Spaghetti Squash

I have had this wonderful spaghetti squash for a couple of weeks now, and I am ready to use it.  I decided to make it simple and saute it with garlic and parsley.  Everything tastes delicious with g and p, nes cafe?  Then I will sprinkle it with more parsley and some grated parmigiano reggiano.  Lovely.

We visited Wholefoods the other day, and picked up some of their sweet Italian sausage.  They are fantastic.  Trust me, you won't be disappointed.  I also had three stray potatoes staring at me from the bowl on the counter.  I had to use them, and I felt a plan forming in my hot little head.  Well, the A/C was on, so I wasn't really hot.

I chopped the parsley and grated the cheese.  Then I filled a small side dish with a combo of the two.

So let's start with the super cool spaghetti squash.  I cooked it in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour.  I removed it and let it cool.  Then I cut it in half and scooped out the seeds.  Then I took a fork and removed the spaghetti strands little by little.  I apologize for not having a picture of that.  But picture the seeds you see below all cleaned out.  Then you simply take a fork and scrape from top to bottom.  They come out really easily.  If they are not coming out easily, put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so.

Heat a pan with EVOO and a tablespoon of butter.

Toast some garlic over medium high heat, and remove it when golden.

Add the chopped parsley.

Plop the lucious strands of spaghetti into the pan with the oil and parsley.

Saute for about 2 minutes, or until nicely warmed.

Now for the trio of potatoes.  I cut them into small pieces and coated them with EVOO, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  I placed them on a heavy duty piece of tin foil that I had coated with PAM cooking spray.

Wrap it up tightly and place it on the grill for 40-50 minutes, depending on the temperature of the grill.

YUM!

YUM!

AND YUM!

If it were up to UD, I would sprinkle everything with the grated parm, but I only lavished it on the squash.  It was delicious and it was very much appreciated.  Thank you to our Rocky Coast vacationers, who brought it our way.  Merci Beaucoup!

A bientot!  See you soon.

Bready Should Be A Word.

Because of these two products, I decided to make a sweet and savory chicken salad.  This dressing, Newman's Own Light Raspberry & Walnut, is sensational.  We are using it almost exclusively right now.  UD occasionally veers back to Blue Cheese, and I sometimes return to a delicious French Catalina dressing.  But not very often, I assure you.  The glazed pecans add a fantastic crunch and sweetness to a crisp romaine or red lettuce salad.  But now on to the chicken salad.

I marinated 3 half chicken breasts in the light raspberry dressing for 2 hours.  UD grilled it to perfection as usual.  But for a shortcut, you could always get a roasted rotisserie chicken at the supermarket.  Especially if you like some dark chicken meat in your chicken salad.

The other things you will need are:

Mayo, or my marvelous mayo mixture demonstrated here.

Celery

Red onion

Fresh chives

A couple of palm fulls of glazed pecans

Heavy sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds

Kosher salt

No pepper here people.  I know, SHOCKING.  UD and I are such fans of freshly ground black pepper, it almost seems impossible that I am not using it.  There are just a few things that I think are better without pepper.  This is one of them, because it is sweet.  Another is red sauce.  More about that another time.

Chop the chicken, celery, onion and pecans into small pieces.  The size you want is really your decision.  Remember, you are the cook.  What you say goes!  Power to the preparer!!!

Use a heavy hand when you add the toasted sesame seeds and also add some fresh chopped chives.  We are here to brighten out lives, after all.  And fresh Herbs do just that.  Nes cafe?

Mix all these ingredients together, before you add the marvelous mayo mixture.

 Then add 3 or 4 small dollops.

Mix together well.

I try to make it the day before I am going to use it.  The flavors marry together and it is just that much tastier.  So I transfer to another bowl and refrigerate until tomorrow.

Yay!  Tomorrow is here.  Time to make the donuts, I mean sandwiches!  I love to use a baguette for hearty sandwiches.  Or as we called it when I was a kid, French bread.  It is delicious, but rather bready.  I scoop out some of the inside, so most of what you have is just the crunchy crust. 

Add a leaf of romaine lettuce and lots of chicken salad.  Garnish with tasty corn or potato chips and you will have a nice crunchy delicious lunch.

I wrote this post on 9/11/11.  The tenth anniversary of the travesty that our country endured.  I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about it, but in a timely post today, Sister E spoke seemed to speak for me.  Thank you Sister.  You said it beautifully.

A bientot!  See you soon.

Sweet Potato Redemption

Back in July I was preparing a dinner that included three side dishes.  Two were bien, and the other was deplaisant.  That side dish was sweet potato fries, and I will tell you right now... I refuse to let them get the best of me.

So I am back for round two.  I know the problem was that I burnt them because I was just not paying attention.  But for round two, I wanted to try out other ways to do sweet potato fries.  This one caught my eye.

All you need is:
2 Sweet potatoes
Kosher salt
Sugar (the recipe calls for 1-2 tablespoons, but I only used two potatoes, so I used about 2 teaspoons)
Paprika (or other suggestions listed in the recipe)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Peel the potatoes and cut them in half length-wise.  Then slice into 1/2 inch thick half moons.  I like this method so much better than making them into long thin traditional french fry shape.  You are more apt to get a consistent size all around, which means they will all cook evenly.

Add EVOO to lightly coat, and then season with salt.

Add the sugar and paprika.  Just sprinkle the paprika until the wedges are lightly coated.  Toss everything together.

Lay the potatoes out on a foil lined sheet pan.  Spray the foil with PAM to avoid sticking.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.  Always be sure to preheat your oven.  After 15 minutes, flip the fries and continue cooking another 10-15 minutes.

Then serve and enjoy.  These truly were addictive.

Redemption at last!

A bientot!  See you soon.

You Will Never Miss the Meat

My nephew T has inspired me to try more vegetarian meals.  He does not eat meat or seafood, as you may have guessed when I snuck the shrimp into some fried rice I was doing for his mother to follow.  He is a boy with conviction and compassion.  And I am very proud of him for that.  So after talking it over with UD, we decided that we would have at least one meat-free dinner a week.

I often see recipes for vegetarian meals that sound fantastic, and recently I even heard one on the radio.  I was driving to the supermarket for just a few items.  On the way there I heard a radio program whose subject was food and food related topics.  The host was commenting that people often ask for recipes, and that is not really what the show is about.  But for some reason, on this day, he decided to share a recipe.  It was for Eggplant Parmesan.  As I sat in the supermarket parking lot taking notes, I realized I was going to do whatever had to be done to have it that night.  It just sounded that good.

Then the reality hit.  I had never worked with eggplant and I was seriously intimidated.  At the end of this process I realized there were things I would probably do differently.  I will mention what they are as I go along.

You will need:
Eggplant (1st change: I used two large eggplants, but in the future I would use 2 small Japanese eggplants.  I learned that they are tastier and have fewer seeds.)
Flour
Eggs
Panko Breadcrumbs, Italian Style
Jarred or Homemade Tomato Sauce
A wedge of Pecorino Romano cheese (Side note: I thought I had some, but I only had Parmesan Reggiano, so I used that.  I honestly think either is fine, so use your fav.)
Fresh Mozzarella cheese
Fresh Basil

Peel and slice the eggplant about 1/2 inch thick.  (2nd change: I would slice the eggplant in the other direction to get round discs.)

I  have heard that with the Japanese eggplants you do not need to salt them to remove excess moisture.  These I salted and let sit for about 30 minutes.  Then I blotted them with paper towels.

So basically you are going to coat these the way you do for any breading process.  Flour, eggs and breadcrumbs.  But here is a part of the recipe that I thought was a great idea.  Once you have beaten the eggs, add some freshly grated cheese and some ribbons of fresh basil.

That is really adding some great flavor to the egg step, nes cafe?

Then lay out your assembly line.  Flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper first.  Then the egg mixture, and finish with the Panko breadcrumbs.

Then lay them on a dish or a rack while you finish the rest.

Heat some Extra Virgin Olive Oil over medium high heat.

Brown the eggplant on both sides.  Add more oil as needed.

When you are finished, remove the eggplant from the pan and set aside.  Lightly coat the bottom of a casserole dish with tomato sauce.

Then add some more tomato sauce over the eggplant.

Sprinkle generously with freshly grated cheese and repeat with another layer of eggplant.  (Third change: I would do just one layer of eggplant, in order to make it a lighter serving size.)

Top it all with fresh mozzarella.

Bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour.  If it were just one layer I would probably take it out after 45 minutes.

You can serve it right from the casserole dish, or transfer it into a serving dish.  Sprinkle it with chopped fresh parsley or basil.

Add more sauce on top if desired, and serve it with a side salad, or pasta.  And my promise to you - you will never miss the meat!

A bientot!  See you soon.

Luscious Corn Goodness

UD and I eat a lot of corn-on-the-cob during the summer.  And we always wish it were here year round.  But alas, mother nature has other plans.  So I am going to do something about that.  I am going to freeze some fresh corn and have it off-the-cob all winter long. 

The two main ingredients are corn-on-the-cob and salt.

Shuck the corn and set it aside.

Get a large pot of water boiling, and add lots of salt.

Put the corn in and bring it to a second boil.  Let it boil for 2 minutes.

Take it out, and let it cool.  Repeat as needed, depending on the amount of corn you have.

Start with a large and a small bowl to avoid run away kernels while scraping the cob.

Invert the small bowl into the larger bowl.

Place the cob on the bottom side of the small bowl. 

Side note:  Let's give a hand to our always willing hand model, UD!

Take a sharp paring knife and place it at the top of the cob.

Scrap in a downward motion.

And let the bowl trap all that luscious corn goodness.

As the bowl fills, transfer the kernels into another bowl and keep on going until every cob has been dealt with.

I used a measuring cup to transfer the corn into zip bags.  Then I added 1 teaspoon of water to each bag.  Make sure to get as much air out of the bag as possible, and zip 'er up!

From 18 ears of corn, I yielded 12 cups of corn kernels.  Not a bad ratio in my estimation.

So now I can rest easy and know that anytime I need a taste of August, it is ready and waiting for me.

A bientot!  See you soon.