Asparagus Grilled Cheese

Is there anything better than a grilled cheese sandwich?  Okay, there's bacon and chocolate, but aside from that?  I actually don't think so.  There's the old classic, of course...American cheese between two slices of white bread, buttered and fried until golden.  This is the Southern husband's favorite.  There is the Rolls Royce of grilled cheese, which is the croque monsieur, which is the grilled cheese I love above all others. But there are many others in between, and it's my responsibility as a grilled cheese lover to sample as many as possible.

Now, grilled cheese is not exactly, well, low-calorie, but I figure if you throw some veggies in with it, at least you are making somewhat of an effort, and if the veggies actually kick the grilled cheese up a notch, it's a total win-win.  And that's the case with this particular sandwich, which pairs roasted asparagus with Gruyere cheese and a little mustard to make a perfectly delectable lunchtime treat.  This recipe is from one a blog you should absolutely go visit...it's called Closet Cooking.  The reason it got that name is because the author's kitchen is the size of a closet, and his blog is so delectable that I can't imagine how wonderful life would be if he ever decides to upsize.  Yum!  In the meantime, here's his take on grilled cheese.

Asparagus Grilled Cheese, from Closet Cooking

6-8 stalk asparagus (trimmed and cleaned)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons grainy mustard
1 slice oka cheese (or your favorite, gruyere would also be really nice)
2 slices of bread
1 tablespoon butter (room temperature)

1. Toss the asparagus in the oil, salt and pepper.
2. Arrange the asparagus in a single layer on a baking sheet.
3. Roast in a preheated 400F oven until tender, about 10-30 minutes. (Note: Roasting time can vary greatly depending on how thick your asparagus is.)
4. Assemble sandwich and grill until the cheese has melted and the bread is golden brown on both sides, about 2-4 minutes per side.

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Slow Cooked Short Ribs with Carrots and Apples

Here's how things go when the Southern husband and I go out to dinner someplace where there are short ribs on the menu:  I look at the menu and spot the short ribs.  Then I see something else that seems almost as good as the short ribs.  Then I agonize about how much I want the short ribs, but I've had short ribs so many times and haven't had whatever that other thing is on the menu nearly as much.  Then I ask the Southern husband what he's having, and he says he is deciding between the short ribs and some other thing that I have no interest in.  Then I say, "Gee honey, if you have the short ribs then I can order this other thing, and I can have a bite of your short ribs because I'm having a hard time choosing!"  And being the knight in shining armor that he is, he orders the short ribs and I get my other thing.

Then our dinners come out and I have complete diner's remorse about not ordering the short ribs for myself, and the Southern husband reads me like a book, gives me his plate of short ribs and takes my dinner...which was not one of his two choices.  This has happened more than once, twice or three times.  It's one of the nine million reasons that I love the guy.

So to make it up to him, I decided one day that I was going to make my OWN short ribs.  For some reason, short ribs have always intimidated me...who knows why.  I'm a mystery even to myself, never mind the Southern husband.  But that day I bucked up and gathered my ingredients.

Scrumptious, right???  Even uncooked!  And even better, they are all headed for the slow cooker.  Somehow things made in the slow cooker are always okay.  And it's as easy as this: you peel and cut up the fruit and veggies, toss them and the ribs into the slow cooker, and cover them with a gorgeous concoction of applesauce, vinegar, mustard and other wonderful things.  Pop the lid on top and go do other things for 8 or 10 hours.  Laundry-blogging-email-napping-snacking-messing-around-on-Pinterest is usually what I do.  Come back, take out the meat and  veggies which are now tender and amazing, pour the pan juice into a saucepan and simmer it down with a little cornstarch to thicken it up.

Now pour the sauce over the meat and veggies and have enough short ribs for everyone, for a change! Life is good.


Slow Cooked Short Ribs with Carrots and Apples, from A SOUTHERLY COURSE


2 large apples, peeled, cored and cut into large pieces
4 carrots, cut into large pieces
1 large onion, peeled and cut into wedges
3 1/2 pounds bone-in beef short ribs
1 cup applesauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup apple cider


Put the apples, carrots and onions in a large slow cooker, and top with the short ribs

Combine the applesauce, vinegar, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, mustard and salt.  Pour the mixture over the beef.  Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours until the beef is tender.

Transfer the beef, fruit and vegetables to a serving platter.  Pour the juices from the slow cooker into a small saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch with the cider until smooth.  Pour into the simmering juices, bring to a boil and cook for one minute or until the sauce thickens.  Pour the sauce over the ribs and serve.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Honey Puree

I have a love-hate relationship with butternut squash.  I love the way it tastes...sweet and smooth with just a hint of veggie flavor.  I love it when it is mixed up with other things, like honey and herbs and shallots, especially when I get that whole sweet and salty thing going on.  I love it when someone else makes it for me.

And that is because I do NOT love the peeling cutting up of it that is part of so many butternut recipes, because butternut squash is hard as a rock.   And I do not love the paying of approximately one million dollars for buying already cut-up butternut squash in the supermarket.

Which is why I madly love this particular butternut recipe.  No peeling, and the only cutting is to cut the ends off, cut it in half, and scoop out the seeds.  If you can't recruit your manly Southern husband to do this, you can actually do it yourself in about 5 minutes.  Or less.  Then it's just a matter of putting butter and honey and herbs and shallots on top of your butternut halves...

...and then baking it all up in the oven until it is soft and cooperative.  Let it cool a little, scoop out the lovely soft butternut with the cooked shallot and herbs and give it a quick whirl in your food processor with the teeniest amount of cream.  And that's it...easy, breezy, scrumptious butternut without all the angst.  I have enough angst in my life what with all the goings on at Downton Abbey at the moment. Happy butternut!

Roasted Butternut Squash Honey Puree, adapted from Real Simple

• 3 butternut squash (2 pounds each)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 small shallots, halved
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons heavy cream

Heat oven to 400° F. Trim the ends from the squash, then halve lengthwise, discarding the seeds. Transfer the squash, cut-side up, to a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment or foil. Season with the salt and pepper and top with the shallots, honey, thyme, and butter.

Cover the squash with foil. Roast until softened, 45 to 60 minutes. Uncover and set aside until cool enough to handle. Working in batches, scoop some of the softened squash and shallots from the peels into a food processor.

Puree the squash mixture until smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl. Repeat with the remaining squash and shallots. Serve warm. 

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Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict

If you told me (and please don't tell me this, this is for purposes of demonstration only) that I could only have one thing and one thing only for breakfast from now on, I wouldn't even have to think twice.  Because for me, at the very top of the breakfast happiness list is Eggs Benedict.  I love Eggs Benedict madly.  And because Eggs Benedict is not something you can eat on any sort of regular basis and still fit into your Levi's, when I do have them I like to make it An Event.  Sometimes this means just going out to our favorite breakfast place and ordering up a plate of Eggs Benedict...but sometimes it means making them at home, and sometimes with a little spin on them.

For example...how about a little smoked salmon?  Now, traditional Eggs Benedict is made with Canadian bacon, and you know how I feel about bacon.  So for me, it's got to be REALLY good for me to part with the bacon part of Eggs Benedict.

This is REALLY good.

And not only that, this version does away with another part of the traditional eggs benedict...the hollandaise sauce.  The hollandaise sauce is what gets you in trouble with your Levis, so while I'm definitely still eating the bacon-and-hollandaise version now and then, it's fabulous to have a lighter version in your back pocket that is still oh, so good.  Don't get me wrong...there's still plenty of decadence left in the lemon chive butter sauce...but as far as I'm concerned, this is Eggs Benedict Health Food.  It comes from my friends at Stonewall Kitchen...I do adore their cookbook.  Almost as much as Eggs Benedict, baby.

So the next time you are in an Eggs Benedict kind of mood, give this one a try.  (For me, that will be sometime in the next five minutes or so.)

Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict, from STONEWALL KITCHEN FAVORITES

1 tablespoon olive oil
12 ounces washed baby spinach
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 stick butter
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped chives
2 whole English muffins
4 large eggs
1/4 pound sliced smoked salmon
Dill for garnish (optional)

1. heat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add olive oil, then spinach.  Season with salt and pepper and cook the spinach, stirring with tongs, until it has completely wilted - about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice and chives.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

3. Separate and toast the English muffins.

4. Poach the eggs (you can also soft boil them if you are not an egg-poaching type of person).  While the eggs are cooking, place a quarter of the spinach on each muffin half, and place some salmon on the spinach.  Top each portion with an egg.  Divide the butter sauce by drizzling over each serving and garnish with chives or dill.  Serve immediately.

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Linguine with Creamy Clam Sauce

I love linguine with clam sauce...love it, love it, love it.  I love it the traditional way, made with fresh clams.  I love it the down and dirty way, made with chopped clams.  But lately my favorite is the creamy way, made with tomatoes, baby clams, and, yep, cream.  Cream makes it silky and decadent and, well, creamy.

Even better, this is one of those wonderful, quick recipes you can make on a Wednesday night when you only feel like spending 20 minutes on dinner, and it's going to come out like you were slaving away in the kitchen all afternoon.  I don't know about you, but there's something SUPREMELY satisfying about whipping up a restaurant-quality supper in less time than it takes to watch Modern Family.  (I love Modern Family, by the way.  I completely identify with Claire.  She and I would be best buds.  If only she was a real person.  Just saying.)

Anyway, one important note about this recipe.  If you are making it in the summer, feel free to use whatever kind of tomato you want.  If you are making it in the dead of winter, as I did with this particular picture, please use cherry tomatoes.  Tomatoes in winter are a pale, tasteless shadow of their wonderful summer selves...except for cherry tomatoes.  Somehow those manage to stay sweet and delicious all year long.  And they are easier to cut up as well.  Double win!!

Happy cream clam sauce!

Linguine with Creamy Clam Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1 cup chopped fresh tomato

1 eight ounce can whole baby clams
1 cup cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch
12 ounces cooked linguine

1. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, parsley and tomatoes and cook for two minutes.

2. Add baby clams with their juice and cream and simmer for 5 minutes.  Mix cornstarch with 3 tablespoons cool water and add to the sauce.  Simmer another 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Toss sauce with cooked pasta, divide among plates, garnish with parsley and serve.

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Super Bowl, Literally!

As you may have heard, the Super Bowl is one short week away.  I'll be honest, I'm totally in it for the commercials.  (Click here for a sneak peek at my favorite.)  The Southern husband, on the other hand, is totally in it for The Game.  Regardless of which teams are playing, he loves it, and watches it with great (and by great I mean LOUD) enthusiasm.

However, this particular Super Bowl is going to be particularly noisy, because his very favorite team is in it.  And here in lies a little backstory.

The Southern husband is called the Southern husband for a reason...he's from the South.  He was born in  Florida and raised in Georgia, and lived there until he was out of college.  He loves grits, says "y'all" and "might-could" and wears one of two things on his feet: flip-flops or cowboy boots.

So logically you would think when it came to football, he would pull for Atlanta.  Or Tampa.  Or pretty much any team south of the Mason-Dixon line.  But no.  Nope.  For reasons that I still don't understand, he is a die-hard Giants fan.  He has a home shirt and an away shirt, and they are both in heavy rotation throughout football season.

When Big Blue wins, he's in an exuberant mood.  When they don't, he gets a little bit mopey.  When they go to the Super Bowl...well, you can just imagine.  And this year...yep, Super Bowl.  I'm both thrilled, and dreading it.  Because although I'm SURE they will win, if lightening strikes and they don't, I don't think the funny Bud Lite ads are going to make up for the dark cloud that is going to settle over our house.  So (sorry my Patriot fan readers)...everybody please send good karma to the Giants.  For my sake.

Anyway, while he is counting down to the Super Bowl, I am going to concentrate on telling you how to make a culinary version of a Super Bowl.  We all know that Super Bowl Sunday is a day dedicated not only to football and commercials, but the snacks that go with them.  As a nation, we are pretty much obligated to eat junk food on this day of days.  And this recipe lets you not only serve up the snacks, it gives you an actual bowl MADE of snacks to put them in.

Yep, that bowl is made of Chex Mix, which is a mixture of Chex cereal, pretzels, little bread sticks and other salty stuff.  You can buy Chex Mix in the potato chip aisle of your supermarket, or you can make your own (click here for how to do that).

Once you have your Chex Mix, you need a couple of egg whites, some Pam, some foil and a large bowl.  If you want to go REALLY crazy you can add in some bacon salt, which I highly recommend.   Now, beat up the egg whites until they are stiff, and then mix them up with the Chex Mix (and the bacon salt). Now take your bowl,  and line it with foil.  Spray the foil with Pam, and dump the Chex mix into it.  Take another piece of foil, crumple it up, spray it with Pam, and use it to press the Chex mix into a bowl shape...you are pressing it down and up the sides of the foil-lined bowl until it is in a bowl shape.  Toss away that second piece of foil.

Now you are going to bake it for about 30 minutes, and then let it cool for about 10 minutes.  Now lift the outside foil out very carefully, peel it gently off your Chex bowl, and let the whole thing cool completely.  Once that is done, you are ready to fill it up.  I filled mine with PopChips.  I love PopChips with a purple passion.

Now THAT'S a Super Bowl.  And just remember...I am non-partisan.  I'm rooting for the commercials and the snacks.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Super Bowl, adapted from Food Network

• 3 large egg whites
• 10 cups Chex Mix
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 teaspoon bacon salt (optional)
• 
  

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Beat the egg whites and 2 tablespoons water in a large bowl with a mixer until slightly stiff peaks form. Add the snack mix and toss until evenly coated.

2. Line a 3-quart ovenproof bowl with foil and spray foil with cooking spray.   Place the snack mix in it. Crumple a large sheet of foil and mold into a bowl shape about one-third the size of the 3-quart bowl. Coat the outside of the foil bowl with cooking spray and press into the snack mix to make a well in the middle, forming the snack mix into a bowl shape.

3. Place the bowl with the foil in the oven and bake until the snack mix sets, 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Carefully lift the foil with the Chex Mix bowl inside it out of the real bowl.  Cool 30 more minutes, carefully remove the foil and cool completely.

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Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

I woke up a couple of weeks ago with a burning desire to make some kind of a mini-dessert.  You know, not a full-on cake or pie (since it's only me and the Southern husband and the dog ever since the teenager deserted us to go to college), but a dessert you could hold in your hand.  So I went on my Framed Cooks Facebook page (click here if you want to check that out) and did a little survey: mini lemon meringue pies, or peanut butter and jelly bars?

As you may have guessed, the mini pies won in a landslide.  It wasn't even a tiny bit close, although the few voters for the pb&j bars were passionate in their support, and so I'll be making those sometime in the very near future.

Meanwhile, back at the little pies, here's what you need.  A tube of that pre-made sugar cookie dough you can get at the supermarket, usually next to the tubes of biscuit dough.  This is what you are going to use instead of piecrust.  Hurray!

Second, a jar of lemon curd, which is kind of like a smooth, rich, buttery lemon jam.  

If you can't find lemon curd, you can substitute lemon pudding.  Lemon curd has a more intensely lemony taste, so that's what I went with.  And last, you need a few eggs, some sugar, and a little cream of tartar to whip up the meringue.

Okay! Take a mini muffin tin (one that has 24 openings) and spray the heck out of it with Pam.  Now scoop two teaspoonfuls of sugar cookie dough into each opening and press it down and up the sides to form little cups.  Bake them for about 10-12 minutes at 350 - just until the edges start to turn golden.  Don't panic (like I did) if they puff up in the pan and look like regular cookies - they will sink back down as they cool.  Let them cool for 30 minutes - if they aren't sinking obediently after 15 minutes nudge them down in the center a little with your thumb.  When they have cooled off, loosen them by gently turning the edges like you are turning a dial - this way they will pop out nicely later.

Now separate your eggs, give the yolks to your dog, and take the whites and beat them in the mixer until they are frothy.  Then add the cream of tartar, crank the mixer up to high, and beat the heck out of them for three minutes, adding the sugar one tablespoon at a time.  By now you have nice shiny thick meringue.

Next, put one teaspoonful of lemon curd in each cookie cup, spreading it to the side a little. Top each with about a tablespoon or so of meringue.  Now pop the muffin tin with your baby pies in the oven and broil it for about a minute - just until the meringue barely starts to turn gold in spots.  Take them back out, let them rest about 10 minutes, and you are done.  If you want to make them in advance, mine were perfectly nice later when we ate them during the Golden Globes.

Here's one of the finished guys when I bit into him. Isn't he adorable?

And here's what the insides look like under their scrumptious pillow of meringue...

And one more with a lemon on the side, just to remind you how teeny they are, and why it is therefore perfectly okay to eat 4 or 5 of them in one sitting.

BTW, you will probably have leftover meringue batter. Turn your oven on to 250, drop them onto a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet and bake them for two hours - they will be crunchy and perfect.

This concludes my ode to mini lemon meringue pies.  I have to go make pb&j bars now.

Mini Lemon Meringue Pies from Peter Callahan's recipe

12 ounces refrigerated sugar cookie dough, chilled
3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon curd or lemon pudding


1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Take a mini muffin tin (one that has 24 openings) and spray it with Pam.  Scoop two teaspoonfuls of sugar cookie dough into each opening and press it down and up the sides to form little cups.

2. Bake them for about 10-12 minutes at 350 - just until the edges start to turn golden.  Don't worry if they puff up in the pan and look like regular cookies - they will sink back down as they cool.  Let them cool for 30 minutes - if they aren't sinking obediently after 15 minutes nudge them down in the center a little with your thumb.  When they have cooled off, loosen them by gently turning the edges like you are turning a dial - this way they will pop out nicely later.

3. Separate your eggs, give the yolks to your dog, and take the whites and beat them in the mixer until they are frothy, about a minute.  Then add the cream of tartar, turn the mixer up to high, and beat the for three minutes, adding the sugar one tablespoon at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny.

4. Put one teaspoonful of lemon curd in each cookie cup, spreading it to the side a little. Top each with about a tablespoon or so of meringue.  Return the muffin tin with your baby pies in the oven and broil it for about a minute - just until the meringue barely starts to turn gold in spots.  Take them back out, let them rest about 10 minutes, and remove carefully from the pan.

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