Welcome to 2011!

Hard to believe, but yes, here we are in 2011.  When I say two-thousand-eleven it sounds very....futuristic.  And yet we're just recovering from another year's worth of holiday visits, parties and fun, housekeeping, exercise, resolutions and not-enough-sleep.

I had a quick reminder this weekend that in spite of the normalcy, time does indeed slip by.  We recovered from our holiday travels and parties (more about that later!) and on Sunday, after a morning outing, I passed the most recent issue of Cooking Light to my daughter in the back seat and let her choose a menu for dinner.  She spent about 10 minutes flipping through the pages and selected "a side dish - carrots- and a dinner."  We made glazed carrots and a linguini with soft-boiled eggs, breadcrumbs and walnuts. 

I asked her why she chose those particular dishes and she said "because I like carrots.  And this one," pointing at the pasta with a halved egg, yolks shining brightly, "because it seemed like something we would want to eat on this kind of day."  It was chilly, grey, overcast and I have to agree that a sunny egg in a pasta nest did seem...well, cozy.

We pulled into the grocery store parking lot.  She read me the ingredient list while I made the shopping list.  My daughter is not an avid "fake...I mean fiction" reader, but she handles a recipe pretty well.  We shopped, we went home, we played and eventually, we cooked.

This is when it felt like a new year to me.

She took the carrots on herself, peeling and chopping before I was done pulling other ingredients from the cupboard.  She stirred the saute pan, counting the minutes, and added spices and other ingredients without hesitation.  She peeled the soft-boiled eggs and nesteled them in the plates.  Her brother manned the pasta pot.

My son remarked on my daughter's cooking later, while we were eating "she's already way ahead of me."  And she is. 

It feels good to know that they're learning something useful, something of substance, when we make dinner.

I hope 2011 holds the promise of some more meals and adventures together.  For you too.

Tortellini with Chorizo Sauce

We made this dinner last week, another easy comfort-food dinner, made with pantry and freezer ingredients.
Served with a side of veggies (carrots and zucchini cooked in the microwave), it's a simple but wholesome dinner.

My son wanted to be in charge of dinner, so I directed and he prepared.  It was fun, and simple enough that he could do it all himself, starting with salting the pasta water.

I buy chorizo at the grocery store, in the meat section near the hotdogs and hispanic foods, and keep them in the freezer since I never use more than one at a time and they're sold in packs of 8.

One thing we learned the hard (messy!) way is don't forget to pierce the skin of the sausage if you decide to defrost it in the microwave.  Ka-Boom!

Of course, that's how my son learned the all-important lesson: when something explodes in the microwave, clean it up right away!

Tortellini with Chorizo Sauce

1 chorizo sausage
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 cup V8 juice*
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup diced onions

1 lb dried tortellini

* if you don't have V8, you can substitute a small can of tomato paste and use 3/4 cups chicken broth instead)

Put a large pot of water on to boil, salted and covered.
Brown the sausage in a wide non-stick frying pan.  Add the diced onions (you may have these in the freezer if you do this) and cook until the onions are soft.  Add the liquids and bring to a simmer.

By this time, your water should be boiling.  Add the tortellini and cook according to the package (typically about 11 minutes).

Let the sauce simmer while the pasta cooks.  Microwave the veggies and set the table.

Drain the tortellini and add them to the sauce.  Mix and serve.

Total preparation time: about 20 minutes.

For the record, it's helpful to actually put the vegetables on the table when you eat, instead of leaving them in the microwave where you will find them the next morning....

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Just in case you think we've been doing nothing but partying, we wanted to pass along these easy meatballs for one of those nights when you need a quick, satisfying dinner.

Cranberry Meatballs

.75-1 lb ground beef (I recommend the 80/20 grind for quick dinners.  The 90/10 tends to be a bit dry unless you're cooking the meatballs for a very long time in the sauce.)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup pine-nuts
3 TB ketchup
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
pepper, salt and ground cayenne to tast (typically 1/4 tsp pepper and salt, 1/8 tsp of cayenne)

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients with your hands, then form the meatballs between your palms, rolling evenly sized balls about 1 inch wide.

Heat a large non-stick saucepan with a skim of olive oil.  When the pan is hot, add the meatballs and cook over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently, until the meatballs are darkly browned on all sides, about 10-13 minutes, depending on the quantity of meat used and your stove's heat.

Add tomato sauce (we used a jar, but you could make tomorrow's sauce if you're feeling leisurely) and cook until the sauce is thoroughly hot and bubbling.  If you're not sure, you can split a meatball open to check for doneness.

Serve over the spaghetti or noodle of your choice.  We prefer angle hair for this dish.

Pasta and Peas

Here's a quick and easy side dish: pasta and peas.

Cook the pasta according to the box in salted water with olive oil.  I used Orecchiette because I like the way the "little ears" scoop up some sauce and peas, but any small shape should work.

Add the frozen peas to the pasta water for the last 6-8 minutes of cooking time.  Quickly drain the peas & pasta in a colander and put them back into the saucepan - it's okay if a little cooking water clings to the pasta, that helps make the pasta sauce.  If you're not making the pesto version, save about 3/4 cup of the cooking water by scooping it out with a measuring cup before you drain it.

For the pesto version, I added about 3 TB of pesto, straight from the freezer, to the saucepan and stirred.  I didn't even have to turn the heat back on.  You can also add pesto from a jar - it's usually sold next to the pastas and sauces in small jars.  If you don't have pesto handy, add about 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and then drizzle the cooking water back in until you have a lightly coated dish.  It won't be saucy, just moist enough to be tasty.  Salt to taste.

Chorizo Chicken

I'm always looking for ways to boost the flavor of dishes without making them completely unhealthful.  Chorizo is like bacon, one of those amazing flavors that just doesn't fit our diet in large portions.  I tried a recipe from A Platter of Figs (an amazing cookbook if you haven' seen it yet) and it used a small quantity of chorizo to flavor a fish soup.  It's a great recipe, and it provided the inspiration for this chicken dish.

We find chorizo here in the grocery store, in rather large quantities.  Luckily, it lends itself to freezing so it's easy to keep some in the freezer, just like bacon.

By using a little bit for flavoring, the spicyness becomes a plesant part of the dish.  You could start out with half the amount, if you've got kids who don't like spicy food, but this is a pretty mild dish, even with the full amount.

Saute one chorizo sausage (skin removed) in a large non-stick frying pan.

Drain the extra fat, add one diced onion and several chopped cloves of garlic.  When the onions are beginning to soften, about 6 minutes, nestle 6 boneless chicken thighs (or other chicken cut) into the chorizo/onion mix.  Cook for about 4 minutes, then turn and cook 4 minutes more. 

Add 1-1.5 cups chicken broth (enough to nearly cover the thighs) and cover the pan.  Let the thighs cook about 6 minutes more, until the chicken is cooked through.  Add a very small pasta (such as pastina) to the pan and cook until al dente.  Serve with a hearty whole grain bread and a fresh salad or other vegetable dish.

The leftovers were even better the next day.

The kids enjoyed chopping, measuring and....eating!