What to do with Leeks that isn't soup

Recently, I have been purchasing vegetables I don't cook often and playing with new preparations for them. The latest of these is the Leek. Something like a mild, overgrown green onion, the leek is most well known for its place in potato leek soup. Making a big pot of soup is not something I felt up to this weekend...I'm just beginning to come out of my post-NYC shell of laziness. So a quick pasta dinner (or side dish) is more my style. This is a variation on one of my favorite lazy time/quick dinners.

Quick Pasta with Leeks (for 2)

pasta for 2

Whites of 1 leek, cut into thin rounds

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

olive oil

chopped Italian parsley

s&p

grated Parmeggiano Reggiano

While you are cooking your pasta in a different pan, in a large sautée pan heat olive oil on Med-High. When oil is hot, add leeks and garlic. When fragrant and golden, add breadcrumbs and lemon zest. Cook for 2 minutes, add lemon juice, parsley and s&p. Toss with cooked pasta, cover with LOTS of grated cheese and ENJOY!

Salmon resurrection

I ruined salmon. The whole species. It became something I couldn't eat without gagging. Prof. Hubs and I were so over the usual preparations we'd been ingesting the last few months that it became impossible to enjoy. And then I found THIS salmon recipe... A wonderful week night preparation for those evenings when the last thing you want to do is prepare a healthy meal. And somehow, the combination of fennel, onion, and orange made salmon delicious again. I really can't remember the last time I enjoyed a piece of salmon so much!

Salmon with Fennel

(based on a recipe by Ina Garten)

1 Salmon filet

1 fennel bulb, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 onion, cut into thin rounds

olive oil

1/2 tsp dried dill

2 TBSP chopped fennel fronds

2 TBSP orange juice

S&P

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Sautée the onion and fennel in olive oil over med-high heat for 10 minutes. Stir in fronds, dill, orange juice, s&p, cook for 5 more minutes.

Put salmon in oven-safe dish, cover with fennel mixture and bake for 15-25 minutes, depending on your oven and preference of done-ness.

Bon Appetit!

Traditions

It's been a week since my last trip to NYC and I'm just now starting to feel normal again. These trips to NY are sooooooo exhausting! I manage to pack in an entire month of work/lessons/socializing into one week which makes the subsequent week back in Midwestia a time of recouperation, i.e. I watch a LOT of daytime tv...

One of the few things that gets me out of my decompression state is baking. It somehow seems more relaxing than regular cooking. All of the scooping, measuring, and stirring are quite therapeutic in their quiet and repetitive ways. Most of my cooking is very instinctual, even the measuring, so to actually acurately measure out a teaspoon of something is a regimented change to the cooking status quo. This past weekend I baked TWO of my Nana's apple cakes-one for some friends and then, because that one turned out nicely, one for us!

There's something about an old family recipe that makes it better than any other-there's the knowledge that it WILL turn out delicious and then that first bite, completely full of memories. This cake is like that for me and I hope it will become a family tradition to those of you who choose to bake it...

Nana's Apple Cake recipe (a traditional Jewish Apple cake)

4 C. peeled and sliced apple
4 Tb + 2 C sugar
3 C reg flour (sometimes I actually use half or all white whole wheat flour)
1 tsp salt (I usually add a teensy bit extra)
4 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
4 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 C canola oil
1/4 C orange juice


Preheat oven to 375
combine apples, cinnamon, the 4Tb sugar and set aside. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and the 2 C sugar in large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour oil, eggs, orange juice and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
Grease 10'' tube (fluted) pan ( I like to use that PAM baking spray with flour in it.)

Spoon 1/3 of batter into pan. Make a ring of 1/2 apple mixture (DRAINED OF EXCESS MOISTURE) taking care not to have apples touching sides of pan.

Spoon another 1/3 of batter on top.

Make another ring of remaining apples & top with remaining batter. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until done. Cover top with aluminum foil if it begins to overbrown.

Allow to cool to lukewarm before turning out onto serving plate.
Freezes well.

Central Asian Feast

Inspired by some flavors I have encountered recently, not to mention my study of the Russian Language, I decided to provide Prof. Hubs with a Georgian feast last night. Now, this feast was in no way an AUTHENTIC Georgian feast as I have neither visited the Democratic Republic of Georgia nor have I ever tasted anything cooked by an authentic Georgian. So, this feast was really more of a 'Central Asian Inspired' feast... Especially since a few of the recipes were inspired by Nigella Lawson-about as Un-Central Asian as one can get.

The meal included Khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread,) Roasted Chicken stuffed with a tart-cherry rice stuffing, Beet salad, and garlicky cooked Beet Greens. It was seriously yummy.

Below you'll find the recipes for the Chicken with stuffing. It's really, REALLY good and this rice will be making a repeat appearance in our kitchen soon. There is a delicious 'foreign-ness' to the taste of the rice and yet it's quite simple to make. Although it would be wonderful with any meal it really is a great compliment to a beet salad (chopped beets, walnuts, balsamic vinegar, bit of mayo, s&p,) and cooked greens...

GEORGIAN STUFFED CHICKEN

inspired by a recipe by Nigella Lawson

1 whole chickens
2 Tbsp soft butter
S&P

FOR THE STUFFING
3 Tbsp butter
1 onions
2 cloves garlic
1 cup brown basmati rice
1/2 cup dried sour cherries, roughly chopped
2 cups water
4 tablespoons chopped parsley

For the stuffing, melt butter in a large saucepan (one that has a lid). Finely chop the onion and garlic, and add to the pan with the butter, frying over a medium heat until the onion softens and begins to color.

Add the rice and chopped cherries, and give everything a good stir so that the rice becomes slicked with the butter. Add the water and a sprinkling of salt and bring to the boil, then clamp on the lid and cook at the lowest heat possible for 30 minutes. While the rice is cooking, preheat your oven to gas mark 425. When the rice is ready, by which I mean, all the water will be absorbed and the rice be more or less cooked, fork through the chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Spoon the cherry-studded rice into the cavities of the chickens and around the bird.

Rub the chicken with the butter, drizzle with S&P and roast in the oven for 50 minutes-1.5 hours, depending on your oven. The skin should be golden and crispy and the meat cooked through; test by piercing the bird between thigh and body and if juices run clear, the chicken’s ready. Remove from oven and allow to rest for a few minutes before carving and serving.

Return to pastoral life

Last week was another New York work week for the desperate housediva. I can't remember the last time I've been so busy-I had so many voice lessons, photoshoots, appointments, meetings, reunions, study sessions, and meals between my arrival in La Guardia airport and my arrival in Midwestia airport that it felt like one non-stop, really long day (as opposed to 7.) I am possitively exhausted and in serious need of decompression time. Luckily, in between the practicing, studying, and photo-editing that's what I have.

This trip back to NYC I tried to make sure I enjoyed flavors I am unable to procure here in Midwestia. Here are the first 10 that come to mind:

1. Raspberry bran muffin from BirdBath (owned by the incomparable CITY BAKERY)

2. Chocolate chip cookie from the aforementioned CITY BAKERY

2. Some raw milk Comté-one of my favorite cheeses of all time.

3. An inexpensive dinner of Moroccan/Israeli treats at Café Mogador in the East Village

4. A ridiculously cheap vegetarian lunch at The Hummus Place

5. Some good Thai food, in this case the Pad Kee Mao at Room Service in Hell's Kitchen.

8. Tart Korean frozen yogurt with fruit (pinkberry, red mango, yogurtland, etc...)

10. a Dosa dinner-mmm... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosa

Basically, I ate my way through the week. Easy to do in any city, especially New York. I have a suspicion that most people who've lived in a place for a number of years have memories from each street corner... In New York I have that but with food.

I'm making a Georgian feast tomorrow night-Georgia like the Eastern European country, not the state (though I DO love grits...) I'm looking forward to sharing some recipes, especially for my twist on Khachapuri, THE yummiest cheesebread I've ever had.

surprising use for an impulse foodie purchase

Last Spring when Prof. Hubs was living in Boston we would spend part of our weekends together on various kitchen experiments. I really enjoyed tasting the ethnic eats available in Boston and on one particular visit Prof. Hubs, his roommate, and I all visited a Korean market in Cambridge in search of some foodie finds. In addition to several giant jars of Kimchee I picked up a beautiful bag of Korean sweet brown rice. At the time I thought I was buying short grain brown rice (my fave) because I did not read (nor do I now read) Korean. Much to my dismay when I prepared the rice (washed it 3 times, cooked it 1:2 parts water) I ended up with a sticky, glutinous 'porridge.' That's when I set to googling and learned the Brown sweet rice is actually brown STICKY rice, used for desserts, etc. This bag of rice has sat in my pantry for a few months untouched. Then a couple of days ago I was struck with a possible use for the rice which produced a PHENOMENAL culinary success.

Now, think for a moment. What is one of the yummiest fall side dishes of all? Butternut squash risotto, of course! And what's the problem with typical risotto? It's made with WHITE rice (Arborio, etc.) How can one enjoy a perfect fall risotto but not sacrifice whole grain goodness??? BROWN SWEET RICE to the rescue!!!

One caveat to this substitution-brown rice takes about twice the amount of time to cook as does it's white cousin. However, this rice is so naturally glutinous you can easily let it cook, covered, and unattended for bits at a time between the stirring. So I think this makes up for the extra 25 minutes...

BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO WITH BROWN RICE

cooked insides of 1 butternut squash (halved and roasted for an hour so that the 'meat' is soft, then scooped out of the skin)

1 cup brown sweet rice

up to a container of low-sodium chicken broth

up to 1/2 bottle of dry white wine

1 shallot, minced

olive oil

s&p

lots of parmegiano reggiano, for serving.

First, rinse your sweet rice in water 3 times. This helps reduce the stickiness. You may also soak it for several hours or overnight. Dry rice grains (just make sure there's no extra water hanging out with those grains when you're ready to start cooking.)

In a large saucepan, heat oil over med-high heat. Sauté shallots in the oil until soft and translucent. Then add rice. Stir rice around in shallot/oil mixture for about 3 minutes. Then add 3/4 cup broth and 3/4 cup wine. At this point you can hang out with the rice and stir, or you can cover the pot and go watch a few minutes of tv. When the rice has absorbed most of the broth and wine, add another 1/2 cup of each and give it some nice stirs. At this point you may cover again for a few minutes until the broth and wine are absorbed. Basically, just repeat this procedure until the rice reaches the correct al dente texture. For me this took about 45 minutes. When that texture is reached (or about to be reached) add your squash, stir around. Add s&p. Remove from heat. Add parm. to taste and ENJOY!!!

Next time I'll share with you my sweet potato whole wheat gnocchi :)