Stir-Fried Corn and Broccoli

Menu: Broiled Tilapia; Sweet Potato Crinkle Fries; Stir-Fried Corn and Broccoli; Watermelon

Lessons learned:

1. The Alexia sweet potato crinkle fries are pretty delicious.  Not cheap.  But delicious.
2. Two ears of corn to one regular broccoli stalk would be a good ratio; I wasn't sure so I used three.

Stir-Fried Corn and Broccoli, adapted from Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges

Vegetable oil

Fresh sweet corn cut from 2 ears

1 stalk of broccoli, cut into small florets

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (if you like heat, you could use a spicier pepper, which is what the original recipe called for)

1 large garlic clove, minced

About 2 teaspoons of pickled lemongrass from those squeeze tubes in the produce section

Soy sauce

Heat a skillet over high heat.  Add a small amount of oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  When it's smoking, add the corn, broccoli, and pepper.  Leave it still for about a minute so it has a chance to brown, then toss it with a spatula and leave it to brown for about another minute.  Add the garlic and lemongrass and mix it in evenly.  Add 1/4 cup of water to the pan to cook the broccoli  a bit more, stirring the mixture constantly now.  When the water has cooked off, take the broccoli off the heat and sprinkle on soy sauce to taste.  If the broccoli isn't cooked enough for your taste, you can cover your pan for about a minute to steam it some more.

This makes enough for two adults plus two kids who don't eat much of it.  I'd double it if I were serving four adults.

Broiled Tomatoes with Pesto and Mozzarella

Menu: Farfalle with Black Pepper and Cheese; Broiled Tomatoes with Pesto and Mozzarella; Cucumber Grape Salad with Herbed Croutons

Lessons learned:

1. This might be one of the few occasions in which fresh mozzarella isn't ideal.
2. My son likes cucumbers!

Dear fresh tomatoes of summer,

My love for you is deep and true.  I adore you straight from the vine, chopped in a salad, sliced on sandwiches, tossed with pasta, blended into a smooth fresh sauce.  Whether you're paired with cheese, dressed with oil and vinegar, seasoned with soy, or wearing nothing at all, you are divine.  I would eat you smothered in pesto:

And topped with fresh mozzarella:

Sadly, my family doesn't understand my passion for you.  My daughter wants nothing to do with you, and my husband and son will only tolerate cooked tomatoes.  So tonight, you go under the broiler.  It's the only way we can be together.

Je t'aime.

Golden Roasted Potatoes

I'm having camera issues over here, so I can photograph neither my food nor my son rocking various pairs of Mama's heels.

Yesterday we made our second trip to the Thursday afternoon organic farmers' market.  If you haven't been over there, I definitely encourage it.  They're really trying to grow (not to mention keep the farmers they have), and can only do that if there's traffic.  It's in the shade, too!  Yesterday we got free samples of chocolate goat milk ice cream (which Ben enthusiastically deemed "nummy") and black-eyed pea bread (THAT is why I love farmers' markets; there's always something I've never heard of).  I bought some green beans, blackberries, red leaf lettuce, and some beautiful big new potatoes.  The guy told me I had to make them that night to really capture their flavor, and I said no problem.

So here is my favorite potato recipe, which I made last night.  It's good anytime from breakfast to dinner, and it works anywhere from a barbecue to a baby shower.  And it's super simple.  Normally I use Yukon Golds, but I used the new potatoes last night and they were delicious, too.  Since the potatoes are only flavored with butter, oil, salt, and pepper, the key is to go for it on all four; take the following measurements as minimums.  Don't try to make this healthier than it should be!

Golden Roasted Potatoes, adapted from Gourmet magazine

1.5 pounds potatoes, Yukon Gold are best
2 tablespoons melted butter
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste (I like to use Kosher), at least 1/2 teaspoon
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Garlic powder (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350.  The original recipe says to peel the potatoes, but I see no reason to as long as you clean them thoroughly.  Slice them as thin as you can, within reason.  I mean, don't spend 5 seconds per slice or anything.  Someday I'll get myself a mandoline, but until then I can get my slices pretty thin by hand.  Just do your best.

Put the slices in a mixing bowl and combine them with the butter, oil, salt, and pepper.  Stir them around for as long as it takes to really get each slice coated with fat and seasoning, maybe a minute or so.  Spread them out in a pan; for this amount you could use either 8x8" or 9x13".  I like the larger one since my favorite potatoes are the ones that get brown, and the bigger pan means there are more of those.  If you want, you can sprinkle some garlic powder across the top of the potatoes here, too.  Cover them and bake for 20 minutes, then increase the oven temperature to 450 and take the cover off.  Bake for about another 20-30 minutes, or until the top looks brown enough to you.

Serves 4.

Fast and Loose with Substitutions (Gingered Snow Peas)

Menu: Black Pepper Shrimp with "Sun-Dried" Pineapple; Snow Peas with Ginger Butter

Lessons learned:

1. Oven-drying fruit: I can't WAIT to buy my next pineapple!
2. Mashed black beans in stir-fries: surprisingly tasty.
3. Ginger fried in butter: unsurprisingly tasty.

I almost never make a recipe as written, even if it's my first time.  I make changes according to what I happen to have on hand, what shortcuts might be possible, and what has worked for me in the past.  This approach isn't for everyone, obviously, but sometimes it ends up going too far even for me.

Last night, I endeavored to prepare a fantastic-looking recipe from a great cookbook I found recently at the library, Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges (Vongerichten).  My thought process as I scanned the ingredient list before shopping was, unfortunately, as follows:

"Pineapple?  Those are $5 each.  I already have some mangoes.  Vegetable oil?  Check.  Scallions?  John doesn't like onions, so I'll just cut some chives from the garden and sprinkle them on my portion.  Ginger?  Check.  Garlic?  Check.  Black peppercorns?  Check.  Fermented black beans?  Ummmmm... I have regular black beans.  I'll just use those.  Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)?  Huh?  I'll just use half soy sauce and half rice vinegar or something like that.  Regular soy sauce?  Check?  Lime juice?  Check.  Sugar and salt?  Check.  Shrimp?  Check.  Jicama?  I've always wanted to try one of those!  [Later at the store: 'gross, the two jicamas they have are both moldy!  I have some carrots at home.']  Baby pea shoots?  I'm going to pretend I didn't see that."

As you might expect, what I ended up with was very different than the beautiful picture in the book.  It was definitely edible, but next time I think I'll make a real attempt to cook the recipe as directed (probably still minus pea shoots, though).

The most interesting thing about this recipe is the oven-dried pineapple.  The intro says it is "amazing," so I decided I would try it with the mango.  It really was good: all that sweet flavor without the messy juice.  I think it really will be fantastic with pineapple.  I can't wait!

I also tried another recipe for preparing my snow peas.  This is one of those really simple ones that I don't know why I couldn't have come up with myself.  Melt some butter in a frying pan, then throw in about a tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger and wait for it to brown a little bit.  It tastes like candy!  Toss your veggies in it, then grate some lemon zest over that and sprinkle with a little salt.  Very nice.

Pesto Potato Salad

Menu: Pesto Potato Salad; Broiled Tilapia; Garlic Bread

Lessons learned:

1. Putting some parsley in your pesto really helps to keep it looking bright green.  When my pesto darkens, I cry a little inside.
2. Don't forget to leave some salad components unpestoed for the kids.  Ben liked pesto last year, but since then I think he has learned that green things are yucky, so he wouldn't try any of this.

 I LOVE this salad.  I discovered it last year in my Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook.  Their version includes hard-boiled eggs, but that goes a little overboard to me, so instead I just use a lot more fresh mozzarella than they call for.  I also use a different pesto recipe (from Williams-Sonoma's Sauces cookbook), since it's a perfect balance and I don't want to mess with that.

Unfortunately, I'm the only one in my house who gets excited about fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and pesto.  But you know what, people?  That's what summer is about for me.  I know fresh corn is the standard crop for the season, and a grilled cob with a compound butter is hard to beat.  Except if you're me and you have fresh tomatoes and basil growing right in your back yard.  I waited for this all winter.

Tilapia has been a big hit lately.  I've got the prep down and it's super easy: I put an oven rack as high as it'll go and preheat the broiler on high.  I grease my grill pan and lay the fillets on it, then sprinkle them liberally with salt, white pepper, garlic, powdered lemon peel, and paprika.  Stick them right under the broiler for 5 or 6 minutes and they're ready to go.  I know they would be fabulous with some sort of remoulade or a drizzle of something... not that they need it!  These days I'm trying to find ways to make less effort, not more.  There's probably something I could buy if I got down off my high horse about prepared foods...

Pesto Pasta Salad

4 medium potatoes (Yukon Gold is usually what I have), cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
About a pint of cherry or plum tomatoes, halved
About 6 ounces of good fresh mozzarella (I like the little balls), halved

For the pesto:
2 ounces pecorino romano chese
1/4 cup pine nuts
2-3 cloves garlic
2 cups packed fresh herbs: mostly basil, but about 3 tablespoons parsley for color
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Boil a medium pot of water and add the potatoes.  Cook them just until they're easily pierced with a fork, maybe about 7 minutes?  I forgot to time it, and the recipe doesn't say.  Remove the potatoes from the water with a strainer, but keep your water boiling for the green beans.  Boil the green beans for about 3-4 minutes so that they're cooked but still have a little crunch to them.  Let the potatoes and green beans cool off, maybe in the fridge if you're pressed for time.

Put the cheese, pine nuts, garlic, and herbs into the small bowl of a food processor and turn it on.  Slowly pour the oil in through the feed in the lid as the machine runs.  Let it go until the mixture has a sauce-like consistency; no big chunks.  Pause every now and then to push down anything sticking to the sides of the bowl.

Toss immediately with the potatoes, green beans, and tomatoes.  Add the delicate cheese at the end and toss again gently.  Done!

Tropical Rice Salad

It might appear to some that I'm obsessed with rice salads.  I don't think it's anything clinical, but I do seem to make them a lot.  They're basically just a cold version of the fried rice I used to make all the time.  Some people really don't like cold food; I am obviously not one of them.  In many cases -- fruits and vegetables, meat and seafood, breads and other baked goods -- I'd rather have things just barely cooked, if not raw.

Anyway, about that rice salad.  This is another one inspired by Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  After seeing a whole bunch of other vegetarian cookbooks yesterday at the library, I'm even more aware of what a wonderful collection he came up with.  I think the fact that he's not vegetarian himself may be part of why I like it so much; we have similar taste preferences.

He suggests combining tropical fruit -- pineapples and mango -- with macadamia nuts.  I spent a long time not liking nuts at all, so I had actually never had those.  I thought I might try cashews in this dish, but I decided that even at $17/pound, my weekly budget would allow me to buy just a few macadamias and give them a try tonight.  I tasted one before I ground them up to put in the salad, and seriously thought twice about putting them in.  They tasted like peanuts, only harder and nuttier.  But I went ahead anyway.  What an amazing effect they have in combination with sweetness!  I guess that's why you see them so often in desserts.

Another surprise was the brown rice.  In my cooking, brown rice tends to be just a healthier substitute for the starchier kinds that everyone likes better.  But this time, the brown rice combined with the chopped macadamias and some coconut to create a really nice nutty complement to the extra-sweet tropical fruits.  (By the way, I also bought a papaya to add.  Definitely not worth it... the pineapple and mango were more than enough.)

I wish I had added a little cilantro or, as MB suggested, mint, but I didn't think of it and I'm sure the rest of my family is quite happy that I didn't.  Oh well.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I made enough for at least four people, so there is a lot of this left over and rice unfortunately does not save well... unless you're planning to stir-fry it!  I can't wait.

Tropical Rice Salad

2 cups brown rice
1/4 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 mango, peeled, cored, and cubed
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/4 shredded coconut
1/3 cup dressing of your choice (I used champagne citrus vinaigrette)

Cook the rice well before serving time, and let it cool.  Mix in the rest of the ingredients, and enjoy.

Thai Rice Salad

Menu: Vegetable Potstickers; Thai Rice Salad

Lessons learned:

1. I don't even miss the meat in these potstickers.
2. It's not that Ben stopped liking rice.  He just doesn't want to eat it with his fingers anymore.  I guess that's reasonable.

I don't remember the last time I enjoyed a Sunday this much.  And it was really because of everything I didn't do.  Didn't do chores.  Didn't run errands.  John made us breakfast!  Then we went running, then out to lunch at Chipotle.  Then we just hung out for the rest of the day.  I actually enjoyed just sitting on the couch and watching golf.  For like three minutes, I sat there and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Then I decided to go make the potstickers early so they'd be ready whenever we wanted dinner.  I was in a great mood when I started making them.  After a while, though, I was like "is it me or is this taking forever?"  Turns out I had made 64 of them.  That's cool, so I guess I made enough for next time, too!  Today was awesome.

I looked at a couple of different recipes for vegetable potstickers and just ended up winging it.  I crumbled up some firm tofu, then put some broccoli, carrots, bok choy, onions, and garlic in the food processor.  Mixed it all up with some ginger and an egg.  After that, same deal as usual.  But I did give them their own pretty plate this time.  They were really good, but I need to fiddle with the filling a little.  When I find the right configuration, I'll post it.

I also made another rice salad tonight, Thai-inspired.  It was actually quite popular over here.  I think it could be its own entree if you're in the mood for a light meal.

Tonight, Sophie's dinner was a quarter of a pear and some milk.  She had a small snack of pretzels after her nap, which she ate after she made them walk around and talk to each other for a while.  She didn't eat anything for lunch besides her leftover Cheerios from breakfast.  She did eat some French toast at breakfast along with her Cheerios.  I will not stress about this.  I will not stress about this.  I will not...

Thai Rice Salad
OK, this is my official recipe.  However, tonight instead of making the dressing below, I decided to finish off the cilantro-lime vinaigrette I made several days ago since I didn't know how long it would keep.

2 cups sushi rice
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons fish sauce
Juice from 1 lime
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons minced lemongrass
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 Asian pear, chopped (tonight I used one of the Bartlett pears that New Leaf had on sale last week)
1 cucumber, chopped
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1/2 cup chopped peanuts, or more to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

At least two hours before serving time, cook the rice and refrigerate.  Make the dressing by whisking together the water, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, lemongrass, and pepper.  Mix the pear and cucumber into the rice and add 3/4 of the dressing.  Mix in the avocado, peanuts and cilantro, and finish with the remaining dressing.

Makes about 4 servings.

UPDATE: I think sushi rice may taste the best, but when I'm just making it for us on a weeknight, I usually use brown rice because it's healthier and works pretty well here.

French-Style Rice Salad

Menu: Japanese-Style Egg Rolls; French-Style Rice Salad

Lessons learned:

1. If the herbs are big enough for my husband to pick out, he'll take the time to do it.
2. Sophie loves these egg rolls.  Thank goodness!

I know this menu sounds strange, or at least awkwardly international.  Both recipes are from HTCEV, which is full of variations on themes -- that's what I love about that cookbook -- and often those variations are sensibly named after a national cooking style.  He's got to call them something.  But if you don't think about what the food you're eating might be named -- as my family doesn't -- then it turns out the menu isn't strange at all.

We've been eating outside lately.  The kids eat at their little table in the grass, and John and I sit on the futon couch that we never ended up bringing back inside.  It's nice to get out of the heat of the kitchen after I've cooked in it and sit under the fans we have on the ceiling of our back porch.  After being sick so many days, it's also nice to get some fresh air.

You know, the only thing that seems slightly odd about this pairing is the soy sauce in the egg rolls.  Next time I might just replace it with extra broth and layer some brie into the rolled crepes.  Why didn't I think of that last night?  I even have some brie!

On the other hand, everyone loves these eggs.  It's hard to want to mess around with that.

French-Style Rice Salad (adapted from HTCEV by Mark Bittman)

Long-grain white rice, cooked and cooled
Green beans, trimmed, cut into 1" pieces, and steamed briefly
Radishes, halved and sliced thin
Carrots, shredded (I only had teeny tiny baby carrots, so this was annoying even though it looked pretty)
Slivered almonds
Fresh tarragon (didn't have any, so I used some lemon thyme from my garden instead, which my husband picked right back out)
Chives
Citrus-champagne vinaigrette (made from citrus-champagne vinegar, a Good Seasons dressing packet, and olive oil)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Toss all ingredients together in amounts that suit you!

Cold Sesame Peanut Noodles

Intended Menu: Scented Fish Salad; Cold Sesame Peanut Noodles

Actual Menu: Scented Fish; Random Salad; Cold Sesame Peanut Noodles

Lessons learned:

1. Just because it's at New Leaf Market doesn't mean it's a responsible purchase.  If you check out the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's sustainable seafood guide -- provided right on the New Leaf website! -- it says to avoid Gulf Red Snapper.  So why do they sell it?
2. At some point, enough substitutions make a dish completely unrecognizable.

I'm still feeling quite lousy, but this is Day Three and at some point you have to start tending to at least some of your responsibilities again.  Last night my husband gave me a break by staying home from work in the morning and cooking his specialty for dinner, pasta with tomato sauce and Italian sausage.  He even got Publix's Greenwise Italian chicken sausage instead of whatever he would have gotten when we were younger (probably Johnsonville).  It was a lot like the pizza we'd had the previous night and there was no vegetable dish, but someone besides me cooked it and it was delicious.

My kids aren't really eating.  It's not just that they're not trying things at dinner, but they're even abandoning crackers, bread, and apples at the table.  Sophie has barely eaten anything in days.  I'm trying very hard not to stress about it, because she isn't asking for other food and doesn't seem to be uncomfortable.  Maybe they are both coming down with my cold and just don't feel like eating?

After two days shacked up in the house, I took the kids to New Leaf Market, mostly for some produce.  I'm still trying to understand the availability of mangoes and avocados in this region, because all of a sudden they are more expensive again (both priced at $2 each at NLM).  I would think that they would be more in season in warmer weather, but no?

I needed to get fish, and saw that the snapper in NLM's seafood section was $2 off.  I knew it was risky not to get it from a fish market and I wondered why it was marked down as well, but not feeling well, I was happy not to have to make a separate trip so I took the chance.  The fish turned out to be tasty, but looking it up later I see that it's not harvested sustainably.  I really wish that by shopping at New Leaf, I could feel confident that what I'm buying is at least somewhat environmentally responsible and sustainable.  I sort of thought that was the whole point of the co-op, and I'm willing to pay more for that confidence.  But just like at any other store, it turns out I have to do all my own research.  It does frustrate me.

There's a recipe for Scented Fish Salad in my Thai cookbook, and it looks great.  However, it called for cucumber, mangoes, and something called pitaya, also called dragon fruit.  None of these were available to me, but I figured that I could ad-lib it a little bit and I'd get the idea.  Well, what I ended up with was some lettuce, tomato, and apples which I still tried to dress with a coconut-lime dressing (my standard cilantro-lime vinaigrette with some leftover coconut milk whisked in).  It didn't taste bad.  Well, actually I really don't know since I honestly can't taste much right now.  But I'm pretty sure it wasn't disgusting.  Not yummy, though, either.  Just kind of weird.

The fish, though, was quite good.  I cut it into strips and marinated it in some spices: ground coriander, fennel, cumin, and garlic, plus some sugar and oil.  It was supposed to go on top of the salad, but it seemed like it would just wilt the lettuce, which I hate, especially when all I can really sense right now is texture.  So we just ate the fish by itself, and it was yummy.  Tilapia is a "best choice" according to Monterrey Bay Aquarium, and I think this way of preparing it would work just fine with that fish.

I've been wanting to try this peanut noodle recipe from HTCEV for a long time, especially since my husband seems to like anything prepared with peanut butter.  It's super easy, and I ended up doing a blend of tahini (sesame paste) and peanut butter so as not to be overwhelmed by the latter flavor.  Recipe below.  If you use regular semolina noodles instead of egg noodles, it's vegan.

Cold Sesame Peanut Noodles

8 ounces Chinese egg noodles or other long pasta, like linguine
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1/2 cup tahini, peanut butter, or a combination
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced pickled ginger
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Chile sauce to taste (we left this out for the kids, although I might add some on the leftovers to clear my sinuses!)
1 large or 2 small zucchinis (original called for cucumbers, but there were locally-grown zucchinis at NLM) 
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup minced garlic chives (I forgot these, unfortunately...use scallions if you prefer)

Cook the noodles as directed on the package.  When they're done, run them under cold water and/or toss them with ice cubes.

Meanwhile, mix together the oil, paste(s), sugar, soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile sauce.  Toss the cold noodles with the mixture, then peel the zucchini and grate it into the noodles.  Toss again, then garnish with black pepper and chives.

Makes about 6 side servings.

Bean Salad with Corn and Tomatoes

Well, looks like I was wrong about having no more dinner guests for a while.  I'm happy to be; I love having people over.  And now that we are mostly meatless, my husband is all the more eager to take hosting opportunities so he can grill some meat, like a man!  He invited over a colleague and his wife, who is due to have a baby this month so we figure we probably won't be seeing them much in the near future.

John and I had another one of our little discussions before our dinner, sparked by his realization that the local, grass-fed ground beef I get costs $7 a pound.  I don't mean to trivialize things; it's just that neither of us ever says anything new.  The gist is that my husband is a nostalgic person who has, for pretty much his whole life, thought of grilled burgers as a delicious and cheap meal, and he is still in mourning for the loss of that second attribute.  He believes me that cows' digestive systems aren't designed to process corn, that it makes them sick and more prone to E. coli and "superbugs" that are resistant to antibiotics, and generally fills their increasingly short lives with pain and discomfort.  And tonight his colleague, who grew up on a farm, told him that grass-fed beef contains more nutrients as well.  It's just that there was a time when we would grill burgers every weekend and think nothing of it.  (Yes, I am aware that this is the second weekend in a row we've grilled burgers! It's unusual.)

John made a point about how if we had less money, we wouldn't be able to shell out for ground beef like that.  I told him that if we had less money, I wouldn't be buying cheaper beef; I just wouldn't be buying beef.  To be clear, this is a perspective I've worked up to over the course of about two years.  When we go to a restaurant, I still try to avoid beef (and other meat), but sometimes I do have it and in those cases I'm sure it's corn-fed.  So this is not an issue about which I have any standing to be self-righteous.  Food choices are intensely personal, as my kids teach me every day.  Unfortunately, we have mostly lost our ability to make those choices based on information about how that food is produced.  The results are worsening health, environmental damage, and prolonged suffering for millions of animals, some of which are more intelligent than the dogs we keep as pets.  I can't live with that, so I'm trying to be the change I want to see in the world.  It is not easy.

It's especially not easy because I can pretty much count on my kids to eat meat when it's served to them, so that's just one more reason I like burger night: it always makes me happy when my kids eat dinner.  Tonight, Sophie ate her meat, the bun, pineapple chunks, and some strawberries that John's colleague brought for dessert.  Ben did much better, as usual: he ate his meat, his bun, pineapple chunks, some guacamole, and some cheese.  Oh, and we had chips, too... and then ice cream after that.  It was a good night for the kids.

I also made this bean salad with corn and tomatoes from allrecipes.com, recommended to me by my friend Daniela!  I didn't make it exactly as written, and I probably should have.  The dressing looked like a cilantro-lime vinaigrette that I already had made, so I just used that instead of mixing up a new one.  But this recipe calls for some sugar that I think was missing in my version.  It was still very fresh tasting, and a great substitute for that second burger I might have eaten!  Very filling, though.  I don't think the four adults even got through half of it.  I guess I know what I'm having for lunch this week.

Tomato Rice Salad

Menu: Deviled Eggs; Tomato Rice Salad; Peas with Butter and Cheese

Lessons learned:

1. Egg filling is Ben's new favorite food.
2. Tomato rice salad is my new favorite food.

Thank goodness that despite using no recipes tonight, I was able to make up for last night's bust.  I figured I'd change up our egg night a little tonight by making deviled eggs.  These are usually an hors d'oevre, but I have absolutely no problem eating appetizers and small plates as a meal -- as long as there are enough of them!

I boiled my eggs and cooked my rice this afternoon so they'd both be cool by dinnertime.  My mom says she has the perfect method for hard-boiling eggs: you cover them with about an inch of water in a pan, bring it to a boil, and as soon as it's boiling you take the pan off the heat and cover it for EXACTLY 18 MINUTES, then run them under cold water to stop the cooking.  I've never taken this too seriously because I couldn't really picture an overdone boiled egg.  Well, I think I can now.  They still tasted totally fine, but the yolks, whites, and shells all stuck together a little more than I'm used to.  Also, the ones I made tonight were noticeably denser-tasting than the ones I grew up on.  So I guess next time I'll be more careful.

Here's how I make deviled eggs: I boil the eggs as described above and peel them.  Then I cut them in half length-wise, gently remove the yolks so as not to tear the whites, and put the yolks in a bowl with a generous amount of Miracle Whip, a stingy amount of dijon mustard, some salt, and some pepper.  (Sorry, I'm not good with amounts; I just put things in until it tastes right.)  Then I fill the egg whites back up with a dollop of yolk mixture and sprinkle with sweet paprika.  Yum!

The tomato rice salad is an idea from HTCEV that I've been wanting to try for a while, but haven't because it seemed risky.  The experiment was about the dressing: I threw about 1/8 of an onion, a medium tomato, a handful of orange mint, salt, pepper, and about 1/3 cup olive oil into my blender and pressed go.  It was actually really delicious!

 Tonight I made it with white rice to be safe, but next time I think I'll do brown.  Also, I think it would be fine to substitute some water for oil to cut down on fat, since the dressing is for rice and not vegetables.  That would also thin it out a little bit: it was fine once it was on the rice, but right out of the blender it was very viscous -- a little disconcerting.

The last change I would make is that the peas could really have just been mixed into the tomato rice salad instead of being served on their own.  Some grated carrots would be nice, too.

John really liked the eggs.  He ate his rice before I put the dressing on it, partly because he just loves plain white rice and partly because he was very skeptical about liking a dressing that was made of onion, tomatoes, and herbs, none of which he particularly likes.  Ben liked the dressed rice ok, but he mostly ignored it because he was absolutely obsessed with the eggs -- the filling, specifically.  I finally had to cut him off.

The only problem was Sophie.  There was literally nothing involved in this dinner that she was even willing to taste.  I would love to make this again, but that is a real problem.  I guess next time I will put the veggies in the rice and just have a fruit salad... we needed some sweetness to balance the flavors anyway.

Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Bacon, and Mozzarella

Menu: Tomato Bread Soup; Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Bacon, and Mozzarella

Lessons learned:

1. Sometimes it's just faster to eat soup with your hands.
2. There are occasions to fry basil leaves.

Four years ago, I marked the recipe for this soup in a Williams-Sonoma cookbook about Florentine cuisine that I got for my wedding.  I don't usually get very excited about soup, so I'm not sure why this one got my attention.  But I finally got around to making it tonight.

It was ok.  You saute onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, and then add tomato paste and tomatoes.  Then you add toasted bread and water and boil it down, and finally finish it with basil oil and fried basil.  This is what you get:

It was actually much tastier than it looks.  It kind of looks like... well, I'll just let you use your imagination if you're so inclined.  The texture was off-putting.  I think I could make it look and taste a lot better, so I'll be trying it again with better bread, some wine, a little parmesan, and possibly more fresh herbs.  The basil oil and fried basil were interesting.  I think I'll keep them around on the next attempt.

It took me several minutes to plan what I was going to make with it.  Breaded eggplant would be great, but it's not in season yet.  Anything with pesto would also work, but I just planted my basil and there isn't enough to make pesto.  I finally decided on a salad using a bunch of extra stuff I had around: arugula from my garden, some bacon, fresh mozzarella, strawberries left over from yesterday's pie, and pine nuts with balsamic vinaigrette.  Generally, my intent is to save meat for special occasions, and I know there's no way I can spin it so that tonight qualifies.  Sorry, hard-core vegetarians, but every now and then I must make an exception for bacon.  And yes, I also realize this is the third night in a row I've used strawberries.  They're not in season very long here, so I'm making the most of it.

I had some nice cross-pollination, if you will, going on between the two dishes, too.  I used bacon grease to cook the veggies for the soup, and I mixed up the balsamic vinaigrette using the basil oil from the soup.

No John again.  I got the kids' plates set up with bread and the salad components, and gave them each a teeny bowl of soup.  By the time I got my own food (and wine) ready, Sophie had already eaten and left and Ben had left his chair to see what was good on Sophie's side of the table.  He had finished off his soup, trying to use his spoon at first but having better luck with his hands.  As he walked around the table, I noticed that his shorts were completely soaked through.  Not with pee.  With poop.  Off to the bathtub we went right quick.

When we were done in the bathroom, I noticed that somebody had torn our U.S. map off the wall, which meant that the pushpin holding it in place had to be on the floor somewhere.  That's not ok with toddlers around.  So with my dinner still waiting for me on the table, I searched fruitlessly all over the carpet for said solitary pushpin, finally giving up in the hope that if I couldn't find it, neither could they.  I went back to the table to eat my dinner alone.  Well, not completely alone.  I had my wine.

The salad was actually quite good, so the recipe follows.  Please know that I am not one for exact measurements, so the amounts listed are approximations.

Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Bacon, and Mozzarella

1 cup fresh-picked arugula, no stems
1/2 pound strawberries, quartered
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella, chopped
1/2 pound bacon, cooked, drained, and torn into bite-size pieces*
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 cup raspberry balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4-1/3 cup basil oil or regular extra-virgin olive oil

Combine the arugula, strawberries, mozzarella, and bacon in a serving bowl.  In a small mixing bowl, combine the vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Emulsify the oil into the vinegar by drizzling it in slowly while whisking as quick as you can.  Pour the dressing over the salad, toss, and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Makes just enough to serve two.

*I already had bacon in the house, but if I were shopping specifically for this salad, I'd spring for some pancetta or prosciutto.

Some variations I think would be good:

Replace the strawberries with cantaloupe, OR
Skip the bacon and pine nuts, and replace the mozzarella with goat cheese and parmesan.