Two For One Special!

Yes, I know. It's been a while!

Life gets busy, and then I get lazy with my writing. I have been keeping up with cooking though and now have a nice little backlog to choose from. I figured I would make up for my lack of posts with a double review today.

Here in Connecticut it's been mostly nice weather and feeling like summer. We had a few broiling hot days where it seemed too hot to cook, so I took advantage of the "Salad" section of Barefoot Contessa. I knew Auntie had some real gems in there. 

We were lucky enough to have a new Whole Foods open in the area and they had some gorgeous corn on display. It was shockingly cheap, since some people refer to Whole Foods as "Whole Paycheck" due to their steep prices. I know it can be pricey, but I do feel very Ina-rific when I shop there. You just know their stuff is "good" as she likes to say. I picked up the ingredients to make Fresh Corn Salad. Not too much was needed...just the corn, red onion, basil. I already had the cider vinegar and olive oil at home. I would actually refer to this as one of Auntie's more budget-friendly recipes!

It was simple to make, just boiling the corn for three minutes, then blanching in ice water to stop the cooking and set the color. Before I started cooking Blanche was just Rue McClanahan on the Golden Girls. Now I know better.

Cut the kernels off, toss with the diced onion, basil and the rest of the ingredients!

It was simple and delicious. Refreshing on a hot night, we ate it with hamburgers/veggie burgers. It was just as good the next day, so it's able to be made ahead if you want to bring it to a bbq this summer!

Keeping with the salad theme, I also experimented with Beets With Orange Vinaigrette. Obviously you really have to like beets to make this one. To be honest, I never touched a beet until two years ago. My best friend used to eat them out of the jar like they were candy and it would make me want to hurl! I saw them at a farmer's market years later and they looked so beautiful. They had golden and red beets stacked up and it looked just like a picture from one of the Bon Appetit magazines that I've been pouring over for the past 15 years. My foodie friends swore that they were delicious roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper, so I decided to go for it. They were right, and I've enjoyed beets ever since!

This recipe was mercifully easy because Auntie gave her blessing to use CANNED beets! I was prepared for my hands to be dyed red after peeling the real deal, so I was thrilled to see that there was a shortcut. Again, not too many ingredients so it was prepared fairly quickly and easily. Those canned beets are slippery little suckers though and were a bit of a pain to cut into halves. Another of Auntie's favorite ingredients that is incorporated into many of her recipes is zest. I caught on quickly after the first cookbook and purchased a zester. Some people just use a microplane grater, but this makes for much nicer  looking pieces:

I also had to figure out how to properly segment an orange, and thanks to You Tube I was able to quickly figure it out without demolishing them. Here is the end result for the Beets With Orange Vinaigrette:

I didn't love this as much as I thought I would, but my husband certainly did. I also gave some to my beet-loving bestie and her now beet-loving little girl and they finished it off. So I am guessing if you really like beets this will do it for you!

Here are the links:

Fresh Corn Salad

Beets With Orange Vinaigrette

A Step Back in Time

On Mother's Day we took a self-guided "foodie" tour in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was prompted by one of my all time favorite books from childhood. All of A Kind Family by Sidney Taylor.

I recently bought a copy and started to read it with my son. Foolishly I was concerned about it being too "girly" for him, and was quickly ashamed at myself for gender stereotyping. He absolutely loves the story. It turned out that my husband ended up being captivated by it as well. There is something about the book that transports you to a different place and time, the descriptions make you feel as if you are right there in the tenement with the family in 1912. Much like the way the Little House on the Prairie series took you along in the covered wagon with the Ingalls family. We read it together in bed when there's enough time, and each chapter is a little short story within itself.

One chapter in particular has always been a favorite of mine, and as soon as I read it to Jake it quickly became his. It is a very descriptive passage of a shopping trip to prepare for Friday night dinner. Each of the five sisters had a penny to spend. I remember being shocked that you could buy anything for a penny...and 30 years later Jake as just as surprised. The author so vividly portrayed the streets of the Lower East Side, with its pushcarts and peddlers. You could practically smell the pickles, or feel the heat from the baked sweet potato peddler's cart. The two youngest sisters went into the candy shop and one spent her penny on chocolate babies. The other bought a bagful of broken crackers. It wasn't until I read it again as an adult that I realized the crackers were really ginger, chocolate, and lemon snaps. They must have called them crackers back then.

Before they went to sleep, they had hidden the paper bags under their pillow in the bed that they shared in order to play a game. They would put their hand into the bag without peeking, and then make up a rule about whatever it was that they pulled out. If it was a chocolate baby, they had to bite off just the head. If it was a cracker, they had to take little nibbles around the edges until it was all gone. They created all kinds of rules until the bag was empty.

After reading the chapter to Jake, he was full of questions about the various foods they girls had bought. He had no interest in the wax-paper cone full of hot chickpeas that one sister bought, or the sweet potato, but was curious as to what chocolate babies were. I showed him a picture of them, and then made a plan to take him to the exact neighborhood where Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie bought their candy.

Mother's Day seemed like the perfect day to indulge my All of A Kind Family obsession. We drove into Manhattan and luck was with us as we found a street parking spot directly across from the Tenement Museum! No paying to park! Happy Mother's Day to me!

I know all of Manhattan is full of history, but there was something about this area that felt like home to me. I've always been fascinated with old New York, in books like Up From Orchard Street, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Gangs of New York and the All of A Kind Family series.

Wouldn't you know, the Tenement Museum tickets were sold out, so we promised to come back another day when we were sure to pre-purchase our tickets online. We made do with exploring the shop, and it was full of great books, prints, and other great items.

Our hungry child prompted us to hurry up, so we made our way down Orchard Street, crossed Delancy and headed toward Katz's Deli.

Katz's Deli is approaching its 125th anniversary, and is THE place to get hot pastrami. I've seen it in various shows including Man vs. Food and Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and its been on my foodie bucket list for some time. I was really excited to check it out.

I've been in plenty of New York delis in my life and Katz's looks no different from the others. Busted up linoleum floors, rickety wood tables and a huge counter. Packed with people.

When you enter, you are handed a ticket. You are warned that you have to hold onto that ticket, and if you lose it there is a $50 charge per ticket. It turns out that as you go to the counter to order, the person filling the order writes what you had on the ticket. It is then carried to the beverage section, and they write on it too. When you leave, it has to be handed in at the register. A little weird, but it is the Katz's tradition.

There wasn't a question as to what we were eating. Pastrami and Corned Beef. Both are sliced to order and served hot. While you wait, the carver puts a couple of bits on a little plate so you can pick at them until your sandwich is ready. The proper way to do it is with mustard and rye, but they do have rolls and other breads. They even have cheese, as this is kosher-style and not authentically kosher. But really...if you put cheese on pastrami you shouldn't be let in the door. Feh. A knish, pickles, and some Dr. Browns and we were in business.

It was fun to look at the hundreds of photos on the wall of celebrities who visited Katz's. It was NOT fun to go to the bathroom, where the stall seemed even smaller than an airplane bathroom. Oy vey. The pastrami in particular was out of this world. They also have their own brew made by Brooklyn Brewery...a hit with my husband.

Our next stop was Economy Candy. This was located on Rivington Street. It is another business that has been around for a long time....since 1937.

This place was PACKED to the rafters with candy. They have bulk and individual items, nuts, dried fruit, and everything you could ever think of. Except chocolate babies. Which was why we went there in the first place. They had them on the website, and we were excited to try out the same candy that Gertie and Charlotte had bought for just a penny in All of A Kind Family. When we asked, they told us that chocolate babies were only made at certain times of the year. I didn't really press for more information, and we were consoled with Happy Hippos, Harry Potter's Chocolate Frogs, Goldenberg's Peanut Chews, and another assorted goodies.

After loading up on goodies here we made our way over to Grand, to find Kossar's Bialys. For those that don't know what a bialy is, it is a bread roll that is shaped somewhat like a bagel, but with an indentation instead of a hole. The hole is usually filled with onion or garlic. It is baked, not boiled like a traditional bagel. 

Gorgeous, right? 

I love bialys. I grew up with them on Long Island. They have them here, but it just isn't as good as what you can get in New York. People say it has something to do with the water that they make them with. I have no idea. What I do know is that these bialys from Kossar's are RIDICULOUS. We picked up a half dozen and added them to our packages.

Right down the street from Kossar's we found Jake's idea of heaven. Possibly even more than the candy store. We found The Pickle Guys.

Barrels full of pickles. Sour, half, 3/4, pickled mango, pineapple, tomato, okra, etc. A great bunch of boisterous men chatted with us and gave us tastes of their wares. Modern day peddlers. Too bad a penny won't get you anything! Still, we got ourselves some proper pickles, Jake charmed his way into the back for some pickle tattoos, and we were off.

Back to Orchard Street and the Tenement Museum, and our sweet parking spot.

I can't wait to go back. There is so much more to see and do! I highly recommend a trip to the Lower East Side. It's such a refreshing change from the typical tourist spots in NYC. We were able to see the new spire on One World Trade that was nearby and pledged to make a stop at the memorial on our next trip. The South Street Seaport is also close. 

I've got to thank my husband and son for indulging me on Mother's Day. I also have to thank Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie for inspiring my love for my culture, history, and reading. They were such a gift to me when I was young and I am so glad to have them back in my life and to be able to share them with the next generation.

I've Gone Bananas

A few posts ago I told you about the ham that I made in Florida. And the Indonesian Chicken. And the Crash Hot Potatoes. Well, you KNOW there had to be dessert to go with all of that goodness. Even though I strayed from the original Barefoot Contessa cookbook that I am making my way through, I stuck with Auntie and baked up something from one of her later books, How Easy is That? No, really. I'm not asking you that question. How Easy is That? is the name of the book. But really, it should be called "How Easy is Thaaaaaat?" If you know Auntie, you can just hear her voice right now...

I had also recently written about the episode that I saw when I was on an airplane, where Ina visits a classroom of special needs children and bakes with them. One of the things that she made really stood out. Partly because it looked super easy, but mostly because when I saw it I knew that it was right up my dad's alley. Old Fashioned Banana Cake. Daddy is a big fan of banana. And peanut butter. And no, he isn't Elvis.

Well, Auntie was right about this recipe being in the "easy" cookbook, because it was super simple to throw together and took no skill to present. It has one layer, so no need to have two cake pans. It isn't even frosted traditionally, and just has the cream cheese icing on the top of the cake...no sides involved!

Since I was dealing with a non-baking friendly kitchen I had to grab a disposable cake pan from Publix. My mom DID bake many moons ago, but I have a feeling most of her bakeware was quietly disposed of once my parents left New York for Florida. One thing about Auntie is that she loves her 9-inch pans. Unfortunately, if you're in a hurry and without a pan your only option is the 8-inch pans that they sell in the grocery store. This could be an issue if you aren't careful! More on that later...

While my parents do own a Kitchen Aid mixer, a staple of every one of Auntie's baking recipes, it lives in the garage. I am not really sure why they have it, or if they have ever used it, but there it is....on the shelf next to the pool noodles.

Great, I've got access to a mixer....right?

No. I don't. Apparently removing the mixer from its home in the garage is too much of a "potchka." For those who don't know what that means, it is a Yiddish word for something "that requires a lot of fussing." So the gleaming, white Kitchen Aid stayed put in the hot Florida garage, next to its friends the pool noodles. Fortunately there was an electric hand mixer in the kitchen cabinet, and I was able to use that. I haven't used one of those since I was a little kid! I remember watching my mother mixing some sort of batter and waiting (im)patiently to lick one or both of the beaters when she popped them off of the mixer. I guess no one was concerned about Salmonella back in the olden days.

The electric hand beater was perfectly serviceable, and the cake was mixed and in the pan in less than five minutes. Fortunately my parents had most of the ingredients in the house....Costco-sized. They must be hiding a pet monkey, because they had not one, but two huge bunches of banana. For people that rarely bake, they manage to have a giant Costco bottle of vanilla. For greasing those pans....no less than SIX cans of PAM in the cabinet. I wonder if that stuff can double as suntan lotion? Maybe I'l try that next time I visit...

To solve the problem of the 8 inch pan, I ended up filling it with only part of the batter so I did not overflow and spill into the oven. I would not be allowed in my parent's  kitchen anymore if I did that. I already had one strike against me when I caught a pot of oil on fire in their old house. The rest of the batter went into a mini-loaf pan.

I washed the beaters and whipped up the frosting. Cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Upon doing a taste test I have to say that I like the frosting that Auntie makes for the Coconut Cupcakes better. The only change is almond extract instead of vanilla, but it makes a significant difference in my opinion.

Fortunately things went off without a hitch, the house smelled fantastic, and the cake was a HUGE hit! So much so, that I had to make another one three days later for the next batch of company. Notice that while my parents may be lacking in culinary tools, they make up for in fabulous granite counters and gleaming white serving dishes.

A slice (of heaven)

You need to make this cake. Throw your box mixes out the window and whip one of these babies up!

Old Fashioned Banana Cake

Something's Fishy

I've been feeling guilty about not cooking much of anything since we got back from vacation. Swim team started up again, three nights a week and I am not organized enough to have dinner prepared in advance. Swim starts at 6....so eating before is a lousy idea unless you want to see dinner floating in the pool. The earliest we get home is 7:40 and then we have to eat dinner. It's not ideal. Swim nights are rough.

Today was one of the first afternoons where I did not have to run around, so I decided to make my husband a proper dinner. Being a Pescetarian, he gets shafted on those nights that I cook the meat recipes from Auntie's book. It was his turn to get something special.

Auntie has a recipe in Barefoot Contessa for Grilled Swordfish with Tomatoes and Capers. I decided when it came time to make this one, I would have to switch out the fish. G hates swordfish, but Ina gave her blessing to make changes...it said right there on the page of the cookbook that you could substitute any firm, white fish. Whew. Thanks, Auntie!

When I got to the market and checked out the fish department I saw that they had wild caught cod on sale, so I picked that up. I am not particularly talented with fish. I never seem to cook it the right way. I think I am so concerned with making sure it is cooked all the way through that it ends up falling apart.

The base of the recipe was simple enough. Chopped onion, chopped fennel, garlic, canned whole tomatoes, white wine, broth, capers. No problem, until I realized that I had no capers in the house. I substituted some green olives that I chopped up. I thought that was acceptable. They're both green and salty, right?

Basically, the onion and fennel are cooked for a while, and then tomatoes are added. They get squished up with a fork and cooked down. Add the liquids and seasonings. That's it.

Auntie wants a nice piece of grilled swordfish on top of the tomatoes. Well, I knew I couldn't grill the cod. I probably should have baked the cod. But, I put the cod in the saute pan and proceeded to murder it. Seriously. It was unrecognizable as fish when I got done with it.

Don't believe me? Here you go:

Fish flakes.

What a mess.

But let me tell you....the flavor was fantastic. I was actually jealous that G got to eat the whole thing and I was stuck with chicken. It was delicious. Ugly, but delicious. I would suggest you try it, and use either a heartier white fish, or use cod and just be a better cook than I am. Because clearly, I suck at cooking fish.

Here's the recipe:
Swordfish with Tomatoes and Capers

Hello, Gorgeous!

When I went to see Auntie Ina live in Hartford, she mentioned that there were three items that they sold at the Barefoot Contessa shop in East Hampton that kept them in business. One was coconut cupcakes, one was turkey meatloaf, and the other was Indonesian ginger chicken.

I had made the meatloaf and cupcakes before and they are both amazing. Such a pity that I will have to make them again as part of this challenge....wink, wink!

However, I had not tried the chicken recipe. I didn't even remember seeing it in all of the times I paged through the book. I guess it never stood out. After she mentioned it, I checked out the recipe as soon as I got home and I was surprised at how simple it was.

Five ingredients. That's it.

Soy sauce, honey, ginger, chicken and garlic.

The key is marinating the chicken. Of course I totally screwed it up and did not marinate it for as long as Auntie suggests, which is overnight. Honestly, I think I gave it about 5 hours in the marinade.

It's ridiculously easy, all you need to do it mix the marinade and pour it over the chicken...whole parts, not cutlets. Cover and marinade in refrigerator overnight, then bake.

I didn't see what all the fuss was about when I tried it. It certainly wasn't bad, but in the Barefoot Contessa shop top THREE? I don't get it. I will have to try it again and let it sit for the full overnight and see if that makes a difference, but I have a suspicion it isn't going to all of a sudden make me hear the angels sing when I try it.

Since I was on vacation when I made it, I only took one quick picture with my iPhone.

Way, way better than Auntie's Indonesian Ginger Chicken was one of her Food Network contemporaries recipes. Yes, yes. I cheated on Auntie again. With The Pioneer Woman. There was a time where I would say/sing that "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just isn't the same" but now that Ina is slinging frozen slop in WalMart I can't be a snob about Pioneer Woman. I needed something fast and easy, and there was a potato recipe that I had seen on Pinterest that I wanted to try.

Crash Hot Potatoes.

Oh, yeah. Love at first sight! These are not difficult to make, and so delicious that they were the first thing gone at the dinner table that night. So delicious that I made them again a few days later...and found an easy cheat to cut out at least 20 minutes of cooking time.

The recipe calls for little potatoes to be boiled, then put on an oiled baking sheet. Using a potato masher, press down until they resemble the photo. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and herbs and bake. This is how I cooked them the first time.

The second time I did it, I picked up some potatoes at Target in the produce section. They were in a bag that could be microwaved, cutting out the boiling time and having to mess up a pot. I was able to cook them in 6 minutes and then proceed. So much easier! Again, gone before everything else on the table.

So my suggestion? Indonesian Ginger Chicken...try it. It isn't bad. It isn't the best. It isn't difficult or messy, so why not? Crash Hot Potatoes? MAKE THEM RIGHT NOW!

Here are the recipes:

Indonesian Ginger Chicken

Crash Hot Potatoes

Ham I Am

The original Barefoot Contessa Cookbook has a few recipes that just won't work for my little family of three. They require company. One in particular was enough for an army, and there was only one place that I could make it.

Florida.

Yes, I traveled over 1,200 miles for Spring Break and made a ham when I got there.

My parents relocated there permanently a few years ago. They have made quite a life for themselves and are social butterflies. Seriously. They are never home. It's pretty funny. I'm the one going to sleep at 9:30 at night and they are out and about!

Since they have lots of friends there, and some family members too, they suggested I make the ham down there since they knew it would be eaten.

So, the day after I arrived I was off to buy my very first ham.

I have always loved ham, but never cooked one before. The closest I ever got was heating up a ham steak....Trader Joe's used to carry ones from Niman Ranch that were faaaboulus. Auntie would approve. That was "good" ham! I buy ham in cold cut form, but that is about it in our house as far as ham goes. Once every couple of years my mother-in-law will buy a Honey Baked Ham and serve it for Christmas. That just about sums up my ham history.

When I read the recipe, it looked extremely simple. The biggest obstacle was the amount of servings it provided. Auntie suggested a 14 pound spiral ham. There was no way I was going to make one that big, so I downsized to 10 pounds. Having no ham experience, I was advised to buy one at Costco. After shopping all morning at Costco, Publix and Target, I was ready to get to work.

The ham wasn't the only thing on the menu, but I am not going to talk about the other recipes now. This post is all about HAM!

I'm sorry, I just HAD to put that there. I saw it on Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago and it was so ridiculous it had me cracking up. It also got stuck in my head as I was prepping my ham to go into the oven!

This recipe is RIDICULOUSLY easy. First of all, the ham is already cooked. All of the other ingredients (garlic, mango chutney, dijon mustard, brown sugar, orange juice and zest) get thrown into a food processor for a minute and then gets poured over the ham. That is IT! This truly is the answer to Auntie's question..."How easy is thaaaaaat?"

It cooked for about an hour or so, and I could not resist snatching little pieces off of it as soon as it came out of the oven. It is already sliced, so it made it easy to plate. Apparently the bone and bits that cling to it make fantastic soup. I was sorry to have to leave it in my parent's freezer in Florida, but I think TSA would not be likely to let me on the plane with a big ham bone and ice packs. Could you imagine?

Here is the ham in it's shiny red wrapper:

It came with some kind of glaze packet, but I tossed it. No pics of the other ingredients, as I was on vacation and trying to get 2 main courses, 3 side dishes, an appetizer and a cake cooked for the 8 people coming for dinner. Doesn't sound like vacation, does it? It was though. I loved doing this. Besides, my parent's kitchen is bigger than mine and my dad cleans up all of the messes that I make! Now THAT'S a vacation!

I do have a shot of the finished product...

Ham-a-licious. Easy. Makes tons. If you are a ham fan....you need to make this. Another score for Auntie! Here's the recipe : Baked Virginia Ham

Auntie Goes to School

I was recently on a flight to Florida on a Saturday morning. Luckily I had the faaabulous individual television screens on Jet Blue to occupy me. As I was flipping through the channels  I saw that Barefoot Contessa was about to start. It isn't a given that I will always stop what I'm doing to watch Auntie, but something immediately caught my eye...and it wasn't the food.

Before I was able to plug in my headphones to hear what she was planning on making, I noticed that Ina was in a classroom full of high school students with special needs.

The whole scenario both shocked and thrilled me. It seemed so unusual to have Auntie in that setting. She's always with her friends, other celebrities, chefs, or various service providers. I recall one or two Barefoot Contessa episodes with children in them over the years and they were pretty awkward. Auntie isn't particularly natural with youngsters. Hence the shock.

The thrilling part? Not only were there children, but they had developmental disabilities...an issue very close to my heart. I am a teacher of young children with special needs, and I have a child with Autism and ADHD. I blog about that here at www.awesomeism.blogspot.com

The premise of the show was that Ina was going to do some baking with the students, and then they would sell what they've made at a bake sale to raise money for field trips. It was such a nice change of pace from the usual posse of TR the model, or Michael the florist, or even Jeffrey bumbling around like a modern day Mr. Magoo.

I was pleased with the way Ina was interacting with the students, giving them positive feedback and trying in her own giggly way to make them comfortable. It was enough to almost make me forget about her foray into frozen food. But not quite. I don't think I'll ever forgive her for that, but this did soften me up a bit! After doing a bit of research I found out that this show was a from 2012....but I am really glad I finally caught it. 

The recipes that she made with the kids looked fantastic.  Old-Fashioned Banana Cake and Blueberry Muffins.

I hope to see Auntie break her own mold a bit. It was really such a treat to see her in this light. Even more impressive was that she didn't seem to even mention or acknowledge that these students were anything but your typical, average kid. It was a great approach.

Who knows? Maybe next we'll see her making something for the homeless? Although she'd have to leave East Hampton for that. NEVERMIND!