Trendy: Parsley

Recently, after making a few things from Hugh Acheson's cookbook, A New Turn in the South, I realized that Chef Acheson has a thing for parsley. He puts it in...not everything, but a lot of things.

Parsley is not a sexy herb. Basil gets caprese. Mint gets mojitos. Parsley gets...to be a 1980s-style garnish. But it seems that might change.

Acheson's not the only chef to notice parsley's more appealing qualities. The much-maligned herb even got the cover of June's Bon Appetit - the magazine's parsley pesto sounds pretty good.

With a hot chef and a major food pub behind it, who knows where parsley might turn up next.

Cheesy

This blog sure does suffer when I'm work-busy.Something has to, I guess.

Instead of a proper update, I give you this, the cheeses Cooper's parents brought

us from their recent trip to Germany (and possibly adjacent countries?):

The cheeses are somehow connected to the recent coronation in Denmark -

special promotional items, maybe?

At any rate, they were both mild and slightly tangy, with smooth textures.

The one on the left is topped with a spicy mustard. The one on the right...chocolate.

Yes, chocolate. And a fairly sweet milk chocolate at that.

The mustardy cheese packed a punch, but it was very good - with the Bargers' help,

we ate all of it.

The chocolate cheese was more of a novelty, though. It wasn't awful,

but it wasn't something I'd eat again (by choice).

But at least it was interesting.

And...congratulations King Willem-Alexander?

Last Night's Dinner: She's a Vegetarian

Occasionally -very occasionally - I make a meat-free meal. Or, meat-free-ish.

Sometimes, that's more successful than others.

Take last night, for example. I made this spinach and Roquefort souffle, 

from the February 2010 issue of Food & Wine:

It was very pretty, but I found it too rich. And I usually love 

a) souffles, b) spinach and c) bleu cheese.

Last week, I had a more successful experiment in meatless cooking, with

an asparagus, feta and fried egg tart, inspired by a May 2013 

Bon Appetit article:

The tart was weeknight-easy (thank you, Pepperidge Farm puff pastry!), 

very pretty and it tasted fantastic. Served with a salad and bread, it  happily

fed Cooper, me and Bill. 

(Dixon had pasta. Asparagus tart is too much for him handle.)

No, neither dinner is an overly healthy interpretation of "meat-free." 

(And, to be honest, I put bacon in the salad I served with the souffle.)

But sometimes it's nice to mix it up a bit.

Wrap It Up

I love this post about the glory of the flour tortilla - mostly because like the author, I also love flour tortillas (who am I kidding? I love all carbs. All of them.)

Corn tortillas do get all the glory. But when it comes down to it, I will take a flour tortilla over corn every day of the week.

Especially when it's one of the handmade tortillas from Trader Joe's. Because let's be real here - I'm not going to make my own tortillas. Not when the good people of TJ's will handle that for me.

Food Trends

They're not just for humans anymore.

The linked article summarizes another article that summarizes two food-related animal studies: one with whales and one with monkeys.

The whales study is actually more about learned behavior than food trends, but the monkey study is fairly dead-on, suggesting that when we try kimchi, we're really just trying to be cool (and, ultimately, revealing our beta-ness).

I buy that. Partially. Group behavior - whether it's monkeys or people - is more complicated than the simple study described at the link. But it's interesting anyway.

Food for thought, as they say.

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

We eat an embarrassing amount of red meat around here.

So every once in a while, I get bored and end up on a major chicken kick.

That happened this past week.

It only lasted a few days - I only needed to make two chicken-centric

dinners before I'm ready for the cow (or pig) again.

This go-round, I found a couple of very decent and quick recipes.

The first was Grace Parisi's chicken Kiev from the May 2013 Food and Wine:

I followed the recipe, mostly, though I finished the chicken in a 350 degree oven 

after frying for a minute or two on the stove. It was just easier that way.

Super simple and we all enjoyed this. Most of all, I liked that when 

I pan-fried the chicken, the coating actually stayed on (you freeze

the chicken for 5 minutes after coating it - I believe that's the trick).

Rotisserie chicken is my favorite. I like it on its own, but it's

also fantastic in soups and other dishes - especially Mexican food.

(Rick Bayless's tomatoey rotisserie chicken enchiladas are a 

Pollard house favorite.)

Earlier this week, I made this simple chicken, cabbage and cilantro cream

taco filling. The cilantro cream was killer - we agreed it 

would make a fantastic match for pork, too.

And now I'm ready for some steak again.

Recent Party Wrap-Up

I have been working waaaay too much lately. As a result, the blog is suffering. I'm sorry!
(Believe me, Cooper and Dixon are suffering more. Working a lot makes me cranky.)

I have a crazy long list of posts I'm planning to write - including three that I've been
putting off since last summer. I'm going to put those off for a little longer.
Instead, today, here are a bunch of picture of food I've made for recent parties.

My dad's birthday wasn't only about oysters. We also had a bunch of snacks,
including asparagus pickles and radishes with salt and herb butter:

The radishes are my go-to. I use whatever fresh herbs I have lying around
for the butter, slice the radishes very thin, and serve the whole thing with toasted bread.

The asparagus was a new thing - and a good thing. I couldn't eat many
(they are pickles, after all), but they were a nice way to use asparagus.

I also made ham delights:

I'd made them once before, for Kyle and Mary's baby shower. I think they're
great party food - super easy to make (even in bulk), delicious, and a
 fun alternative to ham biscuits.

A week after my dad's birthday, we threw an engagement party for our friends
Adam (aka Dieter) and Jen. The party was fun, though it would've been more fun -
I am sure - if Cooper hadn't come down with a particularly nasty strain of stomach flu
two hours before the guests arrived. He caught it from Dixon, who got sick a few hours
 after my dad's party. Both of them were sick for a few days, which meant
our house was like a miserable hospital for nearly two weeks. It sucked.

But back to the party. In addition to oysters (obviously), we had lots of snacks,
like this creme fraiche dip, served with a bunch of vegetables:

It was a nice, tart, clean dip. And easy!

I also made Hugh Acheson's celery and Parmesan-stuffed dates:

I've made those dates before - for Mother's Day last year. Their flavor is
interesting and unexpected - they're always a hit.

You know what else is always a hit? Heart of palm dip:

I made that for the Swarts baby shower - and I've made it several times since then.
It's a tangy alternative to hummus...and super popular. I doubled the recipe for this party,
but probably should've tripled it. Every bite was gone by the end of the night.

 As regular readers probably know, I'm not much of a baker. Why bake when
you can buy gorgeous desserts from local pastry shops? Support  local business!

That's just what I did for the engagement party. I ordered an engagement cake
PLUS a small birthday cake (for a friend of Jen's) from Bonjour on Falls Road.

The people at Bonjour could not possibly be nicer.
And their cakes are gorgeous and delicious:

HIGHLY recommended!

I also forgot to take a picture of our specialty cocktail - an extremely potent, fruity rum punch.
Two sips and I was more than ready to be on a beach.

At the party, we also served thinly sliced, grilled London broil with horsey sauce
and sweet rolls. We had a pile of meat left over, so I spent the next few days eating fajitas:

The one on the right is a standard fajita, but the one on the left used leftover
 creme fraiche dip and asparagus. It was nice!

I've done some non-party cooking, too. At some point, I'll post my rough recipe
 for smoky, garlicky hot sauce:

I'm still working out all the recipe details, but I've discovered that I really enjoy hot sauce-making.

Finally, I'll leave you with this:

A tiny mussel Dixon found in an oyster on my dad's birthday. It's not a pearl,
but it still must be lucky, right?