see if you’ve added enough sugar, then reduce the heat and simmer until it’s reduced by about 2/3. I stuck it in the fridge and rewarmed it in the microwave for waffles – a little bit went a long way. I’m planning to drink the leftover syrup stirred into some sparkling water as an alternate to pop. Possibly there will be some vodka added as an alternate to wine.

While the waffles are baking, might I suggest Lacquered Bacon?

12 slices thick-cut bacon
1/3 cup mango chutney
¼ cup apple juice (or 3 tablespoons water with 1 tablespoon brown sugar)(or some diluted cider, if that’s what you have on hand)
2 tablespoons yellow or brown mustard (I used half yellow mustard and half preserved lemon mustard)
1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine the remaining ingredients in the bowl of a small food processor (to take care of any fruit chunks in the chutney) and mix until smooth.

Bake the bacon in a single layer (use parchment paper underneath!) on a baking sheet for 10-12 minutes, until the fat starts to render and it looks opaque. Pour off the drippings and turn the bacon over. Brush with half the chutney mixture and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Turn the bacon over, brush with the rest of the chutney mixture, and bake another 5 minutes or so, until the bacon is well-browned but not crisp. The bacon will be chewy and tangy and completely delicious without a lot of extra work on your part, and it hits that sweet spot between “normal enough that your 

Sweet Rice to the Rescue: Fast Fake Risotto for the Time-and Grocery-Challenged

It probably won’t surprise anyone to know that we eat a lot of rice in our house. A. Lot. Of. Rice. So much rice.

Look how happy Yan is! This makes me happy too.

We’re huge fans of our bare-bones Yan Can Cook rice cooker purchased 20 years ago at the Chinese mart up the road. (Technically it’s the Aroma Housewares 14-Cup Rice Cooker, but Martin Yan’s cheery exhortation to “have a rice day!” in the instruction manual won our hearts on Day 1, and now the rice cooker is permanently named for him). It has zero settings, one button, and is practically foolproof; faced with the recent prospect of needing to replace it, we opted instead to epoxy the broken handle back to the lid and hope for another 20 years of service.

But steamed rice doesn’t always cut it: sometimes you want something a little more complex, something that stands on its own as a side dish you actually invested some effort in, something creamy and decadent and rich. Risotto is clearly the answer! But in my life, the need for comfort food happens pretty frequently on weeknights, when the need to drive children back and forth to activities, put dinner on the table, and manage 18,000 other things plus supervise homework and keep the laundry from molding forgotten in the washing machine takes precedence over standing over the stove for 40 minutes stirring a pot of rice. No rice is good enough for that.

Yeah, I know. Imaginary Mom could do it. Whatever.

There are some recipes out there for low-effort risotto that could probably help me solve this time crunch issue, but none of them are equal to the challenge presented when you realize you have ¼ of Arborio rice left in the bag and you have to feed 4 people, including a swimmer (serving equivalent: 4 people). Sweet rice to the rescue!

Sweet rice is not, in fact, sweet; that just sounds better than “glutinous rice,” which does not, in fact, have gluten. Glutinous rice is called that because it’s sticky or glue-like when cooked, thanks to a large amount of the starch amylopectin – the same starch that gives risotto its distinctive and luxurious texture.

Bonus: It’s about half the price of Arborio rice, which becomes a factor when your household eats at least 50 pounds of rice a year (no joke – we buy it in 25-pound bags from the Asian market). Do yourself a favor and find an Asian store to buy all your rice at, especially if you're looking for specialty rices.  

Bonus #2: With 3 minutes of work and ZERO attention once it’s in the pot, sticky rice will look and taste like a simmering pot of a Northern Italian mother’s love in 20 minutes.

Bonus #3: It will hold on the stove without disintegrating into mush or solidifying into a giant lump. Just take it off the heat a minute or two before you think it's perfectly done and it will sit there minding its own business while you finish the rest of dinner.

Fast Fake Risotto

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ onion or 1 shallot, minced
1 ½ cups sweet rice (possibly labeled “glutinous rice”)
½ cup dry white wine
3-4 cups stocked, warmed if you’re feeling fancy and/or expected to be making risotto

Heat the olive oil in saucepan and cook the onion or shallot until it starts to soften. Add the rice and cook for about a minute, stirring so it’s completely coated with oil.

Add the wine and let it bubble away for a minute. Add 3 cups of stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes or until the rice is done, adding a little more stock towards the end if the rice is still a little too chewy for your taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Ha! Who needs carryout? Maple-soy glazed tuna steaks and a couple of sides

There’s a reason people come home and collapse on the couch and order carryout. No matter how well-planned my day is, no matter how much I organize and delegate and fuss over this alleged “work-life balance,” the simple fact remains that this is a busy stage of life and some days, things just pile up. Making dinner becomes pretty much the last priority, aside from the annoying fact that my children expect to be fed Every Single Day. More than once, even! And when it’s hotter than hell outside, I have even less interest in heating up the kitchen in my non-air-conditioned home. And yet, they want to eat…

I’d like to pretend that the food part of my life is perfectly organized. It’s not. There are a fair number of scavenging days. There are days that John eats a box of cereal for dinner (in my defense, generally not days that I’m home, but I’ve found the evidence in the trash more than once). And I recognize that in order for us to have leftovers for dinner, it’s required that I actually cook at some point in order to generate said leftovers (unless we’re living in the movie Parents, in which case there are larger problems).

So it comes as a pleasant surprise when, after going completely off-list at the grocery store, I manage to pull together something from the fridge and pantry that looks and tastes as if I actually gave it some thought AND makes everyone happy, including John who may or may not like fish on any given day, depending on how much I bought and how much it cost. An abundance of cheap cod? Hates fish and acts like I’ve poisoned him. Just enough $19/pound salmon to feed 2 adults? Adores fish and eats it all. Sigh.

About my pantry: We have a pretty serious collection of vinegars and oils, and our spice cabinet is just a little bit out of control. This lets me pull together some pretty cool meals on the fly; Indian cooking, for instance, uses a ridiculous number of spices but if you have it all on hand, it becomes relatively fast and easy. We make a monthly trip to an Asian grocery store in our area and always have various kinds of rice noodles, assorted vinegars, sesame oil, fish sauce, and coconut milk on hand; it’s also much less expensive than buying similar items at a regular grocery store. For spices, take a trip to your local high-end market and buy spices in bulk; you’ll save a fortune, plus you can buy in smaller amounts so your spices are fresher when you use them, and in theory you don’t have a ton of extra spices on hand when you only need a teaspoon of something. It’s well worth an extra trip once a month to have specialty ingredients on hand.

This particular recipe, from Cooking Light Magazine - March 2011, calls for flank steak, but tuna steaks were on super-sale. This meal was popular enough that I’m completely sure we’re going to have it again, possibly with the called-for flank steak. It’s pretty enough that I’d serve it to company. It’s fast enough to become a weeknight standard. And it’s low-maintenance enough for even a 90-degree day that might otherwise call for carryout.

Maple Soy Tuna Steaks with Noodles and Sesame Cucumbers 

4 tuna steaks
¼ cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons sake
1 ½ tablespoons dark sesame oil, divided
1 teaspoon Sriracha
Freshly ground black pepper
1 English cucumber
Salt
6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar, divided
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
1 8-oz package rice noodles
2 carrots
¼ cup green onions (white and green parts), cut into 1-inch sections

Put a pot of water on to boil for the noodles.

Put the soy sauce, maple syrup, sake, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, Sriracha, and some ground black pepper into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, then add the tuna steaks, seal the bag, and let it rest for 20 minutes. You should flip the bag over periodically while you’re making the rest of the food.

Peel, seed, and thinly slice the cucumber, then toss with a teaspoon of kosher salt. Let stand 15 minutes.

Peel and shave the carrots into a bowl; using the peeler to do this makes perfect thin little strips. Toss the carrots, green onions, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil and a little bit of salt together.

By now your water should be boiling. Cook the rice noodles according to the package instructions, then drain and run immediately under cold water to stop the cooking. Overcooked rice noodles are a very, very sad thing and will ruin your day. Toss the noodles with the carrot/green onion mixture.

While the noodles are cooking, drain the cucumbers (if needed) and squeeze them dry with some paper towels. Put in a bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar and ¾ teaspoon sesame oil.

Heat a grill pan over high heat and cook the tuna steaks, roughly 3-4 minutes per side (for medium; cook more or less to suit your taste). While the tuna is cooking, pour the rest of the marinade into a small pan and boil over high heat until it’s reduced by about half. Brush the tuna with the marinade in the last minute or so of cooking (and serve the rest on the side, because it’s delicious and everyone will want more than what stuck to the fish). Also there will be no leftovers so be prepared to cook again tomorrow. 

Who Says We Can't Live on Popsicles? or, Lavender Lemonade for those days when you run out of freezer space

Ah, summer…..

The last 7 weeks of the past school year was, without a doubt, the most overwhelmingly busy period of time I’ve ever experienced. At one point I was updating the (color-coded, highly detailed, yes we really do need that level of planning) family calendar and I actually sat down on the floor and cried, because I had no idea how it was all going to get done.

Amazingly, it all did get done. Not always particularly well, but everyone passed their classes and the library fines got paid and John wore the correct clothing to the band concert and nobody starved and the authorities were not summoned at any point for any reason. So I’m going to chalk it up as a win.

I can’t help but think there is some kind of collective cultural amnesia that fogs our brains around early May; why else does every adult person in charge of anything decide that their event is the One Special Thing Which Must Be Done Right Now? Which is how we end up with karate tests, band concerts, commencements, welcome meetings, end of the year celebrations, birthday parties, graduation parties, baby showers, campouts, class trips, and 78,000 GROUP PROJECTS FOR SCHOOL in the last 4 weeks of the year. (I’m looking at you, History Teacher Who Shall Not Be Named. WTF, dude? I thought we were on the same side here. Six teenagers are not available at the same time outside of your classroom, because everyone’s life looks like this.)

So imagine my delight when the calendar magically cleared and all I had to do ALL DAY LONG was get my kids out the door for swim practice. And since they have alarm clocks and know how to use them and practice starts at Stupid O’Clock, this mostly consisted of yelling at them from the comfort of my bed where I was lounging around and checking Facebook on my phone. The hardest thing I had to do all day was make my own coffee. It was freakin’ beautiful.

Now, the whole summer is not going to look like this. We are going to get back on track in July, and go places and do things and stop reduce the binge-watching. But after 10 months of the relentless school year schedule, it’s good to take a couple of weeks to let the house go all the hell and eat nachos for breakfast and play board games.

We are also going to make a lot of popsicles, because Anna has somehow managed to talk me into buying all sorts of nifty molds and we have a whole entire book of crazy popsicle recipes. (Seriously, how did we end up with 4 sets of molds? Can’t we use Dixie cups and wooden sticks?) The initial foray into frozen wonderfulness meant that we had 3 – count them, THREE – different recipes going at once but, alas, limited freezer space (pesky food, always getting in the way!). And that is how we ended drinking lavender lemonade on the deck while we played board games. And that, too, was freakin’ beautiful.

From Perfect Pops: The 50 Best Classic & Cool Treats by Charity Ferreira. Possibly we will make every single one of these over the summer.

Lavender lemonade

2/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons packed fresh lavender blossoms, rinsed, or a tablespoon-ish of dried ones if that’s what you have on hand
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine the sugar, half the water, and the lavender in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a simmer. Let it stand until cool, then strain into a bowl.

Add the lemon juice and remaining water. If you’re turning these into pops, this is the time to pour the mixture into molds and freeze it.

If you’re going to drink this, fill a glass with ice and pour about half a glass of this mixture, then add more water because it’s going to be waaaay too sweet and concentrated even for the teenager, who basically eats like a hummingbird. If you’re really lucky, she’s going to add food coloring to make it look like lavender lemonade instead of plain old regular lemonade, and it’s festive indeed.

2017 Michigan Wine Tasting: Blood Orange, Almond, and Ricotta Cake

I’m pretty sure that everybody who asked about recipes from this event only wanted this one. Food, yeah yeah, whatever - let’s get to the good stuff: this dense, rich, creamy, amazing, and yes, gluten-free marvel of a cake. I made a trial run of this recipe and we ate cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a couple of days because it’s just that irresistible. The juice and cheese can even help you convince yourself that it’s full of Vitamin C and calcium and thus a sensible breakfast choice.

Baking hasn’t been much fun since we took gluten out of our lives. This is a big loss to me, since baking was my initial introduction to the kitchen, and up until my mid-30s baking was one of my favorite stress relievers. Yes, I know there are a million gluten-free recipes out there. We own at least a dozen cookbooks. We have an extensive array of non-wheat flours in the pantry. But every time I make a recipe, I can’t help but notice the differences in how the original gluten-y version would taste (chocolate chip cookies are the exception - David’s GF chocolate chip cookies are far superior to any other version in existence). But this cake - it was fun to make. It felt like I was really baking again.

I’ve made both the orange-topped and almond-topped versions, and opinions are divided as to which one is best. I love the bitterness of the candied orange slices and the finished product is just stunning; but Anna prefers the almonds, as shown by the insanely perfect arrangement she made to top the version we made for the event. I topped it with a dollop of creme fraiche, which is a little funky on its own but makes for a nice counterpoint to the richness of the cake.

I found this recipe via Deb Perelman’s wonderful Smitten Kitchen blog (subscribe immediately! And buy her books!). Her photos are lovely, her introductions are fun to read, and I adore her recipes - they make up a huge percentage of my file of favorite recipes. I want to grow up to be Deb, and I'm afraid that if I ever met her in person I would act like a silly fangirl and embarrass the hell out of myself.

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon water
3 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 blood oranges, or another orange of your choice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup ricotta
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 cup firm-packed almond flour or meal
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Optional: sliced almonds (if you're using them instead of the orange slices)

Heat oven to 300 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

Stir brown sugar and water together so they form a thick slurry. Pour into prepared cake pan and spread thin. Set aside.

Whip egg whites in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until they hold thick peaks. Set aside.

Place granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl. Finely zest both oranges over it.

Cut both oranges in half. Cut one of the halves into paper-thin slices and arrange slices over brown sugar base in cake pan OR arrange the almonds in some kind of pleasing way. Juice the remaining orange halves (I had about 1/3 cup juice) and set juice aside.

Add butter to zest and granulated sugar in large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer (you can use same beaters you just did for egg whites, because yay for fewer dishes to wash) until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, and beat to combine. Add juice and ricotta; mix until smooth. Sprinkle salt over batter, then add almond flour and cornmeal and mix until just combined. Gently fold in egg whites.

Scoop batter in large dollops over prepared cake pan base. Gently spread batter flat, trying not to disturb orange slices or almonds underneath. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and then for 5 more minutes. 

Cool cake in pan on rack for 5 minutes, and then run a knife around the side and invert onto a cake plate. If any orange slices or almonds don’t come out easily, just gently arrange them on the top of the cake and eat that slice first. Let cool and cut into slices. The cake keeps at room temperature, but we prefer it (eaten with a fork directly) from the fridge (because yay for fewer dishes to wash).

2017 Michigan Wine and Small Plates: Camembert and Olive-Stuffed Phyllo

At dinner earlier this week, our family was discussing the eternal question of What Gluten-y Food Do You Miss the Most? The winner, hands-down, was phyllo dough.

There’s no way around this, no GF version of phyllo hanging around somewhere, because the elasticity from the gluten is what makes those lovely paper-thin sheets possible. Yes, I know that phyllo is a genre, not a product, and there are almost certainly some rustic versions that are meant to be rolled thick and could be made GF, but that’s not what I think about when I hear the word “phyllo.” I think of spinach and cheese pies, golden brown and shattering into a million papery bits when you bit into it. I think of my favorite feta rolls, and burning my tongue on the filling because I can’t wait to eat them. I think of baklava. And then I think of baklava some more, and I feel very very sad. And then I cheat and eat a bunch of gluten-containing foods that week, and I feel very very sad in a completely different way. In fact, I’m still feeling that particular kind of sadness a few weeks later, so I’m pretty sure there won’t be any more phyllo in my foreseeable future.

If you don’t have this particular issue, might I suggest these cheese and olive rolls?

The cheese is funky and more strongly flavored than you might think, given its resemblance to Brie, and really holds its own against the olives. I’m not a fan of olives but I’ve come to tolerate them under certain circumstances (all of which involve cheese and wine). Given that this dish is intended to be paired with Syrah, it really needed some serious kick to hold up to the wine; I was pleasantly surprised all the way around, since I usually think of Syrah as something to be paired with red meats.

Don’t let the idea of working with phyllo dough intimidate you. There are two essential factors to your success: (1) Don’t let it dry out. Cover it immediately with the clean towel and recruit a helper to do nothing but move the towel when you need it, if at all possible. Ignore the package advice about using a damp towel, since in my experience all that means is that you’ll get some phyllo stuck to your towel in annoying, gummy patches. (2) Buy your phyllo from a Middle Eastern grocery or similar. There is no point whatsoever in trying to buy it at a regular grocery store; it’s not stored right or turned over quickly enough, and it inevitably is stuck to itself, dried out, and generally a misery to work with. You don’t need that kind of hassle.

If you’ve been following these posts, you won’t be a bit surprised to know this recipe comes from 100 Perfect Pairings by Jill Silverman Hough. In fact, you’ve probably gone out and bought your own version by now. I certainly hope so. Please invite me over when you start cooking from it!

Camembert and Olive-Stuffed Phyllo

8 ounces Camembert cheese, cut into ½-inch dice
1 cup drained, pitted Kalamata olives, chopped (the original recipe calls for black olives but I can’t even. Kalamatas are enough of a stretch for me.)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 stick of butter, melted
1 package of phyllo dough

In a food processor, mix the cheese, olives, eggs, and pepper until combined. Yes, this is going to be downright horrible-looking. Persevere.

Put the phyllo on a work surface and use a very sharp knife to cut the sheets in half. Immediately put a clean kitchen towel over the sheets so they don’t dry out – this happens very quickly and makes it almost impossible to work with the phyllo. If possible, arrange for a kitchen helper to move the towel off the phyllo when you need to get a sheet, which will speed up the process considerably.

Take a single half-sheet of phyllo off the top of the stack and put it in front of you. Place a spoonful of filling along the bottom of the sheet, about an inch or so in from the edge; spread it out in a line rather than a glop. Fold the bottom edge of the phyllo up to cover it and give the roll a half-turn, then fold the left edge over. Give the roll another half-turn and fold the right edge over, then continue rolling until the rest of the sheet is used up. Brush the top edge with a little butter to seal it closed and put the roll on a baking sheet. Brush the top with a little melted butter. Continue with the rest of the filling and phyllo.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or room temperature.

About the wine: I served this with Chateau Aeronautique 2012 Syrah. As I mentioned earlier, I was a little surprised at how well this held up to a biggish red; the cheese is pretty intense and the huge amount of olives adds a lot of brininess. This particular Syrah is a little fruitier and less tannic than some others I’ve had but I suspect that this particular recipe would hold up just fine if you had a peppery wine that punched you in the face a bit, if you’re into that sort of thing. 

2017 Michigan Wine and Small Plates: Balsamic Mushroom Melange

Let’s be clear: Mushrooms and I have a long and adversarial relationship. I’ve never really been a fan. When I was a kid my stepfather would call me “Microsurgeon” based entirely on how meticulously I would pick every single tiny bit of mushroom (and onion, and green pepper, and olive) off my pizza before I would touch it. My anomalous love of Campbell’s  Cream of Mushroom soup aside, I’ve spent most of my adult life avoiding mushrooms in all their various incarnations. Stuffed mushrooms? I’ll pass. Sauteed over a steak? Plain meat is fine. And a grilled Portabello is not just like a burger, fer cryin’ out loud! It’s not the taste so much as the texture, that rubbery slide-off-your-teeth feeling. Which, clearly, only indicates that I was served poorly-prepared mushrooms for far too long, because even mushroom haters can be converted to mushroom meh by this dish (Anna: “Wow, Mom. I didn’t even hate these.”). And if you don't hate mushrooms you'll probably really like right out of the gate, no tentative nibbles required. 

Don’t be daunted by the ingredient list – if you’ve ever made Indian food or baked, odds are good you have most of these on hand. If not, please allow me to take this opportunity to extol the virtues of buying your spices in bulk. Lots of fruit markets and higher-end grocery stores have a bulk spice section and it will save you a ton of money when you only have to buy a tiny amount of something you’re not likely to use often. Ethnic grocery stores are also great for this. Bonus: you’ll go through small amounts of spices much faster, so your spices will generally be fresher when you use them. Double bonus: the proportions here are pretty forgiving so you can fiddle a bit if you run out of something. Triple bonus: this recipe scales up infinitely. You could make a whole container of this mix and have it available whenever you need a delicious side or appetizer or something a little different to top the steak you just pulled off the grill.

Another thing to not be daunted by? The volume of the mushrooms. Believe me, they shrink right down; I was a little concerned that 18 cups of mushrooms was not going to be enough for this entire crowd. But I can also see that most people aren’t going to be nuts enough to make a new recipe for 30 people without testing it out first. Just sayin’.

From the marvelous 100 Perfect Pairings by Jill Silverman Hough. Please, go buy it.

Balsamic Mushroom Melange

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
1 pound mixed mushrooms, larger ones cut in half, stems removed from shiitakes (about 8 cups)
3 tablespoons crumbled feta, about 1 ounce (optional, but who wants to skip feta?)
Chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 450.

Combine the olive oil and all the spices in a bowl. Add the mushrooms, tossing to coat evenly. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and bake about 15 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the feta and parsley.

About the wine: I paired this with Domaine Berrien Cellars 2013 Merlot. Mushrooms and Merlot are a nice pairing – ignore everyone who tries to sell you on Pinot Noir with this, because everyone loves Pinot Noir just a little bit too much. The wine is made in an Old World style, with lots of earthiness and not a lot of fruit, so it’s just right for spice and mushrooms. I spent a long time drinking Merlot that I didn’t really enjoy – I ordered it at restaurants because I was 100% sure I could pronounce it correctly – and this wine is making me rethink my general anti-Merlot stance. 

2017 Michigan Wine and Small Plates: Fig, Goat Cheese, and Arugula Salad

The first time I made this, I had stumbled across an unexpected cache of fresh figs at the grocery store earlier that day. (I am utterly obsessed with fresh figs, and if I am ever persuaded to move to California it will only be so that I can have a fig tree in my yard like Edon Waycott apparently does). And it was just fantastic. Don’t get me wrong - dried figs are perfectly pleasant - but there’s nothing at all like a fresh fig to make me feel that I’m eating something opulent. I also cheated and used a vanilla fig balsamic vinegar that I had hanging out in my cupboard – salad dressings and easy marinades are the best excuse to keep a huge stash of vinegars around. The dressing was just fantastic, and I’m sad that I’ve used all the vinegar and that it was from a booth at an art fair a couple of years ago and I’ll probably never find it again.

The second time I made this, I used dried figs and followed the recipe for the dressing, and it was still really, really good. I always tend to overdo my salads (throw in more things!) but this basically 4 ingredients and it completely works. The third time I made this, I split the difference – dried figs and the last of my awesome vanilla fig balsamic vinegar. And you know what? It was good that way too.

The lesson here is that there is pretty much no way to make this not good, and you should resist the urge to throw in more vegetables. You should tinker around with different vinegars and make the dressing however you darn well please (salad dressing is literally the only thing I will 100% improvise on, because I have 12 kinds of vinegar and 7 kinds of oil in my pantry and I can). It looks pretty on the plate. It takes about 3 minutes to put together. It feels a little fancy and exotic, especially if you’re using fresh figs. If you have been an arugula hater in the past, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how well the sharpness of the greens is tamed by the dressing. You’ll be so happy that you’re eating figs, because it makes you feel like you’re on vacation (possibly this is just me….).

Another great recipe from 100 Perfect Pairings by Jill Silverman Hough, which you should probably buy. 

Fig, Goat Cheese, and Arugula Salad

¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
12 dried or 6 fresh figs, timed and quartered (if you’re using dried, get the good i.e., expensive organic ones, they’re likely to be a little more tender)
12 cups loosely packed arugula
¾ cup crumbled goat cheese
¾ cup candied pecans

In a small bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients (through pepper), then whisk in the olive oil. (Or throw everything into a mason jar and shake it up really well, because that makes fewer dishes).

Combine the figs with about 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Dress the arugula to taste and divide onto individual plates. Divide the figs among the plates, and garnish with goat cheese and pecans. If you can’t find the pecans at the store and don’t have the time/energy/inclination to make your own, skip them. Or throw some toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds on there, but absolutely resist the urge to add anything else if (ahem) you’re always overdoing the salads.

About the wine: I paired this with 2 Lads 2015 Polar Vortex Rose. This is a blend of Syrah and Riesling, and it was quite a bit drier than the previous vintage while still being really fruit-forward; the watermelon and strawberry notes were a nice contrast to the sharpness of the greens and went well with the sweetness of the figs (because what wouldn’t? Figs are perfect).  I love rose and think it’s a great wine to serve when you don’t know what someone likes, as they can be light enough for the white wine drinkers and tasty enough for the red wine drinkers. Also rose practically screams “spring in here!” and we need a little bit of that. Anyone who thinks that all roses are too sweet has been traumatized by cheap White Zinfandel at some point in their wine-drinking past, and as a good friend you can help them move past this sad episode. They will thank you for it. You’re a good person.  

Cookbook Challenge #3: Sweet and Spicy Beef Noodles

I'm not sure why I decided that the cookbook challenge recipes had to be all new - there are definitely some favorites that I'd like to post, but it feels like cheating. Or maybe it's just my way of justifying a leap back into some cookbooks that I usually find a bit intimidating. Anything by Ming Tsai, for example.

Seriously. How can you resist this man?

I blame Ming for my love of cooking shows. I developed a major celebrity crush after I discovered East Meets West; he's handsome, charming, intelligent, AND a good cook. He told little stories about his family. He was self-deprecating. He made amazing and beautiful food, and then he invited you to sit down and dine with him and talked about his beverage pairings. I was instantly smitten. And once I discovered that he was also an engineer.....! Well, then.

This particular cookbook showed up during the Cookbook Club of the Month era, and it's probably the only one I never considered sending back. I read it cover to cover (yes, I'm a fangirl) and dreamed about having the culinary skills required to pull off *any* of these recipes. It's a bit intimidating. But the few items I've made from it have been outstanding. so I decided to tackle a weeknight recipe, something that Ming (yes. we're on a first-name basis) calls his equivalent of spaghetti and meatballs. I think it's more of an Asian riff on bolognese, a rich, unctuous sauce full of meat that was a fantastic reason to use the GF hoisin sauce I found recently. I can see adding this to the weeknight rotation, or making a big batch and freezing it for a hectic night when I need dinner on the table in 15 minutes - the amount of time it takes to soak rice noodles and chop a few fresh veggies to top it.

From Blue Ginger: East Meets West Cooking by Ming Tsai

Sweet and Spicy Beef Noodles 

3 tablespoons canola oil
3 Thai bird chiles, finely chopped (we skipped these and opted to add Sriracha to the final dish, in deference to John's general pickiness)
1/4 cup finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinsed and drained
1 red onion, finely diced
2/3 cup hoisin sauce
1 pound ground beef (not too lean)
1/2 cup Shaoxing rice wine
1  cup chicken stock
1 pound rice noodles
1 cucumber, peeled and julienned
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
2 cups mung bean sprouts 

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the chiles (if using), garlic, ginger, beans, and onion and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the hoisin sauce and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add the meat and cook until it browns, about 6 minutes. Add the wine and stock. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thick and saucy, about 45 minutes.

Soak the rice noodles in boiling water until tender. Drain well and toss with the sauce. Pass the vegetables and sprouts on the side to garnish.

2017 Michigan Wine and Small Plates: Edamame Wontons with Ginger-Soy Dipping Sauce

My teenage daughter likes to cook. She took a culinary and textile arts class in school last year, and it was a big boost to her confidence to realize that she knows her way around a kitchen better than a lot of her classmates. She subsequently spent a lot of time and energy making huge messes in the kitchen at home perfecting her skills (the 5-minute microwave cake for 1 continues to be a sore point every time I find a chocolate-encrusted bowl underneath the couch).

Call me an optimist. Every time I'm standing over the sink, scraping dried tomato sauce off a pan or scrubbing food coloring off my hands ("It was a very important experiment!) or picking broken glass out of my freezer ("I wanted to see what would happen if I froze it"), I entertain idyllic visions of us side-by-side in the kitchen - probably wearing matching aprons - lovingly creating beautiful meals together.

I know, right? It took me a while to type that, I was laughing so hard. Also my dream kitchen includes a lot more counter space.

But there is a serious upside to all this: she's getting to be a hella sous chef. (She would probably be even better at it if I didn't forget how to use nouns when I'm under pressure; pointing and flapping only goes so far.) And she made 10 dozen wontons with pretty much no help at all from me.

Had I been making these, there would have been many fewer wontons to serve to guests. I would have been fussing back and forth between the table and the kitchen and a bunch of the wrappers would have gotten dried out and thrown away. My back would ache and I'd be all freaked out about the other things that weren't getting done. Possibly the filling would have been served as a dip instead.

Don't let this deter you - making a normal number of these for a normal number of guests is totally reasonable. A lot of my kitchen-related stress comes from the fact that all my events seem to involve quadrupling recipes. Should you choose to do so yourself, I highly recommend recruiting some helpers.

Now my idyllic visions revolve around all the other tedious and time-consuming tasks I can foist off on her. I'm thinking grapeleaves and meatballs and risotto and egg rolls and batches of teeny-tiny little cookies and.....

As with the rest of the event menu, this recipe is taken from 100 Perfect Pairings by Jill Silverman Hough. If you're looking for a GF variation, serve this as a dip with some rice crackers and drizzle the dipping sauce over the top (be sure to use GF soy sauce).

Edamame Wontons with Ginger-Soy Dipping Sauce 

2 cups shelled edamame
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
6 tablespoons aji-mirin (Japanese cooking wine)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
36 ROUND wonton wrappers
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
Safflower, sunflower, peanut, or other high-heat cooking oil

Set 1/2 cup of the edamame aside. Combine the remaining edamame, lemon juice, cilantro, and 1/4 cup of the aji-mirin in a food processor and process until it forms a chunky paste. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the rest of the edamame and all but 1 teaspoon of the scallions.

Arrange 6 wonton wrappers on a work surface and cover the remaining wrappers with a towel. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the edamame mixture onto the bottom third of the wrapper, moisten the edges with a little water, and fold the wrapper over the filling. Press the edges to seal. Place on a baking sheet in a single layer.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick skillet. Working in batches, fry the wontons until browned, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. (You can also boil them in well-salted water for about 2 minutes).

To make the dipping sauce: Combine the soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and remaining 2 tablespoons of aji-mirin. Serve in individual small bowls and garnish with the reserved scallions.

About the wine: I served this with Bel Lago 2015 Riesling, which is a personal favorite. People tend to think that Riesling is too sweet, but there are plenty of dry and off-dry Rieslings out there as well. This particular one is a Goldilocks wine - not too dry, not too sweet, with lots of green apple and stone fruit on the palate and nice minerality in the finish. It brings out that little touch of sweetness in the dipping sauce; the acidity cuts through the richness of the sesame oil; and it's light enough that it doesn't overwhelm the edamame.

2017 Michigan Wine and Small Plates: Smoked Trout Salad on Pumpernickel Toasts

For the third year in a row, I hosted a Michigan wine and small plates pairing at church. There’s always a few points leading up to the event when I decide I’m completely crazy and need to stop volunteering to do things like this. But it is, in fact, related to what I do for a living, and it’s fun (in a sick, labor-intensive way). One of these years I’m going to get a bunch of great pictures and you can see it in process. This is not that year. So here’s the menu instead:

Smoked mackerel salad on pumpernickel toast paired with Domaine Berrien Cellars 2015 Polar Vortex White

Edamame wontons in a soy-ginger dipping sauce with Bel Lago Winery 2015 Riesling

Goat cheese, fig and arugula salad with 2 Lads Winery 2015 Polar Vortex Rose

Balsamic mushroom melange with Domaine Berrien Cellars 2013 Merlot

Camembert and olive-stuffed phyllo with ChateauAeronautique Winery 2012 Syrah

Blood orange, ricotta, and almond cake with ChateauAeronautique Winery 2012 Late Harvest Riesling

I’d love to pretend that I am some kind of food-and-wine genius and could figure out these pairings by myself, but as usual I’ve turned to Jill Silverman Hough’s 100 Perfect Pairings. I’ve made a huge number of recipes from this book over the last couple of years and she has never once steered me wrong; the food is fantastic and the pairings are spot-on. I found wines from the store I work at that fit the bill – oh, what a hardship! – and followed her excellent recipes and recruited some helpers, but I feel like she really did most of the work here.  As with previous events, I learned a lot, and I’m looking forward to being able to grab a recipe and instantly know an inspired wine pairing to amaze and impress my friends.

Smoked trout salad with pumpernickel toasts

Yes, I know I said mackerel. A funny thing happened on the way to the seafood store….. Both versions are excellent. Hough also recommends using smoked salmon, which would doubtless be completely delicious and also open the door to some other wine pairings. Don’t make this more than a couple of hours before you’re ready to serve it; it takes on a distinctly fishy flavor once it sits for bit. For the GF folks, this is also delicious on crackers or in cucumber cups.

1 oz. watercress (about 1 ½ cups)(you can substitute arugula as well)
1 lemon
4 oz. smoked trout (or mackerel or salmon), skin removed, flaked
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
¼ - ½ tsp prepared horseradish
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
16 thin slices of pumpernickel or dark rye bread, toasted

Chop half the watercress or arugula and put in a medium bowl. Set the rest aside for garnishing.

Zest and juice the lemon; you should have about 1 tsp of zest and 2 tbsp of juice. Add the zest and juice to bowl, then add the fish, cream cheese, horseradish, and pepper. Mix well and season to taste (when I made this with the trout, the lemon zest was a little overpowering. It’s always easier to add than take away!)

Taste with your wine and adjust the lemon or pepper if needed. Spread on the toasts and garnish with additional watercress. 

About the wine: Michigan had a couple of years of really terrible weather; the extreme cold from the polar vortex killed off a lot of vines and resulted in some very small harvests. This led to some creative blending of the smaller amounts of fruit - in this case, Viognier, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. This particular wine has been something of a rock star, particularly among the Sauvignon Blanc drinkers and those who think they don't like blends. It has floral and citrus notes with pear, peach, and melon notes, and the acidity really balances out the richness of the smoked fish and cream cheese. 

The Ultimate Comfort Food: Pastitsio

This has been a big bummer of a day. I could list all the reasons I’m feeling gloomy – starting with today’s news and heading straight on through to the weather forecast – but that would only make things worse so instead I’m going to tell you about the most wonderful comfort food in the face of the earth.

Pastitsio is sometimes described as the Greek version of macaroni and cheese – which is kind of fair, because it contains both macaroni and cheese – but it’s so much more than that. There’s lamb (yay!) and tomatoes (yay!) and cinnamon (yay!), which are all delicious and make me happy. It’s substantial enough to fend off the winter blahs and light enough that you can easily justify eating more of it than is strictly good for you. It can sit in the middle of the table after dinner while you sip at your wine and chat with friends and pick at the edges, and once you put it in the fridge it practically begs to be eaten cold from the pan while you and your fork hide behind the refrigerator door so you don’t get yelled at. It’s a great big pan of I Love You So Much and I Promise Things Are Going To Get Better and You Are Totally Worth Dirtying Up Every Pan in the House.

While I personally think that we should eat it every week, it admittedly is a bit of bother (see aforementioned dirtying of pans) and while there’s no problem in substituting gluten-free pasta, I haven’t found a dairy-free alternative to heavy cream that doesn’t alter the flavor. And there’s just no getting around the fact that a tomato is a tomato. So this isn’t one that David is going to be eating anytime soon. I try not to get caught up in being a food purist, especially given that substitutions are a bit of a way of life around here, but this is one dish that I’m not willing to compromise on. Diner versions invariably fall short – this is for home cooking.

The messy original

This recipe appeared in the Detroit News sometime in the late 80s or early 90s and comes to me via my mom. It traveled around in my recipe file for a good long while before I worked up the nerve to make it, and it’s been rewritten several times after being splashed, splattered, and generally subjected to the fallout from cooking it. It’s currently in a sheet protector, written in red ink that’s been smeared into near-illegibility. I’m reluctant to rewrite it yet again because that smeared page is a reminder of all the times it’s been just the comfort I needed, served up in a big bowl with a blanket and a chick flick; all the times it’s been a company-worthy treat dished out onto the good china; all the times I’ve made it for someone’s birthday or breakup or when they needed to feel loved. If Food Is Love, pastitsio is the hug that makes you believe things really will get better.

Pastitsio

1 lb macaroni
4 eggs, separated
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 5 tablespoons butter, softened
½ lb freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14-oz can Italian-style tomatoes, drained and chopped
2 medium fresh tomatoes, seeded and chopped
Pinch of sugar
1 3-inch cinnamon stick
1 ¼ - 1 ½ lbs cooked ground lamb
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons flour
1 ½ cups hot chicken stock
½ cup heavy or whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Cook the macaroni in a large pot of salted water until just al dente. Rinse under cold water and transfer to a large bowl.

While the macaroni is cooking, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry.

Pour the melted butter over the macaroni and toss to coat. Sprinkle with ½ cup cheese and toss again. Fold in the beaten egg whites. Set aside.

Melt 3 tablespoons of the remaining butter with the olive oil. Add the onion and cook 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and sugar and add the cinnamon stick. Stir in the lamb and mustard and cook 15-20 minutes, until the liquid is mostly evaporated. Cool slightly and remove the cinnamon stick. Stir in ½ cup of cheese and ¼ cup bread crumbs and mix thoroughly.

Melt the remaining butter, then whisk in the flour to make a roux. Add the chicken stock and heat to boiling. Add the cream and nutmeg and cook until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.

Lightly beat the egg yolks and whisk in ¼ cup of the sauce. Whisk the tempered egg back into the sauce.

Butter a large lasagna pan. Sprinkle the dish with 2 tablespoons bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon cheese. Spoon half the macaroni evenly into the dish. Top with the lamb mixture, then the rest of the macaroni. Pour the sauce over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and bread crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

Cookbook Challenge #2: Halibut with Sake, Soy Sauce, and Ginger (Ni Mono)

It’s entirely coincidental that the second Cookbook Challenge recipe is also a fish dish. We really don’t eat all that much seafood (boo!) but we’re 2 for 2 right now: John liked this well enough to eat half a piece of fish. So maybe I’ll just keep trolling all my cookbooks for seafood recipes….

This is one that I probably picked up at a used bookstore or garage sale somewhere, knowing that I don’t have a lot of fish/seafood cookbooks and wanting to expand my repertoire. Honestly, this isn’t the way to do it. I’ve got a few things flagged for later in the year – David adores his smoker and there were definitely some intriguing treatments here – but mostly this served as an interesting reminder of how food trends change over time. I’m sure we’ll look back on the current era and roll our eyes at “artisanal” and all the microgreens and sweet dancing monkeys on a stick ALL THE DAMN KALE… but this felt pretty fussy. Lots of French sauces, multi-step garnishes, lots of cream and butter, etc. – just a bit more fabulous than I’m willing to be on most days. Some of that is probably because it’s a Bon Appetit publication, because Bon Appetit is also a bit more fabulous than I’m willing to be on most days. If Imaginary Mom is a Good Housekeeping-type of gal, this is Imaginary Glamorous Alternate Life Non-Mom cooking.

That being said, I’ll hang onto this one and tackle some of the smoker recipes later this year. I can’t imagine I’m going to be bold enough to try serving fish at a dinner party anytime soon, but I never say “Never” where food is concerned.

From “Cooking with Bon Appetit: Seafood,” copyright 1983. We served it over plain white rice with steamed snow peas and bok choy, but you could fancy it up with an assortment of Asian salads and it would be nice enough for company.

Halibut with Sake, Soy Sauce, and Ginger (Ni Mono)

8 small 1-inch thick halibut steaks (I used swai and it was great; any white fish would work here)
½ cup mirin
½ cup Japanese soy sauce
¼ cup sake
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
½ teaspoon salt

Arrange fish in a single layer in large skillet. Combine mirin, soy sauce, sake, sugar, ginger, and salt and pour over fish. Cover, place over medium heat, and simmer until fish is opaque. 

I Have 99 (Food) Problems But Fruit Isn’t One of Them: Pork Chops or Chicken with Apples

My son’s capriciousness is not limited to fish. I don’t know from day to day whether or not he likes pork, and invariably I’ll make pork chops on what is clearly a Chicken Day. And if, god forbid, I make chicken, he’ll declare that he’s tired of the same thing all the time and could I mix it up a bit? The solution, of course, is to make whatever I want or whatever is in the freezer or whatever is on sale. I give the illusion of choice by asking him which he prefers when I make the grocery list, but I’d be lying if I said that I actually listen to this (he always asks for the same 3 things anyway, and everyone else in the family is sick of them).

The one constant in his diet is apples. Never, ever, ever in the history of the world has there been a kid who loves apples like he does. Some people budget for junk food or restaurant dinners or wine; I have a fruit budget. We could literally have an orchard in the back yard and not keep up. I fully expect swarms of fruit flies to follow him around during the warmer months, and briefly considered whether a medieval-style pomander of vinegar and dish soap worn around his neck would address the problem as handily as it does my garbage disposal.

Imagine my delight when I came across this recipe in a recent issue of Cooking Light (September 2016, and I have I mentioned enough times that you really ought to subscribe?). Here I have a 50/50 chance of picking a meat that he will eat; it is ridiculously good, takes almost no effort, and is nice enough that you could serve it to company. It scales up nicely and holds well at room temperature if your family is eating in shifts due to someone’s sports schedule; throw a green veg on the side and you won’t even miss the starchy stuff.

Chicken or Pork Chops with Apples 

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

4 bone-in pork chops or boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper, divided

1/2 cup  chicken stock

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

2 medium apples, thinly sliced

1 small red onion, thinly vertically sliced

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper, then add to the pan and cook 5 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Combine stock and mustard and whisk to combine. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Add sage, rosemary, apple, onion, and a bit more salt and pepper to the pan and cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in stock/mustard mixture. Return meat to the pan and cook 3 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. 

Chicken Glop

I’ve always found it interesting that many cultures don’t have separate foods that are just for breakfast. Like my daughter, they eat the same kinds of things for breakfast as they do for lunch and dinner rather than the modified English country breakfast we’re accustomed to. As a person who doesn’t eat gluten or dairy and who really doesn’t like eggs, Anna’s breakfast options are pretty limited when we go out; her favorite Coney Island breakfast is lemon rice soup. This dish fits the bill perfectly for her: easy to reheat, substantive enough to get her through to lunchtime, and squishy enough to eat when you’re half-asleep on the way to school.

Hey! Did you know that Glop was a Marvel comic book character? I didn't.

The original Chicken Glop was based on a recipe for a Middle Eastern dish called halim - basically a meat porridge - in which I substituted millet for the barley (and a Cornish hen for the chicken, but Cornish Hen Glop doesn’t have quite the same ring to it). It was tasty but took a while to make on the stovetop, so I was super happy when Cooking Light published a slow-cooker chicken congee in a recent issue. I’m always on the lookout for good slow cooker meals, which make David’s life a lot easier on weeknights when I’m at work and he’s schlepping the kids to various sports practices. It also helps keep him and John safe, since Anna post-swim practice is sometimes hungry enough to resort to cannibalism if food isn’t produced quickly enough.

We liked the original Chicken Glop, but this version is just fantastic. I’ve literally eaten it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the last 2 days, and I’m really sad that it’s almost gone now and I’m going to make more as soon as I buy more chicken. This is definitely going to be a coffee can recipe now that the coffee can is an actual binder in the kitchen instead of the electronic version that David alleges he maintained for years.

Adapted with minor variations from Cooking Light magazine, January/February 2017, where it is more respectably named Slow-Cooker Chicken Congee. I recently renewed my subscription after a 10-year break and I can’t recommend it highly enough to everyone that cooks. At least half of our weeknight dinners for the last 6 months have come from here.

Chicken Glop

8 cups chicken stock (homemade or unsalted)
1 cup uncooked basmati or jasmine rice
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated (we keep the pre-grated jars in the fridge for John’s favorite ginger chicken, which I can’t believe I haven’t posted yet. We literally eat it every week.)
1 whole cut-up fryer
1 star anise pod (another great reason to buy your spices in bulk rather than pre-measured jars)

Put all the ingredients in your slow cooker and cook on Low for 6 ½ hours or so. When it’s done, take out the chicken, pull the meat off the bones, and put it back into the rice. Cook on High for about 30 minutes.

Seriously. That’s it.

If you use a slow cooker liner, which is basically a plastic bag that goes into the insert and makes cleanup a zillion times easier, you will be much happier using your slow cooker. You can find them near the plastic wrap and foil at the grocery store. 

The original recipe calls for a Thai chile in the slow cooker, and topping your bowl with chopped peanuts, green onions, hot chili oil or Sriracha, watercress springs, and diced avocado. And I bet that would really elevate this dish and be delicious; maybe I’ll try it next time. But it’s a lot more likely that I’m doing to ladle it into a bowl and eat it as-is, maybe with the little salt and pepper, because that’s what Chicken Glop is all about. 

Cookbook Challenge #1: Cornmeal-crusted Snapper, or Next Time Fish

I have a lot of cookbooks. One hundred sixty-nine, in fact, which is actually fewer than I thought (and therefore is not too many, as some might suggest). Some of them are souvenirs from places I’ve visited; some are holdovers from the period during which I couldn’t figure out how to cancel the Cookbook of the Month Club; some are clearly intended as jokes; and some are indispensable and beloved, full of written notes and splattered pages, a diary of our family dinners.

But I’m in the middle of a housecleaning binge, so anything that takes up shelf/closet/floor space needs to earn its keep and justify the room it takes up. I have a hard time letting go of cookbooks even when I haven’t really used them much – you never know when a recipe will come in handy! – so it clearly makes more sense to start dusting them off and using them. With that in mind, I’m starting a personal cookbook challenge: to make and post a recipe from every single one of the 169 cookbooks currently gracing my shelves.

Recipe #1 comes from Prime Time Emeril by Emeril Lagasse, he of “Bam!” fame. That was early in the celebrity chef stage. I’d like think that we’ve all calmed the hell down a little bit since then; and I’m not going to let the memory of my friend’s brother screaming ‘BAM!” at the top of his lungs every time he (over)seasoned a piece of fish one summer ruin this cookbook for me. I’d been assuming it was a gift from friends some years ago, the source of a rich and amazing risotto recipe that we loved back when everyone in the house ate dairy….but I was paging through it looking for that recipe, and realized that it’s from a completely different Emeril cookbook. I had no idea I have 2. I have no idea where this came from. Possibly Cookbook of the Month Club.

I’m always on the lookout for fish recipes that my son will eat. Invariably I’ll find something and make it and he’ll hate it with a full-on, Calvin-pretending-to-die-at-the-dinner-table fervor. So the next time I make fish I assume he’ll eat leftovers from a different meal and buy a correspondingly smaller piece of fish, and he will loveloveLOVE it and nobody gets as much dinner as they want. This is a Next Time dish, because he loved it and ate a whole big piece of red snapper and Anna had to eat soup (also from this cookbook, btw) after dinner.

Cornmeal-Crusted Fish

½ cup flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose GF mix)
1 ¼ tsp salt
2 ½ tsp seasoning (more on this in a minute)
1 egg
¾ cup masa harina
3 tbsp olive oil
4 8-oz fish fillets. The original recipe called for redfish; I used snapper; but any thin white fillet would work

Blend ¼ cup of the flour, ½ tsp salt, and 1 tsp of the seasoning mix and pour onto plate.

Whisk the egg with 2 tbsp water, ¼ tsp salt, and ½ tsp of the seasoning mix. Pour onto another plate.

Mix the masa harina, the remaining ¼ cup flour, ½ tsp salt, and 1 tsp of the seasoning mix. Pour onto a third plate. At this point, it’s helpful if the plates are lined up next to the stove so you can move the fish along in a little assembly line.

Dust each fillet with the flour, dip in the egg wash, and coat with the masa harina mixture.

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a pan large enough to hold the fish without crowding. Pan fry the fish until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side. Serve immediately.

About the seasoning: The original recipe calls for Emeril’s Original Essence or Creole Seasoning. (Every time I read this all I can think is “essence of gelfling!” from the Dark Crystal.) I assume that you can buy this in stores but he also gives a recipe for making your own mix. I took out the paprika and cayenne, so the oregano and thyme were pretty noticeable; I’m guessing it’s quite a lot different if you follow the recipe as written. I bet it’s delicious. Please let me know when you try it.

2 ½ tbsp. paprika (yes, paprika has flavor! If yours doesn’t, throw it out and go buy the good stuff from Penzey’s)
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp fresh-ground pepper
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp cayenne (and you should certainly feel free to adjust this to taste. ‘Cause damn.)
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried thyme

Mix thoroughly and store in an airtight container. Use within 3 months. 

Is It Bread? Is it a Vegetable? Is it a Casserole? It’s…. Corn Thing!

We’ve all had those days, the kind of days with Noun Trouble:

“What did you end up getting your son for Christmas?”

“That thing he wanted.”

“What should I wear to the holiday party?”

“That thing. It’s cute.”

“What are we having with the tacos?”

“That corn thing.”

(I’m sure there are plenty of circumstances under which Noun Trouble becomes an actual communication problem, but this isn’t one of them – nobody else could figure out what to call it, either.)

In an effort to satisfy the hungry *and* the picky and still have lots of time to hang out with friends on New Year’s Eve, we opted to set up a taco bar and let everyone fend for themselves. This ludicrously easy side put in an appearance and made everyone happy, and there’s no actual dairy in cream-style corn so if you’ve been living large over the holidays and cheating on your involuntary food restrictions, you can proceed with similar abandon here and not even feel bad afterwards. 

I'm not usually a food-from-cans person. I'm sure there's an amazing version of this that you could make with actual corn scraped from an actual cob, and some heavy cream, and all sorts of extra steps and seasonings and such. Some days I adore recipes like that. Today is not that day. Today is a day when I want to produce comfort food with a minimum of time and effort so I don't look absolutely underprepared to have 30 people in my house and I can spend all my time talking to them and mixing margaritas instead of washing dishes. 

The chiles are optional but you should include them; they add flavor but not heat and hey – they’re an actual vegetable, so if you’re trying to rationalize your recent food choices you can comfort yourself with that teeny little speck of green. You healthy person, you!

From Quick Mexican Cooking by Cyndi Duncan and Georgia Patrick, which also contains an amazing and very easy recipe for enchilada sauce that will make you swear off the canned stuff forever. This isn't my usual style of cookbook but these 2 recipes alone have kept the book on my shelf for 18 years. 

Corn Thing

1 egg, beaten

¾ cup milk (or fake milk of your choice)

1 15-oz can cream-style corn

1 11-oz can whole kernel corn, drained

1 4-oz can diced green chiles

1/3 cup oil

2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese (or fake cheese, but I’d almost skip the cheese instead)

¾ cup cornmeal

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt (because you haven’t gotten enough from all the canned stuff)

Heat the oven to 400. Spray a 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine the egg, milk, corn(s), chiles, and oil. Add the remaining ingredients, stir to mix, and pour into the prepared pan. Bake 30-40 minutes.