Egging Me On

I have been going to an Italian class for about a year now, and loving it. Once in a while, we would try to get together for lunch or dinner, or a potluck. So far, I have missed all of those except for one. So when my teacher Petra found another date to have a potluck dinner, I plotted out the Saturday.

I would go pick up my new car in the morning, cook in the afternoon, and attend the potluck that evening. I went with something Italian that would be easy to make, transport, and share. While I had successfully made Rachel Ray's Pasta Carbonara Tartlets in the past, I thought I'd try out Giada's recipe from Giada's Kitchen cookbook this time around.

But then while I was at the dealership, potluck dinner had moved up to lunch. I missed it. Again.

Moreover, I found myself Sunday morning staring into the fridge full of ingredients.



Ah, what the hell. Let's make a big ol' frittata in the cast iron skillet for brunch then.

It was a total hit. Brandon and I ate it again for dinner that night. That was just how addictive this was. And it was a good thing there were plenty leftover to satiate the need.

Do NOT let the list of ingredients scare you. There are quite a bit of components, but all you do is toss them together, stick it in the oven, top it off in the broiler, and that’s that!

Oh, and I bought everything at Fresh & Easy in one trip. So, this is considered a Dinner: Possible as well.



Big' Ol' Cheesy Pasta Frittata
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis's Linguine and Prosciutto Frittata in Giada's Kitchen.

1/2 lb. linguine
7 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
6 oz. diced pancetta -- I use a pre-packaged pack from Fresh & Easy
About 1 cup of quartered bocconcinis -- about half of a 1/2 lb. tub.
1/2 cup freshly grated Asiago cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper to taste
1/8 tsp. grated cinnamon - secret ingredient!

1. Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook and drain pasta, al dente, 8-10 minutes. Drain pasta. Cut with scissors into smaller pieces.

2. Cook pancetta in a cast iron skillet or other oven proof skillet until crispy. Take out the pancetta. Since we're baking the egg in this skillet, use the fat to grease the side and the bottom of the skillet. Discard the rest. (What I did is that I poured most of the fat out to a bowl, then use a pastry brush and went to town greasing the skillet.)

2. Preheat oven to 375F.

3. In blender (or you can get a good arm work out wisking it yourself!), combine the eggs, milk, cream, and mascarpone. Transfer to a large bowl, stir to combine pasta, pancetta, mozzarella, Asiago, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper, and nutmeg.



4. Pour the mixture into the skillet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until firm and starting to brown. Switch the oven to broil and broil for a 2-3 minutes until the top is brown.



5. Slice and serve. Great for dinner and lunch too!

Girl Baby Shower Treats

This past weekend, my friends and I threw a baby shower for our friend Aurora. "Smush" is a girl whose due date is March 10. Being the 2nd baby, Aurora wanted to keep the shower small.

Lupe is a phenomenal home cook so naturally she was in charge of the afternoon snacks. I have seen Giada made these (Mini) Mascarpone Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze on her show so it was the first thing that came to mind when figuring out the menu. It's so easy too!

I did double the recipe as I was supposed to make 2 dozen regular sized cupcakes. However, I ended up with 24 cupcakes, measured out at 1/2 cup of batter each, plus enough batter left to make one 9-inch round cake.

As for the glaze, I used 1 full cup of strawberries for double batch. It was getting wayyy to sticky with just 2/3 cup.



The girls enjoyed the cupcakes. The hubby got the round. ;-D

Now for more cutesy shower stuff, inspired by Aurora's undying love for white chocolate covered caramel apples, I decided to make them as party favors.

First, I bought 15 small gala apples which turned out to be just sweet enough after all the coatings. Per the tips I read online, I dipped them in boiling water, wiped off the wax, and let them dry overnight.



Let me tell you, even after Food Inc. experience, seeing the residual wax clinging to the apples after the dip turned me off from store-bought fruit all together. And yeah, some of them I have to re-dipped and re-wiped. Ick.

Now, for the layers, I was VERY generous with the ingredients. READ: I'm so bad at dipping and dripping off excess that I have a nice thick coat of both caramel and white chocolate. Nobody complained, however. I'm sure if you're more patience and frugal, you can squeeze up to 6-7 small apples out of the batch.

For each set of 5 apples:

• 1 bag of Kraft Caramels.
• 3 TBS of heavy whipping cream
• 3 4-oz bars of Ghirardelli White Chocolate. I don't recommend using chips. The reasons are below.
• Parchment paper with a quick coating of non-stick spray
  

First, the caramels. Follow instructions on the back of the bag. However, I substituted 2 TBS of water with 3 TBS of cream. Helloooo, why use water when cream is on hand, right?



Once the caramel is set (mine did in about 15-20 minutes), start up the double boiler and melt the chocolate bars. Dip. Let drip. And spin gently for even coating.

Now, the warning about the white chocolate chips. I found a recipe online that told me to melt 12-oz white chips with 2 TBS of butter. So I did a double batch and the whole damn thing seized. A flash back to the Great Chocolate Seizure of Christmas 2009!!

So I wasted at least half an hour of my schedule running back out to the store, cursing the white chips under my breath all the way there and back. But I digress.

Back to the apples. I waited about 15-20 minutes before I applied the sprinkles. I just held the apple by the stick horizontally and slowly released a handful sprinkles on it as I turned. Some people waited until the chocolate set a little more before applying sprinkles and nuts etc. so it doesn't melt into the chocolate or slide down. I didn't have time.

If you have an hour or more, you can let the chocolate dipped goodness cool in room temperature. However, I was in a rush so I had to stick everyone in the fridge. Even then, it wasn't quite firm enough to put in the plastic bags.

So I took the whole darn tray to the party. We bagged them as the guests were leaving.



Well, that's it. REALLY easy. However, the Ghirardelli bars ain't cheap. About $3.35 a bar at my store. I used 9 although I could've gotten away with 8 or less.

But look at these though. I think they're worth the money, don't you?

Gone bananas

ETA: Just realized I could be counting this as my new recipe goal #5!

Indeed, I went a little banana on Sunday afternoon.

I have 3 ripe bananas sitting on my dinner table and a very ill husband on the couch. What's a girl to do but to go grocery shopping and then bake, bake, bake!

Not to mention with Mr. My Head Hurts So Bad I Throw Up can use some nutriants. And bananas are good for nausea and help with replenishing loss potassium and what not.

So I picked Giada's Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Cream Frosting recipe from Food Network and went out to pick up extra ingredients.



I also add one not-so-ripe banana to the 3 very ripe ones. Doesn't seem to affect anything there. Oh, and I omitted the walnuts because I can't really chew them with braces and Brandon isn't keen on nuts.

Well, remember how I'd bitch once in a while that the Vons by my house sucks? They might have finished with the renovation in there, but they still don't carry anything worthwhile.

Like, you know, mascarpone cheese?

Not wanting to drive to another grocery store, I figured I can substitute with more cream cheese. So, 3 oz. of cream cheese plus 1/3 cup extra = 6 oz. of cream cheese. And it works out well for me taste-wise. I'm sure it'll have different flavor if you actually use mascarpone, but in a pinch, all cream cheese still works.

In hindsight, I wonder if the mascarpone might help stabilize the frosting a little bit. Our apartment got a bit warm with the baking and I found my frosting a wee bit melty. With my extra cream cheese substitution, the frosting is essentially a whipped honey cream cheese butter. It doesn't quite stay put as frosting when warm...but OH MY GOD is that good on warm muffins!

Besides, B can't really stomach the creaminess of the frosting right now. The muffins were better left naked. So I put the frosting in a tub and put it in the fridge and frost as I go.

Using 1/3 measuring cup to spoon the batter into the cups, I actually ended up with 24 muffins.

It's a good thing I made that many because I pretty much had 3 of them for dinner last night. LOL.

New direction

Well, kids. I've got me some braces.

I haven't cooked since the separators went in a few weeks ago. Well, outside of my mashed potatoes with peas experiment? I cooked nada.

My poor husband has been feeding himself since then, more or less.

Now that the braces are actually in, I haven't eaten anything really solid in a few days. And I expect that every month after tightening, I'm going to be begging for something soft and liquidy AND delicious.

All those soup and puree recipes I tossed out? Yep. Regretting doing that now. But I'm sure y'all will provide me with enough inspiration and guidance to find some more.

Sometime this weekend, I will have to completely restock my fridge and pantry with soups and other mush-able veggies. AND I will need to purchase a hand blender.

Definitely, I'm whipping up Giada's sweet pea and mint puree and freeze them in little baggies at some point this weekend.

Because a girl can only drink Muscle Milk and mush up Animal Crackers for so many days.

Now, about that potatoes and peas experiment. It was an experiment born of complete burn-out on soup...and the fact that my eyes were dilated from the optometrist that I couldn't leave the house to go buy anything else to eat. So I raided the pantry and the fridge.

I didn't know how it was going to turn out so I didn't take a picture. And it actually was pretty damn tasty!

Mashed Potatoes and Peas

The "recipe" is totally adjustable to how many potatoes you have or want to cook.

Boil up some baby Yukon gold potatoes (halved or quartered) with a few cloves of garlic (smashed and peeled) and salt. Drain and smash them around a little bit.

I did remove the skin once the potatoes were cooked. It was easier that way. (Then again, I didn't think I could chew the skin.) But that's really optional.

In another pot, heat up some butter, the amount you would use to mash the potatoes, with a few sprigs of thyme. When that sizzled, add frozen green peas, season, and saute that around. When the peas started to get mushy, add cream--again, just about the amount you'd use to mash the potatoes with--and heat through.

Take out the thyme sprigs before pouring the butter/cream/peas mixture into the potatoes. Now mash around some more.

Add a handful of Parmesan cheese and a pinch of pepper. Mash some more. Serve.

Perfect Holiday Meal

I love Tyler Florence.

I watched him make Filet Mignon with Blender Bearnaise and Bacon and Brussels Sprout Hash on Food Network about a week before Christmas. I was drooling. And inspired, so much so that I started to ask around to find "orphans" for me to feed.

Fortunately for me, my aunt and her family were available. Off the market Brandon went to pick up almost 5 lbs. of beef tenderloin.

"This better be good meat for the price I just paid," he texted me from the check-out line.

Oh yes. Yes, it was.

For the beef, I followed the instruction to the tee, especially the part where the meat should be in room temperature. You see, I forgot to tell Brandon to ask the butcher to have the meat trimmed and tied up so I had to do that myself. Not a lot of silver skin to trim but trimming and tying took longer time that I thought.

The meat came out very tender, perfectly medium to medium rare. I even deglazed the skillet with brandy, add a little broth and a knob of butter to make pan sauce.

The bernaise was incredibly easy. I managed to mess up just a little bit but I recovered quite well. First, I had sherry vinegar in my pantry and not champagne. Per some suggestions online, I substituted rice vinegar for that. Then, I ran out of my little bottles of white wine I bought for cooking. Being a mostly red wine household, I had to crack into a bottle of a sweeter white wine instead of the dry...which I hope will compliment the rice wine and make up for the champagne vinegar. The reduce still came out tasty and the sauce was perfect.

The hash, now that one I changed around a bit. Since I was already making mashed potatoes, I omitted the potatoes in the hash. I also used both frozen pearl onions and brussels sprouts.

All components, even with the mashed potatoes, went very well with each other.

As for dessert, brownies a la roasted banana gelato was the star.

**

Now for the drinks. I adapted Giada's Sgroppino recipe by using different flavors of sorbet. The pomegranate-blueberry was quite a hit for the holidays. (In the summer, I made this with mango sorbet. Yum!)

Steak and Egg Dinner

I watched Giada makes the Grilled Tuscan Steak with Fried Egg and Goat Cheese last weekend and I had been thinking about it all week.

Since Brandon is out of town all week, I felt a little guilty to buy any steaks from the grocery stores at they come pre-packaged in two. I could've gone to ones with a butcher shop and get just one steak, I supposed, but none of those stores are nearby.

Fortunately for me, Fresh & Easy carries single rib-eye steaks and surprisingly not-very-goaty goat cheese.

First of all, it's REALLY simple to make. I mean, you can grill outdoor or indoor, or if you're like me, you would just cook it up in your cast iron skillet.

If you're like me, you'd season your steak on that little container/butcher paper it comes in. And if you're like me and not wanting to dirty up your knife and cutting board, you can just rip the parsley onto your plate. Then, the only thing you really need to clean afterward is the pan you fry your egg with.

Lazy does it simpler! Haha.

While the steak rests, I used the same pan to fry the egg--just had to swirl the leftover fat around the pan and then bring the heat way down from cooking the steak earlier. See? One pan!

I served this with a side of spring mix salad tossed with just Italian dressing.

Best One-Pot Chicken Yet

I came back from Hawaii to a DVR full of stuff. In there waiting for me was Giada's Turkey Osso Buco with Parsley and Rosemary Gremolata.

It looks incredibly delicious and simple I just HAD to make it. I mean, I have been away from cooking for a while. I started to get the shakes! This recipe seemed to be perfect for my triumphant return to the kitchen.

My problem? Not finding the "1/2 breast of turkey (cut into 3 pieces, preferably by the butcher) " Just a big hunk of turkey breast. So, I just went with a whole cut up chicken instead.

And of course, I added more thyme into the pot replace rosemary, and chopped up the leaves for the gremolata. For the gremolata, I used a dash of gray salt instead of regular salt. I also braised the chicken for 45 minutes, then I flipped them around and stuck them back in there for another 30 minutes.

Oh my god. The frickin' gremolata!! I mean, the dish by itself is one thing. But once you put the topping on it, it's transformed into something else heavenly.

This one pot meal quickly becomes the new favorite "Italian chicken in a pot thing" for the household.

Easiest Meal for a Crowd

Giada's Bollito Misto. Feeding a dozen people have never been quite this easy.

Brown the meat. Add broth and aromatics. Simmer for an hour. Add potatoes and carrots. Simmer for another hour. Fish out the veggies. Slice the meat. Reduce juice to gravy.

While cooking, throw parsley, garlic, shallots, vinegar and olive oil together into the food processor for salsa verde. (You can just chop everything up and mix with the liquids for chunkier salsa but I was just lazy.) Rinse that out and then toss Gorgonzola, mayo and mustard in for a whirl and voila, Gorgonzola Sauce.

Sure it took a few hours to cook. But it's really easy to manage.

And no. I can't seem to go to sleep tonight. Heh.

Chocolaty AND Refreshing

For the office birthday party this week, I decided to bake the cupcakes instead of buying them. So, I went with Giada's recipe for Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Limoncello Frosting because a) it sounded good at the time and b) it gave me a valid excuse to buy my first bottle of Limoncello.

Again, I used Duncan Hine's Devil's Food Cake Mix and I beat it on high a little while longer. Instead of the manufactured orange juice, I used the fresh squeezed organic one from Trader Joe's. As for the chocolate chips, I used semi-sweet.

The cake was moist and fluffy, not too sweet. Even the sweet icing had a little cut from Limoncello and zest. Despite the rich, chocolaty flavor, the cake was surprisingly refreshing. Perfect in every way for a summer day. (I know, the recipe was for Halloween...but it was a VERY summery cake!)

The only obstacle I had with this recipe is finding the candied orange peel. I went to Trader Joe's. No dice. Even Bristol Farms doesn't have any, to my surprise.

Oh god. The endive flashback!

Thank goodness, as a back up plan, I looked up Giada's candied orange peel recipe ahead of time. So while at Trader Joe's, I picked up 2 navel oranges.

I followed the recipe except that I use 2 oranges instead of one. Come to think of it, I think you can even candied peels from 3 oranges with all the sugar there was in that pot. And of course, I didn't chocolate-dip the peel.

At first I was worried. After I left the peel out to cool/dry over night, it was still sticky in the morning. But by the time I got home later that afternoon, they were dry. And they were perfect.

Roman Saturday

I made two things in Giada's Day Ahead Dishes yesterday, the Roman-style Chicken and potatoes and onions.

Oh the sauce. THE SAUCE! It's so fricking fantastic, guys. I actually saved the sauce so I can dip some bread in it as a meal later or something. It was just fabulous.

The only thing I changed in the chicken recipe is that instead of 4 chicken breasts and 2 thighs, I used a family pack of chicken thighs which had 12. So much cheaper than getting a pack each of breasts and thighs and quite tasty. I had to brown the chicken in 2 batches, yielding a lot of oil at the end so I poured that out and saved about 2 TBS. to continue with the recipe. Otherwise, everything was all according to the recipe.

As for the potatoes, of course, I substituted thyme for rosemary. And I cut up one onion into chunks instead of using the bitty pearl onions. Because I'm lazy like that. LOL.

Damn you Belgian endive!

Tomorrow is the bridal tea party at the office. My plan was to make this delicious looking Endive Spears with Stilton Cheese, Toasted Pecans, and Sauteed Pears. This should be easy. I have seen Belgian endive at the local Ralphs Marketplace before. No problem.

My ghetto Vons never really have anything gourmet, but once in a while it surprised me. Like a while ago they stocked fennels and arugula. I haven't checked lately, but arugula doesn't get stocked any more. In any case, I stopped in to check for endive. No dice.

No problem. Ralphs Marketplace down the street has more gourmet stuff. Their produce section is huge.

Oh yes problem.

No Belgian endive. I'm sure I could've gone to the ever so reliable Bristol Farms but I had a LOT to accomplish tonight. I didn't have time to go all over town endive hunting.

Not to mention, as I picked up a tub of crumbled Gorgonzola (instead of Stilton) and a baggy of pecans, I noticed how little amount I am getting for the budget I had to stick with. It wasn't going to work out anyway.

So, I called Brandon to rescue me. He braved my recipe folder and found my back up plan, the ever so fabulous Giada's Italian Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups. He relayed the ingredient list to me over the phone. I just had to get main ingredients but all the condiments I already have at home. (And yet, I still forgot to buy a lemon. But that's okay. Someone is bringing lemons for tea. I can certainly mooch one for the salad dressing.)

I have been home since, say, 7 p.m. So, for 2.5 hours with one hour dinner break, I roasted chicken thighs, chopped veggies, toasted almonds, made dressing, made the turkey meatballs in garlic cream sauce for dinner (recipe next time) AND clean up after all of that.

Take that, Belgian endives! I don't need you!

That's it. I'm going to bed.

Heavenly Cake

Just got back from the BBQ where my cake was a gigantic hit! I promised to post the recipe here.

It's not mine, really. It's Giada's Hazelnut Crunch Cake with Mascarpone and Chocolate.

ETA: Brand new pics!



Very simple and straight forward. Just have to watch the caramel, and that's all.

1. I used Duncan Hines' Devil's Food Cake for the chocolate cake. The box said to beat the batter 2 minutes. I used my hand mixer on high and I went longer than that. Somehow, the cake not only came out moist, but also light. The lightness is what folks at the BBQ really liked. I also used Pam for Baking (Pam + flour) to grease the cake pans. They plopped out with no problem whatsoever.

2. Watch the hot caramel! When I finished pouring the caramel onto the hazelnuts, I noticed there was a drop of the sugar on the counter top. Like an idiot child of Dumbassville, I swiped it up with my finger. I did this once before about a year or two ago when I attempted to make caramel cake. At least this time, I didn't burn the caramel.



3. I would've made more chocolate-orange topping. It was just enough to sprinkle on top, but I think I'd like some more of that. Maybe I should just double that and you can sprinkle some on the side of the cake too.

Indoor Picnic Dinner

A friend's uncle passed away yesterday so we went over to be with his dad. To cheer him up, I decided to go for a home cooked dinner. Pops always loves to be my lab rat. :)

Last weekend's episode of Everyday Italian was stuck in my head. Giada's "Picnic Planner" looked yummy and super easy I wanted to make everything. But I didn't have a chance during the week.

• Penne with Beef and Arugula - serves up well at room temperature as well as cold.
  
• Parmesan Popovers
• Almond Blueberry Cookies
• Iced Tea with Grenadine <-- I didn't make this one.

I was in the kitchen most of the afternoon as I baked the cookies first then made the batter for the popovers and started the pasta and steak at about the same time. (If you don't make cookies, this could count as a quick fix meal.) I did follow the instructions on all of them this time...except for the Herbes de Provence part . You know the history. I used Penzey's Parisien Bon Herbes plus lavender instead.

The penne and steak makes a LOT of pasta salad, folks. The portion I served today, we would've fed six. So, tomorrow Brandon is going to take 2 tubs of this on his trip to DC, one for him and one for his coworker, and I will eat one for lunch.

Also, one tip on the popovers that Giada mentioned on the show. Don't peak at the popovers while they cook or you'll end up with deflated ones. Hey, they were still tasty. Just didn't look too pretty.

We showed up at Pops' door with the picnic pack. We ate and talked. We talked about his brother and his life, boxing, tennis, politics. We talked about his day at work. We just talked. Or more like letting Pops talk. While sitting there listening to Pops and Brandon, I just realized this would be the first time I cook for a sad occasion.

I am humbled and amazed at the power of food to bring people together.

Irish Feast...sort of

For the past 5 years, I have been cooking up this recipe of 1996 Bon Appetit Beef Stew with Stout Guinness.



(ETA: Picture above is from 2009 St. Patty's feast.)

I kept to the recipe more or less every year, adding a bay leaf or two and doubling the portion to serve 4. A few more spoons of cornstarch to thicken, and pinches of brown sugar and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce has been added to round out the taste.

The recipe called for the stew to be served with a side of Colcanon, mashed potatoes with kale. I used to just do mashed potatoes, but the public demanded potatoes IN the stew. And I obliged.

The challenge wasn't the stew but the proportion. Let me just say that I have NEVER cooked with 4 lbs. of meat before.

Yep. 4 lbs. of stew beef, 6 carrots, 2 bags of baby Russet potatoes, 3 onions, a pack of whole white mushrooms (because I have it laying around), 2 bottles of Guinness, 1.5 cartons of beef stock, 2 bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, about a table spoon or two of brown sugar, a few shakes of Worcestershire, and, as always, a few spoonfuls of cornstarch + broth to thicken things up.

And a VERY big pot.

I fed all 8 with leftover of maybe 4 servings more.

For dessert, I searched the web and found a recipe for a Bailey's Irish Cream Fruit Dip which I modified slightly. Now it doubles fantastically as frosting for Giada's almond cupcakes. (I just did the cake and instead of the raspberry cream, I use the Bailey's dip.)

Mix together:
One 8-oz. tub CoolWhip, thawed
One 5-oz. packet vanilla instant pudding
1/2 c. Bailey's
1/2 c. milk (Original recipe called for one cup. I think that may just be too soupy.)

Served with fruits, white/angel food cake, a bar of chocolate. Whatever! Just don't let the kids near it. It has quite a kick for a harmless looking sweet treat. :)

Hmm...chewy

Giada's Roast Beef with Spicy Parsley Tomato Sauce was the recipe I made for dinner tonight. Very straight forward and simple. All done in about an hour. I even threw in a side of cabbage and long strands of carrot sautéed in butter, flavored with only salt, pepper and a tad of my bastardized Herbes de Provence*.

Everything was going swimmingly. I mean EVERYTHING.

The sauce? Perfect. I mean, it's fricking AWESOME!

The side dish? Fantastic. Always love veggies sautéed in butter.

The roast? That is when disaster struck. When I sliced the roast after resting, I found 2 things were wrong.

First, the meat was cooked to perfect medium rare after being in the oven for 50 minutes. It's PERFECT for me, but not for Brandon. I was aiming for a medium going for 40 minutes according to the recipe, but the meat thermometer didn't register so I left the roast in for extra 10 minutes. And it was still undercooked.

Second, the roast was tough when I slice it. That alarmed me. But hey, maybe my knife was dull. But then, I took the first cut into my slice and found it "sticky". Sure enough, tonight's dinner was mainly the veggies and may be 2 pieces of beef. The rest was the nutrient we managed to suck out of the roast before our jaws got tired. Lots of mangled cow pieces in the trash tonight.

The choices of meat for the recipe are sirloin tip or chuck beef roast. I bought the latter. And yes I sliced it across the grain! That was possibly the worst piece of beef I've cooked.

Wait. Is it the beef? Or is it me?

Try out this recipe, guys. Let me know if yours result in something more edible.

As for me, I will cook up 2 pieces of sirloin Friday night...and I will top them with the leftover spicy parsley tomato sauce, a redemption from tonight's disaster. Hopefully.

*Bastardized Herbes de Provence: I was going to buy a bottle at the store but Brandon doesn't like rosemary, one of the key ingredients. After sorting through a few homemade recipes, I kind of went to town with what I have in the spice cabinet to try to create a blend close enough to the HDP. I ended up with 1/2 teaspoon each of basil and thyme, 1 crushed up bay leaf, and a shake each of fennel seeds and ground coriander. Pretty tasty, I must say. Whatever I had left from sprinkling over the tomatoes, I threw into the cabbage+carrot, tying the flavor together with the beef and sauce.

ETA :

Friday night, Brenda was kind enough to pick up a hunk of top sirloin steak from Plowboy for me. I walked away from her house with not only the giant piece of meat but also with baggies of spices from Penzey's Brenda recently ordered in bulk.

In all of the goodies, she gave me a baggy full of Parisien Bon Herbes which I could mix in lavender, which she also gave me, to substitute for rosemary-less Herbes de Provance. No more bastardized HdP!

Brenda also handed me the Alton Brown’s pan seared method so that I wouldn’t accidentally repeat the disaster. Steak is one thing I had down somewhat. But it’s good to learn yet another fool-proof method.

I did redeem myself.

Cheesy chicken goodness

Giada's Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina is simple and easy. After all, this is the "Cooking with Kids" recipe.

But I have a problem with it.

My problem with this recipe is just that it calls for itsy bitsy little amount of food. 1 cup pasta? 1/2 cup cube chicken? I mean, seriously. I will have to deal with half a box of pasta and half a package of chicken later? I don't think so!

So I just upped the ante and went all out with my ingredients. The following note shows the quantity for my version. Follow the original instruction, and you're all set. It's still very tasty AND I have leftover for a few days. And so far, the pasta/casserole dishes seem to freeze well.

I only deviated from it just a bit by seasoning my chicken pieces with salt and pepper and chili flake as well. And right before I take the chicken mixture off the heat, I splashed a tad of vermouth in there to pick up whatever brown bits may be left behind. The onion's sweat should've taken care of it, but a bit of alcohol in cooking never hurts anybody. ;-)

Supersized Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

1 package rainbow rotini (or whatever small pasta you like. If it's elbow macaroni, I think half a box is plenty.)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 package chicken tenders (just about a pound...ish), cubed.
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice (I used Italian seasoned ones)
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (totally adjustable here...Brandon just doesn't do the "decorative" greens that much)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Some butter for buttering up the casserole and to dab on top of the crumb topping
Optional: chili pepper flakes to kick it up and a dash of vermouth (or maybe white wine) to deglaze the pan.

Giada in a Jiffy

My Italian Goddess Giada made 15 minute recipes the other day. Every single item on the menu set looks delicious and super duper easy. I tried out 2 out of 4 which are all that I'd actually try because the third item is salmon--remember, no seafood at the Borens--and biscotti + nutella + gelato needs no experimenting with. :)

First, Rigatoni with Red Pepper, Almonds, and Bread Crumbs. I opened my 2-buck Chuck Beaujolais and they were fantastic together.

My notes:

The meal could've been done a few minutes after the pasta is finished. But I had an epic struggle with the ancient Cuisineart food precessor. It's Brandon's mom's old one with all of these little pieces to put in for the thing to work. I didn't know THAT! Once he helped me assemble the thing, it was easy. And good lord, this old girl is powerful ! I mean, at one point I thought it was going to take off into space!

Anyways. Back to the recipe.

Brandon doesn't care much for roasted peppers--and I forgot to pick up a jar at the store--so I substituted in a can of Italian seasoned chopped tomatoes, drained. But in reality, I only got half a can in after a little draining accident over the kitchen sink. Heh. It did give the sweetness and moisture to the dish.

Giada didn't add any salt or pepper to the finished product, saying that the croutons are flavorful enough. Mind came out a little bland, so I did indeed add some S&P.

I also upgraded my olive oil from my everday EVOO to Extra Light olive oil. In certain recipes, like making a vinaigrette, I found the olive oil taste to be a little distracting. Well, there you go with "Why you should invest in good olive oil" lecture from Ina Garten. Instead of diving in head first to luxurious imported olive oil, I saw "Extra Light taste" Bertolli so I picked up a bottle. Not bad, really. Sweet and delicious without too much olive-y taste.

Finally, Giada didn't top this with any Parmesan. A little odd for Little Miss I Love Cheese. But hey, I grated some on top of mine. I also happened to have leftover bacon on hand so I tossed that in there too. And it was just PERFECT.

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Now, the second recipe I had just finished eating is Croissant Panini. It is absolutely divine. The cheeses melted together so well and the buttery croissant just brought it all home. I'm going to make another one to take to lunch tomorrow!

My notes:

What is it with our local grocery store not carrying any arugula? I didn't want to drive another mile for it, so I settle for a bed of Italian parsley instead. Oh, and because I had it, I also threw in shredded carrots.

I didn't even take the time to grate the Gouda. I mean, the store sells them pre-sliced so I just tore the slice up and positioned it on the sandwich.

Now, the grilling. I do not own a panini press. And the George Foreman is way deep in the cabinet. So, I employ Alton Brown's Pie Pan and A Soup Can method.

Heat up a pan. Set the sandwich down. Put a pie pan on top of the sandwich and top that with a soup can. Leave it like that for a few minutes. Take everything off the top. Flip the sandwich. Repeat. And voila! Instant Panini Press!

Short Ribs and Pasta

This recipe takes 3 hours plus. Definitely not a weeknight weekend, folks. But it is definitely worth the time.

My Italian Goddess Giada's Short Ribs with Tagliatelle

My notes:

1. I didn't use the tagliatelle pasta, just the spaghetti I have on hand.

2. I didn't use the food processor for the veggies. Instead, I chopped everything up real fine and just plop the diced tomatoes and tomato paste right on top. It gives the sauce a very rustic feel. I also used baby carrots in this, sliced up.

3. If mixing sweet and savory doesn't appeal to you, instead of the bittersweet chocolate, go ahead and grate your parmesan right on top. Equally tasty!