Caponata Modo Mio

Andrew Carmellini: Urban Italian; Day 7; Recipe 7

I actually made this three days ago, but Carmellini says it keeps in the fridge for up to a week, so I only just ate it last night.  Three days ago I had all the ingredients, but I really wanted a successful dinner so I decided that I would go ahead and make the dish, but put off eating it.  Since this dish was described as being like a relish, I decided to pair it with hot dogs last night.  Though we didn't put it on the hot dogs, that probably would have worked fine.  The dish is described as a sweet and sour eggplant stew and is comprised of onions, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, celery, white raisins, garlic, tomato sauce, red wine vinegar, with herbs and seasonings.  The flavors came together well, and if you like all those ingredients, and the sweet/sour flavor, than this should be a success for you.  It can be served hot or cold or at room temp, pretty versatile.  For me, the dish was fine, tasted alright, and we'll have no trouble eating the rest of it, but I don't see myself making this again.

Potatoes Girarrosto-Style

Andrew Carmellini: Urban Italian; Day 6; Recipe 6

I made these potatoes Sunday night with ham and egg english muffins.  They were a disappointment to say the least.  Over a 90-minute period, the potatoes went in the oven, to the stovetop, back to the oven, then the stovetop, then the oven, finally finishing on the stovetop.  And during the entire process the onions never caramelized, the potatoes never browned and crisped properly.  And perhaps all the flavoring was overkill?  there was butter, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, parsley, thyme, and rosemary.  Not only did the potatoes not taste any good, but it took 90 minutes for them turn out so bad.  I couldn't get over how this all could have been done on the stovetop in 20 minutes and with better results.  Sorry, Urban Italian, you have officially failed as a cookbook as far as I am concerned.  I have a couple more recipes that I will try still, just to be fair, but i'll probably be deaccessioning this cookbook from the collection soon.

Risotto Minestrone

Andrew Carmellini: Urban Italian; Day 5; Recipe 5

This was just bad.  Rice, carrots, onions, celery, asparagus, broccoli, peas, butter, olive oil, chicken broth, salt, pepper, pesto, pecorino.  And not much flavor.  Boring.  I could only eat a third of this.  I'm not sure there is much more to say here.  I'm getting discouraged.

Rigatoni with Fava Beans and Pecorino

Andrew Carmellini: Urban Italian; Day 4; Recipe 4

Last night's dinner almost didn't happen. The recipes over the last couple weeks for our project haven't been as rewarding as we had hoped and it has gotten to the point where it is getting to be a drag to persist. So we had a conversation about stopping and decided to quit effective immediately. Lisa thinks she can do better selecting meals from her voluminous collection of recipes on the basis of whatever we feel like having. It would certainly be more fun. But then I did a little research on fava beans. Neither of us have ever had favas before and they seem like the kind of thing that we'd like. We can get them fresh from local farmers and apparently chefs love to use them too. They are said to be a sign of summer. Etc. So be it, we were intrigued, willing, and Andrew Carmellini has a recipe: Rigatoni with Fava Beans and Pecorino. How was it? It was okay. The pasta part of it was tasty and so were the favas, but they did not come together in an integrative way like his asparagus risotto had. What else... well, the the author is pretty good with flavoring. This recipe was a little spicy, herby, rich, savory and fresh. We are going to continue with the recipe book project, but it is nearly on the chopping block.

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

Sarabeth's Bakery: Recipe 2

Sarabeth brings fresh stalies back with Blueberry Crumb Muffins. These muffins are dry, which I picked up on when mixing the batter. So I added a little more liquid to the mix. The blueberries didn’t really want to integrate with the batter (maybe they knew of their unfortunate fate). Having made plenty of muffins in the past, and being a pretty good baker, I knew this recipe was not going to succeed. But just in case I was wrong, I baked these muffins per Sarabeth’s instruction, and what I got a was a dry muffin with only-ok streusel that didn’t adhere well. What’s more (or less) was that the muffins had very little flavor. Maybe even not enough sugar. Streusel aside, here’s what’s flavoring the muffins: orange juice and zest, and blueberries. The rest of the recipe was egg, oil, milk, flour, baking powder and salt. Perhaps these muffins suffered from using bread flour? Why did you call for bread flour, Sarabeth? Bread flour is known to be used for results more dense and chewy. Dense and chewy muffin? Crunchy chocolate chip cookies? I’m starting to think I can’t trust you.

Asparagus Risotto with Lemon

Andrew Carmellini: Urban Italian; Day 3; Recipe 3

My intent was to make a different recipe yesterday, but when I got to Whole Foods I did not find what I needed and quickly went with plan b. The truth of the matter is, my favorite asparagus risotto recipe comes from Urban Italian and I've made it a number of times, so I didn't need to rely on the book or a list to know what I needed to buy for the recipe. Unfortunately, however, this quick change of plans did have drawbacks. The asparagus was not as good as that at the farmers market and the basil was perhaps the worst I have ever bought, with bad texture and a weak fragrance. But the dish pulled through and I gave it a little extra dose of lemon to boost the flavor where the basil was lacked. The recipe calls for the spearheads to go into the risotto just at the end, where the stalks get pureed with basil and parsley and stirred into the risotto. I altered this by chopping a few extra stalks so that I could have more whole asparagus pieces in each bowl. Also, the recipe calls for swirling in an organic egg at the end too. I have never tried this, and instead swirl in some butter as a [Carmellini recommended] substitution. When all the ingredients are at their best, this dish is indeed like springtime in a bowl, as stated in the recipe introduction. I think about this recipe in the winter and know that once spring comes, it will be one of the first things I'll be making.

Chocolate Clouds

Sarabeth's Bakery: Recipe 1

These are chocolate chip cookies with toasted sliced almonds. I suppose they are called chocolate clouds because they are airy. Sarabeth tells you beforehand that these cookies will be crunchy, and that too is true: airy crunchy. But after eating a well-cooled cookie, Paul and I realized we do not prefer our chocolate chips cookies to be crunchy, and even if we did we would not like these. So they will never get made again. The flavor combination of the cookie is okay, it worked, but I think nearly anyone would be disappointed. A more descriptive and accurate name for these cookies would be Fresh Stalies, because they never tasted fresh or pleasant to eat, and they are hard and dry. Truly glad I only made a half batch.

Sarabeth's Bakery

It was Paul's idea (he's the source of most ideas) to concurrently be baking from a single cookbook while making meals from another. But because it's not a good idea to be making and eating baked goods every day, the rules for the baking book projects are more flexible. We will bake from one book for perhaps a month, maybe more, until we get a good sense of the kind of product it produces. Flipping through Sarabeth's Bakery, I think Paul liked what he saw. Though it should be mentioned that we have tried a small sample of recipes from Sarabeth already. Successes: Brioche (loaf), Cinnamon Raisin Bread.  Partial successes: Lemon Meringue Tarts. Failures: Bran muffins, oatmeal raisin cookies. Also, we have tried (purchased) her preserves and found them to be not that great, actually. So Sarabeth is kind on the fence with us in terms of how much we have enjoyed her recipes. It will be interesting to see which side of the fence the book lands on, that of success or failure. Fingers crossed.

Spring Peas with Onions and Sausage

Andrew Carmellini: Urban Italian; Day 2; Recipe 2

Right off Paul was skeptical, and admittedly, the ingredients do not sound like a winning combination, but the point here is to give these chefs the benefit of the doubt and broaden our experience. As for the positives, this was very easy to throw together and the flavor was good. Minuses go to the fact that I didn't pull all the strings off the sugar snap peas and I really ought to have, so that is my fault, but Carmellini shares blame because he should not have instructed to keep the sugar snaps whole; instead they should be chopped to bite-size pieces. The English peas, onions and sausage were all much more fork-friendly in size. Better, more flavorful sausage would have improved the dish. I got raw spicy Italian sausage made by Whole Foods, and it just didn't bring the flavor that it could have. So while this meal was edible and we ate almost all of it, it is not something I would ever want to eat again, and honestly, maybe the recipe should not have made it into a cookbook. I'm not holding a grudge, though.

Linguini with Broccoli Rabe Pesto, Oregano, and Peppers

Andrew Carmellini: Urban Italian; Day 1; Recipe 1

A colorful dish with as much flavor as you would expect. The taste was hearty, green, spicy, gritty (from the bread crumbs), and consonant. Lisa bought the fresh oregano but forgot to include it with so much else going on. The pesto was made of broccoli rabe, which was novel from my perspective and it worked well. I put on extra bread crumbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano because it was tastier that way. One thing I have learned is that sometimes a dish tastes like it is restaurant quality, and that is a strange thing to think about a home cooked meal, and while it sounds like a compliment I am not so sure about that. This was one of those. The meal tasted very good, I ate quickly and had fun with this new experience. Because the dish does not at all resemble what Lisa usually makes and because it had so many textures and flavors working so well together it was a nice experience. But while I am glad to have had this, and will look forward to the leftovers tomorrow, I do not see us turning back to it -- for no good reason. There just wasn't the spark that was necessary. We're off to a good start, though.

Urban Italian

Lisa: During the past two weeks cooking from Alice Waters, my spices remained dormant. Every ingredient pretty much stood on its own with perhaps a little salt, citrus, or olive oil. I decided on Urban Italian for the next cookbook because I have cooked three recipes from it, all of which were successful and flavorful. Remembering just how flavorful these dishes were was the key factor in choosing this book. I didn’t want more boring meals. I want exciting meals, tasty meals, meals I will want to make again. This book has the possibility to deliver. Another reason I chose this book is because the author tells you how easy or complicated the recipe is, as well as how long it should take you prepare the recipe. Since I have been fairly busy lately, knowing these factors ahead of time will help me plan meals better.

Paul: As a fun bonus we're going to listen to Rossini during meal prep over the next two weeks as a literary nod to Haruki Murakami. In the Wind Up Bird Chronicle the author writes: "When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta. I wanted to ignore the phone, not only because the spaghetti was nearly done, but because Claudio Abbado was bringing the London Symphony to its musical climax." The idea of pairing Rossini with Italian food has stayed with me for many years and now we can do the same as a part of our lives. The only difference is that we're not going to be listening to overtures, no way, we'll be listening to arias by Cecilia Bartoli and Joyce DiDonato. Does it get better? No it does not.

The Art of Simple Food: Conclusions

Our two week run with The Art of Simple Food is officially over. We will probably continue to make new recipes from this book over the next few weeks to broaden our sample size and more strongly validate our conclusions, but as of now our overall assessment of the book is not favorable. The reader should know that by disposition we are pretty critical. If someone were to try the same dishes and that person tended to be unscrupulous, then their interpretations would likely be somewhat different than what we have written. But why be easy to please? Chez Panisse and Alice Waters have international reputations, so "not bad" is not the standard by which we judge. High standards can be, and often are rewarded, and we will continue to have them as we now move forward.

At its conception, we thought that this project would be a nice diversion from our general malaise here in Chicago. It has not been enough. We also thought it would be exciting to have tasty new meals every night where we would learn much about cooking and preparing food, food combinations, taste, and the chef him- or herself. This did not occur in the degrees hoped for. The meals were mostly flat and resultantly our days were tediously and tepidly wondered with what our next overly simple meal would be. Incidentally, it should be said also that all of our ingredients came fresh from the farmers markets that we patronized several times a week, small artisanal sellers, and Whole Foods.

There were highlights. Unreserved recommendations are in order for the a) Pasta al Pesto, b) Buttermilk Pancakes, and c) Cranberry Orange Scones. All were real successes. I will be pleased to have them again. More restrained recommendations go to the a) Pea and Asparagus Ragout, the b) Simple Tomato Sauce, and c) the Asparagus and Lemon Risotto. The latter was tasty enough to have twice and if Lisa were to announce it for dinner again I would be pleased to know that. With that said, it is our second favorite asparagus and lemon risotto recipe. The rest of the recipes we had were middling, none bad, but mostly forgettable.

A few final notes: Lisa would like to mention that there was no challenge involved in making the recipes as they required no knowledge of cooking. This may be a benefit to some but was not for her. Also, at first we were a little nervous each day. When you have a repertoire of meals that you are used to they are comforting and give your mind a contented "looking forward to" kind of feeling. So when we began this project there was a vague feeling of withdrawal and agitation. Essentially you are making yourself uncomfortable by forcing yourself into what is unknown. This is good to do, of course, because it precludes growth. Now at the end of two weeks this feeling has gone. Lastly, I would be disappointed if I did not say that I am looking forward to the next book. Of course I am. Lisa has books by the best regarded chefs. The results will improve and I love that I will be able to participate and have a front row seat. So even though I have sounded a little dour with Alice Waters, I am still primed for what comes next. I think this example is a good analogue for our attitude about Chicago and what might come next too.

Cucumbers with Cream and Mint + Spring Minestrone with Peas and Asparagus

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 14; Recipe 19

This dish reminds me somewhat of the cucumber salads my mother made, except her's centered on mayonnaise. Alice Waters calls for cucumbers sliced, heavy cream, olive oil, lemon, mint, and salt & pepper. I was wary about the use of heavy cream but it just covers the cucumber and with the olive oil it's a pretty thin layer. The sauce tastes not unlike an approximation of a Greek salad. Through trial and error I found that the more salt and especially pepper the better the dish became. Anyway, I thought this dish a moderate success and am looking forward to leftovers tomorrow. Lisa thought it fine, but perhaps unspecial.  Regrettably that is how she and I have felt about most of these last two weeks.

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 14; Recipe 20

We were hoping that this soup would end the Art of Simple Food series on a high note but predictably it was not to be. The ingredients: cannellini beans, fresh peas, asparagus, spinach, leeks, fennel, onion, garlic scapes, and finished with salt, olive oil and parmesan. Lisa was caught unaware, which is rare, but after she had cooked some of the vegetables she found out that the beans were supposed to be boiled ahead of time. According to her, this was not made clear in the recipe. So while the beans were on the stove we went out to play catch in the park. How did it taste? The good: the vegetables came together well and were tasty, especially, from my perspective, the spinach and asparagus. The bad: the beans were meant to provide a flavored broth but that didn't happen and because Waters does not call for stock, but water, I found the base to be woefully thin -- which tends to be a problem across recipes that call for water as a base. Would I want this soup again? Not this way, but I won't mind eating it again for lunch tomorrow. If you asked Lisa what she thought her appraisal would be a fraction more positive than mine.

Pan-Fried White Bass with Lemon Sauce

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 13; Recipe 18

The recipe calls for Striped Bass, but when I got to the fish counter at Whole Foods, there was none available, and my "fishmonger," Jordon, who has a tendency to cut more fish than I ask for (I will have to learn how to say no), suggested White Bass instead (wild caught off the coast of California). With no back-up dinner plan, I submitted to his suggestion.  Cooking the fish was uncomplicated and, surprisingly, I managed to cook it perfectly.  The lemon sauce contained both juice and zest, as well as olive oil, salt, and pepper.  It was a good accompaniment to the fish.  Finally, there was an optional garnish of cilantro, which I added and was pleased that I did.  Despite the fact that I cooked the fish perfectly and liked the sauce, the recipe failed to impress.  The bass itself tasted fairly mundane and the fish did not improve enough with perfect execution of the recipe.  (Maybe had I found striped bass instead?) The Green Pea and Asparagus Ragout that I made a few days ago made a comeback tonight.  It is a good excuse to keep eating these vegetables while they are in season, but, unfortunately, this side also is not the kind of thing one craves. I can see us coming back to this once or twice a year.

Cheese and Pasta Gratin

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 12; Recipe 17

Otherwise known as macaroni and cheese.  This was a simple concoction of fusilli, a roux, cheese, and breadcrumbs.  However, Alice Waters leaves the choice of cheese up to you, warning against mozzarella and blue cheeses.  The reason I decided to make this tonight was because I needed to use up  both milk and cheese that had been around for a little while.  The cheese ended up being 3/4 comte and 1/4 Kirkham's Lancashire.  I know that I shouldn't be wasting a $30 per pound cheese on a dish like this, but it saved me from spending money on another cheese.  I have to say that the gratin came out really well, cooked well, not oily or fatty, but it did not have enough cheese flavor.  However, I think that was because of the cheeses I used.  They just didn't bring enough oomph.  I would definitely try this recipe again, but using stronger-flavored cheese.  It gets macaroni and cheese right.

Strawberries in Orange Juice

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 11; Recipe 16

It's exactly as it seems.  First, you juice three oranges, then hull a pint and half of strawberries.  In a bowl, combine orange juice, berries, and 3 tablespoons sugar.  Let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer, serve chilled.  As you might tell from the photo, the berries darken the orange juice a bit, detracting from the dessert's appearance, but it tastes good nonetheless.  The taste is what you think it will be, and the sugar adds a nice sweetness and a touch of texture.  If you're eating your dessert around 10pm, like we were tonight, this a light and satisfying option.

Tortilla Soup

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 10; Recipe 15

Paul brought home the largest chicken breast i have ever seen (from Whole Foods, so it was not on steroids) and as a result this soup was really chock full of chicken.  It also had tomatos, onion, garlic and jalapeno pepper.  It was supposed to have an anaheim pepper instead, but we couldn't find one.  Because I can't take as much heat as Paul can I only put in half the pepper, and the broth was just right for me.  Paul on the other hand thought that using the whole pepper would have brought more flavor.  The broth could have been better in other ways too, more flavorful, more robust perhaps, but this sort of problem can occur when one uses store-bought broth rather than homemade.  We topped the soup with tortilla chips, again, store bought because Paul mistakenly bought wheat tortillas, and we had to make a last minute substitution.  As far as i am concerned the chips worked well.  We also garnished the soup with queso fresco, cilantro, and stirred in some lime juice, which really boosted the flavor.  The soup was good, but fell just short of a true success.  With a little tweaking we could do better next time.

Glazed Carrots

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 9; Recipe 14

Glazed Carrots, glazed carrots.  I don't see any good reason to ever make glazed carrots.  You essentially boil the carrots in a small amount of water with butter and salt.  The water evaporates eventually leaving a glaze of butter on the carrots.  It takes an absurd amount of time for the water to evaporate. 15 minutes?  I didn't have the patience.  I have got to think these would be quicker and tastier simply thrown in a pan with a knob of butter for a few minutes.  In fact i know this to be true, especially if you're using an herb butter.  The carrots caramelize, soften on the outside, but retain a crunch.  But glazed carrots, though they taste just fine, are generic tasting.  Yes, those are the finished carrots in the photo and they are not worth the minimal effort.  You can do better.

Asparagus and Lemon Risotto

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 8; Recipe 13

Making this risotto might be considered cheating because I had made it before we started this project.  But  I had raised the issue well in advance- can we make a recipe we've already made?  We decided that yes, we can because we'll learn something new about making it a second time and we can see how well it holds up that second time.  Luckily, i knew ahead of time what I was in for with this recipe.  Not that it was difficult to make, but I had worked 2 hours overtime today and working overtime can mess with your cognitive functions, especially if you've had way under your calorie allotment for the day already.  My lunches are usually so skimpy that I am in major need of eating dinner within 30-60 minutes of getting home (I start cooking every night about 5 minutes after i get home from work).  So instead of dinner at the usual 5:30-6:30 slot, I didn't get to sit down to eat until 8:36.  Like with any asparagus risotto, I added more asparagus than called for because it effects the rice/vegetable ratio more than the flavor, and the more vegetables, often the better.  I also added more parmesan (grana padano, really) and more lemon juice.  I've never had anything that became worse with more lemon juice.  There aren't a lot of tricks here, it's a straightforward recipe that works well and delivers on taste. I've tried making maybe 4 different asparagus risottos so far, and this ranks at my #2 spot.

Carrot Salad

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 7; Recipe 12

Desiring a break from new recipes, we went with one of my old standards for dinner.  And loved it. But not wanting to break the rules of the game, I prepared a carrot salad for us to snack on.  It was pretty simple, of course, just grated carrot, salt, pepper, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and parsley.  And it tasted good, would go well with outdoor eating- picnic food, hamburger and hotdogs, that sort of thing.  But i would not make this salad again only because there was nothing in it to crave, and carrots on their own might be just as satisfying.

Steamed Sole with Beurre Blanc + Green Pea and Asparagus Ragout

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 6; Recipes 9-11

Today we had three recipes, one meal.  It hadn't occurred to me that in order to steam the sole i would need a steamer.  Usually I am excellent about reading and re-reading a recipe two, three, or even more times before executing, but somehow the implications of steaming a piece of fish slipped past me.  I persevered with a makeshift steamer involving a colander over boiling water.  I do not recommend this method.  That is not to say i was unable to cook the fish properly, in fact, it came out quite moist and tender.  However, as evidenced in the photo, the fish did not stay intact upon trying to remove it from the colander, so instead of a nice filet of sole, it plated as a pile of sole pieces, buried under beurre blanc (that's tarragon sprinkled on top).  It was actually good tasting, and i recognize that i can't draw conclusions about this recipe, as i had my steaming issues (i expect someone else following the same recipe might turn out a better dish) but i can say that though good, it wasn't good enough to make us want to return to it.  But what we would return to was the Green Pea and Asparagus Ragout.  This also had spring onions in it and just a little bit of butter.  I like all the ingredients involved, but I didn't have high hopes for this recipe.  It was surprisingly good and i would like this as a regular side dish in the springtime.  This recipe is simple food at its best. A Keeper.

Fusilli with Tomato Sauce, Eggplant, and Pecorino

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 5; Recipe 7+8

Two recipes were made for this meal.  The pasta dish mentioned above, and Simple Tomato Sauce.  With the sauce i went with some of the suggested variations, which in this case included onion and red pepper flakes.  The sauce was a success.  The pasta on the other hand, was a bit on the boring side.  The eggplant tasted pretty good, but not great.  Waters called for the eggplant to be trimmed and sliced thin, which i didn't interpret to mean peeled and sliced thin.  But apparently that's what she meant because the peels did not work well in the pasta.  Other than the eggplant, there was the sauce, fusilli and pecorino.  And it was fine, but ultimately boring to eat and not something we'd want to make again.  In fact, we're starting to get a little bored with the recipes in The Art of Simple Food and will likely be picking a more challenging book to cook from next.

Caesar Salad

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 4; Recipe 6

Reasons for making a caesar salad tonight:  only had to buy two ingredients that i didn't already have, had to use up the rest of the baguette we ate with our spring pea soup, and needed to finish the leftover spring pea soup.  So we paired our leftover soup and bread with this salad.  The bread became croutons and tasted good despite the bread being two days old rather than the called-for one day old.  The dressing came together really well but had a sharp bite to it, which we are attributing to the garlic.  See, the garlic was supposed to be pounded to a puree, but that didn't happen, as i do not have a mortar and pestle and i wasn't creative enough to figure out a workable alternative.  So i minced the garlic, then tried to smash it to a pulp with passable but not great results.  This is the second recipe in which a mortar and pestle is called for, ever-so-casually, mid-recipe, without ever using the term.  It seems I need to get one.  Anyway, my point is the dressing had bite, but maybe it would not have if i had adequately pounded the garlic.  The recipe also calls for anchovy fillets packed in salt.  I tried three stores, none of which carried them packed in salt.  So, with no option, i had to get anchovies packed in oil, which irked me probably much more than it should have.  Still, the salad came together well, was tasty, Paul thought it was of restaurant quality, but really should be treated as an appetizer.  Would be good before pasta, but underwhelming (meal-wise) paired with a low-calorie soup.

Buttermilk Pancakes and Cranberry Orange Scones

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 3; Recipe 4

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 3; Recipe 5

Another title to this post could be "two ways to use up your whole wheat pastry flour."  About a year and a half ago I bought whole wheat pastry flour for a recipe and of course, ended up with a lot left over.  And as it would happen I got to use it twice today.  First, with buttermilk pancakes.  The pancakes called for half the dry mixture to be whole wheat pastry flour while the other half of the dry mixture called for basically any other flour you want to use.  I chose two thirds cornmeal and one third rye flour.  Turns out this was a good combination.  The pancakes had much more flavor than any other pancake I have made.  They were light, a little chewy, a little grainy, a reminiscent of autumn with our toppings of a (naturally) spicy maple syrup from Vermont and apple butter from Michigan.  Beside the flour mix, another unique feature of this recipe was whipping the egg whites to soft peaks and folding into the batter.  This, of course, helped with the light texture.  My only problem with this recipe was that the pancakes did not hold their shape well while flipping, but it's a minor complaint that might be resolved if i were using a griddle.

As for the scones, they were not part of dinner.  I made them later at night so i could bring one or two to work with me tomorrow for lunch.  But, naturally, when they were out of the oven and cooled enough, Paul and I were eager to try them.  We split one.  The cranberry and orange (zest) went quite well together, and the sugar on top helps give the scones a nice texture.  This was my first attempt at making scones and it couldn't have been easier.  Success.

Rocket Salad with Parmesan and Spring Pea Soup

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 2; Recipe 2

We are beginning to see, on day two, how The   Art of Simple Food lives up to it's title.  In the recipes the ingredients are few, the process of putting them together has been, well, quite simple.  Soup and salad is not the most complicated meal to begin with, though i certainly have made bad versions of both in my time.

The rocket salad was merely arugula with a red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.  It tasted good, but the cheese did not add what it could have.  The salad was a success, but tasted sort of regular.

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 2; Recipe 3

As for the soup, Paul was a hero and shucked peas from their pods while i was at work.  It was his first time performing this task and he learned what makes a good pea pod, and thus how to pick them out in the future.  The soup was just as minimal as the salad, with only peas, onions, salt, butter and water.  It tasted nice and fresh- in fact we bought all the ingredients for the entire meal this morning- but could have been a touch more rich.  It needed to step up a notch.  Fresh spring pea soup was a success, but i'd try a different recipe next time.

Pasta al Pesto

Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food; Day 1; Recipe 1

This was a quick and easy meal.  My pesto was a bit rough-textured, as i do not have the called-for motor and pestle and so instead used my Vitamix.  But the flavor came together well with prominent but not overpowering olive oil and garlic, subtle pine nut, parmesan and basil.  Paul commented that the pesto was green-tasting, but could have been more so.  Perhaps it would have had the pesto been more cohesive.  Rich and tasty, and of restaurant-quality more so than home quality.  Slightly salty because for the first time ever i was a bit heavy-handed with salting my pasta water when normally i am at fault for under-salting it.  I think some tomatoes would have gone nicely with this dish, while Paul thought something more savory, like mushrooms.  We both agreed on the addition of a crusty hunk of bread.

The Art of Simple Food

Lisa was worried about how we would deal with another year in Chicago, if it comes to that, and I responded that we would have to commit to projects. I thought about Sophie Calle, how she ate a "chromatic-diet" consisting of food of only one color on any given day. How could we adapt her kind of thinking? I thought, what if we focused on one food book, preferably in our collection, for a span of two weeks, preparing at least one recipe per day. This way we could meaningfully get to know the books we own, the chefs, styles, and forms. The results would be delicious and the longterm effects significant. Lisa agreed. We determined the only loophole will be that if three consecutive dishes are terrible we can abandon a book in favor of another. The project will last indefinitely.

Lisa chose The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters to begin because it is a seminal work and the recipes are not complicated. The food should be pleasant, getting us off to an auspicious beginning, and now that the farmer's market is open we can get the fresh ingredients necessary to execute many of these ingredient-centered recipes.