Recipe #37 - Shrimp Fried Rice

Fried rice is something we've all enjoyed at Chinese restaurants, but not everyone has had success at preparing it at home. We've found that the key to getting a good batch of fried rice out of the wok is cooking and pre-chilling the rice well ahead of time.

Regarding the various ingredients you add to the rice, it's entirely up to your taste buds and what you have on hand. As with many of the recipes we post here, fried rice is something that can absorb a number of things you may have sitting around the kitchen.

This recipe is enough to serve about six. We had it recently along with Indonesian Salad Rolls with Coconut Peanut Sauce (click here for recipe), and some salad greens dressed with a light lime-ginger-soy-sesame dressing.

1.5 cups long grain white rice
3 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup frozen peas, cooked and drained

2 Tbsp. peanut oil
1 red onion, peeled and diced
12 green onions, cleaned, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 stalks celery, trimmed and diced
1 cup broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 red bell pepper, cored and diced

3 eggs, scrambled

1 Tbsp. peanut oil
1/2 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce

Pour the rice into a fine-mesh strainer and rinse with water. Repeat this several times until the water that drains off is relatively clear. Bring the water and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the rice and lower the heat. Cover the pan and allow to simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes undisturbed. When it's cooked through and all water has been absorbed, remove from heat and allow to cool. After it's cooled down to near room temperature, transfer the pan to a refrigerator and chill for several hours.

Heat the peanut oil in a large wok and add the diced onion. Stir-fry for about a minute, then add the green onions, garlic and ginger. Stir-fry for a couple of minute until fragrant.

Add the celery, broccoli and bell peppers and stir-fry for a few minutes, until softened slightly.

Shove the veggies to one side of the wok and move the empty side directly over the heat. Pour in the scrambled eggs and cook until set, stirring often. Chop up the eggs, then stir them into the veggies. (If you're uncomfortable doing the eggs this way, you can always cook them in a separate non-stick skillet, cut into small pieces, then add to the rice.)

Meanwhile, take the chilled cooked rice and break it up by hand into a large bowl, so that you have generally individualized grains. Pour the rice into the wok and stir-fry until cooked through.

Heat the remaining oil in a separate saute pan and add the shrimp. Saute just until cooked through and opaque. Stir the cooked shrimp into the fried rice. If you have anyone in your group who can't eat shellfish or doesn't like shrimp, you can serve the shrimp on the side and everyone can add shrimp to their fried rice at serving time.

Sprinkle the fried rice with the soy sauce, stir and serve immediately.

A final note: Fried rice is a lot of work. If you want your fried rice "easy" then Google the nearest Chinese restaurant and go for the "take-out" option.

Recipe #36 - Baked Potato Bar

Here's another one ideally suited to feeding a crowd. We were recently at a family get-together in Las Vegas and faced with the task of feeding a large group of folks. Like the fish taco feast we published previously here, this works well when you need to prepare a nourishing hot meal for a whole bunch of people.


This recipe assumes a dozen people; you can alter the ingredients based on how many you're feeding.

6 extra large russet baking potatoes (or 12 small)

1 large bunch broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
1 Tbsp. olive oil

6 strips bacon

2 cups cheese sauce (recipe below)

2 cups prepared chili

2 cups grated monterey jack cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 stick unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes to one hour, depending on size, until cooked well. If using large spuds, cut each in half and put on a serving platter.

While the potatoes are baking, heat the butter in a skillet, add the broccoli florets and saute until cooked through. Chop up the bacon into small dice and cook in a saute pan until crisp.

Put all the condiments and toppings into bowls and invite your hungry guests to grab a spud and work their way through the topping line.

Serve this with a big bowl of green salad.

NOTE: This recipe can also be found on the DuMond Brothers site here.

CHEESE SAUCE

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. unbleached white flour
1 cup low-fat milk
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt to taste

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and whisk for a few minutes to create a roux. Add the milk and continue to heat over low heat, whisking often. After the sauce begins to thicken, add the grated cheese. Continue heating and whisking until it's hot and bubbly. If it's too thick, add more milk, a bit at a time, until it's the consistency you want. Add cayenne pepper and salt, and serve hot.

Recipe #35 - Walnut Cheddar Loaf with Cheese Sauce

Credit where credit is due: This recipe is adapted from one of the first vegetarian cookbooks Mark DuMond ever owned. "Diet For a Small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappe dates back to the 1970's, and that's how long this recipe has been "in the family" so to speak.

If you do a Google search for the title of this recipe, you'll find variations of it all over the Internet, so we're by no means the only ones trumpeting it as a reliable choice.

At the most recent Thanksgiving dinner we hosted at our house, we cooked this to go along with all the other traditional food items. We served it with a mushroom ragout gravy (recipe here), but it's even better with a nice cheese sauce.

Makes about eight servings.

2 Tbsp. saffron or canola oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup coarsely ground walnuts (use a processor)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 eggs, beaten
salt to taste
1.5 cups cooked brown rice (3/4 cup uncooked)

Cheese sauce (recipe follows).

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil and saute onions until translucent. Mix with remaining ingredients and put in an oiled loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes until cooked through and browned on top.

CHEESE SAUCE

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. unbleached white flour
1 cup low-fat milk
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt to taste

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and whisk for a few minutes to create a roux. Add the milk and continue to heat over low heat, whisking often. After the sauce begins to thicken, add the grated cheese. Continue heating and whisking until it's hot and bubbly. If it's too thick, add more milk, a bit at a time, until it's the consistency you want. Add cayenne pepper and salt, and serve hot.

Recipe #34 - Rock Shrimp-Spinach-Dill-Tomato Pizza

We try to make sure all the recipes we publish here are original "DuMond" creations, even if some of them are inspired by others. This pizza, however, is a definite knockoff. (The recipe can also be found on the Ace & Mark DuMond blog here.)

We used to live in southern Oregon and one of our favorite places to get pizza was a popular restaurant in the little town of Jacksonville called Bella Union. This place has been around for decades and has the feel of an old-time saloon. This pizza is a real favorite and our recipe is our best-effort at recreating what's known on the Bella menu as "Spencer's Supreme."

We're presenting this as an easy thing to make on a Friday night after a tough week, and so are using a premade pizza crust. If you prefer to make your own crust from scratch, feel free to do so.

1 premade pizza crust
Olive oil

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 lb. rock shrimp
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 Tbsp. dry white wine
1/2 lb. spinach, washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 Tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup goat cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Brush the pizza crust with olive oil and prebake for about five minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and saute the garlic for a minute or so. Add the wine and shrimp and saute for a couple of minutes until the shrimp cooks through and becomes opaque. Remove from heat immediately.

Add the spinach to the pan and saute until just wilted (add a touch more olive oil if need be).

Spread the spinach across the pizza crust. Scatter the rock shrimp and dill across the crust. Spread the cheeses and pine nuts around the pizza.

Bake the pizza in the oven for about 10 minutes, until heated through and the cheeses are melted and bubbly. Top with fresh tomato slices, cut into wedges and serve.

This goes great with a caesar salad and a glass of pinot grigio, or whatever white wine you prefer, such as chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, viognier, chenin blanc, etc.

Recipe #33 - Wild Mushroom "Ragout" Gravy

We're not big fans of what most people think of as "gravy." But we ARE big fans of mushrooms, and if you use the word sauce instead of gravy, we're there. We're calling it gravy right now because this was Thanksgiving week. We hosted a big dinner for Thanksgiving and decided to make this tasty mushroom gravy to satisfy everyone, including the vegetarians in the crowd.

2 oz. dried wild mushrooms (porcini or morel preferred, but any dried wild mushroom will work here)
Hot water to cover

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 medium shallots, peeled and finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 lb. fresh wild mushrooms (chanterelles, shiitakes, porcinis, portobellos, oyster, morels, preferably several kinds mixed), coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1.5 cups rich vegetable broth
2 tsp. fresh minced thyme
2 Tbsp. fresh minced parsley
1 tsp. fresh minced rosemary
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt & pepper to taste

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with hot water. Allow to soften for at least 20 minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid. Coarsely chop the softened mushrooms.

Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the shallots and garlic. Cook until slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the fresh mushrooms and cook for about 10 more minutes, until the mushrooms have softened and released their juices. Add the flour and stir to incorporate.

Add the dried mushrooms, reserved soaking liquid, wine, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and cook for a few minutes. Add the vegetable broth and herbs and simmer for up to 30 minutes.

Put about 1/2 the mushrooms and sauce to a blender or food processor and allow to cool for a few minutes. Puree until smooth and add back into the sauce pan with the gravy. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.

We served this with walnut cheddar loaf (for the vegetarians) and roast turkey (for the meat-eaters).

Recipe #32 - Veggie Bakers

We've been experimenting with different variations of dressed-up baked potatoes for years. There have been more decadent versions involving crab and lobster, and some with the potato left untouched and just veggies piled on top.

What seems to work best is to scoop out all the potato and mash it up a bit, mixing it with other ingredients. The best time to fix this one is when you have several leftover raw veggies that might otherwise end up in the compost bin (or worse, the garbage). What you actually include in your version of the veggie baker is completely up to you!

Makes four servings.

4 large russet baking potatoes
1 Tbsp. room temperature unsalted butter

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 yellow or red onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 cup broccoli florets, cut up in small pieces
1 small zucchini, trimmed and chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, cored and diced
2 jalapeno peppers, all seeds and pith removed, diced
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil (or other herbs as desired)

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup half-and-half
Salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Remove all "eyes" and rough spots from the spuds, poke 'em with a fork, rub them with butter, wrap in foil and bake in the oven until completely cooked through, about 45 minutes to an hour. The time will vary depending on the size of the potatoes. Stick a knife in; if it slides in and out easily, the flesh of the potato should be done. You might want to remove the foil from the spuds for the last fifteen minutes to crisp up the skins a bit.

While the spuds are baking, put olive oil in a skillet and heat. Add the onion and garlic and green onion and cook for a few minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the other veggies and stir-fry for about five minutes, until cooked through but not mushy. Add the basil and any other fresh herbs at the last minute.

Cut the tops off each spud and scoop out the flesh, leaving just enough so the remaining skins retain their shape. Put all the potato pulp in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter, half-and-half, salt and pepper. Coarsely mash the potatoes. (The idea here is NOT to thoroughly "mash" them; you want them to be a little lumpy.) Add the cooked veggies and mix well.

Put all the potato-veggie mixture back into the potato shells. Mix the grated cheeses together and scatter on top of each spud. Put the potatoes back in the oven on a large baking sheet and heat until the cheese on top is melted and bubbly. (You might want to use the broiler for the last couple of minutes if you want the cheese to get nicely browned.)

Serve with a nice green salad and a dry white wine.

Recipe #31 - Fennel-Celeriac Soup

Celeriac, also known as celery root, is a bizarre-looking vegetable item which most people would reject out of hand upon inspection at the grocery store, let alone include it in their dinner plans. In its raw state, it's gnarly, dirty, knobby and strange.

However, once you trim away all the ugly stuff and get to the sweet interior, celeriac is a wonderful addition to many recipes, including this smooth, elegant soup.

Makes eight servings.

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium yellow sweet onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 large celery root, trimmed down to just the green center and diced
2 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and diced

2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups low-fat milk
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
4 oz. neufchatel reduced fat cream cheese

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
Salt & pepper

In a large soup pot, heat the butter and olive oil and add the onions and garlic. Saute for a few minutes until soft, then add the celeriac, fennel and potato. Saute the vegetables until softened, about 10 minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir until incorporated into the veggies. Add the milk and stock, and heat the soup over medium heat until it thickens a bit. Break the cream cheese into small pieces, add to the soup, and continue heating, stirring often until the cream cheese has melted and the soup is thick and hot. Add the herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer soup for a few minutes more.

Now it's time to smooth out the soup. If you use a blender or food processor, make sure to allow the soup to cool somewhat before buzzing it. We prefer to use a hand-held immersion blender, which makes the process much easier as the soup never leaves the pot and you have less clean-up later. The immersion blender doesn't quite do as good a job of perfectly smoothing out the soup, but we like the trade-off in time and clean-up.

You could add some sour cream or pesto drizzle to each bowl. Obviously, this soup would go well with some hot sourdough bread and a green salad.

Recipe #30 - "Forbidden" Black Rice Salad

This is a Post-Halloween special. A couple of weeks ago, Sheri' needed to bring a "scary" dish to her workplace for a Halloween luncheon. Mark found a recipe online and adapted it.

We just happened to have some "Forbidden" black Chinese rice on hand (click here to find it online). The finished dish is truly deep black in color, and flecked with bright dots of orange, so entirely appropriate for Halloween. The flavors are bright with the tastes of lime and spice.

1 3/4 cups black Thai or Chinese rice (also known as "Forbidden Rice")
3 1/2 cups water
1 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp. sambal oelek or other Asian hot chili sauce

1 Tbsp. peanut oil
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
2 large shallots, peeled and minced
6 green onions, peeled, cleaned and chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger

1.5 cups raw cashews
1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced

Salt & Pepper

Put the black rice, water and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for about 30 minutes until the rice is tender and the water has been completely absorbed. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and chili sauce.

In a medium saute pan, heat the peanut oil and add the carrot, shallots, green onions, garlic and ginger. Saute for just a few minutes until cooked through but not browned.

Put the black rice in a large mixing bowl and add the dressing, sauteed veggies, bell peppers and cashews. Gently stir thoroughly and serve either warm or at room temperature (not chilled).

Recipe #29 - Wild Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna

A lot of lasagna is made with tomato sauce and some form of meat. This one is a bit different in that it has neither. Instead, it makes use of a rich mushroom sauce laced at the last minute with spinach.

The rest of the dish is straightforward lasagna, with layered flat noodles and cheese, with the whole thing baked until bubbly. If you added some tuna and peas to this, you'd have a deconstructed (reconstructed?) tuna casserole!

1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. olive oil
12 dried lasagna noodles

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
6 green onions, trimmed, cleaned and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
1/2 lb. mixed wild mushrooms (chanterelle, portobello, shiitake, oyster), roughly chopped

3 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 cups low-fat milk

1 lb. fresh baby spinach leaves, cleaned, stemmed and roughly chopped
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil

2 cups shredded parmesan or asiago cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese



Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt, oil and lasagna pasta. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or al dente. Drain and toss pasta with a little olive oil so it doesn't stick, and set aside.

In a wok or large saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil. When it's hot, add the shallots, scallions and garlic, and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add all the mushrooms and cook for about eight minutes, until they've given off their juices and the juices have mostly evaporated.

Add the flour, salt and pepper, and stir thoroughly to incorporate the flour with the vegetables. Slowly add the milk and cook the sauce over medium heat until it's thickened considerably and bubbly. Add the spinach and basil and cook for a couple minutes more, until wilted. Remove from heat.

Spray a two-inch-deep 9-by-13 baking dish with cooking spray. Coat the bottom with the mushroom-spinach sauce, top with 1/2 cup cheese, and top that with three lasagne noodles laid next to one another. Repeat the layering, finishing with sauce and cheese. Put the mozzarella over the top of the whole thing and put in the preheated oven. Bake the lasagna for about 30 minutes until it's hot and bubbly. Remove from oven and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes or so before serving.

We had this with steamed broccolini and a green salad with roasted garlic-buttermilk dressing. But it goes with just about any kind of accompaniment, including garlic bread, Caesar salad, steamed asparagus, you name it.

Recipe #28 - Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Nothing says "autumn" quite like the sweet, delicate flavor of roasted squash. This yummy soup was created by Sheri' for a wonderful Sunday night supper. We had it with a Caesar salad and a warm flatbread dotted with poppy seeds, black sesame seeds and cumin seeds.

1 large butternut squash, cut in half and all seeds scooped out and discarded
1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 sweet yellow onion, diced
1 rib celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, diced
1 cinnamon stick
Salt & pepper to taste
4 cups homemade vegetable broth (see note below)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. curry powder
2/3 cup half-and-half or cream

4 Tbsp. sour cream or mascarpone cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Brush the flesh of the squash with olive oil. Put the squash halves on a baking sheet in the oven and roast until very soft, about 45 minutes to one hour depending on size of squash. Remove from the oven and cool enough to handle.

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil and add the onions, celery, carrot and cinnamon stick. Saute until the veggies are soft, about eight minutes. Add the stock, cumin and curry powder. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for a few minutes.

Scoop the flesh of the squash out of the shells and chop coarsely. Add to the soup pot and simmer for another fifteen minutes or so. Remove the cinnamon stick. Using an immersion blender, buzz the soup until smooth. Add the half-and-half or cream and keep warm on low heat until serving.

Add a dollop of sour cream or mascarpone to each bowl of soup.

* Note on vegetable stock:

We make homemade stock all the time. It's free and easy. Whenever you're trimming and chopping veggies, take the trimmings that you'd otherwise throw away and keep 'em in a plastic bag in the freezer. When you need stock, just take all the frozen veggie scraps, throw 'em in a soup pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour or more. Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer.

We omit certain veggie trimmings that can tend to bring bitter flavors into the mix when overcooked, such as brussels sprouts.

Then you can add the boiled-down veggies to your compost bin. That way they can have three levels of use (food, stock, compost).

In Praise of Great Films - Movies With a Food Theme

Sixth in a series.

The stories that are told in movies are first and foremost about people. But some of our favorite films are also about something else we all are fond of: food! If you think about it, there are certain elements in the motion pictures that we can all relate to. Love, sex, laughs, thrills, scares, music, colors, intrigue, etc. And sometimes, yes, even food.

Here are some films that have food and cooking at their core, but are enjoyable regardless:

BIG NIGHT (1996) – The story takes place in the 1950s in a restaurant run by two brothers (played by Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci) who have come to America from Italy. They are struggling to survive in the business and come upon a plan to have a “big night” with an appearance at their place by a celebrity, Louis Prima. The centerpiece of the special meal they create is a timpano, an Italian dish you won’t want to make yourself after you see this film. But the visual experience of seeing this timpano being created is something to behold. While this is a film with food as a focal point, the story is really about the relationship of the two brothers. The final scene in the movie is a single wide static shot of the brothers eating scrambled eggs. The scene has no dialogue and lasts for several minutes. Sounds boring, right? No, actually, it’s a pitch-perfect way to end the film, and it resonates with genuine emotion.

DINNER RUSH (2000) – Danny Aiello plays the owner of an Italian restaurant in New York and the story takes place during a single busy night. An amazing ensemble of actors populate this film, which bounces from the kitchen to the dining room to the street and back to the kitchen. Lots of storylines are taking place simultaneously and things happen toward the end that you definitely would not have expected. To say more would be to ruin the movie for those who haven’t seen it. So if you haven’t seen Dinner Rush, check it out.

MOSTLY MARTHA (2001) – This is a German film so you’ll have to deal with subtitles, but it’s well worth it. A top woman chef is living a self-centered, lonely life when she ends up the guardian of her eight-year-old niece when the girl’s mom is killed in a car wreck. As the story unfolds, the relationship between the two goes from frosty to loving in somewhat predictable ways. But it’s an emotionally involving movie and worth the investment of time to watch. Plus it has some great music by jazzman Keith Jarrett. Mostly Martha was remade as a much more high-profile American movie called No Reservations, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Abigail Breslin and Aaron Eckhart. The remake isn’t bad, but the original German version is better.

EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994) – Speaking of foreign films, this one’s a classic. It’s in Mandarin Chinese so again you’ll need to read subtitles. This is a classic, directed by Ang Lee, who would go on to make the Oscar-nominated films Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain. Eat Drink Man Woman is about a father and his daughters, with food as an inspiring thread that weaves its way through the story. This movie was remade as…

TORTILLA SOUP (2001) - …a Hispanic version of Eat Drink Man Woman. The father is played by Hector Elizondo, who loves to cook but is losing his ability to do so while maintaining a special relationship with his three beautiful daughters. Virtually every time the family gets together over a fabulous meal, one of the daughters makes an “announcement” to the family, which is what propels the story forward. This movie is a little on the “soapy” side, but the family relationships are a treasure and the food looks fantastic.

RATATOUILLE (2007) – This animated feature is a delight from first frame to last. It deservedly won the Oscar for best animated feature (and was nominated for four others). One might think a story about rats in a restaurant kitchen is a suspect idea, but it really works. A rat named Remy shows off his culinary prowess in a highbrow Paris eatery. Hilarious, goofy, heartwarming, colorful – this movie has it all.

Do you have a favorite movie with a food theme that wasn’t on this list? Click on the ‘comment’ button at the end of this post and send us your thoughts.

Recipe #27 - Mediterranean Green Salad

"Mediterranean" can mean many things to many people. When it comes to cuisine, we like the flavors that seem to represent the Mediterranean area. Lemony. Salty. Tangy. Fresh. Light. These are delightful flavors associated with Greece, Italy, southern France, and all the sun-drenched coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.

As with most things we cook and prepare, this recipe is highly adaptable.

Makes four servings.

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper

6 cups mesclun salad greens
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
1 cup kalamata olives, drained and sliced
1 cup canned marinated artichoke hearts, drained and sliced
1 ripe avocado, diced
1/2 cup pepperoncini, drained and thinly sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Put the lemon juice and feta cheese in a small blender or food processor and buzz briefly. Add the olive oil and buzz until well blended. Add salt and pepper to taste (being careful with the salt, considering the feta is salty and so are the olives you'll be adding to the salad later).

Put the salad greens in a large bowl and add 1/2 cup dressing. Toss well to coat the greens. Put a mound of greens on each of four chilled salad plates. Add the rest of the ingredients decoratively on top of the greens and serve.

This salad goes well with lots of dishes, including pizza, spaghetti, ravioli, pesto-based dishes, some soups, etc. You can also boost the flavor of this salad by adding things like sun-dried tomatoes, radicchio, endive or grated hard cheeses (asiago, parmesan, romano).

Recipe #26 - Ratatouille with Cheesy Polenta

First of all, if you haven't seen the movie Ratatouille, by all means check it out. How much of the movie is actually about the French vegetable dish ratatouille? Very little, actually. But it's a delightful animated feature and highly recommended.

As for cooking ratatouille, there are probably thousands of variations that have been done over the years (centuries?). It's also a dish that usually isn't eaten on its own, but rather as an accompaniment or filling. We paired it with a rich, creamy, cheesy polenta, which is a perfect foil for the herby, acidic ratatouille vegetable stew.

Makes six servings.

RATATOUILLE:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into small dice
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp. minced fresh thyme
1 cup finely diced fresh fennel bulb
1/2 large eggplant, diced
1 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup seeded and diced poblano pepper
1 cup diced zucchini
1 cup diced yellow squash
5 fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1 portobello mushroom, stem removed and diced
2 Tbsp. finely shredded fresh basil leaves
2 Tbsp. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and when it's hot, add the onion and garlic. Saute until the onion is cooked and somewhat caramelized. Add the chopped fennel and saute for two more minutes. Add the eggplant and cook the mixture for five more minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the peppers, zucchini and squash and saute for a few more minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for a couple of more minutes until the mushrooms begin to give off some of their juices. Finally, add the tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper. Simmer everything for a few more minutes and serve hot over the polenta.

POLENTA:

1 cup yellow cornmeal
3 cups rich vegetable stock
1/2 cup grated asiago or other hard cheese
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. half-and-half
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Stir together the cornmeal with one cup of stock in a small bowl. Heat the other two cups of stock on a saucepan until boiling. Add the cornmeal-stock mixture to the pan and stir thoroughly. Simmer the polenta for about ten minutes until it's thick and pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Add the cheese, butter, half-and-half and salt. Stir well and allow to heat over low flame for just a couple of more minutes before serving.

Recipe #25 - All-Day Daal

Indian food is fabulous, and when it comes to feasting on it, the more varieties of dishes the better. A typical Indian meal around our kitchen consists of sag paneer (creamy curried spinach with cubes of paneer cheese), curried vegetables, garlic naan, mint-cilantro chutney, yogurt-based raita, and of course daal (or dal, or dahl, or however you want to spell it).

Our favorite way of cooking daal, a rich curried lentil stew, is to simmer it for hours, or if you have the time and foresight, all day (thus the name "all-day daal").

You'll almost certainly have leftovers of this dish, and if you do, you can thin it with lowfat milk and have a lovely curried lentil soup.

Makes six servings.

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 carrot, cut into fine dice
1 rib celery, cut into fine dice
1 shallot, cut into fine dice

1 tsp. black mustard seeds
1 tsp. turmeric
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garam masala

1.5 cups brown lentils

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1/2 cup half-and-half

Heat the butter in a large saucepan and add all the vegetables. Saute for a few minutes to sweat and soften the veggies. Add all the spices and stir well. Add the lentils and stir to combine everything.

Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 25 minutes, until lentils are softened. Cover the pan tightly and put it on the lowest possible heat. Simmer for as long as possible, checking occasionally to make sure it's not sticking or drying out. Add a bit more stock as needed to keep it moist and a little soupy.

Just before serving, adjust seasonings, stir in the half-and-half, and simmer for just a few minutes more.

Recipe #24 - Grilled Scallops with Pesto Drizzle and Roasted Corn-Chickpea "Succotash"

You need to rush out to get some fresh-picked corn before the summer season is gone. There's nothing like corn that was growing in a field earlier that same day. And try to find some dry-packed day boat sea scallops instead of those which have been sitting in a chemical bath.

Makes four servings.

12 large sea scallops
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

1/2 cup prepared pesto (recipe follows)
2 Tbsp. half-and-half

3 ears fresh corn

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
6 green onions, rinsed, trimmed and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small zucchini, trimmed and diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
Salt & Pepper
1/4 cup shredded basil

Pull aside the husks from the corn and yank out all the silk. Cover the ears with husks and soak in water for an hour. Then grill the corn until heated through and charred, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool, then cut the kernels off the ears with a large knife.

Put the scallops in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan and add the green onions. Saute for a few minutes, add the garlic and saute for another minute or two. Add the zucchini and tomatoes and saute for a few more minutes until heated through and soft. Remove from heat and stir in the chickpeas, salt, pepper, vinegar and basil. Add the corn kernels and mix gently.

Put the pesto in a small bowl and add the half-and-half. Whisk until well blended.

Get the grill preheated and spray it liberally with no-stick cooking spray. When it's hot, add the scallops and grill on both sides for several minutes until grill-marked on the outside and opaque on the inside.

Place a mound of corn/bean salad in the center of each serving plate. Put three scallops at the edge of the plate in a triangle pattern. Spoon some of the pesto drizzle onto each scallop and around the edge of the plate.

BASIL PESTO

Fistful of fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
8 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and buzz it until it becomes a smooth paste, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Adjust flavors as appropriate. (If you want a more pronounced garlic flavor, throw in a few extra cloves. Same goes for the other ingredients.) If the pesto seems too thick, add more olive oil. Store in an airtight jar or sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator, or freeze for later use.

Recipe #23 - Pumpkin Penne Pasta with Mushrooms & Pumpkin Seeds

This is a perfect autumn dish but can be enjoyed anytime. We take the easy way out here by using canned pumpkin, although you can make it even better by roasting sugar pumpkin (or butternut squash) in the oven until very soft, and then pureeing it in a food processor with some of the vegetable stock.

We like to serve this pasta with seared yellowfin tuna and some green vegetables (broccolini, asparagus, green beans, brussels sprouts, etc.) on the side.

Makes four servings.

1 15 oz. can pumpkin
3 cups rich vegetable stock
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup mascarpone cheese (Italian cream cheese)
Salt & pepper

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 lb. mixed wild mushrooms (oyster, portobello, shiitake), stemmed and thinly sliced

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 lb. penne pasta

1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese

Place the pumpkin, one cup vegetable stock, mascarpone and cinnamon in a blender or food processor and buzz until blended and smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Melt the butter in a large saute pan and add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are slightly browned and have given off most of their liquid. Add the remaining two cups of stock and boil until most of the liquid has been evaporated. Stir in the pumpkin mixture and keep on low heat.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spread the pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for about 8 minutes, checking often to make sure they're not burning. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Cook the penne pasta in boiling salted water until al dente according to package directions (about 11 minutes usually). Drain the pasta and put it in a large serving bowl. Pour in the pumpkin-mushroom sauce and the toasted pumpkin seeds. Mix gently and serve, with the grated pecorino romano cheese to be scattered on top of each individual serving.

Recipe #22 - Grilled Yogurt-Marinated Shrimp & Halibut with Orzo Salad

Marinating fish in yogurt tends to cut the "fishy" nature of the seafood as well as adding a slight tang. The lemony orzo salad is best served at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings.

1 lb. halibut fillets, skinned and cut in 1" cubes
12 large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 cup lowfat plain yogurt
2 Tbsp. fresh minced herbs (rosemary, oregano, parsley)

1/2 lb. dried orzo pasta
8 oz. fresh spinach, stemmed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lemon
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1.5 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup toasted pine nuts

Mix the fresh herbs into the yogurt and stir in the seafood. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.

Boil the orzo in salted water until cooked al dente. Drain and toss with a little olive oil to keep from sticking.

Saute the spinach in olive oil until wilted.

Put the spinach, tomatoes, olives, feta and pine nuts in a large bowl. Zest and juice the lemon and add to the bowl. Add the olive oil and stir in the cooked orzo. Toss gently to mix well.

Heat the grill. Put the halibut chunks and shrimp on skewers and grill until the seafood is cooked through, turning often to prevent sticking to the grill.

Serve the seafood skewers alongside the orzo salad. You can make it a more substantial main dish salad by adding some salad greens dressed with lemon vinaigrette and decorating the edges of the plate with grilled asparagus and halved cherry tomatoes.

In Praise of Great Films - Harold and Maude (1971)

Fifth in a series.

Many books, movies, articles and even song lyrics over the years have featured varying takes on the legendary Hollywood "pitch meetings," wherein a screenwriter or team of aspiring filmmakers throw their unique idea for a film at an industry/studio insider in the hope that some money will be allocated to their project. Sometimes known as an "elevator pitch" (get your idea across in the time it takes to take an elevator ride with your subject), they boil a story down to a sentence or two.

Now, imagine the following movie idea: "A suicidal teenage boy falls madly in love with an 80-year-old woman..." Um, end of meeting, thank you very much, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

And yet, that's the core of the story in the film Harold and Maude, released in 1971 and a cult fave to this day. The greatness of this movie isn't due to its cast (Bud Kort and Ruth Gordon in the title roles) nor special effects, nor cinematography, nor sound, nor any one thing. The magic of Harold and Maude is the story and the message contained therein.

We first meet Harold, a young lad with an obsession with death. He fakes his own suicides (in increasingly creative ways), partially as a way to confound his overbearing mother, who is in turn obsessed with finding her son a mate. Harold also attends the funerals of strangers, which is where he ends up meeting Maude. Over the course of the film, he falls head-0ver-heels in love with the old lady, and if you haven't seen the movie and are thinking this is just plain yucky, you're probably not alone.

But it works. Not only does the viewer buy into the love story, but we also are witness to the transformation of Harold -- from freaky loner to self-aware grown-up (sort of). Maude teaches Harold many lessons, not the least of which are to dare to dream, not be afraid of love, embrace life fully, and don't deny yourself happiness.

In today's legal environment, if such a storyline played out for real, Maude would be jailed for statutory rape and Harold would be committed to a mental institution, and that would be that. But perhaps 1971 was a different time with different attitudes (the Vietnam war was still going full-bore, and Harold and Maude is unabashedly anti-war).

Much of the credit for the story goes to Colin Higgins, who wrote the script. Higgins was a gifted writer of comedy whose life ended far too soon; he died of AIDS in 1988 while still in his 40s. The director of Harold and Maude was Hal Ashby, a former film editor who turned to directing and made some of the most memorable films of the 1970s (Coming Home, Bound for Glory, Shampoo, The Last Detail, Being There). Alas, Ashby also lost his life too soon and also in 1988, to cancer, while still in his 50s.

As for the cast, the great Ruth Gordon was the standout of course. She died in 1985 but in her case you can't say she was taken away prematurely. She was pushing 90, after all. (Gordon's first role was as an uncredited extra in a 1915 silent film called The Whirl of Life!) Gordon earned five Oscar nominations during her career (including a win for her role in the classic 1968 Roman Polanski film Rosemary's Baby), but only two of them were for acting. The other three were for screenwriting, as she turned out some great scripts with her husband and writing partner Garson Kanin. Bud Cort never became a big star but has been working steadily in small roles in the ensuing decades. The British actress Vivian Pickles is wickedly wonderful as Harold's mom. And watch for a hilarious scene where Maude messes with the head of a frustrated motorcycle cop, played by a then-little-known Tom Skerritt.

And last but not least, the movie has a soundtrack of songs by the artist who was at the time known as Cat Stevens. Whether or not you like his music, you'll have to admit that here they just work beautifully.

Even if all the above doesn't persuade you to give this movie a try, there's one more thing to seal the deal: This is quite possibly the only time in your life you'll get to see a sleek Jaguar sports coupe turned into a Hearse funeral car.