Raspberry Bounce

From www.cottagesmallholder.com: "Fiona’s Patent Raspberry Vodka Recipe"

I didn't think we'd have the patience for this one, but we made it. Three-plus months of waiting from the day we made this to actually be able to try it. Worth it! 

Joef got the idea from family members who made cherry bounce, and, as he is wont to do, decided to improvise. Not only does this make a sweet, yummy liqueur, it also is just fun to watch the process and have something in the cupboard you can check in on every month or so. The change in the color of the vodka is, as one might imagine, particularly dramatic.

Here's the recipe we used (can you tell it's British?):

300g of unfrozen raspberries
350g of white granulated sugar
1.5 liters (or more) of medium quality vodka (don’t be tempted to go for the cheapest)
Sterilized 2-liter bottle

Wash raspberries and discard any bruised/bad fruit. Place raspberries in the large, sterilized bottle, squeezing the berries through the neck of the bottle.

Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with vodka to 2-3cm from the top.

The fun part: shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer - at least three months. Then, enjoy the fruits - HAR! - of your labor!

Habanero Pina Coladas

Remember Joef's spicy birthday dinner over a month ago? Remember my mention of habanero pina coladas? Yeah, that's how behind I am on my posts. Well, there's nothing wrong with pina coladas in the middle of December, is there?

I know what you're thinking. Joef's penchant for spice has gone too far. There's no way this could be good. But let me tell you, this kid knows how to make a mixed drink, and he gets full credit for this one. And the citrus-y heat of the habanero is a great complement to pineapple and coconut.

It's a little deceptive at first - you expect sweet, and get heat. And believe me, it's hot. But it's also unique, creative, and really good.

The first step is to infuse rum with habaneros, which takes about two days. So plan ahead!

HABANERO RUM
750mL-1L Cachaca (type of Brazilian rum)
4 habaneros, tops cut off

Drop the habaneros into the bottle of rum. Let sit for 2 days. Remove the habaneros.

PINA COLADA
For one drink: in a cocktail shaker, mix two parts rum with 3 parts pineapple juice. Add about 2 tbsp cream of coconut, or to taste. Shake with ice and pour into a small glass. Enjoy!

Shrimp and Chicken Etouffee

(adapted from www.simplyrecipes.com)


I have no idea if this tastes anything like a true etouffee, but I scarfed it down nonetheless. Maybe it's just because I love shrimp. Love it. But the other thing I loved about this was the flavor of the sweet paprika. And the addition of the tender chicken thighs (to placate my shrimp-neutral husband, tsk!) made it extra-savory and delicious. Plus, etouffee always makes me think of the Broadway Oyster Bar in St. Louis, which catered our wedding. Can't beat that!

I didn't have any Cajun seasoning, as the original recipe called for. A Google search found a recipe for Cajun seasoning that included salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, thyme, sweet basil, and bayleaf. I wasn't about to make five cups of the stuff, so I just sort of sprinkled a selection of those ingredients in at will. Which doesn't make this the most easy or, um, reliable recipe, but hey - season according to taste!

1/4 cup vegetable oil
Heaping 1/4 cup flour
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 large celery stalk, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped into small bites
5 cups chicken broth, hot
A combination of cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and basil, totaling about 1 tbsp - plus more cayenne
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1/2-3/4 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
Salt to taste
3 green onions, chopped

Start by making a roux (my friend David from Louisiana taught me this a few years back): heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the flour, leaving no clumps. Let this cook, continually stirring, until it browns, 5-10 minutes.

Add the celery, green pepper, jalapeno, and onion, and stir into the roux to coat. Cook this over medium for another four minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Next, add the garlic and and the chicken, and sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, black pepper, seasoned salt, and dried basil - and cook another 2 minutes.


Slowly add the hot chicken stock, stirring constantly so it incorporates. Add enough stock to make a sauce about the thickness of syrup, about 5 cups. Add more cayenne, along with celery salt and paprika, and mix well. Sprinkle in more of the spices as desired. Add salt to taste, then stir in the shrimp. Cover the pot, turn the heat to its lowest setting, and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered. 

Add the green onions and hot sauce to taste for garnish. Serve over brown rice.

Three-Pepper Burmese Chicken Curry

(adapted from Dave DeWitt's 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes)

Joef turned 29 this year, and to celebrate, we hosted a spicy potluck dinner party. We stocked our fridge with ice cream and whole milk, turned to Dave DeWitt, and used spice with reckless abandon. We even made spicy drinks - bloody Marys and (to be posted soon) habanero pina coladas (surprisingly great). Our friends all brought (delicious) spicy dishes, from peanut noodles to what was described to me as Indian "sloppy Joes". Seriously, our friends can cook - the food was awesome.

I randomly selected this Burmese Chicken Curry. I've been really promoting cookbooks lately, and I'll do it again - DeWitt's book is really, really good. We haven't had a so-so recipe from it yet. This was delicious. I probably wouldn't make it this spicy again (it won spiciest for the night) - Joef, of course, disagrees - and the flavors were awesome. Which is actually pretty lucky, because I accidentally swapped the proportions for the paprika and the turmeric...pretty significant error, which turned out totally OK. So - below is my (accidentally) adapted recipe, with the heat turned WAY up (to turn it down, substitute red pepper flakes for habanero, and regular oil for the Naga-Jolokia infused). Can't wait to make this one again.

(You could pretty easily make this vegetarian - just swap the chicken for cauliflower and/or potato, right?)

(Warning - the fish sauce smells awful. Really awful. I promise it will taste great.)

For eight or more servings:

5 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground turmeric
8 tbsp fish sauce
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
8 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
4 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced
1 tsp paprika, plus a little more
2 tsp habanero flakes
1 cup plus 4 tbsp water, divided
1 jalapeno, stems removed, minced
6 tbsp Naga Jolokia-infused peanut oil
2 large/medium tomatoes, chopped
2-3 cups brown rice
1 tbsp rice flour (optional and if needed)

Wash the chicken and pat it dry with a paper towel. Place the chicken in a deep dish. In a separate bowl, mix the salt, paprika, and fish sauce, then pour over the chicken. Marinate the chicken in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

In a food processor or blender, blend the onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, chile flakes, 4 tbsp of the water, and the jalapeno, plus a few shakes of paprika, until it turns into a coarse paste.

In a large, deep frying pan, heat the oil over medium. Add the paste and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken and tomatoes, and stir fry for 15 minutes or so. Add the rest of the water, partially (mostly) cover the pan, and cook over medium-low for about 25 minutes, until the chicken is done and the sauce has thickened. (My friend Archana taught me a trick - if it's not thickening the way you want it to, you can take a little bit of the sauce out of the pan, add 1 tbsp or so of rice flour, stir them together until blended, and then return the combination to the pan and stir it in.)

When the chicken is ready, remove the drumsticks from the pan, remove the meat from the bone, and return to the pan. Allow to simmer for a few more minutes, then serve over rice. And wash it down with whole milk.

Pasta with Eggplant and Ricotta, Sicilian-Style

(adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

I've raved about Marcella before, but man. She just never fails. I could randomly point to a recipe in her book, and it would be amazing. If I could have only one cookbook for the rest of my life, it'd be this one.

I obviously have a pasta bias, and this recipe was great, because it was a little different from the usual pastas I make. More steps than the usual pasta, too - but worth it.

Usually I follow Marcella's recipes to the letter, but I accidentally bought too little eggplant (one instead of two - although one ended up fine), and didn't have any romano cheese (substitute parmesan). I did, however, actually peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds, steps I usually would have skipped. Worth it!

1-2 Italian eggplants (preparation required)
Salt
Vegetable oil
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 onion, sliced very thin
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
5 Italian plum tomatoes, skinned with a peeler, split lengthwise to pick out the seeds, and cut into narrow strips
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp grated romano cheese (alt: parmesan)
3 tbsp skim ricotta (mmm, I am newly a big fan of ricotta)
8-10 fresh basil leaves
3/4 lb pasta
Grated parmesan for serving

Start by prepping the eggplant. Cut off the spiky cap. Peel the eggplant and cut into 1.5-inch cubes. Place the cubes in a colander and set over a paper towel, then sprinkle cubes liberally with salt. Let the eggplant sit for at least a 1/2 hour and up to 1 hour. This draws out the bitterness of the eggplant.

Rinse the eggplant cubes in cold water, then dry them in a paper towel in batches - you can put them in the paper towel and squeeze them gently, almost like you're wringing them out. Set aside once you've rinsed all of them.

Put enough vegetable oil in a large frying pan to come up about 1/2 an inch on the sides of the pan. Turn the heat to medium-high. Once the oil is very hot, slip in the eggplant pieces and fry them until the pieces feel tender when prodded with a fork. Transfer with a slotted spatula to a plate lined with a paper towel.

Pour the oil out of the frying pan and wipe clean with paper towels. Add the olive oil and sliced onion, and turn the heat to medium-high. Saute the onion until it turns light gold in color and begins to caramelize, then add the chopped garlic and cook for just a few seconds, stirring.

Add the tomato, turn the heat to high, and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring, until the oil floats free from the tomato (this will make sense when you see it).

Add the eggplant and a few grindings of pepper, stir, and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for just a minute or so more, stirring a couple times. Taste and add salt if needed.

Toss the cooked and drained pasta with the sauce, add the romano/parmesan, the ricotta, and the basil leaves. Toss again to coat the pasta, and serve with grated parmesan.

Coconut Chicken Curry

Well, I said to stay tuned for coconut chicken curry, in the style of the St. Louis Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Grand. They make absolutely the best coconut chicken curry I've ever had, and it's totally different from any other coconut curry I've had, too. It's...coconuttier...um...well, it's creamier. I don't know, it's just delicious.

So when I made the Chile Chicken with Lime and Coconut Milk, I had, for the first time, at least an inkling of how to even go about making a curry like that. (Yeah, this is a pretty close replica of that recipe.) I'm not going to say I totally got there. Maybe I didn't even get close. But it was good, and it was a start.

If anyone has eaten at Pho Grand, and has better ideas on how to do this, I'm wide open! For now:

1.5 cups brown rice
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 white onion, cut in half and sliced
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp madras curry powder
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp salt, or to taste
2 stalks lemongrass, chopped
3-4 dried hot chile peppers, crushed
4 chicken thighs
Tomatoes slices for garnish
Cucumber slices for garnish

Combine all of the ingredients in a large pan, spooning the sauce over the chicken. Cook, covered, over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the chicken is cooked and tender. The sauce will thicken. Turn off the heat, remove the chicken thighs, and remove the meat from the bones. Return the chicken to the sauce in the pan, stir and heat again for a few minutes or until heated, over medium. Serve over brown rice, with tomatoes and cucumbers for garnish.

Pappardelle with Veal Ragu

(adapted from the Chicago Tribune)

I was home a few weekends back for my best friend's wedding (hooray, Ali and Patrick!!), and Joef and I were lucky enough to enjoy a homemade meal with my parents while we were at it. My dad made something new for us - a recipe out of the Chicago Tribune newspaper. An unlikely source, admittedly - and it just goes to show that you shouldn't rule anything out, because this is fantastic. It's perfect for fall weekend evenings, when you have a little time and feel like filling your home with delicious aromas. And when it's time to eat, that's even better.

So this does have a slightly longer cooking time than most of my recipes. It's worth it, though. Joef scarfed it down both at my parents' house, and when we made it at home a week later. (So did I.) The veal makes it a little more delicate than beef (which you could use, if you wanted...ohhhh, or lamb...), but it's still very hearty. And even though it has a longer cooking time, it's mostly a prep-and-wait kind of thing - not too much to do once you've put it on the stove.

For six servings:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 carrots, finely sliced (or equivalent in baby carrots - 10 or so)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, halved and finely sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 pound pancetta, thickly sliced, and then diced
1 lb veal shoulder, cut into bite-size pieces (I actually could only find pre-chopped veal stew, which worked fine. I still cut the cubes into even smaller pieces - halved them, in most cases.)
1 cup dry red wine
1 28 oz can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 sprig rosemary (or equivalent dried)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (I added another 1/2 tsp or so habanero flakes)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 lb pappardelle
Freshly grated parmesan

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil over medium heat in a large Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onion, celery, and garlic, along with salt and pepper, and cook until softened. Set aside (you could also just leave it all in the pot and be fine). Add 2 more tbsp of the olive oil and add the pancetta, and cook, stirring, until it begins to brown. Add the veal and cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the wine and cook, stirring, for about a minute before adding the reserved onions/carrots/celery/garlic, then the tomatoes, broth, rosemary, and red pepper. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil, crushing the whole tomatoes with a wooden spoon against the sides of the pot. Reduce the heat to low.

Simmer, stirring every now and then, for about 1 1/4 hours. Add the balsamic and taste for seasoning.

Cook your pasta and drain. When it's done, combine with the sauce and toss to coat. Serve with grated parmesan and enjoy!

Coconut-Lime Semifreddo

Man, I am behind on everything lately. Well, behind on Cucina posts, and behind on my "52 Weeks of Pancake" series on Flickr (contrary to what you might expect, not food-related).

Back when it was blazing-hot and The Bachelorette was still on (yes, I know, for shame), our friend Jessica invited the gals over for, what else, The Bachelorette - and some delicious eats. She had sangria made with rose, peaches, pears, etc.; salad with tzatziki dressing (best idea ever); slices of french bread, baked with slices of brie and topped with a sweet onion chutney; and this, coconut-lime semifreddo. Pretty damn impressive menu, right? I wanted to make everything - and so far, I've made this!

It's kind of a fascinating dish to make. I mean, it's like ice cream, but it's not. And even on that super-hot day when she made it, it hardly got melty. So it's a nice alternative to ice cream, in that season.

Her semifreddo turned out better than mine, I admit - I had a few spots where I didn't mix the condensed milk in quite enough and those spots got a tad sweet. Overall, though, it was delicious - a really yummy, different, refreshing, and impressive-looking dessert.

By the way, this makes enough for entertaining - you eat it in thin slices, and the recipe makes a bread-sized loaf. It was pretty hilarious making it for just Joef and myself.

So, here is Jessica's recipe:

1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon finely-grated lime zest
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1/2 ripe mango (the riper, the better)

Line a 4 1/2-by-8 1/2-inch loaf pan with parchment paper (I used aluminum foil - it works, but it's less than optimal - your semifreddo will come out crinkly). Toast coconut flakes by putting them in a frying pan over medium heat and tossing occasionally until they just start to get golden brown. Prepare a large bowl of ice water.

In a medium saucepan, combine coconut and condensed milk and bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened, 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lime zest and salt. Place saucepan in bowl of ice water and stir until mixture is cool, 4 minutes.

In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat cream on high until stiff peaks form, 2 minutes. Gently fold whipped cream into the coconut milk mixture. Pour into loaf pan; evenly sprinkle coconut on top. freeze until firm, 6 hours (or covered up to 3 days). Let sit 20 minutes before serving (it's better this way, believe me). Invert onto serving platter. Layer mango on top. Enjoy!

Infusions: Arancello and Limecello

One of the nicest memories from our honeymoon in Italy a couple of years back is of sitting on our private roof deck in Vernazza, sipping locally-made limoncello. Fruit liqueurs and aperitifs are apparently de rigeur (my, what a lot of French words for a post about another country) in Italy - we found them everywhere, and all kinds - strawberry, lime, orange - and they were just perfect for sitting back in the late afternoon and taking everything in. They are inherently summery - sweet, best served chilled, and just...fun.

Joef is somewhat of a mixmaster...no, mixologist, that's it. He understands the ways drinks come together and is great at concoctions. He can taste a delicious mixed drink at a restaurant, then go make it from scratch at home. So, recently he decided to take a crack at making our own fruit liqueurs. He did an arancello and - something we'd never see before - limecello. They took patience - the peeling/grating of the fruit, letting it sit for weeks and checking it daily, adding sugar and letting it sit again - and the patience paid off. So delicious and fun. Now we have fruit liqueur of our very own, and can be tranported back to Vernazza - well, almost - any time we want. Here's how he did it:

ARANCELLO:
Peels from 10 oranges (with as little of the white stuff as possible)
1 liter vodka
Combine, and let sit in a cool, dry, dark place for two weeks. After two weeks, remove the orange peels, and add simple syrup:
2 cups water

15 spoonfuls of white sugar

(Combine water and sugar in a small pot over medium heat, and stir until dissolved. Reduce the mixture to about 1 1/2-3/4 cup.) Allow to cool before adding to vodka. Allow to sit for another week, then refrigerate and enjoy!

LIMECELLO:
Same instructions, but grate the peels of 10 limes.

See? We're back!

Chile Chicken with Lime and Coconut Milk

(adapted from Dave DeWitt's 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes)

Man, I am not doing so well on this whole blogging thing lately, am I? Somehow I've been having trouble coordinating the new recipe lookup with grocery shopping...and now I feel like I'm repeating myself from a previous post...rut, anyone? Well, this one snapped me out of it a bit. The best part is that I think it gave me a hint as to how to prepare one of my favorite restaurant dishes - a coconut curry that I've only been able to find at a Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Grand, in St. Louis (stay tuned for that one).

This was really good and really simple. All the ingredients just get thrown into a pan and left for awhile, and then you eat! It was so good that I actually enjoyed eating it with brown rice. Now that's a testimonial.

I think next time I'd either leave out the limes, or I'd certainly remove them before serving. And if the grocery store hadn't been out of lemongrass, that would've been a great addition. Even with that, it was tasty, satisfying, and a nice change of pace - especially with how little effort it required.

So:
5 chicken drumsticks (or equivalent chicken parts of your choice)
2 cups coconut milk (about 1 can)
1/2 tsp turmeric
4 shallots, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp salt
1 stalk lemongrass (optional, but preferred)
1/4-1/2 lime, slice in rounds
2-4 dried hot chiles (DeWitt calls for Santaka; I used tien tsin), crushed

Combine all of the ingredients in a large pan, spooning the sauce over the chicken. Cook, covered, over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the chicken is cooked and tender. The sauce will thicken. Remove limes and serve over brown rice.

Pesto-Baked Chicken

(adapted from Saveur magazine)

I'm super-excited right now because I just ordered a subscription to Saveur magazine. I've clearly missed the fact that magazine subscriptions don't make a ton of sense in a world where you can find nearly-identical content online, but hey, why not buck the trend? I picked one up for a flight home, found a coupon for a cheap subscription, and there you go. I mean, the feature was pesto. Pesto, people! Pages and pages of pesto...

Among those pages I found this recipe for pesto-rubbed chicken. The recipe is really intended for the grill (which I do think would kick it up a notch, as they say), and they offered a baked alternative for those of us without a backyard. It's a nice variation, and an easy variation to make - just whip up some pesto, spread it under the chicken's skin, bake, spread a little on top of the chicken, bake a little more, and serve. I omitted the pine nuts, since I am just not a fan.

(The magazine also had a one-page photo and story of the Oak Park Farmers' Market donuts, which is SO awesome, because my mom and I used to ride our bikes there every Saturday morning and eat donuts and fresh raspberries on the curb while listening to the live bluegrass band. Once we even volunteered and helped to sugar the donuts in the basement kitchen!)

Also, this recipe marks Joef's and my official transition to adulthood, as we accompanied this chicken with...wait for it...brown rice. That's right, folks, we've officially made the switch. I sort of love white rice (esp. with a little parmesan cheese), but you know, sometimes you have to move on. Whole grains and all that business. Yes, it's brown rice from here on out for Joef and Julia.

So:

2 cups packed basil

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1 clove garlic, quartered

4 chicken thighs

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 475.

Using your fingers, loosen skin from meat on chicken and spread half the pesto in between skin and meat. Transfer chicken to a baking sheet and season generously with salt and pepper.

 

Cook chicken in the oven, skin side up, for 25 minutes; rub with remaining pesto and cook until chicken is cooked/juices no longer run pink.

Serve with brown (!) rice and arugula salad.

Infusions: Fire Oil

Let the Naga Saga continue! Har!

Joef's next creation in this series was Naga-Jolokia-infused oils. We made three types: olive oil, sesame, and peanut. We used slightly different proportions in each one - olive oil was mildest, peanut the hottest. In general, we used two ghost peppers for two cups of oil, and then added a few bird peppers for some more flavor. 

The oils turned out great, and to be honest, not as hot as we expected. For example, I used the infused olive oil to make a white clam sauce (and added shrimp - SO good!), a fairly oil-intensive dish, and it wasn't spicy at all. However, if you use it as a dipping sauce, there's more heat. So, next time we do this, we're going to add more peppers per cup of oil, and we're also going to leave the peppers in the oil for a couple of days before removing them - as we learned from the vodka, it takes a little time for the heat to seep out.

 So, for two cups of oil:

2 ghost peppers, halved

4 or so bird peppers, halved

Heat the oil in a wok. When the oil is hot, drop in the peppers. Let them cook for about 10 minutes, then remove the oil from the heat. Let the oil cool, then pour into glass containers (containers should be boiled before use).

The peppers are very, very, very hot - so take the proper precautions. We probably overdid it a little with the face masks, but the latex gloves were definitely a good plan. And don't touch your face!

Looking forward to using these oils in stir fries and more!

Infusions: Fire Vodka

Joef's dreams came true this past week when our friend Jonathan brought back a bag of Naga Jolokia peppers from India. Apparently, he got past security, who told him it was a biological weapon, by telling them the peppers were for "research". And in a way, they were.

We spent the weekend experimenting with these peppers and another bag of what we think are bird peppers, and Joef was in heaven. We made (spoiler alert!) three types of oil, and this vodka, which eventually we'll use for Bloody Marys.

This pepper was really interesting, because so far it's interacted really differently with the vodka than, say, the habaneros and jalapenos we usually use to make homemade pepper vodka. It's taken more time for the color of the peppers to start to bleed out into the vodka, and it's been flavoring the vodka much more gradually. We take a little sip every other day or so, and it is starting to kick up considerably.

As for the recipe: one handle vodka, four naga jolokia peppers with the tops cut off. Pop 'em in and wait for the fun to start.

New Look!

As you can see, La Piccina Cucina has a new look! This is partially the result of me accidentally deleting/not being able to retrieve the old look, but hey, let's call that an opportunity for an upgrade.

Spaghetti with Shrimp and Spicy Tomato Sauce

I need to think of a cooler-sounding/shorter name for this delicious dish. Any votes? My dad makes something similar, usually on Christmas Eve, except his also has scallops and calamari (drool). And he also used to make "shrimp sauce spaghetti" fairly regularly when I was little, now that I think of it.

Shrimp is (are?) one my favorite things. I'm a total sucker for any menu item that mentions shrimp. Grocery shopping the other day, I was thinking about this, and then I realized that I no longer have to be at the mercy of a restaurant menu. I can just cook with shrimp. Anything I want. Any time. Mountains and mountains of succulent shrimp...or, to be more reasonable, I suppose, a handful or so cooked in a spicy tomato sauce.

The husband has returned (hooray!), and he, while not an insane shrimp enthusiast, loved this dish, too. So it's a crowd-pleaser, to boot.

Here's how:

3/4-1 lb spaghetti (angel hair would be great, too, or linguine fine)
1/4 cup olive oil
5-7 small/medium cloves garlic
Red pepper flakes
Ground cayenne pepper
3 small tomatoes, chopped and lightly salted
1 small can tomato sauce
Splash of white wine
25 or so uncooked shrimp, peeled and with tails removed
Dried or fresh parsley

Combine the olive oil and garlic in a pan over medium heat. Sprinkle in red pepper flakes to taste, and a pinch or two of cayenne. Let the garlic cook for a couple of minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes. Let the tomatoes cook with a garlic for a couple minutes, then stir in the tomato sauce. Start the water boiling for your spaghetti. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Partially cover if it seems like the sauce is evaporating. Stir occasionally.

When the water boils, add the spaghetti. About 4-5 minutes before the noodles are done, add a splash of white wine to the sauce and turn the heat back up to medium. About 2-3 minutes before the noodles are done, add the shrimp to the sauce and cook until they pink and plump; sprinkle in a pinch of parsley. Turn off the heat, drain the pasta and add it to the sauce pan.

Tortellini with Sage Brown Butter

(from Mario Batali)

Mario Batali, you officially have a new fan. I mean, I have been dying to go to Eataly. Other than that, I wasn't entirely sold (this opinion was clearly based on zero evidence). But then there was the papalina recipe. And now, this. And now, I'm completely won over. I want to go buy all the cookbooks you've ever written, Batali.

I've always wanted to make a sage brown butter sauce. I've tried. But something wasn't right - the recipe sounded way too heavy on the butter (it is butter sauce, I suppose), or I burned the butter, or there wasn't enough sauce. But I did a quick Google search tonight, Batali's was the first one, and what I saw finally looked right.

The secret ingredient was lemon juice. Something to cut the butter. Something to give it a little zip and make it into a real sauce. The addition of parmesan didn't hurt, either.

This is so, so easy. And so, so good. Just...satisfying. Subtle yet powerful at the same time. And for a butter sauce, it doesn't feel overly buttery or heavy, either. It takes as long to make as it takes to cook pasta. Are you sold yet?

8 oz dried tortellini
2 tbsp butter
4 sage leaves
Juice from about 1/4-1/3 of a lemon
1/4 or so grated parmesan (I used a tad less)

While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a saute pan, and cook over medium heat until the thinnest liquid of the butter starts to get golden brown. Add the sage leaves and remove from heat, then squeeze the lemon juice directly into the pan. Set aside.

Drain your pasta, reserving just a bit (less than a 1/4 cup) of pasta water. Pour pasta into the saute pan with a little pasta water and return to heat. Toss to coat, add the cheese, and toss to coat again. Heaven!

Pasta alla Papalina, with Homemade Noodles

(Pasta recipe from Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking"; papalina recipe from Mario Batali)

I'm not going to sugar-coat this. My first solo pasta-making experience was kind of a hot mess, process-wise. The end result was good, but what it took to get there was less than pretty.

Frankly, I was surprised, because I've been making pasta (lasagna noodles) with my mom for Christmas for years. Since I can remember, really. And, I mean, it's a process - it takes awhile, etc. - but it's pretty smooth sailing.

The same cannot be said when I went it alone. The first thing that went wrong was breaking the eggs into the flour. Marcella says to just make a little "bowl" out of flour, right on the countertop, and break the eggs into it, then mix. I made my flour bowl all wrong, and the eggs went pouring out the side:

 Yeah. It just got worse after I took this picture. Lots of fun to clean up. I started over with a bowl, and made a much better (deeper, wider) flour bowl this time:

Things went smoothly after this for awhile. I slowly incorporated the flour into the eggs. It was still pretty sticky, so I added more flour. And then more. And then some more. Still sticky. More flour. You get the idea. Finally, I got to this:

I then divided it into smaller pieces to run through the pasta maker:

And those eventually became this:

That doesn't look so bad, you might say. But the thing was that the pasta just stayed sticky. The whole time. When it came time to run these pieces through the noodle-making attachment of the pasta maker (there I made another, unforgivable, inconceivable error - I rinsed the attachment off. I got it wet, and it took forever, and all kinds of experimenting, to get it dry), they just got stuck everywhere - to themselves, to the pasta maker, to me. I even quadrupled, at least, the drying time. No dice. Eventually, I just ended up hand-cutting them.

There is a line in Marcella's cookbook that says, "allow the strips...to dry for 10 minutes or more, depending on the temperature and ventilation of your kitchen". I remember reading that and scoffing. Who does Marcella think I am, I thought, that I have the skill and time to consider the temperature and ventilation of my kitchen? Pah! Well, Marcella, as usual, was right. The difference between making pasta in the middle of dry, cold December, and making it in the middle of hot, humid August, is - clearly - huge. Yes, I will blame my difficulty on the weather.

Like I said, the end result - the taste and texture - was great. Worth it. And the papalina! Mostly, I just love to say - and write - that word. But also, it's delicious. Slightly lighter than carbonara, and a nice pop with the peas. Definitely a make-again.

Sheesh, want the recipe, already?

HOMEMADE PASTA NOODLES (for 3/4 lb pasta; pasta maker with roller required)
1 cup flour
2 large eggs

Pour the flour on a work surface, if you're brave, or into a bowl, if you know better. Shape the flour into a mound and hollow out the center, making sure it's deep enough and wide enough to fit two eggs. Break the eggs into the hollow.

Beat the eggs with a fork, gently. Slowly draw a little flour into the eggs, little by little, and mix the eggs and flour as you go until the eggs are no longer runny. Draw the sides of the mound together with your hands and work the eggs and flour together with your hands until the eggs and flour are combined. Add more flour if you think it's too moist.

You can test the moistness of your dough by pressing your dry, clean thumb deep into the center of the mass and seeing if it comes out clean. If it does, you don't need any more flour and you can move ahead.

The next step is to knead the dough. With your hands. Always knead in the same direction. Do this for about 8-10 minutes.

Divide the dough (you can cut it with a knife) into six equal parts. Set up your machine with a clean, dry dishtowel or tablecloth nearby. Set the pair of rollers on the machine at their widest setting. Flatten one of the pieces of dough by pounding it with your hand, then run it through the machine. Fold the dough twice, into a third of its length, and then feed it narrow-end-first into the machine again. Do this 2-3 more times, then lay the flattened piece of pasta on the towel and repeat with the other five pieces. Don't let the pieces touch one another.

Adjust the pair of rollers on the machine down one notch (one notch tighter). Run each piece of pasta through the machine once, this time without folding, narrow-end-first.

Repeat this process, going one notch tighter, until you reach the desired thickness. I stopped at the second-to-last notch, because mine were so sticky that they would've started to fall apart if they were any thinner.

You'll see the pasta get progressively thinner and longer as you go.

Once you're done with the thinning, let the strips dry for 10 or more minutes...or, you know, an hour, if your kitchen is hot and humid. They shouldn't be so dry that they crack when cut, but they shouldn't stick to one another.

In theory, at this point you would attach the noodle-cutting contraption and run each piece through the machine. Or, you can cut it with a knife.

Fresh-made noodles cut really, really quickly. Gather the pasta in a single towel and slide them into boiling, salted water. They will become whiter when they're ready - eyeball it, and taste a couple, to know they're al dente.

PASTA ALLA PAPALINA
3 tbsp or so olive oil
3 oz or so sliced prosciutto, cut or torn into squares/strips
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 large eggs
1/2-3/4 lb pasta
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Ground black pepper

Combine half the oil and the prosciutto in a pan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the prosciutto has rendered some of its fat and is golden brown. Remove from the heat and stir in the peas.

Cook the pasta and drain it, reserving about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. (Guess who forgot this step?)

Whisk the eggs together in a medium bowl to break them up, then whisk in the remaining olive oil and half of the reserved pasta water.

Add the pasta to the prosciutto and peas and stir and toss over medium heat to mix well. Add the egg, remove from the heat, and toss vigorously to slightly cook the eggs (add a splash or two more of the reserved pasta water if necessary to loosen the sauce). Stir in the parmesan, season with pepper, and serve immediately with grated cheese on the side.

Cucumber Lemonade

(adapted from The Berghoff)

My dearest friend Ali is getting married to a wonderful guy, Patrick, this October. Last winter I had the pleasure of going to a few tastings with them in Chicago as they chose their caterer. They decided on the The Berghoff, a Chicago tradition, which featured, among other things, a wicked cucumber lemonade. I've been wanting to make it since December, and finally got around to it. Lucky for me, The Berghoff features this recipe on its website.

Now, their recipe makes a full gallon of lemonade. Even halving the recipe, I didn't have a pitcher large enough to fit all of it. So I basically left most of the water out (which is why the picture is so very green), and then added water and ice to each glass when I served it.

This is the most refreshing drink. I'm not really that big a fan of lemonade, but this wins me over. The perfect summer beverage. And, if you wanted to really spice things up, I bet it'd be great mixed with some Hendricks gin.

For half a gallon:

3 large cucumbers (technically, halving their recipe would call for two cucumbers, but I wanted more), sliced into a few pieces

10 lemons

6 cups of water

1.5 cups raw sugar

Pinch of salt

Puree the cucumbers in a blender or food processor (you may need to do this in chunks). Strain the liquid through a thin sieve into a large pitcher. Add the juice of the lemons and the sugar; stir to dissolve. Add the water, a pinch of salt, and stir again.

Serve over a glass of ice. You can garnish with a slice of lemon, cucumber, or mint. Sip in the rocking chair on your front porch.

Pasta alla Gricia

So, there are a few basic Roman dishes that are all fairly simple variations on one another. There's all'amatriciana (tomato, onion, pancetta), carbonara (romano/parmesan cheese, egg, pancetta), cacio e pepe (romano cheese and black pepper), arrabbiata (tomatoes, chili, pancetta), alla papalina (romano cheese, black pepper, prosciutto, eggs...omg, why have I not made that yet?), alfredo (parmesan and butter)...and alla gricia, which is just romano, black pepper, and pancetta.

Now, while these seem like pretty simple concepts, and they are, there is a fair amount of hullaballoo over how to make them. It's mostly a traditionalist argument around what P.G. Wodehouse might refer to as "the purity of the turf". Add onion or shallots to carbonara? To amatriciana? Sacrilege! See? It's very serious.

I'm very much about food tradition and all, but there are certain realities of my kitchen, and a certain laxity in my spirit, I suppose, that leads me off the beaten path from time to time. In this case, I made pasta alla gricia with rigatoni instead of spaghetti (spaghetti would have been better, admittedly), and I used...sigh...a Kraft parmesan-romano grated cheese blend (it's real cheese, though - no fillers!) instead of a pecorino romano, which also probably would've been better. Some argue for guianciale over pancetta; I used pancetta. Other than that, I stuck to the purist guns. As far as I know, at least.

This cooks up fast, too!

3/4 lb pasta

2 tbsp olive oil

2 thickish slices pancetta, diced

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

1 cup reserved pasta water

Plenty of ground black pepper

Get your water boiling. In a pan, combine your olive oil and pancetta over medium, and cook until slightly browned. Set aside/remove from heat. 

Meanwhile, cook your pasta, setting aside the cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and add directly to the pan with the pancetta, tossing to coat. Add the cheese and toss to coat again. If it's dry, add pasta water. Add plenty of black pepper, tossed in, and serve with more grated cheese.

Pasta Salad with Salmon

My folks, aunt, and uncle were in town this past weekend, and thanks to that, I re-discovered one of my favorite summer recipes of my mom's. It's very similar to Salmon Salad, except that it omits the beans and adds pasta (which I'm always in favor of, obviously - nothing against beans, but pasta is my...um...bread and butter?).

This is seriously so good - the perfect summer recipe, because the only stove time is to boil some water for the pasta, beans, and eggs (which you can do in the same pot, if you're clever like my Ma). This recipe has changed over the years - we used to not use avocado or arugula; used lettuce, used peas, used tuna...you can really make it however you like. It's light, delicious, and relatively healthy. We top it (surprise!) with grated parmesan cheese, which really puts it over the edge.

Serves 5.

3/4 lb baby shells (bowtie pasta is really good for this, too)
Handful and a half or so green beans, cleaned and rinsed
3 eggs
10-15 baby carrots, sliced thin
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
1 container grape tomatoes, halved
2 cans or packages salmon
A few handfuls of arugula
Olive oil
White balsamic vinegar (lighter in flavor than regular balsamic; alternately, you can use fresh lemon juice)
Ground black pepper
Grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Place three eggs into the pot you'll use to cook the pasta in and add water for cooking the pasta. Bring to a boil, then add the pasta and the green beans.

Meanwhile, in a very large salad bowl, combine carrots, avocado, and grape tomatoes. Add the salmon and mix together.

When the pasta is ready, remove from heat. Drain the pasta and green beans and rinse with cold water. Remove the eggs and place in a bowl of cold water to cool. When the eggs have cooled, peel them, remove the yolks (unless you don't want to), and cube the egg whites into the salad bowl. Add the pasta and green beans.

Next, dress the salad. Oy, I wish I had actual measurements here for ya. You will use more olive oil than you probably would think - the ingredients soak it up well. Use the olive oil and balsamic in approximately a 2:1 ratio of oil to vinegar. I just watched my dad pour on the olive oil - I want to say it was at least 1/4 cup. Add olive oil, then balsamic, then toss to coat. Taste and adjust as needed.

Finally, add the arugula, along with just a splash more olive oil and vinegar. Grate in a little black pepper to taste. Toss to combine and serve!

Arugula Pesto

I'd like to say that this is a recipe that I've been dying to try for months, and the truth is that it's more like I've been avoiding making it. I want to say I saw it at least a year ago in a Mark Bittman article, where he explained that "pesto" needn't apply only to basil, but that it could be make with many other things, including asparagus and arugula.

Now, I love arugula. I love pesto. But I really, really, REALLY love pesto made with basil (no pine nuts, please!). So the thing is, it's hard to break away. It's hard to make the decision to make pesto, and then make it with something other than basil. Plus, I was skeptical about the bitterness of the arugula. Hence, arugula pesto went unmade.

But I got back from Wisconsin (so wonderful - friends, a wedding for a wonderful couple, and meals at both Osteria Papavero and Pizza Brutta) the other night and had a whole mess of arugula in the fridge that needed eatin'. And, it being summer and all, I decided to go for it.

I'm really glad I did. Yes, it's bitter. Yes, I used waaaaay to much garlic, and it was...powerful. And I really liked it. Basil remains my favorite, but that wasn't going to change. Aside from using it in pasta, I could see using it as a sandwich spread, maybe even on pizza. I saw one recipe where the cook added chickpeas to the pesto, ground up with the arugula. So yes, I'd definitely make it again.

For one, with lunch leftovers:
1/2 lb pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large clove garlic (I used two HUGE cloves...too much)
3 handfuls arugula
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated, plus more for serving
Salt to taste

Start your pasta cooking. In the meantime, combine the arugula, garlic, and olive oil in a food processor or blender. Blend into a pasta, scraping down the sides as needed. Pour into a small bowl and add the parmesan, and stir to combine.

When the pasta is ready and drained, stir in the pesto until the pasta is coated. Add salt, if you'd like, and serve with grated parmesan (or Romano!) cheese.

Pork Scallopine with Marsala

This recipe comes from my dad, who recently shared some of the ways that he likes to prepare that most inexpensive (yet still tasty) of meats, pork. He often turns them into scallopine, dusting them with flour and cooking them up with olive oil, butter, and a little something to deglaze the pan and give you some sauce.

Here's how he put it:
You can buy boneless pork cutlets (usually loin) for about $3-4 lb., sometimes less. The cutlets are about 1/4 thick. You simply pound them to make scalloppine, lightly dust them in flour, then fry them quickly in a little butter and olive oil with s&p [salt and pepper], move them to a platter, deglaze the pan with some Marsala (a dry sherry would work too), return the meat to the pan, and serve them up.

And that's pretty much it. It's a similar (almost identical) recipe to Lemon Chicken, one of my favorite dishes. You use Marsala/dry sherry instead of lemon, and pork instead of chicken. It's even more similar to lemon chicken the way I made it (confession time!) - I didn't have Marsala or dry sherry, so I just went ahead and used lemon anyway. But I've had it with the Marsala, and that's how I'd recommend making it.

I served mine with some pearled couscous with basil from a box (ahhhh!). This whole meal, which cost about $6.00 and was enough for dinner and full leftovers (or, would feed two for dinner), took about 20 minutes to make from prep to serving. And it tastes great. So there's really not a good reason not to make it!

Roughly 1 lb boneless pork loin, sliced into 1/4 inch scallopine
A plate of flour for dusting
A few pours of olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
Salt
Ground black pepper
1/4 cup or so Marsala or dry sherry (or, if you must, juice from 1 lemon)

Line up your scallopine next to one another. Cover in wax paper and pound with the bottom of a small saucepan. Dust the scallopine in the flour, shaking off the excess. Set aside.

Heat olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter melts and bubbles. Add a little salt and pepper. Add the scallopine in batches, turning each piece once so that each piece cooks through. They cook really, really fast. Seriously. Remove and do the next batch.

When you're done cooking the scallopine, add the Marsala to the pan - it will sizzle like mad - and scrape up the oil and any trimmings from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or spatula (leave them in there, just stir it up a little so it makes just a little sauce) - i.e., deglaze the pan. Turn the heat down and add the pork back to the pan, stirring around to coat. Serve!

"La Boulange" Poached Egg Hash

With Joef working in San Francisco this summer, I've had a couple of opportunities to go visit him in North Beach. You heard it hear first, folks - I am in love with that city. Oh my God. The weather is balmy and cool, the streets look European, and you can walk a few blocks and see sea lions off the pier. I mean, come on.

And the food is great, too. For breakfast, we went to a place called "La Boulange". Yes, it's a chain, and they have a lovely menu, and this little condiment area with jars of jam, NUTELLA, olives, cornichons - all kinds of things that you can take bits of back to your table. Plus, they serve their cappuccino in deep, round bowls, which is just plain decadent.

I've now been there twice, and both times, we've both gotten their poached egg hash (with bacon, not sausage). It makes a great breakfast - it's just two eggs over zucchini, yellow squash, and cannellini beans, plus bacon and some herbs. And since it was easy, and easily replicated, I made it here at home. I decided to add some onion and tomato, and to replace the herbs with just a little salt and pepper. As I'm writing this, I realized I completely forgot the bacon part. It's good vegetarian - and if you wanted, a little chopped pancetta would do nicely.

I'm still not really sure how to poach an egg. The whole stirring the water while you drop the egg in thing is just not quite working out. But it worked on at least one of my two eggs.

2 eggs
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1/4 zucchini, chopped
1/4 yellow squash, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped and lightly salted
1/3 a can or so cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
Salt and pepper to taste

In a small/medium saucepan over medium-high heat, drizzle olive oil. Add the onions and stir to coat with olive oil. When they start to turn translucent, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer until they begin to soften and caramelize. Add the zucchini and squash, along with salt and pepper, and let that start to soften a bit, too (you can turn up the heat a little if you want).

Meanwhile, poach two eggs (that's right, I'm not going to tell you how, because I'm not so sure myself...fried eggs over easy would work fine, too). 

When you're close to being done, add the tomato and beans and cook them just enough to heat them up a bit.

Place the hash in a bowl and top with the two eggs, plus a pinch of ground black pepper.

Linguine with Scallops and Lemon-Butter

This recipe isn't finished yet. It was good, and it could be better. It holds great promise - I mean, anything involving scallops AND butter is, well, kind of unstoppable.

I'm not quite sure yet what to do differently with it. Maybe more butter - I really only used a pinch. Less lemon? Adding the lemon at a different time? More ginger? None? White wine? Red pepper flakes? Sadly, the answer probably is just more butter.

Anyway - if you have ideas, send them my way!

Here's how I made it. For one, with lunch leftovers:
1/2 lb linguine
A glug or two of olive oil
1/4-1/2 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
Very small piece of ginger, minced (honestly, though, I couldn't really taste it)
1/2 lb bay scallops
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Parsley for garnish

(Get your pasta cooking. The sauce cooks fast.) Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high, and add the garlic, ginger, and butter. Before the garlic starts to get too golden (don't let it get brown), add the scallops. Let them just start to cook, then add the lemon juice. Scallops cook very quickly - they're done when they're not longer translucent. Turn off the heat and add the drained pasta into the pan. Stir to combine, add salt to taste, garnish, and serve!

UPDATE: A delicious-sounding variation from my Pa!

Here's an idea:  saute a good amount of finely-chopped garlic in olive oil with some pepperoncino, chopped parsley and black pepper; when the garlic just starts to brown (you want it to stay sweet) add about a half cup of dry white wine and cook till the wine reduces. At about the same time you throw in the pasta (spaghettini would work too), quickly add the scallops, taking care not to overcook them.  When the pasta is done, add to the sauce to coat, with some of the pasta water if it's too dry.  You could add the parsley at the end, if you like the taste.

You could also experiment with some bread crumbs.

Alternately you could use the same recipe (without breadcrumbs) but just add a small amount of crushed Italian tomatoes to give it color.

Baked Pork Chops

(Adapted from www.tasteofhome.com) 

Phew, time for some recipe catch-up, here! I have three great recipes that I'm excited to post, and I'll start with these, probably easiest possible pork chop recipe I could find. I've gone on before about how I wasn't a pork chop fan, then I bought some because they were so cheap, and now I buy them regularly because they're not only cheap, but they can actually be quite juicy and delicious.

This recipe is a perfect example. These were so juicy and the flavor - and the smell wafting out of the oven - was fantastic. I wasn't sure about dipping the chops in milk - but it turned out great. And seeing as how I picked this recipe by googling "pork chops", then narrowing down the list until I found something fast that used only ingredients I had left around the house at the end of the week, you can probably make them without a trip to the grocery store.

I almost forgot about the side - I just sauteed a little garlic in olive oil and then added some eggplant (half-skinned, chopped, salted, and rinsed first) and chopped tomato and let it all sautee and simmer together. Unfortunately, I can't remember if I put some onions in there or not, too...from the photo, looks like maybe I did!


The ingredients listed are for four chops, but I made two and just had some left over. Since the ingredients are mostly for dipping, you can choose how much or how little you want.


1/4 cup fat-free milk 
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 
1/4 cup bread crumbs 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (I think this is the secret ingredient)
1/8 teaspoon pepper 
2 center cut bone-in pork chops

Preheat oven to 375. Put the milk in a shallow bowl. In a shallow bowl or rimmed plate, combine the cheese, bread crumbs, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Dip each chop in the milk, then dip in the bread crumb mix to coat.

Place the chops in the oven on a baking sheet (cover the baking sheet with tin foil to save a mess; spray with cooking spray if you have it, which I didn't). Bake at 375 for about 10-11 minutes on each side.

Radio Silence

The stove's been awfully quiet the past week plus - I've been in Denver for a conference (the food out here has been great: lamb meatballs with polenta, shredded beef arepas with sweet plantains...mmm). To tide you over, here are two quick eats ideas:

1) Orzo with Goat Cheese: orzo pasta, goat cheese crumbles, a splash of milk - mix/melt, and eat!

2) Couscous Plus: Near East Mediterranean Curry couscous, 1 can of rinsed chick peas - cook according to couscous package instructions, but with an extra 1/4 cup of water; add chick peas when you add the spice pack.

Slim pickins, but they'll do in a pinch!

Creamy Polenta with Gorgonzola

(adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking) 

I love polenta. Joef hates it. I honestly cannot understand this, but that doesn't make it any less true. So, while Joef's away, expect to see me indulge in recipes with his least favorite ingredients - polenta, lentils, gnocchi (I know, he's crazy), etc. Fortunately, it's not really a long list, but I can indulge nonetheless.

This isn't so much a recipe as a suggestion from Marcella. She casually mentions how hot, soft polenta is great with some gorgonzola, butter, and parmesan cheese melted into it. Of course it is.

I didn't have any parmesan, but this was still delicious. Very comforting. It came out a little like grits, actually. Very creamy, very soft. What surprised me is that the texture of the polenta actually got a lot lighter with the cheese added - I expected it to get heavy. Not to say that this isn't filling, but it had a fluffy consistency.

Also, it takes like five minutes to make, so what do you have to lose?

1 cup instant polenta

1/4-1/2 tbsp butter

0.4 lbs (or so) gorgonzola crumbles

Make the instant polenta according to the package instructions. When cooked, remove from heat and immediately add the butter. Add gorgonzola crumbles in batches, gradually, stirring after each addition until melted and mixed in before adding the next batch. Taste periodically until it has the flavor you want. Sprinkle a couple gorgonzola bits on top for style, and cozy up with some nice hot, melty food on a blazingly hot day!

Salmon with Asian Pesto

 (from Williams-Sonoma's Fish for Dinner)

I love fish and seafood. It's delicious and somehow, I feel great when I eat it. In spite of that, however, I cook very little fish. Maybe some seafood. But very little fish. This is because I have no idea how to cook it. I don't know what kinds of fish are which, I don't know how to pick it out, and I'm afraid I'm going to kill myself or, at a minimum, make myself violently ill if I cook it incorrectly. Because my wonderful husband knows all this about me, he bought me the perfect cookbook, Fish for Dinner, which not only contains all kinds of delicious recipes, but also walks you through all of these things I've been trying to figure out. I mean, the first page is titled, "Understanding Fish", so this cookbook and I were kind of meant for one another.

The next barrier to overcome was having enough presence of mind to actually plan out a meal involving fish - you know, going to the grocery store, having a recipe in mind, buying the right ingredients, and following through on actually making the meal that night. It's much less challenging with, say, chicken - if you decide you're too lazy to make it that night, you just throw the chicken in the freezer. With fish, you want it fresh. So, you know, it's a big commitment in the cooking department.

ANYWAY. As you can see, I finally was able to pull myself together and see that commitment through. And I'm so glad I did. This was delicious, different, nourishing - all that good stuff. Also, turns out salmon is really easy to cook, at least like this. I mean, really easy.

The original recipe, which I've provided below, makes four servings (four salmon filets). I made one salmon filet, cooking for just myself, and halved the rest of the recipe for the sauce. Next time, I would probably reduce the amount of fish sauce. That stuff is really salty. It definitely provides the unique flavor the recipe calls for, but wow, that stuff is powerful. Let's just say Pancake got a little too excited about the smell it made while it was cooking, which, knowing dogs, is not always a good thing.

On that appetizing note...this is a delicious recipe. And it looks fancy, too.

For four:

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 jalapeno chile, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

3 tbsp chopped fresh basil

3 tbsp peanut oil

2 tbsp Asian fish sauce (again, you could probably halve this)

Juice of 1/2 a lime (plus slivers for garnish)

1 tsp sugar
4 salmon filets, about 6 oz each

Salt and pepper

Combine the garlic, chile, green onions, cilantro, basil, and 1 tbsp water (I actually added an equal part of peanut oil) to a food processor blender and blend to make a paste.

In a small frying pan over medium heat, warm 2 tbsp peanut oil. Add the herb paste and saute for about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the fish sauce, 2 tbsp water, lime juice, and sugar. Cook, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes.

Season the salmon filets with a little salt and pepper.

Heat a large frying pan of high heat until very hot, and then add the rest of the oil (1 tbsp). Add the salmon right to the pan, and cook until golden brown on the underside, about 3 minutes. Flip the filets and do the same on the other side, about three more minutes. (The recipe wants you to keep it a little rare in the center, but I guess I'm still not 100% comfortable with cooking fish, so I just made sure it cooked through - it should get lighter in color and flaky when poked with a fork.).

Transfer the filets to plates and drizzle with the pesto. Serve it up!