mustard greens caesar with shrimp and anchovy croutons

some dinners take tons of recipe searching,

lots of cookbook reading,

and hours of thinking

just to get the food on the table.

and others?

so easy.

that's how it went

when i saw melissa clark's recipe

for raw mustard greens salad

with gruyere and anchovy croutons.

larry loves mustard greens,

(i'm a fan, too).

i love anything made with anchovy

(he handles them ok).

and, we both love gruyere and garlic.

i almost prepared

the salad as is,

but, last minute

made the decision

to add shrimp for a complete meal.

at home, i broke out a tube

of anchovy paste. you see,

i love anchovies

and i love the flavor

of the fillets, but i have

never been able to get past

the thin-as-can-be bones

that never quite melt with the

rest of the fish.

so, not always,

but often, i use anchovy paste, instead.

i usually use 1 teaspoon in

place of each fillet. this time i added

a bit more to really give this already

assertive salad some extra oomph.

i chopped garlic,

added it to the anchovy paste

and whisked in some olive oil,

which i'll admit i eyeballed.

(it was late.)

to make up for the olive oil

measuring laziness, i took the time

to remove the crusts from a lovely

loaf of bread before cutting into cubes.

(normally, i would convince myself

that the crusts wouldn't make a

difference. but, i guess i was not in

the mood for self-denial.)

i tossed the soon-to-be-croutons

with some of the garlicky anchovy-laced oil,

and half the gruyere that larry had grated while

i cubed the bread,

added a little salt and pepper and tossed

them onto a baking sheet. as they crisped,

i squeezed lemon juice and a little bit

more anchovy into the olive oil mixture,

then whisked in the rest of the gruyere.

i stemmed and tore up

8 cups of mustard greens.

and before we knew it,

the croutons were done,

the shrimp, tossed with the

faintest amount of olive oil,

salt and pepper, had been broiled

and i was mixing everything together

in a bowl.

we ate the first few bites silently,

pretty sure the dish would be

a hit, both quickly falling in love

with the not shy flavors.

and the next night,

even though i don't have

the tiniest clue what we ate for

dinner, i remember that i was

resentful that it wasn't this salad.

mustard greens caesar with shrimp and anchovy croutons

adapted from bon appetit

i think it's fair to say that there are a lot of ingredients that you have to really like to enjoy this salad: sharp and peppery mustard greens, in-your-face garlic, umami-rich anchovy and for our version, nutty aged gruyere. but, if you're not turned off yet, i think you'll love every bite. i will caution you that i used three large garlic cloves and next time, i will probably seek out more normal sized pieces.

2 tablespoons anchovy paste

3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press or finely chopped

approximately 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1-2 teaspoons olive oil for shrimp, divided

1/2 loaf country bread, crusts removed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes (3 cups)

4 ounces aged gruyere, grated (1 cup, packed)

1 pound large (20-25 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 bunch (about 12 ounces) mustard greens, center ribs removed and torn into bite-size pieces (8 cups)

1 large juicy lemon, juiced

heat oven to 375˚f. in small bowl, whisk together anchovy paste and garlic; gradually whisk in olive oil. in medium bowl, combine bread cubes, about 2 tablespoons anchovy-garlic oil mixture, 1/2 cup grated gruyere, salt and pepper; toss to coat.

place cubes in single layer on an aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet coated with cooking spray. bake 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp, stirring occasionally. set aside.

change oven to broil.

in bowl, combine shrimp, remaining olive oil and salt and pepper. place on aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet coated with cooking spray. broil 2 minutes; flip and cook 1 minute more, or until firm and just opaque.

meanwhile, in large bowl, combine mustard greens, croutons and remaining cheese. whisk 5 tablespoons lemon juice into anchovy-garlic mixture; season with salt, pepper, more lemon juice and more anchovy paste, if desired.

when shrimp are ready, combine greens, shrimp and dressing mixture; tossing to coat. divide among plates.

brownie cupcakes with pink cream cheese frosting

i can't say that we've slowed down

at all in the new year.

in fact, i think we've been even

busier. but, it's all good stuff

and that makes it easier to

get up and go (and go, and go and go).

we brought in the new year

with my family, first at an italian

restaurant that was so unbelievably slow,

we thought we were going to greet midnight

with the waitresses, in spite of an 8:30 reservation.

but, we - us, my sisters and their boyfriends -

got back around 11:35 (i wasn't kidding) and

watched the ball drop together. everyone stayed

and for the first time, all bedrooms were

occupied. that was a such a nice feeling.

since then, i've made a variation of

my black sesame marshmallows

for a party on new year's day, visited

my college roommate who had an

adorable baby girl in october,

met old friends for a meal at one

of my favorite restaurants, hosted

a college friend overnight, rang in

erin's 24th birthday at a mexican

restaurant, attended several birthday

and family parties,

discovered a really great method

for cooking rice, found at least one

way to make larry enjoy chicken livers,

enjoyed an all you can eat mussel night

next to the ocean on an absolutely

frigid work night

and made a bit of headway

with a personal project.

but, really, the biggest news

for the herman family since

i've last posted, was this:

my sister and her boyfriend are

engaged to be married.

we've already had a multi-family

brunch, an impromptu family trip to see

a potential wedding venue, pulled

pages out of magazines of

wedding and bridesmaid dresses,

discussed flowers and shoe colors

and held a mini family engagement

party the night after the proposal

went down.

we played it low-key with prosecco,

two lovely salads,

one with beets, gorgonzola and asparagus

and another with apples, feta and pine nuts,

and sandwiches. and, the one up side

of being completely snowed in and having

to miss work for two full days, was that

i had time to make cupcakes.

several days before the snow,

i searched through recipes

trying to find a cupcake that would work

for both blair (who is a fan of cream cheese

frosting, but would probably

prefer celebratory

hot artichoke dip to dessert)

and jeff (who loves apple pie and brownies,

but otherwise has little interest in sweets).

(i also toyed with the idea of crafting

engagement rings out of fondant to garnish

the top, but i quickly came to my senses.

three days of researching candy engagement

rings, chocolate molds, gum paste and edible

shimmer dust before realizing your own personal

limitations is quickly coming to your senses, right?)

and then, i searched something involving

the words festive and cupcakes, ending up

on a slide show of martha stewart's fancy cupcakes.

i thought i was out of my league and started

quickly clicking through.

but, then i saw the brownie heart cupcakes.

they're made from a ridiculously

indulgent brownie batter - some of which

is poured into muffin tins, while the rest

goes into a baking pan.

when the pan is cool,

you use a cookie cutter to shape

brownie hearts, the cutest edible

garnish for the rich cupcakes.

as for the frosting,

it was a pink-tinged buttercream,

but i already knew that i would replace it

with one made from cream cheese.

(something for blair,

something for jeff.)

i thought i would divide the baking,

frosting making, heart cutting and

decorating between the two nights

after work leading up to the surprise

dinner. (surprise, because she didn't

know she was getting engaged; surprise,

because she certainly didn't know that

we were all in on a next-night celebration.)

but, the snowstorm was way more

difficult to navigate than we could

have anticipated.

on the first day home,

while larry shoveled and shoveled,

i baked the brownies and made the

frosting, shrieking only a little (ok,

a lot) when one little drop of pink

food coloring gel turned the entire

bowl hot pink instead of the pale

shade i was envisioning.

on the second day in,

after realizing that the roads

in monmouth county were only

barely teetering on open,

i cut out the hearts, frosted

the cupcakes, carefully garnished each

and said a quick prayer that they

wouldn't dry out overnight.

they didn't.

the next night at my mom's - after i made it to

work and back in spite of two slightly

scary drives on the parkway -

they were still pretty and charming.

the frosting kept its swoop

in spite of the brownie hearts doing

their best to weigh the swirls down.

the cupcakes were rich and moist,

the frosting not too sweet.

one person actually called them

the best cupcakes, ever.

(he was already there, but

i think he earned himself a

permanent spot on my favorites list.)

so yes, they were good.

maybe even great.

but, more importantly,

they were celebratory

and exactly what i was hoping for

when i set out to find a recipe

that was worthy of toasting the future.

brownie cupcakes with pink cream cheese frosting

adapted from martha stewart living

i followed the cupcake recipe exactly, but as i already mentioned, opted to use my cream cheese frosting. wanting to make sure there was enough to dress up every cake, i doubled the latter recipe. and, it's true, i am pretty anti-food coloring. but, i'm the only one who cares, i think, and i just didn't think it was worth it or necessary to roast a beet and use it's juices - so this time, i used gel food coloring. i survived, and i was right: no one else cared. the original recipe called for an 8-inch square pan and 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter - mine was about that, i think, cut from a 9-inch square pan, and it was fine.

and the last thing - i committed to making the recipe without truly reading the recipe. it wasn't until i was in the grocery store that i realized how indulgent these truly are. but, i was not looking for something else and rationalized: it makes 24 cupcakes, plus an additional pan of brownies and a ton of frosting - totally worth it for a once in a lifetime celebration.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon coarse salt

3 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 bars (4 ounces each) unsweetened chocolate, like Ghirardelli, coarsely chopped

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

heat oven to 350˚f. line standard muffin tin with paper liners.

coat 8 or 9-inch square metal pan with cooking spray; line with parchment paper and spray parchment paper.

in large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

bring small saucepot with 1-inch water to a simmer. in heatproof electric mixer bowl, combine butter and chocolate. place bowl over simmering water; stir until chocolate and butter melt together.

transfer bowl to electric mixer; add sugar. beat on medium-high 3 minutes, or until smooth. beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating briefly after each addition. add vanilla. turn off mixer. in 2 parts, add flour mixture, folding in with a spatula and then beating on low until just combined after each addition.

fill muffin cups 2/3 full. spread remaining batter in square pan. bake 20 minutes, or until set, but still soft. (my cupcakes took 17 minutes; the pan took 20.) cool in pans on wire racks.

fill piping bag fitted with wide plain tip with frosting. pipe frosting over cupcakes. alternatively, spread frosting over cupcakes. using 1 1/2-inch heart cookie cutter, cut hearts from brownie pan.* top each cupcake with one heart.

*(i stored the remaining brownies from the pan in the freezer for cake crumbs, brownie sundaes or a personal emergency.)

pink cream cheese frosting

2 sticks (1 cup butter), at room temperature

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, at room temperature

3 1/2 - 5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

in bowl of electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter 3 minutes, or until fluffy and completely combined (make sure to scrape bottom of bowl with spatula to ensure that all the butter and cream cheese have been incorporated with each other). add confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, folding to combine, then beating after each addition to make a good spreading consistency. add 1-2 drops pink gel food coloring and beat to combine. chill at least 30 minutes before frosting cupcakes.