Recipe Re-Creations, Pasta a la Sonoma

A long, long time ago, in a place far, far away, a woman tasted the most wonderful, simple pasta dish she had ever tasted. For the first time in her life she said, "I must try to make this myself." She did, and all was right with the world.

Ok, so a long long time ago was 10 days, and a place far, far away was oh roughly 15 blocks from my house (which we drove). But that pasta was so good I have spent the last 10 days plotting it's return to tantalize my taste buds. Rob is out at a meeting this evening, so I gathered my ingredients, and set about the recipe's re-creation.

First, I am going to tell you what information I was able to discern from eating the original dish, and then I will give you the exact recipe I came up with. A note when trying to make something for the first time: I measured, almost double of what I thought I would need out and then added a little at a time, keeping track of how much I used as I went along so as to figure out how much I used. For example, I ended up using 1/4 cup creme fraiche, in reality I measured out 1/2 a cup and added it 1 TBSP at a time until the sauce looked right (I picked TBSP b/c there are 8 TBSP in 1/2 a cup, I just happen to know that so TBSP was an easy way for me to count what I used).

Ok, on to the fun. What did I know about this dish before I began? Well, it was yummy. It used fresh Paccheri (wide tube pasta) noodles, it had Creme Fraiche, Black Pepper, Chives, Red Chilis, and Ricotta Salata in it. I also was smart enough to think to ask the waitress about the base and she said it was a combination of chicken broth and butter. That is what I had to go on.

Onto gathering my ingredients. First, I didn't use fresh pasta, I couldn't find paccheri, and actually only saw ravoli and other filled pastas at the market. So instead I bought a 1/5 inch long "ribbon" pasta, it looks like it was cut off the end of a ribbon after you use it to tie a bow on a present. This pasta worked out just fine, I would like to use fresh next time, but that will depend upon availability. I used probably 3/4 lb of pasta, and I have quite a bit of leftovers. You will also need, 1 shallot, 1 garlic clove, 1 cup chicken stock, 1 cup white wine, 1/4 butter, 1/4 cup creme fraiche, 1 dried red chili crumbled, 2 tbsp fresh chives, chopped, 1 big handful finely (as fine as possible) grated ricotta salata, olive oil, and freshly ground pepper.

First start by bringing a medium pot of water to a boil and putting in the pasta, cook until just a bit softer than al dente, just a bit. Drain.

While the water is coming to a boil and the pasta is cooking, mince both the shallot and garlic clove, Put a small glug of olive oil into a saucepan, and gently cook the shallot and garlic over medium heat for a few minutes. You do not want the shallot or garlic to burn at all so keep stirring and really just a few minutes are needed. Add in the chicken broth and the white wine and bring to a boil, then simmer until the wine/broth mix reduces to about 1 cup of liquid. (Err on the side of caution here and reduce more than you think if necessary. You can always add a little more chicken broth to a too thick sauce, but after you move onto the next step of adding butter and creme fraiche you won't want to need to simmer and reduce more, because the dairy will burn too easily.) Once the wine/broth has reduced to where you are happy, add in the butter and the creme fraiche, stir constantly to mix everything into a nice smooth texture. Add the chives and the crumbled dried red chili.

Stir everything together and add the pasta and the finely grated ricotta salata, grind fresh pepper atop and toss. Serve in a bowl.

My version of this dish, tasted quite nice, it wasn't as thick as I would have liked, and it wasn't as good as a restaurant, but I will definitely make this again.

Things I will change: I will reduce my broth/wine mixture more, I may just use chicken broth I don't think Sonoma used wine in it's dish, I will grate the ricotta more finely (my biggest mistake by far) or as finely as possible. I will use more dried red chili and black pepper, my dish didn't quite have the little kick the original did. But overall, pretty darn good for my first attempt.

And voila that is what I had for dinner this evening!

Sonoma DC: Sonoma good for my belly!

Rob and I have a tradition of celebrating Valentine's Day with a meal out, and preferably not on the actual Hallmark mandated date. This year we waited a little later than usual to make a reservation on one of the days surrounding the 14th, so our first choice was booked. This ended up being a fortuitous problem, as we ended up at Sonoma restaurant near our home on Capitol Hill. What a meal.

Throughout the meal we shared a bottle of a Primitivo Puglia by Matane vineyard. Such a fantastic wine we are figuring out how to get some to have at home. It is a lighter red, so it went really well with both of our main dishes: I had pacherri with black pepper, chives, ricotta salata, chiles, and creme fraiche. Rob had a deconstructed lasagna with veal ragu and maderia fonduta. But first let's discuss our first and second course. Oh yes we had a three course (ok actually four course) meal. That in and of itself was heavenly. And we weren't rushed at all, we had time between each course to sip some wine and chat. It was soooo nice.

For our first course we had the house-made burratta cheese with tomato jam and fried bread. Did you read those words, fried bread, yea the whole thing was amazing. I have never had such a wonderful combination. The cheese had a great creamy center, but was a perfect smooth companian for the tomato jam. I should mention I don't like tomatoes, but apparently tomato jam is just fine thank you very much. Along with the burratta cheese we had the pei mussels with paprika, chorizo, and focaccia. The mussels were perfectly cooked, and the chorizo and paprika gave them such a nice spice; they complemented each other perfectly.

Next course: boston bibb salad with roasted apples, goat cheddar, toasted walnuts and vincotto. We split this, and they brought it out on two separate plates, how nice! We didn't have to fight over the last piece of cheddar, and trust me we would have fought over the last piece of anything of this salad.

Finally onto our entrees. First I should mention that we ordered pasta dishes, which are not actually entrees according to the menu. Those will have to wait for another trip to this restaurant. As I mentioned I had the paccheri which is a long tube shaped pasta. The best part about my dish was how simple it really was. The pasta was obviously freshly made and perfectly cooked, just a bit al dente. The chilis, ricotta, and black pepper worked perfectly together. It had a peppery spicyness but at the same time it was smooth and welcoming. Really it was a grown up comfort dish. I plan to try to recreate this recipe in my kitchen. I have a plan as to how I think I can do it, I just need to find some fresh paccheri in DC.

Finishing up the post, Rob had a sort of deconstructed Lasagna, where the lasagna noodles were cut up to be slightly larger than fettucine and they were mixed in with the veal ragu and maderia fonduta, topped with parmesan cheese. Rob thoroughly enjoyed this and said the ragu was excellent, but in hindsight he wished he had gone with a different pasta dish, the papperdelle.

And on to dessert, which I still have dreams about, because oh my goodness homemade salted carmel ice cream is the best ice cream I have ever had. Yes this is above any ice cream containing cookie dough, shocking I know. We had this ice cream over apple bread pudding which is super yummy too, but really the ice cream was the best (it was so good we had to order an extra scoop!).

So to summarize, Sonoma rocks, it is definitely a special occasion restaurant where the checkbook is concerned (and this is probably a good thing as I would be there far too often if it wasn't). But a fantastic and fun restaurant. I look forward to another meal there, hopefully sooner rather than later!

Let's Talk about Salmon...

Let's talk about you and me, Let's talk about all the good things...whoops sorry wrong song.

Salmon, this was supposed to be a post about Salmon, however I am faced with a conundrum. Steelhead Salmon, or rather trout, as it is the same species as the rainbow trout, except that the Steelhead, like salmon, lives in both fresh and salt water. This is where the confusion lies; some fish markets, like the Whole Foods counter correctly label this fish Steelhead Trout (which was actually what I used to think it was), but then the Eastern Market fish counter labels it Steelhead Salmon. Since I have bought almost all of my fish from the Eastern Market fish counter, I have called it Salmon for the last oh 2 years and 8 months. According to the internet I am wrong. It is trout. And really it tastes like a red meat trout, it doesn't taste a lot like any of the varieties of Salmon I have eaten.

So why do some erroneously call it Salmon, well I think the word Salmon probably sells more fish. I think a lot of people think trout is really fishy, and many people don't like fishy fish. I like pretty much all fish, except flounder and cat fish. I just can't do those.

On to our Steelhead trout. It was really yummy and super fresh (even in the midst of 2 snowstorms). I did this fish really simply, I'm not even sure I would call this recipe so much as a preparation. There were 2 of us eating so I bought 3/4 lb of fish. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. I placed the fish skin side down on a cookie sheet. I brushed it with olive oil, and then sprinkled 2 chopped garlic cloves and a littel kosher salt on the fish. Then into the oven. That is it, all there is to it. You just let the fish cook until you think it was done. We usually like our fish medium rareish, the inside is a always just a little undercooked. Most of you will probably like your fish cooked completely all the way through.

Accompaniment, can be anything, a salad, broccoli, brussel sprouts, potatoes, really anything goes with fish this way.

And viola, that is the fish I had for dinner Tuesday evening.

(Pizza) Muffins, they're not just for breakfast anymore!

Well, I did it. I made pizza muffins. It's amazing how a blizzard, and impromptu Superbowl party at my house, and no trips to the supermarket will spark the cooking imagination. Ok, fine, I have mentioned pizza muffins here before so I guess that wasn't imaginative, but Rob and I had homemade pizza the night before so I wasn't really in the mood to "just" have pizza again. I'm not sure if these are anything like what I vaguely recall making with my Dad, but they got rave reviews at the Superbowl party so I'm going to go with it.

First, you will need the dough recipe from here and the marinara recipe from here. You will also need grated mozzarella cheese, italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, olive oil, a muffin tin capable of making 12 muffins and Pam (or something like Pam). Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Take your dough and divide into 12 little balls (I was only able to make 11 muffins, but I was too generous with my early dough balls and I was too lazy to remeasure to get the 12th but I am positive you can easily get 12 muffins out of 1 dough recipe. I promise.). Take your rolling pin (or empty wine bottle) and roll out each little ball into little round dough circles. After spraying the muffin tin with Pam, press each little round dough circle down into the muffin openings. You want there to be a bit of dough sticking above the top of each opening. After your press down all the little dough circles, brush them with olive oil and, using a fork, make little holes all around each dough circle to better aerate while baking. Place the muffin tin in the oven to pre-bake the dough, they should be in the oven for just a few mins, you want the dough to be slightly baked, but the edges over the top of the muffin tin should still be malleable.

In each muffin, place a dollop of marinara sauce in the bottom, stuff in a bunch of mozzarella cheese, and sprinkle with italian seasoning and crushed red pepper. Next carefully fold over the dough edges into the middle of the muffin tin. place another dollop of marinara sauce on top of the edges and a little bunch of mozzarella. Place back into the oven until the dough looks slightly browned and the cheese on top is bubbly. The muffins should be nice and firm at the bottom.

I left out a little bowl of warmed marinara for a dipping sauce as well. These muffins only had cheese and sauce in them, but I am sure you could add pepperoni, mushrooms, salami etc to the muffin, though you might have to sacrifice a little cheese and that, my friends, would be a travesty.

A slight disclaimer: I didn't actually eat one of these pizza muffins. I had had pizza the night before and was well, pizza'd out after making dough and smelling pizza smells for two days. But really I was told they were quite yummy. Maybe Rich will post a comment to corroborate that last statement :-) Hi Rich!

And voila, that is what I made for my Superbowl guests yesterday!

What's white and green and yummy all over?

Well a brief break from food, other than dry toast and chicken broth, has left me several posts behind from meals I made last week but never wrote about. We'll start with White Beans and Spinach. I borrowed this recipe from my Oma (Grandmother in German), I'm not sure I made in exactly as she did but it is how I remember it.

I made this because, well, Rob and I found ourselves with pretty much only spinach and beans in the house. Luckily we very much enjoyed this "stewy" meal. I do remember this having much more broth in it when Oma made it, so I think you can vary the amount you use based on what you are in the mood for.

For this recipe you will need: Olive Oil, 2 Garlic cloves, 1 medium onion, 1 can white beans (I used cannellini), 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth, 1 bunch spinach leaves, salt, and pepper. First we are going to mince the garlic and chop up the onion. In a skillet, pour in a couple of glugs of olive oil and turn the heat to medium, add the garlic and onions. While that is sauteing, drain and rinse the beans, and wash the spinach and remove the stems. Once the onion is nice and soft add the beans to the skillet, let them warm for a while and then add your cup of broth, cook until everything is bubbling. Now stir in handfuls of spinach until it is wilted, but still a nice green color. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

We ate the bean and spinach with just salt and pepper for seasoning. I think you could probably use many other seasonings to give this dish a different taste. I'll update if I make this again with other spices. I also think that some good toast, pumpernickel perhaps, would be good with this as well. So not the liveliest of posts, but a good hearty meal. A special thanks to Oma for giving me the recipe!

And voila, that is what I had for dinner one night last week.

When the moon hits your eye....

Let's talk about pizza. Pizza is wonderful. Pizza has cheese on it. Pizza can have pretty much anything you want on it. Making pizza dough is my earliest cooking memory; I think I was about 4 years old. I can remember vaguely making dough with my Dad, and then also making something called "pizza muffins" with the leftover dough.

I'm also from near New Haven, CT. The best pizza is from New Haven, CT (I'm a "Modern" person). In fact DC even has a "New Haven style" pizza restaurant, Pete's Apizza in Columbia Heights, their dough style tends more towards Sally's or Pepe's than Modern (they are saltier than I prefer, Modern slightly less salty), but it is definitely New Haven style. So I have spent a lot of time refining my pizza dough recipe. I have tweaked it many different ways; at this point I wouldn't say I'm done tweaking, but I'm pretty happy with where it is. This recipe will make enough dough for 2 thin crust pizza's or 1 thick crust.

Since we have switched to all whole grains here at Chateau Rob/Michelle, I have switched to a Whole Wheat pizza dough recipe. I also have been making dough for so long that I don't really measure out much stuff. I sort of eyeball things, I've given measurements that are about what I go for. For a few things I really do just use a pinch or a palmful, so try a pinch or a palmful, you can always change the amounts next time. For this recipe you will need: 1 1/4 cups warm water, 2 1/4 tsps Active dry Yeast (this is also the amount in 1 package of yeast), a pinch of sugar, 1/2 palmful of salt (preferably kosher), 2 glugs of olive oil, 1/2 cup unbleached white flour, 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 pizza pans brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with corn meal (not necessary if you don't have any), and whatever toppings you would like.

"Michelle, wait, what do you mean 1/2 cup unbleached white flour? I thought this was whole wheat dough?" Well here's the deal, whole wheat flour made into dough, all by itself, well it's a little dry. In my tweaking of this recipe, I found that adding 1/2 cup unbleached flour, well it cuts the dryness. Makes the dough better. Trust me or ask Rob he was on the receiving end of all of my attempts.

First up we are going to take the warm water and pour it into a large glass mixing bowl. Add the yeast to the warm water, stir it, and let it sit for a few minutes. I let it sit until a see a few bubbles, or I get a good yeast smell from the bowl. This step allows the yeast to "wake up". Side note: always keep your yeast in the refrigerator, keeps it fresher and livelier, longer. Back to the bowl of water and yeast, after you let it sit, add the sugar, salt and 1 glug of olive oil, stir to mix. Now it is time for the flour, I start by adding the unbleached flour first, and then immediately 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. Mix it all up, the bowl will be a watery gloppy mess. Next we are going to add the rest of the flour slowly, about a 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring constantly. At some point you really won't be able to stir any longer. You're going to need to mix it with your hands; get in there and knead the flour into the dough. After you have kneaded in all the flour, we are going to let the dough rise, pour the 2nd glug of olive oil over the dough, put saran wrap over the top of the bowl and wrap in a towel, or with a couple of hand towels, place in a warm spot. In total the dough will need a little over an hour to rise. After about 45 minutes I usually punch down the dough and then let it rise for 30 mins more.

If your dough is not rising, you could try turning your oven on, and placing the bowl on top of the stove top by the back vent, it will be warmer there. If it still isn't rising, well the yeast might not have been good, or the water not warm enough. In this case I suggest you throw out your dough, go to your takeout menu drawer and call the nearest pizza place. If it is early enough in the evening you can try again.

After the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and split the dough in half. Lightly dust a clean counter top with flour and roll it out with a light floured rolling pin, or an empty wine bottle works just as well. You need to roll out the dough until it is slightly larger than the pizza pan you are using. While you are rolling out the dough, you should flip it over a few times. Once the dough is large enough place it on top of the pan, roll the edges over to form the crust. Then brush the dough with olive oil and using a fork aerate it. The aeration marks with keep the dough from bubbling when baking. Place the dough in the oven to pre-cook it for about 7 minutes. Yes 7 minute.

The pre-cooking will ensure that your crust can hold all of the toppings, and not be too limp. Now as for toppings, you can use whatever you would like, I'm personally fond of my marinara sauce, fresh basil, and buffalo mozzarella. Rob likes marinara, mushrooms, salami, and mozzarella. Be creative.

And voila, that is what I'm making for football watching tomorrow.

Stewing over Saturday...

Well, this may be the first culinary defeat I chronicle on this blog. It was not a total failure, as everyone ate the stew and seemed to enjoy it (with a few additions), but it wasn't up to my normal standards. Ok, fine really the problem is that I didn't like the stew that much. I didn't like what I cooked! That has never happened before! Seriously!

There are a few "mistakes" I can point to that might fix the stew: for instance I used the wrong beer (yes I didn't like a stew made with beer, hell hath frozen over), I used half fresh/half dried herbs. Ok, there are two things I could change to make the stew better, if I ever make it again. For beer I recommend going with a good, smooth, dark beer such as Newcastle Brown Ale. I made the mistake of using Avery Celebration Ale, which is a great bear to drink, however winter ales tend to have some different spices to them and in this case it didn't work too well with the marjoram. For the herbs, use either both dry, or both fresh, I used fresh dill and dry marjoram and the dried marjoram was not right with the fresh dill.

This recipe comes from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, and it does say that you can use vegetable broth instead of beer (as if anyone would do that!). Now I made a massive batch of this stew for all the people at my house watching football, I'm going to tell you what I put into that massive batch, so feel free to halve it, or quarter it, as necessary. For this recipe you will need 3 medium onions chopped, 4 celery stalks chopped, 4 medium carrots cut into 1/4 inch slices, 4 parsnips cut into 1/4 inch slices, 4 potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes, 4 cups green beans trimmed and halved, 2 bell peppers chopped, 4 cups mushrooms (I used portabello) sliced, 2 tbsp fresh dill chopped (2 tsp dried), 2 tbsp fresh marjoram chopped (2 tsp dried), 2 bottles (cans) beer, 3 1/2 cups water, 2 tbsp dijon mustard, 2 tbsp molasses, olive oil, salt, pepper.

So to start, in a big pot, pour in a few good glugs of olive oil, then saute the onions and celery over medium heat until they are soft. Once again we don't want to brown them at all, just soften them up. After, add the carrots and parsnips. Mix it all together and let it cook for a few minutes. Next add the potatoes, green beans, dill, marjoram, beer, and water. Bring to a boil, then add the bell peppers and mushrooms. Next add in the molasses and mustard stir them in and let the stew simmer until the potatoes can be easily pierced by a fork. Salt and Pepper to taste. You may also want to add some more mustard, I probably added an extra tsp to my stew.

This stew looks gorgeous, all different color veggies and the brown broth, really make it a love dish to watch cook. People also seemed to enjoy adding shredded or cubed cheddar to the stew, they said that the cheese was a great addition. I would also recommend having some bread on hand for dunking, that was a big hit as well.

So really all in all not a total failure, but I didn't really like the stew, it happens I guess.

And voila, that is what I choked down ate for dinner on Saturday!

Garfield's favorite food...

Well, the marinara sauce in the freezer turned into a lasagna, actually a sausage lasagna. The lasagna made its debut on Thursday evening, and 5 days later Rob just finished the last of it for lunch today, and it was still as tasty as the first night.

I have made lasagna with a number of different people, and everyone did it differently. I have a basis that I use, and then I just tweak it depending upon the additional ingredients I decide upon (i.e. Spinach, sausage). So for this recipe you will need: 1 9/13 lasagna pan, 3 cups marinara, 1 1/2 boxes whole wheat lasagna noodles, 12 oz ricotta, 16 oz shredded mozzarella, 1 egg, 3 hot Italian sausages casings removed, 1/2 bunch fresh parsley chopped. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Now for the sausages you can use pork sausages, turkey sausages, or chicken sausages, however turkey and chicken are generally a slightly drier meat, so add little more sauce to the recipe, trust me it will save you the pain of dry lasagna. That is never a crowd pleaser.

First up we have the lasagna noodles, my new favorite way of "cooking" the noodles is to fill my tea pot with water and bring it to a boil. In a separate lasagna pan from the one you are using, spread out all the lasagna noodles, once the water boils, pour it in the pan until it covers the noodles. Let sit for 10 mins, the noodles, will be perfectly al dente. Then I just use a pair of tongs to grab each noodle for layering.

While the noodles are softening, cook the sausage. You should have removed the casings first so we are working with free sausage meat, liberated meat if you will. I cooked them over medium heat in a non-stick pan, making sure to break up the meat well as it browned, just before the sausage is done, add your sauce to the pan. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Now comes the fun part, make sure your hands are washed first, then grab the egg, ricotta, 12 oz mozzarella (we're saving the rest of the mozzarella to sprinkle on top), and parsley. Break the egg into the bowl, then toss in the rest of the ingredients. Now here is the fun part, the reason you washed your hands (which I'm sure were clean to begin with, but you never know, I have a dog sometimes i can't resist a belly rub in the middle of a recipe, so I wash my hands a lot when I cook) mix together the egg, cheese, and parsley with your hands. Oooo it's cold and gooey, and so fun to mix. Reminds me a bit of gritty mud pies in the backyard. Anywho, if you want you can toss a little salt and pepper into this too, you probably don't have too though.

Now wash your hands again, and grab your empty lasagna pan as it is time to layer! Start with one layer of noodles (I can fit 4 noodles in the bottom of my pan), then using a spoon spread on a layer of cheese mixture, then cover with a layer of sauce/sausage mixture, repeat. I usually put three layers of each in my pan, and then after the last layer of sauce/sausage sprinkle on the remaining 4 oz of mozzarella so it will have a lovely melted cheese top. Everything is better with melted cheese. Do not even try to argue with that statement (ok except sushi, and really most fish recipes but those are the only exceptions....).

Put in the oven for about 25 mins or until nice and bubbly. Really you just need to keep your eye on it. And now a new feature, I'll mention what wine or beer, or other alcoholic beverage I would pair with the meal. This is just what I like, I have no experience in wine/beer/liquor pairings to back this up, but I do know what I like, which I think is really the most important thing in picking any wine/beer/liquor. This lasagna will pair well with almost any red Italian wine, however, I really enjoy a good Montepulciano d'abruzzo.

And voila, that was my meal, er actually several meals over the last 5 days.


ps. You can freeze some of the leftovers if you don't think you can eat them all before they would spoil!

You say Marinara, I say Tomato Sauce...

We ate simple grilled chicken and steamed broccoli last night, but I did find time to make some homemade marinara sauce. I froze most of it, and put a little in the fridge for this week. As I mentioned here, I'm not a big fan of chunks in my tomato sauce. I like the sauce nice and smooth, good for pasta and pizzas, alike. Do you know what this, my need of smooth tomato sauce, means? Happy days are here again, I get to use my emulsion blender! Now if you still don't have an emulsion blender you could use a regular blender, but really you can eat this sauce with out blending it. I just really don't like chunks, specifically chunks of tomato (yes I have a weird food texture thing).

This is an easy, sort of quick tomato sauce. You will need: Tomatoes (2 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes), 1 medium onion, Garlic (I usually use 4 cloves), 1 small bunch Fresh Basil, dried Italian Seasoning, 2 dried red hot chili peppers, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Before we start I'd like to talk about the tomatoes. Really you can use any type of canned whole tomatoes, but I usually buy a brand with a made in Italy stamp on it. I think they taste better. Also when tomatoes are in season, I usually use a mixture of fresh and canned tomatoes.

On to the recipe. Chop up your onion and garlic cloves. In your pot, pour in a few glugs of Olive Oil, turn heat onto Medium and toss in the onion and garlic. We want them to get soft and translucent. As they are cooking, wash your basil and remove the leaves from the stem, toss them in with the onion and garlic; also crumble in the 2 dried red hot chili peppers (trust me on these), and pour in half a palmful of Italian Seasoning. Stir together. Once the onions are nice and soft pour in the 2 cans of tomatoes, stir everything together, bring to a simmer and cover. Now you can simmer the sauce for a little bit of time, or a long amount of time. The longer you simmer, the more water will evaporate out and the thicker the sauce will become. I usually let my sauce simmer for 25 mins. Once I remove the sauce from heat, I let it cool down a little bit before I use the emulsion blender. This is quite important, as the emulsion blender can be a bit messy, and well get splattered with hot tomato sauce hurts, alot, and it creates laundry. After you blend the sauce, taste, and add salt, pepper, and more Italian seasoning as needed. If you aren't blending, do this after the sauce has cooled of a little.

Now you can eat the sauce right away, or you can put it in Tupperware and freeze or refrigerate it. My sauce is in the freezer, and I'm sure I'll have a post in the next week or so detailing what I ended up using it for.

And voila that is my marinara sauce, for a meal, next week.

Apples are Red, Sugar is too sweet...

Well, I was supposed to make dog biscuits this weekend, but we ended up invited to dinner on Sunday night with the order to bring dessert. Now yes, I did have all weekend to make both dog biscuits and dessert but, well, the weekend was rather packed with activities. In fact, I could use a vacation from my weekend.

Dessert here at Meals with Michelle means no sugar. Rob has type 2 diabetes which, thankfully, is kept in check with diet and exercise, but obviously sugar is a big no no. So we have discovered the next best thing, Agave Nectar (Agave is also the source of 100% agave tequila, my favorite!). It is a great natural sweetener which does not elevate blood sugar when eaten. We happened upon a lovely cookbook called Baking with Agave Nectar by Ania Catalano in a fun little food shop in downtown Milford, CT. The shop owner had just baked some of The Amazing Black Bean Brownies from the book, we tasted them, and well they are incredible, chocolaty taste, smooth fudge texture, and no sugar!

My Mom (hi Mom thanks for reading!) had made the Apple Walnut crumble from Ms. Catalano the last time Rob and I were visiting and we loved it, so I decided, since I happened to have almost all the ingredients on hand, that that was the dessert for Sunday evening. Ingredients you will need: 6/7 apples (I used Granny Smith nice and tart!), 1 lemon, Agave Nectar (3/4 cup total), 3 tbsp arrowroot powder (or corn starch or white flour), Cinnamon (4 1/2 tsp total), 1/2 cup cold water, 1/3 cup canola oil, 2 cups walnuts, 1 cup rolled oats, and 1/2 cup barley flour ( I used spelt flour and it tasted great!). Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees.

First, we are going to make the filling. Peel and slice the apples, and toss them in a bowl with the lemon juice, 1/4 agave nectar, 3 tbsp arrowroot powder or substitute, and 2 tsp cinnamon. Make sure the apples are well tossed and coated with the mixture. Put into a 9X13 baking dish, and pour the 1/2 cold water over the filling. Put aside while we make the topping.

First separate the walnuts into 1 cup coarsely chopped, and 1 cup ground in a food processor. Keep the food processor out and use it to grind the 1 cup ground oats as well. Mix the walnuts, oats, and barley flour together in a bowl and set aside. Next whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup agave nectar, 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and the 1/3 cup canola oil, then pour into the bowl of walnuts and flour. Mix together until well blended and crumbly looking, it will be very sticky! Crumble the topping over the apples in the baking dish. Baking the oven for 30-35 mins until the topping is nice and brown. (Mine took 40, but I checked it at both 30 and 35 minutes marks).

We ate this without any ice cream or frozen yogurt and it was super yummy, but if you would like to add in the ice cream, the more the merrier. If you skip the ice cream, you will probably want a glass of milk!

And voila that is my meal dessert.

Tuna, Tangelo, Arugula...

Tonight we are having a very easy, but fantastic and impressive sounding meal. I'm doing seared soy sauce-marinaded Ahi Tuna over sauteed arugula and Tangelo pieces with baked sweet potato fries tossed with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and sesame seeds (these tie in the Asian theme). You're not impressed? Ok fine, well I'm impressed when I read what I am making tonight

First step is to buy a really nice piece of Ahi Tuna steak; make sure it doesn't look dull. I'm not quite sure how to explain that better, but I never buy a dull looking piece of fish. And now for the prerequisite disclaimer: "Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish or eggs may increase risk of food borne illness." Don't say I didn't warn you! We will be searing the Tuna which means it will still be raw or undercooked in the center.

First I like to marinate the Tuna in Soy Sauce, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, minced garlic, and a little pepper. My measurements depend on the size of the steak, but usually I use a 2:1 ratio of Soy Sauce to Lemon Juice, then a few glugs of olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic or more, and a few twists of the pepper grinder. Toss the Tuna steak in and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

About 25 mins before you sear your tuna, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wash your sweet potatoes and cut them into fry size sticks. Toss the sticks into a bowl with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and sesame seeds. Make sure all the sweet potato pieces get tossed well to coat evenly. Then place on a cookie sheet and put into the oven for ~20 mins. Baking time will depend on how thick you cut your sticks.

After you put the sweet potatoes in the oven take your tangelo (a tangelo is a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit, it is what i have in the house, but I think you could use any orange-like fruit here). I peel and then cut up the slices to add to the arugula once it is on the plate.

Just before you sear the tuna You'll need a big bunch of arugula, you will be surprised at how little one bunch of arugula cooks down too. Trim and wash the arugula before you throw it in the saute pan, pour in a little olive oil and 1 minced garlic clove (can you tell I like garlic, garlic in the marinade, garlic in the saute). Put in the arugula and saute on medium heat until the leaves are just beginning to wilt. Remove from heat. Put on your plate.

Now its time to sear the tuna, I'm going to use a double burner griddle that I place atop my gas stove. The heat should be on med-high and I'll sear each side for a couple of mins. Really how long you sear the tuna depends on how raw you want the center to be. Rob likes his tuna just barely seared, so usually his comes off the griddle first and my piece stays on for a few minutes. Slice the tuna with the the grain (makes for easier to cut prettier pieces) and place atop the arugula and tangelo.

Your plate should be a beautiful combination of orange, green, and pink!

And voila that is my meal tonight!

B is for Butternut

Butternut squash is one of those vegetables that until recently I thought I didn't like. Maybe my mother was correct whenever she told me I should keep trying foods I thought I didn't like, because maybe my taste will change. This has been true for a number of veggies in the past few years (Brussels sprouts, artichokes, squashes...). Of all the squashes I have tasted, thus far, butternut is my hands down favorite.

Really there is nothing like a good smooth butternut squash soup. I'll eat it any time of the year, but its the best on a chilly late autumn or winter day. And best of all, butternut squash soup lets me use my favorite kitchen gadget: the emulsion blender. I kowtow to the person who came up with this gadget, it is brilliant, it is fun, it is perfect for people who aren't into chunks in their spaghetti sauce, but that is a whole different post.

My butternut squash soup is based off of a Jamie Oliver recipe (more on him later too, sigh love him), though I'll change it up based on what I have in the house. Tonight we (my fiance Rob and I) are having a version I made and froze before Christmas. To make it you will need: 1 fairly large butternut squash, 1 med onion, 3 celery stalks, 2 carrots, 2 garlic cloves (more or less depending on your garlic preferences, 1 dried red hot chili pepper (2 if you are feeling spicy!), olive oil, salt, pepper, 8 cups of water or chicken/veggie broth. Other things I've thrown in this soup include: sage, thyme, sweet potatoes, parsnips, acorn squash, red onion, apples, cream...and that is just what I have tried. Be adventurous, what is the worst thing that could happen, it tastes bad. But I firmly believe the only way to have fun cooking and learn how to do it, is trial and error. And when something you attempt works, wow does it feel (and taste) good!

Back to the recipe, once you have everything you need, chop up the onion, celery, carrots, dried chili and garlic, toss them in your large pot with some Olive Oil. Saute until the veggies are soft ~10 mins. You don't want the veggies to brown, just soften up, so the heat should be on Medium. While the veggies are sauteing peel, halve, deseed, and chunk your butternut squash. Once the veggies in the pot are ready add the squash and water/stock to the pot, turn up the heat and bring to a boil, then simmer until the squash is soft.

And now it is time for my favorite part, turn off the heat and use your emulsion blender to blend the soup smooth, oh the fun! If you don't have an emulsion blender, you can use a regular blender by pouring the soup in in small portions (then ask for an emulsion blender for your birthday, or the next upcoming holiday, I think it makes a perfect talk like a pirate day present. Argh blend me a soup matey, no you don't think so?) After you blend salt and pepper to taste. You can serve it by itself, with grilled cheese (that is dinner tonight for Rob, with some cheese on top (marscapone, soft goat, or parmesan are super additions), or a salad (my dinner tonight), or anything else you think you might want to eat with it.

And voila that is my meal this evening.

Not just for human consumption...

I have a dog, well really my dog has me but that is a whole different post. Hendrix is about as cute as they come, one floppy ear, jowls, great tail, really a yummy package of German Shepherd/Hound mix. Once I figure out the photo posting thing, I'll post a picture, but given that I'm just now jumping on the blog train and, well, I haven't quite made it to facebook yet, don't hold your breath.

What does my dog have to do with Meals you ask? Excellent question. Hendrix is allergic to peanuts. Yes he is a dog, not a two year old toddler. Do you know that there are peanuts, or peanut butter, in innumerable dog treats! I spend my time at the pet store reading labels. And if anyone wants to give Hendrix a treat, I have to ask if there is peanut butter in it. If the answer is "I don't know" then no treat for H. Pretty sad really, as he misses out on a lot of treats (don't worry we make up for it at home). So not only will I discuss/post my meals, but you'll get a healthy dose of homemade dog treats as well! While there are plenty of peanut-free options to buy, sometimes they are hard to find, and I really like the idea of making my own organic dog treats. I have so far attempted a bacon/cheese cut out that went over very well with all the dogs who tried it. I have also made a good breath biscuit which Hendrix refused on the 2nd try, though it is Wyatt-approved (my brother's dog). I'm thinking of attempting something with liver in it this weekend...but I may chicken out and go with a turkey treat instead! Liver is scary, I would never eat it, but just the idea of its smooth texture gives me the Heebie Jeebies. But Hendrix really liked the liver treats I purchased him, so I may take one for the team, or the dog as it were.

I'm eating leftovers from last night, so stayed tuned for more Human food tomorrow.

Starting Small

Not an ambitious day on the cooking front, for breakfast "cooking" is a loose term: Low Fat Plain Yogurt with a little Kashi Go Lean. Stirring with a spoon is about the extent of my effort, but what a fantastic simple result, crunch with a smooth yogurt finish. There really is nothing like good plain yogurt. Today I tried Emmi brand, a Swiss yogurt, a little watery than I normally like, but it had a really nice soury smooth taste. Really I should be making my own yogurt, but I'll tackle that again later. Lunch was fantastic I made fresh rolls with Onions, Orange Bell Pepper, Carrot, Celery, Sprouts, and Tofu. The Tofu was lightly browned in a little Sesame Oil, which imparts a bit of a nutty flavor. I used a little jarred peanut satay sauce as a dressing, as I failed to purchase the ingredients to make my own. But all in all the whole meal was just perfect, easy, healthy, and filling. Dinner was a good old standby, chicken sprinkled with paprika baked with onion and garlic sliced in white wine and lemon juice. This never fails to produce juicy tender chicken with a nice flavor, add in steamed broccoli (still crispy to the bite) and some Harvey Grain Mix from Trader Joe's and I'm stuffed.