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I had another dinner party that I thought went really well.  It was lots of fun and the menu was quite easy.

Insalata Caprese

Pork Medallions with Mustard Caper Sauce

Soft Polenta

Asparagus with Lemon Butter

Red Wine & Pear Sorbet

Pecan Wafers

I varied the Insalata Caprese just a little by fanning out the beautiful tomato slices (from a fresh farm stand in East Texas) and scattering bocconcini (little mozzarella balls) on top with chiffonade of basil sprinkled over all then drizzled generously with fruity extra virgin olive oil.  I placed the pork medallions over the polenta and napped them with the sauce.  With the bright green asparagus, it made a really pretty plate.  And the Red Wine & Pear Sorbet (thanks Everday Food) was beautifully rose colored with a little Pecan Wafer (thanks, Nick Malgieri) nestled next to the scoops of sorbet.  After we finished dinner, LJ went into the kitchen and retreived the container with the rest of the cookies, and my guests sat at the table and proceeded to eat every single one of them.  It made me laugh.

The recipe for the Pork Medallions with Mustard Caper Sauce is my own.  The recipe below serves 2, but it can be easily multiplied for larger parties.

Pork Medallions with Mustard Caper Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ lb. pork tenderloin, cut into 1” medallions and slightly flattened

Salt and pepper

1 shallot, finely minced

½ cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons capers

2 tablespoons cream

Heat olive oil in a 12” skillet over medium high heat.  Sprinkle medallions with salt and pepper.  Cook for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.  Remove to plate and cover with foil.

Add shallots to pan and sauté until soft.  Deglaze pan with white wine, scraping up fond.  Reduce wine by half and add chicken stock.  Add juices that have accumulated on the plate from the resting medallions.  Reduce slightly and add mustard, capers and cream.  Cook, simmering until slightly thickened and bubbly.    Serve sauce over medallions.

Friends are coming! That’s my favorite thing. We’re having friends to the lake for down home food and fun. We had hoped for sun so we could go out on the lake, but no such luck. It’s raining like crazy. We’ll have fun anyway. I’ve got a brisket in the oven, and I’ve got a potato casserole all whipped up and ready to be baked. When the brisket comes out, I’m doing an old fashioned lemon chess pie. With a big salad and bread, that should be a feast.

I’m using Gale Gand’s Lemon Chess Pie recipe; however, I’ve used others in the past. Gale is a great pastry chef, though, so this should be delicious. Here’s the recipe:

Lemon Chess Pie

2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon fine cornmeal
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 9″ unbaked pie shell
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and cornmeal. Blend well, then add the eggs and combine well. Add the milk, melted butter, lemon rind and juice and mix well. Pour this into the crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 mintues. (If desired, you can cover edges of crust with foil for the first 30 minutes of cooking to prevent over browning.) Cool to room temperature and serve. May be refrigerated, but bring to room temperature before serving. Serve with dollops of whipped cream.

I’m back, sort of.  My Dad died on March 2nd, and I just haven’t been able to bring  myself to post since.  I’m still a little unsure, but I thought I’d at least put up a recipe (thanks, Phoebe!).  This one is Joanne Weir’s recipe and if you’re not familiar with her, watch her show on PBS and check out her books.  She’s great!  Also, her website is www.joanneweir.com.

Lasagna with Mushrooms, Leeks & Gorganzola

(Joanne Weir)

½ lb. dried lasagna noodles

15 oz. ricotta cheese

¾ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

5 large leeks, cut into 1” dice

1 ½ lbs. mixed wild mushrooms, thinly sliced

5 garlic cloves, minced

½ stick unsalted butter

4 ½ tablespoons flour

3 ½ cup whole milk

6 oz. Gorgonzola or other bleu cheese of your choice

Freshly grated nutmeg

4 oz. whole milk mozzarella, coarsely grated

Par cook the lasagna noodles in salted boiling water until al dente.  Dip in cold water to cool and drain on a rack.

In a small bowl, mix together the ricotta and Parm and season with salt & pepper.  Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over medium low heat.  Add the leeks and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are very soft and light golden.  Remove leeks to a large bowl and set aside.

Heat remaining olive oil in skillet and add mushrooms.  Cook until they are soft and the liquid has evaporated, about 7 to 10 minutes.  Add garlic and stir for one minute.  Add mushrooms to leeks in bowl.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium high heat.  Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly for 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the milk and whisk constantly until the milk comes to a boil and thickens.  Add the gorgonzola and stir until smooth.  Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Preheat oven to 375°.  Oil a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Cover bottom with a single layer of pasta.  Cover pasta with 1/3 of the ricotta mixture.  Spread 1/3 of the mushroom leek mixture over ricotta.  Spread 1/3 of the cheese sauce over leeks.  Repeat with 2 more layers.  Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over the top of casserole.  Bake on top rack of oven until the surface is golden and bubbling around the edges, 40 to 60 minutes.  Remove and let stand 15 minutes before serving.

When seasons change, I always start thinking about dishes I will cook that I haven’t done in awhile. It’s finally what passes for winter in Texas now (4 days of increasingly moderate weather in the 60’s to 70’s followed by one or two -at most- of freezing temps with or without ice) and I’m thinking of winter foods. One that is a staple in my house is a Chicken Noodle Soup that has potatoes with the usual veggies and is creamy. I adapted it from a Cooking Light Soups and Stews book. Here goes.

Chicken Noodle Soup
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
6-8 cups fat free chicken broth
4 cups diced red potato
1/2 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 cup evaporated skim milk
4 oz. uncooked egg noodles

In a Dutch oven, saute onions, carrots, celery, and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper in oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes or until softened. Sprinkle with flour and poultry seasoning and stir for one minute. Add potato and enough broth to cover completely. Bring to a boil, lower heat and partially cover. Cook 20 minutes or until potato is tender. Add chicken, evaporated milk, and noodles and cook for 10 minutes or until noodles are cooked.

When I was with my family over Christmas, my Mom and I got to reminisce about the dinner parties we used to do for each other before she and my Dad moved to Kansas City. We would find wonderful recipes and really try to make the dinners elegant. We had such fun. She told me that she thought my Orange Chicken was one of the really good dishes she remembers. I hadn’t thought of it in years, so I came home and looked it up in the old New Orleans La Bonne Cuisine book from the 1970’s. The cover of my book is long since torn off so I don’t know the exact publication date, but my friend Will Crocker did all the photography in the book and that’s good enough that I’d want it even if it didn’t have some great recipes. The interesting thing about the book is that it’s a collection of recipes from local New Orleanians, as well as some from some of the famous restaurants. You have to be careful because some of the folks (on purpose?) were really vague and non-specific in their instructions, and I noticed a few seem to have missing ingredients. I’ve had to really soft shoe around some of them to make them work. But the Orange Chicken is great. I’ve done it with a whole chicken cut up and with only chicken breasts, and it works equally well with either.

Orange Chicken
Juice of 1 lemon
1 fryer chicken, cut up
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 teaspoon oregano

Pour the lemon juice over the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Let stand for 30 minutes. In a large skillet, heat the butter and olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and brown them skin side down. Turn the pieces over, add the orange juce, and sprinkle with oregano. Cook over low heat for 45 minutes until chicken is cooked and sauce has thickened. Serve over rice.

I’m going to go looking for more winter soups. They are always wonderful and homey. If I find any good ones, I’ll post. Enjoy!

It’s new year’s eve, and I’m finishing out the year exactly where I want to be - with LJ at the lake. It’s sunny, in the 50’s, and just beautiful. I’ve been pondering the year soon to be past, and like the others, there have good times and not so good.

We started the year on a very sad note, with our life-long friends Dot and Neill English dying within one day of each other in January. It was unexpected, untimely, and heartbreaking. They were only in their 70’s, and it was ironic that they died one day apart. They were inseparable in life; it’s only fitting that their end was the same.

In March, we celebrated my brother’s birthday with him and his wife here at the lake. It was a lovely weekend and made me very aware of how it seems Steve and I grow closer each year. It’s nice to have that kind of relationship with a brother.

April brought a huge thrill for LJ and me. One of our favorite jazz singers, Stacey Kent, and her husband, jazz saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, came to Edmond, Oklahoma. They headline Ronnie Scott’s in London and Birdland in New York City, and here they were coming to the University of Central Oklahoma of all places! We grabbed reservations and hightailed it. And they did not disappoint. They put on a beautiful show, and we met them and got CD’s signed after the show. If you’re not familiar with them, I highly recommend them.

In May, we took one of the trips a lifetime to Italy with LJ’s sister, Janet. We went to Rome, Tuscany and Bellagio. It was a beautiful journey and it was really good to spend it with Janet. I loved Rome, but San Gimignano and the surrounding area is still my favorite. I will say, though, that my only disappointment with Bellagio was that I didn’t run into Mr. Clooney. I’m sure he’s disappointed, too.

June brought our 39th wedding anniversary. We spent it at the lovely W Hotel with dinner at Lola. I still can’t believe it’s been that long. In some ways it only seems like a few years. I’m ready for many more.

October was a huge month. First, you know if you read this blog that October brought Hurricane Ike which wiped out Bolivar Peninsula and Crystal Beach. It still makes me tear up to think about it. However, we went with the Barnetts to Lake Murray, Oklahoma and had a wonderful time with them like we always do. We’re already talking about trying to get back to Galveston next year even though Crystal Beach is gone. And finally, we had the Hawkins cousins’ reunion at Country Woods Inn in Glen Rose. What a blast. And what a month!

November brought the best news of the year - the election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Even though the economy is tanking and the Middle East is teetering on annihilation, there is hope for the future.

I am finishing the year bittersweet. We spent Christmas with my family in Kansas City. While it was really wonderful to be with my Mom and my sisters and their families to celebrate, it is just too difficult to witness how Alzheimer’s destroys a human being from the core out. My Dad is no longer a person I know. It is painful to have your father ask what your name is and whether or not you finished college. I can only hope that this doesn’t drag on for long. As he said when we were there, “I am lost.” I don’t think he’ll be found again on this earth.

But life goes on, and tomorrow will be a new year. It will bring good and bad as it did this year, but it always brings new hopes. And that’s what keeps us all going. HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE.

My favorite new year’s dinner, Chili and Cornbread.

Beef Chili

3 T. vegetable oil
3 lb. ground chuck
3 yellow onions
8 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno
1/2 cup chili powder
2 T. cumin
1 T. oregano
2 t. coriander
1 1/2 cups lager beer
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can pinto beans (rinsed and drained)

Brown ground chuck in 2 tablespoons oil. Drain thoroughly. While meat is draining, saute onions, garlic and jalapeno in remaining oil. Add meat back to pan and add remaining ingredients (through beans) and stir completely. Simmer over low heat for at least one hour or more if desired.

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I’m sitting in the dining room in my lake house looking out at the lake as it rains like mad. It’s loud and windy and crazy wonderful! The rain is knocking all the gold and yellow leaves off the trees, and my big yard is just covered with them. I hope this goes on for hours.

Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch, and everyone was happily sated and napping by 3:00. LJ pronounced the turkey perfect and said this year’s cornbread dressing was the best ever. The pumpkin creme brulee will get asked back, too. It was a small, intimate celebration, but a very good one. And we got really great news right before dinner, too. LJ’s niece in Seattle called and they’re expecting their first baby. We’re really happy for them.

When we got to the lake today, I decided to turn on the TV to the only soap opera I’ve ever watched, The Days of Our Lives. I started watching it in college. Some girlfriends and I would have it on in our dorm room while we played bridge. Even as background noise, it was addictive. I’ve followed it ever since by reading the daily updates that run in the paper or on-line and watching it about twice a year. I’ve found I like to read about it better than watch it because it goes by faster and the acting’s better. Nothing’s changed, someone is lying about being pregnant and someone else has temporary amnesia. Miscommunication is rampant. Oh, what rainy day fun!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m now looking forward to 2 days of complete boredom. There’s no recipe today. We all need to go on a diet.

I am obsessive/compulsive when it comes to cooking for parties or at holidays.  I have been planning Thanksgiving for 3 weeks now.  I have gone through at least 3 different menus, and read recipes galore.  I compare techniques and ingredients and try to figure what’s going to work best for my situation.  Well, it’s the day before and I’m in serious mode now.  Here’s the final menu:

Cranberry Orange Salad

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Cornbread Dressing with Turkey Gravy

Haricots Vert with Roasted Shallots and Cremini Mushrooms

Ciabatta Rolls

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I did my big grocery shopping last Thursday so I wouldn’t have to fight a crowd.  I bought the things that would stay frozen or stay fresh until the Day.  This afternoon, I’ll go buy the perishables.  Then I’ll come home and make the creme brulees and the cornbread for the dressing, and then cook dinner for my mother-in-law who will be joining us.  For dinner tonight I’m having an Italian casserole with a green salad which is as far from traditional Thanksgiving as I could get.

Tomorrow morning, I’m making individual Quiche Lorraines with Stewed Fruit and Spiced Pumpkin Bread.  After breakfast I’ll put the shallots and mushrooms in to roast because they’ll only take about 20 minutes.  I’ll but the turkey in to roast after that, and while it’s cooking, I’ll mix up the cornbread dressing and par cook the haricots vert.  When the turkey comes out to rest, I’ll bake the dressing.  When it comes out, I’ll put the rolls in and toss the haricots vert, mushrooms and shallots in a skillet with melted butter just to reheat.  It should all come out at one time - with any luck at about 1:30.  After we eat that, I’ll let LJ dazzle us with his magic chef’s torch on the pumpkin creme brulee’s and then we’ll all waddle away from the table.  With any luck at all, the weather will be mild enough to let us take a walk in the afternoon.

I’m really looking forward to this.  I love Thanksgiving because it combines two of my favorite things, family and food.  I won’t have my family with me this year, but we’ll talk on the phone and moan about eating too much.  And we’ll have LJ’s mom, which is good.  I wish you and yours the best this year!

Pumpkin Crème Brulee

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 ½ tsp. freshly grated cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground allspice

½ tsp. freshly grated ginger

¾ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

5 egg yolks

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

6 Tbs. pumpkin puree

1/3 cup plus 4 tsp. granulated sugar

1 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 300°F. Have a pot of boiling water ready.

Pour the cream into a small saucepan and whisk in the cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg. Set over medium-low heat and warm the cream mixture until bubbles form around the edges of the pan and steam begins to rise from the surface, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, vanilla, salt, pumpkin puree, the 1/3 cup granulated sugar and the brown sugar until smooth and blended. Slowly pour in the cream mixture, stirring until blended. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Divide the mixture among four 8-fl.-oz. ramekins and place in a large baking pan. Add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the custards are just set around the edges, about 30 minutes.

Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.

Just before serving, sprinkle 1 tsp. granulated sugar evenly over the surface of each custard. Using a kitchen torch according to the manufacturer’s instructions, move the flame continuously in small circles over the surface until the sugar melts and lightly browns. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything.  Busy, lazy, lethargic, otherwise involved, you name it.  So anyway, what’s happened in the last 10 days?

The Obama Biden ticket won by a significant margin, leaving me happier about the election and the direction of this country than I have been in 8 years.  It truly is wonderful to have a president who can speak English and actually reads.  President elect Obama has a huge task in front of him, but I believe he has the intelligence and the demeanor to make the decisions and carry the influence necessary to make some long overdue changes in this country.

Next, as happy as I am about the presidential election outcome, I am just miserable about California’s Prop 8.  I know that eventually this will look as backward as laws against racially mixed marriages, but I was really hoping California would come through on this.  I have never understood anyone who believes that granting rights to another person could somehow diminish their own.  That’s small minded, backward thinking in my opinion.

I had a dinner party recently.  It went really well.  I had Asparagus & Leek Soup to start, Normandy Veal Chops with Apples and Calvados, and for dessert an Almond Tart.  It tasted delicious but I had to be really free with the garnishes or it would have been a completely white meal! 

Speaking of cooking, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and that’s my favorite time to cook.  I’ll be making pumpkin breads and zucchini breads to share with friends.  We’ll have a small Thanksgiving dinner with LJ’s mom, so I can’t decide if I will do just a turkey breast or Cornish game hens.  I’m open to suggestions.  Fire away.  I like to be at least partly old fashioned, but then I love to throw something in unexpected.  I’d like to be cooking for more than 3 people, but I think I’ll just make a big dinner and then take the leftovers to the lake and share them with friends.  After all, that’s what cooking is all about.

Recipe of the Day:  Normandy Veal Chops

4 Golden Delicious apples (about 7 oz. each) (I used Granny Smith and used 3 large)

5 tablespoons butter

4 veal chops, about 7 oz. each

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons calvados

¾ cup heavy cream or crème fraiche

Peel, core and quarter apples; divide each quarter into 3 slices.  Melt half the butter in a large skillet.  Add apples a cook over moderate heat for approximately 10 minute, turning after 5.  Remove and keep warm

Melt remaining butter and sauté veal over moderate heat for 5 minutes on each side.  Remove veal to pan with apples and keep warm.

Pour calvados into pan to deglaze and boil until reduced to a glaze.  Add cream and boil until reduced by half.

Arrange veal and apples on serving plate and drizzle with sauce.

Since Sophie asked for the pulled pork recipe, here it is.  I’ll give you the recipe the way I got it first, then I’ll tell you how I actually did it.  I have a problem following recipes exactly.

SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK

2 ½ lb. pork shoulder, trimmed

McCormick’s pork rub

1 large onion, sliced

1 cup barbecue sauce (your favorite commercial kind will do)

½ cup yellow mustard (I used Dijon)

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup chicken broth

Juice of one lime

The night before you cook the pork, rub it all over with the pork rub.  Cover and refrigerate over night.

The next morning:  Layer onion in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Place pork shoulder over onions.  Mix together all remaining ingredients and pour over pork.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove it to a Pyrex 13×9 dish, cover and refrigerate over night.  The next day, put it into a 200° oven 2 or 3 hours before serving and baste every hour until time to serve.  Pull apart with a fork and spoon sauce over pork.

Since I didn’t have McCormick’s rub, I made my own with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, and chili powder.  I rubbed the pork down and put it in the fridge about 6:00 in the evening.  At 10:30, I took it out and put it in the slow cooker with the marinade as directed and cooked it over night.  The next morning, I put it in the dish and covered and refrigerated until about 3:00 in the afternoon.  I then put it in the 200 degree oven and slowly let it warm while we went out on a boat.  When we got back around 6:00, it was ready to pull and serve.  I spooned some of the sauce over the pulled pork and poured the rest in a bowl for those who wanted extra on their sandwiches.  Boy, was it good.  It was really good leftover the next few days, too.