Pasta and Rapture

Back in early November, I had the opportunity to serve my one day of jury duty. Resigned to being stuck in a crowded room all day, I came prepared. I would bring work with me to occupy my time in the morning, and a fun-read to take its place in the afternoon, when the work was finished. All assuming, of course, that I wouldn't be called to a jury room.

As planned, after lunch, I began reading La Cucina: A Novel of Rapture, by Lily Prior.



I had purchased this book a number of years ago to read during one of my European trips, but travel being what it is, I never opened the book. It sat, forgotten, on my shelves, until October, when I came across a blog event that paired this book with food, a most appropriate pairing. Since I already owned the book, I decided to participate.

My only concern about reading this book during my stay in the jury waiting room was that I would become so lost in the plot that I would somehow embarrass myself in front of a group of strangers. It's easy to do with this book -- get lost in it, that is, not embarrass yourself. Such a rhapsody of food and lust and fascinating characters -- a true diversion.

I nearly managed to read the entire book that afternoon, but all prospective jurors were sent home early (thankfully), leaving me just a few chapters shy of completion. Nothing like being left hanging.

With so many culinary possibilities, I vacillated between making pasta or bread. In the end, I chose the pasta, as it had been awhile since I had made fresh pasta and the very effort required to knead the dough would be cathartic. So, I did it the old-fashioned way:



I made a basic meat sauce to go over the pasta and cooked some spinach with red pepper flakes as a side (a Sicilian recipe).


It was a satisfying meal, a tribute to Rosa and all her trials. The bread, however, is still calling to me, so I may have to break down and whip up a focaccia sometime soon.

I must say that I debated whether to post this. Compared to some of the other participants in this event, it's not glamorous or exciting. I did enjoy the story and the characters and the challenge of preparing a recipe inspired by the plot.

Soon after December 15, we will all be treated to the creative results of this challenge over at Cook the Books, so be sure to drop by. Thanks to Deb from Kahakai Kitchen, Rachel from The Crispy Cook, and Johanna from Food Junkie, Not Junk Food for having such a great idea.

BB: Coq au Vin

For the month of December, the Barefoot Bloggers have some tasty dishes to prepare. The first one is Coq au Vin, chosen by Bethany of this little piggy went to market. Mine turned out so well that I would consider serving it to guests.

I did substitute boneless chicken thighs for the whole chicken. Frankly, in this house, no one eats drumsticks, so that would be a waste, and I'm the only one who eats thighs. I use them quite a bit for braising-type recipes. One package from Trader Joe's gives me three meals, so it's a good value. I also left out the pearl onions. I don't object to them, and I even have some in the freezer, but when I last used them (I believe it was Ina's pot pie), I discovered they were unpeeled. That doesn't appeal to me (maybe pun intended).



I made sure the chicken was thoroughly browned before adding the liquid ingredients. That develops the lovely flavor and keeps them from turning purple. My only complaint, and a minor one at that, is that the liquid never thickened much, even after the addition of the beurre manie. (The dog had no complaints when I spooned some over her dry food.)



To sum up, I would recommend this dish highly. Other Barefoot Bloggers may or may not disagree, so head over to the blog and check out their comments.

TWD: Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

Brief note: I was getting ready to post this late last night when the Internet access disappeared. Ah, technology.

Welcome to Cookie Week Number Two at Tuesdays with Dorie. This time, Ulrike of Küchenlatein selected Grandma’s Sugar Cookies, an especially nice choice during the holiday season. Plain sugar cookies are an empty slate, as you will discover when you look at all the variations presented by the TWD bakers.

I had no issues with the dough. I decided to divide it into two halves, one for rolling out and the other for ice-box cookies. Plus, I made it several days before I planned to bake it, so it was well chilled. I have to say that I prefer the ice-box variation only because it is much quicker. Just pull out the roll, slice off some cookies, bake and decorate, if desired. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

For these cookies, I chose to paint on decorations. This is especially fun with kids, because they can go wild with creativity. In the end, though, these cookies are very versatile, since you can frost them, paint them, sprinkle them with sugar, or leave them plain. They have a decent flavor, which can also be varied, and leave no weird aftertaste as some sugar cookies do.

All this talk of cookies is whetting my appetite. So, off I shall go in search of sustenance.

It's All About Me(me)

Way back in November, my friend, Natashya, challenged me to a meme. Well, as befitting a truly analytical personality, I think I'm ready to share the results, probably more than you wanted to know.

7s meme

7 things I did before:

1. Played 'restaurant' during summer vacations with an old set of dishes in the garage.
2. Went ice skating nearly every weekend.
3. Saw the Beatles in person, twice.
4. Started baking bread at age 15.
5. Traveled throughout Europe by car.
6. Went to culinary school long after I knew how to cook and bake.
7. Have lived in New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Missouri.

7 things I do now:

1. Run my own business.
2. Enter stuff in county fairs.
3. Blog.
4. Cook and bake.
5. Quilt
6. Do Sudoku.
7. Listen to music nearly constantly.

7 things I want to do:

1. Travel again
2. Learn to play the harp.
3. Own a B&B or restaurant (the business plan is ready, just need capital)
4. Learn more languages (German and Italian).
5. Apprentice with a cheese maker.
6. Return to New Mexico.
7. Live six months out of the year in Europe.

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex, more or less in order:

1. Fidelity
2. Integrity
3. Honesty
4. Kindness
5. Intelligence
6. Sense of humor
7. Loves & appreciates quality food

7 favorite foods:

1. Reuben sandwich with everything on it
2. My mashed potatoes
3. New Mexican food
4. Fruits and vegetables
5. Fresh, homemade bread
6. Pain au chocolat
7. Ice cream

4 things I say most often:

1. Good morning
2. Is that my bone?
3. What a silly dog!
4. Expletive deleted.

Since it's just me and the dog, there's not a lot of stimulating conversation, and after going to culinary school and working in a restaurant, my language became openly saltier more frequently.

And, all things are subject to review and change.

I'm not sure if I was supposed to do the Desert Island scenario, but if that were to happen, I'd bring along flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and chocolate, which would allow me to create many culinary possibilities.

Feel free to play along.

My Kitchen, My World: Ethiopia

Thanks to Elra and Lauren, this week the MKMW group visited Ethiopia. Although I've never been to the country, itself, I've been to Ethiopian restaurants in Los Angeles and New York City. I enjoy the variety of dishes and the spiciness and the injera bread. I searched for a simple recipe that would be indicative of the Ethiopian flavors, and discovered a recipe for Doro Wat, a spicy chicken dish (Yes, Natashya, we're on the same wavelength!)

The only problem I had was that whoever wrote the recipe forgot half the instructions. While I was cooking this, I kept feeling that something wasn't right. There were all these ingredients that weren't showing up in the preparation. Well, the light bulb finally went on, and I figured out where everything went, so I've included my version of the recipe. It's simple and delicious and uses ingredients that most people already have in their pantries. Oh, and Absolutely Include the hard boiled egg! It really made the dish.



Great choice this week. I'm looking forward to the next adventure.


Doro Wat (Ethiopian Chicken)

3 lb chicken pieces
1/3 cup butter
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon berbere seasoning (see below)
3 oz. tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 onions, chopped
1 hard boiled egg per person

Remove skin from chicken, and score chicken meat so that sauce can penetrate meat. Melt butter in large pot. Saute the onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Add berbere, and then the tomato paste, chicken broth, and black pepper. Simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken, one piece at a time, so the chicken gets well coated. Simmer about 20 minutes. Take out some liquid and mix it with the peanut butter, then return the mixturel to the pot. Stir. Lightly score the eggs, and gently place in the pot. Cover and continue cooking until chicken is done. (I used boneless chicken breasts, so it didn’t require much extra cooking. Boneless chicken thighs would work as well.)

Berbere Seasoning

1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix and store in an airtight bottle.

There are quite a few variations for Doro Wat and Berbere seasoning, so chose which ever one strikes your fancy.

Linzer Sables, continued

When I last wrote about this week's Tuesdays with Dorie event, Linzer Sables, I hadn't actually tasted one yet, having only finished them late the night before and having made only four. It was twenty-four hours later that I finally ate one. Oh my goodness. They were so delicious! Maybe it was that 'ripening' period that did it, but these have to be one of my favorites from all the TWD recipes.


On Thursday, I baked off the rest of the dough. I ran out of the boysenberry jam, so went through my pantry to see if I had a likely candidate for filling the remaining cookies. I chose an apricot jam with hints of almonds and vanilla that I had purchased on my last trip to France. Don't you buy food as souvenirs? On that particular visit, I stayed in Tours, a wonderful French city. They have one of the best tea shops I've ever visited, and of course, the jams in another shop.



So, I'm just finishing off the last of the linzer sables with a French jam filling, and ready for the next batch of cookies, which is ready to be baked. I know for sure I will bake these again.

TWD: Linzer Sables

This week our Tuesdays with Dorie baking project was Linzer Sables, chosen by Noskos of Living the Life. Although I had all the ingredients set out in the morning, I didn't get around to actually baking them until late last night. The ingredients were definitely at room temperature!

My original plan was to fill them with chocolate ganache, but at 11 pm, jam was the smartest choice, so I used some of the boysenberry jam I had on hand.



Since I encountered no issues with these cookies, except for fragile dough, this post will be shorter than usual. I'm off to my regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting. But please take a look at all the other cookie variations on the TWD blog.