Christmas Eve Gathering Dinner Menu

Dinner Menu

Bokchoy with Shiitake and Tomatoes - L

European-style Bread

Hummus

Cannellini Beans with Garlic and Sage

Turkish Chickpeas with Spinach

Fresh Green Peas with Pearl Onions and Mint- L

Miniature Potatoes with Basil Pesto - DL

Normandy Brie Cheese with Gorgonzola Crackers - D

Tossed Field Greens Salad - L

Blueberries with Ripe Papaya

Mango Granita - L

Vegetable Shell Clear Soup with Crusty Focaccia

This came about tonight when I came home from writing at Panera Bread and wanted something hot to accompany a chunk of focaccia toasted topped with Provolone and Parmesan. In vegetabler oil, I sautéed chopped yellow onion with cubed fresh ginger, then added quarters of winter melon 1/8 inch thick and shell pasta. When the melon is completely covered with oil and beginning to turn translucent, I added strips of kale or mustard green, broccoli flowerets, and stringed snow peas, sprinkled half a teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice mix and cooked for a minute or so. I added hot vegetable stock, covered and simmered for 12 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Served garnished with Italian parsley sprig, with a side of toasted focaccia. I know. This is an international mongrel of a supper!

Red Beans with Ginger, Cardamom and Cinnamon

I've been cooking more beans lately, getting back into a healthier pattern of eating. The recipe is called "Rajma" in Rolli & Janssen's Indian Vegetarian Menu Planner, 2010. It called for both green and black cardamom and ginger powder. I didn't have black cardamom (badi elaichi) so I felt free to modify the recipe. I sliced fresh ginger, sautéed that in canola oil (Kevin Logan says the chemical used to extract the oil is unhealthy but I don't use canola often anyway) with crumbled Chinese hot chili peppers, cardamom, and cinnamon stick that broke into pieces. I added the hot boiled beans, turmeric, more chili and ginger powder, and salt. I also added cubed Roma tomatoes and zucchini and the juice of half a lime, simmered the stew until the beans were really tender (I don't like my beans to still be crunchy), and the sauce had thickened. Wonderful on rice. The recipe did not call for sautéing the spices but I find heating them in oil brings out their essential oils and aroma. It called for the addition of butter just before serving, which I omitted because I had already used oil.

Chicken Asparagus a la Ollie's at Times Square

My sister used to enjoy this dish at a small Chinese restaurant on 47th Street, just steps away from Times Square. It has since closed and the new incarnation on 42nd Street is not the same. I've wanted to duplicate the recipe at home and when I found myself with chicken breast looking for a recipe today that's what I did. To my surprise the dish, but cooked with shrimp rather than chicken breast, was in Irene Kuo's 1977 book, The Key to Chinese Cooking, one of my first "bibles" in Chinese cooking. I heavily modified the recipe to use with chicken but basically used the ingredients she recommended, except that I substituted chicken breast for the shrimp.

Slice half a chicken breast into 3/4 inch chunks and set aside. Snap off tough ends of 12 asparagus stalks and cut into 2-inch lengths. Chop two quarter-sized, peeled ginger, mince one peeled garlic segment, chop 1 Tb. scallion, green part. Now, heat wok over high heat. Pour in 1 Tb. of canola oil and when hot quickly stirfry garlic and ginger, careful not to burn them. Throw in chicken and cook until inside is no longer pink, about 1 1/2 minutes. Take out chicken and set aside. In remaining oil, add asparagus, 1/4 C. hot water, 1/2 Tb. crumbled Chinese dried hot peppers, a pinch of sugar, soy sauce (light would give nicer appearance, closer to what we had in NYC) and black pepper to taste. Cover and cook for a minute. Throw chicken back in, remove from heat. Mix in 3/4 Tb. sesame oil, top with chopped scallions and serve with rice. I like to sop up the juices in the wok with rice, throw in chopped scallions, for quick fried rice.

Chicken Salad on Toasted French Bread

This is a twist on your ordinary chicken salad. Parboil half a skinless chicken breast till just cooked through. (You may parboil with slivers of scallion, carrots, celery and thyme sprig for added flavor, but plain water is fine.) Cool and cut into 3/4 inch chunks. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Brown a fourth of a cup of whole almonds with skin on, careful not to burn the nuts, take out and set aside. Sauté 1 Tb. chopped yellow onion, 2 Tb. (I like celery and you may not) chunky celery, until just cooked but still crispy. Add chicken and cook over high heat quickly until tinged with gold. Throw in raisins (golden raisins would be prettier), almonds and season with salt and pepper. Cool, mix in mayonnaise and sour cream to taste. Mound on toasted French bread sliced open but still attached and serve immediately with rice dolmades, grape tomatoes and a sprig of Italian parsley from the garden for a lunch or light supper treat!

Lamb Paella

Every time we've visited Spain I'd stock up on saffron but back in the U.S. I'd hoard the precious dried stamens because they're so expensive here to buy. Well, that's over. The future is now!

Traditionally paella is cooked starting with raw short-grain Spanish rice. My version is simpler and I think just as tasty. I cook Japanese botan rice in a rice cooker! This is the height of heresy but with this technique I can have paella in 20 minutes instead of an hour.

I cool the rice. For this recipe I also had sautéed the lamb chunks beforehand. When it was time to cook tonight—I got home from the gym at 9:30 pm—I prepared the other ingredients. I soaked the saffron threads in hot water then minced garlic, chopped shallots, diced Roma tomatoes, large-diced yellow pepper, minced fresh rosemary, diced pepperoni (instead of chorizo) and I was ready to cook. I heated olive oil in a Dutch oven on my brand-new Kenmore smooth-top stove and gradually cooked the ingredients starting with the garlic and shallots. I added the yellow pepper and rosemary last. I decided not to use white wine and instead added a little chicken stock after I mixed in the cold rice. I lowered the heat, covered the pot for ten minutes and the paella was ready! It was delicious.

Prosciutto and Peach

Peaches are on sale, not as juicy as those we picked in Fennville, MI last summer but when ripened in a brown-paper sack they're delicious enough. Especially with thin slices of prosciutto with Dijon mustard on baguette, and intensely flavored Greek oil-cured olives!

Mackerel and Pea Sandwich

This was surprisingly good. I dry-sautéed canned mackerel in olive oil and added peas for a baguette sandwich, topped it with homemade mayonnaise. Accompaniments were fresh peach slices and a simple romaine-and-tomato salad with feta and Kalamata olives.

Simple Clam Chowder with Goat Milk

When we think of chowder we think of thick soup made with clams and heavy cream. How about a lighter version with whole goat milk? Instead of butter I used olive oil, which can be an acquired taste for some people used to butter in creamy soups. The beauty of modern-day cooking is the flexibility we now have to substitute healthier ingredients in classic recipes, a tasty challenge to those of us who strive for some creativity in our lifestyles.

Steel-Cut Oatmeal, Strawberry and Pepita

For an aging man, pepita (pumpkin) seeds are a boon. Source of naturally occurring estrogen-like compounds, it inhibits the enlargement of the prostate gland. It is wonderful as topping and source of protein on oatmeal. I continue my love affair with the steel-cut variety. If nothing else it makes for Slow Food - the oats have to cook for 30 minutes! But it's worth the time. The oat pieces are chewy, nutty and an indulgence on the tongue!

Beef Bolognese Spaghetti (Ragú)

This is a simplified but I think more delicious beef sauce for spaghetti. You may sauté the beef and refrigerate for later use to make cooking time even shorter. You may use two bacon strips to render the fat for sautéing the beef but for this recipe I used extra virgin olive oil. I sautéed chopped garlic until almost golden, then added julienned carrots, some chopped onions and half a cup of diced Roma tomatoes. When the vegetables are wilted I added the beef and cooked until thoroughly brown. I added a little over a tablespoon of dry vermouth (I used Martini and Rossi, same quality I would use for making a dry martini), turned up heat until alcohol burns off. I then mixed in a tablespoonful or so of whole goat milk. Whole cow's milk will do but the result is not as savory nor as creamy. Cook gently until milk curdles and blends with the other ingredients and until sauce is of the consistency you like for your pasta. I spooned the sauce on top of the mound of pasta, dribbled additional olive oil, and topped with chopped Italian parsley. Parmesan cheese is optional though most people like the combination of cheese with tomatoes and beef.

Sweet Rice with Crisp, Unbattered Chicken Breast

I fixed this for lunch the other day using Japanese sweet rice (sho-chiku-bai). I sauteéd in a little olive oil one minced garlic, chopped onion, diced Roma tomatoes, and large-diced green pepper. When the vegetables had softened, I added sweet rice I had cooked in an electric cooker, mixed them well and molded for plating. I boiled the chicken breast gently in a little broth, drained on a paper towel, then fried on very little olive oil over moderate heat until crisp. I sprinkled the chicken with Cabela's whisky steak seasoning but you can use your own favorite seasoning e.g. a little curry powder, crumbled dried rosemary or oregano. I quickly roasted halved Roma tomatoes in the same pan after turning the heat to high. I topped the tomatoes with Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper before plating. The crisply fried chicken contrasted with the sticky rice and caramelized tomatoes.

Gambretto Feta Spaghetti

This was such an easy pasta to make. I boiled the two-foot long spaghetti lunghi from Trader Joe's in water (I don't salt the water) until al dente, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile I made the sauce. I sautéed in extra virgin olive oil minced fresh garlic and diced Roma tomatoes until golden. I added thawed pre-cooked giant prawn and cooked until thoroughly heated, threw in chunks of feta, freshly ground pepper, and chopped fresh oregano leaves from the garden. I drained the pasta without rinsing in cold water, plated it and topped with the sauce. A final sprinkle of chopped fresh Italian parsley completed the dish. A quick, flavorful late supper that amply demonstrated again how fresh herbs refresh our idea of food. Eating becomes a quality-of-life experience when food is made with as many fresh ingredients as you can grow yourself and served piping hot from the stove. This is living par excellence!

Homemade Mayonnaise and Chicken Salad

One of my favorite food memories involves helping my mother make mayonnaise by hand. She used the juice of a native Filipino citrus, suhá in Ilonggo (kalamansi in Pilipino), which made a fragrant dressing for salad.

Today I made mayonnaise American-style—with a Cuisinart. I used James Beard recipe from the booklet included when I bought the machine 20 years ago. One whole egg, 1 Tb vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and 1 1/4 C oil. I also added 1/4 C. Dijon mustard. What took my mother and me half an hour to beat by hand, the Cuisinart did in uner a minute!

The result however is what not good as I remember. My mother used only the yolk and dribbling the oil was a slow, laborious process. She added kalamansi juice in drops only after the emulsion had formed and told me to keep adding the juice only when the mayonnaise felt too stiff. She used the juice only as the emulsion was able to incorporate it. Beard's recipe was also too salty for me. Next time I'll use half a teaspoon salt and one cup oil.

Chicken salad is often made with enough mayonnaise to make it moist. The moisture is frankly just mayonnaise. I used much less mayonnaise but added small dollops here and there upon serving to add variety and taste. I could have added sour cream, the additive cooks use to make their salads more moist, but I didn't want to add unnecessary fat. Scallions would have been a stronger herb taste but all I had were chives from the garden. Chives do make stunning placement when balanced on top of the salad.

Lightly Sautéed Romaine Lettuce with Pine Nuts

This is exquisitely simple and healthy. Spray a non-stick, heavy-bottomed pan with cover with virgin olive oil. Throw in freshly washed, cut-up lettuce leaves, stir to coat with oil, spraying more oil as needed. Season if desired with Dean Johnson's Scandia Lemon Dill spice mix or with fresh dill, lemon juice and scant salt. Turn heat to medium, cover and cook until wilted but still bright green. Plate and sprinkle with pine nuts. Pine nuts can be lightly toasted to bring out flavor. Serve hot.

Minted Orange, a New-Taste Sensation

I love orange for breakfast. Since learning that whole fruits were better for me than fruit juices, I usually include fresh fruit with my breakfast. Oranges are ideal. They keep for long periods on the counter. When they do start shriveling up, their peel turning to leather, the flesh becomes even sweeter, almost like liqueur!

I planted apple mint in the front garden two years ago. They've taken over the border under the weigela. In the spring and early summer, the spikes of mint are a treat to the eyes. The chartreuse-hued leaves divest the soul of winter's bleak and cold.

This morning I paired oranges with mint for a new taste sensation. I'm sure others have made this discovery before but rubbing mint on orange slices creates something very like ambrosia! Try it. You'll never think of oranges again without thinking mint!

Newest Convert to Steel Cut Oatmeal

I remember visiting a friend in New York City some five years ago and seeing a can of McCann steel-cut oats on her shelf. In this I am a late adopter.

I've eaten oatmeal every morning for fifteen years, using traditional Quaker Oats that at first I cooked in a microwave oven, for the past year, just allowed to cook in hot water straight from my Cuisinart CleanWater countertop filtering system. I've run the gamut of oatmeal toppings, including chopped figs, chopped peanuts, blueberry and tomato preserves, homemade marmalade, brown sugar, toasted sesame seeds, and tahini along with chopped fresh fruit. This past year I've just topped the oatmeal with toasted bran, wheat germ, tahini, raisins, and chopped apples.

This morning I cooked my first batch of steel-cut oats from Trader Joe's. This is Slow Food! Steel-cut oats are whole-grain oat groats cut into pieces in a steel buhr mill instead of rolled. The raw oats really look like meal, stone-hard, irregular pieces of oats that must simmer 30 minutes in lots of water before they are ready to eat.

What a taste sensation. Through the years I've gotten calloused. Few gustatory discoveries now delight with Eden-like drama but this morning's oatmeal took me back to God's Paradise. This is nothing like the oatmeal I've been eating all these years. It's chewy and tasty!

I devised new toppings. I used clotted organic half-and-half, also from Trader Joe's, a scant teaspoon of raw brown sugar, some raisins and seven, raw, unpeeled almonds. (A friend who regularly consults an Ayurvedic physician told me health required a daily dose of eight almonds. I think seven is more authentically Asian. An even number does not encourage further growth.)

The result is perfection. I'm a convert!

Scrambled Egg & Salmon Breakfast

I just acquired American Classics, recipes from Cook's Illustrated. No pictures but detailed description of the various tests they ran to find the best way to create classics of the American kitchen. I found the standards they used for each dish fascinating reading. Scrambled eggs are supposed to be soft, creamy with large curd-like pieces, almost runny but not quite. The trick? Add milk to the slightly beaten eggs then cook quickly in a non-stick pan, using a wooden spatula to rake the curds up and allow the eggs to run into the pan to cook. Take off the heat before completely dry. The eggs will continue cooking on the plate. I added fresh chives from the garden and a tad of three soft cheeses to the eggs before cooking them in frothy butter. The creamy deliciousness made worthwhile what little guilt I felt. The salmon was simply and quickly seared with sprayed-on olive oil and topped with powdered dill and lemon peel. Homemade rustic Italian bread with a small pat of chilled sweet butter completed a rare breakfast treat for me. Normally I subsist on oatmeal quick-cooked in hot filtered water, with tahini, raisins, and fresh fruit. Every day.

Pineapple Salsa with Whole Wheat Rustic Bread

One of the dishes I made when pineapple went on sale everywhere two weeks ago. I cut the fresh pineapple into thick chunks that I marinated in lime juice, crushed fresh ginger and coconut cream. I was too lazy to cut some fresh mint from the garden downstairs. Besides it was night already and I just wanted a simple supper with the last remaining hunk of bread I had from the last bake day. Surprisingly filling and light, which supper should be anyway.

Poulet a la Niçoise - Chicken in Thyme, Tomatoes and Black Olives

Chicken thighs were on sale the other week so it was time to make poulet a la Niçoise, one of my favorite chicken stews from southern France. It's simplicity itself, especially compared to other favorite French recipes. I modified it with a short cut using the fresh tomato-and-basil sauces I make all summer long with the fresh basil from my deck garden. Marinate the chicken in lemon juice, black pepper, thyme and salt then sauté in olive oil with julienned salt pork before adding chopped onions, chunks of fresh tomato, my tomato sauce (or your favorite tomato sauce recipe, or for that matter, chopped canned tomatoes), dry vermouth, bay leaf, oil-cured black olives and a little stock, and simmer for about 45 minutes until thickened. Wonderful with crusty bread or brown rice. A crisp salad with a simple olive-oil-and-red-wine-vinegar dressing would complement this well.