Empanadas

We had some people over to swim yesterday. We ate:

Ribs smoked by Lawson
Hummus made by Lawson, with whole wheat pita bread
Watermelon
Carrot salad, your recipe
Spiced spinach-zucchini empanadas

For the empanada dough I used your recipe (you inspired me quite a bit this weekend, I see). Here is how I made the filling. It was inspired by Mexican and New Mexican dishes I've had but didn't follow any recipe.

Spinach-Zucchini Empanada Filling
This wasn't quite enough for all the empanadas (I made them smaller than your recipe calls for -- there were 10 in all). For the other three I had some longaniza in the freezer that I hadn't put in casings, so I used that. Those three are like British pasties, except Central American. Very good.

Here's the filling.

Saute in order:

one small onion, diced
one zucchini, diced
one teaspoon garlic, minced
a bag of spinach, torn up

Add and simmer:
small handful currants
1/8 cup walnuts or pecans
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
salt to taste
a bunch of black pepper

Remove from heat, let cool slightly, and add:

several handfuls grated Parmesan
1-2 eggs

I filled the empanadas and baked them as instructed in your dough recipe. I served them with Herdez salsa verde.

It was a lot of food, but the watermelon and carrots offset the heavy ribs and empanadas well, so nobody felt too stuffed.

South American Food

Sam and Grace came over for dinner on Friday. We sat outside for the cocktail hour, with wine, fresh veggies from the garden, and Swiss chard empanadas which I baked outside.

For the main course we had Argentinian chicken, a quinoa pilaf, and zucchini cooked with corn. And Easy Almond Tart for dessert. I make this tart so often--it's not enormous like my other tart recipes, and so easy, and everyone loves it. I am reporting here that Sam ate two pieces.

The $3 Bill Project: Eating Cheap

In today's Free Times I have a story on Eve Ross and Justin Shearer, who are eating for $3 a day through January and possibly through February and half of March as well -- depends on whether the groundhog sees his shadow.

Their goal is to examine their own food spending habits, and to donate the saved money to a local food bank. And they were kind enough to actually make dinner within their budget for me and Graeme, the photographer. Yes. It was awesome.

I loved everything they made us, but especially the soup. Here's Eve's recipe for a similar version made with squash.

Inspiring all around, and good company.

Carnitas, and the Evils of Too Much Entertaining

We have been cooking up a storm around here. There were people we wanted to see after our long trip, so we started inviting them for dinner.

We had a nice menu on Saturday:

Guacamole

Homemade salsa

Chips
***
Guisado de Pollo

Flour or spelt tortillas

Steaming Soupy Beans

Spinach Salad with Apples, Pecans, and Blue Cheese

***

Fresh Pineapple

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Ice Cream

That cake was great, by the way. I spread the calories around the neighborhood, giving away several pieces. I used 2/3 cup each of whole spelt flour, plain white flour, and Bob's Red Mill Baking Mix. It dried out a bit the next day, but ice cream helped with that.

For general information, I make guacamole in the food processor, using 1 clove garlic, 4 fresh roasted green chiles (or a can), 2 green onions, 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, 2 avocados, seasoned with juice of a lime and salt. All to taste.

Then Dad requested carnitas for Sunday dinner with Grandma. I've had good versions in restaurants, but my favorite Mexican cookbooks basically directed me to boil pork chunks in lard until tender and brown. Not really my style. I ended up with an internet recipe which simmered the pork until tender, then browned it for a half hour in the oven. Not too bad--perhaps a little more fat was called for, but good.

Oh yeah, the evils of entertaining: it makes you fat. I tend to make lots of food and show off, and enjoy myself and eat dessert, etc.

Mothers Day Celebration

We had an exceptional Mothers Day today. First we drove with Grandma to Saguaro National Park. The cacti were all in bloom to celebrate. Some of the arms of the saguaro had a burst of blossoms at the end, and looked as if they were holding out a bouquet.

After our drive we returned home to champagne and a deli feast for lunch. I don't buy prepared foods very often, but there is a gourmet grocery store near us with a stellar deli counter, and I was busy all day yesterday adjudicating at a piano festival.

Our menu: pickled herring in sour cream; black peppercorn pate; cold teriyaki salmon; broccoli salad; rice and artichoke salad; thinly sliced baguette and Ry Krisp. This was followed by homemade Baked Alaska. We all had a nap after.

Happy Mothers Day to all.

A Good Dinner Party

We had our friends Ken and Melanie and their baby Andrew over for dinner last Sunday (you can see Andrew's foot in the top left of the picture above). We didn't make plans until Sunday morning, and I happened to have bought enough food during my big weekly Saturday grocery run to cover dinner. It was a fun, spontaneous meal, and much more tasty and successful than dinner parties I've spent all week planning.

Here's what we made, clockwise from top left:

• Salad with fresh orange sections, walnuts, cinnamon, and an orange juice vinaigrette, modeled entirely after your own Moroccan salad. I don't have your recipe, but I guessed, and it turned out very well.
• Chicken wings marinated by Lawson in a mysterious blend that contained star anise and honey and who knows what else and then grilled slowly over charcoal.
• Those white beans with rosemary that I continue to be obsessed with.
• Shrimp, red and yellow peppers, and onions marinated, grilled over high heat, and then tossed with cilantro, more lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

We didn't even miss the starch, because the beans seemed to fill that gap. Even Andrew the Baby tried a bite of beans. He also ate mashed avocado that his parents brought from home.

Cooking All Day

I feel like I've been cooking all the livelong day (you know that song: I've been working on the railroad, all the livelong day. It was in the Golden Book of Songs we all knew when we were young. I'm pretty sure everyone from the Midwest and North could join in the chorus on that particular song. Is it still in the conciousness of your generation?)

I made a lentil salad and an almond tart for lunch with Grandma and John and Kathy. Then I went home and made an enormous French chocolate tart and a rum cake for my student recital tomorrow.

We were lucky enough to have leftover meatloaf from Grandma's lunch, so we didn't have to cook dinner, except for a big batch of beets from the garden. The variety Dad plants is Red Ace.

Have I ever made this salad for you? Just open up your spice cupboard and put in some of everything.

Curried Lentil Salad

1 lb dried lentils

Cook until barely tender, not mushy! This depends a lot on whether you use green or red lentils. Drain.

½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup wine or balsamic vinegar, or a combination
1 tablespoon sweetener (sugar, honey, etc.)
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon mace
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Whisk together the above dressing ingredients. Combine gently with the lentils and marinate all day, or overnight.

1 or 2 hours before serving time, add:

½ cup dried currants
1/3 cup capers
¾ cup finely chopped red onion
Optional: 1 or 2 cups cooked quinoa (this makes the salad milder and lighter, if desired)

Second Annual Tapas Night and Family Gathering

We gathered in Tucson again and spent one night drinking and making tapas (here are last year's posts on Tapas Night). This time Russell and Brittany were in on it, too. I'm still in Tucson on vacation...hence the lack of posts this past week.

Dad made margaritas. He squeezes tiny Mexican limes one by one, then mixes 4 parts good tequila, 1 part lime juice, and 1 part triple sec. They are like martinis, fierce and amazing and totally unlike your average sweet frozen margarita.

For the first course, Russell made a big batch of baba ghanoush. We ate it with Ak Mak crackers. Lawson sauteed fresh coconut with salt and fresh hot chile -- a Fijian dish he learned about from a friend who once lived and worked there.

For the second round of food, Grandma made whole wheat bread with sweet butter.Mom (you? I never know how to phrase these co-posts) made a green bean and tomato salad. And I made white lima beans with garlic and fresh rosemary. Here is my recipe:

Rinse 2 cups dried white beans -- cannellini, lima, or great Northern -- and put them in a crockpot. Cover by 2 inches of water -- no more. Cook on high for 2 to 4 hours, until the beans are beginning to soften, and add several tablespoons olive oil, 3 6-inch springs of fresh rosemary, and two big smashed garlic cloves. Add water at any point to keep things slightly moist. After a few more hours, add salt to taste. During the last hour or two, add more water here and there to make a white sauce for the beans. Add black pepper before serving.


The last main course was by my mom: avocados filled with crabmeat and avocado, dressed with lime juice and maybe some other secret things.

For dessert we had date bars and fresh fruit, I think. Here is Russell finishing off the grapes.

But around that time Russell also started making bourbon sours, so I don't completely remember. Coincidentally, my pictures became quite silly around that same time. Most are too silly to post.

Here is Russell's bourbon sour recipe as written that night.

All in all, it was a successful evening.

Birthday Dinner Party

We had some friends over Thursday for a pretty simple meal: grilled salmon, ginger-scallion noodles, and steamed sesame broccolini. And because it was a birthday dinner, and the birthday boy (what's the adult equivalent of that term? Birthdayed one? Birthdayee?) can't eat dairy, for dessert we had a dairy-free chocolate mousse cake with lemon sorbet and raspberries.

I made the cake the night before, and everything else was pretty easy to fix after work, so it was a good stress-free night. I wish the food had been a little more interesting, but we had fun. It went well with beer and Jameson.

Every time I take a picture of food, Lawson tries to stick his finger in the frame. So I'll give him this one. Let's hope it doesn't encourage him to greater heights of interference.

And as promised, Mom, here is the beautiful platter you and Dad gave me piled high with noodles. I love it.

Pork Feast

My brother, his girlfriend, and my parents are all visiting us here in Columbia. For the first big meal, Lawson smoked a pork butt and some pork ribs. He went to work; I took the day off, and we all monitored the smoker all day. With the pork we served sliced garden tomatoes, steamed okra, white corn grits, and Lawson's homemade mustard-based barbecue sauce.

We ate outside. It was hot, and we were supplied with the other usual South Carolina outdoor hazards: here is Russell picking a fruit fly out of his wine.

Tapas

While Eva and Lawson were visiting us we decided to have a tapas evening, with everyone contributing one or two dishes. There were a few times during the day when it threatened to escalate into an Iron Chef competition, but we got through that.

We started out on the patio with fresh garden crudites (baby carrots, radishes, and snow peas) by Dick, served with aioli. Grandma brought a plate of cold sliced sausages garnished with grapes.

Next was Grandma’s homemade bread spread with aioli (homemade garlic/olive oil mayonnaise) and topped with sauteed mushrooms seasoned with sherry.

I’m beginning to forget the order here—but I think next was my squash-filled empanadas with chimichurri sauce. At the same time Eva presented two brilliantly colored salads: sliced baked beets dressed with orange juice beside marinated cucumbers with sesame oil and lemon.

Just when we were beginning to flag, Lawson served his Vietnamese shrimp cakes, made with shrimp, chickpea flour, and lots of ginger, and served with two sauces: one Thai sweet chili sauce and one yogurt-cilantro. These were beautifully plated with a dusting of herbs and a painting of the chili sauce.

For dessert we had Eva’s vanilla pudding, cardamom-infused and made with heavy cream!

There was constant cooking and dishwashing throughout the evening. We had a great time. I am recording the empanada dough recipe here, because it was spectacularly easy to make and handle. It’s from the February 2007 Cuisine at Home magazine.

Empanada Dough

2 ½ cups flour
½ cup butter, chilled
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar

Pulse together in food processor until crumbly.

1/3 cup cold water
1 egg

Add water and egg and pulse until dough forms ball. (I rested the dough in the refrigerator for an hour, but the recipe doesn’t call for it).

Form into 6 balls. Roll each into a 7-inch circle. Fill, fold in half, and seal with a fork. Brush with a little beaten egg and bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, until golden.

Traditional Food

Last night I made meatloaf using Grandma's recipe, plus baked buttercup squash (I'm really excited about squash right now) and steamed green beans tossed with olive oil and zest from those Meyer lemons you and Dad sent me. The lemons are wonderful! I'm going to make lemon meringue pie with some later today.

We're having Thanksgiving on Friday with Lawson's family, including a lot of older extended family -- a very conservative, unsmiling bunch who ignore us for the most part, though there are some fun younger cousins. Like last year, Lawson and I have been delegated the task of preparing everything but the turkey and dessert. Right now we're in the middle of menu negotiations. I would happily forgo stuffing and white potatoes and such, but we have to keep it pretty traditional.

So far we've decided on: mashed sweet potatoes (butter, orange zest, rum); some kind of stuffing with pecans and sausage; cranberry-orange relish (I can't have Thanksgiving without it...don't know if anyone else likes it); scalloped potatoes; and collards cooked for many hours with a ham hock. We want to make green beans...Lawson was looking at a green bean casserole recipe with added sausage, and I suggested we find a simpler, fresher recipe, but he didn't think that would fly. So we're still working on that one. I just want one dish without cream, butter, sugar, or meat.

I think cooking and eating this meal will break me out of the traditional American food phase I've been in lately. I didn't grow up eating things like meatloaf and pot roast very often -- I remember some Kraft dinner and hamburger hash early on, but for the most part you always cooked homemade breads and garden vegetables and wonderful light ethnic foods. Also, being a vegetarian from ages 11 to 25 meant I never ate things like sloppy joes or corn dogs. I think it's been partly living in the South, partly eating meat again, and partly curiosity, but for the last year I've been making and eating very classic American foods. Lawson excels at making Thai and Vietnamese and Chinese and Indian stuff, so I've been making pies and hamburgers. But after tomorrow's looming cholesterolfest I will probably be done with traditional foods for a while.

Pianists for dinner

We had a dinner party Friday night—not the best timing, since I had an orchestra job for the next two Sundays.

The walking-around course:
--honeydew slices with lime wedges and chile powder for dipping
--plain fresh cherry tomatoes
--a little molded appetizer with layers of pesto, feta/cream cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes/Kalamata olives, served with Ak-Mak crackers. I thought this was kind of overdone, like a magazine recipe, but people fell on it and devoured it.

The party included four piano teachers, so for entertainment Ron and I played Schubert’s Variations on an Original Theme (op. 82 #2) for piano duet and Nancy played a Scarlatti sonata.

The Main Course
--Pulled pork with Carolina vinegar mustard sauce
--spicy cole slaw
--baked sweet potato sticks
--corn bread (with stone-ground cornmeal we bought at a state park in Georgia)

And then, Baked Alaska Pie, which I learned from Grandma Oty. I used a graham cracker crust which included ½ cup crushed pretzels and ¼ cup ground pecans; one quart of coffee ice cream; and a three-egg white meringue. Lots of ice cream flavors are good in Baked Alaska, but coffee and coconut are our favorites.

Dick grew the basil, the cherry tomatoes, and the limes.

Tonight we’re having king crab legs, homemade whole wheat bread, and a salad with blue cheese dressing. Here’s the recipe for the simplest and best salad dressing you’ll ever make:

1 cup mayo
1 cup buttermilk
1 clove minced garlic
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
Mix. Serve.

We went to the Mexican grocery store near us this morning and bought bags of fresh produce—tangerines, pears, leeks, collard greens, yellow squash, a pineapple—and 8 pounds of fresh-roasted green chiles. It’s our third batch of chiles this fall. I let them cool and then peeled them and portioned them into little ziploc baggies, and tossed them in the freezer. I use them instead of cans of green chiles.

We had our favorite Breakfast of Champions this morning—quesadilla made with a whole wheat tortilla, cheese, and a fresh roasted green chile. Canned green salsa. Tomato garnish. Banana, leftover honeydew slices. Lots of strong black coffee. Sunday paper.

Then, off to the orchestra concert. The first piece went well, with very little trembling of fingers or missed entrances. We had a few problems in the second, but since it was a contemporary kind of amorphous piece, the audience noticed nothing. Unfortunately the composer was present and he probably noticed plenty. I enjoyed it. I like playing when the group experience is more important than wondering what the audience thinks.