A Promise

My husband and I are now “empty nesters,” we dropped off our youngest at college yesterday. I’m proud that both of my boys are ready for college and are excited to go, on the other hand I miss them. I miss not only them, but also the activity they bring to the household and their friends.

Before I dropped of my youngest to suffer a year of Doeren food, he made me promise that I would not stop cooking just because he and his brother weren’t home to enjoy it. He knows many moms that quit cooking when their kids went away to school, he wanted to make sure that he still had home cooking to look forward to when he came home.

It’s one of the things that I remember looking forward to enjoying, I certainly wouldn’t deprive either of my boys of that joy. So I’m going to try to get back to posting meals so that they have something to look forward to (and while they read they can think of home).

This evening was my first opportunity to cook without either of them, it was just my husband, me, and my in-laws. Every time our group gets smaller, I find it difficult to cook, so I went with something simple, and a dessert inspired by the beer we had on our way home.

My MIL made a wonderful salad, with black beans, avocado, jicama, white cheddar, and a lime dressing.

For the main course we had grilled ancho chile pork tenderloin, corn on the cob with mint-feta butter, a mint orzo, and grilled bread.

I finished it off with a Mexican Chocolate Cake adapted from Nourish and Fete.

It was delicious as a Sunday dinner, but is also simple enough for a weeknight meal.

Ancho Chile Pork Tenderloin

Entrées, Grilling, Pork

Prep Time: 40 Cook Time: 45 Servings: Yield 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 tsp. lime zest

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ancho chile powder

1 teaspoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 pork tenderloins (about 1 pound each)

DIRECTIONS

Finely grate 2 tsp. lime zest into a small bowl. Stir in cumin, chile powder, brown sugar, and 2 tsp. salt.

Rub pork tenderloins with spiced salt and allow to rest for ~1 hour at room temperature or up to overnight, refrigerated. Prepare grill for direct high heat grilling. Sear each side until grill marks appear and then alter to indirect heat and continue cooking until cooked to medium-medium rare (~135-140°F) then cover with foil and rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Corn On The Cob With Mint-Feta Butter

Vegetables, Vegetarian

Cook Time: 10 minutes Difficulty: Easy Servings: Serves 4 Source: Gourmet | August 2009

INGREDIENTS

• 2 T. unsalted butter, softened
• 3½ ounces feta, finely crumbled
• 1/8 cup mint, finely chopped
• 4 ears corn, large, shucked, each cob broken in half
• pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt, rounded

DIRECTIONS

Stir together butter, feta, mint, and salt in a large bowl with a bit of pepper.

Cook corn in a large pot of boiling water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer with tongs to butter mixture and toss until well coated.

Mint Orzo

Servings: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 8 ounces orzo
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/2 cups chopped red onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Cook orzo as directed on package until al dente (~2 minutes shorter than directions). Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook onion and mint until onion softens and starts to brown, 9 minutes. Stir cooked orzo into onion with ~1/8 cup cooking water.

Mexican Chocolate Cake with Cinnamon Frosting

Cakes, Cheesecakes, Cup Cakes, Desserts

Prep Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 35 mins Servings: 8 Source: nourish-and-fete.com

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 Tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 5/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat eight 6-7 ounce ramekins with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa and espresso powder, followed by the water and sugar, whisking each addition until smooth. Remove pan from heat and set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, pepper, and chocolate chips; mix briefly and set aside.

Return to the butter-chocolate mixture. Lightly beat egg and vanilla, then temper with 1-2 tablespoons of the chocolate mixture, then add to the remaining mix and whisk until they are fully incorporated. Gently stir in the flour mixture using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, then pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-27 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat butter until smooth using a stand or electric mixer. Add salt and vanilla, then beat again to incorporate.

Add powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons milk, and beat until smooth and fluffy, starting on low speed to blend, then increasing the speed to high. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure everything is well-mixed, and adjust the consistency as needed by adding more milk or powdered sugar. Finally, beat in the cinnamon.

Frost and garnish cake as desired.

Bowl Meal

Bowls seem to be the trendy thing right now – your whole meal in one dish, think of the time savings – you should read my sarcasm in that statement. Silly me.

As I was doing my meal planning this weekend, I scrolled across a recipe in Epicurious, I saw the picture and I was hooked. Then I read the ingredients and the amount of work and I was sold.

It’s August in Michigan, everything is in season, but most importantly CORN. Michigan corn is the best, I might be biased. If you live in another part of the country, I will say buy local corn if you can, it is less starchy and far more delicious. I bought mine today at 5:45, we had dinner at 8:15 when my son finished mowing the lawn.

The ingredients for both the bowl and the sauce are simple:

I don’t normally use quick barley, but I had it, and I wanted to see if it was any good for my college kid. He wants to cook, but needs easy meals that you can cook in a closet sized kitchen. I used skirt steak, flank would also work…you can see my preference. I trimmed it thoroughly before grilling; I also let mine sit at room temperature for an hour, steaks simply grill better when they are at room temperature.

I modified the bowl recipe a bit (way too much oil and barley, needs more cheese); otherwise the recipes are good as is. They were a huge hit tonight for dinner.

Grain Bowls with Grilled Corn, Steak, and Avocado

Beef and Lamb, College Option, Entrées, Grilling, Tested and Approved!

Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour Servings: Yield 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

1½ lb. skirt or flank steak

1½ tsp. kosher salt, divided, plus more

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more

4 ears of corn, shucked

1 cups cooked barley

4 oz. crumbled feta

4 scallions, thinly sliced

⅛ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

1 avocado, peeled, thinly sliced

Creamy Jalapeño Sauce (for serving)

DIRECTIONS

Season steak with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper. Let sit at room temperature 30-60 minutes.

Prepare a grill for high heat or heat grill pan over high. Grill steak and corn, turning occasionally. Steak should be grilled until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of steak registers 120-125°F for medium-rare (~3-4 minutes per side for skirt; 4-5 minutes per side for flank). Transfer to a cutting board and let rest at least 10 minutes or until cool. Meanwhile, grill corn until charred on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer to cutting board and let cool.

Slice corn off cobs into a large bowl. Add grains, feta, scallions, oil, lime juice, and 1/2 tsp. salt and stir to combine. Divide corn mixture among bowls.

Thinly slice steak against the grain. Top bowls with steak and avocado. Drizzle jalapeño sauce over; season with salt and pepper.

NOTES

Can be served warm or at room temperature.

Do Ahead: Steak and corn can be grilled 3 days ahead. Transfer to separate airtight containers and chill; allow to come to room temperature prior to serving.

If you don’t have access to fresh corn, frozen corn can be substituted, char it in a medium skillet over high heat in a neutral oil for 3-5 minutes until well charred.

Creamy Jalapeño Sauce

College Option, Sauces and Marinades, Tested and Approved!

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Servings: About 1 1/4 cups

INGREDIENTS

5 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled

5 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup neutral vegetable oil (such as grapeseed or canola)

¾ cup (packed) fresh cilantro leaves with tender stems

DIRECTIONS

Pulse jalapeños, garlic, lime juice, and salt in a blender or food processor until puréed. With motor running, slowly drizzle in oil until a thick sauce forms. Add cilantro and pulse a few times until chopped and incorporated. Taste and add more jalapeño, if necessary.

Do Ahead

Sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated.

NOTES

Sauce will be thin.

Chorizo and Shrimp Burgers

I started my planning for this meal yesterday while making my grocery list, I didn’t have a recipe for is simply the concept above listed as the title. Because my youngest says that everything is better with bacon, and that I have to have extra beyond what the recipe calls for just for him, I am starting with 12 slices of thick-cut hickory-smoked bacon.

And, typical for me, I am baked them at 400°F. I don’t preheat the oven, I simply put the tray in the cold oven and turn it on.
While they were cooking, I cleaned the shrimp.

      

I placed these in a bowl where I chopped them with my Pampered Chef Mix ‘n Chop.

  

Then I added in the chorizo and some basil from my garden which I chopped; I also set aside some basil to use as lettuce.

 

I mixed these together with a bit of salt and pepper.

 

After that, I took the bacon out of the oven.



I decided to make very thin burgers, with the intent of double stacking them. I placed each on a sheet of foil brushed with olive oil.

I also added some parsley to my basil “lettuce” and thinly sliced a red onion as condiments to go with my guacamole.

Then I shucked my fresh Michigan corn and waited for everyone to be hungry.

  

With the weather not cooperating, I elected to grill inside.

Knowing that the chorizo has a tendency to stick, I left the burgers on the foil to cook.

      

The burgers took ~2 minutes per side and the corn was done in 5.

 

Yum!!!!!

Corn Carbonara

Corn isn’t yet in season here in Michigan, but we are beginning to get in good corn from Florida. If you can get good corn this is an awesome spin on a traditional Italian dish that highlights the sweetness of fresh corn. 

Before I start on my activities, I wanted to share a few tips for ensuring that the corn you eat is the best possible. First and foremost, never peek or shuck the corn at your store or market, the minute you peel back the corn husk you will show your naïveté. It will start to get starchy and dry immediately, it is perfectly protected in it’s husk until just before you are ready to cook it. At farmer’s markets they watch for people who do this, and have to throw away those ruined ears. Instead, here are some tips to pick the best corn, without looking. And if you’re still worried, buy an extra ear, they aren’t that expensive. 

1.  Look for tiny holes in the husk, especially brown and towards the top. Those are wormholes, and, naturally, worms are best avoided.
2. Feel the kernels through the husk; they should be plump and plentiful. If you can feel gaps in the rows where kernels should be, then choose another.
3. Look at the silk on the top of the ear, if it’s dry or black, then it’s an old ear of corn.
4. Check out the color of the husk. If it’s a bright green and tightly wrapped against the cob, then the corn is fresh. (In some cases, it will even feel slightly damp. 

Also, after you shuck it, if you do find a small soft spot, you can remove it with a sharp knife, you do not have to throw the whole ear away, as you can see with one of the ears I used.
     

It was rather warm when I made this, but not quite enough for the air conditioning to be on, so I decided to do all my prep first and then cook everything outside on the grill so as not to make the kitchen unbearable. 

The first task (after shucking the corn) was to cut it off the cobs and divide it into two equal portions, the half in the blender container will be used for the sauce. 

  

The next task is to use the back of your knife (carefully) to extract the corn milk for the sauce. After you cut the corn, there is still a part of each kernel stuck in the cob, that along with any liquid from those kernels is what you are scraping out. I took a picture of before and after side by side so that you can see the objective. This gets added to the kernels in the blender.

      

Then I chopped my bacon. I always am a bit heavy handed with the bacon, since my youngest assures me that everything is better with bacon. 

  

I also minced my garlic and finished adding the ingredients for the sauce and blended it up. N

    

While I took care of this, I had started my water inside (the side burner is strong enough to maintain, but not to bring the water to a boil) and preheated the grill with the cast iron pan. So, as soon as I was done with the prep I started the bacon and the pasta.

When the bacon was close to crispy, I also started some chicken apple sausages.

When I set aside the bacon, I added my garlic to the pan, soon followed by the kernels of corn and cayenne pepper.

    

At this point it all comes together rather quickly, drain the pasta and put it into a large bowl with ½ of your cooked kernels, ½ of the bacon, ½ of the basil, the Parmesan, and all of the sauce.

    

Once you thoroughly toss this together, the rest of the toppings go on the top and you serve with additional Parmesan. 

Simply awesome. Served with a simple Greek salad and fresh bread. 

  

Fresh Corn Carbonara

Makes 4 Servings ∙ Source Bon Appétit | August 2015
INGREDIENTS

• 12 ounces spaghetti or linguine
• Kosher salt
• 6 slices thick-cut bacon (about 6 ounces), cut into 1/4″ strips
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 ears of corn, kernels cut off (about 3 cups), cobs reserved
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ cup heavy cream
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup grated Parmesan (about 2 ounces), plus more to serve
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped, divided

DIRECTIONS

Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Remove excess grease from skillet; keep 2-3 Tbsp. Add garlic to the skillet sauté briefly then add corn kernels and stir in cayenne, cook until some are blackened and all warmed through, ~5 minutes.

Cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente; drain.

While pasta is cooking, scrape excess corn milk from cobs into a blender or food processor by firmly running the back of a chef’s knife down the sides. Add cream, half of the corn kernels, ¼ tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp. pepper. Purée until a smooth sauce forms.

Toss hot pasta with corn sauce, ½ cup Parmesan, and half each of the remaining corn kernels, bacon, and basil in a large bowl.

Divide pasta among bowls and top with remaining corn kernels, bacon, and basil. Season with pepper and top with Parmesan

Chili-Lime Clams

Following the grad party, we capped off the craziness with one additional big event, my younger son earned his black belt. These two boys simply make me proud. 

I can no longer count how many grad parties I have attended this year, but we are now in the second week of what I will call “normal” for this summer and I am loving it. The pace is relaxed and I am enjoying being outside and cooking outside. 

Last Sunday was a typical Sunday dinner for us with my boys and in-laws. I had been eying up a new Bon Appétit recipe and was excited to try it. I made a couple of modifications and scaled it up for my usual group, but for the most part made it as it was described. I accompanied the meal with a spinach Greek salad, grilled corn on the cob, and spaghetti aglio et olio (garlic and oil). 

There wasn’t a lot to do in advance, so I started with the prep inside, chopping the shallots and garlic, scrubbing the clams, and rinsing the tomatoes and beans. If you haven’t cooked with clams before, “scrubbing” them is exactly what it sounds like, under very cold water, scrub the shells with a brush to remove all of grit so that it doesn’t end up in your meal.

              
Outside, I began to heat my grill and inside I boiled water and set up my skillet for the final pasta. I have a huge cast iron skillet that I put on the grill along with the corn. Once the pan was hot, I put the butter then shallots and garlic, quickly followed by the tomato paste. Grilling corn requires no advance work, the only trick is a couple of towels (that you don’t mind getting dirty) at the end to shuck them. They will be very hot, but the shucks and silk come off very easily. 

          
I added the tomatoes and chickpeas together to make sure that the beans were tender and that the tomatoes had enough time to fall apart (in the future I would cut the tomatoes in half to speed up the process. After they cooked for a bit, I stirred in the sambal oelek, and let it boil a bit longer. 

  

After adding the clams, I used foil to cover the skillet and drizzled the bread with oil.

    . 

I used most of the clam cooking time to shuck the corn and with a few minutes left added the bread to the grill. 

  

After they were done, I did a quick chop on some fresh basil and tossed the pasta with sautéed garlic, salt, pepper, Parmesan, and the basil while my husband tossed the salad. 

  

Dinner is served.



Chile-Lime Clams with Tomatoes and Grilled Bread

Entrées, Grilling, Shellfish, Summer, Tested and Approved!
Makes 4 servings ∙ Source Bonappetit.com

INGREDIENTS

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, divided
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup beer
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
• 2 tablespoons (or more) sambal oelek
• 24 littleneck clams, scrubbed
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 4 thick slices country-style bread
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt
• ½ cup cilantro leaves with tender stems
• Lime wedges (for serving)

DIRECTIONS

Prepare a grill for medium heat, placing a large cast-iron skillet on the grill to heat with it.

Once hot, melt 4 Tbsp. butter in skillet. Add shallots and garlic and cook, stirring often, until soft, about 4 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring often, until paste darkens to a rich brick-red color, about 1 minute. Add beer, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Bring to a boil and cook until beer is reduced nearly by half and no longer smells boozy, about 4 minutes. Stir in sambal oelek, cook for an additional 4-5 minutes then add clams. Cover (if you don’t have a lid that fits, use a sheet of foil) and cook, stirring occasionally, until clams have fully opened; this could take from 5–15 minutes depending on size of clams and the heat level.

While the clams are cooking on the grill, drizzle bread with oil and season lightly with salt. Grill until golden brown and crisp, about 2 minutes per side.

Remove from heat; discard any clams that don’t open. Stir in lime juice and remaining 2 Tbsp. butter.

Transfer toast to plates and spoon clam mixture over; top with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.

No Recipe Grill

We spent Father’s Day at my in-laws playing in the pool. Knowing this was the plan I did a quick trip to the grocery store for grillables. I was planning on surf and turf with shrimp and flank steak, but whole beef tenderloin was cheaper per pound so I decided on that instead. I made coarse cubes with all of the trimmings and froze several 4-6 ounce filets. The trimmings I seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper. The shrimp went into a separate bowl with juice of 2 limes, a couple cloves of garlic, ~⅓ of a seeded Serrano, and olive oil.

Before cooking I shucked the corn and put olive oil, salt, and pepper on green onions, zucchini, and potatoes.

The potatoes went in the grill first over high heat for about 20 minutes.

Once the potatoes were tender I moved those up and put the zucchini and corn on the grill.

With good grill marks on the zucchini I pulled off the veggies and put on the proteins.

They only took about 5 minutes; and the onions that I added last only took 2.

Earlier in the day I made a herbed garlic olive oil; when the oil is hot I added a couple of smashed cloves of garlic and cooked it until golden, then I removed it from the heat and added chopped basil, mint, and chives.

I grilled pita bread just to get grill marks and then brushed them with the oil and ground on coarse salt.

Perfect dinner.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

Low Country Boil

My sister asked me about this recipe today so I thought I would share. This was our Labor Day feast in September. It serves a crowd so scale it back if you are a smaller group. We used the burner for a turkey fryer and a large pot to make it work; definitely something you want to cook outside when the weather is nice enough to to not cool your pan as you cook. 

 
Low Country Boil

Prep 25 minutes ∙ Cook 1 hr 30 mins ∙ Makes 10-12 ∙ Difficulty Medium ∙ Source Shannon Stacey

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large sweet yellow onion, cut in half and then in wedges
• 6 cloves garlic heads
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• Black pepper, freshly ground
• Kosher salt, to taste
• 4-6 bottles lager or brown beer (just to cover potatoes)
• 2 pounds baby redskin potatoes
• ½ cup chives, thinly sliced
• 2½ pounds andouille sausage, cut into 3-inch pieces
• 6-8 ears corn, shucked and cut in half
• 1 cup parsley, roughly chopped
• 40-48 littleneck clams (4/person), scrubbed and rinsed
• ½ cup thinly sliced (about 3) scallions, green and white parts
• 2 pounds large shrimp
• 1-2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning (stir into raw shrimp)

DIRECTIONS

In a very large stockpot, stir together the potatoes, onions, chives, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper and cover with the beer. Cover the pot and heat to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are almost tender, 20 to 30 minutes depending on the size.

Add the sausage, nestling each piece into the broth. Top with the clams and green onions, then the corn with the parsley. Cover and cook until the clams begin to open, 15-20 minutes. 5 minutes after adding the clams, add the shrimp. Remove from heat when the clams have opened and the shrimp are done.

Serve with grilled garlic-buttered sourdough bread.

Stir Fry and Soup

Sundays are for cooking, Mondays are for working my butt off at karate, and eventually Tuesdays are for sitting down for a few to write. Sunday I made meals for both days since yesterday was going to be a cooking impossibility with karate and soccer at the same time. I also made the time to sit down and make a menu for the week; my husband and I were both fortunate to have time off for the holidays this year and so I’ve been lax on the menus, but not the cooking. 

While I was skimming recipes I came across a lamb stir fry. My eldest has a fish allergy and we unfortunately regularly served him Chinese food when he was young and the allergy was mild, we ignored the “I don’t like it claims” not realizing it was actually making him sick. Sadly he is still resistant to eating Chinese food and I don’t get nearly enough stir fry to suit my taste. The reason this caught my eye is because he likes lamb as much as I do; it is a stir fry, but there is nothing Chinese about it, it has a Middle Eastern flair. 

The recipe is pretty good as written, but I strongly recommend a longer marinade than the recipe’s 15 minutes. I cleaned the leg of lamb and then let it marinate in the fridge while I made the soup for tonight’s dinner. It took me about 30 minutes to break down the leg and cut it into stir fry pieces, I’m pretty discriminating when I trim. It was a 3.5 lb. bone-in leg and when done I had about 2.7 pounds of meat so I doubled everything. Along with my son’s fish allergy he also has a tree nut allergy so I deemed the pistachios to be optional and promptly omitted them. 

I served it over brown rice following a Greek salad. 

   
 
As mentioned I made soup for Monday while the lamb was marinating. It is a hearty soup, but simple and delicious. I like it with the chicken. I added the sage to the cold soup and then heated in a small pan, one bowl at a time based on our schedules. I topped with crumbled goat cheese (easier with the multiple dinner times) and the pancetta. It also freezes well so the other half is frozen for when I need/want it. 

  
Lamb Stir-Fry with Pomegranate and Yogurt
Prep 1 hr ∙ Cook 15 mins ∙ Makes 4 ∙ Source Bon Appétit | March 2014
INGREDIENTS

• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1½ pound boneless leg of lamb, thinly sliced against the grain
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 medium red onion, cut into ½” wedges
• Cooked rice (for serving)
• ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
• 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios (optional)
• Fresh oregano, mint, and/or cilantro leaves (for serving)

DIRECTIONS

Toast cumin and coriander seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Let cool, then finely chop. Toss lamb with cumin, coriander, paprika, garlic, vinegar, and 2 Tbsp. oil in a large bowl to coat; season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill at least 2 hours; return to room temperature prior to coooking.

  
Whisk yogurt and 1 Tbsp. water in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Heat remaining 2 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook lamb, tossing occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes per batch; transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon.  

   
Add onion to skillet and cook, stirring often, until beginning to brown and soften, about 3 minutes. Add ½ cup water; season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender and water is evaporated, about 3 minutes.Return lamb to skillet and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

  
 Serve lamb over rice, topped with yogurt, pomegranate seeds, pistachios, and herbs.

Do Ahead: Lamb can be marinated 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.

Butternut-Corn Chowder

Prep 30 mins ∙ Cook 30 mins ∙ Makes 8 to 10 servings ∙ Source Bon Appétit | November 1999
INGREDIENTS

• 4 ounces pancetta, sliced ¼” thick and chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 2¼ pounds butternut squash, roasted, peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped
• 1 head garlic, roasted
• 2 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chilies
• 4½ cups low-salt chicken broth
• 3 cups frozen sweet white shoepeg corn (unthawed)
• ½ rotisserie chicken, shredded (optional)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh sage
• 4 ounces chilled soft fresh goat cheese, cut into ½” thick rounds

DIRECTIONS

Cook pancetta in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. 

  Using slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towels. Add onion to drippings in pan; sauté until just tender, about 4 minutes. Deglaze with wine then add butternut squash, garlic, broth, chilies, and 1 cup of corn; simmer until squash is tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. 

   
 Transfer soup to blender; puree, or puree with immersion blender. Mix in remaining corn; simmer until tender, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix in sage. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with pancetta and cheese.

NOTES

Roast the squash halves at 350°F for 35 minutes. (Cut it after to make it easy to scoop into the soup.) The garlic can be roasted in a foil packet with a bit of olive oil while you roast the squash, just set it off to the side of the squash.

   
 Pancetta and soup (prior to adding sage) can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover pancetta; chill. Chill soup uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Bring pancetta to room temperature and return soup to a simmer before continuing.

Optional: Add shredded roasted chicken with second addition of corn. Also, you can adjust the amount of chipotle to suit your taste.

Labor Day and into the week

Labor Day itself was classicly simple: burgers, salad, and a side of pasta. Again I believe in easy, possibly oddly this includes leftovers. I have heard many utter the phrase “I hate leftovers”; I love them. No, I don’t think anyone should eat the same thing over and over again. (I get shivers when I hear someone say I made a big batch of “fill in the blank” so we could eat it all week long; YUK!) I love them because they are an opportunity to save time and be creative.

As mentioned, Monday was simple, my boys did little of anything with school looming, the highlight was a good friend of my youngest coming over and cleaning out his closet so that he would be well-dressed in high school. Late last week I made a house favorite for dinner, Tortellini with Pesto (nut-free), since it is just as good cold as hot I made extra, this was our pasta side to accompany a package of organic mixed greens and Spicy Shrimp, Bacon Burgers. I tossed my 2 lbs. of ground chuck into my mixing bowl with salt & pepper, a finely chopped jalapeño, chopped leftover bacon (about 5 slices), and the leftover shrimp from the Low Country Boil (coarsely chopped). I shaped them into 1/3 lb. burgers and cooked to medium rare with a chipotle gouda on top. For the non-pork eating friend, I made a single burger with chopped spinach, feta, jalapeño, and salt & pepper.

Tuesday continued the leftover trend with a meal of barbeque chicken, Cajun potato salad, and Southwestern sauté. Also from the Low Country Boil, I had a leftover andouille, pototoes, and corn (the clams seemed to vanish) so I looked through Epicurious.com and found the Cajun potato salad and my own list of recipes in Paprika holds the Southwestern sauté. While I have included both below as if they were being made from scratch, I did simply cube the potatoes and andouille and cut the corn off of the cob.

And I haven’t forgotten the barbeque chicken, the rub is good on any bone in chicken destined for barbeque and we disvovered this sauce while on vacation in Florida last year.

I may need stock in this company – it’s another empty bottle..

If you haven’t guessed the leftover trick, turn it into something new, use it as an ingredient.

Tortellini with Pesto

cook 10 minutes ∙ makes 4 ∙ difficulty Easy

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups basil leaves, fresh, packed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ cup Parmesan, freshly shredded
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1½ pounds tortellini, cooked

DIRECTIONS

In a food processor, pulse the basil and garlic until roughly chopped. With the machine on, slowly pour in the oil until just blended. Stir in cheese, salt, and pepper and mix until just blended.

Toss the pesto into cooked tortellini.

This can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold.

Cajun Potato Salad with Andouille Sausage

makes 6 to 8 ∙ source Bon Appétit | July 1999

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon plus ⅛ cup olive oil
• 8 ounces andouille sausages or hot links, cut lengthwise in half, then crosswise into ½-inch pieces
• 3 pounds red-skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into ½-inch pieces
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
• 1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• ⅔ cup sliced green onions

DIRECTIONS

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausages; sauté until brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and drain.

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes; cook just until tender, stirring occasionally, about 9 minutes. Drain well. Whisk vinegar, pepper sauce and mustard in large bowl. Transfer warm potatoes to bowl with vinegar mixture and gently toss. Gently mix in sausages, bell pepper, celery, green onions, and 1/8 cup olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Southwest Summer Corn Saute

prep 15 minutes ∙ cook 7 minutes ∙ serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon rubbed sage
• ¼ teaspoon chili powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 small poblano chili, finely diced
• ¾ cup sweet corn kernels
• 1 small zucchini, finely diced
• 1 cup canned hominy, drained (or full can if you don’t have another use)
• 2 green onions, sliced
• ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, minced

DIRECTIONS

Melt the butter with the sage, chili powder and salt in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add the onion and poblano chili. Cook and stir until the onion begins to soften at the edges, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the corn, zucchini, and hominy. Cook over high heat until hot, 1 minute. Add green onions, cilantro and additional salt to taste. Serve hot.

Barbecued Chicken

Chicken:

• 3-4 pounds chicken, cut in pieces (with skin and bones)
• 2 tablespoons 4-3-2-1 Spice Rub
• Barbeque sauce

4-3-2-1 Spice Rub (source Bon Appétit | July 2013)

• 4 Tbsp kosher salt
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper

Makes enough spice rub for two whole chickens. Double or triple the recipe and use it all summer.

DIRECTIONS

For chicken:

Prepare grill for medium heat. Season chicken with 4-3-2-1 Spice Rub. Grill, turning occasionally, until lightly charred, 15-20 minutes. Continue grilling, turning and basting with barbecue sauce often, until chicken is cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165°F, 8-10 minutes longer.