There are so many bad places I could go with the title of this post, but I will leave that to your imagination. A little over a year ago, I posted a recipe for a rustic tomato sauce. Crappy photography aside, it’s a lovely sauce, but I wanted to play around with the recipe to come up with something more sophisticated. Tomatoes are at the end of the season here in Chicago, and I’m getting anxious about going without through the winter. Tomato sauce seems like the perfect way for me to preserve what’s left and insure that my cravings will be satisfied at least a few months into the winter.

The new recipe is very similar to the old one, except I add some fresh basil, a tiny bit of sugar and some saffron. I got the idea for saffron from a scene in the movie “Bandits”. I friggin’ love that goofy movie. It’s the scene when Billy Bob Thornton and Bruce Willis have “kidnapped” an entire family the night before they plan to rob the bank the dad manages, and they are all sitting around the table eating dinner. Bruce Willis’ daughter, playing one of the kids, proceeds to belch the alphabet while the mother sobs uncontrollably into her pasta. Billy Bob Thornton is pestering her for the recipe, because there is a spice he just can’t place, and she sobs out “saffron”, much to his delight. It’s actually one of the best scenes in the movie and I die laughing every time I see it.

The only other major difference from my old recipe is that this one goes into the blender for a few seconds. I have a feeling a smoother sauce will freeze more successfully, versus big chunks. I’ll know for sure in a month or two, when I can no longer keep myself from gobbling it up.

Sexy and Easy Tomato Sauce

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you end up with a huge tomato harvest.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound tomatoes, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup basil, shredded
1/4 teaspoon sugar
a few pinches of saffron

1. Heat the oil in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Peel and chop the onion and add to the sauce pan. Cook the onions for a few minutes until they soften.
2. Meanwhile, rinse the tomatoes and halve across the equator. Dig out the seeds with your fingers and discard them, then roughly chop the tomatoes.
3. Mince the garlic. Add it to the softened onions and cook for about 1 minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and the salt and pepper to taste.
4. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover it, and let it bubble for a good 30 minutes.
5. To shred the basil, stack several whole leaves on top of one another, then roll them up length-wise into a cigar shape. Slice through the cigar to create long slivers of basil.
6. In the last few minutes of cooking, add the sugar, shredded basil and saffron to the sauce. Stir to combine and let it bubble a few more minutes.
7. Let the sauce cool for 10 minutes before you put it in the blender. I think it’s a little dangerous to blend really hot liquids. Once cooled, process the sauce in the blender for a few seconds until it looks uniform.
8. Serve immediately over pasta, or put it into a freezer-safe container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

It belongs in a frame on a museum wall, don't you think?

I could wax poetic all day about the heirloom tomato, but instead I will give you a “hardly recipe” for a salad I made up the other night. It began as an inspiration from the sweet and mild sungold variety. I wanted to set off the sweetness with something smoky, and luck would have it that I purchased some smoked mozzarella string cheese from a local cheesemaker. I sliced up the cheese into coins and tossed them into a bowl full of halved sungolds. The smokiness I craved was still not intense enough, so I sprinkled on some hickory salt from The Spice House. When I took a bite my tastebuds hummed with pleasure, and the whole thing took me about 10 minutes to throw together.

The next time I made the salad, I used four kinds of heirloom cherry tomato instead of just sungolds. The results were equally pleasing to the palate, but even more so to the eye. It’s so darn pretty I hardly want to eat it…okay, not really, but it is a colorful dish. If you can’t find smoked mozzarella or hickory salt just use plain. It’s worth the effort to seek out a smoked cheese at least. You don’t need to get string cheese either. Shaved slices of mozzarella would work as well. I just like how the coin slices look in the final dish. In a few weeks time I will find myself staring longingly at these photos, you can count on that.

Smoky and Sweet Tomato Salad

Serves 6
Prep time: 10 minutes

2 lbs heirloom cherry tomatoes
4-5 ounces smoked mozzarella string cheese, or block cheese
1/2 teaspoon hickory salt or other smoked salt
6 cups of any kind of lettuce

1. Rinse the tomatoes and remove any stems. Cut each one in half and place in a large bowl.
2. Slice the string cheese into thin coins. If you are not using string cheese, slice the block cheese into thin slivers. Add to the tomatoes.
3. Sprinkle the tomato mixture with hickory salt and toss to combine.
4. Place a cup of lettuce on a plate and top with the tomato salad. Serve at room temperature for the best flavor.

This recipe was inspired by the lovely haricot verts, or French green beans, that showed up at the market a few weeks ago. Haricot verts are more tender than regular green beans and are perfectly suited for summer salads. Over the past few weeks I have been tweaking the flavors in this dish, which is based on a a recipe from Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Express. I gotta gush about this cookbook for a second. The recipes aren’t really recipes, more like paragraphs that loosely describe the amounts of ingredients and steps in a dish. It’s the way I cook in real life, and many of the recipes in Kitchen Express have served as inspiration points for me. I also love that it’s divided up by season, too.

So back to the dish. I never have trouble getting my boyfriend to eat his veggies, but if he was a pickier eater I think he’d still wolf down these green beans. There isn’t a ton of bacon in the recipe, just enough to satisfy a craving for something a little sinful. I also made this with regular green beans and it was just as tasty, though a bit heartier I think. They are a good substitute if you can’t find the delicate French green beans. I love the smokiness imparted by the Black Forest bacon, which also has less fat than regular bacon. If you can’t find it just substitute regular bacon and drain off some of the grease before you saute the onions. You only need a few tablespoons of veggie broth to steam the haricot verts, but again if that’s not something you keep on hand just use water. I did it once and it came out fine. Lastly, I used red quinoa because it was what I had on hand. Though I haven’t tried it yet, I’m sure regular quinoa or even rice would complement the dish nicely. It’s main purpose is to soak up all the tomatoey, bacony goodness from the beans. I have even skipped this step all together and used some crusty French bread to mop up my plate, with satisfying results

Bacon Green Beans with Quinoa

Loosely adapted from Kitchen Express
Serves 6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

1 cup quinoa
3 slices Black Forest bacon (or regular bacon), sliced crosswise into slivers
1/2 half medium onion, chopped
1 pint mushrooms, washed, trimmed and sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced thin (I used a purple one, but green pepper works, too)
1 pound haricot verts or regular green beans, washed and stem ends trimmed
2-3 tablespoons vegetable broth or water
1 very large or two medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely minced
salt to taste

Prep work: Slice the bacon. Chop the onion. Wash and remove the stems from the mushrooms, then slice the caps. Core the pepper and slice. Rinse the green beans and twist or chop off the stem ends (some people leave these on but I don’t like them). Seed and chop the tomato. Core the jalapeno and remove the seeds, then mince fine.

1. In a small saucepan, bring the quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes until most of the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let stand covered until ready to use.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Once heated, add the sliced bacon and cook a few minutes until the fat is rendered. Add the onions and saute with the bacon a minute or two, until the onions begin to soften.
3. Add the mushrooms and continue sauteing until the mushrooms begin to soften and release their moisture. If the veggies are starting to stick you may need to add a splash of vegetable broth or water here, but just a splash.
4. Add the sliced bell pepper, haricot verts and the broth or water. Raise the heat to medium high and cover the pot. Steam for about 5-7 minutes, or until the green beans are tender but still have a nice bite to them. The last thing you want is mushy beans, so keep an eye on them.
5. Once the beans are steamed, add the tomato and the jalapeno, if using. Stir the veggies a few times to combine and heat the tomatoes through. Salt to taste, which will depend on how salty your bacon is.
6. Spoon some quinoa onto a plate and top with the green bean mixture, making sure to ladle on some of the lovely sauce at the bottom of the pot. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I love the farmers market for many reasons, but the best thing about it is that I get introduced to foods I would never see in the grocery store. For example, the garlic scape. The first time I saw these I thought they looked like a pile of green coat hangers and I had no idea what one would do with them. Scapes are basically the stem from the plant flower. I did some reading up and found that garlic scapes are often used to make pesto, but I wanted to find a different way to play with them. They are firm to the bite and have a mellow green garlic flavor, so I thought they would be the perfect addition to something with a fluffy texture: zucchini frittata.

I don’t know about you guys, but I get slightly overwhelmed when I first get to the farmers market. I run around trying to decide who has the best of what and then I get antsy and start making impulse buys. I usually end up buying too much of something and the frittata is a cooking trick I use to get it all eaten up before it goes bad. It’s stupid easy to prepare, and you can make it fancy or keep it simple. I had some leftover prosciutto and some feta in the fridge so I threw that into the mix. You could also add olives or bacon, or any other cheese you have that needs to be used up. The only rule is to make sure you have enough egg to bind everything together. I find that 5-6 eggs will work for a 9-inch round dish full of goodies.

I like the texture the garlic scapes add to the frittata, but if you can’t find them you could always use green onion. The problem with garlic scapes is that they are only around for a few weeks at the beginning of the season, which in Chicago is June. <procrastination>In fact, by the time I get this post written I’m sure they will have disappeared. Sorry about that.</procrastination> Bookmark this one for next year, or just use green onions.

Ugh! I can never make the first slice look good!

Zucchini and Prosciutto Frittata

Loosely adapted from this recipe
Serves 6
Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Unattended time: 55 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

olive oil
1/2 pound green zucchini, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pound yellow squash, cut into bite-sized pieces
6 garlic scapes or green onions, ends removed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup freshly chopped dill
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
2 ounces prosciutto, torn into bite-sized pieces
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
no-stick spray
2 ounces feta cheese

Prep work: Chop zucchini, squash, garlic scapes or green onions, dill and parsley. Tear up the prosciutto.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine the zucchini, squash, garlic scapes (or green onions), and salt in a large bowl.
2. Heat some olive oil in a very large skillet set over medium heat. Add enough of the zucchini/squash mixture to the skillet to cover the bottom in one layer. You want each piece to have contact with the skillet so it can brown; cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften and begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the skillet to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining vegetables if necessary.
3. Let the cooked vegetables cool in the bowl about 10 minutes. Pour off any liquid and add the dill, parsley, prosciutto and eggs.
4. Spray a 9 1/2-inch round baking dish with no-stick spray. Pour the vegetable mixture into the baking dish and sprinkle with the feta. Bake until set, about 45 minutes.

1. The time when my little brother got scared by a possum on the porch and had my dad shoot it in the balls with a BB gun.
2. The time my sister threw all of her ex-husband’s belongings off the balcony and locked him out of the house.
3. The time when my Nana and great-uncle Lowell were forced to eat rhubarb pie at the Cabot family home when she was a little girl.

So you are probably humming to yourself ♫One of these things is not like the other♫. While the first two stories evoke a certain, ahem, Texas-ness, the story of my grandmother dining with the Boston Brahmins though different in local color still enjoys at least one revival a year. In a nutshell, my great-grandmother, who worked for the Cabots, was invited to an employee lunch at their home. My Nana and great-uncle were under strict orders to eat every bite of every dish they put on their plates, or else. So of course when they saw the lovely pink rhubarb pie they each got a huge slice and dug in, only to be assaulted by a bitter, sour goop that they had to choke down until it was gone, lest the incite my great-grandma’s ire. You should see my Nana’s face when she tells this story, it’s like she’s still trying to swallow it. This story has been told so many times and with such theatrics that it has left an indelible mark on my culinary sensibilities: rhubarb is the most vile thing you could put in a pie crust.

Pretty in Pink

Rhubarb has made several recent appearances at the farmers market and realizing that there must be some redeeming quality to it, I decided to give it a try. Further encouragement arrived in the June Food411 newsletter “Romancing Rhubarb“. While I’m only interested in friendship [giggles nervously], this article is a great intro for those of us who have never cooked with the vegetable before.

The easiest thing you can do with rhubarb is make a compote, which is basically simmering it in sweet liquid until it breaks down to the consistency you desire. Rhubarb is fantastic for compote because it takes about 10-15 minutes to render a chunky compote, and roughly 30 minutes to get a smooth applesauce texture. BTW, check out cookthink.com if you fancy yourself a food nerd. I ♥ it.

The basic recipe for compote is simple enough: chopped rhubarb, water, sugar. I wanted to make it a little more special so added an herb that has been finding its way into many of my dishes lately: tarragon. You have to go easy with the T, man, or it will kick your dishes’ ass. But when done with subtlety it lends a sweet anise flavor that is hard to match with any other herb. Of course you could leave it out of this recipe altogether and it would still be delicious.

You read that correctly, it said “DELICIOUS”. Mixed with some greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey, this rhubarb compote makes an elegant and refreshing dessert perfect for completing a summertime meal. I feel that I have vindicated this vegetable to my family…if only I can undo the years of conditioning and get them to try this recipe.

Isn't this the sweetest little necklace? Go check out Allison Mooney's Etsy shop for more.

Currently making me happy

How much do I love Allison Mooney’s jewelry on Etsy? The answer is A LOT. Her pieces are so delicate and timeless that I have a mind to buy them all up and wear them all at once. Go to her Etsy store to see more lovely things.

I have been eating a lot of chicken lately. I’m learning to cook for me and my boyfriend and the guy loves his poultry. He’s open minded and welcomes my meatless creations, so I indulge him with dishes like this Mediterranean Chicken. Fennel is still pretty much in season so it’s not expensive, and this dish gives you a chance to play around with it. The briny olives here add a nice kick to the mellow sweetness of the roasted fennel. Cherry tomatoes seem like such an indulgence this time of year, but they get roasted in this dish, which brings out their flavor, so I succumbed. Oh, how I miss tomatoes during the winter. This recipe is for two people, but you could easily double it. This is a make-ahead kind of dish because the chicken needs to marinade for at least an hour. Otherwise it comes together quickly with little hands-on time.

Mediterranean Chicken with Roasted Fennel

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen’s Cooking for Two 2009. Is it cute or obnoxious that I bought this book?
Serves 2
Marinade time: at least 1 hour
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35-45 minutes
Cost per serving: ~$6

Marinade

1/3 cup olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons chopped basil
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
a few grindings of fresh black pepper
2 bone-in, skin-on split chicken breasts (about 8 ounces each)

Veggies

2 fennel bulbs
1 cup cherry tomatoes
10 pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
juice of half a lemon
chopped basil for garnish

Prep work: Mince the shallot and garlic. Chop the basil and olives. Juice the lemon. To prep the fennel, cut off the stalks then slice them in half. Core them by cutting a cone out of the bottom (see photo). Slice the fennel thinly lengthwise.

1. For the marinade: combine all of the marinade ingredients (except the chicken, silly) in a bowl and stir to combine. Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade and place in the refrigerator. Add the rest of the marinade and the chicken to a large zipper-lock bag, press out the air and seal the bag. Smoosh the chicken around in the marinade in the bag and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
2. Heat the oven to 450° F. Combine the fennel, tomatoes, olives, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the reserved marinade (not the stuff the chicken is sitting in!) and toss to coat. Dump the veggies into a 8- or 9-inch square baking dish.
3. Remove the chicken from the marinade and nestle them skin-side up in the veggies. Throw out any marinade left in the baggie. Bake until the chicken reaches an internal temp of 160° F, or about 35-45 minutes. A meat thermometer is really handy for measuring internal temp.
4. Stir the lemon juice into the remaining reserved marinade. Transfer the chicken, veggies and pan juices to a platter and pour the lemon-marinade mixture over it. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before sprinkling with the remaining basil. Serve it!

Nutrition info assumes 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in the final recipe. OK, there is a lot of fat in this, but I don’t eat the chicken skins and I did say it is an indulgence Pull the skins off if you want to save some fat and calories, or satisfy yourself that you are getting half your daily recommended fiber and most of your vitamin C and a fourth of your iron.

She's all beat up, but that's how you spot a good cookbook

About 10 years ago I decided to find a recipe for real southern cornbread. Not that sugary Yankee cake that most people try to pass off, but the salty and spicy stuff I remember from childhood. Let me be clear: I LOATHE SUGAR IN CORNBREAD. It invokes in me a white-hot disgust so intense it rips a hole in space time. The original recipe that mine is adapted from called for sugar, so I just took that out completely and doubled the amount of salt. Done and done. I also use an entire 11 ounce can of corn in place of the 1 cup of corn the original recipe called for, mostly because I’m lazy and it’s easy to dump in the can. I have tried it with fresh and frozen corn and it makes no difference at all. I also reduced the jalapeño by one, but if you love heat go to town with three. Lastly, I started using blue cornmeal because I like the color. It doesn’t taste any different to me and it makes me grin. Blue bread. So weird.

I highly recommend using a cast iron skillet if you have one. Not only does it create a satisfying crisp exterior to the cornbread, but it makes me feel so Southern. The resulting cornbread is just how I like it. Crispy on the outside with a moist crumb inside, and enough sweetness from the corn so that extra sugar is unnecessary. With a little pat of butter melting on top, this bread is irresistible. Pair it with quick chili for a comforting winter meal.

Skillet Cornbread

adapted from The Woman’s Day Cookbook
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

1 1/2 cups cornmeal (yellow or blue, both work)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1- 11 ounce can of corn, drained
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium jalapeños, seeded and finely chopped

Prep work: drain the corn, seed and chop the jalapeños

1. Place a 9- or 10-inch cast iron skillet (or oven-proof skillet) in the oven and heat to 400 ° F.
2. In a large bowl mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and soda, and the salt. Stir until well combined.
3. Add the buttermilk, corn, vegetable oil and the jalapeños and stir until blended.
4. Remove the hot skillet and lightly spray it with cooking spray. It will smoke a little. Pour in the batter and give the skillet a little shake to even it out. Sizzle!
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the skillet, cut into wedges and top with a pat of butter.

Last time I made this my boyfriend stored the leftovers in this 1 quart container. I thought it looked like something you would see at Alinea or Moto, all molecular gastronomy-like, so I took a picture. Weirder!

Lifestyles change. Mine sure has in the last few weeks. I’ve gone from driving over 70 miles a day to getting in the car about twice a week. Because I no longer commute, there is more time for me to do the things I enjoy most, like playing in the kitchen. I have a new “roommate” who requires meat most nights for dinner but still loves a good veggie dish. So things have changed, and I’d say for the better. I’m so happy here in Chicago with my guy, the new Mountain Goats album can’t even make me feel blue. Now, I feel like life is where I always wanted it to be.

I might have skipped over this recipe in the past because it bakes for over an hour. The prep time is quick, though, and my body was hankering for a good greens recipe. I also have a new mandolin to play with, which made slicing the potatoes and onions even quicker. Check it out. I was playing with the settings on my camera and it came out all Gerhard Richtery:

Modern art in my kitchen

This casserole is a stick-to-your-ribs, it’s-in-the-single-digits kind of dish. You could skip the cheese if you wanted and make it vegan. I indulged and justified it because I’m doing a lot more walking these days

Winter Greens and Potato Casserole

Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 8 servings
Prep time 30 minutes
Cook time 1 hour 15 minutes

8 cups water
3 bunches kale
6-8 medium yukon gold potatoes (about 2 pounds)
Cooking spray
1 onion
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1/2 cup broth, chicken or veggie will work

Prep work: Rip the leaves off the kale into chunks and discard the stems. Rinse the kale chunks in a bowl of water and strain. Slice the potatoes and onions about 1/8 inch thick.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Bring water to a boil in a big pot, the biggest one you’ve got. Add the kale and 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Coat the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Place 1/3 of the potato slices in a single layer on the bottom and top with half of the onion slices. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt; top with half of the kale mixture. Sprinkle kale mixture with 1/4 cup each mozzarella and parmesan.
4. Repeat a layer of 1/3 of the potatoes, the remaining onions, 1/4 teaspoon salt and the remaining kale. Top the kale this time with the remaining potatoes and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Pour broth evenly over the top, and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.
5. Cover with foil and bake at for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 minutes or until the cheese is browned.

I’m busy, I’m packing, blah, blah, blah. You get it by now. In spite of everything going on in my life, I must take time to feed myself nourishing meals. Fast food won’t cut it for me. Maybe I’m high maintenance or a bit snobby. I’m OK with that, because I get to eat lovely dishes like this hearty concoction of winter veggies.

Last week at the market I came across no fewer than 5 types of sweet potato and I knew I had to do something with them. These beauties are high in vitamins A, B6, C and dietary fiber. Most sweet potato dishes I’m familiar with amp up the sweetness with brown sugar. I wanted to take a different approach, so I searched for a savory dish and found this recipe on Real Simple. That site ought to start paying me for advertising because I reference it here so often. It really is my go-to place for recipes when I’m keen on one ingredient.

Combining the sweet potatoes with kale and quinoa make this dish a nutrition boon that includes good doses of iron and calcium. The wine adds a complexity to an otherwise simple dish, but if you don’t have any on hand you could substitute broth. I’d recommend skipping the broth and buying a nice bottle of wine that you can finish off with dinner

Sweet Potato, Kale and Quinoa

Serves 4
Total time: 30 minutes
Cost per serving: ~$3.50

1 cup quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small sweet potatoes, about a pound
8 ounces sliced cremini or “baby bella” mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch kale
3/4 cup dry white wine (or veggie broth)
kosher salt and black pepper

Prep: Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks. Remove the stems from the kale by folding in half lengthwise and running a knife down the side of the stem. Tear the kale into 2 inch pieces and rinse in a strainer. Peel and chop the garlic.

1. In a small saucepan, bring the quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes until most of the water is absorbed.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot. Don’t use a skillet here because you will never get all of the kale in there. Add the sweet potatoes and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms soften.
3. Add the garlic and toss with the veggies, then add the kale, wine or broth and salt and pepper to taste. Toss the kale often and cook until it starts to wilt and soften, about 10 minutes.
4. Serve the quinoa in bowls topped with the veggies.

I can’t believe how much vitamin A and C is in this dish, and check out the iron, protein and fiber content. What this label doesn’t show is the nice dose of the B vitamins and vitamin K you get, too. This one is going to stay in my repertoire for when I’m feeling the winter doldrums in Chicago.