chive talkin'

This morning, I jazzed up my breakfast with some chives, my new favorite herb. I think that chives are the best thing if your food needs some jazzing.

This month's bon appetite features some quick, easy recipes using chives, eggs and salmon. Mmmm!

Good breakfast to you!

m

Eat Your Greens!

Recently, a friend raved about something called broccoli slaw. Personally, I am not a huge fan of slaw. Sure, slap some on top of a pulled pork bbq sandwich and I am in. Otherwise, it's typically a side dish I'll pass on. However, I was intrigued by this new fangled version. I've also been craving everything fresh veggie and fruit wise...if I had a garden in my backyard, I would just go out there right now with a fork and a knife. I decided to try it out. My friend Liz referenced Smitten Kitchen and her recipe. I slightly adapted her version but kudos goes to her. She made me enjoy love slaw.

oh green, how I have missed you.

they always make me cry.

On a side note, tricks I learned when googling how not to cry when cutting onions: refrigerate/freeze your onion beforehand for 20 or so minutes, chop under cold water so the vapors will go down the drain or just plain wear goggles. I also learned that George Washington used to eat an onion as a cold remedy, that the largest onion ever grown was 10 lbs and 14 ounces, and something I already knew but maybe you don't yet, is that the Vidalia Onion is the state vegetable of Georgia. Shout-out to Mandi's kin-folk, who hail from Vidalia.

it's so pretty.

The recipe I used is pretty much the same as hers:

2 heads of broccoli
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted (I used walnuts, just as good)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

Buttermilk Dressing 
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
1/3 cup sour cream (she used mayonnaise, I just can't get behind that..)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot 

(These are her directions)

Trim broccoli and cut it into large chunks. From here, you can either feed it through your food processor’s slicing blade, use a mandoline to cut it into thin slices, or simply had chop it into smaller pieces. I used the stem and the flowerets, but if you have a broccoli stem aversion you can just use the tops.

Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds, cranberries and red onion in a large bowl. Meanwhile, whisk the dressing ingredients in a smaller one, with a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Pour the dressing over the broccoli (if you’ve skipped the stems, you might not want it all; I otherwise found this to be the perfect amount) and toss it well. Season well with salt and pepper to taste.

Should keep up to a week in the fridge.

I will definitely make this sometime again soon. On Smitten, she talks about a possible variation with cauliflower and currants. I am not a huge fan of cauliflower but she's made me a believer out of this slaw, why not try some other combos? Look forward to some more creative salads and slaws coming up, it's SPRING TIME!


-a

Easter Sunday

What is brunch without sweet tea? Well, I guess if you are above the Mason-Dixon, it's brunch. But where we come from, it aint worth the powder to blow it to hell (or so they say...). I wanted some kind of fruit flavored tea for Easter brunch. We had a quart of strawberries in the freezer and a plethora of teas in the pantry. I added 5 bags of Tazo Awake tea, which is a plain black tea with a fancy name, to a pot of boiling water. I added about 3 1/2T sugar and let it steep for a few minutes. Once the color looked good, I added the thawed (almost) strawberries and let them sit for about 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Since the strawberries had been frozen for a while, and then dyed brown from the tea (read: nasty-looking), I made the decision to take them out. Plus, we didn't want our tea to taste like cough medicine (sorry, Josh). Bam. Sweet Strawberry Black Tea.

I don't have any pictures of tea to show you, but here is a photoessay of our Easter Brunch:

British recipe = headache 

Elizabeth's creative interpretation of the recipe I gave her

...turned out to be pretty tasty

greek 

we're busy

I'm sorry to report it looked a lot better than it tasted. But it did give me some ideas for next time.

"Christos Anesti!"

stuffed

THERE you are, Peter!

The afternoon was just what we wanted it to be: fun, delicious and relaxing. 

Next up: Sanne's Sweet Broccoli Slaw!

m

I like big buns and I cannot lie.

Hot cross buns! 

Hot cross buns!

One ha' penny, two ha' penny,

Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons

One ha' penny,

Two ha' penny,

Hot Cross Buns!

I remember that's the first song I learned on my recorder in music class in the 1st grade. Those recorders are parental torture devises..even a well executed song is shrill and anything but melodic. Oh well, I guess it's how you capture the attention of 6 and 7 year olds in music class and I am certain if someone handed me one right now I could shriek out a horrifying version of it for you. Thank you Mrs. Reynolds, you made an impact.  

Our Easter brunch had a little bit of everything; an array of hot crossed buns, quiche, sangria, fruit salad, broccoli salad, chicken salad and croissants, deep dish bacon, egg and chive pie. It was an abundant spread shared with great friends on a BEAUTIFUL sunny, spring day. It hit 69 y'all. It's almost been a full 7 months since I've felt temperatures in the 70s. If I wasn't afraid of my translucent skin getting third degree burns, I might have laid down on someone's lawn on my walk to church on Sunday. (Seriously, I have to squint to see my freckles now.) 

Anyhow, for our feast we delegated this time around. Mandi and I gave some food assignments out to our friends who were coming. I took on making hot crossed buns. Mandi recently acquired a magazine called Delicious. It's UK based. We definitely did some hard math conversions with grams and such. We did find a helpful website if you ever find yourself in the same predicament: helpful conversion calculator.

The magazine had a recipe for Spiced-Chocolate and Orange Hot Cross Buns which I used. (I have been on quite the chocolate-orange combination kick, so thank you Delicious magazine writers for further indulging my current obsession.) The full recipe and directions are on their website, so forgive me for being lazy and giving you a link instead of typing out all the details: Spiced-Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns.

Here are some photos of my buns:

There was one ingredient which is tough to find here unless it is Thanksgiving or Christmas, candied orange peel. I looked at several grocery stores until I was fed up. I knew Cardullo's in Harvard Square had them but by the time I got home, I was so tired of being not home and it was raining, the last thing I wanted to do was get back on the bus and head out just to get ONE ingredient. I was going to skip them in the recipe altogether but at the last minute, I was curious enough to google a recipe on how to make them. I had all the ingredients and wanted to take a shot at it.

I had a lot of fun doing it. Here are my photos of making the candied orange peel (I made some lemon too.):

I used one orange and one lemon to start.

Scoring the oranges and lemon like this makes them easier to peel sections off to later cut into 1/4" strips.

Using a potato peeler to scrape of the pith saves time.

Put in water to boil. Enough to cover them and then some. I didn't really measure this part.

Boil for 20 minutes.

Drain. Boil 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup water. Once it reaches 230f on a candy thermometer (thread stage, they call it) toss in the strips of orange and lemon. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir frequently.

Drain again.

Dredge the slices through sugar. You can also toss the sugar in a ziploc with the slices and shake to coat in sugar.

Let them dry overnight. You could also set them in very low heat in the oven, checking often to hasten the process. Personally, letting them hang out all night works for me.

So fun and delicious and not as daunting as I thought. I'll definitely make them again soon. I'm going to make lime and grapefruit ones too. You can also roll them in melted chocolate for an extra treat. They are quite tasty on their own too.

We will share more about the rest of Easter Brunch soon with more recipes. I hope you had a Happy Easter too!

-a

On Top of Spaghetti

Last night I went to a class at BU called "All About Sausage" [insert dumb joke that I've already heard from at least 3 people here] Johanne Killeen and George Germon are the owners of Providence restaurants Al Forno and Tini, pasta lovers and sausage enthusiasts [go ahead, I'll wait...]. After cooking and running restaurants for over thirty years, Germon and Killeen had A LOT to say on many different topics, including how to get the best flavor in your homemade sausage, some tricks to cooking good pasta, and even their own thoughts on how much food has changed over the years and how the younger generation is pushing to get back to what it was(go us!). This is what I got to taste tonight (Please excuse the camera-phone photos):

Not pictured: Crostini with Sausage and Stracchino cheese. But trust me, it was awesome.



I got to take home their cookbook!

I don't remember the names of the wines they gave us. Just know they were Italian and I drank them both. Johanne said she likes to keep wines in the restaraunts at 13.5% alcohol or lower, because otherwise "it isn't a beverage. It's something else." A frat party?



Johanne Killreen and Tini's head Chef David

Chef David is the sausage expert. He orders casing from their butcher, but said Whole Foods will order them for you, too. And you don't have to have a meat grinder to make them-- you can have a butcher grind your meat for you, or you could do it yourself at home with a very sharp knife. Don't use a food processor- it ruins the texture.


Pasta Shells with Spicy Sausage Red Sauce

Johanne and George are not the first professionals I've heard give this advice--

You need A LOT of water and A LOT of salt for cooking pasta. NO OLIVE OIL. It just isn't necessary. Another tip that I will be adapting is this: cook the pasta al dente, and then finish cooking it in your sauce. That will allow the pasta to take on more of the other flavors.



Roasted Sausages and Grapes with Al Forno Mashed Potatoes

This is one I am definitely going to try to replicate. Johanne said that a lot of inspiration for their recipes comes from random conversations they have with people about food and from photographs. Roasted Sausages and grapes was an idea that she got from a photograph of an italian woman holding a pan of a pork roast surrounded by red and green grapes.

It's interesting. In graphic design, you learn to look for ideas and inspiration in everything. Color combinations and layout ideas are everywhere, patterns start to slap you in the face. Why should food be any different?

If you are reading this in Boston, I highly recommend you check out BU's culinary seminars each semester. They are excellent. The speakers are thoughtfully chosen, the topics are relevant, the food is amazing, the price is right. The semester is just about over, but keep checking in with Boston University Food and Wine to find out about upcoming tastings and demonstrations. In the meantime, there are a TON of classes offered at Boston Center for Adult Education.

m

Best Meal of the Day

There is nothing better than a Saturday morning. The world is quiet and still, the light is soft and you have an entire day of possibilities ahead of you. It can be as simple as a cup of coffee and a piece of toast or as elaborate as a 4-ingredient casserole. Whether all alone with a newspaper, or with your 5 closest friends, breakfast isn't so much about the food you eat, but the way in which you eat it.

Breakfast is the best meal of the day.

Ask any 10-year old boy what his favorite subject in school is and 10 bucks says his answer is lunch. I'll go further and say, I dare you to find something more satisfying than a beautifully assembled sandwich. The right bread, the perfect meat, and an array of crisper-drawer favorites topped with the best condiment (Mustard, period.), and you have a meal fit for Liz Lemon. If everyone in the world ate a big club sandwich with a pickle on the side for lunch every day and washed it down with an ice cold glass of milk, we might have a better shot at peace on earth, good will toward men.

Three cheers for lunch!

Wow your girlfriends, win over your mother-in-law, make up with your boyfriend: Dinner time is your time to shine. You aren't confined by the science of baking. Your right brain gets to lead the way! You can taste as you go, experiment with new techniques and ingredients, or change things up on a whim. Creativity rules. You can try on other cultures, remind someone of home, offer with condolences after a death or with support after a new baby. Above all other meals, dinner might be the greatest form of self expression and love.

I [pasta] you very much!

We sing around birthday cakes, we scream for ice cream, we cry over pints of Ben & Jerry's, we go door to door begging for candy. No other meal of the day evokes more emotion than dessert. If future civilizations were to study our culture based on the food we eat, dessert would be our stone tools or clay pottery. Whether you take the healthy route or choose to indulge, the whole purpose of this unassuming little meal at day's end is to make you smile. That's it.

Thank you, dessert :)

What's your favorite meal of the day?


m

Good Friday Fish

Tonight we had a typical Good Friday dinner... fish! I don't know why, but I always forget about fish. Maybe its because we're such a chicken nation. Sad, because fish is so good! 

I found this recipe in delicious magazine. It's easy, but sooo good. This recipe called for potatoes, red onions, tarragon, parsley, white fish and lemon. We didn't have potatoes, and honestly, I'm glad. Roasted potatoes remind me of winter. And I want no part of that, thankyouverymuch.

First, cut up some onions. I used red and yellow, and sautéed them in some olive oil for a little over 5 minutes on low heat. I added some crushed garlic and cooked just until everything started to smell. Then, I cut up a few tomatoes, and tossed them with the onions in some olive oil. Add some salt and pepper, chopped parsley, oregano and maybe a little basil. Slice white fish into personal portions and place on top. Tilapia was on sale this week, so that's what I used. I squeezed a little lemon juice on top of everything, added a few pats of butter on top of the fish and put it in the oven.

Roast at 350 for about 15 minutes. After that, I broiled it for another 15, just because I always broil fish. Maybe it's an OCD thing (I might have a touch of that, too), but I don't feel like fish is done until it has broiled.

Oh my goodness, it was good. We had it along with Sanne's broccoli salad, which was also amazing. I'll let her tell you about that tomorrow. Roasted fish with vegetables, broccoli salad and Rosemount Merlot makes for a good dinner. I tell you, you have to be very talented to mess up fish and veggies.



Throw in this week's Parks & Rec and Modern Family, and you've got yourself a perfect Friday night, if I do say so myself. Especially if this week sucked for you (which reminds me, vote in our new poll in the sidebar-->)

...brought to you by April showers (buh-dum, chhhh)

After dinner and primetime TV, we decided to dye some eggs. As I mentioned before, I have had many a Greek Easter. So the last couple of years, my Easter eggs are red.

 I may be off base here, but I am going to tell you about hard-boiling eggs. I couldn't remember the proper way, with all the rules and etiquette and what-not, so Sanne googled it. Here you go:

Cover eggs with 1-2 inches of cold water. Slowly bring to a boil. When it starts boiling, take the pot off heat and cover. Let sit on low heat for 1 minute. Leave the cover on, turn off heat and let it sit for another 10-20 minutes. If you're doing a large batch, you can sacrifice an egg to find out if they're done. If you aren't into taking risks, just let them sit a little longer. Now for the fun part...

Sanne and I were talking about natural dyes. We used food coloring tonight, but I have been seeing a lot of egg-dying using colors found in nature. Coffee, beets, cabbage, turmeric, and maybe even chili pepper can all be used to dye eggs naturally. Just substitute for the food coloring, with the usual warm water and vinegar ratio, and you're good to go! 

Be sure to check back after Sunday to see our Resurrection Day feast! Happy Holy Week, and Christos Anesti, y'all!


m