It has been a while since I posted. Last week wasn't an ideal cooking week. Some days were gorgeous and we were out and about all day. Other days had 100% humidity and we were in the bedroom all day with the window a/c running.
With all the hot humid weather last week the basil on our fire escape was growing like crazy. I found some pine nuts in the freezer and I made my first batch of pesto for the season. It was tasty. I didn't use a recipe, just my taste buds. A small clove of garlic, a few handfuls of basil, a handful of toasted pine nuts, olive oil, parmesan cheese (actually we currently have grana padano), and salt. We dipped baguette (from Pozzo's) slices in the pesto. Delicious!
Last week's pesto (blended in the food processor):
small clove of garlic
few handfuls of basil
handful of toasted pine nuts
olive oil
Grana Padano
salt
Another evening we got home late from enjoying the beautiful weather and I just threw together a quick lemon herb sauce. As far as the herbs go I used mostly thyme, some rosemary, and a touch of basil. I tossed that together with some capellini.
Here's what was in our lemon herb sauce:
Olive oil
garlic
lemon juice
fresh herbs
red pepper flakes (just a touch)
chicken broth
Yesterday we made Grandma's Spaghetti Sauce. The last time I made it all by myself and it wasn't as good as when Brian is in charge. Brian made an excellent sauce yesterday. I helped with the prep work and juggled the baby at the same time. It was one of the best batches, I think!
Here's what we put in it:
4 large Spanish onions, finely chopped
several garlic cloves, chopped (about 1/2 head)
1lb lean ground beef
1lb hot Italian sausage
many cans of tomatoes (I think we use 8-10 28oz cans), some diced, pureed, etc.
Italian seasoning, oregano, salt, pepper
For the cans of tomatoes I bought a variety of brands. Our favorite, San Marzano Brand, are fairly expensive and weren't at Fairway (www.fairwaymarket.com) where I was purchasing all the ingredients. We really liked Scalafani's tomatoes (www.scalafanifoods.com) and Colavita's were pretty good too (www.colavita.com).
Right now our large pot of sauce is in the fridge. When Brian gets home from work we will ladle the sauce into ziploc bags and freeze the rest for future Sunday meals.
Pesto Rating: 6
Lemon Herb Sauce Rating: 7
Grandma's Pasta Sauce Rating: 8
Monday, July 23, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Recipe from the Heart
Artichoke Linguine, according to Brian, is a family favorite and a traditional dish made to express one's love for the person it is being made for. Since it calls for artichoke hearts Brian will often make it for me on Valentine's Day or our anniversary. He's the head chef when Artichoke Linguine is on the menu and I'm the prep cook, so I've never made it myself.
On Monday evening Brian called from work announcing he wanted a pasta dinner. I looked through our pantry and saw we had all the ingredients for Artichoke Linguine. I made up a batch and it turned out excellent. Brian felt the love.
One little mix up I had was it was the first time I used Campbell's brand chicken broth. I didn't realize it was condensed until after I added it. I just didn't have to add much salt.
Rating: 9
Source: Marylin Carini
On Monday evening Brian called from work announcing he wanted a pasta dinner. I looked through our pantry and saw we had all the ingredients for Artichoke Linguine. I made up a batch and it turned out excellent. Brian felt the love.
One little mix up I had was it was the first time I used Campbell's brand chicken broth. I didn't realize it was condensed until after I added it. I just didn't have to add much salt.
Rating: 9
Source: Marylin Carini
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Dinner a la Trader Joe's
About every other week I head down to Union Square to Trader Joe's to buy all of our favorite things and a few new items we haven't tried before. For $9.95 I have them deliver all of the groceries (gallons of antibiotic free milk and all) to our 4th floor walk-up apartment. It is about the same cost as a cab ride but I don't have to carry all the bags up the stairs with the baby attached too. I figure it is a pretty good deal--good groceries at a good price, delivered right into my kitchen. And since Trader Joe's is near Union Square Park I always make sure I go on a day when the Greenmarket is there and pick up tons of wonderful, fresh, local produce. Yesterday was one of those fun, shopping days.
For dinner I got a bunch of stuff at TJ's. I hadn't tried their premade pizza dough; so I picked that up, some fresh mozzarella and some fresh pesto. Then at the Greenmarket I picked up a couple of beautiful heirloom tomatoes. (I picked up a lot more stuff at each stop, but I'm just talking about dinner here.)
The directions on the dough said to let it sit out of the fridge for 20 minutes before rolling out. I should have let it sit out longer. Even with it being so hot yesterday the dough was still chilly and difficult to roll out after a half hour of sitting out. But I didn't want to wait much longer since the oven was already preheated to 500 degrees. (We had a HOT house!) After rolling out the dough and placing it on the pizza peel I put olive oil on the edges and sprinkled the dough with salt and pepper. For toppings I put a layer of thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes, shredded fresh basil and sliced fresh mozzarella. Originally, I was going to put dollops of pesto instead of basil, but the pesto tasted a little stronger than I wanted with the more subtle flavors of the fresh mozz and tomatoes. (I'm growing a large pot of basil on our fire escape outside our bedroom window. We also have rosemary, parsley, and thyme on the fire escape. It is very fun.)
The pizza was good! Okay, the toppings were excellent! The dough was comparable to Domino's; in other words, it was awful ("hurt your jaw" chewy and flavorless)! I can make much better pizza dough, but it takes time and effort. The toppings of the heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozz were wonderful. I cut up little squares of pizza for Isabella. When I cleaned her up after dinner there were all the little squares of pizza crust hidden in her chair--toppings removed and eaten. So I think she agrees.
We had a side salad of mixed baby greens with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and some goat cheese. I really liked it, but Brian isn't a fan of balsamic vinegar.
Then for dessert I served up some fresh peaches (that I had picked up at the Greenmarket) and cream. It was so good!
Pizza Rating: 10 (toppings); 3 (dough)
Salad Rating: 7
Dessert Rating: 9
For dinner I got a bunch of stuff at TJ's. I hadn't tried their premade pizza dough; so I picked that up, some fresh mozzarella and some fresh pesto. Then at the Greenmarket I picked up a couple of beautiful heirloom tomatoes. (I picked up a lot more stuff at each stop, but I'm just talking about dinner here.)
The directions on the dough said to let it sit out of the fridge for 20 minutes before rolling out. I should have let it sit out longer. Even with it being so hot yesterday the dough was still chilly and difficult to roll out after a half hour of sitting out. But I didn't want to wait much longer since the oven was already preheated to 500 degrees. (We had a HOT house!) After rolling out the dough and placing it on the pizza peel I put olive oil on the edges and sprinkled the dough with salt and pepper. For toppings I put a layer of thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes, shredded fresh basil and sliced fresh mozzarella. Originally, I was going to put dollops of pesto instead of basil, but the pesto tasted a little stronger than I wanted with the more subtle flavors of the fresh mozz and tomatoes. (I'm growing a large pot of basil on our fire escape outside our bedroom window. We also have rosemary, parsley, and thyme on the fire escape. It is very fun.)
The pizza was good! Okay, the toppings were excellent! The dough was comparable to Domino's; in other words, it was awful ("hurt your jaw" chewy and flavorless)! I can make much better pizza dough, but it takes time and effort. The toppings of the heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozz were wonderful. I cut up little squares of pizza for Isabella. When I cleaned her up after dinner there were all the little squares of pizza crust hidden in her chair--toppings removed and eaten. So I think she agrees.
We had a side salad of mixed baby greens with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and some goat cheese. I really liked it, but Brian isn't a fan of balsamic vinegar.
Then for dessert I served up some fresh peaches (that I had picked up at the Greenmarket) and cream. It was so good!
Pizza Rating: 10 (toppings); 3 (dough)
Salad Rating: 7
Dessert Rating: 9
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Supper Chilled
We had the sister missionaries over for dinner, so I used the opportunity to try some more new recipes; knowing they would eat just about anything I made. I usually don't like to try new recipes on guests, but missionaries are always grateful no matter how bad it is.
Since it is extremely hot today I wanted to make a cool meal. I had never made a cold soup so I searched in The Silver Spoon, hoping they might have one. Are chilled soups very Italian? I made Cold Cucumber Cream Soup. It was quite good. I started it a bit late so I had to make room for the pot in the freezer to make sure it chilled in time. Brian really liked it and Isabella enjoyed a few spoonfuls. The soup ended up being a little thinner/runnier than I had expected/hoped. I did add the last 1/4 cup or so left of chicken broth, so I will be more accurate on that next time. One funny thing about the recipe is that it called for lettuce! I've never cooked lettuce before. I'm wondering if spinach would be a good substitute or any other leafy greens. I was also surprised that I couldn't taste the mint; which was good, I was afraid it might have a strong minty flavor which isn't my favorite (except in ice cream!). It tasted great.
After the soup I served Mediterranean-Style Orzo Salad with Corn from the Stonewall Kitchen Harvest cookbook. It was the first recipe I have tried from that particular book and it was so-so. I liked it, the salad was full of flavor, but they flavors didn't seem to mix right. I couldn't figure it out but Brian thinks it might be the sweet corn with the briny Kalamata olives. I think he's on the right track. It was more of a pasta salad than I had hoped. But it was cool and worked well on this hot, humid evening. We probably won't make this recipe again.
For dessert I made Old Fashioned Lime Pie, a recipe Anika introduced me to years ago when I was living with her in a tiny studio in Seattle. The recipe is from www.epicurious.com; here's the link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/4322. After following the directions I topped the pie with fresh whipped cream and a garnish of left over lime peel. It was so refreshing.
Cold Cucumber Cream Soup Rating: 8
The Silver Spoon, p. 222
Mediterranean Orzo Rating: 5 (good but not quite right)
Stonewall Kitchen Harvest, p. 31
Lime Pie Rating: 10
www.epicurious.com
Oh! I'm so bummed! I meant to take photos of everything to post!
Since it is extremely hot today I wanted to make a cool meal. I had never made a cold soup so I searched in The Silver Spoon, hoping they might have one. Are chilled soups very Italian? I made Cold Cucumber Cream Soup. It was quite good. I started it a bit late so I had to make room for the pot in the freezer to make sure it chilled in time. Brian really liked it and Isabella enjoyed a few spoonfuls. The soup ended up being a little thinner/runnier than I had expected/hoped. I did add the last 1/4 cup or so left of chicken broth, so I will be more accurate on that next time. One funny thing about the recipe is that it called for lettuce! I've never cooked lettuce before. I'm wondering if spinach would be a good substitute or any other leafy greens. I was also surprised that I couldn't taste the mint; which was good, I was afraid it might have a strong minty flavor which isn't my favorite (except in ice cream!). It tasted great.
After the soup I served Mediterranean-Style Orzo Salad with Corn from the Stonewall Kitchen Harvest cookbook. It was the first recipe I have tried from that particular book and it was so-so. I liked it, the salad was full of flavor, but they flavors didn't seem to mix right. I couldn't figure it out but Brian thinks it might be the sweet corn with the briny Kalamata olives. I think he's on the right track. It was more of a pasta salad than I had hoped. But it was cool and worked well on this hot, humid evening. We probably won't make this recipe again.
For dessert I made Old Fashioned Lime Pie, a recipe Anika introduced me to years ago when I was living with her in a tiny studio in Seattle. The recipe is from www.epicurious.com; here's the link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/4322. After following the directions I topped the pie with fresh whipped cream and a garnish of left over lime peel. It was so refreshing.
Cold Cucumber Cream Soup Rating: 8
The Silver Spoon, p. 222
Mediterranean Orzo Rating: 5 (good but not quite right)
Stonewall Kitchen Harvest, p. 31
Lime Pie Rating: 10
www.epicurious.com
Oh! I'm so bummed! I meant to take photos of everything to post!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Basic Saffron Risotto
After enjoying a indoor 4th of July hamburger and hotdog fest at some friends apartment (because it was raining) we all ventured out and saw Ratatouille at the Ziegfeld Theater. The film was wonderful. We left the theater with the desire to cook a delicious feast--sans rats.
Brian wanted to make a simple, basic batch of risotto so we search our cookbooks but couldn't find one that he wanted. We had some left over saffron from a previous recipe and wanted to use that, but no such recipe was in any of our many cookbooks. After searching for a while I finally found one that was close enough to work from; or at least get the measurements from. The recipe came from The Olives Table and worked well.
Here's how Brian made it:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small Spanish onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tablespoon of saffron threads (that's all we had, but it was perfect)
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 cups arborio rice
about 6 cups of chicken broth (Swanson's is the best we can find around here...but I hear there are better brands)
A lot of Parmesan cheese (although we used Grana Padano)
It was very tasty! Brian did a great job. He served it with a side of spring lettuce in a lemon dressing.
Rating: 9
Adapted from The Olives Table, p. 190
Brian wanted to make a simple, basic batch of risotto so we search our cookbooks but couldn't find one that he wanted. We had some left over saffron from a previous recipe and wanted to use that, but no such recipe was in any of our many cookbooks. After searching for a while I finally found one that was close enough to work from; or at least get the measurements from. The recipe came from The Olives Table and worked well.
Here's how Brian made it:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small Spanish onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tablespoon of saffron threads (that's all we had, but it was perfect)
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 cups arborio rice
about 6 cups of chicken broth (Swanson's is the best we can find around here...but I hear there are better brands)
A lot of Parmesan cheese (although we used Grana Padano)
It was very tasty! Brian did a great job. He served it with a side of spring lettuce in a lemon dressing.
Rating: 9
Adapted from The Olives Table, p. 190
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
