FamilyFood

Scenes from a Sunday dinner

We had my brother's family for dinner tonight while he attended a work thing up in SF. It was the perfect night for grilling up a Sunday night dinner. On the menu: Meeeeeat (New York Strips and Top Sirloin) and grilled veggies.

My favorite part of the dinner was the vegetables. J. was in charge of the meats and I have to say, I am a die-hard rib-eye girl. Once you go rib-eye you never go back, and the strips and sirloin, though flavorful, were no match for the buttery tenderness that I'm used to. I'll be buying the steaks from now on.

I call this: "Duke" (our nickname for our grill) and Cecil Brunners.

Potatoes and peppers.

setting the table.

grilled fennel and buttergold potato planks

a whole mess o' grilled veggies

just a drizzle of olive oil and they're done.

grilled asparagus

the steaks.

Eat Local Challenge Weekly Menu (Finally)

A little late, but this morning I took the girls to the park, sat in the sun, and made my menu. 

Note: breakfasts have been mainly cereal (an exception) and local milk or toast with jam and butter. I did pick up some local bacon and eggs but haven't made those yet.

Tuesday

Lunch: Pesto and provolone sandwiches, Raw English Shelling peas, apples (exceptions: provolone, bread*)
Dinner: Roasted Cauliflower, Fennel, and Garlic Soup, Crusty whole grain bread + butter (exceptions: bread*)

Wednesday

Lunch: Pasta with Spinach, lemon, and feta (exceptions: pasta, feta)
Dinner: Chicken Paillard (California, may not be within 100 mi), roasted asparagus, fennel/orange salad

Thursday

Lunch:  Zucchine frittata or cous cous (an exception)
Dinner: Either Gypsy Soup or Local Sausage and Yam soup, sauteed English peas, crusty bread

Friday

Lunch: leftovers of some sort.

My mom is coming into town for the weekend so the challenge for us will have to end on Friday. Since we are staying with her in San Francisco for the weekend, I'm hoping it won't be too hard to find locally grown/made ingredients  in our restaurant meals.

P.S. Saturday night's dinner is at a super-fancy and yummy restaurant and I am too too excited.  I will report back, for sure!

*bread is locally made though not sure where flour is from

Penne with Spicy Salami Sauce

I know this sounds totally strange, but trust me, it's good.

One of the cookbooks that every parent should have in their arsenal is Joie Warner's No-Cook Pasta Sauces. Shoot, I bought it long before I ever became a parent because I love uncooked sauces. Using her cookbook you can make wonderful pastas even in the warm summer months. Yes, you still have to boil water for the pasta, but you can escape from the kitchen since the sauces cook themselves. Then you can sit outside and enjoy your dinner as we did when I made the uncooked salami pasta.  My recipe is adapted from hers, but the technique of putting everything into a heat-proof bowl is hers.

PENNE WITH UNCOOKED SPICY SALAMI SAUCE

Put salted pasta water on to boil.

Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl combine:

• 2-3 glugs of fruity olive oil (use your best olive oil for uncooked sauces, you want the flavor to shine)
• 2 pats of unsalted butter
• 1 clove of garlic, pressed or very finely minced
• 8 ounces of "gourmet/best quality" dry salami, Molinari if you can find it (don't use cooked or cotto, nor Oscar Mayer. Ask your deli for a good salami), sliced into matchsticks
• a good handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1-3 small dried red chilis, crushed (or omit)

Set this bowl on-top-of or next to the pasta pot while water comes to a boil and pasta cooks so that butter melts and flavors meld.

Cook one package of penne (or other short pasta) until al dente (usu. 1-2 minutes less than what the package recommends). Before draining reserve a cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add the "sauce" from the bowl along with any pasta water needed to loosen the sauce.

Just before serving toss pasta with:

• a handful of torn fresh herbs (I used marjoram, oregano, and Italian parsley)
• grated cheese

I found that because the salami and cheese are so salty, no salt was needed. No pepper either.

St. Patrick's Day 2007

Okay this time, I mean it. I am going to cook corned beef at least once more before next St. Patrick's Day. It's so good. Every time I eat it I say, "It's so good! and then a year goes by.

To go with the corned beef I made smashed potatoes (butter gold potatoes roughly mashed with butter, buttermilk, and regular milk) and soda bread (which I baked in my cast iron skillet).

The best part of dinner was sitting outside (outside! in March!) eating our dinner. It was a lovely evening and from our vantage point we could see all the kids (all 9 of 'em) piled on top of each other watching tv. We could sit and relax and talk and laugh while the kids watched movies and ate cookies that they thought were sneaking without us knowing about it.

Instead of the Guinness we ended up drinking many (many) bottles of wine, and the kids stayed up almost three hours past their bedtime, but it was okay. It was one of the best times we've had in a long, long time.

Corned Beef And Cabbage (Repost)

While my soda bread bakes, I'm reposting this.

Why do we only eat this once a year? It's just too damn good to be eaten once a year.

It's a meal that cooks itself all in one pot, and there ain't nothing wrong with that. Serve with soda bread on the side.  And beer. Plenty of beer.

CityMama's Corned Beef and Cabbage

When buying your brisket, plan on about 1 lb. per person (more if you want leftovers) since there usually is a fair amount of fat to account for and it shrinks quite a bit when cooking.

• 1 prepared corned beef brisket (these come already "corned" or brined and are sold prepackaged at supermarket or from the butcher at Whole Foods),
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 10 peppercorns
• 4 whole cloves
• peel from half an orange
• 1 savoy or regular cabbage, cut into six wedges
• 1 pound of carrots, scrubbed, ends trimmed, leave whole
• 2 turnips, peeled and quartered
• 4 parsnips, peeled, ends trimmed, leave whole (or if they are particularly large, cut in half lengthwise)
• potatoes, scrubbed (1 medium waxy potato [like white or Yukon Gold] or two new potatoes per person)
• finely chopped flat-leaf parsley to garnish

Condiments for serving: freshly grated horseradish, coarse salt, whole grain mustard

Place brisket fat side up in a dutch over or other heavy bottomed pot and cover with cold water. Add garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves, and orange peel and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer slowly according to package directions or until fork tender, 2-3 hours. Skim foamy impurities every so often.

Remove brisket to a large platter and tent with foil. Remove orange peel and discard. Raise temperature of liquid to medium, and add veggies to the pot. Simmer until root vegetable are just fork-tender, about 15 minutes.

Slice corned beef on the bias against the grain and return to platter. Arrange vegetables around the meat and sprinkle parsley over all. Serve with condiments on the side.

While my soda bread bakes, I'm reposting this.

Why do we only eat this once a year? It's just too damn good to be eaten once a year.

It's a meal that cooks itself all in one pot, and there ain't nothing wrong with that. Serve with soda bread on the side.  And beer. Plenty of beer.

CityMama's Corned Beef and Cabbage

When buying your brisket, plan on about 1 lb. per person (more if you want leftovers) since there usually is a fair amount of fat to account for and it shrinks quite a bit when cooking.

• 1 prepared corned beef brisket (these come already "corned" or brined and are sold prepackaged at supermarket or from the butcher at Whole Foods),
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 10 peppercorns
• 4 whole cloves
• peel from half an orange
• 1 savoy or regular cabbage, cut into six wedges
• 1 pound of carrots, scrubbed, ends trimmed, leave whole
• 2 turnips, peeled and quartered
• 4 parsnips, peeled, ends trimmed, leave whole (or if they are particularly large, cut in half lengthwise)
• potatoes, scrubbed (1 medium waxy potato [like white or Yukon Gold] or two new potatoes per person)
• finely chopped flat-leaf parsley to garnish

Condiments for serving: freshly grated horseradish, coarse salt, whole grain mustard

Place brisket fat side up in a dutch over or other heavy bottomed pot and cover with cold water. Add garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves, and orange peel and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer slowly according to package directions or until fork tender, 2-3 hours. Skim foamy impurities every so often.

Remove brisket to a large platter and tent with foil. Remove orange peel and discard. Raise temperature of liquid to medium, and add veggies to the pot. Simmer until root vegetable are just fork-tender, about 15 minutes.

Slice corned beef on the bias against the grain and return to platter. Arrange vegetables around the meat and sprinkle parsley over all. Serve with condiments on the side.

Impulse Buy of the Week: Maya Kaimal's Tikka Masala Sauce

My mom gave me a couple of cookbook author Maya Kaimal's Indian simmer sauces as a gift when she visited last week. I made the Tikka Masala tonight and it was unbelievably delicious. I'm not an Indian food expert, I just know I love it, and the Tikka Masala was zingy with lemon and silky from the real cream.  I would definitely buy this and make this again. I used 4 chicken breasts and a couple of diced potatoes and it made enough for my family of four plus leftovers. I served it with fluffy basmati rice and sauteed asparagus on the side.  Highly recommend, and the kids asked for thirds.

One Pot Dinner: Arroz Con Pollo

Tonight is "Mexican Monday" in our house and we were going to have tacos, but when I woke up this morning, I was thinking about Arroz Con Pollo. Elise Bauer posted a recipe recently, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head.  I haven't a clue about it's origins (Cuban? Spanish?) and I don't know whether my recipe is at all "authentic," but since my unofficial culinary motto is "variations on a theme," this is what I went with:

ARROZ CON POLLO

I was after a saucy, slightly soupy even, one pot dish. Using brown rice gives the rice a chewy, almost barley-like consistency.  And for those who aren't crazy about brown rice, this is a clever way to disguise it.

• 8 chicken thighs
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• one large onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 cans of fire-roasted diced green chilies
• 1 15 oz. can of fire-roasted tomatoes
• a pinch of saffron
• 2 tsps of chicken base (or 2 bouillion cubes)
• 1 1/4 cups of uncooked brown rice
• 6-8 large green pimiento-stuffed olives (whole or sliced in half width-wise)
• 1 1/2 cups of lager or pilsner beer (just not dark beer)
• water or broth (if needed)
• 1/2 can or jar (about a cup) of petite sweet peas, drained (Yes, canned! They are one of my guilty pleasures. Okay, frozen is fine, but canned adds a little sumthin'-sumthin'.)

Add oil to a large (lidded) saute pan and heat to medium-high. Salt and pepper the chicken and saute until nicely browned on both sides.  Remove to a plate and keep warm.

Add onion, garlic, green chilies to pot and saute until onion is soft. Stir in tomatoes, saffron, and chicken base. Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pan. Reduce heat to medium. Cook for 10-15 minutes, flip chicken once during cooking. Add rice, beer, and olives, reduce heat to low, cover and continue cooking until rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Check periodically and if rice is looking too dry add a little water or broth if needed. Just before serving, stir in peas and warm through.  Serves 4-6.

Serve with a green salad on the side, or for a heartier meal (to serve more people) serve seasoned black beans as well.

Dinner in 10: Kielbasa and Sauerkraut

This was dinner tonight. It wasn't at all fancy, but it was quick, tasty, and—since it cooked in one pot—easy to clean up. Which is what I am all about on a Sunday night.

KIELBASA 'N KRAUT

(Or "Dicks 'n kraut" as my husband calls it.)

• 1 polska kielbasa (Hillshire Farms, etc.)
• 1 quart of jarred sauerkraut
• a half-palmful of whole caraway seeds

Bring 1-2 inches of water to boil in a covered pan. Meanwhile rinse and drain sauerkraut. When water comes to a boil, dump in sauerkraut and caraway seeds then place whole kielbasa on top. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook 10 minutes.

While dinner is cooking you can make a simple green salad or just slice up some fruit. 

Remove sauerkraut from pan with slotted spoon or tongs and arrange on a platter (toss with a bit of butter if you like—I like buttery kraut).  Slice sausage and serve atop sauerkraut. Serve with spicy-hot mustard on the side.

Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls

A staple in my cupboard is matzo ball mix. I buy it in threes and when I only have one box left I buy three more.  I know you can make matzo balls from scratch pretty easily but I like the mix. Dinner once a month in the winter time is matzo ball soup (sometimes with pastina added).  A quart of broth (boxed or homemade), some chopped carrots and celery , fluffy-yummy matzo balls, and a sprinkling of dill.

Sometimes, you just need this.

Meal Planning Monday (aka Menu Planning Monday)

We moved in to our new house and still haven't done a "real" grocery shop yet.  I need to replace condiments and stuff.  I keep going to the fridge for things like anchovies, capers, and hot sauce only to find there is nothing there.

Maybe I'll get to the store this week.  If so, this is what's in the works:

• Monday—Meatloaf (see recipe below), Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas (not our normal "Mexican Monday" cuz the SuperBowl is the weekend and we're Tex-Mexing it up then)
• Tuesday—Roasted Salmon, Fennel and Chard Gratin
• Wednesday—Sandwich Night (going to Togo's to kill two birds with one stone: dinner and ordering up sandwich platters for our SuperBowl party)
• Thursday—Undecided pending grocery shopping
• Friday—See above
• Saturday—Date night!
• Sunday—Football Party Fare.  Recipes will be posted throughout the week.

What are you cooking this week?  Link me up!

CITYMAMA'S MEATLOAF

Whiz in the Cuisinart:

• 2 scrubbed carrots
• 1 small onion
• 1 large shallot
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 slices of whole grain bread (I use European-style thin whole grain bread so my meatloaf has flecks of flax seeds in it)
• 2 eggs
• 3 fresh marjoram sprigs, leaves only

Combine above mixture with 1 lb each ground lean beef, ground chicken, and ground pork (3 pounds of meat total) seasoned with:

• salt and pepper
• a dash of Worcestershire sauce and
• a splash of red wine or sherry

Spread into a large loaf pan (or two small loaf pans) and top with half a can of tomato soup (or an equivalent amount of tomato sauce or ketchup). Bake for about 1.5 hrs at 325º.