Potato and mushroom cups

I'm soooo tired these days. Last night I had the closing shift at the newspaper and afterwards, I stayed up drinking beer and watching The Mentalist until 3 am. Not smart, I know, but I have such a hard time unwinding, especially after a night like last night, when people seem to drive you crazy on purpose. When the alarm went off this morning at 9, I was tired, but thought I felt pretty good for how little I had slept. It's now 11:24 and I just hit a major wall. I could curl under my desk and go to sleep. Instead I have an interview to transcribe, pages to take care of and the thought that tonight it's Christmas tree/decorations time!

Of course I could sleep during the weekend... not this one though. Friday morning I'm leaving for Zurich, so I guess I won't be sleeping too much. Oh well. Thank God the weeened after that is a four day weekend, so I guess I'll have plenty of time to nap then! 

As for my "detox diet" (read: I have to shed at least 4 pounds because I hate the way my jeans fit me right now) it's going well. I bought a really cool cookbook called "Ammazzacicca" which literally means "fat killer". Gotta love that. There's all kinds of good recipes, all under 500 calories, so I'm enjoying food, yet losing some weight. So far just .5 kilos (1 pound), but hey, I've only started on Monday. Here's a good little recipe for you: simple, yet very satisfying.

POTATO AND MUSHROOM CUPS

1/2 pound potatoes cubed
2 shallots
A few sprigs of rosemary and sage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 pound mixed fresh mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper

Sautèe shallots in olive oil, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan add potatoes and minced herbs, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook for about 7 minutes. Remove lid and cook for another 7 minutes. Add shallots.

Place potato mixture in a muffin pan to give it a cup shape.

Sautèe mushrooms and garlic in the same pan for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve potato cups with mushrooms on top.

Roasted potatoes with thyme and shallots

Thanksgiving weekend is over, at least for me. I work on most Sundays, so here I am, sitting at the office, already looking forward to next weekend. Friday and Saturday I'll be in Zurich, Switzerland, to check out some art museums, eat fondue and, hopefully, bump into some Christmas markets. I was also kind of hoping for snow, but I just checked the forecast and, apparently, we are going to get fog on Friday and rain on Saturday - a wonderful combo to take pictures...

Oh well, maybe they are wrong. We'll see, I guess.

Other than that, I'm trying to eat light this week, after gorging on way too much food over the holiday weekend. That doesn't mean I won't be posting recipes, luckily I'm always behind when it comes to posting, so I have tons of recipes from the past 15 days still unpublished. See? Procrastination can be a good thing.

So here's the first one: these are the potatoes I served on Thursday night. I was tired of serving rosemary potatoes, so I decided to dress them up a bit with thyme and shallots. It was a very good idea, believe me.

ROASTED POTATOES WITH THYME AND SHALLOTS

Fingerling potatoes, peeled
Salt and pepper
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 shallot, minced
1 cup vegetable broth

Place potatos in a baking dish, season with salt and pepper, add shallots and thyme and pour 1/2 cup of broth in the dish, so they won't stick to it.

Cook in a preheated oven at 375° for about 30 minutes, adding more broth as it evaporates.

Eat your Brussels sprouts!

 I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was great, filled with amazing food and even more amazing friends. It's hard to cook for 19 people, especially in a tiny kitchen, but with my mom's help and two days worth the cooking we managed to serve a turkey meal that everyone enjoyed. Company, of course, was lovely too and it was a pleasure to see everyone loving the food so much. 

The turkey is all gone. All of it. And so are most of the side dishes, except for the stuffings (but that's not a problem. I love stuffing.) I was afraid Brussels sprouts were not going to be overly popular because, let's be honest, they usually aren't. But dressed up with pancetta, shallots and garlic they were much better than usual... they actually had flavor, which isn't their strong suit. Pancetta makes everything better in my opinion, kind of like butter. So if you are wondering how to make Brussels sprouts that don't suck... here's the recipe, adapted from Cooking Light, the November issue.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH PANCETTA AND SHALLOTS

• 6 slices center-cut bacon, chopped
• 1/2 cup sliced shallot (about 1 large)
• 1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon, and sauté for 5 minutes or until bacon begins to brown. Stir in shallot, and Brussels sprouts; sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic, and saute for 4 minutes or until garlic begins to brown, stirring frequently. Add the chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes or until the broth mostly evaporates and the sprouts are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in salt and pepper.

Cornbread stuffing with sausage, apples and fennel

 It's almost 5 pm now and I have made some progress. I'm actually proud of myself, since I have baked two batches of cornbread, made homemade pate', cranberry sauce and, last but not least, this wonderful stuffing. 

Making this was actually one of the easiest tasks today. I mean, between finding the freaking turkey - which is hard to come by whole in Switzerland - and making the cornbread, I'm already exhausted. It's a lot of cooking, I'll tell you. And right now I'm baking a pumpkin cheesecake, which is particularly stressful for me because I hate baking and I hate making dessert. So you can figure how much I hate BAKING DESSERT. 

Anyhow, here's the recipe for the stuffing, which I have tried and is delicious. Trust me, it doesn't get much better than this!

CORNBREAD STUFFING


Cooking spray
2 links hot Italian sausage
10 ounces frozen pearl onions
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 stalks of celery, chopped
3 small red Michigan apples, skin on, chopped
1/2 large fennel bulb, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 loaf cubed cornbread (about 8 cups)
2 eggs
1 cup chicken broth

In a large skillet brown the sausage in its own fat, crumbling with a wooden spoon. Cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add frozen pearl onions and sprinkle with brown sugar. Cool until the onions are tender and sugar has dissolved, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add celery, fennel and apple (I left the skins on for color, but you can remove them if you like.) Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with thyme and cook for about ten minutes.

Spray a 10x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Mix vegetable mixture and bread cubes in it. In a small bowl beat the eggs into the broth. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over bread and veggie mixture, toss to coat. Bake in a 400F oven for 45 minutes.

Curried cabbage

This is an entry for Reeni's Saturday Side Dishes. You can check it out here: http://www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/

• Cabbage is another one of those ingredients, like cauliflower and broccoli, that I have discovered and incorporated in my life embarrassingly late. And when I say "late" I'm not talking about the 7th grade or my teen years. I'm talking about one or two years ago. I know, right? What the hell is wrong with me? What makes this even worse is that, unlike beets, I don't have any childhood trauma that explains my cabbage loathing. Nobody ever forced me to eat the stuff. My mother never cooked it, therefore I cannot even bitch about the house smelling like cabbage. I just assumed that cabbage —raw or cooked didn't matter— was bad. It had to be bad because it kind of looked like salad to me and, in case I haven't mentioned this before, I don't eat salad. None of it. No exceptions. 
• 
  
• And then one day I was at a friend's house and she had made homemade slaw and wanted my opinion. I tried to tell her that I knew nothing about slaw and that my opinion didn't really count on the subject, but she had people coming over for dinner and was a nervous wreck so I gave in. The slaw was fine. And what was even finer was the fact that raw cabbage didn't taste like salad at all. It was quite an epiphany, I tell you. The next time I went to the grocery store I made another amazing discovery: cabbage was dirt cheap. From that day on I've been making it in a zillion different ways, both raw and cooked. This particular recipe I have found on Cooking Light's website, tweaked it a little bit to my liking and bookmarked under my favorites.
• 
  
• CURRIED CABBAGE
• Adapted from Cooking Light
•    
• 1  tablespoon  vegetable oil
• 1/2  cup  minced shallots
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 3  tablespoons  whole-grain Dijon mustard
• 2  tablespoons  curry powder
• 1  teaspoon  ground turmeric
• 12  cups  thinly sliced green cabbage (about 3 pounds)
• 1/4  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4  cup  apple cider vinegar
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add mustard, curry, and turmeric; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in cabbage and remaining ingredients; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.

  
  

Roasted cauliflowers with herbs and Parmesan

I've said this before, but I'll say it again: I think that the fact that I now like cauliflower is a sign that I have aged and grown up quite a bit. But what can I say? Now I like it. A lot. And for once I like something that is incredibly good for me —unlike coffee, wine, beer, vodka, cured pork, etc.— so I'm trying to cook it in as many ways as possible. I discovered this recipe as I was looking for healthy side dish ideas for Thanksgiving. The dish was such a success with my friends that I started making it on a regular basis also for family gatherings and weeknight dinners. It's easy, it's fast and cheap to make and it's good for you. There isn;t much more you can ask for in a side dish, right? 

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER WITH HERBS AND PARMESAN

From Cooking Light

12  cups  cauliflower florets (about 2 heads)

1 1/2  tablespoons  olive oil

1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley

2  teaspoons  chopped fresh thyme

2  teaspoons  chopped fresh tarragon

3  garlic cloves, minced

1/4  cup  (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice

1/2  teaspoon  salt

1/4  teaspoon  pepper

Preheat oven to 450°.

Place cauliflower in a large roasting pan or jelly-roll pan. Drizzle with oil; toss well to coat. Bake at 450° for 20 minutes or until tender and browned, stirring every 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, thyme, tarragon, and garlic. Bake 5 minutes. Combine cauliflower mixture, cheese, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; toss well to combine.

Potato and arugola salad

 

Remember about a month ago, when I was talking about the rain and the low temperatures? Well, that's definitely all gone and forgotten. Summer, my friends, is here. Needless to say, the same people that were complaining about the chill and the rain are currently busy bitching about the heat because, apparently, absolutely nothing will make them happy. The temperatures, by the way, are not even that high yet. And at night it's breezy and downright perfect. Seriously, people, don't you have better things to complain about?

As for me, I'm loving every minute of it. Summers in the city have always been my thing. Eating gelato every afternoon. Vowing to try new flavors, but always ending up getting strawberry and yogurt. Picking the sidewalk that's in the shade. Stopping under a tree to take a break from the sun. Sitting at outdoor bars and restaurants, drinking chilled white wine or draft beer. Ordering iced espresso at the end of the meal. 

But most of all, what I enjoy about summers in the city is the idea that —if you want— you can leave it behind and go to the beach, to the lake, to the mountains. Milano has many flaws and one great asset among others: it's close to everything. In under two hours, driving on nice wide highways, you can immerse yourself in whatever scenery your heart desires. Everyone you know has a vacation home close enough to the city that you can consider going there just for the day, to spend a lazy Sunday away from the noise and chaos. Which is exactly what we all do on summer weekends and holidays. We go to someone's house, we cook, we drink, we play Trivial Pursuit laying in the grass, belly up, digesting our lunch in the shade. That's what we did on June 2nd, the day of the republic, a holiday that is perfect for grilling and chilling with friends. I prepared many dishes for the occasion, but the biggest hit of the day definitely was the potato salad, which doesn't surprise me because who doesn't love potato salad? And this one, coming from the June issue of Cooking Light magazine, is especially good because it has no mayo in it. Which means that, on a hot summer day, you don't have to freak out and wonder if the mayo is going bad and if you'll poison your guests.  

POTATO AND ARUGOLA SALAD

Adapted from Cooking Light

2 pounds yellow potatoes cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 cup  extra-virgin olive oil

1/2  cup  finely chopped red onion

1 1/2  tablespoons  white vinegar

4  teaspoons  stone-ground mustard

1  teaspoon  grated lemon rind

1  teaspoon  fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper

2 1/2  cups  loosely packed arugula

Place potato pieces in a medium saucepan; cover with cold water, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and gently simmer 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes.

Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Combine onion, vinegar, mustard, lemon rind, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Gradually add remaining oil, stirring constantly with a whisk until combined. Drizzle dressing over warm potatoes; toss gently to coat. Cool completely.

Add arugula to potato mixture; toss gently. Serve immediately.

Asparagus with lemon sauce

I hope everyone is having a great first weekend of spring. My body decided to celebrate the new season by catching an awful sore throat/ear ache —a great new beginning if you ask me. Yesterday I thought I was feeling better and made the tragic mistake of telling everyone so. Needless to say I woke up in the middle of the night with a worse pain in my throat than the previous two days. So much for feeling better.

Regardless of that, I've decided to celebrate the arrival of spring with a wonderful asparagus recipe, courtesy of my friend Emily of EZ Recipes. Emily and I met in 2001 on sunny Bonita Beach, Florida. I will make a very long story short: we were drinking at my friend Kevin's house and I am pretty sure I was doing something immensely goofy which prompted Emily to ask Kevin "Where have you found her?" (I'm sure she meant it in the nicest of ways, right Emily?) To which Kevin replied: "In the dumpster, by the beach." It wasn't entirely true —I swear I don't normally go through the trash in random public places, but I had inadvertently dropped my ring in said trash can that day and was trying to retrieve it— but it made all of us laugh and created some sort of garbage related bond (the inside jokes during that spring of 2001 were all trash themed, as you might imagine).

Nine years later, we still keep in touch, mainly thanks to technology and, lately, thanks to our blogs. When I met her, Emily didn't cook. Not that I can remember anyways. I remember myself cooking at her place and her making the drinks. And I remember us going out to eat tons of junk food (ahhh, to be 21 again!). But I never saw her at the stove. So it was really a pleasant surprise to find out that now she enjoys cooking and wants to share recipes with the rest of the world. This particular one, asparagus with lemon sauce, is very yummy and it's a good variation on the usual steamed or grilled asparagus. I only added a little grated cheese to her recipe  because "someone" in this household has to have cheese on his asparagus (hint: it's not me. And it's not the cat.)

ASPARAGUS WITH LEMON SAUCE

From EZ Recipes

1 1/2 lbs. asparagus, tough ends removed
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 egg yolks
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook the asparagus in a tall pan of lightly salted, boiling water for 7- 10 minutes.

Drain well and arrange the asparagus on a serving dish.  Reserve about 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Blend the cornstarch with the cooled, reserved cooking liquid and place in a small pan.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook over a gentle heat.  Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Beat the eggs yolks thoroughly with the lemon juice and gradually stir into the sauce.  Cook over a very low heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce is fairly thick.  Be careful not to overheat the sauce or it may curdle.  As soon as the sauce has thickened, remove the pan from the heat and continue stirring for 1 minute.  Taste and season with salt.  Leave the sauce to cool slightly.

Stir the cooled sauce, then pour over the asparagus.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving. Sprinkle with cheese if you must.

Roasted asparagus infused with blood orange and balsamic

I suppose that spring is here. I only say "I suppose" because this year you never know. I was talking to my sister yesterday and she was telling me that in my home city of Milan, Italy, it was getting ready to snow. Which is totally crazy for March, just in case you are wondering. And although we aren't getting any snow here in SW Florida, it has been the most uncommon, cold winter ever. And I loved every second of it.

Another weird and uncommon fact about me: I only started eating asparagus a few years ago. I know, it sounds crazy, but it's true. I grew up thinking asparagus was gross —mostly because it was green I guess— and it wasn't until I fell in love with an asparagus lover that I finally suspended judgment and tried one. It was delicious. So even though I'm sad that this uncommon and cool Florida winter is almost over, I am happy that asparagus is in season and it's readily available at affrodable prices. I like to make asparagus in many ways, but lately I've been on this blood orange and balsamic kick and I'm going to milk it for as long as I can find blood oranges at the grocery store. The dish is also sprinkled with pecorino romano cheese, which gives the asparagus a pleasant saltiness —exactly what you need to offset the sweetness of the orange and balsamic.

ROASTED ASPARAGUS INFUSED WITH BLOOD ORANGE AND BALSAMIC

Serves 2 

1 pound asparagus, hard part of stems removed

1 tablespoon olive oil

Juice of 1 blood orange

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 tablespoons grated pecorino romano cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Place asparagus on a large, rimmed cookie sheet, possibly in one layer. Whisk together remaining ingredients, drizzle evenly over asparagus and toss to coat.

Roast in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Stuffed onions

 

Let's take a break from soup, shall we? I'm also taking a break from organizing and cleaning the house and today I'm mostly dedicating my time to one of my unfinished novels (writing it, not reading it). Six days into unemployment and still I haven't finished doing any of the things on my to-do list, which could be attributed to the fact that I haven't written a list yet. So here it goes. I'm going to hear back from graduate school at the end of March, which means that until then I have no schedules, no deadlines and no obligations —the perfect time for taking care of all those projects I never took care of before because I was too busy.

To do:

Finish novel

Send novel to publishing house

Organize closet

Sell clothes to Plato's Closet

Organize pantry

Organize bathroom

Bake a cake for Tommy's birthday

Buy a new coffee maker 

Post on blog once a day

What do you think? Will I be able to post once a day... we'll see. Only time can tell.

STUFFED ONIONS

Serves 6

6 large golden onions

1 1/4 cups (125 g) bread crumbs

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons minced parsley

Olive oil

Grated pecorino romano

Salt & pepper to taste

Peel the onions and briefly blanch them in salted water. When they have cooled cut them in half horizontally, then scoop out the middle sections. Mince what you scoop out.

Heat oil in a small pan and cook the minced onion in it, season with salt ans pepper and let cool. Wet the bread crumbs thoroughly in the milk, and stir them into the sautéed onions, together with the eggs and the parsley.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Fill the onion halves with the filling, sprinkle with cheese, and bake them just until they brown.

Slow roasted tomatoes

I don't think this will come as a surprise. I'm a tomato junkie. You aren't surprised, right? I mean, I'm Italian, for crying out loud. While most people have blood running through their veins, I'm not ashamed to admit that my veins are filled with a curious mixture of tomato sauce, red wine and the occasional leaf of basil. I love tomatoes so much that if I had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of my life it would be great tomato sauce over bread. Crazy, right? But -I swear- there's no steak, no oyster, not even a truffle that can hold a candle to a perfect tomato. Or, at least, that's the way I feel.

So imagine my excitement when I spotted this recipe on the December 2009 issue of Cooking Light. Aromatic slow roasted tomatoes? It's just one of those things that I can't resist. And after trying the recipe, I can tell you one thing: they are delicious. And since they have to cook in the oven for about six hours, making them will warm up your kitchen nicely. What else do you want on a cold winter day? Cooking Light wants you to slow roast them for a whopping 7 1/2 hours, but I ran out of time at 6 and they were already perfect. So there, I just saved you a hour and a half.

AROMATIC SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES
(adapted from Cooking Light, December 2009)

1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise (about 16 medium)
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 200°.

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl, tossing gently to coat. Arrange tomatoes, cut side up, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Roast at 200° for about 6 hours.

Best sausage and apple stuffing

Do I have a picture of the actual stuffing with deliciously browned bread and all? No. And why is that? Because this year I decided to go and injure myself right before Thanksgiving dinner was done. As a matter of fact, putting the stuffing together was the last thing I did before I slipped and hurt my knee so badly I had to spend the rest of the night with my ass parked on a chair and my left leg up in the air, ice on the knee and all.

How on earth did I manage to hurt myself that bad, one might ask. Actually a lot of people asked, including my mother. Her and dad showed up at my house shortly after the accident bearing gifts of cranberry sauce, pear pie and lots of good quality red wine, only to find their daughter sitting on a chair, chugging a martini and -I'm not ashamed to admit- crying a little. I wasn't crying for the pain, although it did hurt. I was crying because I was so royally pissed and I felt so useless, sitting there, having to tell everyone else what to do to finish the feast I had started to cook. My mother, of course, sprung into action and made the gravy for me, while someone else put my stuffing in the oven. The question though -how did you manage to fall- was still being asked because, according to my family and friends, only old ladies fall down in their house and break their hip. Granted that I didn't have a broken hip, they were still curious. And the answer is really simple: I was rushing around the kitchen and slipped on some water -water that had dripped from one of the coolers, possibly the one were I brined the turkey. Anyway, that's it. That easy. One second you are up and moving, the next you are sitting on a chair with a knee brace and a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. But the good news is that the stuffing turned out great, which made me particularly happy because I love stuffing and I made this one up instead of following the recipes I had. And for those of you who are wondering what happened to my great plans of making a second stuffing with oysters in it... well, you can figure I wasn't exactly in the right shape for that.

SAUSAGE AND APPLE STUFFING:

Cooking spray
2 links hot Italian sausage
10 ounces frozen pearl onions
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 stalks of celery, chopped
3 small red Michigan apples, skin on, chopped
1/2 large fennel bulb, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 loaf of your favorite bread (I used potato bread), cubed and toasted
2 eggs
1 cup chicken broth

In a large skillet brown the sausage in its own fat, crumbling with a wooden spoon. Cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add frozen pearl onions and sprinkle with brown sugar. Cool until the onions are tender and sugar has dissolved, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add celery, fennel and apple (I left the skins on for color, but you can remove them if you like.) Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with thyme and cook for about ten minutes.

Spray a 10x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Mix vegetable mixture and bread cubes in it. In a small bowl beat the eggs into the broth. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over bread and veggie mixture, toss to coat. Bake in a 400F oven for 45 minutes.

Cabbage & apples

Man, am I getting old. First I start eating cauliflower (and liking it!), then all of the sudden I'm yearning for some cook cabbage. I'm getting old -that's the only explanation. I grew up loathing both vegetables, as my mother patiently said "One day you'll grow up and like them." I couldn't believe her. I was pretty damn sure that she was wrong and that never in my life I would consider cabbage a treat.

Well, now I do. It started off innocently enough with making -and loving- cole slaw. The next natural step was trying it cooked, something that I put off as long as possible. But the idea of eating slaw for the tenth time in a row convinced me that something had to be done. It was time to tame the red monster and cook it into submission. And that's just what I did. The idea of having cabbage with apples came from an old magazine of mine, Cooking Light of course, that suggests that mixing cabbage with apple is a great way to get kids to eat it. And since I'm a big baby about my vegetables I thought it would be a great way for me to approach it as well.

CABBAGE & APPLES

1 onion, chopped
1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon honey
1 apple, chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a little bit of oil in a large skillet.

Sautee the onion until soft, then add the cabbage, honey and 1/2 cup of water. Cover and simmer until the cabbage is crisp tender, about ten minutes. Add apple, vinegar, salt and pepper. Cover again and cook for about 5 minutes longer.

Tuscan cannellini salad

This has been quite a week and I'm mighty glad that it's almost over. Of course I still have to deal with today and of course today will be the busiest of all days, but I'm trying to stay positive and collected. Really. Last night I was leaving the newsroom at around 6:30 when I suddenly remembered that downstairs they were hosting something along the lines of the first annual health fair, a quick screening that can reduce the monthly medical insurance payment. After making sure that they wouldn't force me to take a flu shot (I seriously rather have the flu), I filled a million forms with my information and off I went to get the first part of my screening done. In a little less than 20 minutes they poked my finger for blood, weighted me (I had boots on, but the nurse mercifully subtracted 3 pounds to the total), calculated my BMI, my cholesterol levels and my blood pressure. Then I was sent off to sit down with a head nurse "to discuss my health problems and find solutions together." Well, apparently I have none. My blood pressure is on the low side, my bad cholesterol is low while my good one is high, my BMI is on the low portion of the normal range and so is my body fat percentage. In other words, the head nurse had nothing to talk to me about and when she assumed out loud that I must have a hell of an exercise routine I didn't dare tell her that I've never set foot in a gym. But when I got home and it was time to decide what to make as a side dish to my fennel crusted pork tenderloin, I decided to do the healthy thing. I put away the instant mashed potatoes and I made this Tuscan bean salad from scratch. So much healthier and much more satisfying!

TUSCAN CANNELLINI SALAD

1 can cannellini beans
1 bayleaf
Salt and pepper
1 tomato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
A bunch of basil

In a small pot gently heat up the cannellini with salt, pepper, bayleaf and a little water. Cook for about 20 minutes, until most water has evaporated. Place beans in a bowl and let them cool down.

When the beans are warm but not too hot anymore add tomato, onion, garlic and olives.

Whisk together oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and pour over salad. Mix gently with a wooden spoon and sprinkle with freshly chopped basil.

Brussels sprouts for dummies

It's my birthday. I turn 29 today and -apparently- your 29th birthday is "the golden birthday", something I never knew until today at least 10 people mentioned it on Facebook. I thought it was going to be a cool birthday because I'm turning 29 on the 29th of the 9th month of the 9th year of the millennium. Yes, I do have too much time on my hands and spend an alarmingly large part of my day musing about stuff that is completely useless. So last night I decided to make something different, something that would surprise most people that know me when they see this post: Brussels sprouts. Why, you ask? Because in my entire life I've never eaten them, short of one little piece once, many years ago, just to determine that they were a horrible, wretched vegetable that I would never eat again.

But of course the good guys at the co-op had other palns in mind. They delivered me a truckload of Brussels sprouts and -after parking them in the fridge for a while- I decided that last night would be the night. A few hours before my golden birthday I thought, why not? So I made them, following a Christmas recipe from Cooking Light, and guess what? They turned out delicious. Either that or I'm getting so old I'm starting to like old people food -you decide.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH PECANS
5 cups sliced Brussels sprouts
2 medium onions, vertically sliced
1 large shallot, sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 cup chicken stock
A pinch of thyme
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

In a large skillet melt the butter and sautee the onions and shallots. Add the Brussels sprouts and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Sautee for a few minutes (about 4 or 5), add sugar, thyme and chicken stock. Stir, cover and simmer for a couple of minutes or until tender. Top with toasted pecans and serve.

Fall vegetables "strudel"

Regardless of the fact that it's hot and humid out -in fact the weather is grosser than what it was in August!- I have decided that fall is here and that I should therefore start cooking my favorite "cold weather" foods. This summer has been particularly brutal, one of the hottest on record, and both my body and my mind have been put through a lot of heat related stress. Although I might have to wait for another 4 weeks to see any real changes temperature wise, to keep what is left of my mental sanity I need to convince myself that the worst is indeed over and that soon I'll be wearing sweaters and making stews.

Hence today's recipe, a quick way to use some good fall vegetables like sweet potatoes and chard (which, now that I think of it, I'm not sure it's a fall vegetable. But, oh well, you get the point!). I first saw a version of this recipe on the cookbook "The Silver Spoon", a more than 50 year old bible of Italian cooking. My grandma use to have it in her kitchen and when they finally translated in English a couple of years ago I bought it immediately so that I could have a copy here in Florida as well. They describe it as an appetizer, but really you can serve it also as a side dish or as a light vegetarian meal. I also saw a version of this recipe on one of my favorite blogs -Il cavoletto di Bruxelles- and in that case the strudel was made with pumpkin and spinach and topped with sesame seeds, but still, very similar.

To make a long story short, I started making this savory strudel last year, after making one too many savory pies and being bored by them. It's versatile, it's easy and with store bought pie crust is so quick to make you'll find yourself making it over and over again.

VEGETABLE STRUDEL

1 large sweet potato
1 bunch swiss chard (about 12 ounces)
1 large shallot
4 ounces good quality mozzarella
1 store-bought round pastry dough (such as Pillsbury)
1 egg
Fennel seeds

Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet. Slice the shallot and sautee it in the oil until tender. In the mean time wash and chop chard. Add to skillet and cook with shallot until wilted, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Quickly boil the sweet potato until crisp tender. Peel and cut into cubes. Add to chard mixture. Also cut the mozzarella into small cubes.

Lay the pastry dough on a cookie sheet covered with cooking spray. Lay half of the mozzarella cubes int eh central portion of it. Top with chard and sweet potato mixture and one more lauyer of mozzarella.

Fold dough over filling and close the two short edges by pinching the dough together. Gently flip it so it lays seam-side down on the cookie sheet. Brush with egg and sprinkle with fennel seeds.

Cook in 375F oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Potato and porcini bake

Ah, the first day of autumn. It reminds me that somewhere, in some faraway lands, the leaves are changing colors and the air is getting crisp at night. Sweaters are being warn and in the kitchen cooks start to prepare different meals, fall meals. Fall has always been my favorite season and I miss it dearly. A heat index of 95F at 11 a.m... are you kidding me? This is not fall!
Unfortunately I can't ignore the high temperatures and high humidity and just wear those boots and jackets I'm longing for, but what I can do is start cooking my favorite fall meals and patiently wait for the cooler weather to make its appearance.
So to celebrate the beginning of fall I made a dish my mom made all the time when porcini mushrooms were in season, a simple but delicious bake that makes a great side for grilled meats. Porcini are a little expensive, but they are well worth the money -and dry porcini work great too!

POTATO AND PORCINI BAKE
Serves 4

1 pound fresh porcini mushrooms (or 2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms)
1 pound potatoes
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon marjoram
1/2 tablespoon parsley
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

If using dried mushroom soak in warm water for about 30 minutes before using.

Heat up a swirl of olive oil in a large pan, add mushrooms and herbs and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium heat until mushroom are tender. Coarsely chop and set aside.

Using a mandolin slicer, slice potatoes to a potato chip like thinness. Grease an oven proof casserole and make a first layer of potatoes, slightly overlapping them. Season with salt and pepper. Make a second lyer of mushroom mixture. Then a layer of potatoes, season with salt and pepper. And so on. Finish with a layer of potatoes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Cook in 375F oven for about 30 minutes or until golden.

My coleslaw

Have you ever had store bought coleslaw? Me too and that's the reason why, for the longest time, I was convinced that I didn't like coleslaw. I was at some party, one of those parties where the food is nothing to write home about, and since everyone was eating it I decided to give it a try, regardless of the fact that it looked like it was dressed with caulk. The caulk turned out to be mayo -crappy mayo, I would add- and the whole dish was bland and heavy.

A couple of years later I found myself the proud owner of a head of cabbage (no, not the co-op guys this time) and decided to take a shot at making my own slaw. It couldn't turn out to be any crappier than the one I had at that party, I reasoned. I was right. Without the mayo and with more spices it was tasty, light and refreshing. Just what the doctor ordered.

MY COLESLAW
Makes about 6 servings:

1/2 head red cabbage
1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
1 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
Salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste


Combine the cabbage, onion, and grated carrot in a large bowl.

Mix vinegar, sugar, mustard, yogurt, salt, black pepper, and red pepper in a small bowl and stir well with a whisk.

Add the mustard mixture to cabbage mixture, and toss well to coat. Cover and chill for 20 minutes.

Cauliflower fritters

Last night I had an epiphany. I actually like cauliflower.
I spent most of my life telling everyone I didn't like it nor eat it , but once again the guys at the organic co-op forced me to reconsider by dropping a big head of cauliflower in my weekly produce bags. At first I thought about giving it away, but let's be honest: how likely is that? I mean, if I were trying to give away freshly picked strawberries it would be easy, but cauliflower?
Then I was sitting at the office the other day and a coworker offered me her homemade cauliflower fritters. They were good. Very good.
So I decided to keep my cauliflower after all and make my version of fritters with it. Even though I call them fritters they aren't fried. I made them on the griddle with cooking spray to make them lighter -we were already having a monster porterhouse steak as a main dish and really didn't need the extra calories. They turned out great. So again, thanks co-op guys. Keep the veggies coming.

CAULIFLOWER FRITTERS
Makes 12 fritters:

1 cauliflower
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup panko (or regular) breadcrumbs
Cooking spray or oil for cooking

Trim and chop the cauliflower. Steam it for about 15 minutes or until tender. Let it cool down. Chop finely.

In a medium bowl mixed chopped cauliflower eggs, cheese and breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Add flour a little bit at the time and keep mixing until the mixture is dry enough that you can form patties with it.

Heat oil in a pan or turn a griddle on high and spray with cooking spray. Cook patties in batches, about 4 minutes per side or until golden.

Stuffed zucchini: aka Labor Day laziness

So yes, I have been incredibly lazy lately and haven't posted much on this blog -but I have some (kinda) good excuses.
The first one is that yesterday was Labor Day and I've spent all weekend drinking beer and stuffing my face with all kinds of food... and I was too lazy to document all of it with pictures and blog posts.
The second reason is that my friend Filippo -whom I've known since elementary school- is currently in town and staying with us, so I spend as little time as possible in front of the computer and as much as possible hanging out with him.
Sunday Tommy, Filippo and I took the boat to white trash beach (sounds... trashy, but it's actually very pretty) and we spent the afternoon grilling, drinking, swimming and eating. And because Filippo pushed me to accept his Iron Chef-like challenge to use up all the stuff I have in the fridge, freezer and pantry BEFORE I go buy more stuff from the store... I found myself making up this recipe for stuffed zucchini. It turned out delicious and I used leftover couscous, some Laughing Cow cheese and the truckload of zucchini I had in the fridge all in one day. Take that, Iron Chef challenge!

STUFFED ZUCCHINI BOATS:
Makes 6 "boats":

3 large zucchini
6 wedges Laughing Cow garlic and herb light cheese
2 cups prepared couscous (I used what I had leftover from my previous post)
Cooking spray

Preheat grill or oven on medium high heat.

Cut zucchini in half length-wise and hollow them with a tea spoon. Discard seeds and pulp.

Spread one cheese wedge on each zucchini half. Spoon couscous over cheese in each zucchini half. Spray preheated grill with cooking spray or spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and place zucchini on grill rack or in the oven. Cook for about ten minutes, until heated through.