herbed olive and walnut spread

about four and a half years ago,

i was preparing to host friends

for the weekend.

for most people,

that means

cleaning a bit,

making restaurant reservations

and maybe,

planning a meal or two

to make for their guests.

for me,

living in a studio apartment -

a place in which

i made a big production when

showing people around: this is

the living room, and then this

(pulling them two feet

closer to me) is the bedroom,

right there to the left of your foot,

that piece of floor is the

dining room -

overnight guests meant

a complete overhaul.

i mean, really. when your

guests are going to spend

the night sleeping on the floor,

an arms-length away,

there is not a space to even

hide anything.

and making dinner?

that's really out of the question.

while it may have been fine for

me to make a mess - because there

was no other choice, in my surprisingly

spacious kitchen (it's relative, you see) -

and then for larry and i to eat dinner

on the floor, it's not really the kind

of behavior you can

impose on people nice enough to point

out that you're hosting them

in shoebox.

so instead,

when i had guests, i opted

to make reservations and start

the night with appetizers that could

be made ahead of time -

four people could comfortably

sit on the love seat and two

small chairs i kept hidden

in the corner for such occasions.

and i did have a little side table.

so when our friends were

coming to stay,

i took a familiar route.

make delicious nibbles of things

so that people were so

overcome by the food,

they forgot to focus on the

fact that my mixer sat

next to the couch, like pretend art

and, that my television was

on the dresser.

it sounds silly now, but i really

did think i could distract with food.

i settled on two

spreads:

blue cheese with caramelized shallots,

and

olive and walnut.

both good, i took a particular liking

to the slightly spicy, mustardy and

herb-infused olives.

i couldn't wait

to serve them the next night.

the next night.

i got an extremely

good lesson in knowing your audience.

i set the dips out and found out that

one of them despised

both blue cheese and olives.

i didn't blame her -

if someone put a plate

of fennel in front of me,

i don't think all the

trying and politeness

in the world would help me finish,

let alone start in on it.

but, i was still bummed.

that week, i used the spread a lot

in other dishes,

deciding that even though it hadn't

been a hit with everyone,

i had still stumbled upon

something delicious.

--

my mom's friend, judy, hosts

us and a couple other families

for a gathering every september.

it's a night based on tradition:

my mom always brings the chicken,

judy always make brisket,

someone always brings a platter

of homemade chocolates from his shop

and another is responsible for the

kugel and creamed herring.

it goes on.

over the years, i had played around,

making dessert,

trying different appetizers,

but nothing stuck.

that year, i decided to test the

olive spread with another group.

it was quite well received and i

felt relieved that i finally had my thing.

it's nice.

i'm always so concerned with

finding the perfect recipe

for the situation.

i spend hours - if not days -

on the internet,

reading through my cookbooks

and weighing out my options.

it's more than a relief to have

one thing that is on auto pilot.

but more than that,

this is a recipe worth making

over and over. it is quite

simple, especially with two

new additions:

1) i have upgraded from a

mini food processor

to a standard so that i can now

make everything in

one batch instead

of three.

2) two years ago, i finally gave in

and purchased pitted olives

instead of pitting my own.

so worth it.

but even with those original

handicaps, this recipe was nothing

to get nervous about.

thanks to the walnuts and spices,

it will always be very good and simple.

the crunch of the nuts

give the otherwise smooth dish,

welcome texture and obviously, a nuttiness

that plays well against

the briny olives.

over the years, i've taken to adding

more mustard and herbs, which

i think is worth it to make the

whole thing pop.

oh, a couple things about the herbs.

i've switched to dried because as

much as i'm a fan of fresh, it's hard

to rationalize buying a huge bunch

for 1 teaspoon-worth -

and, i'm the kind of person

who typically keeps away

from anything marked herbed

out of fear of intense herbiness.

but in this case, they are still

a background note -

and one that works beautifully.

i've also upped the cayenne because

i like the idea of a very slight

gentle heat at the end of each bite.

ultimately, this really is

a very simple food processor recipe,

so nothing is stopping you from

tweaking here and there until

it's adjusted to suit you perfectly.

i secretly always wish for leftovers

because the spread is perfect

with tomatoes on bread

and more recently, i've used it to mimic

a very memorable dish

that i enjoyed in charleston a few years ago:

hot pasta, tossed with tapenade,

goat cheese and a few splashes of pasta water.

once, i mixed all three together before adding

to the pasta, but i realized that the restaurant

had been right, there's something delicious

about an occasional bite having only

goat cheese or only the olives.

so now, i add dollops of each to the pasta,

then mix. it makes the whole thing

taste hand-crafted.

last week, i made the spread

for the sixth time and i absolutely

like it as much now as i did the

first time i served it.

everyone else seems to, too.

oh, and when larry and i moved

in together, i felt instantly

spoiled with space.

we put a table in our dining room

(i had a dining room!)

and the mixer on the kitchen counter.

we got a bookshelf.

it's amazing what you can be grateful for.

we invited the same couple back,

made neutral appetizers,

and ate dinner and dessert -

which everyone seemed to enjoy -

at that treasured table

and that night, we gave them their

very own room to sleep in.

they even had a door.

herbed olive and walnut spread

adapted from pane caldo in chicago, via bon appetit magazine

by all means, buy the pitted olives, but do yourself two huge favors. first, make sure you buy beautiful purple olives and not the greenish-brown ones - the color makes this dish. also, even if you buy the pitted, take the time to check each before they go in the food processor. the process is never perfect and a pit could slip by (sorry, alan!). i always double the recipe, so that's what i'm giving you here, but it can obviously, be easily halved. also, as always, make it, taste and adjust. personally, i like flavors prominent, so i've increased the quantities of everything.

3 1/2 cups pitted kalamata olives (about 1 pound), rinsed and drained well

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted and divided

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons coarse-grained mustard

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

in bowl of food processor, finely chop olives and 6 tablespoons toasted walnuts. add olive oil, mustard, garlic, thyme oregano, sage and cayenne pepper; blend to combine. taste and adjust. transfer olive mixture to bowl; stir in remaining walnuts. cover and chill until serving.

i like to serve this with pita triangles, grape tomatoes and sliced zucchini and squash. the original recipe called for slices of a baguette.

sweet potato, lentil and goat cheese salad

i was still in summer mode

when i opened the main page

of epicurious and was greeted

by this salad.

derailed from my original path

(i think it was for prune plums),

i clicked through to fall recipes,

showed amazing patience

when it took three pages to find

and then landed, finally at

the very fall-inspired dish.

it was one of those moments,

much like when i first saw this pie,

that i knew i would be making

the salad very soon.

it wasn't going to fall into

the print and lose

or

mentally filed away piles,

but instead, cooked as soon as

it made a modicum of sense

to set our oven back to its

winter mode: roast.

this past weekend,

i ransacked the bulk section

at the store, coming away

with what i hoped was

3/4 cup of french green lentils

and then on sunday,

headed to the farmer's market

in search of a sugar pumpkin.

none. and at the store an hour

later? none again.

i toyed with the idea of using

butternut squash - the

recipe had even said it was

an option - but when i saw

sweet potatoes, i knew

that was the obvious answer.

we are huge fans and i had

a feeling that, for us,

the salad would turn out

even better this way.

plus, pumpkins are tricky

to cut, a pain to peel

and messy to seed.

yes, this was a much

better option.

if i had any hesitation about

this salad, it was this:

1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh mint.

i think it's fair to say that

i am anti-mint.

i do not like

mint chocolate chip ice cream

and over the years

i've done a very good

job at avoiding mojitos.

yet, as i walked past the

herbs, i lingered,

clinging close to the feeling

that recipe developers don't

add random ingredients just

for the fun of it. i consulted

with larry who agreed

that i should give the mint

a chance.

(fyi, i still stand

my ground on

parsley,

celery

and fennel

regardless of what future

recipe they show up in.)

i fell in love with the salad

before our first bites.

when we returned home

from the store,

hours before,

i had boiled the lentils

and roasted the sweet potatoes,

setting them aside in bowls until

it was time for dinner.

the sweet potatoes were slightly

smoky and spicy

thanks to the

cumin,

smoked paprika

and

cayenne.

i rewarmed the cubes slightly just

before making the salad -

for me, something that's warm always

seems heartier than it would cold.

as i slivered the mint

and placed everything in the bowl,

i just had that feeling -

that rare, but exciting, feeling -

that this was going to really work

and become a new favorite

in our house.

i loved how step-by-step it was,

how most of the ingredients

carried very little guilt with them

and how,

when tossed together,

everything just looked so right.

i'll admit,

that even after committing to the mint,

doubt still lingered.

but the fresh herb added

a really unexpected touch,

and i found myself craving a piece

with each bite.

i really, genuinely liked the mint

(so much so that just wait and see

what i did with the rest of it

for the next night's dinner).

sweet potato, lentil and goat cheese salad

adapted from bon appetit magazine

the original recipe called for sprinkling the pumpkin (or in this case, sweet potato) with hot smoked paprika. you know we love our smoked paprika, but we only had sweet smoked and i could not bring myself to buy a hot smoked, too. instead, i added cayenne. also, the original recipe called for one cup of goat cheese, which for our two person purposes seemed like quite a bit, so i reduced that and used a very exacting, four or five extra large handfuls of arugula leaves.

3/4 cup French green lentils

2 large sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled and cubed into 1" pieces

3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

2-3 good shakes of cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

4 large handfuls baby arugula

3/4 log (4 ounce) goat cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

heat oven to 375˚f.

place lentils in small bowl. cover with cold water and soak 10 minutes; drain. (um, i didn't realize until i just wrote this that i completely missed this step. obviously, i was still ok. i think.)

bring large saucepot of water to a boil; add salt. place lentils in boiling water and cook 30 minutes, or until tender, but firm. drain lentils. rinse with cold water until cool, shaking strainer. drain completely.

in large bowl, combine cubed sweet potato, 2 tablespoons olive oil, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper and salt. transfer sweet potatoes to single layer on foil-lined baking sheet. roast 20 minutes; turn (drizzling with olive oil or spraying, if necessary) and cook 10-15 minutes more, or until tender. cool on baking sheet.

just before serving: reheat sweet potatoes, if desired, in 350˚f degree oven for 5-10 minutes, or just until warm (not hot). in bowl, combine arugula, mint, half of the goat cheese, sweet potatoes, lentils, red wine vinegar and remaining olive oil (the recipe also instructed to use leftover oil from the baking sheet to make the dressing - i did not have any, which is why i slightly increased the amounts of the vinegar and oil).

divide salad amongst bowls; top with remaining crumbled goat cheese. garnish with mint leaves.

i will stay strong

when i sat down to write this post,

to think about what i wanted

to say,

one thing struck me:

i couldn't concentrate thanks to

the overwhelming

urge

to make another batch

of these onion rings.

and really, that doesn't usually happen.

yes, i often really enjoy what

i make - otherwise, it would be kind

of cruel to share it with you and

then end a recipe with a little

asterisk that read

*i thought the pictures were pretty,

so i wanted to show you and tell

you the story of how it came to be, but

this cake actually tasted terrible, 

make at your own risk.

and sometimes, i'm excited

to make the dish again,

but it is not often that all i can

think is,

i want one. now.

so that should tell you something.

full disclosure:

i have always loved onion rings.

if given the option, i'm sure

i would choose them over fries.

i've always loved them 

beer battered,

dipped in tempura,

breaded,

and yes, even in a loaf,

which i realize is probably

high on the list 

of gluttonous foods.

but, it's very rare 

that i actually have some.

and when i do, i'm often overcome

by general guilt and overall grossness.

greasy foods leave me feeling...well, greasy.

but that doesn't mean 

that i don't

think that they 

look and smell

like the most amazing food ever.

a few weeks ago, we were running

out the door when my sister,

called from college,

slightly panicked.

she had promised her roommates

a surprise when they returned,

but after trying unsuccessfully

to recreate the recipe

for healthy onion rings

on the back of a cereal box,

she was left with eggy,

slick onions and a bowl

of clumpy crushed flakes.

we ran through several

fixes, all based on the limited

ingredients she had in

her apartment.

nothing worked and

she had to scratch the whole

thing.

later that night,

i remembered a recipe that i've

been considering for years:

ellie krieger's

oven baked onion rings.

they always looked very good,

but some commenters complained

here, too that everything just slid off

the onions, leaving a nude ring,

in its wake.

i had skipped the recipe 

up until now for two

main reasons. 

1) they looked very simple, 

but anything

involving breading 

always seems like

a project. 

i'm not sure why.

2) i never have buttermilk 

in the house

and it felt like a waste 

to buy a carton

for this side dish.

it had been weeks since my sister

had attempted to make

the onion rings,

but i hadn't stopped thinking

about her problem.

and, by now, 

i've made this salad,

and therefore, am the proud

owner of low-fat buttermilk.

from the get-go, 

i knew there would be a major

change when i made the rings.

ellie used crushed potato chips,

which to me, just sounded

weird. i worried that in 

the end, they would just

taste like potato chips.

so i used panko instead

and added a bit

of kosher salt

along with the cayenne pepper

she originally used.

then, i thought back

to sbp, 

or the standard breading procedure

that we discussed at length

in culinary school.

i knew i learned something there.

these tips though, aren't really so top secret

(but they really did help).

basically, you must coat 

the onions with flour 

before you do anything 

else, but you also must pat off

as much excess flour 

as possible

before dunking the rings in

buttermilk. 

then, even though

it might take longer, you must

let as much 

buttermilk drip off

as possible,

before tossing into the panko.

and, you really have to 

repeat this process,

one persnickety ring at a time.

it was oddly painless -

resulting in panko that stuck

to the onions, 

and did not clump together

in their bowl of crumbs.

when they were done,

i coated them well in cooking spray

(thinking again that i really

need to invest in an oil sprayer)

and popped them in the oven.

when they came out, 

i sprinkled a touch of kosher

salt over the golden rounds,

placed them in a bowl and thought,

wow, they really look like

like onion rings.

they tasted like them, too.

the coating was crisp

and adhered well to

the very tender

onion.

they were spicy, too, thanks to 

the cayenne.

i really loved these 

onion rings.

and while i wouldn't go

as far as to start making

them every night,

or even every week 

(i think at some point guilt would

kick in for these, too),

i will certainly make them again.

they're a nice way to splurge 

without regret, later.

but, considering the fact 

that i really still want one,

(just one more, that's all)

i won't lie to you:

these onion rings 

may just be habit-forming.

spicy baked onion rings

adapted from ellie krieger

besides using panko instead of potato chips, i followed the recipe relatively closely. one step that i skipped and may or may not do next time, was to grind the panko a little finer. on one hand, i loved the texture that this size grain lended to the rings. my argument for grinding would be that, as i was afraid would happen, the cayenne was unable to evenly incorporate and fell to the bottom. as a result, the rings coated last were significantly spicier. 

also, ellie's recipe instructs to only use the largest rings, but since the medium, pop-in-your-mouth rings are my favorite, i took my chances and just watched them closely. they were fine. i would save the small rings for another use.

1-2 large vidalia onions, peeled (i used one very large onion and it was plenty)

1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups panko breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

heat oven to 450˚f. place aluminum foil on baking sheets (the recipe called for one - i needed two). coat with cooking spray or mist with oil. 

slice onion into 1/2" wide circles; carefully separate into rings, setting aside medium and large pieces; save small rings for another use. from one onion, i had 16 rings. pour 1/2 cup flour into large resealable plastic bag; add onion rings and shake to coat.

in small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, remaining flour, salt and ground pepper.

place panko in a separate small shallow bowl; add cayenne and season with kosher salt; set aside.

remove one onion from the flour; shaking and patting to remove excess flour. dip onion into buttermilk mixture to coat, turning if necessary. let excess buttermilk drip off. place onion in panko mixture and coat completely. place onion on baking sheet. repeat, one at a time, with remaining onions. coat onions well with cooking spray or oil. 

bake 1o minutes; spray onions again, place pan bake in oven, turning 180 degrees. bake 10 minutes more, or until the onions are tender and the breading is golden brown. sprinkle with kosher salt.