Owen in the Kitchen

These days, if I want to cook, the little man wants to cook too...or maybe I am the type of mother who doesn't like to leave him alone for one minute because I'm addicted to him? Either way, I've been cooking with the little man either in the baby papasan or the Moby - as pictured above :) It is still fairly warm in Kansas, so the only way the Moby works in the kitch is if the little man is stripped down to his diaper, otherwise he sweats up a storm. And he LOVES his wubbanub! And so do I...it makes it way easy to find the foffy* when it inevitably drops in the Moby, or the infant car seat, or the swing, etc...and it is far less likely to fall out because the little puppy has beans in its paws, so it tends to stay put if he is reclined...

* "Foffy" is our family's name for pacifier. When I was young that is what I called it, and apparently all my cousins thereafter called it the foffy as well. Thus, the foffy is back.

Anyhow, during our little cooking school, I taught O how to make the above salad - Arugula Salad with Grapes, Fennel and Gorgonzola from Cooks Illustrated. I didn't make it exactly as it called for as I live in the Little Apple and I'm limited on ingredients...like arugula. And apricot jam. And celery root - but that is for a different recipe...

Arugula Salad with Grapes, Fennel and Gorgonzola

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients

4 teaspoons apricot jam (I used apricot preserves)

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons EVOO

1 small shallot, very finely minced, about 1 tablespoon (I used 1/2 of a large - O doesn't take kindly to onions and garlic so I've been trying to cut back!)

1/2 small bulb fennel, cored, trimmed of stalks, and sliced very thin, about 1 cup; fronds chopped coarse, about 1/4 cup (I forewent the fronds)

5 ounces lightly packed stemmed arugula, about 8 cups (I used mixed greens, and just enough for J and me for dinner and then me again for lunch today!)

6 oz red seedless grapes, halved (Again, I eyeball this, we love the grapes so I probs do more)

3 oz gorgonzola cheese crumbled, 3/4 cup (I forgot this last night, but I couldn't tell the diff)

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1. Instructions:

   Whisk jam, vinegar, oil, shallot, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in large bowl. Toss fennel with vinaigrette; let stand 15 minutes. Add arugula, fennel fronds, and grapes; toss and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Top with gorgonzola.

   
   

   Bon Appetit!