When I was growing up, Labor Day weekend always marked the beginning of fall.  The air would start to turn cool and crisp in the morning, we were headed back to school with sweaters on, and the garden was giving up the very last of its summer bounty.

Now that I live in Florida, Labor Day is a nice long weekend, but still a hot one for those of us in this tropical climate. We’re still grilling out, the air conditioning is still on high and we’re still jumping in and out of the pool to stay cool.  So, for a dinner this weekend that I wanted to make ahead and not spend too much time over the proverbial hot stove, I made this really nice cole slaw as a side dish to our favorite Teriyaki Chicken.   I was leafing through the Arrows Cookbook and came upon their recipe for a cole slaw with a mustard and ginger vinaigrette—which inspired me to create this version.  This dressing is much, much lighter than the traditional mayonnaise and sugar mixture I grew up on, but not as light as a vinaigrette—so it still has that nice creamy texture—and it has a tang to it that my family (and our friends) really liked.

Cole Slaw with Creamy Mustard Dressing

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

¼ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoonWorcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup olive oil
½ head green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
½ head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

Preparation:

Place the green cabbage, the red cabbage and the green onions in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, combine the first 10 ingredients.  Whisk them together well, and then slowly add the olive oil while continuing to whisk.  Add the dressing to the cabbage and scallions and toss until the dressing is well distributed.  Refrigerate for an hour or two to allow the flavors to blend.

One of the great joys of parenting, grandparenting, “aunting” and “uncling” is getting to do things again like dress up for Halloween, go see Santa, and play with things like Legos, modeling clay, coloring books, and finger paints.  We’re just doing it for the kids!  And when it comes to feeding children, macaroni and cheese is about as close to a universal food as one can get.   Kids always seem to love it and even when they profess not to be hungry, their little appetites can usually be tempted by a few bitefuls of good old “mac and cheese,” I know a lot of grownups that can be tempted the same way.

The problem is that the geniuses (really) that figured out how to make that little box mix or pop the freezer version into the oven make us forget that as good as those products are, homemade macaroni and cheese is far superior (in taste and nutrition) and is the best kind of comfort food.  If you haven’t made homemade macaroni and cheese in a while, it’s time to enjoy this wonderful dish with or without the kids in your life at the table.

Macaroni and Cheese

Serves 6 to 8

Preparation time:  30 minutes
Cook time:  30 minutes
Total time:  1 hour

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 pound cavatappi or elbow macaroni
2 cups milk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup Fontina Cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup panko breadcrumbs, or leftover bread, crusts removed, made into crumbs
¼ teaspoon paprika
Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cook the pasta according to pasta directions and drain well.  After the pasta is drained, drizzle the olive oil over it and toss.
Meanwhile, Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. While whisking, slowly add the milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Remove from the heat.  Add the cheeses to the sauce and stir until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.   Add the pasta to the pan and stir to coat the pasta well with the sauce.   Pour into a lightly buttered 9 x 13 inch rectangular or oval baking dish.

In a small saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, sit in the breadcrumbs and the paprika and stir with a fork to combine.  Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the pasta. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the topping is nicely browned.

One year ago today, we posted our first entry on Sauce and Sensibility.  Hitting that “post” button for the first time was a little disconcerting—kind of like getting up in front of an audience the first time I made a speech—butterflies in the stomach and all.  But I needn’t have worried—because nobody was reading!  Well, that’s not fair—my family and closest friends are certainly not nobody—they are everything to me—but of course they were the only ones reading a year ago.  That’s beginners’ blog life!

Now, I am somewhat amazed to say—things have changed a lot.  In the year since we’ve started, 49,000 visitors have stopped by Sauce and Sensibility—and looked at 250,000 pages.  Compared to the 175 visitors in our first month, over 8,000 stopped by last month.  Of course, those aren’t big numbers at all in the blogosphere, but it’s certainly enough for my talented photographer husband and me.  And the best part of all is that we really are having fun cooking together and learning about the art and science of food photography.  And the food blog community is a great place—filled with talented cooks and interesting people all over the world—we’re definitely here for the long haul.

Anyway, since it’s a day of looking back for us, I thought it would be fun to see which recipes were the most popular of the 92 posts we’ve done this first year.  And here they are, presented Letterman-style, beginning with:

The 10th most popular recipe on Sauce and Sensibility this year:

Shrimp Salad in Wonton Cups—nice to look at, easy to eat.

#9
The Panaché and the Monaco—the answer to a hot summer thirst.

#8
Smith Island 10-Layer Cake—a really fun project and delicious!

#7
Tex-Mex Pasta Bake—my family loves Mexican too.

#6
Beef Bourguignon—a wintertime classic.

#5
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp—I’m not the only one who loves this combination!

#4
Shrimp Salad in Lime Vinaigrette—thank you Donna!

#3
Goat Cheese-Stuffed Eggplant and Zucchini Rolls—ooh, have to make those again soon.

#2
Buffalo Chicken Dip with Celery Fans—my mother’s little trick with celery won raves!

And…the #1 most viewed recipe on Sauce and Sensibility in the past year was…
Vegetable Tian—beautiful to look at, really good, and really good for you!

Thank you for reading–it’s been a great year.

The first time I ever ate scallops, I was a young girl and my family was visiting Paris for a long weekend (we were living in Germany at the time).  We had gone to a restaurant for dinner and on the menu, the dish was called Coquilles St. Jacques St. Germaine.  Now you may think it strange that a 9-year old would keep the name of a dish (in French no less!) in her head and recall it so many years later, but there is a good reason.  In that version of the dish, the scallops were mounded in the middle of the plate and piped around them in beautiful swirls were the creamiest, smoothest, butteriest mashed potatoes (that the French do like nobody else) I had ever tasted in my young life.  I don’t remember much about the scallops, they were a minor player that day– but I’ll never, ever forget those potatoes.

After that build-up, you may be wondering why today’s post isn’t about those mashed potatoes.  Well, that’s because I am quite sure that they had some totally-unPC-amount of butter in them, and while I’m not above trying something like that for a very special occasion—a Sunday in August is not that day.

But a Sunday in August is a good day for a lovely dish of scallops baked in a lovely mix of white wine, butter and breadcrumbs—add a light green salad and a glass of iced tea with mint or a crisp white wine—and dinner is done.

Bay Scallops Gratin

Serves 4

Preparation Time:  15 minutes
Cook Time:  20 minutes
Total Time:  35 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound bay scallops, rinsed and drained (see note below)
2 tablespoons white wine
2 tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup Panko breadcrumbs (or any other slightly coarse breadcrumb you prefer)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the scallops, the white wine and the melted butter.  Transfer the mixture to an oval casserole dish, or individual open proof ramekins.  In another small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, paprika and Parmesan cheese.

Bake until the scallops are firm and the top is nicely browned, about 20 minutes.

Note:  Bay scallops are the little ones; they are sweet and light—perfect for the delicate flavors of this dish.  Sea scallops will work too, but I tend to save those for bolder flavorings.

One of the things I love most about life is hearing other peoples’ stories.  As the saying goes, everybody has one—and I firmly believe that if you listen to anyone for a while, you will hear some great story about his or her interests, family, friends, talents or jobs—past or present.

So it is with one of my closest friends and neighbors.  In one of her “past lives”, she worked as s secretary to the Food and Beverage Director of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., a man named Dominique D’Ermo.  Originally a pastry chef, Dominique became a very well known restaurateur in Washington.  His early story was of a young man from Lyon who joins the French underground as a teenager, is arrested by the Germans and escapes execution because he was only 17 years old.

My friend’s memories of Dominique are warm.  In Paris, where she and her husband lived for a few years, he came to visit one summer and took them to dinner—magically managing to secure a wintry cassoulet—a favorite of her husband’s.  That same trip he gave them a copy of his cookbook  “Dominique’s, “More than 200 recipes from Dominique’s, the most famous French restaurant in Washington, DC and Miami Beach.”  Today’s recipe is from the book.

I remember Dominique’s well.  For a number of years in the ‘70s and 80s, his spot was one of Washington’s see-and-be-seen restaurants—one of those places where, politicians, celebrities and the occasional president came to eat and left autographed photos.  These photographs were displayed in the restaurant among some very interesting hunting trophies —stuffed elk, jackrabbit, boar, fish along with lots of  other interesting things  hanging on the walls. On the menu, I recall that in addition to traditional French bistro fare, you could order rattlesnake, ostrich and other items considered quite exotic at the time.

The place had an “auberge-y” look to it—warm wood paneling inside and a large awning outside with just the name “Dominique’s visible from blocks away.  And every Bastille Day, Dominique’s would host a waiter’s race on Pennsylvania Avenue right in front of the restaurant—a fun and funny thing to do in the heat of a Washington summer– I spent several July lunch hours cheering on the Dominique waiters as they speed-walked/tottered down the street balancing their trays.

Dominique’s closed in the early ‘90s, and he passed away some years ago.  My friend remembers him fondly and was kind enough to pass on his recipe for lime pound cake—delicious!  Keep it plain and serve it sliced with a cup of tea, or topped with berries and freshly whipped cream, or pan-toasted for breakfast—or glazed, like I’ve shown it here—all dressed up for a party.

Dominique’s Lime Pound Cake

16 servings

Preparation time:  30 minutes
Cook time:  1 hour

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups lightly salted butter at room temperature
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 heaping teaspoon finely grated lime zest
1 heaping teaspoon finely grated orange zest
7 eggs, separated

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Lightly grease and flour a 10-cup fluted bundt pan or loaf pan.  Sift together the flour, baking soda and 1-1/4 cups of the sugar.  In a separate bowl cream the butter (I used a hand mixer).  Blend the flour mixture into the butter just until combined.  Add the lime juice, vanilla and lime and orange zest and stir to combine.  Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry, and gradually add the remaining 1 cup of sugar.  Gently fold the egg whites into the batter then pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for one hour or until the cake tests done (I started to check at 45 minutes and it was done in 55 minutes).  Let the cake cool for 10 minutes.  Remove it from pan and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar or glaze if you like.  This cake is better on the second or third day.

Optional glaze

2-3 tablespoons Key lime juice
1 cup confectioner’s sugar

Place the sugar in a bowl and add the lime juice 1 tablespoon at a time until it is pourable, but slightly thick.  Spoon it over the warm cake.

There was a sale on fresh figs at my grocery store this weekend, and they looked so good, I bought some.  Remembering cocktail parties (and desserts) past, I thought of the wonderful combination of figs and blue cheese. I love salt and sweet together—especially in an appetizer.  So these would be great if all you feel like doing is topping the figs with blue cheese and baking them for a few minutes until the cheese melts.  But I was feeling like doing a little more, so I looked in my recipe file for inspiration.  One recipe wrapped them in pancetta, another in bacon and a third in Prosciutto—one added goat cheese and another topped them with walnuts—all of the combinations sounded wonderful and I have enough figs to try some variations.  But the one we ate on Saturday and really enjoyed was this happy hodgepodge.  And as you can see from the picture, instead of drizzling the honey over, I used it to hold the figs in place on my platter.  This had the effect of giving each piece a dip of honey and made the platter look very appetizing.

Prosciutto Wrapped Figs with Blue Cheese and Honey

Serves 6 (3 per person)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons Port or other sweet wine
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
9 ripe fresh figs cut in half lengthwise
12 thin slices Prosciutto
1 cup crumbled fresh blue cheese (I used Maytag)
2 tablespoons honey for drizzling

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Pour the Port into a glass pie pan.  Place all of the figs, cut side down into the Port and let marinate for about 15 minutes.  Sprinkle the pepper on a saucer.  Dip the figs into the pepper and place them, cut side up on a baking sheet.
Cut 9 slices of the Prosciutto lengthwise in half.  Loosely wrap each fig half with a strip of Prosciutto. Cut the remaining Prosciutto into thin strips and then cut the strips into 2 inch pieces.  In a small pan, sauté the strips until they are crisp.  Drain and reserve.  Place blue cheese crumbles and fried Prosciutto strips on each fig.
Place the baking pan under the broiler and cook until the edges of the prosciutto are beginning to brown and the cheese is melting and bubbling.  Remove from the oven and transfer the figs to a platter.  Drizzle the honey over and serve.

When you have amazing peaches at the market, and it’s too hot to think about baking, you can make this and have a delicious dessert ready in about 10 minutes.  Really. I first learned to do this with grapes (my mother’s favorite) but after I tried it with peaches I haven’t looked back.  I make it in one dish for the family, but for a more elegant presentation for company, I suggest putting it in individual ramekins, the lovely sauce it makes can be a bit thin and the ramekin will keep every spoonful with the right mixture of fruit and sauce.  You can double or triple this recipe, just plan on one large peach per person.

Frosted Peaches

Serves 4

4 large peaches
1-cup sour cream
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Preheat the broiler to the high setting.  Peel the peaches by boiling water enough water in a saucepan to cover the fruit completely.  Using a serrated spoon, lower the peaches into the water, boil for about 30 seconds and remove.  Let them cool until you can handle them, and then the peels should come right off.  Halve the fruits, remove the pits and slice.  Place the peach slices in a baking dish or divide them among individual ramekins.  Stir the sour cream until it is smooth and creamy and then completely cover the peaches, all the way to the rim of the dish.  Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly on top. Broil for about 5 to 10 minutes, watching carefully after 5 minutes.  When the brown sugar is caramelized and the edges are bubbly, remove the dish from the oven and serve.

Artichokes are beautiful—and this edible member of the thistle family is thought to be one of the oldest vegetables known to man. It amazes me to think of some Roman cook way back when getting past this plant’s natural defenses and figuring out how to cook and eat the darn things.  And we’re still figuring it out—here we are a couple of thousand years later and at the market, my checkout clerk invariably gets her finger pricked by the leaves—yelps—looks at her stuck finger and shakes her head, annoyed by this strange workplace hazard.   I feel badly for a minute, but I get over it quickly and happily take my little prizes home.

As a side dish to a meat or fish entree, artichokes are so substantial, that I usually don’t serve anything else, except maybe a light salad.  And I have been known to make a meal of them—with a dipping sauce; they are satisfying all on their own.  How to cook them?  Sometimes I simmer them—in a big pot with about 2 inches of water, a teaspoon of olive oil and a splash of chicken stock.  Or in the summer when I’m feeding a crowd, I grill them, which is the subject of today’s post, less a recipe than a technique.  If you haven’t made them before, this sounds complicated—but it really isn’t—there are a lot of short little steps, but nothing hard—and well worth learning.

Grilled Artichokes with Soy Mayonnaise

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 small to medium size globe artichokes (see note)
Juice of one lemon
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup mayonnaise
2 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce

Preparation:

Set a large pot of water, half full, on the stove and bring it to a boil while you prepare the artichokes.

Pour the lemon juice into a small plate and keep it nearby.  The juice will be used to keep the artichokes from discoloring—which they do if you don’t work fairly quickly.  I recommend working on one a time, so they don’t sit too long.

Using a serrated knife cut off the top inch or two of the artichoke, dip the top in the lemon juice.  Cut about an inch off the bottom stem, and dip the stem end in the juice. Then, take kitchen shears and snip off the prickly tips of each of the remaining leaves.  Cut the artichokes in half vertically and dip the cut side into the lemon juice.

Add a tablespoon of salt to the water (which should now be boiling) and put the artichokes in the water where they will parboil until tender.  After about 10 minutes of gentle boiling, use a fork and test the stem ends for tenderness.  When the fork goes in easily and a leaf can be gently pulled off, remove them from the boiling water, and put them immediately into a bowl of cold water, add a cup of ice cubes and let them cool down quickly (this will keep them a nice color.)

When they’ve cooled, lay out a few paper towels and put the artichokes cut side down on the towels to drain.  Using a spoon, scoop out the thistle at the top of the stem, being sure to remove all of it.  Then, put the halves on a tray, brush them with olive oil, sprinkle them with salt and pepper and they are ready to grill.

Heat the grill to medium and cook the artichokes for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until they are just beginning to brown.  Stir together the mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.  Taste and add more soy sauce to your taste.   When the artichokes are done, remove them to a serving platter and serve with the soy mayonnaise for dipping.

Note:  The size of the artichokes is important when you choose to grill them.  Big artichokes tend to need a lot more cooking time for their leaves to get tender and this can make their hearts very soft and fall apart on the grill.  So I have found that small to medium globe artichokes work much, much better.  If you only have lovely big ones, you’re better off simmering them as I mention above.

Not too long ago, in the opinion of the males in my household, “turkey burgers” were something that I inflicted on the family when I felt that we had been indulging too much and needed to lighten our diet. They were met with resignation and grumbles that they just didn’t satisfy the way a “real” hamburger did—and, in truth, they were often dry and bland tasting.   That all changed when I came up with this recipe—which is now an often requested favorite.

Using mayonnaise as the binder keeps these sliders juicy, and also allows the flavors of the onions and the capers to really blend nicely.  The meat mixture is a little loose to work with, but the patties are very easy to shape.  You can make them ahead of time and refrigerate them before grilling or you can make them and grill them all at once—either way, they are delicious.  You can use more traditional burger toppings—like tomato, relish, mustard and American or cheddar cheese—but this white cheddar, onion and arugula is our favorite and what sets these apart.  I usually plan on two per person, but hearty appetites will go through these quickly—so double or triple the recipe for a crowd.

Turkey Sliders with White Cheddar, Red Onion & Arugula

Makes 8 sliders

1 pound ground turkey (dark meat)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons grated white onion
1 tablespoon capers, drained and chopped
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
White cheddar cheese, cut into 4-inch squares
Small Red onion, sliced
Arugula, rinsed and dried
Small rolls

In a large bowl, mix the turkey, mayonnaise, onion, capers, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper together with your hands.  Form the meat into small patties about 4 inches in diameter.  Grill for about 4 minutes per side or until done.

Serve with squares of white cheddar, slices of red onion and arugula on small rolls spread lightly with mayonnaise.

These pretty potatoes were first served in a restaurant in Sweden (hence the name) and are great to put in the rotation of side dishes that are easy to prepare, can be made in advance and look great with whatever else you are having. They’re nice to make for a crowd and you can serve them anyway you like.  I love the Chive Sour Cream mixture, but have had them topped with cheddar or Parmesan cheese, bacon, or other herb mixtures—and they’re always good.

Hasselback Potatoes

8 servings

8 small baking potatoes, scrubbed, rinsed and dried
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Paprika,
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Chive Sour Cream (see below)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the olive oil and butter together in a small saucepan just until the butter melts and set aside.  Put a potato in the bowl of a wooden spoon.  Cut each potato into ¼ inch slices without cutting all the way through  (the spoon will keep you from cutting all the way through the potato, just be careful at the ends when you run out of spoon).  Repeat with all of the potatoes.  Place a slice of garlic between the middle three slices of each potato and then place them in a large bowl.  Pour the oil and butter mixture over and gently toss until all the potatoes are coated.

Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and sprinkle with the paprika, salt and pepper. Roast for about an hour or until the tops of the potatoes are crispy and the insides are cooked through.   Serve with chive sour cream.

Chive Sour Cream

½ cup sour cream
½ teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives