Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

Recently, we hosted a dinner party and served a lovely (IMHO) variety of spring foods, including spring lamb stew with baby artichokes, Bibb lettuce and parsley salad with anchovy dressing, both after a white bean and sautéed greens crostini appetizer. For dessert, I served a tray of local cheeses including a very ripe Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery and my favorite goat cheese, Humboldt Fog.

Bibb and Parsley Salad with Anchovy Dressing
from Everyday Food

In a small bowl, with your immersion blender, mash two anchovy fillets together with 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, pinch of sugar, and salt & pepper to taste. Add to bowl with 1 head of Bibb or Boston lettuce, roughly torn, and 1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves.

Lamb Stew with Leeks and Artichokes

Both the lamb stew and the salad took advantage of the copious amounts of fresh parsley in my garden, so I submit this post as part of the Grow Your Own Roundup #40, hosted by House of Annie.

Last month, we learned to cook pasta the Italian way, at a cooking party to benefit our school. Our hostesses, Lucia and Susanna, from La Bottega in Menlo Park, created a thoughtful menu highlighting three pasta dishes from the north, center and south of Italy – Linguine al Pesto, Bucatini Casio e Pepe, and Caserecce alla Puttanesca. Served with wine, it was a lovely party.

Linguine al Pesto

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves
• salt
• 1 pound linguine pasta

Place garlic cloves and pine nuts in food processor and blend while slowly adding the olive oil and basil leaves. Process basil pesto until it forms a thick, smooth paste.

In a large stock pot, bring 4 quarts water to boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt, wait until it boils again, and then cook linguine until pasta is just done. Remove 1 cup of cooking water, set aside. Drain pasta and transfer to a bowl.

Add 1 teaspoon salt and grated Parmigiano to basil pesto, and toss with hot pasta. If pasta is dry, add a little of the reserved liquid. Serve.

Bucatini cacio e pepe

• 1 pound bucatini pasta (to be truly Roman you need bucatini, but feel free to use spaghetti if that is what is available)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup (packed) freshly grated Pecorino cheese
• Heaps of fresh ground black pepper

In a large stock pot, bring 4 quarts water to boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt, wait until it boils again, and then cook bucatini until pasta is just done.

While the pasta cooks, put Pecorino cheese along with a few tablespoons hot water from the boiling pasta into a blender, and blend until cheese is creamy. This is best done slowly and by spoonfuls to ensure you get the right consistency. When creamy, add the pepper. Yes, lots of pepper – un vero Romano would use a tablespoon.

Drain the pasta, and transfer to a bowl. Quickly pour the olive oil over the top, then mix, mix, mix to blend the cheese, pepper and oil. Serve.

Casereccie alla puttanesca

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 28 ounce can Italian tomatoes with juice
• Italian parsley
• Salt
• 1 pound Casarecce pasta
• 2 tablespoons capers in salt
• 10 to 15 Gaeta olives, pitted and halved (Kalamata are ok too)

Rinse capers well to remove salt. In a skillet, heat olive oil with garlic and a few sprigs parsley – cook until garlic is golden brown. Remove garlic and parsley and discard. Add olives, capers, tomatoes and salt to taste. Cook uncovered until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.

In a large stock pot, bring 4 quarts water to boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt, wait until it boils again, and then cook Casarecce until pasta is just done.

Drain pasta and pour into serving bowl. Pour sauce over the pasta and toss gently. Sprinkle with chopped, fresh parsley. Serve.

Inger invited me to join her dinner club as a guest this weekend, filling in for an absent member. I had been waiting for this invitation forever, it is a bit like being called up to the majors. And the group did not disappoint!

This Dinner Club has been running continuously for about the last 15 years. Each month, a different member is the host and provides the main course. The other 5 members take on a different part of the meal (cocktail, starter, soup/salad, dessert and wine). The members challenge each other to move beyond their traditional cooking comfort zone, and tackle recipes that are difficult, complicated or unusual. And this is a member only dinner, no spouses allowed!

The menu was very seasonally oriented, as well as local – Inger used apricots from her backyard tree, Lisa’s ceviche included fish she caught herself in San Francisco, and Michelle’s dessert included locally grown, organic strawberries. Michelle and Marty brought a local wine for dinner. And, most of the ingredients for my soup came from my Two Small Farms veggie box (summer squash, potatoes, onions) along with mint from my backyard. Saturday’s dinner menu included:

Celebration Fizz – a lively cocktail with mandarin vodka, white grape juice and champagne

Mixed seafood Ceviche with avocado

Summer Squash Soup with Parsley-Mint Pistou

Lamb Burgers with Pistachio-Apricot Relish (although Inger doctored the burgers a little differently, adding cilantro, white onion, chopped mint, shallot, lemon juice, cumin, allspice, and cayenne, along with a little olive oil)

Pink Peppercorn Pavlova with Strawberries, Vanilla Cream and Basil Syrup

It was a complete fluke that 4 out of the 5 recipes came from Epicurious!

We had three lovely bottles of wine, including a delightful Rioja and a Foxglove Zin. Coffee was served with dessert, and the whole party was over by 10:30 p.m. And the best part of the evening? Getting to sit with 5 other women who are as interested in cooking and talking about food as I am!

Are you in a dinner club? If so, how is yours organized? How did you get started and what are your “rules”?

This weekend, we hosted a big birthday bash in our backyard to celebrate my Dad’s birthday. It was a lovely party (if I do say so myself) and we served roasted Tri-tip, grilled chicken, potatoes and pepperonata, cauliflower, white bean and feta salad, and a green salad. For dessert, Marie Callender’s pies (Dad’s choice) in Dutch apple, strawberry, pecan and coconut cream. If you went away hungry, it was your own fault!

Thanks to my sister Erica for bringing the lovely appetizers, and my friend Pat for the Potatoes and Pepperonata (from the Frog Commissary Cookbook). The meat was from Costco, seasoned with a spice rub from Penzey’s. And I made the Cauliflower Salad from last week’s menu plan.

Way back, when my daughter was born, my sister Erica brought this meal to us on our first night home from the hospital. She was able to find baby beets and turnips, and the dinner was so delightful, not only because I had been eating hospital food for two days, but because my incredibly busy (and talented sister) had made dinner for us! 

Since our spring has been mixed with warm days, cool evenings and some rain, this dish felt like a nice way to bring in the new season. We served it with a 2005 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Ferrington Vineyard. 

Spring Lamb Stew
based on recipe for A New Navarin of Lamb from The New Basics Cookbook by Rosso & Lukins

• 3 pounds boneless leg of lamb, cut into 1 1/2″ cubes
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup dry red wine 
• 2 1/2 cups beef stock (I used chicken stock with the addition of a teaspoon of beef broth concentrate)
• 1 spring fresh rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 4 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 pound beets
• 1 pound young turnips (look for the smallest ones you can find)
• 1 bunch green onions, cleaned and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 4 Tablespoons butter

In small batches, in a dutch oven or other heavy enamel pot, brown the cubes of lamb. I browned my lamb in three batches, removing each batch to a bowl and allowing the pan to reheat slightly before adding the next bit. 

Once the meat is brown, add it all back into the dutch oven and sprinkle with flour and sugar. Mix to combine. Add in wine, stock, rosemary, garlic, and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer 1 1/2 hours, or until lamb is tender.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400F. Scrub the beets and place in foiled lined baking pan. Add 1/2 cup of water and cover tightly. Bake in oven 1 hour 15 minutes, until tender. Allow to cool, then rub peel off and quarter or halve beets. Set aside.

Bring large pot of water to boil. Scrub turnips, and when water boils, add turnips to boiling water and cook until tender, 10-20 minutes (depends on the size). Remove from boiling water and allow to cool. Peel and quarter, set aside.

In the same pot of boiling water, add the spring onions and cook for 2-3 minutes, until tender. Remove and drain well. Set aside.

When ready to serve, heat butter in large sauté pan. Add in all vegetables and sauté until heated through. To serve, spoon one cup of the lamb into the bottom of bowl, top with the vegetables.

With St Patrick’s Day around the corner (ok, tomorrow, if you want to be specific) Corned Beef and Cabbage was on the menu this weekend. Remember my menu plan from last week? We were out all day yesterday and needed to have dinner ready when we walked in the door, so I set up my crockpot to do the work while we were gone.

My brisket this year came from Bianchini’s, a market in Portola Valley that has a fine meat counter. They package their corned beef brisket with all sorts of spices – bay leaves, allspice, cloves, thai peppers (I think that is what that red chili in the picture is – do you see it?), and peppercorns.

And I know that Corned Beef and Cabbage is often scorned and ridiculed, but I love it! I love this time of year and I love eating Corned Beef. I can almost eat a whole brisket myself! So there! Here is a crock pot recipe for Corned Beef, in case you share my enjoyment of this dish:

Corned Beef and Cabbage

• 3-4 pound Corned Beef Brisket (or Bottom Round), packaged with spices
• water to cover
• 1 pound baby carrots
• 1 small head of cabbage, cut into 8 wedges (or more, depending on the size of the cabbage)

After cutting the brisket, and adding to the slow cooker, along with the included spices, I covered the meat with water and cooked it on low for 7 hours. In the last hour, I added the carrots. I steamed the cabbage separately. 

If I had a little more time, I would have taken the corned beef out of the cooker, slathered it with a mixture of brown sugar and dijon mustard and popped it into the oven for 30 minutes. Here is a food blogger who gives the complete details on Corned Beef Glazed in Honey Mustard. Since my brisket was pretty delicious, I did not feel as though I was missing anything, but I have used this glaze before with great results.

We served our dinner with Coleman’s Hot Mustard (my Dad’s requirement), mashed potatoes and a lovely 2007 Domaine de La Maurelle Cotes du Rhone – the wine was a medium bodied Rhone varietal that worked very well with the rich Corned Beef.

What are you planning for dinner on St. Patrick’s Day? Any suggestions to get away from the usual Corned Beef and Cabbage?

Cassoulet does not need to be difficult to taste great. Starting with a recipe from Tante Marie’s Cooking School Cookbook, I have developed a Cassoulet recipe that I dare say, is easy!

Mind you, it will take a while, good things always do, but if you go slowly, don’t rush the recipe and give yourself plenty of time (like a rainy Sunday in March!), you will surely find success.

First off, you must assemble a couple key kitchen gadgets:

• Le Crueset, or other heavy pot, preferably enamel, 5 quarts or larger
• Pressure cooker (this is actually key in my recipe, but if you don’t have one, you can get by)
• Large strainer, preferably like the one pictured above
• Mini Cuisinart or immersion blender with chopping bowl
• Cheesecloth and string, or silicon rubberband

Cassoulet with white beans, sausage and duck confit
adapted from Tante Marie’s Cooking School Cookbook

• 2 pounds white beans
• 1/2 pound bacon, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 coarsely chopped onions (divided) + 1 onion, chopped
• 4 smashed garlic cloves (divided) + 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• Bouquet garni with 4 sprigs of parsley, 3 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 pound pork sausage, pricked all over with a fork
• 4 tablespoons bacon fat or olive oil
• 1 cup dry white wine or vermouth
• 28 ounce can of chopped tomatoes
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 whole confit of duck, cut into pieces (see notes below)
• 1 1/2 cups toasted bread crumbs

To start off, you need to cook the beans. I do this in two batches, because that is all my pressure cooker will hold.

First batch of beans – into the pressure cooker, add 1 pound of beans, 1 tablespoon of oil, bacon, 1 coarsely chopped onion, 2 smashed garlic cloves, bouquet garni, and 1 quart of chicken stock. Seal lid, and bring pot to pressure over high heat. When it has reached full pressure, turn down heat slightly, and set timer for 25 minutes. When the time is up, turn off heat and allow pressure to come down naturally, 15-20 minutes. If you can, leave beans in liquid a little longer. When ready, drain beans, reserving the cooking liquid. Put cooked beans into bowl, along with onions, garlic and bacon. Remove and discard bouquet garni.

Second batch of beans – into the pressure cooker, add remaining 1 pound of beans, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 coarsely chopped onion, 2 smashed garlic cloves, and 1 quart of chicken stock. Seal lid, and bring pot to pressure over high heat. When it has reached full pressure, turn down heat slightly, and set timer for 25 minutes. When the time is up, turn off heat and allow pressure to come down naturally, 15-20 minutes. If you can, leave beans in liquid a little longer. When ready, drain beans, reserving the cooking liquid. Put cooked beans into bowl, along with first batch of beans.

If you do not have a pressure cooker, then soak the beans overnight in water to cover. When ready to cook, drain the beans and put in Le Crueset or other heavy casserole, along with bacon, onions, garlic, bouquet garni and chicken stock. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Drain the beans, reserving the liquid. Discard onions and bouquet garni.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook sausages in 1/4 cup of water, until they are browned all over. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove sausages to plate to rest.

In same pan, heat 2 tablespoons bacon fat and sauté onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add in garlic, sauté another minute. Add in white wine and cook another minute. Stir in tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cook additional 5 minutes.

To assemble the cassoulet – Slice sausage into 1-inch chunks. Layer 1/3 of the beans on the bottom of the Le Crueset. Nestle in half of the duck and half of the sausage. Cover with half of the tomato mixture. Repeat with another 1/3 of the beans, and the remaining sausage and duck confit. Cover with the rest of the tomatoes and the remaining beans. Season the bean liquid well, then pour enough bean liquid into the pot to come up just to the top of the beans. Cover entire cassoulet with bread crumbs and dot with remaining bacon fat.

Bake in 350F oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, until top is crusty and brown. You can break through the crust several times during cooking, which will allow the juices to help form the crust.

Notes:

This recipe serves 10, depending on appetites and what else you are serving. I like to serve with a green salad and fresh bread.

Duck confit – my local butcher sells duck confit in packages of two leg/thigh sections. I like to have one piece of duck for each person I am serving, so for 4 people, one package works well. I separate the leg and thighs. If I have more people, I will add another package.

Bouquet Garni – to make a bouquet garni, take the parsley, the thyme and the bay leaves, and either wrap them in a piece of cheesecloth, sealed with a knot, or wrap with a silicon rubberband.

I prefer to use my pressure cooker for this, as I like the speed in which beans are cooked. I also find that I can make a very intensely flavored bean broth, which works nicely for this dish. Leftovers can be stored for another soup, another time.

My husband grew up in Los Alamos, NM, so when we host dinner parties, we often go straight to New Mexican fare, as it lends itself well to groups and gives my husband a chance to shine in the kitchen. Over the years, our menu has evolved and we have put a California/Tex-Mex spin to the menu. Hence the title New New Mexican. Tonight’s guest list included our friends Jen and Bharat, Donia and Mitchell, and Lisa and Mike, along with their offspring. We wanted to develop a menu that would offer many options for our many different guests. Tonight we offered:

• Prickly Pear Cactus Mojito
• Half Moon Bay Halibut with cilantro pesto
• Black bean and cheese enchiladas with green chile salsa
• Posole as a vegetable
• Refried beans
• Ensalada de Noche Buena
• Brown rice
• Tortillas

Following a recipe from Feed Your Vegetarian, I pulled together a Prickly Pear Cactus Mojito. I could not resist the prickly pear cacti in the store, they were so beautiful – and once I had peeled them and whirled them in the hand blender, I mixed the juice with sugar to create a simple syrup, and followed the rest of the recipe. Our guests gave this a universal thumbs up!

I made the cilantro pesto a week ago, from fresh cilantro in our CSA box. I adapted the recipe I usually use for basil pesto, from Marcella Hazen’s book. A bunch of cilantro leaves, 2 garlic cloves, 2 TBS pine nuts, 1/4 cup olive oil, S&P, whirled in my hand blender. Spread over the top of the halibut (or salmon) fillets, then baked at 400F for 15 minutes.

The black bean and cheese enchiladas were a creation of our own. Mix together one can of refried black beans with 2 cups cheese (jack or a Mexican blend). Spread about 1/4 cup of the bean mixture inside a whole wheat flour tortilla, gordito size, roll up and place into a 9″x13″ casserole. Repeat with 11 more tortillas. I made a green enchilada salsa with some roasted tomatoes from my garden, and poured about 2 cups over the top. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

On Simply Recipes, I found the recipe for refried beans (kitchen gadgets used: pressure cooker, strainer, cast iron pan and potato masher). Because several of tonight’s guests are foodies, I decided to make the beans from scratch, rather than buying them in a can. And, I toyed with making them black, but decided to give the pinto a try, as according to the USDA Nutrient Lab, they are about equally good for you.

The Ensalada de Noche Buena comes from Cooking Light magazine – I tried it last December, when I hosted a Tamale Making-Cookie Exchange Party (yes, we had a lot going on!), and it was very tasty. Check out Simply Recipes for a easy tutorial on cutting and de-seeding a pomegranate.

Posole as a vegetable (as opposed to soup, which is the way it is usually served around here) comes straight out of The Feast of Santa Fe, by Huntley Dent:

Posole as a Vegetable

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• pinch oregano
• 2 tablespoons red chili powder
• 4 ounces canned green chilies, chopped
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 – 3 cups canned hominy, drained

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil over low heat, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Raise heat to medium, add spices (cumin through chili powder), and cook for 1 minute to develop spices. Add remaining ingredients, bring to boil, and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. The liquid should be only slightly thickened, add a little water if it seems to thick.

Our new friends (and neighbors) invited us over for a spur-of-the-moment Paella party this weekend. A chance to socialize and drink wine with our friends was more than we could resist, even on a school night! And, the lure of Paella cooked on the grill was too enticing, almost makes me want to go out and get a paella pan for my grill. Here are some photos:

This was not really a traditional dinner party, in the sense that we did not all sit around the table. But we did eat the same thing, Sweet and Sour Cabbage with Smoked Pork Chops. Why, you ask, did we not eat together?

This is the first week of school – one child is taking it all in stride, but the other is needing some time to adjust. No problem, but we are definitely not having guests over mid-week. However, I ended up with two CSA boxes last Friday, so had two big heads of red cabbage to do something with, and when I found a great recipe in my new Simply Organic cookbook, by Jesse Ziff Cool (signed by her, no less!), I decided that ‘who cares if it is 97F outside, I am making early winter dish!’. Who better to share this with than our German-food loving friends down the street, Christy and Tim. Tonight’s menu included:

• Sweet and Sour Cabbage with Smoked Pork Chops
• Green Onion Spaetzle
• Roasted Beets
• Apple Tart

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Just a brief note about the smoked pork chops and a plug for a local business – I have been buying my sausages and wurst at Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats and Wurst-House in Mountain View, since high school, but up until last weekend, I had no idea the joy that can be found in a smoked pork chop. Neighbors brought them to our block party, grilled them until hot and then cut the chops into chunks. OH-MY-GOODNESS, was that outstanding! Each bit of pork had fatty, bacony-like goodness on it, just perfect in its saltiness and texture. Naturally, when the opportunity presented itself to have smoked pork chops again this week, you can bet I jumped right on that. Be sure to visit Dittmer’s, you can even use your rusty old high school German and they will still help you….

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The tart recipe was one that I had turned Becca onto last week, from Cerrus & Bacchus. The roasted beets are very easy: I top the beets, wash them well, and throw them, skin and all, into a 9×13 pan lined with foil. I add about 1/2 cup of water, cover tightly with another piece of foil, and roast for 1 hour at 400F. After letting them cool, I peel and slice, and sprinkle with a touch of balsamic vinegar.

I modified the Spaetzle from a recipe found originally on Epicurious. It is so easy to make your own Spaetzle, and highly worthwhile, that I share the recipe with you here:

Green Onion Spaetzle

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped green onion, just the tops
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

Bring a large pan of water to boil for the Spaetzle. In a large bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. In a heavy saucepan, bring milk to just a simmer. With blender running, add milk to green onion tops, and blend until milk is very green.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs and water, and add green milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly.

Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and whisk until a soft, smooth, batter-like dough forms.

To make Spaetzle, I use a potato ricer with interchangeable disks. I use the largest disks, and pour about 1 cup of dough into the ricer. Holding the ricer over the boiling water, I plunge the dough through the large disk wholes. This creates many little worm-like Spaetzle in the pot. I do this in batches, cooking about 1 cup of dough at a time.

Initially, the Spaetzle will sink to the bottom. Give them a light stir, and as they cook, the will float to the top. Boil 3-5 minutes, until just tender, then drain in a large colander and rinse with cold water. Continue with remaining dough.

After all Spaetzle have been cooked, melt butter in large frying pan. After foam has subsided, toss the Spaetzle with the melted butter and transfer to a large baking dish. The Spaetzle may be prepared to this point and chilled, covered, for 1 day. Reheat in oven before serving.