Lentil Soup

When I think of soup, I think of childhood. As a small child, I remember my father making soup during lean times to feed us. Not only did soup provide the sustenance to get my family through economic hardship but it also provided solace. A peace of mind that something was cooking in the kitchen for the family meal. My mother made homemade bread at this time and my father would make his homemade noodles that he called haluski which are basically and egg style noodle/dumpling boiled in water. My father used a fork to make the noodles - they were quite large and satisfying. Soup is the all time comfort food especially when little food is to be had.

One of my favorite soups is lentil. I love the earthy flavor and the heartiness of it. It is my favorite thing to have for lunch. I like to put some fresh spinach in the bottom of my soup bowl and ladle the soup right on top. Sometimes I add some cooked kale like in the photograph.

This is my sister's lentil soup recipe.

Lentil Soup
2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 - 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups of brown lentils, rinsed and picked over for stones
44 ounces of chicken chicken broth
1 teaspoon of crushed oregano
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons dill weed
salt and pepper to taste

In a large dutch oven or soup pot. Heat oil and add onions, celery, and carrots. Cook until softened about 5-8 minutes. Add the pressed garlic and oregano and cook until fragrant about 30 seconds. Add the lentils, broth, zest, lemon juice, and dill weed. Cook for 2 hours until lentils are tender. Add extra liquid (chicken broth or water as desired) as needed.

Grilled Chicken Escabeche

I want to really learn to cook well. I can follow a recipe just fine and even come up with some of my own ideas loosely based on recipes. Though, what I want is to have some basic techniques that I can refer to and come up with a decent meal. On cooking shows like Top Chef they use terms like meuniere, coulis, seviche, sous vide, reduction sauce, veloute, and escabeche among others and I always wonder what the terms mean. So I am starting my own "cooking school" of sorts.
I started with basic escabeche.

escabeche-meat that is cooked first then marinated. The length of time is your preference from immediately to 1 to 6 hours in the refrigerator and served cold.

Grilled Chicken Escabeche
1 1/2 pounds of boneless chicken breast (pounded thin if preferred)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat grill to highest setting. Coat chicken in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place chicken on grill and turn down to medium high to medium. Grill until done. Remove to platter and cover with the Marinade.

Garlic Vinaigrette Marinade
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
3 Tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice (or balsamic vinegar if preferred)
2 to 3 cloves of garlic squeezed through a press
1 Tablespoon of honey optional
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients and set aside.

Molten Lava Chocolate Cake

I planned on celebrating St. Valentine's day with something super rich and loaded with chocolate but I needed it to be a straightforward and fairly simple recipe. I didn't want to make my super dense flourless chocolate cake or a regular cake. Brownies were a maybe but I wanted more. Then I remembered a delicious desert from a few years back that I had when my sister and I went to Millerton, New York for shopping, Harney Tea Shop and enjoying each other's company which is something we do so very rarely living so far apart. The restaurant version was called warm chocolate cake.

I found a recipe in "How to be a Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson. It was so easy to whip up with my handheld mixer (everything went into the dishwasher, thankfully, no hand washing) and the best part is they can be made in advance. I made them a day ahead and kept them in the refrigerator and while we ate dinner I had the oven preheated and just popped them in and they were ready for a delicious hot melty dessert!

Molten Lava Cake
makes 6 six-ounce custard cups

Grease the custard cups with butter and cut a round of parchment for the bottom of the cup if you are tipping the little cakes out. You can cook and serve in the custard cup if you like.

scant ¼ cup soft butter
12 ounces of your best bittersweet chocolate
½ cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten with a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/3 cup all purpose unbleached flour

Preheat oven to 400F if making right away. Put a sheet pan in the oven on the middle rack to heat up at this time.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Let cool slightly.
Cream together in a large bowl the butter and sugar. Gradually beat in the eggs, salt and vanilla. Add the flour and when smoothly combined scrape in the slightly cooled chocolate and mix to a smooth batter.
Divide the batter between the 6 cups and remove your hot sheet pan from the oven and place the cups on it and place it back in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. If you have refrigerated your batter bake for a few minutes longer.
As soon as the cups come out of the oven, tip the cup onto the serving plate (you may have to run a knife along the edge. Remove the parchment and serve with ice cream or whipped cream. the hot and cold combination is just luscious.

This dessert is easy and impressive.

Basic Corn Muffins

There is nothing more basic and American than the combination of corn muffins with chili. Eating a bit of chili and corn muffin is the perfect forkful. Perhaps because corn bread hearkens back to our colonial and pioneer settler days - corn the golden food - the food that allowed continuance and survival - the food that was a gift to the first colonists from the Native Americans. Both corn bread and chili can be made around a camp fire or refined in a five-star kitchen.

Corn bread is earthy, hearty and delicious.

Corn Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

Preheat oven to 400F
1 1/4 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup of corn meal (I use a grittier texture meal from Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg beaten

Line (or grease) a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a whisk.
Add the milk, oil and beaten egg and stir until moistened with a wooden spoon.
Fill each lined muffin cup two thirds full of batter.
Bake in middle rack of oven for 12 - 15 minutes until done (when a toothpick is crumb free).

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Sunday breakfast is almost always pancakes. When my children were little, I made pancakes nearly every day. They loved them then and still do. Now I make pancakes with buttermilk. It took me a long time to figure out the virtues of buttermilk. It rounds out the flavor of pancakes and baked goods and adds a tenderness to the crumb. I worked with an older woman who had a quirky buttermilk habit. She was always espousing the health benefits of buttermilk. She drank it straight from the quart container. It cleansed her system, apparently, after her chain smoking and candy corn habit. I haven't been able to drink a straight glass of buttermilk but it is a good addition to baking.

Buttermilk Pancakes
about 15 to 18 pancakes depending on size
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (if you like a whole wheat pancake replace 1 cup of flour with whole wheat flour)
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil or melted butter
2-1/4 cups of buttermilk (you may cut back to 2 cups of buttermilk - I like a thinner pancake)
oil for the pan

Preheat oven to 200F with oven rack in middle of oven and a wire cooling rack set on top of it.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, oil and lightly eggs to the flour mixture. Stir until the ingredients just come together. There may be lumps and don't overmix!

Heat a nonstick skillet (I use of square skillet) over medium heat and and oil your pan. Ladle 1/4 cup of batter into the pan cooking 3 at a time. Cook until large bubbles form about 2 minutes flip and cook until golden on other side for about 1-1/2 minutes longer. Spread the pancakes on the rack in the oven keeping warm. Repeat until done adding oil to pan as needed.

Quick Blueberry Sauce
In a heatproof bowl add 1 cup of frozen blueberries with 2 Tablespoons of sugar and cook in microwave until bubbly and slightly thickened. Spritz with lemon juice as desired.

cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients
6 ½ Tablespoons (3.25 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5½ (2.75 ounces) Tablespoons softened butter
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon lemon extract or 1 teaspoon grated lemons zest of 1 lemon
3½ cups (16 ounces) unbleached bread or all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of instant yeast also known as rapid rising or fast rising (instant has 25% more living cells per spoonful than active dry yeast)
11/8 to 1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk at room temperature
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
61/2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Up to 1 cup of dried fruits if desired
3 Tablespoons very soft butter


Making the dough
Cream together the sugar, salt and butter on medium high speed in a heavy duty mixer with the paddle attachment.

Whip in the egg and lemon extract or zest until smooth.

Add the flour yeast and milk and mix on low speed until the dough forms a ball (you may need extra flour).

Switch to dough hook attachment and mix on medium speed for approximately 10 minutes until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky.

Rise

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer dough to oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Forming the Rolls
Roll the dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured counter top into a 14 inch by 12 inch rectangle for large rolls or a 18 by 9 inch rectangle for smaller rolls. The dough should be 2/3 inches thick. Don't roll too thin or the the finished rolls will be tough and chewy.
Spread the softened butter across the top of the dough then sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Roll the dough into a log using the longest part of the rectangle in a jelly roll fashion.
With seam side down cut the rolls
Thicker rolls 8-12 pieces 13/4 inches thick
Smaller rolls 12-16 pieces 1/1/4 inches thick.
Proofing
Line a baking sheet with parchment and place rolls on sheet approximately 1/4 inch apart - close but not touching.
Proof at room temperature for 75-90 minutes under a lint free towel until the pieces have doubled and grown into one another.
You may retard the shaped rolls in the refrigerator for up to 2 days pulling the pans out 3 to 4 hours before baking allowing the rolls to proof.
Bake the Rolls
Preheat oven to 350F with the oven rack in the middle.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool the rolls for 10 minutes and then streak with a white fondant glaze when the rolls are warm but not hot.
White Fondant Glaze
4 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice if desired
1/2 cup warm milk

Place the powdered sugar in a large bowl and whisk in the milk until the sugar is dissolved and smooth. Add the extract and juice.

My Sister's Cream of Broccoli Soup

This soup was a staple at my sister's table every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was able to enjoy it once or twice when I was lucky enough to share Christmas with my family. My sister has moved on from this once-upon-a-time holiday staple but I frequently make it. It is perfect for a light lunch especially if I omit the cream in the recipe. As a note, my father uses this same base recipe for a garlic soup.

Broccoli Soup
1¾ pounds of broccoli cut up
4 Tablespoons of butter or olive oil
1 cup of onion chopped
½ cup of celery finely diced
4 Tablespoons flour
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 cups chicken broth
½ cup of heavy cream-you can omit this and increase your broccoli amount for richness

In a medium saucepan, cook broccoli in ½ cup of simmering water, covered for 15 minute. Cook until soft and done, remove from heat and set aside.
In a large pot melt butter or heat oil over medium heat and add onion and celery until softened. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk the chicken broth and lemon juice. Add drained broccoli and some of the broccoli water if desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 15 minutes and remove from heat and cool slightly. With an immersion blender, food processor or blender puree soup until smooth. If desired, hold back some broccoli floret chunks (I puree the entire soup).
Return to pot if using a counter puree method and add the cream. Cook until hot without boiling.

Pizza

Like many families my family has pizza on Friday nights. As a child, we had pizza on Fridays with my Dad working nights at Shakeys Pizza - I remember the sawdust on floor and watching him make pizzas. As a teenager, we had pizza from the local town pizza shop, and, happily we still have it when we visit every summer. One of my favorite combinations that I first had there is garlic and bacon!

In my home,we do a mixture of take out pizza when I can't face another kitchen mess or I make it from scratch. My family prefers a thin crust pizza like John's Pizza in NYC (we love that place)! I have experimented with a handful of pizza dough recipes with poor results-they were either too tough to roll out or too doughy or took too long. That all changed when I found Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe. I just love the recipe because it tastes good, is fairly quick to make, the rise time is relatively short, and it is easy to roll!

Pizza Dough
Here is Jamie Oliver's recipe

In 1 hour and 20 minutes you can have your own fresh pizza dough
6 to 8 medium-sized thin pizza bases.
Ingredients
7 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo "00" flour or 5 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo "00" flour, plus 2 cups finely ground semolina flour
I use 7 cups of bread flour
1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
2 (1/4-ounce) packets active dried yeast
1 tablespoon raw sugar
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Here is what I do
In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer add yeast, sugar, oil, and water. With paddle attachement mix until just combined scraping down and bits of yeast above the liquid line. Let it sit for about 3 to 5 minutes until foamy.
Add the 5 - 6 cups of the flour and salt and mix on low with the paddle attachment. Adding the remaining flour gradually. Switch to your dough hook when the mixture comes together and the dough comes off the side of the bowl. Every mixer is different so when it sounds like your mixer is straining change the to the dough hook. Knead until smooth and springy on medium speed for about 8 to 10 minutes.

Place your dough in an extra large bowl greased with oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot at let rise until doubled (about an hour).

If you prefer J.O.'s hand mixing method here are his instructions:
Sift the flours and salt onto a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a large measuring cup, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it to push the air out with your hands. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using right away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas - this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.

Jamie says: Timing-wise, it's a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don't roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though - if you are working in advance like this it's better to leave your dough, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there's 1 less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 1/4-inch thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted aluminum foil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with plastic wrap, and pop them into the refrigerator.


Here is a quick and tasty pizza sauce recipe that I whip up in my Cuisenart.

Pizza Sauce
28 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes
2 Tablespoons of a rough chopped bell pepper (red or green)
1/4 of a yellow onion rough chopped
2 cloves of garlic through a press or not
1 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of salt to taste
dash of pepper flakes

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Pour into a saucepan and bring to simmer (not a boil) and cook for 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature before using.

Cheese and Toppings
2 pounds mozzerrella shredded or sliced (sometimes get mine slice at the deli counter at my grocery store)
Any toppings your can imagine - when I fry up sausage or burger or what have for meals during the week, I save some for our Friday pizza night.
Pepperoni is a must have
Sauted or raw mushrooms and onions
Thin sliced tomatoes and basil with an olive oil drizzle and grate of parmesan cheese
Slice and roasted cherry tomatoes
Pesto or herb pastes of your choosing
Sliced coooked yukon gold potatoes with asiago or fontina cheese and fresh rosemary (I had this out and have been wanting to try it).
Cured olives

I went though an arugula phase where I piled the pizza high with arugla then cooked for 2 minutes and then drizzled lightly with olive oil.

Preheat your oven to 500F 15 minutes ahead of time. If you have pizza stone use it (I rarely take my stone out of the oven).

Forming the Pizzas
Working on a well floured surface have ready a bench scraper and rolling pin. Take your ball of dough and flatten out with your fingers into a rough circle. Start rolling and if the dough springs back let it sit on the counter for a few minutes until it relaxes. Roll to your pan size.

Oil your pan. Place your dough on the pan and add sauce about a 1/2 cup (not too soggy) onto the dough leaving the edge free of sauce. Add mozzerella cheese, toppings, and the a pinch of spice mix.
Bake for 8 minutes then slide off pan onto the pizza stone (I use a thin spatula to loosen any parts that may be sticking to the pan) Bake directly on pizza stone for a few minutes until thoughly cooked. This works best with pans with a rolled edge or no edge. When I remove my pizza I use an Airbake edgeless cookie sheet as my pizza peel. Move pizza to large cutting board and slice with a pizza wheel knife.

such a treat

Spritz Cookies

I love spritz cookies. I have memories of them in grade school lunches dyed in shades of green and light blue. I have been making these cookies as soon as my own children could stand on a chair next to the counter and heap the cookies with colorful sprinkles. They are perfect for kids in the kitchen. I like to use them on my Christmas cookie trays as well. They are quick and easy to make and their simple flavor balances well with the more extravagant cookies on the tray.

I have a plastic caulk gun style Wilton cookie press. I like my press. At some point someone gave me an electric cookie press before I had children and I didn't see the benefit of it and donated it (I wish I would have kept it along with a food dehydrator!).

Spritz
makes 6 dozen depending on your press size

1½ cups butter softened slightly
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
4 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 400°F.
In a stand mixer cream butter and sugar thoroughly together. Add egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat until well combined. Gradually add to the creamed mixture after scraping sides of bowl add the flour and baking powder mixture. Dough will be stiff. Do not chill dough. Use immediately.
Place dough in cookie press and press onto cookie sheet 1 inch or so apart.
Embellish as desired.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes (I do not let mine brown). Cool of rack.

Rugelach

Rugelach is a wonderful little cookie. While we call it a cookie, it is more like a mini pastry with its flaky layers and fruit filling. I made this dough for my Christmas cookie trays but ran out of time to make these and froze the dough. I lacked the pistachios so I substituted peanuts and I used blackberry jam. The cookies were reminiscent of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I did not enjoy this version because of the pb&j taste. I prefer to use strawberry or raspberry jam and salted pistachios. The cookies are easy to make with the most difficult part being waiting for the chill time, especially at the height of the Christmas rush.

Rugelach
makes about 35
10½ ounces (2-1/3 cups)of unbleached all purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
½€teaspoon table salt
8 ounces (1 cup) cold butter cut into 10 pieces
8 ounces of cold cream cheese cut into 10 pieces
Filling
6 tablespoons of raspberry or apricot jam
Topping
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
¼ cup finely chopped salted pistachios (I roast mine in the oven at 350°F until fragrant and lightly browned then mix with salt)€
Dough
Place flour, sugar and salt in an 11 cup or larger food processor and pulse briefly to blend ingredients.
Scatter the butter and cream cheese pieces over the dry ingredients and pulse until the dough begins to come together in large (1 inch) clumps.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Place each pieces of dough on a piece of plastic cling film. Bring together until smooth with a little flour and then shape into a 6x3 inch rectangle. (you could do this on a floured surface then wrap in cling film).
Refrigerate dough for 1½€hours or up to 3 days or frozen at this point for 1 month.
Shape and Fill Cookies
Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll the dough on a lightly floured piece of cling film (place a piece of cling film on top so the dough is sandwiched between plastic wrap) and roll to a 5x13 inch rectangle.
With an offset spatula spread the dough with 1½ tablespoons of jam (less is more).
Using the plastic wrap to help, roll the dough into a log jelly roll style from the longest edge.
Wrap tightly with the plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or freeze at this point for 1 month. Repeat with remaining 3 rectangles.
Shape and Bake
Preheat oven to 350°F
Line 2 cookies sheets with parchment
Whip egg and water in small bowl (there will be leftovers)
Unwrap log and set on cutting board and cut with a serrated knife into 1-1¼ pieces.
Brush cookies with egg wash and sprinkle with nut and salt mixture.
Arrange cookies seam side down on parchment 1 inch apart.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Transfer to rack to cool.

Schneckennudeln

Snickerdoodles
preheat oven 350°F

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ pound (2 sticks) butter softened
1 ½ cups of granulated sugar
2 large eggs

In a medium bowl mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
Cream butter and sugar in mixer until fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time beat until just incorporated.
Mix in flour mixture until blended and smooth.

Mix on a plate ¼ cup granulated sugar with 4 teaspoons of cinnamon.

Make 1 to 1¼ inch balls (I use a scoop) and roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and place on baking sheet 2-3 inches apart.
Bake for 8-11 minutes depending on your oven (rotate baking sheets if your oven bakes unevenly)
Cool on racks!