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The potatoes were cut into 1-inch chunks and added to the pot along with the stock. The mixture is seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked until the potatoes are tender, yet not breaking apart. Two cups of the potatoes and a cup of stock are removed to either a food processor or blender and pulse until the potatoes are liquified. The puree is poured back into the pot along with the leek and seasonings adjusted. To serve, pour into bowls and garnish with crumbled bacon and grated cheese.
I wanted to love this soup, but both my husband and I said it needed something. When I make it again, I would use russet potatoes that have been baked, cooled and riced. Secondly, there was too much liquid for the number of potatoes. I would have preferred all of the potatoes puréed giving the soup a creamy texture. Before we had it a second time, I puréed all the potatoes and the texture was better. I think this soup deserves a second chance. I was listening to a podcast with Arthur Schwartz, former food columnist for The Daily News newspaper and a former radio talk show host for “Food Talk,” on WOR radio. He was talking about Pasta alla Norcina. This absolutely delicious pasta dish starts by removing sausage from its casing and adding garlic, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and white wine and letting it sit for an hour. The pasta sauce is made using the sausage mixture, extra-virgin olive oil, an onion, dry white wine, heavy cream, freshly ground black pepper, kosher salt, tubular pasta (penne or rigatoni), Pecorino Romano cheese and freshly grated nutmeg. To prepare, the recipe calls for making sausage patties and cooking until brown then breaking the patties up. I thought this was a bit ridiculous, so I just cooked the ground sausage in the pan, breaking up the large pieces, then adding onions and cooking until softened. Once the onions are done, wine is added to the pan and reduced followed by heavy cream. The sauce is seasoned with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, prepare the pasta. When done, save some of the cooking liquid and drain the pasta. The sauce and cooked pasta are combined and cooked until the sauce is thickened, additional pasta water may be needed to attain a creamy sauce. Off heat, the Pecorino Romano cheese and added. The dish can be garnished with freshly ground black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. As it was my granddaughter’s birthday dinner, she requested Pasta alla Norma. I found a recipe on the website “Serious Eats” by J. Kenji López-Alt. For this recipe you’ll need extra-virgin olive oil, small Italian or Japanese eggplants, kosher salt, garlic cloves, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, whole peeled tomatoes, either penne rigate or rigatoni pasta, fresh basil land ricotta salata. The recipe starts by cooking half-moon cuts of eggplant in olive oil until browned on both sides. It’s removed from the pan and more oil is added so that the garlic, oregano, and pepper flakes cook until the garlic is golden brown. Next, make a hot spot, add the tomato paste and briefly cook. Now add the whole tomatoes and their juice and cook until reduced and sauce-like. Meantime, cook the pasta reserving a cup of cooking water. Drain pasta and add sauce and cook until creamy. To serve, garnish with ricotta salata, fresh basil leaves and extra EVOO if desired. Both of these pasta dishes came out delicious. My husband, daughter and I loved the Pasta alla Norcina. My son-in-law, along with his daughters, preferred the Pasta alla Norma. A split decision, but for my husband and I, any pasta dish is welcomed. During my daughter’s family’s last days at the beach, she invited another family to join them. My daughter was going to get pizza from Pizzeria Lucci in Belmar, therefore, I only needed to prepare a salad and my granddaughter’s request for cupcakes. I found a recipe, by Yossy Arefi, on The New York Times/NYT Cooking website for Vanilla Cupcakes. This recipe yields a mere dozen, which was perfect. For the recipe you’ll need, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, fine salt, unsalted butter, buttermilk, eggs, neutral oil and vanilla extract. The buttercream frosting needs either lemon juice, lemon extract or vanilla extract for flavoring and heavy cream or milk. Since my granddaughter requested strawberry frosting, I pulsed dried strawberries in my mini food processor which I added to the frosting. The recipe made cupcakes that were moist, tender and not too sweet. I can’t recall the number of dried strawberries I grounded to a powder, but it was the perfect amount. The frosting had a lovely strawberry flavor that wasn’t overpowering. We decorated some with multi-colored sprinkles and red sanding sugar. I also made sugar cookies for eating and for my granddaughter’s young friends to take home. Last summer, my daughter found some summer themed cookie cutters on sale at Williams-Sonoma, so I decided to bake a small batch of cookies using them. Last September, I took a cookie decorating class with Dani Boglivi-Fiori, at her studio/cookie kitchen, Sweet Dani B Cookie Kitchen & Petite Party Studio in Asbury Park, NJ. I followed her recipe both for the sugar cookies and royal icing. As I wasn’t sure how many cookies the recipe would yield (not mentioned in the recipe), I decided to prepare half. The icing is made with meringue powder, cold water and confectioner’s sugar which yields 5 cups that can frost approximately 24-30 cookies (depending on size and detail). Again, I wasn’t sure how much I would need, so I pared it down to a bare minimum using 1/8 cup meringue, 1/4 cup cold water and eight ounces of confectioner’s sugar. In hindsight, I should have prepared more. The cookies came out perfectly. I did a hack to get a uniformed thickness. I used two paint stirrers (1/4” thick) and rolled out the dough between them; it worked like a charm. I’ve made Sweet Dani’s royal icing before, however, instead of small plastic bottles that we used in her cookie class, I tried pastry bags, not good. Also, my icing needed to be more fluid to have better flow from the bag to the cookie and for filling in between the lines. I’ll save you from viewing my poor results; I made need her class on preparing the frosting. Nevertheless, the kids loved them and they were a great parting gift . Well, that’s it for this post, there’s more to come such as Mini Chocolate Chip-Ins, White Wine Lobster Ravioli Sauce, Sheet-Pan Miso Chicken with Radishes and Lime and Wild Mushroom and Thyme Frittata.
Potato Bar Soup
“5 Ingredient Fix,” by Claire Robinson Published by Grand Central Life & Style Hachette Book Group, NY ©2010 Yield: 6 servings Ingredients 4 strips smoky bacon 3 large leeks, woody green ends removed, sliced and rinsed 1-1/2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks 6 cups low-sodium chicken stock Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Grated cheddar cheese, for serving Directions Put the bacon strips in a large Dutch oven or heavy soup pot and cook over medium heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain; reserve. Add the leeks to the bacon drippings and cook, stirring until softened and light golden brown, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked leeks and set aside. Add the potatoes and chicken stock to the pot. Add salt and a healthy grind of black pepper and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, but still holding their shape, 12 to 15 minutes. With the slotted spoon, remove about 2 cups of the potatoes and transfer them to a food processor or blender; add about 1 cup chicken stock and pulse until the potatoes are broken down. Do not overmix, add more liquid if necessary to get them moving in the machine, but stop when they are liquefied. Pour the potato puree back into the pot and stir in the browned leeks. Taste and adjust the seasoning. To serve, ladle the hot soup into warm bowls, crumble some bacon over the top along with grated cheese. 
Pasta all Norcina (Creamy Pasta with Sausage)
By Sasha Marx from the website “Serious Eats) Prep: 5 minutes Cook: 25 minutes Active: 30 minutes Total: 90 minutes Servings: 4 Ingredients Sausage mixture 12 ounces (340 g) coarsely ground pork, chilled (see note) 1 large garlic clove (8 g), minced 1 1/2 teaspoons (6 g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume or the same weight 3/4 teaspoon (2 g) freshly ground black pepper Pinch freshly grated nutmeg 2 tablespoons (30 ml) dry white wine, chilled For the Pasta 1 recipe sausage mixture (from above) or 12 ounces (340 g) fresh pork sausage (4 links), removed from casing (see note) 2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil 1 small yellow onion (about 3 1/2 ounces; 100 g) finely chopped 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry white wine 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 12 ounces (340 g) dried, short, tubular pasta such as penne or rigatoni or long fresh egg-dough pasta such as tagliatelle or fettuccine 1 1/2 ounces (45 g) finely grated Pecorino Romano, plus extra for serving Freshly grated nutmeg, for serving Freshly shaved or grated black truffle, for serving (optional; see note) Directions For the Sausage Mix: In a medium bowl, combine pork, garlic, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and stir with a wooden spoon to evenly distribute seasoning. Add 2 tablespoons (30ml) chilled wine and stir vigorously, working meat mixture against bottom and sides of bowl, until wine is incorporated and mixture becomes tacky and sticky, 1 to 2 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days. Alternatively, combine pork, garlic, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until seasonings are evenly incorporated, about 1 minute. Add wine, increase speed to medium, and mix until wine is incorporated and mixture becomes tacky and sticky, 1 to 2 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days. For the Pasta:
Pasta alla Norma
Sicilian Pasta with Eggplant, Tomatoes and Ricotta Salata By J. Kenji López-Alt From the website “Serious Eats” Cook: 40 minutes Active: 30 minutes Total: 40 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving 3/4-pound small Italian or Japanese eggplants (2 to 3 small eggplants), trimmed, split in half lengthwise, and cut into 3/8-inch half-moons (see notes) Kosher salt 3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon) 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand into 1/2-inch chunks 1-pound dry ridged, tubular pasta such as rigatoni or penne rigate Handful fresh small basil leaves, or roughly torn large leaves 2 ounces aged ricotta salata, finely grated (see notes) Directions:
Vanilla Cupcakes
By Yossy Arefi The New York Times/NYT Cooking Total Time: 45 minutes Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 40 minutes Yield: 12 cupcakes Ingredients For the Cupcakes 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons/145 grams all-purpose flour ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/125 grams granulated sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon fine salt 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened ⅔ cup/160 milliliters buttermilk, at room temperature 2 large eggs, at room temperature 3 tablespoons neutral oil 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract For the Vanilla Frosting ½cup/113 grams unsalted butter, softened but cool 1¾cups/175 grams sifted confectioners’ sugar Pinch fine salt 1tablespoon vanilla extract ½teaspoon lemon juice 1 to 3teaspoons heavy cream or milk Sprinkles (optional) Preparation
SWEET DANI B’s SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
Ingredients 4 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice OR 1 tsp lemon extract OR 1 tsp vanilla extract Preparation
Dani’s Royal Icing Makes 5 cups (frosts 24-30 cookies, depending on size & detail) Ingredients ½ cup meringue powder 1 cup cold water 2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar How-to
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