A Fortune for You, Too

What’s cooking? Fennel Frond Pesto, Asian Peanut Sauce, and Smoked Oyster Caesar Salad

This is my new favorite from a Chinese fortune cookie. It arrived in a takeout delivery last week, and I thought it seemed perfect for sharing.

Some people tell me they think the Kitchen Goddess never serves anything but fabulous meals. Hahaha... They should ask my husband,  – but wait until I’m out of the room. We’ve been married now for 43 years. That’s 15,695 days. So, even if we count only dinners, and consider that, on average, we either went out or ordered take-out food for 2 of the 7 days of each week, that’s still somewhere in the neighborhood of 11,000 meals. Ok, ok – I’ll take off another 1,000 for takeout.

That number should put me solidly in the ballpark of Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule for success. Phooey. I can guarantee you that quite a few of those meals were, at best, meh. A few were out and out disasters. But we persist – with enthusiasm. At worst, they make good stories.

My earliest noteworthy failure was a roast beef – in our first year of marriage. What I most remember is chewing and chewing and chewing. And deciding never to try that again. I have held to that decision.

Then there was the soup I worked on for hours before pouring the entire batch down the disposal. I recall that it had an overwhelming flavor of peanut butter, and I considered serving it anyhow, then changed my mind. That’s when I developed my mantra: If it doesn’t taste good, throw it out and order pizza.

In more recent years, there was the fried chicken I served to my gourmet group. Definitely meh, even after three rounds of experimentation. So sad. And just last week, I made The New York Times recipe from Ferran Adrià (yes, of el Bulli fame) for tortilla Española, which featured an interesting technique; but I actually tossed the leftovers after asking my prince if he wanted any more and he said, “No.” The tone wasn’t “No, thanks” or “Not tonight” or “Maybe for lunch tomorrow.” Just “No.” Now, I haven’t given up on that one, but the message from my first attempt was clear.

These are only a few I can quickly recall. I try not to dwell on them. So I encourage you, in these days when we are all – still – doing more cooking than usual, to try something new, something that sounds like fun or a great flavor. And regardless of how it turns out, don’t lose that enthusiasm.

* * *

In the spirit of trying something fun, I herewith present to you three – yes, three – recipes that I swear you can complete in 15 minutes. That’s 15 minutes each, of course, starting from when you’ve collected all the ingredients. Now, my darling hubby swears that I have no idea how long 15 minutes is. He’s probably right. But they really are fast and easy, and impressively flavorful.

So let’s just say that if you took an hour one afternoon (or at midnight, which is mostly when the KG gets inspired), you could whip these three items into shape and have the makings of several really nice dinners that can be ready quickly yet still feel special.

The first is Fennel Frond Pesto. Did you ever wonder if there was something you could do with those lacy fronds from the top of the fennel bulb? This is the answer. You know how much the Kitchen Goddess loves pesto. It’s sort of an obsession, but I can’t imagine anyone being hurt from eating too much pesto. This one in particular is delightfully herby, combining the slightly bitter flavor of the fronds and the capers that gets tempered by the mild meatiness of the olives and the creamy pecans. The lemon adds that light, bright element that just makes you want more.

I’ve used this sauce in just about as many ways as I could think of, and it works for all of them. Here's a sample:

● on scrambled eggs for breakfast
● thinned with a little extra oil and drizzled over asparagus or other cooked veggies
● as a crudité dip for raw veggies
● spread on baked salmon or whitefish.

I also gave small jars of it to two friends. One friend emailed me, raving about how wonderful it was on a dish of shrimp and pasta, and insisting on the recipe. The other returned the empty jar and told me that she’s not much of a cook but that if I make any more of this stuff, she’ll take another jar.

Fennel Frond Pesto

Inspired by Daniel Gritzer of Serious Eats (seriouseats.com)

Makes 2 cups.

Ingredients
2 cups fennel fronds, loosely packed (not the thick stalks – just the feathery fronds and the very thin stalks they grow on)
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
⅓ cup seeded olives [KG used a mix of castelvetrano and oil-cured black Italian olives]
½ cup pecan halves (or walnuts or pine nuts-- try it with whatever you have)
1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
juice and zest of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon capers, drained
rounded ½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons best quality olive oil


Directions
Combine all ingredients but the oil in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the processor until the ingredients form into a grainy consistency. Set the processor to run and slowly add the olive oil. Once the olive oil is incorporated, run the processor for another 10-15 seconds to achieve a relatively smooth purée.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Stores well in the fridge or the freezer.




*   *   *

I plan to try next with garnishes of crushed peanuts and matchstick cuts of cucumber.

Asian Peanut Sauce

I can’t think where I first stumbled across this, but as a huge fan of peanut butter (just not in soup), and an equally huge fan of that Asian peanut sauce, I had to make some immediately. It wasn’t a natural part of the dinner I had planned that night, but I didn’t care. And it was amazing. Like a friggin’ miracle. So there.

The sauce is not just good on noodles; it also works well as a satay sauce for skewered chicken or beef, or a dipping sauce for California rolls. And I have my eye on an Asian salad, but more on that another day.

Makes ½ cup, or enough to sauce 4 ounces of linguine pasta (or whatever kind of pasta you have in the house). But I was only cooking for 2. My new plan is to double or triple these quantities so I have some at hand when the mood strikes me. You might do the same.

Ingredients
Linguine or other long, thin pasta, or soba noodles
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons hot water
1½ teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Mirin (or rice vinegar, or cider vinegar in a pinch)*
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
¼ teaspoon powdered garlic*
Optional garnishes: crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, chives, cilantro, cucumber batons

Kitchen Goddess notes on the ingredients: 1. Mirin is a sweetened rice wine, so if you use a vinegar substitute, you may find that the mix needs a bit of sugar. My understanding is that brown sugar sweetens this dish better than white sugar. I used Mirin, because I had it. But of course. 2. You know what a purist the KG is, so this use of powdered garlic instead of fresh is an attempt to maintain the smooth texture of the sauce. If you don’t care about the texture and want a bigger garlic hit, feel free to use 1-2 small cloves of garlic, minced. 3. It is in fact easier to use 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger than the 2 teaspoons of fresh, but if you like that bite that fresh ginger delivers, you'll want the fresh. If you just want the flavor, ground ginger will be fine.

Directions
Set a pot of well salted boiling water on the stove and cook the noodles until a bit al dente.

Meanwhile, combine the peanut butter and the hot water until the mixture is smooth and consistent. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Toss with the noodles and serve with garnishes of your choice.

*   *   *

Smoked Oyster Caesar Salad

Adapted from Justin Warner, The Laws of Cooking... and How to Break Them (2015).

You may remember the Kitchen Goddess’s fascination with Justin Warner’s debut cookbook, The Laws of Cooking... and How to Break Them. This young man has an amazing imagination when it comes to food and food combinations. Many of his ideas are just downright fun. Like this take on the classic Caesar salad, which uses smoked oysters (a KG favorite) instead of anchovies, and... [wait for it] oyster crackers instead of croutons. So easy, so different, so delicious.

Serves 4, though you’ll have enough dressing and croutons for 4 more.

Ingredients
For the dressing:
2 egg yolks
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons kosher salt
¾ cup vegetable oil (or other neutral oil like canola)
One small (3.7-ounce) can smoked oysters packed in oil

For the croutons:
2 cups oyster crackers
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for serving

For the salad:
2 romaine hearts
2 tablespoons grated Pecorino-Romano cheese


Directions
For the dressing:
In a food processor (or a blender), pulse together the egg yolks, lemon juice, Dijon, garlic, Worcestershire and salt until thoroughly combined. With the machine running, slowly add the vegetable oil in a thin stream.

Drain the oil from the oysters, reserving 1 tablespoon of the oil for the croutons. Add the drained oysters to the dressing and pulse (blend) until smooth. Set aside.

For the croutons:
In a small skillet over medium-high heat, toss together the crackers, olive oil, black pepper, and the reserved oyster oil. Toast the crackers, tossing often, until they take on some color and start to brown. Remove the crackers to a bowl and set aside to cool.

For the presentation:
Swipe a spoonful of the dressing on each plate (to keep the lettuce from sliding around).
Lop off the base of each romaine heart, and slice the hearts in half lengthwise. Place a half face-up on the dressing, then drizzle with additional dressing. Top with croutons, additional black pepper, and a sprinkling of Pecorino-Romano, and serve.

Kitchen Goddess note: As I mentioned above, you’ll have lots of dressing from this recipe. You can either buy more romaine hearts and invite more guests, or save the rest for another dinner. Warner says the dressing is great in a potato salad, and I believe him. I like having some on hand anytime, as a dressing on other, relatively plain types of salads.

On the Light Side -- Marathon Day 3

What’s cooking? Ginger- and Molasses-Glazed Root Vegetables, Fennel-Celery Salad with Lemon and Parmesan

I’ve done it! I’ve made time to give you all four recipes in just less than a week before Turkey Day. I should have a glass of wine. Maybe even two. But first, let’s get on with the reason you clicked in here.

Today’s recipes may seem wildly different, but they have one major factor in common: the mandoline.

Ordinarily, the Kitchen Goddess understands that not everyone has a complete inventory of cooking utensils/equipment. The KG herself has no rice cooker, no sous vide immersion circulator, no air fryer, no instant pot, no slow cooker. Not even a toaster oven. But she has a mandoline slicer.

Both of these recipes are a snap with a mandoline slicer. And this is not the first time I’ve suggested getting one, so.... On the other hand, both recipes can be made the day before you’ll be serving them, which goes a long way toward making the dishes attractive even without any special equipment.

A mandoline is not a machine. It’s a cooking utensil used for slicing. The fancier ones also make julienne cuts, but let’s just stick to our knitting today. According to wikipedia, the name mandoline derives from the back-and-forth wrist motion of the user, which mimics the motion of someone playing the musical instrument of the same name (though the instrument is spelled mandolin, while the utensil is spelled mandoline). How clever is that?

With a mandoline, you can slice fruits and veggies faster than even a skilled chef with a knife. Which will improve both the look and the cooking of your foods in the sense that even cuts produce even doneness. As my CIA chef teacher told the class, “looks the same, cooks the same.”

Ideally, you want a mandoline that’s both easy and safe to use. The blades are sharp and you can wound yourself without even noticing – until the blood starts showing up on the food. I have more than once sliced into a fingernail, and even managed one time to remove the tip of a finger. That was exciting.

Through exhaustive testing, the America’s Test Kitchen crew has pronounced the Swissmar Borner V-1001 V-Slicer Plus Mandoline 5 Piece Set ($49.95 at amazon.com) as the easiest and safest to use. Also, they liked the Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Adjustable Mandoline Vegetable Slicer w/ Handguard ($17.82). The one I use is a Benriner, which though cheaper and easy to use, is not nearly as safe, as you can tell from my history with it. So I’m thinking maybe the Swissmar should be on my Christmas list.

Once you have a mandoline or decide to just plow ahead with a knife, these two dishes are easy and can be made a day ahead (yes, even the salad!).

Ginger- and Molasses-Glazed Root Vegetables

Adapted from David McCann in Food & Wine Magazine

Root veggies – some people don’t even recognize the names, like rutabaga or parsnips or celery root. So I recommend not telling your guests what’s in this dish. After all, once you say, “turnips,” people get that look on their faces and you can just tell they won’t even try it. Just say, “root veggies” when they ask, and move on to the ginger-molasses part. It would be a real loss not to try this.

Serves: 8

Ingredients
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into ⅛-inch-thick coins
1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut diagonally into ⅛-inch-thick coins
1 pound medium-sized turnips, peeled, halved, and cut into ⅛-inch-thick rounds
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3 ounces), cut into pieces, divided
2 teaspoons grated garlic
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses (such as Grandma’s Molasses)
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Garnish: fresh flat-leaf parsley (whole leaves or chopped)

Directions
Kitchen Goddess note: In my usual way, I could not leave well enough alone. The directions below for the blanching made me go searching for the best method, and I came upon instructions from the great chef, Thomas Keller. Because of the density of root veggies, he says to start them in the pot with cold, lightly salted water ( I used ½ cup salt to 6 quarts water), bring the water to a boil, and remove the veggies when they taste done. I tried this with only carrots, and was happy with the taste/texture after they had boiled 1½ minutes. But I used the original instructions (below) when I made this dish, and was happy then, too. Your call.

Just be sure to have a really cold ice bath – equal amounts of ice to water. Once the veggies are done, you want to have the cooking stop as quickly as possible.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil over high. Set a large bowl of very cold ice water to the side. Add the carrots and parsnips to the boiling water. After 3 minutes, add the turnips, and continue the boiling for another 2 minutes. As you reach that 2-minute mark, test to see that the vegetables are crisp-tender.

Turn off the heat and, using a slotted spoon or a spider, immediately transfer all the veggies to the ice bath. Let them sit in the ice bath for 2 minutes, then drain. Lay a kitchen towel out on a baking sheet and top it with a couple of layers of paper towels. Spread the veggies out on the paper towels. In the interest of getting them as dry as possible, I made several layers of the veggies, separated by more paper towels.




When you are about ready to serve, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat until it sizzles. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook, stirring often, for about 2 minutes. Add the vegetables, the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, the molasses, 2 tablespoons water, and salt/pepper. Cook, folding the vegetables gently into the glaze in order to cover them completely. Stir continuously until the vegetables are fully glazed, 3-4 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, and transfer the veggies to a serving platter. Garnish with parsley, and serve immediately.

Kitchen Goddess P.S. –
What you can do ahead: 
Carrots, parsnips, and turnips may be blanched 1 day ahead.

* * *

Fennel and Celery Salad with Lemon and Parmesan

Adapted from David Tanis in The New York Times

The most wonderful thing about this salad – aside from the fresh, zippy taste, is that it was as crunchy and flavorful on the second day as it was on the first. I can hardly wait to make it again. Next time, I may consider adding julienned (matchstick) pieces of crisp, green pear.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
For the dressing:
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus zest from one large lemon
1 or 2 garlic cloves, crushed
Kosher salt and black pepper (start with ¼ teaspoon salt, pepper to taste)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the salad:
2 medium fennel bulbs (tops removed, fronds reserved), sliced 1/16th-inch thick (about 2 cups)
1 or 2 celery hearts, including pale ribs and leaves, sliced 1/16th-inch thick (about 2 cups)
8-10 radishes, trimmed and sliced ⅛-inch thick
¼ cup roughly chopped parsley
Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 2 ounces), for serving
Garnish: reserved fennel fronds




Directions
For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, zest, and garlic in a small jar. Add salt and pepper. Stir in the olive oil and shake well. Set the dressing aside for at least 10 minutes.

In a salad bowl, toss together the fennel, celery, radish slices, and parsley.

Discard the garlic from the dressing, and shake the dressing again. Pour the dressing over the salad, and toss gently but well. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Serve in the salad bowl or transfer the salad to a platter. Use a vegetable peeler to shave Parmesan generously over the salad. Garnish with reserved fennel fronds (optional, but they do look pretty!).

Kitchen Goddess P.S. – 
What you can do ahead: 
1. Make the dressing.
2. Slice the fennel, celery, and radishes. (Wait until you’re ready to serve before chopping the parsley.) Keep the celery and radish slices in an airtight container in the fridge. Wrap the fennel slices and fennel fronds in damp paper towels and store overnight in an airtight container.

The Kitchen Goddess wishes you all a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with gratitude for our many blessings!

On the Light Side – Marathon Day 2

What’s cooking? Crushed Potatoes with Spiced Oil

Here’s something I just realized: Not a single onion was sacrificed for these dishes. (That would be yesterday’s dish, today’s, and two more coming tomorrow.) I was trying to figure out what made this group of Thanksgiving recipes so easy, and that’s certainly one reason. No endless scratching at the papery outer skins to get to the insides, no “Whoops!” moments with the knife when you see blood seeping across the bulb, and – most important – no tears. The Kitchen Goddess loves cooked onions in a dish, but not the process by which they get there.

For today’s contribution, I must say that I haven’t made a potato dish this quickly... ever. Of course, they’re not mashed potatoes. But they’re pretty damned close, and with a very interesting texture. They’re called crushed potatoes, because you that’s just what you do – you crush them through the grid of a baking rack. Lay a potato on top of the rack, smack it good, and push it through those little squares. Wham, bam, and there they are. Add the spiced oil and you’re ready to eat. The texture is great and the spiced oil adds a mildly exotic flavor that works when you serve the dish warm or at room temp.

The original recipe, which I found in the most recent issue of Food & Wine Magazine, suggested that pushing the potatoes through a baking rack would also easily remove the skins. So, fool that I am, I believed them. I boiled my potatoes, cut them in half, and crushed the first half of the first potato down on my little rack. Take a look at this photo and see what I learned. Notice that the thin skin of the potato gets a death grip on the wires of the baking rack, and you can spend the next 5-10 minutes digging it out. Multiply that process against 6-8 potato halves, and you have what we used to call a screaming meemie in the kitchen.

So I peeled the rest of my potatoes, which wasn’t hard because after boiling, that skin comes off pretty easily. But the Kitchen Goddess said to herself, “Maybe there’s a better way.” And by gum, she was right. It turns out that any number of clever folks have discovered that if you take a sharp paring knife and make a shallow cut around the circumference of the raw potatoes before you boil them, the skin literally lifts off in two whole pieces when they’re done. That tip is too late for the Goddess this season ... unless she decides to make this dish again soon, which is not a bad idea. If you’re not sure what I mean about the technique, check out this video.

Once you’ve boiled your potatoes, you will want a couple of pieces of equipment for this preparation.

■ A baking rack/wire cooling grate. I call it a baking rack; but it’s listed on the website for my local restaurant supply store as a “wire cooling grate.” And it’s $1.99. Also available on amazon.com for $1.99, but amazon wants to charge $19.74 for shipping. So I’d recommend you look around for a restaurant supply store in your area. (On further inspection, I see that the rack sold by amazon is shipped from Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, which is the store I go to. Hahahaha!)


■ To grind the spices, the easiest way is with a spice/coffee grinder. If you don’t have one of those, use a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have one of those, try wrapping the seeds in a clean kitchen towel and taking a hammer to them. But a spice grinder (a.k.a., coffee grinder) is a nice piece of gear to have, and the best (according to America’s Test Kitchen) is the Krups Fast-Touch Coffee Mill ($13.88 on amazon.com). If you’re an amazon prime member, you can have it tomorrow!

So after all that preamble, here at last is the recipe. I want to say that the trio of toasted spices – caraway, coriander, and fennel – brings lovely, warm flavor notes to the potatoes, especially in combination with the olive oil. Caraway has a distinctly sweet but tangy flavor, often used with winter vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. Coriander is sweetly aromatic with a hint of citrus, and found in many curries. And fennel has a sweet, grassy flavor, with notes of anise and licorice.

Crushed Potatoes with Spiced Olive Oil

Adapted from Justin Chapple in Food & Wine Magazine (November 2019)

Serves 8-10

Ingredients
5 pounds medium-sized red potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes
3 tablespoons kosher salt, divided
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Kitchen Goddess note: For the photos on this post, I made a half recipe instead of the quantities listed here. I still had more than ample servings for 6 people.

Directions
Into a large pot, place the potatoes (after scoring the circumference for peeling, of course). Add water to cover by 1 inch, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of salt, and reduce the heat enough that the potatoes are only simmering. Simmer until tender, 25 to 30 minutes. (Test by piercing a potato with a fork or a skewer; if it slides in easily, the potatoes are done.)

While the potatoes are cooking, combine the caraway seeds, coriander seeds, and fennel seeds in a small skillet over medium heat. Stir almost constantly, until the spices are very fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer the seeds to a spice grinder or mortar, and process or crush until the seeds are slightly finer than a medium grind. Stir the crushed seeds into the olive oil in a medium bowl until well combined. Set aside.

Kitchen Goddess note: If you don’t have a spice/coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle, and you don’t feel like crushing the seeds in a kitchen towel with a hammer, you can always use the pre-ground versions of caraway, coriander, and fennel. The grind will be finer than recommended, so the look of the dish won’t be quite so rustic, but the taste should be close to the same, as long as your ground spices are fresh. To tell the freshness, take the lid off the jar and put it up to your nose; fresh spices should have a good strong smell.

When the potatoes are done, drain them and cut them in half lengthwise. Lay your wire rack over a large bowl, and place a potato half, cut side down, on the rack, and press completely through to the bowl.

Fold the spiced olive oil gently into the potatoes, so as to preserve that lovely crushed consistency. Stir in the pepper and remaining tablespoon of salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.


Kitchen Goddess P.S. – 
What you can do ahead:
1. Cook the potatoes.
2. Crush the potatoes.
3. Mix the spiced oil.
4. Assemble the entire dish.

You can do step 1, or steps 1 & 2, or steps 1, 2, & 3, or all four. Reheat the potatoes to serve warm or at room temperature.

Springing Forward

What’s cooking? Pork Medallions with Fennel-White Wine Sauce

Well, it’s almost spring. Just not yet, even though here in Texas, we’ve got blooms aplenty on the flowering trees, and my pansies are exploding with happiness at having survived the winter. But I’m getting really tired of the hearty soups and roast chicken dinners. And the asparagus isn’t quite “local” yet, if you know what I mean.

So I was delightfully surprised to find a recipe for pork tenderloin that didn’t require roasting or bundling my prince up so that he could grill it in the cold.

I don’t remember ever having pork tenderloin from my mother’s kitchen. We often had pork chops, and occasionally pork roast, so maybe this is one of those cuts – like a tri-tip roast – that wasn’t really popular or well known back then. In any case, as a grown-up, I’ve become a big fan. It’s as tender as a beef filet but much less expensive; it’s also juicy, flavorful, and very lean. Would you like to know why it’s so tender? I thought so. The cut comes from an area along the spine, so it’s a muscle that’s used for posture instead of movement.

Even better, this particular treatment is so fast and easy, it blew me away. The cooking part of the recipe takes... drum roll, please... less than 10 minutes. Can you believe it? The Kitchen Goddess was more than a little skeptical until she made it herself.

If you’re not familiar with fennel, you may be tempted to try this recipe with celery or onion. Don’t do it. Just allow me a short digression on the vegetable, then go out and introduce yourself to it.

According to wikipedia, fennel is a highly aromatic member of the carrot family. (News to me.) It’s also a rich source of protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins and several dietary minerals. The plant came originally from the Mediterranean coast, which is why you’ll find fennel popping up in Italian cuisine. The tall, feathery fronds are often in salads or omelettes; the seeds look and taste a lot like anise; and the flowers produce a potently flavorful pollen that the Kitchen Goddess has raved about more than once. Fennel bulbs – which look like a marriage between a head of celery and a spring onion –  have a faint licorice-like taste when raw; cooked, they’re completely different. Aside from their use raw in salads, fennel bulbs make a wonderful addition to soups and risottos, and they’re terrific grilled or braised on their own. Here, the bulb adds a light, spring-like flavor to the sauce.

So now that you’re ready for the magic to happen, the most important part of the process is our old friend, mise en place. Remember: less than 10 minutes to cook? So there’s not a spare instant to pour the wine, measure the broth, or chop the herbs. Get it all ready before you turn on the stove; otherwise, you will find yourself deep in the weeds, as they say in the restaurant industry.

The recipe here is written for a one-pound piece of meat, which in my experience is about average for pork tenderloin. So it feeds two people, with some left over for a lucky soul the next day. At most, it’ll work fine for three. If I were cooking for four, I’d double the meat and use a whole fennel bulb that’s more of a medium size than large. The use of the herbs in the preparation is so fabulous, I’d at least double it if you’re cooking for four. You’ll also have to cook the meat in two shifts.

This recipe comes from A Good Food Day, by Marco Canora, chef-owner of Hearth, in New York City. In spite of (or perhaps because of) his success as a chef, Canora discovered, at age 40, that he was pre-diabetic, with high cholesterol and gout, and 30 pounds overweight. But he wasn’t willing to give up flavor for health, so he developed a way of cooking based on “simple, natural recipes fit for a food-lover’s palate.” Twenty-five pounds lighter, he published 125 of the recipes in this book.

Pork Medallions with Fennel-White Wine Sauce

Adapted from A Good Food Day, by Marco Canora (Clarkson-Potter Publishers, 2014).

Serves 2-3.

Ingredients
1 large garlic clove, peeled
1 rounded tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 rounded tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1-pound pork tenderloin, sliced in ½-inch thick medallions
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ large fennel bulb, diced small (¼-⅜ inch dice)
¼ cup dry white wine
¼ cup flavorful chicken broth (or ¼ cup water and ½ teaspoon Knorr Chicken Broth Powder)

Directions
Mash the garlic clove with the flat side of a chef’s knife and chop it coarsely. On a cutting board, combine the chopped garlic with the rosemary and sage, and finely chop them all together. Set the mix aside in a small bowl.

Use paper towels to blot the pork dry, and season the medallions on both sides with salt and pepper. Have a warm plate ready to receive the pork once it’s cooked.

Kitchen Goddess note: The hot oil and the moisture in the meat will make for a fair amount of grease splattered around your skillet. If you have one of those clever things called a splatter guard or splatter screen, the KG recommends you dig it out of its place behind those cake pans, or whatever obscure place you keep it. You’ll save yourself a lot of clean-up.

Set a 12-inch skillet with high sides over medium-high heat. Add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil to the skillet, and bring the oil to a shimmer. Once the oil is hot, add the medallions in a single layer and cook – without touching – for 1½ minutes. Using tongs, turn the medallions and cook the other side – again without touching – for another 1½ minutes. Transfer the meat to the warm plate to rest.

See those nice bits of brown crustiness? That's what comes from NOT TOUCHING the meat while it cooks.

While the meat rests, add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet – still on medium-high heat – along with the fennel and a pinch of salt. Cook for 1 minute, using a wooden spatula or wooden spoon with a flat edge to stir the fennel and scrape up the fond (those bits of brown meat that stuck to the bottom of the skillet).

Stir the garlic and herb mixture into the fennel for 30 seconds, then add the wine, the broth, and any juices from the meat that have accumulated on the plate.

Bring the sauce to a boil and cook for 2 minutes, until it reduces by about half and thickens. Spoon the sauce over the pork medallions and serve.

The sauce is so delicious – light and herby – that I like to have something to soak up any that I can’t get with the meat, so I usually serve the meat with French bread or rice and a salad or green vegetable. If you choose rice, you’ll want to prepare it completely before you start cooking the meat, and let the rice stay warm, covered, in its saucepan while you cook the meat and sauce.

Bon appétit!

Put Some Spring into your Step... er, Soup What’s cooking? Spring Vegetable Soup with Orzo

Yup. It’s here. At 5:28 this morning (that would be Central Daylight Time), Spring arrived. Certainly cause for some celebration. I know you want to put away your quilts and your sweaters, throw open your windows, and head out looking for pansies or lettuces or whatever it is you like to plant once the ground thaws.

Trouble is, the ground hasn’t really thawed in most places. And you’ll wish you had those quilts and sweaters available, at least for the next few weeks. Unless, of course, you live in Texas, where it actually is warm enough to plant the garden, but still not necessarily warm enough to put away the sweaters.

KG’s kitchen garden: lettuces and sorrel.

The KG’s kitchen garden: basil, tomatoes, arugula and pansies.

In the meantime, the Kitchen Goddess recommends... Spring Cleaning. Very satisfying and way more fun than doing your taxes. I was making Sticky Toffee Pudding for a St. Pat’s celebration this weekend and was chagrined to find that my self-rising flour carried a use-by date of August 27, 2016. I wasn’t sure how critical that window of opportunity was, so I checked on the web, where I noted that the flex-time was 4-6 months. Let’s see...[counting on fingers] Sept-Oct-.... Well, it appears that I reached almost the 7-month mark. Still, in a desperate effort to avoid that last-minute run to the store, I thought there must be a way to decide if it was really no good.

Then I remembered that the difference between self-rising flour and all-purpose flour is salt and baking powder. Well, I reasoned, if there’s baking powder in the stuff, I can tell by putting some in water if it’s got any life to it. You do remember, don’t you, that baking powder will bubble in water if it’s still working? So I threw a little into a small bowl of water. Nothing. Maybe I didn’t put enough in, I thought. So I put a little more in. Nothing. I poured the whole mess out and tried again. Nothing. Folks, that self-rising flour was as dead as the mice my cat used to bring me. So into the trash it went and off to the store went the KG.

Which is why I spent a bit of time this morning checking other use-by dates in my pantry. I found Melba crackers that should have passed on last March, cake flour in the same condition as my self-rising stuff, and microwaveable popcorn with a best-buy date of September 21, 2015. Yikes – how did I miss that last year?! And others I don’t dare tell you about for fear that you’ll get the wrong idea about me. But it’s a great way to clear some of the shelf space in your pantry. Tomorrow I’ll be giving my spices their annual sniff test.

When you’ve finished that little survey, you’ll be feeling noble and energetic. What to do with that energy? Why, cook! (Notice the difference the comma makes in that little sentence – it’s a totally opposite sentiment without the comma. The Kitchen Goddess loves the nuances of good punctuation.)

For you, I have just the dish. Yes, it’s early for most veggies. But you can pretend. And some – like sugar snap peas – are now in stores, fresh! So even though most of what’s in the soup is fairly standard, it doesn’t cook for so long that the veggies mush up; those sugar snap peas still have a bit of crunch. The real key is the basil and arugula, which give this delightful soup all the freshness of spring, without sacrificing the warmth you need for a while. See how clear the broth looks? Perhaps because the orzo tends to maintain a firmness without dissolving in the way that rice or some other pastas might. And once you get the veggies chopped, it takes very little cooking time. Add some orange slices – it’s still citrus season! – and some French bread with melted cheese, and the meal is complete.

Welcome spring!

Spring Vegetable Soup with Orzo

Adapted from Food & Wine Magazine, March 2017.

 Serves 4.

Ingredients

Somehow, I left out the peas and avocado. But they’re in the soup.

¾ cup orzo
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium carrot, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1 small turnip, cut into ⅜-inch dice
1 small sweet onion, cut into ⅜-inch dice
1 small fennel bulb, cut into ⅜-inch dice
1 celery rib, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces sugar snap peas, sliced diagonally into ½-inch pieces
6 cups good quality chicken stock
½ cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
½ cup frozen peas
1 small avocado, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
2 ounces arugula (about 2 cups packed), thinly ribboned
½ cup basil leaves, thinly ribboned

Directions
In a medium saucepan, boil the orzo in lightly salted water until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside, covered.

In a heavy soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the carrot, turnip, onion, fennel, celery, and garlic, along with ½ teaspoon of salt. Sauté the vegetables for 6-7 minutes, and stir in the sugar snap peas for another minute.

Add the chicken stock, and bring the soup to a simmer. Stir in the tomatoes and frozen peas, and return the soup to a simmer. Cook partially covered over medium-low heat, for 12-15 minutes, or until the vegetables are fork-tender. Stir in the avocado, and continue to cook the soup for another 3-4 minutes. Stir in the orzo, and adjust seasoning with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Place a generous portion of basil and arugula into each bowl, and ladle the soup on top. Stir and serve hot.

If you want to make the soup ahead of time, follow directions down to just before the avocado. (The orzo tends to clump a bit if it sits on its own for long, so you may want to break it up before stirring it into the soup. Or you can cook the orzo at the last minute when you’re getting ready to serve.) When you’re ready to serve, reheat the soup, add the avocado, and proceed from that point in the directions above.

On the Road Again What’s cooking? Cumin Chicken with Squash, Fennel, and Grapes

Fall launches our great annual North-to-South migration. Friends who’ve escaped the Texas summer to Nantucket, the Jersey shore, Wisconsin lakes, or Colorado bounce back to our neighborhood in Austin, even though afternoon temperatures there still climb into the 90s.

Until this trip, it’s always been a 2-day drive for us. But I seem incapable of... let’s just say getting my shit together. HE – that would be my hubby – has what appears to be nothing to do but pack two small bags and get in the car. I, on the other hand, have three suitcases, two hanging bags, several bags of recipes and magazines I haven’t quite gotten through, my laptop, a box of spices/sauces I’ve collected over the summer, and – you guessed it – a cooler full of food. Apples and sugar snap peas and other snacky items for the road, along with the stuff I couldn’t stand to leave at the farmers’ market and figure we’ll eat in Texas (turnips, turnip greens, acorn squash, a small bunch of sorrel, and a big bunch of carrots).

In addition to the packing, I stayed up too late chopping up 5 pounds of beefsteak tomatoes and mixing a double batch of arugula pesto; the tomatoes and pesto went into the freezer for our Christmas visit. Both of those are great ways to preserve the fall goodies for winter. But all that activity means staying up too late, so I’m groggy and grumpy before we even get into the car. Not a nice way to start a 27-hour drive with your mate. One day I’ll get saner – just not this year.

Kitchen Goddess note: If you, too, are mourning the last of the field-ripened tomatoes, there’s a way to hang onto them without going through the whole canning thing. Wash them, chop them into cubes ½-¾-inch size, and load them into zip-lock freezer bags. Squeeze out the extra air and lay the bags flat until they freeze, after which you can stack them every which way. Great for use in sauces in the middle of winter.

We’re listening to WNYC as we drive this morning. Through the miracles of streaming radio technology, a bluetooth conversation between my phone and my car, and the magic of radio in the first place, we’re getting Brian Lehrer as he talks with the journalist and photographer Brandon Stanton. Stanton recently spent time in Eastern Europe interviewing refugees fleeing Syria, asking them about why they left. The stories of violence and trauma paint a wrenching picture of people forced by circumstances over which they have no control to abandon their homes and friends and families. They packed a single set of clothes and left everything else they had to look for a life that would be safer. Listening to the voices, I feel spoiled and frivolous in my “need” to cart a car-full of stuff back and forth, and suddenly grateful even to have a place I can call home.

One of the blessings of an upcoming departure is that I focus on menus that take very little work. This year, I discovered a marvelous recipe for chicken and vegetables that can be cooked all at once and on two large sheet pans. (If you cut the recipe in half, it’ll only take one sheet pan!) Yes, you’ll dirty a large bowl with the veggies, and a small bowl with the spice mixture, and certainly a cutting board; but that’s not bad for a full dinner. So even the clean-up is brief. My younger son showed up for the meal, and both he and Grumpy pronounced it a success.

Aleppo Pepper

The Kitchen Goddess loved the sweet-hot spice mixture here – especially with the smokiness of the Aleppo pepper, which gave the dish a vaguely North African flavor. After all, Aleppo pepper is grown mostly in Syria and Turkey. The mint adds to that sensation. Simple but exotic.

Cumin Chicken with Squash, Fennel, and Grapes

Adapted from Epicurious, August 2015

Serves 4.

2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper (or ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper)
2 acorn squash (about 1¼-1½ pounds), halved, seeded, and sliced into ½-inch half-moons
2 medium fennel bulbs (about ¾ pound), cut in half lengthwise, sliced into ½-inch wedges with core intact
1 pound seedless red grapes (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 4 pounds)
½ cup fresh mint leaves, ribboned or torn

Special equipment: Two half-sheet rimmed baking pans (18" x 13")

Preheat oven to 425º. Position one oven rack in the upper third of the oven and another in the lower third.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cumin, salt, black pepper, and Aleppo pepper. Mix well.

In a large mixing bowl, use your hands to toss the squash, fennel, and grapes with the oil and half the spice mixture. Turn the mixture out onto the sheet pans, and spread it in a single layer, evenly divided between the two pans.

Place the chicken pieces in the same bowl and sprinkle the rest of the spice mixture on them, rubbing it into the skin. Arrange the chicken skin-side up on top of the veggies, and roast 30-35 minutes, until the skin is browned. Rotate the two pans halfway through the roasting time. (If you prefer less guesswork, use an instant-read thermometer to make sure the internal temperature on the chicken registers 165º.)

Serve immediately, garnished with torn or ribboned mint.

One Fish, Two Fish, Old Dish, New Dish...and Dessert What’s cooking? Fennel Flounder, Spicy Crab Linguine, and a Dessert Bonus

The Wall Street Journal this week reported that seafood consumption in the U.S. has been in a steady decline since 2004, from 16.6 pounds per average consumer to a low of 14.4 pounds in 2012, the last year for which they have figures. That’s compared to 46 pounds of pork, 57 pounds of chicken, and a whopping 82 pounds of beef. I’d say “holy cow,” but it would just sound like a bad joke.

The Kitchen Goddess, for one, has been doing her part to lift seafood consumption. At least for the Lenten season. From Salmon Cakes and my best Broiled Fish, to Tuna Spinach Souffle – I’ve done what I could to give you a nice range of techniques and types of fish for your Friday Lenten dinners. And today, I have not one, but two more options for cooking and eating seafood. See what a good friend I am?

Let’s just start by reviewing the facts.

1. Most fish and other seafood have at least some omega-3 (unsaturated) fatty acids.

2. Omega-3 fatty acids are proven aids in reducing inflammation in the body, which helps prevent both heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

3. One study of 20,000 men found that eating fish once a week slashes the risk of sudden cardiac death in half. And fish lovers have much lower rates of Type 2 diabetes. The American Heart Association recommends two servings of fish or other seafood each week.

4. All kinds of seafood are also great sources of protein.

5. Seafood is delicious.

So, ladies and gentlemen, let's eat some fish!

The first preparation today is one that I’ve posted about before, but never with a photo. Yes, sometimes, the Kitchen Goddess will actually cook something and forget to get the camera out. Mostly, that happens when she is either really really hungry or her husband is really really hungry and threatening who-knows-what. But this week, I made that dish and remembered just in time to take a photo or two.

There’s a lot of chopping with this dish, but it’s very easy and takes little time to assemble. The fennel sweetens as it cooks, and that sweetness presents a great counterpoint to the acidity of the tomatoes and just perks the fish right up. In this photo version, I used overlarge tomatoes, with the result that the dish was soupier than ever before, but just as tasty. (I ended up serving it in bowls.)

Fennel Flounder

Serves 4.

For the mirepoix:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 large carrots, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced

1½ pounds flounder filet (or other relatively flat fish)
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
tomatoes – about 2 cups diced (fresh tomatoes – not canned)

Heat oil/butter in a skillet over medium heat and add mirepoix, stirring frequently for 7-8 minutes. Spread the cooked vegetables on the bottom of a medium-sized (approx. 2-quart) casserole dish. Arrange half the fish in one layer, and sprinkle with half the fennel. Arrange the rest of the fish in the next layer and top with remaining fennel. Scatter tomatoes evenly on top. Season with garlic salt and lemon pepper. Bake, covered, at 400º for 30-35 minutes, then remove cover and broil until the tomatoes get slightly toasted (about 2 minutes).


Kitchen Goddess note: I have made this recipe using a 4-inch deep casserole dish, and using a low, flat dish. If your casserole dish is low and flat, you may only need one layer of the fish and one layer of fennel. Either way works.

The second dish is from a recipe I spotted in The New York Times this week, and simply couldn’t resist. Now I know you might have seen this recipe and thought about making it. But you don’t know David Tanis (the writer), and he’s being paid to give you these recipes, so how reliable can he be? On the other hand, you know the Kitchen Goddess, and you know she gives you these preparations out of pure love. So you can believe me when I say you should make something. This crab dish is one of those somethings.

It’s a great dish for dinner with roasted asparagus, or as Tanis suggests, on Easter Sunday as a lunch entrée. If you chop up the herbs and other seasonings first, and have them ready in a small bowl, you can put this dish together in almost no time. I took the trouble to find fresh pasta – which cooks faster than dried – at my grocery store, and the entire meal took about 20 minutes to cook. It’s creamy but with a bright green freshness that really livens up your taste buds.

Kitchen Goddess note: Do not ignore the jalapeño pepper. If you are a heat-avoider (which I am), go with the jalapeño and remove the seeds and ribs; for more heat, leave some seeds in or buy a serrano pepper instead. But the jalapeño keeps the dish from being too rich, provides a nice spark, and heightens the taste of the herbs.

Spicy Crab Linguine

Adapted from David Tanis in The New York Times

Serves 4.

The seasoning bundle:
1 medium-sized jalapeño chile (seeds and ribs removed), finely diced
2 tablespoons finely cut chives
5-6 scallions, sliced thinly and on an angle
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
1 pound linguine
½ cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt
½ cup crème fraîche
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 pound cooked crab meat, lump if possible and fresh (not pasteurized) if possible
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Cilantro sprigs, for garnish

Prepare the seasoning bundle, combine and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to boil with a couple of tablespoons of salt. Add the linguine and cook until al dente.

At the same time that you add the pasta to the water, combine the yogurt and crème fraîche over medium heat in a large, deep skillet. (I used a 3½-quart Le Creuset cast iron braiser to cook and serve the dish.) Whisk in the mustard and cayenne, and season to taste with salt and pepper. You are only trying to get the mixture warm, not boiling, so adjust the heat accordingly.

Fold in the crab meat so as not to break up the lumps, and heat through.

When the pasta has reached the al dente stage, drain it and add it to the skillet mixture. Fold it gently into the sauce, again so as not to break up the crab meat too much. Add the seasoning bundle and stir to distribute evenly.

If you are serving in a separate dish, be sure to heat the dish ahead of time, as the linguine with sauce needs to be served warm. Garnish with cilantro sprigs.

And now, because I am such a generous soul and know how much you like dessert, I have a short, easy idea for dessert – the very same dessert I served with the crab linguine. I knew I had it right when, at the grocery store, the clerk checking out my ingredients for that evening cast her eyes across the collection and said, “Can I come to your house for dinner?”

I love fresh pineapple, and the ones showing up now in my local grocery stores need only a day or two on the kitchen counter to get lusciously ripe. To serve it as dessert, I turned to pineapple’s long-time best friend, the coconut. I found coconut gelato in one store, but if you are not so lucky, I know that many supermarkets now carry at least one brand of coconut-milk-based ice creams (to satisfy lactose-intolerant customers), which are quite good.

I piled diced pineapple on top of the gelato, and spooned some of my ground cherry shazam – that syrupy stuff made from cape gooseberries (also called ground cherries) that I told you about last summer. You did make some, didn’t you? Ground cherries have a faintly pineapple taste, so it worked well with the fresh fruit. If you don’t have any shazam, you could drizzle a bit of honey on top, or dilute your favorite jam – peach jam or orange marmalade would both work. So easy, and so yummy looking!