Please ignore my absurd attempt at homemade guacamole and take a moment to really inspect the chips in the photo. Wait a minute?! Is that a … surfboard? Yes, my fellow party dip makers, those are in fact “Longboard Chips” made by the funky folks at Trader Joe’s. These organic tortilla chips are tasty, and must only be served while channeling Matthew McConaughey. All right…All right…All right…

Now, who wants to share their top secret recipes and tips for making really awesome guacamole? CK, Melissa, and I had the best guacamole I’ve ever had a few weeks ago at Ole Mexican Grill in Inman square. Unfortunately I was too busy socializing and sipping a super strong margarita to notice how they made the guacamole. Did I mention they make it tableside? It’s all in all phenomenal. We polished off our whole bowl with gusto. Next time I’m not going to take my eyes off the server while they prepare it.

Ladies and Gentleman The Little Pumpkin Book has been dethroned. I think we read that particular book two million times to my sister when she was a baby. I can still recite it to this day. Unfortunately, all reigns must come to an end and Foodie Babies Wear Bibs is by far the most adorable children’s board book I’ve ever seen. The illustrations are whimsical, and engaging while the text is straightforward — as it should be. Flipping through the pages I’m absolutely enamored with Nathalie Dion’s depictions of roly poly babies playing with their food in all manner of locations. My favorite page is simply captioned “Foodie babies say cheese” and is accompanied by happy kiddies hamming it up for the camera while sampling platters of gouda, cheddar, and brie. Those are definitely my kind of babies!

Foodie Babies Wear Bibs is part of the Urban Babies series of Children’s Books which was created by Michelle Sinclair Colman and is published by Tricycle Press (an imprint of Ten Speed). Other titles available include: Urban Babies Wear Black, Beach Babies Wear Shades, and Eco Babies Wear Green. Obviously any of these selections would be the perfect gift for the mommies-to-be in your life. Hopefully they aren’t due for a few more months though. Foodie Babies Wear Bibs has a “delivery date” of October 2008. Fortunately, unlike actual babies, this is available for pre-order.

Remember the song I’d Do Anything from the musical Oliver? Well while making this recipe I realized that I would obviously do anything for Jamie Oliver, even cook with *gasp* anchovies. If Jamie and I were doing this little duet on a stage in the West End somewhere it might have gone something like this:

[Erin (sung)]
I’ll do anything
For you Jamie anything
For you mean everything to me.

I know that
I’ll cook anything
For your cheeky smile, anything –
For your cheeky smile, ev’rywhere –
I’d see.

[Jamie]
Would you make that cannelloni I banged out on my show the other day?

[Erin]
Anything!

[Jamie]
Chop up broccoli and cauliflower and cook it till it’s mush?

[Erin]
Anything!

[Jamie]
Turn CK’s mouth into a four alarm fire with too many chiles?

[Erin]
Anything!

[Jamie]
Even cook with anchovies?

[Erin]
What? Fish?!
*crickets* I’ll have to think about that…um.  Ok?!
I’d cook anything
For one kiss — everything
Yes, I’d do anything…

[Jamie]
Wow!  Even Fish?! What a brilliant girl!

[Erin]
Anything for you!!

Incredible Baked Cauliflower and Broccoli Cannelloni
Originally included in the cookbook Jamie at Home scheduled to be published on September 16, 2008

Sea salt
1 pound broccoli, washed, florets and stalks chopped
1 pound romanesco or white cauliflower, washed, florets and stalks chopped
Olive oil
7 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked
1 (1-ounce) can best-quality anchovies in oil, drained and chopped, oil reserved
2 to 3 small dried chiles, crumbled (Note: I used 4 because Jamie used 4 on the episode.  It was seriously spicy, which I was OK with, but you should probably stick to 2 or 3).
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups good-quality tomato sauce
Good-quality red wine vinegar
2 cups creme fraiche
7 ounces Parmesan, finely grated
16 cannelloni tubes
1 small bunch fresh basil, leaves picked
7 ounces good-quality mozzarella cheese
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 large handfuls arugula leaves, washed and dried
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and drop in the chopped broccoli and cauliflower. Boil for 5 to 6 minutes, until cooked, then drain in a colander, reserving the cooking water.Heat a wide saucepan, pour in a couple of good glugs of olive oil and add the garlic. Fry for a few seconds, then add the thyme leaves, anchovies, anchovy oil and chiles and continue frying for a few seconds more before adding the cooked broccoli and cauliflower with around 4 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water. Stir everything together, put a lid on the pan leaving a little gap, and cook slowly for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring regularly - overcooking the vegetables not only intensies their flavor but gives you the texture that you need for this recipe. Remove the lid for the last 5 minutes to let the moisture evaporate, then use a potato masher to crush the vegetables. Take the saucepan off the heat, taste the vegetables and season carefully with salt and pepper. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet to cool. Meanwhile, get yourself another baking dish or roasting pan (the right size for fitting the cannelloni tubes snugly side by side - I test this by actually laying the tubes into the dish, then remove them and put to 1 side) and pour in the tomato sauce with a pinch of salt and a swig of red wine vinegar.

Now, to make a really quick and easy white sauce, mix the creme fraiche with half the Parmesan, a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a little of the reserved cooking water to thin it down.

Spoon your cooled broccoli and cauliflower mixture into a large sandwich bag and cut off the corner. Twist the top of the bag and squeeze it to pipe the filling into the cannelloni tubes. (If you prefer, use a teaspoon to push the mixture into the cannelloni or use a piping bag.) Fill the tubes up - don’t be stingy! - and place them in a single layer on top of the sauce. Lay the basil leaves over the cannelloni and spoon your white sauce evenly over the top. Season with black pepper, sprinkle over the remaining Parmesan and tear over the mozzarella. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and bubbling on top.

Dress the arugula leaves with a squeeze of lemon juice and about 3 times as much extra- virgin olive oil. Serve the cannelloni with the arugula and some good crusty bread.

This is the adorable retro print apron that my friend Julia made me for my birthday last month. How difficult do you think it would be to find a real life pink stove similar to the one illustrated on the fabric? I’m sure CK hopes that such a thing doesn’t exist anywhere on the planet.

Update: West Coast Erin just made my day. Check out all of these pink appliances!

For the record I have been so incredibly impressed with all of the Tovolo products I’ve been using over the last few weeks. The molds I used for Popsicle Week were all distributed by Tovolo and the ice cream sandwich molds I tested for this post were no exception. With the assistance of these cute contraptions making ice cream sandwiches becomes incredibly easy. You begin by baking your favorite soft and chewy cookie recipe. I made a batch of Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, of course. Next, you allow them to cool slightly before cutting out the cookies with whichever shape you decide to use. This kit comes with a heart, star, and a squircle. I’m not making that up. They actually refer to the odd shaped mold as a “squircle.”  There’s also a kit that comes with animal shapes (a chicken, cow, and pig) if that’s more your style. After cutting out your cookie shapes let them cool completely on a wire rack. Finally, assemble the cookies by placing one cookie in the mold, adding a scoop of ice cream, topping with an additional cookie, and firmly applying pressure with the cookie press. Voila! A cute ice cream sandwich is born. If you aren’t going to eat the treats immediately you’ll definitely want to place them in the freezer as they start to melt quickly.

I can definitely imagine using something like this for a child’s slumber party, birthday party, or even as an interactive end to a grown-up dinner party. Just bake the cookie shapes ahead of time and set out the molds, ice cream, and bowls of sprinkles for your guests to use.

Note: There’s actually an “xoxo” engraved on the cookie press. I was really excited about this because it made me think of that show Gossip Girl. It’s hard to see in my photos, probably because of the type of cookie I baked, but I believe if you used a lighter colored sugar cookie or peanut butter cookie you’d be able to see the detail much more clearly.

PS: Many thanks to Anna D for giving me these as a birthday gift last month! Do my friends know me well, or what?

My Boston Organics adventures this summer have really allowed me to experiment with a number of ingredients that I would never buy simply browsing the local produce aisle. So when I received a huge bunch of dark leafy collard greens one week I definitely felt a little stumped. What could I do with them? Since I’d never had them before I didn’t even know what they tasted like, so I didn’t feel comfortable deciding what flavors might go well with them in a dish. So they sat in the fridge for a few days until I started googling for recipes. Thankfully I happened upon an older post at Kaylyn’s Kitchen that sounded exactly like something I’d like full of spicy sausage, red pepper flakes, and pasta.

In the end I made a few minor changes to the original recipe. Perhaps a little out of laziness, I decided to only use one pot to boil the sausage, greens, and pasta. I like to think that this gives the pasta a little extra flavor. I also used six turkey links instead of five as the turkey sausage I use comes in packages of six. I also used farfalle pasta for the simple fact that I think it’s pretty. Finally, I finished each bowl of pasta, sausage, and greens with an extra few dashes of red pepper flakes, a drizzle of olive oil, and a healthy grating of Parmesan cheese.

The funniest thing happens when you make this recipe. The sausage blows up to a disturbing size in the boiling pot of water. This immediately reminded me of the turkey hot dogs I ate as a kid that would blow up to ridiculous proportions on the grill. Does anyone else remember that phenomena? It’s pretty hilarious. Sometimes the turkey dogs would even develop bubbles and they’d look like total science fair projects on a bun.

I can’t recommend this recipe enough! My experimental dinner turned out delicious and I was surprised to discover that the collard greens have a slightly peppery taste. I’ve received collard greens twice more from Boston Organics since I originally freaked out over what I could do with this so-called “mystery ingredient” and both times I’ve returned to this recipe.

Pasta with Sausage and Collard Greens
Slightly altered and based on the recipe in The Best Recipes in the World cookbook by Mark Bittman originally discovered online at Kaylyn’s Kitchen.

1 bunch collard greens (about 1 lb.) stems removed, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced crosswise into half inch slices
3 T olive oil
1 T minced garlic
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
6 links hot turkey Italian sausage
16 oz. pasta (Note: I used farfalle).
salt and pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, add sausage and cook at low boil 10 minutes. Let sausage cool and slice. Add sliced collard greens and boil 5-7 minutes, until tender but still bright green. Remove collards from water, keep water in the pot and bring back to a boil. When water comes to a boil, add pasta and a small amount of salt and cook 9-10 minutes, until done but still quite al dente. Drain pasta, reserving about one cup of cooking liquid.

While pasta cooks, in large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add sliced sausage and brown until well browned on both sides. Add remaining tablespoon olive oil and garlic (and the red pepper flakes if using) and cook 2 minutes, scraping bottom of pan to get browned sausage bits. Add collards and saute 2 minutes, then add pasta and enough cooking liquid to moisten dish, and cook 2 minutes more. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (Note: In addition to the cheese, I also drizzle a little more olive oil on top and a few extra shakes of red pepper flakes).