nywff part 2....swiss chard ragu with white beans and tiny shell pasta

i learned to make this fantastic vegetarian dish at the new york wine and food festival, courtesy of chef mark ladner.  if i had seen this recipe in a cookbook  i honestly never would have tried it....i have had a tiny bit of chard on a lovely plate in a restaurant but never as the main attraction of a meal.  chard is so wonderful for you and is available now...so give this recipe a try...it is so hearty and yummy...i have made it at least 6 or 7 times .....it is seriously delicious!!! chef ladner served this with home made orchiette pasta. which we also had to try and make... needless to say i am still a novice with the orchiette.....homemade orchiette is an art and unfortunately i am not an artist....i had a hard time finding boxed orchiette locally and have substituted mini shells.

rustic ragu

recipe after the jump

nywff part 1 no knead bread and pizza dough from jim lahey

saturday morning i got up at 5 am....jumped in the car and headed to new york city to meet 3 friends and spend a wonderful day cooking and eating at the new york wine and food festival.  this year they held master classes for the first time....and...we managed to get tickets to a bread and pasta master class with jim lahey and mark ladner... it was held at the international culinary center on broadway.  i have seen the no knead bread recipe before....mark bittman wrote it up in the ny times...brit sent it to me last year....but every time i looked at it i thought...it can not possibly work.....it has to stick to the pot...it can not come out like bakery bread...well i saw jim lahey in person explain the fermentation process...he recommended to touch the dough as little as possible...i watched wide eyed as the dough slid out of the bowl like the sci fi movie the blob...and i can tell you it works like a charm....all it takes is time. 

ok, so i got up late on sunday morning...went to williams & sonoma bought a pizza stone and a peel...i stocked up on flour and set to work on the plan.  i found jim's pizza dough recipe in a recent bon appetit magazine on line and compared it back to the bread recipe.....same ingredients..so....i am thinking make a big batch of the pizza dough...split it after raising...because really, hubby and i can not eat 6 pizzas!  so here we go! recipe after the jump

braised glazed pork shoulder and fresh corn salad from 2 mark's

mark vetri's roast pork photo from bon appetit september 2012

mark bittman's tomato basil corn salad

summer is almost gone.....usually i am packing for a  two week vacation  this time of year, but this year we went in july instead.  being in new england in september is a great opportunity to take advantage of all that is ripe off the vine....tomatoes, corn....a fun time to try new recipes.  mark bittman's what to eat right now column last week titled "shuck and awe" inspired me to do something different with my favorite vegetable....not that steaming and serving with butter and kosher salt isn't fantastic ...it totally is..but.... well why not combine it with other flavors?  the tomato and basil salad with corn is a wonderful dish.  i have made it twice in 7 days! beyond wonderful.  this is a new favorite!  for saturday late lunch i decided to try mark vetri's (september bon appetit) slow roasted glazed pork shoulder.  it is definitely a weekend project because it requires some time...not so much work at all ....just time. (and surprisingly few ingredients.....  this recipe is so delicious.....aromatic....so comforting!  i can not think of enough adjectives....( and really i don't get italian from this flavor at all....just wonderfully subtle roasted pork and the cider vinegar glaze with brown sugar is the perfect note!  prepared to be licking your sticky fingers!  actually bailey had a rough day at home smelling the fantastic aroma of the pork roasting for 5 hours while we sat on the beach! go to the link for the salad...i steamed my corn first but mr. bittman went for raw....
recipe after the jump

baked challah french toast

ok you are thinking Another French Toast recipe????? well, all i have to say to that is this one is perfection.  brit and i keep tinkering with the recipes...using stuff we have in the pantry...this one was fast, not messy...super delicious and great as left overs right out of fridge.  challah bread from nyc, zested mandarin orange....and crunchy crumb topping...warm maple syrup..ahhhhhhh

best french toast bake ever....not super sweet just good

recipe after the jump

Thanksgiving favorites part 2 ciabatta stuffing

stuffing is one of the stars of the thanksgiving meal....i make my own ..... i don't put it in the bird and i don't grind up any of the giblets and sneak them in either......for many years i bought the bag of pepperidge farm seasoned stuffing and added all of my own veggies...then i  saw enough chefs on tv put so many different things in stuffing that i decided why not branch out...i love really good bread...so why not start out with great bread?   Giada De Laurentis made a stuffing with ciabatta bread that sounded really good to me...but I don't like chestnuts and parmesan cheese just doesn't say thanksgiving to me.  so i started with some of the basics in Giada's recipe and made some changes, ...replacing the chestnuts with apples. losing the parm and adding bacon..

kelsey made this beautiful pumpkin for the table decoration
 (hand carved and lit with battery operated lights. 

 recipe after the jump

Thanksgiving favorites: Parker House Rolls

thanksgiving has been one of my favorite holidays for as far back as i can remember and that is pretty far.   tilly always cooked for thanksgiving...she had a big ritual...(thinking back i don't know how she was able to afford all of the fruits and nuts and the turkey, pies and trimmings)...i remember how she worked in the kitchen for the whole week... i thought it was amazing......it was the highlight of the year for me to sleep over at gramma's the night before thanksgiving and participate in the process.  there was the grinding of all the disgusting turkey parts with the metal meat grinder bolted to the counter...the peeling of the mini onions....fascinating.   tilly's kitchen was tiny, so we always had thanksgiving on a big folding table in the living room...i  helped set the table and carried out the appetizers and all of the dishes as tilly got them ready to go.  she used cut glass bowls for the cranberry sauce, gherkin pickles and olives....   i cook at home every thanksgiving that i possibly can.  karen makes a few dishes and brit and kelsey also participate ...finding new recipes...making new traditions and keeping some of tilly's.....  those cut glass dishes are on the table every year.. 

tilly in the kitchen on thanksgiving

Parker house rolls recipe after the jump

new orleans barbecue shrimp

one year, a good friend of mine had a summer barbecue and made a phenomenal spicy lime shrimp recipe (from gourmet magazine) on the barbecue. it was the first time brit had ever had shrimp - and she must have eaten about three dozen of them. we tried a few summers later to duplicate the recipe from memory. the results were disastrous (so much lime juice it was kind of ceviche.....) and i haven't made cooked shrimp since.

but after recalling this story and laughing, brit remembers this amazing shrimp she had on a trip to new orleans - and we decide to give it another go. we stop at the local fish market and pick up a bag of 30 per pound shrimp. we get them home and search for the right recipe. new orleans barbecue shrimp, peel and eat, with creole seasoning, and pounds and pounds of butter sounds like right one. first - how to prepare the shrimp. we consult thomas keller, but still end up having to watch "de-veining shrimp for dummies" on youtube in order to be sure we get it right. after that project is complete (gross out) - we start making the sauce for the shrimp, and realize we have to make our own creole seasoning. (note to readers: do not inhale!)

this is a fantastic recipe! will make it again for sure!

more after the jump

the best rigatoni and meatballs ever

i have a morning ritual...my husband brings me a cup of coffee in bed, monday thru friday...i scoot up against the headboard and turn on the tv and watch molto mario every morning....the crazy operatic voice screeches as the music plays...mario inspires me every day.  i don't write any of it down .... picking up ideas and techniques.  one saturday morning, flipping through the channels tyler florence is traveling to italy for meatball inspiration....his first stop is a gorgeous house outside of naples where an italian grandma demonstrates her secret meatballs.....i watch the entire segment.....mesmerized (i know i am a nerd).....i make a mental note to put this recipe on my list....i don't watch the rest of the show...i don't care what tyler does in his ultimate version.  i am making the italian lady's recipe......so i get some really nice fresh ground pork and beef at the butcher and do some searching to find that recipe polpette napoletane.....(note: the food network picture of the meatballs looks like some kind of asian deep fried thing....ignore it) this is the first time making it so i follow every step with every ingredient i can find....i can not get buffalo mozzarella so as mario says get the best of what you can get locally so i buy some fresh mozzarella made in new haven.  

yep chunks of fresh mozzarella inside! ahhh

recipe after the jump

pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw and barbecue sauce

i love pulled pork sandwiches!  tilly's brother herbie introduced me to these sandwiches at an early age.  we  might be  yankees but we have cousins in virginia...and every time herbie visited them he had to go to bill's barbecue in richmond and load up.  he would buy enough to fill a cooler and bring it all home in quart containers.  then back in tilly's kitchen he would assemble those sandwiches.  it had to be a soft hamburger type roll...then the pulled pork...then some barbecue sauce (he would also add hot sauce) and then a dollop of coleslaw....then dive in.....needless to say it was gone as soon as he got it home.  i decided to try to make the pulled pork sandwich with the cole slaw and the barbecue sauce...all homemade.  now i don't have a fancy smoker...unlike herbie...who got a little crazy and tried to build a cinder block oven in tilly's back yard.

tilly, buddy (my grandfather) and herbie, they all look so cute

i started by having a talk with the butcher...he got me set up with a 2.5 pound pork butt with the bone in.  i decided to do some research...this is actually my second try on this....i did not like the dry rub i used last time....one by michael chiarello....was too spicy for my taste.  in the end mostl of my recipes here are adapted from bobby flay.

a slider size version yummiliscious

recipe after the jump

fourth of july "thanksgiving" picnic favorites with pickles and panzanella

happy weekend after the fourth, everyone! i had company all week and cooked up a storm......brit and i sat in the kitchen and sampled the cracked chocolate earth batter and laughed ....she said it felt like thanksgiving in july.....that is exactly what a summer holiday picnic should be.......family and food  (and thanks up there for the awesome weather!!!)......a plethora of all the picnic favorites.....i made pickles for the first time ever (easy and so much fun and they were yummy!) from smitten kitchen, and potato salad and beans, grilled 16 spice chicken breast with bobby flay inspired barbecue sauce,  cracked chocolate earth,  and ina garten's greek panzanella salad.

brit's nyc version in progress

panzanella and pickles recipe details and pics after the jump

strawberry madness.....shortcake, strawberry rhubarb jam, compote....

karen got me a groupon coupon gift.....a big discount on pick your own strawberries at scotts in east lyme.  having missed the saturday hours we had to go on father's day......kelsey and i picked about 10 lbs of berries in just over an hour and a half....and we both lamented the muscle pain for 2 days.

what to do with all those strawberries.....

we started slow....kelsey made the requested strawberry shortcake for father's day using a martha stewart recipe.  this was light and flakey and absolutely delish! looked gorgeous too.

like most things kelsey makes.....a work of art

that was just the warm up...i made a strawberry rhubarb compote from a strawberry slump recipe....very, very yummy........ have had it with greek yogurt for breakfast all week.

......and the next day i started making jam.
recipe after the jump

16 ish spice rub pork ribs with barbecue sauce

one of my favorite things to order at bobby flay's mesa grill is 16 spice pork.....it is so good.  i like a lot of what bobby flay makes but can't handle the level of spicy.....the 16 spice is mild compared to some things you could try on that menu.  i was really excited when i saw bobby make the 16 spice chicken with bourbon barbecue sauce on the throw down show...it looked easy to do and the folks that tasted it were raving...well of course it was bobby!  i printed the recipe and i have made my version of the 16 spice rub and the barbecue sauce minus the bourbon and chilis about 10 times....i have used it on chicken, pork loin, pork chops....all delicious.  i made a trip to the butcher in essex the day before memorial day weekend to stock up for some guests....oh and to celebrate....because hallelujah the stove is hooked up and working!!!!  (love it, love it, love it....best thing i have ever bought....... really! i have been cooking like a mad woman for 10 days with no time to stop and write down any of it....too much fun cooking ) i know i am crazy...i admit it.

 it arrives but only the electric oven is operational for 2 weeks

 finally cooking with gas..... and not on the deck but in the kitchen

 so back to the butcher.....he had these gorgeous piles of ribs he was sorting and rolling each one into a neat pile....so i struck up a conversation with him about how i might cook these, since i don't have a smoker...and he gave me some advice on cooking them slowly in the oven wrapped in foil.  i got them home and looked around for some inspiration....i had a container of the 16 spice ( my version) rub and decided why not.  i dried them and added the rub on both sides and put them back in fridge for 2 hours while i made the barbecue sauce.  i preheated the oven to 250 and double wrapped the ribs in foil and cooked them for 2 1/2 hours.  i took them out of the oven and opened up the foil wrap basted them on top and bottom with the barbecue sauce and put them on the gas grill on the foil for a half hour on low.  these were so good they did not last long enough to get a picture of them...sorry about that.
my version of the rub recipe and the barbecue sauce after the jump.

birthday girls brunch: pancetta and vidalia onion quiche and baked french toast

the new stove arrived on saturday morning...thank god! i love it, i love it, i love it !!!! can not believe i waited this long to get a really good quality stove. it has dual fuel (gas burners on top and electric convection oven) ....and ok the gas has been installed at the house but the gas company has not hooked up the gas to the stove yet.... so now....as ironic as it may seem i have an oven but no burners.....crazy....and to add insult to injury it will be 2 weeks before they can get someone out to complete the hook up.......  but who cares...has been so long since i have had an oven i am working at using it anyway i can. breakfast.....brit brought home a challah for french toast...so here we go baked french toast and pancetta, onion quiche.....wooo hoooo!!! this is the brit and kelsey birthday brunch celebration. (they are born on the same day 3 years apart.... a story for another day) britany did the internet research to find a recipe that did not require an over night soak since it was now already sunday morning.   the baked french toast recipe is inspired by ree drummond the pioneer woman.

oven baked french toast warm and yummy goodness

pancetta and vidalia onion quiche puffy cheesey yummy

recipes after the jump

Tilly's Birthday french toast celebration

today would be tilly's 91st birthday.   tilly who made me every birthday cake since i was born ......about 27 years ago it dawned on me that no one ever made a cake for tilly's birthday so that year i made her a cheesecake for her birthday with cherries on top.  she was so surprised!....  and of course she told me it was the best thing she ever tasted.  to celebrate tilly today i would love to make a cake in tilly's honor....but still sadly no oven.....instead i will celebrate tilly by making the first thing she taught me to cook....yes the french toast!  this is not the original recipe....i made some changes....and since lemon meringue pie was one of tilly's specialties i may have added some lemony goodness .......

tilly and 2 of her sisters (from right to left tilly, rose, a friend, helen )

challah french toast with lemon curd and fresh blueberries

recipe after the jump

pork loin roast on the grill for easter

easter....one of my favorite holidays as a child.  my aunt ethel and my grandmother tilly would make sure i had  a wonderful easter basket full of surprises.  one year tilly bought me big girl patent leather shoes with gold buckles that i actually remember wearing to bed because i could not bear to take them off.   ethel used to do easter baskets like martha......before martha was martha.  yellow and lavender crepe paper wrapped around a wicker basket filled with wondrous goodies.

easter at tilly's 1961 ish (ok that is a scary looking bunny)

 ( tilly kicked it into high gear for every holiday.)  i know now, that she and grandpa had a very modest income...but somehow she put on feast after feast for everyone that showed up.  for easter there was some candy for sure, a ham with candied sweet potatoes and usually a wonderful lemon meringue pie or maybe a cake shaped like a bunny covered in colored coconut.....is kind of sad, but good at the same time to have such wonderful traditions to carry on with my girls....yes the bunny still makes a yearly visit to my house, but these days he brings  grown up goodies like make up and pastel spatulas from le creuset, martha stewart cook books and maybe some swarovski crystal earbuds.

kelsey's blown decorated eggs

  ****  flash forward to 2011 no tilly, no ethel  and no oven....nix the ham.....nada to the rib roast,   no way to do roast beef.....so i thought i would be smart and do a marinated pork tenderloin on the grill....like an idiot i asked for a pork loin not a tenderloin and came away from the butcher with a 4 pound roast  and  NO OVEN.  so i decided to marinate with salt, pepper, olive oil and rosemary...put it in a bag, pop it in the fridge and then do some research on what techniques might work to get the roast done on the the grill.  brit found a web link with some directions....i used my own marinade but tried this technique complete with the roasting rack and smokey bags (i happened to have some weber flavor wood chips)...have to say it worked out pretty well.
recipe after the jump

baked beans and potato salad

potato salad

i was invited to brunch at karen's house on sunday.  we like to share the cooking so i set out to make some homemade baked beans and a suitable potato dish.  friday nite i started by soaking the red kidney beans and looking at some recipes.  i have made ina garten's maple baked beans before .....folks at my house found them toooooo mapley and too spicy-gingery.  i have my own secrets that i like to use...but thought it couldn't hurt to get some advice and try something new.  i found a julia child recipe online....and although she mentioned that she did them in a slow cooker......i planned on a long and low bake in the oven all day on saturday and maybe a few more hours on sunday before brunch.  i got out of bed on saturday morning and preheated the oven and set to rinsing the beans and assembling the ingredients.  so far so good.

i put the beans on the stove to boil first then simmer for 40 minutes.  then i drained the beans but reserved the liquid.  i used julia child's recipe as a guide (but added extra molasses as well as some brown sugar)  i added a large red onion (out of yellow onion) peeled and cut into 8 pieces added to the pot of beans with 2 tablespoons dijon mustard, 1/2 cup of dark molasses, 1/8 cup of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger, 6 pepper corns, 1/8 cup of ketchup, 1 bay leaf, 1 chopped clove of garlic and 1 1/2 cups of the bean cooking liquid.  got it all ready to go in the dutch oven and the oven started blinking and electronic error code and turned itself off.    this is not the first time for this nonsense.....it always comes back....a few days....one time a week......so change of plans.....we do the beans in the crock pot after all ...and i have to do a stove top potato thing.  ok not so bad.....i get the crock pot going with the beans (i cooked the beans all day on low stirring every few hours, refrigerated them overnite and cooked them 3 more hours on low on sunday don't forget to retrieve the pepper corns and bay leaf).. and make a decision on the potatoes.......potato salad with egg , bacon and green onion......(i made the potato salad on sunday morning)

recipe after the jump

finished beans in the crock pot

dark chocolate croissants

i promised that i was going to try the chocolate croissant recipe that anne thornton did on april 2 on desserts first.  i had another sheet of puff pastry in the freezer so while i was making breakfast anyway i decided to print off the recipe and give it a try.  i changed a few things.....i used ghirardelli premium 60% cacao baking chocolate cut into pieces ......i halved the recipe and i did not bother with the almonds. 

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

Flour, for dusting, if needed

2 oz ghirardelli premium 60% cacao baking chocolate cut into pieces

1 large egg, beaten

Sugar, for sprinkling

follow all of the directions in the linked recipe....this was  pretty easy....i did my best to get the triangles right but what the hell.....i ended up with more than anne did...who cares....they were delicious!!!!

yummy dark chocolate croissant

easy cheese danish

i love cheese danish.  this is a great breakfast on the weekend with a nice hot cup of coffee.  they are really super easy to make....... especially since we are using defrosted puff pastry dough from the grocery store.   i think this is a fun project to make with your kids!  thank you ina garten for giving us so many ideas to create fantastic savory, sweet and delicious things to make with puff pastry.  this recipe is from ina's barefoot contessa at home book.  i make only 4 at a time and i changed the cheese filling. 

defrost one sheet of puff pastry dough
3 oz cream cheese
1oz mascarpone cheese
1/6 cup of sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon of lemon zest
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water for the egg wash

recipe continues after the jump

the best blueberry lemon pancakes ever

this one also has a connection to tilly.  she bought me a subscription to yankee magazine for 2 years.  one of those issues had a fantastic recipe for blueberry lemon pancakes.....i modified the recipe but never wrote down my modications, i just know my substitutions by now.....i pull out the magazine from the cupboard it's cover is torn and there is flour all over the pages........the issue is from june 2000.....but it makes me smile everytime  i look at it.  why do i have so many crazy sentimental thoughts about cooking? anyway it's all good......these pancakes on a weekend morning any time of the year are pure heaven (although made with fresh blueberries in season they attain an even higher level of perfection!).

this one is a custom stack for one of the non blueberry lovers at my house




  recipe follows after the jump

hanger steak with carmelized mushrooms and onions with balsamic reduction and roasted mini potatoes

britany sent me this via email as a menu suggestion for one of our weekend cooking projects.  i headed over to the butcher and asked for hanger steak to feed four.  the steaks looked pretty weird to me but i figured i would give it a try.  the original recipe is based on the bromberg bros. blue ribbon cookbook.  i made some significant changes to the sauce and added my own potato recipe.  this recipe has a big wow factor....it is so delicious you will have trouble believing you cooked it at home.

you'll need:
ask the butcher how much steak you need based upon how many you are feeding
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper

mushrooms and onions
3 tablespoons of butter
2 onions sliced into rings
1/4 lb of cremini mushrooms (baby bellas) wiped clean and sliced
salt and pepper

for the potatoes
1 pound of tiny white potatoes
chicken stock
1/4 stick of butter
drizzle of olive oil
fresh chopped parsley


for the balsamic reduction sauce
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons of sugar