Convenient Food

Welcome to my lunch break:
Triscuits dipped into some of the left-over taco meat and cheese from the other night. And some of my salsa verde to go along with. Washed down with hot chocolate from the breakroom. Not exactly 5-star quality lunch, but it will do for today...

Inspired by my humble at-my-desk lunch, I felt like writing some ideas down for convenient food- that has nothing to do with McDonalds or Corner Bakery or whatever commercial perservative-filled food chain you resort to when short on time.

Quick Risotto. Using ingredients you probably have.

1/2 cup of arbiorio rice
3 cups chicken stock
3 TB butter
1/2 an onion chopped up into small-ish bits
4 gloves garlic chopped up
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp rosemary (fresh or dried)
*other assorted additions: mushrooms, chives, artichoke hears, cubed squash, parmesean cheese, asparagus, italian sausage slices, chicken, etc
*if you are the martini drinking type, and I am, you probably have some vermouth around, but it isn't necessary :)- couple splashes of vermouth

-In a medium-sized sautee pan that has a lid, melt the butter and sautee the onions until slightly browned; throw in the garlic cloves and sautee a little more until the garlic is softened and the onion has carmelized
-Add the rice and cook in the butter/onion/garlic mixture until slightly browned (I know, it makes it kind of like a pilaf- but I never said this was ultra-authentic-Italian risotto)
-Pour in the chicken stock and vermouth and cook with the lid on for about 8-10 minutes on medium-low heat

-In a small pan, melt a little butter and add whatever other veggies or meat you happen to have on hand. I had sliced chicken breast, fennel seed, rosemary, a little more garlic and artichoke hearts in a jar. After sauteeing all these together (making sure my chicken was thoroughly cooked), I added all these to the rice. I did save adding the chives to the end, considering how dainty chives are as a plant and flavor.

Once the rice was cooked along with my "additives," I went ahead and added finely-grated parmesean cheese. Because I think it is delicious. I also grated on top some nutmeg because I was feeling fancy.

All in all, it was a pretty quick/easy dish. Made enough for two people- or in my case, one person with some left-overs for the next day.
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I need to sit down and think of more things like this that are delicious for dinner as well as the next day after a quick spin in the microwave. Pasta dishes don't always do well with the reheating- especially cream-based sauces. Today's mexican left-overs are yummy... I did add some more cumin to the meat before taking off today- and some sharp cheese.

When finding yourself in the world of Corporate America, occupied with a somewhat monotonous job (even if it is enjoyable), lunch is the time of day that you need something exciting. Sandwiches, soup, and salads can only be repeated so many times before going a little nutty...

Italian Lasagna- by a Little Greek Grandma

Meat Filling:

2 T. Olive Oil

1 lb Italian sausage

½ lb ground beef

½ cup finely chopped onion

2-4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 T. sugar

1 T. salt

2 T. basil (fresh) (at end of sauce)

1 T. rosemary

1 t. dried oregano

1 t. thyme

½ t. fennel seed

¼ c. Parsley

¼ t. pepper

1 big can (2 lb 3 oz) 4 cups canned whole tomatoes (puree) , un-drained

12 oz tomato paste

½ cup water

Noodles:

1 T, salt

12 curly lasagna noodles (3/4 of 1 lb pack)

Ricotta Cheese layer:

16 oz ricotta

1 egg

½ t. salt

1 T. chopped Parsley

Cheese:

1 lb mozzarella cheese grated

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1) In a large, heavy pot (Dutch oven), add onion, garlic and meat. Mix together, breaking meat apart. Cook until meat is well browned. Remove excess fat.

2) Add tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs (not basil), sugar, salt and pepper and ½ cup water. Mash tomatoes with wooden spoon. Simmer covered for approximately 1 ½ hr until thick. Add basil.

3) Boil water for noodles, add salt when water comes to a boil, add noodles. Cook for 8-10 min (al dente). Drain and allow to cool.

4) In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, egg, parsley, salt and mix.

5) Preheat oven to 375˚F

6) In a 13X9X2 baking dish layer the following:

Sauce

Lasagna Noodles

Ricotta Cheese Layer

Mozzarella

Repeat, adding Parmesan after the sauce layer. Finish with Mozzarella and Parmesan

7) Cover with foil and Bake 25 min, remove foil and bake 25 more minutes until fluffy. Cool 15 min before serving

Cooking Frenzy Continues

Yes, this would be the third entry for today. Though when I have the day off, I tend to just cook all my meals at home. After today's breakfast adventure, I went on a few errands with Nik including one to World Market.

Now, if you knew the part of town that I lived in, you'd be asking why I went to World Market when the half-a-dozen different markets just within a few blocks representing an equal number of nationalities would be necessary. Well, I certainly do appreciate the wide variety of foods available to me in this neighborhood; however the typical ingredients found in Italian foods are often in short supply- especially when certain ingredients do not over-lap with other cuisines. On my list of things to make before school starts and I begin finding time available to me to cook dwindle, quality risotto requires arborio rice. I also recently ran out of balsamic vinegar (gasp!) and decent extra-virgin olive oil (double gasp). Thankfully all three are readily available at the World Market in Evanston and are much cheaper there than if I were to venture out to the Whole Foods in the same area and better quality that the kinds offered at Trader Joe's down by my work.

So tonight's dinner was one dish and light after the ultra-rich hollandaise sauce of this morning.

Risotto
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (stock base substitute is entirely fine and unnoticed)
a few splashes of Vermouth (gives much better taste than white wine unless using a very good and usually fairly expensive wine)
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

Heat the chicken broth and vermouth over medium heat in large sauce pan. Add arborio rice. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes.

3 Tb Olive Oil
4 cloves of garlic chopped to medium sized bits
4 medium-sized shallots chopped
Cremini mushrooms cut into moderate-sized pieces (as many as you like)

Sautee the garlic and shallots for 5 minutes or so over medium-low heat (too much heat will risk burning your garlic; you want it hot enough to soften them and flavor the oil). Once the shallots and garlic pieces are soft, add the mushrooms and stir together. Cover and let cook for another 5 mintues or until mushrooms have darkened slightly.

Add mushroom mixture (including oil) to rice. Stir in chopped fresh chives. Cook uncovered until most of the liquid has evaporated and rice is soft.

*I like to add finely grated Parmasean cheese once I've turned off the heat. I just like a hint of the flavor, so it isn't much. And if you try to add that kind of cheese when it isn't finely grated, you'll end up chunks of it instead of it melting into the rice. It also gives pops of cheesy flavor- but not in a good way like chunks of mozarella in a marinara sauce.

Dessert for us was simple. Nik made ginger snaps; I, a peach and blueberry sherbert.

Ice Cream:
6 ripe peaches, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup blueberries
1 Tb ginger
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream

Put into blender for a few minutes.
Make per your ice cream machine's instructions!

*I'll let Nik post up the ginger snap recipe!

The taste of summer

A few years ago, I spent the bulk of a summer in Italy singing in this opera program. While the singing experiences were more chaotic than anything, the cultural experience of living in Italy was truly unforgettable. Since then, I still have a hard time thinking of summer tastes and smells that don't have some kind of Italian influence. Some people may think of freshly-mowed lawns as the official scent of summer; mine would be freshly-cut sweet basil or rosemary.

Last night I was asked to bring a side dish to a dinner. At the time of our planning, the menu had not been planned out- so I immediately fell back on my Italian-inspired list of foods. Originally, I was considering making a batch of risotto. However, my host was lactose-intolerant (I enjoy mixing in finely shredded Parmesan cheese), and I was fresh out of the correct kind of rice and white wine. I've done a risotto without white wine before, but it was just ok; and I would only make risotto with regular white rice if it was just for me. Then I thought of my mom and how she seems to make bread any time there is a gathering of people- and everybody loves fresh bread.

So an Italian bread... oh duh, Focaccia.
I went to work and came up with this recipes (the one I used was slightly different, so here are my alterations):

1/2 cup warm water with 1 tsp of sugar dissolved into it
2 1/2 tsp yeast

*let stand for 5 minutes or so
*mix together and slightly warm:
5-6 Tbsp Olive oil
1 1/2 cups milk

*add mix/oil mixture to yeast
*in separate bowl, mix together 5 cups of flour with any kind of herbs you would like to use. I chopped up some fresh rosemary, dried oregano, and ground garlic.
*Add to flour mix 2 tsp of salt

*combine flour mixture with wet ingredients
*knead dough on lightly floured surface; it will be fairly elastic-y after a few minutes
*spray a large bowl with non-stick and place dough into it
*cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour or until doubled

*preheat oven to 350F
*take dough out and punch down/knead to re-distribute yeast
*in a jelly-roll pan (or cookie sheet with 4 sides), drizzle a little bit of olive oil to lightly coat the bottom and sides
*put dough into pan and spread out into a flat piece that should cover most of the pan
*with fingers, make indentations about 1/2-1 inch deep every few inches or so
*drizzle olive oil on top of douch and lightly brush over
*sprinkle minced garlic cloves over top and/or add some more chopped rosemary
*sprinkle COARSE salt on top

*place pan into oven with rack towards bottom
*bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned
*move rack towards top near element or flame and bake for another 5 minutes or so. this will brown the top a little more and turn whatever chunks of garlic you have on top brown.

*take out and let cool
*cut into squares and serve with anything from a tomato sauce or pesto to shavings of Parmesan cheese and bits of prosciutto.

Italian Sauces and Blogging 101

Good Evening!
Welcome to the very first blog in what will hopefully grow to be a large collection of recipes by myself and my family. For those contributing to the blog, make sure to give not just proportions of ingredients and directions, but any special insight you may have found as you work out the various dishes. I also ask that you tag the blog with whatever keyword(s) you may seem appropriate (i.e. Italian, Pork, Salad).

That being said, here we go!

The very first blog from me should most certainly be one about the Italian sauces I have grown to love and use continuously. The first will be a basic alfredo sauce that never fails; the second, a marinara sauce that you will have to trust me on.

ALFREDO SAUCE

4 Tbs Butter (European if you are wanting a richer taste)
2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1 1/2 cups finely grated Parmesan or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

In sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter completely. Add cream in and whisk together. Mixture will froth a little while still over high heat, which is good; this ensures that the butter and cream combine entirely. If not, the butter will separate from the sauce once cooled and on the noodles. After whisking a little bit during the minute or two that the cream/butter is bubbling and frothing, turn the heat down to medium-low (Sometimes I turn it down just barely to make sure the cheese melts well). Slowly add in the cheese making sure that it melts entirely before adding any more. The 1 1/2 cups is a general idea of how much, but it will depend on how thick you would like the sauce to be. Too little, it is a bit watery and doesn't stick to the noodles well. Too much, and it looses the smooth-ness while becoming paste-like.

This usually makes enough sauce for 4 servings. For a different spin on the taste, add some finely grated nutmeg after plating.


MARINARA SAUCE

1 can Tomato Sauce
3 or 4 Roma Tomatoes chopped into small pieces
1/2 onion cut up into small bits
4 garlic cloves diced
1-2 Tbs chili pepper
2 tsp anchovy paste or two anchovies diced up
3 Tbs balsamic vinegar
also can add: chopped basil leaves, oregano, mushrooms, bell peppers, ground sausage, fennel

In large sauce pan, sautee onions in olive oil until soft. Add diced garlic and roma tomatoes once slightly browned. Cook covered for a few minutes. Then, add tomato sauce, chili pepper, and anchovies. Stir in and cook covered again for a few more minutes. Add a little bit of balsamic vinegar to the sauce and taste. From here, I add more vinegar- it adds a nice sweetness to the sauce. I also sometimes will add more garlic (is there ever enough?!), basil and possibly whatever protein I had in mind to have along with the pasta. For mushrooms, I personally like sauteeing them with the onions at the beginning, but not started immediately with the onions as they will not take as long to cook. Ground fennel is delicious to add along with the garlic and roma tomatoes at the beginning as well. I usually let the sauce simmer (covered) over low heat while my pasta is cooking. It lets the flavors come together a little more before serving. I usually use this for a pizza sauce as well if I'm doing a vegetarian pizza- it is a little much when there is a featured protein though.

If Roma tomatoes are out of season and therefore either expensive or unavailable, using a large can of crushed or diced tomatoes works very well.