More Pizza Pizza

"Never trust a round pizza." - Todd English

Yes, I've been on a pizza kick. It's cheap, takes to fridge leftovers and is delicious. After seeing this slide show on SLICE I had to give the grill a try. I finally grilled pizza for the first time! True, I'm not reinventing the wheel - but what a revelation. Now I don't have to fret about keeping the oven on 500 for 3 hours while I heat my stone and bake away in the summer!

You need to have all your ingredients ready to go. There is no running back in the house for something forgotten. In this case, I made the dough and let it rise while I prepped the 4 kinds of cheese, pepperoni, broccoli, quick tomato sauce and some smashed garlic in olive oil to brush on the dough.

Using my 25% whole wheat dough, I made 4 large pizzas. One white because the Hubby loves white pizza. I smeared ricotta and shredded provolone and Asiago and sprinkled broccoli florets and drizzled that all with the garlic oil.Another was smoked Gouda with grilled pepperoni. That's right, I grilled pepperoni before putting dough on the grill. The result? Salty/crispy deliciousness. I didn't dare try to grill tiny round slices of pepperoni so I had to cut it in a more grill friendly shape. It paired well with the smoked Gouda but we found ourselves eating all the pepperoni off that pizza all throughout dinner. Another was a traditional margherita with fresh mozzarella. The fresh mozz was a mistake, giving off too much water when it melted gently. In a 500 degree oven this is not a challenge - but on a grill it does not fare as well. The last pizza had traditional low moisture mozzarella and my quick sauce of crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper and oregano. Did you know that it is loads of oregano that gives pizza sauce it's distinctive taste? It's too much oregano that gives frozen pizza that unbearable flavor - as well as sugar.

Pizza grills very quickly. Trying to capture photos while still on the grill led to some extra charring. Not having a larger table to set the finished pizzas on as well as my camera led to an interesting setup on the hood of my car. My neighbors were intrigued at the smell of a bread oven coming from my driveway and thoroughly amused at the setup on my hood - conveniently not pictured!

Deep 'Za

Do not stand between me and a craving. Ever. The other day it was deep dish pizza. I've had both kinds of Chicago deep dish pizza (in Chicago!). The first - the stereotypical kind which consists of at the very minimum a two inch layer of mozzarella topped with a one inch layer of sauce. Cut into it right out of the oven and you will have cheese lava on your table. To me, this is best eaten at room temp or cold the next morning. It's tasty, but it's like ordering a 'Philly Cheese Steak' at a random pizzeria in Florida when what you should really have is a 'Cheese Steak' from Cosmi's, a tiny unassuming deli in deep South Philly.

The second deep dish pizza is the one you spend waiting an hour for a table for, even possibly standing in vehicular traffic because the sidewalk is too crowded with people waiting for the same table you are. It's from Pizano's which I've already mentioned. What to do when you can't head to Chicago on a whim for a pizza craving (and a visit with my Godson!)? Get out the Google and slice some mozzarella.

I had tried to recreate it before. I used my standard pizza dough recipe in my deep dish clay baker, pre-baked the crust, added sliced mozz and some toppings. It was OK. The crust was all wrong. You can't have a crispy/chewy crust with mile high toppings. My latest research revealed some cornmeal in the crust. It made sense to me. Cornmeal would retain crunch but minimize chew. I decided to replace 25% of the flour with cornmeal and set out to make the dough. Every time I make pizza dough I recall how I LOVE to make dough and don't make it often enough.

After it rose for a little over an hour, I oiled the clay baker, set up the dough and baked it. If you put the toppings on raw dough, you will get raw dough under cooked toppings in your finished product. While it was baking I sliced the mozz, sauteed mushrooms with some onion, spread on some crushed tomatoes (the sauce cooks along with the pizza), sprinkled it with oregano and some thick slices of Sicilian pepperoni which would self-fry in the oven and become little pepperoni crackings by the time it was cooked. All baking is done at 500 degrees, don't be shy about oven temp! After 20 minutes of cooking and 10 minutes of resting (this is crucial and hard to resist) the feasting begins.

The dough recipe will yield leftover dough. If I was thinking ahead I would have popped it into the freezer for deep dish pizza on demand in the future, but I spread it out and topped it with some of the leftover sauteed mushrooms and Asiago cheese so we had a little appetizer while the pizza was cooling.

Cotton Candy Seafood with Jose Andres

I am not a fan of molecular gastronomy. I am a fan of Jose Andres, what he has brought to this country, and what he gives back.

I am also a fan of now knowing how to add video here. Watch out world!

Crab Eggs Benny

I love poached eggs & hollandaise sauce should be a food group. On a rare weekend when I don't have the roommate lurking to see if the coffee is ready, I am free to create and tap into the culinary skill which is easily suppressed when I'm perturbed.

Perched on rounds of toasted potato bread are lump crab cakes, poached eggs and super lemony hollandaise. It reminds me I need to make some herbed white wine vinegar - project for next week! I really do want to attempt some Scotch eggs as my next breakfast project. Soon! I can't beleive it has been more than 2 years since salmon eggs benny.

Braciole

I hadn't had Braciole in at least 6 years since leaving Brooklyn. Then, yesterday, my new facebook food friend, Kevin D Weeks posted a recipe for it. I longed for the days of walking to Bari pork store on 18th Ave in Bensonhurst. When I gave the Philadelphia Pizza Club a tour of Brooklyn, we stopped at Bari before heading back to Philly. They have some of the best cheese and parsley sausage around, and Braciole, of course.

Yes, we all know that Braciole in some circles refers to a different kind of, um, meat. Even the Braciole wiki refers to the slang meaning. Make a dirty joke, grow up, and get over it. I've never made my own Braciole, but supermarkets in Philaburbia seem to never have heard of it. Below, my journey to Braciole.

I started with a boneless pork shoulder, great for braising.

Took the net off, letting it get room temp for easier pounding.

Making good use of the food processor, shredded provolone.

Took the crusts off a loaf of roasted garlic bread for the filling.

Chopped parsley and garlic.

Action shot! Adding oil to the breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley and grated parm.

Finished filling.

Chef snack! Bread crust with filling, provolone and a drizzle of evo.

Pork fillets. Gave my butcher skills a workout.

Larger pieces about to be pounded.








Pressed the filling on.

Provolone on one side so it doesn't all fall out.

Rolled and secured with toothpicks. Use butcher twine if you're adventurous.

Fast forward, brown in pot - deglaze with red wine - add tomato sauce, simmer, cover, braise for 45 min

The finished product. Not in photo - rigatoni.

It was delicious - and I gave my husband the Braciole. ;)

Taste the soup!

I love a last moment to shine. On this chilly, rainy Spring day I thought about split pea soup on the way to work. I don't like hot soup in the summer. I just can't do it. Maybe some tortellini with broth, but no chicken noodle, no kale cold remedy soup, no spicy Asian broth-y pho-like anything.

Forgive the horn tooting, but I am a master soup blender/puree-er. In a professional kitchen, when you are first relegated to the salad station, after you prep your station you get to do the tasks no one else will do. In some cases not even the illegal immigrant hires will do these tasks. Peel grapes. Surgically remove veins from raw foie gras, puree soup. Not "make" soup mind you - this is after another chef has crafted the soup it gets passed to you. First you puree the soup with a home-depot version of a hand blender, then into the almighty Vita Mix blender, strain through a chinois "chino fino" in kitchen Spanish, using a ladle to press the solids. Depending on the soup sometimes you'd have to repeat this ordeal. White gazpacho was the worst. Trying to get stale bread and almonds smooth was an uphill battle. If I never see another chestnut again I'll be OK. Later on in my past career I never worked the grill station that put out the soup so I never got to make soup and pass it to an alternate peon, but I relished being done with those tasks when I took on hot appetizers & risotto.

Translating this skill to my home cooking life, I especially love soup during a week when I'm trying to only spend $50 on groceries for 7 days, when it's cold, and when there is an odd leftover. I can build an amazingly fast soup with a rotisserie chicken, some boxed stock, carrots, spinach and pasta (a MacGuyver recipe!) but I adore pureed vegetable based soups. One I make repeatedly - sweet potato with caramelized onions. I roast sweet potatoes, slice and caramelize a load of onions, and combine them with some stock in the food processor. Swirl in some apple butter and it's an elegant first course. Simmering some vegetables with onions, maybe garlic, and stock and then pureeing is the method for any veggie soup. This works for cauliflower, mushrooms, peas, asparagus, parsnips, and carrots. For carrot soup I like to throw in a load of ginger and big scoop of peanut butter, and garnish with wasabi peanuts. Easy. Cheap. When I want a garnish for cauliflower soup I slice up some Aidell's chicken apple sausage. For tonight's split pea I made a quick ham stock with the Easter Ham bone, sauteed onions in olive oil, added the split peas, stock and herbs with a bay leaf wrapped around it and puttered around facebook while it simmered. Then I pureed it, put it back in the pot, and added some leftover ham and shredded carrots because peas and carrots are funny together.

Maybe this summer I'll work on some cucumber soups (garnish with curry-coconut sorbet??) but I am retiring the soup portion of my dijon colored Le Creuset 6 QT until the fall.

(Non) Green Eggs and Ham

Deviled eggs came into my life only a few years ago. They weren't exactly a Brooklyn staple. Maybe I had them twice when I was growing up. After moving to PA, they showed up at many family functions, and social gatherings. They even appear on tables when they don't go with the other foods. Over the summer I attended a party where grilled meats and vegetables were served. There were deviled eggs on the table. I prefer them as an hors d'oeuvre or with other finger foods. I never thought I would aspire to own an egg plate. Now that I do, I couldn't wait for a reason to make some deviled eggs. The weekly Sunday football buffet would do just fine. The secret to a delicate, light filling? Grating the yolks through a microplane and going easy on the mayo. I am not a purist so I like other things in my eggs. Truffle, shrimp with pepper relish, curry, and ham with horseradish make appearances.

Grated yolks. This yellow snow IS safe to eat.













Ham snow. Can't wait for that conversation at the office... "What did you do last night?" "I grated ham finely with a microplane!"











The finished product with some ill cut ham for garnish. Had I thought about it beforehand, I would have cut all the ham in the shape of diamonds, like the one on the left, middle row.









I have perfected my hard boiled egg technique thanks to Sara Moulton. Place eggs in cold water with lots of salt. Slowly bring to a boil. The moment it begins to boil, turn off the heat. Cover. Let stand 7 minutes. Cool under running water, peel immediately. This yields tender whites, perfectly cooked yolks and not a spec of green sulfur ring around the yolk.

Fond of Ficoco

It was so good my sister in law Kari emailed me about it. When she's this excited about something I know it's good. During my next Whole Foods jaunt I had to buy Ficoco. I had a suspicion and I was correct, it's from Dalmatian, the makers of the dried fig spread I love with cheese, also available with orange. Made in Croatia, it's yummy figs with pure cocoa.

So, what can you do with it? Eat it on gelato. Sandwich macaroons. Dip madelines in it. Add it to a muffin as a surprise center. Layer a cake with it. Stuff French toast. Make thumbprint cookies. Swirl it in ice cream while still churning. Add a dollop to spicy mole for duck. The list goes on, but the bottle doesn't, so stock up!


Ficoco on silver dollar pancakes. Great for eating with your hands on the sun porch with coffee.

Peasant Food - Chilaquiles

A few weeks ago I was being bombarded by Bayless. Late one night battling insomnia I caught an old episode of "In the Kitchen with Julia" where Julia Child bought in other well respected chefs to make their signature dishes. Rick Bayless, credited with bringing real Mexican food to mainstream America made black beans, and black bean chilaquiles (chee-la-keel-ees. The next day I clicked on the interesting show "A Chef's Story" where the founder of the French Culinary Institute interviews chefs to discover how they got into the biz, and what drives them to continue their work. Bayless again. He spoke of how he travels to Mexico every year with staff members of his successful restaurants in Chicago to inspire everyone and remind them what their food is about.

That same day I was in possession of lots of leftover cooked chicken that needed using. It was too hot outside to make soup, and too hot for the chicken and dumplings I've been planning for months, ditto chicken pot pie - one of my favorite leftover iterations. A search for cooked chicken on Epicurious for inspiration yielded chilaquiles. I decided fate was telling me to make it. My stomach told me to make it with ingredients I knew I liked.

Rick Bayless took some of his cooked black beans pureed them, and poured them over just fried corn tortillas and baked it in the oven. I'm sure this was wonderful, but I wasn't about to begin cooking black beans from scratch, nor was I going to fry tortillas. Epicurious directed using store bought chips and green jarred salsa. I am picky about green salsa and don't often like it. I picked up a jar of roasted guajillo chile salsa with some chipotle in it, added a can of black beans and used my favorite store bought tortilla chips, Tostito's Restaurant Gold Chips. These are as close to the real thing you're going to come across in a supermarket. I sauteed some onion and a jalapeno in a soup pot. I added the salsa and chicken stock, boiled, reduced to a simmer and added the chicken and black beans. When they were heated through I added the whole bag of coarsely crushed chips. Let it heat through and soften the chips. I spooned it into bowls with shredded jack and a dollop of sour cream, the consistency of very thick stew. Thoroughly well received. Note I didn't add salt anywhere, the chips and chicken stock had plenty. Add more hot sauce if you like. Super great. Thinking back, I saw Rachel Ray (make a dish that had no EVOO!) make what she called green chicken chili, that was similar to the Epicurious original recipe.

Rick Bayless explained this is often a dish made to use up stale tortillas or when money was tight. Wikipedia says it's common for hangovers and for breakfast with an egg on top. True peasant food. Yumm. As water fills the basement on this very rainy day, I might finally get to making the chicken and dumplings.

Chiles Rellenos - Stuffed Peppers - A Mini Pictoral

I'm becoming a bigger fan of football. Not only because my husband has encyclopedic knowledge of every aspect of the game and history of the players, and not only because we have a better TV than most bars on the east coast (thanks to my in-laws!) but because it gives me a bar food audience. With loads of space and a service span of 3 hours of gametime, I can rock. Since I am an Eagles fan by marriage, last week I must say the food was better than the football. My stuffed peppers evolve beyond ground beef, rice and tomato. The way I learned from my Mexican brigade is the roast, stuff, and fry method. I was hoping for Poblano peppers but none were available so I opted for large jalapenos and made a twist on the commercial popper.


Hooray for gas powered cooking! This allows me to roast peppers on the burner. It's my preferred method because it removes the skin without cooking the flesh to mush, a hazard when roasting in the oven. Alternately it can be done under a broiler. After roasting all over, place in an airtight container so they continue to steam a bit. This will make the skin peel right off.








After steaming and cooling they are ready for peeling. I refrain from using water to assist getting the skins off, you wash away some flavor and as these are going to be fried it's best to keep them as dry as possible. After peeling I made an "L" shaped incision on the side, allowing me to remove some of seeds and stem root inside to make room for the filling. I made a rice mixture with chorizo and onion, and put a thick strip of mozzarella in each one so they'd be gooey.







Best beer batter recipe: 1 part dark beer to 1 part seasoned AP flour. Mix, and chill. Batter must be fried very cold to get crunchy, tempura like results. Slightly advanced fry technique - after dipping in the batter, dip 1/2 into hot oil and hold it there. Carefully. Once the batter puffs (about 5 seconds) it's OK to release. If you drop it in without holding, it will sink to the bottom and stick. If it sticks when you release it from the bottom it will most likely tear spilling out the contents. This is something I knew when I cooked professionally on a regular basis and quickly recalled after messing up my first one. Oops! Served over leftover filling minus mozz.



Jalapenos vary wildly in heat factor. Some are as mild as green bell peppers. These were as if they had an affair with a habanero on the vine. Roasting with seeds in also intensifies the heat. Despite having removed most of the seeds while stuffing, eating only 2 left me in a lot of pain. Not as much pain as Paul was in watching his Birds get stuffed and fried themselves.

A Renaissance

About 6 months ago I gave up gourmet cooking at home. It wasn't because I wanted to. I was defeated by my tiny apartment kitchen and taking on the project of our house that consumed so much time. Well, Gourmet-me is back and I couldn't be happier.

I present whole wheat butter nut squash ravioli with beef demi glace, walnut pesto, gorgonzola and brussel sprout leaves. This would be a menu item at my non existent northern Italian Trattoria.

Surprisingly, it would fall under the "semi homemade" guise. The ravioli were courtesy of Severino Pasta of NJ (the best fresh pasta company in the Northeast, even beating out the Brooklyn institutions of pasta I was raised on) and demi glace from Williams Sonoma. I made the walnut pesto - toasted walnuts chopped the food processor with loads of parmiggiano reggiano, olive oil and black pepper. I've also used this pesto on steamed broccoli. I blanched the brussel spout leaves in the pasta water, they added great texture and a fresh flavor to the whole dish.

Notice the ravioli weren't tossed with the demi glace. It would look terrible and demi is strong, so I spooned it over once the ravioli were in the bowl. Same with walnut pesto. Given the hearty flavors of the dish I poured a 2004 Louis M. Martini Cabernet from the Sonoma Valley. This is my favorite wine served at Ruth's Chris and I finally added it to my home wine rotation. Terrific together.

Another note about Severino Pasta. A few years ago I made my favorite birthday dinner ever using their butternut squash tortelloni. I made a sauce this time of Italian Panna (very heavy cream) Gorgonzola melted into the cream, and balsamic vinegar drizzled over at the last moment. I wonder about the owner, if you make wonderful pasta all day long, can you stand to eat it for dinner?

I look forward to getting back in the swing of sharing my degustations with you!

Perfect Summer Send Off

I've been celebrating the end of summer with great sales on seafood at the store. Last weekend we hosted our first dinner guests, my Father in law and one of four brothers in law. Not wanting to make Italian food knowing that's what they'd expect, I tried out a new crab cake recipe from Cook's Illustrated. It was a success! Served with pan roasted carrots, creamy basil sauce and a green salad with balsamic roasted mushrooms and onions.

A few days ago I settled on an entire eat-with-your-hands menu of jumbo wild gulf shrimp (poached in old bay broth and served in shell), king crab legs (poached in broth after shrimp were removed) with homemade cocktail sauce and corn on the cob. Served with Victory Brewing Co's Prima Pils, it was a match made in heaven. Shrimp cooking is a very delicate thing. While boiling for 3 minutes yields edible results, a slow poach brings about tender, wonderful results.

To begin, make a court bouillon (quick stock) by sauteing onions, garlic, carrots and celery in some olive oil. Don't dice them nicely, just rough chop. Add a bay leaf, black peppercorns, a cut lemon and some herb stems like parsley. Depending on mood I might add crushed red pepper, coriander, ginger, lemongrass or kefir lime. Add a flavor conductor, like white wine, beer, or store bought broth. Allow the alcohol to cook off, and top off with any additional liquid you may need, usually water will be fine. Bring to a simmer. After the flavors have had a few minutes to marry, turn the heat off. Add shrimp. Cover. Poach about 5 minutes for very large shrimp. Remove and lay on a pan in a single layer so they don't continue cooking too much. Chill and peel for shrimp cocktail or serve immediately for a feast. A casual dish like this really impresses guests and is almost no work. Save this valuable cooking liquid for making paella, bouillabase, or some Italian fra diavolo.

Give the utensils a rest and celebrate the bounty of the sea!

The Rain Delay is Over

I can't believe it's been more than 3 weeks since my last post. My sincerest apologies to my swarms of readers. What have I been up to you ask? My captive husband was best man at his brother's wedding in Minneapolis. With that union one of my favorite men married one of my favorite friends. A match made in heaven, a real star couple. Look for a full report on the state of the food in Minneapolis here soon.

We've also been moving. Into our first house. Check out my other rarely updated blog to see some photos of that project. I made my first meal there the other night. What a treat. I feel like an abused child that has been chained to a radiator (and Justin Timberlake wasn't my man like in Black Snake Moan) who has just been let free. The kitchen in our apartment of many years used to be a closet. Need I say more? It's 8 feet long and 3 feet wide. The refrigerator resides in the living room it's so small. Tiny, old electric stove. No room for flipping flapjacks or pizza dough. The trade off was worth it - endure that kitchen to live with my man. Food is my career, that's how much my man means to me. Now... I get the great husband in a kick ass kitchen. A gas stove with high power burners and slow simmer options. A warming drawer. 3 racks in the oven instead of one and now my half sheet pans will fit in them for baking. A dishwasher. A huge sink and oodles of counter space. All in sparkly stainless steel. Wow golly gosh I wanted to cry. When I was plating salads I was flustered for a moment because I was about to plate one and deliver it and repeat which is what I had to do before when serving guests. Now I put all the plates on the counter at once! Imagine the possibilities!

My first meal was quick because we were moving boxes and furniture. I bought some good quality ravioli, ditto vodka sauce, crab meat and some basil pesto. I simmered the sauce, added the crab and some pasta water - plated and drizzled some pesto over. Terrific! Not gourmet but classy. Tonight we drank dark and stormys on the sun porch relaxing after a long day. Bourbon with spicy ginger beer - yumm. Living in a normal size house, yeah - I'll take it.

Dinner Tonight

Grilled pork chops with garlic cilantro sauce and warm black bean salad.

I am a magazine junkie. I subscribe to no less than 4 food publications. Well, 3. One was a gift from my future sister in law, although it was a subscription extension. Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Saveur. There are also newsletters and quarterly journals from Slow Food, and my complimentary professional subscription to Food Arts (best covers ever). Possibly because I taste each recipe in my head, reading just one can take more than an hour. I am not disciplined enough to read them on a regular basis, so they build up in the mail pile that I move from the coffee table, to the desk, to the floor, under the futon and back. Nor can I part with them. Someday I may need it. You never know. So this morning while actually organizing the tower into spiffy red magazine holders from IKEA, one of them fell down and landed on a page with Cuban pork chops with cilantro vinaigrette. Eureka! Quick, flavorful, and would go nicely with the Friday margarita I was planning for the captive husband.

I recalled Daisy Martinez's method for mojo (I think) where she put raw garlic and onion in a blender with some vinegar. She heated oil and added it to the blender. This both enhances and tames the garlic kick. A quick Google revealed she doesn't publish many of her recipes online in an attempt to get you to buy her book. How I forget no everyone has money rolling in everytime someone says, "Bam!" on any continent like Emeril. So, I improvised. I only wanted enough sauce for this meal so I chopped 4 big cloves of garlic and put them in my mortar. I smashed with a little salt and heated some canola oil until quite hot but not smoking. When I added the hot oil to the mortar the smell was divine. The texture was similar to babaghanouj. Yes, I'm assuming you know what babghanouj is. Google it. I took a shortcut with the cilantro. I found the flavor tubes of herbs in the produce section and promptly returned the very sandy bunch of fresh cilantro. Plus, for the amount I use, I'd end up throwing the rest of that bunch away in a week. Squeezed some into the mortar, added a splash of vinegar and some more salt - complete! Exceptional! Potent, but manageable as long as both members of the couple are eating garlic, they cancel each other out.

After seasoning some pork loin chops I let them hang out in the grill pan while I cut the kernels from an ear of corn and put them to saute. Added some diced red onion and drained and rinsed canned black beans. After seasoning, the juice of a lime bought it all to life. I could have added some diced avocado but the captive husband isn't a fan. I eat avocados in secret. In the plating, I wish I'd put the sauce in a little puddle between the chops. Since it's thick it ended up looking like cat vomit in the photo. Sorry!

Overall, it was ready in a half hour and accompanied the margaritas nicely.

Success! Pollo al Mattone

I finally got around to making chicken under a brick, a dish described in one of my first posts. It was as good as I hoped it would be. I did hit some snags along the way. I used a regular Perdue fryer chicken but it happened to be larger than the average chicken. It wasn't a roaster, but larger than it should've been, taking longer to cook. I put one brick over the breast, one brick over the legs/thighs. After being in the oven about 10 minutes I removed the brick from the dark meat to give it a head start cooking, and 25 minutes later removed the brick from the breast. The key is to turn the chicken over before it starts releasing tasty pan juices which will soften the skin. I did encounter a bit of this. I roasted fennel with olive oil in the oven on high heat while I butchered the breastbones out of the chicken. While the chicken was resting before carving I put the fennel back in the oven to warm while I made buerre rouge, a French red wine pan sauce with oodles of butter.

To make buerre rouge, I softened 2 sliced shallots in the large saute pan I used to roast the chicken - allowing some chicken fat to act as a flavor amp. When soft, I added 1 cup of a red wine I wasn't fond of drinking which happened to be the most recent beaujolais nouveau. Why do I get on the bandwagon every year when this is released? I liked it once long ago when it tasted like Snapple fruit punch and buy it every year since despite it being horrid. Back to sauce making... I bring to a boil while scraping the tasty roasty bits off the bottom (called deglazing) and add a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme. I dice 1/2 stick cold butter. When the wine is almost entirely reduced, I take the pan off the heat, remove herbs and swirl in the cold butter, making an emulsion. If you do this on the heat the butter will simply melt and you won't have a sauce with the mouthfeel of silk. A sprinkle of black pepper (there's a good amount of salt already in the pan from the chicken) and a minute on a low flame to heat up. Plate the chicken and drizzle sauce. The photo above is sans sauce so I could sauce and serve immediately. The poor captive husband is often left waiting and salivating while I delay dinner for poor photography to present here.

Chicken under a brick - make it this week! Some nice accompaniments could also be: sauteed brussels sprouts with walnuts, gnocchi with brown butter (forgo red wine sauce), grilled asparagus, or smashed yukon gold potatoes with goat cheese and olive oil.

Egg sistential

I love poached eggs. My dismay at a restaurant for serving coddled eggs advertised as poached is on record. A tender white and hot oozy yolk - yumm. I had simultaneous cravings for poached eggs, salmon and hollandaise sauce - time to make salmon eggs Benedict, sans English muffin for lower carb count.

Armed with Scottish smoked salmon from Trader Joe's and leftover wild Copper River salmon from dinner last night, I began the hollandaise. Clarified a stick of butter in the microwave, whisked 2 yolks with lemon juice & zest, salt and a tablespoon of water over a double boiler. Drizzled in the butter while whisking and 3 minutes later it's ready! I poached the eggs in the water under the bowl, about 4 minutes for the perfect egg. I laid a bed of smoked salmon, arranged the egg on top, doused in hollandaise and leftover salmon. A wonderful way to start the weekend!

Between the Buns

Today's blog is inspired by Frank Bruni and his Diner's Journal. Burgers. They are this season's grilled chicken caesar, must be on every menu. I get angry when a good restaurant doesn't offer a burger at least on their bar menu. Sullivan's, the smaller very upscale steakhouse chain does offer a great one on their bar menu. I have been lobbying Ruth's Chris to add one to no avail. We were successful in getting Victory beer in there.

But given my desire for their omnipresence, are they simply an adult version of chicken fingers? Picky eater can't be adventurous, have a burger. While I'd argue my consumption is more on a connoisseur basis - for many they are not.

Last night we dined at a family restaurant that offers burgers, ribs, chicken fingers and more sophisticated entrees like crab pasta and salmon Oscar. They even had combo platters to pair ribs and chicken fingers. Their chicken fingers were done nicely, with a crisp batter as opposed to bland breading - but they are still chicken fingers. The burgers there are also of good quality, any time you get to select a temperature (mid rare for me) is a good sign and when they back it up by cooking it to the specified temperature I'm even more impressed.

There are message boards devoted to the topic of burgers. What are the best toppings? Best way to cook them? I submit that the notion is similar to that of pizza. Many children will eat any pizza. Many adults seek out the artisanal, brick oven pizza while some are content with Domino's. Lets hope those unadventurous bland burger people stay in the bad chain places.

Notes on a Burger

Now to the nitty gritty. My "Burger Bible" of sorts complete with commandments.

While I applaud attempted innovations at using various meats, a burger should be beef exclusively. Ground turkey and tuna patties can turn into an enjoyable sandwich, but it's not a burger.

Alternate toppings are a nice touch as long as they don't overpower the intended flavor of the burger: nicely browned beef. Pineapple and teriyaki are nice sweet options - blue cheese and caramelized onions are my favorite. Lettuce and tomatoes should not be added when you have alternate toppings like these.

The size of the burger should be equal to the circumference of the bun, and about 1/2 inch thick. Trying to pack 3/4 LB of beef onto one bun is just uncalled for.

1. Thou shalt use well marbled high fat content beef.

2. Thou shalt season highly.

3. Thou shan't press the burger with the spatula at any point during cooking.

4. Flip only once.

5. Do not overcook! (an unforgivable curse - oops wrong religion!)

6. Let the burger rest before placing it on a bun to avoid SoggyBunBottom, a condition with many known side effects.

7. If applying cheese do so on the heat source. Cold cheese on a hot burger is just silly.

Clams with Chorizo Almejas con Chorizo

Our wonderfully exciting Friday night meal.

Pantry Cooking

Once again I was sabotaged by my fridge. This time, it was a package of chicken thighs purchased well within sale date. Ancient ice box of a fridge couldn't keep then cold enough for 2 days. When I began to cook tonight... gotcha! Spoiled chicken. I was going to make crispy Asian chili sauced thighs. Now, I needed immediate backup. Too hungry to venture out and delivery to Norristown is limited, because it's Norristown. No other raw proteins in the fridge because it does often sabotage me. What's on the pantry shelf that's a satisfying Saturday night dinner?

Shelf stable spinach tortellini. Yes, yes, this will do. Not in the mood for tomato sauce either. Ooh, and here's a can of Stilton and Port soup from Scotland that I hadn't developed the nerve to eat by itself. And a hunk of Roaring 40's blue from Australia left over from a cheese plate a few weeks ago, voila! Spinach tortellini with blue cheese cream sauce was born. I added some other left over cheese bits (a small piece of La Tur from my last post), some parmiggiano that my fridge is never without and some Emmenthaler for a rich melty-ness to the sauce. Super tasty, and didn't seem like a pantry desperation dinner.

What other pantry staples do I keep around for just such an occasion? Cous cous - add anything and you have a meal. If the tortellini didn't jump out I was going to make curried eggplant cous cous for dinner. The Captive Husband wouldn't have even missed the meat. Stocks and broth equal instant soup. Add some leftover chicken or a handful of pasta and arugula to wilt in it and you have a simmered all day flavor. Speaking of pasta, multiple shapes are a definite pantry staple. A no cook sauce of extra virgin olive oil, grated cheese and fresh basil puts dinner on the table in 10 minutes. Stir warm penne into a mixed green salad dressed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and goat cheese, and I'm content. Canned chick peas. Whiz them in the food processor for quick hummus, add to a salad to make it hearty, toss them with a can of diced tomatoes and feta cheese and lemon for another quick pasta meal. Cured meats. Spanish chorizo, andouille sausage, Italian salumi. They all last forever, even in my fridge. Not only can you slice up a quick antipasto plate, but they can be added to eggs for a quick omelet, sauteed with potatoes for a hearty meal. Cheese. There's usually some American for the emergency grilled cheese, but there's also the leftover bits that happen there seemingly by accident. These bits that wouldn't constitute a platter end up in polenta, mac n cheese, another famous omelet and even fondue. Cheesy grit souffle. No need to specify a type of cheese, mixed with creamy grits it all becomes sublime.

I could go on and on but the message is the same. When you think there's nothing in the house for dinner, unless you're a bachelor who keeps only empty mayo containers and whipped cream in the fridge - you have more meals at the ready than you realize.

Sunday Dinner

There's something about warm and filling comfort food on Sunday, especially in the winter. This is my favorite time of year because I get to make my favortie dishes. Macaroni and cheese or polenta layered with Bolognese ragu, a recipe from Lynne Rosetto Kasper's The Splendid Table. How about a big pot of Mom's gravy - meatballs and sausage? Pumpkin risotto, braised short ribs, smothered steak, french onion soup. Chicken and biscuits, biscuits and gravy, buttermilk biscuits; biscuits and anything. If none of these foods interest you, please hit "Next Blog" now and move on.

All of these foods are inteneded for more than two people, so invite over that friend you've been meaning to get together with and get cooking! Maybe send a plate to your elderly neighbor or the lonely guy across the hall. This food isn't only about warming your stomach, it's to warm your soul as well.

Tonight's dinner - White cheddar macaroni and cheese with a warm salad of asparagus, red onion and mushrooms over field greens. One of the first episodes of Desperate Housewives featured Bree's family around a table asking for "food" rather than "cuisine". Like me, she's a gastronomic athlete. We don't need anything to help our hamburger and our chunky soup doesn't come from a can. Yet once in awhile you need to trade in the chef coat for an apron your Mother in law gave you.