Nonna comes to dinner
We had Victor's mom over for dinner tonight. When Nonna's over, dinner gets pretty basic. I can't get away with exotic spices or overly-creative concoctions. Nonna likes her food recognizable. She's pushing 83. She's entitled...
Tonight's recognizable dinner was chicken parmesan. Thin chicken cutlets breaded and fried, topped with marinara Victor made earlier today, and some fresh mozzarealla and parmesan. Into the oven 'till the cheese melts.
We also had manicotti stuffed with ricotta... And overcooked peas. And a nice salad.
I love it when she comes over because she's here and gone in no-time at all. We work out the timing so she can eat dinner and be back in time for Bingo or Pokeno or whatever they're playing. And she always gets a big ol' doggie bag of goodies to take with her.
And dessert is calling.....
It's all about the picture...
One of the key ingredients of writing a food blog is posting pictures of the food. One can wax poetically about lighter-than-air cake or the tangy contrasts in a sauce, but it is the pictures that really showcase the meal.
This morning's fritatta is a case in point.
This was a true clean-out-the-refrigerator-fritatta. Everything in it was a leftover at some point. A quarter of an onion in a baggie, dying broccoli, 2 really small steamed potatoes, a small piece of ham, a piece of bell pepper. The last 2 slices (each) of asiago and provolone cheeses.
But pulled together with olive oil, eggs, and garlic, they all had one more moment of gastronomic glory. Nothing wasted.
But back to the picture...
The fritatta tasted even better than the picture suggests, but the picture doesn't necessarily show the whole story...
As I said... It's all about the picture...
Pork Scallops
I found an old copy of Cooking Light magazine (actually several years old!) and was skimming through when I caught a recipe for a pork tenderloin and spinach, arugula, sweet potatoes, roasted garlic... The concept sounded pretty good, but the recipe itself wasn't quite what I was in the mood for. But it intrigued me...
I was shopping all over town today - I started by taking Victor's mom to her favorite Acme because her car is still in the shop. It's not my favorite store (and I really prefer shopping by myself) so after dropping her off at her home, I headed to the local PathMark. I spent a goodly amount of time shopping, gossiping with the employees (and one of my neighbors works there) drinking coffee and seeing what looked good this week. I then headed to work to pick up a couple more things. Car loaded down, I headed home with lots of groceries and several ideas...
I had a full pork loin that I had picked up, so I first cut it into nice, thick chops and took the smaller pieces to pound for scallopine. The chops were vacuum-packed for the freezer and dinner was started.
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup brown rice
- pinch cinnamon
- salt and pepper
- 1 bag arugula
I diced the onion and into a skillet with the butter and mushrooms. When they were pretty well cooked, I added everything but the arugula. Brought to a boil, covered, and simmered for about 35 minutes. I stirred in the arugula and let it all wilt.
In the meantime, I floured the pork scallops and sauteed them in a bit of butter and olive oil.
When everything was done, the sweet potato/rice/arugula mixture went onto the center of the plate, and the pork scallops on top.
It was really good.
Mom's Potato Salad
There's a lot of things I miss about my mom. She was the world's best movie trivia source before Google was invented and was a champion at crosswords, Scrabble, and any other word game. She spoke to us in words with more than one syllable and pointed to the dictionary when we didn't understand. And she was a great cook. An adventurous cook. I know it is from her that I gleaned my knack for pulling together dinner out of what's in the refrigerator. She did it for years feeding six kids.
There were certain dishes she made that I continue to make as she did, and her potato salad is definitely one of them. To this day, it remains the benchmark for all potato salads for me - and rarely (if ever) does another come close. It is pure simplicity and full of flavor.
Measurements are difficult, because everything depends upon how much you're making. I'll try and guesstimate here, but use your best judgement.
Mom's Potato Salad
- 2 lbs potatoes (tonight I used baby yukon gold)
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 hard cooked eggs, chopped
- 1 dill pickle, diced
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 3 green onions, chopped (yellow or red onion also works)
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp catsup
- 1 tsp yellow mustard
- bit of garlic powder
- salt and pepper
Cut potatoes into serving-sized pieces. Cook until juuuuust done. Drain and chill in cold water. When cold, drain, again. Mix all ingredients, toss well, and refrigerate. That's it.
Mom always peeled her potatoes. I rarely do. It doesn't make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes the potatoes would be a bit overcooked and it was more mashed potato salad than chunky. That was okay, too. No matter what, it was good.
We also had roast beef sandwiches tonight. They were actually the impetus for the potato salad. Thinly sliced beef on ciabatta rolls with mayo, alfalfa sprouts, thin slices of red onion, and Happy Hal's Jalapeno Relish.
Yum.
A Night of Leftovers
We're slowly getting through the mountain of food we created over the last couple of days. Victor had Chinese for lunch, I froze a couple of the cup tamales (with sauce, of course!) and last night we finished the baked pasta. (I think it was better last night than it was the first night we had it). And we had garlic bread made from the bread he made a couple of weeks ago. Waste not, want not.
Dessert has its foundation in leftover's, too - Aunt Emma's Apricot Cookies.
We always make a big batch of filling and freeze the rest for use throughout the year. It makes a gread dipping sauce mixed with chili paste and soy sauce for Asian-type foods, with desserts, on toast or sandwiches - anywhere you'd want a high-end apricot zing. Tonight, it became Apricot Bars.
Victor didn't follow a recipe, but made a basic dough with butter, flour sugar, brown sugar, and rolled oats. Pressed 3/4 into the baking dish, covered with a thin layer of apricot filling, and pressed the remaining on top. Into the oven.
They were really good.
And we have leftovers.
Cup Tamales
Back when I was a kid growing up in San Francisco, there was a great place named Johnson's Tamale Grotto where we would get "cup" tamales. Cup tamales were made in - you guessed it - coffee cups. They spread the filling into greased coffee cups, added the filling - the turkey cup tamale was the most popular - and then added more filling to the top. They were then steamed until done and served with a brown sauce that went on everything.
San Francisco had scores of "Tamale Parlors" and "Tamale Grotto's" once upon a time - most coming into being during the 1920's. We practically lived at The Hot House at Playland, and Johnson's was a short bike ride when we were catching crawdads at Pine Lake. (Yeah - we city kids had our pockets of country right in our own backyards - and the Pacific Ocean was 2 blocks away!) Roosevelt's is still in full swing - albeit a new remodel and menu has changed the place dramatically (and their website is still a mess...) But I digress...
I bought a bag of masa a few weeks back thinking that I might just make some tamales, again... I actually used to make them all the time - they're pretty easy to do - and even kept corn husks on hand. I think my most memorable tamale party was my brother-in-law's birthday maybe 25 years ago. He's a 4th of July baby and we had a huge party. I made hundreds of tamales and consumed hundreds of margaritas. I think we had a great time.
Fast-forward to 2009...
I wanted tamales, didn't have corn husks. I remembered those wonderful Johnson's Tamales (damn, I wish I had their tamale sauce recipe!) and decided to go for it.
Tamale Dough
- 3 cups Masa Harina
- 3 cups lukewarm broth or water (I used homemade beef broth - I was roasting beef bones...)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup lard
Whip lard in mixer until light. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and then add lukewarm broth a nd mix with fingers to form a slightly moist dough. Add to lard and mix well.
Filling
I had a couple of chip steaks that I simmered in the aforementioned beef broth. I chopped them and then - in a skillet - mixed them with:
- 1 diced onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp pasilla pepper
- 1 tsp ancho chile powder
- 1 can diced green chilis
- 1/2 cup chipotle sauce
- salt and pepper, to taste
Saute chopped beef with the onions and garlic. Add green chilis and spices. Add chipotle sauce and simmer.
Assembly
I used 10 oz souffle cups.
Grease containers well. Place about 2 tbsp dough in bottom of cup and press down. With a small spatula or knife, spread dough around the inside of the cup to the rim, leaving a well for the filling.
Place a couple of tablespoons of filling in each cup, pressing down. Add a bit more dough to top to cover and smooth.
Cover with foil and place in deep pan. Add boiling water halfway up cups and bake at 350° for 1 hour.
Tamale Sauce
I'll never be able to replicate this one...
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 jar mole paste
- 1 tbsp assorted chili powders (I have several. I just added some of all of them...)
- 2 cups aforementioned beef broth
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Mexican oregano
- salt and pepper
I sauteed the onion and garlic, added the fresh tomatoes, then the canned. I added the rest of the ingredients and then hit it with an immersion blender. I then strained it and put it back into the pot to simmer.
I made the (brown) rice with bottled enchilada sauce thinned with yet more of that beef broth.
The beans were canned pintos to which I added jalapenos and sofrito sauce.
Dinner was really, really good.
This one took some time, because I really did do it all from scratch. I think if I could find a good all-purpose Mexican Red Sauce (maybe I'll take a run out to Wegman's one of these days) it would save a lot of time. Plus, I hadn't done these in a really long time, so I took my time putting them all together.
Tomorrow is Chinese New Year - the year of the Ox. I can guarantee no Oxtail Soup.
Fried Mashed Potatoes
I had some leftover smashed potatoes in the fridge and a couple of pounds of ground beef. Meatloaf with mushroom gravy, potato pancakes, and peas.
Real basic and really good. I do enjoy meatloaf. I should have let this one sit for a few minutes before slicing into it, but we were ready for dinner. It crumbled a bit but that's what gravy is for.
The potato pancakes were crispy-crunchy on the outside, and feathery-light on the inside. Just like mama used to make.
While the meatloaf was baking, Victor decided we needed dessert, so he made a pineapple upside-down cake.
It was realy good, too. And we have leftovers of everything.
Roasted Potato Soup
16° outside means soup, inside. And soup, it was today! I came up with a quick potato soup at work today (Thanks, Joe!) that we'll serve in a week or so and on the way home decided I already had the ingredients at home to make one tonight. I suppose I could have garnished it and made the picture look prettier, but I didn't. And the soup was damned good!
Roasted Potato Soup
- 3 medium potatoes, washed and cubed (unpeeled)
- 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- handful of mushrooms
- 6 cups milk (I used non-fat)
- 1 cup diced ham
- 1 cup peas
- 1 cup shredded cheese (I used quattro formaggio)
- salt and pepper, to taste
Mix potatoes, onion, mushrooms, and garlic with olive oil and place on sheet pan. Roast at 400° for about 30 minutes.
Place roasted vegetables in pot with about a quart of milk and bring to boil. When potatoes are completely tender, mix with an immersion blender until of desired consistency. Add ahm and peas and heat through.
Stir in cheese and heat. Thin with more milk, as desired.
Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if desired.
We still had half a loaf of the Beer Bread I made on Monday, so dinner was served.
This was definitely one of those dishes that just comes together in no time at all. I put the veggies in the oven, set the timer and checked email. The timer went off, the veggies came out of the oven and the soup was on the table in ten minutes. No-brainer cooking at its finest.
And there's still bread pudding for dessert!
Lemon Coconut Cashew Chicken
I was looking at a Citrus Chicken recipe the other day that called for dredging the chicken in coconut flour after marinating it in lemon juice. I had lots of lemons but no coconut flour. But I did have unsweetened coconut. And all sorts of other fun stuff!
I took the concept and then winged it, as usual...
I marinated the chicken in lemon juice and then dredged the chicken in flour, then egg, then a mixture of coconut and ground cashews.
I did a quick saute and then it went into the oven to finish.
I heated the lemon marinade with Moore's teriyaki sauce and then thickened it with a bit of cornstarch.
Brown rice and brussel's sprouts, and dinner was served.
And then I made another panettone bread pudding for dessert. Just half the recipe. I have to watch my trim, boyish figure, after all...
Corned Beef - No Cabbage. Bread, Instead.
I bought a corned beef quite a while ago and it's been sitting in frozen storage ever since. Last night before going to bed, I decided I wanted that corned beef! Out it came to thaw, and off to bed I went.
About noon it went into a pot filled with water. At 4pm it came out. At 4:30pm, a couple of whole potatoes went into the pot. At 5:15pm, in went some carrots and celery. At 5:45pm, dinner was served.
I also popped a loaf of bread into the oven about 4:15pm, inbetween taking the corned beef out of the pot and putting the potatoes in... Organization is key in all thinks.
The bread was my most favorite Quick Beer Bread. I used a bottle of Guinness thin time around.
Since Victor doesn't really care for cabbage all that much, I didn't make any. Actually, since it was snowing outside, I decided not to go shopping today. I was planning to cook some for myself.
Oh well. It was really good without it!
Panettone French Toast
Breakfast is served.
Okay... breakfast is actually over, and there are no leftovers. Sorry.
Panettone French Toast (if you use Italian bread, is it still French toast?!?) for breakfast this morning with real maple syrup, along with some Niman Ranch bacon. Steaming hot coffee.
The bread is so rich and flavorful that the batter doesn't need anything other than eggs and milk.
Later today is football and chili dogs.
I can't wait!
Another Panini
It's a mere 21 or so days after Christmas and I'm already in a rut - a panini rut. I think !'ve made five, six... maybe seven of them since getting the panini maker from Santa. I just love 'em! It combines my two favorite food groups - sandwiches and toast. I'm in heaven!
Tonight's sandwich started with chicken breasts that were pounded and then breaded in - get this - crushed wasabi peas! Yep. And they were really good! A customer told me today that she uses them on salmon. What an idea!
The bread was a new ciabatta bread we're carrying, and the filling was vidalia relish, mixed Italian cheeses, roasted red peppers, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Perfectly gooey and good.
Time to start thinking about the next one...