Winter Blahs Photo Essay

Winter is just a dreary, rough time for me. I'm looking forward to our upcoming beach and mini-civil rights tour road trip. Until then here is a photo essay of a few things that have made me smile this January and February. You can see that cats, sunshine, french cooking and cocktails figure prominently. Also, I cannot forget to include the Hunger Games series, of which I have no pictures..."may the odds be ever in your favor."


What's going on out there?


Lovely bud vase from Poland.


Meet Tom Collins.


Wish I could curl up so tight.


Old Fashioned and French 75.


Artisinal mac and cheese.


Coq Au Vin on buttered noodles.


Sassy notes by hubby.


Old Fashioned redux.


Christmas cactus in bloom.


Gin, basil lemon bomb.


Somebody spoils this cat, and it ain't me.

Five-Spice Sesame Sliced Tuna & Avocado

Back in 2007 my Aunt gave me a Rachael Ray cookbook called "Just in Time" for my birthday. The whole premise is finding the right meal to fit in your available window of time: 15, 30 or 60 minutes. I have to admit I haven't used it as much as I could have, but the four or so recipes I've made have been absolutely scrumptious. A fact which reminds me that simply owning a cookbook library is not enough...it pays to read them too. I should take a cue from my hubby who reads them in bed like I read novels.

Tonight's pick was also most certainly scrumptious: Five Spice-Sesame Sliced Tuna & Avocado. Really easy, relatively inexpensive, minus the splurge on decent fish. I even left out the avocados by mistake and it was still nummy.


Slices of seared rare tuna steak encrusted with toasted sesame seeds and chives, all drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction.

1/3 cup aged balsalmic vinegar
3 T honey
1/4 cup tamari
2 avocados
juice of 1/2 lime
2 T vegetable oil
4 (6oz.) tuna steaks
2 t Chinese five-spice powder
salt
black pepper
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded

Combine vinegar, honey and tamari in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 6-7 minutes until syrupy. Remove from heat.

Halve and peel the avocados, slice them lengthwise, squeeze a bit of lime over them.

Heat oil in skillet over high heat. Season tuna with five-spice powder, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side for rare finish. Combine sesame seeds and chives in shallow bowl. Slice tuna in thick pieces and turn each slice in the sesame/chive mixture.

Scatter napa cabbage on plate, top with avocado, then tuna steak. Drizzle with dressing.

A little bit of rice on the side would have been a nice addition.

On a final note, neither of us made any firm resolutions this New Year's. However, we are now tracking every purchase in an online budgeting program and trying to stick to a budget. Our hope is to get our financial house in order so that we can be more free. Who wants to keep paying the man forever, right? Cooking at home is a natural corollary to this goal as we waste a lot of money eating out. So, you will likely see an even greater abundance of cooking posts, if you weren't already sick of 'em.

Deviled Eggies

Made deviled eggs for the first time to take to a New Year's Eve party tonight. Used a recipe from a new tapas cookbook that my Mom gave me for Christmas. Made up my own little recipe for the second batch. Peeling boiled eggs is not easy! But after two dozen I think my technique is improved. Will provide recipes if anyone is interested.


Boiling the eggies.


Rolled anchoives and capers for one recipe.


Draining and cooling.


With anchovies, manchego, olives and lemon.


Traditional style with parsley pulled from the garden.

Sunday Afternoon Roast Beef & Garlic Mash

Here is a little photo essay of our Sunday afternoon meal. It's obviously a heart attack waiting to happen. Since we haven't had a pot roast in four years, I decided it was okay. So, yeah, we'll stick to that four year plan.

Spaghetti al Limone

Super simple and satisfying Cook's Illustrated recipe.

If you want a tangy, slightly creamy dinner in 15 minutes this is it:

table salt
1 pound spaghetti
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1/4 heavy cream
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup juice (approximately three lemons)*
1 ounce Parmesan cheese (we sub Pecorino)
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh shredded basil leaves

* My very important side note here is that if you are not going to use real lemons don't even attempt to make this. It's crucial for taste. Also, this recipe is best in winter time when you can get lemons in season.

Boil pasta with one t salt. Cook until al dente. Set aside. Reserve 1 and 3/4 cups pasta water. Set pasta aside.

Heat 1 t of oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add shallot and 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cook until shallot is softened. Whisk in 1 and 1/2 cups reserved pasta water and cream into pot. Bring to a simmer and cook two minutes. Remove from heat, stir in pasta until coated. Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, cheese and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Cover and let stand 2 minutes, stirring periodically. Add additional reserved pasta water if needed to adjust consistency (you don't want it to be too dry). Stir in basil and add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with some additional freshly shredded cheese.

And...voila! The easiest, nummiest dinner you ever did put in your belly.

We Eat Like Kings

Tonight we invited my college friend Courtney over for dinner. We have rarely invited people over to our house in the past year. Mostly because it's felt like chaos and it made me anxious. However, this dinner was easy, joyful and delicious. It was a veritable feast of entirely homemade vegetarian goodness!

It also reminded me of the fulfilling nature of simple, homegrown hospitality. Forget all this hanging out in bars business; the dinner table is the place to be!

Unfortunately there are no pics of the meal because I've been too lazy to buy batteries for my camera. Soon enough, soon enough.

Here is the menu from our totally homemade meal fit for kings:

First course -
Romaine salad with apples, grape tomatoes, almonds, Pecorino and poppy seed vinaigrette (Courtney)

Main course -
Southern-style black eyed pea, collard green and brown rice soup made with fresh veggie stock (Megan)

Dessert -
Blueberry buckle - a simple butter cake - with vanilla bean frozen custard (Ryan)

Farmer's Market to Table

Ry has been tethered to the task of refinishing our fireplace mantel, which left me lots of time to kill this weekend. I filled it by riding a good fourteen miles on my bikecycle and gathering the fixin's for a home-cooked Sunday meal.

One of the places I rode was the West Allis Farmer's Market, which I believe is the best market in the metro area. My purchases were limited to the capacity of my bike basket, so I kept it simple. I purchased a whole organic chicken to roast with a tried and true Cook's Illustrated recipe, some taters, tomatoes and lovely flowers.

Flowers at the market are such a steal! It was quite a task making it home with them safely in tact given the cool and strong breeze flowing through the city this weekend.


Farmer's Market finds in tow.


Cook's French Chicken in a Pot recipe.


Naked, patted-dry, salted and peppered bird.

This was my first experience with preparing an entire animal for supper. I freaked out when I had to stick my hand in the cavity and pull out the gizzards. I only managed to get the heart out and had to have Ry come in and get the liver.

I think it was a good experience for me. I believe Ry's direct quote was "woman, if you can't do this you have no business being a carnivore", which is completely true. Since we've morphed back from vegan to veggie to meat eaters again, it's important for me to have this experience. It reminded me that what I intended to eat was at one time a living, sentient being. Holding the whole animal in my hands and preparing it, instead of some freakishly large frozen chicken breast out of a bag, was quite the reality check.


I seared each of the sides with just a bit of celery, onion and garlic in the dutch oven.


Lined top with foil before setting it to roast for two hours at a low temperature.


Internal temp of at least 175 degrees with the instant-read thermometer after two hours in the oven.


Our lovely table.


Chicken, peas and homemade pesto pasta for sup.


And I can't resist a pick of my mow-mow to finish out the day. He must miss his Uncle Steven 'cause he kept sleeping on the guest bed until we took the linens off.

Huckleberry Pie

Ry and his bro Jon collected a Nalgene full of huckleberries on their recent back country hiking trip to Montana. They lugged the berries all the way home with the agreement that Ry would make a huckleberry pie for us to share.

We just spent the evening with Jon and his lovely lady Megan having dinner, drinks and of course, the pie. Ry made Cook's Illustrated Stuffed Manicotti. I made my famous homemade salad dressing and also some Texas Toast, which was about as far from homemade as it gets.

Family, good food and quality beer always make for an excellent night!

Pesto-rific!

Our garden is starting to overflow with herbs. Ry decided to make pesto so none of that good basil would go to waste. He used a Cook's Illustrated recipe, of course. If anyone is interested I can send it your way.


Proud Pesto Papa!


Basil bounty. He only harvested roughly half the leaves.


Bruising the basil leaves.


Leaves chopped up. Recipe also calls for some parsley in order to help maintain color. It came from our garden as well.


Pecorino Romano, garlic cloves and toasty pine nuts.


Using our friends' food processor after breaking our second in less than a year. I think it's time to go high end. That'd be cheaper than getting a new one every six months.


Plopped into ice cube trays. This was the only part I helped with, unless you count eating shredded cheese or observing.


Silly face, but look at how green that stuff is. We use our empty Bonne Maman jars for everything!


Frozen pesto cubes. I had to pry them out carefully with a butter knife. They don't just pop out like you might imagine.


All bagged up and ready for the freezer.