Category Archives: Recipes

Baked Kale Chips

Kale chips

We were having kale for dinner last night, but we bought a bit too much for just the two of us. So while Mr TBTAM sautéed some up with garlic using his now-famous recipe, I took the rest and made kale chips for snacking. It was all we could do not to eat them all before dinner.

BAKED KALE CHIPS

This recipe is modified from one I found in the Beard Foundation Newsletter.

  • Olive oil (1 tbsp per large bunch of kale -you barely need any oil)
  • 1 large bunch of kale, rinsed and pat dry, leaves cut away from stalks and torn into large bite size pieces
  • Sea salt
  • Pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Put about a tbsp of olive oil in a large bowl, then add kale and rub with the olive oil so that both sides are coated. Season with salt and pepper. Place kale on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes  or until leaves just start to brown. Turn and bake another 3-5 mins. Be careful, they burn quickly. Remove from oven, let cool and eat. Or store in an airtight container for later snacking.

Kale Chips TBTAM 1

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More Kale Chips from around the Web

  • Smitten Kitchen crumbles her homemade kale chips on popcorn.
  • Kalyn massages her kale with olive oil in a zip lock bag and adds vinegar.
  • Kitchen Treaty has some gorgeous prep pics
  • A Cup of Jo makes here with sesame oil, soy and sesame seeds. (I’m totally trying these.)
  • David Lebowitz compares kale chips baked at different temps.  (He likes them both ways)
  • Whole foods recipe uses Parmesan cheese. Another must-try variation.
  • Vegans like their kale chips with nutritional yeast, red pepper, walnuts and maple syrup coating.

Date-Orange Scones

CENTRAL PARK SNOWI think nature gives us lengthening days in late January and early February to help us get through the interminable winter and remind us that spring is just around the corner.

More than once this past week I have headed out of my windowless office after a long day, having braced myself for the cold and dark, only to find my spirits uplifted by a still light blue sky. That same evening sky beckoned me to forgo the crosstown bus twice this week and walk through the snow covered Central Park instead.

fifth ave snow

If Punxatawny Phil is correct, we still have another five weeks of winter.  I prefer to think if it as five more weeks of increasingly long days. Sunset today is at 5:30 pm, but on March 16, it will be at 7:04 pm!  By then, it may even be warm enough to bike a loop in the park after work.

If that’s not enough to cheer you up, maybe these scones will.

ZUNI SCONES

DATE-ORANGE SCONES

These scones were modified from the recipe for Orange-Currant Scones from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook, written by the late great Judy Rogers and acclaimed by many as one of the best cookbooks ever written.

This recipe breaks from traditional scone recipes by using an egg, which is thought to act as a leavener and extend the shelf life of a scone.   It makes sense that a cafe chef would use an egg in her scones, which are notorious for becoming dry and stale very quickly, to allow for advance preparation.  Rogers also bakes her scones at a lower temperature, doubling the baking time. If you want a more traditional scone that bakes in 10-15 mins, try my perfect scone recipe.

I’ve also made these scones using sheep’s milk yogurt instead of milk (adding a tbsp or so of skim milk or water to thin it before using). The recipe makes 12 scones, and the extras freeze well – just reheat in the oven or a wide toaster. Or cut the recipe in half to make 6 scones.

  • 3 cups flour (13 1/2 ounces)
  • Scant 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 2 stick cold butter, cut into pieces
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried dates
  • 1 tbsp freshly grated orange rind
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter till the size of small peas. Add dates and orange zest and mix well. Whisk  egg and milk together and add quickly to dry ingredients.  Don’t over mix.

Divide the dough in half, dump out onto a floured surface and pat each half into a one once think round. Cut like a pie into 6 wedges.

Bake until golden and firm to touch, about 25-30 mins.  Best served warm form the oven.

date-orange scone 4

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More on scone recipes and technique from TBTAM

Other food bloggers try the Zuni scones

  • Tea for Six gets a gorgeous rise out of hers. So does Angela. Hmm…maybe I need to freshen up my baking powder…
  • Alice Garden makes a Meyer Lemon and Blueberry version of the Zuni scone
  • Cooking Zuni has the same thoughts I have about scones helping make it till spring

 

Sunday in the Tropics (and Roast Cauliflower Soup)

BBG2Leave it to my friend Paula to get me out of my hunker on a cold January morning, as only she can do, with an email entitled “This Sunday in the Tropics”, in which she proposed a walk at the New York Botanical Garden. “The weather is supposed to be clear and warm (25 degrees!). This the cheapest trip to the tropics ever! Can you feel the winter funk lifting?”

Well, Paula, lift it did. On snow covered trails,

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that took us along the flowing Bronx River

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through the Ornamental Conifer Grove

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past a stand of redwoods

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flowering crabapples,

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and budding pussy willows carrying the promise of spring. 

Pussy WIllow

The bright snow provided a sharp contrast to the winter foliage

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and while the ornamental gardens and conservatory beckoned

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by 1 pm the sun had retreated,

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as did I, home to a warm bowl of roast cauliflower soup.

Cauliflower soup

ROAST CAULIFLOWER SOUP

This recipe, enlightened from one on Epicurious, is a great way to use leftover roast cauliflower. You can adjust the amount of chicken broth to the amount of cauliflower you have left.  This recipe serves four. 

  • 1 head cauliflower
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups chicken broth (plus a little water if the soups seems too thick)
  • 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
  • Small bay leaf (or 1/2 large)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Croutons or sheep’s milk yogurt to garnish

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Cut cauliflower into 1-inch flowerets (about 5 cups). In a large baking pan toss cauliflower, garlic, and shallots with oil to coat and roast in middle of oven about 30 minutes, or until golden.

In a soup pot, simmer broth, water, roasted cauliflower mixture, and herbs 30 minutes, or until cauliflower is very tender. Remove the bay leaf. Puree in the pan using an immersion blender. Serve with croutons or a dollop of sheep’s milk yogurt.

Sauteed Tofu and Roasted Winter Squash

squash

I take no credit for this amazing entree, prepared by Mr TBTAM tonight and based on Melissa Clark’s recipe in last week’s NY Times.

I do take credit for suggesting that we substitute lemon juice for the soy sauce, given my all day migraine. So Mr TBTAM made two versions – one with soy sauce for him and one with lemon juice for me. He also sautéed rather than roasted the tofu, but otherwise stayed true to Melissa’s original recipe.

I thought mine was delicious, and Mr TBTAM thought his was too.

We served it with sautéed curly kale tossed with some of the lemon flavored sauce (delish!) for a surprisingly satisfying meal.

Lemon Squares

LEMON SQUARES 4 TBTAM

This family favorite comes from the Pleasures of Cooking magazine, a publication of Cuisinart in the 1970’s-80’s.  We treasure the issues we have of the marvelous publication, long out of print and hard to get, but still inspirational.

As I was finishing this post, I went to see just how many issues of Pleasures of Cooking we had and all I could find was one! Now I know that I am infamous in our household for purging when the closets and shelves become too cluttered, but there is no way on God’s earth I would have tossed our Pleasures of Cooking magazines!  I have no idea where they could be, but given that I live in a NYC apartment, there are really few places for them to hide that I have not already looked.  My one last hope is that I may have taken them up to our cottage, though I have no idea why I would have done that.

So now, instead of being happy to have finally put up this recipe, I am beside myself in loss and despair. Thank goodness my mother-in-law Irene still has all her back issues. (You do, don’t you, Irene?)

LEMON SQUARES (aka Lemon Curd Cookies)

These wonderfully tangy cookies carry a tartness that is balanced by a generous dusting of confectioner’s sugar atop. They are easy to make and freeze well.   

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 cup blanched whole almonds (2 oz, 55 g)
  • Zest of 1 medium lemon
  • Zest of 1/2 medium orange
  • 1/2 cup flour (2.5 oz, 70 g)
  • 1/4 cup confectioners sugar (1 oz, 30 g)
  • 5 tbsp chilled unsalted butter cut into 5 pieces
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar (5 2/3 oz, 160 g)
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch salt
  • 2 large eggs lightly beaten
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp orange juice
  • Confectioners sugar and candied lemon and orange peel (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit (175 degrees Centigrade)

Process almonds, 1/2 the zests, flour, confectioners sugar and butter with metal blade in food processor till constancy of coarse crumbs, about 10 secs. Press into square 8 inch baking pan and bake in preheated oven till firm and lightly colored, about 20 mins.

Process sugar, baking powder, salt and remaining zests until zest is as fine as the sugar, about 1 min. Add eggs and juice and process till combined, about 5 secs. Pour over the crust and bake till set, about 20 minutes. Cool.

Loosen around the edges, then cut into 2.5x2in (6x5cm) squares with a sharp knife, being careful not to dislodge clumps of the curd.  Dust with confectioners sugar and garnish with candied lemon and orange peel. Remove from pan using a cookie spatula. (See below) Makes 12 cooked, about 1/14 oz (45 g) each.

This is a cookie spatula
This is a cookie spatula

Candied Lemon and Orange Zests

  • 1/2 cup sugar (3 3/4 oz, 100g)
  • 1/3 cup water (80 ml)
  • Zest of 1 medium lemon, cut into julienne strips
  • Zest of 1 small orange, cut into julienne strips

Bring water and sugar to boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat to low, add the zests and simmer for 10 mins. Transfer with slotted spoon to waxed paper to cool.

LEMON SQUARES TBTAM 3

Devil’s Food Cake with White Icing

Devils Food Cake with White Icing

The week before Christmas is not exactly a good time to have a birthday. Everyone, including me,  is overwhelmed with holiday preparations, not to mention final exams.  Adding a birthday celebration during that week feels like foisting yet another obligation on your friends and family, not to mention yourself.

Now, don’t go feeling sorry for me and throw me a party – it’s already been tried. My first year in med school, my sister Fran, God rest her soul, made me a surprise party the night before my Biochem final.  I was utterly miserable the entire evening. Thank god I passed the final, but not all my friends did.

The final straw on my birthday camel’s back was when I married into a Jewish family and Chanukah got added into the holiday mix.

Oy.

Between shopping for presents for eight nights plus Christmas, lighting candles, making latkes and decorating the tree, who has time for a birthday? I certainly didn’t.

Then, 18 years ago, on the day before my birthday, my second daughter Natalie was born.  Now that was a reason to celebrate!  Amazing really, how that additional birthday was nothing more than added joy. I found plenty of time to make a birthday party for her every year (one of which I even chronicled in this blog).  No sweat. Really and truly. Just a joy.

This of course, gave me yet another reason to continue to ignore my own birthday, which is actually a good tactic for forgetting how old you really are.  My family of course remembers, as do friends, and I get cards and gifts, but I never found myself celebrating my own birthday beyond that. I’m just too busy and I just don’t care.

But this year, my daughter, now a  college student with her own schedule, finals and friends, suggested we celebrate our birthdays together.  Suddenly, all the energy I had used to make her birthday special spilled back on mine. My husband made the dinner and my daughter and I made the cake. (Well, I made the cake and she licked the beaters.)  Although we sorely missed my eldest daughter, now living in Philly, it was really fun. And, for the first time in many, many years, I found myself actually enjoying my own birthday!

I think this shared celebration is going to be a new family tradition.

As is this delicious cake.

Devil's Food cake with WHite Icing TBTAM

DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE WITH WHITE ICING

This cake recipe is my third foray into a wonderful vintage cookbook, Favorite Tortes and Cake Recipes by Rose Oller Harbaugh and Mary Adams. The first two (Blueberry Cake with Lemon Sauce and a Rococco Torte) were resounding successes, and this recipe joins them as new classics in my baking repertoire.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 pound butter
  • 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 squares bitter chocolate, melted and cooled
  • 1 1/4 cups milk

Sift flour, soda and cinnamon three times.

Cream butter until lemon colored, add sugar and cream together thoroughly. Add well-beaten eggs and chocolate and continue beating. Then alternately add flour mixture and milk, beating well after each addition. Bake in 3 well-buttered and floured 8 inch pans (I lined mine with wax paper) and bake 30 mins in 325 degree fahrenheit oven.

Fill and cover layers with Pretty Darned Near the Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had.

Pretty Darned Near the Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had

PRETTY DARNED NEAR THE BEST FROSTING I'VE EVER HAD

This flour-based icing recipe got famous on the Pioneer Woman’s website. I decided I would try it anyway since the recipe itself came from Missy Dew, a reader, and not Ree herself, whose recipes I don’t trust so much although she clearly is making a lot of money.

I’m probably just jealous that the whole gyno-food blog thing hasn’t quite taken off as well as the home-schooling ranch mom thing.  Maybe I should just post a few pics of my husband’s back side like Ree does. That would land me some real blog traffic…

Cake recipe coming up tomorrow.

PRETTY DARNED NEAR THE BEST FROSTING I’VE EVER HAD

What I love about this flour-based frosting is that it is sweet, but does not have that teeth squeaking too-sweet taste that most icings have. You can really taste the vanilla, and the cake flavor shines through. It very well may be the best frosting I’ve ever had, but I’m not passing final judgement till I try this recipe for another flour based frosting.Let me know if you try either one what you think. Next time I make this frosting, I’m going to process the sugar in the food processor first so it’s superfine – instructions here.  That should make the second step go much faster.

Ingredients

  • 5 tbsp Flour
  • 1 cup Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 cup Butter
  • 1 cup Granulated Sugar

Instructions

  1. Whisk flour into milk in a small saucepan and heat, stirring constantly, until it is very thick. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.
  2. While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy without sugar graininess. (This will take what seems like hours, but is probably around 15 minutes. Hopefully you have a standing mixer.) Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat till it all combines and resembles whipped cream, another 3-5 minutes or so. I’m told if it separates to keep beating, but mine never separated, so that’s good.

Penne with Vodka Sauce

A guest post by OBS Housekeeper, pasta cook extraordinaire and sister of TBTAM.

penne vodka 5The kids are all together for the first time in months and we have just 5 days until Christmas so it’s time to decorate the tree. In need of something simple and delicious for dinner I hit the freezer for some Vodka Sauce that I had made a few weeks ago.

penne vodka 1

Pair it with penne,

Penne vodka 2

a Caesar saladpenne vodka 3 and crusty Italian bread and dinner is served.

It must have been tasty because there were no leftovers! And the tree couldn’t be more beautiful! Happy holidays!

PENNE with VODKA SAUCE
Vodka sauce traditionally does not include garlic, but OBS housekeeper says “What’s a pasta sauce without garlic?”

Ingredients
1 stick Butter
1 Onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Cup Vodka
2 – 28 ounce cans Crushed Tomatoes
1 pint heavy cream

Directions
1. In a skillet over medium heat, saute onion in butter until slightly brown and soft, add the garlic in the last munite or so.
2. Pour in vodka and let cook for 10 minutes.
3. Mix in crushed tomatoes and cook for 30 minutes.
4. Pour in heavy cream and cook for another 30 minutes.
5. Toss sauce with penne.
6. Add plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
7. Enjoy!

Big Apple Apples (and a recipe for Apple-Pear Sauce)

BIg Apple Apples

We’ve got a real bumper crop of apples ripening on the tree on our roof right now.

I’m not sure who or what to credit, since laisse faire has been our unintentional gardening principle this year.  I think maybe I fed the trees twice and you can tell by the color of the leaves that I never sprayed them.

Container Garden Apples

Maybe it was the rain. Or the sun. Or someone has bees nearby. 

APPLES IN THE SUN

Regardless, these little macintoshes are white and unblemished inside and while not as crisp as say, a ginger gold or granny smith, they have a nice flavor,

APPLES

and make a very good applesauce, especially when you add in a couple of small overipe pears you found sitting on the counter.

APPLESAUCE JAR

Apple-Pear Sauce

1 cup orange juice (plus a little water if needed for larger apples)
6 small macintosh apples
2 small soft pears
1 cinnamon stick

Rinse the apples and pears in water and dry. Do not peel. Cut into quarters, removing the occasional brown spot, and core. Add the fruit to a heavy saucepan. Pour in the orange juice and toss in a cinnamon stick. Cover the pot and cook over low heat till the fruit is soft (20-30 mins), stirring occasionally to be sure all the fruit spends some time immersed in the juice.

Remove cinnamon stick. Using a large slotted spoon, remove the fruit from the juice and run it through a food mill (or press through a fine mesh strainer). Add back some of the juice if you need it to thin the sauce. The juice you don’t use, pour into a glass and drink slowly – hmmmm…..

If possible, serve the apple-pear sauce warm.

Seared Scallops with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Seared Scallops in Mushroom Cream Sauce

An elegant and actually quite easy preparation from Emeril Legasse. The sauce has cream, but lemon used in the scallops lightens the flavor considerably.  (Half and Half would probably work just as well as the cream if you want to lighten it calorie wise as well.)

Mr TBTAM prepared this last week – it was so good,we used the leftover sauce, seared a few more scallops the following night and had it again.  The sauce can be made a bit ahead, making it an easy dish to serve company.

We had it with Farro and brussels sprouts. Made for a real pretty plate.  Recipe here.

Shallots, Farro and Brussels Sprouts

Gluten-Free Low Fat Spinach, Leek & Mushroom Quiche

GLuten free quiche
This quiche serves 6 at only 235 calories a slice.

If, like me, you find yourself planning to make a lasagna for a friend recovering from surgery, stop for a second and consider, as I did, making something healthier. You just may find some amazing meals out there, including this delicious quiche from Cooking Light.

I was going for something not too high in fat, then realized that this quiche is also gluten-free*. Not that I have a gluten allergy, but any opportunity to replace processed white flour with whole grains is worth taking, as long as the result is edible.  And this is not only edible, it’s delicious!

*Oats and Oat Bran are naturally gluten-free. Cross contamination, however, can occur with gluten-containing products during storage and manufacture.  If you must, be sure to buy brands that are certified gluten-free.  

GLUTEN-FREE LOW-FAT, SPINACH, LEEK & MUSHROOM QUICHE

My recipe is a little different from the original in that I increased the leeks, skipped the dill, added a few sprigs of fresh instead of dried thyme, and also hot pepper flakes and fennel seeds. I skipped rolling out the dough and simply pressed it into a well greased tart pan. As you can see, the crust baked up beautifully (I placed the filled quiche on a baking sheet in the oven), and slipped out of the pan with no fuss at all. Maybe that’s because I used butter instead of cooking spray, so if you do that, add on a few calories. 

Crust

  • 1 cup regular oats
  • 1/3 cup oat bran
  • 2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
  • 3 tablespoons cold water
  • Butter or cooking spray for the pan

Filling

  • 2 large leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
  • 1 1/4 cups sliced mushrooms
  • 1 cup evaporated fat-free milk
  • 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
  • A few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground pepper
  • 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
  • 1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded Gruyêre cheese

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 9 inch tart pan with butter (or spray with cooking spray), being sure to get it into all the side grooves.

Combine oats and oat bran in a medium sized bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add water; stir. Press mixture gently into greased pan – it will seem like you won’t have enough, but you will, so just be patient, keep pressing it around and it will cover. Bake crust at 375° for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool; leave oven on.

To prepare the filling, brush a cast iron skillet or saute pan lightly with olive oil (or spray with cooking spray), heat and add leeks. Saute for a few minutes till soft then add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme and fennel and saute till the mushrooms start to release their liquid but are still plump and juicy. Spoon veggies into a large bowl and let cool.

Combine milk, Parmesan cheese and eggs in a blender and process until smooth. Add the spinach and pulse a few times to mix well.  Add to leek-mushroom mixture, and stir well. Pour into prepared crust (best to put the tart pan on a cooking sheet first, as it may leak a bit when you pour in the filling) and sprinkle with Gruyêre cheese. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes, then remove pie from tart pan. Serve warm.

Grape, Garlic and Goat Cheese Tartlets for a Summer Book Club Meeting

Grape, onion and goat cheese tartlets 3

Thanks so much to the great women in my book group for giving me the opportunity to do what I love doing more than almost anything else – cook for my friends. I only had the latter part of the afternoon to prepare, having seen patients that day, but it was so much fun spending even those few stolen hours during the work week in my kitchen with the afternoon sun coming in and the radio going.

Here’s the menu I prepared for our little rooftop gathering:

  • Goat Cheese, Garlic & Grape Tartlets
  • Cucumber slices topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon & dill
  • Assorted cheeses and crackers
  • Grapes
  • Castelvetrano Olives
  • Steamed edamame sprinkled with sea salt and fresh ground pepper
  • Pimm’s Cup Pitcher

Fueled by food and drink, we had a spirited discussion on the Middlesteins – a book I didn’t love, but that much of the group did.  Thanks to my fellow members for all the evenings they so generously hosted throughout this past year, and here’s to many more wonderful reads!

grape, garlic and goat chees tartelts 2

Goat Cheese, Garlic & Grape Tartlets

This recipe is modified from a crostini recipe in a lovely little cookbook entitle Small Gatherings – Seasonal Menus for Cozy Dinners by Jessica Strand. It’s a small book of gems for entertaining, complete with prep and timing instructions for stress free entertaining. 

The day was warm and crostini felt too heavy, so I opted to use puff pastry as the base. (If you use crostini, simply slice a baguette crosswise into 1/2 inch slices, brush with olive oil and toast lightly in the oven on 5-7 minutes.) I admit I increased the balsamic vinegar from 1 1/2 tbsp to 3 tbsp – I loved the idea of drizzling a little of that grape infused juice on the tarts.  And I added fresh thyme. 

Makes 24 tarts.

  • 1 box puff pastry (2 sheets)
  • Olive oil for brushing
  • 2 garlic bulbs
  • 4 cups mixed green and red small grapes
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
  • 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 6 ounces goat cheese
  • Fresh thyme for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit

Thaw the puff pastry at room temp for 45 minutes. Unfold it onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 rectangles, Repeat with second pastry. Place rectangles onto a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil, prick with a fork and bake for 10-15 minutes, pressing the pastries down with a spatula if they puff up too much. (If you want to get really fancy, you can brush the edges with a little water, the roll them in to create mini crusts that you then press down with the tines of a fork., but who has time?) Remove to a rack to cool. Keep the oven on.

Using a serrated knife, cut off the tops of the garlic bulbs to expose the cloves. Place in a pie tin, cut side up. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the grapes, walnuts and vinegar and toss to mix well and coat the grapes fully with the vinegar. Transfer the mixture to a small baking dish.

Put the garlic and the grape mixture in the oven side by side. Bake the garlic until it is very, very soft. Bake the grape mixture until the grapes have collapsed and the juices are thick and bubbling. Both the garlic and the grapes should take 35-40 mins.

To assemble, squeeze a roasted garlic clove from its skin onto each puff pastry tart. Using a small knife, spread it as well as you can and then spread a generous teaspoon or two of the cheese on top of each.  (It will be like putting the first layer of icing on a cake – lots of crumbs – and this is where you will think that making this as crostini would have been a much better idea, but don’t worry it will be delicious…) Place a spoonful of the grape mizture on top of the cheese and drizzle a little of the juices atop and garish with a few thyme leaves. Arrange on a decorative platter, sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper and serve.

grape, garlic and goat cheese tartlets 5

Feed Your Brain – Chilled Avocado Vichyssoise

avocado vichyssoise

This is wonderful chilled soup combines my favorite comfort food – potatoes – with one of the best all around brain foods out there – avocado.

That’s right – avocado is good for your brain. And your mood.  And your heart. And your weight.

According to Drew Ramsey, MD , a NYC psychiatrist who has started an amazing conversation about the role of diet in mood and brain function,  avocados are rich in oleic acid –

Oleic acid …. is strongly linked to a decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and depression. It improves insulin sensitivity. Oleic acid is used by the body to create oleoylethanolamide, which enhances memory, induces fat burning, promotes weight loss, and reduces appetite.

Dr Ramsey has begun asking the question – Can you eat for a healthier brain? He has written a book called the Happiness Diet – a way of eating that eliminates processed foods and reintroduces us to the nutrients and foodstuffs that support a healthy mind. It’s a dietary message similar to that we’ve been hearing from food gurus like Michael Pollen and Mark Bittman, but focused on how the modern American diet has impacted our brain and our mood, and how getting back to foods like whole grains, grass fed meat, and  fruits and vegetables can support and even enhance interventions to improve mood.


“Your brain is made of fat”, he says, and he is right, because fats form the precursors for neurotransmitters.  Read Ramsey’s book, and you begin to understand why fat – the right kind of fat – is good for you.  

Of course, the amount of research on this approach is limited, but suggests that Ramsey is on the right track. As a physician, I see dietary interventions as supportive of, but not necessarily replacing, psychiatric intervention, whether it be psychotherapy, or if needed, medication.  I also see no harm in making the kind of dietary changes Ramsey recommends as a first step, along with exercise and talk therapy, when addressing milder forms of mood disorders that don’t require medication.

I’ve written before about the good fats found in whole sheep’s milk yogurt.  Now I’ve added avocado to the list of good-fat foods in my diet.

Avocados are an incredibly satisfying food, not to mention delicious. Add some to your salad. Have a few slices as a side with your lunch or dinner. Grab a spoon and scoop some out for a quick satiating snack.

Or make this marvelous soup.

avocado

Avocado Vichyssoise

Modified from a Recipe from Mark Bittman in the New York Times, one of twelve recipes for cold soups in an article entitled “Soup, Hold the Heat”.   Bittman calls for 1-2 avocados – I used 1 1/2, but that made for a pretty thick soup that required about 1/4 cup water to thin it. Next time I will just use one avocado and see how that tastes. (This was delicious). Don’t skip the cilantro – it is more than just a garnish, it’s essential for the flavor.   

2 tbsp butter
3 Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 leeks, cleaned and chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1-2 avocados, peeled and coarsely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro for garnish

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a soup pot. Add potatoes and leeks. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring, until softened. Add 4 cups stock. Boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in the avocado and puree (I use an immersion blender). Refrigerate till cold, then serve garnished generously with chopped cilantro.

Potato Leek Soup

Potato Leek Soup

When I was a very little girl, I was sitting at the kitchen table eating mashed potatoes, and my mother turned to our neighbor, who was visiting at the time, and said, “She’d eat mashed potatoes till the cows came home”.

I’d say that still holds true.

Except sometimes I eat my mashed potatoes in a soup.

This is an exceedingly simple soup that is  lighter in calories than mashed potatoes, but just as satisfying for this half Irish girl who is still wondering where she’ll put those cows if they ever show up on her doorstep.

Postato Leek Soup

This recipe is from Richard Olney’s cookbook Simple French Food,  via one of my new favorite blogs, A Serious Bunburyist. There is no cream in this – it does not need it. But that butter at the end? C-est manifique!

Ingredients

  • 2 quarts salted boiling water
  • 1 pound potatoes, peeled, quartered lengthwise, sliced (we used Yukon golds)
  • 1 pound leeks, tough green parts removed, cleaned, finely sliced
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Olney has you add the vegetables to the salted boiling water and cook till the potatoes are soft and mashable. I was dying to saute those leeks up first in the butter and then add the water (or maybe chicken stock) and the potatoes, and then maybe a bouquet garni, but I really had no say in the matter as I was still at work when Mr TBTAM started cooking. By the time I arrived home, the leeks and potatoes were done,  so I just got out the old immersion blender and went to town.  Maybe someday I’ll try a fancier version, but this was pretty close to perfect as far as I’m concerned.

Serve hot or cold with a generous sprinkling of sea salt and pepper to finish.

Lemon Fennel Ribs with Fennel Slaw and Roasted New Potatoes

Lemon fennel ribs with roasted potatoes and fennel slaw

What a week it’s been!

Sunday night dinner at the home of Emmy Award winning Homeland casting director Judy Henderson (an event worthy of it’s own blog post, so stay tuned, and thanks again Ronnie for the invite!).

Monday meeting with Frank and Larry to discuss our upcoming ethics paper (Larry, you are brilliant!), lunch with Marty (I think we hatched a patentable idea), then Monday evening our first rehearsal for the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Spring Choral Performance (Bach mass in G Major), followed by a quick dinner with Susan at Aureole (great burgers) and the late show of Songs for  New World (My class is performing it in a few weeks and I needed to be inspired. I was! Thanks again, Susan, for staying up late with me on a work night.)

Wednesday a long walk through the Central Park to weekly rehearsal with the Collegiate Singers  (Our spring concert is in early May – an ode to St Cecelia).

Thursday dinner (All you can eat mussels at Bistro 61) with dear friend Annette and her brilliant husband Arthur, whose detective work on Aristalochic acid induced nephropathy continues to amaze and inspire me.

Last night was woodshedding Songs for a New World for musical theater class, and today we actually did our first run through! (Of course, I’m still not off book, so there’s that..)

In between, I saw my patients as usual and even got all my charts done and calls returned before Friday afternoon was over.

Don’t ask me how it happened  or how I did it all – I have no idea. Actually, I do. I committed to things months in advance and then all those commitments colluded. But I had plenty of energy all week long – maybe the three days home sick the week before (?was it really the flu?) helped – I think I needed all that sleep! I also have started exercising more regularly, and that definitely energizes me.

And of course, there’s caffeine. I had given it up the week before, but by Wednesday this week I was back on. But just one cup a day. (I had been drinking three.) I’m going to try to get off again next week.

Mr TBTAM and daughter were just as busy as I was this week, and tonight was actually the first night in 8 days that we were all home for dinner. I needed to make something worthy of the occasion.  Luckily, I had this great little book of Classic Home Recipes from The Chicago Tribune, sent to me for review last week, where I found this wonderful recipe for Lemon Fennel Ribs.  While this meal may not have been a classic in the past,  it is now for us. It was delicious!

Now I’m off to bed early – I’m looking forward to spending tomorrow writing the ethics paper and the patent proposal, with maybe a break for a mani-pedi – I deserve it!

Lemon Fennel Ribs

LEMON FENNEL RIBS

Modified from a recipe in  Classic Home Recipes from The Chicago Tribune.  This is a rib rub, meant to be used with grilled ribs. Of course, no way I was grilling on this snowy wet March evening, so I modified the preparation. I was nervous these would be too dry, but they were not!

  • 12 pork ribs
  • Grated rind of two lemons
  • 1 tbsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
  • Olive oil

Heat 1 tablespoon fennel seeds in a small skillet set over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Grind in a mortar or pulse in the spice grinder till powdery. Transfer to a bowl; stir in salt, pepper and lemon rind.

Rince ribs and pat dry. Coat on all sides with the rub, place in a glass dish and marinade for 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit. Brush a small roasting pan with olive oil and arrange the ribs in it. Cover with foil and bake at 450 for 30 mins. Remove foil and place pan under broiler for 10-15 mins, stopping halfway through to turn the ribs.

Serve with fennel slaw and roasted rosemary potatoes (recipes below). A nice size dollop of sheep’s milk yogurt on the plate provides a cool contrast.  Serves 4.

fennel slaw

FENNEL SLAW

Modified from a recipe in Classic Home Recipes from The Chicago Tribune. I used red instead of Savoy cabbage, replacing the grapes with golden raisins, and using brown instead of white sugar in the dressing.

  • 1 medium head of cabbage
  • 1 small fennel bulb
  • 1 granny smith apple, peeled
  • 1/4 cup golden raisins
  • Juice of two lemons
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 2 tsp coarse brown mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Peel the outermost leaves off the cabbage, cut out the white core and slice very thin and place in a large bowl. Trim the outer fennel leaves and cut off the stem and base. Grate on the large blade of the grater, then add to the cabbage. Grate the apple down to the core, discard the core, and add the grated apple to the cabbage. Add the raisins. Whisk the remaining ingredients in a bowl; adjust the seasoning by adding sugar or olive oil if needed. Toss with the cabbage, fennel, apple and raisin mixture and serve.

ROASTED ROSEMARY NEW POTATOES

  • 2 pounds of small new potatoes, scrubbed, dried and cut in half.
  • 2  tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, coarsely chopped
  • Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss all the ingredients in a bowl, the spread the potatoes out in a broiler pan. Bake at 450 for 30 mins, turning half way. (You can roast them at the same time you bake the ribs). Remove from oven and cover pan with foil to keep warm while the ribs broil. Serve atop the fennel slaw as described above.