Skillet Gnocchi with Grilled Corn and Burrata

Prep work is what made this dinner possible. I found the recipe for Skillet Gnocchi with Grilled Corn and Burrata in the PowWow newsletter. I did all the sauteing and grilling of vegetables on Sunday. Tonight it was just about heating up and cooking the Gnocchi. I did add some of the pasta water into the saute pan after adding the Gnocchi. That help makes a nice smooth sauce. Delicious!

My version of Skillet Gnocchi with Grilled Corn and Burrata -

Ingredients

2 ears corn, shucked

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound store-bought gnocchi
1 small red onion, sliced
3 ounces arugula
Crushed red-pepper flakes, grated Parmesan cheese, burrata cheese and fresh basil leaves, for serving.

Method-
Preheat the grill or set a grill pan over high heat. Brush each ear of corn with ½ tablespoon melted butter. Grill the corn until charred and tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Cut the kernels off the cobs and set aside.

In a medium bowl, toss the tomatoes with the olive oil and then season with salt and pepper. Sauté the tomatoes until charred and blistered, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the gnocchi and cook until they float to the surface, 4 to 5 minutes; drain.

In the skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the cooked gnocchi, corn and tomatoes, and sauté about 2 minutes. Add small amounts of pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time. Sprinkle with some Parmesan. Stir until smooth. Add the arugula and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and top with red pepper flakes, Parmesan, burrata and basil. Serve immediately.

Slow Cooker French Dip

When the chef from your favorite Italian restaurants has a new Pinterest board you take note. Chef Edward Varipapa of Leon's posted on his Pinterest page the recipe for the Ultimate Slow Cooker French Dip. I knew someone in our house would love this for dinner. So I was off to Ferraro's for a Chuck Roast. The only hands-on part of the recipe was searing the meat. Okay, I also had to chop an onion.  6 hours later we had an amazing dinner. Real au jus! You will not want to waste a drop.

Here is the recipe. I cut this in half for the 2 of us and we do have leftovers.
Ingredients-
4-5 pounds chuck roast
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 can beer (I used Guinness)
1 yellow onion, diced
6 hoagie rolls
2 tablespoons butter
12 slices Provolone Cheese

Method-
In a large dutch oven, or if you have an aluminum insert for your slow cooker add the canola oil and heat on high.

Add the Kosher salt and pepper to your chuck roast. Brown on both sides aggressively (3-5 minutes on each side). Don’t move the beef before flipping (this lets the meat get a deep crust).

In a slow cooker add the meat, any meat juices from the pan, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, beer and onions.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Remove the meat and slice thickly. To assemble, butter your hoagie rolls and toast. Top with provolone cheese. In a small bowl add a cup of the liquid from the slow cooker and dip the sandwich in the bowl.

For the side dish I made a pasta salad. I had some extra cooked pasta that I did not add to Friday night's dinner. Always nice to have some cooked pasta in the fridge. 

Ingredients-
Cooked macaroni
1/2 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 stalk thinly sliced celery
1 thinly sliced carrot
1/2 cup chopped black olives

Method-
Combine Mayonnaise, vinegar, Dijon Mustard, sugar, salt and pepper in large bowl. Stir in macaroni, celery, carrots, and olives. Serve chilled.

Pasta Martinelli

Why Martinelli? That is my sister's last name. She and her husband, Ralph, gave us the Zucchini, Tomatoes and Green Beans from their garden. This pasta dish came together very easily. I started by sauteing the sliced zucchini in butter and olive oil. When they were tender I added the green beans. There were some leftover peppers and onions from the Sausage and Peppers we had earlier in the week. Of course, they were added to the pan. Next, I diced the tomatoes that Lenore and Ralph gave us. When they started to break down I added some olives. When the pasta was almost done I saved about a cup of the water. The pasta was added to the saute pan to finish cooking. I added Parmesan Cheese and some the of pasta water until there was enough of each to make a nice sauce. Then I added some diced fresh Mozzarella. What I was actually doing with this recipe was cleaning out all the bits and pieces of things in the fridge. The result was an amazing pasta dish. It was seasoned simply with salt, pepper, oregano, and parsley.

Chicken Alfredo

A simple recipe with delicious results. The chicken breast was cut into strips and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Then sauteed in olive oil until browned on both sides. The chicken was removed from the pan and I added 5 tablespoons of butter and let that melt. Meanwhile, I was cooking the pasta in a pot of salted water. Towards the end of the cooking time, I removed about a cup and a half of the water. The cooked pasta was added to the saute pan with the butter. Parmesan cheese was added, a 1/4 of a cup at a time, along with some of the pasta water. Stirring to melt the cheese and mix it with the water to make a sauce. A total of 3/4 cups of cheese and a cup of water was used. The chicken was added back to the pan and coated with the sauce.

It was difficult not to go back for seconds or thirds...

Musk Melon and Ice Cream

Stroll down memory lane alert! A summer memory. Sitting on the front porch on a very hot summer night and my mother hands me a bowl. In that bowl is half a Musk Melon, or cantaloupe, filled with ice cream. The flavor was usually vanilla, my Dad's favorite. After my Mom passed one of my cousins send me a note saying one of her favorite memories of staying at our house was that dish of Musk Melon and ice cream.

 

Today was the Feast of the Assumption. It was my Mom's favorite feast day. Tonight seemed an appropriate night to have a dish of Musk Melon and ice cream.

After mass this morning I peaked in the Rectory garden to see how the fig tree that my Dad had planted there was doing. It looks like it will be a good year for figs at Saint Lawrence Church.

Grilled Steak, Corn and Mom's Green Bean Salad

A perfectly grilled steak. Perfect corn on the cob. Thank you Cole's Farm Stand. And that Green Bean Salad. One of my favorite summer memories, aside from the Musk Melon with Ice Cream, more on that later this week, would be my Mom's Green Bean Salad. 

Tonight I think I hit the nail on the head. I added celery and celery leaves and my Mom's signature ingredient. Olives. Sliced olives. There was just the right amount of olive oil and vinegar. Salt, pepper, oregano. I tossed in some fresh chopped parsley too. Damn it was spot on! The dinner plate was filled with so many delicious things it was hard to pick what to eat first. Of course, I started with the Green Bean Salad.

Fresh Tomato Sauce, Almost

On Saturday my Brother-In-Law, Ralph, gave us a bag of tomatoes from his garden. They were not that big but they were beautiful. I wanted to use them to make sauce. So I did. 

After peeling and seeding the tomatoes there was not as much meat to work with as I had hoped. I had to add a can of diced tomatoes. I also added some sautéed onion, fresh basil and oregano.

 What a delicious meal this was. Some homemade bread helped round out the plate. And of course a glass of red wine.

Better Than Take-Out Chicken Fried Rice

I thought the best way to use up leftover roasted chicken was Chicken Pot Pie. Well there is a new recipe in our rotation. Chicken Fried Rice. This one is from the Recipe Critic, Better Than Take-Out Chicken Fried Rice. I got home at 6:20. Dinner was on the table by 6:45. I did cut up the Chicken this morning and I made the rice last night but still it was an easy meal to make. And it was tasty!

Ingredients-
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded
3 cups cooked rice
2 Tbs sesame oil
1 small white onion, chopped
1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
2-3 Tablespoons soy sauce (more or less to taste)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp chopped green onions (optional)

Method-
Shred the cooked chicken.
Preheat a large skillet or wok to medium heat. Pour sesame oil in the bottom. Add white onion and peas and carrots and fry until tender.
Slide the onion, peas and carrots to the side, and pour the beaten eggs onto the other side. Using a spatula, scramble the eggs. Once cooked, mix the eggs with the vegetable mix.
Add the rice and chicken to the veggie and egg mixture. Pour the soy sauce on top. Stir and fry the rice and veggie mixture until heated through and combined. Add chopped green onions if desired.

Summer Squash, Bacon, and Mozzarella Quiche

Yes those are cat cutouts on the top of the quiche. 

Today is Archie's 17th Birthday!

This was very, very good. The original recipe is from Cooking Light. I made a couple of modifications. I knew the original recipe would make too much custard filling for one of my pie plates. The custard came out nice and light. I think the addition of the egg whites attributed to this. This is not something I had added before. Having the crust in the freezer helped make the construction move along faster.

Ingredients (with my modifications)-
 Pate Brisee
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups (1/8-inch-thick) slices yellow squash
2 cups (1/8-inch-thick) slices zucchini
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 cup 1% reduced-fat milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 slices center-cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 large egg whites
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Method-
Make the Pate Brisee. Wrap in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Slightly overlap 2 sheets of plastic wrap on a slightly damp flat surface. Unwrap and place chilled dough on plastic wrap. Cover dough with 2 additional sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, into a 12-inch circle. Place dough in freezer 5 minutes or until plastic wrap can easily be removed. Remove top sheets of plastic wrap, and fit dough, plastic wrap side up, into a 9 1/2-inch deep-dish pie plate coated with cooking spray. Remove remaining plastic wrap from dough. Fold edges under, and flute. Pierce bottom and sides of dough with fork. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

For the filling, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add squash, zucchini, shallots, and thyme; saute for 5 minutes or until squash and zucchini are tender, stirring frequently. Cool the squash mixture slightly.

Combine 1 cup reduced-fat milk and the next 5 ingredients (through eggs) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Arrange squash mixture evenly over crust, and sprinkle with 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese. Pour the egg mixture over cheese. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until filling is set. Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack.

Happy Birthday Archie!!!