Mac and Cheese

I was in such a frenzy when I bought the morels last week that I also bought a couple of fresh Oregon truffles; I know it seems insane to buy something like that, but I have whittled down my vices quite a bit in the past few years (having a baby will do that) so I felt I had a little room for an expensive food treat. One of the two truffles was still sitting in my fridge when I decided to make the mac and cheese last night and I figured what the hey, I've heard of truffled mac and cheese so maybe it's good. It was good, really really good, but honestly anything with this much cheese in it will be good so it's no big loss if you skip the truffle.

2 or 3 slices pancetta (optional)
2 tbs butter
3 tbs flour
4 c milk
1 lb fresh mozzarella
about 1/2 lb fresh ricotta
1/4 lb aged white cheddar
pecorino and parmesan to taste
1 lb pasta
1 truffle, chopped (optional!)

Heat the milk for 4 minutes in the microwave. The pancetta, as I've mentioned, is optional. If you're using it, chop it into small pieces and cook it until the fat renders and it's crispy. Reserve 1 tb of the fat and put it in the pot to use in the sauce. Melt the butter with the fat from the pancetta (if you're skipping the pancetta use one more tb of butter) and sprinkle the flour over it, letting it cook for a couple of minutes and whisking so there aren't any lumps. Pour in the hot milk and whisk again, and put the chopped truffle in too. Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Boil the pasta for about two minutes less than the package directions. You want it to be very al dente, otherwise it will get gummy in the oven. Drain it and set it aside.

After your sauce has cooked, remove it from the heat and stir in your cheeses. You can break the mozz and ricotta into pieces; they're too soft to grate and if you have a few lumps that's okay. You can use whatever kind of cheese you want; I was going for an Italian kind of thing, but I included the Irish cheddar so there would be a little more bite-- mozzarella and ricotta are very mild and the saltier cheeses helped perk them up. Reserve some of the grated cheeses for the top. Season the cheese sauce with salt and pepper. Stir in the pasta and bake for about 30 minutes or until it is getting brown on the top.

Varitions: when I don't have a truffle on hand (which is practically always) I use about 1/4 tsp smoked Hungarian paprika in the cheese sauce. It's delish. For a slightly healthier version, use whole grain pasta. Barilla makes a nice whole grain pasta that doesn't taste wheaty and has lots of Omega-3s. To make it even healthier, substitute cooked plain cauliflower for half of the pasta.

Fingerling Potatoes with Mustard and Herbs

I have been getting the most amazing fingerling potatoes at the Santa Monica FM. The names of the different varieties are hilarious; how else can you eat something called Red Thumb alongside something called La Ratte? I love it. This recipe is simple and easy and makes these (already delicious) potatoes taste so good you'll be carb-loading all night.

1 lb fingerling potatoes
About 2 tbs softened unsalted butter
Chopped fresh parsley, summer savory, and dill
About 1 tb whole-grain mustard
salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes until soft and drain well. Toss with butter, mustard, herbs, salt, and pepper to taste. Use more or less of whatever you want!

Grass-fed Bison Brisket

I bought this brisket at the Santa Monica FM; I've been obsessed with grass-fed meats since I read The Omnivore's Dilemma. Anyway, the bison this brisket came from was completely grass-fed, not started on grass and then finished at a feedlot. The result is a nice, lean meat. I didn't know how bison would taste. Would it be gamy? Strong? Stringy? It turned out to be mild and a lot like beef, just a little drier.

1 brisket, about 2 lbs.
1 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2 carrots
2 ribs celery
1 bay leaf
2 cloves
2 sprigs thyme
1 c stock
3/4 c wine

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Peel the onion and cut it in half. Pin the bay leaf to one half using the cloves. Roughly chop the carrots and celery and peel the garlic. Brown the brisket in a pan-- use something that works both in the oven and on the stove and that has a tight-fitting lid. It should cook for 5 to 7 minutes on each side. When the brisket is browned, remove it to a plate and add a little oil to the pan. Add the vegetables and cook for a few minutes, then add the wine to deglaze the pan. Scrape up all the brown bits at the bottom of the pan-- that's where the flavor is! Add the stock and bring it to a simmer. Put the brisket back in the pan. The liquid should come about halfway up the meat; if there's too little, add some water or more stock. Add the garlic and thyme. Cover the pan and put it in the oven. The brisket will need to cook for about 3 hours total; halfway through the cooking time, flip it over. You should also check about 10 minutes into cooking that your braising liquid isn't simmering too briskly. You only want the gentlest simmer.
Once the brisket is cooked (it should be tender enough to be pierced easily with a fork), take your pan out of the oven. Let the brisket rest in its liquid for about 10 minutes, then remove it with tongs. Remove the vegetables from the liquid with a slotted spoon and discard them-- by now all their flavor will be in the cooking liquid. Put the pan over low heat and simmer to reduce the sauce. This is where a wide, shallow pan comes in handy: the wider it is, the more surface area there is and the quicker your sauce will reduce. Once your sauce has reached the desired consistency, remove the pan from the heat. Carve your brisket and put it in the pan with the sauce, spooning the sauce all over it. Bison has a much lower fat content than beef, and though it will be tender, it will be on the dry side so it will be more delicious if it has a chance to soak up some sauce before serving.

Chicken Pot Pie

Please forgive the photograph-- I promise this pot pie tasted a hundred times better than it looks here. Pot pie is a good way to repurpose your chicken leftovers. Where you might get a little snack out of what's left of your chicken, pot pie lets you stretch it a lot further with the addition of lots of vegetables and a nice buttery crust. My husband liked this so much I suspect he will want to skip the plain roast chicken next time and go straight to the pot pie.

For the crust (adapted from this recipe):
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups chilled flour
1/2 tsp salt
About 1/2 cup chilled water

Make sure all of these ingredients are cold! Chilling is the key to success with pastry crust. Start this well ahead of time, because when the crust is assembled it will need to chill in the refrigerator for about 3 hours. Put your butter on a clean work surface. You'll need plenty of room. Dump the flour and salt over the butter, then begin cutting the flour and butter together with a pastry cutter or a fork. I used my bench scraper and it worked really well. Once the butter and flour are blended (it should look like coarse cornmeal, with some pea-sized pieces of butter) add the water a little at a time and mix with your scraper or a knife. You should have something that looks like a crumbly dough at this point.

Push the dough aside and dust your work surface with flour, or put down a pastry mat. I use my Silpat for this and it's amazing. Start rolling out your dough on the mat. Feel free to dust your rolling pin with flour at any time if your dough is sticking. Try to make it rectangular. Fold the short sides in so they meet in the middle, then fold the whole thing in half lengthwise. Turn it 90 degrees, roll it out again, and repeat the folding process. Put the dough in a Ziploc bag or a Tupperware and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. Take it out again and repeat the roll-and-fold two more times. Put the dough back in the bag and back into the fridge for at least 2 hours (and up to overnight). Now you can make the filling for your pie.

For the filling:
1 or 2 tbs olive oil
1 leek, cleaned and sliced
1 bulb fennel, diced
3 carrots, sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup peas; if you're using frozen peas, thaw them out

For the sauce:
2 tbs butter
1 tb of the brown jelly from the chicken (not the fat, which is yellow)
2 tbs flour
2 1/2 c milk

Preheat the oven to 350. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven, and put in the leeks, fennel, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Cook over medium-low heat. While these are cooking, take all the remaining meat off your chicken and set it aside in a bowl. Save the chicken carcass for stock. Check on your veggies. When they're getting soft (remember they'll continue to cook in the oven), take them off the heat and stir in the thawed peas and chicken meat.

Heat the milk in your measuring cup in the microwave for two minutes. In a saucepan, melt the butter and chicken jelly and sprinkle the flour over it. Let this cook for a couple of minutes. Pour the milk into the saucepan and whisk your mixture. Cook over low heat (you should bring it to a gentle simmer) until it thickens. Whisk it often so it doesn't have any lumps. Pour the sauce over the chicken and veggies, stir, and season with salt and pepper.

Once the dough has chilled, take it out and let it rest on the counter for about 10 minutes to take the chill off, otherwise it'll be impossible to roll. Roll the dough to about 1/8 of an inch thick and try to make it the right shape for your pie. Put the crust over your pie, tucking in the edges, and cut a few slashes in it to let the steam out while it bakes.

Put the pie in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is puffed and golden.

This recipe is easy to modify: you can make it vegetarian by leaving out the chicken (obviously) and using a vegetable bouillon cube in the sauce. Just mash the bouillon cube up with the butter (a trick I learned from Nigella. Thanks, Nigella!) and then proceed with the flour and milk. You can also use whatever vegetables you like; my personal opinion is that pot pie isn't pot pie without carrots and peas, but if you want to put something else in there, have at it.

Blueberry Walnut Waffles

My husband usually gets me books or things to wear for Christmas; he (rightly) thinks Christmas is a time for gifts that don't tend toward the practical. So you might think the waffle iron I got for Christmas wasn't very romantic, but boy would you be wrong. I LOVE waffles. Every time I see them on a menu I'm thrilled. When I see them on TV I say, "waaaaaaffffffllllleessssss." So he knew I'd be excited about a waffle iron. He used to say he didn't even like waffles (blasphemy!) but I've brought him over with this recipe. It's a variation on the Classic Belgian Waffle recipe that came with my waffle iron (Villaware Round Belgian Waffler).

4 eggs, separated, room temperature
1 tb sugar
1/4 c butter, room temperature
1 c buttermilk (you can use regular milk instead, but I love buttermilk for baking)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c spelt flour
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 or 1/2 c fresh blueberries
1/2 c raw walnuts

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Add the milk and vanilla, then the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix only until there are no lumps. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Stir in your blueberries and walnuts and fire up your waffle iron.

I've experimented with different proportions of spelt and white flour, and this seems to be the best balance. The waffles get a bit heavy if there's too much spelt, but you can still taste it even when you only use 1/4 cup of it. Spelt has a nice sweetness that complements the walnuts. When I bake walnut bread I always use a little spelt flour.

Roast Chicken

I love to make this; it makes the whole house smell good and we usually have enough leftovers to make a few chicken meals. To make it a one-pot meal, I like to put vegetables in the pan with the chicken while it's roasting, but this time I just cooked the chicken all by itself. I bought this chicken at the Hollywood FM-- I always try to get free-range, organic, hormone-free chickens. One last word of advice: give yourself plenty of time to cook this. If you start when you're already hungry you'll be camped out in front of your stove with the thermometer in your hand, and you'll make the whole thing take longer because you'll be opening the oven every five minutes hoping that the chicken is done.

1 whole chicken
1 lemon
1 bunch fresh rosemary (thyme also works well)
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 or 4 tbs olive oil or softened butter
salt and pepper

The day before cooking, rinse the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels, then put salt and pepper all over it and put it in the fridge. Salting the chicken ahead of time makes it more juicy. Save the little bag of gizzards to use in chicken stock. About an hour before cooking, take the chicken out of the refrigerator to take the chill off. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Put your chicken in a roasting pan. Any shallow, oven-proof pan will do, as long as it's big enough to accommodate your chicken. Stuff the chicken with fresh rosemary and don't be afraid to use a lot. You can't really overdo it. Slide a few of the slices of garlic under the skin on the breast-- this part is kind of gross but it makes the chicken taste really good. Put the rest of the garlic in the cavity. Cut your lemon in half and squeeze it over the chicken, then put the halves in the cavity. Rub the chicken with olive oil or butter and then salt it again.

Roast the chicken breast side up for 20 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350 and flip the chicken over to roast it breast side down for 20 minutes. Turn it over so the breast is up and continue roasting until it's done. The chicken will look nicely browned. I start checking the temperature after an hour of total cooking time. Use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, away from the bone. When it reads 165 or 170 degrees, take the chicken out and let it rest for 15 minutes or so before carving. The juices and drippings at the bottom of the pan will be really delicious with your chicken. Try to skim off the fat and save the brown pan drippings. You can make gravy, but I usually don't bother doing that because by the time the chicken is done I'm so hungry I can't wait. Once your chicken has rested, carve it and spoon some juices over it and enjoy!

Semolina Flatbreads

I make these all the time. The bread part is adapted from a recipe I found in Sunset. I don't think I've ever made these with their intended topping but I'm sure they're delicious that way.

Semolina Flatbreads

1 package active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour
2 tsps salt

Put one cup of water in a microwave-safe container (I like to use my measuring cup) and heat it for about 30 seconds, or until it is warm. You need it hotter than room temperature but not too hot because you're using it to proof your yeast. 100 degrees is ideal. It'll feel warm when you stick your finger in but not so hot you'll burn yourself. Put the yeast in the water and let it stand for about 5 minutes, or until it looks foamy.
Meanwhile, mix the flours and salt in a big bowl. When the yeast is ready, pour it in and stir. The mixture may seem dry; knead the dough lightly a couple of times to incorporate more flour. The dough will seem stiff and if you make a lot of bread it will look way too dry. Don't worry about it, just cover it and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it's risen to about 1 1/2 times its original size. When you have 15 or 20 minutes to go, preheat your oven to 450.

Now make some toppings! You can use whatever you want. My favorite is a mushroom and onion topping. I had some fresh shiitakes and trompettes on hand last night, so I cut those up along with some button mushrooms. I like to slice the onion thinly so I have long, skinny pieces, then I melt some butter and cook the onion until it's very soft and brown before I add the mushrooms. When I add the mushrooms to the pan I toss them a few times so they can soak up the butter or oil, then I let them sit while they cook. If you stir them too much while they are cooking, mushrooms can get rubbery. Letting them sit allows the ones on the bottom to brown. Add salt and pepper early in the cooking. The salt will help draw out the moisture.
When your hour is up and you've prepped all your toppings, get your dough ready. Knead it until it's smooth, then use a bench scraper or a knife to cut it into 16 pieces. Roll the pieces into balls and then roll them into little rounds with a rolling pin. Throw some toppings on! Last night I put mushies on half of them, topped those with cheese, and put chopped fresh dill and aged cheddar on the other half.
Once they're all rolled out and topped, bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they're puffed and golden and the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

I first tried this when it turned up in my delivery box from Auntie Em's. I loved it so I bought more when I saw it at the FM this week. Uncooked, it has a much stronger smell than regular broccoli and a pretty purplish color. I'm not a fan of steaming broccoli; you get uneven results (the pieces on the steamer basket get overcooked while the ones on top are raw). Parboiling gives you good color and even cooking. Contrary to popular lore, you are not going to boil out all the nutrients unless you boil your veggies until they're a soggy mess. I boil a big pot of water and put the broccoli in for two or three minutes (until it's bright green), then drain it well. After that I heat up a pan with some olive oil and stir-fry it for a couple of minutes. All it needs is a bit of crushed red pepper and some salt. Last night I added some crumbled bacon. Pancetta also works nicely with broccoli. You can leave the meat out, of course.

Lavender

My tips for growing lavender:
Dig out a little island in the sea of weeds you call a yard. Buy 3 varieties of lavender in 3" containers. Plant them too close together. Get pregnant during the summer and nap instead of watering your lavender. Fret that you've killed the lavender while your husband grumbles about that big dead spot where you planted it. Notice some green when it starts to rain again. Continue ignoring it anyway. Notice with amazement two years after you planted it and ignored it that your lavender is doing extremely well and has reached 20 times its size at purchase. Put lavender in vases all over the house, possibly increasing relaxation through aromatherapy which may lead to more plant neglect.

Seriously guys, I have a LOT of lavender. Does anyone need a sachet? Dried lavender? Lavender salt?

Asparagus and Morel Quiche

I nearly passed out from excitement when I saw morels at the FM today. I've been waiting ages for them to come into season. Lucky day! I bought almost a pound of them.
Next on my list was asparagus. It's at its best this time of year and it goes very well with morels. You can see my excitement about the morels hadn't worn off by the time I picked up the asparagus.

All the ingredients for the filling were purchased at the FM today. The cheese is traditional chevre from Redwood Hill Farm and I can't recommend it enough. And their website has incredibly cute pictures of goats, so you should go look at them. For the crust I follow Martha Stewart's pate brisee recipe.

For the filling:
About 1/2 lb. fresh morels, cleaned and sliced
1 bunch asparagus, hard ends discarded, broken into 1-inch pieces
1 shallot, minced
4 large eggs
1 cup cream
8 oz. chevre
4 or 5 leaves fresh tarragon, chopped finely
2 tbs. butter
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a large pan, then add the shallots. Cook shallots until they begin to look translucent and are browning at the edges. Add mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms begin to sweat, then add asparagus and cook until asparagus is bright green and getting tender. Remove from heat. Season to taste.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, and tarragon.
Roll out your dough and put it in a 9-inch pie plate. Spoon the mushroom mixture into the dough and break the chevre into pieces over it. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the quiche is puffy and golden and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting. Show it to your baby, who will consider eating it all or at least mashing it all in his hair.


I messed up the crust tonight; it tasted fine but looked awful. The quiche was amazing though! The ingredients were so fresh and tasty. I love spring. If you can't find morels, just sub regular button mushrooms or chanterelles.

Fava Bean Caprese Salad

Fava beans have been all over the FM for the past couple of weeks and I finally broke down and bought some today. The last time I cooked favas the recipe was a total disaster; I think I neglected to take the skins off the beans or something and for a while every time I mentioned fava beans my husband would shudder and make the disgusted noise he usually reserves for quinoa.
Have I mentioned that fava beans are a total pain in the ass? First you have to shell them, then you boil them for two minutes, then give them an ice-water bath until they cool, then you pop them out of their skins. You go from having a giant bagful of beans and thinking, "What will I do with all these fava beans!" to having half a cup of them after almost an hour of work. To make all the prep less boring sometimes I pretend I'm a farm wife, shelling beans on the frontier or whatever.
A couple of weekends ago Neela and I had lunch at Joan's on Third, where I saw a beautiful fava bean and fresh mozzarella salad in the deli case. I really wanted to try it, but our cheese plate and flatbreads cost $30 so I decided to skip it. I should have sampled it when I had the chance, but instead I just worked off of what it looked like to make a little spring salad for tonight. I bought heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella at the FM today. The basil and parsley came from my garden. This is less a recipe and more a list of what I used.

1 medium yellow tomato
4 small tomatoes (they looked like Romas, but were the color of brandywines. Ideas anyone?)
About half a cup of boiled and shelled fava beans
1 lb fresh mozzarella, small balls
A few sprigs of parsley
A few basil leaves
Olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper

Chop the tomatoes, removing seeds and pulp. Chop the herbs. Put everything in a bowl, dress, season, mix and chill.

Sean loved this salad. He asked what the beans were and when I told him he said, "Wow, I do like fava beans!" Win. Kieran liked the favas but not the tomatoes. Partial win.

Beet and Kumquat Salad

My husband said this picture looked like guts, but then he added, "But it tastes really good!" So there you go: this is a salad that kind of looks like guts, but is delicious. Even Kieran liked it! He had beet juice all over his face and Sean said he looked like a zombie. This recipe is adapted from one I picked up at the Schaner Farms booth at the Santa Monica FM.

Beet and Kumquat Salad

1 ripe avocado
1 bunch beets
1 cup kumquats
about 1/2 small red onion
olive oil
Champagne vinegar
lemon juice
salt and pepper

Peel and wash the beets. Trim the greens off and save them, or steam them and serve them with your dinner. Cut the beets into small cubes and boil or roast them until they're soft. Cut the avocado into small cubes and squeeze some lemon over it to prevent discoloration. Mince the onion and slice the kumquats. Mix the vegetables together, dress with olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. This salad tastes best if made ahead and then chilled for at least a few hours.

Spring Gardening

My big dreams for a garden in the backyard were thwarted for a bit when I got pregnant (and huge and lazy) and then was holed up taking care of a newborn. Getting outside and digging in the dirt seems like a monumental task when you're only sleeping 2 hours a night. But now that Kieran is 1 and I'm getting the hang of the whole mom thing, I've been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and spending some time in my veggie garden. I figured it would be a good idea to ease back into it with a few things that are easy to plant and grow. 'Rainbow Bright Lights' chard is one of my favorite garden veggies-- it requires very little attention and doesn't seem to attract aphids the way mustard greens and collards do, and starting it from seed is easy. I love to plant radishes and carrots together-- the radishes will be ready first, and as you pull them up the carrot seedlings get more sun and the soil is aerated. Lettuce is easy too, and I just snip leaves here and there to make little salads.

Here are my radishes! (AKA best ways to ruin a manicure)


I like it when I find little critters on my veggies, as long as they're good little critters. This is a late-instar ladybird beetle larva. For all of you non-entomologists, that's like an adolescent ladybug. They're voracious predators of aphids and other pest insects, and I'm glad to have them around.


I also potted some herbs today: basil, summer savory, French thyme, and these guys:

English Mint


Italian flat-leaf parsley


Sage