Recipes for the Week

So, this week I am focusing blog posts on new recipes that won’t take a lot of your time. While I normally try to do my weekly cooking on Sundays, to help relieve the pressure of cooking each night, I do realize that approach isn’t for everyone. So this week, I am testing four different recipes. The ingredients should be readily available to most everyone (I found everything at my local Safeway). Prep time—actual time slaving—is in the 30-minute range for each (although some of the recipes do cook for longer than that).

Tonight’s recipe, special for Sunday dinner, is Short Ribs in Coffee-Ancho Chile Sauce. The preparation of the sauce and pre-cooking of the short ribs took just about 30 minutes. Then they went into the oven for 3 hours. Kind of like that commercial tag line, “Set it and forget it.” No turning, no stirring. Gotta love it.

4 dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded
2 cups boiling water
1 medium onion, quartered
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons chipotle chiles in adobo, finely chopped
2 teaspoons adobo sauce (from chipotles)
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3 teaspoons salt
6 pounds beef short ribs
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ cup brewed coffee

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Soak ancho chiles in boiling water for 20 minutes to soften. Pat ribs dry and sprinkle with 2 teaspoons salt and teaspoon of pepper. Heat oil in large skillet and fry 4 at a time, browning on all sides, for about 5 minutes. Transfer ribs to a roasting pan that will snugly fit all ribs. Cook ribs in batches until all are browned.

While ribs are browning, put onion, garlic, chipotles, adobo, syrup, lime juice and 1 teaspoon salt into blender. Drain chiles, reserving liquid. Add softened ancho chiles to the blender and puree.

Once the ribs are browned, put ancho sauce into the fry pan and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add 1 ½ cups of the soaking water and the coffee and bring to a boil. Pour over the short ribs. Cover with foil, place pan in the oven and cook for 3 to 3 ½ hours.
Serve with creamy polenta, mashed potatoes, or rice.


I rarely cook with short ribs. They used to be a cheap cut of meat until restaurants and food mags started featuring them. Then they got somewhat pricey in my area, so I pretty much ignored any recipe using them. But this recipe with chiles and coffee caught my eye. The prep was easy, the cooking was easy. Once I pulled it from the oven, the meat was just about falling off the bone. You do have to skim the grease out of the sauce, but leave a little in, as it has some kick to it.

Everyone thought the short ribs were tasty and they did have a kick. Probably not suitable for the average under-14 crowd. More of an adult food. I served it with plain rice, but I do think that polenta would be a better choice as an accompaniment. The recipe serves 6, but the original recipe mentioned that the dish was better after a day or two, so it can make a good leftover. Good thing, as two of my children were out of town this weekend, leaving just the three of us to make a dent.

I definitely think this is worth trying. Might work for an informal dinner party, as you can enjoy your guests as it cooks. Let me know what you think…

Upcoming recipes this week include: Ligurian Shrimp Stew, Warm Lentil Salad with Sausage, and Creamy Corn Polenta. Mmmmm, can’t wait.

The Final Push

I am so close to being finished with the book I am editing, The World is a Kitchen. This labor of love is meant to inspire its readers to pursue food in a new way, exploring new lands, new cultures, and new cuisines. The book focuses on first-person cooking experiences while traveling, whether they be funny, illuminating, adventurous, strange, or frightening. These stories, by chefs, travel/food writers, and dedicated foodies reflect that unique alchemy that occurs when you enter unfamiliar territory and begin to see the world differently as a result. Topics include teaching the culinary arts in a foreign country, adventures on culinary tours, learning to cook at traditional cooking schools, specialty schools, and at private homes. In addition to the stories, the book includes recipes and an extensive resource and reference section for finding cooking schools, classes, and culinary vacations.

Today I am expecting the book back from the interior designer, typeset in its final form. Within 6 weeks it will be at the printer, and in August it will be a reality. This book is a long time coming, and I couldn’t be more excited. However, there are a lot of things still to be done. Marketing, booking tour events, final proofreading, permissions…and the list goes on.

One of the most important things on the list is to test the recipes. This is where you come in. I would love to ask anyone who is interested to email me for a recipe to test and provide feedback. I can provide you with a recipe from a specific continent, or I can surprise you. The recipes need to be tested within the next 2-3 weeks, so you have time to decide and get your test kitchen ready. I am happy to provide one free copy of the book upon publication to anyone willing to pitch in during this frenzied time.

So if you have ever wanted to try pelmeni, a classic tarte tatin, a Bahian fish stew, or are just feeling adventurous, let me know!

A Quickie

Lately I have been a bit preoccupied. In addition to the normal workload I experience, the woman who has been cleaning my house twice a month for ten years has disappeared, I have a big deadline for my food book (more about this later), and I had to find a car. Weekends have been spent vacuum in hand, perusing Craigslist and Autotrader.com, and trolling the used car lots on El Camino, as well as writing, researching, and reading. I have fallen off my game in the dinner department. With the sun finally making an appearance, my husband is willing to grill food, which helps some, but it’s just not the same as getting in the kitchen myself, even if it is just for a short period of time. So I dug around in my archives and found a really wonderful hearty soup, that is supposedly heart-healthy and low in cholesterol. Start to finish 35 minutes. Makes enough for two meals, or a dinner and lunches. Although beware, the longer this soup sits in the fridge, the thicker it gets, due to the tortellini and rice. Still great tasting though.

So if you are tight on time, here’s a winner:

Tortellini & Chicken Soup
10-12 servings

4 qts or 3 cans (49.4 oz) chicken broth
1 pkg (9 oz) fresh cheese-filled spinach tortellini (dried works as well)
1 pound fresh spinach, rinsed and coarsely chopped (just throw it in whole!)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced (you can even buy them this way)
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup cooked rice
2 t dry tarragon leaves
Parmesan cheese

In 8-10 quart pan, bring broth to a boil, covered, over high heat. Add tortellini, reduce heat, and boil gently, uncovered, just until tender – about 6 minutes. Add spinach, chicken, mushrooms, bell pepper, rice and tarragon. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until chicken is no longer pink in center – 3-5 minutes. Ladle soup into large bowls and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Spring Garden

I never really grew up with a vegetable garden. It wasn’t until I was a senior in college and went to live with my godparents in San Jose for a summer, that I realized how wonderful they are. Tucked behind their garage were tomatoes, onions, peppers, zucchini, and all sorts of wonderful things. They would can tomato sauce, pizza sauce, peppers. My godmother would stuff zucchini blossoms, my godfather would fry up okra and make pepper paste. It was a bit of heaven.

When we bought our first home in the burbs in 1987, we were blessed with a 10 x 20 foot plot on the far side of the driveway – perfect for a garden. We built a raised bed for herbs, amended the soil, and filled it every single spring. We had a bounty from May through October. I kept a journal of what I planted, where I planted it, and how well it did. By this time my godparents had moved up the road to the family home on 2 acres in Woodside. Our own bounty was supplemented, and usually overshadowed, by the harvest at their home.

When my godmother’s family home had been built in the 1950s, one of every common fruit tree was planted: lemon, orange, grapefruit, apple, apricot, peach, nectarine, plum, pear, persimmon, pomegranate, fig. Even an avocado tree. In addition to the fruit, there were prize-winning onions, artichokes, lettuce, chard, okra, garlic, peppers, tomatoes…too many things to list. When my children came to swim, as they did regularly each summer, they could pull a peach right off the tree or a carrot right out of the ground. I learned to can, taking advantage of everything, trying not to let anything go to waste.

This continued until about 5 years ago. My godparents sold the home, and my life got too hectic. I recently realized that I really miss it and that this habit needs to be resurrected. With the passing of my godfather, I also feel it is a tradition I would like to continue, in honor of him.

So, I have been biding my time. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the deluge to cease. My son actually cleared 80% of the weeds and winter growth several weeks ago during a brief dry spell, but the main garden portion was still overgrown. Finally, last Thursday he was able to finish up and headed off to the nursery for my plants.

I am starting small this year, since it’s been awhile. So there are 5 Roma tomatoes, 6 basil, rosemary, and mint. (I have several other herbs already growing in the garden.) I will be going back for 3 pepper plants next—jalapeno and Anaheim. I am dreaming of all the wonderful things I can make. Sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried tomato pesto, salsa, pepper paste, basil pesto, mojitos, mint syrup for iced tea. And I am excited about finding new ways to use these ingredients. Suggestions will be welcome. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of my mini-garden.

Food Memory

My new Saturday morning ritual, reading food blogs for information, inspiration, and impetus. When I hit on Cream Puffs in Venice I saw the most delicious item that made me start salivating. Having had only my one cup of Peets to fortify me, I realized I was famished, and the Ali-Baba, unfairly featured at the top of the blog prior to any words, was, on an empty stomach, too much to bear. I had to head for the kitchen. The Ali-Baba was too complicated to make quickly, but I had this faint nagging in the back of my head, something completely unrelated, but waiting for me to remember. And as I entered the kitchen, it came forth.

When I was a child (from the ages of 6-12), I was dropped off every weekday morning at my grandparents, so my parents could get to work on time. She was my before- and after-school care provider, and I couldn’t have asked for a better, or more loving, person. She walked me to and from school and for most of those six years, doing her grocery shopping on her way home. She played with me in the summertime, read me stories, took me to the park and the library, taught me how to cook. But one of my favorite memories from that early time with her is the early morning English pancakes.

My nana came from England at the age of 3. She married my papa, who came from Scotland at the age of 17. So most of her cooking was British in style, finnan haddie, mince and mashed potatoes, pot roast, custards. I usually had already consumed breakfast by the time I got to her house, but once in a while she would make these simple and delicious treats.

Although I didn’t know it for many years to come, English pancakes are nothing more than a simple crepe batter. She would whisk up flour, milk, and eggs and fry the delicate thin rounds in her old cast iron skillet. She would slather them in butter, sprinkle sugar on them, and roll it all up for me to eat. I can remember those cold dark mornings, sitting at the little table in her trailer, right across from the stove, watching her with anticipation. They are good memories, food memories.

So this morning I recreated that in my own kitchen. There were no kids (or grandkids) around to watch. But I pulled out The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman and found a basic crepe recipe and whipped up a batch in 30 minutes. Then I sat down with the requisite cup of tea, and gorged on three, full of butter and sugar. And my nana, in the form of an angel tattooed on my shoulder the week she died, watched as I ate. I know I was pleased, and I hope she would be, too.

Help in the kitchen?

I have recently spent some timed perusing the Craigslist job listings, as two of my three children were unemployed. In addition to finding one of them I job, I ran across an interesting ad that mentioned a new start-up:

“Deeelish! is a new Menlo Park retail facility where customers prepare healthy, gourmet meals in our kitchen and cook them at home.”

This piqued my interest. So I dug a little deeper and found an article on a Stanford University bulletin board that provided a bit more information:

“Deeelish is a start-up business in the meal preparation and facilitation industry. The Meal Facilitation and Preparation business (MFP) is a young, rapidly expanding industry offering a service that enables customers to prepare a large number of meals more quickly and at a lower cost than they could achieve on their own. Deeelish offers a monthly menu of 14 ready-to-cook entrees, from which the customer chooses a subset (8 or 12 entrees) to prepare at a prescheduled session. At the facility customers will cycle through individual entrée prep stations, with each station fully equipped and stocked with pre-chopped, sautéed and otherwise prepared ingredients, so that the customer needs only to follow simple, step-by-step instructions to assemble the entrée. Completed entrees are taken home to be frozen for cooking and consumption at a later date.”

My initial response to all of this was: Do parents nowadays really need a communal kitchen, with pre-chopped and pre-cooked ingredients, recipes, and a helping hand to cook meals for their families. Is it really that hard? This boggles my mind. Now I know that I love food and that cooking is enjoyable to me, while it isn’t so for others, but still…it’s really not that hard. Even if your parent/grandparent/sibling didn’t teach you how to cook, at least minimally, you know your family has to eat. Planning a meal is no more difficult than planning a meeting. Following a recipe is just as easy as loading an Apple computer program. Shopping for food is like shopping for office supplies. Creating a meal is certainly simpler than creating an ad campaign. People, intelligent people, do really difficult things every day. Why can’t they cook? If my children’s health and welfare depended on me to write ad copy for Hummers, I would damn well figure out how to do it. Would I need a special office and 5 hand-holders to get me through it? Hell, no.

But after due consideration, and a good talking to by my daughter, I had a change of heart and came down off my high horse: We do want people to be more comfortable in the kitchen and we do want our children to grow up with sit-down healthy meals. These are important things., and if it takes a place like Deelish! To accomplish this, then maybe it isn’t such a bad thing. For some, it may kick-start a desire to learn more and do more in the kitchen, for others, it may become a regular gig. Either way, it can be considered a good thing: Fresh, great tasting food on the table for the family.