This is to remind myself about our Christmas festivities. I always forget what comes first, and so does everyone else. So here's the 2009 schedule:
1:30 or so -- Paddle Tennis
4:00 or so -- People get here
4:30 or so -- open presents. This year there were 16 grandkids -- 8 under eleven, 8 over. Secret Santa was just the grandkids, and there were a few random other presents. Great Uncle Evan, as always, played Santa. The under-elevens were so pumped about presents that it was the earlier the better, so we started a bit before the Sards and Michaeline were there.
Then we eat... More on that in the next post.
And the we light the candles and sing caroles until the candles burn down.
And then we sat around in the kitchen -- whoever was left -- and just hung out.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
fusion stir fry
The stir fry included onions, garlic, shrimp, a can of water chestnuts, and chopped fennel and broccoli rabe. I used plain vegetable oil (maybe soy?), added a bit of hot sesame oil at the very end, and served it with soy sauce. The brocsolli rabe and fennel were already sending it in a kind of Italian direction, so I served it with orzo, to which I added both butter and sesame seeds. That's it!!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Back to my basics
For some reason, I have not made a simple vegetable stir fry with rice for ages. Last night Duncan's train was late, so we decided not to go to the poetry reading at the Pleasant Street Tea Company. We got to the library just before closing and picked out 3 DVD's to take home. Duncan chose which one to watch while I made a quick supper.
I made a quick stir fry in the wok with sliced onions, garlic, ginger sauteed in vegetable oil (soy, I think). When the vegetables were soft I added cubed tofu (firm, or extra firm?), and then broccoli in small pieces which I microwaved for a couple of minutes, and sliced red cabbage which I added to the broccoli for the last minute. A bit of hot pepper sauce, and then chopped fresh parsley and basil, completed the stir fry.
I served it with rice to which I added about a half cup of carrot juice (because the rice came out kind of dry).
The movie was fabulous -- After the Wedding, a Danish film. We ate the stir fry with chopsticks. Ever notice how hard it is to eat with chopsticks and watch a subtitled movie?
I made a quick stir fry in the wok with sliced onions, garlic, ginger sauteed in vegetable oil (soy, I think). When the vegetables were soft I added cubed tofu (firm, or extra firm?), and then broccoli in small pieces which I microwaved for a couple of minutes, and sliced red cabbage which I added to the broccoli for the last minute. A bit of hot pepper sauce, and then chopped fresh parsley and basil, completed the stir fry.
I served it with rice to which I added about a half cup of carrot juice (because the rice came out kind of dry).
The movie was fabulous -- After the Wedding, a Danish film. We ate the stir fry with chopsticks. Ever notice how hard it is to eat with chopsticks and watch a subtitled movie?
Friday, March 13, 2009
Monkfish Vietnamese style
Monkfish was under $8 per pound today at Conneley's. I bought about a pound and three quarters to feed me, Eric, Don, and Duncan -- and then realized that Lee might be arriving as well. I added shrimp (I try to keep a few pounds in my freezer), and they were a good addition.
When I think of monkfish I think of that wonderful picture of Julia Child holding what looks something like a huge oil spill. She is holding the fish above her head with one hand; its head is resting on the floor. It is surely ugly!
Monkfish have the consistency of lobsters and very little flavor. I looked up how Julia cooks them, but decided to use Vietnamese flavors and preparation. Here goes (it was good, of course, otherwise I wouldn't bother you with it):
Use a large, flat pan (I used a wok, but think my paella pan would have worked better). Warm up olive oil (1/3 cup?) and saute one chopped onion, 2 or 3 minced cloves of garlic, and a good bit of chopped ginger. Add about one half small head of white cabbage, shredded, and mix around with the other stuff. I also added chopped brocolli stems and some shrimp.
Cut the monkfish into serving size pieces and place them in a mixing bowl. Add fish sauce, lemon and lime juice, soy sauce, and a bit of hot sesame oil. I would have added plain sesame oil as well, but I've run out. Mix this and let the monkfish marinate briefly. Then add the fish to the cabbage mixture, burying each piece of fish in the cabbage. Turn the ingredients over several times as you cook them on medium to high heat. Child says to make sure they cook through but not so long as to begin to fall apart. I think it took about 10 minutes.
I served it with brocolli and pasta.
When I think of monkfish I think of that wonderful picture of Julia Child holding what looks something like a huge oil spill. She is holding the fish above her head with one hand; its head is resting on the floor. It is surely ugly!
Monkfish have the consistency of lobsters and very little flavor. I looked up how Julia cooks them, but decided to use Vietnamese flavors and preparation. Here goes (it was good, of course, otherwise I wouldn't bother you with it):
Use a large, flat pan (I used a wok, but think my paella pan would have worked better). Warm up olive oil (1/3 cup?) and saute one chopped onion, 2 or 3 minced cloves of garlic, and a good bit of chopped ginger. Add about one half small head of white cabbage, shredded, and mix around with the other stuff. I also added chopped brocolli stems and some shrimp.
Cut the monkfish into serving size pieces and place them in a mixing bowl. Add fish sauce, lemon and lime juice, soy sauce, and a bit of hot sesame oil. I would have added plain sesame oil as well, but I've run out. Mix this and let the monkfish marinate briefly. Then add the fish to the cabbage mixture, burying each piece of fish in the cabbage. Turn the ingredients over several times as you cook them on medium to high heat. Child says to make sure they cook through but not so long as to begin to fall apart. I think it took about 10 minutes.
I served it with brocolli and pasta.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Winter Salads
Last spring and summer my garden produced the most wonderful lettuce and other greens. We had salad after salad, with rich, complex tastes and "toothiness". Evening is time to go out and pick whatever is ready to go into the salad -- kale, lettuce, herbs, and at this remove I can't even remember what else. I just know that yesterday, which by my reckoning was the first day of spring (count them from the first nice one in March or you may not get any), I began to think about starting lettuce in a cold frame. I've never done that before.
Between last summer's salads and now there's a long time. You have to have salad in the winter, but I just can't any more serve those pallid bowls full of "annie's organic greens" from Chile or California, packed in plastic and containing at least a couple of black and wilted leaves. So I've invented winter salads.
1. I use a lot of Romaine lettuce. No one thinks that Romaine is gourmet -- it's the new iceberg. You buy a bag of three heads in a sealed plastic bag. Sometimes I wash it, sometimes I don't. I usually cut it with a sharp knife, starting with the leafy end and slicing in 1/2" (or so) pieces. It keeps for a long time in the fridge and can be added to my "winter salad" no matter what other ingredients I use.
2. I usually make the dressing with cider vinegar. I have a quart bottle of Bragg Raw Unfiltered Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. According to Cooks Illustrated, vinegar lasts just about forever, and that's been my experience. I find the raw, acidic taste of cider vinegar perfect for winter salads. (Sometimes I use rice wine vinegar.) I use the exellent oilve oil that my brother in law Evan keeps be supplied in.
3. The other ingredients of a "winter salad" might be -- thinly sliced -- cabbage (white or red, or savoy), bok choy, endive, radicchio, spinach. I sometimes add grated carrot, fresh parsley, fennel -- kind of whatever is in the fridge. The fennel adds a really nice texture and flavor.
4. My brother Eric is staying with us and he doesn't do well with raw onions. So I often slice a red onion and marinte it in baslamic vinegar and serve so that people can add it as they want.
Your commets please, and more to come...
Between last summer's salads and now there's a long time. You have to have salad in the winter, but I just can't any more serve those pallid bowls full of "annie's organic greens" from Chile or California, packed in plastic and containing at least a couple of black and wilted leaves. So I've invented winter salads.
1. I use a lot of Romaine lettuce. No one thinks that Romaine is gourmet -- it's the new iceberg. You buy a bag of three heads in a sealed plastic bag. Sometimes I wash it, sometimes I don't. I usually cut it with a sharp knife, starting with the leafy end and slicing in 1/2" (or so) pieces. It keeps for a long time in the fridge and can be added to my "winter salad" no matter what other ingredients I use.
2. I usually make the dressing with cider vinegar. I have a quart bottle of Bragg Raw Unfiltered Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. According to Cooks Illustrated, vinegar lasts just about forever, and that's been my experience. I find the raw, acidic taste of cider vinegar perfect for winter salads. (Sometimes I use rice wine vinegar.) I use the exellent oilve oil that my brother in law Evan keeps be supplied in.
3. The other ingredients of a "winter salad" might be -- thinly sliced -- cabbage (white or red, or savoy), bok choy, endive, radicchio, spinach. I sometimes add grated carrot, fresh parsley, fennel -- kind of whatever is in the fridge. The fennel adds a really nice texture and flavor.
4. My brother Eric is staying with us and he doesn't do well with raw onions. So I often slice a red onion and marinte it in baslamic vinegar and serve so that people can add it as they want.
Your commets please, and more to come...
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Fish en Papillote
I picked up a copy of Cook's Illustrated when I was in DC. I'd never really looked at it before. I am intrigued. The tone is forthright, conversational; the approach is empirical. They try things; they tell you what worked and what didn't.
Tonight I tried two of their recipes. Or, I followed some hints and remade a couple of their recipes.
One is Fish en Papillote. Here's what I did:
I bought 1/2 pound of fresh pollock and 1/2 pound of Maine shrimp (qv). Each was $3.99 per pound. I mixed the shrimp with cubed pollack, cut about the size of the shrimp, added chopped baby bok choy (two small heads) and 1/4 of a white onion, also chopped and mixed with a bit of sesame oil and a few drops of hot sesame oil and sweated in the microwave for a couple of minutes. I added the juice from 1/2 a lime and divided the mixture onto three sheets of aluminum foil, covered each sheet with another sheet, and crimped the edges to make three packages. (Eric reminded me that aluminum was a suspected contributor to Alzheimers -- I'll try parchment the next time.)
Since I was going to put them into a hot oven to cook I decided to try Cooks Illustrated's method for rice, slightly altered. I started long grain brown rice in a heavy metal pot on the top of the stove, added a couple of tablespoons of chopped ginger (it gives the rice a great flavor), and when the rice was simmering, the laundry was folded, and the oven was hot, transferred the rice to the oven.
When the rice was cooked (a bit over cooked, in fact), I turned the oven to 450, waited a minute or so, and put the papillotes in the oven on a rimmed baking tray (they can get pretty full of liquid). I left them in for about 15 minutes and served one per person. They were excellent -- full of juices that flavored the rice, tasty, not overcooked. I was quite delighted and ready to learn how to fold parchment, even though Cook's compares it to having to do origami.
I served it with asparagus, two pounds of it to make up for the skimpiness of the dinner, which I cooked in the microwave in two minute intervals -- three in all, I think. The microwave cooks from the inside out -- the asparagus was warm and tender and crisp.
Check out Cook's. The idea for the fish and the rice came from the April 2009 issue.
Tonight I tried two of their recipes. Or, I followed some hints and remade a couple of their recipes.
One is Fish en Papillote. Here's what I did:
I bought 1/2 pound of fresh pollock and 1/2 pound of Maine shrimp (qv). Each was $3.99 per pound. I mixed the shrimp with cubed pollack, cut about the size of the shrimp, added chopped baby bok choy (two small heads) and 1/4 of a white onion, also chopped and mixed with a bit of sesame oil and a few drops of hot sesame oil and sweated in the microwave for a couple of minutes. I added the juice from 1/2 a lime and divided the mixture onto three sheets of aluminum foil, covered each sheet with another sheet, and crimped the edges to make three packages. (Eric reminded me that aluminum was a suspected contributor to Alzheimers -- I'll try parchment the next time.)
Since I was going to put them into a hot oven to cook I decided to try Cooks Illustrated's method for rice, slightly altered. I started long grain brown rice in a heavy metal pot on the top of the stove, added a couple of tablespoons of chopped ginger (it gives the rice a great flavor), and when the rice was simmering, the laundry was folded, and the oven was hot, transferred the rice to the oven.
When the rice was cooked (a bit over cooked, in fact), I turned the oven to 450, waited a minute or so, and put the papillotes in the oven on a rimmed baking tray (they can get pretty full of liquid). I left them in for about 15 minutes and served one per person. They were excellent -- full of juices that flavored the rice, tasty, not overcooked. I was quite delighted and ready to learn how to fold parchment, even though Cook's compares it to having to do origami.
I served it with asparagus, two pounds of it to make up for the skimpiness of the dinner, which I cooked in the microwave in two minute intervals -- three in all, I think. The microwave cooks from the inside out -- the asparagus was warm and tender and crisp.
Check out Cook's. The idea for the fish and the rice came from the April 2009 issue.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Dinners with Becky and Mark
I'm visiting my friend Becky in Washington DC. We went to college together; after college we traveled through Europe and then lived together in Paris for a half a year or so. I'd never cooked before. I started to learn to cook from her.
We lived in half an apartment in the 16th arrondissment (the fanciest one) in Paris. Madame, our widowed landlady, lived in the other half. In French fashion, she kept the kitchen, we had the bathroom. She used our bathroom to take a full bath once a month or so.
So my first cooking experience was in the bathroom, cooking on a hotplate, one of us sitting on the toilet, the other on the bidet, stirring our dinner in the bathroom. We put groceries on the fire escape to keep them cool, and shopped for dinner on the way home from work at l'Ecole Berlitz, where we both worked teaching English to our mostly French students.
Becky's still a cook, and so now am I. Her kitchen has most of the same things to cook with that mine does. She and her husband Mark are going through some nasty health issues and I'm here cooking and helping get the car inspected -- and making more messes than I want, like spilling coffee on the dining room rug and freezing the lock on the porch door.
The first night we served up a bunch of leftovers. For the second night I cut up a bunch of vegetables that were almost over the edge -- cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, celery. I started by sauteeing garlic and onion and a few red peppers, then added the vegetables and a cup or so of water. Hmmm. How do you get this to taste like vegetables but not too bland? Becky had a jar of Nellie's African Sauce, mild. I added a couple of big tablespoonfuls.
Then, we went shopping at Whole Foods. I had planned to cook a chicken, but we'd gone to get the car inspected and the chicken would take too long. So I found some haddock -- a long way from Gloucester -- and poached it in the vegetable broth. It was good.
Tonight we did the chicken. The 4lb. roaster from Whole Foods was super. I cut up a lone potato, an onion, and a weary bag of little carrots. Becky produced a beautiful blue pottery roasting pan from Poland. I added the vegetables to the pan and tossed them in olive oil, and found fresh thyme in the 'fridge which I put in the "cavity" along with about 7 or 8 whole cloves of garlic.
Joy of Cooking suggests a preheated 400 degree oven for an hour or so, plus a 15 minute wait before carving. I melted butter and olive oil and dribbled it over the chicken, and then dribbled a bit more a half an hour later. After an hour the chicken was not quite done. We upped the temperature to 425 for fifteen minutes and then let it sit for a while before carving. It was delicious. The vegetables were wonderful. I hope they use all this to make a great soup next week!
Becky's daughter Alexandra has a brussels sprouts recipe which we did tonight. You cut the sprouts in half, melt butter and olive oil in a frying pan, sautee chopped garlic and then remove it from the pan, then place the sprouts carefully, face down, in one layer in the pan. Sautee the sprouts until they are close to cooked, then add the garlic back in and stir it all around.
I'm going to try this with big pieces of garlic - maybe half a clove each.
We lived in half an apartment in the 16th arrondissment (the fanciest one) in Paris. Madame, our widowed landlady, lived in the other half. In French fashion, she kept the kitchen, we had the bathroom. She used our bathroom to take a full bath once a month or so.
So my first cooking experience was in the bathroom, cooking on a hotplate, one of us sitting on the toilet, the other on the bidet, stirring our dinner in the bathroom. We put groceries on the fire escape to keep them cool, and shopped for dinner on the way home from work at l'Ecole Berlitz, where we both worked teaching English to our mostly French students.
Becky's still a cook, and so now am I. Her kitchen has most of the same things to cook with that mine does. She and her husband Mark are going through some nasty health issues and I'm here cooking and helping get the car inspected -- and making more messes than I want, like spilling coffee on the dining room rug and freezing the lock on the porch door.
The first night we served up a bunch of leftovers. For the second night I cut up a bunch of vegetables that were almost over the edge -- cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, celery. I started by sauteeing garlic and onion and a few red peppers, then added the vegetables and a cup or so of water. Hmmm. How do you get this to taste like vegetables but not too bland? Becky had a jar of Nellie's African Sauce, mild. I added a couple of big tablespoonfuls.
Then, we went shopping at Whole Foods. I had planned to cook a chicken, but we'd gone to get the car inspected and the chicken would take too long. So I found some haddock -- a long way from Gloucester -- and poached it in the vegetable broth. It was good.
Tonight we did the chicken. The 4lb. roaster from Whole Foods was super. I cut up a lone potato, an onion, and a weary bag of little carrots. Becky produced a beautiful blue pottery roasting pan from Poland. I added the vegetables to the pan and tossed them in olive oil, and found fresh thyme in the 'fridge which I put in the "cavity" along with about 7 or 8 whole cloves of garlic.
Joy of Cooking suggests a preheated 400 degree oven for an hour or so, plus a 15 minute wait before carving. I melted butter and olive oil and dribbled it over the chicken, and then dribbled a bit more a half an hour later. After an hour the chicken was not quite done. We upped the temperature to 425 for fifteen minutes and then let it sit for a while before carving. It was delicious. The vegetables were wonderful. I hope they use all this to make a great soup next week!
Becky's daughter Alexandra has a brussels sprouts recipe which we did tonight. You cut the sprouts in half, melt butter and olive oil in a frying pan, sautee chopped garlic and then remove it from the pan, then place the sprouts carefully, face down, in one layer in the pan. Sautee the sprouts until they are close to cooked, then add the garlic back in and stir it all around.
I'm going to try this with big pieces of garlic - maybe half a clove each.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Mexican wraps
We have a wonderful restaurant in Gloucester called Jalapenos. Is that why I've been cooking more TexMex lately? Or because I got a crock pot and started cooking more beans, and one way to serve them is in a wrap? In any case, I've been searching for the perfect wrap, and here it is.
Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Flour Lavash Bread. It's great for any kind, any cuisine's idea of a roll up, and works well with cheese and beans and sour cream and avocados.
It's a wrap, as they say on the label.
Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Flour Lavash Bread. It's great for any kind, any cuisine's idea of a roll up, and works well with cheese and beans and sour cream and avocados.
It's a wrap, as they say on the label.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Beans in a pot
My friend Mary Kay Timm lived in Lincoln, MA, about 10 minutes from my home in Sudbury. Our sons were friends. She was a potter. I still have several great cooking pots she made. She's no longer a potter, and now her name is Yanna Coffin, and she lives in Gloucester, about 10 minutes from my home in Gloucester.
One of Yanna's pots is round and tall. It rounds in just over half way up, and has a small lid. It's a perfect bean pot. I've also cooked rice in it. A few days ago I was looking through my cookbooks and came upon the rice recipe I used to cook in Yanna's pot. It's in the Deaf Smith County Cookbook that my brother's first wife, Beth, gave me years ago. Beth and I cooked and gardened together.
A few days ago I cooked beans in Janna's pot. As far as I can remember it was red beans with an onion, some garlic, a bit of red pepper -- I didn't actually serve them as a meal. My brother Eric, who had them for dinner while we were away, said they were a bit "crunchy." I refried the beans and used them in echiladas a few days ago, but there was still a half pot left tonight, and Judith, who had prodded me for not posting recipes, was coming for dinner.
So -- I sauteed an onion in olive oil, added some chopped garlic and a diced pepper and a chopped mushroom. To this I added a cup of brown basmati rice, stirred it, and then added a bit of white wine. To cook the rice I poured in a large can of crushed tomatoes, brought it to a simmer, and simmered it till the rice was beginning to get soft.
Heeding Eric's warning that the beans were still crunchy, I put the bean pot in the oven at 250 degrees. I added the rice to the bean pot before the rice was cooked. The pot is still in the oven -- I'll edit the post after dinner and let you know how it turned out!
***********************************************************************************
A couple of hours later: We watched the beautiful match between Nadal and Federer and ate the beans and rice. It was excellent. Judith and I figured out that I must have added cumin to the beans -- it made a wonderful smoky base of flavor to the whole dish. Thank you Judith, thank you Yanna/Mary Kay, thank you Beth.
**********************************************************************************
Duncan, Eric, and I are having the third night of "beans in a pot." I sliced and fried two chicken sausages with one green pepper, and a can of corn to add a bit of liquid. I also snuck in a bit more cumin. We warmed it up in a 250 oven, then added the extras and served it with lavash flat bread, grated cheese, and a bit of sour cream (all we had left was a bit). Reminds me of a recipe I wrote down years ago: chicken for three days in one pot.
One of Yanna's pots is round and tall. It rounds in just over half way up, and has a small lid. It's a perfect bean pot. I've also cooked rice in it. A few days ago I was looking through my cookbooks and came upon the rice recipe I used to cook in Yanna's pot. It's in the Deaf Smith County Cookbook that my brother's first wife, Beth, gave me years ago. Beth and I cooked and gardened together.
A few days ago I cooked beans in Janna's pot. As far as I can remember it was red beans with an onion, some garlic, a bit of red pepper -- I didn't actually serve them as a meal. My brother Eric, who had them for dinner while we were away, said they were a bit "crunchy." I refried the beans and used them in echiladas a few days ago, but there was still a half pot left tonight, and Judith, who had prodded me for not posting recipes, was coming for dinner.
So -- I sauteed an onion in olive oil, added some chopped garlic and a diced pepper and a chopped mushroom. To this I added a cup of brown basmati rice, stirred it, and then added a bit of white wine. To cook the rice I poured in a large can of crushed tomatoes, brought it to a simmer, and simmered it till the rice was beginning to get soft.
Heeding Eric's warning that the beans were still crunchy, I put the bean pot in the oven at 250 degrees. I added the rice to the bean pot before the rice was cooked. The pot is still in the oven -- I'll edit the post after dinner and let you know how it turned out!
***********************************************************************************
A couple of hours later: We watched the beautiful match between Nadal and Federer and ate the beans and rice. It was excellent. Judith and I figured out that I must have added cumin to the beans -- it made a wonderful smoky base of flavor to the whole dish. Thank you Judith, thank you Yanna/Mary Kay, thank you Beth.
**********************************************************************************
Duncan, Eric, and I are having the third night of "beans in a pot." I sliced and fried two chicken sausages with one green pepper, and a can of corn to add a bit of liquid. I also snuck in a bit more cumin. We warmed it up in a 250 oven, then added the extras and served it with lavash flat bread, grated cheese, and a bit of sour cream (all we had left was a bit). Reminds me of a recipe I wrote down years ago: chicken for three days in one pot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
