Roast Vegetable Polenta Pie

Eighteen boxes of books are now stacked up in my living room, all packed and ready to leave. I'm not moving or anything, we're still going to be in New York for the foreseeable future. Of course, we never see much beyond our year-to-year lease, even if committing to two years would save money in the end. We can never promise to stay more than just one more year. This August will be the sixth time I've said that.

Most New Yorkers have minimalist living down pretty well, but not me. I'm a collector. And what I collect are books. And this afternoon, I remembered once again, that Books Punish You. Always. If you're going to collect books, you have to really, seriously love them, because they will never make your life easy.

And we're running out of room, and it's getting overwhelming, but it's not completely my fault. I'll spare you my rationalization. The point is my dad offered to store some of my books at home in Denver, in a mostly unused closet in the basement. I've always had kind of a panicky nightmare that our apartment building would one day go up in flames (you hear about those things happening in New York, don't you?) and that I wouldn't be able to save nearly enough books. In fact, probably none of them, because, you know, I'd have to save the dog. So 'some books' turned into eighteen boxes. I don't know why my parents put up with me sometimes. But there it is.

So I'm an irresponsible New Yorker because I don't live sparely. And I'm an irresponsible cooker-out-of-vegan-cookbooks because, well, I almost always want to add cheese. What. I'm not Vegan. But I appreciate their creativity, their focus on vegetables. This time, I didn't listen to my gut, and I regretted it. The polenta pie was delicious, the surprise of maple syrup in the simmered tomato sauce a subtle hint of a little something. And, of course, there's no arguing with roasted vegetables. But the polenta base? Meh. Honestly, it could have used some gruyère in a major way. Next time, I'd add that in. If you're also not a vegan, you should consider doing the same.

Roast Vegetable Polenta Pie
Adopted from Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer's How it All Vegan

For the roasted veggies:

1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
1 small zucchini, sliced
handful of mushrooms, washed and quartered
1 small green pepper, sliced
1 small red pepper, sliced
2 gloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup (yes, really!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Small handful of fresh basil leaved, chopped
4 roma tomatoes, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste

Oven preheated to 450 F. Put all of the chopped vegetables onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Toss them around until they're all coated, then roast for 15-20 minutes. You might want to stir them or shake the pan occasionally to prevent sticking. The vegetables should be browned and fragrant by the end.

Place 1/2 cup of the roasted vegetables into a blender along with the rest of the ingredients except the salt and pepper. Blend the mixture, then transfer the sauce and the rest of the roasted vegetables to a sauce pan large enough to hold it all. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, then add the salt and pepper to taste. Continue to simmer on low heat while you make the polenta. It's a good idea to give it enough time so that much of the liquid evaporates which does two things. First, it concentrates the flavors, and second it will prevent your filling from being overly runny.

For the polenta crust:

1 cup polenta, not the instant kind (you can use coarse cornmeal)
3 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon oil
Salt & pepper to taste
1 cup gruyère cheese, shredded (optional, as is the amount)

Whisk together the cornmeal with 1 cup of the water in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, bring the rest of the water to a boil, then add the cornmeal and the optional cheese to the boiling water and turn down the heat to medium low. Add the rest of the ingredients, then stir continuously for about 10-15 minutes, especially toward the end. The polenta will become very thick and stiff. Pour it into a casserole dish that's been lightly oiled, and push the polenta down into the dish to distribute evenly. Let the polenta set for about 15 minutes.

Pour the vegetable mixture over the polenta, cut into slices and serve.

Super Healthy, Super Duper Tasty, Teriyaki Chicken

I've been trying to be healthy lately.  It's hard.  It's especially hard in the winter, for me, because in the winter my oven calls to be used, calls to slowly warm veggies braised in butter, cakes or cookies.  I find winter fruit harder to eat consistently, and I tire of root vegetables eventually.  Winter flavors.

But it doesn't have to be like this.  For instance, this Teriyaki Chicken is a year-round pleaser and tonight, I discovered that leftover sauce makes steamed kale to die for.  I assume it could do much the same for any wonderful, green vegetable that might not quite stand up on it's own.

So even if you're not interested in the chicken, I hope I can interest you in the sauce.  It's healthy, it's flavorful, and it's sure to brighten up the grayest of days and the grayest of diets.

Teriyaki Chicken

Adopted from here

Teriyaki Sauce

2/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2/3 cup agave syrup

2 teaspoons freshly chopped ginger

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoon red miso

2 teaspoon mirin

2 tablespoons water

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, bring the balsamic vinegar, the agave and the pepper to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool, then add the rest of the ingredients.

For the Chicken

2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (depending on how many you want to make, of course!)

Cilantro, for garnish

Scallion, for garnish

Place chicken breasts into a gallon ziplock back along with most of the sauce.  Keep some sauce aside to serve with the chicken, and if you make fewer breasts, you can keep even more for some veggies.  Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for a few hours, and up to overnight.

Either grill or panfry the chicken (time depends on the size of the piece) and serve with a sprinkling of cilantro, scallion and a drizzle (or a flood) of the reserved teriyaki sauce.

Easter Main Dish -- No Mice Included

Lamb is the most frequent Easter main dish in France, and I usually make it in some way or shape for the holiday. This year I tried out a new lamb form: "Souris d'agneau au romarin, poivrades, citron et sésame."

You may well ask "what is a souris d'agneau?" My fifteen-year-old daughter certainly did, fearing some sort of relationship to mice. I haven't found a translation for the term, so I'm pretty much counting on another American in France to do so. But after seeing many recipes for this lamb cut over the years, I can finally at least describe it: the narrow, gelatinous, end of a leg of lamb.

Let me tell you that the hardest thing about this recipe is finding six souris. I truly wanted to order them from my local butcher, but he told me he could never "ruin six legs of lamb just to give me the end pieces." He did offer to sell me one -- fair enough, but not enough.

So, as was suggested in the recipe, I was reduced to buying my souris frozen from Picard -- which was rather a sad state of affairs considering all of the excellent lamb here in Aveyron. But so be it -- the frozen New Zealand souris actually did the trick quite nicely.

First, I marinated them a bit in a sauce of sesame seeds, honey, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme -- I couldn't find any rosemary, this isn't Provence -- at least not yet:



After marinating the meat for about an hour, I put it in a Dutch oven and covered it with thinly-sliced lemon.



I baked the dish in a medium-high oven for an hour before adding precooked "artichauts poivrade," or baby artichokes, for a half hour more at a slightly lower temperature.

You can see the delicious result at the top of the post.

This recipe was a real winner and was taken from the March-April 2007 issue of Elle à table, as were the other dishes for my Easter menu.

Come back this weekend for dessert!

Avocado-Grapefruit Cream

In the US, the idea of avocado as a sweet is something outside the realm of most of our experience. But in Brazil, creme de abacate is quite popular, whipped folds of bright green avocado spiked with a myriad of flavors. You might resist at first, but stop for a moment and think about that buttery texture, the subtly sweet flavor (it is, after all, technically a fruit), and I have a feeling your defenses might start to fall.

I've seen a couple of avocado cream recipes, most are brightened with lime juice, some are sweetened with brown or white sugar, thinned with milk or half-and-half and a bit of port, garnished with mint or lemon. Not far from avocado ice cream, if you wanted a dessert even more redolent of summer, you might beat in whipping cream instead of the wine and freeze like ice cream. Or you could heap the avocado cream into a baking dish and top it with homemade meringue and bake like a more exotic lemon-meringue pie.

The recipe below, however, does something truly wonderful to the avocado. While, as I said, lime makes an appearance in most recipes, in Betty Fussell's version, she beats half a grapefruit into the avocado. The grapefruit's tartness cuts right through the avocado's rich cream, and you're left with the kind of silky, mouth-filling experience normally reserved for only the richest cheesecake. A note of warning, you must actually like grapefruit to appreciate this preparation. R, unfortunately, does not. And so, was not impressed. At least, not in the way I was. Since trying this version, I've begun to crave it. I dream of it at night, and begin beating grapefruit and avocado first thing in the morning. It's meant to serve 2 - 4 people, but I assume this is when it's served after a meal, rather than in place of one. Because I can polish off the whole batch in one sitting.

I maintain that you must have a deep love for citrus if you're going to be convinced by this. And if you go into the thing not open to the tartness of the grapefruit, you may as well skip it. But if a lemon bar is more tempting to you, as it is to me, than a bar of chocolate, then you're in for a treat.

Avocado-Grapefruit Cream

From Betty Fussell's Food in Good Season

1/2 grapefruit

1 ripe avocado

juice of 1 lime (more or less, to taste)

2 - 3 tablespoons honey

Remove the grapefruit sections from the peel and put them in either a food processor or blender. Cut the avocado in half, remove the fruit from both halves and add it to the blender, along with the juice of 1 lime and 2 tablespoons of honey. Blend well until smooth. Add another tablespoon of honey if you need it. I definitely did not.

La Fête du Fromage - Cathare

The Occitan Cross, the omnipresent symbol of the Languedoc, is displayed on everything from the regional flag, street signs, T-shirts and sweatshirts, key chains, bumper stickers, graffiti and even cheese. Yes, cheese.

Voilà Cathare.


This distinctive fromage de chèvre fermier was created in 1995 at La Ferme de Cabriole in the Lauragais. It is home to about 120 Saanen goats which graze in the pastures surrounding the farm for 8-10 months of the year and produce a whopping 2½-5 liters of milk a day, per goat.

Underneath the layer of ash lies a luscious, unpasteurized cheese with a creamy, velvety smooth, almost liquid texture that simply melts in your mouth. Cathare is sold after 2 weeks of affinage, resulting in a flavor that is mild, slightly buttery and salty, with soft hints of chèvre. As it ages, the goat flavor becomes more pronounced and the texture more firm and dry.

This is a truly delightful cheese and I can't recommend it more highly!

A dry white wine would be a good match.

Easter Table!

I like to dress special tables for holidays and celebrations. This Easter I am displaying stone eggs throughout the month. I bought them in many of our travels in Africa (Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa) and South America (Brazil and Uruguay). I placed them in white porcelain egg holders.

The picture shows my Good Friday table. The water tumblers are Daum, and the wine glasses are no special brand, but they match in size the tumblers. The gray round plates bear square white soup plates, and I do like this contrast. My fish cutlery is Ercuis. The water carafe is in blown glass and I bought it in Mexico. A square Japanese tray holds the salt, white pepper, and black pepper grinder. (The red napkins are paper napkins ... )
As for the menu, it had to be from the sea (no meat on Good Friday, says the catholic tradition). I had chosen to start with a prawn veloute, and follow with sea bass fillets with sauteed carrots, and pear and chocolate clafouti. We had a white Corbieres with this sea menu meal.

For that very reason

I don’t know where to begin. You people spoil me. Do you know that? Brandon and I cannot even dream of how to adequately thank you for the immensely kind and utterly galvanizing comments you left in response to The Big Restaurant Announcement. Some of you even sent e-mails, offering advice, encouragement, and hands-on(!) help(!). I’m still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor. Thank you.

Is My Blog Burning?

Tomorrow is the seemingly monthly event, Is My Blog Burning? This time hosted by Derrick of the aptly named, Obsession with Food blog. You still have some time to whip up a terrine if you'd like to participate.



This time around there is a new web site to help you navigate the event. The IMBB web site has a countdown clock, a link to the "host" of the next event, articles, links to blogs, and more. There are also links for WBW. What's that you ask? Wine Blogging Wednesday of course!



The other "compendium" site I recommend bookmarking is Food Porn Watch. A one-stop-shop for finding recently updated blogs, the site lists tons of of food blog sites and is updated hourly.



Check back tomorrow for my terrine entry!

Coming back to say Good Bye

Too many things to do .. too little time to keep up in my dear blog.
Celebrated a beautiful wedding for Celine and Joren in September at the Chateau de Feluy in Belgium ...

Visited Dubai in October, and was stunned by the imposing tower, the tallest building in the world.Flew to Los Angeles and Palo Alto for a few days and had a great Thanksgiving dinner at the Tavern in Beverly Hills.
Made a sublime Pintade aux pruneaux d'Agen, miam, delicious guinea hen with Agen prunes.. for friends in Paris ...
Said "adieu" to brother-in-law Jacques, who passed away in November (and said adieu in my heart to uncle Carlos and to Pr Schweich)Welcomed winter in my deck with 3 inches of snow - of course, nothing compared with the 20 inches they had in New York last week!!!

And flew back to Los Angeles to spend Christmas in the mild Angelino sun!
Thank you for your comments, thank you for your emails, thank you for your friendship.

I will try to leave here now and then a recipe, a snapshot of my whereabouts, and write a hello in your blogs ... but other professional activities have taken over in my life leaving me with very little time ..

I loved writing this blog, getting to know you, sharing recipes, reading your blogs ...

Happy and Prosperous 2011!!

Giving Thanks

I don't know about you, but I'm already sick of Thanksgiving! Sick of hearing about it anyway. Oh sure, it's still my favorite holiday, but this year the plethora of magazines, cookbooks and even blogs all focused on the topic lead to my feeling as stuffed full as a you-know-what. So instead of food, I'm going to focus on two other themes for Thanksgiving, feeling thankful and something to drink.

Last week my world seemed to revolve around the food bank. In an article in the New York Times I was quoted mentioning my volunteer work at the San Francisco Food Bank. Then on Thursday I celebrated the release of Beaujolais Nouveau at the very same food bank, which received a generous donation from Georges Deboeuf to coincide with the event.

It seems popular to beat up on Beaujolais Nouveau these days. But I am not here to spill Beaujolais Nouveau but to drink it. I am a fan of the wine, I enjoy the seasonality of it and how accessible it is. It's refreshing and fruity. It's fun, not sophisticated or complex, and that's fine by me. It is great with appetizers, especially cheese, and it's dark red berry flavors pair with turkey much like cranberries do.

Beaujolais Nouveau is the first wine of the season to be released and marks the end of the harvest when wine producers typically hold parties to celebrate. Those celebrations have grown and now everyone celebrates with the catch phrase "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!"

While Thanksgiving is also about celebrating a successful harvest and sharing with friends and family, it is also a time to be thankful. I can't think of a better way to pay tribute to the holiday than by spending time volunteering at or making a donation to a local Food Bank. Having a hand in feeding people REALLY makes you feel thankful. Tomorrow when Thanksgiving rolls around, Lee and I will bring a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau to my parents house to enjoy and celebrate with, as we always do. And in the following weeks I'll be back at the Food Bank again doing what I can to help end hunger in the Bay Area.

READ MORE Over at Bay Area Bites are my reviews of a handful of entertaining books, Easy Entertaining, Party Confidential, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence

FOOD

My Next Splurge

I've been drooling over this gorgeous book for the last couple of years. It is crammed full of recipes (a mere 700 of them), photos, step-by-step instructions and detailed history of Cajun and Creole cuisine.
In New Orleans I almost broke down and bought it at my friend's shop, The Kitchen Witch, but the damn thing weighs 10 pounds and my bags were already too full! Now I regret not hauling it back to France with me.

Let's see, I just had a birthday. How many days left until Christmas?

Panzanella - A Summer Staple

Leftover bread.
Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in it. You wouldn't believe the amount of crumbs I clean off our kitchen counters on a daily basis.

Baguettes, gros pain, campaillettes, ficelles, pain de campagne...

The amazing variety of bread available in the boulangeries in France is a carbophobe's nightmare.
And a bread lover's dream!



So when you are surrounded by all this gorgeous bread you tend to buy it almost every day and occasionally, (unless you have guests or are eating something that just screams out for lots and lots of it) you have leftover, half eaten loaves that becomes stale within hours.

The perfect solution is Panzanella, an incredibly satisfying Italian bread and tomato salad.

I make Panzanella a lot in the summertime. It combines all that I love about summer cooking;

• no oven necessary so there is no "cooking"
  
• uses lots of fresh, local produce
  
• takes almost no time to throw together
• tastes wonderful with a cold glass of rosé

The recipe I've given here is merely a guide. I added some arugula and minced shallots to the most recent batch which blended well with the other ingredients.
The olive oil and vinegar amounts are to taste. I love a really vinegar-y salad, so usually add more than most people.

Panzanella
serves 4

about 6 cups of day-old, crusty peasant-style bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 large tomatoes, trimmed and cut into 8 wedges
1 cup peeled and seeded cucumber, sliced
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1/3 to 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 to 4 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
a handful (about 15-20- I like a lot) of fresh basil leaves, torn up

Mix everything together in a bowl and season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Vegetarian Times Subscription Deal

I am not a vegetarian but I do try to get as creative as I can with vegetarian meals. I even created a category for vegetarian recipes in the recipe archive on this site. Another source for finding vegetarian recipes is Vegetarian Times. While I haven't subscribed to the magazine up to now, their website allows you to search for recipes and also has articles on nutrition. But today I subscribed because of a fantastic deal.

Today ONLY, you can subscribe to Vegetarian Times for a year for only $4.39. The normal rate for subscription is $19.95. The cover price for just one issue is $3.99 so this is really a steal. (I don't make anything from this deal--I'm just sharing sale information from a magazine subscription site that I use from time to time) Just go to Best Deal Magazines and click on the "deal of the day". You don't have to register for the site to subscribe to the magazine. If you have found some great recipes from this magazine, let me know!

Who's Cooking?

A report on RTL radio yesterday substantiates what I have known all along: women are doing the cooking in France. A sociologist from Tours has studied the subject, and has found that while French men "set the table and do the dishes", they rarely participate in the other tasks involved in preparing a meal.

How true it is! Among our French friends, I don't know a single family where the man cooks more than an occasional meal, often only when the woman is out and he has no other choice.

So when I say this blog is about how French working "women" cook and manage their kitchens, I'm perfectly aware of my choice of words. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part, cooking is still seen as the woman's role here.

I hope you didn't miss the restaurant review ratings system over at Becks & Posh and a compelling case for why you should read restaurant reviews on a blog to boot.

This week I got a chance to meet pastry girl, whose blog, Dessert First, I will be reading more often. Her post on falling in love with lychees is on the menu this week.

Last but not least yet another gorgeous set of photographs from Cookbook 411. An inspiring post all about apricots really makes me want some!

FOOD

Dinner from Hell

You know when you have one of those days? A day when everything you cook is a disaster? Like there is some malevolent, unseen force in the universe that entered your kitchen and put a curse on you?
Yesterday was that day.
And yesterday our good friends, the poor things, were invited to dinner.
I must say, they were very kind about the whole thing and we'll have fodder for dinner party conversation for years to come. "remember that night when you made the chicken that wouldn't cook and then I found, not one, but two strands of your hair in the apple crumble?"
It was horrific.
It started so innocently...I found an interesting chicken recipe online, got ingredients together for a nice salad, made my apple crumble and some savory mini cakes with roasted red pepper and gruyère cheese (the only thing that came out well).
Then it all fell to shit.
To start, I only had about 1/8th of a teaspoon of sherry vinegar for the salad and I really couldn't have used balsamic or red wine vinegar for this particular salad. Of course I didn't realize this until about 8 pm while trying to dress the salad. I improvised with apple cider vinegar but it just wasn't the same.
Then the chicken didn't cook! I removed it from our plates, put it all back in the pan and simmered it for another 15 minutes and it still didn't cook! This was after over an hour of simmering. I'm telling you, I was cursed!
Then my friend found a hair in her apple crumble. I immediately took the plate away and gave her another serving. After several bites, she found another hair.
Can you believe this???
Thank heavens they brought some delicious white wine and we opened a bottle of our favorite red so at least we had good wine. And good mini cakes.
Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
130 g (1 cup) flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 cup gruyère
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
freshly ground pepper
1 egg
1 plain yogurt (125 g ; 1/3 cup)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup minced roasted red peppers

Directions:
Heat oven to 180°C-350°F.
Put dry ingredients and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Add peppers to egg mixture; pour over flour mixture and stir until dry ingredients are moistened.
Spoon into mini muffin pan and bake 15 min or until an inserted toothpick comes out dry.
Set aside to cool before unmolding.
Yields appr. 15 mini muffins

Why do YOU cook, Hank Shaw?

Hank Shaw is not your typical cook or your typical blogger. He hunts, fishes and gardens and is something of an expert when it comes to seafood. He was a 2009 James Beard Award nominee for his blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, but what impresses me the most is his thoughtful approach to food. In addition to his blog and he also runs the About.com site, Fish & Seafood Cooking.

"To me it's almost like asking, "Why do you breathe?" Cooking is not something I consciously began doing; it just is what I do in the course of any normal day, and has been since I was a boy. Cooking is part of what makes me who I am, and it defines me to others -- especially because as a person who hunts, fishes, forages or grows much of what I eat, I am an outlier who represents the boundaries of what an otherwise "normal" person can and cannot do.

When Michael Pollan cited that food researcher in last weekend's New York Times magazine, the researcher scoffed at the notion of killing, plucking, gutting and cooking every chicken we eat, saying, "who does that anymore?" Well, I do. And after that story ran, I got a bunch of emails from people pointing me to that quote. I prove to them that it can be done. Easily, in fact.

Other men take cars apart and put them back together to understand how the pieces fit correctly. I take apart animals and plants in an attempt to understand the same thing. How I rearrange them in the kitchen is my own personal alchemy, something I find endlessly fascinating."

Shopping for the Hunger Challenge

I had a hard time deciding where to shop for a week of meals that were limited to $1 per person. I chose a big supermarket to try and buy a week's worth of food at one time. I don't know if someone on a budget would have the time and transportation resources to go from store to store for the best bargains.







Oatmeal
Barley
Pinto beans
Lentils
Macaroni
Spaghetti
Chicken bouillon
Organic raspberry jam
Organic peanut butter
Eggs
Cottage cheese
Mustard greens (frozen)
Organic green peas (frozen)
Smart Balance spread
Organic milk
High fiber bread
Cremini mushrooms
Organic celery
Raisins
Carrots
Organic romaine lettuce
Organic onions
Grated parmesan cheese

Total bill $55.02. Did I succeed or fail? Hard to say. A family on food stamps might not have $55 to spend at one time on food. But to get the best deals on products I usually had to buy in larger sizes. Some products were inexpensive but many really cost a lot.

Rude awakenings:
* Frozen vegetables are often a much better deal than fresh

* Bread is really expensive these days. I've gotten used to making my own and had no idea

* Some basic items like potatoes were very expensive and had to be left behind

* I tried to buy organic when I could, but it wasn't always feasible. Sometimes though, organic was cheaper than conventional

* The only meat I bought was bacon, which I will use as a flavoring, not a main dish

* Getting enough nutrients is hard! Some tasty foods are just not nutritious enough to make the cut

* Someone on a budget probably wouldn't have several types of olive oils, nut oils, and three kinds of butter. I chose Smart Balance because it is a healthier fat and can be used for cooking or on toast.

The Hunger Challenge kicks off on Monday I'll tell you more about it then, but for now, head to Blog Appetit and The Inadvertent Gardener to hear how my friends and fellow bloggers Genie and Faith are doing with the challenge.

GET INVOLVED!

♥ Join the Hunger Challenge

Butternut Squash Lasagna

I am always attracted to squash.  My mother claims that there were periods during my babyhood in which I would agree to eat little else.  There was nothing, it seems, more satisfying than cheeks stained orange with a good thick smearing of the stuff.  I no longer require my squash to be pureed and fed to me (although that could still be nice).  Having a good friend all but insist I make this recipe is a very close second.  A tie, even.

One good thing to come out of this blog is that now people other than my mother are interested in feeding me.  Or at least, in suggesting what I should feed myself.  This recipe comes from a very trusted friend, someone always full of glowing recommendations that also always seem to pan out.  Todd was my roommate for a few months here in New York, and although he now lives in Boston, when he visits, he usually ends up showing me around.  

This is his mother's recipe, adopted somewhere down the line from Cooking Light.  But she's made enough changes to call it her own, and it comes with such high marks that her suggestions should be respected.  Imagine, layers of caramelized butternut squash enveloped by that creamy, rosemary-infused white sauce and alternating between layers of market-fresh pasta and cheese.  Try it now, we can both thank them later.

Todd's Mother's Butternut Squash Lasagna

1 large butternut squash (mine was about 4 pounds)

Cooking Spray

4 cups fat-free milk, divided

2 tablespoons dried rosemary

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 8 oz package precooked lasagna noodles

3/4 cup (3 oz) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano, divided

1/2 cup whipping cream

Oven preheated to 450

Cut your butternut squash open making two long halves.  Scoop out the seeds and place each half cut side down on a sheet tray coated with a little cooking spray.  Bake until the skin of the squash can be easily pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes.  Let the squash cool down a little before scraping it out with a spoon and setting it aside in a large bowl.

Once the squash is cooked, lower the oven temperature to 350.

If you have empty tea bags, the kind you can fill with loose tea, fill one with the rosemary.  Measure out 3 1/2 cups of milk and a microwave safe glass measuring cup and add the tea bag of rosemary.  If you don't have tea bags, simply add the rosemary and strain it out once the milk is heated.  Microwave the milk on high for 5 minutes, it would just begin to boil.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes before straining the rosemary or removing the tea bag.

Spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup (as you should always do when measuring flour) and level with a knife.  Combine the flour and the remaining 1/2 cup milk and whisk until you have a well blended slurry.  

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until the garlic is soft, stirring constantly.  Stir in the steeped milk and increase the heat to medium-high.  Gradually add the slurry to the pan, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Cook the mixture for 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and stir in 3/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Combine the milk mixture with the squash, tossing gently.

Spread about 1 1/2 cups of the squash mixture onto the bottom of an 11x7" baking dish, which should be coated with cooking spray.  Arrange 3 lasagna noodles over the squash mixture.  Top with 2 cups squash and 1/4 cup cheese.  Repeat layers once more, then end with a layer of noodles.

Beat the whipping cream and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt with a mixer at high speed until soft peaks stage.  Spread the cream over the noodles and sprinkle with the 1/4 cup cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes until golden.  

Let stand for 10 minutes before digging in and satisfying all of your squash fantasies!

Shrimp Fra Diavolo - Off the Shelf Guest Post

This post comes from our November Off the Shelf guest blogger, Deborah of the wonderful Taste and Tell.  Hope you enjoy!

I've been a recipe collector a lot longer than an actual "at home cook."  Back in my single days, I loved going through old magazines and cutting out the recipes that sounded good.  I had a huge collection of these - all taped onto index cards - but I rarely cooked from them.  In fact, when I was single, I didn't even cook that much because I never really enjoyed cooking for one.  And then I got married.  Now I had 2 to cook for, which was much easier than cooking for one.  Plus, I had someone else to give me feedback on what I had made.  In the early years of our marriage, I relied a lot on recipes from the internet.  Allrecipes.com was one of my favorite resources.  I created an account and I would rate and review each of the recipes I tried.  It was a lot of fun and I got to try lots of new recipes.  

The more I cooked, the more I hungered for more recipes.  And then I discovered food blogging.  Food - great food - combined with photos and commentary about the recipes - I was sold.  And I've been addicted ever since.  But those of us that are addicted to food blogging know that it's hard to satisfy our cravings - the more recipes we  have, the more we want.  And this is when my cookbook addiction started.

Now my favorite resource for recipes is from cookbooks.  Not that I don't get recipes from websites or magazine, but I love to sit down with a cookbook - especially one filled with great pictures - and read it front to back, just like a novel.  When I first started buying cookbooks, I think I read them more often than I cooked from them!!  Now, my cookbook "want" list is large, and grows just about every day.  At the beginning of this year, I committed myself to cook and blog about at least one recipe from each of my cookbooks, and I'm glad to say that even though I still have a few to go, I'm pretty sure I will accomplish this goal.  And now I don't feel guilty buying a new cookbook, because I know that it will get used (if even for just one recipe!).

This recipe came from a cookbook in my collection that is a fun one to look through because of the variety of recipes and photos.  this recipe is one that is easy and will be done in under an hour.  So here is Shrimp Fra Diavolo - from my cookbook to your house!!

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

adapted from Family Cookbook

Serves 4 to 6

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

salt

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

12 garlic cloves, minced (about 4 tablespoons)

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 pound spaghetti

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley plus more for serving

pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  When the water is boiling, salt the water and add the spaghetti.  Cook according to the package directions to al dente.  Drain spaghetti and return it to the pot, making sure to reserve a cup of the startchy cooking water.

Meanwhile, toss the shrimp with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon of the red pepper flakes.  Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Add the shrimp to the skillet in a single layer and cook, without stirring, until the bottoms of the shrimp turn color, about 30 seconds.  Stir the shrimp and cook until the shrimp are colored on both sides.  Remove the shrimp to a bowl and let the skillet cool for a few minutes.

Add 3 tablespoons of the oil back to the cooled pan.  Add 3 tablespoons of the garlic and cook over low heat, stirring often, until the garlic foams and is sticky and straw-colored - about 10 minutes.  Stir in the remaining 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, the tomatoes, sugar and 3/4 teaspoon salt.  Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 8 minutes.

Stir the remaining 1 tablespoon garlic, the parsley and the reserved shrimp and any accumulated juices into the tomato sauce.  Continue to simmer until the shrimp are heated through, about 1 minute.

Stir the tomato/shrimp mixture, plus the remaining tablespoon of olive oil into the drained spaghetti.  Toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the reserved cooking water as needed to loosen up the sauce before serving.  Sprinkle with additional parsley.

Isn't it fun to look in other people's kitchens and see what's cooking? This week take a sneak peek.

Hold the Raisins gets an expiration date mandate and cooks up a storm. A hearty pasta is the result.

Toast ponders a final market box and makes borscht, a terrific recipe that speaks to the soul.

In Praise of Sardines praises anchovies! Are salt-packed better than oil-packed? You'll have to check out the post to get to the bottom of the controversy and learn the surprising truth.

Note: the Cooking with Amy email newsletter is due out any day now, in it you'll find a recap of November posts and a sneak peek at the offerings for December. Sign up using the form in the left column.

Photo du Jour - le Chocolat

le Chocolat Craquant* in a pool of crème anglaise


*A chocolate sponge cake layered with crispy chocolate nut praline and topped with a classic French chocolate mousse.

Oklahoma: the twins and their shad roe

My entrance was less grand than I’d hoped, but the birthday cake and I made it home intact. It is virtually impossible to fly directly to Oklahoma from any West or East Coast city, and I had the grave misfortune of passing through Dallas-Fort Worth on Tuesday afternoon and finding my one-hour layover stretched out into seven as a riot of nasty weather cavorted around the Great Plains. But I

Oeuf a la coque 4 you (soft boiled eggs) - Laura's giveaway!

I was looking for a good "recipe of the month" in my website's database of recipes and was so happy to see tat I have many recipes from bloggers! Thank you to all of you!
But I did not find something "suitable" for my mood!
Then this morning I was at the Christmas Market in the Champs Elysees with a friend, it was a cold early December day,the sun was low .. and we had one glass of vin chaud!
What a good diea ... a Vin Chaud or hot wine ...
Find my recipe on the right side of the blog or in my website!\

I found in the market these lovely "coquetiers" (soft boiled egg holders) and I thought of you all!

Black is very trendy in the "arts de la table" (everything related to the table, tablecloths, decorations, chinaware, glassware, silverware ..) and these have a Paris touch with the Eiffel Tower in white.

What do you think?
Leave a comment in this post in they can be yours! I will draw a winner by December 8, when I come back from Istanbul - I will mail them so that you get them before Christmas! Bonne chance!

Paella Under the Full Moon

Friday night we were invited to our friend's garden to taste their family specialty, Paella Valenciana.

The giant pan, the paellera, was balanced on a homemade "stand" made from flower pots and metal stakes.
José brought the homemade broth to a boil then started adding the ingredients.


The first layer was chunks of cuttlefish and small pieces of cut up chicken. Then the rice was tossed in, followed by chicken legs and thighs, mussels, giant prawns and finally roasted red peppers.


tossing in the rice

mussels going in

It was a smoothly orchestrated event. José's wife, Jocelyn, was standing by, ready to hand over each ingredient as they were needed.

giant prawns, called gambas, ready to be added

the final addition - a scattering of roasted red peppers


keeping an eye on the flames

we all watched it bubble away but José was in charge of making sure that the paella cooked evenly

love the heat resistant gloves!


Finally, a dazzling, saffron enriched Paella Valenciana. The flavor is almost indescribable. There is nothing to compare to paella when it is done right.
I've tasted some pretty awful versions, both in Spain and here, so to have the chance to enjoy a gutsy, rich, smoky homemade paella under the full August moon with good friends...well, it just doesn't get much better than that.

¡Gracias José y Jocelyn!

An original combination.

We received a tempting invitation by email that read: "Monday night in Playa Vista", with a suggestive closing: If the weather is good, we will picnic in the Meridian Park. Bring a sweater.. plus of course, directions to get there.

Since the host said not to bring anything, I took my last kitchen cloth from Le Jacquard Francais, my favorite French kitchen linen brand, in shades of gray with three French monuments in it.

We arrived at 6 sharp and our host and friends were already there, sitting in comfortable picnic chairs set around a beautiful picnic basket which we discovered had napkins, drinks, crackers, and interesting versions of tapenade and humus.

Conversation was animated in the green park setting, and after a while, our host invited us to her apartment where dinner awaited.

Dorothy had dressed a beautiful table for us. The colorful runner had been purchased at a folk arts shop in Santa Fe, as well as the wood bird seen in the picture.

And the menu? We'll see tomorrow!

I think combining an apperitif in a nearby park and dinner in the house is a great idea. Where would I go in Paris? To the Bois de Boulogne across Boulevard Exelmans?

Bon appetit!

Medaljekager Lemon-Filled Spice Cookies

Get ready for another fabulous guest post from my favorite baker-boy, Todd!


Hello again, fellow sweet-toothed bakers. It’s been several months since I posted plum cupcakes and thought Andrea’s readers might be ready for another stunning treat.

It was February of 2003 when I took a train from temperate southern France to visit Copenhagen, Denmark. The Little Mermaid statue was cloaked in ice crust and the Tivoli Gardens were grey, but I loved everything about the place. I don’t remember a single meal I ate during my stay, however, except for my morning visits to a cute pastry shop, Bodenhoffs Bageri (re-discovered thanks to the wonders of google!) near the hostel. Now, I wasn’t in love with these goodies because I was new to Europe and the novel joys of eating superior pasteries. I was in love with this place because everything tasted like sweet perfection, better than what I’d been eating in France!

Since that trip to Denmark, I’ve not come across many pastries that resemble the treats I gobbled down at Bodenhoffs. I have, however, found a few Danish recipes and can do my best to re-create them, though my clumsy American ways never seem to create them with comparable care and precision.

My suggestion for these spicy/lemony treats is to keep the cookies small and thin. The recipe calls for 1/2-inch balls of dough, and I found that while on the sheet they appear too small, the reality is that this is a sandwich cookie and you do not want to be biting through a fat cookie that overpowers the fantastic lemon center. When you flatten the dough, also be aware that the cookies will hardly expand in the oven. When I make these again, I’ll try to keep the cookies slightly thinner to help them stay the dainty-but-powerful cookie they ought to be.

Medaljekager - Lemon-Filled Spice Cookies
Adopted from here, Makes about 2 dozen sandwich cookies

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Additional sugar

Preparation:

Place flour, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl; stir to combine. Beat butter, sugar, milk, egg yolk and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture. Beat at low speed until dough forms. Cover dough and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.


Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheets. Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into 1/2-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each ball to 1/4-inch thickness with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Prick the top of each cookie using a fork. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms become slightly brown. Do not overcook. Remove cookies to wire rack and cool completely.


Prepare lemon filling, adding powdered sugar until it becomes more viscous than honey. Spread filling on the flat side of half of the cookies (I recommend a thick layer over thin!). Top with remaining cookies, gently pressing flat sides together. Let stand at room temperature until set.

Lemon Filling:
Yield: Makes about 1 cup
Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest from 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon butter, softened
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

A Little Chèvre From Heaven

La Fête du Fromage has gone local this week.
A goat cheese producer from La Salvetat sur Agôut, about 34 miles away, is a new fixture at the Olonzac market. I had a nice chat with him after which he offered me a taste of three different varieties of his cheese, and an invitation to the farm.


I came home with this little log of ash covered, brilliant white colored and very dense chèvre. This is fermier cheese at it's finest! It had only been aged for a week so it's flavor was mild, with earthy, mushroom flavors, and it's light aroma was sweet and milky. We thought it was sublime!
I'm heading to his farm as soon as I get the chance. (hopefully it will be easier than my other, recent farm visit)

My advice...if you know of, or live close to a goat farmer who makes their own cheese, go and try it!