And now for something completely different...

Open-Face Crab Burgers with
Red Pepper Dressing
Once again bon appétit has delivered a great recipe. The Open-Face Crab Burgers with Red Pepper Dressing were delicious. Prepared them along with the dressing this morning and fried them up for dinner tonight. The recipe called for a hot chili sauce which I did not have. So I tasted the sauce without it and it seemed fine. I had the homemade burger rolls in the freezer so I pulled out a couple and made some French fries.

And about that broccoli rabe... Found a recipe that I have held onto since July 1998. It is from Better Homes and Gardens. It was a Prize Tested Recipe. The $200 Winner from Gloria Onischuk, Oak Park, Ill. It is Broccoli Rabe Pie. Looks good.

Broccoli Rabe Pie
9 inch unbaked pastry shell
1 /1/2 lbs. broccoli rabe
3 slightly beaten eggs
2/3 cup cream style cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 clove garlic minced
1/8 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line unbaked pastry shell with a double thickness of foil. Bake pastry shell for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes or until pastry is set and dry. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.
Meanwhile, wash broccoli rabe; remove and discard woody stems. Cook rabe covered in 4 cups of boiling water for 5 minutes or until tender; drain well. Cool slightly and finely chop.
In a large bowl combine the eggs, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic and pepper. Stir in the broccoli rabe. Pour mixture into partially baked pie shell. Bake in the 375 degrees oven for 35 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center and comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm.

Nori Wrap, Pork Ribs and a Damn Good Meat Sauce

Well today I think I covered all the bases. This week Shop Rite had ribs on sale. My dad, who is 92, could not pass up this bargain. Then I get the call, "How can I cook these?"

So I went over to his house to cook the ribs. My sister was there and I told her I would pick up lunch at this place I heard about at the Farmer's Market last week, Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe in downtown West Haven. Great idea. The food was tasty. The guy behind the counter was really nice and informative. He was interesting and interested in my experience with raw food. More important my dad seemed to enjoy the food! (or at least he acted like he did)

So the ribs were next. I found this recipe online, BBQ Pork Ribs. Easy enough to make. The sauced tasted good and they looked and smelled good. Just not sure how they tasted... Reviews are pending.

Not to bore you with the details of how it happened but I ended up with a container of my sister's meat sauce and meatballs. My sister makes her husband's mother's recipe. I have always said that my mom was the best cook ever. But a close runner up would be my brother-in-law's mother. Boy could she cook and her sauce! I remember the first time I had pork skin in sauce. Oh my God it was so good. Anyway tonight we had my sister's version of her sauce with meatballs. What a delicious meal. The meatballs were perfect and the sauce was as good as her mother-in-law's.
I have requested the recipe and will post it.

Pasta e Fagioli

It seems that there are certain recipes that are just hard to settle on. I don't think I have made the same recipe for this dish more than 2 or 3 times. I remember my mom's and just can't find one that is close to hers. Also I have had a white version of this at Lorenzo's restaurant in West Haven which I would love to make at home. But I will continue with my search for the perfect, or at least what I consider to be the perfect Pasta e Fagioli recipe. Tonights version came from the FoodNetwork site. The recipe is courtesy Frankie Competelli, Frankie's on Melrose, Los Angeles, CA
Here is the link Pasta and Beans. If anyone reads this and knows of a good recipe please let me know!

Chicken not exactly as planned

I had something completely different in mind for dinner but things did not work out as planned so there was Plan B. Chicken Tenders with rice and peas. The chicken was dredged in egg and then Panko bread crumbs seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme and parsley. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees turn chicken over and baked for another 7 minutes. The peas were fresh (!!!!!) so I steamed them and seasoned them with salt. Add some rice and we had a quick and tasty meal.

Ketchup!

Play on words. I have not posted in a couple of days so I must catch up... I know it is weak. Let see the last time I blogged I left off with a teaser. That was a photo of homemade hamburger rolls. Yes I made hamburger rolls. Have you read what is in that bag of rolls you get at the grocery store. I think we should try to reduce the amount of processed foods we eat. Back to dinner. Sunday we were planning on having burgers. Well let me tell you about New England weather. If you wait a few minutes it will usually change. But alas on Sunday it was getting cloudier by the minute until it was very close to supper time and the rain came. What will we do? Have no fear I bought cold cuts! The rolls were the perfect vessels for the sliced meats. I also picked up artichoke relish. That's right, artichoke relish. It is my new favorite sandwich topping. Besides making the rolls I made a cole slaw recipe that I saw on smittenkitchen.com. The recipe called for cabbage but I used a bag of broccoli slaw. And fortunately my husband ate a serving and than asked what I used and I had to tell the truth. He hates broccoli but he did have seconds!

Now it is Tuesday! And my weekly menu has been tossed out the window. One of us was feeling under the weather today and one of us had to work late. Quite the dilemma. Not it you have a store called Allegra Express in your town. Allegra Express part of the Cafe Allegra restuarant. Those of you who have seen my profile on Foodbuzz.com know it is my favorite restaurant. So I purchased two containers of Chicken Noodle Soup and one container of Roasted Red Pepper Salad. I had half a loaf of the Pain de Campagne (Country Bread) and we are talking about a pepper sandwich that was so good I almost made another one.

Saturday in the park...

I am humming the Chicago song of that title. I went to the best Farmer's Market today. Wooster Square Park in New Haven. Granola, Whipped Honey (!), Mesclun Salad mix, Milk, Organic Yogurt and than there was the pastry guy...
Oh My God! Wish I had my camera. I bought 2 ham and swiss cheese croissants, some foccaccia bread with dried fruit ( I have seen this recipe but never tried it) and Lemon Brioche. It was beautiful. Every piece of his work was perfect. Next time I will just go to his stand and spend all my money! He was from the Sono Bakery.


So dinner tonight was a large piece of meat. A porterhouse steak to be exact. There are times when I really want red meat and boy did this fit the bill. My husband was on the grill and I was on the potato. Baked potato in the microwave. Gotta love it. Grilled Zucchini rounded out the meal nicely.




And what is this....








to be continued...

Friday Night Traffic, Holiday Weekend...

Okay. It is Friday. Friday before Memorial Day weekend and wow everyone was on I-95 heading north. The only thing I could even think of putting on the dinner table was a to-go container. So I made a stop at Zhang's and picked up our dinner. Crab Rangoon, Steamed Dumplings, Orange Beef and Orange Chicken and Egg Rolls. Perfect.

Picture Perfect Calzones

When I made that pizza dough on Mother's Day I made a double batch and froze half. So tonight I used the pizza dough and some of the Broccoli Rabe that I froze and made Calzones. The filling was just ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, one egg, mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper. My calzone had sautéed onions and broccoli rabe and my husband's had bacon and sautéed onions. The bacon was pre-cooked bacon, Oscar Mayer. For some reason I do not like cooking bacon but I do like the taste. So this pre-cooked stuff is a good item to have on hand. We used a jarred sauce, Bobo's pasta sauce, which is made in New Haven, CT. It was very good. But after we finished eating I realized I did not take a photo. Too bad because they not only tasted good but they looked good to!

Turkey!

That's right Turkey! Turkey breast was on sale this week. The only time we eat turkey is on Thanksgiving. But it may be added into the rotation.
This recipe came from, yes again, foodnetwork.com. It is just so easy to find what I am looking for at that site. So tonight's recipe is Basil Breast of Turkey with Peas and Garden Vegetables. First, there is no basil in the recipe. Second we omitted the peas, didn't have them and did not need them. The recipe says to wipe out the skillet after you remove the turkey. But all the good stuff is still there, the brown bits. Also did not have white wine... oh well just added a bit more chicken broth then the recipe called for. We had Knorr Pasta Sides™ - Alfredo as a side dish and a lovely bottle of Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon. I would give this meal 2 thumbs up!

A Healthy Meal!

For my birthday I got Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite cookbook. Tonight we had Cranberry bean minestone. Actually I used kidney beans. Here is the recipe
Serves 4
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk, trimmed and chopped
sea salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
2 3/4 oz smoked back (Canadian) bacon, trimmed of fat and chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 - 14oz cans cranberry beans, rinsed and drained
5 oz cherry tomatoes
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 3/4 oz spaghetti, broken into small pieces
Large handful of basil, finely shredded
Parmesan
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the onions, carrots, celery, and some seasoning. Stir frequently over medium high heat for 6 to 8 minutes until the vegetables are begin to soften. Add the thyme, bay leaf and bacon. Increase the heat slightly and cook, stirring for another 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another minute.
Add the beans and cherry tomatoes, then pour in the chicken stock or water to cover. Bring to a gentle simmer. Add the spaghetti and cook for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
To serve, ladle into warm soup bowls and sprinkle over the shredded basil. Drizzle with olive oils and grated cheese. Serve with chunks of rustic country bread.

I used fusilli instead of spaghetti. It turns out I did have a package of fusilli in the cabinet, didn't see it for the Saturday night's dinner!