Arugula Ravioli

Once upon a time, I made a lot of Italian food.  I cooked in several Italian restaurants in my youth and know my way around the regional differences pretty well.  From Milan to Syracuse, the foods are varied and wonderful and can range from three ingredients to twenty-three ingredients, all blending together perfectly. It's a culinary wonderland.

And then I married an EyeTalian.

Well...  why would one cook Italian food when one has an Italian at home to cook Italian food for one?!?  I mean...  Mrs Dineen did not raise a stupid child!

Over the years I have happily given the Italian cooking reins to Victor.  Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't cook Italian, it just means I don't cook it as often as I once did.

Tonight was one of those  nights I decided to go for it!

Arugula and Cheese ravioli were the inspiration!  I am a huge fan of cooked arugula.  I think more people probably use it as a salad green, but it is better than spinach as a side vegetable.

Tonight, I made a pretty simple meat sauce of mushrooms, bell pepper, onion, garlic, and a carrot all minced together in the food processor.  I sauteed it and then added a splash of marsala (no red wine in the house?!?)  and then some ground beef.  When it was all cooked, I added a can of crushed tomatoes and a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and let it all cook down.

I sauteed a bunch of fresh arugula in a splash of olive oil and added a bit of garlic and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

That went on the plate first, then the ragu, then the ravioli, then a bit more ragu and a bit of freshly-shredded parmesan stravecchio.

It's like riding a bike...

And, since I had the dough in the 'fridge already, I baked off a loaf of bread.

The presentation was a lot of fun and the bread properly crispy on the outside and firm but light on the inside.

Yeah... like riding a bike.

And now for baseball!


Not Quite Joe's Special

I've been just a tad homesick this week.  Getting married far from home.  Watching the Giants.  Seeing all of those fabulous views of San Francisco...  Seeing our old season ticket seats at AT&T (nee PacBell) Park.  Missing mom and pop...  It's been pretty much a whirlwind of emotions...

So, of course, I think of food.  It''s what I do.

One of the things that has kept coming forward is "Joe's Special" - a scramble of ground beef, spinach, mushrooms, and eggs.  Tradition has it that the Joe's Special was created at "New Joe's"  on Broadway in San Francisco back in the 1920's.  New Joe's was the precursor to "Original Joe's" on Taylor.  Folklore has it that a customer ordered a spinach omelet very late on night. The customer asked the chef if he had anything else available to cook. The chef replied he had some hamburger left. The customer asked him to throw some of the hamburger into his omelet. The dish became so popular that they eventually put it on the menu.

Why I've been thinking of this, I don't quite know.  It's not something my mother used to make.  It was on the menu of at least three restaurants I worked in in my youth, but it's not something I would immediately associate if someone said "quick, name a San Francisco food."

So...  I decided to do what I normally do when irrational thought enters the brain...  Run with it!

Except I really wasn't in the mood for a scramble.

So I took the same basic ingredients and just put them together a bit differently.  I fried up the mushrooms with a bit of garlic and added the spinach.  Toasted 2 slices of bread.  Grilled 2 burgers outside and fried 2 eggs, inside.

The result was a layered dish of toast, spinach and mushrooms, and a burger patty topped with a fried egg.

What a treat.  Charred burger with egg yolk dripping into it.  And spinach and crunchy toast...

Can we say outrageously good, boys and girls?!?

It did everything it was supposed to do - and more.

And one more win and the Giants go to the World Series.

Life is good.


Turkey Soup

It was sunny and mid-70's today.

I made soup.

Even though it wasn't totally weather-relevant, it tasted great.

The broth was the boiled-down carcass with everything in the kitchen I wanted to get rid of.  There was part of an onion, onion skins, garlic, part of a head of lettuce, celery bulb, carrot ends and peels... Odds-and-ends from containers of this-and-that.  Seriously clean-out-the-refrigerator.

It made a damned good base!  This is the kind of stuff you really can't screw up.  It's what every decent restaurant in the world does - boils down that stuff that would otherwise go down the garbage disposal.  Other than a little salt and pepper, I don't add any herbs or spices at this point...

The soup itself was chopped carrot, chopped celery, chopped swiss chard, Italian green beans, peas, a can of hominy, and two pastas - pastina and 0's.  herb-wise I added a bit more garlic and some dill.  And salt and pepper.

And we had a half-loaf of bread from last night.

Good stuff.


Stuffed Peppers

When we were shopping Monday, the idea of stuffed peppers came up.  We saw a couple of great peppers, nice flat bottoms so they would stand up...  Perfect peppers.

Well...  wouldn't you know that the perfect peppers stood up perfectly in the 'fridge, stood up perfectly in the pan, stood up perfectly in the oven, and refused to stand up once I took them out of the oven.  Standing up perfectly in the pan.  Falling over on the plate.

Go figure.

But standing up or falling over, they were pretty good.

Stuffed peppers are one of those dishes I never use a recipe for - and I don't think I have ever made them remotely the same way twice. I've stuffed them with raw meat and uncooked rice, cooked meat and uncooked rice, raw meat and cooked rice, meat and breadcrumbs, chunked vegetables, with rice without rice, brown rice white rice, gound beef ground pork ground lamb, and various combinatiuons of the above.

They always seem to come out just fine, no matter what I do to them.

Tonight was a mixture of ground pork, ground beef, onion, and cooked rice.  And leftover pasta sauce and grated cheese.

Stuffed Peppers

  • 2 bell peppers
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1/3 lb ground beef
  • 1/3 lb ground pork
  • 1 cup cooked rice
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp sage
  • 2 cups pasta sauce
  • 1/2 cup shredded romano cheese
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350°.  Slice off top of bell pepper and remove seeds and membranes.

Saute onion until translucent.  Add beef and pork and cook through.  Add rice and mix well.  Add seasonings, 1/2 cup pasta sauce and about 1/4 cup grated cheese.  Mix well and stuff into peppers.

Put remaining 1 1/2 cups sauce in baking dish.  Add peppers and cover with foil.

Bake for 1 hour.

This is a "play-with-it" recipe.  Have fun.  Cut the peppers in half if they're really big.  You'll probably have better luck getting them to lie flat.  Put lots of cheese on top and stick them under the broiler to finish.

Go crazy!


Turkey Dinner

A perfectly drismal day.  Dreary, dismal, cold, rain... Perfect for a quick shopping trip and back home.  Well...  not that quick of a shopping trip.  Victor went shopping with me, today!

I do the majority of the grocery shopping.  I also do most of the cooking.  It's one of those divisions-of-labor that couples consciously or unconsciously make.  Victor does the laundry.  I always have clean clothes, he always has a hot meal.  It works for us.

But when the two of us are in a store together?!?  Uh-oh...

We tend to encourage the other to buy things and spend money.  I'm bad enough on my own - but with the two of us?!?  You want Sicilian Blood Orange Marmalade?  It costs $12.99 so you're not going to buy it?  Go get a jar.  It will be our one extravagance this trip.

Sold.  We'll add it to the collection of fabulous foods we need to eat one of these days.

So while I was shopping the store with my Wegmans iPhone app grocery list (arranged by aisle and department, thankyouverymuch!!!)  Victor was perusing the Italian dinnerware.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) the only one he liked was open stock for a dinner plate, salad plate, and soup bowl for $185.00, give or take...  Since we would need 4 of each to match our numerous other sets of 4 of each, we decided we really didn't have a place to put them.  Or the $740.00 plus tax.  They were nice plates.  Just not that nice.

Back to that iPhone app for a moment...  It's marketing genius.  Search for products, add them to your list, bring up past register receipts and click on items to add to your list...  And the final saved list is grouped by aisle and department.  It's a tech-junkie's paradise.  I found several items that I knew I would be needing soon for the holidays and picked them up today.  I had no idea they even carried the stuff until I went through the list.  Marketing genius.

Because the app drew me over to the meat section to get suet for my Christmas puddings, I espied a fresh turkey breast.  Dinner tonight, sandwiches, a big pot of turkey soup...  a lot of meals can be made from one of those.  Sold.

I have to admit I restrained myself a lot with this.  Turkey can often just take on a life of its own...  Dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce... Craziness can (usually does) ensue.  Tonight, I made turkey, sweet potatoes, peas and gravy.    That's all.

It was more than enough!

The sweet potatoes were the star tonight.

I peeled and sliced the potatoes and put them into a big bowl with a half-cup of flour.  Coated them well.

Meanwhile, I took 6 tbsp butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, a half-teaspoon of cinnamon, and a half-teaspoon of ginger, and placed it in a small saucepan and brought it all to a boil.

I took the floured potatoes, placed them in a buttered pie plate and drizzled the sauce over them, covered the plate with foil, and baked at 350° for an hour.

They were really good.

They made enough for 6 people, easily, so we'll be enjoying them for another day or two.

Drismal outside, fun inside.

Life is good.


Cinderella Pumpkin

I picked up a big ol' Cinderella Pumpkin today.  Big.

The Cinderella Pumpkin is a Vin Rouge D' Etampes - an heirloom pumpkin from France. They have a deep orange-red skin and are slightly ribbed and flat.  And they taste fantastic!  Naturally sweet without being sweet, if you know what I mean.  Great for eating because they're meaty and not totally full of water.

I didn't think to take a picture of this beautiful pumpkin until after I had cut it open.  What can I say...  I'm not always the brightest color in the crayon box. But they really are cool-looking.  Did I mention they taste fantastic?

I cut it up, peeled half of it and cut it into cubes.  The other half I roasted skin-on.  4 sheet-pans of pumpkin went into the ovens at 425° for about 25 minutes.

With all this pumpkin around, it was a no-brainer to figure pumpkin was going to play a role in tonight's dinner.

We had 7 Hungarian peppers from the back yard that needed eating, so I seeded and sliced them, and then sauteed them with a small chopped onion.

Next into the skillet went a cut-up boneless, skinless chicken breast and then a pinch of salt, pepper, and cumin.

I added about a cup and a half of pumpkin puree and maybe 2 cups of cubed pumpkin.

Mixed it all together and served it over whole-grain black rice.

A classic fall flavor tweaked with mildly-hot peppers and served over rice.  It worked on a variety of levels.  I tried to play off the minimalist recipe creation we've been experiencing with the Monday Italian Pasta dishes.  This was an easy one to let go on its own...  the peppers added the balance to the pumpkin and the cumin - just a dash - brought the two flavors together.  It actually would have worked just fine without the chicken and could easily become a vegetarian or vegan dish.

I'm psyched.  We're gonna have pumpkin around for a while.  And when this one is gone, I have a Fairytale Pumpkin to cook up, next.

I love fall.  Now...  if the weather would just cooperate.....


Beef Stew and Fresh-Baked Bread

The weather was wet and chilly all day long.  Perfect for a pot of stew and a loaf of bread.  I've been craving a stew for a while now, but the weather just wasn't cooperating.  It finaly did, today.

My recipe for stew is pretty basic - beef, potatoes, onions carrots and celery.  Garlic powder, a splash of red wine, beef broth...  I don't go too crazy when I'm making plain ol' comfort-food stew.  No recipe.  I just throw the stuff in the pot .

My mom used coffee in her stew.  It made for a really rich broth.  Back in those days, we had a coffee pot going in the house 24/7.  Someone was always brewing or drinking a cup.  It was easy to add - it was always available.

I tend to eschew the coffee in favor of a cup of red wine, although if there's coffee in the pot, I'll always throw it in.  It really does add flavor and you don't taste "coffee" when you do it.

And I made more bread.

This egg white recipe really rocks!

It is crusty-crunchy, soft and chewy.  It's my favorite of the no-knead breads I've tried thus far!  And it is so simple.  It's adding 3 egg whites in the measuring cup to make 3 cups total of liquid, following the basic recipe, and brushing the bread with an additional egg white before going into the oven.

It is seriously good!


Pizza

 

There haven't been many posts the last few days, but it's not because we haven't been cooking.  It's because we've been cooking a lot for friends visiting from Seattle - and I'd rather cook and talk with friends around the table for hours than get up and make a blog post.

Selfish, I know, but... it's all about me, right?!?

The pizza dough is pretty much the recipe I used to make when I worked at Pirro's 40+ years ago, except I use olive oil.   It's hard to believe I was hand-spinning pizza back in 1968.  Time certainly flies when you're having fun.

Pizza Dough

  • 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
  • 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.

I actually made two pizzas.  One with pepperoni, above, and another with sundried tomato pesto that Victor made a while back, and assorted veggies; green and yellow zucchini, red bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms...  and both of them were made with fresh buffalo mozzarella and some pecorino romano sprinkled on top.

Homemade pizza and good friends.

It doesn't get much better.


Creamy Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

I'm trying to rush fall, a bit.   I'm ready for the fall foods.  Grocery stores are all set up with butternut and acorn squash, gourds have appeared.   Mother Nature is taking her time.  It was sunny and 78° today.  Actually, it was perfect weather.  I'm not complaining.  Really.  I just want to make a pot of soup.

Yesterday, I boiled a whole chicken.  I got a gallon of great broth for a few future projects and a full chicken for a few meals.  Tonight, I took a bit of that chicken, a bit of that broth, a few mushrooms and some fried hot peppers and a dolop of mascarpone and made a creamy - and ever-so-slightly-spicy - chicken that I served atop mashed potatoes.

It was just the ultimate in comfort foods.  Something my mother would have put together to feed the lot of us back in the day.

I hate to admit it, but I actually cleaned that plate.

It was really good.


Pork Tenderloin

Tonight's dinner went through three different incarnations before finally getting onto a dinner plate!

My first idea was to make pork sandwiches on focaccia and a cold green bean salad.  I had focaccia left from last night, so I didn't buy any bread today.  And I've been remiss - no dough in the 'fridge.

So...  getting home, I found Victor had made pizzas for lunch with the focaccia.  My bad.  I didn't say I was going to use it.

Next idea was to grill the pork with some BBQ sauce.  Turned on the grill, went inside, came back out...  Out of gas.

Third time's the charm.

I sliced the tenderloin into inch-thick slices, pan fried them, added the bbq sauce, and then popped them under the broiler to finish cooking.

The cold bean salad became sauteed green beans with red onion and mushrooms.  Roasted teeny potatoes finished off the plate.


Steaks and Corn Relish

Gorgeous weather outside.  Perfect for firing up the grill.

I grilled a couple of steaks with the Gates Kansas City BBQ Sauce and topped them with a bit of the gorgonzola cheese I picked up the other day.  The cheese is great and it went well with the spicy-hot BBQ sauce.

Sitting under the steaks is a corn relish.  I had an ear of corn, a yellow squash from our next door neighbor, and some odds and ends that needed using up.  And deep-fried potato-tots.

There are no right or wrong amounts for the relish.  Use what you have and have fun with it!  The yellow squash we had was not a typical summer squash.  It was quite hard and needed cooking to make it tender.

Corn Relish

  • corn cut from 1 ear, cooked and cooled
  • 1/4 red onion, diced
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1 yellow squash, diced, cooked, if necessary,and cooled
  • 1/4 cup sliced olives
  • 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients, cover and refrigerate.

We're getting ready for the onslaught.  Our niece is down visiting from North Jersey so we're going to make homemade ice cream with her - and whatever other family members make it over.

It should be fun!


Chicken Boursin

I really don't recall when I first had Boursin cheese.  It seems as if it has always been around.  It's one of those things that I like, but never really think about.  I definitely don't go out of my way to buy it.  But I really do like it.

I picked up a package of it a few days ago thinking I might use it in dinner, somehow - and then didn't. This morning, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it - it was going to become a sauce for chicken breasts!

The beauty of boursin is it mixes with anything.  Into mashed potatoes, into casseroles, into dips, and into sauces.

Tonight, all I did was melt it in a small pot with a bit of milk.  That's it.  It doesn't get easier.

I marinated the chicken in a  bit of olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  I then seared it in a skillet and popped it into the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, I had whole-grain brown rice in a pot with homemade chicken stock from a few days ago.

When the chicken was moments from being ready, I put a couple of thick slices of homegrown tomato on them and put them under the broiler.  Then quickly cooked up a half-pound of arugula in a drizzle of olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Arugula on the plate, the chicken with tomato atop it, and the boursin sauce on top of it all.

Real chickeny rice on the side.

And...

The last loaf of the latest batch of no-knead dough.

I made a walnut pie, too.