Apple and Fennel Salad with Salted Caramel Pecans

When I made this recipe recently, I actually wasn't so sure I wanted to try it.  Caramelized pecans and apples seem so autumn-centric to me...and I'm in full-time spring mode lately.  However, when spring comes, I tend to eat much lighter, skipping the "entrée" and eating the salads and side dishes as main meals.  So this recipe actually began to seem just right for how I like to eat in April.

I found this salad in a Donna Hay magazine quite some time ago; after scouring her website, I can't find the issue number anywhere so, alas, no direct link - I've looked all over the web.  But I didn't change anything - the recipe I'm sharing here is hers exactly.

Lastly, apologies for the photos, which were taken with my phone.  That said...not bad for my phone, right?

Apple and Fennel Salad with Salted Caramel Pecans
Recipe from Donna Hay

Serves 6

12 slices prosciutto
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup superfine (caster) sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes (kosher salt is fine too)
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 small red apples, thinly sliced
4 bulbs baby fennel, thinly sliced (regular fennel is fine too; just use 2 large bulbs)

Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C). Place the prosciutto on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, brush with maple syrup, and bake for 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. Set aside.

Place the pecans, sugar, water, and salt in a bowl and toss to coat.  Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat.  Add the pecans and cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally or until caramelized.  Set aside to cool.

Place the vinegar and oil in a bowl and whisk to combine.  Place the apple, fennel, prosciutto, and pecans in a bowl, drizzle with the dressing, and toss to coat.

NOTE: For presentation, I layered it.  Stack the apple slices, prosciutto, fennel; start again.  Add pecans on top and around plate as garnish.  I also saved some of the fennel fronds, chopped them, and sprinkled them on top last.  Finish with a fresh grind of pepper.

Eat, drink, and embrace lightness.

Tagliatelle with Prosciutto and Orange

I'll just cut to the chase and let you know that this might be my absolute favorite pasta recipe.  Ever.  Ever.

I think I'd eat damn-near anything that had prosciutto in it so I was already hooked when I first read this recipe...but pairing it with orange just makes it sublime.  The orange adds sweetness to counterbalance the saltiness of the prosciutto, and it also adds a brightness that you really need when making pasta.  The combination is just so, so perfect.

Gush, gush, gush...

So just promise me you'll try this one, okay?  It's really that amazing.

TAGLIATELLE WITH PROSCIUTTO AND ORANGE
Recipe from The Bitten Word (who got it from Bon Appétit)
Serves 4

12 oz. egg tagliatelle or fettuccine (preferably fresh)
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
2 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into 1" pieces
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Season with salt; add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until 1 minute before al dente, about 2 minutes for fresh pasta, longer for dried.  Drain, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add prosciutto; sauté until browned, about 3 minutes.
3. Add reserved pasta water, orange juice, half of zest, and cream to the skillet; bring to a boil.  Add pasta; cook, stirring, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 1 minute.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir in cheese and divide among warm bowls.  Garnish with remaining zest.

NOTE ON KID-FRIENDLINESS: Bug LOVED this, every bit of it.  I did omit the zest garnish and the ground pepper on top but, other than that, I didn't need to alter it for her at all.

NOTE ON WINE PAIRING: There was so much going on here so I consulted my handy-dandy WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT.  Riesling is the way to go with this dish; specifically, I went with the Pierre Sparr that I picked up for a steal at Trader Joe's.  Delicious.

Eat, drink, and try this recipe!

Figs and Pecorino

New York City is in the middle of an October heat wave that has sucked my will to live: our building had to turn off everyone's air-conditioning a couple weeks ago so we've been melting away in our apartment with 85-degree temps outside.  We'd buy fans...except there's no damn room for them, such is life in a tiny apartment.  All our windows are open...which lets in all the noise and, annoyingly, very little breeze.  Bug can't sleep, we can't sleep. We're all grumpy.  It has not been pretty.

So yesterday I declared that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that I was turning heat on in this place in order to cook.  Which ended up being untrue, alas.  I found a recipe in Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy for sticky figs and it struck a chord with me.  All it calls for is taking a pint of figs - or however many you have - and halving them.  Then you put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Jamie calls for them to be baked at 120 degrees for two hours but my oven only goes down to 170 degrees.  So I did that for two hours.  Done.  That's it.

I paired the figs with a crumbly, salty Pecorino.  This is one of those cases where you should find the best Pecorino you possibly can since it's one of the stars of the meal.  We added Prosciutto di Parma, rustic Italian bread, and dipping oil (really good-quality oil, sea salt, pepper).

Very little heat, very little fuss.  I know there are some of you who read this who will say, "They had only that for dinner?!"  And the answer is a resounding YES.  It's too damn hot to eat anything else.  Seriously.

Eat, drink, and keep it simple.


UPDATE #1: Naturally, Bug didn't want anything to do with the figs (though we did make her try just one) so she had a sliced apple.  She also wasn't a huge fan of the Pecorino - she thought it was "spicy".  But she ate almost that entire pile of prosciutto - I had to add more to the board - and she had bread with butter slathered on it (she claims, falsely, that she's "allergic" to olive oil).  This is such an easy meal to cater to picky eaters.

UPDATE #2: Foolishly, I forgot to mention what we drank and thanks to my good friend Daphne for reminding me!  Per Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page's What to Drink With What You Eat, I drank a Riesling: Arthur Metz 2010 from Alsace.  It paired very well, but didn't wow me.  Adam had the winner: Brooklyn Brewery's Monster Barleywine.  It was huge in flavor, but didn't overwhelm the cheese or figs.  It was an unexpected, much more interesting pairing than the Riesling.  I highly recommend it.

Progress Report

Move to Manhattan COMPLETE!  We're finally settling in and feeling close to normal - it always takes a big move for us to remember what creatures of habit we are!

Here are a few highlights from the last few weeks:

As part of our celebration, we opened a bottle of wine from our friends Amy and Lisa: a 2000 Chateau Haut-Bailly.  They brought this wine to us almost four years ago, shortly after we moved to Queens.  Amy said now was a very good time to drink it, and we thought that it was the perfect way to celebrate the new digs.  Needless to say, it was goooorgeous.

Another way to celebrate the new apartment?  A housewarming party!!!  Or, as Bug called it, "the swarming party."  Indeed it was.  About 30 people crammed into our small place?  It was cozy and our new home was indeed warmed.  We made my stand-by Red Pepper and Cannellini Dip, Chipotle and Rosemary Nuts, and Prosciutto Breadsticks (the original recipe suggests brushing the breadsticks with truffle  butter before adding the prosciutto - I highly recommend doing so).  I served a gorgeous blue cheese with Carr's Wheat Crackers as well, and I also sliced up some salami and cucumbers - which are a surprisingly delicious pair together.  

And our friend Laura brought us some lovely flowers.

We even managed to bring back our chalkboard wall.

And how about those garlic chives that I was so sad to leave behind?  The night before we moved, I remembered I had left them out on the balcony so I ran outside in my pajamas and quickly transplanted them.  They're now sitting in our front window and they're in heaven: all the sun and warmth, none of the cold.

They're as happy as we are (and, as evidenced by my hack job, you can see we've already used the heck out of them).

Eat, drink, and make a new home.

Dinner parties

There is a scene I love in the movie Father of the Bride (1991 version) where Steve Martin sees his wife walking down the stairs and he's remembering their wedding day. He says, "I'll probably never remember what Nina wore that day, but I'll always remember the way she looked." I love that and I often remember that line when I see our table post-dinner-party:

Ten, fifteen years from now I'll probably forget what we ate. But I'll always remember the good friends and good conversation. And the Guitar Hero that was played afterward.

Eat, drink, and enjoy the moment.

Note: For the record, here is what we ate -

Appetizer: Salami with Cucumbers

Main dish: Melon and Prosciutto Panini; Mesclun Salad with Fried Shallots and Gorgonzola

Dessert: Kathryn's fantastic Lemon Cake

The $300 Challenge

So I mentioned earlier that we're on a budget.  Big Time.  I shared that we normallly spend (about) $500-600 a month on food, including beer and wine.  That's an estimate...we've never had a budget in 11 years of marriage.

So I've taken a challenge to get our food down to $300 a month.  Beer and wine isn't included in that, as Adam and I agree that we were treating both as nearly disposable.  Now Adam and I buy beer and wine out of our "personal" account.

So here' s the weekend food shopping total:

Union Square market: $46

Natural Foods: $62

Cheeses of the World (some of the nicest purveyors in the city): $26

Minus $17 for the Dogfish Head beer we bought at Natural Foods...  Bringing our weekend shopping to $117 total.  According to my calculations, this should get us EIGHT meals.  EIGHT!  Here's how it'll play out:

Last night: Shrimp with corn and tomato salad, bread with olive oil and balsamic

Tonight: Plums with prosciutto, goat cheese, baby arugula, and champagne vinegar

Monday: Nachos (I had a can of black beans and a bag of tortilla chips begging to be used...)

Tuesday: Soft-boiled eggs with Artichoke Bread Fingers (courtesy of Chocolate & Zucchini)

Wednesday: Grilled Cheese (Kiddo loves grilled cheese made with smoked mozzarella) with Thick-Sliced Onions (the onion recipe is courtesy of Mario Batali)

Thursday: North American salad (I don't have to buy a single ingredient for this - it's made from food I already have on hand.  Thanks to Nigella Lawson's Feast!)

Friday: Naan paninis - I "discovered" some incredibly fresh naan at Whole Foods.  They tasted great used as a pizza crust, but I thought I'd try them as panini bread in place of the thicker, breadier foccacia.  I'm using some salad greens, leftover prosciutto from tonight's meal, and some Taleggio I bought at Cheeses of the World.

Saturday: Pasta (Adam found some fresh at the Union Square Market) with roasted garlic and scallions - this is something I've totally made up.  Never made it before.  We'll see how it goes...

So, I don't know...I still think that's going to get me over $300.  And other than Kiddo's lunch food and cereal in the morning, we don't spend anything on breakfast or lunch on the weekdays...Adam gets free breakfast and lunch at Google (don't even get me started...) and I have a bagel for breakfast (which I buy from my personal account) and I always eat leftovers for lunch.

Eat, drink, and figure out where else to cut without sacrificing quality...

Giada's Melon and Prosciutto Panini

This is one of my favorite springtime meals: Giada De Laurentiis' Melon and Prosciutto Panino. It has the ideal combination of flavors and textures: crunchy bread, smooth melty cheese, sweet melon, salty meat. And the colors: peach, brick red, green, white, brown!




This is the first time this spring that I've made this (I only make it in spring) and, unfortunately, I got a little cocky this time and managed to mess it up. It really is an easy recipe:

1. bread - Giada calls for focaccia, but I usually use whatever rustic bread I have on hand
2. Brie - but any variation on the soft-rind, soft texture cheese will do (I've used the Chimay stuff before to great effect)
3. cantaloupe - one half is enough to feed me, Adam, and the kiddo
4. prosciutto - I've always used prosciutto, but I suppose you could play around with other meats. This is probably blasphemous to say since melon and prosciutto is the traditional preparation... But then, I've always been a blasphemer myself...
5. arugula - you really only need a small amount for this recipe

Seriously, that's it, people. And then you grill it. I use my stovetop cast iron grill and cast iron panini press, but you could use just a regular pan or even the outdoor grill (though I've never tried it this way).

As far as the asparagus is concerned, I used the simplest (and best) preparation: grilled it, drizzled it with rad extra-virgin olive oil (off the grill), salt, pepper, and lemon zest. Shazam! And it was certainly more successful than this attempt...

So how did I manage to fubar this easy recipe? Totally forgot the arugula. Wanna hear something even more assenine? We mmm'ed and hmmm'ed over the meal...and I never noticed anything missing. Until 3 days later when I was rummaging through the fridge and discovered the arugula, thinking, "What the hell is this for? I don't remember..." And then I remembered. I'm such a fool in the kitchen...I suppose it's all the wine I drink while I'm cooking...

Eat, drink, and don't forget the arugula!

How to Cook 101 Class

On Saturday morning, I attended my first “How to Cook” class at the Institute of Culinary Education – there will be two more classes the next couple Saturdays.

To sum up, the class helped me realize I already know how to cook.

There are about 12 of us in the class and we began by sitting at a long table. We introduced ourselves and shared why we’re taking the class; out of the whole class, I believe there were only 1 or 2 other people, in addition to myself, who ‘fessed up to already knowing how to cook. Otherwise, most people said some variation of “I’m sick of takeout.” Chef Melanie Underwood talked with us for a bit and then we broke up into three groups and made different dishes. My group made a mixed Mediterranean platter, melon and prosciutto, and “chocolate-dipped morsels.” Group 1 made shrimp cocktail, a smoked salmon platter, and “chocolate-dipped morsels.” Group 2 made tomato and mozzarella, guacamole and chips, and “chocolate-dipped morsels.” After we made all our dishes and presented them, we sat down to the table again (which had been set up with full place settings and wine) and enjoyed each other’s food. Good conversation about food ensued.

So, those of you foodies who read my blog, you can guess how under-challenged I felt. However, part of the reason I took the basic class was because I wanted to really master the basics. I wanted to start at the beginning. In that spirit, here are the things I learned from Chef Melanie in our first class that I did not previously know:

1. If an avocado is underripe, sprinkle lime juice and salt on it to make it edible.

2. As a rule, when you taste for seasoning, eat it how you’ll be eating it later. For example, don’t taste the guacamole on a spoon – use a chip. Totally obvious, right? Well, I’ll confess that this never occurred to me.

3. The folks who made the shrimp cocktail poached the shrimp in a court bouillon, which I had never heard of. Here is the recipe given to us:

2 qt water
Freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons
1 bay leaf
8 black peppercorns (whole)
2 tbsp salt

We were also told that we could use this recipe to poach mushrooms and veggies.

4. If you’re cooking shrimp that haven’t been shelled and deveined, do so after they’re cooked. Cooking the shrimp in the shell gives them more flavor.

5. Don’t refrigerate corn. But refrigerate mushrooms.

6. Domestic prosciutto tastes different than imported because domestic doesn’t have to be aged as long.

7. Belgian endive is pronounced “en-dive” or “ahn-deev” – both pronunciations are correct.

8. Got some old spices that have lost their oomph? Put them in a small skillet on medium heat for 30 seconds before using. BAM!

9. Bibb lettuce? Boston lettuce? Butter lettuce? Yep, all the same thing.

10. Better quality chocolate is less likely to burn. I’ve always used good quality chocolate…but for flavor. Now there’s an additional reason!

And last but not least, I learned that chocolate-dipped potato chips kick ass. Truly. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

Eat, drink, and learn something(s) new every day