As Love Grows

"Love is like a friendship caught on fire.  In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering.  As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable."       Bruce Lee

My Hit List

Every January, while everyone is spouting good intentions and eating carrots sticks, I get down to some serious business.  I write my hit list for the garden.  Life is simply too short to grow plants that don’t thrill me.  So, here goes.

The Hit List—(off with it’s head and into the compost heap!)

• Snowberries—they need more sun and have fungal problems
• Acanthus mollis—in the back yard only
• Wild roses
• Cape fuschias in the backyard
• Plain green hostas
• A Rugosa rose with world domination issues—it’s pushed up 11 new canes
• Mint—I’m tearing out the mint bed, all 3 ½ ‘ by 8 ½ ‘ of it—apple, chocolate, mint julep and pineapple mint.  
• Horseradish—I don’t use the little thug.
• Lovage—it’s infested with little black insects that refuse to die  

(Tentative) Massive Rhododendron with lace bug outbreak—There’s nothing like a death threat to encourage a plant to grow.  Rhodie, do you hear me?  Shape up or ship out.

(Tentative) Ostrich ferns—I love how they look in spring but they need more water in August than I’m currently willing to give them. 

Out with the old and in with the new, and now that I’ve made some room in the garden, I get to figure out my spring plant list! 

Miso Soup and a Dead Microwave

On Saturday, my microwave died sighing like an electrocuted bug zapper.  Bzzwhapt!  My Pirate was disappointed that it didn’t go out in a blaze of glory.  No explosions with shards of glass adorning the cupboards; it simply slumped on the countertop, unresponsive.  It’s in a better place now, being recycled.

But in the meantime, I can’t microwave my frozen Gladware containers filled with homemade soup for a last minute lunch. But, that’s OK. I have a recipe for a last minute miso soup that’s healthy and delicious. 

I always keep containers of white and red miso tucked in my fridge to use in soups, sauces, and marinades.  Basically, whenever I need an extra hit of umami in a dish, I reach for miso. And a container lasts for over a year in the fridge. 

I adore Miso soup and I always order a bowl when I’m out at my favorite sushi restaurant.  But, I wanted to figure out my own version to enjoy at home.  I tried many different recipes and came up with this simple version that I can tweak to my heart’s content.  My Kid prefers it simple and My Pirate loves it when I add frozen shrimp dumplings that I find at the local Asian store for a buck and some veggies.  But today, I’m craving the simple version. 

Miso soup

4 cups of water

1 teaspoon of instant Dashi or frozen cube of homemade chicken stock

1 tablespoon white miso

1 tablespoon  red miso

1 green onion—green part, sliced

Bring water and instant dashi to a boil.  Then pull out some of the mixture into a bowl and whisk in the miso until smooth.  Add the mixture back into the pot and bring to a low simmer.  Do not boil.  Add green onion.  Serve.

Additions:  Add any vegetable, noodle, protein, or dumpling and simmer before adding the miso.  Mushrooms, cabbage, onion, cauliflower and even a scrambled egg….and then add the miso.  

Bringing in the New Year

Today I feel sore from laughing and happiness is rising up in me like bubbles in champagne.  I love how I feel after partying with my boozter buddies; bringing in the New Year with a shot of Patron tequila, kissing My Pirate and hugging my friends.  Somehow, someway, I’ve found myself right smack dab in the middle of a marching band family that I will keep for the rest of my life.  I treasure my friends.

Yesterday while I was whipping up the last details for my braised ox tail and mushroom tartine, it started to snow.  And I grabbed my camera and raced outside like a giddy five year old.  Snow here is a treat.  And I snapped as many shots as the battery on my camera would let me.  Then, I came inside and helped My Pirate finish up the oxtail dish.

Now this appetizer will not be winning any beauty pageants, but it tastes like the most amazing rich, succulent pot roast that you have ever eaten, kicked up a few notches.  Thomas Keller’s Braised Oxtails and Mushroom Tartine is a recipe that I pull out around the holidays.  I meant to serve it on Christmas, but as you know I got sick, so we brought it to the New Year’s Eve party in a small crock pot and we piled it on top of grilled crostini or crackers.  I heard no complaints.  Only silence and closed eyes.  It’s that good. 

On the ride home from the party last night, I realized that I am in a good place in my life.  I love my friends and family.  The pain in my life is a decade behind me.  And as I put my Grandpa’s memory to rest, I’m able to find peace.  I can savor my happy memories as I step forward into new territory in 2013.  I’m on the threshold of many new adventures and it feels good.  Happy New Year!

Braised Oxtails and Mushroom Tartine

Slightly adapted from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

Serves 6 as an appetizer or 4 as a light main course

For the braise:

9 pieces (about 10 ounces each) oxtail

Kosher salt and pepper

Canola oil—I used vegetable oil because I prefer it.

5 cups of beef stock—Just use good stock—vegetable and chicken work great too.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Dry the oxtails with paper towels and then generously salt and pepper them.  Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium high until it shimmers but doesn’t smoke.  Add half the oxtails and let them cook for five to seven minutes until nicely seared.  Flip over and cook for another two to three minutes.  Remove from oil and place on rack or plate with a paper towel.  Repeat with the remaining oxtails.

Pour the oil out of the bottom of the Dutch oven and nestle the oxtails in the pot.  Pour stock in until it’s just below the level of the oxtails. Place in the oven and cook for 2 ½ to 3 hours.  I usually roast them for 2 ½ hours.  Remove from oven.  Let cool and then place in refrigerator overnight or up to two days.  Trust me, letting them rest improves the flavor and textures.

Completing the dish:

12 ounces oyster mushrooms, cut into 1-1/2” pieces—use what’s available

1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

One 1-pound loaf ciabata or other thick flat bread—I use grilled crostini

Extra virgin olive oil

½ cup thinly sliced white onion

Remove the Dutch oven from the fridge, and pull the meat off the oxtails being careful to remove the cartilage and fat.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and sauté the mushrooms in one layer, don’t crowd them.  Let them brown for about three minutes.  Then flip over.  Lay them out on a plate with a paper towel.  Then repeat with the remaining mushrooms.

Add all the mushrooms back into the pan, thyme, and shallot and sauté for a minute.  Add the butter and sauté until the mixture is glossy.  Then add the oxtail meat and remaining strained juices in the Dutch oven.  Bring to a simmer until heated through. 

Spoon the mixture onto the bread.  Place a slice of white onion on top.  Make sure not to forget this step, because it pulls all the flavors together and tempers the richness of the meat.  Then serve.

French Onion Soup for Dinner

It’s strange, but by postponing Christmas, we’ve actually been celebrating it all week.  Which is a lovely surprise.  I’m still too tired to throw down in the kitchen like I normally do, so I’ve been taking it in small steps and flourishes.  And I’m not even done with our Christmas menu yet.  Isn’t that great?

Last night, we made French onion soup for dinner, for the first time. And it was the best onion soup that I’ve ever had.  Ever.  I’ve hesitated about learning how to make my own onion soup because I was afraid that I would start eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  But, I shouldn’t have been afraid, because it is far more satisfying and thus, I eat less of it.

French onion soup is basically an assembly job in my kitchen.  I discovered that I keep all the ingredients tucked in my freezer except for the cheese.  I did have a fresh batch of beef stock in the fridge, so I used that instead of chicken stock.  I used Jacques Pepin's recipe for onion soup as a guide.  Jacques Pepin is my favorite cooking instructor and cookbook writer.  My Pirate refers to Jacques as “my favorite old man” and it’s true.  I enjoy watching how he handles the food and makes complicated dishes look easy.

When we pulled the finished soup out of the oven, we both giggled, and I took pictures of it like it was a celebrity.  Then we spooned it into our bowls.  We sat down. Clinked wine glasses, “to us” and dug in.  We ate silently, savoring the beefy, cheesy, and oniony creation and locked eyes every so often in satisfaction.  I have a feeling that this was the first of many bowls of French onion soup to be served in our kitchen this coming new year.  Happy New Year!

And here's the link to Jacques Pepin's Onion Soup Lyonnaise that I used as a guide.  Enjoy!