Celebrate a good year with elegant pasta

I loved 2007. What a great year. I turned 50, we had a dream trip to France, and at the end of the year I started a wonderful new job. This was the year daughter Jessie married Jake in Virginia-- what a picture perfect event. Our other children in all corners of the country are doing well. We adopted a puppy girl who is fun every minute. And in 2007, I started this blog.

My goals for 2008? Make more time for exercise, do what I can to make my new bosses happy they hired me, be a better wife, daughter, mom and friend, read more books, train the pup well, and keep cooking so I'll have lots to blog about.

Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for your great feedback and kind comments about the blog. Let's end 2007 with a recipe that I like to make after the holidays, when I always seem to have leftover ham on hand and half a carton of heavy cream in the fridge.

Pasta with ham and peas in cream sauce

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup water
2 cloves garlic
1-1/2 cups cooked ham, chopped
1-3/4 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
16 ounces rotini pasta

Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, prepare sauce. Melt butter in a large skillet over moderate heat. Add onion and water; cover and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Add garlic. Cook, uncovered, two minutes more. Add ham and cream. Cook until thickened, about 7 minutes. Stir in peas and spices; cook until peas are heated through. Drain pasta, add to sauce and stir well. Stir in the Parmesan. Serve immediately with crusty bread and a nice salad.

Peppers add holiday color to potato medley

It's not often that a vegetable dish catches much attention at a holiday buffet. But at my company's Christmas party this season, I was struck by how pretty one potato side dish was. Red and green bell peppers provided a little Yuletide color. Sweet potatoes and new potatoes made for a nice combination. So, when I cooked our rib roast for Christmas dinner, I did my best to duplicate this dish. The results were yummy:

Holiday potatoes with red and green peppers

Wash three large sweet potatoes, and pierce several times. Bake these on a foil-lined cookie sheet at 375 degrees for about an hour. Let them cool completely, then peel and cut into 1-inch chunks. Boil five or six new potatoes for 15 minutes. Cool completely and cut into 1-inch chunks. Chop a large sweet onion, a red bell pepper and a green bell pepper. In a wok, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add peppers and onions and cook for about 4 minutes. Then add sweet and new potato pieces and stir-fry. Add salt, pepper to taste. If you like, top with a little fres-grated parmesan cheese. (Since Christmas doesn't officially end until the Feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 6, I see no need to wait 'til next year to try this again!)

White Christmas calls for spicy white chili

We're having a white Christmas in Wichita this year, and this weather put me in the mood for a steaming spicy pot of white chili. I cooked this in the slow cooker day before yesterday and it made for a nice supper before we headed to church last night. I tell ya, slow cooking is the way to go when cooking dry beans. They just cook up perfectly on low in about 8 hours. I adapted this from a recipe Dave's had in his files for many years. It's best to make this a day before you're going to serve it. Cover and refrigerate 'til ready to reheat.

White chili

4 15-ounce cans chicken broth
16-ounce package of dry navy beans
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 to 1/2 cup canned jalapeno peppers, chopped
2 teaspoons oregano
1-1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces (or leftover Christmas turkey)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Soak beans overnight according to package directions. In a heavy skillet, stir-fry chicken pieces in olive oil over medium high heat about 8 minutes, until evenly browned. (If using leftover chicken or turkey, you can skip this step.) Put meat into slow cooker with beans. Add remaining ingredients and stir things up. Make sure broth covers the beans completely. If it doesn't, add a bit of water or open another can of broth. Cook for 8-10 hours on low heat. Serve with grated Monterrey jack cheese and chopped cilantro. Add red pepper flakes if you prefer a little extra heat.

A happy accident: Pumpkin bread pudding

Here's a recipe I came up with by accident, after I baked two loaves of pumpkin bread the other day that stuck to the pans. Trying to pry the loaves out, I broke them into pieces unsuitable for packaging up as the Christmas gifts I'd intended them to be. The bread was delicious though (Click here for the recipe from Epicurious.com) and I didn't want to throw it out. So I made pumpkin bread pudding. I took this to a dinner party last night; we heated it up and served with whipped cream. I have to say, this is a good way to use up any extra pumpkin bread you may receive from friends this holiday season.

Pumpkin bread pudding

Two small loaves pumpkin bread, broken into 1-inch chunks (about 4 cups)
8 large egg yolks
1-3/4 cups whole milk
1/3 cup maple syrup

Place pumpkin bread pieces into a buttered 8-by-8-inch baking dish. Toast at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, turning once. In medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, milk and syrup. Pour mixture over the bread chunks, pressing on bread to completely coat. Cover with foil and refrigerate 30 minutes. Bake covered at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, until pudding is set and firm to the touch. Serve immediately, or refrigerate and reheat when ready to serve.

Happy Holidays: Cinnamon apple roll-ups

I love these days right before Christmas, when our packages are mailed off (most of 'em, at least...) and I can decorate the cookies I've already baked and we can enjoy the treats friends have given to us, and relax a little. My neighbor Lisa trudged through the snow drifts this morning to bring over a beautiful tray of cookies. I had bread dough rising and decided to use some of it to bake apple bread rolls to take over to her. They're just out of the oven, and I tried one; they're nice-- not too sweet. I ended up with enough to make a couple of gift plates of a half dozen or so.

To make the rolls, roll out yeast dough on a well-floured piece of waxed paper, then brush with melted butter. Peel and dice an apple and combine the pieces in a bowl with some finely chopped walnuts, a tablespoon of cinnamon and two tablespoons granulated sugar. Spread this evenly over the bread dough, and rolled it up tight. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut into 1-1/2 inch slices. Space these evenly on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons melted butter with about 1/4 cup brown sugar. Sprinkle this over the top of the rolls and bake at 350 degrees in a convection oven for 20 minutes. (In a conventional oven, adjust heat to 375 degrees.) Cool on wire rack until ready to package up and deliver to the neighbors.

Sort of from scratch: Eagle Brand cookie kit

As I was shoppping for groceries this weekend to fill a basket for a holiday food drive, I found myself checking out some mixes in the baking aisle. I found a kit that wasn't so much a mix as a box of pre-measured ingredients to make "Magic Cookie Bars."

I remember as a kid making these treats with chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, a graham cracker crust and sweetened condensed milk. So I bought a couple of these kits, one for my food basket and one to try out myself. The kit included a packet of graham cracker crumbs to mix with butter to make a crust, and individually wrapped packets of chopped walnuts, sweet coconut, chocolate and butterscotch chips and foil-sealed packets of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk. Obviously, these were pretty easy cookies to put together. And they turned out exactly like what I used to make as a kid.

The price seemed a little steep to me-- around $5 for enough ingredients to fill an 8-by-8-inch baking pan. But if you're in the market for quick holiday baking that doesn't involve measuring anything, you might want to try a box.

You'll feel like a kid again: Mac & cheese

I started a new job this week, and I've been so busy I haven't done much cooking. We had takeout Chinese last night, and ordered pizza the night before. Finally tonight, I managed to cook dinner, even though we didn't have a lot of groceries on hand. What to fix? On hand, I found cheese, pasta and some milk and butter. So I made macaroni and cheese.

I'm kind of a purist about mac & cheese. I don't use processed cheese. I keep ingredients to a minimum. Noodles, cheese, milk, a few bread crumbs. That's about it.

This is a dish I don't cook often (especially since my kids left home) though I love it just about better than any other food available anywhere. Does mac & cheese have any redeeming social value? Not that I know of, but it's so go-o-o-ooo-oood.

Here's my basic recipe:

16 ounces macaroni or other pasta (such as penne or rotini)
2 to 3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 stick butter
1 cup milk
Dried parsley flakes
1 cup saltine cracker crumbs or Panko crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain. Return to cooking pot, add butter and mix well. Add cheese. Stir. Then add milk. Butter a 9-by-11-inch casserole dish. Add pasta and cheese mixture to casserole dish. Top with crumbs and parsley. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. (And then just try to limit yourself to only one serving!)

Sweet holiday aroma: Gingerbread cookies

Nothing says Christmas like the aroma of ginger. One of my favorite holiday traditions is baking cutout cookies, and today it was bitter cold outside, so I stayed inside and baked about 5 dozen gingerbread cutouts. These taste so good with coffee or hot cider or a steaming cup of cocoa.

I don't do anything fancy when it comes to icing cookies. I mix just a few drops of milk into a cup of powdered sugar and mix that with a fork. Then I spread this icing on my cooled cookies. I don't usually add food coloring, but I like to sprinkle iced cookies with colored green and red sugar.

This recipe, from "Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook" produces a pretty dry dough that can be a little crumbly when you try to roll it. Work the chilled dough with your hands a bit to make it easier to handle before rolling out. Double this recipe so you'll have plenty of cookies to decorate. These freeze well too. I froze most of what I made today to decorate later.

Gingerbread cutout cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Beat shortening on high speed with electric mixer 30 seconds. Add half the flour, and all remaining ingredients. Beat 'til thoroughly combined. Beat in the rest of the flour. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill at least three hours.

Divide dough in half. On a flour piece of waxed paper, flatten dough with your hand. Then roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired cookie cutter shapes. Place 1 inch apart on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake in 350-degree convection oven for 5 or 6 minutes (375 degrees for conventional oven), 'til edges are slightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for a minute, then cool on a wire rack. Wait to spread on icing 'til the cookies are completely cool. Makes 36-48, according to the cookbook.

Mmm... Chocolate-coated sugar cookies

Today we got our Christmas tree up and decorated, and Dave braved ice and drizzle to string lights up outside. And I made this season's first batches of holiday cookies; cream cheese sugar cookies.

I usually go way overboard with cookies at Christmastime. For the next few weeks I will fill the freezer with cookies, some to mail out to the kids, some to decorate just before Christmas for friends in town. I freeze cookies by the dozen in gallon Ziploc bags, and don't decorate until I pull them from the freezer ready to use.

One tip for cookie baking-- always line cookie sheets with parchment paper for easy clean-up. Your cookies will never stick and you don't have to ponder whether to grease the pan.

One of my favorite ways to decorate sugar cookies is to melt chocolate chips in the microwave in a small bowl, and drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies. Then I sprinkle with just a few walnut crumbs. To crush the walnuts, put a handful of nutmeats between two sheets of waxed paper and flatten with a rolling pin. Works great.

Here's the recipe I used today for cream cheese cutout sugar cookies, adapted from "Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook."

Cream cheese cutouts

1 cup butter
6 ounces cream cheese
4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat butter and cream cheese 'til smooth. Add half the flour and all the remaining ingredients. Beat 'til well blended. Beat in remaining flour. Form into two balls, wrap each in plastic wrap and chill at least an hour.

Divide each ball in half. On a sheet of floured waxed paper, roll out dough one half at a time to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters into desired shapes. Set 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in 350-degree convection oven (375 degrees for a conventional oven) for about 7 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Let cool completely before freezing.

According to the cookbook, this should yield 120 cookies. I'd say 60 to 80 is more likely.

Fried catfish tastes deliciously like summer

Sorry I have been distracted and not blogging. I am starting a new job Monday, haven't started thinking about the holidays at all-- and we got a puppy! Her name is Bella and she's wonderful; a 12-week-old boxer/terrier mutt. She's the greatest.

With so much going on, I think I'm in denial about the holidays. I need to be baking cookies on a daily basis and freezing them. Haven't started. Last night I did cook us dinner, but nothing with a holiday feel-- we finally ate up the catfish we caught on our memorable excursion in northern Kansas last summer.

We never got around to having a fish fry with all the folks who went on that trip, and now that I'm leaving one job to start another, the co-worker who had custody of the frozen fish brought me my share this week. I coated it in excellent cornmeal coating mix that my (soon-to-be-former) boss gave me that is not available in Wichita. I'm almost out and I'm trying to figure out what exactly goes into this perfect fish breading. I dipped the fish fillets in ice water, then coated them with the breading, and fried in hot vegetable oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes per side. It's important not to flip the fish before that five minutes is over. Mmm. I gotta say, eating this fish was a lot more fun than catching it.

Calf's liver: More delicious than you think

Liver. Most people turn up their noses at the thought. I never prepare this dish, because Dave is one of those liver eschewers. But I like liver. One of my favorite dinners as a kid was calf's liver with bacon and onions; my mother chose calf's liver because she was not a fan of liver, but my dad liked it, and calf's liver is somewhat milder than other varieties.

I've been feeling a little weary this week, a little stressed, a little light-headed. So I started popping multivitamins, and thought a dose of iron-rich liver might help pep me up. Tonight that's what I cooked for dinner.

I found calf's liver in the frozen food section at my grocery store. Here's how I prepared it: I dredged the liver pieces in flour, dipped them into a beaten egg, and then coated with Panko bread crumbs. Then I fried in hot oil in a skillet over medium high heat for about four minutes a side. I topped with bacon and fried onions. And even Dave had some; he said it tasted better than he expected. (I considered that high praise!)

Dave's beef stew warms up a winter night

I haven't cooked a thing since Thanksgiving. We enjoyed turkey leftovers for several days, then we had takeout a couple nights last week and yesterday, Dave cooked up really good beef stew for supper. It was lovely to have a homecooked meal, even if I wasn't in a mood to cook anything myself.

This recipe is one Dave's had for years, from an Internet recipe that credits "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook."

2 pounds beef stew meat
Unbleached flour season with salt and pepper
1 tbsp. shortening
1 quart boiling water
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, diced
1 cup celery, sliced
2 cups potatoes, diced
2 cups carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 cup parsnips, peeled and diced
2 beef bouillon cubes
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme and parsley, chopped
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon unbleached flour

Dredge beef chunks in flour and sear them in melted shortening in a heavy pot. Pour 1 quart boiling water over the meat, then add the garlic. Cover and simmer for two hours, adding more water as needed. Add the vegetables, bouillon cubes and herbs and season to taste. Simmer another hour until the vegetables are tender, adding a little red wine if you like or more water if necessary. Thicken with more flour, by adding some of the gravy to the flour and then stirring the thickener into the pot. Simmer a few more minutes before serving. Great with homemade bread.

Tip for perfect crust: Brush with egg white

After a week of holiday cooking, I can think of only one tip to offer today. When making fruit pie, always brush top crust with beaten egg white and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Doesn't that look appetizing? And this recipe for crust can't be beat (double it for a double-crust fruit pie.)

Holiday calls for cranberry-walnut muffins

We have kids arriving tomorrow from Virginia, California, and Pittsburgh for the holiday. I love that they'll be here all weekend, and I'm filling up the house with food before they get here.

I have ham and beans cooking in the slow cooker now, and I just baked up some cranberry-walnut muffins. The kitchen smells so good. For the muffins, I added grated orange peel to the batter, and then stirred in chopped cranberries and chopped walnuts. When the muffins were still warm, I brushed them with butter and dipped them into granulated sugar. I'll freeze them when they cool and pull them out to thaw Thanksgiving morning to serve for breakfast. I can also throw some of these into a basket with dinner rolls when it's time for turkey dinner.

For best results when making muffins, grease and flour your muffin pans, rather than using paper liners.

Cranberry-walnut muffins

2 cups white all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 and 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1-1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, finely diced in the food processor
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Shortening and flour for the muffin pans

Heat oven to 375 degrees (350 convection). Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda in medium bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third of the yogurt. Add orange peel. Beat in remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with yogurt, until incorporated. Stir in cranberries and walnuts.

Grease muffin pans and dust with flour. Divide batter among cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes (20 or so if using convection). Cool muffins in pan five minutes. Remove muffins from pan to cool on wire rack. Brush with melted butter and roll each muffin in granulated sugar to coat the top.

Before Thursday, is it OK to Shake 'n Bake?

Thanksgiving, of course, is a big project for whoever is cooking. Wonderful, but a bit of work. So as we get ready for Thursday, isn't it OK to cut a few corners (or order take-out) once or twice as we prepare dinners in these throw-away days ahead of time?

Yesterday when Dave and I were at the grocery store, as I was cruising the baking aisle for whole wheat flour and packets of yeast, he was somehow drawn to pull a box of "Shake 'N Bake" from the shelf and throw it into our cart. Don't know when I last coated pork chops with Shake 'N Bake crumbs, but you know, it wasn't a bad way to go tonight, after I'd been baking all day. Panko crumbs would have been a better, more contemporary option, but I'd have had to take a few minutes to figure out what to do with those.

No need to share tonight's recipe here. You can find it on the box.

Cut time and apples with food processor

A couple pre-Thanksgiving thoughts on pie: I never buy pre-made pie crusts, but I'm not averse to skipping the work of slicing pie apples. The food processor works perfectly for that.

I did go to the trouble once of making pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin, and that was not worth the extra effort. Canned pumpkin is dandy stuff. And the pie recipe on any can of pumpkin is pretty much dandy as well, though I always use all brown sugar, no granulated, and I substitute half-and-half instead of using evaporated milk. The results are heavenly, if I do say so myself.

Thanksgiving prep work fills the weekend

We have four children coming for Thanksgiving from three different states. I can't wait to see them. Today we've been cleaning house, checking the inventory of clean sheets and towels, doing a bit of prep work for Thanksgiving dinner. I've made dinner rolls which are now in the freezer; taken stock of what I have on hand (frozen cranberries, cans of pumpkin), and bought a few groceries: leeks and sausage to go into my favorite sweet potato casserole, apples for pie. (I highly recommend this savory sweet potato recipe from Bon Appetit, with thyme and parmesan cheese. You can make it a day ahead of time and then heat it up when your turkey's almost done. )

When it comes to cooking a turkey, I don't understand all the food page stories that come out this time of year, offering advice as if this is a daunting challenge. Roasting a turkey is so easy. First I pull the neck and giblets out and let those simmer in water to make a nice liquid for my gravy. Then I stuff the bird, put it into my big foil-lined roasting pan, rub with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover very loosely with foil and roast at 325 degrees according to the package directions. I baste the bird once in awhile, and about 45 minutes before the end of the estimated cooking time, I remove the foil so the skin browns nicely. I like to buy a fresh turkey, so I won't shop for that until Tuesday or so, and I always get one with a pop-up timer. (Is there any other kind?) Those little timers are wonderfully accurate, in my experience.

Here's my simple recipe for pretty basic bread stuffing:

1 large onion, chopped fine
1 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon dry sage
1/2 stick of butter
6-8 cups unseasoned dry bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, pressed
A cup of raisins or chopped apples, or a combination of both
Chicken broth to moisten (about 1/4 cup)

Melt butter and add onion and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes, until onion is soft. Combine all ingredients except broth in a large bowl. Stir well. Add enough chicken broth to just moisten the bread crumbs.

If you're game to cook some of the stuffing inside the turkey (I always am), set aside about half the stuffing for that purpose. Then butter a baking dish and put the stuffing into the dish. Pour a little extra broth over this. Cover with foil and set aside until the last 45 minutes your turkey is in the oven. Then just bake this with the turkey, on a lower rack. For the stuffing you're going to actually put into the bird, spoon that into the cavity loosely just before you put the bird into the oven. Truss up the cavity and roast as directed.

Shepherd's Pie helps ward off stress

I have a lot going on lately; a mix of drama, busy work and up-in-the-air dynamics that has me feeling a little more stressed than usual. Yesterday I found relief two ways: running 3 and a half miles, and then cooking up a big comfort casserole of Shepherd's Pie for dinner.

Shepherd's Pie is a dish that requires no recipe. Throw just about any combination of meat, vegetables, tomatoes and spices into a pot, cook that up and spread it into an 11-by-13-inch baking dish, top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with a little bit of sharp cheddar cheese (not too much-- it pays to show respectable restraint with the cheese.)

Here's what I did yesterday: I browned a pound of ground sausage with a chopped sweet onion, three cloves minced garlic, and a good shake of dried Italian seasoning. I then added two 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes, about a cup of chopped carrots, a chopped red bell pepper, two small sliced zucchinis, a bit of red wine. I also threw in about a cup of frozen corn. I let this simmer while I boiled about 10 medium size red potatoes for 10 minutes. Then I mashed the potatoes with about 3/4 cup milk and 4 tablespoons butter. (I used my KitchenAid mixer to mash the potatoes. It's such a useful toy!) At the last minute, I added just a couple tablespoons of flour to my meat and vegetables and stirred that with a wisk to thicken things up a little. I poured the meat mixture into a baking dish and topped with dollops of the potatoes, which I then spread evenly to cover the dish. I sprinkled the top with about 4 ounces of grated cheddar and a little bit of parsley. I baked the casserole for an hour at 350 degrees.

Keep this dish in mind in a couple weeks; it's a great way to use up leftover turkey and mashed potatoes.

Bake ziti with pesto, spinach and sausage

Wichita boasts more than its share of good restaurants, but it's hard to find authentic Italian cuisine here, unless I cook it myself. I miss the great Italian food we enjoyed when we lived in Philly, but I have to say I do OK when I cook basic Italian at home. My mom gave me a copy of The Sopranos Family Cookbook some time back, and it's an entertaining resource that features some really good recipes. And one of my favorite Italian recipes comes from Epicurious.com; it's for baked ziti with pesto, spinach and sausage.

I've made this dish a couple of times for big parties and even more often for smaller get-togethers (most recently last Sunday). The only change I make to the Epicurious directions is using sweet Italian sausage instead of hot. This casserole is like mac and cheese with a whole lot of other excellent stuff thrown in. It's a nice company supper when served with a green salad and crusty bread. (Oh, and here's an important rule I live by: Only buy parmesan cheese by the chunk and grate a fresh supply whenever it's needed.)

Let them eat cake: Easy chocolate torte

I swore off desserts a week ago (just 'til Thanksgiving!) but we invited friends for dinner last night, so I had to backslide a little on this. I made a fudge cake that is easy, and pretty and really delicious. To stay on track diet-wise, I had just one piece, and sent most of this cake home with our guests. This dessert is like a torte; it features a nice dose of finely chopped nuts but not much flour.

Chocolate torte

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch springform pan.

Cream together 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup unsalted butter. Beat in two large egg yokes, 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and slightly cooled. Beat in 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in one cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts. (I suggest grinding these very fine in the food processor.) Whip until stiff but not dry: 2 large egg whites, 1/8 teaspoon salt. Fold gently into the batter. Pour into greased pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Let cool. Carefully remove from springform pan. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar and berry syrup. (Adapted from "The Joy of Cooking.")

Good use of leftovers: Ham, beans and rice

Spiral cut hams were on sale at the grocery store this weekend, so I brought one home. It's always tough to find a ham just the right size for two, so I picked out the smallest one I could find, baked it for supper, and then designated the leftovers for sandwiches and a big pot of red beans and rice.

Yesterday before work, I threw the hambone and generous portions of meat into my slow cooker with a pound of dry red beans (I'd soaked these overnight), a large diced yellow onion, four cloves minced garlic, three 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes and 2 cans chicken broth. I added about three tablespoons chili powder and a bay leaf. I set the heat to low. Six hours later, when I came home for lunch, I stirred everything up, added a large diced red pepper, a whole stalk of celery (which I discarded before serving) and about a cup of "Jasmati" rice. (Any rice would do-- it serves to thicken things up nicely.) By suppertime, this was wonderful. And it'll be wonderful for supper again tonight, and maybe tomorrow.

Gym or cheesecake? I'll take the cheesecake

Lately when faced with a Sunday afternoon choice between hitting the gym and baking some decadent dessert, well, I seem to be opting for dessert more often than not. Yesterday I made a cheesecake topped with berry sauce. It was decadent, yes, but not quite so decadent as a recipe I found at lovemyphilly.blogspot.com (a blog brimming with recipes that call for Philadelphia Cream Cheese -- part of a not-so-stealth marketing campaign, I'm thinking) that called for four whole blocks of cream cheese. (By the way, that Web site features several recipes that call for pre-mixed Philly cheesecake filling, an ingredient I didn't know existed. Nothing is easier than mixing up cheesecake filling. Who's buying this stuff?)

When son Erik was in town some months back, he made a killer cheesecake that also called for four 8-ounce packages of cream cheese. It was tall, it was beautiful, it was enough for 20 people. Here's what I came up with as an alternative (which made plenty, of course, enough that I must hereby resolve to hit the gym, uh, you know, real soon.):

Cheesecake with berry sauce

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup plus four tablespoons sugar
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups sour cream
2 eggs

Heat convection oven to 300 degrees or conventional oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch springform pan. Mix crumbs, butter and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl, press onto bottom of pan. Beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla in large bowl. Add 1/2 cup sour cream. Beat 'til smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Beat on low until well blended. Pour filling over crust. Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Mix remaining sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Spread evenly over cheesecake. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Cool in pan, then cover and refrigerate at least four hours. Top slices with berry sauce before serving.

Berry sauce:

In a saucepan, mix 1 cup water with two cups sugar. Bring to boil. Add a 12-to-16-ounce package frozen mixed berries. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain into a bowl, and spoon some of the cooked berries into the syrup. Refrigerate 'til ready to use. Spoon two tablespoons or so over each slice of cheesecake.

Start the evening with a kir vin blanc

Since we got back from France, we've indulged occasionally in a lovely French apéritif, a kir vin blanc. It's a nice way to start the evening. Invest in a bottle of crème de cassis (nothing fancy, really) and pour a splash into a champagne flute. Then fill with Sauvignon Blanc. This cocktail is sweet, but not too sweet, just perfect to enjoy with a little camembert and a few crackers while dinner is simmering.

For something a little fancier, use champagne instead of white wine. Voilà. Un kir royal.

A traditional favorite: Quiche Lorraine

When I wrote about my new pie weights a few days ago, I didn't elaborate on how to make quiche. Quiche is not quite as in vogue as it was a few years back, but it is so worth the effort. It can be a main dish, or a wonderful side with a bowl of rich soup and a plate of salad. This dish is versatile-- you can add spinach, onions, chopped broccoli or peppers to make a veggie quiche; crab or shrimp for a seafood quiche; or stick to tradition to make Quiche Lorraine with bacon and Swiss cheese.

The traditional is my favorite. This recipe is loosely based on one I found in Julia Child's "The French Chef Cookbook," which features dishes from her first series of television shows broadcast in 1963:

Quiche Lorraine

1 baked 9-inch pie shell
6 to 8 pieces thick-sliced bacon, cooked to medium crispness
1 to 1-1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese
1-1/2 cups half-and-half
Pinch of nutmeg
4 large eggs

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Slice bacon into 1-inch slices. Spread evenly on bottom of pastry shell. Spread cheese evenly over bacon. Beat eggs, half-and-half and nutmeg in a bowl. Place pie shell on middle rack in oven, pull rack out so you can pour the egg mixture into the pie shell. Carefully slide rack back into place. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until knife inserted about an inch from the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

A good foundation: Squash & sausage soup

If you've got beans, ham or sausage, a big onion and a couple cans of diced tomatoes, you have everything you need for easy slow-cooker soup. From that foundation, you can create any number of variations.

This week, I threw those basics into my slow cooker with about four cups of my leftover butternut squash, and some dried rosemary. The squash added such a nice, sweet autumn flavor to this dish, and we ended up with enough soup for several meals.

Butternut squash and sausage soup

2 pounds mild Italian sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 pound dry navy beans
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves minced garlic
4 cups butternut squash, seeded and peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks
Two tablespoons dried rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

Clean beans and soak overnight. Drain the beans. In a heavy skillet, cook sausage in olive oil over medium heat until nicely browned. Place all ingredients into the slow cooker. Add enough water to just cover the beans. Cook on low for at least 8 hours. (Like most homemade soups, this is even better the second day than the first. Cover and chill 'til ready to reheat.)

Spice up squash with flavors of India

October is high season for squash. Yesterday I made a chicken and butternut squash stew with curry, cumin and cinnamon. It was quite tasty. I've found it's best to follow the advice of my friend Felicia when using butternut squash-- bake the squash at 350 degrees for 40 minutes to soften it up. Most recipes don't suggest this, but it makes the squash much easier to peel and dice.

I found this recipe in my "Bon Appetit Cookbook." It also happens to be on the Epicurious website. And I overestimated how much squash I'd need, so I have plenty left over. I'm thinking I'll throw the extra into the slow cooker in the morning with browned Italian sausage, white beans, diced onions, garlic, canned tomatoes and spices yet to be determined. I'll report later how that turns out.

Shop-window dessert: Strawberry tart

Yesterday I made a beautiful fresh strawberry tart. Here's all you need to know: Fill a baked pie crust with two pounds whole, cleaned strawberries (with the tops trimmed off). Melt 1/2 cup strawberry jam in a small saucepan, and brush the melted jam evenly over the strawberries. Refrigerate for an hour or so, et voila. Dessert.

If you'd like to bake a cookie-like brown-sugar-almond crust for this, buy "My French Kitchen" and look up the recipe for "Tarte aux Fraises." Sorry, but I don't feel right sharing yet another recipe from this great little cookbook on my blog. (Otherwise, I could fill my blog with all 120 recipes from this book within the next few months!) This crust is sweet and crisp, a perfect compliment to the strawberries. To make this, I bought an 11-inchWilton tart pan with a removable bottom; it's shallower than the pie pan I picked up in Paris. Both are fun to use, and I like the fluted, pastry-shop edges these create.

Crème brulée is easy, after a couple of tries

I wrote last week about my failed attempt at crème brulée. Well, persistence paid off. I did finally manage to make a successful batch. It's not a complicated dessert, but you have to watch what you're doing and whisk like mad when you add hot cream to the eggs, or your eggs will get all lumpy. The first recipe I used called for using a double boiler, and I don't have one (those are hard to find in kitchen stores these days), so I made do by putting a heat-proof dish over the saucepan as I heated the cream. Kind of a clunky operation.

The recipe I liked better was from "Paris Bistro Cooking," a beautiful cookbook that my friend Marti bought for me before our trip to France. Author Linda Dannenberg profiles wonderful Paris bistros, and features recipes and gorgeous color photos in her book. When we were in Paris, we went to one of her featured restaurants, and showed staff there our copies of the book, and the staff signed them for us. They were great. (And so was the food.)

According to Dannenberg, this recipe comes from "Le Petit Marguéry," a restaurant on Boulevard Port-Royal. We didn't make it there on last month's trip, so we have something to look forward to next time.

Crème brulée
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 split vanilla beans
7 eggs yolks
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (or super-fine sugar)

Combine milk and cream. Add the vanilla beans, scald over medium heat. Discard vanilla beans. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks and eggs with the granulated sugar. Gradually beat in the milk (whisking constantly!) Strain into oven-proof custard cups or a 1-1/2 quart baking dish.

Place custards cups or baking dish in a large pan of very hot water. Bake until custard is firm (about 40 minutes) Let cool for several hours. Just before serving, preheat broiler and sprinkle custard with brown sugar. Run dishes under the broiler to carmelize the sugar, watching carefully to prevent burning. Or better yet, use a crème brulée torch. I don't have one, but my friend Marti brought hers over for us to use last weekend. She also brought over super-fine sugar from Williams Sonoma, and we ended up with a perfectly crisp sugar crust.

Invest in pie weights for perfect crust

I love shopping for kitchen stuff. A few days ago, I bought something to help get me through the upcoming holiday baking season: a nice jar of pie weights from Williams-Sonoma, for about $11.

Yesterday I made quiche and these pretty little marbles came in so handy. I used a recipe for quiche and crust from "The Best Recipe," from the editors of Cooks Illustrated. It's one of my favorite, most stain-splattered cookbooks. Whatever recipe you use, here's a tip that helps make for a perfect pre-baked crust: Once you've got the pie crust in the pan, chill it for 40 minutes in the refrigerator and then put it into the freezer for 20 minutes before baking. This actually prevents shrinking as the crust bakes. It's quite amazing.

This Cooks Illustrated recipe for a single 9-inch crust is surprisingly easy to handle and is perfectly flaky and delicious:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
3 tablespoons shortening
4-5 tablespoons ice water

Pulse flour, salt, sugar in food processor. Scatter butter pieces over flour, tossing to coat. Cut butter into flour with five 1-second pulses. Add shortening and cut in with about 4 more 1-second pulses, 'til it resembles coarse cornmeal. Turn mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle four tablespoons ice water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on mixture with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 1 tablespoon of water if needed. Shape dough into ball, squeezing two or three times with hands until cohesive. Flatten into 4-inch disk. Dust lightly with flour, wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days before rolling.

Remove dough from refrigerator; let stand at room temperature to soften slightly. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to 12-inch disk, about 1/8 inch thick. Fold dough into quarters, then place dough point in center of pie pan. Unfold dough.

Press dough gently into pan. Trim edge and flute dough at edges. Refrigerate for 40 minutes, then freeze for 20 minutes before baking. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Press doubled 12-inch square of aluminum foil inside dough shell; distribute 1 cup of pie weights or dry beans over foil. Bake about 17 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights by gathering sides of foil and pulling up and out. For partially baked crust, continue baking about 9 minutes more, until lightly browned. For fully baked crust, bake about 15 minutes more until deep golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool, then fill as directed in your favorite recipes.

Blueberry-apple sauce goes well with pork

Even in our global economy, it remains difficult to find some ingredients in Wichita, Kansas. Yesterday I wanted to make black currant sauce from my new French cookbook. The recipe called for either fresh black currants (uh huh!) or a jar of black currants in syrup. I went to my newly expanded Dillons store, where it seems they sell everything imaginable, but had no luck. I went to a specialty market, but all I found there were the same cans of gourmet goods Dillons offers, for twice the price. I will continue this quest through the winter. As for dinner last night, I substituted blueberries and ended up with a nice berry-and-apple sauce to serve with pork tenderloin.

I did find Chambord black currant jam at Dillons, and I dolloped a bit of that in as my blueberries were cooking. Here's the recipe, adapted from "My French Kitchen," by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde.

Pork with blueberries and apples

1 can blueberries in light syrup
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pork tenderloins
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
Pinch of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon black currant jam

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Cook the tenderloins over medium heat until golden all over. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. When internal temperature reaches 170 degrees, transfer to a platter. While meat is cooking, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan and cook apples for 10 minutes, until golden. Add cinnamon.

Strain the blueberries and reserve syrup. Put the syrup and jam into the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cut remaining butter into pieces and whisk to make a glossy sauce. Add the blueberries. Add the apples. Slice the pork and serve with the sauce. (Very nice with potatoes.)

Feathery sweet: Cocoa meringues

Today I attempted crème brulée, with sad results. In fact, I had to toss the whole lot into the garbage disposal. Sigh. However, I did make good use of the big bowl of egg whites I had left over from that fiasco. I decided to try to make meringues like the cookies I'd seen in French pastry shops, and those turned out beautifully.

Son Erik helped me dissect what went wrong with the crème brulée, by the way. When I added hot vanilla-laced cream to my beaten egg yolks, I got distracted and didn't get to stirring things up soon enough. So my egg yolks started to cook and everything turned into a sugary scrambled egg mess. I will try again after dinner tonight; I want to serve crème brulée tomorrow night and apparently it's best to prepare it a day ahead of time.

Here's the recipe for my cocoa meringue cookies. If the crème brulée fails again, these will have to serve as dessert tomorrow.

Cocoa meringues

Let six egg whites reach room temperature. Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Beat egg whites 'til soft peaks form. Keep beating, and add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Slowly add 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar. Continue beating. Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder. Beat until very stiff. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dollops onto the cookie sheets. Bake for two hours. Turn off oven, let cookies cool in oven, for several hours. Serve with whipped cream and berries if you like.

Slow cooker chicken cacciatore, I'll call it

I love coming home on a Friday night to a nicely prepared dinner, especially one I prepared myself at lunch time.

Today, during my noon hour, I thawed four chicken thighs in the microwave and threw them into the slow cooker with an assortment of ingredients I had on hand: a15-ounce can of tomatoes, a 15-ounce can of tomato sauce, a chopped yellow pepper, a diced red onion, three minced garlic cloves, about a cup of red wine, and a few generous shakes of dried basil. I set the cooker on high, and about three hours later, while I was hard at work downtown, Dave turned the temperature to low. At the end of the day, we poured this nice chicken dish over some freshly cooked new potatoes to enjoy with steamed green peas. Perfectly lovely.

Vive la différence: Salmon in Pinot Noir

Sometimes it pays to take chances in the kitchen. A couple of days ago, I was thumbing through the cookbook I'd just purchased ("My French Kitchen" by Joanne Harris) and decided to prepare her salmon in red wine. I don't usually serve salmon with red wine, much less cook it in an entire bottle of the stuff. But it was really good. And easy too. You start by melting 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a tablespoon of olive oil in a big skillet, then add a finely diced red onion, a chopped clove of garlic and 4 ounces of sliced mushrooms. Saute for 10 minutes.

Then sprinkle in 3 tablespoons flour and mix well (Julia Child says it's very important to cook the flour well before adding liquid to a sauce, so I did...) Then gradually add a 750-ml bottle of Pinot Noir or red Burgundy (I used Pinot Noir), mix 'til smooth and bring to a boil. Add 6 salmon fillets, with skin left on, spooning the wine over them evenly. Cover and simmer for 8 minutes. Lift out the salmon, keep it warm and bring the wine back to a boil. Spoon out the mushrooms and serve them with the salmon over rice. Very nice. Looks a little like beef burgundy when you serve it up, but tastes like beautifully poached fish. Perfect with a glass of red wine.

Apple compote tart has continental charm

I used my new tart pan today to make an apple compote tart that is cooling now and looks just lovely. Yes, it's a little clunky by Paris patisserie standards, but I'm happy with it nonetheless. I adapted a recipe from Epicurious that calls for cooking an apple compote to use as the first layer of the filling, topped with big chunks of apples and brown sugar. I added a little cinnamon when I cooked the compote, and topped the tart with a few almond slices and brushed the top with a glaze of melted apricot preserves before baking. When I do this again, I will brush on the hot glaze just after the tart comes out of the oven, not before. It got just a little scorched the way I did it.

I realize after researching a few recipes that the little removable-bottom pan I bought at E.DeHillerin will not work for a classic "tarte tatin," which requires a heavy skillet to create an upside-down apple pie. I will try that soon. I priced a small tarte tatin pan today at Williams-Sonoma. It was $149. (Sigh. I know where I could get one cheaper.)

Also today, I bought an inspiring cookbook, My French Kitchen, by Joanne Harris (who wrote the novel "Chocolat") and Fran Warde. Here is a quote I love from the preface: "Food -- and its preparation -- should be a pleasure. Faced with such a bewildering selection of 'conveniently' processed foods and ready meals in the supermarkets, it is sometimes hard to remember this. There is nothing convenient about bad food. When in a hurry, it takes less time to make a fabulous salad or sandwich or pasta dish than it does to defrost an overpriced tray of mush." Oui, c'est vrai.

Picnic makes most of warm October day

It might as well still be summer in Wichita, with temperatures hovering close to 90 degrees. I'm so eager for cooler weather, but for now, hey, there's nothing to do but pretend it's July and have a picnic.

Yesterday we did just that, attending a fabulous outdoor jazz concert with friends at the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine. We all contributed plenty of cheese, excellent bread, grapes and apples, a little sausage, crackers, veggies, nice wine, some chocolates, all of which we spread out on a couple of blankets on the grass to enjoy while listening to the music. Nothing fancy, nothing anyone prepared ahead of time, but fun and delicious. (Recently I've been buying nice French camembert at the grocery store-- I love it when it's mild, and so soft it's as easy to spread as butter.) We had a great time.

It's a little cooler today. Maybe I'll do some cooking.

E. Dehillerin is worth a transatlantic trip

The Louvre is magnifique, and the Eiffel Tower's OK, but for my money, one of the most glorious attractions in Paris is E.Dehillerin, "le spécialiste du matériel de cuisine."

This is a cramped, two-story old store on rue Coquillière in central Paris, filled with copper cookware, knives, baking dishes, madeleine pans, every imaginable kitchen tool. Prices are good, even against our weak dollar. Next time I go to Paris I will take an empty rolling suitcase so I can really make a haul at this place.

As it was, I bought just a few things-- two tarte pans, one to keep and one for my son the pastry expert, wire whisks, and a simple but elegant porcelain serving dish. Oh, and two very sharp chef's knives not suitable for one's carry-on bag. This weekend I'm going to use my new pan to attempt a tarte tatin as good as what we had at "Le Vieux Bistro," a great little restaurant just à côté de Notre Dame de Paris.

Très vite, beautiful crepes

Amy asks how to make crepes. It's a bit of a challenge to explain in writing, but not a challenge to actually accomplish. The key is to use a good crepe pan, heat it to medium-high and melt a dab of butter in the pan just before pouring the batter in. Perfection depends on swishing the batter in the hot pan to evenly coat to create a very thin layer, and flipping carefully after a minute so your crepe doesn't tear.

In France, vendors sell crepes on the street, cooking them to perfection on big flat round skillets and offering a variety of toppings-- Grand Marnier, chocolat, cheese, fruit syrup or a national favorite, Nutella. C'est bon.

At home, you can freeze crepes in a plastic bag, separated by layers of waxed paper, to use later to create a crepe dinner casserole or dessert. Here's an easy recipe from a previous post (I know, I know, it's the equivalent of a blog rerun, but I haven't time to cook since we got back from vacation!):

Crepes

1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup lukewarm water
4 large eggs
1/2 stick melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar (if you're topping with something sweet)

Whisk well in a mixing bowl. Over medium-high heat, melt a teaspoon of butter in a crepe pan. Remove pan from heat, pour in about 1/2 cup butter, tilting pan to cover entire bottom with a very thin layer of batter. Pour any excess back into mixing bowl. Return to heat, cook for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, til edges are slightly browned. Carefully turn with a stainless steel spatula. Cook for 1 minute more. Remove from pan, stack on a plate covered with waxed paper. Repeat the drill 'til batter is used up, stacking waxed paper on top of each cooked crepe, adding butter to pan as needed. Cover stack with plastic wrap, refrigerate 'til needed. (Adapted from Joy of Cooking, 75th Anniversary edition. )

Bringing home the flavors of France

The food in France is, bien sur, wonderful beyond description. How could it be otherwise, with a boulangerie on every block, and a charcuterie, and a patisserie and a cave du vin aussi. On our trip last week, we enjoyed Croque Madame (your basic gourmet cheese sandwich, topped with a fried egg) and pain au chocolat, and beaucoup de fromage, and country pate, and lovely Loire Valley wines. And apple tarts topped with creme fraiche. Steak frites at lunchtime. Escargots before dinner.

Even fresh fruit tastes better in France. At outdoor markets, we bought strawberries more sugary sweet than anyone should be able to buy anywhere this time of year, and elegant grapes and pears.

Yes, we can buy baguettes at American grocery stores these days, but none as crisp and perfect as the baguettes Parisians line up to buy every day at their neighborhood bake shops.

My goal in the months ahead: I'll master the art of warm camembert salad, creme caramel and other French delights. I'll study what Julia Child has to say on the subject of French cooking. And I'll make more crepes. It should be a great winter.

La grande excursion commence!

Taking a break from food blogging to explore les bistros et patisseries de France... When I get back, I am determined to attempt fabulous recipes in the winter months ahead!

Bake excellent, healthy fries in olive oil

We grilled burgers tonight, and served them with tomatoes on slices of the wheat bread I made yesterday. Nothing fancy, but pretty good. And we had fries. Healthy "fries" I baked in the oven with olive oil, using a technique my sister taught me a few years back.

I cut up three red-skinned potatoes into long, thick pieces. I threw these into a bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil and stirred to coat the potatoes. I placed the potatoes on a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with foil, and sprinkled with salt. I baked at 450 for about 20 minutes, flipping potatoes after 10 minutes. (The convection oven worked beautifully for this, but a standard oven can do the job, also at that temperature. Be sure to turn the potatoes with a spatula about half way through cooking time.)

Fall's here and we're still cooking with gas

We were grilling novices when we moved to Wichita two years ago and bought a gas grill. It was January and winter cold didn't stop us from wanting to use our new toy, though after years of East Coast apartment life, we really didn't know how.

We've gained a degree of confidence since then, and we grill all the time. This week autumn cold is setting in, but I see no cause to turn off the gas. Here are a few strategies I've decided on for grilling success:

1) Skewers are good. Preferably stainless steel skewers-- available for just a few bucks a dozen at the grocery store. No need to pre-soak. No need to buy skewers more than once.

2) When skewering food for the grill, segregate meat from vegetables. Peppers and onions don't take as long as pieces of steak or chicken. Brush vegetables with olive oil and you're good to go. When cooking steaks or burgers or anything that doesn't require skewering, always chop up a sugary sweet onion into big chunks to cook on a skewer or two with pieces of fresh pepper. Always.

3) Have fun with marinades. Tonight, I was feeling really lazy, so I just threw ingredients into a plastic bag rather haphazardly-- some red wine, balsamic vinegar, a clove of crushed garlic, a shake of thyme, a shake of dried rosemary, a quick shake of Tabasco sauce, some soy sauce. I have no idea how much of anything went into the ZipLoc bag. Then I added 1-inch pieces of chicken breast, and let everything soak in the fridge for an hour. Laced the pieces about five to a skewer and handed 'em over to Dave to grill. They were heavenly.

4) Grill whenever you feel like it. Summer, winter, spring, fall.

Variation on a theme: Whole wheat bread

I've mentioned before that I bake bread at least every other week, sometimes more often. I use pretty much the same recipe every time, which calls for a 7-cup mix of white and whole wheat flour and 4 teaspoons salt. In a glass bowl, I stir together 1/2 cup honey, two packages fast-acting active dry yeast, 4 tablespoons melted butter, 2 cups milk and 2/3 cup boiling water. I pour this in with the flour and salt, and knead with the bread hook of my standing mixer for 10 minutes. I shape dough into a ball, then let it rise for an hour (covered in a buttered bowl), shape into loaves, and let those rise 20-30 minutes. I brush the loaves with beaten egg white, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake in greased, floured bread pans for 35 minutes in a 350-degree convection oven.

I've been a disorganized shopper lately, so today I realized I was out of white flour and nearly out of honey. So, I made healthier bread than usual, combining three cups white whole wheat and four cups whole wheat graham flour. Also, I mixed what little honey I had with white sugar to fill a 1/2 cup measure. No health benefit there, I know. But my bread turned out great. I may abandon white flour altogether for the time being, at least for bread baking purposes.

Knit night yields loads of nice appetizers

I still haven't done any cooking lately. Last night dinner was munchies, provided by a circle of girlfriends who came over for a knit night at my house. I picked up Larkspur artichoke dip and hummus on my way home from work. Party accomplished. Now if I could just finish the wool shawl I've been knitting on for more than two years...

Moving to a new rhythm as autumn hits

I'm going through an off phase, food-wise. I haven't made it to the farmers' market in a couple of weeks, and I notice that my approach to produce is different when I shop primarily at the grocery store. My grocery store has a wonderful produce department, but for some reason, I don't experience the same level of delight at stocking up there as I do when I buy what I need from the back of a farmers' truck. And now, I think in terms of utility, not so much adventure, as I plan a week's worth of menus. And actually, I find myself doing a lot less menu planning lately.

As I've noted before, I'm feeling busier now that summer is over (and let's face it, it's over after Labor Day.) At work, this is when we plan for a new fiscal year, so I'm poring over spreadsheets, incessantly punching buttons on my calculator, printing out budget projections. And with summer over, my datebook is filling up with meetings and lunches that were impossible to schedule during everybody's vacation season. And choir practice has started on Wednesday nights at church. Who has time to cook?

I'm determined not to let my effort in the kitchen slide, but for the most part lately, it's sliding. Last night Dave grilled farmers' market pork chops that were delightful. I contributed nothing more than egg noodles and steamed broccoli, nothing fancy. Tonight I picked up Chinese take-out on my way home-- Singapore rice noodles, mixed vegetables, rice and steamed dumplings. Tomorrow? Hey, I won't be home for dinner tomorrow.

What I need to do is get into an autumn cooking groove that is as rewarding as my summer cooking groove. New ingredients. A new pace. Different kind of planning. More slow-cooker meals, more stir-fry (that isn't take-out!), more oven-baked fare as we begin to grill less. I'll get there. I'm just not there yet.

C'est bien: White asparagus with chicken

It's been 30 years since I took a year off from college to experience my great adventure in France. And of course I thought the food there was better than anything I had ever had, and it was. It wasn't just the croissants and the brie and the baguettes and the creamy pate, all of which I loved and none of which you could buy in the U.S. back then. I also remember eating Yoplait yogurt in Paris before it was available in American supermarkets and thinking it was exquisite.

Now I can enjoy Yoplait whenever I want, of course. And I can buy decent croissants and baguettes here too. Even pate. Despite the proliferation of fast-food joints and convenience foods and all the bad stuff that is making Americans fatter every year, I do think it gets easier all the time to eat well in this country.

I bought wonderful camembert today at my grocery store, and some white asparagus (a spécialité of the Loire region, where we will spend part of our vacation in a few weeks). The asparagus I bought was a product of Peru, not France, and I steamed some for dinner, with chicken cooked the way my mother often made it, sprinkled with equal parts soy sauce and white wine, then coated with dill weed. (I baked the chicken for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.) It was good. Not anywhere close to what I'm expecting when we're on vacation in France, but good.

Do you suppose there's any way that French food could be better too than it was 30 years ago? Now that will make for a memorable trip.

Calming influence: Fettucine with sausage

I found myself suffering a bit of anxiety this afternoon, and I wondered if it wasn't because I haven't spent any time in my kitchen all week. My schedule has been so busy, with meetings after work, after-work gym time, and also several work-related get-togethers at various restaurants. Wichita has dandy restaurants, so that was fun in its way, but I like to cook. And I think to feel grounded, I actually need to cook.

My hectic schedule spilled over even into my weekend. After a breakfast meeting with a job candidate this morning and then lunch at a pizza joint with two friends, I really didn't need anything more to eat today. And I hadn't made time to shop for groceries. But at dinnertime, I felt the urge to chop some garlic and onions, stir up some tomatoes, steam some vegetables. So I thawed some sausage in the microwave and cooked that with sauce to serve with fettucine and fresh broccoli.

I'm full. I'm calm. I feel better.

Pasta with sausage and tomato sauce

1 pound Italian sausages
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 sweet onion, finely diced
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 15-ounce cans tomato sauce
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
16 ounces fettucine
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

In a large saucepan, brown garlic in olive oil. Add sausage, cook until nicely browned. Add onion. Cook over medium heat 'til onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, wine and sugar. Let simmer 45 minutes to an hour. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Top with sausage and sauce. Top with parmesan.

Un gâteau délicieux: French nut roll cake

I bought six bottles of French wine when we were out shopping on Saturday.
"What's the point of that?" Dave asked. "We're going to be in Paris in three weeks. You can drink all the French wine you want..."

Well, I'm in pre-vacation obsession mode right now, trying to remember my long-forgotten French vocabulary, studying maps of Paris and the Loire Valley, circling bistros in my Zagat's guide before our 10-day visit at the end of the month.

Last night we had dinner with our friends Marti and her Dave, who are going to France with us. Fortunately, Marti is in obsession mode too. She bought a copy for herself and a copy for me of a wonderful book, Paris Bistro Cooking, by Linda Dannenberg. The book features chapters about specific Paris bistros, with recipes from each and gorgeous photography. Our plan is to take the book along when we try out some of these bistros, and perhaps even ask the various chefs to autograph our books. (We're not buying into any stereotypes about the snooty French! Pas du tout!)

Last night Marti asked me to bring a dessert to dinner, and I decided to make something French, bien sur. (Again, Dave shook his head...) So I found a recipe in my recipe box that my friend Felicia, who had lived in Paris, wrote down for me many years ago. I remembered it was delicious when she made it, but I had never tried to make it until yesterday.

Oh la la. Il était délicieux. Not complicated to make, either.

French nut roll cake

Butter a jelly roll pan and line it with waxed paper. Butter the waxed paper well. Beat until thick six egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar. Mix in 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1-1/2 cup finely chopped pecans. Fold in six beaten egg whites. Spread in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cover with damp towel and chill (at least two hours). Turn cake out on towel and remove waxed paper.

Whip until stiff 1-1/4 cup heavy cream with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. (I also added 1/4 cup cocoa powder.) Spread on cake, reserving about 1/2 cup. Roll lengthwise and chill.

(My cake cracked in a few places when I rolled it up, so I used the reserved whipped cream as a thin coating to hide those imperfections. I then sprinkled the cake with sifted powder sugar and a few more finely chopped pecans.)

Easy contribution: Rosemary breadsticks

We have friends who are the best when it comes to throwing dinner parties. What amazes me about this couple is not just what wonderful cooks they are, and they are, but how spontaneous they are about calling a bunch of people and saying, "Want to come over?" just hours before serving an elegant feast for a crowd. I aspire to get into the same rhythm, but whenever I think about having a last-minute get-together, I get caught up in thinking people need lots of time to plan, everyone's probably already booked, my house is too messy today, let's aim to do something next weekend instead.

Yesterday afternoon, Dave and I came home from doing errands to find a phone message from these friends: "Hey, we're trying to get something together for tonight, give us a call." And of course they didn't want us to bring a thing. I don't like to go to any party empty-handed, but since I knew they'd put together a perfect menu, I wasn't going to contribute an unsolicited side dish or salad. I opted instead to take an unsolicited appetizer: quick rosemary-parmesan breadsticks and some storebought pesto for dipping. Using rapid-rise yeast, these took about 90 minutes to rise twice and then just 20 minutes to bake. I got them out of the oven just before we headed to the party, threw a nice jar of spicy olives into my basket, and some chilled white wine.

Our friends served the breadsticks with their perfect dinner of grilled pork loin, fresh corn, Caprese salad, and a casserole called San Antonio squash, baked with cheese and fresh chiles. Everything was excellent.

We need to invite these folks for dinner at our house real soon to reciprocate, anad we will, you know... after I've had a few weeks to plan it all out.

Rosemary-parmesan breadsticks

1 packet rapid-rise yeast
2-1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing on breadsticks
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Fresh grated parmesan (or romano) cheese

In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix 1/2 cup warm water (105 degreese) with yeast. Let stand for five minutes. Add flour, salt, olive oil, rosemary. Mix with bread hook, slowing adding 1/2 cup warm water. Knead for five minutes. Let dough rise in bowl for 1 hour. Sprinkle a cutting board with flour and roll dough into a 6-inch-by-12-inch rectangle. With a sharp knife, cut across short side of dough to make 12 slices. Roll each into a long breadstick, folding and twisting to braid a little. Cut each breadstick in half, place on two parchment-covered cookie sheets. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan. Let rise 20 minutes. Bake at 400 in convection oven for 20 minutes. (Adapted from Cooking with Convection, by Beatrice A. Ojakangas.) Makes 24 breadsticks.