Kentucky Hot Brown!

I think this MAY be the most delicious thing I have ever made, eaten, seen, smelled or otherwise come in any contact with over the course of my entire life.  This, my friends, is called a Kentucky Hot Brown, and my only regret is that I have gotten to the ripe old age of...well, never mind...and this is the first time I have eaten one.  I have a lot of catching up to do.

Here's how this all happened.   Back around Thanksgiving, I found a recipe in the New York Times for a very unusual way of cooking turkey.  I finally got around to making it, and let's just say that it involved a lot of Saran Wrap, a meat thermometer and a steam bath for the turkey,  and the stress of it all took about five years off my life.  But it resulted in some outstanding tasting turkey.  Because of the stress part I am not going to do one of my usual blog posts about it, but if you want to live life on the edge, turkey-wise, you can find the recipe by clicking here. The rest of you can either make your turkey the normal way, or even get some from your friendly neighborhood deli counter - just make sure they slice it thick, about 1/4 inch or so.

Anyhow, as is usually the case with any turkey-cooking, I ended up with a whole lot of leftovers, and I dimly remembered that I had heard of something called a Hot Brown that called for sliced cooked turkey.  Googling ensued.  Soon I found the original recipe for it, which dates back to a dish from the 1920's at the Brown Hotel in Kentucky.  This recipe called for a QUART of heavy cream, and that was enough to stop even me in my tracks.  So I moved on to Bobby Flay's version of it, which is not slenderizing by any means, but at least uses milk instead of the cream.

To cut to the chase, what you are putting together here is this: a piece of french toast that is topped with sliced turkey, sliced tomato and a succulent cheddar cheese sauce.  You run the whole thing under the broiler, lay a couple slices of bacon on top, sprinkle with some chopped parsley, and there you have it.  A Kentucky Hot Brown.

Do not let one more second go by without having this yourself.  It's worth roasting a turkey just to have leftovers to make this baby.  Kentucky Hot Brown...you heard it here first!

Kentucky Hot Brown, adapted from Bobby Flay's recipe

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups grated sharp white Cheddar
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• Pinch freshly ground nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the egg bread:

• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• Salt
• 8 (1/2-inch) thick slices good day old white bread
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

For assembly:

• Roasted turkey breast, sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
• 3 ripe beefsteak tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices and griddled until slightly charred and just cooked through
• 1 1/2 cups grated sharp white Cheddar
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 16 thick slices slab bacon, cooked until crisp
• Finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

For the sauce:

Melt butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk, bring to a boil and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and the flour has cooked out, about 4 to 5 minutes. Whisk in cheese and cook until the cheese has melted. Season with nutmeg and salt and pepper, to taste.

For the egg bread:

Whisk together the eggs, milk and salt in a medium bowl. Dip each slice of bread in the mixture and let sit about 30 seconds, or until completely soaked through.  Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a large nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat. Cook 4 slices of the bread at a time until golden brown on both sides. Remove and place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bread.

For assembly:

Preheat broiler. Place the egg bread on a baking sheet.  Top each slice of bread with 2 to 3 slices of turkey and 2 slices of tomato, ladle sauce over the top and divide the cheddar cheese and Parmesan over the top of each slice. Place under the broiler and cook until bubbly and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven, top each slice with 1-2 slices of bacon and sprinkle each slice with parsley.

Click here for printable recipe

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Okay, so this is the time of year I start to get panicky about my herbs. I have these great whiskey barrels right outside my kitchen door, and every Mother's Day weekend I plant them full of basil and rosemary and parsley and thyme and sage and tarragon. They are fabulous in June, and wonderful in May. Around mid-August, though, they start getting ornery. Some of them are struggling in the heat, and some of them are getting tall and woody and tough-looking. It's a sure sign that the summer is slowly working its way towards fall, and I go into herb-panic, trying to use 'em or lose'em before that first frost hits.



I know, it's 98 degrees outside and I am worrying about frost, but that's just the kind of calm, laid-back person I am.

Anyway, this recipe is a great way to match up steak cooked on the grill (yumyumyum) with some of those fresh herbs made into a quick and easy sauce that also has a fun name.   Chimichurri sauce - say THAT three times fast.   Chimichurri is a snap to make - you drop a handful of parsley into your trusty food processor or blender, add some garlic, some red wine vinegar, garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes and salt.  Push the button and thirty seconds later you have a fresh and delicious sauce with just a little bite to it.  Even the Southern husband, who is a card-carrying member of the Steak Is Perfectly Fine Without Any Annoying Sauce On It Club loved this.  So much so that when I was putting the leftover steak away, he made sure that I put the leftover sauce on top of it.  That's when I knew for dang sure I had a hit on my hands.

So, go use those herbs before the snow flies.

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

• One flank steak
• 1 cup fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil (more as needed)

1. Season steak with salt and pepper and grill to your liking, about 5 minutes per side for medium rare.

2. While steak is resting after being grilled, make chimichurra sauce: add all ingredients except olive oil to food processor and process until parsley and garlic are well-chopped.  Add olive oil in a steady stream through processor tube until the sauce is a nice thick consistency.

3. Slice steak against the grain, and garnish with sauce.

Click here for printable recipe

Lobster Pie

One of my very favorite cookbooks is one called POT PIES: COMFORT FOOD UNDER COVER. It is full of recipes for, you guessed it, pot pies...but not just the typical kind with the pastry crust. Nope, in this fabulous book basically anything that involves something covering the main ingredient counts as a pot pie, so this cookbook includes Shellfish Pie with Artichoke Crust. And Shepherd's Pie Topped With Garlic Mashed Potatoes. And Tuscan Braised Pork Pie with Polenta Crust.

But my very, very favorite recipe in this book is for something that is simply called Lobster Pie. So let me explain this one a little. It is actually Lobster Pie with a Buttered Parmesan Parsley Breadcrumb Topping.

I know.

I know!

You take two lobsters (which your supermarket has steamed for you and your significant other has shelled for you) and cut the meat into pieces, and heat it up in a sauce made out of butter and flour and clam juice and sherry and cream, and pour it into an oven-safe dish. You probably won't need all the sauce -- just use your best judgement to see how much you need to make it sauced but not too soupy.



Then you take some nice bread - I used french bread -- and whiz it up in your food processor. Add some melted butter and chopped parsley and fresh grated Parmesan cheese to the crumbs and spread it over your lobster mixture.



Bake it all up until the crumbs are golden.



I promise you, it is all you hope and dream it will be.

Lobster Pie, adapted from POT PIES: COMFORT FOOD UNDER COVER.

• 4 tablespoons butter, plus 6 tablespoons melted
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups clam juice
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 lobsters, cooked, shelled and meat cut into chunks
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups soft french bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan and add flour, whisking until smooth. Gradually whisk in the clam stock until the sauce is smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes or so.

2. Add sherry and cream and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add lobster. Taste sauce and add salt and pepper to taste. Using slotted spoon, transfer lobster to oven-proof casserole and spoon just enough sauce over to cover the lobster without making it too soupy.

3. Preheat oven to 375. Place bread crumbs, parsley and cheese in mixing bowl, pour melted butter over top and mix thoroughly. Spread crumbs over lobster.

4. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crumbs are golden. Serve immediately.

Click here for printable recipe.

Spaghetti with Garlic Bread Crumb Wine Sauce

This is one of my favorite pasta recipes ever, and every time I make this one the Southern husband and I look at each other and say, why don't we make this more often? But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I am VERY fond of how this looks, tastes, and is so very easy to throw together at the end of a long day.

And even better, odds are you have everything you need to make it at the spur of the moment. Any long strand pasta will do, although I think good old spaghetti works best. Bread for the bread crumbs -- any kind you have on hand. Butter. White wine. Fresh parsley. Parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper. All stuff I highly recommend having in your kitchen at all times...and if you don't, I recommend going out to get whatever is missing JUST to make this delicious little dish, which is great on its own or as a side dish for grilled chicken or fish.

The sauce is made by melting up butter, garlic, white wine and a little salt. Meantime, you make the breadcrumbs by whirling whatever bread you have on hand in the food processor, adding a little butter and white wine, laying it all out on a cookie sheet and toasting it in the oven. Don't worry if your crumbs are a little mushy before they are toasted, I promise they will cook up to be golden and crispy, and you will have to have a stern talk with yourself about snacking on them before they go in the sauce.

Then all you have to do is cook the pasta and toss it with the sauce, some parsley and grated parmesan and those perfect little crumbs. Save some of the crumbs to sprinkle on top and give the whole thing a good grinding of black pepper. Comfort Food Extraordinaire.

SPAGHETTI WITH GARLIC BREAD CRUMB WINE SAUCE

• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (2 slices bread chopped in food processor)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with foil.

2. Mix bread crumbs, melted butter and 2 tablespoons wine with salt in small bowl and spread in one layer on cookie sheet. (Don't worry if it's mushy).

3. Bake about 12 minutes or until golden.

4. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente.

5. Meanwhile again, heat butter, garlic, 1 tablespoon water and one teaspoon salt in small skillet for about 3 minutes until butter is melted and garlic is starting to turn golden. Stir in wine and simmer two minutes.

6. Toss together pasta, wine sauce, crumbs, parsley and cheese. Serve immediately.

Click here for printable recipe

Linguine with Clam Sauce

Here is another one from my current favorite cookbook, THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS by the amazing and tireless Ree Drummond. If you don't yet have a copy of this cookbook, run...do not walk...to your nearest bookstore and get it. I have now worked my way through about half the recipes in this book and they all ROCK.

What I love most about this cookbook is that it takes dishes you have probably made 100 times before and tweaks them just enough to make them special and delicious, but not so far that you don't recognize them. Take this linguine with clam sauce, for example. All the usual, comfortingly familiar ingredients...the pasta, the chopped clams, the parsley...and then this recipe adds heavy cream and lemon. Not a huge change, but man, does it make a difference. All those other linguine with clam sauce recipes I have got tossed out the window.

So if you, like I, are a die-hard lover of linguine with clam sauce and think you have seen it all, give this one a try. And even if you aren't, give this one a try. Trust me!

LINGUINE WITH CLAM SAUCE, from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

• 1 pound linguine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 ten ounce cans chopped clams, drained and juice reserved
• 3/4 cup white wine
• Juice of 1/2 lemon, plus lemon slices for garnish
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• Grated parmesan

1. Cook the linguine according to package directions until al dente.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil and one tablespoon butter over high heat. Add garlic and clams and cook for 3 minutes.

3. Pour in the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan with spoon. Cook for 3-4 minutes until sauce is reduced. Add remaining butter and stir to melt.

4. Reduce heat and squeeze in the lemon juice. Sprinkle in parsley and add the cream.

5. Add salt and pepper. Thin sauce with clam juice if needed.

6. Pour pasta into heated bowl. Pour the sauce on straight from the skillet. Toss to combine, and garnish with lemon slices and parmesan cheese.

Click here for printable recipe

Shrimp in Gorgonzola Sauce

Shrimp, shrimp, shrimp....what else can I tell you about shrimp that I haven't said a hundred times before?

Here's my shrimp video, in case you missed it last time...

I kind of can't believe I made this whole shrimp slideshow extravaganza without including this recipe, which I love with a passion and which I have been making ever since the Southern husband and I were first engaged, lo those many years ago. It is still as scrumptious as it was back then, and is one of those easy, reliable, elegant recipes that you will go to again and again...at least, I do. So for all you shrimp-lovers out there, here's one of my all-time favorites.

SHRIMP IN GORGONZOLA SAUCE

• 10 ounces large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
• Chopped fresh parsley
• Fresh ground pepper

1. Melt butter with garlic in large pan over medium high heat, and saute shrimp until opaque. Add cheese and lemon juice and stir until cheese is just melted.

2. Serve over rice, garnished with parsley and fresh ground pepper

Click here for printable recipe

One Bowl Chicken Souvlaki

I am a sucker for any recipe that has "one bowl" in the title. And this particular one comes from one of my favorite go-to cookbooks for those crazy weeknights when you come home and you pretty much have no time whatsover to get dinner on the table...or maybe you have the time but you would rather spend it elsewhere...and that is DINNER DOCTOR. The philosophy of this particular cookbook is that it is perfectly fine to use a few convenience foods in the preparation of your delicious home-cooked meal, thereby speeding whatever it is along just a little more quickly to the dinner table.

Ironically, this specific recipe actually doesn't include any convenience foods -- unless you count the fact that I sent the Southern husband out into the dead of winter to grill the chicken breasts, so that they were conveniently all nice and cooked when I was ready to make dinner. (My honey. Neither rain nor snow nor dead of night will keep the man from his grill.) Once you have some nice cooked chicken -- and I cannot lie, the grilled variety makes this dish just perfection -- you are about 10 short minutes away from suppertime.

So here's the drill. Take one bowl. Tear up your lovely grilled or otherwise cooked chicken into bite-sized piece. Into the bowl with it. Add in some chopped up cucumber, some chopped scallions, some capers, and some halved cherry tomatoes. Mix together some crumbled feta cheese and plain yogurt and toss in a little dried oregano and add this to the bowl. Mix it up good. Now divide it among the plates, top it with a grinding of fresh pepper and some chopped parsley, lay some pita bread on the plate...that's it. You're done. You're happy. And you still have the whole night in front of you!

ONE BOWL CHICKEN SOUVLAKI, adapted from Dinner Doctor

• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 2 large cucumbers, chopped
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• Pita bread (you could also use naan bread)

1. Combine chicken, cucumbers, scallions, capers and tomatoes in bowl.

2. Mix up feta and yogurt -- you can do this by hand if you like chunkier dressing or in a food processor if you like it smooth. Mix in the oregano.

3. Pour dressing over chicken mixture and stir just to coat. Sprinkle with pepper and parsley and serve with pita bread.

Click here for printable recipe

Roasted Garlic and Brie Soup

First of all, check out the ADORABLE little crock that the soup is in. That is part of a set of La Crueset crocks from my indispensable, wonderful, beautiful assistant, who is the most upbeat and efficient person I know, and who cheerfully tries all the many and varied and sometimes strange samples I cook up and leave on her desk. Aren't these little serving dishes great? Get used to them, they are my new favorites, and today they are home to one of my new favorite soups: roasted garlic and Brie soup.

This one is super easy and super delicious, and except for the roasting-of-the-garlic part, pretty time efficient as soups go. Don't be frightened by the fact that this recipe calls for two entire heads of garlic. When you roast garlic the way we are going to do, it takes the sharp edge off of the garlic taste, and we are left with smooth, buttery, gentle garlicky goodness. Promise.

The rest of the this soup is a mixture of minced veggies, chicken broth, herbs and Brie cheese. The softer the Brie, the more it will melt into the soup. I used a medium soft Brie, which meant that I had a few soft chunks of cheese left in mine, which was a-ok with me and the Southern husband, but if you like a smoother soup just use a really soft Brie and it will melt into perfect smoothness. You can't miss either way.

So here you go, the perfect marriage of garlic and Brie, all in one easy soup. Give it a try!

ROASTED GARLIC AND BRIE SOUP, adapted from Cooking Light

• 2 large heads of garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 7 ounces Brie, rind removed and chopped
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finelly chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup flour
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper

1. Peel the outer white skin from the garlic. Cut off the top 1/3 of each garlic head and place, cut side up, on a foil lined cooking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and bake for 1 hour at 350. Remove, cool 10 minutes and squeeze the pulp from each clove. (This will not take anywhere NEAR as long as it sounds, don't worry.) Set aside.

2. Cook celery, onion and carrot in remaining olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

3. Add flour and stir until smooth. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring often.

4. Put garlic pulp and one cup soup mixture in food processor and process until smooth. Returm processed mixture to pot and add all of thyme and 1 tablespoon parsley. Bring to a simmer.

5. Add cheese and stir until melted. Season to taste, and serve at once, garnished with the rest of the parsley.

Click here for printable recipe

Mussels Ravigote!

I am always SO excited when I go to a restaurant and see the following item on the menu:

"Moules Frite"

Because the translation of that is "mussels with french fries," and I adore mussels with french fries. I adore mussels in general, as you know if you have read this, and this, and this. So when you add french fries to the mix...well, you have me at hello.

This recipe goes a teeny tiny bit over my "done in 30 minutes or less or the Jacksons don't eat it" rule, but that is only because the fries need to cook for about 25 minutes to get to that wonderful crispy golden state of done-ness. And while they are cooking you can leisurely go about tossing together the super-simple mussels part of the recipe, which involves steaming them in a bath of white wine and clam juice, and putting together a mixture of onion, chopped pickles, herbs and mustard that gets tossed with the mussels once they were done. The Southern husband couldn't stop talking about how great the pickles were with the mussels. It's that whole salty seafood thing...it's fabulous.

And then of course you have the fries on the side as an extra added bonus. Baked in olive oil, tossed with coarse salt and parsley and parmesan cheese...need I go on? I guess so, since you are probably now wanting the recipe, if you are a mussel maniac like me. Here you go...

MUSSELS RAVIGOTE with PARMESAN FRITE, adapted from Cooking Light

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon
1/4 cup sliced cornichons
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons capers
1 1/2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice
48 mussels (about 2 pounds), scrubbed and debearded
2 baking potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch strips with skin left on
Olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper



1. Preheat oven to 500.
2. Toss potato strips with olive oil and lay on greased baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes, remove and toss, bake for another 15 minutes or until golden.
3. Meanwhile, combine first 9 ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.
4. Bring wine and clam juice to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add mussels; cover and cook 2 minutes or until shells open. Remove mussels from pan with a slotted spoon; discard any unopened shells. Keep warm.
5. Bring wine mixture to a boil over high heat; cook until reduced to 1/3 cup (about 15 minutes). Pour liquid over mussels. Add the cornichon mixture; toss.
6. Serve with parmesan frites and a bowl on the table for the empty shells.

Click here for printable recipe

Bay Scallops Gremolata

So, do you know what gremolata is? Nope, I didn't either before I found this gem of a recipe in Sarah Chase's COLD WEATHER COOKING. Gremolata, my friends, is a mix of lemon, parsley and garlic, which you could probably mix up with anything and it would taste good. But in this recipe, it is absolutely, exquisitely perfect, and makes a lovely, easy, totally reliable dinner party entree for that holiday dinner you have been stressing about. Or even a wonderful weekday evening dinner that you can toss together in two shakes.

Basically all you are doing is chopping up red potatoes into small diced pieces and sauteing them in a little olive oil. Think of it as a red potato hash. This is going to be a bed for a quick saute of bay scallops (those little ones, not the big sea scallops), which you sear quickly and then toss with the gremolata. A little lemon juice, a scattering of parsley and that is it. Dish it out, serve it with a tossed salad on the side and some really nice french bread and butter, light some candles, put on some jazz, and your significant other will never know what hit them. Gremolata. You learn something new every day. (At least, I do!!)

BAY SCALLOPS GREMOLATA, adapted from COLD WEATHER COOKING

Serves 2

• 1 large red skinned potato, cut into tiny dice
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound bay scallops
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated lemon zest
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Salt and pepper
• Lemon wedges and parsley for garnish

1. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in skillet over med-high heat and add potatoes. Saute until golden brown, 10-15 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside.

2. Add remaining oil to skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add scallops and cook, stirring constantly, until they are lightly seared, 2-3 minutes.

3. Add lemon zest and garlic and cook 1 minute more. Return potatoes to skillet with parsley and stir to blend. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

4. Serve at once garnished with lemon wedges and parsley for garnish.

Click here for printable recipe

Shrimp with Cheese Grits

I kind of can't believe this is the first time I am posting something about grits, because having been married to a Southern man for 18 years, grits are pretty much business as usual in my kitchen. We like 'em plain. We like 'em with cheese. We like 'em for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Well, some of us do. I do. The Southern husband obviously does. The dog likes the grits, the package the grits come in, the plates the grits have been served on, and anything else faintly edible. The teenager sees the grits package coming out of the freezer and is suddenly, mysteriously no longer hungry. (Yes, my Yankee friends, grits should be stored in the freezer. And please try your best not to use the the Quaker oats version...this is why the Internet exists, for you to order real stone-ground grits from the heart of the Southland).

Anyway, shame on me for holding back on all my grits-wisdom that I have accumulated through the years, which includes the following:

1. As mentioned above, no Quaker Oats grits unless it is an all-out emergency. I love you, Quaker Oats, but there is a reason you have "oats" in your name. You make great oatmeal.

2. Grits come out GREAT cooked in the rice cooker, if you have one.

3. Make sure you salt them up good, and I love a good shake of pepper in mine too. Grits without salt is like a day without sunshine.

4. Store them in the freezer in a ziplock bag.

5. There is no such thing as too much whisking when you are adding the grits to the liquid. Whisk whisk whisk or you will have lumps lumps lumps.

6. All of the following are sheer heaven when added to a pot of hot cooked grits: cream cheese, butter, shredded cheddar, shredded parmesan, a few shakes of Tabasco sauce, any chopped up fresh herbs you have on hand, chopped up bacon,...or all of the above. And if you want to cry with happiness, poach an egg, drop it into the center of your bowl of cheesed up grits, cut into it with your fork so that the egg melts into the grits, and thank your lucky stars to be alive.

Okay, now that I have gotten all that off my chest, let me tell you about this nice little number. I collect shrimp and grits recipes the same way I collect macaroni and cheese recipes. But this particular one is maybe my current favorite. Easy as easy can be, and the perfect combo of grits, cheese and succulent little pieces of shrimp. Unlike many of my grits recipes, this one finishes up in the oven, which gives you a few minutes to make a quick little salad on the side -- I chopped up some cherry tomatoes and tossed them with the extra chopped parsley I had from the grits recipe along with some nice olive oil, a little blueberry balsamic vinegar and some coarse salt and pepper. Yum yum yum.

So there you have it...grits, the 1,432,764th reason I am head over heels in love with my Southern husband. Go make some.

SHRIMP WITH CHEESE GRITS, adapted from Cooking Light

• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup uncooked grits
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• Tabasco sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Combine milk and broth in saucepan and heat to boiling. Add grits to saucepan in steady stream, whisking constantly. Add salt. Stir until grits thicken. This can take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on your grits.

3. Reduce heat and add cheeses and butter, stirring until combined and melted.

4. Stir in parsley, lemon juice, eggs and shrimp. Spoon into greased casserole dish.

5. Bake until set, about 25 minutes.

6. Serve with Tabasco sauce.

Click here for printable recipe.

Cider Mussels

I don't know about you, but there is something about the fall season that compels me to buy these big gallon jugs of apple cider. The practical Southern husband valiantly tries to remind me that maybe a smaller container will do. That they do sell cider in quarts, and that maybe the last several hundred times I bought the giant gallon container maybe we didn't actually drink all of it, because after the first glass or two or three of cider I am kinda done with the apple cider experience for another season.

But I don't listen, because you never know when you are going to need some apple cider and not have some, and so there the giant vat of cider sits, taking up valuable room in the fridge that could be used for other items. And that's a perfect time to haul out this recipe, which calls for using a nice big helping of cider to steam up a plate of mussels. It also calls for cream, and for brandy, and for bacon. Are you with me? I know you are. It's enough to make you want to run out right this minute and buy a giant vat of cider, right?

Two special notes about this recipe. First of all, while you don't have to, the thick-cut variety of bacon is absolute heaven with this particular recipe. Second, make sure you read the little note at the end of the recipe about what to serve this dish with. I promise it's worth it.

Okay, go take advantage of apple cider season now.

CIDER MUSSELS, adapted from Cold-Weather Cooking

1 red onion, sliced thin
1 1/2 cups apple cider
3 pounds mussels, scrubbed and bearded. Toss out any open ones.
1/4 cup brandy
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Fresh ground pepper
8 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup minced parsley

1. Place onion, cider and mussels in large pan. Cover tightly, bring to a boil and cook until mussels open, about 5 minutes.

2. Transfer mussels to a large serving dish and cover to keep warm.

3. Add brandy and cream to liquid remaining the pan, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with pepper.

4. Pour cider cream over mussels. Mix in bacon and parsley. Serve at once.

Note: I have served this with warm sliced bread to mop up the sauce (trust me, you will want to mop up the sauce). OR...you can cook up a pot of linguine and assemble as follows on individual plates: linguine, topped by mussels, topped by cider cream, topped by bacon and parsley. The cream sauce will sink down into the pasta on the bottom. If you try this version, invite me for dinner.

Click here for printable recipe

Pasta Carbonara

The saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case not even the picture can accurately portray the heaven-on-earth that is the Pasta Carbonara from the Pioneer Woman's site. I promised Jenny, one of the winners from my Sesame Noodles cookbook contest, that I would give this carbonara a try, and so I did.

Right after we finished the last bite, I went to my recipe collection and tossed out my other three pasta carbonara recipes. Sorry guys, but there is no way on earth I will ever make any other carbonara recipe ever again in my life. This is Carbonara Perfection. Once I recovered from the sheer bliss of eating it, I tried to figure out what the difference is...after all carbonara is a relatively simple dish comprised of pasta tossed with scrambled eggs and bacon.

Well, this one also includes garlic. And white wine. And BUTTER. And a lot of bacon, and some parsley, and a tiny bit more of an elaborate process in terms of putting it all together that is totally worth the little bit of extra effort. I made it on a Friday night for me and the Southern husband...and then turned around and made it AGAIN for my scrumptious Italian friend and her adorable husband and my sister 48 hours later, because I couldn't bear for anyone I loved to go one more second without tasting this. (And maybe because I wanted to have it again. I cannot tell a lie.)

The only teeny departure I made from the original recipe was to mix in the bacon at the very end. I like my carbonara bacon just a bit crispy...but that's just me. You should feel totally free to be you, carbonara-wise, when you make yours. Now go make it, so that not one more minute goes by before you taste this.

PASTA CARBONARA, only slightly adapted from Pioneer Woman

* 1lb linguine pasta
* 4 eggs
* 1 pound bacon or pancetta
* 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
* 8-12 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1 cup chicken stock
* 1 cup white wine (or substitute another cup of stock)
* 1/2 stick of butter
* 1 handful of parsley
* 1-2 tablespoons black pepper

1. Cut bacon into pieces about one inch wide. Cook until browned and crisp and set aside, saving bacon grease in the skillet.

2. Cook linguine in salted water cook until al dente.

3. Add chopped onions to bacon grease and let them cook down over a medium-high heat for a couple of minutes.

4. After the onions have cooked for a couple of minutes, throw in the garlic. Adding it after the onions have cooked a little will prevent the garlic from burning. After the onion and garlic have cooked for another couple of minutes, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Discard the grease.

5. Place the pan back on high heat until it starts to smoke a little. As soon as the pan begins to smoke, pour in the white wine (or chicken stock). Whisk until pan is thoroughly deglazed and all of the brown bits have come off of the bottom of the pan. Add 1 cup of chicken stock. Return onion and garlic to the pan. Let simmer over medium heat.

6. Crack four eggs into a large bowl. Add most of the Parmesan cheese, and roughly chop the parsley, adding it into the eggs as well. Leave a little Parmesan and parsley out for a garnish. Mix well with a fork.

5. Add the cooked hot pasta to the egg mixture and then add the onion mixture. Stir in ½ stick (1/4 cup) of butter and the cooked bacon. Mix it all together well. Pepper to taste. Garnish with parmesan and parsley. Throw out all previous carbonara recipes.

Click here for printable recipe

Coconut Shrimp Risotto

I'd just like to start by saying I just LOVE this recipe. I adore it. I've had it forever, and tweaked and adjusted and polished it over the years, and now it is PERFECT. And so I share it with you!

Now, I know some folks will find this controversial, but my approach to risotto is that you don't have to stand there stirring it the whole time, adding liquid one tiny bit at a time. You honestly don't, and this recipe (did I mention it is perfect??) is the living proof. That is one of the great things about this lovely dish - minimal risotto stirring. Here's another exhilerating fact: instead of the chicken broth that most risottos call for, this one uses coconut milk. That's right...creamy, scrumptious coconut milk being absorbed into each and every one of those lucky grains of rice. You can taste it already, right?

So, once the rice has cooked in its sweet-smelling coconut bath, you finish it off by adding in some diced shrimp, some chopped tomato and a lacing of red pepper just to give the coconut sweetness a tiny little bite. (Actually, this time I used some of the amazing Penzey's Spice's Northwest Fire Seasoning, which I picked up at my recent visit to the awesome Grand Central Market.) Last but not least, right before serving you swirl in about a cup of shredded coconut and once you have dished it out, you scatter a handful of chopped parsley over the top of each serving. The whole thing clocks in at just under 30 minutes to make, and as an extra added bonus your whole kitchen will smell gorgeous and tropical and exotic.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That's all I have to say about this one, and I think that is what you'll say once you taste it!!

COCONUT SHRIMP RISOTTO

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup arborio rice
  
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 14 ounce can coconut milk
• 1 cup diced canned tomato
  
• 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
  
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
  

Heat olive oil in medium pot over medium-high heat. . Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes.

Add wine and boil, stirring once or twice, until mixture is just about dry. Add a cup of hot water and repeat, stirring once or twice. Add half the coconut milk and cook, stirring just enough to keep the rice from sticking, until it is just about gone. Add remaining coconut milk and repeat.

The rice should be almost tender at this point -- if it needs more cooking add another 1/2 cup of water and cook until absorbed.; Stir in tomato, shrimp and red pepper and cook until shrimp is cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in shredded coconut. Ladle portions onto plates and scatter parsley over the top of each.

Click here for printable recipe

Beef Barley Soup

This is the recipe the brave Southern husband fears above all others.

It's not that it isn't a fabulous version of beef barley soup...it absolutely is. Thick and filled with chunks of tender, super-slow-cooked beef, pieces of carrot and onion, laced through with fresh parsley and fresh-ground pepper and just a hint of tomato flavor, this is my favorite soup in the entire world. It is the perfect classic beef barley, and even better, it cooks in the slow cooker, so you can toss it together in the morning, go to work, forget it completely, trudge home 10 hours later, walk in the door, smell that gorgeous beef barley soup smell, remember tossing it together early in the morning, and smile a huge smile.

So what is there to be afraid of?

Well, this recipe makes a LOT. I'm sure it's possible to cut it down -- I haven't actually tried, though, because along with bacon and macaroni and cheese and pizza from the Mason Jar, this particular beef barley soup may just be my favorite food on earth. And the first time we have it, the Southern husband is just fine. He even takes on the hardest part of the recipe, which is chopping up the meat into the small bite-sized pieces. Our tummies are full of warm, scrumptious soup and life is good.

Then we have it again. He's still pretty much okay.

Still about 600 servings to go. And he begins to break down. Because I guess there actually are some people in the world who don't like to have wonderful beef barley soup for lunch and dinner for days and days in a row. Yes, I know I could freeze it...but the thing is, I personally DO like to have wonderful beef barley soup for lunch and dinner for days and days in a row. This is why they say opposites attract. So a while back we made a pact. He would not get That Look On His Face when I made it, and I would only make in the colder months, and not too many times in a row. Which led to the following conversation last week:

Me: I'm going to make the beef barley soup this week!!

Him: Already???

Me: It's October! It's cold out! We've already had FROST!

Him (in long-suffering patient voice): Okay....


But trust me, aside from the fact that it makes a swimming pool-sized portion, it is the best beef barley soup you will ever, ever make, taste or have giant vats of leftovers of. It's at its best when eaten on a chilly night out of your favorite Peter Rabbit bowl (see picture below). But it's not bad for breakfast, either....

BEEF BARLEY SOUP

• 2 pounds chuck roast, cut into bite sized pieces
• 5 cups water
• 4 packets beef boullion
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup pearl barley
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• 5 carrots, chopped
• 1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Combine everything but carrots and parsley in slow cooker and stir to mix. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

2. Just before serving, put carrots in microwave-safe dish with about 1/8 cup water. Microwave for 4 minutes. Add carrots to soup with parsley.

3. Taste and adjust seasonings (I usually end up adding a bit more salt and pepper).

4. Serve. And serve. And serve.

Click here for printable recipe

Welsh Rarebit

I really wanted to title this post "Welsh Rabbit," since that is the name that this recipe sometimes goes by, but I was afraid you would think I had gone and cooked up some small woodland creatures. But don't worry, no bunnies were harmed in the making of this old-fashioned country dish. In its most basic form, it is a slice of bread doused in melted cheese...but you know I can't leave well enough alone, and so my version includes a thick slice of tomato, some beer and Worcestershire sauce stirred into the melted cheese (Vermont cheddar of course), some chopped parsley. And bacon. Because I think I have firmly established that every recipe is better with bacon.

You can, of course, customize your rabbit any way you like. The only requirements are that you use nice bread (I used ciabatta from my beloved Fairway market, but I have seen it made with everything from English muffins to sourdough bread) and nice cheese. I do think cheddar is the best because it melts so very perfectly. This is comfort food with a capital C, and makes a perfect cozy dinner on a chilly night.

WELSH RABBIT

Serves 5

• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups grated cheddar
• 1/2 cup beer
• 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard
• 10 slices cooked bacon
• 10 thick tomato slices
• 5 slices bread, lightly toasted
• chopped parsley

1. Heat milk in a small saucepan. Melt 1/4 cup butter in another saucepan, stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk hot milk into flour mixture, stirring constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes.

2. Add cheese, beer, tomato paste, Worcestershire and mustard and stir constantly over low heat until cheese is melted, about 3-5 minutes.

3. Spread remaining butter on bread and place on broiler-proof pan or cookie sheet. Top bread with bacon, then tomato. Pour 1/2 cup cheese sauce over each bread slice. Broil until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.

4. Garnish each with chopped parsley and serve, assuring diners that there are no bunnies involved.

Click here for printable recipe

Greek Style Shrimp Scampi

I do love this recipe. It is a mixture of regular shrimp scampi and that classic recipe where you bake together shrimp and tomatoes and feta, only there is no baking, because this is one of my most tried and true speedy weeknight dishes, and you KNOW how I feel about the 30 minutes and under rule. So this delicious little number does it all in one skillet. Well, and one pot for the pasta if you are going to get all technical on me.

First off...really good large shrimp please. There is only one seafood place for me and that is Costco, who stocks the BEST, most succulent shrimp anywhere. I heart you, Costco. Next, a good, soft feta cheese -- worth going to the deli or cheese counter instead of buying that pre-crumbled stuff in the regular cheese section of the supermarket. As a matter of fact, it is ALWAYS better to avoid that pre-crumbled feta. Sure, it does save you some time -- about 15 seconds, because how hard is it to crumble feta??? And the pre-crumbled stuff has been pre-crumbled for a while, so it has had lots of time to dry out. These are my words of wisdom for you for the day: crumble your own feta. You'll thank me, I promise.

Where was I? Oh yes. Fresh parsley is important for this one. But you can and should use tomatoes in the can, they are just fine. I like the Muir Glen brand, but up to you. Anyway, if you start the sauce at the same time you put the pasta water on to boil, you should be all ready to roll in about 20 minutes, start to finish. This is not only a great delicious weekday dish, but a totally reliable company recipe -- it always comes out great and looks very elegant once you have the shrimp all nestled in on the plate in their bed of pasta and tomatoes. Tres Elegant! Or however you say that in Greek. So here you go, one of my all-time favorites, from me to you.

GREEK-STYLE SHRIMP SCAMPI

Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1 28 ounce can chopped tomatoes
• 1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled (get them from Costco! Trust me!)
• 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Fresh ground pepper
• 8 ounces pasta, cooked and drained

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat and add garlic, stir for 30 seconds. Add 1/4 cup parsley and all the tomatoes, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

2. Add shrimp and cover skillet. Cook an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp are pink and cooked through.

3. Add feta and stir. Simmer over low heat for about one minute until cheese is slightly melting.

4. Pour pasta into skillet and toss to combine.

5. Divide among plates. Drizzle with lemon juice, sprinkle remaining parsley over top, and grind pepper over all.

Click here for printable recipe

Crab Cakes!

We are just back from the Vermont Vacation, and I am now going through my usual post-vacation syndrome, which consists of thinking wistfully of the great vacation meals we had and trying to replicate them at home. I guess it is my way of stretching the vacation out as far as possible, and my Southern husband is always delighted, since I am one of those people who ends up liking what the other person ordered even better than what I ordered. And so a lot of what I end up making is whatever he ordered, starting with crab cakes.

He ordered them at one of our favorite lunch spots in Manchester, Vt, The Little Rooster. If you are ever in Manchester, this is a great spot -- just get there early for lunch, and by early I mean if you are there at 12:01 pm you will have to wait for a table. Which is worth waiting for, but still. I had the Ethan Allen Sandwich, which is on my "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" menu for later this week. But he had these lovely-looking crab cakes, which reminded me of the crab cake recipe I found in Real Simple magazine a while ago. I have a love/hate relationship with crab-cake-cooking, because most of the recipes I have tried involve frying them, which goes just fine until we get to the flipping them over part. When they invariably fall apart. They still TASTE fine in the end, but the falling apart makes me nuts.

This recipe, on the other hand, calls for shaping them into cakes, spreading just a little butter on top and broiling them for a few minutes, just until they are heated through and a little brown and crispy. No flipping required. And even better, instead of the usual bread crumbs most crab cake recipes call for, this one uses crushed potato chips. I use the Cape Cod brand -- the kettle cooked ones -- they have a little more crunchiness. A little Dijon mustard, a little tarter sauce, some lemon and you are all set. Crab cakes in 15 minutes or less...no kidding.

I surrounded them with a little fresh corn and some chopped parsley, but in the past I have been known to surround them with the remaining Cape Cod potato chips. But since we are just back from eating everything in the state of Vermont, I went with the corn, and hid the chips in the back of the snack cupboard, far far away.

Here's the link to these great crab cakes, guaranteed to look as good as they taste. Make sure you serve with lemon wedges and tell everyone to give a good squeeze of lemon over the top before you dig in.


Real Simple Crab Cakes

French Omelets

Why are these called French omelets? Je ne sais pas. (That's French for, I have no earthly idea.) But that is what the recipe calls them, and so who am I to argue.

I love omelets. Or I should say, I love EATING omelets. I have a love/hate relationship with actually cooking them -- when they come out looking good I feel very very good, and when they are bad, they are horrid. I have never managed to master the whole omelet pan slide it onto the plate and flip it over thing. It always looks so easy, but for me it usually ends in tears.

And so. I have distilled my omelet-making down into two very different techniques.

The first will probably horrify half of you and make the other half of you laugh, but I promise you, it WORKS. These omelets are not photogenic and I would never attempt to take a picture of them, although I probably should have for the sheer shock value. This omelet approach is called "omelet in a bag," and before all of you start emailing me, yes, I know it is slightly alarming to eat something that has been cooked inside a Ziplock, but I gotta tell you, this method turns out slightly unslightly but perfectly cooked, fluffy omelets Every Single Time. And so for those of you who want to walk on the wild side, here is a link for you:

Washington Post's Omelet in a Bag

For those of you who prefer cooking an omelet with the more traditional skillet on the stove approach, I highly recommend the French Omelet recipe (and that is the omelet you see resting in that lovely bed of baby spinach above). It is rolled, rather than flipped, and somehow that seems to work out for me every time. It is filled with Gruyere cheese, which as you can see melts just beautifully out of the center. Because you can only make one at a time (or at least, I can only make one at a time), be sure to keep your plates warming in a 200 degree oven, and you can park the cooked omelets in there while you work on the others. The chopstick direction sounds funky, I know, but trust me on that. It works.

FRENCH OMELETS, adapted from a Cooks Illustrated recipe

Makes one omelet

• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon butter, diced and put into the freezer f0r 10 minutes
• 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• Fresh ground pepper
• Chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 200 and heat plate or plates that you will be serving the omelet(s) on.

2. Heat 8 inch skillet over medium low heat for 10 minutes

3. Break two eggs into bowl. Separate third egg and add yolk only to bowl. Whisk until yolks and whites are thoroughly combined.

4. Add half of cold butter to egg mixture

5. Add second half of butter to skillet and wait until it has melted and foam has subsided

6. Pour egg into skillet. Using chopsticks, swirl egg mixture around, making sure to pull from sides, until egg is almost cooked, about 90 seconds

7. Turn off heat and smooth top of egg with spatula. Sprinkle on cheese and pepper and cover pan with lid. Let sit covered for another 90 seconds.

8. Here comes the ONLY tricky part, and it is not that tricky. Put a folded paper towel over half of the warmed plate. Loosen the omelet with your spatula and slide it on to the plate so it is half on the paper towel and half off. Using the paper towel, roll the omelet up into a cylinder. I promise it will hold together. If it doesn't, I will make another one FOR you.

9. I like to cut the omelet in half but up to you! Serve either plain or on a bed of cooked spinach, with chopped parsley and more fresh ground pepper on top.

Summertime Tuna Salad

Got tomatoes?

Yep, me too. It's July in New Jersey, and they have us surrounded.

If you don't grow them yourself, they practically tackle you whenever you walk into your local farm market. They are gorgeously red and shiny and alluring, and they are only sold in giant bushels-full around us, if you want the home-grown New Jersey ones. Which you do, trust me. So this is not the season of using one tomato at a time - right this second I have a multiple-tomato bolognese sauce cooking away on the stove (four tomatoes!), and I am planning a tomato mozzarella salad for later this week (three more tomatoes!). This tuna salad is only a one-tomato number, but it all helps.

We all know and love the tuna/mayo/celery salad, but this one is a little different. First of all, you MUST use tuna packed in oil. Must must must. Don't worry, you get to drain most of it off, but it is essential for the flavor (and you are not using the mayo, remember, so they cancel each other out. Isn't it great how that works out?) This is also not a sandwich-filling type of tuna salad, although I guess you could if you really wanted to. It's more of a salad-salad, just mounded on a plate and served with bread or crackers or something else bread-ish. We had ours with flatbread -- our favorite kind is the rosemary and sea salt flatbread from Margaret's Artisan Bakery. Until recently I have only been able to find it at JK Adams in Dorset, Vermont (don't get me started on JK Adams. That will be its own post after I make my next visit late next month). But recently I saw that Fairway has started stocking it. (Love you, Fairway. Will you marry me?) Here is the website for this great flatbread - if you don't live in Dorset Vermont or near Fairway, maybe it will tell you where you can find it in a store near you:

Margaret's Artisan Bakery Flatbread

Anyway. This salad is quick and lovely, and so long as you use the tuna in the oil you have my permission to mess around with the other ingredients, especially the herbs. And don't forget the tomato, of course.

Uh-oh, here comes my mom with a giant bag of string beans from her garden.

SUMMERTIME TUNA SALAD

• 1 six ounce can of tuna, packed in oil.
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon capers
• Salt and fresh pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped herbs (basil, parsley, thyme are all good -- mix them up!)

Drain the excess oil from the tuna and mix up with all other ingredients. Serve with crackers, bread, flatbread, etc etc etc. Happy summer.