Super food Tuesday

Who knows why this popped into my head today, but I decided to prepare some quinoa for dinner. I have only used it in my cooking once or twice before, so it's definitely out of my comfort zone still.

I prepared the quinoa according to package directions but with chicken stock instead of water to add a bit of flavor-- obviously, veggie stock, or white wine could be used instead of you're vegetarian. I also added in the juice of half a  lemon, and a after I turned the burner off, I threw in a handful of chopped fresh basil (from my "garden" and rosemary which I had on hand). While the quinoa was cooking, I sauteed one thinly sliced baby zucchini and some crushed garlic in some olive oil. At the last second I added in a diced fresh tomato and salt and pepper to taste. The final step was to toss the now fluffy quinoa with the sauteed veggies. I kept the pan on low heat during this step to continue cooking and added in a handful of shredded Parmesan while tossing.


The dish was actually pretty decent. I think that the lemon juice was really what took it from bland to fresh. Normally, this would be a good side dish, but since the quinoa has such great food value it worked just fine as my main dish!

Quick and Easy Hummus

Sunday night I was still feeling the effects of a book club meeting full of delicious goodies, so I opted for something light-- a quick and easy hummus and a whole lot of celery to dip in it. Hummus can be made approximately a bajillion different ways, and I think I even make it slightly differently every time but a few things stay the same. It is always easy and it is always delicious!

This time, I got out my trusty food processor and threw in:
- a can of chick peas (drained and rinsed)
- a spoonful of this Moroccan almond paste I have (in place of Tahini)
- the juice of one lemon
- cumin, cayenne, garlic powder (b/c I was out of the real thing... pathetic), and sea salt
- enough olive oil to make it my desired consistency (I added this as it blended)
- a dash of paprika on top

The whole thing took about 3 minutes and it was a fantastic little snack. I had some today with flat bread, turkey breast, and tomato for lunch. Yum!

St. Patrick's Day Extravaganza -- photos

Apple Shortbread Pie

My beautiful Irish Soda Bread

heaven?

A little fun

The Irish chef busy at work

a perfect partnership

The aftermath of a roast leg of lamb

Peas and onions roasted in pan drippings from the lamb

Timmy's piece de resistance, the Corned Beef!

Blackberry Apple Souffle

Tonight some of my girlfriends and I got together for one of our wonderful "True Blood Supper Club" nights.... which has slowly morphed into being called "Vampire Night" or even more informally "Eric Night" (for those of you who watch True Blood or read the Sookie Stackhouse novels, you will completely understand this.

We have a great system worked out-- one of us provides an entree, one provides salad, and one makes a dessert. Tonight, Lisa made a caprese salad, Mandy made incredible stuffed shells, and I was in charge of dessert. I found a recipe in an old cook book I have (Omelettes, Frittatas & Souffles) and just decided to go for it. The recipe was remarkably easy, fairly healthy, pretty delicious and SO BEAUTIFUL. So beautiful that I forgot to take a photo. So, I will need to make it again, obivously.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a small sauce pan over medium heat, cook two pints of blackberries, one finely diced apple (cored and peeled), and the zest and juice of one orange. Cook about ten minutes or until everything starts turning to mush.
3. The book says to push through a sieve into a bowl, but I didn't have one, so I just mashed it all up and put it in a bowl. Then I stirred in a quarter cup of caster sugar and let it cool for a bit. (I actually made this part ahead of time so I let it cool for several hours).
4. Get six ramekins out and put a spoon full of the berries the bottom of each. Save the rest for the egg whites.
5. Beat three egg whites on high until peaks form-- while beating, slowly add 1/2 cup of caster sugar.
6. Fold in berry mixture
7. Spoon into ramekins and bake for 10-15 minutes until it is puffing up and browned on top.

If I made this again, I might try experimenting with the flavors involved. This seemed fairly heavy on the orange flavor-- and while it was delicious, it was called a "blackberry apple" souffle with no mention of "orange". The point of the sieve would obviously be to remove seeds and variations in texture, but I didn't mind them. And honestly, this was one of the most beautiful desserts I've ever made. The top is golden brown and the puffed areas are the most gorgeous pinkish purple-- the dark fruit in the bottom of each dish bubbled around the sides providing even more contrast.

A perfect end to a perfect evening!

Friday night Lenton dinner

I'm not Catholic... but I am dating someone who is, and most of my family is, so I am used to following the lenton tradition of not having meat on Fridays. While I am okay eating purely vegetarian stuff, I know that the man in my life prefers a little protein. So, this evening I made the two of us seared scallops with fettucine in a white wine sauce.

The entire meal took about 12 minutes to make. I think I spent longer waiting for the water to boil than anything!

1. Boil water.
2. Do prep work for other stuff: Smoosh up a few garlic cloves (I smashed and then roughly chopped), get scallops dried off, remove their little foot, and lightly salt and pepper get out some butter, parsley, a lemon, and some red pepper flakes).
3. Put the pasta in the water (I did 1/2 pound tonight and I always add a glug of olive oil and some salt)
4. Heat up a non-stick skillet. Melt 1 TBSP of butter and then put the scallops in. When the bottom half is no longer translucent, flip them over. Then I turned the stove down to Medium and threw in the garlic. Once the scallops were done on the other side I moved them to a plate and poured in some white wine (which I had handy since I was drinking it... ha), the juice of half a lemon, and another TBSP of butter. A few shakes of red pepper flakes too.
5. Reduce wine sauce and about a minute before pasta is coming out, throw scallops back in.
6. Drain pasta and put in serving dish. Pour wine sauce and scallops over, as well as a big handful of chopped parsely. Toss. Serve with parmesan to taste.

DELISH! It was light but filling-- the lemony garlickly buttery sauce went so well with the rich sweetness of the scallops.

It helped that we were both starving when dinner was put on the table, but we cleaned our plates in no time!

My go-to salad

I pride myself on making salads that people like to eat.... even people who don't like salad! I have a few go-to salads that I tweak here and there, but they are definite crowd pleasers.

Tonight was no different.

Ingredients I used/ use:
- Arrugula (I mostly use baby spinach, and sometimes sub in baby mixed greens as well)
- dried cranberries (I swap out pretty much any fruit: apple, pear, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, nectarines, and pomegranate seeds have been in there)
- walnuts (pecans, almonds)
- shallots (or a few pieces of red onion)
- gorgonzola (or crumbed blue cheese, or even goat cheese depending on the fruit I use)
- poppyseed dressing

My "secret" is to toss whatever greens I am using in the dressing first. I don't use much dressing-- maybe only half or a third of what a serving size is. If the salad is tossed well, every leaf is coated with flavor and you don't need gobs of dressing (which is where all of the calories live in a salad). After it is tossed well, I add in 1/2 to 3/4 of the "toppings" and then toss again just once or twice. Then, the rest go on top so it looks pretty.

This salad-- no matter what combination of ingredients-- is great. It's a mix of sweet and spicy and tangy and sharp and mild flavors. It's great!

Fennel Apple Slaw

Last summer, my friends Lisa, Mandy, and I had a weekly True Blood supper club where we would get together to watch some vampire amazingness and try out new recipes. Every week we would rotate who would bring the salad, entree, and dessert. One week, Lisa brought an amazing fennel apple slaw that I have been making every few weeks since.

It is incredibly easy to make and the light crisp flavors of the apple mixed with the rich licorice of the fennel and salty parmesan are just incredible!

Serves four as a side salad (or two with lunch the next day).
1 bulb fennel chopped (it doesn't matter the way you chop as long as you make the pieces the same size and shape as the apple)
1 apple chopped-- I've used granny smith or golden delicious.
Juice from one lemon
2 TBSP olive oil
large handful of italian parsley-- roughly chopped
quarter cup of parmesan (shredded or shaved)
Salt and pepper to taste


Even Tim liked this when I served it with the mac and cheese-- I consider that a feat!

Per request of Tim: "Mac and Crap"

"Mac and Crap" started a few months ago when Tim was trying to text me about a delicious lunch he had, but he couldn't quite remember how to spell cheese. Is it two e's, two s's... I can see what it would be confusing (sorta). Anyway, to simplify matters, "Mac and Crap" was born. We're both big fans (in fact, on our first date, Tim wined and dined me with a box of Kraft Deluxe. Pretty impressive)  and scout out the best dishes around town. There's "Mac and Cheese Mondays" at Z'Marik's,  the bacon surprise at Blackstone, the home-baked gooey deliciousness at Atlas, and Panera's bowl of creaminess.

Needless to say, I strive to make a good Mac and Crap at home, too. I've made it a bunch of different ways with a bunch of different cheese blends, but this week I decided to try something new. For one thing, I actually followed a recipe to the T! It is weird to say that. Anyway, I channeled the beloved Pioneer Woman and made this lovely recipe-- based on her recommended spices, I added dried mustard, thyme, and a dash of cayenne. 

It was really tasty and the perfect texture-- actually I snuck a few bites before I put it in the oven and I almost liked it more then. Next time I might just serve it straight from the pot.

Usually I like cheese blends, but something about the unbridled flavor of the extra sharp cheddar was very nice. Also it provided a much better (and more mac & cheese like) color than my Italian mac would. I think I might like to try this recipe with white cheddar (and maybe nutmeg instead of thyme?)

Overall, a delicious comforting meal! Five stars all around.

I love myself

Today I am feeling super in love with myself. Mostly because I just made myself the most incredible dinner. I've been in a funk at work lately and when I got home today I decided I needed a treat!

So-- I channeled Ina Garten and tried out her Steakhouse Steak recipe. I've always struggled with knowing how long to cook meat (red meat especially) since we were largely vegetarian growing up. Last summer, Tim and I experimented with my grill non-stop and though we had perfected just about every dish, I have since forgotten all cooking times and temps. Oh well, I can practice again soon enough. Anyway, I have never successfully prepared a steak indoors.... until tonight!

It turns out that a quick sear in a screaming hot pan and popping a little filet in the oven is all you need. My filet was perfect tonight-- tender, flavorful thanks to the bite of cracked pepper and sea salt, and perfectly pink inside.

YUM.

On the side, I had roasted red potatoes which I tossed in olive oil, dusted in herbs, S&P and roasted on a sheet pan at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes plus however long the steak was in there. I also made spinach with sauteed mushrooms and garlic for a little extra punch of iron and vitamin c.

To repeat. I love myself.

Caprese

When I lived in Rome, the food in our cafeteria was less than wonderful. With one exception-- we were given one mozzarella di buffula ball with each meal. This began my obsession with the mild soft amazing cheese -- which was also perfectly smokey (not like silly American mozzarella made with cow's milk). So, when I started seeing caprese salads on menus throughout the city, I had to try it. Let me tell you. There is nothing in the world as perfect as layers of fresh tomatoes, sweet basil, and smokey mozzarella drizzled in olive oil. NOTHING. The dish screams Italia-- in part because it literally looks like an Italian flag! But also because it incorporates the most important flavors in most Italian cooking.

Making caprese at home will never even come close to the amazingness I experience in fair Roma, but sometimes you've just got to go for second best.

Sunday, I used my leftover mozzarella pearls, some fresh basil from my windowsill, and some grape tomatoes for a little bowl of heaven. I added olive oil and coarse sea salt on top-- and because I was feeling fancy I added a teeny bit of balsamic vinegar but this is by no means required for caprese-- and if you are going for gluten free, definitely omit this part!

After finishing I almost felt like I was back on Via Trionfale heading to find some gelato.

Ciao!

Caprese Turkey Sliders

Last night I tried to cook something that was out of my comfort zone-- thankfully, I think it paid off. I was inspired by this recipe; however, you will find that I managed to change all of the flavors. Whoops.

Since I opted for an Italian version of this instead of Greek, I swapped out the feta cheese for fresh mozzarella balls and I swapped out the spinach for fresh basil (from my indoor herb garden!) I left in the sundried tomatoes, but I found ones that were not packed in oil, and I just pulsed them in the food processor until they were just tiny little specks. The leftovers that I did not use within the burgers I used in a roasted-garlic-sundried-tomato-pesto-aioli type thing to spread on the sliders. It was good, and I have a ton leftover which I can dip veggies in or spread on crackers or put on sandwiches. I can't wait.


Sliders before they hit the grill


If I did this again, I would put one mozzarella pearl in the center of each slider-- it was kind of messy to grill with the gooey melty cheese all over the place. Also, I might try it with ground chicken (which is what i really wanted but I couldn't find any at the store).

My two reviewers for the evening, Tim and Lisa, also thought they were great. Tim thought they reminded him of the smitten kitchen chicken meatballs I made about a month ago as well (and he loved those so I took it as a compliment).

On the side I had herb roasted new potatoes and a spinach salad.

Great expectations

I have been eying a recipe on smitten kitchen for a long time now and tonight I finally decided to try it out. I served asparagus, goat cheese, and lemon pasta because I really love all of those things (it also has tarragon... yum!) Other than fudging amounts here and there, I followed the recipe pretty much exactly. I also prepared salmon fillets in the oven (350 for 15 minutes, 1 TBSP butter, lemon juice, and tarragon on top). The entire meal took 15 minutes to prepare so that was a total bonus!

I loooove goat cheese (marry it and have many tangy creamy babies kind of love) so I was expecting to eat all eight servings of this and fend off any other potential feeders with my pasta tongs. But.......... it just fell a bit flat. I liked all of the flavors, but it wasn't as life-changing as I hoped. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy to have enough leftovers to provide me a healthy and tasty lunch the next few days, but I don't know how often I would repeat this recipe. 

Timmy was very excited to eat everything (obviously), but he was pretty wary of the pasta once he experienced the tang of the goat cheese. He wolfed down the salmon (I was also feeling "eh" about this), and then he actually suggested that next time I just do the asparagus in the goat cheese, lemon, and tarragon and I think I just might try it! If nothing else, it's really good to know how easily goat cheese melts and becomes an instant pasta sauce.

My "great expectations" weren't met, but it was still a healthy and pretty dinner with the boy I sorta like. Can't complain about that!

***Update-- I enjoyed the pasta served cold (I just added a bit more lemon juice, and salt) very much. I had it for lunch a few days in a row!