Author Archives: saltandserenity

Spicy-Sweet Green Beans

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I wish you were here with me right now in my kitchen. Because I am about to tell you about some of the most amazing green beans I have ever eaten. And I’m not sure my writing and photography skills will be sufficient to convince you. If you were here beside me to smell them and taste them, I could make a believer out of you.

Now you may be wondering why I am raving about green beans. I can almost hear you now, in that disbelieving tone, “Come on, really? Green beans? Is she that hard up for healthy January recipes?”

This recipe came to me in a quiet e-mail from my sister Faith. It was actually a forwarded e-mail from her friend Kerry. Subject line read: Green Beans. The message was a simple one liner, “You’ll love these” and then on the next line was the link to the recipe.

I happen to love green beans. I think they are the Rodney Dangerfield of vegetables. They simply do not get the respect they deserve. They are the perfect canvas for carrying any flavour profile. They are healthy and I think they’re quite pretty to look at. I eat them at least twice a week and I’m always on the look-out for new ways to dress them up. So my sister had my attention.

When I clicked on the link I knew right away this recipe was a winner. When it comes to the plethora of on-line recipes floating around out there, you must always consider the source. And this time the source was Mark Bittman. Or Bitty as I like to call him ever since I heard Gwyneth Paltrow call him that on their PBS series “Spain – On the Road Again.”

Mark Bittman, New York Times Food columnist and author of several cookbooks, including the culinary bibles “How to Cook Everything” and “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian”, has yet to steer me wrong. As I went down the ingredient list of this recipe, I started to get excited. Almonds, garlic, dried hot chiles, olive oil, shallots, honey and soy sauce. How could it be anything but spectacular?

The green beans are cooked in boiling salted water for about 2 minutes. Please try salting your vegetable water if you have never done this before. It really makes a difference. Your vegetables will not taste salty, just well seasoned and way more flavourful than if you salt them after cooking. Once the beans are cooked to crisp tender, about 2-3 minutes,  shock them  in ice water to stop the cooking. Costco has been carrying the nicest Kenyan green beans lately (those skinny green beans sometimes referred to as called haricots vert) so I used those.

I used whole, unblanched almonds. I toasted them first, as I believe you get the best flavour from toasted nuts. I think untoasted nuts are a crime! (Sorry, just a little pet peeve of mine) Toasted almonds, garlic, dried red chiles and a bit of olive oil get turned into a paste in the Cuisinart. The recipe calls for 1 or 2 dried hot red chiles. I didn’t have whole dried chiles, just red pepper flakes, so I used about a teaspoon of the flakes. I like spicy but not painful hot, so a teaspoon was perfect for me.

Chopped shallots are sautéed in a bit of olive oil and then the almond-garlic-chile paste gets added to the pan. Honey and soy sauce follow and then the green beans are bathed in this heavenly paste. I couldn’t stop eating them right out of the pan. They possess the perfect balance of flavour and texture. Crunchy from the green beans and almonds, a bit f heat from the red pepper, salt from the soy sauce and sweet from the honey.  This recipe is pure genius. Really! And eating more vegetables and less meat will make Bitty really happy!

Click here to print the recipe for Spicy-Sweet Green Beans.

Osso Buco Pasta Sauce

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When the view out your window abruptly changes from this:

To this:

Then you know it’s time to make this:

Sadly, our winter holiday came to an end last week. When we left our island paradise on Thursday morning, the temperature was a balmy 28° C (82° F). Upon our arrival in Ottawa, when I looked out the airplane window and saw the baggage handlers and grounds crew wearing balaclavas, I knew we were in trouble! If you are unfamiliar with balaclavas, click here to see what I am referring to. And then consider yourself blessed that you never had to wear one.

Osso buco, literally translated in Italian means “bone with a hole”. The hole refers to the marrow hole at the center of the cross-cut veal shank. Traditionally, the cross-cut veal shanks are slowly braised in stock, wine, tomatoes and vegetables and then served with some polenta or perhaps risotto. I decided to take the braised meat off the bone, shred it up and mix it back with the flavourful braising liquid and vegetables and serve it over orecchiette pasta. Any pasta that has little nooks and crannies to trap the delicious bits of this chunky sauce would be fine.  Warm, hearty, rich, tangy and just a little bit spicy, this dish really is a celebration of winter.  Um, just read that last sentence back and realized that was a bit over the top. Let’s just say it makes winter  a bit more bearable!

I especially love this dish because once the chopping and browning are done, the whole thing is covered and popped into the oven for 2 hours, leaving you time to do something else.

Veal shanks are dusted with flour and sautéed in oil, over high heat, until golden brown.

Carrots, onions, celery and red bell pepper are chopped.

Once the vegetables are sautéed, chicken stock, water, wine, and canned tomatoes are added and the bones go back into the pot. The pot is covered and placed into the oven for several hours until the meat is falling off the bone.

The meat is then removed from the bones and shredded using your hands or 2 forks. The veal goes back into the braising liquid and is simmered for a few more minutes until everything is well combined.

Click here to print the recipe for Osso Buco Sauce.

Roasted Applesauce and Latkes

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I seem to be a bit out of synch with my Chanukah posts this year. I posted about latkes (with fried eggs and roasted tomatoes) on November 23, almost a full month before the first night of Chanukah. And now, here I am, bringing you latkes with roasted applesauce, on the last night of Chanukah! I meant to bring you this fantastic applesauce recipe a week ago but, I’ve been a bit distracted with this view. so forgive my tardiness!

We are here on a little island, off the coast of Antigua, in the Caribbean. We have rented a house on the ocean for 9 days for a little family holiday. It is so wonderful to have all my children together under the same roof for an extended period of time. It makes me feel contented and complete. My husband’s sister and her family have also come and rented the house 2 doors down from us so all the cousins are together for a mini-family reunion. I say mini, because in addition to a sister, my husband also has 4 brothers. Sadly, they were unable to come down with their families.

There are no cars allowed on the island. The major methods of transportation include bicycles, golf carts and walking. The older kids are loving the golf carts, but my 16-year-old niece is annoyed that she is not allowed to drive the golf carts, as you require a valid driver’s licence and she only has her learner’s permit. She was slightly appeased when she discovered that the legal drinking age on Antigua is 16.

We had a family Chanukah celebration over lunch a few days ago at my sister-in-law’s house. Her kitchen is way better equipped than mine. They had a Cuisinart to grate the potatoes and onions. We just had a box grater! The latke recipe can be found in my Nov 23 post.

The roasted applesauce recipe comes from Food 52. They featured it in their Genius recipes feature. It is the creation of Zuni Cafe owner, Judy Rodgers. I have always made applesauce by just steaming the apples in a pot with a little bit of water and then putting them through a food mill. This takes applesauce to a whole other dimension, by roasting them with a pinch of salt, sugar and butter. Then they are mashed up and finished with a splash of cider vinegar. Genius indeed!

With 17 of us for lunch, there were lots of potatoes to peel and grate. We had 3 frying pans going and within about an hour we had transformed 10 pounds of potatoes into a huge mound of crispy lacy latkes. My sister-in-law has an unusual, and dangerous, method for forming the latkes. She scoops up a small handful of the mixture with her hands, squeezes it to compact the mass and then gently places it in the hot oil! I prefer to use a large spoon, but I have to admit, hers stayed together a bit better than mine. She also had the patience to let them get really brown and crispy.

We had to send my brother-in-law out to forage for sour cream (apparently the way Torontonian’s favour their latkes) and ketchup (an Ottawa thing!). The roasted applesauce was a great unifier, loved by all.

Click here for recipe Roasted Applesauce.

Click here for recipe for Latkes.

Holiday Baking Day 5: Packaging

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Last week I wrote about the joy of having 2 dozen pounds of unsalted butter neatly stacked in my freezer. However, this happiness is easily usurped by seeing 7 varieties of holiday treats (cookies, bark, brittle) neatly packaged and ready for giving. The sight of this never fails to fill me with delight and serenity.

After the hard work of the baking is done, it’s time for the fun part…packaging it all up to give away. I am always on the lookout all year for interesting, reasonably priced containers in which to package up my treats. Ordinary “holiday themed” cookie tins are a little too pedestrian for me. I like to think outside the box. One year I packaged Pecan Almond Caramel Corn into a cello bag and stuffed it into an outdoor lantern from Ikea. Another year, I packaged up all the cookies in cello bags and then presented them in a huge watering can.

This year, I found these adorable treasure chests at HomeSense. The problem was, they only had about 8 of them, and I needed 40. So, I spent an afternoon driving around to all the HomeSense stores in town. (There are 5 in the Ottawa area) By the end of they day I had enough. I attracted a bit of attention at the cash when I piled my 10 treasure chests onto the counter. Everyone felt the need to ask me what I was planning to do with them.

This year I was very excited to have some help doing the last bit of baking and packaging. My girlfriend and her daughter, (who is my god-daughter!) from Toronto, came for a visit. My god-daughter wanted to come and learn how to bake with me. She is 20 years old and has wonderful fine motor skills. Within minutes, she was piping the gingerbread snowflakes like a pro! With their help, I got everything packaged up in record time. I loved having their company and can’t wait for them to come back next year and help me again!

The treasure chests were black and white so I downloaded a black and white pattern to use on my labels. We played around with a few different accent colours (lavender, yellow, pink and turquoise) and the blue shade was voted tops! I use a software program from Broderbund called Print Shop. The circular labels are from onlinelabels.com.

It was a bit of a challenge to fit all the cookies into the chests, but my girlfriend is a deep thinker and very intelligent and she figured out the best way to do it in no time flat. My spatial skills are very weak so I was tremendously grateful for her assistance, as it would have taken me forever to puzzle it all out.

I used to tie up all the cello bags with ribbon but that caused a few different problems. Firstly, it was very time-consuming and secondly, it was way too easy to untie the bags, steal a cookie and then tie it up again, without anyone being the wiser. I finally invested in a bag sealer which has saved me money in ribbon, time in bow tying and calories in keeping my grubby little hands out of the bags!

Holiday Baking Day 4: Chocolate Covered Pretzel Brittle

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They do exist. Those people who claim, “I’m not really a dessert eater. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.” I just don’t happen to be a member of their tribe. I do have a sweet tooth! However, I also happen to have a salty tooth. Wait; is there such a thing? I do know that I love the combination of salt and sweet. I think I first discovered this as a young child, when my mom would put out snacks when we were having company.

There would be bowls of jube jubes, chocolate covered almonds, salted cashews and potato chips. I would eat a few jube jubes and then follow them with a few salted cashews. Of course that was the gateway to the huge glass cookie jar filled with red licorice and then some salty potato chips to chase the sugar with. When I got older, I discovered Milk Duds at the movie theatre. A few handfuls of popcorn, followed by the sweet chocolate caramel flavour of Milk Duds is an incredible flavour combo. Then my daughter introduced me to McDonald’s French fries dipped into a chocolate milkshake. Hey, don’t judge until you’ve tried it!

All this to say that when I serve those from the “Non Sweet Tooth” Tribe, one of my salty-sweet treats, I get an entirely different reaction. There is something about the addition of salt that makes sweet taste so much better. Suddenly, they’ve grown a sweet tooth.

But, have you ever wondered why salt and sweet taste so good together? Justine Sterling, contributor to the food blog delish.com, explained it so eloquently,

“We all know that taste buds allow us to taste (it’s in the name, after all). But what you may not know is that each taste bud contains 50 to 100 taste cells, which are actually what do the tasting. Each of these cells responds to a different flavor: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or umami. We perceive taste (let’s use sweet as an example) when sugar and a sweet receptor protein interact, causing the sweet cell to become excited and send a signal to the brain, which then registers the flavor as sweet. This is a process that scientists have known for a long time.

 But recently the process has been further complicated by what researchers have found out about certain sweetness receptors. A study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that certain sugar receptors that were thought only to exist in the stomach, were spotted on sweet taste cells on the tongue. Researchers, led by Dr. Robert Margolskee, of the Monell Chemical Sense Center, found the SGLT1 receptor — which transports sugars into cells only when sodium is present — on sweet taste cells on the tongues of mice. This could explain why sweetness is accentuated by salt — the receptors are activated when salt accompanies sugar.”

 O.K. science lesson is over. On the fourth day of holiday baking I bring to you a yummy salty and sweet treat guaranteed to convert those from the “No sweet tooth” tribe over to the dark, oops,I mean, sweet side!

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Toffee, comes from Lucy Baker, contributor to www.seriouseats.com. Essentially you make a sort of peanut brittle, but with crushed pretzels instead of peanuts. Then the whole slab is covered in dark chocolate and finished off with a sprinkling of coarse sea salt.

I have altered her recipe slightly. She originally called for topping the hot toffee base with chocolate chips, letting them melt and then spreading them out. I find that chocolate chips don’t melt quite as nicely as bar chocolate. Chocolate chips are actually formulated to hold their shape and are a bit too sweet for this, so I would recommend buying bittersweet chocolate (at least 64%) and chopping it up quite fine.  I used Cocoa Barry  64%. I buy it in bulk (20 kilograms at a time, and I get a great price of $15.79 per kilo. (The chocolate will keep for 2 years in a cool dry place.)

This is quite quick and easy to put together, provided you have the right equipment. Invest in a candy thermometer if you plan to do any sugar or caramel work. This is a great one as it has a foot at the bottom of the thermometer which prevents the bulb from touching the bottom of the pot, and giving you a false reading.

Butter, sugar, corn syrup, salt and water are cooked to 300° F.

Baking soda, vanilla extract and crushed pretzels are mixed in.

Spread out on parchment lined baking sheet and top with good quality finely chopped chocolate (NOT CHOCOLATE CHIPS!). I used Cocoa Barry  64%. I buy it in bulk (20 kilograms at a time, and I get a great price of $15.79 per kilo. (The chocolate will keep for 2 years in a cool dry place.)  Wait 3 minutes, spread chocolate and top with a light sprinkling of sea salt. Chill and break into pieces.

Click here to print recipe for Chocolate Covered Pretzel Toffee.

Holiday Baking Day 3: Oatmeal Lace Sandwich Cookies

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On Day 3 of my holiday baking I present to you “Oatmeal Lace Cookies. My day 2 cookies, Chocolate Chunk Caramel, would qualify for the heavyweight division. Loaded with shards of dark chocolate and melting pools of caramel, these are a hefty cookie, not for the faint of heart. Oatmeal Lace Cookies, on the other hand, fall into the lightweight division. Gossamer thin, crispy,  delicate, and dare I say, a little fragile, these are a beautiful cookie. They may look a little anorexic next to the chocolate chunk caramel, but rest assured, they are no lightweight in the taste department.

These cookies are the creation of Nick Malgieri. They come from his book, “Cookies Unlimited” (Harper Collins 2000). I have been known to have my celebrity chef crushes. A few years ago it was Jamie Oliver, lately I have been lusting after Chuck Hughes. But these are mere dalliances, compared to my feelings for Nick!

Oh dear, just read that last paragraph back to myself, and even to my ears it sounds a little creepy and stalkerish. Nick, if you’re reading this, please don’t be concerned. My admiration for you is purely professional. I have been a longtime student and admirer of Nick. His book, “How to Bake” was really my baking bible. His recipes are clear and methodical, leading to outstanding results every time. In 2008 he published The Modern Baker.  A Challenge to bake the entire book was set up by a blogging friend of mine. Modern Baker is filled with creative contemporary recipes that offer great time-saving techniques. However, I think that, of all of Nick’s books, Cookies Unlimited is my favourite.

The cookie batter is simple to put together. No mixmaster required. One bowl and a wooden spoon and you’re ready to go. Start with large flake or quick cooking (not instant) oats. They will need to be ground up a bit in the food processor or blender. They should be finely chopped but not ground to a powder. They should look like the second photo here.

Add some melted butter, sugar, eggs, orange juice and

Forming the cookies is not difficult, but it does take a little time. Here is a video showing you the best technique and tools for the job.

Leave lots of room between cookies on the baking sheet, as they will spread.

This year I sandwiched 2 cookies together with chocolate ganache to make a sandwich cookie. Plain melted chocolate will also be a perfect filling. They freeze beautifully, carefully layered between sheets of waxed paper, in an airtight container.

Click here to print the recipe for Oatmeal Lace Cookies.

Holiday Baking Day 2: Chocolate Chunk Caramel Cookies

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When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, people are very particular. Some like them thin and crispy; others love them thick and chewy. There are those who love them all warm and gooey from the oven.   Then there are those who prefer them once they have totally cooled, and the chocolate has a snap when you bite into them.  Finally, there are those who love them best straight from the freezer once they have cured for a few days.  Granted, that camp is quite small (by the way, I am firmly in this camp) but they have their followers. Here is a tale about one chocolate chip cookie that is far superior to any other I have ever tried.

A few months ago, while surfing various food blogs I came across the following sentence, “I have found the last chocolate chip cookie recipe I will ever need.” Wow, I thought, that is a very bold statement and one not to be uttered lightly. However, being a food blogger myself, I know how we, as a group, are prone to exaggeration. These cookies were originally created buy Ashley at notwithoutsalt.com.

As I read through her recipe I became intrigued. All of the chocolate chip cookie recipes I have made over the years use both white and brown sugar. The white sugar makes the cookies crisp and the brown sugar, because of its hygroscopic (i.e.: it absorbs moisture from the air) properties, makes the cookies chewy. This is the first recipe I have ever seen that uses a third sugar – Turbinado sugar. Turbinado sugar is a golden coloured natural brown sugar is produced by extracting the juice from sugar cane, heating it to evaporate water and crystallize the sugar, then spinning in a centrifuge to remove some impurities and further dry the sugar. It can commonly be found at bulk food stores.

I must say a few words about the chocolate you choose for these cookies. Ashley says you must use the best quality chocolate you can afford. I made them with Valrhona Manjari 64% Chocolate from Madagascar. I know, I sound like such a chocolate snob, but I really believe that this chocolate took my cookies from good to outstanding. The Manjari chocolate is often sold in what they call “Les Feves” or “pistoles”. Essentially these are discs of chocolate that are reminiscent of chocolate chips on steroids. But they have none of the chalky, waxy quality of chocolate chips. I cannot emphasize too strongly, do not use chocolate chips for these cookies. Chocolate chips contain an emulsifier in them to help them hold their shape during baking. You want the chocolate to completely melt in baking and then harden once again after cooling. There is some kind of physical change that takes place during the melting and cooling, that gives chocolate chunk cookies a special snap or bite to them that you just do not get with chocolate chips. Buy a few bars of good quality chocolate (at least 60-70% cocoa content). If you can’t find Valrhona Manjari 64% Chocolate, try some chopped Callebaut or even Lindt dark chocolate.

With a small sprinkling of fleur de sel, just before baking, these cookies are pretty close to perfection. But, not one to leave well enough alone, I added chopped caramel candies to mine. These are a hefty cookie, crammed full of large shards of chocolate and little tunnels of caramel.

This recipe makes about 32 cookies, or less if you are they type to nibble on raw cookie dough. You know who you are, so adjust your yield expectations accordingly!

I used a 2 inch ice cream scoop and put 9 cookies on a 18 x 31 inch cookie sheet.

Warm from the oven or cold from the freezer, these cookies are pretty fantastic.

Click here to print the recipe for The Perfect Chocolate Chunk and Caramel Cookie.

Holiday Baking Day 1: Dark Chocolate and Pecan Biscotti Slabs

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My youngest sister once told me that the sight of 24 pounds of unsalted butter in her freezer makes her very happy. I have to admit, the same is true for me. Although in my case, the butter would all be neatly stacked in orderly rows. In my sister’s freezer, more like haphazardly thrown in wherever they would fit. Now, that’s not a dig at my sister. It’s just part of her unique charm.

Why, you may be asking, would these sisters need 24 pounds of unsalted butter in their freezer at any given time? Do we operate a bootleg bakery out of our homes? No. Were we children who came from poverty? No, as a matter of fact, we grew up in a middle-class suburb of Toronto. I guess you could say we come by our hording honestly. Our mother stockpiled our freezer with Swanson’s T.V. dinners and chicken pot pies, Sara Lee Banana Cakes and Highliner fish sticks. We hoard butter because you never know when the urge to bake will hit, and you must never be caught unprepared. We both love to bake. We both find baking an extremely creative outlet and a way of showing our love to those around us.

Rather than shop for gifts for all the people in my life for whom I am grateful, I decided many years ago to bake. And somehow, over the years my gratitude has grown to include a circle of about 40 people! I usually bake about 7 or 8 different kinds of treats and package them all up in a beautiful unique container.  There are a core 4 items I bake that must be included each year. If I leave any of them out, there may be a mutiny. These treats include Peanut Butter Bark, Chocolate Peppermint Cookies, Lemon Coconut Cookies and Gingerbread Snowflakes.

This year I added a few new items to the mix. The first are Biscotti Slabs. These are a creation of Montreal baker Marcy Goldman. Essentially, you take a typical biscotti batter, bake it in a loaf pan, chill, slice, re-bake and voilà: a new product. Slabs of crisp cookie-like biscotti with a delicious middle layer of chocolate and pecans and a glittering topping of cinnamon sugar. These are serious biscotti. Perfect for breakfast with a cafe latte. Anyone I have ever offered them to looks at them and says, “Oh, these are huge, I’ll just have a small piece.” They break off about a third, nibble on it quietly and then come back and finish the rest off. Sweet, but not too sweet, crunchy and quite addictive.

These biscotti begin with melted rather than softened butter. Marcy uses melted butter in many of her recipes. Not quite sure why this is. If you are melting the butter in the microwave, save yourself a lot of grief and a huge butter explosion and cover butter with a sheet of waxed paper first!

Butter and sugar are creamed together. Be sure to take the time to do this properly. It takes at least 4-5 minutes of creaming. It should look like this when it is done.

Eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt are added to complete the batter.

Here is my foolproof technique for lining the baking pan. No greasing required and the biscotti slab will lift out very easily without any sticking.

Toasted pecans and bittersweet chocolate are chopped up to make the biscotti middle layer.

Mix together some cinnamon and sugar.

Then it’s time for assembly. Spread half the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Use wet fingers to spread it evenly. Spread the chocolate and pecan topping evenly over the batter. Sprinkle on half the cinnamon sugar mixture. Top with remaining batter and finish with a dusting of remaining sugar-cinnamon mixture.

Bake for about 50 minutes. Let cool completely and remove loaf from pan. Wrap well in foil and freeze for about an hour. Then slice into slabs and bake a second time.

Arrange slabs on baking sheet and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until crisp and slightly browned. They will continue to firm up as they cool.

Click here to print recipe for Dark Chocolate and Pecan Biscotti Slabs

Penne with Turkey Sausage and Arugula

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You think you know a person.  You sleep together in the same bed, glare stare across the dinner table at each other, floss together every night, for almost 26 years, and you think you know this person inside and out. But then, suddenly you discover something about them that shocks you to your very core. Or in this instance, leaves you scratching your head saying, “huh??”

I’m speaking here, of course, about my husband of a quarter of a century. For the past 6 months, at least once a week, I have been making this pasta dish. And every week, he eats it, cleaning his plate, without comment. All of the sudden, this week, he looks at me and says, “Next time, can you leave the weeds out?”

Weeds?? Upon further discussion, I discovered he was referring to the wilted arugula and spinach that I add to this pasta dish. He finds the texture of sautéed green off-putting. I love them! So much so, that I plan to continue making this dish every week, but, as a compromise, as every good marriage requires some give and take to make it thrive, I will add the green vegetables that he does love, like broccoli, peas and asparagus and serve the weeds on the side. Heck, I love this guy so much, I may even give him a real thrill and add some brussels sprouts one week. Now that’s how you spice up a marriage!

The inspiration for this dish came from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe for pasta with Italian sausage and broccoli rabe. At home I keep kosher and could not make this with traditional pork Italian sausage, so I used ground turkey and just added the seasonings found in spicy Italian sausage; fennel seed, red pepper flakes and garlic.

The red pepper flakes and fennel seed, along with some salt, get ground up in a spice grinder. Actually, it’s just an inexpensive coffee grinder, that I use only for grinding spices. Here’s a great tip for cleaning the spice grinder and getting rid of any odours so they do not transfer to the next thing you grind. Take about a halt a cup of raw white rice and grind it up. Any last remnants of whatever you last ground up, that may be lurking beneath the blades, will cling to the rice and will be discarded with the ground rice.

A paste of garlic, anchovy, lemon and olive oil is prepared to add flavour and finish the dish off.

I like to use ground dark meat turkey as it is higher in fat, more flavourful and does not dry out as quickly. The ground turkey gets sautéed with the ground spices.

When the turkey is almost cooked through, remove it from the pan and cook your vegetables. I used baby spinach and baby arugula, as well as some diced tomatoes. Feel free to improvise and use whatever makes you happy. We also love it with fresh peas or asparagus in the spring, or frozen peas, all year round. Sometimes I will make it with broccolini.

If you have never wilted greens before, you will be shocked at how they will wilt down to almost nothing.

 

Remember to keep some of the pasta cooking water before draining the pot. The starch in the water will help to thicken the sauce.

Click here to print the recipe for Pasta with Turkey Sausage and Arugula.

Latkes with Fried Eggs and Roasted Tomatoes

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I know it’s a little too early to start thinking about potato latkes, since the first night of Chanukah is not until December 20 this year. But I have a good reason for posting about them now. You see, ever since I saw Chuck Hughes  make these on his show, “Chuck’s Day Off”, it’s all I could think about.

Now, before you continue reading any further, I must warn you that I am about to gush big time. So, if public displays of affection make you at all uncomfortable, perhaps you should stop reading this post right now. To be perfectly honest, Chuck’s been on my mind quite a bit lately. You may recall that I posted about Chuck in April, and then again at the beginning of this month. I guess you could say that I’m a bit smitten with him. For the record, I am happily married (not to Chuck!), but celebrity crushes are permitted. I think it’s actually healthy for our marriage.

For those not familiar with Chuck, check out this short video of him on YouTube, and you’ll see what I mean.

Chuck cooks on his day off for friends, family and his suppliers as a way of saying thanks. In one episode he made adobo pork shanks, fried rice and pineapple coconut pie for Edgardo and Burt, the father and son team that cleans his restaurant. How could you not love this guy?

He made these latkes for his pots and pans suppliers. He topped them off with a dollop of ricotta cheese and a fried egg. And on the side, he served roasted grape tomatoes and sautéed zucchini. The first time I tried the recipe, I made it exactly as Chuck did, but to be honest, the ricotta and the sautéed zucchini really muddied the flavours of the potato and egg. The roasted tomatoes, however, really brightened up the whole dish. Their acidity balanced the richness of the fried potato and egg.

Chuck’s latke method is more like the Swiss dish “röesti potatoes”, than traditional potato latkes. He parboils the potatoes first, then shreds them and mixed them with onion, chives, eggs, cayenne, salt and pepper. I gave his method a whirl but must admit, I like using grated raw potatoes. I find you get a crispier latke that way.

Grape tomatoes get a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and some thyme.

After 45 minutes in the oven they come out all wrinkled and sweet.  They can be made in advance and sit at room temperature while you make the latkes and fry the eggs.

Click here for my version of Potato Latkes with Roasted Tomatoes.