Fresh Tart

What?  I didn't know what to call this...sort of had the concept of hot pot in my mind, but since each person builds their own version, it's more a bowl thing than a pot thing.   Anyhow, whatever it is, it's delicious, and fun for a crowd.  As I've mentioned too many times before, I make rather deconstructed food on Wild Wednesdays to accommodate the varying tastes of the family.  Beef stroganoff, sauce on the side.  Spaghetti with meat sauce, meat on the side.  Chicken Parmigiana, cheese on the side.  I often throw a chicken soup in there, chicken and vegetables on the side.

But last night, since my aunt Mary & uncle Bruce were joining us for dinner, I decided to innovate a bit and add an Asian twist to the soup concept.  I loosely had in mind Japanese udon soup, or a Chinese soup with little meatballs or wontons, so I riffed on that.  I also wanted to create a healthy-meal-in-a-bowl, and something I could prepare ahead, so that we could eat right away and fly out the door to get the kids to religious school.

So here's what we had: a fragrant, lightly spicy chicken broth, with optional pork meatballs; thinly sliced tofu, chicken, and vegetables (cabbage, scallions, shitake, bell pepper, and snow peas); and thin noodles.  It was delicious, and pretty (photo above doesn't do it justice since it didn't include the noodles - the vegetables and meatballs piled on top of the pasta are gorgeous), light-yet-filling...and fun to build and eat.  Bonus: the leftover noodles in broth blow away any version of packaged ramen you've never had (photo right, with a squirt of sriracha); I plan to have them for lunch (meatballs and veggies are gone...shucks).  Recipe here.

For dessert (we had guests; I pretty much only make desserts for guests), a chocolate cake with killer chocolate sauce - a pre-Valentine's Day sweet-for-the-mostly-sweet.

And an almost-post about it.  I bit off a bit more than I could chew this afternoon and attempted a multi-step dinner when I knew that I had to be out out the door by 4:45 pm (basketball practice, church run).  I usually keep Wednesday night dinners extremely simple (due to basketball practice, church run), but I had crispy chicken breasts on the brain, thanks to both a NYTimes feature on rethinking chicken breasts, and the delicious-sounding Sunday Supper at Lucques chicken paillards with Parmesan breadcrumbs, escarole, capers, and rosemary I was going to make on Monday (but didn't).  And while my kids aren't (yet!) interested in escarole, capers, and rosemary (a dish intended for just John and me), they do love a spicy tomato sauce, so I set aside good sense and started pounding chicken breasts anyhow around 3:30 pm.

Actually, chicken parmigiana - at least the way I make it - is not at all tricky.  It took me 10 minutes from start to finish to pound the breasts into cutlets.  It took me another 15 minutes (or less) to quickly beat an egg with a little milk, make fresh bread crumbs tossed with Parmesan (Cuisinart), and pass the chicken breasts through both.  I laid out the breaded cutlets on a baking rack over a baking sheet as I went along, allowing them to dry a bit.

As I sauteed the breasts in batches, I also made a simple tomato sauce (canned chunky tomato sauce, garlic, olive oil, herbs, splash of wine) and sliced some mozzarella cheese (I happened to have a lovely whole-milk version in the fridge, but part-skim shredded works just fine).  I spooned some of the sauce into the bottom of a baking pan, topped the sauce with a layer of sauteed chicken breasts, topped the chicken breasts with a bit more sauce, then topped the sauce with a few slices of cheese.

While the chicken breasts baked at 350 degrees (until the cheese melted, about 15 minutes), I started to make linguine - I'd say that I tossed the linguine with the rest of the tomato sauce, a little pasta cooking water, a healthy grating of Parmesan cheese, and several grinds of black pepper, but I was gone by that point, so John did it.

Yep, I ran out of time, somewhere between sliding the chicken into the oven and stirring the pasta into boiling water.

I took exactly zero pictures after 4:30 pm, which is about when I realized there was no way in hell I was going to complete dinner by 4:45 pm.  Therefore the pics of breaded cutlets, and merrily sauteeing cutlets, but none of actual chicken parmigiana...

I did manage to slice a chicken breast into strips, and quickly pack the strips with some tomato sauce for dipping, for my son to scarf down in the car between school and church.  Not ideal, but it worked.  I ate my dinner, reheated from ice-cold (tasty but completely unphotogenic), between church drop-off and pick-up.  (And made a mental note to stick to the un-pounded, un-breaded basics on Wednesdays from now on...)

And oh, PS, Thursday morning now: I got so cranky about goofing up my timing that I forgot to say that it's completely worth making chicken parmigiana on a less busy day, because it's delicious and kids love it, but also because if you make it at home it doesn't have to be the calorie bomb it tends to be in restaurants.  To keep the breading on the lighter side, I use fresh bread crumbs or panko crumbs - both are fluffy, stick to the breasts in spots, and therefore don't create a heavy, thick coating.  Saute the breasts in oil meant for high heat (peanut oil or refined safflower oil, for instance) and the keep the heat at medium high so the breasts brown quickly (and soak up less oil).  And use a light hand with the cheese - no need to bury the chicken, a smaller amount tastes fabulous and doesn't drown out the fresh tomato sauce and ruin the crisp crust you just worked so hard to create!

Routine, Routine, wherefore art thou Routine?  Man, if you're stuck in a rut and need to shake things up a bit, may I suggest a household bout with the flu, close on the heels of acquiring a new puppy?  Actually, you probably already know these tricks - at the least the flu part - given how many of my son's classmates have also been down for the count.  None of us have felt great for almost three weeks now, with strange appetites and extreme tiredness.  The result?  (My definition of) moderation - cooking and eating relatively healthy food as well as accomplishing some form exercise most days of the week - has been chased right out the window.  (Not a shocker given my sparse postings here...ahem...)   Suffice it to say, we've eaten more take-out and Amy's Organics bean-n-rice burritos in the last few weeks than I'd like to admit.  Hopefully, we've turned a corner and are on our way back to fighting form.

And a normal routine!

I realize that I should follow that intro with an interesting, healthy recipe, an example of how to jump back in.  But I got nothin'.  The dinner plan for tonight is what we often have on Wild Wednesday nights, given limited time and wildly varying tastes (on Wild Wednesdays both kids have religious school, I take care of my three-year old nephew Cooper, and he and my sister Stacey join us for dinner).  Pasta, baby, make-your-own pasta.  I vary the shape (I'm currently digging a Whole Foods' brand of conchiglie/shells).  And the texture and spiciness of the quick tomato sauce (smooth and thin, chunky and thick, sometimes with a little cream stirred in).  And the add-in vegetables (tonight will be sauteed Swiss chard, other nights a pan of zucchini and mushrooms, or garlicky broccoli, or thinly sliced fennel and onions...).  And the protein source (pulled apart rotisserie chicken, simple ground beef, I've even set out strips of frittata, or spicy beans, or sauteed tofu, although those are less popular options).  You get the picture.  It's a relatively easy way to put a fast, nutritious dinner on the table; plus, if you go easy on the pasta, and load up on the veggies and lean protein, you can even call it "moderate."

Right now, that's the best I can do.

If you were waiting for me to post recipes for gazpacho or shrimp saltimbocca, both recipes are up now. My apologies for the lame (let's face it, lazy) delay!

Last night I whipped out my new Weber Poultry Roaster again, man I love that thing. Absolutely no mess or fuss - I opened the grill to baste the bird (chicken) a few times, but that's about it - et voila, a browned, crunchy little lovely, with some nice drippings at the base to turn into a bit of sauce. With sauteed broccoli and sugar snap peas alongside (I've got a thing for snap peas this summer, briefly sauteed in a bit of olive oil or butter until just heated through, so sweet and crunchy), it made a tasty din for the Wild Wednesday crowd.

Tonight, as I mentioned, dinner at Morton's with Zim's and Mack's to celebrate Aaron's birthday. Happy Birthday Aaron! My plan is to bow out early and head over to catch the end of Nathan's baseball game - he's had a little post-season tourney pop up. See you there, I'll be the one in a dress gnawing a side of beef in the stands. Rarrr...

Moderate it: oh Lord, Morton's is the most immoderate place on the planet. I man, I eat meat, grunt.It's all delicious, but even the potatoes are gargantuan - where do they find those things? I don't know what I'm ordering, probably a fishy appetizer of sorts - I'm making beef tenderloin on the grill tomorrow night, so no steak, sniff. I do love their steamed veggies, with just a teeny bit of Bearnaise (The Kill). Hopefully right about when those naughty hash browned potatoes appear, I'll be driving to Nathan's game...

Wild Wednesday coming up! That means a visit from my nephew, Cooper Cuteness, yay! Cooper brightens our week, bigtime, especially since he says "n" for "l" at the beginning of words - that means he nuvs (loves) his new dog Nevi (Levi). Beyond cute. (Of course I haven't talked to him for a week, which means he could by now be saying "l" perfectly well. That's how it goes with a two-year old; one day you're Aunt Settie, the next you're a perfectly pronounced Ste-pha-nie, just nike that.)

Simple is the name of the food game on Wednesdays. Tonight the plan is steaks on the grill with a stir-fry of bokchoy, broccoli, and scallions (that's what remains of my veggie share; reload tomorrow) with a good amount of garlic, Thai curry paste, and chopped fresh basil for some interest and heat. (I'm all about the heat lately, outside and in my food. My aunt Mary got me addicted to the most unlikely-named spicy pickle this past weekend - Norwegian Dills, one of the Gedney State Fair versions. If you, like I, crave salty heat at about, oh, 4 pm, these are your pickle, crazy good.)

Hopefully I'll score some leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Monday's fried walleye became yesterday's fish taco - a little chopped cabbage and red onion, slice of avocado, in a small French Meadow sprouted grain tortilla. Delicious. Leftover steak makes a damn good taco as well, and is always good stir-fried with a few peppers, onions, and mushrooms, eaten warm over salad.

On an unrelated note, check out (and chuckle about) this article describing the calorie-shock New Yorkers are experiencing as chain restaurants implement a new law requiring they post menu item calorie counts right next to the prices. Ouch. Maybe it's because I'm a woman who gains weight by merely glancing at unhealthy foods (therefore this blog!), and probably more likely because I cook and therefore know what really goes into making items like muffins, scones, and platter-sized pieces of nut-encrusted fried meats (although I also maintain it doesn't take thinking very hard about it to realize they're loaded with calories), but none of the counts in the article particularly shocked me. I know how I feel after eating food like that (ill). See what you think - do Minnesotans need calorie counts on their menus? I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not the calorie counts alone that freak people out - it's being seen eating the burger that everyone can plainly see is more than 1,200 calories. If shame encourages people to make healthier choices - or skip the chain restaurants altogether and cook their own food - then it works for me? Hmmm...

Moderate it: a small piece of protein (beef, chicken, fish, pork, tofu, lamb, etc.) + lots of fresh veggies (salad, stir-fry, roasted, grilled, etc.) + small amount of grain (whole-grain bread, couscous, rice, corn, pasta, etc.) = healthy dinner in 30 minutes. Of course my kids eat small amounts of fresh veggies + lots of grain, despite my best efforts to encourage otherwise; I try to think about it as a palate-training process, not completed until adulthood... A vegolescence, as it were... Right.)

A better name for Wild Wednesdays is actually Make-Your-Own Wednesdays. I've pretty much mastered the art of deconstructing dishes to accommodate everyone's individual preferences. (Don't ask how I got to the place of being this, um, accommodating, 'cuz believe me, it reflects neither my nature nor my values - I'm more of an old-school "if I did the work to make it, you pay me the courtesy of eating it" sort of grrrl. Except for Cooper - he can eat anything he wants, awww.) Anyhow, last night's version was make-your-own pasta: a pan of spicy tomato sauce (tomato sauce simmered with lots of garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes), a pulled-apart rotisserie chicken, a pan of sauteed vegetables (this time cauliflower, onions, red bell pepper, more red pepper flakes, and currants), freshly grated Parm, and a big ol' pot of pasta. Build away! Good stuff.

Oh man, I'm feeling SO much better now that I'm back to my usual routine. Funny, it took blowing up like a water balloon on vacation to slap me out of my winter rut - I've definitely re-upped my fresh vegetable and fruit intake (roasted, sauteed, grilled, salads, smoothies - any way I can think to include them), and reduced my refined carbohydrate consumption, and voila (shocker), I look less puffy and feel more energetic for it. I'm not where I want to be, but at least I feel "on track" and healthier, you know?

Of course more daylight truly deserves the credit for my new-found motivation - the sun packs some punch these days, bam-bam, yes! It's so damn irritating that my body longs for stillness and comforty, carby foods (preferably accompanied by Hope Creamery butter and a nice Pinot Noir, sigh) in the depths of deep, dark winter. It's so...cliche. It's so...beyond my discipline. Disappointing. Anyhow, I'm glad to be past the worst of it and moving on into spring. Welcome sunlight! (Bouncing off April snow? We'll take it!) Welcome vegetables! Let the depuffing continue!

Ah, back to reality. (Small sigh, wry smile...) And back to cooking for the fam! Tonight, I'm making a typical make-your-own Wild Wednesday dish, in this case chicken noodle soup. The kids take theirs light on the chicken (and veggies), heavy on the noodle. We adults reverse the ratio. Either way, a good chicken stock makes the dish. I tried a new version (I made it yesterday, when I had time, vs. today, when I don't), the Miss Edna Louis recipe from The Gift of Southern Cooking. Result? Incredible, very rich and chicken-y, a perfect chicken soup base. Easy too (all you need is a good, heavy knife for hacking apart the chicken; recipe posted in comments, below).

For the veggies, I just saute a diced mixture of whatever sounds good, in a little butter. Tonight, for instance, I'm thinking mushrooms, garlic, leeks, okra, carrots, fennel. Other tasty options could include asparagus, celery, tomatoes, zucchini...you get the picture. For chicken, I pull apart a deli rotisserie chicken (the chicken from making stock is totally spent and flavorless). Canned (rinsed) navy or canellini beans can be a nice addition. Grated gruyere cheese is lovely too. For noodles, just plain ol' egg noodles fit the bill. To assemble, I line it all up buffet style and everyone builds their own bowl. Few grinds of black pepper, crusty bread, perhaps a salad... Everyone's happy, everyone's full, good stuff.

Uuuuuugh, huge computer headaches, my head hurts from thinking through all of the problems that keep cropping up. We're basically functioning - obv - but all the things that make online life pleasant (music, email, photos) are giving me fits. I'm so bummed about what a huge step down I've had to take with my email... One good thing - Moderate Epicurean emails (moderateepicurean@hotmail.com) will now be forwarded right into my regular account, so for those of you who've emailed me through the blog and waited, and waited, and waited some more for a response (sorry!) that will no longer happen. But in terms of making my life easier...that's about it. Blah.

But I still made dinner! I had to send my boys off to the Timberwolves' game with food in their tummies - if only to prevent the purchase of massive amounts of junk food at the game. We'll see if I succeeded, ha. As full as I am from quick Shrimp Curry (the recipe is technically for Chicken Curry, but I substituted 1/2 pound of uncooked shrimp, stirred in for a quick simmer a few minutes before serving) - a lovely, warm coconut curry chock full of veggies and shrimp, ladled over fragrant jasmine rice - I can't even bear the thought of adding a hot dog or popcorn or worse (egads) on top, blech! But, boys will be boys, with stomachs of lead, so who knows? It's outta my hands at this point...

Must. Get. Off. Computer. If only to preserve my sanity. I'd go for a quick walk, to burn off some stress and move my desk-butt after sitting here struggling all day, but you know... Yep, the same old, same old, cold as a witch's you know what, blah, blah, blah. Blah!

I'll be in a better mood tomorrow, I promise - Wild Wednesdays always cheer me up. Cooper Cuteness! What's not to love? G'night!

Cooper! Stacey! Both kids! All my favorite things about Wild Wednesdays (you too Johnny!), love 'em. Add in some sunshine and we're jamming, woo hoo!

Good walk-before-the-snow this a.m., keeping food simple and relatively light for the day. Steak fajitas for dinner, as light or decadent as you want to make them, garnished with jack cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, and lots and lots of grilled peppers and onions. Think I'll spice up some black beans to go with our ubiquitous Wednesday rice (oh how everyone in this house loves rice, the white version, they've refused my attempts at passing off less-processed brown, sigh) and call it a meal. Easy. Spicy. Nutritious. Tasty! Done.

Little exercise, plenty of veggies. Make sure to take good care of yourself today!

Wild Wednesday! Yeehaw! My once-a-week window into what it would be like to have a really big family - everyone in the kitchen, all talking at the same time, the kids (sort of) doing homework, John (sort of) working, Stacey and I (sort of) chatting, everyone playing with Cooper, all while I make a big, messy dinner. And an early dinner, since everyone's dashing out the door by 5:50 p.m., off to various Wednesday night events. I prefer an early dinner myself, so it's absolutely fine by me to be sitting around the dining room table at 5 p.m., everyone still talking at the same time, laughing at Cooper's Chatty Cuteness, and discussing the pros and cons of the various components of our meal. Everyone's a critic, of course, especially my kids. Tonight's crispy oven-roasted chicken drummies are pretty universally well-loved, except by Nathan, although he digs the accompanying sticky rice with pan juices plenty fine. (The pic is actually from the summer, when I add garden tomatoes to the pan juices. In January, no garden tomatoes, sniff, although the juices are darn tasty anyhow.)

As a bonus, Stace arrived with Whole Foods goodies that everyone happily dug into - spicy nuts, olives, and coconut cupcakes for dessert, yay!