A Weekend of Cooking and Picnicking

Friday evening I pan-braised a little pork tenderloin with mustard and vermouth sauce. With it we had focaccia with blue cheese, sage, and walnuts; and carrots and snowpeas.

Then Saturday we took the leftovers with us to visit the Amerind museum. It's just off of I-10 at Texas Canyon, where we turned off to go to Cochise Stronghold. The museum was wonderful, but the picnic area was a truly special place, with huge granite boulders and live oak trees. We had a memorable picnic. Afterwards we drove to the east side of Saguaro National Park and, after an hour's drive on a washboard road, took a 3-mile hike through the woods to the wilderness boundary.

Today we began with a breakfast of a grilled cheese and green chile sandwich, and finished with Grandma and Walt for dinner. I served Italian chicken with red wine and olives, raw broccoli salad*, and Piedmont peppers. Grandma made bread. I had leftover ice cream pie from last week's recital, which I served with fresh blackberries.

This broccoli salad is very strange but satisfying.

Broccoli Salad

1 pound broccoli
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup cashews or other nuts

Cut broccoli into small florets, or chop. Combine in large bowl with bacon, raisins, red onion, and nuts.

1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1/3 cup non-fat yogurt
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons vinegar
Salt and pepper

Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, sour cream, sugar, and vinegar to make a smooth dressing (or use bottled ranch dressing). Toss with broccoli mixture. Chill at least one hour.

Sesame Broccoli

Grandma took us to lunch today at a new place called Bistro Phillippe. We've been to the same spot before, and this is at least the third restaurant inhabiting the space. It has a fairly well-known chef from a nearby resort, doing French regional/country.

There were several lovely salads to order: Grandma had Salade Nicoise and I had Scottish salmon salad, but Dad had Muscovy Duck Confit with a white wine sauce over his pasta (oof--I want to take a cholesterol pill just writing about it.) The salads were served in steep glass bowls, like mixing bowls, layered beautifully. A very good lunch.

Understandably we were less enthusiastic about dinner (me, anyway, especially after teaching afternoon piano lessons). I served a frittata using nearly the last of Dad's garden spinach, gluten-free cornbread, and Sesame Broccoli. This broccoli recipe has served me well over years. Even kids like it.

Sesame Broccoli

1 large bunch broccoli, broken into florets

Cook broccoli until crisp-tender and still bright green. Cool.

2 tablespoons sesame seeds, lightly toasted

1/4 cup dry vermouth or white wine

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons honey

Mix remaining ingredients to make dressing. Toss with broccoli just before serving. Best at room temperature, not chilled.

Cafeteria Night

Mmmm: manicotti and slightly overdone broccoli. Lately I've had a compulsion to recreate classic cafeteria foods. I made spaghetti and meatballs a few weeks ago, and it tasted eerily like 4th grade lunch. We made green bean casserole for Lawson's mom. So far I have felt no urge to make that soggy pizza topped with ground beef, cheddar, and tomato paste, though.

We'd had these manicotti noodles in the pantry for too long, so I made some ricotta-parsley filling and doctored up some jarred pasta sauce, and here we are. It was pretty tasty in a generic sort of way. The broccoli was this recipe, but slightly overboiled for proper effect (okay, it was actually totally accidental, but it worked out).

So far, though, none of my almost-accidental cafeteria nostalgia has yet approached the glories of the Mid-Century Supper Club.

Perfect Italian Broccoli

Here's a recipe for simple and delicious broccoli from my new Viana La Place cookbook (slightly modified, as usual), served in my new serving bowl, and written up on my new computer (first in 5 years -- hooray).

Heat over medium low, stirring until anchovies are melted:
- 1/4 cup or less olive oil
- 1 small fresh or dried red chile pepper, chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 3 anchovy fillets from a small can

Remove from heat. Steam or boil until tender:

- 1 bunch broccoli, trimmed and separated (I like to include lots of sliced stem)

Drain and toss in pan with anchovied oil and the following:

- Juice of 1/2 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
- Salt
- Pepper

Thanks for the lovely bowl and cookbook, Mom.