Here's the thing. I swore I wouldn't make cookies this year. Too bad for me. Too bad for my sleep. But of course I cannot turn down a chance at making cookies with the DiGiorgios. I approached this year's cookies with the edict: do the least amount of work possible. I also did all my cookies in the company of friends, making two batches with my friend Addie right after. We missed Ashlay.

Cookies 2011:

1. Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies. Made in advance. Annette loved them. Lesson learned: make one batch in advance.
2. Black tea and orange shortbread. Dough can be made ahead and be first in line to get baked at cookie day.
3. No Bake Cookies. The best recipe -- I let it boil for 1.5 minutes. Perfect. Doesn't hog the oven.
4. Cocoa Nib Shortbread. The thing is, I didn't even read this recipe which calls for you to use a mixer and *happened* to be going to Addie's to try out the mixer she got for her wedding. Ha!
5. Moroccan Ghoribas. This cookie is not only really impressively beautiful, it is a cookie you can know is based on thousands of years of cultural history. It's a tried and true. I left the simply syrup glaze off cos I don't like sticky sweet things. But I do love almonds! Thanks James for putting up with the tiny food processor while you watched Car Wash on streaming. I first got excited about Macaroons when driving back with N. from NYC one day and reading this off my phone.He said he doesn't think he's ever heard me be so excited about anything besides Angry Birds.

Salad Nicoise

My mom made a very basic version of this with canned tuna when I was growing up. I had it in France in the 90's and this very version, but incredibly fresh, in Bed-Stuy in 2008. Made it last night (halved) without anchovies or capers (my mom will not finish the jar or cans of that). The directions on boiling the veggies is perfect. I intend to make this for entertaining guests since you can make it ahead. Thanks Tyler Florence. (You can make it without the eggs, anchovies, and tuna, and it's still tasty).

Ingredients
Vinaigrette:
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salad:
1 pound small red new potatoes, scrubbed and halved
8 large eggs
1/2 pound haricots verts or French green beans, stems trimmed
2 pounds fresh sushi-quality tuna
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pint teardrop or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup nicoise olives
16 anchovy fillets
16 caper berries with stems
1/2 bunch fresh chives, snipped in 1/2
Directions
To make the vinaigrette: combine all ingredients in a mason jar. Screw the cap on the jar and shake the vinaigrette vigorously to emulsify. Set the dressing aside while preparing the salad so the flavors can marry.

Cooking the potatoes, eggs, and green beans in the same pot cuts down on prep time and clean up. To do this, put the potatoes in a large saucepan, add water to cover and a nice pinch of salt; bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer the potatoes for 12 minutes to give them a head start, and then add the eggs. Place a steamer basket or colander on top of the simmering water. Put the green beans in the steamer and cover with a lid. Steam the beans for 5 minutes until crisp-tender while continuing to cook the potatoes until fork tender. Drain out the water and put the potatoes, eggs, and green beans in a colander; rinse briefly under cold water. Peel the shells off the eggs and cut them in 1/2 lengthwise.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Rub the tuna on all sides with olive oil, and a bit of the vinaigrette; season with a fair amount of salt and pepper. Lay the tuna in the hot pan and sear for approximately 2 minutes on each side; as the tuna cooks, the red meat will become whiter. Transfer the tuna to a cutting board and slice.

To assemble the salad: combine the potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, olives, anchovies, capers, and chives in a large mixing bowl. Take the vinaigrette and give it another good shake to recombine. Drizzle the salad with enough vinaigrette to fully moisten and toss gently to coat; season with salt and pepper. Take care not to mush up the ingredients - the important thing about salad nicoise is that it is arranged nicely on a platter with all the elements keeping their individual integrity. Put the tossed salad down the center of a serving platter and lay the seared tuna attractively across the top and the eggs around the rim. Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette and serve.

Plum Tart

Plums. Good to eat plain. A bowl of purple and yellow ones looks so pretty. But then I had a pie attack and made three pies with what was around and this was one of those things. I would make sure to let the juice run off the plums before setting the plums on the tart. Also, not a good thing to make ahead.


Ingredients
2-1/2 lbs firm dark purple plums (Friar or Italian Prune Plums), washed, pitted, and quartered
1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 14-inch circle of Pate Brisee (Basic Pie Crust) , chilled
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Confectioners' sugar
Milk or cream (optional)
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Put the plum quarters in a large mixing bowl and toss with the flour, granulated sugar, nutmeg, and lemon juice.

Place the chilled pastry in an 8-inch pie plate and mound the plums on top. Dot with butter and fold the pastry overhang up over the fruit. Brush the pastry with milk or cream, if desired. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until the plums are tender, the juices in the center of the pie are bubbling, and the pastry is golden brown. Let cool slightly before dusting with confectioners' sugar and serving.

Cherry Clafoutis

My mom got this recipe from Monique Menard for cherry clafouti. The original card says "Flan Monique" on it. Mom always made it with frozen cherries and it was gone in a few hours, maybe two. Dave always plucked out the cherries first and saved the doughy part for last, as with all recipes. He will be really excited if you make this, I think. Might be a nice surprise.

1 and 1/4 cups flour
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
250 mg milk (look on the metric side, y'all)
Big bag frozen cherries, thawed, drained.

Butter a 9-13 baking pan. Heat oven to 350.

Place the cherries in the pan without the liquid, making sure to space them out. There should be about 8-10 cherries per 3 inches square. That's kinda random, but I was thinking that bags of cherries might be a different size now.

Mix all the rest of the ingredients together just until the batter is smooth.

Pour it over the cherries. Reposition any displaced cherries. I can't believe I just wrote that sentence.

Bake on the middle rack for 45 minutes or until the custard is firm, but not too dry. It should be kind of gummy. Trust me, it's good.

Food Swap #2

Here's the food swap#2:

Clockwise from the white bowl:

Weetabix granola bars from N.
Bread Salad by Alex
German Potato Salad with Shittake Mushrooms by Tim
Crunchy Indian Snacks by Ashley
Samosas by Ashley

Samosas
I used spring roll wrappers for the traditional Indian and paneer-spinach samosas. For the empanadas, I used Goya Discos para empanadas. You can also make your own with this recipe: http://www.samosa-recipe.com/Samosa_Pastry.html. Filling recipes are below:

Traditional Indian Filling:
1 Potato finely diced
1 carrot finely diced

2 cloves of crushed garlic (omitted for swap)
1 Onion finely chopped (omitted for swap)
1 Cup of frozen peas
1 tblspn vegetable oil
2 tspn curry powder or your own spices
Salt, Pepper to taste.
About a cup of vegetable stock.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic, mix in the spices and fry until soft. If omitting garlic/onion, just add the spices to the oil until it is pretty hot, but not burnt. Add the vegetables and stir well until coated with spices. Add the stock, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until cooked. Watch the pan, because if the water gets low you should add a touch so your filling doesnt burn on to the pan. Don't add too much water though! Filling should be mushy, not watery.

Paneer-Spinach Filling

Thaw frozen cubes of paneer. Heat some oil (tiny bit, because paneer absorbs) in a wok or pan. Brown paneer until crisp, seasoning with whatever spices you are in the mood for. I used red pepper flake, cumin, coriander powder, and black pepper this time. Add spinach and cook just until wilted.
Mexi-empanada Filling
Brown soy chorizo (or regular variety) in a pan with one small chopped onion. In a seperate pot, combine one small can of tomato sauce with a can of chickpeas, adobo powder, and one packet of sazon goya powder. Add one tomato-sauce size can of veg stock to the mix. Bring everything to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer 30-40 minutes, until sauce thickens. Add chorizo and onion mixture to the sauce.


Watermelon Mint Feta
Big surprise girl I used the Paula Dean! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/watermelon-salad-with-mint-leaves-recipe/index.html
Mine marinated overnight - maybe that's why Michelle's tasted different?

Pink Beans with rice and mango by Emari
Green Vegetable Curry by Cindy
and in the middle: Banana Nut Muffins by Emily

Vegetarian Gyro

It's not a gyro. It's a cousin to a felafel, but in a hurry. Which brings up the issue: why don't I know how to make felafel at home? I made this one day when I was a student. I did everything as quickly as possible with what was in the fridge.

1 package Morningstar Farms (or other) sausage patties, sauteed according to package directions then broken into bite sized hunks
4 pita pockets (four big halves, toasted and split)
Tabouli or alternative (recipe below)
Greek Yoghurt/Raita/Taziki
Goat cheese

Open one of the pita halves
Put the hot veggie sausage into the bottom inch or so of the pita.
Add another inch of tabouli or Tomato Salad
Add dabs of Greek or plain yoghurt and some generous dabs of goat cheese.


**
Tomato Salad

Olive oil
garlic
tomato
avocado or cucumber
red onion (optional)
dab of Dijon mustard (optional)
lemon juice

In a bowl pour about 2t olive oil and a finely minced clove of garlic.
Press the garlic with your finger into the bowl.
Add a diced tomato, diced cucumber, etc.
Add the juice from a wedge or two of lemon
Lightly salt and pepper

Food Swap #1

My friend Emari had been wanting for people to trade food for years. It finally happened last week. There was a parade of boxes of plastic containers people had recycIed from their take-out or some inexpensive re-useable containers. Big trade like at Christmas when we trade cookies. E. had to leave quickly since she's getting married in three weeks and has a million things to do. The rest of us took the food swap as an opportunity to catch up, eat fruit, play a board game. We ate fresh food made by my pals for several days. The fridge at N's work failed which meant he needed an alternative lunch source and this was perfect.

Now we're doing it again tomorrow. Each person makes enough for everyone of one dish. Then each person packs the dish as a meal for all participants. So if you have X participants, you bring X gladwares of your dish. Then you swap and go home with X number of meals. We had an easy time finding friends who want: a) not to have to cook for most of the week b) save money c) eat fresh healthy vegetarian meals (only one of us is a vegetarian, but it's good for us!).

Here we have on the foil square: mini sopes with mole sauce, Mexican crema, red pepper and some other combination of black beans, lime chili butter. It just depends on the sopes.

Corn salad from the Barefoot Contessa.

Eggplant with black bean sauce and spring rolls with peanut lime sauce.

Two edamame burgers with cheddar and rolls.

Corn and rice salad (not pictured)

Gnocci with homemade tomato sauce

Indian snacks made with chickpea flour and spinach

We might have another participant next week...sweet. I had a real lunch every day this week and was able to do a lot of work at home because of it. And overcome my fear of canning since the peaches and tomatoes and other goodies don't stop coming at the farmer's market.

Spring Rolls

Yeah, I guess they are all vegan.

1 package bean thread noodles

1 package 20cm diameter spring roll wrappers

1 carrot

cilantro

1 package tempeh

tamari

sesame oil (optional)

olive oil

1 head boston lettuce (optional)

mint

Boil some water then take it off the heat. Let the rice thread noodles soften in the water until they are soft. Cut the threads with a knife and fork in the pot like you're cutting up spaghetti for a kid, but just a little. Put this in a medium bowl. Shred a carrot and put a handful of chopped cilantro into the noodles and toss.

Slice tempeh about a third of an inch thick. Sprinkle amply with tamari in a bowl. Let this sit for a minute.

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add a few drops of sesame oil. Fry the tempeh lightly until golden on both sides, then drain on a paper-toweled plate.

Heat about a centimeter of water in a pot until it is a little hotter than tepid. Do not let bubbles form -- your wrappers will be a mess.

Lay out the wrappers, then the bowl of noodles, a cutting board, the mint leaves, the lettuce leaves, and the plate you'll stack your finished rolls on, all in a line on the counter.

Pick up a dry wrapper. Feel for the "rough" side and make sure it's facing down. Letting only half the wrapper in the water at a time, turn the wrapper so it gets wet progressively as you turn the wrapper like a steering wheel. (See youtube for this). When you feel the texture of the wrapper soften very slightly, pick up the whole wrapper and let the excess water fall off of it. DO NOT use a wrapper that has gone soft and retracted.

Lay the wrapper on the cutting board, still rough side down.

Place half a lettuce leaf in the center.

Add a handful of the noodles, about as much as would fit in a small scoop of ice cream.

Put a piece of tempeh and two mint leaves on top.

Slowly pick up the left and right sides of the circle and lay them on top of the food.

Starting from the bottom of the circle, roll the spring roll up.

Put it on the plate.

Dip in sauce, serve with cilantro/basil/bean sprouts.

Mmm.

Sauce:

2 heaping T natural peanut butter (no sugar added)

juice of half a lime

2 t tamari

1 T oil

1T water

Beat all ingredients until smooth

Stuffed Green Peppers a la Rabbit

So, N's nickname has been "The Rabbit" since he was a kid because he likes to nibble on things and he likes salad. A lot. I hate all the chewing, but I know I need my vegetables. He made these last night and I want to make sure we remember what he did:

1/2 cup lentils boiled with a little salt then tossed with a very little bit of tamari
grated carrot
tamari
cannelli beans
olive oil
cheddar
hulls of 3 bell peppers

Remove the middle rack from the oven and cover it with a little sheet of foil. Place the hulls rounded side down on the foil. Fill them in this order with:

lentils
grated carrot
cannelli beans
drizzle of olive oil

Top these with a little bit of cheddar. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350 and then broil the heck out of them for about 3 minutes. Mmmm....

Arugula and Gnocchi

Ready in about 20 minutes! "This gets 10 out of 10 stars for piles* food."

As in, piles of things.

Potato gnocci, DeCecco brand
Pumpkin seeds (Walnuts/pine nuts are okay too, but pumpkin seeds seem extra rich and nutty)
1 bag washed arugula
2 cloves garlic
half a head of cauliflower
salt
pepper
lemon wedges
Parmesan cheese
paprika


Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Chop the cauliflower into small bite sized florets. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in hot oven for 15 minutes or so, until nicely browned and nutty smelling.

In a non-stick skillet, heat 1/4 cup pumpkin seed and jostle them until they start popping. Pour them in a medium sized bowl.

Mince the garlic. (Remove the green stem in the center). Into a very hot skillet, pour olive oil and the minced garlic. Give it about ten seconds; add all the arugula and toss until bright and wilted. (Actually, I did this in two batches). Add two little pinches of salt. Toss, pour on top of the pumpkin seeds.

Boil water, add the potato gnocchi and wait until they float, about 2-3 minutes. Drain, pour on the arugula and nuts. Toss these things together. Add cauliflower and toss. Add a little more olive oil. Sprinkle with paprika or chili oil or Tabasco if you like spicy stuff.

Serve in bowls with Parmesan shavings and a wedge of lemon. Squeeze the lemon on the stuff and toss before eating.

Almost vegan. Almost.

___

*N's favorite foods come in piles: bed of rice with pile of chicken, bed of lettuce with pile of stuff on it.

Alberto's Bean Salad

2 avocados, diced
6-7 plum tomatoes, diced
half bunch scallions chopped
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
half bunch cilantro, chopped
one jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
black pepper
granulated salt
juice of two limes
2 T white vinegar
3 T olive oil

Prepare a large platter (lasagna sized) with a bed of bibb lettuce and arugula, uncooked.

Mix everything else together.

Pour bean salad on bed of lettuce.

Serve with corn chips.

Vegan, gluten free.

Mocha Rounds

These are the cookies that I made and put a couple of in my coat pocket every few days over Christmas break and people were amazed when they would say, "I kind of am hungry" and I would pull out two cookies...N. circled and devoured them.

Click here for the Martha Stewart recipe. I confess, I used this horrible French Vanilla Cafe flavor of espresso powder that essentially is not espresso powder, but N. loved them for some reason. I also didn't have enough cocoa and only put in about a third of a cup and threw in a handful of Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate premium baking chips. In case the "real" recipe does not meet with his approval...

Pork Piccata

This is a Cooking Light recipe and here's my version:

4 3/4 inch thick pork chops
3/4 cups flour
1 t Italian herbs
salt
a lemon
2 shallots
parsley

Take each pork chop to a cutting board and pound it with the bottom of a mason jar/glass or a meat mallet until it's about twice the area. Soak with lemon juice. Set aside.

Mince the shallots and a quarter bunch of parsley. Set aside.

Mix flour, spices, salt in a plate. Dredge the pork through this flour mixture and immediately saute on medium in olive oil for two minutes a side.

Put the finished pork chops on a plate.

Put some chicken broth or white wine in the bottom of the pan, the shallots, and the parsley and about a third of the juice of a big lemon, salt and pepper. Let this simmer for about three minutes. Put the pork chops back in and let them heat through.

Mmmm. Serve with rice, lentils and rice, or roasted potatoes and a big green salad. Easy, but a little fancy for a weeknight.

Swiss Macaroni and Cheese

This (click link) looks great but I really am trying not to put a cup of cream into anything. So I made my own version:

1 pound macaroni boiled with a t olive oil in salted water, and drained
4 T butter
3 T flour
6-8 oz Swiss or Emmenthal, shredded (don't buy already shredded)
2 country ham steaks gently pan fried but not too long
a 10 oz bag frozen peas
Parmesan
4 C milk
bay leaf
nutmeg or cinammon

Heat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl of cold water, rip the two ham steaks into bite sized chunks. Rinse them in the cold water until it runs clear and let the ham soak for 30 minutes (this will make it less crazy salty).

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and stir until no lumps are left. Add the milk and whisk constantly over med-high heat until it becomes thick. Add a dash of nutmeg and pinch of salt. Add a bay leaf and if you like a slice of onion. Let the milk steep with these for about 10 minutes off the heat, whisking every minute or so. Take out the leaf and the onion. Add all but 1.5 cups of the Swiss. Whisk.

Pour this over the macaroni, add the peas. Drain off the ham and add it into the pasta/cream mixture. Put it in an oiled 9 by 13" pan. Top with remaining cheese and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan.

Bake at 350 for half an hour, then at 400 for another half an hour. Should be bubbly and golden. Mmm!

This is acutally a Swiss dish; I'm not just calling it Swiss on account of the cheese.

Cheap Dishes: Lentil Rice

There's one thing that makes me feel really healthy, hardly costs anything to make, and the ingredients can be kept in the pantry or freezer and I always feel like eating it.

Lentil Rice!

This is one recipe I actually made up myself.

1 T olive oil
Half an onion chopped
1 cup brown rice (basmati if you have it)
1 T cumin
1 t coriander
2 1/3 C chicken broth (better than bouillon)
Salt
Pepper
Bay leaf
Cheese, cheddar or feta

Saute the onion in oil until softened and clear.
Add the rice, cumin and coriander and roast these on med-high for 5 minutes.
Add broth and salt and pepper and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil

Let simmer on med-low heat/low heat for 40 minutes.

Top with cheese.