A planted garden with a happy pie ending

Today was a garden day.  Perhaps THE pinnacle of garden days this spring, as it was the day that the tomatoes were finally planted.  For those of you installing a garden this year, you know all about it....the dirty clothes and shoes, the weary back and arms, the fresh dug dirt smell, and the feeling of utter elation that it is finally in!!  For the rest of you, I know you will be hoping and waiting for our tomatoes to ripen so that you can visit with precision timing this summer.....a well-planned drop-in visit can yield large amounts of fresh veggies if all goes like this picture from the summer of 2008!  Keep those fingers crossed!!

Making the list this year are 10 tomato plants, of five different heirloom varieties. (Brandywine, Mr. Stripey, Amish Paste, Pineapple, Green Zebra).  Three of the varieties were started from seeds that I saved from those beauties 2 years ago!   Sadly, last year's heirloom bounty was a bust in this garden, as the blight struck us hard.  Yes, there were a few to harvest, but nothing to brag about for sure.   We are hoping for greater success this year.

We've got a few other things growing as well:  asparagus, rhubarb, raspberries, 2 new blueberry bushes, an herb garden, zucchini, pattypan, cantaloupe, winter squash, cucumber, lima bean, green bean, beet, carrot, 4 kinds of peppers, tomatillo, 2 kinds of eggplant, radish, green onion, swiss chard, arugula, red and green lettuces.  Whew.  I am exhausted just making the list.  It HAS been a long day.

Which leads me to the pie part.  After the long, laborious, hot and sunny day in the garden, we got visitors!!!  Four to be exact.  All of our parents showed up, taking advantage of the lovely weather to take a little drive.  Arriving just in time to see us drag our tired shovels out of the garden, the quick decision was made to catch dinner in town.   A wise decision, as no food was materializing from this house.  Off to Goodfella's we went.

After a very fulfilling meal, a single person ventured to order dessert.  But when Nutella Pie was announced as an option, all of our ears perked up.  Still, only one slice was ordered, but upon it's arrival, forks were raised all around and that single slice was quickly laid to rest.  Happily licking our forks we mused, "I wonder how you make a Nutella Pie?".   Once home, a quick google search happily answered that query, and you are the benefactors of this story.  Do make this pie soon.  I plan to.  Does it sound seriously easy or what?   Invite a few friends over (like me!) if you do, and they too will share in the joy that is Nutella Pie!

Nutella Pie (adapted from http://flavorsofabruzzo.com/2009/02/05/whipped-nutella-pie-for-world-nutella-day/)


1 pre-baked pie crust of  your choice


1 8oz.  package of cream cheese
1 cup Nutella
1 cup heavy cream - whipped


chocolate sauce or chocolate shavings for the top


Directions:  Combine cream cheese and nutella in a mixer, mix until well combined and creamy.  Fold in whipped heavy cream until just combined.  Spread into prepared pie shell.  Chill for at least 1 hour.  Serve with grated chocolate or drizzled with chocolate sauce.  

A Thousand Splendid Asparagus

This time last year a blog was born.  It was a time of celebration for my asparagus patch, which was dutifully sprouting the first spears of the spring, beautiful tips tightly closed and purple-tinged.  One year later the asparagus rises again.  And again and again if luck has it.  This blog too, has remained steadfast.  Though a bit more time may elapse between posts, it lives on.  Thank you for tuning in from time to time, and thank you for sharing your thoughts about it.  Your input - whether in person, or posting to the blog - inspires me.  Keep it up!!


As asparagus season rolls out in Western PA and farmer's markets begin to open up (May 8th for some of my favorites), hopefully you can get your hands on some freshly grown local spears.  Or maybe you'd rather drop by here and pick a few.  Either way, you may feel as I do that its time to try out some new recipes alongside your old favorites.  Because the production around here is fast and furious (and short-lived), I'm looking for ways to keep from getting bored.  Last year's big hit was the Cream of Asparagus Soup.  If you've not yet tried it out, make it your goal this spring.


Tonight was not the night for it though.  Tired from a long work week, not wanting to go to the trouble of making a pretty simple soup, I was looking for a quick fix.   Admittedly, I made the mistake this week of over-roasting a set of stalks. Though I do love oven-roasted asparagus, these were made limp, and dreadfully  stringy by my over-calculation of cooking time.  Not wanting to repeat that textural error, I went for the slightly cooked plan, and it was a winner.  In fact, I would go as far as to say this minimal cooking time was just perfect, resulting in just barely tender spears that yielded ever-so-slightly when bitten.  Even better was the flavor combination, a punch of lemon that only fresh grated rind can produce, combined with the salty/briny, earthy complexity of a well-aged parmesan cheese.


Cheers to you on this momentous occasion.  Keep reading, and I'll do my best to send more interesting things your way.


Lemon Parmesan Asparagus


1 bunch of asparagus, tough ends removed, remaining cut into 2-3" lengths
Olive oil  
Salt 
Pepper
Finely grated lemon peel from 1 fresh lemon
Freshly grated parmesan cheese


Directions:  Set pan of water to boil.  Add lengths of asparagus to boiling water.  Time for 2 minutes at full boil.  Remove spears and run quickly under cold water to stop cooking process.  Place drained asparagus on serving plate.  Dress lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Grate fresh lemon rind over spears, then fresh parmesan.

Home Style Mexican Dinner

Almost like clockwork, Mexican food beckons......weekly at a bare minimum around here.  Usually, that is the all the reason needed to head off to the nearest authentic Mexican restaurant and dig into some hot  salty chips and fresh spicy salsa, slow-simmered mashed and smokey pinto beans and something wrapped inside a tortilla.  You know what I'm talking about.  It's just so easy, and so tasty.  The thing is, its not so hard to whip up a decent south-of-the-border type dinner at home, it just takes a little bit pre-planning.

My favorite dish to order when I see it on the menu is  Carnitas.  For those uninitiated, this is a delicious, fall-apart pork dish, crispy on the outside, unbelievable tender inside, flavorful chunks of porky-ness served with flour or corn tortillas and toppings to create your own little wraps.  Turns out, it's an easy one to make at home as long as you have a crock pot, and a little time on your hands.   Since pork is the star here, it makes sense to find a great quality piece of meat.  We are lucky to have some local producers of pork here in the 'burgh, and that's where I'd start if I were you.  And don't forget, its the shoulder or butt that you want.  That's the piece with all of the flavor, imbedded with pork fat, that allows this cut to melt so beautifully.  Even a bone in the cut is OK.  It will be easy to pull out after you slow cook it.

So first, you slow cook the well seasoned (salt and pepper) pork shoulder on bed of raw onions until the meat melts into tender chunks.  Then, you take the entire contents of the crock pot - fat, slumpy onions, and pork, and toss into a hot saute pan, searing at high heat to create the crispy finish that defines a good batch of carnitas.  Be sure it is well done, crispy, and seasoned.

What I love about the result is that you can create the wrap of your dreams with that delicious pork.  My favorite things to dress it with are homemade guacamole and salsa, lettuce, diced red onion, and a drizzle of sour cream mixed with a little milk (a home version of mexican crema).  But you can top yours entirely differently!  One thing it really does NOT need is cheese, the calling card of many mexican dishes.  I think it's due to the richness of the pork that makes cheese an unnecessary afterthought.  In fact, I imagine it would do more to mask the flavor of the pork than accent it.   But you cheese-heads out there may disagree, and can go ahead and give it a try!  Myself, I am thinking of those smokey beans, and hoping some may come my way soon.  

Secrets of a great chocolate chunk cookie.

Do you know what the best way is to smash up a big hunk of dark chocolate?  It's  probably fortunate that I don't.  Otherwise, these cookies might become a nightly feature around here, and that can only lead to trouble.  But, if you figure it out, and want to share your method with me, post it here and we can all try to resist making these little lovelies too often.

You don't really HAVE to mess with the standard chocolate chip cookie recipe too much in my estimation.   But there are several little secrets held amongst those who bake them most often (hello to my sister's family), and somehow their cookies just come out better than mine.  Though I don't know all the secrets that they have, I'm going to share a few secrets that I encountered when I tried out this new recipe.  Shhhh. Don't tell anyone, or they will no longer be secrets.

First, a really interesting technique that tests your willpower right up front.  Age the dough.  Yes, that means to make it a day or two in advance, put in the fridge, and forget about it for a while.  It really does amazing things to the flavor complexity of the dough.   Second use some whole grain flour.  Try just subbing out a small part of the flour.  It gives the dough some "teeth", which I think improves the taste.  Third, don't overbake them.  Really don't overbake them.  Keep an eagle eye on them, and take them out of the oven just before you think you should.  Fourth, put away the bagged chocolate chips.  You won't need them here.  Find a big dark chocolate bar (here's secret #5:  Trader Joe's has pound plus belgian dark chocolate bars for cheap!).

Here's the tricky part:  Figure out a way to smash it into various sized shards, which will inevitably be the key to making a really awesome multi-dimensional cookie.  I'm sparing you the photography of my smashing event.  It's nothing I'm proud of.  I started innocently enough, on the solid-surface countertop, while still wrapped in its package, banging away at the bar using various instruments.  No luck.  It split open the package into gaping paper wounds spilling out chocolate dust everywhere, but no shards.  I pulled out my meat mallet, ready to do some real business, but decided I needed a way to "capture" the shards that would otherwise fly.  An "ahah" moment:  a kitchen towel!!  Wrapping the naked bar in the towel, I started by whacking at it on the counter.  Moments later I realized that was a bad idea for the longevity of my counter, so quickly moved to the tile floor.  Bashing meat hammer to cloth towel to chocolate bar to tile floor was great way to release pent up emotions, and gather the dogs to the chaos that was ensuing in the hallway.

The end result was questionable.  Yes, shards of chocolate, varying sizes from dust to quite large.  Towel?  Torn to shreds, imbedded deeply with chocolate, worthless.  Floor?  Unbroken, thankfully.  Dogs?  Puzzled, but happy with chocolate dust smell.  Cookies?  Priceless.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Perfect Chocolate Chunk Cookies


3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
    Stir these together in a separate bowl
2 sticks of butter
1 cup white sugar
1.5 cups brown sugar
   Cream these together in mixer, for about 3 minutes
3 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
   Add these to creamed butter/sugar mixture


Gradually mix in flour mixture on low speed, mixing just to combine and no longer.  
Add 14 oz. dark chocolate shards.


Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour, but 1-2 days is even better.
Form cookies into  approx. 2" balls.  Roughly a big handful.  Don't worry about packing it into perfect balls.  I loosely structured mine, and they turned out fine. 
*Bake at 350 degrees, for 11-13 minutes, on trays lined with parchment paper.  Halfway through baking, switch around trays on racks (up to down, front to back).  At this point, you are also assessing how much more baking time.  Check them often after this halfway point.  


*note:  I finally bought an oven thermometer...highly recommended.  

The Best Salad I Ever Had

It's been a week of salads.  I guess it's that I'm so tired of winter, and in so being, craving fresh vegetables.  I can't explain it any other way.  Unfortunately, this also lines up with the dirth of fresh vegetables that are available locally, unless  you count all of the stuff being flown in from South America.  I guess we should be glad for it, or we'd all be stuck eating canned and frozen stuff.  Trying to escape the snow,  I had a great salad this weekend at a sweet  place in Cleveland.  Tommy's, in Coventry, just outside of Cleveland, is awesome.  A diner of sorts, mostly vegetarian, and all the way funky.  Fantastic milk shakes and fries, of course, which should define a great diner.  But beyond that, a highly creative, funkified menu...some hits and some misses to be sure, but you have to give them credit for inventive.  I tucked into mulligatawny soup and an iceberg salad with tuna and loved every bite (sorry that sounds so ordinary, but it hit the spot).  What made the salad over-the-top was  not just the raisins and sunflower seeds mixed in with the ice cold veggies, but the coup de gras, the Louie dressing.  I've not seen it offered before as a dressing choice, so I jumped right on it.  Good call.  I wish I lived right next door to Tommy's sometimes.

But I digress.  Even with the great salad I had this past weekend, it still barely holds a candle to The Best Salad I Ever Had.  You may remember this reference from an earlier post, and I've been holding out on you.  I truly intended to bestow this little gem to the world at large for Valentine's Day, just in time for you to share it with your sweetheart.  But I blew it.  Maybe you can surprise them with a lovely salad for St. Patti's day, which is right around the corner.  May I introduce you to Salad de Chevre Chaud (Hot Goat Cheese Salad).   The hardest part about making this salad is finding the right cheese.  So, my tactic is that when I stumble on the right cheese, I go home and make this salad.  Tah Dah.  Problem solved.  You won't find a log-shaped, gooey outer ringed, ashy middled, moderately aged, goat cheese on every street corner.  You will need to go to a specialty cheese shop for this one.  Ask for Bucheron.  Or something quite like it, as their are several possiblities that will work just fine.  I guess if you were desperate, you could stick with a log of fresh goat cheese, but you will lose a lot in the translation.

I found this salad when I was headed to Belgium last summer.   My friend Jenny, who formerly lived in Belgium, told me to look out for this classic dish.  I found it in the old town of Brugge, and promptly ordered up.  It was good, but not quite fantastic.  Surprisingly, a small cafe in the Netherlands changed my mind.  When their version arrived to the table, it was a jaw-dropper.  And it all had to do with the cheese, really.  After complimenting the chef, my challenge was to recreate it at home.  With the help of the cheese lady at Penn Mac (DearHeart), I was able to find a great goat cheese.  The rest is now history, and you are witness.  Buckle the seatbelt, you're gonna need it.

Salad de Chevre Chaud


high quality fresh mixed salad greens (red or green leaf lettuce, spring mix, butter lettuce, etc)
tomatoes
cucumbers
toasted walnuts or pecans
red onions (optional)
fresh made croutons (optional)
Simple olive oil and vinegar dressing (see below)


Bucheron goat cheese sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
Honey, for drizzling


Lay out salad greens and veggies. Dress lightly with high end extra virgin olive oil.  Sprinkle with high quality sherry vinegar (or sub with champagne vinegar, or white wine vinegar).  Sprinke salad lightly with fresh ground salt and pepper.
Place cheese rounds on lightly sprayed aluminum foil.  Place in oven at 300 degrees for approx. 5 minutes.  Keep your eye on this.  You want it to start to slump, but not to melt, so watch carefully.
Scrape the goat cheese round onto the center of the salad. Lastly, drizzle both greens and cheese with a local raw honey (in the picture, I am using a local lavender honey).  Enjoy immensely.

Ahhhh, Snow Day!!!

Actually, make that 3.  In a row.  So the title should be more like, "Arrrrrgghhh, Snow Day".  I mean, one is really good.  Exciting.  Fun.  Necessary.  Restful.  Relaxing.  Recharging.

By the time we hit two, the walls start to close in.  The snow starts to get a little too white and a little too cold.  Shoveling gets a bit more strenuous. The world starts to feel very far away.

But today is day 3.  I have run out of "things I've been waiting for a snow day to cook".  I actually do have that category, by the way.  I start saving those recipes up when fall hits.  They are often more time consuming than a simple dinner usually allows.  Maybe more ambitious, maybe more risky.  Sometimes they even involve...... gasp.......YEAST.  ***Shhhhhh.......if truth be told, I'm still saving a yeast recipe, even after 3 snow days in a row and major cabin fever.  I even have collected all of the ingredients just in case I decide to brave it.  But I haven't gotten there yet.  


However, yesterday did involve making bread.  A flat bread, otherwise known as a Tortilla!!!  It was an exciting snow day for sure.  I've never done this before, and really, it wasn't all that complicated.  The end result felt a bit luxurious and indulgent.  Definitely worth the extra effort, but I can guarantee that will likely wait for another snow day (not that I'm asking for one at this point).   It is a little labor intensive for this gringo.   (By the way, I used the recipe I found on this site).

The other recipe I'd been waiting to make is a New Mexican Chile Verde.  Homemade, sultry, spicy - but with a low, smooth heat that warms your toes very nicely.  Just perfect on a cold, snowy day.  I can thank my Uncle Ralph for inspiring this dish.  Although it is a modified version than he provided me with, it was his suggestion that got it started.  What made it really come together was a stash of roasted poblano peppers that I had secreted away in the freezer after a glut of them arrived at the local farmer's market in the fall.  My mom and I bought a big basket of them, roasted them on the grill, then peeled away the charred skin and froze them in little bags.  A couple of those bags went right in this lovely stew, and the rest is photographic history.  Now to put another log on the fire.....

New Mexican Chile Verde


3 T rendered bacon fat  (from about 3 slices of bacon)
1 chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp ancho chile powder
2 T cornmeal
1 tsp salt
2 lbs boneless pork, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
3-4 cups chicken stock (start with 3, add more as needed)
approx. 2 cups of chopped roasted poblano (from 10 fresh poblano peppers)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp ground cumin


Fry onion and garlic in bacon fat over medium high heat, until onion starts to brown in spots.  Mix chile powder, cornmeal and salt in separate bowl and toss pork cubes with this mixture.  Push aside onions in pan and add pork.  Saute, turning every few minutes, until pork is browned on all sides.  Add chicken stock and stir, scraping bottom of pan to release browned bits.  Stir in poblano peppers.  Lower heat to simmer, put on lid, and cook over low heat for about 2 hours, until pork is very tender.  Salt, pepper and cumin can be added to taste at end.  Serve with hot tortillas, cheese and sour cream.

I'll just have a bowl of oatmeal.

Weekends are great for so many reasons.  And probably like you, I spend all week looking forward to them, counting down the days till they get here.  So much so in fact, that it often seems I forget all of the good things that can happen during the work week.  For me, having breakfast "out" defines many-a-happy-weekend.  And I often wonder why?  I mean, what's so hard about frying up a couple of eggs, making scratch pancakes, a little sizzling pork fat....it isn't rocket science we are talking about, right?  Why is going out for breakfast so alluring?  I'm pretty sure the home version of a weekend breakfast will often trump what I can order out in most local establishments.  Yet still, I want to go out for breakfast.  My major complaint often revolves around the menu.  Not much innovative or interesting happening 'round these parts.  Seems that a lot of people have pretty simple breakfast tastes, and I think it's time for that to change.

For me, I think my love of breakfast out is because I have been to some REALLY good breakfast spots, and I clearly recall each of those finds.  They always seem to be when I am on vacation somewhere.....a diner in Taos, NM with awesome Huevos Rancheros, a crunchy organic bistro in Bar Harbor, Maine with weird but amazing omelets, out-of-this-world red bean and rice, biscuits and jam at Lucille's in Ft. Collins, CO, european style breakfast buffets in Germany with quark and great cheeses, a southern breakfast platter with grits at Mothers in New Orleans. Well, I guess even Pamela's hotcakes wrapped around fresh strawberries here in Pittsburgh can qualify.  You know, I'm reliving each yummy thing by just typing this.  Hold on, I gotta jump on a travel website and check some airfares!!

I'm back.....You know what I always want to order when I get to those funky far-flung breakfast spots that I so love?  Oatmeal.  Yep, Oatmeal.  That even sounds weird to me, seeing as I don't love oatmeal.  But, funky breakfast spots have a way of making it sound good, and, well, tempting.  So, to fulfill my need for funky breakfast spots, and tempt myself to stay home on Saturday morning, I've been working on my oatmeal.  I figure, what can it hurt?  It's kinda good for you, its comfort food, and not one place in a 15 mile radius of my house has a bowl of interesting oatmeal on it's menu.  I'm starting an oatmeal revolution!

Here are the secrets I have uncovered.  Number one.  Use good oatmeal.  No, not instant oats.  Steel cut are best, if you like lots of texture.  I'm a fan of a mixed grain that I've found at a local bulk food store, which has six different grains including oats and barley.  Number two.  Cook with milk, not water.  I never considered this step before, but what a difference it makes.  Immediately when it starts cooking on the stovetop, I smell cookies, which certainly is not all bad.  Third.  Throw in dried cherries when it is cooking.  Cherries, not raisins.  I'm in love with a 3 cherry mix that I found.  When they plump up in the milk, you'd almost think they were fresh picked.  Fourth.  Add in vanilla and a bit of brown sugar while cooking. (getting hungry now).  Fifth.  Top it off with fresh toasted pecans and a drizzle of maple syrup. Oh, sliced bananas go great here to at this point too.  Whew.  What a bowl of oatmeal.

If you saw this on the menu at your favorite local diner when you sat down for Saturday morning breakfast, would it attract you?  Would you eschew bacon and eggs and order it?  I'm telling you, an oatmeal revolution is in my grasp.


Saturday Morning Oatmeal 
(serves 2-3)


1 cup quality oatmeal
2 cups low fat milk 
pinch salt
sprinkle of cinnamon
3 T brown sugar
nice size handful of dried cherries
1 tsp vanilla
nice size handful of raw pecans, toasted and lightly salted
sliced banana (if desired)
drizzle of maple syrup


1.  Add milk to saucepan.  Stir in oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and cherries.  Heat on medium high till mixture comes to boil, stirring often.  Turn down to med/low to keep at simmer.  Cook for approx. 5 minutes, until oats are tender and milk is mostly thickened.  Don't try to rush it, milk will scorch.  Its better to take it off the heat a bit early, than leave it on too long.  If oatmeal seems to dry, you can add more milk.
2.  Stir in vanilla.
3.  While oats are cooking, heat non-stick skillet sprayed lightly with oil.  Place in raw pecans.  Heat over medium high, just until fragrant and slightly toasted.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and remove from pan.
4.  Spoon oats into bowl.  Top with pecans, sliced banana's if desired, and a drizzle of maple syrup.