What I Made for Dinner: December 12, 2011

Clam chowder.

I was trying to copy some delicious clam chowder Alex had at Bluezoo at the Dolphin resort at Disney World.  We went to Orlando last week for a theme park extravaganza. Extravaganza! Hoo boy.

Theme parks, they are not my thing.  I know many people adore them, and certainly there is much to adore.  I can appreciate Disney's charms, but given my druthers I would never ever go there.  I would go anywhere without insane crowds and price-gouging and rides that simulate near-death experiences.  But where are my druthers, anyway? I haven't been able to find them since I had three kids.

So. Orlando.

With the family. Everything looks dark next to Cinderella's Castle.  Everything in the whole world.

There's an awful lot there; we saw the main Disney parks and the Universal park.  Disney, of course, is gargantuan and thrilling, with marvels around every bend.  It takes at least three days to do it justice; four days would be better. 

Universal-Not-Disney-Islands-of-Whatever, as far as I'm concerned, is all about Harry Potter World.

 The Wizarding World of Harry Potter beautifully realizes parts of the books and films.  It's a must for Potter fans, and certain of us at Chez Dinnertime are Potter-obsessed.  The Harry Potter World is good for a solid three to four hours of fun.  Universal does offer much more than the Harry Potter part, mainly thrill rides and carnival games.  The kids had fun there, but from what I could tell it's basically Worlds of Fun, on crack, with better character licensing.

My niece and nephew were there too. Importantly, not one of those children is actually permitted to watch The Simpsons.

The children were delighted to be in either park.  Every part of those parks made them unhinged with joy. They goaded each other onto scary rides and congratulated each other on surviving.  The big ones encouraged the little ones.  The little ones gave the big ones an excuse to meet Goofy.  Disney knows how to make sure kids are happy.  They enjoyed several days of wild enthusiasm, and that right there was worth the trip.

Here are the main things to know about the Orlando parks, both the Disney and the Not-Disney:

1. You should expect to just bring all your money and leave it there.  All of it. Resistance is useless.  You will want to buy your kid a hat and a shirt and a wand and a character set and a sword and a key chain and a glowstick and sunglasses and a jacket and a stuffed animal.  In the moment, those purchases will seem necessary and prudent.  Yes yes yes, we do not want to raise spoiled, entitled children, and as parents it is part of our sacred duty to set limits. I would submit that once you have set foot in one of these parks, that ship has sailed.  Teach restraint and solid Puritan work ethic some other time.
2. You should be prepared to walk a half-marathon every day you're in a park.  It would be only about five miles, but you must do a lot of zig-zagging to avoid people on mobility scooters, doing a solid fifteen miles an hour and heading right for you.
3. With very few exceptions, you should not eat any meals inside the park. Snacks, sure, who can help it? Ice cream, just delightful.  Candy, especially, is first-rate.  Harry Potter World has a Honeydukes that just about lives up to its legend. But life is simply too short to eat an entire meal there.  (Notably, the Disney parks have a couple of high-quality places to eat.  The restaurants in the World Showcase part of Epcot, while pricey, offer delicious food.  And we had an excellent lunch at the Tusker House buffet at the Animal Kingdom park.)

You and thirteen of your closest friends can meet Mickey Mouse at the Tusker House and then write a rhyme about it.

For meals, the hotel restaurants are the name of the game.  We had excellent meals--really, really good food--at every resort restaurant we tried.  We ate at Waves (at the Contemporary Resort); 'Ohana (at the Polynesian); Il Mulino and Kimono (at the Swan); and Bluezoo (at the Dolphin), where Alex got that clam chowder. It came in a bowl bigger than his head.

We took small children out for fine dining, including upscale sushi, and it worked out fine. The restaurants at the Disney resorts have nice kids' menus and may offer half-portions of regular food.

Anyhow, we made it back in one piece.  And when I went grocery shopping, what hey, Costco had clams! So I thought I'd try it. It was pretty good for a first attempt, but it was no Bluezoo.

What I Made for Dinner: November 22, 2011

Baked rigatoni.

This baked rigatoni wasn't for our dinner; it was for some friends whose young son is gravely ill.  I made the same thing a couple of weeks ago for different friends under similar circumstances.

Bringing food. Huh.  It's a nice tradition; I do it a lot.  It seems completely inadequate right now.

As a lawyer, I'm trained to figure out a way to solve problems.  I am an extremely pushy, anal-retentive, overfunctioning lawyer-mom.  I am not good with situations where there is nothing to do but hope for the best.  Right now, there is nothing much else to do.  That is unacceptable to me.

So what else is there?  Well, at least my friends could have a nice meal.  Maybe it would make them feel a little better, and maybe they'd be a little more well-nourished, and maybe that would give them just a little more strength to cope with the unimaginable.

Baked Rigatoni (serves about 6)

32-ounce can crushed tomatoes
4 Tbsp olive oil
one bunch each fresh basil and oregano
kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
1 pound rigatoni
1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage (optional; for veggie rigatoni, omit the sausage)
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese or Italian 5-cheese blend
1 sweet onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 sweet bell pepper, diced (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced (more or less to taste)
2 Tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk (low-fat works fine)

Note: This recipe can be frozen before baking.  When baking, preheat oven to 375.

1.  Make the sauce.  In a pot, combine the crushed tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the salt and pepper, and the fresh herbs. Cover and simmer while you prepare the rest of the dish.

2.  Meanwhile, boil water for the pasta. Cook the rigatoni until just short of al dente, about six minutes. Drain and set aside.

3.  While the pasta is boiling, heat the remaining olive oil in a large, deep pan. If using sausage, brown it until it's cooked through, remove from the skillet and set aside.  In the same pan over medium-high heat, saute the onion, carrots, garlic, and bell pepper (if using) until the vegetables are very soft.

4.  When the vegetables are very soft, sprinkle the flour over them in the pan.  Saute, stirring constantly, until the flour is light brown and begins to smell a little nutty.  Add the milk and boil, stirring, until it is very thick.

5.  Remove the tomato sauce from the heat; remove the herbs and discard.  Add the tomato sauce to the vegetable mixture in the pan.  Add two cups of the shredded mozzarella and stir until combined. 

6.  Assemble the final dish:  In a large bowl, combine the cooked rigatoni, sausage (if using), remaining mozzarella, and tomato mixture.  Stir gently until evenly combined. Transfer to a 9-by-13 baking dish and sprinkle with the grated parmesan.  Bake for 30 minutes covered with aluminum foil, then remove foil and bake for about 15 minutes more, until the cheese has started to brown.

What I Made for Dinner: November 17, 2011

Chicken pot pie.

Used the leftovers from Monday night.  Delicious, comforting, and hearty.  Alex says pot pie is his favorite dinner; I wish he had told me that before.  I'll have to make it more often.

My mom and dad joined us for dinner and insisted on talking about Thanksgiving.  We will host it, as usual, but my enthusiasm is just missing this year and I've been denying the need to plan the meal.  I need some inspiration. 

So:  If anyone is reading, what's your favorite Thanksgiving recipe?  What's your least favorite?  What do you consider the most unusual food to make it onto your Thanksgiving table?

What I Made for Dinner: November 14, 2011

Chicken with forty cloves of garlic.

This was so great. (It's just roast chicken on a bed of garlic cloves, really not complicated.)  But would my three children eat it?  Oh ho ho ho noooo.  No they would not.

Josh is getting big. He is a Tween  Pre-Teen whatever, he's eleven.  He does not want to hang around the boring stupid house on a Monday night and eat boring stupid roast chicken.  He got a better offer; he went to the school skating party to hang out with his friends and eat pizza.

Eli looked at the chicken and looked at me and raised his left eyebrow and took a drag on his cigarette and said, "You must be joking."  I mean, no he didn't, because he is four. But he clearly would have if he were a thirty-seven-year-old British guy.  So we gave him a hot dog and apples.

(I know you're not supposed to fix special meals for children who are difficult eaters.  Be steadfast! Be resolute! I know. But the child's pants won't stay up. All his bones show.  Resolute is easier said than done.)

Alex probably would have eaten the chicken, but he knew one brother was getting pizza and the other brother had a hot dog and, you know, forget it.

Well, it was delicious, anyway.  The recipe is here, and worth a try.

What I've Been Doing: September 26, 2011-Now

I've been cooking, but not writing.  There's no excuse.  Some highlights, with more to come soon:

• I made Amanda Hesser's ginger duck and a couple of honey challahs for Rosh Hashana.  We had a big meal with lots of lovely, interesting people and skipped religious services entirely.  It was great.
• I used the leftovers to make a fake duck pho. I winged it.  Ha!  (This is a recipe for a real duck pho, but who has all those ingredients on hand?  Not me.)
• Leftover challah really does make superior French toast or pain perdu or bread pudding or whatnot.
• We went out for Yom Kippur break-fast, and I didn't fast anyway.  I am having some Problems With Religion at the moment.  I don't want to talk (or write) about it because it makes me sad.
• When your herb garden continues to go berserker, you keep eating things with herbs.  Fresh tomato sauce with basil and oregano; herbed potato and cheese frittata with dill and/or thyme; cauliflower risotto with fried sage leaves.
• My brother-in-law sent a selection of fine California cheeses and my mom made a beautiful chicken parmigiana meal for my birthday.  My sister wrote about it.  I am getting so old, but yes, it does beat the alternative.
• Eli has added scrambled eggs to his ridiculously short list of acceptable foodstuffs.  All may not be lost with him, dietarily, but I'm trying hard not to get my hopes up.

 So that's it for now. Will search for inspiration in the days ahead.

What I Made for Dinner: September 26, 2011

Pasta with roasted tomato sauce and leftover pork chops; lettuce and tomato salad with vinaigrette.

On Sunday, the New York Times ran a terrific piece by Mark Bittman destroying the notion that fast food is cheaper than home cooking.  It's funny, because just last week I was having a conversation with my mom about how food insecurity seems to intersect with a loss of ordinary cooking skills.  If you don't know how to cook, then you can't stretch your food dollar.  We discussed this while I made stock from the carcasses of two chickens she had roasted for us.

Now, we are not food-insecure at chez Dinnertime.  We can afford all the groceries we want, and we have many choices of pleasant and clean markets at which to buy them, and for these privileges I am grateful all the time.  I am thankful when I shop and again when I cook, which is almost every night. 

Still, I am frugal.  I have written before about how much my inner-Depression-era-housewife hates waste.  In fact, one of my first posts was about making soup from asparagus stems.  I plan our meals weekly so we don't buy too much.  I have studied and admire Hillbilly Housewife's $45 emergency menu, though thankfully I've never had to try it.  Importantly, I use leftovers.

One thing the New York Times article omitted is that when you cook at home, you sometimes get  leftovers for another meal, reducing your food costs even more. Leftovers plus an open mind and a little skill can yield stocks, soups, tacos, pot pies, pasta dishes, quesadillas, pizza toppings, delightful sandwiches, and on and on as needed.  But to use leftovers, the cook has to be creative, flexible, and not a snob.  Food Network and foodie culture generally don't promote these characteristics, unfortunately.  They are essential to the home cook. 

Tonight's meal had three cheapo elements:  pork chops left over from Thursday, roasted tomato sauce made from scratch, and homemade vinaigrette.  We had only two boneless chops left over, but when sliced thin and tossed with the pasta, they made a perfectly hearty meal for four of us; we could have served a fifth person if he ever ate anything besides chocolate milk and air. 

The recipe for the pork chops is here (and they were delicious).  Here's the recipe for the roasted tomato sauce:

Six to eight Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
One Tbsp. olive oil
One Tbsp. brown sugar
kosher salt to taste
1/2 cup red wine

One Tbsp. minced garlic
One Tbsp. capers
Two Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley, or about two tsp. dried
Two Tbsp. chopped fresh basil, or about two tsp. dried
*Note:  The last five ingredients are optional; the roasted tomatoes will make a tasty sauce without them, or with only some of them, or with different amounts to taste.  See, creative, flexible, not a snob:  essential.

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and place tomatoes, cut side up, on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle evenly with the oil, brown sugar, and salt.  Roast 30-45 minutes until tomatoes have begun to render their juices and blacken in spots.  Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.  *At this point, if you aren't making sauce right away, the tomatoes and pan drippings can be transferred to a plastic container and frozen for future use.*

Transfer the tomatoes and their pan drippings to a blender or food processor and puree.  Put the puree into a medium saucepan with the wine, garlic, capers, parsley, and basil.  Simmer for about 20 minutes.  Serve tossed with pasta (penne is good) and leftover pork chops, sliced thin.  If necessary, thin the sauce with a little of the pasta cooking water before serving.

What I Made for Dinner: September 14, 2011

Crock pot pulled pork with carrots and potatoes.

This is not the first dinner I have made in weeks, really.  I promise.  I have made many wholesome and well-balanced meals since school began and the Fall Insane Activities Schedule kicked in. 

This one was nice because it only took about fifteen minutes to set up in the crock pot, and we get a twofer.  There are enough meat leftovers for another meal, probably pork quesadillas, later on.  I also appreciate the rebellion, no matter how petty, of getting home from Wednesday night Hebrew school and feeding everyone a nice hearty roast pork meal.

Crock pot pulled pork (serves 6)

2.5 pound pork shoulder (butt) roast
4 medium potatoes, cut into 2-inch wedges
8 ounces baby-cut carrots
one sweet onion, sliced thin
one Tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup red wine
one cup chicken broth
Large bunch of fresh thyme sprigs, or about two Tbsp. dried
kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Season the pork roast with the salt and pepper, then brown the roast on all sides.  Meanwhile, put the potatoes, carrots, and half of the chicken broth into the crock pot.  When the pork roast is deep golden brown on all sides, remove it from the pan and into the crock pot on top of the vegetables. 

Keeping the pan over medium-high heat, add the garlic and toast for about a minute, just until fragrant.  To the hot pan, add the wine and the rest of the chicken broth; bring to a boil, scraping up any drippings stuck to the bottom.  Boil for about five minutes, then pour into the crock pot. top with the thyme.

Cook at the crock pot's lowest setting for 8-10 hours.  Before serving, remove the roast from the pot and shred the meat.  Serve the meat with the gravy from the pot or with barbecue sauce.