Spaghetti with Fresh Clams

Now that the wonderful new Bon Appetit has shown me the light in terms of cooking pasta (click here for this new approach to pasta and sauce...it's life-changing) I am now going back to my old faves to try it out on them.  And one of my old fave is absolutely pasta with fresh clam sauce.  Briny, garlicky, slightly peppery sauce, with fresh clams.    I used littlenecks, but you can use manila clams as well.  You can apparently also use cockles.  (I wouldn't know a cockle if I bumped into one on Fifth Avenue, but if you do, then just know you can use 'em in this recipe.)

So, the basic concept is the same.  Cook your pasta...but not all the way.  Drain it when it still has about 2 minutes to go (and save some of the pasta water for later in the recipe).  Meantime, cook up your sauce...in this case you saute up some sliced garlic in olive oil, add some white wine and then steam your clams in this fabulous mixture until they open up.  Once they do, take out the clams with tongs and put them in a bowl. 

Now crank up the heat under that sauce and add a little pasta water...and add your almost cooked pasta.  It's going to finish cooking in this sauce, and while it's doing that it will absorb some of the sauce as it goes.  Oh yes. 

In the meantime, you can be heating your serving dish and/or your plates in a 200 degree oven.  I love doing this with pasta - the heat of the plate will keep your dinner nice and warm all through the meal.  In this case, I chose this particular serving bowl.

This bowl keeps me on the straight and narrow at the end of a long day, when I sometimes find myself standing in the kitchen thinking, now what was I doing again?

Oh yes.  Pasta.  Once the pasta is cooked, pour the entire thing into your warm serving bowl.  Add the cooked clams with any juices and toss it just a little to mix it all up.  Sprinkle some fresh chopped parsley on top, and drizzle just a teeny bit of olive oil over the whole thing.

I'm never going back, pasta-wise. 

Spaghetti with Fresh Clams (also known as Spaghetti Alle Vongole) with hugs and kisses to Bon Appetit

• Kosher salt
• 6 oz. spaghetti
• 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 2 lb. cockles, Manila clams, or littlenecks, scrubbed
• 2 Tbsp. roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a 5-qt. pot. Season lightly with salt; add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.
• Meanwhile, heat 3 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, swirling pan often, until just golden. Add red pepper flakes and continue cooking 15 more seconds. Add wine, then clams; increase heat to high. Cover skillet and cook until clams open and release their juices, 3-6 minutes, depending on size of clams. As clams open, use tongs to transfer them to a bowl.
• Add 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to skillet; bring to a boil. Add pasta to pan. Cook over high heat, tossing constantly, until pasta is al dente and has soaked up some of the sauce from the pan. Add clams and any juices from bowl to pan, along with parsley, and toss to combine. (Add more pasta water if sauce seems dry.) Transfer pasta to warm bowls and drizzle with remaining oil.
   
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Butterscotch Cookies

 Now you KNOW I am not one to shy away from crazy desserts and snacks with strange combos of ingredients, right?  I think the very fact that I have Bacon Cinnamon Rolls on this blog is complete, incontrovertible proof that.  But every once in a while I get a longing for a simple, quiet, satisfying, low-key cookie.  My grandma's molasses cookies are the very best type of this sort of cookie, but these wonderful butterscotch cookies are definitely right up there.

This recipe is from the always wonderful Simply Recipes site.  Whenever I need a great, totally reliable, delicious recipe for something in particular, this is always one of the sites I check first.  In this case, I needed to have butterscotch cookies.  Not butterscotch pudding.  Not butterscotch brownies.  Not Butterscotch the cat.

Sorry Butters.

Nope, what I wanted was a perfect, simple, perfect butterscotch cookie, and here it is.  Maybe you need one too?

Butterscotch Cookies, from Simply Recipes

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized slices
• 1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Sugar Dredging Mixture

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar

• Fleur de sel, Maldon, sea salt, or Kosher salt for sprinkling (don't use regular table salt, it won't taste right.)

1 Preheat oven to 375°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside. Mix together the sugar dredging mixture in another bowl and set aside.
2 Place 10 tablespoons of butter into a thick-bottomed skillet over medium heat. The butter will foam a bit before subsiding. Once the butter takes on a tan color and begins to smell nutty take it off of the heat. Add the other two tablespoons of butter and mix it in until it melts.
3 Pour the brown butter into a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the brown sugar and salt and mix. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix together, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl at least once. Add the flour mixture in three increments being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom once or twice. Mix just until the flour is incorporated. The dough will be very thick.
4 Take 1/2 to full tablespoon-sized pieces of dough (you can make them a bit bigger or smaller to your liking, just make sure the pieces of dough are all the same size) and gently roll them into ball shapes. Dredge them in the sugar dredging mixture until well-coated. Place on the baking sheet and sprinkle with a little bit of the sprinkling salt (be reserved with the salt as very little goes a long way).
5 Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges have browned a bit. Be careful not to over-bake. Allow to cool on the sheet for one minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Tastes best with a glass of milk for dipping.

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Tuna Caper Dip

Few things in life are better than coming home from a loooooooong day of work at the office, cracking open a can of tuna and in 10 minutes or less having what can pass as a reasonably presentable supper.  In this case, this is the latest in our Friday Night Lights series of suppers, wherein we are using up all the delicious appetizer recipes I have collected by making them for light Friday night suppers, since there is no way I am actually going to have enough parties in my lifetime to use them all up.

So here's the deal on this one: you have to use a can of tuna packed in oil.  Yes, you do.  You drain most of the oil off, but you need the rest of it to make this delicious dip sing and dance the way you want it to.  Stir in some sour cream (use the low-fat kind to make yourself feel better about the tuna packed in oil) along with some fresh lemon juice, some chopped parsley, some capers and a couple of chopped anchovies.  Salt and pepper, and you are THERE.  We scooped it up with some endive pieces and some pita chips, and the world was just right.

And to think all this happiness started with a can of tuna!

Tuna Caper Dip, from Everyday Food

• 1 can (5 ounces) tuna packed in oil, drained
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoon capers, rinsed, drained, and chopped
• 2 anchovies, chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of red-pepper flakes
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

In a medium bowl, mix together tuna, sour cream, parsley, capers, anchovies, lemon juice, and red-pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper, serve with endive leaves, pita chips or whatever else catches your fancy!

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Grilled Rosemary Merlot Flank Steak

If you hang in with this post long enough I promise that there is a pretty fabulous grilled steak recipe at the end, but in the meantime...the backstory!

At least once a year...sometimes more...the Southern husband and I head north to my favorite place on earth, otherwise known as Vermont.  Sometimes the teenager comes with us, even though there is no cell phone service whatsoever in our little neck of the Vermont hills.  (Believe me when i say that in the teenage world, there is no greater love for one's mama than going outside the zone of Verizon coverage.)

Other things that are not in our little corner of Vermont: Movie theaters.  Starbucks.  Kentucky Fried Chicken.  ATM's.   Etc.  They do have a lot of these though.

Here's the Southern husband scanning the area for a gas station that will take that little gizmo on his keychain that allows you to pay for your gas without actually taking out your wallet.

Nope.  As a matter of fact, finding ANY gas station is a wonderful thing.  It's one of the reasons I love the place.  We are Away From It All whenever we go up there.

So imagine my surprise when we stopped at the one local supermarket on the way to our cabin to pick up essentials (milk, eggs, Oreos) and discovered that they had put in a teeny tiny wine section.  We were so shocked and amazed that we automatically picked out a bottle, just to make sure we weren't dreaming.  And it instantly turned into our new favorite merlot...right there in the middle of Poultney, Vermont.

Once we got home, the Southern husband sprang into action and ordered a case of it, and ever since then it has been our merlot of choice.  So when the grill was back in service for the season, I pulled out this tried and true recipe to see if it was as good as a steak marinade as it is was in my wineglasss.

It was.  And so here you go (finally!)...this is a recipe that I have talked about before, but since it is one of my faves I am talking about it again with a little extra twist.  First,  grab a bottle of YOUR favorite merlot, and mix up 3/4 cup of it with some chopped fresh rosemary, some chopped onion,  some beef broth and a few spices.  Pour it all in a ziplock bag, add a flank steak and let it sit in the fridge while you make the grilled vegetable salad.

First you need some lettuce.  I grow my own in an AeroGarden and pretty soon it is going to need its own zip code, there's so much of it.  But I do have fresh fresh fresh lettuce whenever I need it.

Now gather up whatever veggies you have around that catch your fancy.  I had some frozen artichoke hearts that I thawed out...

(Okay, that's not a frozen artichoke heart, but it's the only artichoke picture I have, and there's an artichoke heart in there somewhere.)    The picture below IS the actual asparagus that I used...



...along with some cherry tomatoes that I cut in half.  Scatter them all on a cookie sheet that you have lined with foil and spray or drizzle them with a little olive oil.  Toss on a little salt and pepper and pop them in a 425 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes.

When they are done, set them aside to cool a little while you make the steak.  Send someone reliable outside to grill the steak, and while they are doing that, pour the marinade into a saucepan.   Add a little tomato paste and mustard and boil it up for about 5 minutes.  When the steak comes off the grill, let it sit for about 5 minutes and then slice it thinly across the grain.

Now!  Cover half of each plate with lettuce.  Spoon some nice roasted veggies on top.  I think they are just fine plain, but feel free to drizzle a little dressing on top if you like.  Lay some sliced steak on the other side of the plate and pour some of the merlot marinade sauce on top.

You are now in paradise.  Promise. 

Grilled Rosemary Merlot Flank Steak with Grilled Vegetable Salad, steak recipe from Cooking Light

• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 3/4 cup low-salt beef broth
• 3/4 cup Merlot or other dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 

• lettuce
• your choice of vegetables to grill
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add steak; seal bag. Marinate in refrigerator 20 minutes, turning once.
2. Preheat oven to 425.  Line baking tray with foil and lay veggies in a single layer.  Spray or mix with a little olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on top.  Roast for 10-15 minutes.  Remove and let cool.
3. Remove steak from bag, reserving marinade.   Heat grill to high and cook steak  6 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices; keep warm.
4. While steak cooks, combine reserved marinade, tomato paste, and mustard in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring well with a whisk. Bring to a boil, and cook until reduced to 1 cup (about 7 minutes).
5. Arrange grilled veggies over lettuce on each plate.  Place sliced steak alongside veggies, pouring a little merlot sauce over the top.

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Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

If there is any kitchen appliance more helpful, cooperative and just plain satisfying than the good old slow cooker, I don't know what it is.  Sure, the food processor is all dramatic with the instant chopping, and the KitchenAid mixer is the 800 pound gorilla, towering over all the other gadgets.  And every once in a while, my trusty rice cooker comes out to work on some rice or oatmeal or grits.

But my heart belongs to the slow cooker, for two reasons.  First of all, pretty much anything you throw in there comes out tasting great.  Beef barley soup.  Bolognese sauce.  Even a chocolate pudding cake that I really am going to make one day and post up here, since I talk about it and then don't share.  (Sorry!)

And second of all -- and this happens to me every time -- you toss whatever it is into the slow cooker first thing in the morning.  Then you go off about your day while whatever it is cooks in perfect slowness for eight or ten hours.  Then you slog back in the door at the end of the day, weary from the  day, working up your energy to make dinner...and HAPPINESS!!  You've forgotten that dinner is already made because you put it in the slow cooker that morning.  And not only is it MADE, but it is scrumptious, because there is nothing to bring out the flavor in a whole lot of things like cooking them at a really low temperature for hours on end.

Which brings me to this soup, which is a spicy, hearty, easy mixture of shredded chicken, corn, chopped chili peppers, chopped tomatoes, some chicken broth and a bunch of spices that will open up your sinuses, and I mean this in a good way!  The chicken should be cooked already, so this soup is a perfect thing to have on the menu for a day or two after you are making chicken for something else - just throw a few more pieces on the grill or in the oven or where you are making it.    I serve it with a little bowl of crumbled tortilla chips right at the table so people can sprinkle some crunchiness right into their bowls.

So go find those slow cookers - I know you have one somewhere - and it give it some love!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup, adapted from Allrecipes

• 1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
• 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups water
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn, or fresh if in season
• Crumbled tortilla chips

1. Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
2. To serve, sprinkle tortilla chips over soup...I like to have a bowl of these on the table so everyone can sprinkle their own!

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Cucumber Wrap Salad with Bacon and Blue Cheese

Okay, so I have to state for the record right here that this is EXACTLY the kind of recipe I usually run away from as fast as possible.  It looks hard to make, and it involves inserting little strips of carrots into the center just so, and the cucumber-made-into-a-bowl part looks fraught with peril.   

But those two strips of bacon.  They kept calling my name.  And finally one day I gave in to temptation and purchased a cucumber.  There's only so much one woman can take before the bacon wins, and so I put it on one of our Friday Night Lights menus.

And guess what?  This was pretty much as easy as it gets.  You peel thin strips of the cucumber with a vegetable peeler or a mandoline...make the strips as thin as you can, because the thinner they are the easier they will turn into these little bottomless bowls.  I have an OXO Good Grips Mandoline Slicerand I love it...just be SUPER careful if you are using one, because those babies are sharp.  The moisture of the cucumber will make the ends stick together once you have fashioned them into these little bowls, which will take you about 2 minutes.  I used two strips per bowl, just for sturdiness.  

In the meantime, cut some bacon in half and cook it up however you like to...I always cook bacon for about 10-12 minutes in a 400 degree oven and it comes out just perfect.  Yes, you do have to cut up a carrot into little strips, but with bacon on the horizon, I was willing to cut up carrots.  Tear up some lettuce and toss it with your favorite dressing (a balsamic vinaigrette works great with this recipe), some crumbled blue cheese and some chopped pecans.  Or walnuts...or whatever catches your fancy.  Now take your favorite tongs, scoop up some of the lettuce mixture and nestle it into your cucumber bowls.  Fill them right up.  When you are done, stand two pieces of bacon and some of those carrot strips into the lettuce mixture.

Now stand back and look modest. 

The moral of the story: Never try and resist bacon.  It always ends up happily ever after.

Cucumber Wrap Salad with Bacon and Blue Cheese, adapted from My Recipes

• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
• 2 medium cucumbers, peeled
• 3 cups mixed baby greens
• 2 cooked thick-cut bacon slices, halved
• 1/3 cup shredded or matchstick carrots
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Salad dressing to taste (any sort of vinaigrette will work great)

1. Place chopped pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan.

2. Bake at 350º for 8 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring occasionally. Let cool 30 minutes or until completely cool.

3. Using a mandoline slicer or a vegetable peeler, cut cucumbers lengthwise into very thin strips just until seeds are visible. Discard cucumber core.

4. Shape largest cucumber slices into 4 (2 1/2- to 2 3/4-inch-wide) rings. Wrap evenly with remaining cucumber slices. Stand rings upright on 4 serving plates.

5. Fill each cucumber ring evenly with mixed greens, next 3 ingredients, and toasted pecans. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle each salad with vinaigrette.

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Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches

Being married to a Southern man, there are certain things that are so essential to the success of our married life that they were practically part of our wedding vows.  These include things like the proper respect for grits, cooking deep-fried okra at least 3 times per year, and always having a great recipe for pulled pork barbecue on hand.  Because inevitably there will come a point sometime early in the summer where it will be completely and totally necessary to have a pulled pork bbq sandwich for supper.

With a little homemade coleslaw on top of the pork to send it completely over the edge into barbeque heaven.   (And luckily, I just posted a coleslaw recipe the other day!  Click here for that one.)   I make my pulled pork by cooking a Boston butt pork roast in a slow cooker for 10 hours...at that point it is so tender that it will practically hop out of the cooker and shred itself.

After that, the only decision you have left is which bbq sauce to use.  Now we are long-time loyal users of Stubb's sauce, and I still love it.  But I recently heard about this other variety called Blues Hog, and the description of it was too much for me to take.  I ordered a few jars, wrapped them up and gave them to the Southern husband for his birthday a couple of weeks ago.  (He also got to go to a baseball game for his birthday, before you start feeling all sorry for him.)

Note that it says it is excellent on pork.

I can now definitely vouch for that.  I won't be abandoning my spicy, delicious Stubbs sauce, but if you want a fantabulous bbq sauce that is a little on the sweeter side...Blues Hog.

That's all the pulled pork I have for you today.  (Although there is now about 5 extra pounds of it in my freezer.  I'm thinking there is some pulled pork over grits in my future sometime very, very soon.)

Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches, inspired by a recipe from Taste of the South

• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground red pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 large onions, peeled and quartered
• 1 five pound Boston Butt pork roast
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• Water
• Hamburger rolls
• Your favorite coleslaw
• Your favorite barbecue sauce, warmed

1. Combine salt, paprika and pepper in a small bowl.   Rub pork with oil, and then rub spice mixture on pork, coating it all over. 

2. Place roast in a slow cooker with garlic and onions.  Add enough water to come three-quarters up the side of the pork.

3. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.  Save about a cup of the liquid and take out the pork.  Remove any fat and bones, and then use two forks to shred it.

4. Mix sandwich-size portions with warmed bbq sauce and place on hamburger buns.  Top with coleslaw and serve.  Any extra shredded pork will freeze just fine, and there is nothing like knowing you have a bag of shredded pork bbq in your freezer.  Trust me on this.

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Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw

Let me start out by saying, I know coleslaw is a personal decision.  Some folks like the creamy kind made with mayo or sour cream or whatever it is that makes it creamy.  I can actually go for a nice bowl of creamy coleslaw every once in while, especially if it has those little caraway seeds in it.  Yum.

However, most of the time I am in the non-creamy coleslaw camp.  I like the kind that is a little bit vinegary-sharp, a little bit sweet, and with just the right balance of cabbage and carrots.   And the Southern husband...well, don't even TRY to sneak any creamy coleslaw by him.  He's definitely a tangy coleslaw guy.  It might be the boots...who knows.

Side note: this picture is not mine...it was shot by the teenager.  She had a photography assignment where she had to shoot people's feet in some way that represented who they are.  She wanted to shoot her dad in his boots, which I thought was very appropriate.  Then she got to me.

She also photographed my in my sneakers next to a laundry basket.  Hmm.

Anyway, back to the coleslaw.  I never seem to make coleslaw in the winter...I must have some subconscious rule in my head that coleslaw can only be made when it is above 70 degrees outside.  And every year when coleslaw season rolls around,  I have managed to lose whatever recipe I found the year before for non-creamy coleslaw.  This year I found it again, and figured if I just put it up on the blog, at least next year the search would be a little faster.  

This recipe is from the always fabulous folks at Cooks Illustrated, and as always the recipe itself makes you scratch your head a little when you first read it (put the cabbage in the microwave?  Really??) but as always, it comes out perfectly.  Trust me.  So here it is...the only coleslaw recipe you will need all summer.  And if you come back in a couple of days for my next post, I'll be showing you something pretty dang good that you can do with it.

Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw, from Cooks Illustrated

• 1/4 cup cider vinegar , plus extra for seasoning
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 large green cabbage (about 1 pound), cored and shredded fine (about 6 cups)
• 1/4 cup sugar , plus extra for seasoning
• Table salt
• 1 large carrot , peeled and grated
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

1. Combine 1/4 cup vinegar, oil, celery seed, and pepper in medium glass or metal bowl. Place bowl in freezer until vinegar mixture is well chilled, at least 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
2. While mixture chills, toss cabbage with ¼ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon salt in large microwave-safe bowl. Cover with large plate and microwave on high power for 1 minute. Stir briefly, re-cover, and continue to microwave on high power until cabbage is partially wilted and has reduced in volume by one-third, 30 to 60 seconds longer.
3. Transfer cabbage to salad spinner and spin cabbage until excess water is removed, 10 to 20 seconds. Remove bowl from freezer, add cabbage, carrot, and parsley to cold vinegar mixture, and toss to combine. If desired, adjust flavor with sugar or vinegar. Season with salt to taste. Refrigerate until chilled, about 15 minutes. Toss again before serving.

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Mini Bacon Tomato and Basil Sandwiches

Okay, I'll admit it...I am a complete sucker for anything with the word "mini" in the title.  Mini-golf.  Mini-series.  Mini-cooper.  And add the word bacon, and I am pretty much helpless.  Toss in some basil and a tomato - you get the drift.

This is a perfect little supper for eating curled up together on the sofa watching, oh, a mini-series?  Right now we are trying to catch up with The Game of Thrones, The Borgias and Nurse Jackie all at the same time, while being very careful not to miss a single episode of either Glee or American Idol.  It's exhausting, which is why a perfect little tiny sandwich that has some tomato, some bacon, a garlic-parmesan-mayonnaise spread and one basil leaf is just the ticket.  Providing you make enough that each person can have five or six of them.  They are like the wild and crazy American cousins of those little cucumber sandwiches you sometimes get at a proper English tea, and I love 'em.

That's all I've got on this one...except go make them right now.  Bacon = happiness!

Mini Bacon Tomato and Basil Sandwiches, adapted from Southern Living

• 9 slices bacon, cooked and halved
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 9 slices extra-thin white bread slices
• 3 plum tomatoes, sliced
• 12 fresh basil leaves

1. Stir together cheese, mayonnaise, and garlic. Spread mayonnaise mixture evenly onto 1 side of each bread slice. 

2. Layer 3 bread slices, mayonnaise sides up, with 3 bacon slices each. Top bacon evenly with 1 bread slice, tomato slices, and basil. 

3. Top each with remaining bread slices, mayonnaise sides down. Cut each sandwich into quarters.

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Ravioli with Tomatoes in White Wine Sauce

This is one of those recipes that is perfect, perfect, perfect for those long days where everything goes wrong, but at the end of the day you still have to make dinner.  It's simple and delicious and comforting and only takes 20 minutes, and that's including slicing up those cute little grape tomatoes at a very reasonable rate of speed.

(Why are they called grape tomatoes, by the way?  Is it because they are shaped like grapes?  That seems like too easy an answer.  Please advise.)

Anyway, if you have some grape tomatoes hanging around, and a bag of frozen cheese ravioli in your fridge (and you should ALWAYS have an emergency bag of cheese ravioli in your fridge...trust me on this), you are twenty short minutes away from having a supper that will melt all your cares away.  You saute a little bit of shallot in some olive oil, and then add in those halved grape tomatoes and about a cup of white wine.  (Pour another glass of wine while you cook.  It will help speed up the melting-away-of-cares process.).  Let the tomatoes simmer in the wine for about five minutes, just until they are a just a little soft.  In the meantime, cook up your ravioli.  Once both the ravioli and the tomatoes are done, swirl a couple tablespoons of butter into the tomato-wine sauce, and then add the ravioli and stir lovingly.  You're in a better mood already by now.  Yes you are.

Now sprinkle with some fresh chopped parsley, grind a little pepper on top, put on some jazz, light some candles, and all of the sudden it's a great night.  This is guaranteed to work every time.  Give it a try and see!

Ravioli with Tomatoes in White Wine Sauce, adapted from Real Simple

• 16 to 18 ounces fresh or frozen cheese ravioli
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup dry white wine
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Cook the ravioli according to the package directions, drain, and return them to the pot.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes, wine, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and simmer until the tomatoes begin to soften, 4 to 5 minutes.  Add butter and stir until it is melted into the sauce.

4. Gently toss the ravioli with the tomato mixture and parsley.

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Eggs with Mustard Creamed Spinach and Crispy Breadcrumbs

I don't think my love affair with eggs for dinner will ever, ever end, for as long as we both shall live.  And while I am all for the usual suspects (I mean, who doesn't adore pancakes at 7pm?),  when I run across a salty, savory version of eggs, I am even happier...and that's exactly what this little number is.

You start with the bread crumbs.  Whirl a slice of bread in your food processor until it is a pile of crumbs, toss it with some olive oil and a little mustard, and then bake them in the oven for 5-10 minutes until they are golden and crispy.  Next you saute some baby spinach until it is all nice and wilted, and then stir it up with a little more mustard and a teeny bit of half and half.  Last but not least, fry up a few sunny-side-up eggs.

All you have left now is the assembly: bed of spinach, topped with eggs, sprinkled with mustard crumbs.  I tossed some fresh oregano on top because it is going bananas in my Aerogarden and I am using any excuse to snip it back and use it as a garnish.  

Now it is all over but the eating, and the singular happy feeling of having breakfast for supper!

Eggs with Mustard Creamed Spinach and Crispy Breadcrumbs, from Bon Appetit

• 1/2 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs made from crustless country-style bread
• 5 teaspoons Dijon mustard, divided
• 2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (if you have them.  If not don't worry.)
• 1 9-ounce package fresh spinach leaves
• 3 tablespoons half and half
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 large eggs
• Fresh thyme sprigs (for garnish)

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss crumbs with 2 teaspoons mustard, 2 teaspoons oil, and mustard seeds in medium bowl to coat. Scatter on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add enough water to deep large nonstick skillet to cover bottom. Add spinach; toss over high heat to wilt, about 2 minutes. Scrape into sieve set over bowl; press out liquid. Wipe out skillet; reserve.
• Transfer spinach to medium saucepan. Add 3 teaspoons mustard, half and half, and chopped thyme. Stir over medium heat until thick, about 3 minutes. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Remove from heat.
• Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in reserved skillet over medium-high heat. Crack eggs into skillet, spacing apart. Fry until whites are cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Divide spinach between 2 plates, spreading out as base for eggs. Top with eggs, crumbs, and thyme sprigs.

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Poached Shrimp with Sour Cream Horseradish Dipping Sauce

Okay, so here's the latest in the Friday Night Lights series, and let me just say that anything that involves shrimp and horseradish has me at hello.  This is basically a spin on that shrimp cocktail that you secretly yearn to order at every restaurant you go do but don't because it costs as much as your mortgage payment.

But this one is so, so much more than a shrimp cocktail, and it is all due to the sauce, which is not the typical tomato/horseradish variety, but instead is a mixture of sour cream, horseradish, chopped chives, lemon peel and (get this) a reduction of the lemon white wine mixture that you have cooked the shrimp in.  Wildly luxurious-sounding, right?  It almost doesn't seem fair that it is so dang easy to make, but it is!  

You poach the shrimp for about four minutes in a mixture of water, white wine, half of a lemon and a few other things.  Scoop out the shrimp and put them in an ice water bath to chill down, and then boil the poaching liquid down for about 20 minutes.  In the meantime you can mix up the rest of the sauce, which is a sour cream/horseradish/lemon peel/chives mixture that gets thinned out with a tablespoon or two of the poaching liquid.  After that, the only thing left to do is find some pretty glasses, spoon some of the sauce in the middle, hang as many shrimp as you can fit around the edge, and try not to scarf them down TOO fast.

Yum, right?  And elegant too.  Even if you ARE eating them while lounging on your couch watching a taped version of House.  I mean Glee.  I mean Nurse Jackie.  You get the drift!

Poached Shrimp with Sour Cream Horseradish Dipping Sauce, adapted from Bon Appetit

1 cup dry white wine
6 whole black peppercorns
1/2 lemon
1 bay leaf
Pinch of coarse kosher salt
8 uncooked unpeeled large shrimp
dipping sauce

1/4 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon prepared white horseradish
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
Coarse kosher salt
Whole fresh chives (for garnish)

1. Fill medium bowl with ice water; set aside. Combine 2 cups water, wine, and next 4 ingredients in medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Add shrimp; reduce heat to low, cover, and poach just until shells are pink and shrimp are opaque in center, 3 to 4 minutes. 

2. Using slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to bowl with ice water; reserve poaching liquid and lemon half. Drain and peel shrimp, leaving tails intact. Devein shrimp.
3. Squeeze juice from reserved lemon half into poaching liquid in pan. Boil liquid until reduced to generous 2 tablespoons, about 20 minutes. Strain; cool.
4. Mix sour cream or crème fraîche, chopped chives, horseradish, lemon peel, and 1 tablespoon reduced poaching liquid in small bowl. Season sauce with coarse salt and black pepper.
4. Spoon dipping sauce into short glasses. Arrange shrimp on rims. Garnish with whole fresh chives and extra lemon peel if you have it.

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Velvet Pasta, aka Pasta al Pomodoro

Oh, I have so many many things to say about this innocent looking plate of pasta with tomato sauce, so hunker down with me for a little while.

First of all, I got it from the latest edition of the magazine Bon Appetit.  Now, I am a long-time friend of Bon Appetit.  I was with them back in the good old days, when they published more fabulous recipes than I could keep up with.  Then...as sometimes happens with long-term relationships, things got rocky.  (Note to Southern husband: I'm not talking about you, honey.  You are still the peas to my carrots and you always will be.)  Bon Appetit on the other hand...well, they got a little too fancy for a home cook like me.  I let my subscription lapse.  And then...there was a new editor-in-chief in town, and this May the new Bon Appetit launched, with this pasta dish on the cover.  And folks, I'm once again hooked...there are probably 10 different recipes from this issue that have migrated to the top of my "to-make" pile.  But what really sucked me in was their "Pasta Manifesto" - all the things you need to know to make perfect pasta.

Well, okay!  There's nothing that gets my attention like an article that suggests..with real, actual, concrete advice...that pasta can be made better.  So I jumped in with this recipe that claimed to be the silkiest pasta sauce ever.  And you know what?  It was.  The Southern husband actually decided that "silky" wasn't a good enough adjective for the wonderfulness...that it really should be called "Velvet Pasta."   Comments like that on an ordinary Monday night are when you know you have a hit on your hands.

The basics of this one are: you need to really salt the water before you add the pasta.  We aren't using enough salt in the water, people!  You need to undercook the pasta a little, and then finish cooking it IN THE SAUCE.  It makes total sense if you think about it.  There are a few other things about using some of the salty pasta water to thin the sauce, and adding a little butter at the end, and a few others that added up to a simple tomato sauce with pasta that was, well...velvet.

So what have I learned?

1. Salt the water.  Really salt it.  No fear.

2. Finish cooking the pasta for the last two minutes in the sauce.  I'm never going back.

3. Have faith that your favorite magazine/television show/etc. will come to its senses and get better.  Between Bon Appetit and this season's American Idol, I'm beginning to think anything is possible.

4. If you think your first shot isn't working, ignore your ravenous family, dump it on a new plate, take it outside and photograph it again.  Pasta reheats just fine.

I think my work is done here.  :)

Pasta al Pomodoro, from the fabulous new Bon Appetit

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 28 oz. can peeled tomatoes, puréed in a food processor
Kosher salt
3 large fresh basil sprigs
12 oz. bucatini or spaghetti
2 Tbsp. cubed unsalted butter
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino


1. Heat extra-virgin olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium-low heat. Add minced onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 12 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-4 minutes. Add crushed red pepper flakes; cook for 1 minute more.
2. Increase heat to medium, add puréed tomatoes and season lightly with kosher salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly and the flavors meld, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir in basil sprigs, and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a 5-qt. pot. Season with salt; add spaghetti or bucatini and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.
4. Discard basil and heat skillet over high heat. Stir in reserved pasta water to loosen sauce; bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes.
5. Remove pan from heat; add butter and cheese; toss until cheese melts. Transfer to warm bowls; serve with more cheese, if desired. (Personally, I desired.  Just saying.)

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Ham and Cheese Farfalle

Things I have learned from my mother:

1. Kate Middleton isn't the only one who was a beautiful princess on her wedding day.  I grew up with this picture, and I always thought my mother looked like a fairy tale princess.  (Still do!)

2. When having babies, consider having a red-headed girl or a blond boy.  Make sure they either go barefoot or are wearing really sensible shoes, and always dress them in matching outfits.

My brother and I followed this example to the letter.  Exhibit A:

And Exhibit B:

And okay, maybe we had some help from our spouses.  (We may have fallen down on the sensible shoes/same outfit part, although we still have time on that one.  I think they both own black Converse sneakers.)

3. Always make about three times as much food as you are actually going to need for a holiday dinner.  You never know who is going to show up, and this way everyone gets to leave with leftovers.  And even with that, you are still going to have leftovers of your own.  Which is why we were still eating Easter ham many days after the Peeps were all gone, and why this recipe comes in so handy if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

What we are basically talking about here is a macaroni and cheese recipe that has been spiffed up by using pretty farfalle pasta, also known as bowties, and by tossing in some  - you guessed it - leftover ham.  I always cut it into nice little julienne slices to make it just as fancy.  If you want to get all healthy on me you could toss in some peas or some spinach or even some asparagus (that noise you here in the background is the red-headed teenager shouting NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!).  Anyway, while the pasta is cooking, you stir up a simple cheese sauce of butter, flour, milk and shredded cheddar (as always, I love the Cabot cheddar best of all), and when the pasta is cooked, stir everything together.  Sprinkle with a little parmesan and pop it in the oven until it is just a little golden on top.  By the time you are finished eating, you'll wish you had just a little more leftover ham.

Well, there's always next year.  Right, Mom?

Here's the recipe!

Ham and Cheese Farfalle, from Allrecipes.com

8 ounces farfalle (bow tie) pasta 1/4 cup butter 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups milk 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard 2 1/2 cups shredded Colby cheese 4 ounces cooked ham, julienned 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3.	In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Saute garlic 30 seconds. Whisk in flour, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until smooth. Pour in milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Stir in mustard and Colby. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until cheese is melted. Remove from heat and stir in pasta and ham.
4.	Pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
5.	Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbly and golden.

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