We are usually addicted to bison burgers on a Friday night—they’re just so good we can’t seem to deviate. Until that Friday when there was no bison to be had at the Whole Foods. PANIC! I called The Husband to see if he wanted a turkey burger, which he initially poo-pooed until he realized he had no choice.

Then I spotted the ground pork—hey, I could mix the ground turkey with the pork to give it more flavor! No, said The Husband. I want an all-pork burger. And so he shall, I decided, but of course I need to make it spicy like my bison burgers. So off to the chili section for some serranos, and the store actually managed to have some jalapeño-cheddar burger buns. Result! Grab some arugula and we’re good to go.

Now that I’ve found the amazing Da-Le Ranch, I ordered some ground pork to see how it would be. We defrosted it yesterday in anticipation of pork burgers, and indeed, they turned out so delicious.

I don’t know why, but my burger reminded me of a monk in a cowl. Go figure.

Since my eating habits have been forced to change, that jalapeño-cheddar bun was not going to work for me. Luckily, I follow so many other cooking blogs that when I saw the collard greens in the aisle yesterday, I knew I’d found my bun replacement. And I’m happy to report that I did not miss that bun at all! It was nice to just have the other flavors without the bulk of the bread. Don’t get me wrong, I love bread and always will, but the fact that I can’t have it and loved this replacement made me very happy! Now I can’t wait to figure out other ways to use my collard greens as a wrap.

And, sadly, white potatoes are off my menu at the moment too, so when I saw the beans in the fridge last night, I knew exactly what to do. We were introduced to green bean “fries” up at Crow Bar in Corona del Mar when it first opened. The chef at the time, Brandon Scott, served them with his tuna burger as his take on a salad Nicoise. All I can say is that it is a genius idea, and I’ve stolen it for my own nefarious purposes. You do need a vegetable basket for the grill, or I suppose you could do them in the oven, but I’ve never tried.

So, here’s our dinner last night, and I hope you enjoy the recipes! Vegans and vegetarians, please substitute the veggie burger of your choice in place of the pork burger. I’m formulating a recipe for one at the moment that follows my strange dietary requirements. Please watch this space!

Spicy Pork Burgers

10 oz. ground pork (hopefully properly free range and organic)
1 serrano chili, chopped finely
1 Tbs mayonnaise (I use Veganaise and it works great!)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Several slices of sharp cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients well in a bowl with your hands. Really make sure that the mayo is evenly distributed, as well as the chilis. Weigh out 5 oz. burgers and let chill in the fridge for about an hour (or more). Grill until the burgers are cooked to your preference, adding the cheese right before they are finished to melt a little.

We usually serve our burgers with a slice of onion, perfectly grilled by The Husband, plus a slice of tomato, mustard, mayo and a heap of arugula on top. We prefer either the jalapeño-cheddar buns or brioche buns, but they aren’t easy to find.

If you’re doing the collard-green wrap, carefully select a large leaf. Rinse it and dry it carefully with a paper towel so it doesn’t rip, then remove most of the thick stem through the center—but don’t cut the whole leaf in half. Make sure that the top third of the leaf is uncut. Use this as the bottom of your “bun” where you can spread your condiments and stack your grilled onions and tomato slice. Then wait patiently for your burger to be ready, place on top and cover in arugula. Wrap the bottom sections of the collard green leaf over the top of the burger and secure with a cocktail stick.

Try not to eat it in three huge bites. It’s tough to resist, believe me!

Perfectly charred, wonderfully tasty.

Green Bean “Fries”

1/2 lb. green beans
Grapeseed oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Mix the last four ingredients together in a small bowl. Trim the picked end off the green beans, but you can leave the little pointy end as it is. Rinse and dry them in a towel, then mix in a bowl with the other ingredients, tossing well so that the green beans are well coated with the spices.

Using a vegetable grill pan or basket, cook the beans on the grill, watching carefully and cooking until they are still a little al dente, but have that nice char on them. Serve immediately! But try not to burn your fingers.

The “traditional” pork burger with “fries”.

This grill pan was all of $5 at Bed Bath and Beyond, and has lasted for years.

So instead of a round-up of the year, I thought I’d round up my little jaunt up to Santa Barbara and Los Angeles for my birthday, which was full of fun, lots of eating and friends old and new. I was eating for gold that week, as I knew when I returned I was going to do a seven-day raw food cleanse and then change my diet. Right now I’m off gluten, corn, grains, potatoes, eggs, soy, dairy….yes, some of you may ask—What the hell is left? What will happen to TKS?

Well, it is a rather restrictive diet, but (a) I’m hoping to drop a few pounds from the Not-So-Tiny Kitchen Cook’s Ass and (b) won’t it just make me more creative? Duck carnitas will be featured in a future post, and yes, I had my tacos in lettuce wraps instead of tortillas. I didn’t mind at all. Sure, those handmade tortillas I got at the Mexican market looked good, but I didn’t cheat….although I’m surprised none of my guests commented on how I was staring as they ate. But at least I didn’t punch anyone.

But back to the trip, and the eating.

The hot shellfish platter with Clams Casino, Oysters Rockefeller, beer-boiled peel-and-eat shrimp and mussels.

As mentioned in a previous post, we like to hit Brophy Brothers as soon as we get to Santa Barbara. We have to sit at the bar, and we have to eat shellfish while drinking beer and tequila shots. There’s nothing better than gazing up at SB’s beautiful mountains while enjoying these things. Nothing. Then you can check into your hotel with a lovely buzz and get your vaca really rolling! Julienne was dinner on our first night, but you know about that already.

Drink the two-for-one Happy Hour margies, but do not, and I mean DO NOT, miss the tacos.

The next day we hit one of our favorite taco places, and not just because they have a full bar (but it helps!) but mainly because their tacos ROCK. Plus, the place’s name is El Taco Tequila Taqueria, and you can’t beat that with a stick! A family-run and operated business, these people pump out some seriously delicious tacos, and in all flavors—vegetarian, fish, chicken and beef. Oh, did I forget pork? Their pork tacos are TO DIE for! Plus they have all of this Day of the Dead decor that is just irresistible.

The little homemade yogurt “amuse bouche”.

Breakfast was at Scarlett Begonia—a lovely place, but don’t go there if you have anything to do for the next two hours. Food is da bomb—bacon-maple biscuits and breakfast pizza, YES!—but service is slllllooooooowwwww. And I don’t mean part of the Slow Food movement, either.

Isn’t he cute?

And then it was my birthday. The Husband had heard me mention that I liked a silly, stripy sock monkey in a store near the hotel, and ran down while I was in the shower to buy it for me. Isn’t he adorable? (The correct answer here is “Yes”. I don’t care if I’m a grown woman with a stuffed animal.)

I also had a wonderful afternoon with my dear friend Rose, who I hadn’t seen in about 15 years. Which is ridiculous, because Rose has such a calming influence on me, I need to bottle her and keep her in my purse. I got to introduce her to the love of my life (The Husband, natch) and we got to catch up on years apart. She also put out the most amazing spread of vegetarian goodness—we were wondering when the rest of the lunch party was going to get there, she made so much food. Seeing Rose was the best birthday gift I could have imagined!

Birthday martini at the Marquee before dinner with dear friends at Bouchon (where we snuck more fois gras…after the ban! Shhh!).

Raw granola with bananas and strawberries.

A much needed raw breakfast with liver-cleanse juice at Alchemy to ease the pain of a hangover.

Michelada—it’s like a beer with Bloody Mary mix thrown in. YUM.

We started celebrating the Fourth just a little early, on the 3rd. We found the Boathouse, a replacement for the Brown Pelican at Hendry’s Beach, where we drank the afternoon away and mooned over the dogs running willy-nilly without leashes on the beach—we had to leave our dog at home, thanks to a wedding we had attended early in the trip.

Here we met Stephen, the bartender (and his family’s delicious tequila, La Carreta de Oro), an oil-baron who had a house in Montecito and a penchant for buying the whole place shots, and adopted the hostess as she’ll be attending CSU Fullerton in the fall and knows not a soul in the OC. Until now. She’s cute as a button and will dog-sit for us! Result! Didn’t get a pic of Mary though. Hope to this weekend when she makes her first visit behind the Orange Curtain. (Oh, and Stephen makes an excellent michelada, BTW.)

It’s old-school at Joe’s.

A trip to Santa Barbara is not complete without a martini at Joe’s. Only have one if you can hold your liquor—why? Look at the picture. Beyond the awesome retro checkered napkin and the petite martini glass, see the glass with the cocktail strainer on it? Oh yeah, that’s parts two and three of your martini. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Always be nice to a man who is good with a knife.

Looking for a lighter meal on our last night in town, we headed to Arigato, where our sushi chef was a fish-slicing, fun-loving maniac. Just how we like ‘em.

Our view during our charcuterie and cheese plate.

Oysters, cocktails and sunshine.

Every hotel room should have an elephant on a bicycle.

Then down to La-La for a wonderful room on the same floor as the awesome pool deck at Petit Ermitage. This hotel rocks—it’s totally reasonable in price (for West Hollywood, that is) and is only four stories. With a pool on top. Did I mention that? Also, they have a wonderful little restaurant up there with tables tucked in amongst lots of greenery with stunning views.

Not the shrimp-toast sandwich, but the fried-chicken sandwich. Make a reservation at Son of a Gun now just to have one.

Our beautiful and ridiculously talented friends C+E joined us for a few drinks by the pool before we all got dolled up for an evening at Son of a Gun, the sister restaurant to Animal. OH. MY. GOD. This place is off the charts delicious! Especially the prawn toast sandwich. We all shared two. We all secretly wanted two whole ones for ourselves. Or maybe that was just me and C?

Lamb and all the fixin’s!

The next day they took pity on us and cooked us two wonderful meals. One was their famous fried eggs a la pimenton with toast and salad for breakfast, and for dinner they whipped up some lamb chops for me and “Fred’s tips” for everyone else—some sort of Sonoma, CA delicacy. To me, it was like beef pretending to be bacon. I could only have one bite, but it was delicious, as was my lamb. These guys fly all over the world for work, so getting them for a whole day and a bit was dee-lightful!

Spicy pork dumplings—you can’t get them in your mouth fast enough.

After picking up our leftovers the next morning from C+E and a quick hug goodbye, we raced down the freeway to get back to the four-legged kids. Well, we did make one stop, for the pork dumplings at the very strangely named Guppy House in Irvine. This Taiwanese place has a long menu of great-looking stuff, and I accidentally found out about this place through a business meeting. You get 15 dumplings for about $8, which is crazy for something off the “snack” menu, and the leftovers were met with great joy by The Husband. Hence the stop on the way home. It was worth it.

Home to the kiddos!

Sigh. So there you have it. It was a fantastic birthday vacation, and thanks to all of you who commented on my posts while I was away. Next blog will be recipes, I promise! No more travel blogs—until Fiesta weekend in Santa Barbara next month. You’ve been warned…

The finished product. Mmmm….pork.

It’s no secret: The Husband is a huge fan of pork. He seriously can’t get enough, and will eat it any chance he gets.

We used to drive three cities away to San Clemente to get carnitas at La Siesta. Their carnitas are seriously good, and the restaurant itself is quite cool. No outside seating, but inside it’s like a Baja beach shack with margaritas. We fell a little out of love with it when Carmen, our favorite waitress—seriously, she was the best waitress in the world—was fired because the other girls were jealous that every customer wanted to sit in her section if she was working.

It’s all fitting (barely) in the pan.

So, that dimmed our love a little bit, but we still used to go down there when The Husband needed his carnitas fix. But when I finally decided to make my own carnitas, I think he’s decided he never needs to go there again. Let’s face it, the margaritas, and now the carnitas, are better at our house. And with a lot less travel.

The carnitas meal was prepared in honor of The Father, for his commendable and comprehensive work on the Tiny Kitchen Remodel (photos are coming shortly, I promise!). He needed to be treated, and when I asked him to pick the meal I would make for his honor, he said “Anything you make will be wonderful.”

Rendering, rendering. The house smelled wonderful.

Spoken like a true loving father, for sure. So I decided to finally take on the carnitas challenge. I looked through about 20 recipes, some with ingredients like beer, Coca-Cola, milk, orange juice and so on, and finally decided on this one from Chow.com. I changed it up a little bit, but not much, mainly just adding some thyme and more garlic. Oh, and some fresh cilantro as well as the coriander seed. And I made a sauce, which I’ll add here after the carnitas recipe.

And, dear readers, it was amazing. The table was very quiet, and seconds and thirds were had by all. The Husband liked it so much he did not offer anyone any leftovers to take home, not even to his lovely mother who lives on her own. I was shocked! But secretly pleased since it means how much he liked it. (And apologies to Anna May, step-momma and Father—I promise to give you some the next time I make it. I will have to smuggle it out like cigars out of Cuba.)

And by the way, this is a Saturday or Sunday afternoon dish. You do not whip this up on a weeknight after work. This seriously needs to simmer and cook for hours. You cannot rush the carnitas. The carnitas will take its own sweet time, thankyouverymuch.

Arbol chiles—necessary for the salsa!

For the pork:

• 3 (5-inch) fresh marjoram and cilantro sprigs
• 5 medium garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium white onion, peeled and quartered through the root end
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes (do not trim the fat)

For serving (optional):

• Corn or flour tortillas
• Sliced onions and pasilla chiles, grilled on a barbecue
• Guacamole
• Salsa (see below)
• Chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges
• Cotija cheese
• Refried beans

1. 

   Toasting the garlic and tomatillos.

   Place the marjoram, garlic, coriander, and bay leaf in a small piece of cheesecloth and tie it tightly with butcher’s twine. (If you don’t have cheesecloth, just bung it all in the pan.) Place the bundle in a Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed pot along with the onion and salt. Arrange the pork in a single layer and add enough water to just cover the meat. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Skim and discard any foam that floats to the surface using a large spoon. Simmer, skimming the surface and turning the pork pieces occasionally, until the meat is tender and just beginning to shred apart, about 2 1/2 hours. (You may need to adjust the heat to medium low to keep it at a simmer. I used a Le Creuset pot, of course, which worked really well.)

2. Remove and discard the herb packet and onion quarters. Increase the heat to medium high and cook until the remaining water evaporates and just the rendered fat coats the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to low and let the meat fry in the fat, turning occasionally, until browned all over, about 20 minutes. Serve the carnitas in tacos, burritos, or tostadas with your desired toppings.

SALSA DE ARBOL

10 dried arbol chilies, stems removed
3 garlic cloves
10 medium tomatillos, husks removed and washed
1/2 cup carnitas cooking liquid (or vegetable stock, if you’re making separately)
Sea salt to taste, if needed

In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast the chiles until slightly browned. Remove to a blender. Next, toast the garlic and tomatillos until they have brown spots on them, then put in the blender. Add the cooking liquid and purée; pour back in the skillet and simmer for 10 minutes.

Enjoy….

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• The Husband’s Bloody Mary or Maria Recipe (tinykitchenstories.com)

The crumpet pan is perfect for cooking these taquito-type snacks, but a frying pan will work just as well.

Every once in a while, we get down to La Siesta in San Clemente, where they have the best carnitas we’ve found in Orange County. There might be better somewhere in Santa Ana, but the drive there is not so scenic, so we rarely go. We used to love their huevos rancheros, but it seems to have gone downhill—it seemed to do so right after our favorite waitress, Carmen, left the restaurant.

We miss Carmen. She was the best waitress ever! Remembered your name, made you feel welcome, would ask questions about your life. A light went out of the restaurant after Carmen left. I hope she’s happy and making some other restaurant very special somewhere!

La Siesta also has this amazing red salsa. It’s not a pico de gallo, but a real salsa, with some smoky chili in there that’s not a chipotle. We ALWAYS get some of this to go. It’s just too good on just about anything–eggs, in guacamole, on pizza…you get the point.

The assembly. The measurements aren't exact, so add ingredients to your preference!

Anyway, back to the carnitas. We usually get some to go, and this is one of our favorite things to do with it. This is a nice little snack, but it can be dinner too, with a side salad and maybe some quick refried beans.

I haven’t tried making carnitas yet, but I probably will soon. I found a nice recipe in a new cookbook of mine. I’ll be trying chorizo soon too…

If you have some carnitas floating around in your fridge, definitely try this! You can use a regular, heavy-bottomed frying pan, but I love using this crumpet pan I bought in London years ago. I found Elizabeth David‘s crumpet recipe, and I was on a roll. Had to have the right pan…you know how that is, right? Now after about 15 years or so, it’s perfectly seasoned and great for stovetop or oven use. I’m so glad I searched every London cooking shop for it–this was before the internet!

The Husband whipped up some nice margaritas, old-school style, for our meal. ¡Aye Carumba!

P.S. These pics are from the new camera–I hope you like the new and improved photos!

Here’s the recipe for the carnitas taquitos and the quick refried beans:

Carnitas Taquitos:

Four flour tortillas (the nicer the better)
1 cup of carnitas, room temperature*
1/2 an avocado, thinly sliced
1 cup grated cheddar (or more, to taste!)
Your favorite hot sauce or salsa
Chopped cilantro

Don't turn them too often; let them get nice and crispy on all sides.

Shred up the carnitas into each tortilla, laying it across the tortilla towards one end. Add avocado and hot sauce across the carnitas. Finish with cilantro and cheese, and carefully roll up. Set aside. Repeat with each tortilla.

Heat the pan over medium heat and add just a little bit of oil so they don’t stick. Carefully add the taquitos to the pan, seam side down. Check after a few minutes to see if the tortilla is getting brown, then roll the taquitos over a bit until they’re sitting on uncooked tortilla. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn, and turn them carefully so that the filling doesn’t spill out.

Once they’re crispy all over, serve immediately with more hot sauce.

*Vegetarians, try using Soyrizo–that would be a tasty substitute!

A nice, easy weeknight dinner—that is, if you have carnitas loitering in your fridge.

Quick Refried Beans:

1 can of pinto beans (undrained)
3 oz. bacon or salt pork, chopped (optional for vegetarians)
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 small red jalapeño (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and add the chopped bacon. Cook until crispy, then add the chopped onion. Cook for about five minutes until the onion starts to soften and brown just a bit. Add the chili and cook for a further two minutes, stirring.

Add the pinto beans and let them get warmed through, about three to five minutes. Remove them from the heat and carefully puree about half of the beans. It’s not an exact science–if you like really smooth refried beans, the puree them all, but I go for about half. I usually do this with a stick blender, but you can also use a regular potato masher, or pour some of the beans into a blender. But PLEASE be careful, as the beans will be so hot you will burn yourself if the beans get on you!! It will be like napalm, and nobody likes all that swearing in the kitchen.

Ahhh. Delicious comfort food to go with an episode of Jeopardy!

Return to the heat for a few minutes before serving, and stir well. Add pepper to taste, and salt if you like. You can even add a little milk to make them even creamier—I got that trick from a roommate of mine in college whose Mexican mother used to do it. It works.

We used to have turkey for days after T-Day when I was a kid, and we’d have turkey sandwiches for the whole next week, creamed turkey on toast, and some weird thing my Mom called “turkey tetrazini”. I think. I just remember something strange with spaghetti and a cream sauce. Wasn’t one of Mom’s more gourmet moments. I miss The Twilight Zone marathons that they used to play on Thanksgiving, but I don’t miss that dish. Or—sorry Mom, the candied yams.

Again, I digress. This is also a pasta dish, but it’s nothing like what I described above. It was a nice combination of some fridge standards that we always try to keep in the door, capers and kalamata olives, and some fresh items, like Swiss chard. I can’t help myself when I get to the pasta area in Whole Foods—that quinoa linguine is just so tasty. I keep buying it because I still can’t believe it’s gluten free.

And to all my vegans and vegetarians out there—this one’s for you. Play around with the recipe; it’s pretty easy to change up and still be delicious. We served with homemade garlic bread and a little salad, But, come to think of it, you could probably throw some shredded turkey into this and it would work very well. It probably wouldn’t even taste like Thanksgiving leftovers. And that’s something to be thankful for.

Oh, and sorry for the lack of photos! I’ll add some later.

A Take on Puttanesca

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 can of chopped, fire-roasted tomatoes
1 Tbs tomato paste
16 kalamata olives
2 Tbs capers, drained
4 large leaves of Swiss chard (I used rainbow)
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili flakes (use more or less, to your taste. 1/2 tsp should be enough for most people)
Freshly ground pepper
Sea salt (use sparingly! The capers will add a fair amount of salt)
Pecorino Romano, grated for topping
Linguine for two

This is a fairly easy dish to prepare after you’ve done the prep work. Always start your water on to boil first so you can make sure that dinner arrives at a decent hour.

Sauté the onion in some olive oil over medium heat until translucent. Add the garlic and stir for about 3 -5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, the tomato paste, the oregano and the chili flakes. Add about 1/3 cup of water and let simmer on low for the time it takes for you to make salad and prep the garlic bread, about 15 minutes.

Add the Swiss chard and cook for another 4 minutes, then add capers and black olives. Simmer on low for another 5-7 minutes as you bake the garlic bread under the grill/broiler. Serve when the bread and pasta are ready.

If you want my extremely simple garlic bread recipe, let me know in the comments and I’ll add it!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading!

This is NOT my photo. This is by Heidi Swanson, who also created the recipe.

I cannot take any credit for this recipe at all—it’s all down to one of my absolute favorite recipe sources, 101cookbooks.com. Basically, I want Heidi Swanson’s life. She lives in San Francisco, has had two wildly successful cookbooks, travels all over the world, is a rock-star food photographer. NO, I’m not jealous. NOT ONE LITTLE BIT.

Okay, let’s calm down and get back to the recipe: click here to go right to the source.

Here’s my notes on this yummy soup:

• First of all, it’s so easy to make vegan. It’s one of my friend Diana’s favorite things I make for her. She’s actually worked it into her yoga fast.
• This last time I made it, I added some Swiss chard, and it was a great addition. The Husband heartily approved.
• I LOVE using the Better Than Bouillon, mushroom flavor in this soup. It’s delicious!
• Vegans, try using avocado instead of the feta. Works really well.
• You don’t need shallots, necessarily. Today I used one red onion and three small brown onions and it turned out just fine.
• I also like to use a whole teaspoon of chile flakes, but we like things spicy around here. You’d be surprised, but that half teaspoon is well enough.
• Meat eaters—use whatever stock you have on hand. Chicken and beef stock would work very well.

That’s about it! I would really recommend trying this, especially on a rainy day like today. We’re serving it alongside some Dogs of Dinner, but it works well on its own.

Enjoy! And I also would recommend perusing more of Heidi’s recipes. But please come back here. Please. Thank you.

These mini food processors are perfect for pesto making.

I like pesto, but sometimes it can be a bit, well…bland. Especially when you get it in a jar, and you realize you need to use almost the whole thing to get any flavor. It’s so easy to make at home, especially when The Husband buys a big box of basil at Trader Joe’s, which completely forces my hand.

I don’t like using just basil, though. Luckily The Husband had also picked up some arugula, which is a perfect green to mix with basil for a pesto with a little kick.

Also, since we are going through a recession, sometimes it’s hard not to get some sticker shock when you look at a bag of pine nuts.

Quinoa pasta is gluten-free and delicious! You can't even tell that it's not wheat pasta, if you don't overcook it.

Don’t get me wrong—I can eat pine nuts by the handful, and love keeping a big bag from Costco in the freezer so I have them on hand. But sometimes you may not have $20 to spend on a bag of pine nuts, and in this pesto, you don’t need them. I used slivered almonds from Traders, instead. You don’t have to toast them, but it does add a great flavor.

The great thing about “pesto” is that you can change the ingredients to incorporate whatever you have on hand. Of course, I never leave out the garlic. Why would you? I put garlic in things that don’t even call for garlic!

I used this pesto on the Ancient Harvest quinoa linguine you can find easily at Whole Foods, because it’s just not as dense as regular pasta. The pesto works very well with its flavor and texture. I roasted some cherry tomatoes and crisped up a little prosciutto to sprinkle over the top, which of course can be omitted for the vegetarians among us.

So here’s my arugula-basil pesto recipe:

1 large handful of basil leaves
1 large handful of arugula
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
1 tsp. salt
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano (or parmesan, or whatever hard cheese you have on hand)
Olive oil

Make sure you take the basil leaves off the stems, and that the basil and arugula are washed and fairly dry. Pack the basil,

It's not easy getting all the ingredients together for something like pesto in the Tiny Kitchen.

arugula, almonds, garlic and salt into the mini processor (or you can use a stick blender in a tall measuring cup) and cover with about 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Process until you have quite a nice paste; sometimes you need to open the processor up and stir it around a little bit. Add more olive oil too, if necessary, to get it to loosen up.

Once it’s almost to the right consistency, add the grated cheese and the pepper. Give it another whirl in the processor, and you should be done (see photo above).

See? Easy peasy! Now you can add it to whatever you like, even mashed potatoes or as a marinade for chicken.

This dish goes nicely with a glass of red wine, natch!

After we’d been grilling all summer, and even had a tank in backup, we ran out of propane for the grill. I was in a panic—what the heck was I going to cook for dinner?? For crying out loud, I’d even been putting pizza on the grill!

I finally pulled myself together. I mean, it’s like I’d never used the oven or stovetop before. Geez. The Husband can’t eat fish at the moment (not allowed by the acupuncturist for some reason) and we’d had chicken the night before, so I decided on some pappardelle that I knew we had in the cupboard. I wandered around the Gelson’s produce department, thinking about what would go with the Italian sausage or prosciutto that we had in the fridge. I settled on some beautiful, organic Swiss chard and a lovely red jalapeño, plus some nice pecorino Romano cheese from the deli.

Vegetarians/vegans, I would recommend the Field Roast Grain Sausages to substitute in this dish. It’s a nice and quick weekday dinner!

SAUSAGE AND SWISS CHARD PAPPARDELLE

1 bunch of Swiss chard (I used the red, any type would work)
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 Fra’mani Italian pork sausages (or Italian style from Field Roast)
1/3 cup olive oil
A handful of cherry tomatoes
1 red jalapeño (can be omitted, it really didn’t make it spicy)
1/3 cup white wine
Grated pecorino cheese (How much? How much do you want?)
4 oz. pappardelle (we used the Trader Joe’s kind—vegans beware, it’s egg pasta)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Make the sauce while the water’s boiling and the pasta’s cooking. First, clean and prepare the Swiss chard by washing it and cutting the green leafy part off the thick stems. You could chop up the stems and add with the sausage later, and it would be very tasty, but I was just a bit lazy that night.

Slice the sausage thickly, then cut into quarters. Heat the olive oil on medium-high in a large frying pan and add the sausage. The idea here is to get it crispy—these sausages are pre-cooked so they’re going to keep their shape. Once they’re nice and crisp on the edges, throw in the garlic and chili; stir. You want to get the garlic a little brown to get that special flavor, but don’t burn it, so watch the temperature. Once they’re nice and brown, add the cherry tomatoes and chard. Sauté until the chard is wilted and the cherry tomatoes are about to burst. Help them out a bit by squishing them with the back of your stirring spoon.

Now’s the time to add the white wine—I say 1/3 of a cup, but I just pour some in from the bottle—and scrape up all the nice brown stuff from the bottom of the pan. Hopefully right about now you’ve got about 3 minutes left on the timer for the pappardelle, as you want the white wine to cook with the rest of the ingredients before serving.

Drain the pasta and put half into two wide bowls. Add the sauce on top, adding a little extra splash of olive oil if it’s looking a little dry. Serve with a big helping of the pecorino, letting it melt just a bit before eating. Yeah, that’s right—you’re welcome.

Now that's what I call a pizza, not those things that come in a box!

That’s right, you read it correctly. We got sick and tired of crappy pizza in our neighborhood (thanks, Gina’s, for changing your menu for the worse), and kept seeing some great grilled pizzas in my food magazines. I figured we’d give it a go—what could go wrong?

Exactly, said The Husband, and refused to try it when friends were over and wanted to do a test run. No problem! Strangely enough, the perfect opportunity came on a Saturday when we thought we had nothing in the fridge to rustle up. The Husband lamented that we had just been near Trader Joe’s and could have picked up some pre-made dough, but I scoffed. I’ve got yeast and flour and I’ll make fresh dough myself, no problems. Even though I always freak out that my dough won’t rise and everything will be ruined, it rarely happens.

We also had some sofrito from Troy’s recipe hiding in the freezer, some prosciutto, some mushrooms, some chevre goat’s cheese, red onion, arugula and fresh heirloom tomatoes. Now the sofrito I had slaved over a few weekends before, and I have to let you know that it is a labor of love. But when Troy tells you to do something one way, you do it that way. This is the man that said, the last time we were at their house for yet another amazing dinner, said “Oh, I didn’t have time to make the gnocchi” as he rolls out some freshly made pasta. What the wha? How many of YOUR friends make pasta from scratch? Anybody? No? That’s what I thought.

This guy cooks an amazing four-course meal for six while whipping up some braised lamb shanks for later in the week. Plus, he’s one test away from being a Master Sommelier. When they call to see if you’re free for dinner, you make yourself free. I don’t care what’s happening—tell your kid you’ll be there for his next graduation. It’s that good.

So, the sauce was halfway made, and I only added more garlic, some chopped onions and this wonderful Greek oregano still on the stem I’d found on our last trip to Santa Barbara, I threw that dough together without the aid of the Kitchen Aid, and off we went. The Husband’s grilling skills were up to the task and we had beautiful crust, deliciously baked toppings, and we never need to order out again.

Of course, please go crazy and add your favorite pizza toppings. I’m just letting you know how we roll.

PIZZA DOUGH

Definitely make your own dough; it does make a difference!

It seemed to make about three pizzas, based on the size of our grill, about a medium.

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 pkg active dry yeast (2.25 tsp)
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup whole-wheat flour*
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. yellow cornmeal

Stir water, yeast and honey in a bowl, let stand for five minutes or so, til it gets all foamy. Put flours into a large bowl; make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture.

You can use the Kitchen Aid for this with a dough hook, but I figured it was going to take me 15 minutes to get the bloody thing out from my backyard kitchen cabinet, so I thought I’d just knead by hand. And set the timer, let me tell you, because two minutes feels like 10, and you’ll want to stop before it’s time. You need the full 10 minutes, no cheating. But if you use a Kitchen Aid, it will probably only take about two minutes for the dough to be done.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place. I like to use the oven, since mine has pilot lights that keep it pretty warm all the time. Alternatively, you can heat the oven for a few minutes, turn it off and pop it in there to rise, until doubled in size, about one hour.

Punch down and knead again. Cut into sections and roll into an approximate circle shape. It can look Dali-esque, it’s fine. You want it to look homemade, right?

Use the cornmeal to line your baking sheet or tray to take over to the grill. This will prevent it from sticking to the tray so you don’t cry when you pull it off at the appropriate time just to rip a big hole in your dough.

*The original recipe called for whole-wheat pastry flour, which I didn’t use but will probably try next time.

Who needs a wood-fired oven for pizza? A barbecue will do nicely, thank you.

GRILLING

Sliced prosciutto
Sliced mushrooms
Thinly sliced red onion
Thinly sliced tomatoes
Goat cheese (chevre)
Tomato sauce
Fresh arugula

Heat the ‘cue to about 450 degrees F. If you don’t have a temperature gauge on your grill, use an oven thermometer. Oil that puppy up nice and good (but please don’t use a spray can of oil while the grill is on. I don’t want to be responsible for your demise!)

Throw the dough right on the grill and shut the lid. Let it cook for about 3-4 minutes. Carefully flip it over with a large spatula.

This part is crucial! You need all of your toppings, including sauce, at the ready. As soon as you flip it, start adding your toppings as quick as you can. It’s not easy with the heat coming off the grill, but persist. You can turn the grill down a little while you do this.

Shut the lid again as soon as you’ve finished adding the toppings. It doesn’t have to look pretty! If you’re following the ingredients above, add everything but the arugula. That’s what you throw on when it comes out of the barbeque and you’re ready to serve.

Try to keep the lid shut for about 5 minutes so the toppings cook. Check on it, and check underneath the crust; you don’t want it to burn! Slide that baby on to a tray, cover with handfuls of arugula and eat as soon as possible.

The sofrito cooking.

SOFRITO

10 tomatoes (or more, if you’ve got ‘em)
Olive oil
Garlic
2 bay leaves

This is a pain in the butt, but the result is worth it. Troy did say that Roma tomatoes were easier, and he’s right (natch!). Boil a big pot of water and get another bowl or pot of cold water at the ready. Cut an “X” into the bottom of each tomato. Once the water’s boiling, pop the toms in for 30 seconds, then fish out with a slotted spoon and put in the cold water.

Their skin should start to peel off, and this is where the fun starts. Peel them all, then slice them in half or quarters lengthwise. Scoop out all the bits in the middle, the seeds and all sorts. Now, Troy says that you should keep this, blend it and pass it through cheesecloth to make “tomato water” which you can then make a gelée out of, but that’s a little out of my league. I’ll leave that to Troy!

Once you’ve scraped them all, having not given up in the middle thinking you’d be better off buying this in a can, heat up a nice large frying pan. Put in a ton of olive oil to at least coat the bottom of the pan, then add the tomatoes, 4 or 5 cloves of garlic (or to taste) and the bay leaves. Now let those cook slowly, ever so slowly, for about three hours, stirring now and then to make sure the garlic and bay leaves get around the pan.

Once they’ve all all but dissolved and the garlic mush apart when you push on them with a back of a spoon, it’s done. Now you can store this in the freezer for a while, or go ahead and make some pizza/pasta sauce, recipe below. (Man, this is a long blog!)

PIZZA/PASTA SAUCE

Sofrito
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1 Tbs tomato paste
2 Tbs oregano
1 Tbs red pepper flakes (optional, if you don’t like a kick in your sauce)
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Fry the onion in olive oil until softened; add the garlic and cook for about two more minutes. Add the sofrito and the tomato paste and let cook for five minutes. Add the oregano and red pepper and let cook for about 10 minutes on a low heat. Add salt and pepper when it’s just about finished. Voilà!

Now that's what I call a proper burger.

Not that I need to eat beef often, for sure, but cheese? Are you kidding me? That’s just cruel. I love cheese, and sorry–none of the vegan stuff comes close. Except the stuff with casein in it, which is a) technically not vegan and b) milk protein, so it still does my stomach in.

But I made a discovery, finally. Cheese made with goat or sheep’s milk does not hurt my stomach! And neither does bison! Oh, happy days! Here’s the super delicious burger I made to test this theory out, and I’m happy to report that it was not just tasty, it was also painless.

There’s quite a bit going on in this recipe, and we used the same fries as before. This time I finally shallow-fried them in a little coconut and grapeseed oil mix, because last time I had to actually stick them under the broiler to get them to brown, and even after that, they still weren’t very crispy. And we’re still loving those Japanese yams for fries.

Patties all prepped and ready for the grill.

Bison Burgers (Serves 2)

3/4 lb. ground bison*
2 tbs. spiced mayo (recipe follows)
3 tbs. panko breadcrumbs

Combine with hands until mayo and breadcrumbs are well distributed through the meat. Shape into two patties; refrigerate until time to grill.

Spicy Mayo

1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
1.5 tsp. smoked paprika
1 clove of garlic, minced or finely grated
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise or Vegenaise

Stir together well. Stores for ages in the fridge.

I can imagine that all of you know how to grill a burger, so I’m not going to go into that here. But we used some nice whole-wheat rolls from Whole Foods as buns (toasted on the grill, natch), manchego or cheddar for the cheese topping, a little extra of the spicy mayo on the buns, then a generous handful of arugula on top. Serve with sweet potato or regular wedge-cut fries. We also grilled some romaine head halves and put some of my vegan cilantro dressing on top:

The salad dressing looks a bit weird here, but it's darn tasty!

Vegan Cilantro Salad Dressing

1 handful cilantro
1/2 cup soy yogurt
1/2 ripe avocado
3 garlic cloves
Juice of 1 lime
Dash of agave syrup

Purée everything together—I use a stick blender, but you could easily use a regular blender if you’ve got it. This gets better the longer it sits, and it lasts for about a week in the fridge.

* Vegetarians and vegans: I recommend Boca Burgers to substitute here. They are the most realistic-tasting non-meat burgers I’ve encountered. But please use your own favorite substitute! The mayo can be used as a topping.