mandalei

I love having people over, because I can make things that I wouldn’t normally make for us.  In this case, I’m making a lemon pound cake from the Barefoot Contessa.  I also made those rolls from a while ago, and will be grilling veggies (eggplant, red onions, zucchini, yellow squash, red peppers) for sandwiches (with goat cheese or moz, and pesto).  I will also be making this lemon and mint couscous.  I love cooking!

This tasty looking (not) concoction of cashews and chicken from Indian Home Cooking.

It was actually really good even if it looked pretty bad when we were done with it.  We had made it in the class with him, though, and it looked pretty much the same, so I know we didn’t screw up somewhere.

Last night we made this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.  We had made this before with a 9 lb leg of lamb, but this time we used a 1.5 lb piece from the farmer’s market.  Also, made tabouleh with it (and guacamole for an appetizer, since the avocado was good and we had to).

In the oven proofing right now: 2 loaves of whole wheat bread.  I am using whole wheat bread flour, so maybe this will help with loaves that are kinda heavy when simply using plain WWF.

OK, so here are two recipes of things I made in the last couple of days.

Shrimp and arugula pasta

Enough shrimp for you and your best beloved(s)
Pasta of choice
Parmesan
Pecorino
Small onion, diced
Garlic, minced
One whole lemon, for juicing
Salt/Pepper
Red pepper flakes
Arugula

Start water boiling, cook pasta to desired state. In the meantime, saute onion until translucent. Add garlic at end, so it doesn’t burn. Add shrimp that have been seasoned with salt and pepper. Add red pepper flake to your liking. When all is cooked together, add juice of entire lemon. Have best beloved grating cheese while you cook–about 1 cup of parm and 1 cup of pecorino. Add cooked pasta to pan with shrimp stuff, dump cheese on top, and add about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of pasta water to make a sauce. Toss in a couple handfuls of arugula at the end so that it stays crunchy. Serve it up.

Combo Casserole

Meat Mix**
Ground Turkey, 1 lb
Bag of frozen stuff (peas, peas/carrots… whatever you have on hand that you like)
medium onion, chopped
enough garlic, chopped
salt/pepper
mushrooms, sliced

Cook this like you normally would.  Onions first, then mushrooms, then garlic is how I do it… add turkey and brown it, breaking it up into chunks.  add frozen stuff.  Cook until warmed through.  Pasta of your choice should be cooking now.  We used half a box of linguine busted in half, then half a box of medium shells.  It was what was open in our pantry.

Sauce
3 or 4 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup AP flour
3 cups milk (I confess… we had whole milk, and I used 1 cup whole milk and 1 cup water. The total 2 cups made a very dense casserole that didn’t have a ton of sauce. If you want it really saucy, like a pubescent 8th grader, by all means, make the sauce with 4 cups of liquid, although make your thickener a little more thick in the beginning)
Cheddar and Moz  (about 1 cup grated each?  Depends on how cheesy you want your sauce)
Sage and Rosemary, chopped.
Melt butter over medium heat, add flour and cook for about 2-3 minutes, until it begins to bubble and smell good (not raw).  Add milk (or milk and water) whisking in about 1/2 cup at a time.  Let simmer, whisking occasionally, until sauce thickens up.  Add chopped rosemary and sage to steep in the mix for about 2-3 minutes (I suppose this can be done whenever you want).  Add cheese, reserving a little for the crust.  Whisk until smooth.

Drain pasta, dump on meat mix, dump sauce on top of that.  Stir to combine.  Taste for seasoning, and then dump all of it into a 9×13 casserole.  bake at 375 for 20 minutes, then add remaining shredded cheese and breadcrumbs (if you like) to top, baking for another 10-15 until crispy.

**The meat mixture (ugh,that sounds awful) makes enough for two casseroles, so freeze the rest of it up after it’s cooled off in your fridge.

I have a play date at my house tomorrow, and will be making some kind of stuffed shells (probably with spinach, mushroom, and artichoke–some of the people are vegetarian) and chocolate-orange cupcakes.  I hope they don’t suck.

Still have a cold, still feeling stuffed up and tired. BUT! The weekend moves on. We have our last round of weekend houseguests, and then Ben takes off for a business trip (our friends are actually going to drive him to the airport on their way home). My friend Ms. V. and her little boy will be arriving on Tuesday to hang out, and I also host playgroup.

Everyone seems to make soup for playgroup, but I am determined to make something slightly unhealthy, and most importantly NOT SOUP. Don’t get me wrong, I loves me some soup, but I am tired of it. And tired of wilted greens in it which “pack it with nutrients” all the time. Last time I made homemade mac and cheese, and this time… not sure what I’ll make. Maybe chocolate cake? Artichoke and mushroom stuffed shells? that could be a winner, even if a carb loaded one.

This weekend, OTM:

Coq au vin (T. F. seems like a total doof to me, and pretty annoying–but his recipes tend to turn out really well and are relatively simple)

Apple pie (my own recipe–been making it for about 8 years now. No, I can’t tell you a specific list of what’s in it because I don’t measure, and the ingredients change based on my mood. Get thee granny smiths. And some other stuff.)

Sticky Rolls for breakfast** (from my King Arthur Flour book), some with pecans, some without (gotta try at least one new recipe each weekend!) This recipe was either a) meant to be or b) not supposed to happen. I squeaked by with the last of my AP flour by literally up-ending the huge canister (that holds a 10 lb bag with room for more) and shaking the hell out of it, and I barely had enough brown sugar. But they’re finished and… put into my 8 inch cake pans rather than 9 inch, which I don’t possess. Doh!

Also, I made Israeli couscous with lemon and mint, pine nuts and golden raisins on Friday, which was really good. Thanks, Martha! It’s not the most overpowering of flavors, so keep that in mind when you add your lemon and zest and stuff. The red pepper flake gives it a nice residual heat.

**interesting, I just searched for the rolls and found a post on the King Arthur blog about them. The instructions on their blog are TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the instructions in their book:

Blog: roll long way
Book: roll short wayBlog: roll beginning with filled end
Book: roll beginning with unfilled end.

Perhaps this is why their comments are closed???

UPDATE:  Sent them an email after I wrote this post and already got a response!  I asked for alist of errata, which they are sending to me, and they’re going to check and see if they have anythign specifically on this recipe.  The kind person at KA Flour also added this useful info:
“Actually, you can start at either a short end or a long end, depending if you want a greater number of buns with fewer spirals, or fewer buns with more spirals. but yeah, you should always start with a filled end and finish with the end whose last 1″ doesn’t have filling, so that you can more easily seal that unfilled edge closed.”

I am very, very impressed.  And to respond on a Sunday!

Baked eggs with parm and herbs, english muffin (store)

Lunch at play group, not by me

Roasted chicken with herbs and garlic, goat cheese and basil leaves, and roasted veggies (fennel, carrot, onion)

Today was all about Barefoot Contessa recipes!  Some variations, though: chopped my own herbs and garlic (rather than using herbed goat cheese), which I put directly on the meat, followed by a layer of goat cheese (plain) followed by a layer of basil leaves.  It’s a bit more work, and we’ll see how it turns out, seeing this is the first time.  Hmmmm… many basil leaves left… Perhaps something with pesto for tomorrow.