Asian Noodle Salad with Ginger Dressing

Asian Noodle Salad with Ginger Dressing/Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I needed a potluck salad last week and found this delicious recipe ~ it caught my eye because of the mango. I just so happened to have a couple fruits ripening on the counter. The chicken was my addition, because the original didn't seem quite hearty enough. With the protein, this can be a main dish salad, perfect for packed lunches or a summertime dinner on the porch.

Asian Noodle Salad with Chicken and Mango and Ginger Dressing

Vinaigrette

6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

1 ½ tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon minced jalapeno

1 garlic clove, chopped

Salad

½ pound whole wheat spaghetti, broken in half, and cooked according to package directions

1 cup chopped, cooked chicken breast

½ cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced ½ inch

3 scallions, thinly sliced

1 firm but ripe mango, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced

3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

Cilantro, minced, used as a garnish, if desired

1.       Combine dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until combined.

2.       For salad, place cooked, drained spaghetti noodles in a large bowl, add chicken, cucumber, scallions, mango and carrot. Gently toss with vinaigrette and garnish with cilantro, if using. Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Recipe adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook.

Text and images, copyright 2014, Lucy Mercer.

Eggplant and tomato spaghetti

Eggplant and tomato spaghetti. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 

At the height of summer, when the markets are filled with Technicolor produce, pick out a beautiful, plump eggplant and a few heirloom tomatos and make this sumptuous variation on ratatouille. Minus the squash, it's still rich with roasted vegetal and herbal deliciousness. This recipe is adapted from Francis Lam's Let-My-Eggplant-Go-Free! Sauce

 Eggplant and Tomato Spaghetti

Serves 3 generous portions

1 pound eggplant, peeled and cut into ½ inch dice
1 tablespoon salt
3 ripe tomatoes
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 sprigs thyme or oregano, chopped
1 cup  water
6 leaves basil, chiffonade
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound spaghetti, cooked

1. Place the eggplant cubes in a sieve over a bowl and toss with salt. Let sit for a half hour to draw the bitter juices out of the eggplant. Meanwhile, peel and cut the tomatoes into chunks.

2. In a heavy saucepan such as a Dutch oven, pour in the olive oil and set over low heat. Add the garlic cloves.

3. Wipe any moisture off of the eggplant. When the garlic sizzles, add the eggplant and stir to coat it with oil. Turn up the heat, add the tomato and herbs and stir. When the eggplant and tomato soften, add the liquid, let it come to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot, leaving an edge exposed for steam to escape.

4. After about 20 minutes, the vegetables should be soft and melting and ready for the pasta. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Serve immediately, garnished with additional basil.

Text and images copyright 2013, Lucy Mercer.

Bread Salad, or Panzanella

Panzanella, or Bread Salad by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

When the summer tomatoes are at their juiciest, make this bread salad, panzanella, a salad that is greater than the sum of its parts. Tomatoes, bread, a little garlic, a round-up of the produce kicking around in the produce drawer. It's the kind of easy, effortless eating that just makes summer summer.

Panzanella

6 green onions

1/2 baguette, day old, cubed

1 shallot, minced

1 small cucumber, diced

2 medium tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup diced cucumber

1 handful basil leaves, shredded


Dressing:

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind

1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper to taste



1. To prepare the dressing: In a large bowl, use a fork to mix together the shallots, lemon rind, garlic and salt, mashing the ingredients together.Whisk in oil, vinegar and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Set aside.

2. To prepare the salad: Add the salad ingredients together and toss well with the dressing.Serve immediately or store in refrigerator for up to a half hour.

Text and image copyright 2013, Lucy Mercer.

Calzones for Super Bowl Sunday

Calzones. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Super Bowl eats are all about hearty flavors and who better to deliver the goods than Emeril Lagasse? This calzone recipe from last fall's #SeriousSandwich blogalong is a game-winning touchdown, just right for sharing with family in the glow of the flat screen.

The recipe makes four calzones; I make them half-size, yielding eight breads that fit smaller hands and appetites.

Sopressata and Genoa Salami Calzones

4 calzones

I love this calzone with a variety of salami, but this is a recipe where you can safely go in many directions. Change up the cheese, use roasted red peppers or sautéed mushrooms instead of the meat, add Roasted Garlic (page 79) . . . I could go on and on. And you don’t have to eat them right out of the oven, either—they travel well, so pack your picnic basket!

1 recipe Semolina Pizza Dough (use Emeril’s recipe, or your favorite homemade or storebought)

1 cup Quick Tomato Sauce for Calzones (recipe follows) or your favorite jarred pizza/pasta sauce

1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

8 ounces mixed sopressata, hot sopressata, Genoa salami, and/or pepperoni, chopped

1 cup ricotta cheese, drained

8 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

¼ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel

1. Place a pizza stone in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 500°F. (Alternatively, place an upside-down rimmed baking sheet on the rack in your oven.)

2. Halve one of the pieces of dough and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface to form two 8-inch rounds. Spread ¼ cup of the tomato sauce over the bottom half of each round, leaving a 1-inch border. Sprinkle ¼ cup of the basil and one-quarter of the cured meats evenly over each portion of sauce. Sprinkle one-quarter of the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and crushed red pepper over each portion of meat. Gently fold the top half of the dough over the filling, rolling and pressing the edges together with your fingertips to seal them, and crimping as you go along. Make 2 more calzones with the remaining ingredients.

3. Depending on the size of your oven, you may be able to bake only 2 calzones at a time. Cut several small slits in the top of each calzone to allow air to escape while baking, and transfer the calzones to a pizza peel that has been lightly dusted with flour or cornmeal (to facilitate moving the dough). Tilt the pizza peel to slide the calzones onto the preheated baking stone. Bake for 16 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the dough is cooked through. Remove the calzones from the oven with the pizza peel or a spatula, and serve immediately or at room temperature.

Quick Tomato Sauce for Calzones

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and pureed

1 sprig fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook for 3 minutes, until soft. Add the tomatoes, thyme sprig, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the extra-virgin olive oil, discard the thyme sprig, and set aside until ready to use.

This recipe is reprinted with permission from "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches: Stacked with Flavor" (Morrow Cookbooks, $24.99)

For more of Emeril's kicked-up sandwiches cooked by some fantastic bloggers, check out my #SeriousSandwich Pinterest board. Emeril's website, www.emerils.com, features football favorites for your Super Bowl party.

Baked polenta with tomato sauce

Baked polenta with tomato sauce. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Here's a winter warmer that will take longer to describe than it will to assemble for supper. For a  variation on baked pasta with tomato sauce, pick up a package of  Frieda's already cooked polenta, slice it up and set the rounds in a bath of homemade (or not) tomato sauce, sprinkle with cheese and bake. Super easy.

Polenta slices in tomato sauce. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

For the tomato sauce, you could pop open a jar of your favorite sauce, or use my go-to dead-easy, weeknight sauce - a can of good-quality crushed tomatoes with a clove or two of minced garlic and a teaspoon or so of Italian seasoning (winter version) or a few leaves of chopped, fresh basil (summer version) stirred in.

Apply a top coat of sauce, finish with a layer of mozzarella and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Set the table, make the salad, toast the bread.  Dinner is served.

Polenta with tomato sauce and cheese. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and  Her Books

I occasionally review products that I use in my own kitchen. Thanks to Frieda's Specialty Produce

for supplying the polenta. The opinions here are my own.

Text and images copyright 2013, Lucy Mercer.

Gratitude, #LetsLunch

Seafood Chowder. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 This year, my teen daughter started high school and is taking an American Government class. For this news junkie mom, morning rides to school have become all about prepping her for class discussions on the hot topics of the day. With prompts from NPR's Morning Edition hosts Steve and Renee, we've covered the presidential election, the Libyan consulate attack, assorted economic indicators, you name it, all in the 15 minute drive from home to school. By the time we get in the car, I've had two cups of coffee and I find myself going on a bit, so much so that when we pull up at the school I want to tell her to stay in the car, I have one more thing I need to tell her before class. (Not that I get chance - she's already slinging her book bag over her shoulder and telling me "goodbye.")

When we talk about the news, I try to bring it home in some way that relates to her life. Some events are easier than others. Last week, as Hurricane Sandy tore up the Eastern Seaboard, leaving destruction and mayhem in its path, we listened to the news reports of the impact of the storms - on the election and the economy, and I asked her if she could predict what the residents of New York, New Jersey and other northeastern states will face as the area recovers.

She knew the answer because we've experienced the same thing. In 2009, our area experienced devastating flooding, when what was called a 500-year flood event shut down the interstate that cuts through the county, wiping out bridges and roads, flooding homes and businesses. Seven people lost their lives in the floods, several by having the bad fortune of being on the roads in the early morning hours when the storms were at their worst.

As we listened to the morning news reports about Hurricane Sandy, we recounted what we knew about recovery from flooding - food, clean water and electricity will be needed. Roads and bridges will be cleared or closed and will take up to several years to repair. Schools will be closed, then reopened. Trees removed, houses and businesses pumped out, and slowly, slowly, slowly life will return to the ins and outs, ups and downs of everyday. Recovery isn't easy and it's certainly not as fast as everyone wants it to be.

As my family gathers around our Thanksgiving table in a couple weeks, and celebrates the American eucharist, we will take turns giving thanks and then say grace. This year, I'll be grateful for the family around the table, the roof over our heads, the comfort of the fire in the fireplace, and the feast on the table.

And morning drives to school.

Seafood Chowder. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

It's still a bit early for T-Day food, if you ask me, so until Thanksgiving arrives, I'll share a bit of New England with my seafood chowder recipe. (I know, I know, it's not a Manhattan style chowder, that would have been perfect.) When the rain clouds roll in and the winter winds start blowing, it's hard for me to take my mind off of soups and chowders. Like this seafood chowder, a hearty chill-chaser that will warm you from the inside out. The seafood can vary, but I always use a white fish like flounder as the base, the clams, and bay scallops when they're cheap. Shrimp are good, too, but it does change the character of the soup - shrimp can be the Bossy Pants of the soup bowl, delicious, of course, but not exactly a team player, if you know what I mean.

Seafood Chowder

5 slices bacon
2 medium onions
salt and pepper to taste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, chopped into 1/2 inch dice
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch dice
1 (15 oz.) can chicken broth
1 (8 oz.) bottle clam juice
3 (6 oz.) cans chopped clams
3 bay leaves
2 stems of fresh thyme
3 potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2 inch
1/2 to 1 pound of light, white fish, such as flounder, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound bay scallops
3-4 cups half and half

This is how I make it:

1. Start with a good size Dutch oven. I use my All-Clad stainless and put it on a medium heat. Take five or six slices of bacon, stacked and sliced in 1/4 inch lengths. Fry the bacon until crispy and the drain in paper towels, reserving the grease. Pour the grease into a separate metal container and measure out two tablespoonfuls back into the pan, still on medium heat.

2. Chop two medium-size onions and sizzle those in the bacon grease with the barest pinch of salt, if you must. Everything in this chowder has salt in it, so go easy. You can always adjust the seasonings at the end. After the onions are soft and bacony, add 3 minced cloves of garlic, and stir for just a minute. Chop one stalk of celery and 2 carrots and add to pot, cooking until soft.

3. Add one 15 oz. can of low sodium chicken broth, or water, plus one small bottle of clam juice. Open three cans of chopped clams (I prefer the chopped to minced, those remind me of cat food), and add to the soup, juice and all. Toss in three bay leaves and a bit of freshly ground pepper, perhaps a few thyme stems if the plant is near the kitchen door.

4. Peel three medium all-purpose potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Put these into the pot and let simmer away. When the potatoes are soft, add one pound of  flounder, chopped into 1-inch squares. You may also want to add sea scallops, if you have those, too. Shelled shrimp are nice. Let the seafood cook through, perhaps five minutes or so.

5.  Just before serving, add a staggering amount of half-n-half, perhaps three or four cups, warm up the soup, then adjust the seasoning. Be sure to remove the thyme stems and bay leaves. Serve this chowder with warm cheesy garlic bread, or just the little hexagonal soup crackers. This will restore your soul on a lousy day.

This post is part of #LetsLunch, a Twitter party on a different foodie topic each month. November's topic is gratitude. To follow along or become a part of the party, just follow #LetsLunch on Twitter or check out the #LetsLunch Facebook page. Here are the November #LetsLunch posts:


'Plumb’ cake from Lisa at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Pain au Levain from Rebecca at Grongar Blog
Seafood Chowder from Lucy at A Cook and Her Books
Cracked Black Pepper and Blue Cheese Crackers from Charissa at Zest Bakery
Gratitude Fried Rice from Linda at Spicebox Travels
A Thanksgiving tablecloth tradition from Lucy at In a Southern Kitche
Gratitude Soup from Rashda at Hot Curries and Cold Beer
Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar (gluten free) from Linda at Free Range Cookies
5 Minute Wonder Soup from Eleanor at Wokstar

 Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

Convenient Calzones, #SeriousSandwich

Emeril's calzones. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 

Calzones are one of those foods I forget about, and when I do remember, I think to myself “why don’t I make these more often?” The rolled-up pizzas are just as tasty as a pizza pie, but the form – the bread pocket, makes them super-convenient to make, take and freeze.

Fact is, I used to make calzones all the time, making mini-pockets to accommodate my young children’s appetites. Making them half as small meant twice as many pockets. I would take the leftover calzones, wrap them carefully and place them in freezer bags, then bring them out for heat-and-heat fast meal on a busy weeknight. Hey, I still have busy weeknights – I should be doing this more often!

To be honest, my calzone recipe was pretty standard stuff – tomato sauce, pepperoni and shredded cheese. Here comes Emeril to the rescue, stuffing his calzone recipe with Genoa salami, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmigiana-Reggiano, and fresh basil.  This is truly a calzone taken to notches unknown, a real live #SeriousSandwich. (Hubs and kiddos both give thumbs up to this kicked-up version, and I left out the crushed red pepper.)

This post is part of the #SeriousSandwich blogalong to celebrate the publication of Emeril Lagasse’s “Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches: Stacked with Flavor” (Morrow, $24.99). If you’d like your very own copy of this fabulous new cookbook, then click over to this post for the giveaway. And in the meantime, assemble your ingredients for the busy mom’s best friend, aka the Calzone.

Calzones with tomato sauce for dipping. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Sopressata and Genoa Salami Calzones

4 calzones

I love this calzone with a variety of salami, but this is a recipe where you can safely go in many directions. Change up the cheese, use roasted red peppers or sautéed mushrooms instead of the meat, add Roasted Garlic (page 79) . . . I could go on and on. And you don’t have to eat them right out of the oven, either—they travel well, so pack your picnic basket!

1 recipe Semolina Pizza Dough (use Emeril’s recipe, or your favorite homemade or storebought)

1 cup Quick Tomato Sauce for Calzones (recipe follows) or your favorite jarred pizza/pasta sauce

1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

8 ounces mixed sopressata, hot sopressata, Genoa salami, and/or pepperoni, chopped

1 cup ricotta cheese, drained

8 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

¼ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel

1. Place a pizza stone in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 500°F. (Alternatively, place an upside-down rimmed baking sheet on the rack in your oven.)

2. Halve one of the pieces of dough and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface to form two 8-inch rounds. Spread ¼ cup of the tomato sauce over the bottom half of each round, leaving a 1-inch border. Sprinkle ¼ cup of the basil and one-quarter of the cured meats evenly over each portion of sauce. Sprinkle one-quarter of the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and crushed red pepper over each portion of meat. Gently fold the top half of the dough over the filling, rolling and pressing the edges together with your fingertips to seal them, and crimping as you go along. Make 2 more calzones with the remaining ingredients.

3. Depending on the size of your oven, you may be able to bake only 2 calzones at a time. Cut several small slits in the top of each calzone to allow air to escape while baking, and transfer the calzones to a pizza peel that has been lightly dusted with flour or cornmeal (to facilitate moving the dough). Tilt the pizza peel to slide the calzones onto the preheated baking stone. Bake for 16 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the dough is cooked through. Remove the calzones from the oven with the pizza peel or a spatula, and serve immediately or at room temperature.

Quick Tomato Sauce for Calzones

1 3/4 cups

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and pureed

1 sprig fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook for 3 minutes, until soft. Add the tomatoes, thyme sprig, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the extra-virgin olive oil, discard the thyme sprig, and set aside until ready to use.

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

 

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books.

 

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer, with the exceptions

 of the cover of  Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches, provided by Morrow, 

and the recipe text, reprinted with permission from Morrow.

 

Weeknight Roast Chicken with Vegetables

Roasted chicken breasts with vegetables. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

It was a classic 70s Mom moment: I pored through my cookbooks asking myself, "what can I do with chicken tonight?" Of course, the 70s mom would have have worried about ground beef, but I had a 1-pound package of bone-in chicken breasts about a day past its expiration and due for a date with either the freezer or the oven.

In winter, I prefer bone-in poultry because I love to braise - making a hearty pot of chicken and dumplings that can simmer in the oven for most of the day, the chicken releasing its juices into a savory broth. In the summer, however, I avoid these kind of kitchen-warming projects. But my husband found some chicken breasts on sale at the market and I needed a quick and easy supper idea.

Roast chicken and vegetables. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I guess most folks would coat the breasts in barbecue sauce and grill them, but given the stormy weather, an indoor recipe would need to be found. I checked through two favorite cookbooks, a cherished ring-bound Pillsbury Cookbook, missing its covers, but still holding its own as a home cooking go-to resource; and my favorite cookbook, Big Orange, the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, revised edition. My search this time yielded a Roast Chicken with Vegetables in ATK that used bone-in chicken breasts and required just one pan.

Potatoes, carrots, celery & onions coated with olive oil, salt and pepper. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I cut up two carrots, six red potatoes and two onions, mixed them with a double glug of olive oil and a couple sprigs of fresh thyme from the garden, spread them in a pan and baked them for 15 minutes in a hot, 450 degree oven. The chicken breasts were placed over the vegetables, brushed with a few tablespoons of melted butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. Both chicken and vegetables returned to the oven for about 30 minutes (this was convection, allow longer for conventional). When I opened the oven door, the aromatic chicken was a sight to behold - skin the color of aged cherrywood and juicy, tender flesh. The potatoes cooked in melted butter, olive oil and melted chicken fat were a guilty pleasure.

Ready for the oven. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Roasted Chicken Breasts and Vegetables

6 to 8 medium red potatoes, peeled and quartered 


4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 2-inch lengths


2 medium onions, peeled and quartered

2 sprigs fresh thyme

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper


3 bone-in chicken breasts

2 tablespoons melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 450. Toss vegetables and thyme with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread
 on baking sheet covered in heavy duty foil. Roast for 15 minutes.
 Remove from oven and stir vegetables.


2. Place chicken breasts on top of vegetables. 
Brush with melted butter and season with salt and pepper.
Return to oven for 30 minutes. Near the end of cooking time, check for doneness by piercing
the chicken breasts with a knife or fork and looking for juices to run clear. You're looking
for 165 on a meat thermometer, too. Remove tray from the oven and serve chicken with
vegetables. 

Pasta with arugula pesto recipe

Pasta with arugula pesto and pine nuts. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Pin It


I have to hide the pine nuts when they come into my house. It seems like everyone wants to nibble on these little guys - they're rich and flavorful and as the saying goes, you can't eat just one (handful).

Pine nuts. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

The good folks at Frieda's Specialty Produce sent me a goody package last month that included pine nuts. I nibbled on them for a bit, and then hid them in a succession of places - the pantry, the cabinet, the freezer, and doling them out in dishes like my New Year's greens with pine nuts and raisins.

Pine nuts from Frieda's. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

And then my neighbor gave me some arugula from her CSA box and I knew it was time for Arugula Pesto Pasta, the wintertime version of summer's best dish, Basil Pesto Pasta. Arugula is an acquired taste, I think. It can be peppery and strong, but I love it. I'm just saying that this dish is probably not going to win any fans under the age of 12. As we say in our house, that's just more for me.

Arugula. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Arugula pesto with pine nuts. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Arugula Pesto

4 cups packed arugula leaves, cleaned and stemmed

1/4 cups toasted pine nuts

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/4 olive oil
 
Salt and pepper to taste

1 pound pasta such as spaghetti or rotini or farfalle, cooked according to package directions

More pine nuts for garnish


1. In a food processor, blitz the arugula leaves. Add cheese and pine nuts and process again for 15 seconds. With food processor running, add olive oil in a stream through the feeding tube. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper. Serve pesto over cooked pasta and garnish with additional pine nuts. Serve immediately. Store leftover pesto in an airtight container in the refrigerator, although it is best eaten when freshly prepared.

(recipe adapted from Epicurious.com)

Rotini with arugula pesto. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Text and images copyright Lucy Mercer, 2012.

Keen on quinoa

Suddenly, I'm crazy for quinoa...

Quinoa salad with chickpeas, lemon and mint by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

This week, I made a light-tasting, but filling quinoa salad with a refreshing hit of mint, dressed with lemon. No oil, and I didn't miss it. This salad is adapted from Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s “Splendid Table” newsletter. Do you listen to Lynne? I try and catch her program when the show airs on Saturdays. I also download the podcasts to listen to when I’m working in the kitchen. Aside from the delight of listening to her velvety voice talk about food, Lynne has an infectious laugh. She also talks about food in a way that makes me want to take notes and get into my kitchen and cook. Her book “The Splendid Table: How to Eat Supper” written with her producer Sally Swift is just like the radio show, but with pictures – you will absolutely find a new family favorite in there. My favorite find so far is a new technique for garlic bread that turns out great every time.

The quinoa salad recipe came across my radar on a day when I knew I needed to clean out my refrigerator and pantry. Scanning the recipe, which began as a couscous salad with beans, I knew I had all the veggies called for, plus a can of chickpeas. But I didn’t have the couscous. Instead, I had quinoa. Have you tried quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah)? It’s one of those good-and-good-for-you grains (okay, technically a seed) that we hear about, but don’t necessarily go the extra step and toss a box into the grocery basket. Here’s a reason to toss it into your basket on your next grocery visit  - the grains cook in 15 minutes and taste great. You may think they taste nutty, but if you ask me, quinoa is all about the texture – plus that cute little white curl of germ that pops out of the hull. Nutritionally speaking, quinoa is a complete protein, so even though we’re pairing it with beans, it would fill you up anyway, the beans are just a bonus. Quinoa is also gluten-free (two words that do not pop up on my blog very often, but probably should). It’s a good source of fiber, magnesium, phosphorus and iron. In summary: you can feel good about your dose of quinoa.

Summer Quinoa and Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Mint

Juice of one-half lemon

½ large shallot, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon salt, divided

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

3 cups cooked quinoa (from one cup, uncooked)

1 stalk celery, cut into ¼ inch dice

¼ cup raisins

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained

¼ cup mint leaves, rolled tightly and sliced in a chiffonade

¼ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped, (optional)



1. In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice, shallot, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and let stand while you pull together the rest of the dish.

2. Add the quinoa, chickpeas, celery, raisins, mint and olives, if using. Toss together. Taste for seasoning and add remaining salt and pepper, or maybe lemon juice, if needed. Serve at room temperature or place in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to serve. If seving from the refrigerator, let it sit for a few minutes to shake off the chill - this salad is best at room temp.

Irish for a day

Savoy Cabbage by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Oh, what with shaking imaginary shillelaghs and adding o's to everyone's surname, it's impossible to avoid the silliness of St. Patrick's Day for very long. Lucky for me, real Irish food is worth putting on the table. Beyond the ubiquitous Irish Soda Bread, which will be featured here in a few days, there is colcannon, cabbage cooked in milk and stirred into mashed potatoes. It is fortifying and filling on a rainy day, making me long for the land of my ancestors, the O'Mercer's.

Potatoes by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

The colcannon recipe I use is adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook, and it's about as easy as it gets: two pots on the stove: in the first, boil peeled potatoes just like you would for the weeknight mash. In the second, simmer a half head of chopped green cabbage in milk and butter. Drain the potatoes, mash, add the cabbage mixture, season and prepare for a

carb-fest. 

Colcannon by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Colcannon

If you add leeks or green onions to this dish, it's called champ. I like the oniony way, myself, but my kids went crazy for the allium-less version. They call this "Irish mashed potatoes."

2 pounds (about 7 medium) Russet or all-purpose potatoes

1 cup milk (I used whole milk)

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1/2 large head of Savoy cabbage, coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I go easy on this because of the kiddos)

1. Peel potatoes and cut into 2-inch dice. Place in a saucepan or Dutch oven and cover with cold water. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer and let potatoes cook until tender (as tested with a sharp knife). This takes about 20 minutes.

2. In another saucepan, combine milk, butter, chopped cabbage, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and let cook until tender, about 15 minutes. (If you're making champ, here's where you add a washed and chopped leek or a handful of chopped green onions.)

3. Drain potatoes, then mash. I like a rustic mash, with just a few chunks. Gradually add the cooked cabbage to the mixture, stirring until the potatoes and cabbage are united in flavor and texture. The ribbons of celadon cabbage will shimmer in the buttery, creamy potatoes.Serve. Dance a jig. Watch "Riverdance."

Party on Mardi with this Seafood Creole

Seafood creole with rice by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Devotees of party schedules know that Tuesday is Mardi Gras, the big blow-out before the six weeks of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday. We can't all be in New Orleans or any of the Gulf coast towns that celebrate Mardi Gras, but we can bring a little of Louisiana creole into our kitchens. For about 20 years, I've made seafood creole, a great quantity of crowd-pleasing goodness meant to warm body and soul.

The keys to good creole are quality Gulf Coast seafood and the roux, the butter and flour mixture that flavors and thickens the stew. Taking your time to cook the roux to a deep, dark brown is crucial, and it's really not that much time. The butter and flour are chocolate brown in under 20 minutes.

Give this recipe a try the next time you need to serve a crowd. With a salad and bread on the side, it's Southern comfort in a bowl.

Seafood Creole

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 ribs celery, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

½ cup white wine

2 cans (1 lb. each) whole tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

1 bay leaf

½ teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme

½ teaspoon hot sauce (optional, season to taste)

¼ teaspoon Creole seasoning (Tony Chachere)

2 pounds of a combination of mild fish such as flounder; peeled, deveined shrimp; and bay scallops

Hot, steamed rice for serving

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter until foaming. Stir in flour and cook over medium heat until dark brown, about 20 minutes. The smell will be like nearly burnt buttered popcorn and the color will be like Hershey’s milk chocolate.

A dark chocolate roux. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

2. Remove pot from heat and add onion, garlic, celery, bell pepper, wine, tomatoes with liquid, salt, black pepper, paprika, bay leaf and thyme. Stir well. Cover and simmer for at least 10 minutes. Remove cover and continue simmering until vegetables have reached the desired degree of tenderness. You may add the seafood now and serve, or keep cooking the base, either on the stovetop, or covered in the oven at 300. (Check frequently to make sure the liquid level doesn’t get too low.)

The holy trinity of creole cooking: pepper, celery, onion. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books.

3. Season to taste with creole seasoning and hot sauce as desired. Remove bay leaf. Add seafood last and simmer three to five minutes or until seafood just appears done. Remember that the seafood will continue to cook from the residual heat of the stew. Serve over a bed of hot steamed rice.

Text and images copyright 2011, Lucy Mercer.



Redemption in a meatloaf

Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I used to be a fan of meatloaf, digging in to my Mom's ketchup-covered meatloaf regularly, but somewhere in the years between wearing tri-color Keds to my current, comfy Clark's, I got lost. My husband can tell you flat-out that the worst meal I ever served was a meatloaf. I remember it well, remember clipping the recipe out of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (what a quaint notion - clipping recipes from newspapers!). The recipe was for a Turkey Meatloaf with Spinach. I liked turkey, ditto for the spinach, and as a new bride, wanted to go all June Cleaver and make a meatloaf.  The recipe called for egg whites, and that the resulting loaf was spongy and flavorless. To add insult to injury, I thought I'd recycle it the next night, chopped up in tomato sauce. I will only say that I learned my lesson: you can't fix bad meatloaf.

I may have tried other meatloaves through the years, but honestly, they weren't very memorable and I'd just about given up until I received a copy of Susan Russo's cute little cookbook "Recipes Every Guy Should Know" (Quirk Books, 2010). Russo has a beautiful blog, Food Blogga, and has packed her book (co-authored with Brett Cohen) full of family-friendly recipes designed to get guys in the kitchen.

In the midst of guy-friendly recipes like Foolproof French Toast and Baja-Style Fish Tacos, I spied the recipe for Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf and decided that it was time to live that turkey meatloaf down and prove to my husband and kids that I could turn out a tasty dish. This meatloaf is yummy and has a great texture - not dry in the least, and very flavorful, especially with the added bacon and ketchup.

When I mentioned this meatloaf on Facebook, many friends chimed in with their favorite meatloaf recipes (if only I'd asked them for recipes before trying the turkey and spinach sponge.) Let me know in the comments if you have a favorite meatloaf recipe and what your secret ingredients are!

Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf


1 tablespoon canola oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 pounds ground beef (85% lean is best)

¾ cup plain bread crumbs

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons spicy mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Several dashes hot sauce

6 tablespoons ketchup, divided

8 to 10 slices bacon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned; let cool slightly.

2. In a large bowl, combine sautéed onions with all ingredients from ground beef through hot sauce, plus 2 tablespoons ketchup. Using your hands, mix until thoroughly combined. Transfer beef mixture onto a large baking sheet lightly greased with canola oil or cooking spray. Shape into an oval mound and lay bacon slices over the top so that they crisscross. Wash your hands, then brush remaining 4 tablespoons ketchup over bacon and meatloaf.

3. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until browned on top and cooked through. (A thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meatloaf should read 160 to 165. degrees Fahrenheit If you don’t have a thermometer, insert a knife into the thickest part to ensure meat is no longer pink.)

(Recipe excerpted from "Recipes Every Man Should Know" by Susan Russo and Brett Cohen, Quirk Books, 2010.)

The generous folks at Quirk Books have offered a second copy of "Recipes Every Man Should Know" for a lucky reader. It's a great little cookbook, filled with family-pleasing recipes. Just leave a comment below before midnight on March 8 and I will select a winner at random and get you your book! You may enter both on this post and also the chili and guacamole post to win a copy of the book.