Baby, It's Cold Outside

So recently the weather has been really cold.  For NorCal, at least; freezing temperatures overnight, highs during the day only hitting the 40's and low 50's.  And though I'd never admit it if asked, it's been a (somewhat) nice change of pace and is making me feel (a little) like it's holiday time.  It's also had me thinking about warm, comforting meals like pot pies.  And somewhat by accident, I've discovered that pot pies are a great way to satisfy my vegetarian daughter and my omnivorous son, in the same dish.  Someone will nominate me for a James Beard Award for this, I'm sure.

For instance, I recently found this recipe, prior to any reviews being written about it, while in search of new vegetarian options to use the lentils that have been sitting on my shelf for a bit.  It sounded delicious as written, and though I knew I would need to mask the mushrooms as much as possible to make it palatable for Natalie, I also immediately saw the potential to add a meat protein to it since it calls for individual pot pies.  So I made the filling as instructed one Sunday afternoon, but used fresh thyme because I had it and love it, and probably a little more of that and the dried sage than called for (dried sage only because both grocery stores I visited were out of fresh - annoying).  I chopped the mushrooms smaller to help them blend in more, and divided the filling among 4 bowls.  Then I chopped up a couple of sweet Italian sausages and sauteed them, and divided them between two of the bowls.   Voila!  Natalie had her hearty, healthy vegetarian dinner and Jack had his with meat.  And there's a dang kale salad again - with a new recipe this time.

We all agreed that these were good, and a nice change of pace, but also that when we think of pot pies, we first think of creamy, dairy-based sauces.  So...

I went back to a recipe I first tried in January of this year - Martha's curried vegetable pot pie which you can find here.  The last time I made it just as written, and it was OK but I was underwhelmed:  too sweet with carrots, parsnips and peas but nothing savory.  This time I omitted the parsnips, and sauteed celery with the leeks and carrots.  Again, I made the filling on Sunday, and then on Monday I poached two boneless, skinless chicken breasts in chicken stock with some fresh thyme sprigs, then shredded one and divided it among two of the pot pies. Again, voila!  Sadly, there are no photos of these individual pies.  I do have this shot, however:

Did I mention that THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES?!

Another Reason Why the Italians Get it Right

For years my favorite wine country restaurant has been Tra Vigne.  The dining room is large, square, warmly lit and flanked by a stunning wood bar on one side and on the other, tall windows that on a beautiful afternoon open and overlook a few grapevines nestling up to Highway 29 in St. Helena.  Looking back, this was probably my first brush with a celebrity chef dining experience, and Michael Chiarello had me at ragu.  I have been lucky to enjoy numerous meals there where I've savored dishes like his pecorino budino with asparagus (a recipe I had to have and asked the waiter for on one occasion - much to my surprise, he gave it to me - uh, pre-super highway), his brined and braised short ribs over polenta (which is now my go to short rib recipe - Sorry TK), and his pappardelle with rabbit ragu.  Though I have tried many dishes at Tra Vigne, these three are embedded in my memory and on my palate as among the best things I've eaten.   

Fast forward past MC's Napa Style, his early food shows on PBS and subsequent transition to Food Network, to Top Chef Masters (where he sadly demonstrated a little too much of the celebrity chef arrogance that we hear afflicts so many), to his latest restaurant: Bottega, and the cookbook it spawned.  This book was the recent selection for our cookbook club at work where each of us selected a dish to contribute to an office potluck lunch.

I selected Pesto Arancini Stuffed with Fresh Mozzarella, and they were fantastic.  They were a little time-consuming (what is with these celebrichefs and the time they have on their hands to spend days preparing a single dish?!), calling for leftover risotto from the day before, if possible, then assembly where you wrap the risotto around small hunks of cheese and shape into balls, followed by a brief visit to the freezer, gentle dredging in the breading, and culminating in a quick dip in boiling oil.  Thank goodness I had already made the pesto during the summer and only had to defrost it!

The real beauty of these little delights is not the blurry photo above (which I did not take), but that you can make them the day before, reheat them in about 15 minutes and they come right back.  The crispy panko bread crumb exterior gives way to toothy risotto with a bright pesto flavor, ending with  a delicate and stretchy cheesy center.  They're worth each and every step and minute required.  Plus, they make a great appetizer, OR a filling and delicious vegetarian lunch served with a salad, OR an unexpected accompaniment to herb roasted pork tenderloin and salad for dinner.  And I know this because I had enough risotto and pesto for a double recipe, so I managed to have them all three ways in the course of about five days.  Yum!      

Things are just ducky. And a little cheesy.

It's not that I haven't been cooking.  And it's not that I haven't liked what I've made.  It's more that I haven't been inspired to take pictures and write about it, I guess.

Oh yeah, and there was basically the entire month of October that I spent anxiously thinking about, dreaming about, watching and pacing back and forth in various living rooms, waiting for THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS TO WIN A WORLD SERIES!  During that time, my attempts in the kitchen were mostly of this type:

I did manage a few things that were both challenging (for me, which may not be saying much to some) and that turned out pretty well.  

For instance, I made some duck which, at least in my house, isn't a frequent thing.  The big thing about this, really, is that it was TK's recipe.  And, not surprisingly, it was beautiful and delectable, if perhaps a tad overcooked since I managed (it's an easy thing to do) to slightly cut into the meat whilst scoring the fat so that it would render and create a crispy skin in the pan-roasting process. Nonetheless, with a short list of seven readily available but-for-the-special-type-of-duck ingredients, plus S&P, and only a preferred seasoning time of 12 hours that was shortened to about 3 for mine,  it was a snap!   Sadly, there are no photos of the finished product, only the preparation:

I served it with a cheese souffle that looked like this when I took it out of the oven:

It was gorgeous and also delicious, though I probably should have used a parchment sleeve to help it rise more uniformly (the recipe did not call for this).  I can't currently find the recipe I used, though I'm fairly certain it was this one.  I know that souffles have this reputation of being difficult to make.  They're touchy: don't over mix when folding in the egg whites or they'll stubbornly refuse to give you pillowy lightness and give you savory cake batter instead.  They're moody: once in the oven no banging around in frustration or raising your voice too loudly or they'll suddenly go from being your crowning pièce de résistance, to a puddle of gloppy savory cake batter instead.  Thankfully, that was not my experience.      

I think the vegetable side for this meal was Martha's Lemony Kale Salad, which we've always made without the nuts since the version in my cookbook doesn't mention them, but which now I will try.  This salad has become, shockingly, a FAVORITE for my kids. We use the Dino(suar) kale (aka Tuscan, aka cavolo nero nero, aka lacinata) because it's a little more tender and the flavor milder than your standard full grown grocery store kale.