Turn the world around: Something Briny

Many many changes happening: I just started a new onsite job after 8.5 months of unemployment and 2.5 years of working at home. As you might imagine, this makes for a lot of adjusting. Commuting. Shoes all day. Dry cleaning bills. Ironing. Figuring out what to eat without always having to dedicate an entire day to cooking for a week ahead. I don't want to make cooking feel like a chore.

I also strongly dislike eating the same meal two days in a row. Today, I put the following together, which should get me several lunches on alternating days for a while. Not to mention that between the olive oil and the brine, it's not going to go off quickly

Into a large bowl went

• 1 pound of Orzo pasta cooked al dente (any pasta will do)
• 1 small jar of Capers (rinsed)
• 6 ounces Kalamata olives 
• 6 ounces sundried tomatoes 
• 4 ounces Anchovies, drained 
• 4 Tablespons Olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• 2 heaping Tablespoons dried oregano (just one of fresh)
• 6-8 ounces Feta cheese

While the pasta was cooking, I ran the tomatoes, the olives, and the anchovies through the food processor with a little bit of olive oil. Then all it took was stirring the mixture into the pasta, adding a bit more of the olive oil to help me distribute things evenly, then tossing in the cheese. 

This is tasty warm or cold .

Scallops and some noodling

A nice thing about cooking for one is some things suddenly become a lot more affordable. Like some seafood.

I was able to score some sea scallops (the big ones) last weekend, and what I can pay for 5 or 6 scallops is at least $10 less than having them cooked for me in a restaurant, so there's a major win right there

Scallops are easy to cook. Medium heat until the butter or oil (I usually use olive oil). I find that 90 seconds a side will give me a nice sear, but still leave the inside deliciously tender. The short cooking time is also helpful for people who can't stand too long. Which leads me into the noodling.

I really should have been, and I am very sorry I did not, over the last decade plus of this blog, taken accessibility in the kitchen into consideration as a default mode. This came to my attention when a friend posted this article (shared with her from Terri Lynne Hudson) on social media and I ask that you please read and share it. Minced Words looks like it's going to be a regular column and I will be signal boosting and referencing.

Many people love Alton Brown and one of his fans' favorite things to quote is his strong dislike of the unitaskers in the kitchen, unless it's a fire extinguisher. He has a point, if you're able-bodied. Nobody should be shamed for using something that makes it possible for you to do something that you couldn't otherwise. So the hell with that nonsense. 

Think about this: how many things do you use in your kitchen that you take for granted that can be helpful to a disabled person? Things to open jars comes to mind first--things that help you grip are a life saver for someone with arthritis. Silicone rings on your mixing bowls to keep them from slipping. 

Most recipes out there don't take such things into consideration as what you might be able to lift, how long you can stand, what you can grip. Bad on all of us recipe bloggers out there. We can do better. 

We also need to stop shaming people for buying ingredients that might be pre-peeled or pre-cut or in jars. Using those things doesn't make anyone less of a cook. 

I need to do some more research regarding where I can do better here. I will try to mention what tools I'm using and what might be helpful for someone with disabilities and limitations. If you have ideas, comments are welcome.

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Back to the scallops, if that isn't too jarring a segue, because I did want to share this with you.

The plan was scallops over a bed of arugula with a sauce of white wine, butter, and lemon. Side of quinoa with Parmesan and pepper. For the sauce:

• 1 Tablespoon of salted butter
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon, which is about 2 Tablespoons
• 1 Cup of white wine, this was sauvignon blanc, which I've been drinking a lot of lately. Actually, I'm drinking white wine spritzers. The 1980's are coming back to haunt me. 
• A few grinds of black pepper (or shakes, depending on what you have)
• 1 Tablespoon of capers, drained and rinsed. I use a teacup that came with its own mesh strainer to drain and rinse capers. 

I melted the butter on low heat, then slowly stirred in the wine and the lemon, letting it simmer while I made some quinoa (half a Cup, dry) in the rice cooker, which is my current favorite convenience tool. When the quinoa was almost ready, I brought the heat up to medium high until it boiled, then dropped the heat to low so I could reduce it some more. It tasted nicely tart.

For serving, I put a handful of arugula on a plate, then when the quinoa was finished I stirred in some a Tablespoon of butter, 3/4 of a cup of Parmesan. It stayed warm in the rice cooker's bowl while I zapped the scallops. 

Once I plated the scallops, I put the capers in the sauce and added it. It didn't quite reduce as much as I wanted. It was a bit too tart at first, but as it ran all over the plate and into the quinoa, something interesting happened. The saltiness from the cheese seeped into the sauce and about halfway through the meal, everything together on the fork was a perfect mouthful.

Maybe a little less lemon next time anyway.

I could have sworn I wrote this entry already

It's odd. I could swear I've written entries about tuna and white bean salad before. I've tried at least three different recipes for it. I can't think of a summer where we didn't have it at least twice. It's light enough for a sunny day, filling enough to be a satisfying meal, and the acid from the dressing is delightfully refreshing.

I've tried a few recipes. Several use lemon juice as the dressing, but this one from Giada Di Laurentis is the one I keep going back to, and there's only one thing I change, which you'll read below. 

• 2 (6-ounce) cans dark meat tuna, packed in olive oil
• 2 (15-ounce) cans cannelini white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/3 cup small capers, nonpareil in brine, drained and rinsed
• 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 2 cups fresh arugula
• 6 fresh basil leaves

In a large bowl, add the tuna, reserving the olive oil in a separate small bowl. Break tuna into bite-size pieces with a large fork. Add the beans and capers. Into the bowl of olive oil, add the red wine vinegar. You should have 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil - add more extra-virgin olive oil if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Pour dressing on the tuna, bean and caper mixture and allow the flavors to infuse while slicing the vegetables. Add the onion and tomatoes to tuna mixture and toss gently.Place the arugula on large decorative platter and top with tuna mixture. Tear fresh basil leaves over the top and serve immediately.

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Honestly, you can use any kind of tuna, even tuna packed in water. You'll need 2/3 Cup of olive oil total, whether you get it from the tuna can or from a bottle.

Funny story: In the snobbier grocery store in Stamford, there is a rack of imported canned and jarred fish labeled: "Serious Tuna." It took about five years for someone who worked there to laugh when Nexx and I asked where the silly tuna was.

Help! I sound like a magazine!

As I mentioned in my last entry, we just moved. While we're mostly unpacked, it took a while to get everything into the kitchen, so I have not done as much cooking as I would have liked. I did marinate a flank steak in ancho chile powder and garlic with a little vinegar recently, but I wasn't thrilled with the result. My sweetie really enjoyed it, so it may have simply been to subtle. My dear Nexx never smoked and has much more sensitive taste buds than I. As for myself, I thought it needed more acid and salt. On the bright side, I was able to get a very nice texture on a less expensive cut of meat. When I've improved the recipe, I'll post it here.


I was a little worried a few years ago when I moved to Connecticut. I spent my teenage years in an affluent suburb of Massachusetts and I used to joke that the town was as pretty as a postcard and had about as much depth. Okay, I wasn't really joking.  Anyway, I was concerned that Connecticut would be similar, that I was going to be living the life I had spent the last twenty years running away from.


I needn't have worried. Despite the stories of yuppies and preppies and whatever the current abbreviations are (they used to call my kind of household DINKS, double-income, no kinds), Connecticut has pockets of character. And in Stamford, we have some ass-kicking pizza.


Where the magazine comment came in is when we had some leftover Remo's pizza the other night. When we went out for the original dinner we had some fresh (!) bread with olive oil as well as some fresh sliced mozzarella for an appetizer. We went home with half a personal pie each. I knew half the pie wouldn't be sufficient, and I'm still having a hard time chewing salad, so I found myself "jazzing up" our dinner of leftovers with some roasted cauliflower. I thought of making the balsamic version I did some time back, but then I found this recipe and said, "Hmmmm."


Our ingredients:

• 1 lemon
• 1 large head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into bite-size florets
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish (I used grana padano, which is a little more complex than parmesan and quite delicious)
• 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed

Besides the cauliflower, which you want fresh anyway, I'm happy to say I had all the other ingredients in the house as a matter of habit. The grana padano was a money-saving effort because imported parmesan is getting ridiculous in price.

The instructions were very easy to follow:

1. Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 450°F. Coat a large rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.  
2. With a sharp knife, remove skin and white pith from lemon and discard. Working over a small bowl, cut the lemon segments from their surrounding membranes, letting the segments drop into the bowl. Drain the juice from the segments.
3. Toss the lemon segments, cauliflower, oil, salt and pepper on the baking sheet and spread evenly. Roast until starting to soften and brown, stirring once halfway through, 25 to 30 minutes.
4. Sprinkle Parmesan and capers over the cauliflower; stir to combine. Serve garnished with more Parmesan, if desired.

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I always appreciate a recipe that tells me where to put the oven rack. It can make such a huge difference and this is not a lesson you want to learn the hard way

When a recipe says "sharp knife," take it seriously. I was able to get out the lemon segments without mangling them too much, which is a big change from my first attempt and supreming an orange. I opted  not to drain the juice. Since the capers were to be rinsed, I thought the extra bite from the citrus would be nice. I probably also went a little overboard on the black pepper. I blame Nana, and damn do I miss  her.

I loved the results. The recipe says this makes 4 servings. It made two from a small head of cauliflower. Lemon and capers work pretty well together. Capers you can almost consider the poor person's truffle. Added correctly, in a small amount, they can really class up a dish. And unlike truffles or truffle oil, capers are within Joe or Jeanne Average's budget.

With spring being upon us (though the temperature in Stamford has yet to hit 70), you'd think I'd be going more for fresh vegetation. Unfortunately, I still have that bite plate in my mouth to go wtih the braces. Chewing raw veggies, especially cruciferous (I may not have spelled that correctly) is still difficult.  I have until next April and then one of my first meals is going to be corn on the cob.

Coming soon--a different kind of fish coating. Stay tuned!