Saturday, July 30, 2022

Perfect Saturday Night Dinner Again!



Bone-In Ribeye Delmonico Steaks. A package of 2 steaks for $17.50. What a deal!!! Grilled perfectly.


Coles Corn, cooked in our new house method. Click here


The tomatoes, from Lenore's garden. We made a Friselle and Tomato Salad.
Found this recipe on the ItalyMagazine.com site.

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

TOMATOES!!!



Tonight's feature ingredient is TOMATOES!!
Fresh from my sister's garden. 
I will let the photos do the talking.




Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Vacation Day Bolognese


Wow! A Vacation Day!!! Sorry, but I was fortunate to work through the pandemic so any day off for me is a big event.

I was home all day. There was a heat wave taking place outside, but inside we had AC and I made Bolognese Sauce and homemade Tagliatelle.

Today I used the recipe from the La Cucina magazine site. It was a toss-up between this recipe and Lidia Bastianich's. La Cucina won the coin toss. Oh, the house smelled quite nice this morning!

I made the whole recipe, which is for 4 people, and I will freeze the extra sauce. 

I also made enough pasta for 2 meals. I will freeze 1/2 of what I made.


Ingredients-
extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄3 lb. pancetta
3⁄4 lb. ground beef
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1⁄2 small onion
1⁄2 cup red (or dry white) wine
1 1/4 cups puréed tomato passata
3⁄4 cup beef broth
1⁄2 cup milk
salt – pepper
1 lb. fresh egg tagliatelle

Method-
Chop the pancetta. Trim the celery, carrots, and onion, and mince them all into fine pieces.
Heat a pan with a drizzle of oil, sauté the pancetta, add the vegetables and gently sweat until soft.
Add the meat and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add ½ cup wine and allow to completely evaporate.
Add the tomato passata and stir for a few minutes. Add ½ cup milk and cover with the broth.
Cook the meat sauce for 2-3 hours, adding more broth every now and then while adjusting the seasoning.
Cook the tagliatelle in salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes, drain and serve with generous amounts of sauce.

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Corn and Bacon Quiche


Chris came home with 6 ears of corn from Cole's yesterday. I decided to make a corn quiche. I have an old cookbook that I purchased in 1977, A Celebration of Vegetables written by Robert Ackart. That's right, 1977!  

I made a couple of edits, adding bacon and Cheddar and Monterey Jack. I luckily had the crust in the freezer from the Easter Pies, always make extra for days like this.

I used 4 eggs instead of 5 and used 1% milk and a 1/2 cup of heavy cream. I was not about to go back to the store for light cream.


My Ingredients and Method-
4 eggs
1/2 cup 1% milk
1/4 cup heavy cream

Mix the eggs,milk and cream.
Beat the egg mixture with these ingredients-

1 cup uncooked Fresh corn cut from the ear
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan
1/2  shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 strips of cooked bacon

Pour the ingredients into the pie shell.

Bake at 400˚ for 25 minutes and reduce heat to 350˚ and baked for 10 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the custard is set.

The custard was rich and creamy and addition of the bacon and cheeses was perfect!!

Saturday, July 16, 2022

A Perfect Summer Dinner!


A WoW Saturday night dinner. Grilled Flank Steak. Corn on the cob grilled in the husks! We loved this. And a rather nice tomato and onion salad.

First the corn. Yes, Coles Farm Stand is open!! The corn is growing a few feet from the stand. You cannot get fresher corn unless you grow it yourself. Tonight we tried a different technique on the grill. Grilling it in the husks.


Carefully peel back husks from corn to within 1 inch of the bottom and remove silk. Soak in cold water for at least 20 minutes. 

Add 2 strands of kitchen twine for each ear of corn to the soaking water. 

Drain the corn. Pat corn dry. 

Combine the soft room temp butter and chopped parsley and spread over corn. 



Rewrap corn in husks and secure with string.


Onto the grill for 20 to 25 minutes, turning halfway through. Perfection!!!


The tomato salad. Easy. Halve the tomatoes. Dice red onion. Cube fresh Mozzarella. Chop fresh parsley, oregano, and thyme. Salt, pepper, crushed red pepper. Olive oil, lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar.




The flank steak. Grilled perfectly. 

And dessert!!!! Anyone for Strawberry Shortcake?



I found this recipe on the Desserts for Two blog. Rave reviews were received!! Super easy recipe. Fantastic results!!

I am always cutting recipes in 1/2 to bake for Chris and I. What a treat to have everything already set to bake for 2!

In recipe mentions that the whip cream is whipped by hand. That's what I did too.

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe for Two

Ingredients -

For the shortcakes:

½ cup unbleached flour

2 teaspoons sugar, plus extra for topping

½ teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen

4 tablespoons heavy cream, plus extra for topping


For the filling & topping:

1 cup small diced strawberries

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

6 tablespoons heavy cream

3 teaspoons powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract


Method-

Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a food processor, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and pinch of salt. 

Pulse once to combine. 

Add the frozen butter, diced into 6 pieces. 

Pulse 10-12 times, until the butter is the size of small peas.

Add all of the cream to the feed tube and continue pulsing. 

The dough will not come together into a ball and that’s okay.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead a few times until a dough forms. 

Pat the dough into a ½” thick rectangle. 

Cut the dough in half to form two square biscuits. 

Move the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet and brush with extra cream and sprinkle with extra sugar.

Bake 15-18 minutes until the biscuits are lightly golden brown. 

Let them cool completely.


In a small bowl, stir together the diced strawberries, lemon juice and sugar. 

Allow to set at least an hour, until the berries soften and red juice forms at the bottom of the bowl.

When ready to assemble, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla. (This is such a small amount of cream that I often whip it by hand).

Slice each biscuit in half, spoon on the whipped cream and top with strawberries. Serve immediately.

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

One Pot Pasta

I have seen recipes for one-pot pasta before, but I have been leery of them. I don't know why. I tried one tonight and we had a delicious meal and only one pot to wash. I have seen the light. 

I thought the dish was a bit bland, so we added ricotta to our dishes of pasta. Good move. It added just a bit of flavor that we needed. The recipe was from Eating Well

This is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients-

8 ounces rigatoni

1 cup water

2 cups low-sodium "no-chicken" broth or chicken broth 

1 (15 ounces) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 cups baby kale or baby spinach (I used Spinach)

1/4 cup slivered basil

Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish


Method-

Combine pasta, water, broth, tomatoes, oil, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt and crushed red pepper in a large pot. 

Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. 

Uncover, reduce heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Stir in kale and cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid has been absorbed, 5 to 7 minutes more. (If using spinach, add it after about 10 minutes, so it cooks in the remaining 2 to 3 minutes.) Stir in basil. Garnish with Parmesan, if desired.

Monday, July 4, 2022

A Trip to the Garden

 Happy 4th of July!!!

This was the level of activity at our house today.

I did take a drive to my sister's house to check on the garden while they are out of town.


Seems like they got some rain yesterday. Anyway, I brought back a few zucchini and a couple of peppers, and basil and... Squash flowers. 

I have had a love affair with squash flowers going back to when we were first married and I worked close to where my Godparents lived. I would get a call from my Uncle Art and he would ask me to stop by on my way home. He had something for me.

I would pull up to their house and he would come out to the car carrying a greasy paper bag filled with fried squash flowers. 

I ate everyone before I got home. OMG, they were so good. And Chris was not a fan, so I had to eat all of them!

Anyway, back to today... I used the flowers in zucchini fritters. Tasty!!



I tried a new recipe I found on Just A Taste for 5 Ingredient Zucchini Fritters.

Tasty!!!! I did not have scallions so I substituted chives from the plant on our deck.


Ingredients-

4 cups shredded zucchini

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 cup sliced chives (green and white parts)

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Method-

Place the shredded zucchini in a colander set over a bowl and sprinkle the zucchini lightly with salt. 

Allow the zucchini to stand for 10 minutes. 

Using your hands, squeeze out as much liquid from the zucchini as possible. 

Transfer the zucchini to a large bowl.

Add the flour, eggs, sliced chives, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ⅛ teaspoon pepper to the bowl, stirring until the mixture is combined. 

Line a plate with paper towels.

Add the olive oil to a large sauté pan set over medium heat. 

Once the oil is hot, scoop 3-tablespoon mounds of the zucchini mixture into the pan, pressing them lightly into rounds and spacing them at least 2 inches apart. 

Cook the zucchini fritters for 2 to 3 minutes, then flip them once and cook an additional 2 minutes until golden brown and cooked throughout. 

Transfer the zucchini fritters to the paper towel-lined plate and immediately sprinkle them with salt. 

Repeat the scooping and cooking process with the remaining zucchini mixture.


Saturday, July 2, 2022

Is That Acorn Squash Air Fried?

 


Yes, this is kind of an autumn or winter dinner. Breaded pork chops, rice, and acorn squash. Our forecast for today was supposed to be raining. Of course, it was a little overcast, but no rain, not even a shower. It was pretty hot and humid. But the menu was in place. The pork chops were perfectly moist with the crispy breading and delicious. 

But the star here was the Butternut Squash. Cooked in just 8 minutes in the air fryer. I found the recipe on the Taste Of Home site. 15 minutes! If I had baked it in the oven it would have been at least 45 minutes. They were so good. I noticed the person on the other side of the table went back for seconds and yes thirds!

Only 3 ingredients and only 15 minutes!!

Ingredients-
1 medium acorn squash
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened

Method-
Preheat the air fryer to 350°. 
Cut squash in half lengthwise; remove and discard seeds. 
Cut each half crosswise into 1/2" slices; discard ends. 
Arrange squash in a single layer on a greased tray in the air-fryer basket. 
Work in batches if necessary
Cook until just tender, 5 minutes per side.
Combine sugar and butter; spread over squash. Cook 3 minutes longer.