This is the latest little lunch salad or light dinner that I am crazy about.  It has everything going for it—easy to make, delicious and lends itself well to variation—the type that has you using up leftover bits and pieces from last week’s farmer’s market trip.  The secret is the addictively spicy-but-not- too- spicy and pungent dressing.

Sauce

2 Tbsp. oil
2-4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 Tbsp. Tahini or other nut butter-  I’ve used both almond butter and peanut butter on occasion.
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. horseradish
1 Tbsp. Chinese style hot mustard (mix up your own by combining 1 Tbsp. dry mustard powder mixed with 1 tsp. water and 1 tsp white vinegar. Stir well before using.)
1 Tbsp. finely chopped hot pepper such as jalapeño or Serrano, more or less according to taste.

2 skeins mung bean noodles, about 2 oz. (you can also use angel hair pasta, soba noodles, or thin rice noodles.) cooked according to package instructions.
¼ cup cilantro leaves
2 scallions, white and green parts finely sliced
1 small to medium cucumber julienned
½ red or orange bell pepper, julienned
1 cup julienned napa cabbage, endive or radicchio or other salad green-y type stuff.
1 cup shredded protein- I most frequently have leftover grilled chicken, but have also used leftover pork and tofu.

To make the sauce:

1. Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat.  Saute the garlic until aromatic.  Remove from the heat. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well to combine.  Set aside.
2. Place the noodles and remaining ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour the dressing over and toss well to combine.

Cooking can teach you all of the life skills that you need to know.  When I started my career as a green, gauche 19 year old I just loved to cook.  (And I loved to eat too!). Cooking was all about me.  I didn’t give a thought beyond what I was creating in the moment. I didn’t realize the effect that cooking was having on me.  While I was standing for hours peeling 30 pound bags of carrots, waiting for the stove to pre heat and burning my fingertips I was also practicing patience, learning life skills and training for parenthood.  Here’s a glimpse of what I have learned from standing by the stove:

Patience: It’s not just about waiting for the water to boil and the ice cream to freeze and the bread to rise.  It’s about learning that some things cannot be rushed no matter what your schedule is or what your needs are.   This is a basic primer for parenthood.

Resilience: The grocery store is out of celery root and you need to make your famous remoulade.   What do you do?  Freak out?  Yell at your spouse? Try to substitute some other ingredient? Or maybe you make something completely different.  Whatever you do, try to take a deep breath, exhale and release your white knuckled grip on the chef’s knife.  Remember, it’s only one day and one dish.

A Sense of Humor: This goes hand in hand with resilience. We all have our public and not so public kitchen disasters.  My personal favorite was trying to make a chocolate rice pudding.  This was a great concept that does not translate so well in terms of food style or design.

Forgiveness and Acceptance

You just had to try that new complicated dish to impress your in-laws or boss, huh?  And on the way to the table with said dish you realized that you forgot a crucial ingredient or accidentally seasoned with salt instead of sugar.  When you cook, your mistakes are right there—out in the open.  There is no hiding these mistakes and no one to blame but yourself.  We all make mistakes. And we all have accidents.  The only thing to do is to take responsibility for our actions and handle them with as much grace as we can muster.   The next step is to forgive yourself.  If you can start to forgive yourself for the small things, you can work up to forgiving yourself for the big screwups in and out of the kitchen.

Honesty

The best action that you can take when you do screw up is honesty.  Do you really think that you can shrug it off and play it cool?  ‘Of course, this is supposed to be flat like a pancake, burnt and salty.’  ‘That’s the way the locals eat it.’ Uh huh.   At best you will turn an entire table against an entire cuisine. —believe me I have seen it happen.   At worst, they will see right thru you.  It’s much better to fess up and say hey guys, let’s order take out.

Prayer

Prayer is huge in the kitchen.  I cannot count the number of times I have said a little prayer as I sent out plates of food.  Sometimes I pray for the little things.  For the rice to be done on time, to have enough gas to finish cooking the steaks on the grill or to have enough food to feed the three unexpected guests that just showed up.  Mostly I say a little prayer that everyone is able to relax and enjoy themselves at least for the duration of the meal.

Humility

One of the hardest things for me to do is to ask for help.  As in I can’t cook and serve a 5 course dinner for 60 people by myself.  Please help me. Please. The second hardest thing is to admit that I can’t do everything at the same level of excellence.  Some people are born to decorate wedding cakes.  I am not.

Time Management Skills or Learn how to say no.

Timing is crucial in the kitchen, whether you are setting up for a buffet or cooking for a weeknight dinner.  Part of timing is knowing your limitations.  Try to be realistic about what you can do in your unique circumstances.  Don’t sacrifice yourself only to be miserable at the end of the day or an event. There are only 24 hours in a day, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself otherwise.  Don’t skimp on sleep to try and get the job done—it won’t work.

Looking for something new, fun, easy and healthy to try this weekend?  Pick up some of the new crop of apples at your local farmer’s market this weekend and give ‘Long and Slow Apples’ a chance! I have been eyeing this recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Around My French Table’ book for a while now.  She got the recipe from the fabulous super pastry chef Pierre Herme, who is one of my culinary idols.  (Check out www.pierreherme.com and click on the red, white and blue flag to translate the page into English.)

To make this recipe, you simply need to peel and core a couple of apples and cut them into thin slices, about 1/8 to 1/16^th of an inch wide.  I used a mandoline, but you could use this as an opportunity to practice your knife skills.  Once your apples have been sliced, melt a couple tablespoons of butter and mix up some spiced sugar. (Keep the sugar and butter separate.)  For the first foray into apples for the year I stick with the basics—yummy cinnamon sugar!  Later in the year when I am tired of cinnamon I will experiment with spices like ginger, cardamom and coriander.  You can make this recipe into single serving portions using 6oz ramekins or you can make one larger one using a cake pan.  Plan on using one apple per person, unless they are super small.  Place a single layer of the apple slices in the bottom of your ramekin.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with spiced sugar.  Repeat until the ramekins are full and the apples have been used up.  Cover the top of the apples with lightly greased tin foil.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and place a weight on top of the apples.  Bake in a 300F oven for 2 hours.  The apples will shrink down considerably and develop a rich and exquisite flavor.  You can serve these warm or cold, with ice cream or lightly sweetened crème fraiche or if you are feeling virtuous Greek yogurt.  Enjoy!

Long and Slow Apples

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Around My French Table’

Serves 2

Preheat the oven to 300F

Special equipment: 2 (6oz) ramekins

2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/8 to 1/16^th inch thick

1 1/2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. Sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon

Combine the cinnamon and the sugar and set aside.  Place a single layer of the apples in the bottom of your ramekins.  Drizzle with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Repeat until the apples are used up.

Wrap the ramekins in foil. Place the ramekins on a parchment lined baking sheet.  (I highly recommend this—it makes clean up a breeze.)   Place a weight on top of the apple filled ramekins.  (A second ramekin filled with ceramic pie weights works great.)  Put the ramekins in the 300F oven and bake for 2 hours.

You can serve these little beauties in or out of the ramekins.  Enjoy!

*I’m filming a segment on Bay Sunday this Friday to be aired on Sunday August 14^th.

*Save the Date!  Saturday, September 10^th from 12-2pm I will be doing a cooking demonstration and tasting at Williams Sonoma in Union Square.  Stop by and say hi!

*Check out my article “Craft Beer Takes Center Stage” in the July/August edition of Commonground Magazine.   http://www.sopdigitaledition.com/commonground/#/16/

*I’m happily expecting Baby #2 the first week of January 2012.

Nothing says summer to me like fresh blueberry pie.  Sure, pie is great year round and I definitely have a soft spot for apple pies and pumpkin—yeah, among others– but during the height of summer when berries and stone fruit are at their ripest my allegiance is with them.   My favorite kind of blueberry pie is an open faced, single crust pie.   The crust should be a crisp, flaky, buttery contrast to the blueberries.  The crust should snap slightly when you bite into it—a surprise and textural contrast–then melt in your mouth.   The filling is the most important part.  This is not the time of year for a cooked filling or one made with frozen blueberries.  For this particular pie, a small portion of the blueberries are set aside, cooked with a bit of water, sugar and cornstarch to make a sauce and then tossed with the remaining uncooked blueberries before being poured into the pre-baked pie shell.  This is pure blueberry flavor.  The uncooked blueberries are just barely held together by the fresh blueberry sauce and will pop in you mouth when you sink your teeth into them.   I like to serve this with lightly sweetened whipped cream or a drizzle of crème fraiche.  Of course, I wouldn’t turn down a scoop of vanilla ice cream either!

Open Faced Fresh Blueberry Pie

1 pre-baked 9” pie crust
*When I’m not up to making my own crust, I like to use the all butter ‘French Picnic’ brand located in the freezer section of many grocery stores.

Blueberry Filling

From the Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum (aka the Baking Goddess—she is amazing!)

4 cups of Blueberries, leaves, stems and green berries removed, then rinsed and dried.
½ cup of sugar
½ cup of water
2 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp. of water
1 tsp. of lemon juice (optional)
A pinch of salt.

1. In a small sauce pan combine 1 cup of blueberries with ½ cup of water.
2. Bring the water and blueberries to a boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes.  You want the blueberries to pop and exude their juices.
3. Once you have a juicy mixture– it only takes a couple of minutes—add the sugar, lemon juice and salt.  Bring to a boil and add the cornstarch/water mixture. Return to a boil and allow the mixture to become translucent.
4. Remove from the heat and pour over the remaining 3 cups of blueberries.  Stir gently to combine. Pour into your prebaked pie shell.

Let the pie set up for at least 2 hours before serving.

Bon Appetit!

The blueberry filling is a great topping for Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream too!

Street food is magical, isn’t it?  There is something about traveling and eating ‘what the locals eat’ that makes whatever you are eating extra-special.   Of course, a day spent walking and seeing the sights can help sharpen the appetite too.  When you return home it can be challenging to recreate the flavors of the foods that you have tasted.   One of my favorite street foods is satay, otherwise known as kebabs or if you are a kid, food-on-a-stick.  Recently Saveur magazine published a wonderful article (with recipes!) called ‘The World of Satay’.  I immediately curled up with it and chose to make several of the recipes—this is hard core research friends!  The favorite, the winner that I made for several of my private clients was the Malaysian Chicken Satay, Satay Ayam.   My amazing assistant Justine is Malaysian and she vouched wholeheartedly for its authenticity.   There were lots of murmurs and of mutterings of ‘this is really good’. This satay is slightly sweet, spicy and aromatic.  It is a vibrant yellow color from the addition of turmeric in the marinade.  (Turmeric is has long been used in both Chinese and Indian Medicine for its anti-inflammatory properties.) Justine and I adapted the recipe slightly.  We left out the lemongrass completely (none to be found at the store!) and we both felt that a 5-inch piece of ginger was excessive for 3 pounds of chicken.

Here is our recipe for Malaysian Chicken Satay
Adapted from Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland

Serve 4-5

2 Tbsp. oil
¼ cup of dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp. Coriander
2 ½ tsp. Turmeric
1 ½ tsp. Fennel
1 tsp. salt
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped
2 ½ Tbsp. chopped ginger
¼ tsp. dried chili powder or cayenne
2 ½# boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces.
6 long skewers or 12 short skewers

In the bowl of a food processor or blender combine all of the ingredients except the chicken and process until smooth.  Transfer the paste to a bowl, add the chicken and toss to coat.  Set aside and let marinate at room temperature for about an hour.  (Alternatively marinate in the fridge for several hours.)  Thread the chicken onto the skewers and grill or broil for a 4-5 minutes per side. Let the chicken char a bit- this will caramelize the sugar in the marinade.  It should smell so scrumptious you won’t be able to stop yourself sneaking a bite!

Before cherry season arrives, mangoes are my favorite indulgence. I love standing over the sink eating around the pit and letting the juice drip down my chin. For this reason, I love to eat mangoes alone—or with my daughter– she loves to get in on the action and join me with her own mango pit over the sink. There is something so visceral and primitive about eating with your hands in this way—I just love it. Mangoes are extraordinarily healthy for you as well as delicious. They are a good source of vitamin C and A as well as a source of vitamin B6. It’s low-cal too. One cup fresh mango is approximately 100 calories. Mangoes also contain a number of enzymes to help with digestion. This time of the year, when ripe mangoes are plentiful I will buy an entire box with mixed levels of ripeness so that they don’t all ripen at the same time. The ripest and juiciest ones I love to chill, peel and dice to eat as a snack. To get the most out of your mango save the pit for last and indulge yourself by eating it alone, over the sink.

This past week I wanted to do something a little different. I had a mango that was not-quite-ripe so I decided to make something on the savory side rather than the sweet side. I was inspired by the red quinoa that I had found in the back of my pantry during a short lived blast of spring cleaning. If you are not familiar with quinoa, you should be. It is enjoying a huge burst of popularity right now. Pronounced ‘keen-wah’, it is gluten free and one of the least allergenic of all grains. It is high in protein and contains all of the essential amino acids in small quantities. Quinoa is low fat, versatile and easy to cook. It also reheats easily and depending on the recipe may be served hot, cold or room temperature.

Mango Quinoa Pilaf

1/2 cup of Quinoa cooked in 1 cup of water (you can cook this ahead of time and just keep it covered in your fridge.)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup of diced Mango
1 scallion, white and green parts sliced

Vinaigrette

1/4 cup of mild olive oil
1 tsp. garam masala
2 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar or 1 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
1 tsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. apricot jam or Major Grey’s Mango Chutney
Tiny pinch of cayenne

To cook the quinoa: Bring the quinoa and water to a simmer. Season with 1/2 tsp. salt and cover. When all of the water has been absorbed and the quinoa has released its halo, remove it from the heat and set aside to cool.

While the quinoa is cooling, combine all of the vinaigrette ingredients and whisk well.

Once the quinoa has cooled, toss with the mango and scallion. Drizzle the vinaigrette over and toss to combine. You may not use all of the vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Adapted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser

I love Pad Thai.  It was the very first Thai dish that I ever had—at Seng Thai in Portland Maine, back in the early 1990’s.   I loved the sour-salty-sweet pungent goodness that is Pad Thai.  Since then I have tried Pad Thai at any number of Thai restaurants across the United States.   I finally learned how to make it myself from Kasma Loha-unchit in Oakland a couple of years ago. (Check out thaifoodandtravel.com for her current schedule of classes.)  My one caveat with Pad Thai is that the leftovers are awful.  Pad Thai is one of those few dishes that does not keep well at all. The noodles turn to glue and it is repulsively unattractive. Blech.  It is meant to be cooked and eaten—don’t even think about saving some for lunch the next day.   That is why I was so delighted to come across a recipe for a Pad Thai-style rice salad in the New York Times cookbook by Amanda Hesser.    It was such a brilliantly simple idea I couldn’t believe that I had not thought of it myself.

For this recipe, you cook the rice in lots of boiling salted water until just tender—the same way that you would cook pasta.  Drain the rice once it is tender (about 12-15 minutes) and set aside.   Have all of your garnishes ready to toss with the room temperature rice.  I had all of the classic Pad Thai ingredients.  Diced cooked chicken, shrimp, bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro, Thai chilies (just ‘cause I like it spicy), chopped peanuts and egg.  Combine the garnishes with the rice and set it aside while you make the Pad Thai vinaigrette.  Toss the salad with the vinaigrette and enjoy!  This was a dish that was great the next day for lunch!

Pad Thai Style Rice Salad

1 ½ cups long grain rice
Salted water to cook the rice in.

¼ cup or so of oil for sautéing
2 eggs, lightly beaten
5-6 cloves of garlic,  chopped
¼ pound of shrimp
¼ pound of raw chicken cut into bite sized pieces
2 scallions chopped and set aside.
1 cup of bean sprouts, set aside
2 Thai chilies, minced and set aside (optional)
¼ cup of chopped peanuts
¼ cup chopped cilantro
¼ tsp. cayenne or ground red chilies (optional)
2 Tbsp. fried shallot (not traditional but very good) set aside.
Lime wedges for garnish

Vinaigrette

1 ½ Tbsp. Tamarind paste
2 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. lime juice
2 Tbsp. fish sauce, or more to taste
2 Tbsp. neutral oil.

1. Cook the rice in rapidly boiling salted water until tender (start checking on it after 10 minutes has passed). Drain and set aside.

2. Combine the Vinaigrette ingredients and set aside.

3. Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a non stick pan and scramble the 2 eggs.  Set aside.

4. Heat another tablespoon or two of oil in a pan or wok.  Add the garlic and sauté until aromatic.  Add the diced chicken and sauté until cooked thru.  Season with a little bit of fish sauce or salt during the cooking process.  Set aside.

5. Heat a little bit more oil in the wok or pan and quickly sauté with shrimp.  Again, season with fish sauce or salt and set aside.

6. Toss all of the garnished with the rice.  This means everything.  I like to reserve a little bit of cilantro to sprinkle on top of the finished dish.

7.  Toss the rice dish with the vinaigrette.  Taste, season with a bit more salt, sugar or fish sauce until you are happy with the confluence of flavors.

Enjoy!

It’s no secret that Asparagus rocks this time of the year.  After a trip to the farmer’s market I decided to make an asparagus, sweet pea and purple potato sauté with fresh mint.  I love the color contrast between the purple potatoes and the green asparagus.  The purple potatoes add a lovely nutty character to this dish.  This dish is great for a dinner party—it’s a little different, tasty, pretty to look at and easy.  The asparagus and potatoes can be pre cooked separated and sautéed and finished at the last minute.  This would be lovely served with grilled or roasted leg of lamb.

For a vegetarian entrée you could sauté cubes of fresh tofu and add that to this dish.

Asparagus, Sweet Pea and Purple Potato Sauté

Serves 4-6

1 bunch of Asparagus, ends snapped off, steamed or blanched
½ # purple potatoes, washed, and cut into ½ inch dice. (do not peel)
1 cup of shelled sweet peas (frozen will work in fresh are unavailable.)
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint

Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to a simmer on the stove top.  Simmer the potatoes until they are just tender and drain.   Set aside.

Cut the cooked asparagus into half inch pieces and set aside.

Melt the butter in a wide, heavy bottomed sauté pan.  Once the butter has melted sauté the garlic until aromatic.    Add the peas and sauté the peas until just tender.  Fold in the potatoes and asparagus.  Add the mint and season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!