Patty Melts

What's this? An entry without ANY pasta in it?! That must mean I went food shopping!

Let me tell you a story. Ten days before we went on vacation, I stopped shopping. We basically ate what was already in the fridge and then scraped together meals from remnants in the cabinets and freezer slowly but surely until there was nothing of excess left to spoil while we were on vacation. We came home on Tuesday; I made a box of pasta. Last night was "Face Off" night (and my best friend Meredith of On The Wire joined us!) and, shamefully, I made yet another box of pasta. I made another sauce to go with it, but I'm not going to post it - I think you, the audience, has had enough pasta for now. Anyway, I went food shopping on Thursday night after some hilarious (not really) credit card issues and I think ... I think I've bought enough food to last Fiance and I about two weeks.

There's a wonderful movie from 1968 - one of my absolute favorites -  starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, called "Yours, Mine & Ours".

It's about a widowed nurse with 8 children who marries a widower with 10 children. Hilarity ensues. Lucille is at her height in this film and Henry is just as cute as could be. Anyway, every time I do my weekly food shop, I think of this great scene from the film: Frank and Helen (Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, respectively) are going to the supermarket to feed their newly blended family of 20.

Three shopping carts later, the cashier rings them up (manually, might I add; this is 1968) and then hands them the very, very long receipt ... that totals $100.

Honestly, if my grocery receipt totals $100, that's a good day. Also, for the amount of food I buy, if my receipt totals $100, that grocery store is probably going out of business and everything is marked 99-cents.

Anyway, Fiance and I are suffering from colds thanks to all that airplane travel and I'm trying to kill it with fire. We needed some red meat in our systems but I was also super tired and feeling icky. I needed something easy, and healthy. Well, that's when I turn to "Cook This, Not That." Patty melts are essentially burgers sauteed in onions with Swiss cheese melted on top. It's very basic, but extremely satisfying.

PATTY MELTS, courtesy of "Cook This, Not That"
YOU WILL NEED:
1 lb ground sirloin, ground lean beef or ground turkey
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
1 large red onion, diced
4 slices Swiss cheese
8 slices of rye bread, toasted

mise-en-place

You will also need a large or medium skillet. I made no substitutions to the actual recipe, except I used pumpernickel bread (dark rye) as opposed to regular rye.

1. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Form into 4 large, thin patties.

2. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and scatter the onion around the burgers. Stir the onion from time to time to keep them from burning.

3. Cook the burgers for 3 to 4 minutes, then flip and immediately cover each with a slice of Swiss cheese. Continue cooking until the burgers are cooked all the way through, about another 3 minutes.

4. Remove, place on top of the toasted rye, cover with sauteed onions and top with the other slice of rye.

YUMMY. Check out that delicious sandwich! I cooked them off two at a time, as you can see from the photos. I knew we weren't going to eat two each. Also, I just realized that the photographs above are two different plates, haha! Well, it still looks good.

As you can see, I served it with oven fries and broccoli. A good, well rounded dinner. This recipe only took me 15 minutes or so, so it makes for a perfect weeknight meal. I'm tagging this recipe as both BEEF and TURKEY because it can be made with either one, as well as KID-FRIENDLY. I mean, what kid doesn't love burgers?

Coming up this week, I have some GREAT recipes - including not one but two crock-pot meals! YAY! Tonight's dinner will be a soup recipe. Soups are easier than most people think, and, being sick, soup seems to be the best option for me and Fiance right now.

Until next time: Eat, drink and be merry!

Spaghetti with Basil Cream Sauce

I'm baaa-aaack! 

Well, this is a surprise - left for St. Lucia on Wednesday and arrived home last night to find 5" of snow in my backyard. Talk about a complete 180. We went from bathing suits on the beach to scarves and jackets in a matter of 12 hours. 

It was an amazing vacation; I sampled a ton of local cuisine and discovered the deliciousness of Creole sauce (which I am actively searching for a recipe for) and I ate way more Creole bread than I probably should have. I had a johnny cake for the first time. Being an island, there was an abundance of fresh fish to be had: parrotfish, mahi mahi, kingfish, tuna and cod, plus fresh mussels and prawns.

Fiance and I were down there for several days to celebrate and witness his big sister's marriage. She was wed on the beaches of St. Lucia, facing the Piton mountains just as the sun was setting - a true storybook wedding! Congrats to my future sister-in-law and her new husband!  

Okay, so before I left I posted another pasta-related entry. I've come to find that I turn to pasta when I'm feeling really tired or lazy. Well, we didn't return home until 3am on Tuesday, so that night's dinner had to be incredibly simple. To my favorite book!:

SPAGHETTI WITH BASIL CREAM SAUCE, courtesy of 365 Ways to Cook Pasta

YOU WILL NEED:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons julienned basil leaves 

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Pinch of salt

12 oz spaghetti (or any long noodle, i.e. vermacelli or capellini)

Just so you know - to "julienne" something simply means to cut it into long, thin strips (ever hear of julienne fries?). Also, I happened to have spaghetti in my pantry.

mise-en-place

Ah, my trusty basil plant. Unfortunately, it's coming to the end of its productive life, and I'll have to pick up another one soon. But it's lasted me nearly an entire month!

This sauce was as easy as 1-2-3.

1. In a saucepan, gently boil the cream until it is reduced by half (about 10 minutes).

2. Stir in the basil, lemon juice and salt.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and toss with the cream sauce and serve at once.

All done! Told you it was easy. This was an excellent sauce. It was very light and creamy, and the basil flavor was not overpowering (surprising, since I added in an extra half-tablespoon of basil).

To add a little extra protein I cut up some BLSL (boneless/skinless) chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, coated them in salt and pepper, and sauteed them in olive oil for about 5-6 minutes. Then I tossed it with the pasta and sauce.

Of course, if you're going vegetarian with this recipe, simply omit the chicken and maybe add a few fresh veggies!

Tonight's dinner is more pasta, just because I didn't get to go food shopping yet. I know, it's not good to have even more pasta, but I promise I'll be back to my regularly scheduled deliciousness as soon as I can get my tired butt over to the supermarket. I'm planning on making some kind of Creole recipe to honor the beautiful country I just visited.

Until next time, eat, drink and be merry!!

Pasta with Sausage Sauce

Surprise! New look for the blog! What do you think? I needed something a little darker, a little more sultry. I love the new background and the greens and browns are far more pleasing to the eye than the oranges and purples I'd been using.

Today's my last entry for awhile! I'm going on vacation and I'm looking forward to doing a lot more eating than cooking! Last night was the last meal I prepared until we get home, and I wanted something simple, something that I didn't have to go out and buy anything special.

Well, what's easier than pasta? But not just pasta - it needs a nice, chunky sauce to go along with it. I turned to my two favorite pasta books for some nice tasty sauce recipes and "Basic Italian" won out with its recipe for sausage sauce (sorry, "365 Ways to Cook Pasta", but your olive sauce is just a little too complicated for now).


PASTA AL SUGO DI SALSICCE (Pasta with Sausage Sauce), courtesy of "Basic Italian"
YOU WILL NEED:
2-3 Italian pork sausage links (about 10-12oz total)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 (14oz) can peeled tomatoes
Salt & black pepper (or chili powder) to taste
1 lb pasta (preferably penne, rigatoni or anything long and hollow)
1 cup arugula leaves.

mise-en-place

You can use any sausage. We prefer the Johnsonville sweet Italian, but you can use spicy sausage or andouille or turkey or chicken sausage if that's what you prefer! You will also need a large skillet or sauce pan. The recipe calls for using arugula, but since I didn't want to go buy it, I'm substituting basil instead. Also, I looked ahead in the recipe and discovered I didn't need peeled tomatoes because the recipe wants you to cut them up anyway! So I used a can of diced tomatoes instead.

1. Peel onion and garlic; chop both finely. Squeeze sausage out of the skins and crumble into small bits.

Use the tip of your knife to make an incision down the length of the sausage

...and peel the skin off!

2. Heat the oil in a skillet and brown the sausage well. Add onion, garlic and fennel seeds and saute briefly.

3. Chop the tomatoes and add along with their juice to the sausage - salt to taste; spice with black pepper or chili powder. Simmer uncovered on low for 20 minutes or more. (See why using diced tomatoes is easier?)

4. In the meantime, cook pasta until al dente. Then, rinse arugula (or basil, in my case), remove any tough stems and chop rest. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper and/or chili powder. Stir in arugula (or basil).

5. Drain pasta, distribute in wide pasta bowls and top with sauce. Serve with crusty Italian bread!

I love it when I can see the steam coming up from the dish in the pictures! Mmmm.

The sauced was great, pretty zesty, but I felt like it was lacking something. The basil made it taste sweet, which is what I was totally feeling (especially after several spicy recipes!), but I wish there was more tomato in the recipe to make it more of a sauce. Maybe next time I'll add some to the saute pan. Recipes are not written in stone, remember?

I still got some packing to do, so I hope you guys enjoy these recipes until I come back! I'm planning something super special. Don't exactly know what yet, but I promise it'll be good!

Until then - eat, drink and be merry!!!

Shrimp Scampi

Happy Valentine's Day! My gift to myself? I'm not cooking! Instead, my man is buying me a pizza!

But that doesn't mean you can't create a special meal for that special someone! 

Okay, so I know I said I would give a tutorial on how to peel and de-vein shrimp, but I totally forgot. I was going to wait for my fiance to come home so that he could take pictures while I went through the steps, but I got home kind of late. I just kind of sat down, started cleaning the shrimp and before I knew it, they were all done and I hadn't saved any for him to take pictures of. Crap. 

I can write out the steps easily, but I feel like they're missing something without pictures.

Anyway, this recipe comes from "Cook This, Not That" again. I'm going to quote the book since they do a much better job of describing this dish than I ever could: 

"In restaurant-speak, 'scampi' is code for 'buckets of butter'', a distressing translation for the discerning diner. The rich flavors in this version don't derive from fat; they come from garlic, chiles and fresh chopped herbs."

Be forewarned - it's also quite a spicy dish, thanks to the crushed red pepper! Of course, depending on your tastes, you could add anywhere from one-eighth of a teaspoon to half a teaspoon to a whole tablespoon for all I care! It's all about what you like. Recipes aren't written in stone, remember?

SHRIMP SCAMPI, courtesy of Cook This, Not That
YOU WILL NEED:
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Red pepper flakes
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 lb medium-sized shrimp, peeled and de-veined
Salt and black pepper to taste
Chopped flat-leaf parsley
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
Pasta, couscous or quinoa, for serving

mise-en-place

You will need a medium/large skillet. It may look like a very small mise-en-place, but the shrimp is missing from the photo. They were in the sink, soaking in a bowl of cold water. Also missing was the pasta. The recipe calls for a small onion, but the only onion I had on hand was ginormous, like, softball ginormous, so I simply cut it in half. It was more than enough!

Okay, before we get into the recipe, here's a quick step-by-step (minus pictures, sorry!) on peeling and de-veining shrimp.

Now, you can easily buy frozen shrimp that are already peeled and de-veined, but guess what? You're probably going to pay up to TWO TIMES more than if you bought fresh shrimp from your supermarket's seafood department. I paid a little less than $8 for a pound of fresh shrimp, while the package would have cost me about $14. This may vary depending on where you live, but why waste money on frozen shrimp when you can buy the good fresh stuff and just clean it yourself?

What's important about removing the dark vein in the back of the shrimp is, it's is actually the shrimp's digestive tract. Gross, right?

1. Peel off the shell and remove the tail.
2. Using a sharp knife, make a shallow incision along the back of the shrimp.
3. Remove the vein using the tip of the knife. Discard.

That's it! Seriously, that's it. It's a slow and tedious process, but it's got to be done. After I remove the veins of the shrimp, I toss them in a bowl of water for an extra rinse-off.

Now that your shrimp are cleaned, let's cook!

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and pepper flakes until the garlic is light brown (about 30 seconds). Add the onion and continue cooking until it is translucent.

2.Season the shrimp with a pinch of salt and add to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are pink and lightly caramelized (if making pasta, start this now).

tri-color fettuccine!

3. Remove from heat, stir in the parsley, lemon juice and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Serve as is, or on top a portion of buttered pasta, quinoa or couscous!

Thanks to our friend Ben for modeling this bowl =)

Now, I have to admit this dish was not perfect the first time around. The first time I went to cook the garlic and pepper in the oil, I left it on the stove too long and the fumes from the burning chilies nearly choked all of us to death. Then, the second time around, I added waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much red pepper into the pan. That was just my stupidity. However, my fiance and our friends that partook of the meal insisted that the intense spice was perfectly fine.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you "celebrating" out there. Just remember: Love is all about whistles.

 

Love Is... - Bo Burnham

Fiery Buffalo Wings

Surprise quick entry!!! 

On Superbowl Sunday, my fiance's mom bought about 2 pounds of chicken wings, and then decided she didn't want them. Well, we happened to be at the right place at the right time and she handed the wings over to us! We didn't end up eating them on Sunday (my 7 layer dip was just way too filling), so they sat in the fridge until I decided what to do with them. 

I finally decided! On Thursday night, I made fiery buffalo wings.

I haven't mentioned my favorite book Cook This, Not That! in awhile. I think the last recipe I pulled from it was the French pot roast. Anyway, this book's expertise lies in taking popular fast-food or chain restaurant menu items and creating healthier, cheaper alternatives. This recipe is based off of Hooter's wings (because why else would you go to Hooters?!). If you follow this recipe, according to the book, you will save yourself about 700 calories! You can't beat that! 

FIERY BUFFALO WINGS, courtesy of Cook This, Not That!

YOU WILL NEED:

2 lbs chicken wings (preferably a mix of wing segments and drummettes)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper
1 tsp chili powder

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot or Cholula work best)

Juice of 1 lemon
Celery sticks (optional)

mise-en-place

You will also need a baking sheet and a medium or large skillet.

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Toss the chicken with the salt, pepper and chili powder (using a gallon-sized zip-closed bag is the easiest way) and arrange on a baking sheet. Roast until the skin is lightly blistered and the meat is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

2. Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet or saute pan. Add the hot sauce and the lemon juice. Remove the wings from the oven and add directly to the hot pan, tossing thoroughly to coat every piece in the sauce.

3. Serve the wings with celery sticks on the side and blue cheese dressing.

I asked my fiance what he wanted with the wings, and he requested jasmine rice and peas. Ask and you shall receive!

Now, I didn't have the ingredients to make blue cheese dressing, but here's a quick way of doing it:

Mix 1 cup plain Greek-style yogurt (like Fage 2%) with 2 tbsp crumbled blue cheese and about 2 tbsp lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste!

I have made the dressing before and it is very light and refreshing, and the taste is not overpowering like bottled dressing is. It's quite pleasant.

Wow, this really was a super short entry. Well, tonight's recipe will be posted tomorrow and it will make up for it: it's shrimp scampi night! I swear, you will be so impressed with how easy this is. I am pretty excited! The shrimp in my fridge are calling to me. And yes, you will learn how to peel and de-vein shrimp!

Stay tuned, eaters.

Stuffed Tomatoes & Asparagus Risotto

I am so excited to post Wednesdays recipes that I barely have enough words to describe how excited I am.

My fiance's parents love to go to garage sales and when we were in the process of moving in to our new apartment, they always thought of us and what sort of little knickknacks  - cute and silly things that we never thought of, like a spoon rest or salt-and-pepper shakers. One time they brought us a gigantic bag of hangers. Another time, they brought us this cookbook:

Fiance's mom sheepishly admitted she tried one of the recipes before handing it over - but who can blame her? (The recipe she tried, by the way, was saffron risotto and it kicked butt)

I have a deep reverence for the Italians and their food. I think I might have been Italian in another life. But then again, the Jews and the Italians are practically the same culture: massive amounts of  unbelievably delicious food, overbearing mothers, emphatic gesturing, grandparents who feed first and ask questions later.  I also realized once I befriended someone who is Greek that the Greeks also fall under this category (the category being AWESOMENESS).

Anyway. Italian cuisine is probably my favorite (or have you forgotten my obsession with pasta?). So of course a cookbook titled "Basic Italian" (by Cornelia Schinharl, Sebastian Dickhaut & Kelsey Lane) would be right up my alley. I've tried two recipes from this book so far (which I promise to revisit sometime in the future for review on this blog) and I'm about to embark on two more. 

I was totally intrigued by this recipe for Pomodori ripieni (stuffed tomatoes), but I had no idea what to serve them with. Would they be too filling if I served them on the side with an actual entree? Or are they hearty enough to stand on their own? Thankfully, this is one of those cookbooks that gives you suggestions. At the bottom of each recipe, it offers ideas as to what will go with what. It turns out that these stuffed tomatoes are "delicious with grilled fish or meat; or, as a main dish with bread or risotto".

Risotto! A staple side in Italian cuisine. The book calls it "the best dish rice could ever aspire to" and I'm inclined to agree.

Did anyone ever watch the reality show "Hell's Kitchen"? This is one of those shows that fall into the category of "it seemed like a good idea at the time". For those who missed it, it was a cooking competition show hosted by Gordon Ramsey and was the American version of his similar UK show "Boiling Points". 

My parents, chefs both, used to love this show, and would often scoff when the so-called "professional" contestants failed to produce a simple risotto. "Risotto is like culinary one-oh-one!" they would laugh. "How can they be a professional and not be able to make a risotto?!"

I may be a n00b when it comes to cooking, but I'm 99% sure even I can whip up a risotto better than the contestants on "Hell's Kitchen". Hopefully, you'll be able to too!

Because it takes less attention, I'm going to start with the tomatoes. Here we go!

POMODORI RIPIENI (Stuffed Tomatoes), courtesy of "Basic Italian"

Feeds 4

YOU WILL NEED:

4 large or 8 medium tomatoes

1 (3.5oz) can oil-packed sardines

2 tablespoons black black olives (kalamata or Nicoise)

1/2 cup fresh parsley sprigs

1 onion

2 cloves garlic 

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

mise-en-place!

As for equipment, you will be needing a large baking dish (9x13 is suitable), a medium skillet and, if you're trying to save time, a food processor. A quick note about the tomatoes - because I went food shopping on Saturday, so far in advance for this recipe, I purposefully picked tomatoes that were slightly under ripe. By the time I was ready to use them on Wednesday night, they were perfect.

1. Rinse tomatoes and cut top off each one - scoop out the contents (reserve). Discard the seeds and chop the rest of the contents finely. Drain the outer shell of tomatoes upside down on paper towels (to be stuffed later).

 

2. Drain sardines and chop. Dice pitted olives finely. Rinse parsley, pull off leaves and chop finely. Peel onion and garlic; chop both finely (here's where the food processor is useful).

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add and saute the onion and garlic. Stir in chopped tomato and parsley and cook uncovered over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

4. Stir in olives and sardines. Remove pan from heat and let cool slightly, then add bread crumbs, Parmesan, lemon juice and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. 

5. Stuff the whole tomato shells by filling generously with the tomato-Parmesan--bread crumb mixture (overflowing is desirable). Arrange tomatoes side-by-side in a greased baking dish and sprinkle with remaining oil.

6. Bake tomatoes on the middle rack for about 30 minutes until the tops are nicely browned. 

Delicious! And, might I add, they smelled fantastic!

Now onto the risotto...

RISOTTO AGLI ASPARAGLI (Asparagus Risotto), courtesy of "Basic Italian"

Feeds 4-6

YOU WILL NEED:

1 lb green asparagus

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons butter

2 cups risotto rice (arborio or vialone)

3 1/4 cups stock (veal is preferable, but beef will also work or even vegetable, if making vegetarian)

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 to 1 lemon

A few sprigs basil

3 1/2 oz fontina cheese (Parmesan or fontinella will also work)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

All you will need for this recipe is at least a 5-qt pot. Also, I want to add that you can find risotto in the pasta aisle of your grocery store. I almost had a little panic attack when I couldn't find it. Another thing: the recipe calls for fontina cheese, but in a pinch, fontinella cheese will do the trick. In my case, it was almost $1 cheaper to buy fontinella instead.

1. Rinse asparagus and trim off tough ends. Cut off the tips as well (about 1"), because you won't add them to the pot until later. Cut the rest into 1/2" pieces. Peel the onion and garlic; chop both finely.

2. Melt half the butter but don't brown. Briefly saute onion, garlic and asparagus in it while stirring constantly. Add rice and stir until the grains are shiny. Heat stock to a gentle boil.

3. Add wine and let evaporate over high heat while stirring. Then add 1 ladle stock and switch risotto pot to medium heat. Keep stirring diligently while gradually adding the hot stock. After 10 minutes, add the asparagus tips and after another 10 minutes, do a taste test. The grains should be easy to chew but not entirely soft.

4. Rinse lemon, pat dry and grate off a thin layer of zest - without the white part, which would impart a bitter taste to the risotto. Lemon zest should be in fine strips: if not, chop. Remove basil leaves and cut into narrow strips. Dice fontina cheese.

5. Add cheese, lemon zest, basil and remaining butter to the pot and stir only until the cheese has melted in the hot rice mixture. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy the delicious finale!

And the final plate!!! 

Whew!! What an arduous recipe this was. Definitely do not attempt if you have weak arm muscles. You literally are stirring the risotto dish for about twenty solid minutes.

I cooked this for friends who came over for our weekly viewing of "Face Off" and all I had to do was blink and the plates were clean! I was given a round of thumbs up and Fiance asked me to cook this again.

 

You might have noticed that on the right hand side of the blog I have added tags! YAY! What are tags? Well, say you want a chicken recipe. You can click on the "chicken" tag and it will show you all my entries that have chicken in them! 

I'm labeling this recipe as both Fish and Vegetarian. The tomatoes have sardines in them, so that's the fish. However, to make both recipes vegetarian, simply omit the sardines from the tomato recipe and use vegetable stock in the risotto instead of beef or veal. Simple, yes? Also, it's tagged as Side Dish because separately, they are two side dishes coming together to make one entree.

Keep your eyes peeled for a shrimp scampi recipe! Also, surprise - I have a great weeknight recipe for spicy chicken wings that is sure to set your mouth on fire with its deliciousness!

Until next time - eat, drink and be merry!