Spaghetti with Red Clam Sauce

After almost a week of playing bachelor, it's good to be eating regularly, again.  Victor was in London and I was busy redoing the basement. I have to admit that my eating habits just aren't all that great when I'm home alone.  Somehow, the joy of cooking just isn't there.

At least this trip I didn't subsist solely on chili dogs.  I made a huge pot of vegetable beef soup and ate it every day - along with the occasional hot dog, burger, and chicken salad sandwich.  And, I tried my hand at some junk food.  We will call it a fail.  On Monday, I did my normal shopping for Victor's mom at the local Acme.  I saw a small Vanilla Cake in the in-house bakery and thought what the heck.  It was a vanilla cake with a sugar glaze. I brought it home, cut one slice, took one bite, and threw it out.  I wasn't expecting something overly fantastic, but geeze - it really sucked.  It's nice to know that as low as they may be, I still have some standards!

So everything is back to normal and Victor is back in the kitchen on Saturday while I'm at work.  And I am pleased.

Tonight I walked in to spaghetti with a red clam sauce.  A simple throw-together sauce of garlic, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, canned clams (and about a cup of clam juice), a splash of pasta water, and about a half-cup of shredded romano cheese.

Really simple, with a ton of flavor. Just what I needed on a cold, wintry night.

He has another trip scheduled for February.  I'm thinking a big pot of turkey soup will be in order...

And another project.....


Christmas Stollen

I love walking into the house and finding Victor in the kitchen.  It always means we're in for a gastronomic treat.  I tend to get most of the credit for cooking, but Victor is a fantastic cook.  It's not unlike when Ruth and I worked together.  Being the showman, I tended to get a lot of the credit for things, but it was Ruth who consistently came up with the brilliant ideas.

And it happens at home, too.  Victor and I are very different cooks, but we're fortunate that we like to do different things.  We have different "patience levels"  and generally complement one another's styles.

Walking into the kitchen, I was greeted with a very slowly-rising Christmas Stollen!  I love stollen but hadn't made my favorite Stollen recipe from our friend Luigi this year.  That recipe makes about 8 loaves.  Victor found another recipe online and decided to give a single loaf a try.

I had a container of fruitcake fruit - I hadn't made my fruitcakes or Christmas Pudding, either - so he used that along with some raisins.

It came out fantastic!

The recipe calls for a marzipan center.  We did have almond paste in the cabinet - for the amaretti I didn't make - but he decided to go without.

It was perfect, nonetheless.

The original recipe comes from the Dorchester Hotel in London...   Victor's heading off to London in a couple of weeks and will be staying in Mayfair not far from the Dorchester...  (I'm not jealous.  Really. I'm. Not. Jealous.)  But I digress...  Perhaps he can pop in and see if they have any available at High Tea...  Or something.

(DEEP breath... Not  jealous. Not jealous. Not jealous...)

Christmas Stollen

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 2/3 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 2 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 1/3 cup currants
  • 1/3 cup sultana raisins
  • 1/3 cup red candied cherries, quartered
  • 2/3 cup diced candied citron
  • 6 ounces marzipan
  • 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the egg, white sugar, salt, butter, and 2 cups bread flour; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has begun to pull together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead in the currants, raisins, dried cherries, and citrus peel. Continue kneading until smooth, about 8 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the marzipan into a rope and place it in the center of the dough. Fold the dough over to cover it; pinch the seams together to seal. Place the loaf, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and bake for a further 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow loaf to cool on a wire rack. Dust the cooled loaf with confectioners' sugar, and sprinkle with the cinnamon.

It's a very dense dough and doesn't rise the same way as a traditional yeast bread does, so don't panic if it's not looking exactly how you think it should.

It should still come out just fine.

We had two power outages while this was in the oven and it still came out perfect!

 

 

 


Rigatoni and Rye

The plate is a bit messy but the food was oh, so good!

We've had these huge rigatoni in the cabinet for quite a while and tonight, Victor decided we needed use them up and help get the cabinets clear since the flour and sugar has started arriving for Christmas Cookies.

While we cook all the time, this time of year we really start cooking all the time.

Part of it is simply to help warm the house, I think.  It's nice and toasty with the oven and the stove going.  But it's also "the season" for massive amounts of home-cooked goodies.

We have taken a pact that we are seriously cutting back on the cookie production.  We were making thousands upon thousands of cookies at one point, buying flour and sugar in 25 pound bags.  We have been seriously scaling back for a few years, now, but even as we cut back we find reason to make something new.

Last year it was Springerle cookies and Italian Torrone.  I know that between now and Christmas there will be a couple of cookie recipes I just have to make.  I'm already working on another variation of the Peppermint Cupcakes.  Cutting back.  You ought to see us when we just go for it with abandon...

So, to make room in the cabinets for the ingredients for the cookies we're telling ourselves we're not going to make, Victor made a fabulous pasta dish.

And we served it with the Rye Bread I made yesterday.

The bread is from James Beard's Beard on Bread.  It is one of the best bread books around.  I can bake a loaf of bread in my sleep, but I have a couple of bread books I still reference all of the time.  If you pay attention, they are foolproof.

I cut the recipe in half as I just wanted one loaf.  It's really good - and unlike what he says in the beginning, it's quite easy to make.

James Beard's Rye Bread

A pleasant rye bread of good texture and interesting flavor. It is rather difficult to make but worth the trouble. This recipe makes two loaves in 8½ × 4½ × 2½-inch pans; or if the dough seems firm enough, it can be baked in one or two free-form loaves, in which case I would suggest letting the formed loaves rise and then very carefully inverting them (right onto hot tiles, if you have them) just before they are baked. This gives a better finished loaf.

Yield : 2 free-form or regular loaves

Ingredients

  •  1 package active dry yeast
  • 3 tablespoona honey
  • ¼ cup warm water (100° to 115°, approximately)
  • 1 cup warm milk combined with ½ cup hot water
  • 2 tablespoons softened butter
  • 1 heaping tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
  • 2½ cups rye flour
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, or more if needed
  • ¼ cup cornmeal
  • 1 egg white, beaten lightly with 2 tablespoons water

Directions

Dissolve the yeast and honey in the warm water, and allow the mixture to proof for 4 or 5 minutes. Combine the warm milk and hot water with the softened butter and add to the yeast mixture along with the salt and caraway seeds. Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When you have added about 4½ cups the dough will become difficult to stir and will be quite sticky, but continue to add the remaining flour a tablespoon at a time. Scrape out the dough onto a floured board, and using a baker’s scraper or a large metal spatula, scrape under the dough and flour and fold the dough over. Continue to lift and fold, and with your free hand start pressing down and away from you on these folded areas, adding more flour as needed to dust your hands and to sprinkle the board. After 2 or 3 minutes of this procedure you can eliminate the scraper. Flour both hands and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is soft, velvety, and elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a well-buttered bowl, turning to coat with the butter. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free area to double in bulk, which will take from 1 to 2 hours. Punch down, turn out on a lightly floured board, and divide into two equal pieces. Let the dough rest 2 or 3 minutes, and then shape into two loaves, either free form or for well-buttered 8× 4× 2-inch loaf pans. If you are making free-form loaves allow them to rise, covered, on a buttered baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal until almost doubled in size, and then quickly invert them and brush with the egg white and water mixture. Otherwise, let the loaves rise, covered, in their pans until they have doubled in bulk and then brush the tops with the egg white and water mixture. Bake at 400° from 45 to 50 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped with the knuckles. Cool thoroughly on racks before slicing.

I made one single free-form loaf.  It came out great.

And now to start thinking about all those cookies we're not going to make...


Fancy Mac & Cheese

This is what I came home to last night... a fabulous casserole of ham, cheeses, peas, and orecchiette pasta.  Oh my goodness gracious was it good.  As in really, really good!

It was so good, in fact, we had it again, tonight.

It was the perfect dinner for a couple of reasons.  First, because it tasted so good, and second, because reheating it was about all I had energy for after my marathon day in the kitchen.

Okay...  It wasn't really all that much - I just made 48 cupcakes - 24 each of two different kinds plus different icings, a cheesecake, 4 pie crusts, and sourdough croutons for the Turkey Day Bird...  But I knocked it all out in just a couple of hours.  It was a lot of multi-tasking.

Victor usually curls up on the couch in a fetal position when I get into Manic Cooking Mode.  I do have a knack for getting flour - or anything else - into every nook and cranny in the kitchen and adjoining rooms.

It's a gift I have.  A true talent.

But I fooled him this time.  I kept my messes to a minimum and actually had the entire kitchen cleaned and put back together before I started dinner.

One of the secrets for staying together for so long (our 17th Anniversary is Wednesday) is doing the unexpected.  Keeping him slightly off-balance by doing the unexpected works wonders.

The cupcakes are for a pot-luck at work tomorrow.  The recipe came via our friend Sara.  The concept is Oreo cookies layered with peanut butter, covered in brownie batter and baked in cupcake cups.  Ingenious.

I made them the other night and it was an epic failure.  I didn't have muffin liners so I made them right in the well-greased cupcake tins.

What a mess.  I couldn't chisel them out of the tins.  A total mess.

I bought liners today to do it right.  And then I frosted them, because, well...  they needed a cream cheese and peanut butter frosting!

And I made a big batch with boysenberry jam between the cookies and a cream cheese boysenberry icing.  Frosting?  Icing?  I'm confusing myself.  It's like dressing and stuffing.  I use both interchangeably.

I didn't use Oreo's because...  well... I'm not an Oreo-Eater so I used a chocolate cream sandwich cookie, instead.

Peanut Butter Brownie Cookie Cupcakes

  •  1 box brownie mix
  •  24 sandwich cream cookies
  •  1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350° and line a 12 muffin cup pan with paper liners.

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. For each cupcake top each cookie with peanut butter  and stack them on top of each other. Spoon  batter over each stack making sure it runs down the sides of the cookies.  Bake about 15-18 minutes.

Yummy stuff.

 

 


Shrimp Risotto

I was given a choice for dinner tonight - Shrimp Scampi or Shrimp Risotto.

I chose the risotto.

There is just something about the rich, luscious, creaminess of risotto that just sends my taste buds a'fluttering.  It's one of my most-favorite cold-weather dishes.  And tonight is cold-weather.  Br-r-r-r-r.

Risotto may be one of the easiest dishes to make, but it tastes so good, no one thinks they can do it at home.  Guess what?!?  YOU CAN!

The recipe is as basic as basic can be - and it's extremely easy to add different things, switch out the shrimp for vegetables, add chicken, whatever.

The basic is to saute about a half-cup of chopped onion and a clove of minced garlic in about 4 tbsp butter.  Add 1 cup of arborio rice and cook and stir until translucent.  Stir in a cup of white wine and cook until almost completely absorbed.  Add ladles of hot broth one at a time, stirring until almost completely absorbed before adding the next, for a total of about 4 cups.

Add shrimp, vegetables, - in our case, peas - and a bit of grated parmesan cheese. When rice is juuuuuust barely cooked, remove from heat, stir in parsley, and enjoy.

Delicious!


Tagliatelle Fresche and Fresh-Baked Bread

It's another Saturday and I came home to another feast!  Homemade pasta and homemade bread.  It just doesn't get any better!

The pasta was Victor's famous tagliatelle.  The bread was from James Beard.

The pasta is so light but so full of flavor and texture.  It can withstand any type of sauce, but I just love it when Victor grabs whatever out of the 'fridge and creates!  Tonight he took olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes in oil, oyster mushrooms, bell pepper, peas, and prosciutto, sauteed it all and then stirred in the cooked pasta and sprinkled some freshly-grated cheese on top.

Did I mention perfection?!?

Perfection.

This is a half-batch of the pasta recipe.

Tagliatelle Fresche

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • Coarse sea salt

Instructions

On a clean work surface, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add egg and egg yolk to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead for 10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 3 pieces. Cover 2 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten remaining dough piece so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine.

Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.

Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick.

Cut sheet in half widthwise; dust both sides of sheets with flour. Layer sheets between floured pieces of parchment or wax paper. Cover with paper and repeat with remaining dough.

With the short end of 1 pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet, folding sheet over two or three times from short ends toward the center. With a large chefs knife, cut folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.

To cook the tagliatelle, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with sauce.

And then, just because perfect pasta wasn't enough, he made a loaf of one of my favoriote breads!

This comes from the Beard on Bread cook book by James Beard.  It's quick and reasonably difficult to screw up!

James Beard French-Style Bread

  • 1 1/2 pk active dry yeast
  • 1  tbsp  sugar
  • 2 cups  warm water (100-115 deg.)
  • 1 tbsp  salt
  • 5-6 cups all-purpose or hard wheat flour
  • 3 tbsp  Yellow cornmeal
  • 1 egg white mixed with 1 tbsp cold water

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..1 1/2-2 hrs.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into two long, French bread-style loaves. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal, but NOT buttered.

Slash the tops of the loaves diagonally in two or three places with a single edge razor blade or sharp knife, brush the loaves with the egg white wash.

Place in a COLD oven, set the temperature at 400° and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the tops are tapped.

The meal was perfection all the way.

 

 


Sartù - Neopolitan Rice Timbale

I have died and gone to Gastronomic Heaven.

Seriously.

When I spoke with Victor at lunch today, he said he had dinner covered.  Nothing else.  No details.  I didn't question it - that usually means something fun is going to be created.

And was I ever right!

The November issue of La Cucina Italiana magazine arrived a few days ago and as I was glancing through, one recipe in particular caught my eye - a Neopolitan Rice Timbale.  I have made individual timbales many times, but the size and scope of this one intrigued me.  I showed it to Victor and then filed the idea away.

Today, Victor pulled out the magazine and went to work!

Sartù - Neopolitan Rice Timbale

  • 1 ounce dried wild mushrooms
  • 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste concentrate (from tube)
  • 7 cups chicken or beef broth, heated to a simmer
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/3 pound pork sausage
  • 2/3 pound ground beef
  • 1 large egg
  • 5 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
  • 5 tablespoons fine plain breadcrumbs, plus more for mold
  • 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for mold
  • 4 ounces chicken livers, cut into small pieces
  • 2 1/2 cups Arborio rice
  • 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes

Special equipment: a 2-quart mold or ovenproof bowl

Instructions

Soak dried mushrooms in 2 cups hot water for 20 minutes; drain, reserving liquid, and finely chop.

Heat oven to 350°.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Dilute tomato paste in 1 cup broth, then add to pan with onion. Add mushrooms, peas and pinch salt and pepper; bring to a simmer. Add sausage and simmer, covered, until sausage is nearly cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer sausage to a cutting board and slice in to 1/4-inch pieces. Return pieces to skillet and simmer, uncovered, until liquid is mostly evaporated, about 10 minutes more. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, stir together beef, egg, 1 tablespoon Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Form into 1 1/2-inch balls.

In a large skillet, heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Dust meatballs lightly with flour and fry in 2 batches until golden on all sides, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Drain oil from skillet and wipe clean with paper towels. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add liver and pinch salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liver is cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add liver and meatballs to skillet with sausage; stir to combine.

Combine remaining 6 cups broth and mushroom liquid in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Add rice, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain rice; spread onto a large plate and let cool to room temperature. Transfer rice to a large bowl; stir in 4 tablespoons butter and remaining 4 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano while still warm.

Grease mold or ovenproof bowl with butter and dust with breadcrumbs. Put 1 1/2 cups of the rice mixture into bowl and press into base and up sides, forming a well in the center. Pour meat sauce into well; top with mozzarella, then cover with remaining rice. Cover with remaining tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces, and remaining 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs. Bake for 1 hour.

Remove mold from oven; transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of mold to loosen rice, then invert onto a large serving plate. Serve immediately.

When I got home, most of the parts were completed.  He was cooking the rice and most of the preparation mess had already been cleaned up.  It was a four-pot process to make a one-dish dinner.  But every one of those pots was worth it!

I just stared with a huge grin.  I knew it was going to be good.

Surprisingly, we didn't have a proper 2-quart mold.  We have a pudding mold for Christmas Puddings and the like, but the Charlotte mold - which would have been perfect if my memory is correct - is MIA.  No idea where it is.  I'm sure I will find it next time I'm looking for something else in some obscure cabinet somewhere.

We had a bowl that worked perfectly even though it was a couple of inches larger than necessary.

Victor buttered, crumbed, filled... and finished building.  I went into the office.

After baking and the requisite 10 minutes of cooling, Victor called me into the kitchen.  He did the cooking - my job was to get it out of the mold and onto a plate. (Thank you, dear!)

The bowl he used was fine for cooking but slightly problematic for unmolding.  This was one item we didn't want to drop onto the plate.  I felt it would immediately crack and crumble.

The solution was a tart bottom.  We had one that fit the timbale perfectly.  I placed it on the timbale, turned it upside down on my hand, and Victor pulled the bowl away and I placed it onto the platter.

Perfection.

We didn't expect it to neatly slice and portion - and we weren't disappointed when it didn't.  It was slightly sloppy, but OMG!  Was It Good!

I mean, IT WAS GOOD!!!

Every flavor came through individually while blending together perfectly.  It's one of those things that's actually a bit difficult to describe.  It just worked on every level.  I had way too much as a first helping - and then against better judgement, went back for more.  It was really that good.

Victor had made a totally delicious marinara as a side because he didn't know how dry the finished product would be.  We didn't need it.

It is yet another recipe that has a million-and-one different things one can do with it, although right now I think it would be difficult to top what we just ate.

But that doesn't mean we won't try in the coming months!

This will definitely be a great winter dish - with a loaf of crusty fresh-from-the-oven bread.

And we haven't even started the Pasta Issue, yet...

 

 

 


Manicotti and Butternut Squash

One of the joys of working Saturdays is coming home to a fabulous dinner.  We generally don't discuss in advance who is cooking - it just happens.  And I love it when it just happens that Victor is in the kitchen when I get home.

Dinner is always a treat.

Tonight's dinner was homemade manicotti.  Underneath that blanket of sauce are two manicotti tubes stuffed with ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, mozzarella, eggs... You can't see them very well because I really was more interested in eating than I was picture-taking.  Sometimes the blog does take a back seat to life.  But they really were cheesy goodness!

For a side dish he roasted fresh butternut squash with olive oil, maple syrup, salt & pepper.  As basic as basic can get.

And perfectly delicious.

For dessert we finished the pumpkin pie with ginger snap crust I made a few days ago.  I never got around to taking a picture - but rest assured - it was good!

 


Rice and Lentil Rolls

Ah, Saturday...

How I love coming home to Victor in the kitchen, chopping, slicing, and dicing away.  It's so much fun to see what new and exciting thing he has prepared.

Victor has the cooking shows on TV while I'm at work and he's playing Domestic Goddess - laundry, vacuuming, whatever. And every now and again a recipe comes up that he decided we should try.

Giada De Laurentis had such a recipe... a rice and lentil filling wrapped in swiss chard.

Yum.

Naturally, he changed his filling around - neither one of us is very good at following recipes - but Giada's original recipe follows.

Giada's Goat Cheese, Lentil, and Brown Rice Rolls

Ingredients

  • Butter, for greasing the baking dish
  • 6 large Swiss chard leaves (about 1 1/4 pounds)
  • Salt

Filling:

  • 2 cups cooked short grain brown rice
  • 1 packed cup baby arugula leaves, chopped
  • 1 cup goat cheese, at room temperature (8 ounces)
  • 1 cup cooked green lentils
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • One 26-ounce jar marinara or tomato-basil sauce
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, or unsalted butter diced into 1/4-inch pieces

Directions

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Set aside.

Remove the thick stem from the center of each chard leaf. Cut each leaf in half lengthwise. Trim the ends from the leaves to make each leaf-half about 7 inches long and 5 inches wide. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the chard leaves and cook for 10 seconds. Remove the leaves and rinse with cold water. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

For the filling: In a medium bowl, mix together the brown rice, arugula, goat cheese, lentils, mint, olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and garlic. Season with additional salt and pepper.

Spoon 1/3 cup of the filling onto the end of each chard leaf and roll up like a jellyroll.

Spoon 1 cup marinara sauce on the bottom of the prepared pan. Arrange the rolls, seam-side down, in a single layer on top of the sauce. Spoon the remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Drizzle with olive oil or dot the top with butter, if using, and bake until the cheese begins to brown and the rolls are heated through, about 25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve.

First thing Victor did was substitute red lentils for the green.  He said was snickering as he went through the jars on top shelf.  Most folks, he surmised, probably didn't even have lentils in their cabinets.  We had three varieties - red, brown, and French green.  He chose the red lentils to empty a jar.  That's actually an important consideration when we're searching ingredients.  Is there a container I can empty and remove so I can find other things easier?!? 

Everyone should have this problem.

He also left out the mint but added diced prosciutto and peas.  And jarred sauce?!?  At our house?!?

The end result was fantastic.

The flavors just blended perfectly.  And it was really easy.

We're going to get several meals out of this.

Several really good meals.

 


Simply Soup

I planned on having soup for dinner tonight.  What I didn't plan on, though, was not having to make it!

My thought was to add last night's leftover risotto to some chicken broth, add some chicken, a few more veggies, and call it done.  Except there wasn't any leftover risotto.  I started thinking about  Plan B when Victor said he would make a soup for dinner.  I quickly accepted before he could change his mind!

Into a pot of chicken broth went celery, carrots, peas, corn - and langostino.  He was going to thaw and chop up a chicken breast when he saw the langostinos.

It all came to a nice boil and he stirred in a raw egg that had been scrambled.

And shredded parmesan on top.

Yum.

We didn't have a dessert planned, so he asked if I would make my Everything But The Kitchen Sink Cookies.

I did.  They're cooling as I type.


Sausage and Peppers

Sometimes the simplest foods are the best.

Case in point is sausage and peppers.  You can't get more versatile.  Roasted, grilled, baked, or fried - they're perfect.  Add peppers and onions, roast with potatoes, scramble eggs into the finished product... A simple, easy, and tasty meal.

Tonight the original plan was to grill the sausages.  Victor took over kitchen duty.  Alas, he fired up the grill and it went Pffft. Out of gas.  Into the oven they went with the potatoes, onions, and peppers. 20 minutes later, dinner was on the table.

We also had some Italian bread, so slices of bread became sausage sandwiches.  Messy, but oh, so good!

Speaking of bread...  I'm going to bake some tomorrow but I am slightly torn between a classic white sandwich loaf and a more rustic, artisan-type loaf.

Time to break out the bread books...


Tempura Scallops - and more...

Saturday.  My dinner day of surprises.

Sometimes I'll come home and cook dinner.  Other days, something wondrous and fabulous is awaiting me when I walk in the door.

Today was the latter.

As I was leaving for work this morning I pulled some scallops out of the freezer to thaw.  I didn't have a plan but I knew there were any number of things I could do with them.

Off to work I went.

When I got home, I was greeted with Victor in the kitchen with a platter of vegetables, scallops, and the deep fryer.

Three words:  Beer Battered Tempura.

Be still my heart!  I was psyched.  While I had a few ideas going through my head, tempura definitely was not one of them.  I really was psyched!

Victor is the tempura king.  It was something he had on the menu at Montserrat when he owned the restaurant on South Street and he's never lost his touch with it.  It rocks.

The batter is flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, finely chopped parsley - and beer.  Proportions?!?  Uh... Mix the flour with the dry spices and parsley and add beer until it's the consistency of thin pancake batter.  It's roughly 1 cup flour to 1 cup beer but it's not an exact science.

The parsley really adds a nice sweetness.  It's not something I ever included when I made tempura batter.  I really like it a lot.

So...

We had carrot sticks, peppers from the garden cut into rings.  onion rings, snow peas, and the scallops.

Everything was great - but the scallops were awesome!  They were so moist and delicate they were like eating clouds.  They seriously were some of the best scallops I've ever had.  Victor floured them before dipping them in the tempura batter so it would stick better.  And just about three minutes in the oil was perfect timing.

Definite gastronomic heaven!

My job was to make some dipping sauces.  That was the easy part.

The top sauce was honey-mustard.  About a quarter-cup of honey and a heaping teaspoon of Strong Irish Mustard.  I didn't have any Chinese mustard but this stuff worked well.  The sauce on the left was a lingonberry sauce.  Lingonberry jam, soy sauce, a splash of rice wine and sambal oelek for heat.    The sauce on the right was straight-from-the-bottle Soy Vey Very Teriyaki.  All three worked well.

It was just unbelievably good.

And cherry-studded brownies just came out of the oven.

This is definitely a good day!