Lazy Thursday

You know that post-holiday ennui that sets in the first week in January? No matter whether you’re usually sad to see the old year go or you’re relieved that December’s craziness is finally behind you, I’m willing to bet that you've probably experienced a bit of a letdown as you navigate the first days of the new year and try January on for size.

For me, at first, it never seems to fit quite right. This year I’ve found myself quoting Emily Dickinson:

There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons —
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes —

When I experience this — what Emily also calls “Heavenly Hurt” — I’ll confess that my first inclination is to put on comfortable clothes. If I’m at home, that means my favorite fleece pullover and, for good measure, a ballcap. If a bag of chips or a block of cheese is nearby, then all the better.

With all this in mind, consider the Thursday Table gathering from January 4: pizza, soda, and vino at Jack’s house, no cooking required. Comfy attire was de rigueur — I think Jack (at right below) was basically in his jammies, though I wasn’t far behind:

(Hey, never let it be said that I was too vain to post an unflattering pic of myself, okay?)

Now, about the pizza. As far as the roommate and I are concerned, Adriatico’s (on OSU’s campus at Neil and 11th) is some of the best grub that money can buy in Columbus. Deep-dish pizza with garlicky overtones and an oregano-laced crust . . . well, that’s amore, you know? They don’t deliver, but it’s worth the hassle of parking on campus for carry-out.

A word of warning, however: order the “Buckeye” size pizza at your own peril. At 18 by 24 inches, it’s a serious slab of pie — three square feet, to be exact! — and more than enough food even for four men with healthy winter appetites. Needless to say, there were plenty of leftovers. What you see in the pic below is what was left after we made our best attempt at this cheesy monstrosity:


(Note that this pizza is so big that it requires at least three of the little plastic doohickeys to keep the box lid from sagging. And yes, that’s a mainstream Australian merlot we’ve uncorked. We’re not exactly connoisseurs.)

Our first Table of 2007 ended with a round of the television edition of “Scene-It,” the DVD game for airwave addicts. Jack was the runaway winner, with yours truly making a pathetic fourth-place showing. At least I had my slippers with me.

More updates to come — free of fast food and restaurant fare, honest! And here’s a toast to a January replete with comfort, wrapped in a cozy blanket and full of good food.

Take This!

The word recipe comes to us from the imperative form of the Latin verb recipere, which meant to take or receive. Its original meaning in English was actually “prescription,” like directions for preparing and taking a medicine of some sort. From there it’s not much of a stretch to get to the sense that we commonly use today. Still, I find it kind of amusing that, at its root, the word means something like “take this!”

But I digress.

Here’s the recipe for Skillet Lasagna, as promised. The usual disclaimers apply: I claim no rights or authorship whatsoever; that all belongs to the America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Illustrated publishing entity and so forth. Check out your local newsstand, bookstore, and public television station.

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Skillet Lasagna
serves 4 to 6
Use a 12-inch nonstick skillet with a tight-fitting lid for this recipe.

• 1 can (28-ounce) diced tomatoes0
• Water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• Salt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 pound meatloaf mix [I use ground turkey here, the 93/7 variety]
• 10 curly-edged lasagna noodles, broken into 2-inch lengths
• 1 can (8-ounce) tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• Pepper
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1. Pour the tomatoes with their juices into a 1-quart liquid measuring cup. Add water until the mixture measures 1 quart.
2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook until the onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the ground meat and cook, breaking apart the meat, until it’s no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
3. Scatter the pasta over the meat but do not stir. Pour the diced tomatoes, with their juices, and the tomato sauce over the pasta. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occassionally, until the pasta is tender, about 30 minutes.
4. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup of the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Dot with heaping tablespoons of ricotta, cover, and let it stand off heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the basil and the remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan. Serve.

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Variation: Skillet Lasgana with Sausage and Peppers

Follow the recipe above, substituting 1 pound Italian sausage, removed from its casings, for the meatloaf mix. Add 1 chopped red bell pepper to the skillet with the onion in step 2.


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There you go! A few notes:

• Meatloaf mix is evidently a ground-up combo of beef, pork, and veal sold in some supermarkets. Me, I’ve never seen it — and I like using turkey because I really try to limit my intake of red meat. My guests don’t seem to notice the difference. I’m sure that using ground beef alone would work out fine, too.

• Don’t forget to add the tomato sauce in step 3. Go ahead and scoff — but twice I’ve had the pasta in for a good ten minutes, simmering, only to find a can of opened sauce still on the counter. Nothing like retracing your steps in the recipe, thinking, “When the heck does this go in?”

• I like to make sure that the pasta is completely submerged in step 3, at least for the first 5 minutes or so. So after the tomatoes go in, I'll add a skosh of extra water to the skillet if they're not quite covered up. Once I start stirring things up, I don't worry about it quite as much, what with the steam and all. (Then again, this could just be one of my many neuroses.)

• Chopping that much fresh basil can take a good measure of patience. But if you can stand to work the cutting board until you have the full three tablespoons, you’ll find that it’s well worth the trouble. Mmmmm.

If you try this out, let me know how it works for you. I’ve always wanted to make the variation, with Italian sausage, too. If you beat me to that, drop me a line as well.

Buon appetito!

Catching Up (A Little)

Hello Thursday Tablers!

Yes, it's been weeks and weeks since we've posted, and for that I feel pretty ashamed. Let me just say that I've become much more tolerant toward bloggers who post, shall we say, more intermittently than others. Life certainly does get in the way.

So, for the new year, how d'you feel about a few shots representing the Ghosts of Tables Past? . . .

Thursday, October 19, 2006

This Skillet Lasagna dish has quickly become a favorite, both with the resident cooks here at the Table and with our repeat guests. In fact, this past weekend it ended up on the menu for New Year's Eve, at the cabin down in southeastern Ohio where the Thursday Table regulars celebrated the holiday. That, however, is another story completely.

The great thing about the recipe is that it's so fricking easy: It simmers on the stovetop, so there's no baking in the oven, and (bonus!) there's only one pan to clean. "What?" you say? "Lasagna isn't lasagna unless it's layered and baked in the oven!"? Well, I'll admit that you lose that top layer of browned, crusty, yummy-but-a-pain-to-clean-up cheese . . . In my book the tradeoff is worth it, especially on a weeknight.

I'll try to post the recipe on the blog at a later date. It's from the Cook's Illustrated television show (we found it in a later issue of their Cook's Country magazine, too).


Friday, October 20, 2006

I know, I know. Not a Thursday. But surely you understand that cooking goes on here on other nights of the week. And behold — another successful meal from Everyday Food, this time from the TV version:

Sesame Orange Shrimp with Sautéed Bok Choy and Broccoli

Hot off the stove (look at that steam!)

This recipe is a little more involved, but sometimes on a Friday, if the roommate and I aren't too burnt out from the week, we'll wade into something a little more involved. The most tedious part of this particular evening was peeling and then sautéing the shrimp. But the batter is mostly corn starch (!) and sesame seeds, so they end up with a coating that's light and crispy, almost puffy. Definitely worth the trouble.

Do check out the bok choy recipe as well. I'd never bought the stuff and was intrigued to actually use it in cooking — and with the broccoli, ginger, and soy that made up the rest of the dish, I was an instant convert. Delicious and full of cancer-fighting antioxidants? What's not to like?

Speaking of the stove . . .

Eagle-eyed readers may note several things: the Pampered Chef utensil rest and silicone spatula sitting on the stove (I'm not a PC zealot, but these are both great additions to anyone's kitchen); the edge of a Black & Decker food processor on the counter in the upper right (I have no idea how I lived without one for so many years!); and the fact that it's 8 p.m. and we were only getting started on the eating portion of dinner.

So it goes here in the Thursday Table kitchen.

Dîner Pour Quatre

Boy oh boy, are we behind on posting! Apologies to our many fans. All, um, eight of you.

So let’s talk about last Thursday — the 12th, for those of you keeping track. Our friends Bill and Steve both came over! A good time and a delicious meal was, as they say, had by all. Here's a pic of the gruesome twosome . . . Bill on the left, Steve on the right:


Jeff put out candles for the table, and the effect was quite traumatic — I mean, dramatic! Check it out. Pretty swank, eh?


We didn't actually eat by candlelight, though. I mean, who wants that? You wouldn't even be able to see your food! Though it would have hidden the stains on the tablecloth. Hmmm . . .

Anyway. This week we tried yet another recipe from Everyday Food (are you noticing a theme yet?) — Shrimp with Mustard Sauce. Sorry that we can't link you to the recipe; evidently it's available only in the magazine, October 2006 issue. Once again, though, the recipe was a snap. And take a look at the results. Doesn't that look scrumptious?


(Joel gets demerits for failing to wipe up the sauce he dripped when he was "plating up" the entrée. Martha surely would have whipped him like a bowl of heavy cream at a dessert table.)

Bill brought along a new dish, too: broccoli slaw with Asian dressing. Hassle-free salads are one of his specialties — if you're interested in the recipe, shoot us an email and we'll pass along the request.

For those of you who haven't seen Joel's house in person, we snapped a shot of the dining room just before we all sat down to eat.


Notice the antique china cupboard in the back corner. (Great-Grandma Armstrong is probably turning in her grave, but if you can't see why, we ain't tellin'.) The carpet and dining room suite are great hand-me-downs from the parents — thanks, Mom and Dad! — and the tablecloth is a $4 clearance purchase from Target. (We love Target . . . although a 100% cotton tablecloth certainly does wrinkle.)

But we digress.

The meal finished with Stevie's homemade maple custards, eaten by candlelight. (Yes, we did actually dim the chandelier at this point.) He brought six of them, and there were four of us. If you can't do the math, let's just say that the extras made a lovely breakfast on Saturday morning.

And if that weren't enough, our little quartet then walked down to Bodega for a nightcap. (Well, Stevie actually drove. And disappeared for a good twenty minutes. And it's only two blocks away. He said he was filling his gas tank, but we can't vouch for that.)


That's all for this edition. Check back soon — we've plenty more to catch you up on.

Tempus Fugit

Yes, time does indeed fly between blog posts. We all know one of the basic axioms of blogging: if you want readers, you must post frequently. Of course, two Thursdays have passed since the last post. Let me tell you, nothing's worse than getting chided in person about the lack of activity at your blog. Nonetheless, it does qualify as motivation — thanks, Deb! — so sans further ado, here's an update.

Two weeks ago (let's see, the 28th of September), the Table was back here at the Showalter homestead, where we tried out a couple of recipes from our favorite cooking magazine, Everyday Food.

Main entrée: Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta. Verdict: Thumbs up. Somehow between the oregano, the mint and the feta cheese, an interesting melding of flavors happened. Bill remarked that he tasted strong overtones of anise . . . but there was no such seasoning in the recipe. (Joel noticed it too when reheating leftovers over the weekend.) Licorice or no, it was a delicious dish. And extremely easy — we used frozen shrimp and pre-crumbled feta. What's not to like?

The magazine recommended Orzo and Green Beans as an accompanying side dish, so we said, what the heck, why not? The verdict? Yum! Honestly, this got more comments than the main dish. And again, incredibly easy. (This is why we love Everyday Food.) I'd never bought orzo before and wasn't sure if our downtown Kroger could deliver. But there was even a "Private Selection" (read: generic) version we bought on the cheap! The subtle lemon flavor makes the dish. We'll be making this one again!

Finally, we capped off the meal with Bill's Apple Crisp Chantilly. Brown sugar, oatmeal, warm apples, cimannum cimmanon cinammon: all the good stuff. It was the perfect end to a fantastic dinner.


The evening ended in Joel's room (!), with the three of us scheming about our New Year's plans. More to come on that, but as the song says . . . what are you doing New Year's Eve? The Thursday Table gang is making plans. Are you?

Chez Guillaume

Wouldn't you know it? This week wasn't a normal week, because our friend Bill hosted dinner at his house. (His house is really awesome.) And even though it was September and a little chilly, we dined alfresco — on his back patio. There were four of us: Jack, Bill, Joel, and Jeff. Jack wasn't quite dressed for the occasion; Bill had to loan him a hoodie. Here's a shot of the table before dinner:


Check out the flowers: Joel put this arrangement together last week, and the roses still look pretty darn good. (He's just hoping that Bill remembers to give the bowl back. It was part of a set on clearance at Target.)


Anyway, Bill made these delicious teriyaki kebabs with pork, green peppers, carrots, and onions. We kinda forgot to take a picture because it was all so yummy. (The wine had nothing to do with our lapse in memory. Honest.)

We finished the evening with fresh strawberries and whipped cream . . . enjoyed while watching an hour of decent comedy on NBC, at Jack's suggestion. (Personally, we don't see what the big deal is about My Name Is Earl, but we found The Office pretty amusing.)

Oh yeah. We weren't going to mention it, but after Jack left, we found something even better. Scooby Doo on Comedy Central's Boomerang channel! God bless cable TV.