Dinner at Quattros

Tonight Lenore, Ralph, Chris and I went to a cooking demonstration at Quattros in Guilford. They prepared Crab Cakes, Veal Matesse and Tiramisu. Wonderful food and now we know how to make all three dishes!

Vegetable and Bacon Frittatta

This week instead of a pile of eggs I actually made a frittatta. I used red peppers, onion, zucchini, carrots and a little bacon. Tonight was keep it simple Monday.

Grilled Buffalo Chicken Sausage with Peppers and Onions

Tonight Chris prepared dinner. I was on the rice. The Grilled Buffalo Chicken Sausage with Peppers and Onions came out perfect. While he was grilling I was pouring over the new Bon Appetit. The Mix and Match section is very inspiring. More to come on that later...

Grilled Pork Sirloin Cutlets & Watercress Salad With Beets and Goat Cheese

Tonight we marinated Pork Sirloin Cutlets in a Kentucky Marinade. I found the recipe for the marinade in 365 Great Barbecue and Grilling Recipes. I got my copy in 1990. It's a good book to have in your library.

The Marinade-
1 Bunch Scallions
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup bourbon whiskey

Process all ingredients in a food processor or blender until thoroughly combined. The marinade can be stored in a covered jar in the refrigerator for 3 days.


For side dishes I made Mashed Potatoes and Watercress Salad With Beets and Goat Cheese from RealSimple.com. The recipe on the site called for Feta but I had Goat Cheese. I made the Lemon Shallot dressing. Loved it!


I also took the new oven out for a test run. Again from RealSimple.com I made Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies. Wow. I will be making these again and again. I even think my 2 cookie fans in Maryland might like these.


Then I found a cookie recipe from my Aunt Nora. She passed away in 2003 and at her wake there were copies of the recipes she was best know for. This was was one of them.

Aunty Nora's Twist Cookies

5 cups of flour
2 sticks of margarine
1 cup milk
2 eggs
5 tsp. baking powder
Jam (I used blackberry and vanilla jam)
Cinnamon
Coconut
Confectionery Sugar

First, roll out the dough and spread the jam.
Add cinnamon and coconut. Then cut dough in three's. Bend in half. Twist and put them on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper) and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Let cool. Dust with confectionery sugar.

Pour the coffee and let's eat.

It took a couple of readings of the recipe to figure out what she meant by cutting the dough in three's. But I just did what I thought looked right. There are a few more of her recipes I will be trying. The one recipe we did not get from her was for her Stuffed Razor Clams. I think it was just bread crumbs and herbs but boy were they good.

Sole with Peppers

This recipe comes from La Cucina. I made it back in February, but at that time I had to use Cod instead of Sole. I think I prefer the Sole. Gosh it is really easy and really tasty. Tonight we had Israeli Couscous as a side dish.

Ingredients
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced (I cut one clove in half so I could remove it before serving)
3/4 lb. sweet peppers, cored, seeded and minced
1 2/3 cups chopped fresh plum tomatoes (I used a can of plum tomatoes)
2 lbs. sole, cleaned, rinsed and dried
Salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the onions and garlic until they take on color, then add the peppers and tomatoes
Cook at low heat for 15 minutes, then add the sole.
Add salt to taste, cover the pan, and cook at low heat, shaking the pan from time to time.

And I was asked to join the Top 100 Italian Cooking Websites! Pretty cool. Mom would be pleased. I have a link to their site on the side of the blog. I feel very proud to have been invited!

Broccoli Rabe with Sausage and Polenta

My dad had a bumper crop of Broccoli Rabe this year. My freezer is stocked! Tonight I made Chris Sausage and Peppers and made myself Broccoli Rabe with Peppers. We had leftover polenta, some Italian bread and a couple glasses of red wine. Perfect for a rainy Tuesday night.

Quinoa and Goat Cheese Salad and the First Hamburger of the Year!

There is something special about that first hamburger on the grill. Tonight's burgers were bacon and bleu cheese from Whole Foods. Well enough about the meat portion of the meal, now on to the good stuff. Quinoa and Goat Cheese Salad. It is actually Greek Quinoa Salad with a couple of variations. First of all I made this salad last year and just like last year I forgot to add the damn olives! I am not a fan of cilantro so I omitted that. I added grated carrots, sliced cucumbers and scallions. And I used Goat cheese in place of the Feta cheese. Well it was amazing. Both of us went for seconds. I think I prefer this over a pasta salad. Wonderful flavors. And I have enough for lunch tomorrow!

Griddled Polenta Cakes with Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese, and Honey

I found this recipe on Food52 a couple months ago and tonight I finally made it. Wow I wish I made this sooner. What a fantastic dish. I love polenta. I love caramelized onions and I love goat cheese. Chris also enjoyed it. I made a big salad as the main course.

Grilled Rib Eye Steaks with Blue Cheese Crusted Tomatoes

Chris manned the grill tonight. The deck is not officially open, it is still pre-season. I had cut out this recipe out from Bon Appetit last year. Grilled Bone-in Rib Eye Steaks and Blue Cheese Crusted Tomatoes. Everything was perfectly cooked.

We did our first test run of grilled calamari. Not bad. Quite good actually. Dressed them with salt, pepper and olive oil before grilling and then finished them with olive oil and lemon juice.

Archie did not have any calamari! He prefers tuna.

Eggplant Pizza

So it's Friday night. I am sitting in traffic and that means I am not cooking dinner. Tonight we had pizza from Petrillo's Pizza in Madison. When we first moved to Madison we tried a couple of different places but Petrillo's was our final choice for favorite pizza.
Tonight we had the eggplant, my favorite, and the special which has red and green peppers, onions, mozzarella, pepperoni, meatballs and sausage. So good...