Menagerie Part Deux

If I am getting things off my chest here, I might as well keep going. 

Menu:

Green Beans and Zucchini with Sauce Verte (#145)

Brown Rice

This is a perfect week night meal.  Since I found out about it about three years ago, I've been using frozen brown rice from Whole Foods.  It is perfect.  In two minutes in the microwave you have perfectly made sprouted brown rice.  In a pinch you can't beat it.

Menu:

Spinach, Mozzarella and Ricotta Pizza (#146)

Whole Foods makes pizza at some of their locations that is absolutely heavenly.  The spinach & ricotta variety is always my pick.  In the past I've taught a class up by the Tenleytown Whole Foods here in DC, and about every other Wednesday my students could find me enjoying a slice of this pizza prior to class.  After Molly Katzen shared in her book Get Cooking! that already made pizza dough can be enormously helpful for weeknight meals, I get to thinking I could make this pizza myself.  

I mixed about a tablespoon of minced garlic with about a cup of ricotta cheese and spread it on the dough after I rolled it out.  (This is a trick straight from a pizza parlor summer job I had many moons ago.)  I topped the pizza with fresh spinach, shredded and buffalo mozzarella and dollops of ricotta.  

Bake at 425 degrees until the crust is golden and the cheese is a bit golden too. 

Menu:

Sauteed Zucchini and Spinach over quinoa (#147)

Steamed corn on the cob (#148)

Smiley Amalie.

Ok, so I'm marking this meal as a real turning point for two reasons: I cooked corn on the cob myself and it was my first inedible meal to one of my guests.  Yes, that is right.  Regina couldn't take it.  My dear sister is not a huge fan of green veggies, or any veggies outside of the yummy starchy ones.  She took one bite and the look on her face gave it all away....yuck.  This was, mind you, after Amalie and I had been chowing down and enjoying the healthy pile of zucchini and spinach that were sauteed in garlic and olive oil.  Not even a big dose of salt could salvage it for Regina.  

Truth is, it was a good lesson.  And we both lived through it just fine.  I still love her.  

Menu:

Saffron Steamed Plain Basmati Rice (#149)

Grilled Indian-Spiced Butter Chicken (#150)

Peach Blueberry Cake (#151)

I have been really wanting to use saffron.  Especially since my time in Barcelona last summer.  The color, the flavor, the "most expensive spice in the world".  Sign me up.  I made this rice with a rice cooker my older sister just gifted me.  I've learned two things: I need more practice with the rice cooker and I need more practice with saffron.  Maybe one fed the other, I'm not sure.  The flavor was good, but I wasn't knocked over with food joy.  What is that?  You think my expectations are too high?  Ok, fine, maybe I am learning that too. 

It made quite a lovely plate though.  And the chicken was delicious.

Quick taste test.

 Two of my favorites.

The peach and blueberry cake was divine.  I used these little peaches that look smushed down.  In Barcelona the woman I was staying with called them paraguayos.  She said they are called this because they are grown in Paraguay.  True or not true, it matters not.  Mine were called donut peaches at Whole Foods and grown in Virginia.  They are perfect.

149 to go...

p.s.  i'm more than halfway.  wow.

Do you ever feel like this...?

These days I feel a lot like Gus from Cinderella.  If you aren't familiar with Gus, and I assure you that I am, he is the little mouse with a stack of corn up to his teeth.  As a kid I watched two movies on repeat.  Cinderella and Lady & the Tramp.  I can quote an impressive (?) amount of dialogue from Cinderella...verbatim.  Not to mention, I am totally shameless about it.  Having started a new job, traveling to Philly to NJ to NJ again and again to Nashville and back to DC, I feel as though this blog has become both the stack in Gus' hands and the cat.  How sad, no?  I promise not to get dramatic, and instead I will just share with you a menagerie of recipes, dishes, parties and guests that I've shared meals with over the last few weeks.  

Menu:

Sausage and Three Cheese Tart (#139)

 Schaeffer picks herbs from my "garden".

Trio of Mozzarella, Parmesan & Ricotta

Notice here two important details: Elijah's new chair and the exquisite 1930s champagne glasses Anita gave me.  I'm a beer out of the bottle and wine out a tumbler type of gal, but I absolutely cannot resist pouring my drink into one of these beautiful things.  It feels all fancy.

Menu:

Veggie Frittata (#140)

Cucumber, Tomato & Olive Salad (#141)

Patriotic Berry Tart (#142)

Menu:

Harissa-Marinated Top Sirloin Tips (#143)

Israeli Couscous with Asparagus & Snow Peas (#144)

Make this beef.  It is delicious.  And easy.

Use the freshest veggies.  I omitted peas and substituted snow peas to do so.

The reason I cook. Really.

Phew.  I needed to get that off my chest.  The summer is absolutely flying by.  I miss the regular ramblings here, honestly.  This past weekend brings a few wonderful family dinners to share.  Look around for them soon.  

156 to go...

Coming full circle.

I've been sitting on this entry for awhile now, trying to figure out how to tell the story of this particularly wonderful dinner party.  It is been rolling around like a pebble in my brain for a bit now, and I guess that's because I know it won't come out on 'paper' quite as special.  Alas, I think this is true of most things.  (I certainly have learned this from the 'one that got away' fish stories I've been falling asleep to, uh...I mean listening to, from my Dad.)  Tommy Capelli and I made a joint evening of cooking for a big gang back home in Jersey.  To say it was a wonderful night is an understatement for sure.  He made the gravy, Anita, his extremely warm and wonderful wife, made the sausage and meatballs, and Beth and I made the pasta.

Menu:

Homemade Semolina Capellini (#138)

Tommy's Tomato Gravy

Anita's Meatballs and sausage

Beth and I sorted out our recipe for the pasta that went something like this: mix equal parts semolina, white flour and eggs until you have a good doughy consistency.  I know that is less than helpful, but we had fun with it.  You might, too.  

It was the kind of evening that I can hardly describe.  Watching Tommy pick up a hunk of dough and roll in through the pasta maker.  My pasta maker.  After all these years since I picked up a hunk of dough and rolled it through his pasta maker and laid the long flat sheets of pasta over his sawhorse in the garage.  I'm a lucky gal, and that is all I have been thinking since this magical evening.  So lucky that I'm not even sure how to write about it.  To have friends like Tommy and Anita in my life is so special. 

Tommy's gravy and Anita's meatballs were as delicious as I remember them to be, and both of them allowed me to copy down the recipes.  These two sheets of little white paper with such valuable scribbles will certainly be staying with me throughout the years.  And some day soon I'm going to make Tommy's gravy and Anita's meatballs and share those recipes with you, friends. 

Here is to all of those family members that we have chosen for ourselves.  Love you both.

162 to go...

Down the Shore.

I grew up on the Jersey Shore.  Over the summers at the Shore before moving to Washington, DC, I was a Clam Bar girl, a Primo's Pizza waitress on the Ocean City boardwalk, a costumed dolphin on Ocean City's Family Night and a waitress at a little ten table breakfast/lunch place.  When I wasn't working, I was on the beach.  The Jersey Shore has such a special place in my heart.  And sand in my shoes I have most certainly.  A weekend down the Shore nowadays is a very cherished treat.  After a little fun...

...we did some cookin'!  This time around my culinary experimentation was method as opposed to ingredients on some levels...with the grill!


Menu:
Spicy Crab Soup (#133)
Grilled Whole Lobsters (#134) with herbed butter sauce (#135) and Filet Mignon (#136) with chimichurri sauce (#137)
Steam fresh peas
Blueberry Cobbler (made by Aunt Sandi)


Reed's Farm, in Egg Harbor Twp, NJ, is where I learned that vegetables and fruits have seasons, sandy soil is best for tomatoes and nothing ever beats freshly picked anything cooked the same day.  I've been peeking over the farm stand shelves since I needed a boost, and I love the sound of the car on the gravel as you turn into the parking lot.  If I close my eyes, I can hear it perfectly.  This year they've added something extra special:  fresh whole Maine Lobsters by Lobster Select.  Mike the Lobster Man helped me out with packing up a bunch of beautiful lobsters.  

Lots of helpers!

My Aunt Sandi is an incredible cook.  I've been watching her dance about the kitchen, dipping a spoon hear for a taste test and adding a pinch of this and that, and presenting incredible meals always, since I was a little kiddo.  She knows everything about food and cooking, and this trip to Jersey she imparted me with an awesome new skill...how to [humanely?] kill a lobster before cooking it.  

Quick slice in the thorax.

[Notice the look on Schaeffer's face.]

This was, of course, after we got to play around with the funny fellas.

The filets were seasoned very simply with salt and pepper.  They were seared first, and then put up top to stay warm.  The lobsters were simply grilled front and back.

I can't wait to get back to the Shore for another weekend just like this.  If you're a person who has little, if any, appreciation for the Jersey Shore I beg you to go.  Please.  You will understand.

Sometimes you just need to fly a kite.

163 to go...

Schaeffer's favorite recipe and donut cake.

According to my most frequent dinner guest, dining partner, guinea pig, test rat, etc, I have made my best meal yet.


Menu:
Proscuitto, Basil & Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts (#130)
Doughnuts (#131) with Chocolate Dipping Sauce (#132)


Don't you just love things that are both easy to make and look beautiful?  That is the joy that are stuffed chicken breasts.  There is such an effortless elegance about them.  And on a weeknight, they make dinner special.  
The tweaks that needed to be made to the chicken recipe are they I used chicken breasts that already had the tenders cut from them, so I didn't have to do too much messing about with the meat.  I also nixed the mustard, because I didn't want that flavor to compete.  Mozzarella, basil and proscuitto seemed like a really delicious trilogy of flavors that I wanted to be the stars of the show.  

Line up the proscuitto slices and stack with filling.

Roll up the slices.

Put the rolled mixture inside a slit in the chicken breast.

Another big tweak is that I don't have a grill.  Nice little apartments in the city don't lend themselves to this.  I cooked the chicken breasts right in the skillet, - about 4 minutes each side.  Paired with a variety of greens it was quite a meal.  

But, although the feedback from Schaeffer was a lot of "yum!", I really think I saved the best for last.

I have a fantasy about when I have a family of my own, I want to greet my kids with a cake in bed on the morning of their birthdays.  I think when you're a kid you should be greeted with sugar and icing and cake or ice cream or...doughnuts!  Anyway, no kiddos around here, but I still thought a doughnut cake was in order.  By doughnut cake, I mean doughnuts piled high and drizzled with chocolate sauce and called a cake.  

Doughnuts awaiting hot oil and those being fried.

Cover in cinnamon-sugar.

Extra sauce for dipping!

Happy doughnut eaters.

Just one more.

I read about this recipe a long time ago in the Washington Post, and I think, four years later, it definitely came in handy.  Funny thing is, Schaeffer's mom shared that when her kids were little, they were greeted in bed with a cake on their birthdays.  Better yet...it was always a doughnut cake.


Go on...make a doughnut cake.

168 to go...