White Bean Soup with Winter Vegetables

White Bean Soup with Winter Vegetables
from Cooks Illustrated

Total Time: Approximately 3.5 hours

Ingredients

• 6 oz. pancetta - one 1-inch-thick slice, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 pound dried cannellini beans, rinsed and picked over
• 1 large onion, unpeeled and halved pole to pole
• 4 medium cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for serving
• 2 small carrots, medium diced
• 2 ribs celery, medium diced
• 2 small leeks, white and light green parts, washed thoroughly, and sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 small onion, medium diced
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 4 oz. kale, stemmed, leaves cut into 1/2-inch strips (about 3 cups) - we used swiss chard instead of kale and escarole)
• 4 ounces escarole, stemmed, leaves cut into 1/2-inch strips (about 3 cups)
• 2 small boiling potatoes, medium diced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary

Directions:

1. In a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, cook pancetta over medium heat until just golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Add 12 cups water, beans, halved onion, unpeeled garlic, bay leaf and 1 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover pot partially; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are almost tender, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Remove beans from heat, cover, and let stand until beans are tender, about 30 minutes. Drain beans, reserving cooking liquid; discard pancetta, onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Spread beans in even layer on baking sheet and cool.
2. While beans are cooling, heat oil in now-empty Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering; add carrots, celery, leeks and diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add enough water to reserved bean cooking liquid to equal 9 cups, add to pot with kale and escarole. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil; cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes. Add potatoes and tomatoes; cover and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add cooled beans; increase heat to medium-high and bring to simmer. Submerge rosemary sprig in liquid; cover and let stand off heat 15 to 20 minutes. Discard rosemary, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into individual bowls, drizzle each bowl with extra-virgin olive oil, and serve.

Gingerbread House

One Christmas the Sugermeyer family decided to get crafty. My mom proposed making a gingerbread house. I'm pretty sure she was thinking along the lines of picking up a small kit at the grocery store and decorating it with basic candies - no big deal. However, having myself and my father in the mix, she should have known that we would not settle for the status quo in the creation of our very own family gingerbread house. No sirree.

So at the mention of this family task, I took the lead on finding a recipe for the gingerbread and my dad started designing the template for house construction - the architect of the gingerbread house per se. My mom and sister stayed out of the basic building of the house but certainly contributed in the decoration task.

We went to the candy store any bought an exorbitant amount of candy to make sure we had enough options, Then, as you'll see below, we went to town.

Not too bad for a first effort!

If you set aside several hours on three days to make the house, that will allow plenty of time for all the icing to set firmly and plenty of time for you to have some fun. The completed house can stand for up to one month.

Herb Crusted Lamb Chops

Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb with Honey Mustard Glaze 
(from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home)

Yields:  8 servings 

Ingredients:

• 2 frenched, 8-bone racks of lamb (2 to 2 1/4 pounds each)
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Canola oil
• 1/4 C Dijon mustard
• 3 T honey
• 6 T (3 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 cloves Garlic Confit
• 3 to 5 anchovy fillets, salt-packed or oil-packed, rinsed, dried, and minced
• 1 1/2 C ground panko bread crumbs
• 3 T finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 T minced rosemary
• Gray salt or coarse sea salt

Directions:

Score the fat covering the lamb in a cross-hatch pattern, taking care not to cut into the meat. Season the racks on all sides with salt and pepper.

Set a roasting rack in a roasting pan.  Heat some canola oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers.  Put one rack fat-side down in the pan and sear until golden brown, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

Carefully move the lamb as it sears to brown as much of the fat as possible.  (It is best to sauté one rack at a time, so the temperature of the pan doesn’t drop dramatically.)  Transfer the lamb to the roasting rack, meat side up.  Drain the fat, and reheat the pan, adding fresh oil.  Repeat with the remaining rack.

Combine the butter, garlic confit and anchovies in a small food processor and puree until smooth.  Transfer the puree to a medium bowl, and stir in the bread crumbs, parsley and rosemary to combine.  Do not overmix; the mixture should be moist, but it may not all come together.

Brush the mustard mixture over the fat and meat, but do not coat the underside of the racks.

Spread the bread crumbs evenly over the racks, pressing gently and patting them so the crumbs adhere.  (The lamb can be refrigerated on the rack in the roasting pan for up to 6 hours, but remove it from the refrigerator 30 minutes before roasting.)

Position the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 425° F.  Put the lamb in the oven, meat-side toward the back, and roast for 25 to 35 minutes, until the temperature in the center of the meat registers 128° F to 130° F.  Let the racks rest on the rack in a warm place for 20 minutes for medium-rare.

Carve each rack into four 2-bone chops, and arrange them on a platter.  Sprinkle with gray salt or sea salt and serve.

Ok so the chops are a little over (should be more pink) but they were still amazing