Coifed to Cook

Article on our Biscotti at Noon workshop

2009-12-20T15:32:00.004-05:00

Thank you again Jonnie Bassaro of the News-Times for this terrific article! Hope you're all making biscotti this holiday season!

best,

Gina and Irene

Biscotti-making workshop, Sunday, Dec. 13

2009-12-10T11:47:00.003-05:00

There are still some seats left for the biscotti-making workshop at the Jewish Community Center in Sherman, Conn., on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. To reserve your spot, call Susan Stein at the JCC at 860-355-8050 or e-mail her at jccinsherman@yahoo.com

Hope to see you there!

Irene and Gina

Cooking classes for 2010

2009-12-08T09:03:00.008-05:00

______________________________________________________________

The Season of Soup –– Sunday, January 17, 11:30 a.m.

(Snow date: Sunday, January 24)

Learn how to make three great soups (and great stock)!

• Roasted Tomato

• Lentil with broccoli rabe

• Escarole with turkey meatballs

____________________________________________________________________
Great Starters –– Sunday, February 21, 11:30 a.m.
(Snow date: Sunday, February 28)
Try these yummy appetizers on family and friends!
• Hummus
• Smoked salmon spread
• Artichoke dip

____________________________________________________________________

Fruit and Nut Biscotti –– Sunday, March 14, 11:30 a.m.

(Snow date: Sunday, March 21)

___________________________________________________________________

All workshops are $45. To reserve your spot, e-mail coifedtocook@sbcglobal.net.

It's the season of soup!

2009-12-02T22:02:00.003-05:00

Learn how to make three great soups (and great stock)!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

11:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m.

$45

(Snow date: Sunday, January 24)

To reserve your spot, e-mail coifedtocook@sbcglobal.net.

Please indicate which time you would prefer.

Irene and Gina

Toffee Apple Biscotti

2009-11-21T19:18:00.002-05:00

1 small naval orange

3 eggs, large

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons butter, melted

3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder (check date for expiration)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups dried apple, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups Heath English toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a large cookie sheet. Cut the orange into half and each half into quarters (including the rind.) Process the orange chunks in a food processor until it breaks down (the rind will be in larger pieces than the pulp.) You will have about 3/4 cup of processed orange. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add the processed orange and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add butter and stir.

In a smaller bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. With a wooden spoon add and stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture (the dough will be stiff.) Stir in the apples and toffee bits.

On the buttered cookie sheet, place 3 evenly sized long mounds of dough. With wet hands (to prevent sticking) shape and form the dough into 3 slightly flattened logs about 12 inches in length and 3 to 4 inches wide.

Bake the logs in the middle of the oven until golden, about 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven.) Place the cookie sheet on a rack and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer the logs to a cutting board and with a serrated knife cut each log at an angle crosswise into 12 to 14 slices.

Arrange slices (laying down) on the cookie sheet (you will not have room for all the sliced logs at one time.) Bake for 7-8 minutes, turn the slices over and bake another 7-8 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool. Repeat until all sliced biscotti have been baked again.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 10 days or place cooled biscotti in freezer bags and freeze for 3 months. Biscotti do not require thawing therefore may be eaten frozen.

Makes 36-42 biscotti

Biscotti at Noon

2009-11-10T16:38:00.005-05:00

Gina and I did our first Biscotti at Noon workshop on Sunday, Nov. 8. It was a smashing success (if we do say so ourselves)! Thanks to our wonderful participants –– Ann, Sharon, Mary, Lisa, Jackie, Jen, Maddie and Jonnie –– for their enthusiasm and interest and all the great talk about food. Let us know how your biscotti turned out!

We are most grateful to Jonnie Bassaro of the News-Times who wrote the article that got everyone to call or e-mail about this and future workshops. We'll be posting new workshop information on this blog within the month.

Hope to see you soon.

Irene and Gina

Orange, Pumpkin and Pecan Biscotti

2009-11-07T20:24:00.003-05:00

Orange, Pumpkin and Pecan Biscotti

Image by TPapi via Flickr

1 small naval orange

3 eggs, large

1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons butter, melted

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder (check date for expiration)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Image via Wikipedia

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
4 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a large cookie sheet. Cut the orange into half and each half into quarters (including the rind). Process the orange chunks in a food processor until it breaks down (the rind will be in larger pieces than the pulp). You will have about 3/4 to 1 cup of processed orange. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add 1/2 cup processed orange, pumpkin and vanilla. Beat

Image via Wikipedia

until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add butter and stir.

In a smaller bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to the flour mixture. With a wooden spoon add and stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture (the dough will be stiff). Stir in the pecans and crystallized ginger.

Bake the logs in the middle of the oven until golden, about 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven.) Place the cookie sheet on a rack and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Transfer the logs to a cutting board and with a serrated knife cut each log at an angle crosswise into 12 to 14 slices.

Arrange slices (laying down) on the cookie sheet (you will not have room for all the sliced logs at one time). Bake for 8-10 minutes, turn the slices over and bake another 7-8 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool. Repeat until all sliced biscotti have been baked twice.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 10 days or place cooled biscotti in freezer bags and freeze for 3 months. Biscotti do not require thawing therefore may be eaten frozen.

Makes 36-42 biscotti

Read all about our biscotti classes!

2009-11-03T08:25:00.002-05:00

Biscotti-making workshops

2009-11-01T08:13:00.004-05:00

In honor of our Biscotti at Noon workshops offered on Sunday, Nov. 8, and Sunday, Dec. 6, we are posting our recipe for Cranberry and Pistachio Holiday Biscotti. Yummmy and so easy to make!

If you'd like information about Biscotti at Noon, e-mail coifedtocook@sbcglobal.net. We hope to see you there!

Cranberry and Pistachio Holiday Biscotti

2009-11-01T08:06:00.006-05:00

1 small naval orange

3 eggs, large

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons butter, melted

3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder (check date for expiration)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups dried, sweetened cranberries
1 1/4 cups pistachios, coarsely chopped

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add the processed orange and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add butter and stir.

In a smaller bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With a wooden spoon add and stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture (the dough will be stiff). Stir in the cranberries and pistachios until well combined.

Bake the logs in the middle of the oven until golden, about 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven). Place the cookie sheet on a rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Transfer the logs to a cutting board and with a serrated knife cut each log at an angle crosswise into 12 to 14 slices.

Arrange slices (laying down) on the cookie sheet (you will not have room for all the sliced logs at one time). Bake for 7-8 minutes, turn the slices over and bake another 5-6 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool. Repeat until all sliced biscotti have been baked again.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 10 days or place cooled biscotti in freezer bags and freeze for 3 months. Biscotti do not require thawing therefore may be eaten frozen.

Makes 36-42 biscotti

How she wears her hair (now)!

2009-10-25T10:23:00.002-04:00

Sleek, smooth and -- flat-ironed

Image by stockingvixen via Flickr

Want to make Biscotti for the holiday?

2009-10-25T10:19:00.004-04:00

Join us for one of two biscotti-making classes: Sunday, Nov. 8 or Sunday, Dec. 6

Noon – 3 p.m., Danbury, Conn.

Class size limited so register now!

Call (203) 733-8176 or e-mail coifedtocook@sbcglobal.net

Lemon logic

2009-10-25T10:13:00.001-04:00

Remember when you were young and hanging out on the beach with your friends? It was summer then. The saltwater and sun in your hair made you beautiful and the rest of your life somehow stretched before you, promising more of the same. You squeezed fresh lemon (or bottled lemon juice) and combed through your wet hair to brighten the color.

Image via Wikipedia

You’re grown-up now, so this technique works best if you’re sitting in the sun on a sunny beach in the Caribbean (as long as we’re dreaming).

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons over Couscous

2009-10-18T14:09:00.008-04:00

Plan this dish at least a month in advance if you plan to preserve the lemons. Or, you can buy them in specialty stores.

For a printable version click here.

Image by sethfrantzman via Flickr

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

rind of 1 preserved lemon, cut into slivers (recipe below)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Fresh cilantro to garnish

2 cups couscous, cooked as directed

Heat the oil in the bottom of a tagine or a large Dutch oven. Saute onion and garlic over moderate heat for five minutes until onion is translucent and soft (but not brown).

Raise the heat, add the chicken pieces, and brown evenly turning often. Add the turmeric, cilantro, chicken stock, salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile rinse the pieces of lemon in cold running water and with a sharp chef knife trim the flesh and white pith of the lemon and discard. Cut the softened rind into thin strips and stir into the chicken.

Cover and cook very slowly for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove lid and if necessary, boil rapidly to reduce and thicken.

Garnish with fresh cilantro before serving with couscous.

Serves four.

Preserved Lemons

For a printable version click here.

Image by jfraser via Flickr

8 lemons

1/4 to 1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon whole cloves

Quarter 4 of the lemons, but don't cut all the way through; leave the slices attached at one end.

Sprinkle a pinch of salt in the bottom of a glass jar with a lid or an earthenware crock.

Liberally sprinkle a few pinches of salt on each lemon, and pack tightly into the container, crushing them to release the juice. Squeeze the remaining 4 lemons and add the juice to the container so that the lemons are almost covered with juice.

It is difficult to predict how many lemons you will need for this process because of varying amounts of juice in lemons.

The lemons you are preserving don't need to be totally covered with juice.

Cover the jar or crock and refrigerate for about 4 days, then stir the lemons, re-cover, add peppercorns and cloves and return to the refrigerator.

Leave undisturbed for at least one month. Rinse the lemons in cold water, discard the flesh and pith, and slice the rind before adding to a recipe.

Want to pay less for your produce?

2009-10-18T14:05:00.003-04:00

When you walk through the aisle, are you one of the many who feel reassured that the water sprinkler keeps the lettuce from drying out? This feature might also keep you from staying in your budget. Yes, it’s keeping the produce crisp and fresh, but it’s also adding weight and cost to the price of your purchase. So when you pick out you’re your lettuce, shake it before buying.

Image via Wikipedia

Pasta Maddalena

2009-10-11T04:48:00.003-04:00

For a printable version click here

½ cup pignoli nuts

½ cup soft breadcrumbs (homemade preferable)

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, cut in half and sliced thin

4 large cloves of garlic sliced

1 large head of cauliflower (cut into small florets)

3 large fresh tomatoes (peeled and crushed) or 1-½ cups of tomato sauce (homemade or jarred, not canned)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

¼ cup dry sherry or white wine

1/3 cup currants or equal amount raisins

1 or 2 heaping tablespoons basil pesto

1 pound short pasta

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a small dry non-stick skillet, toast pignoli nuts until golden and set aside.

In same non-stick skillet add 1 Tablespoon oil and toast the breadcrumbs until golden brown.

Set breadcrumbs aside to cool and then stir in grated cheese. Put this mixture aside.

In a large deep skillet or Dutch oven, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil and cook onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 2 minutes more. Add the cauliflower florets, tomatoes/sauce, tomato paste, stock, dry sherry and currants. (If using raisins add at end of cooking time.) Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until cauliflower is tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in basil pesto. Adjust final seasoning of salt and pepper.

Image via Wikipedia

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt to taste. Cook pasta according to directions and drain.

Toss the pasta with the cauliflower sauce and serve in individual plates. Allow each guest to garnish with breadcrumb and cheese mixture, then top off with pignoli nuts.

Serves 4-8 depending if used as main or side dish.

The 00s

2009-10-04T04:56:00.009-04:00

Cooking with a conscience

Welcome to the third millennium, a sober time marked thus far by war and economic uncertainty –– never mind competing values in our lives. Although generally pleased with the instant communication available to us via the Internet, many of us welcome the opportunity to slow things down when we can. Yes, we appreciate having good take-out at our fingertips, but we also like the idea of planning and creating a meal to share with those we love.

The slow food movement, for example, is a growing worldwide trend that links the pleasure of

Image via Wikipedia

food with community and the local environment each food type support. Consider the plain and simple act of breaking just-baked bread along with a salad of just-harvested greens over lunch (remember lunch?) with someone you love. Or someone you’re just getting to know. News is broken over lunch. Questions popped. In-laws introduced or losses grieved. Deals brokered. Honorees feted. A meal, with its conventions, rituals and promise, creates a moment in which a relationship can flourish.

No surprise that these days more of us busy folks are finding time to cook for self, family and friends. Some of it is belt-tightening; most of us are eating out less and when we are, we’re doing so on a less-grand scale. But also something about the 9/11 tragedy has brought us together –– in a crazy way, even alerted us to the humanity, culture and cuisine of the Middle East whose millions got dragged by a violent comparative few into the tragedy that has affected us all.

Image via Wikipedia

Now when we cook, we invest our American and international creations with fresh produce and organic products. Since 1990, the demand for organic has grown nearly 25 percent a year. We’re buying locally, often creating a feast around a seasonal crop or market. All-you-can-eat fat-and-carb-laden meals where quantity overshadows quality seem to be a thing of the past. Most fast food chains now offer an array of salads and nutritious meals, which means we can choose to stay on the diet straight-and-narrow when we need to eat fast.

The super-size mentality still exists, of course; everything from food to the square-footage of homes will always be subject to the concept in our collective unconscious that “bigger is better.” But as global warming and political unrest rises, as the roller coaster economy barrels towards the next decade, many are choosing non-processed, in-season food not only for pleasure and nourishment but as the answer to world hunger, as well.

It’s all about the comfort to be found in food. That’s why we call the best of it “comfort food.” We master a recipe, then alter it to our taste. In the same way, we style our hair any damn way we please these days: short, chic and highlighted like Senator Clinton or long, dark and glamorous a la Governor Palin.

New ground is being broken –– some of it in our lives, some in the kitchen. Busier than ever,

Image via Wikipedia

we’ll text invitations to dinner and the next day e-mail over the recipe that got raves. We’ll friend each other on Facebook and faithfully read each other’s blogs. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing like the face-to-face conversation we’ll continue to share over a great meal.

So strap on your food GPS system and let’s take a tour of the most popular foods that have defined the first decade of this century. Happy eating!

2009-09-24T06:45:00.003-04:00

"Beauty isn't worth thinking about; what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head." ~ Garrison Keillor

How she wore her hair: short, short (think Demi Moore and Sinead O’Connor)

Image via Wikipedia

The 90s –– What's Hot / What's Not

2009-09-24T06:40:00.005-04:00

Perriere / tap water

arugala / iceberg

Image via Wikipedia

John Grisham / Ian Fleming

NFL / MLB

olive oil / corn oil

the Rachel / the Afro

chardonnay / rose`

Pilates / Jane Fonda

“Pulp Fiction” / “Moonstruck”

low sodium / high fat

Image by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr

Cranberry and Pistachio Holiday Biscotti

2009-09-20T08:50:00.008-04:00

For a printable version of recipe click on this link.

1 small naval orange

3 eggs, large

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons butter, melted

3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder (check date for expiration)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups dried, sweetened cranberries

Image by athena. via Flickr

1 1/4 cups pistachio, coarsely chopped

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add the processed orange and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add butter and stir.

Bake the logs in the middle of the oven until golden, about 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven). Place the cookie sheet on a rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Transfer the logs to a cutting board and with a serrated knife cut each log at an angle crosswise into 14 to 16 slices.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 10 days or place cooled biscotti in freezer bags and freeze for 3 months. Biscotti do not require thawing therefore may be eaten frozen.

Makes 42-48 biscotti

Biscotti at Noon

2009-09-14T15:08:00.003-04:00

Biscotti-making class: $45

Sunday, Nov. 8

Noon – 3 p.m., Danbury, Conn.

Class size limited so register now!

Call (203) 733-8176 or e-mail coifedtocook@sbcglobal.net

Broccoli Rabe, Spicy Italian Sausage and Beans over Pasta

2009-09-13T05:03:00.008-04:00

For a printable version click here

Image via Wikipedia

Broccoli Rabe, Spicy Italian Sausage and Beans over Pasta

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thin

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 pound spicy hot Italian sausage, removed from casing

1 large bunch broccoli rabe, cut in 2 inch pieces including peeled stems

8 ounces chicken or vegetable stock

1 can, 19 ounce cannellini beans, drained

1/2 pound dried pasta, rigatoni, ziti, mostacholli or farfali

1 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste

1/3 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese for topping

In large deep skillet, saute onion in oil for 5 or 6 minutes until translucent, then add garlic and crushed red pepper (if using) for an additional 2 minutes.

Push onion and garlic to side of pan or set aside in small dish.

Using same skillet, saute sausage , mashing with a fork, until lightly browned. Return onion and garlic to skillet, add broccoli rabe and stock. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes until the broccoli rabe is tender. Add drained beans and stir until thoroughly mixed and heated.

While sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Cook pasta according to directions for desired doneness and when draining pasta, reserve 1-cup pasta cooking water.

Image via Wikipedia

Plate pasta with sauce, using reserved water if more moisture is needed and top with grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese.

The 90s

2009-09-06T18:45:00.005-04:00

Celebrity Food

It was the Age of Aquarius, come at last. Tom Petty was Learnin’ to Fly while a number of us nervously snacked on veggie-chips and gazed up, waiting to witness the Hale-Bopp comet making its once-every-4200-years sunward pass. Bopping toward us in the final long blink of the old century, what did it signify about the new one we’d soon be entering? Would we be okay as we drove on into the next millennium?

Crack out the Pinot Grigio, we said. Might as well enjoy the show.

And what a show it had been since the 50s when American Bandstand ruled and Checkers was a cute little cocker spaniel that came with his own controversial politician (Nixon) and then morphed into a Chubby singer. Here in the new era it was Raves – dancing like having a seizure – and Dolly was the newest cute little animal to come with a controversy (cloning). The first Big Mac was sold in Moscow. And we learned about all of these via that ever-spreading genius thing we were now calling the World Wide Web.

Tattooed-and-pierced, grunge-minded youth of the day wore Doc Martens and retro polyester as they sang “Losing My Religion” like daring acolytes drunk on the Eucharist wine behind the sacristy, while baby-boomer Married with Children types fretted about losing data on their hard drives.

As the Dot-com bubble burst and terrorists bombed the World Trade Center, we held our breath, casting an uneasy eye towards the rest of the world.

Image via Wikipedia

Some looked inward. Men with thinning hair explored a softer side, accompanying Robert Bly on a drum-beating journey of self-discovery. Others dared to look out. Women went to war alongside men in Kuwait; in the boardrooms of cities big and small, even in video games like the one where uber-sex-symbol Lara Croft’s goal was to conquer a man’s world, we women were pushed-up and plunged out via our Wonderbra, but determined to smash the glass ceiling of our professional lives.

Okay, most of us didn’t exactly aspire to be Lara Croft. Until we vied to have it all on our own terms –– marriage, kids, a career. Also shiny, sleek hair like the cute Rachel on Friends, a style that could be pulled back into a ponytail as we sweated at pilates in the gym.

We tried Feng Shui and environmentally friendly paper. We read Julia Child’s “Appetite for Life” and began a quest for more meaningful experience, much of it involving food. Lemongrass chicken from that Thai place we’d discovered. We could make that! And, hey, who couldn’t master the art of Mexican cooking as long as we didn’t wimp out on the hot sauce?

We rediscovered the power of homemade soup, made even better with fresh produce from local

food growers and organic low-sodium chicken broth. We gorged ourselves on the Food Network, where celebrity chefs fused eclectic combinations and brought them to our tables.

Image via Wikipedia

Meanwhile, we eyed the coming Y2K crash that the fear mongers and computer-snake-oil salesmen screamed was bound to happen but didn’t. And we inched our way over the line into 2000 celebrating with caviar from a free Russian republic and champagne from a France still in love with a pre-Bush Clinton presidency.

Gina's Gems

2009-08-30T18:16:00.013-04:00

For a printable version click here

This is a most impressive appetizer. Dried fruit comes to life when plumped in Marsala wine. The cheese and nut filling is wrapped in tissue-thin prosciutto and served warm on a small silver platter with lemon and lime wedges.

Image via Wikipedia

4 ounces dried figs, whole

4 ounces pitted large dates, whole

4 ounces dried apricots, whole

1 cup Marsala (I have also used Madera, Vermouth, dry Sherry, or white wine)

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup favorite nuts, toasted and chopped

8 ounces imported prosciutto, thinly sliced

Juice of one lemon

Lemon and lime slices (garnish)

Chopped fresh Italian parsley (garnish)

Cut the figs in half and combine with the dates and apricots in a small bowl. Cover with 1 cup white wine and let marinate at least one hour or overnight, tossing a few times.

Process the cream cheese, nuts and 1 tablespoon marinating liquid in a food processor until blended, refrigerate until cold for easier handling.

Drain the marinated fruit reserving the liquid. Slit each date and apricot down the center and open each fig half along the cut side to form a pocket. Fill each piece of fruit with a teaspoon of the cheese mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut strips of prosciutto to wrap around each stuffed fruit. Sprinkle with some of the reserved marinade as you work to keep the prosciutto moist.

Place the wrapped fruit on a baking sheet and bake until heated through, 7 to 10 minutes.

Let cool slightly, arrange on a serving dish, sprinkle with lemon juice, garnish with lemon and lime slices. Sprinkle with parsley.

Image by talekinker via Flickr

Makes about 40 appetizers

How she wore her hair in the 80s

2009-08-30T17:56:00.008-04:00

Cover of Working Girl

Big teased bangs.

The 80s –– What's Hot / What's Not

2009-08-24T08:03:00.003-04:00

Sinead O'Connor / Twiggy

microwaves / short-wave radio

Swatches / Micky Mouse watches

sun-dried tomatoes / freeze-dried coffee

hairstylist / hairdresser

All-you-can-eat buffet / juice bars

parachute pants / hot pants

Overeater’s Anonymous / three squares

Roseanne Barr / Donna Reed

Dirty Dancing / Dirty Harry

Steven King / Alfred Hitchcock

VCR / RCA

shag / pixie

Guess jeans / Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Fatal Attraction / Love Story

Dippity-Do / Dudley Do-Right

mini quiche / maxi skirt

Texas Two-Step / Tennessee Waltz

Oprah / Liberace

New Kids On The Block / The Partridge Family

chopsticks in your hair / flowers in your hair

Prozac / Valium

E.T. / AT&T

Bruce Willis / Lee Majors

Ben and Jerry’s / Mister Frosty

Portabello mushrooms / B&B canned mushrooms

Starbucks / Chock full o’Nuts

mousse / Brylcream

curling irons / hot rollers

yuppies / hippies

spiral perms / sleek and smooth

Gravlax with Dill Mustard Sauce

2009-08-16T10:19:00.009-04:00

For a printable version click here

Gravlax with Dill Mustard Sauce

2-3 pound salmon fillet, halved lengthwise and thoroughly boned (preferably wild caught)

1 large bunch of dill

1/3 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons freshly ground pepper

5 or 6 drops liquid smoke

Place half the fish, skin side down, in a deep glass dish. Spread most of the dill (saving a small amount for dill mustard sauce).

Mix remainder of ingredients and sprinkle over the dill. Top with the other half of fish, skin side up. You now have a dill sandwich on fish.

Cover the fish with clear plastic wrap and weight it with a five-pound object. I use a patio brick, which I ran through the dishwasher. I covered it with aluminum foil and placed it in a plastic bag.

Refrigerate the weighted fish for 48 to 72 hours, turning the salmon every 12 hours and basting with the accumulated juices.

To serve, remove fish from marinade (save your brick for next time), scrape away dill and spices and pat dry. Slice diagonally very thin and serve with any or all of the following: lemon/lime wedges, assorted bagels and black bread, thinly sliced purple onion, capers, cream cheese and dill mustard sauce (recipe follows).

Serves 6-10

Dill Mustard Sauce

½ cup sweet mustard

½ cup dairy sour cream

¼ cup chopped fresh dill

Mix all ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

The 80s

2009-08-16T09:18:00.011-04:00

Glitter, metal and mousse

Image by Mikey White via Flickr

Was there ever a decade when hair conspired so mightily with fashion to create such an indelible look?

We’re talking big hair as in mall hair. Nothing subtle about the look, though conservative Reaganomics in this decade reigned supreme. As the incoming president talked about making government smaller, we made our hair, well, larger.

Yes, skinny ties were in (again), but everything else was big –– as in Tom Hanks BIG (the movie). Or world events, via the new Internet. Chernobyl came at us disastrously fast and huge. The space shuttle Challenger disintegrated before our eyes.

All the while, we 9-to-5 girls kept our heads high (kind of like our hair), strutting our stuff in pantsuits shaped by spongy shoulder pads. Evenings, headed out, we pumped up the volume even more, channeling our inner material girl, hair crimped and even pinned right of center.

Unisex salons replaced wash-and-set beauty parlors as skinny young hipsters went[CC1] androgynous. Straight (hair, that is) was out. Punk was in: buzzed sides with bleached or dyed gel-spiked tops took the prize for outré.

Mothers sighed. Stylists moaned then competed to shock. But our concerns ambled elsewhere. Abroad, the Cold War was ending, the Berlin Wall coming down. On the other side of the world, students shouted for revolution in Tiananmen Square.

It seemed silly to worry about parachute pants or ripped sweatshirts worn off the shoulder a la Flash dance. So what if we couldn’t solve Rubik’s Cube –– the stock market was barely crawling out of its crash.

Some comfort came from knowing we could count on Boss Springsteen, try out the New Coke or find convenient nutrition with salad-in-a-bag. The parents of the coming Generation Xers were falling in love with E.T., Hamburger Helper,

Image via Wikipedia

hair bands, leg warmers, Healthy Choice frozen dinners and a rascally new family called the Simpsons.

Cabbage Patch dolls had started making their rounds, along with the Cabbage Soup diet. We’re betting you bought your first answering machine or CD and learned to use a fax machine back then.

If hair was bigger, food was faster. Taco Bell, The Olive Garden and Pizza Hut threw their edible hats into the circle of yum. But until we yearned to entertain in style, setting cloth napkins and crystal wine glasses next to our real silver and best china plates. Between experiment and tried-and-true, we chose the former: baked brie from Ladies’ Home Journal, penne a la vodka (McCall’s). And by now dinner conversation was beginning to turn to an esoteric company that sounded like some kind of ingenious new fiber: Microsoft.

Image by ex.libris via Flickr

Let’s get stuck in the eighties for a while, shall we?

How she wore her hair: the Wedge

2009-08-09T20:50:00.006-04:00

The Dorothy Hammill haircut was popular in the 70s.

Cooking can make you popular

2009-08-09T20:19:00.001-04:00

The world will come to your door if you can cook. For some, that may hold little appeal, since they would rather meet the world at a restaurant and leave the cleanup to the hired help.

But if you’re like us and enjoy entertaining and if you’re good at it, you gain rock-star status. Friends and family brag about your fabulous culinary skills, schlep new friends to your table and invite you to come to dinner at their house. (“Bring something? Sure! How about that pear custard you make? Or, maybe your famous goat-cheese appetizer!”)

The downside is that they will want you to host holiday dinners, but that’s hardly a downside if you love cooking. Have them bring wine. Expensive wine is best.

A candle lit for "Coifed to Cook"

2009-08-09T14:03:00.006-04:00

A member of our tasting panel, Maddalena “Maddie” DeRosa Brown, recently returned from a trip that included a Mediterranean cruise. Among other spots, she and her husband stopped in Italy, Turkey and the Grecian island Crete. While in Crete, she came upon a stone chapel where natives and visitors alike light a candle on an altar. Perhaps they are honoring a loved one, or like Maddie, wishing good luck and good fortune for a friend's new endeavor. In any case, we hope Maddie's lit candle (far right in the photo) brings us luck. To view a recipe named for Maddie – “Pasta Maddalena” -- go to http://www.bigoven.com/173326-Pasta-Maddalena-recipe.html. Check out more of Gina's gold medal recipes on bigoven.com. Thanks Maddie!

Souvlaki

2009-07-21T14:32:00.004-04:00

Image by wallyg via Flickr

Souvlaki

You might say the Greeks invented take-out. Long before “wraps” became popular, souvlaki was the most convenient on-the-go meal to be had. And what could be easier than marinated meat, a few garnishes and yogurt wrapped in a pita?

Marinade

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup dry red wine such as Burgundy, Chianti, Cabernet or Merlot

3 cloves of minced garlic

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon dried mint, crushed by rubbing through your palms

3 pounds of lean lamb or pork cut into 1-inch-square cubes

12 loaves of pita bread, brushed lightly with oil and quickly heated on grill (heating the bread maximizes the flavor)

Garnishes

purple onion or sweet onion sliced thinly

ripe tomatoes, sliced thinly

plain Greek yogurt

Using a large bowl, mix oil, wine, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, and mint together. Add cubes of meat, and marinate 4 hours or overnight, mixing a couple of times during the marinating process.

Place cubes of meat on metal skewers or wooden skewers that have been soaked previously. Grill or broil turning once, until tender (but still pink on the inside.)

Serve 3 cubes of meat in a heated pita with onion and tomato, and topped with a spoonful of yogurt on top!

Makes 12 sandwiches.

"What's cookin'? You name it!" Read all about Gina in the Danbury News-Times.

2009-07-21T14:24:00.004-04:00

The 70s What's Hot? / What's Not?

2009-07-12T22:27:00.007-04:00

What's Hot? / What's Not?

Hamburger Helper / Swedish meatballs

People Magazine / Life Magazine

hot rollers / sponge rollers

Pink Floyd / Pink Panther

hibachi / deep fryer

lava lamps / lavalieres

Sesame Street / Romper Room

guacamole / fondue

Color Me Beautiful / at-home hair color

Bill Crosby / Bing Crosby

cake mix / red dye #2

Ms. magazine / Ladies Home Journal

coffee shop / soda fountain

Toyota / Cadillac

Annie Hall / That Girl

Hair traumas

2009-07-12T22:20:00.004-04:00

Tell us about all that apply

__your teen’s Mohawk

__over-processed perm

__over-tweezed/shaved brows

__high school yearbook hair

__bikini wax

__too-short haircut

__at-home hair-color experiment

__Buster Brown bangs

__ my hair on humid days

__allergic reaction to hair color

__thinning hair

__bald spot

__baldness due to chemo

The 70s

2009-07-12T15:23:00.014-04:00

Disco Stew

If you’ve got it, flaunt it. The mantra of the 70s.

Michael Jackson via last.fm

And flaunt it we did, in so many ways. Consumer index was up, double-digit inflation ran wild and aerobic activity was in. We Americans discovered minivans and camcorders and shopped till we dropped. We got serious about takeout, got silly over Michael Jackson’s moon walk and hit the road to Disney World where we promptly forgot about aerobics and hogged down on chili dogs, Coke and southern fried anything.

It was the era of Olympic gold-medalist Dorothy Hamill. She captured our hearts with her soaring salchow, fabulous lutz, and the wedge cut to her hair that lifted like a sleek cap of silken feathers as she leaped over the ice, but then settled back obediently as she landed.

Image by Hobo! via Flickr

Around us, government stumbled on the leavings of a hated war and then faulted in near disarray. Terrorists took us hostage and hostile takeovers haunted the halls of business. There was the criminal rise of polyester, millions of leisure suits of the wretched stuff. Wallpaper patterns were big and so were flared pants, their bottoms so hugely belled you had to wear four-inch platforms to keep them from dragging like wedding trains over the floor. In fact, just about everything was big, back then. Especially hair. Specifically, Farrah Fawcett’s hair, which went outrageously untamed in sexy posters on nearly every teenage boy’s bedroom wall.

If you were around in the 70s, you were part of the developing culture of discovery … which is to say, you had mastered discovering things you couldn’t live without. Designer jeans, People magazine, hair dryers, guacamole, fondue, quiche. Plus you were entertaining. Coiffed in a full but smooth flip, moving about the kitchen in your hostess caftan and bare feet, you were putting together party dishes your mother never heard of, and doing them in record time with the help of pre-mixed, pre-marinated, pre-cooked everything.

But through all of this, all along your journey, you were learning the nuts and bolts of food. How things went together and met the palate; how they blended or collided to the nose and how they looked on the plate –– all of this was sinking in. Even that there was value to food that went beyond the appetite to impact health (something your mother had known and tried to stress) was beginning to sink in.

Image by avlxyz via Flickr

Beautiful you. You were becoming a cook.

The 70s, Pasta Fagioli

2009-07-03T10:26:00.024-04:00

For a printable version click here

Cooking can lead to job security.

Soon after she began working at a medical office, New Milford Medical Group, Gina brought a pan of her lasagna to the office for a staff lunch. Everyone was impressed.

"Now this is what I call job security," one of her administrators remarked.

Later one of her employers, Dr. Michael Levine, had this to say about Gina's pasta fagioli.

"I have made pasta fagioli myself and I've ordered it in many restaurants throughout the world but this is --head and shoulders-- above any I've had. You've ruined me for any other!!

www.nmmedicalgroup.com/

1 lb small dried white beans (cannelini, navy, etc.)
1 ham bone with some meat or 2 or 3 smoked ham hocks
6-7 cups chicken stock
2 or 3 bay leaves
1 large carrot unpeeled, washed and diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
4 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 shallot chopped
3 or 4 peeled and chopped tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 heaping tablespoon pesto sauce
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
8 ounces small pasta or elbow macaroni
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Pick over the beans, wash thoroughly and cover with water. Allow to soak overnight, or bring to a boil, simmer for 2 minutes, and allow to sit covered off the heat for 1 or 2 hours before proceeding. (Quick soak method)

Drain the beans and discard the cooking water.

Add chicken stock to cover beans, ham bone or hocks, bay leaves, carrot, celery, and thyme, Bring to a boil and simmer 1 1/2 - 2 hours until beans are tender. Remove bay leaves and discard.

Pick meat off bones and add to beans. Crush or mash a portion of the beans and return to pot.

While beans are cooking, fry bacon till crisp and set aside (will be added to soup at the end.)

Fry the onion in the bacon grease, and add to the beans while cooking.

Heat the oil in a small pan and saute the garlic and shallot in it. Add tomatoes, 1-cup stock, parsley, and pesto, bring to a boil and pour into cooked beans.

Cook the macaroni according to package directions, Reserving a couple cups of pasta water. Drain the pasta, rinse with cold water to stop cooking, drain and add to cooked beans.

Stir in cooked bacon; adjust consistency with reserved pasta water (if soup is too thick) or mash more beans (if soup is too thin.)

Adjust final seasoning with salt, pepper and grated cheese.

Servings 8-10

Story of my Hair

2009-06-29T07:05:00.001-04:00

The 60s

2009-06-28T15:51:00.012-04:00

For a printable version click here

60s • Crimped, cooked and crazy to be free

Who said if you remember the 60s, you weren’t really there? How is that possible, considering all the changes and events that exploded around us that whole decade?! Chubby Checker twisted us into shape, the Beatles swept our souls, Martin Luther King hiked us up the most glorious mountain and Neil Armstrong walked us onto the moon. Forget? Never!

Gentle families invited us into their homes nightly –– people like the Cleavers, the Nelsons and the Reeds. We weren’t sure what to make of Mrs. Reed (Donna), who vacuumed in high heels and pearls, her perfectly coifed hair a graciously swaying and silken thing of envy as she bent to remove perfectly puffed pastries from her state-of-the-art Kenmore oven.

That same Mrs. Reed certainly wasn’t into burning her bra when it finally came down to that, midway through the decade. And they of the bouffant-hair persuasion, as well, resisted the call to de-girdle and decamp to college campuses where the stirrings of free thought and free love were agitating an already boiling political pot.

By then, string bean fashion was catching on, perhaps representing some sort of compromise between fashion and social consciousness: Twiggy, staring at us, doe-eyed, from magazine covers, her hair short and chic in one of Vidal Sasoon’s asymmetrical cuts, was more than faintly reminiscent of the starving waif you might imagine wandering war-torn Vietnam.

Perhaps, like us, you sought relief from the world’s woes by catching Broadway’s “Hair,” (now in revival on Broadway!) with its cast of naked cavorters dressing up the stage. Or you were swayed, and still are, by the Beatles call to ‘revolution,’ whereupon you grew your own hair extra long, ironed it extra straight, packed up some wretchedly unpalatable rice balls and headed for Woodstock wearing billowy, beaded gypsy garb or a peace-sign printed mini-skirt –– and never looked back.

Though the fashion of the day was all things to all people (which, in turn, initiated the unisex look), the culinary arts were headed down a more distinguished path. Oysters Rockefeller, salmon mousse and Beef Wellington were vividly portrayed on the covers of periodicals both middle class and swank. But the most exquisite of these were the culinary counterpart of that other revolution led largely by the Kennedys, who brought elegant dining as well as superbly sophisticated style back to the White House –– and back into the appreciation of the nation.

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How she wore her hair: the Artichoke

A popular hairstyle in 1964, the Artichoke was a set that, when dried, teased and combed became a series of layered curls, resembling the Mediterranean thistle for which it was named. For unknown reasons, women of that era thought it attractive to wear their hair in the shape of a thistle.

We prefer the actual vegetable. For openers, it commands a certain respect at the checkout counter. Customers and clerks alike are clearly in awe of your culinary expertise as they ask, “What do you do with these things?”

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Stuffed Artichokes

You’re probably used to seeing them marinated in jars. We like those in salads and sauces but when you really want to impress, buy them fresh, stuff and steam them. Gina’s mother passed this recipe down to her and she has been making it since she was a girl.

4 fresh artichokes

8 scallions finely chopped

12 heaping tablespoons of Italian flavored dried breadcrumbs

12 tablespoons grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese

12 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley

1 lemon

2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Fry the scallions in olive oil until soft, then add the breadcrumbs and continue frying, stirring often until the crumbs are golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile cut stems from artichokes (so they will sit upright in pot) and set aside. Using a serrated knife, cut approximately one and a half inches off the tips of the artichokes (and discard the tips.) Immediately after cutting the tips off, rub the cut side of the artichoke with a lemon half to prevent discoloration. Pound the cut side firmly on a cutting board to help open up the leaves.

Prepare a pot large enough to accommodate the stuffed artichokes. Put enough water in it to come about half way up the artichokes. Bring the water to a boil, add salt, garlic and lemon halves, cover and reduce heat to a simmer while stuffing the artichokes.

Add the grated cheese and parsley to the cooled breadcrumbs. Stir the crumb mixture well. With a small teaspoon and your fingers, drop a spoonful of crumb and cheese mixture in each leaf.

Place the stuffed artichokes in the simmering water. Peel the stems that you set aside earlier and drop them along side of the artichokes.

Cover and simmer approximately 30 to 45 minutes until tender.

Remove from cooking water with a slotted spoon and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Serves four, if you’re willing to share.

Can be enjoyed hot, room temperature or cold. Use as star of the show or as a side dish. We like it as an appetizer, too!

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Hair confessions (Check all that apply):

_ I love my hair.

_ I never like my hair.

_ I love my hairstylist.

_ The wrong hairstyle makes me look fat.

_ I have hair issues but I can live with them.

_ My hair is too thin/thick/curly/straight.

_ I am a shop-hopping slut.

_ Cooking messes up my hair.

_ I’m still looking for the best hairstyle for me.

Write and let us know how you feel!

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How she wore her hair: French Twist

To create a French twist:

Brush hair back from the forehead, smoothing and gathering it up as you would for a high ponytail. Twist the hair clockwise, holding the base of the ponytail close to the head. This will give a firm anchor to work against. With one hand smooth, the other twist, folding the hair inward until the ponytail is rolled inside the hollow of hair. A seam of straight pins or bobby pins will hold everything in place

No time to shampoo and style your hair? Put it up in an elegant French twist. Or, if you don’t have the hair or the inclination to do a French Twist, buy yourself a black beret, slip it lazily over one eye, then uncork a good bottle of red wine to serve alongside this yummy chicken liver pate. Slice the baguette and you’re good to go!

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Chicken Liver Pate on Baguette

¾ cup butter

1 pound chicken livers, cleaned

1 large onion, chopped

2 tablespoons brandy

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In a large 10-inch skillet over medium heat, using ¼ cup hot butter, sauté chicken livers and onion until the livers are cooked but still pink inside, and the onion is soft, (about 7 or 8 minutes) stirring often.

Using a food processor, pulse until mixture is smooth, scraping down sides with rubber spatula and incorporating well.

Meanwhile, in same skillet over low heat melt remaining butter, add to liver mixture with brandy, salt and pepper.

Mix well, spoon into a covered crock or small bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Makes 2 ¼ cups or 12 servings. May be made up to 3 days in advance. Serve with sliced and toasted baguette as an elegant first course.

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In the 60s...

What's hot?/ What's not?

Dobie Gillis /James Dean

The flip/ Duck's ass (DA)

Jerry Lewis/ Jerry Lee Lewis

HiFi /record player

TV dinners /Sunday dinners

Shake 'n Bake/ Shake, Rattle and Roll

Blush/ Rouge

Twist /Jitterbug

wiglets /Uncle Wiggly

Pampers/ cloth diapers

“Does she or doesn't she?"/ "Unpopular because your hair is gray?"

The 50s

2009-06-28T15:27:00.005-04:00

50s • What’s Life? A Magazine!

Before housewives were ‘desperate,’ before microwave ovens and Mr. Coffee brought the holy grail of instant gratification to the liberal American palate, there were the 50s. A time when we were weighing the value of thrift and conservatism against the power of progress as our most important product, the 50s shaped the backlash Boomer brand of our nestlings. Moms grew more and more profligate with TV dinners and dads, eager to force-feed science to their offspring in hopes of debunking Sputnik, taught that Tang was not so much a Chinese dynasty as the breakfast drink of astronauts.

Predictability still reigned, however. Maybe roast beef was on your dinner menu on Sundays, pork chops on Mondays. And in our house it was pasta for sure on Wednesday, since that day was Prince Spaghetti Day.

But youth had started to do its own unique dance. Elvis had gyrated his way into the hearts of teenage girls, tossing back his slickly Brylcreemed hair while his hips bumped and ground below camera vision on the Ed Sullivan show. Kids were jiving and jitterbugging to the new rock n’ roll on American Bandstand, the girls with their long locks pulled back tight and anchored up in neat but ever-so-bouncy ponytails. Yet each night, those same bobby-soxers found the energy to set a thousand pin curls that would brush out next day into a sleek pageboy for school.

Back then everyone loved Lucy. Are you old enough to remember? She had thick, curly hair that we just knew was almost as flaming red as the lipstick on her big, wildly expressive mouth. We didn’t need a color TV to tell us that. We watched her while Mom listened from the kitchen as she grated the fixin’s for macaroni and cheese (Fridays?). Or maybe it was meatloaf? You tell us.

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How she wore her hair: pin curls

Hard to believe women slept in these at night –– but we did.

How to do a pin curl set: Use a rattail comb to create finger waves around the head. Moisten hair with wave set (or you can use beer), create a short part, then comb hair into an “S” formation around temples on each side of the head. With the tail of your comb, lift a one-inch section from top part of the “S” (top row). Twirl the section of hair around your finger and anchor with a straight pin or bobby pins. Make sure you do not twist the hair as you wind and pin the curl directly on top of the hair base. When dried, brush hair and then use your fingers to arrange curls in the desired style.

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Cauliflower Ears

Is that all you’ve heard about this wonderful vegetable?

Here is some of the best cauliflower you’ve ever tasted! Remember to use the heel or rind or the end of the cheese that’s difficult to grate. It has a waxy consistency so use a large sharp knife to cut it.

Back to the cauliflower. Are you all ears?

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Keep-the lid-on-it Cauliflower

2 heads of cauliflower, no blemishes, separated into flowerets and sliced about ½ inch thick including the stalks, peeled and sliced 

4 oz. of salt pork, diced

¾ cup of Parmesan Reggiano crust, cut into small cubes  

1 to 2 bunches of scallions (chop both the white and the greens)  

1 can of tomato paste, 6 ounces  

salt and pepper to taste 

2 ounces wine with 1 teaspoon sugar dissolved in it

½ cup bread crumbs toasted in olive oil

1 pound short pasta such as mostaccioli

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a 5-6 quart pot (that has a tight-fitting lid), place a layer of salt pork and

scallions in the bottom of the pot. You do not need oil or water. The salt pork will  provide the fat and the cauliflower will provide the moisture needed. Next is a layer of cauliflower until the bottom of the pot is totally covered, and you can’t see the pot anymore. Now a little bit of salt (remember, the salt pork is salty), freshly ground pepper, and then put 7 or 8 cubes of Parmesan Reggiano rind. Do not let the cheese sink to the bottom of the pot (it will stick.) Must be on top of the cauliflower.

Place 3 or 4 dollops of tomato paste and repeat layers until you run out of cauliflower (at least 3 layers are recommended.) Make sure your pot has a tight-fitting lid because you’re not going to add any liquid. This dish will steam for a 2-3 hour period, until all is tender.

First put it on the stove on a high heat with lid and wait about 5 minutes until you hear the ingredients have come to temperature and then turn the heat down to the lowest setting.

Now here’s the hard part: don’t take the lid off for at least an hour and a half because you will release the steam. Then you can peek.

There should be at least 2 or so inches of liquid at the bottom of the pan. Depending on the time of the year, the cauliflower will give off varying amounts of liquid. Then you have the option of stirring and getting all the dollops of tomato paste from the top layer mixed into the liquid.  Cook until tender, 2-3 hours. When cauliflower is tender, add wine and sugar, turn heat up to a quick boil for 5 or 6 minutes.

Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese, put the lid on and turn off the heat. 

Boil the water for pasta, and cook as directed. Heat non-stick pan and toast breadcrumbs (we like homemade) with a little bit of olive oil.

To serve, mix pasta with cauliflower and top with toasted breadcrumbs and more grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 6-8.

What kind of pasta should you use for this cauliflower dish?

Pasta size adds interest to your dish. It should complement your sauce or topping and most people have a preference or a reason for their pasta choice. Gina will tell you that if she’s cooking with peas she likes to use shells, because this way the peas fall inside the shells. We’ve noticed some men don’t care for angel hair pasta. Children love elbow macaroni. Irene’s a ziti girl. We suggest mostaccioli for this cauliflower dish.

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In the 50s...

What's hot?/ What's not?

Fridge/ icebox

drive-in/ dance hall

Red Skelton/ Charlie Chaplin

Felix the Cat/ Rosie the Riveter

girdle/ corset

Ovaltine/ cocoa

Lindy hop/ Fox trot

banquets/ rationing

martini/ bathtub gin

Monroe/ Harlowe

“High Noon”/ “Double Indemnity"

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Sputnik Meatloaf

Named for the world’s first artificial satellite launched by Russia to orbit the world in 1957, we consider this dish to be out of this world. Serve it with mashed potatoes and peas and carrots as they did in the 50s.

1 and a half pounds lean ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

2 cups fresh (not dried) bread crumbs, made from about 4 slices of day old bread

1/3 cup grated onion

1 small carrot, peeled and shredded

3 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley

2 egg yolks

juice of two lemons

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1-2 lemons, sliced thin (need at least 8 slices to top individual loaves)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 cookie sheet (to form mini loaves) or use 8 individual custard cups or 1 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the beef, pork, bread crumbs, onion, carrot, parsley, egg yolks, juice of 2 lemons, salt and pepper.

Shape the mixture into 8 individual Sputnik loaves and place on greased cookie sheet, or fill custard cups with meat mixture, or simply make one large loaf (one large loaf will require longer cooking time.)

Bake individual size loaves on baking sheet or custard cups for 20 minutes. Cook the large loaf one hour.

Meanwhile prepare the sauce in a small bowl by combining ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, allspice, and cloves.

Spoon sauce over each loaf (or the one large loaf) and top with lemon slice/s.

Return loaves or loaf to oven and continue cooking for 30 minutes longer basting with sauce. Serves eight.

Food is an important part of a balanced diet. ~ Fran Lebowit

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Childhood food traumas (Check all that apply):

__ Mom said: "No desert unless you clean your plate.” (You didn’t, so you couldn’t.)

__ You had no pet dog to help “clean your plate.”

__ Mom said: “Starving kids all over the world would be happy to have this ____________.”

__ Broccoli or anything green

__lamb

__any fish not in the shape of a stick

__liver

__anchovies

__anything that isn’t a hotdog

__anything you can’t put catsup on

Or tell us about your food trauma:

Welcome to our blog

2009-06-10T21:49:00.036-04:00

Changing hairstyles may seem to have nothing to do with evolving cuisine trends, but don't kid yourself. What you put on the table last night (or at your last dinner party) and how you're wearing your hair these days are intimately related. Why? Because what we set out on our table and how we style our hair reflects how we’re feeling about ourselves and the ways in which we’re experiencing the world.

Think of the flattop crew-cut. Big in the uptight, well-controlled 50s, it dropped off the style map for decades once the freewheeling 60s took hold. Now, with the millennium past and our national security (and tanking economy) at stake, it's back.

A coincidence? We think not.

Consider comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, a Wonder Years favorite (and not even kissin' cousin to the packaged, trans-fat-riddled elbows the food industry dreamed up in the 80s). Real mac and cheese was nice for kids after a day of scooting under their desks at school ducking imagined Soviet missiles. It's back on the menu at some of the trendiest restaurants these days.

For some, of course, there's no such thing as trends –– food or style. These stalwart individuals have changed neither bangs nor butter substitute in years. But we're pretty sure that's not you.

Pull up a chair and we'll tell all we know about how the times have been a 'changin' for a good long time now, and inevitably how we look and what we cook have been changing right along with them.

It's all about style (food, hair and otherwise) and how they mirror the culture of our times.

Who are we to say? Not two "experts," surely. Just two experienced cooks who also happen to be professional hairdressers. Like many of you, we've raised children, fed a thousand dinner guests, had our hearts broken by empty nests and empty promises (a few of which we made ourselves), and worked a few careers to pay the piper as well as the grocery bills.

Years on, we are content with life and delighted to be able to practice some of our favorite things in the world: cooking, eating or simply talking about food.

Making a fabulous dish, we both agree, is like fashioning a perfect hairdo for the woman who will wear it. Both are among the great "mediums" in which to work one's art.

Welcome to our (somewhat interactive) style cookbook. We hope you enjoy it!

Gina and Irene