THE LADY OF SHALLOTS

Cannellini and Lamb Soup from Jerusalem , p. 135, photo by RM This is probably one of the best soups I have ever made and was absolutely perfect for the snowy wintery weather we've been having. A few things. It calls for 20 cloves of garlic.   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KITCHEN GADGET ALERT: GARLIC EDITION! This is my favorite tool to peel garlic. It shouldn't cost more than 2 bucks. You don't need anything fancier. All you need is a clean, stable, and dry surface. The older the garlic, the easier it is to peel. This actually works, believe it or not, in removing garlic odors from your hands. Yes, I know, you can rub your hands all over your stainless steel kitchen faucet, but forgive me if I think this is more graceful. And a shout out here to Katie (over at Cook The Book Fridays ) who sent me my steel soap one year for Christmas! -----------------------------...

Happy New Year! I'm not a big one for resolutions, but I've realized that I've been slacking on cooking, and that has to change (for both budget and health considerations). I do love Blue Apron, but while I'm on break from teaching I'm trying to plan meals and cook more often. Santa was kind enough to bring us Mark Bittman's The Mini Minimalist set, as well as Ottolenghi and Tamimi's Jerusalem cookbook. Thus far in the new year, I've made Bittman's "Broiled Bluefish or Mackerel with Green Tea Salt" (The Mini Minimalist: Meat, Fish & Poultry, 20-21). We had to substitute sea bass as that was the fish that was available and least likely to compete with the green tea (something told me salmon would be funky). The neat part of this recipe is the green tea powder with coarse salt. Bittman recommends grinding one's own green tea, but I went for Matcha powder since I had it on hand. The recipe worked out fairly well, except tha...

Ina Garten's Couscous with Peas and Mint: 3.5 stars Sometimes you make couscous for 15 people (Ina Garten's "Couscous with Peas and Mint" from her Foolpoof: Recipes You Can Trust ) and convince yourself that you need to double the recipe. Then you find that it probably wasn't necessary to buy TWO bags of frozen peas. Now you find yourself staring at a whole lot of leftover defrosted peas. What to do? Here's one idea! How about lamb sausage (more specifically, lamb-apricot sausage from Savenor's ) with a mint-pea purée? (It is winter, so I used this recipe for the purée and left off the pea shoots, etc). Do remember that a little bit of fresh mint goes a long way, so you may want to adjust the amounts depending on your preferred pea-taste to mint-taste ratio.  Serious Eats' "Lamb Sausage with Pea Purée" : 4 stars But one can only make/eat so much mint-pea purée. I was excited to try Food52's Peas Porridge Hot recipe until I...

So, given that I bought a large amount of scallions and scapes at this last week's Union Square Farmer's Market , I thought it rather serendipitous that this recipe from Elly Says Opa! should pop up in my Google Reader feed today! I had lamb shoulder chops on hand, so I figured, why not? I threw together a quick recipe for the chops that would balance the sour/savory qualities of the "chimichurri." I used about 4 scapes instead of 2, and I had some sort of semi-dried pepper in the fridge, so that got pulverized in the food processor as well. As for the lamb chops (serves 2): 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 high quality lamb chops (mine were from Stillman's Farm) 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons sweet paprika 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar rub chops with salt and sweet paprika on both sides heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a skillet/pan over medium heat pan-fry chops until cooked through (about 8 min each side, depending on thickness of chops) just before the lamb is done, pour ...

I love lamb. And I've cooked it in almost every form (chops, roasts, kofta...) EXCEPT rack of lamb. I've had this fear, you see, because I always remember the very elaborate crown roast my parents made once for a dinner party long ago. At any rate, now that the school year is over, I decided it was time to get over that. So, as usual, if I want a recipe I'm almost guaranteed to like, I turn to Ina Garten. Here's Ina's Lamb Persillade recipe (also found in her Barefoot in Paris cookbook). It truly was easy. I undercooked it a bit much (I like med rare), but the leftovers were fantastic, broiled in the toaster oven. Just cut how many you want to eat for lunch and broil them (if your original rack was rare...otherwise, I'd just heat them). I served it with two other Ina Garten recipes: Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper (which may be my all-time favorite easy pasta recipe because it goes with so many other dishes) and her French String Bean Salad ( How Easy is That...

One of the great joys of summer here in Somerville is the Farmers' Market in Union Square. Yesterday was the first market of the season and I made sure to get there as early as possible in order to have the best selection and avoid the afternoon rush. I'm a planner, so it is rare that I like to shop without an idea of what I'm cooking, but the Farmers' Market is a great motivator. I just picked up whatever looked good and figured I'd be creative when I got home. Yesterday's purchases included: fresh brioche, strawberries, garlic scapes, asparagus, fresh parsley , kale, and hot Italian lamb sausage from Stillman's Farm . Since the kale will keep for a bit (and I'll probably just make crisps anyway), I prioritized the scapes, asparagus, parsley and sausage. The results are the following three recipes! Enjoy! Linguine with Hot Italian Lamb Sausage & Parsley Serving: 2 generous portions 3-4 links hot italian lamb sausage, sliced 2 tbls. olive oil 3 tb...

To continue our series on cooking foods that I have historically LOATHED (see squash )...tonight I made a pasta dish inspired by p. 66 of Real Simple's November 2009 issue AND my local farmer's market. Brussels Sprouts. Yes. I HATE (did hate) brussels sprouts. When I was a child, my parents would grant me an additional prerogative of my choosing every birthday. The first one I picked was to no longer have to eat brussels sprouts. My mother even wrote it up by decree and signed it with a wax seal. I'm fairly certain I have not eaten brussels sprouts since I was thirteen or so. Of all vegetables, the gag factor for brussels sprouts was the highest (maybe tied with eggplant). So, again, overcome by my need to partake of New England's regional bounty of autumn veggies, I spotted some brussels sprouts at this morning's farmer's market. I remembered Martha Stewart trying to convince me (via TV) that they really were quite wonderful when grown at home and prepar...

One of my favorite pieces of mail is the monthly arrival of Real Simple magazine, courtesy of a gift subscription from my mother. My absolute favorite part of the magazine is the recipes which do tend to be simple and healthy. I like recipes that I can cook during the week, but are a little more exciting than dumping two cans of beans in a pot with some canned tomatoes and chili mix. In the past week or so, I made the following recipes: Tilapia with Peppers and Olives (Real Simple, October 2009) LESSONS LEARNED: tilapia + green olives + lime = awesome yellow cauliflower IS slightly sweeter than white cauliflower if you cook tilapia too long, it still tastes good, but it falls apart from the filet RATING: A- Seared Lamb Chops with Minted Spaghetti Squash (Real Simple, October 2009) LESSONS LEARNED: I don't like squash, in general. But living in New England in autumn makes one want to like squash. Not only did I like this squash, I'd make it again for a Thanksgiving meal. ...