Daily Archives: February 23, 2009

My ham and Fontina quiche leaked so some of the ham pieces atop dried out and turned a bit leathery. I ate it for breakfast at room temp but made Jim his usual two eggs over medium, piece of toast with peach jam and two slices of bacon.

I’d planned on quiche for lunch but I’ll try heating some up for me for breakfast tomorrow and see how that goes. Leakage caused a rubbery crust and a rubbery filling. Live and learn.

Never intimidated by my mistakes, I prepped two meals tonight. Forget French cooking I learned in school. I cook simple food from the best ingredients. Jim loves meat loaf. His favorite meal, however, is spaghetti and meatballs. So I made both. I mixed ground beef with chopped sweet onion (a Nazcas from Peru), Peruvian garlic from the same social entrepreneurship and Italian flat leaf parsley. I added one mixed egg, splash of Worcestershire, salt and pepper and Parmigiano Reggiano and used half for meatballs, the rest for meat loaf.

We had meat loaf, garlic mashed potatoes and remaining corn salad and slaw. I made the rest of the mixture into meatballs and baked them in tomato sauce alongside the meat loaf.

Remember my favorite cooking tools? The ricer is great for peeled cooked potatoes. And my cookbooks. I researched for weeks the best cookbooks to offer to you and no-one looks at them! Many are out of print and I even gave an instant link to Amazon to get one. Otherwise you could peruse used bookstores or flea markets for years and never find that title, so check out my cookbook references.

I’ve never made one penny on this site and know that many of these prized books that I’ve whittled down for my library are available for less than $10 but are a distillation of 30 years of my cooking expertise and reading cookbooks as one would read the latest spy novel.

Look at me, Cooking With Dee, About Dee. Yes, I graduated from cooking school, but this is life. One adapts to its parameters. I always love a challenge. Does anyone know what to do with 5# of off-the-bone pork shoulder “ribs?” I’ve looked up all kinds of recipes for stews but would like to know if there’s a special one you’d like to share.

Thanks and have a great evening. Cheers! Dee

Last night was a mess. Usually I cook one thing for Jim and me for dinner. Yesterday for lunch I cut up leftover sirloin steak and grated some Fontina for a quesadilla for Jim while simultaneously preparing a grilled sharp cheddar cheese sandwich for me.

I thawed one chicken breast and 2/3 lb of ground round from the freezer for dinner. First I blind-baked a crust for a quiche for this morning, with pie weights (an old bag of navy beans, on parchment) then without. I added diced ham and grated Fontina, placed the removable-bottom pan on a cookie sheet in the oven and gingerly poured in the custard. In the first five minutes, custard leaked all over and I had to wait until it started setting to change out cookie sheets and soak the one with the browned custard layer.

I made Jim two large burgers and all the toppings and took out two rolls from the freezer to thaw. That done, I prepared one chicken saltimbocca with thawed proscuitto and grated Fontina and popped it in the oven after the quiche came out. After the chicken came out of the oven I turned up the temp and made Jim some frozen fries while sauteeing his burgers and using up several small cooked red potatoes for me, with scallions, as home fries. I added some corn salad and 1/2 tomato for me.

Luckily the day started early with simple bacon, eggs and toast for both of us and luckily, dry food for the dog with homemade chicken stock. I don’t think I’ll be working in a restaurant kitchen any time soon, especially coming up with dishes seat-of-the-pants style while trying to empty the frig and freezer in case we move at any moment! It would be easier with a planned menu, however.

We enjoyed the 81st Academy Awards last night and thought ABC did a good job of re-vamping the proceedings. I never knew Hugh Jackman had a song-and-dance man in him, only thinking of his performances in Kate and Leopold and as Wolverine. Bravo! Usually Jim doesn’t watch at all and I have a couple of gals over and we immediately become catty high schoolers dissing the fashion. At every commercial break I offered to go into the other room so Jim could watch Patton in its glorious entirety, but he was a great sport.

Today I think I’ll stick to simple meals. Look at it this way, I’m up two hours before I have to be, and took the already made quiche out of the frig to get to room temperature for breakfast so that’s one meal down, just add juice and tea! Let’s hope it’s a good week. Cheers, Dee