Comfort Foods and Indulgences

I’ve never had luck trying to grow basil. It just never works for me. This year, one of the guys at the farmers market suggested I plant basil in 12-inch pots. I did. Today, two pots sitting in last summer’s square-foot garden hold basil that look like very lush, healthy shrubs. I just can’t believe it.

I pluck fragrant leaves from my basil plants everyday, layering them into sandwiches, tearing them to arrange over the top of homemade pizza, chopping them up to make fresh herb-flecked cream cheese spread and even steeping them in hot liquid to turn into jelly.

I recently discovered how well spicy-perfumed basil and sweet-tart ruby-red raspberries work together. Macerating raspberries with basil and a small amount of sugar produces a surprising treat for the taste buds. The longer the mixture is allowed to sit, the stronger the essence of basil will become. Basil-infused raspberry sauce is a unique topping for ice cream, waffles, French toast and is a delicious addition to a morning bowl of thick yogurt and homemade granola.

Yesterday, I stirred some Raspberry-Basil Sauce into a Chambord-spiked bowl of cheesecake batter. The resulting cake delivers an aromatic bouquet of fresh raspberries and basil with each forkful of creamy decadence. You won’t taste basil in the cake, but you will luxuriate in its refreshing sweet scent.

Every Sunday I roast a few chicken breasts (bone in, skin on). It’s easy. Having shredded chicken in the kitchen at all times prevents me from randomly eating empty calories during the week. Plus, having pre-cooked, roasted chicken on hand, gives me lots of inspiration for one pot meals.

Generally, I don’t really like leftovers. With that said, I always make enough food for dinner so M can take lunch to work with him the next day and the kids have something healthy to put in their lunch box. Yet, by the time Thursday rolls around, even though I have “planned” a particular meal for that night (yes, I do meal plan every single week), sometimes it is hard to motivate. Whipping up a meal in less than 2o minutes is sometimes much more desirable than what was supposed to be on the table that night and this leftover hash was created on one of those nights.

Left over roasted potatoes, shredded chicken, half of a red pepper, a few leeks, additional random veggies, and some spices, created one of our new favorites; Chicken-Potato Hash. It is equally delish with or without the poached egg. Eli and I prefered it with the egg, where as Isaac cannot sit next to us when eggs are on the menu. Instead, he added a bit of ketchup. This also makes a wonderful and highly requested Sunday morning breakfast. Sausage works just as well and I have been known to a throw in some left over green beans, roasted carrots (or other roots), and a dollop of goat cheese.

Me and Al, we go way back.  However, Al is...ahem...a bit fattening, making it something I don't indulge in all the time. The problem though, I love Alfredo sauce; the creaminess, the richness, it's just good comfort food.

So I did a little a searching for a lighter Alfredo sauce (don't laugh) and came across one developed by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich.  She is widely regarded as the first lady of Italian cuisine, an acclaimed chef and restaurateur. She of course has a fabulous fettuccine Alfredo recipe with all the heavy cream and egg yolks you could want.  However, she does explain how to make a lighter Alfredo sauce, one that can be indulged in more often.

The key to a great Alfredo is organization and timing and of course cooking the pasta properly.

Pasta needs lots of water, for 1/2 pound of pasta, as in this recipe, you need 3 quarts of water. And don't ever add oil to the water, it makes your sauce slip right off. For maximum flavor, add the pasta directly from the boiling water to the cooking sauce and simmer together for a few minutes. The pasta will absorb some of the sauce and will intensify in flavor.

Wings are a major part of any Super Bowl party. For many people, they're just as important as the game. I mean, can you imagine watching the game without a wing in one hand and a beer in the other? I don't think so! Buffalo wings are simply the classic football appetizer, but there's more to good wings than just a coating of hot sauce.

Sweet and spicy is my favorite combination of tastes. When a recipe has both, I'm immediately in love. So to come up with my recipe for chicken wings, I chose the sweet and spicy route. And the thing I like about this recipe most is that at first taste, the sweetness tricks your taste buds into thinking it isn't hot, but then the sriracha kicks in. Surprise!

If I were to describe the flavor of these wings, I'd say they're a cross between buffalo wings and the Chinese takeout favorite, orange chicken. The best part is they're incredibly easy to make. The recipe starts off with a spice rub, which gives the wings a great foundation of flavor. While the wings bake, prepare the sweet and tangy kumquat glaze. Feel free to adapt the level of spiciness to suit your heat tolerance. These wings will surely have everyone fighting for more.