I love exploring new cookbooks. The fancy ones with beautiful pictures are fun to look at but when it gets down to the nuts and bolts of putting dinner on the table reliably my favorites are often not much to look at but chock-full of good everyday recipes most people I know would like. Clear easy to follow directions, ideas for side dishes to go with particular entrees, and notes about which recipes are “entertaining worthy” and which be made ahead or prep work started ahead at least are big plusses for me.

“What’s for Dinner” by Maryana Vollstedt has it all so far. The subtitle is “Over 200 delicious recipes that work every time” and I can believe it. The other night I was looking for an easy “little attention required” chicken dish. I found several that sounded promising and could be made from things I already had in the pantry or frig.

Tarragon is one of those herbs I don’t use very often for some reason, although I like it. This dish caught my eye because of the tarragon. It was super easy to do and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it for company. I like dishes I can prepare ahead of time and then have cooking in the oven while I visit with my guests.

Chicken with Tarragon Sauce

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Spray or oil a baking dish large enough to hold your chicken and lay the chicken breasts down in it.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, then over low heat add everything else and stir with a whisk until smooth. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake until the chicken is done, about 35 minutes. Serve with the sauce spooned over the chicken.

This would go excellent with rice to spoon the sauce on, although I made it with some leftover red potatoes that I sauteed.

I love exploring new cookbooks. The fancy ones with beautiful pictures are fun to look at but when it gets down to the nuts and bolts of putting dinner on the table reliably my favorites are often not much to look at but chock-full of good everyday recipes most people I know would like. Clear easy to follow directions, ideas for side dishes to go with particular entrees, and notes about which recipes are “entertaining worthy” and which be made ahead or prep work started ahead at least are big plusses for me.

“What’s for Dinner” by Maryana Vollstedt has it all so far. The subtitle is “Over 200 delicious recipes that work every time” and I can believe it. The other night I was looking for an easy “little attention required” chicken dish. I found several that sounded promising and could be made from things I already had in the pantry or frig.

Tarragon is one of those herbs I don’t use very often for some reason, although I like it. This dish caught my eye because of the tarragon. It was super easy to do and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it for company. I like dishes I can prepare ahead of time and then have cooking in the oven while I visit with my guests.

Chicken with Tarragon Sauce

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Spray or oil a baking dish large enough to hold your chicken and lay the chicken breasts down in it.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, then over low heat add everything else and stir with a whisk until smooth. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake until the chicken is done, about 35 minutes. Serve with the sauce spooned over the chicken.

This would go excellent with rice to spoon the sauce on, although I made it with some leftover red potatoes that I sauteed.

The tomatoes are in full swing in the garden. Ya gotta love August around here! I’ve got tomatoes, squash, apples, lemons, and various herbs available for the picking out back. I skipped planting my winter crops of garlic and onions last year and am really missing them when it’s time to make salsa! I’m pretty flexible with my salsa. Sometimes I add garlic; sometimes I leave it out. Sometimes I add jalapenos or green chiles; sometimes I leave them out. The essential ingredients, for my taste buds, are:

fresh tomatoes, seeded and chopped
onion (white or green), chopped
fresh cilantro
salt
a squeeze of lime juice if you have it, but it’s okay to leave it out

Optionally add:

minced garlic
minced jalapeno or green chiles

You can expand beyond the basic tomato and cilantro version by adding chopped ripe mango or peaches and some fresh minced ginger. Then it makes a great topping for fish or pork.

Back from a week at the beach and a week cooking in someone else’s home–always an adventure. When you rent a home for the week, you’re never really sure what you’re going to be faced with in the kitchen. I’ve had exquisite cookware and horrid stuff you wouldn’t even find in a decent thrift store! Will there be a spatula? A corkscrew? Decent knives? I suppose I could pack up everything important, but the car is typically stuffed just bringing the “essentials” since we’re required to bring our own linens and towels. And with two kids at the beach and a hot tub at the house you can imagine how many towels we need!

This most recent house was actually quite nice, except the pans were mostly warped so you couldn’t get the whole bottom on the burner at the same time. It was also an electric very-slow-to-heat stove and I’m spoiled by my gas now, which I just got a couple of years ago. Still, we managed to have some great memorable meals and only one dog, the night I tried to cook some red snapper and really didn’t know what I was doing.

The best meal was some fresh salmon steaks. Since I didn’t bring my herb garden with me either, I tried a jar of spice mixture my youngest spied at the fish counter, Chef Paul’s Magic Seasonings, this one specifically for salmon. I wouldn’t normally buy this at home, preferring to mix up my own blends usually. But this was really quite good. I sprinkled it on both sides of the salmon and grilled them over the coals, flipping them once.

I also cooked up some green beans and red potatoes and had some sliced tomatoes from the garden. The tomatoes were about the only food I brought with me. I always manage to go on vacation right when the garden is in full swing, so we picked the plants bare the morning we left and had enough to last the week.

It’s time for another Paper Chef, hosted by Tomatilla. I’ve only taken part in one other one but with swim team season finally over (for a few weeks at least), I decided to join in this time.

The required ingredients were peaches, dried, chiles, edible flowers, and “something local.” My first thought was a salsa but I wasn’t sure about the edible flowers. I saw a neat-sounding recipe for pork chops rubbed with lavender, rosemary, and thyme and thought I could rightly combine an herb rub with the peach salsa I’ve made before, substituting some diced dried chipotle peppers for the jalapeno. I normally either skip the jalapenos in a salsa or walk softly, given that I’m cooking for children. I decided to do the same thing with the peppers I found at the grocery store. In this case, I used a combination of Abe Lincoln tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, yellow pear cherry tomatoes, ginger, chipotle peppes, lime juice, and… I sprinkled some of the herb rub mixture in for good measure. In the local category, the peaches came from our local farmer’s market, from Hollister I believe. My own Indian Blood Peaches aren’t ready for another month or so or I could have been a lot more local!

I rubbed the pork chops with a mixture of herbs, mostly from my own garden, so about as local as you could get: rosemary, oregano (with flowers!), basil, thyme, and sage, as well as some salt, garlic powder, and pepper. I let the meat sit with the dry rub on it for an hour or so and then barbecued the chops. Mmmmm! I topped them with the peach salsa, which also included tomatoes from my own garden–so another local bonus point.

As we were wandering the farmer’s market this morning choosing peaches, my youngest spied some English peas and asked for them. It’s really hard to say no to a request for locally grown fresh vegetables so we bought a bag. They were decidedly not a cheap dish, but they were delicious. She wanted to help with dinner so I showed her a couple of recipes for freshly shelled peas and she chose one. She and the neighbor child sat outside shelling peas, deciding they wanted to “play pioneers” later. as they’d read about shelling peas before. She diced up a few green onions and some mint. I put a pat of butter in the pan and she added the onions and stirred them. After a few minutes, we added the peas, some water, some lemon juice, some sugar, and the mint. We brought them to a simmer, covered them, and cooked till barely done. She loved them!

So we ended up with:

Barbecued pork chops with fresh herb rub
Peach-tomato salsa with chipotle peppers
Minted peas

When the garden is abundant (or if you’ve just been overtaken with greed at the largess at your local farmer’s market), here’s an easy and delicious way to quickly cook up a variety of vegetables. I’ve done this with various combinations of different summer squash, tomatoes, onions, garlic, red pepper–and probably more I’m not remembering.

The other night I did it with almost all homegrown vegetables. I did buy the green zucchini because it caught my eye. For the longer vegetables, I cut them in half lengthwise, then slice horizontally. If they’re bigger than normal, I quarter them lengthwise, basically ending up with pieces 1/2″ to 1″.

2 small yellow squash
1 small green zucchini
1/2 an onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
a handful of red cherry tomatoes
a handful of yellow pear cherry tomatoes
a few pinches of fresh oregano, basil, or thyme or whatever you feel like and have available

While you’re cutting everything up, heat a small bit of olive oil or butter in a skillet and swirl it around to coat the bottom. You want it at a medium heat. Dump all your chopped and sliced vegetables in and cook until just softened. Sprinkle on the herbs and some salt and pepper. If you don’t have a garlic clove handy, use some garlic salt instead. Taste and adjust as necessary.

A bit of local press for me, the web site, and Digital Dish from the Pleasanton Weekly. The reporter attended the book-signing last week and they came out and snapped a few pictures earlier this week. You can’t see the pictures online of me chopping tomatoes for bruschetta but suffice it to say it came out great!

Tagged by Karen over at The Pilgrim’s Pots and Pans for this food blog meme–my first ever and I’m very late.

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?

Probably baking chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Like my own kids are now, I was much more interested in sweets so would bake cakes, cookies, and such. As far as cooking, maybe scrambling eggs for breakfast. Or frying up hamburger patties with onions for dinner.

Who had the most influence on your cooking?

My mom taught me to experiment, although I don’t think I realized it until much later. It was nothing overt. She was just always trying new recipes, substituting this for that, and turning out great meals. She made it look easy and effortless so I didn’t pay it much attention while I still lived at home!

Do you have an old photo as “evidence” of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?

No, no photos in the kitchen. Does a first tea party count? My faithful first border collie, who followed me everywhere, is the black blur at my feet.

Mageiricophobia – do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?

No, although there are things that sound totally unappealing to me. But ti’s not a matter of fear, just taste!

What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?

My most valued would have to be the big KitchenAid mixer. My ex-MIL encouraged its purchase and I must use it 3-4 times a week. The biggest disappointment? Hmmm… maybe the pressure cooker I have yet to use!

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like and probably no one else.

I like to put pickle relish inside my grilled cheese sandwich. I can eat almost anything that’s been pickled.

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?

Dairy would be very hard to do without: cream, cheese, and butter. If that can count as one, then add onions and garlic.

3 quickies:

Favorite ice cream: coffee

You will probably never eat (again??): durian

Signature dish: There’s a foccacia I make that everyone in the extended family loves. But for non-family, I probably do chicken cutlets and olio e aglio for more entertaining than I should! For potlucks, everyone has come to expect deviled eggs or bruschetta in the summer.

I followed my meme forebears here:

Question added by Zarah: On average, how many times a week would you cook something to satisfy your sweet tooth?

Never, now that my kids have taken over the dessert tradition!

Question added by Cathy: What do you usually eat for breakfast?

In the summer, toast and sliced tomatoes, sometimes with scrambled egg. In the winter, a fried egg and a piece of toast and juice or fruit.

Question added by Alice: What are your stand-by dinner options when you don’t have the time or the inclination to follow or create a new recipe?

Spaghetti and meat sauce if I have ground beef around. White chicken chili and rice. Barbecued meat of some variety!

Question added by Karen: What would you like to cook someday that you haven’t tried before?

I can’t think of any one thing. I am trying to cook more fish these days.

I absolutely love this time of the year, when I can wander into the garden and gather food for the next meal. Tomatoes are the star of my garden this year. I got lazy and didn’t plant any experimental crops, although I did try some new varieties of tomatoes. I’ve got Beefsteak, Abe Lincoln, Early Girl, Sweet 100, and more. The Abe Lincolns surprised me by beginning to ripen ahead of the Early Girl–and they’re delicious besides.

There’s an article coming out about Digital Dish and me and CheapCooking in our local paper, so they sent a photographer over Monday for some shots. Given that I’d given them a bruschetta recipe to use in the sidebar, they took pictures of me chopping fresh tomatoes. I chopped some tomatoes, minced a garlic clove, and threw in some chopped onion along with the fresh basil. After they left and after my youngest scarfed down what she wanted of the bruschetta on some French Bread, I decided to use the rest for my lunch. I threw in some cubed mozarella and drizzled some olive oil over it all and let it sit a bit. After I cooked up some pasta I put it all together and had a wonderful fresh lunch.

The tomatoes have been ripening in the garden. I was remiss in not sharing the first one. I grabbed it greedily and had it for breakfast on sliced sourdough bread. Soon the clamors for bacon and tomato sandwiches were heard but I had to wait until I had enough all ripe at the same time. Then of course, the refrigerator broke and I had to throw away a pound of bacon. Finally, we managed to get it together and they were every bit as good as we remembered.

Last night, Owen from Tomatilla, Guy from MeatHenge, and yours truly were all down at the bookstore talking and signing books. By now, I’ve got enough tomatoes to share so I decided to make up some bruschetta to share. I also brought along some lovely cherry tomatoes. We had a nice crowd–thanks to all the local friends and neighbors that showed up! I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of the Chatanooga Choo Choo Barbecue that Guy brought along!

When I was looking for something to carry the food in, I remembered the Hefty Serve ‘n Store dishes that a PR agency had sent me for review. I’ve used them a few times. They are clever, with interlocking plates and bowls so you can grab two of them and they’ll fit together easily enough. I’ve found two good uses for them. During the early part of swim season, the girls were on different practice schedules so I could cook dinner and eat with one, then save a plate for the other in the frig, easily microwave it, and serve it. There are perhaps greener alternatives, such as my usual cover one plate with another when microwaving. (I dislike having plastic touch the food when microwaving.) But this worked well given that I had them readily available and made it easy for setting up lunches the next day as well. I have also used them to go to a few potlucks and used them last night to bring the bruschetta down to the bookstore. The plates are sturdy enough to hold up, not like flimsy paper dishes where you’re worried about them collapsing under the weight of the food. The food stays well covered until you’re ready to serve and you don’t have to remember to bring your dishes back home! They’re not something I’d buy regularly but they do come in handy now and then.