Cheddar Fondue, October 1, 2017

I'd intended to make cheddar fondue while it was still September, but my wife requested roasted chicken, bumping this to October 1. It turned out to be a perfect meal to celebrate a rainish first night of my favorite month. I served with with French bread, broccoli & cauliflower florets, baby carrots, tiny bell peppers, and slices of apple. It was an incredibly easy meal and everyone loved it. I also brought out the caramel apple dip for dessert. Yum!

Cheddar Fondue

3 c. shredded extra-sharp cheddar

1 c. shredded Gruyère 

1 tbsp. flour

About 1 tsp. minced garlic or garlic paste

12 oz. bottle beer (I used a Hefeweizen)

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

Hot sauce, to taste

Toss cheeses with flour. Heat garlic & beer to a boil over medium heat, preferably in a heavy fondue pot. Reduce to a simmer. Adding a little cheese at a time, stir constantly until all cheese is melted. When fully melted, add the rest. Keep warm over Sterno. Serves 4-6. 

Spinach & Gruyère Strata, Weekend Brunch, May 7, 2017

We didn't have fancy dinners on Saturday or Sunday. We always, always end up throwing away entirely too many leftovers, so I decided to institute a weekly Leftoverpalooza. It's going to work out especially nicely the weeks my wife has to travel for work, as they won't even seem like leftovers to her. That was true this week. She was eager to sample the curried turkey pot pie and North Indian style mashed potatoes I made while she was in New Jersey. I heated some for myself, too, but took longer to get the baby to sleep than expected and then fell asleep in the nursery chair. Oops! When I awoke, it was 3 a.m. and my wife was asleep on the couch. My leftovers had long since gotten cold and didn't seem at all appealing. So, I had a bowl of raisin bran and prepped a strata for our breakfast before climbing into bed.

As I was sautéing onions at 3:30 in the morning, I was questioning my sanity and thinking it'd be far better just to go to bed and have fried eggs in the morning. However, when we actually ate the strata, I was congratulating myself for going ahead with my plan, ever how late it may have been when I did. It was truly delicious. I'd wanted to create a wonderful meal for Jeannene before she had to fly out to Montreal that evening and I succeeded quite well. This dish would make for an excellent one to serve guests, as it's impressive and super simple. Plus, you can make it the night before and you just have to pop it in the oven in the morning. The original recipe came from Gourmet Magazine back in 2003 and I've altered it only very slightly.

Spinach and Gruyère Strata

1/4 onion, chopped

1 tbsp. butter or olive oil

Salt & pepper

A grating of fresh nutmeg

5 oz. frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1/2 loaf French bread (4 c.), cubed

3 oz. Gruyère cheese, grated

2 oz. parmesan, grated

1 1/2 c. milk (2% or skim is fine)

5 eggs

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

Sauté onion in butter/oil until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add spinach and cook another minute or so. Place 1/3 of the bread into a greased (I use cooking spray) 2-quart casserole dish. Top with 1/3 of the spinach mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheeses. Repeat with another two sets of layers. Whisk everything else together, adding a bit more salt & pepper, if desired. Pour evenly over the layers in the casserole dish. Cover and chill 8 hours or so. Let stand at room temperature half an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until puffed golden, and cooked through, 45-55 minutes. Serves 4-6. 

We had early dinner Sunday, too. We found a gorgeous heirloom tomato at the farmers' market that I just had to use in Russian sandwiches, an open-faced concoction beloved in my family for at least 4 generations. Apparently, if you Google "Russian sandwich," you will find a sandwich with salad as the filling. This is not that Russian sandwich---in fact, there's not much Russian about it. My friend, Lisann, says, "Except people will be rushin' to eat it." It's basically toast with a layer of tomato, a layer of crisp bacon, and a layer of extra-sharp cheddar. I made this round on flax & sunflower bread. I served our sandwiches with kale salad ((recipe here) and had angel food cake (from the grocery) topped with macerated strawberries and whipped cream.

Quiche, April 3, 2016

Last Saturday, I put together a quiche with some leftover ham for our brunch. It was so delicious that we had it Sunday night for dinner, along with some steamed asparagus and Chambord-macerated strawberries (chop strawberries and toss with some sugar, vanilla, and Chambord---allow to macerate while you eat supper) on ladyfingers. It was a wonderfully spring-y dinner!

Ham & Cheddar Quiche

Crust for 9" pie

A handful or two of chopped ham

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp. butter or olive oil

8 eggs

1 1/2 c. milk or cream (I used 2%)

Salt & pepper

2 c. shredded cheddar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place crust in deep dish pie plate & flute the edges. Sauté onion in butter/oil until tender and slightly browned. Whisk eggs with milk, salt, and pepper. Add ham, onions, cheese. Pour into pie shell, cover lightly with foil, and bake 45 minutes. Bake another 10 minutes uncovered. Remove from oven and let stand at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges for serving. Serves 6. 

Potato, Pea, & Onion Frittata, August 18, 2015

I'd planned to make vaca frita, a traditional Cuban dish that requires hours of cooking time, for last night's supper. However, I unexpectedly got to meet my friend, Kerry, and her 11-year-old daughter at the Toledo Zoo, a couple hours from home. Luckily, I had the ingredients to make a frittata, which I paired with a bagged Caesar salad, peaches, and a batch of truly scrumptious s'mores bars (Betty Crocker Hershey's S'mores Bars). Frittatas are great life-saver meals because I almost always have some veggies, some eggs, and some cheese on-hand and they are so quick.

Potato, Pea, and Onion Frittata

4 or 5 smallish new potatoes, finely diced

1/3 c. frozen peas, thawed

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

8 eggs

Salt & pepper

A handful grated parmesan

A handful grated cheddar

Preheat broiler. Cover potatoes with water. Add salt and bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes. Heat oil in 10" oven-safe skillet (I like my cast iron skillet for frittatas). Cook the onion translucent, then add potatoes and cook another 7 minutes or so. Make sure the potatoes don't get browned and crispy. Add peas and cook a minute. Beat eggs with salt and pepper. Add cheeses. Pour into skillet with veggies. Cook until the bottom is set, 5-7 minutes. Broil until the top is set and golden-brown. Loosen the edges gently and invert onto a large plate. Cut into wedges to serve. Serves 6.

Russian Sandwiches, August 13, 2015

Mmm, mmm! Nothing like sweet corn and tomatoes from the Farmer's Market---unless they're from a little roadside stand like the one where my grandparents got their on the way back from table tennis nearly every day in August each year. They had Russian sandwiches (I do not know the provenance of the name---I'm fairly certain they're not any sort of authentic Russian food!) and sweet corn just about every day in August.

I stopped by our local farmer's market on Wednesday afternoon and picked up mine, along with some handmade bagels. To make a Russian sandwich, you toast your favorite kind of bread (I used country white last night), top it with ripe tomato slices, crisp bacon, and extra-sharp cheddar (I prefer either Tillamook or Cabot). Then, you broil it until the cheese is nice and melty and starting to brown. We had a salad with ours. Then, I had another for today's lunch. I love August! I do have to say that the Ohio tomatoes seem to have a better climate for producing a great tomato. But these were better than grocery store tomatoes for sure!

Oh, and to stave off any hunger pangs while the bacon cooked, I made an appetizer of slices of fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, along with basil leaves, on baguette slices I'd brushed with olive oil and crisped in the oven, then rubbed with a smashed garlic clove. Before serving, I drizzled them with a smidge more olive oil and sprinkled Maldon salt on them. Scrumptious!

Cheddar Cheese Soup & Chicken Avocado Salad, January 31, 2015

We got in fairly late last night, after a long day of pottery painting and grocery shopping, and I did not want to cook. We'd considered stopping for dinner out, but we've eaten quite a few meals out lately and home cooking sounded better. Luckily, I had a Rachael Ray meal planned, so it wasn't too much work or too much time before we ate. For some reason, I'd had in mind that it was a rice salad, so I was a little disappointed in the salad, but Jeannene completely loved it. I'm also not a big iceberg person, unless it's a wedge salad. The soup, though, was the very best cheese soup I've ever had. It even surpassed our favorite-ever beer cheese soup from 101 Beer Kitchen in Dublin, Ohio. It's really important, if you're making this soup, to use the highest quality cheese you can. I think using extra-sharp cheddar is crucial. I've made some adjustments to the spices, as I don't like it quite as spicy. Feel free to adjust to your tastes.

Cheddar Cheese Soup

2 tbsp. butter (or olive oil)

1 large onion, chopped

3-5 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Salt & pepper

1-2 tsp. cumin

2 tbsp. flour

32 oz. chicken broth

1 c. heavy cream

4 c. shredded very good quality extra-sharp cheddar (I like Cabot & Tillamook, the sharper, the better)

Heat butter in a soup pot. When the butter has melted, add onion, garlic, pepper flakes, salt, pepper, & cumin. Cook a few minutes, then stir in flour. Cook another minute, then whisk in the chicken broth and cream. Bring to a simmer, then cook another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Whisk in the cheese, a little at a time, stirring until melted. Serves 4. 

Chicken Avocado Salad

2 tbsp. olive oil plus extra

1-2 tsp. cumin

1-2 tsp. coriander

Salt & pepper

4-5 thin chicken cutlets

1 & 1/2 limes

1 avocado, diced

1/2 head iceberg lettuce, shredded

Cherry tomatoes (optional)

1/4 c. chopped cilantro leaves (opt)

Heat 2 tbsp. oil in skillet on medium-high heat. Mix cumin, coriander, salt, & pepper. Rub on chicken. Cook chicken through in oil, 2-3 minutes per side. Squeeze juice of 1 lime over the chicken, allow to cool, then cut into bite-size pieces. Toss with avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, and cilantro. Squeeze juice of 1/2 lime over the salad. Drizzle with some olive oil, then sprinkle with salt & pepper, tossing to coat. Serves 4.

Pizza, Crafts, & Cocktails, January 2, 2015

Tonight was my sweetheart's night to pick dinner and she was hungry for pizza. I usually insist on ordering Jet's. I like it the best of the places that deliver around here, for one thing. Also, I am boycotting Domino's and Papa John's for political reasons. Mostly, though, I just like Jet's a lot. Jeannene, however, is, I think, tired of Jet's or of having always to order what I want. So, she made it very clear that she wanted to order what she wanted to order---then, when it came time to order, she was very solicitous about asking me what I wanted. Very cute! She did decide to order from Chicago Brothers, a local joint that I've not been terribly impressed with in the past. However, I was game to give them another try. We got a Chicago-style deep dish pizza with Italian sausage, pepperoni, and, inexplicably, a ton of onions when we had been expecting spinach. It was fine and my sweet wife loved it, so I was happy she chose that.

We also started a new Friday night tradition. We'd been to a pottery class, throwing pots on the wheel at a studio which offers semi-private lessons. We had a really good time (although my pot turned out looking pretty funky!), so I thought it'd be fun to start picking one of the gazillion crafts from my Pinterest boards to try every Friday night, to go with the cocktails & nibbles tradition I've been trying to institute for months. Jeannene heartily agreed, so tonight, I made queso blanco, guacamole, and cranberry orange margaritas. Of course, we had tortilla chips, too. Then, we made picture frame ring holders.

The queso turned out way too cumin-y, even though I doubled the amount of cheese and half & half called for in the recipe once I saw the amount of cumin recommended. I'm not sure in what universe it's a good idea to use 2 tsp. cumin in a recipe calling for a cup of cheese, but it's not my universe. The recipe I present here should turn out better than what we had. I make guacamole simply by mashing the avocado in my molcajete, then adding lime juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (I like the texture of the powder better than using fresh garlic).

Queso Blanco

2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

2-4 oz. chopped green chiles

1/2 c. half & half

2 tbsp. minced onion

1/8-1/4 tsp. cumin

Salt & pepper

Minced hot pepper like a serrano or jalapeño, optional

Mix everything together in a heavy-bottomed pan. Stir over moderate heat until smooth and melted. We kept this warm in a fondue pot. Serve with tortilla chips.

Cranberry Orange Margaritas

1 1/4 oz. tequila

1/2 oz. Triple Sec/Cointreau

1 1/2 oz. sweet & sour mix*

1 1/2 oz. orange juice

1 1/2 oz. cranberry juice

Crushed ice

Whirl in the blender with crushed ice. Garnish with an orange slice and 3 cranberries, if you have them, on a swizzle stick. Me, I had pineapple chunks & strawberries, so that's what I used. This makes one drink. 

*It's actually really easy to make sweet & sour mix from scratch and it keeps well in the fridge for about a week. It's lots more delicious than the bottled sort. Just make a simple syrup using 3 cups water and 3 cups sugar. To do this, in case you don't know, you simply stir them together over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely. Then, allow the mixture to cool thoroughly. When cool, add 2 cups lemon juice and 2 cups lime juice to the simple syrup. Chill thoroughly before using in cocktails. 

New Year's Eve Fondue, December 31, 2014

When I was a kid, my almost-grandma often made fondue for Christmas Eve. This doesn't really fit my lifestyle, but I love the tradition, so I adapted it to New Year's Eve, instead, since I can't be in my hometown for the ball drop. I have always hated the pressure to "do something fun" on New Year's Eve and I don't ever want the last meal of the year to turn out to be crappy (as my anniversary dinner at Victoria's Delights was on the 30th), so fondue and board games it is---and has been for a number of years now.

We always do a classic cheese fondue, with French bread cubes and blanched veggies for dipping. For dessert, we do a chocolate fondue, with all kinds of wonderful dippers. I usually use some kind of fruity liqueur like Grand Marnier or Chambord for the chocolate fondue, but this year, we had some great peppermint marshmallows as dippers, so that wouldn't work. We were given a bottle of Godiva liqueur as a gift, so I used that this year. It was fab!

In addition to the peppermint marshmallows, this year we dipped graham crackers, Rice Krispie treat cubes, thin gingersnaps, state capital cookies, pretzel rods, strawberries, banana slices, and pineapple chunks into our chocolate fondue. With our cheese fondue, this year, we had the bread cubes, broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus.

We also ended up having an appetizer while playing Scattergories. My aunt Holly's family makes these scrumptious little nibbles for just about every gathering they have and they vanish within seconds of coming out of the oven. They're called Gloria Hardingtons (or just Glorias, which Jeannene noted sounds, appropriately, like "glorious") after the family friend from whom Holly's mom got the recipe. June, Holly's mommy, used to sometimes gussy them up with some scallions or bacon crumbles on top, but I like them just plain.

Gloria Hardingtons

Mix equal parts shredded Swiss and Cheddar cheeses, with just enough mayonnaise to hold the mixture together. Add a handful of sliced black olives. Spread on party rye, place on a baking sheet (you might want to do a couple-few sheets of them, though), and broil until they're quite browned and bubbling. Devour. 

New Year’s Eve Cheese Fondue

1 clove garlic

1 c. dry white wine

8 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated

8 oz. Jarlsberg cheese, grated

2 tsp. cornstarch

3 tbsp. kirsch

Salt & pepper

Nutmeg (freshly grated, if at all possible)

French bread cubes, veggies

Rub a heavy pot with garlic (if you have a fondue pot that can go right on the stovetop, so much the better), leaving shreds of it in the pot. Add wine & bring to a boil. On a lower heat, add cheese, in very small increments and stirring well to melt it in between additions, until all the cheese is incorporated. It is terribly, terribly important not to add all the cheese at once. I cannot stress enough how important it is to add just a small bit at a time. If you don’t, the texture of your fondue will not be what it should. When the cheese is melted, mix the cornstarch with the kirsch and stir to dissolve it. The kirsch may be hard to find and it can be omitted, but the flavor will suffer, so, if at all possible, do not skip this. Add the mixture to the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with a little nutmeg. Keep over a very low flame, either on the stove or, preferably, over sterno. Serve with bread & veggies. If it’s too thick, you can thin it with a little hot wine. By the way, this sauce is also terrific over toast the next morning. Serves 4-6.

New Year's Eve Chocolate Fondue

12 oz. good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli this year)

2/3 c. heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp. liqueur

Heat chocolate and cream together, stirring, over low to medium-low heat, until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Keep over a very low flame and serve with fruit and other dippers. Serves 4-6. 

Playwright's Melt

I really love Gwyneth Paltrow's first cookbook, My Father's Daughter, and am looking forward to getting my hands on her new one, as well. The first one is full of all kinds of yummy recipes and beautiful photos and stories. This sandwich, a creation by Leonard Gershe, who wrote Butterflies Are Free, is stupid good. This is my version of the open-faced deliciousness, which we had with veggies & dip and Cara Cara oranges.

Playwright's Melt

1/4 c. chopped black olives (the better the olive, the better the sandwich)

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 c. shredded cheddar (Cabot or Tillamook, if you can)

1 tsp. curry powder

A few dashes of worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp. mayonnaise

4 English muffins, toasted

Mix everything but the muffins. Spread the mixture on the muffins. Broil until well-browned & bubbling. Serves 4.