Steve Lansingh's blog

Garlic scapes

2012-06-02T08:19:00.013-07:00

This week's entry isn't so much a recipe as it is a recommendation that you try garlic scapes (or garlic spears, as they're sometimes called). They're only available for a short window in mid-May to early June, and some years I miss it, so it's also a reminder to me for years hence.

Garlic scapes are essentially baby garlic, harvested before the heads mature and all the garlic flavor is still in the stem. Lightly sauteed, they taste something like a garlic asparagus. (They don't cook like asparagus, though: asparagus doesn't taste good raw and when overcooked is very tender, whereas scapes can be eaten raw — they're just very garlicky — and get tough when overcooked.)

My pictures are of garlic spears, which have straighter stems and larger bulbs. I prefer scapes, given the choice, but whenever I run across either in stores I just grab them.

Ingredients (serves 2):
1/2 lb garlic scapes
2 tsp butter
2 cups dry pasta of your choice
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp butter
flaked or shredded parmesan cheese

Instructions:
1) Boil the pasta for the amount of time indicated on the box, usually 7-9 minutes.

2) Cut the scapes into bite-sized pieces. (Since they can get a bit tough if overcooked, you don't want to risk having to struggle biting through long pieces.)

3) Saute the scapes in butter for 3 minutes on a high heat. (If using spears with the larger heads, saute the heads for 2 minutes separately, then add the stems and do 3 more minutes.)

4) When the pasta is done, drain in a colander, Mix butter and lemon juice in the still-warm pot, and then flavor the pasta with it.

5) Layer the pasta first, then parmesan, then scapes on top, and serve hot.

Honeyed eggplant with goat cheese

2012-05-26T07:43:00.012-07:00

I love eggplant but for a long time I wouldn't buy them simply because of how large they are and how poorly they keep. Most recipes that call for eggplant make an enormous amount of food if you want to use it up. I wondered how stripped down I could serve eggplant, and this recipe is the result. Using one normal-sized eggplant makes a good meal for three.

Ingredients:
1 eggplant
2 tbsp honey
3 oz goat cheese
7-8 thin slices of whole-grain bread

Instructions:
1) Preheat the oven to 400°. Then cut the eggplant into 7 or 8 slices, around 3/4-inches thick each. Place into 9x13 baking pan.

2) Drizzle the honey over the eggplant, then top with goat cheese. Bake for 30-32 minutes until cheese is browned and eggplant is soft.

3) While the eggplant is baking, slice the bread (a little thinner than what you see here, actually, about 1/4-inch thick) and double-toast them, so they're crunchy but not burnt. You'll end up with something akin to a crunchy cracker but with more stability.

4) Spatula the rounds onto the toast circles and they're ready to eat! Best served warm, of course.

Watermelon mango smoothie

2012-05-19T07:51:00.012-07:00

We were first introduced to watermelon agua fresca (which is simply watermelon liquified in a blender) at Gordito's in Greenwood. I, of course, had to experiment with different variations, and I really like this one: the addition of the mango gives it a smoothie consistency.

Ingredients:
3 cups watermelon cubes (1/4 of a personal watermelon)
1/3 cup mango cubes (about 1/2 a mango)
1/2 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves
6 ice cubes

Instructions:
1) Blend. Serves two.

Butternut squash with salted pinto beans

2012-05-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I ate a butternut squash soup that I liked so much I researched how to make a similar one from scratch. The key: roasting the squash with apples and onion in the oven first, before blending. Eventually, I decided I liked it even better if I skipped making it into soup and just ate it roasted. When serving it as a full meal instead of just a side dish, I recently started adding a layer of salted mashed pinto beans mixed with bacon pieces as a contrasting element. It's a nice blend sweet and savory, refreshing and hearty.

Ingredients:
2 pounds butternut squash, chunked
2 medium granny smith apples, peeled and chunked
1/2 of a large sweet onion, chunked
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp tarragon
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup Irish cheddar cheese
1 15 oz can pinto beans
1/2 cup crumbled bacon
salt to taste

Instructions:
1) Preheat the oven to 450°. In a 9x13-inch glass pan, add the squash, apples, and onion. Drizzle the olive oil over the chunks evenly. Sprinkle the tarragon, thyme, salt, and pepper evenly, then stir.

2) You'll bake the dish 35 minutes total. At 20 minutes, stir once. At 30 minutes, stir again and add the Irish cheddar on top. Bake 5 additional minutes and it will be ready.

3) While the squash is cooking, open the can of pinto beans, pour off most of the salty liquid, and – without rinsing the beans – pour the rest of the can's contents into a pot. Gently mash the beans with a fork to break the skins and let in some of the liquid. Warm over medium heat, adding the bacon and stirring gently. Taste and salt additionally if needed.

4) When both components are finished, spoon some of the beans onto a plate and top with squash mixture. Serves 4.

Spicy tilapia salad

2012-05-05T08:42:00.013-07:00

I mentioned in my post on tomato coulis that I was finding it a good substitute for pasta sauce, sandwich spread, and burrito ingredient. This newest use was unique enough to deserve its own post: a version of tuna salad for those who are bored with tuna salad.

Ingredients:
8 oz frozen tilapia fillets (2 average sized pouches)
6 tbsp tomato coulis
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp diced red cabbage

Instructions:
1) Thaw and thoroughly cook the fish fillets.

2) Mix together the fish, coulis, mayonnaise, salt, and cabbage. Woah, that was easy.

3) You can use this in any fashion you'd normally eat tuna salad; I love a warm open-faced sandwich.

4) For a casserole-style dish, mix in hot whole-wheat pasta and shredded Irish cheddar. It's like comfort food, but with a little more heat and tang to it.

Lentil shepherd's pie

2012-04-28T02:27:00.000-07:00

Eight or nine years ago when Amanda and I tried out the South Beach Diet for a brief time, we encountered the suggestion to make mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. It's literally the only thing I remember about the diet, as it's the only element we've kept in our repertoire.

I was all set to share my recipe when we ate a lentil shepherd's pie at a restaurant that used cauliflower for the mashed potatoes. So I made and am sharing that instead, because it makes the dish much more interesting. (As you might be able to tell, I have trouble letting plain side dishes stay plain side dishes.)

Ingredients for lentil layer:
1 cup dried lentils
2 cups water
1/2 tbsp vegetable bouillon (I use "Better Than Bouillon" brand vegetable base)
1/2 tbsp corn starch
3/4 cups diced mushrooms
1/4 cup diced carrots
1/8 diced onion
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:
1) Rinse the lentils under running water, then add lentils, water, and bouillon to a large pot. (You could use just vegetable broth here, but I find the flavor of the bouillon to be much more powerful and it seasons the lentils all the way through.)

2) Bring to boil, turn the heat to medium-low and cover. Let lentils simmer for 35-40 minutes, until they are cooked all the way through but still have a crunch to them. (Older lentils can take longer to cook, so keep going if they're not yet done.)

(During this 35 minutes, you can prepare the cauliflower layer as detailed below, unless you have already prepared it in advance.)

Also during this 35 minutes, finely dice the carrots, mushrooms, and onion and chop the cilantro. (Note: this picture is from making a double recipe, so don't be alarmed that yours will look like less.)

3) When the lentils are ready, mix 1/2 tbsp corn starch with 1/2 tbsp cold water in a small bowl. Drain the remaining warm liquid from the lentils (do not rinse), and then mix in the corn starch. This will give it a little bit of sauce.

4) Then add the diced vegetables, cilantro, and garlic powder to the lentils, stir again, and let sit for 5 minutes (off the heat) to slightly cook the vegetables. (You could serve this as a side dish just like this if you're inclined.) Jump below for the instructions to combine the two into a shepherd's pie.

Ingredients for the cauliflower layer:
1 large head cauliflower
1 cup water
1 tsp vegetable bouillon
1 tbsp grated parm cheese
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Instructions:
1) Cut the florets off the cauliflower head and place in a large pot with the water and bouillon base.

2) Bring to the water boil, cover the pot, and cook on medium heat for 12-14 minutes until very tender and it flakes with a fork. (Note: yes, this is way overdone, and you would never cook it this long if you were to serve it on its own.)

3) Discard any unabsorbed liquid, then use an immersion blender to pulverize it to lumpy mashed-potato consistency.

4) Add your five dry seasonings (not the cheddar cheese – that's for melting on top) and stir well. You can set this component aside for now (or even make it a day in advance and reheat it) while you finish preparing lentils.

(If you were to serve this as a side dish alone, mix in 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp cream cheese while it's warm for a more creamy and substantial texture. I find its not needed when pairing it with the lentils.)

Instructions for shepherd's pie:
1) Spoon the lentil mixture into a 7-inch or 8-inch round glass oven-proof pan, then spoon the cauliflower on top and smooth flat.

2) Add the 1 cup cheddar cheese and broil in the oven for 5-8 minutes until cheese is bubbly and just starting to brown.

3) Attempt to spoon both layers simultaneously onto plates so it stays layered (adding the lentils that you'll miss to one side). Serves 3-4.

Homemade soft pretzels

2012-04-21T07:24:00.007-07:00

Corin makes me cut off all the crusts from the normal bread I make, but he'll eat pretzels as is, so this is my bread option for not having to eat/toss heaps of crust scraps. I thought I might have trouble fashioning the dough, but it stretched out quite easily, and figuring out the knot is simple once you've done it twice.

Ingredients (for six pretzels):
dough:

1 cup, 1 tbsp room-temperature water  (neither hot nor cold to the touch)
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp granulated yeast
1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1 cup unbleached white flour, pushed slightly against side of bag when measuring (5.4 oz)
1 cup white whole wheat flour, pushed slightly against side of bag when measuring (5.4 oz)

wash:

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup warm water
large-grain salt (kosher salt or rock salt)

Instructions:
1) Add the ingredients to a large bowl in order given, and stir until just combined. Cover bowl loosely and let rise 50 minutes.

2) Heat the oven to 450˚, having placed a pizza stone on the bottom rack and a large pan half-full of water on the upper rack.

3) Deflate the dough by stirring slightly, then cut the dough in half. Place half the loaf onto a floured surface, and, eyeballing your best guess, divide it into thirds.

4) Flour your hands and the top of each lump, adding more flour as necessary to keep your hands from sticking. Stretch out each lump into a long, skinny rope; I use a combination of squeezing the dough in one of my fists and pulling the dough slowly outward with the fingers of my other hand, working my way from center to end. I try to get the rope to about the thickness of my thumb. If it pulls too thin you can usually bunch up the thin area and it will re-stick to itself.

5) Twist the rope into a pretzel shape, as seen in the pictures below. Pinch together the places where the dough needs to connect to keep its shape.

6) Place each pretzel as completed on a sheet of parchment paper, in a circular pattern to fit the size of the pizza stone.

7) Mix together the warm water and baking soda and, using a pastry brush, moisten the top of each pretzel. Sprinkle as much coarse salt on top as you desire. (Trim off the edges of the parchment paper as they will brown in the oven at this temperature.)

8) Use a pizza peel to place the parchment and pretzels onto the pizza stone. Bake in the preheated oven, which should be steamy by now, for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown.

9) While those are baking, make the other three pretzels with the other half of the dough, and switch them out when the first batch is done. Let cool for a few minutes and they'll be ready to eat. (If you have any leftovers the next day, reheat in the toaster oven to get the outside crispy again.)

10) Optional: If you like those flavored mall pretzels, you can brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle on a Kernel Season's popcorn seasoning (sour cream and onion, ranch, white cheddar, nacho cheese, parmesan and garlic, jalapeno, chili lime, etc.).

Mad Libs with a four-year-old

2012-04-18T16:51:00.002-07:00

Actor #1: Why did we have to come to this poopy old castle? This place send shivers up and down my poop.

Actor #2: Relax. Here comes the bellboy for our poop.

Actor #1: Poop my pants! Look, he's all bent over and has a big poop on his toilet!

Actor #2: I'm putting my poop down! I'm not staying in this poopy place. I'd rather poop in the car!

Actor #1: Look at the bellboy! He has my poop in one hand, your poop in the other, and his third hand ... His third hand? Ahhhhh!

Mashed-bean pasta salad

2012-04-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a new texture is enough to enliven an old standard. We recently ate at Tutta Bella pizzeria and ate a salad with mashed cannellini beans. This turns out to be a superb way to eat beans: You don't have to spear them or scoop them like roly-poly regular beans — yet they've still got the full flaky bean texture (unlike a hummus or bean dip where it's blended).

I decided to try it in a warm pasta salad one day as I was using up leftovers, and I've made it twice now with different green vegetables. It's super easy and quite filling.

Ingredients (makes two full-plate salads):
2 cups boxed penne pasta
poppyseed & carmelized onion dressing
1 can red kidney beans
3 cups peapods (or zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, etc.)
2 cups sliced mushrooms
salami shavings (optional)

Instructions:
1) In a pot, bring at least 1 quart water to boil on high heat. Add dry pasta, lower heat to medium, and set timer for 9 minutes.

2) Open your beans and pour off most of the salty liquid. Without rinsing the beans, pour the rest of the can's contents into a bowl. There should be some of the liquid left. Gently mash the beans with a fork to break the skins. (If you'd rather use fresh beans, you probably want some salt added.)

3) In a large saucepan, heat a tablespoon of butter until popping. Add the mushrooms and your green vegetable. Sprinkle in a little salt if you like. Cook until they just begin to get soft.

4) Drain your pasta well, and toss in the pot with some poppyseed & carmelized onion dressing. Stir in the shaved salami (if you're using it) so it gets slightly warm. Take your vegetables off the heat, scoot them to one side of the pan, and spread out the beans on the other side to warm them up just a bit.

5) Plate the pasta first, top with mashed beans in the center, then add the vegetables surrounding it. Enjoy!

Alternate, green salad option (recreated from Tutta Bella):
Baby greens
Champagne vinaigrette
Mashed cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
Roasted red pepper strips
Carrot strips
Sweet onion strips
Mashed kalamata olives
Crumbled feta cheese

Apricot whip

2012-04-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

Another Lansingh favorite is a recipe introduced to us in Maine by my great-aunt's caretaker. Called "prune whip," it's a moist, fruity meringue topped with whipped cream. This is the one that was busted out for every birthday, every good report card, and, to this day, every visit home.

Unfortunately, prunes don't exactly stir up warm, sweet feelings in most people, and the name has never enticed anyone to ask: Hey, can I try that? That led me to experiment with different dried fruits, wondering if I could match the intensity and texture with a more common desserty fruit. After many different iterations, I've perfected an apricot whip — a lighter, springtime version of the dessert that is just as flavorful. (Prune whip has a richer, deeper flavor.) Both are going to be making appearances in our house for a long, long while.

Ingredients (serves 2, can easily be doubled or quadrupled):
5 dried apricots (about 1 oz)
3/4 cup water
(this reduces to 1/4 cup pulp)

3 egg whites
pinch salt
1/8 cup sugar

3/4 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp powdered sugar
2 drops vanilla

Instructions:
1) Cook apricots with water in microwave on high for 10 minutes. (Pictures are from a double recipe.)

2) Puree apricots in food processor with the hot water until completely smooth, with no lumps.

3) Heat oven to 350°, with a 9x13 pan filled with water to 1/3 capacity resting on the center rack.

4) Simmer apricots in a small saucepan at just above low heat for 15-20 minutes, until mixture is reduced to where it holds its shape when stirred. (You'll need to cook longer for doubled recipe.) It should be just about 1/4 of a cup of thick pulp when finished.

5) With an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until frothy. Gradually add the sugar until mixture is thick, slightly shiny, and holds peaks.

6) Add apricot mixture in small globs, and beat on lowest speed until just mixed in.

7) Spoon into a 9x9 glass dish, and set into the pan of hot water in oven, baking for 35-40 minutes until darkish brown on top. (Bake longer, about 45-50 minutes, for a quadruple batch.)

8) With about five minutes remaining on the meringue, beat the cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar in a large bowl to make whipped cream.

9) Serve the apricot whip immediately, warm, topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream.

Prune whip (or: Plum meringue, if you wish)

6 prunes (about 2 oz)
water
1/4 tsp lemon juice

Microwave the prunes with about 1/2 cup water for 5 minutes. Discard the water, place prunes in food processor with the lemon juice, and pulse until prunes are turned completely to pulp. You should end up with about 1/4 cup prune pulp.

Then follow the apricot whip instructions to complete.

Incidentally, prune whip is much simpler to make, if you want to attempt it first, as it doesn't involve any reducing. (Apricots are much tougher and won't blend smooth without using water to help, which necessitates a reduction.)

These pictures are from the smaller recipe, so you can see the difference in size. You can get more of the "crust" by not smoothing it down, if you wish.

Poached egg nests

2012-03-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

I love soft-boiled eggs, or, more specifically, the just-underdone whites of an egg. (With salmonella being a very real but very remote danger of jiggly eggs, and restaurants having an aversion to serving them that way, I'd never eaten one that way until I accidentally underdid a pot of hard-boiled eggs.) I also found out that's how poached eggs have traditionally been cooked. Amanda nor Corin likes eggs, so I don't make them often, but when I do I like to poach up an egg.

This particular recipe is the result of wanting to add something to accentuate the egg, and getting a little bit cheeky: a "nest" made of strips of baked spring roll wrapper.

Ingredients:
1 sheet unfrozen spring roll wrapper (I like O'Tasty brand)
butter
2 eggs
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
optional: ham strips, béarnaise sauce

Instructions:
1) Very lightly butter the spring roll shell, then cut into strips using a pizza cutter.

2) Make two nests on a cookie sheet by peeling apart the strips and then bunching them together.

3) Broil in the oven for 1-3 minutes until the tops turn brown (they go black quickly, so watch them carefully).

4) To poach your eggs, bring a small saucepan filled with water, vinegar, and salt to a rapid boil, reduce heat to a strong simmer, and then crack your two eggs directly into the hot water.

5) Watch the eggs closely, and in 2-4 minutes when the top has almost but not quite closed over, use a slotted spoon to remove the egg, draining the water off before placing each on a nest.

6) Salt to taste and eat immediately.

Optional: You can easily turn these into eggs benedict nests by adding warmed strips of canadian bacon or ham to the nests, and spooning some béarnaise sauce on top of the egg.

Saucy tender-pork stir fry

2012-03-24T09:57:00.017-07:00

I'm still extremely new to cooking meat in raw form. (Aside from frozen hamburger patties, crumbled bacon, and cured Italian meats, I have tended away from most meat in my home cooking.) But after I fell for pork ribs last year, and then cooked actual turkey for the first time last Thanksgiving, I started looking for more meaty recipes I'd enjoy.

My favorite meat dish growing up was a flanksteak stir-fry my mom makes; the meat is tender and juicy the way she prepares it. So I dug out the recipe card and tried it using some pork chop meat that I got on sale, and it worked just as well — as succulent as I remember. Here's my version:

Ingredients:
12-14 oz pork chop strips (1/4 - 1/2" thick)

marinade:
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tbsp white wine
1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp peanut oil

another 2 tbsp peanut oil

1 1/2 cups brown rice (cooked volume)

6 oz broccoli florets
3 oz carrots, sliced
3 oz snow peas
(I use the 12 oz bag of pre-cut sitr-fry vegetables from Safeway to save time)

1/2 medium sweet onion, chunked
2/3 cup cashews

1/3 cup mushroom oyster sauce

Instructions:
1) Stir together the marinade ingredients, then add the pork. Let soak for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so in case the corn starch settles to the bottom. Just before cooking you'll add the 1 tbsp oil and stir well.

2) Cook your brown rice. (Assuming you're using an instant rice; otherwise you'll need to do this step first.)

3) Heat a dutch oven on medium-high heat, adding the 2 tbsp oil and waiting for it to start popping slightly. Add the meat and marinade mixture and stir constantly as the pork cooks, until you don't see any more pink on the outsides. (The insides may have a little pink still, but will cook through as the vegetables steam.)

A quick note here on stir fries: Traditionally these are cooked in a wok, but woks are not made to cook on a flat stove, but rather sit inside a hole where it's being blasted by flame from all angles, making the entire surface hot enough to cook. This allows you to cook everything very quickly while pushing it around. If you use a wok on a flat stove, usually only the bottom (which is small) gets really hot, and it's of no real advantage. Using a large-bottomed dutch oven on your biggest burner gives you the most super-hot surface area you'll get on a flat stove, I've found, even if it isn't even close to as quick as a real wok stir fry.

4) Reduce heat to medium. Add the vegetables, onions, and cashews to the pork, then drizzle on the mushroom oyster sauce (regular oyster sauce would of course work as well, but I'm addicted to Wan Ja Shan brand vegetarian oyster sauce). Stir, then cover, steaming vegetables for 5-7 minutes.

5) Add in the rice, stir again, and it's ready to serve. Makes enough for 4-6 people.

Smooth Sabra-style hummus

2012-03-17T09:55:00.007-07:00

I used to make my own hummus at home several years ago, before I discovered Sabra brand hummus at the store. It was so much creamier and smoother and richer than mine. However, it can be rather expensive, and I decided to look on the internet to see if anyone had approximated that texture at home, since the brand has many dedicated fans. After combining different ideas and approaches and working on my own flavorings, I've found a recipe I can't help but eat and eat.

Ingredients:
1 15.5 oz can of garbanzo beans
1/4 cup almond butter (I'm sure you could use the classic tahini, too)
3 tbsp lemon juice (juice from 1 medium lemon)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp water
1 rounded tsp finely diced kalamata olives
1 clove garlic
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp chipotle Tabasco sauce
1 rounded tbsp finely diced kalamata olives

(My favorite olives are Mezzetta brand pitted kalamata marinated in Napa Valley cabernet, which have a slightly more wine-y and more subtle vinegar flavor than your standard option.)

Instructions:
1) Open can of garbanzo beans and cover with a half-inch of water in saucepan. Boil for 20 minutes. This is the first key to smooth hummus, as garbanzo beans are canned to have a crunch (for salads and such), and need to be further tenderized for blending.

2) Add the almond butter and lemon juice in the blender, and blend just these two ingredients first. This is the other key, which is to get the almond butter almost whipped in texture.

3) Add the olive oil, water, 1 tsp olives, salt, cumin, garlic, and Tabasco, and blend again. At this point the mixture should be rather liquid and flow smoothly.

4) Add half of the boiled garbanzo beans, stir into the mixture with a knife (with the blender NOT on the base, just to be safe), and then blend well.

5) Add the remaining half of the beans, stirring them into the mixture first, and then blending well. At the point the mixture should be thick but still move slowly in the blender. (If it's too thick and it's only blending at the bottom, add some more water.)

6) Just a note: I wouldn't recommend doubling this recipe, as a single recipe fills the blender halfway and I'm not sure the vortex of the blades would work on a mixture any higher. If you want to make a lot for a party or many guests, my recommendation would be to do it in batches.

7) Spoon mixture into bowl (getting as much as you feel comfortable scraping out around the blender blades), and then add the rounded tablespoon of kalamata olives and stir. If you can convince yourself to wait, chill for an hour or two for best taste. I very often dig right in!

Alternate flavoring option:
Substitute canned diced tomatoes, crushed into small pieces with your fingers, for the olives in both instances. This makes for a lighter, sweeter flavor that I like equally well. If you're having a party, make both!

Pastrami-cilantro deli sandwich

2012-03-10T03:22:00.000-08:00

I recently fell in love with reuben sandwiches, and attempted to make my own at home for cheaper. It can be hard to find corned beef at a decent price, though, and after making my own brisket and failing at it, I started substituting the cheaper pastrami. I also used sourdough instead of the traditional rye, since I found more uses for the rest of the loaf. But where I finally departed from the reuben and made my own sandwich was adding a layer of crunchy cilantro, and then dropping the sauerkraut to let it shine. Not as classic as a reuben perhaps, but a new family favorite definitely.

Ingredients (for four sandwiches):
1 round loaf sourdough bread
irish cheddar
thousand island dressing
1 bunch cilantro
8 oz package Hillshire Farms pastrami
butter

Instructions:
1) Using a bread knife, cut eight slices from the center of the loaf. Toast all slices in toaster oven on low.

2) Slice irish cheddar cheese thinly and cover four slices with cheese. Toast again, using toaster oven tray to catch any cheese drips.

3) Lightly butter the four other slices, and place in oven under broiler until crispy.

4) Turn oven the crispy slices and add a layer of thousand island dressing.

5) Add generous layer of cilantro.

6) Heat the pastrami in the microwave for 90 seconds and add a 2 oz layer on top of the cilantro.

7) Place the cheesy slice on top of the pastrami, the lightly butter the top.

8) Broil until just crispy on top, then slice in two and serve!

Cashew coconut oat cookies

2012-03-03T10:46:00.008-08:00

It had been suggested to us to add flaxseed meal to some of our baked goods for Corin's sake, and I decided to take it a step further and emphasize the nutty, grainy flavor by adding cashews and oats, then livened things up with some ginger and coconut. (This took about ten different attempts to find the right balance between the ingredients, until I finally found what I wanted.)

You can make these with or without chocolate chips depending on if you want them granola-healthy or as more of a treat. (Corin won't eat them with chocolate chips, believe it or not.)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill flaxseed meal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup coarsely ground cashews
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:
1) Mix together butter and brown sugar in a medium mixing bowl using a fork. Add egg and vanilla and mix again. Add the flours, flax seed, baking soda, salt, and ginger, shake bowl a little to combine the dry ingredients, and then mix together with fork.

2) Add ground cashews, oats, coconut, and chocolate chips, and mix again. (You might have to forgo the fork and use your hands as there are a lot of chunky ingredients here.)

3) Preheat the oven to 375°. Spoon rounded tablespoonfuls onto two baking sheets. (Recipe will make about 20 cookies.)

4) Press cookies flat, about as thick as the chocolate chips if you're using them.

5) Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes until browned at edges.

6) Cool for 5-10 minutes and enjoy warm with a glass of cold milk. (They store well in ziplock bags, too, of course, for any leftovers!)

Wilted spinach salad with tomato coulis

2012-02-25T08:28:00.005-08:00

Last fall Amanda and I ate at a crepe restaurant where the star of the dish was something called "tomato coulis," which we'd never had before. I looked for it in stores, but couldn't find any pre-made, and when I looked up recipes online there were a vast array of options people were calling "coulis," from versions akin to chunky soup to versions resembling a smooth ketchup. Ours was more like a coarse pesto, which I couldn't find a duplicate for.

So after a great deal of experimentation, combining this and that technique, I have perfected my favorite version of coulis, which works equally well as a salad topping (presented here), a salsa (with chips), a sandwich spread (on patty melts), and a pasta sauce (over cheese tortellini). It's a garlicky, sweet, salty and tangy intense flavor that's great to have on hand to liven up a dish.

Salad ingredients (serves 4):
9 oz spinach
a few drizzles olive oil
4 oz feta cheese
1 avocado
1 cup (or more) tomato coulis

Coulis ingredients (makes 2 cups, so store the leftovers in a jar in the fridge):
3 oz package sun-dried tomato halves, dry packed
about 24 medium-sized leaves basil (leaves from a 1.5 oz bunch)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup canned diced tomato, salted (otherwise add 1/2 tsp salt)
1/4 cup minced sweet onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Instructions:
1) Layer the ingredients in a food processor, then pulse until the sun-dried tomatoes are chopped well, and the mixture is about the consistency of pesto. (These pictures are of a quarter batch, when I was testing; you'll have much more than this in your bowl.)

2) Let sit in refrigerator for two hours to let the flavors absorb. (Note that my recipe is rather garlicky and spicy. If you prefer a milder flavor, use 1 garlic clove and 1/4 tsp crushed pepper.)

3) To make the salad, separate spinach into two stainless steel pans (or you could use two shallow baking sheets, or whatever you have on hand), drizzle with a little olive oil and toss. Add feta, and broil in the oven for 8-10 minutes or so until spinach wilts and feta is warmed.

4) Plate the spinach/feta mixture, top with 1/4 avocado each, and add a generous amount of coulis. (If serving as a main course, you can add protein by cooking four hamburgers, slicing each one into strips, and plating one underneath each salad.) Serve and enjoy!

Roasted parsnips and carrots

2012-02-18T13:32:00.006-08:00

I love parsnips and this is one of my favorite ways to eat them. Delicious!

Ingredients (serves 3):
2 large parsnips
2 large carrots
3 oz Landjaeger links (or salami, if you prefer)
1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp coarse dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp honey

Instructions:
1) Peel parsnips and carrots, then cut into long strips. Cut Landjaeger into long strips as well.

2) Rub butter on the bottom of a 9x13 glass pan. Add the parsnips and carrots, then sprinkle salt over it. Top with salami strips.

3) Bake at 425º for 16-18 minutes, until tips of the vegetables on top are just a bit browned/blackened.

4) Rub 1 tsp mustard onto each of three plate, then use tongs to add the hot food on top. Drizzle 1/2 tsp honey over the top of each plate of vegetables. Serve and enjoy.

(Tip for leftovers: Skip the mustard and reheat the dish with a handful of fresh peapods. It's a less savory, more sweet option.)

Little chef

2012-02-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

"Apa, could you not make your delicious thing? Because Mama likes my recipe better."

—Corin, after topping a plate of carrot and parsnip peelings with pastel candy sprinkles, and delivering it upstairs to Amanda

Pepperoni-crunch pizza

2012-02-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite pizzas in recent years is the "Tom's Special" at Pegasus Pizza on Alki, and what makes it utterly unique is the strips of pepperoni on top that curl a bit and get very crunchy. Who knew that the old staple pepperoni pizza could be a completely different experience? The other special ingredient is sunflower seeds, which add to the crunch. The way these ingredients stay crunchy is by being lifted up off the base of the pizza by a bevy of diced vegetables and toppings.

For some reason, it's taken me several years to realize that I could duplicate the taste at home rather easily, making it much more affordable to have it often. Here's the relatively simple quick fix to an ordinary take-home pizza:

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized unfrozen take-and-bake pepperoni pizza
1/3 of a green pepper
1/2 of a roma tomato
1 medium mushroom
1/8 of a sweet onion
1/3 cup sunflower seeds

Instructions:
1) Preheat the oven to the temperature recommended on the pizza instructions. Remove pepperoni and most of the cheese and set aside.

2. Dice the vegetables and cut the pepperoni into strips.

3. Layer the vegetables first, then the cheese, then the sunflower seeds, and finally the pepperoni.

4. Place in oven (on a pizza stone, if you have it) and bake for one minute less than the instructions recommend. Then turn on the broiler for 1-2 minutes to get the pepperoni extra crispy (but don't burst the crust). Serve and enjoy!

Crepes, crepes, & more crepes

2012-02-04T00:45:00.000-08:00

Crepes were one of our family traditions when I was growing up, on the table for New Year's Day, birthdays, report cards, and other special occasions. My mom has a dedicated crepe pan for the job, and because of that, perhaps, it took me many years to make crepes part of my routine as an adult, because they just didn't taste the same without the four-decades-old plug-in round skillet. (I'd bought one that was similar, but unfortunately not temperature-adjustable, and it was merely adequate.)

Corin changed that in a hurry, because he loves him some crepes. I had much more opportunity to test different methods of cooking and finally found the perfect alchemy after I inadvertently adjusted the original recipe. (It had never crossed my mind that they were coming out too doughy and thick because I have only whole milk in the house, not skim — until one time by accident I started making crepes and had only 3/4 cup of milk available, and attempted to make up the rest with water and some powdered sugar to compensate for the lactose. It was better than any batch I'd previously made.)

Here's my recipe if you wish to attempt:

Ingredients for 16-18 crepes (can be easily doubled if necessary):
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup cold water
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 cup unbleached flour
1/8 cup powdered sugar
1/8 cup melted butter

Instructions:
1) Mix all ingredients in the order given. Let sit 15 minutes.

2) Heat a nonstick, sloped-sided 8-inch pan at just past medium heat on the stove. (I use setting #6 on my electric stove for the first two or three crepes, then turn it down to #5, exactly medium, thereafter. I have no idea what that temperature is, though, so you'd have to experiment.)

3) Using a 1/4 cup measuring scoop, get it about 3/4 full, and pour into hot pan toward one side. With the other hand, immediately begin tipping/swirling/shaking the pan to let the batter coat the bottom of the pan. Make sure the batter gets up the sloped sides to get crispy edges. (This is a hallmark of the family crepes that at was at last able to duplicate with the right pan.)

4) Once the edges are crispy (1-2 minutes), flip crepe over and cook another 30 seconds or so. Either serve immediately to a table full of hungry family members at a table stocked with breakfast fillings, one crepe at a time, or you can set crepes in a stack to keep warm as you make a dinner filling on the stove and then served the wrapped crepes to your family.

Here are just a few ideas for fillings that we enjoy:

• Corin's current favorite is just powdered sugar in the middle and rolled up.

• Amanda's favorite is Nutella spread inside. (My family decided that Nutella combined with fresh fruit, like strawberries or blueberries, was a new top choice.)

• Our family favorite growing up was Lingonberry preserves (once a rarity we had to stock up on on our biannual trip to Maine, now available at IKEA and our local supermarket).

• Bananas with maple syrup. Most fruits and most syrups will work in some combination.

• I'm weird and sometimes like them folded into triangles with crumbled bacon inside. I like the soft/crispy contrast.

• On the dinner side of things, asparagus cooked in béarnaise sauce is simple and delicious.

• This past year we had Thanksgiving dinner wrapped in crepes — turkey and rice casserole with added green beans, mushrooms, and crispy onions, topped with cranberry sauce.

• Mushrooms with cheese is also quite easy and gourmet.

• Avocado, tomato, chicken and pesto makes a nice treat.

• Use your imagination and run wild — crepes pair with so much!

Pork ribs dry rub

2012-01-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

I'd never had pork ribs until this past year (partly due to a suspected pork allergy when I was growing up, and partly due to its high price, considering how much of what you're buying is bone), but I fell in love quickly and hard for the meaty morsels. After eating them twice in an authentic fashion, I thought I'd try making my own at home for cheaper, even though I don't have a proper barbecue pit and would have to settle for oven-roasted.

What I found was a version of ribs that I like nearly as much, one heavy on texture and spice. I'd happened upon a dry rub recipe to which you add sticky sauce at the end, and despite it not being the same as what you get at restaurants, I'm just as addicted. Here's my recipe, adjusted/improved from the original:

Rub ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp celery seed (extremely important for texture)

1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cloves (this and allspice are the non-traditional of my add-ins)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder

3 lbs pork rib meat, cut into pieces approximately 4 inches x 1 x 1
(works well with both ribs on the bone and boneless)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

2. Stir together all dry ingredients. (You can easily double this recipe and keep the rib rub in a plastic baggie for future uses, as shown.)

3. Save out 2 tsp rib rub for each 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce you intend to make.

4. Roll each rib in the rub until well coated.

5. Place ribs in 2 separate 9x13 glass pans with a little space between them.

6. Roast in oven 75-90 minutes, testing for doneness on the thickest parts.

7. While the ribs are cooking, create your BBQ sauce. If you have a favorite, you can just warm up a 1/2 cup or so. I personally like my sauce a little spicier, a little more textured, and a little less sweet than the traditional options at the grocery store. We usually have BullsEye on hand, so here's my bumped up version:

1/8 cup fresh minced sweet onion
1 tsp dried minced garlic or 1 1/2 tsp fresh
2 tbsp water

1/2 cup BullsEye BBQ sauce

2 tsp rib rub

1 tsp chipotle Tabasco
1 tsp ketchup
1 tsp coarse ground dijon mustard

Simmer onion and garlic in water until both are soft. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until slightly sticky.

8. Once ribs are cooked all the way through, plate them on top of a small pool of sauce, dry side up. You end up with a dual-textured treat — moist and sticky on half, and sweet and rough on the other. Serves 4-8. (It makes approximately 24 pieces, so it depends on whether it's a main dish or a full meal.) Enjoy!

Alternative marketing

2011-12-31T21:41:00.000-08:00

Corin's two favorite things to do with the dollhouse we got him for Christmas, to go with his Playmobil vacation family and rescue workers: 1) set various room on "fire" to put out (OK, that goes with firefighter and police officer figures) and 2) make the dad get in the bathtub, then ring the doorbell and run out of the room while I make him run down the stairs to answer the door. These scenes have never appeared on the packaging to a dollhouse in the history of the world (although I have fun imagining such a box).

@Spuds

2011-12-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

"Mmm... I like shir'mp! Shir'mp is the best thing in the whole world!"
--Corin, on first trying shrimp

Bob Loblaw

2011-12-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

Alistair has started getting his tongue into his noisemaking, so his "aaaaaah"s are turning into "blah blah blah"s. Fun!

Solid career

2011-10-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Starting to read "The Snowy Day" to Corin: "One winter morning Peter woke up..."

"What does he do?"

"You mean him?" (pointing to Peter, the child)

"The guy."

"Peter? He's a kid like you. He doesn't really have a job..."

"Well, I play with toys and make a 'latest invention'!"