'Smitten' with Warm Mushroom and Arugula Salad........

It should come as no surprise that, as a food blogger, I read other food blogs. Clotilde's Chocolate & Zucchini arouses a little Parisian frisson every time I read a new entry (and you have to love a good ampersand), David Lebovitz always inspires, I have read the entire famed 'Julie/Julia Project' blog from virtual cover to cover, and Deb's smitten kitchen and Molly's Orangette very often make me actually laugh out loud. Even the venerable Judith Jones (she of discovering-Julia-Child fame) blogs, for God's sake, and the woman is in her mid-80s! There's a wealth of food bloggery out there for the taking, the reading, and the (pardon the inexcusable food pun) digesting. And yet I read somewhere that most people don't actually use the wonderful recipes they come across online via food blogs; most people are in it largely for the breathless thrill of food porn alone. Whatever takes your fancy, I've been guilty of the same in the past......but when we're backed up against the wall over here with no dinner ideas in sight, and our imaginations fail us, we turn to three possible sources: The Library, The Files, or The Blogs.

The Library, as the name suggests, refers to Mike's and my collection of cookbooks. No tidy, Dewey decimal'ed shelf of books is this, but rather a sprawling, uneven clutch of books whose epicenter is the far corner of our small kitchen. Hardcovers, paperbacks, large and small books and pamphlets of all kinds squat together, punctuated by the occasional corner of a white sheet of paper protruding from a book, on which might be a handscrawled recipe for cornbread from Mike's dad, or printed out instructions from Alton Brown on how to construct the perfect holiday turkey from all the way brining to roasting. A pickling cookbook sits next to one specifically for soup, a book of traditional Austrian recipes nestles between Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook and Thomas Keller's French Laundry cookbook, and even Julia Child and Martha Stewart manage to bunk decently together without any elbowing or girlish hair-pulling.

The Files, as they are so vaguely referred to, represent years' worth of pulled recipes from magazines of all sorts that long ago met their fate in the recycling bin. These include such venerable publications as the New York Times Sunday magazine, Food & Wine and Bon Appetit, but also Every Day with Rachel Ray (what can I say? She's had some good recipes) and even the now-defunct JANE magazine (R.I.P.). When I see a recipe I'm likely to try (or even one I'd like to think I'll get around to, you know, someday), I pull it for The Files. Don't let the name fool you. Much like The Library, The Files are no glossy, organized affair, but an unbound, messy, sliding stack of loose magazine pages that have occupied various spots in the house and occasionally gets lost (as it did a few weeks ago when we misplaced the whole stack somehow and were desperately searching for a certain treasured jerk chicken recipe that was certain the be in The Files.....if only we could have found them! Alas.). The Files currently occupy one corner of a low ottoman in the dining room, next to some back issues of the Times and empty boxes we are saving one at a time for our move. At least, I think.



Finally, we also sometimes turn to The Blogs, a category which includes all the blogs I listed above plus many, many others. And it was in turning to The Blogs this past Monday that I found this gem via smitten kitchen: Warm Mushroom Salad with Hazelnuts (original recipe can be found here). My heart went pitter-pat. Warm mushrooms! Hazelnuts! Peppery greens and slivers of sharp pecorino! I had to have it, exactly as Deb suggested, with a slice of crusty bread alongside it and a warm poached egg snuggled on top. I even baked a loaf of bread specifically to have some on hand to go with this salad.

After making a few substitutions (okay, I hesitate to say 'compromises'), the tale of the warm mushroom salad had a happy ending.....it was delicious! I used grated parmesan as the cheese, formerly-dried morels and baby portobellos instead of an assortment of fresh wild mushrooms, and pecans stood in for expensive hazelnuts (oh, for the day we move to Oregon, where the streets are paved with hazelnuts and fresh morels!), it's true. But once the runny golden yolk of the poached egg was pierced and spread silkily throughout the warm innards of the salad, I was hooked on the nutty, rich, crunchy flavors. A little compromise worked out just fine in this case. With crusty bread in hand, I wiped the plate clean, readers.

Celebrating 'Pi Day' Two Ways............

It's March 14th, also known as Pi Day (3/14), which means........I suggest we all get busy baking some pie! Sure, there are a world of options out there in pie-land, a thousand variations on fruit pies and other dessert pies to choose from, but before you become overwhelmed: consider the humble pizza pie. Perhaps not so humble, when topped with bits of prosciutto, a tomato-onion-butter sauce, and a tender blanket of fresh, green baby arugula.

This is the way we ate ours a few days ago, and I can think of no better way to honor Pi Day than by re-creating this wonderful pie. In about an hour and a half, this slice of heaven could be on your plate!


For the crust:

2 C. all-purpose flour
1 packet active dry yeast
1 C. warm water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
olive oil

For everything else:

1 can diced tomatoes (in tomato season, I'd use fresh ones, but in March you're much better off using canned tomatoes than the mushy, pale pink blobs they sell in the produce aisle)
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt/pepper/sugar to taste
small pinch of dried oregano
a few slices of prosciutto
1 ball mozzarella
baby arugula

To make the crust, combine warm water and active yeast in a small bowl, and set aside for 5 minutes. Combine flour, salt and sugar in another bowl, add yeast mixture, and combine until dough forms. Knead vigorously for 1 minute on a well-floured surface, then place in an oiled bowl to rise for 1 hour.

While dough is rising, heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and saute for about a minute longer, then add tomatoes and cook for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes just begin to relax into 'sauce.' Taste & adjust seasoning with salt/pepper/sugar as needed, then set aside to cool.

When dough is ready, preheat oven to 450 and prepare a baking pan by liberally covering it in olive oil. Stretch dough to desired size/thickness in pan, sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, and dried oregano, pat into crust. Spread sauce thinly over crust, then cover with slices of mozzarella. Finally, add small pieces of prosciutto. Place in hot oven and cook until cheese is bubbling and browned in places (about 20 minutes, but your milegae may vary, so keep a close eye on it). Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly, then cover with a generous handful of lightly chopped baby arugula. Slice & serve!

But what to serve after this perfect pizza pie, your sweet tooth cries? Smooth mozzarella, salty ham and the perfectly peppery bite of arugula leaves are all very well, thankyouverymuch......but what if your soul still cries out for dessert on Pi Day?? Okay. Maybe, if you happen to have a neglected lemon kicking about in the kitchen, a handful of other basic ingredients, and some adorable little tart pans, maybe you can make Lemon Tarts for Two.


Lemon Tarts for Two

2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 crumbled gingersnap cookies
pinch of salt
juice of 1 lemon
1 egg
2 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Place butter, brown sugar, cookies, salt and 2 of the 4 tablespoons of flour in food processor and pulse until everything is combined and crumbly. Press into two mini tart pans to form crust, and bake until lightly golden brown, about 15-20 minutes, then remove and lower heat to 300.


Beat egg and lemon juice together, then add sugar and combine until dissolved. Finally, beat in remaining 2 tablespoons of flour until the mixture is creamy and no lumps remain. Pour into tart pans and bake at 300 for about 20 minutes, or until lemon filling is just set. Remove from oven and let cool thoroughly, then dust lightly with extra powdered sugar. Share with the one you love. :)