My Week In Cooking 2

I had a second week of mucho kitchen-time.

First I made a chowder with salmon and bay scallops. I'm not usually one for cream-based soups, but this was good. I browned pancetta then I added diced onions, a few smashed garlic cloves, and quartered new potatoes. I cooked these for a little while with the spices (Old Bay, paprika, piment d'espelette, cayenne, bay leaf, salt, and lots of pepper) then I poured in clam juice, milk, water, and a bit of cream. When it came to a simmer I added the salmon (I bought a fillet, skinned it, and chunked it up), scallops, and frozen corn and peas. In minutes the chowder was done, giving us several meals.

Next up: Cardamom-Scented Oatmeal Pancakes with Cherries and Almonds. The NYT recipe calls for apricots, but Whole Foods was completely out of them. I love dried cherries and they turned out to be a good substitute, I think. We don't usually eat a very carby breakfast, but these were great. Oatmeal's really good for you after all!

Followed by Spinach and Pork Thai Noodles. I cooked up ground pork in one pan while I sauteed the veggies and aromatics in sesame oil in another. These were garlic, ginger, scallions, and a ton of fresh spinach. When these were soft I added the pork along with soy sauce, five-spice, dried basil, salt, and pepper. I let this simmer while I boiled the rice noodles. I served the spinach and meat mixture over the noodles topped with cilantro and mint. One of the best things I've ever made - so flavorful!

And, finally, tonight I'm whipping up fish tacos. Yesterday's snow inspired me. I'll let you all know how they turn out.

My Week In Cooking

I accomplished a lot this week - mostly in the kitchen - and it ain't over yet. Monday night I made a quick version of beef Stroganoff with some leftovers, and yesterday I whipped up my crazy tabbouleh (enough to feed all of Syria) and a gnocchi casserole. There'll be more stove-time this weekend, too.

The beef Stroganoff started off with stir-fry meat, which I browned. Then to the high-sided saute pan I poured in vegetable stock and heavy cream, seasoned with salt and pepper. (Nutmeg would have been a good addition, as I think about it now.) When it came to a simmer, and I knew the beef was done, I threw in cooked farfalle pasta and steamed carrots. Stir, stir, voila! I had mine topped with grated Pecorino Romano.

My tabbouleh includes all the usual suspects plus several unconventional ones. Cooked bulghur with chopped parsley, cucumber, tomato, and onion tossed with lemon and olive oil probably sounds familiar. What makes it "crazy" is the addition of garbanzos, yellow bell pepper, mint, garlic salt, and grains of paradise. I should have added some heat, too. Maybe minced jalapeno. Darn! Next time for sure.

The gnocchi casserole was one of the richest things I've ever made, but that's what you want on a really cold night, right? I defrosted then simmered pasta sauce I'd made a while ago. To that I added a whole bag of defrosted and drained spinach. I returned the mixture to a simmer. Then I boiled up a package of gnocchi. After draining, I spread out the gnocchi on the bottom of an oiled casserole dish. I topped it with the spinach mixture, dollops of ricotta, and shredded mozzarella. After 15-20 minutes in a 375-degree oven, I had myself one hot, gooey gratin.

Waiting for bulghur

Gnocchi at a rolling boil

Mmmelted cheese!

Dinner is served.

Lamb Tagine-Style

I say "tagine-style" because I made it in a Dutch oven and, like paella, tagine means both the cooking vessel and the dish. I actually have a tagine, but it only holds enough for two people and I was cooking for three a few nights ago.

I started by browning off lamb stew meat seasoned with salt and pepper. Then I threw in diced onions and a couple garlic cloves (whole but a bit smashed). When the onions started to turn translucent I added about 2.5 tbsp of ras el hanout, a North African spice blend. Mine contains paprika, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, turmeric, black pepper, cardamom, allspice, mace, white pepper, rosebuds, nutmeg, cloves, saffron, and bay leaves. It's commonly used in tagines. I toasted the ras el hanout a bit then I added cut carrots and potatoes and a can of diced tomatoes. Tomatoes are sometimes used in traditional tagine recipes, but carrots and potatoes are not so my recipe's more along the lines of an Irish lamb stew or something. Anyway, I poured in about half a container of unsalted vegetable stock, stirred it, and let it simmer for nearly four hours. It would have been fine to eat after two though. Until I served it I kept checking the seasoning, occasionally adding salt and pepper. Ta da!

Next time I want to try this Paula Wolfert recipe.

Tagines are pretty simple because they're really hard to screw up. You just add all the ingredients and basically forget about it except for the occasional stir. And you clearly don't need a tagine to make one, though they are beautiful!

Christmas Roundup And New Year's Resolutions

Christmas gave me a lot to be thankful for. A Le Bernardin gift certificate (HOLY COW!). A Mauviel copper cookware set. Eight more wine glasses. The Chef's Choice AngleSelect electric knife sharpener. Lots of cookbooks. An old-fashioned stovetop popcorn popper. And lots of pantry staples and kitchen tools.

But I'm most thankful for all the time I had with my hubby and my family. It was really marvelous. I even got to spend New Year's Eve with my bro and his fiancee out on the west coast. The highlight was a four-hour trek through the Santa Monica mountains, including ascending two summits. And I even rock-climbed. Check out the views:

Up this year: even more posts than 2010. My goal for '10 was to beat '09 and I did it by 18 posts. So this year I want to beat that and do it by offering more recipes than ruminations. Not necessarily all original recipes but, rather, I plan to do a fair amount of recipe-tweaking. I certainly have enough cookbooks to do so: 55+! 2011, here I come.