when breakfast makes a simple, delicious dinner

I wanted something quick, easy and tasty the other night, so I started rifling around in the fridge.  I found wonderful farm-fresh eggs, which is a good start.  There was bacon, some fresh goat cheese, a couple of green onions, shitake mushrooms, and a bit of arugula that needed to be used.  What could be easier than an omelet and a lightly dressed salad for a weeknight meal?

 Goat cheese adds a creamy tang to an omelet

All that's really needed to make an omelet, of course, is eggs.  But I like to add half a tablespoon of cream, salt, pepper, and a few grates of nutmeg.

the egg mixture just before I beat the tar out of it

A whisk will get the job done, but I like the eggs to be fully incorporated, and to add a little air for lightness.  The local farm eggs I get from Whole Foods are worth every penny.  But there is one thing about very fresh eggs.  The whites resist incorporation.  So going after the mixture with an immersion blender, which is a very handy kitchen tool, mixes them in a trice.  It's also very handy to have to puree soups and blend sauces.

I started the bacon, just two slices cut into lardons, crisping in the pan.  Once they were crisp, I pulled them out, and I sauteed the mushrooms and green onions for a few minutes in the bacon fat.  

there's my mineral pan again--as you can see, it's getting been getting a work-out

Then I put in the greens just until they were wilted.  With a non-stick pan, which a well-maintained mineral pan is, the entire operation is a one-pan meal.  Though I love Julia Child's method of cooking omelets very fast over very high heat, it goes too fast if you are going to add a fair amount of filling.  So I kept the pan over medium heat.

the eggs begin to bubble and set immediately

For less than a minute, I lifted the edges of the omelet, and tilted the pan a little to let the uncooked eggs slip onto the pan's surface.  Then I laid the fillings across the omelet.

a quick fold, and dinner is ready

the warm omelet and a little salad of frisee and little

yellow plum tomatoes was a very satisfying dinner

I was surprised the the omelet had browned so much in such a short time, but I suppose it has something to do with the cooking properties of the pan.  The eggs weren't overcooked at all.  Makes me want to make a croque-madame sandwich, but I guess I'll save that for some other time.

shrimp fra diavolo

Italian for "brother devil", fra diavolo sauce is just about anything you want to make it, as long as it has some kick to it.  Wiki says, according to Mario Batali, it is an Italian American dish, rarely seen in Italy.  They don't know what they are missing.  It's a simple dish to make, full of fresh herbs, tomatoes (in my version) and spicy hot red pepper flakes.

I went to Whole Foods the other day, and they had some beautiful fresh South Carolina shrimp.  I was mourning the end of the supply of Honeycrisp apples, and so I decided to console myself with some of those shrimp, but they were pricy.  So I wasn't going to do a shrimp boil, turning pounds of spiced shrimp out onto a paper-covered table, as much as I'd like to.  I ended up with about 2/3 of a pound for two people.  Jim has a big appetite.  A half a pound would probably do for two if neither one of you is inclined to consume inordinate amounts of pasta.

The sauce has quite a few ingredients, but once they're assembled, it comes together in about a half an hour.  I used hot red pepper flakes; garlic; sliced shallots; chopped canned tomatoes; fresh oregano, basil and parsley; a little dry vermouth (my go-to for white wine in cooking); and dried linguine for the pasta.

Muir Glen fire roasted chopped tomatoes with no added salt

is one of my favorite pantry staples--not that I avoid salt,

I just like being in control of how much there is, and when it's added

The shrimp get tossed with the red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt, then get tossed in a sizzling skillet with a glug of olive oil.  I use tender loving care with shrimp, cooking them first just until they are barely done--beginning to turn pink and lose their translucence.  Perfectly cooked shrimp are a wonder.  Overcooked shrimp are rubber erasers.  I err on the side of caution.  Carry-over heat will continue to cook them when they come out of the skillet, and they will cook a little more when you toss them in the sauce and pasta to heat them up.

 shrimp are ready to come out of the pan when they are

just beginning to turn pink and opaque

The remainder of the sauce comes together while the shrimp rest.  I sauteed the sliced shallots for a few minutes, then added in the minced garlic.  I think the easiest ways to mince garlic in through a garlic press, or to grate it on a microplane grater.  Chopping garlic with a knife is a chore.  It sticks to the knife and the pieces are unevenly sized.  Besides, having a good garlic press will dissuade you from using that jarred stuff.  It just doesn't taste the same.  And, yes, I have a jar of chopped garlic in my fridge I have called on in emergencies, but it's so old I think it needs to be carbon-dated.

the aromatics take just a short saute

then in goes the about half a cup of wine, the tomatoes, 

and the oregano--use dried if you don't have fresh--and now's
the time to taste for salt

I have so much fresh oregano in my garden it boggles the mind.  It's like mint--it takes over, and I'm not sure it's the case in colder climates, but here in zone seven it grows all year long.

Cook the pasta in rapidly boiling salted water until it is just barely al dente--in other words, a little bit under-cooked.  And don't worry if the sauce seems a little thin.  Adding the slightly undercooked pasta to a slightly watery sauce is a great way to get very flavorful, perfectly cooked pasta.

The pasta, chopped parsley, and shrimp go in the sauce for 

a minute or two, to warm the shrimp and infuse the pasta with the sauce

I put the fresh basil on top, to be stirred in with the hot

pasta, so it stays as fresh as possible

No Parmesan on this dish, I suppose because the Titans of Italian cooking say no cheese with seafood.  But, hey, if you want a bit of parm, who's to know?  I adore Alfredo with crab, lobster or shrimp, and that's loaded with cheese.  But this dish is a lot healthier, easy to make, and satisfying to eat.  Ciao!

pan fired pork chops with greens and dressing

I've blogged about these thick-cut pork chops before, because Jim loves them, and they can vex me, trying to keep them succulent while still cooking them through.  I have stuffed them in the past with bread stuffing, or a combination of goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and greens.  But I have decided that splitting them to make a pocket for filling increases the risk of drying them out before the filling comes up to temp.  So last week, I pan-fried them, and made rainbow chard and a dressing on the side.  I started with a brine of salt, honey, orange juice, and bay leaf in water.  I brined the chops for about 4 hours, then seared them off in one of my beloved mineral pans.

these pans really put a beautiful sear on foods--

I don't understand why they aren't in every kitchen

I made the dressing on the side.  My plan was to use celery, toasted pecans, apples, sage, fresh parsley, salt, pepper, an egg, chicken broth, and some old bread that needed to be used.  The veggies got sauteed in a bit of butter until they were just beginning to soften.  Then everything got tossed together with an egg and enough chicken broth to make a soft dressing.

mise en place was not en place--I forgot the apple

everything ready to go, but where's the apple?

no worries, I just diced a granny smith, sauteed it in a little butter,

and mixed it into the stuffing right in the pan

I had some rainbow chard in the fridge, as well as some mushrooms and shallots.  Sounded like a perfect side for a Southern pork chop dinner.

it probably doesn't get much more Southern than this,

though I didn't have any fatback in the greens

wedding soup

Long a treat widely available up north and on the east coast, I assume because of the presence of Italian populations, wedding soup is something I haven't seen anywhere down south.  There are several different versions on various recipe websites, but I used to eat my favorite version in a dive restaurant in Erie, and I wanted to try to replicate, and improve on, the way they made it.

I started with the meatballs

I made a panade of a couple of slices of bread, some crushed fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, garlic, salt, and about a half a cup of milk, all ground up in the food processor.  To that I added some sweet Italian sausage, mixed it all up, and rolled little meatballs about three quarters of an inch in diameter. Someone asked me how I keep the size so consistent--a small melon baller and a cup of water. Scoop a dollop of meat in the melon baller, round the top, and dump the little meatball on the baking sheet. After about every third meatball, swish the melon baller in the water, washing away residue that can make the meatballs stick.

rolling the little meatballs was a bit tedious, but I 

knew I would have enough to freeze some for later

The meatballs baked in a 350 oven in about twenty minutes.  For aromatics, I sauteed diced onion, and carrots cut into matchsticks.   The carrots could just as easily been diced, but I like the look of the matchsticks, and I don't care for big bites of cooked carrot.  Besides, I have a handy little tool that shaves the matchsticks right off the carrot.  It looks like a vegetable peeler with teeth.

I lightly sauteed the vegetable in olive oil before adding the broth

Sauteing the veggies first is really just habit.  They could have just as easily been simmered in the broth--the soup cooks long enough for them to soften.  For broth I used my new favorite, outside of homemade stock--Swanson no salt-added cooking stock.  It has a clean flavor, and I love being able to control the salt level myself.    Along with the broth, I added about a cup of vermouth, and a boneless, skinless chicken breast, which I cooked at a bare simmer, and took out as soon as it hit an internal temperature of 165.  Chicken breast can get tough and dry if it is cooked too long.  It took about 20 minutes to cook through.  I took the breast out of the stock, added about two cups of water to the broth, and added in a half a cup of orzo pasta--the little pasta shaped like grains of rice.  Any small pasta shape would work.  The addition of water assures that the pasta won't soak up all the broth.  I brought the heat up to medium hi, and while the pasta cooked, I shredded the chicken breast to be stirred in at the last minute.  As soon as the pasta was al dente, I stirred in a full bag of arugula.

looks like a lot of greens, but they cook down a lot--

spinach would work, too, but I like the spicy bite in arugula

The greens cook in about two minutes.  After they cooked down I added about a third of my meatballs, and the shredded chicken.  I tasted for salt, added a bit, and served.

this is a pretty soup hearty enough to make a meal

cioppino

Italian influenced seafood soup fits right in with my food goals for the new year.  I want foods with more veggies, more seafood, simple preparations, and big, bold flavors.  And seafood soup checks that list off in every aspect.  Veggies?  Check.  Tomatoes, onions, shallots, garlic, peppers.

a quick saute of the veggies builds a base for the soup

I happened to have some cooked garden tomatoes from last summer in the freezer, though canned tomatoes would work as well.  But I have to admit that there is nothing quite like the flavor of home-grown tomatoes in January.  A little thyme, some dried tarragon, ground fennel seed, orange zest and juice, some red jalapeno, and a dash of salt and pepper rounded out the broth, which I thinned with a bit of seafood stock, available at most groceries.

tomato soup of the gods, slightly spicy with peppers, rich with vegetables,

and scented with orange and fennel

All I needed was some seafood to round things out.  I wanted some mussels, but the ones at the grocery didn't look that great, so I settled for scallops, shrimp, and flounder.  The beauty of cioppino is that what goes in just needs to be fresh.  Doesn't matter what it is.  Mussels, clams, fish, shrimp, crab.  Who cares?  Whatever looks good rules the day.  The end result?  A fragrant, rich, tomato broth brimming with tender seafood that takes just minutes to prepare.

the seafood poaches to perfection in the broth in just minutes over very low heat

praise for the braise

A braise does three things, particularly for the lazy cook.  It provides a nearly hands-off cooking method, lends tenderness to sometimes finicky large cuts of meat, and it makes its own sauce.  Jim loves pork, but pork sometimes frustrates me.  Either it is too fatty or not fatty enough, depending on the cut.  And it can become dry and flavorless, if it is overcooked.   So I was intrigued when I saw Debbie Mazar's husband Gabriella cooking a pork loin braised in milk the other day on the cooking channel.  A little research lead me to believe that they may have fudged the results a little on the show, because the traditional pork braised in milk results in an odd curdled sauce that I suspect is an acquired taste.  But I haven't had anything resembling a milk gravy in years, so I thought I would take a whirl at making my own version, hoping for a result similar to what I saw on the show--a tender sliced pork roast with a creamy, silky sauce.

My first departure was the cut of meat, but that was just the product of a poor selection of roasts at the grocery store, and no desire to tack a trip to another store onto my errands.  The store had one pork loin roast, and one pork butt roast.  The butt roast was a bit smaller, and looked better, so it won.  The result would be that the meat wouldn't be as pretty when sliced, and there would be more fat to contend with in the sauce.

the pork roast needs a heavy coating of salt and pepper, 

best added about an hour ahead of time

The braise starts with some oil to brown the roast, along with some aromatics.  In this case I used sage and rosemary that are still hanging around in the garden (very mild winter here so far) along with a few cloves of garlic, skins and all.  The sauce gets strained, so there's no need to get fussy with the herbs.

nothing could be simpler than tossing whole herbs in a pot

browning the pork roast is not necessary, but it does add

flavor and color

Once the pork was browned off, I added a cup of white wine, a couple cups of chicken stock, and the lid.  Then the pot went into a 275 degree oven to be neglected for the next two or three hours.  About 30 minutes before we wanted to eat, I quartered some baby dutch yellow potatoes (my current favorite for grilling and pan frying), some onion, sweet baby bell peppers, and a yellow squash.  I browned the potatoes a bit first, then just added in the rest of the veggies along with some salt and pepper.

 my mineral pan is starting to look like a real cook uses it--

the uglier it gets, the more non-stick it gets

I pulled the roast out of the oven, put it on a board to rest while the veggies cooked, and strained the braising liquid into a gravy separator, a ten dollar tool that is unsurpassed at getting excess fat out of pan drippings.  I think I've had mine for twenty years or more.  Once I got rid of the excess fat, I put the pan dripping back in the pot, and over high heat to reduce them a bit.  I made a slurry of a couple of teaspoons of flour and a cup or so of whole milk, cut the heat off under the reduced drippings, and added the slurry to the pot, stirring it and letting it simmer in the residual heat of the cast iron roaster.  The result was a delicious silky sauce for the roast.  If you want to cut the calories, just reduce the defatted drippings and call it a day.

a yummy dinner with the side benefit of tender pork left over 

for sandwiches

I love this soup

Pho.  It's my favorite soup.  The flavors are clean and enticing, it comes together in minutes, it is low in calories, high in interest, and satisfying any time of the year.  I like mine the best with beef, but chicken or shrimp are also excellent.  I haven't tried a vegetarian version, but I have no doubt it would be excellent.  Just for the record, there's no way my version is authentic, and I don't care.  It's tasty, easy to prepare, and gorgeous to look at.   My first experience with this soup was in a Lubbock, Texas defunct doughnut shop that an immigrant couple had converted into a Thai eatery.  The soup was delicious, cheap, and addictive.

It starts with beef broth that is infused with aromatics.  Here I used cinnamon sticks, Szechuan peppercorns, star anise, and galangal root, which is a spicier cousin of ginger.

infusing the broth with warm spices takes about fifteen minutes

This is an ideal soup for a busy weeknight.  While the broth infuses with the aromatics, the veggies can be prepped.  I use broccolini, green onion, bean sprouts, and hot red pepper along with very thin slices of beef.

that's cilantro in the far right corner--it goes in at the last minute

So, the drill is soak the rice noodles (oops, forgot to take a pic) in hot water while the broth is steeping with the aromatics.  Slice the veggies and meat, drain the aromatics out of the broth, and put the green onion, hot pepper, and brocollini in the pot.

once the brocollini turns bright green, add the soaked noodles,

the beef, and a drizzle of sesame oil if you have it

Everything will be cooked in about five minutes.  Season for taste with salt, and add the bean sprouts and cilantro.  Ladle everything into big bowls.  I like to garnish with chopped peanuts for flavor and crunch, which is certainly not traditional.  The upshot--a delicious soup in under 30 minutes.

yum--I love this soup

the boring chicken breast

There may be no edible canvas more blank than the boneless, skinless chicken breast.  Presented naked, it is a dieter's purgatory, big on pious self-deprivation and void of succulence and inspiration.  It is very easy to overcook, becoming somehow simultaneously like sawdust and rubber.

Which is why I am so attracted to it.  I consider it the gauntlet that has been thrown down before those who think themselves reasonably good cooks.  I long to make it taste good, exude juice and succulence, and attract the appetite of the most persnickety eaters. (Of course, that last bit won't happen, because I have not gone gluten-salt-fat-yeast-soy-dairy-wheat-meat-allium free.)  I have cooked chicken breast sous vide, simmered it, and stir fried it.  I have sauteed it, baked it, and fried it. I've beaten it with a mallet, stuffed it, smothered it, and drowned it in a brine.  So yesterday, I decided to go a little retro on it, and make a chicken cordon bleu.  The things I like about stuffing chicken breast with a filling are the flavor the filling brings to the meat, and the pretty presentation that results. 

slicing open the breasts like a book and pounding them thin isn't an exact science--

the tears and irregularities will disappear with cooking

Cordon bleu consists of layering thin chicken breasts with ham--in this case I used prosciutto-- and some sort of swiss cheese.  I had a bit of Gruyere and some baby swiss on hand, so I used that.  Spreading the chicken first with a bit of dijon mustard adds some additional flavor.

oops, I forgot the mustard, which I realized when I prepared to bread the rolls,

so I added the mustard to the beaten egg wash used to coat the rolls

A great hint for holding rolled chicken breast together is to roll them in plastic wrap, twist the ends tightly to create a cylinder, and place them in the freezer for about 30 minutes to set up.  No toothpicks required.

plastic wrap helps to make uniform rolls

breading setup--flour, seasoned with salt and pepper,

beaten egg, and panko breadcrumbs mixed with a bit of melted butter,

thyme, salt, and pepper

the stint in the freezer makes breading very easy

I like to cook chicken breasts at fairly low temperatures, in this case 325, which doesn't do much for browning, so I browned the rolls off in a lightly oiled skillet prior to baking them in the oven.  An alternative would be a short run under the broiler to brown the tops.

about a minute a side over medium heat browned things up nicely

in my beloved mineral pan

about 30 minutes in the oven produced lovely, well-cooked chicken--

though a little cheese oozed, it didn't affect the final dish

cordon bleu, served here with a little chicken jus, and 

green beans with mushrooms and garlic

I made the jus with a bit of chicken demi-glace, white wine, a little water, and a bit of agar agar to thicken it slightly and give it a silky body (salt and pepper, as well, of course).  Both the demi-glace and the agar agar are a couple of my favorite shortcut ingredients that I always have on hand.  

This old-school dish was delicious, moist, and tasty.

viva pepperoni!

I am a big fan of Top Chef, which may be a "duh" sort of statement, since I am obsessed with cooking, and that is the best cooking show on TV.  I was thinking about something new to cook for dinner the other day, and an episode from last season popped into my head.  Mike Isabella had made a sauce with pepperoni that had everyone excited.  I thought I would give it a go, adding shredded chicken and serving it over pasta.

For two people, I sweated about three ounces of pepperoni in a skillet over low heat, just until it gave up its fat and began to crisp.  Then I added some sliced mushrooms, red pepper flakes, sliced garlic, and a bit of salt, cooking them until they were fragrant.

the pepperoni didn't give off a lot of fat, so I just

used what was in the pan to saute the mushrooms and garlic--

if there had been more fat, I would have drained off 

all but a teaspoon or so

Into that fragrant concoction, I added a 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes, breaking them up a bit with a fork, thinning them with a bit of chicken broth, and bringing them up to a simmer.  It was a great medium for poaching a chicken breast.  I added the breast whole, to make sure it cooked gently, and didn't dry out; turning it a few times as it cooked, which took about 20 minutes.

white chicken meat is very lean and dries out quickly--

it should be cooked with gentle heat, just until done

After the chicken breast was cooked through, I pulled it out, shredded it with a couple of forks, and tossed it back in the sauce, simmering everything for a few minutes to combine the flavors while my pasta finished cooking.  

This is a hearty sauce, perfect for a satisfying winter meal,

relatively low in fat, and high in lipocenes from the tomatoes

adding the barely al-dente pasta to the sauce to finish cooking it

will combine the flavors and help the sauce cling to the pasta

Adding a bit of Parmesan and chopped parsley to the dish brightens everything up, and adds a fresh dimension of flavor.

the end result--another one of my favorite outcomes--

a full meal from one pan (okay, two--one for sauce, one for pasta)

I've come to realize that I tend to sprinkle fresh herbs on many of my finished dishes.  Usually parsley, basil, or cilantro; sometimes chives or chopped sage, maybe some fennel fronds or even celery leaves.   The finishing herb dusting has become a bit of a no-no in high-end chef circles, but I am not a chef, high-end or any other sort.  I like the brightness fresh herbs bring to the dish, in both color and flavor.  They add some nutritional value, and make food look more appealing.  My rules are to not get too carried away, and to make sure the herb compliments the food underneath it.  So I am going to continue to sprinkle away, whether Gordon Ramsey wants me to or not...

a quest for avoiding the deli counter

Jim is a professional sandwich consumer.  Not complicated sandwiches, mind you.  Just sandwiches.  Usually turkey with some kind of cheese on a decent bread.  Have you seen the prices of meat at the deli counter?  It's an outrage.  So, with him off for the rest of the year, and grazing around the kitchen, I have been looking for ways to put back a supply of sandwich meat.  I baked a ham earlier this week and after the dinner it was prepared for, I sliced the leftovers very thin, and froze 3 pounds of vacuum-sealed lunch meat.  Tonight I wanted to try my hand at some cheap beef, and see if I could make it juicy and tender, and suitable for several lunches down the road.  Toward that end, I decided to fiddle around with a cooking method for eye of round that I saw in Cook's Illustrated.

Eye of round is a notoriously easy piece of beef to turn into a block of dry, unpalatable, tough meat with very little flavor.  So the first step in the cooking process was a 24-hour dry brine in a healthy dose of salt, which adds flavor and helps retain moisture.

after a good salt scrub, the roast gets coated with black pepper

After 24 hours in the fridge, I seared the roast off in a skillet, skewered with it a probe thermometer, which allowed me to monitor the internal temp without opening the oven door, and placed it in a 225 degree oven, for a very low-heat roast.  CI suggests cutting off the oven heat when the roast hits 120, and letting the roast continue to cook in the the slowly cooling oven.  That scared me, because I know from experience that there is a tremendous amount of thermal gain, so I cut off the oven heat at 115.  Good thing I was paying attention.  In just 20 minutes, the roast hit 130 degrees.  I yanked it out of the oven and set it on the counter.  It finally stopped gaining temp at 138 degrees, which in my book is pretty much in medium territory--not medium rare.  I let it rest for another 20 minutes, then sliced very thin slices.

the meat was juicy and tender, just a little too done--

I would use this method again

So the roast was a partial success.  We would like more rosy pink than we got.  Next time, I would cut off the heat when the roast hits 100 degrees, or maybe even 95 degrees.  We have a newer, well-insulated oven, and I'm pretty sure that the residual heat would bring the roast up to my target of 130 degrees.  There is no good cooking without experimentation...

While the roast cooked, I made a warm German potato salad to go along side beef sandwiches on onion rolls, with a horseradish cream sauce.  If you aren't familiar with German potato salad, it is a vinegar-based warm salad with no mayo in sight.  It has a tangy bite, and new potatoes with bits of sauteed veggies, bacon, and a few handfuls of chopped green onion and parsley for garnish.  Like American potato salad there are nearly as many recipes for it as there are cooks, so it's easy to poke around the web until you find one you like.  But, the basics start with sauteing some bacon cut into little chunks and putting some little new potatoes on to boil.

you know bacon is done when you start to see small foaming bubbles

(using my French steel pan here--I swear, NOTHING sticks)

Bacon comes out, and veggies go in.  In this case I used red onion, diced celery, and a hot chile.

no harm in varying your veggies, but onion is really a must

While that cooks just until the veggies are beginning to soften, it is time to scream in pain.  The potatoes should be sliced while they are still piping hot.  That way they will soak up all the lovey dressing.  Do it.  Pain is good for you.  Once you have burnt the skin off of your finger tips, toss about a quarter cup of vinegar and a quarter cup of water into the veggies, along with a heaping teaspoon of sugar, and some salt and pepper.  If you want a silkier sauce, stir a teaspoon of corn starch into the water before you add it to the skillet.  I don't think it is necessary, but it is certainly an option.  Drop the bacon back in the sauce, dump it over the steaming potatoes, and stir.

some fresh green onion adds some brightness--I add it

right away, then toss in some parsley after the salad has cooled a little

If you have leftover potato salad, just warm it up in the microwave a bit before you serve--it's just so much better a little bit warm.

beef--it's what's for dinner

how come I don't sound like Robert Mitchum when I say that?