Photo: MarkBittman.com

The one-pan meal.  Flavorful, easy-to-prepare, and minimal clean-up.  I have become an unabashed fan.  Two of my favorite one-pan recipes are Moroccan Chicken and Rice and Mark Bittman’s Cannellini with Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Sausage.  Both make it into pretty regular rotation on my weekly what-to-cook-for-dinner playlist.

Always on the lookout for more, I was thrilled when Chris Kimball, editor of Cook’s Illustrated magazine, appeared on the third hour of this morning’s Today Show with three one-pan recipes: Greek-style shrimp with tomatoes and feta; Skillet meaty lasagna; and Skillet apple crisp.  First up for me will definitely be the Greek-style shrimp, so I’ve included it below.

Three more great reasons to cook at home.

Eat well!

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Greek-style shrimp with tomatoes and feta

Chris Kimball, Cook’s Illustrated (Sept. 1, 2010)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on, if desired (see note)
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons ouzo (see note)
• 5 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 5 teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon grated zest from 1 lemon
• Table salt and ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, diced medium (about 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced medium
• 1/2 medium green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced medium
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomato, drained, 1/3 cup juices reserved (see note)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 6 ounces feta cheese , crumbled
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill leaves

Preparation

This recipe works equally well with jumbo (16 to 20 per pound) or extra-large (21 to 25 per pound) shrimp, but the cooking times in step 3 will vary slightly depending on which you use. Serve the shrimp with crusty bread or steamed white rice.

1. Toss shrimp, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon ouzo, 1 teaspoon garlic, lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper in small bowl until well combined. Set aside while preparing sauce.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, red and green bell pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Cover skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables release their moisture, 3 to 5 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until moisture cooks off and vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes longer. Add remaining 4 teaspoons garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and reserved juice, wine, and remaining 2 tablespoons ouzo; increase heat to medium-high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors have melded and sauce is slightly thickened (sauce should not be completely dry), 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low and add shrimp along with any accumulated liquid to pan; stir to coat and distribute evenly. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are opaque throughout, 6 to 9 minutes for extra-large or 7 to 11 minutes for jumbo, adjusting heat as needed to maintain bare simmer. Remove pan from heat and sprinkle evenly with feta. Drizzle remaining tablespoon oil evenly over top and sprinkle with dill. Serve immediately.

Serving Size

Serves 4 to 6

Photo: leedsstudent.org

Recently, I discovered that National Pancake Day (courtesy of IHOP) is coming up soon, on March 1st to be exact (one free short stack between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m. in exchange for a small charitable donation), which got me thinking about the flap jack.

I’m probably in the minority on this one, but I have do admit, I don’t love them.   I never make them and never order them when I’m out for breakfast.  For some reason I find their fluffiness unsatisfying from start to finish.

As a kid, I used to eat pancakes, but they were different: a cross somewhere between the standard flapjack and a crepe, and often the size of the whole plate.  Remembering this, and now wanting to cook pancakes in longer than I care to say, I sent an email to my mother asking for the recipe.  I knew it was simple – four or five ingredients, at most, all mixed in a blender, but what were the ingredients and their amounts?  Alas, my mother had long ago lost the secret recipe.  This was not good news, as in the intervening days, I had become like a dog with its proverbial bone.  I needed to find a similar recipe, and I did on Cooks.com.  It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close enough.  I offer this thinner take on pancakes to you below.

If it was me, once the pancakes have been cooked to perfection, I would  stack them two or three high, smear butter in between and on top, then douse them with a good pour of Aunt Jemima (accompanying my ambivalence towards fluffy pancakes is a general dislike of pure maple syrup, this to the horror of my brother and in spite of my Canadian heritage).  And I have vague memories of snowy Sunday mornings, sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of hot thin pancakes in front of me, and instead of syrup, I would spread thick layers of  strawberry jam in between and on top.  Now that sends me back…

Enjoy!

Photo: "Rice and Beans" - Carlos Porto, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Three recipes to change your life.  I originally came across the concept in this past Sunday’s New York Times. The Week in Review section contained a series of articles with the theme “Sustainable Life.”  In one piece, Mark Bittman offered a compelling argument for cooking at home (it’s cheaper, healthier, and sometimes faster than eating out), along with three recipes that he believes can change the way we eat and live.  It’s a simple premise – cook and eat real food.  And Mr. Bittman shows us how to start.

The three recipes are: Broccoli Stir-Fry With Chicken and Mushrooms; Lentils and Rice With or Without Pork; and Crunchy Cabbage Salad.

Each includes an extensive list of variations and substitutions so that, should decide to embark upon a cooking adventure, you’ll be able to stretch three meal ideas into a few dozen.

As Mark Bittman said to Meredith Viera on this morning’s Today Show, “What you need is not so much a diet as a way to eat.”

Amen to that.

******

Broccoli Stir-Fry With Chicken and Mushrooms

Published: December 31, 2010

Yield: 4 servings.

1. Put a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add half the oil, swirl it around, and immediately add half the garlic and ginger. Cook for 15 seconds, stirring, then add the broccoli, mushrooms and all but a sprinkling of the scallions. Raise heat to high, and cook, stirring, until mushrooms release their water and broccoli is bright green and beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Sprinkle with salt; add 1 cup water. Stir and cook until almost all liquid evaporates and broccoli is almost tender, another minute or two more, then transfer everything to a plate.

3. Turn heat to medium, add remaining oil, then remaining garlic and ginger. Stir, then add chicken and turn heat to high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken has lost its pink color, three to five minutes.

4. Turn heat to medium. Return broccoli, mushrooms and juices to the pan, and stir. Add soy sauce, sprinkle with more salt and some pepper; add a little more water if mixture is dry. Raise heat to high and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced slightly and you’ve scraped up all the bits of chicken. Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish with remaining scallion and serve.

Notes

Stir-fries work with virtually any combination of vegetables; protein-dense food (meat, poultry, fish, tofu, etc.) is optional. Use pork (like shoulder), shrimp, beef (like sirloin), or tofu instead of chicken; slice the meat thinly or the tofu into cubes.

Use cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, snow peas, carrots or spinach in place of either the broccoli or the mushrooms or both. Or use other mushrooms.

Use fish sauce instead of soy sauce and finish with a squeeze of lime to give it a Southeast Asian flavor.

Use olive oil, skip the ginger, use onion instead of scallion, and substitute 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary or thyme to give it a Mediterranean flavor profile.

Use coconut milk instead of stock; 1 tablespoon curry powder instead of soy sauce to give it an Indian flavor

Photo: Benimoto on Flickr, Creative Commons

They’re everywhere at the moment, from the farmers’ market to your local grocery store … white paper bags filled with Macintosh apples.  And it’s a good thing, because the best apple pie recipe I know is made with them.

What makes it, in my humble opinion, the best apple pie recipe?  Well, first of all, there’s the crust; it’s thin and flaky, which I happen to prefer to a thicker, heavier, doughier crust.  The crust is heaven.  Second, there’s the filling, starting with the key ingredient, those Macintosh apples.  When they’re cooked, they tend to be softer than other varieties; again, this is a personal preference.  And mixed with the cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg and tapioca, and topped with butter, well, you’ll have to judge the result for yourself.  To me, it bakes into sweet perfection.  And lastly, there is the beautifully browned, not burned, crust (there’s a tip for that).

Full disclosure Part I: this is my mother’s recipe – she’s modified it over the years with tips from here and there, making it the divine apple pie that it is today – but I promise this is an unbiased recommendation.  Everyone loves my mother’s pie; and her recipe is similar to my sister-in-law’s and her mother’s.  Full disclosure Part II: my mother lives in Canada, as do my sister-in-law and her mother, so maybe this is the all-Canadian take on the all-American classic.

Give it a try, you just might like it.

As always, eat well!

*********

Georgina’s Apple Pie

PASTRY FOR A 2-CRUST PIE

2-½ cups all purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

½ lb. shortening or lard

½ cup ice cold water

Method:

• In a medium bowl, light stir flour and salt with a fork.
• Slice the shortening into one-inch cubes, then add it to the flour and salt.  Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening until it is the mixture is the size of peas.
• Sprinkle in the water, a tablespoon at a time, until the pastry holds together.
• Shape into two balls and flatten into 1/2-thick round disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Note: you can refrigerate the dough for up to two days, or freeze for three months.

APPLE FILLING

6-7 Macintosh apples, peeled and sliced into pieces about 1/8th of an inch thick

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

2 tbsp. minute tapioca

2 tbsp. butter

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

• Place the apple slices in a medium bowl and sprinkle with the sprinkle lemon juice.
• In a separate bowl, mix the sugar with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and tapioca.
• Add to the apples and stir, until the apples are coated.
• Let sit the apple mixture sit while rolling out the pie crust.

• Flour your rolling surface and pin.  Roll out one piece of the refrigerated dough, from the middle of the disk outwards, making a circle two inches wider than your inverted pie plate.
• Roll the dough around the rolling pin and unroll over the pie plate.
• Fill the pie shell with the apple mixture.
• Cut the 2 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and dot over the apples.
• Roll out the top crust, using the same method as above, and place over the apples.  There should be a 3/4-inch overhang of the dough.
• Fold pasty overhang under and then bring over the top crust and pinch to make a decorative edge.
• Use a fork to pierce all over the top pie crust, to vent steam during baking.
• Sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar.
• Cover edges with tinfoil for the first 40 minutes of baking time, and then remove.
• Bake a total of one hour.

Remove from the oven and let cool before serving (preferably some fabulous vanilla bean ice cream).

Photo: Epicurious

Epicurious’  Brussels Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots.  The recipe was originally published in Bon Appetit in November 2007.  That same Christmas, I was introduced to it by my brother and sister-in-law, both of whom love good food as much as I do and, admittedly, are better cooks.

The recipe is deceptively simple in its use of ingredients and its preparation.  The caramelized shallots make the dish slightly sweet, while the most arduous step is cutting the sprouts into the 1/8-inch slices.

Give it a try as a side for your Thanksgiving meal.

Buon appetito!

**********

Photo: LifeStyleFood

The harvest is coming to and end … culminating in the Thanksgiving feast.  As the weather turns colder, we instinctively turn to comfort foods.  And the seasonal fruits and vegetables seem instinctively to know this.

Vegetables:

Broccoli, mushrooms, pumpkins, spinach, sweet potatoes, winter squash.

Fruits:

Cranberries, oranges, pears, pomegranate, tangerines.

Recipes:

If salads are your thing, look no further than Mark Bittman’s Roasted Sweet Potato Salad or 101 Cookbooks’ Bulgur, Celery and Pomegranate Salad.  For a main course, you can try Spinach, Pesto, and Fontina Lasagna or Artic Char with Chinese Broccoli and Sweet Potato Puree, both from Epicurious.com.  And this month, we’ll turn to Smitten Kitchen for dessert: Cranberry Pecan Frangipane Tart – sounds divine.

As for mushrooms, which I love, I have two suggestions.  The first is mushroom crostini (like bruschetta but with mushrooms).  With the holidays coming, it’s always good to have a few go-to appetizers that you know your guests will love.  Martha Stewart offers up Wild Mushroom Crostini.  The second recipe is Mushroom Risotto.  The official version of my favorite locked away in a storage unit in one of the outer boroughs, I discovered a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis and modified it slightly to match the memory of the one I love.  I made it yesterday and, I have to say, it was delicious.  The recipe, along with my changes, are included below.

As always, enjoy the season and eat well!

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Mushroom Risotto with Peas

Giada De Laurentiis, “Everyday Italian“

Warren Brown - "United Cakes of America"

I was shopping at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago, when on impulse, I picked up one can of pumpkin (the store had strategically positioned the display at the end of the aisle).  Since then, every time I opened the cupboard, this lonely can was staring me in the face, and I was determined to find something to do with it.  The obvious solution would have been to make a pumpkin pie, but I’m not a fan of pumpkin pie.  I do, however, love apple pie, my mother’s apple pie in particular, but I digress.

A solution arrived in the form of Warren Brown, founder and owner of Washington DC’s CakeLove and Love Cafe, who appeared on the Today Show this morning.  Yes, he offered his recipe for pumpkin pie, but even better, he prepared his take on Pumpkin cheesecake.  Now, that’s a pumpkin dessert about which I can get excited.  And there was a Pumpkin clove pound cake with Cream cheese icing, which sounds pretty fabulous as well.  In fact, they both have such great potential that I’m not sure which dessert to choose for my single can of pumpkin.

The cheesecake recipe is included below, and here’s the link to the Today Show site where you can find the recipes for all three desserts.  And, if you’ve not heard of Warren Brown, he has an amazing story to tell about how he found his passion.  It’s an inspirational a read.

But, back to food … pick your perfect pumpkin dessert and get cooking!

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Photo: My Social Chef

I was conducting my morning ritual, making my way around the wonderful world of the web in order to catch up on the news and ascertain just what kind of day I was likely to have (the weather forecast, my horoscope, potential writing projects, newly published books to add to my ever-increasing list of books to read), when, on The Daily Beast, I came across a Hungry Beast post for “The Perfect Roast Chicken.”  It caught my attention.  I’ve roasted only a few chickens to date, and I would never claim that they were “perfect,” so I wanted to see what the contributing writer, Petrit Husenaj, recommended – a simple, easy, must-try it technique.  I wondered, who exactly is Mr. Husenaj?

Turns out he is a writer and the creator of the food blog My Social Chef.  I bit.  What is a social chef and what is his story?  Well, it also turns out that he has a rather interesting story – he’s an adman turned cook, caterer, and party-throwing aficionado – and he’s rather good at telling stories as well.

My Social Chef … you had me at the “Fig, Eggplant And Feta Cheese Salad.”  No need to have gone on with Foie Gras French Toast and Zucchini Blossoms (the photo of which looks exactly like my grandmother used to make them).  And that’s just the first page of the blog.  Page two tempted me with Rock Shrimp With Cilantro Pasta, the photo of which made it look so appetizing I am willing to commit to the use of heavy cream in its preparation.

Each recipe is introduced by My Social Chef with a charming anecdote.  Foie Gras French Toast?  The result of his recent foie gras obsession and a sale on Gilt Groupe.  The fig salad?  His doctor’s recommendation to avoid stress and the urge to eat unhealthy food when traveling through insane airports.  And he provides entertaining (both the noun and the adjective) Tips: for Music (intimate dinner? cocktail party? casual dinner?), Booze, Clean-Up, and more.

My Social Chef is now in rotation.

Photo: The Healthy Apron

That I am a fan of yogurt is not a shock to those who know me; it’s on my list of Food I Love — twice — breakfast and lunch, done up two different ways (on different days, of course).

Fitness Magazine published an informative piece titled, “10 Surprising Health Benefits of Yogurt.”  These benefits include: flatter abs courtesy of calcium; a strengthened immune system from good-for-you bacteria; high blood pressure prevention from the potassium; and red blood cell and nervous system maintenance provided by vitamin B12.  Check out the article for the other six, as well as a list of their Favorite Yogurts.

As for what to look for when choosing a yogurt, keep in mind that not all yogurts are created equal, and some can actually do more harm than good.  The Healthy Apron has a great post on How to Pick A Healthy Yogurt.  In a nutshell, you want to make sure that you’re not ingesting too much sugar (many of the fruit-in and flavored yogurts are high in sugar content – more than 20 grams of fat per 6-ounce serving) or too much fat (eschew the full-fat offerings for lower-fat varieties – less than 3.5 grams of fat per 6-ounce serving).

I tend to go for 1% Plain, organic if I can find it.  You can always sweeten it up with a little honey or agave nectar (the latest healthy sweetener).  I like to squeeze the juice that’s left from half a grapefruit to give it some extra flavor.  Add your favorite fruits, nuts, seeds, granola, whatever is appealing.

An added bonus?  If you’re really in a jam (i.e. the jar of mayonnaise has seen its last scrape), plain yogurt will do its part hold together a decent tuna sandwich (with a little red onion, salt and pepper).

If you’re not already eating yogurt, try including it in your daily menu a couple of times a week.  Your body will thank you.

Eat well!

Photo: FreeDigitalPhoto.net

The air is cooler now.  It readies me for Sunday afternoons spent cooking up a pot of something, the aroma filling the apartment, heaven.

I was casting about for a new vegetable soup recipe when, as luck would have it, Mark Bittman appeared on the Today Show with what he claims is The best vegetable soup ever, no kidding.  I’ve included the recipe below.   He also prepared a chunky Roasted butternut chowder with apple and bacon.  Both recipes are from Bittman’s new tome, “The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living.”

Like the Tuscan Ribollita that I posted back in March, these soups are not merely a starter, they’re a meal.  Do as Mark Bittman suggests in the segment, add a hunk of good, crusty bread and a glass a fruity red wine, and call it dinner.

Buon appetito!

Recipe: The best vegetable soup ever, no kidding

Mark Bittman, New York Times columnist and author of “The Food Matters Cookbook”

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup olive oil, more or less
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch parsley, washed and chopped, thick stems discarded
• 2 or 3 cabbage leaves, chopped
• 1 bunch chard, preferably white, washed and chopped
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 3 to 4 cups cooked white beans, like cannelloni, with their liquid if possible

Preparation

Put about a third of the olive oil in the bottom of a deep pot and turn the heat to medium.

Add half the onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften, which takes about 10 minutes.

Add about half of the remaining oil and repeat the process, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.

Add the remaining oil with the parsley, cabbage and chard and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is softened but not browned.

Add the tomato paste and stir.

Mash the beans so that they’re about half mashed and half more-or-less whole. Add this mixture to the pot, along with any bean cooking liquid and enough water to make the whole mixture stewy but not watery.

Continue cooking, tasting and adjusting the seasoning as necessary, until all the vegetables are very tender and the soup is hot. Serve hot or warm.

Serving Size

Makes about 10 servings