Archive | July, 2009

Date Night Dinner

31 Jul

ravioli

People continue to tell me that my cooking skills are the key to finding a boyfriend. I haven’t had much luck yet but I’m keeping them in handy just in case. In honor of the weekend, I thought I would post an easy but most impressive date night dinner idea. When your date hears that you prepared homemade ravioli, he or she will be most impressed. This this recipe could not be easier.  I buy wonton wrappers at the store to use as pasta (you can find them in the produce section with the tofu). If you want to share the secret, you can invite your date to join you in assembling these tasty pockets of joy!

Date Night Mushroom and Spinach Ravioli – adapted Giada De Laurentiis recipe

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Ingredients:

  • 2 8 ounce packages of cremini mushrooms
  • 1 jar San Marzano marinara sauce (you can use homemade or your favorite store bought variety)
  • 1 package wonton wrappers
  • 1 package frozen chopper spinach, defrosted and drained to remove water
  • 1/4 cup cream cheese
  • 1/2 shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg, beaten with a splash of water
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • fresh basil (optional)

Assembly:

Set a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. On another burner, heat a saute pan with a 1/4 cup olive oil. Coarsely chop mushrooms and cook over high heat in olive oil (with a dash of salt) until tender. Remove half of the mushrooms and place in food processor. Add marinara sauce to remaining mushroom and simmer. Add the cream cheese, spinach and Parmesan cheese to the food processor with cooked mushrooms. Pulse until chopped finely. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Using the mushroom and spinach mixture, place a tablespoon of the mixture in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Brush each side of the wrapper with egg wash and top with another wonton wrapper. Use your hands to remove air bubbles. If you have a ravioli cutter, cut the edges off the ravioli to make a nice border. Repeat until you have used all wrappers or mixture.

To cook ravioli, add a splash of olive oil to the boiling water to prevent the ravioli from sticking together. Only cook  4-6 ravioli at one time. When the ravioli are translucent (about 2 to 3 minutes) they are cooked through.

Serve ravioli with mushroom marinara sauce. Top with fresh basil.

Salty Snacks

30 Jul

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I tend to go overboard sometimes with  food. The horror of hungry houseguests runs in my family. At times I tell myself to literally chill out and stop wasting time and energy on cooking for guest who can only stay for a drink. This past March I attended the Black Tie Gala for the organization I used to work for. It was the first year that I wasn’t knee deep in planning. I was supposed to be relaxed but I still had an itch to do something. I had ten friends over before the Gala for a champagne toast to get it out of my system. Feeling that itch, I was inspired by Ina Garten’s new book  Back to Basics and served salted pistachios, peppered salami and cucumbers and savory tomato basil palmiers. Everything was so easy (even the palmiers – which I was worried about making for the first time) and it made me feel good to make something special for my guests. I’m not the best at compromise but I think I may have done it this time.

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A single girl’s downfall; Pasta Carbonara & Lifetime Original Movies

29 Jul

I have many guilty pleasures – two of which are any kind of pasta and the Lifetime Movie Network. I think it is because they are both so reliable. On any day you can find dry pasta in my cupboard and can indefinitely turn to channel 72 for a deeply tragic and overly dramatic made-for-tv-movie. I try my hardest to avoid these guilty pleasures but I have the habit to trip into them on a rainy or slow Sunday afternoons.

This recipe is not a traditional Pasta Carbonara. We grew up eating this dish on busy nights when we had no time to get to the grocery store. We typically always had dry pasta, cheese, coffee creamer, frozen peas and bacon. To this day I still lean on this recipe in a squeeze.

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Guilty Pleasure Pasta with Bacon and Peas

Ingredients:

  • dry pasta (I prefer linguine or spaghetti)
  • 1/4 cup half and half or heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • bacon
  • salt and pepper

Assembly:

Boil the pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, microwave the bacon (as much as you prefer) one minute per piece. Crumble the bacon and set aside. Drain the pasta and return to the pot. Add the cream and butter and cook on medium until it begins to thicken. Once it turns begins to thicken add the frozen peas. When the peas are warmed through turn off the heat and add the cheese. If you add the cheese while on the heat it can start to glob together (technical term). Stir in the cheese and top with crumbled bacon.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Smashed Potatoes

28 Jul

smashedpotatoesFriday night dinners are always a little tricky for me. I like to have time to plan and assemble before guests arrive and it is a challenge for me to get home after work and get everything ready by 7:30 or 8. It can be done with advanced planning and trying not  make everything terribly complicated.

I had the urge to show off my recent yard work so I had a couple friends over on Friday night for supper. We had pear and gorgonzola salads, smashed potatoes and grilled steaks. They brought a couple bottles of really great rose – that immediately went to our heads. The steaks were simple - just a couple NY strip steaks with salt and pepper. I quickly made these potatoes. They were very easy and a tasty side dish.

Ingredients:

  • 1 bag of red potatoes
  • olive oil
  • couple cloves of garlic
  • fresh rosemary or pecorino romano cheese

Assembly:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the potatoes in a microwave safe dish and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave about 10 to 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Using a clean towel and clean counter top, smash the potatoes and place in a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and either fresh rosemary or big shards of peccorino romano cheese. Roast for another 20 – 30 minutes until potatoes are crispy.

Housewarming Challenge

27 Jul

My friends Heather, Becci and Ernie (their labradoodle) just bought a new home in Madison, WI. They are having their housewarming party this weekend and asked if I could help with a simple list of appetizers to serve. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I thought I would cheat and share the menu I served at my housewarming party last November. Considering their party is a different timezone, I’m not worried about anyone noticing.

For my housewarming party, I considered the following criteria:

  1. It had to be inexpensive. Granted, you just purchased a home, don’t go even more in debt by throwing an expensive party.
  2. The food needs to be simple. This party is about your new home and not about your culinary skills. Don’t worry about making everything from scratch. No one will know if you buy some items pre-made from the store.
  3. You don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen throughout the party. I choose appetizers that could be prepared in advance and served at room temperature.
  4. I wanted to served the food all around my house so people would explore and not try to cram around the dining room table (my house is fairly small).  

Here is what I came up with:PB080040

  • A big basket of rosemary popcorn on the front porch. Infuse olive oil with fresh rosemary and then pop the corn on the stove. The popcorn becomes infused with the rosemary. It is a perfect salty compliment to a cocktail. Serve in a big basket with sprigs of rosemary.
  • A large assorted cheese tray with grapes and crackers. Pick out your favorite cheeses (you are in Wisconsin) and serve with crackers and grapes. I arrange mine on hydrangea leaves.
  • Belgian endive with hummus and black sesame seeds. Make the hummus yourself or purchase from the store. Put about a tablespoon of hummus on the end of each leaf and sprinkle black sesame seeds on top. I arrange mine on a large circular silver platter.
  • Crudites and potato chips with a homemade dip. Both Ina’s pan-fried onion dip and sundried tomato dip can be made the day before.
  • Sausages in puff pastry served with Dijon mustard. This is basically a dressed up pig in a blanket. People love them (and you know my love for salty pork product). I used Ina’s recipe for Lamb Sausage in Puff Pastry but substitute pork sausage because it was cheaper.

These are just a few suggestions. Did I meet my challenge? I’ll let Heather and Becci be the judge of that. Oh and by the way, Hazelghini – Welcome Home. I can’t wait to visit!

Pear & Gorgonzola Salad

27 Jul

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If you haven’t noticed already, I’m all about serving really easy dishes that look really sophisticated. This salad is a perfect example; it is so simple yet so civilized!

Pear & Gorgonzola Salad – Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 bosc pears, pealed and sliced
  • mixed greens
  • gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
  • lemon juice
  • sesame seeds
  • your favorite vinaigrette

Assembly:

Peal and slice the pears. Coat the pears with lemon juice to prevent from turning brown. Dress the greens with your favorite vinaigrette and top with pears, crumbled gorgonzola and sesame seeds.

Artichoke Appetizer

26 Jul
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Last month I spent a weekend in Chicago with my friends Michael and Tommy. Like any typical vacation, we spent the majority of the time eating and drinking. In between brunch and a dinner party we ventured to the grocery store for rum to make mojitos. While we were there  Tommy mentioned that he wanted to learn how to cook an artichoke. Artichokes look like beastly things but in actuality you can prepare them quite easily for a fancy looking starter. And my lesson was worth it, they have reported preparing them again!

 

Ingredients:

  • Fresh artichokes
  • butter
  • lemon
  • salt

Assembly:

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Cut the bottom stem off the artichoke so it stands on its own. Then, using scissors, cut the sharp points off each leaf. Boil (or steam) the artichokes stem side up (I throw  juiced lemons  and salt into the water for flavor) until the stem is tender enough to easily insert a knife. Serve them with melted lemon butter ( I prefer mine with a little salt too). If you haven’t eaten an artichoke this way, you pluck each leaf off, dip in butter and scrap the ends off with your teeth. Once you reach the center, clean the choke with a knife and eat the artichoke heart!

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Peach Cobbler

24 Jul

Peach Cobbler – so easy. Try it this summer with fresh, ripe peaches from South Carolina.

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Ingredients:

  • 6 cups of peaches, sliced
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 3/4 cup milk

peachcob1Assembly: Preheat the oven to 350. Melt the stick of butter in an oven proof dish. Meanwhile, mix everything but the peaches together to make a batter. Once the butter is melted, pour the batter on top of the butter and drop in the peaches.

Bake for about an hour or until cooked through – this will change depending on how deep your dish is. peachcob2For an extra special treat serve with ice cream.

Chicken Pants

23 Jul

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Warning: This chicken is so juicy it is highly likely you’ll spill it on your pants.

I made this chicken for my friends  Heather, Becci and Jeb on a Sunday night in November 2007. We had roast chicken, my grandmother’s “chick rice”, salad and apple pie. It was a simple night of comfort food with friends. But there was a moment we still haven’t forgotten.

In the middle of dinner, Jeb reached over for seconds, and while he picked up the chicken serving dish he accidentally spilled chicken juices directly into his lap – coining the phrase “Chicken Pants.” In complete Jeb style, he hardley flinched. He  wiped up as much as he could with a towel, never got out of his chair for the remainder of dinner and walked home that night through downtown wearing his chicken pants proudly.

Heather and Becci moved back to Wisconsin last summer and when they got settled into their new home they emailed me for the chicken recipe. Lucky enough to have a fresh farm chicken from family, they served this meal to their friends. Soon after their party, I received an email titled “Chicken Wins Again,” with this photo attached.

Roast Chicken and Chick Rice

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Ingredients:

  • 1 chicken roaster (I like the Perdue Roasters with the plastic gismo that tells you when it is done)
  • 2 lemons
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cans chicken broth
  • 2 cups rice

Assembly:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take out the chicken parts out the cavity of the chicken.  Salt and pepper the inside the cavity of the chicken. Cut up 2 lemons (in quarters) and 1 whole clove of raw garlic (in half) and stuff them up the chicken – you can put a sprig of fresh rosemary too if you prefer. Butter the outside of the chicken and under the skin (massage your hands under the skin of the chicken breasts). Liberally salt and pepper the outside of the chicken. Place the chicken in a roasting pan with about a cup of chicken broth in the bottom. Cook at 350 degrees for a little over an hour or until the plastic gismo pops out- if your chicken doesn’t this modern technology you can cut between the leg and the thigh -if the juices are clear, the chicken is done.

Chick Rice: During the cooking process I add more and more chicken broth to the bottom of the pan. Right before the chicken is done I take it out of the pan and steal the juices. Return the chicken into the pan and use the juices to make your rice. I use the juices from the chicken to make rice. If you don’t have enough water – you can add water or chicken broth to make up for the difference.

Cookin’ with Ham Hocks

22 Jul

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Out of curiosity, I’ve googled both “ham hock” and “okra” in the last two days just to see what Wikipedia had to say. They don’t say much. You can get technical about these sorts of foods but when it comes to black eyed peas, ham hocks and okra you have to be subjective. There isn’t anything glamorous to say about cooking with “the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot, where the foot was attached to the hog’s leg” but there is a lot to say about sentiment.

Growing up in Florida my grandmother, who was an 8th generation Floridian, drove us around during our summer vacations to swamps and prairies, war reenactments and manatee holes. She had a mission to make sure her granddaughters would remember what Florida looked like before the Walt Disney’s of the world. We would listen to the Andrew’s Sisters sing “Hold Tight” (which I remember as the Seafood Song) and my grandmother would repeatedly ask from the drivers seat “What’s that girls?” and we would all chime back in unison “That’s the Real Florida.”

To me, ham hocks, okra and black eyed peas are “real foods.”  These are the kinds of foods that take you back to shelling black eyed peas with your grandmother during summer vacation – the foods that people survived on when all they had were the worst cuts of meat – and, ironically, these are the foods that are making their way back into popularity in the culinary world.

My friend Pam joined my mom and I for dinner on Saturday night and I was a little worried about how she would receive the menu – but her face lit up when she looked into the steaming pots of the stove. She too said “I haven’t eaten like this in years. This is my favorite meal.” We all had seconds that night.

Black Eyed Peas

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds shelled fresh black eyed peas
  • 1 ham hock
  • salt

Assembly:

Put the ham hock into a large pot on the stove and cover with water. Boil the ham hock for a good 20 minutes to release the flavor. Dump the peas into the pot with the water and ham hock and lower the heat. Simmer the peas for about an hour or until the peas are tender. Salt to taste.

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