Onion Pistachio Bread

When Victor said he was going to make gnocchi for dinner this morning, my first thought - after OH BOY!! - was I should bake a loaf of bread to go along with it.

I grabbed my trusty copy of James Beard's Beard on Bread and started looking for something fun. It's easy to find fun recipes in that book. It's one of the definitive books on bread baking, along with Carol Field's The Italian Baker. Although I do a lot of bread baking by rote, I do like to keep the ideas and ingredients fresh. It's rather amazing how the same few ingredients can be put together so many different ways and achieve such vastly-different results. I've learned a lot from these two.

Today's bread was a variation on a walnut and onion bread. Somehow, I didn't have any walnuts in the house - but I had pistachios. Not having the called-for ingredient in a recipe generally doesn't stop me.

Pistachio Onion Bread

  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 2 packages active dry yeast
  • 2 cups warm milk
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup pistachios, roughly chopped
  • 3/4 cup onion, finely chopped

Sift flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl.

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm milk. Pour it into the middle of the flour together with the oil and rest of the milk.

Knead well until the dough is firm and blended into a smooth, springy ball (about 10 minutes.) Leave in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours.

Punch down, mix in walnuts and onions. Shape into 4 rounds. Leave on a greased baking sheet for about 45 minutes.

Bake at 400° for 45 minutes or until the loaves are nicely-browned and sound hollow when tapped  on the bottom.

The loaves had a really nice crunchy crust with a really delicate - almost cake-like - crumb. The oil and the milk really made for a tender loaf. I didn't even slather it with butter - as is my wont with most bread. It didn't need anything other than the sauce on my plate that I liberally sopped up.

It made 4 loaves. We ate one, gave one to Marie, will eat one tomorrow, and another will go into the freezer.

 


Sunday Dinner

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It's raining. The perfect excuse to stay inside and make pasta and bake bread. Or, rather, me bake bread and Victor make pasta. You go with your strengths. Victor makes the best pasta this side of Napoli - and I've made more than two loaves of bread in my day.

Victor decided we should have gnocchi for dinner - and we should invite his brother over, as well. He called his sister and asked her if she wanted to spend four hours in the car driving in the pouring rain for Sunday Dinner, but she graciously declined.

Oh, well.

Victor really is the pasta king of the household. He has his pasta doughs down to a science. He decided to make a ricotta gnocchi from La Cucina or one of the magazines around the house. It's a new spin on an old favorite and it looked as if it would be even lighter than a potato gnocchi. We've had some store-bought ones that are real belly bombs!

These were light as a feather. Just perfect.

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Ricotta Gnocchi

  • 1 (8 ounce) container ricotta cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 cup "00" flour (or all-purpose)

Stir together the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan Cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a large bowl until blended. Mix in 1 cup of flour. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough.

On a floured board, roll pieces of dough into 1/2-inch-thick ropes. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces, and place on a lightly floured baking sheet

Drop into a large pot of gently-boiling water and cook until they float to the surface - about 2-3 minutes.

Drain and serve with your favorite sauce.

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Our favorite sauce came out of a jar - that we filled in the first place. Victor added basil and cheese sausages to the sauce for a bit of extra flavor.

The gnocchi really were light - and had a lot of flavor to boot. The full teaspoon of black pepper really enhanced them - as did the fresh cheese. A totally successful dish.

Marie made biscotti and sesame cookies, so afterwards, we sat around drinking coffee and eating cookies. The perfect ending to a great meal with great company.

What a rough life we lead!

 


Lobster Mac and Cheese

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Yesterday's impulse shopping of the day was two lobster tails - on sale for 50% off.  I looked into the case, saw lobster tails on sale and immediately knew we were going to have lobster mac & cheese for dinner tonight. They're just not something I buy often. In fact, the last time I did buy lobster was in January 2013 - when I made a Lobster Risotto.  Time flies when you're having fun!

That last time I was going to make a lobster mac and cheese - and changed my mind at the last minute. This time I stuck to it.

And I'm really glad I did. It was awesome!

Having lived in New England, lobster doesn't have the same allure for me as it does for many.  It is something to be enjoyed in a lobster roll or at a long table at Woodman's in Essex. It's not glamorous - hence, the perfect ingredient for macaroni and cheese.

Mac & Cheese is one of those dishes I make blindfolded. I have never - ever - bought a box of the stuff. Never, ever in my life. Ever. It is made from real cheese - usually the odds and ends I have lying about in the 'fridge. This time, however, I actually bought cheese specifically for the dish - the cheese bin in the 'fridge needs a bit of restocking. I went with Gruyere and Colby Jack. Both mild cheeses that wouldn't mask the mild lobster flavor.  they worked well.

And while I don't use a recipe for dishes like this, I did reference Ina Garten's because I've seen her make it on TV and it's pretty much a classic. Very basic - just as it should be.

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Lobster Mac & Cheese

  • 1 lb shells - or your favorite macaroni
  • 1 qt milk
  • 1 cube butter
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 6 cups grated cheese - gruyere, jack, cheddar - your choice
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 1/2 lbs lobster meat or lobster/langostino mix
  • 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
  • salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375°.

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain well.

In a large pot, melt 6 tbsp of butter and add the flour. Cook over low heat. Slowly add milk and cook until thickened and smooth. Add the nutmeg and salt & pepper, as desired. Add the cheese and stir until melted and smooth.

Add the cooked macaroni and lobster and stir well. Place into casserole dish.

Melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter and mix with the bread crumbs. Sprinkle on top.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the crumbs are nicely browned.

It was rich, creamy, and oh, so satisfying. Every bite was a smile.

And, it made a goodly amount. Victor and Nonna will be having it for lunch, tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll have a bit as an afternoon snack.

Can't wait to see those lobster tails on sale, again!

 

 


Chicken and Spinach Pesto

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Tomorrow is the first day of Spring. It is pouring rain outside, but it may be sunny and get up to the low '50s tomorrow. Oh joy.

I loved the snow, but with winter officially over, I'm officially ready for some warmer weather - and a bit of a diet change. I'm really looking forward to the spring produce.

I realize that just about anything can be bought at any time, nowadays. Berries and watermelon are in stores during blizzards in January. I very rarely buy them. I really want to experience that first in-season strawberry, savor that local produce. Things just aren't special if you can get them anywhere and anytime.

I think that's why I enjoy the snow so much. It puts the seasons in perspective. I can really enjoy the budding trees, plants and flowers, after seeing everything blanketed in snow for months. It's time to clear the cobwebs and get out and start enjoying the lengthening days.

Of course, it helps when it's not pouring rain. On those days, I sit inside and wax poetically about how nice it's going to be.

Soups, stews, and casseroles are going away and I'm starting to think salads and grill. Tonight was a bit of a hybrid.

I had seen a recipe in Fine Cooking magazine for a Mozzarella and Spinach Pesto Melt and thought the concept was pretty good - but I really couldn't see Nonna enjoying one for dinner. I thought that deconstructing it a bit would give me the flavors I was looking for in a meal that would be pleasing to all.

Instead of crusty bread, I went with a chicken breast. I spread a thin layer atop an almost-cooked breast and topped it with mozzarella and melted it in the oven. Diced tomatoes on top.

I then cooked up some penne and mixed it with more of the spinach pesto for a great side dish.

And I got my crunch from a sourdough roll hot out of the oven.

Spinach Pesto

  • 1 6oz bag baby spinach
  • 1 1/2 cups freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • 1/2 cup pistachios
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp good olive oil
  • Salt & pepper, to taste

Pulse the spinach, cheese, pistachios, lemon juice, salt & pepper in a food processor until finely chopped. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil to make a smooth, creamy pesto paste.

Use as you would any pesto - as a spread, in pasta, or as an ingredient in eggs, potatoes, salad dressings...

Use your imagination. And c'mon Spring!

 

 


Corned Beef sans Cabbage

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Ah... the day before St Paddy's Day... That Irish-American holiday serving a meat the Irish produced but were too poor to afford to eat back in Ireland. It took a famine and emigration - along with a proximity to Jewish immigrants and their corned brisket - to create that Irish-American dish known as Corned Beef and Cabbage.

As a kid growing up, we always had Corned Beef and Cabbage on St Paddy's Day. My father would always bring home either a huge brisket or a corned eye of the round. He'd pick them up right at the source. I think he used to get them at Roberts - but it was wherever they were getting them for the firehouse.

There's nothing quite like a simmering hunk of beef with the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots... the anticipation of thick slabs of fork-tender meat slathered with hot mustard. A childhood memory, indeed. Another childhood memory is singing Irish songs in a quartet at Fairlane Market the years I wasn't tap-dancing up Market Street in the St Patrick's Day Parade. Ah, yes. A singer and a dancer. A regular James Cagney, I was.

So fast-forward a few years and here I am living with the Italian contingent - who don't like cabbage! Sad, but true. My Corned Beef AND Cabbage days are numbered, I fear. I'm going to have to arrange a trip home one of these March 17ths and see what the siblings can do for me.

In the meantime, I'll just have to suffer through with celery substituting for the cabbage.

On another note, I made a variation of my whiskey brack.

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It's a yeast bread, not a soda bread, and traditionally, a brack is more closely associated with Halloween than St Patrick. But... I like to play footloose and fancy-free with traditions... and recipes.

The recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of dried fruit, but I really didn't want that much in the loaf, today, so I cut it to 1. It really came out good - and will be great toasted tomorrow morning with a slathering of Kerrygold Irish butter.

A good meal and a good day - with some fun memories of being a kid in San Francisco back in the '50s and '60s.


Pork Tenderloin and Fava Beans

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Frozen fava beans. Who woulda thunk?!?

I really like fava beans but they're not easy to come by out here in the sterile Philadelphia suburbs. Frozen Dried favas are really only good for mashing or for soup - they're just too mushy - but the frozen seemed to be pretty good.

Favas hail from the Mediterranean, so I thought I'd give them a Mediterranean twist - Pancetta, Marsala, and Parmesan.

I simply fried up the pancetta, added a splash of Marsala, a nice pinch of marjoram, and then the beans. I covered the pot and let them simmer for about 10 minutes. When they were cooked through, I stirred in about an ounce of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

They went onto he plate and were topped with slices of grilled pork tenderloin that had been marinated in Marsala, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and marjoram.

I've always liked Marsala - Veal Marsala was my birthday dish when I was a kid - and I can't wait to get to Sicily and actually be where it originated. I have a feeling I shall be bringing several bottles back with me! I want to see the Ambra, the Oro, and the Rubino - I want to check out a Marsala Stravecchio – a  wine aged a minimum of 10 years in oak. I think I could have a lot of fun with a bottle of that.

We brought back champagne and cognac from Paris, and apertivos, digestivos and liqueurs from Italy. I think this trip will be a variety of Marsalas and other local wines. Even though I don't really drink, I can appreciate a good beverage and can't wait to get into our kitchen and peruse the organic garden that will be at our disposal. Who knows... maybe there will be fresh fava beans!

65 days until we take off!

 

 


Alaskan Cod

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I love it when Victor heads into the kitchen. We love the same foods but we do cook differently. I'm the primary cook so I tend to be a bit more cavalier in my attitude - and messes. Victor is more precise, and while I can splatter a wall  at a hundred paces, his messes are more confined. Usually. My heart swells when I walk into the kitchen and see a mound of pots and pans, cups and spoons, and major disarray. It doesn't happen often, but it's fun when it does. I just snicker as I'm thrown out of the kitchen.

The cod, above, was one of the lesser-messes - if one could call a saucepan, a skillet, and a roasting pan a mess at all. But what it lacked in mess, it more than made up for in taste. It was one good hunk of fish!

It was simply panko breadcrumbs mixed with grated parmesan cheese, and a pinch of pepper, lightly fried until crisp.  Oven-roasted potatoes and fresh peas. Simplicity.

It proves that a great dinner can be simple and not make a huge mess in the kitchen.

For some people.

 

 

 


Risotto

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Risotto... one of my most-favorite comfort foods.

I couldn't tell you when I first had a risotto. It certainly wasn't something my mom cooked.  Pop wasn't exactly crazy about rice to begin with and any rice in the house was probably Uncle Ben's or Rice-A-Roni. Arborio - or any other risotto-style rice - just wasn't something that was in the pantry. I doubt it was readily available in those culinary Dark Ages.

But I've made up for it. Risotto is a regular menu item at our house - and a quick search of this site shows 4 pages of recipe results. As I said - I've made up for it.

And I usually make up the recipes, as well.

Risotto is a great vehicle for cleaning out the refrigerator or freezer. Anything can go in - and around here, it usually does. Tonight was a combination of chicken, basil and mozzarella sausage, and langostino.  And it worked.

It worked so well, Nonna almost licked her plate clean!

Risotto

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup arborio or other risotto rice
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 4 cups hot chicken broth
  • 6 oz langostino
  • 1 chicken breast, cut in chunks
  • 6 oz sausage, cut in chunks
  • 1 cup peas
  • 1/2 container Boursin cheese
  • 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Saute onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil and butter.  Add chicken and sausage and cook about half-way. Add rice and cook until translucent, stirring continually.  Add wine and cook until almost fully absorbed.

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

At this point, stir in langostino.  Add peas and heat through. Stir in cheeses.

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

Enjoy.

It's quick and easy - and comforting. Add mushrooms, don't use onions. Stir in some fresh parsley if you have it. Add chunks of leftover beef or pork.

Go for it and have fun!

Your tummy will thank you for it!


Feed a Cold, Feed a Fever

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I've caught a cold.

Dealing with the great unwashed masses has its drawbacks. Germs being the number one. I do my best - I wash my hands constantly and try to avoid that hacking, slobbering person coughing into their hands and then grabbing the coffee pot and creamer - but a stray germ is bound to find its way to me, eventually.

I get two colds a year. One in Summer and one in Winter. I just do. I was beginning to think I was going to miss the winter cold this year, but it's now obvious I'm not.

Oh well...

I'm off for two days and a lovely snow storm has just started, so I can just sit back and relax, watch the Oscars, eat a piece of peach pie, and sleep until noon, if I want. Snow storms and days off are a good thing.

Tonight's dinner pretty much came out of the freezer. There were two containers of chicken stew in there from the chicken I made a couple of weeks ago. A simple biscuit topping and into a hot oven was all it took.

And then there was one...

Biscuit Topping

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 6 tbsp butter
  • 2/3 cup buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • pinch salt

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Rub butter into flour with fingers until evenly distributed. Lightly stir in buttermilk and yogurt.

Scoop onto hot stew. Bake at 425° about 20 minutes.

The stew does need to be hot. If you put it onto cold stew, the tops will burn before the bottom ever cooks and you'll end up with a doughy mess.

Ask me how I know this...

C'mon Red Carpet!

 

 


Bacon Cheeseburger Panini

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Sometimes you just have to do something because... This was one of those times.

I bought a package of panini slims. Slims have been the rage for a while  - they're almost-see-through little rolls that barely contain whatever filling you put in them. A panini slim is another variation on the theme - rectangular instead of round. We have a panini press, so I decided to go for it in the form of cheeseburger paninis.

I made rectangular burger patties and threw them on the grill. Next, I, cooked up some bacon and opened a jar of roasted red peppers. Some thick slices of fontina cheese and a slathering of mayonnaise completed the sandwich. And then it went into the press.

It had all the makings of a great sandwich - but the bread was too thin. It just wasn't enough to contain all that was going on. The thins themselves are okay - they just need a much thinner filling. Bacon, fontina, and red pepper spread would be a lot more fitting. Forget the burger, completely.

And one of these was way too much for one person. I could have easily made one and split it. But, I didn't. Cybil ate well.

Since I tend to like heartier sandwiches, I probably won't be getting them all that often, but they will be an option for a lighter sandwich with maybe a cup of soup.

All-in-all... not bad...