Summer Salads, Hold the Lettuce

When we were in Paris for our honeymoon, we noticed a trend when it came to salads. The lettuce was nowhere to be found. You might find a little hiding at the bottom of the plate (because really, a plate is a far superior vessel than a bowl when it comes to salad), but the French are much more into the other ingredients that make up a "salad" - the meats, the cheeses, the vegetables, the beans, the dressings. While I've been doing my best to consume my greens this summer, I've also wholly embraced this French tradition of Salad: Hold the Lettuce.

I mentioned my potato salad obsession, and here is my favorite rendition. It's Ina's recipe, adapted slightly to whatever I happen to have on hand in my kitchen at the moment. This is an easy thing to whip up quickly and have as a side dish when you're grilling. When I'm making it for just the two of us, I usually cut it in half. It makes great leftovers, too! I made it for a party we had last month, and people were crazy about it.

Ina's Old Fashioned Potato Salad

3 pounds small white potatoes
Kosher salt
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk (don't go out and buy buttermilk just for this - use half and half, or whole milk, or sour cream, or even some white wine)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red onion

Directions

Place the potatoes and 2 tablespoons of salt in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are barely tender when pierced with a knife. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then place the colander with the potatoes over the empty pot and cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Allow the potatoes to steam for 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, dill, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Set aside.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in quarters or in half, depending on their size. Place the cut potatoes in a large bowl. While the potatoes are still warm, pour enough dressing over them to moisten. Add the celery and red onion, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Toss well, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve cold or at room temperature.

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I tend to go easy on the salt in Ina's recipes - I usually cut it in half and then add more if I need to. It's one fault I find with her - she uses way too much salt sometimes!

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I continued my summer theme of Salads: Hold the Lettuce at my friend Allison's baby shower that I co-hosted with my friend Stasi. I was in charge of the food, and thankfully my mother (who came to help me) talked me out of my original idea, which was quiches. Getting 3 or 4 quiches baked and hot and ready all at once would have been a nightmare. So, I decided to do salads instead!
Ina's Chinese Chicken Salad, Classic Egg Salad from ATK, "Fancy Coleslaw" (Mom's recipe and handiwork), and pretzel buns from our local butcher shop.

It was a sweltering 94 degrees the day of the shower, so it turned out to be the perfect menu for such a hot summer day. I also made this Watermelon Lemonade from Smitten Kitchen, which is the perfect refreshing beverage for a 7 month preggos lady.

The chicken salad recipe is linked above. A few notes from me: it makes a LOT of dressing, so I found it's best to put about 3/4 of the dressing on the salad and leave 1/4 on the side and allow people to add dressing to their tastes. I'm also a huge fan of her method of roasting bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and then removing the meat and shredding it - it makes for moist, lovely chicken in your salad.

Classic Egg Salad
Ingredients
1 rib celery, chopped fine
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 TBSP minced red onion
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (I substitute dill, because I love dill, but if you don't, parsley is fine)
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper
12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped coarse*

*Fool-proof method for hard boiling eggs: Put eggs in pot; cover with water. Bring water to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare ice bath. When 10 minutes is up, submerge eggs in ice bath for 5 minutes. Peel.

**I was once eating a hard-boiled egg at work and a co-worker said "Oh that's a great snack idea", and I said "Definitely, I usually boil a half dozen at the beginning of the week to have on hand for snacks", and she said "Oh, I wish I had time to do that, but you know you can buy them pre-boiled in the supermarket", and I said "...it takes 15 minutes...". And then I shut up before I made an enemy. But I have thought about this conversation non-stop since and how it just about sums up everything that's wrong with our country...but I digress...

Mix the celery, mayonnaise, onion, parsley, mustard, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of pepper together in a large bowl. Gently fold in the eggs and season with salt and pepper to taste. Will last for about 4 or 5 days in the fridge.

Fancy Coleslaw
(This borderlines Semi-Homemadeness, but it's seriously so good that I don't care. Flavor packets, quel horreur! My mom is slowly but surely turning me into Sandra Lee...I kid, I kid! But she did suggest I get a powdered lemonade mix for the party, to which I replied...start juicing lemons crazy lady.)

Ingredients
1 lb pkg coleslaw cabbage
1 bunch green onion chopped
1 c. slivered almonds
1 c. sunflower seeds
2 pkg ramen beef noodles - not cooked
(save powdered packets for sauce)
Dressing
3/4 c. veg. oil
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. red wine vinegar
garlic to taste
2 season packets from noodles

break up noodles into very small pieces
add almonds and seeds.
1/2 hr before serving add coleslaw to the above and
dressing. mix thoroughly.

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When you can't bear to turn on your oven, turn to one of these recipes for a refreshing summer lunch or dinner!

Braised Beef Short Ribs

yes, that is a giant bone

After a week of the vegan diet (well, we may or may not have succumbed to a little cheese, shhhh), the hubs and I were ready for a meaty meal. I've been wanting to do beef short ribs for some time now, so it seemed like the perfect time to give it a try. Smitten Kitchen has a great recipe, but it seemed a little too involved for a weeknight, and I didn't want to buy port for the sauce. America's Test Kitchen had a similar recipe, albeit quite a bit simpler, so I chose that one. This is a perfect dinner party meal - it only takes about 30 minutes to get it to the point where it braises in the oven for 2.5 to 3 hours. So you could easily prepare it a few hours before your party, and the house will be full of delicious smells when your guests arrive. Then you just pull it out of the oven and plate it!

I was really happy with how this turned out - the sauce had a great depth of flavor and the meat was oh-so-tender. I served it with Ina's Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes and a green salad. The only thing I would do differently next time is trim a bit more fat from the ribs before cooking. The leftovers tasted great the next day, too!

Braised Beef Short Ribs
from America's Test Kitchen

Note: ATK recommends English style short ribs, but I could only find Flanken style. Either style works with the recipe. English are a bit cheaper if you can find them.
Ingredients

6 pounds bone-in English style short ribs, trimmed
Note: this was a monstrous amount for 2 people - I bought about 4 pounds but kept all the other recipe amounts the same - ended up with a little extra sauce but that was fine with me! If you're making it for a party, gauge about 1 pound per person.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped coarse
2 carrots, peeled and chopped coarse
1 rib celery, chopped coarse
9 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp tomato paste
3 cups dry red wine (I used a pinot noir I had lying around)
4 cups low sodium chicken broth (I use Swanson organic)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tsp dried thyme
3 bay leaves

Directions:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Pat the ribs dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half the ribs, about 10 minutes, then transfer to a large plate (Note: it took me 3 batches of browning). Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat and repeat with the remaining ribs.

2. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pot and return it to medium heat. Add the onions, carrot, celery, 1/4 tsp salt and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in the flour and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.

3. Stir in the wine, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves, and browned ribs. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook in the oven until the meat is tender, 2.5 to 3.5 hours.

4. Transfer the ribs to a large plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Strain the broth into a large container, let settle for 5 minutes, then skim any fat from the surface using a spoon. (Note: I strained half the sauce and left the other half alone because I wanted the chunky veggies! Not exactly sure why they'd want you to discard all those good veggies.)

yes, we eat in front of our TV. don't judge! :)

Vegetable Stock and Potato Leek Soup

Stock-making is one of those things that makes me feel all pioneer-woman. It makes me feel industrious and thrifty and swarthy...ok, maybe not swarthy. But it's the perfect wintry weekend activity when you don't feel like leaving the house.

I've made chicken stock a few times before and loved the results, but this time I decided to try vegetable stock. You can pretty much substitute veggie stock for chicken stock in any given recipe, except maybe Chicken Noodle Soup, where I'd recommend using only chicken stock. The ATK recipe for Potato Leek Soup calls for 6 cups of chicken stock, but I substituted my homemade veggie stock and loved the results.

Vegetable Stock
*I used an 8 qt pot for this recipe

Ingredients:
approx 4 quarts water (or whatever fits into your pot)
any veggies you have on hand!
salt and pepper

Note: If you want to be a true pioneer woman, you can save the tops of carrots and onions and such and freeze or refridgerate them for later stock use. If you've done this, dump all these into the pot. It's also a good idea to use items from your veggie drawer that are on their way out - not spoiled, of course, but those that you might not necessarily want to eat raw. We used the tops of the leeks for the Potato Leek Soup, some carrots, celery, and onions.

Directions:

Put all your veggies into the stock pot and fill with cold water. Add about 2 tsps salt and some pepper (freshly ground if you're so inclined). Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 2 hours. Strain out the vegetables and pour into quart containers.

Then you're ready to make soup!

Potato Leek Soup
adapted from ATK

sweat those leeks!

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (you could substitute olive oil to make this a vegan recipe, but i don't think it would have quite the right flavor profile of this soup with French roots)
4 to 5 lbs leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced and rinsed thoroughly
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups low sodium chicken broth (I substituted homemade veggie stock)
1 and 3/4 lbs red potatoes (5 medium) scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I peeled mine as well)
1 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried (I used dried)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium low heat. Stir in the leeks and garlic. Cover and cook until the leeks are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the broth, potatoes, thyme, bay leaves and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

2. This is where I changed things up a bit - ATK recommends leaving the soup chunky and merely smashing some of the potatoes against the side of the pot to thicken it. (Don't forget to discard the bay leaves). While I think this might be good, I really wanted my soup a bit creamier and smoother. I used my immersion blender (top 5 favorite wedding gifts) to blend the soup to a creamy texture, leaving a few chunky potatoes here and there.

A delicious light dinner

It keeps beautifully in the fridge for 3 to 5 days. I've been eating it for lunches this week - grate a little fresh Parmesan on top and it's heaven. And if you already have the stock on hand, it's a very fast recipe - done in under an hour.

Pizza Party!

What is better than a laid back Saturday of pizza and a movie? Homemade pizza and a movie! The Fallible Foodies, plus one husband, plus one roomie/bestie gathered to create some delicious pizza, throw back a few drinks, and enjoy one another's company. Cooking with friends can be such a blast - just choose recipes that aren't too difficult, and don't forget your beverage of choice! Recipes are posted at the bottom.

Suz expertly kneads the pizza dough

Sausage from Gene's - Mark is a fan.

Homemade pizza sauce = three ingredients: Saute 3 cloves of minced garlic in olive oil over medium low heat until fragrant. Add a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Our toppings of choice: sausage, green peppers, caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella and some freshly grated parmesan

A Margharita version - with Mark's home grown purple basil!

Bake for 8 to 13 minutes in a 500 degree oven until cheese is bubbly and brown and crust is just beginning to brown

Saturday night dinner and a beverage

Basic Pizza Dough
from ATK (makes enough for 3 12 inch pizzas)

4 1/4 cups bread flour, plus extra for the counter
1 envelope (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups water, warm

1. Pulse 4 cups of the flour, yeast, and salt in a food processor (fitted with a dough blade if possible) to combine. With the processer running, pour the oil, then the water through the feed tube and process until a rough ball forms, 30 to 40 seconds. Let the dough rest for 2 minutes, then process for 30 seconds longer.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, about 5 minutes, adding the remaining 1/4 cup flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Homemade Pizza
adapted from ATK

1 recipe Basic Pizza Dough
flour for the counter
1 recipe Quick Pizza Sauce (see above picture caption for recipe - it's the easiest thing ever)
12 oz fresh mozzarella, cut into small pieces
grated Parmesan (as much as you like)
your toppings of choice! (we used 1 lb sausage, casings removed and browned, fresh basil, sliced green pepper, and caramelized onion - simply slice an onion thinly, then saute in olive oil over medium low heat for about 30 minutes of until golden brown)

Directions:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat to 500 degrees.

2. Meanwhile, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter, cut into 3 even pieces, and cover with plastic wrap. Working with one piece of dough at a time, shape into a smooth, round ball, cover again with plastic wrap, and let rest 20 to 30 minutes. *We somewhat omitted this resting step and it still turned out fine*

3. Uncover one ball of dough and stretch and shape the dough into a 12 inch round (or a square if you so please). Place dough on baking sheet. Spread on your pizza sauce (see above photo caption for recipe), leaving a 1/2 inch edge of dough uncovered. Spread on your toppings, leaving the cheese for last (I highly recommend the mozzarella/parmesan combo).

4. Bake for 8 to 13 minutes in the 500 degree oven, until the cheese is golden in spots and the crust edges are browned.

Day 1 and Eggplant Parmesan

Well, we survived Day 1! It wasn't easy, since I had to be at church in the evening for Ash Wednesday service in addition to working at my temp job all day. That is where the key to surviving this whole challenge (and life, I think) comes in to play: LEFTOVERS. Leftovers are the absolute savior of the home cook. I always hear people say - "Oh, I don't have time to cook every night" - and you don't have to! Just cook two or three nights a week, choose dishes that make a good amount of food (and reheat nicely) and you're done!

So Tuesday night, I set about to make Eggplant Parmesan. Now, I would not recommend you make this on a weeknight. It is a tad time-consuming, but oh so worth it in the end. I had made it once before, and had somehow forgotten how much time I spent on it - my husband remembered though. This is a great dish to make for Sunday dinner - heck, I think it's wonderful enough to serve to dinner guests - and perfect for vegetarians and omnivores alike.

The first step is salting and draining the eggplants for 40 minutes in a colander, then drying them on paper towels.

Now let me digress for a moment and introduce you to my Bible:

This amazing cook book, with over 1,200 recipes, comes from those lovely people who do the PBS show of the same name (hereby known as ATK) and Cook's Country. They also publish my favorite cooking magazine, Cook's Illustrated. I have learned more about cooking from this book than I have in all my years of watching Food Network. They guide you through the process of creating each dish with ease, and each recipe I've made from this book has turned out quite well. I recommend this book to all my friends.

Anyways, onto the recipe (and lovely pictures of course, all taken by my talented husband, whose hobby is photography):

Eggplant Parmesan (serves 6-8, reheats beautifully)
from America's Test Kitchen

For the tomato sauce in this recipe, they recommend making their Quick tomato sauce - which is what I did. The recipe for that follows as well. If you're in a time crunch, you can use jarred - but it's so easy to do it yourself - and cheaper.

2 globe eggplants (2 lbs), sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
Salt
1 cup all purpose flour
Pepper
4 large eggs
4 cups plain dried bread crumbs
3 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cups tomato sauce
8 ounces mozzarella, shredded (2 cups) (I used fresh mozz and just cut it into small pieces, it worked well).

Note: Since I haven't had time to make bread this week, I've been using this pita in its place: it's locally made and has only a few ingredients:

I decided to try to make breadcrumbs out of it for this recipe and it worked beautifully! For 4 cups of breadcrumbs, just tear up 4 pitas, toss into your food processor and pulse until it resembles breadcrumb consistency!

1. Toss the eggplant with 1 tsp salt (easiest if done in 2 batches) and let it drain in a colander for about 40 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, adjust two oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions, place a rimmed baking sheet on each rack, and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine the flour and 1 tsp of pepper in a large zipper lock bag and shake to combine. Beat the eggs into a shallow dish. Combine the breadcrumbs, 1 cup of the Parmesan, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper in a second shallow dish.

3. Spread the drained eggplant over paper towels. Wipe away as much salt as possible and press firmly on each slice to remove as much liquid as possible. Working with about 8 eggplant slices at a time, place them in the bag with the flour, seal, and shake until thoroughly coated. Remove the eggplant, shaking off any excess flour, and dip it into the eggs. Remove the eggplant from the egg, allowing any excess to drip off, and coat evenly with the breadcrumbs, pressing them to adhere. Lay the breaded eggplant on a wire rack. Flour, dip in egg, and coat the remaining eggplant with breadcrumbs in the same manner.

4. Remove the pre-heated baking sheets from teh oven. Pour 3 tablespoons oil onto each sheet, tilting to coat the sheets evenly. Spread the breaded eggplant in a single layer over the hot sheets. Bake until the eggplant is well-browned and crisp on the first side, about 20 minutes. Flip the eggplant slices over. Switch and rotate the baking sheets, continuing to bake until the second side is browned, about 10 minutes longer. (Do not turn off the oven).

5. Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce over the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Shingle half of the eggplant slices over the tomato sauce. Distribute 1 more cup of the sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle with half of the mozzarella. Shingle the remaining eggplant in the dish and dot with another cup of the sauce, leaving the majority of the eggplant exposed so that it will remain crisp. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup the Parmesan and the remaining 1 cup mozzarella.

6. Place the dish on the lower middle rack of the oven and bake until the cheese is bubbling and well-browned, about 15 minutes.

shingle the eggplant slices like so

et voila!

The eggplant is crispy and flavorful, the sauce is just sweet enough with a hint of basil and garlic - and the melted mozzarella...well, this is leagues better than any gloppy/greasy eggplant parm you'd get in your neighborhood Italian joint. We've been eating it happily for 2 days now.

Quick Tomato Sauce

3 TBSP olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
3 TBSP fresh basil, chopped fine
1/4 tsp sugar

Saute the garlic in the olive oil on medium-low heat for about 2 minutes until fragrant but not brown. Pour in both cans of tomatoes, stir to combine, then bring to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, until it thickens slightly. Stir in the basil and sugar and remove from heat.

How easy is that? :)