‘Bon Appetit’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Recipe: Linguine with Green Olive Sauce and Zesty Breadcrumbs

September 9, 2015 · Narrative

A crowd-pleasing recipe that is quick enough to whip up on a weeknight and will keep ’em coming back for more.

Every once in awhile, I stumble upon a recipe that everyone in my little family approves of.

This is that.

(The sausage puffs last week were also that)

It doesn’t happen often.

Maybe one out of every eight recipes?

Give or take.

Sometimes I will deconstruct a recipe along the way, adding more of something for Nick, less of something for Madeline, to make it a crowd-pleaser.

But when I can just MAKE something and have everyone EAT IT?

That there is a good time.

And here we are.

This recipe originally appeared in the June issue of Bon Appetit magazine, and I love how quick and easy it is.

Thirty minutes start to finish.

Even with cats, dogs, and kids underfoot.

Because, life.

Pasta dishes, for the most part, are usually a homerun in the O’Malley household. And Nick LOVES green olives. I, for one, adored the bread crumbs.

And NO ONE knew they were eating anchovies.

Because, if you didn’t know, if you mash or cook anchovies, there is no fishy taste AT ALL. Mashing or cooking them just bring out their saltiness.

Trust me, because I hate anchovies.

Now that the homework, sports, cheer, scouts grind has started, recipes like this are exactly what you need in your back pocket. You can easily keep the ingredients stocked at all times and have a good, solid dinner on the table in half an hour.

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Recipe: Avocado Cream

August 13, 2015 · Narrative

A creamy twist on your usual guacamole recipe, this winner from Bon Appetit is worth having in your repertoire.

When it comes to guacamole, I’m a bit of a purist.

Avocado.

Cilantro.

Kosher salt.

Lemon juice.

THAT’S IT.

I’m all like naked chef about it, and really want the true flavors of the avocado to really come through.

No mucking around.

Which means it surprises no one more than me when I found myself trying a new recipe for guacamole.

With a significant bit of mucking around.

Nick is on a SERIOUS chips and salsa kick lately.

And chips and guacamole kick.

Thirteen year old growing boys and all that.

So this was a good one to get into rotation.

Bon Appetit calls it “lighter,” and I’m not exactly sure why, because adding sour cream to avocado doesn’t exactly make for a “light” guacamole, but whatevs.

I think the addition of the vinegar might make it last just a touch longer than usual, and adding in sour cream and olive oil definitely made for a super creamy rendition of guacamole.

And I pretty much want to spend the rest of my summer days diving into this bowl.

And you will too.

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Recipe: Your New Favorite Pork Chops

August 11, 2015 · Narrative

Love pork chops? Here’s a delicious and easy new twist on them that will put ’em on the table in under thirty minutes.

I mean no disrespect to the fine folks at Bon Appetit magazine, but that is seriously the dumbest recipe name ever. I mean, really, it tells you nothing about the recipe or main ingredients, outside of pork chops.

How about Butter Basted Pork Chops with Frizzled Sage?

Pork Chops with Garlic Butter and Sage?

REALLY.

Anyway.

If you’ve been a long time reader, you may have noticed that I don’t share a lot of recipes for pork chops. I like them just fine, they just typically don’t wow me. I’ve probably shared exactly three recipes for pork chops in eleven years of blogging.

And now, here’s number four.

Last week, while Madeline was at cheer practice, I took the time to catch up on a few of my magazines, this issue of Bon Appetit being one of them.

And their picture totally drew me in.

And then once I saw how simple the recipe was to make, I ended up adding the ingredients to my shopping list for the next day.

Because now that cheer has started, with Girl Scouts and school and soccer not far behind … I’m all about quick and easy weeknight meals.

This is that.

Tender. Juicy. Flavorful. Easy with a capital E.

It actually got the thumbs up from every member of the family.

Which is as good as gold.

Hungry for more pork chop recipes?
This version with bourbon is always the one to beat. And it’s back in the day when I had NO IDEA what I was doing with a camera.

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Recipe: Gwyneth Paltrow’s Roasted Tomato and Anchovy Oreganata Pasta

June 21, 2011 · Narrative

She’s an award-winning actress.

She’s a singer.

She’s a movie star.

She’s married to Chris Martin from Coldplay.

She has two beautiful kids.

She has her own popular newsletter, GOOP.

She’s gorgeous.

She counts Mario Batali amongst her BFF circle.

And now she’s a cook too?!

With her own cookbook?

You want to hate her. But you just can’t.

Gwyneth Paltrow is gracing the cover of the June issue of Bon Appetit magazine, featuring a few recipes from her new cookbook. Her Roasted Tomato and Anchovy Oreganata Pasta hit the dinner table tonight. You have to plan ahead for this one, folks. The tomatoes are cooked two different ways. One of which takes 3-8 hours. Then there is the oreganata that you have to make. Then cooking the pasta. Then adding it all together. It is a little time consuming. Although the end result is really simple fare, I didn’t want to like it. But I did. And then some. The roasted tomatoes are so to-die-for good that I want to tell you to roast twice the amount the recipe calls for. Because if you’re like me, and I’m hoping you are, you might sneak far too many during the rest of the recipe’s prep time. And you’ll want more for the recipe. And later. Or in between. So yeah, roast more than you need. And plan ahead to make this recipe. You’ll thank me, and Gwyneth later.

PS – For more of her recipe, check out this link from Bon Appetit’s article.

June 21, 2011 – Bonus Photo

I wish I could do something to make her happy. She always looks so darn miserable, no? And I wish she’d stop stealing my (new!) sunglasses!

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Recipe: Coffee Crunch Bars

June 6, 2011 · Narrative

First, before I forget, today is, of course, Eat. Live. Be. day. I have kind of sucked at ELB updates lately and that pains me more than you know. I have not fallen off the wagon, but with my sprained ankle, which is still mighty sore and swollen, I’m definitely off the exercise trail for another few weeks. In a grand twist of irony, only two pairs of shoes fit my swollen ankle with the air cast. One is quite cute and being worn into the ground. Literally. The other? My Zumba sneakers. Here, you can wear your Zumba sneakers, but you can’t Zumba! I hope to be back to my same routine (or better!) in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, I am totally babying my ankle. It’s still super weak and I don’t want to push it and run the risk of reinjuring it. So no Zumba, or hiking, or spin or anything incredibly active. Unless chasing my kids around counts. And it likely doesn’t. Today’s ELB topic is all about progress and redefining your goals. Short of GETTING BACK TO IT, my goals are still very much the same. Since I can’t update further, go read up on what my fellow ELBers are up to, and see how they’ve been faring:

Sarah Caron at Sarah’s Cucina Bella
Joanne from Eats Well with Others
Chris Arpante – Melecotte
Patsy – Family, Friends and Food
Claire – Cooking is Medicine
Rivki Locker – Healthy Eating for Ordinary People
Sarah Rogers – Sarah’s Sweet Creations
Kate – Paved with Good Intentions

Now how ’bout a little food? I first made these Coffee Crunch Bars mid-last year. I never wrote about them, because, to be quite honest, they did nothing for me. They did, however, become a quick favorite of one of my co-workers, Jaclyn. Any time I owe her a favor for hooking me up with a project at work, I know it’s easily returned by making her a batch of these. A few days after I sprained my ankle, she sent me a text message, asking if I was home. Minutes later, she stopped by with a complete dinner: pork chops, sauteed apples and a loaf of bread. I was completely blown away by her thoughtfulness, and the food was perfect. Unfortunately, hobbling around on a bum ankle has made cooking (and standing on said bum ankle) less than appealing, so dinner that doesn’t come from a drive-thru was (and still is an absolute god-send). I definitely owed her big this time. As I texted her a picture of the cooling Coffee Crunch Bars tonight, she replied seconds later with a very happy “whoo hoo!” Her Tupperware container is finally clean and going back filled with fresh baked goodies.

Another friend loaned Nick a bunch of sports gear for a presentation he is doing for school tomorrow. Extra Coffee Crunch Bars heading her way as a thank you too. One good turn deserves another.

When the recipe first hit Bon Appetit magazine, something shared by Molly of Orangette fame, there was a little controversy. Apparently the recipe appeared in the magazine the way Molly originally submitted it, but the online version was changed, to the tune of adding an extra 20 minutes to the baking time, resulting in very dry, overdone Coffee Crunch Bars. This is definitely one of those times that it pays to read the comments and reviews when making an online recipe, though I was safe since I had torn out the clipping. Even as print magazines fold and Kindle sales go up, I’m an old-fashioned girl at heart, and still love flipping through a magazine.

Although it’s not a go-to recipe for me, you may be like Jaclyn and love it. They are super simple to make, and you likely have the ingredients already on hand. A huge plus, if you ask me. It takes just a few minutes to mix it together, and 25 minutes in the oven. A perfect way to say thank you to those people making your life a little easier.

PS – The recipe below is how it originally ran, and how I’ve always made it since.

June 6, 2011 – Bonus Photos
I am wondering what age children start behaving in the library. It is not three. Certainly not if your name is Madeline. She was fine in the closed off kids section, but Lord help me when I dared to venture into the grown-up section. I stopped counting the dirty looks we got as I scrambled to quickly find my one title. She got mad when I wouldn’t let her check out a political book because it had her FAVORITE animal (you know, an elephant) on the cover, and flopped herself on the chair and announced how BORING this place was. I’m sure I didn’t catch her trying to slide the aisle descriptions out of the little placeholders on the bookcases so people could find their books easily. Not my child. And people wonder why Amazon boasts such amazing sales records! It’s ’cause I can’t set foot in the library with my child… YET. ‘Tis a shame because they redid our library last year and it is stunning.

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