Category Archives: dinner

Single and Hungry, or How To Be Lazy & Eat Well

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I am not ashamed to say it.

I am SINGLE.

Now, I may not exactly be lovin’ it, but I can work with it. And that is what I’ve been doing since I’ve graduated.

I’ll admit, when it comes to cooking, I’m not exactly Julia. I do enjoy cooking – chopping vegetables can be a very zen activity – but when it’s just me, I tend to be lazy.

My favorite kind of meal is the one spent at the table for two hours, talking and eating with family and friends. The kind that I spend 2 hours making some new, crazy dessert I saw on Tastespotting that I know will make even the most persnickety dessert eater a happy diner. It’s the Italian in me, I suppose. In fact, I’m pretty Italian when it comes to most food-related things. Funny how that happens.

SanGimII - La Mandragola bruschette miste

Mmmmm, bruschetta.

Ahem. Back to my point. Dinner! Yum.

Because I have seriously upped my exercise lately, I’ve been doubling my efforts to get enough protein into my diet. Eggs and lentils and tofu, oh my!

Here’s my process. It’s been working really well for me so far, and it probably will for you to.

1. Heat up a small amount of olive oil in a saute pan.

2. Crush a clove of garlic and throw it in the hot oil.

3. Wait a few seconds – then inhale. Yes, I do believe that is what heaven smells like.

4. Add whatever veggies/protein you want to. Add your leafy greens at the end – they will cook down like WHOA pretty quickly, and you want to see some of that beautiful greenness on your plate!

5. Add spices and your S+P. I’ve been in either a curry/cumin/ginger/paprika (coriander would be good too, I’m just lazy) or oregano/sage/rosemary/any other Italian spices.

One of my favorites so far has been this curried lentils + tofu bowl:

tofu-lentil curry (1)

Add a chopped tomato to the pan with your cooked lentils (I used 1/4 cup – boil in 1 cup water for 20 minutes).  Add tofu and greens – here I used a little red swiss chard. Throw in your curry, cumin, paprika, ginger, & S+P. I just eyeball my spices. Start small – it’s easier to add more than to eat ridiculously overspiced food. Yes, I do know this from experience.

Other renditions have included sauteing lentils, tofu, spinach and some pasta sauce together. Tonight was lentils (hey, I’m on a kick, don’t judge) in a little dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, lemon pepper and dill with spinach and an egg scrambled in at the last minute. Yall – that was awesome. It looks crazy, but it was delicious. Especially with some sweet potato fries. (Slice, season w. rosemary/oregano/paprika/sea salt, bake for 20 min at 400F.)

No, none of my creations are necessarily restaurant-worthy. But damned if they are not delicious, super healthy and crazy easy. And that is what counts for this particular single girl. No apron required.

Follow it up with a little toast and a piece of dark chocolate and you’re good to go. Buon appetito!

charleston 5-7-11 (54)

 

College-age Nonmutant Perhaps-Ninja Turtles

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No turtles were hurt during this process. Well, no live turtles, anyway.

On Wednesday I mentioned a certain turtle-y challenge. On Friday, TGIF took on a whole new meaning.

You see, I showed my friend these adorable turtle pretzels on Kirbie’s Cravings (via Tastespotting, as per usual) and it was all over after that. We had to make them.

Now, yeast is on the ingredient list – but don’t let that deter you. I was a little anxious during the entire prep process because I don’t have a whole lot of experience with yeast – at least, not any recent experience. Unless eating my mom’s yeast rolls at Christmas counts?

Ahem. Alright, take off your rings, don your aprons, and tie back your hair. Let’s do this thing.

I followed the recipe exactly (except for one thing, but I’ll get to that later), so I won’t repost it here. Besides, a picture is worth a thousand words!

It calls for 4 1/2 cups of flour, so if you’re low, you might hop to the store. We did!

To begin, mix 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 teaspoons salt in 1 1/2 cups of warm water. I didn’t have a thermometer, so I just figured out the water tempt he old-fashioned way – stuck my hand under the faucet and waited until it felt like bath water.

Sprinkle a packet (2 1/4 tsp) of active dry yeast on top and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Tick tock, tick tock…

While you waiting, melt 2 oz of butter in the microwave. Please use butter – we want these turtles gross-margarine-chemical-free and not resembling the turtles from the Gulf.

When the 5 minutes are up, add in the butter and flour. You can try to mix it with a spoon, but after about 5 seconds I saw that it was time to go Ms. Frizzle on this dough – get messy!

Knead, baby, knead!

I had to add a little water when it got on the tough side. I really had no idea what I was doing, because the original recipe only has directions for a stand mixer, so I just guessed. After about 5 minutes, I figured it was good enough. Place it in an oiled bowl and let it rise for about 55 minutes.

While you’re waiting, I highly recommend following our lead and making grown-up animal mac & cheese. No, that is not an oxymoron.

 

More turtle love!

The very cute mini cheese grater I bought in California as a joke ended up coming in handy. Worked pretty well, too!

We used a combo of parmeggiano (the good kind – no Kraft here, thankyouverymuch) and this Amish Colby Jack cheese. No idea how much we put in. All I did was cook the pasta (salt your water!!) until slightly undercooked, drain it, and then return it to the still-hot pot on low heat. Add in the cheese – reserve some of the parm for topping – a little milk (we had skim), and some garlic salt and pepper. The garlic salt makes this go from “good” to “we are making this again. soon.” Don’t forget it! We also threw in some frozen broccoli. Hence the “grown up” mac and cheese.

I served mine over some arugula with extra parm on top. Seriously, make this. It was so good. Next time, we’re adding tomatoes and red onion. Maybe some spinach.

Hungry hungry hippo!!

Ok, so your dough is probably about done rising now. I have no real spatial abilities, so I trusted my roommate when she said it looked about double in size.

I cut the dough into 16 “equal” pieces – they weren’t very equal, but we were fine with having a few babies. So, roll each piece out long. It will help if you do this on a floured surface! Then spiral them in to look like snails, like so:

You’ll want a cup of water on hand to make the layers stick. Just don’t drink it.

Now, pinch a head, feet, arms and tail out of the dough.

Mine.

Emily’s.

For obvious reasons, she was in charge of the turtle-forming after that.

Right about here you should get your oven preheating to 450 F and start some water boiling. If you remember to read things, you will put 2/3 cup of baking soda in the water. I did not, and there is a bowl of baking soda in a drawer under our counter feeling quite unhappy and useless. Oops.

Basically, you’re gonna blanch the turtles before baking. When your water is boiling, drop them in for 30 seconds and use a slotted spatula/flat spoon to get them out. I had to do one at a time because our pot is small and I’m not good at multi-tasking, but if either or neither of those is true for you, I’m sure you could do multiple at a time.

Swim towards the light, little guy!

This maybe because I forgot the baking soda, but they expand like WHOA in there! I ended up baking six at a time because that’s all that would fit on my Silpat (aka, the fancy French reusable silicone nonstick baking sheet. You see why it’s just called ‘Silpat.’).

Beat an egg as your roommate continues transforming snails to turtles, and brush some over the pre-baked turtles. (They should dry relatively quickly after their, um, bath.) A brush would be great, but we didn’t have one so I just used my fingers. You’re gonna bake ‘em anyway, germs schmerms.

The directions said to bake them for 6 – 7 minutes. We had to keep them in there for at least double that time  - I’m thinking the lack of baking soda in the blanching water had something to do with that.

A little too blonde after 6 minutes.

But definitely tasty!

Once they’ve cooled, you can use a toothpick, fork tine, etc to poke little holes for eyes. We had some cupcakes sprinkles hanging around…

Red eyes = tired turtle?

This one was looking right!

Tell me this is not the cutest turtle you ever did see!

I did the first batch plain, but in the second and third I tried some toppings. Because it’s me and I have to play with my food.

Coarse sea salt

Rosemary

Brown sugar & cinnamon

The brown sugar definitely won our hearts over – but all of them were absolutely delicious! And really pretty easy – in fact, if you have a fear of working with yeast, this would be a great intro recipe. Trust me, I have no idea what I was doing and they are better than edible! We are definitely making these again – I did NOT measure out 2/3 cup of baking soda to just let it sit in a bowl under our counter. Nope.

Moral: Make these, because they will make you smile.

And don’t forget to spring forward!


Over-the-Humpday Challenge: Venture into the Grain Unknown

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Just call me the Indiana Jones of grain.

Or don’t. Personal choice.

When pondering what this Wednesday’s challenge would be, my eyes immediately flew to the brown bag from the bulk bins at Whole Foods that came home with me last Saturday.

What could it be???

The mystery continues…

Can you guess??

…that’s okay, I probably couldn’t either. This is millet, and at $1.99 per pound, it may just be my new best carb-friend. I’ve seen it here and there in the blogosphere, and was very curious. I don’t like rice at all, but I adore cous cous, quinoa, and oats (of course), so I’m always in the market for a new grain.

That, and now that I have a whole kitchen, I can experiment to my heart’s content! So, Mission: Millet it was.

It almost looks like little tiny popcorn kernels!

I measured out a scant 1/4 of a cup. Generally, that is the single-portion serving size for grains, and I figured starting small would be best. Looks are deceiving – this cooked up a very nice serving!

 

Whole Foods said took cook 1/2 a cup in 1 1/4 cup of water, bring to boil, then simmer for about 20 min. I halved the water, and after it boiled I turned it down and just watched it, stirring every so often and tasting until it seemed ready – it was probably about 15 minutes, and I had to add probably about another half cup of water.

Bubble, bubble, not much toil and even less trouble!

When it seemed to be near sufficiently fluffy and yet still slightly al dente, I added about 1/2-1 tsp grainy mustard, several shakes of pepper, garlic salt, and some herbes de provence. The mustard actually made it really creamy and yet still with a subtle bite – I recommend it!

I served it over a bed of “fresh herb salad mix” – another [cheap!]  Whole Foods find. I think it’s just spring greens, radicchio and cilantro – it’s a really neat change from regular salad greens! Sprinkled with parm and doused in some White Balsamic vinegar.

Sorry for the pic quality – no natural light to be found when I need it!

This. was. AWESOME! The herby greens and the sweet vinegar complemented the creamy and peppery millet perfectly. I would definitely make this again. In fact, I probably will. I’m thinking tomato would be fantastic, and maybe some hummus mixed in. Or maybe with curry, ginger, and some carrot…

That’s part of what I love about grains – their versatility makes for excellent foodie adventures. I do love a good adventure.

Mission Millet: Accomplished.

Oh come on, admit it. Indy ain’t got nothin on me.

That Darn Swing and the Return of OTHdC

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It’s official. My “to-do today” list is 9 items long, I’ve had to fit in 2 short-notice meetings today, and I made lunch while talking on the phone and checking my email. The semester is, without a doubt, back in full-swing.

Really, it’s a good thing. I need to-do lists – they make me feel efficient – and I like have a variety of things to do. Too much free time is dangerous for me; I get into ruts and am easily frustrated.

That is, at least, what I keep telling myself.

I’d really like to say that I’m an old pro. That balancing school, 3 jobs and 2 blogs is a cinch for a near-compulsive organizer like me and just a matter of having the right day planner. But I would be lying, and that’s just lame. In all acutality, I live via the post-it note on my computer that lists everything I need to do just today, and I generally drink lots of tea and spend some quality time with Tastespotting. PS – Cookie-dough stuffed cupcakes. I can’t make this stuff up. Already on my devo fare list. (That’s “I must make” in Italian.)

As a general rule, I write things like little notes and my grocery list in Italian. Mostly to keep it in my head. Well, that….and I’m really just a huge geek.

BUT – this is a food blog, not an I-need-to-whine-about-growing-up blog, so let’s get to it.

For those of you who followed my previous blog, I started a Wednesday post called Over-the-HumpDay Challenge. I’d pick a recipe or certain goal for the day and report back. Recipes are probably the most fun :) SO, today, I had every intention of bringing that back while making use of the buttermilk left in the fridge from these lovely cupcakes.

With images of warm and flaky buttermilk biscuits danced in my head, I opened the fridge…and saw this:

Now, I realize that buttermilk has some staying power, but I draw the line at 10 days. One sniff and my mind was made up: mission aborted.

So I made some tea and went back to reading about food in Florence post-WWII. It’s for class, I swear! A class I designed myself actually, syllabus and all, about the role food plays in the lives of women of the Mediterranean region in the 20th century. Man, I love going to a liberal arts college. More on that later.

And as a fresh wave of homemade tomato sauce and thick crusty bread flooded my brain, a new challenge came to mind:

Anchovies.

Now, don’t judge. It took going to Florence and finding the best sandwich shop in the whole world (ignoring the fact that I have not been to every sandwich shop in the whole word, that is not an exaggeration) to get me to fall in love with these salty little slivers of goodness.

Anchovies + herbs + pecorino + schiacciata = true sandwich love.

I like to think of anchovies like bacon. I could eat it by itself, but it’s so much better when it’s used for flavor. I looked at the use-by date and was all the more inspired – I will NOT be foiled by expiration dates twice in one day!!! I also had the end of a bag of frozen brussel sprouts and some arugula that was begging to be eaten quickly, and was seriously craving some olive oil. And thus, dinner was born.

I chopped up about half of the tin of fishies small and a clove of garlic after blanching the frozen sprouts. Blanching is just a fancy word for plunging (yes, plunging) uncooked veggies into boiling water and cooking it for about ONE minute. They turn a really vibrant green color, and they are easy to cut in half after.

I mixed everything together in a bowl and doused it with salt and pepper, herbs (rosemary-oregano-sage-basil-parsley) and olive oil. I was craving olive oil after reading about Florentine diet & culture. Normal? Probably not. But that’s how I roll.

I broiled this mix for, um, 10 minutes? on high. I don’t know, I just kind of watched it until it started to brown a bit. While I waited, I tossed some arugula (my FAVORITE green!) in a little balsamic and sea salt in the same bowl I used to mix the veggies & fishies. Out of the broiler, onto the arugula and top with some parmigiana.

Dinner.

Don’t forget the bread!

This was delicious! I love when my meals are successful. There’s nothin like that feeling, right?

Mission Use-Up-Anchovies: Accomplished.

I guess those biscuits will just have to wait…

Blog’s First Thanksgiving

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*knockknockknock*
Did you hear that?
*KNOCKknockKNOCK*
What is that????

Why, it’s Lulu, begging me to use the photos of Thanksgiving she still has in a blog post!
Sheesh. Even my camera gives me grief.
My blog’s 1st Thanksgiving – this calls for celebration!
And hors d’ouvres, of course.
We had a very small gathering, which was really really nice – made for a very fun and relaxed holiday.
They brought crostini (in my honor :) , which is just good toasted bread with a topping.
They made an herbed ricotta to go with!
 It had scallions, dill, and other herby goodness. I had to remind myself not to eat to much before the main event – but it was hard!
 They also brought these amazing spiced nuts – recipe to come! I know there was orange juice and maple syrup involved. They totally had that sweet-salty-crunchy thing going on. I was very happy to see these leftover the next day.
While the master carver was at his station…
with the ever-faithful turkey lurker never far from the action…
*must. get. turkey.*
…we brought out the side dishes.
 Some holiday greenery, simply steamed.
 Mom’s spoonbread.
It’s basically a cornbread souffle, and tasted like….um, cornbread! I really liked it, and Mom hadn’t made it for Thanksgiving before. A welcome addition!
You know that dish that is so darn good that you wait all year long for, but know better than to request it earlier in the year because then it would lose some specialness? That is my mother’s sweet potatoes for me. I don’t remember a single year I haven’t had them and loved every buttery, brown-sugary bite. She always makes one section without nuts for my brother and I – but in the last few years, I’ve come around to the bourbon-praline-pecan topping too. 
It’s even better than it sounds.
[There were also mashed potatoes that apparently went unphotographed. The sweet potatoes usually distract me. You understand.]
  
And finally, the bird was ready.
And so was my stomach! 
 The evening was capped off with a classic:
Pumpkin pie, made from scratch. Oh yes, I was one happy foodie.
I’m all for going all out and making crazy experimental dishes, but there is something to be said for sticking to tradition. And sweet potatoes. Man, those things are good.
I will return soon to celebrate vacation, sleep, the end of my ridiculous semester…and food, of course.
 In the spirit of this post, I wish you all happy holidays…and good digestion!
~Namaste!

Over-The-Humpday Challenge: Noodleless Lasagna

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Remember that time I tried to make an all-veggie lasagna using eggplant & zucchini as the noodles? You know, back when I lived in Florence, Italy.

It is unspeakably entertaining to be able to say that I have actually lived in Florence. I’m thinking of printing onto my business cards. Too much?
…I digress.
That particular attempt ended up as more of an Italian vegetable pie than a lasagna, although that’s not to say it wasn’t tasty. So, when our neighbor brought over a huge yellow squash fresh from a coworker’s garden, the  image of my first good-yet-completely-unlasagnalike try popped into my head:
And the next OTHd Challenge was born.
First, take a pan – I opted for the long shallow pan versus the 8X8, do whatever feels right to you – and spritz with some cooking spray. 
Preheat your oven to 375 (you may end up turning it up to get it to cook faster should you be like me and horribly impatient/very hungry).
This squash was a big mofo, and was almost too much – probably about 3 medium-sized gourds would do it. I also recommend getting smaller squishes because the larger they grow, the tougher their skin becomes. And the bigger a pain in the butt it is to slice it into nice, even, lasagna-noodle-like slices. 
I forged on with the slicing, undeterred by the dozen times I almost sliced my fingers off and by the unaesthetically appealing uneveness of the slices. This is why I love cooking; caution is thrown to the wind and I just wait and see what happens. I know, I know – I’m livin on the edge.
Next, I threw the many unwieldy squash slices into a big ole Ziploc with 2 T olive oil + 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar + 2 minced garlic cloves + fresh parsley-rosemary-oregano + S+P. Let it all mingle together for about an hour or so.
Did you wait the whole hour? Promise? Ok. Now, you know that oven I told you to preheat? Take your marinated squash slices and throw them on a pan and let them cook for about 5-8 minutes on each side (less time for smaller slices!). 
While your squish is softening up preemptively in the oven, let’s work on the filling. I must say, I’m a little proud of this filling that I pulled out of nowhere.
All I did was take 3/4 c. of ricotta (I used fat free because it was all I had, use whatever your heart desires!) and mix in some sea salt, pepper, and a bit of lemon zest, about 1 – 1 1/2 tsp. I also pan roasted a clove of garlic I sliced and threw that in, although I might do another clove, I couldn’t taste it very well.
Have you flipped your squash? Okey dokey, let’s make lasagna. Make a layer or two of the squash. Then, on top of that add your ricotta filling, then 1/2 c. parmesan cheese. After that I made a layer of baby spinach, which I liked a lot, but if you don’t have it, don’t stress. After the second (and last) layer of squash, pour a can of Italian-spiced diced tomatoes over the top – you know, the ones with garlic/oregano/basil? I promise they are in your supermarket.
Sprinkle some more parmesan on top (~1/4 c.) and bake away. I just baked until it started bubbling, probably about 25-30 min, and I did end up turning the heat up to 400. Take it out & slice away!
Next time I would like to add some cannellini beans to it. You could also play around with the veggies – I plan on using eggplant and/or zucchini the next time around! I think basil would be a fantastic addition as well. But this was pretty good all on its own! Rave reviews from both of my parents – who, I will tell you, do not lie to me about my cooking. The lemon in the ricotta really made it, too – very light and summery. I will most certainly be making this again!
Another humpday, another challenge met and won. All in a day’s work.
~Namaste~

One of Those Days

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Have you ever had one of those super-foodie days where everything you make turns out just spot on?
Today was NOT one of those days.
No, sadly, the Gillianasana kitchen produced multiple failures this morning. I documented the more epic one because, as with most things, I had high hopes for the outcome. Oops.
It all started with this new cereal I found, Newman’s Own organic Cinnamon Flakes. This is unlike any cinnamon cereal out there – it’s super flavorful and has strong notes of cloves with the cinnamon. It literally jumps out of the box asking to be eaten in some kind of apple cinnamon dish. So, I made one up.
Ok, it does have a basis in reality: the hotel my family usually stays in when they visit me at school serves this french toast that is encrusted with crushed corn flakes before cooking. So I thought, hey, I’ll do that with this cereal! Only instead of bread, I wanted to use tofu. It worked in my head, I swear.
I laid out my ingredients…
…crushed the flakes…
…cut up the tofu to be dredged in egg white and then the cereal crumbs…
And threw it on the skillet. And that’s about where my big idea, um, shrank. The flakes didn’t stick at all, some of the egg white slipped off and cooked separately, and then my brother poked me and I burned my finger on the skillet. All resulting in this:
Yup. Just dumped some applesauce and extra cinnamon on top and attempted to eat it. It actually didn’t taste bad or anything, it was just…er, nothing like the picture in my head. On the bright side, it did give me another idea for playing with an already-existing recipe – and that one has considerably less chance of failing.

I went on to make a truly revolting smoothie, and eventually gave up and let mom take over. She made a kickass salad featuring some spicy salad greens fresh from the Farmer’s Market!
I used these to create a very tasty little salad myself yesterday:
With fennel and some tempeh sauteed in golden balsamic vinegar. YUM!

Mom’s luck continued into dessert (although in her case, luck hasn’t much to do with it, she just knows what she’s doing):
A strawberry-blueberry-rhubarb crumble. Totally has that sour-sweet thing going on, and then with a little vanilla ice cream, wowza! Seriously good stuff.

I’m excited – I’ve finally nailed down a new “plan” for the blog and it shall start tomorrow! 

Happy July 1st! [Anyone know how that happened??]

~Namaste~

Behind the Scenes

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Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day…but let’s be honest, dessert is the most exciting. So why not combine the two?
Best of both worlds: chocolate-blueberry oat bran. With a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, for good measure ;)
The majority of my Sunday was spent playing waitress at a “tea” for a ritzy-ditzy house tour my mother had helped organize as a member of the Historical (or as my father lovably dubbed it, Hysterical) Society in our town. Basically, my job was to take the massive quantities of donated food in various tupperware containers and make it look like this:
I could complain, but in all honesty…I love this stuff. Y’all know me and my pretty food – it tastes better! I’ve always really liked being that “behind-the-scenes” person who makes stuff happen, but no one really ever sees it. I don’t know, must be some crazy spy thing. When I was in high school, I played in the pit orchestra for the senior musical twice and loved it. No one could see us – but we were the music. I like that that’s kinda the point – striving to be so good that it’s effortless, no one thinks twice about it. It’s such a feeling of accomplishment for me. Catering really would be a fun job for me. I think it’s so cool how there really is a job made for everyone’s personality – from the star in the spotlight to the shy kid making the music. The real trick is finding that job, I guess.
Wow. You know you’ve been watching Glee for 2 days straight when the stage is a metaphor for everything. Oy.
That night was a lot of fun – we went here for dinner:
Pretty gorgeous, right?
That would be the back yard of family friends who used to live right next door. Saying he has a knack for gardening may be the understatement of the decade.
An “Italian style” dinner was planned, so of course I was super excited. And the best part was I got to help make it! Man I love working in the kitchen. It’s like therapy.
It was a truly beautiful meal.
(LuLu must have been PMSing or something, because the pictures are a bit subpar – girlfriend needs some camera Midol.)
We started with a caprese salad:
Chop up fresh tomatoes. Chop up fresh mozzarella. Chop up fresh basil. Toss with olive oil and S+P. Drizzle with a little balsamic. And take a trip to Italy in one bite.
I suppose “traditionally” it’s a slice of tomato, a slice of the mozz, then a basil leaf and the drizzling and sprinkling, but this is easier to serve, and just as tasty. It basically depends on what you are going for with the presentation. Experiment!
Now, no Italian dinner is complete without…
Pane. Bread. And lots of it. I’m not talking Wonder White here, people – go for the good stuff. Crusty, soft, doughy goodness. Heck, it’s easy to just make yourself!
And, of course, the pasta.
Ohmygoodness, please go make this pasta right now.
We used fresh pasta (if you can, do it – it makes a huge difference!). This is trofie, that kind of stretched-and-twisted shape (we used it in my cooking class and it rocked!). Pasta shape is actually pretty important – the shape of the pasta will hold the flavors of the recipe differently. If you’ve got a pasta with a lot of stuff, short, fat and textured is probably better, like a rigatoni or fusilli (the spirals). Spaghetti, however, is good with the perfectly simple (and simply perfect) marinara sauce.
This pasta was SO EASY:
To start, take a big slice of Italian bread and pulverize it to bread crumbs. Gotta love that Cuisinart! If you don’t have a food processor, I would try toasting it juuuuust slightly, then just chopping the crap out of it. This part was done before I got there, but I would say it was 1/4-1/3 cup’s worth, so add more if need be.
In a skillet, heat up some olive oil (we used about a quarter of a cup; I find you can really play around with the amount of olive oil in recipes and see what result you like best) and toss in a LOT of garlic – we used 4 cloves. Yes, that’s 4 whole cloves. Just go with me.
When the garlic has turned golden brown (it probably won’t take long), add capers (maybe 1/3 cup?), slightly chopped would be good, and 1/4 cup of parsley to the skillet. Then, add those bread crumbs. Stir it all around until the bread crumbs have turned golden and toasty and have soaked up all the oil. Toss in your pasta – if you are using fresh, you really only need to boil it for about 3 minutes. Throw it in a fantastic bowl and serve.
I know, too easy, right?
This was soooo yummy! I have plans to make it again – with a little added lemon and maybe some prosciutto. Speaking of which…
Our main course was just lovely – turkey stuffed with fontina cheese in the middle and wrapped in prosciutto. Really, truly wonderful. Crispy, smoky prosciutto, juicy turkey, melty smooth cheese. Paired with some green beans on the side, the meal could only be described as…bellissima.
(I had a LOT more turkey than that. I repeat – so.good.)
And then dessert.
Strawberry shortcake. Alright, it’s not exactly typically Italian, but it is summer, aka strawberry season! Roll with the punches. Would that all punches were this sweet.
We ended with a glass of prosecco, a cheese plate, and good conversation. Yup – that’s Italian!
And while we’re on the topic, I got myself a little treat at the grocery store today:
Ciao Bella is a gelato brand that I tried last summer for, what else – the mango sorbetto. And it’s good. Actually, it’s the best mango sorbet I’ve had this side of the Atlantic. And I when I saw this little baby container, I just couldn’t resist. 1 dollar for 100 calories of mango-y goodness? Yes please!
Complete with cute spoon under the lid!
For size comparison. It’s a baby!
(P.S. – NO idea what the significance of the mangoes bearing the name Alphonso is. When it comes to mango…I’m not too picky ;)
On a separate note – does anyone know why Blogger uploads some of my pictures wrong-side up? I can not for the life of my figure it out. When I got through my pictures on My Computer and rename them, I make sure they’re all right-side up but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. Grrr. I’ll get to the bottom of this. Bring. It. ON.
I have a teeth cleaning tomorrow (and I’m just thrilled…NOT), but I will be back – with a theme of the week and everything!
~Namaste~