Spring Fever-Induced Indecision

     Yesterday and today, the temperature reached 85 degrees. The first warm days of the year always seem exceptionally hot. I suppose it is a matter of relativity. In any event, it felt like a sweltering day today and the heat left me feeling indecisive and slightly cross. I finally determined that I would cook something for dinner tonight, instead of taking the kids out to eat or getting takeout, and began searching through my shelves of cookbooks for something new to try. I considered, and rejected, a stir fry, steak, panko-crusted chicken strips, and pork loin. I then turned to my stacks of cooking magazines and chose, and then subsequently rejected, recipes for grilled pizza, oven fried fish with potato salad, and a vegetable frittata. I moved on to the internet for inspiration and decided against crispy cod with broccoli and parmesan butter, gnocchi, and bacon and egg ramen. I was nearing the time that I had to pick my daughter up from school so I grabbed a Williams-Sonoma cookbook I had been meaning to use (not just read) called Family Meals: Creating Traditions in the Kitchen and brought it in the car with me. This cookbook is absolutely beautiful. It is full of gorgeous, inspiring photos, step by step instructions (with photos), and recipes that the whole family can make together. The paper used in the book is unique and I loved handling the pages.

When my daughter got in the car, I handed the cookbook to her and asked her to find something that looked good to her as I could not decide what to make for dinner. Within minutes, she narrowed down her choices to Oven-Fried Chicken Fingers with Mashed Potatoes and Peas, and Ham and Leek Quiche. I pushed for the quiche as I felt like it was too hot for baked chicken and mashed potatoes and she agreed.

     My daughter and I then stopped off at the grocery store to buy the necessary ingredients. I ended up buying a pre-made pie crust, that came as a rolled up circle of dough, made by Pillsbury. While I knew it would be a far tastier dish if I made the crust from scratch, I simply did not have the energy or time to do so.
     The recipe calls for the pie crust to be partially pre-baked. I put the dough in my pie pan, put a layer of foil on top of the dough, put pie weights on top of the foil, and then put it in the oven to bake. In the meantime, I read that the next step in the recipe was to melt one tablespoon of butter in a frying pan (side note: I had exactly one tablespoon of butter left in a wrapper since I had used the other seven in another recipe - I love when that happens!). Just as the butter began melting, I realized that I had, once again, failed to read my recipe all the way through before I began cooking. I quickly turned off the heat and started to read. It was a good thing that I did because, once the butter melted, I was supposed to add three cups of thinly sliced leeks to it. It is taking me a very long time to break my bad habit of not pre-reading my recipes but I am learning! Slicing the leeks actually took a fair amount of time as they require extra cleaning to get all of the grit and dirt off of them and three cups is a lot of sliced leeks. When I turned the stove back on and finished melting the butter, I added the leeks and thought that there seemed to be an awful lot of leeks. I hoped I had measured them correctly...

Once again, I was surprised by the addition of nutmeg in my recipe. It was just a pinch of nutmeg but it was unexpected.

I then layered my ingredients in the now partially-baked pie crust and topped the whole thing off with grated Gruyere cheese. 

I set the timer for 40 minutes and then went out to my side yard to try and plant as many seedling as I could in my planter boxes before the timer went off. I managed to put in several varieties of tomatoes, including Roma, yellow pear, and San Marzano, some basil, Blue Lake pole green beans, and three colors of bell peppers before I had to go back inside and check on the quiche. The quiche needed a little more browning so put it directly under the broiler for a few more minutes. Once I took the quiche out it was supposed to rest for 20 minutes before I served it. That gave me time to put in a zucchini plant, a cucumber seedling, and some lettuces. The cooking and gardening both served to relax me and put me in a much better mood.

My mood was further improved when I served the quiche to my kids and myself and all three of us deemed it delicious. (I waited until later to let my son know that the quiche was chock full of leeks. He agreed that knowing that in advance may have clouded his judgment!) The only criticism, and all three of us had it, was that the pie crust could have been better. I will definitely make this dish again but next time I will make the pie crust myself.

Dirty Dish Count: One frying pan, a spatula, a cutting board, a knife, three measuring cups, one measuring spoon, one plate, one cheese grater, one mixing bowl, a whisk, a pie pan, and a lot of pie weights.

     The next time that I am feeling indecisive about what to make for dinner, I will ask my family to choose a recipe. Wish me luck!

When Will I Ever Learn...?

     I absolutely adore Ina Garten. I love her recipes, her style of teaching on her cooking show, and how she seems both fabulous and approachable. I would be happy to just blog about making recipes from her cookbooks as I know I'd enjoy the food! Tonight, as it is a weeknight, I thought it appropriate to try out Ina's "Weekend Bolognese" recipe from her cookbook Barefoot Contessa: How Easy is That?

     My daughter asked to help me cook tonight and I was happy to include her. However, instead of teaching her the wisdom of reading through the entire recipe before doing anything, I had her read the steps to me as we went. Sigh. I seem to have a serious mental block when it comes to previewing my recipes. I think, in part, the problem arises because I am usually rushing to cook my meals in between picking kids up from lessons, sending out PTA emails, cleaning the dishes from the night before when I realize I need them for tonight, and so forth. Tonight, I didn't even re-read the ingredient list. I read it a few days ago and, at that time, I had a small amount of heavy cream in my fridge, leftover from when I made strawberry frosting. Yesterday, however, I made chocolate frosting (I don't usually make so much frosting but I have been baking birthday cupcakes for foster kids) and used up the remaining heavy cream. Fast forward to tonight, when my bolognese was simmering, and I realized that I didn't have any heavy cream left. Thankfully, my sweet Mom came to my rescue and delivered a 1/4 cup of whole milk to me so I didn't have to leave my food cooking on the stove (the whole milk was preferable to no dairy added at all and didn't seem to affect the recipe in any event).

     The entire dish was prepared in a similar, frantic manner. The ground beef was cooking when I realized that I should have peeled and minced my garlic in advance and taken out the oregano. I did skip the red pepper flakes step since I knew my kids would not like them. Immediately after I added the garlic and oregano, breathing a sigh of relief that I managed to include those ingredients in time, I remembered that the recipe also called for some red wine. I grabbed the first bottle I could get my hands on and opened it in record time. I was glad that wine was part of my recipe since, at this point, I needed a glass after all of my crazed cooking.

     The pasta in tonight's dish was orecchiette pasta ("little ears"). I have always had a thing for orecchiette. I guess I like how well it holds sauce. That is also it's downfall, however, since it is always harder to properly drain orecchiette than other pastas - they are like little bowls that hold all of the water.
     The recipe calls for a large can of crushed tomatoes and Ina recommends that those tomatoes be San Marzano. I have to agree with her as I have always enjoyed their flavor. I also purchased San Marzano tomato paste. The paste was "double concentrated" but I used the amount stated in the recipe (2 Tablespoons) anyway, hoping that it didn't matter.
     This is a pretty straightforward bolognese recipe but I was surprised by one ingredient in Ina's version: nutmeg. I love nutmeg but I never knew it to be included in bolognese. On the other hand, I don't think I've ever cooked bolognese...I've just consumed a lot of it.

     One of the highlights of this dish for me, oddly enough, is that it asked for a "large serving bowl". I got to break out one of my favorite serving pieces which is something that usually only happens when we have company over for a meal.

     The kids and I loved the pasta and they both agreed this was their favorite of my Cookbook Addict recipes so far. My husband was working late tonight (again, poor guy!) so this was the perfect night to have some pasta since he is not a fan of it. The dish was also a perfect comfort-food-dish for a chilly spring evening.

Dirty Dish Count: A saucepan, a colander, a frying pan, a spatula, four measuring spoons, two measuring cups, the daisy shaped silicone cover that prevents boil-over, a serving fork, a serving spoon, and one large serving bowl.
     Now, if only I could remember to pre-read my recipe! Wish me luck!