Congratulations to my cousin Ashley and her husband Garrett on their new baby boy!
This little cutie made his debut on March 7, 2012 at 4:46 pm. He was 8 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long.
Lucky for them, Ashley's sister-in-law, Angie, is an extremely talented professional photographer. Check out some of these beautiful photos that were taken just days later:
Since Ashley, the sis, and I have been close since childhood (you may or may not be familiar with the NicKayLeys), I pretty much consider myself his Aunt Monica (as opposed to... First Cousin, Once Removed Monica). So let the cheek-pinching commence!
A few months ago, Ashley had this brilliant idea (that I am totally stealing one day) to ask friends and family members to paint pictures of animals on canvas for Xavier's jungle-themed room.
Being the superb artists that we are, Patrick and I took this task on with great enthusiasm. I chose to paint a giraffe, which I later named Bernstein.
Patrick painted a crocodile (alligator?)...
and then an ape (gorilla?). Overachiever.
There appears to be an obvious gap in talent between us. I will let you form your own opinion on who the true artist in the family is. :)
~
On another note, our Scenic Route to Chicago, which I am now re-dubbing the Summer of Insanity officially starts in two weeks! (Well, two for me, three for the husb). I can't wait!
Here is a tentative list of cities we are hoping to visit:
Annapolis, MD
Incheon City, South Korea
Guiyang, China
Jidao Village, China
Guilin, China
Yangshuo, China
Shanghai, China
Philadelphia, PA
Gettysburg, PA
Baltimore, MD
Columbus, OH
South Bend, IN
Chicago, IL
Kansas City, KS
Wichita, KS
South Sioux City, NE
The Black Hills, SD
Los Angeles, CA
Seoul, South Korea
The Hawking Hills in OH
Instanbul, Turkey...?
I don't recall my first experience eating pesto, but I'm pretty sure it came pre-made from a jar. And I don't recall my first experience making pesto at home, but I know it involved a food processor. I do, however, recall the first time I made pesto in a mortar and pestle (it happened just last week after all), and let me tell you... this pesto is unforgettable.
As we know, pesto is an uncooked sauce typically made with basil, toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic, and olive oil. It originated in Genoa in northern Italy and didn't become popular in the United States until the 1980's and 1990's.
Nowadays people make every kind of variation imaginable, replacing the basil with arugula (we make an outstanding arugula pesto at the restaurant for our scallop dish), mint (I made this for a market basket at school and served it with hand-made pasta and grilled, skewered lamb tenderloin), parsley, spinach, or even peas (I'm obsessed with this recipe for pea pesto). It can also be made with walnuts, almonds, or cashews instead of pine nuts (which are really expensive by the way), pecorino cheese, and even sun-dried tomatoes.
Last week I was having a conversation with the sous chef about my awesome mortar and pestle that I got for Christmas (thank you Bill and Sue!). This was after he threatened to have me make the 6 gallons of butternut squash soup I was working on in a mortar and pestle if I wouldn't stop complaining about it. To which I told him I wouldn't mind since I love mortar and pestles. I'm probably lucky we don't have one around the restaurant otherwise I think he seriously would have taken me up on it.
Anyway, he told me I had to try making pesto in it sometime... that it was hands-down the best pesto you could ever make. I had never thought of making pesto this way before (though it made sense since food processors haven't been around that long), so I looked it up and found out that pesto, which comes from an Italian word meaning "pounded," is traditionally made in a mortar and pestle. Huh, go figure.
My mortar and pestle. His name is Morton.
I hadn't planned on making pesto that week, but I saw a big, bright bunch of basil at the store and somehow it ended up in my shopping cart. My subconscious had made the decision for me.
The first thing you realize when you start making pesto in a mortar and pestle is what a magnetically aromatic experience it is. With each ingredient you add, you are hit with a new scent. You can literally sense the pesto coming together and transforming from individual raw ingredients to one cohesive entity, which you don't really get when everything is caged in the plastic bowl of a food processor.
The second thing you realize is the pain you will endure in your arms from all that pounding and muddling. It's kind of a labor of love, though I prefer to think of it more as a stress reliever. In other words, this pesto is best made in smaller quantities.
I started with the garlic. Two cloves for me, but use as much or as little as you like.
Bash away at it like you hate it, even though you actually love it.
Next, add the basil with some coarse salt (which helps break it down). More bashing until it forms a paste. Actually muddling is the best technique for this.
Add some grated parmesan cheese.
Add some toasted nuts. Walnuts are my favorite nuts to use in pesto. They are nice and earthy and more affordable than pine nuts.
Add some olive oil, black pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
I kept mine on the chunky side because I like the little bits in it (not because my arm was tired or anything). Also it seemed more rustic, which is always the goal with a mortar and pestle.
So now that you have this amazing sauce that you put all this work into, what do you do with it?
The great thing about pesto is how versatile it is. You could add it to a potato salad, throw it on a pizza, slather it on a leg of lamb, serve it alongside grilled fish, use it as a marinade or a dipping sauce, mix it in a vinaigrette, toss it with some gnocchi...
Personally, I always love pesto with turkey. Especially on sandwiches. So I decided to roast a turkey breast and put it on a sandwich. If you don't have an extra two hours on hand, you can buy turkey already roasted at the store, but I just roasted one myself.
Place the turkey breast on a rack and season it with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil on top.
Roast it in the oven at 325F until it reaches an internal temperature of 165F or until the juices run clear (about and hour and a half to two hours). Truth be told, when it was cooked, I stuck mine under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp the skin more.
Let it rest for 5-10 minutes, then remove the breast from the bone.
Slice the breast into thin strips.
Now the good part. Combine the pesto with a little bit of mayo.
Slather it on some multi-grain bread with a couple slices of tomato.
Add the turkey slices.
Top it.
And enjoy! Maybe with some veggie chips and some grapes. Or whatever you want.
Of course I still had a lot of pesto leftover after that, so the next day I went the traditional route and tossed it with some pasta. I used this Piccolini carrots and squash pasta, which apparently has a full serving of veggies.
Which is why I'm going to share this earth-shatteringly delicious, unbelievably simple, and surprisingly healthyClassic Tortilla Soup.
Are you convinced yet?
I got this recipe from watching Marcela Valladolid's Food Network show Mexican Made Easy. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Unlike Tex-Mex which tends to be heavy and laden with calories, her recipes are light, authentic, and simple. And they always look delicious. You can watch a demo of her making this particular soup here.
I'm probably the last person you would ask about authentic Mexican food (somehow I don't think my spring break in Acapulco senior year of college counts... it might even give me negative points). BUT, apparently this recipe is about as authentic as they come.
So naturally I've made a few adjustments to it... but at least I don't think they compromise the integrity of the soup in any way.
The idea behind this soup is that the vegetables are blackened in a pan, pureed, and simmered with chicken stock. It's really that simple.
I've tried blackening mine in a pan before, but since I don't have a cast-iron skillet like the one Marcela uses, it's nearly impossible to clean the pan afterwards. Not ideal.
So instead I pop them under the broiler and let them blacken away that way. I also have this theory that roasting the vegetables would be delicious as it would concentrate the flavors, but I haven't tried this technique yet.
SO, place an onion (sliced in half), 2-4 garlic cloves, a New Mexico Chile (sometimes I use jalapenos or pablanos), and 4 large plum tomatoes under the broiler. OR blacken them in a cast-iron skillet.
Throw them into a blender (remove the peel of the garlic cloves but the skin can be left on the tomatoes and pepper). Add about a cup of chicken stock and the secret ingredient: two corn tortillas.
Blend away until it looks like a thick tomato smoothie.
Simmer it with 4-5 cups of chicken stock. You want it to simmer at least 30 minutes until it thickens. It's even better if you let it cool at this point and allow it to sit in the refrigerator overnight.
Now add whatever garnishes you want. Marcela adds avocado, queso fresco, Mexican creme, and corn tortillas chips that she fried herself.
I added tortilla chips that I bought from the store, shredded cheese, shredded chicken, corn, jalapeno slices, sour cream, and avocado. But feel free to add whatever you want. I think the tortilla chips are kind of crucial though (hence the name of the soup).
1 small white onion or a 1-inch-thick slice of a large white onion, peeled
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 medium dried New Mexico chile, stemmed, seeded, and torn into large pieces
6 cups chicken broth
2 corn tortillas, torn into 1-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Tortilla strips:
6 corn tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch wide strips
Vegetable oil, for shallow frying
6 to 8 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, optional for garnish
Mexican sour cream or regular sour cream, for serving
2 avocados, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes or slices
1 queso fresco or mild feta cheese, crumbled
Directions
Soup: Heat a heavy saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes, peeled onion, and unpeeled garlic cloves. Roast, turning frequently, until the garlic is soft, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic when soft, but slightly blackened. Peel the garlic and set aside. Add the chile and continue to cook for another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove the onion and set aside. Continue to cook the tomatoes until charred and blackened, another 5 minutes. Put the garlic, chile, onion, tomatoes, tortillas, and 2 cups chicken broth in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a large saucepan and add the remaining 4 cups chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Tortilla strips: In a medium, heavy skillet, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 1/2 an inch. Heat over medium-high heat until very hot, but not smoking. Add the tortilla strips in batches and fry until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Set aside.
To serve, ladle the soup into 6 individual serving bowls. Serve whole chipotle chiles, Mexican sour cream, avocados, cheese, and tortilla strips on the side.
