Mama Ozzy's Caesar Salad

I love Caesar salad in all forms, but this is my absolute favorite. It is bright and lemony and packs a whopping garlic punch. The dressing is more of an aioli or mayonnaise than the classic Caesar dressing and I like it because it really clings to the Romaine leaves and holds all the delicious parmesan cheese in place.

I almost never add croutons to this salad, but that doesn't mean YOU can't. I prefer to eat this with a home made focaccia bread... better than any croutons!

Don't be afraid of the anchovy paste... the last thing this salad tastes like is fish. The anchovy paste just rounds out the flavor of the creamy dressing.

Mama Ozzy's Caesar Salad
Serves 8-10

2 heads Romaine lettuce, washed, dried and torn into bite size pieces

juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp anchovy paste
1 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic
1 egg yolk
1 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil
grated parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade combine lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, anchovy paste, salt garlic cloves and gg yolk. Process until well mixed and garlic is finely minced. With processor running, add the olive oil in a thin stream until dressing coalesces into a loose mayonnaise.

Pour dressing over Romaine lettuce in a large serving bowl and toss to coat the leaves. Add grated parmesan cheese and toss again. Serve immediately with freshly ground black pepper.

Farfalle with Tomatoes, Italian Sausage and Cream

Last night company started showing up for the New Years Eve That Doesn't Suck party and I thought I'd just throw together some delicious comfort food. I spent the day making focaccia bread and made this dish to go along with it and a big Caesar salad. DELISH!

I have been making this recipe since my graduate school days in Oak Ridge, Tennesee. This is an inexpensive dish, that comes together in about half an hour and is loaded with flavor. Its one of those go to dishes when you want something hearty and satisfying but don't have a lot of time.

Farfalle with Tomatoes, Italian Sausage and Cream
serves 6-8

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb farfalle (bow tie) pasta
1 lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
parmesan cheese

In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan and add the fennel seeds. Brown the sausage until it is beginning to carmelize and leave a brown patina on the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic and toss. Add the tomatoes and stir. Allow the tomato mixture to cook for 10 minutes to reduce the liquid, then add cream and salt, stir and cook 5 minutes longer to thicken sauce. Remove from heat.

Prepare farfalle pasta according to package directions, drain and add to skillet with sauce, toss to combine and allow pasta to absorb the sauce for 15 minutes. Add fresh basil, toss. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Focaccia Bread with Onions and Sage

I have been working on this recipe for a VERY long time, at least 10-12 years and I think in the last couple years I have finally got it right. This makes a very light bread with a cotton candy-like texture inside, and a very crisp almost deep-fried exterior. I sometime will make this bread and a simple Caesar salad for dinner and be happy happy happy.

There are a couple of tricks to this bread. The first being that it ABSOLUTELY makes a difference what type of flour you use. It must be an unbleached high protein flour. The best I have found to date is King Arthur's Bread flour. Using a lesser quality flour will result in a cake-like bread, still tasty, but really lacking in texture.

Second, the dough should have a very high water content and will begin as a very very sticky dough. Third, the folding (or turning) technique helps build the gluten in the dough without a lot of kneading and will develop those delightful big bubbles one finds in any good artisanal bread.

I like to bake the bread on a cornmeal-dusted pan that has been sprinkled with red pepper flakes... for a surprising occasional bite of heat... its totally optional.

Like most homemade breads, this doesn't keep, so eat it up when it is fresh.

This recipe takes about 4-5 hours from start to finish, so start early in the day to have it ready for dinner.

Focaccia Bread with Onions and Sage
serves 12

2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 pkg dry active yeast (about 2 tsp)
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
3 1/2 tsp salt
5 cups (about) unbleached bread flour (3 1/2 cups in the dough, 1 1/2 cups for "turning" the bread)

1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 small onion, cut into very thin rings
10-12 fresh sage leaves
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan reggiano cheese grated

Place warm water in mixing bowl of stand mixer, add 1 Tbsp sugar and stir to dissolve. Sprinkle yeast over surface of water. Let satnd 10 minutes, yeast should begin to foam and bubble. Add salt and olive oil and 2 cups bread flour. With paddle attachment begin to beat dough until smooth. Add 1 1/2 cups more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating after each addition (3 separate additions). This makes 3 1/2 cups flour. Continue to beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes until dough forms web-like strands in the bowl. Dough will be VERY sticky and scrappy and will hang from the paddle.

The dough should be VERY sticky and hang from the paddle.

Transfer dough to a well-oiled large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise 45 minutes in a warm place.

You will use the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour to "turn" the dough. This is where we will form the gluten of the dough. It will go from sticky to smooth after the next set of steps.

Heavily flour the surface of a work area, and empty dough from bowl onto flour. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, and gently flatten dough into a large flat "pancake". fold the left side of the dough to the center, then the right side over the left, then the top down and finally the bottom over the top. Turn dough over and spin gently to form a ball. return dough to well-oiled bowl (you may need to add more oil to keep dough from sticking). Allow dough to rise 30 minutes in a warm place.Dump the dough onto a heavily -floured surface and sprinkle the top with flour.

Gently flatten the dough into a large "pancake".

Fold the left side to the center.

Next, fold the right side over the left.

Then, fold the top side down to the center.

And then fold the bottom up over the top.

Finally, flip the dough over, and give it a quick spin with your hands.

You will repeat the above step 2 more times. Each time, dumping the dough onto a floured surface, sprinkling the dough with flour and folding the dough before returning it to the bowl to rise for 30 minutes.

After the final turning (folding), allow the dough to rise until doubled in volume (1 1/2 - 2 hours).

Oil a jelly roll pan with olive oil, then dust with cornmeal, tapping out any excess. Optional, sprinkle red pepper flakes over cornmeal. Empty risen dough onto prepared jelly roll pan and gently spread toward edges (usually it will not completely fill the whole pan... which is OK because it will spread as it rises and a rustic focaccia is a thing of beauty). Place thinly-sliced onion rings and sage leaves onto top of bread, cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for 1 hour.

Dough has doubled in volume and the pan is dusted with cornmeal and red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 400F.

After dough has risen, remove tea towel, and with your fingers poke indentations all over bread. Drizzle olive oil into holes, and sprinkle top of bread with parmesan cheese.

Poking he dough with fingers to make small wells for the olive oil.
As the bread rises in the oven these wells will baste the dough with oil!

Bake 20 minutes. Allow bread to cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Let the bread rest another 15 minutes before cutting into squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

New Year's Eve that Doesn't Suck (NYETDS)

A montage of ingredients for New Year's Eve: Martha Stewart and Paula Deen cookbooks, cognac and tawny port, currants and black-eyed peas, butter and bell peppers, dried wild mushrooms soaking, moist croissants ready to be dried, to-do lists and ciggies. Life is Good.

Have you ever noticed how in the movies everyone is going to fabulous parties on New Year's Eve. but how in real life if you go out, the bars are crowded, and over-priced and full of jerks? So we usually end up staying home, watching people freeze to death in Times Square, falling asleep on the sofa well before midnight. B-O-R-I-N-G

Several years ago, our friends Matt and Caroline, along with Karin, Lynn and Brian, decided we'd had enough of New Year's Eve parties that suck and decided to remedy the situation by making it an occasion to get together at one of our homes and prepare fabulous food and cocktails and engage in wild antics like streaking through the neighbors back yard or watching "Johns" negotiate with hookers ("No...me want long time, 20-30 minutes!").

NYETDS started in Durham, moved to Washington DC, then Alexandria, VA, and this year is back in Durham. So what's on the menu? Hard to say exactly everything that will be on the menu, but here is a sampling of some things I know will be served. If I'm not too hammered, I may even get around to posting some of these recipes. HA!

New Year's Eve That Doesn't Suck
Beef Wellington Bites
Bacon-wrapped Scallops
Chicken Liver Pate with Port and Currants
Stilton and Walnut Backlava
Caprese Crostini (from Delicious)
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Pigs in a Blanket

NewYear's Day Hangover Breakfast
Savory Breakfast Bread Pudding with Sausage and Cheese
Hash Browns au Gratin
Bloody Marys and Mimosas

New Year's Day Southern-style Lunch
Ham
Hoppin John
Collard Greens
Cornbread
Biscuits

Dried Cherry and Currant Tea Scones

New Year's Day is only a couple days away and its time for a changing of the guard with regard to our company. Emma is in Boone, NC visiting her friends Megan and Carey, and this morning Rachel, Monica and Nate (who came in last night from DC) are heading to Cary, NC just in time for us to clean up and welcome Karin and Lynn and their dog Izzy who are coming from Alexandria, VA for the annual New Years Eve That Doesn't Suck party. As the kids are packing up I thought I'd fix a simple breakfast my mother used to make: Tea scones.

My mom called them "singing hinnies", a slang term she picked up when my parents lived in London. The name singing hinnies supposedly comes from the hissing sound scones make when they first come out of the hot oven. Whatever. I long ago stopped asking about the names the English give their food (bubble and squeak, bangers and mash, toad in the hole, etc).

They are a perfect quick breakfast that everyone loves. My mom just used currants, but I have made lots of variations of them depending on what I have on hand at the moment. This morning I had some dried cherries and currants. In the past I have made them with sharp white cheddar and fresh apple chunks, dried apricots and walnuts, dried blueberries and cinnamon... the possibilities are endless.

These are best served hot with lots of butter, honey and marmalade or jam. They don't keep so eat them up while they are fresh!

Dried Cherry and Currant Tea Scones
serves 8

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold, and cut into chunks
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried currants
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

1 egg beaten (for egg wash)
granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 425 F

In a food processor combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Pulse to combine. Add butter in pieces and pulse until combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in dried fruit. Combine milk and egg and whisk to combine, add to flour and stir until just combined.

On a greased cookie sheet, pat dough into a 12-inch circle. Brush with beaten egg glaze and sprinkle with granulated sugar. With a sharp knife, score into 8 wedges. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot with butter, honey and jam.

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

I learned this recipe from my good friend Chris Pfitzer who just finished writing his first cookbook: Delicious: flavorful food for everyone. I list this book in the recommended cookbook section and it is now available for purchase on Lulu. This is a great collection of family recipes, and importantly all the recipes are friendly for diabetics.

This salad is incredibly versatile and can be prepared many different ways, but in my mind it is ALL about the warm, panko-crusted, fried goat cheese. YUM. You can substitute the type of greens, and you can change the dressing, just don't leave out the goat cheese!

I think the sweetness of the dressing is key to balancing the tang of the crispy warm goat cheese. I like to add nuts and fresh fruit to the salad as well. For Christmas I used pears and rosemary-scented pecans. For valentines it was fresh raspberries and toasted almonds. The possibilities are endless.

Warm Goat Cheese Salad
serves 8

Dressing:
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp champagne vinegar
1 tsp sweetener (sugar or Splenda)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 11 oz. log plain or herbed chevre goat cheese, cut into 8 slices
1 egg white with 1 tsp water
pinch of salt
1 cup panko bread crumbs

3 Tbsp Olive oil
3 Tbsp unsalted butter

fresh fruit (raspberries, pears, strawberries, nectarines, etc)
toasted nuts (pine nuts, toasted walnuts, pecans, pistachios, almonds, etc)

Salad greens for 8 servings (I love Arugula, but any good greens will work; avoid iceberg lettuce)

Combine all dressing ingredients except olive oil in a small food processor or small bowl. process (or whisk) to combine. While processing (or whisking) slowly drizzle olive oil into dressing to make a thick dressing.

In a small bowl combine egg white, water and salt, whisk until foamy. Place panko on a small plate. Using one hand, dip each piece of goat cheese in the egg whites to coat, then roll in panko. Set aside on waxed paper. Repeat with remaining cheese.

In a non-stick skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat and add butter. Allow butter to melt. When butter stops foaming, oil is hot enough for frying. Place panko coated goat cheese in skillet and fry until golden (about 2-3 minutes per side). Drain fried cheese briefly on paper towels.

Place greens in a large bowl and hand-toss with enough dressing to just coat the leaves (do not over-dress). Portion dressed greens among 8 salad plates and top with hot goat cheese. Garnish with fruit and nuts and serve immediately.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Whenever I make mashed potatoes I always make these because they have 1 million times the flavor of ordinary potatoes and are every bit as easy.

This is basically a guide to making mashed potatoes , not a recipe. You don't need a recipe for mashed potatoes, and since everybody's opinion of whether mashed potaotes should be smooth or lumpy, thick or thin, etc. is different I'll leave that up to you! Adjust the proportions that follow as you see fit.

But here is what I do:

First I always make a LOT. People always eat a lot of mashed potatoes for dinner, and leftover mashed potatoes ALWAYS get eaten.

5lbs Yukon gold potatoes, peeled (Russets are good , but I love a Yukon Gold)
1 very large Sweet potato, peeled (This adds an incredible flavor depth to the potatoes , sweet and earthy, but not sickeningly sweet and mushy... just a hint of sweetness)
5-6 cloves of garlic peeled
Butter
Cream
salt

Chop the potatoes and sweet potatoes into large chunks (too small of a chunk makes water-logged potatoes). Place all potatoes in a large pot and cover with about 3 inches of water. Add a generous palm-full of salt. Add the garlic to the pot (yes, just boiling the garlic with the potatoes will infuse them with garlic flavor). Boil in heavily salted water until potatoes are fork tender. Drain.

Now... time for a choice... smooth or chunky? I like both. For smooth potatoes, press the cooked potatoes through a ricer. For chunky, mash them in the bowl with a potato masher. Add butter ( I usually add about 1 stick). and mash until incorporated.

Decision time again... add some cream to the potatoes and whisk into potatoes. How much? Depends on what you like. I usually add about 1 to 1-1/2 cups of cream because I like my taters creamy and smooth.

Season generously with salt and serve.