Albóndigas de Jalisco - Diana Kennedy

Sometimes a love of a culture will change a person so dramatically that their life's work becomes a mission to encapsulate the best of the culture in their everyday lifestyle ... and they end up becoming the ultimate ambassador for that culture. In the world of food, we have seen numerous such ambassadors as we've investigated Gourmet's 50 Woman Game Changers - Julia Child and her love of French culture and cuisine, Elizabeth Andoh and her passion for Japanese philosophy and cuisine, and now, Diana Kennedy and her immersion in Mexican culture and cuisine.

The Good, the Bad and the Yummy ...

Here comes the asparagus! Being on a diet is tough, but when the new vegetables come into market, life is so much easier! We scored beautiful asparagus spears yesterday and the simplest thing to do was to snap the ends, slice them on the diagonal, drizzle them with good olive oil, sprinkle them with Kosher salt and fresh black pepper, toss on about two teaspoons of fresh lemon zest and roast them under foil in the oven for about 20 minutes in a hot oven (400 degrees F). Took the foil off and let them finish for another five minutes to dissipate some of the steaminess ... and then, we gobbled. It was so good!

Provençal Bourride and Making Aïoli ...

There are certain foods into which patience is mixed and mixed and mixed ... the results are spectacular when you get it right or crushing when you don't. Perhaps that's because of the specificity of traditional technique, the thought put into the making of the dish, the multiple steps that are best timed carefully, the little trick techniques that ensure success, the nuance of textures that must be achieved, and ultimately ... the gut feelings that a sure cook understands they must listen to and act on. I had plenty of time to come up with this idea last evening. I thought of mastering soufflés, rolling and cutting pasta, constructing a finely decorated cake, perfecting a classic paella, making an exquisite buttercream, tempering chocolate, designing beautiful petit-fours, hand-dipping bon-bons, rolling the perfect pie crust, and in my case, making a perfect aïoli. All require patience and attention to little details.

Eric's Birthday Cake ...

Birthdays are the perfect occasion to bake a cake, right? The problem in our household is that I am trying to diet, SB doesn't want cakes that last all week long, and our kids are not sweets eaters. This weekend when I made a birthday dinner for our son, the request was made to have a light cake ... nothing over the top.

Okay ...

Saturday Snapshot - Ghosts of Home

Long before we called these woods home, there were others. Their farmhouse sat above a stone cellar hole. Cattle or sheep meandered their way along this country farm lane. Cups and saucers clatttered in a wash pan, the used water splashing a kitchen garden. And the view across the pond soothed a farmer after a long day. They say the largest crop that New England has is rocks ... that's a hard and bitter harvest for many a hardscrabble farmer.

Pete and I walked in the woods this week and came upon the ghost of someone's small farmstead ... it was haunting and humbling to see the rocks cleared and walls created, the stone cellar hole, the remnants of an animal pound and grown up fields, a collapsed well, and that old wash pan. It looked as if the last thing the farm wife did before leaving the old hill farm was to wash the dishes and dump the water against and a fallen tree. Then, she and her family moved on ...

To participate in Alyce's photoshare, visit her here. Use an original snapshot of your own and write a bit about it. Then link it and leave a comment on Alyce's Saturday Snapshot letting her know you're in on this week's offerings. Enjoy browsing everyone's pics ... there is such creativity and fun to be shared!

50 Woman Game Changers - Oh, Nigella!

Nigella says that these high airy scones look like they have cellulite ... what do YOU think ?

Nigella Lawson's book, How To Be A Domestic Goddess - Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking, is certainly a book on which to build one's reputation. Nigella Lawson has done that and moved on to perfect the naughty nuance and 'meaningful glance' on camera, pulled all the stops out to build whole episodes of her show around 'guilty pleasures', 'late night knoshing', and 'posh dinner parties'. For all her posturing, though, Nigella has the chops to brag on. She consistently comes up with excellent recipes, has a devil-may-care-attitude when filming her cooking procedures that gives viewers the confidence to 'throw together' their versions of her dishes, and gives good solid advice on technique and ingredients. For these reasons, she has made the cut and is included on the 50 Woman Game Changers list that Gourmet posted on-line last Spring.

Two Words ...

so fresh ...

Spring Ham!

Yes, yes! I know I'm a bit behind the times what with Easter gone by a couple weeks. I didn't make a ham then, as we were getting ready to leave for our trip to Toronto, the kids were all busy and not coming home for an Easter feast, and my goal was to leave an empty fridge when we set out on our road trip.

Now, though, I have plans for a sweet roasted ham with a pretty apricot glaze. I can just imagine all the little leftover tidbits being used for omelettes and gratins and soup and empanadas! Oh, a ham is such a tasty and  economical grocery buy, don't you think?

Of course, when I make a glazed ham at this time of year, the meal also includes the beginnings of Spring vegetables ... simple roasted asparagus, the first good cherry tomatoes on the vine roasted with bread crumbs and herbs, a simple potato gratin ... there are daffodils for the table and fresh light white wine or a pretty rosé for the wineglasses.

I think I need to invite some friends by for dinner and leave the windows open so we can hear the windchimes and birds that are full of Spring riot! Yup! Spring fever has hit the grey cottage on the hill ... I hope your Spring is popping out all over too!

Now, about hams. Folks have their techniques, but mine is a lazy cook's way. I buy pre-cooked hams and because they are quite salty, I wash them well and put them in a kettle of cold water. I bring them to a slow boil. When the water begins to skim up with a bit of salty foam, I dump the pot, rinse the ham and place it meat side down on a rack that sits in a foil-lined roasting pan. I make a glaze, score the outer 'hump of the ham' in cross hatches, poke whole cloves, slather a thick layer of glaze, cover it and let it absorb some of the sweetness in the crosshatches for about two hours. Then, I slow roast the ham in a 325 °F for about 15 minutes per pound. Midway through the roasting time, I add just a bit of water to the bottom of the pan to keep the glaze from burning ... then in the last 20 minutes, I slather more glaze on the ham and let the caramelizing stickiness work to make a coat of shiny sweetness all over the pork. When the roast is placed on a platter, I spoon some of the pan juices into the remaining glaze to loosen it up and serve it in a warm pitcher for drizzling over slices of warm ham. Yum!

Oh! Almost forgot the glaze! I use an adapted recipe from Darina Allen's apricot jam glaze ... so easy! One cup of apricot preserves, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tbsp. whole grain spicy mustard, 1 tbsp. honey, zest of half an orange, juice of one orange ... mix, mix mix, slather, slather, slather!

That's it! Spring ham!