White Bean Salad

Nine times out of 10, I plan our dinner while at work.  A craving will hit, and I'll go with it.  I sometimes consult Adam, but it's always the same answer, "I don't know. What do you want?"  So, then I take things into my own hands and plan our evening.

Yesterday, about 10 a.m., I started craving a burger.  It was settled, burgers it would be.  Then it was on to the sides.  Adam loves onion rings so they made the cut.  I wanted some kind of salad, but I was just about sick of lettuce so I decided that a vegetable salad would be a nice change of pace.  And it was even better that I could make a great salad by just cleaning out the pantry and refrigerator. 

White Bean Salad

1 15 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
1 medium tomato chopped
2 green onions, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Italian Dressing, recipe follows

Mix first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.  Spoon 3 or 4 teaspoons of the italian dressing over veggies.  Let sit for 30 minutes before serving.

Italian Dressing

1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 red wine vinegar
3 garlic homes, coarsley chopped
1/4 tsp. whole peppercorns
1/4 tsp. each of dried oregano, basil, thyme and red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Put all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and whirl until mixture is smooth.

Homemade Pasta

Picture is terrible, but I only had my phone to work with!

I have never attempted to make homemade pasta. It always seemed like such a daunting task. Temperamental dough, a stand mixer with pasta attachment, a big floured mess in the kitchen. It's just too big of a commitment for one dinner. That is until yesterday, when I saw an episode of Everyday Italian. Giada created this almost impossibly easy pasta recipe for her Ravioli Caprese. I have to tell you that as soon I saw the show, I was at the computer printing out the recipe.

Luckily, we were at mom and dad's (house sitting again), and she had all the ingredients on hand. Dinner is so much easier to prepare when you don't have to go to the store. This ravioli is so light and fresh that it screams spring. This is definitely a close second to my favorite French pasta. Next time, though, I will make two recipes so we can have it for leftovers the next day. Yeah, it's that good.

Ravioli Caprese
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Dough
2 1/2 cup flour
1 cup very hot water

Filling
3/4 cup fat free ricotta
1 egg
2 tbs. fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Sauce
3 tbs. really good extra virgin olive oil
3 tbs. fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
zest from 1 lemon
Salt & pepper

For the dough:
In a large bowl, combine flour and hot water. Using a wooden spoon, mix ingredients until you form a large ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.

For the filling:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

To form the ravioli, cut dough ball into four even pieces. Leave one on your floured board, and wrap plastic around the other three. Form the piece into a 2x6" rectangle. Flour a rolling pin and roll it out to a 4x14" rectangle about 1/8" thick. Place 7 teaspoons of filling about 1 inch apart down the middle of the rectangle. Fold dough over filling and seal with your fingertips. Using a ravioli cutter, cut the pasta into rounded squares making sure each side is sealed. Place finished ravioli on a baking sheet.

In a big bowl, make the sauce. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt. Add the ravioli and cook over medium high heat until they float, about 3-4 minutes. Using a spider, transfer hot ravioli to the bowl with the sauce. Toss ravioli in sauce and serve immediately topped with fresh black pepper and parmesan cheese.

The Lee Bros. are coming to the Morris!

Image

For those of you who don't know the Lee Bros., they are two brothers from Charleston who have made it in the food world. You can read about them here.  To be so young, they have become so accomplished with such humble beginnings.  I mean, they got their start by selling boiled peanuts, for goodness sake.  How much more humble can you get? 

Anyway, we have finally, after years of begging, gotten them to make a stop in May at the Morris for a talk and demonstration on their 2011 tour.  Yay!  That got me thinking about their cookbooks.  I have made several, actually many, dinners from their cookbooks.  I love their take on Southern food--simple yet elegant, traditional yet updated, delicate yet decadent.  From their traditional recipes like pimento cheese and crab cakes to their new favorites like boiled peanut soup and sweet potato buttermilk pie, the Lee Bros. conjure up sweet memories from my youth, but recreate my Southern favorites in ways that are fit for even the foodiest of foodies. 

Their first cookbook is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks.  It's 589 pages of pure cooking magic.  They give tips, variations, sourcery and recipes for ingredients in recipes.  It has everything. It even won the coveted James Beard Award for cookbook of the year in 2007.  Their new cookbook is a new take on an idea from their first book, QKO (Quick Knock Out) dishes. Whether it's from the new or old book, every recipe makes my mouth water.

In honor of their upcoming weekend at the Morris, I decided to treat Adam to a Lee Bros. feast.  I only had the first cookbook on hand so I made their
Oven BBQed Picnic Shoulder

Hot Slaw A La Greyhound Grill

Macaroni and Cheese

Finished product!

It was amazing. Truly, those books are a must buy.

The boys are coming to the museum on May 7 for a talk, demonstration, tasting and book signing.  There are two sessions, 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.  Each ticket is $35.  If you want up close and personal time with the brothers, we have a VIP ticket that includes one session, a book and a private reception after session 2.  These tickets are a steal at $75 each.  Call the museum to get your tickets today!

Low-Key Valentine's Dinner

As I've mentioned before, our anniversary is the 13th of February, and after our Atlanta and Cuscowilla weekend, we were so full from all of the delicious food that we decided to order a pizza when we got home on Sunday. We knew we made the right decision when we saw Papa Johns website advertising their Valentine's Special, a heart shaped pepperoni pizza. How appropriate for our anniversary? Looks like we have our next few anniversaries planned.

And so the next day was Valentine's Day, which seriously took a backseat to our anniversary. That's ok with us because we were never really into Valentine's Day to begin with so Monday came and went with almost no recognition of the day. Except, of course, dinner.

We had a true, romantic steakhouse dinner. Filet mignon topped with sautéed mushrooms, salt crusted baked potato, creamed spinach and french rolls. Pure perfection. What better way to celebrate love than with a full belly?

Creamed Spinach
Serves 2 with big appetites or 4 smaller portions

1 box of frozen spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
1 shallot, chopped
1/2 tbs. butter
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1 1/2 tbs. sour cream
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper
2 tbs. Parmesan cheese
Italian style breadcrumbs

Preheat the broiler. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and sauté the shallot until softened. Add the flour and cook for 3 minutes until it just starts to turn light brown, stirring constantly. Add the milk, and whisk constantly until it boils. Continue whisking and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Add the spinach, sour cream, nutmeg, lemon juice and salt and pepper and heat, stirring, until it is heated through. Divide creamed spinach among two buttered baking dishes. Top with Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Broil until the breadcrumbs start to brown.

Perfect Every Time

Making a good risotto is rather like riding a bicycle: It takes a little bit of practice to begin with, and a certain amount of concentration thereafter. Kyle Phillips

Risotto is one of my favorite comfort food indulgences. The Italians are credited with the invention of risotto, and thank goodness they shared it with the rest of world. Risotto is a slow cooking, creamy rice dish. Remarkably, because of its labor intensive cooking process, it is the most common preparation of rice in Italy.

Italians are picky about their beloved risotto. If one is to make a skillet of risotto, he or she must follow the steps of making true risotto established by the Northern Italians, and if those steps are not followed word for word, the dish cannot be called risotto, it's simply a pile of rice.

Risotto rice, know also as Aborio rice, is very different than the white or brown varieties that which Americans have become accustomed. It's a short grain rice that has a high starch content, and in it's cooking process, very slowly absorbs high volumes of liquid. Because of this cooking method, risotto releases all its starch leaving you with a thick, creamy, rich, almost pasta-like dish. And the best part is that it's so unbelievably versitile. It has the ability to be a side dish, appetizer, or main course. Additions of different meats and seasonal vegetables can make it totally different dish each time it's made. Around the world, it's been considered a common food and a comfort food all the while maintaining a certain elegance and decadance.

Contrary to popular belief, risotto is extremely easy to prepare; it takes only time and patience. Risotto is definitely an attention hog. It needs contstant attention to ensure the consistency is correct. But because of the special attention and constant stirring, your risotto will be perfect and luxurious every time.

I've made risotto a couple of times before, but last night I wanted the perfect ingredients to compliment my mom's side dish, zucchini au gratin. Since risotto's so adaptable, my brain immediately started swirling with possible flavor combinations. After much debate, I decided upon bright green vegetables and sweet, fresh shrimp. As the temperature dipped down below 30 degrees, our plates and bellies were full of warm, creamy risotto. At that moment we knew, winter never tasted so good.

Risotto with Asparagus, Peas and Shrimp

8 cups chicken stock
12 spears asparagus, sliced on an angle about 1" thick
4 tbs. olive oil, divided
3 tbs. butter, divided
1 medium shallot, minced
2 cups Arborio rice
3/4 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, partially thawed
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and devained

Place stock in a heavy pot over high heat until it comes to a boil. Boil asparagus pieces for about 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. Drop the heat to simmer. Heat 2 tbs. oil and 1 tbs. butter over medium-high heat in a large heavy skillet. Add shallots and saute until soft. Stir in rice and cook for about 2 minutes coating all grains with the oil and butter. Add wine and cook until most of the liquid has been cooked out. Ladle in 1 cup of warm stock. Using a wooden spoon, stir continuously until most of the stock has been absorbed. Keep adding stock, 1 cup at a time, and stirring. After about 15 minutes, rice should be cooked and creamy but still be a little al dente. (You may not need all of the stock). Season with salt and pepper. Stir in remaining 2 tbs. butter and parmesan cheese. Taste for seasonings then stir in peas and asparagus. Take it off the heat, and cover while you cook the shrimp.

Heat remaining 2 tbs. olive oil in a skillet. Pat the shrimp with paper towels making sure to remove all moisture from them. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Add to pan and brown on both sides, about 2 mintues per side.

Check the risotto and add a bit more stock if it has gotten too thick. In a shallow bowl or plate, make a nice mound of risotto and top with 4 or 5 shrimp. Garnish with more parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

New Year's Luck

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

There are many New Years good luck traditions around the world where the food we eat represents something we strive for in the new year. Most of these good luck symbols represent good fortune, prosperity, longevity, good health, and general luck. Legend has it that legumes are symbolic of fortune because they resemble coins. When they are cooked, dark greens such as cabbage, collards, and kale look like folded money. Pigs are known for rooting themselves forward before they move which is why pork is the symbol of progress and prosperity. Cakes and bread are baked into rings or circles with symbolic good luck charms baked inside.

In the South, we've got our own traditions. They certainly follow the guidelines set by other places and countries, but we, of course, put our own traditional spin on them. We eat collard greens with ham hock, black eyed peas, some kind of ham or pork and a bread.

All my life, my family has celebrated this New Year's tradition, but in our own different but special way. Although she is a Southerner, my mother doesn't eat collards so she would make spinach for us. It was never the same from year to year, so sometimes we'd have a spinach casserole or a spinach salad the next or cooked down in a soup the following year. We'd have black eyed peas either plain or in soup, and a piece of ham, pork chops or pork tenderloin would be the pig. Although the peas and pork were delicious, mom always made sure we filled our plates full of spinach. I guess mom needed to do a little after Christmas shopping.

This year, I decided to do the whole shebang. I made the collard greens with chunks of hearty bacon; hoppin'John which is a Charleston dish made up of black eyed peas, rice, and tomatoes; baked ham, and jalapeno cheddar cheese cornbread. I'm not very proficient at Southern cooking, but I think it came out okay. Adam said he felt lucky already. And mom would be so proud, there were more greens on our plates than anything else. Maybe we'll be extra lucky this year.

Sunday Collard Greens
Adapted from The Lee Bros. Cookbook

6 strips of bacon, chopped
6 cups of water
1/2 tbs. crushed red pepper
salt and pepper
Two prewashed bags of chopped collard greens, 2 lbs.

Heat a stock pot over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until almost crisp, about 6-8 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Add the water, red pepper, salt and pepper. Stir to release the bacon drippings off the bottom. Bring the stock up to a boil then turn heat to medium-low and let stock cook for 30-40 minutes.

Start by adding a couple of handfuls of greens to the pot making sure to push them down into the stock with a wooden spoon. After a couple of minutes, the greens will be wilted enough to add a couple more handfuls. Continue this process until all the greens are in the pot and covered by stock, about 6 minutes. Keep the heat at medium-low and let them simmer for at least 2 hours.

Cheeseburger in Gourmet Paradise

It is the Americans who have managed to crown minced beef as hamburger, and to send it round the world so that even the fussy French have taken to le boeuf hache, le hambourgaire. Julia Child

In my book, an ordinary meal doesn't always have to be ordinary. My mother taught me that theory as a child. Rarely did we have simple meals. A new and different take on ordinary food was a must because, let's face it, we were picky, but we surely didn't want to eat the same four or five meals each week. Dad doesn't eat anything that has wings, Katie won't eat fish and I'm not particularly fond of pork therefore creativity was the name of the game in our household.

Growing up, we ate a lot of hamburgers on the weekends. They were tasty, dad could grill, and we could eat on paper plates, which was always a thrill for the girls in charge of cleanup duty.

Hamburgers are a staple in most every American diet, and they usually are presented the same way, with salty french fries or crunchy potato chips, a dill pickle spear and a Coca Cola Classic. While these are great accompaniments to a burger, there's nothing wrong with dressing up a hamburger with grownup sides and drinks.

Over the years, hamburgers have fought their way from very simple and humble beginnings to becoming a mainstay on almost every menu from neighborhood cookouts to upscale eating establishments. If a single hamburger can cost up to $200, then you know it's made its way into mainstream society.

If you ever watch Rachel Ray's cooking show or read her magazine, you know she is the self-proclaimed "Queen of Burgers." She has what seems like a million and one recipes for burgers with names like lamb sausage burgers, jerk pork cheeseburgers, spaghetti burgers, and even no-joke spinach-artichoke burgers. No ingredient is out of the question or too "out there" to make it into one of her burgers. I, on the other hand, prefer ground beef, a buttery toasted bun, good quality cheese, mayo and ketchup, but that doesn't mean I don't spice it up every now and then with out-of-the-ordinary sides.

For this particular meal, I started with deliciously fresh ground sirloin which is the perfect cut for juicy, meaty burgers. I then seasoned the patties with salt, pepper, and a dash of Texas dry rub for that little extra kick I like. A burger cannot set up camp on a plate without some sort of potato product nestled beside it. French fries at home are never as good as in a restaurant and potato chips are adequate for a turkey sandwich, but often not substantial enough for a hamburger so the only other acceptable starch was mashed potatoes. To update the greenery on the plate, I opted for more elegant asparagus bundles instead of a dill pickle. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a pickle, but we're in the business of out-of-the-ordinary for this meal.

It was the perfect balance of comfort and elegance that we were craving. Pour yourself a glass of cool pinot noir or pop open a Sam Adams Hefeweizen and enjoy the one of the first cool nights of the season with the updated classic hamburger supper.

Asparagus Bundles
Serves 2

10 skinny stalks of asparagus, washed and trimmed
2 scallions, cleaned
drizzle olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tbs. parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400. Place asparagus stalks on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place scallions on same baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes. Tie bundles with scallion. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and put back in oven for 5 minutes.

The Best Birthday

Katie and I in Memphis, TN, the BBQ Capitol

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them. Virginia Woolf

I don't like birthdays. Not everyone's birthdays, just mine. I haven't much cared about my birthday after the big number 21. Ever since, I pretty much quit celebrating and counting. This year would be no exception; since it was a Wednesday night, I would spend a very low key evening and probably eat dinner with my parents (my dad's birthday is the day before mine so we celebrate together every year), and go out with some friends on the weekend. Then, I learned that my parents were leaving town on the morning of my 27th birthday. So a new plan had to be concocted. Almost immediately after hearing the news from my parents, I got a phone call from my sweet, sweet sister, Katie, saying she was coming to town from Memphis to help me celebrate my birthday. What a wonderful sister I'm lucky to have.

Originally, Katie and I planned to go to dinner with my work friends Nicole; Janna, her husband, Hank; and my great friend Todd, and his partner, Jeff. I thought somewhere nice like Bistro 491 was in order for the night. It's the kind of place you go for something big like a 50th birthday or a 20th wedding anniversary, but it's also the kind of place where you feel comfortable in jeans celebrating a new promotion or picking yourself up after a crappy work week.

But, the invite list stared growing. Finally, we found ourselves invitng my wonderful boyfriend Adam, his roommate Justin, my friends Thomas and Lindsey, and Charlsie (who as Janna says livens up any party) because I couldn't imagine celebrating my birthday without any of these people. With the new additions, a party at my parents house was obviously the way to go so we could all talk together and be loud. To get my Bistro dinner fix, my parents took Katie and me for the family celebration of mine and dad's birthdays the night before they left for Chicago. My oh my, it was good.

Katie took over all plans for the party, and all I had to do was sit back, relax and wait for the big day. She wrote and printed the perfect invitation, ordered and picked up the food, and cleaned and set up the house for a flawless party. It was surreal arriving at a party that I hadn't planned, and even better, was in honor of me.

She drove around town with my baby dog, Sissie, all day picking up pulled pork, three sauces, cole slaw, potato salad, hash and rice, and sweet tea from our favorite barbecue restaurant, BBQ Barn, in North Augusta, SC. She also stocked up on as much beer and wine as the car could hold. Janna volunteered to make her mom's famous baked beans and my birthday cake, a Mississippi mud cake. Adam was in charge of the ice and everyone else was in charge of bringing their appetites. We all ate, drank and mixed and mingled until the wee hours of the night. All in all, it was a fabulous night. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday than one being with my best friends, eating great food and spending time with the greatest sister in the world. Thank you, Katie, for my favorite birthday in many, many years.

There won't be recipe at the end of this post because I couldn't possibly recreate the fabulous barbecue from BBQ Barn so this is all you get today. When I master barbecue and the fixin's, you'll be first to know.

Pulled pork, sauces, and sides

BBQ Barn
605 Atomic Rd
North Augusta, SC 29841
(803) 278-7202

P.S. BBQ Barn also has some of the best ribs this side of Memphis, TN. Be sure to try them out; you'll thank me for the rest of your life.

Beans, Beans, Good for Your Heart

What most moved him was a certain meal on beans. Robert Browning

I've never been a big fan of beans. Most were mushy, some were tasteless, and all were healthy. To a kid, this combination makes for a very "yuck" dinner. I grew up and still didn't like beans. Then, one fateful night, I tried them for, what seemed like the millionth time, and to my surprise, I liked them. Who knew, right?

Sometime after that eye opening meal, I heard that humans' taste buds change every seven years. If you are some smarty pants and knows that this is completely made up, do me a favor and don't tell me because I believe it whole heartedly. This theory is the number one reason that I will now eat, and enjoy, pimento cheese, avacados, blue cheese, and beans. I'm still waiting for my seven year hatered of goat cheese to finally run its course.

Anyway, back to beans. To me there is nothing better than a black bean salad on a hot summer day. Over the last couple of years, I have made a few variations of this cool, colorful crisp salad, not because I'm a kitchen genious or because I scour every cookbook I own for a thousand different ways to build a better black bean salad, but because I never find the time to write down my original culinary successes. So inevitably, I forget them. I've always been a little forgetful and spacey, just ask my mother.

We all know the benefits of beans: high in fiber, high in protein, and of course giving you the ability to send your enemies running for the hills after ingesting a nice big plate of frijoles from your local Mexican restaurant. Now with all of the obvious good qualities out of the way, let's examine the most important, its taste.

Although there are many dishes in which to add black beans, I'm particularly fond of ones where they are the main ingredient. I can't think of a better way to praise the black bean than creating with a salad where it can truly be a star. After seven long years, I've finally welcomed a bean salad into my summer side dish repertoire. It's fresh, colorful and healthy...what more can a grown-up ask for?

Black Bean Salad

Dressing:
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
Juice of one lemon
1 tbs. red or white vinegar
1/2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/4 c. olive oil

Salad:
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can corn, drained and rinsed or 3 ears of fresh corn off the cob
1/4 medium Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 c. brown rice cooked according to directions
1 1/2 c. grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tbs. fresh parsley, chopped for garnish

Sprinkle salt over chopped garlic and take the side of a chef's knife and smash and smear over and over to make a paste. Place in a big mixing bowl, and whisk in lemon juice, vinegar, chili powder, salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Taste for seasonings.

Add salad ingredients to the bowl and stir to incorporate the dressing. Garnish with parsley and serve.