Tuesday, 5/30/17

Spent the early morning chopping and stirring, with the upshot being that red beans and rice were ready to go when I got home (with the dull addition of plain broccoli). The recipe came from Serious Eats, and it is good but not great, although I blame myself: I used a chicken andouille which was not super flavorful and moreover I didn't have the called-for amount; I had no ham hocks at all, and I ought to have salted the beans more from the beginning. Still, it was pretty good and I think it could be adapted with another (less pricey) sausage. I am thinking that the extra smoky garlic kielbasa from that little market in South Deerfield would be awesome here.

Monday, 5/29/17

Chicken korma (same old recipe), cauliflower with chat masala, and Jason made pita bread. The chicken was delicious as always, and Jason was very thrilled with himself for producing the pita. And it was good! Maybe we need to make falafel soon to fill that pita...

Sunday, 5/28/17

Meatballs from the NTY: they were supposed to be ground lamb but that was prohibitively  expensive so I used pork and beef instead. They are baked in a sort of north African spiced tomato sauce, and topped with feta and mint. I liked them although they weren't as tender as I might have liked. After reading the many reviews in the Times I see that a lot of people recommended making more sauce and I think they are right. Served with sauteed broccoli rabe and Israeli cous-cous with dried fruits and toasted buttered almonds. Carter was not a fan of the sauce.
I made this a couple of years ago and my notes are annoying terse.

Saturday, 5/27/17

Dinner with Jennie and David. Since Kalyani was freshly back from school, we brought eclairs (a favorite). In my never-ending quest for the perfect pate choux I tried a recipe from Alton Brown. It worked really well: I used mostly bread flour for more structure, and scooped out the shells rather than piped them (because my pastry bag died last week). They were nice and crisp and rose well. The filling wasn't my usual but one from Martha Stewart because I needed to use up some egg yolks. It was fine. And of course Jason made bread (with olives, his new favorite).

Friday, 5/26/17

Potluck dinner at Laurie's house. Jason made onion-olive bread, and I made another (double) batch of S'More cupcakes.  Both were very well received, which was gratifying.

Thursday, 5/25/17

Panko crusted mahi-mahi (from the NYT), tater tots and green beans with almonds and lemon. I made a little horseradish-sour cream sauce for the fish, which was nice.

Wednesday, 5/24/17

Feast at my parent's house. Ravioli with Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce, sausage, salad, bread. Plus my mom made a butterscotch trifle that outshone our cookies (chocolate chip from Jason, a new pizzelle recipe from Dorie's cookies. The pizzelle are actually quite nice, though).

Tuesday, 5/23/17

Maple-sriracha roasted tofu, rice and broccoli. I was looking to make the broccoli taste like it does in Chinese restaurants when you order chicken with garlic sauce. I think I largely succeeded. It need maybe a little more cornstarch and maybe a touch of dark soy. Carter has a busted lip so I went light on sriracha but I would also add more of that, too.

Martin Yan’s All-Purpose Stir-Fry Sauce

Makes one cup

½ cup canned chicken broth
¼ cup Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. light soy sauce
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground white pepper
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp. water

Monday, 5/22/17

Jason made a loaf of bread (plain, at Carter's request), and we had that with cheese, cream of pea soup, and mock Caesar salad. Spring-y.

Sunday, 5/21/17

Used up some of the leftover chicken to made chicken/green chili nachos. They were fine but there isn't much to say about nachos.

Saturday, 5/20/17

Dinner with Jennie and David: bread (with onions and olives. Carter is NOT a fan) and coffee cake with brown-butter glaze (from an old standby cookbook, "Classic Home Desserts"). I haven't made this in a while, but it came out really well and there isn't a ton left over, so that is nice.

Friday, 5/19/17

I had bought a whole chicken with only the vaguest of ideas about roasting it and then using the leftovers. So I spatchcocked it and roasted it up with just carrots, potatoes and onions. And that is literally all we had for dinner. Jason said it was good but I am calling it Lackluster Chicken. That's what I get for not bothering to do anything more ambitious.

Thursday, 5/18/17

At Jason's request (demand?) we had bagels again. We still have so many in the freezer, though. I made a mock Caesar salad to go with them: tossed romaine with lemon juice, olive oil, grated parm and big salt (plus we still had some croutons). It was actually better than the dressing I made the other night. Oh well.

Wednesday, 5/17/17

Dinner with my parents.  My mom made a Goten-style meal with noodles and shrimp; it was great. Carter went in for seconds which he is generally too full to do on a Grandma Wednesday. Jason and I probably had thirds, too.
We brought cinnamon swirl cookies; I had a little trouble rolling out the very soft dough (I noticed that is was December when I made these before---maybe the cooler temps helped?) but after a stint in the freezer they sliced and cooked up beautifully. These are really some of my favorite cookies and even though I stubbornly made a small batch of glaze, I have to admit it isn't needed.

Tuesday, 5/16/17

The leftover chicken from Laurie's made a reappearance in tortellini soup. This was a very big hit with Carter, which is always nice. Plus the ubiquitous zucchini fritter which was a bit of a fail. They were too wet and didn't cook through well. Not sure if it was because I used some summer squash (which I think of as more watery), because we used the food processor instead of the box grater, or because the mix wasn't squeezed out enough. Anyway, they taste fine, especially re-heated low and slow.

Monday, 5/15/17

Cooked dinner at home for the first time in forever! I concocted a pasta dish with chicken sausage, peppers, onions, garlic, spinach and cream. This would have been a meal in itself, but we also had a Caesar salad that was only OK. Not sure why. Maybe the romaine was a little bitter?

Sunday, 5/14/17

Dinner with Laurie, Jen and John. Brought flan (which I was embarrassed to see that we brought in January) and pizzelle. So nothing too strenuous. Jason made yet another loaf of bread (onion/olive) and Laurie made an assemble your own pasta bar with grilled vegetables, romano, chicken and some tomato sauce. Such a fun idea! And some of the leftovers made it home to be re-appearing soon....

Saturday, 5/13/17

Dinner with Jen and John. This week's Blue Apron featured roasted pork loin with fingerling potatoes and a mustard-tarragon sauce. Carter helped. We brought (of course) bread with bacon and onions, plus a blueberry cake (that was largely ignored because Jason stole the show with hot chocolate chip cookies. The level of leftover desserts is reaching code red here).

Friday, 5/12/17

Dinner with Jennie and David (an unusual Friday night date); Jason added kalamata olives to his bread which was a hit; I made a bourbon chocolate cake from the NYT. It was interesting---not overly dense, but almost a souffle  texture. There is a LOT of bourbon in there, so the flavor really comes through. I forgot to bring the whipped cream which I think would have been a good addition (although I did discover that using bourbon instead of vanilla in whipped cream is not really very tasty. Damn you, inflated vanilla price!).

Thursday, 5/11/17

Jason and I had lunch at Umass (thanks, free faculty day!) and we were too full to eat any dinner (it was that bowl of ramen that put me over the top). Seriously! Poor Carter had a hotdog and some cereal and Funyuns. Shameful from a parenting perspective, but he liked it.

Wednesday, 5/10/17

Jason said we had too much pizza and had to eat some more, so we did. I thing I will confess that I like about leftover pizza is the way the cheese drips onto the pan and forms that delicious cheese crust.

Tuesday, 5/9/17

Finally made something from a new cookbook I have been reading through ("Dinner, Changing the Game).I have liked Melissa Clark's recipes in the past, and this one was pretty good although I would change a little: chicken with sesame oil, ginger, garlic and dark soy. I have to make a few substitutions: I didn't have any cashews so I used a handful of mixed nuts (not bad), I used white wine instead of rice wine, and I skipped the dates altogether (I suppose I could have used prunes but I just didn't see what it would add). Also, I thought there was way too much cilantro (and I like cilantro). Overall it was tasty enough but not that different from the basil chicken of the previous week. Served with white rice and broccoli.

Monday, 5/8/17

Jason made two enormous pizzas for us---one with bacon , onions, mushrooms and pepperoni (I can't believe how good bacon is on a pizza and that I haven't embraced it before) and the other with salami/capicola, provolone and jalapenos. Both were sloppy and delicious.

Sunday, 5/7/17

Tired after a weekend of socializing and work. We just had leftovers. I might have eaten three desserts, which is a hazard of baking things you like.

Saturday, 5/6/17

Pride in the morning---instead of the usual Blueberry Boy Bait, I brought the banana cake with penuche frosting (made as a sheet cake instead of layered) from Food52. It took a while to get cut into, but then mostly disappeared. I must remember to bring something savory next year, since there is always an abundance of baked goods.
Dinner at Jennie and David's: more bread (sans bacon, of course) plus a banana/coconut /rum custard caramel pie from a cookbook I brought home (Art of the Pie). The flavors were excellent (especially the rum caramel, which is going to be my new standard recipe), but the pastry cream did not firm up enough and the whole thing was more like a messy pudding with crust below. That didn't deter us brave souls, though.

Friday, 5/5/17

Dinner at my parent's, with Donna and Walter too! My mom made a ragu that we had seen Mario Batali touting. It was devoured. And she just reverse engineered it from watching! We brought Jason's usual bread, with the daring addition of bacon. I don't know how much flavor it added to the final product, but it certainly smelled amazing while baking. I brought S'More cupcakes from Smitten. I have made her S'More cake a couple of times, but I think I like them better in cupcake form. A little time consuming, but nothing tricky.

Thursday, 5/4/17

Dinner was going to be late, so I made some guacamole for everyone to snack on. Good thing, since we didn't sit down to chana dal with golden garlic tarka until well past 7. The recipe is from Made in India and couldn't be easier: cook chana dal and then add in fried onion, spices and thinly sliced garlic (plus the oil it was fried in) at the end. Plus rice and roasted asparagus. I don't love garam masala and might leave it out next time.

Wednesday, 5/3/17

Dinner with my parents. Pork chops, pickled beets (which is awfully swell of my mom since she doesn't even like them), mashed potatoes and some really excellent brussels sprouts. I didn't come empty handed this time: yet another batch of Dream Bars. Recipe below since I am afraid of the link disappearing:

INGREDIENTS

1. • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (64% to 66% cacao), melted
   • 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
   • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
   • 1 tablespoon water
   • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
   • 2 extra-large eggs, separated, at room temperature
   • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
   • 1 teaspoon baking powder
   • 1 teaspoon baking soda
   • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
   • 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1. 1. Invert a baking sheet and spray it with nonstick cooking spray. Line the top with parchment paper. With an offset spatula, spread the melted chocolate evenly across the parchment. Place the baking sheet in the freezer until firm, approximately 30 minutes.
   2. Lightly coat a quarter sheet (9 by 13-inch) pan or glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper, leaving 1 inch of overhang on the long sides.
   3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter on medium speed for 5 to 10 seconds. Add the granulated sugar and beat the butter mixture until it is aerated, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to bring the batter together.
   4. Add the water and vanilla to the egg yolks. On medium speed, add the yolks, one at a time, mixing briefly until the batter resembles cottage cheese, approximately 5 seconds per yolk. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to bring the batter together. Mix on medium speed for 20 to 30 seconds to make it nearly homogeneous.
   5. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
   6. Add the flour mixture all at once and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together but still looks shaggy, approximately 30 seconds. Do not overmix. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. With a plastic bench scraper, bring the dough completely together by hand.
   7. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Using a rubber spatula and then your fingertips, press the dough into the corners of the pan and smooth the surface.
   8. Remove the chocolate from the freezer and break it up into shards. Scatter the chocolate shards across the surface of the dough and then press into the dough. Cover the top with plastic wrap, pressing down through the plastic to smooth down the top. Refrigerate until the dough is set, at least 20 minutes or overnight. (If refrigerating the dough overnight, refrigerate the egg whites as well, letting them come to room temperature before proceeding with the meringue.)
   9. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
   10. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and a pinch of kosher salt on medium speed until frothy, approximately 45 seconds. Add the brown sugar and whip on medium-high speed until shiny peaks form and the meringue holds its shape, 2 to 3 minutes. Spread the meringue evenly over the chilled dough.
   11. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through the baking process, until the meringue resembles a lightly toasted marshmallow, 23 to 25 minutes. It will start to crack on the sides but should still be slightly soft in the center, and the shortbread should be cooked through but still pale-not golden brown. (Do not overbake or the shortbread will be too crumbly to cut.) Cool completely in the pan. Once cool, refrigerate until chilled.
   12. Lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment handles and transfer to a cutting board. Cut the bars lengthwise into 3 strips. Cut the bars crosswise into 10 strips to make small, rectangular bars. Serve the bars at room temperature.

Tuesday, 5/2/17

Strange hodgepodge of a meal: Jason made some pigs in blankets (again using up some things from deep in the freezer), we had bagels with various toppings (some excessive bagel buying at Bruegger's a couple of weeks ago during a big sale has filled our freezer) and I roasted up some cauliflower with prunes and tossed it with queso fresco, cilantro and almonds. I admit I had my eye on a future lunch with the cauliflower.

Monday, 5/1/17

At Jason's request, we had angel hair pasta with pesto, plus Italian sausage that I roasted in the oven with onions, some nasty supermarket tomatoes and garlic. The magic of the oven softened and sweetened the tomatoes, and it was good to use up all the pesto that we probably made at least three years ago.
Plus broccoli. Plain broccoli.

Sunday, 4/30/17

Thai basil chicken (more or less from Cravings), with some broccoli and leftover rice noodles. The rice noodles were not necessarily the best vehicle for the chicken, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Saturday, 4/29/17

Dinner at Jennie and David's: bread and an oatmeal/black bottom pie (from SK). I had made this a couple of years ago and liked it, and we still liked it. I didn't have dark corn syrup so used a mix of light and maple syrup. I also did little something different with the pie crust: instead and making it and chilling it, I made it, rolled it out and then threw it in the freezer. It baked up beautifully, so I will try that method again.
ps: I think I would add more spices to the pie next time.

Friday, 4/28/17

Carter was off laser tagging; Jason and I had spring rolls w/ tofu, rice noodles, carrots, cucumbers and herbs. Messy, since every time you dip them in the nuoc chom they fall apart a bit.
Dessert was coconut rice custard with mangoes, from SE. We polished off the whole thing (again).

Thursday, 4/27/17

Chorizo and potato tacos, adapted from Serious Eats. These were fine, although I am sad to report that Carter HATED it. I will agree with him that Mexican chorizo does have a weird funky taste (I don't love it either), but he could not be convinced to finish his dinner. Served it with avocado, queso fresco, chilis and lime.