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Stuffed Cabbage
Tis the season for a whole lot of cabbage. I think that I have at least two more heads of cabbage awaiting some sort of similar treatment as you see herewith. Cabbage causes Storkbite to loose her cookies so we can’t feed her too much even though she loves all cabbage, especially the fermented variety. In this tasty dish I conjured my German roots and rolled up some nice augmented pork sausage in blanched cabbage leaves. Follow along if this sounds good to you. It was a homerun at our house.
First blanch a head of cabbage by cutting out the core from the stem side and dunking it in a pot of boiling water. With each dunk a few leaves will fall off. Put the leaves in a colander and rinse them with cold water.
Assemble your filling in a seperate mixing bowl. I used browned pork sausage (like Italian sausage, just slit the casing and squeeze contents into a bowl) combinded with 2 tbs. bread crumbs, diced onion, garlic and bell peppers. Add a few pinches of salt and pepper and mix it all up.
Take the cabbage leaves one by one, add about 1/4 c. of filling to each leaf and roll up and place in your pan. Cover it all in a nice tomato sauce (like Basic Sauce from my previous post) and bake in a covered Dutch oven for about 40 mins.
It was extremly satisfying, dairy free and consumed with reckless abandon by the entire family — including Storkbite.
Sometimes we can’t get enough of a good thing, or our CSA keeps sending us the same stuff. When that happens we do a lot of repeats with slight variations. This time I added leeks to the basic potato soup and transformed it into what Storkbite’s Papa refers to as “Baked Potato Soup”. In effort to be as thrify and possible and handcraft my own stork food, these pureed soups are becoming a real hit. Just before adding the cream, I skim off a good portion and Storkbite eats it for her lunches and dinners. So far the potato soup, butternut squash soup and now potato and leek soup have been a huge hit with the babe.
Potato and Leek Soup, a.k.a. Baked Potato Soup
For this soup I sauteed one small onion, three cloves garlic, and two chopped leeks (remember to soak in cold water to remove the sand!) in some olive oil and 1 tbs. butter. Once everything was glassy and smelled good I added about two pounds of skinned and diced fingerling potatoes. After turning it with a large wooded spoon so it was nicely mixed I added 1 box of chicken stock, refilling the same box with water and adding it. Then some salt and pepper to taste. When the potatoes have cooked down I used the handy stick blender and turned it into a puree. I then skimmed Storkbite’s portion and added at least 1/2 c. heavy cream to the pot an stirred it in.
To build the baked potato style presentation, simply add croutons*, grated cheddar cheese and coarse chopped cooked bacon. It really makes it a meal and is greatly satisfying on a fall night.
*Croutons - another thrifty tip. Don’t throw away your stale bread, instead cube it and put it in a freezer bag. When you need a handful of croutons for soup or salad, simply pull out your frozen cubes and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put them in the toaster oven or under the broiler for a few minutes and you will have perfect homemade croutons. They are so delicious that you won’t know then were previously frozen.
Storkbite and I just returned from an extended tour of the Midwest and we are trying to get our groove back. Lately the goings on in our kitchen have been as easy on the chef as possible. It was hard traveling alone with the babe, but dealing with an unreliable napper after getting home has been hard on Storkbite Stew and harder on me. With all this in mind I’ve been making dinners that are both quick and comforting. This soup reminds me of the time when I was 22, single, living in Chicago in the middle of winter. I would find myself at the neighborhood bar under the “L” where all I could afford was a pint and a bowl of potato soup.
Basic Potato Soup
So, I recreate it now for my family and all those wonderful memories at the bar with a fireplace when the wind chill was 40 below come rushing back!
It’s easy: Skin a bag of small potatoes or half a bag of large potatoes. Cube them. Sautee a little garlic, an onion, and your potatoes in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Pour in a box of stock (I like Imagine brand - chicken or vegetable), then fill the box of stock up with water and add it. Make sure all the potatoes are covered. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. Puree in a blender or with a stick blender. Top with grated cheddar and chives and serve with buttered toast. That’s it - there is nothing to it.
Storkbite’s Papa and I got into an argument one night when we were at the park entertaining Storkbite. He just couldn’t wait for me to make lentils and churn out some quasi-Indian food. He stomped his feet all the way home, past all the grocery stores and restaurants that we could have ducked into and gotten prepared food. I was determined to EAT at home that night and not let all my vegetables go to waste. I came up with a delicious sausage dish. On a day that I was more prepared, Storkbite and I found our self hanging out at the butcher sample cured meats, so bought our self my favorite - duck breast! That was a splurge and well worth the investment because I whacked it in half and saved the other breast in the freezer for another day.
Sausage over Zucchini and Pappardelle
In the case I had a container of my very own homemade basic sauce and nice pappardelle noodles which are big and fat. I just started up my grill pan and layered on the zucchini and sausage. Once the noodles were done I put it all together - the layer of defrosted sauce, grilled zucchini strips, and the grilled sausage. Mozzarella chunks over the top that got nice and melted really topped it off with some delicious richness. This was completed in as long as it took to boil water and make pasta which translates to as long as it took Papa to give Storkbite a bath. Once she was all cleaned up she sat at the table and enjoyed heaping spoonfuls to Mama’s basic sauce.
Duck, Duck, Goose
Wow, duck is my favorite and it’s so easy! You get the breast and slice the fat side so it lays flat when you are searing it and give it a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Simply put it in a really hot cast iron pan on the stove top. I like my Le Creuset red fryer. Put it on the pan and leave it alone. After it’s good and ready, flip it over. Don’t over cook it because it’s good when it’s still bleeding.
On the side were some green beans almandine and buttered noodles. Very simple and delicious - just saute your green beans with almonds, olive oil, salt and pepper. With a nice glass of wine it was a great dinner. Unfortunately I sent Papa out for the wine last minute and he brought back a very unsatisfactory bottle. I guess I will have to remember to get totally prepared the next time.
Some nights are healthier than others at Storkbite’s house. Papa has been working hard lately, so I decided to reward him with the best fried chicken I could make. Because he loves it so much he even got involved in the production process so everybody won. Polenta night means that our coffers are empty, I’m out of ideas and there isn’t any time for preparation. Here is what we came up with.
Fried Chicken and Biscuits
Even though fried food is totally unhealthy, I did my best to select free-range anti-biotic free bird for the project. It all got washed, dried, dredged in flour, then in buttermilk, then in panko bread crumbs souped up with Old Bay and salt. Into the hot hot hot oil the little birds went. We ended up with best fried chicken I’ve ever made.
The biscuit recipe came from the Joy of Cooking with two amendments: instead of shortening I use LARD (you know it, manteca, ummmm), and instead of milk I used buttermilk. Lard is one of those guilty pleasures, it really does make a pie crust and a biscuit more crumbly, and if you don’t eat it every day you might live until your 65. I’m willing to take the risk and I’m going to feed it to my baby too. You will be pleased to know that the thought crossed our mind to fry the chicken in lard, but we did exercise some self-restraint. I served roasted potato chips on the side.
Polenta, Chard and Yellow Tomatoes
Sometimes I run out of ideas and processing all the vegetables the CSA is bringing on becomes and arduous task. In this case I baked up some polenta rounds and sauteed chard and yellow tomatoes in olive oil and garlic. Once the vegetables were tender enough to consume, I layered it on top of the polenta rounds. With a little cubed fresh mozzarella and a dusting of parmesan cheese it turned out to be an excellent and quick dinner and lunch the day after. For not having a plan it turned out to be a very rewarding and visually appealing treat.
It’s a bumper crop for zucchini this year - at least from our CSA. I’m almost running out of ideas on how to process it. Storkbite is consuming her fair share, it was her first “real” food after all. I’m not sick of it yet, but it’s getting real hard to be creative. There has been an overload of eggplant as well. I’m doing better with it than last year, the last one is going into a baba ganouge today. I don’t think we will see the end of it though now tomatos are abundant. My new breakfast is toast, grilled tomato and a friend egg. Here are a few highlights from the past few days:
Eggplant Rollatini
This was a really easy dish that was prepped over the course of a few days. One thing I’m learning is take time to prep when you can get it. Storkbite doesn’t allow me time to actually enjoy what I’m doing in the kitchen now that she slithers. On the day I got seven eggplants, I sliced them all the long way and grilled them with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. When they cooled, I neatly piled them into a plastic container and stashed them in the refrigerator. A few days later (not sure how many) I pulled out my eggplant and made the rollatini.
Simply use a small container of ricotta cheese, mix in an egg, salt, pepper and chopped parsly. Combine it in a mixing bowl and set aside. Add a ladle full of some sauce (in this case my very own Basic Sauce) to the bottom of your olive oiled baking dish and begin to roll your eggplant. It doesn’t have to be pretty and sometimes it’s easier to put two eggplant peices together laid flat. Add a dollop of cheese and roll. Once you have all your rollatini in the dish, cover it them with sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until the cheese is golden brown. This was a Papa pleaser - he loves cheesy baked goodness and it’s a great way to use up your eggplants.
Salmon Loaf
I have no idea what to call this except “Salmon Loaf” which sounds horrible because it was so delicious! I realized that I had nice grilled salmon left over from the onigiri which was just sitting in the refrigerator calling my name. Storkbite’s Papa was so taken with this that he wants it worked into our regular menu. It was very easy so that is fine with me. The filling consists of chopped grilled salmon, chopped scallions, chives, black sesame seeds and a dash of sesame oil to combine it. Then I wrapped the filling in sheets of puffed pastry dough available in the freezer section of any super market. Once it was nicely rolled up I put slits on the top to let the steam out, brushed them with a little oil and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. I baked these at 425 (as indicated on the dough package) for 30 minutes until golden brown and puffy. I served by slicing these through the pre-sliced slits which helps to keep the pretty puff pastry in tact. With a simple salad these were a huge hit, and made great room-temp leftovers for lunch.
Mini Burgers
One of my favorite things is a mini burger. It satisfies my itch for a burger and doesn’t weigh me down after eating 1 lb. of beef. I like to buy mini dinner rolls at the bakery and make them at home. In this case I used ground turkey, doctered it up with an egg, salt, pepper, chopped scallions and diced green peppers which I combined in a mixing bowl. I grilled zucchini chips for toppings and cut up tomatos. Once I formed my mini burgers into balls, I grilled them on my trusty grill pan.
These got assembled on a toasted bun with olive oil mayo, grilled zuccs, cheddar cheese and fresh tomatos. They knocked my socks off and were probably on the healthier side of things too.
I wanted to introduce Storkbite to rice so I thought it would be interesting to make onigiri and see what happend. Well… we had rice all over the apartment, in Storkbite’s ears, on the wall, and in between her toes. It was delicious for Papa and me to eat these delicious onigiri and it’s not our usual fare.
Onigiri
I watched at least three YouTube videos before trying this at home. I hardly ever try something new, but this was a real hit and a great snack food. First I grilled salmon in sesame oil, cut nori into strips and cut up avocado for my rice ball filling. Then I steamed sushi rice according to the directions on the bag. Once it was slightly cooled I started forming my rice balls. The trick is to have a bowl of salt water to cool your hands and to prevent the rice from sticking to your hands when forming the balls.
Form the balls like a snowball. Then make a depression in the center with your thumb, fill it with a piece of avocado and chunk of salmon. Cover the filling with more rice and continue packing the snowball. Roll the ball in nori and sprinkle with seasame seeds. It takes time, but is repetitive and easy. This is an ideal after school snack!
Once complete you can give it to a baby — if you want rice in ears, on walls, on tables, chairs, floors, moms, dads, etc, etc.
Yes, you heard that right! We French toast anything here at Storkbite’s house. I’ve French toasted a nut ring, various danishes, cinnamon rolls of all sorts and regular old challah bread. Storkbite’s Uncle Jimmy is a French toast feind so we got a little experimental when he used to live around the corner (we miss you!).
Cinnamon Roll French Toast with Blueberries
For this I used four stale cinnamon rolls from the market, frozen blueberries, real maple syrup and pecans. The rest is just plain old French toast supplies from the pantry:
4 stale cinnamon rolls, cut in half
Dip the cut side in a mixture of: 1 egg, a splash of milk, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a dash of real vanilla extract.
Put the cut and now gooey egg drenched side of the roll down on your hot grill pan which has been prepped with a little butter or oil.
Cook them until the egg side is nice and golden brown.
Put your rolls on a fancy plate, add fresh or defrosted blueberries, toasted pecans, and powder sugar. Make sure you have REAL maple syrup to finish it off. These little toasts are seriously impressive and delicious.
Are you sure you don’t want to move back to NYC, Uncle Jimmy?!?
In the previous post I mentioned that it took at least a month to use the delicious freezer sauce, but alas it took three days. Some of the incarnations include: eggplant pizza, ravioli and the guest submission sauce over shells. I would like to thank Mr. Short for his exceptional photograph and note that Mr. Short Jr. ate a walloping five shells with this magic sauce which was an unprecedented amount! This sauce wins toddler seal of approval and Storkbite even liked it off a pizza bone (i.e. crust).
Eggplant Pizza
There was a serious abundance of eggplant in Thursday’s farm box so I roasted at least four eggplants and stored them in the refrigerator. For this pizza I got crust a my local parlor, loaded on the sauce, added a layer of roasted eggplant, and smothered it with shredded mozzarella. The pizza went into a 450 degree oven for at least 45 minutes and turned out to be Sicilian style. As mentioned, Storkbite polished off a pizza bone and loved it.
Ravioli and Sauce
Nothing special about this meal because it was on a night that Papa worked late and Mama had to do all the bedtime routine soup to nuts. For those nights we have out secret stock of ravioli from the ravioli maker in the Bronx near Arthur Ave. The shop only sells ravioli and there is a darling little old man that puts a lot of love into each little square. We buy it by the box and freeze it in smaller portions. The special homemade sauce really kicks it up and notch and the whole thing is plated and served in the time it takes to boil water.
Shells and Sauce
Mrs. Short kindly looked after Storkbite the other day while I went to get a little work done on my face (not really, but I like the way that sounds), so she got some magic sauce to review. Mr. Short and his fancy camera took this photo which blows all the other photos on Storkbite Stew out of the water. The best part of this dinner was that it’s toddler approved! The young Short and friend of Storkbite kept asking for more. That means that he got several vegetables at once including: zucchini, eggplant, tomato, garlic, basil, and green pepper. That’s reassuring.
Every now and again I try out a recipe from a magazine. Generally I look at all the pictures, scan the ingredients and make my own variation. I prefer that method because I do not have a suitable stand to hold a recipe book on my small kitchen counter. However, this time I “tested” out the recipe for braised chicken with dried plums from the September 2008 issue of Martha’s Everyday FOOD. There are a lot of great things about this magazine especially the small format and excellent photographs of mouth watering food. The one problem I always encounter with the dishes that I try is that richness is somehow missing. Either there is not enough butter, cream or cheese. I’m sure it’s more healthy, but I’m often left wanting more…
Braised Chicken with Dried Plums
You can get the precise recipe from Martha. My problem with the dish is that the wine (2 cups of dry white) was very overwhelming. The polenta on the side was too dense and the chicken seemed undercooked since it was browned on either side for 6 - 8 minutes total and then braised in the liquid for another 8 - 10 minutes. I was a little bit squeamish since my chicken was glassy and had colored juices running forth. Hmmm… Back to making up my own stuff, I guess.
Basic Sauce
Every summer when I have loads of vegetables to process I make this sauce. It’s easy, delicious, requires no canning equipment and was my mother’s idea. My mom is an expert canner. In this case I do not use the term lightly as the lady wins blue ribbons and this year Best in Show at our local county fair. No fear of botulism with her goods. I don’t have nearly the amount of vegetables that need to be processed so I make this simple freezer sauce and it’s just as delicious in my opinion because everything is roasted first. In this batch I roasted zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and green peppers at 425 for about an hour. Everything got a good dousing of olive oil and salt and pepper sprinkle before their roast. Once the vegetables are roasted, remove the skins on the tomatoes and let them cool in their juices on the pan. After it’s all cool, simply process the sauce in a food processor (in batches if you have a lot) adding olive oil to emulsify and freeze in small portions. I generally use it up within the first month because it’s so amazing. It’s great on pasta, pizza, ice cream.
This week’s cooking conundrum that arrived in our CSA box was called purslane. It looks like a weed, kind of tastes like a weed and well according to Wikipedia - is a weed. The other obstacle of the week arrived on Friday - my cousins - from a landlocked place called Colorado. I was determined to show them a little something about seafood that was just plucked from the Atlantic. They were most appreciative.
Sausage and Puslane
Our local Irish butcher started carrying their own fresh made sausage and it’s excellent. It comes in a coil or links and the make it in a few flavors. This variety was cheese and parsley. The caraway and garlic flavors shined through. I had no idea what to do with the purslane, so after cooking up the sausage in our frying pan, we just added some red wine to the pork fat and reduced it. Once it was nice and saucy, we added the purslane and cooked in down for about a minute. The lemon flavors of the purslane really came through and it was a very delicious and simple dish.
Salmon and Potato Coins
From left to right: rainbow chard and garlic, yellow potatoes, salmon. Everything came from the CSA box except the salmon. This was the first time I tried grilling potatoes and I’m not sure that I recommend it. I par boiled them before grilling, but it wasn’t long enough to make them tender. They did photograph well. The chard was delicious and it’s our new favorite vegetable. I cut the leaves off the stems, then diced the stems and rough chopped the leaves. I sautéed the diced stems in olive oil and garlic, then threw in the leaves. I sautéed it all together for at least 10 minutes or so until it was tender. The salmon got tossed on the grill last after a quick hit of S&P.
Scallops and Fluke
My cousins from Colorado were talking about fish sticks and so I decided treats from the Atlantic were in order. The fisher at our local Saturday market had scallops (these are becoming our Saturday tradition) and fluke. First I counted my scallops and then counted half that amount of bacon strips. I cut the bacon strips in half and laid them on a baking sheet which I put under the oven broiler for a few minutes. I removed the bacon from the oven when it was about half cooked. I let it cool and then wrapped each scallop with a strip and pinned it with a toothpick. I lightly salted and peppered the pile. The fluke just got prepped with a little salt and pepper. In a very hot cast iron skillet I added a tablespoon of butter to a big puddle of olive oil. Once the butter melted and bubbled, I added the scallops one by one. They just take a second and then turn them over. Cooking them too long turns them into wads of gum. Once those were all finished and put on the platter, I added more butter and olive oil to my skillet, a handful on minced garlic and then the fluke. It only takes about two minutes on each side. I snipped fresh chives over the top and served it to the land lubbers. They enjoyed every single tender morsel and we had a very empty platter at the end of our delicious meal. The sides which I failed to mention were sautéed Napa cabbage and roasted red potatoes.
Breakfast
This is just a lovely little breakfast of eggs, salmon and cream cheese on brown toast and fresh strawberries. PG Tips is served here each and every morning.
What to do with lox, buckle and scallops? See below. We had a busy week, but some of the highlights were bagel and lox salad which I made up out of desperation one night after a hard day of Storkbite wrangling. The pièce de résistance of the week was the ceviche, which I made with fresh scallops and calamari from our local fisher at the farmer’s market. In addition to the ceviche, I made a fresh blueberry buckle with the leftover ingredients from this morning’s buttermilk blueberry pancakes. It’s basically the reincarnation of breakfast for dessert.
Bagel and Lox Salad
This was another variation of breakfast for dinner. It was chopped red onion and capers added to a regular plain old vinaigrette dressing over greens. Then on top, toasted bagel pieces, smoked salmon, and crumbled hard boiled egg.
This was a very quick meal which I threw together in minutes while singing to Storkbite in her high chair. Papa ran in from work, ate his salad and promptly left for a meeting. Yep, that’s what our week was like. Good thing we splurged on scallops for our Saturday night feast.
Ceviche
OK, so this was so damn good. Storkbite’s papa told me that he felt like he was sitting on a beach in Mexico. I took that as a compliment. The best part about this is that I had all the ingredients except the scallops and cherry tomatoes which were purchased steps from our front door at the farmer’s market. I had never made ceviche before and I think I’ve only eaten it once. This was a 100% intuitive recipe that actually worked out! I used about 1 lb. of very fresh scallops, 3 calamari, a hand full of tomatoes, 1 avocado, 5 limes, 1 orange, 1 small white onion, 1/2 a small zucchini, 1 long skinny light green pepper, 1 handful of rough chopped cilantro, salt, pepper and olive oil. I just chopped everything really nicely and mixed in together in a bowl. I let all the flavors marry together in the refrigerator for the afternoon and then we took the entire bowl to the park to watch Twelfth Night. The ceviche, a loaf of semolina bread, a bottle of wine and comedic Shakespeare made for an excellent Saturday evening. Wow - I can’t get over hot summery and delicious a bowl of fresh ceviche is - YUM!
Blueberry Buckle
This dessert started when I ran out of our apartment at 8 AM in my PJs to the farmer’s market to get some blueberries. I woke up wanting buttermilk blueberry pancakes real bad. Instead of making tons of pancakes to save for the week, I dumped the remainder of my homemade batter into a baking dish, threw in a layer of fresh blueberries and topped it with the crumble (or buckle) part of this dessert. It’s simply 3 tbs. butter mixed up with 1/4 c. flour, 1/4 c. brown sugar, 2 tbs. white sugar, pinch of salt and a big fist full of almonds. Mix that up until it’s crumbly and put it all over the top. I baked this for 30 mins. at 350 and it looked nice and brown. I don’t think you can really go wrong with having blueberry buttermilk pancakes twice in one day. I don’t think Storkbite will mind.
The last two nights have been hot as hell here in the City. If you live here then you know that you might as well take all your clothes off and try and cook a meal if you absolutely need to cook yourself a hot meal. Last night I was unable to bring myself to turn on the gas, but tonight I was much more brave. I paid for it tonight and everyone was in a bad mood because of it. Storkbite nearly expired. She had to be excused, took a cool shower and went to bed. I, on the other hand, was able to chill out with a crisp glass of rosé avec an ice cube.
Piyaz
This bean salad is something that I learned from our local Turkish restaurant and it suddenly became a favorite hot day food at our house. It’s so simple, just combine one can of white beans with chopped red onion, garlic, basil, parsley, salt, pepper and olive oil. Mix it up and you have a delicious antipasti called Piyaz that can be eaten with olives, feta, and toasted bread. This is a perfect meal for a hot day, no heating or cooking required.
Striper Filets and Zucchini
Tonight’s dinner required the kitchen to get heated up and it was unpleasant - I’ll warn you. However, it was well worth it to taste the fresh zucchini and butterstick squash cooked down in butter, cipollini onions and olive oil. All of those fresh vegetables were compliments of our CSA. I simply thawed and grilled some white striper filets on my grill pan. Standing over the grill plan was not my most brilliant idea of the day, but fish cooks in a few seconds so it was painful for only a moment. Delicious combination and seriously fresh.
This week has been a total blur since our whole family had the flu last weekend. I didn’t even realize that it was already Thursday until about 11 AM this morning! It’s even more of a challenge to use our CSA box on a week when our spirits have been quite low and lettuce is the last thing we want to eat. I’m going to post three menu items that have been on this weeks roster.
Summer Borscht
I had several beets that needed to be processed and it’s been so hot here so a cold soup fit the bill. Nearly all the ingredients were in our farm box. This soup is as simple as steaming diced beets until tender and letting them cool. Then in a bowl add approx. 2 cups of stock (I used vegetable), 1 cup of the beet juice from the steaming pot, 1 cup of yogurt, 8 oz of sour cream, juice from one lemon, 2 tsp of champagne or white wine vinegar, 1/4 c. sugar, fresh dill and a diced cucumber. Mix it all up and add the cooled beets. It’s really a treat on a cool night and you can’t beat the beautiful color combination of the beets and dill.
Bacon & Egg Salad
The only thing that we were able to stomach over lettuce was bacon and eggs this week. After taking care of Storkbite and her increased fussiness due to the emergence of her first tooth, I have been cutting corners in the kitchen. The abundance of lettuce is really overwhelming on top of everything else so I just made another big salad with bacon, eggs, avocado, paramesan wedges, lettuce, homemade croûtons and a mustard vinagrette. It’s so quick and easy that after a long day this is all I have the patience for. However, it’s not from a box and has no preservatives so it’s just great whole food.
Zucchini Pizza
Our CSA box had an abundance of zucchini for the past three weeks so I’ve gotten creative. I made a delicious zuccarrot cake but my presentation was terrible because it was a humid day. I made lots of puree zucchini baby food for Storkbite and she actually liked it! The last thing I could think of with my harried mind was pizza. This particular pizza was built on pizza dough that I got on my way home at our local pizzeria, then I layered on crumbled feta cheese, zucchini, yellow squash, drizzle of olive oil, onion, salt & pepper, and a sprinkle of parmesan over the top. I baked it at 450 for about 20 minutes until the crust was brown and then arranged fresh basil leaves on the top. It was delicious! The ingredients where as fresh as possible, probably picked yesterday. The best part about this pizza was that it took me ten minutes to put it together and get it in the oven, then I went and put Storkbite to bed and once she was fast asleep the pizza was ready to be enjoyed - in peace and quiet.
It’s been a hot week in NYC and since we forwent our CSA box last week we almost had to eat mac n’ cheese this week. Instead I got creative with my sandwich making skills. The first night we had variation of a BLT with A (for avocado) and no L (for lettuce) and the next night we had a hummus and avocado masterpiece. The key to these great sandwiches is this amazing Turkish bread which is spongy on the inside yet toasts up crunchy on the outside. It’s SO delicious and versatile. Every time I ask the folks at our local Turkish grocery about this bread they only tell me that it’s called “Turkish bread”, not very helpful for those who do not have a local Turkish grocery. That’s one of the many beauties of living in ethnically diverse Queens. Anyhow, for consumers out there - foccacia is a similar type of bread and can be used to build this sandwich.
Tuesday night we built the following sandwich: bacon, sprouts, tomato, avocado, cucumber (no lettuce) and olive oil mayonnaise. The particular brand I used was called Mayoliva which I first bought in Argentina and then subsequently found at a bakery in Corona Queens.
Wednesday night it was more of the same: avocado, tomato, sprouts, hummus and olive oil mayonnaise. It really hit the spot and the cucumbers cool things down after a hot day. It’s CSA night tonight and I’m feeling a big pizza coming on. We will see if we can swing it and if Storkbite cooperates tonight.
Start to finish -This sandwich can be prepped and ready in 10 minutes.
The Salade Nicoise is another regular menu item here at Storkbite’s house. However, pregnancy and nursing has put the kibosh on the regular consumption of tuna. I tend to cheat once (or twice) a month and have a little. I used to make the salad with sushi grade tuna, but that is definately too expensive for us these days. You can compose this salad any way you like and it looks really pretty when the ingredients are grouped. Last night I used non-traditional ingredients because the tomatoes of late are tainted and I still have a huge stock of frozen vegetables from TJ’s.
On a bed of lettuce and escarole from our CSA, I added tuna (from a can), avocado, previously frozen asparagus, hard boiled egg and olives. I just plain old vinaigrette dressing with added capers over the top and YUM. It was a very satisfying and hearty salad. We added wedges of toasted pita on the side. The great thing about these main course salads is that preparation does not heat up the apartment at all and you can do it in several stages.
Everyone seems to be looking forward to garlic scapes season this year. I saw them on the cover of the NY Time’s dining section a few weeks back. I don’t remember them being that popular before. They are neat looking little things - curly with a crooked neck and bulb on the end. They are delicious when fried up in butter and olive oil. My friends came up with some excellent ideas on how to prepare them, but I didn’t seem to have the right ingredients to follow the same path. Instead I just used good old butter and olive oil in a pan, added my scapes and a small pour of white wine (from my glass). I finished it of with a little more butter at the end to enrich the sauce. We then just poured all our scapes right on top of a big piece of grilled salmon.
What you see here on the side is kohlrabi slaw. I used my food processor to shred the kohlrabi and then treated it just like cole slaw. I made a dressing with approx. 3 tbs of vegetable oil, olive oil, white wine vinegar, dash of salt and pepper, 1 tbs. celery seed, a drizzle of honey. I mixed up the dressing and tossed it on the shredded kohlrabi. It was very fresh and delicious. I wish I added carrots, but we were out - next time.
When we need a pick me up that is creamy and delicious, this family almost always wants two things: Chicken and Dumplings or Fettuccine Alfredo. It’s really as easy a boiling water for pasta - the secret is knowing how to make the white sauce (bechamel). Just remember - equal parts fat and flour.
3 Tbs. Butter, melted in a sauce pan, add 3 Tbs. Flour, mix and cook down until it forms a paste. This is called a roux. Add approx. 2 1/4 cups of milk and whisk together. Bring this up to a boil and then reduce. As it thickens, use your whisk! I added a 1/2 of grated parmesan to this sauce which caused it to thicken faster, but gave it the Alfredo taste. I have no idea how the real Italians do it, but that’s my quick easy short cut way of making Alfredo sauce and not buying that strange tub of white sauce from the store.
I grilled some chicken tenders, sliced them up and layered everything on top of my fat noodles from Trader Joe’s.
When I was younger and had the time and money to travel around on a shoestring and crash on people’s couches, I went to Paris for a few weeks and tried to find the best salade chevre chaud. I found it too, I know exactly where it is and it’s one of the best in Paris. I took my then fiance and now husband to the same little cafe and had it many years later - it was the same. When I had more time in general before Storkbite came along, I used to make this extremely elaborate chevre chaud and it was delicious. It was a very colorful composed salad situated on a bed of greens tossed in a moutarde vinagrette. Shredded carrot, red cabbage and couscous was carefully arranged and to top it all off were the square packets of goat cheese stuffed crepes. This salad rocket my world and I would really give anything (except Storkbite) to go to Paris right now and eat ten of those salads at that very sweet cafe.
What I learned on my quest is that the salad was made differently everywhere I sampled it. Sometimes I didn’t even like the salad at all. If I hadn’t had the best one ever first then I may never have liked it. My personal salade chevre chaude has deteriorated over the years. Now it’s really nothing more that toasted goat cheese on bread over salad. I make it differently every time - knowing that it’s completely OK to do so.
So for tonight’s chevre chaude I toasted some bread with olive oil and salt. I cut my goat cheese (it works better to cut it with dental floss) and coated the rounds in store bought bread crumbs. I popped them into the freezer while catering to Storkbite’s every whim. Once I got back I tossed greens in vinagrette and sliced some cherry tomatoes. I heated butter and olive oil in a pan and then put in the little chevres. Just a couple minutes on each side - too long and the chevre will melt.
Arrange them on the toast and you done. It’s a very quick process and to me this salad is equally as comforting as baked mac n’ cheese.
It’s Thursday and that means that we get our box of organic CSA vegetables and the challenge to use them all before the next box begins. Tonight we received more rhubarb than I knew what to do with. I decided to process it immediately and give the rest to our neighbor who is an excellent baker so I could see what she comes up with. I first thought I would make a pie, but Storkbite was being rather unpredictable and I didn’t think she could handle momma making both filling and pastry crust. I settled on a crumble. I have never used a receipe for a crumble so it’s always an experiment. Since rhubarb can be quite tough, I sautéed it in a couple tablespoons of butter until it got this nice creamy texture.
I removed the rhubarb from heat and added slices from four apples and a handful of cut strawberries. I stirred the fruit to combine. I added a couple tablespoons of white sugar and flour to this mixture and combined with fruit.
To make the crust, simply add a half stick of cold butter (in chunks) and approximately a quarter cup of each: brown sugar, white sugar and flour. I then added a handful of walnut segments to this crumble crust and sprinkled it on top of the fruit.
I baked this at 350 for about 30 - 40 minutes. I’m not sure because I forgot this in the oven while performing Storkbite’s bedtime ritual. When I came back into the kitchen I was overwhelmed by the sweet smell of rhubarb and apples. We ate this while it was still warm drizzled with fresh cream.
Dinner was take-out tonight, but dessert was delicious and homemade.
‘Tis the season for more leafy greens. As I said yesterday, I have a hard time eating what is good for me. However, on one salary I am strictly compelled to use every single bean in this house and vegetable in our refrigerator to keep this family running strong. So that means, I have to find a way to process those greens - every last piece of lettuce will get consumed this season!
Last night my brain was dead and I didn’t have any ideas of what to do. I needed a new protein besides fish, so I followed a friend to our Irish butcher and bought pork chops. I always splurge on the family pack so Storkbite’s Papa can have a wholesome lunch at work the next day.
I hit the pork chops with olive oil, salt and pepper and put them on my trusty grill pan. We didn’t have any bread in the house and I’m kind of sick of rice, so I made polenta fritters on the grill pan. I buy the rolls of polenta in the refrigerator case at Trader Joe’s and keep them for months. I also steamed the rainbow chard and covered it with oil and white balsamic vinegar just before serving. For an extra kick, dust the polenta fritters with Parmesan cheese. It’s decadent and delicious. Not bad for being a bit brain dead in the kitchen!
It’s a challenge to try and use the entire CSA box every week. It’s only the second week, the boxes are still small and I’m already slightly overwhelmed. The weather is unseasonably hot here in NYC and I want to stay away from my kitchen as much as possible. Last night was Friday and I wanted to make something special, but what to do with mushrooms, arugula and strawberries?
On hot nights a sandwich is really the way to go. While Storkbite sat in her bouncy seat in the middle of the kitchen, I cleaned the mushrooms and coated them in a garlic, olive oil and white balsamic vinegar marinade. Then Storkbite started to loose it, and Papa was running behind schedule so I had to abandon our dinner preparations and restart the process later.
During bath time I was able to get myself back to those mushrooms and grill them on a very hot stove top grill pan. It didn’t take long until I was called away again so I turned off the stove and let the mushrooms carry-over cook on the grill.
Finally we got Storkbite in bed and we were free to open the bottle of Rose I was saving for the weekend. I sliced a loaf of bread, layered it with the grilled baby bellas, arugula, orange and yellow tomatoes and smeared on some goat cheese. With a nest of argulua leaves on the side covered in lemon, olive oil and slivered Parmesan cheese it hit the spot on a hot night.
I really like to make an event out of Friday nights and make a special dessert. Sometimes it’s nothing fancy - just a scoop of ice cream. However, this week our CSA came with these sweet little strawberries which were the first of the year’s crop. I almost ate the whole box when I got them on Thursday, but instead I came up with the idea of making a pavlova after seeing the meringues at the bakery earlier that morning. I had seen a picture of this extravagant dessert in a magazine not long ago and decided that I will never have the patience to make it. What I didn’t realize at the time is that the meringues are available at bakeries and all I have to do it whip cream and cut strawberries! Any berry can be used and it’s simple, delicious and a real crowd pleaser.
Meringue for Pavlova - $1 each
Sometimes I get really lazy and find it hard to be clever in the kitchen night after night. Sometimes I run out of time and have a really busy day wrangling Storkbite. On all the days when I can’t take it anymore, I serve BLTs and sometimes BLTEs. That would be the classic bacon, lettuce, tomato and the bacon, lettuce, tomato, egg respectively. I try to sex them up a bit with some olive oil or lime mayo, colorful tomatoes, Texas sweet bacon or whatever. This time the only thing sexy about these BLTEs was that I used red and orange tomatoes and leftover hamburger buns from the weekend. The only secret to a good BLT is to toast the bread!
In last night’s dinner, you will see a reprise of the ingredients from the classic spinach salad. I used some of my hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes and bacon. It’s a great quick meal and can be done in a variety of ways. There is no shame in eating a good old BLT.
One thing I’ve learned is that if it’s popular, do it again. I tend to vary the ingredients slightly and use the same flavors. If you are like me and buy spices when you have a particular dish in mind rather than having a fully stocked collection, then this trick is right for you. First off, I want to say that my favorite of all spices are from The Spice House and their gift boxes make excellent holiday presents.
Everyone here at Storkbite’s house liked the tandoori tilapia from a few nights ago, that I decided to put on a revival with chicken. It’s still really hot outside and all I could cook was a chicken breast rubbed with tandoori. I served it over the last of our delicious red leaf Boston lettuce with a yogurt, curry, vinegar and olive oil dressing. I served some naan on the side which is in the frozen section of Trader Joe’s. It was fantastic!
The best part about this meal was that it took minutes. Storkbite’s Papa gave me a 10 minute warning that he was going to be home for 20 minutes before leaving for a meeting and he needed to EAT. I have no idea how I conjured up something so quick and satisfying, but I did.
There is something about fresh spinach salad with hot bacon dressing that is an early summer treat like no other. It seems taboo to consume a dressing that consists of well… Bacon Grease! I feel entitled to do it now before it’s too late. After we got Storkbite to bed, I went to work on composing what is basically bacon and eggs over spinach.
One of the complications of mothering an infant and cooking is that I can’t seem to prep anything for a solid time period without stopping to nurse or play or change a diaper. So, I find that if I can get little things accomplished while Storkbite naps then we are good to go and we can get straight to eating when we are hungry after bedtime rather than prepping for hours before our meal. For this salad I hard boiled eggs during the afternoon nap. Of course I forgot about them, but fortunately you can’t destroy a hard boiled egg by letting it go too long. You just have a fire hazard! Once I put it all together, I soaked the spinach from our CSA in cold water to remove the grit. Papa went to work on the bacon and I cut the tomatoes, eggs and red onion. The secret to the sauce is that you have to make essentially a honey moutarde vinagrette in the hot bacon grease. I went the extra step of throwing the red onion in the hot grease to cook it a little, then adding honey, a teaspoon of Maille mustard, a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper.
After a quick run around with a whisk, I poured that on the salad spun spinach and plated the salad.
It’s a decadent thing to eat, but so seasonal and delicious. I look at it like my personal right of passage to summertime.
The last thing anyone wants to do after a long car ride home from the country on a Sunday night is cook. Especially since we watched the temperature climb to 99 degrees upon our reentry to NYC. We did our usual stop at Trader Joe’s in Paramus, NJ on our way home and restocked the excellent frozen fish. I was quite certain to do the most minimal food prep and cooking after getting home, unpacking and getting Storkbite off to dreamland. All I wanted to do was enjoy a glass of beer and throw something into the toaster oven to keep our apartment as cool as possible.
I bought these handy Salmon Roulettes and Brittany Beans at TJ’s. They did the trick! The roulettes went into the toaster oven at 350 along with some BBQ roasted potatoes from the night before. I tossed the defrosted Brittany Beans in some butter and olive oil on the stove top and voila we had a delicious instant dinner. I served a bowl of amazing red leaf Boston lettuce from our CSA share on the side with bread and it ended up to be a great little dinner that just took minutes to heat and eat.
On a night we would have normally ordered take out, we had this wonderful little meal for a quarter of the cost.
Salmon Roulettes - $3.99
The thrilling part of getting your very first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share of the year is the brand spanking new baby greens. Last week we got baby arugula and it was to die for. After several soakings in cold water I finally got the sand off of the leaves. Our farm is called Golden Earthworm Farm and it’s located in Jamesport, NY on Long Island. Since it’s only about a mile from the sea, the soil is sandy and perfect for growing arugula and spinach.
Our dinner on Thursday night paid homage to the tasty aromatic green. I didn’t have anything in the refrigerator except some Parmesan cheese and prosciutto. I used a half box of Barilla thin spaghetti, boiled it then chilled it with cool water. I added thin slivers of prosciutto, fresh arugula, olive oil, Parmesan, salt and pepper.
It was quick delicious, and best of all it didn’t heat my little kitchen up too much on a hot summer night.
I took a little trip to Jackson Heights with Storkbite and a friend yesterday. We ate at one of the best Indian buffets around - Jackson Diner. I had to bring home some local flavors to Papa who doesn’t get to go on as many adventures as we do. I bought some delicious chicken and vegetable samosas which are in the center. In addition I made Tandoori Tilapia with more of my Trader Joe’s stock and Haricot Verts in curried coconut sauce. Papa was happy to have some of the flavors brought home to him.
I rubbed tandoori seasoning on the tilapia then pan fried it in butter and oil. I mixed a little tandoori into plain yogurt for the sauce. The coconut curry green beans need to be fine tuned a bit, but it was also easy. I added yellow curry powder to one can of coconut milk then simmered until it reduced. Once it reduced I added defrosted green beans. We served basmati rice and the samosas that I picked up in Jackson Heights. It was quick, easy and delicious. Total time start to finish was 20 minutes.
Here at Storkbite’s house we have been eating a lot of fish. There are two reasons for this: the first is that it takes 10 seconds to prepare and cook after Storkbite goes to bed, and second we have a huge stock of frozen fish from Trader Joe’s. I got hip to Trader Joe’s frozen fish and vegetables because it’s a great value and can be stocked in my freezer. With a new baby I found that all my fresh foods were going bad before I could conjure up ideas. I decided that before our summer CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share starts, I would turn my efforts to frozen foods. One of the outstanding frozen veggies at Trader Joe’s is the large bag of haricot verts (French green beans). They are delicious. You will see them make daily appearances at our table. This was Monday night’s feast –
1 dozen Dover Sole pieces - breaded with store bought bread crumbs. Pan fried in butter and olive oil.
Haricot verts - defrosted and then quickly pan fried in butter and olive oil after we finished all the fish.
In addition to the fish and beans, I made a sour cream and chive sauce (thinned with plain yogurt) for the side. It was cool and delicious. We also had some crostini which was toasted with olive oil and salt.
This entire meal took approximately 15 minutes start to finish.
Having a little baby with an early bedtime has given my husband and me the gift of having Saturday night dinner again. We no longer have a social calendar and we aren’t expected anywhere but our own table. We also have the luxury of having one of the many New York City Greenmarkets right outside the door of our apartment building. Every Saturday morning we make the trip across the street to buy the freshest ingredients and I look forward to the event all week. There is a fisher that comes in from the Hamptons and he brings these little gems - Peconic Bay scallops. We look forward to the weekly arrival of these scallops. As a new mom I’m always trying to cut corners when it comes to prep time. Tonight the meal was simple, easy and delicious!
1 lb. Scallops wrapped in prosciutto (held in place with a toothpick) - salted and peppered
1/2 lb. Mixed baby lettuces
Fresh made moutarde vinagrette (Maille mustard, oil, honey, salt, pepper, white balsamic and MIX)
Crostini (any bread toasted with olive oil and salt)
All I did was sear the prosciutto wrapped scallops on a hot Le Creuset frying pan in oil and butter. About a minute on each side. I tossed my mixed baby lettuces in the moutard vinagrette and served a big pile of those on a plate with salad and crunchy crostini.
It was a restaurant quality meal - as fresh as possible - right here at home.
Cost: Scallops - $10 / Baby Lettuces - $3.50
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