morsels & sauces

Adapted from Cookbook #47:  Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (1992) Recipe:  Ravioli Stuffed with Parsley and Ricotta in Tomato Sauce with Heavy Cream Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays.  Every year the husband and I trundle on over to his parents' (one of three pairs) house for dinner.  The crowd has ranged from an intimate eight to an overwhelming twenty.  But every year we congregate around 3 p.m., sip wine and snack on some fantastic appetizer, and then gather around a big table and laugh and laugh. Some highlights have included: the best salad ever.  A simple pear, goat cheese, and butter lettuce salad with a divine, tangy, peppery dressing.  Which was later revealed in some secrecy to be Girard's Champagne Dressing ; the most, umm, interesting and Midwestern salad ever: a pear poached in red hots (yes, red hots , those cinnamon hard candies) served atop iceberg lettuce--let us not speak of this again; a porcini, cream, butter, potato, c

Adapted from Cookbook #46:  The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook   (1999) Recipe: Homemade Granola I am woefully behind in posting, but I am keeping up with the cooking.  This week is Thanksgiving week, and I want to think about all that I am thankful for. The sublime--my family, as spread out, as welcoming, and as wacky as they may be; my friends, who understand that it's not personal that I am not returning their phone calls (but know that I am too lazy after four months to look for my phone charger); my job, which this week brought me to unexpected tears when some students thanked me for a glimpse into the teenage experience through The Bell Jar ; and my husband, who lets me steal his poker chips and who holds my arm in the rain as we walk to the car.  The ridiculous--my personal parking god (you'll be getting this year's thank you letter, Peter); NyQuil, which has been keeping me going the past two days (and by keeping me going, I mean putting me to sleep), and my book gr

Adapted from Cookbook #45:  Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961, my edition is 2001) Recipe: Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons (Fish Fillets Poached in White Wine With Mushrooms) Well, here we are with The Cookbook.  Not just any ole cookbook, but The One.  Oh, Julia, how we love thee.  Julia professed she was no fan of blogs that went in for stunts , such as the infamous Julie Powell blog.  Stunts were too flimsy for our Julia.   So I guess that she would suppose this stunt of mine to cook page 210 from every cookbook is too flimsy.  But so be it.  Let the flimsy stunts carry on.  Join me, will you? So under Julia's watchful eye, I made a lovely poached fish with butter, cream, Swiss cheese, and more butter.  How could it not be amazing?  And it was. While this is a deceptively simple dish, you might want to save it for more special occasions, if for no other reason than you'll need to diet for three days afterward.  Oh, but those three days of denia