Ravioli with Lobster Cream Sauce

Christmas dinner for my family is a truly decadent affair, and this year we decided to have a lobster ravioli with lobster cream sauce for our first course. Two days ago my mother and I went to Little Italy and visited Piemonte Ravioli Company, which has been making amazing stuffed pastas for over one hundred years and is like stepping back in time. We bought some lobster ravioli, and then made a delicate sauce to compliment them. Bellisima! This would be fantastic with any pasta that is not too doughy (rigatoni, angel hair, farfalle, but not fetuccine or pappardelle, etc).


1 whole lobster
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup of white wine
1/4 cup seafood bullion
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup cream
salt and pepper


Boil the lobster and then crack it open and extract as much meat as you can. Focus on the claws and tail, since that is where the sweetest meat resides. This can be done the night before if you are pressed for time. Cut the lobster meat into small bite sized chunks and saute in the butter for for around 5 minutes. Put it on a plate and set aside. Pour the wine and bullion into the pan you were sauteing the lobster in and let it reduce by about one third. Stir in the tomato paste into well incorporated and then slowly stir in the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste and spoon over your pasta of choice. We used parsley to garnish, but I think fresh tarragon would have been delicious.

Homemade Potato Chips

My brother got my father a fancy mandolin for Christmas (the kitchen tool, not the instrument) and about five minutes after it was out of the box we were in the kitchen playing with it. It has a special blade for super thin slices, so we sliced up a couple of potatoes and fried the slices in oil. The result was the perfect salty, crunchy, slightly oily snack to go with cocktails.

P.S. You don't need a mandolin to achieve slices this thin. A really sharp knife and a steady had would work as well.


2-3 Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly
2 cups of Canola oil
Sea salt (to taste)
dried rosemary to taste


Pour the oil into a saucepan and get it really hot (when small bubbles appear it should be ready to go.) Slide the potato slices in and cook till they start to brown around the edges (about 8 minutes). Fry them in small batches, so they don't overlap in the pan, and set them on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil. Sprinkle with salt and rosemary, or any seasoning of your choice. Serve with a stiff drink or two.

Carrot Casserole

I am all about casseroles this holiday season. This one is kind of fun because it is an unusual way to serve everyone's favorite vegetable. Also, it goes well with anything from ham to turkey to beef..and its darn easy.

2 pounds carrots
1/2 tablespoon salt
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
4 oz french fried onions
1/2 stick butter softened
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 teaspoon parsley flakes (2 to mix, 1 to garnish)
1 1/2 tablespoons dried or fresh dill


Boil carrots in salted water, drain and mash -- basically, pretend they are potatoes. I used my immersion blender for this, but you could use a potato masher if you don't have one. Mix in the cream cheese, onions, butter, cheddar, 2 teaspoons of the parsley and the dill, plus salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into a casserole dish, sprinkle with the rest of the parsley flakes and bake at 350 for about half an hour.

Noodle Kugel

I have always felt a strong affinity for all things Jewish. Maybe this is because I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and was the only kid at my school, except my brother and a Filipino boy, who didn't have a bar or bat mitzvah. I like to joke that I thought I was Jewish until I was 10 -- my parents get a kick out of that one. Anyway, I am going to a Hanukkah party and made one of my favorite dishes, noodle kugel. I got this recipe from an old boyfriend's mother who I was very close with. She taught me kugel and matzo ball soup, and I taught her Irish soda bread and saag paneer.

Kugel is basically a delicious casserole that originated in Europe many, many years ago. It can be made to be either savory or sweet, and usually uses either noodles or farfel (kind of like orzo, but egg or matzo based) as its main "body" ingredient. This recipe is for a sweet one that I believe is pretty traditional. It's not really a dessert, though it could be served as such.

12 ounces egg noodles
6 eggs
2 and 1/2 cups sour cream
2 and 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup dried fruit, raisins, etc (optional)


Boil the noodles and drain. In a large bowl, stir everything else together really well. Mix in the noodles and pour the mixture into a greased baking dish (around 9 by 12 inches). Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until custard is firm and the top is golden.

Mushroom and Herb Stuffing

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Its all about family, friends and taking stock of what you have, and its one of the few holidays that hasn't become centered on buying things for people to show you care. At its core is a meal, and food traditions are the star. Every family has their own special food rituals and recipes, and some things just taste like home. My mother, in my opinion, does Thanksgiving better than anyone. I miss her most around this time of year.

This year I am celebrating Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's family, and I'm excited to see what flavors their Thanksgiving employs since they are Spanish. However, I was just informed that they don't do stuffing. I was shocked! I am going to make stuffing and hopefully bring a new tradition to their table. This is not my mom's recipe. Even though hers is really the best, its complicated and involved macadamia nuts and golden raisins and other lovely morsels that are semi-hard to find at Safeway. I chose this recipe from Real Simple magazine because its...well, simple. I had to adjust quite a few things because even before it was baked it seemed too dry and bland.

1 and 1/2 baguettes - left out to harden overnight and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 ounce dried mushrooms (I used a mix of porcini and shitake)
4 and 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 yellow onions, diced
3 ribs of celery, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh dill
1 cup fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
salt and pepper
olive oil

In a saucepan, bring the chicken stock and mushrooms to a boil and set aside. In a large frying pan, saute the onions and celery (seasoned with salt and pepper) for about 12 minutes. Add the parsley and all the other herbs.

In a huge bowl, mix the bread cubes and onion mixture. Then pour the mushrooms and broth over it and mix well. Pour everything into a casserole pan and bake at 325 for about 30 minutes.

So easy, but not as good as my mom's. Maybe when I am home for Christmas we will make her stuffing and I will post the recipe.

Onion, Cheese and Herb Muffins

When it comes to breakfast, I always choose savory over sweet. I particularly love the rich flavor of caramelized onions, and thought I could throw some into my all purpose muffin recipe for a savory treat to bring to a potluck brunch. I wanted to use Gruyere but Safeway does not stock it (Safeway has been letting me down a lot recently - no okra!) so I went with a robust Irish cheddar. Some dried herbs round out these yummy little muffins.

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
3 medium yellow onions, chopped finely
2 tablespoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Caramelize the onions in the butter on low heat -- this took me around 30 minutes. Then take 2/3 of the onion off out of the pan and turn up the heat to medium. Let the remaining onion almost burn a little to create that intense onion-y flavor. They should really brown and crisp around the edges at this point. Set aside.
Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and herbs in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix the milk, egg and oil. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix well, then stir in the cheese and onion. Fill muffin tins about halfway, and sprinkle a little cheese on top. Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Dover Sole with Lemon Dill Butter

When I was a kid I would not eat fish, no matter how hard my parents tried to get me to. I had convinced myself that anything from the sea was beyond disgusting, and actually took this pretty far. I went to the UN School, and there was this Russian kid who sat next to me in first grade and he would bring herring in his little lunchbox every day. I remember demanding to be moved, and possibly even faking dry heaves. I was a really dramatic child. Anyway, the moral of the story is that people should try things before they make up their minds about them -- I now love fish and seafood, and wasted a lot of years fussing about nothing. So, here's a fish recipe.

This is another great weeknight dinner since its so simple and pretty healthy. Sole is so delicate, and this light, flavorful "sauce" complements it perfectly. I served it with rice and sauteed 'Indian vegetables' (zucchini, red onion, cumin, garam masala, ground mustard) and white wine.

2 pounds Dover Sole fillets (any white fish will work -- or even shrimp)

1 cup of white wine
1/2 a stick of butter
2 tablespoons of dried dill
juice from one lemon


Reduce white wine by about half. Whisk in the butter, lemon juice and dill and remove from heat. Let it cool to room temp and pour it over the raw fish fillets in a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.