When Life Gives You Paté Brisee ...

A side effect to making my Mother's Pizzagaina recipe is that I end up with a surplus of Pate Brisee. Not that I have a problem with that. The dough freezes nicely. While I was baking the Pizzagaina on Saturday, I decided to make a tart for this week. Tonight we had the fried potato and zucchini tart. I added some provolone cheese and some feta cheese.  A flaky crust surrounding fried potatoes, right there this is a winner, and sauteed zucchini which gave the tart a spring-like look. I am just not sure if and when spring will actually arrive in this area.

Just a Big Salad

Let's take a break from the over eating and just enjoy a big salad. Oh, but we did have Meat Pie too!

Palm Sunday

Wow! An amazing meal at Lenore and Ralph's house. Delicious food. Antipasto, Homemade Pasta with Cinghiale Sauce, Roasted Chicken, Green Peas, and Butternut Squash. Oh and let's not forget the birthday cake. Enjoy the show -

The Antipasto -

 Homemade Pasta with Cinghiale Sauce (Ralph referred to this as an American version)

 And the wine for the pasta course -

Roasted Chicken, Green peas and Butternut Squash (Veggies were from their garden)

 And the wine pairing for this course -

And Friday is Ralph's 70th Birthday! 

We had an Italian Cream Cake with Rum and Strawberries from Meriano's Bakery.

I hope everyone had a enjoyable Palm Sunday.

Pasta with Fried Eggs and Pangritata and Pizzagaina

Now let's see. Last weekend I made the pie dough for the Pizzagaina. That means this weekend is when we bake the Pizzagaina. Yup today was the day I made my Mom's Pizzagaina recipe. I ended up with 6 pies, and that is just from doubling her recipe. I use to go to her house on Holy Thursday night and we would bake until after midnight. But now I will see my brother and sister on Palm Sunday so I baked them today. 

 

There is something about Easter baking. It was after a day of baking for Easter that I started this little blog.  Again I am sitting here after a day making my mom's recipe with a glass of wine next to me and I would love to be able to pick up the phone and give her a call. Of course I am sure she would have been following my day's work on Instagram.

For dinner tonight I made a recipe I had pinned not too long ago. Pasta with Fried Eggs and Pangritata. Of course making 6 Pizzagaina and another tart, Zucchini and Potato, would not make me not make homemade pasta for tonight. I used the food processor and the "new" favorite recipe for pasta. Gosh this was quite delicious. Not sure if it was the pasta or the Pangritata that made this so good. It was hard not to reach in the pan for one more forkful....

Click Here for tonight's recipe.

I'm Back!

Wow, it has been forever since my last post. Last weekend I went to DC to visit my nephew and his family. We took his daughter's dress shopping. It was a wonderful weekend. This week we ate meals I had in the freezer, I am the queen of planning ahead. Chicken Noodle Soup, Ham Steaks, Pasta with Meat Sauce, Grilled Cheese, and a Frittata Sandwich were the week's selection.
but we are starting off this week on a high note. Pork Chops. I don't remember the last time I made them. The last time was December 6, 2014!!!!
As I side dish I made Rice Timbale. Arborio Rice with fresh Mozzarella and sauteed Zucchini. Not bad.
Today I made the pie dough for the Pizzagaina. I will freeze it until next Saturday when I plan on baking. I also made a Deep Dish Eggplant Parmesan, more on that later in the week.

The Book Club

Tonight was Book Club. This month's book was Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. I enjoyed this book. It was a change from my usual reading, it didn't take place in WWII Europe.  It took place in Minnesota during the summer of 1961. It had murder and mystery and sadness and sorrow and I was sad when the story ended.

But enough with my literary ramblings. LOL. Dinner at Kelly's was so good. She prepared an Indian dinner. I do not eat Indian food that often. I think the last time might have been, oh a very long time ago when I lived in New Haven. Tonight we started appetizers, 2 kinds of Samosa, Veggie and Chicken. She served them with a Peach Salsa. I loved the Veggie one!

Dinner was Chicken Tikka Masala with Jasmati Rice. This was so good I had a second helping! She also made one my favorite things in the world, Roasted Cauliflower. And there was also Asparagus and a salad (no photo). Delicious!

Desserts were a Raspberry Tart that looked wonderful (another week until Lent is over) and Doreen made those amazing Chocolate Cookies. Oh I really wanted one of those!

Good food, good wine and wonderful conversation. See you next month!

Stuffed Peppers

I love when red peppers are on sale. Two reasons. First I love red peppers. The green pepper for some reason do agree with me. The second reason I love when red peppers are on sale is that they remind me of my Dad. He always said that when they were on sale he could not resist them.

Tonight we had Stuffed Peppers. They were stuffed with Aborio Rice and Sausage. I served them with the Marcella Hazan Sauce. I made stuffed the peppers this weekend and it was the perfect meal to reheat after work.

Salad Nicoise and Escarole and Sausage Stuffed Bread

Making it a little lighter tonight. (And planning my lunch for the week.) I have been wanting a salad for a while now. Perhaps it has been the endless snow and cold but I could not face a heavy winter meal. Don't get me wrong I love winter comfort foods. Putting something in the oven to simmer for 3 or 4 hours is perfect for January. But I think we are in March. Enough already. Potatoes, Green Beans, Hard Boiled Eggs, Tomatoes, Feta Cheese, Olives, Roasted Golden Beets and some Scallions. I did not add the Tuna. Honestly there was plenty in the bowl to choose from. I made a simple vinaigrette consisting of Cider Vinegar, Dijon Mustard, Olive Oil, Parsley, Tarragon, Salt and Pepper. It was a nice change from beans in soup.

Now on to the bread. Last week I saw on Leon's Restaurant's Facebook page a photo of a Stuffed Bread with Sausage and Dandelion Greens. It looked delicious and I wanted to make some. I had Pizza Dough in the freezer and I picked up small head of Escarole and some Sausage. I cooked the Escarole, sauteed the Sausage.  Then I put everything along with some Provolone Cheese on the pizza dough and rolled it up to make the bread. A perfect side to the salad and enough leftovers to go with my salad for lunch. Always thinking ahead.

Tuscan Bean Soup

Back in January we had our book club meeting to discuss the book Mona Lisa, A Life Discovered by Dianne Hales. The evening was filled with interesting conversation, some darn good food and some very nice Tuscan wines. For that night, I tried to make food that was predominately from Tuscany, where the book was based. In doing my research for the menu,  I found that food from Tuscany has a reputation for being nourishing, plain and simple, and beans are used extensively. I decided on a Bean Soup. I found the recipe on glutenfreeyummy.com. One of the women in our book group is gluten free. So this was perfect. Everyone loved this soup. Click here to see all the goodies we enjoyed.

I wanted to make the soup for Chris. The forecast was a repeat of the night of book club. Cold and snow. Yes it is almost spring and we are still getting snow! It was a perfect night for this soup. I left out the chicken, I wanted it to be a meatless meal and of course I left out the garlic (surprise!). I could imagine this type of soup being served back in the days of Mona Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo. But Idon't think she would not have used canned beans and tomatoes!

If I had not given up sweets for Lent I would have made the Olive Oil Cake that I made for the book club. That will have to wait until after Easter.

My version of Tuscan Bean Soup from glutenfreeyummy.com.

Ingredients-
1 Medium onion (chopped)
1 stalk celery (chopped)
1 Large carrot (chopped)
 32 fl oz chicken stock
3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
15oz canned garbanzo beans
15oz canned cannellini beans
15oz canned chopped tomatoes
1 cup water
1 cup Kale (Chopped)
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes

Method-
Place onion, celery, and carrots into a large soup pot with 3 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Stir frequently, cooking on medium high heat until onion is translucent. Add chicken broth and water to the vegetables and stir. Add canned, garbanzo beans, cannellini beans and tomatoes. Add all herbs and spices and turn down heat to simmer soup. Simmer for at least 15 minutes on low, then serve warm in bowls.

I am submitting this post the the Novel Food Event held at Briciole. 

I am looking forward to reading the other Novel Food entries. 

Might get ideas for future book club meetings!

Cheesy Stuffed Meatball Subs

Let's make this a short post tonight. I have to get ready for a little trip I am taking this weekend. Tonight we had Meatballs Stuffed with Fontina Cheese. 

Yes, stuffed with Fontina Cheese. You can see it oozing out of the meatballs in this photo. They were browned in the oven and than finished in a pan with Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter.

And we made sandwiches out of the meatballs with spreadable Parmesan cheese and Provolone cheese on sliced Italian bread. The meatballs, the sauce, the bread, the cheeses all added up to meal that was so delicious.