Broccoli, Cauliflower and Onions = Fabulousness

Rachel, this post is not for you. Go do yoga or something while I talk to Miss M.

Maxine, your mother is a wonderful human being who really loves you and is a terrific mother. But she has this one genetic flaw: Apparently she has mutant taste buds that tell her broccoli and cauliflower taste bad. As someone who eats broccoli multiple times weekly and thinks it is perhaps the best veggie ever grown, I find it a little hard to believe your mother came out of my body. (I assume this genetic flaw is from the Reynolds side of the clan, along with premature gray hair and height deficiencies.)

Anyway I'm here to tell you that when (note that was not an if) I make this casserole for you from Faith Durand's new cookbook, Not Your Mother's Casseroles, you are going to love it and, therefore, broccoli. It's just the truth. Nana wouldn't lie.


ingredients
1 head broccoli, chopped, florets only about 4 cups
1 head cauliflower, florets only, chopped about 4 cups
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large onions, diced
3 teaspoons salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced fresh chives
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded Gouda cheese
1/2 teaspoon pepper

for the bread crumb topping
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

method
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9X13 baking dish.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the broccoli and cauliflower in the pot for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and mash together in a large bowl until soft. Drain off any additional water. Set aside.

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add the onions. Sprinkle with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and cook for about 10 minutes or until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant and golden. Add the chives, stir for about a minute and remove from the heat.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Then stir them into the mashed cauliflower and broccoli. Stir in the cheese, the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, pepper and finally the onion mixture. Place in baking dish.
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For the topping, mix he breadcrumbs with the salt, pepper and olive oil. Spread evenly over the vegetable mixture in the baking dish. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Bunch o' Brunch

Janet here:

I love, love, love eating breakfast out. It's an oddity of sorts because it's not like I make a big breakfast at home. No, I eat — and have eaten — yogurt just about every day for, oh, decades. (I used to only eat one kind — Dannon coffee, still my yogurt of choice — but I have expanded my repertoire to include Stoneyfield organic in recent years.)

Anyway, my second favorite breakfast thing is brunch. Maybe it's because, like breakfasts in restaurants, brunches are slower. You're not supposed to do anything but sit there for a while, talking, relaxing, maybe even having a bloody Mary or two. You give yourself permission to slow down and that's a wonderful way to start the day.

Peter's cousin and husband, Kerry and Hal, stopped by last weekend for a quick visit after dropping their daughter back at college. They were slated just in time for brunch so brunch it was.

I tossed together some fruit salad, brewed up a batch of coffee and made some delicious scrambled eggs (with shallots, lox and a little 1/2-and-1/2, delicious!). And we topped it off with this terrific blueberry crumb coffeecake from the Barefoot Contessa At Home cookbook. Regular readers know I'm a BC fan. It's rare one of her recipes fail me. If you're looking for an easy coffeecake that will win rave reviews, try this one. And have a mimosa for me. :)

Blueberry Crumb Coffeecake

ingredients for the streusel
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/3 cups flour

ingredients for the cake
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries

method
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan.

For the streusel, combine the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.

For the cake, cream the butter and sugar in a bowl. I used a hand mixer, but BC recommends using an electric mixer with a paddle on high for 4-5 minutes until light. Reduce speed to low and add the eggs one at a time. Then add the vanilla, lemon zest and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Then fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula until completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the pan. With your fingers, crumble the topping evenly over the batter. Bake 40-50 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar (if you want. I didn't; it seemed like overkill.)

Scalloped Tomatoes

With all this holiday baking — oh and just a little holiday eating — I'm beginning to feel just a tad blimp-like. So with that in mind, I thought it was time, Rachel, for me to feature something that didn't include sugar.

I am a huge tomato fan and it is one of life's inadequacies that I live in a place where fresh, lusciously ripe tomatoes are only available two months out of 12. I long for them the rest of the year, but there is no point of even pretending that the stuff in the produce section that's red and roundish is even vaguely related to a real tomato.

That said, this terrific recipe from the Barefoot Contessa's new cookbook, How Easy is That?, is a wonderful way to serve tomatoes as a side dish in those off months. Plus, you can make it ahead and serve it for a crowd, which is what I did when we had some friends over for dinner a few weeks ago. Hope you all like it!

Scalloped Tomatoes
serves a crowd

ingredients
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cups diced bread (1/2 inch pieces) from a round rustic bread
3 pounds plum tomatoes, diced (about 14-16 tomatoes)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup julienned fresh basicl leaves
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

method
Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large (12-inch) saute pan over medium heat. Add the bread cubes and stire to coat with the olive oil. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring ovten, until the cubes are evenly browned.

Combine the tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the tomato mixture to the bread cubes and continue to cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the basil.

Pour the tomato mixture into a shallow (6-8 cup) baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the Parmesan cheese and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly. Serve hot or warm.

Books That Make Us Hungry: Happy Haulidays from Chronicle Books Giveaway!

Yes, readers, the holidays are upon us soon, and Chronicle Books, a real favorite of ours here at Life Told in Recipes, is having a lovely little contest where we can all win. Here's how it works. We create a list of books we would love to win (see below). Then you just comment on the books and why you'd like to be a winner. Then on Dec. 13 Chronicle picks a winning blog AND one reader from that blog who has commented. We both then get a happy shipment of the books on this list.

How great is that!!!! Could it be any simpler??? This is the proverbial win-win for us all so spread the word to your friends etc.

Without further ado our list of top faves:

Cake Pops by Bakerella (yes we already did one giveaway of this book but we had so many interested readers, that we would love to spread the love here some more)

Farmers' Market Desserts by Jennie Schacht (the more dessert cookbooks the better, we say)

Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell (ditto to dessert cookbook comment)

Savory Baking Pastries by Mary Cech and Noel Barnhurst (clearly a baking theme is emerging here)

Cupcake Kit by Elinor Kilvan (because the more cupcakes in the world, the better for us all)

The Big Book of Appetizers by Meridith Deeds and Carla Snyder (who doesn't love throwing a dinner party with lots of great appetizers?)

Delicious Dips AND Skinny Dips by Diane Morgan (we could go low or high-fat if we had both of these wonderful books)

Soup's On by Leslie Jonah and Frank Frankeny (nothing is better for warming the heart on a wintry day than homemade soup)

At Home with Friends by Michele Adams, Gia Russo and Victorial Peisor (tips for fab entertaining)

Blackbird Bakery's Gluten Free Baking by Karen Morgan (we're curious about this and what better way to try out the idea)

Time for Dinner by Pilar Guzman, Alanna Stang and Jenny Rosentrach (everything every busy parent needs to know to put quick, healthy meals on the table seven days a week)

Commonsense Kitchen: 500 Recipes Plus Lessons for a Hand-crafted Life by Tom Hudgens (appeals to our obsessive recipe collection natures)

Latin Grill: Sultry and Simple Food for Red Hot Dinners and Parties by Rafael Palomino, Arlen Gargagliano and Dan Goldberg (who doesn't love spicy food?)

Love in Spoonfuls: Fast and EAsy Ways to Make Nutritious Food for Your Baby (The Divine Miss M deserves this!)

Book of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks by Bethany Keeley (one of us is a grammar freak)

Mom's One-Line a Day: 5-Year Memory Book (one of us is a new mom who STILL talks about how her mother, the other one of us, didn't do a baby book about her; this is the revenge gift)

Baby Face Nesting Blocks (another gift for the Divine Miss M)

and a few Moleskins planners and notebooks because they are the coolest books ever for keeping track of life's stuff.

So that's it. We want to win because we want YOU to win! So comment below and spread the word.....

Happy Haulidays to all!

Janet and Rachel

The Barefoot Contessa on Thanksgiving

In my day job I am a magazine editor, which is how I was among the chosen to get to interview Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa, about her new book, How Easy is That?. (We are giving away a copy to one lucky reader and announcing the winner tomorrow so if you haven't entered, click here.)

Anyway in addition to interviewing her for the magazine, life@home, I asked her about a food memory just our LTIR readers. Here's what she had to say about Thanksgiving.

While Ina, one of the few people to make it in the food world without professional culinary school training, makes cooking seem easy, her mother, she said, "was not an easy cook." In our interview, Ina recalled what it took to cook a turkey of yesteryear. Her mother would get up at 4 a.m. to get the turkey in on time, meticulously baste it periodically all day long, and then everyone would proclaim it was the best turkey they'd ever had when, Ina said, it was really dry as a bone. "Thanksgiving was always such a to-do."

Not any more for Ina. "I love that it's so much easier," she said, noting that she prefers her stuffing outside the bird. Her tip for a top bird? Go kosher; they're already pre-salted.

For the dinner gathering itself, smaller is better. Said Ina, "I'm big on smaller parties."

Below is her recipe for herb roasted turkey breast from her new book. But remember you could make all her recipes from this great book, if you click the link above by the end of today. Tomorrow we announce the lucky winner. Good luck and happy cooking!

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast
Serves 6 to 8

ingredients
1 whole bone-in turkey breast (6½ to 7 pounds)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup dry white wine

method
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the turkey breast on a rack in a roasting pan, skin side up.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper. Rub the mixture evenly all over the skin of the turkey breast. (You can also loosen the skin and smear half of the paste underneath, directly on the meat.) Pour the wine into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Roast the turkey for 1½ to 1 ¾ hours, until the skin is golden brown and an instant-read meat thermometer registers 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest and meatiest area of the breast. Check the breast after an hour or so; if the skin is overbrowning, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.

When the turkey is done, remove from the oven, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and allow the turkey to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Slice and serve warm with the pan juices.

Books That Make Us Hungry: Skinny Dips

Janet here: So far, we've focused on books about food rather than cookbooks in this feature, and it struck us that this was just silly. The best cookbooks have me salivating as I turn the pages and filling it with sticky notes about recipes I can't wait to try. So we will periodically feature cookbooks we like to get you juiced about all the wonderful recipes out there.

First up is a new book by Diane Morgan called Skinny Dips. (Chronicle Books). I don't know about you, but I love to nosh. One of my favorite parts of dinner parties is the appetizers.

Which also means I tend to fill up on these tasty goodies. Enter Diane and 60 recipes for dips, spreads, chips and salsas minus some of the calories. She's got all of your favorites and then some. Baked crab dip? Check. Hot Artichoke Dip? Check. I made the crab dip this past weekend and it was absolutely wonderful. Four of us ate The. Whole. Thing. Probably not Diane's intent for the lower calorie thing, but it was that tasty. Clearly when I serve this again, I will have to make double.


Baked Crab Dip

ingredients
6 ounces lump crabmeat, well drained
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (I only had dried so I put in about 1 tablespoon)
3 tablespoons snipped fresh chives (again I only had dried to about 1 teaspoon if you use dried)
1/2 cup reduced fat mayonnaise (I'm not going to lie; I don't own reduced fat mayo so I used the real full-fat option)
4 ounces whipped cream cheese
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (I used a bit more because I like my food spicy)
1/4 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

method

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the crabmeat in a bowl and flake with your fingers. Stire in the bell pepper, parsley and chives. Gently stir in the mayo, cream cheese, lemon juice and hot sauce.

Transfer to a shallow 1-quart baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the panko and lemon zest. Just before baking, sprinkle the panko mixture on top and bake until it's toasty brown and the dip is bubbling at the edges, about 12 minutes. Serve hot.