Damn, that's good lamb.

Readers, let us turn to page 55 of our new Eating Well Magazine.  There you will find the recipe I tested for Lamb with Roasted Cauliflower.  (I can't find it on their website, otherwise I'd link it, but if/when it goes up there, I'll let you know.)  I am absolutely making this again for Easter.

I had a dinner party and it went over beautifully.  The rub and sauce are bright and flavorful (one guest said he'd go easier on the sauce next time, so as not to overpower the lamb itself).  And who knew about roasted cauliflower?  Not me, but it's my new favorite thing in the whole world.  Ever since I made this last month, I've made cauliflower a staple in my house.  It's also amazing braised and mashed with potatoes.

I served the lamb, cauliflower and shallots with sides of Roasted Parsnips with Parsley & Parmesan and Broccoli Rabe and Orzo Salad.

Beautiful, fresh flavors for the rub.
Tarragon, Parsley, Garlic, Lemon.

I'm not really a fan of tarragon, but this is so delicious, I'm a convert.

I done tied it up so nicely.

Orzo, Broccoli Rabe, Feta, Lemon juice.

Parsnips.  Roasted and later tossed with Parm and Parsley.

Photo by Birdchick

Photo by Birdchick

Photo by Birdchick
Also pictured in top right corner of plate, Siri's Cranberry Avocado Salsa.

I'm having another Dinner Party on Saturday night.  Still don't know what the menu is.  Any suggestions?  HELP!

Feeling Guilty, Eating Richly

Hi.  I said I would post every day in February and I made it 22 days.  Not bad.  What I realized is that I don't have time every day.  Good lesson.  I also learned that while I cook food and think about food and eat food every day, I don't always have that much to say about it or pictures to show.  Ot time and energy to tell you about it.  So, good.  From now on I'll post more than I did in January and not as much as I tried to in February.  Seems like a good plan.

Now. More food talk.

I made creme bruleé.  I used Mark Bittman's recipe.  It was awesome.  There's a twist at the end... follow me through the process.

Creamy eggs:

Custard:

Going in:

Coming out:

Bruleé!

I had twice as much custard as I had room in my ramekins.  So I froze the rest in my ice cream machine. I have found my new base for ice cream.  This was incredible.

Even more so drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt.  Trust me.  It's amazing. 

I might even dare to say more amazing than this.  But not by much.

I'm a chilly Northern woman.

Snowed in at my parents' house. Dad made Fig Zinfandel Pot Roast out

of the Lunds and Byerly's Real Food Magazine (Spring 2011). It was

DELICIOUS! (My Dad's an awesome cook. He follows the recipe and

everything.) I dug my car out and moved it over for the plow tomorrow

morning. Eight inches and counting, continuing til tomorrow afternoon.

Sent from my iPhone - please forgive typos.

The Future Soon

I wasnt to try some new recipes.  Namely this coconut curry soup and this skillet bread. Some family favorites: asparagus canapes that are wrapped in rolled out white bread and something I've yet to try called Tuna Cheese Chowder (omg, really? but I bet it's great).  I also want to make this:

Because it's just too funny and I bet my kids will like it.  Which makes it even greater.

Thank you to the amazing Caissie St. Onge for the above idea, months ago.  I will, of course, post pictures.

Comfort Food starring Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Well, we're a little more than half way through February.  The last two days haven't been as cold.  50! Woo!  Even though the snow is melting and I can see the outside edges of my deck, it's so foggy today that I couldn't see two car-lengths in front of me while driving.  I still feel like I need to walk around the house in a fleece robe or a down blanket.  Also, I still really need comfort food.

Lately I've been very interested in putting Crescent Roll* dough with pretty much anything.  It bakes up so nice and has so much butteriness to it.  What's not to love? If I had had any today, I would have make a pizza/tart with asparagus and blue cheese.  I keep thinking about pot pies.  I love that they sell it without the little perforations now, too.  And these little bundles are like bites of Heaven.  Thanks to my friend Emily Volman for the inspiration.

Top row: Apples and brie

Middle row: Apricot jam, goat cheese, thyme

Bottom row: Apples and bluecheese

Make little bundles of whatever you like, bake them in the oven at 350 for a few minutes. (5 -10?)

YUM.

What are your favorite comfort foods?

*This is an unsolicited, uncompensated product mention. If you happen to be in a position to solicit or compensate me about using a product, I'm more than happy to receive, try and write about your product.  Contact me here.

You Stink, But I Heart You

I forgot to post yesterday.  As a sign of my devotion and undying love for you, I give you a picture of the roasted garlic I made on Valentine's Day.

And crostini with lots of garlic, goat cheese and fig jam on top.

I'll see you again later.  

Easy Cake Cookies

My littlest valentine and I made cookies while my bigger -but-still-little valentine was at a birthday party this morning.  We made cake cookies, a thing I've never done before.  

1 box cake (in this case, strawberry, an artificial flavor I will never get again)

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

Mix 'em up, drop 'em on a greased sheet bake 'e, for 8 - 10 minutes at 375.

I shaped half of them into hearts while he stirred in the very small amount of white chocolate chips we had left into the remaining batter.

Of course, quality control is very important when it comes to chips, and we encourage that in our house as long as we're the only ones eating the result.

On the sheets:

Baked.  They puff a little, but don't spread much:

We made vanilla butter cream frosting, tinted pink.  Because how else are the sprinkles going to stick?

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

4 cups confectioner's sugar

6 TBS cream

2 tsp vanilla

Alternate sugar and cream into the butter in about three or four rounds for best results.

Safe keeping until the cookies are cool and everyone is packed up and at my parents' house, where they can get sugared up while Mama and Daddy go on a date for Valentine's Day.

Did I mention the quality control?  We split one.  It was 10am.  I'm a good mother.

High Five

My kids get High Five Magazine in the mail every month, thanks to my in-laws.  I love this magazine, and we read it a lot together.  Yesterday we made a "cookbook" of all the recipes from their back issues.  It's a copy of each recipe page, three hole punched and put in a three ring binder.  They think it's the best thing ever.  The only thing I had all the ingredients for right away was this:

The kids liked it.  (no comment from the peanut gallery - not all recipes are created equal. 

I went shopping for other ingredients today.)

The Peanut Gallery.

Oh, honey, you really do go on everything.

I'm working on an all honey menu.  I have the great fortune of knowing some lovely people who keep bees and share their honey with me, so it seems only natural to try all kinds of delicious things with their amazing honey.  I recently cooked up some of this and tossed it with some olive oil:

What does that have to do with honey, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  First I heated a bowl of water in the microwave, spilled out the water and ended up with a warm bowl.  In it I put some blobs of goat cheese.  I also crumbled up some walnuts and put them in.  I then placed my olive oil tossed lemon pepper pappardelle on top, and mixed it together.  The goat cheese becomes a rich sauce when it melts on the warm pasta in the warm bowl.  The best part is next: I drizzled it with a little honey and tossed in the tiniest bit of fresh thyme.  

This is my new favorite pasta dish.  Creamy, crunchy, nutty, citrusy, sweet.  Perfection.  I must get myself to Trader Joe's post haste, as I've eaten all the pasta I had.

Loppet or Lump it.

This weekend I went snowshoeing on frozen Lake of the Isles with a bunch of friends for a birthday party.

There were ice luminaries all around the lake - it was really beautiful. There were also people juggling fire. Always a good time.  It's not something I would have done, or even known about, really, without these awesome friends, as I live in the suburbs and my fate is more directed toward carpools and soccer and chain-store shopping. After typing that I have made a vow to myself to get out more.

Ahem..  Anyway, after walking on water, we went to Amazing Thailand in uptown.  I had the Duck Curry and now I want to eat nothing but that forever.   

Photo From Yelp via B

I've made a few curries before, but nothing like this. It was perfection: meat, tomatoes, pineapple, grapes, basil, lots of sauce, the perfect spice.  Looks like I need some curry recipes. Got any?

Transformations.

Twice last week I had beautiful pans of vegetables that started out looking like this:

Turn into garbage down the disposal that looked like this:

Because my oven went to 550 on its own accord. And filled the house with smoke.  Twice.

The second time, dinner turned from whole pork tenderloin with roasted vegetables into pork medallions with mustard sauce, creamed spinach and Trader Joe's frozen brown rice:

Happily, yesterday my oven turned from this:

Into this:

Best.  Landlord.  Ever.