Last year when we moved I started a vegetable garden with the hopes of figuring out the hell I was doing and maybe getting something (one thing) edible for my efforts. Considering it was started in late August, I didn't get that much out of it. A few pea pods, and lots of sprouts that either died during the "winter" or are still growing today. But one thing we did have a lot of was zucchini blossoms, so we took advantage of that and had many many fried blossoms for appetizers and with dinner. Here's some tips and recipes for eating them.
When harvesting, only pick the male ones because female ones are the ones that produce fruit. You'll know the difference because the female blossoms will have little round things underneath the blossom (that's your zucchini that's starting to grow!). Also pick them when they start to open up, but eat them within 24 hours otherwise they'll shrivel up. You can save the blossoms for a day or so longer if you keep them in ice water or a cold damp paper towel. Make sure you clean them out before eating (I like to make sure there's no pollen on the inside, and obviously no bugs!). Blossoms from other squash plants aren't so great.
What you need:
- Zucchini Blossoms
- Bread crumbs
- 1 Egg
- a dash of milk
- Flower
- Oil
- Mascarpone and Blue cheese
1. Mix together some Italian seasoned bread crumbs, flour, egg, and just a little bit of milk until you get a nice thick batter.
2. Put a little bit of mascarpone cheese and a lot more blue cheese on the inside of a blossom. (We've tried several different cheeses, and due to the mildness of the blossom, a cheese with a little bit more kick to it works best.) Twist the ends together to close up the blossom. (Side note, if you use mascarpone cheese on it's own, it will explode and drain everywhere when you bite into it.)
3. Dip the blossom in the batter (you'll know if it's too thick or too thin based on whether it sticks to the blossom at all or runs completely off.
4. You can either bake them or fry them. If you fry, preheat the oil and when it is very hot, drop the blossoms in. They only need a minute or two to cook. Remove with a slotted spoon when browned and let cool on a paper towel. If you bake, bake in a in a tin with walls (either a cookie tin or a cake tin) with some olive oil in preheated 400 degree oven until batter is cooked.
And if that was enough effort for one meal, here's a quick and easy pasta dish that you can eat these next to (ie. not part of).
Make spaghetti the way it says on the box and drain. Add some olive oil and butter, garlic (fresh or powder is fine), parsley, basil, nutmeg, and parmesean chesse. The end.
Showing posts with label seasonal vegetables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seasonal vegetables. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Cranberry Apple Pear Crumble
A couple of months ago, when we had some guests for the weekend, I came up with a nice dessert for the four of us. Quick, easy, very customizable, and of course delicious! Seems like it would make an even better dessert now that the nights are getting chilly here. And I think this would also make a really good pie filling.
Serves: 4
What you need:
For the insides:
-2 chopped apples (I used one Gala and one Red Delicious)
-1 chopped pear
-1/4 cup dried cranberries
-1/4 cup of sugar
-1/4 to 1/3 cup of flour (Adding more flour will make the juices thicker, so this depends on how thick you like you filling to be.)
-1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
For the crumble:
-4 tbsp softened butter
-2 tbsp white sugar
-2 tbsp brown sugar
-4 tbsp flour
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
2. Mix the ingredients for all the insides together in a large bowl then split them up amongst 4 ramekins.
3. Mix the ingredients for the crumble together and top evenly among the ramekins.
4. Place the four ramekins on a cookie baking sheet (for easier clean up and transporting in and out of the oven). Bake until the crumble starts to brown.
5. Optional, top with one scoop of ice cream! (We did heath bar crunch.)
Serves: 4
What you need:
For the insides:
-2 chopped apples (I used one Gala and one Red Delicious)
-1 chopped pear
-1/4 cup dried cranberries
-1/4 cup of sugar
-1/4 to 1/3 cup of flour (Adding more flour will make the juices thicker, so this depends on how thick you like you filling to be.)
-1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
For the crumble:
-4 tbsp softened butter
-2 tbsp white sugar
-2 tbsp brown sugar
-4 tbsp flour
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
2. Mix the ingredients for all the insides together in a large bowl then split them up amongst 4 ramekins.
3. Mix the ingredients for the crumble together and top evenly among the ramekins.
4. Place the four ramekins on a cookie baking sheet (for easier clean up and transporting in and out of the oven). Bake until the crumble starts to brown.
5. Optional, top with one scoop of ice cream! (We did heath bar crunch.)
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Roasted Butternut squash with Blue Cheese
I don't know if I'm the only person who does this, but during the summer time I love light healthy food like fruit, salads, and sushi, but during the winter time I want heavy fatty food. I guess that is an evolutionary thing, fatten up to keep you warm during the cold and slim down to balance out the heat? At any rate, my favorite kind of comfort foods are always starchy, full of cheese or butter, and very bad for you. So on Thanksgiving, as I was looking over my menu I realized it needed something more healthy to balance out the table. So while trying to think of a vegetable I could make, I came up with the following recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 Butternut squash
- Chopped walnuts
- Crumbled blue cheese
- Vermont Maple Syrup
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Half the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds.
2. Place the squash directly on the oven, skin side down and roast until the insides are soft when poked with a fork. (If you want to minimize the mess, put them on the top rack and put a cookie sheet on the bottom rack to catch any juices that might come out.
3. When the squash in done cooking, take off the skin and cut it into cubes. Put it in a baking dish with walnuts and cheese (making sure there are nuts and cheese on all layers, not just the top).
4. Drizzle the syrup on top, then cover the dish and cook in the oven until the cheese melts a little bit.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 1 Butternut squash
- Chopped walnuts
- Crumbled blue cheese
- Vermont Maple Syrup
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Half the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds.
2. Place the squash directly on the oven, skin side down and roast until the insides are soft when poked with a fork. (If you want to minimize the mess, put them on the top rack and put a cookie sheet on the bottom rack to catch any juices that might come out.
3. When the squash in done cooking, take off the skin and cut it into cubes. Put it in a baking dish with walnuts and cheese (making sure there are nuts and cheese on all layers, not just the top).
4. Drizzle the syrup on top, then cover the dish and cook in the oven until the cheese melts a little bit.
Enjoy!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Butternut Squash & Pumpkin Soup
I am so stressed out right now. I have a midterm in my Research Methods class on Tuesday and I want so badly to do well. I've been studying, going to/having review sessions, and doing my best to prepare. But today, I hit a wall and had to do something to release the tension I'm feeling right now. When my study group comes over, we all contribute something and have a very nice meal in the middle of our studying. So I think I used today's break to do some stress relieving via cooking. I made a quiche, a salad, and soup. Nothing too crazy and involved, but in complete silence, I just spent 2 hours in my kitchen cooking, cleaning, and generally being as calm as possible.
I had some leftover squash and needed to make something with it so created a soup recipe based off of one in my Barefoot Contessa cookbook that Nick got me for Christmas last year. It is Butternut Squash and Pumpkin and it came out much better than I thought.
Ingredients:
- half of a Butternut Squash
- 1 sugar pumpkin
- 1 half of an onion
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/2 cup of cream
- 2 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon (or more depending on taste)
- 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your squash and pumpkin in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds. Place directly on oven rack and roast for 45-60 minutes. You'll know it's done because the insides will be soft when you poke it with a fork.
2. When you have about 10 minutes left for the squash to cook, melt butter and olive oil together in a medium-large pot (you don't need a soup pot for this). When the butter is melted add your sliced up onion and cook.
3. Once the squash and pumpkin are done cooking, remove from the oven and scoop out the edible insides (ie. you don't need the skin).
4. First put the butternut squash in a blender and add the cooked onions (leave the butter and oil in the pot). Add one cup of stock and blend until liquified. Once this is done, dump it back in your pot. Next take the pumpkin and repeat the same process with one more cup of stock.
5. When everything is back in the pot (and the heat turned on low), add the last 1/2 cup of stock and the 1/2 cup of cream. Then add your seasonings. (I didn't add salt because the stock itself was very salty.)
6. Taste test and see if you need to add any more seasonings. Nick and I thought it needed a bit more cinnamon, so we did another sprinkling, but not everyone likes their squash soup with that much.
We cut up some sourdough bread and dipped it and it tasted so good. I'm not a big fan of broth soups, and I made chicken soup last week, so I'm really happy to have something else in the house. The fall and winter are obvious great times for soup eating, and what better soup to celebrate Halloween with than with the seasonal vegetables of pumpkin and squash? I guess my stress was good for something!
Hope you enjoy it!
I had some leftover squash and needed to make something with it so created a soup recipe based off of one in my Barefoot Contessa cookbook that Nick got me for Christmas last year. It is Butternut Squash and Pumpkin and it came out much better than I thought.
Ingredients:
- half of a Butternut Squash
- 1 sugar pumpkin
- 1 half of an onion
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/2 cup of cream
- 2 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon (or more depending on taste)
- 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your squash and pumpkin in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds. Place directly on oven rack and roast for 45-60 minutes. You'll know it's done because the insides will be soft when you poke it with a fork.
2. When you have about 10 minutes left for the squash to cook, melt butter and olive oil together in a medium-large pot (you don't need a soup pot for this). When the butter is melted add your sliced up onion and cook.
3. Once the squash and pumpkin are done cooking, remove from the oven and scoop out the edible insides (ie. you don't need the skin).
4. First put the butternut squash in a blender and add the cooked onions (leave the butter and oil in the pot). Add one cup of stock and blend until liquified. Once this is done, dump it back in your pot. Next take the pumpkin and repeat the same process with one more cup of stock.
5. When everything is back in the pot (and the heat turned on low), add the last 1/2 cup of stock and the 1/2 cup of cream. Then add your seasonings. (I didn't add salt because the stock itself was very salty.)
6. Taste test and see if you need to add any more seasonings. Nick and I thought it needed a bit more cinnamon, so we did another sprinkling, but not everyone likes their squash soup with that much.
We cut up some sourdough bread and dipped it and it tasted so good. I'm not a big fan of broth soups, and I made chicken soup last week, so I'm really happy to have something else in the house. The fall and winter are obvious great times for soup eating, and what better soup to celebrate Halloween with than with the seasonal vegetables of pumpkin and squash? I guess my stress was good for something!
Hope you enjoy it!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Rosemary Chicken with Apple Salad and Onions
If you have not already done so, please look to the left of the entry and see the poll I've started. I have tons of entry ideas, but I'm just curious as to what people actually want me to write about. If you have a second, please take the time to answer the poll this way I know where to tailor my entries. Thanks!
--***--
I hate chicken, and since we don't eat meat I rarely eat it. But about 2 months ago my parents and I checked out a new local farmer's market back home and my mom suggested I make dinner. They all eat meat, and the meat there was local, so I picked out a few things and made an awesome meal that even I, who has NEVER liked chicken EVER loved.
I plan on making this again for Thanksgiving (because I know I would never like turkey, and it was a fluke that I even like this chicken). But since I made up the recipe on the spot, I'm doing my best to attempt to explain it now as a way to share the recipe and recreate it again the next time...that sounds bad, but I've got high hopes it'll turn out fantastic.
For Chicken:
1 whole chicken de-gutted
1 bag of pearl onions
Several full cloves of garlic
rosemary
olive oil
For Apple salad:
1 1/2 gala apples (peeled and chopped up)
1/2 stick of butter
1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
3 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 c walnuts (I'm trying to remember if these were actually in there or not, maybe??)
1/4 c golden raisins
1/4 c regular raisins
3/4 cup sweet white wine or apple juice
Preheat oven 350 degrees.
1. add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it starts to get hot add the apples. Give them a stir and after one minute add 4 tablespoons of butter. When the butter begins to brown add the sugar and cinnamon. When the sugar begins to caramelize (that's when it bubbles up like it's boiling), add the wine. After you cook it for 2 minutes add the raisins and walnuts.
2. Cook the apple mixture for 5-8 minutes. Let some of the liquid evaporate, but not all of it. When it's done, spoon out the apple with a slotted spoon into ta big bowl and continue to let the contents of the frying pan cook. Keep your slotted spoon handy and keep stirring it so the liquid doesn't burn. Basically you're trying to make a little syrup, so you want it to be thick. When it's done pour that into the bowl with the rest of your salad.
3. Next, take the skins off all the onions and set them aside.
4. Time for the chicken! cover the bottom of your roasting pan/bakers dish whatever with a little bit of olive oil. Put the chicken on top. Then put some olive oil on top and inside. Next put some salt and rosemary on top and on the bottom of the chicken. Make sure you rub it in. Then put some rosemary in the middle of the chicken (I don't put salt on the inside) (that you don't have to rub in if you don't want to, haha). Put a few cloves of garlic on the inside of the chicken and around the dish as well as a couple underneath. I'd say 6-10 total depending on the size of the cloves.
5. Now stuff the chicken with some of the apple salad and onions (don't over stuff it though, maybe 3/4 full), then put the rest in the dish around the sides of the chicken. If you have any leftover juices in your bowl from the apple salad dump that on top of the chicken. I also like to lift up the chicken to let some of the juices flow underneath then set it back down without letting anything get stuck underneath.
6. Cook until the chicken is cooked. Thanks to the apples and the juice/wine from the salad, this will be juicy enough that you shouldn't have to baste or anything.
7. Enjoy!
I think this recipe is big enough for a chicken that'll feed 4-6 people depending on appetite and the kinds of sides you include (we had this with butternut squash ravioli which was a really good match, but I could also see having mashed potatoes as well). So you can always add more or less depending on what you need.
I hate chicken, and since we don't eat meat I rarely eat it. But about 2 months ago my parents and I checked out a new local farmer's market back home and my mom suggested I make dinner. They all eat meat, and the meat there was local, so I picked out a few things and made an awesome meal that even I, who has NEVER liked chicken EVER loved.
I plan on making this again for Thanksgiving (because I know I would never like turkey, and it was a fluke that I even like this chicken). But since I made up the recipe on the spot, I'm doing my best to attempt to explain it now as a way to share the recipe and recreate it again the next time...that sounds bad, but I've got high hopes it'll turn out fantastic.
For Chicken:
1 whole chicken de-gutted
1 bag of pearl onions
Several full cloves of garlic
rosemary
olive oil
For Apple salad:
1 1/2 gala apples (peeled and chopped up)
1/2 stick of butter
1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
3 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 c walnuts (I'm trying to remember if these were actually in there or not, maybe??)
1/4 c golden raisins
1/4 c regular raisins
3/4 cup sweet white wine or apple juice
Preheat oven 350 degrees.
1. add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it starts to get hot add the apples. Give them a stir and after one minute add 4 tablespoons of butter. When the butter begins to brown add the sugar and cinnamon. When the sugar begins to caramelize (that's when it bubbles up like it's boiling), add the wine. After you cook it for 2 minutes add the raisins and walnuts.
2. Cook the apple mixture for 5-8 minutes. Let some of the liquid evaporate, but not all of it. When it's done, spoon out the apple with a slotted spoon into ta big bowl and continue to let the contents of the frying pan cook. Keep your slotted spoon handy and keep stirring it so the liquid doesn't burn. Basically you're trying to make a little syrup, so you want it to be thick. When it's done pour that into the bowl with the rest of your salad.
3. Next, take the skins off all the onions and set them aside.
4. Time for the chicken! cover the bottom of your roasting pan/bakers dish whatever with a little bit of olive oil. Put the chicken on top. Then put some olive oil on top and inside. Next put some salt and rosemary on top and on the bottom of the chicken. Make sure you rub it in. Then put some rosemary in the middle of the chicken (I don't put salt on the inside) (that you don't have to rub in if you don't want to, haha). Put a few cloves of garlic on the inside of the chicken and around the dish as well as a couple underneath. I'd say 6-10 total depending on the size of the cloves.
5. Now stuff the chicken with some of the apple salad and onions (don't over stuff it though, maybe 3/4 full), then put the rest in the dish around the sides of the chicken. If you have any leftover juices in your bowl from the apple salad dump that on top of the chicken. I also like to lift up the chicken to let some of the juices flow underneath then set it back down without letting anything get stuck underneath.
6. Cook until the chicken is cooked. Thanks to the apples and the juice/wine from the salad, this will be juicy enough that you shouldn't have to baste or anything.
7. Enjoy!
I think this recipe is big enough for a chicken that'll feed 4-6 people depending on appetite and the kinds of sides you include (we had this with butternut squash ravioli which was a really good match, but I could also see having mashed potatoes as well). So you can always add more or less depending on what you need.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Impressing for Less with Late Summer's Veggies
Peppers, eggplant, cantaloupes, apples, potatoes, figs, shallots, certain tomatoes, grapes, okra, green beans, and a whole host of other goodies are seasonally harvested as the end of summer. And now that fall is approaching some of my favorites are also available, like pumpkin, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, artichokes, brussels sprouts, parsnips and pears. In an attempt to keep cooking with produce that is seasonal, for our first dinner guests in our California apartment, I scoured my cookbooks to come up with a recipe that might include some vegetables from the above lists.
I tend to always go to the same cookbooks, so first I decided to go through all of my books and use post it notes to flag off recipes that I want to try (it helps to cut down on future searching time). And once I had done that I settled on a recipe from Impress for Less. My mom got us Impress for Less and it is one of the perfect cookbooks for us. We're big foodies, and this book basically gives you recipes from famous/expensive restaurants in several different cities around the country so that you can make really good and creative food for less than you would have spent going out to eat.
Now I admit, because I was really excited to have people over (two students in my PhD program who were coming over to study for our first quiz) I went a little bit over board. But they claimed to be foodies as well, and I promised them a good meal, so I rationalized that it would be ok to cook so much.
My main dish was the macaroni and cheese I wrote an entry about a little while ago. And while that's definitely enough food for four people, as I said earlier, I wanted to make some seasonal veggie dishes just to pretend to be healthy. So I made up one dish and picked another from the Impress for Less book.
Roasted Tomatoes:
-2 Shallots
-5-6 crimini mushrooms
-1 package of grape or cherry tomatoes
-fresh rosemary
-olive oil
1. Take tomatoes (I like smaller ones like a cherry or grape sized) and put them in a baking dish (like a pie dish) that has sides. Cover with a little bit of olive oil and bake at 350 degrees until they become soft and/or start to pop.
2. On the stove top, cook sliced scallions in olive oil for a few minutes. Then as they start to cook add some crimini mushrooms that you've also sliced up. Once the mushrooms start to look like they're a little cooked add fresh rosemary.
3. When the scallions and mushrooms are just about completely cooked take the tomatoes out of the oven and dump the contents of your frying pan in the pie dish. Give everything a good stir and drop the temperature of the oven to 200 degrees. Let the food cook for another 5 minutes and if everything looks cooked, then it's time to serve otherwise let it cook and keep checking until it's done.
With this next recipe, I changed it around because when I went to the super market I forgot to pick up some ingredients and then purposely left out others. You can click the link to get the real recipe, but mine is listed here.
From Impress for Less - Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, blue cheese, and Green Apples:
-olive oil
-1 cup peel and diced Gala Apples (you can use any but I liked these because they were sweet with only a little bit of tartness)
-8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1 tablespoon cinnamon
-1/2 cup of sweet dry wine (like Riesling)
-5 slices of smoked bacon
-3 cups of Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
-1 1/2 tablespoons of a good quality smoked BBQ sauce** see note at bottom
-1/4-1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese
1. Fry bacon until it's semi cooked in a frying pan. You don't want them to be crispy because you will be baking it again later. Save the fat in cup or bowl. Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces and put them in a baking dish. Preheat the oven for 350 degrees- but don't put the dish in there now.
2. When you've dumped the fat in a bowl, without cleaning out the pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it starts to get hot add the apples. Give them a stir and after one minute add 4 tablespoons of butter. When the butter begins to brown add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. When the sugar begins to caramelize (that's when it bubbles up like it's boiling), add the wine.
3. Cook the apple mixture for 5-8 minutes. Let some of the liquid evaporate, but not all of it. When it's done, spoon out the apple with a slotted spoon into the baking dish with the bacon and continue to let the contents of the frying pan cook. Keep your slotted spoon handy and keep stirring it so the liquid doesn't burn. After a minute or two dump that into the baking dish.
4. Take a paper towel and clean up pan (it doesn't have to be perfectly clean, but make sure you get the bottom of the pan where the dribble went). Then dump the bacon fat you saved back into the pan and heat it up.
5. When the fat is hot again, add the brussels sprouts face down. When they begin to cook a little bit add the rest of the butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the butter completely melts flip the brussels sprouts over (I found it easiest to use tongs, and don't worry if some of the leaves come off).
6. When they've cooked for another 3 minutes dump the entire contents of the pan into the baking dish, add the smokey BBQ sauce, and stir everything around. Then put it in the oven (do not put a top on) and bake for 10-15 minutes until the brussels sprouts become tender.
7. Serve in the baking dish with the crumbled blue cheese on top.
At first I was skeptical of all the cinnamon and how liquidy this dish seemed to be before putting it in the oven. But after it came out and we were eating it with the macaroni and cheese, it was the perfect side dish to it. Smokey, sweet, with a bit of a kick from the cheese. Sometimes I impress even myself!
**A note about the BBQ sauce. So I think this is the second time I've mentioned using a good quality BBQ sauce and I know it will not be my last. When I keep talking about that, I'm not talking about going to the super market and buying one step up from Heinz, I mean a specialty sauce. My personal favorite is the Smoked Maple Chipotle finishing sauce from Bittersweet Herb Farms. I discovered them at an Artisan Craft fair in Tarrytown, NY and Nick and I are addicted to it. The craft fair is expensive, and we like to go to see the art (both wearable and not), but we save our money for the gourmet food and buy 3 at a time to get a discount. Three lasts us just about a year and I put it in half the stuff I cook, steak, hamburgers, and obviously vegetable dishes...I think at heart I might be from the South...
I tend to always go to the same cookbooks, so first I decided to go through all of my books and use post it notes to flag off recipes that I want to try (it helps to cut down on future searching time). And once I had done that I settled on a recipe from Impress for Less. My mom got us Impress for Less and it is one of the perfect cookbooks for us. We're big foodies, and this book basically gives you recipes from famous/expensive restaurants in several different cities around the country so that you can make really good and creative food for less than you would have spent going out to eat.
Now I admit, because I was really excited to have people over (two students in my PhD program who were coming over to study for our first quiz) I went a little bit over board. But they claimed to be foodies as well, and I promised them a good meal, so I rationalized that it would be ok to cook so much.
My main dish was the macaroni and cheese I wrote an entry about a little while ago. And while that's definitely enough food for four people, as I said earlier, I wanted to make some seasonal veggie dishes just to pretend to be healthy. So I made up one dish and picked another from the Impress for Less book.
Roasted Tomatoes:
-2 Shallots
-5-6 crimini mushrooms
-1 package of grape or cherry tomatoes
-fresh rosemary
-olive oil
1. Take tomatoes (I like smaller ones like a cherry or grape sized) and put them in a baking dish (like a pie dish) that has sides. Cover with a little bit of olive oil and bake at 350 degrees until they become soft and/or start to pop.
2. On the stove top, cook sliced scallions in olive oil for a few minutes. Then as they start to cook add some crimini mushrooms that you've also sliced up. Once the mushrooms start to look like they're a little cooked add fresh rosemary.
3. When the scallions and mushrooms are just about completely cooked take the tomatoes out of the oven and dump the contents of your frying pan in the pie dish. Give everything a good stir and drop the temperature of the oven to 200 degrees. Let the food cook for another 5 minutes and if everything looks cooked, then it's time to serve otherwise let it cook and keep checking until it's done.
With this next recipe, I changed it around because when I went to the super market I forgot to pick up some ingredients and then purposely left out others. You can click the link to get the real recipe, but mine is listed here.
From Impress for Less - Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, blue cheese, and Green Apples:
-olive oil
-1 cup peel and diced Gala Apples (you can use any but I liked these because they were sweet with only a little bit of tartness)
-8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1 tablespoon cinnamon
-1/2 cup of sweet dry wine (like Riesling)
-5 slices of smoked bacon
-3 cups of Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
-1 1/2 tablespoons of a good quality smoked BBQ sauce** see note at bottom
-1/4-1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese
1. Fry bacon until it's semi cooked in a frying pan. You don't want them to be crispy because you will be baking it again later. Save the fat in cup or bowl. Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces and put them in a baking dish. Preheat the oven for 350 degrees- but don't put the dish in there now.
2. When you've dumped the fat in a bowl, without cleaning out the pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it starts to get hot add the apples. Give them a stir and after one minute add 4 tablespoons of butter. When the butter begins to brown add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. When the sugar begins to caramelize (that's when it bubbles up like it's boiling), add the wine.
3. Cook the apple mixture for 5-8 minutes. Let some of the liquid evaporate, but not all of it. When it's done, spoon out the apple with a slotted spoon into the baking dish with the bacon and continue to let the contents of the frying pan cook. Keep your slotted spoon handy and keep stirring it so the liquid doesn't burn. After a minute or two dump that into the baking dish.
4. Take a paper towel and clean up pan (it doesn't have to be perfectly clean, but make sure you get the bottom of the pan where the dribble went). Then dump the bacon fat you saved back into the pan and heat it up.
5. When the fat is hot again, add the brussels sprouts face down. When they begin to cook a little bit add the rest of the butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the butter completely melts flip the brussels sprouts over (I found it easiest to use tongs, and don't worry if some of the leaves come off).
6. When they've cooked for another 3 minutes dump the entire contents of the pan into the baking dish, add the smokey BBQ sauce, and stir everything around. Then put it in the oven (do not put a top on) and bake for 10-15 minutes until the brussels sprouts become tender.
7. Serve in the baking dish with the crumbled blue cheese on top.
At first I was skeptical of all the cinnamon and how liquidy this dish seemed to be before putting it in the oven. But after it came out and we were eating it with the macaroni and cheese, it was the perfect side dish to it. Smokey, sweet, with a bit of a kick from the cheese. Sometimes I impress even myself!
**A note about the BBQ sauce. So I think this is the second time I've mentioned using a good quality BBQ sauce and I know it will not be my last. When I keep talking about that, I'm not talking about going to the super market and buying one step up from Heinz, I mean a specialty sauce. My personal favorite is the Smoked Maple Chipotle finishing sauce from Bittersweet Herb Farms. I discovered them at an Artisan Craft fair in Tarrytown, NY and Nick and I are addicted to it. The craft fair is expensive, and we like to go to see the art (both wearable and not), but we save our money for the gourmet food and buy 3 at a time to get a discount. Three lasts us just about a year and I put it in half the stuff I cook, steak, hamburgers, and obviously vegetable dishes...I think at heart I might be from the South...
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Fashionable Spring Gnocchi
When I was in high school I spent the last 6 months before college thinking about how wonderful college would be. I used Binghamton as the idea of a mecca, like when I got there I'd be free from the pettyness of high school, free of the stress of living at home, and free to be who I really wanted to be. Free to be introspective, change, and grow up.
I have to admit that Nick and I have been living the last few weeks thinking like that, and I'm sure the feeling will only intensify the closer we get to our move. We keep thinking about living in a bigger apartment with more amenities, not being stressed out by certain aspects of our jobs, having better weather, being away from family drama, living a Greener lifestyle, and being in a more liberal enviornment (that's not to say New York isn't liberal, but certain things are more available in California).
This Friday I plan on booking a moving van, which means we will officially have a moving date. The frenzy of packing and reality of what it means to be 3,000 miles away from everything we know will truly set in. It does sound like we're putting too many expectations of Palo Alto being a perfect haven from life here, but there truly are many things that are going to change. And we're about to embark on a major adventure, so it's exciting nonetheless.
Part of what I've been doing to get excited has been revolving around our kitchen. Even though I can't go out and spend money on Spring Fashion and light and airy homeware, I have to eat. So I've been using my reusable shopping bags and getting seasonable vegetables to make delicious and light dinners.
After doing a google search on what exactly those seasonal vegetables are (apricots, beets, kiwis, radishes, and stawberries just to name a few), I came up with a recipe that sounded so yummy I had to invite people over to try it out. We now have two seperate evenings which we plan to have 4 or 5 people over, and the 1950s housewife in me is jumping for joy at the idea of planning meals for so many people.
Last Friday we had my friend Danielle over for dinner so I could experiment the following gnocchi recipe on her. Now I know gnocchi is not normally thought of as a spring food (most people think the potato sits like a rock in their stomach), but for someone who enjoys a heavier meal (like I do), this is the perfect balance between filling and light for the warmer weather.
Ingredients:
-2 pounds of regular potato gnocchi
-2 whole shallots
-1 bunch of thin asparagus
-3/4 cup of peas (I used frozen)
-crimini mushroms
-oyster mushrooms
-2 cloves of garlic
-nutmeg
-good quality parmesean cheese
-4 tablespoons butter
-4 tablesppons olive oil
-3 pieces of bacon
*Start off by cooking the bacon. Don't cook it like you would cook your breakfast bacon. Cook it about half way, then remove it from the pan.
*Slice up other veggies while the bacon is cooking. First start with the shallots and garlic. Chop/mince the garlic and slice up the shallots in small pieces. Then melt the butter and olive oil together. When the butter is completely melted, add the garlic and shallots.
*Around here is when you want to turn on the pot you're going to cook your gnocchi in to get the water boiling.
*To cut asparagus, bend a piece until it breaks. Where it breaks, cut the rest and throw the bottom pieces away. Then slice the rest on an angle into bite sized pieces. Add those next.
*Cut up the mushrooms into small pieces (smaller than you could for a normal pasta dish, but not diced). Add those next and add in the peas too.
*By now the water for the gnocchi should have boiled and the gnocchi should be in there too. Right around the time the gnocchi is done cooking you should cut up the bacon into small pieces and add to the pan with the rest of your veggies. Add the nutmeg as well. I usually add spices by covering the whole pan, giving a stir, then covering the whole pan again. I'm not sure how much that is, but if you're a real measurement Nazi, I'd say start off with a teaspoon and go from there.
*Fresh gnocchi cooks very fast (less than 5 minutes). So once you're done adding the nutmeg you will only have a short while to sit back before you need to drain the gnocchi. When you do, add it straight to your frying pan (tip: make sure you use the biggest frying pan you have because this is A LOT of food).
*Once the gnocchi is mixed, start grating your cheese on top. I pick out cheese by smelling it. That sounds gross, but it's the same as buying produce. How do you know if something is fresh and will taste good if you don't smell it first? Anyways, half the time I pick out cheese and have no idea what the name of it is. I just know that it's in a certain family and it will taste good. Use your own tastebuds on this one, but I picked out something in the parmesean family from Whole Foods. And add as much or as little cheese as you want. I usually add a little bit at first and then put the cheese out on the table in case other people like a lot of cheese on their pasta (tip: I don't know if you've noticed but I don't like to cook with salt. I'm really sensitive to it, so I never use it. Rarely does anyone notice. Usually when using certain spices or ingredients (like parmesean cheese), the cheese is salty enough that no one misses it. That being said, I always put salt and pepper out on the table just in case.)
I served this for three people with a very simple salad (mixed greens, tofu, an apple, trail mix, and olive oil and vinegar) and a loaf of french bread. This Saturday I plan to make the same thing but with a steak, and a side dish of sauteed red, orange, yellow peppers, and onions. I'm also planning on making another vegetable side dish, but I can't decide just what yet. I'll let the market inspire me. Dessert will be mini pavlovas with berries and whipped cream.
-----
While we're on the topic of food, I stumbled across this cookbook today online and I thought it looked really good. For the fashionista mom (if you're stil looking for another Mother's Day gift), it would be perfect. I'm adding it to my Amazon.com wishlist, if I ever get it I'll let you know if it turns out to be a good buy.
$29.50 at Amazon.com
The last pages have a food questionnaire that you can fill out with your guests. I figured I'd fill mine out now just for fun:
My favorite restaurant: Spring Street Natural in NYC
My favorite person to cook for: My husband of course
The ingredient that is most indispensible to me: Rosemary or Nutmeg
My favorite "sinful" indulgence: Coldstone Creamery Ice cream
The most sensual meal would include: a dessert that can be shared
My favorite cuisine: Italian
The most unforgettable meal I have ever experienced: dinner at the Deer Hill Inn in Vermont
My ideal dinner guest list includes: several of my best friends and their significant others (but I can't fit 20 people at my dinner table)
The strongest memory of my mother's cooking: Baking brownies together and getting to lick the bowl afterwards
My idea of a food extravaganza: Italy or France, especially on market day
The most fashionable dish I can prepare: Maybe this gnocchi? I also make amazing desserts
The most edible person: A gingerbread bear
My dream dinner date or location: In Greece on the Meditteranean Ocean with my husband (or the actor Matthew Goode)
An ideal dinner party should: have the right music mix and lighting
The most appropriate time for dinner to begin: 7pm if it's just us two, 8pm if you're entertaining
My dream pattern or brand of flatware and table setting: Simple flatware with white plates. Plain white plates makes your food pop and look that much more delicious. White flowers with bright accented table linens only add to that.
I have to admit that Nick and I have been living the last few weeks thinking like that, and I'm sure the feeling will only intensify the closer we get to our move. We keep thinking about living in a bigger apartment with more amenities, not being stressed out by certain aspects of our jobs, having better weather, being away from family drama, living a Greener lifestyle, and being in a more liberal enviornment (that's not to say New York isn't liberal, but certain things are more available in California).
This Friday I plan on booking a moving van, which means we will officially have a moving date. The frenzy of packing and reality of what it means to be 3,000 miles away from everything we know will truly set in. It does sound like we're putting too many expectations of Palo Alto being a perfect haven from life here, but there truly are many things that are going to change. And we're about to embark on a major adventure, so it's exciting nonetheless.
Part of what I've been doing to get excited has been revolving around our kitchen. Even though I can't go out and spend money on Spring Fashion and light and airy homeware, I have to eat. So I've been using my reusable shopping bags and getting seasonable vegetables to make delicious and light dinners.
After doing a google search on what exactly those seasonal vegetables are (apricots, beets, kiwis, radishes, and stawberries just to name a few), I came up with a recipe that sounded so yummy I had to invite people over to try it out. We now have two seperate evenings which we plan to have 4 or 5 people over, and the 1950s housewife in me is jumping for joy at the idea of planning meals for so many people.
Last Friday we had my friend Danielle over for dinner so I could experiment the following gnocchi recipe on her. Now I know gnocchi is not normally thought of as a spring food (most people think the potato sits like a rock in their stomach), but for someone who enjoys a heavier meal (like I do), this is the perfect balance between filling and light for the warmer weather.
Ingredients:
-2 pounds of regular potato gnocchi
-2 whole shallots
-1 bunch of thin asparagus
-3/4 cup of peas (I used frozen)
-crimini mushroms
-oyster mushrooms
-2 cloves of garlic
-nutmeg
-good quality parmesean cheese
-4 tablespoons butter
-4 tablesppons olive oil
-3 pieces of bacon
*Start off by cooking the bacon. Don't cook it like you would cook your breakfast bacon. Cook it about half way, then remove it from the pan.
*Slice up other veggies while the bacon is cooking. First start with the shallots and garlic. Chop/mince the garlic and slice up the shallots in small pieces. Then melt the butter and olive oil together. When the butter is completely melted, add the garlic and shallots.
*Around here is when you want to turn on the pot you're going to cook your gnocchi in to get the water boiling.
*To cut asparagus, bend a piece until it breaks. Where it breaks, cut the rest and throw the bottom pieces away. Then slice the rest on an angle into bite sized pieces. Add those next.
*Cut up the mushrooms into small pieces (smaller than you could for a normal pasta dish, but not diced). Add those next and add in the peas too.
*By now the water for the gnocchi should have boiled and the gnocchi should be in there too. Right around the time the gnocchi is done cooking you should cut up the bacon into small pieces and add to the pan with the rest of your veggies. Add the nutmeg as well. I usually add spices by covering the whole pan, giving a stir, then covering the whole pan again. I'm not sure how much that is, but if you're a real measurement Nazi, I'd say start off with a teaspoon and go from there.
*Fresh gnocchi cooks very fast (less than 5 minutes). So once you're done adding the nutmeg you will only have a short while to sit back before you need to drain the gnocchi. When you do, add it straight to your frying pan (tip: make sure you use the biggest frying pan you have because this is A LOT of food).
*Once the gnocchi is mixed, start grating your cheese on top. I pick out cheese by smelling it. That sounds gross, but it's the same as buying produce. How do you know if something is fresh and will taste good if you don't smell it first? Anyways, half the time I pick out cheese and have no idea what the name of it is. I just know that it's in a certain family and it will taste good. Use your own tastebuds on this one, but I picked out something in the parmesean family from Whole Foods. And add as much or as little cheese as you want. I usually add a little bit at first and then put the cheese out on the table in case other people like a lot of cheese on their pasta (tip: I don't know if you've noticed but I don't like to cook with salt. I'm really sensitive to it, so I never use it. Rarely does anyone notice. Usually when using certain spices or ingredients (like parmesean cheese), the cheese is salty enough that no one misses it. That being said, I always put salt and pepper out on the table just in case.)
I served this for three people with a very simple salad (mixed greens, tofu, an apple, trail mix, and olive oil and vinegar) and a loaf of french bread. This Saturday I plan to make the same thing but with a steak, and a side dish of sauteed red, orange, yellow peppers, and onions. I'm also planning on making another vegetable side dish, but I can't decide just what yet. I'll let the market inspire me. Dessert will be mini pavlovas with berries and whipped cream.
While we're on the topic of food, I stumbled across this cookbook today online and I thought it looked really good. For the fashionista mom (if you're stil looking for another Mother's Day gift), it would be perfect. I'm adding it to my Amazon.com wishlist, if I ever get it I'll let you know if it turns out to be a good buy.
$29.50 at Amazon.com
The last pages have a food questionnaire that you can fill out with your guests. I figured I'd fill mine out now just for fun:
My favorite restaurant: Spring Street Natural in NYC
My favorite person to cook for: My husband of course
The ingredient that is most indispensible to me: Rosemary or Nutmeg
My favorite "sinful" indulgence: Coldstone Creamery Ice cream
The most sensual meal would include: a dessert that can be shared
My favorite cuisine: Italian
The most unforgettable meal I have ever experienced: dinner at the Deer Hill Inn in Vermont
My ideal dinner guest list includes: several of my best friends and their significant others (but I can't fit 20 people at my dinner table)
The strongest memory of my mother's cooking: Baking brownies together and getting to lick the bowl afterwards
My idea of a food extravaganza: Italy or France, especially on market day
The most fashionable dish I can prepare: Maybe this gnocchi? I also make amazing desserts
The most edible person: A gingerbread bear
My dream dinner date or location: In Greece on the Meditteranean Ocean with my husband (or the actor Matthew Goode)
An ideal dinner party should: have the right music mix and lighting
The most appropriate time for dinner to begin: 7pm if it's just us two, 8pm if you're entertaining
My dream pattern or brand of flatware and table setting: Simple flatware with white plates. Plain white plates makes your food pop and look that much more delicious. White flowers with bright accented table linens only add to that.
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