A Simple Side - Carrots with Tarragon

Tarragon is an herb that's pretty unfamiliar to me. I grew up eating my grandmother's Hungarian food, and in her desire to blend into American culture, a lot of simple American food - chicken breasts with rosemary and lemon, mashed potatoes, that sort of thing. Living in Southern California, then moving up to the Seattle area, I've been exposed to a lot of Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, and Chinese food. Cumin, coriander, garam masala, galangal, lemongrass, szechuan peppercorns are pantry staples. I buy fresh cilantro on a weekly basis. But in my kitchen and food vocabulary, tarragon is exotic - not something I grew up with, or ate with any kind of regularity. As you can probably imagine, I haven't eaten or cooked a lot of French food (something I am working on at the moment).

So while this recipe is really simple, these carrots were a revelation for me. I can't even begin to describe how well the tarragon compliments the carrots, other than they seemed made for each other - and of course, a little butter and salt always helps. But what an elegant side to a simple meal - this would go so well with an herb roasted chicken. As pictured, I made it with braised chicken with leeks and porcini, and green herb mashed potatoes, also from The Herbfarm Cookbook. It was a truly lovely meal, but the carrots were my favorite.

Ginger Fried Rice with an Egg

I have an ongoing love affair with eggs and rice. Ever since I discovered the joy of an over-easy egg with rice and soy sauce, it's been my favorite breakfast, easy lunch, or I'm-too-tired-to-cook meal.

I'd been eyeballing this recipe in the Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges cookbook, especially since I'd had good luck with several of his other recipes. So when I saw Mark Bittman wax poetic about it recently, and he showed me just how easy it really is, I knew it was time to give it a shot.

The ingredients are simple, but this is really tasty fare. The silky, smooth leeks really gives the rice a lovely flavor and subtle texture, and the crispy garlic and ginger really elevates it. Served with a simple salad with a miso vinaigrette, it really hit the spot. My husband loved it so much, he was mostly done by the time I'd finished snapping pics. Next time, I'll use jasmine; I used calrose by force of habit, and realized my mistake only after I'd started cooking it. Oops. It still turned out great, though!

Patatas Bravas - Roasted Potatoes with Spicy Tomato Sauce and Aioli

I'm always on the lookout for new side dishes or light entrees. Sure, local and seasonal veggies, prepared simply with good ingredients, are always delicious, but sometimes I just want something a little different. And while crispy oven-roasted potatoes are always a good idea, sometimes more actually IS better, as is the case with these - patatas bravas, a Spanish potato dish.

Take delicious, crispy, oven roasted potatoes, blanched and then roasted at a high temp with olive oil, salt and pepper to get all golden brown and delicious. Good, right? Then add a slow-simmered tomato sauce, enriched with spicy red pepper and an unexpected but welcome hit of cumin. Mmmm, even better. Now cut the acidity and spiciness with some creamy, garlicky aioli, and you've got the world's best side starch, or an awesome light lunch with some blanched or roasted veggies like haricot vert or zucchini, or with a nice crisp salad.

Endive and Potato Salad with Smoked Trout

Seattle is the land of smoked salmon, but I have a secret: as much as I love the salmon, I really love smoked trout. It's a little milder than salmon, with a sweeter flavor, but it still has a nice, meaty texture and pleasant saltiness. Unfortunately, it's a little bit hard to find - 10 kinds of smoked salmon, or even salmon candy, is readily available, but refrigerated smoked trout (I've tried some in cans and didn't care for it) is only available in the more specialty stores around here.

That's part of the reason I love this salad, it's a great use of smoked trout. Paired with crunchy and slightly bitter endives, creamy potatoes, and a lovely light and lemony dressing, and lots of fresh herbs, this salad hits all the notes for me - crunchy, creamy, lightly bitter in a very pleasant way, meaty, salty, tangy, all good. All this without croutons, which I dearly love (especially when using leftover La Brea ciabatta and frying them lightly in bacon fat), but this salad needs none!

Mocha Bûche de Noël

I did it! I made a trial run first, and learned from a few of my minor mistakes, but I tackled what I thought might be one of the trickiest things to make - a Bûche de Noël - and I came out victorious. The end result was a delicious and moist chocolate cake soaked with brandy and espresso, filled with a coffee-flavored whipped cream and ricotta filling with small, toothsome bits of dark chocolate, and the whole thing was covered with chocolate ganache. It was a lovely and yummy, and it actually tasted better as it aged in the fridge!

This was my first time making a genoise. I wasn't familiar with this type of a cake, as everything I'd done before had been a variation on the standard creamed butter and egg cake batter that goes into a 9" round pan and bakes for 40 minutes. I didn't know how it was going to roll without cracking, that confounded me. And I was wary of the syrup, having had only a single, and disastrous, experience with soaking a cake (I ended up with a flattened, soggy cake, ew). And I didn't think tiramisu counted, since the ladyfingers were purchased and therefore already a little dried out (did you know ladyfingers were piped genoise? I didn't!). But after all was said and done, it was pretty straightforward.

Rich and Delicious Mocha Bread Pudding

Continuing on the coffee theme, here's a rich bread pudding that pairs one of my absolute favorite flavor combinations - chocolate and coffee. I remember the first time I had bread pudding, it seemed like the oddest thing to me. But when I got it, I fell in love - the bread had been transformed from something simple to something decadent, creamy in the middle and crisp around the edges, all full of chocolate but not too sweet. I was hooked.

Make no bones about it, this isn't for the faint of heart, or those trying to diet. It's full of dairy, eggs, bread, and chocolate. It's rich. And it makes a lot! But it is an awesome dessert, and it's done the way I like, which is just sweet enough, but not too sweet. I suggest a little whipped cream for topping, especially if you spike it with something like a coffee liqueur or bourbon. Or, for extra decadence (and as I have done here), some caramel sauce and coffee ice cream.

Coffee-spiked Pork Satay

These are a unique yet simple appetizer for get-togethers or a light lunch or dinner - pork skewers with a simple coffee-spiked peanut sauce. It's not the first pork skewers I have on here, and it probably won't be the last, but what can I say, I dig meat on a stick. I know the dipping sauce sounds a little strange -- coffee and peanut butter, really? -- but it’s a surprisingly nice flavor combination, and if you have a little leftover coffee from the morning, this will all come together super quickly. And after all the work of the holidays, or if you're planning a New Year's shindig, wouldn't we all love something simple and quick?

I know I'm really pulling from a variety of influences here, but don't skip the garam masala. I find the combo of spices is just right to give it a real depth of complimentary flavor to peanut sauce. If you don't have any on hand, try adding just a pinch of coriander, cinnamon and black pepper.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti

Let me start right off the bat by simply saying this: this might be my favorite cookie ever. I love all the tried and true favorites - a good, thick, chewy chocolate chip cookie; a soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookie; a crisp and delicate sugar cookie; and Newman-O's and Girl Scout Samoas and Thin Mints are oh-so-good. But this cookie fulfills all my favorite things I like about sweets in one go: chocolate, of course, preferably dark; sweet-tart and chewy dried cherries for a little bright-tart flavor, and texture; almonds and almond flavoring, because I'm a sucker for sweet almond treats; cardamom, since I adore it but I find it's rarely used in Western foods; and the fact that these are just sweet enough, but not too sweet. Put those all together, and make it into a cookie that's easy and not at all fussy, and you have a winner.

The base is also really versatile - chocolate, cherry, and almonds with a little cardamom is my personal favorite. But you could use cranberries, white chocolate, and pistachios; a little orange zest and anise seed; really, whatever you like. These last ones I drizzled with a little milk chocolate for a cookie exchange, and you can dip half in chocolate for a nice presentation if you like. But usually, I just make (and eat) these plain.

If you decide to make this with dried cherries, and you have a Trader Joe's nearby, I strongly encourage you to stop there and seek out their dried Montmorency cherries. I've tried various dried cherries, packaged and in bulk bins, but they are usually too sweet and mushy (and occassionally rotten, yuck). I've bought countless bags of the TJ's ones over the year, and they are by far the best AND most reasonably priced of the lot, with the best sweet-tart flavor and chewy texture.