Brooke's Artichoke Dip

Now that I've posted about baking something from scratch (even if I didn't do the cooking), I have to post about something simple to make, or I may end up with a rash. And, eyw, no one wants that.



When I was a freshman in college (age 19, I think), my friend Brooke would also be home, because she was still in high school. Her house was on my way back to route 17, which I took through Dwight and over to I-55 to Bloomington. And what a sad, dark journey that was, especially in winter. So Brooke's house was something I could look forward to, and help stave off the inevitable homesickness I got from going back to school on a Sunday night. I don't remember the particulars surrounding this visit, or what season it was, but I do know she and her mom sent me back to school with two slices of "white pizza" with artichoke hearts. I unwrapped the slices from their tin foil before I went to bed that night. That's because when I was 19, what I really liked to do was stay up too late, eat too much 'round the clock, and complain about why I was gaining weight, sluggish, and still a virgin.

Anyway, I was totally knocked out by what I was eating. I thought it was one of the tastiest things I'd ever eaten, and it wasn't even warmed up, as I was instructed to eat it. Brooke gave me the simple recipe, and I've used it countless times since:

2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 cup parmesan (FINELY grated -- the powdery kind)
1 cup mayonnaise (I now use Hellman's Reduced Fat, the greatest lowfat mayo ever)

To that, you can add:

1 bag of rinsed-until-thawed artichoke hearts, broken up a bit with your fingers (canned works too, but the frozen ones are much fresher-tasting), as Brooke taught me originally,
or/and
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained (I started doing this sometimes later),
or/and
1 jar drained mushrooms
or/and
a little smoked shredded jack cheese across the top (this is a "new" alternative)
and
garlic seasoning, salt and pepper to taste

Pat dry any veggies you are using with a bunch of paper or one "real" towel. Mix well until combined, and then, in one version, you can place the dip in an oven-safe container (as in the photo above). Bake it for 45 minutes or so at about 350, and check on it. I like to put it under the broiler for a minute or two at the end, and serve it with pita bread or chips. Alternatively, you can spread it on a Boboli crust instead of the casserole dish, brushed beforehand with olive oil, and with some crushed garlic scattered about (then you can serve it as a white pizza).

As many times as I've made this, I've probably screwed it up just as many times. Benefit from my mistakes... Here are some things you should not do:

• Do not add the mushrooms/spinach/artichoke hearts until they are VERY dry, drained and then toweled off.


• Do not "eyeball" the measurements. Of COURSE I have attempted that, and it has always bombed, and the end result is "mayonnaise-y." When done properly, there is no hint of the mayo at the end. This was the first dish I made my husband, ever, and there was too much mayo in it. He was reluctant to try it again. (Now he likes it, knowing what it is supposed to taste like.)


• Don't over-salt it. The parmesan is already pretty salty.


• Do not forget the parmesan. Famously, I talked this dish up like crazy to my friends in college, made it, and served it to my friend Fred without adding the parmesan. The end result was too gross to even get into describing.


• Do not use shredded parmesan instead of grated parmesan. I find that it throws off the proportions.

Let ye all take heed. I know Brooke is laughing by now.

Anyway, when I make this for Chris and I as opposed to bringing it to a party, we have a lot left over. I found a third use for it: the dip makes great grilled sandwiches later on!



Just spread the cold, refrigerated dip between bread slices, or with grilled turkey as I've done here. Grill it as you would a grilled cheese. Delish.

Thanks for the recipe, Brooke! Hope I got it right. Love to you and your mom!

Mimi's Pumpkin Cookies

You all know how much I dislike baking. I dislike the powdery mess, the multiple dishes and bowls covered in the sticky mess, and most of all I dislike the measuring -- which I normally do not do any of in my cooking. I also dislike the subsequent weight gain. If I'm gonna gain weight, I'd typically like it to be from the consumption of deep fried cheeses. I get a lot more of a thrill from those items. That's just my bent.

But now, hello Diane, take a look at these cookies!



Aren't those beautiful cookies? Yeah, and you won't see me cranking out a product like that. And I didn't. Chris made these cookies. ALL BY HIMSELF.

If you haven't been reading very long, or if you don't know us personally, you may not be dropping your jaw to the appropriate level at this moment. I'm not trying to be condescending or rude to Chris. He's one fart smeller, and downright brilliant in a lot of areas. In one or two areas, he is actually Rain Man. But he's not so much with the cooking. So when he found a recipe in the Tribune for "Mimi's Pumpkin Cookies," I had my doubts. (UPDATE: scroll down for recipe). These cookies had FROSTING on them, for crying out loud. Oh, sure! And let's just turn the sofa into a rocket and fly our fat asses to the frigging moon while we're at it!



We had a bit of the "blind leading the blind" situation at first. It isn't that I refused to help, it was just that I wasn't much help. "Is pumpkin purée the same as pumpkin pie filling?" he asked when calling from the store. I had no idea. A call to his mom confirmed that the "pie filling" variety was probably seasoned, or had other things added. Ah. I should have thought of that, owing to my years of experience with canned puréed tomatoes, vs. "tomato sauce."

He came home and got to work, and there was only one further bump in the road. And it wasn't even his fault. The printed recipe had listed an egg, but didn't actually say when to add the egg. So once Chris realized this, he scooped up the dough he had already parceled out onto the cookie sheet and blended in the egg. Then he redistributed them. The only thing I added to the process was that I suggested adding a little ginger.



I'm not usually a fan of non-chocolate items, but these cookies were just about perfect. They were lightly spicy, crunchy and delicate. Chris was generous enough to bring over half of them to work, and he was more than a little insulted when they didn't vanish right away. "Don't they know how GOOD these COOKIES ARE??" he said when he got home.

Well, I do babe. And believe me, I won't forget it! In our house, the baker's crown is officially yours. "You complete me."

P.S. I should also mention that Chris took all the photos in this entry, too! My baby is all growns up and a food blogger...

UPDATE: I totally found it. I cannot believe I located this recipe, which I had clipped out but tucked into the pages of Saveur magazine, which I then took to my in-laws to make with the mac-and-cheese recipe in the magazine. Then promptly packed away and just UNpacked a year later. Anyway, here it is, out-of-print from the Chicago Tribune, and I hope they don't mind me reprinting it by popular demand! (And btw, Mimi is the name of someone's grandmother). My additions are in italics:

For cookies:
1 cup each: granulated sugar, vegetable shortening, pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp each: baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

For icing:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tblesp. butter, milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup confectioner's sugar

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift (or whisk) the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl; stir in the vanilla and cinnamon. Set aside.

2. Beat sugar (and egg) and shortening with a mixer on medium speed until creamy; add the pumpkin puree. Beat until just mixed together; reduce mixer speed to low. Add 1/4 cup of the flour mixture, beating until combined. Repeat with remaining mixture, beating after each addition.

3. Drop by generous teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake until barely brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

4. For icing, combine the brown sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high (100% power) until brown sugar melts, about 1 and 1/2 minutes. Remove from microwave. Stir in confectioner's sugar until icing is smooth, adding a bit more milk if needed to desired consistency. Spoon icing over each cookie.

Resi's Bierstube

Happy Oktoberfest, if a bit late, to everyone! Chris and I love good beer, and we are lucky enough to have some friends that like the same types of dark brew that we do. Last year, we went to Resi's Bierstube on Irving Park Road. We didn't eat there, but we went after a meal to enjoy the beer garden and some drinks. I love the atmosphere of the place (kind of like your German grandparents rec-room, as I imagine it might be) inside and out, and if I lived in the neighborhood, I would hang out there until "everybody knew my name, and was always glad I came." We enjoyed some dark, ice-cold brews, and took some silly pictures.



I love that photo because I think Chris looks like a Berenstain Bear. Anyway. And then, there is Greg and I:



Yes, I made the face on purpose. No, I didn't expect the results to be quite that good.

Portobello-Eggplant Burgers

While I was in Portland, I visited Powell's City of Books, an amazing multiple-story used and new bookseller downtown (and apparently, the largest of its kind in the world). One of the books I scooped up was "Great Burgers: 50 Mouthwatering Recipes" by Bob Sloan. The first recipe I tried was the vegetarian burger. Aren't I silly?



This burger is called the "Portobello-Eggplant Burger with Smoked Mozzarella and Tapenade." In the book, there are instructions to grind your own olive tapenade with anchovy dressing, but I lazily got the jarred tapenade from Trader Joe's. I also like their smoky Jack cheese, and I used that instead of the smoked mozzarella the recipe called for. The recipe recommended a "sturdy roll," and that was good advice. However, I had some whole wheat pitas I wanted to use up, and they worked just fine, though the ingredients were practically busting out of them.

I grilled the portobello caps, and melted the cheese on them. Then I added a slice of grilled eggplant. I also changed the recipe by adding basil leaves, and a shmear of roasted red pepper and eggplant dip (also from Joe's.) We added sliced tomatoes, and having no room for the recommended grilled onions, we were done! It was delicious. The flavors went together perfectly, and it was one filling, monster burger. Next time I will use the sturdier roll that was recommended, so I can pile them high like Dagwood!

At the Bottom, on Top Chef

One of my favorite shows over the last month has been Bravo's Top Chef. I've watched every season so far (this is season 3), and this one has been, in my humble opinion, the best so far. So naturally, when my friend Jeff told me that his studio would be filming the finale in Chicago, I freaked out just a little bit. My friend Ann (also Jeff's wife) said, "Why don't you let Gina come be a PA, or work craft services or something? Then she could see the taping of the show." I said yes, yes Jeff, yes I think that would be a really really splendid idea. He told me he would email me about it, and (because he's a great guy like that) he actually did. I said I worked Monday and Tuesday, but luckily it worked out that I could come work Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday at craft services. And so I did.

At first, just being in a studio was pretty exciting for me. And then, just seeing "Top Chef" written on stuff was even more exciting.



Well before taping started, I was running up and down stairs, hauling crates and carts and boxes of stuff, getting dirty doing cleaning and dishes, setting up catered meals, and keeping service tables replenished all day, plus various stepping and fetching. It was pretty much some of the hardest work I've ever done, but I was thrilled to be there doing it. Right about the time they handed me a nametag that read, "Gina, Magical Elves/Top Chef," you could have knocked me over with a feather. There it was, MY NAME on the same tag as TOP CHEF. (And yes, it was magical. And I was an elf.)



On Wednesday, everything was really getting into gear and things were ramping up. Several meals and snack tables were coordinated at once -- there was a fancy VIP reception, meals to set up for the crew, meals for the Bravo crew, and meals for people filming at the studio who had nothing to do with the finale at all.

It was a lot of pressure to be helping with the FOOD on this particular show... I pictured Anthony Bourdain arriving, and telling me "This coffee tastes like hot water with a brown crayon dipped in it!!" I would have wet myself on the spot. Luckily, I was more like the "lowest of the low," and there were some real chefs behind Top Chef.





Several VIP areas were ready, including the rooftop.



I had my misgivings about working around showbiz types, but for the most part, everyone was pretty cool and funny. The resident staff was really spectacular. (But of course, they are all midwesterners.) They all had much more patience with special requests than I did, and did their jobs with a lot of aplomb and tact (the last bit being the part that I could not do full time).

Right about the time they set up for filming on Wednesday, I got my first celeb sighting: there she was, Padma Lakshmi herself. I nearly poured hot coffee all over myself peering around a set piece at her. She seemed like a lovely person, full of mirth and a friendly attitude every time I saw her. And I think she's even prettier in person. A girl who was with me said, "I thought she'd be taller." I thought she was one of the tallest women I'd ever seen. She was what I would call "willowy." Every time she walked around a corner, or past the kitchen, everyone would rush to the doorway and stare until she was out of sight.



At first, she did some rehearsing with stand-ins.



The next time I had a chance to look? There they were. All of the judges: Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Ted Allen. Woo! I got chills watching from the catwalk. Even the appropriate music was playing. (If you watch the show, you know what I mean. It precedes them saying, "Please pack your knives and go.")



I stood and waited for Ted Allen to look up at me, and he did. I waved, and he waved back. Here is a transcript of the conversation we had:

Me: Love you!
Ted: Thanks! What are you doing up there?
Me: We're spying on everyone. It's like a fishtank.
Ted: Are you hiding from your boss?
Me: You've got my number, Ted!

And I didn't pee in my pants. Not even a little bit.

Other run-ins to note: I stood and watched all the cheftestants coming in and speaking to one another, and I had a WHOLE ELEVATOR RIDE with Gail Simmons. The other PA and I just stood there looking at one another with shit-eating grins on our faces while she spoke with her assistant.

One thing more to note... I had heard rumors that Padma and Tom C. might be dating. Well, I won't remark on that, because honestly, I don't know anything about that. But you might want to take a look at how closely they sit to one another. Ve-e-ery long sofa. Ve-e-ery close together. (I'm just noticing.)



I expect they are just very good friends. Cough.

I can also report that when I came in Thursday morning, the cast had all partied like the proverbial rock stars. I won't say who was reported to have knocked the most cocktails back, but their names both start with a "T." And I'll let you guess who cleaned it all up. Her name starts with a "G."



But I must say, nothing ilicit, illegal, or even a single cigarette butt. So who can blame them? It was the finale, after all.

And for my finale, the wonderful lady that runs craft services let my giddy coworker and I run some special veggie and fruit trays up to the finalists, who looked very tired and in need of refreshment.



When we went up, only Hung and Casey were in the waiting area. Here is a transcript of our conversation (the other PA was too timid to say anything, I think):

Me: Hello, chefs!
H & C: (trying to muster friendliness) Hello...
Me: How are you?
H & C: (Hung again struggling through what I imagine is jet-lag.) Gooood...
Me: You sound great!!
H & C: (Both laugh.)
Me: Do you guys need anything else? Besides a pizza? (the contestants had called up to the kitchen asking if we had any pizza, which I thought was funny)
H & C: (Both laugh again.)
Me: Okay then. Hey, do you guys mind if I get a picture with you? You're the whole reason I'm here today.
H & C: Are we really??
Me: Yeah! I'm really a dental hygienist!
H & C: Well, SURE!!

They were SO nice, both of them. I was prepared to stand there awkwardly, but they both immediately threw their arms over my shoulders like we were old friends, leaving me only to wish that I hadn't gotten myself so sweaty running up and down the stairs.



I was grinning long afterwards. Later, I wished I had ordered them all a Lou Malnati's pizza, had it delivered and signed the card... But there just wasn't time. I can't believe how much manpower, money, food and time it takes just to do what I think turned out to be about four minutes of live air time. On Thursday, they filmed the reunion show, which airs this week. On both days, I worked the day shift and didn't stay until evening for the actual taping. I was too exhausted!

Thanks Jeff... It was a great experience, and totally worth it. (But I think I will most definitely keep my day job. I get to sit down more...)

Katie, Kaci, Jen and I had an evening in Portland that I haven't documented, at a restaurant called Ten01 downtown... But unfortunately, none of my pictures turned out (left the good camera at home, again.) Still, not much of a loss there... I didn't think the food was that noteworthy. My foie gras and my clams were nice and not disappointing (except that it was probably my most expensive meal in Portland), but nothing to write home about, as they say. My favorite part of the meal was Jen's dessert, the churros with a chocolatey sauce. Katie got a dessert, too, but it was so very heavy with lavender I felt that I was eating a bar of soap.

More enjoyable to me was Yuki's Sushi on a different day. Ready to hear this old superlative tune again? Best sushi I've ever had. Really! I guess you can't beat the more coastal towns for seafood. Katie hit the nail on the head again with this one.

We started with some warm miso soup, then moved on to the sushi. Katie had the sashimi (the small fish fillet cuts on rice), and I had some tuna rolls with cream cheese, avocado, and cucumber. Lord, they were good.



My favorite, though, was the crunchy salmon rolls. The fried rolls had just a little spice, some crunch, and a deliciously balanced flavor that you just gotta go try for yourself.



Meanwhile, you might be thinking, what is poor Christopher eating back home? He had the wonderful idea of documenting it for me. He forgot to take a picture of his very first creation, a Boboli crust pizza, made with some of the leftover taco meat that I had made the day before I left. He said that he forgot the cheese should go on top, and he mistakenly placed the meat on the cheese. He said it was a burnt, runny mess and was sorry he didn't take a picture, because "I really would have loved it." His next meal was again, taco meat, this time on tortilla chips.



Next up: having run out of pizza crusts, and tortilla chips, Chris placed yet more taco meat on toast.



After that, Chris went to his brother's place and stayed for a couple of days. The reason was not just because he had run out of taco meat, but because he and his two brothers ran the Chicago Half Marathon, and they all finished together. Afterwards, they went to Cheeseburger in Paradise for drinks. Chris and his aversion to Jimmy Buffet resisted this suggestion for a long time, but he finally went, and had to admit he enjoyed the frozen "girlie" drinks. And it was well-earned, if you ask me.