Cauliflower, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese Gratin

Early on in my career as a child, I remember going through a big time bratty phase, the apex of which was one week when I was about six or seven. During this week, the object of my ire was my poor mother, who, in reaction to my brattiness, was forced to wash my mouth out with soap not once, but twice.

Like any typical child, I hated vegetables (of course, now as an adult I love them and eat them in abundance). However, during this bratty week, smarting from the humiliation of still being able to taste the soap that was so forcefully stuffed into my mouth, I decided over dinner to challenge my mother over asparagus.

"No. I won' t eat them," I proclaimed, crossing my arms and sitting solidly in my chair.

"Yes, you will," my mother replied, trying to ignore the beginnings of yet another bratty meltdown.

This was the sentiment that was volleyed back and forth between us for most of meal. My brothers and my father kept their heads down, desperately trying to ignore us as they finished dinner.

Then I decided to take things further. "If I eat them, I'll throw up!" I cried.

My mother got a look of inspiration on her face, went to the kitchen and came back with the trash can. She sat back down, put it between us, and said, "Go ahead. Throw up." So not to be showed up in any way, I ate a piece of asparagus and pretended to vomit.

After that, I decided to not be so bratty. My mother showed me that she'd win no matter what, and I put the majority of my bratty phase behind me.

However, I'm still not in love with asparagus.

Another vegetable that I used to cringe at was cauliflower. But over the years, as I've started to love broccoli, I've started to like cauliflower. I searched far and wide to find a veggie recipe that even kids would like. And this is it, adapted from Martha Stewart.


Cauliflower, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese Gratin
Serves 6 to 8

Unsalted butter, for baking dish
2 small heads cauliflower (about 3 pounds total), cut into 1-inch florets
12 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (1 orange)
1/4 cup homemade or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock, or water
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto (about 5 slices) coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole or an 8-inch square baking dish; set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add cauliflower; cook until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain.

2. Whisk together 8 ounces goat cheese, the orange juice, stock, thyme, flour, salt, and pepper until smooth. Toss in cauliflower and prosciutto. Spoon into buttered dish. Top with remaining 4 ounces goat cheese.

3. Cover with foil; bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake until bubbling and just golden, about 30 minutes more. Let cool slightly before serving.

Double-Chocolate Brownies

The Husband and I have never really see eye to eye on brownies. His mother, who is a very good cook, would surprisingly use box mixes--such as Duncan Hines--for her brownies. My mother, Queen of All Things Made From Scratch, would always make her own brownies. As pointed out by the Husband while were still dating, his mother's brownies--despite the box nature of them--were perfectly undercooked. Unfortunately, for my mother, hers were not.

Of course, I didn't know any better. My mother's were delicious, albeit a little hard. Herein, lie the big debate of our marriage--which is better: homemade and dry, or box and moist?

So, in the early years of our 13+ years of marriage, I dutifully tried baking from the dreaded Duncan Hines box. But, I could just taste the chemicals and preservatives, so I stopped. However, I feared making brownies from scratch and not having them underbaked to the Husband's preference.

I tried brownie after brownie recipe, to see if I could change the Husband's mind about the virtues of homemade vs. box brownies. Finally, I found this recipe. The first time I made them was two years ago for the Husband's birthday. He still talks about them using God-like adjectives. Perfection. Supreme. Unrivaled.

So on the eve of his 39th birthday, I'd like to share this recipe with you all, as a thanks for waiting for me to get my blog up and running again. Oh, an don't forget to underbake them. You won't be sorry! As a side note, I'm having 16 4-ounce brownies delivered to his office tomorrow from The Fat Witch Bakery, which luckily, is just downstairs from his office.

Double-Chocolate Brownies

Makes 8

Vegetable oil cooking spray

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

1/4 cup best-quality unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line and 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides. Coat with cooking spray; set aside.

2. Melt together butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (I know that it's a no-no, but I usually use the microwave for this). Remove from heat. Stir until smooth; let cool slightly.

3. Whisk together four, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put eggs, sugar, and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until pale, about 4 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture. Add flour mixture; beat until just combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

4. Transfer batter to prepared pan, an smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownie between edge and center comes out with a few crumbs, 30 to 35 minutes. (Do not overbake--I start testing at 25 minutes.) Let cool 15 minutes; left out of pan, and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool completely. Cut into 8 rectangles. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Provencal Tomatoes

Things have been busy here for the past couple of weeks. The Husband and I have been having some medical stuff going on and I'm amazed at how quickly your time can get sucked away (along with your money) when dealing with this community on a regular basis. Anyway, our health is completely fine, and for this we are grateful!

Someone's whose health has not been fine is my 17+ year old cat, Chiquita. I adopted her as an 8 week-old kitten when I was in college and she's been with me ever since. We had to put her down a couple of weeks ago. Poor baby only weighed four pounds by the end, and we were beginning to feel very selfish keeping her alive when she obviously very miserable. The Husband took this picture of one of her more favorite pastimes about a month ago:



In the meantime, I've had a few dinner parties, and done various cooking experiments for the Husband. At a dinner we recently had when our Vermont friends were in town, I made the recipe I post here tonight: Provencal Tomatoes. I served it as a side dish to pasta with my homemade pesto sauce (which has both toasted pine nut and walnuts). I'm not sure if everyone can get tomatoes this time of year in other parts of the country, but here in the NYC area, we've got plenty. Because it's a baked dish, I like to serve it when the weather is still a little cold, and because it's tomatoes, I feel that it is a reminder to the diners at my table that warmer weather is on the horizon.

Provencal Tomatoes
Serves 8

6 ripe tomatoes (2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter)
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)
1/4 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (2 scallions)
1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the cores from the tomatoes, removing as little as possible. Cut them in half crosswise and, with your fingers, remove the seeds and juice. Place the tomato halves in a baking dish.

In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, scallions, basil, parsley, garlic, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle the tomato halves generously with salt and pepper. With your hands, fill the cavities and cover the tops of the tomatoes with the bread crumbs mixture. Bake the tomatoes for 25 minutes, or until they're tender. Sprinkle with the cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and bake for 30 seconds more. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Note: to make fresh bread crumbs, remove the crusts of Pepperidge Farm sandwich white bread or other fine-grained white bread. Cut the bread in cubes and pulse in a food processor until finely minced.

You can prepare the tomatoes and filling and refrigerate them. Bake just before serving.

Baked Chicken with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Pearl Onions

Was my last post really in early January? I'm so sorry, my dear readers and friends, that I have let my blog stagnate for so long. Yet again, work has gotten in the way. However, this time it was a freelance project that I've been slaving at for the past two years. It has finally come to a conclusion and the Husband and I have agreed that I will not be taking on any freelance work for a while, so I can be focus more on my various hobbies--which really help to keep me sane.

I've still been cooking away, but not so much during the week. Tonight, I bought salmon stuffed with crab meat, and I will smash some new potatoes, saute some spinach and call it a night. Tomorrow is the Husband's birthday, and he has requested lasagna. I've decided to make a new brownie recipe instead of cake (it's just the two of us tomorrow night--we've already celebrated with various friends at dinner all weekend long). The Husband loves brownies, and these promise to be very "fudgie".

In other developments, I've just gotten my first writing gig for a new local start up magazine. The entire issue will be about urban gardening (a favorite topic of mine), and I'll be assigned the task of writing about community gardening. I won't be paid anything, but I'm looking forward to having my first byline. Here's a picture of two of my window boxes from the spring:



Here in the northeast, the weather has suddenly become bitterly cold. Last weekend the Husband and I were stuck in the blizzard that dumped over two feet of snow in Central Park. We were driving back from a skiing weekend and saw a lot of frightening driving and accidents on the New York State Thruway. Irony of it all was that there wasn't enough snow upstate that weekend for us to go skiing, so we just ate a drank in the cabin. The Baked Chicken recipe below would be perfect if you were stuck away in a cabin for the weekend with friends. It's very easy to make, and all you have to do is throw everything together in a big pot and put it in the oven. A word of caution: it takes about twice as long in the oven to bake as the recipe states, so keep on checking the chicken to make sure it's cooked all the way through. It's okay to err on the overcooked side with this recipe--the chicken stays moist no matter what!

Baked Chicken with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Pearl Onions
Serves 4

One 3-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 pound slab bacon, cut into 1/2 inch dice
12 cloves garlic, unpeeled
16 pearl onions, peeled
24 white mushrooms, trimmed
1 cup dry white wine
15 sprigs assorted herbs (such as parsley, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and sage)
1 to 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or cornstarch, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Wash the chicken pieces under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil and bacon over medium-high heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot large enough to hold all of the ingredients. Cook until the bacon has browned and rendered enough fat to coat the bottom of the pot, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain, leaving as much fat as possible in the pot.

3. Add the chicken pieces, skin side down, and brown all over in the bacon fat, 4 to 5 minutes per side. (You may need to do this in batches.) Return the bacon to the pan, along with the garlic, onions, mushrooms, wine, and herb sprigs. Cover the post and transfer it to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for another 20 minutes.

4. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken and vegetables from he pot to a warm platter. As you do, discard the herb sprigs. Skim any grease from the surface of the sauce, and then whisk in the flour or cornstarch to thicken it, if desired.

Variations:
Baked Chicken with Red Wine, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Pearl Onions:
Make this with red wine instead of white wine and add 5 chopped, seasoned plum tomatoes before adding the chicken to the pot in Step 3.

Game Bird with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Pearl Onions:
You can substitute pheasant or guinea hen for the chicken, but bear in mind that they're leaner and therefore cook in a slightly shorter amount of time. For a more pronounced mushroom flavor, add 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms (do not reconstitute them first) along with the bacon in Step 3.

This recipe is adapted from Tom Valenti's Soups, Stews, and One-Pot Meals, which I bought on the sale table, at The Strand.

Buttermilk Onion Pull-Apart Rolls

I made these rolls specifically for my father on Christmas Eve night. He loves onions. Actually, so does my brother Tom, who was also in attendance with his wife and three daughters. Rumor has is that when Tom as a toddler, my mother found him on the kitchen floor, eating an onion like an apple! He was quite the peculiar child. He, of course, takes after my father--Onion Man.

When I was a child, I observed other kid's dads sit in front of the TV and eat normal dad food: potato chips, nuts, cookies, etc. Not my dad. If he wasn't munching on pigs knuckles or chicken livers, he was eating slices of raw onion. Last summer when I took care of him for a couple of weeks after his hip surgery, I had to make him a plate of sliced raw onion to go along with his lunch and/or dinner. I guess some things never change.

And finally, for tshsmom in particular, please find the recipe for...

Buttermilk Onion Pull-Apart Rolls
Makes about 1 dozen

A note first: Too much onions. I followed this recipe to the T and even weighed the sliced and chopped onions. I think you could easily adjust this recipe for a pound or pound and a half and still have enough. See my picture below.



My suggestion is that you could spread about half as much on to the dough and it would work out better. Although the taste was great, having this many onions made rolling the dough and cutting the log very difficult.

The basic concept to the recipe is to spread the onion filling onto the rectangle of dough, which is rolled and then sliced. The rounds are then fit into a baking pan, and they puff up together with the second rise.



11 tablespoons (1 3/8 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for bowl, plus 5 tablespoons melted
1 envelope (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons warm water (105 to 110 degrees)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and rolling pin
2 teaspoons salt
2 pounds sweet onions, such as Rio (1 1/2 pounds cut into 1/4-inch slices, 1/2 pound finely chopped)
1/8 teaspoon freshly gated nutmeg

1. Butter a 9-inch cake pan (I used 2 8-inch pans--all was fine) using 1 tablespoon softened butter. Butter a large bowl; set aside. Stir together yeast, sugar, and water in a small bowl; let mixture stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir until dissolved. Stir in buttermilk and egg.

2. Mix 2 3/4 cups flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Make a well in the center. Pour in buttermilk mixture; mix to combine. Add 6 tablespoons softened butter; mix on medium-high speed until a soft dough forms, about 10 minutes.

3. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured work surface; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Knead dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. Transfer to buttered bowl. Cover dough with clean kitchen towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

4. Melt remaining 4 tablespoons softened butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions; raise heat to high, and cook, stirring often, until soft, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Stir in nutmeg. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let cool.

5. Punch down dough, and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 17-by-10-inch rectangle, and brush with 3 tablespoons melted butter. Spread onions evenly over dough. Starting on 1 long side, roll dough into a log. Press seam to seal. Cut into about 12 slices, about 1 1/4 inches thick each. Arrange slices, cut sides up, in a buttered pan, and brush with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 50 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake rolls until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Immediately invert and unmold rolls onto a wire rack. Serve warm.

Crown Roast of Pork

I love pork. Ham, bacon, pork chops, sausage, you name it, and I love it. It tastes great, and it's easy to make. A pork roast is an excellent entree to make when you have guests, because you can prepare it a few hours before their arrival, throw it in the oven, clean up, and seem totally in control by the time they walk through the door. And this was the case for me on Christmas Eve.

Because my parents and my brother's family attend Christmas Eve mass before coming to my house for dinner, I usually expect them to arrive around 7:30-8:00. Everyone arrives hungry, so I usually plan to serve dinner around 8:30. I ended up getting distracted and started the stuffing and pork a little bit later than I had planned. Once I realized this, all hell broke loose in my kitchen. The Husband turned into sous chef extraordinaire (complete with me acting as diva chef, yelling orders out in curt directives). However, once the stuffing was made, the roast was seasoned and stuffed, and then finally put into the oven, I felt human. A glass of wine could be enjoyed, while I finished up last details and waited for my family to arrive.

This is the third crown roast recipe that I've tried, and it is the best. The one from the Gourmet Cookbook was good (particularly since you wrap the roast in bacon), but I found the stuffing flat. This is from Martha Stewart, and I highly recommend it.

Crown Roast of Pork
Serves 12 to 14

1 large loaf dense rustic bread, trimmed of crust and torn into small pieces (8 cups)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups coarsely chopped onions (about 2 medium onions)
1/4 cup minced garlic
12 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/4-by-1/2-inch strips
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped prunes
1 1/2 cups pine nuts, toasted
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary plus rosemary sprigs optional fo rgarnish
1 cup homemade or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 crown roast of pork (8 to 10 pounds), frenched
Seckel pears and lady apples, roasted (optional, and I didn't do it), for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread out break pieces on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, about 25 minutes. Let bread pieces cool completely. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

2. While bread toasts, melt butter in a large saute pan over medium-low heat. Add onions and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add pancetta. Raise heat to medium-high; cook, stirring, until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Stir in prunes, pine nuts, and 1 tablespoon rosemary. Transfer to a large bowl. Let cool completely.

3. Stir reserve bread, the stock, and wine into onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

4. Rub pork inside and out with salt, pepper, and remaining 2 tablespoons rosemary. Transfer to a roasting pan. Loosely fill cavity with stuffing. Transfer remaining stuffing to a 9-by-13 inch baking pan, set aside. Cover pork with foil. Roast until and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest park of pork (avoiding bone)registers 160 degrees F, about 2 hours. While pork roasts, bake received stuffing in pan, uncovered, until heated through and golden brown, about 45 minutes. Let pork stand 20 minutes before cutting into chops and serving with stuffing. Garnish with pears, apples, and rosemary, if desired.

Note: my butcher gave me an 11 pound roast, and it took about 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to 163 degrees F. It had an extremely faint hint of barely slight pink at the inner edge, which slightly worried me. However, it was PERFECTLY done. Juicy and white all of the way through, it's now safe to have a faint show of pink. If I did longer it could have been dried out!

6:30 Christmas Eve

I've been cooking for about 10 hours so far, and my crown roast is still in the oven!

On the menu for tonight:
Smoked salmon pinwheels for an appetizer
Crown pork roast
Stuffing, featuring rustic bread, onions, garlic, prunes, pines nuts, pancetta
Buttermilk onion pull-apart rolls
Gravy
Salad, with crumbled gorgonzola
Steamed brocolli with garlic
Cheesecake
MarieBelle chocolates

Recipes to be posted next week. I've been off from work since the 23rd, and don't go back until January 9th. Ahhhhh.

Merry Christmas to one and all!