Dear Little Rolls

Growing up I would always go to my Grandparents' home for Thanksgiving dinner. Relatives from as far as Colorado would come every year to "The Hill" (aka Grandma & Grandpa's house) which was situated in the foothills of Northern California. All the cousins would chase each other around the acreage all morning long and then warm up near Grandpa's warm fire. Some years we has as many as 30 family members there for the feast. I remember it as a special time full of delicious fun.

It has been probably over 10 years since my last Thanksgiving feast at my Grandparents' home on The Hill and, with my own little family, traditions have changed for me.

The first Thanksgiving Brian and I were married I had just been hired on at a new job working at a hospital and they would only let me have Thanksgiving Day off; which meant we couldn't drive 10 hours each way to the Carini's home in Connecticut. Brian and I had a relaxing Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh. Our feast was at Boston Market and we went to the dollar theater in town for a double showing. I don't remember the movies we saw but it was fun to see two in a row. (What a splurge!!!)

The last four years have been Brian's traditional Thanksgiving. We have been able to go to the Carini's for Thanksgiving dinner. But it is, obviously, quite different from my traditional Thanksgiving. One of the many things I love about the Carini's (Marilyn in particular) is that they have wonderful dinners almost every night. Meats, grains, vegetables, etc. fill their table for a nightly feast. I absolutely love it and I enjoy listening to their varied discussions and banters. But with wonderful feasting occurring on a regular basis Thanksgiving then becomes (at least for me) just another delicious night at the Carini's with crystal glasses filled with grape juice. On one hand, the magic is gone; but on the other I'm so grateful for such a wonderful, loving family that I married into.

A couple of times I've tried to contribute a bit to the feast by making rolls. My sister found this recipe a while ago on epicurious.com now I make it for Thanksgiving. Although I cooked them a little long this year and so they weren't such a hit, as usual; blackened bottoms left all over the table.

I cut 8 rolls per circle but I think it should be 12-16. I don't brush with butter the last time but it would probably make them shiny. And the raising time can be quite long (more than an hour, for sure!) so allow plenty of time for these rolls.

Here's the recipe:

Combine and cool:
1 cup milk, scalded
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Add:
1 package dry yeast
3 beaten eggs

Add the above ingredients to 4 1/2 cups flour. Mix until ingredients form a smooth, soft dough. Knead lightly on floured surface for several minutes. Place dough in greased bowl. Cover. Let rise until at least double in bulk.

Divide dough in thirds; roll each third out on floured surface to 9-inch circle. Brush with melted butter. Cut each circle in 12 to 16 wedges. Roll each wedge starting with wide end. Arrange on greased baking sheet and brush with melted butter. Cover and let rise until almost double in size.

Bake at 400°F for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove rolls from pan and brush with butter and cool on racks.

My Famous Lasagna

The first time I made lasagna was when Brian and I were first dating. He loves pasta and good food, so I thought I would make him some delicious lasagna. I must have already won his heart because the lasagna was horrible and bland! He kept salting it and salting it. I was so embarrassed and haven't attempted lasagna again until recently; over 5 years later.

I found the recipe in Blueprint magazine and made a few changes to make it simple and easy. The article says, "...As far as we are concerned, this is Your Famous Lasagna...Secret's safe with us." So, yes, this is My Famous Lasagna. It turned out so wonderful and delicious I won't shy away from it.

I make a small batch for our little family and use a glass bread dish to cook it in.

My Famous Lasagna

4 "no boil" lasagna noodles (I use Trader Joe's brand which seem to be larger than other brands.)
Good pasta sauce (I use Trader Joe's Basil Marinara sauce, but plan to use our homemade sauce when we make it again.)
Ricotta Filling (see below)
1/2 pound part-skim mozzarella, coarsely grated (2 cups)
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, finely grated (1/2 cup)

1--Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2--Lightly coat a bread pan with olive oil. Begin layering: Place a noodle in dish. Top with half the pasta sauce and another noodle. Top with half the ricotta filling, then half the mozzarella. Repeat the layering process, ending with the mozzarella. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan.
3--Cover with lightly oiled foil. Place on rimmed baking sheet; bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake until bubbling and browned, 30-40 minutes more. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Ricotta Filling

1 container (15 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper

In a medium bowl combine all ingredients.

Granola, Granola

(The photo kept rotating back when I posted it.)

I have tried a few different recipes and variations on recipes of granola but I finally made a batch that I LOVE. I've never been a big granola fan but Brian often has a parfait for breakfast so I've been buying a lot of granola. I figure granola can't be that hard it's oats, nuts, and dried fruit. So, I'm not sure why I couldn't get the combination just right until two days ago. This is what I did and I'm sticking to it!

5 cups oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degree. Combine oats, nuts and seeds in a large mixing bowl. Over medium heat stir the oil, honey, molasses and salt until combined. Pour over the dry ingredients and mix until everything is moist. Put in a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Once the granola is out of the oven mix in the dried fruit and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Simple Food Revolutionary

A good NY Times article about food:

Lunch with Alice Waters

Scarborough Special

Tonight Brian tried to make the risotto style pasta again. It was delicious but not quite as good. I think it was a bit rich. We didn't have all the same ingredients so it was, obviously, different. The herbs were different, Brian called it the Scarborough Special (sans sage).

Tonight's ingredients:

linguine
chicken broth (we tried Wolfgang Pucks and it was pretty good)
butter
olive oil
leeks
garlic
lemon
parsley
rosemary
thyme

Brian also sauteed a mix of mushrooms. He tried breading them first but we learned that doesn't work very well. The flour became sticky instead of crunchy, but the flavor was excellent.

Pasta--risotto style

Last night Brian made a fantastic pasta dinner sans recipe and it was fantastic! We used what we had and the dish was packed full of rich flavor. He wanted to try to cook the capellini similar to one of the first recipes we posted on here. Where you cook the pasta by gradually adding chicken broth as you would with risotto.

He sauteed some leeks and garlic in butter and olive oil then he added a bit of sage and tarragon. I know he also threw some lemon juice in...but I'm not sure when...I think it was a bit later.

He broke 1/2 lb. of capellini in half and threw it in the pan, got the noodles covered in oil and such and then began to add the warm chicken broth in by the ladle fulls. Since we used capellini it didn't take very long at all and it was so full of delicious flavor.

It was served with grated parmesan cheese.

He also made a good ceasar salad. He's been trying to get the recipe right. I think we have had ceasar salad three times this week. The first time was fantastic, the second wasn't so good and last night's was good. He's using his dad's recipe and trying to perfect it.

These are the ingredients, but I'm not sure the ratios:

lemon juice
pasteurized egg stuff...what's it called?
mustard
anchovie paste
wurstchester sauce
parmesan cheese
red wine vinegar
garlic

Kidfresh

Today I heard about Kidfresh and I'm a little intrigued. I want to see, taste and read their product labels. I guess I'm mostly interested because getting Isabella to eat is a chore lately. She's already refusing to eat anything green--at only 13 months! Luckily she'll eat whole wheat fusilli and brown rice. I'm on a search to find foods that she will eat that are healthy.

www.kidfresh.com

Big Apple Party

Brian and I have been craving my delicious homemade caramel apples but we didn't want to cook up a whole batch of sweet, delicious, tempting caramel just for the two of us so we invited a few friends over for a Big Apple Party. The name seemed fitting since we live in the core of Manhattan.

Each year since we have been married I have made caramel apples in the fall. (Well, except last year when new motherhood was all-encompassing.) This indulgent treat once a year is so fantastic with the fresh local granny smith apples.

I got the recipe from epicurious.com. They are called Caramel-dipped Apples.

The caramel is absolutely fantastic. This was the first time I tried it while having people over. I think the distractions of company and a one year old who hadn't napped resulted in a not-as-fantastic-as-usual caramel.

Our friends said it was great and seemed to enjoy themselves, but Brian and I both agreed that the caramel wasn't as great as past years. Another problem we had was the candy thermometer I bought a few days previous didn't seem to be working properly.

After it was all over we had a great time and definitely had sugar headaches! They were tastey even if they weren't perfect!

Catching up

I can't believe it has been over two months since I blogged about our kitchen creations. Not much has happened but some of the day-to-day stuff has been fun.

Since my last entry we had a pizza party. Once the weather was cooler and I could fire up the over to 500 degrees we had people over and made some of our favorite pizzas.

1--Southwest chicken pizza is always a hit. The pizza has caramilized onions, lime chicken and shredded mozzarella on it. It is then served with fresh pico di gallo salsa, guacamole, and sour cream on top. Delicious.

2--Heirloom tomato pizza. Fresh, thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozz.

3--Our traditional pizza. This pizza has a bit of everything delicious: caramelized onions, oven roasted tomatoes, kalamata olives, sauteed mushrooms, roasted red pepper, fontina cheese and fresh mozz. It's a party in your mouth!

Roasting summer tomatoes is a lot of fun. I slice the tomatoes pretty small and let them soak out some of their juices on a few paper towels for at least 1/2 hour. Then I put them in a rimmed baking sheet, salt them well and add some seasonings: slices of garlic, a few sprigs of thyme, fresh basil leaves and about two bay leaves torn in a couple of pieces and placed throughout. I then cover the tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil. They go into the 250 degree oven for about 4 hours.

Caramelizing onions is a tad tricky...or so Brian says since he puts me in charge of them anymore. The key to great caramelized onions is PATIENCE! We like to use sweet or Vidalia onions sliced thin. In a large skillet over high heat add a little olive oil and then the onions and add a bit of salt. At first a lot of liquid will come out of the onions. I usually leave the burner on high until that liquid is gone, but the onions are still moist (if they dry they will burn). Then I turn the burner to low and stir the onions often. After about an hour and a half (sometimes longer if the onions are really moist) the onions will begin to look a rich caramel color. I always taste as I go and know the onions are done when they are sweet. They are perfect when I want to keep eating them. Yum!