Back in the swing of things

I'm happy to report that after quite a few weeks of chaos, packing tape, boxes, etc. we are pretty much unpacked and settled in the new house. YIPPEE And so, this morning, for the first time in a long while I was able to get to the farmers market. I haven't made it there since the weather took a turn toward fall and was pleasantly surprised to find a number of my fall favorites on display. This weeks haul: sugar pumpkins, chanterelle mushrooms, leeks, swiss chard, golden beets, goat cheese, kiwis (which were only 1.50 for a dozen!) yams, pomegranate, and persimmons. I had never had a persimmon before and after a chat with the persimmon vendor- who was lovely- I picked up a few of each variety and she threw in a few extra in my bag for free- woohoo!
I'm kind of excited that fall is here. It's time to bust out some of my favorite food- risotto, braised stuff, mashed potatoes, gratins. yum We shall see what I come up with this week.

Appetizer par-tay

Eva hosted our monthly ladies night in October and chose the theme to be all about appetizers. Sweet- some of my favorite food are tapas. For inspiration I turned to a childhood favorite- Rice balls.
In every decent Italian deli where I grew up there was a huge prepared food and meat counter and this was always a popular item, even for the pickiest of kids. The basic gist- you make a ball out of rice and cheese, possibly put something in the center- cheese or peas perhaps, bread the thing and throw it in the frier. How bad could that be?!
For mine I made a mushroom risotto the night before the party with dried porcini and fresh chanterelles, and finished it off with a little truffle butter. About an hour before the party i formed the risotto into balls, put a little chunk of buffalo mozzarella in the center, and did the usual flour, egg, breadcrumb prep before shallow fry in some olive oil. I let them cool a bit on a baking rack (is it just me or does is seem that putting fried stuff on paper towels just makes them soggy?)
The result was a crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, earthy, nutty, gooey cheese centered ball of deliciousness. I fried up a few sage leaves for a little color in the dish too.

All about the sides

Sometimes dinner isn't about the main dish but about what you have next to it. I had picked up some red snapper fillets the other day... tasty and quick cooking for a week night, but a little bland. To give dinner a little extra something-something I threw together a veg medley of sorts that had a great big punch- and really, I think it would be a good side to just about anything. I think I'll call it Puttanesca Hash... hm, maybe not that doesn't sound so good. But really, it was very tasty.
The ingredients:
A few diced mini yukon gold potatoes
A diced peeled eggplant
A pint of heirloom cherry tomatoes
A large diced shallot or small onion
A few diced sweet peppers
A few spoonfulls of capers
A few cloves of garlic
A small handful of diced kalamata olives
the zest of a lemon and a big squeeze of lemon juice
A couple glugs of white wine or chicken broth
EVOO, a TBS of butter, and a generous squirt of chili sauce or a big pinch of chili flakes
It may need a little salt- but taste first- the olives and capers can be quite salty.

The gameplan:
Melt butter and Evoo over a medium/high heat. Add potatoes, shallot to pan and let the spuds get a little soft (its ok if they start to brown a little). Add the eggplant and garlic. Sautee for a few minutes. Add peppers, tomatoes, and wine or broth. Turn down the heat a bit and let it hang out for a little while (maybe 10-15 min). (the eggplant will start to break down and make it creamy and the tomatoes will soften) Squish the tomatoes against the side of the pot with your spoon if they haven't already fallen apart. Add the olives, capers, lemon. Taste. Add salt and spicy stuff to taste. Take a potato chunk out of the pot and make sure they are cooked through.

I topped this with the snapper prepared as a quick pan sear in EVOO with salt and pepper and a squirt of lemon juice. I also threw a few capers and a bit of the left over lemon zest in the pan.

Yay Bev!

This week we have 2 reasons to give Miss Beverly a big giant round of applause:
1) (and this is really the way smaller reason) she was kind enough to give us her weekly produce haul from her CSA because she was going to be out of town to kick butt
2) She totally kicked butt at IronMan Canada yesterday. YAY Bev! We are SO SO proud of you for conquering the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 run. You, my dear, ROCK

And just to make us both feel a little better this is how I used your fantastic produce.

Heirloom tomatoes: stuffed with cheese and italian seasoned breadcrumbs (and grilled because we were having a freak power failure- WTF?!)
Romanescu cauliflower: tossed with EVOO S&P and roasted
Leeks: 1 used to make veggie stock, 2 browned in butter and braised with a little veggie stock
Cutting Celery: in the veggie stock
Beets: bottoms Roasted on the grill and tossed with some orange slices from the tree in the yard and a little lemon juice and salt.
Swiss chard: sauteed with some EVOO, garlic and the beet greens

Still to come the beautiful sweet peppers which I think will become fajitas tomorrow. We shall see.

Thanks Bev and congrats- you put in more hours of training than I can possibly imagine and
YOU ARE AN IRON(wo) MAN!!!

Donna's Fab Birthday Potluck

My lovely bud (and my husband's long time- and totally kick ass I might add- running buddy) had a little birthday fiesta recently. It was a bit of a pot luck extravaganza featuring some of Betty's gorgeous signature cupcakes, and small bites galore. I did some savory tarts and since, as we know, I am pastry challenged I used my favorite standby- the pepperidge farm frozen puff pastry. A surprisingly good product and totally easy to work with, even for people like me who can't seem to roll out and construct anything....


In the main part of the image is a tart filled with goat cheese and roasted heirloom cherry tomatoes, garlic, thyme and shallots. In the corner is another tart with caramelized onions, crisped pancetta and creme fraiche.
The directions couldnt be easier. Pre-heat oven to 400. Defrost dough. Roll out a little bit to soften the creases in the dough. Lay the dough in a pan or on cookie sheet. Top with whatever your little heart desires. Fold dough over the edges so the deliciousness doesn't spill out and bake until golden.

Now if only we could have kept Scott from making Salami Chocolate Fondue.... sad but true :)

Pizza Par-tay

Our dear friend B was coming over for dinner and I decided to make one of her favorites- Pizza.
I had picked up some beautiful heirloom tomatoes at the farmers market this weekend- and what better way to enjoy them than in a little Pizza Margarita. Combine those with some Trader Joes pizza dough, fresh mozzarella a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh basil and you have yourself some very happy dinner guests.
The keys to success-
*make sure the crust is very very thin
*use a pizza stone
*preheat your oven and the stone to 450
*put the dough on the stone and then add your toppings to minimize losing your toppers on the floor on the way to the oven.

The other pizza of the evening was with mushrooms, mozzarella and truffle oil.
To prepare the mushrooms: sautee thinly sliced mushrooms on a pretty high heat with a little olive oil until browned. Then add salt and pepper, a little fresh thyme. Liquid will come out of the mushrooms and then evaporate, then add a little cream or half and half and reduce until thick. Spoon this over your pizza crust, top with mozzarella and bake. After pulling out of the oven drizzle a little truffle oil on top. Enjoy!

The (politically incorrect) splurge

I have a confession to make. I think veal is delicious- and although some may deem it a bit politically incorrect I couldn't resist today. I grew up in a very Italian neighborhood and veal scallopini was a pretty common menu item. When I wandered into the italian market today and saw some gorgeous little veal cutlets in the counter I could not resist. A little pricey but worth it every once in a while. Here you have Veal Marsala with garlicy wilted spinach and creamy polenta.
The Recipe:
Veal Marsala
Dust the cutlets with a little flour, salt and pepper. Sear them in a hot fry pan with some butter and olive oil. Take out of the pan and set aside. In the pan add some chopped shallots, garlic, mushrooms and get a little color on them. Add some marsala wine and a little chicken stock. Put the veal back in the pan for a few minutes. The sauce will thicken a bit from the flour on the veal.