Candied Grapefruit Peel

We're moving toward Advent: a time to feather your nest, play John Rutter and cook up a storm. So today I'm sharing another Christmas classic: candied grapefruit peel. It takes something you'd normally throw away and makes it so delicious. My auntie Flo suggests dipping it in dark chocolate, but I love it plain. It's definitely a motivation to eat your grapefruit in the morning--Andrew and I have been saving our empty grapefruit halves in a Ziplock bag in the fridge. You could also make it with oranges, or really any citrus. Mommy helped Andrew and me make our first batch, seven grapefruits' worth, when she and Daddy were here a few weeks ago. Mommy always says that it is even more precious because of all the work that goes into it!

I'm posting the version of the recipe that Mommy wrote up a few years ago because it is full of her wisdom.

Candied Grapefruit Peel
This recipe comes from the original Joy of Cooking but obviously, it's much older. I love how it uses something you'd otherwise throw away (or compost).

Slice grapefruit peel into thin slices and remove all the pith (the white part). I use a small paring knife for this and it takes forever. A good movie and/or a glass of wine (or homemade egg nog) helps.

Cover peel with cold water and bring slowly to a boil. Drain thoroughly. Repeat 5 times. This removes the bitterness of the peel.

The peel, ready to go in the sugar syrup

Make a sugar syrup using 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar for the peel of one grapefruit or two oranges.

Boil the peel in the syrup until all syrup is absorbed. Cool slightly. Roll in granulated sugar and spread to dry. This part has to be done pretty quickly because if you let the syruped peel cool too much you can't spread it.

Sugared peel can be dipped in chocolate if desired.

Keeps a long time in a tin but a very short time in a dish (because you'll be eating it!).

Egg Nog

It's time for one of my favorite Christmas traditions: egg nog. Growing up, Harrison and I were stuck with  the storebought fake stuff--we'd thin it with milk to make it taste better. But now we're allowed to have the real stuff, from the milk gallon marked EGG NOG. It tastes like joy and happiness and sitting by the fire on Christmas Eve with cookies and friends before you head to the third service at church. It's a very old family recipe: Auntie Nette has the recipe written in my great-great-great grandmother Jane Paxon Ely Bailey's own hand.

 The original recipe calls for a dozen eggs, but since salmonella is a thing, we've been using Egg Beaters.

Andrew and me before Christmas Weekend his senior year!

 If you don't like egg nog--or, worse, if you think that storebought stuff mixed with rum is yummy--you must try this recipe. Instead of being thick and gross, it's light and airy and creamy and spiced and amazing. Andrew didn't think he liked egg nog until I made it for him his senior year; he's made it every Christmas since. Actually, we went ahead and made some while I was baking my pecan pie the Tuesday before Thanksgiving... we deserved it!

Andrew gave me a Jefferson cup with my future monogram last Christmas for my egg nog!

Egg Nog (my third-great-grandmother's recipe)
If you're using whole eggs (or just the yolks): Separate the yolks from the whites in 1 dozen eggs. Beat yolks with 12 Tablespoons sugar until very light. Beat whites in a flat dish.

If you're using Egg Beaters: Mix together 1 dozen egg-equivalent with 12 Tablespoons sugar.

Mix 9 oz. cognac and 4 1/2 oz. rum in a pitcher. Pour liquor very slowly into yolks (or Egg Beaters), stirring until well mixed. Pour in 1 quart milk, 1 pint light cream and 1 pint whipping cream. Add allspice, cloves and nutmeg to taste. Pour in egg whites (if separated) at the end. I like to sprinkle some nutmeg on top before serving.

Turkey-spinach pie, or, What to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers

It's already Christmas in our house. After the FSU game yesterday (which we won't even talk about), Andrew and I have been putting up lights and decorating the tree. We're currently watching Elf while I blog and he knits!

However, if you're still living in the house where you ate on Thursday, you're probably still dealing with Thanksgiving leftovers. Growing up, we'd always have turkey tetrazinni, Harrison's favorite. I don't like mushrooms, though, so when we had our turkey dinner earlier this month, Mom and I found this unique answer to extra turkey. The phyllo dough makes it just beautiful! And it tasted amazing. (It should be no secret by now that spinach is one of my favorite foods!)

Turkey-spinach pie, from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook

Slice two leeks and mince a clove of garlic. Cook them in butter until the leeks are tender.

Combine the leek mixture with 3 eggs (slightly beaten), 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained), 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 2/3 cup milk and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Chop 2 cups cooked turkey or chicken, and mix in with everything else.

Layer 6 sheets phyllo dough in a pie pan, brushing each layer with melted butter. Spoon the filling into the crust and fold the dough toward the center.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes, and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Thanksgiving: Stuffing, Carrots and Pecan Pie

I'm back! As you may have noticed from the incessant Christmas ads, Thanksgiving is upon us. Thanksgiving is really one of my favorite holidays because it's so unpretentious. It's about eating a delicious meal with people you love. Better yet, it's about preparing a delicious meal with the people you love. It's worth waking up early to throw on an apron, watch the Macy's parade and brown flour for the gravy. Every family has their own traditions: in my family, it isn't Thanksgiving without rice, at least five types of cranberry sauce and wine jelly with boiled custard. Well, that isn't strictly true. We've had Thanksgiving with a lot of different people, not just with family in the same city every year, which I think is great: you can have the same holiday in many different ways. Which is why it's okay that I've married into a mashed potatoes family...

However, I firmly believe that Thanksgiving shouldn't be the only day of the year when you go all out and cook your favorite foods. For this reason (and because Andrew got a free turkey with his flu shot), we had turkey dinner when my parents came to visit last week.

At Wakulla Springs

My parents' visit was wonderful. Daddy hadn't been to Tallahassee before, and Mommy had only been to help me move some of my stuff down before the wedding, so we got to spend the long weekend showing them everything the beautiful town of Tallahassee has to offer. We went to Wakulla Springs, Maclay Gardens, the fair... and Mommy's college friend Susan and her husband Mike came to visit! We saved turkey for the night they were coming because we would need help eating it.

So here are some of my favorite recipes that I made last week and one that I'll make tomorrow night to take to Tampa. If my mom sends me some other family favorites (wine jelly and cranberry chutney??), I'll post them; they don't seem to be in my recipe file just yet!

The feast. I love any excuse to pull out the fine china and crystal.
Andrew, as you can see, loves milk.

Grandmama's Sausage Stuffing
My grandmama was an absolutely incredible cook. I remember Thanksgiving weekends helping her roll out and cut the yeast rolls for dinner (a competitive item when my twin cousins, uncle and I were at the same end of the table). This is her stuffing recipe, which I think is absolutely fantastic. We didn't put it in the bird last week, since it makes the cooking take longer, but if you have time it's worth it.

Cut 1 pound sausage (the kind that comes in a giant roll) into 4 slices. Cook it on the stove, breaking it up into small pieces while it cooks. Once all the sausage is browned, take it out and put it in a bowl.

Meanwhile, take 1 pound of soft white bread. Old bread is great; if it's fresh, set the slices out to dry a little so they harden. In my family, we try to save heels and crusts in the freezer and thaw them for stuffing. Then cut the bread up into small pieces.

Chop 1 large or 2 medium onions, and cook it in the sausage grease until soft and clear. Mix the onion, sausage and bread together, and add salt and pepper to taste.

If you're cooking it outside the bird, add chicken broth (I used 2 cups for the whole thing) and heat in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. The chicken broth softens it, since it's missing out on those yummy drippings from the bird.

Carrots Vindalee
I believe this is a more recent recipe in my family's Thanksgiving arsenal, but it is a great one. This is the only version of cooked carrots Andrew will eat. It's from the "Mountain Elegance" cookbook by the Junior League of Asheville, NC. (Thank you to Auntie Flo for correcting my original, poorly remembered version!) You can never have enough vegetables at Thanksgiving, and the orange brightens up the plate.

Cut 4 or 5 carrots into thin slices. Chop 1 celery heart, including the leaves. Cook the carrots and celery on the stove covered in dry white wine and a tablespoon or two of sugar. The wine should cook down so it isn't soupy. Add a teaspoon or two of dill and enjoy!

The Jackson, MS Junior League Pecan Pie
This is what I'm making for Thanksgiving this year and I'm so excited. Not only is it delicious--better than any other pecan pie you have ever eaten ever--but it is incredibly fun to make. I'm even going all out and making my own pie crust (thanks, Eleanor!). This recipe came from Becky Heishman, a good family friend. Daddy likes to call it PEAKEN pie.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake a 9-inch pie shell for 3 or 4 minutes. Cook 1/2 cup butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1/2 cup light corn syrup over low heat until the butter melts. Do not let it boil. Cool slightly.

Lightly beat 3 eggs (the recipe notes, "Do not unloose your inner masochist"). Stir them into the mixture--be careful not to add the eggs while it's too warm or they will start to cook and you will be very embarrassed in front of your auntie who's chopping carrots. Mix the eggs in well.

Finely chop 1 1/2 cup pecans, and add them to the mixture with 1 tsp vanilla. (I like to reserve 1/2 cup or so pecans to arrange a pretty pattern on the top, but you don't have to.) Pour filling into crust and bake for 40-45 minutes. Pie should be soft in center when removed from oven.

Chocolate tiffin

Last week I had a Pi Phi Alumnae Club meeting, and it was wine & cheese & dessert. I wanted a dessert that was a little unusual, and chocolate tiffin fit the bill. I'd wanted to make chocolate tiffin since my weekend in London during my summer in Provence. It's a kind of cake or cookie bar made of crushed "digestive biscuits" that's popular with British children. I think it's similar to Prince William's groom's cake from the royal wedding, so if that isn't motivation I don't know what is.

These are digestive biscuits. I found them in the ethnic foods aisle at Publix, which I thought was funny.

It's an easy recipe and it makes a ton. I had decided to double it for some reason, which means that I had leftover tiffin to bring to tailgating and to lunch at work every day. Extra chocolate has never been a problem ever, but I think one times the recipe makes plenty. It feels so indulgent to make because of the melted chocolate. And of course you have to lick the spoon...

You have to be careful with melting chocolate, and what cooking blog would this be if I didn't warn you? I used my shiny new double boiler. You can also rig up a double boiler with two saucepans, or melt it for a few seconds at a time in the microwave.

My other question with this recipe is if there should be more butter and Karo syrup to the crushed biscuits. That's basically the glue that holds the cookie crumbs together. I could have crushed the biscuits into smaller pieces--you really want crumbs!--and that may have been my problem with biscuit pieces crumbling off and making it a little messy. But it could also maybe use a little more butter.

Chocolate tiffin
Crush 8 oz Rich Tea biscuits into really small pieces. Melt 4 oz butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons Karo syrup and 4 teaspoons cocoa. Add the biscuits and (optional) 1 handful of raisins. Mix and pour into a jelly roll pan or something similar.

Meanwhile, melt 4 oz milk chocolate and 4 oz dark chocolate. Pour the melted chocolate over the biscuit mixture.

Let the tin set in the frige for at least an hour. Cut into pieces to serve.

Roasted tomato soup

As I've gotten older (yikes! I promise people still think I'm 18!) I've realized that fall might be my favorite time of year. I love the way it starts to get cold, giving me an excuse to pull out my cardigans and tights and frolic in the leaves. Or, since I live in Florida, I love the way I decide it is the end of September and I have waited long enough for soup season.

This is a Pinterest recipe I've been wanting to try for a while. If you've been reading this blog for a while or have talked to me ever, you may know that I love tomatoes. And I love tomato soup. I was probably the only girl at camp who got excited when lunch on a 100-degree day was tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. It is one of my favorite things of all time, but somehow my tomato soup-making had never progressed past opening a can. Andrew's been sick the past couple of days--which is sad, and I want him to get better, but it did mean I got to make soup. By the time I made it, he was curled up under three blankets again, fast asleep... so I ate most of it myself. You snooze, you lose?

 The perfect lonely-girl dinner?

This recipe is truly, extraordinarily good. The flavors are perfectly balanced, thanks in part to oven-roasting some of the tomatoes before you toss them in. I used my immersion blender to break up the tomatoes and make it a creamier, thicker soup, but I left some of the roasted tomatoes intact. I ate it with a grilled cheese sandwich made in my jaffel iron, which is the only reason why there's any soup left over.

Roasted tomato soup
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put around 2 cups small tomatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Roast them for about 15 minutes, until the skins start to break open.

Mince 2 garlic cloves and dice a small onion. Sautee them in some olive oil in a saucepan until they get translucent. Add in the roasted tomatoes, 3 cups chicken broth, 28 oz diced tomatoes, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped. Bring the soup to a boil, then let it simmer partially covered for 20 minutes.

Blend the soup with an immersion blender and enjoy!

How to eat an entire chicken, day 3: Chicken pot pie

Such a delay between posts, I know! But I hope that this recipe is worth the wait. It's one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. I first made it for Andrew and Andy during Christmas weekend at W&L. Neville Skyped in and Allison was there, and it was lovely. The last time I made this, Andrew was teaching late and didn't come home until the pot pie was almost out of the oven--about 7:00. The look on his face when he realized that chicken pot pie was waiting for him was just priceless. (I was too distracted with feeding him to take pictures of dinner...)

It's really easy, and you can vary the vegetables based on what you want. I've made it with potatoes before, but I really love carrots, peas and corn. I use Bisquick for the topping plus a couple of extra biscuits, but a puff pastry would also work. Leftovers are yummy, as always. This is especially good when you're using up your cooked chicken and your homemade stock... but you can also cook up some chicken breasts or whatever you have. Classic comfort food, made even better with a side salad.

Chicken pot pie
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Dice an onion and 2 carrots, and sautee them in 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet with high edges. Add 1 cup frozen corn and 1 cup frozen peas. After they've cooked for a few minutes, stir in 1/2 cup flour and cook for another minute to make a roux. Pour in 2 cups milk and 2 cups chicken broth, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat, add 1 pound cooked chicken (shredded or chopped). Stir in 1 teaspoon dried thyme and some salt and pepper.

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish. Roll out biscuit dough and cut into a shape that will cover your dish. Bake until the biscuit topping is golden, about 35 minutes.

How to eat an entire chicken, day 2: Stock and soup

You remember Alexander, who went to sleep with gum in his mouth and now there's gum in his hair and when he got out of bed this morning he tripped on the skateboard and by mistake he dropped his sweater in the sink while the water was running? Well, I've been having a day just like that today. I even locked my keys in my office on my way out of work. Fortunately, today's recipe was already mostly done, and pretty easy to throw together.

I've been working on a chicken this week: rosemary chicken, chicken pot pie and chicken soup. Although I made them in that order--I roasted the chicken on Monday, made the pot pie on Tuesday and made the soup tonight--I'm going to tell you about the soup first, because you start making the stock the night you roast the chicken.

I just Googled chicken stock, to see what makes it different from broth. Apparently stock is made with the bony parts, and broth is made from the meat. This means the stock has a richer flavor. You could buy either for a soup, but if you're roasting a chicken it's really wasteful not to make your own. The first time I did this, I froze my stock as ice cubes. They live in a freezer bag, and I pull out a couple every time I want chicken stock. It's super convenient, and the stock is almost free to make. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't think it would be too attractive, but it makes your house smell incredible.

Chicken stock
After you've roasted your chicken, carve or pull all the meat off the bones, and save it for later. You're going to want as much of that meat as possible, and it isn't doing you any more favors by going in the stock, so get in there! Put the carcass, bones, innards (from the paper bag inside the carcass when you started) and skin in a pot or Crockpot. Add enough water to cover everything.

Add a whole carrot (peeled with the ends chopped off) and some celery. I like to use the leafy parts that otherwise get thrown out. Peel an onion and cut it in half, and toss that in too. Add a bay leaf and some herbs--maybe some sprigs of rosemary or thyme if you're feeling inspired.

Cook it on low for several hours--all day/night if possible. When it's ready and smells amazing, strain it and discard the vegetables and bones. Especially if you're going to freeze it, pour the stock into the narrowest container you can find and refrigerate it for several hours. The fat will rise to the top and you can skim it off (kind of satisfyingly gross). Freeze it in small portions, refrigerate it to use in all your recipes or make it into soup!

Chicken and rice soup
This is a totally variable recipe, so put in whatever you like in your chicken soup. Some people prefer noodles or potatoes to rice. You can also make it come together much faster if you precook the rice and the vegetables. In that case, just cook it on low for about half an hour or until you get hungry.

Chop 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks and any other veggies (onions, turnips?). Cut your leftover chicken into bite-sized pieces. (I had already made my pot pie by this point, so I had about a cup and a half of chicken.) Put the veggies and meat in a pot with your unbelievably delicious chicken stock, and pour in 1 cup rice. Feel free to toss in more herbs or some pepper; I felt my stock was plenty flavorful, but everyone has different tastes.

Cook on low for several hours, until the veggies are soft and the rice is cooked. I'm doing mine overnight so I can take it to work tomorrow in my Snow White thermos! It matches my Snow White lunchbox, circa 1995.

How to eat an entire chicken, day 1: Rosemary chicken

Some of my readers may know that my ancestry includes thrifty Scottish Presbyterians, industrious pioneers who reached the frontier of Missouri, and Pattawomeck Indians (Native Americans) by way of Pocahontas herself. These genetic roots have left me predisposed to hate wasting anything. Sometimes I have to get Andrew to throw something away for me because I just can't do it myself. Recycling helps. So does making a week's worth of meals out of one cute little chicken. Plus, it is incredibly cost-effective. Andrew and I can eat for about a week on the cost of one chicken, some carrots, celery, onions, two cups of Bisquick and some rice. And we can do it even though both of us are working full-time.

From one chicken (5.64 pounds), I made three meals: roasted chicken, chicken pot pie and chicken soup. Today we're starting with the roasted chicken, which is day 1 of the project. Roasting a chicken shouldn't be scary, but I know I was overwhelmed by it before I tried it. I don't like touching raw meat in general, but really this was okay. (I still refuse to bone my poultry like Julia Child keeps wanting me to.) If you're an experienced chef who cooks chicken all the time, I promise that this is still an exceptionally delicious way to go about it. Rosemary chicken was probably my all-time favorite meal growing up.

Roasted rosemary chicken
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place one whole roasting chicken in a roasting pan. Pull out the little paper bag of innards from the cavity and save it for later (I wrap it up in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge). Stuff the chicken with a carrot, peeled and cut into pieces; a couple of celery stalks; and an onion cut in half. Add several sprigs of rosemary to the cavity, and tuck some under the skin or between the legs. Tie the legs together using butcher's twine (they sell this at the grocery store, but you may have to ask) so they sit above the opening to the cavity, like in the picture.

Bake for 20-23 minutes per pound, or until the interior reaches 165 degrees. Some chickens come with their own little thermometer that pops up when it reaches the right temperature. Let stand 15 minutes before carving.

I serve this with whatever veggies I have on hand. If I'm making rice--I didn't this time--I also make gravy: brown flour in a cast-iron skillet and whisk it in with the drippings from the chicken. Delicious.

After dinner, strip the carcass of whatever you didn't eat. Save the meat in the fridge for later. Put the carcass, bones, skin and the innards from before in a pot to make into your chicken stock. We'll get to that tomorrow...

Spaghetti alla Neville

First of all, let me apologize for the long delay between posts. Starting my new job has been exhausting! I don't know what I'd do if Andrew didn't take some of his afternoons to clean the house, get groceries and do laundry. So I've been learning how to cook dinners that require minimal effort by the time I get home--often by working on tomorrow's meal after dinner. I am actually one of the few kids in my generation who didn't grow up with a Crockpot, but I am learning to love mine. I get everything ready in the morning or even the night before, and come home to a delicious-smelling dinner. It's delicious, it's good for me, and it's a perfect way to end my day.

Today's Crockpot recipe comes from our good friend Neville Fogarty, who's been featured on this blog before for writing crosswords and loving meatloaf. Now my general opinion on food is, "Why buy it if you can make it yourself for better?" But... this means that sometimes it is better to buy it. If something is too much trouble or you can't find a good recipe, just buy it. I used to believe that spaghetti sauce fit in this category. Sure, I could make my own if I wanted to, but it comes in a jar just as well. Since trying this recipe, I have found that, for the minimal amount of effort it takes, it is far better to make your own sauce. That being said, I think--again, for the effort and payoff--that sticking with canned tomatoes is just fine. Yes, fresh tomatoes are great, but I don't think it makes enough of a difference here.

This sauce is delicious; it's classic comfort food. It's so easy, I put it together before work when I was half-asleep. And it makes a lot; you could halve it, but I just froze most of the extra for later. I did adapt Neville's seasonings a bit--chopping my own garlic instead of using garlic salt to taste, throwing in basil leaves and some oregano, and leaving out the mushrooms. Sorry, Neville!

Spaghetti alla Neville
Brown 1-2 pounds ground round beef (or sirloin or turkey). Meanwhile, mix together 28 oz canned tomato sauce, 28 oz diced tomatoes, 1 small can sliced mushrooms and 1 small can tomato paste ("literally the small one at the grocery"). Chop 3 celery ribs--not to be confused with the much larger celery stalks--3 garlic cloves and 1 large white onion.

Drain the beef and mix everything together. Toss in several whole basil leaves (I just chop off a lot of my plant) and season with a little salt* and pepper and a few shakes of oregano. Keep tasting it to adjust the seasonings. Cook in your Crockpot on LOW for 8 hours. If you don't have a Crockpot, let it simmer on your stove for several hours.

* Check that your diced tomatoes don't have salt... if they do, don't add more!

"'Everybody is going to get to know each other in the pot. I'm serious about this stuff.'
- Kevin Malone"

- Neville Fogarty

Salmon and tomatoes en papillote

I know it's been a while since I last blogged... this week has been very busy and very exciting. I got a job!!! I am now the assistant to the chair of the chemistry department at Florida State, and Andrew's building is right by mine, and everyone seems really nice, and I have a pretty office with a big window. It's been a bit of a shift to start waking up at 6:30 and run out the door, but it is so nice to have something to do besides obsessively clean the house and watch TLC. On the food side, I'm going to start experimenting with dinners that can do double-duty in my Snow White lunchbox the next day. Wish me luck!

Today I'm sharing a recipe that I actually made last week. It takes literally about half an hour to throw together, has next to no cleanup and is knock-your-socks-off delicious. It's easy enough for a quick meal at home, but yummy enough for a dinner party. I have dreams about this meal sometimes. Plus, it is just about as healthy as you can get. The proportions I'm sharing here are for four people; you could halve it for two, but I love having the leftovers. It has all the Provençal flavors I miss from last summer, and it's just so pretty! It's like a little garden wrapped up in foil.

The instructions look complicated, but once you've made it once you'll be able to improvise pretty easily. This recipe comes almost exactly from my French cookbook, Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan. I moved the basil on top of the salmon because I think you can taste it more that way; if your salmon is skinless, you can put the basil underneath. Both times I've made it, I haven't had cherry tomatoes, so I cut up two tomatoes into bite-sized pieces and divided them among the packets. You can use foil (easier to wrap up, but less pretty) or parchment paper, depending on who you're trying to impress.

Salmon and tomatoes en papillote

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Cut four 12-inch squares of foil or parchment paper, depending on who you're trying to impress. Cut 28 ounces of salmon into four equal portions (7 or 8 ounces each).

If you want to sear the tomatoes to intensify their flavor, heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook 16 cherry tomatoes for a few minutes until their skins are wrinkled and bubbly.

In the center of each piece of foil, drizzle a little olive oil, sprinkle it with some salt and white pepper, and top with a piece of salmon. Put the tomatoes on one side and about 5 basil leaves on the other. Grate zest from one lemon over everything. Chop 4 scallions (or 2 spring onions) and scatter them over the fish and tomatoes. Cut the lemon into 8 slices, putting two slices over each piece of fish. Top with a sprig of thyme or rosemary and another drizzle of olive oil.

Seal the packets, making sure they are airtight and that there's puff space between the fish and the top of its cocoon. Put the packets on the baking sheet, slide the setup into the oven, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

(The packets can be assembled up to 6 hours ahead and refrigerated; remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. If the packets still feel cold when you're ready to slide them into the oven, add a minute to the baking time.)

Update:

My mom made this salmon for her and Daddy and sent me a picture! Look how beautiful! They ate it with a salad, green beans and Provencal rosé.

Roasted tomatoes provençales

This is one of the great summer side dishes: easy, forgiving, delicious and incredibly good for you. It's good as leftovers, served hot or cold. I think it would even make less-great tomatoes taste amazing, so I actually plan on making it year-round. Andrew says that this is his favorite way to eat tomatoes. I first made it to go with a roasted chicken, and this weekend I pulled it out again to go with my coconut chicken. It's a colorful way to add more vegetables to your menu.

A lot of recipes are going around Pinterest these days for stuffed tomatoes with a kind of garlic or parmesan breading. This is the same idea, but way better because you still get all the tomato goodness and you aren't adding any soggy mush. You can mix it up by altering the herbs you use. Dried would be okay, but fresh from the garden is amazing. You can change the proportions and cooking time however you would like, depending on what else is in your oven at what temperature! One final note: cut the tomatoes in half by turning them upside down, so you go through the core. You won't cut through as many juice pockets, which means that they retain more juices while they cook. Plus, less mess!

Roasted tomatoes provençales
Finely chop two cloves of garlic and a teaspoon or two of other herbs--I use rosemary, thyme and basil. Cut six medium tomatoes in half and arrange them on a baking sheet. Drizzle some olive oil over each half, and top with the garlic-herb mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for half an hour.

Count on about one tomato per person--but of course, you will want your leftovers!

Beef empanadas

What a busy week coming off of a busy weekend! I have Pi Phi stuff tonight, Thursday and Friday--mostly helping FL Beta with recruitment, which should be wonderful--and Saturday is a biology department party. I predict that a lot of this week's dinners will be leftovers, so when I woke up craving empanadas yesterday I went ahead and made them. I served them with fried plantains and a mango salsa. How tropical!

I had never made empanadas before--Andrew claims he had never even tried them--but they were yummy! Full disclosure: the dough recipe I found online wasn't so great. You can try it here, but I don't feel comfortable endorsing it since it was a little dry. It also didn't make enough for the massive amount of filling I ended up with. Next time, I'm going to try them with just storebought pie dough, like another website recommended. But the filling was delicious. I adapted this recipe. It made a ton--I made six and a half empanadas, which was the amount of dough I had, and almost half the filling was still left over. I would halve it next time, since the two of us can only eat so much.

 
Beef empanadas
Chop two small potatoes into small pieces and boil until soft. Hard-boil two eggs and coarsely chop them when cool.

Chop one small onion and mince 5 cloves of garlic. Sauté the onion in a little vegetable oil, then add the garlic. Add 1.5 pounds ground beef. When the beef is browned and mixed in with the onions and garlic, pour in 1 cup beef broth. Let it simmer until the liquid is gone. Fold in the potatoes and eggs, and let the stuff cool.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut your dough into circles and spoon the filling into the center of each circle. Fold them in half and crimp the edges. Arrange the empanadas on a greased baking sheet and brush them with a little beaten egg. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Fried plantains
Peel two or three ripe plantains and cut into good-sized pieces. Fry them in butter and a little sugar. Drain on paper towels before serving.

Mango salsa
Chop 2 mangos, 1 cucumber and some green onion. Mix together with some lime juice.

Bran muffins

Company is coming! Andrew's dad and his fiancée are coming up tonight to move her daughter in at FSU. They are going to be our first guests in our cute little house, so I have turned into a cleaning whirlwind machine this past week. Now is as good a time as any to mention my favorite housekeeping tool, a blog called Unfuck Your Habitat. The woman who runs the blog just came out with an app, and I can't fully express why but it is incredibly motivating and encouraging. I started following it in college and it literally changed my apartment--probably my life as well. It emphasizes doing what you can to keep your space clean, when you can do it. This means taking 20 minutes to clean in your day, rather than letting it build up. These are elementary tactics I know, but as someone who's trying to be a grownup...

Now that the house is spotless, I have been spending today cooking! The spinach-artichoke dip is waiting in the fridge; I'll serve it with tortilla chips and daquiris when they get in around 9 tonight. Next I'll make another batch of my famous chocolate-chip cookies for Stephanie to take to college. My best friend Cat's parents sent me cookies when I started at W&L, and it was wonderful. More food = more opportunities to make friends! (That is a universal truth up there with the Golden Rule and measuring brown sugar by packing it in to the cup as much as you can.) Anyway, tomorrow's breakfast is already mostly made and I am putting off washing dishes by introducing you to my famous bran muffins!

I first started making this recipe sophomore year of college. I had just been assigned my little sisters in Pi Phi (I love them so much!) and I was SO EXCITED. Big sis week is essentially an opportunity to sneak into your little's room every day and shower her with presents and balloons and candy, and at the end of the week there is a big reveal at the srat house with the whole family in matching PJs. Claire and Tania maintain they knew it was me because they got a different kind of cookie every day. But Wednesday is traditionally breakfast day--you get a guy to deliver breakfast in bed to your beautiful little! Tania put on her sheet that she loves French toast, so that was set, but Claire just said she wanted fruit. Silly little! I want to make you something! So my mom dug out this classic and Claire loved them!

My amazing littles at their big sis reveal! Yay PINK family!

The best part about this recipe is that the batter keeps for up to six weeks. This is revolutionary. I can fill a couple of the muffin tin wells with batter when I get up in the morning, and by the time I'm running out the door they are ready to go. Instant breakfast. They were amazing in college, when I often didn't budget enough time to sit down with a bowl of cereal before class. Plus, they are super-good. They don't dry out, and they taste amazing. And they could not be easier! My only warning with making these muffins is that you need a couple of big bowls. You end up with about 6 cups of batter, and since you want extra space to mix without the batter flying out... just plan ahead, that's all. Even the "medium bowl" in the recipe should be, well, pretty big. You can modify the bowl system that the recipe uses, but I find it's the easiest way to go.

This is the largest bowl I used; it holds 5 quarts.

Bran Muffins from Grandmama and John Russell
Use 3 mixing bowls. In the largest bowl, combine:

1 cup All-Bran cereal

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix well and set aside.

Delicious! As it sits, it settles a little

In the medium bowl, combine:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups All-Bran

In the small bowl, beat 2 eggs, add 2 cups buttermilk and mix well.
Add the contents of the small bowl to the dry ingredients in the medium bowl and mix well. Add medium bowl to largest bowl and mix thoroughly.

All done!

To bake: Spoon batter into well-greased muffin tins until 3/4 full. Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 30 muffins.
Note: If some muffin wells are empty, fill them with water. Seriously.
Covered batter can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 6 weeks.

The best chocolate chip cookies ever

This is one of my favorite recipes. These are the cookies I grew up with; Mommy rightly believed that no other cookies are as good, so why bother? When I stress-baked in high school and in college, I always made these cookies. I have the necessary ingredients on hand at all times, and I genuinely have the recipe memorized. These cookies have gone to French club bake sales, to copy editing nights at the Hi's Eye and the Ring-tum Phi and, perhaps most importantly, to Andrew's roommates his senior year. I don't think Ned would like me as much if I hadn't constantly supplied him with cookies; he even mentioned them in his best man speech at our wedding. Little did he know that he'd those exact cookies after the bouquet toss! Mom and I baked about 30 dozen in February--and Andrew had no idea--and froze them until June. They were still just as good!

Some of the cookie dough for the wedding...

I creamed the butter by hand until Andrew bought a hand mixer halfway through his senior year, but with a mixer they come together in no time at all. The trick to this recipe is the oatmeal. Do not leave it out! That's what makes these cookies so chewy and delicious. Chocolate chip cookies are often too dry or crunchy; the oatmeal makes the difference. I find that smaller cookies--about the amount of dough that fits into a spoon--tend to come out better. Plus, smaller cookies are easier to share. I cook them for about 7-8 minutes (Fannie Farmer calls for 8-10 but I know better), until they're browned on the bottom but not necessarily on the top. Then I take them out and let them sit for a few minutes before moving them to the cooling rack. This is a good trick to keep them from overcooking; they bake a little more on the cookie sheet when they're out of the oven, and letting them sit makes them come up more easily without falling apart.

Try to go for about this size--they spread out so much!

I could keep talking up this recipe forever. I've made it a bajillion times, and I genuinely have it memorized. (Yes, I double-checked before posting.) These are the best cookies you will ever eat. Ever. So here you go, and get baking!

Chocolate chip cookies
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream 1/4 pound butter (1 stick). Gradually add 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until they are will mixed and light. Next, add 1 egg and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add 1 & 1/8 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Mix in 1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal, then 1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet is best, but milk chocolate is fine).

Drop onto cookie sheets and bake about 8 minutes. Let sit before transferring to cooling racks. Makes 2 to 3 dozen cookies. Serve with a huge glass of milk.

Spinach quiche and (bonus!) an Old-Fashioned

Neville has been complaining that he can't cook curtains, so we're back with food this time! Maybe it's the French major in me, but I have always loved a good quiche. Served with greens drizzled in balsamic vinaigrette, it is a surprisingly filling meal. One of the coffeeshops in Westfield, New Jersey, where I went to high school, has a different type of quiche every day, which I would often get for lunch as long as it didn't contain asparagus. When I lived in Aix-en-Provence last summer, I would often grab a tartelette aux épinards for a quick lunch in town. My spinach quiche still brings back memories of strolling through downtown Aix with my friends, getting fresh peaches at the market and speaking nothing but French.

Lavender fields from Haute-Provence to get you in a French mood

I started developing this recipe when I was living on $11 a day in Richmond for my poverty minor. It is quick, easy and incredibly forgiving. If you go with a pre-made crust, you can get it in the oven in less than half an hour. It calls for yogurt instead of sour cream, so it's very good for you but still has that nice tartness in the center. I use plain, fat-free yogurt; vanilla has a lot of extra sweetener added, which could throw off the flavors. The recipe is super-flexible: you can add just about whatever vegetables you feel like to it. I saw a beautiful quiche on Pinterest that had sliced tomatoes on top. When I get to it, I'm going to experiment with a quiche Lorraine (ham and cheese) like my host mom made in France, but I think that would call for nicer cheese. If you're adding a lot more stuff, cut out an egg or two so the crust doesn't overflow.

The quiches I made tonight were a little different. Andrew asked me not to use onion this time (dislike of onion is his only flaw, I promise), so I used these cute mini-tart pans to make six mini-quiches. Three had onion, three didn't. The extras will be great for lunch the next couple of days! I kept the whole process separate but equal, so his portions wouldn't be tainted with delicious sauteed onion. However, this is the regular recipe. If you're making it with the two regular crusts, I would freeze one for later once it's partially baked. As my family likes to say, it's money in the bank.

Spinach Quiche
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Prick your crust (1 deep-dish unbaked pie crust, 2 regular crusts or 6 mini-tarts) with a fork and bake for 5 minutes.

Thaw 10 oz frozen chopped spinach by running water over it in a colander or microwaving it. Squeeze out as much excess water as you can. Meanwhile, chop one small onion and 3 cloves of garlic, and sautee them in a little olive oil. Add spinach and cook until dry. Make sure to break up any clumps. If you're adding other vegetables that want to be precooked, toss them in with the spinach.

Here we have one wife working two skillets for one onion-averse husband

Beat together 5 eggs, 1 cup plain yogurt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Stir in 4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese and the spinach mixture. Pour into the pie crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then decrease the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 30 more minutes. Let cool before serving.

The cheese makes a delicious golden topping...

As I said above, normally I use a pie crust from the grocery store, but I was inspired to make my own for almost literally the first time ever. Fans may recall from my first post that I made pie crust by hand in home ec in eighth grade. It was unpleasant, and the ensuing apple pie was nowhere as good as ones I have made following my grandmama's recipe--with storebought crust. (My family has a thing about apple pie, but this is not the time.) Anyway, my experience with the chocolate tart and my food processor taught me that pie dough does not have to be terrifying. So I tested out this recipe, which was given to me by my BFF, bridesmaid and notorious pie lover, Eleanor! This made more dough than I needed for my mini-pans, so I will be creating a pie sometime soon...

Look how cute they are!

Pie dough from Eleanor
Mix together 4 cups flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 teaspoons salt. Cut in 1 3/4 cups shortening or butter. Separately, mix 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 large egg and 1/2 cup cold water. Add this mixture to the flour and shortening. Chill. Roll into desired shapes. May be frozen. Makes enough for 1 and a half pies.

Finally, I have a bonus recipe that comes from my very tall husband. We procured bitters this afternoon and he made my new favorite drink for me! I first tried it at the Southern Inn in Lexington after graduation. Tonight, it helped motivate me while I quiched. This old-fashioned is pictured next to a scarf-in-progress with the Trident, the symbol of W&L, knitted into it. Andrew has so many talents!

Andrew's Old-fashioneds
Put 2 maraschino cherries and a slice of orange in the bottom of a glass. (An old-fashioned glass is best, but do we need to say it?) Add 1 teaspoon sugar and a splash of club soda. Muddle everything together into a paste. Add 2 ounces of bourbon. Mix together and add several ice cubes.

Ruffly kitchen curtains!

I'm not craftsy. When I see how-to-make-curtains tutorials on blogs, I just get discouraged. If it weren't for my very creative big and my art-major little, I wouldn't have made it through Pi Phi big sis week. When I taught arts & crafts for a term at camp, all I could do was rinse paintbrushes and start lanyards. But I've always enjoyed craft projects, especially the very simple kind I can actually pull off. When I was little, I would hand-sew scraps of fabric into clothes for my bear and American Girl dolls. I imagined myself as a Laura Ingalls Wilder or even a Felicity Merriman. A month before my wedding, I helped my "other mother," Cyrene, make a lovely sundress that I wore to my rehearsal dinner. She did the vast majority of the work, but I pinned some hems and learned a lot about the process. Look how beautifully it turned out!

Here I am in my garnet & gold dress, surrounded by my beautiful bridesmaids!

With the dressmaking experience behind me and my lovely new sewing machine in front of me (a graduation present from my incredibly talented Auntie Flo!), I have embarked on a mission to make curtains for my cute little house.

I started with what I thought would be the simplest: short ruffly curtains for my kitchen windows. Our kitchen has two windows that look into a closed-in porch. You can see straight through the glass wall of that "Florida room," as it is apparently called, into the garden. I didn't want to block that view too much, but I wanted something that would frame the window and make the kitchen look a little more lived-in. These turned out to be very forgiving, which is wonderful for a novice sewer who is still working on sewing in a straight line. I think anyone who can figure out a sewing machine could probably make these.

I made the first curtain (above) on Thursday, before Andrew and I left for Mike & Kate's wedding. I made the second one today--it's a little shorter, since it's sitting above some potted plants. Or maybe just because I didn't measure well enough. Take your pick.

 If you're interested in making your own kitchen curtains (and you are, aren't you?), cut your fabric into a rectangle that is a couple inches wider and about 1/3 longer than you want your final product to be. Pin and hem the sides so it is more or less  the width you want. One of the things that has stuck with me from home ec class is that you sew a little back-and-forth business to cement the beginning and end of your thread. Go forward an inch or so, reverse and then full speed ahead. So do that... this time.

Next, fold down the top so that it is (allowing for the bottom hem, when we get there) the height you want your curtain to be. Pin it all the way across. Set your stitch length to the longest option and don't do the forward-reverse thing to cement your thread. Sew all the way across. Leave plenty of thread on both ends.

Now you're going to pull the ruffle. This is the part that takes a while, but it's pretty mindless. Put something good on TV (the Tsonga-Raonic match today was perfect) and just inch the fabric down along the thread. I switched between the top & bottom threads, as well as both sides, when the ruffle looked stuck. Go slowly and carefully so you don't break the thread.

This is what it looks like when you're getting started

This is what it looks like when you're done!

 Once you're done with the lower ruffle, use chalk to draw a line about halfway between the lower ruffle and the top. This line demarcates the upper limit of your curtain rod, so make sure to leave enough space. I worked in segments, since the ruffling makes it difficult to see what you're doing.

Sew along the chalk line just as you did for the first ruffle, and pull it through in the same way. I anchored my ruffle edges with the forward-reverse deal, just a couple inches on each side. Finally, pin and hem the bottom--it'll look like it's a little ruffled, too, which I think is nice.

And you're done! It's ready for hanging. I used suspension rods from Home Depot and a tall husband.