Caesar Salad with Poached Egg

I do love a good Caesar salad. I love them plain, I love them with grilled chicken, I love them with shrimp. I am brimming with love for Caesar salad. I am also brimming with love for poached eggs, as those of you who have read this blog for a while already know. So when Caesar salad meets poached eggs...heaven.

This recipe calls for a couple of slices of bread as the base, and luckily I had a few slices left over from my baguette baking, but you can use any kind of country-ish bread you have on hand. Next comes layers of romaine lettuce, and unlike the standard Caesar salad, I leave these whole, just because it looks so fancy that way. Next...oh happiness!...comes the poached egg. There is one in the picture above but if you want to go really crazy, you can use TWO! Drizzle with the quick Caesar dressing in recipe, then grind some pepper over the top, and finally finish with a scattering of really nice Parmesan cheese. One of my friends gave me a big wedge of Parmesan that she brought me back from her vacation to Italy, and it is so unbelievably good that I am practically doling it out shred by shred. I'm not sure what I am going to do when it is gone and I have to go back to my usual Parmesan cheese, now that I have been so incredibly spoiled. That's the cheese I used for this recipe, because a great Parmesan makes a big difference in this one.

Anyway. That's all there is to this one, but it makes a great light meal, and if you poach the egg just right, when you cut it open the egg will mix with the dressing, and you will eat the whole thing with a blissful smile on your face. I promise.

CAESAR SALAD WITH POACHED EGG

Serves 4

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup olive oil plus extra for drizzling
• 4 slices country bread, lightly toasted
• Romaine lettuce leaves
• 4 to 8 poached eggs, depending if you are using one or two per salad

1. Put mayo, garlic, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and 2 tablespoons cheese in food processor and blend until smooth. Add oil in a steady stream until creamy and emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2. Lay bread on plates. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

3. Lay lettuce leaves on top of bread, and top lettuce with egg or eggs.

4. Drizzled dressing over all. Grind pepper on top, and scatter remaining cheese over eggs. Serve immediately.

Boeuf Bourguignon, or Julia and Kate

If you haven't yet seen the movie JULIE AND JULIA, turn off the computer, stand up, and proceed directly to the nearest movie theater. Just make sure you eat something first, because this movie is not one to see when you are hungry. We saw it the weekend it opened, late Sunday afternoon, and it was pretty much 2 hours and 15 minutes of sheer heaven for me. Julia Child, Meryl Streep, food blogging, cooking, pounds and pounds and pounds of butter. I think now I understand what my tolerant Southern husband means when he rhapsodizes over Star Wars. THIS is a culinary Star Wars, and if Meryl Streep doesn't win her millionth Oscar for this, the Academy is going to have to answer to ME. (That should scare them.)

Anyway, the only thing I wanted to do when I walked out of the theater was make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. And because it was 7pm on Sunday, and I didn't have Julia Child's recipe, nor any of the ingredients, nor the five hours needed to make it, we went out to eat instead. And I pouted all week long until the weekend rolled around again and I had a clear window of time to shop, and cook, and cook, and cook.

Which is good, because this recipe takes FIVE HOURS. Which always injects just a teeny bit of pressure, because you really, really, really want to come out with something great at the end if you are going to spend FIVE HOURS making it. Not to mention the huge laundry list of ingredients that we needed to assemble first, including a chunk of unsliced bacon with which to make the "lardons" that go in this dish. Yes, I now know what "lardons" are. So there. And by the way, you can get a chunk of unsliced bacon at the deli counter. I think ever since this movie came out the deli counter guy is used to doling out unsliced bacon chunks.

Anyway. This is now the time where I have to admit that I did make one major departure from Julia's recipe, because one of the major ingredients in Boeuf Bourguignon is mushrooms. And, for me, mushrooms are the enemy. You may be friends with them, and I wish I could be, but I just...can't. And this recipe calls for a pound of them, and for all I know Boeuf Bourguignon translates into "beef dish that absolutely must be made with mushrooms," but there is only so far I can go, even for Julia, and mushrooms are not one of those places. So I am so sorry, Julia, but I substituted baby peas. Mea culpa, but there you have it.

OK, so I had my chunk of bacon, and my baby peas, and my bottle of Burgundy, and my five hours, and off I went. I even had some more dough from my baguette-making experiment of the day before, so in the midst of the Boeuf Bourguignon I also made another one of these to go with it:

Because that is just the kind of all-around French chef that I am.

So, to make an already too-long story short, after 5 hours of chopping and braising and simmering and baking and straining and stirring, all with my faithful and ever-hopeful dog by my side (she did eventually get the bacon rind, which I think in her doggie mind made the whole 5 hours worth the wait)...I was done! Moment of truth. I ladled it out, surrounded it with a ring of parsleyed rice, poured a glass of what was left of the Burgundy to fortify myself, and we dug in.

Oh my. Oh Julia.

Worth every last second of those 5 hours and more.

Recipe link below. Thank you, and good night.

Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon

A Cook's Paradise, aka JK Adams!

Some people's idea of a vacation destination is Disneyland, or the Caribbean, or maybe they like a nice cruise. My favorite vacation destination is beautiful Vermont, and one of my favorite Vermont destinations is the amazing JK Adams, kitchen store extraordinaire, in Dorset, Vermont. I held out an entire 24 hours after arriving in Vermont before heading over there, showing extreme restraint on my part. I have been there enough times to have the joint fully cased, and I know there is absolutely anything that any serious home cook might want in the way of pot, pans, utensils, tools and a whole lot of fun ingredients as well, but I still never get tired of roaming around like a kid in a candy store.

Because they have these. Yes, those are as many La Crueset pans as one person can look at and still stay sane.

They also have these, in rainbow colors. I have a perfectly good white one at home on my kitchen counter right this minute, but it took extreme self-control not to put three of these in my basket. They are just so very beautiful...

If you need a medium size baker's pin, they have it. Giant muffin cups? Got it. Mini-muffin tins? Check.

Maybe you need a wooden spoon.

You can't have any of these candles, though. I bought them all. (Actually, I think I left you the red ones). I fill up pretty juice glasses with sand, sink the candles halfway in, light them every night at dinnertime and it makes me ridiculously happy.

I was also delighted to see that they carry a variety of things by the wonderful Sissy Hicks, who was the subject of my post "Sissy's Kitchen" a few days ago. If she makes it, it is GOOD.

This is the main floor (there are THREE heavenly floors). That cooler on the right is full of Vermont butter, and Vermont cheese. Oh yes.

These are the last things I saw before I left. I now own that round one. I NEEDED a round cutting board, I truly did.

There aren't a lot of things that would make me want to dance on the roof of a car, but a trip to JK Adams is one of them. (And just for the record, that is not me. That is the teenager. Who dances on the roof of a car just because she is sixteen, and full of beans.)

Here's the website for the best kitchen store in the world.

JK Adams

Maple Syrup Blueberry Muffins

I've said it before, but one of the best things about this little blog is all the great recipes folks have been sharing with me. This delectable muffin recipe is one of them, given to me by my good friend Toni who is one of my favorite fellow cooking enthusiasts, and who has promised to bring me over some of her homemade gnocchi one day. Hopefully it will be one day SOON.

In the meantime she passed along this recipe for blueberry muffins. These muffins are sweetened with maple syrup instead of sugar, which makes them just perfect to be sharing with you while I am off in the mountains of Vermont, undoubtedly stocking up on maple syrup and maple sugar candy left and right.

The recipe says these are just like little pancakes you can eat with your hands -- sweet and buttery with the blueberries and the syrup baked right in. They took less than 30 minutes start to finish, including baking time, and man did my kitchen smell like heaven. If heaven includes butter and maple syrup, which I am pretty sure it does.

So thanks for the recipe, Toni! And thanks to everyone else who has been so generous about sending me recipes; I am going to diligently, happily work my way through all of them. Wait until I get to Jenn's chocolate chip coconut cheese ball.

Maple Blueberry Muffins

adapted from The Muffin Book

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup milk
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 400° and grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, maple syrup, milk and melted butter. Add to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Carefully fold in berries.

4. Spoon into 12 muffin cups and bake until golder brown, about 15-18 minutes.

Sissy's Kitchen

Greetings from beautiful Vermont, where it is green and sunny and green and peaceful and green. I love it here, because almost everything is exactly the same as it was during my carefree childhood days on my grandmother's farm, picking blackberries and pestering the patient farmers during haying, and racing each other through the cornfields when we had specifically been told to stay OUT of the cornfields because you could get LOST and never be FOUND again. (Sorry, we FORGOT!).

Anyway, one of the reasons I love coming back here so much is because pretty much nothing changes. And when it does, I get cranky. So when I heard there was a new outfit in town called Sissy's Kitchen, I decided not to go. Even though my aunt told me it was wonderful. Even though my cousins left a very tantalizing menu in the cabin. Even though I knew Sissy had been the chef at a restaurant in nearby Dorset that I have loved for years. But my teenager was starving -- starving! -- and we had just arrived and there was nothing in the cabin for breakfast. And so I grudgingly agreed to go and pick up something for her to eat, even though this was a new place in my little town where everything is supposed to stay exactly the same.

You know what?

Change is good.

It is very, very good.

I knew I was in the right place when we saw this sign on the wall, which says "Cook Is Not Responsible For Dog Hair In The Food." I sensed a kindred spirit right away.





Then we met Sissy, who was as wonderful and welcoming as the incredible aroma coming out of her kitchen. She spent a careful five minutes with the teenager, who wanted a bagel. Sissy did not have a bagel. She did have an astonishing array of other things, however, such as these:





And these.






And these.



Sissy's Kitchen also has one other very appealing feature, and that is Maille. As far as I can tell, Maille's job is Customer Service. She takes care of the customers while Sissy is working her magic in the kitchen. Maille is excellent at her job, and takes it very seriously.





It is a hard job, but somebody has to do it.





It gets even more taxing when there is more than one customer involved. But Maille kept at it. She never gave up.





Meanwhile, Sissy was back in the kitchen preparing the breakfast she had talked about with the teenager: a fried egg sandwich with bacon on a brioche roll. Which sounded like something pretty straightforward until it came out of the kitchen and we all had a bite. It was -- and I am not kidding -- one of the best things I have ever tasted in my life. And I have tasted a lot of things. I don't know what she did to make it the way it was, but oh my goodness. It was out of this world.





So if you are ever in south or central Vermont, or the surrounding areas of New York State, you owe it to yourself to stop by Sissy's Kitchen,located in Middletown Springs, Vermont on West Street right near the center of town. She is open every day but Tuesday, and while it is mostly take-away, she has a lovely picnic area out front. Here is a link to her website, and you really must take a look at that menu. (And for those of you who live nowhere near New England, I apologize in advance. It's really not fair to make you read this, because then you will weep with tears of deprivation.) I am going to take full advantage of this menu this week by dropping in on Sissy's, and once I am home I know I will be checking in on the menu regularly, as inspiration for my own menus until I am back in beautiful Middletown Springs again....

Sissy's Kitchen





It is only the first day of our vacation, so I think we will be going back one or two times. Or ten. And not just because this is the way Maille looked as we left:





We'll be back, Maille! Promise! Change is good.

Baguettes!

I have always been a total coward when it comes to baking bread. My general approach goes something like this:

"Mom, would you bake some bread for me?"

And it magically appears, and is perfect every time. My mother is a genius when it comes to bread-baking. And other things, but she is FAMOUS for her amazing bread. And I know she just loves making it for me (right, Mom??), which is why I was a little surprised when she emailed me the recipe for King Arthur Flour's Almost No-Knead Baguettes, but I guess everyone needs to get pushed out of the nest at some point, right? Even though I am pretty certain she will let me climb back in whenever I want to, bread-wise. But I read it over and it looked like even a big old bread coward like me might stand a chance, and I did have a bag of King Arthur Flour in the kitchen, which seemed like a Sign. So...what the heck.

This is one of those recipes where you trade in the kneading for hours and hours of waiting. The dough comes together in no time, with almost no kneading. Then it rises. Then it goes into the fridge for 100 years. I mean 24 hours. Then it rises again. Then you bake it, and voila! Beautiful, golden, aromatic bread -- crunchy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside, and gone in under 30 minutes.

I had some of my favorite handmade butter (not handmade by me!) and some of our favorite cheese (D'Affinois, and if you have never tried this cheese, go get some RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Fairway.) Anyway, this dough recipe makes four loaves and you can keep it in the fridge for up to 7 days, according to King Arthur. I have another loaf rising on the counter right this second, and I have already given the helpful Southern husband bread-dough-shaping instructions for the loaf he is going to make out of the dough later this week. This almost seems too good to be true, doesn't it?

So thanks, Mom -- my bread-making phobia is gone! I'm cured!

Now would you make me some scones?

King Arthur's Almost No-Knead Baguette

Gone Fishing...

Today we are off for a week's vacation at my favorite place on God's Green Earth, the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont -- home of my best childhood memories, the one place in the world I can totally, utterly, completely RELAX. Vermont is home to me, in all the best, heartwarming sense of the word, for a million reasons, most of which have to do with the beloved family, immediate and extended, that I grew up surrounded by in lovely, peaceful, away-from-it-all Middletown Springs.

We are lucky enough to have this wonderful cabin to stay in, filled with many memory-laden things that belonged to my grandparents who -- luckily for all of us Winkopps, Morgans, Stevensons and Jacksons -- discovered this tiny village and made their home there. The picture above is the view from the cabin window. At least it is the view when I was last there in March. Hopefully the snow has melted by now. In Vermont, you never know.

The cabin is full of comforting things like the pine kitchen table, complete with some goodies that the last relative left behind because they know you were coming next.

Cozy rag rugs to keep your toes warm on those brisk New England mornings.

And all around, little sunny antiques and artifacts that have been collected over the years.

Over the next few days I am going to do a lot of this:

And a lot of this:

And yes, probably some of this, because I can't help it.

I have a few blog posts scheduled to go out while I am gone, and here and there I may even send one out from the cabin, because it now has INTERNET SERVICE. This is a big development. (Still no cell phone service though, which is always a great adjustment for the teenager.) Among other things, we always visit my favorite cooking store in the whole wide world, the phenomenal JK Adams in Dorset, Vt, and I may try and sneak my Nikon in there just to give you a look around.

But in general, I am going to kick back and relax, and as I always do, send up a grateful prayer to my grandparents for giving us this gift of Vermont, which is now on its fourth generation. And since I would never leave you without a recipe, here's one from the Barrows House in Dorset. If you are ever in the area, it's a great place to have a delicious Vermont dinner. If you go this week, maybe I will see you there!

---

MAPLE DECADENCE BREAD PUDDING

From Barrows House Inn and Restaurant, Dorset, Vermont.
Maple Decadence Bread Pudding

• 1/2 pound sliced bread, crust removed
• 12 large egg yolks
• 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
• 4 cups heavy cream

Cut bread in 1/2 inch cubes and toast until golden brown. Spread evenly in pan. Whisk together yolks and syrup. Heat cream until hot to touch. Gradually whisk cream into egg mixture and strain over bread. Place plastic over bread to submerge. Let stand until bread is soaked. Cover with foil and bake in water bath for one hour and 15 minutes or until custard is set (350 oven). Drizzle with warm syrup and serve.

Chicken Piccata

Yum, chicken piccata. This is what I call a Monday Supper. Monday Suppers, since they are on Mondays, need to be simple, fast, totally reliable and with as few ingredients as possible. Because they fall on MONDAYS, which are the opposite of slow, lazy Sundays, where spending the afternoon in the kitchen making something long and complicated is a wonderful thing. But 24 hours later, long and complicated is no longer wonderful. Short and simple, that's what Monday dinners are all about.


And so chicken piccata, that is why I love you, with your very few ingredients and your warm, lemony, buttery taste. You are the perfect Monday Supper. This is a very easy supper, but you must use nice chicken breasts -- not too thick, not too thin, about 1/2 inch thick is perfect. Pound those babies if you have to, although I find if you use the chicken labeled "thin cut chicken breasts" you are usually okay. Fresh lemon juice - I buy two lemons for this dish. One for the juice, and one for those pretty lemon slices I use as garnish. Fresh chopped parsley. I love roasted aspargus with this dish, but it would also be great with sauteed spinach, or surrounded by rice with some of the pan sauce drizzled on top. Or both.

Anyway...here is chicken piccata for a Monday Supper. It makes Mondays feel so much better...and then before you know it, it's Tuesday, and the weekend is practically here.

CHICKEN PICCATA

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, about 1/2 inch thick
1 egg
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chicken stock

1. In a small bowl, beat the egg together with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Set aside.

2. Mix up the flour and pepper. Dip the chicken in the egg/lemon mixture, then in the flour.

3. Melt the butter in a large pan and brown the coated chicken pieces.

4. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the chicken broth and pour liquid into skillet. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, turning chicken pieces after 10 minutes, until chicken is tender. Garnish with lemon slices and fresh parsley.

Click here for printable recipe

Chicken Salad with Corn, Tomatoes and Goat Cheese Dressing

One of the cardinal rules of my kitchen is, if we are grilling chicken, we make extra. I have an entire collection of recipes that call for cooked chicken as one of the ingredients, and pretty much no matter what it is, if the chicken is grilled it is twice as good.

The ever-helpful Southern husband grilled chicken early in the week, so I had a nice supply of the extra in the fridge. Note: this only works if you say in a very firm voice, "I am using the leftover chicken for another supper in a few days, so please don't EAT it." I speak from experience.

Anyway, I also had some corn and tomatoes from our local farm market, and a nice hunk of goat cheese from Fairway, and so this tasty little salad came together in two shakes. Fresh thyme is essential for the nice flavor of this one, and luckily I have it in abundance in my herb garden, so all set there. We had the salad with some cracked peppercorn flatbread and a glass of Malbec wine, which I just discovered a few weeks ago. Malbec is an Argentinian wine that has flavors of black cherry and chocolate. But you probably knew that already and I am the last one to find it out.

So next time you grill chicken, make a few extra pieces and then try this salad, while the corn and tomatoes are still all around us. These lazy hazy days of summer are going by all too fast...

CHICKEN SALAD WITH CORN, TOMATOES AND GOAT CHEESE DRESSING

• 4 ounces crumbled mild goat cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 4 chicken breast halves, grilled and shredded into bite size pieces
• 2 ears of corn, kernels removed and cooked
• 1 large tomato, chopped

1. In food processor, puree cheese, oil, sour cream, milk, vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of thyme until smooth. Thin with more milk if needed until it is the consistency of thick salad dressing.

2. Place chicken, corn and tomato in large bowl and toss with dressing.

3. Serve with the rest of the thyme sprinkled on top.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme..

The herbs have officially taken over, and something needs to be done.

I know that lately this blog has been all about the basil -- Exhibit A pictured above, and believe me I am still looking for anything to make that has basil as a key ingredient. Or even better, as part of the recipe title. However, the basil has lots of friends out there in the herb garden, and they are close behind in terms of mass production. So here is my master plan of attack, and tell me if you have any other ideas...

Parsley. This is the easiest one, because parsley is a great little garnish for just about anything. I chop it up and scatter it over omelets, pasta dishes (it is perfect over pasta carbonara), salads, you name it. My favorite side dish this time of year is some chopped up Jersey tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, a little coarse salt, a little balsamic vinegar and some chopped parsley or basil or both.

Sage. All of my other herbs need to be replanted every spring, but my sage plant is both hardy and faithful and comes up every single year. Sage is a powerful herb and is great for cooking with chicken, but my absolute favorite use of sage is as follows: cut up one beef tenderloin filet into bite-size chunks. Chop up a good handful of fresh sage. Melt about 1/2 stick butter. (I did not say this was a low-fat dish.) Saute filet and sage in the butter until the meat is just cooked to rare/medium rare -- about 3-5 minutes. Pour the whole thing on top of cooked pasta and toss. Top with fresh parmesan and fresh ground pepper. The BEST.

Rosemary. Can I just say, those little spice jars of dried rosemary, hard as little needles, should be outlawed?? Fresh is the only way to have rosemary. Rosemary and potatoes are a match made in heaven. Get a heap of those small baby potatoes, toss them up with coarse salt, olive oil and chopped fresh rosemary, and bake them in a 425 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until they are tender, tossing them once during cooking.

And last but not least..you guessed it. Thyme. The only issue with these babies is getting those teeny leaves off the stalk. If the stalk is tender, don't even bother, just chop them up. If it is hard and woody, hold the top of the stalk between your thumb and first two fingers and just run your fingers down the stalk, stripping off the leaves as you go. The absolute best recipe I have made with thyme lately has been the Red Pesto Ravioli I posted a few weeks ago -- here's the link to that one:

Red Pesto Ravioli

So there you go. Go get those herbs. And if you have any herb recipes for ME, by all means bring 'em on.

Tagliolini with Red Caviar

Dramatic, isn't it??

And it has equally splashy ingredients. Lemon Zest. Vodka. Heavy Cream. Not just any old pasta but tagliolini. And of course the red caviar, which believe it or not, you can usually find in the supermarket without taking out a second mortgage.

This is a dish that I make every once in a long while, because it is so over the top, so rich, and because by the time I roll it out again it enough time has passed that I get the full impact of its splashiness. It is a showstopper of a dish, and sometimes that just what is called for. It is sexy and romantic and out of this world...just like the person I made it for.

I think that is all I need to say about this one.

TAGLIOLINI WITH CAVIAR, adapted from Open House Cookbook

Serves 2 romantic people

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Zest of one lemon
• 3/4 cup bottled clam juice
• 1/8 cup vodka
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 pound tagliolini (or linguine if you can't find tagliolini. Although you can order it from Amazon, we discovered.)
• 3 ounces red caviar

1. Heat butter and oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes/ Add lemon zest, clam juice and vodka and simmer until reduced by half, about 15 minutes.

2. Put pasta on to boil.

3. Meantime, stir the cream into the sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese until it melts. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm until the pasta is ready.

4. Drain pasta and toss with the sauce to coat well. Divide amount plates and top with a heaping spoonful of caviar.

5. Serve and eat slowly and rapturously with someone you are crazy about.

Open-Faced Egg and Tomato Sandwiches

I love eggs. They are not just for breakfast anymore. As a matter of fact, I take every opportunity to work them into whatever meal I can get away with, including lunch and dinner. They are quick, reliable, versatile and always in my fridge.
Now my FAVORITE way to eat eggs, if you made me pick, is poached. I drove myself bananas for a while trying to poach eggs the old-fashioned way in a pan of water. Oh, the eggs that I destroyed. My mother is actually the only person I have ever met who can consistently poach an egg the right way. Then one day I heard about these silicone poach pods, and my egg-loving life changed forever. They make FOOLPROOF poached eggs every time, and in a perfect little poached egg shape. Here is a link for all you frustrated poached egg lovers:
Poach Pods
But I digress, since THIS recipe calls for fried eggs, not poached eggs (but I just couldn't resist). This recipe is part of my summer-long Jersey tomato fest. Look above at that plate of 'maters, as my charming Southern husband calls them. Fresh out of the fields, with the smudges to prove it. For this quick lunch recipe, all you need is an English muffin, one of these beautiful tomatoes, a couple of eggs and some cheese and you are in business. It is a healthy little dish with its perfect mix of a protein and a carb and a veggies, and is ready in two shakes. So good, and good for you.

EGG, TOMATO AND CHEESE SANDWICHES, adapted from Everyday Food

• 1 English muffin, split and toasted
• 2 thick slices of a really great tomato
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup grated cheddar
• Salt and pepper

1. Top each muffin with a slice of tomato
2. Gently fry eggs in oil or butter in small skillet until whites are almost set and yolks are still runny.
3. Top with cheddar cheese, cover skillet and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted
4. Slide one egg onto each muffin.
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Risotto with Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella

At this point I will do just about anything to keep up with the basil outside my door. There is only so much pesto that any one family can take. I give away huge bunches of basil to visitors...whether they want it or not. We used to have a guinea pig named Wilbur who loved the stuff. He is now in guinea pig heaven, but maybe we need another one? Or perhaps I can get the dog interested. She did eat a piece of the driveway once, so basil would be a big jump up for her.


Meantime, any of my summertime recipes that call for basil as a key ingredient are in heavy rotation now, including this nice little risotto. I love risotto -- it is definitely a key member of the comfort food family, and I have a ton of variations on it, including a coconut shrimp version that is one of my all-time faves. This one not only calls for fresh basil, but also for fresh tomatoes (yes, got those in abundance too!) and best of all, fresh mozzarella, which Fairway always has a tower of, so newborn that it is still warm when I buy it. The great thing about risotto is that once you have the rice base (arborio rice slowly simmered in broth and wine) you can pretty much mix and match any combo of ingredients that catch your fancy. I am all about using up as much basil and tomatoes as possible these days, but this recipe would also be great using fresh chopped thyme with the tomatoes and a gruyere cheese, or chopped parsley with some goat cheese and shredded chicken -- you get the idea. Mix and match! But because we ARE smack in middle of basil and tomato season, basil and tomatoes it is.
Now if I can just figure out a risotto that incorporates chocolate, I will be all set.

Risotto with Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella

1½ cups diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ tsp. salt
1 clove garlic, minced
4 10½ oz. cans chicken broth
2 tsp. olive oil
½ cup finely chopped onion
1½ cups Arborio rice, uncooked
⅓ c. dry white wine
1 c. diced mozzarella cheese
½ tsp. ground pepper
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1. Combine first 5 ingredients; stir well, and set aside.

2. Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.

3. Heat 2 tsp. oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute 3 minutes. Add rice and wine; cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute or until liquid is nearly absorbed. Add warm broth, ½ c. at a time, stirring constantly until each addition is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total).

4. Add tomato mixture; cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes.

5. Remove from heat, and stir in mozzarella and pepper. Sprinkle each serving with parmesan cheese.

French Omelets

Why are these called French omelets? Je ne sais pas. (That's French for, I have no earthly idea.) But that is what the recipe calls them, and so who am I to argue.

I love omelets. Or I should say, I love EATING omelets. I have a love/hate relationship with actually cooking them -- when they come out looking good I feel very very good, and when they are bad, they are horrid. I have never managed to master the whole omelet pan slide it onto the plate and flip it over thing. It always looks so easy, but for me it usually ends in tears.

And so. I have distilled my omelet-making down into two very different techniques.

The first will probably horrify half of you and make the other half of you laugh, but I promise you, it WORKS. These omelets are not photogenic and I would never attempt to take a picture of them, although I probably should have for the sheer shock value. This omelet approach is called "omelet in a bag," and before all of you start emailing me, yes, I know it is slightly alarming to eat something that has been cooked inside a Ziplock, but I gotta tell you, this method turns out slightly unslightly but perfectly cooked, fluffy omelets Every Single Time. And so for those of you who want to walk on the wild side, here is a link for you:

Washington Post's Omelet in a Bag

For those of you who prefer cooking an omelet with the more traditional skillet on the stove approach, I highly recommend the French Omelet recipe (and that is the omelet you see resting in that lovely bed of baby spinach above). It is rolled, rather than flipped, and somehow that seems to work out for me every time. It is filled with Gruyere cheese, which as you can see melts just beautifully out of the center. Because you can only make one at a time (or at least, I can only make one at a time), be sure to keep your plates warming in a 200 degree oven, and you can park the cooked omelets in there while you work on the others. The chopstick direction sounds funky, I know, but trust me on that. It works.

FRENCH OMELETS, adapted from a Cooks Illustrated recipe

Makes one omelet

• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon butter, diced and put into the freezer f0r 10 minutes
• 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• Fresh ground pepper
• Chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 200 and heat plate or plates that you will be serving the omelet(s) on.

2. Heat 8 inch skillet over medium low heat for 10 minutes

3. Break two eggs into bowl. Separate third egg and add yolk only to bowl. Whisk until yolks and whites are thoroughly combined.

4. Add half of cold butter to egg mixture

5. Add second half of butter to skillet and wait until it has melted and foam has subsided

6. Pour egg into skillet. Using chopsticks, swirl egg mixture around, making sure to pull from sides, until egg is almost cooked, about 90 seconds

7. Turn off heat and smooth top of egg with spatula. Sprinkle on cheese and pepper and cover pan with lid. Let sit covered for another 90 seconds.

8. Here comes the ONLY tricky part, and it is not that tricky. Put a folded paper towel over half of the warmed plate. Loosen the omelet with your spatula and slide it on to the plate so it is half on the paper towel and half off. Using the paper towel, roll the omelet up into a cylinder. I promise it will hold together. If it doesn't, I will make another one FOR you.

9. I like to cut the omelet in half but up to you! Serve either plain or on a bed of cooked spinach, with chopped parsley and more fresh ground pepper on top.

Mexican Layered Salad

We were SUPPOSED to go out to dinner last Saturday night. I was all set to hit my favorite Mexican restaurant, the one were they give you the free quesadillas when you come in, and the free fried banana in a sugared tortilla with whipped cream and honey at the end. But then my teenager appeared in my living room and mentioned that she had asked if she could have several thousand of her friends over, that they were arriving at 6, and remember Mom? You said yes?

I'm sure I did. My short term memory has started blocking out things like giant hordes of teenagers coming over on nights when I am yearning for tacos. But being the responsible parents that we are, we resigned ourselves to staying home. Or I resigned myself, anyway -- my Southern husband practically danced back into the living room to finish watching the Yankees/Red Sox game, which was only half over.

So, what to make for dinner with stuff I had on hand? Something that would address my unrequited Mexican food longings? I realized I had all the fixings for one of my favorite things to bring to potluck parties: Mexican layered salad. It is half taco salad, half dip, and perfect for eating in front of a baseball game. (Which turned into watching the movie version of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED once the game was over, because fair is fair.)

This is exactly as described -- layers of the various things found in tacos, or taco salad or dips, all in one bowl and served with tortilla chips, although I also put out some soft corn tortillas to wrap around spoonfuls of it. You can see most of the layers in the above picture -- a layer of sour cream and cream cheese mixed with taco seasoning, a layer of spiced ground beef on top of that, a layer of guacamole, a layer of shredded cheddar on top of that (I forgot that one in the picture shot but I added it back later!), a layer of tomatoes, finished with a topping of chopped lettuce (see picture below). Set it all out with some tortilla chips and/or soft tortillas, some napkins, and dig in - make sure you dig all the way to the bottom to get the full effect.

Maybe a Saturday night at home isn't so bad after all.

MEXICAN LAYERED SALAD

Serves a crowd. Can be halved or quartered. Or doubled or tripled.

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 16 oz jar taco sauce
• 1 16 ounce container sour cream
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese
• 1 package taco seasoning mix
• 2 medium avocados
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 16 oz package shredded cheddar
• 1 cup shredded lettuce
• 1 chopped tomato

1. Brown ground beef and drain. Return to skillet and stir in taco sauce.
2. In a large bowl, combine sour cream, cream cheese and taco seasoning. Spread over bottom of large serving dish. Spread ground beef over sour cream layer.
3. Mash avocados with lemon juice. Spread over beef layer.
4. Sprinkle cheese over avocado layer, scatter tomatoes over cheese layer, finish with layer of shredded lettuce
5. Serve with tortilla chips and/or soft corn tacos.

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Aligot Potatoes

I actually don't know if I have the words to describe the joy that is aligot potatoes.

I had never heard of them until a couple of years ago, when I ran across a recipe for them. Never saw them on a menu, never read about them, had no idea what "aligot" meant. Now mind you, I consider mashed potatoes one of the great pleasures of life, and I have tried all different approaches to them, none of them quite measuring up to my mother's homemade mashed potatoes that we get at Christmas. (One Christmas she mixed pureed turnips into them. Or maybe it was parsnips. That was the Christmas That Almost Wasn't. I have forgiven her, but it has taken a while.

Anyway, one of the things every mashed potato recipe tells you not to do, NEVER to do, is to "mash" them in your food processor. You are supposed to use a food mill (aggravating) or a hand masher (exhausting) or a ricer (the best approach, especially if you have a strapping Southern husband to help you). However, aligot potatoes are all about the food processor, which may be one of the reasons I love them so. That and the fact that they are incredibly, supernaturally, mind-blowingly delicious. Imagine if they invented a frosting that was the flavor of mashed potatoes and cheese -- that is aligot potatoes. Smooth, silky, laced with melted cheese, topped with ground pepper...mmmmm.

Here is my ultimate proof. I made them last night for dinner, and the teenager had her best friend coming over at dinnertime -- always a good opportunity for her to lobby for a pizza to be delivered. Since we were grilling porterhouse steaks to go with the potatoes, I thought hurray, more for me, and I okayed the pizza. She strolled into the kitchen as I was dishing out the aligot and said "What is THAT? Can I HAVE some?" This from a teenager that doesn't eat a thing that has any kind of separate components to it. She did ask me if there was anything in it besides potatoes, and I lied like a rug, told her it was potatoes only, and ladled some into a dish for her. Which she then carried around with her for the next half hour all around the house, taking little bites to make it last.

So there you go, aligot potatoes, a gift from the heavens. Make sure you only use Yukon Gold potatoes in this one.

ALIGOT POTATOES

• 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

1. Put sliced potatoes in large pot and cover with water. Add salt. Bring potatoes to a boil, partially cover and, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until potatoes are fork-tender, about 12 minutes. Drain and wipe out pot.

2. Put potatoes, garlic and butter into food processor and process for 10 seconds. Add one cup of milk and process until smooth, about 30 seconds more.

3. Put potatoes back into pot over medium heat. Gradually stir in cheese, stirring continuously until cheese is melted and potatoes are smooth. If mixture becomes too thick, gradually stir in more milk until creamy. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

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