family style chili

chili is something tilly made often......and it was damn good.  she didn't have a recipe....she knew what she was doing.....it wasn't a fancy meal just warm and hearty.  my dad  ronnie was also a pretty good everyday cook....i say every day because he was the cook in our home...my mom...not so much.  dad made a very good version of tilly's chili....but she would never tell him exactly what she put in hers.....she was his mother in law....and there was a fair amount of cooking competition between them.....and not a lot of secret sharing.  this picture was taken one summer when the shipyard unions were on strike....both dad and grandpa were on picket duty....you can see the sign behind my dad.  this is the kind of day that tilly would make a batch of chili for all of us.  this picture  looks just like the goofy 60's photos on greeting cards at the drug store....and this is my family....it makes me smile!!!! this is my recipe which i suppose is a compilation of how i remember their chili tasting with some twists of my own.

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (really good hamburger from the butcher)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions diced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (add more if you like spicy)
1/3 cup mild chunky salsa
1/2 large can of san marzano whole tomatoes hand crushed
2 small cans of b&m baked red kidney beans
kosher salt and black pepper

recipe continues after the jump

creamy corn chowder

this is a great dinner for a damp and stormy evening.  i modified this recipe from ina garten's recipe where she adds a lot of cheddar cheese....i don't like cheese in my chowder so i made some changes and reduced the amounts because ina's would feed a crowd.  this batch would feed four hungry people.    it is hearty and delicious.

4 ounces bacon chopped
1/8 cup good olive oil
2 large yellow onions chopped
1/4 stick of butter
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1/8 teaspoon of turmeric
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups of diced white potatoes
2 bags frozen corn (i use trader joe's white corn)
1 cup half and half (add more if you want it creamier)
handfull of fresh parsley chopped

recipe continues after the jump

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

grilled pork loin with rosemary and olive oil

i have ordered pork chops and pork loin at restaurants in italy while traveling on vacation.  the flavor is so wonderful.....some of it has to be the quality of the meat and the flavor of the olive oil not to mention what ever kind of wood or charcoal they are using to grill.  i set out to try and replicate this at home.  this recipe is so simple you would really not expect it to taste so delicious......give it a try.

i put 2 medium pork loin roasts in a gallon zip lock bag with enough olive oil to coat the whole thing...add a few teaspoons of kosher salt, some fresh ground pepper and a few springs of rosemary.  throw it in the fridge for a few hours.  take it out half hour before you are ready to put it on the grill and get it to room temperature.

i use a weber gas grill.  i sear it on all sides and test it for doneness w a meat thermometer stuck in the end of the roast the long way......take if off just before it gets to medium....i take if off the grill when i get a reading around 155 degrees.  put it on a plate and let it rest for a few minutes.  then slice it at angle like you would a london broil....very yummy....sorry no pictures of this one.

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

NYC and some of the boroughs: buying easter goodies.......

road trip to nyc: a few weeks ago my friend karen and i took the day off and drove to nyc....several of the boroughs...some accidentally, in search of delectable european specialty food to stock the kitchen at home.   karen had read about a specialty irish grocery store in queens and was willing to drive so we could cart it all home.  we pulled into the butchers block at 11 am and got an awesome parking space right out front.   karen is irish....forgot to mention that... her brother and sister in law who recently moved to the states from ireland are missing some of their favorite foods.  as soon as we walked into the store and surveyed the wares karen dialed up her sister in law on the mobile and started giving her an inventory of what was available.   special easter eggs filled with cadbury treats, irish sausages, irish butter, cookies, crisps (the delightfully helpful staff opened cases directly off the delivery truck)... between the two of us we filled the back of her suv with bags. 

that was so lucrative we decided to start internet searching from the car and found another euro grocery less than a mile away.  this one turned out to be mainly greek.  pitas, olives, cheeses, olive oil.....it was fun.  bought just a few things (italian olive oil for $8) but it was very entertaining.  some of the things at the deli counter resembled actual hoofs......and the sounds system played an all greek sound track, fantastic.

this is the olive bar at the euro market

starving by now we decided to walk a few blocks and found an awesome restaurant bare burger......wow what an awesome lunch....my ice tea was pink, the burger was fantastic, fries also delicious. 

next stop was eataly in manhattan.  we put the address into the gps and found ourselves at that address but in brooklyn stuck in traffic. we laughed a lot at how dense we were and how long it took us to figure out that we were not in manhattan. an hour later we pulled into the flatiron district, parked our car and headed in.  i had been there once before on a day that was insanely busy.  this was a friday mid-afternoon so it wasn't too bad.  we window shopped the olive oil (mostly very expensive) and visited all of the different departments.  we checked out the balsamic vinegar. it was very expensive.... twice as much as we had paid for really good quality balsamic vinegar we picked up last fall in florence italy.  we stopped at the coffee bar and had excellent macchiatos and we did buy a few things.....a load of bucatini, aborio rice and some nice italian cookies.  (karen also bought some prosciutto)

next up we met britany for dinner at momofuku noodle bar....pork buns...fabulous! then around the corner to momofuku milk bar for dessert....french toast soft serve ice cream.....wow you could taste the butter and syrup and the crack pie......yummmmmm.  we also got birthday cake truffles and 2 kinds of cookies way too much. i was still nibbling a cookie 3 days later.  we jumped back in the car and made it home by midnight...i have to say i had to sleep late and chill out all day the next day. what a wonderful day off!  thanks karen great idea!!!!