Chicken Pot Pie

Instead of making the crust I usually make for the pot pie I used puff pastry. The recipe for the pie was from the Real Simple site.

Baked Macoroni

For my birthday dinner I made Baked Macaroni. It is my favorite meal. This time I used shells instead of elbow macaroni. It stayed in the oven a little longer than it should have but it was still delicious.

Kramer admiring my flowers!

Timballo Di Sfoglie

Beef and Vegetable Pie from the Abruzzo region. The recipe comes from La Cucina. My only complaint is the recipe used a few too many pans but the outcome was worth it. Here is the recipe which serves 6 (I cut the recipe in half). The recipe also calls for artichokes. One of us in not a huge fan so I replaced it with yellow squash. It was delicious. I also used a springform pan.

Ingredients
Unsalted butter

For the dough:
About 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
4 large eggs
Salt

For the sauce:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 lb. ground beef
2 lbs. canned tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt

For the filling:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, for frying
7 oz. zucchini, cut in rounds
3 artichokes, cut in pieces
1 1/4 lb. scamorza cheese, cubed
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method
Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
Grease a 10-inch-round baking dish with butter.
Use the flour and eggs to prepare a pasta dough. Roll out a very thin sheet; cut the sheet in strips about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide. Cook these in boiling lightly salted water for 3 minutes until very al dente, drain and dry on a cloth.
In another pan prepare the sauce: heat the olive oil in the pan and brown the ground beef. Add the tomatoes, onions and the salt to taste.
In another pan heat the olive oil and fry the zucchini and artichokes until golden, then combine them with the scamorza.
Mix the egg into the milk.
In the prepared pan, arrange alternating layers of pasta, scamorza, sauce, pats of butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and half of the egg mixture; repeat then end with a final layer of pasta and bake 50 minutes.

Super Bowl

The day started with Blueberry Muffins. Recipe from Joy of Baking. Very light muffins. Very easy to eat more than one.

Big game tonight. We started with a couple of appetizers. Rosemary Thyme Pita Chips and Eggplant and Feta Rolls. The Eggplant and Feta Rolls are from figtree appetizers blog. I have been wanting to try this recipe for some time. I liked it. The Rosemary Thyme Pita Chips are from Food52 site. Came across this yesterday and I am really glad I found this recipe. Quite good.




For dinner I made BBQ Pork Spare Ribs. The recipe is from cooks.com.

BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
2 lb. pork spare ribs
1 onion

Sauce:
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/3 c. water
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. red pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. chili powder
1/3 c. ketchup

Place spareribs (meat side down) in roasting pan. Cover meat with thinly sliced onion. Pour sauce over meat. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until done. Last 10 minutes of cooking you can remove cover to "crunch up" the top slightly.


For a side dish again I found a recipe on Food52 yesterday. Mashed Salt and Vinegar Reds. Nice, but I would add more vinegar.



Mashed Salt and Vinegar Reds
Serves 4
1 pound dark red-skinned potatoes (about 4 medium)
3 tablespoons good quality olive oil, divided
4 scallions, white and pale green parts, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
pinches of coarse, flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
small handful of thinly sliced, dark green scallion tops
1 teaspoon chives, chopped

Cut the potatoes into quarters, place in a pot of cold water, and bring to a boil over high heat; simmer until potatoes are tender, and can be easily pierced with a fork.
While the potatoes are on the stove, saute the white and pale green parts of the scallions in one tablespoon of olive oil, over medium heat, until they begin to soften and melt; remove from heat, and set aside.
Strain the cooked potatoes, and transfer immediately to a large bowl; sprinkle with the vinegar while the potatoes are still hot, and let sit for about a minute or two; stir in remaining olive oil, cooked scallions, salt and pepper; smash ingredients together with a potato masher until they just begin to hold, but are still very rustic looking, and chunky (add a little more olive oil at this point if the potatoes seem a little dry - you want them to glisten).
Transfer to serving bowl; sprinkle with dark green scallion slivers, and chives; add extra salt and pepper to taste, and serve warm.

Gnocchi a la Vodka

It seems like someone's birthday is coming up this week so tonight we ate out. We went to Quattros in Guilford. We always have a good meal there. We started with Fried Calamari, Crab Cakes and Bruschetta. The Bruschetta is amazing.
For dinner I had Gnocchi a la Vodka. It was homemade potato gnocchi that was so light. It was like eating puffs of air. The gnocchi was sauteed with shrimp in a vodka cream sauce. Fantastic.
Sorry but the restaurant was not lit for food photography. It was a fun night with good people and lots of good food!

Escarole and Bean Pizza

Picked up 2 pizzas from Pasta Avest. Chris had The Works and I had the Escarole and Bean. I love escarole and beans.

Grilled Chicken and Roasted Pepper Panini

Grilled the chicken on the panini grill. Than put the chicken, roasted peppers and provolone cheese on the bread and grilled the sandwiches.

The perfect on pan meal.

Rigatoni with Meat Sauce

The photo says it all.

Crispy Prosciutto and Scallion Frittata

I came across this recipe on RealSimple.com. It was a winner.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into 1-inch pieces
8 large eggs
3 tablespoons whole milk
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Method
Heat oven to 350° F. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the scallions and cook, stirring, for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the prosciutto and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly crisp, 3 to 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, Parmesan, and pepper. Add the cooked scallions and prosciutto. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and stir to distribute the ingredients. Bake until browned around the edges and puffed (a knife should come out clean), 15 to 20 minutes.

We made wraps with the frittatta.

Manicotti with Chicken Sausage

Frozen Manicotti. Sauteed chicken sausage. Sauce left over from Saturday night's dinner. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Baked 20 minutes. Fast and quite good. Perfect for Monday night.