2 Colorful Sides and a Mushroom Salad

Roasted Carrots, Parsnips, and Shallots
Garlicky Olives and Gremolata

Carrots, parsnips and shallots are tossed in olive oil, seasoned with thyme, salt and pepper, then roasted at 425°F for about 30 minutes.

While the veggies were roasting I made the gremolata, a mixture of chopped Italian parsley, lemon zest and minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Gremolata is the condiment traditionally served with Osso Bucco alla Milanese. The flavor is fresh (parsley), bright (lemon), and intense (raw garlic). A great condiment!

To serve: the roasted vegetables are topped with gremolata and garlic green olives. This excellent recipe was posted by my blogger friend, Marie, the Proud Italian Cook back in October. I am a fan of parsnips, so I added them to the recipe, plus I like the look of white parsnips mixed with the orange carrots. Thanks Marie!
French Green Beans and Yellow Wax Beans
Topped with Zesty Baby Bellas

Mushrooms are sautéed with a little butter and olive oil, then add minced garlic and season with salt and pepper, finish with a splash of white wine, squeeze of lemon juice and fresh thyme.

The mixed beans are steamed then tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. To serve: top with the mushrooms. Garnish with chopped parsley. Do you like the mélange de haricots? I love the colors. Please visit here for another vibrant bean recipe.

Grilled Marinated Mushroom Salad
Gorgonzola, Grape Tomatoes, Pecans
Three Vinegar Syrup

Speaking of mushrooms, I just have to share this salad! The portobello is marinated in Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic, shallots and red wine vinegar. It is then grilled and served over a salad of mixed greens, radicchio, sprouts, grape tomatoes, Gorgonzola and pecans. Drizzled with a 3 vinegar syrup. Scott Lee reduces the 3 vinegars separately, Chinese Blush Vinegar, Balsamic Vinegar, and Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar then he combines them to dress this salad. You can enjoy this very tasty mushroom salad at my dear friends’ restaurant, Gina Lee’s Bistro in Redondo Beach, California. See ya there!

Meat Soup and The New Year

I love the new year. It’s an exciting time, a time for reflection, a time to make improvements for a better future. Many bloggers have been posting terrific compilations of their Best of 2008. I was reflecting on Taste With The Eyes, how much I have enjoyed writing, learning more about photography and cooking and blogging, making friends and enjoying blogs from around the world. How neat this is, how incredibly neat.
Thinking back over the year of my posts, I think Meat Soup is my favorite. Why? Because it arose from a conversation with my mother about old recipes. Because she shared a recipe from my Nana that I had not remembered. Because we talked about my Father, my Nana, and my Papa who all passed away years ago. Because as a result of our conversation, I was able to share a snippet of our family history on my blog. And, last but not least, because it is a darn good soup! I will definitely be making it in 2009. Beef short ribs have become one of my favorite ingredients. Farewell to 2008, and here is Meat Soup one more time:
What’s in a name?
The other day I was asking my mother, Joyce, about recipes from the past.
Ma: Your Nana (my paternal grandmother) made excellent soups.
Me: Like what? I remember her chicken soup and borscht…what else?
Ma: Oh, I liked her meat soup.
Me: Meat Soup?
Ma: It’s like chicken soup but with meat. I think I still have the recipe…
My Nana was born in Kiev, Russia 1894. The family fled to Canada to escape the pogroms when she was a young girl. Her name was Vitte but she took her sister’s name, Fanny, after Fanny was killed in a machine accident. She met my Papa (paternal grandfather) when they were teenagers and their families were living in the same apartment complex in Montreal. His name was Yitzcok when he was born in Romania 1891 but changed it to Isadore upon arrival in Canada when he was 13 years old. He celebrated his Bar Mitzvah on the boat. Fanny and Isadore married then made their way to America and settled in Chicago where Papa took on the name, Irving, and they raised their children, Edythe and Leonard (my father).
I remember one day when we were kids, my Dad asked us if we knew Papa’s real name. I thought about it and said “Is” because that’s what Nana called him. Then I fell into a fit of giggles, “What kind of name is Is, Dad? That’s a verb!”
My nephews are Stone Leonard, his middle name in memory of our father, and Jett Izzy‘s middle name is in honor of our Papa – Is, or Izzy.
Meat Soup
3 1/2 lbs. short ribs
4 carrots
2 onions
2 parsnips
3 celery stalks
1 parsley root
1 c. dried large lima beans
Egg noodles
These are the ingredients my Mother has listed on her old recipe index card from notes she took years ago while watching her mother-in-law make meat soup.
Here is how I made my Nana’s soup:
Put short ribs in a soup pot full of water, heat on high until the water boils, then turn down the heat to a simmer. Skim off the scum and fat constantly. After 1 1/2 hours add rough chopped vegetables and beans. (I couldn’t find parsley root so I used a bunch of parsley). Simmer another hour or so, until the beans are cooked and the meat is butter-tender and falling off the bone. Season with salt and pepper. (I also added some beef base). To serve, put cooked egg noodles in a bowl and ladle soup on top.

Meat soup. What’s in a name? Indeed.

Oh, and I forgot to mention back in September that I was named after Papa’s oldest brother, Louie.

Happy. New. Year.

Lori Lynn

P.S. Food bloggers and non-food bloggers alike, do you have a favorite post of yours from 2008? If so, please leave a comment, we would love to (re)visit it.

A Holiday Meal Extraordinaire

Our friend Susan hosted this event on the first night of winter. It kicked off our fabulous holiday season and it was also the first night of Hanukkah. Last week I wrote about how we spent the day preparing the food together and shared the recipe for the decadent tartiflette.

Susan’s Christmas decorations and Santa collection are amazing. And her dining table is jaw-dropping gorgeous! It was a pleasure to spend such a lovely evening amidst beautiful surroundings with my family and charming delightful friends, both old and new.

Susan presented Don and Kristy with an elegant Menorah. Here, they recite the blessing in Hebrew. The shamash candle (servant light) is lit, then it is used to light the other candle on this first night of Hanukkah.
The significance of Hanukkah and the Menorah:
The Jews had lost their religious freedom. In a rebellion led by the Maccabees, the Jews regained their freedoms and cleansed and rededicated the Temple around 165 BCE. The Jewish festival of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, celebrates the Maccabees’ victory and the Temple’s rededication. The Hanukkah Menorah, with its eight candles plus the shamash, is lit to commemorate the one-days-worth of pure oil that miraculously lasted for eight days keeping the Temple lights burning until new oil could be obtained.

Let’s Eat!

Mussels with Pernod and Crème Fraîche

I sautéed sliced leeks and celery in butter, added white wine, thyme and bay then reduced. Later this mixture was transferred to a large pot with more wine, brought to a boil, then 5 lbs. PEI mussels were added. When the mussels open they were removed to the serving bowls and the sauce finished with a 1/2 c. Pernod, 8 oz. of crème fraîche and lots of chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Ladle the hot broth over the mussels. Serve with toasted French baguette.
The distinctive flavor of Pernod is created through a combination of star anise, fennel, parsley, chamomile, coriander and several aromatic herbs and plants. Pernod adds another dimension to this mussel broth. I look forward to cooking with it more often, specifically in vegetable and fish dishes.

Chèvre Chaud, Green Salad, Dijon Vinaigrette

Filet Mignon Chausseur
Tarragon Horseradish Crème

Vol-au-Vent filled with Vanilla Yogurt
Quince, Pear, and Orange in a Cinnamon Syrup
I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Susan for her friendship, generous hospitality, delicious meals, the laughs and the good times. We look forward to spending more time together in 2009.
I hope you all had wonderful holidays. Wishing you an abundance of love, friendship, peace, health, prosperity and happiness at the New Year and always.

Panettone French Toast & Bacon

LET IT SNOW!

Are you one of the millions of fortunate recipients of the wonderful tall leavened fruitcakes of Milan this Christmas?

Panettone has been made for hundreds of years using live sourdough mother yeast. A combination of old baking art with butter, raisins, citrus rinds and durum wheat in a 50 hour process produces a rich, moist, fresh Italian cake.

Fr. Adam reminded me that a restaurant company we worked for in the 1980’s gave us Panettone for Christmas every year. So he brought one for us here this year. Thanks for the memory and the delicious cake, Fr. A.

I sliced a thick cross-section of the cake. Soaked it thoroughly in two eggs beaten with cream and a pinch of salt. Then cooked it over medium low heat in butter until golden brown on both sides.

Dusted with powdered sugar!

We are fans of good thick bacon from the butcher shop.

You might want to serve it with maple syrup or mascarpone cheese. It was so moist and sweet, we were satisfied with the dusting of sugar and bacon. This cross-section of the Panettone can serve three or four people. Add a cup of hot coffee and enjoy a delicious Holiday Breakfast!

And here’s a Holiday Centerpiece to go with the Holiday Breakfast. A circle of nine 15 inch tall angel vases with stargazer lilies that I am sending over to Sandi at the Whistlestop Cafe for her lovely Centerpiece of the Month event. December will be an awesome month for her centerpiece displays.


Sending Holiday Blessings Your Way…

Tartiflette

A wonderful wintery dish!
A tartiflette is made with Reblochon cheese, potatoes, bacon, onions, garlic and cream. A favorite in ski areas and winter wonderlands everywhere for it is a hearty, warm and rich dish. We served it as a side dish in this holiday menu:
Champagne Reception
Veuve Clicquot Rosé
Shrimp Cocktail
Gouréres au Cumin
First Course
Nigl Grüner Veltliner 2007
Moules å la Mariniére
French Baguette
Salad Course
Chèvre Chaud, Green Salad, Dijon Vinaigrette
Main Course
Domaine Henri Jouan Chambolle Musigny 2005
Filet Mignon Chausseur
Tarragon Horseradish Crème
Side Dishes
Tartiflette
Carottes de Bébé avec du Miel
Dessert
Vol-au-Vent with Winter Fruits and Vanilla Yogurt
Coffee & Tea
Chocolate Candies

And while we were in the kitchen prepping our holiday meal, look who came to visit Susan’s back yard. Those are ornamental deer under the arch, and their live counterparts came by to check them out! See the three deer in the right of the photo? Magical!

Reblochon is a raw cow’s milk cheese from the Alps region of Savoie. It is creamy, nutty, with full-flavor (somewhat stinky). In the middle-ages, farmers there were required to pay rent to the landowners in the form of milk and cheese based on production. The crafty farmers would hold back some of the milk until after the tax collector had left, then go back to finish milking the cows. This second-milking produced a richer milk, and was used to make their special Reblochon cheese. Cheese made from unpasteurized milk aged less than 60 days is not legally imported into the US, so we used a substitute cheese, Fromage de Savoie, made in the same manner but with pasteurized milk.

We had a fabulous time visiting Susan in New Jersey. We woke up early, had our coffee and began cooking. Everyone had an assignment which was loads of fun (and I sure appreciated the help)! Here my brother and sister-in-law are working on their projects. Don is making dessert; cooking quince, pears and oranges in a sugar and cinnamon syrup. Kristy is cooking the bacon for the tartiflette, and in the foreground, I am working on leeks and celery for the mussels.

Meanwhile Susan is prepping the goat cheese medallions with egg wash and panko breadcrumbs. It will be refrigerated and ready to fry in peanut oil later on. And a big thanks to Esther (in the back) who is helping everyone keep a clean workspace.

Kristy’s tartiflette turned out great: Sliced waxy potatoes are boiled in water until al dente. A sprig of fresh rosemary adds a nice essence. Sliced onions are sautéed in some of the bacon fat until golden brown, minced garlic is added at the end and cooked for a few more minutes.

Layer potatoes in baking dish, then onions with garlic, then bacon. Season with a little salt and fresh ground pepper.

Repeat. Then about a half cup of cream is poured over the top.

Top with sliced Reblochon/Fromage de Savoie. We recommend leaving the rind on.

The tartiflette was baked at 400°F early in the day. Later we would put it back in the oven to heat right before dinner. I first saw this dish on Fiona Beckett’s blog and knew immediately it would be a big hit around here. For a more detailed recipe and if you are a cheese aficionado, do check our her blog and her excellent book, Cheese: From Fondue to Cheesecake which has inspiring recipes and beautiful photographs.
I was wondering why I hadn’t had this delicious tartiflette before, as I lived and skied in Aspen for 4 years after college. It is supposed to be a favorite of skiers after all? Fiona answers that question for me in her book, apparently tartiflette was invented by the local cheese commission in order to sell more Reblochon cheese, in the 1980’s! Well, that explains it.
Please come back soon to read more about the special dinner later that evening at Susan’s…

Happy Holidays to All!