Monday, we grilled steaks and naan bread (with oregano, rosemary and olive oil). We sliced cantaloupe and threw together a green salad with radishes and brussel sprouts. Easy vinaigrette from olive oil, white wine vinegar, dried tarragon, lemon and mustard. Have I mentioned lately how much I love radishes? I just sliced them plain for this salad, but I highly recommend Flash-Pickled Radishes from Epicurious.

Last night, we had leftover steak and salad on tortillas with guacamole and shredded cheddar.

Tonight, we will grill lamb chops, and because I get a little obsessive, the naan bread again. I have managed to not kill the herbs growing in pots on the back porch, so I have dill to add to sliced potatoes, parsley and basil to toss with cherry tomatoes, and all of these herbs to make a vinaigrette.

I don’t know what is on tomorrow’s menu yet, but I am sure that it will involve the grill.

What my husband did come through with though was a family cottage on a lake in Indiana. Even better, the cottage was a surprise I only learned about after our marriage, so he can rest more easily knowing that I did not marry him for his family’s real estate.

One of the welcome rhythms of lake living is the early evening cocktail hour on the front lake-facing patio after which we migrate to a second cocktail hour on the back grill-facing patio.  Dinner has often been delayed much to the dismay of the sleep-deprived parents of toddlers because nobody wants to peel off from the lakeside group to begin the necessary grill preparations.

There have been many memorable meals created and served at the lake; however, the quintessential meal that will forever be linked in my mind to this family cottage is a late July, early August meal of burgers, corn, cantaloupe, and cole slaw. The corn and the cantaloupe are sadly specific to time and place. If you cannot get to northern Indiana, specifically to Sweet Corn Charlie’s farm stand, during the latter half of the summer just know that you will have to settle for a still excellent, but nonetheless pale imitation of the greatest summer meal on earth. The burgers and cole slaw are reproducible in all their original glory.

The burger recipe was imported by friends who were visiting for a weekend and their contribution of Jamie Oliver’s Boffo Burger recipe provided a Wizard of Oz-like transformation from black and white to hamburger infused Technicolor glory. Besides the egg and bread crumbs you would expect, Jamie Oliver adds cumin and coriander to make this compelling recipe.

The cole slaw owes it all to my beloved original Barefoot Contessa and all six dressing ingredients have been committed to memory– celery salt, celery seed, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper (counted as one ingredient because almost never do you add one without the other). Memory is a tricky thing. I don’t remember the last time I referenced the actual recipe, and it apparently calls for sugar, an ingredient I have never added.

Mrs Moore’s Chicken got its name when I gave the recipe to a friend and her children started asking her to make my chicken. Learning that my go-to, easy weeknight chicken dish had become “Mrs Moore’s Chicken” was one of my prouder moments. Part of that pride was fueled by the warm reception that my recipe had received, part that something I had given to this family had become part of their folklore, and part because I had become a character in a recipe, which was almost as exciting as having been written into someone’s novel.

I am a loft-dwelling, ex-pat, cafe habitué trapped in the body of a mini-van driving soccer mom, or so I like to believe.  Like many other parents, I sometimes look around at my life and wonder how I got here.  My husband and I used to play a game where we would describe what we would be doing on a Sunday morning if we weren’t married with children. We would try to top each other’s claims; most of mine involved a couch, the New York Times and very good coffee. One day, our eldest interjected, asking where she was in these dream scenarios. My husband and I looked at each other, realized that there was in fact no other place we would rather be, and never played the game again.

I still harbor the rich inner fantasy life of passionate conversations about Life and Art conducted in Left Bank cafes over steaming cups of espresso; however, I am thrilled to be the eponymous “Mrs Moore” in the chicken recipe “Mrs Moore’s Chicken.”  That Mrs Moore is down to earth, warm-hearted, and always has fresh baked chocolate chip cookies stashed somewhere waiting to be pulled out as the children walk in the door after school. She occupies just as dear a place in my heart as the radical Left Bank intellectual who drives me to seek out the best almond croissants and chocolate brioches whenever I arrive in a new town.

Mrs Moore’s Chicken is one of my weekly standards. It’s easy, economical, and a launching pad in so many different directions.  I usually make enough, so that the chicken becomes the basis for 2-3 dinners. The chicken can be prepped to go in the oven in less than 5 minutes and while in the oven, you can assemble whatever else you need and usually have some downtime while waiting for the chicken to be done. Even better, when you have already made the chicken, you can truly assemble dinner in 15 minutes. 

Mrs Moore’s Chicken 

Ingredients:
Chicken thighs
Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Oregano 
Lemon
Grapeseed Oil (olive oil works too)

• Preheat the oven to 400. 
• In a baking dish, add chicken thighs (I often get a 3 pack from Costco and make all three packs at the same time). You can make this with chicken breasts, as well, if you have a strong preference. 
• Sprinkle salt, pepper, and a couple tablespoons of whatever Italian spices you have on hand (usually, I use oregano and thyme, but I have also substituted rosemary or tarragon, depending on what is in the spice rack). 
• Squeeze the juice from half of a lemon (sometimes, I throw the lemon in after I am done squeezing out the juice). 
• Pour on a quarter to a half cup of grapeseed oil (olive oil is fine too). 
• Put in the oven for about 45 minutes or until done. If you are using a glass baking dish, you may want to flip the chicken halfway through cooking. 

What started as an interest in muffins became a mild obsession with granola. I was trying out a new recipe, Banana Nut muffins, which called for homemade granola. Granola, like salad dressing, is one of those foods that after you learn how to make it, you never want to purchase it in the store again.  Especially if you use it as a cereal substitute and not a topping because that habit becomes very expensive very fast if you are using store bought granola.

Granola is also like all my favorite recipes, really a set of suggestions that are open for interpretation. The only finicky aspect of granola that I have encountered is its cooking time, which will vary based on the true temperature of your oven, whether you are using a glass baking dish, baking sheet, or ceramic, and what ingredients you chose. Furthermore, there is a moment when granola crosses over from perfectly toasty to unpleasantly burned and it can be easy to miss that moment if you get distracted like I often do.

At its heart, granola is rolled oats combined with something that will allow all the added ingredients to stick to the oats when baked into toasted clumps. The Barefoot Contessa granola recipe will always be my paradigm of a true granola recipe in the same way the lab will always be my paradigm dog. Over the years, I have found that I can eliminate most of the oil from the recipe; I have kept the coconut and honey for their healthy sweetness, never used the cashews or figs, and have added whatever was the newest “healthy food” of the day– pumpkin seeds, flax seed, etc. Have fun coming up with your house version and let me know what you added.