Yes Virginia, Your Tagine Can Make Chicken and Dumplings!

Chicken and dumplings! My Mom used to make huge pans of this age-old country fave when I was a kid.
It was cheap, filling, and so damn full of country flavour that it's practically obscene. Mom was feeding a raft of kids.  SB and I are on our own these days. This recipe is dramatically downsized and the dumplings were jazzed up a bit.

The dumplings I made last evening were chock full of green herbs and grated cheese.  Boneless chicken thighs, potatoes, carrots (lots of carrots), onions, celery, and thick, goopy gravy! A convenient step up from Mom's in that there were no chicken bones to pick around, but just as cheap, just as good, and the skeleton of Mom's recipe is intact. Thanks Mom!

Two Words ... Meatless Monday

To-may-toe ... To-mah-toe

Po-tay-toe ... Po-tah-toe



Green Herbs

Thyme Sprigs

Meatless Monday

Vegetable Tart

Tomato and Potato Tart with Aged Gouda

a slightly adapted Yankee Magazine recipe

Tart Shell Ingredients:

1 ¼ c. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. Kosher salt
½ c. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon chunks
¼ c. ice water

Filling Ingredients:

3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and unpeeled

2 medium ripe tomatoes … or 6 to 8 smaller tomatoes, ¼ inch slices
1 ½ c. aged Gouda cheese, shredded
¼ c. fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
¾ c. milk or half & half
3 large eggs
Two generous pinches cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and black pepper
3 generous pinches fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
2 pretty thyme sprigs

Making the Tart:

1. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade and whiz it to combine.
2. Add the cold butter a tablespoon at a time, whizzing in between. The resulting mixture should resemble a coarse meal.
3. Add the ice water a bit at a time, whizzing until the dough comes away from the bowl’s sides to form a raggedy dough
4. Turn the pie dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and quickly gather it into a ball.
5. Wrap snuggly and flatten it to a disk and refrigerate it for about half an hour while you prepare the tart filling.
6. Whisk the eggs, milk, and cayenne pepper together in a small bowl and set it aside.
7. Place the scrubbed potatoes (whole) in a saucepan of water and cook them gently until they are almost completely softened (knife tender). Then, drain and let them cool so you can handle them.
8. Chop the parsley, grate the cheeses (but keep them separate), slice the tomatoes, and then slice the potatoes in ¼ inch slices.
9. Preheat the oven to 425° F and place the rack in the center of the oven.
10. Roll the dough out and fit it into a 10-inch spring form pan. Fold the dough edges back down on itself to form a deep dish tart form. The crust should come up the sides of the pan about 1 ½ inches. Crimp it prettily, line the shell with foil and pie weights and bake it for ten minutes.
11. After ten minutes, decrease the oven temperature to 400°, remove the foil and pie weights and continue to bake the crust for another ten minutes – until the crust is golden.
12. Remove the tart shell and let it cool, slightly.
13. Place layers of potato, tomato, parsley and thyme leaves, Gouda cheese, potato, tomato, herbs, cheese … you should get two layers of each.
14. Pour the egg and milk mixture over all, drizzling over the top to wet everything .
15. Finish the cheese layer by sprinkling the Parmesan cheese over all and laying the thyme sprigs in the center of the tart.
16. Bake for 40 minutes at 400° F. Let te finished tart set for five to ten minutes to ‘set up’ before slicing.

Almost Gone

Twice-Baked Potatoes and Garlicky Broccoli

My poor guy has got the flu ... lay down sick, high fever and glassy-eye, harsh bark flu. He has no appetite for big plates. I managed to get tea and toast into him this morning, but he told me he just didn't want to eat a regular dinner or lunch. Still, he has to eat and so do I, so we had mugs of chicken pot pie soup that was leftover from last night's supper - ah, soothing on the throat.  I have bribed him to eat a small supper of twice baked potato and some steamed vegetable ... more tea, more water, more juice. Poor guy.

Whiskey and Cider Glazed Ham with Colcannon

I know I'm pushing the Fall thing, but it's presence is ever closer - just look at all that goldenrod that's in bloom! SB and I went for a bike ride today out along one of  the New Hampshire rail trail bike paths. This one was over in Jaffrey. There were clumps of goldenrod along the path and ponds carpeted with defunct lilypads ... limp, drooping blossoms laying on the water and bullfrogs 'galumphing' away.

Picnic Fare 2 - Potato Salad

So, here it is the 4th of July and before we get the grill going, I'm making a potato salad to sit beside the hotdogs and corn on the cob. Potato salad is serious business because every family has their favorite and ours is no exception. There are several rules for making the potato salad that graces the tables at the grey cottage. So, here goes ...

Two Words ...

New Cookbook

Roasted Vegetables

Cold Eggs

Fresh Herbs

Salad Bowl

Broccoli Gribiche

Two Words ...

so fresh ...

Spring Day Poking Around ... and Carrot Soup

SB and I have had our noses poked in the seed catalogues and gardening books this past week and we've been thinking about vegetable gardens and berries and Springtime yard pursuits! Isn't the change of seasons a motivating time? Yesterday, it was absolutely glorious outside all day. SB raked and I baked. I poked around a bit looking for daffodils and crocus popping through the soil. Then we sat around on the back terrace and caught the first mosquito of the season and laughed over that little bugger. It was a lazy day at the grey cottage.

Come evening, I used some leftover carrots (from the little church's Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner event) and made SB and I a delightful pot of Cream of Carrot Soup. This was a simple uncomplicated affair - onions and garlic sautéed, boiled potatoes, and cooked carrots, a flour and butter roux, and a session in the blender to make a smooth as silk purée. The lot was put back in the pan with some low-fat evaporated milk, chicken broth, white pepper and a bit of smoked paprika. Whisked to a steaming simmer, it was a perfect easy supper. We had some leftover yeast rolls all warm and steamy to dip in the soup ... and I had my cold glass of Sauvignon blanc. Life is good.

Minestrone Soup with Tortellini

There is nothing better than soup for supper! With fresh bread alongside, it just can't be beat for the end of a busy day. And the kicker is ... when you make a big pot of soup, you can have leftovers for lunch for the next couple days ... mmm! Am I right? Huh? Huh?

Happy Accident Soup ... or Empty Bowl Blues

damp cold day  ... empty bowl blues

When I first started cooking, I followed recipes to ... the ... letter. Sometimes, I was ecstatic and at other times not so ecstatic. As I gained confidence in the kitchen and learned about spice chemistry, kitchen chemistry, and husband and kid chemistry, I got  to the point where I could play with recipes or make up meals from what was sitting around the counter top and in the fridge. These meals usually came at a time when I was a.) unorganized and forgot to take something from the freezer in the morning b.) on a tear and sick of making all the usual 'crap' (not literally) c.) on a mission to purge the kitchen of various and sundry or d.) alone in the house with the kids and knowing I could get away with a disaster because there was always Kraft mac&cheese in the blue box.

Warm Potato Salad

I've made this salad three times now and I feel that I have finally got it the way I like it ... you need to make it and make it your own. So here you go ... so simple, so good, so perfect with any roasted ham or fish fry or grilled chicken (put some tarragon in the dressing for the salad sitting beside chicken!) or steaks. My,my,my!

I make this salad 'by guess and by gosh', as my Mom would say. I eyeball how many potatoes I need for the number of folks eating and then play with the amount of dressing to toss in. I'll give you servings for four ... how's that?

Letting Go ... A Story of A Ham Bone and Some Books

Today is Saturday, a day when most folk have kids home from school, when teachers are taking a day for family time and home errands, when many from the work-a-day world take a break and maybe curl up with a good book. For me, it's a day of letting go. You see, after guarding the kazillion books that were part of my years in classrooms from grades four through eight, I have finally begun the process of letting go of the dream of returning to a classroom... and hence, the books. So many wonderful titles have passed through so many young hands over time. They've been read aloud for pleasure, used for lessons in reading, writing or science and social studies, shared with younger schoolmates in reading clubs, and loved. Since leaving my last classroom, they've sat on the small study shelves, indeed dominated the shelves, in the grey cottage here in New Hampshire.

Easy Scalloped Potatoes - A Break From the Turkey

Today, I heard from Max. It's been a while since I've received a comment from him. This is the first time that I have had a request, though. So... an easy and yummy potato dish for you, Max! Add it to your basics! And have a wonderful weekend with your folks!

Max is getting a recipe based on what I have in my fridge ... I, too, have some stress for this Thanksgiving weekend! My problem is how to make room in the fridge for all the ingredients for our Thanksgiving feast. I cleaned my fridge this morning and have decided to 'make do' with what I have in the fridge and the pantry for meals until I shop for the feast ingredients. So ham steaks, the last of a block of Cheddar, and some broccoli and cauliflower to round out dinner ... there's a bit more room for the feast fare!