a birthday celebration

Saturday we celebrated son number two's birthday, six  of us, all family. He'd requested duck and a fruit tart, so that's what he got. We started with prosecco accompanied by a creamy, nutty provolone served with honey mixed with red pepper flakes.Also, a mushroom and walnut pate that even the mushroom scorning ate with happy surprise. Next, at table, a refreshing salad of Belgian endive,radicchio and blood oranges sprinkled with roughly chopped roasted hazelnuts. This was followed by duck with an apple,prune,celery and onion dressing that included cubes of rye bread and was moistened with a bit of lemon juice and a bit of heavy cream. I made a light pinot noir sauce for the bird and served broccoli alongside. We drank a really lovely pinot noir heartily recommended by my friendly pal at the wine store. The conversation was unceasing and frequently hilarious. My niece, Sam, has a wicked sense of humor and was in great humor. Dessert was a tarte aux cerises in an almond meal crust. Then it was gift opening time and a bit of recovery from the indulgences of the evening.More proof that family is what counts, big time.

simple dinners

Wednesday, June 11

My friend Lynne joined me for a casual dinner a couple of nights ago, After a full day's work in the garden I didn;t feel like putting on a big production, so it was relaxed and uncomplicated. We sat on the deck for a glass of wine and a couple of cheeses, an Arena and some aged asiago. We went in for dinner - cod baked with roasted peppers. kalamata olives, lemon slices and halved grape tomatoes, with a few spring onions  and seasoned with fresh greek oregano. With the fish I served baking potatoes that had been sliced at intervals, but not all the way through. Into the slits I inserted garlic and fresh sage leaves, then put them in a baking dish, poured a modest amount of olive oil over them and they baked for forty-five minutes. So good. And some broccoli steamed just until tender. Lynne loves rhubarb so I made tarts by cooking the cut-up rhubarb in a mix of brandy, water, lemon juice and spices, the top note being ginger. Sugar was kept to a minimum.  When the fruit was cooked I took it off the stove,,cooled it in its liquid, then drained it and boiled down the cooking liquid to the consistency  of a glaze. Into a fully baked crust a spooned the rhubarb then brushed it generously with the wonderfully aromatic glaze. She loved it. Dinner with a close friend, pure joy.

a gathering on the deck

Memorial day, and seven of us, family and friends, gathered here for a relaxed evening. The sun was warming to body and soul after a winter  from hell, the grill was ready to go, and I'd made a big pitcher of frozen, slushy margaritas which were a big hit. We sat and chatted for a long while, nibbling on marinated radishes served over bocconcini and topped with lemon zest and chopped  chives. Also, a plate of crudites with a spicy dip and a bowl of roasted, pureed eggplant whipped with thick yogurt and seasonings. Rachel, my personal grillmeister (and daughter) first grilled the chicken pieces which I'd painted with a highly seasoned rub that included curry, cumin, allspice, ginger and more.Then the shrimp, marinated in dark rum, lime juice and cialntro and skewered. The accompaniments were a salad of green beans, edamame and snow peas in a mint vinaigrette and piping hot garlic and  herb bread. Lots of light white wine and for dessert chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Unceasing conversation , loving family and friends - what could be better.

and a good time was had by all

Tuesday,July 2, 2013

Saturday night was steamed crab night at number two son's home. We ate on the patio, surrounded by his lush garden and made short work of a  mountain of steamed crabs, onions, new potatoes and corn. I contributed cole slaw and he'd chosen a gorgeous Sancerre, one of my favorite wines, to accompany the feast. There were three of us, Tony, Rachel and I, and we ate a lot and laughed a lot, and the music - he has outside speakers - was a  terrific mix. I'd made a fresh apricot tart for dessert which Tony served with an indulgence of whipped cream. After dinner we played scrabble and kept our pitiful competitiveness reasonably in check - for the most part. A wonderful night.

The next evening I had a graduation party for my granddaughter, Jordan. She chose the guest list and the menu, or at least the main course, her great favorite, pasta with shrimp in a sweet vermouth, tomato and cream sauce. It was a fun assemblage of good friends. Chilled white wine flowed freely, as did the conversation. For dessert I"d made a summer berry trifle, lining the glass trifle bowl with pound cake,then sprinkling the slices with Limoncello. A layer of lemon curd lightened with whipped cream, then a layer of mixed berries, continuing until the top layer of berries. Rich, gorgeous and delicious. We had fun, which was the operative word for the entire weekend.

mothers day

A wonderful evening with my daughter, grandkids and son#2. I was not permitted to do anything and they were hugely entertained by my obvious inability to accept this easily. But what fun. They produced a terrific repast, beginning with a prosecco and aperol aperitif accompanied by hummus. On to the table and a tossed salad with mustardy dressisng, corn on the cob, cedar planked salmon basted with a sweet and tangy sauce and roasted asparagus.. Tony had made delicious shortcake biscuits and he ladled on lots of sweet berries and indecent spoonfuls of whipped cream. We were happily sated. After the dishes were done, no thanks to me, I actually got up the nerve to sing to them  - I"ve been taking lessons for a while - and they were encouraging and enthusiastic. A perfect mothers day, I feel blessed.

dinner with son # 2

Tony came for dinner last night and it was relaxed and fun and he ate with great appetite and enthusiasm. Our first course was a salad of lightly blanched haricots verts, snow peas, asparagus and peas, dressed with nigella seeds, toasted sesame seeds, sesame and olive oils and lemon juice - the essence of spring. Next, baked shrimp scampi with garlic,rosemary and parsley, the juices to be sopped up with bread. With this I served baby artichokes, halved and sauteed with garlic in olive oil. So good. Dessert was strawberries with a balsamic glaze and almond and cornmeal biscotti. Viognier was the wine I served and it was perfect. When baby artichokes are in season I could eat them every day, asparagus too. I plan on incorporating both tomorrow evening in a pasta. The herb garden, despite the cool weather, is already yielding thyme, oregano, chives, mint and rosemary - it's so exciting to me when I see all sorts of flowers and herbs pushing their way up toward the sun, a metaphor for possibilities of all sorts.

A Dinner From "Jerusalem"

Yesterday was a day of blustery rain and cold so gardening, which I"d planned on, was out of the question. I decided to prepare a fine dinner for myself and opened a marvelous cookbook called "Jerusalem" by the London-based chef  and restauranteur  Yottam Otolenghi. My choice was  chicken on a bed of basmati rice. First I made caramelized onions, so sweet and soft, and put them aside. I emptied the skillet of most of the remaining olive oil and, after tossing chicken thighs with broken cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom pods, salt and pepper and a couple tablespoons olive oil I seared the thighs, then removed them, leaving the spices in the pan. I put basmati rice in the skillet, the onion and the chicken, which I patted firmly onto the rice. I then added water, covered the pan and cooked for fifty minutes. The perfumes emanating from the skillet were so seductive. I removed the cover, folded a tea towel over the contents,put back the cover and left it to sit for fifteen minutes. After pouring a bit of white wine and tossing a salad of blanched snow peas and asparagus pieces, green beans and peas with lemon vinaigrette and finely chopped shallot and garlic and adding a sprinkling of mint and tarragon I sat down to a feast. The rice was exquisitely perfumed,the chicken and onions luscious and I relished every mouthful.

movie night

Four of us gathered for a movie I'd rented - Kinky Boots - wonderfully entertaining. My daughter arrived with pots of miniature daffodils and Dick and Richard brought wine and a pot of marvelously fragrant lavender hyacinths. They brought to mind a poem I'd seen a few years ago by the Gulistan of Maslih:"If of thy mortal store thou art bereft
And from thy slender store,
Two loaves alone to thee are left
Sell one and with the dole
Buy hyacinth to feed the soul."

Intimations of spring raise my spirits and inform my menu choices. Dinner last evening was simple - we started with a creamy hummus  and sat down to a big tossed salad made with mixed greens, fennel, belgian endive and baby cucumbers.Hot and crisp garlic bread paintged with a garlic puree I keep on hand in the fridge.And a vegetarian pastitsio. We watched the movie and after I served dessert, a nut-laden apple cake, as good for breakfast as for dinner. We talked a lot, laughed a lot - good friends and good food, what could be better -

an intimate birthday dinner

My good friends Jane and Jim came for dinner to celebrate Jane's birthday and as is  typical when we get together there were lots of laughs, camaraderie and eating with a good appetite. I prepared flatbread pizzas to have with drinks and, when we sat down to dinner I served a salad of blood orange sections and baby arugula, dressed with a vinaigrette made with the juice of the oranges reduced to a syrup and combined with garlic, honey, dijon and olive oil. Colorful and refreshing. On to the entree, shrimp sauteed with garlic, feta,capers and fresh lemon juice and showered before serving with basil leaves. I'd baked a loaf of crusty country bread to dip in the juices, and some roasted broccoli. A nice, flinty white wine was perfect with the seafood. The birthday cake was a chocolate amaretti torte frosted with a rich, deep chocolate icing and was accompanied by a dollop of whipped cream. A good time with great friends.

post-holiday musings

well, december was a month of shopping, planning, cooking and eating. this was a mellow, loving and joyful christmas, no angst.good family vibes. a beloved niece spent a couple of weeks with me and we talked a lot, laughed a lot and shared some delicious food. on christmas day son number two (that's birth order) arrived  with scottish salmon, fresh bagels and herbed cream cheese. I'd prepared a refreshing bowl of cut-up clementines, red grapes,cantaloupe and a few deglet nour dates and a budapest coffee cake, a favorite, filled with layers of  a cinnamon, cocoa and walnut streusel. The three of us  had  a leisurely brunch, and my niece, sam, and I relaxed and read and listened to music till later in the day, when we prepared for dinner for  seven. The table was set with white flowers, silver candle holders, pewter water goblets and cobalt salad plates. the meal  commenced with a  salad of  belgain endive,  fennel, sliced pear and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds.the main course was capon and lobster in madeira sauce accompanied by saffron rice and snow peas with water chestnuts. dessert was a frozen gran marnier torte in a chocolate crust,topped with a glaze of whole cranberries cooked in port with a hit of cinnamon and orange zest - rich yet refreshing. and white wine through the meal. this was followed by the opening of gifts, all of them big hits.

the following saturday night I'd planned a party, twelve in all,and I'd decided on a mediterranean menu. the preceding day sam and I had made baklava. our assembly line cut prep time in half and gave birth to several jokes centering on butter oozing from  our pores. I'd chosen a recipe from  a favorite chef, Michael Symon which included both pistachios and walnuts in the filling. how would I describe the finished product? fantastic!~!~~!   we started the party with the kitchen island laden with appetizers. a feta spread seasoned with aleppo pepper and sweet hungarian paprika; tsatziki served with thin pita crisps; stuffed grape leaves and an assortment of olives and a garlicy lima bean spread. lastly a caponata made  not with eggplant but with fresh fennel and green olives - so tasty. lots of  wine, both red and white. the main course was a vegetarian pastitsio accompanied by a big salad with fig dressing and warm greek bread. dessert was the aforementioned baklave. the evening was punctuated by heated political discussion balanced by so much love and laughter -perfect. the next couple of  days I didn't have to cook anything and I recovered.my energy!!

pasta with friends

November 13,2012

Good conversation and lots of laughs with good friends Dick and Richard and my daughter,Rachel the other night, and a pasta dish I'd not prepared before. We started at the table with a salad of mixed greens, roasted beets  and goat cheese, topped with glazed walnuts. The main course was whole wheat spaghetti mixed with caramelized onions that had slowly browned over a bit less than two hours - fresh thyme and bay leaves were in the mixture and, when they were ready, some white wine added, then cooked down. Each serving was topped with thick yogurt and chopped parsley-different and delicious. The accompaniment was green beans and crusty country bread. For dessert I served butter pecan ice cream topped  with warm caramel sauce and a new chocolate chip cookie I"d baked a couple of hours before dinner - flat, rich and lightly salty. They all took some home. Now I begin Thanksgiving preparations.Yesterday I  made pie crust dought and froze it, today I'll prepare a grapefruit and cranberry chutney . Now I"m off to my voice lesson which I hugely enjoy, with no expectations I'll be performing in public - but I do a lot of singing in the  kitchen.

shoppin at the mideastern store

I took a trip across town to the middle eastern grocery, hoping their new crop of walnuts had arrived - they had and there is no comparison to prepackaged nuts at the average grocery. These are divinely fresh, and when I return from Italy I'll put them to immediate use. I also purchased a lovely, full-bodied olive oil and, from the poultry case, glistening in their ice bath, precious little poussins beckoned - irresistible. The next evening son number two came for dinner and I served the tiny chickens. I roughly cut some parsnips, carrots, shallots and apples, a perfect bed for the birds. I basted them with a combination of hard cider and dry white wine and when they were bronzed and ready to serve I accompanied them with roasted acorn squash sections. We began with a simple salad of baby greens ( there's a thread of infanticide in this blog)  tossed with chevre and dried cranberries. It was a most pleasant evening, I enjoy our conversations.

The leaves are  changing,lots of copper, yellow and orange and all that's left in the vegetable garden is swiss chard - lots of it. I diced some stems rather finely and sauteed them at gentle heat  in olive oil - tasty.

No more cooking for the next ten days, but lots of good eating in Bologna,  Parma, Modena and, briefly, Milan. Arrivederci.

cool weather cooking

Monday, October 8

Overcast and chilly - I'll postpone garden cleanup for a less gloomy and more sunny day. The chard is enormous and I'd better harvest it before it's taller than I.  A friend is coming for dinner tomorrow evening, and  ale-braised chicken with its hit of chili powder and red pepper sounds perfect for a cool fall evening. I'll serve some of the aforementioned chard with it and soft polenta. A green salad to start and glazed pumpkin cookies for dessert. The herb garden will probably get hit by a night frost by the time I return from Italy so it behooves me to get out there and harvest some lemon verbena for drying, as well as mint, sage and lovage. I'll puree the sorrel that's done so well this year and freeze it. It was truly  a banner year for the herb garden. Today I'll practice for tomorrow's voice lesson, then bake some butterscotch cookies to have on hand. And practice some key phrases of Italian for my upcoming trip.

a rainy day's memories

thursday, october 4

Autumn , "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" . John Keats. I've always loved those introductory words. It's been more than  misty these past few days, with occasional fierce downpours and slow, steady soft rain. It's brought a bit of melancholy, transitory, and some indoor efforts including baking cookies for Halloween when the kids in the neighborhood implore their parents to bring them here first for "homemade stuff". I'm  making them now and freezing them as I don't return from Italy until the night before trick or treat takes place. I also prepared dinner to bring over to my son who is under the weather with pneumonia. His favorite part of the meal was the salad, a mix of pea shoots, radicchio,blue cheese and pear slices  The pears brought memories of my husband, Dean who planted an orchard at our country inn, researching it in his scientific way, deciding an espaliered approach was best and discussing it all in detail with orchardists.He built supports and wired the apples, pears, apricots and plums to them, planting those bloomed first up front and the last to bear fruit at the rear. We went out to the gardens every night after dinner and one evening as we approached the apples I noticed that the trees reputed to bear fruit in October were laden with apples, in August.  When I pointed this out to Dean he  was horrified - science  had failed him. The more crestfallen he became the more I became gripped by hysterical laughter. He'd done all the research, he couldn't believe this. I fell  on the ground, unable to stop laughing,  He was not amused.
As if this blow to scientific research was not sufficiently astonishing and disappointing to my beloved, there was more to come. After a long and busy day and a full house of guests I sat out on the patio after dinner and glanced at the stuccoed wall where Dean had espaliered in a most artful fashion non-bearing pear trees - the owners of the orchard from whom he  bought them assured him that though there would never be fruit, the trees would be marvelously decorative - and they were. After a second glance I walked over to the wall and oh my god  there were more than  fifty large and perfect green pears. I called out to Dean and pointed this out to him. Incroyable - he had to sit down. I did a better job of concealing my  amusement and promised him all sorms of dishes from this totally unexpected lagniappe and that perhaps soothed his soul - a bit! I made good on my promise - pear sauce, pear muffins,  pear cake, pears  baked and napped with a custard sauce. And some guests left with little bags of our unexpected bounty.
Tomorrow evening my great pals Jim and Jane are coming to dinner.We'll start with drinks and a little autumnal plate of deglat noor dates, a chunk of good parmesan and some roasted almonds. At table a simple salad and a whole fluke resting on a layer of potatoes with lots of lemon slices and some rosemary. I' make a light lemon vinaigrette to sprinkle on the fish. With this, snow peas and tiny turnips, caramelized in the oven. For dessert, apple charlotte, a perfect fall dessert. I love being with these two, lots of  easy conversation and laughs.
ah,  there's a bit of sun peeking from behind the clouds - may in hang around for a while.

a happy meeting

I had an injection today, administered painlessly by a warm and charming nurse, Jeannie. After, we talked for a  long while, she was a kindred soul, who spoke of her happy childhood with a dairy-farmer father and hardworking mother, loving parents who instilled in their kids a strong work ethic. The talk turned,  as  it often does, to food. Everything was homemade and most of it came  from their farm, and sitting down togethr each night for dinner was a given - they always waited for their dad to come in from the field, no matter what time that might be. She spoke of her grandma's root cellar, filled with the pickles and applesauce and other foods her grandmother put up, and the baskets of potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables that sat on the cellar floor. Today, Jeannie cooks very much in that style, with a husband who enjoys food enormously. Our conversation was an unexpected treat and one that I'll remember. I'll think of her tomorrow when I bake apple bars and, if I have time, a batch of applesauce.

autumnal thoughts

There's a hint of chill in the air meaning my food preoccupations turn to heartier food, root vegetables, apples, squash,soups, stews and more. This morning I drove to the Sunday farmer's market held in a bank's parking lot, hoping I'd find tiny japanese turnips, my little jewels,and after visiting several stalls I came upon a farmer with beautiful bunches of these beautiful treasures. Two for me, two for a friend who fell in love with them, eating them for the first time having dinner chez moi. I also purchased lovely pea shoots, heirloom tomatoes and two breads - a fig-anise loaf and a crisp crusted ring of potato bread. On to the apple stand where I was guided to a bourbony, crisp fruit to eat out of hand and some
large, crisp/sweet apples for the apple brownies I'll make tomorrow.

I just made creme fraiche,with heavy cream, buttermil and fresh lemon juice. I'll utilize it tomorrow, when I'll prepare chicken  paprikash for dinner. I like it over egg noodles and, to start, a refreshing orange,grapefruit and fennel salad. Tonight is simple, a spaghetti and scallop mix with a light tomato sauce and some of the gorgeous basil that seems to be flourishing at this late date.

Perhaps because her birthday would be tomorrow I'm thinking about my mother often. She was a gifted cook and it was her way of giving. She wasn't particularly demonstrative but showed love to family and friends through her terrific meals, for which she was celebrated but received little praise from my father, who expected and took for granted sitting down to a fine dinner every night. She was a master at cake baking though pies eluded her - she was convinced that she  could not make a good crust. Her brisket was without peer and among the many other dishes I remember were perfectly prepared whitefish, abundant in Chicago, where I grew up.  We all ate meat in those  days,and oxtail stew, gelatinous and bursting with flavor, was frequently on the menu as well as world-class sweetbreads,various stews and standing rib roast. My parents entertained frequently, and we kids would sit on the stairs, waiting to attack leftovers, convinced that shrimp impaled on frilled toothpick's and speared int upside down grapefruit halves was the height of sophistication..
For our birthdays Ma would make each kid's favorite cake. When I was very little it was white cake with strawberry frosting and little men made of marshmallows and later my treat of choice was yellow cake with caramel frosting - I  loved licking the bowl of  caramel  icing clean  after the cake was frosted. Food figured prominantly  in  our home and there was always an abundance. Small wonder my friends loved coming over.

dinner with a son

The other night son number two came for a chicken dinner. For dessert I made deeply chocolate, espresso infused brownies  which, the minute  they emerged from the oven I poured homemade caramel sauce over, finishing with a sprinkling of flaky maldon sea salt. I'm an anomaly in the family as I'm not a chocolate lover, but they went over  very well indeed. And after eating we talked for a long while, perhaps more openly than in many years and I shared aspects of my family life growing up that I'd not spoken about up to that point. It was an evening of  comfort food and just "comfort."

Today I made up two casseroled of macaroni, one for Tony,the above-mentioned son and one for me. I enveloped the pasta in a cream sauce, rich with extra-sharp cheddar and some minced chipotle pepper, the dish topped with garlicy, browned in oil bread crumbs. I look forward to dinner tonight: the macaroni, flounder sauteed, with capers, lemon and parsley and some broccoli. To start, a small salad of roasted beets and mixed greens. Tomorrow night's dinner will begin with a light, flavorful butternut squash soup that includes cider and a bit of lowfat sour cream. I'll dice up  some honeycrisp apple  to top the soup - a pretty, crunchy touch. Tony will take home a jar of this along with the pasta casserole.

food shopping in the autumn mode

I started out early today - a good workout,then a visit to the country cemetery where my husband,love of my life is buried on this anniversary of his passing. I brought an enormous pot of bronze mums and told him this, my favorite season, brings memories of wonderful shared repasts. Then, on to the farmers market, where I purchased two home-grown heads of broccoli, a few slender parsnips and two boxes of baby turnips. tiny jewels that give me little frissons of anticipation. Next, the poultry counter for a fat roasting chicken. Last, the fishmonger for two thick fillets of  haddock, glistening on their bed of ice. Tomorrow, I'll coat the chicken with good mustard, fill the cavity with half a lemon, some onion and lemon thyme from the garden. I'll set the bird  on a bed of  slightly dried sourdough bread to be saturated with the drippings and become a toasty, crisp brown. I'll roast the parsnips and turnips as an accompniment and start the meal with a salad of bitter greens, pear and gorgonzola. As Ina Garten would say, "how good is that?"

an intimation of autumn dinner

There's a bit of chill in the air and I'm feeling autumnal, so for my dinner tonight I roasted some butternut squash until it was satisfyingly caramelized, combined it with a saute of just-harvested chard,garlic and a hit of hot pepper flakes. I added some cannelini beans, combined it with penne rigate, set out a chunk of parmesan and enjoyed!! I have a shelf in the kitchen to hold some cookbooks that I"m currently using frequently - I returned some others to the shelves that house the majority of my sizable collection. Among those I'm perusing now is Melissa Clark's "In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite" and this weekend I"ll make her roast chicken coated with mustard and  roasted atop some sourdought bread cubes./ And a nice mix of  root vegetables, roasted. That and a green salad and perhaps  a lovely glass of wine will be something soothing to my soul..

A Fiesta

Sunday,September 9,2012



Last night my niece, Sam, and I made a “Mexican Fiesta” dinner for my daughter, Rachel, to celebrate her birthday. Sam was the decorator – lots of candles, color, lanterns, and an extravagance of flowers in yellow, salmon, pink, fuchsia and cream, bought for a song at our local Produce Junction. The table was set with a striped cloth in yellow, blue, red and green with bright yellow napkins and a pitcher filled with a fat bunch of sunflowers, the stems cut short. We started with icy margaritas to accompany guacamole, crudités and a spicy roasted peanut and pumpkin seed mix I roasted till the nuts were glazed with the chili powder. On to dinner. Chicken Mole, Enchiladas Suisse, filled with roasted vegetables, sitting on and coated with a sauce of roasted tomatillos, garlic, onions, chiles and spices, enriched with cream – luscious. The rolled up enchiladas were then topped with grated  Monterey Jack cheese and baked. Also on the serving counter seared corn and green chiles lavished with a sprinkling of chopped cilantro - and yellow rice. The birthday cake was a seven-layer chocolate  concoction filled and topped with a rich bittersweet  chocolate ganache, finished with a sprinklong of chocolate curls. It was an evening of love, laughter and celebration with family.