This recipe, along with the béchamel sauce recipe, come from the Silver Spoon cookbook. A terrific “no nonsense” meal for a rainy Saturday afternoon. I made homemade macaroni for this dish and served it with a tomato/cucumber salad tossed with a vinaigrette. Enjoy!

Macaroni Au Gratin serves 4

2 Tbsp. butter, plus extra for greasing
1 Silver Spoon quantity béchamel sauce
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 egg yolks
12 ounces macaroni
salt

Preheat oven to 475 F degrees. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Combine the béchamel sauce, Parmesan, butter and egg yolks. Cook the macaroni in a large pot of salted, boiling water until just al dente, then drain and pour into a bowl. Gently stir in half the béchamel sauce mixture and put the pasta in the prepared dish, then spoon the remaining béchamel sauce mixture on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Béchamel Sauce

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups milk
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional. I put it in)
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the flour to make a smooth paste. Using a wooden spoon, gradually stir in the milk, making sure the sauce is smooth between each addition. Return the pan to the heat and cook over medium-high heat, stirring continuously until it starts to boil. Season with salt, lower the heat, cover, and simmer gently over low heat, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and not run off. Remove the pan from the heat. Taste, add more salt if necessary, and season with pepper and/or nutmeg. Béchamel sauce should not taste floury. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk. If too runny, boil a little longer.

Wine served: 2009 Murray, Cuvee, Columbia Valley

Today’s lunch recipe is courtesy of Sunset Magazine. This is a simple and impressive dish. It tastes like you’ve spent hours cooking! Try it out at your dinner party.
Serve with a crusty baguette for dunking. Serves 4

4 1/2 Tbsp. flour
3/4 Tsp. kosher salt, divided
1 Tsp. pepper, divided
1 Tsp. herbs de Provence
4 slices bacon (1/4 lb.), chopped (I weighed it out and ended up using 5 slices)
1 1/2 lbs. boned, skinned chicken thighs
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 cups peeled baby carrots (I cut up whole, large carrots. I think they have more flavor)
3 stalks celery
1 medium onion
1 1/3 cups Chardonnay (I used an inexpensive white Bordeaux: Mouton Cadet)
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley sprigs
1/4 cup loosely packed tarragon sprigs (I just shook in some dried tarragon)

1. In a plastic bag, shake flour with 1/2 Tsp. salt, 1/4 Tsp. pepper, and the herbs de Provence; set aside.
2. In a 5-6 Qt. pot over medium-high heat, brown bacon, stirring often, 6-7 minutes. Meanwhile, cut chicken into 1 inch chunks, then shake half at a time in flour to coat.
3. Transfer bacon to paper towels. Brown half the chicken in bacon fat, stirring often, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to plate. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding oil to pot. Meanwhile, halve the carrots lengthwise and cut celery into diagonal slices. Chop onion.
4. Add vegetables to pot with remaining 1/4 Tsp. each salt and pepper and sauté until onion is golden, 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a microwave-safe bowl, microwave wine and broth until steaming, 3 minutes.
5. Add broth mixture, chicken, and bacon to pot, stirring to loosen browned bits. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop parsley and tarragon. Stir them into stew.

One of my Christmas gifts this year was an extruder for the KitchenAid mixer. After shoveling out paths through the snow in our back yard so our little doggie can run, I came inside and made homemade rigatoni. I’m not going to give you an exact recipe for the sauce, because it’s my own creation and I wrote nothing down. I think, however, all of you fabulous cooks can figure out what it takes to make it work.
I first plumped about 1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms with a claret and a tab of butter. Then I put them in the sauce after I added the tomatoes. I used two cans of organic diced tomatoes.
I know I’m doing this in reverse, but it’s so uncomplicated, I think you’ll be fine.
I started the sauce off with olive oil in a large skillet, one medium onion, cut into thin slices, and cooked until transparent. I diced up 4 cloves of garlic and put that in the skillet with the onions, and cooked for about 30 seconds before adding tomatoes and mushrooms.
I seasoned the sauce with salt, pepper and smoked paprika then I put in about 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
I served this dish with winter Parmesan from Di Palo’s down on Grand St. in NYC.
Enjoy!

For the last twenty years since Sandy and I have been together, she makes this dish, serving it with mashed potatoes, on New Year’s Day. In her family it was a tradition to make this meal, believing it brings all who eat it good luck throughout the new year. So far, so good!
May the new year bring all of you, your friends and family, peace and happiness.

1/4 lb. salt pork
2 lbs. pork loin roast
1 lb. polish sausage
2 lb. bag sauerkraut, rinsed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large apple, chopped
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp. caraway seeds

Cut salt pork into several pieces and sauté in dutch oven.
Brown pork loin in salt pork fat. Add chopped onion and sauté about 3-4 minutes. Add chopped apple, sauté about 1 minute. Add rinsed sauerkraut, caraway seeds, and about 1 cup of water. Sprinkle brown sugar over sauerkraut mixture, cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours. Add polish sausage and heat through for about 20 minutes.
Serve sauerkraut, pork and sausage with mashed potatoes.

I received a paella pan for Christmas and was determined to use it right away since I’ve never before made paella. Looking through recipes, I found there were no two paella’s alike, so I decided to choose, from all that I read, the ingredients I like, and this is what I came up with. I winged it, and was rewarded.

1 14.5 ounce can organic diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1 medium sweet onion, coarsely chopped
1 large head of garlic, peeled and chopped (about 10 cloves)
1 large pinch saffron threads
2 cups Bomba rice (or Valencia rice)
1 Tsp. smoked paprika
1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 red pepper, diced
2 lemons
1/2 cup string beans, broken into 1 inch pieces
2 Tsp. capers
1/4 cup minced, fresh cilantro
4 chicken thighs, fat removed and cut in half
8 ounces chorizo cut into 1/4 inch pieces
Steamers to top dish

1. In paella pan, on medium heat, add olive oil and sauté garlic for about 1 minute. Add onions, beans, pepper and tomatoes and cook until slightly tender.
2. Add chorizo and cook for about 6-7 minutes, tossing often.
3. Add chicken and cook for about 6 minutes on each side.
4. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
5. Add rice and blend with vegetables and chorizo, then add broth, saffron, paprika, salt, pepper, cilantro and capers. Stir all ingredients together, then push chicken back into the mixture and cover. Reduce to simmer and cook about 12-15 minutes. Do not stir rice until dish is complete.
6. Place about 1 dozen little neck clams (steamers), (hinge side down) over ingredients and cook until the clams open. About 10-12 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and let stand covered for 5 minutes. Discard any unopened clams and squeeze fresh lemon juice over the entire dish. Garnish with lemon wedges.

Wine served: 2001 Brovia, Barbera D’Alba, Sori’ Del Drago

This is a very simple recipe from The Seasons Of Veuve Clicquot, A Social Cookbook For All Celebrations. I roasted this chicken so that there is plenty in the house to snack on when the snow storm overtakes our town.

1 whole chicken, giblets removed from the cavity
1 bunch thyme, plus some thyme flowers for garnish
7 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Stuff the chicken with entire bunch of thyme. Smear the chicken with a generous layer of butter. Put the chicken in an oval baking dish, breast side up, and roast for one hour (or until a thermometer reads 180 degrees), regularly spreading the melted butter and juices over the chicken, until nicely browned and crisp on the top. If you like, turn the chicken upside down and roast until the bottom is crispy.
Remove from the oven and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a few thyme flowers. (I put some thyme on top shortly before the chicken was finished so that I could spoon melted butter over the herb).
Collect the sauce from the bottom of the pan and serve it in a gravy boat alongside the chicken.