EASY THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS DINNERS, I

The key to an easy Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is planning. Plan ahead and you'll have a wonderful dinner and you'll enjoy the company of your guests. I started this blog before Thanksgiving, it was meant to give an idea on how to prepare for a dinner party, but I had to travel for work right after that day, and here we are today, with another dinner for the whole family just before Christmas.
On Sunday before Thanksgiving, I had already done my shopping by Friday evening and was ready for the big day. As usual, each of my guests has his own request, some are vegetarians, others don't eat poultry, and some don't eat vegetables at all. For the last three weeks we've been bombarded with advise about the Thanksgiving meal, how to cook the turkey, to brine or not to brine, with stuffing or not, to cover it or not to cover it, not to mention the side dishes. As a starter, I don't follow the American tradition when it comes to side dishes or dessert. First I don't like pumpkin, so no pumpkin pie. Also, traditionally we never cooked with cranberries, as far as I know, in my Mediterranean culture we don't have cranberries, so I am not going to stress over something I don't know and maybe getting it wrong. I have to taste it first to know what it is before I try to make it, and until now I am the one always cooking on this day and nobody volunteered to bring it over. Also traditionally sweet potatoes for us are exactly that, sweet, so we're not having them as vegetables in a side dish.

So what are we having? Well, turkey of course, and I am glad I had a rehearsal dinner the other day when we threw a party for a colleague who retired, so I got to make two turkeys to feed the whole office and their families. Instead of stuffing, I am making my famous brown rice with nuts.

For the vegetarians in the group it will be tortellini with spinach sauce, and lots of salads. And finally I am thinking of making a big beef roast. For sides I bought green beans and fingerling potatoes, in different colors. I will not mash them, but will think of a way to cook them to impress those of us who never saw colored potatoes. My husband asked for moussaka, so we'll have that and a babaganough dish on the side. As for dessert, I thought of the best way to please everybody with an assortment of ice creams, and many items to create your own special dessert or sundae. With the shopping  done, I think I can rest until Tuesday when I will start the process. Two days ahead, I chose the serving dishes, the platters and cleaned the house. Our guests for Thanksgiving were all adults, so I could afford to use my delicate china and table cloth.

                                    

EASY TURKEY

                                                     

 I don't remember if I told you that before, but where I come from, free range turkeys were really free range, meaning they roamed freely in the yard all day, and had really strong muscles. My grandma used to boil them first to tenderize the meat, then roast them. Our turkeys here don't need all this, they just need the right way to marinate them before you cook them. When I started cooking, I looked into many recipes, tried some of them and came up with my own fool proof recipe. I never brined the turkey or stuffed it. Actually I always made my brown rice with nuts on the side, because every time I tried to make stuffing everybody asked for the rice, so we ended up always serving rice with the turkey. This recipe can be adjusted according to the size of your turkey, add to it if it is bigger or reduce it if you have a smaller turkey. For this recipe I had a 19-20 lbs turkey. You'll need:

2 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture
2 pinches ground cardamom
1 tbsp dry oregano
2 to 3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 orange
Salt and pepper (I use Adobo), and
My secret ingredient: the stems of any herbs you have, parsley, dill, cilantro. I used all three.

Clean the turkey, remove the giblets and neck from the cavity and cut the extra skin on the neck side so that you can reach inside the bird from that side and remove any vocal chords or extra fat. Also remember to remove the fat from the other end of the bird, it's easy to remove with your fingers. Rinse the turkey inside out and make sure that there is no water left inside. Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in the roasting pan. 
In a small bowl mix all the ingredients except the orange and the stems. Take a good pinch of salt, about 2 tbsp, into your hand and rub it inside the bird, spreading it all around the cavity. With your hand, go between the skin and the breast to completely loosen the skin, then rub the whole breast with the marinade mixture. Do the same inside the cavity and all over the skin covering breast and thighs with the mixture. Cut the orange in 4 and, depending on the size of the bird, you can keep it whole or in quarters. Insert the orange in the turkey cavity making sure that while doing so you squeeze it a little to release some of its juices. Add the herb stems to the cavity. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight. The next day, around noon, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and let the turkey cook undisturbed for 2 hours, after which remove the cover and continue cooking until golden. Make sure to follow the time table for cooking given in the instructions that came with the turkey. To be sure that the turkey is well done, a thermometer  inserted in the thickest part of the breast should read 180 degrees. Remove the turkey from the oven, cover with foil until ready to serve.

EASY GREEN BEANS

                                                      

I usually cook smaller quantities of vegetables, just enough for the three or two of us, and when I sautee them, I never boil the vegetables beforehand. I simply sautee the veggies in a large pan and add a little boiling water to cook them through and keep their beautiful green color. Today I have to cook a large quantity of green beans, so I have to change my technique. For the first time I felt I have to follow what many cooks do, i.e. start by boiling the beans. So be it. You'll need:

2 lbs french green beans
2 to 3 tbsp pomegranate seeds
2 to 3 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1 tbsp clarified butter or oil
Salt to taste

In a large pot cook the green beans in boiling salted water until barely tender. Drain the beans and put them in cold water to stop the cooking process, or simply open the cold water on them in the colander for a few minutes. Drain the beans and at this point, you can keep them refrigerated until the next day, just make sure that they are thoroughly dry. Ten minutes before serving dinner, melt the butter in a non stick skillet large enough to hold the beans in almost one layer. Add the green beans and toss with tongs to completely coat and heat through. You may adjust seasoning at this point. Serve on a large platter sprinkled with the pomegranate and pine nuts.

EASY BAKED POTATOES

                                                       

I love fingerling potatoes, I love their shape and their colors. I feel they add something extra to the regular potato dish. So this was a good opportunity to serve something new, especially that some of my guests have never seen them before. It was a very good conversation starter over dinner. You'll need:

5 lbs fingerling potatoes in different colors
1 tbsp rosemary, preferably  fresh
1 tbsp oil 
Salt to taste

Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes maximum. Drain and let cool until easy to handle. If you have some potatoes larger than others, cut the big one lengthwise to have some kind of uniformity. Spread the potatoes in one layer on a baking sheet, sprinkle with rosemary and salt. Drizzle the oil and mix it with your hands to evenly distribute and coat the potatoes. Bake in 375 degrees oven until completely done, about 20 to 25 minutes.  

TWEAKING MY OWN RECIPES

I always maintain that we never cook the same dish the same way, all the time. We always do something different with the same recipe. Maybe it's because we don't have all the ingredients, so we substitute, or we need to experiment with a different twist on the recipe, or maybe we think that a new way of cooking the same recipe might give us better results, or, simply, we forget all the details of the original recipe, so we improvise. Mostly this tweaking happens when you have a rather new recipe, you want to experiment to see if by tweaking it, the recipe will be better, or if you make some substitutions you'll have a perfect dish. To tell you the truth, old recipes also often get tweaked in my kitchen. This happens mostly when I am tired, or lazy to follow the recipe step by step, or when I am in an adventurous mood and start questioning tradition. This is basically how I got to make my own improved version of melokheya. No one would dare to tweak such a recipe, it has probably been around since the days of the Pharaohs, but one day when I felt lazy and adventurous, I changed the way of cooking it and got a better result. This doesn't mean of course that all tweaking will yield better results, sometimes it creates disasters, so be careful, and try to work within certain limits, meaning, be creative with the spices you use for example, but don't go overboard with the creativity. My sister once  used some strong oriental spices in a tomato sauce we were going to use with pasta, and we ended up having the pasta with just some butter and a sprinkle of black pepper.

Lately I didn't put many posts simply because I was repeating many of my usual recipes. I wouldn't call it a rut because we had many friends over for dinner many times, and two of my best friends came for a prolonged visit and stayed with us. We went out all the time doing all things tourists do, shopped a lot, but also had many dinners at home. This is the main reason that made me think about this post today. I realized that although I was cooking from my usual repertoire, I always managed to make something new. This is also why I made a point of taking pictures of these old recipes that I tweaked. So here are some tweaked recipes. You might find them more interesting than the original.

CAULIFLOWER AU GRATIN

                                                    

We had a big dinner party to celebrate the first day of Ramadan. I made the dishes that everyone expects to have after a day of fasting, also with a twist: I didn't serve chicken, but rabbit. Usually on these occasions people serve some kind of meat and another protein dish, usually chicken, but I went another way. Also people expected some kind of old fashioned rice dish, but were surprised to have lasagna. We had soup as a starter and two kinds of vegetables. This one was particularly appreciated. That made me really happy because I always make a point of taking care of my vegetarian guests so that they don't feel left out. In such occasions and menus, vegetables are usually treated as garnish, or as an after thought, nobody cares about them and they are the last dishes to be picked or served. But I always have some vegetarian friends in my parties and I want them to feel included, that their dishes took as much care and preparation as all the others. So I decided to make my cauliflower au gratin. I didn't go back to my recipe, you remember that I had made it only once, tweaking it from a recipe we found in the NY Times. It is very easy. I made two heads of cauliflower, and added to it slices of carrot in a quantity that creates a balance between the colors white and orange. So it's up to you to decide how much carrots you'll add. I sliced one can of pitted black olives, and added 3 tsp of capers.
I didn't have any parsley, so I used cilantro. It turned out to be an excellent idea. It gave the dish a new layer of flavor, especially when I added the takleya (finely chopped garlic cooked with coriander, salt and pepper in a drop of oil until browned and fragrant). This is what gives the dish the "oriental" flavor. So start by boiling the carrots and cauliflower in salted water, adding a pinch of cumin. When the vegetables are tender, after about 4 to 5 minutes max, drain them and transfer to the baking dish. Add the olives and capers, toss with the takleya, making sure that you don't break the florets. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro. Make a simple roux by dissolving about 4 tbsp flour in 2 cups of milk, I used skim, and cooking it over medium heat stirring with a whisk to prevent lumps. Add grated cheese to the thickened roux. Use what you have available or what you like most. Just don't use a cheese that would overwhelm your veggies. How much? Start by melting a cup of shredded cheese, and add another 1/2 cup, stirring to melt. Add the sauce to the dish, and with a spoon, push the veggies so that the sauce is evenly distributed in the dish. sprinkle some more cheese on top, and bake in a 375 degree oven until golden brown.
The picture is taken before adding the sauce.

BAKED PASTA

                                                     

This is my classic baked ziti or penne with three cheeses. But this time it's a bit different. I served it the day we had invited a young couple who just got married and were just coming back from their honeymoon. I wanted to make it special, but that day I had to go to work, so I had to think of an easy way to make that special. I found the easiest solution in a traditional concept: Add meat to a dish and it will be special. I had, as usual, some browned ground beef in my freezer. This is the solution. I'll add it to the pasta. I made one whole box of penne. Cook it according to the package instructions. In a pan heat the browned ground beef, then add a can of tomato sauce, rinse it with 1/2 a can of water, and add it to the pan, plus a sprinkle of crushed oregano. Cook the sauce until thickened. Transfer  the pasta to a large deep baking dish, and add the sauce. Toss. Add 1 cup of ricotta cheese and toss. You may add another 1/2 cup, then 1 cup grated parmigiano. Stir to combine all. Add shredded mozzarella on top and bake in a 375 degree oven until the cheese is melted. It was a great success. They expected some kind of bechamel sauce in the dish, but were surprised to know that this creamy texture came from cheese. 

WHAT TO DO WITH THE WRONG CUT OF MEAT?

The other day I asked my husband to get me the cut of beef that I recently discovered, the strips of beef that I liked so much and think are very versatile. I had in mind a new plan for them. He told me he did, so I stepped outside for some errands while the meat was defrosting. When I came back, I discovered that we were defrosting the wrong cut of meat. I was disappointed. I had a very nice plan for my strips. I also make sure that when I pack the meat to freeze, I usually write on the bag the name of the cut and the date, so how could he get something else? I didn't stop for long to fret about it. I am now used to this "man thing" about the refrigerator. They never find what you need unless it's on the edge of the first shelf, so how can you expect to get something from the freezer? I let my plan go, and started thinking about the new challenge.

BEEF CHUNKS WITH TOMATO 

                                         

The cut that I got was from the tip of the big top round of beef that I buy sometimes and cut according to my needs. They were two pieces from the top, I call them bananas because of their shape. We usually sear them and continue cooking in the oven on a bed of root vegetables. But today I was in a hurry so I had to think of a new way to cook them of the stove and quickly. We just came back from shopping and were hungry. So I started marinating the meat in onion, garlic and salt and pepper until I thought of the new plan. It turned out to be one of the easiest meat dishes I've ever made. It was easy, quick and delicious. You'll need:

2 medium strips of beef (about 7 X 3 inches each)

1/2 onion cut into medium strips

2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

1 can chopped tomatoes with juices

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by marinating the beef in the onion and garlic with salt and pepper. Heat a non stick skillet and add the meat. It will sizzle. That's good. Brown the meat on all sides, then add some water to the skillet. With a spatula, scrape all the browned bits on the bottom of the skillet. You'll have a brown sauce around the meat. Let it boil and reduce. Add the can of chopped tomatoes with their juices. Bring to a boil and lower the heat. Cover the skillet and let simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until the meat is fork tender. You may need to check on it from time to time, add some more liquid, depending on the nature of the cut of beef you're using. In the mean time you can cook some yellow rice to serve on the side and make a salad or sautee some vegetables.Slice the meat against the grain, serve topped with some of its sauce. Wasn't that really easy?

                                                 

TRICKS I LEARNED FROM THE INTERNET

My friend Maram has this habit of posting on her Facebook page some recipes she gets from different sites on the Internet. I usually don't go there, I actually have no time to spend on the Internet looking for something I might or might not find. Besides, I spend enough time doing what I have to do online, so I rarely look for recipes there. The recipes that Maram likes to post on her page are almost always very rich, she claims she likes to eat and therefore she likes to post them, but she's very skinny, so I doubt that she actually cooks those dishes. Sometimes a recipe catches my eye. I look at it, but find it really full of fat or very elaborate, so I get discouraged and never try them. A couple of times I found some recipes that I can tweak to my taste, so I didn't hesitate and made them my way with great success. Today I am making a chicken dish and a dessert. Of course you may have noticed that I seldom make desserts or bake, but this one I couldn't miss: it's easy, versatile and "healthy", for a dessert.

CHICKEN TERIYAKI

                                         

I've always wanted to make this dish. The reason? Every time I fire up my outdoor grill to cook some chicken, my next door neighbor asks about this delicious smell and if it is coming from chicken teriyaki. I keep telling him that this is my regular marinade, that I don't use any store bought sauce in my food. He usually gets a taste, but the next time I am grilling, he asks the same question. So I got curious, I went looking for several types of chicken teriyaki and tasted them. They had nothing to do with my usual grilled chicken, be it in taste or smell. May be that was his way of inviting himself to dinner with us? The result was that when Maram posted a chicken teriyaki recipe the other day I decided to make it. The recipe was for chicken cooked in the slow cooker, but I decided I couldn't wait for four to six hours to taste it. So I decided to simplify things, I'll cook it in a skillet. Would it work? We'll see. I went to the store and bought the sauce. It had sesame already in it, but it seems that you have to add some yourself to get the dish exactly like the picture in the recipe. I didn't, so I got everything else except for the sesame seeds, the ones in the sauce mysteriously disappeared when cooked. Also I made it from thighs and breasts. The recipes called only for breasts, but I prefer the mix, thighs are more tender. You can choose what you prefer. Also you may serve it over white or yellow rice, or even mashed potatoes, as we did with the leftovers. You'll need:

5 skinless, boneless thighs fat removed and cut into strips

2 skinless, boneless breasts cut into strips

2 tbsp onion/garlic mixture

2/3 cup teriyaki sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

2/3 cup stock or water plus granules

1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

Marinate the chicken strips in the onion/garlic mixture with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, not too much until you know how salty is the sauce for your taste. I usually marinate them in the same skillet I am going to cook them in. Use a non stick skillet, and let the chicken marinate for 15 to 30 minutes. Cook the chicken over medium high heat turning often until the liquid is all absorbed and the chicken pieces not browned, but no more pink. Add the teriyaki sauce, rinse the measuring cup with the stock or water and add it to the skillet. Stir to combine. Lower the heat, and keep stirring every now and then until the sauce thickens and the chicken pieces well coated. If you are using sesame seeds, add them to the skillet after the liquid is all absorbed just before adding the sauce. This way the seeds will be slightly toasted or cooked.

                                               

THREE MINUTE DESSERT

                                                     

This is the most amazing trick I got from Maram's posts. I couldn't believe it until I made it myself in front of my husband, so he wouldn't doubt it. It became his favorite, and when he wants a dessert, he just brings me the ingredients and tells me you mix it, I'll cook it. As if it needs cooking. I even made it for a friend who bakes for a living, she didn't believe it  although she was the one who put it in the microwave oven herself. According to the original recipe you should mix 2 boxes of cake mix, one Angel food and one any other flavor you prefer. I kept each one in the box and use whatever I need.  The result is amazing and the possibilities are endless. Here I used Dulce de leche ice cream and some berries over a chocolate cake. You can imagine many other combinations: white cake with vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and chopped salted almonds. Or top the cake with buttercream ice cream and a peach in its syrup. I told you the sky is the limit. For this dish you'll need:

1 and 1/2 tsp Angel food cake mix

1 and 1/2 tsp chocolate flavor cake mix

2 tsp water

2 small scoops Dulce de leche ice cream

2  heaping tbsp mixed berries cleaned and left macerating in some sugar overnight 

Mix the powdered cake mixes with water in a ramekin until dissolved. Cook in the microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove and let rest, then transfer to the serving dish. Top with the ice cream and the berries. How easy was that?

                                                       

PUT SOME COLOR IN YOUR LIFE

Summer is here, but for the last couple of weeks, it was not really summer, it was grey, cloudy and mostly rainy. Sometimes it was also cold. This weather, and the fact that my husband still insists on not eating, pushed me to look for something new to add to my life, or at least my table. My husband was working with a beige palette: waffles, corn flakes etc., I, on the other hand, tried to have some action by always adding salads and fruits. But since I was working, I didn't have enough time or energy to really think about something actually new. I kept repeating the same menus until I really got fed up. As usual, my menus were planned according to the need of having the leftovers for lunch the following day over a salad of lettuce, cucumber and tomato. I was not happy. Every now and then, I came up with some ideas that I thought I should put together in one blog. So today we are going out of the ordinary and adding lots of color in our meals.

TORTELLINI PRIMAVERA

                                                  

The easiest way to add color to a meal is to make it "primavera". The word may have meant something different when people started using it to qualify certain pasta dishes, but today almost everyone considers a pasta dish "primavera" if they simply add some vegetables to it. When I was confronted with the need of going out of my husband's beige palette, I decided to use the vegetables I had in the refrigerator to have a pinch of color in my dinner. This dish does not need an actual recipe. Use what you have. It can be made with regular pasta and any vegetables you have. I chose cheese tortellini with asparagus, carrots and some chicken that I had cooked the day before. The ratio also depends on your taste, you can put more or less from any ingredient you like. Simply boil some salted water in a large pot to cook the tortellini, add the carrots to cook with the pasta. I used baby carrots that I cut almost the same size of the pasta. Add the asparagus, also cut the same size, to the pot just before you remove it from heat. Drain, add the chicken pieces. I made a rather big batch, so that I can have some of it for lunch the next day at work. To make different dishes out of this one, change the dressing. The options are limitless starting from a simple vinaigrette to an elaborate blue cheese dressing. Also you can make it from scratch or simply add a store bought dressing, it's up to you. Just keep in mind that you only add dressing to the quantity you are going to use, the rest can keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. When you use the last batch, add some fresh lettuce and tomato to it, you'll have the feeling of having something fresh that you just made.

CARROT SOUP

                                                  

When we had a couple of cold rainy days, salad was not really an option for dinner. I needed something soothing, something light but delicious. What better than soup? Luckily I was in a good mood, so I decided to make something new. I usually buy big bags of baby carrots and keep them in the refrigerator to cook with them and have as a snack. I think many chefs have elaborate recipes for carrot soup, but I thought I didn't need a recipe to make a good soup. So I used 40 baby carrots and 1 potato cut in small chunks. In a large pot I cooked 2 tbsp chopped onions in a drop of oil until translucent, added the carrots and potato, covered with stock (or water), and let cook until tender. Puree the vegetables in a blender or with an immersion blender. Return to medium low heat, add some cumin and half a can of tomato sauce. I decided to add the sauce because I felt it was not colorful enough. Don't add too much though or else you'll have tomato soup. Adjust the seasoning and serve hot. You can add a dollop of sour cream or some croutons. I didn't, I like it plain, and the potato is enough.

BULGHUR SALAD SURPRISE 

                                                      

Today my husband asked for his usual dish, veal Milanese. I made it for him, but I simply cannot serve a meat dish without anything colorful on the side. For some reason I had left on the counter a can of whole beets that I forgot to put back in the pantry after I reorganized it yesterday. Looking at the beets I had an "Aha" moment: I decided to use it in a salad, not the ordinary beet salad that I usually make, but a salad with a twist. The day before I had organized my pantry, checked out what needed to be replaced or used asap. So I looked at the pastas in front of me: I had a jar of fine cut bulghur. We usually use it in Lebanese tabbouleh, with green herbs. What if we changed the color? What? How? It's simple, beets. Beets are the solution. You'll need:

1 can (15 oz) whole beets

1 cup bulghur very fine cut

1/2 heart of romaine lettuce

1 avocado

2 to 3 scallions

1/2 bunch each dill and cilantro

1 tbsp oil

Lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

Drain the can of beets in a cup to measure the liquid. It will be about 3/4 cup. Rinse the can with enough water just to fill up the cup (the bulghur I had needs 1 cup liquid for 1 cup grains). Bring the liquid to a boil in a sauce pan, then add the bulghur. Stir once or twice, then remove from heat and let it absorb all the liquid. In a bowl, chop the beets, finely chop the scallions, white part and a little green, the dill and cilantro. Add the bulghur, lemon juice and oil. Mix and season to taste. Finely slice the lettuce, arrange it on a serving dish, pile the bulghur mixture over it. Seed, peel and slice the avocado. Arrange the avocado slices in the corners of the plate and dice some on top. You will be pleasantly surprised by the explosion of flavors of the herbs in this salad.

MAKE YOUR OWN FAST FOOD

After a couple of sunny days, it has been raining non stop in New York for the last two days. I wish it was really rain, but no, it's the continuous drizzle that makes you feel bad all over all the time. You don't really know if it is summer or winter, hot or cold. If you close the windows to stay dry, you'll suffocate; if you open them, it will be wet and chilly. With this kind of weather, it's hard to decide what to eat. Do we have a soup? It's too hot for that. A salad? It's not that bright to be happy with just a salad. It may be the perfect day to order out or have some good old, hearty fast food. So what can we have? Contrary to all predictions, my husband came out today with an answer, a very clear answer: let's have a pizza. But he made sure to immediately add: do we have all the ingredients? Probably, I said, but we'll have to defrost the dough. What if we just buy a fresh one? No problem, it will need less time to defrost. So we got a new package from the store. Still, I consider it home made. Hey I defrosted the dough, and did everything else.

PIZZA MARINARA

                                                     

I have to warn you from the start: I love my pizza over filled with goodies. I love the crust to be medium, not very thin or very thick, and sure no stuffed crusts or any other strange invention. I love a regular, real Italian pizza, just like the one I used to get in Rome, in the small alleys, not the touristy restaurants. I used to get the most delicious pizzas by the "etto" (100 grams rectangular slice) cut from a big baking sheet with different toppings, etto after etto, flavor after flavor. So my perfect pizza has to cover all these basic rules. You don't need a recipe for the pizza, just decide what do you want as toppings. You can have a pizza with lots of toppings and cheese, or one with less toppings, it all depends on what you really like. If you want to make one like mine, you'll need:

1 package pizza dough, thawed

7 or 8 white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 (7 oz) can tuna in water, drained

1/2 can black olives, sliced

10 shrimps, cleaned, deveined

1 can tomato sauce

1 can anchovies, flat

Grated mozzarella and Parmigiano cheeses, the quantity again depends on your taste

A pinch of each oregano and salt.

Read the dough package carefully and use it according to the instructions. The one I got asked for drizzling the defrosted dough with some oil, then spread it on the baking sheet. It had two small balls of dough, and I used them both in a regular size baking sheet. Once the dough is in the pan, start preheating the oven to 450, according to my package instructions. Make sure to check yours. In a small sauce pan, preferably non stick, pour the can of tomato sauce plus half a can of water, add a pinch of salt and oregano, stir and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes, until bubbly. Back to the dough: make sure that it is covering all the sheet, if not, push it again with your hands so it is well spread, covers all the baking sheet and is equally thick in all places. With the back of a big spoon, spread a thin layer of sauce over the dough, you don't have to use all the sauce, the leftover can be used later, then start piling up the toppings. Start with the mushrooms, the tuna, then the shrimps: if they are as big as the ones I used today, just slice them lengthwise, you'll have a thinner shrimp, but equally big, and they'll plump up when cooked. Top with the Parmigiano, then the olives and half of the mozzarella. Drain the anchovies and arrange them at regular intervals, in order to have enough salty bites all over your pizza. Sprinkle another round of mozzarella, and bake until golden brown. Serve with a green salad.

                                             

                                          

MIXING UP HOLIDAYS

This year Sham El Nessim came with the Cinqo de Mayo festivities. This is our first Spring  or Sham El Nessim without mom. I really wanted to keep the tradition alive, but a combination of absent friends, a mother of one of them recovering from surgery, and the weather not being really "springy" dissuaded me. I was not in the mood to make a big hoopla out of it this year as we usually do. So I called some friends, just to make sure, and we all decided that we'll do it later on, perhaps when real Spring would come to New York.

Still we have to eat. I asked my husband if he was up to having the usual dishes, eggs, herrings and all the trimmings. As expected, he was not very enthusiastic about it and gave me the dreaded answer: "anything will do". But you know me, this answer is not acceptable. So I decided to combine the two occasions in one meal: Cinqo de Mayo for appetizers and Sham El Nessim for the main course. Here's the result.

TEX MEX SHRIMP COCKTAIL

                                                        

I thought of this dish, simply because I had some leftover shrimp and I needed to do something with it. The occasion provided the inspiration. I will make something "Mexican", but not quite Mexican: a dish tweaked to our taste, but within the same general idea. I guess the original Tex Mex requires that you use hot peppers or hot sauce, but we don't eat hot food, so if you like the idea of this dish, you can go ahead and make it as hot as you like. Just add some hot sauce to the dish, according to your taste. All the other ingredients should be at hand in your kitchen. You can follow the recipe, or improvise depending on what you like and what you have around.

For the shrimp, I usually cook it beforehand, in a big pot, no water, but with some slices of carrot, celery, onion and garlic, plus cumin, celery salt, coriander, salt and pepper and lots of lime juice. Just cover the pot, and stir it once or twice until all shrimp turns pink, for about  10 minutes max. When the shrimp is cooled enough to handle, peel it. If you are going to serve it as a shrimp dish, just transfer to a serving dish, leaving the other ingredients in the pot. You may use them for stock later. You'll need:

About 1 lb shrimp, cooked and peeled

1 tomato

1 avocado

2 scallions, finely chopped, white and green parts

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup lemon juice

In a glass bowl mix the ketchup with the lemon juice. Chop and seed the tomato. Add it to the bowl. Add the shrimp, scallions and cilantro. Mix to coat. Refrigerate for about one hour. When ready to serve, peel, seed and chop the avocado and add it to the bowl. Gently stir to incorporate. Arrange a red lettuce leaf on the side of a serving cup, add the shrimp mixture.

Note: you may use pre-cooked shrimp, but make sure that you dry it thoroughly with paper towels, so it doesn't become too soggy.

DECONSTRUCTED NICOISE SALAD

                                                  

Since salty dishes are out of the question, I decided to go for a Nicoise salad. But since my husband is becoming a very picky eater these days, I decided to make it in a way that will allow him to chose whatever he likes from the dish. I also know he doesn't like green beans, so I'll use asparagus, and no anchovies today, he has developed some kind of sensitivity to salt. You, on the other hand can add them to your dish. I made the potato salad the French way, no mayo, and used canned tuna. I had a couple of fresh tuna fillets, but again it was my husband's choice.

Be creative with the arrangement of the ingredients, you can mix everything together, or follow my example and serve the salad on a big platter allowing everyone to chose the things that he likes best. You'll need:

2 can tuna, packed in water, drained

5 to 6 medium boiled potatoes, chopped

1 tomato

3 cucumbers

4 hard boiled eggs

1 heart of lettuce, plus some mixed greens

1 lb asparagus, hard tips removed

2 to 3 scallions, finely chopped, white parts and little green

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 cup Kalamata olives

1 pinch cumin

3 to 4 tbsp lemon juice, more to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, lightly mix the tuna with a drop of oil and lemon juice. Set aside. In another bowl mix the potatoes with a tbsp oil, a tbsp of scallions, the cumin, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Chop the tomato, peel and slice the cucumber, chop the lettuce and add them to a bowl. In a non stick skillet, cook some of the scallions, about a tbsp, in a drop of oil until tender. Add the asparagus, sprinkle salt and pepper, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add a tbsp of boiling water, to keep the vibrant green color. When the liquid is all absorbed remove from the fire. Just before serving, make the salad dressing with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, add it to the vegetable bowl and mix. In a large platter arrange some mixed greens on one side, add the tuna over them, then arrange the olives, followed by the potato salad, then the mixed salad. Slice the eggs in half and arrange over the salad. Arrange the asparagus on the sides of the dish. If you are using anchovies you can arrange them over the potato salad, for contrast.
You may also sprinkle some dried oregano over the tuna, it gives a nice flavor.

MEALS ON WHEELS

Spring has sprung, at least in some parts of the country.. it's still a bit cold in NY, but for me it's just my kind of weather. With spring I love to have colorful meals. This means that I go looking for something new, something fun and full of color. I see many around me eating wraps, all kind of wraps with vegetables in them, some with meats; so I decided to make this my inspiration: I need to come up with some kind of wrap, without the bread, full of color and flavor. Actually it was not that difficult: if you deconstruct the vegetarian wraps for example, you can reconstruct a completely satisfying wrap using only vegetables or a combination of veggies and meats. Add to that the fact that I am getting a bit adventurous at the store, looking for new cuts of meat, and thinking about new ways to cook them. The other day I got a new cut of beef that I never cooked before: a beef flank. I got the inspiration from a dish mammina used to make with veal scaloppini, and I thought, why not? Can we make that? Just as my husband always asks.

BEEF WRAP

                                            

The idea of this dish is very simple, a lean sheet of beef, an herbs  spread, roll, tie, cook. Well, actually it's a bit more complicated than that. But never fear, you know I don't like to complicate things, so we'll make it easy. The beef flank I got was thicker on one side, so I tried to butterfly it a bit on that side, but ended up cutting the whole slice from it. I ended up with two pieces, one large and a smaller one. This made me change my original plans. Instead of making one whole roll, I'll make two, and change the filling. I wanted to make it with boiled eggs inside, but this new plan will help me get over my apprehensions about the technique of tying up the meat roll. The bigger one will have only the pesto filling, and the smaller will have the egg. It will be easier to tie up. It was a real experiment, but we ended up with excellent results. You'll need:

1 beef flank, fat trimmed
1/2 bunch each: parsley and dill
1/2 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup each: carrots and celery, pulverized in the food processor
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese, more if needed
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
2 tbsp oil, canola for example
1 hard boiled egg
1 or 2 small handfuls of bread crumbs

Spread the beef flank on a cutting board and check if it has a part thicker than the rest. With a sharp knife, make a transversal cut to even it up. You'll get another slice of beef, thinner, but large enough to serve our purpose (about 7 X 6 inches). With the flat side of a mallet beat both pieces, hitting the center and going out. If you feel that you need to tenderize the bigger piece, beat it with the other side of the mallet first. In the food processor, work the parsley, dill, onion and garlic into a paste, add the carrots, celery, cheese and some bread crumbs to hold the pesto together. Spread the pesto on the meat, and add some more grated cheese if you want. 

                                                 

Make sure that the pesto doesn't reach all the edges of the meat, so it doesn't spill out when you roll it.  Roll the meat and tie it with kitchen twine. To tell you the truth that was the first time for me to tie a roll of beef, so I did my best. It was OK. It held the meat tight, did not spill the filling, and stood there until I removed it. 
                                           

Spread the remaining pesto on the small piece of meat, peel the egg, cut the tips and place it in the center of the meat. Close it to cover the egg and tie it. In a rectangular pan, preferably non stick, heat the oil and sear the meat roll on all sides until well browned. Add the tomato sauce plus half a can of water. Stir to combine, you may add a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Bring to a boiling on medium high heat, then cover with foil and continue cooking undisturbed for about one hour in a 375 degree oven. 
                                             

Remove the meat and reduce the sauce on medium high heat, if needed. Remove the twine, slice the beef and serve with the sauce on the side. You'll have beautiful, colorful and delicious wheels of beef, stuffed with herbs and egg.
                                          

STUFFED MEATBALLS

Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided to make a kind of meatballs I wanted to make for a long time. I used to make it in a loaf pan, and I asked my husband to look for it in the cupboard over the fridge, but he insisted it was not there. So I had to improvise: instead of a meatloaf, I'll make one with each egg. I had already five hard boiled eggs, so I'll make them into meat balls, they'll be huge, but no problem. I used almost the same ingredients I had for the pesto, and a mix of ground beef and turkey. You'll need:

1 lb each: lean ground beef and ground turkey
1/2 bunch each: parsley and dill
1/2 medium onion
3 to 4 garlic cloves
2 celery stalks
5 baby carrots
1 cup each grated Parmigiano and bread crumbs
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Hard boiled eggs

In a food processor beat the parsley, dill, onion and garlic until they almost form a paste. Transfer to a big bowl. Pulverize the carrots and celery, add them to the bowl. Work the meats also in the food processor, to have a smoother consistency. Mix all the ingredients in the bowl with the grated cheese and the Worcestershire sauce. Add bread crumbs until you feel that the mixture is homogeneous enough to form the meat balls. At this point, I was really tired so I decided to make only a sample of the meatball stuffed with egg, and just form the remaining mixture into fingers that I'll cook in the oven with the meat. Take a big chunk of meat mixture in the palm of your hand, work it by applying light pressure to have a compact mixture, spread it on the palm of your left hand, put the egg in the middle, bring the edges up to cover it. You may add some more meat mixture to be sure that the egg is completely covered with a good layer of meat.
                                                     

 Place on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, turn once when it is browned on one side. remove from the oven when it is browned all around. Let stand, then slice. You'll have a meat loaf with a nice surprise in the center. 

                                           

TWEAKING THE CLASSICS

Growing up our traditional meal consisted of one kind of vegetables, some protein, mainly chicken or beef, and some carbohydrates, rice or pasta depending on the vegetables. Most of the time, we used to have rice, and pasta was the side dish for moussaka. The rule was that vegetables were cooked in tomato sauce with beef cubes. This way the "poor" would stretch a low cut of beef to serve a big family and to cook it for a long time to become tender. For the "rich" having meat in the vegetable dish, meant that they have a higher status, since they would also serve some kind of meat or chicken separately. In our house, it was a mix, sometimes we had separate meat, other times we had it in the vegetables. From day one I was somewhat uncomfortable with this arrangement. Yes, I ate what I was served, like all of us, but I had a strange feeling about it. When I was old enough to sort out my preferences, I discovered what it was: I did not like the taste of the meat in the vegetables, nor the  vegetables with the meat flavor. It took me a while to convince my mom of my opinion, but at the end she did it. We started serving the vegetables without any beef in them, and kept the protein separate. It was a huge step for our family, apparently serving veggies without any meat in them was something bordering the scandal. But mom was not someone who would accept any social convention sitting down: if it was not good for us, she would never do it. So now that I am in control, I never put any meat in my vegetables, when I cook them the traditional way, i.e.: in tomato sauce. It took my husband a while to accept that, only from the "social" point of view, since veggies for him are not a priority, and he likes to get his protein whole and separate from everything else.

As we are going now through an adjustment period, I am aiming at preparing simple menus, mainly classics, so that my husband would not go back to cheese and waffles. One day it's grilled beef with okra and rice, another day is veal Milanese with penne al forno, and today it's chicken and a salad. 

                                                      

Remember the new cut of beef that I discovered last month at the store? Well, this time I simply sprinkled some salt and pepper on it and grilled it on the stove. In 5 minutes I had dinner ready.

                 

For the veal Milanese, it took a little longer: my husband loves it, so I made a big batch. Just marinate the veal slices in a tbsp of onion/garlic mixture with some salt and pepper, add a beaten egg to the bowl, mix flour and bread crumbs (a 1/3 to 2/3), drench, and fry. I also prepared 2 dishes of baked ziti, cooked one and kept the other in the freezer for later. Simply cook the pasta, prepare a tomato sauce with a drop of oil, a tbsp of onion/garlic mixture, mix it with ricotta and grated pecorino Romano cheese, and sprinkle with grated mozzarella. Bake.

                                           

Today it was much simpler: we had chicken rotisserie, home made and a salad. I had a Cornish game hen that seemed a bit large for two, so I decided to use the rotisserie. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, in and out, and drizzle some lemon juice. Let it stand for 10 minutes then put it in the rotisserie. For the salad, I tried to make something different in the presentation and the flavors. It's basically using what you have, and dress it according to your taste. I used to put some chopped red onion or scallions because mom loved it, today I didn't. You'll need:

1 (15 oz) can of corn
2 large tomatoes
3 small cucumbers
2 avocados
1 small lettuce
1 red frisee
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried mint
1 tbsp each oil and lemon juice
Salt to taste

Chop the tomatoes in small dice, peel and slice the cucumbers and drain the corn. Mix them with the cumin, the oil and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Chop the lettuce, rinse and dry it, transfer it to the serving platter. Transfer the vegetables over the lettuce in a circle, leaving the center. Chop the avocado, arrange the red frisee around the center, and transfer the avocado pieces to the center of the platter. Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with dried mint.
You can use fresh cilantro instead of the mint, but I didn't have any today, so I improvised.
                                                

And for dessert a simple fruit salad: just chop the fruits you have at hand and be creative with the arrangement. I used kiwis, strawberries, papaya, pineapple and grapes.

                                          

A HEALTHY EASY DINNER

Another day, another dinner. And it's a healthy dinner. Encouraged by my husband's willingness to eat what I serve with no objections, I decided today to go all the way, and serve him a really healthy dinner. First I wanted to grill the remaining beef strips, but we couldn't find them in the kitchen freezer. It seems that my husband had put them in the big freezer downstairs in the basement. So I thought of using whatever I had at hand in the kitchen: two chicken breasts.

First I thought of having chicken Marsala, but I had no mushrooms and was lazy enough to think that opening a bottle of wine was too much work. Chicken with bell peppers was too much, we just had beef with bell peppers the other day.. it was wise not to push it. But since I was going the way of chicken Marsala, let's see what I can do with what I have. Dinner came out just fine and healthy and my husband liked it a lot, even the vegetables.

                                         

CHICKEN IN BROWN SAUCE

Inspired by the original chicken Marsala, I made this dish with what I had in the kitchen. It's easy and quick. Of course I tried to make it with the least fat possible, I used half butter half oil. I thought it would be a nice change to have some butter in the food, once in a while. I thought of thickening the sauce with some sour cream, but then decided not, a piece of butter was enough. I also decided against having any carbohydrates, opting for some mixed veggies. I used what I had at hand: Lima beans, carrots and corn. The beans were frozen, the carrots fresh, and the corn canned. It will work still. You'll need:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp butter

1 and 1/2 tbsp flour

1 tsp dried oregano

1 box frozen Lima beans

1 can corn

A handful of baby carrots cut in small rings, the size of the beans

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the chicken breasts in the thickest part to obtain a medallion and a larger piece. With a mallet pound the chicken pieces, then cut the larger piece to get 2 other pieces the same size as the medallion. You'll have a total of 6 pieces. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and the oregano on the chicken cutlets, then lightly dust them with flour on both sides. In a large non stick skillet that would hold the chicken pieces in one layer, melt the butter with 1 tbsp oil, and add 1 tbsp of onion/garlic mixture. Cook for a minute, then add the chicken cutlets. Let them cook undisturbed for a couple of minutes until browned on one side, then turn them to the other side. Cook until browned on that side too, then add 1/2 a cup of water. Scrape the skillet to release all the browned bits, and let cook to reduce. If you see that the sauce is not creamy enough, you can add a tbsp of sour cream, or cheat as I did and add 1 tsp of powdered gravy mix. Quickly stir to dissolve, then when the chicken is done, 2 or 3 minutes, remove from the heat and transfer to a serving dish with all the sauce.

                                                          

MIXED SAUTEED VEGETABLES

While the chicken is cooking, cook the carrots in some salted water, just enough to tenderize them. Frozen Lima beans are tender and don't need much time to cook. In a non stick skillet cook the remaining onion/garlic mixture in 1/2 tbsp oil. Add the beans, stir. Drain the carrots then add them to the beans. Sprinkle salt and pepper and stir. You may add some boiling water    (1 or 2 tbsp) to the pan to make sure that the vegetables are cooked until tender. Transfer to a serving dish. In the same skillet, add the remaining oil, drain the corn and cook it in the oil until thoroughly heated. Transfer to the serving dish beside the beans and carrots.