Dinner: Baked Salmon, Fresh Spinach, Grilled Corn, Crusty Bread

I always take a break from cooking after the holidays. Not because I'm tired of cooking, but because I have to stop eating and undo the damage I've done over the holidays. I usually try to adhere to Gwyneth Paltrow's Cleanse and Detox program but only make it the first 3 days....I mean the first three hours.

Why am I telling you this? Because I have just barely gotten into the swing of things. Last week I threw this meal together in less than 30 minutes, and you can too. In fact, if you don't pause to yell at your children or talk to your friends on the phone, you can probably do it in twenty.

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Assemble salmon. I buy the Atlantic salmon skinless boneless portions in Costco's freezer section. Thaw them (while still in wrappers) under warm water, unwrap and place in 9x13 pan. Mince 1 clove garlic, place it in ramekin or small bowl with 1/4 cup butter. Melt garlic butter mixture in microwave and then pour over salmon. Place in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through. (I often bake the salmon for 10-12 minutes then broil it to brown the top...yummy.)
3. I usually have frozen baguettes in my freezer. After preheating the oven to 350, I pull one out, run it under water (it will seem weird to do this but putting moisture into the outer crust will give the loaf a chewy just baked texture). Throw it in the oven for 15 minutes. Wha-la--almost fresh crusty baguette.
4. Grab Trader Joe's Grilled Corn (freezer section) out of the freezer. Throw frozen corn in bowl with 2 Tblsp. water, a pat of butter and a dash of salt and microwave until done.
5. Rinse Fresh Young Spinach and place in pretty bowl.

That's all. I had the whole thing on the table in 30 minutes and everybody was happy. Danny and I turned ours into salads and were especially thrilled. Enjoy.

Take Out: Mid Winter Comfort Meal

What I took to 2 families tonight:

*Smothered Macaroni (Deborah Madison-macaroni, potatoes, gruyere, parsley, carmelized onions)
*Chicken Cutlets (thinly sliced chicken, sourdough bread crumbs, pecorino romano)
*Tossed Salad Greens (spring mix tossed with my bff's new dressing, which is now our official house dressing)
*Chocolate Chip Cookies (Thomas Keller's version...more on that later)

Dinner: You'll Never Guess

You will never guess what I ate last night. Check out my bff's blog.

Dinner: Chana Masala

I am addicted to Chana Masala. Our local mall's food court has a hidden treasure--some of the Boston area's best Indian food. Everytime I am at the mall, I treat myself to some Chana Masala (which are chick peas that have been simmering in a spicy tomato sauce for 24 hours). Because it's a new year and my trips to the mall will be far less than they were last year, I figured out how to make my own version of Chana Masala. I threw a few key ingredients today and was so pleased with my lunch that I served it again for dinner. Try it and let me know what you think.

Becca's Made Up version of Chana Masala
2 Tbs. good olive oil
1 12 oz. can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1 12 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 Tbs. of Garam Masala*
2 Tbs. brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced

Place olive oil in medium sized saucepan on medium heat. Drain chick peas and add to olive oil. Add crushed tomatoes, Garam Masala, brown sugar, and garlic. Simmer for a few hours or for as long as you can (30 minutes would even do the trick). Serve over basmati or brown rice.

*Garam Masala is a particular blend of Indian spices. You can find it at any Indian food store or order it through Penzey's spices.

Lunch: Ham Sandwich

I just finished reading the authorized biography of Alice Waters ("Alice Waters and Chez Panisse" by Thomas McNamee). It was a great read and the ideas behind Waters' food revolution are nutty and inspiring. In between the stories that comprise Waters' life are narrative recipes. One in particular has beckoned me back into the kitchen. Waters explains that whenever she makes a ham sandwich she goes into her garden and picks "whatever herbs" she has. She then chops "them up fine and mix them...with a little garlic...a little vinegar and oil, into a sort of savory herb paste." She then toasts day old french bread and spreads on the "herb paste." She serves the sandwich open topped with a bit of sweet onion marmalade.

Need I write more? Tonight at my friend's New Year's Eve party, I am going to make bit size ham and herb sandwiches. Here is what I am going to do:
1. Fire up my portable grill pan.
2. Place buttered, thinly sliced good bread on the grill.
3. While the bread is on the grill, I'll shmear it with the savory herb paste, then add a thin slice of fancy pants ham, carmelized onions, and a bit of gruyere cheese.
4. I'll put the sandwiches together and cut them into small squares.
5. I'll serve them and everyone will tell me how amazing I am. But I'll give all the credit to Alice. Promise.

Dinner: Cold Winter Chile Con Carne

Prepare yourself. I am going to brag. I won a contest today. Friends invited us over for a New Year's Day Chili Cook-Off. I entered and I won. But this entry will not be about the contest. It will be about the recipe. A few months ago, I researched and read a lot about chili. I was looking for a recipe to fulfill a lot of requirements: taste, ease, convenient ingredients, kid friendly. I finally settled on a recipe published in Cook's Illustrated book Cover & Bake (a book I like but can not fully recommend). I woke up early one morning to sear the meat and put all ingredients in the pot. D, whose sense of smell is akin to a bloodhound, came into the kitchen and asked about the spice content in the chili. I assured him the stew was not too spicy and that the other families coming over for dinner would have no problem feeding the dish to their little ones. D convinced me to make double sure. I consented. We each got a spoon and sampled the chili. Five minutes later we had finished our glasses of milk (a sure bet to clam down burning tongues) and were finding a way to rescue the meat from the wretchedly hot concoction. I was sad. I was mad that the recipe mentioned nothing about heat. I should have been warned. So, I threw out the recipe and decided to start from scratch, building a chili con carne recipe that I would look forward to eating on a cold winter day. This recipe is a bit labor intensive, but I am convinced that the thirty minutes you spend creating the dish will produce a kid friendly chili with depth as well as yumminess.

Cold Winter Chile Con Carne
(Several elements of this recipe are adapted from the Cook's Illustrated recipe "Chile Con Carne", published in Cover & Bake.)

6 bacon slices, chopped
3 pounds chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
salt and pepper
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
6 (6-inch) fresh corn tortillas, torn into 2-inch pieces
4 cups chicken broth
3 cans (15.5 ounces each) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoon lime juice
fancy bbq sauce*

Optional toppings:
fresh cilantro leaves
sour cream
tortilla chips
corn bread
shredded cheddar cheese
minced white onion
diced avocado

Once you've trimmed and cut the roast, dry it off with a paper towel, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Cook the bacon in a large skillet. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked bacon to the crock pot in waiting. Reserve the skillet with the bacon grease. If you don't own a crock pot (and I know a lot of you pride yourselves on not owning one--but I can assure you--you're missing out), put the bacon in the large pot that will eventually hold all of your chili. Put the skillet with the bacon grease on medium high. Sear the diced meat in the bacon grease. When pieces are browned on all sides, transfer to crock pot. Once all the meat is seared and transfered, use same skillet to sautee onions, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon (sautee on medium high heat for about ten minutes, or until onions are golden. Transfer this tasty smelling mixture to crock pot. Add crushed tomatoes and two cups of the chicken broth (reserve last two cups of broth).

In a separate bowl, combine corn tortillas pieces and broth. Microwave on high for three minutes. Once heated, blend tortillas and broth either in your blender or using a stick blender (quite possibly my favorite kitchen tool).** Add corn tortilla mush to the pot and mix well. Stew chile in crock pot on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. If using the stove, simmer on low for a good part of the day (6-7 hours). Just before eating, shred the meat a bit so that no one's bowl is overwhelmed with large pieces of beef. Add lime juice and vinegar. Serve with optional toppings.

* Only add a few tablespoons of BBQ sauce if you have the right kind. My sister lives in the South and gifted me some dang good bbq sauce. We're talkin' bbq sauce that is so good that I use it as an ingredient, not as a condiment. The particular kind I use in this chili is from the Whole Hog Cafe and is bbq sauce #6--Rich Mustard and Vinegar. If you don't have a bbq sauce that really speaks to you, do not add any.

**This corn tortilla mush serves as a thickener. It seems a little weird as you are doing it, but the paste adds great texture as well as taste.

One final note about the ingredients--they are not exact. You should adjust the cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, brown sugar, and vinegar to your own tastes. That's the problem with recipes, unless we're talking about leavening products, most things can not and should not be exact. So, play with the recipe and adjust to your liking.

Dinner: Chips and Salsa (and lots of other stuff)

D has been traveling a lot lately. When he travels, our night time rituals slack, and dinner is no exception. My second child loves bean dip. So, a few weeks ago, I thought, "why not make bean dip into a dinner?" Fast forward to tonight. If you had walked into our kitchen at 6:36pm, here is what you would have seen:

Chips and Dip Dinner

Bowl of Tortillas Chips
Bowl of Guacamole
Bowl of Bean Dip
Bowl of Sour Cream
Bowl of Salsa
Bowl of Fresh Strawberries


Sounds strange. But as I watched my beloved chitlens munch on small chips with loads of beans and avocados, I thought, "well, this is a well rounded meal, if ever I saw one." 45 minutes later their tummies were full. So, another easy dinner that works for me.

Dinner:Macaroni & Cheese

I really believe in sharing recipes with others. If I have a friend who is suffering, and I can not be with her physically, I send her a recipe. Buttermilk Waffles, Coconut Rice, Crock Pot Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese-- those are all physical representations of love, hugs, and warm quilts, wrapped in the disguise of food. Is there anything more hug-worthy than home cooked Mac & Cheese?

Everybody has their own version of homemade Macaroni and Cheese, don't they? But, mine is special. It is special because it was given to me, shared with me by a dear friend who will now be referred to as JM. JM has a knack for good recipes. She is a foodie in her own right, but she truly appreciates down home cooking and the joy of comfort food. A few years ago, she put together a little book of favorite recipes which she gifted to family members and good friends for Christmas. I was lucky enough to receive her book. Though I own a fair share of cookbooks, from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking to the Disney Magic Kitchen Cookbook, JM's book is a bright star that shines on my shelf. S0 I thought I'd share the wealth with y'all. With JM's permission, here is her mother's Macaroni and Cheese recipe.

1 cube butter
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. chicken bullion (or 1/2 cube Knorr's chicken bullion cube)
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1 1/2 tsp. lowery's seasoned salt
dash of pepper
dash of nutmeg

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups gruyere (I've also used jarlsberg in a pinch and it was magnificent.)

Boil 16 oz. pasta (JM prefers shells because the cheese wells up inside. I tend to agree with her). While pasta is cooking, make your white sauce. In medium sauce pan, melt butter. Add flour and whisk for two minutes. Add milk, mustard, seasoned salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Continue stirring over medium heat until sauce is thickened.

In a casserole dish, layer: 1/2 pasta, 1/2 cheese, 1/2 pasta, 1/2 cheese. Pour white sauce over the top. Sprinkle 1/2 cup bread crumbs on top. Bake for 35 minutes at 350.

This dish is so comfortable that I am always bursting at the seams to share it with others. In fact, it is the "star" of my standard meal I take to mothers of newborn babies. It is the epitome of comfort food.

Dinner: Chicken Cutlets

The older I get and the more children I have, the less I want to host dinner parties. Several years ago, planning and executing dinner parties was my most favorite thing to do. Back then I had one child, numerous childless friends, and more time to plan and cook. Things are very different now. I have four children and almost no time for such frivolities. My childless friends now have children themselves, and it is all we can do to e-mail one another or meet for lunch once in a while. Last month we invited friends over for dinner. We rarely see these dear people, and I wanted to offer them comforting food. But my life being what it is, I did not plan the meal until that morning. As I drifted through the grocery store, I felt increasingly frustrated with my inability to pull off a tasty evening. I stopped in the meat isle and had a little talk with myself, and here is how it went:
Type A Rebecca: Why are you incapable of keeping it together?
Overwhelmed Rebecca: I guess I just have too much on my plate. I'm sorry (said apologetically).
Type A Rebecca: You have been cooking since you were eight. You have buckets of experience. If you can't pull together a good meal for friends by now, you have failed.
Overwhelmed Rebecca: I haven't failed. I've just been busy. I've had four kids in seven years. I put my husband through graduate school. I manage a home. What have you done?
Type A Rebecca: I gave up a lot for you. I am held captive in the dark recesses of your mind, only to emerge when you wonder whether or not you should have gone to law school (which you didn't, by the way).
Overwhelmed Rebecca:Yeah, you don't need to remind me.
Type A Rebecca: Whatever. You need to decide what to serve these people. And fast. How about Steaks au Vinagre?
Overwhelmed Rebecca:Too hard.
Type A Rebecca: Roast?
Overwhelmed Rebecca:Too generic.
Type A Rebecca:Lobster?
Overwhelmed Rebecca:The girls would cry if they saw the little guys going into the big pot.
Type A Rebecca: Wow, you really are inadequate. Let me give you something you can wrap your simple mind around: chicken cutlets.
Overwhelmed Rebecca: I love chicken cutlets! They are easy, yummy, impressive, and even little kids love them.
Type A Rebecca:There you go. And don't forget the arugula, lemon wedges and bread.


Chicken Cutlets (Italians call it Chicken Milanese)

fresh bread crumbs
parmesan cheese (optional)
1 egg
splash of milk
olive oil
chicken cutlets (my favorite are the Perdue Thin Sliced Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts)*

*If you don't buy pre sliced thin chicken breasts, be sure to pound your chicken until it is incredibly thin. We're talking like 1/16" thin.

Heat pan over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix egg with milk, beat well with fork. Toss bread crumbs, a bit of shredded parmesan cheese, and a few dashes of salt. Spread bread crumb mixture on plate. Dip individual chicken breasts in egg wash, then bread crumbs. Fry in pan until both sides are golden brown. Place finished chicken in warm oven until entire batch is done. Serve to soon-to-be-impressed-and-full crowd.

We always serve ours with lemon wedges. Fresh lemon juice on a crispy chicken cutlet is heaven.