Foodie Friday: Potato, Asparagus, and Tuna Salad

Growing up in the South, meat and potatoes/starches were a staple. I don't think I even knew anyone who was a vegetarian until I was well into my 20s. Luckily, time and new experiences have broadened my horizons, and while I still like meat, I've also found that it isn't necessary for every meal. Earlier this month, I had a lovely dinner with two friends who are vegetarians (technically, they are pescatarians), and if anyone could convince me of the wonders of vegetarian eating, it would be them. For this time around, they served a hearty salad that is perfect for summer, and I knew that I needed to recreate it later.

Going from what I knew of the salad (it had tuna, potatoes, greens, asparagus, green beans, herbs, and a vinaigrette), I worked backwards and found some possible starting points. The first recipe that seemed promising was this one from the BBC Good Food site. While I didn't want the salad to be warm, I was intrigued by the use of pesto as the dressing.

Epicurious also had a recipe, originally published in Bon Appetite, and it was closer to what I remembered. However, I don't care for capers, and I wanted to scale down the proportions and cut down on the amount of oil (seriously, the dressing alone has a cup of oil). I also decided to simplify the ingredients list since I didn't have the time to visit Whole Foods for Champagne vinegar and radishes.

The end result was a filling, fresh, and delicious salad that could satisfy even the most dedicated meat lovers. It keeps well and is infinitely adaptable, so feel free to play with the ingredients as you like!

Potato, Asparagus, and Tuna Salad (adapted from BBC Good Food and Epicurious/Bon Appetite)

For the vinaigrette (Note: You might not need to use all of this vinaigrette on your salad depending on your preferences)

• 1/3 - 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (start with the smaller amount and add more as you deem necessary. If you like, you can use some of the drained olive oil from the tuna here)
• 2 - 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar (you can use Champagne vinegar if you have it. Lemon juice would also be refreshing)
• 1 small shallot, minced (or you can use 2 tablespoons of minced red onion)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon pesto (you can forgo this if you like)
• Herbs to taste (I used chives and parsley)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix 1/3 cup of olive oil  with 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and the mustard until the mixture is well-combined.
2. Add the shallot and herbs to the mixture.
3. Taste the vinaigrette and add vinegar and/or olive oil as needed.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. However, you might want to go easy on the salt for now - the tuna will have quite a bit of salt in it.

For the salad

• 1 pound of asparagus, trimmed and steamed or roasted and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3/4 pound of potatoes (new potatoes are nice!), boiled and cut into 1 to 2 inch chunks
• 1 pint (approximately 3/4 - 1 pound) of cherry tomatoes, halved (I roasted mine in a little olive oil, but you don't have to)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 6 ounces of tuna packed in olive oil, drained (use more or less as desired - I use 6 ounces) 
• 4 - 5 oz. of mixed greens
• 1/4 cup of pine nuts
• Other possible possible add-ins: red onion, cooked fresh green beans, olives, fresh mozzarella, cucumbers, roasted red peppers

*The potatoes don’t have to be used, but, if you don’t use them, the salad won’t be as hearty (it would likely be more of a side dish than a main course). If you don’t use the potatoes, you won’t need all of the vinaigrette. Also, you could replace the potatoes with croutons or pieces of toasted bread and make this similar to a panzanella, but this won’t keep as well.

1.In a large bowl, combine the asparagus, tomatoes, herbs, eggs, and onion, and toss gently.
2. Drizzle on approximately 1/3 of the vinaigrette and toss to combine the ingredients and to evenly coat them with the vinaigrette.
3. Dress the potatoes (if using) with 1/3 of the vinaigrette (they will absorb quite a bit of the vinaigrette, which is why I like dressing them separately from the rest of the veggies). Add the dressed potatoes to the other dressed vegetables.
4. Flake or chunk the drained tuna. You can either mix it into the vegetables or serve it on top of the vegetables.
5. Dress the mixed greens with the remaining vinaigrette. You can either toss these greens into the vegetables or use the greens as a bed for the other vegetables and the tuna.
6. Top the salad with pine nuts (toasted if desired).

Foodie Friday: Soup's On!

It's Halloween (or it would have been if Blogger had published the post on time :), and even though the temperature here in northern Indiana was in the 70s earlier this week, the forecast says that there is a chance of flurries this evening. However, even though I still find the possibility of snow in October (albeit at the end of October) a little disconcerting, there is a lot I love about winter, especially early in the season. Besides the wardrobe (sweaters! slacks! sweater dresses! warm scarves!), I love having the opportunity to do some winter cooking, and some of my favorite winter recipes are soups.

I will admit that I wasn't always a soup person. I think it was mostly because it didn't seem like a substantial meal. However, a number of recipes have helped me see the light, and now a typical weekend ritual in the winter is to make a pot of soup to sustain me through the week. I also love sharing soup with friends, because despite my new found appreciation, even I can't stomach soup for lunch and dinner for an entire week. 

Creamy Tomato Soup from MarthaStewart.com - Sometimes you need something familiar, and this soup is comfort food at its best. It is also easy, uses minimal ingredients, and is much better than anything that you can get from a can. I always use the optional garlic to give the soup another layer of flavor. Also, I strongly recommend using fire-roasted tomatoes if you can.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup from CookingClassy.com - This soup is stick-to-your-ribs rich, which makes it perfect after a day of being out in the cold shoveling snow. However, if you want to lighten it up, you can certainly cut down the amount of butter and cream and use low-fat milk. You can also add more veggies and/or use leftover turkey instead of chicken (perfect for Thanksgiving leftovers).

Chicken Tortilla Soup from ThePioneerWoman.com - While I'm not a fan of The Pioneer Woman on television, I love this soup. It is warming but not too heavy (unless you go crazy with the toppings and add-ins). The only significant change I make to the recipe is to replace the beans with 8 oz. of frozen sweet corn, which I add near the end of the cooking time. I also don't use tortilla strips, opting instead to crush up some tortilla chips and mix them in before topping the soup with a little red onion, cilantro, cheese, and light sour cream.

Lasagna Soup from AFarmgirlsDabbles.com - I've yet to figure out how to make lasagna, but I don't feel like I need to since I have this soup for whenever I have a lasagna hankering. Rather than using Italian sausage, I use ground turkey. Also, as the recipe suggests, if you are planning on eating the soup throughout the week (or you make it ahead), you will definitely want to cook the pasta separately and add it to the soup as you eat it. This way, the pasta won't absorb all of the soup.

Are you a soup person? If so, what are your favorite recipes?

Foodie Fridays Review: Graze Boxes

One night, as I skimmed through an issue of Real Simple, I saw an ad for Graze boxes. Graze is a snack subscription box that you can opt to get every week or every two weeks. The boxes, which cost $6.00 each, come with four small trays of snacks, and you can choose to get a Nibble box, where you can get any of the 90+ snacks they offer, or a Calorie Counter box, which features snacks ranging from 50 - 150 calories each.Given my love of subscription boxes (my Birchbox subscription is still going strong, and I've dabbled with trying boxes from Pop Sugar, Ipsy, and Beauty Bar), I decided to broaden my horizons and give Graze a try. I figured that, at the very least, this could give me a healthy and portion -controlled alternative when I was feeling a little peckish.

My latest Graze box, with (going clockwise from the upper left-hand corner) lightly salted popcorn, raspberry coconut muffin mix, cherries and berries dried fruit mix, and booster seeds.

Foodie Fridays: Pan Bagnet

As someone who grew up Catholic in a land-locked state, fish was an inevitable part of Fridays during Lent. While there were some excellent meals, the unremitting cycle of shrimp, catfish, and tuna soon got the better of me, and by the time Easter came around, we were excited if only because Friday meals would be less predictable. I particularly resented the tuna sandwiches, which were heavy on the mayo and seemed to lack any taste beyond the fish's saltiness. While I will still make the occasional tuna sandwich, it is usually the result of desperation rather than any real culinary craving.

With these mayo-heavy tuna bombs in mind, I approached Melissa Clark's pan bagnat recipe with some trepidation. The mayo-less combination of tuna, tomatoes, vinaigrette, and basil sounded yummy, but I was still uncertain. However, with some beautiful heirloom tomatoes from the farmer's market (the last of the season) taunting me, I knew that it was now or never: I had to try this recipe before it was too late and the summer's tomatoes were replaced with hothouse versions that are essentially red tennis balls.

A quick trip to the grocery store allowed me to gather the needed ingredients, and after 30 minutes of chopping, whisking, and flattening, the sandwich was done. And it was amazing! Far from the tuna sandwiches of my youth, this sandwich featured a combination of flavors and textures. Better still, the sandwich kept wonderfully in the fridge and was just as tasty the next day.

Pan Bagnat (Slightly adapted from In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite by Melissa Clark)

Time: 15 minutes plus 20 minutes weighting

• 1 very small garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (I used the oil drained from the tuna)
• 1 8-inch round very crusty country loaf, or small ciabatta, halved
• 1 medium-sized, ripe tomato, sliced
• 1/2 small red onion, sliced
• 1 can olive oil-packed tuna, drained (see the note above regarding the oil)
• 6-8 large basil leaves

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly.
2. If using a country loaf, pull out some of the soft interior crumb to form a cavity. (If using a ciabatta, you won’t need to eliminate anything.)
3. Spread half the tomato slices out on the bottom of the bread loaf. Top with some vinaigrette, then with the onion slices, tuna, basil leaves, and more tomato. Top this with remaining vinaigrette. Cover with the second bread half and firmly press the sandwich together.
4. Wrap the sandwich tightly in foil, waxed paper or plastic wrap, then place in a plastic bag. Put the sandwich under a weight such as a cast iron frying pan topped with a filled kettle. 
5. Weight the sandwich for 7 to 10 minutes, then flip and weight it for another 7 to 10 minutes. 
6. Unwrap, slice, and serve immediately, or keep it wrapped for up to 8 hours before serving.

Foodie Fridays: Food Truck Adventures (Part I)

Boston always seems to be a few years behind most trends, and the food truck craze is no exception. However, from my recent experiences, the wait was worth it. During the past month or so, I've noticed a lot more food trucks around, with offerings ranging from Vietnamese-inspired sandwiches to cupcakes to fried chicken. While my food truck adventures are ongoing (I haven't come close to eating at all of the city's food trucks or even hit up the majority of them), here are my experiences so far:

Kick*ss Cupcakes - I love a good cupcake, but I've found them frustratingly hard to find. Many of the cupcake places I've tried tend to be overpriced, dry, and too sweet. One of my favorite places in Boston for cupcakes is Kick*ss in Davis Square. However, there isn't an easy way for me to get to Somerville, so my cupcake cravings often went unanswered. Then the cupcake place got a truck and started coming into the city. Now I've gone to the truck an embarrassing number of times and managed to try a number of cupcakes. While the vanilla, chocolate, and Super Chocolate ($3.00 each) are all safe bets, my personal favorite is the Boston Cream Cupcake-A-Go-Go. It is basically a Boston cream cake parfait, with yellow cake layered with chocolate, custard, and whipped cream. At $4.00, it is a decadent and very satisfying treat.

Staff Meal Food Truck - The staff meal is a tradition at some restaurants, where the cooks prepare a meal for the restaurant's staff (hence the name). The Staff Meal truck is based on this idea, and it features what seems to be a rotating menu with creative takes on classic recipes. When I visited the truck, I asked the guys running it for a suggestion, and they recommended the "BlLT," which is basically a BLT with bacon loaf instead of regular strips of bacon. The bread is grilled and crisp, which results in a variety of textures and temperatures in the sandwich. With the bacon loaf (the cooks take bacon, throw it in a meat grinder, and form it into a loaf shape), the sandwich is tasty but very rich and makes for a filling meal.

Bon Me - Bon Me specializes in Vietnamese-inspired food and serves noodle salads, rice bowls (both white and brown rice), and sandwiches. You get to pick a protein (chicken, tofu, or barbecue pork), and it is served with the carbs of your choice along with greens and veggies. Their rice bowls are very good (I love the brown rice); the pork provides a salty and savory counter-note to the rice and greens. My only (tiny) quibble is that the pork can sometimes be a bit too salty. However, I'm looking forward to trying the chicken rice bowl.

Bon Me also has excellent chocolate rice pudding. I was never a huge rice pudding fan before, but this was enough to convert me. Be certain to show up early if you want the pudding - it sometimes sells out!

M&M Ribs - I must admit that the M&M Ribs' truck is a little hard to find, but it does seem to make regular appearances at the SOWA Sunday market. I came across it when I was having a serious craving for fried chicken, which is hard to find in Boston. Despite my initial hesitance when I came across the truck (who would think of buying fried chicken from a food truck), my cravings won out and I purchased some wings and fries. When I first got my food, I thought my fears were confirmed. The fries were on the pale side, and the chicken didn't have much of a coating. However, the food was good. The chicken was juicy and flavorful, and the thin outer coat was crisp (if not as crunchy as I would like), and the fries were surprisingly tasty in their greasiness. While I don't know when I'll make it back to SOWA (Sundays are usually reserved for work), I definitely want to try to the rest of M&M's menu.

Next up on the food truck front, I'm hoping to try Roxy's Grilled Cheese, the Redbones truck, and The Cupcakory. If there are other trucks you'd like to recommend, please let me know here or on my personal twitter account (@sweeks1980).

Foodie Fridays: Hot Fudge Sauce

While many people in Boston (and on the East Coast in general) are scrambling to prepare for the insanity that Irene is supposed to bring, I've had a pretty awesome and laid-back evening. After an excellent meal at Radius with my friends (and seriously, if you've never been, you need to go), I went home and made hot fudge sauce. I know that this isn't great hurricane prep, but at least it helped me use up some cream that had been languishing in my fridge and it made me feel much more productive than I actually was this evening.

This recipe is so easy that you will wonder why you didn't make your own hot fudge sauce before. Yes, it requires three decadent things (chocolate, heavy cream, and corn syrup), but that is all it requires, meaning that you don't get anything unknown in your sauce. Also, it lasts a while in the fridge (not that it will be around that long), and after all is said and done, it probably costs around $8.00 in ingredients and 10 minutes of your time. If you want a delicious and impressive dessert without having to spend a lot of time or money, this sauce over small scoops of good ice cream or gelato (or even good quality, store-bought pound cake or cheesecake). A sprinkle of toasted nuts, toasted coconut, cocoa nibs, or even crushed coffee beans would be a nice, but totally optional, touch. Sometimes, less is definitely more.

Hot Fudge Sauce (from Betsy Block's Mama Cooks website with a minor tweak):

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 pound of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• Dash of vanilla (optional)
• Pinch of salt (optional)

1. Heat the cream in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles form.

2. Add the chocolate chips and corn syrup to the cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for five minutes.

3. At the end of cooking, add a dash of vanilla and a pinch of salt, if desired. Pour over ice cream, cheesecake, or whatever else you desire. Store leftovers in the fridge & heat in the microwave as needed.

Foodie Fridays: A Simple but Satisfying Dinner

Waiting for the chicken

The past two weeks have been pretty trying, so I've been trying to keep it simple. This past Wednesday, the weather was awful, and even though I had stopped by The Meat House to pick up some meat (so not a euphemism), I had no idea what to make for dinner. In an attempt to not spend any more money, clear out my fridge, and eat something healthy, I scrounged around my kitchen to see what I could improvise.

Cooking away

While I cooked the house-marinated chicken breast from The Meat House (sauteed in a tablespoon of olive oil), I found some strawberries and mesclun mix I got from the farmer's market last week. To go with the salad, I mixed up a simple salad dressing from olive oil and red wine vinegar (of course, you could use this balsamic vinegar recipe adapted from Mark Bittman's). The resulting meal was simple, fast (it took me less than 10 minutes to cook the chicken, even on my less-than-stellar stove), and incredibly satisfying.

It all comes together!

Foodie Fridays: Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I'm so bad at remembering these Foodie Fridays posts that even I'm embarrassed. To try and make up for my benign neglect, I'm going to give you my favorite pound cake recipe. I made it recently to celebrate my friend L's birthday, and it is an excellent (and almost fool-proof) cake and is perfect for the novice baker. I'm always a little embarrassed when she raves over it, because it is pretty easy.

The recipe is from the addictive SmittenKitchen website. The only changes I made were to get rid of the almond extract (I'm lucky when I have vanilla extract in the kitchen, so almond is out of the question) and halving the recipe. The resulting pound cake is a somewhat craggy loaf of cake that perfumes the kitchen with buttery sweetness. While Deb recommends brushing the cake with simple syrup if you are planning on making the cake ahead of time, I've never done this and the cake is always moist enough.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake (with very minor adaptations from SmittenKitchen.com)

• 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 package (4 ounces) cream cheese*, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped white chocolate**

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly butter and flour a loaf pan. You can also butter the pan and line it with parchment paper.

2. Place the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, at least five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the vanilla, then the flour and salt all at once. Beat just until incorporated.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean (approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes in my temperamental oven. If your oven works better than mine, start checking the cake after 50 minutes. Remove it when a toothpick comes out clean).

4. Place the pan on a cake rack and cool for 20 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

*Deb's recipe notes that Philadelphia brand cream cheese is the preferred brand to use in baking because of the lower water content. I've made this cake with both Philadelphia brand and generic cream cheese, and I've never had a problem with it.

**The white chocolate is a nice addition, but it has a tendency to cause the bottom of the cake to get too brown (or caramelize, as L's husband kindly says) in spots when I use it. Smaller shards tossed with a bit of flour should fix this issue.

Foodie Fridays: Lemon-Glazed Butter Cake with Lemony Whipped Cream

Although I really like winter (the clothes! the snow! the holidays!), I'm quite glad that warmer weather is coming to the New England area. Despite the fact that opening day is today (let's not talk about it - I'm just going straight home after work to skip the crowds), I love the longer days and the fact that the end of the semester is creeping closer. Also, the weather inspires me to branch out from the heavier recipes that winter almost demands and break out (or seek out) some lighter fare. Besides the lovely and quick tomato and basil pasta dish I had for dinner last night, one of my new go-to recipes for spring is this lemon-glazed butter cake. While the cake, which came to me via Gourmet and Epicurious, is wonderful on its own, I like to up the ante with a lemony whipped cream either used as a frosting or served on the side. The resulting dessert is a satisfying but not super-heavy end to a meal.

Lemon-Glazed Butter Cake (slightly adapted from Gourmet and Epicurious)

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• Rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs at room temperature 30 minutes
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour an 8-by 2-inch round cake pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir together milk and zest.
3. Beat together butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until each addition is just incorporated.
5. Pour batter into cake pan and smooth top, then rap gently on counter to release any air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes.
6. Whisk together confectioners sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
7. Turn out cake onto a rack set over a baking sheet, then reinvert. Brush top and side of cake with all of glaze. Cool completely.

Lemony Whipped Cream

• 1 cup heavy or whipping cream
• 1/3 cup lemon curd
• Garnishes: Lemon zest, lemon twists or wedges, confectioners sugar, mint (optional)

1. Chill cream, beaters, and bowl (this is particularly important if your kitchen is hot)
2. Whip cream to firm peaks (between soft and stiff)
3. Using a spatula, gently fold the lemon curd into the cream. Don't go too crazy - you don't want to push your cream into butter territory. Plus, a few streaks are quite pretty
4. If you decide to pile the cream on top of your cake, any one (or several) of the garnishes listed above are lovely

Note 1: Some recipes call for adding a tablespoon or two or confectioners sugar to the cream. However, I found that the lemon curd provided more than enough sweetness.

Note 2: I know this goes without saying, but this does not keep well. Make it just before serving.

National Poetry Month 2011 & "The Iceberg Theory" by Gerald Locklin

Even though we're dealing with a bad April fool's joke from Mother Nature in the Northeast, there is cause to celebrate. Today marks the beginning of National Poetry Month, and I will be blogging about poetry throughout April (and I will try my best to post about a poem at least once a week).

To kick off National Poetry Month (and fit in a Foodie Friday post), today's poem is

"The Iceberg Theory"
by Gerald Locklin

all the food critics hate iceberg lettuce.
you'd think romaine was descended from
orpheus's laurel wreath,
you'd think raw spinach had all the nutritional
benefits attributed to it by popeye,
not to mention aesthetic subtleties worthy of
veriaine and debussy.
they'll even salivate over chopped red cabbage
just to disparage poor old mr. iceberg lettuce.

I guess the problem is
it's just too common for them.
It doesn't matter that it tastes good,
has a satisfying crunchy texture,
holds its freshness
and has crevices for the dressing,
whereas the darker, leafier varieties
are often bitter, gritty, and flat.
It just isn't different enough and
it's too goddamn american.

of course a critic has to criticize;
a critic has to have something to say
perhaps that's why literary critics
purport to find interesting
so much contemporary poetry
that just bores the shit out of me.

at any rate, I really enjoy a salad
with plenty of chunky iceberg lettuce,
the more the merrier,
drenched in an Italian or roquefort dressing.
and the poems I enjoy are those I don't have
to pretend that I'm enjoying.

This poem is the perfect love letter for anyone who has read a piece of contemporary poetry and wondered, "What on earth do the critics see in this?" The central metaphor that compares the type of poetry that the speaker likes to the humble (and often maligned) iceberg lettuce is very fitting.

I also enjoy this poem because of an embarrassing teacher faux pas I made when teaching high school. Having first encountered this poem in an anthology compiled by Garrison Keillor, I read through the poem and typed up what I thought was a clean copy minus the curse words. While they might not be a big deal in some schools, I was teaching at a small, private, religious school in the south. When I had a student volunteer read the poem, she read it, with great gusto, taking care to emphasize certain words in the second and third stanzas. While I still shake my head at my oversight, I also have to laugh every time I read this poem.

Foodie Fridays: Fabulous Cooking Apps

Cooking using an iPhone as a point of reference isn't ideal for many recipes, but for simple dishes (or ones that don't require tons of back-and-forth between the recipe and the dish), the iPhone is an acceptable substitute for a traditional cookbook. This is particularly true when I have to cook away from home and my depressingly large collection of cookbooks. Here are a few of the cooking-related apps that I've found particularly helpful:

Epicurious (free) - I'm very surprised that so many people have given this app one star in iTunes, because it is one of my go-to resources when I am looking for something new to cook. While it does have a lot of advertising, which seems to be the reviewers' main issue with it, it is a free app that is a wealth of information. It also has some great features that (in my mind) more than make up for the ads. One of my favorite features is the sections that correspond to the seasons (like Spring Breakfasts or Holiday Recipes), and the search feature gives you a lot of options to find a particular type of recipe. For instance, you can search by main ingredient, meal/course, cuisine, dietary consideration, and/or season. I've found a number of excellent recipes by virtue of random searches. My two favorite finds are strawberry citrus salad and lemon-glazed butter cake.

How to Cook Everything (full version $4.99, essentials version is free) - I am a Mark Bittman fangirl, so it isn't surprising that I find this app so useful. While I typically use the actual cookbook when I am cooking, this app is perfect to reference while in the grocery store (or on the subway) when I need to go shopping or when I need some inspiration for dinner. This app also was a lifesaver when I found myself in the role of the reluctant chef for a dinner party at my mom's last year. If I ever have to make hollandaise sauce ever again, I hope I have this app and Bittman's common-sense approach to guide me.

Evernote (free) - I know that this technically is not a food app, but I tend to use Evernote to clip recipes from my favorite cooking websites. Not only is it an easy way to collect these recipes, I can also categorize them using the tags and notebook feature. What more could I ask for?

What great cooking app did I miss? Please feel free to offer suggestions in the comments section!

Foodie Friday: Three of My Favorite Food Spots in Boston

One of my biggest downfalls is eating out. Even though I love cooking, it isn't very fulfilling to cook for one. Add to that my erratic schedule and the fact that the closest grocery store is can be kindly described as basic, and it is a perfect storm, at least for my budget. That said, there are a few restaurants and shops that I've found in Boston that are affordable, fun, and a little eclectic. Here they are, in no particular order:

After months of anticipation, Saus opened earlier this month near Faneuil Hall. It is a small cafe dedicated to serving Belgian street food, which translates to frites and liege waffles. While this might not sound super-exciting at first, I really like this restaurant. The service is super-friendly, and the frites and waffles are both very good. The frites have a crisp exterior without being greasy, and they are served showered with a sprinkling of flaky salt.  The waffles, which use pearl sugar, are also delicious. While a meal of frites and waffles is not terribly nutritious (or figure-friendly), you should definitely stop by this cafe before wandering around the Quincy Market/aquarium/North End area.

On the other end of spectrum is Marshall's Fenway Farm Stand. This little store, which specializes in gourmet food and produce, is a great alternative to the produce aisle in the supermarket. In the summer and fall, the store has local produce, and it also carries local products, such as ice cream and breads, all year round. However, avoid this place during Red Sox games (or anything else that is happening in the Fenway area) if traffic and seas of pedestrians make you crazy.

I don't typically like sandwiches, but Cutty's in Brookline is the exception to this rule. This tiny sandwich shop offers a glimpse of sandwich nirvana. While others rave about the pork rabe and pork fennel (both available only on Saturdays), my personal favorite is the roast beef 1000, a sandwich that combines crispy shallots, 1000 island dressing, cheddar and roast beef.

Foodie Fridays: Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

If you live in the snowy northeast, you are probably very tired of snow. While I like winter (and snow), the tall piles of dirty snow, the narrowing sidewalks, and the icy/slushy/snowy puddles are starting to get a little trying. If you have the winter blues and need something to help you warm up, soup is one of the most comforting (and most affordable) ways of doing so.

Not so long ago, I considered myself a soup failure. While I enjoyed soup, I seemed to lack the ability to actually make a good soup at home. However, after Thanksgiving 2010, I found myself with scanning websites to find something to do with the turkey breast carcass that was taking up precious refrigerator space. Luckily, I found an awesome stock recipe as well as a good recipe for turkey and wild rice soup. I did a little tweaking (some of it based on other reviewers' ideas) and found that the soup was flavorful, hearty, and filling. As an added bonus, the recipe is relatively low in calories (according to the calorie calculator I use, it is around 215 calories per serving)

Chicken (or Tukey) and Wild Rice Soup (based on this recipe from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

-          3 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed, low sodium chicken broth*

-          2 cups water*

-          ½ cup finely chopped green onions (optional)

-          ¾ cup chopped carrots

-          ½ cup chopped celery

-          ¾ cup chopped onions

-          2 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)

-          ½ - ¾ cup of wild rice (you can also use long grain white rice, but the cooking time will be shorter)

-          ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon butter

-          1 tablespoon olive oil

-          ¼ cup all-purpose flour

-          ½ teaspoon salt

-          ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning (or chicken bouillon)

-          1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

-          ½ cup half-and-half

-          ½ cup 1% milk

-          1½  - 2 cups cooked, diced turkey or chicken meat

*I typically like to use homemade stock in place of the condensed broth and part of the water. I will usually use 5 cups of homemade stock and ½ cup of water.

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter with the olive oil. When the butter is melted and the oil is hot, add the chopped carrots, celery, green onions, and onions. Allow them to cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Halfway through this, add the garlic if using.
2. Add the chicken broth, water, and rice to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice is tender (35-40 minutes for wild rice, 20-30 minutes for long grain white rice).
3. When the rice is tender, melt ¼ cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in flour, salt, poultry seasoning (or bouillon), and pepper. Cook, stirring, until smooth and bubbly. Stir in half-and-half and milk, and cook mixture until thickened (about 2 minutes).
4. Stir the flour mixture into the rice mixture. Add the chicken or turkey. Heat through. Makes 9 servings.

Foodie Fridays: Carmelized Onion & Bacon Pizza

Although I have nothing against bacon, I admit that I don't always understand the bacon craze. Why would anyone want deep fried bacon? Or bacon cupcakes? Or turbaconducken? However, in some recipes, bacon makes perfect sense. Its crispness and smoky flavor make the perfect contrast with creamy ricotta and sweet onions. This pizza recipe, adapted from Savory Bites and Smitten Kitchen, is the perfect end-of-the-week meal for an evening of television, surfing the net, or even (in my case) updating your curriculum vitae and getting ready to apply to grown-up jobs.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup ricotta (give or take a little)

1 red onion

4-5 strips of bacon

1 tsp. brown sugar

a pinch of salt

2 Tbls. olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

Pizza dough (I used approximately 1 pound of dough, which I purchased from a local pizza place)

Mozzarella and parmesean (if you so desire)

cornmeal

1. Cook your bacon until just crisp. You can use leftover bacon or you can simply cook it in the oven while you are preparing the onions. Drain the bacon and chop into bite-size pieces. If you didn't cook your bacon in the oven, turn your oven to 350 degrees to let it preheat.

2. Chop the onions so you get half rings. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sprinkle them with the brown sugar and salt. Sautee the onions for 15-20 minutes until they are dark brown and sweet.

3. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet and sprinkle the paper with cornmeal (you can use a pizza stone if you have one). Roll the pizza dough out on the prepared baking sheet. You can create a crust by pressing your fingers into the dough. Brush the dough with the remaining olive oil, and sprinkle it with minced garlic.

4. Spread the ricotta cheese on the pizza dough. Top the cheese with the onions and bacon. If you like, you can also sprinkle on some mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

5. Bake the pizza at 350 for 15 minutes, and then bake it for 5 minutes at 400 degrees. My oven is evil and burned (or "carmelized," as my friend likes to say) the bottom of my crust. However, this did not detract from the yumminess of this pizza.

Foodie Fridays: My Favorite Food Blogs and Sites

After almost three months, Foodie Fridays is back (at least for today)! My list of "go-to" food blogs and sites is a little out of control, but the web is a virtual treasure trove of recipes and cooking advice. While the web will never take the place of actual cookbooks (cooking a complicated recipe using an iPhone or running back and forth between my kitchen and computer doesn't work out so well), these sites provide some great reading and culinary inspiration.

Smitten Kitchen - This is one of my favorite sites. I've had a lot of luck with recipes I've tried (even if a few of them seem a little labor intensive), and the pictures that accompany the recipes are food porn in the best sense. Besides the beautiful food photography and the great recipes, it features The. Cutest. Baby. EVER! I'm not the kind of person who falls over at the sight of a baby, but this kid is adorable.

Kitchen Window: NPR - I'm an NPR junkie, and the Kitchen Window feature is always a fascinating read. While the recipes are good, my favorite thing about this site is the food writing that accompanies the recipes. I'm a sucker for a good essay on food, and Kitchen Window always deliver.

Roadfood.com - This site makes me miss having a car. Jane and Michael Stern, as well as others, write about food finds that are sometimes off the beaten path but are always worth the trip and effort.

The Crepes of Wrath - The motto of this site is that "great food doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming, and the recipes definitely live up to the motto. The recipes are usually fairly simple, and there's a wonderful selection of recipes to choose from (just check out the index if you don't believe me). This Mandarin chicken recipe is one of my favorites.

Foodie Fridays: My Favorite Places to Eat in Nashville

Sadly, whenever I plan a trip home, one of the main things that my sister and I plot out is the restaurants we want to go to while I'm in Nashville. Although we should probably venture out and try more new places, here are my tried and true places to get a bite to eat in Nashville:

Anatolia: I know that there must be excellent Turkish restaurants in Boston, none that I have tried compare to Anatolia. Although this restaurant is situated in a strip mall, the food here is first rate. From the fresh bread and spiced olive oil served before each meal to the hearty (and generous) entrees to the decadent baklava, everything I've ever had here has been excellent. The one caveat to the place is that the service can be inconsistent, but I am willing to overlook a less than friendly waiter for the good food (and the good prices). If you are going through Hot Kabobs withdrawal (like my sister, who loved this tiny Nashvillian restaurant), Anatolia is a good choice.

Bobbie's Dairy Dip: I used to eat here so much that it is embarrassing. Besides being deliciously retro (it is housed in an old drive-in), this restaurant also serves wonderful burgers, fries (Belgian style), onion rings, and soft serve ice cream.

The Cupcake Collection: Cupcake places seem like a dime a dozen in almost any city, but The Cupcake Collection has a number of advantages over many (if not all) of them. In addition to the excellent frosting to cake ratio (they don't go overboard on the frosting, which is very important to me), the cake is always moist and light. This bakery also offers some delicious flavors, including strawberry (my sister's favorite), sweet potato, coconut cream, key lime, and red velvet. When added to the fact that the cupcakes are only $1.50 each (take that, Magnolia Bakery!) and that the staff is always friendly, this just might be cupcake heaven.

The Loveless Cafe: While it is a bit of a tourist trap, the Loveless has great country-style cooking (biscuits, fried chicken, country ham. My personal favorite things about the Loveless are the sweet tea and the biscuits and preserves that come with most (if not all) of the meals. If you can't make it to Nashville, the Loveless also ships its preserves, biscuit mix, and other items. While the biscuit mix can't compare to getting the real thing in the restaurant, it is an acceptable substitute.

Pancake Pantry: This is another tourist trap, but it has certainly earned its reputation as being a place to go when in Nashville. With over 20 varieties, the pancakes are the main draw here, but definitely try the hash browns. Also, avoid this place on the weekend, unless you feel like waiting in line for what seems like an eternity.

Satay: Located near Vanderbilt, this Asian grill is a hidden jewel among all of the fast food joints and chain restaurants in the area. Not only is it fast, it is also a pretty cheap place to grab a nutritious and tasty meal.

Foodie Fridays: Simple but Satisfying

Since warm weather (and farmer's markets) have come to the Boston area, I've found myself opting for light dinners with very minimal cooking. Besides the occasional dinner of scrambled eggs, I've also started eating a lot of salads. Even though I love meat, salads make a lot of sense when it's too hot to cook.

My sudden salad obsession has also been fueled by the wonder that is homemade salad dressing. For years, I've resisted making it, because it seemed like something that was certainly passable when purchased. Previous attempts to make grocery store staples (like graham crackers and marshmallows) also seemed to disappoint. However, one sleepless night, I got bored and started messing around in the kitchen with a balsamic vinaigrette. Here is my recipe (adapted from the excellent one found in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything):

Ingredients:
1/3 cup olive oil (if you have good olive oil, use it, but my cheapo stuff worked well)
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar (or to taste)
salt and pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of honey
dried dill

Combine the olive oil and vinegar (Bittman suggests using a blender, but I used a whisk and it worked out fine). Add a dash of dill as well as the garlic and honey. Whisk/blend to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This can be refrigerated, but be certain to let it warm up a bit and whisk to combine before serving.

A nice accompaniment to the salad is Bittman's olive oil bread, which is sort of like a biscuit. Since my cupboard was very close to bare, I made a half recipe of it and it was perfect for dipping in the vinaigrette.

Foodie Fridays: Three Super-Easy Desserts for a Crowd

This week has been completely crazy. Besides having a hearing that brings me one step closer to my dissertation (and my degree), I also had a get together for some of my graduate students who are finishing up their master's program. While these two events converged on the same day, I found that baking for my party helped keep me calm (and busy) so that I wouldn't get too crazed about my hearing.

However, it didn't hurt that I have some incredibly (and embarrassingly) easy dessert recipes that are perfect for feeding a large crowd. Here are three of my favorites from this week:

Mexican Wedding Cookies (aka Russian Tea Cakes): While I used the recipe found in my trusty The Joy of Cooking cookbook, this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, which is one of my favorite food websites, is very similar. While these cookies are very buttery, they aren't overly sweet and make a very pretty (and forgiving) dessert.

Chocolate Marble Gooey Butter Cake (aka Chocolate Marble Chess Bars): These are very rich. Unlike the Russian tea cakes, which are pretty subdued under their pretty powdered sugar coating, these bars are a no-holds-barred embarrassment of riches. They contain two sticks of melted butter, a package of cream cheese, and an entire box of powdered sugar. That said, the recipe does make a lot, and the bars are always a big hit.

Strawberry Cream Pie: Although this recipe is the complete opposite of everything foodie (it includes Cool Whip, which is probably like kryptonite to most foodies), I am proud of it, for no other reason than I majorly tweaked it. It is a riff on a recipe from someone my mom knew (this isn't the exact recipe, but it is very similar). Here is my take on the recipe:

Ingredients:

• One 9-inch deep dish pie crust
  
• One 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
• One 8 oz. container of Cool Whip (if you wanted, you could substitute heavy cream, whipped to a soft peak)
  
• Two cups of powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup of strawberry preserves
• One tablespoon of lemon juice
• 16 oz (1.5 pints) of fresh strawberries (washed and sliced lengthwise)
  

Directions:

1. Bake the pie crust and allow it to cool completely
2. Warm the strawberry preserves and add the lemon juice. You can do this in the microwave or on the stove. Mix to combine and set aside to cool slightly
   
3. Beat the cream cheese until it is light fluffy (approximately 1-2 minutes with an electric mixer)
4. Mix in the Cool Whip* and beat until well combined
5. Gradually mix in the powdered sugar and stir until well combined. You can adjust the amount of sugar to taste
6. Put approximately half of the cream cheese mixture in the cooled pie crust
7. Top the cream cheese mixture with 2/3 of the strawberry preserves
8. Carefully top the preserves with the remaining cream cheese mixture (you might have some extra cream cheese; save it to use as a fruit dip)
9. Top the pie with the remaining strawberry preserves
10. On top of the preserves, carefully layer on the sliced strawberries
11. Allow to chill in the refrigerator for two hours or overnight

*If you decide to use whipped cream instead of Cool Whip, I suggest adding the powdered sugar to it and then gently folding the whipped cream into the cream cheese.

Here is my finished pie (please forgive the crappy lighting and iPhone photography):

Foodie Friday: A Review of "Cooking for Mr. Latte"

Despite the name of this post, I have a love-hate relationship with foodies. I appreciate their dedication to cooking and fresh food (they are the anti-Sandra Lee) even as I find some of them holier-than-thou and insufferably pretentious. Consequently, it took me a long time to pick up Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte, which is basically a memoir with recipes. In the super-short chapters, Hesser writes about her love of food while also discussing her relationship with Mr. Latte, who gets his pseudonym because he had the audacity to order a latte after dinner (the Italian rule is that milky drinks are for before 11:00 am).

This anecdote, from the very first chapter, almost turned me off of the book, but since I was stuck on a six-hour train ride and my iPhone wasn't getting great reception, I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting. Reflecting on reading it, I must admit that the first chapter is a very accurate indicator of what will come. The following chapters detail Ms. Hesser's obsession with food, her food-related quirks, and her ongoing romance with Mr. Latte, who isn't quite the foodie she is (besides the latte gaffe, she seems genuinely horrified by his use of Equal and his choice in restaurants). She also includes a few recipes at the end of each chapter.

To Ms. Hesser's credit, she does not shy away from including her foibles and shortcomings. She talks about her perfectionist tendencies in the kitchen and her obsessiveness with all things related to food. However, in the end, you get the sense that she sees her food snobbery as completely justified and right. Not only is she genetically predisposed to her strong opinions about food (her mother and grandmother both appear in the book as wonderful and opinionated cooks), but the recipes often lean towards the gourmet (vanilla beans, prosciutto, and veal abound in the ingredients list).

In some cases, she won me over. Her descriptions of what she brings to eat on airplanes had me thinking about what I might do to make my next trip more bearable (the food on Amtrak is many things, but inspired it isn't). I also loved her essay on eating alone, which I had read before in Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant. At her best, she reminded me of the joy and pleasure of cooking good food. At her worst (and most snobbish), she made me want to throw the book off of the train and promise myself that I would never, ever chastise anyone for using produce that came from the frozen food section of the local grocery store (she includes a very stern warning about using store-bought, frozen blueberries in one recipe).

Like my views on foodies, my opinion of this book is rather complicated. As I noted above, there are sections of the book that I truly enjoyed. Also, there is something very refreshing and invigorating about reading someone's passionate opinions on food. That said, there was many a times I wanted to shake Hesser, who sometimes comes off as insufferably elitist. Her view of food (and her world) are definitely not those of someone who is on a budget. While I do recommend this book if you are looking for a light read about love and food (and the love of food), you should definitely be aware that, if you aren't a food snob, this book might either make you one or make you want to distance yourself from anything foodie related.

Foodie Fridays: Two Food-Related Poems

Even though I like spring in New England, these two poems have me ready for summer and fresh, local produce that doesn't taste like tennis balls...

"Watermelons"
by Charles Simic

Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.


"This is Just to Say"
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold