In answer to a number of Sauce and Sensibility readers who have kindly asked for new posts…we are back! By way of explanation, Bob and I took a brief sabbatical while we adjusted to a new culinary lifestyle. This change is in the wake of our eldest son leaving for college and our younger being so involved with school, sports and activities that we barely see him at mealtimes. The new normal that has evolved is suiting us just fine, and so we’re now looking forward to getting back to blogging with me in the kitchen and Bob behind the camera. Without further ado, today’s recipe is a really nicely flavored Portuguese recipe for chicken (or I suppose any meat or fish would be good this way…). The Portuguese part is the smoked paprika I think, otherwise this isn’t unlike many other marinades you may come across. The accompanying potatoes are also easy and good—and the special part is the chili sauce, which is wonderful on the side and afterwards on sandwiches if you have leftovers. If you like to turn up the heat, use jalapeno or another spicier chili—lots of room for personal expression here. This is a low stress dish—I put the chicken in to marinate several hours before dinner—and an hour or so before, I thread the skewers, and prepare the potatoes. The sauce can me made anytime during the process, even the day before. Please enjoy.

Grilled Peri Peri Chicken Kabobs with Roasted Potatoes and Green Chili Sauce Serves 4 generously

Ingredients for the Kabobs:

1-½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-½ inch cubes
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

 To prepare the Kabobs:

Place the chicken in a non-reactive bowl. Combine the remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until emulsified. Reserve about ¼ cup of the marinade to baste the chicken while grilling. Pour the remaining marinade over the chicken and let stand in the refrigerator for at least 1 and up to 4 hours. Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers. Preheat the grill or a grill pan to medium high heat. Grill the kabobs for 5 to 6 minutes per side or until done. (To test for doneness, pierce with a fork and look for the juices to run clear.)

Ingredients for the Potatoes:

1 ½ pounds small white or red potatoes
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 Tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

To prepare the Roast Potatoes:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters as you like and toss them with the thyme, oil, salt and pepper. Put them on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 30 minutes. Turn and toss and continue to roast for another 15 to 20 minutes until they are nicely browned.

Ingredients for the Green Chili Sauce:

2 Serrano chilies, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped
1 cup cilantro leaves
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2/3 cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

To prepare the Green Chili Sauce:

Put the Serrano chilies, cilantro leaves, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a food processor and process to a paste. Add the mayonnaise and sour cream and pulse until just combined. Taste and correct the salt and pepper if needed.

To serve: Arrange a dish with the kabobs and potatoes and serve the sauce separately.

I met a woman at a party not too long ago and we bonded over our mutual love of cooking. Talk turned to our favorite Thanksgiving side dishes, and she said that one of hers was the Beet Puree in the original Silver Palate Cookbook. Since I too have cooked my way through that book, I remembered the recipe and for days after our conversation, I had a craving for those beets. When I went shopping for the ingredients, I saw some lovely golden beets that I thought I would like to try instead—and so here is my adaptation, with a tip of the hat to Leslie and the Silver Palate.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Roasted Golden Beet and Apple Puree

Serves 6

Ingredients:

4 or 5 medium size beets
1 teaspoon of olive oil
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium sized yellow onion, finely chopped
4 medium-sized Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra to sprinkle on the beets
¼ cup good balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Trim the tops of the beets and peel off the skin with a vegetable peeler.  Oil the beets with the oil, sprinkle them with a bit of kosher salt wrap them in foil and place them in the oven to bake for one hour. Remove from the oven and check that the beets are cooked through and tender (if a fork easily slides through, they are done).  Let them cool until you can handle them and then chop the beets coarsely and set them aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook; stirring frequently, over they are soft and translucent, but not browned.  Add the apples, sugar, salt and balsamic vinegar to the onions, and simmer the mixture until the apples are very tender.

Spoon the apple and onion mixture into a food processor fitted with the steel blade.  Add the beets.  Pulse the mixture until smooth.  Return the puree to the saucepan, taste and correct the seasoning.  Reheat just before serving.

I love fall days where you can take a brisk morning walk, hear the wind in the trees and feel the crunch of dry leaves underfoot—days like that never fail to make me run to the recipe box to find something to make for dinner that matches the cozy mood set by the weather. In Germany, where delicious sausages were always widely available, my mother would serve them frequently. For company or family, sausages browned in butter with garlic, dowsed with red wine and then just left alone to braise in the oven leave the cook plenty of time to do something else while dinner simmers.

Sausages in Red Wine

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 Sausages (For this recipe I used Garlic Turkey—Sweet or Hot Italian are good too)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed, but each in one piece
2 cups dry red wine
2 tablespoon chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a sauté pan, heat the butter and oil over medium heat. Prick the sausages in several places with a fork. Add the garlic to the pan and cook until it is golden brown. Remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the sausages to the pan and cook until they are evenly browned. Add the red wine to the pan and bring to a boil, stirring to deglaze the pan. Transfer the sausages and the reserved garlic to a baking dish that will hold them comfortably without too much space in between. Pour the wine over and bake for 45 minutes or until the sausages are nicely cooked through. Sprinkle the sausages with the chopped parsley and serve.

Half virtuous–half decadent. That is the genius of the fish taco. The virtuous part is the lightness of the fish, the fresh crunch of the cabbage, the tang of cilantro and lime. The decadence is in the cool and creamy sauce spiced with chipotle and lime, the velvety avocado and the comfortingly warmed corn tortillas. I’ve seen many a friend order the fish taco when “a little more than a salad” or “a little less than a burger” was the gustatory goal. It inspired me to adapt a recipe like this for home lunches or dinner—and this one is my favorite so far. These fit the formula—crisp, creamy, cool, and tangy.

Crispy Fish Tacos with Creamy Chipotle Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients for the Sauce:

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon lime juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Ingredients for the Fish:

¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tilapia filets, cut into strips
1 cup buttermilk
Vegetable or olive oil for frying

Ingredients for serving the tacos:

16 corn tortillas, warmed
Shredded cabbage
Avocado slices
Cilantro leaves
Lime wedges

To make the sauce, stir together all of the ingredients into a serving bowl and set aside.

To prepare the fish: combine the flour and the seven seasonings in a shallow dish or pie pan. Dip the tilapia strips into the buttermilk and then dredge in the seasoned flour and set on a baking sheet until ready to cook.

Just before serving, heat the oil in a skillet and fry the fish strips turning as they brown. Remove them to a paper towel-lined plate.

Assemble the tacos: in each warmed corn tortilla, place a few fish strips, a forkful of cabbage, an avocado slice, a drizzle of the sauce and top with cilantro leaves. Serve with wedges of lime on the side.

Ginger, cumin, garlic, and cilantro are separately four of my favorite flavorings, but together become a taste that I crave. So this Memorial Day weekend,I will make a batch of these well-seasoned sliders for a snack that the family can enjoy when we’re just hanging around the house. Sadly for my kids, for much of the weekend they will be studying for finals—but these will go well with any sighs of martyrdom that might slip out while they are working. My husband can have one while he takes a break from processing the photos for his website and I will snack on mine while working my way through this weekend’s stack of books—I’m reading Andrew Ross Sorkin’s Too Big to Fail (maddening story!), and when I want a break from my fury with Wall Street—I plan to cool my jets with the Rosie Project by Graeme Simson, and browsing through Ripe, a luscious ode to cooking fruit by Nigel Slater. What are you reading?

Indian Spiced Sliders with Curried Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

For Mayonnaise:

¾ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon, curry powder
1 tablespoon plain yogurt (I use Greek yogurt)
1 ½ tablespoons ketchup
1 garlic clove, minced

For Sliders:

1 ½ pounds ground turkey
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup minced green onions
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon hot chili powder
1 teaspoon salt

8 small dinner rolls (I used the water rolls from Publix), sliced horizontally in half
Fresh tomato slices and fresh red onion slices for serving (optional)

Preparation:

In a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the mayonnaise and set aside.

In a larger bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the sliders. Using wet hands, divide and pat the mixture into 8 small patties.

Heat a grill pan to medium or the broiler to high. Brush the pan with a bit of olive oil and add the patties. Cook until done—about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Put the patties on the bottom half of the rolls and top with a spoonful of curried mayonnaise a slice of tomato and a slice of red onion.

This now-classic pasta dish is not originally Italian, but was reputedly invented at Le Cirque restaurant in New York in the early 70s by a restaurateur named Sirio Maccioni. Mr. Maccioni’s dish is more complex than mine and his invention recommends that we cook the vegetables twice (once in water and again in oil) and then he topped the dish with a tomato concassé. I think tastes have lightened a lot since the 70s and so I make a simpler and easier version that just emphasizes the fresh spring taste of just green vegetables and fresh basil. I also added lemon zest to the sauce, which really brightens the taste. Pasta primavera makes a beautiful spring dinner. On the days that I make this, I make only this, no salad, meat or bread, just a big, happy bowl of this—it is a light and satisfying meatless meal.

Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces mushrooms, wiped clean and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup asparagus spears, sliced into 1-inch segments
1 medium zucchini, washed and sliced into 1-inch strips
½ cup frozen peas
1 pound angel hair pasta
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon grated fresh lemon zest
1 cup grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Fresh basil, rinsed and sliced into thin strips

Preparation:

Put a medium saucepan half filled with water on to boil. In another small skillet, heat the two tablespoons of olive oil. Add the mushrooms and garlic and a pinch of salt and cook until the mushrooms are slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Set them aside. Salt the water that is now boiling in the medium saucepan and blanch the broccoli, asparagus and zucchini for 3 minutes, pouring in the peas for the last 30 seconds. Strain the vegetables and quickly transfer them to a bowl of ice water (to keep them from continuing to cook and preserve their pretty green color). When the vegetables have cooled, strain them again and set them aside.

Bring a large pot of water to boil, add a tablespoon of salt to the water and add the pasta. Cook the pasta until it is al dente. While the pasta is boiling, put the cream in a large, wide pan and boil it for 2 minutes. Add the butter, Parmesan, lemon zest and salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat down low and as soon as the pasta is done, drain it, and add it to the cream mixture. Add the green vegetables and mushrooms and stir to combine and warm together. Transfer to a serving bowl or bowls and top with the fresh basil. Serve with additional Parmesan on the side.

My mother left this earth almost nine years ago and I miss her everyday. She had an interesting life starting as “doll baby” born on a Texas farm.

She grew up during the Great Depression, when in addition to the obvious hardships brought by scarcity, she contracted malaria, typhoid and then helped to successfully nurse her siblings through the same—“tough stock” they used to say. At 18, she left the farm, moved to a “home for women” near Dallas, and in a rare-for-her-day act—went to college at what is now TCU. At 22, she renewed her acquaintance with my Dad over a crossword puzzle in a Dallas coffee shop and then, a few months later, married him, a hometown boy she’d known since she was 7. Soon after, Dad enlisted in the Army and left Texas for World War II.   Mom stayed home through her pregnancy and birth of my brother, and then the psychic drama and trauma of a house fire which completely consumed everything they owned except a pair of green alligator high heels, her housecoat,  and my brother and the diaper he had on. She moved home to her family’s Central Texas farm with my brother until Dad came home from the war. Dad stayed with the government and they started a life adventure which took them to many parts of Europe, Washington DC,  and an interesting life rich with friends and family and mostly good times that they shared for 58 years.

I entered the story later in their marriage when they were in Germany,  and I lived my young life with them in Europe. We moved a lot—usually every two years. For my parents, home was always Texas, and I think that was true for my brother too. For me, home really never was a place—I didn’t know Texas really well and we were Americans—not German or French or British or Scandinavian or anything from wherever we might have been at the time. So the concept of home as a place is lovely, but not innate for me. Not surprisingly, when I think of a home, I think of the constants that we carried with us through that peripatetic life—a lot of books, photographs, a few pictures and paintings and collectibles—and no surprise since you’re reading this on my blog—the recipes. As I am, my mother was a recipe hoarder—she loved nothing more than to leaf through cookbooks, magazines, her own mother’s recipe box, and those of her friends–and I have had so much fun inheriting those treasures and leafing through them myself.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m repeating a few here that I’ve posted over the years and that remind me of Dolly, my dear mom. Nothing fussy here—Mom had her fancy side from all those years of elegant living—but at heart she was always a Texas girl, with simple tastes that wherever we were, always made us a warm, happy and lovely home. Happy Mother’s Day.

Dolly’s Deviled Eggs

Clam Dip

Chicken Divan

Strawberries with Sour Cream and Brown Sugar

Texas Sheet Cake

Try these for breakfast with a bowl of fruit, as an afternoon snack with a tall, cool iced tea, instead of cornbread with a cup of chili or with your go cup of coffee on the run on your way out of the house for work or school. You’ll be surprised how quickly these will disappear.

Buttermilk, Bacon, Cheddar and Chive Mini-Muffins

Makes about 36 Mini-Muffins

Ingredients:

6 slices of bacon, diced, cooked in a sauté pan until browned, and drained on paper towels
2 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
A dash or two of your favorite hot sauce (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease three mini-muffin pans. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, chives, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Not to be confused with their elegant and delicate French cousin, the macaron, this is a satisfying mound of a cookie that I seem to crave just a couple of times a year, especially at Easter time. A tad moist on the inside with a nice crunch on the edges is the result you can expect from this really easy recipe. Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring!

Classic Coconut Macaroons

Makes 20

Ingredients:

3 large egg whites
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 14-ounce package sweetened shredded coconut

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a stand mixer or with a whisk if you’re feeling energetic, beat together the egg whites, sugar, vanilla extract and salt until the mixture is completely smooth, beginning to thicken and takes on a glossy sheen. Stir in the coconut and combine well. Spoon the mixture in two-tablespoons full mounds onto the lined cookie sheets, about 10 per sheet, leaving an inch or two in-between. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Let cook right on the baking sheets and then store in a bag or container at room temperature.