Cooking With Mom

Inspiring

It is amazing how a new kitchen can inspire. For years, more than I would like to say, I have lived with a “space-challenged” kitchen, so when it’s time for serious large scale cooking I have always cooked at mom’s. Now, in a new apartment complete with a big girl kitchen, I am giddy. As soon as the last boxes are unpacked and pots and pans neatly stored, mother is coming over for a day of cooking with me.

In preparation for our big day, mom and I have been looking at lighter, easier foods and so we are giving you some of our favorite recipes. Mother turns to French Classics Made Easy by Richard Grausman, which she vows has never let her down. Her version of his steamed leeks in butter is easy and especially creamy, even though it calls for very little cream. The most time consuming aspect of this recipe is cleaning the leeks, but once they’re cleaned it is just a matter of trimming and slicing them into thin strips. We paired this dish with one of our favorite chilled soups; a cool cucumber soup. This can be made ahead of time and requires little preparation.

Creamy Leeks
4 leeks (white part only), washed and julienned
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper
 
Place the leeks and butter in a medium-size saucepan over very low heat and cover with a tight fitting lid.  Slowly steam the leeks, cooking until tender, about 8-10 minutes. Remove the lid and increase the heat, allowing moisture to evaporate. The leeks will be evenly coated with butter. Add cream and cook uncovered, allowing to thicken slightly. The cream will hold the leeks together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cucumber Soup
2 large English cucumbers
½ garlic clove, minced
1 ½ tsp salt
1 small scallion, trimmed and chopped
2 cups buttermilk
1 large pinch of cayenne (this is optional-I used about a teaspoon, but less is fine)
1 teaspoon fresh dill
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste
 
Peel the cucumbers, trimming the ends, cutting lengthwise and scraping out the center where the seeds would be, and then coarsely chop. Crush the garlic and ¼ teaspoon of salt, creating a paste with the side of a wide knife. Combine the cucumbers, garlic, salt, scallions and buttermilk in a blender and process until smooth.  Once blended, add half of the dill and cayenne and pulse to combine. Transfer the soup to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until thoroughly chilled. Before serving, season with salt and pepper and the lemon juice. Divide into soup bowls and garnish with the remaining dill.
 
Instead of bread, we nibbled on our version of baked wontons. This is so incredibly simple and there are countless possibilities regarding herbs and spices. Also these are so much better for you than potato chips and make a delicious and guilt-free snack, as well as a great soup topper.

Use as many wontons as you like; cut them into 1-inch strips and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and fresh herbs, or you can forgo the salt entirely. Bake these in a preheated 350F oven just until they begin to turn golden brown and become crisp, about 5 minutes. I recommend making quite a few as they can become habit forming.

We ended our dinner with a simple Grapefruit and Campari Granita. Not only is this a deliciously cool way to end a meal, but the color is like a lovely summer sunset.
 
1 cup sugar
3 cups fresh pink grapefruit, including some of the pulp and juice (4 large pink grapefruit)
¼ cup Campari
A few sprigs of mint to garnish, optional

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow the simple syrup to cool to room temperature. Stir the grapefruit juice and Campari into the syrup. Freeze in a large metal pan, stirring and crushing lumps of ice with a fork every 30 minutes until the mixture is firm, but not solidly frozen, about 3 to 4 hours. Before serving, scrape the granita with a fork to lighten the texture and garnish with mint leaves.