Stolen from a nightclub Yellowfin Tuna Carpaccio

Kale quiche

We really like having family over to No. 6, perhaps because we never have to do anything but cook, drink, eat, and visit. Our family may feel less enthusiastic about it, as the bathroom is just off the dining area and a sliding door offers little privacy. Hint to our guests: drink the martinis we make for you and no one will ever hear a thing!

Mrs. 6’s mother and her man attended the inaugural baking of this recipe. This quiche came about because—yep—too much kale from the vegetable share. Mrs. 6 actually used kale that had been steamed, frozen in water, then defrosted and drained of the water.

• 1 bunch kale, roughly chopped
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 1 T olive oil
• 3/4 cup of parmesan, grated
• 5 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t black pepper
• cayenne pepper to taste
• frozen pie crust

Pre-heat oven to 450°. Heat olive oil in saucepan on medium heat and saute onion until slightly browned. Toss in kale and remove from heat. (If kale was not steamed in advance, then saute kale with onions until slightly wilted.) Spread onions and kale in pie crust. Beat together by hand eggs, milk, whipping cream, and spices. Stir in parmesan. Pour into pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° and bake additional 10-15 minutes until center is almost firm. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Adapted from several quiche recipes.

Coleslaw

A bit of a cabbage bottleneck here at Apartment No. 6 due to what our winter share dealt us, so Mrs. 6 found this recipe on another blog. The goal is: coleslaw without the limp, soupy mess. Freshly made, this coleslaw is so amazing it will turn heads at a BBQ; consider halving the ingredients before mixing, and save half to mix up a fresh batch the next day. Don’t forget to take an antacid before eating, unless your belly is accustomed to eating raw cabbage every day!

• 1 small head cabbage
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 t dijon mustard
• 1 T whole grain mustard
• 2 t cider vinegar
• 1/2 t celery salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2/3 cup blue cheese, crumbled
• 1/3 cup parsley, chopped

Mix together everything but the cabbage, blue cheese, and parsley. Toss cabbage with the dressing, add mayonnaise to desired consistency, then lightly toss in blue cheese and parsley.

From talkoftomatoes.com, 2007.

Goulash

Recently, we had Mrs. 6’s mother and her man over for goulash. Besides getting to hang out with family and do lots of relaxing, the best part of their visits is the opportunity to rile up the management of the hotel next door. (When they visit, they park their RV in the private alley behind Apartment No. 6, which the hotel conveniently borrows as garbage truck access to the hotel’s dumpster.) When the RV is here, we aren’t woken up by the trash collection at 5am!

We like to have goulash with potato dumplings, but egg noodles, spaetzle, or rice are good substitutions. We’ve yet to find a good homemade dumpling recipe, so a fool-proof alternative is to purchase a box of dumpling mix from City Drug, an eerie family-run drugstore that specializes in china, support hose, mastectomy bras, and German food items such as sausage and stollen. Remember that movie, The Burbs? And remember the silver-haired “doctor” who disposed of the bodies? Well, don’t be surprised if you turn a corner at City Drug to find someone just like him, only in real life.

• 2# beef (any roast will do)
• canola or vegetable oil
• 1 red onion, cut into thin strips
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 2 large carrots, cut diagonally into half moons
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1t ground cumin
• 2T paprika
• 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1-2 cups beef broth or water
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
• salt & pepper to taste

Heat a little vegetable or canola oil on medium-high heat, then brown the roast. Put the roast in the slow cooker, and add remaining ingredients. Cook all day or as long as your schedule allows, and toward the end, add salt, pepper, and possibly extra cumin and paprika to taste.

Adapted from Aliza Green’s Starting with Ingredients, 2006.

Dreamy kitchen

What comes first—the kitchen or the kids?

Note: the landlord of  Apartment No. 6 does not allow kids, so a house must be purchased first! Mr. & Mrs. 6 prefer to get a few additional things in line before having/getting kids, including a dreamy kitchen exquisitely outfitted for spending time with family & friends, cooking nutritious and tasty meals, and lingering with a cup of coffee. But once we actually get this behemoth built, we’ll likely be too decrepit and entrenched in our careers to be parents. Hmmph. Sorry to be such a drag. Anyhow, let’s at least get some plans down on paper:

Kitchen No. 6: an open plan multi-functional space that combines kitchen, living & dining areas, and workspace.

1. Decent appliances: standard-size side-by-side refrigerator and freezer, electric oven, gas range
2. Intentional space for microwave (as right now it’s sitting on wire shelving underneath the coffee maker in a room off kitchen!)
3. Highly durable work spaces (1 for each of us) so that Mrs. 6 doesn’t get frustrated when she’s dusting and finds that Mr. 6 has scratched the finish on his desk.
4. Unconventionally large working space that can accommodate 2 people preparing meals, plus a bar that seats at least 4. The counter top will include a hole for the trash can. Note: this must be a fool-proof design so the trash never misses the can.
5. Very deep sinks so washing large pots is FUN! not a BURDEN!
6. Special areas for the pets’ supplies: a cupboard with shelf that slides out for O’s food, a high shelf solely for M so O can’t steal her food, and a sneaky cupboard with a hidden passageway so M’s litter box isn’t out in the open.
7. Sofa/armchairs configured in such a way that one can rest in the “living area” yet still interact with those in the “kitchen.” (Mr. 6 can undertake this perplexing challenge as he is an interior designer.)
8. Same idea with “dining area,” preferably with table that can seat a larger group.
9. Mini spiral staircase for M that leads to a catwalk near the ceiling so she can perch and observe action in the kitchen. Preferably, tunnels that connect to adjoining rooms.
10. Windows for natural light.
11. Large doors that open to patio/garden. Large enough that when they’re open, it feels as if the entire wall is open.
12. Storage so that pots and dishes do not have to be stacked in a cupboard, food in pantry is only one item deep, utensils don’t take 5 minutes to locate.
13. Many, many outlets.

Christmas Markly

Mrs. 6’s father gave us a Christmas basket full of wine, coffee, tea, decorations, chocolate-covered cherries & blueberries, pretzels, wasabi dipping sauce, etc. Yay for a heavenly selection of items we wouldn’t normally purchase for ourselves! After we got around to putting all the items away in the kitchen, Marklar designated the basket as her official bed.

Every once and a while, she looks up at the Santa ornament hanging from the handle and bats at the bell. She spends at least 12 hours a day here. The crinkly green confetti gets snacked on occasionally.

The Gibson

Martinis…’tis the theme. Quite a few Gibsons and Manhattans have graced our holiday season as we celebrated Faux Thanksgiving with Mrs. 6’s father, Christmas Eve with our temporary dog entourage (Gracie, JJ, Truman), New Year’s Eve with Uwe, Hayley, & Ditmar, and New Year’s Day with our old standbys—Ottmar and Marklar. Our gin martinis are quite simple, just choose a garnish depending upon your palate. O & M’s uncle Richard likes the attention he receives after eating habañero-stuffed olives, but our favorite, more sedate alternatives, are garlic- or blue cheese-stuffed olives. Feeling nostalgic about getting engaged to your man in Chicago by the Anish Kapoor piece in the park? Take an elevator up a few floors, find a patio overlooking the city, mix up a gin martini with truffle salt on the rim, and garnish with a blue cheese-stuffed olive. (Seeing as how Mr. 6 can’t detach himself from the computer, the MAN is optional!)

Here, the Gibson:

• gin, any quantity (Tanqueray is Mrs. 6’s favorite)
• dry vermouth (pour a drop, swirl in the glass, and pour out)
• cocktail onion

Raclette & Chateau Latour

Recently we had raclette with our friends Uwe and Richard on a beautiful, snowy evening. By way of an ironic series of events related to our September 2008 wedding, we had in our possession a bottle of 1997 Chateau Latour. We couldn’t think of better friends with which to share it.

We started with the wine, Uwe’s homemade bread, and kale chips. By dinner time, Uwe had moved on to Chardonnay (note: he is notorious for keeping his guests’ glasses full.) After a lovely meal of new potatoes, fresh Hazel Dell mushrooms, smoked salmon, artichoke hearts, bread, Appenzeller, raclette, Gruyere and a wonderful selection of Swiss spice mixes, we retired to the living room. So very Louis XVI, we know! Richard and Mr. 6 played their guitars while Uwe showed Mrs. 6 his favorite short stories.

Suddenly, the evening offered us the introduction to a new friend, Hayley, who called Uwe over Skype. The video call was quite raucous, as across the country Hayley and her friend had had too much red wine, and Uwe kept filling up our glasses here in Colorado. In order to avoid incriminating anyone, the details of our Skype call are only recollected in person. Let us say—an invitation to Uwe’s home is always wholeheartedly accepted!

Squash risotto

• 2 T butter
• 1 dozen sage leaves
• 1 kabocha squash, roasted
• 1 t olive oil
• 1 cup diced leeks or onion
• couple cloves garlic
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 -5 cups warm chicken or vegetable stock
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup blue cheese

In a small skillet over medium to low heat melt butter and when melted and foaming subsides add sage and fry until lightly browned and crispy on both sides. Remove from heat, pat dry with paper towels and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, saute leeks in olive oil until soft. Add desired amount of garlic cloves and the arborio rice, and stir frequently for 3 minutes. Add wine and stir to coat. Once wine is absorbed, add stock about 1/2 cupful at a time, stirring until cooked in. When the rice starts to soften up add the squash and break up any large pieces. Continue cooking, adding broth and stirring as necessary until rice is cooked with just a little bite left.

Serve hot with blue cheese and sage leaves crumbled on top.

Adapted from www.dailyadventuresincooking.com.

Granola

• 6 cups rolled oats
• Up to 6 cups of: soy flour, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, seeds, soy milk powder, coconut, unsalted nuts, bran, up to 1/2 cup millet, raisins, and spices such as cinnamon.
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups roasted pumpkin, pureed or mashed
• 1/2 to 1 cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 t vanilla or almond extract

Pre-heat oven to 250º. Mix together dry ingredients in a large dutch oven. Mix together pumpkin and liquid ingredients in a small bowl. Toss with dry ingredients, then bake for about 2 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes. If desired, bring heat up to 400º and toast the granola, tossing every few minutes to prevent burning.

A recipe from Mom, c. 1998.