Girls' Sleepover with Crabmeat Quiche

What's more fun than dinner with a teenager? Dinner with FOUR teenagers. But only when they appreciate food. Liza and her friends love the Crabmeat Quiche recipe from Linda and Martha Greenlaw's cookbook, Recipes from a Very Small Island, which I make all the time here. Really, everyone with a mouth likes this easy recipe. I was worried the one quiche wouldn't stretch to feed five of us, so I had to work with what I had in the fridge and pantry. The cute little potatoes caught my eye for their filling potential (these girls did water-aerobics, sailing and tennis all day). Here is what ensued:

"Flat Fries"
Boil the little potatoes just until tender. Drain and place on a cutting board. Using a spatula, gently flatten them a bit until the skin just bursts, but the potato stays intact. In a large fry pan, heat oil (half veg, half olive) until medium-high (fryable) and fry the little flatties until they are crisp on one side; flip and crisp the other side, too. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with course sea salt or Kosher salt. Stand away from the plate as you set them before people or you may lose a finger or an entire arm.

Crabmeat Quiche
serves 4
1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
1 unbaked 9" pie shell
8 oz. crabmeat, picked over to remove shells
1 medium onion, grated or chopped finely
4 eggs
1 1/3 c. light cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Sprinkle cheese into the bottom of the pie shell and top with crabmeat and chopped onions.
3. Mix eggs, cream, salt, and mustard in a bowl. Pour over the crabmeat mixture and sprinkle with parsley.
4. Bake about 50 minutes until just set, and knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

Here is all that was left over:

Quick Dinner Salad for Summer

Life is simpler in the summer, or maybe it's being in Maine, or this smaller house, or it could certainly be the sunshine and the milder weather, no school stresses on my teenager, or the promise of family visitors. My daughter and I arrived last weekend, and even though we have been working our behinds off opening up the house, cleaning, gardening, etc., our moods are light.

Summer food is always simpler, too, right? I only have a couple cookbooks here and a notebook of summer-easy recipes and Maine-related cuisine (read:lobster!). I can't run to Wegmans to pick up a weird ingredient.

Yesterday, Liza and I were active from 7 a.m. right up until dinner time, playing tennis, sailing, filling pots with bright flowers and herbs. (It wasn't all glamorous: Liza swept and cleaned the entire spidery basement, and I shopped for deck-garb and scrubbed the bejesus out of the mildewed and lichen-crusted deck.)

I had planned on making barbecued chicken for dinner when lo and behold it was 7 p.m. Plan B ensued as Liza had after-dinner sports plans (excuuuuse me, sorry to hold you up, dear). So into the pantry I forged. I cooked half a bag of orecchiette, rinsed it cool, and tossed it with half a can of rinsed cannellini beans, one can of Italian tuna in olive oil (undrained), a handful of cherry tomatoes (halved), a bunch of baby romaine lettuces, slivered basil from the new herb pots!, the juice of 1/2 lemon, and a few swirls of olive oil. Served with a bit of sea salt and pepper, we devored it.

Was it delicious, or were we just starved from exertion and fresh Maine air? We will never know.

In Praise of Sriracha

I love this Asian hot sauce because it is not simply hot, like Tabasco; it also has flavor. My favorite brand is Huy Fong. Sriracha is a great “extra” in a summer pantry because it spices up any dish (eggs, beans, rice, pastas, marinades for meat…) and it also rounds out some quick sauces. It’s like a little secret weapon. Here are a few recipes I make frequently:

Makeshift Spicy Peanut Sauce for Szechuan noodles (Toss with angel hair or spaghetti, slivered scallions and carrots, and chopped salty peanuts):
Combine until smooth in a blender:
½ cup smooth peanut butter
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. ginger (optional)
1 tbsp. Sriracha sauce (add more if not hot enough for you!)

Sauce for turkey burgers:
¼ cup mayo
2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard (I like Maille)
A squeeze or two of Sriracha

Sauce for cheeseburgers (I make the cheeseburgers with horseradish and chives, or with Worcestershire and garlic)
1 cup mayo
1 tablespoon tomato paste or 3 tablespoons ketsup
2 tbsp. capers
1 minced garlic clove
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 minced anchovy filet
2 tbsp. minced fresh parsley
1 tsp. Sriracha (or more to taste)

The Popover Miracle

I was having a rough day. The kind where all the elements seemed allied against me. My friend Sue was visiting, and instead of relaxing and hanging with her, I was dealing with neighborhood association politics, mortgage woes, malfunctioning air conditioners – I will spare you the sad details or you might stop reading. But the point is, it’s all okay because I experienced a Popover Miracle.

Sue and I had hiked at Acadia National Park a few days before, and I made my requisite pilgrimage to the Jordon Pond House for lemonade and popovers. If you’ve never been there, make your plans right now; it is worth the drive to Maine, 4 hours past the border, to Acadia National Park, to eat the popovers, straight from the oven, hot, hollow with their popping, crispy golden brown on the outside, tender eggy dough on the inside, served with butter and strawberry preserves. Yum.

As we ate (read: devoured) our bread-treat-times-infinity, I told Sue that their recipe is quite simple, very few ingredients, but they require the precision of a chemistry lab project and a super-reliable over to turn out perfectly. I told her I had made them many times, but not always with success!

So on this aforementioned “rough day” I had planned to make them for my guest. I didn’t have my usual recipe here with me in Maine, so off to foodnetwork.com I went, and I came up with this recipe from Alton Brown. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/basic-popover-recipe/index.html
But as I believe I have mentioned before, my cardinal sin as a cook is that I do not always read the recipe very carefully before I begin. I am famous for getting the end of a recipe as I prepare dinner for hungry guests and just then seeing the instructions: let refrigerate for 24 hours, or something like that. And in my defense, I was quite stressed on this particular morning, and I had just burst into tears after a tongue-lashing from an angry neighbor.

SOOOO….. where Alton says “4 and ¾ OUNCES” of flour, I accidentally added 4 ¾ CUPS. Luckily, I had made popovers before and knew I ought to have a batter kind of like for pancakes, NOT like for SCONES!!! Mine was thick like a pie crust. I would have started from scratch again, but I hated to waste all that flour, and I only had one more egg, so I thought (quite negatively, I will admit), “Whatever; the rest of my morning is a total disaster, I am just going to wing it.” And what I did is take one cup (the amount on flour Alton really had intended. Note: Dear Alton, no one uses ounce measurements in real kitchens; could you just use cups? Thanks. Love, Patty) of that sticky thick mess I had erroneously created, and I whirled it in the food processor with one more egg and a bit less than one cup of milk, came up with an appropriately thin and familiar-looking batter, and poured it into my special popover pan (which I purchased at the Jordon Pond House gift shop years ago.)

I popped them into the oven (sorry, couldn’t resist), and I told Sue, “I hope you aren’t too excited for these because there is no chance in hell that they are going to fly.” I mentally prepared her and my daughter for a nice breakfast of oatmeal or toast. At least the physical effort of making them had distracted me for a while.

But wait, what’s this? When I looked into the oven after 20 minutes (through the window, of course; I know you can’t open the door), they had puffed up! A lot! This was impossible. I still wasn’t jolted from my learned-negativity of the day: I was sure they would be tough and maybe not even hollow when we ate them.

Sure enough, 20 minutes later, we all sat at the table with an absolutely beautiful-looking popover before us. We broke them open and watched a replay of the Jordon Pond House experience: steam escaping, tendrils of eggy dough begging for butter. We bit into them and savored the crisp-tender consistency. They were perfect.

Something as simple as that restored my faith in the day. I guess more importantly, it restored my faith in myself to salvage a really bad situation. We laughed and we ate them all, and I really did feel much better. But don’t worry, I am not harboring any illusions. I know I can’t mess with popover chemistry, or for that matter with other uncontrollable elements of the world. This time was truly a Popover Miracle.

Winter Whollop

Whew. I just came in from round four of shoveling during this historic storm. We already have about 8", and we are going to get at least another foot. That's on top of the weekend's 27" dump. I think the Olympics would be better off being held here next week!

The shoveling has been brutal so far: heavy with rain and slush, a layer of ice underneath making a foothold impossible. Luckily, I have a big strapping 18 year old son to help me (of course without a single complaint....) as well as two helpful 8th grade girls, my daughter and one of her best friends. I need all the help I can get. What worries me most is hearing the trees breaking all around the yard. Not little limbs, but entire huge branches, weighed down by the sleet and heavy snow. The phone lines are working intermittently, and power outages are sure to ensue around the area.

Still, I am having fun. I love the snow, and I even like the peacefulness of shoveling, the workout and the lovely wonderland scenery. I wish I lived somewhere that gets this kind of snow all winter.

Growing up in Poughkeepsie, spending lots of time with relatives in Albany, and going to college in Rochester, have trained me to enjoy this authentic winter weather. I remember "helping" my dad shovel; I can still see our street in a whiteout. It is such a happy image. And I remember walking through Albany when the snow was too deep for driving, bundled up to the point of restricting limb bends, and hiking along to visit relatives. Part of me was scared, but my mom and dad made it a thrilling adventure. In Rochester, a foot or more could fall, and the city wouldn't blink! We looked forward to impromptu late night snowball fights and sledding as study breaks.

So I want to preserve the fun during a dramatic storm like this. I'm going to sled with the kids in a little while, and I want to strap on my cross country skis and head around the neighborhood. The girls have been into the Valentines craft box this morning, and I LOVE that they still enjoy it, even though they are cranking Rhianna and Jay Z as they glue and glitter!

We all have to preserve our strength for the remaining shoveling, so today I made Liza's favorite muffins (an old Bon Appetit recipe which I modified a bit). They are healthy enough for breakfast and special enough for a snack. She and her friend are headed out to sled now, and when they come in, there will be hot chocolate, homemade marshmallows, and

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins!

Preheat oven to 350. Line 12-15 muffin tins with muffin papers.

Mix together dry ingredients: 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup wheat germ, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt.

In a big bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3), 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, 2 large eggs, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Add dry ingredients and stir until barely combined. Stir in 3/4 cup chocolate chips (milk chocolate ones are great).

Fill the muffin cups to the edge with batter. Bake about 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack. These will make someone's winter day!

Happy Birthday, Patrick

News flash: many days, living with a high school senior is not a picnic. A few years ago, some friends told me that there comes a point during your kids' senior year that you actually look forward to them graduating and leaving for college. These walls are feeling way too constricting to my boy these days.

So I need to revel in the great days, which thank God, there are plenty of, otherwise I would be pulling out the baby books on a daily basis, trying to remind myself of why I love him so much. This past week had more than its share of special moments because my son turned 18!!!! (Don't bother doing the math on my age -- I will confess that I had him at age 16, so that makes me 34.)

Patrick scored two parties this year, only because one was a surprise party I planned at a fun caribbean restaurant a few days before his birthday. The other was a party he planned -- a superbowl/x-box/chili fest at our house. So that meant I had to make two cakes, and they were doosies.

Making his cake each year always reminds me of his first birthday party. As a new mother, feeding my perfect child only healthful foods, I was determined not to start him on a life addicted to fat and sugar. I had nursed him for the entire first year and carefully accustomed his palate to non-sweet tastes, introducing the veggies before the fruits, making homemade baby food, serving cereals straight instead of swirled with applesauce. I was adhering to the recipes in What to Expect in the First Year, and I wasn't about to spoil my diet-nazi standards with one birthday party, so within those pages I found a "special" recipe for First Birthday Cake, made with no sugar, just concentrated apple juice or bananas, "naturally" sweet ingredients, some whole wheat flour, and DEFINITELY no chocolate. I was so excited to tell my mother and aunt and friends about the delicious yet nutricious cake I planned. It was a complicated recipe, and as I recall, that was a pretty uncooperative frosting, but I finished the beautiful cake for my beautiful, healthy baby boy, placed it on my cake stand, lit the candles, and served it with such pride, mentally chiding all the older mothers in the room who had already poisoned their kids with death-cakes over the years.

Patrick blew out the candles, and I sliced it up to serve all the guests, and I remember thinking to myself that maybe I needed a sharper knife because it was pretty hard to cut.... Uh-oh. One of the little kids took his piece eagerly and poked his finger across the frosting to get a quick fix, but the cake kind of skidded across his plate on impact: the icing was almost impenatrable. Uh-oh. I looked around the room and saw the silent glances between my in-laws and my friends. The nicest of the guests choked down a few bites. Most of the kids didn't even take a piece. And even poor baby Patrick barely swallowed a taste. If you can call it taste. Cardboard might be yummier. That night, my mother-in-law, who rarely if ever intruded, told me, "You did a great job today; it was a wonderful first birthday party. But take my advice: serve him healthy foods all year long. But on his birthday, give him a big, sticky, rich, messy chocolate cake."

Patrick had requested Tiramisu for his cake this year, a departure from his usual New York Cheesecake. I decided to make that for the home party, reasoning that most kids wouldn't care for it, and those same kids would be full from chili and zillion snacks. I was wrong. The oohs and ahhs from a bunch of high school kids surprised me; kids today are pretty food-hip! I used Giada's recipe on foodnetwork.com, which is not quite as good as the traditional preparation, but takes a fraction of the time and certainly tasted delicious.

For the restuarant surprise party, I made the classic: dark chocolate layer cake with milk chocolate frosting, perfect for loading with candles and singing loudly around. I have used that cake recipe many times, but I had never tried the frosting becuase I have had so many chocolate frosting failures in my baking life. They often separate, or never thicken enough, or harden to the point of cake-ripping while spreading. That puts me in a bad way and results in a kitchen tantrum, never a festive birthday event. But THIS frosting was awesome. I even made a mistake early on, adding the entire 1 1/3 cups confectioners sugar to the custard step instead of reserving most of it for the beating step, and the recipe still turned out perfectly. Here is the recipe from the Feb. 2004 Gourmet (I told you I would miss that magazine!) for Chocolate Layer Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting.

Both cakes were big and delicious and very special for an important milestone day. This might be harder to swallow than that cake 17 years ago, but I will say it: my mother-in-law was right. Happy Birthday, Patrick. I love you every single day, more and more each year.

Healthy Isn’t Everything

In an obvious example of cooking schizophrenia, I tried two diametrically opposed recipes from Food and Wine yesterday. I was motivated and intrigued by the February article, “Healing Recipes to Fight Pain and Panic.” Yeah, I’ve been feeling more than my share of those two ailments lately. Yet, lurking in my head was a recipe I meant to try from the October 2009 issue, a Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake.

We have just about come down from our Christmas sweet-tooth high around here, so I baked the cake before I made dinner. The batter was easy to make, Nutella is a can’t-go-wrong ingredient (although it is a little expensive), and the cake turned out lusciously moist with a buttery-crispy little crust. Wow. My kids ate it like addicts, and with their mouths full demanded to know when I would make it again.

While it was in the oven, I worked on the also easy Salmon with Vodka Sauce and Parsley Salad. Parsley’s antioxidants prevents cancer and heart disease, salmon’s omega-3s protect our hearts, and the hot chile’s capsaicin (and maybe the vodka!) reduces pain. Man, I’d be feeling awesome by the time dinner was over. I have to say though, the kids weren’t psyched, and it certainly wasn’t my favorite salmon recipe I’ve ever tried. Unfortunately, the resultant vodka sauce measured a stingy 2 total tablespoons. On the plus side, I made it with Jasmine rice, and I loved the combined taste of the salmon flaked into the lime-juicy salad right over the rice. Mostly, I felt good about eating it, and it certainly tasted fresh and bright.

So I may not always benefit from those ingredients in parsley and salmon and chiles, but the rich dessert certainly relieves some pain and panic in this house. Maybe I could find a way to regularly work in the vodka….

Reality Check

Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake:
Taste ѵ+ Ease ѵ+ Affordability ѵ-

Salmon with Vodka Sauce and Parsley Salad:
Taste ѵ Ease ѵ+ Affordability ѵ