A celebration of food, drink, friends and fiestas ... and life's other great surprises!
Another soup? Seriously? Be thankful that you don’t see them all – well, I did warn you.
But when it is bitter cold, I just can’t help it. In addition to warming me up, soups are pretty inexpensive – so I can have plenty to spend on bourbon, should I have to brave the weather.
This whole pot cost about $10, and that was only because I used good ingredients – organic [albeit canned] beans and tomatoes and chorizo from the Hawthorne Valley Farm that I picked up at the farmer’s market.
I love leftovers. I can eat soup for days. Just about any meat can make a mean meal on day two. Mac and cheese, yes please. But fish – no thanks. Underwater creatures just don’t hold the same appeal to me when reheated, repurposed or redone.
So when I saw that I had a bit more salmon than I knew we would eat for dinner, I didn’t cook it. Thankfully, I remembered seeing a quick citrus salt cure on wrightfood when I was scoping foodblogsearch.com for info on fish in parchment. And once I popped those packets in the oven, I zested up some lemons and oranges, mixed some sugar and salt and had my first go at home cured salmon.
Knowing that the piece I was using was teeny-tiny (I cut off the thinner side from the salmon that I was using for the papillotes so it would all cook evenly), I wouldn’t feel terrible if it all went awry and I had to toss it.
Did you hear? Looks like we have six more weeks of winter.
Well, the weather may be that way and it might be a bit early for warmer wares, but nothing says we can’t bring in the sunshine inside with some spring colors.
Using the Pantone Fashion Color Report 2010 (thanks coco+kelley for the lead), we found a few things that brighten up any table.
The Venini vases may be a bit of a splurge, but the resin napkin rings have just as many colors without quite the investment. And the yellow tray can make you forget the snow, particularly if it is serving breakfast in bed. And those Missoni dessert plates, I have been eyeing that pattern for a while. It is amazing how just one or two little things can punch up the basics.
How do you handle the wait for spring?
For resources:
Do you cook much fish at home? As much as I love it, I really don’t. I think it is because I can’t honestly say that I know we will be eating at home when I am at the store. I can guess which days we will cook, but as you know, things come up – things change. And so while I am fine having chicken and veggies hang out in the fridge, waiting until I get my act together, fish, not so much.
I want to cook it and eat it the same day I buy it. I want it to be fresh, fresh, fresh! And so what happens more often than not, I just don’t buy it. Am I alone here?
But Sunday, I knew we were both going to be home from dinner, and there was some salmon at the market that looked so good, I thought it had just jumped right out of the water and into the fish case. So I jumped on it myself.
But ha! I should have known better. And after this happened, I called it quits and snuggled up with a blanket, beet pancakes and the gawked at the fashion choices called the Grammy’s.
When I occasionally (ha!) casually (haha!) mention that I miss California, you may think I mean my friends, or my family or even the weather. And while that is very true, what I really miss is my stuff! All my plates and glasses, gadgets and knives. I am obviously getting by just fine here, but NYC apartments don’t have the same kind of space, so anything more than 4 forks and a wooden spoon are tucked away in storage.
But why am I waxing on about this now? Because if I had my cuisinart here, I would make these beet and carrot latkes daily. Not having to use a box grater and have my hands stained red would really increase the frequency of these pancakes on my menus.
They are my perfect food – a bit virtuous (carrots and beets are the stars) and a bit naughty (they are cooked in oil and topped with sour cream after all). They taste familiar but still new, with the earthiness from the beets and sweetness from the carrots, and they can easily replace the bad potato pancakes you may have had all these years.
Growing up, I was never much of a fan of breakfast for dinner. I didn’t really like eggs or pancakes enough to have them again at night. So we never really did that much at home, but at friends’ houses, I thought it was the strangest thing. Why anyone would want silly waffles instead of a pork chop baffled me. Hey, I was a “unique” kid.
And while I still haven’t totally lost that feeling, I finally get it. Well, not the sweet breakfast treats (I’m still not much for waffles – unless they are ordered for the table as a side to my huevos rancheros), but a savory hash is welcome for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
This roasted hash is a bit of a conglomeration of different recipes, techniques and restaurant orders. The basis of the hash comes from this recipe that I made for Thanksgiving. It was beautiful – the bright, vivid colors were quite refreshing on what can often be a beige table, but it had a bit more steps and ingredients than I needed outside a day of feasting. Add bonus however, was the leftovers were great for lunch with a quick egg, so I knew we were headed in the right direction.
It is really a fantastic combination.
Grapefruit on it’s own can cause a teeny bit of pucker-face. Not that that’s bad necessarily, but I think it’s better with a little balance. Balance with say, the scrumditiliumptious-ness of an avocado. That’s a good word for it, right? I think it beats “smooth” and “creamy” and what-the-hell-else should I say about it. Besides the fact that the avocado may well be the perfect food. It is only joined with maybe a few other things (like bacon and eggs) that are so welcome at all hours of the day.
But anyway, back to grapefruit and avocado.
I like to keep things on hand for an impromptu snack with a glass of wine after work or a quick gathering of friends. Something that doesn’t require going to the store (surprise!) and can be ready in about the same amount of time as it takes to open that bottle of wine.
So while cheese and crackers fit these two simple criteria (and are often on the case), sometimes it’s fun to have something with a bit more pizazz.
And since I am already ready for spring, let’s try to coax it out a bit early with some peas. While this nibble would of course be better with English peas, in the colder months, frozen baby peas work great.
A quick whirl in the food processor with some lemon juice and oil and you have a simple puree that is as bright in flavor as it is in color. You can spice it up with chili flakes, cool it off with some mint or my personal favorite – add the extra “umami” element with some truffle oil.
