Corn by Jake

Last night we had take-out from Zhang's. When I pulled into the parking lot I saw the sign I have been looking for every day when I drive by - Jake's Corn Opens 6/30! Oh happy day! I got home and I told Chris we were going to have Corn for dinner on Saturday night!

And we did have corn. Amazingly delicious corn. And we had steak too! Porterhouse on sale this week. Half price! As much as I love veggies the porterhouse is my favorite steak.

I also found a wonderful recipe for Italian Potato Salad. It is from Nonna Lina's Kitchen blog. I have a weakness for authentic Italian recipes or at least recipes that I think my mom, grandmother or any of my aunts would have made. This site is a delight.

And I made dessert. From the new Bon Appetit, Cheesecake with Ginger-Lime Candied Raspberries. It was light but it did not firm up like the magazine photo. I am not experienced with gelatin so that was probably the problem. What I liked best was the raspberries. I think they would be good on just about anything. Cheesecake is rather rich to eat more than once a week, at least for me. Check out the Nutritional Info at the end of the recipe!

Chicken with Leeks and Pancetta Quiche

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that when Chris I were dating we worked together at a small restaurant in New Haven, Nancy Lee's. One of her menu items was Chicken with Leeks and Bacon.  That was the inspiration for this quiche. It was easy to make, yeah I cheated and used a pie crust that was in the freezer. The chicken was from rotisserie chicken, also in the freezer. The leeks were sauteed in a little olive oil and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper. I had some Fontina cheese which was shredded and the Pancetta was cooked. All ingredients went in to the pre-baked pie shell. I added 2 beaten eggs and about a cup of milk. A dash of nutmeg, salt and pepper. And I added some sliced olives. My mom would put black olives in just about everything she made. I suppose it could be said that they were her signature! The quiche baked for about 35 minutes. Yeah it was as good as the dish that inspired it!

Grilled Mini Meatloaf, Grilled Potatoes and Arugula Salad

New favorite meal, well my Mom's Baked Macaroni and my brother-in-law's Christmas Eve dinner will always be my favorite favorites. But tonight's dinner was right up there... let's say it is a summer favorite. Grilled Mini Meatloaf and Grilled Potato Slices. I got the idea from this recipe,  Mini Meatloaf and grilled potato slices, but used my own meatloaf recipe. Super moist and delicious.

The salad was put together in 5 minutes. Okay I roasted the Chickpeas on Sunday.
I loved the peppery taste of the Arugula and the splash of mint. Want the recipe.... Click right here - Arugula and Roasted Chickpea Salad with Feta.

Grilled Veggie Caesar Salad

Oh this was good. 

But much left for lunch tomorrow  : (

We added some rotissarie chicken and someone 

added some olive oil to the dressing... 

no harm done it was still quite good.  

Click here for the recipe.

Italian Flank Steak Pinwheels, Green Beans, Cats, Flowers & Sargent Pepper

 

Okay Sunday night dinners have been pushed up a notch. With last week's hot weather I spend some time online trying to find recipes that require little to no heat being produced in the kitchen. And first up we have Italian Flank Steak Pinwheels from the Whole Foods web site. I had the butcher butterfly the flank steak. Talk about an amazing meal. Wow! Arugula and provolone.  The rolling up the meat with the filling was a challenge but it is amazing what you can accomplish by saying a Hail Mary!

 

The side dish was also from Whole Foods, Green Bean Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing. Nice dressing. A nice lemon flavor.

 And the deer did not eat our flowers!

 And someone enjoyed their new window seat!

And this morning as I am doing my Sunday morning cooking listening to Breakfast with the Beatles it was stated that the Sargent Pepper album came out 45 years ago this month. I remember when my brother brought the album home... Let's just it was a turning point...

Amazing Grilled Chicken

Gotta love it! After an exceptionally long day I walked in the house to see Chris grilling chicken he had marinated in Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Salt, Pepper and Oregano. Oh it was so good! Have I mentioned that I have the world's best husband!

Double Cheese & Proscuitto Calzone and The Who

As soon as I took a taste of this calzone I remembered why I made the recipe again. Amazing flavors! The cheese and the prosciutto. It could bring tears to your eyes. And the crust was perfect.

I thought a salad would go nicely with dinner and I was right!

Today is the first day of summer and it sure was hot out. But let's not freak out like our local weather people. Let's just enjoy the heat.
This is one of my favorite "summertime" songs...

Eggplant Towers

I saw the eggplant and I bought it. Now what...
I breaded and baked it in the oven, yes fried would have tasted better.
I had prosciutto so I was thinking rollatini. But I decided to make stacks. Sauce in baking pan, eggplant slice, some ricotta (that was mixed with Parmesan and parsley), a slice of prosciutto and top with a dollop of sauce (homemade marinara, of course). Repeat stacking 3 more times. Keep building stacks until you run out of eggplant or you baking pan is full. Add additional sauce to the pan, you can never have too much sauce. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
Just remember to serve with Italian bread!

Fava Bean Pasta e Fagioli

From Food and Wine, Fava Bean Pasta e Fagioli. This will probably be the last soup of the season. The start of summer is a day away.

I used precooked fava beans that I picked up at Whole Foods. We added some meatballs that did not make it on to the pizza last night. There was also one piece of pork left from Friday's dinner so into the soup it went. The extra meat added another level of flavor to the the soup. But it would have been fine even if we had not added the extra meat.

Pizza and the Vacation Wrap-Up

Happy Father's Day!

Today is the last day of my vacation. Sigh... It was a fantastic week. I did quite a lot, and did not blog about it but I can give you a wrap up... and I am sure you are sitting at the edge of your seats!

On Tuesday my sister and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I wanted to see Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations and my sister wanted to see Cloud City. We arrived early so we could get the tickets for Cloud City. The 6:30AM train out of Madison to be exact. Yawn!
Anyway we got to the roof of the Met and our time slot came around. I made it up to the first stage and I bailed. No I am not a heights person. My sister went all the way through. Trust me, it was scary!

Now about the Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations... if you like fashion you have to go. It is that simple. It was a great presentation with the clothes and the video installation. Alas no photos allowed. But here are some from the Museums site.

For lunch we ate at the Petrie Court Café and Wine Bar. I had Farfalle Pasta Garden Vegetables, Wilted Greens, Picholine Olives, Aged Asiago with a glass of Pinot Gris.  My sister had Chopped Salmon Salad, Market Vegetables, Boiled Egg, Lemon-Dill Cream with a glass of Shiraz. That's what I call a lunch!

Spending the morning looking at beautiful clothes put my sister and I in a shopping mood. Okay that is not hard to accomplish. We headed down Madison Avenue stopping in a few shops to look around. And did I mention the rain. Not really rain but more like torrential rain. I love weathermen... they said it would rain at night! We did the logical thing and took a cab to Sak's. Well the cab stopped in front of St. Patrick's which is right across the street from H & M. And they were having a sale! Two shirts for $7 and one shirt for $5!

Next stop Saks. My sister had never been to the Shoe Department. Take the express elevator if you go! We also checked out the designer dresses, they were having a sale too! And if I had a spare $585 I would have bought this dress-

Back home dinner was waiting. I baked of some chicken thighs and breasts on Monday. I baked them in lemon juice and olive oil and hot sauce. Chris heated them up and made some rice and green beans. After a long day in New York it was a perfect way to end the day. Sorry too tired for photos!

Wednesday I visited my sister-in-law who babysits 3 of her grandchildren. They are ages 5 years, 4 years and 9 months. I brought over a quiche for lunch and Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Thursday was house cleaning day and Friday I met a friend for lunch and went to the outlets. New William Sonoma Outlet store!

And back to tonight's dinner, the whole reason for the blog, we had pizza! Pizza with meatballs and with ricotta and olives! Yes I cleaned out the fridge for this one. The results... only 3 pieces left!