Parsley, Fennel, and Celery Root Salad

By request, I've made this for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner the past 5 years.
It is a terrific palate cleanser, or, as the excerpt from The Gourmet Cookbook (2004) states, ...."a particularly refreshing respite during a Thanksgiving feast or any other extensive, rich meal."
The photo below was taken of leftovers from our Lithuanian Christmas dinner. The salad holds up well for a few days and can be made a day ahead of time.

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min Yield: Makes 10 servings 1 large fennel bulb with lots of fronds (1 1/4 lb) 4 1/2 cups small fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs (from 3 large bunches) 1 1/2 cups small curly parsley sprigs (from 2 large bunches) 1 medium celery root (1 lb), peeled and cut into 1/8-inch-thick matchsticks (use mandoline to slice into 1/8" disks then a knife to easily slice into matchsticks) 2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (to taste) 2 tablespoons minced shallots 3/4 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/3 cup olive oil special equipment: a mandoline or adjustable-blade slicer Tear enough fennel fronds into small sprigs to measure 1 1/2 cups. Trim fennel stalks flush with bulb and discard stalks. Quarter bulb lengthwise, then cut lengthwise into paper-thin slices with a mandoline or other manual slicer. Toss sliced fennel with fronds, parsley, and celery root in a large bowl. Whisk together lemon juice, shallot, sugar, salt, pepper, and oil in a small bowl. Toss salad with dressing.

I like to serve it from a large wooden bowl, with salad servers.

Gourmet | November 2001

Beef Chili with Bacon and Black Beans

This is a Sunday favorite for us in the cooler months. Perfect on game day, when you are hanging around the house for a few hours. If you have to go out, it's also fine to finish cooking it in a slow cooker, which we have done on a couple of occasions.
It's ok to double this recipe but for the 2.5 people in our house, this is plenty and then some!
8 or more servings.

Beef Chili with Bacon and Black Beans
10 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/2 red bell pepper (ok if you use green), chopped
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/8 cup chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pound 85% lean ground beef
1 15oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
1 14oz. can tomato puree

Cut 10 slices of bacon into 1/2 inch pieces. Fry the bacon in large Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring frequently until crisped up. Use a spatula or slotted spoon to remove the bacon to a bowl, then drain the bacon fat so that you are left with around 2 tablespoons.
Measure the spices into a small bowl.Put the bacon back in and add the onions, bell pepper and spice blend. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown.
Increase heat and add the ground beef. Cook, breaking it up, until no longer pink.

Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.

After an hour, remove the cover and cook for another hour, stirring occasionally. The chili will become thick, dark and rich. Optionally, we always sneak in a few pieces of chocolate. It seems to deepen the flavor. Serve in bowls with some condiments: I like to use a dollop of sour cream and some cilantro.
It's also nice to dip tortilla chips into. Other thoughts: sliced lime to squeeze on top, fresh diced tomatoes, diced avocado, sliced green onions, shredded Monteray Jack or cheddar cheese.

The flavor of this chili improves with age. If serving for a crowd, you should make it a day or two ahead. Leftovers (if you have some after a couple days) can be frozen for up to a month.Taster approved! (With lots of cheese and sour cream added since it is spicy.)

Baked Victorian French Toast

Brunch with a couple of lovely ladies!

You can prepare this delicious recipe the day/night before! What's not to like about that?
It takes around 35 minutes to bake in the oven (don't bother to preheat it, just stick it in and turn it on). In the morning your only tasks are washing/slicing up some strawberries, frying bacon, putting out fruit salad and a pitcher of orange juice, setting the table/etc.
This recipe is very rich and filling.
You will enter into a food coma after eating it. Hours later, I am still satiated.
It was good to go on a walk to the Allston Artists Open Studios afterward!

Baked Victorian French Toast (feeds 4 hungry people)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter (salted or unsalted, doesn't matter)
2 Tb light corn syrup
8 slices of "Cinnabon" bread (or any bread you'd like to try)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (2%)
1 tsp cinnamon
sliced strawberries
maple syrup
(optional: powdered sugar)

In a small saucepan cook and stir brown sugar, butter and light corn syrup just until butter is melted. Pour brown sugar mixture into an ungreased 12 x 7 1/2 x 2 inch baking dish (approximate size/determine how 4 slices of bread fit in your baking dish/cut if necessary). Arrange bread slices in a single layer on top of the brown sugar mixture. Flip to coat. Add additional layer of bread slices, flipping to get some sugary goodness on those slices as well.

In a medium or large mixing bowl, beat eggs, milk and cinnamon until combined.
Pour egg mixture over bread in baking dish. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.

Remove the cover and bake in a 350º oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the center appears set and the top is lightly browned. Let stand for 10 minutes to cool before serving.

Top with fresh fruit: sliced strawberries, peaches or pears or blueberries or raspberries.

Optionally dust with powdered sugar. Offer maple syrup.

Serve bacon and fruit salad on the side. Don't forget mimosas!

Steelhead Trout

I was about to buy the usual rainbow trout and just requested, "A filet of trout" to the fishmonger. To which he replied, "Steelhead or Rainbow?"
I looked right past the Steelhead since it appears very much like salmon (pinkish flesh). It was $6.99/lb as opposed to $8.99/lb so I was sold!
How to cook it? As quick as possible (hunger dictates).
This method was simple enough, yet very satisfying. I ate it straight from the baking pan, only leaving the skin behind.
While baking in the (toaster) oven, I ran out to the garden and picked some cilantro to sprinkle on top. I love cilantro!

Dot with pats of butter (next time I will melt butter and drizzle over).

Mix 2 Tb or so of soy sauce and chopped garlic (jarred to save time). Pour over carefully, to distribute the garlic evenly.

Season with black pepper then smoked paprika. Smoked, not regular paprika!
No need to salt; the soy sauce fulfills that requirement.

Bake at 400º for 10 minutes.
Yummy, plate licking delicious!
Tried the skin but was not a fan. No big deal, the fish flakes easily from it.
Had 1/2 lb steamed mussels as an appetizer.

Pizza with Greek Toppings

We always make pizza like this 11/10/09 entry.
Tonight I wanted to try something different! After all, I love feta cheese and we had a half container which needed to be used up. I'm also addicted to peperoncinis, kalamata olives, and garlic.
Don't forget some chopped onions and green pepper.
It turned out much lighter than I'm used to and it was delicious! In the future, I won't be afraid to experiment more....
For this pizza, I'd like to try low fat feta and low fat mayo; I don't think you could tell the difference. The olives? You just can't cut down on those!

Alex's toppings (top part of cutting board), my toppings (lower).
I made 2 pizzas with 1 hunk of store-bought dough.

The feta was dry. I added a glop of mayonnaise and a healthy spoonful of (jarred) chopped garlic and stirred it into a mash.
My helper was very helpful this time. He never resists tasting cheese and olive samples, with the occasional pepper. In fact, I have to guard them. He helped stretch the dough and put all the toppings on (except the feta topping, it's just too messy). Yay!

Chicken Salad

I almost didn't "blog" about this, since after all, it is so basic a recipe. But then I remembered why I write this blog, http://alexandheathereat.blogspot.com/ and the whole point is that I have a point of reference when I run out of ideas for what to cook, and as a personal food diary. The posts then magically appear in my facebook notes, random hours later due to an RSS feed.

Alex and I have long made chicken salad from a leftover roast chicken. In this case, it was even easier since we used a store bought rotisserie bird from Russo's! This birdie was lemony but dry. Perfect for salad.

Pick it apart and toss any tough pieces. Be picky and snack while you pick ;D.
Chop 2 stalks of celery and 1/3 of a sweet onion.
After veggies are chopped, give the shredded chicken a fine chopping. Toss chicken & veggies to desired amount (we left some onion out).
Mix with a decent glop of mayonnaise. Season with fresh ground sea salt & pepper.
This time it was on the tad salty side yet we couldn't help "sampling" it over & over again!
Make sandwiches using Scali bread (has sesame seeds) and lettuce & tomato.

Cheese Tortellini with Sage Mushroom Cream Sauce

Dishes like this are guaranteed to put on the winter weight but they are oh-so-good.
This was easy to put together: store bought fresh tortellini and an easy to prepare sauce.


First, have on hand some fresh sage leaves, green onions (scallions) and mushrooms (I used boring white mushrooms since we had them on hand, feel free to use other varieties).
Melt 2 Tb butter and put in mushrooms, saute a bit until they begin to soften. Add a large sprig of sage leaves, salt & pepper and a spoonful (I just used jarred) of chopped garlic.
Saute on medium heat until the mushrooms are cooked to your liking, slightly browned.
Add a teaspoon of flour and toss it up.
Pour in approximately 1 cup of heavy cream. Allow to simmer and thicken up. Chop some green onion into the mix.
Meanwhile, cook the tortellini to your liking. I found 8 minutes to be a good time.
Remove sage leaves from sauce. Toss amount of desired sauce with pasta and grate fresh parmesan on top. Sprinkle with more snipped green onions.
YUM!
This sauce can be used for all sorts of pasta. Next time I hope to have some better mushrooms on hand, though it was plenty flavorful with what I used.