Thursday, April 30, 2009

Broccoli Rabe with Pasta

The day started steaming a large bag of Broccoli Rabe from my husband's boss. It was a very large bag. At work I just kept thinking about that veggie all day. It was my favorite color of green and it was cooked perfectly. Not bad for 6:30am.

After a very long day at work I sauteed the rabe in olive oil and made pasta. Mixed rabe, pasta, cheese, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and a bit more olive oil. Joy of joy it was so tasty. It was as good as I imagined.





Still have a lot of rabe... Oh happy day!






After I posted this entry I found this link http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2009/04/penne_with_broc.html and hey it looks just like my dinner!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Pane Cotto

Escarole and Beans Casserole.
Escarole and beans baked with bread, onions, Parmesan and mozzarella.

Served with home made Italian bread and olive oil from Tuscany.

Recipe was from the New Haven Register, April 15, 2009. It is from Jo Farricielli of East Haven, CT.

Pane Cotto
1/2 loaf Italian bread, cubed; bread can be day-old, stale or fresh
1/2 sliced onion
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 - 6 cups of cooked Escarole and Beans, recipe follows

Coat 9-
by 13-inch casserole or baking dish with cooking spray. Spread enough cubed bread to cover bottom of a 9- by 13-inch casserole or baking dish. Saute onion in olive oil until onions are golden and slightly caramelized. Spoon this mixture over the bread. Then cover with the Escarole and Beans.
Sprinkle top generously with grated Parmesan and mozzarella and bake in a preheated 350- degree oven for 20 minutes. Move to upper shelf in oven, and broil for 5 minutes, until cheese is slightly browned. Makes 6 generous servings.


Escarole and Beans
1 large head of escarole
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup cooked cannellini or Navy pea beans, canned or freshly cooked
Salt and pepper

Wash escarole. Remove core, cut leaves and boil in about 2 cups of salted water until it cooks down and is completely tender. Remove from heat; reserve liquid.
Lightly saute garlic in olive oil. Add cooked beans, escarole along with enough liquid to make the mixture slightly soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook together on top of stove for 20 minutes. This can Be made ahead of time, eaten as is with fresh Italian bread or made into
Pane Cotto.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Let's wait until it gets really hot out and than start baking...
Baked the Light Wheat Bread that I have been baking every week. Keep meaning to make another type of bread but this recipe is pretty fool-proof. Made 2 loaves of Italian bread from a starter sponge I started yesterday. It was just too hot to be doing this type of baking. If the AC was on than it would be a different story. But enough about the wonderful heat wave, what did we have for dinner?
Meatball subs. I had the meatballs in the freezer. That freezer is the best thing I have ever purchased. Well except for those cute boots when I was in Vermont in September...

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Saturday Night Dinner on the Deck

Breaded Pork Cutlets, Jasmati Rice and Grilled Zucchini.
After a lovely day of shopping (sales, sales and more sales) a quick dinner was made. A quick and really delicious dinner. It was warm enough to eat on the deck!

Breaded the cutlets with egg wash and then a mixture of panko bread crumbs, sage and salt and pepper. Browned them in that new pan and finished them off in the oven. The rice was frozen from Trader Joe's and the zucchini was frozen from Stop and Shop. Yes I used frozen rice and veggies - remember it was a lovely day of shopping!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Lucia At Home

Wow. Jamie Oliver rules. I worked from home today and was able to make dinner. Last night I picked up Italian Sweet Sausage at Stop and Shop. On sale 2 for $5. Went to foodnetwork.com and typed in sausage. This recipe for Sweet Cherry Tomato and Sausage Bake appeared. The recipe is from Jamie Oliver's Cooking at Home series. And I had all the ingredients in the house!!!!!!!




In the oven for 45 minutes and it was a delicious meal made in one dish. Gotta love it.

A green salad, Italian bread and red wine. Simple and light and most important an easy clean up.

I would consider making this to bring to my dad's. The Italian bread is required because the sauce is really good.

This recipe will be used quite often.
Click Here to try it yourself.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Friday night = No cooking night!

Made our way to Zhangs. So good. And not dish to wash.
Started with Szechuan Ravioli, Scallion Pancakes. Crab Rangoon and Sweet Potato Sushi.
Dinner was Crispy Orange Beef and Chicken and Shrimp Szechuan. It was lot of food but we ate most of it! I love Zhangs!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Wednesday... Tax Day... Tea Party Day... Seems like a meatloaf type of day!
Not just any meatloaf... blue cheese and bacon meatloaf. 1 1/5 lbs of meat. Saute onions and carrots. Add to meat and add 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 tbsp horseradish mustard, 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, panko bread crumbs and chopped cooked bacon. Mix then add blue cheese. Put in greased loaf pan. Coat with ketchup and sprinkle french fried onions. Bake 350 for 1 hour.
To quote Rachel Ray - Delish!
Mashed potatoes and chopped spinach.
Ah. Meatloaf sandwiches for lunch.

Monday, April 13, 2009

It's Monday and I still have not posted Sunday's blog. This is why I have not started a blog... time.
Anyway. Easter Sunday. I think that this was the tastiest Easter I can remember. My sister and her husband presented a truly delicious meal.
We started with Pasatelli Soup. I could have just had that and been happy. My sister says she used fowl for her broth. I will have to try it because it has such a clean taste.
Next we had stuffed artichokes which were very tender with a light bread stuffing.
For the main course they served Pork Stuffed with pancetta and arugula. Wow. Perfection on a plate. Potatoes and Asparagus were served with the meat. Also there were these biscuits which I have to get the recipe for.
A cat has just settled in between me and my laptop making blogging impossible...
to be continued
Meow

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Twas the night before Easter…

Lets see, doubled the Meat Pie recipe and I ended up with 4 pies. Double the rice pie recipe, need some for a friend at work, and ended up with 4 rice pies. It was like the loaves and fishes.
Used my mom's recipe for the meat pie, always delicious. Found a recipe for Traditional Rice Pie online. Have not tried it yet… one more day of no sweets.
Oh yes for dinner I made pasta with tuna and olives. Not bad, but not great.
Long day of baking.