Avocado Deviled Eggs

First off, these are the best deviled eggs I've ever eaten - and Jamie said the same thing. After dying Easter eggs last weekend, I now have a fridge full of colorful hard boiled eggs and making deviled eggs seemed like the best use of them. I also had half an avocado, so I decided to mix them together. It's delicious! It's similar to guacemole and so much lighter than regular deviled eggs. Adding the avocado also gives you more volume for the filling. If you have Easter eggs, go try this right away. If you don't, hard boil some eggs and try it next time you need an hors d'oeuvres.

Ingredients:
4 hard boiled eggs, halved lengthwise with yolks scooped into a bowl
1/2 an avocado

Vegetable Garden - Week 2

My little peas are sprouting! Just a little thing popping out, but it looked like each pea I planted sprouted, so I'm happy! Just hope the deer don't eat them. No sign of the Swiss Chard, but we'll see this weekend.

And two of my pepper plants have sprouted! Hopefully they'll grow quickly enough to actually get some peppers this summer!

Grilled Branzino with Sauteed Summer Squash

I wanted to make something healthy last night and decided on Branzino - it's small enough to roast or grill a whole fish for just two people. It cooks pretty quickly, and in a grill pan, the skin gets nice and crispy. Stuffing it with lemon, thyme, and a bay leaf give it some extra flavor as it cooks. I also grilled the lemon wedges I served with the fish which made them extra juicy and sweet. The spicy summer squash was a great accompiniment.

Branzino
Ingredients:
1 Branzino, head and tail removed (or leave on if you'd like)
3 lemon slices, plus 2 wedges (1 wedge for each person)

White Bean Dip

Instead of hummus, I last night I made white bean dip per Jamie's request and it was great! Really light and smooth and great flavor. We're both garlic fiends, so feel free to scale back the garlic, especially for a party so everyone isn't walking around with garlic breath. We ate it with carrots, but it would also be great with pita toasts or pieces of ciabatta.

Thai Style Mussels

I had friends over for dinner last night and wanted to cook something that wouldn't be terribly expensive or time consuming and I settled on mussels. They're cheap, easy to cook, and generally delicious. This Thai-style version is so tasty - lots of flavor in the rich, orange broth. It's a little spicy but not overwhelmingly so, and has a great zing from the limes and earthiness from the red curry paste. It's also pretty healthy. Definitely going to make it again - perfect week night meal - plus Jamie was jealous he missed it, so need to repeat for him too.

Corn chowder with chiles and monterey jack

Sitting on the dramatic cliffs on the Hudson near Poughkeepsie, NY is the Culinary Institute of America. I used to go with my parents for lunch every time we played Vassar in squash. The food is amazing at their various restaurants, and pretty reasonably priced because it's being made and served by students. I definitely recommend it. Because we loved it so much, my mom bought be The Culinary Institue of America Book of Soups. Every soup I've tried has been delicious. I had a bag of corn that I'd frozen last summer and wanted to finally use it, so I tried this chowder from the book. It has a great flavor and a slight kick and is much lighter than normal corn chowder. This makes 8 servings.

Vegetable Garden - Part One

I had a little back porch vegetable garden last year with a few tomato plants etc in pots and have since been planning my real vegetable garden. Summer tomatoes are so amazing and juicy and red and having them fresh from your yard is such a treat. My tomato plants did pretty well on the back porch, so I'm hoping they do even better with more room to grow. I'm also planning on planting some zucchini, eggplant, peas, swiss chard, hot peppers, and strawberries, along with some herbs. It was a really fun activity - and luckily this early April Saturday was sunny and warm. Jamie was an amazing help, very handy and strong - the bags of top soil and the beams were super heavy.

Zuelo Novello - Unfiltered Argentine Olive Oil

My colleague Margaux brought this olive oil back from Argentina for the office - it's amazing! I've made at least three trips to the kitchen to drizzle some on bread with a sprinkle of salt. It has a really rich, olivey flavor and a slightly cloudy look. I've never thought of Argentina as an olive oil producer, but now I will definitely be on the look out for some of this to take home. Great for hors d'oeuvres and dipping! Thanks Margaux!

La Croix Belle 2005 Coteaux du Languedoc

 

I was at dinner Monday night at one of my very favorite restaurants (La Sirène) and stopped at the wine store on my block to pick up a bottle for the occasion. Winesby is a teeny little spot on Jones Street and they have a great, but small, selection of reasonably priced wine. I asked for a red and said I liked Côtes du Rhônes, Barbaresco, Negroamaro... He gave me a couple of options but I settles on La Croix Belle (above). He described it as having a strong flavor with lots of notes of berry and a musky undertone - a very strong flavor, not to be had with anything light. Luckily, we were heading for saucey French food. It was a big hit and I made sure to snap a picture of the bottle for future reference. It had a great, robust flavor and went very well with the tournedos and lamb we ate. It was $17 at Winesby (you can also order here) - perfect to pick up for a dinner party. And Jamie's mom may order a case!

Spice rubbed baby back ribs with homemade red wine BBQ sauce

These ribs are amazing. So tasty and a great depth of flavor from the combination of the rub and the sauce. Slow cooking the ribs first makes them juicy and tender. I definitely recommend taking the extra time to make your own sauce - the red wine makes it more of a sauce than a condiment, if that makes any sense. We served them with grilled asparagus and fried onion strings.

Ribs
Ingredients:
Rub
Brown sugar
Chipotle powder
Cumin
Salt and pepper
Thyme
Oregano
Garlic salt

Baby back ribs

Sauce
1 tbsp canola oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 1/2 cups red wine
3-4 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
A splash of pickle juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper

Directions:
A few hours before you want to eat, make the rub. Start with some brown sugar then mix in the other spices (just a pinch of the oregano and thyme) an adjust to however spicy you'd like it. Rub it all over the ribs and let them sit.
Two hours before you want to eat, heat the oven to 220 and put the ribs in for two hours.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat the oil in a large cast iron skillet and sauté the onions until they start to soften. Add the garlic and spices an stir until fragrant. Add the wine and stir up all the brown bits. Let it reduce for a few minutes then add the remaining ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste and adjust heat and cook until it's a thick sauce. Then purée to smooth it out.




Heat the grill to medium high. Add the ribs to the grill and coat with sauce.




Turn a few times until there is a nice char. Slice and sete with sauce.