Food, Photography and Bons Mots
If you are a Garfield fan, you know that the cat hates Mondays (who doesn’t?) and obsesses over lasagna, announcing in one strip, “Once again, my life has been saved by the miracle of lasagna.” If you are feeling a wee bit let down in…
This is one of the appetizers people were eating around the holidays in 1984, thirty-one years ago. The recipe was featured in Bon Appetit as part of an elegant Thanksgiving menu. I haven’t made these in a very long time but decided to make…
When my husband and I used to enjoy the Naples boat parade at the invitation of our friends Jim and Al, we used to unashamedly stand upon the Naples bridge and shout “best boat in the parade” as each boat passed under the bridge. It was silly but a lot of fun.
So, in memory of those wonderful silly times, I’m calling this appetizer the “best date appetizer in the parade.” It is showy. It is delicious. It will brighten any celebration you are having during this late holiday season. It deserves a shout out.
It also takes minutes to prepare.
Recipe: Dates with Cream and Chopped Pistachios
12 large medjool dates (pitted)
24 walnut halves (or pecans or almonds)
3-4 T. creme fraiche or sour cream or marscapone
Freshly grated zest of 1 lemon
1 T. (or more) coarsely chopped pistachios
Directions:
Make a slice along one side of each date.Stuff each date with a walnut half and pinch the date closed.
Just before serving, place a dollop of sour cream, creme fraiche or marscapone on each date. Then, sprinkle chopped pistachios on top of each date and also sprinkle each date with grated lemon zest. Serve and enjoy. This is finger food, so no utensils are necessary unless your guests are fussy.
Cooks Note: The flavor of this recipe depends upon the quality of the dates you use. I used first quality medjool dates from the Sunday Long Beach Farmer’s Market. I enjoy this appetizer with a lot of chopped pistachios, so feel free to add more than the recipe calls for you to use. These dates would be wonderful stuffed with the “Glazed Spiced Nuts” I posted recently. The spicy glaze on the nuts give the date appetizer a little extra kick. (See recipe category list on this site for the glazed nut recipe.
Here is the link to the original NY Times recipe:
Here is a recipe I like a lot. Actually, it is an adaptation of recipes from two sources, the food site AllRecipes and one of my favorite Indian-inspired cookbooks, Yamuna’s Table by the late rockstar chef, Yamuna Devi. She literally was a rockstar. She was…
Warm, fuzzy Norman Rockwell images of American family celebrations aside, my mother always served jellied cranberry sauce straight out of the can at holiday meals. If your mother did, too, the lines the can made on the sauce are no doubt indelibly imprinted upon…
Soup’s on at my house. Again.
What can I say? It is cold. It is rainy. This is perfect soup weather.
This soup surprised me. Other than spinach and beet tops, I have to try really hard to love dark leafy greens, and, try as I may, I can’t love/like/tolerate kale. I’ve braised it, massaged it into salads, baked it into casseroles. It. Is. Still. Kale.
I have come to enjoy chard, however, and I particularly enjoyed this chard and rice soup. The flavor of the broth is mild and the chard and basmati rice complement each other nicely. The original recipe came from The New York Times kitchens. I adapted it to include garbanzo beans and a chopped tomato. I suspect this soup would be very good with white beans as well.
Recipe: Swiss Chard and Rice Soup
1 pound Swiss chard (1 bunch)
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced (with leaves)
Salt to taste
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 quarts vegetable broth
1 15-ounce can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 tomato, diced
A bouquet garni made with a bay leaf, sprigs of parsley and thyme
1/2 Cup white basmati rice
Freshly ground pepper
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Freshly grated Parmesan or Asagio cheese for serving
Chopped parsley for garnish
Directions:
Rinse chard carefully to remove any dirt. Trim bottoms off chard stalks. Separate leaves from stalks. Julienne chard leaves or chop and set aside. Chop chard stalks into 1/4 inch slices. Chop celery and onion. Saute chard stalks, onion and celery in heated olive oil for 3-4 minutes until vegetables begin on soften. Add salt and continue to saute mixture for another 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic and saute for one minute.
Add vegetable broth, bouquet garni and rice to the sauteed vegetables. Bring mixture to a boil, and add salt to taste. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove and discard bouquet garni.
Stir chard into soup. Add garbanzo beans and diced tomato. Continue to simmer soup for another ten minutes. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Serve with a generous sprinkle of grated cheese and a bit of chopped parsley for garnish. Enjoy.
Cook’s Note: If the soup is refrigerated and thickens, add additional broth.
Here is the link to to the original recipe at the NY Times:
I’m sitting here at my computer, just home from a holiday shopping excursion and nursing a coffee mocha I treated myself to on the way home. It’s cold here in Huntington Beach and my icy fingers are warmed by the zarf that encircles my pretty…
I’ve been making this soup for more than twenty years and it is still one of my favorites. Few things are more comforting than a steaming bowl of this lentil soup on a blustery cold day–like today, for example. This is a pretty soup,…
I’ve had a bit of trouble posting this blog entry but I think I finally have the right version posted this time. Earlier in the year, when I was toying with the idea of starting a food blog, I tested the waters by posting…
