For some reason during Thanksgiving week, I thought it would be a good idea to make homemade gnocchi. On a weeknight. Crazy talk, people. But what are you going to do when you have an envie?
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So you know how it goes. The kids go back to school and maybe you are feeling a little guilty about the fact that you are SO EXCITED that they are back in school or maybe you are just an over achiever and you decide that you want their first day to finish with an amazingly tasty meal. You start early. You prep, you sauté, you cook. You show up to the table with a beautiful meal and everyone is all smiles. Does this sound familiar to you? Yep. Me neither.
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Does absence make the heart grow fonder with blogging too? I sure hope so. I realize that it seems like I’ve been a bit out of touch, but really, I’ve been right here in my very kitchen processing fruit. Lots and lots of fruit. I will be posting about the fruit shortly, but for now, can we talk about one of my favorite subjects? That’s right, pasta.
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My Aunt Debra can GROW some tomatoes. I’m sorry for shouting but I have never seen so many tomatoes in all my life. Ok, maybe I have seen that many tomatoes at the farmer’s market (and of course in a 1970s-ish cult movie which shall remain nameless), but not in someone’s yard. I am clearly friends with the wrong people.
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Warning: The photos of this meal do not represent in any way how tasty this meal actually was. Sometimes, you just have to trust the chef who is still very much behind on her food styling and photography skills.
This week’s menu called for some serious grilling. It is summer and it is time to cook outside. Oh, but did I mention that it is snowing as I write this? In the middle of June? What the heck am I doing living here?
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I saw a photo of spring pea farro salad from What’s Gaby Cooking on Instagram and I had to make it. I actually wanted to make it the very day that I saw it except that I don’t live in Los Angeles, and our farmer’s markets are open yet, and there are no spring peas or pea shoots to be had in the mountains in April. And I almost couldn’t find farro. It’s ok, though. I persevered. Anything for a good meal.
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Can I start by stating the obvious? Construction projects are not fun. Don’t get me wrong, the results are great. But be honest. If you were putting an outlet in a white island, what color would outlet would you use? Black, of course. Any fool knows that. I mean, you want the very first thing that your eye is drawn to in the kitchen to be the island outlet. Really? Black outlets on a white wall? You would also paint over gouges in the wall without patching them in hopes that no one would notice the gouges that were already pointed out to you. Let’s just say I was NOT at my personal best in terms of behavior yesterday.
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There is something about the crust of Roman or Neapolitan pizza that is absolutely amazing. It is at once crispy and chewy, with just the right amount of salt. We’ve been trying to perfect that pizza for the last three years. We are getting closer, but still have yet to master it.
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It would be seriously amazing if I could just once pick a recipe for which I didn’t have to substitute ingredients because I live in the middle of nowhere. Of course, it isn’t the middle of nowhere’s fault. I should totally read the recipe before planning to cook it. This would leave me with nothing but chuck roast and mashed potatoes but I digress.
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We did a little switcheroo on the menu tonight because we are taking the kids night skiing tomorrow. Night skiing. How did they get old enough to go night skiing?
Anyway, through no intentional planning, I served spring on a plate tonight. We switched Tuesday night's tacos for Wednesday night's Italian. Both the penne and the asparagus salad were incredibly light but flavorful. This dinner was very refreshing, especially after last night’s burning man. I wasn’t sure how I felt about raw asparagus salad. I know. I’m the one who planned to make it, but I still wasn’t sure. And while my associates did an excellent job juicing lemon,
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This meal is not for the faint at heart. And it requires some tools. And a lot of time. But it is worth it.
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I’ll admit. I picked this recipe for chicken Milanese based solely on the photo. I scanned the ingredients, recognized that I had everything but arugula already and figured it couldn’t be that hard. This recipe was ridiculously easy. And for those of you like me who don’t actually read, let me just say now that this chicken is BAKED. In a good way.
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You have to love a recipe that says, “Cook…until 2 minutes from al dente, and then…” If I knew when 2 minutes from perfect was, I could rule the world.
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We made a slight deviation from the original meal plan last night. Both the planned recipe (Barley Soup with Chicken and Pancetta) and the actual recipe (Stuffed Chicken Thighs, La Cucina Italiana, January/February 2014, page 27) are Italian. And both call for chicken thighs and pancetta. But you know, sometimes you just aren’t in the mood for soup. And sometimes you have more people for dinner than you anticipate. And they are teenage boys so you can’t very well serve them soup or they will be hungry in five minutes. You improvise. Maybe you turn three pages back in the magazine that you took out for dinner and hey, there’s something that looks tasty. It’s tough work, this kitchen gig.
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Remember weeks and weeks ago (ok, a month ago) when I said we were going to have meatloaf for Christmas dinner? Yep. We did. And it was amazing. It’s probably about time that I write a review of that dinner because you should make every bit of it.
Just for the record, meatloaf does not photograph well. It’s rather camera shy. At least for amateurs. That and I was so busy actually cooking in the kitchen that I assigned one of my sous-chefs the photographer roll. While he got some very creative shots, the color was not exactly in the appetizing category. More like old Chinese take-out menu. Totally not his fault as I didn’t change the camera settings before handing him the camera. Oh well. Never mind the photos. The food was outstanding.
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Cacio e Pepe is a traditional Roman pasta dish. It is more than just a fancy way to say spaghetti with cheese. It is the best dish on the planet when done right. If you are in New York, go to Lupa in the Village and try their Cacio e Pepe (as a bonus, the last time we ate at Lupa, we sat two tables away from Alan Rickman). If you are in Rome, you can order it anywhere. Do yourself a favor and try this dish at a café (aptly) called Cacio e Pepe. There is no menu and no English and it is (or at least was) cash only. But go anyway. This is where I first fell in love with the simplicity and amazingness of cacio e pepe. It is also where an amazing Italian couple sitting at the table next to us held our six month old twins while we ate so that we could enjoy the meal. And it is where my husband and I both forgot our wallets (traveling with twins, people), resulting in his high tailing it across Rome to get said wallet while I sat at the table with both babies and hoped he would make it back before dinner was served. Did I mention that neither of us speak Italian?
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