Food Pet Peeves & A Giveaway!

It's just one of those days. The last day of January and another winter snow covered Monday. It feels like Groundhog Day (which is actually Wednesday!).
No recipe to post, I'm just in the mood to complain.

I've been keeping a list of my food pet peeves, and I think today is the day that I will share them with you along with a great giveaway! (see, I am not that bitchy!).



Peeve #1. (and probably my biggest one). When a menu has a misspelled word or typo.

The word I see most often misspelled on a menu is MESCALINE salad. Mescaline is a hallucinogen, and I don't want to eat it with a vinaigrette. I want to eat a MESCLUN salad.
I have seen this numerous times, and it makes me not want to eat in the restaurant, though I always giggle.
(PS last week I saw BROCOLLI and COLLIFLOWER on a menu of a well known farm to fork restaurant! Isn't BRO-COLLI a bacteria you get from your brother?)

Peeve #2: Reheated pizza.
When you go in for a slice (and I live in NJ/NYC area, the BEST pizza around) and they give you a reheated slice that has been sitting there for hours.
Tastes like cardboard with some grease on top. Should be illegal.

Peeve #3: RUDE FOODIES.
When a commenter on my blog has something negative to say and they sign it ANONYMOUS.
Just sign your name at the bottom of the comment, what you are you afraid of? Chicken.



That goes for emails that I receive that read "I can't print your recipe" " or "How many portions does this serve?". How about starting the email with HELLO, PLEASE and ending it with a THANK YOU and maybe your first name. (no one will write to me ever again after this one!).

Peeve #4. When I am making a pasta dish that requires a cup of the pasta cooking liquid (to thicken the sauce), and I drain the pasta, forgetting to save the water! BAH!



Peeve #5. I have 3 friends and one brother, who insist on using HOT SAUCE or ask for a salt shaker before having tasted the food! When I yell at them, they say that "they are addicted to it!".



Peeve #6. Dirty restaurant bathrooms.
No soap in the dispenser and paper towels on the floor. This is an indication of a poor establishment, I don't care how good the food is.



Peeve #7. When someone invites you to dinner for 7:00 and doesn't start to serve the meal until 10:00 pm.
Can I take my dessert to go?



Tell us your food pet peeves and 2 random winners will win a copy of Heart of The Artichoke, the new cookbook by Chez Panisse chef David Tanis.

*and please don't sign in as Anonymous, without at least leaving your first name at the end of your comment! Then I can't find you!

Winners will be announced on Saturday.

Peanut Butter Cookies w/ Chocolate Chunks & Sea Salt

I have never made a recipe from Paula Deen. I made her son's fish recipe once, but never a recipe from Madame. Her stuff is too heavy with cream, butter, mayo and loaded with fat for moi.

I was so surprised when I saw this cookie on this blog and it was from a Paula Deen "healthy" recipe!

What got me interested was the sea salt and the orange zest, both, for which I am a sucker for.

I wouldn't exactly call this recipe "healthy", it does have a lot of sugar, but at least it's gluten free and has no butter!

So a first recipe from Paula, and a first gluten free recipe here!

These took 5 minutes to whip up and 11 minutes to bake.
The easiest cookies I have ever made, and VERY DELICIOUS!



"Healthy"??? Cookies w/ Chocolate Chunks & Sea Salt (adapted from Paula Deen)

1 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp orange zest
2 tbsp vanilla
chocolate chunks for the top
fleur de sel or Maldon (my favorite) sea salt



Cream together all of the ingredients, except the chocolate and salt.

On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, form tablespoon sized balls (DO NOT FLATTEN THE BALLS......sounds perverse!).

Push a chocolate chunk into each ball, and sprinkle w/ sea salt.

Bake in a 350F oven for 10-12 minutes. Let sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes 16 cookies.
Next time I will double the recipe.



Enjoy!

Food Matters: Chickpea & Carrot Soup

I was just reading an article about the 10 WORST, and the 10 BEST foods for you.

On the list of WORST foods were the usual suspects:

- Cold Cuts (processed disgusting deli meat filled w/ preservatives)
- Diet Soda (is soda a food?)
- Canned Soup (must be the high sodium content)
- Margarine (a tablespoon of real butter is not going to kill you!)

On the top of the BEST foods were:

- Sweet Potatoes (coming in at #1, high fiber and high in vitamin C)
- Broccoli (high in antioxidants)
- Mangoes (high in vitamin A and other good stuff)
- Greek Yogurt (pro-biotics)
- and the lowly Garbanzo Bean (chickpeas)



The garbanzo bean is rich in protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc.
Hey, I never knew that, I just liked them because they were cute and versatile.
Try them dried, instead of canned, and you will be hooked!

Since I am trying to eat healthier in the new year, I turned to Mark Bittman's new book The Food Matters Cookbook, and looked for recipes using chickpeas.

The carrot chickpea soup sounded great.
He suggests using dried chickpeas because they make a wonderful broth, and he was right. They cook up fairly quickly, in about an hour or so, even quicker, if you soak them for an hour before hand.

The 2nd time I made this soup, I tried it w/ a 15 oz. can of drained chickpeas with very successful results. You be the judge.

Don't forget the almonds on top, this makes the soup even more amazing!

This was delicious!

Chickpea & Carrot Soup w/ Almonds: (adapted from Mark Bittman)

1 cup dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans), soaked for an hour or more (or a 15oz. can of drained garbanzo beans)
2 onions, chopped
1 lb. carrots (4 big ones), peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp Pimenton (Spanish SMOKED paprika)
2 tsp cumin
salt & pepper
5-6 cups of stock (I used 3 cups chicken broth, 2 cups water)
1 cup of orange juice
sliced or chopped almonds for garnish
fresh cilantro for garnish



In a heavy stockpot or Dutch oven, saute the onions, carrots and garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes. Season with salt, cumin, and pimenton the last 30 seconds of cooking.



After the vegetables are softened, add the liquid and the chickpeas to the pot. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. If you are using the dried beans, then simmer for at least an hour until chickpeas are very tender.

If you are using the canned beans, then simmer for 15 minutes so the carrots get soft.

Once your vegetables and beans are cooked, add the cup of orange juice.

Bittman says you can serve this soup pureed & creamy, or rustic style, leaving the vegetables whole.
I pureed half the solids with an immersion blender, then added it back to the pot so it thickened up a bit, while leaving some of the good stuff whole.

Garnish w/ the nuts and parsley and eat and be healthy.

Ragu Napoletana = Sunday Gravy

I know it's not a Sunday, but I wanted to give you some good ideas for the upcoming weekend.

As a kid growing up in NJ, my friends would invite me for "Sunday Gravy". Since we weren't Italian, this was foreign to me. Gravy in my family was the brown sauce my mother served with her roast beef or what you put on mashed potatoes.

This heavenly sauce, reserved for Sundays only, was filled with pork shoulder, beef, sausages, red wine and other delights. It simmered on the stove all day and my mouth watered as I sat at their wonderful family tables.



Where I lived, this Sunday gravy was known as Gravy Napoletan ("NAH-BO-LEE-DON"), and it hails from the South, in Naples.

This hearty meat sauce is from Mario Batali's book Molto Italiano, it's very simple to make and is the perfect winter Sunday dinner. It is sure to please.

*Sorry, no substituting TURKEY or CHICKEN sausage in this recipe, it just doesn't work.
(and you know who you are, so don't ask!)



Ragu Napoletana (a.k.a. Sunday Gravy):

1 lb. veal shoulder or pork shoulder cut into chunks
1/2 lb. beef chuck meat, cubed
salt & pepper
3 good quality hot Italian sausages, cut in half
two 28oz. cans of San Marzano whole tomatoes w/ juice
3/4 cup dry red wine (I use chianti)
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped



In a large Dutch oven, season your meat cubes with salt & pepper and sear in olive oil until brown. You will have to do this in a few batches. Don't overcrowd the meat, you want them to get a nice crust. Transfer to a plate.

In the same pot, add the chopped onion and saute, scraping the bottom of the pot w/ a wooden spoon, loosening up any brown bits. Now add the garlic and cook a minute or two, don't burn the garlic.

After the onion is soft, add the wine, meat chunks, tomatoes and sausages and bring to a boil, breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon.

Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook about 2 1/2 hours. Sauce will reduce and thicken and meat will be fork tender.




You can add meatballs to this sauce and I have seen other additions of meat, like neck bones, spare ribs, etc., but I followed Mario's recipe (except that he doesn't use garlic, and I did) to the letter. It's a big pot of meat, pork and tomato sauce, so use what you like.

Most people remove the meat to a separate platter and serve just the tomato sauce over pasta, then pass the meat platter. I like to serve the sauce from one pot.

Either way, it's all good!
Serve over rigatoni or penne and enjoy.

Broccoli Bites for Kids

File this under the Onion Soup Mix Recipe category, though there is no Lipton onion soup mix in site.

I may even serve these at my next dinner party, they were that good!

While babysitting for my 6 year old picky eater niece, I had to come up with a good lunch that would be fun for the two of us to make together.

She is not a big broccoli fan (or any vegetable fan), but I told her we would add melted gooey cheese and form the patties with our hands. She was sold.

Please don't laugh when you read this recipe, it is terrific and easy.
This would be a great vegetarian dinner along with a soup or salad.

I made it my own by adding homemade breadcrumbs and fresh chopped steamed broccoli along with lowfat mozzarella cheese mixed with the cheddar.



Broccoli Cheese Bites (adapted from My Tasty Treasures & WholeSomeBabyFood.com):

16 oz. package of frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained of liquid (I used fresh steamed broccoli)
1 1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese
3 eggs
1 cup of seasoned Italian breadcrumbs

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

With your hands, form small patties and lay on a parchment lined baking sheet.



Bake at 375F for 25 minutes, turning the patties after the first 15 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy!



Silly rabbit, Trix aren't just for kids!

Winter Chicken Salad w/ Blood Oranges & Almonds

On the quest for some healthy salads this week, I came across Mindy Fox's recipe for a chicken salad w/ blood oranges in Food & Wine.

This was light lunch fare, and made me feel good to know I was eating something with almost negative calories.

Did I ever mention that for as much as I love blood oranges, I hate peeling them?
They require a sharp paring knife to remove all the thick skin, then you pull the membranes off of them and try to expose that beautiful ruby red flesh without damaging them.



If you don't feel like using blood oranges, by all means use a naval orange.

I felt that the dressing was lacking something, so I added a tsp of grainy mustard, and that did the trick.

This makes a large quantity, so feel free to cut the recipe in half, as I did.
The leftover broth made a delicious chicken soup for the next day!



Winter Chicken Salad w/ Blood Oranges & Almonds:

2 whole chicken breasts, bone in with skin (4 halves)
5 celery ribs (3 will be for the broth, 2 for the salad)
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp salt
3 garlic cloves, smashed
3 blood oranges, cut into pieces (save the peels for the stock)
1 cup of shaved Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup of chopped Marcona almonds (delicious oily Spanish variety of almonds)
1 bunch of fresh baby arugula

Dressing:

3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp grainy mustard
salt & pepper

Whisk together dressing ingredients and set aside.

In a large pot, add the 3 celery stalks, smashed garlic cloves, peppercorns, and the peel of the oranges with 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil and add the chicken breasts. Cook for exactly 16 minutes, then remove from the heat and let the chicken rest in the water for 30 minutes.

Believe it or not, this really worked, and the breasts were cooked perfectly.

Remove chicken from the stock and let cool. Save the broth for soup. Remove skin and shred the meat with your hands.

In a large bowl, mix the cooled chicken with the blood orange sections, sliced celery and some of the dressing.

Mound on a platter of arugula and sprinkle with chopped almonds and shaved cheese.



Enjoy!

Nostalgia: Horn & Hardart Macaroni & Cheese

I am not old enough to remember the Horn & Hardart Automats in NYC, which closed in the 1960's, but I always remember my dad talking about how he used to have lunch there.

Anyone from NYC or Philadelphia (older than 60) would probably remember these cafeteria style places that coined the phrase "Less Work for Mother".
They fell out of fashion when waitress style luncheonettes became more popular in the early 1950's.



Automats were cafeteria style restaurants with home style cooking that started the "vending machine" meal, offering food behind glass that could be purchased by putting a few coins in the slot and out came a hot or cold meal. Sit down in a big place and eat. My dad said the food was actually delicious!

Comfort foods, like rice pudding, mac 'n cheese, meatloaf and hearty soups were among his favorites, along with their famous New Orleans coffee.



I've always heard about their famous baked beans and macaroni and cheese from New Yorkers who are nostalgic and very proud of their food culture (pastrami sandwiches, bagels, Italian food, etc. Don't mess with us when it comes to food).

I found this recipe on Arthur Schwartz's website, a NYC radio personality and cookbook author. It can also be found in his cookbook Arthur Schwartz's NYC FOOD an Opinionated History & More than 100 Legendary Recipes (now that's a mouthful!).

This is old school all the way.
No Gruyere, no Blue cheese, no panko breadcrumbs or fancy dancy ingredients. It's simple mac and cheese made with real cheddar, milk, and cayenne. The thing that interested me was the addition of the canned crushed tomatoes. It made a pink color sauce, and I thought it sounded good.

I was right! This was our favorite macaroni & cheese recipe to date.

I added some fresh thyme to the recipe for color, and I added some extra tomatoes for the top, so it had more of an attractive look (as if macaroni & cheese wasn't attractive enough!).

I liked the simplicity of this recipe and that it took very little time to make.
I also liked that I didn't have to buy 4 different cheeses for 30 bucks, which seems to be the trend these days w/ gourmet mac 'n cheese recipes. This recipe also has a lot less fat than other mac and cheese recipes (unless you eat 3 portions, like I did!). It's a win win situation!

I make mac 'n cheese only once a year, so here is my annual contribution.
Delicious!



Horn & Hardart Macaroni & Cheese (adapted from The Food Maven):

8 oz. small elbow macaroni (half a box)
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (*I added a bit more)
1 1/2 cup whole milk
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup of diced canned tomatoes
1 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 cups packed Cheddar cheese, grated (*I used Trader Joe's Special Reserve white cheddar and grated it myself)
salt and pepper to taste
*I recommend adding about a tablespoon of fresh thyme



Start cooking your pasta, about 7 minutes, as per package directions.
Make the sauce in the time that the pasta is cooking on the stove.

In a deep skillet, heat the butter on low heat with the 2 tbsp of flour. Whisk about a minute until a paste is formed.

Right away, add the milk and cream to the paste and raise the heat, whisking all the while, until the sauce comes to a boil and gets nice and thick. You want a slow boil while whisking, or your milk will burn. This should take about 5 minutes total.

After the white sauce is a nice thick consistency, remove it from the heat and pour in your cup of packed cheddar cheese, and stir until melted.

Add the 1/4 cup of tomatoes (I saved some whole pieces for the top of the casserole), sugar, cayenne, salt and pepper and thyme (if using).

Drain your elbows (the macaroni, not your arms) and add them to the cheese mixture in the skillet and mix together. Yum.

Pour this yumbly mixture into a shallow or 8" x 8" greased glass casserole. I added some pieces of the chopped tomato and thyme sprigs for decoration.

Bake in a 400F oven for 25-30 minutes until edges start to brown.

Let rest a few minutes before serving. Best served right away.

Serves 6.



This is worth getting nostalgic over.

ENJOY!

Melissa Clark's Chocolate Chip Pecan Cake

If you have noticed, I usually post a baking recipe on Saturdays.
"Do you really bake a cake once a week?", readers have asked me.

Yes, I really do.

I like to have a piece of cake with coffee in the afternoon; my husband MUST have a slice of cake at around 9:00 pm with milk for his snack; my neighbor calls and asks if I have anything sweet to eat to satisfy her sweet tooth?; and most importantly, when my dad stops by he expects a cup of hot coffee and a piece of cake.

Growing up, we always had an Entenmann's cake on the counter.



Though they don't make it anymore, their Sour Cream Chip & Nut Loaf was the best.
It was the first cake to sell out in the grocery store, and we would have to settle for the chocolate covered donuts (my dad still loves them) as a consolation.

That's a lot of pressure.

I know you will love this easy cake, because it's just that, easy to bake and really delicious.

To be a rebel, I baked it in a bundt pan and layered the pecans and chips in the middle of the batter, then on top of the batter, to give it more of a coffee cake swirl appearance, but the easy way is to bake it in a loaf pan, as the original recipe calls for.



Weekly Cake: Chocolate Chip & Pecan Pound Cake (adapted from Melissa Clark's In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite)

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)
3 large eggs
tsp vanilla
2/3 cup (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Butter and flour a 9" loaf pan or line w/ parchment paper.

Mix the sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla and yogurt in a bowl.

In another bowl mix the dry ingredients together. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients along with the chips and nuts and combine.

Pour into the loaf pan and bake at 350F for about 50 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.

As usual, I dusted mine with confectioner's sugar.



The cake was even better the next day (as I find most cakes are!).

Eat and ENJOY!

Yum! Roasted Cauliflower Pesto

The word pesto means "paste" in Italian, so it doesn't always have to be a summer thing made with basil.

You know how much I love cauliflower, so when I saw this recipe in Cooking for Friends, I knew I had to try it.

It was yummy. You could spread this stuff on bread (crostini!) or spoon it over spaghetti, which made for a wonderful dinner.

I took the liberty and added golden raisins for a Sicilian touch.

The recipe calls for cooking the cauliflower in a grill pan, which makes no sense.
It took forever and made a mess of my stove, so next time I will just roast the cauliflower to get it nice and caramelized, my favorite way.

This makes a great winter pesto! Try it.



Roasted Cauliflower Pesto:

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets
kosher salt
1/2 cup almonds, toasted
1 garlic clove
1 cup parsley
2 tbsp capers, drained
1/2 - 3/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup golden raisins

Roast the cauliflower in a 400F oven for 30 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice, until golden brown.

In a food processor, add the toasted almonds, parsley, garlic, capers and roasted cauliflower. Pulse once or twice and add the olive oil. Pulse a few more times to make a nice chunky consistency. Taste and season the pesto with salt & pepper.

Cook your pasta and add the pesto with raisins along w/ some reserved pasta water to thin out the sauce.
Garnish with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and enjoy!



1/24: I spread the leftover cauliflower pesto on baguette slices, placed them on a baking sheet, drizzled some olive oil over the crostini and baked them at 350F for 10 minutes. Even better than on the pasta!