Mommy Cooks

Ham and Pasta Salad

Here is a delicious pasta salad, perfect for hot summer days because there is nothing to cook but the pasta.  I've adapted this from a Betty Crocker recipe so that there is much less measuring involved, and more vegetables, both of which are good things any time, but especially in July. 

Use any mild white cheese your family likes, such as Emmentaler, Jarlsberg, Jack, or Gouda.  I get a couple of thick slices of good ham from the deli, at least a quarter-inch, so that cubing it is easy.

Ham and Pasta Salad

1 lb. uncooked small pasta, such as fusilli, gemelli, shells, or elbows
1 lb. frozen sweet peas
1 lb. cooked ham
8 oz. Swiss cheese
2 or 3 stalks celery
1 or 2 red bell peppers
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup ranch salad dressing
1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped (optional)

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  In the last minute or so of cooking time, add the peas to the boiling water with the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, cube the ham and the cheese, chop the celery, and seed and chop the bell pepper. 

When the pasta and peas are done, run some cold water over them to cool, or let sit for a while if you're feeling lazy.  When it is cool enough at least that the cheese won't melt, add the ham, cheese, and vegetables and toss.  Mix together the mayonnaise and ranch dressing, add the chopped chives if using, and add to the salad, tossing well.

Serves a crowd.  Active work time: about 30 minutes.

Simple Tomato Sauce

Every time we go out into the garden now, we come back with tomatoes.  The two cherry varieties are about three times the size of the other two, and producing enormous quantities.  The San Marzano is slow but steady, and I have gotten a grand total of two ripe tomatoes so far from the Big Rainbow -- beautiful and fascinating things, yellow mottled with orange, huge and weighty -- but both had been bored by insects enough that I was not willing to taste them. (Eeeuw).  The Black Cherry and the Sweet Chelsea are racing, I think, to see which can produce more. 

Yesterday David and the girls went out in the evening and gathered a colander-full, five pounds, mostly of the Sweet Chelseas, and this morning I made sauce.  This recipe is adapted from one in "Martha Stewart Living", and really is simple, as well as tomatoey.

You can use any kind of tomato in this sauce with good results.  I found that it was a bit thicker when made with only Romas, as the cherries have less meat in them, but then David likes runnier sauces, so that's not a problem.  Using a variety of tomatoes in each batch will give you more consistency of flavor between batches, but I think it's interesting to have a hint of, say, Black Cherry now and then.

Use a really good olive oil, as with only four ingredients a dreary oil will make a dreary sauce.  I also use the fancy Mediterranean sea salt in this.

If you use a blender to purée the sauce, be sure to remove the center insert from the lid, then cover the lid with a kitchen towel, before turning on the blender.  I don't even want to think about how many times I've wiped soup off of the undersides of the kitchen cupboards before somebody told me to do this!  The hot air and liquid inside the blender expands at a fantastic rate, and will push off the lid the moment the power goes on.  Removing the center insert will allow the hot air to escape more-or-less harmlessly, and holding a kitchen towel on top of the open part will keep splashes inside.  You can certainly leave the sauce chunky, but it has such a wonderful creamy consistency when puréed that I always make it that way now.

This recipe gives quantities per pound of tomatoes, and is quite easy to increase.  I've done it with one pound -- which makes enough sauce for about a half-pound of pasta, for our dinner that night, and takes about half an hour -- and with yesterday's five pounds.  The only thing you need to change is the size of the pan, and possibly the simmering time.

Simple Tomato Sauce

2 tablespoons good-quality extra-virgin olive oil
1 heaping teaspoon chopped garlic
1 pound ripe tomatoes, cored if necessary, and coarsely chopped
scant 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to taste

Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic, and stir for 20 seconds -- do not let it brown.  Stir in the tomatoes and salt, raise the heat, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer vigorously, stirring often, until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly, 15 to 25 minutes.

Carefully purée the sauce, in batches, in a blender or food processor, and season with more salt if desired.  Serve immediately, or let cool.

Store the sauce in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups per pound of tomatoes.  Active work time, about 30 minutes.

Quick Pizza Crust

This recipe, from The Tightwad Gazette II by Amy Dacyczyn, is one of those that should have "Don't Panic" written on it in large, friendly letters.  You think, "ack, all that rising, it takes too long" or "I can't make pizza dough, it's too hard," but trust me, it isn't.  Even with the kids "helping," you can have it in the oven in about 20 minutes.  This version is especially handy because even if you mess up a few steps, it still turns out delicious -- the first time I made it, I forgot the sugar, and the telephone rang so often that afternoon that the dough had a much longer rise than called for, but it still had a wonderful crunchy-chewy texture with that unmistakeable freshly-made bread flavor.

I use a small-bowl processor instead of a full-sized one and this recipe works fine, although I have to be especially careful not to spill when putting in the flour.  Do be sure to rinse out the bowl and blade as soon as possible, as the bits left in it can dry quite hard very quickly.

For our favorite topping -- so far! -- we use fresh broccoli florets finely chopped and mixed with a ready-made spaghetti sauce, with an Italian cheese blend and pepperoni on top.  We are still, I confess, a bit dubious about the so-called joys of broccoli, so mixing it in with the tomato sauce gets us all of those green nutrients and anti-oxidants without the dreariness.

Quick Pizza Crust

1/2 to 3/4 cups warm water (105 to 115° F.)
1 tablespoon (1 package) dry yeast, at room temperature
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine 1/4 cup of the water with the yeast and sugar.  Stir to dissolve the yeast, and let it stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes.

Place the flour, oil, and salt into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, and process for about 5 seconds.  Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, and process about 10 seconds, or until blended.

With the processor running, drizzle just enough of the remaining warm water through the feed tube so that the dough forms itself into a ball (it will clean off the sides of the bowl as it spins).  Process about 25 seconds.

Place the dough on a greased 14-inch pizza pan or large cookie sheet.  Cover with an upturned bowl, and let stand 10 minutes in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 425° F.

Pat out the dough so that it covers the pan and is of a fairly even thickness, leaving a ridge on the edges.  Spread with your pizza sauce of choice, and add cheese and toppings.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.  Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Makes 1 pizza.  Total preparation time, about 45 minutes.

Broccoli Salad

I made this salad for a potluck last night.  It is based on the broccoli salad served at the Claim Jumper restaurants, and was printed in the readers' queries column of the local newspaper some years ago -- I don't know how accurate it is (I need to get out more, obviously!), but this version is still pretty good.

All of the prep and chopping takes a long time, but it's definitely worth it.  Julia took one bite and said, "Mmm!" very appreciatively.  The girls usually prefer their broccoli raw, so this is a good way to get them eating more of it.  I usually end up composting a lot of the stalks, as the girls won't eat anything but the florets, but here I can use a lot more of the stalk as it gets chopped up and covered with dressing!

It looks really lovely on the table, too, with the greens of the broccoli and the purple-red grapes against the lighter colors of the cashews and water chestnuts.

This recipe can be halved very easily -- it will serve about 6 as a main-course salad.

Broccoli Salad

3 cups mayonnaise
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3-4 heads fresh broccoli
1 1/2 cups water chestnuts (about 16 oz.)
2/3 cup cashew pieces
1 1/2 cups raisins
4 cups seedless red grapes
14 slices bacon
1 small red onion (about 1 cup when chopped)

Cook the bacon and drain on a paper-towel-lined plate.  When cool, crumble the bacon and set aside.

Combine the mayonnaise, sugar, and red wine vinegar in a medium bowl, and whisk well.  Set aside.

Trim the broccoli and chop roughly.  Drain and chop the water chestnuts; dice the onion finely.

Mix together in a very large bowl the broccoli, water chestnuts, cashews, raisins, grapes, bacon pieces, and onion.  Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to combine.

Store covered in the refrigerator at least 2 hours before serving, to let the flavors blend.  Toss well before serving.

Makes about 15-20 potluck servings.  Preparation time, about 1 1/2 hours, plus 2 hours or more refrigeration time.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

I borrowed The 5:30 Challenge by Jeanne Besser and Susan Puckett from the library last week.  Five ingredients, on the table in thirty minutes -- that's the promise.  This recipe certainly delivers, so I'm looking forward to trying others in the book.

I couldn't find a roasted chicken at the market this afternoon, at least one that wasn't chipotle-flavored, so I used fried chicken.  It seemed to me that there was actually too much chicken and not enough bell pepper (which I substituted for the onion, to get a green vegetable into the mix), so I've changed the quantities here.  I used KC Masterpiece Hickory barbecue sauce; after reducing the amount of chicken, 3/4 of a cup was a bit saucy, but that often depends on who's eating it.  That said, this is a delicious pizza -- we loved the combination of chicken and tangy barbecue sauce on a pizza, and the bell peppers were still crispy and flavorful.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

1 cooked chicken breast
about 3/4 cup hickory barbecue sauce
1 12-inch pre-baked pizza crust, such as Boboli
1 cup grated provolone or mozzarella cheese (or a combination)
1 large green bell pepper, or 2 small ones

Preheat the oven to 450° F.

Core and seed the bell pepper, and cut into thin slices.

Dice the chicken, and combine in a bowl with about 1/2 cup of the barbecue sauce.  Spread the chicken over the pizza crust.  Sprinkle with the cheese, then the sliced bell pepper, and drizzle with the remaining 1/4 cup barbecue sauce (you may not need all of it).

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. 

Serves 4.  Preparation time, about 30 minutes.

Risotto with Celery

Ever since they discovered celery and peanut butter this summer, my girls have loved celery.  Personally, I am much less enthusiastic about the stuff, but I recognize its value in a balanced diet, etc. etc. etc., and so I look for ways to disguise it so that I can eat it willingly.  This risotto is therefore perfect, I can say with all honesty.  Tasty, satisfying, and good for you, all in one dish!

This recipe is lifted almost intact from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking.  I found that I need a lot more broth, either because my brand of Arborio is different enough, or because my Southern California kitchen is a lot less humid than her Venetian one -- or both, of course.

A true risotto is not for the busy parent in the kitchen -- it requires a good half-hour or so of constant stirring.  (I have a recipe for a less labor-intensive risotto, which I will write about another time.)  Have everything ready, turn on the answering machine, ignore the doorbell, let the kids have a turn stirring if they want.  Use a wooden, flat-sided spatula for the stirring.  I look at the stirring either as exercise or as a kind of game; I found myself this evening seeing how many different designs I could make with the spoon -- circles, of course, spirals, both forwards and reverse, figure-eights, crosshatchings, squiggles, Spirographs, even the odd paisley.  It was quite meditative, really.

In Marcella Says, Hazan writes about the last step of adding the third pat of butter and the grated Parmesan, "This is the magic step, known as mantecare, that will give any risotto that has been made with butter a lusciously creamy consistency."  And serve the risotto spread evenly over the whole plate, she adds, instead of mounded up in the center, the reason being to allow the risotto to cool slightly so that its flavors can settle and bloom into that wonderful Italian commingling of flavors, insaporire.

Risotto with Celery

5-7 cups beef stock
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups celery, diced very fine
1 tablespoon chopped leafy celery tops
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups Arborio rice
1/3 cup freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Bring the broth to a very low simmer on a back burner.  (You can chop the vegetables while this is warming.)

Put 2 tablespoons of the butter, the oil, and the onion in a large, sturdy frying pan with fairly high sides, over medium-high heat.  Cook the onion, stirring, until it becomes translucent, then add half of the diced celery, all of the leaves, and a pinch of salt.  Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring frequently to coat the celery well.

Add the rice, stirring quickly and thoroughly until the grains are coated.  With a ladle, add 1/2 cup of the simmering broth, and stir at a moderate pace, keeping the rice moving away from the center and sides of the pan (where it will either stick and burn, or not get cooked evenly).  When the liquid in the pan has mostly evaporated, add another ladleful of broth, and continue stirring. 

When the rice has cooked for about 10 minutes, add the rest of the diced celery, and continue to stir and add broth as needed, a little at a time.

Cook the rice until it is tender but firm to the bite, with just a little bit of liquid remaining.  Remove from the heat, add a dash of pepper to taste, the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, and all of the grated cheese, and stir thoroughly unti lthe cheese melts and clings to the rice.  Add salt to taste, if you like.  Garnish with the parsley, and serve promptly.

Makes 6 servings.  Active work time, about 45 minutes.  Worth it.

Chicken and Corn Soup

This soup, adapted from Stuart Chang Berman's "Potsticker Chronicles" is delicious -- simple yet filling, and a new family favorite.  The corn gives it a nice bit of crunch and sweetness. 

In order to keep the corn-cutting mess to a minimum, I set a large colander in the sink and cut the kernels directly into the colander.

Sometimes -- especially if there is a bit hanging around in the refrigerator -- I add a stalk of celery, minced finely.  Add it to the simmering stock and stir for 30-60 seconds before continuing with the corn and chicken.

This soup freezes very well, and so makes a good packed lunch for David, which he takes straight from the freezer so that there is less chance of making a mess in the lunchbox.

Preparation bowls are a must for most Chinese cooking, since the ingredients are added so rapidly that time is of the essence.  Have everything ready before you start!

Chicken and Corn Soup

1 1/2-pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 ears fresh corn, or 1 can corn kernels
2 scallions
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 cups chicken broth, preferably organic

Cut the kernels from the corn.  Put the corn in a colander and let the kids rinse it thoroughly under cold water, breaking up the pieces (the larger the colander, the better!).  Drain well.

Mince the scallions, and set aside. 

Mix together the sherry and sesame oil in a small prep bowl.  In another bowl or cup, mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water; set aside.

Finely mince the chicken breast.  (If your chicken is fresh, and you are more patient than I, remove the thin membrane that covers the breast, as that will make mincing easier.  If you are using a breast from the freezer, thaw it only about 3/4 of the way, and mince it while it is still a bit firm.)

Bring the chicken broth to a full boil in a large pot.  Add the minced chicken and corn.  Stir well for 10 seconds.

Add the sherry and sesame oil mixture and the scallions.  Stir once.  Stir the cornstarch mixture briefly and slowly pour it into the soup, stirring constantly.  Serve at once.

Makes about 5 servings.  Active work time, 20 minutes.