If You Give Your Sister a Baby Shower...

....she'll probably want you to do a vintage-themed tea party with all homemade food. So you get in the car, drive three hours to Detroit Metro Airport, fly in a completely packed DC-9 to LaGuardia even though you are not a good flier, get picked up in the Nissan Sentra, ride over the Triborough and the GW headed to Stony Point, NY. You get to stop briefly for an incredible dinner at Sonny & Tony's. Our Stuffed Rigatoni Bolognese, Ravioli ala Vodka Sauce and Eggplant Rollatini were absolutely divine!

The next morning you get up early, enjoy a quick breakfast at Bagel Boy and get to your shopping list. You hope the sketchy Shop Rite on the way will have everything you need, but it doesn't, so you end up going to the other Shop Rite anyway. The good news is that you get to visit the fabulous Rockland Bakery for the Panel, Italian loaves, sliced loaves and whoops, there are three Napoleons in the bag for a "light lunch"! After lunch, off you go to Sloatsburg to start in on the salads, gingersnaps, and lemon butter cookies. You work all afternoon, and pick up a delicious NY Pizza on the way back to Stony Point. You get an excellent and much-needed haircut from your favorite stylist. You chat and cackle with your beloved mom and sister and then fall into bed.

It's Shower Morning and Go Time! Get up, shower, load an obscene amount of supplies into the Sentra, stop in Sloatsburg to load still more supplies, then head to Bloomfield, NJ for the shower extroadinaire. The kitchen is located a mountain goat steep flight of stairs below the great room where the shower will take place, but thankfully, there are NO accidents with food platters or getting great Aunt Josie up and down the stairs. You spend the morning in the kitchen fast and furiously making tiny tea sandwiches with Kat and Marianna. It's a race to the finish, but you are done in time and the table spread looks spectacular!

Menu:

Chicken Salad Rounds Rolled in Smoked Almonds

Marianna's Excellent Egg Salad Triangles

Cucumber, Watercress and Chive Cream Cheese Triangles

Fresh Mozzerella, Tomato and Basil on Italian

Fresh Fruit Salad

Salad Greens With Balsamic Dressing

Ginger Snaps

Tea Biscuits

Lemon Butter Cookies

Mini Cupcakes from Two Little Red Hens in Manhattan

Old Fashioned Candies

Old Fashioned Punch

and Tea, of course!

Chicken Salad Rounds

Cooked Shredded Chicken

Hellmann's Mayo

Fresh Tarragon

smoked almonds, chopped in food processor

Combine chicken, mayo, tarragon

(do not make the chicken salad too moist)

Spread on bread

Cut into rounds

Spread more mayo around the outside of the sandwich

Roll in smoked almonds

Cucumber Watercress Triangles

Chopped fresh chives

Whipped cream cheese

Cucumbers

Watercress

Combine cream cheese and fresh chives

spread on both slices of bread

cover one slice of bread with paper thin sliced cucumber

top with watercress and coated bread

Cut off crusts and cut into triangles

Fresh Mozzerella, Tomato, Basil

Loaf of Italian bread, sliced, toasted or untoasted

Sliced fresh mozzerella (must be FRESH mozzerella)

Sliced Roma tomatoes

Fresh basil leaves

Layer cheese, tomatoes and basil leaves

Our cheese was so good we did not need to add salt and pepper

Corned Beef and Cabbage

This weekend we celebrated our Irish heritage by making a traditional meal of corned beef brisket, potatoes, carrots and cabbage. My maiden name is "Calkins" and I am descended from the Irish immigrants that settled in America during the great potato famine. The luck of the Irish indeed! Please enjoy a selection from the Irish folk rock band, The Corrs, while you put together the ingredients for this simple meal...

1 corned beef brisket (good sale prices abound around St. Patrick's Day)
red potatoes peeled and quartered
carrots peeled and cut into chunks
an onion quartered
a head of cabbage
red wine vinegar (instead of vinegar and some of the water, I've heard a bottle of Guiness gives good results)

Cover the bottom of a large crockpot with the potatoes, carrots and onion
Set the brisket on top of the veggies, add a few splashes of vinegar and enough water to come up around the brisket, sprinkle the contents of the brisket's included spice packet on top.

Cook all day on low or 5-6 hours on high.
core the cabbage and cut it into wedges
put it into a pot with some of the stock from the crockpot
Bring to boiling and steam until the cabbage is the consistency you enjoy.

Get a big platter, put the brisket on it surround by the vegetables, pour a little of the broth over everything. Serve with the extra broth and some Irish soda bread. I will find, test, and post a recipe for the bread at a later time.

Sláinte Mhaith!

Potage Parmentier (Leek and Potato Soup)

We sling a lot of soup on Let's Stay Home Tonight! There is something incredibly comforting about a warm bowl of home brewed soup. If you've lived through a long Midwestern winter or something similar, you'll know that soup is as close to therapy that a food can get. This winter, on one of those days that the snow was blowing in horizontal sheets, I rented Julie & Julia. The story of the modern day blogger was entertaining, but the lady that really swept me off my feet was Julia Child as played by Meryl Streep. After the movie, I scoured the internet for JC recipes, ordered her autobiography, My Life in France and of course the quintessential guide to classic French cooking, Mastering The Art of French Cooking. Obsession, thy name is Julia Child! I think what drew me in as much as mentally flying away to 1950's-60's France, was Julia's absolute enjoyment of life. So today in her honor, we are posting the very first recipe in the cookbook. It is such a simple recipe but you will be pleasantly surprised by the lovely flavor marriage of potato and leek.

A 3 to 4 quart saucepan

3 to 4 cups or 1 pound peeled potatoes, diced or sliced

3 cups or 1 pound thinly sliced leeks including the tender green

2 quarts of water

1 TB salt (we used a bit less)

4 to 5 tablespoons whipping cream or 2 to 3 TB softened butter

2 to 3 TB minced parsley or chives

You can also add a bit of carrot or other vegetable you think would go well. In LSHT's test kitchen, we added a bit of diced carrot in with the potatoes and leeks.

Simmer the vegetables, water, and salt together partially covered for about 40 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Mash the vegetables in the soup with a fork or pass the soup through a food mill. (We pureed in a blender). Taste and adjust seasoning. Off heat and just before serving, stir in the cream or butter by spoonfuls. Pour into soup bowls/cups and decorate with the herbs.

Michael and the girls devoured this soup thankfully and reverently (the reverently might have been in my imagination) along with bread and salad. As Julia would say, Bon Appetit!

Donna Marie Red Sauce

The original east coast Italian Red Gravy....our first recipe came from dear friends of our family and is thus named. You gotta have a good tomato sauce--it's foundational for true pasta lovers! Serve it with spaghetti, add meatballs, use it in baked ziti or lasagna. The possibilities are endless.

Saute a few cloves of garlic and a sweet onion in enough olive oil to cover bottom of pot.

Brown Italian sausage (italian turkey sausage will work too)--sweet or mild unless you like it hot--and ground beef, any combination up to 2 pounds. If you do homemade meatballs add them after the sauce has cooked for the first hour. Sometimes I make it lighter with just a pound of meat. Good results can also be obtained omitting the meat and making a vegetarian sauce.

Add:
3 large cans (28 ounce size) crushed tomatoes
3 large cans (28 ounce size) tomato puree
Put one or two shredded carrots in sauce to sweeten--I usually saute this with the garlic and onion instead. Jim & Kat add a little diced celery to the saute mix. Make it your own, baby!

Add spices to taste- basil, parsley, a PINCH of oregano, salt and pepper.
NOW the fun part - add 1/2 cup of red wine or more if you like. Probably wouldn't hurt to pour a glass for the chef too!

Cover and cook on low for 3 hours - careful not to scorch.

Additional notes: I often make this with only 4 cans total of tomatoes. You can use just about any combination of tomatoes in a pinch, although the sauce consistency will vary according to the type used. Also, the type of wine used in the sauce will bring subtle differences in flavor from batch to batch. I still fondly remember a batch of sauce we made with a fabulous Pinot Noir!

Chicken Chili for Tired People Who Don't Feel Like Cooking Tonight

We must confess....there are some nights that is just feels right to open jars, simmer and serve. So just say no to $5.99 Hot n Ready Pizza and whip yourself up a batch of this surprisingly delightful tasting Chicken Chili.

A couple cups of cooked, shredded chicken meat.

(alternatively a large tin or two of canned chicken)
1 can of chicken broth
1 large jar of Randall’s Great Northern Beans
1 jar of salsa (12-16 oz)
Cumin to taste
Can of chopped green chiles
You can add extra chicken broth and/or salsa to get the consistency you like.

Combine it all in a pot and simmer for an hour or so. Serve--must top with shredded cheese, sour cream and chopped green onions!

I’ve also experimented with a crock pot version using a bag of dry beans (soaked overnight) then put ingredients in the crockpot, of course adding water, and maybe extra chicken broth or bouillion. This should probably cook on low for a long day—10 hours or so to get the beans tender.

Last time I put about 5 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast halves in the crockpot with taco seasoning and maybe a quarter or half cup of water, and cooked on low for about 7 hours. Shredded the chicken and used some of it for soft tacos, and some for the shredded chicken in this recipe. Skipped the cumin this time—it turned out pretty tasty too.

Cavatelli with Mushroom Ragu

From the pantry:

1 package(s) (1/2-ounce) dried porcini mushrooms
2 tablespoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon(s) garlic paste
1 jar(s) (25-ounce) tomato-basil or marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon(s) kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon(s) freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pound(s) frozen cavatelli pasta or dried orecchiette pasta
1 cup(s) part-skim ricotta cheese
Freshly grated or shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

More Pantry Staples

Fresh ingredients:
2 ounce(s) sliced pancetta, chopped
4 shallots, halved, thinly sliced
1 package(s) (10-ounce) cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 package(s) (8-ounce) white mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup(s) finely chopped Italian parsley
1 tablespoon(s) minced fresh rosemary

Accompaniment:
Mixed green salad with vinaigrette dressing (optional)

Directions

Soak porcini mushrooms in 1 cup boiling water 15 minutes, or until softened. Drain through a sieve lined with a paper towel, reserving mushroom water. Finely chop mushrooms. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil for pasta.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a heavy 5-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pancetta, shallots, and porcini mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes, or until shallots have softened. Add cremini and white mushrooms, parsley, rosemary, and garlic; sauté 8 minutes, or until mushrooms are a rich golden brown. Pour reserved mushroom water into mushroom mixture; boil 5 minutes, until all liquid has evaporated.

Add tomato sauce and bring to a simmer; simmer uncovered 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; keep warm.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to package directions. Drain; add to sauce and toss to coat well; cook, stirring 1 minute, so that pasta absorbs some sauce. Serve immediately, topped with ricotta and grated cheese, with a mixed green salad with vinaigrette dressing, if desired.