When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. When The Mushroom Lady hands you a bag of a whole lot of mushrooms, make cabbage.

Gourmet Greens is still selling beautiful Savoy cabbages and I remembered seeing a recipe in Lidia Bastianich's family cookbook that was easily modified to accommodate supplies at home.

Sliver as many garlic cloves as you've got and cut up bacon (1/3 lb., thick-cut proved plenty enough). Add half a chopped onion since it's in the fridge anyway and toss all of these into a Dutch-oven sort of pan where you've warmed up about 4 T EVOO. Let that go for around 8 minutes, not letting garlic turn brown or bacon crisp, so sort of medium lowish on the flame.

Meanwhile, or if you're smart, beforehand, quarter your cabbage, gut its core and mix a few more metaphors while you're at it. Slice 1/3-in. thick (LB says) and wash. You'll have tons. Not to worry.

Take about a pound of mushrooms (mine were a wild sort w mundane buttons, lovely pale yellow Japanese-looking funghi and lots of little beady ones on slender stalks looking like eyes at the end of antennae). Make sure they're clean and chop, slice, whatever.

Oh, and keep about 1-2 cups of light broth (or mixture of water and poultry-based stock) nearby w t salt and 1/2 t red pepper flakes.

Now, toast the pepper flakes in the pan for 1/2 minute and toss mix of cabbage and mushrooms in the pan. Stir to coat w oil and add all the salt. Cover for 3-4 minutes. Uncover. Keep doing this so the whole lot (except broth) fits into the pan and everything is all mixed up, wilting and exuding moisture.

Cover. Cook on low heat for half an hour. Check midway through to monitor liquid. Add a little broth or water if too dry. Continue doing this for another 25 minutes. Why 25? Because Lidia says one hour and bless her dear heart but after all that labor, when the timer went ding for the second time, the "fond" (cabbage mostly) was starting to scorch and I had to swear and transfer stuff to another pan. Fortunately, end result was fine and I lost only a little.

More than fine, really, which is why I bother with all this. Keep uncovered and stir regularly as you're doing other things for about another 45 minutes until rich mush. Smells wonderful. Tastes wonderful.

Eat w dried pasta, polenta, risotto or grilled meat.

Veggie-teen requests fewer too-fattening lasagna dinners and more salads. No meat. Jonathan dislikes most salads and especially hates arugula, loves pasta and meat. Horns of an ongoing dilemma. Last night's solution:

Pan roasted bosc pears, marcona almonds, and Keswick Creamery Blue Suede Moo over mache/baby romaine with sweet onion pickled in tamarind verjus, sherry vinaigrette

Charcoal grilled Eco-Friendly 100 day dry-aged chuck eye (not as tender as the previous chuck eye, which was aged 50 days)
Marvy Market Baguette

2005 Nicholas Rossignol Volnay

Interesting...I don't know much about dry-aging beef, but I assumed it was mostly done on more traditional steak cuts (sirloin, filet, etc)...I would think that the extra fattiness of the chuck would go rancid more quickly? No? At any rate, interesting...

The whole animal or side of beef is hung and aged, rather than just the already-butchered primals or steaks.

Ah, gotcha. Is that standard dry-aging protocol? I guess my only real exposure to dry-aging is seeing the cuts hanging at WF.

Monday night (and this morning): Frittata with roasted asparagus, caramelized onions, canadian bacon, and gruyere. I really wanted some mushrooms in there, but boyfriend does not like, so I sauteed them and ate them on the side.

Tonight: Eggplant parmesan. Though, I use more mozzarella than parmesan, so I suppose I should call it eggplant mozzarella. In any case, cheesy veggie goodness.

Last night:
Fresh pea soup with fennel, mint and Meyer lemon garnish
Charcoal grilled Eco-Friendly chicken, herb-brined, spatchcocked and Tandoori spice-crusted
Mache/baby romaine salad with avocado, cuke, tomato, feta and pine nuts, sherry vinaigrette
Garlic toast
Fresh mango

2007 Ch. Suau Bordeaux Rosé (our first rosé of the season--1/2 cab sauv and 1/2 cab franc--a winner, dry and delicious with watermelon and strawberry flavors--Kysela import)

So, what's your opinion on English peas worthy of the bother of shelling them? Of the high cost as compared to frozen ones? I know the B's are into these green things, too, and I saw folk loading up on them at WFM this past weekend, but:

Anna Blume: Fresh English Peas = George HW Bush: Broccoli

Every time I've tried cooking them lately, they've been grainy, hard pellets. Developed a preference for snap, snow or frozen peas as a result.
* * *
Dinner Monday: Simple braise of chicken w lemon juice and white wine to accompany a gratin of new white potatoes and ramps. This followed by a salad of Boston lettuce that was swished around in the sticky stuff left in the braising pan, then squirted with lemon.

I still maintain that ramps are not half as stinky as everyone claims, but a little does go a long way. Monavano recently bragged that she had a few left over after stretching a bunch over two meals. I should have paid heed. I added my entire bunch to a dish of five medium-sized potatoes when I should have reserved some for pasta or eggs.
* * *
Tonight's dinner inspired by Al Dente who alerted me to the wonderful Tuscan kale at Sunnyside Organic this past Sunday. I'm sautéing slivers of the greens w crisp pancetta and just a few red chili flakes. Maybe some red onion. Otherwise, leftover Zuni chicken and gratin.

Where'd you get fresh peas?

I used sugar snaps, got a bag of nice crisp sweet ones at Costco. There are many problems with English peas--expensive to buy enough to make a pot of soup, a pain to shuck, and the biggest of all--they lose their sugar very quickly after picking, and you cannot get them fresh enough unless you grow your own. By the time they get to a store, they are starchy and awful.

I sweated onion, leek, a bit of parsnip and half a fennel bulb in olive oil, added light chicken stock and white wine and cooked that until the veg were very soft, then threw a mess of sugar snaps into the pot, cooked until they were just done, then blended everything in my Vitamix blender and forced it through a sieve. Then I added some heavy cream, heated it through and served with chopped fresh mint and Meyer lemon zest. A most excellent soup, if I do say so.

Grilled cotton tofu topped with seasoned miso and sesame seeds
Miso soup with potato and sliced naganegi (Japanese bunching onion; looks like a leek)
Soy/dashi steeped mitsuba, topped with crushed nori
Steamed rice
Takuan

Marinated and pan-seared lamb chops (Costco-the same cut that I wanted to get from Eco Friendly, but skulked away after spending $21 on morels and ramps. $7/lb!!! at Costco!! and very good) with wine reduction sauce.
pecorino and ramp (Spring Valley Farm) gnocchi pan fried in a pat of butter.
dandilion greens (Tree and Leaf) and thinly sliced red onion with a warm bacon vinaigrette.
Fresh pineapple.

Z: Soup does sound delicious, especially w garnish. Can't wait until fava beans are here and we can all dig into a bowl of vignarola.

X: I had to look up "cotton tofu"--your meals always intrigue, even when they taste like spoiled milk. I learned it's best to eat tofu at lunch since it's started each day around 3 or 5 am and best consumed within 4 hours once ready. I wonder what citizens of Kyoto would think about the "SELL BY" dates on our sealed plastic containers.

M: Lovely. Recent market demos turn my fancy to lamb, too.
* * *
That young Tuscan kale was so delicate, I didn't even bother w the pancetta. Just thin slices of garlic, a little sprinkle red chili flakes w salt and water to braise once slivers of leaves wilted in the olive oil. While blanching the leaves does wonders for the greens when they're mature, these didn't need it. Big squirts of lemon. Wonderful.

Monday and Tuesday were lamb burgers that had kalamata olives and dried oregano in the mix. They were served with a mint gremolata on sesame wheat buns. The first night they had no accompaniment, but the second were served with leftover asparagus risotto.

Last night turned out a little differently than I had planned. We had

salad (romaine, radishes, cucumber, tomato, kalamata olives, and thin slices of cheddar, with homemade creamy buttermilk ranch)
baked potatoes (split, topped with cheddar and run under the broiler)
broiled rockfish fillet (brushed with a miso-mayo sauce 20-30 minutes beforehand and sprinkled with smoked paprika just before going under the broiler)

I had intended to make a Mark Bittman recipe from last week's NY Times that called for thick white fish pieces to be wrapped in lettuce leaves and poached in a butter-wine mixture. I stood at the fish counter and couldn't decide between cod and rockfish, both of which were suggested for the recipe. The cod was the right thickness and I was about to ask for it, but at the last minute changed my mind and bought rockfish, even though it was more expensive. It was fresh, from VA, they said at the counter. All was fine until I opened the fish at home and d'oh!--I hadn't paid any attention at all to the thickness of that, just the cod. The rockfish was not going to cut into the right sized pieces for the lettuce wrap .

So I called an audible and started pulling things out of the refrigerator, figuring I'd mix something up to brush on the fillet before cooking. This is the point at which I realized that I'd never prepared rockfish at home before . The mixture ended up being

light mayo
lemon juice
minced garlic
red miso
Dogfish Head Fort Raspberry Ale

I won't give my proportions, which I wrote down quickly as I did this, in case it worked.* They were of the 1 lg. serving tablespoon of this, 2 soup spoons of that variety, which would probably be meaningless to someone else. The amount of ale was very small (2 soup spoons!) because of its enormous strength. I'd bought a bottle of the stuff months ago and when I finally opened it earlier in the week, I discovered that we don't like high ABV fruit ales. It was awful to drink. I have lots of left, getting flat in the refrigerator. I don't know what else I'll find to do with it, but it worked nicely in the miso-mayo concoction.

*It did work. The fish came out well.

Thanks, Anna. We were fortunate to have some gift takuan in the house, so we enjoyed that with dinner, rather than the awful, wretched daikon from the pickle bed.

At dinner one night, we actually did try to explain to some locals that in America, you can get everlasting tofu in aseptic packaging. Did not compute.

Fresh (not homemade) fettucine alfredo with shrimp and scallops.

That looks delicious.

We had leftover salad, bread, and rockfish, and I made a batch of miso soup. I also added some of the raspberry ale to that--mixing the miso paste with equal parts of hot broth and ale before stirring into the soup. For all of its failings (in my opinion) as a beverage, that ale is perfect in combination with red miso--the smell, the taste, the color. I can't think of many other applications, so I guess we'll be eating miso soup until the ale is gone .

-Bison burgers with benedictine cheese and fresh(!) porcini
-Leftover mashed potatoes with carrots, thyme, and chicken fat

You were at Penn Quarter yesterday? Did you see the rice poured into the paella? The FBI in action?

Last night:
A bunch of dandelions, from Next Step Produce at last Sunday's Dupont Market, was languishing at the end of the week and needed to be eaten.
Inspired by a Suzanne Goin recipe from *Sunday Suppers at Lucques*:

Dandelion salad with warm bacon*/sherry vinaigrette, roasted Kabocha squash, P'tit Basque sheepmilk cheese and Marcona almonds
Pecan pie from the Durham, NC farmers' market, where I was yesterday morning
2007 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

*Nueske's very smoky bacon, available sliced to order at Balducci's New Mexico Ave.

Pork and hominy stew with Cibola Farms pork shoulder from Arlington Farmer's Market
Lime and cilantro rice

2004 Quara Malbec

This arugula salad with wimpies a la Mom with whole grain toast. My mother's wimpies are nothing like real sloppy Joe's. No onions or peppers, etc., but they're familiar and, to me, delicious.

Stir-fried chicken and broccoli, with red pepper, asparagus, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, and rice noodles; soy and rooster sauces; peanuts
Cream of Mâche and Chicken Soup from the Chocolate and Zucchini blog [I added 1 cup whole milk, not in the original, and freshly grated nutmeg and grated some Parmiggiano over the top to serve.]
Toasted striata baguette with garlic and Parmiggiano.

The mâche was from Gardner's Gourmet Saturday at Eastern Market. She said it would be the last week for it this season. Wonderful greens but hard to clean . The broccoli and asparagus were from there as well.

Tonight:
Buttermilk fried chicken wings
Cheesy artisan grits cakes
Braised collards and kale
Roasted Kabocha squash
Roasted crimini mushrooms
Roasted cippolini onions

A local Chapel Hill, NC ash-covered ripened goat cheese (much better than anything I've tasted that's made around here...)
Firehook baguette

Pastel vasco with seedless strawberry-blackberry compote* and poured cream

2006 Can Blau

*cooked with lavender flowers, pureed and strained, and finished with Créme de Violette and brandy

Parsley dipped in salt water
Hard-boiled egg " "
Horseradish
Haroset w matzo
Gefilte fish w celery and carrots
Matzo ball soup w carrots, onion and chicken
Brisket
Potato kugel
Carrots
Salad of watercress, baby arugula, mesclun w flowers, strips of Gold Rush apple caramelized in cider, roasted baby golden and ruby beets and snipped chives. Shallot vinaigrette.

Pound cake made w potato flour
Fruit salad
Coconut macaroon

I've seen that pork there before, but have yet to try it--how was it? I'm sure it was pricey, but was it worth it?

It was definitely worth it. Rich marbling and good pork flavor. They also are at Dupont Circle on Sundays.

Salt Cod "Plaki" - Soaked salt cod baked with sliced potatoes, carrots, celery, tomato, onions, garlic, and parsley.

Wow. Other than the mixed green salad with apples and beets, you really did the whole nine yards of an Ashkenazi (Eastern European Jewish) seder meal. How did you like the food? I presume that you did the salad. And you were seeking potato kugel recipes last week. Did you make the kugel? Who cooked the rest of it?

Monday night dinner:
Oven roasted, miso crusted hake filets on
Cha soba noodles in
Dashi ginger broth with sugar snap peas
Rice vinegar-soy marinated cucumber salad

2006 Domaine de la Quilla Muscadet

Not my first seder--had it all before, though I do prefer Sephardic. Yes, I am responsible for the non-traditional item (someone else made green beans, too, out of an equivalent desire for green vegetables).

John Eaton moms cooked, the most accomplished being the vegetarian who allows her kids to order bacon cheeseburgers when they go out even though she was raised Orthodox. A friend made the kugel which I thought was just okay: well-chosen recipe executed by an extremely good cook, but the onions weren't as effective as they could have been and there was more textural harmony than contrast. Give me a latke any day, instead. Haroset, on the other hand, I adore and am as happy w matzo as I am w saltless Tuscan bread.

A good old standby during a hectic week: pork okonomiyaki with all the toppings (okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, bonito flakes, aonori seaweed) and a giant bottle of Sapporo Black Label beer.

Feeling very summer-y yesterday, I felt that a nice, light, simple dinner of grilled corn on the cob (chipotle butter), fresh cantaloupe tossed with a little fresh mint and tilapia fish tacos would fit the bill. They did a fine job.

Tonight:
first course: pan seared dayboat scallops with fresh corn and fava succotash, pan reduction jus and basil chiffonade

second course: manicotti with Italian fresh pasta sheets, home made ricotta and cardoon-green garlic pesto*

2006 Tittarelli torrontes

*This was an improvisation which I thought interesting and delicious. My family, however did not care for the pesto. Jonathan also didn't care for the pasta, but Veggie-teen liked that. Everyone agreed that the baked ricotta was special. <sigh> y'win some, y'lose some. The scallops were a big hit.

Monday night: Experimented with poaching eggs and then frying them (an idea I got from the blog of the Marriott corporate chef). It worked alright, though my poaching method (wrapping the eggs in plastic wrap and then dunking them) could use some refinement. I served them over asparagus roasted in salt, pepper, and olive oil--delicious, first I've had this season.

Wednesday night: Asian chicken thighs (marinated in soy sauce, honey, ginger, sesame oil, garlic, and black pepper) with a spicy, minted cucumber salad (marinated in seasoned rice wine vinegar, serrano peppers, shallots, sesame oil, ground red pepper, honey, salt, and fresh mint). Even though I had to settle for the indoor grill pan instead of an outdoor bbq, it was a delicious meal--spicy, but refreshing. Yum. I adapted it from a recipe in Cooking Light magazine.

Thursday night: Whole wheat spaghetti with a Firehook French loaf and homemade marinara sauce (onions, garlic, a bunch of dried herbs, balsamic vinegar, chicken stock, and crushed tomatoes). This was the first time I attempted my own sauce, and it turned out really nice (albeit a bit thin, though I think it will thicken up as it sits). I froze about half of it for later use--it will work really well with eggplant parm, or I could brown some meat and turn it into a bolognese.

What type of whole wheat pasta did you use and did you like it? I've been experimenting with them. Barilla is alright, with a decent texture. Still not the same as regular pasta. I find that the whole wheat pastas get a mushy texture quickly,whether it's cooking to long, or sitting in a sauce for a period of time.

Next time you make sauce, leave out the chicken stock. You really don't need it in a marinara sauce. Also, next time depending on how watery the canned crushed tomatoes you use, you can add tomato paste for thickening or cook it longer without a cover to reduce and thicken the sauce. Basic rule of thumb: if it's too thin, reduce reduce reduce to boil off the extra liquid. (It'll taste better with longer cooking anyway.) If it's too thick--add water.

i use rustichella d'abruzzo, maybe not the best in the world but it's usually easy to find at whole foods -- although the price has been going up and up so whole wheat may not be stocked as much. i also like their farro pasta, which isn't really wheat. penne is usually the cheapest cut.

however, two things: i think you are overcooking the pasta. and i don't think that whole wheat works well with quite a few sauces, especially tomato-based. so if it's your health you are concerned about, then i think the best solution is to eat less pasta but use the pasta that tastes best. whole wheat, for me, works best with greens and pecorino, sauces leaning in that direction.

there is probably a long story that can be put together on whole wheat pasta, and i would start by checking into what marcella hazan has to say on the subject. maybe she doesn't say too much, but if you can find something it would be a good start. also, the silver spoon and deborah madison. the former i haven't really checked on whole wheat, but i know deborah madison recommends whole wheat or farro for certain recipes.

the best thing i cooked for dinner this week: from deborah madison, as is usually the case, steamed potatoes and steamed green cabbage tossed with brown butter, fresh chopped sage and cheese. she calls for taleggio, but you can always fool around with other soft cheese. browning the butter takes a good hour or longer, but the rest of this can be assembled in no time and it is hearty and simple, great for in-between seasons.

Spot on about the tomato sauces. Thanks for the advice! Can you elaborate on the brown butter..an hour?

Last night I did the marinated pork sirloin chops on the grill pan again. I boiled down the leftover marinade for a sauce. This was served alongside udon noodles with a miso-soy-peanut sauce and a poached egg on top. I think the noodle concoction was a little too busy, though my husband thought it tasted pretty good.

I've been seeing the boneless sirloin chops at Whole Foods quite a bit recently. They're inexpensive (especially for WF) and stretch 1-3 meals, depending on what I do with them. I marinate them for half an hour as I'm prepping the rest of the meal, and then they cook up pretty quickly on the grill pan.

well, i guess there are ways of speeding up the brown butter, and you can find recipes where the butter turns brown in minutes, but it won't be as good and it's not the same experience as seeing how far you can go with your butter. basically, you melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and slowly cook it past the ghee stage when the solids separate out and wait until they start to brown. you can go slowly or even double slowly, but the idea is not to burn the fat while developing the flavor, which smells and tastes nutty when it's done. also, the color will be a light nutty brown. (deborah madison explains this better than i do, in a least one of her cookbooks.) i unfortunately have to cook on an electric stove, so may have to play with the heat setting occasionally to keep things moving, but generally keep the heat on the lowest setting, and it takes about an hour, even longer, and i have never exactly timed it. you can do other things, in the meantime, but you still need to watch this. this is not an ingredient i use that often so i don't know much about storing it, but you probably could, if you wanted to have it on hand.

brown butter is good with pasta, and goes well with sage and quite a few vegetables. right now i am thinking of cauliflower. however, i do most of my cooking with olive oil and try to lighten up on the fats because i get more than my fair share at restaurants and snack too much on cheese.

marcella hazan has a really good slow butter recipe for rounds of sliced carrot in which you basically cook them with some water and butter in a wide skillet, turning them and adding water occasionally, until they are dark and shriveled. i haven't made these for probably a couple of years, but they are well worth the effort, even though they seem like they take all day (they don't quite). it's like cooking carrots down to their essence, if you're ever in the mood for going beyond carrots vichy and finding out where it takes you.

Thanks for the sauce tips! As for which whole wheat pasta I used, I really have no idea--probably store brand, or whatever was cheapest (boyfriend went to the store for me, since I only realized at dinner time that I had no pasta on hand). To be honest, if the pasta isn't homemade, it all tastes about the same to me. I can't think of any reason for whole wheat pasta to be mushy other than VAST overcooking--usually, I have a hard time cooking it enough to take the bite out of it.

When I move to Atlanta and get my shiny new Kitchen-Aid mixer, it's ON--I can't wait to start experimenting with homemade pasta.

Striata baguette and olive oil
Fettucine Alfredo with broccoli rabe and toasted almonds

Slow oven braised brisket from Eco-Friendly
Mashed potatoes
Green beans with Meyer lemon

Veggie-teen had a falafel sandwich on Afghan bread and some Greek gigante beans that I had in the oven overnight.

2004 Dom. de la Chantalouserie Bourgeuil

Grilled pork sirloin chops topped with caramelized shallots and sauteed morels
Steamed English peas with butter and black pepper
Buttered egg noodles with pea shoots

I really liked the combination on the plate of the peas plus the noodles mixed with pea shoots. I bought out the last 3+ lbs. of peas in the pod at a vendor outside Eastern Market just at closing time. They gave me 3 bags/boxes for the price of 2, which was nice. I almost always get there too late when I head over to grab something in the afternoon. I'd passed on the peas when I was there this morning and went back on a whim and scored. The morels and pea shoots were from the Wisteria Farm stand there.

Friday's dinner was seared scallops and red bell pepper risotto topped with asparagus and Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc to drink.

Tonight: Cornmeal crusted fried green tomatoes
Ham and andouille jambalaya

Questionable vegan cherry pie from Whole Paycheck. I think crust can't be good without animal fat. PETA and I aren't friends.

Whole wheat orzo risotto-style with chicken, adouille sausage and asparagus.

Only the asparagus were bought specifically for this meal. Chicken stock, chicken, and sauasage from the freezer. Orzo on the shelf. Carmelized onions in the fridge. Putting a dent in cooking down my pantry made the meal that much more delicious.

spinach and bacon stuffed mushrooms, topped with breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan
pea soup with pea shoots and bacon
roasted turkey drumstick
corn on the cob

This is the first time I kept Passover for the whole week (if at all) in a few years. Oh, nonPassover food, how I missed you.

Roma sub from Italian Store. Twix mini bar. Vodka and the last of the kosher for Passover diet coke.