Sunday Dinner

Sunday Dinner is the best.  A perfect opportunity to sit back, eat a little too much, gossip about family and friends, and otherwise have a fun day.

This Sunday Dinner was perfect - a small gathering with everyone around one table, great pasta and meatballs, and simple desserts.  We also got to unveil a lot of the dishware we picked up in Italy.  Off-the-cuff comments like, "Oh, yeah...  that was made in Sicily." or "We picked those up in Rome."  or "Notice how they're all hand-signed?" peppered the conversation.

I'm insufferable.  I admit it.

The above bowl was hand-made in Sicily.  We picked up the one with the meatballs in Rome. (See?!?  Insufferable.)

Victor made the sauce and the meatballs.  His sauce is pretty standard - crushed tomatoes and/or puree, garlic, red wine, Italian herbs, simmered for a few hours - but absolutely delicious.  The meatballs were a pork and beef combo that he browned and then finished in the sauce.  Combining the two and simmering them together adds depth to both the meatball and the sauce.

And on to dessert.  Ya have to have dessert.

Joanna brought Wedding Rings.  They're one of my favorite cookies and one that I just never make because hers are so good.

Joanna's Wedding Rings

Cookie Dough

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 5 cups flour
  • 3 tbsp vanilla
  • 5 tsp baking powder

Glaze

  • Powdered Sugar
  • Water
  • Vanilla

Beat together shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add flour about 2 cups at a time.  Roll pieces of dough into 4" ropes, form into rings.  Bake at 450° for 10 minutes.  Cool and brush with glaze.

Perfection.

I had nectarines that needed eating, so I made a nectarine cake.  This is one that would work as a coffee cake for any time of the day.  It can also be made with any fruit you like.

Nectarine Cake

  • 1 cube butter
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Finely grated lemon peel from 1 lemon
  • 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
  • 3 or 4 medium nectarines cut into wedges
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter 9" springform pan. Beat butter until light.  Add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then lemon juice and lemon peel. Beat in flour until smooth. Spread batter in pan.

Arrange nectarines atop batter, pressing lightly into batter. Mix cinnamon and demerara sugar and sprinkle over cake.

Bake until cake is golden brown and tester comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

 


A Spicy Salad

I just came across a recipe I ripped out of a magazine many moons ago.  I've been trying to get a handle on recipes most of my life.  I see them, clip them, file them, and forget them.  Repeat.

A few months ago I went through a folder and tossed a bazillion recipes I knew I would never make - often wondering what could possibly have been going through my mind to have saved them in the first place.  One that made the cut was a spicy Argentinian marinade and dipping sauce.  I'm not exactly sure what magazine it came from - possibly Bon Appetit or Gourmet - but it surfaced again, yesterday, when I moved the file and it happened to fall on the floor.  How fortuitous.

Two things always struck me about the recipe - Sherry vinegar and LOTS of cayenne pepper.  I don't have any sherry vinegar at home because every time I see it at the grocery store it costs more than I'm willing to pay.  And considering how much I've paid for other things, that says a lot.  It's just ludicrously expensive for dinky bottles.  But I always have lots of cayenne pepper - and hot Hungarian paprika.  And sweet paprika and smoked paprika...

I decided on salads tonight and had a small piece of top round steak that needed marinating.  This was definitely it!

Spicy Argentinian Marinade and Dipping Sauce

  • 1/2 cup Spanish sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tbsp hot paprika
  • 2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Mix ingredients well.

I sliced the beef into thin strips and marinated them for about 45 minutes.  They then went on the grill for just a few minutes.

The salads were pretty basic - romaine lettuce, a tomato from the garden, green onions, avocado, mushrooms, and - because I needed to cut the heat a bit from the beef - a creamy dressing.  Mayo, catsup, and dill pickle relish.

I toasted a couple of the homemade rolls from the other night, and dinner was served!


Grilled Chicken Sandwiches

A year or two ago the Food Network Star was a guy who made sandwiches.  Over-the-top, bizarre sandwiches.  I generally don't watch these shows because I don't believe in cooking as competition.  The shows are totally unrealistic with unrealistic goals for situations that would just never exist.  I'd rather watch black and white reruns of The French Chef.

But I liked the sandwich concept.  I'm a sandwich kinda guy.  I really like the idea of putting tons of stuff between slices of bread or rolls.  Unique stuff.  Interesting stuff.  Stuff you wouldn't necessarily think to put between slices of bread - but once bit into, realize it's a natural.

Tonight's dinner idea started with the rolls I made yesterday.  Homemade bread does not have a lot of holding power - it's really meant to be eaten within a couple of days.  We use it up - bread salads to bread crumbs - but it's always best as bread.  And for me, that meant sandwiches.

Sandwiches.  The very word conjurers up visions of so many sandwiches past... plain bologna between two slices of bread - a favorite of childhood, and one I still like now and again.  Fried, gooey triple-decker Monte Cristos at the Red Chimney, open-faced Turkey with dressing and gravy at the Old Post Office, the Kentucky Hot Brown at Vencor Hospital, or that fabulous mushroom and cheddar cheese with caramelized onions that Ruth made years ago - that I still make on a regular basis.

Sandwiches.  Love 'em.  In all of their various manifestations.

I especially like sandwiches that not only take two hands to eat, but make such a mess that they're impossible to put down.  The kind that no number of napkins will do.  Tonight's sandwich met most of those criterion - a two-handed mess that was almost impossible to put down - and no amount of napkins could cleanse the hands.

It was a rather simple sandwich, too... the split roll covered with chipotle mayonnaise (mayo and a bit of chipotle in adobo) and topped with sliced tomato from the garden, grilled chicken breast topped with melted pepper jack cheese, and a ton of fried peppers.

The green hot peppers came from our yard.  I fried them up yesterday and today fried up 8 sweet red peppers to balance them.  They were hot. They have a great refrigerated shelf-life - not that we have them around for too long since they go in everything from sandwiches to salads - and everything in-between.

I actually considered adding bacon and avocado to the sandwiches tonight but decided they would be messy enough without them.

Maybe next time.

 


Scallops and Lentils

I really wasn't planning to make scallops tonight.

I had seen a recipe for scallops in the aforementioned copy of La Cucina Italiana Magazine and thought it sounded good, but that was about as far as I had gotten with it.  However, walking through the local Wegman's this morning, I spied a pile of fresh scallops that immediately called my name.  Within moments, I had 8 U-10 scallops in my cart. U-10 refers to the size - U stands for under and the ten is the number per pound - so they are ten or less per pound by weight.  Big scallops.

I came home, made my rolls, and then glanced at the scallop recipe.  Ooops!  The recipe called for them to be atop a celery root puree.  And wouldn't you know it - I was fresh out of celery root.  But I had lentils.  A recipe was born!

Scallops and Lentils

The Lentils:

  • 4 slices bacon
  • 1/2 cup onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup French green lentils (lentilles du Puy)
  • 5 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  • 3 cups water
  • salt and pepper

The Scallops:

  • fresh scallops
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper

The Crumbs:

  • Fresh bread crumbs
  • walnuts
  • butter

To make the lentils:

Mince bacon in a food processor.  Place in 2-quart saucepan and cook until nicely browned.  Mince carrot, celery, garlic, and onion, and add to bacon and cook until vegetables are wilted.

Add lentils, tomatoes, water, and a pinch of S&P.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 35 minutes - or until lentils are tender.  Check water and add more, as necessary.

To make the scallops:

Heat large skillet with a small amount of olive oil.  Pat scallops dry and add to skillet.  Cook over fairly high heat about 3 minutes per side.

To make the crumbs:

Blend walnuts and bread in food processor until chopped but still with some texture. Melt butter in a small skillet and brown bread and walnut mixture.

To assemble:

Ladle lentils into a shallow bowl, add scallops and top with crumbs.

I was really happy with how this came out.  The scallops were perfectly tender, the lentils were really flavorful, and the crumbs added a perfect crunch.  It seems like a lot of work, but it really took no time, at all.

I can see a lot of variations on this one - including the celery root!


A Basket of Italian Rolls

I picked up an old copy of La Cucina Italiana the other day, and marveled at all the things I hadn't yet made.  So many recipes, so little time.

But last night, after getting home late from having dinner with friends, I made a poolish for some herbed rolls.  I'm off on Monday and have the time to play in the kitchen a bit more...

A poolish - for those who are not Italian or French bakers - is another name for a starter.  It's a bit wetter than a biga - which is also a starter.  It's flour, water, and a pinch of yeast left out overnight - a pre-fermentation starter.

And since I had two bags of Italian "00" flour, out it came.

I had to play with the recipe a bit because my flour was much drier than a basic all-purpose, but the rolls came out pretty good.  In fact, Victor ate one as a sandwich for lunch and raved about it.  And then had another with dinner - along with more raves.

Panini con erbe aromatiche

Herb Bread Rolls
adapted from La Cucina Italiana Magazine

Ingredients

Poolish

  • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup tepid water
  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

Dough

  • 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
  • 3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons warm water
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons finely chopped mixed herbs, such as oregano, rosemary and thyme

Instructions

Poolish: In a bowl, stir together flour, water and yeast. Let mixture stand at room temperature at least 10 hours or overnight.

Dough: Add flour, water, oil and salt to poolish; mix together to form dough. Turn out dough onto a clean surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Stretch and pat out dough into a 10-inch square and sprinkle with herbs. Knead, 1 minute, to incorporate herbs. Form dough into a ball, then transfer to a large bowl. Cover bowl with a clean, damp dishtowel and let dough rise, in a draft-free place at warm room temperature, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Spread a clean, dry dishtowel on work surface. Dust work surface and dishtowel with flour. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces; roll each piece into a ball. Cover balls with a clean damp dishtowel and let rest, 10 minutes. On work surface, stretch one ball into a 2- x 8-inch rectangle. With short side of rectangle facing you, fold bottom edge to center, then fold top edge to center. Press firmly with fingertips to seal seams, then fold in half, folding bottom edge over top. Pinch together all seams, then gently roll dough to create a 5-inch-long loaf.

With the edge of your hand, firmly press center of loaf to create a deep indentation. Transfer loaf to prepared  dishtowel. Repeat with remaining dough. Sprinkle flour over indentations, then cover loaves with a second clean, dry dishtowel. Let rise, in a draft-free place at warm room temperature, 25 minutes.

Heat oven to 450° with rack in middle. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Arrange loaves on baking sheets. One batch at a time, bake rolls until deep golden, about 20 minutes. Let rolls cool on a wire rack at least 10 minutes before serving.

I used fresh thyme and oregano and the herb flavor was barely perceptible.  You could easily go for a full tablespoon of minced fresh herbs with no problem.

But the rolls, themselves were really good.  They shall stay in the repertoire!


Happy Birthday, Julia Child

Happy 100th Birthday, Julia!

I was 11 years old when The French Chef premiered on PBS.  Even at that tender age, I was enthralled with food.  I was already working Saturday mornings for a couple of hours at the neighborhood donut shop - a job my father had gotten for me to get me out of the house.  It's hard to believe that I was a paralyzingly-shy child back in the day.  Pop knew I needed to interact with people and the donut shop was just the right place.

It seems impossible that it was 49 years ago that Julia Child first went on TV.  Even more impossible that I've been playing with food in one way or another for 51.  Impossible.

I don't really recall wanting to be a cook.  It was just something that happened.  From the donut shop - where I actually ended up working for almost 6 years - to Blums, and then Pirro's, it was the path of least resistance.  I could go to school, make money on the side, eat all I wanted, and do something that came easily to me.

Even after taking the placement exams in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club - where I actually scored high enough to get into any field I wanted - including nukes - I chose to be a Commissaryman - a Navy cook - because it took the least amount of effort.  Or so I thought.  I sailed through school and was assigned to an aircraft carrier.  They found out I could bake and it was Bakeshop Aweigh.  12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 45 or more days in a row, I baked bread, cakes, cookies, pies.  Donuts.  OMG did I make donuts. About 18,000 rations of dessert in the aft bakeshop and 700 loaves of bread, 500 hamburger buns, 500 hot dog buns, and a few hundred loaves of a specialty bread in the forward bakeshop - every 24 hours.  About 15 of us did that every day.

As hard as the hours were, the actual work wasn't difficult.  I spent most of my time in the forward bakeshop with the bread and rolls.  At the ripe old age of 19, I had a feel for dough.  I had worked for a couple of exacting task-masters and had learned well.  We had a very free hand working in the bakeshop.  We were required to make whatever amounts of things, and we were supposed to use the official Armed Forces Recipe Card Service recipes, but our specialty breads - and the breads and baked goods we sent to the Wardrooms - The Officers - we had more of a free hand in creating.

The military and I did not really get along very well.  Although I worked hard and really did learn a lot, mentally, I was always a civilian in a uniform.  A civilian who got to travel throughout Southeast Asia and eat some of the most foreign and fantastic food I had ever had.

My eyes were opened to F-O-O-D and more than just cooking, it became a fascination.  I wanted to try more things, I wanted to know how things were done.  My problem then as now, was I didn't want to be taught, I wanted to experience.  Hotel Restaurant School was horrible.  I learned next to nothing.  It was extremely difficult being at least three years older than everyone else in the class - and being a Viet Nam veteran with a full-time job and a shitty attitude.  I pity some of those teachers.

But while I was hating school, I was loving cooking - and this is where Julia Child came back into play.  The attitude and arrogance of some of the teachers contrasted so sharply with the attitude and openness of Julia.  While the school was teaching presentation and how to impress, Julia was teaching technique and how to do it right.

For years I would read a Julia Child recipe and marvel at how she could write a three page recipe for a baguette that only had three ingredients.  But she was writing her recipes in such a way that literally anyone with half a desire could create a fabulous meal.  They can be intimidating, but she was about Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  It wasn't about 20-Minute Meals.

But even more important to me than the fool-proof recipes was the concept of just getting into the kitchen and cooking.  She said to never apologize for what you made and to not be afraid of what you were doing.  Those were concepts that I have brought with me to every job I've had since.  At home, my mantra has been the worst thing that can happen is I throw it all out and call for pizza.  I have never called for pizza, although there are more than a few things I won't bother making again...

Julia Child first brought French cooking - authentic French cooking - to the masses in the early '60s, but through the subsequent years - decades - she brought cooking to the masses.

She was a real person with a real passion for food.  She explained the art of cooking, the techniques, and she wasn't afraid to show the mistakes.  Cooking was something real.

Today, cooking shows are about getting dropped in the dessert and cooking a meal for 300 people with yak butter in 20 minutes.  I rarely watch cooking shows anymore.  I love Ina Garten and a couple others, but none of these Celebrity Chefs can hold a spatula to Julia Child and none of them will ever have the impact she had on food or cooking.

She believed in doing it right and cooking with real ingredients.  She believed in the pleasure of food and just didn't worry about using real butter, real eggs, and real cream.  Her emphasis was enjoying the right way to cook and eat something.

I knew I wasn't going to be able to make a Julia Child dinner tonight, so I made mine on Monday.  A simple roast chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, and French-cut green beans - that I French-cut, myself, of course.  In "Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home" she wrote "A well-roasted chicken is the mark of a fine cook."

I didn't follow her Poulet Roti recipe verbatim, but I did re-read it before coming up with my own version.  Julia Child believed in learning through experience - and after 51 years, I'm still learning!

Here's her recipe...

Poulet Roti

(Roast Chicken)

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Ingredients

  • 1 3-pound whole chicken
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 5 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature, divided
  • 1 carrot, sliced
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 tablespoon shallot or green onion, minced
  • 1 cup chicken stock or broth

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°. Sprinkle inside of chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and smear in 1 tablespoon butter. Truss the chicken. Dry it thoroughly with paper towels, and rub the skin with 1 tablespoon butter. Place chicken, breast side up, in a roasting pan. Strew carrot and onion around it, and set it on a middle rack of the preheated oven. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to use for basting.

Allow chicken to brown lightly for 5 minutes. Turn it on its left side, basting it with the butter and oil mixture, and allow it to brown for 5 minutes. Turn it on its right side, baste it, and allow to it to brown for 5 minutes.

Reduce oven to 350°. Leave chicken on its right side, and baste every 8 to 10 minutes, using the fat in the roasting pan when butter-and-oil mixture is empty. Halfway through estimated roasting time (when the right side of chicken is golden brown, about 40 minutes), sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt then turn it on its left side. Continue roasting and basting for another 20-30 minutes, until left side is golden brown. Then, sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and turn the chicken, breast side up.

Continue basting and cook for another 10-20 minutes or until chicken has an internal temperature of 165°.

When done, cut and discard trussing strings, and allow chicken to rest on a hot platter for 5 to 10 minutes

Remove 2 tablespoons of fat from the pan, and discard. Then, strain the cooked vegetables and pan juices through a chinois. In a small sauce pan, combine strained pan juices and minced shallot (or green onion), and cook over low flame for 1 minute.

Add stock, and boil rapidly over high heat, scraping and discarding any white foam, until liquid reduces to 1/2 cup. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn off flame, and just before serving, swirl in 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter into the pan sauce.

Pour a spoonful of sauce over the chicken, then ladle the remaining sauce in a gravy boat for the table.

 

 


Panini and Potatoes

Last night I roasted a chicken in honor of Julia Child's 100th Birthday, tomorrow.  I'm still doing physical therapy, and between it and work tomorrow, I really wouldn't have had the time I wanted  tomorrow and still eat at a decent hour.  I figured Julia would understand.

I thought a simple roasted chicken would be the best tribute to her.  It's one of the easiest and most intimidating of dishes.  Easy, because what's difficult about putting a chicken in the oven?  Intimidating, because they rarely come out as planned.

But this is about the leftovers.  My tome to Roast Chicken is tomorrow...

With chicken in the 'fridge, sandwiches were my first choice - but not just any sandwich...   grilled panini loaded with all sorts of fun things!  I mean, would you expect a plain ol' chicken sandwich with mayo on squishy white bread?!?  Not that I don't have a place in my heart for turkey and squishy white bread sandwiches the day after Thanksgiving, but that's still a few months away...

These panini started with a Tuscan pane.  If you're gonna go Italian, go Italian, right?!?  Then came a sharp imported provolone.  Atop that went slices of fresh tomatoes from our garden.  Next was the aforementioned chicken, topped with fried peppers, also from the garden.  Next was a Locatelli with peppercorns, and then the final slice of bread.  Both slices were liberally (I love the word Liberal) doused with olive oil and placed on the panini maker.

Meanwhile, I made Italian potato pancakes.  I got this idea from La Cucina Italiana.  I've been making potato pancakes for as long as I can remember, but these were really, really simple.  They were just mashed potatoes - with nothing added - mixed with shredded provolone cheese, salt, pepper, and minced fresh basil.  I formed them into patties and cooked them on a griddle with just enough olive oil to keep them from sticking.

The perfect leftover meal.


Corzetti with Pesto and Green Beans

The Pasta Issue from La Cucina Italiana magazine has arrived.  Victor has been poring over it looking for fun things to make - last year's issue didn't really do it for him - and found quite  few that he likes.  We're going to be eating well!  The first thing he did was send away for a corzetti stamp from Fante's.  The stamps date from the Renaissance courts of Liguria in northern coastal Italy around Genoa.  Coin-shaped corzetti pasta would be stamped with coats of arms and symbols representing holidays.  While the stamps would show ones prominence at court, they also have a practical purpose - the textures help capture the flavors of the sauce.

The recipe for the dough is a bit different than the one he normally makes.  This one called for a 1/2 cup of water.  It made for a bit of a stickier dough than usual, but he made up for it with flour for rolling.  Oh...  and we just happen to have Italian "00" flour.  If you don't, use all-purpose.

Fresh Corzetti

  • 2 cups "00" flour - or all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup tepid water

Mix together flour and salt on counter.  Make a well and add the yolks and water.  Using your finger (or a fork) and slowly incorporate the egg, water, and flour.  Use a dough scraper to gather the dough up and form into a ball.  Sprinkle more flour on the board and knead the dough until it is smooth - about 5 minutes.  Cover dough and let rest about 30 minutes.  This is actually an important step. During the resting period, starch molecules in the flour are absorbing the liquid in the dough.  This gives the dough a thicker, more viscous consistency.  The gluten is also relaxing which helps create a thin and uniform structure to the dough.  And because the gluten had time to relax, the texture is delicate instead of chewy.

Divide dough into 4 pieces.  Roll pasta through machine starting at widest setting about 4 times, folding and turning dough each time, until it is smooth and the width of the machine.  Continue feeding dough though machine, decreasing the setting one notch each time, until about 1 1/2 millimeters thick - Victor went to setting three.

Dust pasta with flour and then, using corzetti cutter, cut out rounds.  When rounds are cut, use the corzetti stamp to stamp each coin individually.

Cook pasta in boiling water about 6-7 minutes.  Drain and immediately mix with sauce.

The pasta was time-consuming to make, but - WOW - what a great flavor and texture!  Looking at the size, they should have been heavy - but they were really light with a good tooth and great texture.

The magazine recipe called for a sauce with scallops.  Victor decided we had so much basil we needed a pesto sauce, instead.  Naturally, he was right!

Pesto with Sun Dried Tomatoes

  • 1 cup pine nuts
  • 4 cups basil leaves
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
  • 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • S&P to taste

Toast pine nuts. Cool.  Add basil, pine nuts, and garlic to food processor.  Mix a bit and then add cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Mix well.  With machine running, slowly add olive oil.  Check for seasonings and ad S&P, as desired.

To pull the dish together...

Cook pasta and drain.  Cook green beans until barely done. (Cook with the pasta and save a pot.)  Add pesto to skillet.  Add pasta and green beans, along with a bit of pasta cooking water, and gently mix.

Serve with additional grated cheese and chopped fresh tomatoes.

This rocked on every level! The pasta was substantial but surprisingly light.  The sauce just screamed fresh-from-the-garden-goodness.  We not only cleaned our plates, but really cleaned them with slices of Italian bread to get every drop of sauce.  They were almost clean enough to put back in the cupboard!

This one is a keeper.

 


Chicken Spinach and Salsa

Monday is Shopping Day. Grocery shopping is the only type of shopping I like.  Well... except maybe new computer shopping, but I don't get to do that on a weekly basis...

My shopping patterns have changed a bit since Wegmans opened up the road from us.  I used to head to The Acme in Paoli for Victor's mom about 9:30am - I wanted to start sooner but they never had the apple strudel bites she wants out of the oven before then - and after dropping off her groceries, would hit the local PathMark for our shopping.  I don't really care for the Acme and don't shop there for us.  I wouldn't shop there for Nonna, either, but she's in a rut about a few of their products.  She's 86.  I let her slide on it.

If I were lucky, I'd be home by noon.  Nowadays, I make my list out Sunday night and by 8am Monday, I'm off to do our shopping - I like the nearly-empty-store  shopping experience - and even after getting home and putting everything away, I still get over to The Acme before 10 and home by 11.

Life is good.

Monday dinner can be entirely new, clean out the refrigerator, or a combination of the two.  Today was a clean-out day.

I had pulled chicken breasts out of the freezer with no real idea of what to do with them. I had some heirloom tomatoes I wanted to use up and first thought of making some salsa and doing a chipotle rub for the chicken.  Then the mind switched to Italy.  Funny how that keeps happening!

The salsa became an

Italian salsa

  • chopped tomatoes
  • chopped onion
  • minced garlic
  • minced fresh basil
  • olive oil
  • red wine vinegar
  • salt & pepper

Mix all ingredients adding salt & pepper, to taste.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

It was very simple but really flavorful.  Use ripe tomatoes - homegrown if possible - and enjoy.  Quantities will depend on how many tomatoes you have.  Regardless, just a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar are needed.

The chicken I marinated in white wine, olive oil, and garlic.  Then grilled with indirect heat about 30 minutes - they're big bone-in breasts.  We actually only eat half of them for dinner - the rest becomes lunch for the following day.

The pasta was a fun last-minute idea.  We had a bit of spinach pasta in the cupboard, some frozen spinach in the freezer, and more of the Locatelli with peppercorns in the fridge.  I cooked the pasta, put it into a skillet with the spinach and a drizzle of olive oil, and when it was hot, I stirred in some shredded cheese.

Voilà! A side dish was born!

The flavors all worked together well.  I had some sourdough bread and made little bite-sized chicken and salsa sandwiches

It was yum.

 

 


Pork and Polenta

I tend to buy whole pork loins, beef loins, and the like, and cut them and freeze them.  Picked up on special, I can get chops and roasts for a great price. There's always a bit at the tail that doesn't quite work for a chop or steak.  These I put away fro stewing or braising.

I pulled about a pound of pork out of the freezer today with the intent of cooking it with our less-than-stellar home-grown tomatoes.  Something vaguely Italian to serve over polenta.

The February issue of La Cucina Italiana had quite a few polenta recipes as well as a pork ragu.  I wasn't quite as ambitious as I would have needed to be to create any of their recipes, but it did give my lazy self a few ideas.

I started off with a really big shallot that I sauteed in a bit of olive oil.  Next went 2 cloves of chopped garlic, the pork pieces and a 4oz container of pancetta.  I browned it all a bit and then added about 8 chopped roma tomatoes and 2 chopped beefsteak tomatoes.  I lowered the heat, put a lid on it, and walked away for a couple of hours.

I came back in, shredded the pork, added a bit of S&P and some crushed red pepper.  Nothing else.  I let it simmer some more.

Meanwhile, I made the polenta.  Here, I did get an idea from the magazine.  They made one polenta dish with something called polenta taragna - a polenta and buckwheat flour combination.  I didn't have it, but I did have buckwheat flour.  (What a surprise huh?!?)

Per the notes in the recipe, I mixed some flour with the polenta.  Their ratio is 5:1 polenta to buckwheat flour.

I made the polenta with 2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup polenta mixture, and a pinch of garlic powder, salt and pepper.  After cooking the required time, I stirred in some shredded Locatelli cheese with peppercorns we picked up at the shore last weekend.

I have to say it came out pretty swell.

The flavors all worked together really well.  I could have really spiced the pork to no end - my first idea this morning was a spicy BBQ'd pork - but it worked really well with the more subtle flavors.  It was actually a bit of a change from some of the dishes I've made in the past.

And there was enough left over to make a couple of really good sandwiches for lunch tomorrow!

The best kind of fast food.

 


Hot Peppers from the Garden

Our garden hasn't been all that great this year.  The Critters ate the broccoli and brussels sprouts and the tomatoes have been pretty dismal.  Lots of black rot.

But the hot peppers have been coming along well...

Victor harvested about 10 of them this morning.  The timing was perfect, because I had planned to make chicken sandwiches with fried red peppers tonight.

A fresh chicken sandwich made without the 100 ingredients in a Chick-fil-a sandwich. High fructose corn syrup?  MSG? Artificial colors and flavors?  It's no secret that I can be a bit of a food snob.  And I've actually never eaten a Chick-fil-a sandwich.  But after reading the ingredient list, there's just no way I would consume one.  And that doesn't even begin to address their hate-filled political agenda.  I know, I know...  you're sick of hearing about Chick-fil-a.  But being an American who happens to be gay, it's more than a bit personal.  No...  it's real food from people who aren't trying to eradicate me.

So, properly politically-motivated, the fried red peppers became fried red and green peppers.  One should always be flexible and be able to adapt to new situations, right?!?  Right.

Not knowing how hot they were, I took a bit off the tip.  Nothing.  Victor took a bit off the tip.  Nothing.  He cut it in half and we each took a chunk.  H-O-T!!!  They were seeded before cooking.

They went into the skillet with nothing more than some olive oil.  I cooked them for about 30 minutes - 10 minutes uncovered and 20 minutes covered.  At the end I added a pinch of salt and black pepper.

Stellar.  Just hot enough to be interesting, but still really flavorful.

The chicken went on the grill with just a bit of garlic powder, smoked paprika, and S&P.

Little rolls and fries finished it off.

I really like mixing hot and sweet peppers together like this.  They come together really well and can be used on absolutely anything - from sandwiches to omelettes and everything in-between.

Yum.