Janet here:

First and foremost, I am coming off a week-long visit with Miss M and her caretakers and I am officially in mourning. Despite the fact that they all had colds, it was wonderful on every level possible and I am counting the days until we are all together again. (Anything longer than a month is too long in case anyone is wondering.)

But on to the food. Best part: Rachel and I got to cook together AND the Divine Miss M joined us. Best. Thing. Ever.

But when Max wasn't helping in the kitchen, the other best part was cooking for more than two and cooking new food. This leek and sage casserole was a killer side to a fish dish I made (stay tuned for that recipe). I've said it before but it bears saying again: I was a fool for presuming that leeks were the same as yellow onions for ALL OF MY COOKING LIFE UNTIL LAST YEAR. I was an idiot. If you like leeks even just a little bit, make this now. You won't be sorry.

Sage and Potatoes Gratin
serves 8

ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
4 leeks, cleaned and sliced
1 cloves garlic, crushed
about 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
about 2 pounds potatoes (I used Russet but I think you could try this with Yukon too), thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped sage leaves
1 1/2 cups (or so) grated fontina cheese or cheddar if you prefer
salt and pepper to taste

method
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the leek and garlic, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Place the sweet and regular potatoes in a bowl with the olive oil and salt and pepper. Toss until well coated.

In a casserole dish (9X13 or smaller), create layers. First the potatoes. Then the leek mixture with cheese and sage. Then repeat, finishing with a cheese layer.

Cover loosely with foil. Bake for 30 minutes with the foil on. Then uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes. Serve.

In the Kitchen, Family Style

Rachel here.

No recipe today. Just a moment instead.

We spent Saturday afternoon in the kitchen. John whipped up a gorgeous roast chicken, stuffed to the brim and lying in a bed of sweet potatoes, carrots and onion. It was simple and fresh and, after Maxine was in bed, it made the perfect date night dinner (we have dates on Saturdays, come hell or high water). While he did this, Max and I threw a thousand little bits and pieces into our slow cooker. A handful of corn, pinches of peas, tomato and chicken stock, freshly snapped green beans, carrots and celery and onion freshly sauteed, orzo...and then a little more, and whatever seasonings we could get our hands on from the spice drawer (which is in serious need of a restock). Chicken roasted, soup simmered, and for an hour or so there, all three of us were chitchatting and giggling while our hands worked, sharing tasting spoons and reveling in the warmth and good smells that seeped throughout our house.

I caught myself for a moment, thought "Oh! I'd better start writing this all down. I'd better start snapping pictures." But then I forgot, pulled back into the present by Maxine's request for a spoon to stir with or something like that. And I'm glad.

Because this little pocket in a Saturday afternoon?

It was one of those moments I'd always imagined for my family when I was growing up. Everyone was involved, we were focused on tending to our most basic needs, and none of it felt like work.

It was awesome.

Sweet Baby, Sweet Potato

Hey Ma-

Turn oven on to 400 degrees. Poke sweet potato all over with fork. Put in oven. Set timer for 40 minutes. Remove from oven. Scoop out of skin. Mash with fork. Serve.

Seriously, if all infant food making can be relatively this simple, I think we just might keep on hippy-ing our way through this whole baby thing.

My personal favorite thing to feed M are avocados. Scoop, mash, serve. Beautiful.

Here's a little video of M's first bite of sweet potato. We call her spud sometime (she looks like a potato with some regularity) and so it only seemed fitting that her first food after cereal would be her nicknamesake. She ended up loving them, but only after a great deal of consideration. Here's a glimpse of the first minute she spent on her first bite. And yes, by first minute I mean to say that she spent multiple minutes considering this first bite of sweet potato before deciding that, yes, they're yummy.



We've tried carrots three times this week. The only time she ate any of them they were mixed in with sweet potato. The other two times brought her to tears. Tears! She's a very funny little baby.

XXOO
-R

Slurp! Soup!

Rachel here: The recipe I'm sharing this week is from my grandma on my dad's side (my grandma on my mom's side is/was my grandy). The last time that I had it with her was a few years ago when I brought John to Connecticut for the first time to meet my family. We went to my grandparents' for lunch and this was on the menu. I had started gathering recipes from my grandma a little bit earlier and so, after lunch, I followed her into the kitchen and asked her for this one. Chicken soup is one of the great simple foods, I think, when it's done well. So often, though, it's a mediocre product. My grandma's recipe (which she would want me to reveal she learned from her brother's former wife because she was humble like that), however, gives chicken soup all of the tlc it needs to turn around and give that tlc right back to the person eating it. It is at once complex and familiar, hearty and basic. When my kitchen began to smell like my grandma's house, I was transported back to that afternoon copying her recipe while she chattered about how nice John seemed while putting the lunch dishes away. I could see the sunlit snow through her windows and hear the quiet calm that always hugged her home. My house smelled like my grandma's house last night and, frankly, as I come close to the one-year anniversary of her death, it is nice to know that she is a part of my home and my new family, that something as simple as chicken soup--and with it, my grandma--can be carried and woven and traced throughout my life.

Grandma's Belgian Chicken Soup
Ingredients
1 roasting chicken (3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds)
1 large onion, sliced
2 medium leaks, cleaned and chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
3 small carrots, sliced
1 parsnip, sliced
4 c. water
1 1/2 c. dry white wine
4 sprigs of parsley (plus extra to garnish)
2 tspn. fresh thyme (I used lemon thyme)
1 bay leaf
2 whole cloves (I used 1 tspn. ground cloves instead)
1 T. instant chicken bouillon
2 tspn. salt
1/4 tspn. pepper
1/4 tspn. nutmeg
1/4 tspn. cayenne
2 egg yolks
1/2 c. half-and-half
1/2 lemon (or, one small lemon) thinly sliced

Method
Combine the first eight ingredients (my grandma's recipes always give instructions this way and I find it nice and concise), from the chicken through the wine in a large pot. Make a bouquet garni with the parsley, thyme, bay leaf and cloves (or don't...I didn't, but if you are not going to then definitely go with ground cloves and don't forget to fish out your bay leaf when the soup is done cooking). Add to soup pot along with bouillon and spices (by spices I am referring to the ingredients from the salt through the cayenne). Bring this all to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover, letting simmer for an hour or more until the chicken is tender.

About halfway through, rotate the chicken if it is not entirely covered by the liquid. When chicken is tender, remove from pot. At this time, if you have used one, you should also remove the bouquet garni. If you didn't go the garni route, this would be a good time to find that bay leaf and pull it out. Remove skin from the chicken and cut the meat from the bones into bite-sized pieces. Skim the fat from the chicken broth before returning the now bite-sized chicken to the pot (if your chicken is on the larger side you may not need to add all of the chicken back into the pot which means you will have some very yummy meat for sandwiches...in fact, it's so delicious that I would recommend erring on the larger side for your chicken in the name of having leftover meat).

Combine the egg yolks with the half-and-half and stir this mixture into the soup. Heat until hot, but do not boil. Stir in your lemon slices. Sprinkle each serving with chopped parsley, put some hearty fresh bread on the table and dig in.

Seriously? I think this soup is perfection. What do you think? I also think the stock would be a great base for other soups, though I've never tried it because this recipe is so good that I never want to not make it.



Janet here: As the older of this duo, I love reading how much cooking with her grandmother means to Rachel. It makes me feel so heartened to see the story continues even after the death of the cook.

Making soup always makes me feel so cozy. The process is so relaxing — cutting up the vegetables and other ingredients — and like baking cookies on a cold rainy or snowy day, it just makes me feel so safe and warm. This roasted vegetable soup is my adaptation of a recipe I first made from one of the Barefoot Contessa's cookbooks. I hope you like it. As with most of what I do, there's room for variations and individual ideas. Enjoy!

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup
makes at least 10 servings

Ingredients
20 ounces of turnips, peeled and cut into cubes
5 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
3 large potatoes, skin on and cut into cubes
64 ounces of chicken or vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Method
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Put the vegetables into a large bowl. Dribble with olive oil and salt and pepper. Mix well.Put onto a roasting pan. Cook for about 40 minutes until the vegetables are done. Turn at least once in the middle to make sure all sides get roasted well.

After the vegetables are cooled, add to a blender a little at a time with some of the broth and puree. I happen to like my soup just one or two steps above mashed potatoes, but if you like it soupier, then you'll want to perhaps use more broth in general.
Heat and serve when you're ready. This is soup with substance, so all you need is some bread and maybe a salad to have a complete winter meal.

It's Ch-Ch-Chili

Janet here: In the winter in the Northeast, I turn to chili when I want an easy dinner that will satisfy. First, I can make it ahead. Second it's easy. Oh and then there's the nutrition factor. It's made of all kinds of stuff that are good for you (which also meant that it was a dish that I used to sneak good food into my kids when they were younger without them realizing it. I have one son, for instance, who will not eat beans or onions in pieces ... except he does in chili so haha.)

But I digress.

Anyway, I make a lot of different kinds of chili, including a very tasty white one that I just discovered this past year. I decided for this post, however, to do the vegetarian one since my carniverous daughter was going to be including some kind of meat. So on to the dish, which of course is also just a great way to have a lot of melted cheese too. :) This batch will serve 6-8.

Ingredients
1 large yellow onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
1 19 ounce can red kidney beans
1 15 ounce can black beans
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with jalapeno
about 1/2 cup rice
chili powder, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste


Method
In a large cooking pot, put in the oil and saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Then add the beans, tomatoes, rice and seasonings. Cook, covered, on low heat until the rice is done. Serve with grated cheese and sour cream.


Rachel here: Chili is awesome. I really think this. First, it's a vehicle for cheese and sour cream. Second, it's warm. Third, it's hearty. Fourth, it's easy. Really, it's like a wonder-food. For this batch I used a combination of leftover items in my fridge along with umm...non-leftover items (there must be a better way to say that). And, in the end, I now have new leftovers, but now they are of the chili variety (yeah!) and some will be frozen in portions for a future evening and the rest will be eaten for lunches and whatnot this week. It's a happy day here in Oakland (oh, and it's a bit chilly, too...ha ha ha).

Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium sweet potato, chopped
28 oz. whole peeled tomatoes (I use the organic variety and, I dare say, you should, too)
28 oz. ground peeled tomatoes
2/3 lb. flank steak, cubed
1 large bone-in, skin-on chicken breast
1 c. chicken stock (or more if you have it...just use that instead of the water)
2 c. water
4 c. beans (NOT dried...I used the leftover black beans I posted about last week)
6 large fresh basil leaves
2-3 T. fresh lemon thyme
2 c. couscous (already cooked)
2 c. fresh chopped spinach
fennel
dried oregano
paprika
cayenne
orange peel
chili powder
worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Method
In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic and sweet potato in butter. Add tomatoes, steak, chicken stock, water, beans, chicken breast (I like to put it in whole and then pull it out after it's cooked, chop it up and throw it back in), couscous, spinach, basil (I just tear these up as I throw them in) and thyme. Let simmer until starts to cook down and chicken is cooked. Add spices listed above to taste. This recipe makes a big old pot of chili so I don't cook it down quite as far as I would if I were serving it all at once so that in future re-heatings I won't have to water it down. Sprinkle cheese on top and add a dollop of sour cream and go get cozy.