I know, i know, I’ve been gone and didn’t even post this past week’s foodblog-a-round. Can I use the excuse that I was too busy stuffing my face with Singaporean / Malaysian specialities during a whirlwind trip to Singapore? I was and I’ll see if I can dig up any pics of that for later this week.

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to get back to cooking more at home in the cJ household. Tonight we’re headed out to dinner (I <3 Camino) but I thought I’d throw in a quick bonus post on a lusciously lovely pasta we ate yesterday.

This pasta has hearty flavor and even perhaps a touch of creaminess to it despite no cream. I think it’s the light sprinkling of cheese that gives it a little more depth, plus the lingering essence the vodka that brightens the flavor. It might taste a little like autumn as described here, but it could be dressed up for springtime easily by adding freshly shelled peas or some nice asparagus and a squeeze of lemon. It would make a good main course or side dish (we ate it next grilled rack of lamb and sauteed broccoli rabe… Yum).

Take a healthy portion of fresh mushrooms — I used about a pound but I’d probably recommended closer to 1 1/2 to 2 lbs, remember they will cook down a bit — and slice. Slice several cloves of garlic and a shallot. Heat oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and shallots and stir until slightly soft (don’t let them burn) and add the mushrooms. Allow the mushrooms to brown in the pan, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle sea salt and freshly ground pepper over the mushrooms. When the mushrooms are nicely browned, pour in some vodka. Use your own judgement but at least 1/4 cup… Allow vodka to mostly boil off. Taste the mushrooms and add more vodka if desired to up the flavor in the mushrooms. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Add 3 tbs of olive oil (or more) and heat through.

In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil to cook the pasta. Grate fresh parmagiano reggiano, roughly 1 cup. Cook the noodles — I chose pappardelle because it is so beautiful and wide and has a lovely drape to it. Pappardelle takes about 5-7 minutes to cook. Drain the noodles and return to pan.

Pour the olive oil, mushroom, garlic and shallot mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle some of the grated cheese on top and toss to combine… Continue adding cheese and tossing to spread the cheese throughout the noodles. Squeeze lemon on top if you like.

Spring is sprung, and berries are all over the market (at least here in California… maybe where you are too). And as the weather gets warmer a nice refreshing dessert is in order. This is a great fruit salad — easy to make, not even any chopping or slicing since it’s all berries whole. You can make variations of course with strawberries (I’d cut them in half or quarters in that case) or other fruits. Of course, you want to start with great berries. But the element that brings it all together is aged balsamic vinegar. Make sure to choose a nice, rich and thick one.

Rinse the berries. Here we have raspberries, golden raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, about 2 pints or so. Drizzle the luscious balsamic over the top (I used less than a tablespoon I think, but I didn’t measure). Spoon a little sugar over the top (I used 1 tablespoon, but you can use less if you want to keep it more pristine). Don’t go fully sugar-less however because the sugar helps to bring out some of the juices to stir in with the balsamic, which brings the salad together. Enjoy as a stand-alone dessert, or over some vanilla ice cream.

Here we go, continuing our quest to cook our way through Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Express with Winter recipe #89. The colors are really beautiful, and the combination of the beans, the meat and the toothsome pasta give it some heft as well. Not to mention the addition of the greens, which pretty much means nearly all the food groups are included. Multiple sources of protein and the potential to include whole grains? Healthy, tasty, and fast? (Don’t lecture me on whether the Italian sausage is healthy… substitute your sausage of choice, chicken or even fake sausage, as long as it’s flavorful).

Put some water on to boil with a pinch or two of salt. Cook the pasta. We’re trying to eat more interesting grains and less wheat, so we went with a farro penne, but you can use any pasta you want. I like the short shaped pasta for this dish because it’s easier to grab a forkful off all the stuff together but if you like long noodles, why not? Anyway, cook till done (my farro pasta about 10 minutes), drain and reserve some of the cooking liquid.

While the pasta is cooking, fry up some Italian sausage meat, breaking into small pieces and browning / cooking through. You can either get the meat loose or in sausages and just remove the casings. Bittman recommends “a couple of sweet Italian sausages” — I used approximately a pound of sausage meat. Drain a large can of diced tomatoes as well as a can of chickpeas, and add both to the pan. Add in a tablespoon of crushed fennel seeds and a pinch of red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste. The fennel and red pepper help bring the “sauce” to life and give what it really a very simple combination some depth and complexity.

Toss the pasta with a couple of handfuls of greens and let the greens wilt. The recipe says arugula but really any tender green will do, and I used a mix of baby spinach, arugula and radicchio (one of those organic salad mixes). Add the pasta into the sausage mixture, and if you want it a little moister, this is where to use the reserved pasta water. I didn’t use any.

Eat up. It’s hearty. And next time, I would grate some fresh parmigiano on top. What’s not to love about cheese? Plus, adding the dairy food group to make this truly a well-rounded meal.

I don’t have enough ambition to cook my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking or through The French Laundry Cookbook or definitely not through the Alinea cookbook. These women are the few and the brave. But the other day after prepping another quick and easy meal from Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Expresss, my husband announced, “Hey, we could cook our way through this book!.” And actually, we are, if in a random, disorganized manner. Now that we’ve set it as an actual goal, watch this space for more and more Bittman recipes.

The other day we whipped up a batch of Saffron Chickpea soup and just didn’t find it flavorful enough. That doesn’t mean it’s off our list permanently because I think with some tweaking it could be better. But with all the other recipes to tick our way through first it will be a long time before we loop back.

Instead today I made the White Bean Stew, which was super speedy and delivered on flavor. And I made just one adjustment, replacing the handful of ham with a handful of bacon. Because, you know, everything’s better with bacon. This recipe couldn’t be easier if you’re ok with using canned beans. And even if you’re not, because you could cook up some beans on the weekend and just save them to use in this dish or any other later in the week.

I really liked this soup — hearty and tasty, and healthy too, covering all the food groups, particularly if you serve it as recommended with some toasted garlic-y bread. Next time I might add some fresh herbs, especially basil, for some additional brightness. Or a squeeze of lemon. But overall verdict: would make again for sure.

Kitchen Express White Bean Stew

Mince a couple of cloves of garlic (I went overboard here and used like 4 or more, but adjust to your taste) and chop up enough bacon to be roughly a handful. The bacon should be a thick-cut type ideally. Warm a little oil in the pot, and saute the garlic and bacon long enough for them to become fragrant. The bacon doesn’t need to crisp up but it should cook a little and let some of its oils out.

Pour in a can of chopped tomatoes, including the liquid. Add a can of white beans (I like Great Northern in this but you could use cannellini or any other white bean) or equivalent of say 2 cups if you’re using home-cooked. Include the liquid from the can too. Add another cup of broth or more bean cooking liquid. Season with salt and pepper and let ‘er rip until she boils. Let the stew simmer away as long or as short a time as you like — a little longer helps the flavors meld together. Throw in a couple of handfuls of spinach or other green until they wilt, and serve.

We try to incorporate a lot of interesting whole grains into our diet — and quinoa is one of our favorites. But just boiling it up and tossing in some salt, pepper and oil is not that interesting, and even the lusciousness of tossing in some easily melting cheese like crescenza gets repetitive. So when I saw this recipe in the latest issue of Fine Cooking, I couldn’t wait to try it.

I whipped up a batch as the side dish for our dinner tonight (braised short ribs again — I meant to do tequila-braise but we ended up with beer braised again… still delicious). It’s easy, quick, and healthy.

We used red quinoa as the recipe calls for which gives it that beautiful color — but I also had to use some other “tri-color mix” to make a full cup, and it doesn’t matter what kind of quinoa you use, really. For the dried fruits, I followed the instructions on the raisins (golden in this case) and dried apricot, but for a little extra flavor I also threw in a couple of dried mission figs. I toasted the almonds in the toaster oven (I <3 my new Breville oven!) and roughly chopped them — they were a little too big chunks, so next time I would either chop them more or not include them; to me they were not needed.

With all that “healthiness” it’s nice to know it’s tasty too. Well, Deborah Madison (oh former goddess of Greens Restaurant) gets the credit for this recipe so that’s no surprise. The avocado helps hold the quinoa together and brings a nice richness of bite to the dish… with the sweet chewiness of the raisins, apricots and figs to set it off. The lemon, cumin, paprika and coriander combine with the flavors and kind of meld them together; it’s not a sour taste but rather a bright freshness. Since it takes dried fruit it can be made in any season, but it tastes a little like springtime.

Quinoa and Avocado Salad with Dried Fruit and Lemon-Cumin Vinaigrette

• 3 Tbs. raisins (I used golden)
• 2 Tbs. dried apricots, thinly sliced

Feel free to swap in or add additional dried fruits. I sliced up a couple of dried mission figs; I could see cranberries working, dried cherries, etc.

• 1 cup red or white quinoa, rinsed well
• Kosher salt
• 1 large lemon
• 3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
• 2 medium firm-ripe avocados (6 to 7 oz. each)
• 2 medium scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
• 2 to 3 Tbs. coarsely chopped toasted almonds
• Freshly ground black pepper

Soak the dried fruits in hot water a couple of minutes, and then drain and set aside.
Then, cook the quinoa — bring the quinoa to a boil (pinch of salt and 2 cups of water), then cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer until the water is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. The quinoa will have become tender and “bloomed”, and the white squiggles will be visible. Fluff the quinoa and then pour it onto a baking sheet so it can cool.

While the quinoa is cooling, zest the lemon and squeeze about a tablespoon of juice out. Whisk the zest and juice with the olive oil, coriander, cumin, paprika, and a pinch of salt.

Wait until you’re ready to serve the salad — then prep the avocado — pit, peel and cut into ~1/2 inch chunks (mine may have been closer to 1/4 inch, which was still substantial enough). Toss the vinaigrette with the quinoa, dried fruit, avocado, scallions, and almonds. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

(adapted from Fine Cooking magazine)

On Sunday it was rainy and dreary and we just didn't feel like heading out for lunch. All the fresh ingredients in the house were destined for other meals this week. So I decided to put my "semi-homemade" hat on and see what I could whip up just from what was in the pantry.

The result was farro spaghetti tossed in brown-butter-sage-butter-fried white beans and butternut squash sauce. It was luscious, rich and hearty… with a touch of sweetness from the squash, and nuttiness from the brown butter. Actually, it tasted sort of like inside-out butternut squash ravioli. Yum. Quick yet satisfying and it was completely unnoticeable that it was nearly all from pre-prepared food.

And yes, we have a weird pantry. If you don't have this stuff on hand swap any other kind of pasta in and any other kind of white bean. If you don't have butternut squash sauce in a bottle, run out and get some (or make it from scratch, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the from-the-pantry meal).

• Handful of spaghetti (we used farro pasta)
• Oil (olive oil if you like – we used hazelnut oil for tiniest hint of nuttiness) – optional
• Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash sauce
• Can of White Northern beans
• A couple tablespoons of butter
• Fresh sage leaves (ideally – you can use dried for flavor if necessary)

Put the water on to boil with a pinch of salt. When it boils, put the pasta into the pot. If desired, add a little hit of oil to the water to help keep the noodles from sticking together. While the pasta is boiling away, heat the butter over medium-high heat. As it's melting, throw in the fresh sage leaves to infuse their flavor into the butter. In the meantime, open the can of beans and rinse with fresh water. When the butter begins to turn a golden color and brown flecks begin to appear (and the smell of the sage combined with the nutty butter flavor begins to make your mouth water), add the beans to the pan and saute. After the beans are warmed through and (if desired) have a little brown crust on them for crunchiness, add the butternut squash sauce to heat. After 8-10 minutes (for farro pasta, your mileage may vary), strain the pasta and add the pasta to the pan with the sauce. Allow the pasta to cook in the sauce for a few minutes.

Serve the pasta as a whole meal-in-a-bowl. Slurp as necessary but careful not to splash orange sauce all over your clothes. Enjoy!

I’ve been in love with Fine Cooking’s Cauliflower Soup with Marcona Almond and Piquillo Pepper Relish since finding it in the December issue last year and whipping up a batch for the holidays. Who wouldn’t love a recipe that’s super easy to whip up but tastes elegant and exquisite? With the added bonus of being “customizable” to taste with your personal amount of relish?

The recipe suggests orange cauliflower, but when I saw this beautiful head of purple cauliflower at the store, I couldn’t resist the thought of a bowl of lavender soup.  The only question was, would the color actually carry through?

And the answer is… the cooking water turned a marvelously glowingly intense shade of violet, and the cauliflower still a beautiful pale lilac. And when blended all up, the soup was a gorgeous pale purple. And seriously, when I brought it to the table, the first reaction of guests was “OMG what’s that?” Followed by “Yum.”

As for the relish — I decided to replace the almonds with hazelnuts because, well, because I just love hazelnuts. And while you can eat the soup without the relish (it’s deliciously creamy without a touch of cream), the relish transforms the soup as it is stirred in… it changes and sharpens the flavors and gives the tastebuds a little “Aha!”

The picture doesn’t do it justice. I just couldn’t take a good picture of a bowl of soup.

Purple Cauliflower Soup with Hazelnut Relish

For the soup

• Salt and pepper
• 1 medium head of cauliflower — purple obviously if you want this color, otherwise any type — cut into florets
• 4 tbs of unsalted butter

For the relish

• 1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted lightly and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup jarred roasted red/yellow peppers, rinsed, seeded, and finely diced
• 2 Tbs. hazelnut oil (or EVOO if preferred)
• 1 Tbs. thinly sliced fresh mint
• 1 medium clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Boil 6 cups water with one teaspoon of salt. Boil the cauliflower until very
tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain the cauliflower in a colander set over a
large bowl to catch the cooking liquid and let the cauliflower cool
slightly. Working in 2 batches, purée each batch of cauliflower with 2 cups of the
cooking liquid and 2 Tbs. of the butter in a blender until very smooth.
Season to taste with salt. (The soup can be made up to 4 hours ahead.)

In a small bowl, combine the hazelnuts, peppers, oil, mint, garlic, and
pepper flakes Season to taste with salt and pepper. (The relish can be
made up to 1 hour ahead.)

When ready to serve, gently reheat the soup over medium-low heat.
Garnish each serving with a spoonful of the hazelnut relish.

(adapted from fine cooking magazine)

They may not look very attractive, but they smell AWESOME.

Recipe adapted using Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio cookbook. Slightly less butter because I wanted less spread.

1 1/2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
I didn’t have any vanilla left or ordinarily I would have added it. Next time.

all mixed up, and then folding in

1 1/2 cups of flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp of baking powder

and then folded in

1 cup of Recchuiti’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Pearls.

I wanted to make smaller cookies so I went with heaping teaspoonfuls instead of tablespoonfuls. In the oven @ 350F for about 10 minutes.

Simple dinner tonight brought to us by Fatted Calf — chanterelle-and-sausage stuffed quail. Since they were pre-seasoned / stuffed, they were super easy. First step, get them out of the fridge and bring them to room temperature. Oven pre-heated to 425 degrees, per instructions of the nice guy @ the farmers’ market. I buttered a sheet to make sure they wouldn’t stick, and then placed them breast side down and let them go for about 8-9 minutes. I flipped them over and then let them go the balance of the time to a total of roughly 25 minutes (so maybe 15 minutes more). They were perfectly done, still moist, and the stuffing was fully cooked and extremely flavorful.

(sides: corn on the cob and green beans)

I love corn. Pop corn, corn kernels, cornbread, corn tortillas… but none of these can beat a nice young ear of corn on the cob. Good lots of ways, from grilled to boiled, from plain to slathered in chili lime butter. But I don't cook corn the way my mom always did. There seems to be a divide on whether corn should be boiled a long time or a short time… I always err on the shorter. It takes away the raw-raw flavor, but leaves the corn crisp and sweet.

It's so simple, it doesn't really qualify as a recipe. Fill a pot with water, throw some salt in if you want, and bring it to a boil Clean off your corn, pulling the husks and silks off. When the water is at a boil, drop the corn in from 2-4 minutes. After that, pull the corn out, let cool till you can touch it without hurting yourself, and enjoy!

I love it this way… tonight I ate 3 ears (my husband said he was going to save his second, and I ate it instead), no butter, no salt. Chomp.