Homemade Ravioli and Meatballs

09-29-13-homemade-ravioli-and-meatballs

 

I have just had one of the most awesome dinners of my life! I feel like dancing a Tarantella!  I am [almost] speechless - and we know how rare that is. My stomach is not only smiling, it is beaming.

And what, you say, could make me feel this way?!? Ravioli. Yes. A simple ravioli. But not just any simple ravioli - a simple ravioli made by hand - by Victor.

Little cheese-filled clouds floating on a sea of impossibly-rich tomato sauce. Meatballs that defy description. Firm, yet fork-tender, with body and substance bursting with flavor.

I have died and gone to gastronomic heaven.

Really.

Did I mention speechless?!?

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Victor has pasta dough down to a science. There are certain things that come naturally to some - and pasta-making is as natural to him as breathing. He has the knack and the feel for the dough and just knows when it's right.  He has used a variation on a Lidia recipe for years and it's always perfect. But tonight it was more perfect than ever before.

He made a 3-cheese filling that would make an Italian Nonna cry. It was bursting with flavor while simultaneously screaming simplicity. And the sauce...  It was the last of our freezer-stash and was gently improved upon. Our live-in Nonna filled her plate and then went back for seconds. Nonna never goes back for seconds.

Fresh Ravioli

Ravioli Dough 

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tbs water
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • Pinch of salt

Break eggs into a small bowl and mix with water, olive oil and salt. In a bowl add flour and wet ingredients. Mix together with a fork until all the flour we wet and it begins to come together. Knead on a lightly floured surface about 3 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. (if too dry add a bit more water by the DROP – until the dough forms) – cover in plastic wrap and let rest for an hour.

Filling:

  • 1 - 15oz container of whole milk ricotta (we don’t use no stinking “part skim”)
  • 1 – cup shredded whole milk mozzarella (see first ingredient regarding part skim)
  • 1 – cup grated parmesan cheese – and please for God’s sake use a good one – no Kraft or anything that comes out of a green can!!!
  • 2 - Eggs lightly beaten
  • Finely chopped garlic – to taste. I used two good size cloves – You can use garlic powder but you may lose your “Italian Card”.
  • Chopped Parsley – to taste – I like a lot and I use parsley grown in my garden. However you will not be penalized for buying it fresh at the store. But you will be shot on site if you use McCormack’s dried parsley.

Mix all ingredients together. Taste for seasoning and add S&P, as desired.

To assemble:

Make an egg wash of 1 egg and 2 tbsp water. Mix well.

Using a pasta roller, roll pasta to setting 6. If using a rolling pin, roll pasta about 1/16th of an inch. Thin.

Cut into squares. Brush all 4 edges of square with egg wash. Place a dollop of filling in the middle of each and top with another square of pasta. Crimp edges to seal and place on a floured sheet pan covered with a kitchen towel.

Repeat.

To cook:

Place ravioli in gently-boiling water and cook about 5 minutes - more or less according to the thickness of your dough.

Serve with your best sauce. They're worth a good sauce.

Awesome doesn't begin to describe.

And since we were having a more-than-awesome fresh ravioli, I made bread to go along with it.

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An Italian Bread based on a James Beard recipe.

Italian Bread

  • 2 pkgs active dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 cup warm water [100° to 115° F, approximately]
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup hot water
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 5 1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
  • cornmeal
  • Sesame seeds

Stir the yeast, sugar and warm water together in the bowl of a stand mixer; let sit until yeast dissolves and starts to proof.

In the meantime, add the butter to the hot water and let cool to lukewarm.

Add 5 cups of flour and the salt to the yeats mixture and mix with a dough hook on low until the dough almost comes away from the sides of the bowl, adding up to 1 more cup of flour, if needed to make a soft dough.

When the dough is soft and smooth, let rest for 5 or 6 minutes and then divide into two. Roll each half into a rectangle about 12″ x 8″. Starting from the wide end, roll the rectangle up quite tightly, pinching the seams as you roll. Grease a large sheet pan or use parchment paper and sprinkle liberally with corn meal. Place loaves on pan and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 50 to 60 minutes.

Preheat to 425° F while the bread proofs.

When proofed, brush loaves with an egg wash and sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds.

Place in oven and bake about 40 minutes or until well-browned and hollow-sounding when tapped.

The whole dinner was seriously awesome.

And I think we're all going to be fighting over the leftovers for lunch, tomorrow...

 

 

 


Pizza and Penne with Pesto

La Cucina Italiana has really become my favorite cooking magazine. I love the basic simplicity of the dishes. The recipes are straight-forward and you just know that they're going to come out as promised.

Case in point is the pizza dough recipe in the August 2012 issue. It's a slow-rise dough that takes 2 days to come together. And it uses Italian "00" flour.  Just about any recipe you pick up will say you can substitute "all-purpose" flour. You can. But it doesn't taste as good.

Trust me on this one.

I made the dough yesterday and did the punch down early this morning so it would have another 8 hours in the 'fridge before I pulled it out, formed the balls, and let it rise.

Pizza

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (100º to 105º)
  • 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 4 cups “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
  • 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • Extra-virgin olive oil for bowl

Sprinkle yeast over warm water in bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Let proof about 5 minutes.

Mix together flour and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed about 4 minutes or until dough forms a coarse ball. Stop mixer and cover bowl with a towel. Let dough rest about 5 minutes, then remove towel and continue mixing another 2 minutes or so.

Lightly oil a large bowl. Form dough into a ball, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.

Punch down dough, re-roll, and return to bowl. Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

Divide dough into 2 pieces; shape pieces into balls and place on a lightly floured work surface. Loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.

Fresh Sauce

  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 2 cups chopped tomatoes
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 cup loosely-packed assorted fresh herbs - basil, oregano, thyme
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until fairly smooth.

Assemble

Heat pizza stone in oven for at least 45 minutes before assembling pies: Place pizza stone on rack in lower third of oven. Heat oven to 500º.

On a lightly floured work surface, press 1 dough ball with your fingers to begin to shape into a round. Use your hands to gently stretch dough to a 12-inch round. Drape over sides of hands and spin the dough repeatedly until stretched to desired size. Transfer dough to a well-floured peel; gently shake peel to make sure dough does not stick.

Working quickly, spread sauce over dough, leaving about a 1/2-inch border. Add cheese and sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle with fresh basil. Slide pizza onto pizza stone. Bake until crust is lightly golden, about 8 minutes.

Let sit about 3-4 minutes before slicing.

Roll the dough into balls and then let rise to double in size about 2 hours at room temperature.

I had them in the kitchen for an hour and then brought them outside in the 85° heat with high humidity for about 45 minutes. Mother Nature's Proofing Oven.

Start by using your fingertips to press the ball into a circle. Then with a combination of fingertips and the palm of your hand, press and pound it flat. At this point you can lay it across the side of your hands and with a bit of a motion with your fingers, spin the dough to let it stretch. It's a lot easier than it sounds. You want a goodly amount of flour around to keep it from sticking to anything.

Place it on a well-floured pizza peel and - working quickly - top the pizza and slide it into the oven.

 

Okay... I made hand-spun pizza for 6 years in my youth at Pirro's in San Francisco.  I worked there while in high school and then after I went into the Navy while stationed in San Diego - my boss would pay my airfare on PSA to fly up and work weekends. I continued working there while stationed at Hunter's Point and Alameda. It was my first management position and I continued for another 2 years after I got out. I've made more than a few pizzas in my life.

Pizza is all about the dough - and I can make a good pizza dough - but this one took it just a step farther. We used a pizza blend flour back in the Pirro's days - both hard and soft wheats to give it stretch, texture, and bite. Something the home cook won't find at the grocery store. But more and more stores are carrying Italian "00" flour.

If you see it - get it.

And anyone can spin a pizza.

The second part of dinner tonight was Penne with Pesto.

Victor made the pesto last month and we still have a bit of a stash in the freezer.

I have a ball of dough in the freezer and think the next pizza shall be a pesto variety.

Cooking is fun.


Stuffed Shells

Stuffed Shells Tim and Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

 

I was walking through the grocery store today, and while looking for my favorite mini rigatoni, I saw a box of shells. Large shells. The kind of shells you stuff with cheese. Never one to fight an impulse-buy, I grabbed one and started planning a meal...

Stuffed Shells isn't my normal August-Go-To-Meal, but it wasn't sweltering, today, and Nonna does like her pasta. And even though Victor and I both like our pasta, too, it's much easier to blame things on the little old lady living in the house, ya know?!?

So through the store I went, finishing my shopping. The only thing I needed was the cheese for the filling - I had everything else at home. I grabbed ricotta, farmers cheese, and fresh mozzarella.

This was definitely a wing-it recipe. I took pieces-parts of things already in the house for the sauce, blended a couple of cheeses for the filling, and popped it in the oven.

First was cooking the shells...

Stuffed Shells Tim and Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

 

I cooked the whole pound not really knowing how many I was going to need. I ended up with about 8 extra.

And then I started the sauce.

Homemade Tomato Sauce Tim and Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

 

I pureed about 5 tomatoes from the garden and added about a cup of oven-roasted plum tomatoes in olive oil.

In a skillet, I browned off 6 spicy Italian sausages, added a container of sauce from the freezer, and the fresh and oven-roasted tomatoes, above.

Homemade Tomato Sauce Tim and Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

 

I also had about a quarter-head of cauliflower that had seen better days, so it got chopped up and added to the pot. Waste not, want not.

Next came the filling.

4 Cheese Filling for Stuffed Shells Tim and Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

 

The filling was simplicity, itself. A container of ricotta, 8 ounces of farmers cheese, 8 ounces of fresh mozzarella, and about 2 ounces of granna padano. I put it all into the food processor with a handful of parsley, a pinch of garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I didn't add any binder - no eggs or any of that stuff. I figured the cheeses would stand up on their own. And they did.

I filled the shells using a pastry bag because it's a lot easier than trying to do it with a spoon. Go out and buy a couple of pastry bags. They're cheap. And they come in handy.

Homemade Stuffed Shells Tim and Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

 

I added some sausage to the pans, added more sauce, covered one and baked it at 350° for about an hour. The other was frozen and then vacuum-packed for later.

We had lots of thick-sliced Italian bread and butter to sop up the sauce.

Nonna cleaned her plate. So did we.


Shrimp and Scallops, Italian-Style

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Our friend Dorrie and her beau Daniel are visiting from Boston. Dorrie is off to Italy next week. Time to cook Italian! (Like I need an excuse!)

The farthest south she will be is Milan/Verona/Venice, so we thought a Venetian/seafood dinner was in order.

Northern Italy is definitely European, and Southern Italy is Mediterranean.  The food really does reflect the regions - like grits down South, beef in Nebraska, and fusion in California.

Polenta and seafood were my goal - Venetian food in honor of the fact that one year ago we were dining on the Grand Canal, ourselves. I broke out my trusty La Cucina Italiana magazines and went to work.

I saw an idea for a scallop and shrimp stew of sorts and knew I could play with it. And play, I did!

Shrimp and Scallops with Polenta

  • 1 lb scallops
  • 1 lb shrimp
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 6 tomatoes, rough-chopped
  • 2 cups broth
  • 1/4 tsp saffron
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 1/4 cup mixed fresh herbs - basil, oregano, parsley...
  • juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • flour for dusting scallops.

Lightly dust scallops in flour seasoned with salt and pepper.

Add olive oil and a pat of butter to a large skillet. Brown scallops and remove from pan. Add onion and red pepper and saute until onion is translucent. Add garlic and quickly saute.

Add broth, tomatoes, and saffron and bring to a boil. Simmer about 10 minutes and allow liquid to reduce a bit.

Add shrimp and cook about 3-4 minutes or until barely cooked through. Add scallops and continue cooking until scallops are cooked through.

Add fresh herbs and taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve over cheesy polenta.

06-19-13-ingredients

Cheesy Polenta

  • 1 cup polenta (I use Adluh grits from South Carolina!)
  • 4 cups milk
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup shredded provolone cheese
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Bring milk to boil in large saucepan. Reduce heat and add butter and seasonings.

Slowly stir in polenta. Cook, occasionally stirring, about 40 minutes or according to package instructions. Stir in cheese and continue cooking until creamy.

Of course, we had to have some appetizers before the main course!

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We started with a roasted vegetable salsa - Extremely simple to make and really fun and flavorful.

Green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, red pepper, green pepper, and onion, grilled and chopped. I added olive oil, a splash of white wine vinegar, fresh chopped herbs, and a bit of S&P.

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And then a caponata because I already had an eggplant. It''s Sicilian. So shoot me.

Caponata

  • 1 medium eggplant cut into cubes
  • 1 medium onion,  roughly chopped
  • 3 tomatoes, cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup roughly chopped green olives
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 2 tbsp capers
  • 1/4 cup walnuts
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • chopped fresh herbs - basil, mint, oregano
  • 2 tsp sugar

Fry eggplant in olive oil until cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add onion and celery to pan and cook until onion is translucent. Add tomatoes and cook until slightly thickened. Add eggplant back in and cook until everything is blended together.

Add remaining ingredients and heat through.

Serve barely cold or at room temperature.

We also had roasted red and hot peppers...

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Yum.

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We went with both figs and peaches for dessert. They were both too good to choose one over the other.

We made more Fresh Ricotta  and broiled peach and fig halves with a bit of demerara sugar. We then drizzled a bit of honey on top and scattered them with pistachios.

We had a blast.

 

 


Risotto and Muffins

05-08-13-risotto

I've been thinking about risotto for a week. I finally decided to stop thinking about it and start making it.

I'm a broken record when it comes to me saying how easy it is to make risotto. It's just so easy.

I made a chicken, shrimp, and mushroom version. It almost had some Mexican chorizo in it, as well, but I decided it just wasn't necessary this time around. The beauty of risotto is you can put absolutely anything into it. It's a great vehicle for cleaning out the refrigerator.

Chicken, Shrimp, and Mushroom Risotto

  • 1 mall onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic. minced
  • 1 chicken breast, cubed
  • 4 oz shrimp
  • 4 oz assorted mushrooms
  • 1 cup arborio or other risotto rice
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup brandy
  • 6 cups chicken broth, hot
  • 2 oz granna padano, grated
  • 3 tbsp parsley, minced

Saute onion in a butter/olive oil mix. Add garlic and lightly cook.  Add chicken  and mushrooms. Cook until tender. Add rice and saute until edges are translucent.

Add brandy and cook until evaporated. Add broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until broth is absorbed before adding next ladle.

When rice is cooked, stir in shrimp and cook through - just a few minutes.

Add grated cheese and stir in parsley. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.

Totally no brainer and it totally rocked!

And then, because I hadn't made any in a while, I decided we needed corn muffins with dinner. Not exactly Italian, and probably would have been more fitting if I had used the chorizo in the risotto, but what the heck. No rules cooking at our house. Besides, the better restaurants do stuff like this and call it fusion and charge big bucks.

We're so ahead of the curve...

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They were okay. Not stellar. I used yogurt instead of buttermilk because I had yogurt and didn't have buttermilk. Good flavor, just a bit dry. I think they'll actually be really good for cornbread dressing, so the leftovers went into the freezer. Waste not, want not, and all that...

 

 

 


Stuffed Shells and Fresh Bread

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Since most of dinner, tonight, came out of the freezer, I had plenty of time to bake a loaf of bread. I have a few go-to recipes for bread but one of my all-time favorites is from James Beard. I actually have this recipe memorized. It is no-fail every time. It also lends itself to experimentation. I've switched out some of the flour for rye, buckwheat, or whole wheat, and have topped it with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, and coarse salt.

It works no matter what.

Tonight was a basic white loaf with sesame seeds.

James Beard's French-Style Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 cup warm water (100° to 115°, approximately)
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 egg, mixed with water
  • sesame seeds
  • 3 tbsp cornmeal

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 a long, French bread-style loaf. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal but not buttered. Brush loaf with egg wash and then liberally sprinkle with sesame seeds. Slash the tops of the loaf diagonally in three or four places. 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.

And then the freezer-meal. I had sauce, meatballs, and stuffed shells all done up from a while back. Those meatballs are finally running low - only one more container. I did use up the last container of sauce, so maybe I'll make a new batch of that tomorrow... The shells were actually store-bought. I need to make up a batch of them, too.

04-28-13-stuffed-shells

 

Nonna ate two shells and a meatball and skipped the bread. Her appetite has definitely improved since moving in. Unfortunately, so has mine - I didn't skip the bread. Or the butter.

Oh well. It all came out great and there's leftovers for lunch tomorrow...

And more cake, tonight!


Sauce, Sausage, and Salad

04-01-13-pasta-sausage

 

When I spoke with Victor at lunch, he asked if I had planned anything for dinner. I said I hadn't, but he could take anything out of the freezer and I would figure out dinner when I got home.

It's kinda fun when we do this - it's like Iron Chef, or something. I come in, not knowing what my ingredient will be, and get to create a dinner from it. Granted, we have a well-stocked larder, so I don't have to think too hard, but it is fun, nonetheless.

So into the kitchen I walked, and the dinner basics were already there! Victor had taken sauce out of the freezer, along with a packet of Italian sausage, and had it simmering on the stove. How sweet it is!

I was jonesin' for tomatoes - I can't wait to get the plants in the ground - so I broke down and bought a few, along with some fresh mozzarella cheese. Caprese salad. Fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. As basic as basic can be. And delish!

I diced the tomatoes and the cheese to make it easier on Nonna. She can handle her knife and fork, but, it's easier when things don't need to be cut. And in our house, it's all about easy.

It was a definite success. Nonna went back for seconds on the salad - which is always a good sign. I made burgers for lunch the day before and put slices of yellow heirloom tomatoes on them. As much as she likes tomatoes, she pulled the yellow ones off.

Learning experience. She eats red tomatoes.

 


And Nonna Makes Three

03-23-13-shrimp-risotto

 

It's official. Nonna is all moved in.

Getting the room ready, furniture moved, change-of-address cards, starting to cancel newspapers, utilities... that was the easy stuff. The pain-in-the-arse stuff was figuring out the medications and times. I'd love to know the stats on elderly and medication problems. And what maroon decided an 87-year old should be taking half a pill 3 times a day?!? I went out and bought a pill cutter. I mean, really... And she's lucky, she's only on 8 meds - one of which goes away in a week. One of our neighbors was on 20+ at one point.

But it's great having her here - and Cybil is thrilled. Nonna is sharing everything she eats with her. The two have definitely bonded. We have to be careful or we'll end up with a 400 pound dog in no time.

One thing I noticed right away is I don't have to cook more for another person in the house. My normal cooking was too much for just the two of us - and it always made for at least one big lunch leftover. I make the same amount and just have a little less left over, now. Not bad.

So tonight was shrimp risotto. Quick and simple, it's creamy comfort food!

Shrimp Risotto

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup arborio rice
  • 1 btl clam broth
  • 4 cups hot chicken broth
  • 1 pound shrimp
  • 1 cup peas
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • chopped parsley
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Saute onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil and butter.  Add rice and cook until translucent, stirring continually.  Add clam broth and cook until almost fully absorbed.

Begin to add broth by the ladle, stirring continually.  Add diced carrots. Continue adding ladles of broth as the last one is absorbed, until rice is just tender.

At this point, stir in shrimp.  Add peas, parsley, and cheese, stirring well.

Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.

And then - just because Nonna likes cheesecake, I made a cheesecake.

03-23-13-cheese-cake

 

Actually, I made it a couple of days ago because cheesecake needs to sit for 2-3 days to come together. Really.

Perfect Cheesecake

The Crust:

  • 3/4 cups walnuts, coarsely ground
  • 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

The Filling:

  • 4 pkgs cream cheese, room temperature
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup whipping cream

The Topping:

  • 16 oz sour cream
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Putting it together: Preheat oven to 325º.  Mix crust ingredients and press evenly into bottom of 10″ springform pan.  Set aside.

Cream the cheese until light.  Add sugar, then cream and vanilla, mixing well. Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Don't over-mix or incorporate too much air. Pour into pan and bake 60 – 70 minutes. Remove from oven and cool about 15 minutes.  Keep oven on.

Mix topping ingredients and spread onto top of cheesecake to within about 1/2 inch from edge.  Return to oven and bake about 7 more minutes.  Cool completely, cover, and refrigerate at least 24 hours (as I said, 2-3 days is best.)

Nonna loved it - and she shared her last bite with the dog.


Ravioli and Other Italian Dishes

03-18-13-ravioli

It's been a while since I sat down and wrote a blog post. It's not that we stopped eating - perish the thought! It's just that life has a way of catching up once in a while.

Right after my last post, we decided it was time to ask Victor's mom to move in with us. She's pushing 87, and just not as quick on her feet as she used to be.

We brought her over for a few days to get used to the idea and see how she liked being pampered and waited on hand-and-foot.

03-09-13-ronies

We cooked her 'ronies and meat sauce, and chicken cutlets with a nice salad...

03-10-13-chicken-cutlet

I started cooking and made several things that were portioned and frozen for quick lunches... Onion soup, breaded chicken strips, pasta sauce...  A big fruit salad. Things that Victor could quickly prepare even with his phone headset on.

She had her quarterly Dr appointment coming up, so she said she'd make a decision after seeing him. We went in to see  her primary care Dr, he decided she wasn't doing as well as she should, and he sent us over to the hospital for tests. That was a 4-day stay that pretty much determined she should come live with us. They released her to a rehab facility for some physical therapy to get her legs working better, and we went to work.

Our normally boring, quiet lives got really busy, really fast. Moving mom in with us entailed more than just putting her in the guest room. The guest room needed to be transformed into her room. We had to empty out our furniture to fit in hers. The basement I cleaned so well got really full, really fast. I'm going to have to get down there and organize, again. One of these days.

03-18-13-nonnas-room

And closet space. Thank goodness we had just done a closet clean-out! We're still a little cramped, but we'll sort it all out.

There's a million-and-one details that need attending when you undertake something like this - and more things become apparent halfway through others. Fortunately, we have plenty of family support with Victor's brother and sister, and our neighbor is a geriatric social worker with one of the better services in town. We're getting the in-home visits set up as soon as we learn just what she's going to need. The paperwork has already been started.

So this past week, more meals have been taken standing up in the kitchen, than at any time since we moved here. Saturday - the day we were supposed to have dear friends arriving for a 4-day birthday bash - saw us with the first meal I had cooked in a week - Beef Braised in Guinness. I added potatoes to it this time to make it a one-pot meal.

03-17-13-beef-braised-in-guinness

And then it was early to bed and early to rise to move more furniture.

So meals are going to be changing a bit. I know mom's likes and dislikes pretty well, and will be catering towards some simpler menu items. The foods will be fresh, flavorful, and plentiful.

She deserves only the best.


Spaghetti alla Puttanesca con Tonno

03-01-13-tuna-spaghetti

 

I love Italian. In what other language could you call something "whore's spaghetti" and get away with it? It's great.

And so is the pasta dish!

I had a pack of tuna pieces in the freezer - yes, I''m still cleaning out the freezer - and was looking to do something a bit different with them. My thought when I first bought them up was a bit of an upscale Tuna Sandwich. And a few months later, the sandwiches had not been made.

Time to rethink.

I started thinking about a spaghetti dish with tomatoes, anchovies, capers, olives, garlic... and realized I was describing a fairly classic puttanesca sauce. It figures that my creative juices weren't even creating something original. Oh well... adding tuna was slightly different. Kinda.

And it came out pretty good for not being all that original! Properly tart, slightly salty, with classic Southern Italian flavors. We're heading to Sicily next year for a few weeks and I am really looking forward to checking out the seafood there.

I didn't eat a lot of fish growing up. We had the requisite canned tuna, but fish sticks and the like were never in the house. Some of the first fish I actually remember was H. Salt, Esq. over in Sausalito sometime in the mid-'60s. Malt vinegar was pretty exotic. Seafood was pretty much an afterthought in most of the restaurants I worked in, as well, back in those days. Fried shrimp or Dover sole were pretty much it, except for the annual Cioppino feed at the Riviera.

But that was then, this is now.  And now, I still don't eat a lot of fish. Although I think I would eat more of it if I cooked more of it like this. It really did have a lot of fun flavors.

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca con Tonno

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 3 stalks celery, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 4 anchovy fillets
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1 can Italian grape tomatoes in juice
  • 2 tbsp capers
  • 1/2 cup stuffed green olives
  • 1 lb tuna chunks

Saute onion, celery, and garlic in olive oil until wilted. Add pepper flakes and then anchovies and cook until they dissolve.

Add red wine and cook until it is slightly reduced. Add tomatoes, capers, and olives and heat through.

When sauce is hot, add tuna chunks and simmer until barely cooked through.

Serve over spaghetti.

I can see more of this happening...

 


Le Creuset

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I just love our Le Creuset Braiser. It is our go-to pan for so many things - from risotto to chicken and biscuits to swiss steak, baked pastas, and so much more. This particular pan is over 25 years old. It was Victor's before we merged kitchens. I got Le Creuset and Calphalon. He got a Kitchenaid. It was a good deal for both of us...

Wednesday night it was a simple chicken and biscuits. Chicken stew topped with biscuits and into the oven for 20 minutes. Pretty basic and pretty easy. The biggest thing to remember when making something topped with biscuits is to make sure the stew or whatever is really hot before putting on the biscuits and putting in the oven. If the filling is cold, the biscuits will not cook on the bottom and will be raw dough even as the top is overdone.

And last night Victor made a great baked rigatoni! Same pot, different ethnicity.

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A really great meat sauce mixed with cooked rigatoni, big dollops of ricotta, grana padano, and fontina cheeses. Baked in the oven for about 30 minutes. The epitome of perfection.

Oh, yum.

These are great winter dishes - there's plenty for dinner as well as lunch the next day. It's the pan that keeps on giving.

And it really is a great pan. Food really does taste better when it comes out of a sturdy, no-nonsense pan. The le Creuset is great - it's the perfect stove or oven-to-table pan. And while it wasn't cheap, it's already 25 years old with more than 25 more years of life. We will never have to get another.

Not bad, at all...


Pasta and Fresh-Baked Bread

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Pasta and fresh-baked bread two days in a  row?!? You'd think I was married to an Italian. Oh. Wait. I am married to an Italian.

It started last might when I had to work late. I came home to bread fresh out of the oven and spaghetti with anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes, and crushed red pepper on the stove.

I swooned.

The pasta dish is nothing short of spectacular. Even folks who would never dream of eating an anchovy love this one. There's no fishy taste. It's just an explosion of flavor.

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The basic is about a quarter-cup of olive oil in a skillet. Add a clove or two of minced garlic, and then maybe six anchovy fillets. The anchovies will pretty much dissolve into the oil. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, a hefty pinch of red pepper flakes, and a bit of black pepper.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta. Drain it, reserving a half-cup or so of the pasta water. Add the drained pasta to the sauce and mix well. Add a bit of the cooking water if the pan is too dry.

Stir in some freshly-grated parmesan or romano cheese, and mangia!

It is fresh-bread-dunking-good!

The bread is a James Beard loaf. It only proofs once, so it's one that can be on the table in just a couple of hours.

James Beard Bread

  • 2 package of active dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (100-115 degrees)
  • 3 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 egg white beaten with 1T water
  • course salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds

In a large mixing bowl combine yeast and sugar. Let proof about 5 minutes. Add oil and 1/4 cup water. Mix.

Add salt. Add 1/2 cup of flour and continue mixing.  Slowly add remaining flour.

Knead for several minutes until the dough springs back and is satiny and smooth. It is a fairly wet dough.

Form into a loaf about 20 to 22 inches long, let loaf rest about 20 minutes.

Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with salt or seeds.

Bake in a 300° oven about 55 minutes.

Tonight, I had some chicken and decided I wanted ravioli - but not in a tomato sauce. A creamy red pepper sauce was what I came up with.

I sauteed two cut-up chicken breasts in a  bit of olive oil. When they were partly done, I added two red peppers I had cut in strips. Next went a clove of minced garlic.  When the chicken was cooked, I added about a half-cup of white wine and let it cook down. Next went a cup of chicken broth. When it was hot, I added about a half-cup of cream and about a cup of shredded assiago cheese. I then added about a teaspoon of Spanish paprika. We are the paprika kings with smoked Spanish paprika, Hungarian sweet paprika, Hungarian hot paprika, and Spanish sweet paprika. I thought sweet was best for this one...

A bit of black pepper, and then I thickened it with a pinch of cornstarch mixed with water.

I cooked up some cheese ravioli, mixed it all together, and called it dinner!

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It came out really pretty - and tasted pretty good, as well. More of Victor's bread from last night and we had ourselves another feast!