What Did You Eat?

Dynamite chicken

This dish must get it's name from people yelling "Dyn-o-mite" as they eat it. My theory is wasted if you never saw Jimmy JJ Walker on the television show Good Times.   The smell and taste could cause a person to yell popular expressions from the 70's.  It's that good. 

This dish also signals that I have a major jones for Mexican food right now.  I've already earmarked the leftover chicken for soft tacos later this week.  The carcass can be used to make any number of Mexican soups.  And I started planning my menu for Cinco de Mayo.

Linquine with caramelized onions and walnuts

One of my favorite resources is The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison.  The recipes are the same ones used at the Greens restaurant in San Francisco, a terrific place for dining and enjoying a view of the bay.  I decided to make Green's linguine with caramelized onions and walnuts, but time was short, so I made some changes.  The recipe calls for homemade rosemary pasta, but I used fresh pasta from the grocery instead.  It also requires caramelizing onions, and luckily the last of my onion jam was stashed in the freezer.  Using it shortened the cooking time considerably, but now my supply is gone.   Note to self:  Make onion jam this week.

Carrot soup

  No, it's not a picture of orange sherbet.  And that's the thing about carrots.  Their color is so...cheerful.  I certainly wasn't a fan of them as a child, but I enjoy them now.  For me, the best way to prepare them is roasted or in soup.  This soup is simple to make and the combination of carrots and thyme is delicious.  It can be served in the classic way, as I did this time. But, I also like adding grated, fresh ginger root when it's done. That works very well with the sweetness of the carrots.  Adding some heat from chilis is another option.  Bob stirred two tablespoons of fresh uncooked salsa into his serving.         

Banana-apple pudding

I love pudding, but rarely have it now.  When I was younger I enjoyed making it, stirring patiently over a double boiler, waiting for it to thicken and coat the spoon.  And my mother sometimes brought me big parfaits of pudding, layered with whipped cream, when I was sick in bed with a cold.  So, though I've avoided it for years because it's loaded with calories, pudding is real comfort food for me.  Then I saw a recipe for banana-apple pudding in Martha Stewart Living which looked like it might be satisfying, but leave my virtue intact.  Well, that's a tall order. 

Creamy enchiladas with chicken, tomatoes and green chile

Enchiladas are a staple meal in our house.  We usually have them at least once a week because they're so reliably satisfying.  On Saturday I saw that, except for things like candied cherries, nuts and chocolate (a reminder of my  Christmas baking), my pantry was pretty bare.  But, I always have canned tomatoes, tortillas, and chiles on hand.  Armed with these, I made Rick Bayless' recipe for creamy enchiladas with chicken, tomatoes and green chile, a true comfort dish.  The sauce tasted creamy, tangy, and slightly sweet, light years from the acrid enchilada sauce favored by many restaurants.

How to eat a Mt Tam cheese

Well, this is how I ate one particular Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam cheese.  A Christmas present, it waited patiently in my fridge for the moment when we would be united as one.  Finally, three days ago all the stars aligned properly and magic time was at hand.   Even better, I was alone and didn't have to share it with anyone. 

Obviously, I'm a little over the moon about Mt Tam cheese. And happily so.  To begin, I looked at the pretty package, and realized it's been two years since I visited Point Reyes Station, the Northern Exposure style town where the cheese is made.  I'll have to correct that soon.    

Bresse mushroom soup

Yesterday I looked at the calendar and realized fresh morel mushrooms will be available in less than two months.   That thought caused an intense craving for something mushroomy.  And since Wednesday is soup day, mushroom soup immediately came to mind.  I've made several different recipes, including a killer French recipe calling for lots of butter and cream. It's delicious, but I wanted to cook a soup that doesn't make me feel guilty after I eat it. The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison contains a wonderful recipe that tastes good and isn't loaded with fat. 

Soft polenta with shrimp

I have been fixated on soft polenta, since I celebrated New Year's Eve at Biba and discovered it wasn't on the menu.  So, on Sunday I put my stirring arm muscles to the test and made it.  I ordered polenta cornmeal from Zingerman's a month ago, impressed by the praise heaped on it in the catalog. It's stone ground and from the Piedmont area of Italy, so I decided to give it a try.  Actually, the color and texture of the cornmeal reminded me a great deal of my Aunt Scotty's favorite stone ground cornmeal, which she uses to make the world's best cornbread.  She insists on using Lamb's, which is made in Texas.   Both have small bits of the germ in the meal and that makes a huge difference.  This polenta was better, creamier, with a deeper corn flavor.   

Braised kale and savoy cabbage

Growing up in the South, I ate greens as a matter of course several times a week.  After we moved to the North, finding them was a hit or miss proposition, which annoyed my mother a great deal. Often hard to find in the grocery store, they were generally in poor condition when she finally located them. The scarcity of decent greens was a constant topic of conversation during my childhood in the North.  I remember my mother berating the produce man at one store in Illinois, waving yellow collards at him, asking, "How do you expect people to eat this damn stuff? it's not fit for pigs!"  She tried to grow them, but insect damage was often severe, leaving her few leaves to harvest. 

But, what a difference now.  Kale, cabbage, collards, and mustard greens, among others, are sought after for their taste and health benefits. Remembering the bad old days when they were often scarce, the large variety of greens at my grocery store, all in excellent condition and arranged with such care, gives me a good feeling.  Thank God, I don't have to carry on the family tradition of yelling at the produce staff!   

Last minute cookie cake

Yesterday was Bob's birthday.  Several years ago, he decided to forgo cakes or any other type of celebratory dessert on his birthday.  But, I sensed that he actually missed those things. Trying to come up with something scrumptious, but sensible, I bought wonderful raspberries and blueberries to serve with cream mixed with Tupelo honey. The blueberries were very nice, reminding me of huckleberries I picked as a child in Mississippi. These were small and tart, popping in the mouth as you ate them.  But, at the last minute, I decided it was all too simple for a birthday. I sliced some thin cookies from a log of walnut cream cheese cookie dough stashed in my freezer, and baked them.  The result was this delicious, but sensible little birthday cookie cake, which made Bob very happy.