Fish Fail.

Tonight we tried the Roasted Halibut with Grapefruit Fennel Salsa from Giada, and as AAM said, let's not do that one again. 

I challenged myself to try a recipe with ingredients I normally wouldn't chose, and well grapefruit and fennel pretty much sum up that category.  I really enjoyed pulling out the hairy fennel, and chopping it up into a messy pile. The grapefruit was fun to squeeze and shred. So really, I wanted to like the recipe.

It had wonderfully exotic ideas, and should work, but we decided there were too many flavors going on. We replaced the fish with Mahi Mahi, my favorite fish that should compliment, but it was a hot mess. It was as if Giada decided, "Hey, I need a few new recipes to fill this book. What is left in the fridge that has a bland color palate, and will make your mouth pucker when they combine flavors?"

So, this would be on the do not try list.

What is my favorite season?

Tomato season. One of my favorite foods, good juicy tomatoes come into their prime late summer, and are actually particularly yummy in the mid-Atlantic region. I have been known to fill our entire kitchen with a variety of tomatoes, which follows with a tomato themed meal three times a day. Sometimes all this tomato growing and purchasing causes a surplus, and some are bound to start to wrinkle.

This morning, I noticed my cherry tomatoes, from a North Carolinian vegetable stand, were starting to slowly wrinkle. I sliced them up, sprinkled my favorite herb mixture on top and topped with feta and eggs. Yum Yum.

Roasted Tomatoes, Eggs, and Feta

Ingredients

• 1 cup of tomatoes of any variety (try to mix them up in texture and color for a particularly yummy blend)
• 1 tb herbs de provence
• 1 tb olive oil
• 1/3 cup of crumbled feta (I used Organic Creamery's Feta, because it is extra creamy)
• Generous sprinkling of salt and pepper
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 2 fried eggs

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 450.
2. Slice your grape/cherry tomatoes and cut the larger tomatoes into at least quarters, place them in a small baking dish.
3. Sprinkle with the herbs de provence, salt, and olive oil on top of the tomatoes, then mix with your hands. 
4. Place in the oven for 10 minutes, then sprinkle the feta on top, then put it back in the oven. .
5. Meanwhile, fry two eggs.
6. When the eggs are done, take out the tomato mixture, and slide the eggs on top. Sprinkle with pepper.

Guest Blogger: James Nankervis

This entry is the first in a series of guest blogging, where my family members will be sharing their favorite recipes and ideas about food. As I have previously mentioned, we have some wonderful novice cooks, but the first guest blogger is our only professional chef. A veteran of the war in Iraq, he followed his passions into the kitchen, and we are all extremely proud of him. Trained by culinary school, Jimmy also cooked in various wonderful restaurants from Edo's Squid in Richmond, where AAM and I got engaged, to the very high-end 2941 in the DC area. Presently, he is in New York at Mario Batali's restaurant Del Posto. Despite his experience and talent, Jimmy is always a humble, but very enthusiastic, guy and he will entertain our very basic cooking questions. Jimmy emphasizes simple cooking, with fantastic ingredients. Here is a great fail safe that he rattled off very quickly to me within seconds of my request.

Jimmy says "Simplicity is key when creating good food."


Olive Oil Poached Salmon, with Wilted Greens, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Ingredients:

• Salmon skin off
• random greens Frisee, spinach, nasturtium, any lettuces.
• red wine vinegar
• shallots
• Fingerling potatoes or any kind will work
• salt and pepper, a must have

Directions:

1. heat the oil on the stove to 160 degrees.
2. cut shallots to the same size as the potatoes
3. place potatoes and shallots in the oven at 400 degrees until tender and sweet, of course these were tossed with olive oil S&P.
4. Wilt the greens in a saute pan with olive oil S&P low heat add 1 t. red wine vinegar to deglaze the pan.
5. Place salmon seasoned in oil for 9 minutes. Check to see if it is cooked to your preference (Maureen adds, quickly flaking with a fork to see if the fillet separates, it is OK if there is still some juice. Many people tend to overcook salmon. )

plate and eat

Guess what we are having this week!

Linguine with Ricotta, Beans and Tomatoes

As I mentioned earlier, I am working through Giada de Laurentis' book Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites. Last night we tried her Linguine with Green Beans and Ricotta recipe. Reading the recipe, I realized it lacked spice, so when I cooked the greenbeans I used cayenne infused olive oil, which gave it flavor, but I could have added red pepper flakes to help even more. I also used regular green beans and just chopped them instead of sliced them, and it was still good. After making it, AAM and I both agreed it lacked moisture. We loved the idea of the dish, but it just needed a little more creaminess. Next time I make it, I am going to mix the ricotta with some cooking water and a tablespoon of olive oil to make it less dry. Looking at the recipe on the Food Network site, it seems many people agree with us. I do think with those modifications, it can be fixed. The dish is such a good and easy weeknight meal, that it is worth keeping.

Here is the recipe, copied from Food Network's website:
Linguine with Ricotta, Beans and Tomatoes

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 1 pound whole-wheat linguine
• 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound French green beans, trimmed and halved lengthwise
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 lemon, zested

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Transfer the hot pasta to a large bowl and add the ricotta cheese. Toss to combine.
Meanwhile, in a large, heavy skillet, warm the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the green beans, garlic, salt, and pepper and saute for 4 minutes. Add 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid and continue cooking until tender, about 4 more minutes. Add the pasta with ricotta to the pan with the green beans and toss to combine. Add the tomatoes and gently toss. Transfer to a serving plate and top with lemon zest. Serve.

the brands you buy matter.

Often, people ask me how to cook good Italian, and I explain it is all in the ingredients.

Last Christmas, I found myself in a jam. My grandfather, in-laws, sister's family, and parents were coming for a good Italian meal on Christmas Eve. I am not new at this family holiday cooking, but I was rushed and well, I cheated. I bought a brand of canned tomatoes that was below par, and well the sauce, was DISGUSTING. I mean seriously, it was awful. Bitter and thin, the sauce ruined the meal, and was not what I wanted my grandfather to have.

I learned my lesson. Stick to the brands who reflect true Italian style. Here are my recommendations, implemented by my mother and adjusted by me.

1. De Cecco. I am sorry, an oddly named German brands of pasta or the generic won't cut it. We only buy De Cecco in this house, and the pasta shows for it. Spend the extra 50 cents, and get the quality we all desire.
2. Progresso whole peeled tomatoes. My grandmother swore by whole, peeled canned tomatoes. She squeezed them with her hands, then set them on top of simmering garlic to make the sauce. No need for basil, it is infused. In my family, we are aggressive. If a grocer doesn't sell them, we talk to them about selling us cases directly. The bulk price is worth it.
3. Absolutely no Progresso tomatoes? True, they are hard to find. In a bind, I get the organic Muir Glen, they are a mirror substitute. Don't ruin your Christmas by purchasing those cans that say they are genuine Italian, they aren't. They are bitter and angry about their subservience to Progresso and Muir Glen.
4. Romano Pecorino. Throw out your crappy Parmesan, it tastes like cardboard. This is a true cheese that compliments Italian cooking. However, never put it on fish. Italians don't mix cheese and fish.
5. Too lazy for sauce? I mean you have to be pretty lazy to not simmer sauce on a Sunday, besides it makes your entire house smell heavenly. I thought I was the only family member that did it, but a recent facebook exercise showed several of my cousins feel the same way. I find it to be the most relaxing exercise in culinary and olfactory regimes. If that is the case, then buy Rao's Homemade or Classico. The rest is disgusting. I am not exaggerating.

Realize that what you taste, ingest, and consume has an effect on your body. Decide that buying nicer ingredients may feel expensive, but it is cheaper and better then going out to dinner, especially since no one does Italian like it is done in the home. In the end you created a meal that was perfecto.

Something really exciting happened last night....

and it wasn't my Pad Thai. However, for a brief moment, since this is a food blog let me share how I made the best Pad Thai yet.

Pad Thai
I started with cooking a cup of Jasmine rice. Next, I sauteed some East Carolina shrimp in cayenne pepper infused olive oil, with a chopped white onion, chopped green pepper, bean sprouts, chopped carrots, and those little corn things from the movie Big. This happened for only about 5 to 10 minutes, then I squeezed fresh lemon juice on top. I served the rice with the shrimp mixture on top, and then drizzled with a little peanut sauce. It was fresh and excellent. In the past, I cooked the food with the peanut sauce, and the flavors were always too drenched and overpowering. This was a fantastically fresh way to cook it. Of course, add chopped peanuts or scrambled egg if you would like, but it didn't really need it.

Ok, but the really exciting thing is that Serafina slept through the night. Now, the definition provided in the baby books, which I no longer read due to their raging psychotic guilt-ridden approach to parenting, says midnight to six am is sleeping through the night and it happens around three months. Last night Serafina slept from 11:30 to 6:15, her three month birthday. However, I wasn't in the least bit surprised that is just how Serafina rolls. What I have learned about my baby in the last three months is that she is a calming influence on all around her. She tranquilly observes the world, smiles at the unexpected, and rarely cries. When in the first weeks she appeared to suffer from gas attacks, her doctor diagnosed her with colic. AAM and I insisted that she didn't have colic, I mean she never cried, just fussed in the early evening for three hours or so. She would turn bright red and give a bit of an alarming noise, and then calm down, then repeat. My doctor explained, "That is just her way of dealing with the discomfort, every baby is different." Serafina was too calm for colic. I don't mean to brag, but because of her content and happy nature, she surprises and impresses everyone she meets. She just IS. In all the anxieties of first time parenting, she is the baby I need, and seems to be aware that she is leading us on this journey and I am taking her cues. I am not sure where this approach to life comes from because her father and I tend to take the world by storm.

A book I recently finished Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood, talks about observing your child for who they are and freeing yourself of your contrived goals and motivations. I actually found it to be a fantastic, well-thought out, quick read, which puts parenting into perspective with a sense of honesty and humor. I highly recommend it to new parents, and not so new ones. The book reminded me that Serafina teaches me how to slow down and appreciate the quiet changes in our day and scenery. No goals, no future, no past, just be. Yesterday, we spent a good twenty minutes staring at the variety of beans in the canned goods aisle at Harris Teeter. I talked to her about my favorite beans and which ones had more protein; she cooed. We looked at labels and talked recipes. I explained how some beans are called peas, but I wasn't sure why. Hanging out in her sling, she looked up at me and back at the peas and seemed to say "Lady, get over what they are called, let the beans be peas, who cares."

Libraries. Books. Cooking.

Despite my past with libraries, from working in one to spending hours studying for my PhD in another, I have a contentious relationship with the public library. Most of the contention could be blamed on my inability to turn in any book on time. This slight issue forced me to be on the run from the Arlington and Alexandria library systems for half a decade. You see, when I worked in the library, this could be unethically altered, or as a graduate student I explain away late fees as a price to pay for the development of genius. However, I couldn't quite explain to AAM why I chose to rack up fines on a few miserable books on tape or romance novels. So, I choose to avoid the conversation all together by purposefully losing my library card and avoiding the situation all together-- rather brilliant of me indeed!

Well, now that I have time on my hands, I really started wanting to go to the NEW shiny Shirlington library. Peaking through the window I saw sparkly computers, dvds, and a large section of books for children. The neighborhood children were reading and playing on the computer. Toddlers were out front reading board books with their mothers. I realized that my stubborn, flighty behavior threatened my child's future! I could just see her begging to get a book at the library, or hangout with friends in our neighborhood library. And me, her cruddy mother the outlaw took away any opportunity for her to socialize. We chose to live in Arlington because of the diversity, schools, parks, walkable neighborhoods, and yep, the dozen neighborhood libraries. So, about three weeks ago, I announced to AAM that I was going to the library to get the entire thing sorted out. He looked at me, eyebrows raised, and said "Hmmmm?"

Not one to be stopped by the doubts of others, Serafina and I set out on Monday to resolve the entire affair. After our routine stop to Best Buns, I slowly walked over to the library, with each step the tension rose. Really, the stress became too much, Serafina saw the anxiety and became hungry from physical exhaustion. After feeding her a bottle, we entered. I slowly perused the food book section, and made a mini-discovery. All the cookbooks, food philosophy, and green movement books I could imagine filled the shelves. Bingo-a new cooking resource! The surprise over the obvious was as shocking as when the doctor told AAM and I that Serafina will someday burp herself. We were dumbfounded by this possibility, which we shortly laughed hysterically at the realization of our stupidity, of course she will learn to burp herself! So in this case, of course the library had food books! I quickly started making plans of reading food books and reviewing them. Seriously people, this is the best place to go for recipes and food theory books. Who knew?

Anyways, I grabbed two new books The Fruit Hunters and Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, and marched right to the checkout. Trying to connect with the friendly face at the circulation desk, I started mumbling jokes about my inability to find the library in five years. I whispered the possibility of some "small fines" and a "lost card." Due to my half a decade absence, she generally offered to wave the lost card fee. Wow, this place is excellent, they wave fees to get you to visit them! Then, to my shock, she announced that my outstanding fine was $5. Seriously, I was avoiding this haven of child entertainment for $5 lousy dollars? This moment reminded me of how memory inflates our anxieties and insecurities. Somehow, my inability to hand in library books in my twenties came to represent my insecurities about responsibility and money.

Well, luckily, Serafina and I have a date every Monday to walk to Shirlington and grab a drink, well she gets a bottle of milk and I get my much needed coffee. Now, we can continue to the library and pick out new cooking recipes or food theory, when she becomes a toddler we can read outside by the fountain, and maybe even one day she can ride her bike and meet her friends there.

New Traditions

Teaching a course on World Cultures to 7th grade students means a thorough introduction of well, culture. Middle School students are excellent at pointing out difference, but when they try to see the sameness within, it can take an extra step. One method of telling them about culture, is having them look at their own traditions. They run to the board and write every sort of ritual or tradition in their day, month or year. We talk about similarities amongst the class, and apply some of them to cultures abroad. A thread that becomes clear to the class every year is that tradition often revolves around food. We discuss why food, a basic necessity, can create a bonding ritual for humanity.

Naturally, when Little Serafina arrived, I wanted to create positive traditions for our family. For Mothers Day, we decided to plant herbs every year. This year, A. held our petite 6-week old, while I talked her through the merits of basil. For Father's Day, we started an annual picnicking tradition. Armed with a Whole Foods gift card, we gathered a variety of foods, including ridiculously expensive (but absolutely fantastic) goat cheese from a local dairy, Firefly farms. We grabbed our picnic basket, and we trucked over to the Virginia Theological Seminary, which has great shady lawn space. Despite the 95 degree heat, and my clutsiness spilling wine all over the blanket, we had a fantastic first run at this tradition. As with anything about having a baby, we are taking the tradition slowly, and hope to try larger plants and bigger parks in the future. So hopefully when I teach Little Serafina in seventh grade, she will have a few food traditions to share.

Best Egg Sandwich in DC?

Best Buns Bakery in Shirlington.

I am pretty sure my love for egg and cheese sandwiches brought on the attack which necessitated the removal of my gallbladder. Thank goodness I don't have one anymore, because pregnancy led to the discovery of the Best Buns version. Made with the bakery's fresh bread, the one from Best Buns got me through some serious morning sickness, which lasted 20 weeks. I remain so loyal to the breakfast staple, that I went into labor trying to make one. Instead of rushing to the hospital after my water broke, I sat and ate the sandwich. I knew I was in for several days of hospital food. Since I had to have a c-section, my doc was not thrilled when she found out that an egg and cheese sat in my belly. At least Little Serafina had her last taste before birth.

Nowadays, Little Serafina and I walk to Best Buns and the Shirlington library on Monday mornings. She is a hit with the bakery staff. The shop has a group of regulars who greet each other, and all coo at Little Serafina. I can't wait for the day she gets to try the most amazing egg sandwich ever.

DC Reality Cooking

Since Obama made D.C. hip, many reality shows are visiting the nations capital. Unfortunately, some of the shows I find eternally irritating. I realized I am too old for the Real World when I couldn't watch an episode, even when the school I teach at was featured. Besides the irritating screaming and fighting that I long ago abandoned in a college apartment I would not like to revisit, the house avoided to allude to the Dupont neighborhood in which it was located, plus they barely took advantage of the neighborhoods off the Mall. At first, I was excited by the trending towards paying attention to the city I love so much, and then I realized producers look at D.C. through shades of red, white and blue. They ignore the people that actually live here.

However, a show I love, Top Chef, will have their next season in D.C. For a few months there has been a murmor of the shows presence. Recently, the Post even spotted Padma Lakshmi at my favorite Indian restaurant Rasika. I do hope the show refrains from the contrived D.C. icons and gets to know the city for the real city. Perhaps they will feature Soul, Ethiopian, or Middle Eastern cooking, which D.C. has some of the largest populations associated with these foods, therefore fantastic restaurants highlighting those cuisines. The Washingtonian blog spot them at Marvin, a great bar/restaurant on U Street where I celebrated my 29th birthday, so it is looking good. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but if there is too many red, white, blue allusions I might scream.

Top Chef DC premieres June 16th at 9 pm on Bravo.

Community Supported Agriculture Dilemmas

For those a little late on the local food movement, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. In order to participate, a person signs up to pre-purchase their supply of vegetables from local farms. The farms then deliver the food to the customer in large batches. The past four years, I look up CSAs to get the cost, and weigh the benefit. What keeps me hesitating is the idea that I might not be able to cook all the vegetables, or that I will get sick of them.

This article in Slate addresses that very issue. It includes an interview with the owner of Greens, a restaurant in San Fransico, recommended by numerous vegans and vegetarians, where AAM and I enjoyed a fantastic meal last Fall. The author mentions what we found at Greens, and what I always support in vegetarian cooking, is the emphasis on the character of the vegetable, not disguising it. The article argues for keeping a few ingredients like garlic and soy sauce to compliment a variety of methods of cooking vegetables. With this approach, weekly deliveries of veggies are less scary. So, check out your local CSAs here: Local Harvest.

Dieting

I have never really believed in dieting. Good eating habits and regular exercise should be all that someone needs in order to maintain a healthy weight. It should not be about denying yourself food, but looking at new ways to cook and season your food so that you are eating a balanced and nutritious regime. In the past, just adjusting my exercise helped me to lose any excess weight.

Well, now dealing with my post-pregnancy body, and getting rid of the last 10 pounds, I am finding I need a reminder about portion control. Over the past year, my normal portions grew into restaurant portions, which was great for pregnant-me. However, non-pregnant me does not need all those calories to grow a baby. SO, in order to help motivate myself, I tapped into my competitive side yesterday. I downloaded an iPhone application: Lose It! The app has an easy interface.*
I add in the foods I eat, and it calculates the caloric, fat, and protein intake. What is great is that you have to enter the portion, and it shows me how much is a normal portion, which helps guide me to making smart choices. I am less likely to eat the bad food or large portion if I have to log it into the iPhone. The application reminds me of my daily goal, and tells me how many more calories I have to go to meet it.Like a reward, it lets you have more calories per day if you exercise. The key is to be very honest with yourself, and then try and meet, or beat, the daily limit. I'll let you know how it works, and hopefully I can look at this as a healthy lifestyle and not a diet. But yes, there is an app for that.

*clearly, the screen shot was not from my iPhone :)

A twist on Bean and Corn Tacos

I adapted this recipe from Vegetarian Times. It is still in the spirit of the original, but with adaptations for ease and optional pescetarian additions. I added shrimp, swapped green onions for vidalia onion, switched red pepper for avocado, and used canned corn instead of frozen because it is better for you. I also turned into a one pan meal- less cleanup. AAM says these taste similar to the tacos at Oyamel

Bean and Corn Tacos

• 1 tb of olive oil (try oil infused with hot pepper)
  
• 1/2 lb of shrimp deshelled and cut in fourths
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 can of corn
• 2 tb of cumin
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
  
• Pepper
  
• corn tortillas

Toppings:

• chopped avocado
• 1/3 vidalia onion chopped
• 1/3 cup of cilantro topped
• feta cheese

1. Turn on the oven to 200 degrees, put the corn tortillas on a baking sheet, and let warm.
2. In a large saute pan, add oil, garlic, shrimp, black beans, corn, cumin, pepper. Cook at medium heat, until the shrimp turn pink.
3. Assemble tacos with mixture, then onion and avocado, and top with a sprinkle of feta and cilantro.
   

Lunch

tunafish (put in a cuisinart and blended with mayo, salt and pepper), mixed greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, salt and pepper......yummy.

A new cookbook

I used to read cookbooks like most people read novels. The first chapter, explaining the methods and tools, would wrap me into a story. Then I would get deep into the recipes, and skip over the desserts to find out how it all ends. Some cookbooks were frustrating, where the content was too meaty, while other books needed more pictures. I started buying vegetarian only books, but found the ingredients too exotic, and the methods tedious. On Sundays, I would grab a few books, read through them, tag a recipe for each night, and then make a grocery list. A fantastic way to hangout with AAM while he watches sports, without me having to be subjected to football. Perhaps because of the lovely field of Cultural Studies, where I drown in theory, I stopped buying and reading cookbooks. During down time, I could only focus on knitting, crewel, sewing or the TV, reading was out.

Recently, as I have started to cook more, I decided to pick up a new cookbook. Like reading a novel, to get myself excited about cooking again, I needed to go with a chef I love and is an easy read. Giada de Laurentis' book Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites Is the perfect book to try innovative recipes that are not intimidating. I love the variety of ingredients she chooses, and the methods she employs. Always leaning towards healthy fresh Italian, Giada's cooking always reminds me of how my mom prepared food growing up. Italian does not have to be heavy greasy lasagna or chicken parm, in fact, that is the American interpretation of Italian. Giada has vegetarian family members, so she tends to have many meat-free recipes, as well as recipes where it can be made without meat and still feel like a meal. For pescetarians, this is a great book because the fish recipes don't feel obligatory; they are well thought out.

Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites makes me excited to return to my Sunday ritual of reading cookbooks, picking out recipes, and making that grocery list. I am sure AAM is just excited that this means I will be cooking again!

Bad cooking

Sometimes you just have to tell yourself that it is OK to cook a bad meal, and other times you need to apologize to the people you force to eat that bad meal. The other day I had a friend from my PhD program over for dinner. It had been ages since we saw each other, and she wanted to see the baby. Thinking I would just throw something together, I decided to cook stirfry. To say the least, it was soggy, over-flavored, and tasteless all at the same time. I did the classic host mistake, I over apologized. But see, it truly was my fault. I didn't take enough time and care into the preparation. I didn't think about how I was going to make a meal for someone else. Because of little Serafina, poor AAM deals with this flippant preparation all the time now. Why did I feel more embarrassed when a guest came over? The only reason I can come up with is that he knows that I can cook well, but I lost an opportunity to share good food with a friend. I rushed to prepare and forgot that she was going to be forced to eat a bad meal, which made me feel like a horrible friend. I tortured her with a meal, and she brought wine! I learned my lesson, to embrace even the smallest of cooking moments, and savor my friendships