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Come Wednesday, I'll be flying to San Diego for the ALA Midwinter Meeting, and I'm trying really hard not to be bitter about the fact that I was just in California five days ago to visit my family*.  I can hardly believe I'm heading back to the West Coast again.  Which is one reason why this New Year's weekend has been so important to me: I have such a strong sense of homebody-ness.  I have spent the last three days really hunkering down and enjoying my own little home here in NYC, spending time with Adam and Bug.

The craziness aside, it is during weeks like this when menu planning becomes even more of a priority to me.  It's more than food - it also assures me that Adam and Bug will eat well in my absence and that there is a certain amount of order in a chaotic world.  I mean, when the going gets tough, the tough eat good food, right?:

 Monday: Oatmeal with Apples, Brioche Toast.  Breakfast for dinner?  Absolutely.  This recipe is one of my favorites from French Women Don't Get Fat - the apples make it even heartier and more fulfilling, not to mention that they lend a brightness to the oatmeal.  I'm stressed and tired before a conference...yet this makes me feel like I've still provided a comforting, satisfying meal to myself and my family.

Tuesday: Creamy Parmesan Polenta with Brussels Sprouts.  I use Ina Garten's new recipe for the polenta and Nigel Slater's uber-easy recipe for the Brussels sprouts.  This dinner will truly take me only 30 minutes to put together...but the rewards are endless: it's the culinary equivalent of a working brick fireplace in my apartment.

Wednesday: Nachos.  Guess who is now in San Diego...  This is Adam and Bug's table now.  Chips, cheese, black beans, olives, salsa, sour cream.  Naturally, everything is organic-y.

Thursday: Grilled Prosciutto and Cheese.  Again, I'm gone.  I added prosciutto to make it resemble something delicious and uptown.  Does it help that they'll be making the sandwiches with Comte and Fontina?

Friday: I leave them to their own devices.  It's either Breakfast (eggs, potatoes, bacon, toast) or they'll go out.  I'll be busy stacking up books in the booth, waiting for the two hours of madness that is the conference's "opening reception".

The comfort food theme began tonight with Cabbage and Straw, one of my favorite winter pasta meals.  It comes from Rachael Ray's magazine, in which she says "I cannot successfully transition from summer to fall without eating this Italian classic".  But don't listen to her.  This is too hearty to be a summer/fall transitional dish - it's winter through and through.

CABBAGE AND STRAW
Adapted from Rachael Ray


2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
9 oz. fresh fettuccine or pappardelle pasta (not dried)
1/2 large head Savoy cabbage - quartered, cored, and shredded
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
6 garlic cloves - smashed, skins removed, cloves quartered
20 fresh sage leaves, 10 whole and 10 thinly sliced
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Bring a large pot of water to a boil; salt it.  Add the potatoes and cook for 7 minutes.  Add the cabbage to the same pot and cook for 3 minutes.  Add pasta and cook for 2 minutes (fresh pasta needs to be cooked for much less time than dried, which is why I altered Ray's recipe).

While the potatoes and pasta are cooking, melt the butter in a large, deep skillet (I used non-stick) over medium heat.  Add the garlic and whole sage leaves.  Cook until the sage is crisp, 3-4 minutes.  Remove the garlic and sage leaves to a small plate.


Add the sliced sage and pepper to the skillet; just before draining the potatoes, pasta, and cabbage, add 2 ladles of the starchy cooking water.


Drain the potatoes, pasta, and cabbage and add to the skillet.  Stir it all together, adding the Parmesan as you work to get a cheesy, buttery coating.  Adjust the salt and garnish the pasta with the reserved whole sage leaves and garlic.


I drank a cheap but satisfying wine with it - Odfjell Babor Cabernet Sauvignon - and Adam really liked his Brooklyn Brewery Winter Lager pairing.

My point is that, even when you have no time, even when you're not home, planning balanced and satisfying meals is entirely possible.

Eat, drink, and make good food a priority.

* Oh, how I wish that I could have stayed there and just worked from my parents' house! 

Celebrating Winter with Friends

I've missed being here so much and I can't tell you what a huge relief it is to come back here: it's a sign that my life is returning to some amount of normalcy.  I was drowning in all things NCTE and ALAN before Thanksgiving (check out the recaps here and here) and then I was on the loveliest trip ever to Anguilla for the holiday (photos forthcoming).  Christmas and ALA Midwinter are looming larger and larger on the horizon but, for right now, I'm here.  And I'm determined to enjoy this moment and not think about the rest.

Our first weekend back from the sunny beaches of Anguilla we were faced with 40-degree winter days and I thought that there wasn't a better way to brave the weather than to hole up with good friends - Jenn and Phil - and catch up on all our news.  On the menu: Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Creamy Parmesan Polenta, and Grilled Sausages.

Jenn and Phil are regulars at the Lutz table and we've settled into a nice routine where we cook and they bring dessert. Often, it's petits fours from this wonderful bakery near Jenn and Phil but, last night, it was Salted Maple Walnut Thumbprints, made by Miss J herself.  Fabulous.

Things are always crazy during conference time at work and the holidays compound that.  My blog dropped off...I didn't contribute to the holiday fair at Bug's school like I had intended...I haven't set my fantasy football teams for three weeks.  But there's always time to get together with friends, to catch up over food and drink, and to share laughs and smiles.

Eat, drink, and prioritize.

This Week's Menu: Food as Life

I've had one of *those* weeks. You know the ones. First, I was sick so I missed lots of work and sat around the house. Second, I had to make some difficult Life Decisions - those choices where you know the answer but you hesitate to take that leap. These Decisions aren't easy to make and are the cause of many, many tears...yet when the choice is made, you feel lighter inside. Anyway, I had to make one of those Decisions. Last, because I was out of town last weekend, I didn't do any food shopping for this past week...so you can't imagine the haphazard, crappy way we ate this whole week. It made me feel discombobulated and out-of-sorts.

So today I made the menu for the upcoming week. Here it is:

Saturday - Penne with Vodka Sauce

Sunday - Goat Cheese Tart, green salad (tart recipe from The French Market)

Monday - Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup, ciabatta bread with dipping oil

Tuesday - Mustard Pork Chops with gnocchi

Wednesday - Blue Cheese Pasta (from Real Fast Food)

Thursday - Grilled cheese sandwiches, red pepper soup

When I looked at the menu, I realized what I had done unconsciously: I had created a healing menu. These are comforting foods, unapologetic in their warmth and simplicity. And I love the power of food - and the prospect of sharing it with my family - to make me feel better.

Eat, drink, and find comfort.

I Went to London Tonight

I couldn't decide what to name this post: "Diet?  What Diet?!"...or "Nigel Slater is my New Boyfriend"...or "I Love the UK"...but I had to settle on the one I did.  Just know that I didn't make the decision lightly, though...

While in Denver for ALA Midwinter, I spent a ridiculous amount of time in The Tattered Cover, which is just a haven for book lovers, a Mecca.  While there, I discovered Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food, which promises food ready to eat in 30 minutes.  Naturally, I ignored that because this whole 30-minute-meal thing is crap.  While perusing the recipes, though, I thought they all looked simple but flavorful, fun but nourishing.  So I bought it.

And tonight I am not sorry.  The first "recipe" I made from the book was the "Chip Butty", which wasn't even a recipe.  Apparently it's a "French-fry sandwich" that's a "true British institution."  Nigel gives no recipe, but only tells us that we have to  follow the rules:

- Use thick-sliced crappy bread (or "plastic" bread, as he puts it).  The craptastic bread soaks up the grease better.

- Fry the potatoes in drippings, not oil.  Then generously apply salt and malt vinegar.

- The sandwich must "drip with butter."

Lastly, Nigel suggests that the sandwich is best when eaten "slightly drunk."  MY KIND OF RECIPE.

So here is what I produced:

There are no words, truly, to describe this.  I slathered butter all over the damn place, and I fried the potatoes in lots of bacon fat, which I keep saved in my fridge.  I doused the whole thing liberally with malt vinegar.  By the time we had dinner, Adam and I had finished our first beer.  We drank our second beer with the meal.  We had a third beer for dessert.  Slightly drunk?  Done.

I don't know if this is how the Brits actually do it, as I've never been to the UK, but my version still rocked.  And to top it off, I played my "Euro mix" on the iPod while we ate: British Sea Power, Bloc Party, Buzzcocks, The Smiths, Dolores O'Riordan, The Libertines.  Adam looked at me, grease dripping down his finger, and said, "God, this makes me want to go to London."  Which is just about the best compliment I think a cook can get.

Eat, drink, and travel. 

Note: Upon further research, I don't think I did the chip butty right.  I sliced my potatoes in a mandoline and fried them up that way.  But everything I'm reading says you need to do them in a traditional "French fry" manner.  I don't know, though...I think I still liked my variation - it laid flat, almost like a thick potato panini.  Additionally, I don't think I was supposed to the grill the bread.  My sources are telling me I was supposed to put butter inside the sandwich and let the hot fries melt the butter...and not have grilled bread.  Hmmm...

See here, here, and here.