It's a good day to touch on this.




Change is ever-present, hopefully... The bitch of it is you can never really tell if change is good or bad, and, maybe it's better in the end rather than stress to just look at it as change. Some people try to control it-only allot one change at a time as if they really have a say in it. Some people embrace as many as possible at once, and then consider themselves very brave or very exciting.




I think you just deal with it. Everyone undergoes change, and you don't have a choice.




Character though, is how you handle the changes in your life.
Do you take them out on people?
Do you lament the losses, celebrate the gains?
Do you whine your lack of control of life, or do you hide inside and think by that you can avoid it?


Well, here's to the New, whatever it becomes.

My girls are bricks

and I love them.

because I'm shuffling around the apartment, and making dishes like what I am dubbing "egg-luck."

Typically I don't post recipes on here-this is more about my exploration outside the written rules, than my regurgitation of said rules-even if they are rules I've written myself. And this is not a recipe really, just a framework and suggestions.

Egg-luck is basically an egg casserole, based on stale bread, leftover meal bits from the week, and cheese. It's as versatile as it sounds, and while you could assemble the ingredients and make it-the point when I created it was to use up stuff in the fridge. I've never made this the same way twice, but the base is always the same.

I cube stale bread and soak it in eggs and milk. Soak for a bit, esp if the crust is really hard. I only ever buy baguettes or dinner rolls, so the crust is always hard. Then, mix in whatever you want! Today I used a half a yellow tomato, capers, yoghurt, tomato paste, tomatillo salsa, chimichurri rub mix and garlic green beans. In the past there's been ham bits (though I think it was too strong), sun-dried tomatoes, sausage, spinach... I'd like to try rice or pasta too. toss the dish in a 350-400 degree over- till it's mostly cooked. Then top with cheese-whatever you have! Today it was a hard rosemary something, cheddar, and Gouda.

And that's it! I make this on Sun, to use up stuff, and to have a ready-to-heat breakfast or late night meal through the week. Someday, I'll remember to spray the dish before cooking- so I don't have to soak'n'scrub.

Here's a pic of this weeks-I dusted with paprika for aesthetics:






And cut:






So have at it folks: What else can you put in? What have you tried? What's your leftover-user-upper dish?

see more crazy cat pics
found on www.icanhascheezburger.com

Swedish Cheat-balls

I'm always looking for new ways to use the leftover bits of meals, and Thanksgiving meals are always prime sources for "bits." Since we started making our own cranberry sauce a few years ago, we've consistently made too much but it's always been delicious and it's felt such a shame to throw out.

I have a love of those salty swedish meatballs at Ikea, and had been thinking for a while about making a version of them from frozen meatballs, and using the leftover cranberry sauce to make a curried "lingonberry-like" dressing. I figured multiple uses of those yummy trader-joes meatballs was also a fun thing to play with, so I did.

The key is really the sauce- it needs to be clearly meat-flavored, and rich and creamy. And a little sweet. The sauce isn't complicated, but it needs to be flavorful.

I started with a pan of butter, and cooked the meatballs for a few minutes. Basically the meatballs are pre-cooked, so all I'm trying to do is flavor the butter. I moved the meatballs to a pan in the oven, to cook thru and fully soften up. I added some flour to the butter, and made a quick roux. This is a bit tricky; flour will cook fast, and smell and taste burnt fast too. The pan only stayed on the flame for about a minute- just enough time to whisk the flour into the butter. Then I added beef broth, and kept whisking and whisking till the sauce was smooth. Now-you want to use good broth here, because that is the backbone of the sauce. How much broth you use is kinda up to you-you can put in a lot, and simmer to thicken it, or put a little, cook it long enough to get rid of raw flour taste and get on with it. I just had to cook it long enough for the frozen cranberry sauce to defrost. I added some milk-no cream on hand-and kept the sauce on a simmer, tasting and seasoning as needed. When I was happy with it (added a little pepper and nutmeg) I added the sauce to the meatballs, and let it all simmer together for 15 minutes-letting it get more meat-flavored and infuse the meatballs with the sauce flavor.

I keep saying meat flavor, but this can be made with chicken or turkey meatballs, or meatless meatballs and mushroom broth. Yah- meatless meatballs in mushroom broth sauce with some tarragon in it...

Anyway, here's what I ended up with- looks good-or at least like swedish meatballs, and it was tasty. The other stuff on the plate is mache (for color) and steel-cut oat risotto with figs and apricots-further post to come!

I'm going to be up for a while...

10:10 pm
It's my own fault though-I really should learn not to start a sauce I know will need to simmer for three hours as late as 7, but I've been dying to get it crossed off the list and put the cookbook away! Now here I am, not ten minutes into the three hours (did I mention it was three hours AFTER the first two...) thinking I'll be up till at least 1:30.

So I've opened a new bottle of wine, and man is my apartment going to be clean!

I blame/thank Margie for this- she raised me on the best damn pasta sauces-pots of not much more than tomatoes, garlic, onion and salt that simmered on her stove all day. AMAZING-so simple-so good.

So the cheesecake was.. ok.

I wasn't as thrilled as others with it. Granted I got a small small piece, and had gum in my mouth right before. I'll have to make another. It smelled great last night though.
And anyone-how do you keep a cheesecake from sweating?
Everyone enjoyed it though and it is true what Maria said "with the whole foods cakes, there's always half left-yours there's nothing!" Made me smile to hear-also made me realize I need bigger cake pans.

10:33 pm
I'm really hoping the basil leaf I just found in the pot from the tomatoes does not indicate there was garlic and onions in the tomatoes too-bc then I'll have a big pot of wasted sauce...

I never really intended this blog to be all about food, and to rectify this, let's go back to India shall we?

First: the Aunties:


far left, Mariquin Auntie, the older sister, middle my pops, the baby brother, far right Clara Auntie. This was in the Mumbai airport on the way to Goa-Dad's showing them pics from our first two CRAZY days in Mumbai.

I've been slowly working my way through the Aunties recipes. Slowly because what seemed so easy there with three sets of hands is really labor-intensive here. Also some ingredients are hard to find.

Like mawa.

Ma-wha?

Basically milk cooked down to the solid stage. In India they cook it down in huge kettles, with someone stirring it constantly, and you can buy cubes of it-looks like crumbly goat cheese.

You can't buy it in the states, and cooking milk down is very difficult if you are not going to sit next to the stove, so I made mine with ricotta and dry milk.



I know you're thinking- this makes a dessert? but yeah, and basically forms the basis for all Indian desserts. Makes sense too- India is HOT and milk spoils fast in hot climates, so folks learned to cook the milk down to remove the water to preserve it.


*NOTE*
for everyone who wants to try making this and reads recipes that say cook it to "mawa consistency:"


Cooking it down also concentrates the milk sugars, so you do end up with a slightly sweet product all on its own. Add sugar and nuts and you have a damn tasty dessert. Very rich, but that's why Indian sweets are always so small.

Right now I could get into the whole scientific discussion of milk and it's properties... all I'll say if you are also interested in how milks molecular structure makes it behave the way it does-read McGee. And don't try to freeze milk.

10:49 pm
One Hour Down! And the sauce is smelling pretty good.

So Mawa.

Mawa is the basis of the tasty snacks my Aunties brought to Goa called neuros (in Hindi, neurios in Konkani, and gougrias in Gujarati) don't quote me on the spelling on that. So these things were mawa, mixed with cardamom powder, sugar and nuts, wrapped in dough and fried. They are not sweet though, more prominent is the flavor of spice and nuts. They are REALLY tasty with a pot of masala chai.

NOTE-Masala Chai is spiced tea. Chai mean tea in Hindi. Masala chai is made by boiling tea, water, milk and spices together and should be spicy- you should taste the pepper and the cardomom and the ginger. The horrid "chai" most places make in the states is 10x too sweet.

So neuros.

Well I had my mawa, and added crushed pine nuts and pistachios (pistas). The Aunties used cashews- but I didn't have any, and figured the pine nuts would be close in creaminess to cashews. The filling was good-really good. a nice balance of spicy and sweet, with the background notes of cheesiness of cooked milk.

Then there was the making of the dough to fry them in. The Aunties has said pretty much just ghee and flour.
Yeah that doesn't work-at least not for me.
I ended up-after trying to work the dough and cursing a lot-making a samosa dough, which worked and was good samosa dough- but was too thick for the neuros. Here's a pic of the final product



I don't think I roasted the mawa filling initially as long/well as the Aunites did- bc my filling was creamy, where there's was much more dried, and with more of a caramel flavor. Also, as I said, the wrapper needs work- I was going to check out of there were any pre-made asian wrappers, maybe of rice, that would be thin enough. My wraps were too doughy- the Aunties were crisp (just butter and flour are bound to be crisp-if you can work it into a wrapper that is...)

I'm hoping to try again this weekend...

12:36 pm
Screw the rest of the time- I'm cooling the sauce and going to bed- I'll finish cooking tomorrow.

Tax time sucks

We all have our coping methods...

from the ashes of defeat - VICTORY!

My cooking is by no means without the frequent mistakes that remind me how much I have to learn.

Like last night. I got home from work all fired up to make a chocolate pear cake, with pear butter cream frosting. I'd even figured out fancy bruleed pear slices to decorate it! The cake part went smoothly, but when I then turned to making the ganache glaze this happened:

WHAT IS THIS! Why did the chocolate instantly separate into this greasy lumpy mass?! And what was I supposed to do-I had no more cream and no more dark chocolate!

THEN I turned to make the butter cream,figuring I'll just ice the whole thing with that.

Enter grainy nastiness!

I tried to add pear juice to the icing-for pear icing. I'm still working through McGee's, but there must be some enzyme in pears that's purpose is to screw up butter cream icing.

>sigh<

So, this morning I made a new straight batch of icing, with lots of ginger in it, figuring that will also be nice with the pears. There wasn't enough to layer and ice though, so I carted the cake with the thought I could try to grab something at whole foods to cover it.

And then-at the office-I made ganache in the microwave. Genius!

All I did was heat the cream for 2 min-which just scalded it. Then I stirred in equal amount of chocolate chips, and then just kept slowly adding chips till it was thick enough. Then I poured it all over the cake.

And Perfect!


Look at that lovely gloss, and it was so tasty!

Remember kids, life is equal parts the mistakes you make, and how you deal with the consequences.

how can strawberries...

..this early in the season be SO SWEET?! What a way to celebrate the first weekend of Spring!

going backwards

Ok, so only getting on the web for the second time in India, and the trip is almost over...I'll hit the big highlights, and post pics when I get back. Also, the food posts will come as I settle back in. I've been on a daily "programme" in Goa, every morning my cousin picks me up on the scooter to take me to the Aunties house and we cook all mornign. My apprenticeship- or as Pauly calls it- my indentured servitude. But I love it- I love the early morning scooter-driving lessons (which I skipped church for) and I love spending the mornign with my Aunties.

Wait but now I'm getting ahead of myself...

ah well- I'll go for a night swim and dinner and rethink... besides, have to wake up early for the programme tomorrow...

um...wow

Hey guys,

I know it's been like a week since I've been here and no posts, but- life is pretty busy here. I'm just hoping into a cyber cafe for the first time, so hello and yes I'm alive (I don't drink the water or eat any raw veggies-just everything else.) I can't stay long as my cousin is waiting with the scooter to head back to the hotel, but will try to get on for a longer post a little later today. This place is amazing and I have the most wonderful huge family...

the fire is on

This was a big day in.

Actually not most of it- mostly it was spent out laughing and eating with friends...

but in the 4 hours I've been home the count on dishes cooked is 4. The count on foodstuffs used up is 3.

First up: mayonaise.

Why? Why not! I've wanted to work on the "mother sauces," and I wanted to get rid of the last bit of olive oil in the jug. AND I needed it to make baked eggplant...so really, I couldn't not make it.

This was of course a Julia recipe, so it covered two pages and had all kinds of admonitions about "the crisis stage" of emulsification (down to how many whips per second at a minimum) and info on how to fix "turned" mayo. To clarify, this is not referring to mayo gone rotten. That's gross. Throw it out. Rather, mayo that comes out of suspension- yes, also gross, but only in that natural peanut butter way before you stir it.

I def used the Kitchenaid for this one-god knows I have neither the arm strength or interest in hand-whipping. It worked well on the #8 setting, but still it took a solid 15-20 minutes of adding oil drop by drop, then at most in a steady stream. The final product was incredibly heady-and will be great as aioli or on the eggplant. I'd like to try smaller batches with flavored oils, and different types of oils. Also bc perhaps not everyone is excited by slightly green mayo. But it is damn tasty.


The mayo was created for a dish, and the leftover egg whites created the need for a dish to use them up. So baked eggplant a la Barbara.

It's so fitting that dish that makes me think of my mom should start with a purple vegetable!

This is also, my favorite way to have eggplant-breaded with mayo and baked till crispy. The only down side is that you can rarely make enough to satisfy. You have to factor to eat a third when they are still cooling on the sheet before they get to the table, another third when they are on the table, plus at least five to be eaten cold out of the fridge the next day as your making a new dinner. I ran out of breadcrumbs too, so could only make half as much as I wanted to AND THEN had to resist entirely bc these are for a dish for tomorrow.

!!!

The home mayo made these incredibly tender-melt in your mouth good. And It was good knowing the flavor absorbed by the eggplant was good olive oil and fresh eggs. I barely needed to flavor the bread crumbs. So good, this is definitely an all-time favorite dish...and these wll be great with the cheese polenta and tomato sauce...




What about the leftover egg whites? Coconut Meringues.

These got what I consider the highest praise. Mr. Dave endorsed them with "maybe I've just have bad meringue before this..." And as he has the most extensive sweet tooth I know of, I'll take that compliment thank you very much.

They are pretty damn good- I actually don't like meringue either, but was giving myself a sugar headache eating them as they cooled. Bc I do like coconut. And the texture was amazing. Most meringues I've had have a thick chalky consistency, and crumble really without any flavor. But these were nice and crispy on the outside, and had just a little toothiness inside-which I'll attribute to the coconut, adding just the bit of moisture. These would also be good with the bottoms dipped into a good dark chocolate-they are really sweet, and that would temper it. Or even chocolate with a little coffee or cinnamon...

good times...

what a weekend.

Thanks again and again to Pete and Mona, below just a few highlights:

The best view of Manhattan ever:


The best picnic since Paris '99:



and-say it with me Mona- veal meatballs!

poll results, why a $28 spatula is worth it and how to transport a cake

No, icing between the layers isn't needed. Oh and toffee in the cake increases the cooking time and the moistness of the cake (butter you fiend). Also, though I have no pics, this cake looked GREAT cut- I went with a three-layer, ganache between the layers, and the very dark chocolate against the very golden cake looked great and tasted- well oversweet to me- but everyone else really enjoyed it.

So, I thought I'd also share my process for getting the cake to work, bc with riding the metro, that's a new challenge. Basically, I need to create a cage that is easy for me to carry, but also roomy enough to contain the cake.

The first step is the wrapping of said cake, as mentioned earlier and thank you mom, using toothpicks to hold the saran off the icing:


Then you scour your closets for a box big enough to fit the cake, and a bag big enough to fit the box you hopefully found:


Next, try to not turn into an overprotective stress monster on public transportation when anyone gets close to tapping the box...and LAST, remember to not let the box be thrown out after the mid-afternoon sugar rush in the office.

This was a lovely and delicious cake, but I think in the future I'd like to try a less dense rich cake, bc this was still a heavy package. Worth it-but damn...

POLL!

can you use chocolate ganache between cake layers?

Cake rocks my world

Lessons we have learned:

1. Yes the grater attachment of the kitchenaid can grate chocolate, but be warned it produces a dust-like pile which melts when you try to adhere it to sides of a cake



2. Buttercream icing is far too easy to make, and may negatively effect my low cholesterol levels

3. Powdered sugar makes two of my favorite desserts.

4. Decorate cakes on low surfaces.

5. Mom's trick to hold saran off cakes with toothpick spikes is still the best!


Tonight we made a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing.

Wow-you say-ambitious for a Monday night!

Honestly all pretty easy, AND my house smelled like chocolate, so all in all not a bad endeavor. I'll not get to taste the cake, so I'll have to trust the judgements of my coworkers. I tried to work a bit on my presentation with this one. I kind of like that it looks like one of the cakes in my mom's old Good Housekeeping cookbooks, that it's tilted a bit and the lattice is well-meaning but shakey.

Alora- if it survives the ride in tomorrow- Happy Belated Birthday Todd!

heart of the matter

This past week my family-always a close supportive group-has really rallied, and being physically present with them reminded me all over again how important they are and how very very lucky we are to have each other.

Family is intensely important.

More than just the group of people you are related to by blood though, your family is the community of people you let into your heart, and the community that lets you into theirs.

Family supports you if they see you everyday or once a year, or once every three years.
Family doesn't keep tallies.
Family shares the load- even when you think they aren't.
Family doesn't complain. Not seriously at least.
Family forgets the errors of the past- including bad hair, cavaricci's, exes... they'll even back up your justification that it was cool or "rad" at the time.
Family accepts change.


My family is all over the world right now, and I love you all.

comfort foods

OR: a long text post bc I forgot my camera...

Just the title should tell you the timbre of the past few days for me- in the sense of what I crave...NEED... is a few days down and comfort food.

So tonight after hacking thru a yoga class (and last night's dance debacle) I decided on the way home that what I really needed in my life was a big savory bowl of dal and rice with yoghurt on it.

Comfort food is an intensely personal subject. Real comfort food always has a story- this is what my grandmother used to make for me or this is a meal I remember during a very difficult time in my life...

For me, dal and rice is first and formost an amazing sensory experience. Every time I cook it, my house is perfumed with whatever blend of spices I'm craving; hot sharp pepper and ginger or rich heady cinnamon and clove. In that way it's a great canvas for creativity and a great way to use up bits of other meals and ingredients in a new way. Which makes sense considering there are at least 50 types of dal, or dried split beans, in India and Pakistan alone. Some of the best dal I made recently was with the leftover shreds of turkey from thanksgiving, but I've also added veggies, tofu, meat- really the options are endless.

What's the difference between the types of dal? Well some are white, some are small and red, some are kind of a medium size and red, some are black...honestly I have no idea.

No I'm kidding.

The different types of dal (the ingredient) are different types of beans. Pigeon peas, lentils, chickpeas and kidney beans are just a few of the types of dried beans that can be made into dal (the dish). I've never tried making dal from canned beans, but as a big part of the flavor comes from the beans simmered in a broth- I'm not sure I want to try making it with canned beans, they'd just be too watery, and would have lost most of their flavor in the canning process no?

Anyway- the basics of dal-making are about as third world as you can get with a meal. Really it's just the Indian version of cheap protein cooked in water with spice, and then doubled by mixing with rice. Also, it really only requires one pot- and can simmer for hours- freeing you up to milk the cows, clean the house, weave. You know-the rest of your afternoon to-do list. Dal is linked at least in spirit to red beans and rice, hunters stew, cassoulet and the like. It's a side dish, made to accompany a meat or veggie main course, but it can be dressed up or beefed up (literally), and it is in that iteration that I find the perfect week-long meal option!

Tonight, I used the little white dal, added a bit of Amy D's chimichurri spice mixture, roasted frozen broccoli and cauliflower, and a little white wine at the end. I was hungry and can't stay up late intentionally or unintentionally again, so I didn't wait for the lentils break down- but the al dente bean was a nice texture with the rice and yoghurt.

The final thing- which really marks this as a comfort food meal- I mix it all together in my bowl to make "soup".

So... what's your comfort food?

gratin de pommes de terre aux anchois

Julia Child might be trying to kill me.

When I bought the quart of heavy cream I was figuring it would last me two weeks or more- mainly going into the caramels, maybe the mousse.

I just baked potatoes and cream at a near equal ratio. The slight bit less of cream was made up for with three whole eggs. It's times like these I'm glad my mom works at a hospital and can be so helpful in getting my cholesterol checked.

Having said that, let me admit that I am fully aware there are much much healthier versions of these recipes, and that cream in amounts that make me swoon is not required to create a gratin that is delicious. That's not the point here. The point, is to try to create as classic a version of the dish as I can. I want to create and taste the original- and THEN I want to experiment with the modified versions, and try to get them closer to the original. In this case that included an entire shift of my viewpoint. I think of a gratin as a dish mostly of veggies, with a sauce poured over just barely to cover and give the veggies some liquid to cook in. This was somewhere between a gratin and a savory egg souffle. It actually puffed in the oven, and had a cooked egg custard-like top half inch under the thin top layer of browned raclette.


I also very much appreciate the simplicity of these recipes. It really forces me to think about every ingredient, and try to add the best possible, and also not add too much. most of the seasoning is just salt and pepper, so you really taste the elements of the dish, and how they work together. Sitting here trying to think about it, there is no one ingredient in the dish that stands out- each is a layer of flavor that plays it's role.

This is the kind of rich heady dish you might have as the side to a juicy roasted chicken-something that picks up on the main dishes sweetness, but has it's own dimension (anchovies).

The texture is beautiful-the kind of silky light custard you can only get from that much cream-from cream period. The flavor and the texture are linked- the fluffy eggs and cream, the potatoes that hold together more for for the looks of the dish, dissolving in your mouth so you only get ten seconds to identify the food before it's blended with the creamy custard that's carrying the sweet rich flavors of onions and anchovies. And ultimately, you devour the entire portion- because it's a side dish.

Or, like me, you go back to the full pan with a spoon after your much-more sensible chicken and rice entree and scoop up one more sweet rich spoonful as dessert.

magic!

I made pasta.

from scratch.

magic!

and so delightfully easy! The entire process from ingredients in bowl to strands drying took maybe 30 min tops, and that was mostly bc I didn't know what I was doing and went slow. I wanted to try two different recipes-a white flour one and a semolina to compare, but my sous-chef was more interested in dinner being eaten than made... so semolina will wait...

The dough was retardedly simple. Flour and egg. can't screw that up. I FINALLY used the pasta roller attachment for the kitchenaid (I love that thing), and it was really really easy. Actually we got a little crazy with it, and prob made the sheets thinner than was advisable. Here's an action shot of the dough magically being flattened into HUGE noodles:



SO after the fun with the rolling attachment-we switched to ANOTHER attachment that cuts spaghetti tubes. They were kinda long, and kinda stuck together...but nothing ten minutes of hand separating didn't fix, and the result is this lovely pasta tree!(turn your head)



Now let me sadly admit that yes- I bought that drying rack, and fully acknowledge that was the biggest waste of $15 I've spent on a kitchen gadget in a while. It's raw pieces of wood that barely fit together requiring a rubber mallet to assemble-which instantly discredits the box claim of "folds for easy storage." The only time it folded for easy storage was the year I kept it in the box after purchasing...

Perhaps now- knowing how simple it is to make fresh pasta though, it will get more use. There is the appeal of trying other types- semolina, whole wheat, spinach, pepper, sweet potato... the possibilities are damn near endless. I also have some gluten free flour I want to experiment with (Amy). And how about rice flour tortellinis filled with red bean paste (iron chef dessert idea!) And what else besides eggs can I use? Olive oil? Other oils with flavor? Walnut oil and butternut squash pasta? This is going to be fun...

Of course the other big question-how did it TASTE. Pretty good, much silkier than regular dried pasta. I let it mostly dry before cooking, really just long enough to prep everything for the carbonara sauce. Which is another example of simple combination that is really really good. Egg, cheese and tarragon tossed with hot pasta, and then sauteed ham added. The result is a creamy rich-tasting sauce that not too sweet on delicate pasta strands, studded with crispy pieces of salty pork.



I would love to be able to take a little container to work for lunch tomorrow to brag about my homemade pasta and sauce-but we ate the whole damn pot.

And this is one of the parts of cooking and food that I love. Pasta is simple to make-and really cost effective. But the process-watching it come out of the roller is amazing. I was so proud of it-of this thing that I made from scratch. But as proud as I was, there's nothing left now. And that's cool too! It's great to create something beautiful, and I enjoy the act of creation. But I also really enjoy the ENJOYMENT of my creation...

I'm full and feel greasy

So- all fired up to use my new cookbook, I came home, ready to make something creamy and decadent with chicken and butter. I got MOST of the way there... achievement though- I made a three-way meal with only stuff already in my kitchen (ta-da!)

I started with Julia's recipe for supremes de volaille a brun (chicken breasts sauteed in butter). a few things off the bat I wasn't going to do:

1. use clarified butter. Sure it's got a higher burn point but I also wasn't
2. using four whole chicken breasts. I had "medallions."
3. use port for the sauce- red wine will do just fine thank you.
4. serve this with a veggie covered in butter (see note below)

So we start with the chicken- easy prep, just salt and pepper and dredge. Easy, just lots of dishes. The aforementioned chicken gets sauteed gently in what Julia calls 1/16 an inch of butter.

I used 2/3 a stick.

whatever- my kitchen smelled AMAZING.

The coating on the chicken was nice and even, and the butter saute really brings out how damned sweet chicken is (iron chef dessert idea). I would feel a little queasy had I gone with Julia's suggestion of buttered any-kind-of-veggie as an accompaniment, but the quinoa with cheese was a good nutty contrast. Plus it-like the plain green beans-soaked up the excess sauce.

The sauce- well... the sauce was...difficult. I'm not sure if it got too hot or it was the bit of olive oil I put in bc I didn't have clarified butter to saute off the breast initially. But the damned thing would not emulsify. It's delicious-the scallions and red wine add just enough vinegar to offset the sweet chicken and the 2/3 A STICK OF BUTTER they were sauteed in (so good. but it is ugly- chunky deep brown with a golden pool of fat.

So how do you keep sauces emulsified- and can you fix them when they go south- the hunt is on!