Chicken Soup and the Cold From Hell
Fighting, denying, and ignoring did no good. I officially have the cold from hell.
I've been trying to fight it, pretending it wasn't happening and living in a state of denial, but besides just feeling lousy, I've been crankier than usual the past couple of days. A sure sign right there.
It's here with a vengeance.
I'm not a good patient. I want to just be left alone to wallow in my misery. That, of course, is nigh-on impossible when you're married to an Italian. Victor wants to fluff my pillows, get me things, make me comfortable any way he can. I want to pull the blankets over my head and make the world go away. Victor wants to make me tea with honey.
Everyone should have my problems!
After a hacking night last night, he decided to make chicken soup today. Jewish penicillin.
Chicken soup really is a cold-fighter. It's an anti-inflammatory and as generations of people who once actually paid attention to what they were eating knew, it also helps to relieve congestion. Wouldn't it be nice if more people reached for some homemade soup instead of the latest poison from our pharmaceutical companies?!? Did I mention I've been crankier than usual lately?!?
Victor used a combination of homemade chicken stock and store-bought. I could actually smell it cooking and I could taste it!
He made it with carrots, celery, onion, garlic, potato, tortellini, broccoli, and chicken.
It was good! It was so good, in fact, that we're going to have it for dinner, as well.
I just made a loaf of beer bread for tonight.
I'll wallow in my misery later. Right now, I'm feeling pretty good.
Stuffed Pork Chops
Saturday is rapidly becoming my favorite day of the week. Since I now work until 4pm on Saturday, Victor has been cooking dinner. It's been a gastronomic pleasure every week!
Last night was stuffed pork chops - with a Victor-twist.
The chops were just under an inch thick - perfect for making an open-faced-stuffed chop!
He sliced them almost all the way through, keeping sides and bottom intact.
The stuffing started with pancetta! He sauteed it until almost crisp and then added chopped carrots, celery, and onion. When the vegetables were almost done, he added about 3/4 cup of chicken stock to deglaze the pan. He let it reduce to almost nothing.
Into the bowl it went with handfuls of bread crumbs and then just enough chicken stock to moisten. Salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste.
Before adding the stuffing to the chops, Victor added a layer of goat cheese into the cavity! What a flavorful surprise!
They went into a 350° oven for about 25 minutes.
The green beans were sauteed with balsamic vinegar and the potatoes roasted with the pork chops - olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.
Everything worked together perfectly. The crispy pancetta with the goat cheese was brilliance. It was a totally unexpected flavor which made it all the better.
Fun food, indeed.
Macaroni Bake
Leftovers are a good thing - especially when Victor is working with them!
I had planned a totally different dinner tonight, but when I got home realized I had no potatoes. I bought a 5 lb bag at the local PathMark on Monday and ended up throwing most of them away. I'll get my money back next Monday, but for tonight, it put a crimp in the dinner plan.
While I am lamenting my potato woes, Victor says he'll cook dinner. He actually was looking to use the pasta sauce he made the other day and who am I to argue if he want to cook dinner?!? Mrs. Dineen did not raise a dummy!
So out comes the sauce, the pork, the meatballs... repurposing with a purpose.
He cookd up odds and ends of the various pastas we always seem to have in the cabinet and layered it all with sauce, fontina cheese, peas, the meatballs and the pork. More cheese on top and into the oven it went. 350° for 30 minutes.
Simple and outstanding.
These are the types of foods I can eat all night. It's comfort-food. I did practice restraint - not something I do very well.
One helping with several slices of Italian bread. I sopped up every last bit of sauce and savored that very last bite of crusty bread with sauce, the teeniest bit of meat and one lone pea.
Perfection.
Saturday Pasta
I'm a day late with this but I'm dealing with a dying computer. It's sad. This is the computer I finally got from Circuit City 2 1/2 years ago after they failed to repair my old computer in a timely manner. At first, they didn't think that 58 days was unreasonable for them to fix (or, rather, not fix) a computer. After I launched www.CircuitCity-Sucks.com, they realized it was probably just slightly unreasonable and they finally honored their service contract.
It's been a good friend. But it's now continually freezing and crashing. It makes it difficult to get anything done.
So while I was busy making sure everything I needed was backed up onto the external drive, Victor was cooking dinner... Mini Rigatoni with spare ribs, and veal and pork meat balls.
The meatballs were delicious. Half ground pork and half ground veal, with bread crumbs, onion, garlic, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and an egg to bind. Baked in the oven.
The ribs just simmered in the sauce until the meat literally fell off the bones.
Perfection.
Tomorrow it looks like I will be out shopping for a new computer. And uninstalling and reinstalling all those programs.....
Take-out is sounding better and better.....
Chicken Soup and Focaccia
It was 9° outside when I left for work this morning. Nine. That's one number. A single digit.
C-O-L-D.
Okay... Maybe not as cold as those of you on the tundra - or up there chipping ice from the Great Lakes - but nine degrees is really cold for this California boy.
Really cold.
Really cold is soup weather. And Victor made really good soup and really good focaccia to warm me up when I got home today.
The soup was a fairly traditional chicken soup, but it had a fun twist... eggs!
The pastina box had a variation for "Egg Drop Soup" that sounded fun. After removing the soup from the heat, stir in a beaten egg, stirring with a fork in one direction. Voila! It worked!
It added that little bit of fun that every meal should have.
And it was hot and filling, rich and flavorful, and just wonderful.
Along with the soup was a sheet of focaccia!
The focaccia recipe is the basic pizza dough from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It is so simple, but works for pizza, focaccia, bread sticks...
Better Homes and Gardens Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 2-3/4 to 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pkg. active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup warm water (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F)
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil or olive oil
Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl combine 1-1/4 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Lightly grease a large bowl; place dough in bowl and cover with a damp towel (make sure the towel does not touch the dough). Let dough rise in a warm place until double in size (30 minutes).
3. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 16x12-inch rectangle. Place in a greased 16x12x1-inch baking pan. Let rise 20 minutes.
4. Top with toppings of choice and bake at 375° about 25 minutes.
Victor topped it with some of the fried peppers I did a few days ago along with a healthy dose of parmesan cheese.
The nice thing about the focaccia - other than the fantastic taste - is the oven warmed up the kitchen nicely.
Did I mention it's been cold outside?!?
Baked Rigatoni
There's nothing quite like having a big casserole of baked pasta awaiting you as you come in from the cold.
This was my treat coming in yesterday. It was so good, we're having it again, tonight!
Mini-rigatoni with homemade sauce, sausage, ricotta, and parmesan.
Yum.
This is another classic throw-together dinner that just works on every level. It's warm, filling, comfort-food of the highest caliber.
Victor cooked the sausage and added it to his sauce. He cooked the pasta.
While the pasta was cooking he added one egg to a 16oz container of ricotta cheese, along with parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley.
The pasta went into the bowl with the ricotta and about 3/4 of the sausage and sauce. Mixed well, it went into the casserole dish and was topped with the remaining sauce, breadcrumbs, and more parmesan cheese.
Into a 350° oven for about 40 minutes.
Good enough for two dinners!
Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
I've been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get a new website configured (FINALLY got everything in place a little while ago!) but my cooking and writing about it have suffered a bit. Today, Victor finally figured that if he was going to eat dinner, he would probably have to cook it, himself. It's not that I don't want to cook or eat, it's just that time can get away from me a bit when I'm up to my neck in things that should work - but don't.
So just as I was about to throw my hands up in the air and run screaming out of the room, Victor said he would cook dinner.
He just knows.....
I had brought home a pork tenderloin and there was some Italian sausage in the 'fridge from last night, so a stuffed pork tenderloin was created!
The stuffing was fresh breadcrumbs, hot Italian sausage, celery, carrot, leeks, dates, and a bit of chicken broth.
The hot sausage and the sweet dates really worked well together! And he roasted a sweet potato and some broccoli with olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar.
It was perfect.
Snow has started to fall and I have a bunch of stuff to redo since migrating databases and upgrading servers wreaked havoc.
Oh well. It's keeping me from baking a cake right now.
Panettone French Toast
Sunday Breakfast. It's one of the great joys of life - and one we just don't partake of often enough.
But the stars and planets aligned just right this morning and Victor headed off to the kitchen to create.
It's January 9th. Christmas really is officially over. Almost all of the decorations are down - and almost put away. And most of the holiday foods are out of the house. Almost. There's the panettone lurking in the corner....
I like panettone but Victor really likes it. It's his mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack with a cup of tea. I keep him well-supplied during the holidays, but all good things must come to an end. And if they're going to end, a perfect ending is panettone french toast.
Simplicity.
A couple of slices of bacon, maple syrup, a cup of hot coffee...
The perfect way to cruise into the day.
All-Day Dining with Linda and David
Hors d'Oeuvres started at 2pm. Cheesecake was served at 7pm.
We ate all day.
It's pretty much what yer supposed to do when you get together with good friends. And we all believe in following the rules when it suits our purpose.
This has been a tradition since we moved back here 10 years ago. Victor has known Linda since childhood. She was our real estate agent when we bought our house. David was our mortgage broker.
Good friends with a lot of history. Friends you can say anything to without having to filter.
And friends who like to eat!
We started off with hors d'oeuvres. Just three, because we didn't want to spoil our dinner.
First off was a puff pastry dish Victor came up with based on something Ina Garten makes. She does a puff pastry, ham and cheese. Victor took it to a whole new level.
Puff Pastry with Pancetta and Dates
- 2 sheets puff pastry
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomato pesto
- 4 oz thin-sliced pancetta
- 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
- 1 cup chopped dates
Roll puff pastry to fit sheet pan - 10" x 16" or so. Brush with sun-dried tomato pesto, them layer pancetta, cheese, and dates.
Roll second sheet of puff pastry and place on top. Crimp edges and brush with egg. Cut slits to allow steam to escape.
Bake in a preheated 450° oven about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
These were definitely a hit. They were easy to prepare and the fillings can be switched out a million and one ways!
Definitely a keeper.
I decided we needed to do at least one deep-fried hors d'oeuvre because... well... we do have that deep fryer! I went with a crab fritter because I just couldn't think of anything else savory that I wanted to do. This was a totally wing-it recipe from the fritter to the dipping sauce, but it turned out great. The test fritters I made were still a bit doughy in the center so I really was caredul about the size. 1 tablespoon cooked up perfectly!
Crab and Green Chile Fritters
- 8 oz crab
- 1 4 oz can green chilies
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 2 tbsp chopped chives
- salt and pepper
Mix crab with chiles, buttermilk, chives, and egg. Add a bit of salt and pepper, to taste. Add enough flour to make a moderately-stiff dough.
Drop tablespoon-sized balls into hot oil and cook until well browned.
Serve with dipping sauce.
For a dipping sauce I decided to go sweet and spicy.
We had homemade cranberry sauce in the fridge, apricot cookie filling in the fridge, and chipotles in adobo in the fridge.
I made a cranberry apricot chipotle dipping sauce!
Cranberry Apricot Chipotle Dipping Sauce
- 1 cup cranberry sauce
- 1/3 cup apricot preserves
- 1 chipotle in adobo, chopped (or to taste)
Place ingredients in small saucepan. Heat. Mix briefly with immersion blender to blend and to break down larger berries or apricot pieces.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
And finally, we had bruschetta.
I love bruschetta in any and all its various incarnations.
Anything on toasted baguette with cheese is my idea of good. This was mere open-a-jar.
We had a jar of Harry and Davids Charred Pineapple with Candied Peppers on the shelf for quite a while. Today it was spooned onto baguette slices, topped with cream cheese, and placed under the broiler for a couple of minutes.
This was so simple and a total hit.
By 4:30pm, it was getting time to sit down to dinner.
We started off with a simple Calabrese Salad.
Red and Green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.
I drizzled the whole thing with that nice, expensive olive oil Nick gave us for Christmas and some 15 year old balsamic. And a pinch of salt and pepper. It didn't need anything else.
And then it wan on to the main attraction:
Handmade pasta with a lobster sauce.
Oh yes, you read that right. Handmade pasta with a lobster sauce.
Oh yes.
Victor made the pasta from a recipe he saw on Ciao Italia with MaryAnn Esposito. She serves the pasta with a clam and mussel sauce, but Victor had a better idea. Lobster.
Scialatielli
- 1 extra large egg
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon grated Pecorino cheese
- 2 tablespoons minced basil or parsley leaves
Directions
Place egg, 1/3 cup milk, olive oil and salt in bowl of food processor and whirl until smooth. Add flour and cheese and pulse until mixture is grainy looking. Add parsley and pulse just until dough begins to leave the sides of bowl. If dough is too dry, add a little of the remaining milk until you can pinch a piece of dough between your fingers and it does not crumble.
Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead into a smooth ball. Place a bowl upside down over the dough and allow to rest for 30 minutes to relax the gluten and make it easier to roll.
Divide the dough into quarters and keep three covered while working the first piece. Flatten the dough to a four inch wide piece. Place it through the rollers of a hand crank pasta machine set to the fattest setting (#1). Set the rollers to the next fattest setting down (#2) and run the dough through again.
Use a small knife to cut 1/8 inch wide strips and place the strips on a clean towel. Repeat with the remaining dough.
It made a wonderful and delicious pasta dish, but we think next time we make it, we'll (that's *we* as in *Victor*) roll it a bit thinner. It's supposed to be a thick pasta, but our tastes tend to go for thinner.
The sauce was a variation on a La Cucina theme...
Aragosta al Limone
- Chunks of Lobster Tail
- 4 Large Egg Yolks
- 2 Lemons
- ½ cup plus 2 tbls Grana Padano grated plus more for sprinkling
- ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup plus 2 tbls heavy cream
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tbls whole milk
- 3 tbls finely chopped flat leaf parsley
- 2 tbls finely chopped chives
Sauté lobster chunks till just done, about 3 minutes or opaque. (Don’t over cook)
Place egg yolks in a large bowl. Grate the zest of 1 lemon into the bowl. Add cheese and pepper, whisk to combine, then whisk in the cream, milk, parsley, chives and a generous pinch of salt.
When the pasta is al dente, drain and return to the pot. Immediately add the egg mixture and lobster meat then toss together to combine. Serve immediately with more Grana Padano.
It was gooder than good. It was great watching both Linda and David go back for more. It was everything it could be and more.
And then, finally, it was time for dessert.
Linda is just a bit of a chocaholic, so we decided a cheesecake with a chocolate crust was in order. And this morning, I decided the cheesecake needed a chocolate ganache to cover it.
The ganache was pure over-the-top decadence. I loved every calorie of it!
I made my favorite "Worlds Greatest Strawberry Cheesecake" except I didn't use the strawberries...
World's Greatest Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache
The Crust:
- 3/4 cups walnuts, coarsely ground
- 3/4 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
- 1 3 oz Valrhona chocolate bar
- 3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
The Filling:
- 4 pkgs cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
The Topping:
- 16 oz sour cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
The Ganache:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 12 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 1 tbsp vanilla
Putting it together: Preheat oven to 350º. Mix crust ingredients and press evenly into bottom of 10″ springform pan. Set aside.
Cream the cheese until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add sugar, vanilla, and whipping cream, mixing until smooth and light. Pour into pan and bake 60 – 70 minutes. Remove from oven and cool about 15 minutes. Keep oven on.
Mix topping ingredients and spread onto top of cheesecake to within about 1/2 inch from edge. Return to oven and bake about 7 more minutes. Cool completely, cover, and refrigerate at least 24 hours (2-3 days is best.)
On day you’re going to serve, make ganache. Heat cream. Remove from heat and stir in grated chocolate. Stir until smooth. Add vanilla.
Remove cake from pan. Spread ganache over cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
It really was a stellar day. And while we did eat a lot, at least it was spread out over 5 hours.
Our next feast with them is tentatively scheduled for July at their house to celebrate my and Linda's birthdays.
I can't wait.
They feed us the same way.
Monday Monday
The Blizzard of 2010 kept me indoors today. Not that we had a blizzard at our house. Maybe 6" of snow. Maybe.
But it was enough to keep me from wanting to go out and deal with all the morons who like to drive like it's mid-July. We could have gone shopping and we could have come up with a pasta dish with what we had in the house, but we decided to take a Pasta Monday Break.
It was more fun watching old movies and doing nothing.
Victor did his Italian magic in the kitchen with Chicken Cutlets with homemade sauce and fontina cheese and green beans with homemade sun-dried tomato pesto.
Everything but the cheese came out of the freezer.
He was originally going to cook gnocchi as well, but decided if we ate less pasta for dinner we could have more cookies for dessert.
I like his way of thinking!
It's been a fun couple of days. We were never snowed in, didn't lose power, and had lots of goodies to eat. The perfect way to deal with Mother Nature.
Alas, all good things must come to an end. It's back to the real world tomorrow.
Oh well.
Trottole ai Formaggi e Gremolata di Agrumi
I don't even know where to begin.
I keep saying that every week it is the best one, yet, but... really. This may be the best one, yet!
Victor has finally made his way through the Pasta Issue of La Cucina Italiana magazine. This recipe came from the just-arrived February issue. The same issue I got the Gianduja yesterday.
This is a really grown-up Mac and Cheese with three different cheeses that just knock your socks off topped with lemon, orange, grana padano, and parsley that just explodes a citrusy freshness in your mouth.
It is gastronomic heaven. The sauce is three very different cheeses that blend perfectly together. No one overpowers another. The fresh lemon and orange mixed with the freshness of parsley and a slightly salty grana padano cheese adds a complete contrast but at the same time blends perfectly.
Gastronomic heaven, indeed. The taste-buds are going to be talking about this one for days!
Trottole ai Formaggi e Gremolata di Agrumi
Trottole with Cheese and Citrus Gremolata
- salt
- 1 lemon
- 1 orange
- 1/2 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 3 tablespoons freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese
- 2 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 1/2 ounces gorgonzola cheese (about 1 cup)
- 4 1/2 ounces taleggio cheese, bubed (about 1 cup)
- 3 ounces fontina cheese, cubed (about 1/2 cup, packed)
- 1 pound Trottole pasta - uniquely curled pasta rings surrounding a center stalk (or Fusilli or other short pasta)
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
Wask lemon and orange; zest half of each fruit, avoiding the white pith. Finely chop zests together with parsley; place in a bowl and stir in Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padana. Set gremolata aside.
In medium saucepan, bring milk just to boil over medium-low heat; remove from heat. In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add flour; cook, stirring constantly with a wodden spoon for 2 minutes. Do not brown. Remove from heat. Add 2 tablespoons milk to flour mixture, stirring constantly until milk is incorporated. Repeat until 1/2 cup of the milk has been added. Add remaining milk 1/2 cup at a time, incorporating between additions, until all milk has been added. Return yo low heat and cook, stirring frequently, especially along corners of pan, until sauce is the consistency of thick cream. Stir in remaining cheeses; cover to keep warm.
Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain and immediately transfer to a large serving bowl. Add cheese sauce, toss to combine and divide among bowls. Sprinkle with gremolata and serve immediately.
The recipe does make the white sauce seem a bit overly complicated, but it's really just a rather simple-to-prepare sauce with cheese.
But it's an extremely good simple-to-prepare sauce with cheese.
This would also make a great side dish and a pretty spectacular buffet dish, as well.
This one is going into the rotation, for sure!
Broiled Cod and Hollandaise
Have I ever mentioned how much I love it when Victor cooks?
But what I love even more is when he cooks and makes a mess in the kitchen! He will laughingly talk about what a mess I can make in the kitchen and how neat and clean he is in the kitchen. Both are partially true. We cook differently but we also cook different foods. And what we cook definitely has an effect on the scope of the mess - or lack thereof.
So it was with complete joy that I walked into the kitchen this evening to see three dirty pots, rice that had boiled over, dirty blender...
Plus he took an otherwise totally healthy meal and put a (homemade) hollandaise sauce on top of it.
That's love. Definitely one of life's little joys.
Dinner itself was very simple. Broiled cod, rice and peas. The hollandaise did take it right over the top. And I do have to admint I not only cleaned my plate, but sopped up the remaining hollandaise with a dinner roll.
It was that good.
And while I was dealing with the great unwashed public today, he was making more Christmas cookies.
Uncle Rudy's Pizzelles and the most outrageous Walnut Biscotti!
I'll get that posted later.....