Sausage Pizza

 I would have to say that pizza is my favorite Sunday night dinner. 

My mom use to make it quite often and I think I have gotten pretty close to her recipe!

Otechino con Lenticchie, Pork Sausage with Lentils

The other day I was looking at some of the blogs I follow and came upon a photo of a dish that looked really good. The recipe was from ...ti cucino cosi... and yes it was in Italian. There's no need to fear Google Translate is here!

This recipe is very similar to Panecotta minus the escarole. The original recipe uses Cotechino, which is a fresh sausage made with pork, fatback and pork rind and comes from Modena, Italy. I used a pork sausage with Provolone and Red Pepper. The recipe also called for 150 grams of Lentils. So I was able to use my new digital kitchen scale! Thank you Chris!

Photo shows too many lentils!

This is my version of the recipe.

Otechino con Lenticchie (Pork Sausage with Lentils)

Ingredients
150 gr Lentils (1 cup)
2 cups water
1 potato, boiled
80 gr bread, soaked in milk (about 4 slices of Italian bread)
1/2 lb. pork sausage
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Parmesan

Method
Cook the lentils in water until the water is all absorbed and lentils are cooked, allow to cool. (This took about 18 minutes). (The original recipe called for a pinch of a salt in the water when cooking the lentils but every blog that I read about lentils said the salt would make them tough, so I omitted it).
Boil the potatoes. Cook the sausage.
Saute the finely chopped onion in oil.
Place the sliced sausage, onions and potatoes and mash well with a fork. Add the lentils.
Add the slices of bread that have soaked in a little milk and mix everything together.
Put the mixture into a greased (I use Pam cooking spray) Pyrex baking dish and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Serve warm.

Along with this we had a salad and used Paul Newman's Lighten Up Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing.

Happy New Year's Day!

Homemade Pasta with Calamari Sauce

I love walking into my sister's kitchen and seeing pasta drying.

But first there is the antipasto...

Then came the pasta. It was delicious as always !

Happy New Year!

Skillet Shrimp with Couscous

I have the Martha Steward's Everyday Food App on my iTouch and yesterday's recipe caught my eye. It was hard not to eat every drop of this. Click here for the recipe.

Deviled Bones

I have been looking forward to the leftovers from Christmas Dinner since last year. Deviled Bones is another 10 ten meal. The bread crumbs on the ribs are nice and crunchy. Can't wait until next year!

The Day After Christmas

Cappelletti in my sister's Chicken Broth. Thank goodness she brought over enough for a couple of nights!

Christmas Day

Four people for dinner and a 12.5 lb prime rib... Not to mention the Antipasto, the Cheddar Olive Balls, the Cappelletti in my sister's chicken broth, the Roasted Carrots, Roasted Cauliflower, Roasted Potatoes, Thyme Popovers and of course the cookies.
A very nice day spend with close family and friends. Hope you enjoy the photos...

This is what Christmas means to me...Cappelletti in my sister's chicken broth. This is why this meal is in my Top Ten meals of the year.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve Dinner

This is my favorite meal of the year. My mom use to make an amazing Christmas Eve dinner. She would cook for up to 24 people some years. The food she produced was awe inspiring, especially to someone like me. My brother-in-law, Ralph, and my sister, Lenore, now do Christmas Eve dinner. It is as amazing as anything my mom made.

Tonight we walked in and this is the first thing we saw -

The pasta was topped with seafood sauce...

Then they served stuffed calamari

And lobster tails

I have to find out where they get this bread.

Next we had Halibut Stuffed with Lobster Meat.

This is a photo of Fried Baccalá Balls.
They were very good, this photo does not do them justice.

There were two Baccalá Salads. One spicy and the other mild.

There should be a photo of the Seafood Polpettes that I made. Oops.
But I took a photo of the wine. : )

Then there were my sister's cookies.
The one in the center of the photo is the Lemon Bar, my favorite.

Merry Christmas!

Giada's Orecchiette with Toasted Bread Crumbs

Today I was looking at some the blogs I follow. I came upon Kahakai Kitchen and Giada's Orecchiette with Toasted Bread Crumbs. Something told me to click on the link. I am so glad I did. It is now in my top 10 meals for 2010. The clincher was of course the prosciutto. Dinner was ready in 20 minutes and we both kept going back to the pan for just one more bite. You have to try this recipe. You will not be disappointed.

Christmas Treats

It may seem that lately I have been too busy to prepare the usual type of meals we have for dinner. Okay I have been somewhat busy. But I have been doing a little Christmas baking. Not as much as previous years but a good showing...

Mint Crackle Tops

Brown Sugar Shortbread

Chocolate Crackle Tops

Cinnamon Sticks and Jelly Bellies

Snowballs (my favorites!)

Candied Lemon Peels