Couscous with Spinach and Feta

This recipe is such an old favorite, I can't believe I haven't' shared it with you before. The ingredient list is a little lengthy, but every ingredient is worth it, and it really doesn't take that long to prepare, unless you're cooking the meat while you make dinner. I usually use some leftover meat - just about anything will do. The original recipe called for chicken, but I love it with leftover lamb, beef, or even venison.

Couscous with Spinach and Feta

Ingredients:

• 8-12 ounces beef, chicken, or lamb, cooked
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup gluten-free couscous (I use this. If you're not gluten-free, regular or Israeli couscous would be good too)
• 1 shallot, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• Zest of one lemon, plus the juice
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 6-8 ounces baby spinach
• 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

In a medium pot, saute the shallot in the olive oil until it begins to soften. Toss in the garlic, half the lemon zest, and red pepper flakes, and saute until the garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the couscous and toast for about one minute. Add 1 cup water (or the amount recommended on the package), and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to the lowest setting, cover, and let sit about 15 minutes, or until the couscous is cooked.

When the couscous is cooked, stir in the spinach, a handful at a time, until it is all wilted. Remove the pan from heat, and stir in the meat and half the feta cheese.

Divide between two plates. Top with the remaining feta cheese and drizzle with the remaining lemon zest and lemon juice.

Makes two generous or three modest portions. Can easily be doubled (or tripled) to serve more people. Keeps well one or two days in the fridge.

Yesterday, and Today

I hope your had a wonderful New Year. Our big celebration was last weekend, so last night we took it easy. I made a decadent salad with spinach, beef braised in red wine, and bacon. It was dressed with a red wine reduction made from the braising juices, and some cheese. We also had more pie. Then we sat on the couch with some wine and watched a movie, and were asleep before 10.

This morning, we brewed gluten-free beer for the first time. It was a bit like making soap or canning vegetables. Lots of steps, precision, and sterilization of equipment required.

We didn't have a pot big enough for all the wort, so we split things between two as best we could. Hopefully it turns out alright, but it will be a while before we know.

Tonight, we'll have Hoppin' John for good luck. This year, I tried to grow blackeyed peas in my garden, but Odie tore them out of the ground before they could even get going. No matter - I scored some dried ones from my Dad's hometown.  When I cooked them this afternoon, I forgot to look back at my regrets from last year's Hoppin' John, and made a full batch again. Whoops. Looks like we'll probably end up with a frittata again.

Here's to hoping for a wonderful 2014! Hopefully all those blackeyed peas will bring oodles of luck!

Merry Christmas!

I hope your Christmas is all things beautiful and bright. Winter Solstice was this weekend, meaning the days will only get brighter from here. It's decidedly a white Christmas here.

We're taking it easy this year, more or less. We've done so much traveling for the wedding, that it's nice to curl up on the couch with Odie at our feet and not worry whether the snow will close the airport. 

But just because we're not going anywhere, doesn't mean that we're not celebrating. There are flowers all over the house. Cut flowers, cyclamen, an amaryllis, and paperwhites being forced in the basement. And I love holiday food. The week before spent making pies, fudge, mac and cheese, all the comfort food we ration throughout the year, all piled up on the table to enjoy all at once.  Just for kicks, here's this year's Christmas menu:

Appetizer:

• Deviled Eggs

Main Course:

• Ham Biscuits (using the recipe for gluten-free biscuits from this book and this wonderful Virginia ham)

Side Dishes:

• Macaroni and Cheese
• Green Bean Casserole (making gluten-free substitutions as I go)

Dessert:

• Ginger Cookies
• Sweet Potato Pie
• Fudge

Risotto alla "Bambi"

Last week, I made a shrimp risotto and utterly failed to take a decent photo of it. This week, I made some venison risotto. It was supposed to be my redemption photo shoot. Until the camera battery died. Ugh. This is as good as it's gonna get, I'm afraid:

Anyways, this is a "leftovers" meal. My brother shot the deer, and the tenderloin has been hanging out in my parents' freezer since last hunting season. When I was home last weekend for a dear friend's wedding, my dad cooked it for Sunday dinner. Which, if you're from the South, you know is just a big lunch on Sunday, but we call it dinner.

The original dish Dad cooked is a venison tenderloin, cut into 2-inch chunks, then wrapped with half a piece of bacon, and held together with a toothpick or two. It goes on the grill, turning a couple of times so the bacon gets crispy, until the venison is medium or medium-rare. The fat from the bacon helps keep the lean venison moist, and the whole thing is so delicious it'll make you swoon.

No-Stir Mushroom Risotto with Seared Shrimp

Guess what, y'all. Food photography is hard. Even Martha Stewart has trouble taking a good food photo on her own. You know what's even harder? When it's December already, and there's only light from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., and you want to take a picture of your 7 p.m. dinner before it gets cold. Whoever heard of such a thing? Sheesh. Anyways, that's really just a long-winded explanation for why there's no photo with this recipe. (Even though it still looks better than Martha's. Sorry, Martha.) 

Instead, here's a picture of Odie, looking cute. Which is what he does best, daylight or no daylight.

No-Stir Mushroom Risotto with Seared Shrimp

Serves 2 with a little left over, but you could easily double or triple the recipe

Until I tried this technique, risotto had eluded me. The idea here is that you get most of the effect of a creamy risotto quicker, and with less work. Sign me up!

For the Risotto:

• 1 small onion
• 4 ounces mushrooms
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 cup short-grain rice, such as Arborio 
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Shrimp:

• 1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 2 tablespoons oil or lard, for frying

Lay the shrimp evenly on a couple of paper towels. Put several paper towels on top of them, then weight with a heavy pan, like a cast iron skillet.

Meanwhile, chop the onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper finely. Combine in a small saucepan with the olive oil, and saute until they have released all their liquid and are beginning to dry out. Add the cream, water and a pinch of salt, then bring to a boil. Once the liquid comes to a boil, add the rice, give it a quick stir, then cover and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for 14-15 minutes, or until al dente.

When there are five minutes left for the rice to cook, combine the cornstarch and sea salt in a shallow bowl. Toss the shrimp in the cornstarch so it is lightly coated. Heat the frying oil in a large skillet until it is almost smoking. Sear the shrimp, about a minute on each side, until they are golden brown, then remove from the pan and drain on fresh paper towels.

When the rice has finished cooking, add the butter and cheese, stirring vigorously so the melt evenly into the rice. 

Serve the rice in a shallow bowl topped with the shrimp. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve while it's still piping hot. 

If you have any leftover rice, you can make fried rice balls the next day. The possibilities are endless, but the basic idea is to heat up some oil, 

Season some breadcrumbs...

Form the rice into balls (some recipes even have you stuff them with cheese...yum!)

Roll those balls in the breadcrumbs...

Then fry.

Any way you slice it, it's good! Enjoy!

Rice Crust Quiche

 I'm loving Shauna James Ahern's newest cookbook, Gluten-Free Girl Everyday. She and her husband seem to cook by the motto, "Try every recipe once as it's written. Then you can play with it." Great advice, but something I'm not that great at, truth be told.

Luckily for me, this recipe still turned out great. I've been making quiche for a while, so I've got the jist of it. But I've never made a rice crust for a quiche. It's pretty basic, and a heck of a lot easier than making pastry. If I'm honest, there are weeks where I skip the quiche altogether because I simply don't feel like going to the trouble to make the crust.

Not anymore.

I didn't make the quiche from the cookbook (or even the crust recipe as it was written), but I benefited all the same from the recipe. I'll try it exactly as written sometime. I promise.

Here, I used dirty rice that had been sitting in the fridge all week. And since there wasn't that much of it left, I only used one egg to bind it together instead of two.  I cooked up some spinach and onions, threw in some cheese, and used only about one cup of cream for the quiche filling. 

It's delicious. And easy (even if it does take a long time to cook, it's pretty light on the prep work).

Balsamic Honey Vinaigrette

Mike and I went to a horrible restaurant for his birthday. We were starving and exhausted from moving all day long. We chose the restaurant because it had a gluten free menu and because we wouldn't have to go to far to get there.

We pulled up to the restaurant and saw an empty parking lot. Not a good sign. "It is Sunday," Mike said. "Most people eat in." I could hear the doubt in his voice, mingled with the hope that he was dead wrong about the place. Still, exhausted and hungry as we were, there was no going hunting for another restaurant. We slid out of the truck and trudged to the door.

The inside was better than expected. It was clean at least, but there was only one other table occupied. To her credit, the waitress knew exactly what to do when I asked for the gluten free menu.

We ordered a caprese salad to share. It came out with a great big slab of garlic toast on it. I cringed, but rather than send it back, I took a deep breath and picked up the cheese, tomatoes, olives, and onions farthest away from the bread and put them on my plate, leaving the rest for Mike. Besides the tomatoes that tasted like tomatoes in early May, the salad was pretty good. It was just the bread that had me on edge.

Mike and I both ordered pasta dishes-me from the gluten free menu and him from the regular one. My pasta was undercooked and the meat incredibly tough. Mike's pasta was fine, though he nearly gagged on the tough meatballs.

What a meal. I thought a hard day's work could make just about anything taste satisfying, but I was clearly wrong. It was awful.

And yet, this awful meal inspired a new favorite dressing. Our caprese salad came with a honey-balsamic dressing that was just the right balance of tart and sweet, and it mingled beautifully with all the ingredients in the salad.

I've been using this dressing all week, trying to recreate that salad and make it better. That means no bread, of course, and it also means no tomatoes, since fresh ones are still months away. I've also learned there's a balance between letting the cheese soak up some of the dressing and letting it sit so long it becomes leathery.

Slice up some red onions if you like. Make sure they're very thin.

Mix a tablespoon of good quality balsamic vinegar with a teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon of olive oil. Add in the onions, if using, some olives, and a chiffonade of a couple of fresh basil leaves.

Slice a few rounds of mozzarella, then tear them into bite-size pieces. Mix lightly into the dressing, but don't let it stand too long. A few minutes is perfect.

Put some lettuce on a plate if you'd like to eat it as a traditional salad, or eat straight out of the bowl for something that tastes really decadent and delicious.

Wine and Cheese

My ultimate dinner. Mostly it's about the wine and cheese. The fruit, because you need something fresh, and the bread and sausage for something with good chew to it. The bread is this baguette, smeared with roasted garlic butter and toasted. Perfect any time, but especially wonderful eaten on the porch, basking in the day's last rays of sunshine.

Dinner at Our House

Dinner at our house right now is, well, hectic.

Last winter, I wasn't working quite as much as I am now, so I was home to make an exquisite dinner every single night. Dinner was a lot more relaxed then.

Now, thankfully, I'm working quite a bit, but that does put a cramp on dinner. Meal planning is essential - otherwise we'd be eating eggs and toast every night. I sit down on Friday, plan out dinners for the week, and do groceries. Then, over the weekend, I prep as much as possible. There's always a list on the refrigerator that goes something like this: cook onions, cook broccoli, make cookies, roast beef...and so on. Everything goes into little pyrex dishes, and when I'm really on top of my game, each dish gets a label. Last but not least are the directions. I type up the meal plan and the directions to assemble each meal and post it on the fridge. That way, Mike can fix dinner while I'm on my way home since he usually gets home before me.

Sometimes it works like a dream. When I walk in the door, there's a glass of wine on the kitchen table waiting for me and Mike is just finishing plating the food. On those days, it's amazing. I don't have to think. All I have to do is sink down into my chair and enjoy dinner with my love.

Other days, it's a disaster. The directions aren't clearly written, or I haven't explained what a ramekin is, or where the water goes, and eggs en cocotte turns into mushy green scrambled eggs. On those days, we laugh. I'm so lucky to have found a man who can laugh at himself, although we're always laughing together.

If all this weren't enough, we've finally found a rental house that suits our needs. In fact, it's a bit big, but we're going to enjoy stretching out after being cramped in a tiny apartment. I can't wait to use my kitchen for real (I did use it to make mint chocolate chip ice cream the other day). But all that means is that we're in the midst of a crazy move, there's not enough time in the day, and I can't find the damn frying pan.

Still, wherever we are, we eat some dinner together. Whether we're sitting on the couch, at the kitchen table, or out on the patio, we find some time to sit together and relax. Sometimes it's a fancy treat, like lobster, or a quick and simple meal like pasta primavera. Wherever we are together is home.

Did I mention all our meals are completely gluten-free? They are. It took me a while to get into my groove where I could throw any old thing together and call it dinner. It took me even longer to adapt my old standby dinner recipes to be gluten-free. I have Shauna and Danny Ahern to thank for that.  Reading Shauna's first two books and her blog helped me realize that food is just food, something to be grateful for, something to enjoy. And her writing always keeps me glued to the page. Then there are the recipes - often a joint collaboration - that speak to my sensibilities about food and just plain make my tummy happy.

So I'm thrilled that they have a new cookbook. I can't wait to sit down and read it, cover to cover. I know new dinner ideas are just waiting for me, and when all the dust settles, we'll be sitting on the porch, enjoying our little family dinner.

Ribs & BBQ & Such

Last weekend, Mike and I went to Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse for lunch. There are two locations here in Utah, although it is a Texas-based company.

It's a fast-food sort of place where you order right when you walk in the door. One thing I really liked was that the main menu had stars next to every item that contained gluten. We went while they were fairly slow, but the guy who took our order was great about taking down that we didn't want any rolls, as well as making sure that Mike's macaroni and cheese was separate from everything else.

We split a 3/4 pound plate of pulled pork, pulled beef, and jalapeno sausage. It was just the right amount of food for two. The plate also came with two sides, so I had coleslaw and Mike had macaroni and cheese. All their barbecue sauces are gluten-free too. The pork was definitely better than the beef, but the jalapeno sausage was also excellent. The  coleslaw was so-so. While I know I can make better BBQ at home, it's nice to have an option to eat it out on the town every now and then, and we're looking forward to eating there again.

The worst part of the whole thing was that I was planning on making ribs and macaroni and cheese that very night. I'm pretty sure Mike wouldn't have minded eating the same thing two meals in a row - especially when it involved macaroni and cheese - but I decided to put it off until the next night.

And it was a good thing, too. I made this recipe for the ribs, more or less (less hot sauce, water to make up the difference), and my macaroni and cheese recipe, which was premade in the freezer. While I'm always disappointed about how hard ribs are to eat, these were tender, juicy, and pretty flavorful. Worth the seven-hour wait, and definitely a good option for later on.

Bread Soup

A bastardization of these soups...delicious. Bread and cheese tossed in just when it's time to serve.

And the Kitchen Sink

We all have those recipes, the ones that are the basis of our culinary repertoire. The ones we go back to when there's not much in the pantry, when we really don't feel like cooking.

For me, one of those recipes is simply buttered noodles. A little salt, a little garlic, lots of butter, and I'm happy.

Later on, I learned a recipe that added shallots, crushed red pepper, breadcrumbs, and a sunny side up egg to that mix. It's still a favorite. Here's that recipe, dressed up with some spinach and cheese. It was everything that was in my fridge that night.

Everything Pasta

Everything in this recipe (especially the spice quantities) is a suggestion. Don't like something? Leave it out. Like it a lot? Use a little more. Want to serve more people? Use more pasta, and figure one egg per person. You'll also need more breadcrumbs. The only thing that's really not negotiable is to salt the pasta water really well. Like a tablespoon of salt, at least. Trust me, if you do, the pasta will taste so good you'll be running back to the pantry to make sure you bought gluten-free pasta. It's that good.

Serves Two.

• 1/4 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 3 ounces gluten-free noodles (I like these)
• 1 shallot
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup spinach, julienned
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs
• 2 ounces cheese, grated
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spread the breadcrumbs out on a baking sheet and season with parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper. Toss with one tablespoon olive oil. Put in the oven, checking every three to five minutes and re-spreading the contents of the pan each time you check. Remove when the breadcrumbs are starting to brown.

Meanwhile, start the pasta water. When the water reaches a rolling boil, add in the pasta and cook until al dente, stirring frequently. Strain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.

While waiting for the pasta water to boil, heat one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon olive oil in a small frying pan. Add the shallots, garlic, and red pepper, sauteeing until the onions begin to be translucent, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add in the spinach, stirring until it just begins to wilt. Remove the contents of the pan to two bowls, then wipe down the pan. Sprinkle lemon juice over the shallot mixture.

Add remaining olive oil to pan and cook the two eggs sunny side up.

Toss the pasta with the shallot mixture, breadcrumbs, and cheese. Top each bowl with one egg. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Sweet Bisque

There is light at the end of this tunnel that is the longest, darkest, coldest winter in my memory. January was so long, so cold, so gloomy. It snowed. When (if) the snow started to melt, it would snow again. There was smog so thick we might have been in Beijing. You could taste it, and let me tell you, it's not a taste you wanna taste. The smog was so thick you couldn't see the mountains less than five miles away - the ones that are so big, you can usually see them from anywhere in the valley. Buildings a block away loomed like shadows in the smog - if you were lucky to see that far.

As February began, it started to warm up - and clear up - in fits and starts. The sun came out every now and then. I dared not get my hopes up because I knew there was plenty more winter to go around. There still is. But I've seen the sun, and the mountains, and even the ground, which has been covered and re-covered with snow these last months. And there's light at the end of the tunnel. I can't wait for spring, for life, to begin anew.

Even so, there are cold days where a nice hot bowl of soup is all you need. This is one of those soups. It's amazing - sweet and a little spicy, smooth and creamy too.  I was skeptical about the hot sauce because I'm not so big on the stuff, but it turned out to be what really made the soup. Without it, I suspect it would taste more like pie. Not a bad thing, if that's what you're in the mood for. But seriously, give the hot sauce a chance! You'll be glad you did.

Sweet Potato Bisque

You can prepare the roasted sweet potatoes in advance, or use leftover cooked sweet potatoes from another meal. This soup makes about 4 servings, depending on how hungry folks are.

• 2 medium-large sweet potatoes, roasted
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, or more to taste
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup water
• Heavy cream, if desired
• Salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions in butter, then add in the spices. Add sweet potatoes and liquids. Mash it all together so it's well combined.

If it looks more like mashed potatoes than a thick soup, add more liquid (water or milk or both) until it's a little bit thinner than your desired consistency. It will thicken some as it cooks. Simmer about 20 minutes.

Blend using a stick blender for a smooth bisque, or serve as is if you prefer more texture.

Garnish with a few drops of hot sauce and cream. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot. Tastes fine the next day as leftovers (or you could make ahead).

Quick Tuna Salad

I had an excellent tuna salad last fall. It probably hit the spot because I was absolutely starving for protein at the time, but since then I've started to reach for tuna salad a little more often. This guy is quick to whip together and a delight to eat. 

Tuna Salad with Grapes

Serves four

• 2 cans tuna, drained
• 1 small shallot, chopped fine
• Juice from one lemon, divided
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 1/2 cup grapes, rinsed
• 2 tablespoons roasted pumpkin seeds

Combine the tuna, shallot, half the lemon juice, mayonnaise, and capers.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Divide the spinach evenly among four plates. Scatter the grapes over the spinach, then drizzle the dressing over the salads. Use a large spoon or ice cream scoop to spoon the tuna mixture in the center of the salad. Scatter the pumpkin seeds over the top and enjoy!

Quick, before it's gone

 Even when I could still eat gluten with all its magical-stretchy-bread-baking qualities, I was never much into pies and quiches. Sure, I liked a good one now and then, but homemade pie crust seemed like too much work. So I was stuck with the store-bought ones, and even those with all their delicious gluten tasted like cardboard. Ick.

But in the last year, pie crust has become a challenge. I flatter myself with saying that I've mastered the cookie crumb crust, but really, that's not hard at all.  I've tried some other pie crust recipes (the best! the flakiest!) and been sorely disappointed with the results.

Until now. This pie crust is pretty darn good. Flaky. The flour combination is just right.

I used a tablespoon of psyllium husk instead of the xanthan gum. I find that the psyllium absorbs so much moisture that I tend to need add more. I used two eggs instead of one, and added a couple of tablespoons of cream to get it just right.

The filling is just shallots, sauteed until soft, four ounces of baby spinach wilted and moisture pressed out, a little bit of sausage, and red peppers. Lots of cheese, of course, and scallions sprinkled on top. And like any quiche, eggs and cream are a must.

If it lasts long enough, it's excellent for breakfast the next day, and even lunch.

French Toast, Gluten-Free

Maybe this goes beyond stating the obvious, but making French toast gluten-free isn't that much different than making it the "normal way." Stale bread, eggs, milk, frying pan, and done. Maybe some cinnamon sugar and fruit if you're lucky.

I don't know about you, but my best ideas come to me when I'm staring at the fridge. It's like the ideas that come to you in the shower, or right before you go to bed. Mine come to me when I'm standing there, letting all the cold air out, absentmindedly surveying its contents.

Remember that bread I made? It was amazing right out of the oven, but then it dried out pretty darn quick. I avoided using it, and then one night I was staring at the fridge, wondering what to make for dinner, not really wanting to cook but definitely not wanting to go out to eat either. And then the lightbulb went off in my head - French toast. Quick and easy, and a great way to use up stale bread.

I added some honey, vanilla, and cinnamon sugar to the egg mixture. The best French toast in my book has lots of cinnamon sugar, so I sprinkled it liberally over the toast when it was done too. And the last of the raspberries from the freezer graced the top (and their juice combined with honey made a great syrup).

Pizza Night

Anybody will tell you, good pizza is an art. I'm not talking about the kind of pizza you get from the freezer aisle. Those are just cheap prints, imitations of the real masters.

No, I'm talking about hot and gooey pizza with the perfect combination of flavors. Not to brag, but since I started making pizza on an almost weekly basis, I haven't had a bad pizza once.

The toppings are almost always a combination of something that's already in my fridge or spice drawer. A little bit of this, a little bit of that.  Leftovers? Put them on the pizza. Here we have sauteed mushrooms and country ham. What you don't see is that instead of tomato sauce, the pizza has a layer of roasted garlic, olive oil, and herbs underneath all those toppings.

I'm still in search of the perfect crust recipe. You might have your own pizza crust preferences - everyone does - but I like the fluffy crust. Not the one from the fast-food pizza place. No, I'm talking about the kind you can smell from across the room. The one that's slightly greasy, almost burnt, bubbly, and absolutely perfect. The one that has volume, but also some chew. Until I find the one, I often stick to the freezer-aisle-imitation-thin-crust. I do have one thing to say for it: it's quick, and if I can have pizza on the table that much faster after a rough day, well then it's worth it.

Smitten Salad

The other night at dinner, Mike was quiet as he ate. Then he said, "You make a really good salad." Oh, be still my heart.

It was this salad, but with sausage instead of bacon, lemon juice instead of vinegar, plus some corn, chili flakes, and paprika.

Sometimes I make it according to the actual recipe, which has become a favorite on its own, but just as often I add my own twists to it. That's what cooking is really about. Pouring yourself into dinner for the pure joy of it.

We don't usually do "diet" salads in our house, mostly because if I'm just looking at greens and salad dressing I'm not very interested in eating it. And when we eat salads like this, with the dressing made from pan drippings, we're always satisfied. They're meals unto themselves, and then we fall in love all over again.

Leftovers - Lobster Omelet

Leftovers. There are leftovers and then there are leftovers. Some are good, some are bad, and some are downright ugly. There's cold pizza or macaroni and cheese (good), fish that was overcooked in the first place (bad), and that stuff at the back of the fridge that's melted into something really stinky, fuzzy, and totally unrecognizable (ugly, of course).

For most of my life, leftovers usually fell into the last two categories. The bad leftovers were eaten grudgingly, and the ugly leftovers were thrown in the garbage bin. The good leftovers were usually lunch or an afternoon snack, and rarely made it to dinnertime the next day.  But the sad reality was that leftovers were a tired memory of a meal that was just o.k.

In the last few years, as I've begun to really cook for myself, I've started to rethink what the word "leftovers" really means. Sometimes it is the same soup, or casserole, or pasta, reheated yet again. And it's always a lot better than the leftovers in my memory. (I had one boss tell me he was always jealous of my leftovers. Another boss always complained that I never brought enough to share with the whole office. Chalk one up for leftovers.)

But other times, leftovers are something much, much more. It's amazing how a totally different focus can create an entirely new meal that no one would ever imagine was leftovers.

Eggs are one of my favorite ways to manage this. Frittatas and omelets are so good that folks will think you cooked the entire thing for that meal only, instead of scraping around the corners of the fridge to use up scraps.  I only made my first frittatas and omelets this past year (it's a lack of patience thing), but they sure do make a strong showing in my life now.

I'm still working on the ability to make a new meal out of any kind of leftovers, but this particular omelet was a revelation. We had too much lobster the other night (if there can be such a thing), and as I stared at the fridge wondering what to eat, this recipe came to me. Even better, it took less than twenty minutes from start to finish.

And it tasted wonderful. A far cry from the leftovers of my memory.




Saute some onions and crushed red pepper.

Toss in some lobster for 30 seconds or so, just to get it a little bit warm. Remove from pan.

Add some more oil to the pan, pour in eggs whisked with milk or cream. When the eggs are mostly set, scatter lobster and cheese on one side of the omelet.

Say a prayer while you (gently) fold the eggs over the filling. Leave it in the pan for another minute or so, then remove to a plate, and top with more lobster and cheese.

Lobster Omelet

• 
  

• 2 tablespoons bacon fat or olive oil, divided
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons cream
• 1 or 2 lobster tails, cooked, peeled, and chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 ounce cheese, grated (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup)
•  1/4 small onion or 1 shallot, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 scallion, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1 tablespoon fat in an omelet pan or 8-inch skillet over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft and beginning to turn golden, about 10 minutes. Add the crushed red pepper and saute about a minute more. Add the lobster to the pan for about 30 seconds, then transfer the entire mixture to a bowl and set aside. 

Heat the remaining fat in the pan. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and cream. Pour the eggs into the pan. Lift up at the sides with a spatula every now and then to keep them from sticking to the pan. When the eggs are mostly set, scatter 2/3 of the lobster mixture and half the cheese on one side of the eggs. Starting at the other side of the eggs, use a spatula to fold the eggs over the filling. Keep over the heat for one or two minutes more, then transfer to a plate. Top with the remaining lobster and cheese. Sprinkle scallions over the top, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately.

 There won't be any leftovers from this one, I promise.

Fancypants Lamb, Acts One and Two

Remember that lamb that cost me the contents of my piggy bank? Well here it is, the star of two meals. 

First Act: A Dinner's Dinner

The first go-round, I just panfried it all in some bacon fat. That's salt, pepper, and some herbs on plain-ol lambchops. 

 Seared on medium-high heat until they were just right. Deglazed the pan with some red wine, added in some cooked shallots, and served with baked mac-and-cheese and broccoli.

Definitely worth the price.

Second Act: Salad. 

I used to eat this dish made with couscous, spinach, lemon, chicken, and feta cheese. It was one of my favorites. No more couscous for me (at least not wheat couscous), and for some reason I can't really digest chicken anymore either. No worries. 

This is a rice couscous, cooked up with some onions and red pepper flakes. And butter, there's always butter. Throw in some shredded cheese (or feta would be amazing with this) and lemon zest when you fluff the couscous, and then top with more cheese. 

Slice and reheat the lamb in a skillet over low heat. Be careful not to overcook, you just want it reheated.

Spoon the rice couscous over a bed of lettuce, then top with the lamb. Drizzle everything with a tiny bit of olive oil and some lemon juice.

Again, definitely worth the price.