Michael's Genuine and "Free-Range Kids"

Tonight I have to shoot some video of sex offenders living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. Don't worry - I am bringing Damien with me. But, I certainly don't want to expose wee little Baz to this shoot so I am hiring a babysitter to watch him. And since we'll already be out, we figured why not have a bit of a date night after we meet the sex offenders!

So, we are going to try and hit our favorite Miami restaurant - Michael's Genuine Food and Drink. We found it when it was #4 on Frank Bruni's favorite American restaurants in the New York Times. And, boy, was he right on the money about this place! We love it and it is one of only two or three places that we go back to again and again when we get a chance. I like to start with either the deviled eggs or fresh potato chips with onion dip. Then they have this system where you order either "small," "medium," or "large" dishes. We usually have a couple of smalls and mediums and split a large. It's fabulous food made with fresh, local ingredients and feels healthy while also tasting terrific. Okay, so deviled eggs and potato chips with onion dip is not the healthiest thing on the menu.

It'll be a nice break. And it gives me an opportunity not only to recommend my favorite restaurant but also to talk about this book I'm reading that might be of interest to other moms out there. It's Lenore Skenazy's book, "Free-Range Kids." She has a blog. too. No, it's not about how to corn feed your babies. It's about how we parents worry too much about our kids and how we need to fight against our fears and give our children the freedom we had growing up. You might remember the author from her controversial column in the New York Sun when she decided to let her 9 year old son ride the subway by himself. Especially after my last parenting class, this book is really hitting the right note for me. I am just so sick and tired of fear-mongering parents that have so little perspective on things. I mean, we literally had a 20 minute conversation about how lavender has an estrogen-like component to it that could be dangerous for babies. I mean, all these moms were like, "Oh, my gosh, I use lavender scented soap!" The horror, the horror. First of all, I really don't think Johnson and Johnson would be able to sell lavender scented baby products if it were really that dangerous. Someone would have sued them by now. I mean maybe lavender has estrogen like qualities, but how much lavender can these moms be exposing their infants to?

But what really got me going was when someone later mentioned that they were going on a trip to Cuba and not taking a car seat. I had the audacity to ask why? Wouldn't they be taking taxis to and from the airport and possibly driving cars while they were there? Plus, there are conveniences to bringing a car seat like the fact that if there's an extra seat on the plane, you can use it - in fact, most airlines will go out of there way to hold the seat open for you - and then you don't have to carry the baby on your lap the whole time. Well, you would have thought that I had just asked if zebras can fly? Everyone looked at me like I was a total nut case and even Faith, the nurse who leads the class, said, "Oh they don't have the same laws in Cuba."

Wait a minute! We just spent twenty minutes talking about the unlikely idea that lavender scented baby soap might cause your baby boy to develop breasts yet you don't have a problem leaving the car seat - something that has lowered fatal car injuries by 50% - behind when you are going to a country where on the ride from the airport alone your modern taxi will be sharing the highway with horse and buggies and 1950's Buicks? Are you kidding me? Where are the hidden cameras?

But, that's really beside the point. The point is, with the internet and mom's groups and way too much time on our hands, we have become a bunch of paranoid, fearful, over-informed, 24 hour news-watching idiots. And while I don't think it is always the best idea to send 9 year olds out alone to navigate the New York City subway system (unless they are mature and prepared for it), I think there is definitely something to the idea of chilling-the-fuck-out!

Chicken with Mango and Peach Salsa

So I am waiting with baited breath for my brother's wife to go into labor already. What's the hold up Apple Jack? I hear that she's not even a wee bit dilated or effaced.

Another Caribbean themed meal tonight. This time with chicken. It's a bit of an experiment since I haven't made it before, but it sounds like a good idea to me.

See, I bought this enormous jug of salsa at Costco over the weekend when we were having people over for appetizers and drinks. It was like $5 for 100 gallons of it. Well, maybe not quite. But since I have tons of it left, I thought I'd try to use it for something besides a corn chip dip.

So here is what I made:


Chicken with Mango and Peach Salsa
1 1/2 cups of mango and peach salsa (Costco sells it, but you can use whatever salsa you have)
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 chicken breasts (I'm using boneless, skinless, but I bet it'd be better with bone-in, with skin)
salt and pepper


I took the salsa, garlic and some olive oil and blasted it in the food processor for a few seconds to get it nice and smoothed out and mixed together. Then I seasoned the chicken breasts with some salt and pepper and poured my salsa mixture all over it. It's marinating now. I'm giving it about an hour or so.

I'm going to take the chicken out of the salsa and sear it in a frying pan with just a tiny bit more olive oil. I just want it to get a bit browned on the outside. Then I'll put the chicken in a baking dish and pour the salsa mixture over it and bake it for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

I'm serving it with a side of chicken seasoned rice. This is how I make that:

Chicken Seasoned Rice
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 cube of chicken bouillon
2 cups water
1 cup of rice

Melt the butter in a small pot on medium to high heat. Add the onion and saute until they are translucent and just starting to brown. Add the chicken bouillon cube and break it up a bit with a wooden spoon. Then add the water and stir until the bouillon cube is dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add the rice and return it to a boil. Then lower heat to the lowest setting and cook for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Since this has tomatoes and peaches and mango, I don't think I am going to make another veggie side dish. But, I don't know. Maybe I should. We'll see how Damien reacts.

I hope it's good. I'll give you an update when it's done.

Mom's Lasagna - Frozen

Man, today is a bit of a doozy. I was 10 minutes late for the babysitter because I thought I had enough time to go to my "parenting" class at Mercy Hospital. If anyone reads this who lives in Miami and is looking for a way to meet other new moms, Mercy's Lactation Center might be the place for you. Faith Ploude, the baby guru or baby whisper - as some people like to call her, runs these classes in which she gives a short seminar about a particular parenting topic like "Starting Solids" or "Teething and Weaning" or something else to help us newbies along. But, the real reason everyone goes is to ask their particular question (we all get one or so) and to listen to other mother's questions and Faith's answers.

I started going because I had a hell of time breastfeeding and I needed all the support I could get. I'm not sure if anything anyone told me help me physically, but just hearing other people's issues and finding out that I was not alone was really helpful. So, I kept going back and now Baz and I have graduated to the older baby group which is where I was this morning. I've met a bunch of great moms this way.

Anyway, then I needed to rush home for the babysitter so I can work this afternoon. I've already done a conference call, and when I finish with this post, I am going to do some more video editing and then I have to go out and shoot this tent-camp community of sex offenders who live under a Miami bridge because the law currently won't let them live within 2500 feet of a place where children gather and there is no other place in Miami except for under that bridge where that is possible.

Therefore, I don't have a ton of time to cook tonight. So, I am going to go into my freezer and find something to serve my husband.

What I have chosen to take out is some lasagna that my mother has made for just such nights. She graciously makes me about 10 two person servings of a couple of Italian dishes that she freezes and brings to me about once every two months. I am so lucky and I know it. This batch was one of the best chicken parmesan and one of tastiest lasagnas I've ever had. Since we've been eating a lot of meat this week, I thought I would go with the lasagna which I believe is vegetarian.

I'll probably pick up some fixin's for a salad and maybe a baguette that I can use to make some garlic bread. That's pretty simple. Just slice the bread lengthwise and then slather some butter on it and use that awesome garlic press to press some garlic right onto it. I then use a knife to spread it out as evenly as I can. I sprinkle some salt and pepper and some parsley for color and then I fold the bread back together, wrap it in aluminum foil and put it the oven with my heating lasagna for the last five to ten minutes. Delicious.

We're getting towards a weekend so hopefully I'll be able to jazz things up a bit in the coming days....

Ham with Pineapple

Man, I don't know how people have full-time jobs outside of their homes and still manage to get it all done. I mean, I feel like I just spent the morning running around the house trying to get shit done before my babysitter gets here at 2pm so I can do the work I'll actually get paid for (hopefully).

On top of that, I might have to go out and shoot video tonight with Damien for a story he's working on. So, tonight is gonna have to be an old stand-by. Hopefully Damien will be able to deal with it. On numerous occasions, he's expressed his fatigue with this particular dish.

Ham with Pineapple is really good though. And if you don't make it once a week like I was doing for a while there, I really think it's the easiest, tastiest dinner you can make. Just add a couple of veggie side dishes and you are ready to go.

I'm gonna make some dirty rice and string beans tonight. But, sometimes I'll pair it with baked (or really microwaved) sweet potatoes and broccoli.

The dirty rice makes me think of it as a Caribbean themed meal. Maybe I'll even use that line to get Damien to make us some fruity cocktails to start. He made the best white sangria with mangoes and nectarines in it the other night for a little get-together we threw. But I guess that's not really Caribbean.

Anyway, here it goes:

Ham with Pineapple

1.25 lb center cut smoked ham slice

8 oz. can of pineapple slices in 100% pineapple juice

3 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the slice of ham in a baking pan. Place pineapple slices on the ham. Pour half of the juice from the can over the ham and pineapple slices. Drink the rest of the juice : )

Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the ham and pineapple slices. You can use a little more or less depending on your taste... and aversion to sugar on main dishes.

Place the baking pan in the oven and cook for 25 minutes. The ham is already cooked so you really just want to get it nice and heated up. I also like it to brown a little bit on the edges.

While the ham is in the oven, I like to make the side dishes. Tonight I am going to make dirty rice and string beans. I use the Zatarain's New Orleans Style Reduced Sodium (does that make up for the sugar on the ham?) Dirty Rice Mix.

I'm sure you could make your own from scratch, but I don't really feel like figuring it out and the Zatarain's is really tasty and easy. Sometimes it comes out a bit soupy so I am going to try using a little less water than it calls for in the recipe this time.

Side Note: The rice is excellent left-over.

Then, about 5 minutes before the ham is done, I'll just cut the tips off the ends of my fresh string beans - that I'll need to go out and buy at some point today because we are out of all fresh vegetables right now - and steam them in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Then I'll saute some garlic in some olive oil in a frying pan and give the string beans a quick saute in it. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and voila, healthy side dish.

It's sort of the perfect sized dish for a couple. But we always have leftovers so it would also serve a kid or two as well.

Tomorrow is gonna be another toughy since I'll still be working. I'll have to see what I can come up with but it might time to go to the freezer....

Picadillo

Today I think I'll make Picadillo for dinner. This is a traditional Cuban dish that I ate about a million times growing up and have since adapted into my own version. It's made with ground beef and vegetables and served over white rice. I always throw in a side dish of fried plantains which have become really easy to make now that Goya packages a frozen version (look for "platanos maduros") that just needs to be warmed up in the microwave. It's just so hard to find fresh plantains that are the right ripeness. Goya's are always perfect and so freakin' easy.

It's also nice to remember to take the ground beef out of the freezer sometime during the day. I hate having to defrost things last minute.

To make picadillo you need to start with a sofrito - a very popular start to many Cuban meals. My mom and grandma don't use tomato paste and wine, but I think it has a nicer flavor when you do it this way.

Sofrito
1 medium onion
1 medium green pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove of garlic (although I usually throw in at least a second cuz I love garlic)
1 can of tomato paste
1/4 cup white wine
water
Optional: Sazon Goya with Saffron packet


Chop up the onion and green peppers into small diced pieces. Heat up the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat.



Squeeze a peeled garlic clove through a garlic press (I like this one from Hoffritz) into the heating oil. When it starts to brown, add the chopped onion and peppers.





Cook the garlic, onions and peppers over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and the peppers are soft. This take about 7 or 8 minutes. Try not to under cook the vegetables but don't let them get too dry either.

Lower the heat to a lower setting and stir in the can of tomato paste. Then add the white wine and stir until it starts bubbling. You might want to add a bit more wine or water to make the consistency a little looser. It shouldn't be soupy but it should be soft and wet.


If I have it, I add in a packet of Sazon Goya with saffron, a seasoning you can find in the Goya, Latin food section of a supermarket. This just gives it an added zing and a beautiful color.




This is your sofrito.

Now, for the rest of the Picadillo.

Picadillo
Sofrito (see above)
1 pound ground beef (I've never tried turkey or other ground meats, but I bet they'd be fine, just not very Cuban)
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped green olives with pimentos
1/2 cup raisins
Optional: a couple of chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce

You'll add the ground beef to the sofrito you just made, breaking up with your hands as you add it. Season it by sprinkling a light layer of salt and pepper over all of the beef/sofrito mixture. Then add the cumin and bay leaf, olives and raisins. I know raisins are an odd addition, so if it freaks you a bit, just leave it out. But, I gotta say, they're my favorite part of picadillo.

I also have been adding a couple of chopped up chipotle peppers that have been canned in adobo sauce. I've been adding them to just about everything actually. (They are superb in chili!) This makes it a little spicy and probably makes it taste more Mexican than Cuban. I buy it at this bodega on the corner since they don't seem to carry it at Publix, my local supermarket (which is surprising since they have everything.)

Cook the sofrito/beef mixture over low/medium heat for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, make some white rice. And don't forget to put the fried plantains in the microwave just before you are ready to serve. They take about 3 1/2 minutes to heat up well.

I serve individual portions of this dish in shallow bowls. I start with the rice, put a good amount of the picadillo on top and a couple of sweet plantains on the side. Delicious. Even my gringo husband calls it a favorite!

***I'd also like to send a shout out to my friend, Becky, who went back to work today. I know it's gonna be a hard day for you, but it's got to get easier. I am sure you are much more upset than Olivia. She's probably having a blast playing with her new friends. And you get to have adult conversations and skip a couple of nasty diaper changes!

My First Post

Last week while I was in Brooklyn, I was having lunch with my friends, Becky and Lindsay, at Bocca Lupo on Henry Street in Cobble Hill, and we started talking about what good recipes we could share with each other. See, all three of us have gone from being high intensity career women to stay-at-home-moms - well, at least temporarily. I had a baby boy, Balthazar, in February and while I am returning to work, this week actually, I've been enjoying my new life as a mom.

One of the side jobs of being home with the new baby is thinking of what to do for dinner every night. It's not only that I feel badly asking my husband to cook after he's been at work all day while I am home (even though raising our son is no walk in the park), nor is that every night around 6pm I get a call from my husband, Damien, asking, "Hey, what do you wanna do for dinner?" Having a new baby also means it doesn't make sense for us to go out to dinner as often as we used to. Between trying to get the baby on a sleep schedule and the fear of his unpredictable nuclear meltdowns, it just makes sense to eat at home more often. Plus, Damien and I have been enjoying our new domestic routine. Instead of having spaghetti with a jar of sauce, we've been preparing things like filet mignon or miso-glazed black cod paired with a much nicer bottle of wine than we used to buy. Sometimes we'll even start off with a nice Grey Goose dirty martini after my last nursing session of the day.

As Becky said during our lunch conversation, the hardest part is coming up with a plan for dinner. There is only so many nights you can get away with making your old stand-bys. So, as I navigate this new territory, I thought I would blog about it. Everyday - or as often as I can, really - I'll share what I am doing for dinner. For the most part, I'll be cooking something - from the simplest to more ambitious creations. But, sometimes I might be ordering in, or I might find a good kid-friendly place to go out to dinner. And occasionally, Damien will take the reins. He likes to cook, too.

I'll include a recipe, ideas about where to find ingredients and special cooking tools you might need and small reviews of restaurants - mostly in Miami, but we travel a lot so they might be from places like Tampa, the Dead Sea, New York or San Francisco. And sometimes, I'll post photos or video to demonstrate or show you something interesting. (I'm a video person by trade. Check out my Web site at www.bazmatazz.com.)

So, Becky and Lindsay, check back for my recipe ideas. The rest of you, let me know what you think and I'll try to improve on it as I figure this whole thing out.

Tomorrow: Picadillo - a traditional Cuban dish my mom used to make us all of the time.