The bestest blueberry pie, EVER.

Dang, they’re cute.

Nice cape, Nana!

So this recipe is really labeled “favorite” blueberry pie, and it’s true–it really was one of my all-time favorites.  I think what makes it so good is that only a little bit of the berries are cooked for any length of time and the rest are put in at the last minute.  This is one fresh-tasting pie!  It truly is better than any other blueberry pie I’ve ever had.

The big plastic clamshell of blueberries that you can buy at Costco or the grocery store is exactly the right amount.  You also need a baked pie shell–make one or use those Pillsbury roll-up ones.

Ingredients.

In a saucepan, combine the dry ingredients, a cup of water and a cup of blueberries.

Blueberries.

Cook and stir until thick.

Oh, hello.

Remove from heat and add the rest of the blueberries and a Tbsp of butter.  Stir and let cool.

Butter makes all things better, even blueberries.

Pour into the baked pie shell.

Man, that's a thing of beauty.

Refrigerate for a little while until the berries set.  It will still be loose, not jelly-like.

You can decorate the whole thing with whipped cream if you have a crowd, or just serve each slice with a dollop.  The latter is probably a better idea if you’re not going to eat the whole pie in one sitting.

Insert Homer Simpson drooling noise here.

Nana says you can use frozen blueberries, if you must.

Seconds?

It's time to make the potatoes!

You’re wondering, what should I make alongside my roasted chicken (or burgers, or roast beast, or frittata, or anything really)?  I say you go for a no-brainer and fix up some little potatoes that you can pop into the oven with the chicken.  It’s easy and it frees you up to make something else.  Besides, they taste great.

These couldn't be easier.

I started with some little wee white potatoes–about 2 inches in length, then I cut them in half.   You can use any potato you want–little fingerling potatoes would be awesome, and those bigger waxy potatoes you get at the grocery store are fine too.  You can even leave them whole but they might take a little longer to cook than mine.

Mmmm....roasty!

This couldn’t be simpler, guys.  Just dump the cut (or whole) potatoes onto a baking sheet, give them a good dousing of decent oil (I use Bariani), season with salt and pepper and toss in a handful of fresh thyme.  I just leave the thyme on the sprigs and everything.  Slide them onto the top rack of your hot oven (the chicken will be on the middle rack) and let cook until done.  For those small taters, it should be about the same timing as the chicken–about 15 minutes.  You’ll probably want to toss them around once or twice so they brown evenly.

And that’s it.  Test with a fork to make sure they’re tender.  Potato perfection–browned, crisp and bubbly on the outside and creamy within.  Delicious with the chicken and so much more.

Ready for their close-up.

This chicken dinner is a winner.

Who doesn’t love a roasted chicken dinner?  Ok, I concede maybe not vegetarians—but I suspect if they tasted the crispy skin on this bird they might change their minds.  Usually I roast a whole bird but for this easy pan roast method, you start with pieces.  A whole cut-up chicken is fine, or you can do all of one part if you want.  For this, I bought two whole chickens and had the butcher at Taylor’s Market cut them for me–with the wings left on.

Ingredients.

So this week I’m going to teach y’all how to make this whole dinner, chicken and sides.  Then you can make it next weekend.  Why not?

Seasoned. Use any mixture of spices. I've done this with Cajun spice, a grilling mixture my kids brought me from Florida, or just salt, pepper and garlic.

I’ve actually posted this recipe before.  It was about two years ago.  The pictures are pretty crappy, so I thought I would make it again and feature the chicken on it’s own.  Because it’s really a star—you can make this with any number of spices or herbs and pair it with whatever sides you wish.  So dang versatile!

In pan, skin side down.

The other cool thing is that if you are only feeding two people, you can brown the chicken in the pan (skin side down, of course) then just pop the whole pan in the oven to finish cooking.  Of course, if you have more people to feed, you’ll have to brown the chicken in batches then put it on a sheet pan to finish. The chicken won’t brown properly if you cram too many pieces in the pan at the same time.

Browned, ready to finish in the oven.

Another hint:  Don’t move the chicken around once it’s in the hot pan.  Just let it get browned, all by itself.  It’s gonna stick if you try to move it.  That is, till it’s browned and ready—then it magically releases itself from the pan.  If you’re only doing 2 chicken pieces, flip it and pop it in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the chicken is 160*.  If you are making more pieces of chicken, place them on the sheet pan, skin side up and brown the rest before putting it into the oven.

Before you know it it’s done.  And in the meantime, you popped some potatoes in the oven and sautéed some baby artichokes.  Recipes for the sides coming later this week!

One of my favorite ways to roast chicken! Yum.

Pea Salad. Not to be confused with pee salad.

So.  The 1970′s.  They were great for some people.  Like Linda Ronstadt.  And Carole King.  And Lauren Hutton. And his hotness, Robert Redford.  Even my dad, Nana and Aunties Anne and Jill look pretty cute here.  I however, have flat feathered hair, a velour hoodie with a skirt, no less, and socks with sandals.  It’s not good people.  Not good at all.

Nana looks great–she may have been going through a Weight Watchers phase……or she could have also just gone through her first bout of breast cancer and perhaps got skinny.  I don’t know but she looks happy.

The Seventies were not kind to me.

And to celebrate the Swingin’ Seventies, we are going to make this groovy green pea salad.  Can you dig it?  This salad is truly 70′s inspired as well.  It features, of all things, both marinated artichoke hearts and Bernstein’s Cheese Fantastico salad dressing.

Nana’s version of the salad does not include lettuce.  But mine does, and only about 2 cups worth.  I rolled up about 3 leaves and sliced it thin–called a chiffonade.  I just like the flavor of peas and lettuce–I do another salad with them that is smashing.

Ingredients.

This salad also calls for prepared croutons.  I heartily recommend that you make your own.  I didn’t here and I heartily recommend that you make your own.

Dressing ingredients minus the Parmesan.

I also couldn’t bring myself to purchase bottled salad dressing.  I’m sure that when Bernstein’s opened decades ago, there wasn’t such a laundry list of ingredients in there.  I opted to make my own little fake version.

Fake "Bernstein's" dressing.

It’s just olive oil, garlic, chives, vinegar, black pepper, a pinch of salt and a big pinch of sugar.  Add about 1/4 cup of Parmesan at the end.

Drizzle fo shizzle

Drizzle over your salad ingredients.

The finished product.

It was good.  A little sweet, a little sour.  A little country, a little rock and roll.  OH NO I’m reverting back to the ’70′s myself.   As long as I’m humiliating myself today, I will admit that I totally loved Donny Osmond and Andy Gibb and that I owned a red satin jacket.  Yes.  And rocked the Dittos too.

Apparently I also used to wear overall gauchos.

Anyway, the salad was good.  I liked it with the lettuce.  You can make it however you like.  And then you can go reminiscing down 70′s street too.

Dig it!

Available for a limited time only.

Morels are heeerrrreeee!  And by here, I mean I bought some at Taylor’s Market.  I know that there are people out there foraging and such but I am not that kind of girl.  Let me be perfectly clear:  Morels are expensive.  $39.99 per pound.  Which is why people prefer to forage for them, I suppose.

Oh my pretties...come to mama.

It’s not like you are going to eat $40 worth of morels in one sitting anyway.  I served this dish as an appetizer for four people and only used a quarter-pound.  It was worth every penny.

What ya need.

To make things even more Spring-like, grab some of those Spring onions and let’s get cooking.

Saute onions first, the bulby part.

This is a riff on a classic French dish–Morilles à La Crème…..or in English, Morels in Cream Sauce.  It’s the same basic recipe except I swapped out Spring onions for shallots.  This is often eaten on toast but you can also pour it over an omelette, or crepes, or a steak, or pasta….the possibilities are endless really.

Add morels.

I read that small woodland creatures often like to live inside morels, so you probably want to give them a good rinse to you’re not getting any extra “protein”.

Wine makes everything better. Use stock or water if you don't do booze.

Sometimes morels are tiny, and in that case you can leave them whole.  The ones I got were pretty big, and in one instance quite huge, so go ahead and chop them into about one-inch sections.

Let braise until the morels are tender.

First you’ll sauté the onions and morels together, then pour in about a half-inch of white wine so the morels can braise a little.  It will take about five minutes until they are tender.

Add some of the tops of the onions.

Remember those Spring onions?  They had green tops.  I didn’t use them all, but I chopped some and tossed them in for color and a little crunch.

Using your weird claw hand, awkwardly pour in some cream.

Last is the cream.  Pour in about half a cup and let the mixture thicken.

Now, marvel as it all becomes one with one another. Season with salt and pepper.

I lied.  LAST is seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.  Gloat because you’re in the kitchen eating a morel before anyone else.

Sofa king delicious.

Serve on toasted baguette, or the toasted bread of your choice.

Who's ready for a popover?

There are a whole series of these family photos around—can you imagine trying to get 4 little kids to sit still and smile at the same time? Nearly impossible.  Consequently, not one of the photos is very good.  Nana looks about ready to pop these kids over the head.

Bill and Anne look pretty cute in this one, but Mike and Jill look like dorks.

Mike and the girls look pretty cute, but Bill got bored and Nana and Boppa look like they’re over it.

I can’t imagine trying to wrangle 4 kids under 10.  Good gracious!  How do parents of large families do it?  I’ll never know. I imagine it’s something like herding cats.

Maybe the food is the answer.  Perhaps Nana kept everyone in line with the promise of some good cookin’ later.  Popovers, maybe, with homemade jam?   I know the promise of a hot-out-of-the-oven popover might’ve just kept me in line as a kid.

All you need are 5 common ingredients and they can be yours.  Milk, flour, salt, eggs and shortening.

And a popover pan if you’ve got one.  If not, a muffin tin will do.

Grease ‘er up.  Lots of butter or shortening is good here.  Then put it in the oven as you preheat it to 425*.  You want to pour the batter into a HOT pan.

Beat the eggs thoroughly, then add the milk.

Sift in the flour and salt.

Melt the shortening, then pour it in.  Beat the batter with a fork until smooth.  Pour the batter evenly between cups in the popover pan.  This is enough batter for a 6-cup pan.  If you use a regular muffin tin, fill the cups about 1/3 full.  You may get a few more popovers using the smaller cups in a muffin tin.

I realize that these cups don’t look very full, but don’t let that fool you into filling them up with more batter.

Because they really puff up!

Popovers defy gravity!

Doesn’t this just look fantastic?  I wish you could see the steam and smell their perfect eggy-ness, and feel the crispness of the exterior.

Not to mention the almost-hollow softness of the interior.  Fill up the insides with homemade strawberry jam or whatever your little heart desires.

Great for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, snacktime, anytime, etc.

Early

It was a near perfect busy weekend.  Saturday was Lootenanny–lots of good music, food, fun–all a couple miles from our house.

Raffle prizes!

Tomatillo Bloody Mary popsicle. Spicy!

Skipper made these Bloody Mary popsicles.  They were so good.  I had the tomatillo one, it was really spicy but in a good way.  There was a traditional tomato one too–I heard there were chunks of asparagus in them.

Mmm. Food table.

There were a TON of desserts and other food.  I made all those cupcakes.  And Heather made some good Mexican chocolate cookies, and there was shortbread and brownies…..and brie covered pretzels.  Yes.  You read that correctly.

Skipper manning the grill.

Hot dog piled high with Skipper's stellar kraut.

There were burgers, veggie sandwiches, hot dogs.  Skipper brought along some of his homemade sauerkraut, which you can see I ate a fair amount of.  There was some good homemade porter mustard that was delicious also.

Guido's awesome bbq pork sandwich.

Guido made this bbq pork sandwich–with coleslaw on the sandwich of course.  It was very good.  Every scrap was eaten by the time we had to leave, and let me tell you there was a lot of pork!

The Alkali Flats

The Alkali Flats and The Californios played and fun was had by everyone, young and old.  I even won a raffle prize!

Fun, had by all.

I have some recipes this week so stay tuned!

Jeez Nana, can you be any cuter? You look like a sweet little French Breakfast Puff yourself right here.  I don’t know where they are in this photo, but they are looking quite relaxed and happy.   And adorable.

Happy Nana.

And these puffs!  Where have you been all of my life?  I don’t really remember ever eating these!  Maybe this was something she made earlier in her cooking career.  Maybe I have a mind like a sieve.

Did I mention these taste like doughnuts?

Puffs. So like doughnuts.

And the ingredient list!  It’s all stuff you probably have sitting around!  In fact, that’s why I made them.

I woke up this morning after working an extreeeemely long day, then had a little interview, then to a meeting….all without any dinner.  Waaaah.  I decided then and there that I would take the morning off.  Then I remembered what day it was, and I realized….I didn’t have anything prepared for Nana Wednesday.  Let’s also assume that you know me fairly well by now and YOU KNOW there’s no groceries in my house.  And that I don’t want to shop.  I hate to shop.

The basics.

That’s where this recipe came in.  I didn’t know what to expect, all I knew was “hey, I have those ingredients”.  AND they claim to be French, which cannot be bad.  Hey French friends, ever heard of a “breakfast puff”?

Sifted.

Besides having the most basic ingredients, there are literally four steps to this recipe.  And one includes sifting.

Batter.

And creaming together the batter.

muffin tins

And filling the muffin tins.  I used the spray stuff to coat the tins.  Don’t use papers and fill them about 2/3 full.  I used an ice cream scoop because the batter is quite thick, not unlike cookie dough.

Cinnamon + Sugar

While the puffs are in the oven baking, mix together the cinnamon sugar and melt the butter.  Not together of course.

Ready for assembly.

Put the melted butter on one plate and the sugar on another.  When the puffs are done, tip them out onto a rack.

That is butter.

While the puffs are still warm, roll them in butter.  No you cannot skip this step.

Yes that is sugar.

Then immediately roll them in the cinnamon sugar so that the puff is totally coated.

sugar ball

It will resemble a ball coated in sugar.  You can barely tell it was once a muffin kind of a thing.

The best.

Light and fluffy on the inside and crunchy with the sugar and cinnamon on the outside.  Really really really good, not unlike a cake doughnut.  I’ll be making these again and again and again.

You try them!

By the way, Spice Islands were kind enough to send me a few spices to try and this cinnamon was really flavorful.  Is it because it was new and hadn’t been sitting in my cupboard for a year?  Maybe.  But maybe also it’s because they’re Saigon cinnamon is really good.  It tasted very…well…cinnamony!  They did a taste test on their website, check it out if you like.  Thanks Spice Island!  Your cinnamon is really good!

So easy! Good for a party or otherwise.

My regular readers probably know all about my love and admiration for Mr. James Beard (1903-1985), American food authority, but if you’re new here, maybe you don’t.  Here’s the deal.  I LOVE THIS MAN.  He was such a champion for food in general, but especially regional American cuisine–and helped regular Americans realize they could eat well beginning in the 40′s and 50′s–writing cookbooks, appearing on some of the first food TV programming and writing about food in what was then primarily women’s (and we’re talking old-school home economics) territory.  He helped launch Julia Child and was a consultant on some major restaurants, including The Four Seasons.  I guess that’s why he’s known as the Dean of American Cookery.

Plus, his recipes are always good.

Mr. Beard is there to make sure I do it right.

I have an autographed portrait of Mr. Beard in my kitchen (along with a picture of Nana) for inspiration.  No, it’s not autographed to me, I never met him.  He died when I was only 17.  I sure wish I had though!

Marinate little shrimpies.

I made this simple broiled shrimp appetizer for the Midtown Monthly farewell party last weekend.  It was super easy and tasted good.  Basically, I marinated the shrimp in a mixture of lemon, soy, olive oil and herbs for about half an hour.  Then broiled it.  James Beard says you can do it over coals too, which I think would be amazing—but I was making a few dishes and didn’t want to deal with coals.

Spritz with a little more lemon, toss in a little more fresh herbs and that's it.

Seriously, this took all of ten minutes active time to make.  I used already cleaned and peeled shrimp for ease, but you could leave the shells on if you want–that’s what James Beard wanted me to do.

Make it for your next get-together as an appetizer, or just for dinner for your family with some bread and a salad.

Herby and good. Thanks, James Beard!