The Naptime Chef

Picnic season has finally arrived, hip hip hooray! What is your favorite picnic food? I would love to know. I am always looking for new and exciting treats to bring to my favorite summer activity. If you have any dishes you’d like to share, please leave comments below.

In the mean time, in the spirit of kicking off the season of moveable feasts, I am going to share one of my most favorite picnic foods, Ruth’s Curry Chicken Salad. To some this may sound boring and common, however, I promise, it is anything but. This salad is a medley of unique flavors that will satisfy even the snobbiest of chicken salad connoisseurs. It is my time-tested dish for summer gatherings, and, trust me, if you serve this at a picnic, there won’t be any leftovers.

My friend Ruth gave this recipe to my mother-in-law and I over a decade ago. At the time Ruth was our neighbor on Martha’s Vineyard, happily living out her retirement overlooking Lagoon Pond. Ruth was an extremely special person, she was full of intelligence and wit, gracious to a fault, and had a life history more interesting than that of most world leaders. Born in Niagara Falls, Ruth graduated from Cornell in 1938 – a time when very few women graduated from college at all – with a degree in Home Economics. After college Ruth went on to live with her husband in Buenos Aires, where she occasionally dined with Eva Peron, travel to all seven continents and raise three successful children. Honestly, I could write about this fascinating woman all day, but I will save that for another time. Today I am going to share one of the thousands of treats she brought us from her warm family kitchen, her awesome salad.

I first tasted this recipe when Ruth brought it to our Fourth of July buffet picnic. Upon first bite I knew it was the perfect chicken salad for me, and have been making it every since. I love that it’s warm, sweet taste is purposely not dulled down with heavy mayonnaise. Instead, the ingredients are bound together with a tangy Greek yogurt sauce, which really allows the delicious medley of flavors to stand out and show their stuff. Plus, like all good salad recipes, this one has a good amount of flexibility. You can easily omit the peanuts, coconut or raisins, or substitute them for other popular salad ingredients, like green grapes or chopped apples. Additionally, you should feel free to adjust the amount of curry powder to suit your taste. We prefer it at a restrained medium heat, though some people like it fiery hot.

The preparation of this salad is very straightforward and I am able to handily complete it during my daughter’s afternoon naptime. This way, we are able to head straight to our picnic, food in the hand, the minute she wakes up. I hope that you have a fun picnic to attend soon, and that you choose to bring this salad. Ruth would be happy to know that everyone is enjoying her recipe, and I would be, too.
(Don’t forget to share your favorite picnic food below!)

I am a go-getter by nature. Maybe it is the Virgo in me, but laziness has never been a problem of mine. I love days when I wake up energized and am able to handily complete everything on my ambitious agenda, ending the evening with a long list of accomplishments. In my ideal world everyday would be like this, full of productivity and excitement. Unfortunately, however, no matter how hyper-organized I am, this is not the case. Some mornings I wake up exhausted with dark circles under my eyes from being up during the night with my daughter. At these moments my priorities flip from plowing through another lengthy to-do list, to parring down my daily schedule and conserving my energy. Thus, when it comes to planning our meals on these occasions, I head straight for my go-to binder that is chock-full of recipes for emergency meals and simple baked goods.

Last week my daughter woke me up at 5am, for the day. You can imagine my delight at hearing her call my name (“Momma, Momma”) from her crib so early. Desperate for more shut eye I tried everything I could to soothe her back to sleep, but she wasn’t interested. The sun was rising, the birds were chirping and she was ready to embrace the morning. Reluctantly, I made breakfast and set about our daily routine, albeit two hours earlier than usual. Finally, after my third cup of tea, the fog in my head slowly began to clear and my thoughts turned to the cake I needed to make for a dinner party that evening. I hadn’t decided exactly what to bake yet, but it was clear I had to choose a recipe that was delicious yet practical. I simply didn’t have the energy or patience to make anything involving multiple layers or decorative frosting.

After a quick perusal of my recipe file I plucked out one of my standby cake recipes, Great-Grandmother Pauline’s Lazy Daisy Cake. This is one of my favorite cakes for many reasons, it is a cinch to make when my energy level is sapped, and it is absolutely delicious. Also, I think the rhyming title is fun to say out loud. Preparing this cake requires little more than basic stirring with a wooden spoon and bowl. On this particular day, after my daughter went down for her nap, I assembled the simple batter in less than six minutes and popped it in the oven. When the baking was complete I immediately added the topping, put it under the broiler for a short 30 seconds, and the cake was done. That evening everyone cleaned their plates while praising it’s moist, tender crumb, intense vanilla flavor and sweet crunchy topping. Several people remarked that it must have taken me over an hour to make. I graciously accepted their compliments, without letting on that I had secret. The cake had taken so little time to prepare that, when it was finished baking, I had taken a nap, too.

Welcome to the first flavor of “The Naptime Chef Great Ice-Cream Festival of 2009.” Nicole brilliantly wrote this recipe at the behest of a good friend. We loved the idea of almond flavored ice cream studded with sweet cherries and chocolate chunks. It sounded like an ideal trifecta of flavors with the perfect balance of creamy and crunch. We hope you enjoy this as much as Nicole’s dinner guest’s did last week! (Remember, this is the first of many ice-cream recipes to come this summer, we will posting them at least once a week. The next one will be up very shortly…) Enjoy!

Last week I took my daughter herb picking in her grandparent’s backyard. She loves to do this because it is one of the few occasions in which we encourage her to yank apart plants. Most of the time we end up tailing her around the flower beds reminding her to treat tulips gently, which she finds very boring since she’d rather pull them up, bulbs and all. The other day her herb “harvest” yielded several stalks of rosemary, a few handfuls of chives and, my favorite, large bunches of basil. After we separated our “crops” into ziploc bags we took them inside to assess the menu possibilities. Naturally, with the rosemary on hand, my father and husband agreed that lamb for dinner was the obvious choice. Mom happily took the chives to make her famous potato salad and, me, well, that was easy. I wanted all the basil I could grab, it was time to make pesto.

To my palate, this sauce is the epitome of summer with it’s pitch perfect blend of earthy sweet basil, fruity olive oil, rich pine nuts and salty cheese. A lot of people I know make pesto year-round with imported leaves they buy at the store. I have attempted to do this on several occasions, but have always been disappointed. The flavor tastes dull and lacks the bright lemony tang that comes with fresh basil directly from the source. Instead, I choose to make batch after batch of pesto during the summer and freeze it. This enables me to enjoy it all year, freeing me from the terrifying prospect of a pesto-free winter.

One of my favorite things about pesto is that it’s a snap to prepare. Making it only requires a few moments of pressing the pulse button on my food processor and, voila, the delicious sauce is finished. Needless to say, it is extremely simple to make during my daughter’s naptime, and the payoff is enormous. Once I have completed the laborious act of pulsing, I divide up the pesto amongst containers (two for the fridge, two for the freezer). I happily maintain this routine all the summer until I have enough in my freezer to last the entire winter.

My favorite way to enjoy pesto is served over warm pasta, or as a dressing for salad. On Saturday I stirred a big dollop into a bowl of delicious homemade gnocchi. Then, last night, I spread it on my vegetable panini. Even better, to my delight, my daughter has recently become obsessed with pesto and now eats it almost daily. Her favorite preparation is when I toss it with fresh cheese tortellini – I call it her “tortellini pesto bowl” – which she wolfs down without a second thought. I look forward to the day when I can explain that her favorite sauce is made with the plants she “harvests” from the backyard. I think she will be thrilled.

I have two degrees, a B.A. in Psychology and a PhD in Belgian Studies. I earned my B.A. the traditional way, four years of courses, capped off with a 100-page senior thesis. My PhD, however, is a different story. During summers in college I was an intern for Vanberg & DeWulf, the premiere Belgian beer importing company in the US. My job responsibilities were the typical unglamorous intern tasks, I sealed envelopes, organized food events, filed press clippings and did essentially anything else they asked of me. I didn’t mind though, my time working for Wendy and Don was an unparalleled learning experience, akin to having a private tourguide to the cuisine and culture of Belgium.

In the two summers, and several school vacations, I worked at V&DeW I learned all about the fantastic world of mussels and frites, real waffles, Axel Vervoordt, artisanal cheeses and chocolates, Tin-Tin, and, of course, Belgian-style home cooking. In fact, my first day of work Wendy handed me a copy of Ruth’s book, Everybody Eats Well in Belgium, and my parent’s and I cooked from it, exclusively, for two months straight. The whole experience was a little strange for me at first, having listened to everyone wax poetic about France and it’s culinary treasures I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Belgium. I mean, why had I never heard much about this country? Did it want to be ignored? It turns out that the country of Belgium is just very small which is why people seem to have an easier job dismissing it then, say, Italy or Spain. But, I can attest, Belgium is packed with cultural treasures and talented people, it deserves it’s share of the spotlight.

There are many delectable Belgian recipes and anecdotes I plan to share with you over time (Beer battered onion rings! Beef Carbonnade! Artisanal Beers!), but today I am going to start with one of my family’s favorites, Coq a la Biere. This recipe is Belgium’s answer to France’s popular dish Coq au vin, and is perfect to make for a Sunday dinner. The preparation takes time, but is simple and doesn’t require any complicated techniques. One of the biggest ways I save time is to have my butcher (“you have to know your butcher!”), cut the chicken into eight pieces since I hate doing it at home. Once I begin the process of making the dish it simply becomes a matter of slowly adding the ingredients, deglazing the pan, and then letting everything simmer away in dark beer with a fragrant bouquet garni. After almost an hour of simmering the chicken becomes moist and tender, and the beer transforms into a delicious nutty flavored sauce. The finishing touch of the meal is to add a quick dash of cream to the beer sauce, which I serve spooned over the chicken alongside a big green salad. Most of the time the leftovers from this meal will feed my family for at least two or three days, though sometimes I snag the drumsticks during the day and take them to the park for a picnic.

For my next round of Belgian stories I will definitely go into more detail about Belgium’s beer culture and, of course, share more recipes. I also can’t wait to explore the fascinating experiment by the city of Ghent to go vegetarian once a week in an attempt to lose weight and save the planet. But, until then, I encourage you to research this fantastic country yourself and maybe even plan a trip. There is so much to love about it that Arthur Frommer himself wrote a book called “A Masterpiece called Belgium,” which, I think, says it all. Genieten!

For our family, Memorial Day marks the beginning of road trip season. As summer begins, and the scenery in New England reaches its peak, my husband and I love nothing more than to strap our daughter into her car seat, buckle our seat belts and hit the open road. With our GPS activated we enjoy smooth scenic trips to visit friends and family, sprinkled with side jaunts to our favorite foodie restaurants along the way. Sometimes, of course, our trips go haywire, like when a highway suddenly shuts down due to fire, or my daughter experiences a rare bout of carsickness. I chalk up these unfortunate moments to being an integral part of the family vacation experience, they are totally unavoidable, but easy to forget. In fact, there is really only one part of our trips that I always remember and unequivocally hate: arriving home. Every time we start unloading the car my travel-induced relaxation wears off and I snap into household mode, thinking about loads of laundry, stacks of mail, and, of course, what to make for dinner.

When we returned from Martha’s Vineyard on Monday evening there was very little food in the house. At first I thought I might get away with not cooking until I noted my daughter’s pouty expression, she was obviously hungry. So, working quickly, I pulled my go-to recipe binder off the shelf, took stock of my pantry and got to work on an Emergency Meal. During the warmer months I prefer to make lighter meals which is why I chose to make this hearty salad. It is full of fresh peppery arugula, tangy goat cheese and sweet sausage. In lieu of vinaigrette I merely add a cup of cooked pasta with a drizzle of pasta water to melt the cheese, this creates a light dressing that doesn’t overpower the delicate greens.

Of all my summer Emergency Meals this one was perfect for cooking on Monday evening. I had all the ingredients on hand and, since there were no difficult cooking techniques involved, it was a cinch for me to quickly pull together while a ravenous toddler whimpered at my feet. To make it, I first boiled the pasta in salted water and heated the chicken sausage in a skillet. The remainder of the ingredients were ready to eat right out of the refrigerator, thus all I had to do was assemble the salad in a big bowl. The entire preparation took less than twenty minutes and yielded a deliciously filling meal, much to the happiness of my hungry family. As I ate my helping I realized that the worst part of coming home from our trip was already over. All I had left to do was the laundry.

My favorite way to celebrate the start of summer is with a rockin’ family cookout full of great food. In my household we plan many of these summer feasts weeks in advance, making lists of all the drinks and dishes we want to serve, then compiling recipes to form the desired menu. Since our cookouts mostly take place in either Martha’s Vineyard or Cooperstown we typically make dishes that are influenced by ingredients from the local area. This way, when we shop at the farm stands and markets in the town we are visiting, we are able to procure the freshest, most delicious ingredients. This year our Memorial Day banquet was one for the books. The weather was sunny and warm, my daughter was beside herself with excitement at the local parade, and the food was perfect.

When we are on the Vineyard the main feature of our cookout is usually some kind of fish. Our whole family adores seafood and, luckily, living on a island means there is always a bounty of locally caught fresh fish available at the markets. This year we opted for swordfish steaks for our cookout, it is a meatier game fish that is packed with flavor and worked well with our menu. One of my favorite parts about preparing fresh seafood is that it requires only the simplest of instructions. For swordfish I employ an old trick my father-in-law taught me, I simply spread a thin coat of mayonnaise on each side of the steak, to seal in the moisture and flavor, then grill it for seven minutes per side. Every single time I use this technique the swordfish turns out perfectly cooked and is moist and flavorful. When I made it this weekend I was able to grill our steaks in fourteen minutes and then tented them for ten minutes so they could rest, leaving my daughter and I plenty of time to collect a few shells on the beach.

Since summer is just beginning I have included my cookout menu from Memorial Day below, maybe it will give you some ideas for your next outdoor event. The dishes I have listed are some personal favorites, they are a cinch to prepare and are completely family friendly. As testimony to this fact, all of us at the table devoured our meals and, embarrassingly enough, had second helpings. No matter though, we were able to work it off after dinner with a big family game of badminton, bringing the perfect end to a great cookout.

Naptime Chef’s Memorial Day Cookout 2009 Menu (all homemade)
Roasted Vegetable & Mozzarella Salad (recipe to be posted in June)
Cous-Cous with Pecans, Cranberries and Blue Cheese (recipe to be posted in June)
Swordfish Steaks
Cole Slaw
Naptime Chef Go-to Brownies, with Vanilla Ice Cream
Wine & Beer