My son is in bed, giddy with excitement, and unable to sleep. Why? He received fungus in the mail.

He is a sixth grader, with a typical assignment: a scientific experiment of any kind, based on the scientific method. You know, have a control group, apply a different variable in each consecutive instance… many kids are comparing how fast their dog runs after a tennis ball versus a baseball. Or how long it takes for different liquids to slide down a window pane. Or they are building rocket launchers of some sort.

Not my son. He wanted to grow mushrooms. We had to order them online. He was talking circles around my head tonight, when he read the inordinately detailed instructions: he had been concerned there wouldn’t be enough spores to continue to grow several samples of the mushrooms (tubers in this case). Yeah, keeps me up at night too.

Seriously. Though it is probably better than fourth grade when he was assigned a year-long research project and instead of choosing chocolate (my vote), or whales or stars to study, he chose jet engines. And now it is tubers, and spores and control groups. And tri-fold poster boards and power point presentations with click-able video-clips. What planet am I on? Oh, and son, can you fix my computer again?

Scholastic humor and parental confusion aside, this week I ordered food through the mail and now I can hardly sleep.

I have been meaning to try out a CSA for over a year, and this is my first week inside my commitment and consequently outside of my sleep cycles. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It is a movement to support local farming, to help minimize the risk of farmers by paying in advance for food and then riding out the season with them. It gives them assurances that all is not lost if certain crops fail or unforeseen forces affect their farm. And it gives me fabulously fresh, local farm food.

Opening the farmer box was like opening a Christmas stocking.

The lone farm onion was sliced and spread in the bottom of a braising pot, like a mattress, only to cradle a big hunk of beef. The best part of this easy braise? My mushroom-growing 12 year old made it. I wasn’t even home; the only time he called me during its preparation was to find out where my red rain boots were. (He usually slides them on when popping out into the yard—in this instance it was to clip a bay leaf for the recipe. Incidentally, they were on my feet—and I was out and about).

I decided to make—er, have my son make—this braise because I was pinged by Karen from Family Style Food; she was braising because she was put up to it by Swirling Notions Braisy Chain.** (And if that isn’t hard enough to follow, this braise is borrowed from Northwest Essentials). I was happy to oblige; braising is a brilliant way to have dinner cooking long before you need to put it on the table.*

Caramel Pot Roast
(Serves 4)
1/4 cup sugar
1 (4-pound) bone in chuck roast (I used a 3 Lb roast)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
2 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried

Oven to 300 degrees. Place dutch oven over medium-high heat. Scatter the sugar over the surface of pan. The sugar will melt, unevenly at first; swirl the pan until the melted sugar is a deep brown and covers the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the roast with the salt and pepper and using tongs to avoid getting splashed with hot caramel, lay the roast gently to rest in the molten sugar. Sautee 1 minute; turn it over and brown the other side. Lift the roast out of the pan. Stir the sliced onion around in the pan just long enough to heat it up and give it a little color, then pour in the beef broth. Sprinkle in the thyme leaves and slip the bay leaf into the liquid. Replace roast; cover the pan and put it in the oven. Roast 3 1/2 hours. Transfer the roast from the pan and let it rest; boil the pan juices until they are reduced to about half their original volume then strain and serve the sauce with the beef.

*Although, if you don’t get it into the oven on time, and have to jet out and run errands or carpools, you just might have to have your 12 year old get it in the oven for you.

**I don’t want to be the braisy-chain-breaker; so I have some blogging pals to tag. May the braising continue with:

• Meeta from What’s For Lunch Honey?
• Susan from Food Blogga
• Erika from Tummy Treasure
• Susan from Farmgirl Fare

My friend knows how to collect good recipes. When my kitchen is on the brink of a lull, all I need to do is call her up for an injection of inspiration. In fact, it was through her that I finally found a chicken curry I could trust. And now, this. She has done it again: supplied me with a blue ribbon recipe, another recipe that my family will adopt, adapt and come to adore.

Now as much as I am a sucker for high quality and time considerate recipes, I will gladly take a fabulous recipe and try my hand at cutting down on the extras (like trimming a budget of unnecessary glut). Bring me an impressive recipe with a long list of ingredients and an even longer lister of ‘to-do’s’ and I will roll up my sleeves, grab my delete key and get to work. I enjoy the challenge of keeping the preparation and ingredients as simple as possible—without, of course, sacrificing the final outcome.

So in the case of this pork, with what seemed a lengthy coconut rice recipe, I decided to make a reduction sauce from the pan drippings with coconut milk. I made sticky rice, and the pork, then we poured the sauce over (fyi: this is especially handy when one of the kiddos isn’t into coconut or sauce and is more than happy with ‘plain’ meat and ‘plain’ rice).

Island Pork Tenderloin
2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp coarse pepper
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pork tenderloin (for family of four, I use a 1 - 1 1/2 pound loin, if I have guests I use 2 loins)

optional:
2 T brown sugar
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp cardamom
2 tsp Tabasco

Jasmine or sticky rice
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 T flour
1/2 cup coconut milk

Heat oven to 400. Combine first five seasonings; rub all over pork. Brown pork in skillet over medium high heat (in 1 T olive oil, 1 T butter). Optional: combine brown sugar, cardamom, garlic and tabasco and rub over top of pork just before inserting into oven. It isn’t necessary but really punches up the flavors. In same skillet, add chicken stock, 2 T flour and coconut milk, let simmer. Make sticky rice. Roast loin in oven for 20-25 minutes; remove, drain drippings into saucepan. Let meat sit 10-15 minutes before serving (I cover the meat with a foil tent; also this is the perfect amount of time for your sauce to finish simmering).

You caught me, my family enjoys pork (and I like how easy it is to prepare, with great results). Here are two other pork recipes my family loves:

• Honey Garlic Pork (plus thyme, cream, dijon…)
• Soy Braised Pork
  • • Brandon Eats offers Roast Pork and Sage
    • Kalyn’s Kitchen brings Pork Chops with Balsamic Glaze
    • Karen from FamilyStyle Food shows us how easy it is to make Tuscan Style Pork
    • FoodBlogga nails the season and give us Persimmons 101 with her Pork Chops, Persimmons and Pomegranate
    • Find Mandarin Pork & Rice on Kristen’s Dine and Dish

  Fellow bloggers have made these:

It’s easy. I promise.

I borrowed this recipe from Jess over at hogwash. As has been established, I am always on the lookout for any entree—or side dish, appetizer, dessert, etc.—that can be claimed for my default dinner list. I look for easy, delicious recipes. The more ingredients I likely have on hand, the better. The quicker to assemble, the more appealing. The bigger the praise from the taste buds at the table, the more likely it will make a regular appearance.And this lamb did just that:

Pecan & Sage Crusted Lamb
1/2 cup panko
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 T finely chopped fresh sage
2 1/2 T olive oil (plus more for lamb)
1/2 tsp coarse salt
fresh ground pepper
1 - 1 1/2 pound rack of lamb

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all in bowl, except lamb. Rub lamb all over with 1/2 T olive oil, some more salt and pepper. Place fat side up on baking sheet or roasting pan; press crumb mix onto top of lamb. Roast for 35-40 minutes; remove from oven and let rest 5-10 minutes, then slice into chops and serve with the yummy crumbs left in the pan.

I got a racing ticket the other day, on my way to dropping the kids off at school. I was whizzing by at a whopping 31 mph. Granted, it was a school zone and I was supposed to be going 20 mph. When was the last time you drove 20 mph?

Now that I have been ticketed, I am painfully careful to drive that paltry 20 mph whenever the school zone lights are flashing. Mind you, this is on an arterial where people are usually clipping comfortably at 40 mph. So when driving my kids to school, and slowing to 20 I have this nagging urge to chirp the JAWS music. You know, when the shark is slowly creeping up to its prey, softly and slowly, and that disturbing music begins on cue? Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. At 20 mph, any shark could catch me. Heck, even I could catch me.

Go drive 20 mph somewhere where you normally drive 40 mph and you will feel my pain. I know, [it is of course] for the safety of the kids. My 30 mph was normal compared to a lot of the backup-illegal-reversal-loopy-we’re late! driving done by a lot of moms and dads out there (who me?). But in my pursuit of improving, I have taken on creepy, yet slow, shark-like behavior. Go figure.

Oh yeah, this is supposed to be about food. So, my son’s teacher (that is school related, see I was going somewhere with the whole speeding racing ticket thing) had a birthday; my friend and I signed up to deliver him a special lunch. My part was soup, dip and plant. Sounds like stop, drop and roll. I am thick into digressing today… here, this is more official:

Teacher Birthday Lunch
Special Soda (sparkling something or other. Oh, but if you have the chance try these new dry sodas, you should: rhubarb)*
Mini baguette with dipping sauce (’dip‘)
Small container of mixed olives
Eggplant Parmesan (that is the ‘plant’)
Fennel Pear Soup (’soup’)

Eggplant Parmesan
2 medium eggplants (cut crosswise into 1/3 inch thick rounds)
4 tsp salt
Red Sauce (buy 6-8 roma tomatoes, some tomato paste, garlic and click for recipe)
1 cup flour
4 large eggs
2 cups panko (Japanese) bread crumbs
2/3 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 1/2 tsp Italian herbs
1 LB 1/3 inch sliced, fresh mozzarella (I was lucky: I found fresh mozzarella medallions, so I had mozzarella sans the slicing)

Toss eggplant with 2 tsp salt, let drain in colander over sink for 30 minutes. Make red sauce (click on link, above). Oven to 375; take out 3 bowls. In the first stir together flour with salt and pepper; in the second, whisk eggs and in the third, stir together crumbs and 1/3 cup Parmesan. For each eggplant sice: dip in flour, shake off excess, dip in eggs, shake of excess, dip in bread crumbs. Heat 3 T olive oil in skillet on medium high. Just when the oil shimmers (before is smokes), sautee four egglplant slices, a minute and a half per side. Place on paper towels to drain. Repeat, adding another 2 T per batch of slices. When finished, stack eggplants: put scant 1 T tomato sauce in a circle where you plan to place eggplant layer (4 circles in dish). Then layer: eggplant slice, [2 T] red sauce, mozzarella [to cover], eggplant, red sauce, mozzarella and then a sprinkling of Parmesan. Bake 35 minutes.

Serves 4.

* here is a great excerpt on these dry sodas from Seattle Bon Vivant.

And tomatoes of coarse!

I was browsing through my category of default dinners, and realized that this token fall, hearty and warm recipe was missing. Sure, you can eat it any time of year but truth be told, this is the time when we bring out the blankets, crank up the heat and draw the curtains. We love being warm and cozy inside while it is blustery, wet and dark outside.

This year, my whole family is into it. We turn on some nice jazz music, light a few candles and heat up the stove. When schedules are busy, it is a treat to be at home, together, with a bowl full of pasta… And then you sautee garlic, the aroma sneaks through the whole house, and everyone’s mood is elevated.

Actually, the garlic is optional. When I make this sauce, the ingredient list ranges happily between 4 and 9. The key is to let is simmer long so the flavors marry and develop. Here is the recipe topped out at all 9 ingredients:

Sausage Pasta
2-3 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 - 2/3 cup chopped onion (I have used sweet yellow and red onion, both are great)
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, crumbled
1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes, plus (go for the more expensive brand here, with fancy Italian labels. In the end it is only a $4 splurge, and it IS your whole meal)
1/2 cup red wine
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T tomato paste
Italian herbs

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium. Add garlic and onions and cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sausage and cook until browned. Add tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes. Add wine and vinegar, continue to simmer for another 30 minutes (or longer!). Add tomato paste if you want to thicken the sauce, or skip it. Add herbs, simmer on low another 10-15 minutes. Serve over cooked pasta.

Note: my bare minimum version is: skip the garlic & onions, and just sautee sausage in olive oil, add tomatoes, wine (skip vinegar, paste, herbs). I simmer for 30-45 minutes and serve. BTW if I were inclined to add just 2 more ingredients it would likely be the onions and herbs. Good luck!

Note: this is lovely warmed up for lunch the next day. Just because of that: when I want it to stretch a bit further, I am generous with all the ingredients and add another 1/2 can of tomatoes.