Recently, after a long drive, Chuck and I arrived home and really didn’t feel like cooking. I happened to have most of the ingredients for a great antipasto on hand, so this is what I threw together. Granted, all together, this looks like a lot of work to start from scratch, but the components can all be used in a variety of combinations.

From bottom left, in clockwise order:

• Anchovies – just plain old canned flat fillets in oil
• Canellini bean paste: I make a couple variations of this, but it’s essentially, cannelini beans (fresh or canned), garlic or a garlic scape, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, herbs to taste. I recommend thyme or an Italian mix. You can cook the garlic and beans together first or just mix everything together in the food processor.
• Pesto: made with homegrown basil and garlic from my garden
• Roasted garlic and stuffed cherry peppers (storebought)
• Breaded, sauteed artichoke hearts
• Grilled, marinated asparagus: olive oil, balsamic, garlic, salt, pepper
• Roasted red peppers
• Caponata – my dad’s recipe is a great balance of sweet and savory (see below for details)

All served on a bed of farm-grown arugula.  Throughout, there is also shaved parmigiano regiano cheese and sliced sourdough bread.  How else would you scoop up all those delicious goodies?

Caponata:
1 small eggplant
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/4 yellow onion
1 t. sugar
1-2 T. red wine vinegar
salt, pepper to taste
1/8 c. golden raisins, modify to avoid making it too sweet for your taste
1-2 T. capers
2 T. toasted pine nuts
3 T. balsamic vinegar
1-2 T. olive oil

Thickly slice an eggplant, salt and drain in a colander lined with paper towel. (2-3 hours)Chop into cubes.Sauté, garlic, celery, onions and eggplant in olive oil for 10 minutes. Add sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Add golden raisins and capers.  Cook 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat; add toasted pine nuts and some balsamic vinegar. Cool and refrigerate for a day.

Our farm share started in June while I was out of the country, so I missed the first few weeks, but we’ve been getting local fresh veggies for the last several weeks, and boy, do I love it!  Here is last week’s share, featuring carrots, orange beets, a head of lettuce, pickling cucumbers, garlic, spring onions and eggplant.

We had some similar items in the share this week, but tomatoes and corn also made an appearance.  Mmm…

I haven’t been blogging lately, but I have been cooking, so now it’s time to do a little catching up. I’ll start with a couple highlights:

Tomatillo Avocado Salsa

Rick Bayless is a great chef of Mexican food, dorky for sure, but a real inspiration.  I watched an episode of Mexico: One Plate at a Time, and he made salsa verde that was so easy I just had to try it.  He said I could use 2 serrano chiles, but he didn’t tell me it that it would be quite so spicy! After my first bite, I had to tame the salsa, so this isn’t exactly Rick’s recipe – lime juice and avocado were my additions.

Blend the following in a blender:

1-2 serrano chiles
1 small onion, yellow or vidalia
4 tomatillos (use more to balance the serranos)
1/2 – 3/4 of an avocado (again, use more to minimize the heat)
1 clove garlic
a handful of cilantro
juice of 1 lime, along with some zest

You can eat it right away, use it as a dip or a sauce.  The bright green color brightens up any plate.  It keeps in the fridge for a couple weeks.

Rosemary Lamb

Nothing too fancy here, but this sure was delicious – olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and plenty of fresh rosemary.

Recently Saveur magazine featured Roman food.  As if reading about eating in Rome was not inspirational enough, the pictures did me in.  I just had to cook these dishes–or as many of them as I could–I settled on tackling four.  An ambitious meal for a weeknight, but well worth it!

I’ll let the photos do most of the work on this post.  They’ll do more justice than writing possibly could, but in the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I learned that balsamic vinegar and butter can catch on fire (oopsy daisy).  Watch it closely if you’re cooking on a gas stove when starting the pork dish.  Thankfully my husband wasn’t home yet, so there are no pictures of the flames or smokey kitchen that resulted.

Maiale in Agrodolce

With every burner on the stove going, running to the backyard to grill the pork wasn’t feasible for me, but I bet it would be even more delicious had I grilled it.

Cacio e Pepe

Adding pasta put this meal over the top in terms of quantity of food, but I was dying to try this simple pasta dish.  I should have been a little more liberal with the pepper!

Broccoli Strascinati

Not for the faint of heart when it comes to garlic.

Finocchio con Latte al Forno

If you clicked on this link (or know Italian), then you know this is a fennel dish.  I must appeal to those of you who think you hate fennel because it tastes like licorice.  Raw, yes, it does, and I can’t stand it.  But cooking fennel can completely eliminate the anise-y flavor.  The preparation here seems very odd (braising in milk?  Really?).  I was quite skeptical, but it was absolutely delicious.

I would like to dedicate this post to Tami, who I hope can taste vicariously through me!  It is for her that I post only the Italian names of these dishes.

Although I am completely comfortable cooking for my husband, I get a bit shy about cooking for a crowd.  Growing up, I always shied away from the spotlight – the stage manager, the sports manager, never one with all eyes on me – so I guess that makes sense.  People who know me don’t believe my claim to shyness, but it’s there.  So it doesn’t surprise me that cooking for others is not my forte.  Oh sure, I’m fine with a few appetizers when we host a party, but I’m talking about feeding dinner to 10 hungry friends.  And that’s exactly what I’ve done twice in the last 6 weeks.

Mexican Valentine
In mid-February, we had friends from North Carolina in town, and we invited a bunch of people over to celebrate their arrival.  In total, I think we were 13.  Well, I just had to show off my new tortilla press.  My plan was for everyone to press a couple of their own tortillas and make fajitas.  As it turns out, corn tortillas are pretty tough to make (Chuck and I had made flour tortillas, but this was our inaugural corn pressing).  Thanks to Chuck and one unlucky guest who (probably regrettably) volunteered, we made a ton of tortillas.  And people enjoyed chicken and vegetarian fajitas, as well as an enchilada casserole (based loosely on the recipe linked here, but presented as a mexican lasagna), guacamole, and my mother’s pork carnitas (leave a comment if you’d like the recipe).  Everything was a hit, maybe because of the margaritas, but people really seemed to enjoy the food.

Cooking for 10 without a Stove
A couple weeks ago, I went skiing in Vermont with 10 of my closest friends, some of whom I hadn’t met until my arrival at the house we rented.  Fortunately for snow-enthusiasts, Vermont had gotten dumped on (40 inches in 48 hours is pretty serious back east).  Unfortunately, however, that much snow means widespread power outages, and the house we were staying in was in the dark.  Despite the arrival of a generator, we had to be quite conscious of our power consumption, which meant not using the stove or oven.  And I decided to attempt making dinner for everyone.  Call it dinner impossible if you will, but I thought I could provide dinner for 11 using just a grill.  Ha!  To make a long story short, I came home early from snowshoeing, giving me the chance to do my shopping and prep work.  Everyone else came off the slopes a couple hours later and was welcomed with guacamole and shrimp cocktail.  And at 6pm the power came back!  Phew.  By then, I knew cooking steak with onions and peppers, broccoli and red potatoes was a mightier feat than the grill could handle in any reasonable length of time.  And I didn’t want to serve broccoli as a course by itself.  Dinner wasn’t great, but it was good.  And certainly better than anyone else had planned for dinner.

So I’m getting over my fear of cooking for a group.  Sure, I’d love to be a little more refined in my cooking, but I also try to find a balance between the stress of being the perfect hostess and simply serving a good meal for friends.  They seem to appreciate it, and I just need to remember that I will always be my harshest critic.

Winter in New England.  It has been appropriately cold and snowy so far this winter.  And that means soup.  In the last three days I have made lots of it.

First, French Onion (and Mushroom).  Wondering what to do with the leftover onion skins? I made a couple quarts of vegetable broth and tossed them in the freezer for a later date.

I also made chicken soup, with no particular recipe.  I started with a mirepoix plus garlic (I am Italian, afterall).  I browned some skin-on chicken thighs, added water, herbs and let it simmer for a while.  I removed the chicken thighs and cut them into pieces before adding them back into the soup.  Once it cooled I skimmed most of the chicken fat off the top so that it’s not greasy and unhealthy.  Here, you could choose to add the chicken bones to the veggie broth or start a chicken broth from scratch.  Use every ingredient to its fullest!

Finally, I made vegetarian tortilla soup.  It’s so quick and reaches maximum flavor potential very quickly.  Perfect for getting home late and whipping up a healthy, filling dinner on a very chilly evening.  My mouth still burns as I post this, but you can alter the heat to your taste.  Here’s my recipe:

Elizabeth’s Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

INGREDIENTS:

1 t. olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 small onion, diced
1 cups tomato sauce
1.5 cup bottled salsa
1 can corn, including liquid
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
.5 teaspoon cumin
1  teaspoon chile powder
.5 teaspoon cayenne
.5 teaspoon chipotle seasoning, optional
5 small corn tortillas
.5 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350.  Break corn tortillas into pieces and coat lightly with vegetable oil.  Spread evenly on cookie sheet and back for 4-6 minutes, watching carefully and turning/stirring frequently.  Remove when lightly toasted and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.  Note: If you prefer to use store-bought chips, feel free, but I find the toasted chips make a big difference.

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil in medium-large sauce pan.  Add next 8 ingredients.  Simmer for at least 10 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Top w/ cheddar cheese (optional).

So I failed New Year’s, culinarily speaking.  I had a grand Mediterranean plan for a small New Year’s eve gathering.  Well, perhaps grand is not quite the right adjective.  I was trying to stay sane and not go overboard, so perhaps “Modest Mediterranean” is a better description.  This was the menu:

Tsatsiki
Babaganoush
Home-made whole wheat pita bread
Artichoke-stuffed mushrooms
Greek-spiced baked shrimp
Baked goat cheese with olives and tomatoes
Homemade sourdough bread

I made the first three items, none of which particularly excited me, the day before New Year’s eve.  I tried a new pita bread recipe, and it was quite dense.  I’ll have to find a happy medium between this recipe and the nice light one that makes my home spell like burnt cornmeal (no mystery there).  I was quite sick on New Year’s Eve, so I didn’t get to the rest of the recipes, and stayed in bed trying to figure out how to drag myself into the kitchen to avoid disappointing myself and my guests, but I never made it.  Nor did we have the planned amaretto margaritas or pomegranate-champagne cocktails I had planned on.  But everyone seemed to have a great night nonetheless.

Tonight, however, I’m pretty sure I’m back on track!  The other day I found baby shiitake mushrooms at the grocery store, and I just couldn’t resist.  So I combined those with tofu and broccolini, and made a delicious Asian dinner.  Here’s how I did it:

1 pkg. extra firm tofu
1 T. honey
3 T. ponzu
1 t. crushed red pepper
1/4 c. hoisin sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 c. chicken broth (substitute veggie broth to make this a vegan dish)
3 oz. baby shiitake mushrooms
1 t. sesame oil
2 t. chili oil

Drain moisture from tofu by resting entire block on paper towel for at least 20 minutes. While tofu is drying, combine all with next 7 ingredients (through mushrooms).  Cut tofu into cubes (I make 1/2-inch cubes in order to maximize my marinade-to-tofu ratio).  Marinate tofu and  mushrooms in liquid mixture for at least 24 hours.

Cut broccolini into thirds, saute in wok in sesame oil.  Remove to a bowl when cooked to your liking.  Add chili oil to wok.  When hot, add tofu and mushroom mix.  Saute for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add broccolini back in to reheat.  Serve and enjoy – hope you like it spicy!

Having been travelling and then sick for the last…oh, I don’t know how long…I am happy to be home and feel up to cooking.  And I’m interested in getting back to the basics of my blog, which is to share more about my kitchen antics.  Tonight I made two yummy dishes that weren’t a match made in heaven.  But each, on its own, was scrumptious!

First, I made New Orleans-style Shrimp.  Nothing could be easier.  Just don’t save the marinade, as the spiciness drifts toward the bottom of the bowl, foil, dish.  The best is at the bottom!

And while this should be served on a bed of rice to soak up the sauce, I desperately wanted to make an orzo dish.  I’ve come across a few in the past week or so, and this one was particularly appealing: Orzo with artichokes and pine nuts.  I added broccoli, and where it suggested tobasco, I added sriracha and tapatio, two of my favorite hot sauces.

While the orzo was not the best complement to the shrimp, each dish was, in its own right, delicious, flavorful and easy.  Even for someone ill after a full day back at work.  I’m just happy to be creating.

Note: For those who don’t get the title reference, look at the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup marketing from the 70′s and 80′s…

At the request of my sniffly, sinus-headachy husband, this afternoon I made potato-leek soup.  It’s very creamy, considering that there is no cream or milk base.  And I nailed the spices on it on my first try.

Here is the recipe I use, though with a starchy-soup, I don’t make cheese toast to go with it.  A little salad or light veggie on the side seems a better option to me.  And as the name suggests, it is a very pretty soup.  Full of flavor and so easy to make.

Here are my adaptations: I used 3 smallish local leeks and as many potatoes as we had in the kitchen, 2 large, 4 medium and 2 itty-bitty babies that were challenging to peel.  I accidentally browned a few of the leeks, and in a moment of panic concern, I added an extra tablespoon of butter.  I also substituted one can of chicken broth for one of vegetable broth, added a bit more salt than the recipe calls for, and used a hand blender instead of a potato masher.  I recommend keeping it a little bit chunky.  A great quick soup that doesn’t need sitting time to develop its full flavor and won’t interrupt Sunday afternoon football.  A win-win situation!

If it isn’t already apparent, I am passionate about cooking.  I watch Hell’s Kitchen, Top Chef (regular and Master’s), Food Network Challenge, Ace of Cakes, Kitchen Nightmares, Iron Chef (original and America) and the occasional cooking show.  I listen to The Splendid Table podcast.  Last month I read “Julie and Julia” and am working through “Omnivore’s Dilemma.”  While I do have other interests including gardening, particularly growing my own veggies, clearly food is my passion.  Two long-standing sources of inspiration, however, are about to exit my life, and it is these two publications that I would like to honor here: Cooking Light and Gourmet.

I have been receiving Cooking Light, courtesy of my parents, for the last 11 years and Gourmet for about the last five. This fall I decided that I have outgrown Cooking Light and asked my mother not to renew my subscription. I just find that I’m a bit bored with it, and I’m seeing too many recipes reprinted over the years.  My decision to end such a long relationship was confirmed Cooking Light’s “new look” which was displayed in the very next magazine on my doorstep. What had been a somewhat scary and agonizing decision for me – ending an 11 year relationship was nothing I took lightly – became the easiest choice in the world.  I hate the new branding.  I can’t tell the ads from the once-familiar monthly features. Everything is bright and friendly and kitty-corner on the page, and it screams out to me that I am no longer their target audience. It makes me feel old.  While I appreciate the years of recipes that Cooking Light has given me, I am ready to say goodbye.

In contrast, I am not ready to give up on Gourmet.  It has been ripped from my hands all too soon, leaving me wounded and lost.  In October, Conde Nast announced that, on the advice of McKinsey and Company, they were going to stop publishing Gourmet.  I understand that for them it was a business decision, but for me it is a very emotional one.  My in-laws said they considered sending me a sympathy card, and it would not have been unappreciated.  Typically the November issues of cooking magazines are my least favorite (I don’t host Thanksgiving or have much say in preparation of anything, so the latest ideas about reinventing the traditional meal are lost on me).  This year, however, I savored every detail.  Expecting a heartfelt goodbye from editor Ruth Reichl, I was surprised to find a standard Thanksgiving and family letter.  I don’t know if Conde Nast pulled the plug so rapidly that there was no time for a goodbye or if it was a conscious decision to exclude it, but I must say that I was disappointed.  It reminds me of the last episode of the Sopranos, where the loose ends just don’t get tied up neatly.  I say that I will boycott Conde Nast products and publications for life, but the anger will likely fade.  In time.

In the meantime, I have been left magazine-less, so I must keep moving on.  I’ve decided that I’m going to start getting Saveur.  I have only read a few issues over the years, and what seemed intimidating to me early on in my culinary days is now very approachable.  It helped that the cover of the issue I picked up in the midst of this turmoil is all about lamb.  This was a hot topic around the time of my wedding, with my husband insisting that we serve it at our reception, and several others, including the inn owner, declaring that most people don’t even like lamb.  We ran out, and my husband will forever be right to call an “I told  you so” about the situation.  So the proclamation on the cover of Saveur, “Why Lamb Rules” was amusing and timely.  And I found that Saveur is not over my head.  In fact, it made me want to raise sheep and sell lamb at a farmer’s market.  Somewhere, someday.

So with the my magazine choices settled, I am ready.  Ready for new inspiration.  For reinvention.  Ready for the biggest changes in my kitchen since…well, really only since June, when we started getting the farm share.  But more change is coming to my kitchen.  So stay tuned…