ONE PLATE. EIGHT SALADS.

(SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS ABOUT ALL EIGHT SALADS)

Have you ever looked your eight-year-old son in the eye and said: Dude, I'm hungry, please pass the salade composée? Me neither. But we've been making them all month. It just means arranged. As in less rambunctious than a tossed salad. More controlled. Layered. At least that's what I've been telling myself.

Some cool things about structuring salads this way:

1. They're hella pretty.

2. You can layer your greens with the fruit or nuts or cheese and then set the plate aside for 30 minutes or so (in the fridge if it's hot). There's no rush to serve it because the greens won't get soggy. Right before putting it on the table, sprinkle everything with coarse salt and chopped herbs. You can splash the dressing on the salad. Or you can pass the dressing on the side. 

3. Since you're not tossing, all the layers will stay intact and beautiful. You can fill grilled peaches with goat cheese, nestle in broiled dates wrapped in bacon, add any kind of crumbly or delicate cheese.

4. You see more of the salad. Nothing gets lost in the bottom of the bowl.

5. A large version of any of these salads can be a main course for dinner. Especially good on a hot summer night.

Like most recipes I develop, these are templates. Mix and match any which way you like. I've given approximate measurements for each salad dressing. Start with a kick ass powerful base like garlic or anchovy or lemon zest (or all three). Then whisk together (or shake in a jar) 2 parts extra-virgin olive oil to 1 part acid (lemon, lime, or vinegar). Use Dijon mustard, crème fraîche, heavy cream, mayonnaise or an egg to emulsify. Or not. Shaking the shit out of most dressings will bring them together eventually (give this job to a kid). The most important step is to taste your dressing. Don't trust my measurements. Don't trust anyone. Trust yourself. I always adjust the balance several times. I usually add my coarse salt (fleur de sel or grey or pink Hawaiian) at the end to the prepared salad, but feel free to incorporate it into the dressing (it bashes nicely with a clove of garlic). There are many paths.

CABBAGE, KALE, APPLE, AND PECAN SALAD WITH CREAMY CITRUS VINAIGRETTE

Layers: Thinly sliced Napa cabbage, massaged kale, julienned apples, toasted pecans, chopped parsley, coarse salt, pepper.
Dressing: With a mortar and pestle, make a paste out of 2 cloves of garlic and 2 boquerones. Add a raw (or coddled) egg and whisk until smooth. Whisk in juice/zest of 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 1 tablespoon creamy whole milk yogurt or crème fraîche.

ARUGULA, PIAVE, AND PEACH SALAD WITH THICK BALSAMIC, LEMON, AND GARLIC OIL

Layers: Arugula, Piave cheese (alternates: parmesan, manchego, asiago), peeled/halved/pitted/sliced peaches, coarse salt, pepper.
Dressing: In a jar, shake together 3 tablespoons garlic oil (let a bashed clove of garlic sit in some olive oil overnight), juice/zest of 1/2 lemon, and 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard. Finish with a generous drizzle of thick balsamic (I buy inexpensive balsamic and reduce it down a bit more than halfway).

AVOCADO AND HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD WITH SHALLOT HERB VINAIGRETTE

Layers: Avocado slices, tomato slices, coarse salt, pepper.
Dressing: With a mortar and pestle, bash 2 cloves garlic with 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt until it makes a paste. Whisk in 2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. Add 2 tablespoons finely diced shallots and let sit for 10 minutes. Whisk in 1 tablespoon Grey Poupon mustard. Slowly whisk in 4-6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Add 3 tablespoons chopped herbs (any combination of parsley, mint, and cilantro).

ROMAINE, ROASTED BABY TOMATOES, AND HUMBOLDT FOG SALAD WITH PESTO DRESSING

Layers: Romaine, massaged kale, roasted cherry tomatoes (halved and cooked with olive oil/balsamic/salt/thyme at 350°F for 30 minutes), cold Humboldt Fog goat cheese (crumbled with rind removed), coarse salt, pepper.
Dressing: 2 tablespoons of any kind of pesto whisked with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Thin it out with more olive oil if you need to. Or a few splashes of white wine vinegar.

RADISH, HERB, AND FETA SALAD WITH CITRUS DRESSING 

Layers: Thinly sliced radishes, toasted pine nuts, crumbled feta, mint, basil, opal basil, coarse salt.

Dressing: In a jar, combine and leave for a few hours or overnight: 1 cup olive oil, a few lemon wedges, 2 cloves bashed garlic, a few sprigs of thyme. The next day, pour off 6 tablespoons olive oil into another jar and shake it with 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and 2 teaspoons Grey Poupon mustard. Add more olive oil to the remaining garlic and lemon oil and save it for up to a few days in the fridge. adding more oil as needed.

ENDIVE, PICKLED RADISH, PARSLEY, ALEPPO BREAD CRUMBS, AND PARMESAN SALAD WITH LIME DRESSING

Layers: Endive, pickled radishes, parmesan wisps (I use my potato peeler), whole parsley leaves, Aleppo brown butter bread crumbs (melt a few anchovies into a teaspoon of butter, toss in bread crumbs with a pinch of Aleppo pepper, stir/toast for one minute, cool), pepper, coarse salt.
Dressing: In a jar, shake the heck out of 6 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar, 2 teaspoons Grey Poupon mustard. 

ROMAINE, MOZZARELLA, BACON, BROWN BUTTER CORN, GARLIC CRISPS, AND MOZZARELLA SALAD WITH PICKLED FRESNO CHILES AND GARLIC LIME VINAIGRETTE

Layers: Hearts of romaine, sliced buffalo mozzarella, crispy bacon, buttery corn (cut off cob and sautéed for one minute in brown butter with a large pinch of salt), pickled Fresno chiles (to make a jarful: slice 6 chiles in half, remove seeds, dice, boil for 1 minute in mixture of 1 cup white vinegar/1 teaspoon kosher salt/2 teaspoons sugar), garlic crisps (fry four thinly sliced garlic cloves in 4 tablespoons hot olive oil for about a minute and then reserve the oil for the dressing), chiffonade of basil leaves, pepper, coarse salt.
Dressing: Shake in a jar: reserved garlic oil, 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar, 2 teaspoons Grey Poupon mustard. 

Drink: Hendrick's martini straight up with olives

BUTTER LETTUCE, GOAT CHEESE-FILLED PEACHES, AVOCADO, ALMOND SALAD WITH SHERRY WINE VINEGAR DRESSING

Layers: Butter lettuce, grilled peaches filled with goat cheese (or broiled), avocado, toasted almond slivers, chopped parsley and chives.

Dressing: Combine 1 tablespoon finely diced shallots with 3 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar. Set aside for 10 minutes. Whisk in your favorite grainy Dijon mustard. Slowly whisk in 4-6 tablespoons olive oil. If it needs a little extra help emulsifying, shake it in a jar.

(Thanks to the Saveur Food Blog Awards, I have a lot of new people checking out my blog. I'm nominated for Best Writing so I thought I'd flash back to some of my favorite stories. Here's a post from 3 years ago. I will be revisiting older posts over the next few weeks. So come back if you want to read more from the archives. Thanks so much!)

FIVE DAYS INTO ONE

3 a.m.

Dash is horizontal in my bed, dreaming, his feet walking up my face.

And I am brain-churning, teeth-grinding, eyes-wide-open awake.

I press Dash's toes to my lips and imagine, one by one, losing everyone that I love. A car crash, a murder, several kidnappings.

I shake my head from side to side to expel the tragedy fantasies and slide into a more typical middle-of-the-night worry list.

Did I place the battery back into the smoke detector? What's causing the dead animal smell in the attic? Warm cabbage salad with almonds, anchovy vinaigrette, and navel orange? Or bacon and pine nuts? Why did I have that third glass of wine? Did I lock the front door? Who the fuck am I?

6:45 a.m.

Bella hovers. Sighs. Stomps. Shakes my shoulders. Pulls back the comforter. She shrieks, "We're going to be late for school and I hate being late."

"Bella. Please. CHILL. Just five more minutes."

Dash yells from the kitchen, "Mama, don't be mean to Bella. I love her."

Crash. Breaking glass.

Now I'm up.

Bella watches as I pull on yesterday's jeggings, white t-shirt, grey cardigan, and boots.

"Mama. You wore that yesterday. And your pants are so tight."

Dash enters the bedroom. "Mama. Why are you wearing your bathrobe?"

"Dash. This is a sweater. Can't you see that?"

"You need your coffee. It makes you stronger and nicer."

Bella yanks my t-shirt down to cover my belly and then takes a brush to my hair. "You would look so pretty with your hair in a high ponytail."

"I don't like to feel like a cheerleader."

Two sips of coffee.

And I fly.

Zit covered. Dog walked. Sharing toy found. Pork thrown into slow cooker. Field trip waiver signed. Six and seven "times tables" practiced.

8 a.m.

No time to sweep up the broken glass. Milk is left out. Compost never makes it to the curb. Teeth aren't brushed.

We speed to school, avoiding small children and dogs, blasting music, chewing mint gum.

"Daddy comes home Saturday."

Smiles.

"Dash. Bella. I'm so sick of Adele."

"Me too," says Dash. "I prefer Mozart. And Handel is nice too."

Bella looks disgusted and pushes her face further into her book.

"What? Dash? HANDEL? Where did you come from?

"From you, mama. I came out from behind your legs."

Bella would jump out of the car if we weren't moving so fast.

"Okay, lovelies. What's for dinner tonight?"

We decide on spaghetti carbonara with bacon (for Bella), Marcona almonds (for Dash), parsley, garlic, thick balsamic (for me), and three different cheeses.

6:45 p.m.

Broken glass swept up. Maya Angelou poem recited. French dictation practiced. Anchovies pestled. Nuts bashed. Garlic and shallots softened. Wine poured. Pitcher of pasta water reserved. Parsley chopped. Dog tranquilized. Another glass broken.

Pasta tossed, topped, drizzled.

Eat. Clean. Read. Snuggle. One kid down. Threaten to take away all playdates and sleepovers for the next year. Another kid down. 

10 p.m. 

Pour third glass of wine. Write. Fall asleep in bath. Drag ass to bed. Wish for my husband's hand, to encompass the crown of my head, to gently press me into sleep. 

Repeat.

MARCONA ALMOND CARBONARA
printable recipe

Serves 3

This is a very forgiving recipe. Play. Cream or no cream. Or half and half. Or chicken stock. Skip the egg. Replace parsley with chives. Skip bacon. Use any hard cheese. Whatever.

ingredients:

6 slices bacon

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 shallots, peeled and finely diced

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped or microplaned

1 tablespoon sherry wine vinegar
4 anchovy fillets
1/2 cup Marcona almonds
1 egg

juice/zest from 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup chopped flat parsley

1/2 cup heavy cream
1.5 cups grated cheese (any combination of parmesan, pecorino, romano, piave)

salt

pepper

salt for pasta water

1 pound dry pasta
for toppings: olive oil, balsamic (thick if you have it), salt, pepper, chopped parsley

directions:

Put on a big pot of water to boil pasta.

In a medium-sized cast iron or nonstick pan, fry up the bacon to your liking. Remove cooked bacon and place on paper towel. Pour out most of the bacon fat and reserve for other uses. Turn pan to medium heat. Add olive oil. Add shallots and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Add vinegar and cook for 30 seconds. Turn off heat and set aside.

Bash anchovies with a mortar and pestle. Add almonds and bash until almost a paste but not quite.

In a large bowl (in which you will serve the pasta) add almond/anchovy mixture, egg. lemon juice/zest, parsley, cream, 1 cup of the cheese, salt, pepper, and cooked shallots/garlic. Whisk together.

Once the pasta water is boiling. add 1 tablespoon of salt. Add pasta. Before pouring pasta into a colander, scoop out and reserve at least 1 cup of pasta water. Cook pasta until al dente.

Add cooked and drained pasta to almond, anchovy, lemon juice/zest, parsley, cream, shallots, garlic mixture. Pour in 1/4 cup pasta water. Use tongs to combine. Taste. Add more pasta water, cheese, salt, and pepper as needed. Taste again.

Serve with toppings on the table: crumbled bacon, pasta water, parsley, parmesan, salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

ICE CREAM FOR GROWNUPS

(Texters' names crossed out to protect identities and avoid embarrassment at work.)

The text thread above was about round one. Round two (that I served to eight people) didn't work out so well. It was sickly sweet because the ice cream and caramel mixed and melted together.

Here's a glimpse at round three and what I learned:

Whatever you do, don't stir the caramel and chocolate almond chunks into the vanilla ice cream. Instead, drizzle the caramel and sprinkle the chocolate almond chunks over the top of the just-churned ice cream. And then gently press the goodies down into the soft ice cream pillow. Freeze until hella firm. Then scoop with care. Hopefully you will get a swirl of caramel and a bitter pop of chocolate and a salty crunch of almonds in each creamy bite.

BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE ALMOND CARAMEL SWIRL ICE CREAM
(a few alternate recipe names in text thread above)

printable recipe

serves a few people if you're lucky

1/2 cup caramel sauce, refrigerated

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds

pinch salt

1 1/2 cups half and half

6 egg yolks

2/3 cup sugar

pinch salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped out

pinch salt

Make caramel sauce. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

In a double boiler (or over very low heat), melt chocolate. Turn off heat and stir in almonds and salt. Spread on a piece of parchment on a sheet pan. Freeze. When solid, pry chocolate off of parchment. Chop into pea-sized chunks. Freeze until needed.

Prepare an ice bath. Place a fine strainer over a medium-sized bowl. Immerse bottom of bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice and water. Set aside.

Whisk together half and half, yolks, sugar, and salt. Set aside. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring cream and vanilla bean to just under the boil. Remove from heat and slowly whisk into half and half/yolk mixture. Place back on medium heat. Stir the whole time with a wooden spoon until it thickens slightly. It's done when you drag your finger across the back of the spoon and it leaves a trail.

Pour mixture through the strainer into the bowl that's over the ice bath. Leave bowl in the bath until the custard is cool. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Freeze a container for the finished ice cream (I used a loaf pan). Freeze ice cream according to manufacturer's instructions. Place ice cream in cold container. Drizzle caramel and chocolate almond chunks over the top. Use a spoon to press caramel and chunks down into the ice cream. Do not stir. Freeze for a few hours or over night. Carefully scoop so as not to mix in the caramel.

SUNDAY LUNCH

"So the 7th and 8th graders have a separate talent show and they get to do inappropriate things like sing that song called I'm sexy and I know it."

"Bella, I don't know that song."

"Mama, come on. You don't know LMFAO?"

"Bella, anyone who is singing about being sexy is, um, kind of, um, a jerky jerk."

I want to say a cocky motherfucker but I'm trying so hard to be a well-behaved mama.

"Yes, mama. True. But it's a great song and you should just download it."

I count alligators in my head and wait for Dash to ask his question. I get to five before he delivers.

"Mama. What does sexy mean?"

"Well, it's a word used by grownups. And it means that you really really like how someone walks, talks, and moves through the world. Like someone really blows you away."

And I'm embarrassed to say that I keep going on and on with various definitions until Dash interrupts me.

"Okay. Okay. OKAY. I get it. Like a dog. Like look over there at that sexy dog."

"Well, that's the first time I've ever heard a dog described as sexy. It's more for people. Like if I'm lucky, on a good day, daddy might use the word sexy to describe me."

"Might."

"Right. Might."

"I don't know why he'd call YOU sexy."

"Dash. Eat your watercress salad."

CREME FRAICHE RECIPE #3:

Salad of Watercress, Feta, Almonds, Green Onions, Crispy Green Garlic, and Creme Fraiche.

I'm a total whore for anchovy garlic salad dressing, but you don't need it for this salad because the watercress and the spring garlic bring so much flavor. A simple coating of olive oil and sherry wine vinegar is just right. This is a hardcore simple mashup but I swear it's super tasty. I'm not going to give amounts. You could even put out bowls of all the components on the table for people to make individual salads. 

Gather the following:

olive oil 

spring garlic

salt (kosher)

balsamic vinegar

watercress

olive oil (for dressing)

sherry wine vinegar

salt (something coarse and crunchy like Maldon or grey or fleur de del)

chopped green onions

sliced almonds

feta (I'm partial to French but any kind works), crumbled

crème fraiche

Here's the only cooking you need to do for this salad: Remove the thin outer layer from two heads of spring garlic (if you don't have spring garlic, you can use shallots). Finely chop the stalks all the way down to the white bulbs. Set aside chopped stalks with the chopped green onions. Remove the bottom stems from the remaining young garlic heads. Slice thinly in either direction (the pieces will fall apart). Crank some heat under a pan. Add a few tablespoons olive oil. Once it's smoking, add sliced spring garlic. Add big pinch of salt. Cook until softened and starting to brown a bit. Turn heat down to low. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar. Cook for about twenty minutes until they're melt-in-your-mouth crispy. They should taste like garlic candy.

Assembly: Place watercress in a big bowl. Coat greens with a few splashes of olive oil and sherry wine vinegar (I usually add about two parts olive oil to one part vinegar). Add pinch of salt. Toss. Taste. Adjust. 

Add chopped green onions and green garlic stems, sliced almonds, crumbled feta, and crispy green garlic. Toss again. Taste. Adjust seasoning. Drip crème fraiche all over the top of the salad. Add any additional green onions or green garlic stems. Serve.

If any is left over, don't throw it out because it's tasty (though wilted!) the next day on grilled bread with extra feta, a splash of balsamic, and crème fraiche.

BLISS

(Crème fraiche "recipe" #2 is at the bottom of this post.)

Before 6 a.m. this morning, before rooting around in the pantry and snacking on old cookies, before getting into the Super Glue, before deserving a smack upside the head from Bella, before spilling a sticky orange juice concoction all over the table and down the wall, Dash set out a beautiful breakfast for all of us made up of banana bread and a sprinkling of his almond praline. It is Dash's praline because he helped me with every step when we made it last week. 

(WARNING: Please make sure that you and your children are wearing clothes when you make praline. There's no denying that Dash was shirtless throughout most of the process. I was a fucking idiot. But oh my god we had so much fun.)

To start, he measured the sugar, dug out the dried vanilla beans, and sucked on the sweet woodsy sticks. 

We poured a splash of water on the sugar and placed the pan on the back burner. I snapped at him to stop jumping up and down and slamming into me and focus or leave because cooking sugar is serious business in fact it's the hottest thing in the world dude hotter even than lava and he got it and settled on a stool. He watched me watch the sugar turn brown, he leaned in as I inhaled the telltale caramel fumes, and he smiled as I exhaled with delight and satisfaction because he knows that heat hitting sugar is my kind of magic.

With his hand on my wrist, we stirred in the almonds, vanilla, and salt. Then we quickly spread the sticky and rapidly firming mixture onto a sheet pan. Once it was cool enough to handle, he was in hog heaven for an hour with the ultimate edible toy.

He stretched the sugar into a sword and then a gun.

He held up a stained glass window of praline.

 

He pieced together the capital letter "T." Or maybe a mushroom?

 He bashed the shit out of it with a rolling pin and then a meat mallet.

And he placed it in a pretty jar. Then he looked at his very precise spy watch and said that it was a good thing that the praline was done because it was already 4 p.m. at LAX.

Ideas for what to do with praline once you've made it:

1. Sprinkle over crepes filled with homemade chocolate butter (recipes coming soon).

2. Serve over ice cream or yoghurt.

3. Incorporate into ice cream base at the end of the churning process.

4. Make the best after-school snack ever by dipping strawberries into crème fraiche and then rolling them in almond praline.

ALMOND PRALINE

printable recipe

ingredients:

2 cups white sugar (or vanilla sugar* if you have it)

about 1/2 cup water

1.5 cups sliced almonds

2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

directions:

Place sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. Add just enough water to soak the sugar. Swirl (by the pot handle) until all the sugar is wet. Add more water if you need to. Place over medium heat. Don't walk away. Swirl around (by the pot handle) if it's not caramelizing evenly. Cook until it's almost at desired color (Grade B maple syrup or darker).

Remove from heat and quickly stir in nuts, vanilla extract, and salt. Place back on heat just to loosen it up a bit. Spread quickly over a sheet pan using a firm spatula. Let cool. Then bust apart with a rolling pin or meat mallet. This is quite easy if you cover the praline with a dishtowel. Or you can cut it into large chunks with a very sharp knife. Or place all of it in the food processor and puree the heck out of it into a powder. Store at room temperature in an airtight container. If it firms up again you can bash it apart. It lasts for a long time. And it freezes beautifully.

*Place new or scraped vanilla beans into white sugar and allow to infuse for a few days.

BLOGIVERSARY DEDICATION #2: BELLA

It could be argued that there would be no Dash and Bella blog without my Bella. But last month she read through the past ten posts and realized I had been cooking so much more with Dash. You could see that she was upset. So as of two weeks ago, she came back into the kitchen with a few changes. She has embraced vegetarianism AND Taylor Swift. Now we sing while we cook:

"But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts, she's cheer captain, and I'm on the bleachers. Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here all the time."

Dash is so sick of the song that it makes him cry. Tears gush down his face and he screams, "I hate Taylor Swift!"

Poor little Dash. He's also sick of Bella's Watermelon Salad with Ricotta Salata, Almonds, and Herbs. I am not.  I think it would be a super refreshing dish for those of you on the East Coast who are actually experiencing a summer. Have I mentioned the Berkeley fog?

 Bella busted out some phenomenal knife skills. I think she has been practicing behind my back.

 She got a little spacey while grating the cheese.  Taylor Swift does that to her.

 

But she snapped out of it when Dash tried to drink the salad dressing. She told him to BACK OFF.

Here's a version of Bella's salad that I made with lots of pickled onions, red and yellow watermelon, and extra herbs.

Here are a few other variations:
1. Use pine nuts instead of almonds.
2. Use feta or goat cheese instead of ricotta salata. Crumble the cheese over the top so it doesn't melt too much into the salad.
3. Add peeled and sliced peaches.
4. Add avocado and white beans.
5. Add garlic and mustard to the dressing.
6. Add peeled and sliced cucumber.
7. Replace lemon and herbs with cilantro, and chilies (like a salsa).

WATERMELON SALAD WITH RICOTTA SALATA, ALMONDS, AND HERBS

printable recipe

See variations above. I loved this salad with cucumber.

Very important: Don't make this salad ahead of time because you won't believe how much juice comes out of the watermelon. Serve right away. Use a slotted spoon if you're putting it on a plate with something else. Or, serve it in a bowl with all the juice. Dip buttered bread into the juice after you finish the salad.

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon white wine or champagne vinegar

4-6 tablespoons olive oil

1 sweet onion, thinly sliced or diced

about 4 cups cubed, de-seeded watermelon
about 1/2 cup ricotta salata (feta is a good alternative)

1/2 cup chopped herbs (any combination of parsley, mint, or basil)

1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted and lightly browned

Combine lemon juice, vinegar, and salt. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Taste. Make sure it's nice and tart because the watermelon require lots of tang. Place onions in the dressing, mix to coat well, and set aside for 10 minutes. Place watermelon in a large bowl. Using a fork, remove onions from the dressing and combine them with the watermelon. Gently mix. Slowly drizzle over some dressing and most of the herbs. Gently mix. Taste for seasoning. Add more dressing if needed. Use a fork to crumble the ricotta salata over the top. Sprinkle on the almonds. Add some more herbs. Serve immediately.

CHANGES

Blogging is like cooking. There is no help desk.

This week I lost an entire post, learned about blogger forums, felt grateful for the blogging community's support, and most importantly learned who is visiting the blog outside of my own little neighborhood (people in Zagreb, Perth, Duluth, Dallas, Sydney, Staten Island, Holsbeek, Mechelen, Medford, Atlanta, Van Nuys, North Hollywood, and Pirae to name a few).

Looking forward, here are few changes I've been playing with.

1. I'm going to alternate between longer and shorter posts. Mostly with kids, a few without. All about cooking. The lengthy posts I've been doing take two weeks from beginning to end to cook, photograph, edit, write, edit, write, edit, write.  I won't bore you with any more details. But just know that different kinds of posts might start popping up over the next few weeks to bring some balance to my life.

2. I'm going to add the recipes I make with Dash and Bella at the end of each post.

3. I've installed an email subscription option. If you sign up, every time I put up a new post you will receive an email with the latest post. I'm not sure it will include the photos so make sure you click through to the blog. Check it out on the right below the blog archive. Just remember to activate it in your email inbox.
 
4. And finally, I cannot maintain the "Lessons Learned From Cooking the Masters with 2 Kids" structure. I will get bored. You will get bored. Lessons feels limiting. And I'm running out of them. Instead of only lessons I'm going to start throwing out a combination of ideas, lessons, techniques, and observations. They will still be bold and capped and easy to see if that's all you really want to read. On that note...

COOKING WITH YOUNG CHILDREN IS LIKE JUMPING ONTO A MOVING TRAIN.

I'm amazed by the amount of swearing, sweating, and yelling that is required in order to avoid burns, broken dishes, cut fingers, oversalted food, and epic messes. "Don't touch that. That's hot. Oh my god. Shit. Back away. No. No. Please. Okay. Thank you for listening. No. No. No. Shit. Are you kidding me? Please listen. You're going to hurt yourself. Great job. You did it. Thank you for listening. Now please sit down."

Cooking with my children keeps me firmly grounded in the present. Reading Elizabeth David makes me want to run away from my life and travel.


"The Best of Elizabeth David: South Wind Through the Kitchen," is a compilation of David's recipes and articles chosen by friends, chefs and writers. Her life seems oh so far from mine. She was born in England in 1913 and from ages 16-32 she lived in France, Germany, Greece, Egypt, and India. She got to know many of the regional cooking styles in these countries and then wrote numerous cookbooks about her experiences.

And she liked sampling local pates and sausages from European cafes connected to gas stations. AND she liked to drink wine at 11am.

Eventually David made her way back to England and said of the food at one establishment (perhaps speaking of all English food) that it was "produced with a kind of bleak triumph which amounted almost to a hatred of humanity and humanity's needs." Through her cookbooks she hoped - and many say she succeeded - to bring her intimate experiences with Mediterranean food into English kitchens. After trashing English cuisine for so long she ended up giving it another chance and wrote several well-loved cookbooks about English spices and breads.

I look at a tomato and wonder if I should slice it or cut it into wedges. She probably looked at a tomato and thought, "Shall I make pumpkin chutney, moussaka, ratatouille, salsa, gazpacho, menerboise or minestra?"

I pick the kids up from school and tell them we're going to make Elizabeth David's Orange and Almond cake and Tomatoes a la Grecque (tomatoes stuffed with lamb and rice).

"I hate orange and almond cake," says Bella
"I've never had one. Have you?" I ask.
"I just hate them."

Dash decides he will not be cooking today at all. "Tomatoes are caca. That's bathroom word. I draw."

Both kids are occupied. Today it looks like I'm going to cook on my own. Calm meditative cooking. For a change.

I start setting out the ingredients for the cake. It's all in ounces and my scale is out of batteries. A stick of butter is 4 ounces or 8 tablespoons or 1/2 cup, right? I think so. So 4 ounces of sugar must equal 1/2 cup. WRONG. (See recipe at the bottom of the post for the actual conversions.)

Now that the sugar is visible I have two little creatures eager to help.

FOR MORE COMPLICATED RECIPES, SET OUT THE PRE-MEASURED INGREDIENTS IN BOWLS. LEAVE ONE OR TWO INGREDIENTS FOR YOUR KIDS TO MEASURE OUT ON THEIR OWN.

Bella measures out the sugar. Dash juices the oranges.

WHEN YOUR CHILDREN COAT BAKING PANS WITH FLOUR OR BREAD CRUMBS, HAVE THEM DO IT OUTSIDE.

They mix together the bread crumbs, orange juice and zest, sugar, ground almonds, and orange flower water. Bella wants to know why we're adding jasmine perfume to our cake.

FOOD SCIENCE IS LIKE MAGIC.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar to the ribbon stage and see the transformation in color, texture, and flavor.

Whisk egg whites by hand to really see the changes. Bella whisks the whites to the firm peak stage all by herself. You can see she is working hard but she tells me she DOES NOT WANT MY HELP.

Bella adds the yolk mixture to nut mixture and gently folds (can you believe she is folding now?) in the whites.

Ukulele  break.

DAVID'S RECIPES GIVE YOU A VERY STRONG SENSE OF HISTORY AND PLACE.

I sit down to read the Tomatoes a la Grecque recipe. Three-quarters of it is all about what you see and smell when you walk into into a Greek taverna. She describes going into restaurants kitchens to "peer into every stewpan" before deciding what she is going to eat.
  
DAVID'S RECIPES ARE OFTEN LESS TECHNICAL AND MORE VISCERAL.

How much of the tomato flesh should we scoop out? How long should we cook the covered tomatoes? What does she mean by leftover lamb? A few tablespoons of lamb or two cups? Should I cook the rice partway so that it finishes cooking in the oven inside the tomatoes? Funny how a recipe can bring about so many questions.

I get some white rice and ground lamb cooking and then I start thinking it's just way too late in the day to do this recipe.  Dash did not nap. He is now frantically grabbing everything in sight. He gets a time out. And another time out.

SOMETIMES WATCHING THE COOKING IS ALL A KID CAN HANDLE.

Dash really wants to be a part of things so badly. I tell him to put his hands in his lap and not to touch ANYTHING. So he watches Bella's cooking show.

Scoop.

Strain. Press. Zest.

Bella adds currants. chopped onion, garlic,  salt, and pepper to the tomatoes and lamb. They start shoveling it into their mouths.

"Awesome. I'm putting the green tomato scoops back inside the green tomato."

We throw on some foil and bake it for forty-five minutes.

We take it out of the oven, remove the foil and see that the tomatoes are swimming in what looks to be tons of tomato water. Bella does her usual thing of trying to make me feel better: "Don't worry, momma. It will still be delicious."

Then I realize we forgot to mix the rice in with the meat mixture before stuffing the tomatoes. The rice would have sopped up so much of the juice. Bella suggests we add the tomato water to the rice. I like this idea. We strain about 3 cups of tomato water from the tomato dish, dump it onto the rice, and cook the rice down a bit. Luckily I had chosen to undercook the rice.

We still need to fix the tomatoes.  I decide to grate an entire chunk of gruyere, mix it with bread crumbs and sprinkle it over the top of the tomatoes. And then I broil it.

Modified menu:
Tomato Water rice with Pine Nuts.
Tomato Gratin with Lamb and Currants.

"What one is required to know about recipes is not so much do they work as what do they produce if they do work?" Elizabeth David.

Did it taste good? Yes. Did the recipe work? No and then yes. What did we produce? Two modified recipes that I would make again.

And the yucky cake? "Momma, can I have another piece?"

P.S.: For leftovers the next night I chop up some of the tomato and lamb gratin, mix it with whole wheat pasta and then top it with a bit of yogurt, mint and parsley.  And then we eat more cake.

Next week: Jamie Oliver AND Halloween cookies.

RECIPES

Cookbook: Elizabeth David's "South Wind Through The Kitchen: The best of Elizabeth David."

Tomatoes a la Grecque: 

(Even if you remember to add the rice, consider scattering the top with bread crumbs and gruyere for the final 20 minutes.) 

 "Displayed in enormous round shallow pans, these tomatoes, together with pimentos and small marrows cooked in the same way, are a feature of every Athenian taverna, where one goes into the kitchen and chooses one's meal from the pans arrayed on the stove. It is impossible to describe the effect of the marvellous smells which assail one's nose, and the sight of all those bright-coloured concoctions is overwhelming. Peering into every stewpan, trying a spoonful of this, a morsel of that, it is easy to lose one's head and order a dish of everything on the menu.

Cut off the tops of a dozen large tomatoes, scoop out the flesh and mix it with 2 cups of cooked rice. To this mixture add 2 tablespoons of chopped onion, 2 tablespoons of currants, some chopped garlic, pepper, salt, and, if you have it, some left-over lamb or beef. Stuff the tomatoes with this mixture and bake them in a covered dish in the oven (180C/350F/Gas Mark 4) with olive oil."

Orange and Almond Cake:

(For those of you not used to working with grams/ounces here are the approximate conversions: 4 oz  ground almonds = 1 1/3 cup ground almonds, 2 oz of breadcrumbs = 1/3 cup breadcrumbs, 4 oz sugar = generous 1/2 cup sugar. Butter the cake tin really well. Our cake stuck badly. I would agree with David that it is a very light cake. It tastes great with fruit. Only warning is that I found the cake to be a bit sweet. But serving it with unsweetened whipped cream might balance things out. Or just add a little less sugar.)

The juice of 2 large or 3 small oranges, grated rind of 1 orange, 4 oz (120 g) ground almond, 2 0z (60 g) fine dry breadcrumbs, 4 oz (120 g) sugar, 4 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cream and, if available, 1 tablespoon orange-flower water. Mix together the breadcrumbs, orange juice and grated orange rind, add the ground almonds, and the orange-flower water.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and salt until almost white. Add to the first mixture. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a cake tin (2 1/2 inches/5.5 cm deep, 1 3/4 pt/I-I capacity) buttered and sprinkled with breadcrumbs. Bake in a moderate oven (180C/350F/Gas Mark 4) for about 40 minutes. When cold turn the cake out and cover the top with whipped cream (about 1/4 pint [150 ml]. Very good and light, and excellent for a sweet at luncheon or dinner.