Gil’s away in Cleveland for the evening, so you know what that means — olives and capers (no brussels sprouts, bein’s how it’s summer and all) and LOTR. Yes, I am well and truly living it up with my bad self. So maybe having whore’s pasta to celebrate my alone-time isn’t the most virtuous-sounding meal I could’ve eaten, but boy, do I love olives! And egad, does my husband not!

For more than you ever really wanted to know about pasta puttanesca, check out this Wikipedia entry.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my D70 owner’s manual and I are needed in Middle Earth.

Living the dream, my friends. Y’all have a good weekend.

recipe after the jump

I just love Jamie Oliver’s recipes — they’re usually very simple, rely on fresh ingredients, and can take a good amount of fudging, which I’m expert at. That he’s fairly easy on the eyes doesn’t hurt, either. Most of the other recipes I’ve seen for puttanesca call for far fewer anchovies, but I love ‘em, so this is the recipe I choose.

Spaghetti Puttanesca, from Food Network

1 pound dried spaghetti, the best you can get
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 handful capers, soaked in water and drained
2 handfuls big black olives, pitted
12 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
3 small dried red chiles, crumbled
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 (14 ounce) cans tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 good handful fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the spaghetti in salted, boiling water until al dente. Meanwhile fry the garlic, capers, olives, anchovies, chiles, and oregano in a little olive oil for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, bring to a simmer, and continue to cook for 4 or 5 minutes, until you have a lovely tomato sauce consistency. Remove from the heat, plunge the drained spaghetti into it, toss it over, and cover with the sauce. Rip all the basil over it, correct the seasoning, and drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil.

Oh, well. Back to the drawing board. Maybe next time I’ll try a white sauce instead.

At least Fellowship on the big screen TV is redeeming my night.

I don’t deal well with cravings. Never have. They ping around my brain until the whole thing is lit up like a pinball machine. It’s dangerous to walk around in such a state, but I’ve learned the hard way that indulging is the only way to reset, even if you possess the willpower of a thousand Southern Baptist virgins, as I do. My most recent reset took place over the weekend as I gave in to a weeks-long craving for coconut cake. Now I’m happy and sane once again after devouring far too much of it.

At least it wasn’t heavy. Cooking Light is a great resource for all kinds of healthy dishes and not-too-bad-for-you desserts, so I turned to their website for super-light coconut cake and cream cheese frosting recipes. Since baking frightens the bejeezus outta me, I’ve been reading a lot about it online, where I learned that cakes benefit from sitting in the freezer for a few hours before you frost them. Like a little bakery penalty box, the freezer forces the cake to get its crumb together before it gets back in the game. Who knew? Pretty much everyone but me! So after dutifully freezing and thawing the cake before applying the crumb layer (a crumb layer — brilliant!), I got down to the serious business of frosting with my new offset spatula and produced a cake I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve to guests.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough cream cheesy goodness (or hours of daylight) left to test my new decorating tips, but maybe I’ll try them next time. I’m already planning my next baking adventure — a red velvet cake for a friend’s birthday in a few weeks. And she’s kind, so she won’t mind if her cake looks like something from a 1st grade science project.

The reason there was NO TIME for decoration was because we needed to get the Cinco de Mayo celebration rolling so as not to bring shame on white people everywhere with our lack of (relative) inebriation. I knew I didn’t want to make regular skirt steak fajitas, but wasn’t sure what to prepare instead. After I tooled around online for a little while, the paper of record came through with a recipe for fish tacos that really surprised me — not like, “Where am I and where are my pants?” surprise but more like, “Cool … I didn’t get sick from those 25-cent oysters!” surprise. I’ve only had fried versions of fish tacos, so I didn’t know how this broiled one would work, but it was really delicious, even with the substitutions I made. As banana leaves are few and far between in Ringwood (where Gil and I are probably the most ethnically exotic folks around), I used about a teaspoon of pureed chipotle pepper with adobo to give the sauce a smoky flavor, and I used scrod instead of halibut because I didn’t want my tacos to taste like ass. We had pureed black beans with chorizo on the side and would’ve had corn fritters with roasted garlic and cilantro sauce, too, but it was impossible to get everything finished at the same time.

So Saturday was a little rushed, I guess, but we enjoyed our Cinco de Mayo anyway. The traditional Mexican gin martini might’ve had a little something to do with that — the Official MI Husband is turning into quite the mixologist!

recipes after the jump

Shredded Fish Tacos Adapted from Patricia Quintana, via NY Times

1 banana leaf (sold dry, in packages, in Asian and Latino markets)
1 pound halibut, grouper or other firm white-fleshed fish, preferably 2 fillets
1 1/2 white onions, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter
1 teaspoon minced serrano or other hot fresh chili
2 cups chopped plum tomato, drained of excess liquid
Corn tortillas
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves.

1. Turn on broiler and adjust rack so it is about 4 inches from heat source (alternatively, turn oven to 500 degrees). Line bottom of a pan just large enough to accommodate fish with banana leaf; it is O.K. if leaf hangs over sides a bit. Put fish on leaf and top with about a third of the onion, the garlic, some salt and pepper, a tablespoon oil or butter and 1/3 cup water. Heat on stove top until leaf begins to smoke a bit, then transfer to broiler or oven. Cook until fish is done, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, put remaining butter or oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add remaining onion, along with chili and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens and turns golden; when it begins to brown, about 10 minutes later, add tomato and keep stirring and cooking; mixture will be quite dry. When it is saucy, taste and adjust seasoning and reserve about half; shred cooked fish into what remains in pan.

3. Pile fish mixture into tortillas; garnish with cilantro and serve, passing remaining sauce on side.

Yield: 4 servings.

Black Beans adapted from a Food Network recipe

1 1/4 cups black beans (about 1/2 pounds)
12 cups water
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 medium onions, chopped
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 link chorizo, chopped
1 tablespoons red wine vinegar, plus more for the table
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

Put the beans in a large saucepan, add the water and bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Set aside, covered, for 1 hour.

Return the beans to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, cook uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook until fat has rendered and edges are crispy. Add to beans. To the skillet, add the onion and peppers and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, oregano, and coriander and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add the onion mixture to the beans and continue simmering until the beans are very tender and the liquid has thickened, about 1 1/2 hours more.

If the beans seem too thick, adjust the consistency with a little bit of water. (My beans actually were a little watery, so I pureed them with an immersion blender.) Stir in the vinegar, season with the salt, cayenne, and pepper to taste.

Coconut Cake from Cooking Light

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon cake flour
2 1/2 cups cake flour (about 10 ounces)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup egg substitute
2 large eggs
3/4 cup light coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, coat 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms of pans with wax paper. Lightly coat wax paper with cooking spray; dust pans with 1 tablespoon flour.

Lightly spoon 2 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place 2 cups sugar and 6 tablespoons butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes or until well blended. Add egg substitute and eggs to sugar mixture; beat well. Add flour mixture and coconut milk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon extract.

Spoon batter into prepared pans. Sharply tap the pans once on countertop to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks; remove from pans. Remove wax paper; discard. Cool cakes on wire racks.

Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from Cooking Light

1 cup (8 ounces) Neufchâtel cheese, chilled
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat the first 4 ingredients at medi-um speed of a mixer until smooth. Lightly spoon sugar into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Gradually add sugar to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat).

Deb left too early Sunday morning to partake in one of my favorite Creole dishes — shrimp & grits. Sausage or bacon really helps this dish along, but I have no idea where I’d find chaurice up here, so we went with chorizo instead. To keep the Spanish influence going, I used Manchego cheese in the grits, which lent them a subtle depth without overpowering their delicate flavor. It’s one of my favorite non-eggy brunch dishes and cooks up in a flash, the perfect meal for those mornings when your head feels too heavy to lug around for very long.

recipe after the jump

Cheese Grits with Shrimp and Chorizo

grits (stone ground if you can find them, or anything but instant)
milk
1/3 – 1/2 cup shredded Manchego cheese
1 link fresh chorizo
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled
1 green onion, sliced

Cook grits according to package directions, substituting milk for 1/2 of the water called for. When grits are cooked, stir in cheese until melted.

While grits are cooking, quarter chorizo lengthwise and slice into 1/4-inch pieces. Cook chorizo in frying pan over medium heat until fat has rendered and sausage begins to brown and crisp on edges. If chorizo releases a lot of grease, remove all but about a teaspoon of it.

Add garlic to chorizo, and cook, stirring for about 30 seconds. Add shrimp to pan and cook until shrimp is pink, about 2 minutes.

Top grits with shrimp & chorizo and sprinkle with green onions. Serve immediately.

Clockwise, from left: si gum chi na mul, shredded carrots, ho bak na mul, sook ju na mul, gal bee

There’s no greater treat (or easier meal) than grilled food when company comes calling. Slap some meat over a fire, serve it with a few simple side dishes and copious amounts of alcohol, and you’re guaranteed a good time and satisfaction all around.

But sometimes the burger/hot dog/steak axis wears thin, even early in the grilling season. I’ve had great great burgers/dogs/steaks, but only rarely are they memorable on their own. A kosher dog at Yankee stadium, when Gil and I were dating and he surprised me with a ticket to a Sunday game … totally memorable, but for the company. Steak cooked to perfection by R, my longtime boyfriend in St. Louis … again memorable, but for the secret family marinade I weaseled out of him (and which you won’t get here, dear reader — I made a promise and intend to keep it.).

But I did learn a lot of other things with R during our years together. Apart from the many cautionary lessons (which I choose not to dwell on), he taught me to shoot, something I still love to do whenever I make it out to the sporting clays range. I learned the most basic lessons of fly fishing, but haven’t gone back for years. And I learned a lot about Korean food.

See, R was a Korean cowboy-type from Tulsa, a good ol’ boy and gourmand in equal measure. His family loved entertaining with amazing home-cooked meals, so he learned quite a bit from them. Over the years after we parted ways, I cooked the few dishes I remembered and added my own spin to them, but I wanted more. Sure, I could live the rest of my life without eating the same version of Ja Jang Myun (noodles with soybean paste sauce) ever again, but did I really want to? Nuh-uh.

A few months ago, I finally managed to track down the out-of-print cookbook R had — Korean Cooking for You by Moon Ja Yoon — and have made old favorites many times since. But I can also turn to this cookbook for magnificent grilling recipes and produce something other than the typical cookout fare with minimal effort. So that’s what I did Saturday afternoon.

With the gal bee (short ribs), we had si gum chi na mul (spinach), ho bak na mul (zucchini), sook ju na mul (mung bean sprouts), and some awesomely pungent and fresh kim chi Gil picked up at the market Friday. And to make things super-simple, all of the na muls used the same seasoning ingredients, so it’s easy enough to mix up a big batch and just douse the different dishes at once.

Our weekend guest (Deb, Gil’s ex from college) is a smart girl who knows you can pick up wine anywhere, but a chocolate mousse cake from S&S Cheesecake … I … just … there are no words:

So that was dessert. And yes, we made short work of it:

recipes after the jump

All recipes are from Korean Cooking for You by Moon Ja Yoon. If you can find a used version, I highly recommend it.

Gal Bee (Broiled Short Ribs)

2 lb. flanken-style short ribs, 1/4 inch thick (We couldn’t find such thin ribs, so we used regular. A Korean grocery store will sell ribs sliced thinly, if you’re lucky enough to have access to one.)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons rice wine

seasoning sauce
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
2 medium green onions, chopped or sliced
2 teaspoons sesame seed, toasted/lightly pounded
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons water

Wash the meat and remove visible fat. Pound the meat lightly on both sides with the blunt edge of a knife. Place in a large ziploc bag, add sugar and wine, and mix well. Let stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

Combine seasoning sauce ingredients and mix well. Marinate the meat in seasoning sauce at least 15 minutes (I usually let them marinate overnight in the fridge).

Grill or oven-broil at 450 degrees for about 2 minutes per side or until brown. Obviously, if you go with thicker ribs, you’ll have to cook them longer. Also, beware of flare-ups. This is a fatty cut of meat and flames will shoot up through the grate when you turn them.

Si Gum Chi Na Mul

1 lb. fresh baby spinach
1 qt. water

seasoning ingredients
1 teaspoon soy sauce (I usually omit this, preferring the dish without.)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons sesame seed
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1-2 green onions, chopped (I like this with a LOT of green onion, so I use the upper amount.)
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Wash spinach thoroughly. Bring water to boil, add spinach, and cook for one minute.

Rinse spinach with cold water and drain well. Squeeze extra water out of spinach before continuing.

Add seasoning ingredients, mix thoroughly, and serve.

Ho Bak Na Mul

1 lb. zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt

seasoning ingredients
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons sesame seed
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 green onion, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Wash and cut the zucchini into thin slices. If you have one, this is the perfect time to break out your mandoline.

Sprinkle zucchini slices with salt and let stand for 5 minutes. Rinse and drain well.

Mix zucchini with seasoning ingredients and stir-fry over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Sook Ju Na Mul

1 lb. bean sprouts
1 qt. water

seasoning ingredients
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 small green onion, chopped or sliced
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Clean and wash bean sprouts thoroughly.

Bring water to boil; add bean sprouts and cook for one minute, uncovered.

Drain well, add seasoning ingredients to bean sprouts, and mix well.

We welcomed the return of our prodigal Spring last weekend with open windows and grilled meats and vegetables. Winter stamped around a bit throwing a tantrum that it had NEVER left and why don’t we appreciate it the same WAY, but you can’t encourage a hissy fit, so we ignored it.

In a burst of spring cleaning energy and optimism, I thought it was time to do something about the state of the guest bedroom, where the dingy walls and half-finished look have been depressing me for so long I could not stand it one more minute. Did you know Home Depot opens at 6am? Ahem, not being completely batshit crazy, we didn’t make it there quite so early, but at around 7:30am (does that make us partially batshit?) we hit the local Despot for a window consultation (new windows! less dust!) and paint supplies. After our brief foray into the world, we went home and got busy with the redecorating.

Moving furniture and cleaning and taping and edging really take it out of a person, so between coats we thought it better to watch sports and grill instead of cleaning the rest of the house or watching paint dry. (The less said about the Yankees, the better, but gooooo Weber Q!) Having the windows open during the games felt like such a luxury after the past few weeks of grayishly brooding about better weather to come. Aaaaahhh…

The only non-grilled dinner we had all weekend involved testing a new recipe for Chinese Chicken and Mushroom Lettuce Cups from Cooking Light for dinner Saturday; it was such a success it’s already moved into the go-to pile for weeknight dinners. (It was really very simple to make, though mincing the mushrooms took longer than expected. I’ll use our trusty food processor in the future when I’m more pressed for time. I only changed the recipe a little — increasing the amount of mushrooms to use the whole container, using regular soy sauce instead of low-sodium, and adding a handful of slivered almonds because we had them.) The dish is light but has an earthy mushroom flavor and tastes remarkably like the wraps we get at Baumgart’s, a New Jersey diner/pan-Asian restaurant institution.

For dessert, we moved over to Thailand for bananas stewed with coconut milk (or Gluay Buat Chee) from Real Thai by Nancie McDermott. As the recipe notes,

When women in Thailand become Buddhist nuns, they wear white robes. This sweet dish of bananas in coconut milk is white as well, giving rise to its charming Thai name, “bananas ordained as nuns.”

Sunday, I grilled instead of heating up the house after painting. Marinated skirt steak (a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, hot smoky paprika, garlic, cumin, chile powder, salt, and pepper) got a quick turn on the grill and paired well with caramelized onions spritzed with lime juice and a dollop of fresh guacamole. Inspired by the abundant sunshine and cool breeze, we even broke out our patio set and ate overlooking the woods behind our house.

God, I’m so ready for summer.

Yankees-Red Sox on the tube, rosé for me, gin for him, and an uncomplicated dinner. Clockwise, from top: Olive oil, Syrian zahtar, chickpea dip, baked oat bran pita chips, Israeli zahtar.

recipe after the jump

Chickpea Dip

1 19-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
juice of 1 lemon
4 oz. lowfat sour cream
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon ground harissa
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Blend ingredients in food processor and serve with pita chips.

And if that ain’t love, folks, I don’t know what is. OK, OK, Gil’s the biggest chocolate chip cookie whore I know, so they weren’t exactly for me only, but I did appreciate the bits of dough he left wrapped and waiting for me in the fridge.

With the night of extraordinary tension ahead of us, I didn’t want any frustration in the kitchen, so I thought noshing on something we already had in the pantry/fridge would be the way to go. But you know me, I need that feeling of accomplishment (no matter how easily gained) so I had to do a little more than just open a jar or unwrap some cheese. We had … crostini with spinach and cannellini beans!

The most important thing to remember here is to rid the canned beans of squack. Pardon my foray into technical jargon territory, but while we’re here, I would like to take this opportunity to establish my firm anti-squack stance. Please, please rinse your canned beans! Or, you know, use dried and be entirely squack-free.

Ahem, anyway, the dish came together in about 30 minutes, so we sat down with a plate of crunchy and garlicky crostini to test our marriage with sober Idol. You’ll be happy to know our shared hatred of the same contestants and love of ridicule pulled us through. But I like to think the noshing played some small part in keeping our marriage afloat.

recipes after the jump

White Bean Crostini

1/2 crusty baguette
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 large can cannellini beans, drained of squack and rinsed (see post)
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
1/4 cup chicken stock
lemon juice
truffle oil
parmesan cheese
1 bag baby spinach
red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut baguette into 1/4-inch slices and arrange in one layer on baking sheet.

In medium pan, sauté 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 clove of garlic over low heat until garlic is fragrant and just beginning to turn golden. Remove pan from heat and lightly brush bread slices with olive oil, then bake in oven until toasty and golden brown, about 10 minutes.

While bread is toasting, reheat olive oil and garlic over medium-high heat and add white beans, herbs, and chicken stock. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until stock is absorbed. Lightly mash beans and set aside.

While beans are simmering, heat remaining olive oil and garlic over medium-high heat in large pot until garlic is fragrant and turns golden. Add spinach to pot and cook, stirring, until most of the water has evaporated. Add salt and red pepper flakes to taste.

To assemble, spoon a thin layer of spinach onto baguette slice and mound with beans. Sprinkle with lemon juice and a light drizzle of truffle oil then top with parmesan shavings. Serve warm.

Like Gumby, I’m a creature of flexibility. So while The Official MI Husband knows better than to stand in the way of my cravings, he’s comfortable suggesting alternate preparations or asking me to wait a day if the need arises. Thus my flexibility was put to the test this weekend when our excursion to Woodbury Common ran long Saturday. We left famished and ate an enormous, late lunch at Pizzeria Uno, so the hanger steaks I’d prepped with a dry rub paid for our gluttony by sitting overnight in the fridge until we could bear the thought of eating again. That happy occasion was lunch today.

Not relishing the thought of grilling in a downpour (Oh, did I forget to mention we’re in the middle of a nor’easter?), I had to come up with a different method of preparation. Ordinarily, I’d just pound the steak to about 1/4-inch thickness and cook it over high heat in my cast iron pan, then serve it with a quick pan sauce and fries, but the assertive rub made steak frites much less appetizing.

Inspiration struck when I found a site that recommended quickly searing the steak on the stove, then finishing in a 250-degree oven until medium rare. It promised uniformly tender meat, so I ran an experiment to see if we could really tell a difference between oven-finished and stove-finished steak. Both were cooked to an internal temperature of 125 degrees and allowed to rest on a plate loosely tented with foil for 10 minutes.

As you might be able to tell from the photo, there definitely was a difference between the two. The steak on the left was cooked on the stovetop and had more variation in color and texture. The exterior was tougher from cooking over a direct heat source, and the middle had a thin rare line because the meat rose to a higher temperature while it was resting. The oven-prepared steak on the right was much more tender and uniformly rosy. The outside wasn’t as tough and it had a much silkier texture. But both were very good served with a freshly-prepared pineapple salsa and warm spinach salad.

I still have to test grilling against these two methods, but I’m pretty sure steak frites will continue to reign supreme. The reason hanger steak is one of my favorite cuts is because it has great, beefy flavor and a chewy texture, so the silkiness of the oven-finished meat seemed all wrong to me, even though the beef itself was absolutely delicious.

recipes after the jump

Dry Rub for Steak

1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon finely ground coffee
1 teaspoon hot Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
Mix ingredients in small bowl. Pat rub onto steak and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for a few hours. Allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking with the method of your choice.

Pineapple Salsa

The sweetness and acidity of this salsa are a good counterpoint to the earthy smokiness of the dry rub.

1/2 cup pineapple, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 cup red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
salt, to taste

Combine ingredients in non-reactive bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.

One of the reasons I decided to take this Pesach challenge was to break out of my cooking rut. It’s so easy always to reach for the tried and true when you’re in a hurry or to put off making a decision about dinner when your options are unlimited (relatively speaking). But this challenge has forced me to adapt to new rules and think creatively, using substitutions for my standard methods of cooking.

Take, for example, the artichoke. I’ve been craving them now that the calendar says Spring and ordinarily I’d just make a pasta sauce with them because it’s the easiest thing to do. Instead, we had something brunchy yesterday. To sauteed artichoke hearts with sage butter I added poached eggs and salad greens and topped the whole thing with browned butter. It was a nice start to the day.

Dinner was another springtime treat — lamb rib chops. Instead of going with an Indian-spiced preparation as is my wont, I marinated the chops with crushed fresh rosemary & thyme, garlic, truffle oil, and salt & pepper. A few hours later, I pan roasted them and served ‘em up with a muscat reduction and kale mashed potatoes. Not world-class invention by any means, but those were flavors we don’t often have with that cut of lamb.

And then there was dessert. Oh, boy, dessert. No bread pudding allowed, obviously, so I took a banana that was getting to that perfect overripe stage, and made a bananas foster topping for vanilla frozen yogurt. I’m pretty sure bananas foster on anything is now my favorite dessert. If there is a more perfect marriage than butter, sugar, bananas, and rum, I’d like to hear about it.

But don’t get me wrong — I’m still looking forward to my lunchtime sandwich Wednesday.

recipes after the jump

Poached Eggs with Artichokes and Brown Butter

I couldn’t find fresh artichokes or even frozen artichoke hearts, so I made do with the canned version and rinsed them well. After cooking for a time, they were fine, but I’d recommend going the fresh route if you have the option.

2 cans artichoke hearts (or equivalent fresh/frozen)
4 tablespoons butter, divided
5 fresh sage leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lemon
4 eggs
white vinegar
salad greens
Italian parsley, chopped

Cut artichoke hearts in half lengthwise, rinse well, and drain in colander, squeezing lightly to get the water out. Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in frying pan. When foaming subsides, add sage leaves and stir to coat. Cook in butter until edges of leaves begin to crisp, then discard the sage. Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Turn heat to medium-high and add artichokes. Pan fry until edges turn golden brown. Depending on how much water they still hold it could take 10-15 minutes.

When artichokes are nearly finished, arrange salad greens on two plates, and prepare the eggs. Set large pan of water at least 2 inches deep to boil over high heat. Crack each egg into a small cup and set aside. When water begins to boil, lower heat until water is barely simmering and add about 1 tablespoon of vinegar. If your pan is really wide, add more vinegar. (This helps to set the egg whites.) Gently tip eggs into simmering water and poach until whites are opaque, about 3 minutes.

Spoon artichokes evenly over salad greens and top with two poached eggs.

Wipe out artichoke pan with a paper towel and melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat until foam subsides. At this point, swirl pan a few inches over heat until butter begins to brown. Turn off heat and squeeze 1/2 lemon into pan. (This will spatter, so be careful.) Pour browned butter over eggs, top with chopped parsley, salt & pepper to taste, and serve immediately.

Lamb Chops with Muscat Reduction

When I make these again after Passover, I’ll add Dijon mustard to the marinade for more of a bite.

4 lamb rib chops, frenched if you can find them
2 cloves, minced
1 sprig fresh rosemary, crushed
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and crushed
salt & pepper
1 teaspoon truffle oil
1 teaspoon grapeseed oil, or other high-smoking point oil
1/2 cup Muscat
1/2 cup chicken or beef stock

Place rib chops, 1 clove of garlic, rosemary, half of the thyme, salt & pepper, and truffle oil into a large ziploc bag. Massage through plastic until ingredients are evenly distributed on lamb, then refrigerate for a few hours, removing 30 minutes before cooking.

In stainless steel or other non-nonstick frying pan, heat grapeseed oil over medium high heat until oil is shimmering. Add lamb chops to pan and cook for 3 minutes, then flip and cook for another 2 minutes for medium-rare (145 degrees). Remove lamb to a plate and tent with foil.

Pour grease from pan and add Muscat, stock, and remaining garlic and thyme to pan, scraping to loosen fond. Boil until reduced by half and serve with lamb chops.