"Greek" Pasta Salad

Last week, Joef graduated from the Yale School of Management. I'm wildly proud of him, and feel very lucky to have been able to spend two years with such a fascinating and fantastic group of people. Joef's parents, sister, and our youngest nephew came into town to celebrate with us, and we knew where we wanted to take them: The Place in Guilford. I've actually only been there once, last summer, and I've been wanting to take Joef since then. It's an all-outdoor restaurant with a giant firepit in the middle of bunches of tables with tree stumps for chairs. They serve grilled clams, lobster, salmon, chicken, shrimp, corn-on-the-cob, and delicious desserts. Shattered clam shells serve as flooring, and it's just great.

It's also a BYO type of place, from beverages to sides to, well, pretty much whatever you want. I decided to put together a quick pasta salad, something I'd seen Rachel Ray throw together on TV a few years back. It's simple and delicious, and great as leftovers the next day. It complemented our grilled salmon in aluminum foil and clams with butter just right. It's an "eyeball it" type of recipe, so here's approximately what you need:

3/4-1lb orzo pasta, cooked
1 package grape/cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
Kalamata olives, however many you want
Feta cheese sprinkles, sprinkled generously
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

You guessed it: just prep the ingredients and mix them all together, using a 2:1 or ratio on the olive oil: vinegar. Picnic time!

Collard Greens, Two Ways

Above: Smoky Collard Greens, from Claire Robinson's Five Ingredient Fix. Below: Sauteed Collard Greens with Prosciutto, a la Piccina Cucina

 

We apparently have a penchant for bitter greens in this house. Actually, I think we probably just have a penchant for anything we can smother in olive oil, but hey, let's take the healthy excuse. Our latest discovery, adding to the broccoli rabe and brussels sprouts repertoire, is collard greens. So good! The first time I made them, I did them just like I do broccoli rabe, except I added a little (ahem) butter in with the olive oil. This time, I added a little prosciutto (just getting healthier and healthier). Served it with pork chops (mmm, pork with a side of pork!).

Another great way to make them, as I discovered in Five Ingredient Fix, is to sautee them with paprika, cayenne, and onions for a smoky flavor. I served those with aglio e olio.

Both ways are good (or all three ways, I suppose), and since it's a side dish, hey, try them all.

SMOKY COLLARD GREENS
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium sweet yellow onion, sliced
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and ground pepper
2 1/2 lbs (about 2 large bunches) collard greens, stems chopped off, sliced into thick ribbons, and halved

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or sautee pan over medium-high. Add the onion, paprika, and cayenne, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened. Add 1/2 a cup of water to the pot (SIX ingredients!). When the water simmers, add the greens (pack them in, they'll wilt). Season with more salt and pepper if needed. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes or so. Remove the lid, toss the greens, reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue to simmer until the greens are completely cooked and the liquid has all evaporated, about 10 more minutes. Serve warm.

SAUTEED COLLARD GREENS, WITH OR WITHOUT PROSCIUTTO
1-2 tbsp or so olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
4-5 slices prosciutto, torn into smaller pieces (optional)
1/2 - 1 tbsp butter
1-2 large bunches collard greens, stems chopped off, sliced into thick ribbons, and halved
1 cup chicken broth

Prep your greens, then add olive oil and butter to a large sautee pan over medium heat. If using prosciutto, add to pan and cook until a little crisp. Add the garlic. Let the garlic cook a few minutes without getting brown, then add all your greens to the pan. Let them start to wilt, tossing to combine. Add chicken broth, and toss again. Continue to cook and rotate until the greens wilt and most of the water has boiled off. Takes longer than rabe, about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Oven-Roasted Brussells Sprouts

Many years ago, when I was very young, I kept a diary. This was not a "so-and-so boy is SO cute!!!" type of diary. It was a "I am SO lucky that I love brussels sprouts!" type of diary. You see, I was extremely easy to influence at this age. My parents had made brussels sprouts for dinner, gotten me all whipped up into a frenzy by saying, "WOW, Julia, these are SO good!!! Don't you love them?! Gosh, you're lucky!!". Apparently, that's all it took to get me to accept my love of brussels sprouts as fact and espouse that love on paper for posterity.

As the years went on, brussels sprouts and I had sort of a falling out. It had really been years since I'd had them. That is, until Joef and I went to out to eat at Zinc for Valentine's Day, and ordered the grilled natural hangar steak in cabernet-bordelaise sauce with roasted baby brussels sprouts. Oh my Lord. The steak was fantastic. The sauce was fantastic. The brussels sprouts were out of this world. They absolutely stole the show.

So I had to give them a go at home. I browsed a few online recipes for oven-roasting brussels sprouts, and then just went for it. Now, I didn't have baby brussels sprouts, and I didn't have a cabernet-bordelaise sauce, but wow. These were still absolutely awesome. You can practically eat them like candy. Savory, slightly bitter, delicious candy. Combine that with the fact that they're insanely quick and easy, and you've got a new menu regular.

I think it's best not to be too exact with this recipe, so:

1 package brussels sprouts

Olive oil

Salt

Ground pepper

Balsamic vinegar or lemon juice, optional

Parmesan cheese, optional

Preheat the oven to 400. Prep the brussels sprouts by trimming the stem ends and then peeling off any yellow outer leaves. Next, cut them in half lengthwise and throw them in a bowl. Drizzle on some olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste, and if you want, add a splash or two of balsamic or a squeeze or so of lemon juice. Toss.

Pop the sprouts in the oven on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, or until they're crispy on the outsides (see photo). Stir them around once or twice while they're in the oven. When you take them out, you can sprinkle them with a little parmesan cheese before serving. So surprisingly good!

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.

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!

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.

"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.

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!

Strawberry Bread French Toast with Caramelized Bananas

(adapted from Comfort Food, by Rick Rodgers)

I love French toast. Some of my absolute favorite French toast is my mom's, made just with eggs, skim milk, and whole wheat bread. This, seeing as it was for Easter brunch, is a little jazzed up. And my mom probably couldn't eat it, since she has an aversion to bananas. Nevertheless, this was pretty delicious - Joef has named it one of the best things I've ever made (someone has a sweet tooth). I really like the batter for the toast - esp. the vanilla and orange zest.

I've had this recipe on my list for a long time. It's from a great cookbook (Comfort Food) with all kinds of down-home, American, rich, flavorful meals that all make me drool just a little bit. Easter Sunday seemed like a great opportunity to make brunch (which is really a great way to start the day, both from an eating and cooking perspective). The sun is shining and it's practically hot out.

We used the strawberry bread from yesterday - alternately, you could use challah (mmmmm), or heck - why not whole wheat toast?

6 large eggs
1 cup half and half
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Finely grated orange zest from one orange
Pinch of ground nutmeg
4-6 slices strawberry bread, halved
Canola oil for cooking
3 bananas (firm but ripe)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 firmly packed tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tbsp bourbon, or rum, or Grand Marnier (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, sugar, vanilla, orange zest, and nutmeg. Add the slices of bread, turning gently to coat. Let them sit in the liquid for about a minute. Place on a plate and do the next batch, if your bowl isn't big enough for all of them.

In a large, flat frying pan or griddle, heat a little oil over medium-high heat and allow to get hot. Place each piece of bread in the pan. When one side gets golden brown, flip and let the other side do the same. Transfer bread to a rimmed baking sheet and do the next batch. When done, pop the baking sheet in the oven and cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the egg is cooked through the bread.

Meanwhile, make your caramelized bananas. Peel the bananas and slice diagonally. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a frying pan, then add the bananas and let them cook for about 2-3 minutes, turning gently once in awhile. (The recipe says to let them get golden brown, which mine didn't do, but maybe you'll have better luck. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and let it melt (about 1 minute). Then gently stir in the orange juice and a splash of bourbon, and cook for about another minute or so to let it reduce.

Serve the French toast hot, smothered with bananas. Happy Easter!

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs with Veggies and Toast

I'm a big fan of eggs for lunch. Combine that with an urge to be better at eating vegetables, and an insatiable hunger after a (lousy) 10.5 mile run, and you have this meal. If you can, get the toast crispy enough so you can eat it like an open-faced sandwich (which I suppose it is), without a fork.

1/2 a bunch or so asparagus, quartered
A little white onion, chopped
Olive oil
3 eggs, beaten with dill
1/2 a small tomato, chopped and salted
Shredded cheese, to taste

Saute the asparagus and onion in olive oil over medium/medium-high until both have softened. Pour beaten egg into pan and slowly shift the mixture around, letting the egg turn and cook on all sides. Pour in the tomatoes, and mix them in in the same fashion. Near the end, add the cheese and stir gently to incorporate as it melts. Serve over toast.

Polenta with Sauteed Mushrooms and Rabe

If I make polenta, it means Joef isn't around. He is not a fan. I wish he were around - he is still in Japan - safe, and on his way back home, but still in Japan. I can't imagine the devastation and loss the people of Japan are suffering.

For now, I'll focus on lighter things. This is an incredibly quick and easy meal. The recipe is a little rough, as I improvised as I went along, and fortunately, it's the type of recipe that allows you to be a little inexact. If I'd had wine, I probably would've added it. Chicken broth did just fine. Go ahead and use instant polenta - it's just about as good as the real thing, and definitely worth the corner-cutting.

Half-package sliced mushrooms, rinsed
A few stalks or more broccoli rabe
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
Olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup instant polenta (you'll have leftovers, which you can saute and eat for breakfast!)

Saute garlic, mushrooms, and rabe in olive oil until the mushrooms start to soften and darken. Add the chicken broth and cook over medium-high, allowing some of the broth to absorb/cook off. When it's at the liquid level you want and the mushrooms are cooked, pour over your instant polenta. Add a drizzle of olive oil, if you wish, and serve with parmesan cheese

Pasta with Eggplant

Back from Japan! The food was amazing. A post on that to follow, and hopefully recipes in the future. But for now, it's back to - what else? - Italian!

There's a recipe that's been tempting me from "Italian Country Cooking" - it's for a type of pasta casserole with eggplant, smoked mozzarella, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce, basil. It sounds delicious. Unfortunately, it's a slightly more involved recipe, which means it frequently falls off my list. This time, I actually bought an eggplant and was all set to go - and then I ran out of time. Desperate to use the eggplant before leaving for Japan, I came up with the recipe below, which is kind of a quick version - I would imagine - of the casserole.

I also considered not adding the tomato sauce - something I'll have to try in the future. In that case, I would have sauteed the eggplant in the garlic, etc., as described, then tossed in the pasta and sprinkled it all with toasted breadcrumbs, probably skipping the mozzarella but adding plenty of parmesan.

In any a case, it was a hit. Even Joef, who was professedly not a fan of eggplant, loved it and called for a repeat performance. I forgot how flavorful eggplant is - it really infuses the whole sauce, and is very hearty.

3/4 lb short pasta

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Olive oil

1 medium eggplant, partially skinned, chopped, and salted (see instructions below)

Fresh or dried basil

8 oz tomato sauce or less

Grated mozzarella, for serving

The first step is (thanks, Internet!) to prep the eggplant. Start by cutting off the tip, then partially skinning it - so use a potato peeler to peel off a strip, leave a strip, peel off a strip, etc. - until it's striped. Next, chop the eggplant into roughly bite-sized chunks. Place the eggplant in a collander over paper towels, and salt lightly, tossing the eggplant so the salt gets integrated. Leave it for 30 minutes or so. Drain, rinse, and pat dry. This has something to do with the natural absorption of the eggplant - improving it, or limiting it, or something or other. In any case, it worked.

Cook your pasta.

In the meantime, drizzle olive oil liberally into your pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the garlic. After a minute or two, add the eggplant and some basil, and stir to coat in the olive oil. Turn the heat to medium and saute until the eggplant begins to soften and lightly brown. Then, add your tomato sauce (you may not need the full can, depending on how tomato-y and saucey you want it) and stir. Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to low to simmer. Give it at least 10-15 minutes.

When ready, pour sauce over pasta and top with grated mozzarella right away so it gets melty.

Mexican Feast, Part 3: Classic Red Tomato Rice

(adapted from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

If you're going to make the Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa from earlier in this series, you might as well make this rice along with it (or vice versa). Just double the salsa recipe from 2 cups to 4 cups, and use 2 of those cups for this rice. We ate this rice with the main chicken dish (Part 4!).

The original recipe calls for baking the rice, which I'm sure would be great. Unfortunately, I didn't have an ovenproof, lidded saucepan - so I just cooked it on the stovetop, much like I would regular rice. And it turned out just fine. Here's how it goes:

2 cups Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups medium grain rice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or water
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped

Make your salsa. In a saucepan/pot, heat the olive oil over medium, then add the rice and cook for about five minutes while stirring. Add the salsa right to the rice, then add the broth and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then turn to low and cover until the liquid evaporates and the rice is cooked, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle in the cilantro, fluff, and serve.

Rick Bayless Mexican Feast, Part 1: Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa

(from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

Back in college, our friend Joseph treated us to a Mexican feast inspired by chef Rick Bayless. Over five years later, I still remember that meal. It was delicious, different, and I left fantastically stuffed.

Since then, I've made a couple things from the Mexican Kitchen cookbook - specifically, the Chipotle Shrimp and the Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa. But I hadn't really done much more than that - every recipe in the book looks amazing, but I will say that they're not exactly the kind of recipes that you just pick up and decide to make after work. So when we had our friends Steve and Johnna over for dinner last night, I decided to test out a few more.

The meal was great - even if we ended up eating the final course after 10:30pm. We started with the tried-and-true salsa and shrimp, and then...hours later...had Classic Red Tomato Rice (which uses the same salsa) and Red-Chile Braised Chicken with Potatoes and Greens.

I'll do this post in four installments, one for each dish. Note that if you were making this salsa and the tomato rice, you'd just double the salsa recipe and use half (2 cups) for the rice. Also, if you were making all the dishes at once, you could roast five tomatoes and about 20 cloves of unpeeled garlic, to save time (which I clearly did not).

So, for starters: Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa! (2 cups)

2 medium-large round tomatoes
2 large fresh jalapeno chiles
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 small white onion, very finely chopped and rinsed/drained
1/3 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar (optional)

You start by roasting the tomatoes, jalapenos, and unpeeled garlic. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet right below a very hot oven broiler. Roast until the skins begin to blacken, then flip and roast until the other side does the same. In the meantime, place the jalapenos and the garlic on a frying pan or skillet over medium. Turn them occasionally until both are blackened in spots.

In the meantime, place the chopped onion, cilantro, and cider vinegar in a bowl.

Remove the tomatoes from the oven and let cool with the jalapenos and the garlic, then remove the skin from the tomatoes, the peels from the garlic, and the stems from the jalapenos.

Combine the jalapenos and garlic in a food processor and 1/4 tsp of the salt until they make a coarse paste. Transfer into a blender and add the tomatoes. (You could do it all in the blender, but the garlic and jalapenos get broken down better in the smaller food processor, at least mine.)

Pour the tomato mixture into your bowl with the onion, stir, and add the remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Let it sit and cool for awhile (you can put it in the fridge), then serve with tortilla chips!

Spinach Pie

Spinach pie is really one of my favorite pies. I've always been a savory-vs.-sweet kind of gal, and this just hits the spot - it's even good, if not better, cold the next day. This pie was my (small) contribution to the Thanksgiving feast this year. We did Thanksgiving with family in New York this year, thanks to Kaylynn and Alexis, and it was a blast. The food - none of which I can take any credit for, aside from this pie - was out of this world. We even had oysters. Oysters!

The pie seemed to go over well, and was enhanced by the fact that it was a collaboration between myself and Joef's Aunt Sylvia, who made a delicious gluten-free crust for my filling. I need to get that recipe from her - for now, I've posted the usual and always satisfying crust recipe, and will update with the gluten-free version when I have it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

1 lb frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
1/2 lb muenster cheese, grated
1/2 cup granted parmesan
Sprinkle of nutmeg
1 egg
1 onion, diced
2 medium-sized potatoes, boiled
Milk
Butter
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Pie crust (below; gluten-free recipe to follow)

Put some olive oil in a large frying/saute pan and heat over medium. Add onions and allow to begin to soften, then add spinach. Stir around and let the spinach get hot and the onions soften. Add a little butter - 1-2 tbsp - and melt that in. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, break your egg into a large mixing bowl, beat it, then add your two cheeses and stir. Sprinkle in a little nutmeg (remember a little goes a long way). When your potatoes have boiled, mash them up with a little milk and butter, then combine in the large mixing bowl with the egg and cheese.

When you feel the spinach is cooked, remove it from the heat and let it cool a little bit so it doesn't cook the egg. Then mix it in with ingredients in the mixing bowl. Stir well, adding a little milk if you feel that it's dry. Pour it into the crust (see below).

CRUST (with gluten)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 stick butter, cut roughly into tablespoons
1/4 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 375. Combine the flour and butter in a bowl, and mix with your hands until fluffy and combined. Add the cold water, and again mix with your hands until you have dough that you can roll out. Add flour if it's getting too sticky. Place floured wax paper on your counter and roll out the dough on the paper (lightly flour the rolling pin, too) until it's about the thickness you want for your crust. Lift the dough over your pie tin, press down into the tin, and trim the edges (save them). Patch as necessary, then pour in the filling.

Take the remaining dough and roll it out again. Crust should cover the top of the pie. Use your fingers and thumb to pinch together the edges of the pie to get that ripply effect, and pierce top with tines of a fork.

Bake until crust is golden-brown.

Ricotta Cheese Dumplings

(adapted from Mark Bittman)

When the latest Minimalist column boasted homemade "ricotta gnocchi" without any pre-cooking or dough-rolling, I thought back to my own failed attempt at potato gnocchi, and was hooked. He was right - these are much, much easier than their potato cousin.

Now, I don't know that they satisfy the seemingly-constant true gnocchi craving that plagues me - the best way to describe them is more like ravioli without the pasta covering (hence the modified name) - but they were different, rich, and tasty. And really pretty simple.

I was just cooking for myself, so the recipe below made way too much for just me, and they don't keep well. The below should make about four servings; adjust accordingly. Bittman made them with a sage brown butter sauce, which I bet is fantastic; I opted for a simple tomato sauce (two diced Roma tomatoes, 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 tbsp of butter, and basil flakes, salt, and pepper to taste, sauteed until the sauce breaks down). What will you try them with?

You'll need:
Salt to taste
One 15-ounce container ricotta cheese (nonfat is fine, I promise)
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups freshly grated parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3/4 to 1 cup flour

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Combine the ricotta, eggs and parmesan in a large bowl, along with some salt and pepper. Add about 1/2 cup flour and stir; add more flour until the mixture forms a very sticky dough. Scoop up a spoonful of dough and boil it to make sure it will hold its shape; if it does not, stir in a bit more flour. (They will come apart a little; I think that's OK.)

Drop the ricotta mixture by the rounded tablespoon into the boiling water, working in batches so as not to overload the pot.

When the dumplings rise to the surface, give them a couple minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. When you have enough, top with the sauce of your choosing and serve!

Vegetable Latkes

(adapted from the New York Times)

One of my absolute favorite things is my Aunt Wendy's potato latkes. Oh my Lord. I crave those things. These "vegetable" "latkes" don't really do her justice; that being said, I scarfed just about a whole plate down. The recipe claims that these are a great way to get your daily veggies - maybe your daily veggies with a heart attack. Wow, am I selling these yet? In all seriousness - these were fun to make, yummy, and definitely a do-again.

So:
1 zucchini and a few baby carrots, grated - about 2 1/4 cups
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
Ground black pepper
1 egg
1/4 tsp grated lemon zest
Olive oil for frying

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a different bowl, mix together the milk, egg, lemon zest, and pepper. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk until just combined. It should be a little thicker than cream. Add the carrots, zucchini, and scallions and mix them in, then let them sit 20-30 minutes.

Fill a wide frying pan with 1/2-1 inch of olive oil to deep-fry, or less to shallow-fry, and heat until a small drop of the batter browns immediately. Have paper towels over a sheet of aluminum foil ready for draining the latkes. Drop the battered veggies into the oil in batches using a large spoon. Cook the latkes, flipping occasionally, until they're crispy and golden on both sides. When they're done, transfer them to the paper towels to soak the oil up a bit.

And that's it!

Eggnog Waffles

We've done regular Belgian waffles, Belgian waffles with ice cream batter, and now - Belgian waffles with eggnog batter, courtesy of Joef.

We stuck with Krusteaz Belgian Waffle Mix, which never seems to disappoint. These are a little less dense than the ice cream version, but more dense than if you were to only use water, and have almost a bit of a french toast taste, as our dear friend Ali pointed out. They were fantastic.

For 4-5 waffles, you'll need:

Krusteaz Belgian Waffle Mix, 3 cups
Eggs, 2
Oil, 1/3 cup
3/4 cup eggnog
3/4 cup water

Blend the ingredients together with a whip, and you're ready to spoon it onto your waffle maker. When done, top with homemade whipped cream and fresh berries.

PIZZA!

I've been wanting to make and post pizza on this blog since, oh, about March of this year. I'd been making it successfully for a few months, and decided to make it for my dear friend Ali (who suggested I start this blog) when she visited us in Madison. Unfortunately, that attempt was a total disaster. I somehow got the dough recipe wrong, and the pizza was un-postable. I've been pizza-shy since then.

But, joy of joys, homemade pizza is back in our lives! Homemade pizza was a New Year's Eve tradition in the Popolizio household, so I'm thrilled to have a dough recipe that works. And this time, I'm writing it down.

This was also probably the most workable dough I've made yet. The recipe below is enough for four personal, thin-crust pizzas. Your toppings are, of course, up to you - below are what our friends Matt and Marina and we decided on.

If you're going to make this, you need to plan ahead - it's simple, but not necessarily easy, and it takes some time to prep. It is also completely worth it.


DOUGH
4 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
3 tbsp olive oil

Stir your yeast into the water, and let it sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, combine flour and salt in a large bowl. When the water/yeast mixture is ready, add that to the dry ingredients and add the olive oil, too. Stir the mixture briefly into a rough ball - don't worry about all the pieces coming together at this point.

Dump the bowl out onto a lightly-floured surface, and knead the dough until it really is a ball, this time. Continue to knead the dough, sprinkling flour if it becomes too sticky, for 15-20 minutes. The longer the better.

To make four pizzas, cut the dough into quarters, and knead each ball individually for 2-5 minutes.

Prepare four bowls by placing a drop or two of olive oil in each and spreading it around until each bowl is lightly greased. Then put one ball of dough in each bowl, rolling it around in the olive oil to make sure it's lightly coated, too. Cover each bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for about 2 hours to rise.

After two or more hours, take each ball of dough out, pound it once or twice with your fist on a lightly-floured surface, and knead it again for 5-10 minutes. Place each ball back in its bowl and cover, repeating the olive oil process if necessary (you shouldn't have to use as much this time around - one drop if any). Let sit for about one hour to rise.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, with the pizza brick in the oven. Let the pizza brick get nice and hot. When you're ready to make the pizzas (we did each one individually), place the risen ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and use your hands to gradually stretch out the dough into a flat disc (you know, like a pizza) - about an 1/8 of an inch thick. I sort of rotate it, using the tips of my fingers to go around and push out the edges of the dough in a circle. You can toss it, if you like, too.

Prep a pizza "paddle" with cornmeal or semolina to keep the pizza from sticking to the paddle when you place it in the oven. Put your flattened dough onto the paddle, then add your toppings, starting with the sauce. Gently shift the pizza off of the paddle onto the brick in the oven, and cook until the crust is a light golden brown. Remove with the paddle and serve!

SAUCE
We had two sauce options: tomato sauce and garlic-habanero olive oil (guess who!). For the tomato sauce, put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a small pot with 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic, and heat for a couple minutes over medium. Add a little salt if you want, then add a can of tomato sauce and some dried basil. Bring to a boil, then turn down to low and allow to simmer for a bit.

For the garlic-habanero: Combine olive oil, minced garlic, and minced habanero and stir together.

TOPPINGS
We used, in a number of variations:
Arugula
Fresh mozzarella
Prosciutto
Chorizo
Cayenne pepper
Rosemary
Red chili flakes
Fresh basil leaves
Fresh tomato slices

Specifically:
THE JOEF: Garlic-habanero oil, mozzarella, basil, fresh tomato, prosciutto, salt


THE MARINA: Tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, prosciutto


THE MATT: Garlic-habanero oil, cayenne pepper, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil chorizo


THE JULIA: Tomato sauce, rosemary, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, prosciutto; arugula (post-baking)

Penne with Zucchini and Tomato

This is one of those, "How can I use these veggies before they go bad?" type of dishes, which generally, in my experience, can have mixed results. This, however, turned out pretty darn good for a quick lunch. Make sure to top it with plenty of parmesan cheese. Recipe is for one.

1/3 lb pasta
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 zucchini, quartered then sliced
1 large Roma tomato, chopped and lightly salted
Sprinkle dried basil
Salt to taste
Parmesan cheese for serving

Cook your pasta. Meanwhile, drizzle olive oil in a saute pan, add garlic, and cook over medium-high heat until garlic is sizzling (don't let it brown/burn). Add the tomatoes and the zucchini, and mix in. Sprinkle with a little dried basil. Turn the heat down to low-medium and cover or partially cover. Cook until the zucchini has softened.

Drain your pasta and add it to the sauce, cooking and stirring over low until the pasta is covered. Serve with parmesan.