Pasta with Peppers and Sand

Do you remember The Frugal Gourmet? Jeff Smith and his sidekick Craig? One of his recipes that Chris and I always enjoyed was Pasta with Peppers and Sand. I found a copy of it on Recipezaar.com. Simple and fast. For a Friday during Lent after being stuck in traffic I was not looking for a complicated meal.

Chicken Cutlets

First of all I used organic chicken breasts. I can't get the image of the chicken from the movie Food, Inc. out of my mind.
This is my mom's recipe. This is quite an easy recipe. I am not sure why I don't make it more often. The chicken breasts are dredged in flour and then egg whites. Mom use to add chopped parsley, salt and pepper to the egg whites. Fry them up in a little oil until they are golden and pop them in the oven to finish cooking. Moist and delicious. Rice and a vegetable round out the meal.

The Best Calzone Recipe Revisited

A week ago I made a calzone that I said was the most delicious calzone I had tasted. Well I made it again for tonight's dinner. This time I used the leftover meat from the Stuffed Flank Steak we had on Saturday. What a great way to use up leftovers. I added ricotta salata cheese and some black olives to the filling. The crust is wonderful.

Barley Soup

Turning to page 139 of La Cucina we find the recipe for tonight's dinner, Minestra Di Orzo or Barley Soup 1. There are 5 Barley Soups recipes in the book. This one is from the Valle D'Aosta region. Another simple and delicious meal. I love this cookbook!

Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1 leek, cut in thin strips
1 medium, cut in thin strips
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 carrot grated
1/2 cup Pearl Barley
1 bay leaf

Method
Heat the butter in a saucepan over low heat until melted. Add the leek and onion and cook until the leek begins to soften. Add the potatoes and carrots and cook for 10 minutes, then cover with boiling water. When the mixture returns to a boil, add the barley and bay leaf. Let cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 1 hour, until the barley is tender.

We had some left over Arborio rice from the other night so I made some Suppli (Rice Balls) from Simple Italian Snacks as a side dish.

Escarole and Bean Pizza and Steak and Onion Pizza

Let me start off with the bread I made. New York Deli Rye bread from SmittenKitchen.com. All I can say is wow! It took a few steps, mostly just rising time but wow.

Dinner was a Sunday night staple in our house. Homemade pizza. The crust is from My Bread by Jim Lahey. I made the dough a couple of weeks ago and froze it. One batch results in enough dough for 2 pies. Instead of one pie I split the dough in half again and made an Escarole and Bean Pizza and a Steak and Onion Pizza. For the Escarole and Bean I boiled the escarole in salted water until tender. Drained it and then sauteed it with olive oil and added the drained cannelini beans. Seasoned that with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.

The Steak and Onion Pizza was made with Steak-ums and white onions. On both pies I used crushed San Marzano Tomatoes.

Kugel (noodle pudding)

This is not something I made for dinner but it was a recipe that I have never made before.
My friend Heidi lost her mother this week. Marilyn was a fun person to be around. When heard of her passing I asked Heidi what can I do? First she said there was nothing to do but then she mentioned Kugel. Have you noticed that when people pass away friends show up with casserole dishes.

I remembered that my cousin had a friend who always showed up at gatherings with Kugel and that everyone raved about. I called my sister and she had a copy of the recipe.

1 lb. noodles (medium width)
1 stick of butter
1 lb. cottage cheese
1/2 pint sour cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white raisins (if desired)
4 eggs, beaten
cinnamon (sprinkled on top)

Cook noodles according to package directions. Mix stick of butter into hot, drained noodles until butter melts. Add other ingredients in order given, mixing well. Turn into buttered rectangular Pyrex or Corning ware dish (about 13 x 5 x 2). Sprinkle cinnamon liberally on top. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

It looked right. But how does it taste? Heidi gave it rave reviews!

Rolled Flank Steak with Green Olives and Oregano

This recipe comes from the Mario Batali book, Simple Italian Food, which I got for Christmas last year. I posted an entry with the recipe a while back. I made risotto as a side dish. The house smelled wonderful. It was a delicious meal.

Tuna Sauce with Spaghetti

This was dish my mom use to make during Lent on Friday nights. I found this recipe from La Cucina. The recipe is from Sicilia. The book uses fresh tuna fillet. But there is a side note saying you can use canned tuna, which is what my mom used. And I was sure I had spaghetti... alas no spaghetti but I had Buctani. That worked.

Ingredients
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 10 1/2 oz can tuna in oil, drained and cut into small pieces
4 cups tomato sauce (recipe is at the end of this entry)
2 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 lb. cooked spaghetti or whatever pasta you have
salt

Method
Prepare the tomato sauce and when it is nearly finished add the tuna and parsley. Cook together for 10 minutes at low heat and use this sauce on the spaghetti, making certain that each servings gets a quantify of tuna.

This is a very basic recipe for tomato sauce. It is similar to the recipe in La Cucina but I use canned tomatoes and not as much oil.

1 large onion, thinly slice
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp. chopped basil (or parsley)
salt

Saute the onions in the olive oil until almost transparent. Add the tomatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add the basil and salt. The recipe in La Cucina adds more olive oil to the sauce at this point.

Vegetable Frittatta Sandwich

Red peppers, onions, carrots, zucchini, Fontina, Parmesan and Provolone Cheeses, eggs and parsley. This frittatta was lighter than previous frittattas...

Calzone Barese (Olive and Ricotta Calzone)

This was the most delicious calzone I have had in quite some time. The recipe comes from... La Cucina. Surprise! This recipe comes from the Puglia region

For the dough:
2 cups all purpose flour plus more if needed
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeas dissolved in 2 tbsp. warm water
Extra-virgin olive oil

For the filling:
1 medium onion, sliced
3/4 lb. ripe plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup pitted and chopped black olives
4 oz. ricotta salata, passed through a sieve
Salt and pepper

Pour the flour onto a flat surface and work it together with the yeast mixture, a dash of salt and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Knead the dough, turning and folding it onto itself, until it becomes soft and elastic, adding water by the tablespoon as necessary - you my need to add as much as 3/4 cup. Then cover it with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 450˚F. Grease a baking dish.
In a sauce pan, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and saute the onion until is almost transparent, then add the tomatoes. Cook the sauce down for a few minutes then add salt, pepper, and olives. Remove the pan from the heat and add the ricotta salata and mix well.
Roll the dough on a floured board into two sheets, one larger than the other. With the larger one line the greased pan. Pour in the sauce, spread it out, and cover with the other sheet, folding the edges over each other. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the top is golden.

Delicious!