Rosemary!

Have you seen Bye Bye Birdie? If not, you won't get it.

All together now,

Rrroooosemary!!

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Tea on June 14th

A little food porn to drool over. It was as good as it looks.

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Dinner of Shapes

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The Chocolate Chip Cookie

This is the chocolate chip cookie in my life, the ones Mom made (makes), the cookie I judge all others by. One whiff of the batter and I'm five years old again, licking the mixer attachment and scraping down the bowl.

These are different than your chocolate chip cookie; does your recipe contain molasses and coffee? These ingredients weren't a secret to us kids, just components in a delicious finished product. We loved them. It was the nuts that I wasn't so hot on back then; batches were 1/2 with, 1/2 without nuts until recently. The original recipe uses walnuts, but I like to swap out pecans or use a combination now.

They are called Brian's Chocolate Chip Cookies, from The Tassajara Cookbook. I have no idea who Brian is. I don't need to know. He makes a yummy cookie.

Brian's Chocolate Chip Cookies

from The Tassajara Cookbook, makes 4 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp molasses

1 tsp instant coffee

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

14 oz semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth, then add the brown sugar. Scrape down the sides and cream until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, molasses and coffee. Beat well. Add the dry ingredients slowly and mix in, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the chocolate chips and the nuts and mix just to combine.

Using two teaspoons, drop small balls of the cookie batter on to a baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes total, switching levels in the oven halfway through. Allow to cool, then store in an airtight container.

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These cookies are so yummy by themselves and I've never had them any other way.

Today, however, I had a brainwave.

Standing in front of the freezer section at Target, I saw new ice cream cookie sandwiches right next to a pint of Haagen Daaz vanilla bean. I bought the pint and slicked some between two cookies at home.

I wrapped three sandwiches in plastic wrap and stashed them in the freezer to harden. My better half has a soft spot for the ice cream cookie sandwich, but I doubt he's ever had one homemade. . .

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Easy as Pie Pomegranate Sauce

A scrumptious sauce, I was shocked at how delicious it actually turned out!

(If you can manage to save some pomegranate sauce from the tea bread or your husband's thirsty reach.)

Pomegranate Sauce


2 cups 100% pomegranate juice
2 Tbs low sodium soy sauce


Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and put over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is reduced by half. Serve warm over chicken or fish, noodles, or vegetables.

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Pomegranate Tea Bread

With the texture of a banana bread and the decadent topping of a cake, this tea bread turned out delicious!

My head was spinning with ideas to use a nice quantity of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice. It's delicious to drink, but the opportunity to experiment is too tantalizing to pass up. I surfed through many recipes for inspiration, but came up with mostly those that called for pomegranate seeds so I needed to fend for myself and hope I could come up with something decent.

I used the pomegranate juice in place of other ingredients. Without it I would have added more milk to the batter, and a bit more butter to the topping. The pomegranate flavor is not super strong (a result I was prepared for), but it lends a little special something to it that you can't quite put your finger on. I cut small square servings, but you can certainly make them larger if you want to.

Pomegranate Tea Bread
makes about 24 small servings

topping:

1/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
2 Tbs melted unsalted butter
2 Tbs pomegranate juice (POM Wonderful 100% is perfect)

batter:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs baking powder
1 Tbs baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbs melted unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly butter and flour a 9x13 baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients: 1/4 cup brown sugar, nuts, dried cherries, cinnamon, 2 Tbs each butter and pomegranate juice. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, baking soda and powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the yogurt, milk, pomegranate juice, eggs, and vanilla extract. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. The mixture will be light and riddled with air bubbles.



Scrape into the baking dish and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove and add the topping mixture. Bake for another 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing and serving.

Give give this a try- if you can stop yourself from drinking all the juice straight from the bottle. I had to confiscate it from Ray to get this made!

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Grilled Tuna and Asparagus

Easy, fast, and delicious. Three of my favorite things.

These tuna steaks are from Trader Joe's, frozen and marinated in cilantro, garlic, and a few other yummy things. Along with some fresh asparagus and yukon potatoes.

I par-cooked the potatoes before slicing them in half, drizzling with macadamia nut oil, salt & pepper, and threading on skewers.

The asparagus gets a good drizzle of macadamia oil and rubbed in (good for dry hands) and a very generous amount of salt and pepper.

Everything goes on the grill for 2-3 minutes per side.

I've always liked Mendocino Mustard's Hot & Sweet on seared tuna. I recommend it if you can find it in your grocery store. Plus a bit of parm and lemon juice for the vegetables.

This Dona Paula Malbec, a BevMo purchase, is delicious and went really well with the meal.

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Strawberry Huddle

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Flying to the East

What are your plans this Memorial Day weekend?

I'm flying to the East Coast (Allentown, PA by way of Newark) for a family wedding. My cousin M. is marrying her fiance on Saturday afternoon. This is Mom's side of the family, and there are A LOT of us. We all know how to eat, drink, dance, and celebrate- it's going to be great!

See you next week!

Semolina Pizza Dough

I made Broccoli Calzones this weekend, and realized that I have never posted the dough I use most often for pizza and calzones. It comes out great every time, with a nice texture and flavor. Since there's only two of us I usually halve the recipe. It makes the right amount for two with a little pizza/calzone left over. I've provided the calculations for both, saving you a bit of time ;-)

Semolina Pizza Dough

(full recipe, feeds two couples as a main course on a Friday night)

1 1/2 cups warm water

3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil (I like to use toasted walnut oil, the flavor is amazing. Any nut oil or regular extra virgin will do)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour

2/3 cup semolina flour (aka durum flour or pasta flour)

1 Tbs sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp SAF yeast

Semolina Pizza Dough

(half recipe, feeds one couple with a bit of leftovers)

3/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup+ 1 Tbs+ 1/2 tsp whole wheat flour

5 Tbs+ 1 tsp semolina flour

1/2 Tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp SAF yeast

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