I made this veg onion soup on a day we were eating meat (the weekend) but i wanted something really cozy and warm for winter. I also had A LOT of supplies left over from Thanksgiving - this is a great recipe for using up onions, any kind of stock you have, stale bread, and any hard/sharp cheese you have; swiss, gruyere, cheddar, etc., plus it’s super cheap. I had a surplus of all of these and didn’t want to waste. Make sure you take the time recommended to let the onions cook, it’ll be worth it. You can also save this soup and reheat with the bread and cheese later. Obviously for our vegan friends, use veg broth and a soy cheese, or no cheese at all. Here we go (adapted from Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie at Home’):

Serves 8 (I adjusted for 4 servings, and still had more than could fit in 4 baking soup bowls)

1 Tablespoon butter

handful of fresh sage

6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed (I sent mine through my garlic press)

5 red onions, peeled and sliced

3 large white onions, peeled and sliced

3 banana shallots (or regular) peeled and sliced

11 oz leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced (I only bought 1 big leek - plenty)

2 quarts HOT low sodium stock: veg, chicken, beef, whatever you have.

8 slices stale bread

7 oz fresh grated cheddar cheese

Worcestershire sauce

1. Put butter, 2 glugs of olive oil, sage and garlic into a thick-bottomed, non-stick pan. Stir everything around and add the onions, shallots, and leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan, leaving slightly ajar and cook slowly for 50 minutes, without coloring the veggies. Remove the lid for the last 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

2. When the onions are silky and soft, add the HOT stock. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 10-15 minutes. You can skim off any fat from the top - or not!

3. Preheat oven or broiler to 500F. Toast your stale bread on both sides - try not to burn it! Correct the seasoning of the soup. Ladle your soup into your oven proof bowls. Tear the toasted bread to fit in each bowl. Feel free to dunk the bread a little bit. Sprinkle with grated cheddar and drizzle over a little Worcestershire sauce. Place bowls on baking sheet.

4. Melt the cheese until brown and bubbling - try not to burn it. Bon Appetit!

This isn't the exact dish, but it gives you the idea!

Well, it’s about 5 ingredients plus your usual suspects salt and pepper and olive oil. We’ve made this dish twice in 2 weeks. It’s cheap, really cheap and simple and the fresh oregano is a perfect winter herb. Definitely get the fresh oregano, it’s not the same with dried. The second time around I used drained diced tomatoes instead of going through the tomato peeling process you’ll see below. You could also use leftover mashed or boiled potatoes to cut down the assembly time. Chicken thighs are a cheap cut of meat, so try to splurge for the organic/free range, plus it tastes better than chicken breasts (boring!). It only serves 4, and you might want seconds so it doesn’t stick around your fridge for too long! Bon Appetit!

Crispy and sticky Chicken Thighs with Squashed new Potatoes and Tomatoes (Jamie at Home)

Serves 4

1 3/4 lb new poatotes, scrubbed

12 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on. Cut off the bone into about 3 strips per thigh

1 1/4 pounds cherry tomatoes, in the summer you can use the pretty multicolored ones.

A bunch of fresh oregano, leaves picked

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper

Red wine vinegar

1. Put the potatoes into a large saucepan of salted boiling water and boil until cooked.

2. While the potatoes are cooking away, preheat your oven to 400F. Place the chicken thigh strips in a large bowl. Rub the meat all over with olive oil and sprinkle with slat and pepper and toss. Heat a large frying pan, big enough to hold all the chicken pieces snugly skin side down, you can also do this in batches. Toss and fry over a high heat for 10 minutes until almost cooked then remove with a slotted spoon to an ovenproof pan or dish.

3. Prick to tomatoes with a sharp knife. Place them in a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave for a minute or so. Drain and when cool enough to handle, pinch off their skins. Drain the potatoes and lightly crush them by pushing down on the with your thumb

4. Bash up most of the oregano leaves with a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar, or a Flavor Shaker. Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil, a good splash of red wine vinegar and some pepper and give everything another bash. Add to the chicken with the potatoes, the tomatoes and the rest of the oregano leaves. Toss everything together carefully. Spread out in a single layer in an appropriately sized roasting pan ( I used my 13×9 Pyrex). Bake for 40 minutes in the oven until golden.

A great way to keep up with the food world without working in the biz is to read the glossies. Although they rarely reveal any juicy gossip, reasons for chefs leaving restaurants, or any personal information they are quite entertaining for foodies everywhere. As I’ve mentioned before my favorite food porn comes from Bon Appétit and Food & Wine, although this months Food & Wine January’s is a bit light. Other great reads are Saveur and Cooks Illustrated for the more serious readers. And now there’s another one, perhaps my favorite of all. I stumbled onto this while on a recent trip to the UK. Jamie Oliver has launched his own magazine. And there was rejoicing. His launch issue is on newsstands in the UK and it’s quite stunning.

You can tell from the cover it’s an expensive endevour. Glossy and matte paper beautifully printed. Also with this launch issue comes a Jme catalog. Jme is Oliver’s new housewares/kitchenware/food collection available online. The issue is chock full of articles rather than ads for pages and pages which tends to happen with Bon Appétit. However one could argue that the entire magazine is an ad as most of the articles are about purveyors and people involved in supplying the new Jme collection. And after each article there’s a reminder to go online and order the whisky or the platters displayed in the previous pages.

The photography is nothing less than the cookbook standard you see in all of his cookbooks. Rustic, romantic, and simple.  Speaking of, he interviews “bud” Brad Pitt and asks all the prerequisite food questions I assume we’re all dying to know. Although he did give some good restaurant recommendations in New Orleans. There are lots of Jamie- type recipes – simple and rustic. Unlike the other big Brit cooking publication, Delicious. he doesn’t concentrate so much on just British dishes but a wider range of fare.

A couple of highlights for me were:
1. Baby’s First Dozen: Here the writer suggests giving a friends or family’s new baby a case of carefully selected wine. Obviously not meant for the parents post birth but for the child when they grow old enough to appreciate it. They also make a list of wines that will age well as well as two different price lists. I think even just one nice bottle of wine for a newborn to be opened decades later would be a nice keepsake.
2. From India to the East End and Back Again: About an Indian chef who travels all over the world with major stops in London’s East End for more enlightenment and practice of his native cuisine. There are great recipes and traditional dishes to try while traveling as well as a great spice guide complete with pictures.
3. Long Weekend in Stockholm: No food publication seems to be complete without a token travel article with various recommendations. The pictures certainly make you want to hop on the next flight but it does recommend some local spots and shops which is always more useful than the Lonely Planet guide.
4. Monthly Menu: A cool pull out poster of 30 meals that are quick and tasty. Things like this are easy to save in your recipe folder and a good go-to when you need a quick dinner.

So what’s the subscription price? Probably the most expensive magazine you can get stateside – converted from pounds as of 12/12/08 = $67.24, and it’s bi-monthly. Worth it? Only if you’re hard core and are craving a truly different sort of food magazine.

So I’ve missed posting about the most important foodie holiday - Thanksgiving. It was a long week. I started prepping on Monday and spent hours cooking every day leading up to it. Was it worth it? The turkey was phenomenal, stuffing I prefer to eat my mom’s recipe, and I have to say this was the BEST gravy I have ever had. I did give myself due credit when I tasted the gravy from the roasting pan - absolute heavenly richness. I also ventured to make my own turkey stock. We ended up having fewer people than I bought a turkey for so I carved that 20 pound sucker up and used the carcass and gizzards to make a lovely stock which I still have extra in the freezer, along with another half of turkey when the mood strikes.

I did splurge on the holiday. I bought a local turkey and special ordered Applewood bacon for the Bacon Dijon butter and stuffing. Having these key quality ingredients made all the difference - worth the couple weeks of pumpkin and veggie meals for this night. We had friend contribute some amazing potatoes and the token green bean casserole. The 6 of us feasted and then tried our hands at Wii tennis and indulged in a pumpkin cheesecake - another hit.

Gordon Ramsay's Theatre - He's making duck breast!

Another excuse for the lack of posting was a trip to the UK for a friends wedding. We did however indulge at Gordon Ramsay’s Taste of Christmas - a brilliant production where Ramsay was not bleeped as on Fox, which made it that much more authentic. We also were able to get a reservation at Fifteen London, Jamie Oliver’s brain child. A very memorable meal where the staff was attentive but not overbearing, and didn’t rush us, even though we were seated next to the busy kitchen.

My wonderful hustband at Fifteen London

Now I”m busy arranging catering type events and gearing up for another week with the family down south. There may not be a whole lot of interesting menus or recipes the next couple weeks but I promise to share my mother’s roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for Christmas as well as any new discoveries. I’m looking forward to the routine of the new year. I was very encouraged by some friends who said they missed my posting and they followed the site. Routine is looking better and better every day.

I’m also going to post some articles I have been keeping up with writing for Blackpower.com. These are a bit more wordy than just recipes but I’m quite proud and still learning the blogging ropes.

I don’t generally care for cauliflower. The aversion isn’t as intense as Brussel sprouts which cannot be redeemed no matter how much bacon they’re baked with. I thought dressing cauliflower up in risotto added another veg element while still eating gooey risotto. By now, I’ve made several different risottos, all based on Jamie Oliver’s Risotto Bianco which is a basic white risotto which can then be changed all sorts of ways. This is a great vegetarian option, just sub the chicken stock for veg stock and you’re golden. The other thing I also like best about risotto is the commitment to it - you’re basically massaging you’re meal until it’s done, it’s very intimate and soothing. Anyway, here’s Jamie’s recipe. Sneak in some veggies this week!

Price Breakdown:

Cauliflower - $1.49

Celery 2 stalks - $1.99

I already had Arborio rice, Vermouth (I only use it for risotto, so it lasts a while), butter, onions, and the last of Parm from last week. I also used up the rest of a carton of chicken stock I had in the fridge. For the bread crumbs, I used anchovy paste I already had and chili pepper. Also you can use the baguette from the onion soup for these bread crumbs!

As you can see, I don’t have a pic of the amazing pork roast I made for our friends last night. The recipe calls for tenderloin, but the butcher suggested using a center cut pork roast since it was for six people. He butterflyed it which made it easy to stuff. I did end up tying it with kitchen twine to keep it all together. Along with the roast I made garlic red bliss mashed potatoes. Pork and potatoes are perfect together. We also had a couple pieces of the pork left for a great cold pork sandwich for lunch today.

I needed that pork sandwich after meeting JAMIE OLIVER! He was signing his new book, Jamie at Home, at a Border’s in Manhattan. Myself and couple of my fellow friends stood in line and were so excited to meet him in person. He’s really down to Earth, friendly, exactly how he appears on television. It was such a treat - I can’t wait to cook from his new book. Jamie - when are you opening a place stateside?

Jamie Oliver does it again! This is the best tomato sauce I’ve ever made - and now I know the secret I haven’t seen from Giada - Balsamic vinegar and sugar. After I added these two ingredients, it was WOW!! I actually forgot to add the parm to the sauce, and I think it’s great without it, but if you’re a huge parmesan fan like me, you might want to add it, or sprinkle plenty on top. The recipe calls for plum tomatoes, but I had diced tomatoes - organic which I think helped because a lot of canned tomatoes that are already chopped can be bitter. So try to use plum tomatoes and smash them yourself in the sauce. This is an easy sauce you can make over and over, I count this better than Newman’s Own too. Here’s how it’s done:

Serves 4

1lb piece of ricotta cheese (I had a 15oz tub of it from TJ’s - I think it’s a bit different but still works)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 a dried chili, crumbled - I just used chili pepper flakes

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

knob of unsalted butter

2 14oz cans of good plum tomatoes

3 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1lb pappardelle or fettuccine - whatever you want to use

handful of fresh basil, torn into pieces

2 handfuls of freshly grated parm cheese (optional in my opinion)

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Rub the ricotta with the olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and chilli and place on a baking tray. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden and firm. In a pan, slowly fry the onion and garlic in the butter and a good drizzle of olive oil. Cook for 4 minutes until sweet and softened. Add the tomatoes, simmer gently for about 15 minutes, then mash the tomatoes with a spoon. Add the balsamic vinegar and the sugar and stir until you have a nice tomato sauce.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted boiling water (NEVER EVER put oil in your pasta water - it makes the pasta slick and it won’t hold the sauce) cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve a glassful of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Toss the pasta with the tomato sauce and add a little of the reserved water to loosen, if necessary. correct the seasoning carefully to taste, then working quickly, add most of the basil and parm cheese. Place in a warmed bowl, rip over some extra basil and crumble the baked ricotta over the pasta.

This is what happens when you’re in a rush to eat - a blurry picture… but I think you get the idea. This was a request from my mom for me to make before I head back up to NYC. This is also one of Johnathan’s favorites, and we usually finish a serving for 4 between the 3 of us - we do try to have another person for dinner for this event. We saw this on Jamie at Home on the Food Network, and have probably made it half a dozen times. This isn’t exactly a cheap meal on its own - fontina and creme fraiche can be pricey - but try it at least once, and you’ll probably go back to it again and again. I used my pasta recipe and pasta machine for the tagliatelle, and here’s the link to Jamie’s recipe. Enjoy… again… and again….

Unfortunately there are no mashed potatoes here. I grabbed this baked stuffed potato recipe from Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook. I know chefs and cooks, and whoever is on Food Network tells you, you will not taste the anchovy, only salty essence when it’s cooked, but I think between the saltiness of the bacon, and the salt on the outside of the potato may have made the anchovy taste more acute. Granted, I used anchovy paste rather than fillets - but that might have been even better. I didn’t taste the flavors of the stuffing, which seemed strange - garlic, bacon, sage - good stuff. I bought organic chicken sausages at TJ’s, 5 for $4. They were actually a good sweet compliment to the salty potatoes. You could also pair this with pork chops or a nice cheese plate. I bought an apple corer for this recipe, and I’m excited to use this new tool, and make holes in various other foods and then stuff them with more good stuff. Here’s the recipe:

Serves 4 (you can always make more if they’re a side dish)

4 medium sized waxy potatoes, skin left on

olive oil

sea salt

4 slices of bacon

8 fresh sage leaves

4 good quality anchovy fillets in oil, drained

1 clove garlic, sliced lengthways

1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Stick one end of a apple corer into your potato and twist in round and round as you cut through, as if you were coring an apple. Keep the cores as you will use them as plugs later. Prick each potato a few times with a fork and rub them in a little olive oil and sea salt.

2. Lay out the stuffing for each potato: a slice of bacon topped with 2 sage leaves, and anchovy fillet and sliver of garlic. Grate over some lemon zest. Fold and twist the stuffing together into a little sausage shape and stuff into each potato. Don’t worry if you have some sticking out at the ends.

3. Cut the potato plugs in half and stuff them back in either end of each potato to keep the stuffing in place. They will stick out a little, and it looks funny, but it’s fine. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about an hour, turning them every so often, until crisp, golden and cooked.

I can’t believe September is already over. The past few days have been cloudy, cool, and gray in NYC, so it gives a great taste of what’s to come this winter…. Johnathan requested a couple comfort foods this week, and I also went back to my favorite, Jamie Oliver. There’s also a sub theme of bacon - can’t wait. I also wanted to buy up the last of the summer tomatoes, which will probably include some pretty tomato and mozzarella salads. Here’s what’s cookin’ this week:

Monday: White fish wrapped in Smoked Bacon with lemon Mayonnaise and Asparagus

Tuesday: Turkey Meatloaf

Wednesday: Roasted Sausages (hopefully local) with stuffed fingerling potatoes

Thursday: Mini Calzones

Friday: Butternut Squash and Bacon Stuffed Crepes