Yummmm....Better!

Sliced against the grain and nestled with the chunky sauce, the brisket sits for a day and then will be baked at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes. Humble food with a magnificent flavor. Thank you, Aunt Gladys, wherever you are!

Christmas Presents, Better and...

Here's the brisket in my new Dutch oven, smothered in sauerkraut, tomatoes, and onions. We're using "Aunt Gladys's Recipe," only one of the incredible array Stephanie Pierson collected for the first-ever cookbook dedicated to this homely cut of meat.

Christmas Presents

This year for Christmas, Leigh Goehring gave me a copy of Stephanie Pierson's THE BRISKET BOOK and Chuck gave me a 5-quart Dutch oven (wait...that wasn't all. The Mikimoto pearl necklace put a lot of sparkle in Christmas morning). Tonight, we put them both to good use. Here's the 4.5-lb. brisket from Ottomanelli's after Chuck browned it with brute force.

Frohe Weihnachten und Guten Apetit!

Christmas in America owes a lot to the Germans: the tree, the music, the food. So Chuck and I called upon his heritage for a Christmas Day feast: a goose, succulent and crispy; his grandmother's sausage stuffing; red cabbage; pea soup; pearl onions. It was delicious and bountiful. A very merry Christmas was had by all.

In Case You Misunderstood...

I could see how someone might wonder about Paige's golden retriever Seamus sitting under the headline, "Roasting More Than the Turkey." Not intentional!

Roasting more than the turkey

Our Thanksgiving is pretty much written in stone: great-Grandmutter Schmerling's sausage stuffing in turkey; Brussels sprouts; creamed onions; mashed potatoes and gravy; cranberry sauce; pear pie. A "new" starter of a delicious lima bean puree with cheddar-sage muffins was introduced years ago.

Yesterday, my cousin Paige changed it up a bit with a delicious appetizer of roasted figs with goat cheese. They're small, savory, and just right with pre-dinner drinks.
Thanks, Paige, for busting us out of our rut! xx00

Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese Serves 4
Time: 10 mins

8 ripe figs
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup soft goat cheese
1/3 cup honey
4 pinches finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (this is very forgiving; if you're already cooking turkey, say, at 325 degrees, just allow more time for the figs to warm)

2. Using a knife, carefully trim any tough portion of the stems from each fig. Rub each fig all over with extra-virgin olive oil, then slice down through the stem about 3/4 inch. Make a second cut perpendicular to the first cut, so that you have an x-shaped cut in the top of each fig.

3. Gently pry the edges apart and stuff each fig with about 1 teaspoon of the goat cheese. Place the figs upright on a baking sheet and bake until the figs are plump but have not burst, about 10 mins.

4. Drizzle the honey onto the serving plate and place the roasted figs on top of the honey. Sprinkle with a pinch of the chopped rosemary; drizzle more honey on top if desired. Serve immediately.

"I say it's broccoli, and I say the hell with it!"

That's the caption to one of my favorite New Yorker cartoons. Obviously, broccoli boiled within an inch of its life is a misery. Give it to the French, who could make shoe leather edible, and you get Timbales de Brocoli, florets pureed with cream, egg, spring onions, s/p, and a pinch of nutmeg, which cooks up like custard in adorable little ramekins. It could make even the finickiest eater a fan.

Bow-Tie Pasta

Here's Chuck making his "Ultimate Ragu alla Bolognese" last Sunday, looking just like Chris Kimball, editor of Cook's Illustrated. Chuck, in his admirable humility, is not much like Kimball who comes across as if he walks on artisinal Vermont spring water.

And you thought Ragu came from a jar...

Chuck got it into his head to make the "Ultimate Ragu alla Bolognese" from the Nov/Dec issue of Cook's Illustrated this weekend. We had a delicious dinner of antipasto, olive ciabatta, and pappardelle with the ragu. The ragu is a carnivore's dream come true: ground pork, veal, and beef; mortadella; pancetta; and chicken livers. Oh, yes, and gelatin...!

Awe-sso Bucco

Chuck got it into his head that we should have osso bucco this weekend, so we stopped at Ottomanelli's on First Avenue for veal shanks yesterday. They were luscious. The process is so simple: brown the shanks in olive oil; cook onion, carrots, and celery until soft; return the shanks to the pot with tomatoes, broth, and white wine; simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the shanks, reduce the sauce to three cups; and dress the whole thing with gremolata (parsley, garlic, and lemon zest). The Italians prove that good food can be as satisfying as good sex.

Happy New Year!

It's the new Jewish Year 5772 soon and Chuck and I got into the spirit with a recipe from the October 2011 Saveur for holiskes, stuffed cabbage. Only Chuck has the patience to stand over a pot of boiling water to peel off cabbage leaves as they cook, then measure out a rich, savory filling of ground meat, raisins, and spices, roll up each leaf, and carefully pack the roasting pan. We'll be eating these until close to our Christian New Year; luckily, they just get better as they age!

Bonjour!

Yesterday was National Pancake Day, but I had a yen for something more elegant. I've never made a crêpe before, so I went to my copy of Simple French Cooking et voila! Crêpes! With my homemade blueberry jam and a sprinkling of powdered sugar, these delicate discs of flour, sugar, salt, egg, milk, and butter made a gray morning a lot brighter.

The second coming of the 2nd Avenue Deli

Well, it's actually its third venue since they closed up shop downtown on 2nd Avenue, but the newly opened 2nd Avenue Deli on First Avenue at 74th Street is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Gaye and John Georges came into NYC from Smithtown to see their/our corgi, Grace, last Saturday and we had a terrific take-out lunch of sandwiches of hot corned beef, pastrami, or tongue; mushroom-barley or Yankee bean soup; a kasha knish; pickles; and new to me, stuffed derma. It was an orgy of fat, salt, and flavor. As we waited at the deli counter, they kept shoving tidbits of corned beef at us...I had had a normal-size sandwich portion by the time I left the restaurant! Grace was indulged, we gossiped and laughed; we ate the leftovers for at least three more meals.

BLAST-A FROM THE PAST-A

Does this look familiar? Published in 1991 by Harper Collins, this spiral-bound, all-text kitchen staple looks almost as antique as the 1920s-era Boston Cooking School Cookbook I bought at the used bookstore upstate this summer. Inside, there's Chuck Steak Pizzaiola, Green Beans with Provolone Cheese, and Linguine with Knock-out Garlic Pesto. We've come a long way in our appreciation of Italian food since then.

Chuck picked it up downstairs in our package room. It has never been opened; there's not a drop of oil, smear of tomato paste or smidgeon of parsley anywhere in its 250 pages. Well, we'll fix that! When it comes to James Peterson's challenging KITCHEN SIMPLE and this, to be perfectly honest, I know which one will get the most use!

P.S. That's the Tritone Fountain in Rome in the photo above.

K*I*S*S The Cook

James Peterson's newest book, KITCHEN SIMPLE, arrived in the mail the other day and I've tagged the Tomatoes a la Provencale, the Red Cabbage with Bacon & Apples, the gougeres, the cream puffs, the Slow-Roasted Duck Legs with Sauerkraut. Easy, Mr. Peterson says! Well, I'll be the judge of that. The instructions for everything from using a pastry bag to pan sauces to cleaning leeks to when to skin a fish fillet are clear and concise. I know I'll use these lessons probably more than I'll make the
200+ recipes, but it's a very reasonably priced cooking course, open 24/7 (Ten Speed Press, $30).

The Morning After

What do you eat for the meal AFTER you think you had your last? The way the media and government officials carried on about Hurricane Irene, I assumed Saturday night's fried egg, cheese, and bacon on puff pastry might be my "last meal." This morning, the dozen eggs I laid in in case of power outages (we cook with gas) looked inviting, so I found a baked asparagus omelet recipe in Judith & Evan Jones's THE L.L. BEAN BOOK OF NEW NEW ENGLAND COOKERY (yes, that's two "new"s--they bring "a light contemporary touch to the great traditions of New England cookery"). If I live until spring, through the upcoming "severe" weather that is no doubt to come, I'll try it again with local asparagus. Lovely, whether the spears come from near or far.

"Tuile" We Meet Again

For a colleague's leaving party, we were asked to contribute something French since she's moving to Paris. I got out my reliable SIMPLE FRENCH COOKING (Lorenz Books (c) 1995, 2008) and found "tuiles d'Amandes," simple cookies named after the French roof tiles they resemble. It called for me to cream the butter with an electric mixer. Every time I've done that, I seem to lose all the moisture in the butter. So, I checked JOY OF COOKING for their recipe and, since it used melted butter, I went with that one. Merveilleuse, if I do say so myself! To get the perfect shape, you need to wrap the warm cookie around a thin rolling pin, like a baton, these didn't have as much curve as I would've liked. But they kept in an air-tight container for 2 1/2 days...fresh, fragrant...delicieux!

From JOY OF COOKING 7th Anniversary Edition (c) 2006
About 30 3-inch wafers (I always have trouble making the yield JOY... gives; this made 18 3-inch wafers)

The trick is to work quickly using a wide spatula with a very thin blade.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease or line 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper or silicone liners. Have ready several rolling pins or bottles about the same size to shape the wafers.

Coarsely chop and set aside:
1/2 to 2/3 cup sliced almonds blanched or unblanched
Whisk together in a medium bowl until forthy:
2 large egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
(1/4 teaspoon almond extract)
Gradually whisk in:
1/2 cup cake flour, sifted (I used all-purpose flour, with no repercussions)
Whisk in until well blended and smooth:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Drop by heaping measuring tablespoonsfuls about 3 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Using a small metal spatula, work in a circular motion, spreading each portion into a 3-inch round. (The batter was thin; it spread perfectly by itself.) Sprinkle with the nuts.

Bake until golden brown around the edges, 6 to 9 minutes. Remove the sheet to a rack and let stand for a few seconds. Working quickly, lay the cookies, bottom side down, over the rolling pins or bottles, and let cool completely. If some of the wafers cool too quickly to shape them, return the sheet to the oven briefly to warm and soften them.

Rain, Rain...Don't Go Away

For those of us lucky enough to live within dashing-in-a-slicker distance from the supermarket, a rainy day is a good excuse to spend much of the day in the kitchen.

Sunday brunch today, complete with a side of Bloody Mary, was a no-brainer apple-cheese tart. The recipe is from the September 2011 issue of Country Living. I made the same stupid mistake of opting for the lesser-priced ingredient: Emmenthaler (about $7.00) rather than Gruyere (about $16; that price differential may show a smidgeon of intelligence, after all!). The latter, cubed, must melt a lot better than the former because I was left after 20 minutes of baking at 400 degrees F with cubes intact, though softened. Other than that, it was tasty, if a bit bland.

You could ramp up the flavor with blue cheese and pear, feta and tomato with Kalamata olives, even Provolone and salami. Being able to do one tart at a time allows you to clean out the fridge of any ingredients that will marry well.

The schedule for the rest of this afternoon? Roasted tomato sauce for homemade pizza!

SAVORY GRUYERE-APPLE TARTS
Makes 4 tarts

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 large Braeburn apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
4 ounces Gruyere, chopped into 1/4-inch cubes

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Saute onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, on a work surface, roll out puff pastry to a 13-by-10-inch rectangle. Cut dough into four 6 1/2-by-5-inch rectangles. Using a sharp knife, score 4 lines to create a 1/2-inch border all the way around each tart. Transfer to a parchment lined baking pan.
3. Divide half of onion mixture among tarts. Layer apples in 3 slightly overlapping rows on each. Top with remaining onion mixture and cheese. Dot with remaining butter. Bake tarts until apples are tender and cheese is golden, about 20 minutes.

FABULOUS!

Here I am with Dr. Brent Ridge, a geriatrician-turned-farm owner, whose Beekman 1802 business is booming in Sharon Springs, NY. These goats provide milk for soap (their first product, inspired by the pleased reception by Martha Stewart of a handmade bar for Christmas) and a delicious hard cheese called Blaak. Its rind is an edible black ash molded in a handsome rustic pattern.

The business is named for their mansion, a Federal house of exquisite symmetry. Brent gave us a private tour, taking Chuck and me up into the attic to see the wooden pegs and hand-hewn beams that keep this glorious residence together. We also saw the Beekman family crypt, the new sunflower garden, the to-die-for sunken flower garden, the turkey and Aracauna chickens, the goats, the llama, a feral-turned-tame cat named Orange-and-White, and the extensive vegetable garden. They grow or raise 80% of what they consume (including meat in the form of a cow once every two years and a couple of pigs who were arriving later that day).

What a treat to tour this tidy farm: seasonal living without the muck (though a day of summer sunshine makes it look less mucky than a gray day in winter or, worse, early spring).

Fat of the Land

There have been few new foods consumed this week on vacation in Richfield Springs, NY, on G&T Farms, but I'm eagerly awaiting my first taste of beef fed on beautiful, natural grasses (timothy grass, clover, dandelions, yarrow, Queen Anne's lace, and so much more). The cows are calm, their coats shiny, their eyes bright. They'll be harvested in about four-six months, a moment of truth for all the work and strategizing and money that's been put into this enterprise.

The weather has certainly been in G&T's favor. When it's not gloriously sunny with a gentle breeze, it's been pouring down rain in sheets. Upstate NY in summer sure beats the hell out of the barren trees against fields of snow of winter. Could I make a life up here in this unspoilt, depressed, unpopulated, falling-down, self-sufficient community? No, I could not. But I'm selfish enough to want to feed off its bounty.

Give me a chowder, hold the cream

The trend in recipe creation these days is to take a classic and turn it inside out: put a lobster roll into a broth or a corn chowder into a salad bowl. The Fabulous Beekman Boys of Planet Green TV are publishing THE BEEKMAN 1802 HEIRLOOM COOKBOOK, making use of what they grow on their magnificent farm in Sharon Springs, NY. I have to admit, it's delicious! No, the buttery broth is gone, but what's left is sweet corn, potatoes and red bell pepper browned in bacon fat, bacon, and red onion (which can overpower everything else, if you're not careful). Use a spoon, you don't want to leave one smidgeon of that lovely bacon fat behind!

Strawberry Season

July 4th and strawberries coincide nicely. I got out Betty Crocker's EASY ENTERTAINING and made the strawberry muffins with streusel topping for the neighbors who are staying put this weekend and Audrey Brown. Delicious strawberry flavor! A very soft crumb contrasts nicely with the crunchy walnut-and-brown-sugar streusel on top. I had to stop myself from eating two right out of the oven!

Browsing cookbooks

Chuck leafed through Jean Anderson's DOUBLEDAY COOKBOOK tonight and came up with Poulet Basquais which was relatively quick and certainly easy: a whole cut-up chicken browned in the Dutch oven, then simmered with green pepper, tomato, mushroom, and ham. Served over buttered egg noodles, it was very filling and hinted at how much better the leftovers will be tomorrow night.

The Basques came to America to herd sheep in the West, I learned at the James Beard Foundation Awards last month when a boarding house/restaurant called Noriega's in Bakersfield, CA won an American Classic Award. The two sister/owners flew to NYC for the first time to accept the award, as daunting a trip to them, I'm sure, as the original sailing across the Atlantic and traversing of the US of was to the pioneering Basques of the nineteenth century!

Testing new waters

Last night, I tried sable for the first time. Chuck and I were celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary at Le Perigord on East 52nd Street, a formal French restaurant with superb service, warm and comfortable decor, and never-fail traditional cuisine. Since I'm on the verge of turning 55 and feeling as though I look every second of it, I'm thrilled to learn sable (sometimes called black cod) is high in omega-3 fatty acids. I'll have to consume loads more of it! With capers and tomatoes, it is delicious.

Play With Your Food

As I was reading a recipe today for broccoli-cheddar soup, the word "floret" jumped out at me. I had four stalks of cooked broccoli to reheat for tonight's dinner and it struck me that I could make a bouquet--so much more interesting than the stalks lying on a plate. With grape tomatoes and black olives on tiny skewers and parsnip curls tucked in, the broccoli bouquet looked pretty enough to serve to company.

Now I have an idea for a meatloaf "sandwich" with the bread being two "slices" of mashed potatoes. Gotta work on that one! Joost Elfers, watch out!

So easy a baby could do it!

This refreshing stir fry of shrimp and baby bok choy in a glaze of soy sauce, honey, and lime juice is so quick to make that I whipped up the eagerly awaited second helpings fresh. I didn't like the sticky white rice I used; next time, I'll try quinoa or maybe cellophane noodles.

Locked in the kitchen with a luscious Italian

Tonight, I made white pizza with roasted peppers and black olives. Heating the oven to 475 degrees means smoke which means a shrieking smoke alarm. I tried to avert the shrieking by closing the kitchen door. Wrong move--it stuck fast! Nothing I could do would budge it. Imaginging I'd have to spend the night in there and all morning tomorrow until Chuck got back from Rumson, I had an "aha!" moment--my cell phone was in my purse. I tried "information" for three neighbors' phone numbers--no luck. Then I got Shirley Lipsky who got the super John who has our keys and could come up to give the door one good whack. Here I am, with a swollen hand, yet free to sleep in my own bed and thankful to Philip for something! Last August's visit to Aspen required I buy this modern--and oh so valuable--convenience!

P.S. I had had NOTHING to drink; the Martini & Rossi beside the martini glass was there as a prop for a Good Cook Facebook photo. That's water in there, I swear!

When the cheese stands alone...

I had a little bit of Irish cheddar left after a couple of weeks of using it on sandwiches. Lauren Chattman's recipe for cornbread-cheddar muffins used it up perfectly this gray-ish Saturday morning. Buttered for breakfast--eh. With jalapeno jelly or spicy tomato jam and chili, now you're talking!

Goodness Gracious!

In honor of the new episodes of "Upstairs Downstairs," which debuted on PBS "Masterpiece Theatre" Sunday, April 10, I made a Victoria sponge for tea. Poor Victorians! The cake is dry and flavorless; the best part is absolutely the strawberry jam, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream sandwiched in the middle. Not fit for a queen, but certainly good enough for the Queen's corgi!

Say "no" to a cookie?!

In the annals of innocence, the home-baked cookie is way up there with Ivory soap and newborn kittens. Unless you’re gluten-intolerant, in which case, the cookie compares to barbed wire and Idi Amin. Luane Kohnke, a lifelong baker, recaptures the cookie’s essential goodness for all of us with GLUTEN-FREE COOKIES (Sellers Publishing, March 2011).

Luane and I, her editor and publicist, had lunch last week at Candle 79 here in Manhattan, a vegan restaurant that proves vegan chefs know what they’re doing when it comes to satisfying, delicious food. Over "live" avocado tartare (a redundancy, but it assures raw foodies no heat has changed the avocado's enzymes), vegetable and quinoa nori rolls, a black-bean-pumpkin-seed burger with polenta fries, and grilled-vegetable-wild-mushroom-stuffed tempeh, she told me the story of how GLUTEN-FREE COOKIES, her first book, came into print. Seven unsolicited submissions of a completely different cookbook resulted in three responses: two nays and a “how about a book on…?” query from Megan Hiller at Sellers which re-directed Luane to create the 50 recipes in this book.

Think of the sheets and sheets of test cookies it must take to create 50 publishable recipes. Who are her testers? She herself takes a bite, puts a couple aside to test later for freshness, and takes the rest to her office (yes, she’s still employed full-time). She says her colleagues are opinionated and appreciative, a creative bunch, some of whom even volunteered their talents to start her blog and take her author photo.

Luane made every cookie in the book herself and shipped them from New York to the book’s photographer, Stacey Cramp, in Maine. Yes, the gingerbread men arrived decapitated and the meringues melted in the summer heat (note to aspiring cookie-book-writers: do the meringues in the winter and spring!), but disasters were corrected and the photos in the book show off each cookie’s unique charms.

With its recipe for a gluten-free flour mix you can keep in the fridge, GLUTEN-FREE COOKIES puts this simple pleasure back on everyone’s plate.

RX for Winter Hangover

It was FREEZING this morning. I'm sick of it. My remedy? A sunny winter squash soup. From DK's lovely SOUP, this is a recipe for 4 (a nice change from most recipes that make 8 servings) with so few ingredients and such simple instructions, having made it twice, I have memorized it:
1 lb butternut squash, seeded & chopped into 1-inch pieces (1/2 of one medium squash)
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic, smashed
Saute these in 1 1/2 tbsp butter in a large saucepan for 15 mins, with the cover on. Stir occasionally.
Add about 1/2 tsp of nutmeg and cook with the lid on for another 5 mins. Add 2 cups hot chicken stock and bring to a boil. When squash is tender, add 1/2 cup Half-and-half, simmer for one minute. Puree in blender and season with s/p.

This from an Internet search on the nutrients in butternut squash:
"Winter squash emerged from our food ranking system as an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber and manganese. In addition, winter squash emerged as a good source of folate, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, copper, vitamin B6, niacin-vitamin B3 and pantothenic acid."

Take that, Old Man Winter!

Going Green

In the food world, "green" is the new black. All of us must consume fresh foods acquired direct from small farms or artisans or via an expensive, trendy restaurant in which the chef/owner sports extensive, complicated tattoos. But I never cared about being trendy: green here is a silly nod to St. Patrick on his feast day. Those carbs helped to soak up the fresh pint of Harp I had a Rosie O'Grady's at lunchtime!

Irish and Soda II

With the addition of one cup of whole wheat flour, a teaspoon each of baking soda and salt, and a couple of splashes of milk to help the dough come together, the small dark loaf came out of the 400-degree F oven after 25 minutes fragrant with lemon and sweet with raisins. The wheat flakes keep it from being too dense. Right size, terrific taste--it'll do!

Irish and Soda

Making a wholegrain fruit soda bread this weekend from an unusual recipe: you make your wet ingredients out of wheat flakes, milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and raisins and leave it in a cool place overnight. It was so beautifully spring-like today, I could probably put this on the windowsill, but the pigeons would get it before I could! Having seen "Mary Poppins: The Musical" today with Daddy's friend Lucy Phillips, I'm in the mood for nursery food: a thick slab of bread with "lashings" of butter and orange marmalade.

Winter's Bounty

If you can't go to the Sunshine State, bring the sunshine to you! I canned Florida oranges this weekend as orange marmalade from Sherri Brooks Vinton's wonderful preserving primer, PUT 'EM UP. The kitchen smells like what I imagine a humid greenhouse full of orange trees does. These'll make great gifts for other snowbound friends who by now are sick to death of shoveling, de-icing, and shivering!

WHAT JURY DUTY IS GOOD "PHO"

Vietnamese restaurants have become the real reason to go to Chinatown in Manhattan. Bahn mi and pho joints are everywhere! I had my first bowl of pho yesterday at Pho Pasteur (which seems to me like a name concocted to make Americans less suspicious of exotic foods that might not be "clean" enough!). Fresh shrimp swam in a light broth with broccoli, celery, cilantro, and rice noodles. Messy, but wholly satisfying!

AND THE VERDICT IS...

The only good thing about jury duty in Manhattan is ready access to Chinatown's exotic, well stocked supermarkets. For dinner at home with Charles last week, I found fresh vegetable noodles to make a bed for the steamed salmon steaks. The markets are packed with condiments and sauces, flour and pre-made won ton wrappers, colorful vegetables, and noodles, dried and fresh. The noodles were satisfying, a nice complement in color to the salmon, but--even with butter, salt, and pepper--not particularly flavorful. The salmon was delicious: steamed in tin foil on top of the stove on two slices of ripe tomato with a mayonnaise/white wine vinegar/dill/caper sauce and a garnish of chopped green olives. And the verdict is...guilty of being easy, fresh, and fragrant.

Cincinnati...a destination for food?

If it's chili you've got a hankering for, then Cincinnati's your town. Their version has cocoa, allspice, cinnamon, and ground cloves along with tomato paste, kidney beans, and cheddar cheese topping all served over spaghetti. So satisfying on a frigid winter night. The house smells great, the belly is full, and there are leftovers that'll taste all that much better tomorrow night.

A Middle Eastern Outpost in Penn Station

Chickpea, a falafel franchise, has opened in Penn Station. I had the falafel platter: falafel over spicy red bulgher wheat with red pepper hummus, fresh vegetables, and warm pita bread: $8.81 for a lot of very filling food. The falafel because it's baked not fried, was dry, but the rest of the meal was delicious. I'd never had the red bulgher wheat, but I'll see if I can find that to make at home. Poor Chuck will pay tonight: garlic overload!

A Different Kind of Boston Brown Bread

From the baker's bible, THE KING ARTHUR FLOUR 200TH ANNIVERSARY COOKBOOK: a quick Spicy Applesauce bread made with white and whole wheat flours. Founded in 1790 in Boston, the King Arthur Flour company is still going strong. Whole wheat flour always seems to make the loaf dry, but I probably baked this about 5 minutes too long. I substituted dried cranberries for the raisins which added a little color and more Boston pedigree to it.

That's Amore!

A very satisfying fresh tomato soup with white beans called for tomato paste. Rather than the canned paste I would normally use, I tried Amore all-natural tomato paste in a tube. It made all the difference in the taste since I shouldn't have been making this in winter when the plum tomatoes I got at Food Emporium were just mealy little blobs of plastic. I look forward to making this again in the summer/fall when tomatoes are really worth eating.

Hello, 2011!

On January 1, I didn't try a new recipe, I tried a new tool--and I love it! I made a simple apple pie with pate brisee, but instead of the traditional, unwieldy rolling pin, I used a baton. The pastry rolled out without all the angst, it slipped into the pie pan perfectly, there was plenty to crimp around the edge.... I'll keep the rolling pin, in case Chuck needs disciplining, but I'll be buying a baton next weekend.