The Perils of Inviting a Writer to Dinner What’s cooking? Cinnamon Celebration Dessert

Ever since I started this blog, my friends have been suggesting topics or recipes I should post. It’s great that they’re interested, and I love not only the suggestions but their willingness to share recipes with me. Needless to say, I’m also flattered that they’ve stuck with me all this time. Usually, though, they have no idea what they’re letting themselves in for when they say something.

Take the other night, for instance. My husband and I were at a dinner party in a neighbor’s house, and the hostess served a dessert that truly looked like delicious artwork. Think Jackson Pollock Does Strawberries. Amid the oohs and aahs, someone piped in with, “Lee, you should put this on your blog.”

The hostess seemed willing, and I liked the idea, but first I needed a photo. And I didn’t have my camera or my cellphone. So before anyone could have a bite, I vaulted into action. “Wait a minute – I have to look at them all for the best presentation. Who here has a cellphone?”

One guy whipped out his iPhone, and snapped a photo before I could stop him. “No, no, no,” I said, waving my hands at him. “Not that one. Take this one. And we have to stage it.”

He thought it was pretty simple – you know, point at the food and shoot. Not so fast, buddy.

But orchestrating the shot wasn’t easy from my seat on the other side of the table, so we had a few excruciating minutes of, “Here, take this napkin – don’t unfold it – and put it next to the bowl with a spoon. Wait – not that one. Use this spoon. And put it at sort of an angle. No, closer to the bowl, and put the spoon on the napkin. Can you try for a bit more of an angle?” This guy is an artist, so I had hoped for more sensitivity on the composition, but I guess not everyone thinks so much about that sort of thing.

At some point, I realized the rest of the guests were starting to regret the original suggestion. And I never did get exactly the shot I was looking for. Ah, well. I got the recipe, though, and it’s quite good.

Lynne’s Cinnamon Celebration

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
2 cups sugar (divided)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese (Lynne uses one regular and one light)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 stick of butter, softened
½-¾ stick butter, melted
cooking spray (Pam) or cooking oil for greasing the pan

Roll out one can of crescent rolls (pinching perforations together) into a greased, 9"x13" Pyrex dish.

Whip together 1½ cups sugar with the vanilla, the cream cheese, and the stick of butter. Spread over the crescent rolls.

Roll out the second can of crescent rolls (again, pinching together the perforations) and lay it on top of the first.

Combine the remaining ½ cup sugar with the cinnamon. Melt and pour the remaining butter over rolls. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350º for 30 min. Cut into squares and serve warm or cold.

Top with any or all of the following: whipped cream, sliced strawberries, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, pecans toasted and chopped.

Words & Images What’s cooking? Paella Fina

In my commercial writing days, I worked for years in partnership with a wonderfully talented graphic designer named Barbara Fina. It’s a great gift to be able to enjoy your work, and I truly believe the flow of ideas back and forth inspired each of us in ways that would not have been possible on our own. I learned a lot from Barbara about typefaces and visual balance, about the value of white space, and the nuance of tiny differences in line or color.

And even as I much prefer essay writing to the commercial stuff, I miss those days. True collaboration – where each person feels equally valuable – is such magic. And the thrill of reaching beyond what you thought you could do is a high that feels like soaring.

Barbara has moved in a different direction as well, now in interior design. Which allowed us to collaborate one more time, on my condo in Jersey City. And her firm, Fina Design, was recently featured in Westchester Home.

One thing we still have in common is that we’re both foodies. She’s a little more aggressive than I am in terms of creating her own recipes. According to Barbara, “I built this recipe after traveling around Spain for two months, from Bilbao to San Sabastian to Barcelona and from Sevilla to Marbella and Granada, eating paella wherever I went.” Maybe it’s the artist in her needing a blank canvas.

Barbara’s Paella Fina
Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
½ cup finely diced white onion
2-3 links chorizo sausage, sliced thinly in disks
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into finger-sized slices
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 whole red bell pepper, medium diced or finely julienned (it’s a look)
2 cups Arborio or Valencia rice
3 cups dry or semi-dry white wine
3-4 cups good quality chicken stock
1 cup diced whole tomatoes (San Marzano or other good quality canned)
2 bay leaves
2 Tablespoons saffron threads
1 Tablespoon paprika
salt and freshly ground pepper

12 small- to medium-sized cleaned mussels
12 littleneck clams
1 pound jumbo shrimp (20-25/lb), cleaned and deveined, tails left on
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, quartered
1 cup frozen peas (these go in at the very end when the shellfish go in)
optional: 1 whole zucchini, shredded coarsely
4 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

small lemon wedges or slices for garnish

Preparation:
In a large, flat paella pan or sauté pan, sauté onions in 2 Tbl of the olive oil over medium heat until lightly caramelized (about 7 mins). Add half the garlic and all of the chorizo. Sauté for 2 minutes more, then remove from pan and set aside in a large bowl.

To the same pan, add the remaining 1 Tbl olive oil and the chicken. Sauté without turning for 2 minutes on medium, then turn the pieces over, add the other half of the garlic, and sauté until just cooked, probably another 2 minutes. Add red pepper and cook for 30 seconds. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove contents of pan to join onions and chorizo in bowl.

Deglaze the pan with the wine, and add the tomatoes, bay leaves, paprika and rice, stirring until all are mixed. Bring the mixture to simmer.

Once the rice has absorbed the wine, begin adding the chicken stock a cup at a time, stirring often, and allowing each cup to be absorbed before adding the next, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite, about 20 minutes. Toward the end of this process, add the saffron (I put it in toward the end to get the most of its flavor). Check mixture for salt and pepper.

Kitchen Goddess note: If you want to prepare part of the dish ahead, cook to this point and finish just before serving. The rest of the ingredients can overcook easily, so it’s important to get the rice nearly done before adding them.

When the rice is ready, add back the chicken/chorizo mix. Stir thoroughly and add artichokes, zucchini (optional), peas, shrimp, and clams. Stir the entire mixture to incorporate flavors. Cover and let cook for 2 minutes. Then add the mussels and parsley. Cover again and cook just until all shellfish have opened, about 3 minutes. Discard any shellfish that do not open. Do not overcook. Stir again to incorporate flavors. Let the paella rest off the burner for 2 minutes. If you need to, you can cover it and let it sit for half an hour.

When ready to serve, arrange a few of the shellfish attractively on top of the rice mixture. Arrange lemon as garnish on top and serve.

Serve with a green salad and nice crusty bread.

Hearts (Spades, Diamonds, and Clubs) and Chocolates What’s cooking? Goat Cheese & Hazelnut Truffles

My husband and I are bridge players. In that serious, competitive, obsessive way. The kind of people who go on vacation to a tournament and play the game for 6-7 days in a row. I know, it sounds crazy; but there’s a whole subculture of people who do this for entertainment.

Bridge and golf have a lot in common, in the sense that couples who play either game together walk a fine line in order to remain happily married at the same time. I don’t play golf – I figure it’s tough enough to survive one couples game, and besides, sitting at a card table suits my physical skill set a lot better. But I love bridge, and I love playing with my husband as my partner.

We get along at the table because we pay strict adherence to two basic rules. Rule Number One: He has to smile. He’s much better than I am, and I can’t concentrate on making the right bid or play if he’s across the table scowling. I start worrying about what I might have done wrong, and in an instant, my whole game goes down the toilet.

On the other hand, there’s Rule Number Two: He’s always right. Okay, okay, so it’s mostly true. Which doesn’t mean I always feel like saying so. Nevertheless, at the end of a hand, if he has some piece of advice, my job is to nod and say, “You’re right.” Even if – hard to imagine – he’s actually wrong, there’s no discussion, and we can move on to the next hand. The analysis goes a lot better when it’s later, over a glass of wine.

We’ve played a lot together recently, and he’s been swell – smiling almost the whole time. So for Valentine’s Day, I’ve made the most delicious chocolate truffles you ever swooned over. In fact, I served them last night for dessert and his only comment was, “Oh, wow....”

These were originally served to me at a delightful restaurant called Elsewhere, in NYC. Unfortunately, not all really good restaurants make it in NYC, and such was the case with Elsewhere. But – and this is truly great news – the same fabulous Pastry Chef from Elsewhere has relocated to another restaurant under the same management: Casellula Cheese & Wine Café, at 401 West 52nd Street, in NYC.

The Pastry Chef’s name is Leigh Friend (I like her already because our names are homonyms), and her creations are amazing. I was at Elsewhere last summer for lunch with two friends, and we weren’t going to have dessert, but decided what the heck. Oh my goodness. I had grapefruit sorbet, one friend had orange mint sorbet, and the other had a Pavlova made with coconut ice cream and passionfruit purée. The sorbets were smooth and completely perfect – the mintiness in the orange mint was like a drink of cold spring water, and the grapefruit was the exact right balance of sweet yet not sweet. But my friend with the Pavlova was so overwhelmed she refused to share and insisted that we order another for the experience. We did, and the creaminess of the coconut ice cream topped with the just-tart passionfruit purée over a perfectly crunchy meringue was hands down better than any I’ve had before. I just hope it’s on the menu at Casellula.

Chef Friend was kind enough to give me the recipe for her truffles. You may blanch at the ingredients (goat cheese and Nutella – really? yes, really), but the result is a truffle that’s mysteriously delicious and not overwhelmingly sweet. And while the process isn’t short, it’s far easier than you’d guess.

Leigh Friend’s Goat Cheese & Hazelnut Truffles

First, here’s the recipe as emailed to me by Chef Friend:







In a KitchenAid mixer with a paddle, combine equal parts goat cheese (chèvre – any mild-flavored brand will do) and Nutella. Mix until smooth, making sure to scrape down the sides. Transfer the mix to a piping bag and pipe out the truffles to the size you would like. Chill in the fridge until firm. Once firm, shape into uniform balls. Dip the truffles in chocolate once to get a good thick shell on the outside. Have toasted chopped hazelnuts in a bowl mixed with a bit of salt (I use Maldon) aside. After coating all the truffles once, dip them a second time and before the chocolate can harden, toss them in the hazelnuts.

So now that you get the general idea, here are a few Kitchen Goddess notes that should help:

(1) As to quantities of the ingredients, here’s what I used, so you can gauge what you’ll need for a specific number of truffles. These quantities produced 32-34 truffles. (I might have consumed 1-2 in the tasting process.)
4 oz goat cheese (chèvre – any mild-flavored brand)
4 oz Nutella
5-6 oz toasted, chopped hazelnuts
large pinch of finishing salt (Maldon or other flaky sea salt)
11.5-oz bag of Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips (You might make do with 2 of the 4-oz bars; I just think the chips are easier to deal with, and it never hurts to have leftover melted chocolate.)

(2) I’m as handy with a piping bag as I am with, oh, say, a coping saw, so I chilled the cheese/Nutella “batter” in a bowl in the refrigerator until firm, then used a teaspoon and my fingers to form the truffles into balls about ¾ inch in diameter. It’s less elegant, technique-wise, but once you’ve covered the little darlings with a couple of rounds of chocolate and the nuts, there’s precious little difference in the final product.

(3) If, like me, you can only find whole hazelnuts with skins on, by far the best way to remove the skins is to boil them 3-4 mins in a quart of water with 4 Tbl of baking soda, then rinse them in a colander under cold water. Most of the skins will peel off on their own; the rest will come off easily with a little rubbing. Chop the nuts and toast them 10-20 mins in a 350º oven.

The above photo is of Friend’s truffles; the photo here is of mine. You can see that she allows the nuts to be more chunky, which is a bit artier than my version. I plan to do less chopping of the nuts next time.

(4) For the chocolate, if you use bars, first chop them into small pieces. Melt it slowly, using either a double boiler (do not let the pan with the chocolate touch the water), or a microwave. For microwave melting, use a bowl that will not overheat as you work, and heat the chocolate at 50% power in bursts of 30 seconds to a minute. Stir well between bursts.

(5) Most important note: the whole process goes best if you freeze or chill well the balls in between stages – e.g., mix the chèvre, chill, form into balls, chill, dip in chocolate, chill, dip in chocolate/nuts, chill. And I stored the leftovers in the freezer. Worked great.


Happy Valentine’s Day!

New Love for Old Green Beans What’s cooking? Roasted Sesame Green Beans

It’s 76 degrees outside. OMG. What a day, and on February 1. Guess that means it’s time to take down the Christmas decorations.

At this time of year, my husband always reminds me of when we first started dating. I was living in a studio in Manhattan, a perfectly adorable space with a tiny separate kitchen and a brick wall (you have to live in NYC for a time before you understand the excitement of having a separate kitchen and a brick wall inside your apartment). In any case, it was February, nearing Valentine’s Day, and I asked if he could do me a favor.

Beach Chowder What’s cooking? Beach Chowder

The Kitchen Goddess must have been all worn out from writing at the time of the original posting, in which she forgot to include the potatoes in the directions. It’s now corrected. 

I’ve spent the last four days on a “writing retreat” with my best friend, Joy, from high school. We lost touch for many years after graduation – we both left Texas, but she went west and I went east. But aside from a few minor details (she has one more marriage and three more degrees than I have), we’ve remained strikingly similar in our directions in life; and the fact that we both became writers still astonishes me, as neither of us had such inclinations as teenagers.

We go to a place called Port Aransas, a tiny fishing village at the north end of Mustang Island, off the Texas coast. It’s where we went to blow off steam in our teens, and aside from the movie theatre closing and a few decent restaurants finally appearing, not much there has changed. It’s still the sort of place where “dressing up” means a clean shirt and leather sandals instead of flip-flops. The sort of place where you can truly disconnect from the world at large.

Labor of Love What’s cooking? Fennel Flounder

My son and daughter-in-law are having a baby. And when I say “having,” I mean as I write this post. So naturally, I have to find something to do while I wait nervously, and this post is it. My husband, Grumpy, has already called twice from the golf course (remember, we’re in Texas, which is a great place to be in January), and he’s only on the 11th hole.

Hardly anything would convince me to visit New Jersey this time of year, but the arrival of my first grandchild qualifies as that anything. So I’ll be heading north soon, and have promised to cook dinner for the little family for a week. I’ve been rummaging through my recipes for food that I can comfortably fix in their kitchen, to avoid spending all my time looking for a slotted spoon, and a few recipes I can make to be frozen for when I leave. I’m remembering how difficult life was with a newborn – realizing at 4pm that you’re still in your nightgown and haven’t got anything for dinner and how the thought of dressing both you and the baby for a trip to the store was only slightly less painful than having all your fingernails pulled out.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I haven’t had time for much – you know, the gift thinking, the gift shopping, the gift wrapping, and in the case of this year, the carrying of the gifts from Texas to NJ where we await the birth of ... a baby Hilton. But I did make THREE batches of roll-out cookies – for my children, my mother-in-law, and the two physical therapy clinics that I figure are the reason I was able to make them in the first place.

So from my kitchen to yours, here's a wish for all of you to have the very best of the holiday season, and a happier, more prosperous New Year!

The Breakfast Dilemma What’s cooking? Coconut Oat Pilaf

To cook or not to cook? When it comes to breakfast, that’s the big question. Especially when we have guests, I’m always torn between the desire for sleep (“Breakfast here is DIY – we have yogurt, eggs, cereal, fruit,...”) and the image I have in my head of everyone gathering around the kitchen island while I whip up some eggy concoction or pull yummy biscuits or coffee cake out of the oven.

The truth is, of course, that hardly anyone ever wants to wait the hour or so it’ll take me to manage one of those scenarios. And I have the additional challenge of making myself look like someone you want to face at that time of day.

But when my children show up for a visit, breakfast is a lot easier to manage. They sleep late enough that I can have it ready when they make their morning appearance, and they don’t care as much what I look like. They also really like breakfast, which means they’ll tolerate whatever fuss I want to make.

So when my younger son and his girlfriend showed up over the Thanksgiving break, I pulled out all the stops. Ginger scones one day, Paris breakfast another, and this wonderful breakfast pilaf for a third. (It doesn't look like much in the photo, but what can you do? Brown food is a tough photo subject.) The original recipe came from the indefatigable Mark Bittman, a couple of years ago in The New York Times. Some of the ingredients he uses are a bit more exotic than my pantry, so I tweaked it here and there.

The pilaf is delicious as a savory breakfast, but I need something sweet in the morning, so I serve mine with a touch of pure maple syrup (no Aunt Jemima’s, please) or some honey. You could also try it with your favorite jam. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for days.

Coconut Oat Pilaf

Adapted from Mark Bittman in The New York Times.

Quakers makes it, too.

Serves 4.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1½ cups steel-cut oats (not rolled), rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger [Kitchen Goddess note: Buy fresh ginger and keep it in an airtight container in the freezer. Life will be a lot easier.]
1 tablespoon mustard seeds (brown or black are both fine)
¼ teaspoon Chinese Five-Spice Powder
¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper or a pinch of chili flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Garnishes:
½ cup shaved coconut (I buy mine dried, in the bulk food aisle; if you buy fresh, store it in the freezer)
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, mint, or parsley, or a combination (I prefer the combination.)
½ apple, grated (large holes)
¼ cup toasted and chopped pistacchios (or other nuts you like)
Maple syrup (warmed)

Directions
Put butter in a pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. When it melts, add oats and ginger and stir until coated. Add spices and a pinch each of salt and pepper; stir until fragrant, just a minute or two.

Stir in 2½ cups water, bring to a boil, and reduce heat enough that the mixture gently bubbles. Cook undisturbed, until most of the water has been absorbed and holes begin to appear on surface, about 10 minutes. Cover, remove from heat, and let sit for up to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast coconut in a skillet over medium-low heat, shaking pan and stirring several minutes until the coconut is toasted and fragrant (careful that it doesn’t burn). Toss coconut and herbs into oats, fluffing mixture with a fork. Sprinkle grated apple and toasted nuts on top. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and serve hot or at room temperature. Drizzle maple syrup on top if you like it sweet.

Yield: 4 servings.

Kitchen Goddess note: All three of my breakfasts were easy and reasonably fast to make, especially if you check the night before that you have all the ingredients, and that you set out whatever dry ingredients you’ll need. It’s that maddening mise en place philosophy of organizing and arranging what you need at the beginning, that the Culinary Institute harps on. Don’t you just hate it when they’re right?

Back in the Saddle, Again – with a Great Recipe for Yeast Rolls and Why I Won’t Be Making Them What’s cooking? Yeast Rolls

The road back from a shoulder injury is long and torturous – mostly torture at the hands of a physical therapist. But in spite of the suffering, PT Bob (my man in NJ) was really a marvel at getting me to the point where my surgeon would release me to fly back to Texas. And now I’m in Austin with the equally capable PT Megan, who while assuring me that I’m making great progress, tells me the rotator cuff usually takes about a year to recover fully. So I will repeat the lesson of my previous posting: Don’t jump around with wet feet on your bathroom floor, even if it means you have to leave your earrings on while you wash your hair.

In my disabled state, I started several postings, including one titled “I Can Eat with My Right Hand If I Use an Iced Tea Spoon”:

Fortunately, I have a supply of them here in New Jersey. The shoulder is getting better, but I still can’t get my right hand very near to my mouth. So if I want to eat with it, I am reduced to utensils with an extended reach, like iced tea spoons and chopsticks.

Pardon the Interruption...

But I had a little trouble with my shoulder not long ago. And while it looks like I’m holding that knife at the ready, the only thing I’m really ready to do is sit down.

It’s my right shoulder, too, and it turns out that I am more right-handed than I ever could have guessed. I won’t even tell you how long it has taken me to put this posting together. So you’ll hear from me again, just not as often for a bit.

For any of you medical-minded readers, the operation report says it was a full-thickness rotator cuff tear including supraspinatus and subscapularis, as well as biceps dislocation and a couple of other things that don’t sound like nouns or verbs to me. In any case, too radical for arthroscopic surgery, so I also have a nice 6-inch scar down my arm.

Just goes to show you should NEVER jump out of the shower onto a stone floor, even if it means washing your hair with your earrings in.

In the meantime, so as not to wander too far afield from food, I give you...

Meals for the Left Hand

1. Pizza from the local delivery place.
2. Cereal.
3. Cheese and crackers.
4. Chinese take-out.
5. Thai take-out.
6. Mexican take-out.

Or if you are lucky like I am, your angel husband will submit himself to your unbelievably tedious instructions for cooking steak, salmon, asparagus, and even vegetable soup. More on that later...