Summer Sides: Black Tea Tarragon Couscous Salad Recipe

In honor of the trial I'll be lawyering it up for through May and June, I'd like to sing a little jingle from OSSS (Old School Sesame Street) with the lyrics updated for my grown up life. (Sing to the tune of "Cooperation")

 Pro-crast-i-nation.

Makes it happen. 

Pro-crast-i-nation.

Shirking together!

That's right.  Every weekend I take a stack of papers home to read, review, mark-up and every weekend I cook, eat, drink, and make merry instead. This wouldn't be a big deal, except that I'm still a baby lawyer and I'm essentially making my Trial Attorney Debut (does that make me a debutante?) in front of the lawyers I will be working for, with, and against for the rest of my career. No pressure or anything.

Anyway, I cook tons of food and develop new recipes in order to perfect my procrastinating skills (a woman has to have goals!), so consider this recipe the fruits of my labors at avoiding real work.  The black tea flavor is subtle, but it adds a dark, tannic undertone to an otherwise bright dish, and the tarragon adds a little sweet lingering aftershock to the crisp lemon and cucumber flavors.  This salad would be good as a snack with some hummus and pita, or even as a side for a rich lamb dish.

Black Tea Tarragon Couscous Salad

2 cups pre-steamed dry couscous (if the instructions say to mix w/boiling liquid, it's pre-steamed)
2 1/2 cups hot, strong black tea-divided
Juice of 2 medium lemons
Zest of 1 medium lemon
2 cucumbers, seeded and thinly sliced
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. smoked paprika
2 tsp. cumin
4 Tbs. chopped fresh tarragon
2 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Salt to taste

Stir together 1/2 cup of black tea with the lemon juice and zest, olive oil, paprika, cumin, tarragon, and parsley.  Let it sit and let the flavors combine while you prepare the couscous.

Place the dried couscous in a larger bowl and stir in the minced garlic. Bring 2 cups of the black tea to a boil.  Pour the tea over the couscous/garlic, stir to combine, cover with plastic wrap and let steam.  After 15 minutes, fluff couscous with a fork. Stir in the cucumbers and the herb/tea/lemon mixture.  Season with salt (it may need a good bit of seasoning, since the flavors are all very light and crisp) and serve cold or room temperature.

Christmas Dinner, 2009: An Embarassment of Riches (with Recipes!)

This year, for the first time in my young life, no one cooked Christmas dinner.  Rather than travel to Missouri for the holidays, Mr. Luz and I stayed home in D.C., video Skyped with our loved ones, and ate leftovers--partially to recover from our Christmas Eve feast at Bistrot Lepic, and partially to mentally and physically prepare for the Christmas dinner we cooked for our friends the next day.

Yep...Mr. Luz and I cooked our very first Christmas dinner this weekend.  I'm no Julia, we were able to dig into our Favorite Flavors Repository and come up with a satisfying and kind-of-almost-healthy-ish meal to share with friends by the glow of the Christmas tree.

And for once, I didn't have even the tiniest of meltdowns. Mr. Luz and I worked together and managed to feed 12 people out of a kitchen the size of a refrigerator box without any injuries, tears, or low-blood sugar freak outs. And as everyone squeezed into our living room, and the volume got  louder and smiles got brighter throughout the evening, I felt blessed-like the richest woman in the world.  I'm really proud of our beautiful meal.  And Mr. Luz, thanks for being my calm, dedicated co-Chef this Christmas. I love you.

Christmas Dinner Menu for 12 (recipes below):

Assorted Appetizers

Smoked Turkey
Baked Acorn Squash with Butter and Cinnamon
Gremolata Greenbeans
Smoked Oyster New Orleans Style Stuffing

The Best Apple Pie In The World (recipe pending in future post)

Smoked Turkey Recipe:  See this link to a previous post

Baked Acorn Squash with Butter and Brown Sugar Recipe:
This recipe is elegant, simple, and traditional.  If you don't want to serve the squash pieces individually, simply halve the squash, and after baking spoon out the squash and mash it to a puree for serving.

3-4 large Acorn Squash, seeds and strings removed
3 Tbs. butter
6 Tbs. brown sugar
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Quarter the squash, and arrange on a rimmed baking sheet, skin side down. Add a few Tbs. of water to the baking sheet to steam squash and keep skins from burning.

Spoon pieces of butter and brown sugar into the concave part of the squash. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 45 min. to an hour, until the squash is soft all the way through and browned a bit on top.  Serve.

Gremolata Green beans Recipe:
This dish serves as the perfect bright, garlicky foil to a traditional rich, sweet holiday menu and it's so versatile.  Make it ahead of time and serve it at room temperature.  These green beans are so tasty, we eat them like dessert...a few bites at a time, all day long.  We acquired the recipe after a friend brought them to Thanksgiving this year, so I can't take credit, but they were too good not to pass along.

2 pounds green beans
4 Tbs. minced garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Zest of 8 lemons (yellow part only)
2 bunches Italian parsley, leaves only, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon, or to taste

Blanch the green beans in a pot of boiling salted water for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes; drain and plunge into ice water. Drain well. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Saute the garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat for 2 minutes or just until the garlic turns white. Do not let it brown. Pour over the beans and toss to combine.

Combine the lemon zest, parsley, cheese, salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the beans, and toss. Add the lemon juice, toss again, and taste. Adjust seasonings with salt, pepper and more lemon juice, to taste.

NOTE: Mr. Luz likes to throw the topping ingredients, raw garlic, cheese and all, into the food processer and then toss the blanched greenbeans, olive oil, lemon juice, and food processed topping all together before serving.  To him, flash cooking the garlic takes some of the fun out of the dish, and electronics are more fun than chopping.

Smoked Oyster French Bread Stuffing
I love a sweet, salty, umami-tasting oyster with just about everything, but especially when it adds unexpected elegance and subtlety to a holiday stuffing/dressing. I've been eating this stuff for breakfast since Saturday.

2 large loaves stale French bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups fresh oysters in their own liquor
1 1/2 cups smoked oysters, rinsed and coarse chopped
1 bunch fresh parsley leaves, chopped
2 bunches green onions, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 large onion, diced
4 ribs celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs. bacon grease
1 cup butter
2 Tbs. of your favorite fresh savory herb(s), chopped (thyme, sage, rosemary)
Salt and red pepper to taste
2 cups chicken stock
Dry the bread cubes on a baking sheet all day, or in a 200 degree oven, until crispy.

Melt 1/2 cup butter and bacon grease over medium heat in a large pan.  Add the bell pepper, onion, celery and saute until translucent.  Add the garlic, green onion, and parsley and saute 2 more minutes.

Combine the sauteed vegetables, bread cubes, smoked and fresh oysters, with their liquor, savory herbs, salt and red pepper and chicken stock in a large bowl and mix well. Spoon the dressing into a baking dish. Dot with the remaining 1/2 cup butter.  Bake at 350 until brown and bubbly--approximately 35-45  minutes.

Wild Mushroom Risotto Recipe and Eff-You, 2009

Like most food bloggers, I've been a total slacker this holiday season. I've continued cooking and baking like a mad woman, but I've fallen off on blogging, mainly because of what I'll call The Macro Effect.

The Macro Effect is the term I came up with to describe the hyper-styled, "perfection in a food photo" approach that magazines, cookbooks, and now food blogs take to recipe sharing (and named after the setting on my camera that conveniently allows me to zoom in on the pristine image of the food and shut out all of the dusty crap and empty wine bottles in my dining room). If I'm being honest, my blogging declines when I'm busy thanks to the Macro Effect, because I don't have enough light/time/creativity to take the food photos that I want to for my posts. Sure, I dream of book deals, but I blog to express myself and connect with people who share my passions, so I shouldn't let the Macro Effect keep me from posting. (Also, I wouldn't trade places with Julie Powell for a second. Nora Ephron and Amy Adams?! Are you kidding me?!)

Folks who write about these things hypothesize that the Macro Effect has caused food blogs to become more commercial to their detriment. The argument is that we get enough glossy perfection every time we turn on the TV. Food blogs should allow people to connect on a real and personal level about real life and real food, rather than simply tossing around recipes and cutesy, sterilized anecdotes while painting a reality where people eat on adorable china with a fresh-picked bunch of yellow daisies "casually tossed" next to their tomato bisque every day. Food bloggers keep a majority of their stresses--illness, heartbreak, or just run-of-the-mill disappointment--out of their blogs. The internal reasoning goes something like this: Journalists don't talk about their messy divorce in an article on seasonal preparations of spaghetti squash, so I should keep my personal life private as well. But again, the argument goes, food bloggers shouldn't hide behind their commercial aims because part of what they "sell" is the experience of being human, and all the emotions and difficulties that go along with that.

I can understand their criticism, though I'm not entirely ready to give up my cutesy anecdotes and my serving plates sourced from Salvation Armys far and wide. However, as penance for me letting the Macro Effect keep me from posting, and posting honestly, I will: post an ugly photo (see above) for my Wild Mushroom Risotto with Manchego Cheese recipe (see below) and tell you, readers, that it has been sort of a shit year, emotionally, here at BaCon. In the grand scheme of things, I am very blessed. I have a close, happy family that is made up of some of my favorite people on the planet, a great job, and an understanding and deeply passionate partner who loves me for all of my imperfections rather than in spite of them. I have also lost two very close friends in the past 4 months--they haven't passed away, there has just been a decision to "part ways," and it's been very difficult for me. I know it seems silly, but here are 2 people who know me better than anyone, and in the past 120 days they've both decided after years of friendship to give me up in one way or another. And although I'm very blessed, all of that doesn't keep me from feeling sad, hurt, and sometimes angry about how everything has worked out.

I'm hoping reconciliation is possible with one of them. But I didn't want to just write about the reconciliation, citing peace and the magic of forgiveness and all that, after the fact and without the mess. Because that would just be soo Macro Effect, wouldn't it? So, here's the mess. I'm a lucky, lucky girl who sometimes feels very lost, and who maybe has done something to drive her two best friends away in completely separate instances. Or maybe they weren't really my best friends. Or maybe they were, and relationships just change. And maybe I can be close with one of them again, some day.

And for bearing with me through all of this, here's a yummy, creamy and rich (vegetarian!) Mushroom Risotto recipe for you. Thanks for listening.

Wild Mushroom Risotto with Manchego and Parsley:


8 cups mushroom or vegetable broth
1 oz. dried wild mushrooms, reconstituted with 1 cup hot water & chopped
1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 lb. portabella mushrooms, gills removed and chopped small (or 1lb. baby bellas, chopped)
2 bay leaves
2 Tbs. fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 tsp. Cinnamon
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup Manchego cheese, chopped

Bring broth to a simmer. In a deep skillet or heavy bottomed pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Add the portabellas and cinnamon, salt and pepper, and saute until browned. Add rice and reconstituted mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Don't let the rice brown. Pour in wine and cook until almost completely absorbed.

Add about 3 cups of warmed broth into rice and cook, stirring often and vigorously, until it's all absorbed. Add 2 cups and repeat. Add fresh herbs. Repeat broth/stirring steps, adding 1 cup of broth at a time until rice is tender and the sauce is very creamy. (This takes awhile. Grab a glass of wine and call me to talk about what's stressing YOU out. I owe you.)

Stir in cheese and continue cooking until melted. Serve promptly.

Roast Duck & Smoky Mushroom Vols-au-Vent with Sweet Potato Hash

The most important question I asked myself this month went something like this: What does one do with 729 layers of butter wrapped in crispy puff pastry? My answer went something like this: Serve it with Bacon. Because sometimes the best answers are also the most obvious.

More precisely, I served my vols-au-vent filled with roasted duck and wild mushrooms with bacon, and I finished that with a little red wine. To make things even more festive, I also made a roasted sweet potato and butternut squash hash with rosemary--really because I was craving some holiday fare and the flavors were a nice light, sweet complement to the earthy richness of the buttery, smokey duck entree.

The best part about these components is that you can serve them so many ways. Next time I'll serve the duck breast with the skin on, and finely shred the rest of the duck and chop the bacon and mushrooms smaller for a more refined, less rustic dinner. And the sweet potato hash is great paired with a gamefish like a meaty swordfish for a simple yet flavorful meal.

Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Hash w/Rosemary:

1/2 large butternut squash
3 large sweet potatoes
3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. kosher salt (sounds like alot, but it keeps the dish savory instead of too sweet)
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
4 Tbs. fine chopped fresh rosemary
1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin from the sweet potatoes and the butternut squash. (It's easiest if you pull towards you on the squash, since it's skin is more like a rind and doesn't peel easily.) Cut them into 1-inch cubes and place them in high-sided baking dish.

Toss the remaining ingredients with the chopped squash and sweet potatoes, and bake on the top rack of the oven, uncovered, for 35 minutes or until the vegetables are easily pierced with a fork and slightly browned.
Roasted Duck & Smoky Mushroom Vols-au-Vent:

4 large puff pastry vols-au-vent
1 4-5 lb. whole duck
3 large garlic cloves
3 sprigs rosemary
2 medium-sized white onions
5 strips of uncooked, smoked bacon
4 cups oyster and sliced cremini mushrooms, washed
2 cups red wine
1 oz cold, unsalted butter
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Gratuitous oyster mushroom closeup starting.........now.
Remove the gizzards, liver, ect. from the duck and rinse inside and out. Pat dry and season the inside of the duck with salt and pepper. Smash the garlic cloves and add them and the rosemary sprigs to the inside of the duck. Place 1/2 of an onion in the opening to "block" it and keep the seasonings in. Tie the duck's legs and wings if necessary.

Prick the duck skin all over with a sharp knife, cutting through the fat but not the meat and season with salt and pepper. Roast the duck in an oven at 375 and according to these directions, or rotisserie the duck for 1 hour. (Thanks Mama and Papa BaCon for my awesome rotisserie!) If you use your rotisserie, your skin will be less crispy, but you'll have an easier go.

When the duck is finished, let it rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Place bacon strips in an oven proof saute pan, and render at 500 degrees until bacon is crisp but not burnt. (Approx. 10 minutes). Remove the bacon and crumble when cool.

Add 1 onion, coarse chopped, and the mushrooms to the saute pan, stir to make sure that everything is covered in bacon drippings, and bake at 500 degrees covered for 5 minutes and uncovered for 10. The onion and mushrooms should be slightly browned and cooked through.

Remove the mushrooms and onions, and drain any remaining bacon fat. Add red wine to the saute pan and simmer over medium-low heat, scraping up any browned bits in the bottom of the pan, until the red wine is reduced to 3/4 cup. Only add salt and pepper after the wine has reduced, to ensure that you don't over-season. Add bacon, mushrooms, and onions to the red wine reduction and toss to coat. Serve in vol-au-vent shells with the duck and the sweet potato hash on the side.

Bar Exam Gazpacho Recipe

Dear readers, I would like you to meet Gazpacho, one of my tomato plants. He's a little quiet, but he'll grow on you. (AhahahahaHAHAHA!) He lives in my backyard with Mojito and Margherita I and II. One day, I shall eat him.

In an effort to make sure he meets a noble end, I tried the gazpacho recipe that I perfected last summer, while I was hiding from the New York State Bar Exam. The gazpacho was just as tangy, refreshing as I remembered, and I didn't suffer any post-traumatic-stress-disorder flashbacks of Bar Exam studying while I enjoyed it, which is a huge bonus.

(See, everyone who's studying for the Bar right now? I made it out okay. Also, all the Bar-Prep courses are designed to scare the bejesus out of you. The real thing will be easier. I promise.)

Sure I passed the Bar Exam, but I like to think that my real accomplishment last summer was eating at least 25 incarnations of gazpacho from May thru August, and still wanting a big bowl of it (with extra basil, sour cream, and grilled cheese bread, thank you) today.

Gazpacho (Cold Tomato Soup) with Cucumbers, Garlic, and Balsamic

6 larger tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped [See note below]
1 purple onion, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped
1 bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
10 leaves basil, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup of water
1/8 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste [black pepper, white pepper, cayenne—use your favorite]

Add all the ingredients to a large non-metal bowl, and stir to incorporate all of the different vegetables. Put 1/3 of the mixture in a blender/food processor and blend until slightly liquid, then move to a 2nd non-metal bowl (or large air-tight container) Continue with the remaining portions, blending less each time--the final blended batch should be a chunkier puree. Cover and refrigerate overnight, so the flavors can blend. Serve with your favorite garnishes and some hot sauce.
Peeling & Seeding tomatoes:

Bring a large pot of water (2/3 full) to a boil. Add tomatoes 3 at a time, and boil for 30 seconds. Remove tomatoes, and cool. Pierce tomato skins with a sharp knife, or score the tops with an X and the skins should come off easily. Cut the top off the tomato, and using your thumbs, gently squeeze the seeds out of the seed pockets.[This is the grossest, messiest part, but it’s worth it]

Grilled Tandoori Chicken with Spicy Mint Chutney & Grilled Curry Cauliflower

Oh dear Lord, it feels good to be back. I cooked like a fiend this weekend, and I now have a fridge full of tasty leftovers and a large quantity of wine that was somehow overlooked at this weekend's dinner party. (Maybe it was all the cosmopolitans and mojitos that Mr. Luz was mixing?)

Speaking of fiending, I've picked up a new and terrible addiction to Indian food, which I attribute to all the take-out that we ate during the move. It's terrible because it's July, and as much as I love spicy, stewed meats, they just aren't ideal in the stifling heat.

So in order to get my weekly fix of garlic/ginger/yogurt/cinnamon/cardamom/ect., I decided to add some decidedly summer elements to my traditional tandoori chicken recipe and brighten it up. I grilled some marinated chicken on my Weber charcoal grill, and then added a spicy, bright mint chutney that was wonderfully summery. I also made some curry-rubbed grilled cauliflower as an experiment, and it was very tasty. I normally don't like cauliflower, but I thought I'd give it another chance. (Pimentos, don't get any ideas. I'll always hate you.) The grilling kept the cauliflower crispy, but sweetened it and brought out some of the subtle earthy flavors in the fibrous vegetable. The curry powder also enhanced the cauliflower's earthy flavor, and gave it a pretty caramel/yellow color at the same time.

NOTE: To make this recipe, I bought organic bone-in chicken pieces, and against my better judgment I cut slits in the meat so the marinade could sink in. Then I cried as all the juices ran out of my chicken as it cooked. Next time I'll either get use small chicken breasts (I don't think the marinade absorbed into the dark meat as well) or I'll reserve some of the yogurt mixture, and baste the chicken with it as it cooks.

Tandoori Chicken

2-4 lbs. chicken
1 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 Tbs. peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
1 Tbs. finely chopped garlic
2 tsp. coriander
2 tsp. ground cumin
3 tsp. garam masala
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne

Remove the skin from chicken and place the chicken in a non-reactive bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to the chicken and mix well. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight. (If you plan to baste the chicken, mix the marinate in a separate bowl and reserve a small portion of it before adding the rest to the chicken.)

To cook, place the chicken over direct, medium-high heat and cover. Turn the chicken after the meat has browned and until the meat is cooked through. (Baste the cooked parts with marinade, turning and covering one more time to caramelize the marinade before serving). Remove from heat, and let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Mint Chutney

1 1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 chile, chopped (choose for spice--poblano or jalapeno for alot of heat, anaheim if you prefer a mild chutney)
1/4 coarse chopped onion
pinch cumin
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 tsp. white or rice vinegar
dash sugar
3 Tbs. plain yogurt

Add all the ingredients to a blender, and puree. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and serve on top or on the side of the tandoori chicken

Grilled Curry-spiced Cauliflower

2 large heads cauliflower (for 6-8 servings)
4 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. curry powder
Salt, Pepper to taste

Remove the leaves and 2 inches of stem on the cauliflower. Rub florets with 3 Tbs. oil. Cut into wedges, keeping the main stem intact but so that each serving has two flat sides that will sit on the grill. Rub cut stems with remaining 1 Tbs. of olive oil. Sprinkle curry powder on florets.

Place on the grill over indirect, medium high-heat and cover. After 5 minutes, turn to put the other cut side on the grill. The cauliflower is done when it is flexible but not too soft, and golden brown.

Summer Sides: Southwest Sweet Corn Salad

Maybe you've realized that in our
house, a "salad" isn't typically made of leafy, green stuff high in folic acid and low in calories. More often, it begins and ends with starch and fat, with some chopped veggies thrown in for color.

Hey, at least I'm consistent!

I make this little "salad" to pair well with saucy, spicy ribs. The flavors are fresh, and the sauce has a nice kick of its own. As a bonus, if you have some of the sauce left over, mix it with some mayo, onion, and bell pepper for a yummy shrimp salad base...





Southwest Sweet Corn Salad

8 small ears sweet corn, boiled or grilled
3 cups of halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced

2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbs. lime juice
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
4 dashes hot sauce
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tbs. dried oregano
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Cut the kernels (great word!) off of the ears of corn and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the vegetables to the bowl. Put the olive oil in a smaller bowl, and whisk in all of the remaining ingredients except the cilantro. Taste, and add more cayenne pepper if it's not hot enough. (The dressing will taste very acidic, but the sweetness of the corn will tone down the lime juice). Stir the desired amount of dressing into the corn/veggie mixture and toss with the cilantro. Let sit for several hours, covered, stirring occasionally. Can be served cold or at room temperature.

Summer Sides: Spicy Asian Sesame Noodle Salad

A big hug and kiss go out to M'me Williams (aka Meggy Moo) and Liza Jane for this lovely little recipe. This Asian noodle salad is great as a side dish, and if you're potlucking your host is likely to a.) be mad you showed him/her up and/or b.) be grateful that you didn't bring over the 100th bag of ruffle potato chips because they told people to "bring whatever." It's also great as a tasty, healthier lunch entree. Some days, I might even take it over a plateful of cheesecake for dessert, it's that good.

I use the Epicurious recipe, available here, and add whatever veggies strike my fancy in color and flavor, so it's always exactly what I'm in the mood for. In this iteration, I used the sweeter, less acidic yellow bell peppers, and some thinly sliced purple cabbage and carrots. One word of advice--hold out till you can find the sesame oil (typically in the Asian section of your grocery store, and ALWAYS sold out at the Harris Teeter near us). It's absolutely the best part. And if you're not already cooking dishes with fresh ginger (Mom and Dad) I suggest that you get in the habit...ginger can be spicy, floral, and citrus-y all at once and is great in all sorts of marinades and sauces. Pick up some for this Asian Noodle Salad and see what I mean...

Spicy Sesame Noodle Salad:

1 Tbs. peanut oil
2 Tbs. minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbs. Asian sesame oil
2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. (or more) hot chili oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 pound prepared linguine pasta
12 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 cup sliced Thai basil leaves
Sliced vegetables of your choice (I used carrots sliced lengthwise, thin-sliced purple cabbage, and yellow bell pepper rings)
Toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Heat peanut oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Transfer to large bowl. Add next 6 ingredients; whisk to blend.

Drain noodles thoroughly and transfer to bowl with sauce. Add sliced green onions and toss to coat noodles. Let stand at room temperature until noodles have absorbed dressing, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour. Stir in peanuts, sesame seeds, and Thai basil; toss again. Add vegetables of your choice, selecting for taste, color, and texture for best results. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Tips and Tricks:

If you don't have hot chili oil, add one more Tbs. of sesame oil to the sauce and add crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Two words---Double Batch.

Crab Boil Potato Salad Recipe: Summer Sides

I'm not sure how it happened, but this Memorial Day weekend I was able to take a break from cooking and enjoy some spicy, smoky love from other peoples' kitchens. (Thanks Jeffbignerd and Liza Jane!)

Which was nice, because I think I burned myself out this week. (Cooked till 1:30 am to stock a friend's fridge w/"reheatables" on top of the usual hours spent grilling, entertaining, and cooking for the week. Noooo more simmering! Noooo!!)

In return for Jeffbignerd and Liza Jane's generosity, I did offer some of my favorite Summer Sides.

To me a good summer side can be served cold or room temperature, nicely complements the rich and spicy grilled flavors of the season, and it may be a "classic" but it has some unexpected flavors, too. This potato salad falls into that category. I use spicy crab boil to add some earthy, spicy flavors to the potatoes as they cook, and then toss everything with the usual potato salad staples. Serve it with steak or burgers, and enjoy!

Crab-Boil Potato Salad:

10 medium Red Skin Potatoes
1 package Crab Boil dry (not liquid) seasoning
2 cups chopped boiled Egg
2 cups sliced Green Onion
1 cup diced Celery
1/2 cup diced Red Onion
1 cup Mayonnaise, divided
2 Tbs. Creole Mustard
Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Pepper
1. Peirce the skins of the potatoes on 4 sides with a fork or a sharp knife. Add the potatoes and the crab boil packet to a large pot, add a large pinch of salt, and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil until the potatoes are soft. (Approx. 15 minutes). I like my potatoes super-starchy, so I boil them until I can crush them easily with a fork and then refrigerate the potatoes to firm them up for mixing later.

2. Drain and cool the potatoes. Chop the potatoes into bite-sized cubes and add to a large mixing bowl. (I peel some of the red skins off of the cooked cubes if they are loose, until I have the desired skin-to-potato ratio for my potato salad). Cut open the mesh bag holding the crab boil spices, and add 3 Tbs. of the loose spices to the potatoes.

3. Add everything but the mayonnaise, cayenne, salt, and pepper to the mixing bowl with the potatoes and the crab boil spices. Add the mayonnaise, 1/4 cup at a time and stir. Keep adding 1/4 cup mayo until the potatoes reach your desired creaminess. (I prefer my potato salad to be a little drier and starchy, instead of pretty and glossy, but that's up to you. If you want starchy, crush some of the potatoes as you stir...mmmmcrushed potatoes soaked in mayo.....) add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and serve.

Gruyere Potato Gratin Recipe

One of my favorite things about St. Louis (aside from Cardinals baseball, pork steaks, and my family) is the gruyere cheese potato gratin at Annie Gunn's Restaurant. It is, as one of the roomies stated "a brick of potatoes and cheese."

That stuff is nutty, starchy with a touch of cream, and dense as all hell. I'm sure that a single square inch of it could cause me to lose the Cholesterol Contest at work outright. So of course, I have to try to recreate it at home.

Chef Lou's potato gratin is fairly no-nonsense. I've watched them make it, and it's comprised of approx. 6 ingredients---fresh butter, fresh cream, organic potatoes, the-worlds-most-expensive-gruyere-cheese, and salt and pepper. My budget does not allow me to cook with the cheese of cows that have been swathed in silk and read Pablo Neruda poems. So instead, I sub in 90% of the cheap stuff, bacon, and leeks. The result is pretty creamy, nutty, and dense. Just do me a favor, and buy the tiniest hunk of fancy gruyere you can to grate over the top. Once that stuff goes under the broiler, you'll be glad you didn't Kraft it up.

Gruyere Potato Gratin
4 slices of Bacon, chopped
1 cup chopped Leeks
1 Tbs. Butter
1 Tbs. Flour
1 1/2 cup Milk
1 1/2 cup shredded Swiss Cheese (cheap crap)
2/3 cup shredded Gruyere Cheese (fancy stuff)
1/2 tsp. Thyme
1/4 tsp. dried Nutmeg
4-5 large Potatoes
Salt
Pepper

Using a mandoline or a paring knife, slice potatoes 1/8 inch thick in the largest pieces you can. This is easiest if you remove the rounded ends, stand the potato up on the flat just-cut edge, and slice downwards. (The flat side will also help you layer your gratin later, and you can use the trimmings for skin-on mashed potatoes when you're done).

Cook the bacon until it's beginning to brown, and add the leeks. Sautee the leeks and bacon until the bacon is crispy and the leeks are soft. Drain and set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed skillet, make the bechamel. Melt the butter over medium-low heat, then quickly stir in the flour. Cook for 3 minutes on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the roux is a golden brown. Add the milk and wisk to make the bechamel smooth. Bring the mixture to a low boil, and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken. Add thyme and nutmeg.

Butter a loaf pan, and pour a thin layer of bechamel on the bottom of the pan. Put a layer of potatoes over the bechamel sauce, and top with the bacon/leek mixture, salt & pepper, swiss cheese, and another thin layer of bechamel.

You can use the bechamel sparingly on the bottom layers, because it'll spread throughout the loaf pan. Try to use approx. 1/4 of the swiss cheese (cheap crap) on each layer. Alternate the direction that you layer the potatoes, so the gratin is less likely to fall apart as you cut the finished product. Continue until you run out of bechamel, ending with one layer of potatoes only.

Cover the top layer of potatoes with the gruyere cheese (fancy stuff) and salt & pepper, and then cover with parchment paper. Gently lay several canned goods over the waxed paper to compress the gratin evenly. Let the gratin compress for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Use your broiler to brown the top of the gratin, and enjoy!

[No finished product pic--though potato gratin smells and tastes awesome, it does not photograph well. The pics all looked sort of alien with the layers of white cheese, white potatoes, and then browned glistening stuff on top. Crispy, browned gruyere with leeks and bacon, people. That's all you need to know.]

Extravagant Side Dishes: Spanish "Antipasto"

I love when other people cook for me almost as much as I love hosting dinners. If someone else is cooking, that means I get to make a ridiculous side dish that I typically wouldn't have the time to put together. In this instance, my friend was making 3 large pans of paella (yurme!) and requested a veggie dish. I spent an afternoon searching for a fun Spanish vegetable recipe. Finding none that were over-the-top enough for my taste, I came up with my own.

This is the Spanish version of the Italian antipasto dish. You could also simply refer to it as a Spanish Vegetable Tapas. I wanted crisp veggies with concentrated flavor, so I stir-fried the peppers, and just cooked the asparagus. Oh, and I threw in a little spicy paprika-garlic-flavored sausage grease, just for fun.

Spanish Antipasto:

2 Spanish Cheeses (Manchego, Montsec--goat's milk, La Mancha--sheep's milk, Idiazabal, ect.)
4 heads Garlic
2 medium lemons (grate the 2 tsp. of the zest before juicing)
2 tsp. lemon zest
Olive Oil
1 jar Manzanilla olives
2 yellow bell peppers
2 orange bell peppers
2 bunches asparagus
1 small package of loose Chorizo Sausage
Kosher salt
2 loaves crusty white bread

Prepare the Roasted Garlic

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Peel the papery covering off the garlic, leaving the skins on the individual bulbs. Cut 1/4 inch off the top of the garlic cloves, exposing the bulbs. Place each head of garlic on two layers of aluminum foil. Pour 1 Tbs. olive oil over each head, massage the oil over the garlic head, and cover tightly in foil. Bake for 35 minutes.

Remove the garlic from the foil, and let it cool. Using a butter knife, pop each bulb out of its skin and into mixing bowl. Add 1 tsp. olive oil, and mash the roasted garlic into a paste.

Stir Fry the Vegetables

Cut the bottom 1 inch off of the aspragus. Steam the asparagus over 1 1/2 cup water mixed with the juice of two medium sized lemons until al dente (8-10 minutes). Remove from heat and drop in an ice water bath to stop cooking. Drain and arrange on a platter.

Cook 3/4 cup of chorizo sausage, and reserve the sausage for a later use. Reserve 1/2 of the grease. Heat the chorizo grease just until smoking and add 1/2 of the peppers, stir frying them until crisp but sweet. Remove the peppers, and repeat with the remaining chorizo grease and peppers.

Finishing the Dish

Arrange vegetables, cheeses, olives, and roasted garlic on platters. (Ok, I cheated and used Cambozola, but we have a 5 lb (!!) wheel in our fridge, and I want to win the cholesterol contest at my work for the second year running, so I have to get rid of it.)

Sprinkle lemon zest, olive oil, and kosher salt over the asparagus. Garnish with paprika, and serve your antipasto with crusty bread.