2012 in Pictures

After 226 blog posts and 415 pictures, 2012 has come to a close.

This was most definitely a great year, from Mad Men Mondays to the gastronomic delights of Italy, it was a year of fun food.


Garganelli con Maiale in Guazetto

Our biannual dinner with Linda and David was a rousing success!

It's fun kinda going over the top now and again - and not easy cooking for a mere four people! My instincts are to make massive amounts of food for massive amounts of people. This turns into massive amounts of food for a mere four people.

We decided early on that we were going to do a strictly-Italian dinner because, well... we had to show off our fabulous hand-painted Italian dinnerware we had made for us on our recent trip to Italy. Yes. It is fun being insufferable now and again...

We also decided we would do a hand-made pasta because Victor has the pasta-making down to a science. He just flat-out makes fabulous pasta.

The sauce was to be a pheasant recipe from Lidia we made many times back in California when our next door neighbor would show up on our doorstep with pheasants he had just shot.

Damn, they were good.

Alas, it's not as easy to find pheasant here in suburbia. I actually ordered one from the local Wegmans and when I went to pick it up on Wednesday, it was really small and really expensive. I would have needed at least two of them for dinner and I just couldn't justify spending $30.00 each for them. They were very nice when I said "no thanks."

I came home empty-handed and Victor suggested pork. Brilliant, as we not only had cubed pork in the freezer, we also had a chunk of wild boar ventrèche. Ventrèche is marbled pork belly with a firm texture, similar to pancetta. It's rich, salty and very porky - the perfect addition to a dish that should have a bit of a gamy edge to it.  Crisis averted and a new dish was born.

I made the sauce yesterday because it is definitely the type of dish that improves with an overnight stay in the 'fridge.

Garganelli con Maiale in Guazetto

  • ½ cup dried porcini mushrooms
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 1/2 lbs cubed pork
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ cup chicken liver, trimmed and finely chopped
  • 3 medium onions, chopped
  • 8 oz ventrèche, thick-sliced
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste, plus 2 teaspoons
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated, plus more for serving

Garganelli, made from basic egg pasta dough

Soak the porcini in 2 cups of warm water until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain the porcini, reserving the liquid. Rinse the mushrooms and chop them coarsely, discarding any tough bits. Strain the soaking liquid through a sieve lined with cheesecloth. Set the liquid and chopped mushrooms aside. Tie the cloves, bay leaves, and rosemary securely in a small square of cheesecloth.

In a large casserole heat the oil over high heat. Add the pork pieces and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the pork pieces.

Add the onions to the casserole, season them lightly with salt and pepper and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken livers and cook them, turning as necessary, until browned, about 4 minutes. Add the chopped porcini and cook, stirring, until they are dry, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until nearly evaporated, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste until the vegetables are coated. Add the reserved porcini liquid and about 1/2 cup of the beef broth and bring to a boil. Return the pork pieces to the pan and tuck the cheesecloth packet into the liquid. Cover the casserole partially and simmer gently until the liquid is reduced by about half, about 15 minutes. Continue simmering, adding beef broth 1/2 cup at a time and waiting until the liquid is reduced by half before adding more, until the pork is tender and the liquid is velvety, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the cheesecloth packet. Remove the meat and shred it coarsely. Return it to the sauce and reheat before serving.

And while I was at work, yesterday, Victor made the pasta.

12-30-12-garganelli

Every one of those little buggers was cut and rolled by hand. This is where Victor excels over me. I do not have nearly the patience necessary to make this.  The pasta is hand-made and rolled, then cut into squares, rolled around a little stick - Victor used a chop stick - and then rolled down a grooved board.

Each one.

Individually.

His pasta is excellent. Every time. I see no need to even try at this point.

Garganelli

  • 3 cups "00" Italian flour - or all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • warm water as needed

Place 3 cups of flour in a mound on a wooden surface, Make a well in the center of the mound. Beat the eggs, olive oil and salt together in a small bowl. Pour them into the well. With your finger, slowly incorporate the flour into the eggs until it is mixed.

Knead the remaining flour into the dough until a rough and slightly sticky dough is formed.

Knead the dough by gathering it into a compact ball, then pushing the ball away from you with the heels of your hands. Repeat the gathering and pushing motion several times, then press into the dough, first with the knuckles of one hand, then with the other, several times. Alternate between kneading and 'knuckling' the dough until it is smooth, silky and elastic-it pulls back into shape when you stretch it. The process will take about 10 minutes of constant kneading. Flour the work surface and your hands lightly any time the dough begins to stick while you're kneading.

Roll the dough into a smooth ball and place in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least one hour at room temperature, or up to 1 day in the refrigerator before rolling and shaping the pasta. If the dough has been refrigerated, let it stand at room temperature for about an hour before rolling and shaping.

To shape garganelli:

Run pasta through a pasta roller to about the second-thinnest setting. Cut into squares about 1-1 1/2". moisten one corner with a bit of water or egg and, from the opposite corner, roll around a wooden spoon handle or chopstick. Roll pasta down a grooved gnocchi board, pressing to create ridges and seal each piece of pasta.

Cook in boiling salted water about 6 minutes.

We had to start off with a few appetizers, of course. My first thought was to have an all-Italian cheese plate with some breads and crackers. Then I decided to make some crackers. Ina Garten has a great recipe for a cheese and thyme cracker - so off I went.

12-30-12-cheese-thyme-crackers

 

Parmesan Thyme Crackers

adapted from Ina Garten

  • 1 cube unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 4 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Cream the butter in mixer fitted with paddle attachment for 1 minute. Slowly add the Parmesan, thyme, salt, and pepper and mix well. With the mixer still on low, add the flour and combine until the mixture is in large crumbles, about 1 minute. If the dough is too dry, add 1 teaspoon water.

Dump the dough onto a floured board, press it into a ball, and roll into a 9-inch log. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or for up to 4 days.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°. Cut the log into 3/8-inch-thick rounds with a small, sharp knife and place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 22 minutes, until very lightly browned. Cool and serve at room temperature.

The crackers came out so good I decided adding cheese with them was overkill.

And then there was fig and onion on baguette with Italian truffle cheese, roasted red pepper cream cheese in filo cups, hot pepper shooters, prosciutto, salami, oil-cured olives, and a hot hors d'oeuvre made with thinly-rolled bread dough topped with salami, sauteed fennel, and gorgonzola cheese, and then topped with another thin sheet of dough and baked at 400° for about 15 minutes. Alas, I didn't get a picture of it.

Fresh-baked bread, of course. I made a batch of James Beard's Continental Bread.

James Beard French-Style Bread

  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 2 cups warm water (100° to 115°, approximately)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 5 cups bread flour
  • 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
  • 1 egg white, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water
  • sesame seeds

Directions

Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1½ to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into long, French bread-style loaves. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal but not buttered. Slash the tops of the loaves diagonally in two or three places, and brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place in a cold oven, set the temperature at 400°, and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the top is rapped.

I actually just made one loaf and used the rest of the dough for the appetizer.

And then we had dessert...

Zuppa Inglese. It translates to "English Soup." We first had it at a great restaurant in Florence. I've now made it twice and this time was the best. I think I finally have it down.

Zuppa Inglese

Sponge cake:

  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup sifted cake flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Pour the melted butter into a 1-quart bowl; reserve. Return the sifted flour to the sifter or sieve and add 1 tbsp of the sugar and the salt; sift onto a piece of waxed paper and set aside.

Put the eggs and the remaining sugar into the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer (or work with a hand-held mixer). Holding the whisk attachment from the mixer in your hand, beat the mixture to blend the ingredients. With the bowl and whisk attachment in place, whip the mixture on medium speed until it is airy, pale, and tripled in volume, like softly whipped cream, 4 to 5 minutes. You’ll know that the eggs are properly whipped when you lift the whisk and the mixture falls back into the bowl in a ribbon that rests on the surface for about 10 seconds. If the ribbon immediately sinks into the mixture, continue whipping for a few more minutes. Pour in the vanilla extract during the last moments of whipping.

Detach the bowl from the mixer. Sprinkle about one third of the sifted flour mixture over the batter. Fold in the flour with a rubber spatula, stopping as soon as the flour is incorporated. Fold in the rest of the flour in 2 more additions.

Gently spoon about 1 cup of the batter into the bowl with the melted butter and fold the butter in with the rubber spatula. Fold this mixture into the batter in the mixer bowl. (This is the point at which the batter is at its most fragile, so fold gingerly.) The batter should be poured into a prepared pan and baked immediately.

Bake at 350° about 25-27 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched and just begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Cool in pan about 10 minutes then remove, cooling right-side up on cooling rack.

Sugar Syrup:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tbsp limoncello

Mix ingredients. Bring to boil in small saucepan and boil about 1 minute. Cool and set aside.

Pastry Cream

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 egg
  • 2 egg yolks
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Bring the milk and lemon zest to just below the boiling point; remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, beat the egg, egg yolks, and sugar until creamy. Add the flour and vanilla as you beat with a whisk, then slowly beat in the hot milk, still whisking. Pour the mixture into the pot in which you heated the milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until thick, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate 2 hours.

Meringue

  • 4 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup sugar

Whip egg whites. Slowly add sugar and continue whipping until firm peaks are formed.

To assemble

Slice cake horizontally into three layers. Cut to snugly fit bottom of baking dish. Liberally douse with sugar syrup. Cover with half the pastry cream. Place second layer of cake on top, press down, again liberally douse with sugar syrup and the rest of the pastry cream. Top with final layer of cake.

Completely seal top of dish with meringue. Place in 450° oven about 5 minutes to brown meringue.

Serve at room temperature.

It's just spooned out onto the plate. It doesn't necessarily make the most fabulous presentation, but no one notices after the first bite!

A fun meal with fun friends. The perfect way to end the year.

 


Baby, It's Cold Outside

Okay... I had to start with this because it is my all-time favorite version of the song. And baby, it is cold outside! It's cold outside, snowy/sleety/rainy cold outside.

And cold outside means soup inside.

We had a 36-hour food-a-thon that I may never recover from. Okay. Lie. I'm already recovered and looking for more. But that's beside the point. We did eat really well from early morning Christmas Eve through dinner Christmas Day. It was pretty non-stop. And what a variety of food!  From pasta e fagioli to the Seven Fish, Italian Rum Cake and homemade cookies and candy galore to fresh-baked croissants, quiche, pancakes, bacon, ham, stuffed shells, hors d'oeuvres for days and days...

We ate well.

So well that tonight - since it's cold outside - I decided soup was what we needed.

I started off with a piece of eye of the round and cut it into a small dice. I browned it off in bacon grease and then added a can of diced tomatoes and two quarts of beef broth. Then went in a can of red beans  a can of black-eyed peas, and a can of  baby lima beans - all drained and rinsed. I chopped four carrots and five stalks of celery and added a couple cups of frozen mixed vegetables. Then went in a half-cup of whole grain brown rice. Finally, a package of mini gnocchi.

I added a hefty pinch of herbs d'Provence and a pinch of salt and pepper.

It came out pretty darned good.

And soon it will be time for the final tray of cookies.

The food-a-thon is not quite over...

 


Christmas Cookies

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. A LOT like Christmas. The elves have been busy slicing, chopping, mixing, blending, and otherwise having fun in the kitchen.

We cut back this year - again. Somehow it doesn't seem like it - we have cookies, candy, fruitcake, breads... bins full of goodies that are getting plated up and given out. And there's an Italian Rum Cake that will be assembled tomorrow for our Christmas Eve dessert - along with all the rest of the goodies.

There are 4 different biscotti - orange macadamia, traditional anise, walnut, and chocolate peppermint - Aunt Dolores' Rum Balls, my mom's Spice Cookies, fruitcake, chocolate nutmeg logs, ricotta cookies, thumbprint cookies, almond butter cookies, chocolate caramel pecan cranberry candies, anise pizzelles, amaretto pizzelles... a lot of goodies.

And all of the recipes are here on the site.

 

 

This year's fruitcake came out stellar! I made this one with amaretto and kept it soaking in amaretto in the basement for a month. More mellow than a traditional brandy. I think next year may be time to bring back the apricot macadamia nut fruitcake - or come up with something completely new and different.

But that's next year. Right now I'm just going to enjoy all of this!

Merry Christmas!

 


Skirt Steak Sandwiches

 

I tell ya... I'm so old I remember when skirt steak was cheap. Then it got trendy and the price went up. Same thing happened to flank steak. Yep. Flank used to be cheap, too.

Both cuts are really flavorful and take marinades and seasonings really well. I usually like skirt steak for fajitas but tonight I was looking for a sandwich. I had seen a recipe for a skirt steak sandwich with corn mayonnaise that seriously intrigued me.  I've mentioned more than a few times that I love sandwiches and coming up with different ways to put things between a couple of slices of bread. This one was right up my alley.

I first marinated the skirt steak in a bit of olive oil, red wine, garlic, and salt & pepper. Later, I grilled it to a nice medium-rare and set it aside.

The original recipe called for grilling fresh corn on the cob, grilling red onions, grilling red peppers...  I was having none of that. First off, I don't buy fresh corn in December. It's not fresh. Second, it's 35° outside. I'm not standing outside if I don't have to.

I made the corn mayonnaise with a cup of thawed frozen corn, a half-cup of mayonnaise, a minced shallot, splash of red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and a hefty pinch each of basil and oregano.

To assemble, I sliced the rolls in half and hollowed out the top half and filled it with the corn mayo. On the bottom I laid out strips of jarred red peppers and then the thin-sliced beef. Covered with the top and Voila! a sandwich was born!

The potatoes came from Fine Cooking magazine...

I cut a russet potato into 8 wedges and boiled them until just barely done. I drained them and set them on a sheet pan and brushed them with olive oil and then rolled them in bread crumbs. On top, I sprinkled shredded parmesan cheese and baked them at 425° for about 15 minutes. The magazine picture doesn't show what a pain in the arse it is trying to get shredded cheese to stay on a breaded potato wedge.

But they came out really tasty.

That's it for now... Victor baked Ricotta Cookies and I think we need to sample them. Again.


Parmesan Pork Chops

Victor: "How did you get these chops so juicy?"

Me: "Skill."

Victor: "The only thing I like more than your cooking is your modesty."

~~~~~

So... what can I say? I nailed these.

We have more than a couple of pork chops in the freezer from the pork loin I bought a couple of weeks ago. It always seems like such a good idea when I buy these things and then I look in the freezer and it's "Oh. Pork chops." I then try and think of something new and different to do with them. And then grill them.

This time, I actually decided to do something a bit different. A while back I saw a recipe that dipped a pork chop in olive oil and then coated it with a bread crumb and parmesan cheese mixture. Something different. I usually go the flour/egg/bread crumb route but this sounded easy. I didn't have the recipe - just a vague idea of what it was. I have to be careful when I do things from a vaguely-remembered recipe because invariably I'll forget a key ingredient or step. I wasn't sure how well the crumbs would stay on the chop, but thought I'd give it a go. Worst-case scenario is I'd have chops without crumbs.

Onward.

To my bread crumbs I added an equal part of shredded parmesan, a pinch of salt, pepper, and some garlic powder. I mixed it all nicely, dipped the chop in olive oil, dredged it in the crumbs - pressing to make sure they adhered - and then placed them on a hot lightly-oiled cast iron pan on medium-high heat for exactly 5 minutes. I flipped them over, and placed them in a 375° oven for exactly 16 minutes.

I never time things - which is why I can never replicate things - but I did have the timer going for the potatoes and cauliflower so that's why I knew the timing. I only had the timer going for the potatoes so I wouldn't forget them while doing something else.

My lack of memory is nothing new. Back in my corporate-world-pre-smart-phone days, I had a Palm Pilot that I set every day with my schedule and then had alarms go off to remind me where I had to be at any given time. My staff would laugh at me when my pocket started beeping and ask me where I was supposed to be. My usual answer was Personnel to fire them all.  For being such a creature of habit, I'm not always a creature of habit.

But I digress...

The chops were about an inch thick, so I'm going to try this one again and see if I'm actually on to something or if it was just a really tasty fluke. I'm hoping for the former.

The potatoes were a sweet potato I sliced thin on the mandoline and then mixed with a pat of melted butter and a bit of maple syrup. Into a small casserole they went, covered with foil, and then into that 375° oven for 45 minutes. The cauliflower was drizzled with a tad bit of olive oil and then covered with the leftover crumbs from the pork chops. Also into the oven, but uncovered and for a mere 30 minutes.

So dinner was a success. But even better than a successful dinner is the fact that we've been busy making cookies and candies.

Dessert is soon upon us!


Beef and Mushrooms

 

As a kid growing up in a large family, I saw a lot of casseroles, sauces, and gravies. Mom made steak pies, beef and noodle casseroles, chicken and noodle casseroles, crust-topped, biscuit-topped, corn flake or cracker-topped. As an adult, they're the foods I gravitate to when it starts getting cold - and they're the ones I find easiest to make.

It wasn't necessarily always so. I'd call her up and ask how she did something and she was always very vague about ingredients or cooking methods, times, and temperatures. It could be frustrating when I couldn't quite replicate things. It finally dawned on me that she was vague about things because she always made things slightly different, usually based on what she had on hand. She didn't have a recipe, per se, she had a concept that was built upon with whatever she had at hand. They were the same, yet ever-so-slightly different.

I so understand it now, because that's exactly how I cook. The most difficult part of cooking for me is writing down what I did - trying to explain it. As did my mother before me, I put things in a pot, taste, add something, taste, add something... and continue until I like the result or I run out of things to add. And sometimes it's difficult to remember that I'm the abnormal one - most people want a detailed recipe with detailed instructions.

It's hard to do!

Today I picked up a whole beef eye of the round. After cutting it into steaks and a roast, I took the small end pieces and cut them up for what I thought would be a beef stroganoff over noodles. I started off by cooking off a small onion and about a quarter-pound of mushrooms. I took them out of the pan and added the beef.  When it was slightly browned, I added the onions and mushrooms back with a hefty splash of red wine. This was when stroganoff became beef and mushrooms.

When the wine cooked down, I added about two cups of beef broth and let that cook down a bit. I added the requisite salt and pepper, and a pinch of thyme. Looking back, I didn't add any garlic. Unusual, for me.

I then thickened it with a bit of a flour and butter paste - a beurre manié. It's fun tossing off French cooking terms.

It came together well, had lots of flavor and worked well with extra-wide egg noodles. The dollop of sour cream was the cherry on top.

 

 


Family Festivities

Christmas Parties are so much fun! Especially when family is involved. The holidays are a lot different for me on the east coast – with all of my family out west. As much as I would love to be there with all of them and all those little ones running around – Uncle Tim can be a very bad influence on little children – travel over the holidays just ain’t happening.

The next best thing is to cross the Delaware River to see the extended in-laws in Jersey. It’s extended family at its best definition. Paul is Victor’s brother’s wife’s nephew. He and his wife, Lisa have two sons. His brother Stephen and his wife Debbie – and their little boy live up in Brooklyn. Debbie wrote a fantastic cook book Parents Need to Eat, Too  that several of you have already received. I know a famous cook book author. Neener.Neener. There were probably about 18 folks there. A perfect crowd.

And it was just like being home – it was loud, multi-generational, kids running around having fun – and food for days. Just what Christmas is supposed to be like.

 

Plus there was food for days. The pictures won’t do it justice by any means, but we ate, ate, and ate some more. Pasta and outrageously-good meatballs, chicken parmesan, a really great buffalo chicken dip, a Texas caviar-type dish, baked brie, kalamata olives, salumi and cheeses…

And desserts…

Cheesecake, my cranberry tangerine bread – that actually came out really good! –  fig cookies, brownies, snickerdoodles, a couple of bar cookies that I think were chocolate peppermint and blondies, and plenty of liquor, of course.

My favorite of the boozes was a liqueur called Faretti Biscotti Famosi. What a surprisingly smooth flavor!  I could really see using it to make  Tortuga Rum Cake. Definitely good stuff.  I just have to figure out how to get some since I can’t get it shipped to this bassackwards state.

And in our Italian Polyanna, I got a bottle of hard cider. I’m still not much of a drinker but I can find plenty of uses for alcohol, so expect a stew of some sorts – maybe a pork stew?!? – when the weather turns cold.

So a really good time was had with some really fun folks


Cranberry Tangerine Bread

 

We're off to a soirée this afternoon and besides a gift for the Italian Polyanna, we needed to bring an appetizer or dessert. I chose dessert, because, well... I like dessert. I'm the guy who will pass up the entrées and head straight - well, gaily forward - to the dessert table. It's no great mystery why my first-ever job was in a donut and pastry shop.

And this particular dessert came about because of the things I had in the house. When I decided dessert was the way to go, I looked around to get ideas about what to make. Lo and behold, we had tangerines and cranberries in the 'fridge and walnuts in the cupboard - there's always flour and sugar. I thought a twist on a classic cranberry orange bread was in order.

Holiday breads really are easy to make and with just a bit of ingredient adjustments can go from basic to really festive. They can be left plain, topped with powdered sugar, or drizzled with any number of sweet toppings.

I made two of them because I wanted one for the Christmas cookie platter(s) but the recipe can be cut in half or used to make a bunch of mini-loaves.

Cranberry Tangerine Bread

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cubes butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 tbsp tangerine zest
  • 1 1/4 cups fresh tangerine juice
  • 1/4 cup Cointreau
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a food processor, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Place in mixing bowl. In a measuring cup whisk together the zest, the juice, Cointreau, and the eggs. Add the mixture to the flour mixture and stir the batter until it is just combined - don't overmix. Stir in the cranberries and walnuts and spread evenly into two well-buttered 9x5 standard loaf pans.

Bake the bread in the middle of the oven for 1 1/4 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool the bread about 15 minutes in the pan and then remove and cool completely on racks.

Serve plain or top with powdered sugar or icing glaze.

I topped it with a simple mix of tangerine juice and powdered sugar. And talk about filling the house with the scent of Christmas Cheer.

I'm glad I made two!

 


Stuffed Pork Chops

I'm a little late in getting some of my posts done. I could always use the excuse that I've been busy with cookies and other things, but... being lazy is probably closer to the truth. And this is probably the ultimate in laziness because I didn't even cook it - Victor did!

Stuffed pork chops. Yum. He started off with a couple of thick-sliced chops, cut a deep pocket in them, and then stuffed them with dressing we had in the freezer from Thanksgiving. They then went into a 350° oven for about 40 minutes. They were thick chops. If you're not fortunate enough to have leftover dressing in your freezer, it's easy enough to whip up.

And speaking of whip up, Duchesse potatoes made with yellow sweets! How about that?!? Duchesse potatoes - pommes de terre duchesseare a classic potato dish of mashed potatoes, egg, a pinch of nutmeg, and cream. They are mounded onto a sheet pan - usually piped with a pastry bag - and then baked until golden brown. They can also be done by the spoonful and can be tiny golf ball or tennis ball-size. They become just slightly crispy on the outside and light and creamy on the inside. The yellow sweet potato really rocked!

And then we had oven-roasted glazed carrots. A bit of honey, butter, and thyme, salt, and pepper. Into the same 350° oven as the pork and potatoes.

It was an all-oven meal, perfect for warming up the kitchen on a cold night.


Patty Melts

I wanted a burger. I also wanted homemade fries. I reached up into the onion and potato basket and found lots of onions - and only a couple small red potatoes.

My burgers became patty melts with caramelized onions. The fries came out of the freezer.

Patty melts are great. They're grilled cheese sandwiches with hamburger and onions - and how can that be bad?!?

I know that traditionally, a patty melt is made on rye bread, but... any old port in a storm, right?!?

 


Rigatoni with Chicken and Cauliflower

Tonight's dinner came about through a combination of otherwise unrelated events.

The first was taking a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer Saturday and then doing other things for dinner both Saturday and Sunday.

The second was catching part of Ciao Italia on PBS and seeing Mary Ann Esposito  cooking up all sorts of different cauliflower recipes.

The third was I picked up yet another three boxes of pasta at the store today, to go with the six or seven varieties that were already in the cupboard. Considering Victor makes so much of our pasta, it's rather ridiculous to have four boxes in the house. Ten borders on insanely ludicrous.

I thought it prudent to come up with a pasta dish, tonight.

Unless you're doing individual breasts, chicken in a pasta sauce can get lost really easily. It needs other things to carry it along. I had the cauliflower because I had intentionally purchased it with no idea of what I was going to make with it - thank you, Mary Ann. I also had some roasted red peppers and some artichoke hearts.

A recipe formulated...

Rigatoni with Cauliflower and Chicken

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 head cauliflower
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • sm can artichoke hearts in water
  • sm jar roasted red peppers
  • red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper

Saute chopped onion in a bit of olive oil. Add minced garlic and quickly saute. Add chicken breasts and barely brown.

Add 1 cup red wine and cook down to about a half-cup. Add cauliflower florettes, tomatoes, chopped artichoke hearts and chopped red peppers. Add a few red pepper flakes and S&P, as desired.  bring to boil, cover, and reduce heat.  Simmer about and hour or until cauliflower falls apart.

Check for seasoning and add additional red pepper, salt, and pepper, as desired.

Serve over your favorite pasta.

Had I not had the chicken breasts that really needed cooking, this would have been a great vegetarian dish. The chicken was unnecessary. On the other hand, big ol' Italian sausages would really go well cooked in the sauce.  It didn't need a lot of seasonings - the ingredients, themselves, did the trick.

I served it with a crusty and airy braided Sicilian bread I picked up at the store.

And I think there are cookies for dessert.