This last week I decided shake up A's favorite dinner of breaded pork cutlets by brining the chops in an apple cider and Calvados mix before searing them off in a skillet. The crispy leftover bits are deglazed and worked into a delicious cider-y pan sauce. I loved the end result and you will too.

I worked off of Oui, Chef's recipe for Cider Brined Pork with Calvados, Mustard and Thyme and used the rosemary from our rooftop garden instead of thyme. I served the chops with sour cream mashed potatoes and a glass of Oregon pinot noir.

[1. Sara Shatz, 2. C. Lynn]

We're enjoying some aleppo pepper cornbread with maple butter (via this recipe).

Just make sure to let it cool before you dig in!

ed. note. I'm reposting this as it seems to have disappeared.


[1. c. lynn]

Angel food cake with Heath bar whipped cream icing is a new favorite in our house. It satisfied all of A's requirements for this year's birthday cake—angel food and toffee.

We even got some use out of our cake breaker, which is sort of an odd comb-like utensil that slices the cake without pressing down on it. There are some really cool cake breakers from the 1930s on Etsy with bakelite handles.

[1. c. lynn]

We are making do with the weather we've been given, which means fending off the rainy day blues with delicious home-cooked short rib ragu and a new beer of choice, Ninkasi Total Domination IPA.

Try your hand at the ragu. We halved the recipe for our two-person household and only used five short ribs, which lasted us for three glorious days. We ate it over a creamy polenta the first night and loved it in tacos with lots of fresh cilantro for lunch the next day.

[1-2; c. lynn]

I am:

thinking about my Dad's birthday and hoping that he likes his new Shun knife

loving this simple granola recipe that I tweaked from Bon Appetit (see below)

interested in this article about Google's new changes for recipe search

looking for a great cushy rug for our living room space—any ideas?

--

gather
5 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped
3/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used Vietnamese cinnamon)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 hot water from the kettle
1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract
generous pinch of kosher salt
1 cup dried cherries, chopped
1 cup dried cranberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Toss oats, pecans, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk oil, maple syrup, hot water, vanilla, and salt in a measuring glass. Drizzle over oat mixture and toss to coat. (I find that it's easier to just dive in with clean hands.) Divide granola between two sheets and spread into a thin layer.

Bake 20 minutes; stir and reverse baking sheets (bottom comes to top rack and vice versa). Bake until golden brown about 20 minutes more. If you notice that the nuts are getting too crispy, lower oven temperature to 250 degrees F. Cool sheets of granola on a wire rack and toss dried fruit to combine. When granola has thoroughly cooled, transfer to airtight plastic bags or airtight canisters for week-long snacking.

[1. c. lynn]

A couple photos of a very grown-up cake for two very special birthday girls I know. With olive oil standing in for the butter and a shot of dry white wine that bakes away with a floral scent, the cake is moist and complex with a bright sunny layer of raspberry jam in the center. Add a bit of bittersweet chocolate icing on the outside and you've got all of the best things in life—wine, olive oil, raspberries, and chocolate. Happy birthday ladies!

Grown-up birthday cake by Midge via Food 52

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup olive oil 

1/2 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla

7 oz raspberry jam

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Butter and lightly flour nine-inch cake pans.

3. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

4. In a standing mixer, blend sugar and eggs on med-high for a minute. Slowly mix in vanilla, wine, and oils.

5. Whisk dry ingredients into cake batter until smooth.

6. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes until cake tester comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

7. Spread jam on one layer; then top with the other. Frost top layer with icing (recipe below).

Bittersweet Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa

1/4 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Blend the butter and sugar. Fold in cocoa and gradually add milk until it starts to look like icing—you will need to whisk it vigorously. Mix in the vanilla.

2. Chill the icing for about 30 minutes and then proceed to ice the cake.

[1-2. c. lynn]

Do you have a Sunday morning breakfast ritual?

We don't tend to eat a special thing on a special day, but we do get excited about breakfast foods that we don't make very often—especially when Sour Milk Pancakes from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book are on the menu. Sure, sour milk sounds like something that you wouldn't want to work with for breakfast, but it simulates the flavor of buttermilk and it makes the most fluffy, slightly tangy pancakes that we have ever had. In fact, after a few tries with this recipe we threw out our packaged pancake batter.

Sour Milk Pancakes
makes two dozen 3-in pancakes or ten waffles—we usually half this recipe for the two of us or store the remaining batter in the fridge for the following morning (or midnight snack)

Sour milk is made with the addition of 1 tablespoon of white vinegar for each cup of milk, then stir and let stand 10 minutes.

2 eggs, separated
2 cups sour milk (regular milk works too)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 stick butter

1. Place yolks in large bowl and beat well. Add milk and whisk to incorporate.
2. Add egg whites to the bowl of a mixer and mix with a whisk attachment (or by hand with a whisk) until stiff but still moist.
3. In another bowl, whisk to combine all dry ingredients and then add its contents to the milk and egg mixture.
4. Stir in melted butter.
5. Gently fold in the egg whites to the batter mixture.
6. Using a hot and oiled skillet, ladle out your pancakes and flip with the surface bubbles break.

[1. c. lynn]

We threw a small dinner last night for friends who were so helpful with watching over our apartment while we were away. Since our guests had certain food limitations that made most proteins out of the question, I decided that salmon fillets would fit the bill.

I went with a Spanish-inspired menu using a recipe for salmon that I had made before with much success. For a starter that could be enjoyed with wine, I thought of making some potatas bravas. Instead of deep-frying the potatoes, I used freshly dug fingerlings and rendered the recipe a little lighter by baking them, well-seasoned and halved, until crispy and soft in the middle.

In the original plan I was going to prepare a creme caramel for dessert, but after seeing a recipe for a Top Secret Chocolate Mousse in Dorie Greenspan's new book and remembering something that a French friend had said about serving chocolate mousse for dessert at dinner parties, I quickly altered my plan.

menu:
potatas bravas with spicy tomato sauce and garlic aioli
salmon al a sidra (served in hard cider) with mussels and clams
fresh baguette with garlic and chive butter
top secret chocolate mousse

 

[1-3. c. lynn]

I’ve been staying at my friends H and S's house in their family’s charming neighborhood inside Tokyo. It's really fun to imagine what it would be like to live here, which isn't something that I've been able to do while staying at hotels in the city center. 

Another great thing about staying here is that H has offered to teach me some Japanese home-cooking including a delicious seafood nabe or stew (なべ物), which is wonderful since my father gifted us with a proper donabe (土鍋) for Christmas this year. She uses a metal pot, but the one I have is made of earthenware and must be cured properly before use with day-old rice.

Gather:
15 small chicken meatballs (you can purchase these already prepared at a Japanese market, but to make them combine ground chicken thigh, soy sauce, and green onion)
12 shrimp, deveined
10 scallops
10 oysters (optional)
1 small blue crab
12 cockles
1 package soft tofu (or firm if you wish)
1 leek, cut into bite-sized rounds and soaked to remove any sand
1 bunch of hakusai, or Chinese cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 package glass noodles
1 carrot, cut into thin rounds or length-wise
1 bunch enoki mushrooms, cleaned, chopped in half, and pulled apart into bite-sized clusters
1 daikon root, sliced thinly into small half moons
2 yosenabe soup packages (you can purchase at a Japanese market)
1 bottle ponzu (optional) 

Equipment:
1 nabe pot (metal/clay)
1 portable gas cooker

Cook:
1. Prepare and clean all vegetables. Arrange together in bunches on a plate for ease of cooking.
2. Add yosenabe packages to nabe pot, cover, and bring to a boil over open flame.
3. Add daikon, carrots, and half package of glass noodles to yosenabe mixture.
4. Add cockles, crab, and chicken meatballs.
5. Add shrimp, hakusai, enoki, and leek.
6. Bring back to boil and add scallops, slices of tofu, and add the rest of the glass noodles.
7. Add oysters.
8. Overall cook time should be about 20 minutes from when the yosenabe boils.

To serve, bring pot to table and place on gas cooker to keep everything warm. Place a small bowl, chopsticks, and a soup spoon at each place setting. Serve up nabe and add a dash of ponzu if it suits you.



[1. Shoko Muraguchi]

We turned out two beautiful cara cara orange olive oil cakes last night. On top of one of the cakes, we crumbled a pistachio brittle. We left the other plain for our morning coffee.

Look for this interesting breed of orange at the market this month—the cara cara orange has a pink flesh and tastes like an orange mixed with a pink grapefruit and the faint flavor of rose petals.



[1-2. c. lynn]

Last year for our office secret santa exchange, I made several bottles of homemade limoncello, a traditionally Italian lemon digestif with a strong lemon flavor that is both sweet and highly alcoholic. This sweet liqueur was such a big hit, that I've decided to make another couple of bottles for holiday gifts this year. 

I always use the same simple recipe to prepare my limoncello with small variation. I choose to use everclear instead of the high-proof vodka that the recipe suggests, since I don't want the liqueur to pick up any trace notes of anything aside from the lemons. 

Also, I try to make this recipe when I see the Meyer lemons hit the produce bins as these special lemons (a cross between a standard lemon and a common orange) have a particularly bright and sunny taste, but you could use any citrus fruit you like. I think that a tangelocello would be divine!

Also, it's helpful to have a lemon zester onhand for this project. Any pith that is added to the mix will only add in bitterness. I love my new lemon gadget (a zester and cocktail twist maker in one) for this task.

Since the recipe calls for the lemon zest to slowly dissolve into the alcohol over the course of several weeks, I try to start the process at least a month in advance. I pour the finished cloudy yellow liqueur into these pretty little bottles for a great gift presentation.

[1-2. c. lynn]

Last night a few friends popped over for dinner, so I prepared a butternut squash and roasted garlic galette with a green salad. The galette recipe may seem intimidating with a semolina pie crust to roll out, but really the hardest part was peeling the squash! 

The squash roasted up so nicely in a 400-degree oven–I had no idea it would work so well. I have a feeling that we will be roasting more squash in the near future!

[1-4. c. lynn; 5. Sarah Shatz]

 

I once made a delicious Boeuf Bourguignon and then ruined it with the addition of too much Xanthan gum. I remember that the recipe called for corn starch, but since I didn't have any on-hand, I went with Xanthan. The result was a goopy sauce that tasted unnaturally smooth.

I did not make the same mistake with this recipe which produces a delicious beef broth with a depth of flavor that will blow your mind. It has a thinner broth that is complemented with egg noodles, making for a great one pot winter soup.

Boeuf Bourguignon Soup 
adapted from Martha Stewart Living (December 2010)
serves 6

4 bone-in short ribs (the meatier, the better)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tsp. corn starch
Olive oil to coat pot
1 cup mushrooms of your choice
3 carrots, cubed
1 shallot, diced
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 slices of bacon, chopped (I used applewood cured bacon)
1 tbsp. tomato paste
2 thyme sprigs (leaves only)
1 dried bay leaf
1 cup red wine (the drier the better)
8 cups beef stock
2 cups water
1 package egg noodles


1. Salt and pepper all sides of short ribs and then coat in corn starch. Heat a Dutch oven with enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, add short ribs and sear on all sides. You should achieve a light brown color.


2. Add mushrooms to pan and cook until brown, about 4 minutes. Remove short ribs and mushrooms from pot.


3. Add carrots, shallot, celery, and bacon and cook until browned about 6 minutes. Add in tomato paste and stir for 1 minute. Add wine and stir for another minute.


4. Add in bay leaf and thyme sprigs and then pour in beef stock and water. Bring to a boil and then turn to medium-low heat to simmer, partially covered, for 2 1/2 hours.


5. Skim off fat from time to time and give the soup a stir. Remove short ribs from soup. The meat should slide off the bone easily. Separate the beef from the fat and add back to the soup. Discard fat trimmings and bones.


6. When ready to serve, heat soup to a boil and add a small handful of noodles per person. Cook for 6-8 minutes. When noodles are done, ladle soup into a tureen or individual soup bowls and garnish with freshly chopped parsley. Serve with a few slices of baguette.

[1. c. lynn]

In a flurry of indecisiveness over what to bring to the turkey dinner potluck tonight, A decided to whip up a batch of English toffee squares. It's M's family recipe and it's delicious. The rich shortbread cookie bar is crumbly sweet while the dark chocolate topping and bitter walnut add much needed notes of contrast.






[1-3. c. lynn]

Have you ever swooned for brussel sprouts? Add a little applewood smoked bacon, apple cider vinegar, a few shallots, and some brown sugar to the pan, and you will. Soft, leafy, caramelized brussel sprouts with sweet and salty, smoked bacon—this dish doesn't disappoint.

PS: Jamie Oliver's youtube channel has some really great how-tos for beginner cooks.


[1. c. lynn]

We just got our first Organics to You delivery since we arrived back home. Delivery days are perfect for making an ambitious new dish from fruit desserts and one pot meals to vegetarian entrees and soups, since the produce is so farm fresh. This time, I started thinking about doing a minestrone soup—something to incorporate lots of vegetables and still have the tomato angle that I crave.

I worked off of a Tuscan recipe from La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy, which is a product of the efforts of Italian culinary scholars who sought to preserve authentic and regional Italian cooking in a comprehensive book, almost fifty years ago. The scholars traveled around the countryside, interviewing grandmothers and farmers about their specialties and recipes that were handed down. I've found that it's an excellent resource with clear and simple instructions that you can tailor to your own taste.

--
This minestrone is robust and flavorful with all of the notes of harvest time. The vegetables are aplenty and the pasta gives a nice firm bite to every spoonful. Buon appetito!


Tuscan minestrone

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 oz. applewood cured bacon, chopped
1 leek (white part only), washed thoroughly and chopped
1/2 cup basil, cut into chiffonade
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 lb Swiss chard, cut into a chiffonade
1 head of baby lettuce, chopped
1 small summer squash, peeled and chopped
4 oz. string beans, chopped
2 or 3 ripe Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cups tomato puree
2/3 cup white navy beans (I used canned beans, but Mr. Bittman would recommend dried beans instead)
Chicken broth
1/2 lb elbow pasta

1. In a pot, heat the olive oil and saute the bacon, leek, and basil over medium heat.

2. Add all of the vegetables except for the tomatoes.

3. Add salt to taste, cover, and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes (without seeds), tomato puree, beans, and enough broth to cover.

5. Cook slowly for 2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding more broth or water as needed.

6. Add a bit of pasta for each bowl of soup that you are ready to eat and cook for 10 minutes; when the pasta is al dente the soup is finished. (If you add all of the pasta at once, it will become mushy when you reheat it for leftovers.)

7. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil.

As much as I wanted to learn how to barbecue oysters this summer, I couldn't seem to get it together. In fact, I haven't really made prepared much shellfish lately as A can be finicky about them. However, this afternoon I got a craving for baked clams which is apparently a New England and Italian favorite, Vongole Gratinate al Forno (A had never heard of them—Oysters Rockefeller yes, Clams Casino yes, baked clams no). Although A wasn't a fan, I ate them up and was really pleased with myself. 

Here's Martha Stewart's recipe, which I tweaked to taste:

1 pound littleneck clams, shucked, juice reserved (to learn how to shuck, watch this helpful video)

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

1 lemon, halved

Coarse sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler. Shuck clams with a clam knife. Evenly place clams in their half shells on a baking sheet; drizzle with olive oil and set aside.
2. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over clams and lightly pat down to adhere. Squeeze the juice from 1 of the lemon halves over clams; drizzle with olive oil.
3. Place clams under broiler, and cook until breadcrumbs are light golden and bubbly, about 6 minutes, drizzling clams with reserved clam juice halfway through cooking.
4. Transfer clams to a serving plate, season with salt and pepper. Cut remaining lemon half into 4 wedges. Serve clams immediately with lemon wedges. 

[1. c. lynn]

Sometimes there's nothing more comforting than a roasted chicken for dinner. Our family recipe always delights and it seems that every family has a favorite. 

We wash the bird with salt to really clean it—inside and out. Then I pat it dry and add a pat or two of butter under the skin of the breast. I generously salt and pepper the outside and inside of the bird. I stuff the cavity with half a lemon, which I also squeeze inside the bird. I add a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary (or both) as well as a half of an onion. I truss the bird, drizzle some olive oil, and pop it in a 350-degree oven. Every fifteen minutes or so, I baste the bird with the juices from the bottom of the pan. If the juices start to gather too much at the base of the bird, I remove some of the excess drippings into heatproof glass. After about 45 minutes, I pump up the temperature to 400 degrees and wait about 20-35 minutes until the bird is golden and crispy. Afterward, I let the chicken roast rest for about ten to fifteen minutes before carving to serve.


[1. fig and plum]

Last night I baked off a batch of blueberry oat scones for our morning coffee. They are even better than I remembered.


[1. c. lynn]

Like many of you, I am preparing for a summer barbecue tonight at a friend's house. It's a potluck-style get-together and it seems as though most summer favorites are already on the menu (corn on the cob, burgers, hot dogs). I thought it would be good to add a vegetarian dish to the mix to appeal to everyone.

I altered this recipe for a summer squash couscous from Food 52 slightly with the addition of dried cranberries (instead of sultanas—a personal taste thing) and doubled it to feed eight people as a side dish.

Yum! You get a toasted flavor from the sauteed pistachios, a sweet and tart chew from the dried cranberries, an al dente bite from the golden and green zucchini, a zap of green color and freshness from the mint, and a comforting grain flavor and texture that ties everything together. I think it's winning side that can be served slightly warm, at room temperature or slightly chilled.




[1-2. c. lynn]