Talk About Being a Bad Hostess...

Holy crap, I'm almost late for my own party. Well no.. it's not just my party, I have the incredibly talented and gorgeous Ivonne (who is also my sister from the north) co-hosting with me at our end of summer bash La Festa al Fresco! Oh I could give you the excuses.. threw my back out.. the Daring Bakers are just booming.. it's sooooooooooo fakkin' hot out.. yeah, they all work. But to be brutally honest - I have just been a weeeeeeee uninspired lately. I had just as much time, if not more, than everyone else to cook up something fantastic to share and I dropped the ball. I hope ya'll can forgive me? xoxo But.. the good news is.. I've recently been inspired! Why yes, ladies & gents, twas JUST LAST NIGHT that the man and I, with assorted furry kids laying on top of us, were checking out Food TV and Giada's boobs amazing talent in the kitchen. She was cookin' for herself and holy cow what a feast! Even I couldn't eat all that "food for one" she made.. but it all looked fabulous. Especially this super easy dessert she made that started that lil glimmer of inspiration.. Would you look at that?? Does it not look dreamy, creamy and deliciously divine? (even for a horribly lit photo) We were amazed after tasting this tonight and I knew.. THIS WAS IT! This was what I was bringing along to the party to share with all of my wonderful friends.. Giada made hers with pineapple and pinoli nuts. Well since pineapple isn't exactly "local" or "fresh" here in the Armpit of the Midwest, I decided this would be a lovely way to use up the rest of the super sweet prune-plums we bought at a local farmer's market this weekend - and they really worked nicely with the pineapple. I omitted the nuts as we didn't have any and I was going to throw in a few cinnamon glazed cashews I bought at the market as well, but I'm a dork, and forgot 'em. :P Yes, your eyes do not deceive you - I threw in one lonely, not very flavorful, peach into the mix. :D A lil butter.. a lil honey.. caramelization begins to happen and a nice thick syrup starts to form from the butter, honey and juices of the fruit. *swoon* As soon as it's all warmed through and very lightly browned, dish it up and then plop a dollop of mascarpone cheese on top. I sweetened mine with a little powdered sugar - but Giada used a tsp. of rum in hers.. which is the way I'd go if serving this to guests. Please avert your eyes from my unsightly washing machine in the background :P Super easy, super quick and seriously super delicious.. unarguably one of the best desserts I've ever had. Now is this going to be a rockin' Festa al Fresco, or what??!! :D xoxo

Lasagna Rolls

So yesterday morning, I'm at work.. enjoying my Tropicana Coolata and a croissant while reading my blogroll (hey, they can't expect me to work until I'm fully awake, right??). I clicked on Cream Puffs in Venice, with the hope that Ivonne had posted yet another fabulous recipe, and the first thing I see is this drool inspiring picture of a slice of lasagna. Holy crap. I quickly read through her post, beautifully written as always, and then cursed my luck (or lack thereof) for not having an oven and the ingredients to make this lasagna right then and there. Drooling while reading Ivonne's site is nothing new for me. She's amazing. Simply amazing. But.. to drool over lasagna is truly amazing for me. Not a huge fan. Nope. Well let's see.. I guess that isn't entirely true. I love lasagna, but the only lasagna I've ever ate is my mom's lasagna. It's wonderful, do not get me wrong, but it's rich.. ohhhh so rich. She piles on the ricotta and thick slabs of provolone cheese between the layers, along with ground beef and my family's marinara sauce and MY GOD it's good, but I can't eat much more than a small slice of it. And then I'm good for like.. months. Ivonne's lasagna is different for me as there is no meat - which is fine with me. Also, her sauce.. she makes it by cooking veal in the sauce. I can just wrap my mind and taste buds around the concept of how much flavor that would infuse in a rich tomato sauce. Unfortunately, I don't eat veal. So I've e-mailed her with the question of what other kind of meat I could use. You see, this has turned into a lasagna emergency for me. I need NEED to make this tonight - tomorrow at the very latest. I have a flank steak in the freezer.. I'm playing with the idea of making a braciole and using that to cook in the sauce.. but I wonder if the flank steak is too lean to really impart any flavor? I'm new to the flank steak.. so if anyone has any advice, I'd sure appreciate it! So as I wait for Ivonne's reply.. I remembered that I haven't posted the lasagna rolls I made a few weeks ago. I saw this recipe on Everyday Italian, staring Giada DeLaurentiis, or as I like to call her.. The Head. I've been making these rolls for well over a year now and they are truly terrific for a quick and light lasagna fix. I make up at least a dozen at a time and freeze the extra rolls for those nights when I just don't have much time. My recipe is a little different from The Head's. I substitute ground round or italian sweet sausage (or both sometimes!) for the proscuitto in the filling mixture and I omit the bechamel sauce - since it didn't do much for us the first time I made this recipe. Lasagna Rolls 1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan 1 lb. ground round or sweet italian sausage (Or 1/2 lb. each) 2 large eggs, beaten to blend 3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for salting water 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil 12 uncooked lasagna noodles 4 cups marinara sauce 1 cup shredded mozzarella (about 4 ounces) Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat brown the meat. Once cooked, remove from heat and let cool. Whisk the ricotta, spinach, 1 cup Parmesan, cooled meat, eggs, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend. Add a tablespoon or 2 of oil to a large pot of boiling salted water. Boil the noodles until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Arrange the noodles in a single layer on a baking sheet to prevent them from sticking. Butter a 13-by-9-by-2-inch glass baking dish. Pour about 1.5 cups of marinara sauce on bottom of dish. Lay out 4 lasagna noodles on a work surface, then spread about 3 tablespoons of ricotta mixture evenly over each noodle. Starting at 1 end, roll each noodle like a jelly roll. Lay the lasagna rolls seam side down, without touching, atop the marinara in the dish. Repeat with the remaining noodles and ricotta mixture. Spoon 1 cup of marinara sauce over the lasagna rolls. Sprinkle the mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan over the lasagna rolls. Cover tightly with foil. Bake until heated through and the sauce bubbles, about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until the cheese on top becomes golden, about 15 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the remaining marinara sauce in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat until hot, and serve alongside.

Honey Ginger Salmon with Risotto

Yesterday I was up at 4 in the morning and by 6 I was bent over in pain again (ugh!) so I went back to bed and slept until 11.. holy schnikeys! Once up, I discovered that Hubbs had cleaned the house and aired out the stench of the chicken from hell of the night before. After all that sleep, I was feeling pretty good for a switch and a change.. and seeing my house freshly cleaned put me in an even better mood. Wayne's brother is up from Florida and staying with their other brother at his cabin in the woods and I knew Wayne was dying to go see them, so I begged him to just go have some fun and not worry about me, I was feeling good. Besides, this was probably going to be his only chance, as we've finally heard from bossman that Wayne will most likely have to leave for Arkansas next weekend. It will only be for a week this time, but his brother will be gone by the time he gets back. After he left I came back to the office, propped up my feet (hi doc!), and checked e-mail and my blogroll. Not long after, I started feeling the pain again but thought to myself that this is simply ridiculous. I can not do another day in bed, I've got laundry out the ying yang and I missed my kitchen so very much. So I popped a pain pill left over from surgery. I know, I know.. not following doctor's orders, blah blah blah.. but this laying in bed shit obviously wasn't helping (at least not fast enough for me) and my body was screaming for some movement. After the initial 15 minutes of feeling high as a kite (woo!), I couldn't feel the pain anymore and proceeded to get some laundry done. I was careful, made several trips with small baskets of clothes and didn't over exert myself. And I've gotta tell yas, I felt great the rest of the day. Every once in a while I'd get a pang, but nothing like the previous pain I'd been having. I accomplished quite a few chores and didn't feel any worse for the ware. Today, I feel pretty good - and am going back to work. I really think the movement did me some good, honest! :D In between loads of laundry I checked out a few of my cookbooks and decided that I wanted to cook a beautiful piece of salmon I had bought last week. While looking for a recipe, I also had Food TV on (shocker, eh?) and The Head (a/k/a Giada) was making a simple risotto that looked fabulous. So I looked through her book and found the recipe which I thought would be a great side to the Honey-Ginger salmon recipe I had decided on in the Cooking Light book. We aren't big fans of salmon in this household. I've attempted it twice now and it just never floated our boats. I sincerely think that the difference this time was the fillet I bought. Normally my grocery store carries the farm raised fish shipped in from Chile or Vietnam or somewhere equally far away. This fillet was from Alaska and was caught wild (or so the fish gal said). It was of the darkest ruby red that I've ever seen and smelled like nothing really, meaning there was no over powering fishy smell at all. Still, I only bought a 1/2 pound fillet, just because we've never been that into salmon. I cut the fillet in half, which gave us both a nice slice of fish and I marinated it as per instructions. Hurray! The fish was marvelous and although I will only buy the same fish caught wild in Alaska from here on out.. we will have it again. I'm so happy about that because I've seen so many fabulous salmon recipes that looked insanely good but I was afraid of making them. Now I know I can try them out, now that I know which salmon to buy. This was a sweet glaze, well doh! honey!, and it did pair very well with the savory risotto. The risotto was amazing.. creamy, nutty and buttery. Yum. Honey-Ginger Glazed Salmon Courtesy of Cooking Light's Annual Recipes 2006 Basic Risotto Courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis For the salmon: 2/3 c. sage honey (I used basic clover honey) 2 TBS. fresh lemon juice 2 TBS. warm water 1 1/2 tsp. grated, peeled ginger 1 garlic clove, minced 4 (6 oz.) skinless salmon fillets (1 inch thick) 1/4 tsp. salt Preheat oven to 350º F. In a small bowl, combine honey, juice, water, ginger and garlic. Pour honey mixture into a 9" x 13" x 2" Pyrex baking dish, arrange fish in pan, skinned side up. Let stand 20 minutes. Turn fish over, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and preheat broiler. Brush fish with honey mixture and broil for 7 minutes, (As you can see, the honey mixture started to burn a bit after about 5 minutes, so I took the fish out and it was perfectly done.) or until fish is browned and flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. I cut both of these recipes in half. For the risotto: 4 c. reduced-sodium chicken broth (I used a good chicken stock) 3 TBS. butter 3/4 c. finely chopped onion 1 1/2 c. Arborio rice or medium-grain white rice 1/2 c. dry white wine 1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. fresly ground black pepper 2 TBS. fresh, chopped basil (Recipe didn't call for this, so optional) In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Cover the broth and keep hot over low heat. In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 2 TBS. of the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender but not brown, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat with the butter. Add the wine and simmer, until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 c. of the simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth 1/2 c. at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes total. Remove from heat. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining TBS. of butter, salt & pepper and the basil (if so desired). Transfer the risotto to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

My spin on Eggplant Rollatini

Last week while perusing my favorite foodie blogs, I visited Weekly Dish and started drooling over this dish of Grilled Eggplant and Portabello Salad yum! So I went out and got myself some beautiful looking portabellos and a big shiny eggplant with every intention of making this delicious sounding salad this week. Alas, my big shiny eggplant was looking a lil worse for wear when I pulled it out last night to chop it up and marinate it overnight for tonight's dinner. So I decided I had better use it up right then and there to be safe. I'll put another eggplant on my list for this week so I can make the salad next week. Doesn't it always work out that way? *sigh* I was craving some kind of meat as well last night, since I've been doing the vegetable and pasta thing this week. I've been making Giada's lasagna rolls for ages now and wondered if she had done anything similar with eggplant, so I consulted the mammary book. I found her recipe for Eggplant Rollatini and I gave it a quick look and got the gist of it, but decided I wanted to combine the way I make her lasagna rolls with my eggplant. Keeper! Total keeper! The eggplant was so tender after grilling it and with the stuffing of beef and italian sausage and oohhhh the cheese, the melty ooey gooey cheese - I thought maybe I might have over powered the taste of the eggplant, but it was very present and ohhh so good =) I'm especially delighted with the way this recipe turned out as my mom is a total eggplant parmesan freak, but she's never cooked with eggplant herself and she's only found one restaurant in all of northeast Ohio that actually cooks the eggplant so that it's tender enough for her to chew. That's a good thing, that she found a restaurant, but it's kind of a bummer as well, because if we go anywhere else.. she can't have one of her favorite dishes. Well now, although it's not eggplant parmesan, I've got a dish I can make her that I know she'll thoroughly enjoy and that she can have more often. That makes me very, very happy! =) So here's my take on Eggplant Rollatini.. enjoy! Lisa & Giada's Eggplant Rollatini 1 large eggplant 1/2 lb. ground sirloin 1/2 lb. sweet italian sausage (or use hot if you want a spicy kick) 1 (15 oz.) tub of ricotta cheese 1 (1 lb.) bag of fresh baby spinach (or a 10 oz. box of frozen, chopped spinach - thawed & squeezed until dry) 2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce sliced Provolone cheese (or mozzarella or any good melting italian cheese) Pecorino Romano cheese olive oil salt & pepper to taste Preheat the oven to 375º F. Slice the eggplant length wise about 1/8 inch thick. Place your slices on a cookie rack that's been placed over a jelly roll sheet and sprinkle both sides generously with kosher salt. Let sit for about a 1/2 hour so the salt can bring out some of the water in the eggplant and reduce the bitterness of it. While you are waiting for that, brown your sirloin and sausage and chop the spinach. (By all means, you can use frozen, chopped spinach - just thaw it out and make sure you've squeezed all the water from it - I usually place the thawed spinach in a clean kitchen towel, wrap it up tightly and squeeze all the water out that way) Once the meat has browned, combine it in a large bowl with the spinach, ricotta, romano (wanna know how much? Hmm.. how much do you like cheese? Use as much or as little as you'd like - I like! So I probably used a good two handfuls), salt and pepper, set aside. Heat a grillpan or your broiler. When the eggplant is done sitting in the salt, rinse it really well and place on paper towels, blotting excess water from them. Drizzle olive oil on the side of eggplant that you'll be putting down on the pan and then drizzle the tops with a little more olive oil. Grill each side for approximately 3 to 4 minutes, or until they are tender. Now it's time to assemble your rollatini. I took my eggplant off the heat and placed them on a cookie sheet and then spread about 2 TBS of the beef/cheese/spinach mixture of them and rolled them up. It was kind of messy but kind of fun as well =) Place 1 1/2 c. of your marinara in a 9" x 13" baking dish and then put the rolls on top. Spoon the remaining 1/2 c. of your marinara over each rollatini and then place a slice of the provolone on each. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Take the foil off and either bake for another 5 minutes to brown the cheese or if you just can't wait another 5 minutes (like me!) turn on the broiler to brown it quicker :D I served this with a simple salad of leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes and yellow bell peppers dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and about a tsp. of good garlic salt. Yum! *Note: I only got 7 rollatini from my eggplant and had about a good 2 c. of beef mixture left over, so if you have a large family, use 2 eggplants. I didn't want to waste the beef mixture, so while my rollatini was baking, I boiled 4 lasagna noodles until they were al dente and then made 4 lasagne rolls, which I froze for another time.

Send off...

Sunday was Wayne's last day home before having to head back to Arkansas. We had a great weekend, though =) Friday we lounged and were generally lazy. Saturday we checked out Trader Joe's and went to one of our favorite markets. Trader Joe's was a bit of a disappointment. After reading about it on so many blogs, I was really excited to see this place. Maybe ours is a smaller store? I'm not sure.. but there wasn't too much of a variety of uncommon items. I did score some vanilla beans and a tiny bottle of saffron though! So that was cool. I've learned about so many products from reading all of these blogs, things that make me drool.. so when we hit Miles Farm Market and I really looked through all of their gourmet items, I was surprised and tickled pink to find quite a few items I've been reading about! Mainly, a nice selection of Stonewall Kitchen goodies, Valrhona chocolate (party on!) and San Marzano tomatoes (which no grocery store near me carries) - so it was a great day of foodie treasure finds =) Sunday morning was spent scouring the city for the best buy on a Dyson "Animal" vacuum. Yep we finally broke down and paid the big bucks for a freakin vacuum. Chloe, although Mommie's girl, has blown me away with the hair she sheds. My gawd. I've never owned a larger breed dog.. that sheds. And. Sheds. My lil Bissel would literally use it's attachment hose to hold on to the inside of the closet making me force it out to try and keep up with Chloe's shedding. Poor lil guy. So we decided to retire him and buy the big gun. Now.. I'd like to say right off the bat that it was money well spent, as it picked up hordes and hordes of hair like a charm.. but still, for that kinda money? It really should make me dinner and do my laundry as well. I wanted to make Wayne one more home cooked meal before he had to go to the airport and I wanted it to be something he could take and snack on during his trip annnddd it didn't hurt if it was a brunch type meal, because I want to contribute something to Weekend Cookbook Challenge and I figured I wouldn't have an opportunity for Easter brunch this year. Although I find Giada De Laurentiis' mouth freakishly huge - almost to the point where I can't watch her - I do like her cooking =) I chose to make her Mini Fritattas with a side of Miles Farm Market's honey cured bacon and Great Harvest's Apple Pie bread, lightly spread with butter and cinnamon sugar and then grilled. The frittatas were fabulous. They puffed up beautifully, were perfectly seasoned and had a really creamy texture. The bacon was a nice compliment as it was both savory and sweet and the apple pie bread was warm and gooey, yet crispy from the cinnamon sugar coating. Yum! Mini Frittatas courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis Recipe can be found here Mini Frittatas My only changes were I halved the recipe, used a regular size muffin tin, diced the ham into little cubes and subbed baby spinach in lieu of the parsley.