Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Olive oil’

Too Many Cooks…The Prequel

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , , , on August 5, 2012| 2 Comments »

English: Costco in Moncton, New Brunswick

The Discount-if-you-want-to-buy-large store

Just like Hollywood, I think I figured out a way to make one good idea into two!  LOL LOL, seriously but not too seriously.  I had started my blog post last week with what I’m about to write.  At that time I realized I was going way too deep into my day up to the point of my cousins arrival and not adhering to my title and topic.  I had saved the draft and my intention was to post this the next day.  Well we all know what the road to hell is paved with, now don’t we??   Or is that the seed of yet another blog post about the origin and meaning of well-known and often soon-to-be-obscure phrases?  We’ll see…. But back to the back story of last Friday’s visit with familigia and our subsequent dinner.

My day started out early enough, I had my list written from the night before. Where to go, in what order as well groceries needed.  However, I had also promised a friend to go to his new house twice to open up the door for  deliveries AND I would have to pick my husband up from the train.  AND I wanted to make some gazpacho before my cousins arrived.  I figured they wouldn’t want to go to the beach today, having just returned from Cape May and they would probably stay for dinner.  It was such a hot day, cold gazpacho sounded just right for tonight.

Ah but the best laid plans of mice and men (and yet another little catchphrase!)…. Too many phone calls to get out of the house really early but OK, I’m finally on my way and first stop is the dry cleaners to pick up clothes I need for Sunday.  Oh dear, the dry cleaning will not be in till later this afternoon.  Mmmmm  okay I’l come back later.  Then to Laurie’s vegetable & fruit stand to pick up the ingredients for the gazpacho and snag a couple of peaches too and maybe a few ears of corn – mission accomplished.  Next to Aldi‘s to pick up some staples; park the car, lock it walk to entry, oh I forgot my shopping bags.  A minor delay but nothing to worry about, I flew around the store grabbing what I needed and rushed out.  I just finished putting the bags in the car and my cell phone rings and it is the friend telling me that Lord & Taylor did NOT call him a half hour prior to delivery (so he would be able to alert me) but rather they were waiting at the house.  This turned out to be not so inconvenient because if I went to his house now, I could then go to The Lillagaard to drop off the refrigerated stuff.  I meet the driver and he has only 2 chairs!  That seemed odd for a dining room and especially one whose owner is an interior decorator.  But I signed for them, proceeded to drop off the refrigerated stuff and called him informing deed was done, and why only two chairs?  Answer – apparently, L&T goofed up the delivery.  Oh and by the way, would I be around on Monday for the Target delivery?

Back in the car and off to Starbucks for some well-needed caffeine and a cup of Pike’s for Pete upon his arrival and per his request.  Off to   Costco,  noting the gas price of $3.35 per gallon whereas two weeks ago it was $3.15!  I made a really quick trip through the mega discount-if-you-buy-giant-size store picking up what I needed for Sunday’s tea service.  I still have one more grocery store to go to but decide I should call Peter and see where he is.  Well,  apparently he is and has been waiting at the station to be picked up. So I step on the gas as I wheel out of the Costco parking lot and thereby cause the tray with his cup of coffee  to tip.  It’s an interesting maneuver to be driving, talking on the phone and trying to retrieve a full cup of coffee from the floor of the passenger side.  Of course I got coffee on my pants. I must have a full body magnetic field because food and drink stains are consistently drawn to me.  At home in Manhattan, I believe I am personally responsible for sending at least Korean children to college.

I picked him up and we did NOT go home or Pass Go and collect $200.  We went back to Neptune and to Wegman’s where the two of us set off  in different directions in order to shop twice as quickly.  Time was not on my side!!! I happened to pass the International aisle and the Goya bean display caught my eye.  Mmmm maybe I should make my hot summer night stand-by-Tuna Fennel Cannellini  Bean salad.  Last words heard as we left the store, “I wonder if I have enough gin at home?” Hey I don’t check everything!

Of course Peter didn’t have enough gin! So leaving me at home to begin chopping, peeling, dicing, and  juicing in the course of making gazpacho, Peter left to go out and buy some gin.  Which turned out to be helpful to me because now he could drop off the rest of the refrigerated stuff at the hotel.  And then my dear friend, Susan called.  I believe  she will read this so now she’ll know why I sort of rushed her off the phone and said, “Call me Sunday night when you get home!”

I don’t think it was much more than 10 minutes later that my cousins arrived and I realized I needed tomato juice.  Funny how some things go together!  I called Peter and asked him to pick it up, knowing full well, this would never be done without another phone call.  After quickly greeting my guests, I excused myself to the kitchen to try and get this gazpacho underway.  

If you’re wondering what happened after that and did not read the previous blog post, here’s the link;

https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/too-many-cooks…in-the-kitchen

Read Full Post »

Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth or Cousins Cooking in the Kitchen

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Friends, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged , , , , , , , on July 28, 2012| 3 Comments »

Chilled Gazpacho on a hot summer night!

There’s usually a modicum of truth and fact in every  trite phrase and/or axiom.   So here we have an age-old saying; “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth”.  According to Wikipedia, the definition of this phrase is:

“If too many people try to take charge at a task, the end product might be ruined.
also this means that where there are too many people trying to do something they make a mess of it.”

Well,… NOT ALWAYS!

Yesterday my cousin Janet and her husband, Danny and my cousin Marian stopped by for a visit on their way home from a short stay in Cape May.  I knew they were coming (I should have baked a cake) so I got up early and took off for the fruit and vegetable stand to buy the ingredients for Gazpacho.  It was already ridiculously hot and although this was MY day off and I wanted to get some tan, I knew they would not want to go to the beach.   And that by the way has been the story of my summer so far, but that’s another story!

I had several other grocery stops to make before they arrived  because I certainly did not want to attempt to move the car on Saturday and lose my parking space – Hey I thought I was in Ocean Grove, not Manhattan! Anyway by the time I got the Gazpacho slightly underway they arrived.  My kitchen was in the throes of a Julia  Child meltdown, bowls everywhere, knives of all sizes out, cutting boards galore….well I sat Danny down with the New York Times and my cousins and I repaired to the kitchen.

Luckily  I come from a family of capable cooks and cleaner-uppers and so without much discussion, soon all three of us were busily chopping, juicing, peeling, slicing and mixing.  Sounds like a well-oiled machine right? Or at least a kitchen with competent line cooks.  Well, that’s a half truth since we are all competent but we didn’t have set places in the line!!  If you are a cook, you are beginning to get the picture.

Added to the fact that 3 cooks in the kitchen are inevitably in each other’s way, we compounded the problems by the fact that we were creating two dishes and some of the ingredients were the same.  Pretty soon the kitchen was humming with the sound of food processor as Janet ran the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cucumber through the machine.  Peter arrived with the much-needed tomato juice (I had forgotten to buy it-it wasn’t on the list) and I kept running back and forth between my two recipe cards trying to explain to Marian how to make the Tuna-Fennel-Bean salad. She’s mincing where we should be chopping and also telling me that the recipe didn’t call for this much of this or that.  I wanted to expand the recipe so it would feed all five of us.  Then I realized I didn’t have enough lemon juice but Janet who travels with a well-stocked pantry in her car, runs out and comes back with a lemon.   So now we are adding lemon juice to both recipes, zesting into the Tuna dish and rinsing beans.  I look at the front of the recipe card and realize I don’t have any chives;(something I had promised myself I would check before I left for the store.  OK, we all agree, Gazpacho without chives will still be great.  However, Marian does mention that probably when we all taste it, we’ll  agree it should have had chives.  The parsley is out on the counter…. I zip over to where Marian is working at the kitchen table and look at that recipe card and realize I don’t have  any scallions!  Geez, who the heck made the grocery list???  Consensus of cousins decide to use onion powder and not fresh onion because Danny can’t eat them raw.  I had considered going out to my lawn where wild onions grow and use the stalks.

Now here’s where things began to fall apart.  I had committed to opening the door to a friend’s house for a delivery.  The time had come to do so.  Since I was elbow-deep in peeling and chopping hot tomatoes that I had just peeled, I sent Peter and Danny to do so.  NO, I did NOT have the address, I just knew where it was.  That was a predictable disaster.  Peter calls me from his cell phone to say there is no beige house, there is no delivery truck.  Thinking this is typical Peter I yell at him and hang up.   He calls back saying he can’t find it so in exasperation, I tell him to come back and pick me up.  I’m pretty sure my cousins can handle the kitchen without me.  Long story short-I had given him the wrong street.

When I returned the kitchen was practically cleaned up. Janet was washing bowls, Marian was drying, the food processor had disappeared.  Wow, they are fast and efficient.  I look around and see the parsley still out and tell Janet, “uh oh, we forgot to put the parsley in”.  Not to worry, we will chop it up fine and throw in.  Then I turn the card over (you see I am the only one checking the recipe) and once again the big “UH OH” comes out. We didn’t put the olive oil or the red wine vinegar in either! Yes we can add it BUT by now the batch of Gazpacho was too big for one bowl so I had taken some out to put in another bowl.  So just what proportions should I be adding red wine vinegar and olive oil?? Competent cook know what to do and when to punt…. The Tuna-Fennel-Bean salad has come together, the last of the tomato mess in the kitchen has been cleaned up (although this morning I found tomato splash spots on the toaster) and God, it must be time for a drink!

When Janet and Danny visit, we have a tradition of drinking Mojitos of which Danny is the master maker.  I pick some mint from the yard, assemble the rum, limes, muddler and seltzer.  Mmmm there doesn’t seem to be that much rum which I was sure I had, and then realized I had more dark rum (for Dark & Stormy’s).  Janet says not to worry because of course she has rum in the car – I told you she traveled with a pantry.  I take out my simple syrup which Janet has deemed not sweet enough so she goes out to the car and brings back a container of syrup – see what I mean!

And here’s where I’m going to end my story. We had drinks, we yakked, we sat down to eat. EVERYTHING was delicious!  It would have been nice to have a crusty loaf of French or Italian bread but we didn’t and still the meal was a communal success!

Read Full Post »

North African Chicken with Spicy Green Sauce

Posted in Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , , on May 5, 2012| 1 Comment »

Tunisian one pot chicken dish, spicy green sauce,

Tunisian One-Pot Dish as Spicy as You Like It

I prepared this dish last night, the recipe was in the New York Times.  It was a bit complicated, BUT, BUT, it was delicious and I took some shortcuts that I will share with you.  And we ate the leftovers tonight, even better! I’m going to write out the recipe the way I made it and not exactly as it was written.  If you want the original please go to http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/dining/chicken-with-couscous-sauce-on-the-side.htm

4-6 drumsticks (next time I am going to use skinless)

3 cups canned chick peas (rinsed and drained)

1/2 lb small white turnips – peeled and cut into wedges

1/2 lb carrot sticks (or cut into 2″ batons)

1 small onion – peel, insert a few cloves. (I didn’t have any cloves so I used ground cloves, about 1 tsp.)

1 bay leaf

1 tsp coriander seed – I used ground powder about 1 1/2 tsp

1 tsp cumin seed – I used ground powder about 1 1/2 tsp

1 tsp caraway seeds – I crushed them between two spoons.

1 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and ground pepper

1 large onion – chopped to = 2 cups

6 garlic cloves minced

1 -2 TBS olive oil

ground cinnamon (recipe calls for 1 stick – too expensive)

Spicy green sauce (recipe below)

Cooked and buttered couscous or rice

Put the chickpeas in a medium sauce pan with about 5 cups of water, add bay leaf, and onion with cloves (or sprinkle the ground cloves into the water), season with salt.  Bring to a  boil and then leave to simmer while preparing the other ingredients. 

Mix the spices together (cumin, coriander, caraway, cayenne pepper)

Rinse chicken legs and pat dry-season generously on all sides with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle the spice mixture on the chicken legs and rub into the meat.

In heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add chicken legs and brown gently until golden, about 4 minutes a side.  Remove legs and set aside.  In same pot, add diced onions and a little salt. Let onions soften and color for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, and scraping up any brown bits.  Add cinnamon and garlic and cook for a minute more.

Drain chick peas and reserve broth. I kept the onion in the broth.  Return the chicken legs to the pot and pour in 4 cups of the chickpea broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook covered for about 25 minutes.

Add the chickpeas, carrots and turnips and cook, covered, for 15 minutes more.  Let rest 5 minutes and skim excess fat.  Serve with the broth, spicy green sauce and buttered couscous.

Spicy Green Sauce

1 preserved lemon or the grated zest of 1 lemon.  I got a jar of preserved lemon at an Indian grocery store but I believe the zest would just as good, since the recipe calls for using only the skin.

1 garlic clove smashed with a little salt to make a paste.

1 or 2 serrano or jalapeno chiles, very finely chopped. Use less for a milder sauce.

1 cup of finely chopped cilantro, leaves and tender stems

1/3 cup olive oil

3 scallions finely chopped

If using preserved lemon, remove from brine, rinse well and chop the peel in 1/16 inch cubes. Reserve pulp for another use. Put cubes aside.

In a small bowl, mix the garlic paste, chiles and cilantro in a blender or food processor, keep a small amount of cilantro out.

Stir in the olive oil, scallions and diced lemon or zest.  Taste and add salt or more oil if necessary.  Once sauce is made and in a small serving dish, you can mix in the rest of the chopped cilantro which gives the sauce texture.

This one-pot meal was excellent and even better the next day although we had eaten all the chicken the night before!

Read Full Post »

Tuscan Chicken – I Did It My Way

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , , on March 18, 2012| 5 Comments »

This morning on CBS News , I happened to hear Tony Tantillo describe a dish I think he called Tuscan chicken.  I was interested but not paying full attention because I assumed I could get on their website.  WRONG!  For some reason today’s recipe is not on the site.  I tried to remember everything he said and found a similar recipe for Tuscan Chicken which would serve as the basis for this dish.

At trip to Fairway Market to get a few ingredients and I was ready to create this dish for dinner tonight.  Here’s what I did:

1 whole roasted chicken

2 oz olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic sliced

4-5 small Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced

1 can of cannelini beans

1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)

1 med. can of diced tomatoes or 1 fresh tomato

3/4 cup chicken broth (or more if needed)

1/2 to 3/4 # of fettucine rigate

2=3 fresh sage leaves

pinch of red pepper flakes

fresh parsley

grated Italian cheese (I use whatever I have; Pecorino, Romano, Parmesan)

Large skillet or braising pan

Heat the olive oil, add the garlic and cook on MED for about 2 min.  Add the potatoes and cook another 2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.   Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth.  Cook for a couple minutes.  Add the pieces of roasted chicken to the pan,and 1/4 cup of chicken broth.  Cook till liquid is slightly reduced.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions.

Puree the beans, using their own liquid.  Add a few drops of olive oil to puree and  1/4 cup chicken broth and/or white wine.  This is where you need to judge for yourself whether the puree is too thick – it will be the sauce for the pasta.

Add the bean puree to the pan, cover and cook for about 3-4 minutes till all is heated through.  Add sage leaves .

I put the cooked pasta in the bottom of a large flat-bottomed bowl, removed the chicken from the pan, and poured 3/4 of the sauce over the fettucine.  Place the roasted chicken pieces on top of the pasta, pour the remainder of the bean puree over the chicken and add diced tomatoes across the top.  Sprinkle with grated cheese and red pepper flakes.

Tuscan chicken, cannelini beans, Yukon potatoes, diced tomatoes

Tuscan Chicken

Read Full Post »

Pasta with Cauliflower and Collards-Tasty Tidbits Tuesday

Posted in Everyday Food, Marthaspeak, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , on February 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

English: A bundle of collard greens, from an o...

A Bunch of Collard Greens

DON’T be put off by the ingredients in this super winter pasta dish.  Depending on where you are when you are reading this, winter has either been a no-show or you’re cursing that damn gopher in Pennsylvania!  I’m in NYC and we’ve had a “pass”  (so far) on a snowy, frosty, icy winter.  Thank you Mother Nature  for making amends to us for last year’s horrible onslaught of snow! So even though Daylight Savings Time is around the corner as is the official beginning of Spring, I don’t count out the infamous month of March.  It IS still winter and it is cold even if it’s  not freezing.  And that’s why a hearty pasta meal featuring classic winter vegetables is appropriate and tasty.

Coarse salt and ground pepper

3/4 lb of short pasta such as rigatoni or penne

1 TBS olive oil plus more for drizzling

1 large shallot, minced

1/3 cup white wine such as Pinot Grigio

1 bunch collard greens-ribs removed, leaves sliced crosswise

reserved roasted cauliflower**

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

Cook pasta according to directions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water and drain pasta.

Meanwhile in a medium pot, heat oil over MEDIUM heat.  Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, till soft, about 5 minutes.  Add wine and cook till almost evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add collards and cook, stirring  occasionally, until bright green and crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Add cauliflower, lemon zest and pasta.  Cook until cauliflower and pasta are hot, stirring and adding enough pasta water to create a thin sauce that coats pasta, about 4 minutes.  Transfer to serving bowl, drizzle with olive oil.  Serve immediately.

** Preheat oven to 450 degrees; Toss cauliflower florets with 2 TBS olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper. Roast 15 minutes, flip and roast for 10 more minutes or till tender.

Recipe from Martha Stewart‘s EveryDay Food

Related articles

Read Full Post »

Wegman’s Week of Delicious Economical Meals

Posted in Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Yes I do like to cook…BUT not always!  After all, living in NYC, the capitol of take-out and delivered food makes it really easy to never have to cook.   Not to mention the late late serving hours in many restaurants and the neighborhood Coffee Shop that’s open 24 hours.  Can you imagine how liberating and indulgent that is?  If you can’t sleep and you think a Belgian Waffle would hit the spot, you can just pick up the phone at 3:00 am and in 15 minutes you can be pouring maple syrup over a steaming hot waffle.

Ok I digress…this past week, I’ve been cooking every night and one of the main reasons is economics.  I’m not making Beef Wellington, or Lobster Bisque.  I served up some yummy food and none of the meals cost a lot.

I started off making a batch of Butternut Squash Soup.  This savory version of a root vegetable soup came from the latest issue of Wegman’s MENU magazine.  It’s not as thick and rich as some other recipes, however, it has a flavorful twist.   Here it is:

1 TBS olive oil

1 cup of chopped onion

1 cup of thinly sliced leeks

1 cup thinly sliced celery

1 TBS chopped garlic

2 bay leaves

2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

2 pkgs of cleaned, cut butternut squash (20 oz ea.) or 3 lbs bulk squash cut in 1 inch dice

2 cartons of vegetable broth ( I used chicken broth)

2 TBS amber maple syrup

pumpkin seed oil ( I didn’t have any)

toasted pumpkin seeds (had those and toasted them)

You’ll need a stockpot and a blender

Heat olive oil in stockpot on MEDIUM.  Add onions, leeks, celery, garlic, and bay leaves;  season with 2 tsp salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, stirring, 10 minutes till softened bu not browned.

Add squash and stock.  Increase heat to MEDIUM-HIGH.  Bring to a simmer, cover, vented.  Reduce heat to LOW; simmer 20-25 minutes.

Turn off heat.  Remove bay leaves.  Stir in maple syrup.  Working in batches, add soup to blender.  Puree till smooth, pouring pureed soup into another pot.  Taste and adjust seasonings.

Ladle soup into warmed serving bowls, garnish each with 1 tsp pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil.

The next day I got the stockpot out and made one of favorite winter Wegman’s recipes;  Slow-Cooked Beef Minestrone.  I  posted this truly economical and delicious recipe previously -see post at https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/slow-cooked-beef-minestrone/

On another night  we had veggie burgers and as a side dish I made Pan Steamed Cauliflower, also a Wegman’s MENU magazine recipe.  This is a great way to prepare  vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower.

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tsp chopped garlic

1 anchovy fillet (in the jar, not tin) or 1  1/2 tsp capers

1 – 1  1/2 lb trimmed vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, romanescu, brocoletti, green beans)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp salt

cracked black pepper to taste

Heat olive oil, garlic, and anchovy on MEDIUM-LOW.  Cook, stirring, 2-3 minutes (until anchovy dissolves).

Raise heat to HIGH.  Add vegetables, water, and salt. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer; cover.  Cook, stirring occasionally 8-12 minutes or until water is evaporated. 

Season to taste with pepper.  Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, grated cheese or red pepper flakes, if desired.

My husband loves pasta so we don’t go too many days without a pasta night.  I decided to make a special sauce – Wegman’s San Marzano Tomato Sauce.  This was Soooo Goooood.   I will post the recipe for you but not today because I just previewed this post and it’s already getting long.  And to finish up my Wegman’s Week,  I prepared Chicken Breasts with a Lemon Caper Sauce -I’ll post that one later too.

Wegman's brand,

San Marzano Tomatoes

Related articles

Read Full Post »

Chicken Cacciatore – I’m Cooking!!!

Posted in Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Slow-Cooked Chicken Cacciatore a/k/a Chicken Hunter Style

Tomorrow morning I’m taking the crock pot and gonna cook up a storm.  I need to make a couple of meals and freeze some of them.  If I don’t, I find myself coming home late and too tired to cook and that leads to ordering in or eating junk.  Either way it’s no good, one costs too much money and the other ends up being empty calories.  So tomorrow morning I’ll make the Chicken Cacciatore and give my husband a real meal and freeze the rest.

3 lbs cut up chicken (split chicken breasts and thighs)

Flour for searing

2 TBS olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

8 oz of baby bella  mushrooms sliced

2 cups diced green peppers and onions

1 cup dry red wine

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 pkg (24 oz) of seasoned tomato sauce.

Salt and pepper to taste

Dust chicken with searing flour

Heat oil on MEDIUM in large braising pan; add chicken.  Brown lightly on all sides, 8-10 minutes.  Transfer chicken to slow cooker.  Discard all but 1 TBS oil.

Add garlic, mushrooms, peppers and onions to pan.  Cook, stirring occasionally, 3-4 minutes, until vegetables soften slightly.  Add wine; cook 1-2 minutes.  Add Italian seasoning and tomato sauce; stir.  Bring to simmer and remove from heat.

Add sauce mixture carefully to slow cooker.  Cover;  cook 3-4 hours on HIGH or 6-7 hours on LOW.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  I’m going to add some red pepper flakes too.  Serve over pasta or rice.

And omg, this house is going to smell DEE-LICIOUS tomorrow!

Recipe from Wegman’s Menu Magazine Fall 2009

Cooking Lab: Italian - Pollo alla Cacciatora (...

Chicken Hunter Style

Read Full Post »

Between the cupboard and Costco – Cheap and Delicious Pasta Primavera

Posted in Everyday Food, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , on December 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

When I arrived in OG today, the larder was pretty empty at first glance.  BUT then, a closer look and some culinary creativity and voilà – Pasta Primavera!

I had a package of cooked chicken strips that I purchased at Costco in the freezer (so I defrosted them) and some carrots and celery left over from my last Mah Jongg night when they were part of a veggie and dip plate.  A red onion had been hanging around the house for some time and of course I always have fresh garlic in the house.  I bought 5 lbs of fresh asparagus at Costco today and I also keep a bag of frozen mixed vegetables in the freezer. Definitely the making of a tasty pasta and vegetable dish.

I sauteed the garlic, red onion and tossed in the celery, carrots and asparagus in olive oil.  I ha some vegetable broth in the refrigerator but alas, it had a sour smell so I poured it down the sink.  I found a can of Swanson chicken broth and added that to the veggies.  After a bit of cooking, I added the chicken strips, and two handfuls of frozen mixed vegetables.  Salt and pepper and some red pepper flakes and while that was cooking, I filled a pot with water to cook some pasta.  Buccatini seemed like the perfect choice.

When the buccatini was done, I drained it and before I put it in the bowl, I put a little basting oil in the bottom of the bowl.  Added some pasta, then some of the vegetables and kept alternating till all was in the bowl and topped it off with a good amount of shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. 

It was delicious!  Yes I do say so myself!

pasta primavera, Costco, buccatini

Cheap and easy eats

PS. This is not a photo of my dish because those who know know, that’s fettucine and not buccatini!

Read Full Post »

A Good Cook Knows When to Improvise!

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Short Pasta

The Many Moods of Macaroni

I consider myself a good cook, however, tonight I proved that corollary wrong!  I improvised a recipe and even as I was doing it, I knew it wasn’t going to be good.  And it was a classic case of being penny wise and pound foolish.  I had it in mind to make a pasta dish tonight that I had seen in Martha Stewart‘s everyday Food.  

The dish is Orrechiette with broccoli rabe, oregano and lemon.  It’s simple, easy and quick to make and I thought it was the perfect dish to make tonight as I was out all day and didn’t want to prepare something that needed a lot of prep or ingredients.

Here’s the recipe:

3/4 # of orrechiette

1 bunch of broccoli rabe (about 1#) trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves thinly sliced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 TBS fresh oregano leaves for serving

2-3 TBS fresh lemon juice for serving

Cook pasta according to directions , adding broccoli rabe 4 minutes before pasta is done.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan, heat oil, garlic and red pepper flakes over medium heat till garlic begins to sizzle.

Drain pasta and broccoli rabe and return to pot.  Add oil mixture and toss to coat; season with coarse salt and pepper.  To serve, sprinkle oregano over pasta and drizzle with lemon juice.

It was really tasty and certainly easy to prepare.  Here’s where I made my mistake and I did know better;  When a recipe calls for a certain type and shape of macaroni (pasta to you all), there’s a reason.  This is a weekly debate in our house as my husband (who is not Italian) only likes linguine.  Seriously he likes linguine with any and all kinds of sauces.  Different shapes have different densities and are able to hold the sauce better than others.  Some penne have lines like penne rigate as opposed to ziti and the sauce will cling to one and not the other.

This recipe called for orrechiette (little ears) and they are small, slightly dense and concave.  I love Wegman’s Food store, you all know that already, but lately I have a gripe with them;  Over that last six months, Wegman’s has been eliminating the shelf space allotted to Barilla (my absolute favorite)  and DeCecco brand of pasta and filling the shelves with their own brand.  So when I looked for Barilla’s orrechiette there wasn’t any.  In fact, even in the Wegman’s pasta, super pasta and whole wheat pasta sections, there weren’t any orrechiette.  BUT, in their Wegman’s Classic Italian line which comes in all kinds of exotic shapes and is packaged in a clear cellophane bag, they did have orrechiette BUT that pasta line is priced in the $3.00+ category and I just couldn’t justify spending that much on the pasta itself.  MISTAKE! Well not really, I should have gone elsewhere.  Instead, I cruised the aisle back and forth and back and forth trying to discern what other shape might be substitutable for the little ears.  There really wasn’t anything and I settled on some very small penne regate that Barilla calls Piccolini Penne and it cooks in 7 minutes.  The end result was that the penne cooked very quickly and even though I tried to cook it according to the package directions (something I NEVER do) and add the rabe at the right moment, the penne were a little soft.  We like our pasta al dente, the orrechiette would have been perfect.  So I saved some money and made a dish that was tasty but could have been fantastic. 

Related articles

Read Full Post »

Pan-Steamed Cauliflower with Barilotti

Posted in Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

Wegman's

Pasta with Cauliflower

TASTY TIDBITS TUESDAY

The other night I made a really tasty pasta dish, the perfect Sunday night supper.  The recipe which came from Wegman’s and called for using a pasta called Barilotti which is a thick twisted curl of macaroni.  It’s also a little pricey so I opted to use Gemelli or Cavatelli.  This is a great vegetarian meal.

1 lb pasta such as Cavatelli or Gemelli

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

2 TBS basting oil

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

1 TBS chopped garlic

3 anchovy fillets

1/2 TBS crushed red pepper

1 1/2-2 lbs cauliflower, cut into 1 ” pieces (about 6 cups)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp salt

2 TBS fresh Italian parsley

Ground black pepper to taste

Use a braising pan – a heavy Dutch oven would be a good second choice

Combine panko and basting oil in small bowl.  Toast in braising pan on MEDIUM, stirring constantly, 3-4 minutes until golden brown.  Transfer to small plate to cool. Then toss with grated cheese in a small bowl.

Heat olive oil, garlic, anchovies and hot pepper on MEDIUM-LOW.  Cook, stirring 2-3 minutes, until anchovy fillets dissolve.

Raise heat to HIGH.  Add cauliflower, water and salt; stir.  Bring to simmer;  Cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until water is evaporated, cauliflower is tender.  Turn off heat.

Add cooked pasta to cauliflower; stir to combine.  Add half the panko/cheese  mixture and parsley to pan.  Stir.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Garnish with remaining panko/cheese mixture.

Recipe courtesy of Wegman’s  –  Bring Home A Taste of Italy

Related articles

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »