This is my last chance to get up an Easter recipe. These potatoes will accompany our Pomegranate Molasses Lamb Chops.  I’m naming them double-smoked because of the delicious smoked Gouda and the ever-popular smoked paprika.  During cooking classes, last week at Les Gourmettes, our guest chef, Joanne Weir, needed to borrow a bottle of my smoked paprika and was shocked by how much I use… the bottle was nearly empty. I do love the stuff!

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This would be another wonderful Meatless Monday meal, just leave out the chicken.  I added it because my dad was coming for dinner and it isn’t dinner if meat is not included for him… he is old school to the max! The chicken does benefit and stays lovely moist and juicy roasting under the vegetables this way. We’ll be using half of the ratatouille for these roulades and save the remaining half for tomorrow’s ratatouille lasagna.

I couldn’t find any really good-looking tomatoes in the grocery store, so I substituted canned diced tomatoes, always the way to go when there are no good tomatoes around.

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This lovely spring or summertime tart is perfect as an appetizer, placed atop lightly dressed greens for a salad, or as a side dish for fish, poultry, pork, or beef. Basically, it’s good anytime and anywhere! I created it while trying to use up things I had in my fridge (what’s new?) including the zucchini, caramelized onions, and blue cheese.  I always have Parmesan and puff pastry on hand, so this was a no-brainer. Feel free to add in whatever you have on hand as well; such as sun-dried tomatoes, capers, olives, or tapenade… the possibilities are endless. If you’re not the huge fan of blue cheese, that I am, substitute in another good melting cheese… say Fontina, or just use more Parmesan. Just get in that kitchen and create!

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Who in the world would have a party the day after Thanksgiving, coming off of a cooking marathon? Me! Crazy, I know, but I am still really looking forward to seeing my friends at an impromptu get-together before the holiday rush. In fact, it’s sort of a kick-off to the madness of the Holiday Season, called a Black Friday Cocktail Party.

I’m making about half dozen appetizers and serving darling little splits of Freixenet Cordon Negro; the brut champagne in the little black bottles. Here is one of the dishes we’ll be slurping on, I’ll post more recipes and pictures tomorrow and for a few days to come. All will be more than appropriate for your own holiday party or to bring along to the ones you’ll be attending.

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For my upcoming appearance on Valley Dish, I was asked to create a dish out of 5 ingredients that a viewer had suggested. That sounded like fun, and it was, but it wasn’t exactly what I would consider 5 ingredients. I was emailed the list from the program producer, Cassie, as follows:  Swordfish, Cherry Tomatoes, Risotto, Arugula, and Buffalo Mozzarella. Does anyone else see the problem here? The answer – risotto isn’t what one would consider an ingredient, but rather a dish that stands alone.

Risotto is a classic Italian dish consisting of rice cooked in broth. The broth is added slowly, so that the rice absorbs it completely, creating a creamy consistency. Parmesan cheese, butter, and onion are the classic additions.

Therefore, rice is the ingredient. Specifically a high-starch, medium to short-grain rice. The varieties of choice are Arborio, Baldo, Padano, Roma, Carnaroli, and Vialone Nano. Arborio is the most readily available, while Carnaroli and Vialone Nano are considered the best and not coincidentally the most expensive. Here is the recipe I created and will be making live on Valley Dish (NBC Channel 12) next week. Hope you’ll tune in (or TIVO it – as I TIVO absolutely everything I watch) at 3:30 on Tuesday, November 9th.

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Ahh, the cooler weather has finally arrived in the desert. I am desperately craving fall foods in the worst way, especially this wonderful dish that Dave and I first enjoyed nearly 13 years ago, on our first trip to France. What a trip it was…

We arrived in Paris on a crisp mid-October evening and were in awe from the very first second. After spending two days in the “City of Light”, we boarded the EuroRail (high-speed train) headed for Cannes in the south of France. There, we rented a car and drove to our destination for the next week, a cooking school in Julia Child’s former Provençal home, La Pitchoune.

I shall share more of our story throughout the month of October, (my favorite month of the year) but for now, the recipe for Gratin de Courge Provençal.

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It’s been a strange week. Dave was out of town on business Friday – Friday. I was in California that first weekend for a wedding (a gorgeous wedding). Then Marissa went down to Tucson for her boyfriend’s birthday (Happy birthday, Alberto!).  And on Thursday, I took Connor up to Flagstaff to begin his sophomore year at NAU (Have a great first day today, Con! Missing you!).

The four of us were never home at the same time, and now we won’t be again until … Thanksgiving, probably (insert sad face here). After all that disruption, what we need is breakfast for dinner. There aren’t too many things that feel cozier than having traditional morning food in the evening.

These sandwiches are delicious with or without the addition of a poached egg. I did four with and four without. Use any cheese you like, but I’m using pepper Jack to go with the jalapeno sausage I purchased at The Pork Shop… so darn good!

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Maybe I should explain my title choice for today’s post. So, I live in the southwest portion of the United States.  Here, we have two popular convenience stores, 7-11 and Circle K.  As previously mentioned, and actually bragged about, I am posting and scheduling my posts about 10 days to 2 weeks ahead of time. As I typed in my “scheduled” date, I noticed that today is 7-11, so whenever we (south-westerners) say “7-11”, we (or at least, I) like to follow it up with “and equal time for Circle K!”  The last thing we want to be is based – in Arizona, of all places! Yeah, right – tell that to our state legislatures! Sorry, no politics allowed here – just recipes and a bit of occasional humor or insights! Honestly – love it all!

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After yesterday’s post about “reading the recipe”, I thought I would show a couple (of the many) students who really do understand the importance of that very thing. We all know that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” For four full days, these two cuties never needed a thing from me and sometimes you feel as if you’re ignoring such independent kids.  I just hope they know, that I know, how very competent and capable they are and that my goal is to make all my students be just like them! Great job, girls!

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