Welcome!
You'll find over 400 of my favorite recipes here, including ideas for Quick meals, Cooking for 2, Feasting on Leftovers, and cooking with 5 Ingredients or Less. I'm adding new posts regularly; you can subscribe by email or RSS feed if you'd like to receive the latest recipes. Bon appétit!
Julia Child’s Salade Composée
By Kath Dedon
.
Too hot to cook. That was last week in Seattle. Too hot and smoky for a lot of outdoor activities. We were, and still are, covered in smoke that is being blown south from the 100+ wildfires burning in British Columbia. We were under a burn ban last week that included a ban on charcoal fires.
The air quality improved a bit over the weekend so the burn ban was lifted. We still can’t see the mountains because of the haze, but it did cool off last night.
Last week we had easy hot weather meals like Dilled Shrimp Salad, one of my favorites. I also tried a new recipe – Julia Child’s Salade Composée (Main-course Combination Salad). It was a great meal for a hot summer night! If you already have hard-boiled eggs on hand, which we did, there is absolutely nothing to cook.
I found the recipe in Julia’s cookbook based on her first public television series, The French Chef. The French Chef Cookbook has all of her recipes from that series. She describes the salad as “a handsomely arranged combination salad” for a “spur-of-the-moment meal”.
Julia writes the recipe in one simple paragraph, giving directions on how to put it together. She doesn’t give amounts for the ingredients; you can adjust it depending on how many people you are serving. She arranges it all on one large serving dish to be brought to the table.
Since I was cooking for two, I decided to arrange the salad on two dinner plates. Bob and I each got our own Salade Composée.
When I made this last week it was too hot to turn on my bright lights and get out my camera to take photos. I just snapped a few photos with my iPhone because I thought I might want to share it.
Last week it was TOO HOT to edit photos and write a blog post. This morning it has cooled off enough that I am eager to share this recipe. Salade Composée is definitely a keeper and I’ll be pinning it to my Hot Summer Nights board on Pinterest. 😉
I hope you’ll enjoy this Salade Composée as much as Bob and I did. I love the combination of all of the great flavors. It’s a perfect one to remember when it’s too hot to cook!
P.S. Please join me in thinking good thoughts for our neighbors in BC – for those whose lives are being impacted by the fires (many have had to be evacuated from their homes) and for the brave firefighters (some from as far away as Mexico) who are working so hard to contain the fires.
.
.
Salade Composée (Main-Course Combination Salad)
Adapted from Julia Child’s recipe in The French Chef Cookbook
.
.
Serves 2
.
This recipe is easily adaptable to suit your needs. Increase the ingredients to serve more people. Substitute another kind of fish or chicken for the tuna.
.
Vinaigrette (recipe at follows the salad recipe)
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans (I used 50% less sodium.)
1 cup raw zucchini, sliced
¾ cup raw mushrooms, sliced
Mixed salad greens (about 3 cups)
1 hard-cooked egg, quartered
10 grape (or cherry) tomatoes, cut in half
12 black olives (I used seedless Kalamata)
4 – 6 anchovy fillets
1 can of good-quality tuna
Chopped parsley (Optional garnish)
.
- If you don’t have a hard-cooked egg, get that going first. I highly recommend this method.
- Make the Vinaigrette (recipe below)
- Drain and rinse the beans, put them in a bowl and stir 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette into them.
- Put the mushrooms in another bowl and add 1 tablespoon of the vinaigrette.
- Put the zucchini in a third bowl and add 1 tablespoon of the vinaigrette.
- Allow the beans, mushrooms, and zucchini to marinate for 20 – 30 minutes.
.
Vegetables marinating
,
7. Toss the greens with about 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette.
8. Divide the salad greens between two dinner plates.
9. Divide about 1 cup of the marinated beans between the two plates (1/2 cup each). You will have left-over beans for the next day.
10. Arrange the rest of the salad ingredients around the beans. Pour a bit more vinaigrette over the salad (especially the ingredients that had not been marinated) and sprinkle with parsley if desired.
.
Julia Child’s Vinaigrette
.
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
6 tablespoons best-quality olive oil
A few grinds of pepper
.
Put all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously to combine.
.
.
.
This is our view of the Olympic Mountains on a clear January day (1-4-17)
.
The same view last week. There were no clouds. It was all smoke.
8-2-2017
.
8-5-2017
.
8-6-2017
.
Forecast last Thursday (8-3-2017): SMOKE
(The little suns imply that the forecast was for sunny skies. It’s true that there were no clouds, but it wasn’t clear and sunny. It was smoky. 😦 )
Share this:
Bob’s Big 7-0 Birthday Bash
By Kath Dedon
.
There’s no recipe today. I decided that I wanted to write about Bob’s Big 7-0 Birthday Bash, mostly so we can remember all of the details later and relive the fun day. I also wanted to give a shout-out to Café Turko so Seattle area people will know about this great Turkish restaurant and what a fine job they do with catering. My next post will feature a new recipe!
.
Clockwise, starting on the left: Byron, Bob, Kath, Rhett, Carrie, and Laura (Thanks to my sister, Joan, for taking this picture. And a big thanks to Laura for taking almost all of the rest of the photos. I took the one of Byron and his ribs, and the final photo of the festive room two days later.)
.
A few months ago Laura and Carrie were at our house and they said, “Dad, you have a big birthday coming up. You need a party and we’ll do everything!” And they did!
Bob came up with the guest list and gave it to Laura. She designed and sent out the evites. She kept track of the RSVPs. Laura also secretly made a fabulous poster board of photos of Bob, “70 Years of Bob”. He was totally surprised and loved it.
Carrie contacted the caterer who had done such a fabulous job at the party she and Rhett hosted for their out-of-state wedding guests last year. So we had Café Turko cater Bob’s party, too.
On July 10 we had a beer tasting at The Beer Junction in West Seattle and decided to order a half barrel of Fremont Brewing Company’s Lush IPA and a quarter barrel of Georgetown Brewing Company’s Manny’s Pale Ale. Everyone seemed to enjoy the beer selections.
The owners of Café Turko are the nicest people! Gencer and Süreyya Gökeri obviously take great joy in sharing their Turkish food and culture with the people of Seattle. Süreyya is the accomplished chef behind the homemade food. She started catering even before they opened the Café and she has taught Turkish cooking classes. I know that they both work hard delivering the catered food. Süreyya brought the food to our house for Carrie and Rhett’s party, and Gencer delivered the food for Bob’s party last Saturday. (He mentioned that they were catering 4 events that day!)
The food at Café Turko is exquisite! Here’s what Carrie and Süreyya chose for Bob’s party:
.
Muhammara (A red pepper and walnut spread)
Watermelon Salad with Cherries
Dolmas (Stuffed Grape Leaves)
Rainbow Hummus (3 kinds: chickpea, yam, and beet)
Snowballs (a delicious cauliflower and Brussels sprouts salad)
Ali Nazik with Chicken (Grilled spiced chicken served with yogurt and grilled eggplant sauce and Antep seasonings. Ali Nazik means made with gentle hands.)
Wholesome Aegean Musakka (Eggplant, onions, green peppers, garlic, tomatoes, Turkish red pepper paste, parsley and olive oil and spices.)
Pita bread
On the day of the party (July 15) Carrie and Rhett stopped at Costco for wine and bottled water. Rhett and Byron picked up and set up the kegs. Rhett was a helpful bartender, pouring glasses of wine and beer.
.
It didn’t really feel like 91 people. People came and went at different times and they spread out in the yard and upstairs and downstairs.
Gencer and one of his sons delivered the food right on time. We had so many people comment on how much they liked the food!
Some of the food. Gencer hadn’t brought all of it in yet.
.
Byron had his own surprise for Bob’s birthday dinner. He smoked 20 pounds of pork ribs – 6 racks of St. Louis-style spare ribs! (Byron has become an incredible grill master and smoker. His home-cured home-smoked bacon is the best!) I believe he used a dry rub on all of the ribs, and then he made a BBQ sauce that he brushed on half of them. Both versions were fantastic!
For dessert, Laura ordered a full sheet cake from Safeway. She chose Safeway mainly because they could use a photo of Bob from his 60th birthday and turn it into an edible photo on the cake. Very festive, but I didn’t really expect people to eat much cake. But it was actually very good and most of it got eaten. We were glad we decided to order a full sheet cake (serves 80 – 100) instead of a half sheet.
.
After dinner Byron set up the trebuchet. Because it’s not a summer event at Chez Dedon without seeing how far you can toss potatoes with the trebuchet. (A few years ago Byron ordered the plans to build a 3-foot trebuchet, but he and Bob decided that it had to be 6-feet tall so they scaled it up. Bob built it and they still have fun with it.)
.
And after the party, Laura, Byron, Carrie, and Rhett did the clean-up. Rhett did all of the hand washing. Byron returned the kegs a couple of days later. 🙂
We ended up having a total of 91 people at Bob’s Big 7-0 Birthday Bash! We were touched and humbled to have so many people come, including friends and family from California and Oregon. Bob’s a “people person” and we are blessed with so many great friends. There were friends at the party that he has known since junior high! We had an absolute blast and everyone else seemed to have a good time, too.
Thank you to all who joined us, and a huge thank you to our remarkable “kids” who made it happen!
And a tip to all who live in the Seattle area or plan a visit, do try Café Turko in Fremont! Their food is amazing! And definitely consider them for your catering needs. They’re very professional, easy to work with, and are very reasonably priced.
Happy 70th Birthday, Bob!
Still festive two days later!
.
Share this:
Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
By Kath Dedon
.
This Roasted Shrimp Cocktail from Ina Garten is super easy for entertaining! I roasted 5.25 pounds last weekend to take to a gathering of 30 people. It was very well received. I had purchased frozen shrimp, let them defrost in the refrigerator overnight, and then peeled and deveined them. Peeling and deveining them was the most difficult part of the recipe. And it actually wasn’t difficult, it just took some time with 5.25 pounds.
Yesterday I bought 1½ pounds of fresh peeled and deveined shrimp to make it again. The shrimp were large (21 – 25 shrimp per pound). I tossed them on a baking sheet with the oil, salt and pepper and popped them into the preheated oven. I can almost hear Ina say, “How easy is that!”
I got a lot of complements last weekend for the shrimp and the cocktail sauce. Roasting the shrimp does make a difference; it enhances the sweetness and flavor of the shrimp.
The cocktail sauce is the classic sauce that has been popular forever. This version is simply doctored-up ketchup and chili sauce, but just a tiny bit of effort makes it much tastier than bottled cocktail sauce. You can control how spicy you want it with the horseradish and Tabasco. I used Ina’s amounts and thought it was just right, but you could adjust it to suit your taste.
The peeled and deveined shrimp made the recipe amazingly easy! And, it can be made the day before for stress-free entertaining. I made them yesterday to enjoy with my family tonight before going to Crawfish House to celebrate Bob’s birthday!
Happy Birthday to Bob!
.
.
Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
(Adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe on Food Network)
.
.
Serves 6 – 8
.
1½ – 2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt (use a bit less if you use table salt)
A few grinds of black pepper
.
- Preheat the oven to 400°.
- Put the shrimp on a rimmed baking sheet large enough to hold them in a single layer.
.
- Pour the oil over the shrimp. Sprinkle the salt over them. Grind some pepper over them. Toss gently with your hands until the oil, salt and pepper are well distributed. Spread the shrimp out on the baking sheet.
.
- Roast for about 8 minutes, or until just done. Set aside to cool. Refrigerate if not serving right away.
.
- Serve with Cocktail Sauce
.
Cocktail Sauce
.
½ cup ketchup
½ cup chili sauce (I used Heinz, which Ina Garten recommends.)
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon Tabasco
.
- Stir all ingredients together. Refrigerate if not serving right away.
.
.
Share this:
Vermouth Mussels
By Kath Dedon
.
We had Vermouth Mussels last night and I just don’t know why I don’t buy mussels more often! They were so good, and they’re really simple to prepare.
I chose Deb Perelman’s recipe in The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Her recipe is “Vermouth Mussels with Tarragon Oven Fries”. Her method of making the oven fries sounds like perfection. (And her photos of the fries are mouth-watering.) As much as I love potatoes, I decided to skip them last night and just make the mussels to serve with a salad.
The secret to great mussels is to get them fresh from a reliable seafood vendor and to clean them just before cooking. If you search the Internet, you’ll find a lot of different ways to clean the mussels. I went with Deb’s method. It was simple and worked fine. It involved a 10 – 15 minute soak in cold water. Then I scrubbed them and pulled the beards off. Ready to go!
As Deb says, two pounds of mussels will serve 2 – 4 people. If served with the oven fries or some other hearty side dish, two pounds would serve 4. Served alone, with just a salad, it was a wonderful dinner for 2! Bread would have been good to dip in the flavorful broth. (Truth be told, we may have used mussel shells to sip some of the broth.)
.
Vermouth Mussels on the deck
.
Vermouth Mussels
(Adapted from Deb Perelman’s recipe in The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook)
.
.
Serves 2 – 4
.
2 pounds mussels
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup minced shallots or minced white onion (I used shallots.)
½ cup dry white vermouth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
.
- Clean the mussels. Put them in a large pot and cover with cold water. Let them sit for 10 – 15 minutes. Scrub each one under running water with a brush and remove any “beards”. Pull the beard towards the hinge to remove. (Deb says pulling in the other direction could prematurely kill the mussel. So pull toward the hinge.) Put the mussels in a large bowl or colander as you clean them.
- Quickly wash out the large pot and put it on the stove. Add the butter, shallots, and vermouth. Bring to a boil.
.
3. Put the mussels in the pot. Cover and boil for about 3 minutes. Shake the pan a few times during this boil.
4. Open the pot and use tongs to remove the mussels that are open. Put them in bowls. Continue to boil the mussels, removing them as they open. (All but 4 of my mussels opened. Toss those that do not open.)
.
5. Bring the broth to a full boil and boil for about 1 minute. Ladle the broth over the mussels, garnish with the tarragon and serve. (Ladle it instead of pouring just in case there is any sand on the bottom.)
.
Empty shells
.
.
Share this:
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
By Kath Dedon
.
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas was a hit at Chez Dedon last night! Bob declared that it was perfectly seasoned, and I had to agree.
I had saved Toni’s recipe from her Boulder Locavore blog to Pinterest. I ran across it again yesterday and decided to make it. Click on the link for her blog if you want to see the video she posted about the recipe. She used a gallon bag to marinate the ingredients, but I thought a bowl might be easier, so that’s what I used. You can refrigerate the ingredients to marinate for up to 24 hours or you can just let them marinate for the time that it takes your oven to preheat. We found the flavor was great even after a short marinating time.
Fajitas are traditionally served with hot flour tortillas. Toni uses corn tortillas to make it gluten free. She recommends wrapping tortillas in foil and putting them in the oven with the sheet pan for the last ten minutes .
I skipped the tortillas and served the Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas over a bed of just-harvested lettuce from our yard. It made a great low-carb, main-dish salad for a warm night.
However you choose to serve them, I highly recommend Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas! I topped ours with sliced avocado and a bit of sour cream for me. Other toppings that could be used might be guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo, or shredded cheese.
.
.
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
(Adapted from a recipe on boulderlocavore.com)
.
.
Serves 4
.
¼ cup oil
1 tablespoon chili powder
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large red bell pepper, cut vertically into ½-inch slices
1 large orange bell pepper, cut vertically into ½-inch slices
1 large yellow bell pepper, cut vertically into ½-inch slices
1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced vertically into ½-inch wedges
1 – 1.33 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 1.33 lbs.), sliced across the breast in ½-inch slices
Lettuce for serving
.
1 package tortillas (optional)
.
Suggested toppings: avocado slices or guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, pico de gallo
.
- Whisk the oil, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic together in a large bowl.
Ingredients before whisking
.
2. Put the peppers and onion in the marinade and stir well.
.
3. Put chicken in the bowl and stir the chicken and vegetables together well so the marinade is evenly distributed. At this point you can cover the bowl and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. It will be good, though, with just 20 minutes time while the oven is heating.
4. Preheat the oven to 400°.
5. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.
6. Spread the ingredients out on the baking sheet.
.
7. Roast for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven to stir.
9. Put the sheet pan back in the oven. (Also put foil wrapped tortillas in the oven, if you’re using them.) Roast for 10 more minutes.
10. Remove from the oven and serve over a bed of lettuce or with the tortillas. Top with your toppings of choice.
.
.
.
.
Share this:
Keto Ground Lamb Casserole
By Kath Dedon
.
This spring has been full of a lot of feasting opportunities with the trips to Florida and New York and the celebration of several family birthdays. Between the feasts Bob and I have been eating simpler meals and watching the carbs. This Ground Lamb Casserole from Maria Emmerich’s Quick and Easy Ketogenic Cooking is a recipe I have made twice in the past few weeks.
You could substitute ground beef for the lamb, but I love the rich flavor of the lamb in this casserole. You’ll never mistake the cabbage for pasta, but it does cook down and blends in well with the rest of the ingredients.
Ground Lamb Casserole is quick, easy, and so flavorful. Leftovers reheat beautifully, making it a great option to pack in a lunch. I actually purposely made it the last time because I had some subbing days coming up and I wanted to take leftovers for my lunch!
If you like lamb, do give this Ground Lamb Casserole a try!
.
Ground Lamb Casserole served with perfect Washington asparagus (Yay, spring!)
.
Ground Lamb Casserole
(Adapted, barely, from Maria Emmerich’s recipe in Quick and Easy Ketogenic Cooking)
Serves 4
.
See that bacon? It was home-cured and home-smoked by Byron!
.
4 slices bacon, diced
1 pound ground lamb
¼ cup diced green bell pepper
¼ cup diced onion
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic (2 – 3 cloves)
4 cups thinly sliced cabbage (about ½ head)
2 cups tomato sauce (I used one 15-ounce can of tomato sauce)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
.
- Put the bacon in a cold large skillet and heat to medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until the bacon is starting to get crispy, about 5 minutes.
.
2. Add the ground lamb, pepper, onion, and garlic to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the lamb is done, about 7 minutes.
.
3. Add the cabbage and tomato sauce to the pan. Stir. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the cabbage is cooked and softened.
.
4. Season to taste with the salt and serve.
.
.
Share this:
Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower
By Kath Dedon
.
I found this recipe for Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower on Sandy’s Reluctant Entertainer blog. Sandy found the recipe in Gina Homolka’s book, The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavor. (Gina also has a blog that’s a great source for lightened-up recipes.)
I’ve now made this a couple of times. The first time I made it I didn’t take pictures because I didn’t expect it to be special enough for the blog. Boy, I was wrong!
The spice combination for the cauliflower is just right. It’s a bit spicy, but not overly so. Just reduce the amount of crushed red pepper flakes if you’re nervous about it, but ¼ teaspoon for the whole recipe is not that hot.
I had a whole head of cauliflower that had been in the crisper drawer for about a week. It was time to do something with it and I made Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower again. It was a perfect side dish with roast chicken thighs. They both roast at 450°. I put the chicken thighs on a rack on the lower third of the preheated oven. After the chicken had roasted for about 15 minutes, I put the cauliflower on a rack in the upper third of the oven. I continued to roast them both for another 25 minutes. Easy-peasy dinner!
The thing I love about this Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower is that it is so easy and yet flavorful enough to taste like a more complicated recipe. If you like cauliflower, give this one a try. I know I’m happy to add it to my repertoire.
.
Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower served with Roast Chicken Thighs
.
Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower
(Adapted from a recipe posted by Sandy of reluctantentertainer.com who credited the recipe to Gina Homolka’s The Skinnytaste Cookbook)
.
.
Serves 4
The recipe calls for a bit of cilantro to garnish the cooked cauliflower. It’s a nice touch but can be omitted if you don’t have any on hand. I didn’t use it the first time I made it.
.
6 heaping cups of cauliflower florets (from a 1½ – pound cauliflower), cut into 1-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves
¼ cup olive oil
Salt, to taste
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- Preheat the oven to 450°.
- Put the cauliflower in a large bowl.
.
3. Lay a large chef’s knife flat on the garlic with the blade facing away from you. Press (or smack) the blade with your fist to smash the garlic cloves. Put the garlic in the bowl with the cauliflower.
.
4. Pour the olive oil over the cauliflower and toss so it is well distributed.
5. Sprinkle the cauliflower with salt.
6. Stir the turmeric, cumin, and pepper flakes together.
.
Turmeric, ground cumin, and crushed red pepper flakes
.
7. Sprinkle the spices over the cauliflower and stir well. Spread the cauliflower out on a large rimmed baking sheet, covered with parchment if desired.
8. Roast for about 25 minutes, stirring once when it’s about half done.
9. Garnish with cilantro, if desired, and serve.
.
Cauliflower and chicken thighs sharing the oven
.
.
