I'm in love

It'd be a challenge to sum up all of the food I ate over the weekend in one blog post. I was in Atlanta at a wedding for my boyfriend Barry's niece Kim to her beloved Brad. It was a lovely weekend ... lots of fun, great visits with family and a whole bunch of food.
The reception was held at The City Club of Buckhead, on two floors (the 17th and 18th) with amazing views. For dinner, we were served a salad of field greens, sliced strawberries, goat cheese and candied pecans, a buffet of roasted turkey, beef tenderloin, brussel sprouts, glazed carrots, broccoli, three kinds of risotto and .... wait for it ... a mashed potato bar. There was a large dish of creamy mashed potatoes, and various toppings: crumbled bacon, chopped green onions, grated cheddar cheese, fried onion rings and sour cream. We were given chunky martini glasses to put our potatoes in. I swear, I could have just had the potatoes for dinner and would have been a very happy girl. It was comfort food, for sure. But was also fun food ... and delicious.
I told Barry that we were having a mashed potato bar for dinner some night this week, no other food, just the potatoes and toppings. I am in love with the mashed potato bar.
On Sunday morning at brunch, the caterer told us that they offer a sweet potato bar when they cater events. They include mashed sweet potatoes and various accoutrements such as toasted pecans, mini marshmallows, brown sugar and raisins.

I'll post more photos of the wedding food; it was all excellent, including the red velvet wedding cake with cream cheese frosting, the buttermilk biscuits stuffed with ham at Sunday brunch, the grilled salmon with polenta at the rehearsal dinner and the Chick fil a minis the morning of the wedding.

I will have some onion candy. Thanks.

Step 1: Raw onions go into an olive oil coated pan.

Midway through the cooking  .. the onions are about where they would be if you were looking for fried onions.

The finished product look something like this ... dark and limp, very flavorful. They smell like heaven. 

Onions are a wonderful thing. Caramelized onions? Come to mama. It makes perfect sense to me that we embrace vegetables with even more passion once they are cooked to the point of tasting sweet, almost like candy.  Is anyone surprised by that?
Anyhoo. Here's a quick tutorial for making caramelized onions at home:
Take a bunch of onions ... 5-7 medium sized yellow onions. Peel them and then slice them in to small slivers. Heat a cast iron skillet (or non stick) on medium-high heat and cover the bottom with olive oil. When the olive oil is hot, add the onions. Swirl them around to cover them with the oil and allow them to cook, stirring frequently, until they start to brown. Add salt and pepper and a tablespoon of sugar. Continue cooking, and be sure to get all of the sticky parts off of the bottom of the pan. The onions will brown and caramelize, but it's important to keep the heat consistent and the process slow.

When the onions start to look like they are done, keep cooking them. When finished, they should be a caramely-brown color and very soft texture.

Caramelized onions are wonderful on a sandwich, pizza, baked potatoes, grilled chicken, fish and all sorts of other foods.

They are also delicious right out of the pan with a sprinkle of salt.

One note: Even a big bunch of onions cooks down to a small amount. If you love caramelized onions, start with a big pile of onions.

How can you hate popcorn?

My boyfriend Barry hates popcorn. I can't imagine life without popcorn. Once a week, maybe less, I have popcorn for dinner. I love the smell, the taste, the texture ... everything about it.
Barry says he hates it because pieces get stuck in his throat and it makes him crazy. I don't like that part either, but I'm not about to give it up because of a silly inconvenience.
I eat microwave popcorn, but not the kind that comes in a bag. I cook my popcorn in a microwave popper; a device I bought at Sears many years ago. My sister bought one not long ago at Target. They cost somewhere between $10-15 and keep all of the unwanted ... stuff ... out of the popcorn. I typically pop the corn and add my own melted butter or just some salt. It's fresh and delicious, takes about 3 minutes to cook. I buy the popcorn in a bag at the grocery store and it's certainly more economical than the alternative.
I don't buy popcorn at the movie theater. I'm not sure what, exactly, they put on it, but it isn't butter and it isn't oil (butter-flavored oil?) .. anyhoo, it's nasty stuff. I have on occasion, snuck my own popcorn into the theater. I know that's wrong, but ... I swear, i don't care how expensive it is at the theater, it's not about that. It's about taste. It just doesn't taste very good.
Here's a photo of the popcorn maker I have. As I said, it's pretty old, but still works beautifully.

Switch hit

When a former colleague of mine brought a lovely, lemony couscous salad to a potluck at work, I was immediately in love ... not with her, with the salad. It had bright green peas, toasted pecans and tart cranberries, all of which combined into not only a beautiful dish, but an unusual combination of flavors. I've made the salad a few times but this week switched out the couscous for quinoa.
I bought a big bag of quinoa about a month ago, hoping to add something different to our mashed potato/rice/sweet potato/pasta rotation. But I haven't done anything with the quinoa because I've really only eaten it a handful of times.
Quinoa, if you haven't tried it, has a really nice, nutty kind of taste. It's an excellent grain and frankly, tastes a whole lot better than barley or cracked wheat.
There are lots of options for recipes, but I knew this recipe well, so I tried it.
Barry liked it a lot and he often says he doesn't like lemon or cranberries. (He likes both, he just sort of thinks he doesn't.)
When you make this recipe, adjust the garlic, onion and lemon to suit your taste. Also, add the dressing just before serving to keep everything crunchy.

Couscous or Quinoa salad with Lemon-Garlic Dressing
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 cup dried cranberries
1 peeled, chopped cucumber
3 chopped green onions, sliced
1/2 cup toasted, choppped pecans
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
Boil the water and add the couscous or quinoa. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until done -- water should be completely absorbed. Set aside to cool.
put the olive oil, lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt and pepper in a jar and shake until blended.
Put the couscous or quinoa in a large bowl and add the peas, cranberries, cucumber, onions and pecans. When ready to serve, toss with dressing.
Best served at room temperature or chilled.