Tuscan Cannellini Beans with Sage and Onions

With the end of Halloween I can begin obsessively planning Thanksgiving dinner.  Although I must confess, I started planning the menu for Thanksgiving long before October 31st.  Even before I became excited about costumes by realizing Lewis and I could join our chimney sweep and chimney as Mary Poppins and her umbrella, I was testing recipes for the end of Novemebr.  This is the first year Thanksgiving will be in Vermont, moving north from New York City.  With this change of state I decided it is time to change the menu as well to one that is local and seasonal with a protein for my vegetarian sister-in-law.  So this year there will be no ratatouille or string beans on the table.  Instead I will be serving Savoy Cabbage Gratin made with St Andre cheese, a vegetable dish I have not yet settled on, and these savory, sensuous, cannellini beans.

I make cannellini beans with escarole and my boys always love it, however they only tolerate the escarole, eating just a token amount. The part they love and happily devour is the beans.  This dish is more layered with flavor then the beans alone from beans and escarole, rich and full of flavor.  Cooking the sage in the oil before adding the beans makes the sage richer and softer and its flavor more nuanced in the finished dish.  This will be served here often, not just for Thanksgiving.

From Scratch Cannellini Beans (Think of this as a blank canvas for many meals)

I always soak my beans because I prefer to spend less time waiting for them to cook with the burner on.  If you forget to soak them or just prefer not to it will take longer to cook your beans but they will still cook.  If not soaking your beans start the cooking with 2 minutes of a hard boil before turning down to a simmer.

3 cups dried cannellini beans, rinsed and picked over
Water for pre soaking plus 6 cups water for cooking
1 fresh bay laurel leaf (if unavailable use dried)
2 tsp kosher salt (If you do not cook the beans with salt they can be salted later but they will never be seasoned all the way through)

Put the rinsed beans in a large pot and cover with 9 cups water.  Bring the pot to the boil and boil hard for 2 minutes.  Turn the heat off under the beans and cover the pot.  Leave out at room temperature for 2 or more hours.  I often soak my beans after boiling for longer with no ill effects.  Alternatively you can soak the beans at room temperature in cold water for 6 to 8 hours before cooking.

 After soaking drain and rinse the beans and place back in the stock pot.  Cover with 6 cups of water (You will need more water if you never soaked them) and add the bay laurel leaf and salt.  Bring to the boil over high heat, lower to a simmer and cooked partially covered until tender.  My beans cooked in around 45 minutes to an hour.  If you did not soak your beans first expect them to take longer to cook, also if your beans are not fresh they will take longer to cook.

Tuscan Beans with Garlic and Sage
Adapted from Rose Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian

3 small to medium onions chopped (or 1 large and 1 small)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp fresh sage chopped fine
1 recipe From Scratch Cannellini beans with liquid or 6 14 oz cans cannellini beans
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
lemon for serving

Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent, add the garlic and chopped sage and cook until both the sage and garlic are fragrant, a few minutes.  Add the beans and their liquid and stir well before covering and cooking over a very slow simmer for with the lid on for about an hour.  f you are pressed for time you can cook the beans for less time but the flavor will not be as complex.

Season the dish with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste before serving.  Delicious when first made but even better after the flavors have mellowed in the fridge overnight in the fridge.  We enjoyed it hot, warm and cold (well, Sebastian did not like it cold).  My plan is to make it a day or two ahead of time and serve it at room temperature for Thanksgiving.

Sour Cream Spelt Waffles

For the past few weeks every time I sit down to write a new post I can't think where to start, what words to use, what to say.  I realized part of the problem is my life and mood right now do not match a lovely dinner centered around Deborah Krasner's recipe for Roasted Cardamom, Oregano, and Garlic Chicken Thighs.  That chicken recipe won the right to be published here, however for at least a little longer it will have to wait.  This blog is more than the food I feed to my family, it is also about the stories we make every day around the food we eat.  So I am going to post that recipe when the time is right.  When it fits back into the story of my life.

My life is preparing for change in the coming months and for dinner I have been looking for comfort at the table and ease in the kitchen.  I have to admit I also wanted no whining from the short gourmands.  When I say I wanted ease in the kitchen, I really mean I had no interest in making dinner.  But somehow saying, there is nothing for dinner tonight time for bed, never seems to go well.  So the other night I made waffles for dinner.

I know many of you are now questioning my sanity.  You are picturing many bowls, separating the eggs, beating the egg whites and shaking your head as you wonder why I would prepare waffles when I didn't want to cook.  However the beauty of these waffles, besides from how they taste, is they are an easy cheaters way out of the kitchen.  If you mix the wet ingredients in your glass mixing cup they only use one bowl.  I still love my Sour Milk Butternut Squash Waffles but they are much more work and frankly taste better when made by my friend Tavi.

To feel more like I was giving my children a balanced dinner I prepared macerated strawberries to serve with them.  Which is a fancy way to say I took strawberries, sliced them and sprinkled them with sugar; after a few minutes the strawberries release some of their juice and become a perfect waffle topping.  This simple preparation and the end result is most impressive if you tasted the berries I used before macerating.  Usually I stay away from strawberries this time of year.  However I have been shopping at Costco to buy fruit for the preschool food program I am establishing.   I feel like a bad mother buying blueberries, melon, mangoes and kiwi for other peoples children and then going home and telling my children just to eat another storage apple.  So this last week I bought strawberries the size of my head and fed them to my children.  The one I tried tasted like cardboard, although a special variety of cardboard that has less flavor then usual.

These waffles are based on Art Smith's sour cream waffles from Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family.  I found the recipe on 101 cookbooks and have been tweaking the recipe for several years now.  I played with the type of flour, sometimes I sub some of the butter and sour cream for butternut squash puree and I simplified the technique.  When prepared with the butternut squash puree they are even better when frozen and then reheated in the toaster.  The squash puree makes them moister and softer so the final heating crisps them up.  They are a little soft when fresh from the waffle iron made with squash but when served with macerated strawberries nobody at the table will complain.

The first time I used spelt in these waffles it was also in response to dinner time guilt.  I was feeling like if I was going to make waffles for dinner I should try to make them as healthy as possible.  However to my happy surprise everyone prefers them with the addition of spelt flour.  Spelt adds a sweet nutty flavor and a pleasant texture to the waffles.  However if you do not want to buy one more flour, these waffles will still be wonderful made with half white and half whole wheat flour.

Spelt Sour Cream Waffles (or use Greek Yogurt)


1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder (this is  not a typo, it really is one Tablespoon of baking powder)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream or Greek Yogurt
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp chocolate extract (optional)
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter melted

Begin heating your waffle iron as you prepare the waffle batter.  Combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl.  Measure the milk in a large glass mixing cup and add the sour cream or Greek yogurt, eggs and extracts to the milk.  Whisk the wet ingredients with a fork or by holding the handle of the whisk between your palms and rubbing your hands back and forth to spin the whisk.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Whisk briefly to start to incorporate the wet into the dry ingredients before adding the melted butter.  Mix the batter until it is all incorporated and smooth.  Do not mix any longer once it is smooth, over mixing can toughen the waffles.

Spray the waffle iron grids with cooking spray and ladle batter into the center of the iron.  A trick I finally figured out not to have waffle batter overflow out of the iron while baking is not to worry about making perfect waffles which are filled all the way to the edges.  If you slightly underfill the waffle grids it won't drip out.   I know this isn't rocket science, and yet for me it really was ground breaking.  If you aren't as gluttonous it may not be an issue.

Cook until the waffles are golden brown to your liking and serve hot, with macerated strawberries, maple syrup or the topping of your choice.




Spelt Butternut Squash Sour Cream Waffles (or use Greek Yogurt)
I doubled the quantities for this recipe because they work so well as frozen toaster waffles for a quick breakfast (or dinner)


1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
1 cup spelt flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder (this is  not a typo, it really is two Tablespoon of baking powder)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sour cream or Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup butternut squash or pumpkin puree
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp chocolate extract (optional)
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter melted

Begin heating your waffle iron as you prepare the waffle batter.  Combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl.  Measure the milk in a large glass mixing cup and add the sour cream or Greek yogurt, butternut squash puree, eggs and extracts to the milk.  Whisk the wet ingredients with a fork or by holding the handle of the whisk between your palms and rubbing your hands back and forth to spin the whisk.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Whisk briefly to start to incorporate the wet into the dry ingredients before adding the melted butter.  Mix the batter until it is all incorporated and smooth.  Do not mix any longer once it is smooth, over mixing can toughen the waffles.

Spray the waffle iron grids with cooking spray and ladle batter into the center of the iron.  A trick I finally figured out not to have waffle batter overflow out of the iron while baking is not to worry about making perfect waffles which are filled all the way to the edges.  If you slightly underfill the waffle grids it won't drip out.   I know this isn't rocket science, and yet for me it really was ground breaking.  If you aren't as gluttonous it may not be an issue.

Cook until the waffles are golden brown to your liking and serve hot, with macerated strawberries, maple syrup or the topping of your choice.

To freeze: separate waffles into individual waffles and place on a cookie sheet in the freezer until frozen. Once frozen place in a zip lock bag in the freezer.  Toast waffles from frozen to serve.

Perfectly Cooked Brown Rice: Parboiled

I have a personal rule when planning dinner, everything I serve has to be something I am comfortable with someone making an entire meal out of.  It sounds like such an unlikely thing, for someone to make a meal out of only one thing on the table.  However not when there are children are at the table.  My children have often made complete dinners out of one dish, or even one item in a dish.  One day they might eat only the beef and the next time it is served they might eat only the peas in Chinese Hamburger with Peas (although now I am happy to say that is a dinner everyone in the family eats and enjoys).

Children are randomly picky, suddenly refusing the dish they previously ate their weight in.  They also have a natural instinct for finding which food has zero or low nutritional value.  So because of this I decided everything I serve must not be a nutritional zero.  Thus began the switch from white to brown rice, and many nights spent cursing as I once again served rice that was chewy and hard, only edible when eaten completely smothered in another dish.  I tried longer cooking times, more liquid, soaking etc and still  served rice that was not Al Dente or to the tooth but rather was hard and incapable of soaking up the sauces around it.

 I could always  make Volcano Rice and Uncle Ben's Brown Rice without fail, but I really wanted to make a simple brown jasmine rice.  I knew the Uncle Ben's Rice was parboiled so when I stumbled across this "recipe" I decided to try parboiling it first.  The only problem was the "recipe" tells you how to parboil it, not how to prepare it once parboiled.  So I experimented until I had a recipe that worked every time.  The best part is it takes slightly less boiling time overall then when just cooking it without parboiling.  If you want you can also parboil it ahead of time and store it in the fridge for a few days until you want to cook it (next I plan on trying storing it in the freezer).

Don't forget to enter my Good Meat Cookbook Giveaway.  Entry period ends Sunday February 27th at 11:59 PM.

Parboiled Brown Rice

This recipe is tested using Lundberg Brown Jasmine Rice, I am sure it would work with other varieties of brown rice, you might just need to play a little with the amount of water added in the final cooking to get it just right for your taste.

1 cup Brown Jasmine Rice

salt to taste

1 tsp butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Bring a large volume of water to a boil, not as much as you need to boil pasta but enough for the rice to roll around freely in it while boiling (I would guess I used at least 6 to 8 cups for 1 cup of rice).  Once the water is boiling add the rice and boil uncovered for 15 minutes.  Drain the rice and add back to the pot with 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup water (the smaller volume of water will give you a slightly more firm finished rice), 1 tsp butter and salt to taste if you want more.  Sometimes I also add 1 Tbsp of say sauce.  Bring to the boil and turn down to the lowest possible simmer for 20 minutes.  (My stove does not do a great simmer so I just randomly turn the burner completely off for up to 5 minutes at a time during the 20 minutes of cooking time.  Most of the time I am in the kitchen cooking another part of dinner so it is only a matter of turning the flame on and off every once in a while).

The basic recipe to cooked the already parboiled rice is 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 parts water to 1 part of rice before parboiling plus 1 tsp fat.

Maple Glazed Root Vegetables with Thyme

This may not be a surprise to anyone else, but I am amazed at how much adjusting I am having to do to my work schedule.  I am lucky that I come home with my boys after picking them up from school.  However at that point all I want to do is touch base with my children about their day and then plop down on the couch checking e-mail, food blogs and facebook and this blog.  However while I do have time to check in with my children, and even the time to start Sebastian on his homework, (or as is sometimes the case argue with him about it), I need to start dinner almost right away.  It feels like our bedtime routine starts when we come home, if I don't start dinner soon enough our routine is off.

Mostly I am loving where we are right now as a family.  With both boys in school and my new job everyone has something to share at dinner.  Somehow it makes it more cohesive, or maybe that is the reduction in the whining recently over the food I'm offering, as the boys are learning to try more.  Julian's application of classroom rules and expectations at the dinner table is often hysterical.  One night he sat across from me as I told a story with his hand raised for his turn to speak.  However he did not sit there silently, "I'm being an active listener by raising my hand and waiting to speak... are you done yet?"

Happily I am still loving my job.  I am just having a hard time with fitting everything in.  It is a good thing I value cooking!  With a busy schedule it is even more important to have a game plan in the kitchen, especially when faced with a pile of vegetables to deal with.  However that sounds like planning and my cooking is more often based on whim then planning.  This is one of the successes I had recently when heading into the kitchen with the inkling of an idea but not much of a plan.

This dish is inspired by the carrots I had last week at an Americorps conference at the Stoweflake resort.  The food was surprisingly good, and most of us where getting seconds.  However that may also be because an Americorps position is supposed to pay a rate below the poverty level.  So folks may have been calorie loading.  The local food movement made its way to the labels at the buffet, however the meaning seemed to be a little lost.  So for breakfast, in October, in Vermont, the strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple and watermelon were labeled, "Seasonal Fruit."  Sure, somewhere, just not here.  However the maple glazed carrots are perfectly seasonal here right now, and will be all winter.  I added parsnips and turnips to mine as I got both this past week at my CSA.  I also added a fresh bay laurel leaf and some thyme to help balance the sweetness of the maple syrup and the vegetables.  Everyone enjoyed my rendition, although I will admit the boys did not eat the turnips.

Maple Glazed Root Vegetables with Thyme

Inspired by Maple Glazed Carrots at The Stoweflake, cooking technique adapted from Cooking with Shelburne Farms Honey Glazed Carrots

6 cups root vegetables peeled and sliced into similar sized pieces.  (I used carrots, parsnips and turnips.  Potatoes, kohlrabi and beets would all be good.  If using beets cook them separately to avoid making a pink mess of the other vegetables.)

2 Tbsp butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 - 5 Tbsp maple syrup, preferably Grade B (I used 2 Tbsp but I felt it could have used more)

3/4 cup water

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 tsp kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 fresh bay laurel leaf (optional)

Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat and add all the other ingredients.  Put the lid on and shake the pan to coat all the vegetables in the liquid.  Simmer over medium heat for 5 - 7 minutes, until the vegetables are just becoming tender.  Take the lid off the pan, increase the heat to high and cook, stirring, often until the vegetables are all coated in a glaze.  Taste and adjust the seasoning, remove the thyme stems and serve.

Blue Fish with Saffron Caper Aioli

Lewis and I have been vacationing in Cape Cod for over 10 years.  B.C. (Before Children) we used to car camp, first in Wellfleet and then in Truro.  However after Sebastian was born I could not face the idea of camping, not even the luxury tent car camping we always did.  My children are the kind who are into everything.  I often joked that I could hire them out as a baby proofing service, set them down on the floor and within 5 minutes they could find the most dangerous item in any room.  Camping was out because I could not figure out how to baby proof the world, really the whole idea did not sound relaxing to me.  Now we stay in a cottage with a tiny kitchen that I can only assume is well stocked for hot dogs and boxed mac and cheese.

Every year I bring a kitchen box with my most needed kitchen tools.  With the addition of my non stick saute pan, silicone spatulas, oven mitts, tongs, favorite knives, spices, pepper mill and anything else I remember to toss in the box, I can cook happily in even the tiniest of kitchens with the most motley assortment of pans.  However 3 years ago I had a new food quandry for vacation.  The previous summer, while on vacation, I read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and decided I was done with supporting the meat found in most supermarkets.  I would no longer buy meat from CAFO (contained animal feeding operations).  At home this was a simple decision to follow through on.  My favorite local store carries several options and I could always find something local in the reduced price section.  In addition I could easily buy a share in an animal directly from the farmer, further reducing my cost.

However the supermarket franchises in Cape Cod are not like City Market, so I was left arguing with myself over how to approach meat while on vacation.  I was not up for the task of bringing it with me, however I also knew I would not enjoy a week of CAFO meat.  The guilt alone would ruin the taste.  In the end I did not think of a solution until we went to the beach.  Somehow as a landlocked Vermonter I totally forgot seafood is local and wild in Cape Cod.

The other night I bought bluefish and was plotting in my head how to prepare it, trying to remember a tasty onion and lemon sauce I made last year.  I realized it was time to give up on that dish and move on.  Last year I added herbs in 4 inch pots to my "kithchen box," although technically they travel stuffed in a corner of the car, not in the box.  I always bring saffron as it goes so well with seafood.  Still plotting and thinking (and reading many bluefish recipes that called for spreading mayonnaise or mayonnaise and sour cream on the fish before baking).  I began by soaking some of my capers in water to temper their saltiness and to saute some onions.

Thinking of the mayonnaise preparations I suddenly remembered the saffron aioli my friend Cheryl went on about trying at The Bouillabaisse Bash I was not invited to.  I decided I could make a version that would be just right to spread on the fish before baking.  The end result was delicious, it had to have been as Julian asked me today if I would make it again, tonight.  Sebastian, on the other hand, tried a bite, tasted it slowly and after careful consideration decided he did not want any.  (Trust me, it tasted far better then it looks in this photo.  I decided this dish was too good not to post, even though none of the photos are good.  If nothing else I need to record the recipe for myself).

Blue Fish with Saffron Caper Aioli


1 Tbsp capers (preferably preserved in salt not brine)
scant 1/2 cup mini onions or shallots, sliced thin
1 Tbsp EVOO
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup white wine (I used riesling)
1/4 tsp saffron
1 Tbsp Champagne vinegar
3 sprigs lemon thyme (or use regular thyme)
1/4 cup sour cream (I did not have sour cream so I used half and half with 3/4 tsp Champagne vinegar mixed in and then allowed to stand for 10 minutes to thicken)
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 lb fresh bluefish

Preheat oven to 350°

If using salt preserved capers, soak capers in a small bowl of warm water to leach out some of the salt while prepping the other ingredients.  In a large saute pan melt butter and add EVOO, saute mini onions or shallots until tender and translucent.  Add wine, capers, saffron, vinegar and thyme to onions and reduce until it is a syrupy glaze, about a few Tbsp, basically until reducing any further means you will not be able to remove it from the pan.  (This took me a little less then 10 minutes, perfect for letting the half and half mixture become sour cream).

Mix sour cream, mayonnaise and reduced saffron glaze in a small bowl. Season aioli with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Line a baking dish with foil and place the fish on it skin side down, season the fish with salt and freshly ground black pepper and pour the aioli over the fish, spreading it all over the top.  Bake uncovered until cooked through and tender.  I baked mine for approximately 20 minutes.   Plate and serve.

Olive Oil Poached Cod & Roasted Tomatoes

I am in NYC this week where we are visiting family, hosted a belated Passover Seder and just enjoying the city and all it has to offer. I grew up here and I remember not fully understanding what is was like not to live in Manhattan. People would respond in awe when I told them where I lived, some with jealousy and some with simple wonder that I had not been murdered at a tender age. I was over 30 years old, siting in traffic in Burlington when I realized I was much safer growing up in New York City. The most dangerous thing we all do, often more then once a day, is ride in a car. Until I moved away from New York I rarely traveled in a car.

Now that I have moved away I get some of the awe, confusion and feeling of being overwhelmed by all there is to do, all the people and everything going on at once. As a teenager the closest I came to understanding came when I first visited Boston. I looked at the short buildings and wondered, "They call this a city? How can they call this city?"

I am grateful that my children can grow up riding the NYC subway, walking the streets, exploring the museums and interesting neighborhoods. They can do all these things as regular visitors who feel like they have some ownership and attachment to the city. However as I stood with them on the subway platform with their fingers stuffed tightly in their ears I was reminded that they are Vermonters in their hearts (even if it will take "true" Vermonters another 6 generations to stop referring to them as anything but flatlanders). In response I proved I still had some of my New Yorker's street cred by riding the subway without holding on, although I have to admit, as the game of chicken goes I lost, I kept my hand inches from a support pole the whole time, curved around it without actually touching it.

For most of the years that we have visited NYC as non residents we have allowed my father to treat us to take out food very night. However the week long festival of take out food began to make both Lewis and I feel wretched. The more our diet at home evolved to contain more vegetables and less but higher quality meat the worse it became. So on our last visit I cooked most of our meals in my father's understocked galley kitchen on his anemic stove. It was so much better in so many ways, we felt healthier, we maintained more of our usual schedule and the boys ended up going to bed closer to normal time. So here I am in April cooking again, still on an anemic stove in an understocked kitchen. Every time I come I add to the mental list of items that I need to bring when we visit to make cooking here easier.

Wednesday Lewis was away at dinner time and I had to prepare dinner for my father and two over tired boys. I am always amazed when my boys are exhausted and begin bugging each other, poking, pushing, grabbing toys etc. Normally they are best friends, people frequently comment on it. Not however when they are hungry, tired, or bored. So with both of them exhausted I decided to prepare olive oil poached cod with roasted tomatoes. Nothing like a fiddly sensitive recipe when there are tired boys pummeling each other.

The results where really wonderful though. The fish was luxurious with a moist and tender texture. The sauce is also very flavorful with the sweetness of the balsamic and the richness from the olive oil and a concentrated tomato flavor. If you don't want to hover over the poaching fish, the sauce would still be excellent with a pan seared and gently cooked fillet. Alternatively you can use the olive oil poaching method for salmon, swordfish or another firm fish.

The recipe calls for fresh thyme sprigs but I subbed the fennel fronds I had on hand. I think the thyme would have been better as the fennel fronds added almost nothing. A fresh bay leaf, rosemary, sage or oregano would all be excellent as well. Julian loved this dish, Sebastian however chose not to eat any, Julian happily declared, "Great, then I can eat yours."

Olive Oil Poached Cod with Roasted Tomatoes

Adapted from Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home

Tomatoes

1 1/4 lbs golfball or large tomatoes (I used the smaller ones as they are grown better)

3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (use a high quality one here)

2 Tbsp aged balsamic vinegar (I used one aged for 21 years)

2 sprigs thyme or 1 fresh bay leaf, or 2 sprigs fresh rosemary or fresh oregano or 2 Tbsp fennel fronds

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 cups extra virgin olive oil (you do not need to use your highest quality oil here)

3/4 to 1 lb fresh cod fillets without skin

Preheat the oven to 375° and blanche and Peel the tomatoes. Cut each tomato into 4 wedges for golf ball sized ones or 8 for larger tomatoes. Place into a small roasting pan with the peeled garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs, salt and pepper and bake until tender and soft. I cooked mine for 25 minutes. You are supposed to remove the tomatoes from the pan with a slotted spoon and then strain the cooking liquid. If I was at home I would have done that, however it was fine just spooned up as is.

To poach the fish heat the 2 cups olive oil to 120° in a small saucepan over a very low flame (it will reach this temperature very quickly I found). Season the fish on both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper and slip into the warm oil. The oil needs to cover the fish completely. Cook the fish for 9 minutes on the first side. Monitor the temperature of the oil while cooking the fish, it should remain between 110° and 115° Mine slipped out of that range when I was checking on squabbling boys, but most of the time it was in the correct range. I found once it got to 115° it maintained its temperature very well with the heat turned off for about 5 minutes. Cook for 9 minutes on the second side or until done.

To serve place the roasted tomatoes on a plate and top with the poached fish. Drizzle some of the sauce over the top. The original recipe calls for serving it with blanched and butter sauteed broccoli rabe, I used broccolini instead.

French Crepes

Sometimes as Lewis or I make breakfast on the weekends one of the boys will come in like the small tornadoes they are and upon seeing what we are doing run out to share the good news with the other tornado. Crepes always elicit the excited running to share their good fortune. I love standing in the kitchen with the French recipe, that even my weak language skills can translate, and hearing their excitement. "Julian, Julian, we're having crepes!" Part of my love for this ritual is the culinary knowledge they have unwittingly picked up. Really the batters for crepes, pancakes, waffles and popovers are very similar, and the 2 of them can unerringly tell which one is being prepared. Of course every time they are overjoyed at good food, it makes me happy, helping slightly to erase the times they whine over another dish.

This recipe was taught to us several years ago by a French woman who worked as an ESL teacher to the many refuges who are resettled her in Burlington. She had printed out the recipe from a French food site and on the back written a conversion from weight to volume. In the end she let Lewis and I keep that print out. We used her approximation for over a year before one Sunday morning I flipped over the paper and realized I was perfectly capable of translating the recipe. "3 ouefs" is 3 eggs, "250g de farine" is 250 grams of flour, "30 grams de beurre" is 30 grams of butter.

When made with the volume measurements written on the back the crepes were always good and we happily ate them for many breakfasts and a few dinners. However the crepes made following the french (metric) measurements were far better then the ones we had made before. No surprise really as most of the measurements were very different. The true french crepe we now make are thin, eggy, with a subtly that makes them irresistible. They must be good, or else Sebastian would not have had 9 at breakfast the other day.

Most of the time we spread strawberry freezer jam on each crepe, each of us has our prefered way to spread the jam, roll them up and eat it. They are more decadent with caramel chocolate sauce or chocolate ganache. You can always gild the lily by adding whipped cream. If you leave out the orange extract they can be served with savory fillings, brie and ham, leftover stew, sauteed mushrooms and leeks and a million more combinations. They are a great use for reinventing leftovers.

This is the single recipe, we have had to start doubling the recipe if Lewis and I wish to eat any of them.

French Crepes

Adapted from supertoinette.com (Although they have since altered their recipe)

While I have given a version in volume it will be different for every type of flour, to be accurate it is best to use a scale that weighs in grams. Both ways will be delicious.

1/4 litre milk (a glass quart measuring cup should have this as a marking)(lait)

1/2 cup white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour (62.5 grams de farine)

1/2 cup unbleached white flour (62.5 grams de farine)

3 large eggs (3 oeufs)

1/8 tsp kosher salt (1 pincee de sel)

1/8 - 1/4 tsp orange extract (Eau de fleur d'oranger)

2.2 Tbsp butter melted (30 grams de beurre)

2 Tbsp butter melted for the pan

Place all the ingredients except the butter in a large mixing bowl and blend with an immersion blender (alternatively you can use a large wire or place in a blender). Once the batter is well blended add the butter in a steady stream while continuing to whisk or blend. Most recipes suggest you allow the batter to rest for 1 hour and up to 1 day before using, if I ever allowed the time for this without people passing out from hunger I am sure it would be a great idea.

Heat a nonstick saute pan or crepe pan over medium high heat and brush with butter. Pour in a ladle or 1/4 cup of batter and tilt the pan to spread the batter around. I then fill in any uncovered areas with dollops of batter. Cook the first side until the edges are dry and curling a little and then flip over. Cook briefly on the second side. Place on a plate and continue to use the rest of the batter to make more crepes, layering them on the plate.

When all the batter is used serve the platter of crepes with the jam of your choice or caramel chocolate sauce or chocolate ganache, or whatever fillings you want.

"Mama, step on the gas"

"Mama, step on the gas on the way there." That was the call from the backseat as I drove Julian, my 4 year old, to the emergency room. He burned himself in one of those kitchen moments I am always waiting for, especially with a kitchen that is not even considered large enough to be small by modern architectural standards. In addition to the size of my kitchen there is the energy and enthusiasm of my children, it is amazing this has never happened before.

As I sat at the registration desk with him I wondered if it would sound like I was lying. How often do people come in with a preschooler who burns them self on a half sheet pan because they are trying to steal a roasted brussels sprout before dinner? Maybe I should have told them he was reaching for a warm cookie.

Julian and I sat together in a mercifully oversized chair in the waiting room reading. My father gave the boys The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury several years ago and somehow I had the presence of mind to grab it as we left the house. I have always loved that gift as it makes it much easier to bring a library of bedtime books when on vacation. In this instance it turned out to be invaluable. Part of Julian's joy while reading it was getting to choose the stories I would read. Just a perfunctory no to the stories he was refusing and a voice filled with joy for the ones he wanted to hear. Perhaps it made the emergency room visit a little too nice as he came home and announced to his father, "I had fun at the emergency room." Now we both have visions of him becoming even more death defying in his actions. Although I have to admit I had fun with him as well.

When we were finally ushered in to a room and seen by a Physician's Assistant I found out it was only a small second degree burn and we did not need to come in. They still bandaged it up before sending us on our way. When we returned home, both starving, I was relieved to see Julian still tearing in to a pile of roasted brussels sprouts. I feared he would hold a grudge against them. Now that it is brussels sprouts season I urge you to revisit this recipe/method, even if you have never liked brussels sprouts in the past. I know of at least 4 people who have been converted by this preparation.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

1 large bunch fresh brussels sprouts

Extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 - 45o degrees. Basically if you are making something else in the oven the sprouts can adjust. The other day I was making braised turkey in the oven at 300 degrees, I still tossed in the sprouts early on, no reason to waste the oven space, and when the turkey was done I turned the temperature up to 400 with convection.

Trim the stem pretty close to the leaves and then pull off any leaves that look unappealing. If the leaves are bruised deeply you can also trim off the area in question. For smallish sprouts cut them in half lengthwise, for larger ones cut them in fourths.

Place the brussels sprouts on a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on kosher salt and freshly grated pepper. Afterwards toss them around with your hands making sure that the sprouts are well covered in oil. roast in the oven, shaking the pan occasionally, until the sprouts are nice and caramelized (brown) over much of their surface area and tender but not mushy when pierced with a fork or knife. I am afraid I have no idea how long this takes, especially as I gave a range of temperatures. I just check them when I go to shake the pan.

This time I cooked them for approximately 30 minutes on 400° with convection. I have also cooked them at 400° without convection and it took closer to 45 minutes. Friends recently told me they made them once with diced apples added in the last 5 minutes, I intend to try that variation soon.

Chinese Hamburger with Peas

No matter what culinary feats I may accomplish, how intricate and subtly spiced dishes I may prepare I think my families favorite may be simple Chinese Hamburger with Peas. I am pretty sure this recipe will mark the first time my best friend from high school, Kira, makes anything from my blog. It is still a favorite of hers as well.

For me this is basic comfort food. I have no idea what cookbook it was from because my father, in a move that still enrages me, allowed roommates to throw out my mothers complete set of Le Creuset, including a kitchen workhorse they no longer make, and all my mother's cookbooks. After my mother died my father began to make it, it was our weekly respite from take out food. We used to wing it, when making this for dinner, but I got tired of the sometimes lackluster renditions, so I tested and recorded the best version.

This is truly a pantry staple/emergency dinner as you can cook the hamburger meat from a frozen block without a problem. Just throw the block into the pan and cook over medium high heat, flipping it every few minutes to scrape off the browned and defrosted meat. Not glamourous but really handy for getting dinner on the table without ordering take out.

Tonight when making this Sebastian helped me, browning the meat, reading the recipe, measuring ingredients. Helping to brown the meat for this dish is one of my earliest memories in the kitchen. At dinner Julian talked about when he is in second grade and is old enough to help, "Even getting to brown the meat."

I have made it with veggie ground beef and it is still good, if you were not a meat eater my guess is it would be stellar that way, for me there was something missing.

Chinese Hamburger with Peas

1 lb ground beef (if you are vegetarian this still works with veggie ground beef)
2 small garlic cloves minced, or 1 large one (about 1 - 2 tsps)
1/2 cup dry sherry (you can also use sake or rice wine)
3 Tbsp Oyster Sauce (there are vegetarian/shellfish free versions or use hoisin sauce,)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp mushroom soy sauce (if you don't want to stock your pantry with another soy sauce just use all plain soy sauce)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup water

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 lb frozen peas (I prefer to use the ones in a bag, my mom always used the ones in a box)

Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste

1 - 2 scallions chopped for garnish (optional, really I never use them, but this dish needed something for the photograph)

Brown the ground beef in a large saute pan over medium high heat, breaking the meat up into bite sized pieces. (If the meat is frozen just flip it over every few minutes and scrape off the cooked layer). Once the meat is all broken up and is starting to brown add the garlic (if the meat is very fatty drain off the extra fat before adding the garlic). After all the meat is browned add the sherry, oyster sauce, ginger and both soy sauces. Cook while stirring until well combined. Add the frozen peas and then dissolve the cornstarch in the water and stir to blend well. Add the water cornstarch mixture and cook over high heat until the liquids boil and the sauce thickens a little from the cornstarch and the peas are heated through.

Serve with white or brown rice. As a child the question of where I wanted my rice in relation to the Chinese Hamburger was very important. Eventually I got to the place where I wanted the Chinese hamburger on top of the rice. Sebastian has it on top now and Julian is just beginning to mix some of his portion together at the end of the meal. It is one of those parenting echoes that I enjoy, rather then the ones that prove my parents cursed me to raise a child who is just like I was.

Tomato Basil Butter: Summer Taste Year Round

This is the third summer I have grown tomato plants in front of my house. It began by accident one year when my husband and I pulled up the Yew bushes the house came with. We were planting perennial flowers from a friends garden when our neighbor said the space really needed tomatoes, and it just so happens he had 4 starts that he did not know what to do with. Well the tomato plants were so productive in the front of my house that I quickly decided to do it every year. Last year we were able to eat tomatoes year round from those plants. This year my plants are bigger then ever, more like trees then bushes. They are impressive enough that people have stopped their cars to ask me for advice on growing tomatoes. The only thing I can tell them is compost, Gardener's Supply Tomato Fertilizer, and Southern exposure.

I have been fearful of late tomato blight all summer but still optimistic, until this weekend. On Sunday another neighbor warned me that his tomatoes had late tomato blight. The very next day I went to pick tomatoes and found signs of blight. So I had to decide, what is the most important item to make with my tomatoes for the winter. What would leave the largest culinary hole if it was missing?

While I can crushed tomatoes and tomatoes in their own juice for year round consumption, that is less about the flavor impact of using home grown tomatoes and more about using local food as much as I can. However every year I make at least a quadruple batch of Tomato Basil Butter using a recipe by Ruthanna at Garden Web's cooking forum and recipe exchange. Tomato basil butter is a year round staple in my kitchen that can produce gourmet meals easily and quickly. Most often I use this butter when preparing fish. I have however been known to put some on top of rice or vegetables. I am sure that you could prepare tofu or chicken in a similar way to the fish and have wonderful results.

The balance of flavors in this butter is wonderful, the lemon provides a high flavor note while there is the familiar sweetness of the tomatoes, the bite of the garlic and the earthy sweet flavor of the fresh basil. Of course the butter does not hurt either...

Ruthanna's Tomato Basil Butter

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes (about 1 lb. if you must you can substitute canned tomatoes but do not use supermarket fresh tomatoes. Vine ripened summer tomatoes are really the best choice)

2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened

2 tsp grated lemon zest (I always take the lemon after, squeeze it into a small plastic container and freeze it for the next time I have a recipe that calls for the juice of 1 lemon without the zest)

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup minced fresh basil

Heat the oil in a small skillet (when making a double batch I use my large non stick saute pan). Add the tomatoes and garlic and cook over medium to high heat, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes form a puree that will mound, about 10 minutes. Let cool before putting the softened butter in a bowl and then adding the tomato puree and all the remaining ingredients. Place the butter on to a sheet of wax paper or parchment and roll into a log. Wrap the log in aluminum foil and refrigerate or freeze (personally I always freeze it, I have been able to store it in the freezer for 1 year or even longer).

Fish with Tomato Basil Butter

4 fish fillets, or 1 for each person (works with salmon, flounder, tilapia, bluefish...)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (the measurement here is a guesstimate, I add enough to coat the bottom of the pan)

1 cup white wine (use a wine you enjoying drinking with fish, or if you don't drink use stock or water)

1 1/4 inch thick slice tomato basil butter per fish fillet

Season the fish with kosher salt and black pepper on both sides. Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick saute pan. Brown the fish on both sides over high heat, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Add the wine and bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Place a piece of tomato basil butter on each fillet and cook the fish for 4 to 5 minutes per side until it flakes easily when you press it with a finger or fork. Serve at once. (alternatively you can put the butter on the fish after turning it.)

Asian Chicken Salad

Sometimes good things can come out of rotten ones. This was the case the other day when my car battery died. My car battery dying is actually an ongoing winter problem for me. The problem lies with a feature of my car to prevent the battery dying, ironic I know. See if you leave the lights of the car running and turn off the car most of the time they go off when you open the door. Really it is a great feature, until the days that are so cold that the little button that senses the car door has opened freezes.

And really who wouldn't be overjoyed to have a dead battery when it is obnoxiously cold out? So most of the time I check on cold days to make sure the lights went out. Somehow this is preferable to me, better then turning them off and then having to remember to turn them back on. Well Wednesday I was in a hurry after parking my car, and anyway it didn't seem that cold. Actually when I went back out to my now dead car, it wasn't very cold, the snow had melted off the top. However the lights were on and the battery was dead.

So, after calling triple A I had a 45 minute to an hour wait. Thus my happy image of going to my favorite food store before picking up Julian from preschool disappeared. However we had just loaded a bunch of stuff from our storage unit in the car. I was so happy to discover the June 2006 issue of Gourmet in the trunk. This issue was from right before we moved, so I had never looked at it before. Inside I found an Asian chicken salad that provided inspiration for dinner that night. I had a very incomplete list of the vegetables called for, but that doesn't usually phase me. I also changed the dressing quite a bit, adding and subbing. The salad I made would not be recognizable to anyone reading the original, but still delicious. I only got to eat the leftovers for lunch because I beat Lewis to the fridge the next morning. The moral of the story is, if you have different vegetables to work with, go ahead and make this salad. I would not hesitate to make it with a green and some warm or cold roasted vegetables, or I would sub seasoned firm tofu or tempeh for the chicken.

Asian Chicken Salad

3/4 of a pound snow peas, trimmed and sliced into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/2 cups napa cabbage, shredded

1/2 lb. baby spinach thoroughly washed and spun dry

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3 Tbsp fresh orange juice (I used a minneola tangelo)

1 Tbsp miso paste (I used white)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp sherry vinegar (you can substitute white, cider, champagne or any other light vinegar)

1/2 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste, at least 1/4 tsp

1 1/2 tsp Asian sesame oil

2 Tbsp grape seed oil (or vegetable or olive oil)

2 cups shredded cooked chicken from leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken

1/4 cups finely chopped cilantro

1/4 cups sliced almonds, toasted

2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

2 oranges (I used minneola tangelos)

Cook the snow peas briefly in boiling salted water that you have added a splash of extra virgin olive oil to, until tender. Approximately 1 1/2 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Place in a large salad bowl with napa cabbage and spinach.

In a small bowl whisk together soy sauce, lemon juice, orange juice, miso paste, sugar, vinegar, salt, black pepper, sesame oil and grape seed oil until emulsified. Mix the chicken with 1/3 of a cup of the dressing. Add the chicken to the greens and add toasted almonds and sesame seeds. Toss with enough of the dressing to lightly dress the whole salad.

Supreme the 2 oranges, doing the final slicing between the membranes over the salad bowl to catch the juice. When you have supremed the oranges squeeze the membranes to add the juice the salad. If you don't know how to supreme citrus good directions can be found here.