Here is what you need for the corn chowder:

3-4 cups of frozen sweet corn
3 small Idaho potatoes- peeled and diced into ¾” cubes
2 stalks celery- diced
2 medium sized carrots- diced
1 medium sized onion- diced
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups of whole milk (or you can go the cream route for a thicker creamier soup)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper (teaspoon each)

To start, heat the olive oil and butter on the stove over medium heat. Once melted add the celery, carrots, onion and thyme and let them soften for about 10 minutes. Next you will want to dust the vegetables with the flour and mix until they are coated. At this point you can add the stock or broth and bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling add in the diced potatoes and the milk and bring back to a rolling boil. You will want to let the soup boil for about 15 minutes to let the potatoes breakdown. You will notice the soup thicken at this point as well. Now you can add in the corn and turn the soup down to simmer for another 10 minutes or so. Add in the salt and pepper (use more or less depending on your taste) and the pinch of cayenne (I like my soup with a kick so I added an extra pinch of the cayenne). That’s all there is to it!

The next step in the process is serving up this soup piping hot with some crusty bread. It really was the perfect ending to a nice long weekend.

But anyway – tonight it’s back to simple and healthy. I LOVE pea tendrils, pea shoots, even peas themselves. Sweet, crisp and I feel like I’m filling my body with vitamins with every bite. Some bright marinade on a pork tenderloin and a lemony saute of green goodness and it’s the perfect light dinner.

Ingredients
1/2 C Soy Sauce
1/4 C Lemon Juice
2 T Grated Fresh Ginger
1/2 t Red Pepper Flakes
1 T Butter
Olive Oil
Quarter of a red onion, sliced thinly
Big Bunch of Fresh Pea Tendrils
1 T Grated Lemon Zest
Squirt of Lemon Juice

Mix soy sauce, ginger, pepper and lemon juice in a large bowl and marinate the pork loin in it for a least a half an hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Heat up a large pan on the stove with oil, and sear outside of loin. Then put pan and loin in the oven for 15 minutes or until cooked to you liking. Let rest.

While the meat rests, melt butter and a few more bloops of oil in a pan (I am just using the same one, wiped out) and toss in the onions. Cook until soft. Toss with pea tendrils til they are wilted. Throw in grated zest and big final squeeze of lemon juice and toss.


Plate the greens and top with slices of pork. Enjoy.

While croutons are baking, put your sliced red onion in a bowl with the red wine vinegar and the apple cider. Let onions soak for about 15 minutes.

Sauté the brussels sprouts in a frying pan with the bacon, adding a little olive oil to the pan if the sprouts stick. Cook until tender and season with S&P.

Remove croutons from the oven, and let cool 5-10 minutes so that they’re extra firm. While they’re sitting, remove the skin from your cooked butternut squash with a knife or your fingers. Cut the flesh into evenly sized small squares.

When you’re ready to eat, add 4-5 tblsp of olive oil to your onion mixture, season with S&P, and whip with a fork to combine (the amount of olive oil you use depends on how “stiff” you like your vinegar-based dressing).

OK! Dinner time. In a large bowl, add squash, croutons and brussels sprouts in vaguely equal amounts. Spoon on as much onion dressing as you like, and toss well.

Recipe inspiration from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted from Michael Chiarello’s version for the Food Network.

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Combine 2 1/4 cups of the powdered sugar with corn syrup, water, peppermint extract, shortening and a pinch of salt and mix until just combined. Sprinkle in the remaining 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and knead the mixture in the bowl until the mixture is smooth.

Roll out the dough between sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap sprinkled with powdered sugar until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Freeze for about 15 minutes, or until firm.
Remove the top sheet of paper, sprinkle with a little more powdered sugar and then cut the dough into 1-inch circles. Lay the circles out on a cookie sheet and freeze one more time for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 3/4 of the chocolate over a double boiler, and then stir in the final 1/4 off the heat.
Dip the frozen rounds, one at a time, in the melted chocolate, transfer back to the parchment/plastic lined cookie sheet and refrigerate until firm.

(original recipe here)

email info@sugarbuilt.com to order

3 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp dry active yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water

(and I have been adding a small handful of currants and a teaspoon or more of fennel seeds. ) (I will be adding at turns calamata olives, green chile, and cinnamon in the future…)

In large bowl, place ingredients. Mix with your hands, form into ball. Cover with plastic wrap. Place in warm spot, look at clock and note time. Bread needs 12-20 hours to develop and rise. When it has been this long, flour your work surface, scoop dough onto it, fold on itself a few times, and tuck it into a floured towel. Let rise for an hour or two more.

Twenty minutes before you’re ready to bake, put your oven at 450 and place a heavy lidded pot inside. (I use my red Le Creuset and it has acquired a lovely patina on the interior from this process.) When it is time, take out the pot with mitts, plop the dough in, give it a shake and cover. Bake with the lid on for 30 minutes and remove lid for 15 more. Remove bread from pot and let cool. (Optional: you may want to turn off all the lights and listen to the bread for a few minutes as it cracks and hisses adjusting to its new life.) The bread is crusty and flavorful, stretchy and pillowy on the inside, with large holes.


You may want to have a hunk after yoga with some tea, and pretend its the 1970′s. But for real though, this is a bread for the modern person, and you need it. (Don’t knead it.)

I’d never made a ratatouille before, and this dish struck me as a warm and cozy meal to warm up to. I left the direction to Ms. Julia Child, as Mastering the Art of French Cooking is rarely referenced for anything but pastry in my kitchen. As we all know, not one of her recipes will ever disappoint.

What you’ll need:
1 lb eggplant, salted and sweated to reduce it’s bitter taste & sliced ½‘’ thick
1 lb zucchini, salted and sweated as above & sliced ½‘’ thick
1 lb firm, ripe, red tomatoes
olive oil
½ lb thinly sliced yellow onion
2 sliced bell peppers
4 cloves garlic, smashed
5 tbsp fresh minced parsley
S&P



While eggplant & zucchini sweat, boil small pot of water, deep enough to submerge tomatoes. Julia instructs us to peel, juice, and deseed the tomatoes, so here’s how you do it:
Once boiling, drop them in for exactly 10 seconds. Remove and let cool for a few. Carefully remove stem with paring knife. The skins will begin to peel off. Pull them completely off, then slice tomatoes in half crosswise, (not thru the stem). Gently squeeze tomatoes over a bowl to remove juice/seeds. You might want to get in there with your fingers and scrape the stubborn seeds away. Once finished, roughly chop tomato halves into a pulp.

Place your largest coated skillet over med-low heat. Toss in some olive oil. In batches, lightly sauté the eggplant and zucchini, about 1min on each side. Once finished, remove to side dish.

In same skillet, slowly cook onions & peppers in olive oil for 10min. Stir in garlic and season with S&P. Now, carefully lay the tomato pulp over the onion/pepper mixture in pan. Season again with S&P, cover, & cook for 5mins over low heat. Uncover and baste with juices that are now collecting in pan. Raise heat a touch and let cook for another few mins, until juice is almost completely evaporated.


Place one-third of the tomato mix in the bottom of a casserole dish (one that can be placed over a flame), and sprinkle some parsley on top. Carefully arrange half of the eggplant & zucchini on top, then another layer of the tomato mix over that. Sprinkle parsley. Layer remaining eggplant & zucchini, and finally, finish with the rest of tomato mix. Finish with remaining parsley.


Cover casserole dish and simmer over low heat for 10mins. Uncover and baste with rendered juices, allowing dish to cook a bit more. Continue to baste here and there, and pull from heat once juices have reduced to a spoonful or two at the bottom of the pan.

Set aside uncovered until serving.

I had the pleasure of dining at a neighbors’ last night, and brought this as my contribution to the meal. I served it with a roasted garlic & parmesan polenta. It was a delicious supper!

Ingredients:

1 lb jumbo shrimp, heads off, shells on
1/2 head garlic, minced
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon crushed chili pepper flake
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup white wine

Directions:

In a large bowl, toss together the shrimp, garlic, honey, salt and spices, making sure all of the shrimp are well-coated with everything. Get a skillet nice and hot (on high) on the stove, and melt the butter in there. When the butter starts smoking (or ideally just before then), toss in the shrimp and whatever juices and garlic bits are in the bottom of the bowl. Cook for about 3 minutes, making sure all the shrimp are laying flat on the bottom of the pan, then flip them all over (you can toss them all up in the pan to spread the garlic and whatnot around too). Cook the shrimp for 3 minutes on that side, then take one out and taste it to make sure that they’re cooked enough. It’s better to under-cook your shrimp than to over-cook it (because the meat gets rubbery if they’re too well done). Give them another minute if you think the one you tasted is too raw.

Turn off the heat and serve over rice and vegetables (I steamed up some bok choi). Serves three.

There’s a well-known adage that you can judge French restaurants by their omelets. I tend to agree. Egg dishes, be it omelets, frittatas, quiches, etc are simple on the surface but there are a lot of important tips that go into preparing them that make it really easy to mess them up. The key to making a good omelet and frittata is to not over beat the eggs. A couple quick whisks of the hand, and then that’s it. The other key is to cook them slow and low. High heat will dry our your eggs—and there’s nothing worse than dry eggs.

On the upside, there is nothing better than breakfast for dinner!

Ingredients:

8 large eggs
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
3 large fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1/3 cup whole-milk ricotta

Preheat oven to 400°.

Whisk first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl; set aside.

Heat oil in a medium ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until soft, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in egg mixture. Spoon dollops of ricotta evenly over top.

Cook until frittata begins to set, about 2 minutes.

Place in oven; bake until just set, 7-9 minutes. Slide the frittata onto a platter. Cut into wedges; serve hot or at room temperature. I served with sautéed fingerling potatoes with paprika, salt & pepper, and an arugula salad with tomatoes and a lemon vinaigrette.

This past weekend was very chilly one in NYC. It was the kind of weather that makes you stay in your apartment, watch an entire television series on Netflix and eat nothing but soup. Let’s just say, mission accomplished. My laziness aside, I have been dying to make a Tom Yum Goong soup that would rival my favorite Thai restaurants. Many times my attempts to recreate my favorite Thai style dishes have fallen a bit short of the mark, but not this time. I think I just might have found the perfect mix of sweet, sour and spicy. Here is what you will need:

To start you will want to make the stock:

The shrimp heads and shells (from about 1 pound large shrimp)
2 onions- roughly chopped
2 stalks celery- roughly chopped
2 limes- halved
2 teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon whole peppercorns
3 quarts water

Removing the heads, peeling and deveining the shrimp isn’t the most glamorous part of this recipe but probably the most important part of the process. Place the shells and heads aside. Keep the shrimp tails on and keep them cool (I made an ice bath). Place a large stock pot on the stove with the 3 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and add the shrimp heads, shells and the rest of the stock ingredients. Once everything is in the stock pot, turn the heat back up to medium and allow the flavors to infuse for at least 30 minutes. You will notice that the stock is turning a slight red color. That is the fat from the shrimp that tints the stock; it is also what gives the stock flavor. After 30 minutes remove from heat and strain the stock into another soup pot and place back on the stove over a low heat.

Soup ingredients:
2 stalks lemongrass sliced at an angle (2” pieces)
4 kaffir lime leaves
4 pieces of galangal (a type of ginger) I was unable to find fresh but Thai Kitchen has a dried version
2 red or green chilies diced or sliced
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
1-2 teaspoons sugar
1 handful fresh cilantro
1 lb shrimp with tails
1 cup mushrooms (I used portabella mushrooms diced but most recipes call for canned straw mushrooms)

Bring the stock back up to medium heat and add the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and chilies.

Let this simmer for about 10-15 minutes allowing the spices to infuse. Next add in the mushrooms, fish sauce and sugar. Add in the shrimp and cook until they turn pink (approx 6 mins). Do not overcook the shrimp otherwise they get tough. Remove the soup from heat and add in the cilantro. At this point you should taste and add more salt, sugar or lime if needed for the proper balance of spices. When serving try to avoid the lime leaves and the lemongrass, they are for flavor only, not to eat.

Now that the soup is done and ready to eat, I think another episode is in order. Ahhh I love a lazy weekend.