Cheever Sauce

Figuring out what to make for lunch is…the…worst. Lunch to me is that awkward middle child that isn’t getting enough love because its older and younger siblings are getting all my attention. Living in New York doesn’t make this neglected relationship any easier. Whether you’re a slave to the boardroom, working long hours on Wall Street, or salvaging the days of old Madison Ave, “homemade lunch?” doesn’t fall off the tongue in a 9 to 5 as easily as “take-out?” does. 

I know, I know - what do I know? I might not have experience living a life that entails the jobs above, but I certainly have experience living with people who do (and plus, I would still rather eat a yogurt, crackers, eggs, canned soup..basically anything that’s already in my fridge then whip up a meal in the middle of the day). Despite all this, when in the past I have taken the time to cook lunch, all the magic happens the night before. That’s the key people, because no one is going to prepare themselves lunch in the morning before running out the door - see New Yorker Scramble. Cook ahead and you’ll find a little bit of planning and some Tupperware goes a long way for your waistline and your wallet. 

This dish was another gem from Smitten Kitchen. You could easily serve it with dinner, but this batch went straight to the lunch containers. I was dishing it out generously to my roommate and a friend who were instructed to report back. The findings turned out to be fabulous. This is a perfect salad for this time of year because it utilizes one of the many delicious ways to eat squash. Lentils are very cheap, so the big splurge here is the cheese. The goat cheese is the perfect counterbalance to the spiced squash, and brings all the combined flavors of the salad together when you reheat it the next day. (CheeverSauce note: allow the cheese to generously melt around your veggies and lentils.)

Continue for the recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Nothing like a quick lunch post to kickstart the weekend. This recipe came together in the snap of the fingers and is a great vegetable alternative to typical deli meat sandwiches. I also like to classify it in one of those trendy “5 ingredients or less” challenges that seem to cover every cooking magazine these days. 

I love portabella mushrooms. They’re plump, juicy, smooth in texture, and cook up perfectly when roasted with a little bit of olive oil and sea salt in a mere 10-15 minutes.  Add some goat cheese and greens to the mix and you got yourself a class A midday meal. 

Continue for the super easy how to:

WHAT a beauty right? I was casually shopping at this organic grocery store next to my apartment the other day, and when I sauntered over to the produce section to find what local veggies they brought in for the day, to my delight I see….PURPLE VEGETABLES. 

First of all, call me a culinary delinquent but never in my life have I seen purple string beans and purple peppers. And these weren’t produced in some biotech lab in Texas, these were locally farm grown!! I could hardly contain my excitement and knew I immediately had to use these veggies in my next post.

I prepared them in a salad so I could eat them raw and in all their purply glory. The kale looked amazing as well and was eager to make a raw kale salad since I had only been eating the green cooked.  Kale is a “meatier” green when raw, and I love it in salad because I feel it gives it more substance. (P.S. One cup of raw kale offers more than a full day’s recommended value of vitamins A, C and K. It is also a source of calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, copper and manganese - aka time to get on the kale bandwagon)  I threw in some yellow cherry tomatoes, (for both taste and aesthetic reasons) toasted some sunflower seeds and made my own sunflower lemon dressing in a mason jar, which topped the salad of perfectly. 

How to make…

The Cheever family took over Drakes Island this weekend - and I say take over because Grandpa Cheever (who lives on Drakes Island in Wells, Maine) currently has: 5 children, 5 daughter/son in-laws, 24 grandchildren, 8 grandchildren in-laws (not sure how else to put it?), 11 great-grandchildren, 1 future grandchild in-law, 2 possible grandchildren in-laws (wink, wink) and two more great grandchildren on the way. So it’s safe to say that when the Cheever family is there, the rest of the island knows it.

We all grew up with summers visiting Grammy and Grandpa on Drakes Island, and even though over the years we have traded sandcastles for beach Bocce (booze included) and cartoons for late night poker games (even more booze included), one tradition that will always last is our Maine lobster dinners. I enjoyed my lobster the good ole’ Cheever way this weekend, but today I whipped up the lobster roll below with a few ingredients I thought would be delicious. The result? So amazing I am convinced I need to set up a West Village lobster roll stand for the rest of the summer. 

So spoil yourself tonight - Maine style- with either of these dishes, because while lobster may not be practical and certainly isn’t cheap (in the mid 19th century, it somehow finagled its way from the plates of peasants and fisherman to the fine china of Boston and New York elite), it is definitely and always will be…delicious. 

To prepare:

Tonight we’re eating light folks. It’s been a long (but wonderful) holiday weekend filled with clambake dinners, seafood quiche’s, strawberry pavlovas, Bloody Mary’s and lots and lots and lots and lots of Rosé. CheeverSauce took the weekend off and the real chefs of the house (my parents) treated friends and family to a weekend of delicious food at our house in Nantucket. 

Now that I am back in the real world (whomp whomp) I had to snap back to healthy eating reality and whip up something light because my stomach is still recovering from the weekend’s feasts. At times like these, some girls often want to starve themselves for days in an effort to balance out their recent caloric intake. This is very dumb. Eat a light meal like this one so you don’t shock system into turning your metabolism into a debilitated slug. 

When I first read this recipe I saw in called for “tahini.” Tah-what? The name sounded familiar, so I assumed it would be easy to find in the grocery store. It could be in one of those spice racks right? Whelp - turns out tahini is actually a paste of ground sesame seeds. It is an ingredient used in many Middle Eastern foods, but can also be found in some Chinese, Korean, and Japanese dishes as well. I found mine in a jar next to all the peanut and almond butters.

The recipe itself was incredibly fast and easy to make and the leftovers will make a great lunch tomorrow. 

Onward onto the recipe adapted from America’s Test Kitchen latest issue

All I crave lately is vegetables. I don’t know what happened to me - but I just realized I have gone 5 days without eating meat (Is this my inner yogi telling me something?doubtful. Carnivores fear not…this will not last). It’s officially summer now, so with all this fresh produce available it seems only logical to purchase veggies at your local farmer’s market and top them all off with this amazing and versatile herb dressing. 

Now as much as I would like to say that I went to my local farmer’s market to gather my ingredients…that would be a lie. Let me be clear - I have fantasies about sauntering around Union Square Farmer’s Market on a Sunday, in a long, flowing sundress, with a straw basket in tow, flower behind my ear, sampling and selecting the finest produce the tri-state area has to offer, but I juuuuussst haven’t gotten around to it. This is embarrassing because a.) I now consider myself a food blogger and b.) because I am a 10 minute walk away from Union Square and a 5 minute walk away from the Bleecker St. Market. I decided it’s about time I get over my “paying for food with cash” reluctance and quit being a sham. 

Anyway, I read about this recipe flying from Los Angeles to NYC and let me tell you…nothing seems more appetizing than a fresh farm produce salad when you’re at 40,000 ft, eating stale pretzels with musty air blowing on you from above (whyyy wouldn’t that thing twist off!?). 

This was a perfect post-travels meal. It’s great for a light dinner or easy lunch, and its colorful ingredients really add to the dish’s aesthetic (I am such a girl). 

Onward for this dish’s how-to 

I don’t know what it is about lunch but it’s usually the hardest meal of the day for me in terms of figuring out what to eat. I know, I know - that sounds ridiculous considering I live in a city with countless deli’s, amazing bistros with their equally amazing take out menus, and food trucks galore around every corner. But for some reason all of it just blends together as same old, same old. 

I wanted to make a dish that would be easy to pack for lunch that doesn’t typically resemble what I am used to (sorry Mom - but I think the brown bagged lunches of my youth have forever turned me off from the classic turkey sandwich).

I read about this gem in a cooking magazine. It was created by Tamar Adler for her first book An Everlasting Meal: Eating with Economy and Grace and if this meal is any inclination of the direction her book is heading, I think girlfriend is onto something. 

To Make Eggplant and Tomatoes 

1. Slice two medium eggplants and transfer into a large mixing bowl, toss with olive oil and salt, and let sit for 5 minutes to absorb the oil. Lay the eggplant slices in an even layer on a tin foil covered baking sheet. 
2. Combine a pint of cherry tomatoes with a little olive oil, large spoonful of rosemary, and a dash of salt. 
3. Place the eggplant on the upper oven rack and the tomatoes on the lower rack (baking at 450 degrees)
4. Roast the eggplant until light golden and beginning to soften, about 10 min. Flip and roast until completely soft and light golden, about 10-15 minutes. Roast the tomatoes until many have collapsed around 40-45 minutes. 
5. Transfer your veggies to separate containers and let cool. 

To Make Cucumbers 

1. Combine 2 small shallots (sliced into thin rings), 4 splashes of red wine vinegar,  and a dash of salt in a small bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes to soften the shallot. Add the cucumbers (skins peeled, halved, seeds scooped out, sliced) and mix well. Season with lemon juice and salt. 

To Serve: Combine your cucumber mix with your roasted veggies and serve with a side of Greek yogurt (pour tiny spoonful of extra virgin olive oil over yogurt for extra taste). Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts. Serve with a whole wheat pita or crusty bread. 

To pack for the office - put your veggies, cucumber mix, and pita in a tupperware and your yogurt, oil, and pine nuts in a separate container. The veggies are safe to eat at room temperate but be sure to refrigerate your yogurt before eating.

Side note: I don’t typically have the energy to make a lunch like this and will most likely resort to that turkey sandwich tomorrow afternoon. 

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There really are no words for this salad. All winter I anxiously fantasize about summer watermelon because of this dish (clearly my anticipation for for watermelon season is borderline inappropriate). But in all seriousness, a variation of this dish appears in some of the best restaurants around the country and you want to know whyyyy? Because its AH-MAZING. And good news for everyone at home - it’s probably the easiest thing you will ever make.

Are you ready for the big reveal? I don’t even have to write out steps for this salad because its so simple. 

Here we go. In a bowl combine cut watermelon, feta cheese, arugula, pistachio nuts, dash of salt, dash of pepper. Dress with an olive oil, lemon, and raspberry vinaigrette. Voila! 

I really don’t know what genius decided to mix all these flavors together, but I am hoping they received some sort of culinary honor for their service to mankind. I don’t know what it is but the combination of the sharpness of the feta cheese, with the sweet watermelon, which is ever so perfectly seasoned with S&P, with the crunch from the nuts….ugh I can’t even keep on writing I have to go eat now. :) 

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Well who knew? It’s only my second post and we already have a Cheever Sauce original! This wasn’t intentional, but rather the result of me mistaking a “Santa Fe Grilled Chicken” recipe for “Santa Fe Chicken Salad.” Only when it came time to reading the recipe I realized I was supposed to be marinating the meat and then topping it with a Santa Fe Salsa after grilling it.

Well Jess and I already had our hearts set on chicken salad, and since I already bought all the ingredients the original recipe called for, I shrugged my shoulders and decided it was time for some experimenting.

I nixed the tomato the original recipe called for (because ew - tomatoes don’t belong in chicken salad) and looked at what I had left: jalapeño, red onion, cilantro, and lime juice. I knew I was going to add Miracle Whip (and if you hate Miracle Whip you can just leave this blog now) because I thought its sweet/tangy flavor would balance the jalapeño nicely, but it still sounded too bland. In the end, I decided lemon and cumin would add the necessary kick and voila - my very own Southwest Chicken Salad! 

To make: