This past Saturday we hosted a dinner party with old friends who had temporarily moved out-of-town (but who were visiting for the weekend), along with another family as well. All in all there were 6 adults and 6 kids so everyone brought something. We made a huge batch of pasta bolognese based on Mario Batali’s recipe from his Babbo cookbook and an extra large arugula, parmigiano and tomato salad. We also bought proscuitto, mozarella and fresh pasta from our favorite Italian deli in Little Italy. One family brought roasted vegetables and an apple cake; and the other family brought two pies. It was a feast. (And just in case people were still hungry, mom ordered two pizzas.)
The bolognese sauce is delicious but required a lot of chopping: 6 stalks of celery, 4 carrots, 2 onions and 7 cloves of garlic. We started making it on Friday so we would have enough time…
Alex peeling carrots
Alex chopping celery
Finally everything is chopped!
Sauteeing vegetables in olive oil until translucent
Once the vegetables were soft and translucent we added ground veal. (The recipe calls for 1/2 veal and 1/2 pork but we decided to try all veal this time). We let that brown and then added tomato paste, milk and wine. Then it just simmered for a long time. We put in in the fridge over night and then reheated it on very low heat. Served with fresh pasta and parmigiano-reggiano!
For the salad: we kept to the tried and true:
Arugula, parmigiano, grape tomatoes and lemon-olive oil dressing
Shaving parmigiano for the salad
For this dinner, we were tired from another busy soccer weekend so mom said she was just going to go to the grocery store and buy random food and that we (the kids) would have to figure it out. She came back with chicken, bacon, corn bread, arugula, kumato tomatoes & fresh green peas, and told us we had to make an appetizer and an entree using those ingredients and whatever else we could find in the kitchen. She also said that we had to make it fast because we were all hungry. (Now we know what its like when WE come home and demand to be fed pronto.) Kumato tomatoes are red-brown and taste delicious.
We came up with a plan: arugula salad with kumatos, bacon and goat cheese (that we had in the fridge) topped with corn bread croutons. To save time we cooked the bacon in the microwave. We made the croutons by cubing the corn bread, tossing with olive oil and broiling for a few minutes. For the salad dressing, we just made a simple lemon-olive oil dressing. We thought about adding the peas but they were so good raw, we just ate them as a snack.
Then for our main course, we cooked the chicken in olive oil, chicken broth and lemon juice, made a simple tomato sauce (red onions, grape tomatoes, olive oil and a little chicken broth) and cooked egg noodles. We also added a little cooked bacon and fresh basil as a garnish to the sauce. Dinner was ready in less than an hour and was delicious.
The mystery ingredients: corn bread, chicken, bacon, kumato tomatoes, fresh peas, egg noodles & arugula.
What to do with corn bread? Make corn bread croutons!
Salad: pre-croutons
Salad with croutons
Team work. Testing pasta (Max) and finishing the sauce (Alex)
Quick tomato sauce.
The full dinner.
This weekend was so busy with soccer (we both had soccer tournaments–including one that lasted from 3 to 9 PM on Sunday in New Jersey !!!!!!) that we decided to keep it simple AND cook on Saturday instead of Sunday. We made lamb burgers, baked potatoes, arugula salad with pine nuts, prosciutto, goat cheese and tomatoes and strawberries and cream. We also made tapenade because mom wanted to put it on her lamb burgers. The rest of us put goat cheese or fresh mozzarella on our burgers.
The ingredients: lamb, goat cheese, pine nuts, olives, arugula, proscuitto, tomatoes
Shaping the burgers (wash hands before and after)
Making tapenade was really easy, we just put pitted kalamata olives, minced garlic and olive oil in our mini-cuisinart. We whirred it together and then served it with toasted bread (or you could put it on your lamb burger)
Making tapenade in our mini-Cuisinart
Tapenade (black kalamata olive) dip
Max flipping the lamb burgers, Alex toasting pine nuts
Arugula, goat cheese, pine nuts, proscuitto & tomato salad
Strawberries & Cream
Tonight we wanted to try to recreate some of our favorite Chinese take-out dishes. We are very lucky because we live in New York City, so we have a lot of great take-out and delivery options. But its nice to try to recreate some of our favorites so we made Cantonese-style barbecue ribs; stir fry broccoli and water chestnuts; white rice; and egg-drop soup. For dessert we had the fortune cookies we made yesterday. Everything tasted really good, although not exactly the same as our Chinese take-out.
The full meal!
The ingredients…
Cantonese-style Barbecued Short Ribs
The ribs were much easier than we thought. First we marinated them in a mix of soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hoisin sauce (2 hours to overnight). Then we put them on a rack over a cup of water and cooked them for an hour (turning and basting at the 30 minute mark). Finally, we brushed them with honey and let them cook for another 10 minutes.
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The stir fry was also pretty easy, although next time we might steam the broccoli a little before we stir fry it because it takes a long time to cook otherwise. Both of us had to work on it…
We also made egg drop soup. We boiled chicken broth and then whisked 2 beaten eggs into it. It was so cool to see the eggs cook and separate. We topped it with chopped scallions.
Finally we had fortune cookies for dessert!
In preparation for our Chinese-themed dinner tomorrow (February 28), we decided to make fortune cookies. First we wrote the fortunes. That was pretty fun. My (Alex) favorite fortunes were: “Let sleeping dads sleep” and “Time to buy Alex a present.” My (Max) favorite fortune was: “Your fortune is in another fortune cookie.”
We typed them up and cut them into small strips of paper.
Our fortunes.
Then we made the cookies. The recipe is easy, but its a lot of work to actually make them. Plus you can only cook 3 at a time.
To make them, you separate the whites of 3 eggs and beat with sugar. Then you add cooled, melted butter, vanilla, almond extract if you have it, water and a cup of flour.
Ingredients for fortune cookies
Beating egg whites and sugar.
Then you pour it into a circular shape three inches in diameter on a baking sheet. We made stencils out of an old plastic lids to helps us get a good circle. Making them out of something flat, like an old cutting board, is a better idea because the lip of the lid interferes with smoothing the batter into a circle
You cook them for 5 – 7 minutes and when they start to turn brown around the edges, you take them out of the oven.
Then you have to immediately lay the paper fortune in, fold one half over and bend over the edge of a cup to get the correct shape. You let the cookies cool folded up inside muffin tins so they keep their shape. they get really crisp.
The result was pretty good, and they tasted a lot better than the ones we get from Chinese takeout. (Dad loved the batter in particular–we had to send him out of the kitchen!)
Alex with the final product
Happy Anniversary Kids Cook Dinner! One year ago this blog was born, on Dinner No.1 (February 22, 2015). Since then we have made 44 diners (sorry–not quite one per week, but we did go to camp for 6 weeks and had a couple vacations in there too).
For this meal mom gave us a mystery box with unknown ingredients, including chicken cutlets, baby broccoli, onions, tomatoes, avocados, basil, strawberries, lemon, garlic, goat cheese and anything else we could find in the kitchen. Alex and I had to collaborate on everything except the chicken cutlets, and we HAD to use chicken, broccoli and…strawberries (HUH, Seriously mom?). Mom also said we had to make at least two vegetable dishes and that we had to make the dinner in less than one hour. So we decided that we would each cook the chicken the way we wanted to, and then we would team up to cook the baby broccoli aand all the other stuff. We also decided to make couscous and a salad and then to use the strawberries both in a drink and in a dessert…READ ON!
Our ingredients! Mom said we had to use the baby broccoli, chicken & strawberries and that we had to have at least 2 vegetable dishes.
Celebrating a year of kids cooking!
For my chicken cutlet I (Max) decided to saute it with minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, basil and cherry/grape tomatoes. I let it cook for about 5 minutes per side and added the tomatoes and basil at the end.
Max chopping garlic for chicken
Max cooking chicken
For my chicken cutlet I (Alex) decided to marinate it briefly in olive oil and garlic, and then grill it. I finished it with lemon and fresh basil.
Alex chopping garlic for chicken
Chicken Two Ways: Grilled with lemon, olive oil & garlic (Alex) or sauteed with olive oil, garlic, basil & tomatoes (Max)
We sauteed the baby broccoli with garlic and olive oil and made a very beautiful Arugula-Pear-Goat Cheese- Walnut Salad for our two veggies. The salad was a reflection of our hopefulness for spring and the blossoming of many more flowers.
Sauteing the broccolini
Pear, walnut, goat cheese salad
For the other required ingredient (strawberries), we used them two ways. First we made virgin (no rum) strawberry daiquiris–a skill we have perfected since being in Jamaica. We made simple syrup (one-to-one ration of sugar to water in the afternoon, let it cool, and then combined it with fresh and frozen strawberries….yum!!)
Making strawberry daiquiris with fresh and frozen strawberries.
Strawberry Daiquiris — no rum
We also used the strawberries in our dessert. Because we had made fudge brownies yesterday, we decided to make our version of an ice cream sandwich but using brownies instead of cookies: a brownie-vanilla ice cream sandwich, with sliced strawberries layered on top of the ice cream (between the two brownies) and more strawberries on top. Seriously this is much better than a cookie ice cream sandwich because the brownies are so fudgey!!
Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich
Top View of brownie ice cream sandwich.
Even Koko (our labradoodle) deserves a valentine so I (Alex) decided to make homemade dog treats for Koko. The recipe is really simple: peanut butter, eggs, olive oil, and corn flour or corn meal, chicken broth and whole wheat flour. Koko loves them even though they are made from “people” ingredients
The final product
The ingredients!
Mixing up peanut butter and eggs.
Dog treats ready to bake: mom gave me special dog bone shaped cookie cutters and a “paw” stamp.
We packaged some for our four- legged friends.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Love was in the air, and so was the scent of brisket. For this dinner we made braised brisket with egg noodles, roasted brussel sprouts and the last of our peas from our garden (frozen). For dessert, we made Creme Brulee. The brisket is surprisingly simple for such a tasty meal, while the Creme Brulee was fun (we used the blow-torch mom gave us for Valentine’s Day!).
The complete dinner:
The full dinner!
The braised brisket ingredients:
Ingredients for the brisket.
In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the sliced onion and garlic.
Cutting the onions.
Then season the brisket with salt and pepper and place, fat side up, in slow cooker and add the chicken broth.
Seasoning the brisket.
Adding chicken broth.
Cover and cook on high until brisket is fork-tender, about 6 hours. Afterwards, remove the brisket and thinly slice against the grain.
Brussel Sprouts: We couldn’t find any fresh brussel sprouts upstate so we decided to experiment with frozen ones (because they are Mom’s favorite vegetable–she’s crazy). We thawed them and then we tossed them with sliced red onions and olive oil (with salt & pepper). Then we roasted them in the oven. The were amazingly delicious.
Stirring red onions and brussel sprouts together
Ready to roast!
What we got for Valentine’s Day: blow torch, butane, and ramekins…
Ramekins+Blowtorch=FUN
The ingredients for the Creme Brulee.
First, heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.. In 13×9-inch pan, place 4 (6-oz) ceramic ramekins.* In small bowl, slightly beat egg yolks with wire whisk.
Separating yolk from white.
In large bowl, stir whipping cream, 1/3 cup granulated sugar and the vanilla until well mixed.Then, add egg yolks and beat.Pour cream mixture evenly into ramekins.
Adding the mixture to the ramekins.
Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until top is light golden brown and sides are set (centers will be jiggly).
Using tongs or grasping tops of ramekins with pot holder, carefully transfer ramekins to cooling rack. Cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Cover tightly with plastic wrap; refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. Uncover the ramekins; gently blot any liquid from tops of custards with paper towel. Then, Sprinkle 2 teaspoons granulated sugar over each chilled custard. Holding the miniature blow torch 3 to 4 inches from custard, caramelize sugar on each custard by heating with torch about 2 minutes, moving flame continuously over sugar in circular motion, until sugar is melted and light golden brown.
Blowtorch.
The whole dessert!!
Crème Brûlée
Today we hosted a small Super Bowl party at our house. We tried to combine some all-American favorites (chips and guacamole and pumpkin pie) with some of our own family favorites (lamb ragu and one of our all time favorite appetizers -from the Swiss side of the family — melted raclette cheese with boiled potatoes). Russ and Erica brought pita and hummus and a great salad, and Mom said it was a very “eclectic” but delicious tail gate. Plus the Broncos won. (Sorry Carolina fans–we did think about making shrimp and grits in your honor but that’s too much work during the game, and we wanted to make it simple. Plus Mom was for the Broncos). So we made the pumpkin pie the day before, and the lamb ragu (which is simple and fast…thanks Mark Bittman) a few hours before game time so we didn’t have to miss any of the game. Mom started the water for the pasta after the first quarter and reheated the sauce, so we all ate that at half time.
For the raclette, we boiled the potatoes 1/2 hour before the game and melted the raclette on our special Swiss electric raclette grill during the first half….we set the grill up in front of the TV. Our (Swiss) grandmother gave the raclette grill to our dad before we were born, and its become part of our family food traditions. We are undecided as to whether we like fondue or raclette better. Both are fun to make and to eat.
For the pumpkin pie, Ali and I started it on Saturday to 1) give it time to cool(no one likes mushy pumpkin pie) and 2) We OBVIOUSLY could not of been cooking during the super bowl, so it makes sense to prepare it the night before. We started this classic dish by mixing salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Then we added this mixture to evaporated milk and the cooked pumpkin and voila the pumpkin mixture is ready! We then poured the mixture into a pie with graham cracker crust. Since there was leftover mixture we cooked miniature pumpkin bread.
Pre game appetizers: guacamole, hummus and raclette grill heating up.
Melting raclette on our raclette grill.
Ingredients for Lamb Ragu (so simple: onion, lamb, tomatoes, olive oil…) oh and a little milk at the end
Cooking lamb and onions for lamb ragu
Adding in tomatoes to lamb ragus sauce
Almost done…just need to simmer and add milk
Pumpkin pie and mini pumpkin bread
Tonight I (Max) cooked dinner for the family and made Alex’s favorite meal (steak, mashed baked potatoes and salad) because she had to do TWO middle school entrance exams/interviews today. She had a tough day and this dinner was a nice surprise. For dessert Alex and I (with an assist from our friend Wyeth) made Apples “Koster”. Apples Koster is our take on Bananas Foster, which we made last week. We liked the Bananas Foster, but the bananas were a little too sweet and the texture of cooked banana can be a little too soft, so we decided to try a variation. We essentially followed the same recipe as Bananas Foster but substituted apples for bananas. We also cooked the apples a little longer in the rum and butter because they are a little firmer than bananas. We added more cinnamon. We loved the result.
The dinner itself was straightforward but delicious: First I seasoned the steaks to provide a crust. Then I seared them for approximately 4 minutes on each side, and because they were so thick I put them in the oven to finish. Meanwhile, I washed 4 potatoes and baked them in the microwave for a total of 12 minutes,with rotations every 4 minutes. 2 were left as baked, and the others were peeled and mashed with butter. For the salad,we thought we would make the typical goat cheese, walnut and cranberry salad(with a base of arugula, of course) but halfway through the meal we found a fresh avocado and cherry tomatoes in the fridge and decided to make a avocado, tomato, goat cheese, walnut and arugula salad.
The full dinner: steak, potatoes and salad (and Koko hoping for a handout)
The ingredients…or at least some of them
Grilling the steaks (they were so thick, I finished them off in the oven)
Checking the meat
Prepping avocados for salad
Avocado, tomato, goat cheese, walnut and arugula salad
The steps of making Apples Koster:
Gather your the ingredients: apples, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and rum
Sautee apples in butter and assessing (thanks Wyeth) before the flambee
Add more brown sugar and the cinnamon!
Almost ready for the rum; apples are soft but not too soft
Lighting the apples! (carefully)
Serve the Apples Koster over vanilla ice cream
