Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Okay.  Everyone says you should plate your food in a white bowl so that it shines on its own.  Today I did not do that because the only bowl I could get to was this one.  I think Ina’s couscous looks just fine in a colorful bowl.  I am having some issues right now.  My kitchen is out of service due to a major leak under the sink.  David is working on it, but it has turned into a long, long …. process.

I have been washing dishes in the bathroom and trying to avoid his work area.  That is one of the reasons that Ina’s couscous sounded like a good choice for dinner; minimal sink time and easy cooking.  What makes it different from the original recipe is the use of Israeli couscous. Israeli couscous is larger and alternately called pearled couscous. I have paired the couscous dish with my Apricot Chicken, which is another easy recipe.  Just put it in the oven on a foil lined baking pan and you are done.  I have broccoli ready to steam on the stove and dinner will be ready.  My kitchen is a mess, but at least we will eat well.

I kinda think this looks like a work of art, but then I am probably a little punchy from cooking on the fly.  Hopefully dinner will be good.  David is still under the sink.  I have done my best and so has he.  Unfortunately, the work will continue for a while.  Take-out tomorrow night sounds like a good idea.

INA GARTEN’S CURRIED COUSCOUS RE-INVENTED

1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup small-diced carrots
1/2 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins
1/4 cup blanched, sliced almonds
2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1/4 cup small-diced red onion
Directions

Melt the butter in the boiling water and add the couscous. Cover tightly and cook the couscous on low for 8 to 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Place couscous in a large bowl.

Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, vinegar, curry, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Pour over the fluffed couscous, and mix well with a fork. Add the carrots, parsley, currants, almonds, scallions, and red onions, mix well, and season to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Printable recipe

We had the perfect warming soup for the snowy weather that descended on the Southern States.  This winter will surely go down in the history books as one of the coldest and crippling on record.  Schools throughout NC were cancelled from Wednesday onward through the week.  If we had been home in Florida, we would have missed the snowy weather, but we also would have missed spending time with the Grand Kids.  Snow is more fun with kids.

It is a North Carolina tradition to let the three, four and seven year olds clear the driveways of snow.  Or so it would appear from this picture.  Our Grandson Cameron is clearing his driveway while the neighbor boys are clearing theirs.

The trees were covered with ice and we were lucky that we did not lose power.

The tortilla soup that Kristen made was just what we needed to keep the chill away.  She served it with a delicious jalapeno cornbread.  Kristen has a way of taking a basic recipe and making it her own.  The original tortilla soup recipe came from The Neiman Marcus Cookbook.  She added the chilies and adjusted the seasoning.

TORTILLA SOUP

Ingredients:

• 3tbsp. olive oil

• 1 medium onion – large dice

• 1 poblano + 1 cubanelle pepper (or any peppers you wish) – large dice

• 3 garlic cloves – diced

• 1 tsp. coriander

• 1 tsp. cumin

• 1 can chopped green chiles

• 1 28 oz. can peeled tomatoes, chop tomatoes into small pieces

• 1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

• 6 oz. of reduced fat cream cheese (¾ of a block)

• 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

• 1 cup of half and half

• 4 tbsp. lemon juice

• julienned corn tortilla strips (for garnish)

• cilantro – chopped (for garnish)

• green onions – chopped (for garnish)

Instructions:

Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions, season with salt & pepper and saute for about 5 minutes.  Add peppers, season again with salt and pepper and saute for another 5-10 minutes over medium heat.

Add garlic, coriander and cumin and saute until fragrant – 1 to 2 minutes.

Add green chiles, tomatoes, black beans and cook mixture until some of the liquid evaporates (about 8-10 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to medium low and add cream cheese.  Stir until cream cheese is completely melted.  Add chicken broth and half-n-half and cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.

Ladle into bowls and top with tortilla strips, then cilantro and green onions.

Optional soup additions: chicken, sausage (or chicken sausage!), noodles, corn, etc… if desired to soup.  Avocado would also be a nice addition to this soup!

Other Notes: pairs well with corn bread.

Printable recipe

Whether you make your own pizza dough or get a store-bought round of dough, there is nothing easier than this focaccia.  With a simple topping of red onion shards, olive oil, rosemary and Parmesan cheese, you can have a special bread on the table in no time.  It is also adaptable.  With ingredients like pizza sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni you could turn it into a deep-dish pizza.

I bought a round of multi-grain pizza dough from Publix.   The cast iron skillet is preheated in the oven before adding the dough so that it develops a nice brown crust on the bottom.  We will be making this again with variations.

We are in North Carolina until Saturday.  A snow and ice storm is heading our way.  Hopefully we will not lose power.  Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.  Perhaps you could serve this special bread with whatever special meal you are planning.

CAST-IRON SKILLET FOCACCIA (Recipe adapted from Jamie Deen)

One 1-pound package store-bought pizza dough
All-purpose flour for dusting
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Place a 12-inch cast-iron skillet on the center rack as it preheats.  Bring the pizza dough to room temperature.

Dust the counter-surface with flour.  Stretch out the dough to a 12-inch circle.  I rolled it with a rolling pin dipped in flour.  Drizzle the hot skillet lightly with just 1 tablespoon of oil.  Lift up the skillet by the handle and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan completely.

Add the dough to the hot skillet and carefully stretch it to go halfway up the sides.  Press your fingers into the dough to make small indents.  Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, the red onions and rosemary.  Top with the freshly grated Parmesan.

Bake on the middle rack until lightly golden brown, about 35 minutes.  Slice into wedges and serve.

Printable recipe

We are in Washington DC visiting with good friends Darla (My DIL’s Mom) and Dave.  We would not normally go to our nation’s capital in the middle of a brutal winter, but Dave and Darla had tickets for all of us to see David Crosby in concert at Wolf Trap.  The day we arrived it was announced that David Crosby had to cancel his concert due to illness.  In spite of that, we are glad that we came.  We always have fun in DC.  Of course, I had to return to the American History Museum to see Julia Child’s Kitchen again.

Her kitchen has been moved to a permanent exhibition of the history of food in America from 1950 through 2000.  There have been great changes in our relationship to food over those 50 years.  It explores the new technologies, the people behind the changes and how we relate to the food that we consume.

But the heart of the exhibit is still Julia Child’s kitchen.  I love Julia Child.

We also love the restaurants in Washington.

Friday night we ate at Birch and Barley.  It was recommended to us by Darla’s Son David (do you notice a pattern in names here?), who was a chef in DC for a time. It is a brew pub with hundreds of beers on tap.  But it is also known for its innovative food.

We sampled three of the flatbreads on the menu.  From left to right, cotechino sausage flatbread with Asiago cheese, walnut pesto, preserved lemon and arugula, next is Fig and prosciutto flatbread with gorgonzola cremificato and caramelized onions, and last salt roasted pear flatbread with smoked aged provolone, confit of fennel, dill and onion puree.

One of our entrees was a Brat Burger with beer-braised sauerkraut and emmenthaler cheese and hand cut fries and cornichon.  Perfect with beer.

Another entree was Honey Glazed Duck Breast with leg confit, wild rice, brandied cherries, radishes and hazelnuts.

We also ordered the Pan-Seared Cod with roasted fennel, butter-braised celery root, pomegranate puree and blood orange segments.

Today there is a chance of snow flurries.  David and I are off to visit the National Gallery of Art.  We have reservations tonight at a French restaurant called Bistrot du Coin.  We are bundling up in warm clothes.

One of the most trusted and influential food authorities of our era is Alice Waters.  Her innovative Chez Panisse restaurant set the bar high for high quality seasonal food provided by local sources.  One of her latest books, The Art of Simple Food, is a classic for our time.  So many new cookbooks have overblown recipes and complicated fey ingredients.  The beauty of this book is that it offers basic techniques that can be expanded upon.  It is perfect for the novice cook or for old hands like me, who want definitive recipes for classic dishes.  I have been searching for a great Bolognese sauce.  I found it in Alice’s book.

Bolognese Sauce is a rich vegetable and beef studded mixture that relies more on beef broth, wine and milk than on tomato sauce.  Waters’ classic rendition uses skirt steak, pancetta and ground pork for the meat mixture.  She suggests that the sauce is time consuming to make and recommends doubling the ingredients so that you have some sauce in reserve for a future meal.  I did not find it too time consuming.  I just pictured myself as an Italian Signora making her Sunday gravy.  Nothing to it really.  Of course if I had made my own Pappardelle pasta by hand, I might have felt overwhelmed.  But we have a wonderful Italian Market in town that has authentic egg pappardelle pasta.

This was a satisfying simple meal.  Alice Waters’ credentials are impeccable.  I may try her version of Minestrone next.  See my Favorite Reads on the sidebar if you are interested in getting The Art of Simple Food.  I will be ordering copies as wedding gifts for future weddings to which we are invited.  This generation of cooks deserve the best advice and Alice Waters delivers.  What cookbook would you recommend for a novice cook?

We will be traveling to Washington DC this week.  Among other things, I plan to visit Julia Child’s kitchen again at the Museum of American History.  It has been moved and updated.  We have rented a small apartment in Dupont Circle and plan to also visit lots of good restaurants in the area.  I will try to keep you updated on our trip.  I hope we do not get stuck in a blizzard on The Mall.

ALICE WATERS’ BOLOGNESE SAUCE

Heat in a large heavy-bottomed pot:
1 tablespoon olive oil
Add:
2 ounces pancetta, diced fine
Cook over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Add:
1 small onion, diced fine
1 celery stalk, diced fine
1 carrot, diced fine
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 sage leaves
2 thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 12 minutes

While the vegetables are cooking, heat in a large heavy-bottomed pan, preferably cast iron:
1 tablespoon olive oil
Add and brown over medium-high heat, in two batches:
1 pound skirt steak, cut into 1/8-inch cubes
4 ounces pork,ground
Cook until the meat is a nice chestnut color.  Once all the meat is browned, pour in:
1 cup dry white wine
Reduce the wine by half, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  Add the browned meat and the deglazing juices to the tender vegetables with:
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt
Measure and stir together:
2 cups beef or chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk
Pour enough of this liquid into the pot to bring it to the level of the meat and vegetables.  Simmer gently until the meat is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours.  As the liquid reduces, keep topping it up with the rest of the broth and milk, and skimming the fat that rises to the surface.

When the meat is tender, remove the sauce from the heat and season to taste with more salt, if needed, and:
Fresh-ground black pepper

Variations:
Include 1/4 cup dried porcini, soaked, drained, and chopped fine, with the diced vegetables.

Other cuts of beef can be used instead of skirt steak.  Chuck or hanging tenderloin will make a delicious sauce, although hanging tenderloin will require at least an hour more of cooking time to become tender.  During the additional cooking time it may be necessary to add more broth or milk to keep the sauce from becoming too dry.

Printable recipe