I was in Mother Hubbard mode (bare pantry) just before vacation, but I ran out to the store to buy some things to eat in the day or two before we left. The trout in the fish department looked good, so I bought two.

I usually grill trout with some dill and lemon on it. I decided to give Martha a shot at cooking my trout and searched her site. I came up with Grilled Trout with Oregano.  Martha says to season the trout with salt and pepper (I must confess, I never put salt and pepper on fish when I make it, but I did try it this time) and place some lemon rings and oregano sprigs on the fish. I always grill fish on a little non-stick grill sheet that has round holes in it, so the fish doesn’t fall through the grill.

Trout cooks very quickly on the grill. When it was done, Martha directed me to sprinkle some olive oil on it. I would never do that on my own either.

The results? Very tasty, although I like it better with just dill and lemon. Seasoning with salt and pepper did give it some added flavor. I thought the olive oil was superfluous – this fish was already moist. It didn’t need extra oil. The oregano added no flavor since it just sat on top and was removed when we ate it. It did look very pretty though.

I was in Mother Hubbard mode (bare pantry) just before vacation, but I ran out to the store to buy some things to eat in the day or two before we left. The trout in the fish department looked good, so I bought two. I usually grill trout with some dill and lemon on it. … Read more →

I held back as long as I could, but finally gave in and made the Dark Chocolate Cookies (Martha Stewart Living, July issue).  I have a thing about dark chocolate. A big thing. I don’t really like milk chocolate and I definitely don’t like white chocolate, but dark chocolate is the nectar of the gods. This recipe had been singing its siren song to me since the issue arrived.

I got down to business. First, I made the dough. This is a sandwich cookie. You mix up the dough then Martha says to freeze it for 15 minutes.  Here’s the first problem. It needs to freeze for much longer. My cookies came out misshapen and smushed because they would not hold their shape. I kept putting the dough back in the freezer and trying again. The dough stuck to the rolling pin, to the counter, to the cutter, and to me. Teen Martha was in the room as I was working on this and laughed as I had a few choice words to say about Martha and her recipes as I was struggling.

Once I had finished cutting out my cookie rounds (most of which looked like footballs), they went into the freezer for another 15 minutes before baking.  It took one full hour from the time I started this recipe until I could put the cookies in the oven. And I must admit having the oven on for that hour on a hot July day simply added to my crankiness. Let me also say this – do not attempt to make Martha’s cookies unless you have a chest freezer.  Our fridge is a side by side, and cookie sheets do not fit in it. I had to trot down to the basement to the chest freezer with these cookie sheets.

Once in the oven, the cookies baked pretty much on schedule. The instruction to bake until they are firm on the edges is a good and useful one.

Now for the filling. Several weeks ago, in anticipation of this recipe, I bought a bar of dark chocolate. I went to get it out only to find Teen Martha had used most of it to make brownies. Sigh. I had 2 ounces, but needed 4. I ended up using some good quality semi-sweet chocolate to make up the difference.

The filling is easy to make. You heat cream, sugar and salt and then pour it over the chocolate and let it sit. You stir it and then let it cool. Very easy.

Once the cookies and filling were cooled, I assembled the cookies. The recipe says it makes 30. I didn’t count, but I think I got about 20 maybe.  Make sure you stick these in the fridge right after you assemble them because the filling tends to run out and make a mess.

The taste test? Very yummy. The cookies are not very crisp (not like an Oreo), but that was ok. The filling is creamy and chocolatey (and would be better if I had used all dark chocolate!). I enjoyed these, but this was an awful lot of work for about 20 cookies.  It took most of an afternoon. Too much time, not a big enough pay off. Now, if someone were to serve these to me, I would eat them happily, but I don’t think I’ll be making them again.

I held back as long as I could, but finally gave in and made the Dark Chocolate Cookies (Martha Stewart Living, July issue).  I have a thing about dark chocolate. A big thing. I don’t really like milk chocolate and I definitely don’t like white chocolate, but dark chocolate is the nectar of the gods. … Read more →

Faced with a zucchini in my vegetable drawer and no good ideas on how to use it, I turned to Martha’s site and ran a search for zucchini. I found a recipe for Risotto with Zucchini and Peas. I’ve made risotto with lots of different ingredients, but never zucchini. This was a basic risotto recipe, except you cook the zucchini in the pan first, then remove them before getting started with the onion, rice and then broth. You add the zucchini and peas in at the end.

I loved this recipe. I am on a quest to add more vegetables into our diet and sticking them in something fabulous like risotto is a great way to eat them without feeling cranky and deprived.  The risotto was creamy. The zucchini kind of melted into the background – you taste the peas more than it. I would use some water in place of some of the broth in this – it had a very strong chicken broth flavor. The kids weren’t around for this, but Mr. MarthaAndMe ate his happily. This has made me wonder what else I could add to risotto in the future.

Faced with a zucchini in my vegetable drawer and no good ideas on how to use it, I turned to Martha’s site and ran a search for zucchini. I found a recipe for Risotto with Zucchini and Peas. I’ve made risotto with lots of different ingredients, but never zucchini. This was a basic risotto recipe, … Read more →

Broccoli is one word I can never spell correctly! I always want to do one ‘c’ and two ‘l’s. Just because I can’t spell it doesn’t mean I don’t like to eat it though! It’s one of my favorite vegetables. I remember craving it when I was pregnant. And even when I was at a stage where I couldn’t eat cooked vegetables (they all had to be raw – my poor husband!) I still liked cooked broccoli.

I found myself with a nearly bare fridge one night and dinner rapidly approaching. I had just cleaned out the vegetable drawer which was in a distinctly non-Martha state – lots of rotten things hiding at the bottom.  There wasn’t much to choose from once the purge was over, so I turned to Martha for inspiration.  I got out Martha Stewart’s Cooking School cookbook and looked up every remaining vegetable I had left in the index, hoping for a brilliant idea. I hit the jackpot with broccoli.

I remember when the book came out and Martha did a segment on her show about cream soups that actually had no cream in them. Seemed a bit odd to me, but I never got around to trying it. The time was right.

Martha says to cook onions in butter then add flour and cook briefly. Add chicken broth and cook to a boil. This did make a very nicely thickened soup base that was very creamy looking. Next you add your broccoli to the soup and cook it in the soup, then use a hand blender to puree it.

This is totally different from how I’ve made broccoli soup in the past. I usually steam the broccoli then chop it up in the Cuisinart and add it to the soup. I like Martha’s method better for sure.

I did add some cream at the end (Martha said it was optional). I also felt the soup was a little bland, so I added some thyme and some grated white cheddar which livened it up a lot.

This soup had a smooth, creamy texture and a very nice fresh flavor to it. It was very easy and fast to make – you can get this done in half an hour or less. I was amazed that both kids ate it – and then asked for more! I almost fell off my chair. Broccoli is the one vegetable they will both eat, but even though they are 17 and 11, they normally insist on only nibbling at the tops of the florets and not eating any stem. This is a sneaky way to get them to eat more of it.  I’ll definitely make this soup again.

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Broccoli is one word I can never spell correctly! I always want to do one ‘c’ and two ‘l’s. Just because I can’t spell it doesn’t mean I don’t like to eat it though! It’s one of my favorite vegetables. I remember craving it when I was pregnant. And even when I was at a … Read more →

Lucinda Scala Quinn, you are a genius. Lucinda is a host of Everyday Food and a bigwig at MSLO. Whenever I see something from her, I know it’s going to be good.

In the July/Aug issue of Everyday Food, Lucinda appears on page 124 “Everyday Food on TV” with an idea for a quick summer pasta. It’s not even a recipe, just instructions for to throw together. Basically she says to cook angel hair pasta and then toss it with fresh herbs, lemon zest, lemon juice, cream and salt and pepper. This was SO incredibly easy to make and it was delicious – fresh and light tasting. I love ideas like this that are simple and quick but have amazing taste. You can use any herbs you have. I added a little Parmesan cheese (pasta requires cheese!) but not much at all. Give this one a try – you’ll love it!

Lucinda Scala Quinn, you are a genius. Lucinda is a host of Everyday Food and a bigwig at MSLO. Whenever I see something from her, I know it’s going to be good. In the July/Aug issue of Everyday Food, Lucinda appears on page 124 “Everyday Food on TV” with an idea for a quick summer … Read more →

I love roast chicken. The way it smells when it cooks, the way the skin gets crispy, the white meat, and then picking at the remains at the end of dinner. The thing about roast chicken is that you put it on the table and you feel as though you’ve made a real MEAL. Martha has a recipe for what she called Perfect Roast Chicken, in Martha Stewart’s Cooking School cookbook.

You fill the cavity with some lemon slices, garlic and rosemary. You’re supposed to truss the chicken, but I had no twine!! Egad. Martha never runs out of twine.

The interesting thing about this recipe is the oven temp. Martha says to roast

Pan sauce

a 4 lb chicken at 450 degrees for 50-55 minutes. Usually I roast chickens at 350. It seemed really hot, but I have to say that it did work. The chicken got a bit dark on the top, however. It was very crisp and it did cook all the way through. The chicken was really, really moist, so I’m going to use this technique again. I’ve made chickens with lemon and garlic in them before, and as always, it doesn’t seem to flavor the meat at all as far as I can tell. That part is frustrating.

The family approved of this, although we had the usual squabbling about who was getting what type of meat. My son used to be a drumstick guy, but now he and his sister both  insist on white meat, as do I . Mr. MarthaAndMe is the only one who will eat the rest, so I either need to start making two chickens or make an additional chicken breast to go along with it.

Chicken and sauce

Next Martha says to make a pan sauce. You cook the pan drippings with white wine until reduced then add some butter. It was a quick sauce to whip up, but it was so thin and very greasy. I would much rather have gravy. No one was wild about this sauce.

Was this a perfect roast chicken? I wouldn’t call it perfect, but I would say it was darn good.

I love roast chicken. The way it smells when it cooks, the way the skin gets crispy, the white meat, and then picking at the remains at the end of dinner. The thing about roast chicken is that you put it on the table and you feel as though you’ve made a real MEAL. Martha … Read more →

The dessert of the month in July Martha Stewart Living is Vanilla-Raspberry Sundaes with Spoon-Shaped Cookies. I must admit, I ignored this recipe for weeks. There’s not much baking involved – just some cookies. The rest is assembling a sundae. And I have to confess, I thought the spoon cookies were stupid. So I ignored, but finally I gave in and made it.

The cookie dough was easy to make. After chilling, I rolled it out and tried to cut out the cookies. I cut out the template, but the middle part where it curves in felt like it was too thin, so I wanted to make them a bit bigger. As you can tell, I’m not very talented at cutting things out of dough without a template!

I baked the cookies and then once they were cool, assembled the sundaes. I used strawberry sorbet instead of raspberry. Make sure you let your ice cream and sorbet soften a bit before you scoop it so you can get it to smush together.

The sundaes were really pretty when assembled. I didn’t think I would like this, but I did. I thought the cookie spoons would break and get mushy. They actually did work and I liked the taste of the sundae with the cookie. This was yummy and really a very easy dessert to make.  Nice one, Martha!

The dessert of the month in July Martha Stewart Living is Vanilla-Raspberry Sundaes with Spoon-Shaped Cookies. I must admit, I ignored this recipe for weeks. There’s not much baking involved – just some cookies. The rest is assembling a sundae. And I have to confess, I thought the spoon cookies were stupid. So I ignored, … Read more →

Although local corn is not yet available here, we do have a lot of decent corn in the stores that is brought in from God knows where. August is corn season here, so I was happy to see all the great ideas for corn in July/August Martha Stewart Everyday Food. I tend to just cook corn on the cob or grill it. I don’t usually do much else with it. I had a few ears of corn hanging around, so I decided to whip up Corn and Zucchini Saute with Basil.

This was a quick dish to make. You slice zucchini and saute with garlic briefly. Then you cut the corn off the cob and add that. Add in some basil and some vinegar at the end and you’re done. I enjoyed this. I think it would be a great thing to whip up with some leftover corn. I’m not sure I would rush out to buy the ingredients just to make this dish, but as a way to use leftovers, I highly recommend it.

Although local corn is not yet available here, we do have a lot of decent corn in the stores that is brought in from God knows where. August is corn season here, so I was happy to see all the great ideas for corn in July/August Martha Stewart Everyday Food. I tend to just cook … Read more →

You know how some families have holiday meal favorites like green bean casserole or candied sweet potatoes? In my family we have gougere. My parents were galloping 70s gourmets, so it’s no surprise that a treasured family recipe would be a French pastry hors d’oevre.

Martha has a recipe for Gougeres with Parmesan and Black Pepper in July Martha Stewart Living. A new twist on an old family favorite? I was excited. In my family, gougere is served as an hors d’oevre, but I whipped this up one night to have instead of bread with dinner (and here I must comment on the overall Martha project – never in a million years would I have seen myself casually whipping up Gougere for a week night dinner. This is what Martha has done to me!)

Gougere might seem a little imposing to make if you’ve never done it, but actually it’s really easy. Martha has included this in the magazine as part of the French cooking lesson and the instructions involve a mixer. Bah. I do it by hand and it’s very fast. First you boil butter, water, sugar and salt. Stir in flour until it pulls away from the sides and makes a film on the bottom of the pan. Then you stir in eggs until it becomes glossy and smooth. This all happens very, very quickly.

Martha’s instructions say to use a pastry bag. Bah. I just use a spoon. My mom often makes a ring of gougere which is very pretty. Martha says to brush them with egg wash and sprinkle salt and pepper and parmesan cheese on them. Then you bake them. This is essentially a cream puff dough, so it puffs up when it bakes very nicely.

As for taste? This is not a winner in my book, simply because it cannot compete with the family recipe. If you make this, I suggest you put the cheese IN the puffs, not on top where you can’t taste it. I didn’t care for the pepper on it either. Other than that though, these puffed up nicely and were very pretty.

Because I believe it is far superior, I am going to share the family gougere recipe, which I think is head and shoulders over Martha’s:

Big MarthaAndMe’s Gougere

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

4 3ggs

1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard

Preheat the oven to 450. Combine water and butter and bring to a rolling boil over medium high heat. Add the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball. Add eggs one at a time and beat with spoon until smooth and shiny. Add the rest of the ingredients.  Form clumps on baking sheet into a ring, so they touch each other. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 and bake until puffy and lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

You know how some families have holiday meal favorites like green bean casserole or candied sweet potatoes? In my family we have gougere. My parents were galloping 70s gourmets, so it’s no surprise that a treasured family recipe would be a French pastry hors d’oevre. Martha has a recipe for Gougeres with Parmesan and Black … Read more →

Part of what I’m trying to do with this project is to channel Martha. It’s one thing to do recipes and projects created by MSLO, but another to find a way to live Martha in your own life with your own ideas. I feel as though the longer I work on this project, the more Martha I become.

Last night I decided to make the Bok Choy Salad from July Martha Stewart Living. This was super simple – chop up some bok choy, add cashews and mix up a very quick Asian dressing. But what to have with it?

I was in the mood for potstickers, so I sniffed around Martha’s site to look for a recipe. I didn’t see one that met my needs, so I made my own. I defrosted some ground turkey and mixed in chopped garlic and scallions and grated ginger and added tamari sauce. I had some wonton wrappers in the freezer so I did a quick defrost. They were a bit misshapen  – not round or oval, but a weird shape from being bounced around in the freezer, so I made do. Instead of your typical half moon potsticker, I smushed them up into little beggar’s purses and cooked them. I love making potstickers – sear the bottom, then add water and cover it so the steam cooks them. Very fun and quick.

I also whipped up a lo mein dish. I had a chunk of leftover chicken and also some leftover broccoli from the composed salad from the day before. I boiled some soba noodles and added those ingredients as well as some scallion and bean sprouts. I had a bottle of stir fry sauce (Martha would be horrified) and dumped that on.

This was a very quick meal. The bok choy salad was ok, but I’m giving it a thumbs up because it was nice to have some raw veggies in an Asian meal. The lo mein was good and very fast since everything was already pre-cooked. The potstickers were heaven. You would never guess they were made with turkey and they had a wonderful ginger and garlic flavor. The bottom were crunchy and the tops soft. Simply perfect!

Part of what I’m trying to do with this project is to channel Martha. It’s one thing to do recipes and projects created by MSLO, but another to find a way to live Martha in your own life with your own ideas. I feel as though the longer I work on this project, the more … Read more →