Amy's Food Adventures

Surviving Passover

Every Year we end up with lots of food (naturally) that we prepared for holiday dinner and that no one ate.  It's a Jewish tradition to make sure that there's plenty of food and that seems to mean there's plenty of leftovers.

Some of them are good leftovers.  There's no trouble getting rid of leftover chopped liver or matzo ball soup.  Some leftovers are perfectly good, it's just that no one particularly wants to eat them.  Since none of us want to throw them out (another Jewish tradition), figuring out how to be inventive could be considered part of surviving Passover.  Here are a few of the tricks I've come up with over the years. 

Everything depends, of course, on what you decided to serve.  Our main courses usually rotate between roasted chicken(s), brisket, roast beef, and leg of lamb.  If we have a lot of people coming, we sometimes make two main courses just to make sure everyone's happy.

Roast chicken is usually the least problem.  It's good eaten cold (or at room temperature).  My rule is don't reheat it unless you're putting it into some kind of sauce -- it gets too dry.  We do sometimes cut it up and make it into a Chicken Tetrazinni.  Very old fashioned.  If you're Kosher, you can make this with a milk or cream substitute.  Cut up the chicken into large chunks (1" is good).  Make a medium white sauce (2 tablespoons of butter or margarine to 2 tablespoons of flour or potato starch to 1 cup of milk o milk substitute).  You need about oone cup of white sauce to every cup of chicken.  Cook 2 cups of Passover noodles (yes, they have them now) lightly, drain, and mix with the white sauce, which you have seasoned with salt and pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.  Mix in the chicken.  If you like you can also add some cut up, cooked, broccoli, spinach (well drained), or aspargus.  Place all into a buttered or sprayed casserole and place in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes until heated through and bubbling.

You can also take leftover roast chicken and use it in the Lamb Curry recipe below.

Brisket isn't usually a problem unless you don't have enough gravy left.  Here are some suggestions if that happens.  We have made a very successful second round gravy by browning (long and slowly) an onion or two, thinly sliced, with a clove or two of garlic.  You may then add your choice of a cup of chicken broth (don't use beef broth unless it's home made) and season and cook a bit to amalgamate everything, or a 16-oz can of tomato sauce and then include some thyme with the seasoning, again cooking a bit.  We have a friend who always cooks extra Prune Tzimmes (and keeps it tucked away) so he can use it as a sauce for the leftover brisket.

I usually just serve roast beef and roast lamb at room temperate, sliced thinly, fat removed, and served with a hot vegetable (a baked potato or a potato gratin is good) and a relish (like a chutney).  Again, like the chicken, I don't think they're improved by reheating, unless they're going into a sauce.  The only successful reheated roast beef dish I know is an old trick where the roast beef is sliced thinly, and placed in a casserole with a sauce like the onion sauce described in the brisket paragraph above, covered with some buttered crumbs (you can try matzo meal or matzo crumbs if it's still Passover) and heated in a hot oven. 

For lamb, I usually create a Kashmiri Lamb Curry.  Cube the lamb into 3/4=1" pieces.  Chop a large onion.  Chop two cloves of garlic and a 1" piece of fresh ginger.  Zest a lemon and juice it.  Peel an apple and a pear (or two of either) and cut them into small chunks (1/2").  You will also need 1/2 cup of raisins, yellow or black, 2 tablespoons of curry powder (we use Hot Madras, but you may choose a brand and heat of your liking), and 2 tblespoons of potato starch or flour, plus 2 cups of chicken stock and one cup of white wine or vermouth (you may use all chicken stock).

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, butter, or margarine in a large saute pan and soften the onion and garlic and ginger. Add the lamb and stir into the onion mixture. Add the apple and pear and soften.   Add the flour and curry powder and stir for 30 seconds to blend in the flour.  Add the chicken stock and wine and blend in thoroughly, scraping in any brown bits.  Add the  lemon juice and raisins.  Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, and cook for 20 minutes until heated through.  Add the lemon zest and serve.  (If it's not Passover or you are of the Sephardic tradition, serve with rice.)

Time for the Holidays

In less than two weeks it will be Rosh Hashonah, the Jewish New Year, and we will serve our traditional dinner of Chicken Soup with Matzoh Balls, Gefilte Fish (purchased these days), and Brisket in Onion Gravy with a starch, a vegetable, and cucumber salad.

My recipes for brisket and cucumber salad are already on this blog, so I thought I'd give you the Wohl Master Recipe for Chicken Soup and Matzoh Balls.  Besides, I just got recipes from my friend Jonathan Hirshon and I want to be able to show him how I do it.

The chicken soup is easy -- just lots of fresh stuff into the pot.

1. I always make chicken soup on the French principle -- if you are going to get all the chicken flavor into the soup, the chicken itself will be trash at the end of the cooking.  I use chicken leg quarters, four pounds.  (Chicken backs would be better and more economical but they're very hard to get these days.)  I rinse them off and put them into the pot with a quart of chicken soup (the low fat, low salt kind that comes in a box).
2. Next I add the vegetables - 1 peeled large onion, 2 peeled small turnips, 2 peeled small parsnips, 4 peeled carrots (or a bag or the little guys), 2-3 leeks, well washed and split, a clove of peeled garlic, 2 stalks of celery with the leaves, a large handful of parsley and a bunch of dill.
3. Add water to cover.
4. Add seasoning:  1-2 teaspoons of sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, 2 bay leaves.
5. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and cook for 1 hour.
6. Drain through a fine sieve.Discard the chicken and vegetables.
7. If you like carrots in your soup, cook several thinly sliced carrots and a handful of chopped dill in the soup when you warm it for serving  We usually chill it first and remove the fat before rewarming for serving.  This means making it the day before is best.
8. If you like chicken in your soup, put several breasts (on the bone) into the soup for the last 20 minutes of cooking.  Take them out before straining the soup and reserve.  Remove skin and bones and shred the chicken to add to the soup or use as lovely poached chicken.

Meanwhile, make the matzoh balls.  These are the fluffy ones.  The secret to fluffy is really simple (if you like them this way, which is our family tradition)  just be sure not to add too much matzoh meal and don't make balls -- the compacting makes them dense.  Just scoop the mixture lightly with a spoon and drop it into the soup.  The irregularity of the shapes adds to its charm. 

We use the recipe right off the matzoh meal box, multiplied up because I always make it based on 12 eggs (we like lots to eat and lots of leftovers).

1. Whisk  12 eggs or use 3 cups of egg substitute (works great).
2. Whisk into the eggs 3/4 cup of water and 3/4 cup of vegetable oil. 
3. Slowly mix in (don't use the whisk, it will become enmired) 3 cups of matzoh meal.)
4. You can season with a teaspoon of sea salt (or more to taste) and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator for 45-60 minutes to firm up.

Meanwhile, bring a large, wide pot of water to the boil. 

Scoop the matzoh meal mixture up by the spoonful (I use a big mixing spoon that holds about two tablespoons but you can make them any size) and drop them into the boiling water.  A twist of the spoon will help them drop into the water.  You may need to wash the spoon from time to time.  I also spray it with vegetable oil spray.

Cover the pot (but leave the lid slight;y ajar) and cook for at least 50 minutes.  Test the matzoh balls until they are cooked through.  It always takes longer than you think it will -- mine usually take about 75 minutes.

If you're serving soon, remove with a slotted spoon into the soup for rewarming.  Otherwise remove to a plastic container, gently fill with cold water, cover and refrigerate for up to three days.  Makes lots (about 18-20 depending on size).

Gone Fishing

I love fresh fish.  The key word is fresh.  Fortunately I live in an area with several real fish stores and a Whole Foods with a great fish department.  That means I can have pretty much anything that's avaiable all the time.

For the last few years, I've tried to eat fish at least twice a week.  That's easy -- there's so much to choose. 

Some favorites:

• Grilled salmon with or without a glaze -- just keep it pretty rare.
• Barely charred tuna -- grilled on the outside, rare to raw in the middle, served with a sauce or a salsa.
• Any thin, white, delicate filet sauteed in a little butter and served in a lemon butter sauce.  Takes five minutes.
• Crab cakes (I don't make them -- I just buy them uncooked from someone who only makes them with lump crabmeat and seasoning and nothing else), broiled until golden brown.  I like cocktail sauce with these -- you may prefer tartar sauce or a salsa.
• Secret Fish - a recipe a first tried at my good friends' Ned and Ray when they lived in Estes Park at 9,800 feet in the Rockies.  So easy.  Spray a casserole large enough to hold the fish filets you're going to cook.  scatter some peeled garlic cloves (how many is up to you -- I usually use 3-4 per serving) over the pan.  Place the fish filets on top.  Cover with a jar (more or less) of Salsa -- as spicy as you like.  I love the Green Mountain Hot for this.  Bake for about 30 minutes until the salsa bubbles and the fish flakes.

It's Summertime

Shopping at a Farmer's Market in July is alwlays alluring -- all that fresh produce -- everything says "Buy me."

But when you're cooking for one, it's hard to pick; even harder to have any discipline. 

The first few times I went, I bought just like in the past and ended up with quite a bit of dead produce (more than usual -- I confess to always over buying).

Now I'm a bit more disciplined.  (it's a learning curve.)  I look at each thing and say, "How am I going to use you?" and perhaps more importantly, "When?"

So I can't buy more fruit than I'm going to eat in 5-7 days.  I try to make sure that some of it isn't ripe yet.  I eat lots of fruit -- I usually have some as part of breakfast and lunch and at least one fruit snack every day.  That means I could eat more than 20 portions in a week.  I target my indulgence here -- especially since you can't buy fresh peaches or blueberries worth eating in December.

With veggies, I have to get better at planning.  Some for salads, of course.  I usually have one most days.  But to me a salad might be just tomatoes and parsley with some shallot or cucumbers and red onion in vinegar with a bit of sugar and dill so I don't need seven days worth of greens. 

The rest have to be targeted for actual dishes  This week that means:

• Tomatoes, frying peppers, hot peppers, onions, and garlic for a vegetable spaghetti sauce.  I eat it as is (seasoned with sea salt, pepper, thyme, and basil) or use it as a base for meals with grilled shrimp, portobello mushrooms (one big one is a main course), chicken tenders, and so forth.

I can make a big pot.  It can safely stay in the refrigerator for a few weeks (the acid from the tomatoes), be the basis for a company meal, or get put into pint or quart containers in the freezer.

• Thin spears of asparagus.  I can either make a pot of soup -- again the freezer strategy -- or steam or roast the spears and use them in salads all week long.  This week my plan is to use most of them in a vegetqrian lasagna (I cut it up after it's cooled and freeze the pieces for instant dinners) and the rest in an asparagus omelet.  Omelets are perfect cooking for one.

I had to pass up lots of great looking fruit and terrific looking corn, eggplants, and zucchini.  I'm looking forward to putting them into the plan for next week -- or maybe I'll be seduced by something even better.

Dining Alone

I find it difficult to solve the problem of how to dine alone.

When I go out I feel awkward, even though I've eaten alone in hotel dining rooms around the world for thirty years.  But I almost never ate out in my home town alone.  Last night I took myself out to a new restaurant -- just something in the neighborhood that I had always wanted to check out -- and had oysters and a lobster.  I was too busy enjoying the food and smiling at the waitress and the other diners to feel awkward.  Maybe really enjoying the food counts.

Dining at home is even worse.  I was bad enough at trying to cook for two -- there were almost always leftovers, not necessariy planned.  I was good at using them up.

I find that cooking for one is less inspirational.  There's no one to admire the work in progress and no one to applaud the results.  Figuring out how much to buy and cook is even harder than when I was cooking for two.

But I'm learning.  So here are some tricks I've picked up which might be useful for other solo cook-diners.

• Don't make anything you don't really want to eat.  If you make something because it was on sale, because it's good for you, or because your spouse liked it, you're not likely to eat it.
• If you can't think of anything you want to cook, don't!  There are plenty of things you can eat without cooking.  Some of my favorites are:

          1.  Cheese (good cheese, preferably from a real cheese shop) with fruit and crackers. 

          2.  A middle eastern appetizer platter assembled from ready-mades from the store.  I always keep little containers of hummus, baba ganouj (eggplant dip), and olives in my refrigerator.  Add some pita (toasted if you can bear the effort) and it's dinner.

          3.  Save a few cooked objects to add to a salad and make something exciting for minimum effort.  I have two favorites currently:

Salad Nicoise: You'll need to save up some French potato salad (olive oil instead of mayonnaise), some cooked green beans, and a hard boiled egg.  They get arranged on a few leaves of shredded romaine together with a quartered tomato, some chickpeas or white beans (canned and rinsed), a few olives, and a small can of tuna in olive oil.  Add a few anchovies if you like them.  Drizzle vinaigrette over all.

Warm Scallop Salad:  No leftovers required -- just some minimal cooking.  Cut up two slices of thick-cut bacon into 1/4" strips and cook them in a dry pan to golden brown.  Reserve the bacon on a paper towel and put the bacon fat into a salad bowl.  Now drizzle some olive oil into the pan, heat it to very hot, and sear 4 ounces of Dry Diver Scallops (the very big ones) -- that will be about three.  While they cook, make the bacon into a salad dressing by adding balsamic vinegar and a teaspon of honey plus a few grinds of pepper.  Add the sections of a navel orange (no pith, no membranes) and a few handfuls of dark greens (spinach or arugula).  Toss.  Put the scallops on top and, if you're feeling very elegant sprinkle a few pine nuts and/or dried cranberries on top.  I confess to eating every bit of this!

Now if I can just figure out how to make a rib roast for one!

            

Couch Potatoes Go South

I was elected to be the personal chef for my daughter's Super Bowl party.  There weren't going to be many of us, but we all liked to eat -- and we wouldn't want to spoil our attention to the game (or the commercials) by having to go sit down to dinner, so this was going to be an evening of Couch Potato Finger Food.

I decided on a kind of Latin American theme -- more or less.

We started off with home-made Guacamole, Salsa, and Chips.  I make my Guacamole the same way most of you do -- a lot of avocado, some onion and garlic, a little tomato and hot peppers, and some lime juice.  A few pulses of the blender and we're ready.

Sometimes we cheat and just mix spicy salsa into the chunks of avocado, pulsing it into a chunky dip.

Next came fried objects.  I made a vat of Picadillo (sauteed lean ground beef, onnions, and garlic with some diced boiled potatoes, chopped olives, and raisins.  We spiced it up with salt and pepper, tabasco, and a little diced pepper and cooked it with some beef broth.  (We made a lot because after we had filled enough empanadas you can eat the rest the next day over rice.)  Spoonfuls of the picadillo went into circles of dough, to be folded into half moons, with neatly pinched edges, and deep fried to golden brown in a big pot half-filled with hot vegetable oil.  You can make empanada dough from scratch; we used those tubes of refrigerator biscuits, rolling each biscuit out as thinly as possible.

We served the empanadas with a salsa made from diced mango, diced red onion (a little), and diced jalapeno peppers, plus a few spoonfuls of bottled medium salsa.

Next came the "main course" - skewered protein.  We had two kinds -- Buffalo Shrimp Kabobs were easy -- just big peeled shrimp and chunks of zucchini, onion, and red peppers, dipped in a mix of Frank's Hot Sauce and melted butter, and grilled.  Sticky Chicken Kabobs were chunks of boneless breast marinated (overnight) in a mixture of catsup, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire Sauce, Hot Sauce, and Honey, with a few crushed cloves of Garlic to pep things up.  They got skewered and grilled, too.

For dessert (later, much later) we had an assortment of cookies and little cakes, bought at the bakery.

You could offer this menu at any couch potato event with success -- with a few additions -- like some rice and salad to accompany tyhe main course and perhaps a big bowl of cut-up fruit to go with the dessert -- it could even be a Latin American buffet for more active guests.

Cooking for One

My husband passed away in November, after a long illness.  He was my constant companion in my cooking and easting adventures, my cheerleader and sous chef, so figuring out how to cook for one isn't easy.

I have strategies.

• Some days I eat a big late lunch out and don't much bother with dinner.
• Some days I make a real dinner, just as if I were cooking for two, with smaller portions.  This works if I pick something I really feel llike eating and it isn't too complicated to cook -- like grilled lamb chops and a baked sweet potato with a salad.
• Some days I make a big pot of something, planning to eat it off and on for a while.  This seems to work reallly well for my favorite vegetarian pasta sauce, not so well with soups which I quickly tire of.  I think I'll try freezing them in one-meal portions.
• Sometimes I eat junk food.  My favorite is Stouffer's Pizza Breads.  They're not really bad for you, except that they have so many calories.  I think I'm going to learn how to make my own pizzas witih less cheese and healthier toppings -- I like things like anchovies and garlic which aren't mainstream enough to turn up in the supermarket freezer but are much better for you.

And sometimes I give in and invite someone over for "dinner."  This works really well when I have plenty of time for shopping and planning and cooking so I can do it in stages -- no helper on hand.  So far I've found several meals that suit my new style and my guests.  No doubt I'll find more.

Tea Party - Don't let anyone tell you this is only for ladies.  Remember that serving wine (or champagne) is entirely appropriate, along with the tea.  I usually provide lots of tea sandwiches, incluiding things like smoked salmon and Boursin cheese on dark bread and sweet onion rounds on white bread with mayonnaise, dipped in chopped parsley, both filling and suitable for gentlemen callers.  We also offer scones with jam or lemon curd and butter and/or clotted cream and some kind of cakes or cookies.  By the time everyone has enjoyed all this, dinner is out of the question.  Soon I think I'll add someothing a bit more substantial -- perhaps a casserole of some sort like the fancy macaroni and cheese with ham bits that we used to get in Vienna.

Roast of Something - This is lots of impressive food for not much work.  I serve a salad first -- usually Caesar or Mixed greens with goat cheese croutons -- and then a roasted leg of lamb (boned) or a pork loin roast or a beef delmonico (boneless rib roast), cooked as rare as I can get away with (so the leftovers are good cold), with either a pommes gratin or roasted veggies (potatoes, parsnips, carrots, garlic), and something green (asparagus, green beans, broccolli . . .).  Fruit (usually mimxed berries) or something from the bakery for dessert.  If I'm very ambitious I might make an apple or pear crisp.

I'm new at this so I know I need to get better.  No one with 5,000 cookbooks is going to stick to such a limited routine for long!

Time for Latkes

Friday is Channukah so it's time for everyone to dust off their potato latke recipes for the annual celebration of the Feast of Lights.

I have two recipes.  One is a classic potato latke, just like my grandmother made, which we always serve on Channukah (and during the year, often with scrambled eggs with Lox and onions, for brunch or supper).  Ther other is a fancier version, which we usually make up in mini form, to serve as a first course or cocktail party hors d'ouerve, topped with creme fraiche or sour cream and a bit of caviar (anything from the real thing to the much cheaper salmon eggs from the little jar in the supermarket).

Classic Potato Latkes (just like Granny's)

Peel 3 large Russet Potatoes, cut into eighths, and drop into a bowl of cold water
Peel and cut a medium onion into chunks

Put the onion into a blender with 3 eggs (we use the Eggbeater equivalent).  Buzz to puree the onion.

Add the potatoes, in batches, pureeing each batch.

Place the mixture in a bowl and add 1/4 cup matzoh meal or flour, salt, and pepper, and mix well.

Heat 1/2" of vegetable oil in a large, deep frying pan.

When a drop of water sizzles in the oil, drop in the latkes by large spoonfuls (I use my smallest cooking spoon, which is about 1.5 tablespoons; you're looking for a 3" latke.)

Cook until crisp on the first side (don't bother them while this is happening), turn and cook the second side (this doesn't take as long).

Drain on paper towels and keep warm in a low oven until all are ready.

For Channukah, we'd serve these as part of a dinner that includes a brisket in onion and carrot gravy, cooked with red wine.

Vegetable Latkes with Sour Cream and Caviar

Shred a red onion, a big handful of parsley, a carrot, and a zuchini with the shredding blade of the food processor.

Peel two Russet potatoes and cut into chunks.  Puree in the blender with 2 eggs.

Mix the potato mixture and the shredded vegetables and season with salt and pepper.  Add 1/4 cup Matzoh Meal or flour and mix well.

Heat 1/2" of vegetable oil in a large, deep frying pan.  When a drop of water sizzles in the oil, put in the mixture by small spoonfuls (you're looking for a 1.5" to 2" latke) and cook until crisp on the first side.  Turn and cook on the second side.

Drain on paper towels and keep warm in a low oven until all the latkes are ready.

For a first course, we'd serve three vegetables latkes, each dolloped with creme fraiche or sour cream and topped with a tiny spoonful of caviar.  You can substitute a twirl of smoked salmon.

For hors d'ouerves, arrange the latkes on serving platters and top with sour cream and caviar or smoked salmon.

And have a happy Channukah!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I haven't cooked for Thanksgiving in about ten years, since my daughter graciously took over the chore and transported the festivities to her house.

I usually draw the job of concocting a kind of post-Thanksgiving dinner for Friday -- something that will include nothing of Thanksgiving at all -- no poultry, no cranberries, no pumplin pie.  Usually I take the easy way out and serve a rib roast with roasted veggies (potatoes, parsnips, carrots and garlic), a big salad and a chocolate cake.

THis year everything will be different.  My husband is too ill for a trip, even a short one, so Thanksgiving is coming to him.  My daughter will bring her ingredients here (the turkey is already in my refrigerator) and cook everything right here.  More about our traditional menu later.

Instead of a post-Thanksfiving dinner (although we'll probably have one of those, too), we're having a pre-Thanksgiving get-together.  So on Tuesday night I'm making a very American beef stew, the kind where the base has chopped up carrots and onions and celery and garlic, cooked into the drippings from browning the beef and then everything gently cooked for a long time in red wine and stock, seasoned with thyme and rosemary.  Chunks of carrots and potatoes will be added about 45 minutes before we're ready to serve.  We'll cook button mushrooms separately and add them with some frozen (!) green peas just five minutes before serving, when we taste and reseason.

The beef stew goes with a salad (I'm torn between our over-the-top Caesar Salad and a refreshing tangle of shaved fennel, sliced Navel oranges, and arugula) and crusty bread.  A pear crisp for dessert, I think.

As to Thanksgiving Dinner itself, we stick with tradition.  We serve a whole turkey (albeit a small one this year) and giblet gravy made with turkey stock.   We must have mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts (so we can make Bubble and Squeak the next day to go with cold sliced turkey) and, of course, some candied yams and two or three kinds of cranberry sauce.  We always end with pumpkin pie served with unsweetened whipped cream.

A word about our brussel sprouts.  Long before it became chic, we discovered the Ur-recipe for brussel spourts with bacon.  It's a lot simpler than they make it sound.  You need to either cut the brussels into quarters or (more ambitiously) shred them.  (A food processor is good here.)  Cut a pound of bacon into strips and brown them, saving the bacon fat and draining the bacon onto paper towels.  Toast about one-quarter pound of pine nuts in the bacon fat.  Remove them and drain them with the bacon bits.  Now, get rid of any bacon fat beyond about an 1/8" coating in the pan (you need a very big saute pan for this).  Add the brussels, stirring to coat with the bacon fat and cook until wilted. Pile them into a giant bowl and top with the bacon bits and pine nuts.  This is divine.  Ouor quantities of bacon and pine nuts assume you're doing five pounds of brussel sprouts.  FOr lesser quantities, you'll need to do kitchen arithmetic.

This year we might begin with some nibbles (I'm always ambivalent about whether to serve anything before a meal like Thanksgiving, but it's good to have something around.)  I'm thinking of puff paste savories, filled with a dried tomato or basil pesto (or maybe some of each?), some prosciutto, and maybe a few slices of canteloupe or halved fresh figs.  Oh dear, I'm detting carried away again.

In any case, a happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Fall is Here

It's gray and raining -- the perfect weather to consider fall menus.  I've been on the road for half of the past month so I'm really ready to cook something and the weather says it's time for cozy comfort food -- to say nothing of the fact that Domestic Godess Nigella Lawson is now on FoodTV and her whole act is about cooking in that cozy, laidback style.

So -- what to cook.  My style is always to collect a few baskets of supplies at the farmers' market and the supermarket (and our neighborhood Trader Joe's) and then settle iin to cook at least two or three things at the same time.  It's like a party!

Last week I made the first pot of Split Pea Soup of the season.  We make a very simple almost vegetarian recipe.  (You could easily make it vegetarian by substituting water or vegetable broth for the chicken stock I use.)  I simply peel and chop in the food processor a large onion, 2 cloves of garlic, a few ribs of celery (with their leaves), and a pound of little carrots plus a handful of parsley.  Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in an 8-quart stock pot and soften the vegetables.  Then add the split peas (you could do this withi lentils, too; we'll do that this week), a quart of chicken stock, two quarts of cold water, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon of coarsely ground pepper, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme (2-3 teaspoons of fresh if you have it), and a few bay leaves.  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until the peas are tender and the soup thickened.  Usually takes about 90 minutes, depending on how old your split peas might be.  We serve this with croutons (home-made are best, of course) and/or 1/4" slices of garlicky Kosher-style hot dogs, sizzled in a small frying pan.  You could also skip those toppings and use a dollop of sour cream or cream fraiche and a dusting of chopped chives.

At the same time, we cooked our favorite meatloaf -- we only eat this in cooler wether so we haven't had it since the spring and it is eagerly awaited.  It's an easy mixture of lots of sauteed onions and garlic and the juice from a large can of tomatoes plus four pounds of lean ground beef and some salt and pepper.  We make a loaf in a big (lasagna-style) pan, then spread the meat with a mixture of the canned tomatoes, mashed, a can of tomato sauce, more sauteed onions and garlic, and seasoning.  Cover it all with foil and bake at 350 for two hours.  For perfection, take off the foil at the two-hour mark, scrape off all the sauce into a small pot, and bake the uncovered meatloaf for another 20-30 minutes so it gets a crusty brown.  The sauce can be simmered in an open pot to cook it down a bit and checked for seasoning.  It is wonderful with mashed potatoes and makes decadent sandwiches (slice it thin and serve it on white bread with its own tomato sauce).

At the same time we were cooking dinner -- a pork loin roast rubbed with some Cajun spices, olive oil, and garlic and then roasted for 20 minutes per pound.  We also tried a new recipe for roasted Acorn Squash inspired by Gourmet which we turned into a salad.  It's easy -- just cut the squash into wedges (leave the skin on) and toss it with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Spread it out in a single layer on a foil lined cookie sheet or two (we made two squashes for four people) and roast until tender and browned -- about  40 minutes.  While it's warm, place it on a bed of arugula and drizzle it with a Balsamic Vinaigrette, full of slivered garlic and chopped parsley.  It's divine.  You can cook another starch or vegetable, but I think some bread to sop up the balsamic vinaigrette would be much better.

My sister (a New York Artist) is coming this weekend so I'm thinking up more things to cook.  Something sophisticated, I think. I'll report back soon.