Sunshine and wine in a girl world

I just returned from a weekend full of laughter, wine, vitamin D and some of my favorite girls.

My sisters Jacquie, Julie and I took our annual/bi-annual littles trip, this time to Santa Barbara.  We started with a quick and fun night in LA and got to visit with the future bride and groom,

 then toodled up the coast for 48 hours in the beautious world of Santa Barbara. 

It was glorious.   We ate some wonderful meals.

Julie hooked us up with some wonderful wine tastings.

Jacquie scored us a free upgrade in the penthouse suite.

We basked in the sun and hiked in the range.

We had LOTS of HDR (heavy deep and real) talks and LOTS of laughter.  Holy shit did we laugh.

 

 It was straight up soul-refreshing and my miss my sisters already.

Jacquie drove us back to LA on Sunday, where Julie peeled off to help Col and Brenton pack up their life and move back east, 

and I peeled off for a couple days in LA with my dear friend Laura Gabbert and her two lovely daughters.  It was wayyyy overdue, and just so wonderful.  We reconnected, we hiked, we walked the dogs, we sat in the glorious sunshine and talked, we drank good wine and cooked good meals.

Both of these chapters of this much-needed trip were fantastic.  I loved catching up with my sisters and Laura and I had gone way too long without connecting. I also loved spending time with her kids, who were wee lasses when last we met.

The contrast between Laura's house and mine, aside from the obvious SoCal vs winter in Chicago nonsense, was stark.  For starters, girls talk.  To eachother, to Laura and to me.  And then the food.  Cute quantities of healthy snacks, small portions on dinner plates that aren't quite polished off. Adorable portions of ice cream after dinner.

Sometimes you don't realize your life is a certain way until you see another way.  I bought 13 boxes of girl scout cookies over the last two weeks and they are, as noah's friend tyler told me last night, "long gone."  Our way, especially with Corey gone,  is most definitely the boy way.

I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought mountains of food. Two big bunches of bananas.  Two bags of clementines.  Four loaves of bread.  Two lbs of deli meat and cheese.  Four bags of chips.  Two gallons of milk.  Six boxes of cereal.  And on and on.  It's so normal to me I don't even think about it.  Until I was reminded that not everyone feeds an army every day. 

I received a couple calls from home whilst there. Dylan called to ask how to make pasta more interesting. Noah texted at one point and I asked him how it was going and he said they were starving, lol.  I reminded them that they have cars and debit cards and could have brought their butts to the grocery store and bought more food. Didn't happen. My boys appreciate my cooking.  It was a pleasure to cook for them last night.   But boy do I miss my sunshine girls.

Chicken Piccata

 Cut a few chicken breasts into cutlets, rinse and pat dry, sprinkle with salt & pepper & dredge through some flour.

 Heat up a good amount (3 Tbs for 4 cut-up breasts)  olive oil on medium high heat and sautee the chicken, about 4 minutes per side, until golden brown.

  Remove the chicken from the pot and add about 1/4 cup dry white wine and 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, cook on high heat about a minute, scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon.

 Add 2 Tbsp capers and about 2 Tbsp butter and stir until all mixed together.

 If you like it a bit saucier, add a little more white wine and even a little chicken broth.  I do. 

Pour the sauce over the chicken and add a couple Tbsp chopped fresh parsley.

Enjoy!!

More Instalove

So as I mentioned last time, I bought an InstaPot.  The thing is incredible.  And a tad scary, so I decided that I would make all of our meals in the InstaPot for the first two weeks, at least.

I am in love.

It's miraculous, truly.  I'm pretty good at planning meals but with the InstaPot, you really can throw a meal together in no time.  It's wild.  I made spaghetti and meatballs and the entire prep time, including making the meatballs and cooking the pasta and the sauce, was about 20 minutes.  Total.  You sear the meatballs then basically throw the raw pasta and the ingredients of spaghetti sauce in the pot and close the lid, set the timer and say a prayer then, voila, you have cooked pasta and a yummy sauce and meatballs 12 minutes later.

I've made pork fried rice, sweet potato and kale soup, sausage & peppers - all with a max prep time of 20 minutes.  Hard boiled eggs are perfect in 6 minutes - you just set the timer and walk away.  Sweet potatoes are glorious in 10 minutes.   Rice is a snap - there's a rice setting and you throw all the stuff in, set the lid and it is perfect. Every time.   It's bizarre.   How does it do that, exactly?

According to the website, Fastcooking.ca
Pressure-cooking is a cooking method that uses steam sealed in a pressure cooker, which is a special airtight cooking pot.  Sealing a liquid such as water, wine, stock or broth in a pressure cooker traps the vapour that rises from the liquid.  This in turn raises the pressure inside the pressure cooker along with the maximum temperature that the liquid can reach.  The increased temperature and pressure significantly speed up the cooking process.  The pressure infuses the hot steam into the food.  Pressure-cooking can cook foods in 1/3 the ordinary time on average and often over 10 times faster.  Compared to a microwave, the food tastes considerably better and compared to slow cooker, only takes a fraction of the time.

Ohhhhhhh.  I get it. Kinda.  It's a miracle!  At least a cooking miracle.  and I love it.

To try out a recipe my friend Margie sent to me, we invited some of our favorite family peeps over.  I figured they'd be polite if it sucked.  Plus, we love Cal & Rob. 

Cal is my first-cousin-once-removed.  IE, her mom Patti is my first cousin, and one of my favorite people on earth, AND a new grandmother!  Congrats, Mimi!!  But I digress. We are lucky enough to have Cal and her fantastic fella Rob over with some regularity.

Many Instapot recipes are awesome in their speed and simplicity - this is not one of those.  But we had a lovely night and what I, in no humility, thought was a killer meal.

Spicy Korean-style Pork Shoulder

This required some exotic ingredients, most of which I had on hand, some of which I had to buy.  Which is fine, because I want to make this meal every day for the rest of my life.  But I'll settle for weekly.

 

This is the rub for the pork:  garlic, brown sugar, chili flakes, salt & pepper.  Um, yum.

 

Smear it all over pork, then let it sit for a while. Then sear it in batches, then slow cook it for 7 hours or pressure cook it. For 90 minutes.  This is the miracle of the pressure cooker. 

While pork cooks, prepare barbecue sauce: In a small pot, warm peanut oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger, and sauté until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Set sauce aside. (It can be made up to 1 week ahead and stored in the refrigerator.)

After you're done with the sauce, prepare your cucumber salad. 

 

Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.

When the pork is done, let it cool then shred it and lay it on a lined baking sheet.

 Mix in the bbq sauce and a couple tablespoons of cooking liquid. 

Broil it for a couple minutes to crisp it up, then serve on slider buns w/ the cucumber salad &  chips.  Really yummy.

 

 And then? Invite your first cousin-once-removed and her adorable boyfriend and have yourselves a feast!

Pressure Cooker Spicy Pork Shoulder

by Melissa Clark

For the pork:

• 5 garlic cloves, grated on a Microplane or minced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar or honey
• 1 tablespoon Korean chile flakes (gochugaru) or other chile flakes (Maras, Aleppo or crushed red pepper)
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, more to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 5 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into two or three pieces

For the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 4 garlic cloves, grated on a Microplane
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
• ⅓ cup gochujang (Korean chile paste) or other chile paste or sauce such as Sriracha
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Asian fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

For the sesame pickled cucumbers:

• 6 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (or about 4 cups sliced cucumbers)
• 1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds

For serving:

• Cooked rice or toasted slider rolls
• Kimchi (optional)

Preparation

1. To prepare pork, combine garlic, brown sugar, chile flakes, salt and pepper. Rub marinade all over pork. If you have time, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to up to 24 hours. Otherwise, proceed with recipe.
2. Set electric pressure cooker to sauté (or use a large skillet). Add pork in batches and sear until browned all over, about 2 minutes per side. Add 3/4 cup water to pot (or to skillet to deglaze, then move to pot), cover, and set to cook for 90 minutes on high pressure. Or cook in a slow cooker for 5 to 7 hours until tender.
3. While pork cooks, prepare sauce: In a small pot, warm peanut oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger, and sauté until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Set sauce aside. (It can be made up to 1 week ahead and stored in the refrigerator.)
4. Manually release steam. Let pork cool until you can handle it, then shred it into bite-size pieces. Pork can be made to this point up to 3 days ahead.
5. While pork cools, strain liquid from bottom of pot. Pour off fat (or chill liquid, then scoop off solidified fat with a spoon). Reserve.
6. Prepare cucumbers: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except sesame seeds, and let sit, tossing one or twice, for at least 20 minutes. Stir in sesame seeds.
7. When ready to serve, heat broiler. Toss pork with sauce and 1 to 2 tablespoons cooking liquid — just enough so pork is evenly coated but not wet or runny. Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet, and broil until crisped on top, 2 to 3 minutes; it will char in places, and that’s fine.
8. Serve pork over rice or on slider rolls, with cucumbers and kimchi, if desired.

INSTALOVE

 It's 2018!  Remember how crazy that year sounded when we were kids?  It was the future!  We're living in the future.  But without the jetpacks.  Anyway, happy new year, everyone.

I was looking for some cooking inspiration in 2018.  And friends, I found it.  I have discovered the Instant Pot.  And I'm SO EXCITED. Do you have one?  Have you heard of it?  Of course you have.  I was late to this game.  Instant Pot  was one of the 5 best selling items on Amazon and Target on Black Friday.  I read that Amazon  shipped an Instant Pot to 2/3 of American zip codes in 2017. Is that possible?  I don't know, maybe that's exaggerated BS, but I tell you what, it's a freaking miracle.

It sautes.  Pressure Cooks.  Slow cooks.  Steams.  Warms.  It even bakes cakes and makes yogurt. 

Its story is a great business story.  The New York Times called it:

a remarkable example of a new breed of 21st-century start-up — a homegrown hardware business with only around 50 employees that raised no venture capital funding, spent almost nothing on advertising, and achieved enormous size primarily through online word-of-mouth. 

Robert Wang, 53, did not set out to be a kitchen mogul. An engineering whiz who grew up in Harbin, China, as the son of two professors, he earned a Ph.D. in computer science and intended to develop artificial intelligence systems for a living. After a series of telecom and tech jobs, he was laid off from his dot-com position in 2008, just as the global financial crisis hit.

After a brief and unsuccessful attempt to start his own tech company, Mr. Wang turned his attention to kitchen appliances, a market that hadn’t yet been visited by the tech industry’s disruption fairies. A lapsed home cook whose busy schedule rarely allowed him to make healthy meals for his wife and two children, Mr. Wang recruited two other engineers and spent 18 months and $350,000 of his savings developing a high-tech device that would combine pressure-cooking, slow-cooking, sautéing and other common cooking functions in a single appliance.  

In 2010, after several months of sluggish sales in and around Ontario, Mr. Wang listed the Instant Pot on Amazon, where a community of food writers eventually took notice. Vegetarians and paleo dieters, in particular, were drawn to the device’s pressure-cooking function, which shaved hours off the time needed to cook pots of beans or large cuts of meat.  Sensing viral potential, Instant Pot sent test units to about 200 influential chefs, cooking instructors and food bloggers. Reviews and recipes appeared online, and sales began to climb.

I asked Santa for an Instant Pot, and had to wait a bit because the model I wanted was out of stock, but, dear reader, Santa hooked  me up yesterday.  

I have to admit, it's a bit complicated and intimidating.  Pressure cooking is no joke and if you screw it up you can get yourself hurt.  But I went from out of the box to full meal on the table in an hour with a dish that included brown rice and to me that's nothing short of miraculous.  If you get or have an Instant Pot, please make sure to follow all the safety instructions therein. This was my trial run and a totally thrown together recipe mashup based on what I had available. 

 What's so different from the  crock pot is that this sucker can get HOT, and you can saute in it. 

I heated up some olive oil and sauteed a large chopped onion.

 

  After they were translucent and yummy, 

I added:

2 cups of brown rice

1 package baby carrots

2-1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 can cream of anything soup.  (SO much better if you can make some version of this yourself, but I am all about making what you have on hand work for you....)

2-4 chicken breasts, sliced or pounded thin.

add a ton of ground pepper and a dash of worcestershire sauce 

 Then seal that thing up tight and set it to high pressure for 25 minutes.

Ok here's the scary part. 

When time is up,  you have to release the pressure.  You can release it slowly or you can do the quick release by releasing the steam valve.  But holy shit, people, be careful, because that steam is hot and dangerous and powerful and scary. 

But then?  You have perfectly cooked rice, tender chicken that falls apart with a fork, and a delicious sunday night comfort meal.

One last fact, and my favorite tidbit from that NYT story.  

He (Wang) also revealed a secret: in every official photograph of an Instant Pot, the unit’s timer is set to 5:20 — a series of numbers that, when spoken aloud, sounds like “I love you” in his native Mandarin.

“It’s a subliminal message,” he said. “It shows how much we care about our customers.”

Don't you love that?  Insta love!!

 Happy 2018!!

Lillian

Last week my family bade farewell to my Aunt Lillian Corey Nelson. 

She was 92, tired, at peace and ready to go. 

But still, it felt, and feels, so final, as she was the last of the Corey siblings to go. 

Marion (aka Babe aka Uffie), Dad (aka Joseph M Corey Jr), Lillian and Gloria 

As so many American immigrant stories do, theirs goes back to the turn of the 20th century, when my four grandparents immigrated to America, two from Ireland (see here for detes) and two from Lebanon.  My Dad's mother, our Sittoo,  came over with her immediate family, and my Dad's father, our Jidoo, with a couple of his brothers.

Ellie shared this family history with me last week - written in Dad's handwriting.  I love staring at it, re-reading it, imagining all the  decisions and heartache and bravery and excitement all these transitions entailed.

My aunt Lill led a rich and interesting life, as my sister Ellie chronicled so beautifully in Lill's obituary.  She had a career,  albeit constrained by the limitations of her era.  She graduated from Merrill Business College in 1946 and spent two years in the early fifties in Japan, serving as an administrative assistant to the Army Colonel of the 8th Army Headquarters in Zama, Japan. She kept loads of pictures from these two years, which were wonderful to pore through.

Lill married our Uncle Rod, a widower with three grown children, later in life.  They spent 37 happy years together before he passed away in 2004, and they were regulars at our house in Norwalk growing up.

Lill was funny and direct and smart and warm.  She let her opinion, and her love for us, be known.

We had a lovely sendoff, reuniting with cousins  we haven't seen in years. 

It wasn't sad, but it was poignant.  And funny and reverent and absolutely perfect.  

When we were going through Lill's condo each of us tried to find something meaningful to take home and remember Lill by.  I found, wrapped up in old newspapers in boxes in her basement, a gorgeous set of delicate tea and demitasse cups and saucers, some of which came from her time in Japan.  I come home for lunch every day and make myself an espresso or a latte after lunch.  

Now I get to enjoy my afternoon treat with these.

When I opened one of her kitchen drawers I found this nondescript folder, which turned out to be her recipe box, of a sort.  

 It held a ton of recipes, most written in my dad's hand, organized by category within folded pieces of paper. 

I am particularly excited to dig into this group, which contained no fewer than six variations of kibbie and tabouli.  But that's for another day.  

Today we're going to talk about sausage bread.

In her obituary, and in every set of remarks at her service, someone mentioned Aunt Lill's legendary sausage bread.   Lill was hugely proud of her Lebanese heritage but at our Lebanese feasts I think she was more of an appreciator than a chef.  But sausage bread?  That was Lill's specialty.  

So yesterday, in Lill's honor, I made some.  The response was nearly ecstatic.  Dylan, 'This is really good. Can I have seconds?"  Noah, "Oh My God this is amazing.  You have to make it all the time." 

 I will.

We will miss you greatly, Auntie Lill.  But we will think of you often, especially when wolfing down your sausage bread.  Godspeed.  I love you.