I was cleaning the garden and harvesting the last of the vegetables. I used all my remaining basil and made this really simple, fresh and delicious pesto. I added it to penne rigate. A quick meal since we were off to a soccer game. I actually plan on buying more basil from the market and then making a big batch of pesto and keeping it in a sterile jar. We'll see how that goes!
This is so crazy easy to make. Seriously, you prepare all the ingredients and then bam, in the food processor it goes and it's done. In minutes you have fresh pesto.
I was cleaning the garden and harvesting the last of the vegetables. I used all my remaining basil and made this really simple, fresh and delicious pesto. I added it to penne rigate. A quick meal since we were off to a soccer game. I actually plan on buying more basil from the market and then making a big batch of pesto and keeping it in a sterile jar. We'll see how that goes!
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Being Italian, it's almost a necessity that I learn how to make gnocchi. So I set out to learn on a day that we were having non-Italian friends over. Just 3 hours before they arrived, I told John, we're making gnocchi! John and I are risk takers, but some may call us just plain dumb. Anyway, we made a couple of phone calls to our Moms each giving us their version of how the perfect gnocchi should be made. We also did some research on the web. I found a great post by Lidia Bastianich (Lidia's Italy) on Epicurious. She gives some helpful tips, like making sure to work fast once the potatoes are cooked. Anyway, believe it or not, John and I actually managed to make the gnocchi TOGETHER, which in itself is a success. They turned out great, soft and tender. We didn't make an indent in the gnocchi. We will next time as it takes in the sauce much better and "lightens" the gnocchi. These are really fun to make and it's actually not complicated. Involve the kids, they love to help. Elliot was our little helper. John tried a couple of times to make a mushroom risotto and the kids never liked it. This time I thought I would try something different. We had some saffron left over from another dish we made and therefore made this saffron risotto. I love the color of saffron. It gives any dish this beautiful yellow color. Looks almost like curry. Risotto seems a lot more complicated to make than it really is. You just need time without distraction because you actually have to stay by the oven while it cooks. The recipe I found online is really simple. It asked for 1 cup of rice. We had just enough between the 4 of us. In fact, John and I both wanted seconds but we were out of luck. My suggestion is to double the recipe. I know what you're thinking, "How could making chicken be fun?"; and you would be right, it usually isn't. But making a rotisserie chicken in your own backyard, is another story. Watching these birds literally turn from that plain, awful beige color to these beautifully roasted, juice-dripping perfection, is such a treat! We recently bought a new BBQ that contains a rotisserie option. When I first made this recipe, I had no clue what I was doing. But after some trial and error, voila I had 2 delicious birds cooking on the BBQ. It took about a hour and a half to get the chicken done. I used a dry rub on 2 organic chickens from Costco. They were delicious. I have to admit, you can probably achieve the same results (i.e. taste) using the oven, but isn't this cool? Imagine having guests over and you're doing your thing in the backyard...roasting up some goodness. I've attached a video on how to go about putting the rotisserie together. If you've never done it, I highly suggest you watch this video or another video. Here are some must-dos:
The video shows using 4 forks for 2 chickens. I only have 2 and as you can tell from the picture, I squeezed both chickens together. Hope you give it a try...good luck! Pizza night at our house is usually on Friday. I go through the fridge to see if we have any interesting leftovers I could use. I would make a large pizza that the family can share, but can you believe that with just 4 people in the house we can't agree on the toppings! So I now make individual portions and have everyone top their pizzas the way they like. Elliot is Mr. Simple with just pesto, tomato sauce and a little cheese. My favorite is a little pesto, arugula and Parmesan cheese, Ethan and John are meat lovers and usually pack their pizza with everything and anything! I make the dough from scratch. I use the recipe behind the pizza yeast from Fleishmann's. It's fast and easy. I use whole wheat instead of all-purpose flour for my pizza. I wish I had an outdoor, fire pizza oven, but until then I just cook it in the regular oven on the lowest rack. I roll out the dough really thin because I love thin crust, flat pizza. I also don't add the rim. Elliot calls it, "Mommy's Paper-Thin Pizza". He thinks I should market it. But of course, you can choose your own thickness. That's the best part of home-cooking, you 're the boss! Margarita pizza using unbleached white flour. Elliot's favorite! Arugula, pesto and Parmesan cheese shavings using wholewheat flour, my favorite! I started making turkey burgers instead of hamburgers about a year ago. We made a choice to eat less and less beef and one of the first changes was using turkey meat for our burgers. I found this recipe online and it stated it was the best. I have to agree. It's delicious and quick to make, which I love. I don't usually make a fancy sauce, but I wanted to try something new and made this roasted eggplant salsa. It was good. If you have an eggplant and don't know what to do with it, try using it on a turkey burger! Roasted eggplant Salsa (from Organic Gardening magazine)
2 whole medium-sized eggplants 1/2 cup olive oil or grapeseed oil 2 whole garlic cloves 3 shallots, whole 5-7 Shishito peppers (or similar thin-walled, spicy peppers) 2 limes, zested and juices 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped Extra-virgin olive oil 1. Take the eggplants and randomly pierce their skins with a fork. Place on a baking pan and roast for 45-50 minutes or until the skins are firm. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, remove the skin from the pulp. Set aside. 2. In a small saucepan, combine the olive oil, garlic clove, shallots, and peppers, and place over medium heat, bringing the oil to a simmer. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the skin on the peppers is mildly blistered and the garlic and shallots are tender and roasted. Remove the ingredients from the oil and transfer them to a food processor. 3. Add the eggplant to the food processor and pulse until the ingredients are just combined. Add the lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro, pulsing again until combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl ans season with salt, pepper and the extra-virgin olive oil to taste. The last couple of times I made fish, the family complained that there wasn't enough flavor. So this time I searched for a recipe that had punch. Well this did it. The combination of the spice and sweet was great for the kids. Although it was a little hot, the sweetiness cut the spice. I didn't have ready-made Cajun spice so I made my own (super easy). I served it with plain Basmati rice and delicious, warm edamames with sprinkles of Kosher salt. I also added maple sugar, a drizzle of maple syrup and chopped parsley on the fish after it was cooked to ensure that it wasn't too spicy. The kids and John loved it! This was my very first time cooking a whole fish. I heard people saying that it's not easy. The fish usually comes out tasting dry. Well NOT this recipe. This fish was delicious. This is Bobby Flay's masterpiece. I bought the fish fresh (same day and wild, not farmed) and made sure to follow Bobby Flay's instructions to make slits on either side of the fish, make sure the grill was hot, and cook it exactly 6 minutes on one side and then 7 minutes on the other side. As you can see from the picture, even the skin stayed intact. As per the recipe, I stuffed it with lemons and fresh oregano from the garden (I love using the herbs from my garden!). When the fish was cooked, I did sprinkle it with olive oil & lemon (not in the recipe), sea salt and more fresh chopped oregano. Yum yum... I had never made my own pasta until I tried this recipe. It was actually pretty easy to make the dough. Just make sure you have enough time to finish the recipe as the dough dries up pretty fast. As an Italian we usually use ricotta or meat (or both) in a ravioli, but this butternut squash stuffing is delicious. And it's a nice change from the usual. The sauce is really simple to make as well. I especially like it because I get to use the sage in my garden. If you need a recipe for the dough, I used Rick Stein's recipe at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pumpkinravioliwithsa_71558 When it's in season, you can also make it with pumpkin. I actually can't wait to try it this fall. To note: I shaped the ravioli into triangles instead of the traditional ravioli. Just makes for a more elegant dish. What a great feeling to make it all from scratch! My beautiful sage plant. I recently became a fan of scallops. It was when I started cooking it properly that I started to enjoy the taste. It is very important not to over cook them. It's makes all the difference. I made these by fluke. Elliot loves scallops so I bought them fresh from the grocery store one day. Then I had a thought, why don't I try making them with coconut (I have a sudden fascination with coconut). I found this recipe on line. It turned out great! Make sure you use sweetened coconut. |
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