Scarpetta's Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Garlic Basil Oil

This sounds fabulous, and well worth a trip to Steamy Kitchen where you can get the recipe from the fabulous Jaden. You'll save the trip to NYC and the $24 per plate at Scarpetta's. You can make it for your entire family, with a salad, and a decent bottle of wine for $24. You might be able to find 4 cute plates on clearance at Target and still come in under $24, too.

Scarpetta's Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Garlic Basil Oil, recipe and picture via Steamy Kitchen

She's back: Caramel corn, Spice Cake

Boy, did I ever get tired of Thanksgiving recipes. Every single blog for weeks screamed, "The most comprehensive Thanksgiving recipe list you'll ever need," or "The best turkey," or "Turkey leftovers I have known." Too much. I stopped checking any blogs in my Google Reader that had the work "turkey" in it.

Which isn't to say that I haven't been amassing a bunch of new recipes. Haven't kicked many tires or taken much out for a spin given that I'm lucky to find time to shower these days, however, a girl can dream. Get a load of:

Caramel corn (picture via Orangette)

If it is good enough for Orangette I'm pretty sure it is going to be good enough for me and then some.

Joy the Baker has had, as usual, some dreamy stuff of late. Every time I look at this recipe I want to run into the kitchen and start measuring:

Lemon glazed spice cake with whipped cream (picture from Joy the Baker)

Sigh.

Coffee Toffee anyone? It is cruel of me to me to post this because, gentle reader, I am out of coffee. I can't sleep because I only have 8 billion things to do before 8am, and I have no coffee. And it's raining out. And I've been up since 5:30am. The headache I am going to have in about 4-3-2-1 seconds is going to be a bitch. Still, though, if I had some of this toffee right now it might not be ALL bad:

Coffee Toffee, link and picture from Smitten Kitchen

Speaking of coffee, and damn, it's early, I have to think about breakfast this morning for the small people here in the house. While pancakes will probably be what they request, these sound better to me:

Camino's egg baked in cream

Of course, even though they sound better, offering my kids eggs with onions in them would cause them to have a rage stroke.

Now, the madness must end. I must find a pillow or caffeine. Later----Iced

Turkey says: I will survive.

From a reader:

Cooking the blog: Salty Crispy, Warm Spaghetti-Squash

Image via Wikipedia

Made a few things this weekend from la blog. My latest feature, for all you who don't want to read all my blah blah blah is a letter grade.

A=Knock your socks off keeper (to quote PassUBy), A+ if my kids love it, too.
B=Tweak and perhaps it will be a KYSO
C=Not bad. Seen better.

First. Oh. Fabulous. The ah, Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats? (Scroll down. Link is lower in the post.) These are seriously good. Very seriously, very being included in my very short list of favorite recipes, and yes, perhaps even in the next BEACH COOKBOOK!

(Oh, not familiar with my original beach cookbook? Take a gander and weep baby. Then plan a vacation.)

dinner

fabulously beat up ...

By vicki rentel (aka...

Book Preview

The only changes I'd make, and I wouldn't make them every time, are that
1. I'd melt semi-sweet chocolate on the top and dust it with sea salt, and / or
2. I'd mix in salted peanuts. But then I'd leave the salt out of the brown butter & cereal.

Letter grade: A+

I also made warm spaghetti squash salad from Food & Wine. (It's the last recipe in the link.) I pretty much stuck to the program but not quite. I roasted the squash in the microwave. Why haven't I tried this before? Pricked it all over with a knife, then put it on 6 minutes @ 100%; flipped it over, then cooked another 8 minutes. Let it cool for five, then sliced in right in half and scooped out the seeds, then the fabulous strands of calorie-free strangely pasta-like squash.

So that's difference #1. I didn't roast the squash in the oven, and might not ever again. This was far, far too easy and fast. I used Kalamata, not green olives, and it's not as pretty with the hunks of diced brown olive. It's a pretty olive-y recipe, in fact, but not bad. I'd probably try the Moroccan squash next time, only I like the addition of almonds. I only had smoked around. They worked. I had it cold for lunch today and it was quite okay. I wouldn't KILL myself to make the recipe again, but all-in-all, a good day out for the new microwave skill.

Letter grade: C

I did chickpeas yesterday, too, from a recent recipe in Food & Wine.

Spicy Chickpea Salad

I didn't use tomato. Blech. I could because I have a few I plucked before the frost, but I don't use raw tomatoes as a rule. I cooked my own garbanzo beans in the slow cooker for oh, I don't know, two or three hours. Used a whole jalepeno, but only because I have about 50 outside on the plant, hanging on despite the coldish weather, and they're so sweet and vegetal. Hardly spicy. Except for not having mango powder and skipping the tomato, I otherwise stuck with the rules. Initially I thought, "Eh." But today it's quite nice. Better summer salad. Could add fresh corn. Little garlic. I reseasoned today and I think I'll pulverize the leftovers and use it as a dip. I wouldn't rush out for the ingredients. Let's say C+.

Alton Brown Does Bacon in a Waffle Iron!

Behold by clicking. Genius.

Jacques Pepin

When I was young I had a teddie bear named "Jacques" after Jacques Pepin. Love him. Love his cookbooks. Love his autobiography. Love his scrappy attitude. Try to emulate the cheery workman-like execution of his craft. Came upon this in the Washington Post with delight today:

For Pepin, Impromtu Comes Easy

I vow to try every single recipe, only I might use butternut squash rather than acorn because those ridges on the acorn squash scare me.

Flanken-Style Shortribs with Mushrooms
Baked apples
Sweet and Sour Glazed Squash
Slaw with Mustard Garlic Dressing
Sauteed Cabbage and Kielbasa
Crisp Pear Tart
Crispy Chicken Thighs with Mushroom Sauce

POM Wonderful Chicken Salad

I have it on good authority--two good food authorities, who just happen to be married--that this salad isn't just POM wonderful, it's plain wonderful. The recipe came to me via a request from Dr. Aveda Soccer Mom, who saw one of the two original food authorities eating it. This will be on my short list.

PS If you click on the recipe, it should open up in a larger window.

Question from reader. What do brining and enchiladas have in common?

I had a question today from a reader. A good question.

"If you brine a turkey, won't the drippings be too salty for your gravy?"

Yes, they will be, sadly, especially if you wet brine the bird, which, by the way, is to die for with Williams Sonoma turkey brine spice blend. Failing that, don't go to the trouble. Dry salt it in your fridge for a few days ahead of time.

But back to the gravy. Here's the solution. This weekend, pick up a big roaster or two small fryers at the grocery story. Roast them with a little sage, garlic, onion, and lemon. Save the drippings, deglaze the pan, and if you are so inclined, make your gravy now and freeze it. Otherwise throw the drippings, including deglazed loveliness, into the freezer.

Use the leftover chicken for anything, but consider using it for this from Pioneer Woman:

White chicken enchiladas (you just don't have to go to the trouble of poaching the chicken)

THEN, when you're all done with the chicken meat and have only those carcasses (which takes me back to the end of anatomy class) left, throw them into a slow cooker, cover with water, salt generously, add onion, celery, carrot, parsley stems or whatever else you have around, and let it cook for a few hours. Strain that and you have homemade stock, drippings for gravy, chicken enchiladas for at least two meals, chicken salad, and anything else you want to do with chicken, and you don't need to steamed your hairdo away over a hot pan of gravy on Thanksgiving.

Martha Stewart's White Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake

This is so good--I have pretty high standards--that you're going to want to start starving yourself now if you're going to make it for Thanksgiving. It is life-altering. I saved the recipe for a long time, then about two years ago convinced my aunt, a very accomplished baker, to make it. Then I hid the leftovers so she couldn't take it with her. You want to knock the socks of your guests? Make this. If you are having guests who prefer Kroger's pumpkin pie, that's fine. It's a perfectly fine pumpkin pie. Don't let them near this. They are entitled to what they love but you are entitled to this incredible cake.

How bad can it be? After all, sweet potatoes are a super food.

Marth Stewart's White Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake post and picture via marthastewart.com

Moroccan-spiced spaghetti squash. Or maybe....

I like spaghetti squash. I have tended to be a purist about it, roasting with olive oil, then serving with butter, salt, and pepper. Little parmesan. My husband thinks it is boring and tastes like nothing, but I'm not so quick to dismiss, particularly since there's butter involved.

I came across this recently in Smitten Kitchen. Might give it a try with that squash that's been sitting on my counter now for about a month.

Moroccan-spiced spaghetti squash

But hmmm....I cut this out of Food & Wine last month. Maybe I should try this one instead:

Spaghetti Squash Salad with Pine Nuts and Tarragon

Except that while I was searching for the recipe I came upon this, also from Food & Wine. It has feta and almond. Those two things alone make me like it:

Warm spaghetti squash salad

What am I to do?

Pork Meatballs with Yogurt Sauce

Really, any meatballs with any sauce, and these have not one but two sauces.

I'm a sucker for a meatball. Somebody took the time to lovingly mix and form tiny little balls with their hands for little old me? Yes, please, with seconds.

Akhtar Nawab's Pork Meatballs with Yogurt Dressing via The Wednesday Chef

Drats. I have six slices of leftover bacon. What to do?

I know! Combine it with butternut squash and pasta. Not sure how I stumbled on this recipe, as it's buried fairly deep in a post about something totally unrelated to food, but whatever. Can't wait to try it.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta picture and post via the Daily Struggles of the Domestic Un-Goddess

Let them eat Pumpkin Cake

My aunt made the best, best cake a couple of years ago for Thanksgiving. It was approximately 50,000 calories a bite, but worth every single one. While I'm searching for the recipe, how about this?

Pumpkin cake=perfect alternative to pumpkin pie picture and post via Yum Sugar

Together at last: Brussel Sprouts and Bacon

Just in time for Thanksgiving, via Yum Sugar:

Hash it out with brussel sprouts and bacon

Oh, parmesan black pepper biscotti, whereforart thou?

At browneyedbaker.com, apparently. Feast thine eyes, then stroll into thine kitchen.

Parmesan Black Pepper Biscotti

Not breakfast for MY kids

I'm always on the make for something new for the breakfast rotation here at Casa Latte, and came across this recipe and picture while surfing Food52.com.

Blueberry Almond Breakfast Polenta

Wow! Maybe someday if my kids are ever at somebody else's house for the night Monsieur and I will wake up in a most leisurely fashion. (6:45am, golly, would be sleeping late!) Whilst he lingers over the newspaper (whilst there are still newspapers) I will whip this up. Then we will go out for coffee. We will take bets how long it takes us to start talked about the kids again. I think once we made it a whole half hour.

Ode to my stomach with chickpeas

Stomach, leave me the f$*# alone! I want to eat these:

Smokey Fried Chickpeas

As it is, I can hardly bear to behold them. Woe.

Picture and recipe via Food52

Leftover Paella, Green Bean Casserole, Yakitori, and a Barn

Leftover paella is tasty. I would know because I just nibbled some, standing at the counter, reading the NYTimes food section, which I picked up at work today while I was sucking on a mint and some Sprite but didn't read at the time because I felt like death warmed over and didn't want to eat much or read about food because, in fact, I spent the first several hours on the job puking between patients. And no, I am not pregnant. A Sprite, said mints, an egg, and some toast later, I felt up to nibbling leftover delicious paella. But just a little. Me and my tummy aren't sure if we are friends yet.

Whilst nibbling paella, I was reading a recipe for homemade green bean casserole. I am not generally a green bean fan, but for this I might make an exception:

Green Bean Casserole @ the New York Times

What sounds better right now, though, is this:

Butterscotch 's Whiskey Cookie Bars

And hello, at the end of the recipe, note the picture of Jello pudding! And a little teaser:

I should add that JELL-O pudding mix is NOT in the recipe but the first picture is just a picture of my groceries. Cookie dough pictures aren’t very interesting anyways…the pudding is for another recipe though: Rum Cupcakes! I shall await with scotched-laced breath.

Did I mention that my Brudda, the Pork Master, got a slow cooker? And guess what? I found a slow cooker brined pork recipe with Alton Brown's fingerprints all over it. Possibly worth a try:

Slow cooker pork chops, apples, and sweet potatoes via Cheap Healthy Good

Two from Simply Recipes recently:

Cauliflower pasta with anchovies (I'll probably be eating this alone but oh, how I love anchovies and cauliflower, united at last in this recipe)
Scambled eggs with tomatillos (Green Eggs & Ham!)

THESE are going to be here at this house this weekend. I am going to need them:

Salted brown butter crispy treats from Smitten Kitchen

(Note the cute baby picture above the recipe and know that my friend Dr. Fabuloso's new baby is 20 times cuter and I have the pictures to prove it.)

Have a bit of beef hanging around and the urge to eat Vietnamese? Try this:

Vietnamese-styled sauteed beef

Thinking ahead to that turkey you're going to have left over? Grind it and try:

Turkey Yakitori Burgers

(Shout out to Columbus Foodie for the tips.)

Roger. Over and out.

THIS JUST IN: Lifehacker Coffee Shop

Hey, very cool round-up post from Lifehacker today with links to all the things you love to eat at your favorite coffee shop but are too lazy to get out of your pajamas to go get:

Lifehacker Cookbook: Homemade Coffee Shop Addictions (picture courtesy Lifehacker)

Foodie Weekend

Having company over for the weekend. Can't decide what to make. Would it be wrong to serve these for dinner?

Smores IceBox Candy Bars link and picture via Joy the Baker

How to get my two of my favorite foods together, shrimp and chips? How about this fabulous sounding (and looking) dip from an American master, Tom Douglas:

Shrimp Dip with Potato Chips via Yum Sugar

I've been eyeing this recipe for a week. Should I give it a spin or not?

Grilled Apple Salad with Cider Vinaigrette via Slashfood

Did you know Necco wafers have gone all natural? I'm not sure if that's better or worse in regard to you know, the fact that it's candy and all, but still. I'll tell myself that it means that I can eat Necco wafers for lunch 'cause they're full of beets:

Necco Wafers via Slashfood

Speaking junk food, just in case you can't get enough of me, I have a post on the OSU Student Health Services Blog today:

Twinkies really are like crack!

I'm not saying Twinkies are crack, I'm just sayin' to keep the Narcan handy when ingesting.

Regards for a most excellent Friday! ---IcedLatte

Kindle. Babies. Cookbooks.

Last summer, while I was studying for boards, I went to the beach. How else to make it bearable? I went with my dear friend, Dr. Fondant and her husband, who were pregnant. Dr. Fondant was also studying for boards. Every morning I'd drink a gallon of coffee, then head off to their condo overlooking the ocean to drink more coffee, look out the window, chat, and study. (We actually did study.)

Most evenings we had big communal happy summer meals. The kids would nibble, the adults would talk, the wine would flow (except for Dr. F), and we'd linger over dessert. Or rather, empty plates.

In the lovely house in which we stayed, there were two cookbooks. Cookbooks, I believe I've noted, are an addiction for me. I've inhaled quite a few. It takes something special now to get me interested. The two in the house were pretty nice, and had the bonus of being new, at least to me. When I wasn't studying, cooking, playing, swimming, touring, or sleeping, I browsed these cookbooks, leaning on the counter in the kitchen with a glass of wine; slouched on the sofa with coffee; leaning on an elbow at the table with a Moon Pie in my hand; or sipping an icy Diet Coke on the screened in back porch overlooking the marsh.

Fixated in my mind is a relaxing vacation--relaxing! studying for boards! miraculous--sun, sand, great food, dear friends, and the happy promise of a little baby. A bubble week of civilized epicurean romping. Besides visiting the pictures (which I still am editing) how to revisit?

I got an email this week about a Kindle and New York Times subscription for a mere $500. Tempting. I'm sorely tempted by the Kindle. I'm certain I'd have to buy a killer new bag to carry it and all my other gear in. Aha! A reason to shop.To have my library with me everywhere plus have the New York Times at my fingers . . . Wow. Five hundred dollars ain't nothin', though, and would I really, really love it?

Two other things arrived in the last week. First, the baby! Warm, snugly, handsome, sweet, and delicious. How are we swallowed whole by these small dear creatures? Second, one of the beach cookbooks, Eating Outdoors, by Lindy Wildsmith arrived in brown paper wrapper. I peeled it open and jumped into the pages, secured for a moment away from snotty, chaotic, busy, febrile, and laundry in a happy, languid, sunny, briny, shrimpy reverie. I trailed my fingers across the pages, photos, recipes and visited with my vacation, a happy little world. I sighed, closed the book, and came back to my present, bigger and fuller with a new little being to adore.

Can I do that with a Kindle?

I don't know. I leave you with the recipe for what is now almost always my first meal at the beach. It takes all of 20 minutes to make and plop on the table, perfect after you've driven for hours, unpacked groceries and kids and towels and flipflops. Add crusty bread, a bottle of wine, a salad if you have time, or fresh corn on the cob and it's a feast.

Spicy Shrimp. Yummy and fun, fun, fun.

Another crazy day in Flu-ville

Image via Wikipedia

Oh, Ethel, bar the door. Cookies and scotch aren't going to get me through this flu season. It's OCTOBER, for crying out loud. There's no flowers in March to look forward to. No cherry blossoms. There's only more flu. February. It's MONTHS away, yet it seems like it's already here.

It's like a NEW DISEASE was discovered. "Flu? Flu? I HAVE THE FLU?????" No, wild dogs aren't going to consume your head. You are not being consumed by flames. For 99% of you, it's just the flu. You are going to feel like poop for days and then you will feel better. And next year you can say, "Dr. Latte, you were right. I should get a flu shot." I was once naive, too. But then I had the flu. In medical school. On call. On OB call. Did anybody send me home as I spewed evil juices all over pregnant ladies? Ah, medical education. Nothing like it.

Despite my recent permanent resident alien status in Flu-ville, I chanced upon a few decent recipes and food interludes. Here's one. For those nights when you think, Hmmm...Should I get Chinese take-out or just eat more potato chips at the counter, how about eating potato chips at the counter while you make your own Chinese? SKINNY Chinese?

From Slashfood, "Takeout Vegetable Fried Rice"

Not feeling like Chinese? How about Indian? Pakoras? From a blog in my very own Central Ohio backyard--Hungry Wolf--a most enchanting trip down Pakora Lane. Not a recipe. An Indian snack vignette:

Taste & Create, Pakoras

A bit of Central Ohio navel-gazing, but delicious, Navel-of-Venus gazing, also from Hungry Wolf, a locavore dinner with a most intriguing cast of characters. Now, blogging is Class A, 100% navel-gazing. For moi, the food blog, is a notebook I browse like a cookbook. What should I make? What sounds yummy? What is interesting but probably too much work? I put it on the blog. If I like whatever it is, if it survives my own kitchen test, I put it into a real-life notebook. Well, a file. I have a lot of recipe files.

But what is cool about navel gazing for me, anyway, is all this local stuff! Who knew there was a winery in Johnstown? I do now. That plus a whole lot more. It's so intriguing, it's so virtual, but I'll be converting my new virtual knowledge to calories soon at a wine or cheese shop, farmer's market, or bakery nearby:

Locavore Dinner at The Winery at Otter Creek.

Went out for sushi this weekend with some dear friends. Had my favorite, spicy tuna. Could it be that the magic is in:

Spicy Sriracha Mayonnaise?

Well, golly, I might have to find out and become quite addicted.

Meanwhile, back in Central Ohio, I mull over the Slow Food movement. Ha! I have a 20 minute Speed Racer food movement every evening in my slap-dashery to get food on the table for us all. There's nothing I love more than cooking for a day with nothing else to do, whipping up a some braised protein and a perfectly chopped vegetable fraggonarde (I made that up) while tippling a sipple of thistle but it just doesn't happen in my life, which is mostly neatly divided into 20 minute chunks. 2o minutes to get coffee and breakfast ready, check calendar; 20 minutes to get kids ready; 20 minutes to get me ready; 20 minutes to get to work; 20 minutes per appointment for nine hours; 20 minutes to get home; 2o minutes to make dinner, blah blah blah. Where does the all day braise fit into that exactly? I'm not sure, but I'm going to take, ah, 20 minutes and read about it in my own town:

Slow Food Columbus

And I'm going to check that website monthly (must add to-do item to reqall) so that I never miss another fabulous event. Unless I'm busy crazily cutting everything in my house into chunks 1/20th of original size.

When slow food fails to slowly ooze deliciously from my own two hands, though, I will enjoy it prepared by others. How about breakfast? Nick, at Breakfast with Nick conveniently published his favorite breakfast items, many (most?) practically in my back yard:

My Ideal Breakfast

And that, friends, is it for tonight. I have to go attend to my colleague, Dr. House. He needs my help. Some poor soul, sick with a dread fake disease, about to be examined and tested in an excruciatingly ridiculous but hilarious quest for diagnosis. Sure, most of the cases would be figured out in 5 seconds in a decent lab, and sure, the rest of the cases would never happen, but oh, the preposterous fun.

Later!

Zucchini Crudo from Ruhlman

Image via Wikipedia

I love Michael Ruhlman's blog. It's always thoughtful and literate without being too intellectual for the little old simple likes of me. He lives in Ohio. So do I! The pictures on the blog are taken mostly by his wife, often in their kitchen. I like the puttering around the kitchen sensibility, except that he doesn't just putter. He's serious, and not just about food. I've had great recommendations from his blog about great writers: Reynolds Price, Frank Huyler among them.

He recently had a recipe for a raw zucchini salad recent which looked delightful, tasty, and not too hard. What DO you do with all that zucchini? Here's something besides zucchini bread to try:

Zucchini Crudo

Art thou in Central Ohio?

If thou art, consider any of the restaurants in Hungry Wolf's post:

Ethnic Columbus.

I had no idea I was within spitting distance of a Columbian tamale. How I love the internet.

Gourmet: Get 'em while the getting is good

From Slashfood, 25 must-download recipes from Gourmet Magazine to download before they disappear.

24 Must-download, web-only recipes from Gourmet online

Sign me up for frozen peanut butter pie with candies bacon, please. Oh my. Not so sure about Thai pig ear salad or duck fat doughnuts. But still.

My Brudda, Pork Master

My Brudda just bought a crockpot. He made a good soup. I might have mentioned that before. His wife suggested I post a list of my crockpot favorites. I'm not sure I have a list of crockpot favorites yet, aside from my coconut vegetable stew and PassUBy's Mac & Cheese, but I did come across this. Looked to be an intriguing list from A Year of Slow Cooking:

Slow Cooker Fall Favorites

Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad

Recipe and photo from 101 cookbooks. I'm not the world's biggest cabbage fan unless there's a reuben or brat attached, but this really strikes my fancy. Heidi does it again! Check it out at:

Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad Recipe

Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz

One can only dream on such a sunny, warm day as this, of sitting outside later and sipping a lovely cold cocktail, recipe via The Bitten Word:

Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz

For Dr. Hops Greenthumbs

The New York Times has something especially for you.

A hop and a sip off to fresh ales

Save me from the freezer burn!

Some simple tips from Lifehacker today. I'm not so sure about storing a hard drive in there, but everything else seemed reasonable.

Don't give me freezer burn!

i got you babe

via the nytimes. beloved. beef.

visit.

Coconut Chicken

I'm on an Apartment Therapy/Kitchn Roll. My Brudda', the Pork Master (shout out to his GORGEOUS daughter who has pneumonia), made what he called the best chicken soup of his life in his crockpot this week. Threw pretty much everything in the pot including a whole chicken (Is that right, Pork Chop?) and veges, then let simmer for a day.

Well, the very instant pretty much I got his email about la soup I got a note from the Kitchn about a chicken roasted in coconut milk. The idea is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe for roasting chicken in regular milk, which I haven't attempted yet, but which is on my to-cook list.

Tomorrow I'm going to give this a whirl, only in the crockpot. Not because I've got crockpot crazy, but because I'm curious and thrifty. If I slow cook this with a lot of vegetables--potatoes, onions, sweet potato or butternut squash--not only will I have, I think, a splendid soup, but I'll have enough for Thai burritos with orange rice.

Stay tuned for more:

Coconut milk chicken

Thai burritos (A plug for my own recipe. Shameless.)

Malted Chocolate Milk--Gift Idea?

The holidays are coming, and it struck me that a nice jar of this mix would be a lovely gift, and by that I don't mean something shoved into the back of a cabinet. It actually looks fairly tasty. I will give it a try and post results.

This is two part post, by the way. Read the original at Apartment Therapy/Kitchn, then go to Alton Brown's recipe.

Alton Brown's Malted Cocoa Mix

The world needs fewer opinions and more thoughtful expertise

Clear-headed, sensible thinking from Cook's Magazine's Christopher Kimball, today at the NYTimes. He writes about the demise of Gourmet; the sentiment is apt for journalism, punditry, book-writing, name it, really.

Gourmet to all that.

Muenster Cheese Souffle

Recovering from cheese-induced swoon. Image via Wikipedia

From a beloved reader--Dr. GreenThumbs Hops--a recipe to induce a swoon and thud on the floor. Read it near your chaise wearing a hoop skirt and corset so as to swoon unharmed and prettily in a most Victorian fashion. Who can resist a recipe that comes with the description:

Sometimes this souffle will appear "runny" or uncooked inside-this is only because of the cheese cubes, if they are not small enough. This dish can sometimes be a mess to serve, but it is always a joy to eat.

Dr. Greenthumbs Hops has a most wonderful palate. I believe her when she says it is a "joy to eat". Dr. Hops suggests serving it with wine and a light salad to feed two adults (or four as a side).

Muenster Cheese Souffle

1 1/4 c whole milk
1 1/2 TBSP butter
3 TBSP flour
1/4 tsp cumin

Panko
3 large eggs, separated
1 cup (4 oz.) 1/3" Muenster cheese, rind removed

Bring milk to simmer in small saucepan; remove from heat. Melt butter in heavy saucepan over med. heat. Whisk in flour; cook roux 2 minutes, whisking constantly (do not brown). Gradually whisk in warm milk. Cook until sauce is smooth and thick enough to drop from whisk in thin ribbon, whisking constantly (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat. Mix in cumin and season generously with salt and pepper; transfer to medium bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. This can be made ahead- let stand 2 hours or chill 1 day. Bring to room temp before using.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a souffle dish and coat inside with panko. Whisk egg yolks into souffle base 1 at a time. Stir in cheese cubes. Beat egg whites and pinch of salt in another bowl until stiff but not dry. Folk egg whites into souffle base in 3 additions. Transfer to prepared dish.

Bake souffle until puffed and brown on top, and firm but jiggly to touch, about 30 minutes. Spoon onto 4 plates. Serve with salad and enjoy with copious amounts of white wine. A Sancerre or a white Burgundy are my picks.

Thanks to Dr. Greenthumb Hops. Her recipes are always lovely, and have assumed special places in my files and heart!

Blinded Snickers Video

From a reader, a rather hilariously bizzare video. Ever wonder how to make a Snickers bar at home? God help me, I should never have all the ingredients to do this in one place or I would make a Snickers bar at home every single night. It's the Top Secret Recipes guy, who blindfolds himself and puts duct tape around the blindfold just to prove that it's so incredibly easy to make a Snickers that you could do it without vision. All I have to say about that is that I want his refrigerator.

Make your own Snickers video via Wimp

How Locro can you go?

From the Boston Globe, a recipe for Locro, a pretty amazing sounding stew from Argentina. I'm thinking this might be a most excellent crockpot recipe, with a few adaptations here and there. I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime if you're interested, check out the recipe from the Globe:

Locro

From Slashfood, ah, Dulce de leche. Included was a recipe to make it yourself; I tend to buy it already done for me. It's fabulous. Towards the end off the post is a brief list off things to do with the golden goodness:

Dulce De Leche - An Easy Dessert Enhancer

The thought of the sweetness reminded me of a recipe I clipped ages ago from Saveur for a Ducle de Leche Cake. Strangely, I had just pulled it out this past week. I'd caressed it a few times and toyed with making it. Presto, Slashfood sends a related link to Google Reader. I think it's kizmet.

Dulce de Leche Cake

I asked Lord Google about Dulce de Leche. He suggested this, and oh, Lord, it looks fabulous:

Dulce de Leche Flan, recipe and image via No Special Effects

It's late and I'm tired

and I haven't eaten a thing but junk food and coffee all day long. So imagine how I'm swooning over the following:

Migas in the morning, courtesy of homesick Texan

Pumpkin Pancakes via Joy the Baker and Pancake Maker

Quiche Lorraine via Smitten Kitchen. I mean, she has a NEWBORN! What is she doing with leeks?

And in a very useful "Cooking the Blog" post, Wednesday Chef cooks from the NYTimes and has a thing or two to say about it:

Melissa Clark's Coconut Barley Pilaf

Whatever the outcome, it looks fabulous. Head on over and see for yourselves.

Oh, one last thing. Joy has something to say about buttermilk:

The best buttermilk substitutions

Migas and pumpkin pancakes are definitely on IcedLatte's table this weekend.

Ah, the Happy Meal

The experience with a 5 year old lovingly rendered in the NYTimes this week. My kids often get Happy Meals for lunch on Saturday. They get plain burgers, apple dippers, and milk. What they really want is the toy. Most often they eat the bun, ditch the pickle, nibble the burger, and finish the apples. Kids.

Cooking with Dexter: Happy Meal Me

However, I'm completely grossed out by ground beef now thanks to the Sunday NYTimes frightening article about beef processing. It takes a lot to gross me out, too. I'm so completely offended by the "It's not my fault, must be the wholesaler/supplier/feedlot, blah blah blah." Belly up to the bar. You're going to get sued anyway, wholesaler/supplier/feedlot.

E coli Path shows Flaws in Beef Inspection

First the water supply. Now this. I guess I'll stick to candy corn and Diet Coke.

What if I used bacon?

Taking a leaf from a Top Chef improvisation substituting bacon for pork belly, how about if I made this with slab bacon--which I conveniently have arriving along with the rest of a cryovac'ed pig--instead of pork belly.

Chashu via norecipe

Almost oil-free miso all-purpose dressing

Image via Wikipedia

My latest. Tossed blanched haricots verts and snap peas in it. Delicious. This would work for a whole variety of salads, noodles, chicken, fish, most especially tuna. It is adapted from a Crescent Dragonwagon recipe from way back.

More Miso!

2 inches fresh gingerroot, peeled, finely chopped
1/4 cup white miso paste
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (seasoned or not works)
1/4 cup mirin (or sweet sherry)
2 T tamari soy sauce
2 T honey
2 T tahini
pinch cayenne pepper
1 T sesame oil

Tricky instructions: mix everything together and serve. Think you can handle it? This makes a lot: enough for a salad and then some.

Brown Bag Lunches at Cafe NYTimes

Monsieur Bittman asked readers of his NYTimes food blog to give him a hand and post ideas for interesting brown bag lunches. There are nearly 300 comments. Interesting read, full of good ideas:

Some Help, Please

Just when you thought you were free of eggplant!

You weren't! Mark Bittman has a recipe for roasted vegetables, Thai style. It looks remarkably like my crockpot ThaiThai vegetable stew, which I cribbed almost completely from a PassUBy KYSO recipe, only I'm lazy and she's not so I throw my stuff in the crockpot. I don't use peanut butter 'cause nuts make Little Latte get very hive-y.

I might try this. Or I might stick with the crockpot version of PassUBy's recipe.

Roasted Vegetables, Thai Style

Oh, God no. Not more eggplant.

Oh, yeah, baby. And from a new mother! I remember when I was a new mother, wandering around my house, scratching my head. It all looked so terribly familiar. So utterly strange, though, to have another warm mouth to feed. And with stuff from me! (That still wigs me out a little.) I felt like I'd had a really good day if I showered.

But Deb, at Smitten Kitchen, is not only hauling her little love bug all over town, but she's posting gorgeous eggplant recipes. STUFFED eggplants, not just "slice it up, throw it on the bbq, mash it with some olive oil and slap it on some pita." I feel quite unnerved by her.

BUT I no longer have to 1. Carry a diaper bag, 2. Worry about running out of diapers, and 3. Buckle 50% of my kids into carseats. I can just jump in the car with a purse, mentally check where a potty at the grocery will be, and help Little Macchiato snap her belt in place while I run to the store to get the ingredients for this:

Lebanese-style stuffed eggplant

My Brudda's Wife: Virtual Birthday Dinner

My Brudda, the Pork Master, is married. His wife, the Pork Mistress, is celebrating her birthday today. They live several states away. The Pork Master appears to be under the weather. He's sutained an injury, perhaps from basting pork.

I've been mulling over all day what I'd make for The Pork Mistress for her birthday, were she in town or were I nearer to her. Here's what I think I'd do:

While I'm throwing together dinner:
Marcona almonds and a gimlet

For dinner:
Vietnamese skirt steak with Vietnamese Chimichurri from the NYTimes food blog
A simple cucumber salad with paper thin slices of cucumber marinated in a little rice wine vinegar and splash of a vegetable oil, just a few lovely grains of cayenne
Simple coconut rice with a bit of finely diced candied ginger and a little retro chunk of pineapple atop

For dessert:
A cook the blog special: The plum crumble from Orangette. I made it this weekend with some prune plums I picked up from the orchard and oh, it is special. Just a hint of ginger from both candied and powdered. Not overly sweet. The crumble is a bit unusual in that the dry ingredients are mixed with an egg, then once spread over the fruit, melted butter is gently spooned atop. Lovely. Stayed crisp even in the fridge. This is definitely a keeper. A splash of cream or warm with ice cream? Heaven.

Happiest Birthday to the Pork Mistress. Many, many, many, many more. Bon appetit.

PS: The cheerful pillow-faced lady is the closest thing to a picture of me you're gonna see!

Really? Does the world need another brownie recipe?

Maybe. Consider these, from Serious Eats, with sea salt. Many brownies, for my money, are overly sweet and not chocolate pillowy buttery enough. But these? Maybe. I mean, they have all my favorite food groups: chocolate, butter, salt, and coffee:

Adult Brownies

Cooking the Blog

We've worked our way through a few recipes from Three Squares this week and I thought I'd include my own two cent's worth, now that I've actually cooked the blog.

1. The Serious Eats Leftover Meat Salad
Let me tell you. This was seriously spectacular, and I had it ready, kind of, in 30 minutes. Now, I cheated a bit. I used steak, leftover from last night. I threw some dried dark red kidney beans in my little crockpot last night and let them stew till morning on low. That's right, no presoaking, no salt, no nothing. Well, I used a bay leaf. They were divine. So the steak and the beans were ready when I walked in the door. I had leftover homemade vinaigrette (with a standard 1:3 vinegar to olive oil ratio plus a little mustard) I quickly chopped a red onion in half, then sliced it thin and threw it in some olive oil with a little salt and oh, maybe a teaspoon of brown sugar. Those cooked on medium high for about 25 minutes, till brown. Once that was on, I flipped on my toaster oven, strolled out to my potager and grabbed five tomatoes, all perfectly ripe. They were sliced in half, thrown on a small baking tray, dowsed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasted till runny and sunken. Oh, divine, and I HATE tomatoes. The whole thing was thrown together along with some chiffonaded basil and pine nuts. I didn't even bother to toast them. SERIOUSLY spectacular, quite possibly company good, especially with a loaf of crusty bread. Especially if the steak were hot off the grill and sliced thin. Note: I didn't have any rosemary and this was still spectacular.

2. Vegetable tostadas
Not bad. I used leftover black beans (which I threw in the crockpot without presoaking on high for about five hours and they were PERFECT) which I blitzed in the food processor with a little mild salsa. We used prepackaged guacamole from a market. Lettuce I had prepped a few days before. We topped with Greek yogurt and a little cheese. The makings literally took me about 10 minutes to put on the table. The kids helped. We served it all on top of Charros yummy precooked stacks of tostada shells, in a make-your-own fashion. Quite easy and yummy.

3. Hominy and me casserole
I turned this into a not-pretty but quite delicious everyday meal. I didn't have quite enough hominy, so I added some fresh corn and some beans (see item #2). I used a bit less cheese inside the casserole, but did toss in an egg to bind everything together. One big pan made more than enough for two meals. For one it was the main dish; another it was a side with sliced apples and grilled sliced flank steak.

Drooling with Itinerant Foodies: Weekend Edition

Hold the phone. This is serious. These pictures and menus make me very drooley and swooney. Take this menu:

Eggplant and Sundried Tomato Spread (Really? I just fainted.)
Grilled Shrimp with Cilantro, Lime, and Peanuts
Corn and Tomato Scramble
Lemony Potato Salad
Spicy Mac & Cheese (although nothing, NOTHING is better than PassUBy's mac & cheese)
Sticky Balsamic Ribs (I just had my heart shocked with a defibrillator and am on a vent. Make the deliciousness stop!)
Plum-Blackberry Streusel Pie with All-Butter Pastry Dough

Read all about it with pictures AND recipes from the Midwest's own Itinerant Foodies.

How I spent my holiday weekend

Rosh Hashanah with Itinerant Foodies

Two menus recently which look quite delectable from Itinerant Foodies, emanating from my own heart of the Midwest. How about:

Beet and Goat Cheese Salad
Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Apples and Leeks
Apple Cinnamon Upside Down-Cake

WITH pictures and commentary. Ah, yes please. Thanks, iFoodies!

Itinerant Foodies: Do the Reading

I brake for corn chowder especially with red peppers

This recipe from the Wednesday Chef recalls The Purple Rose of Cairo for me, the movie in which Mia Farrow (it was her, right?) walks right into a movie screen and movie. Or was it Jeff Daniels? Doesn't he live in Michigan? Was it really The Purple Rose of Cairo? When will I be back at Trader Joe's for Israeli couscous? Should I have a second glass of wine? What WILL I wear tomorrow. I can't take the humidity. It's almost October. I need a stew. What should I do with my butternuts squash from Legend Hills Orchard?

Welcome to 30 seconds in my brain.

I recalled a Woody Allen flick, though, because I rarely have wanted to dive into my computer screen so badly and drown in corn chowder as I did when I beheld the pictures from the Wednesday Chef. I can't WAIT to try the recipe.

Pete Wells' Shrimp Chowder with Corn

Okay, well, Concentration Girl (that's irony) just noticed that it's really SHRIMP chowder with corn and not corn chowder with red peppers. I don't care because SHRIMP chowder is even better. This will be made immediately upon entering a beach zone.