Simple Rainbow Chard and the sage words of Julia Child.

I love learning about cooking and food in any form, I do not discriminate. I watch an abnormal amount of cooking shows. I read an inordinate amount of cooking blogs and am subscribed to three cooking magazines. I visit libraries to read the out of print cookbooks and memoirs of chefs and critics. I even fall asleep listening to food podcasts.

I just can't get enough.

After picking up My Life in France by Julia Child at a thrift store last year I finally actually got around to reading it last week and I am genuinely glad I did. Julia has a vibrant voice and a fun style that kept me turning the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the book but one sentence stuck out more than any of the rest.

"I came to understand that learning how to fix one's mistakes, or live with them was important part of becoming a cook."

That is the beautiful thing about cooking, most mistakes are repairable. The one's that aren't - aren't and you get over it. That is what keeps me cooking.

Yesterday at the farmers market I got the most beautiful rainbow chard. Before last month I had never had rainbow chard and since it has come into season I have picked up a bunch every week. It is my new favorite vegetable and I look forward to cooking and eating it every week. I even made it for my rice and bean loving, vegetable hesitant father and he gobbled it up. This week however, I must have seen something shiny, lost focus and burned the hell out it.

Oops.

Julia Child's words came to mind as I threw out my once gorgeous now inedible green. I thought 'There's always next time' and made a salad instead.

Taken at the Clinton, NY farmers market. Common Thread are my go to veggie people.

This is how I made it the first few delicious times. - Adapted from Simply Recipes.

Simple Swiss Chard:

a side that serves 2

1 bunch of Swiss chard. If you can find rainbow chard, try it! There is something more exciting about it.
1-2 cloves of garlic - minced
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter
1/8 tsp of ground sea salt
Ground pepper to taste

1. Cut and discard the stems of the chard.
2. Cut into strips about 1 inch wide and no longer than 5 inches.
3. Wash chard in cold water and set aside.
4. In a heavy bottomed frying pan on medium heat add olive oil and garlic.
5. Let garlic cook for 2 minutes and add the chard to the pan. Toss around with tongs until the chard is coated with oil.
6. Reduce to low heat, cover with a lid and cook for 7 minutes. The water from washing the chard and the oil should be enough to cook the chard through.
7. Add butter, salt and pepper and serve immediately.

A lack of cooking equipment.

In the June issue of Bon Appetit a recipe was featured for a roast chicken using herbs de provence. The magazine suggested making this chicken for a picnic, packing it up to serve at room temperature in a park somewhere. However romantic a notion, I've never really been into the idea of a picnic, nor have I been inclined to wait for a roast chicken. It being the opposite of picnic weather here in Clinton, NY (as evidenced by my drowned roses and dismal forecast below) I decided to deviate from my regular roasted chicken and give this one a try.

Only one problem, although I was the only 22 year old I knew to have my very own kitchen-aid stand mixer, I, at 27 still have failed to acquire the roasting pan with a rack that the recipe requires. My creative (read cheap) idea was to roast the chicken directly on the oven rack as I do in this recipe for roast beef. I promised my few but faithful readers that I would write of my failures as often as my successes and now I must share how I very nearly started an oven fire. See, what I hadn't taken into account was the much higher fat content of a whole chicken compared to a roast beef and the much higher temperature that it would have to be cooked. Once again, my significant other had the privilege of coming home to a cloud of smoke. I lowered the temperature to 400° while keeping the oven door open and fanning the kitchen door open and closed for the smoke to dissipate. The chicken cooked at 400° for the remainder of the 25 minutes that it was supposed to be cooking at 475° and then for 40 minutes at 350°, a little longer than recommended, to achieve the correct internal temperature. Disaster avoided.

All I did differently from Bon Appetit, was use a garlic powder instead of fresh garlic and stuff a few sprigs of rosemary in the cavity. I suggest actually using a roasting pan and rack and if your chicken still threatens to ignite... well than consider this post as an effective escape plan that resulted in some pretty delicious chicken. Now I'll just sit here munching on my leftovers dreaming of drier weather and researching the building of arks.

Buen Provecho!

Eggs in purgatory (For Tom)

I used to work as a waitress in an Italian restaurant in Montclair, NJ. I would joke around with the chef, Alan Gaeta, and watch over his shoulder as he made his spectacular soups, panna cotta, semolina gnocchi and eggs in purgatory. On the menu he called it grandma's eggs in purgatory which lends to how you feel when you're eating such a dish. There is a hint of it being so good that it must have been made with experience, a gentle hand and only loving thoughts for the eater. 

To be honest, I've bastardized poor grandma Gaeta's eggs in purgatory. 

Although it wouldn't have taken a whole lot of time I did not make the sauce. 

I know. I'm terrible, right?

Homemade tomato sauce is fun and altogether simple but sometimes a person just wants to eat without so much fuss. Of course this would be a wonderful thing to do with leftover homemade marinara if you have it. I am a serious advocate for all things homemade but some people take it too seriously. 

If you're a home cook and want breakfast/brunch/lunch that looks extravagant, has all the comforts of mashed potatoes with gravy and took all of 15 minutes, well, consider the help from a jar. 

Pardon the picture quality. Iphones are pretty good but not SLR's

Eggs in Purgatory

Serves 2

1/2 Jar of tomato sauce. *

1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

2 crushed cloves of garlic. (when using store bought tomato sauce I always add one fresh ingredient.)

4 large eggs

1 Tbsp of grated Parmesan

Crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper to taste. 

In a stainless steel or cast iron pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat.

Add the garlic and cook through. 

Add the tomato sauce and wait until the sauce is at an even boil. Remember, the sauce has to be hot enough to poach the eggs.

Crack the eggs as close to the tomato sauce as you can and let boil until the bottoms of the eggs begin to turn white. 

Evenly coat the eggs with the Parmesan and the crushed red pepper if you desire.

Then loosely cover the sauce and eggs with a lid.

Cook until you reach your desired yoke consistency.

Serve on top of toasted English muffins as I did or if you're planning ahead get a really nice fresh loaf of bread to really wow.

*For the sauce I used Bertolli's Olive oil and garlic sauce. I like it for this purpose because of how thin it is initially so it takes well to being boiled and thickens nicely.

Buen Provecho!