Comfort from the Pantry

Early this week, I woke up with a sore throat and, as the day went on, I began to feel worse and worse. Sickness calls for soup. But I was snuggled up under a duvet on the sofa and in no shape to trudge to the market. The solution: a comforting, hearty tomato soup made entirely from ingredients on hand and in the pantry. This is a simple recipe that can easily be made grand with the addition of a fancy garnish. It is a very happy dinner served with open face cheese toasts and a glass of milk. I'm feeling better already.


Pantry Tomato Soup

1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 springs fresh thyme
4 14-ounce cans chopped tomatoes
1 32-ounce box chicken stock
1/2 cup cream or half and half

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter in the olive oil. Saute the onion over medium heat until translucent. Add the tomato paste and the garlic, and saute for one minute until fragrant. Add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, and herbs, and heat to a slow simmer. Cook, uncovered, for half an hour. With an immersion blender, whiz the soup until velvety smooth. Add the cream and heat through. Serve.

Lovely garnishes (choose one): chunks of feta cheese, homemade croutons, a drizzle of basil oil....

Autumn Delight

The weather is turning cool, and I am turning to stews and soups and other warming comfort foods for dinner. I stopped at the Chicago Farmstand on the way home from work this afternoon for inspiration, and found a nice butternut squash and a pretty bunch of rainbow Swiss chard. Pulled some arborio rice and a box of chicken stock from the pantry, and I whipped up this soothing (and inexpensive!) meal. The sweetness of the roasted squash pairs nicely with the slight bitterness of the greens. The kids scraped their bowls clean and pronounced it a winner.



Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto with Swiss Chard

1 butternut squash
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups arborio rice
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel and core the squash and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Spread in a single layer on a large sheetpan. Sprinkle with olive oil and mix until the pieces are well coated. Salt and pepper. Roast until the edges of the squash cubes begin to brown, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, trim the stems off of the chard and chop them into small pieces. Chop the leaves and keep separate.

When the squash is finished roasting, remove from the oven to cool. In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat and saute the onion and the chopped chard stems until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the rice and cook until the rice begins to absorb some of the oil. Add the stock, about 1 cup at a time; stir while the rice cooks; when most of the liquid has been absorbed, add another cup of stock. When the stock has been fully absorbed, add 1 cup of the water and cook down. Just before adding the last cup of water, add the chopped chard leaves; cook and stir. When the water has been mostly absorbed, add the roasted squash and heat through. Add the Parmesan and stir until well incorporated. Taste for seasoning and serve, passing additional Parmesan at the table.

Serve six; less if your children are voracious eaters like mine.

Beets Can't Be Beat

I stopped at the Chicago Farmstand on my way home from work this afternoon, and they had some lovely beets from a local farmer on sale. I can't resist beets; they can be prepared sweet or savory and marry well with so many other flavors. I knew I had a small chunk of feta at home in the fridge, the rest of this salad I threw together with found ingredients. A little chopped parsley would be a nice addition to this salad.

Impromptu Beet Salad

3-4 medium beets
1/2 English cucumber
1/2 yellow onion
4 oz feta cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim the root and greens from each of the beets. Place one beet on a piece of foil; drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Fold the foil around the beet to seal in a hobo pack. Repeat with remaining beets. Place the hobo packs on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for an hour; beets are done when you can easily pierce them with the tip of a knife, like a baked potato. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, halve the cucumber and thinly slice it. Thinly slice the onion as well. When beets are cool enough to handle, remove them from the foil and peel the skins off. This will turn your fingertips a lovely shade of pink. Quarter the beets and slice. Combine the beets, cucumber, and onion in a bowl; toss with the lemon juice and olive oil to taste. Crumble the feta over the salad, toss again, and salt and pepper to taste. May be served chilled or at room temperature.

In a Pickle

For the last several years, I've spent at least part of annual vacation in East Otto canning the best the summer has to offer. This year, inspired by the fantastic products offered by Rick's Picks, I thought I'd try some pickles.

I was able to source some locally grown cucumbers at the market in Springville. I wanted my pickles to be sweet and spicy, so I added some ginger and some sliced jalapeno peppers to the brine. I made two brines for my pickles; one with tumeric, and one without. I also used a mix of white and apple cider vinegars, to add a depth of flavor and sweetness to the brine.

The process is pretty simple if you have ever canned before. The only difference is you must salt the sliced cukes and onions down for a couple of hours before you jar them. This draws quite a bit of water out of the vegetables, and allows them to absorb the flavorful brine.



Spicy Pickles Two Ways

6 cucumbers
3 onions
½ cup pickling salt
large knob ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/8-inch slices
3 jalapenos, sliced into rounds
1 tablespoon cloves
2 tablespoons allspice berries
4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes
4 cups white vinegar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons turmeric

Wash the cucumbers and slice them ¼ inch thick. Cover with about 2/3 of the salt; gently mix with your hands to ensure that the slices are evenly salted. Peel and slice the onion and cover with the remainder of the salt. Let the cucumbers and the onion sit for up to 4 hours.
Once the vegetables have rendered much of their liquid, rinse them well under cold water.

Prepare the pickling brine. In a large saucepan, combine 2 cups of sugar, 2 teaspoons turmeric, 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, 2 cups of white vinegar, and 1 cup apple cider vinegar. Heat until the sugar has dissolved. In a second large saucepan, combine the same ingredients, omitting the turmeric.


Prepare eight pint jars for canning. Into each jar, place 4 cloves, 8 allspice berries, and a few slices of jalapeno and ginger. Pack the jars with the onions and the pickle slices, adding more jalapeno and ginger about halfway up the jars.

Fill four jars with the turmeric-spiced pickling brine, and four jars with the other brine. Seal the jars, and process them for 15 minutes.

Yield: 8 pint jars of pickles

Western Spaghetti

This is awesome, and I may have to make some right now.

Tortilla Soup

One of my favorite lunch spots when I go downtown is Frontera Fresco at Macy's, which serves the most fantastic, flavorful tortilla soup. I've been rooting for Rick Bayless on Top Chef Masters; he has brought terrific food to Chicago, as well as a lot of good works.

Last night, I thought I'd try my hand at my own version of tortilla soup. My daughter has a nasty summer head cold, and I thought a hot bowl of spicy soup might comfort her. Plus, my husband was returning from out of town in the early evening, and I figured the soup could wait on the stove to welcome him home.

It was not as good as Rick's, but still pretty tasty. Served with a side salad of chopped romaine, sliced purple onions, grated cotija cheese, and roasted yellow bell and serrano pepper dressing.


Tortilla Soup

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, minced
2 small onions, chopped
2 boxes chicken stock (8 cups)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 boneless chicken breasts
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 lime
2 ears corn, cut off the cob (or 1 cup frozen corn)
1/2 bunch cilantro

avocados, cut into bite-sized chunks
chihuahua cheese, grated
tortilla chips, broken into pieces
lime wedges

In a large soup or stock pot, saute the garlic, jalapeno pepper, and onion in a little corn oil until the onion is translucent. Add the cumin and the cayenne, and saute until the spices become fragrant. Add the chicken stock and the chicken breasts. Heat to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the meat is cooked through. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and let cool. Meanwhile, add the canned tomatoes, corn, and cilantro to the soup. When the chicken has cooled enough to handle, shred it and return it to the soup. Check for seasoning and keep warm until ready to serve.

To serve, place a small amount of grated chihuahua cheese, some avocado chunks, and some broken tortilla chips in the bottom of a soup bowl. Ladle soup over and enjoy.

Summer Salad and Souffle

Last week, Nick wanted to try his hand at souffle. A dish that I didn't attempt until I was over 30, here he is making it at age 12. Souffle is kind of magic; taking a simple egg and transforming it into an ethereal bearer of whatever flavor (cheese, chocolate, herbs) you choose.

Making souffle gave Nick a chance to practice separating eggs, whipping egg whites, and folding. Actually, I think his favorite part was buttering the ramekins with his bare hands.



This is an excellent light summer dinner with a raspberry salad and miniature, open-face ham sandwiches.


Goat Cheese Souffle

5 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, plus more for buttering ramekins
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/3 cups milk
5 ounces goat cheese
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Separate the eggs, being very careful to not let any yolk break into the whites. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and cook the flour for a minute. Add the milk and cook and stir with a whisk until it thickens into a nice bechamel or white sauce. Remove from the heat and whisk in half of the cheese until it melts. Set the sauce aside to cool for a few minutes. While you are waiting, butter six ramekins generously. Drop a tablespoon or so of bread crumbs into each, and swirl the ramekins on their sides over the sink to coat the bottoms and the sides with crumb. Place on a cookie sheet. When the reserved sauce has cooled to lukewarm, whisk in the egg yolks and pinch the reminder of the goat cheese in to the pan in small bits. Salt and pepper to taste. In a mixer, whip the egg whites and the tartar sauce until stiff peaks form. Fold the yolk/cheese sauce mixture gently into the whipped egg whites. Divide the mixture between the ramekins. Bake for 25-30 minutes until they begin to brown on top. Serve immediately.


Raspberry Salad

1 pint very good quality raspberries
1 head Boston lettuce
1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil

Tear the lettuce into a salad bowl and toss with the raspberries and the onion. Mix the vinegar and oil in small bowl; add salt and pepper to taste. Toss the salad with the dressing just before serving.

George's Tomato Pie

Nick's friend George came over for the day, and he taught us to make tomato pie. George likes to put bacon in his, but we didn't have any, so ours was vegetarian. It was so good, it disappeared almost as soon as it came out of the oven!



George's Tomato Pie

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
pinch salt
3 large plum tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green onion, sliced very thin
pinch oregano
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
4 tablespoons mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the vegetable oil, milk, flour, and salt and mix until it is pulling away from the sides of the bowl. If the mixture is too sticky, add small amounts of flour until it forms a ball. Grease the bottom of an 8" x 8" brownie pan with a little oil. Push the dough into the bottom of the pan to cover. Bake the dough for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, combine the chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic, onion, and oregano in a small bowl. Combine the cheese and the mayonnaise in a separate bowl. Dump the tomato mixture on top of the crust and spread to cover. Plop spoonfuls of the cheese mixture on top of that, and spread with the back of the spoon to cover the tomatoes. Cover loosely with tin foil. Cook for 1/2 hour. Remove tin foil, and cook for an additional 1/2 hour. Serve.

Crepe Madness

Here's why you should make some crepes:

• You have all of the ingredients already on hand. Two cups of milk, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 stick of butter, melted, and a pinch of salt. Couldn't be simpler. Whiz the batter in a blender, and let it rest for 30 minutes before cooking.
• They are fun to make. Heat a medium saute pan over high heat, brush with a little melted butter, and pour about 1/3 cup of batter into the pan. Swirl it around to make a thin, even layer. Cook until the edges begin to brown and look dry. Flip with a spatula and cook on the second side for a few seconds. Slide onto a waiting plate. You can stack them like pancakes.
  
• They can be used in so many ways. Stuff them with cottage cheese and fresh fruit for breakfast. Spread them with Nutella and line them with banana slices for lunch. Dress them with sauteed vegetables and ricotta cheese for dinner. Fold them up and nap them with some cheese sauce for a snack.
  

Last nigh, Nick and I made Tyler Florence's recipe for crepes suzette with orange-butter sauce. I was surprised at how easy it was--although our first crepe tore into several pieces, the subsequent efforts came out of the pan flawlessly. Nick learned how to handle a hot pan, swirling and flipping and sliding the finished cakes onto a waiting plate. He also had his first taste of Grand Marnier, which he pronounced "strong" but "tasty."


The final dish was delicious, sweet and rich, bright and citrusy. Next time, I'd use less butter in the orange-butter sauce and maybe cook it down a bit longer. I'd also add a sprig of mint to the ice cream for fun.

The next morning, this is what Nick made himself for breakfast: crepe stuffed with scrambled eggs and garnished with fresh chives from the garden. You know you've got a budding cook in the house when he starts to garnish his breakfast!

Nick Cooks Indian

Just when I think that this Nick-cooks-dinner-on-Monday-nights thing is getting old for him, he comes to me and wants to know what we should cook together. Tonight he was back in the kitchen, making curry. We were inspired by a recipe for vegetable curry that we saw on America's Test Kitchen, which I have adapted below. Nick has been a lover of Indian food since he was a baby, when we took him to Devon Avenue and fed him dal and rice while we feasted on tandoori and murgh masala.

Vegetable Curry

2 tablespoons curry powder (we used hot curry powder from the Spice House)
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
2 onions, chopped
3 potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 cloves garlic
1 Serrano chili, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 14-0z can chopped tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1/2 cup half and half

Toast the spices in a dry skillet until fragrant and beginning to smoke. Remove the spices to a cool plate or bowl. In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and potatoes, and cook until they are beginning to brown, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Push the vegetables to the side of the pan and add an additional tablespoon of oil. Add the garlic, chili, tomato paste, and spices, and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the cauliflower and stir to coat with the spice mixture. Add the tomatoes and the garbanzo beans and a teaspoon of salt. Add enough water to make the mixture loose but not soupy. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the cauliflower is crisp-tender. Add the peas and the half and half, and stir to combine. Serve with hot basmati rice.

This is a fairly simple recipe, and it gave Nick a chance to practice his knife skills, chopping onions, potatoes, garlic, chilies, and cauliflower. He also learned how to peel ginger root with a spoon and grate it with the ginger grater. I am learning how to stay on the "other side" of the kitchen island and let him do his thing.



The final dish was quite spicy. We agreed we might cut back on the chilies next time, or perhaps use a sweet curry powder instead of the hot one.

Finds at the Chicago Farmstand

I came downtown today for a meeting that was canceled while I was in transit. Drat. Frustrated at the dent this knocked in my afternoon's productivity, I decided to stop at the Chicago Farmstand on the way home to see what I could find.

Turns out, it was my lucky day. I found delicious end-of-season strawberries, hearty rhubarb, and fresh, green garlic scapes. I've only cooked with garlic scapes once before. I worked them into an impromptu stir fry with a bunch of other vegetables, and their subtle, green garlic flavor was lost in the melange. This time, I wanted a recipe that would feature their garlicky goodness.

At the suggestion of a friend on Twitter, I decided to try a pesto.



Garlic Scape Pesto

1 bunch garlic scapes
3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
juice of one lemon
pepper

Cut the garlic scapes into 1-inch pieces. Drop into a food processor and process until well chopped. Add the Parmesan and the lemon juice. With the processor running, slowly add the oil until well incorporated. Pepper to taste.

I tossed this with some spaghetti and four chopped heirloom tomatoes. The pesto was delicious, but a bit too sharp for the delicately sweet tomatoes. Next time, I would use a can of good-quality chopped tomatoes (maybe Muir Glen), and perhaps add a pound of cooked shrimp.

Foodiedad's Adventure in the Woods

My dear husband had been away at our cabin with our son and his best friend for the past week. He spent the week hiking, fishing, playing games, and rebuilding our deck. Amazingly, despite these distractions, he also found time to do a little cooking.


Last year, he built a grill and pizza oven in the outdoor kitchen. One tool we lacked was a functioning rotisserie--the old one broke about halfway through a chicken last year, and we all took turns for the next hour rotating the bird. Before this trip, he ordered a new rotisserie, shown above in action.


I am told that the roast was delicious, a fitting way to cap off their time in the woods. Even more impressive, it made a repeat appearance the next day, reconfigured as hash, crowned with a poached egg.


Hats off to Foodiedad for taking the time to cook while on vacation and making memories around the table with the boys!

Cooking for One?

My boys are out of town this week, and I am home with my teenage daughter, which basically means that I am home alone. This has actually been quite enjoyable thus far, as I have had more time and attention to pay to my vocation by day and my avocations by night. Since I am invariably home alone for dinner, I have not bothered to cook much, choosing to pick up a container of soup or a salad at the grocery instead. But I find I miss getting my pots and pans dirty after a few days. Plus, the teenager eventually comes home, usually hungry, and complains about the lack of "anything to eat."

So, tonight I am back in the kitchen cooking for one, plus another who will raid the fridge later. I had an eggplant in the crisper, which I had planned to curry, but I felt more Meditteranean than Asian tonight. Here is a simple play on eggplant Parmesan, featuring a few other veggies, that does not involve frying.

Roasted Vegetable Parmesan

1 large eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
1/2 lb mushrooms, stemmed
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
olive oil
1 jar good-quality marinara sauce (I used Club Lucky marinara)
1/2 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
4 bobbolini fresh mozzarella
small bunch of fresh basil and thyme, from the garden
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the eggplant rounds, the mushrooms, and the onion on baking sheets. Brush liberally with olive oil, and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the veggies are soft and beginning to brown. Keep an eye on them; you may want to flip them halfway through cooking. Remove the vegetables from the oven, and turn down the temperature to 350 degrees. Rough chop the onion after it cools a bit; halve the mushrooms. In a glass baking dish, pour a little of the marinara and spread it out across the bottom. Line the pan with a layer of eggplant and dot it with the mushrooms and the onion. Sprinkle with a bit of the herbs and a layer of mozzarella. If you are feeling particularly evil, chop up some fresh mozzarella and add it here. Repeat the layers (sauce, veggies, herbs, mozzarella/fresh mozzarella). Finish with the remainder of the sauce, mozzarella, and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan. Bake until bubbly and golden on top. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes after you take it out of the oven. The slices will hold together much better if you let it cool some before you cut it (plus you will be less likely to burn the roof of your mouth off when you eat it). Warm a fresh baguette in the residual heat in the oven while you wait. Leftovers keep well in the fridge for a couple of days, and heat well in a microwave (the only oven teenagers know how to use).

Easy Peasey

When fresh peas are in season, how can I not cook with them? They are sugar sweet but have a firm but creamy texture like no frozen or canned pea. And they are fun to shell, unzipping their little containers and plucking them from their pods. It's good work to share with a friend, over conversation and delicious anticipation of a good meal.

Here is a quick pasta dish featuring peas. The other ingredients are mostly staples around my house; this can be thrown together in less than an hour.

Angel Hair with Shellfish, Bacon, and Peas

1 pound angel hair pasta
8 strips bacon
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 lb scallops, halved bilaterally if large
1 1/2 lb English peas
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated

Chop the bacon and fry in a large, heavy-bottomed pan until crisp. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain. Cover with another paper towel and hide from pilfering children. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Get the children to help you shell the peas, thereby distracting them from the bacon. Pour most of the bacon grease out of the pan you used to cook the bacon, and put the pan back on medium-high heat. Dry the scallops and the shrimp on paper towels; season with salt and pepper. Cook the scallops and shrimp in the hot pan, in batches. Remove to a plate and reserve. Salt the boiling water. Add the peas and cook for two minutes. Add the angel hair and cook for three minutes. Drain the pasta and peas and place in a large bowl. Add the cooked shellfish and the bacon, and sprinkle the Parmesan on top. Toss to combine, adding reserved pasta water to moisten the dish and make a little "sauce." Serve immediately; garnish with additional Parmesan if desired.

Chicken meatballs

Week two of Nick makes dinner:
We decided to tackle the chicken meatballs we read about in the New York Times magazine last Sunday, which are flavored with fresh chives, mint, and basil. We have lots of herbs in the kitchen garden, and Nick was intrigued by the possibility of using the food processor to grind meat. After work, we went to Whole Foods for some chicken thighs, along with a few other necessities. In the produce department, we found fresh English peas, and I thought it might be fun to change the recipe up a big. So, we turned it into a pasta dish, tossing the fried meatballs with the raita sauce along with some fresh corn and peas. Garnished with home-grown chive blossoms, the dish was declared a winner.

Skills Nick learned:
How to work the food processor
How to fry meatballs
How to shell fresh peas (mostly how to eat fresh peas out of the pod)
How to mince chives
How to cut corn kernels off the cob

New Chef in the House

It's summer vacation, and my youngest is looking for fun things to do. This is a kid who professes that he wants to be a chef someday. Right now, the dream restaurant he plans to own serves only eggs. So, how encourage him to expand his repertoire of recipes while having a little fun? Monday night dinner.

We've made a deal that Nick will cook dinner on Monday nights during the summer. The menu is up to him. If he plans, I will help him with provisions; if not, he is limited to what he can find in the fridge and in the pantry. I figure this is a good way for him to start learning some basic cooking skills and for us both to have a little fun together.

Yesterday, we found a bunch of broccoli in the crisper and he decided to make an easy soup with some cheese crispies.

Broccoli Soup

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 small onions, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups broccoli florets
3 cups chicken stock
4 oz cheddar cheese

In a large soup pot, saute the garlic, shallot, and onion in a little olive oil until it becomes translucent. Add the potatoes and the broccoli. Add the stock. Salt and pepper. Cover the pot and cook until the vegetables are tender. Turn off the heat. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Return to a low simmer. Shred or finely dice the cheese and add it to the soup. Stir until the cheese melts. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Cheese Crispies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut a baguette into slices and place the slices on a large cookie sheet. Paint each slice with a little olive oil. Toast the bread in the oven until it is beginning to crisp on top. Remove from the oven and let cool a little. Peel a clove of garlic and rub the toasts with the raw garlic. Flip the toasts over, paint with a little more oil, and toast the flip side. Remove from the oven again, and top the toasts with a small slice of really good cheddar or Parmesan. Return to the oven just until the cheese melts. Serve.

Kitchen Garden

Does the fact that I have no yard dissuade me from having a kitchen garden? Hell, no. My postage-stamp balcony is replete with containers. This year, we again have tomatoes, basil, rosemary, and chives. Plus, I've added a bell pepper, two types of thyme, mint, and sage.

OK, I will never have enough basil to make a batch of pesto, but I do have enough to dress a salad. And the rosemary and thyme flavors marinades all summer long. Best of all, my children can connect some small measure of the food we eat with the growing process, and the patient work that entails.

How to Make Lemonade

Fun with Bivalves

Mussels are a great weeknight go-to meal for the family. Kids love them because of the "eww" factor, and they are one of your less-expensive seafood options. Make sure that the grocer packs them on ice but leaves the bag open to the air so that they don't suffocate on the way home. (My bagger at Whole Foods tried to tie the plastic bag containing my mussels shut.) When you get home, decant your mussels to a colander set in a large bowl and store in the fridge until you are ready to cook them. Here's one of my favorite ways to prepare them.

Weeknight Mussels for Four

1 stick butter
6-8 cloves garlic or a couple of shallots, minced
1/2 bottle decent white wine
2 lbs mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 lb spaghetti

Clean the mussels under fresh water and pull any "beards" off of them. (Fun fact: Saavy fishermen have historically knit gloves from the fibers that comprise mussels' beards.) Make sure that the mussels are all closed; enlist children to help you bang the open ones gently on the counter; if they don't close within a couple of minutes, throw them away (they are dead). Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the garlic or shallots (or both) and saute until fragrant. Add the wine and the mussels. Cover the pot and cook over medium high heat until the mussels open and are cooked through (about 8-10 minutes). Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti. Add the spaghetti and the chopped parsley to the pot and stir to combine. Serve immediately. Teach kids how to use an empty mussel shell as a tool extract mussels from their shells and eat them. If you are feeling really decadent, heat up a baguette and serve with the mussels and pasta (good for soaking up the yummy sauce).

Frugal Chicken Dinner

Here's something I threw together tonight with some chicken from the freezer and pantry staples. Pretty easy to cook, and family pronounced it yummy.

Glazed Chicken Thighs

8 chicken thighs
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock or water
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon siracha
2 oranges
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 onions, sliced

Salt and pepper the chicken. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Brown the chicken in batches. Meanwhile, supreme the orange segments and squeeze the juice into a medium bowl. Add the soy sauce, stock, honey, and siracha; stir to combine.. Remove the chicken to a plate. Pour off most of the rendered fat from the pan and return to the heat. Add the onions to the pot and saute, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook the onions until they begin to brown. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Return the chicken to the pot; layer on top o f the onions. Pour any reserved juices from the chicken into the pot. Add the orange/sauce mix and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 20-30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the lid, and cook until the sauce thickens and begins to glaze the chicken, another 10 minute or so. Serve with rice.