Sorry for the break in posting! I moved into a new apartment and had to get everything up and running before I could go back to cooking. I still don’t have everything set up (which is why my photos are a bit crummy). I now have a gas stove (woo hoo!) and a ton of storage for all my random kitchen gadgets!
On my first night of unpacking some kitchen stuff, I was able to make a favorite of mine for dinner: risotto! I adapted the recipe from a Cooking Light recipe and just fit it to my seafood tastes and what I could find.
Ingredients:
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (10.5-ounce) can of white clam sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup chopped shallots
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
the juice of 1 lemon
2/3 cup grape tomatoes, halved
4 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 dozen clams
1 cup cooked mussel meat (or you can buy mussels and put in the same time as the clams)
Let’s be honest, one of the best parts of Super Bowl Sunday is the food. Although I’m excited to hang out with friends as we root for (so far) the most successful graduate in our class (Go Flacco!) and watch some amazing commercials, I’m more focused on the tasty treats that come along with the viewing.
I’ve been in the Football Food spirit for a while now. Last week, Land O’ Lakes and Rebecca of Foodie With Family hosted a webinar all about food for the big game.
We discussed a bunch of different group-friendly snacks, which ones travel well to other locations, and even how to keep food safe while it is sitting out during the game. Land O’ Lakes has a great round up of game day favorites, so be sure to check it out for some inspiration here. I learned a lot, but I was unfortunately kind of distracted. Why? Because the first darn photo they showed me was of a Pull-Apart Party Loaf.
Look at that loaf!
I loved it so much, I made a test batch of my own to share with you! I also received a nifty prize package for participating, plus one to give away, woo hoo! More on that below…
So this recipe is one created in the Land O’ Lakes Kitchen. Original recipe can be found here.
After all the pasta, meat, and desserts I’ve had over the past, oh, month, I think it’s about time to switch back to some seafood recipes.
This is actually two different recipes from Cooking Light but I thought they’d be fantastic together. The Sweet Orange Salmon recipe is so easy and quick to make and the Browned-Butter Orange Couscous can be whipped up in no time as well!
Ingredients
Salmon:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
Cooking spray
Orange wedges
Couscous:
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
I realized I have never posted a recipe for crab cakes. That is ridiculous! So today’s the day. I found this recipe for Crab Cakes with Spicy Remoulade in one of my Cooking Light recipes and altered it a bit for what I happened to have in my pantry.
Oh pasta, how I love you. Pasta, or any Italian food for that matter, is my ultimate comfort food choice. I was sent Lidia Bastianich’s newest cookbook: Lidia’s Favorite Recipes– 100 Foolproof Italian Dishes, from Basic Sauces to Irresistible Entrees, which after my first page through, I already knew would be one of my favorite cookbooks. Lidia Bastianich obviously knows her Italian dishes, she’s been in the cooking industry for most of her life; she has a number of best-selling cookbooks, owns 6 restaurants, and is basically the face of Italian cooking on PBS. I’m also happy to let you all know that I will be giving away one copy of this awesome cookbook! More on that after the recipe…
The cookbook makes Italian recipes approachable. A lot of the recipes include childhood favorites of mine, Chicken Parmigiana, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Italian Wedding Soup. There are recipes that the photos look so fantastic I can’t wait to try them (I’m specifically talking about the rice balls. Oh. My. Goodness.)
But I had to test out the cookbook with my favorite Italian staple: a pasta dish. The Tagliatelle with Wild Mushroom Sauce sounded just wonderful. But something didn’t want me to make this recipe. My supermarket didn’t have wild mushrooms or tagliatelle! Well, the show must go on. This is my somewhat adapted version of the recipe, Pasta with Wild Mushroom Sauce.
“The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it. … If you’re convinced that cooking is drudgery, you’re never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen.”
– James Beard
James Beard is basically the father of American cooking as we know it today. He, along with the beloved Julia Child, is basically the “foodie” community’s version of The Beatles. As Julia Child put it, “in the beginning, there was James Beard.” So when I was offered to review a new compilation of some of his best recipes, I couldn’t wait to dig in. The cookbook, The Essential James Beard Cookbook: 450 Recipes That Shaped the Tradition of American Cooking is in stores beginning today.
The cookbook is filled with what we think of today as quintessential recipes: coleslaw, potato salad, pot roast, chicken pot pie. But James Beard’s travels through France as well as inspiration from the Chinese cooks who worked at the hotel his mother owned. Each page is filled with both new and different recipes as well as classic approaches to everyday food (ex. roasting a chicken). The editors did a great job of going through and adding notes to help enhance the recipes as well, including insight into what an ingredient is and what can be substituted.
I really had a tough time choosing a recipe to do this post. It’s really tough to pinpoint what James Beard is known for, because, well, he’s known for everything! I finally settled on his Cream of Tomato Soup recipe.
This recipe, passed down from his mother, is a classic comfort food choice. I loved the idea of making a family recipe and was intrigued by the process. (The onset of Hurricane Sandy may also have had some input into my decision.)
Ingredients:
2 28-oz cans of Italian plum tomatoes, undrained
1 cup Beef Stock
1 small yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 whole cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups heavy cream
Chopped fresh basil or fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
This recipe is adapted from James Beard’s The Essential James Beard Cookbook
Salmon and salad are a great healthy go-to on a weeknight. You can have your meal on the table in under 20 minutes! This salad is a nice alternative to your traditional salads. Made with four different herbs and spicy arugula, the salad adds a ton of flavor to the crispy salmon. The lemon dressing is fantastic as well! This recipe is from Cooking Light’s cookbook: The New Way to Cook Light.
My CSA share this week came with the most beautiful carrots. I am not the biggest fan of carrots but I don’t mind them mixed into a dish. These were too pretty to not use! Cooking Light had a recipe in its latest issue that sounded really intriguing: Champagne-Browned Butter Chicken. The dish is pretty simple to make, although it takes a good hour and a half so this is not a weeknight meal. But the presentation is definitely snazzy enough for company!
Do you remember the first recipe you learned how to make? One that was probably so simple, but made you so proud when you had completed the dish? Mine (besides grilled cheese) was a chicken recipe my mom referred to as “Chicken a la Simon and Garfunkel” based on the lyrics in their song Scarborough Fair:
Are you goin’ to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there,
she once was a true love of mine.
I knew the song so I was able to help make dinner by seasoning the chicken and keeping my mom company while humming the tune to the song (which I have to assume was more of a distraction than a help.. I’m a truly awful singer and I’m sure that translates into a truly awful hummer as well).
I figured this was as good as any time to learn how to roast a chicken. So I settled on Cornish game hens seasoned and stuffed with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. I also made a “Scarborough Fair” Risotto to go with the chicken.
Ingredients: (I was making this for a family dinner but lowered the amounts to happily feed 2. Multiply as needed).
2 Cornish game hens
1 tablespoon each of dried parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (divided)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 lemon
4 sprigs each of fresh parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
As soon as the weather begins to move into fall, I begin to think of all the hearty meals I will be making in the upcoming months. A slow cooker is such a helpful tool during colder months, it allows you to make a bunch of servings all by dropping them in a pot and just waiting. Slow cooking tough cuts of meat also turns them into the most tender fall-off-the-bone protein. I’ve never tried osso buco before, but a slow cooker version sounds basically idiot proof, so I decided to make it. I actually put this together Sunday night and when I woke up the next morning, spooned out a portion for lunch that day and froze the rest. What a great way to start the week!
I had a heck of a time finding some ingredients despite them being pretty common. So I kind of fudged some of the ingredients. For the original recipe, check it out here.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
About 5 pounds veal (go for the cheaper cuts—its usually made with veal shank but they were all out at my market – I used cubed veal and one veal loin chop so that there was some bone)
2 teaspoons butter, divided
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 cups coarsely chopped red onion
1 ½ cups chopped celery
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups beef broth
2 cups dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon minced anchovy fillets (the original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon anchovy paste)
Hummus is probably my favorite snack. On days I don’t feel like cooking, I tend to grab some hummus with pita, tomatoes, cucumbers, or anything else that will work as a yummy vehicle for the hummus. It’s also really delicious as a spread on a sandwich instead of mayo. So I usually have at least one container of hummus in my fridge at any moment. But homemade hummus is exponentially better than the store bought stuff. Plus, you can customize it to your liking.
I recently watched a video of the hummus master himself, James Beard winner Michael Solomonov. Mike Solo has arguably the best hummus found in Philly, at his restaurant Zahav. I wanted to attempt to make my own creamy hummus at home. I tend to like mine slightly spicy, which can be achieved by adding a lot of garlic. But I have this awesome Nudo Chili Olive Oil, so I thought I’d include that to give it a bit of a kick, so I decided to make this Chili Oil Hummus!
.With Julia Child’s 100th birthday fast approaching, the food blog world has been celebrating in the best way we know how: honoring Julia Child through her recipes. I am currently reading a book about her life called Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz. (I will have a review of this book when I’m finished reading). I just got to the chapter which describes Julia’s first encounter with French food. Her first meal in France was Sole Meuniere, a simple but absolutely delicious dish. I couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I made a slightly altered version of Julia’s version over spaghetti. I wanted to make it with sole, but my market was all out. Hake is a similar fish, so I substituted it for the sole, so I bring you Hake Meuniere over Spaghetti.
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh spaghetti
3 skinless and boneless hake or sole fillets, 4 to 6 ounces
My CSA this year allows me to choose 6 items each week to be in my share. Every single time so far, I’ve chosen zucchini as one of the six. I just love it. But with 3-4 pieces of zucchini a week, I am absolutely in search of as many different recipes as I can find. Cooking Light’s latest issue had this wonderful recipe for Snapper with Zucchini and Tomato that I just had to try. They also suggest pairing it with some Parsley Orzo. Note: this recipe makes 2 servings. Multiply as needed.
I am a pasta addict. I love it. I will never ever be carb free because I don’t want to know what life is like without pasta. I am a huge fan of fresh pasta because 1. I personally think it tastes better and 2. takes about half the time to cook. When Buitoni contacted me about a new ravioli they were introducing (it should be available in early July), I was already sold. But then they told me what kind of ravioli it is: Chicken Marsala Ravioli. Chicken Marsala is one of my ultimate favorite recipes so I was beyond excited to work with this ravioli!
The Ravioli, “generously filled with all natural white meat chicken, roasted portobello mushrooms and caramelized onions with impastata ricotto, aged parmesan, and asiago cheeses accented with marsala wine”, is one of Buitoni’s new Riserva line of pastas. Other pastas include: Butternut Squash Agnolotti (which I will have a post on soon!), Chicken and Four Cheese Ravioli, Spicy Beef and Sausage Ravioli, Quattro Formaggi Agnolotti, and Wild Mushroom Agnolotti. How fantastic do they all sound?? The Butternut Squash Agnolotti and the Chicken Marsala Ravioli are only available in the Northeast, but the rest are available in grocery stores nationwide. Look for them in the refrigeration section, you can see if your store carries Buitoni products here.
This pasta would probably be fantastic just with a light butter sauce, but I decided to highlight the flavors of the ravioli that were already present in the pasta through a marsala sauce with mushrooms. Caramelized onions and marsala can both be pretty sweet, so I added some spinach to the mix to counteract that. Buitoni was also generous enough to send me a Buitoni apron, a Buitoni cutting board, and a few free coupons so one lucky winner can try these new pastas themselves! More information is below…
Ingredients:
1 package of Buitoni Chicken Marsala Ravioli
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves (or 1 garlic scape), minced
1 package of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 package of shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
1/4 lb pancetta, cubed (or prosciutto, that was actually my original plan!)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 tsp or less of truffle oil (optional)
Parmesan cheese, grated, as garnish
Parsley, chopped, as garnish
Begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil.
While waiting for the pot of water to boil, mince your shallot and garlic. I used a garlic scape from my CSA share, it’s perfectly fine to use garlic cloves. Slice your mushrooms. Be sure to remove the stems of the shiitake mushrooms, they can be really woody tasting.
In a large saute pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. (You’re adding pancetta or prosciutto to this dish so have a light hand with the salt. You just need some to draw the water out of the mushrooms).
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms cook down and the liquid has evaporated.
While waiting for the mushrooms to cook down, cube the pancetta and add to a small saute pan over medium high heat. Cook for 4 minutes.
Your pot of water should hopefully be boiling. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to the pot of boiling water and add the ravioli. Cook for 6 minutes and drain.
Add the Marsala and the broth to the mushrooms. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the pancetta to the mixture when it is finished cooking.
Don’t wipe down the saute pan that had the pancetta. Just add the 1 cup of spinach leaves and cover. Cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
Add the ravioli to the mushroom mixture and toss. Remove from heat, add a very slight amount of truffle oil if using, and mix in the wilted spinach.
To serve, add the ravioli to a plate. Spoon the sauce, mushrooms, spinach and pancetta over the pasta. Top with parsley and Parmesan cheese.
The pancetta adds the perfect amount of saltiness to the dish to bring out the other flavors. The spinach works to counteract the sweetness of the Marsala. Mushrooms add an earthy flavor to the whole dish.
I loved the ravioli by the way. It has a ton of flavor and really did a great job of capturing the flavor of chicken marsala into a pasta! My boyfriend absolutely loved this recipe. In fact, he ate a good three servings of this in one sitting!
What kind of sauce would you serve with your Chicken Marsala Ravioli?
Now on to the giveaway. Please be sure to use the widget below to enter. Each person can enter up to 7 times, but only the first entry (writing in the comment section what Buitoni pasta you want to try and how you’d prepare it) is mandatory. Good luck!!
Chicken Marsala Ravioli with Spinach and Mushrooms
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 package of Buitoni Chicken Marsala Ravioli
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves (or 1 garlic scape), minced
1 package of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 package of shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
1/4 lb pancetta, cubed (or used prosciutto, that was actually my original plan!)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 tsp or less of truffle oil (optional)
Parmesan cheese, grated, as garnish
Parsley, chopped, as garnish
Instructions
Begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil.
While waiting for the pot of water to boil, mince your shallot and garlic. I used a garlic scape from my CSA share, it’s perfectly fine to use garlic cloves. Slice your mushrooms. Be sure to remove the stems of the shiitake mushrooms, they can be really woody tasting.
In a large saute pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. (You’re adding pancetta or prosciutto to this dish so have a light hand with the salt. You just need some to draw the water out of the mushrooms).
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms cook down and the liquid has evaporated.
While waiting for the mushrooms to cook down, cube the pancetta and add to a small saute pan over medium high heat. Cook for 4 minutes.
Your pot of water should hopefully be boiling. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to the pot of boiling water and add the ravioli. Cook for 6 minutes and drain.
Add the Marsala and the broth to the mushrooms. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the pancetta to the mixture when it is finished cooking.
Don’t wipe down the saute pan that had the pancetta. Just add the 1 cup of spinach leaves and cover. Cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
Add the ravioli to the mushroom mixture and toss. Remove from heat, add a very slight amount of truffle oil if using, and mix in the wilted spinach.
To serve, add the ravioli to a plate. Spoon the sauce, mushrooms, spinach and pancetta over the pasta. Top with parsley and Parmesan cheese.
Cucumbers are everywhere right now, and as much as I love just eating them raw, I thought it might be a nice change to try to use them cooked. Cucumber soup, chilled, sounds oh so refreshing doesn’t it? I found this recipe for Chilled Creamy Cucumber Soup from Eating Well. It uses an avocado and some plain yogurt, making a really creamy delicious soup. Plus, it only takes 35 minutes to make (it is additional time to chill).
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 cups peeled, seeded and thinly sliced cucumbers, divided
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth, or reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt
Begin by prepping all your ingredients. Mince the garlic, dice the onion, peel, seed, and slice the cucumber, and dice your avocado. (I added a squeeze of lemon juice over the avocado to keep it from browning).
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add your onion and garlic to the pot, stirring occasionally. Cook for 4 minutes.
Add the lemon juice and cook for another minute. Add the cucumber, broth, salt, pepper, and cayenne (optional) and bring to a simmer.
Reduce heat and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the cucumbers are soft.
Add thesoupto a blender (be careful), removing the center of the top of the blender. Add the avocado and parsley.
Place a paper towel over the open hole before blending. Blend on low until smooth. (I just do all of this in the pot using an immersion blender, I find it less hazardous hehe).
If you want to eat the soup hot, pour into a serving bowl and stir in the yogurt. Top with cucumber slices and garnish with parsley. If chilling the soup, refrigerate for at least one hour, then stir in the yogurt and garnish before serving.
The soup is smooth, a little tangy from the Greek yogurt, and ends with a slight hint of spice. I like mixing in the parsley and chopped cucumbers into the soup to give it some texture.
I love what I call “after work recipes.” I can make this when I get home and can eat before 8 pm. For an even more refreshing soup, try substituting mint or dill for the parsley.
