hazelnut tart cherry tartelettes

pie dough is much blogged about, and very controversial. i side in the butter camp. i do have a bucket of lard in the house, and i'm not afraid to use it, especially in savory applications. when it comes to pie crusts, however, i don't like the aftertaste of lard in there. there's a greasy mouthfeel that joe pastry doesn't like either. have you met joe pastry? it's a great resource for any beginning baker. there's recipes for every dough on this earth, and detailed instructions for the techniques used in all of them. how's about pie dough in a ziploc bag? it's the first i've heard about it! of course, true to form, i remain faithful to my food processor, but go here to see this interesting approach. and even if i scorned the bag, i tried the recipe, which is lard-free and boasts a combo of butter and cream cheese, and it is very good.

for the crust:

12 tb unsalted butter, very cold, in 1/2 inch cubes

10 oz all-purpose flour

4.5 oz cream cheese

1/4 ts salt

1/4 ts baking powder

1 tb cider vinegar

2 to 3 tb ice water

either you do it in the bag like joe, or by hand like grandma, or in the food processor like me. i am very happy with the result, i see no reason to waste time, so i pulse it start to finish. first combine the flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of your processor. then add the cream cheese to the flour and pulse a few times to get a coarse meal. then add the butter - very cold, frozen even - and pulse a few times more, until you have butter pieces the size of peas. then add the vinegar and ice water by the tablespoon and pulse just until it comes together. refrigerate for at least 2 hours to overnight.

when it's ready, split the dough in 2 equal pieces. while the second piece waits in the fridge, roll out the first one in a 10 inch circle. then you want to cut to size circles to fit the mini-muffin tin. none of my cookie cutters worked, so i've had to improvise. a circle of about 2 1/2 inches diameter is required. line all the muffin spaces with dough and refrigerate. proceed to the second one in the same manner, or make a tart using a removable bottom quiche pan. refrigerate that one, too.

for the filling:

a half recipe of hazelnut frangipane

1 1/2 lbs tart montmorency cherries/ 5 cups/ 680 gr

3/4 cups sugar

1/4 ts orange extract (almond extract works equally well)

3 tb cornstarch

i used frozen fruit. it is impossible to get fresh sour cherries in chicago. last summer i found some at trader joe's, but they were so puny looking i didn't even bother. anyhoo, if frozen defrost in a colander. if from compote, drain well. mix the sugar with the cornstarch. put the cherries in a pot, add the extract, then the sugar mixture, and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. the filling will thicken as it cools.

for the pastry cream:

4 egg yolks

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup cornstarch, sifted

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean

1 ts orange extract

heat up the milk, the heavy cream, the extract and the sugar. split the bean and scrape up the seeds. put everything in the milk to infuse. mix the yolks with the sifted cornstach until smooth and pale. when the milk is just below boiling fish out the bean and pour 1/4 of the mixture on the yolks, while whisking constantly. pour it back in the milk and stir like yout life depends on it. keep stirring until in thickens, about 5 minutes. set aside to cool.

to assemble, take out the muffin tins. put 1 ts hazelnuts in each, then top with a cherry and bake at 350F for about 20 minutes. let cool a few minutes and fill the remaining space with pastry cream.

the pastry is sufficient for two 10 inch tarts, or 48 tartelettes. i made one 10 inch tart and 24 little ones. the cherry filling fits those. if you want to make 48 tartelettes, probably half the recipe will be enough. those are great for little kids. they are a little labor intensive though, and i was short on time, hence the 10 inch shortcut. i do prefer the little ones, there's more crust, it's crispy and flaky and a great contrast to the creamy filling.

artichoke beet pizza

i haven't cooked beets in a long time, and i don't even know how it's possible they slipped my mind. i saw this beet risotto on jessica's blog, apples and butter, and the beet invaded my mind like aliens taking over a host body. i made the risotto immediately, but it was so quickly polished off, there was no time for pictures. i'll make it again, it was kinda brilliant. the thing is, i got a bit carried away and i roasted a whole sheet of baby beets, a lot more than i needed for one dish. that's how this one got to be - a cross between the leftover beets and my daughter whining for pizza. the combo of beet and marinated artichoke is surprisingly good. it's excellent.

initially i didn't want to cook it, i was afraid these two have too much moisture and i'll end up with a soggy pie. it's all good as long as you keep them in a strainer for 15-20 minutes. as an alternative to roasting the beets, you can steam them. get small ones if possible, they cook faster and they're easier to peel. be careful with them, that juice staines right to the bone. once they're cooked and cooled, slice them thinly and put them in a mesh with the artichokes.

stretch the dough to the size and shape of your baking vehicle. spread with tomato-based pizza sauce. sprinkle a good handful of grated parmesan over it. then alternate slices of beet, artichoke and mushroom. don't overcrowd it. then take 4 or 5 springs of thyme and run your fingers against the stem to get the tiny leaves off, and sprinkle them evenly. i also used some chopped sage, but that's not as vital as the thyme. give it a grind of pepper and bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes.

it's the best of both worlds. your kid gets pizzzzaaaaa! and you get a few veggies in her, and a grown-up lunch. the spinach is dressed simply with olive oil, champagne vinegar, dijon and honey. it makes a great companion for the pizza but doesn't steal its thunder. i think it would be lovely with a few dots of goat cheese, and/or a few asparagus tips. i plan to turn all these ingredients into a panzanella, stat. the aliens are still eating my brain.

creamy coconut rice

we had a wonderful morning today. it was sunny and warm, so we went out right after breakfast. we planted 30 gladioli, we covered the driveway in abstract chalk and we played ball. the crust of dirt on zhara's hands when we walked inside was like the fur of a bear, only petrified. the bulbs require a good drench when they're planted and she took that to heart: dirt, water. dirt, water. let's wash your hands, babe. here's the pickaxe. i was going to stop her, but she saw it coming, and she did the bit that always reduces me to a puddle of touchy-feely goop. she says i love you, i say i love you, too;  then she says, i love you tutu. sure you can water the flowers, clean is overrated, and anyway you're too cute for boundaries.
we got inside in a fantastic mood. the risotto i had planned seemed lackluster - zhara likes a reduced number of dishes, as many toddlers do, and i'm dead bored with the stuff. i've never made this before, but it's in the circuit now, because she loved it so much she asked for it at dinner, too. i've seen a lot of coconut rice done with peas, but in our house they take the stage only as villains in a play where the villains never win. the villains are promptly booed off the stage in shame.

1/2 cup pearl rice, or basmati, or brown

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk

1 1/4 cups water

1 cup frozen soybeans, or peas

1 inch piece ginger, quartered

2 lime leaves

1 ts orange zest

pinch nutmeg

salt, pepper

crushed peanuts, optional

heat a little olive oil and saute  the onion until translucent. add the rice and and cook a few minutes to toast it. pour in the milk and water, add the leaves and ginger root and bring to boil. cover and reduce to a simmer. after 10 minutes add the frozen peas. we used this mix from trader joe's that has corn, soy beans and red pepper. it's zhara's favourite. cover again and cook until the rice is cooked and the liquid mostly gone, about 8 minutes. remove and discard the leaves and the ginger. add the citrus zest and season to your liking. garnish with peanuts on amenable plates.

the coconut taste is mild, like a lazy afterthought, and the citrus punch brightens it up. i love how creamy it is, and i'm already thinking what a great dessert this will make in its sweet incarnation. but until dessert, next time i'll treat it with some shrimp for a delightful one pot meal.

serves two.

sundried tomato zucchini pasta

a dish as bright as the day outside. thankfully, most of the snow has melted, and though it's not warm, it's sunny, and the heavy clouds that were forcing lassitude on me have cleared the sky. i'm starting my tomatoes today. i found some great heirloom tomato seeds, and decided to give them a shot. i don't much like to use seeds for tomatoes, i always buy small plants that i can put directly in the ground. seeds are fussy, they need at least six weeks inside, but i'm determined to follow through. ever had cream of heirloom tomato soup? it's worth every bit of impatient gardening i can muster. at least until those hang on the vine i have sundried tomatoes, the next best thing. they can brighten up the blandest of dishes, plus i love the color they give to sauces. this is a 15 minute lunch for zhara. let's just breeze over the inordinate quantity i consumed, it's not healthy to dwell in the past.

1 lb pasta

2 large zucchini, grated

8 sundried tomatoes packed in oil, finely sliced

2 large roasted red peppers, finely sliced

4 oz bulgarian feta cheese, crumbled

a few parmesan shavings, optional

boil the pasta according to package instructions. prep the vegetables while that's happening. drain the pasta but reserve 1 cup of the water. stir in all the veggies at once, and let it cook together for a few minutes. the zucchini will give off their juices, as will the peppers and tomatoes. add the cheese and mix well. the cheese will melt to form a wonderful sauce, and everything will take on a pale golden colour from the tomatoes. you may need a bit of pasta water, it all depends on how much juice the zucchini gives off. thin it to your preffered consistency, season with salt and pepper, plate and garnish with parmesan. enjoy at once.

counting my blessings: there are many.

we got up today to a beautiful morning. a true, it's-really-spring morning, sunny, incredibly warm, that made me open windows immediately and skip about the house - well, at least in my head i did, we all know i'm not that much of a morning person. it gave me a mad craving for a citrus dessert, as cheerful as the weather. i poured a cup of coffee, gave zhara her milk and made some waffles. i was having trouble deciding if i should clean the house and bake bread or dump it all and just go for a walk in the forest preserve. that's when the phone rang. my husband called, using someone else's phone, to tell me there had been an accident. he's fine. but he did not sound fine. my sunny disposition evaporated, knees made out of playdough, i told him i was on my way. oh, god, please. the prayer of all wives, even a wife without a god. his phone had shattered, so i grabbed an older one we hadn't tossed. i had so many questions, but he could only talk for a minute. he had borrowed a phone from someone, and i could hear the clammoring of cops? doctors? in the background. never before have i resented every single car on the road like i did today. i wanted to roll down my window and shout. i'm a bit uncomfortable recalling how the speed limit signs were blurring past, seeing i had zhara in the back. though it's not even close to how fast i used to drive, before i had her. it was never supposed to be him, the one to get in an accident. he's the calm, patient one. he's the one who drives for a living. i couldn't believe it happened, really, all winter long i worry about ice on the road and blizzards and today? seriously?

i got there. it happened, allright. all 18 wheels up in the air. cabin smashed, windshield crushed some 15 feet away. our livelihood a big blob of scrape metal on the side of the road. him, whole. thank god, not a scratch. it could have been so much worse. he was transporting a big coil of industrial chain. luckily the whole thing went down on a ramp, and when the coil got loose it rolled off onto the empty patch in between the two highways. and not in the traffic behind. it could've been disastrous.

it's been hours, but clearly i need a shot of get-it-together-you-damn-fool in the coffee i'm drinking, cause i can't stop obssesing about might've happened. if his seatbealt weren't buckled. if other cars were closer. this week we were going to finally launch our own business. we only needed some numbers from the DOT, we had a charter almost set up, we've been working so long for this. this is not a setback, it's possibly a deal-breaker. and still. he got away intact. we're all healthy. we're not in haiti. we'll be fine.

i drove back, zhara singing 'twinkle, twinkle little star' all the way home. i asked her if she wanted to bake with mommy, for what else could i do? she was enthuziastic as always. we also made a quick risotto while the apple cake was baking. she's such a blessing.

unvelibable! onion has a fever!

if you're as indispensible to your resident as i am to mine, you can cheat on the constant stirring. let it simmer covered instead. no one will know. or care. follow the recipe for risotto milanese, but add the chicken broth right away, bring to boil and after 10 minutes of simmering, add frozen soybeans; after another 5, the asparagus and 1 tb chopped sage.

the asparagus needs 3 to 5 minutes, depending on its thickness, then stir in the cheese and you're done. meanwhile panfry a few sage leafs, 30 seconds, if that, don't carbonize it. serve at once, with a few leafs on top. maybe skip those on the doctor's plate.

the cake really is amazing, i've made this a lot since seeing it at smitten kitchen, it's very moist and the outside gets almost caramelized. wondrous, but the dessert to restore my appetite today has yet ot be invented. so i don't have a picture of a slice, or not a slice of the one i made today. it will probably go to my neighbours, but baking it has calmed me, to way it always does.

these were taken last september? october? or around there; zhara had a grand time stealing cake, she was walking around on her tippy toes trying to look innocent, with crumbs everywhere around her mouth and on her shirt.

cabbage soup on a smoked turkey drumstick

another soup that wafts memories of home and childhood. my mom made it often, with or without meat, smoked or not, but always tomato-based. this is the soup i ate on the evening of my first culinary disaster. or rather, couldn't eat because anything remotely sour was too raw on my wounded taste buds. it was a few days after the beginning of first grade. mom was at work. i got home from school, and even though i had prepared food in the fridge, i wanted fried eggs. so i cracked two in a pan, and fried them over easy, still in my uniform. then i seasoned them with salt and pepper. i got a napkin out - one of the 'good' ones, which i wasn't supposed to use - and wanting to be fancy through and through, i used another condiment on the eggs. quite a bit of it, and it was white vinegar. i swear it hurt to even smell the stuff for years afterward. i chucked the foul dish, pushing back the guilt of wasting food, put back the unused napkin, and went to diligently pursue homework in lieu of penance.

even now i only use white vinegar for cleaning and for the rare poached egg. for cooking i have red, rice and champagne vinegars that i find less aggresive. happier memories are tied with this soup, too, like the time we made it out of scraps leftover from canning cabbage-stuffed peppers all day long, and that we ate at 1 am after a couple hours of board games. bad puns were made about me being as sour as the soup. (i lost every single game, what are the odds?! and to be gracious about it? hardly in my nature...at least i admit to being a sore loser, which my mom will never do, even though she's worse than i am.)

turkey legs did not exist in my childhood, that is a new addition, and i think an improvement. this is a far better choice than any smoked ham hock i could find, and i'm sure i'll come up with other uses, we loved this meat! so first you bring the leg to boil and then add root vegetables - carrots, parsley root, celery, and onion, a couple bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, and simmer until the meat is easy to pull apart with a fork, about 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your drumstick. in the meantime finely chop a cabbage of decent size. when the meat is ready take everything out using a spider and throw the cabbage in the broth. discard the vegetables and pull the meat from the bone, cut it bite-size and put it back in the pot. slice a couple carrots and add them to the cabbage. simmer gently for another 10 minutes, then add 6 to 8 oz tomato sauce/juice and 1 tb tomato paste. simmer 5 minutes more. correct seasoning, add 3 tb chopped dill and a squeeze of lemon juice and turn off the heat. serve with sour cream and hearty bread.

zhara loved it and had it for lunch on three consecutive days. i usually don't make soup in industrial quantities, but that was one big leg, so i had to pull out the big pot, and didn't have the sense to freeze half the stock for another use. so even with a portion sent to the neighbors, and my husband's appetite at the ready, the soup lasted three days. not a bad thing if you have a crowd - the turkey leg was $3.50, the cabbage $1.20, so the whole thing costs about $7 to make.

lemon veggie orzo

ever since she managed to land a sprinkle on a cookie and not on the floor, zhara has become very interested in what goes on in the kitchen. at first it was just about decorating, then also the making of cookies. after a while she demaned to attend the preparation of all desserts. now it's simply understood that we cook together. whenever i announce i'll be making lunch, or dinner, she pushes up a chair by the counter and gathers her plastic cutlery. then she asks what we're making and immitates my every gesture on her set of pans (aka spare measuring cups).

today we made this orzo, it's one of her favourite dishes and i'm sorry i don't have an extra hand to photograph her while she's working. she gets very focused, narrates everything she does and when she's pleased she smiles and her eyebrows go up in wonder of what she has achieved. i write off the state of my kitchen as collateral, and enjoy her having fun. plus she's more inclined to eat something she helped prepare.

i make this more than one way, sometime with pancetta or sausage, or maybe corn instead of zucchini. the method stays the same, the meat would be pan-fried first and the rest is the same. first sautee the onion and when it's soft add 3/4 cup orzo and cook, stirring often, until it's starting to color. add finely chopped red bell pepper, just a half if it's huge, and sautee a couple minutes. add 2 cups water, bring to boil and throw in 3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame. bring to boil again, cover and simmer 6 minutes. add one grated zucchini and cook another 2 minutes. the water should be almost absorbed, only a couple tablespoons left. add 1/3 cup grated parmesan, the zest of one lemon very finely grated and mix well to combine. correct seasoning. turn off the heat, cover and let it sit five minutes. serves 2 as an entree or 4 as a side.

zhara loves everything lemony, and while you can always add a squeeze of lemon juice to give it a more enhanced flavour, i like it with zest only. there's not a sour note, only wonderful perfume, a subtitle, an afterthought. and it's creamy, but not overly cheesy, and the orzo spends 10 minutes in the pan. sold.

cauliflower mac and cheese

picky eaters or not, children have such an instinctive distaste for this vegetable and its relatives, it's like an international conspiracy is imbeded in their genetic code. i am one of the few spared. as i kid i loved it fried, in a light batter of egg and flour, and my mother's cauliflower gratin qualified as holiday. i tried them all, plus soups and stews for zhara, but i can beg till the cows come home. she just says no, in a voice very much prophesizing the teenager she'll be. well, she may be stubborn, but i have decades of practice on her.

the ideea is to make a fine cauliflower puree which then goes in your kid's favourite pasta sauce. i've made this a few times to get it right, and for zhara it only works if i use a sauce mornay made with munchee - it's the only cheese she'll eat. we also use miniature pasta, she's just more amenable especially if they have cute shapes, like animal or letters. 

i don't know if you can tell looking at the picture, but it's all bite size, the penne are less than 1 inch, and the meatballs are barely the size of a quarter. so first you break the cauliflower into small florets and you boil it until easily pierced with a fork. while it boils, prep your sauce and boil the pasta. you can either do a bechamel, by making a roux out 2 tb each butter and flour and then streaming in 1 cup milk, or you can use jarred alfredo sauce. either way, add to it 1/2 cup packed grated cheese. when it's melted add the cauliflower puree, season with salt and pepper and pinch of italian seasoning. i have to use equal quatities of sauce and cauliflower puree, any less sauce and she won't eat it. one cup sauce plus one cup puree is sufficient for 3/4 lb pasta. 

zhara enjoys it very much. she ate so much of it for lunch that she couldn't touch her usual second course of fresh fruit. the meatballs didn't fly, but i don't care, this is still such progress for her!

monkey bread

i saw this over at smitten kitchen. i have instantly fallen somersaulted in love with it. i had never heard of monkey bread before. i looked at the pictures and i felt like a kid who found proof santa is real after all. i simply can't understand how this is not something everybody knows about. [insert choice profanity here.] i think we shouldn't be allowed to graduate from childhood without having had a taste of this.

it's the perfect lazy sunday project. the dough needs to rise twice. we had a grand production tea during the first, me drinking my ubiquitous coffee, zhara her juice, and all her dolls were treated to crakers and dried apricots. when it was time to roll the monkey bread, i set up a playdough station for her so she could work, too. she loved that i kept saying monkey bread and demonstrated very noisily what it'd be like if we had an actual monkey in the kitchen.
as it always seems to happen with me, i started gathering my stuff and realized i didn't have enough all-purpose flour. i also didn't have any desire to change my fluffy fleece for freezing sleet, so i replaced half with whole wheat pastry flour. i only had dark brown sugar, and altough the original recipe advised against it, i decided to take my chances. finally, deb did a cream cheese glaze, but we ate the last of our cheese for breakfast, so i had to improvise and did a simple melted chocolate glaze instead. the rest of the recipe is unchanged.

4 tb/56 gr unsalted butter, 2 tb softened, 2 tb melted
1 cup/250 ml milk, warm
1/3 cup/90 ml water, warm
1/4 cup/55 gr granulated sugar
1 pk/ 2 1/4 ts dry yeast
3 1/4 cups/435 gr all-purpose flour,
2 ts/10 gr salt

for the brown sugar:
1 cup light brown sugar, or dark, it will be equally good
2 ts cinnamon
8 tb unsalted butter, melted

heat oven to 200F/100C. when it's warmed turn it off.
mix flour with salt in the food processor. in a separate bowl, mix milk, water, 2 tb melted butter, sugar and yeast. with the motor running slowly stream in over the flour. if it's too wet sprinkle some 2 tb additional flour, until the dough comes together into a ball, cleaning the sides of the robot. knead 15 seconds then turn into oiled bowl, cover with an oiled wrap and place in the warm oven to rise, about one hour, until doubled in size.
coat a bundt pan with the 2 tb softened butter. set aside. mix brown sugar with cinnamon. melt 8 tb of butter. now flip the dough onto a lightly floured counter and pat into 8 inch square. cut in 64 equal pieces, separating them as soon as they're cut. they'll morph back into a square if you don't. roll each piece to make it round. put each ball through melted butter, then sugar, then place it in the buttered pan. be sure to stagger the balls at the seams where they meet. cover tightly with wrap and put it back in the oven for another 50 to 70 minutes until puffy.

take the pan out and preheat the oven to 350F/177C. bake until the top is deep brown, 30 to 35 minutes. cool in the pan for a couple minutes and invert to a plate - any more and you'll have trouble getting it out. allow to cool for another 10 minutes, then glaze with whatever strikes your fancy. cream cheese is probably a good pairing and i might've tried it had i any cheese... even my chocolate supply was kinda low, so i combined 3 parts butterscotch chips + 1 part white chocolate chips + 1 part bittersweet 70% chocolate. melted those with a glug of milk and poured it all over. i should've probably thought ahead and put it on a rack, but i was already late and it didn't seem like such a big deal that some of it pooled in the inner circle. i ended up piling all of that on the last few pieces. i liked it very much, and i thought the whole wheat imparted a wonderfully subtle nutty background to it. the caramelized exterior would've been enough to convince me, glazed or not. to say it was good would be to trivialize things. so i'm not going to.

smoked white bean soup

lately i've come to rely more and more on the food blogs i read for new ideas and recipes. it used to be my cookbooks reigned supreme. and the occasional cooking shows. but now i have a whole list of favourites and i really trust them to feature tested, tasty recipes. what sends my bloodpressure skyrocketing like nothing else is bloggers who have categories titled 'easy' or 'quick' or both and then include recipes with ingredients that require six hours prep time. even if the final assembly is quick, if it takes you a day to get there, it shouldn't get billed as easy. and dear god, people: nothing with 'confit' in the title is ever going to be quick. [feels good to have gotten that off my chest. pffffuh.]

this soup is easy. like most soups are. in the interest of full disclosure, it may take up to three hours, depending on the beans you use. there. easy. not quick. mighty tasty. so tasty in fact, that the resident princess ate that entire bowl in 5 minutes flat. sans the meat, of course. don't push it, now.

get two smoked pork hocks. wash them in cold water and set them to boil with a bayleaf, a whole peeled onion, a few peppercorns, the stringy part of the celery stalks you'll use in the finished soup, and a parsley root. simmer until the meat is tender and easy to pull apart. strain the broth and discard everything but the hocks. while the stock is simmering boil the beans in a separate pot, or use canned beans and eliminate this step. i've used both and i wish i could stand here and say that the ones you boil are infinitely superior, but they're not. the only difference is, the canned ones have a lot of sodium, so adjust seasoning accordingly. (be sure to give them a rinse before using, you don't want the can juices in the soup.)

in the meantime, chop 3-4 stalks celery, 2-3 carrots, and 1 green bell pepper. when the hocks are cool enough to handle pull the meat from the bone and cube it. add meat and veggies to the strained broth, with the beans and a handful of pasta. pick something small shaped. when they're almost cooked add 6 to 8 oz tomato sauce or juice. sprinkle in some chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice (or a bit of vinegar). correct seasoning and you're done. serve it with sour cream. we like to have onion on the side with this, julienned and then 'kneaded' with salt, pepper and olive oil.

garlicky, lemony zucchini white pizza

i know, enough with the zucchini already, right? the thing is, i cook to order. the order of my bratty princess, who's realized all she has to do is ask, and food will just materialize on her plate. last night i had planned to feed her some leftover asparagus risotto. she loves it, except last night she just wouldn't take even a bite of it. so i started to name alternatives, which she shot down one by one. exasperated, i asked, what will you eat?!!! and she told me: pizza.
luckily i had picked up some dough at trader joe's. i was out of canned tomatoes so a red  sauce was out of the equation, but i had some leftover garlic alfredo, just enough to schmear it all over. i grated the zucchini, seasoned it and tossed it with the juice of half a lemon and some olive oil. then i put one gigantic garlic clove through the press and mixed that in. let it sit while i chopped some bacon and crumbled some feta. slapped everything on and baked it 20 minutes at 400F.

zhara ate three bites. i had plumes of smoke coming out of my ears by this point. she had a banana and went to bed. i had a slice. and my husband had the rest of it. in his defense, it was a skinny crust. why, it was almost flatbread.

another potato soup

i think it's fair to say about 80% of my daughter's veggie intake comes about by way of soup. if she won't eat anything, she'll still go for soup 9 times out of 10. worst case scenario, i'll strain the broth into a sippy cup, she'll drink it and it's still something. i did that routinely when she was teething and flat-out refused to eat anything.
this soup is a compromise between stuff she likes and stuff i want. i don't want to cook separate dishes for us. in the other hand, she only likes pasta, rice and a couple of veggies. i love potatoes, while she starts wailing if i even offer them. but: she doesn't mind the taste of potato. weird, right? it suits me though, cause i can make a soup that'll make both of us happy.

this is more about the method than it is about a list of ingredients. i always use whatever i have on hand. brown your protein -smoked butt/bacon/kabanos/kielbasa - then add chopped onion. when it's glossy add chopped carrots and bell peppers. add your potatoes and let them boil gently for 15 minutes. add a handful of pasta. when both the pasta and the potatoes are almost ready, add chopped zucchini. mix 1/2 cup of sour cream with 1 egg yolk and temper it by slowly streaming in a couple ladles of hot soup - while whisking continuously. put in all back in the soup, stirring, and give it another gentle boil. add some dry oregano, salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

you should see us eating. zhara picks out what she likes, the pasta, carrots and zucchini, and like a good sport i pick up the slack: the potatoes and the sausage. well, it works for us.

apple pistachio cupcakes

before i had a child i had all sort of ideas about what kind of mother i'd be one day. once i learned the day has come, i'd daydream about blissful days spent playing quietly on immaculate floors, cheerful meals and long naps. i would teach my child about my various rules and vetos and enforce them gently, but firmly.
boy, was i deluded or what! my floors are never immaculate. there is no quiet, there are almost no naps and sometimes there are no meals, cheerful or otherwise. these are especially hard. the days she won't eat are about as fun as gum surgery. the days when you just beg your lucky stars for a bite of anything. and that's how the cupcakes fit into the picture.

i needed something to fall back on when all else failed, that wouldn't make me feel like the worst mother to ever walk this earth. i turned to ellie krieger's apple muffins, i've made them before and i knew zhara liked them. only this was a day hell bent on getting worse. half way through the prep i realize i had no buttermilk. relax, i thought, just use sour cream. but there wasn't enough of that either. so i used a mix of sour cream and mascarpone in the end, and it did the trick, but it wasn't any great improvement so i'd suggest sticking to the original. i skipped the topping as zhara doesn't go for it but did not adjust the sugar quantity in the batter. it's exactly as sweet as i like it. it's really a great recipe, between the whole wheat flour and applesauce and diced apple, all stuff that's good for you.

for dinner we went through our whole routine, me offering, her refusing until i fold and break these out. she took a bite, then a second... then she clamped her mouth shut. to my great dismay, the muffins didn't fly. hence the cupcakes. the cupcakes made it! and today the leftovers were eaten after dinner.

pistachio frosting:

1 cup mascarpone

3 tb pistachio paste

1 tb confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

cream the mascarpone with the sugar. mix the pistachio paste well to blend in separated oils. mix into the mascarpone. add heavy cream and whip gradually increasing speed until you have a fluffy mixture. pipe onto cupcakes. decorate with candied orange zest and/or violet petals. (i'm not a complete filistine: candied violets are a great addition, they've a subtle but complex aroma.)

ellie's muffin recipe says it yields 12, but it has to be a typo. i got a clean 24, i made 12 regular ones and 24 mini, because zhara loves the small ones. do not substitute the whole wheat pastry flour - it provides a wonderful nutty background; any neutral oil will work if you don't buy canola; keep them in the fridge but remove half hour before eating so the frosting can come to room temp. they really are excellent, a very delicate flavor combo, moist with apple and a bit chewy from the whole wheat. i loved the frosting, it was silkier than i'd expected and went just great with the apple. plus, it beats hot dogs by a long shot. it's not like i'm bitter or anything. sigh.

a cure for a crummy day

well, more like a band-aid. this was a special kind of crummy. the kind that combines a hateful migraine with piercing toddler wails, a messy house and an improvident trip to the market. ever had one of these? the market was by far its crowing moment, since i forget my wallet at home and their stupid machine kept refusing my check. a nice person who works there gave zhara a cookie to prevent bleeding ears in other shoppers, which she sneezed all over my glasses as i was fixing her scarf.
so it was nice to come home to these.

i made mini cupcakes because they're toddler-friendly and as a part of my ongoing Battle against Large Portions. fact is, we could use some dieting around here, but we're simply not able to resist food. any food. so at least we should rationalize how much of it we eat. yes, we should. in real life however, these filled my kitchen with an unbearably tempting aroma as they baked. i'm sad to report some of them never got to meet their frosting. some never even got to Be Cool. they are weightless and fluffy, especially when consumed the same day. be sure to cover if you have leftovers, as they will dry some if you don't.

1 1/4 cups/150 gr flour

1/2 ts baking powder

1/4 ts baking soda

pinch salt

1 1/4 sticks salted butter/140 gr

1 cup/250 gr sugar

2 eggs

3/4 ts vanilla extract

1/2 ts coconut extract

2/3 cups/150 ml coconut milk

3/4 cups coconut flakes, optional

preheat oven to 350F. mix the flour with the baking powder, soda and a pinch of salt and set aside.

cream the butter with the sugar until very pale and fluffy, about 10 minutes. add the eggs one at a time, then add the flavors. slowly mix in the coconut milk and the dry ingredients until just incorporated. fill your paper cups no more than 2/3, they will rise a bit. yields a dozen cupcakes, or in my case 24 mini and 6 regular size.

the before and after photo:

i left out the topping: i'm not much for anything that calls for cups of powdered sugar. use your favourite one or whip 1 cup cream + 2 tb powdered sugar + 1 ts coconut extract + some pink coloring. pink tastes better. and some heart-shaped confetti won't hurt.

notice the remarkable restraint in decorating, as i mostly tend to pile it on:

red pepper pesto

my daughter's infatuation with red peppers continues, and i'm scrambling to find new recipes for them. i've stuffed them twice, with meat and with orzo, and i made sauces, for pasta and meatballs. yesterday i was going to do a sundried tomato-roasted garlic pesto, until i realized it was too late to start roasting garlic. so i went this way instead.

1 12 oz jar (450 gr) roasted red peppers

1/2 cup (4 lg) toasted sliced almonds

2 small zucchini

1 cup parmesan

1 large garlic clove

1/2 ts salt

1/2 ts pepper

2-3 tb olive oil

we love pesto in any variety. and we like zucchini, but you can sub 3 cups basil leaves for a more traditional approach. you may need to add more salt and pepper, i try to use the bare minimum. this pesto does not require as much oil to emulsify, as the peppers are packed with moisture. so once you've toasted the almonds you just put everything in the processor and give it a whirr. yields 2 1/4 cups.

when i make pasta using this i like to add a good glug of heavy cream and more cheese on top. i also like this on bruschette, as a spread on sandwiches, over polenta or even as a base on pizza. it's nutty and sweet, but with a nice acidic punch.

i asked her if she liked it, and she made this face and said, mmm-hmmm:

spinach green bean soup

this is the bastardized cousin of the portuguese kale soup i love. there was simply no kale at the grocer's. fresh spinach makes a nice substitution. in true slacker form, i buy the one in the bag, washed and trimmed. only this time, it was gargantuan, with stems the size of pencils, leaves thick and sorta ruffled. tasted fine, but it makes you wonder what in the hell kind of fertilizer they used. boy, do i miss going into the garden and just picking stuff.

i saved the monster, for chopped creamed spinach and used some baby spinach that was intended for salad. i know that picture doesn't look like much, but it's a delicious soup, and easy as sin. my daughter deemed it 'pink' and it was all good and dandy from there.

1 italian sausage, casing removed

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 red pepper

2 carrots

2 cups green beans

4 cups baby spinach

3-4 tb tomato sauce

2-3 tb heavy cream

1-2 tb lemon juice

1/2 ts cinnamon

2 tb chopped parsley

salt, pepper

i never measure anything. sometimes i stray even when baking. just taste and adjust accordingly. do not forget the cinnamon. in my book, this is something i use in desserts. and to top my cappuccino. the only time i used it in a savory dish it was accidental - and catastrophic. well in this soup it sings.

slice the sausage and roll each slice to round it up, like tiny meatballs. tiny. sear on all sides in a bit of hot oil. remove to plate and add the onion, and after 5 minutes the garlic. cook 2 more minutes, then add the chopped pepper. saute 5 minutes more. add 6 to 8 cups of water or stock. bring to boil. get the spinach in there and the beans, if using fresh or frozen. if using canned, add them with the tomato sauce. this is when the cinnamon takes a dive. bring to boil again and simmer partialy covered for about a half hour. then add tomato sauce, heavy cream, lemon juice and simmer 5 minutes more. sprinkle the parsley and turn off the heat. cover and let it rest for 15 minutes.

you can also add a bit of allspice to it, and use chickpeas instead of green beans. that is what the kale soup calls for but i've an unexplained antipathy for chickpeas. or to be honest, more like extreme prejudice: can't stand them with the glorious exception of roasted red pepper hummus, which i just might make this weekend.

orange chicken

my princess ate an alarming quantity for dinner. she ate an alarming quantity of meat! actual, real, meat. not hot dogs, not ground meat, but chicken breast!! i prepared it a lot of different ways for her and it never hit home, until now. and that is not all: i served the chicken with an asparagus risotto, that i made more for myself, but which turned to be magical. i'll call it the speechless risotto, which is what i was, when i heard the words: 'more asparagus, please' coming out of my daughter's full mouth. aaaand, she ate a whole tomato. courtesy of the tomato flower i bothered to make.

1 boneless chicken breast

1 egg

handful of flour

salt, pepper

for the glaze:

1/2 cup apricot jam

3 tb orange juice

3 tb hoisin sauce

1 tb soy sauce

1 ts rice vinegar

pinch cayenne

cube the chicken breast, and season it. dredge through flour, then the beaten egg, then again through flour and fry on all sides until golden. remove to paper towel to drain.

mix all the ingredients for the glaze and bring to boil. simmer for a couple minutes or until it coats the back of the spoon. put the chicken in and mix. serve immediatly.

at least this once dinner was a successful affair!

red pepper meatballs

my daughter's culinary likes and dislikes change by the week. she now has a thing for bell peppers, especially the red ones. so lately i've put them in everything, and it made it somewhat easier to convince her to eat. it's still a struggle. she does not tolerate meat near her plate, with the glorious exception of hot dogs and ground meat. (i want to roll my eyes every time i remember this, of all the meat that's available, of all the cuts, she wants ground meat, gah.) not a big fan myself, except for meatballs and stuffed cabagge, i could care less if i ever see another burger or lasagna or whatever else they make with ground meat. i wouldn't know.
these, however, are liable to become the default meatballs. i put peppers both in the meat and in the sauce, and they impart a sweet flavor.

whatever meat you choose, do not get extra lean. fat is moisture. you want some fat in there. do not use dry breadcrumbs, they suck out too much moisture. pulse a slice of bread in the food processor to make fresh breadcrumbs.

1 1/2 lbs ground meat

1 red bell pepper

1 onion

1/2 cup parmesan

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

3 tb chopped parsley

1 egg

1 24 oz can crushed tomatoes

salt, pepper

place the meat in a bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes. finely chop the onion and the pepper. sweat the onion over low heat for a couple minutes and then add half the pepper. continue cooking, without browning, until soft, about 10 minutes total. let cool and add to the meat with the parmesan, breadcrumbs and parsley.

 preheat oven at 350F. form meatballs. heat oil and sear on all sides, in batches if you have to. remove to plate. drain all but 1 tablespoon of the fat and saute the other half pepper. deglaze with a glug of wine or stock, cook for a minute and scrape to release all the bits at the bottom and then add the tomatoes. put the meatballs back in pot and bring to a boil. cover and put it in the oven for one and a half hours. serve over pasta, mashed potatoes or polenta. the one i made is very basic, to let the meatballs shine: 4 tb instant polenta for every cup of chicken broth, poured slowly while whisking, to prevent clumping, cooked for 5 minutes, with a handful of parmesan added at the end. that sauce is amazing over it. and it's only better the next day in a meatball sub.

flathead animal cookie

although my daughter is, by her own definition and in her own words: a lady-princess, she did not bat a lash at the prospect of getting elbow deep in cookie dough yesterday. i have no pictures of this process and it's probably for the best. the cookies will speak volumes. rest assured, they didn't suffer, the puppies, chickens, bears, bunnies and one unicorn we made. their heads are dreadfully bashed in, but it was all done in love. we got a bit overexcited. we're a good team though. i made the ears, noses and eyes, and zhara pasted them onto the heads. take a peek here to see how they're supposed to look.

dough:

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

2 ts vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups flour

1 ts baking powder

1 tb cocoa

filling:

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 tb butter

1 tb cocoa

make sure all ingredients are room temp. sift the flour with the baking powder and set aside. cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. beat in the egg, then the vanilla. mix in the flour. put about 3 tb dough in a different dish and mix in 1 tb cocoa. wrap both of them and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

mix the condensed milk with the cocoa and butter on low heat, whisking continuosly. you want to get it creamy but not too thick, it will harden some as it cools. when it's cool use two teaspoons to roll into small balls and refrigerate until cold. be sure to grease the surface, even waxpaper, these'll stick like a bad habit.

remove all sharp objects. appoint one toddler on decorating duty. breake or cut to portion dough to match the number of filling balls you've made, up to 35 if you've the patience to make them that small... i've made 24. so flaten the dough, put the filling in the middle, roll and give it a round shape. make ears out of the cocoa dough. use chocolate sprinkles for eyes. i only had red hearts, and zhara said they're scary as puppy eyes. bake at 325F for about 10 minutes. as soon as they start to brown underneath they're done.

zhara was very proud of herself. she kept dancing around, looking in the oven, singing 'mommy and zala made cookie' !!! over and over. (that swooshing sound? me melting).

when you come in from the snow have these with a cup of hot chocolate milk for a satisfying, cold-chaser treat. we loved the filling, it's called brigadeiro and it's a favorite in brazil. the original recipe called for more sugar, but i don't like my cookies very sweet, they were perfect for us as they were. soft and crumbly, with a backdrop of vanilla and that luscious caramel inside. i'm pretty sure these will become a staple around here. they'll be hearts for valentine's for sure.

Romanian Holiday Fare

If you walk into any house in Romania during any holiday you're very likely to find this dish. It's tradition and custom you can't ignore. And if you're Romanian, you can't forget it even while living across the Atlantic from the place that instilled it in you. It's just not Christmas without it. What I love about it is this - it's simple, peasant food. Hearty, honest and mighty tasty. You can also feed all your family and friends and neighbours with one pot. It keeps well and it only tastes better the following days.
There are many variants to stuffed cabbage, this is the one we like:

5 lb pickled cabbage

3 lb ground meat, a combination of beef and pork

2 tb butter

2 cups onion

1 1/2 cups white rice

1 egg

8 oz smoked bacon or 1 smoked hock

1 bunch dill

6 oz tomato sauce

2 heaping tb tomato paste

salt, pepper.

The pickled cabbage you find jarred in the polish food section. The meat combo I preffer is 60% chuck to 40% pork. I always use pearl rice, but any white variety will be fine. Get the best bacon you can find, none of that thinly sliced stuff and don't even eye the turkey bacon. If you can't find one that makes you feel your arteries cloggin' up, just get a smoked hock or two.

First sweat the onion in the butter over low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes. Do not allow to brown. Set aside to cool.

Place all your meat in a bowl and add the rice, the egg and the onion. Season and mix using your hands to gently combine all the ingredients. If you overmix your meat will become dense and dry. Set aside while you prep the cabbage. Take out the leaves, unroll them and trim to size. You want about the same size in all of them. Place one in the palm of your hand, and put the meat in the center. Roll up as tightly as you can.

Chop the cabbage trimmings and any leaves left over and put a thin layer in the bottom of your pan. Put two slices of bacon on top and then make a layer of stuffed cabbage, as crowded as possible to prevent unwrapping during cooking. Then bacon. Then meat wrapped in cabbage. If you're using the hock, you want it in the middle of it all, so just build your layers around it. Top with another layer of shredded cabbage.

Wedge your dill between the cabbage and the wall, plop the tomato sauce and paste on top, and run water over it. You only want just enough to cover it. Bring to boil and then simmer covered for 2 hours. Replenish water as needed, check every 30 to 40 minutes.

Tip for other lazy***slackers like me: by trim the leaves I simply mean cut in half, leave out the stem. You'll get biiig, huge stuffed cabbage, but hey, you'll only need two before going into hibernation. It's a sweet deal. This recipe will yield 30 such mutants. Serves, um, 6?

And final proof of deliciousness:

Believe me, it's no small feat getting her to eat anything, much less something containg meat. QED.

*** Cholesterol screening not included. Each must purchase his own.