Potato, Fennel & Leek Soup with Olive Tapenade

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Potato, Fennel, Leek SoupTo tell you the truth, I thought twice about bothering to post this potato and fennel soup.  I made it, took pictures of it, singlehandedly ate almost the whole batch, and then talked myself out of sharing it with you all.  I decided it was too basic, too boring, not worthy of your time.  

But days after it was gone, I found myself wishing for another bowl and I realized I crave simple.  Simple is good.  Simple is worth sharing.

This is a good soup for chilly, rainy spring days.  The fennel and leek flavors are light and cheery, the potatoes provide the thick, creamy texture that’s bound to bring you comfort when your surroundings are gray, and a dollop of black olive paste adds a punch of flavor.

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Slow Roasted Salmon with Escarole, Capers & Lemon

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Slow Roasted Salmon with Escarole, Capers & Lemon

Some days.  You know the ones.  Nothing plays out as you intended.  Plans are broken, objectives lost.  Your to-do list doesn’t have any checks in the margin and the later it gets, the less likely it seems that you’re actually going to get around to making dinner.  But, dang-it, dinner was the thing on that list you wanted to make time for.  

These are the days you need a dish like this salmon in your arsenal.  You need to be able to just throw a bunch of ingredients together, toss them in the oven, and be treated to a great dinner half an hour later.  A 1-pan situation is critical–you certainly don’t want to end the night with a stack of dishes or start tomorrow with a hideous wreck of a kitchen–and it’s got to be healthy because even though you had the best intentions,  that jog you were planning on just did not get checked off the list.  

This salmon is just the dinner to cap these sorts of days.  It’s nothing but good-for-you fish, slow roasted on a big mound of escarole with briny capers and fresh bursts of lemon.  Thanks to the magic of roasting at a low temperature, the fish stays beautifully moist.  The greens wilt down with a few crispy bits here and there.  It’s the kind of dinner you can get in the oven with 2 minutes of prep, then have 30 minutes  to tear around the house, trying to make good on the to-do list…or enough time to decompress with a glass of wine.  Take your pick.

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Bacon, Leek & Crème Fraîche Frittata

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Bacon, Leek, and Créme Fraîche FrittataMy Sunday got off to such a promising start.  I rolled out of bed at a leisurely hour, made coffee, and whipped up this frittata.  Matt and I made plans to spend the day playing tourists in our own town and checking out a museum.  Little did I know we’d get a ride home from our fun little date in a tow truck and our “cheap” outing would end with a 4 figure bill.  Oh well, at least the day started on the right foot.

This frittata isn’t anything earth-shatteringly original, just a few ingredients that, when treated with care, come together to make a very good brunch.  The eggs are blended with crème fraîche which yields a frittata that is light and tender with a subtle creamy tang.  The delicate eggs are accented by salty bits of bacon and sautéed leeks.  Hopefully, a month from now, it’ll be the piece of this past Sunday that sticks out in my mind.

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Caramelized Onion, Mushroom & Barley Soup

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Caramelized-Onion,-Barley-&-Mushroom-SoupI’m struggling to come up with something to write about this soup.  What can I say about its warming, comfort food qualities that I haven’t said about most of the dishes I’ve shared here in the past 6 months?

Arg.  What I actually want to say is that it’s still very much in the thick of winter and I’m hitting that wall where I cannot, cannot, cannot tolerate another cold day or another snowstorm.  I’m feeling dull, gloomy, and uninspired.

But I won’t let us wallow in our late winter depression, instead we can wallow in a(nother) great big pot of soup.  And despite my rather sad sounding introduction, this soup is really good!  It’s hearty, the kind of soup that’s a whole meal in a bowl.  It’s full of caramelized onions with lots of barley and chunky slices of mushroom.  The brothy caramelized onions are reminiscent of my beloved French onion soup, but the lack of cheese croutons makes me believe eating it will help me feel better about myself once I do finally emerge from my 3 layers of bulky sweaters and long underwear.  Which is going to happen some day soon, right?  

Just.  Say.  Right.

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Spaghetti with Roasted Broccoli & Anchovies

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Spaghetti with Roasted Broccoli & AnchoviesYou see a lot of what goes on in my kitchen–the cookies, the soups, the roasts–but there’s a fair amount you miss.  Mostly you luck out: I save the ever-growing stack of dirty dishes for myself, you don’t have to burn your nostrils every time you open the fridge because of the cornichon brine that spilled all over and hasn’t quite gotten cleaned up yet, and you’re spared from having to deal with the enormous black dog that is constantly plotting his next attack on whatever edibles are on the counter (most recently, it was a ball of pizza dough…grr…).

But, sadly, you also miss some of my best meals.  I’m talking about the meals that are thrown together in a hurry when I just need to eat and can’t dream of slowing things down to take pictures and notes and think of how much I’m adding of this and that.  There are an awful lot of quick pasta dinners in my real life and not so very many present in my blog life.  

Renditions of spaghetti aglio e olio make their way to my table a couple of times a week.  Here’s a version that I thought was good enough to slow down and share with you.  It’s my basic olive oil and garlic spaghetti, but with a few extra touches.  I add a ton of broccoli that’s been roasted ’til it’s brown, crispy, and awfully irresistible.  I melt a few anchovy fillets into the oil because anchovies and broccoli are a match made in heaven.  I love the salty, subtly fishy taste of the anchovies with the almost sweet roasted broccoli.  And to finish, the pasta is sprinkled with what I consider the best thing to happen to pasta since parmigiano-reggiano: fried bread crumbs.

Sound good?  Great, let’s make this happen!

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