Red Devil

With Jeannene away in Detroit for the week, I am free to make things she might very well turn up her nose at upon being offered them. Red Devil is one of those. While she is not completely opposed to meals made with cans of soup, she is definitely opposed to saucy foods served on toast---no Welsh rarebit (one of my favorite foods ever), no chicken a la king, and very likely no red devil. So, I made some just for me tonight, with a romaine salad topped with Maytag blue cheese crumbles (http://www.maytagdairyfarms.com/aspx/welcome.aspx), blue cheese dressing and garlic croutons. Dessert will be a sumptuous Harry and David pear (www.harryanddavid.com).

To make red devil, heat together 1 can of tomato soup (I used Campbell's), 1/2 c. milk, a generous handful of shredded sharp Cheddar (about a cup) and a healthy dash or two of Worcestershire sauce. Stir the concoction until the cheese has melted. While you are stirring, let the toaster do its thing with some bread. Now, you can use a beautiful, chewy multigrain bread, of course. Whatever you like. But, the very nature of this recipe does rather call for Wonder Bread. And you really ought to cut the toast into points. When the sauce is ready, ladle it over the toast points and garnish with a sprinkle more shredded Cheddar. This makes enough for 8 slices, which will serve 4 people. It'll reheat nicely for lunch, though, if you are dining solo or there are only 2 of you.

Scrumptious Soups (and sundry other yummies)

Playing catch-up! I've been having a ball cooking in the swoony kitchen, even though my at-home time is limited by a daily 3-hour commute. Here are some of the things I've been making lately:

Broccoli Rabe & Bean Soup

8 tbsp. olive oil

1 lg. onion, chopped

7 cloves garlic, minced

2 potatoes, peeled & diced

4 tomatoes, diced

2 cans cannellini beans, drained

8 c. chicken stock

1 bunch broccoli rabe, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

Grated parmesan for garnish

Saute onion a minute or two in heated oil in a large soup pot. Add garlic & cook, stirring, another minute. Add tomatoes & potatoes and cook about 5 minutes on medium-low heat. Add beans & stock. Bring to a boil. Add broccoli rabe, cover & cook on medium for about half an hour. Adjust seasonings, then simmer another 10 minutes. Serve with parmesan. Serves 4-6. (This is my adaptation of a recipe from 12 Months of Monastery Soups, one of my new favorite cookbooks, along with d'Avila-Latourrette's similar book on salads.)

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

3 c. water

2 16 oz. cans stewed tomatoes, broken up

2 16 oz. cans dark red kidney beans

16 oz. tomato sauce

1 envelope taco seasoning

1 avocado, diced

Shredded Cheddar

Tortilla chips

Sour cream

Brown the beef with the onion in a soup pot. Drain grease. Add water, tomatoes, beans, tomato sauce, taco seasoning. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Garnish with avocado, cheese, chips & sour cream. Serves 10-12.

Spicy Squash Stew

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. curry powder or garam masala

1 tbsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cayenne

4 c. diced butternut squash (I highly recommend buying this already peeled)

2 parsnips, chopped

2 c. chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can butter beans, drained

1 can garbanzos, drained

6 oz. baby spinach

1 can light coconut milk

Lime for garnish

Heat oil in soup pot. Saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic & 1/4 tsp. salt. Saute, stirring, 1 minute. Add spices and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add squash, parsnips, broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over a reduced heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1/4 tsp. salt, butter beans, garbanzos. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Add spinach & coconut milk and heat through. Serve with lime wedges. Serves 8. (This is my adaptation of a recipe from the April 2005 issue of Cooking Light.) We had this with rolls and the below salad:

Avocado, Endive & Carrot Salad

1 lg. avocado, diced

2 Belgian endives, separated into individual leaves

A few handsful arugula (watercress if you can get it. I couldn't, so subbed what I had)

1 large carrot, peeled & sliced into very thin half-moons

6 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

A good shake of dry mustard

Salt & pepper

Place veggies in a salad bowl. Whisk the rest together in a small bowl until thickened, then toss with veggies. Serve promptly. Serves 4. (This is based on St. Martin Salad in the aforementioned salad cookbook.)

Grouper with Lemon Marjoram Butter

1/2 stick butter, room temperature

1 tsp. lemon zest

2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. chopped marjoram

1/4 tsp. salt

A good grinding of black pepper

4 grouper fillets

Olive oil

Preheat broiler. Line a shallow baking pan with foil. Mix everything but the fish & olive oil together. Brush the fish with the oil. Put into the pan. Salt & pepper. Broil 4-6" from heat until cooked through, 5-7 minutes. Serve topped with butter. Serves 4.

Pepper Jack Dip

10 oz. shredded Monterey Jack

10 oz. shredded pepper Jack

1 can chopped green chiles

1 2/3 c. mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything together in a small baking dish. Bake 25-30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips.

Kielbasa, Potatoes & Peppers

1 package kielbasa, sliced 1/2" thick

2 onions, sliced

5 potatoes, diced

1/3 c. water

1/2 tsp. salt

1 red pepper, sliced into thin inch-long strips

1 green pepper, sliced as above

Salt & pepper

Cook sausage & onions on medium-high heat, stirring often, until onions are golden, about 7 minutes. Stir in potatoes, water and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook 10 minutes. Add peppers. Cook, covered, 5-7 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Serves 4-6.

Apple Crisp

10 apples, peeled and sliced

Lemon juice

1 c. flour

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. cold butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place apples in greased casserole and sprinkle with a little lemon juice. Mix the other ingredients, cutting the butter in with a pastry blender or two knives. Sprinkle over apples. Bake 30 minutes. This is my go-to apple crisp recipe, the one I spent my childhood helping my mom & grandmom make. It is delicious.

Cappuccino Truffles

12 oz. chocolate chips

6 tbsp. butter

3 tbsp. heavy cream

1 1/2-2 tbsp. instant espresso (preferably Medaglia d'Oro)

In a large microwavable glass bowl, cook everything 1-1 1/2 minutes, until almost melted. Stir until smooth. Freeze 1 hour. Shape into balls. Roll in cocoa powder. Chill. This is my go-totruffle recipe, the one I make every Christmas. They are awesome & easy. Makes a bunch.

I also make chocolate rum balls at Christmas-time. I learned to make them while assisting my almost-grandma, Mary Monk, with her "cookie factory," which gets underway early in December every year and provides friends & neighbors all around the holler and up on the ridge with yummy treats. This is my favorite of all:

Chocolate Rum Balls

1 c. chopped pecans

1 c. Oreo crumbs (if you find a source of the pre-crumbed sort, let me know! Used to be able to find them easily & now, they are nowhere)

1 c. powdered sugar

1 1/2 tbsp. light Karo syrup

1/4 c. light rum

Sugar in which to roll the rum balls

Mix everything but the granulated sugar. Shape into 1" balls and roll in sugar. Makes 2-3 dozen. My grandmom's friend, Jean, once ate so many of these she made herself sick and my "Second Grandma" Genevieve Klyce included them in the Dayton Women's Club cookbook. If you make these once, you will have to make them every year. Fair warning!

Cookie-Baking Fuel

Tonight, Jeannene and I were in full-bore cookie & cupcake making mode, having a blast with gel food colors to tint the icing & sprinkles to scatter across the cupcakes. We needed some fuel, a supper that would be easy to throw together and delicious amidst the sweets-sampling. So, I made a simple lentil & pasta stew, which was delicious with ciabatta and fresh fruit. If I were serving it to company, I would add a big, leafy green salad. If I had a crew going out trick or treating, I would serve it to them before we left.

Lentil & Shells Stew

1/2 c. olive oil

1 lg. yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

64 oz. chicken stock

1 lb. dried lentils

16 oz. tomato puree

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp. ginger

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 c. small pasta shells

Grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Saute the onions & garlic over medium-low heat for a few minutes. Add stock, lentils and tomato paste. Stir well and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer. Add bay leaf, ginger, salt & pepper. Cover & simmer gently about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf. Add pasta, cover and simmer 15 minutes more. Serve dusted with parmesan.

Stuffed Shells & Spooks-Begone Stew

I took advantage of my day off yesterday to tackle a couple of semi-fiddly recipes I wouldn't normally try on a working day. I made spinach & cheese stuffed shells with a salad and a loaf of La Brea Bakery ciabatta. I had never made stuffed shells before because of the task of stuffing each individual shell, but I actually found it very relaxing and enjoyable. Not only that, but the end product was delicious! Dessert was another fiddly thing. I am not much of a baker and had never, that I remember, bothered making brownies from scratch. While brownies (at least the fudgy, chewy variety) are one of my very favorite sweets, I tend to be perfectly pleased with the results of the box variety. Furthermore, I have so often had brownies from scratch that are not so awesome. Add to that the monotony of unwrapping 24 miniature York peppermint patties and this recipe is not one I would usually make. However, it sounded so yummy when I saw it in the York ad years ago and I had the spare time, so I made York brownies and they were well-worth the effort! As Paula Deen says, any recipe that starts with 3 sticks of butter has got to be good!

Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Shells

12 oz. box jumbo pasta shells

18-20 oz. frozen creamed spinach

16 oz. ricotta

8 oz. shredded mozzarella

1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used Trader Joe's roasted garlic marinara)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the spinach according to the directions on the box. Mix with cheeses. Pour some of the sauce in the bottom of a 13x9" baking pan. Stuff uncooked shells (you likely won't use the entire box...the remainder might be nice to cook & serve with butter & parmesan to family members who don't dig the sauce/spinach so much) with spinach & cheese mixture. Place the shells in the baking dish and cover with the rest of the sauce. Cover with foil (or not...I forgot & the edges of a few shells got kind of crunchy, but it was just fine) and bake an hour and a half.

York Brownies

3 sticks butter, melted

3 c. sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla

5 eggs

2 c. flour

1 c. cocoa

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

24 mini peppermint patties (a 12 oz. bag fit the bill with one left over for me to pop in my mouth while the brownies baked)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter with sugar and vanilla. Add eggs. Add dry ingredients. Set aside 2 cups of the batter. Spread the rest in a greased 13x9" baking pan. Add the peppermint patties. Spread the remaining batter over the top. Bake 50-55 minutes. Cool before cutting. Makes about 36.

We haven't eaten yet tonight, but when the stew is done, we'll have it with rustic rolls from Whole Foods and slices of honeycrisp apple. On my commute, I am listening to a rather silly but fun novel by Jeaniene Frost called, I believe, "This Side of the Grave." In the book, we learn that, while garlic doesn't repel vampires, it does, when combined with marijuana carried on the person, repel ghosts. While I was smashing & peeling the entire head of garlic, I was thinking of this. So, in honor of the story & the season, I named the stew:

Spooks-Begone Stew

4 lb. beef chuck roast, cut in 1 and a half inch cubes

1/4 c. flour

12 oz. tomato paste

2 and a half pounds new potatoes (or small red potatoes, larger ones halved)

2 onions, diced

32 oz. beef broth

15 oz. Guinness (or other Irish stout)

1 head garlic, separated, peeled and smashed

Salt & pepper

18-20 oz. frozen peas, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a big, ovenproof pot, toss the beef with the flour. Add tomato paste and mix. Add potatoes, onions, broth, stout & garlic. Season. Cover and bring to boil on stovetop, stirring occasionally. Put in oven and cook until meat if fork-tender, 2 and a half to 3 hours. Add peas. Adjust seasonings & serves. Serves 10. (I am hoping Jeannene will break her no meat but fish rule to help me eat it!)

Garden Potage & Caramelized Onion Quiche

I actually had a 2-day weekend this week and it was amazing the difference in how much time I felt like I had off! I'd better not get used to that feeling, but it was lovely for a change of pace. I spent most of the time enjoying Jeannene, some of that time while cooking. Our lunches over the weekend have been simple soup and bread lunches. Tonight, I'm getting a little fancier, with a caramelized onion, cheddar & caraway quiche accompanied by mixed baby greens with Maple Grove Farms strawberry balsamic dressing (available at my local Kroger, but also through their website: http://www.maplegrove.com/product_detail.asp?pid=30 ...it is truly fabulous) and a baguette from La Chatelaine in Dublin (really lovely French baked goods & bistro fare: http://www.lachatelainebakery.com/). Dessert will be honeyed boozy fruit & camembert.

The soup I made, which we ate accompanied by peasant bread from La Chatelaine, was a wonderfully cozy garden vegetable soup, my adaptation of a soup from the delightful Twelve Months of Monastery Soups, which cookbook I strongly recommend you pick up.

Garden Potage

32 oz. chicken broth

1 onion, julienned

1 zucchini, julienned

1 carrot, julienned

1 celery stalk, julienned

3 rainbow chard leaves, stemmed & torn into bite-size pieces

1/2 c. acini di pepe pasta (stellini would be nice, too)

Salt & pepper, to taste

Grated Emmentaler cheese for garnish

Cook veggies in broth in stock pot about 45 minutes. Add pasta & seasonings & cook 10 minutes. Serve hot with cheese. Serves 4-6.

Caramelized Onion Quiche with Cheddar & Caraway

1/2 stick butter

8 onions, thinly sliced & salted

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. caraway seeds

2 c. half & half

1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

9" pie shell

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place pie shell into pie plate & scallop edges. Prick several times. Bake 10 minutes (use pie weights if you've got 'em) & set aside. Turn oven down to 350 degrees. Melt butter in large skillet. Add onions & caramelize to a rich brown, 15-20 minutes. Mix eggs with next 6 ingredients. Add onions & pour into pie shell. Bake 35-45 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into wedges. Serves 6-8.

Honeyed Boozy Fruit

3-4 cups mixed berries (I used strawberries...which I hulled & quartered....blackberries, raspberries and blueberries)

4 pears, diced

2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. sugar

1/2 c. dry white wine

3 tbsp. honey

2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. demerara sugar (regular, brown, powdered sugar fine, as is honey or agave instead)

Mix fruit with 2 tbsp lemon juice & 2 tsp. sugar and allow to macerate at least 1 hour in fridge. Mix rest of ingredients & gently stir into fruit. Return to fridge for another hour. Serve with camembert, brie or another double/triple creme cheese. Serves 6.

September is for Soup!

I have been coughing and hacking so much in the last week that Jeannene has threatened to sleep in the guest room. I don't feel terrible, but I definitely feel like soup! Monday, I had MCL Cafeteria's vegetable soup, which I refer to as crack soup because of its addictive yumminess, with a roll and some cranberry Jell-o (my grandmom used to make me Jell-o when I was sick) for lunch and made a pot of Southwestern Corn Chowder for dinner. It was wonderful to spend time in my new kitchen chopping vegetables and enjoying the bright splash of cumin & cayenne against a white prep bowl. Jeannene was spending the night at her work-home, but got to enjoy a bowl last night when she got home. The recipe is my adaptation of a Martha Stewart recipe.

Southwestern Corn Chowder

5-6 slices bacon

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 poblano pepper, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. cumin

Pinch cayenne

1 c. dry white wine

1 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled & chopped

5 cups chicken broth

Corn cut from 5 ears corn (I would have used 6, but one of my ears had gone bad) (canned or frozen corn can be subbed, but your chowder will be a different soup altogether than if you use fresh corn. If you sub, use about 3 cups of corn)

1 c. heavy cream

Hot sauce

Cook the bacon in a soup pot until crisp. Drain and crumble. Cook the onion, carrot, celery and poblano in same pot about 10 minutes over medium heat. Add seasonings. Over high heat, add wine and cook a few minutes until it is mostly evaporated. Add potatoes & broth. Bring to a boil. Simmer over medium-low heat 20 minutes. Add corn and cream. Cook 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Garnish with bacon and serve with hot sauce. If you don't hate cilantro, snip some of that over the top, too. Serves 4-6.

Cooking in the Swoony House

Now that we've gotten the kitchen mostly unpacked after our move, I am once again cooking. It feels so good! It feels especially good in our new kitchen, with its Viking stove & Subzero fridge. The first meal I cooked in the swoony house was Russian sandwiches and sweet corn, in tribute to my grandies. Every August, they had this for dinner almost every night, taking advantage of the farmstand bounty of this time of year. So, I toasted my Health Nut bread, sliced tomatoes and Cabot extra-sharp cheddar, fried up bacon and broiled the whole shebang two nights in a row. The tomatoes I used came from a parishioner's garden while the sweet corn came from the farmstand in North Ridgeville that I'd always meant to stop by when we lived in Westlake. I finally made it on my penultimate trip to Oak Leaf Cottage.

My first "real" dinner was a roast chicken, rubbed with herbes de provence, pink Himalayan salt & olive oil before being popped in the oven, surrounded by potatoes, carrots & onions. Since Jeannene is mostly a pescatarian now, I treated some halibut in the same manner as the chicken for her. We had some cucumber salad from Whole Foods with it. It was a nice homey meal for our first dinner together here.

Sunday night, I sauteed some shrimp with olive oil, lemon pepper & salt. These went on a bed of butter lettuce, along with chunks of buttery avocado, which was then all drizzled with fresh lemon juice and olive oil and sifted with salt. It made a wonderful dinner, especially with a loaf of rosemary bread to accompany.

Monday night ended up being grab it & growl, as I attended my friend Adam's ecumenical council (he was approved for ordination pending an approved call!) but I cooked again Tuesday. I made basil & lemon chicken (Quorn faux chicken fillets for Jeannene...and they were actually rather good) with Trader Joe's multigrain pilaf and steamed broccoli. It's been so long since I had access to a steamer that I overcooked the broccoli, but Jeannene likes it that way so all was well.

Basil & Lemon Chicken

1/2 c. chopped scallions

1/2 c. fresh basil leaves, cut in chiffonade

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt & pepper

6 chicken breasts

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything but chicken & oil. Rub into the chicken. Place in a well-greased baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and bake 30 minutes. (honestly, though, I think this would be better if the chicken were just drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a little salt & pepper before baking, then topped with the scallion/basil/lemon mixture after baking. I think the flavors would be brighter)

Last night, I made myself a meatloaf. Pie is no longer eating with us, now that he has his own kitchen. Jeannene was at work all night and would have eaten an Amy's vegetarian meatloaf entree had she been home. So, I have lovely leftovers for meatloaf sandwiches! This meatloaf, based on one of Paula Deen's, wasn't the best meatloaf I've ever made, but it certainly was tasty. I did not dig the sauce and had my lunch lefovers today just plain. Ketchup would be good, too. But you might like the sauce. Jeannene thought it sounded good.

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

2 lb. ground beef

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 chopped onion

1 chopped green pepper

1 c. shredded cheddar

1/4 c. worcestershire sauce

1 c. sour cream (I had never thought of using this as a binder...I used light sour cream & it worked fine)

1 c. crushed Ritz crackers

1 tsp. seasoned salt

8-10 slices cheapo white bread

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix everything but the bread. Shape into a loaf. Line a rimmed baking sheet with the bread. Place the meatloaf on the bread. Bake 1 hour. Let stand at least 10 minutes. Discard bread. Serve meatloaf with a sauce made of 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 can milk and 1 and a half cups of shredded cheddar, mixed together and heated through.

Jeannene has asked if I want to have "a nice dinner " tonight. I am not sure what this means, but perhaps we'll explore one of the restaurants in Columbus. If she ends up letting me cook, I intend to make Southwest-style corn chowder & pick up some sourdough rolls at Whole Foods to go with it.