I have been dreaming about this cauliflower soup ever since I first saw it on the Food 52 site last month.  I don’t know why.   There’s nothing at all that’s fancy about it.   And, it’s probably one of the simplest soups in the world to make.   But, something about it just spoke to me – or rather gently whispered in my ear, over and over again.  It looked so light and bright and pure – almost cleansing, in a way.   I filed away the recipe, knowing that I would get back to it as soon as I found some beautiful, fresh cauliflower that was worthy of it. 

This recipe for this soup comes from Paul Bertolli’s book, Cooking by Hand.  Bertolli was a chef at the famed Chez Panisse for over ten years, so it’s not surprising that he knows exactly how to make a cauliflower sing.  And, sing it does!  There are only five ingredients in this soup, and one of them is water.   None of them are butter or cream.  Yet, it is so smooth and velvety, you’d never guess.  It’s the perfect little, guilt-free indulgence after eating your way through a long Holiday season.

To start, onions are sautéed in olive oil over low heat until they are tender and sweet.

Then, the cauliflower is added and stewed with the onions.  After that, the water is added to the pot and everything simmers.   I swapped out a cup or so of the water with some chicken stock.  You don’t need to do this.  I just did because I had some broth in the fridge that I needed to use.

Once the cauliflower has finished cooking, the whole pot is pureed into the smoothest, most divinely luxurious soup you’ll ever taste.  I swear!  But, don’t take my word for it.   Make a pot for yourself.  Then, slide into your fluffiest bathrobe, put some cool cucumber slices over your eyes and pretend you’re at a fancy schmancy spa.

Ever since Mini SGCC’s accident, it has been a crazy, hectic time around here!  Most of my time has been filled up with driving her back and forth to school, taking her to doctor’s appointments, physical therapy and everywhere else she needs to go.  In the midst of all that, Mr. SGCC had the audacity to develop pneumonia.  Can you imagine?  What nerve!  And, let’s not forget that we also had to get through the Holidays, which managed to pop up at the most inconvenient time.  Just between you and me, I feel like I’m living in a house of cards.

Cooking these days has consisted of throwing things together and dropping them on the table.  Trust me, there hasn’t been much I’ve wanted to share with you.   Those leisurely days of simmering, braising and roasting as I snapped photos along the way seem like a distant memory.  I know that eventually I’ll be able to get back into my normal routine, but it ain’t happening anytime soon.   And, boy is it frustrating!  

One interesting thing that I did manage to make are these healthy and delicious breakfast cookies.  They’re made with whole wheat flour, and are chock full of great breakfast-type ingredients like rolled oats, Cheerios, peanut butter and bananas.  To keep them a little healthier, I only used a minimal amount of butter, adding moisture with mashed bananas and applesauce.  Of course, the benefit of that was probably canceled out when I decided to add chocolate chips.  Oh well.  It’s the thought that counts… isn’t it?

Breakfast cookies are a great alternative to packaged granola bars.  They’re self-contained and portable, so you can grab one on the go.  They’re also full of wholesome, all natural ingredients, which you can customize according to your own tastes.   Plus, who doesn’t love the idea of having cookies for breakfast?

These breakfast cookies are very easy to make.  All you do is mix together your wet ingredients, mix together your dry ingredients, then put them all together and bake.  The cookies are dense and chewy, with a little crunch from the cereal.  I’m not saying that they’ll ever edge out a gooey glazed doughnut as my breakfast of choice, but they’re a satisfying alternative.  And honestly, at 6:00 in the morning, I could chew on a cardboard box and not really know the difference!

In just a few short days the kids will be heading back to school, and parents everywhere will be breathing a collective sigh of relief. Summer vacation can be tough on us moms and dads! Sure, it was great not having to get up at the brink of dawn these past few months. And, I’ve especially enjoyed not having to fight those homework wars. But I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to getting back into my own groove again.

This school year is going to be a bittersweet one for me. In less than a week, Mini SGCC will be beginning her senior year in high school. I can hardly believe it!  It seems like only yesterday I was telling you that she was just starting high school. There have a lot of changes and challenges in our family these past three years, not the least of which has been my beautiful child’s journey to become the extraordinary young woman she was meant to be.  It’s exciting and scary at the same time. 

I’ve tried to be a good role model for her, sometimes with success, and sometimes with miserable failure.  In spite of our many similarities, we are very different people, and my choices are not always going to be her choices.  One of the hardest things for me to learn has been when to keep my  mouth shut.  I’m still working on that.

These days, our lives revolve around the SAT, the ACT and college applications, while trying to maintain some kind of balance.  My head is spinning.   So is Mr. SGCC’s.  Mini SGCC seems to be taking it all in stride as she hurtles forward a mile a minute.

Although I often feel powerless  on this e-ticket ride to my daughter’s future, one thing I do have some control over is the food goes into her body.  It’s no surprise that teenagers have the worst eating habits, especially in times of stress.  But, I’ve found that if I keep tasty, healthful and easy food choices on hand, Mini SGCC will usually indulge in them.  These Whole Grain Krispie Granola Bars are one of her favorites.

Regardless of your kids’ ages, one universal challenge that comes along with a new school year is getting them to eat something reasonably healthy for breakfast in the morning and as snacks throughout the day.  Granola bars are a popular choice.  But, the store bought kinds are often dry and dense, bearing a striking resemblance to toasted sawdust.   Most kids do love cereal bars, but many of them contain high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated palm oil, which are deal breakers for me!

My way around this dilemma is to whip up these wholesome and incredibly delicious whole grain granola bars from scratch. They’re made with rolled oats, dried fruits, nuts and crisped brown rice, glued together with honey, pure maple syrup and almond butter. Trust me. They are addictive!

The beauty of this recipe is that it takes very little time and effort to put together. Just mix the ingredients in a bowl, press into a pan and bake. Any combination of fruits and nuts will work here, as will any kind of nut butter.  I’ve made these bars many times using both almond butter and peanut butter.  I prefer them with almond butter, but Mini SGCC likes the ones with peanut butter best.  (It figures!)  Use whichever works for you.

Get your kids – and yourself – off to a good start this school year with Whole Grain Krispie Granola Bars. Served with low-fat yogurt for a nutritious breakfast or tucked into their backpacks for a mid-day snack, these bars score an A+!

With the heat-o-meter high up in the stratosphere these days, I’m always looking for ways to keep cool. Spending hours in a hot, steamy kitchen, churning out heavy meals is not my idea of a good time! This is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of what the summer’s best produce has to offer, and eat lots of salads. But, I’m not just talking about a slab of iceberg lettuce here, folks. Why not take the opportunity to get a little creative and take your salads to the next level, like with this light and lovely Green Bean and Potato Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette?

Crisp tender green beans, potatoes, sweet grape tomatoes and thin slivers of red onion are paired with a zesty vinaigrette, and accented with Dijon mustard, lemon, garlic, honey and fresh herbs. The dressing is enriched with hard-boiled egg yolks for a bit of richness without the health risks associated with raw yolks, making it an excellent menu choice for extreme temperatures.

Any kind of green or yellow string beans will work in this recipe. However, if you can find the slender, little French green beans, known as haricots verts, go with those. They’re delightfully crunchy and they cook in half the time as regular green beans. The same goes for the potatoes. I like to use those tiny, little Yukon gold potatoes. You can boil them whole and they’re done in ten minutes.

Of course, as with any dish, the end result is only as good as the ingredients you put into it. Make sure that all of your vegetables and herbs are super fresh, and please, please, please, people, use real Dijon mustard and the best extra virgin olive oil you can afford!

Paired with some succulent grilled meat or fish, this Green Bean and Potato Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette makes a wonderful accompaniment to any meal, be it a picnic at the beach or dinner “al fresco” on your lanai.

I absolutely adore Thai green papaya salad, or Som Tam.  I always order it when I see it on a restaurant menu.  In fact, I have actually dined at certain restaurants solely because I’d heard that their green papaya salad was amazing.  My favorite Asian market sometimes carries their own homemade version of it, and it is really something special.   Sadly, I haven’t seen it there in quite a while.

The best way I can think of to describe green papaya salad is as a crunchy, sweet and salty take on Western coleslaw.   It’s a lively party of many textures and flavors, like garlic, chili, lime and fish sauce, and it is just plain delicious.  The main ingredient of traditional Som Tam is of course, shredded “green” papaya, which is basically the flesh of the raw, unripened fruit.  While I can easily find ripe, yellow papayas in my local markets, the unripe ones are more elusive.  And, when I have a craving for green papaya salad, that just won’t do!

When I made my Asian Wedding Soup, aka faux pho, a few weeks ago, I desperately wanted a bowl of green papaya salad to serve alongside it.   But, I also didn’t want to go crazy looking for all of the ingredients I would need.  So, I put on my food ninja thinking cap, and tried to figure out a way to achieve the “personality” of the dish with what was readily available to me.  Sometimes, you just have to think outside the box.  What I came up with was a  creative and very tasty (if I do say so myself) take on this Thai classic.   Instead of green papaya  as the base for my salad, I used….. 

BROCCOLI SLAW!

Yup.  That’s right.  I used a bag of good old broccoli slaw plucked from the produce aisle of my local supermarket.    It was already julienned.  It was crisp.  It was crunchy.  It was easy.  And, it was even green!   But, the most important thing was that, when it was all dolled up in its fancy, exotic dressing, it gave me the same essence of that green papaya salad that I love so much.   I can’t believe I’d never thought if it before!

To prepare my salad, I whisked up my dressing, dumped the broccoli slaw in a bowl along with some chopped tomatoes and scallions, and mixed them all together.  Then, I sprinkled some chopped, dry roasted peanuts on top for a little extra crunch.  That was it!  Really, it couldn’t have been simpler.

The guidelines for this recipe are not written in stone.  I’ve listed the ingredients in the measurements that I used.  Feel free to change them to suit your own tastes.  I love fish sauce, so I was a little heavy handed with it.  If you like a more subtle kick, use less.  The same goes for the rest of the ingredients.  The important thing is that you like it.

Now, if I ever do come across a true green papaya, I’ll be more than happy to whip up the real deal.  But for now, I’m thrilled with my faux version.   It’s a vibrant, refreshing and very flavorful dish that would be a welcome addition to any Asian-inspired meal – at least at my table.

ขอให้เจริญอาหาร!

Enjoy!

Have you ever heard of Asian Wedding Soup?  Neither have I.  I did a quick Google search on it and didn’t find anything either.  Actually, I just made the name up because this soup was intended to be an Asian counterpart to traditional Italian wedding soup, which is also a misnomer as that dish has nothing to do with weddings either.  But, it works for me and I’ll tell you why.

Italian wedding soup is a a traditional Neapolitan soup containing greens, little meatballs and pasta suspended in a clear broth.  It gets its name from the harmonious “marriage” of flavors of the ingredients in it.  My Asian Wedding Soup works much the same way.  It also contains greens, little meatballs and pasta suspended in a clear broth.  And, the flavors all marry very well together.  Except that instead of spinach or escarole, this soup contains baby bok choy and Napa cabbage.  Instead of pastina, it has rice noodles.  And, while both soups contain little meatballs, the Asian version is made with pork and minced shrimp, and is flavored with garlic, ginger, scallions, soy and fish sauce.  Even the broth is different, permeated with hints of coriander, ginger, clove and star anise.   So, while the basic components of both soups are the same, they differ greatly in execution.  The broth is based on the Vietnamese Phở Gà.  It’s like a pho fusion or a confused pho, depending on how you look at it.   Either way, I thought the dish was a big hit.

Of course, it is always preferable to use homemade chicken broth, but canned broth works very well in this soup.  And, unless you happen to have a stash of the homemade stuff in your freezer, canned will save you loads of time, making this soup a great choice for a weeknight meal.

As tasty as the broth for this soup is, for me, the real stars of the show are the meatballs.  I wanted them to be very light and almost fluffy, like the filling of a good dumpling.  To achieve the texture I was looking for, I started with some finely ground pork mixed with shrimp that I minced up in the food processor.  I added all of the typical seasonings and an egg to hold it together.  But, my secret weapon for making these meatballs practically float away is silken tofu. I always use it in my dumpling fillings, so I thought it would work well here as well.  Mixing in a little silken tofu softens the meatballs and gives them a slightly creamy quality.  Plus, the tofu has no real flavor of its own, so it soaks up all the other ones, enhancing them.

In addition to the greens, meatballs and noodles, I also added a mix of shiitake, oyster and enoki mushrooms to my soup, as well as some snowpeas and scallions.  I garnished it with fresh bean sprouts, cilantro, red chili slices and lime wedges.  Sadly, Thai basil was nowhere to be found around here, so I had to do without.    It was a lovely, fragrant soup with loud pops of flavor.  The meatballs turned out exactly the way I’d hoped they would.  They were perfect!  My little fusion experiment was a great success!

When I was a little girl, my grandfather worked as a longshoreman for the New York Port Authority.   For most of his career, he worked the night shift.  This meant that from Monday through Friday, he was rarely ever around at dinner time.  As a result, my Nonna  usually kept weeknight meals simple, since it was only her – and sometimes me – dining in.  Nonna was a big fan of bean dishes and she made them often. They were easy, nutritious and cheap.  And my Nonna was nothing if not frugal, as most World War 2 wives were.  Cucina povera was her specialty.

I’ve already shared Nonna’s recipe for Pasta e Fagioli, or “Pasta Fazool”, as we affectionately call it.  But another pasta and beans dish that we ate a lot of back then, was Pasta e Lenticchie, or pasta with lentils.  Although a lot of recipes portray both dishes as soups, neither dish is intended to be one, but rather a thick, wet, sloppy stew, with just enough liquid in them to sop up with a hunk of crusty Italian bread. 

Lentils are members of the legume family and come in many different varieties, from black and yellow to red and green.  They have a mild, earthy and sometimes nutty flavor, depending on what kind you use.   Like other legumes, lentils are low in fat and high in protein and fiber.  Because of their small size, they also cook quite a bit quicker than other types of beans, and they don’t need to be soaked first.   For some tips on cooking lentils, take a look at this article from About.com.

In Italian culture, the lentil’s biggest claim to fame is that it is one of the traditional “must eat” foods on New Year’s Eve. Eating lentils on New Year’s Eve is believed to bring good luck and prosperity throughout the following year.  Their small, round shape resembles coins that swell when cooked, so they are looked upon as a symbol of wealth. Italians are absolutely militant about this.  In fact, my grandmother wouldn’t even think of serving a meal on December 31 that didn’t include lentils in some form.

Pasta e Lenticchie, like Pasta e Fagioli, is a simple, rustic dish prepared with just a handful of basic ingredients.  Garlic and onions are sautéed in olive oil to which lentils, tomatoes, water and pasta are added and simmered to tenderness.  There isn’t much more to it than that.  I use chicken broth instead of water as my simmering liquid for extra flavor, but I’m pretty sure that my grandmother made do with plain, old H2O from the tap.

Dishes like this Pasta e Lenticchie are pure comfort food for me.  Cooking, and of course, eating them always transports me back to being six years-old in my grandmother’s homey, little kitchen.  Those were golden times for me.

My Nonna passed away over thirty years ago – just a few years after we moved to Florida.  I was fourteen and the memory of it still stings.  She was much too young and went much too soon.  I hardly had a chance to really get to know her beyond her infectious laugh, twinkling brown eyes and the heady scent of Cashmere Bouquet and Noxema that trailed her as she entered a room.  And it’s such a shame, because I have a feeling that as the years went on, we would have had a whole lot more in common than just DNA.

What are your favorite comfort foods?  Is there any one dish above all others that makes you think of “home”?  Does your family have any New Year’s Eve food traditions?  “Enquiring minds” want to know.

Buon Appetito!

I was blessed with another batch of beautiful rainbow carrots in my basket from Suncoast Organics this week.  You may recall that the last time I had some, I pickled them with some daikon radish and made a lovely Do Chua.  This time, I wanted to show the carrots off in a more “Autumn-like” way.  Few things say Fall more than a big platter of lovely, caramelized, roasted root vegetables.  And, that happens to be my favorite way to enjoy them.  I saw a recipe using rainbow carrots on Jaden’s TLC blog and it inspired me.  Jaden also happens to be a member of Suncoast Organics.

In her recipe, Jaden roasts her carrots and then covers them with a glaze made with honey and mustard.  I decided to swap out the honey for some wonderful Vermont maple syrup that my nephew recently sent me. (He just started medical school at the University of Vermont and we are soooo proud of him!)  I also added a splash of sherry vinegar to the glaze for a little extra oomph.  Instead of pouring the glaze on the carrots after they came out of the oven, I added it during the last few minutes of cooking to give them a little more of that “sticky gooey” factor that I love so much.

Look at how beautiful those carrots are!  I couldn’t stop taking pictures of them!

Rainbow carrots don’t really taste much different than regular carrots.  But, they look so darn lush and pretty that eating them just feels more special!  You can certainly make this recipe with any kind of carrots you have, or even with other Fall vegetables like rutabaga, sweet potatoes or butternut squash.  It’s all good!

Enjoy!

Pasta con Broccoli, or Pasta with Broccoli has been a staple meal in my family for as long as I can remember. My grandmother made it. My aunts all make it. My mother makes it, and I do too.  It’s not only because it is an incredibly quick and easy dish to cook, though it is.  It’s also not only because it is a pretty healthy dish, because it’s that too.  My family eats a lot of pasta with broccoli because it’s just plain delicious.

I sometimes think that a lot of people imagine that Italian cooking, is all about long, drawn out, complicated dishes that take all day to prepare.  While there certainly are a lot of those, there are many more that aren’t.  Italians don’t just sit around living la dolce vita all day long.  They go to work and school, run errands and take care of their families just like everybody else.  Every Italian housewife I ever knew had a slew of great recipes in her arsenal – like this one – that could be put together in an hour or less.

So let me show you just how easy Pasta con Broccoli is to make. 

First, get yourself a couple of bunches of nice, fresh, green broccoli.  Choose broccoli with floret clusters that are compact and not bruised. They should be uniformly colored, with no yellowing. They also shouldn’t have any blooming yellow flowers, as this is a sign of over maturity. The stalk and stems should be firm with no slimy spots. If the leaves are still attached, they should be a deep, dark green and not wilted.

Cut off the florets, and halve any that are larger than about an inch in diameter.  This is so that the broccoli will cook evenly.  You can also use frozen broccoli florets in this dish.  Doing so doesn’t affect the quality at all.  But, if you do go with frozen, don’t thaw it before cooking or else it will get mushy.

Next, get out your best extra-virgin olive oil. A really good one will have a greenish tinge to it.  You’ll also need to slice up some fresh garlic cloves.  Try to get them thin, but not too much so or else they may burn in the pan.

Heat the oil in a pan and gently sauté the garlic. You won’t believe how fragrant that garlic gets!  I always add some red pepper flakes too, because I’m a fiery Italian woman.

Once the garlic is soft and lightly golden, toss in the broccoli, cover and cook.

When the broccoli is tender and just a tad bit browned, pour in a little of the pasta cooking water or chicken stock, and simmer until the broccoli is cooked through.  What!  You didn’t forget about the pasta, did you?  Sheesh! That’s why it’s called Pasta con Broccoli.   Do I have to tell you everything?

The traditional pasta used in this dish is orecchiette, which means little ears.  Orecchiette is a variety of pasta from Puglia, and is shaped like…well – you know – like little ears.  They’re perfect served in sauces and soups  because their “scoop-like” shape traps bits of sauce or broth.  It’s like having a thousand little bowls inside your plate.   If you can’t find orecchiette or just don’t feel like using it, you can substitute any kind of short pasta, preferably one with a textured surface.

When your broccoli is nice and tender, add in the cooked pasta and toss.  Drizzle a little extra-virgin olive oil all over the top, sprinkle with grated cheese and you’re done.

Buon Appetito!

Enjoy!

I was recently the recipient of two gorgeous bunches of organic Lacinato kale from SunCoast Organics.  You might know it as dinosaur kale, Tuscan kale or cavolo nero.  It’s the kind that has long, dark, embossed, plume-like leaves as opposed to its curly-leafed cousins.  Lacinato kale has a slightly sweeter and more delicate taste than curly kale, and is lovely in soups, stews or even salads.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy kale is in Caldo Verde, a Portuguese soup made with greens, potatoes and smoky chouriço sausage.  It’s a hearty, rustic dish that I make often.  But for this kale, I wanted to try something new.  I found the perfect recipe on Molly’s site, and I ran with it.

Boiled Kale with a Fried Egg and Toast is the simplest of simple dishes, yet it is so incredibly delicious.  It’s just kale, simmered in chicken stock with onions, and served on toast with a luscious, gooey, runny fried egg on top. If you’re feeling really daring like I was, you can also fry up some bacon to toss in the mix.  No fancy bells and whistles here.  Yet, once I began thinking about this guileless little dish, I couldn’t stop!

The first thing you have to do is prepare the kale, by trimming off the tough stems, rinsing it like crazy and cutting it into ribbons.

Next, you sauté some onions and wilt the kale.   Then, add chicken or vegetable stock and simmer it all, slowly, until the kale is soft and tender.  I forgot to take a picture of this part.  I guess I was too excited about the impending bacon fry.

Everything’s better with bacon – especially fried eggs.  They’ve been going steady for years.

Where there’s bacon, there’s bacon fat.  Slide a few farm fresh eggs right down into some.  If you don’t use bacon, just fry the eggs in good old olive oil.

Plop a nice, thick slice of toasted bread in a bowl, ladle on some kale, toss on a little bacon and top with one of those pretty fried eggs – or two.  I sprinkled some shredded Parmesan on top of mine too.

Oh, baby! It just doesn’t get much better than this, people!  Come on – be honest. Could you resist this?

Enjoy!