Potato salad doesn’t remind me of picnics, or BBQs, it reminds me of pool parties. Perhaps this is an artifact of my suburban New England upbringing, but a backyard pool party was a much more common summer occurrence than a real BBQ (you know, the kind with smoked pig that I came to love in North Carolina) or a picnic. If we did go on a picnic, it was at the beach, and we were eating tortellini pesto and cold grapes, not potato salad. But pool parties – whether they were at a neighbor’s or a friend’s or even some random friend’s of your parents house – were the peak of a suburban summer.

Do you remember how exciting it used to be to get invited to a pool party? The lure of being able to immerse yourself in coolness on a hot day. The feeling of rough concrete under your feet as you tried so hard to “WALK don’t run.” The pleasant chlorine-scented exhaustion of a day spent swimming and running and screaming with your friends. Then, after splashing and fighting over the floaties, you could sit on a lounge chair, the ends of your hair dripping on your legs, and eat pool party food. Hot dogs in squishy buns. Bags of sea salt and vinegar potato chips. Ruby colored fruit punch in the squeeze packs your mother wouldn’t let you buy. Dirt cake. And potato salad.

This potato salad is not the gloppy mayo-covered salad of my pool party days. I certainly don’t turn up my nose at a classic potato salad, but at home, I’m making this version. It’s inspired by two separate, but similar recipes. First, a Broccoli and Potato Gribiche I made ages ago, originally from Heidi’s Super Natural Every Day. Second, Bon Appetit’s Eggy Potato Salad with Pickles. Same general concept – a lighter, brighter potato salad with lots of hard-boiled egg and pickled things to give it zip. I love both mustard and capers, so having them both on top of my favorite vegetable is a win. A large amount of roasted broccoli makes me feel a little bit better about how much of this I can eat in one sitting. Of course then there’s the crispy crumbled bacon, which makes me feel a little worse.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks for reading!

Potato Salad with Bacon, Broccoli, Egg and Mustard Dressing

Not your average potato salad, this one is packed with zippy flavor from the mustard, caper and shallot dressing. It takes its cues from French gribiche sauce, but then gets all American with bacon and broccoli and hard-boiled egg. 

Inspired by Super Natural Every Day.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 head broccoli, washed and chopped into very small florets (1/4 inch pieces)
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• sea salt to taste
• 1 lb. small Yukon gold potatoes, washed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 6 slices bacon
• 4 large eggs, hard-boiled
• 2 TBS capers
• 2 TBS dijon mustard
• 1 large shallot, peeled and finely minced
• 1 TBS white wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh tarragon leaves, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh chives, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
• cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss the broccoli florets with 1 TBS of the olive oil and a bit of sea salt. Spread out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven until tender and browned, about 20-25 minutes. Use a spatula to flip the broccoli once during cooking. Remove from the oven and set aside.
2. Place the cubed potatoes into a large pot and cover with cold water. Salt the water generously. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the potatoes are just tender when poked with a fork but not falling apart, about 10-15 minutes after the water comes to a boil. When the potatoes are done, drain and set aside.
3. Cook the bacon using your preferred method until it is golden brown all over. Drain off the fat into a tin can and place the cooked bacon on a paper-towel lined plate to absorb the excess grease. Once bacon is cool, chop into small pieces.
4. Peel the hard boiled eggs and roughly chop. Place the chopped egg in a large mixing bowl and add the capers, mustard, minced shallot, white wine vinegar, and chopped herbs to the bowl. Slowly add the remaining 3 TBS of olive oil to the bowl, whisking vigorously to incorporate after every teaspoon-sized addition. Using this technique you should emulsify the oil with the eggs, building up a thick dressing with the consistency of a loose mayo or aioli. Once all of the oil is incorporated you will have a creamy sauce. Season to taste with black pepper.
5. Add the cooked potatoes, roasted broccoli, and chopped bacon to the bowl with the dressing and stir to thoroughly coat the potatoes in the dressing. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

The post Potato Salad with Bacon, Broccoli, Egg and Mustard Dressing appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

People ask me all the time what my favorite thing to make is. I think that’s sort of a difficult question – it depends on my mood, on what I feel like eating, on what produce is abundant in my garden. But when someone asks you a question like that, to show interest in your hobby, to learn a little more about you, they don’t want to hear “it depends.” So I tell them, soup. And it’s true. I love to make soup. I love the rhythm of chopping vegetables, I love the way onions browning in butter smell, I love the sound of gentle simmering, the way steam curls over a pot and fills the entire house with the scent of comfort. I love sitting with a warm bowl of soup between my hands, how nourished and relaxed I feel after eating it. Campbell’s got it right all those years ago – soup is good food.

In our house, it’s an all-year food, too – I eat soup almost as much in the summer as I do in the winter. But it’s particularly gratifying to make and eat in the fall, on a rainy and blustery day, when the leaves are wet and slippery under your feet and houses, windows lit up against the blue-gray sky, begin to look incredibly inviting. I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself here – it’s currently 75° and partly sunny here, and while we did get some much needed rain this week, it was more of a tropical, humid rain than a cold, fall-ish rain. But I still found myself thinking about simmering pots of fragrant broth and chunky vegetable stews. So I thought it was finally time to share this lentil, mushroom, and pancetta soup that I made on a rainy day back in May. It’s a fairly straightforward French-style soup – shallots, carrots, celery, potatoes, and lentils – that gets three little upgrades. First, a bit of pancetta or bacon cooked with the mirepoix; second, crisp and earthy sauteed mushrooms on top; and third, a dollop of thyme-laced whipped cream that melts into the top of each bowl. It’s a soup that makes the simple and earthy just a little bit elegant, but still while being easy enough to whip up on a weeknight with ingredients you probably have in your fridge already.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

Lentil and Mushroom Soup with Thyme Cream

Adapted from Revolutionary French Cooking. Serves 4.

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 3 oz. pancetta or bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 2 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 4 sprigs thyme, divided
• 1 c. Puy lentils, rinsed
• 5 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2/3 c. heavy cream, divided
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 1/2 cups thickly sliced shiitake mushrooms
• sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown all over. Add the sliced shallot, carrot and celery and saute, stirring frequently, until vegetables are slightly soft and beginning to brown, about 6-8 minutes. Add the minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes longer. Add the 2 of the thyme sprigs, the lentils, and the stock. Bring to a simmer then add the cubed potatoes. Simmer the soup until the potatoes and lentils are tender, about 15-20 minutes.
2. When the potatoes are tender, use a slotted spoon to fish out the thyme sprigs and discard the stems. Add 1/2 cup of the cream to the soup. Transfer two thirds of the soup to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy, then return to the saucepan and mix with the remaining lentil and vegetable pieces. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Keep the soup warm over very low heat.
3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan in a single layer, and season with sea salt and pepper. Let the mushrooms cook for two minutes without disturbing them, then flip them over using a spatula and cook two minutes on the other side. Mushrooms should be golden brown. If not, continue sauteing, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
4. Pour the remaining heavy cream into a medium bowl. Whip until soft peaks form. Remove the leaves from the remaining two sprigs of thyme and whip into the cream. Season the cream lightly with black pepper.
5. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, then top each bowl with sauteed mushrooms and a generous spoonful of the thyme cream. Serve immediately.

The post Lentil and Mushroom Soup with Thyme Cream appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

People ask me all the time if I like to travel. I think the answer is supposed to be, “yes, I love it!” but honestly it’s a hard question for me to answer. There are parts I love – meeting and working with people from all over the world, spending hours wandering through a city that’s hundreds of years old, the food, experiencing more climates and geographies than I ever thought I would, and there’s even a small part of me that loves the glamour of “jetsetting,” of being handed a glass of champagne when I sit down and watching my passport fill up with stamps. Importantly, I also love my actual job, the reason I travel so much.

But there are also parts of travel that I hate – packing and unpacking, something that even with hours of practice still stresses me out. Airports, and canceled flights, and planes that catch on fire while you sit on the tarmac. The unavoidable low-level anxiety that accrues before any trip. Being perpetually tired, because days on the road start early with breakfast with our team and end late with long work dinners. The up and down, here and there frenzy of visiting two or more countries each month. Being always on. The constant tension between taking the weekend to explore whatever country I am in and going home to decompress and spend time with Trevor. The chaos of packing everything else I need to get done at home into the few days I have between trips. Mostly, I hate being gone, away, not at home. For me, this is less about the physical aspect of being in my house, although that’s important too, and more about being away from Trevor, my family, and my friends.

This weekend, though, I am home, and I am loving it. I am home and it is thrillingly sunny, the birds are chirping, and we slept with the windows open just a crack. I puttered about in the garden, planting flowers of every shade in our increasingly whimsical border garden, a grand experiment in color. I sat on the porch and drank pink lemonade and sunburned my legs because it’s shorts weather! And I made these biscuits, with ramps, because ramps are available now (and only now) and I am home now. These biscuits made the house smell incredible, and they are flaky and buttery and just cheesy enough. I had two of them, spread thickly with ramp butter, for dinner, along with half a bottle of rosé. It’s nice to be home.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks for reading!

Ramp, Bacon, and Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

Recipe adapted from Serious Eats. Makes 10-12 biscuits.

• 3 pieces bacon
• 4-6 fresh ramps, thoroughly washed. roots trimmed and discarded, and white and green parts of ramp thinly sliced
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
•  1 TBS baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 stick butter, frozen, plus 2 TBS melted butter for brushing biscuits
• 1 c. buttermilk, cold
• 4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside
2. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crispy and brown, about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate and lower the heat to low. Add the sliced ramp whites and greens to the bacon grease and saute for 60 seconds, then use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer the ramps to the plate with the bacon. Set plate aside; remove the pan from the heat and let cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt until evenly combined. Use a box grater to grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture, then use your hands to quickly toss the grated butter with the flour so that the flour fully coats the butter. Use your fingers to break up any large chunks of butter so that the entire mixture is coarse. Pour the cold buttermilk into the flour-butter mixture, and use a fork to gently mix the dough until it is shaggy and damp.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it into a 12 inch by 12 inch square, about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese and ramps over the top of the dough. Finely chop or crumble the cooked bacon and sprinkle over the top of the dough, pressing the bacon bits in slightly. Fold the dough like you would fold a letter – fold the left third of the dough over the middle then fold the right third of the dough over the first two thirds, making a stack of three layers. Repeat this motion from top to bottom, so you have a small square. Gently roll the dough back out into a 12 inch by 12 inch square. Use a biscuit cutter or glass to cut 3-inch rounds out of the dough, re-rolling or hand-forming any scraps into additional biscuits. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet and brush with the melted butter. Bake until golden brown, about 15-17 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Best served warm. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

The post Ramp, Bacon, and Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

It’s been a whirlwind two weeks in Hong Kong. We’ve been to temples, beaches, horse races, mountain-tops and markets selling everything from parrots to orchids. I’ve eaten more bowls of noodles and dumplings than is good for one person, totally offsetting the extra steps and uphill runs. It’s rained every day save one, but somehow it hasn’t held us back much. I’m enjoying myself and there have been some real highs, but I’ll admit that at times it’s also a little overwhelming. That can happen when you’re sharing an island with 7 million people! Still, I’m so happy I’m here and that Trevor is here with me. I’m taking copious notes on everything to share with you when we get back, but for now, I’m mostly just soaking it all in.

I wanted to share this hearty Loaded Baked Potato Soup in advance of the impending blizzard facing my friends and family back at home this weekend. I’m not trying to rub it in – Hong Kong is due to experience record low temperatures this weekend, dipping down into the mid-30s. Not as advertised for a country on the same latitude as Cabo! So I will also be cozying up to a bowl of soup this weekend, most likely with noodles in it.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup came back onto my radar for the first time in years on the way home from our engagement trip to Vermont – we stopped at a little bagel shop halfway home and I ordered a bowl of it as soon as I saw it on the menu. For someone whose ultimate childhood meal consisted of 2 orders of the loaded potato skins at a local restaurant where 95% of the clientele was over 60, it was impossible to resist. I understand that this recipe is a bit pedestrian, a little clunky, and definitely all-American but I’m all for it anyways. It’s based on a deep-seated American love for potatoes, bacon, and sour cream served in concert – an utterly delicious combination that has almost no nutritional value. But it’s so good, and even more so when the weather is cold and your energy is flagging. As an added bonus, it’s easily made from pantry ingredients – as long as bacon and cheddar cheese are staples in your pantry, too – so those of you on the East Coast can whip it up without a trip out into the cold and snow.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Adapted from Betty Crocker. Serves 6.

• 6 oz. bacon, cut in 2-inch lengths
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 3 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 3/4 c. light ale
• 3 TBS butter
• 3 TBS flour
• 2 c. whole milk
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish
• sour cream, for garnish

1. In a large stockpot, arrange bacon in a single layer and cook until crispy over medium-low heat, about 3-4 minutes per side. Cook in batches if necessary. Move the cooked bacon on a paper-towel lined plate, reserving the grease in the pan. When cool, crumble into small pieces.
2. Add the diced onion to the reserved bacon grease and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the diced potato and the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Boil until potatoes are very tender, about 15-20 minutes, then add the ale and remove from the heat. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth. Return to the heat over medium-low, at a very gentle simmer.
3. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add flour and whisk vigorously, cooking flour for 1-2 minutes until it gives off a nutty fragrance. Slowly drizzle in milk, whisking constantly as you do to incorporate into the flour and butter mixture. Continue cooking over medium-low heat until mixture has thickened into a sauce. Remove from heat and stir into the blended potato mixture until evenly combined. Remove potato mixture from heat and add cheddar cheese a handful at a time, stirring to help the cheese melt into the soup. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the crumbled bacon, sliced scallions, sour cream, and additional shredded cheddar cheese. Serve hot.

The post Loaded Baked Potato Soup appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Guys, so far the first 8 days of 2014 have been a huge success, health-wise. I’m not going to get too excited, since 8 days is a really short period of time to maintain motivation in the grand scheme of things, but still, it’s nice to remember how rewarding taking care of yourself can feel. I’ve done two solid treadmill sessions, two strength training sessions, spent an afternoon rock climbing (and made it to the top of the wall for the first time!), and gone to a great ballet class. I downloaded the Moves app to try and trick myself into walking more every day, and dragged the dusty scale out from under the bed. We stocked the fridge up with veggies and have been noshing on green smoothies, homemade minestrone, big roasted beet salads, and this carrot and tahini soup (which I had forgotten is really, really delicious). And tonight, as soon as I publish this post, I’m getting out of bed and doing one of those killer Nike Training Club butt workouts. I swear. Getting out of bed is a realistic aspiration. I’m going to do it. I know everyone’s on the straight and narrow right now, but let’s see if we can make it last!

One of the tasty, healthy things we’ve been eating is this salad, which contains several of my favorite ingredients, namely bacon, avocado, and brussels sprouts. I’m not the best at putting together inspiring salads – put me in front of a salad bar and I get kind of overwhelmed and end up with a bunch of weird things that don’t really go together, finished off by a healthy sprinkling of bacon bits, no matter what the other ingredients are. However, I’ve recently discovered that pretty much any green salad is drastically improved by including a warm, craveable element: crispy spiced chickpeas, shredded rotisserie chicken, salty chunks of pancetta, or whole roasted brussels sprouts. So when I saw a recipe for spinach and bacon salad with avocado dressing in Diane and Todd’s new cookbook, and then saw a recipe for bacon-roasted brussels sprouts immediately after, my mind started turning, and a salad that I could actually look forward to eating was born. I like that this salad is fairly simple but still feels like a complete meal – it’s much more put-together than a boring bowl of dressed greens, but doesn’t have 20 separate components to be prepped in order for it to taste good, like a Cobb salad does. It’s also seasonal, filling, and… it has bacon. What’s not to love?

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door on Feedly or Bloglovin’, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks for reading!

Roasted Brussels Sprout and Bacon Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette

Inspired by Bountiful. Serves 2.

• 1 lb. fresh Brussels sprouts
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4 strips bacon
• 1 avocado
• 1 1/2 tsp champagne vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 4 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the white end off the base of each brussels sprout, remove the outer leaves, and then slice in half lengthwise. Toss the halved brussels sprouts with 2 TBS of olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Spread on a roasting pan and roast for 25-30 minutes or until tender with crispy golden-brown spots, flipping with a spatula after the first 15 minutes.
2. While the brussels sprouts are cooking, cook the bacon until crispy, drain on paper towels, and then roughly chop.
3. Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop out the flesh. Place half of the avocado in a mason jar and mash up with a fork. Add the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil, the vinegar, and the lemon juice to the jar, close the jar, and shake vigorously to mix up the dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cut the remaining half an avocado into rough chunks.
4. Divide the spinach between two bowls. Top each with some avocado pieces, crumbled bacon, and a generous helping of warm brussels sprouts. Spoon some of the avocado vinaigrette over each salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately

The post Roasted Brussels Sprout and Bacon Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Just another quick hello and a recipe for a simple, summery, one-pan meal of the variety I think many of you are looking for at this time of year. Oftentimes August feels a bit like a warning month, reminding us summer is ending, enjoy it now! Even as the best produce of the year starts to ripen, we don’t want to be too beholden to our kitchens, and quick nutritious dinners with plenty of leftovers ensure that you can still enjoy these warm sunny afternoons. As corn and tomatoes flood the markets and (hopefully!) your gardens, it’s easy to throw them together into just about everything you make – salads, pastas, tacos, etc. This is one more good option for using up these two sweet summer veggies. By letting the couscous, milk, chicken, tomatoes, corn and garlic all simmer together at the same time, not only do you cut down on dish-washing, you end up with a risotto-like dish with all the flavors of summer blended together. Sprinkle some crisped bacon and a handful of shredded basil on top to take it one step further, eat, and then get back to enjoying your summer.

Creamy Summer Chicken with Corn, Tomatoes, and Bacon

Adapted from Martha Stewart. Serves 3-4.

• 1 lb. of boneless, skin-on chicken breasts
• 2 TBS olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 slices bacon
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
• 3/4 c. Israeli couscous
• 2 1/2 c. whole milk
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 1/2 c. frozen corn
• 10 leaves basil, chiffonaded

1. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Place the chicken in the pan, skin-side down, and brown until golden, then flip and brown the other side. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.
2. Lower the heat on the pan to low, and let cool for a minute, add the bacon and cook until crisp on both sides, flipping once or twice. Remove the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate (different from the chicken), and set aside.
3. Add the onion and garlic cloves to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, until translucent, then add the couscous and cook 2-3 minutes longer, or until couscous is toasted and golden. Add the milk, thyme, chicken, and cherry tomatoes, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release any browned bits. Carefully bring the milk to a simmer, then lower heat and cover, cooking until cherry tomatoes are softened and chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Check doneness of chicken by cutting into the fattest breast – if there is no sign of pink left in the middle, then the chicken is done. If your temperature is too high, milk may curdle, but it’s not the end of the world – it won’t be as pretty but you can still eat it.
4. Remove the lid and add the corn to the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes, until corn is warmed through and liquid is mostly evaporated. Remove from heat, and crumble the cooked bacon over the top. Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of the basil chiffonade.

The post Creamy Summer Chicken with Corn, Tomatoes, and Bacon appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I wrote a review! This summer is turning out to be extremely busy, mostly in a good way, but the times I find myself in the kitchen recently have been few and far between. Despite that, I have had some wonderful new cookbooks lying around, waiting for me to pause long enough to give them a good read. On the top of the pile is Le Pain Quotidien, the new book from the originally Belgian, now global restaurant chain of the same name.

I have never been to a Le Pain Quotidien, although there are a handful of locations scattered along the East Coast and in California. If the recipes included in this cookbook are any indication, I think I would love the restaurant. It’s the kind of food I’d like to serve at a cafe of my own someday – interesting, produce-forward soups and sandwiches, and baked goods with a punch of flavor from salty cheeses, olives, and cured meats. For the most part, it’s rustic, country-style food, without fancy plating or instructions, but the combinations – such as carrots with olives, soba noodles with blood orange, and coffee with capers – are novel and bright. Similar to Vegetarian Everyday, you’ll find healthy choices for every type of eater. Raw, paleo, gluten-free, and vegan palettes will all find something to interest them here. Then again, if you’re like me, you’ll also appreciate the occasional meaty, bready, cheese-smothered dish that’s included.

Given the overall amount of cooking I’ve been doing, you could actually say that I have been cooking a fair bit from this book. This delicious curried leek and zucchini soup was adapted from it, and I also tried my hand at a homemade five grain fruit bread, which was tasty but a little bit tricky and didn’t come out quite right, as is often the case with homemade bread. This weekend, I made the hearty Liegeoise Salad you see here, as well as a spicy, summery tartine that I’ll share on Monday. I’m looking forward to continuing to work on the bread baking, but I’m also intrigued by the recipes for Sausage with Lentils, Cabbage, and Chestnuts; Onion Broth with Thyme and Feta, and Speculoos Tiramisu. I’m guessing that one or more of those dishes will show up on my dinner table before too long.

I really enjoyed the Liegeoise salad I made for today’s post – it was somehow everything I needed in a meal after a hectic week. It was simple, but still flavorful, and fresh, but still filling. I cleaned my bowl the minute I put the camera down. It’s also a little nifty because you make the vinaigrette right in the pan in which you fry the bacon – no messy olive oil and vinegar jar shaking! That’s my kind of salad. As an aside, I loved that I could get almost everything I needed for this at the farmer’s market – tiny new potatoes, long skinny green beans, still crisp lettuce, even the eggs and the bacon could have been purchased at the market (although those two I already had at home). Only the endives (and the onion, I suppose) were nowhere to be found, and those are really hard to grow anyway. But knowing that almost everything had just been picked made the meal feel truly seasonal.

The bottom line: Le Pain Quotidien is a book full of simple but lovely food. The soups, salads, breads, and desserts included are rustic but feature intriguing flavor combinations. For the most part, the recipes are very healthful and full of fresh produce, with many choices for gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and even raw diets. Recommended to anyone looking for a few fresh, healthy ideas for lunchtime fare.

Liegeoise Salad

Recipe adapted slightly from Le Pain Quotidien. Serves 4.

• 1 lb small new potatoes, halved (or quartered, if large)
• 1 lb. green beans
• 6 slices smoked bacon
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 TBS vinegar
•  black pepper
• salt
• 2 heads of Belgian endive
• 2 c. mache (lamb’s lettuce) or butter lettuce pieces
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes, and cook until just tender, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon, drain briefly, and transfer to a bowl. Add the green beans to the water and blanch for 2 minutes, then drain and add the green beans to the bowl with the potatoes.
2. Cook the bacon over medium-low heat, flipping once, until crispy on both sides. Remove the bacon and place on a paper-towel lined plate. Let cool, then roughly chop.
3. Turn down the heat on the bacon pan to low, and let the grease cool for 2 minutes. Then, carefully add the diced onion and return the heat to medium-low. Cook the onion, stirring frequently, until translucent and softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the vinegar to the pan and deglaze, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes and green beans to the pan and stir to coat the veggies with the vinegar mixture. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
4. Trim the ends off the Belgian endive and discard the ends. Discard the outer leaves. Separate the inner leaves and place, cup-side up, on a platter. Spread lettuce pieces on top of the endive. Top with the potato and green bean mixture, then crumble the egg and the chopped bacon on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The post Book Club: Le Pain Quotidien // Liegeoise Salad appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I have one last pea recipe before I move on to other, less green things. A pea salad is perhaps not the most exciting recipe in the world, but it made an easy and satisfying dinner last night – and it helped me clean out the fridge before leaving for vacation. The basic blueprint for this recipe comes from Nigel Slater’s Tender. It’s a simple dish, as many of his are, made from hot crisped bacon, sliced fennel, peas, fried eggs, and the tenderest lettuce you can find (so far, lettuce is the crop we’ve harvested the most of). The original recipe also called for homemade croutons toasted in the bacon grease, but all my bread had gone moldy… so I skipped that.

I loved the combination of peas and fennel in this. Tarragon, anise, fennel… they all have that sweetish herbal quality that enhances the pure sweetness of the peas even more. I know I may sound like a bit of a broken record, given that 3 out of 4 recipes I posted this week had either tarragon or fennel in them, but it just works. Small, tender fennel bulbs are just hitting the farmer’s markets in Boston as the peas make their exit, so the timing is perfect, too.

And that’s all for peas. We don’t have a ton left in the garden, and it’s getting a little hot for them to keep flowering. Plus, I’m really tired of shelling them – I spent a good 45 minutes of my life this week shelling peas (and maybe drinking wine while doing it). Lessons learned from this edition of ingredient of the week? Peas taste great with fennel and tarragon, peas from the garden are a revelation, and for your own sake, find a friend to coerce into shelling them with you.

A Salad of Bacon, Peas, and Fennel

Adapted from Tender. Serves 2.

• 4 slices bacon
• 1 1/2 c. shelled English peas, from about 1 1/2 lb. pea pods
• 1 medium bulb of fennel, fronds trimmed
• several large handfuls of tender lettuce, such as butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp mustard
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 2 TBS olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Fry the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove from pan, and let drain briefly on a paper-towel-lined plate before chopping into rough chunks.
2. Turn the heat under the pan with the bacon grease to low. Wait a minute or two, then add the shelled peas. Cook until bright green, about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove them with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl.
3. Crack two eggs into the pan with the remaining bacon grease and fry sunny-side up.
4. Tear the lettuce into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Thinly slice the fennel and add to the lettuce. Add the cooked peas and the chopped bacon.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, and olive oil until cohesive. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then dress the salad with it.
6. Split the salad between two plates, topping each with one of the fried eggs. Serve immediately.

The post Ingredient of the Week: English Peas // A Salad of Bacon, Peas, and Fennel appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

If any of you follow me on Twitter (do it! I promise I’ll do my best to say vaguely entertaining things), you may have noticed that I’ve been tweeting some nonsense about #March15ADay for the past 7 days. Basically, I’ve challenged myself to workout for at least 15 minutes every day in March. Things that count as workouts are running, lifting, jump rope, ballet, and NTC workouts (which I’m really loving). Things that do not count are walking to the subway and lying on the floor with my arms spread out while telling myself that I’m stretching (I have, in the past, counted this as exercise). Vigorous cooking does not count either.

Tonight marks the end of my first week – I’ve gone running twice, done a 20 minute jump rope session, and done targeted strength training for my arms, abs, and back. I’m kinda sore. But proud of myself! When it’s 10 o’clock at night and I haven’t done anything yet, I close my eyes and imagine myself looking fabulous in a linen dress that I don’t own yet on a hillside in Italy where I’ll be in 49 days (49? Am I prematurely excited?) and it’s highly motivating. I’d love it if any of you want to join me for the remainder of the month and tweeted your workouts! It’s always helpful to have a group of people to hold you accountable for something like this.

To support my health kick, I’m also trying to eat a lot more green stuff. I’ve said it before, but I sometimes have a tough time with salads – I want to like my salad, so as I walk down the salad bar I add ingredients I love, and before I know it, I have a container full of bacon, hard-boiled eggs, feta cheese, and chickpeas, with a few pathetic leaves of spinach on top. NOT THE POINT, KATIE. So when I find a salad recipe that’s both tasty and healthy, and that I can easily make ahead and bring in to work all week, I’m thrilled. This roast vegetable salad, from the newly released The Little Paris Kitchen (see my full review here!), fits the bill perfectly. Make the goat cheese mousse if you’re feeling creative, but if not, regular goat cheese crumbled on top would be just as yummy.

Roast Vegetable Salad with Goat Cheese Mousse

Recipe adapted slightly from The Little Paris Kitchen. Serves 4.

• 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 large beet, trimmed and scrubbed
• 7 TBS olive or sunflower oil, divided
• salt to taste
• 4 oz. bacon, cut into pieces and cooked until crisp
• 2 TBS cider vinegar
• 4 oz. goat cheese
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/4 c. whipping cream
• 5-6 oz. of salad greens (I used spinach)

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the carrots, apples, and parsnips with 2 TBS of the oil, and sprinkle liberally with salt. Spread out on a large baking tray. Place the beet inside a tinfoil package, drizzle with 1 TBS of the oil and a sprinkle of salt, and seal the tinfoil package. Place on the baking tray with the other vegetables. Roast for 45 minutes, flipping the chopped veggies once to prevent them from burning. Remove the chopped vegetables and set aside, and continue to roast the beet until you can pierce it easily with a fork (the length of time will depend on the size of the beet, it could take an additional 10-30 minutes). Once the beet is cooked, remove from the oven and let cool just until you can handle it comfortably. Then, peel the beet with your hands – the peel should slip easily off. Thinly slice the cooked beet and place with the other veggies. Toss the roasted veggies with the bacon pieces.
2. Mix together the remaining 4 TBS of olive oil with the cider vinegar to make the dressing. Season to taste with salt. Set aside.
3. Beat the cheese and the milk together until soft and lump free. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the cheese a bit at a time, until it is thoroughly combined. Place in a frosting piping bag.
4. Arrange the salad leaves on four plates. Top with the veggie-bacon mix, and drizzle with the dressing. Use the piping bag to place small blobs of the goat cheese mousse on top of the salad. Serve immediately.

The post March Fitness Challenge // Roast Vegetable Salad with Goat Cheese Mousse appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

After spending a few months last fall really diving into cookbook reviews (and recently picking it up again), I’ve come to recognize the things I truly love in a cookbook. Before, when I picked up a book and flipped through it, I had some immediate reaction to it which was either positive, negative, or neutral, and I bought the ones I felt positively about over multiple visits to the bookstore. I did sort of identify that the books that fell into the negative category were the ones where I said “eh, I’ve seen this before,” and my favorites were the ones with the most to teach me. But after writing 11 reviews since October, I’ve developed a whole new thought process for analyzing and talking about cookbooks – and, while I’ve discovered some really wonderful new books, it has also strengthened my love for some of my old favorites.

Roast Figs, Sugar Snow, is one of those favorites. It has everything I love in a book – a touch of whimsy, delivered via lovely quotes (the fact that this book opens with a Laura Ingalls Wilder quote probably sealed the deal for me before I even started reading it); a few travel stories, just compelling enough to make you close your eyes and envision another place; photographs evocative of both food and place; a strong voice that’s personal but not oppressive; and last, but most important, recipes that are new to me and make me want to eat them right away. Oh, and the fact that the first chapter is entirely devoted to cheese-based recipes doesn’t hurt either.

Since I wrote a full review last year, I won’t go into any more detail here. But I wanted to bring it back up to the top of my pile, since I always find myself flipping through it in the summer, dreaming of steaming mugs and rich stews, and well, winter is almost over, so now’s the time!

Trevor and I made this lovely meal for lunch on Sunday, while the snow was whipping around outside. I love the idea of a Sunday roast, and since Trevor’s good friend Merges got him a gift certificate to Savenor’s for Christmas, he decided to get something a little out of the ordinary to pop in the oven – six little quail (which he lovingly shared with me, like the good boyfriend that he is). The recipe we used called for whiskey and marmalade, for which we substituted the last of the grapefruit jam I made last week, as well as a large amount of bacon. A frighteningly large amount of bacon, which served to keep the quail moist and flavorful. I also made a side dish called “Hot Lightning” – a mix of potatoes, apples, pears, and, yep, more bacon. Both the quail and the veggies were really delicious, a treat on a winter afternoon.

While this was a comfy, cozy meal, and I’m glad I got the chance to make a few more wintery dishes from this book, I still kinda can’t wait for spring. Bring on the asparagus and fava beans, I’m ready for them.

Stuffed Quail with Marmalade, Whiskey, and Bacon

Recipe from Roast Figs, Sugar Snow. Serves 4.

• 1/2 c. marmalade (or grapefruit jam)
• 1/2 c. plus 2 TBS whiskey, divided
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• salt and pepper
• 8 quails
• 10 slices bacon, divided
• 1/2 small onion, finely minced
• 1 TBS butter
• 2 oz. fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 TBS finely minced fresh parsley
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 3/4 c. strong-flavored chicken stock

1. Whisk together the marmalade, 1/2 c. of the whiskey and the thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the marinade over the quails, cover loosely and let marinate for at least one hour up to overnight (if marinating for more than 1 hour, do so in the fridge).
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Take 2 slices of the bacon and finely dice them. Add the bacon, the onion, and the butter to a frying pan and saute over medium heat until bacon is crisp. Add the breadcrumbs and saute until golden. Remove from heat, and stir in the parsley and the beaten egg. Use this stuffing to stuff each quail. Cut the remaining 8 strips of bacon in half, and lay criscross on top of each bird. Season with pepper. Put the birds in a pot in which they fit snugly, and spoon the marinade over them again. Roast for 25-35 minutes, until quail is cooked through, spooning the juices and marinade over the birds every 10 minutes. If bacon is not crisp but quail is cooked, broil on high for 2-3 minutes to finish. Serve 2 birds per person.
3. While the quail is roasting, reduce the chicken stock by half over medium heat, or until it is slightly syrupy. Add the remaining 2 TBS of whiskey. Serve gravy with the quail.

“Hot Lightning” – A Dish of Roast Potatoes, Apples, Pears, and Bacon

Recipe adapted slightly from Roast Figs, Sugar Snow. Serves 4.

Notes: I changed the cooking time and temperature of this dish so that it could be made at the same time as the quail – the original recipe called for 30 minutes at 325°F. I also reduced the amount of bacon since we would already be consuming so much with the quail! I didn’t think it needed any more bacon than we used. If you have slab bacon, cooking that in 3/4-inch cubes in place of the strips would be lovely. You don’t need to peel the potatoes or the fruit, but do take care to wash them well.

• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 lbs new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 8 strips bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 Granny Smith apples, cored, then thinly sliced lengthwise
• 2 pears, cored, then thinly sliced lengthwise
• 3 TBS light brown sugar
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt butter in a large oven-proof and gas-proof casserole dish over medium heat. Add potatoes and bacon, and saute, stirring, until bacon is crisp and potatoes have begun to turn golden, about 10-15 minutes. Add the apples and pears and turn over in the buttery juices. Season with the sugar, thyme leaves, and salt and pepper and stir to combine.
2. Remove the dish from the flame, cover with a lid or tin foil, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve hot.

The post Roast Figs, Sugar Snow, Revisited // Stuffed Quail with Marmalade, Whiskey, and Bacon & “Hot Lightning” appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

As promised, here’s the last recipe I’m sharing from Radically Simple: creamy scallion-bacon grits.  Does that sound irresistible to anyone else?  Because it did to me.  I didn’t grow up eating grits – in fact, good ol’ Cream of Wheat (doused in butter, and with enough sugar sprinkled on top to form a crackly sugar-crust) has been my hot breakfast of choice for most of my life – but grits have been in vogue lately, what with all the attention being given to Southern Food, so I decided to try my hand at them.  And it was so worth it.  Goat cheese + scallions + bacon crumbles + butter + grits + plenty of fresh black pepper?  Too good!

While this was not a healthy breakfast by any stretch of the imagination, goat cheese and scallion filled grits, crispy bacon, sunny side up fried eggs, and freshly brewed espresso is a pretty killer way to start your morning.  Especially if it’s a sunny, Sunday morning in April and you get to cook side-by-side with someone you like a whole lot, stirring the grits while he crisps the bacon, and sneaking the occasional sideways kiss.  If you then happen to get fed roast leg of lamb and chocolate cake by your parents in celebration of Palm Sunday/Passover and sit by the fire drinking red wine, you might just call it a great day.

Hope you all had a great Monday – the hardest day of the week is over!

For those interested, here’s my review of Radically Simple – it’s a great cookbook!

Creamy Scallion Bacon Grits with Runny Eggs

Adapted loosely from Radically Simple.  Serves 2.

• 1/2 c. instant grits
• 2 1/4 c. water
• 2 TBS butter
• 3 oz. grated cheese of your choice (original recipe calls for parmesan, we used goat cheese)
• 4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced
• salt and pepper
• 2 eggs

1. Combine grits, water, and butter in a medium-sized pot and heat over high heat, until it comes to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring constantly, until grits are thick and creamy, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, and stir in cheese, cooked bacon, and scallions.  Season generously with salt and pepper, and set aside.  If you prefer, you can use regular grits, which take longer to cook but may turn out creamier – just follow the cooking instructions on the package, then stir in the cheese, bacon, and scallions.
2. In a large frying pan, fry eggs over low heat until they have reached your desired stage of doneness.  Spoon grits onto 2 plates and top each with a fried egg.  Grind more fresh black pepper on top and enjoy!

The post Grits and bacon, anyone? appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

And no, I don’t mean to your waistline.

The other day I cut myself on a piece of brown sugar.  As in, the sugar itself caused me to bleed.  I mean, I expect to occasionally slice through my finger with my terrible $3 knives, or burn my hands when I try to eat bacon straight from the pan.  But sugar?  Total surprise.  I guess I’m going to have to reconsider all of my assumptions about life.

Anyway, this soup uses molasses, the safer, liquid alternative to brown sugar.  So I feel comfortable making it.  You probably will too, unless you were in Boston for the Great Molasses Flood of 1919, in which case you might want to avoid all sugar products.  But I hope you weren’t, because this soup is delicious.  Although, I might only feel like that because it is a vehicle for blue cheese and bacon.  I’m not sure how I would feel about it if it didn’t have those two components.  So let me rephrase that: this soup is a delicious vehicle for blue cheese and bacon.  And if you’ve had a leftover can of pumpkin in your cupboard since the great iron chef duke pumpkin challenge, and you also have 15 minutes to spare, why not make it?

Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Blue Cheese

Adapted from allrecipes via Framed Cooks.  Serves 2.

• 1 can 100% pumpkin puree
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 c. half and half
• 3 TBS molasses
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/4 tsp. ginger
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• salt to taste
• 2 slices bacon, diced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/3 c. blue cheese crumbles

1. In a medium pot, heat pumpkin, chicken stock, half and half, molasses, and spices until simmering gently.  Allow to cook for around 10 minutes.  Season with salt to taste.
2. In a large frying pan, fry bacon pieces until beginning to brown.  Add minced shallot and cook until both bacon and shallot are browned.
3. Serve soup hot, topped with the bacon shallot mixture and blue cheese crumbles.

The post Sugar is Dangerous appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.