eggplant parmesan

The first time my parents (and I think my brother) met Nathan, he came out to Long Island and he and Matt and I went out to a medieval festival in Port Washington. We tried on chain mail head pieces and watched some cool jousting and a Maypole and then there was a fight for the crown and the queen was abducted and there was a siege of the castle with flaming arrows and oh my god what was I talking about?

Gosh that was awesome. We went back the next year and it was pretty much exactly the same, so much of the novelty had worn off, but that first year was pretty magical. And how about that first dinner with Nathan and my family?

Before the medieval fair, my dad and I woke up early and thinly sliced a bunch of eggplant, salted it and layered it between sheets of paper towels. Then we stacked some heavy books on top and let gravity do the work, pressing out the water. If you haven't guessed already, we made some delicious eggplant parmigiana.

a tale of two carbonaras

I think if my first year of blogging taught me anything, it is that I really, really, REALLY like carbonara. I wrote about no less than FOUR different versions of the dish last year. Clearly we are talking about some serious carbonara love here.

There was my father's go-to recipe passed down from my Nona, a fancy version inspired by Joel Robouchon, one with basil and sweet corn and one with Japanese flair. These were all delicious in their own way, which only served to strengthen my appetite for carbonaras of all shapes and sizes, so to speak. As we had made my family's version, Nathan insisted we make his mom's recipe, which I believe she had gotten from a professor while she was in graduate school in Berkeley. I was, of course, more than happy to give it a try, provided I got a second chance to make mine.



Here we have the two dishes side by side. Nathan's is on the left, and if you look closely you can see it is just chock full of bacon, using about twice as much as I usually do. Mine is on the right, and the addition of non-traditional cream renders it noticeably creamier. Nathan's has onions, and mine has garlic, but they are still pretty similar to one another. I'd be happy to eat either version any day of the week, but I have to admit that I'm still slightly partial to the one I grew up with, and I'm sure Nathan feels the same.




I also have the recipes as written by my dad, Carl, and Nathan's mom, Tenli. I thought it would be fun to do a side by side of the recipes in their own words.

Tenli's Carbonara

For a pound of spaghetti or other pasta, approx 12 oz bacon or pancetta, diced fairly small.
1 medium onion, diced
1 large egg
freshly grated parmesan cheese
freshly grated pepper

Cook bacon in the bottom of a large saucepan until it starts to become crispy.
Add the onions and brown them in the bacon fat (mmm) until they are dark and caramelized. Keep an eye on things so the bacon and onions don't burn, as the grease will be very hot.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta (al dente, of course) and beat the egg lightly. When the pasta is ready, drain, and add to the saucepan with the bacon mixture, pour the egg in, and toss the whole thing well. Grate pepper over it to taste, and serve w/parmesan.



The Cascone's Carbonara

(1 or 2 servings)
– cut up bacon (¼ LB) – saute with (lots of garlic
– in bowl beat 1 egg with ~ 4 tbs milk/cream
– over cooked spaghetti – combine bacon (& some bacon oil) with egg and grated cheese and minced parsley
– [reserve some spaghetti water is too dry]




As you can see, the apple doesn't fall from the tree. I get my improvisational cooking style from my father, who probably got his from my Nona, the amazing cook behind this "recipe." With improvisation also comes the inability to describe my cooking process in any great detail. I think this recipe is written for a half pound of pasta? But I just asked my dad and he says that a half pound of bacon would be a lot for a pound of pasta, so who really knows. I think the main difference between the two recipes is really that my dad uses way way less bacon. Obviously, I freaking love bacon, but I think a little goes a long way.

Luckily, with a dish like this it is easy to get great results, even if you have to wing it a little bit. I think I've given you a number of excellent ways to make carbonara that you can really play around with. There's any number of ways to make this dish your own, and I hope you won't feel constrained by traditionalist recipes. I'd love to get my hands on some real guanciale and recreate the original Roman dish, but I'll never turn down a chance to try a new and creative variation, and I hope you won't either.

scallops with avocado, tomato, scallions and cilantro

Every time a new month rolls around, I remind myself to write a blog post. It stems from the hope that I'll be able to blog every day for a month, like I did twice last year, but I don't really have it in me these days.

Anyway, I have a great summery dish for you today: scallops, avocado, scallions, lime, tomatoes and cilantro, all served up in a giant cocktail glass. This is actually something my mother usually brings to Christmas Eve dinner as one of the compulsory fish courses, and the picture below is from last year's celebration. My brother's godmother, Julie, has this fabulous giant cocktail glass that she serves this in every year, but you could just as easily use individual margarita glasses or make due with less flashy bowls. Even though it's part of our Christmas tradition, I want to share this with you all now as the ingredients certainly lend themselves to warm weather. I definitely would love to make this with the summer tomato crop!



A cold seafood salad of sorts, this is almost akin to ceviche, although the scallops are briefly cooked before being doused in citrus. What makes it a likely choice for hot weather its ease of preparation. As long as you don't mind a fair bit of chopping, this dish is a breeze– with less than two minutes of actual cooking time, you won't even have to break a sweat. Once the scallops have been simmered, you just toss it all together for a bright, colorful and delicious dish.


Scallop-Avocado Appetizer
(from USA Weekend, Eat Smart, by Jean Carpenter, 2006)

1 pound dry-pack small bay scallops (preferably those that have not been frozen)
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup sliced green onions
1 avocado, cubed
1 cup chopped cilantro
6 tbsp fresh lime juice (two lies)
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp hot pepper flakes, or to taste
¼ tsp salt, or two taste

In a small pan, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add scallops, reduce heat and simmer 1½ minutes– do not overcook. Drain and refrigerate for 2 hours. Combine all ingredients. Serve in cocktail glasses.

ricotta cheese pasta sauce/butter baked salmon

Hi boys and girls. I know it's been awhile, but I'm hoping that with the start of a new month, I can get back to posting regularly. I've got lots of interesting dishes to cover, so hopefully you all haven't forgotten about little old garlicus maximus.


creamy ricotta cheese pasta

Today I'd like to talk about two dishes that are classic Cascone family recipes. First is my Nona's pasta in creamy ricotta cheese sauce, and the second is my parents' easy baked salmon.


butter baked salmon

When I first started cooking for myself, I usually had to call up my family members and make them walk me through my favorite recipes. These two dishes were among the first I ever tried to make for myself. I remember calling my Nona from Florence in the summer of 2007 so that I could get the proper ratio of ricotta to pasta water. A few months later, in the kitchen of my last Fordham dorm room, it was my mother who got the call when I needed to know exactly what she put on her salmon. In both cases, the answers were simpler than expected. Either one of these dishes would be quite at home in a Minimalist column, or a segment on 30 minute meals. Both feature just a few ingredients and taste amazing; it's no wonder my family keeps them in regular rotation for a fast and satisfying weeknight dinner.

The pasta dish is something my dad's mom used to make for us on the fly when we arrived in San Diego jetlagged and starving. It is so good and cheesy and creamy and yummy, and it also happens to be incredibly easy. Totally craveable. The salmon is something that my parents have been making for years and years and it is probably the reason that salmon is my favorite fish. I like it because it keeps the fish nice and moist, and doesn't mask the delicious taste of fresh salmon.


Nona's pasta with ricotta sauce

To be honest, these two dishes were not actually part of the same meal. However, I did serve one of them with each of the cauliflower dishes I covered in my last entry, and both are tested family recipes that never fail to satisfy and would certainly complement one another should you decide to eat them together.

Neither recipe is something that I have down to exact science. For instance, salmon fillets vary widely in thickness, so cooking time is dependent on the size of the fillet in question, so I don't really have real specific guidelines for you. Hopefully some basic guidelines will suffice instead.

Pasta in Creamy Ricotta Sauce
Cook your pasta as you would normally, perhaps with slightly less salt than you might otherwise use. Before you drain the pasta, reserve a couple of cups of the pasta water and set aside.

To make the ricotta sauce, mix equal parts pasta water and ricotta cheese and stir in the pasta. (I used awesome tennis racket shaped noodles, as you may have noticed.) The amount of water and cheese that you use is going to vary based on how much pasta you've made obviously, but I generally just stir it all together and add more as it is needed. Then I like to add a couple of tablespoons of romano cheese and a healthy grind of black pepper. If you're my dad, then you can also add some chopped parsley for color. (I may have done that myself in the hopes of creating a better photo.) Mix it all up and serve right away.


Butter Baked Salmon
Preheat the oven to 350˚. Season your fillet lightly with salt and pepper, and dot it with a couple of slices of butter. Bake until just cooked through, which will take longer or shorter based on the thickness of the piece of fish. I prefer thinner pieces myself, which cook up in a flash, but a real thick slab can take over 20 minutes. If the fish starts out really thick and then tapers down, then sometimes you need to cut it in half and bake the thick part longer. Otherwise, this is a really simple and delicious way to really enjoy the flavor of salmon. Despite its apparent lack of pizazz, this is really one of my favorite things to eat.

what I cooked for the holidays pt 1

Thanksgiving at Aunt Cathy's

So I know no one wants to talk about holiday feasts in January, but.... I figure that since I've already killed off my limited pool of readers by over a month of silence, I may as well commit Thanksgiving and Christmas to posterity for my own peace of mind. But I promise I'll keep it brief.

I had two Thanksgiving dinners. First Mom and Aunt Cathy and I made the traditional Stetts family dinner the Monday before the big day. This involves mashed potatoes, my gravy, mom's cranberry sauce, green beans, carrots and turkey with Grandma's buttery onion-celery-white-and-wheat-bread stuffing on the side. The one updated dish we make is Mark Bittman's garlicky sweet potatoes, which Aunt Cathy introduced to widespread acclaim in 1999, when Bittman published his three hour Minimalist Thanksgiving. It's a huge improvement on the traditional marshmallow smothered variety, if you ask me!




I concluded the evening with a rather lemony apple pie. I rather overworked the dough, but it wasn't too too tough and I did make some beautiful cut out shapes to decorate the top of the pie with. It was good, but I've since reopened my search for the perfect apple pie.


as american as apple pie

What I would like to talk a little bit more at length about is this pumpkin bread pudding. I made this to bring to Nathan's stepmom's house later in the week, where it was quickly devoured the night before the big day by his step sister's friends.


raisin-studded kabocha squash bread pudding

Upon reflection, I realize that bread pudding is really the same thing as baked French toast, but since baked French toast is awesome, that doesn't seem like a problem to me. Bread pudding is pretty easy, and I used this recipe as a guide.

For my Thanksgiving specific bread pudding, I took the lead from this recipe, only I used roasted kabocha squash puree instead of that of a traditional orange pumpkin. Because kabocha squash is also called pumpkin, I called it a pumpkin bread pudding, otherwise Nathan would have been unfairly prejudiced against it. When he told me how good it was, I crowed triumphantly, having successfully overcome his silly vendetta against squash.


french toast by day, bread pudding by night

But really, if anything could make one a squash lover, it's a squashy bread pudding rich with milk, eggs, vanilla bean infused rum and cinnamon, studded with raisins, sprinkled with crunchy sugar, baked until crisp on top and fluffy on the inside, and drizzled with maple syrup. Mmmm mmmm. I'm looking forward to next Thanksgiving already!

tomato basil tart

I was really excited to share this dish with you guys. Of course, now that I've finally gotten around to it, here it is, late November, with nary a tomato in sight, and no prospect of decent ones until next summer. I cook seasonally, but I'm definitely having a tough time keeping the blog up to speed.

So yeah. Even though it is nearly December, I am going to tell you about one of my favorite dishes: Tomato Basil Tart. My mom has been making this for parties since the mid-nineties, and it is totally, wonderfully, unbelievably delicious. It's creamy and cheesy, with plenty of basil, garlic and sweet juicy tomatoes. Since it's so impressively festive in its little tart pan, mom would never ever make it just for the family. There were years of frustration, as she would whisk the finished tart off to parties, leaving me behind to salivate over the lingering aroma.

This was a minor tragedy for me, but a minor culinary triumph for mom. The dish is actually quite easy to prepare, but the end result is both polished and rustic, making it the perfect dish for company. For years, friends and family members would specifically request that she bring her tomato basil tart round to dinner parties and picnics. Just this past summer, her former volleyball coach's wife called up looking for the recipe years and years later. I told my mom this was quite the compliment, but this tart is just that good.


the greatest tomato dish

This recipe dates from 1994, when a Ms Kathleen M. Bonerb, of Glen New Hampshire, entered it in the Pilsbury Bake Off under the Fresh Tomato Ideas Category. I am not sure what the prize levels were, but I assure you that the tomato basil tart, (or Basil-Tomato Tart as she actually called it) was well worth the $200 prize it picked up. This little tart is so perfectly fantastic that I'm frankly shocked that it did not go home with the Grand Prize, which even in 1994 had to have been more than a couple Benjamins.

Anyway. You should make this. When my mom finally turned a worn photocopy of the recipe over to me, I was surprised to learn that it called for ready made pie crust and mayonnaise. I would have never thought that one of my favorite dishes could have sprung from such humble ingredients, but I wasn't about to mess with success. Ok, so I made my own pie crust. But other than that, there's very little to tinker with in this baby.


a gooey slice of tomato basil tart

I know I usually do not include full recipes on here, but today I am making an exception, because I so want you to try this for yourself. I figured this would be the rare entry that is more than a rehash of something that's already been all over the interwebs, but of course I found it on some allrecipes clone in about 10 seconds of searching. Bummer.

Anyway, I am still proud to present a family favorite, the dish that my mother is so famous for, the tomato basil tart. Here she is in all her glory, and with a couple notes from mom and from me.

Tomato Basil Tart
recipe b Kathleen M. Bonerb, winner in the 1994 Pillsbury Bake Off
Be ready. Your friends will request the recipe for this garden-fresh appetizer or entreé.

½ of a 15 oz. pkg. folded refrigerated unbaked piecrust (1 crust)
1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese, 6 oz
5 Roma tomatoes, about 12 oz
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil, leaves only
4 cloves garlic
⅓ cup mayonnaise or salad dressing*
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
⅛ t. ground white pepper **
Shredded fresh basil, optional

Unfold piecrust according to package directions. Place in a 9-inch quiche dish or glass pie plate. Flute edge; press with the times of a fork, if desired. Pre-bake according to package directions. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with ½ cup of the mozzarella cheese. Cool on a wire rack.

Cut tomatoes into wedges; drain on paper towels. Arrange tomato wedges atop melted cheese in the baked pie shell. In a food processor bowl, combine basil and garlic; cover and process until coarsely chopped. Sprinkle over tomatoes.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine remaining mozzarella cheese, mayonnaise or salad dressing, Parmesan cheese and pepper. Spoon cheese mixture over basil mixture, spreading to evenly cover the top.

Bake in 375˚ oven for 35 to 40 minutes or till top is golden and bubbly. Serve warm. If desired, sprinkle with basil leaves. Makes 8 appetizer or 4 main-dish servings.


Says Sarah: * we only ever use mayo
** I always sub in black pepper to no ill effects
Says Mom: "I have used strips of aluminum foil on pie crust edge after its partially cooked and remove when tart is cooked.

peachy blueberry muffins

peachy blueberry muffins crusted with butter, sugar and chopped walnuts

This recipe comes from my mom's best friend Julie, who is also my brother's godmother. She's the closest type of family friend. For example, we spend every Christmas Eve at her house, enjoying all sorts of Italian fish dishes prepared by Julie, her husband Jimmy and their son James. Fried calamari, penne alla vodka and stuff clams... Great cooks all of them, and my mom has certainly adopted more than one of the Frangione family recipes into our kitchen over the years.

This peachy blueberry muffin recipe is one of them, and it is without doubt a treasure. Julie told me she adapted it from Coldwell Banker of all places, adding the blueberries among other changes. Coldwell is a realtor and I guess they used to put out monthly fliers with house selling tips, one of which was to make these muffins for a summer open house. I have to say, if anything could sell me a house, it might be these muffins. They're not too sweet, and the fruit pieces burst open in your mouth like candy. The butter sugar and walnuts combine to form an amazing crunchy sweet topping, and the sour cream moistened batter is soft and delicious. Best eaten fresh out of the oven, these can get a bit soggy the second day, so it's best to revive them in the toaster before you eat them again. They work really well as muffins, but you could also bake them in a pan and cut into bars. However you make these, please don't skip them. There isn't anything better you could make with sweet summer peaches and blueberries. I'd be hard pressed to name a baked good I love more.


the fruit studded interior of a peachy blueberry muffin

My mom hadn't made these in years, probably not since before high school, but they still loomed large in my memory. Earlier in the week Nathan's grandma gave us each a pint of blueberries, (they were on sale, three for $5), and then I got peaches from my food co-op. My mind immediately jumped to these muffins. I called up my brother and asked him to scan the recipe for me. Matt actually couldn't figure out how to scan on the printer, so he took four photos of the recipe which I had to paste together. It was pretty ghetto, but had absolutely no bearing on the final recipe. When I baked these up last Saturday morning, New York was still in the middle of the heat wave from hell, but cranking up the oven and overheating my apartment before noon was still well worth it. They were just as perfectly delicious as I remembered.

Peachy Blueberry Muffins
Muffin:
1¾ cup flour
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1½ cup chopped peaches (this was three fairly small peaches for me cut into sixths that I then chopped into thirds)
1 cup blueberries
Topping:
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup sugar
¼ cup butter, soft

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder in bowl. Add mixture of eggs, sour cream, butter, vanilla, peach chunks and blueberries: mix till just moistened. Full 12 greased muffin cups three quarters full.Mix topping and sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 400° for 25 minutes.

It actually took me at least 40 minutes to bake these, and there might have been a bit too much butter in the topping, but those are only the minorest of complaints when faced with a muffin this awesomely delicious.


the blueberries turned my tongue blue

I'll be happy when I can stick out my tongue like that again. This closed mouth thing is MISERABLE.

happier times and fried zucchini

So last Monday, bursting with excitement for summer vegetables and an apartment suited for dinner guests, I cooked a summer supper for Marc, Grace and Nathan. I served the previously discussed minestrone soup, maple carrots and turnips, and a salad, but the part of the meal I was most excited about was my late grandmother's fried zucchini.


my Nona's fried zucchini

Without fail, Nona would make this every time I would visit her in San Diego. My Uncle Ed and I would fight over each and every piece, and it would never make it to the dinner table. It's simple but incredibly delicious, and I did my best to recreate it. Actually, I got a lot of help from Marc and Grace, who were excellent sous chefs for our dinner. Marc peeled carrot and Grace chopped greens for the minestrone, made a salad, and sliced zucchini into long, thin strips. Together the two of them dipped the thin zucchini slices in egg, dredged them in flour, and then passed them off to me to fry in hot vegetable oil. We made a great team, and I couldn't have gotten dinner on the table so quickly without all their help. Thanks guys!

The zucchini turned out great, although Nona's would have obviously been better. The woman could do no wrong in the kitchen, and I miss her terribly. I hope she's out there somewhere, smiling to see the joy that her peerless cooking continues to give people.


fried zucchini, a salad and maple syrup glazed carrots and turnips

To round out our meal Marc brought a couple of bottles of wine, and Grace picked up some beautiful little desserts that I forgot to photograph. Their wonderful contributions really made for a festive evening. Considering the meal was almost entirely vegetarian save for chicken stock in the soup, we were all quite satiated and satisfied. This sort of thing will really be missed now that I can't eat real food or drink alcohol. :(


Marc and his sparking red wine made for two welcome guests

Spinach Lasagna

Sarah is churlish and always whines about how she doesn't like lasagna, but I think it is great. Lasagna is one of the few foods that I don't think really benefits from meat, it's that good. Normally I would say that you could add meat to pretty much anything and it would make it better, even possibly ice cream. Even though they look good on paper, meat lasagnas never really seem to stack up to this recipe. Even Sarah admits that it is pretty good.




This recipe uses the following ingredients:

1 lb ricotta
1 1/2 c shredded mozzarella, divided into 1 c and 1/2 c
1 egg
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
3/4 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 jar tomato sauce
8 oz lasagne noodles

Yeah that's right, a jar of tomato sauce and some frozen chopped spinach, you organic pansies. The haters may hate but using these ingredients saves plenty of time/effort and I challenge you to taste the difference, especially in a situation like this where the spinach isn't exactly center stage. You guys have fun wilting and chopping your spinach and I'll be already done cooking, sitting back, just lounging and watching COPS or some shit.

Anyway, preheat the oven to 350, and mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella, the egg, the spinach, the oregano, and the pepper in a bowl. This tastes great on its own and would make a good dip if it weren't for the raw egg. Get one of those glass 9 by 13 baking pans and grease it with some cooking spray (ooohhhh shiiiit he's using cooking spray, waah waaah whatever whiners). Then begin layering. First put half a cup of sauce, then a third of the noodles, then half the cheese mixture. Then do that again. Then put the last of the noodles, whatever is left of the sauce, and the remaining half cup of mozzarella.

Now comes the most important part. Notice that I didn't boil the noodles. This is because boiling them is unnecessary - they will cook fine in the oven as long as you add water at this stage. Using the empty sauce jar as your vessel (this way the water becomes sort of saucy), pour water around the edges of the lasagna assembly, about a cup or two. Then cover the pan tightly with foil (you might want to spray the underside to prevent it from sticking). Bake for 75 minutes and let stand for as long as you can hold yourself back - in my case maybe 5 minutes but ideally like 10 or more.

There you have it, some delicious lasagna. I've had some minor issues with the bottom noodle getting a little overcooked and chewy, but nothing major. The most recent time I made this I added a lot more water and the problem was lessened. Maybe I need more sauce on the bottom? Who knows.

As I was writing this an idea struck me - what if instead of making a pure meat lasagna, I took this already successful recipe and added meat to it? I could put some pancetta in this thing or bacon, or perhaps replace the noodles with thick-cut bacon?!?! Maybe I will try this and report back.

dry rubbed ribs/zucchini and yellow squash with tomato sauce

dry rub barbecue

So couple of weeks ago I went home and my dad and I made dinner. My parents had ribs in the fridge, but we decided to try something new and try a dry rub recipe.

This turned out to be really easy. We used a lot of brown sugar mixed with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, nutmeg, mace and savory mix. Dad massaged the spice rub into the meat, let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two and then slowly grilled it to perfection.


that's the rub

Sweet, savory, spicy and delicious. No barbecue sauce required. I'm a girl who often hates ribs slathered in gloppy sticky sweet sauce, so these really were right up my alley.


zucchini in tomato sauce is a Cascone family favorite

We also made zucchini and summer sauce in tomato sauce. This is something my family has been making for years, and it's easy and delicious. Simply slice the zucchini and squash into centimeter thick rounds and simmer in your favorite tomato sauce. Serve with extra black pepper and grated romano cheese.


ribs, coleslaw, potato salad and slightly out of place zucchini in tomato sauce

Here's the whole dinner plate. As you can see we also had leftover coleslaw. You can also catch a glimpse of the potato salad with homemade mayo that I'll be talking about in my next post. I know that Nathan hasn't posted anything this month, but you'll all be stuck with me for at least two weeks longer. Boyfriend is off exploring Italy for the next two weeks, and I'm holding down the fort up in Harlem. Hopefully, this oppressive heat won't prevent me from keeping busy in the kitchen while he's gone!

spinach pancakes and "fried" chicken wings

chicken wings and spinach pancakes

My friend Becky came over for dinner a couple of weeks ago, and we made my mom's toaster oven chicken wings and some Mark Bittman pancakes by way of some food blog. We rounded things off with a little salad with grape tomatoes and my fast-becoming-standard red wine vinegar dressing. You should really give this a shot— According to Mario Batali, "a great salad dressing has great olive oil and an inexpensive red-wine vinegar."

Anyway. The pancakes were the most labor intensive part of the meal, which was pretty damn easy overall. We trimmed and washed ten ounces of spinach, and briefly sauteed it with a little garlic and oil. Then we squeezed out the water, chopped the spinach up, and mixed it into the pancake batter. This consisted of one and a half cups buttermilk, two beaten eggs and 2 tablespoons melted butter, which we mixed together and then stirred into the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, a tablespoon of sugar, half a teaspoon each of baking soda and salt, and a dash of nutmeg. Finally, we added the spinach.

We fried the pancakes up with butter over medium high heat until crisp and golden on both sides. A good rule of thumb for flipping pancakes is to wait until the surface is full of little bubbles. Becky handled our pancakes, and did a bang up job. They were great. We served them with sour cream mixed with lemon zest and some shredded parmesan. Dee-licious.

Before we started cooking the pancakes we prepared our chicken wings and stuck them in the toaster oven. I grew up eating these chicken wings, and they are so good. Crispy and moist with a delicious breading... as a kid, this seemed like perfection, and even now I think its pretty wonderful, especially since they're so easy. Obviously, these are baked, but as a kid I always assumed they were fried, and I don't think I stopped thinking of them as such until a few years ago. They are that damn good.

First, season some breadcrumbs. I generally buy a canister of plain ones at the grocery store and jazz them up with some garlic powder, black pepper, grated romano cheese, dried basil, oregano and parsley. I like to keep a container of these in the fridge for making scrambled eggs or breading pork chops, chicken cutlets or eggplant. They really do come in handy.

Once your breadcrumbs are ready, spread some out on a sheet of wax paper. Then you want to coat your wings with a little bit of mayo and then roll them in the breadcrumbs. This bit is a little gross, because your hands wind up covered in raw chicken, mayo and breadcrumbs, but once you're through it, you're basically done. Pop those wings into the toaster oven on a little tray, and cook them at 350° for about 50 minutes. So easy!

After enjoying our delicious supper, Becky and I also made ourselves a strawberry shortcake for dessert. I'm not sure if it was because we slightly undercooked it or if the recipe was just a dud, but the cake had a slightly unpleasant doughiness to it, or something. I suspect it may have been our fault as over eager cake eaters, but ultimately, it was not that good. Becky is supposed to guest blog the recipe, so stay tuned for that. Until then, I leave you with this parting shot of the two of us with our just desserts.


strawberry shortcake cream on top, tell me the name of your sweet heart

pesto

So if I had to pick my absolute favorite food, I'd be hard pressed to find one thing that I love more than pesto. It's something that I've eaten my entire life— one of my earliest memories, food related or otherwise, is sitting at dinner and struggling to twirl spaghetti in emulation of my parents. They had cut up my pasta into bite-sized strands, and I couldn't understand why it kept falling off my tiny fork. When I told my parents that I wanted to neatly twist up the long strands like they did, they stopped cutting my pesto and I became the expert spaghetti twirler you all know today.

I suppose part of the reason I like pesto so much is probably because learning to twirl made me feel like a grown up. That being said, my family's recipe for pesto is reason enough to fall in love. It's fresh and creamy, a little bit nutty, with a kick of garlic and black pepper, and plenty of basil flavor. It's actually pretty standard as pesto goes, but somehow no other iteration ever seems to come close. Some things, mom, (and dad! and nona!), does best. The method is easy, and the recipe is easily doubled for a full pound of pasta or to freeze for later.

Simply bring a pot of water to boil, and add salt and one half pound pasta. Spaghetti, linguini, penne and fusilli are all good choices. Meanwhile, wash one cup of somewhat packed basil and set aside. Combine ¼-⅓ cup olive oil, ¼-⅓ cup water, 3 tablespoons walnuts (or pine nuts if you prefer to splurge), and 1 clove of coarsely chopped garlic in a blender. Blend until smooth. When the pasta is almost ready, add your basil and blend again, until just combined. Finally, add 4 tablespoons grated cheese, (I use romano but parmesan works too) and blend one final time. Before you drain the pasta, reserve some of the pasta water to use in case the pesto is too thick. Serve with plenty of fresh black pepper and extra grated cheese.


pesto ravioli

It was my first time using our new blender for pesto, and it didn't get the sauce as smooth as I am used to. You can see some chunks of walnut and distinct pieces of basil, which isn't how it normally looks. Luckily, this effected the taste very little.

Generally, I don't favor pesto with ravioli. The pesto is such a robust sauce, and the ravioli is such a heavy pasta that I don't feel they make the best match. That being said, when you take delicious cheesy ravioli and amazingly wonderful pesto sauce, things are probably going turn out ok, which they largely did in this case. My basil was a week old and couldn't last another day, and I didn't have much else in the house besides frozen ravioli, so my hand was a bit forced. Even without a meat or protein, some ravioli and a salad made a filling and comforting dinner that I'd be happy to have any day. It is, after all, my favorite food!

irish soda bread/corned beef and cabbage

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I know that most people primarily think me as Italian, but I'm actually nearly half Irish, (with one Austrian great grandfather that I'm not really sure what to make of). When I was growing up, my mom always made a big deal over St. Patrick's Day. We'd always go into the city to see the parade, and have a great big dinner with her sister, Aunt Cathy, my grandma, and her brother, my Uncle James, among other folks. The dinner menu never varied: Irish soda bread, corned beef, boiled potatoes, steamed cabbage with vinegar, and Colman's hot mustard powder, which I only tried once and nearly incinerated my taste buds.

This meal was very different from the pasta and steak and salad variety dinners my parents would prepare the rest of the year, but it was always amazing. The star was clearly the tender, fatty, bright pink corned beef, but all the elements combined to create the perfect meal. Before this year, I had never attempted to recreate my mom, aunt and grandma's St. Patrick's Day feast, but with the holiday falling smack in the middle of the week and busy weekends on both ends, there was no opportunity to go home for my favorite annual March treat. So, for the first time, I took it upon myself to replicate it in my apartment, for what Nathan refers to as "BEEF NIGHT."

beef night

I was surprised to discover how straight forward and easy each component of the meal was. That's not to say I got everything exactly right, and nothing was quite as good as my mom/aunt/grandma would make it. Something about perfectly replicating the family classics is just impossible. However, I do feel confident in sharing the instructions with you all, should you feel so inclined to prepare an Irish American feast this evening in honor of the holiday.

First of all, set aside three and a half hours for cooking the corned beef. This is a completely painless process, as you basically leave it alone most of the time, but it does take awhile. After cooking all that time, the corned beef will definitely shrink up a great deal, so plan on a pound to a pound and a half per person. Err on the side of more so you can have awesome corned beef sandwiches from all the leftovers. The best brand, according to my mom, is Friedrich, and you should get the thin cut as it is the most tender. Put the corned beef in a pot and cover it with water. Bring it to a boil and then dump out the water and add fresh water. This keeps it from getting ridiculously salty. Then you put it back on the stove for what my mom described as a "rolling boil," for three hours. My boil was actually too boily, so watch out for that because it will make your beef a little chewy and tough. It was still delicious, but I will definitely watch the flame and the water more carefully next time. Keep it somewhere between a simmer and an outright boil and you should be fine.

all the fixins for an irish american feast

The potatoes and cabbage are super easy. I peeled the potatoes and boiled them until soft in salted water. I sliced them into rounds so they would cook faster, but my mom usually only cuts them in half. I think I got yukon gold potatoes, and they were surprisingly delicious with only some butter and freshly ground pepper. Nathan had been bellyaching for mashed potatoes instead, but ended up not missing them in the least.

boiled potatoes topped with salt, cracked black pepper, and butter

I sliced up half of a relatively small head of cabbage and cooked it with a few glugs of white vinegar and two spoonfuls of this great grainy dijon mustard that was on sale at fine fare. Of course, the flame went out and since it was on the back burner behind the pot of potatoes it was about 20 minutes before I realized why it was cooking so slowly, aka not at all. Then I obviously cranked up the flame in frustration and all the vinegar and water evaporated too quickly and the cabbage started to burn a little, even while it was still slightly underdone. Whoops. I caught it just in time though, and it was nicely flavored from the vinegar and the mustard despite the burnt-yet-crunchy quality of some of it.

The final part of the meal was the soda bread. In elementary school, my teachers would always have little St. Patrick's Day party for the class. This usually meant green munchkins, sugar cookies and bagels, but I was always called upon to bring in my mom's Irish Soda Bread. (Bridget Dormer's mom always made some too, but even though her dad was legit born in Ireland, their soda bread wasn't as good, so THERE.) I've watched my mom make this, and helped my mom make this, but this year wsa the first time that I actually attempted to make it myself. It is incredibly easy, and super delicious. Unfortunately for Matt, it is the only part of the meal that isn't gluten free, and we've yet to devise an alternative that he can eat.

In honor of it being my grandma's recipe, I will end this entry by posting the whole thing as my mother gave it to me. Like my mom, I used a full cup of raisins, and I made it without the caraway seeds that Aunt Cathy loves so much. If you don't have buttermilk, you can add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk to achieve roughly the same effect, but with a bread with so few ingredients, this is not recommended.

fresh irish soda bread

Irish Soda Bread
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins (I think I use 1 cup)
1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
About 1 cup buttermilk (better to use a little less & then add if needed)

Sift flour, baking powder, soda & salt. Add raisins & seeds. Mix to a soft dough with buttermilk.
Form into oval, cut cross on top & put on ungreased baking pan (sprinkle pan with a bit of flour). Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 10 min., reduce heat to 350 & bake about 30-40 min.

Should sound hollow when you knock on bottom of loaf.
Check expiration date on powder & soda.
If dough is sticky, sprinkle a little bit of flour on exterior.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal, and it's simple enough that pretty much anyone could handle it, although Nathan may have bitten off more than he could chew.


his eyes were bigger than his stomach

an old standby

spaghetti carbonara

One of the first things I ever tried to make myself for dinner was spaghetti carbonara. It is deceptively simple: just linguine, eggs, half and half, grated romano cheese, parsley, bacon, garlic, salt and pepper. However, the proportions of these things are extremely important. Perhaps unsurprisingly, my general tendency to wing things, which generally serves me well, often is my undoing when it comes to carbonara.

Unfortunately, this particular evening was a prime example of poorly proportioned carbonara-- dry, and short on bacon. Plus the problems were exacerbated by two less than ideal substitutions: spaghetti for linguine and a particularly pungent parmesan for romano. Nathan will disagree with me but I really feel that the creamy sauce coats the flat linguine noodle much better than it does a round spaghetti strand. That being said, I think that this linguine's biggest problem was the parmesan, which we got from Whole Foods. Normally, I use grated Romano, which is cheaper, but I'm always happy when restaurants serve parmesan. The grated cheese is a big part of the recipe, but with parmesan, it became quite overpowering. I'm not sure whether to chalk this up to simply adding too much cheese, or to the parmesan being more strongly flavored than the romano and therefore serving better as an accent than as a main component of the sauce. You live you learn, although that's not to to say it still wasn't pretty tasty.

I've asked my dad for the exact recipe for my own future reference and to also benefit our non existent readers. Unfortunately, even that's a bit sketchy on the exact ratios. What he's written down is a quarter pound bacon and "lots of garlic," one egg and four tablespoons half and half. I'm not sure how much cheese he uses, or even how much pasta that's for. I know he normally doubles those quantities, so maybe that is what he uses for a half pound linguini? Haha, I guess this is where I get my tendency to just add ingredients haphazardly without measuring. I will add that it is a good idea to reserve some of the pasta water to add to the sauce if you find that it is too dry. This probably would have helped me out on this particular occasion.

We accompanied our pasta with a fresh green salad that we made up at Whole Foods. This is generally a good plan for us since we don't have to buy a whole head of lettuce, which will often go bad before it is used up. We make sure not to add too many heavy toppings to keep the weight and by extension, the price, down. For example, we can make up a hard boiled egg once we get home if we so desire. Usually Nathan is on salad making duty, but on this night I took the helm. I used all three salad mixes they offered at the salad bar: spinach, arugula and micro greens, and topped it off with some red onions and plenty of croutons and blue cheese. I don't recall exactly, but I think we just dressed it with some simple olive oil and vinegar.


blue cheese salad

I'll leave you with a shot of the lovely Picket Fence wine that completed our meal, which Nathan got from his dad for Christmas. I won't tell you what our evening activity was that night, but the eagle eyed reader will take note of the subtle clue in the following photo.


picket fence wine