“What would you like for breakfast?” I asked. “I never met an egg I didn’t like,” said my very dear friend Chris Kliesen Wehrman with a gleam in her eye one morning after she had spent the night at our house.
Continue readingTomatoes
Tomato and Chive Yogurt Scrambled Eggs
Last post for a a couple of weeks. The blog, Dave and I are going on vacation. See you soon!
QUESTION: How many eggs do you eat in a week, Alyce?
ANSWER: As many as I can!! (Not really.)
It seems every year there’s a new answer to the old egg question, “How many eggs should I eat each week?” Just like several other questions about diet and health, this can be a confusing one. I refuse to let it be.
Continue readingShrimp Ratatouille
Occasionally necessity really is the mother of invention. A couple of containers of late summer ratatouille still in the fridge wondering if I’d forgotten them. (I hadn’t. That stuff’s pure gold.) Raw shrimp on sale at the store that jumped into my cart. A lonely sauté pan on the stove. An empty tummy.
Continue readingCheesy Eggs on Marjoram Mushrooms
There are matches made in heaven. Just exactly what does that mean, anyway? While you might be thinking about you and your partner; I could be thinking about Dave and me…
Continue readingTomato-Chickpea Salad
If the goal of feeding folks in the summer is to keep the cooking and the heat at a minimum, I’m in. As my friend Jodie says, “I turn into a troll when the temperature gets above 65 degrees F.” Even it it’s not terribly hot outdoors — or is, in fact, lovely — my house seems to turn into a hot box on June 1 every year. Of course that’s just one reason Americans grill (the contemporary version of the separate summer kitchen) and eat outdoors anytime we can. The other is we’re inordinately attached to kicking back for three months every year. Or we say we are anyway.
Continue readingFRIDAY FISH: Sole Arrabbiata with Vegetables
Eight years ago, I blogged a dish I perhaps inadvisedly named, “Saving Your Sole in a Fish Bowl.” I guess I couldn’t help myself. Recently, looking over some of my earlier fish and seafood recipes, it was obvious this recipe –while tasty and a little different –needed updating. Not only did the recipe itself scream for a fresh edit, the photographs were sad. So sad. They didn’t even look like the delicious meal I had made and, well, they were pretty embarrassing. If I were going to use this for the last FRIDAY FISH of the year (Good Friday), I’d better get to work. More about Good Friday?
FRIDAY FISH: Oven Roasted Dijon-White Fish with Lemon-Garlic Spring Vegetables
At lunch today, Dave (husband and sous chef) says, “So what are you going to call this?” Usually, by the time we’re eating, I have a name for my new dish. The thing is, a recipe title must say exactly what it is without being cutesy, obtuse, or overly long. My final choice isn’t cutesy–which would be something like “Aunt Alyce’s Fish Surprise.” It’s not obtuse–as in “Fish Supreme.” It is, however, overly long. I just can’t go over it one more time and I’m still not sure it states its case perfectly. I will say that while I thought about it for a week before I made it, it surpassed my dreams at the table. I wanted an oven fish meal and I got it. Simple and healthy? Check. No big shop or prep? Definitely. Contrasting in tastes and textures? Sure. Done quickly? Oh yeah. Scrumptious and satisfying? You’ll have to try it and see! We loved it.
Continue readingSalmon on Ratatouille
Ah, summer. Oh, oh: ratatouille!
ra· ta· touille
[rat-uh–too-ee, –twee; Fr.ra-ta–too-yuh]noun
a vegetable stew of Provence, typically consisting of eggplant, zucchini,onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and garlic, served hot or cold.
-dictionary.reference.com
I loved the movie (Ratatouille).
Also “The Big Night”
And “Babette’s Feast”
Try them. Food movies. Sigh.
Spiked Gazpacho with Crab
It’s a drink, it’s an appetizer, a first course, a meal, or all of the above. Definitely cool and summer stunning in chilled, heavy on-the-rocks glasses with a crostini side-car, this Spiked Gazpacho with Crab would eat happily out of small bowls, coffee cups, wine glasses, or … …
Tomato and Basil Omelet — A Good Reason to Garden
The blog, Dave, doggies, and I are on vacation for a bit. See you soon!
Omelets are the perfect example of,
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again…
Only you can eat the sad-looking/happy-tasting evidence over..and over…and over. No matter what, you’ll have breakfast, lunch, or dinner in under a couple of minutes because omelets are perfect for any meal and maybe especially so during hot muggy summer days. They’re also inexpensive, healthy, full of protein, and encourage creative invention. Leftover chicken and cheese? Stuff that in your omelet. A bit of salsa along with a half piece of grilled zucchini? There you go. Nothing at all but parsley? You have an herb omelet. Not even a sprig of parsley, but a tablespoon of sticky jam at the bottom of the jar? That, too, makes for a tasty omelet filling.