Young & Hungry

This soup has A LOT OF VEGETABLES!  Please don’t feel obligated to buy the entire market like I did…and if you’re not up to dumping your entire produce drawer into a pot I understand.  If you did neglect your “5 a day” this weekend, however, this will more than make up for it.  It works that way right?  I’m pretty sure my veggies consisted of fried green tomatoes and Bloody Mary’s, so I’m taking every…umm…real vegetable I can get!

 

I originally found this recipe on the Cooking Light website and modified to the point of minimal recognition.  Feel free to substitute parsnips for the more common Mirepoix or sweet potato for Mr. Idaho.  Those two ingredients were the largest flavor enhancers, but who am I to make you experiment.  I’m pretty sure the original recipe also neglects the cruciferous joys of Brussels Sprouts and cauliflower, but I suppose they do tend to be the outcasts of the veggie kingdom. 

 
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Hey guess what – January’s over!  Time to focus on chocolate, fondue, and something delicious to make for that special someone so they’ll still be yours after Valentine’s Day.   What’s more romantic than a dinner in?  Let me rephrase, what’s more romantic than a dinner in when you’re used to dining out?  I might, for once, prefer not to slave the day away, but I’ve no doubt put in more than my fair share of kitchen duty.  So what to make for that special someone who will, for this one day at least, be your culinary inspiration?  Well, if you’re a lady cooking for your mister, you cannot go wrong with this pork roast.  It’s juicy and tender and doesn’t require constant attention so you can focus your first course elsewhere.    If you’re a mister cooking for your miss, perhaps this is a selfish choice of meat, but she’ll never question your machismo. 

Since I did first whip this up back in 2009 when I was stuffed from an indulgent December, I left the meal at meat and veggies.  You surely have recuperated by now and are ready for some starch.  Try a mashed parsnip or simple risotto.  The gym lines are finally clearing, so you should have more than enough time to give this roast the extra hours of TLC it deserves.  I promise you’ll be paid back one hundred kisses over. 

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I imagine it’s not too common for someone to be inspired to plan an entire meal around something like radicchio, but thanks to Michael Chiarello that’s exactly what I did.  This episode of his show on grilling was nothing out of the ordinary, but the idea of taking a boring leaf vegetable and putting it through marinade, direct heat, and a good stuffing is just plain inspirational.  For those that don’t know, radicchio is that bitter red “green” aka chicory that you usually pick out of your salad!  This recipe, however, transforms it into a charred veggie quesadilla-esque masterpiece.  The cheese melts gluing the leaves of the lettuce together into a sandwich of sorts while the marinade helps hide the bitterness that is also reduced through a nice long ice bath.  The juicy radicchio serves as the perfect counterpart to the oh too usual dry and overcooked pork, unless you too like risking salmonella in avoidance.   

 

As far as your starch for the meal is concerned, couscous went well and put to good use the leftover marinade from the radicchio.  Michael seems to take a heavy hand to the marinade; I found that half was more than sufficient.  If couscous isn’t your thing, I might do something simple like mashed or baked potatoes especially now that summer has come and gone and the colorful heirloom tomatoes have disappeared from the stores and markets. 

 
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What’s not to love about the fluffy doughy deliciousness that is focaccia bread.  Even in its purest state, seasoned simply with herbs and a drizzle of olive oil it leaves nothing to be desired.  Kicked up a notch, baked with sun-dried tomatoes or olives for example, leaves even less to be desired and enables one to take a little creative spin on this classic Italian bread.  There’s nothing I like more than a twist on a classic, so when I found this recipe for “focaccia” that’s not merely topped but stuffed I just about had a conniption.  I was, in fact, so excited that I made it the very next night. 

 

 

 

Now for the disclaimer.  I’m not sure if I failed at this recipe as there was no picture to validate my results, but it does not result in the aforementioned fluffy doughy bread to which you and I have become accustomed.  It is not dimpled with oil wells and charred herbs.  It is more dense than airy and thus not quite suitable for soaking and dipping.  Disclaimer aside, this so called “focaccia” is quite delicious!  It makes for a great appetizer, is a clean cut finger food, and complimented my Cuban Chicken Fricase quite nicely.  Yes I mixed genres, but the two recipes shared just enough ingredients to make it work. 

 
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Once upon a college semester, my partner in crime Christine took off for the magical land of Florence and, during that time, I occasionally visited her Mom, much to Christine’s great jealousy (but that’s another story.) On one of these visits, Mrs. Cochran made for me the most amazing, most mouth-watering roasted potatoes I have ever tasted, delighting my taste buds with all of their crispy, puffed up, steamy glory.

 

Thanks, Mrs. C!

  

 

Luckily for me (and now you,) she shared her recipe with me, a recipe that I find myself making again and again, always to great delight. It’s perfect for fall, a snap to make with ingredients you most likely already have on hand, and super easy to double or triple. And it’s roasted potatoes! What could be better?
 
Thanks, Mrs. Cochran!
 
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Ok so this is really a recipe for Peach Focaccia, but that ruins the title’s awesomely alluring alliteration now doesn’t it…  Anyway who doesn’t love a good GA peach?  This is the peach state, although it has been rumored that South Carolina actually produces more peaches.  Wherever they’re from, it’s peach season so we must celebrate!  Celebrate and get out the Benadryl…  It is yet to be determined if I am allergic to peaches, but I will surely never forget the morning I woke up in my dorm room to what looked like a botox overdose of the worst kind.  My lips were so big I refused to go to class, something that I never ever did in college or otherwise.

 

 

 

This recipe was inspired by a Daily Candy email I received with various picnic ideas, one being a fruit focaccia.  Game on.  Do any of you find enjoyment in the procurement of ingredients?  I most definitely do, to the detriment of my dollar bill count and apparently overall well being.  On the late night eve before the making of said peach pizza, I happened upon a forest of rosemary bushes on my stroll back to my car.  The wheels were set in motion.  Obviously these beautiful and bountiful bushes were being wasted as mere street décor, they were meant for so much more and I could give it to them.  And so, I went about trying to gather a couple sprigs, but the bush was stronger than expected (i.e. stronger than me) and a small battle ensued.  A battle resulting in me being launched backwards towards oncoming traffic (or lack thereof) upon the bush’s surrender and my roommate stepping in to wage a new war.  The war against my prized rosemary that almost cost me my life and would surely be the end of me were I to consume the chemical laden herb.  And so, she plucked it from my very hands and tossed it aside without a thought of its feelings, hopes and dreams lost in the night.  Alas, I had the fortune to simply go purchase more at the market the next morning, but it never got to fulfill its fruit focaccia fantasies and pizza pie dreams.  R.I.P. dear rosemary.   

 
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Cocktail parties are simultaneously a charming and stressful way to spend an evening… charming in that one gets to mix and mingle with great company while sipping champagne and tasting hors d’oeuvres, stressful when one is asked to bring an hors d’oeuvres to the party. Fortunately, Bon Appétit bequeathed upon me a wonderful—and wonderfully easy—hors d’oeuvres recipe that I adapted; it is perfect for nibbling while mingling and also a snap to throw together the afternoon of.

Dressed up with a rosemary sprig and ready for the party!

   

The raspberry and rosemary in this recipe play beautifully off the mellow creaminess of the Camembert and the dish comes out of the oven brown, bubbly, and very pretty thanks to the beauty of frozen puff pastry. Feel free to substitute a wheel of Brie for the Camembert which, Stateside at least, is very similar in taste (technically the two cheeses have different origins and use unique strains of bacteria in the aging process.)
 
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